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“The Lighthouse” Review

I DON’T REMEMBER MY SURGERY
We see poorly photoshopped photos of Jack and his parents, Jack and his proud papa, Christian. Jack’s there, too. He’s at his house in ATL LA Land. He checks a mark on his abdomen.
His mom calls, following up on his dad’s lost body. Jack doesn’t know where it is Oceaniac thinks it maybe in Berlin. Maybe Christian went to the Kit Kat Club.. Jack asks her when he had his appendix out. She says when he was seven, maybe eight. Dad wanted to take it out but they wouldn’t let him. Jack has to go, ma dukes.
Jack drives to pick up a young boy at St. Mary’s Academy. Jack has a son that is a tween. Did I miss something? When was there ever a kid mentioned before? Jack apologizes for being late. Son seems used to it. He’s one of those silent, angry kids that only ever got time-outs.

ISLAND TIME
At the Temple, Dogen and Jack are hanging out like friends. I guess all that roughhousing brought them closer together. Nothing like swallowing poison to bring people together.
Dogen’s glad Jack didn’t leave, although he would have stopped him anyway, he says. Dogen asks if Jack’s friends are coming back. Jack says probably not. They appreciate each other’s honesty.
In the courtyard, Miles and Hugo play tic tac toe. It’s another tie. Hurley says he wants to eat. There’s no fat joke here, which in itself is a form of fat joke. As Hugo walks by the Dirty Hot Dog Water Of Life, he asks some crouched-down dude if there’s a kitchen or something nearby. Crouched-down dude is Jacob!

Jacob has stuff to tell Hugo, stuff he’s gonna have to write down. Someone is coming to the island, and Jacob needs Hugo to help him find it.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAY

Back in Jack-Has-A-Son LA, Jack tries to make small talk with his son David. Jack says he hooked up the cable, the Red Sox are on. David is nonplussed. Jack sees The Annotated Alice, tells David he used to read it to him. David remains nonplussed. Jack tries to talk more, but David shuts him down. Apparently he doesn’t see Jack that often and would rather just get through this visit without all the pleasantries. Maybe he doesn’t remember Jack having a kid either.

I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY’S WATCHING ME
At the temple, Sayid asks Jack about the pill. Jack tells him that it was poison, explains that the Others think something crazy happened to Sayid, and that’s because it happened to someone else. “Who?” asks Sayid. But Jack doesn’t answer. THE TIME FOR QUESTIONS IS OVER…unless you’re Sayid.
Hugo snoops around the Temple, checking notes from the Jacob conversation he scrawled on his arm, looking at carvings on the walls. He seems to find the right one when Dogen shows up and wants to know what’s doing. “Nothing. I’m just, you know, looking because I’m a fan of temples, and like, history…Indiana Jones stuff.”

Dogen tells him to go back to the courtyard. Jacob appears and tells Hugo to tell him he can do what he wants, he’s a candidate. Hugo tells Dogen he’s a candidate, he can do what he wants. Dogen gets big eyes like Godzilla is attacking the temple. Dogen asks who told him that. Hugo says, “Doesn’t matter. Why don’t YOU go back to the courtyard?”
Ha!
Dogen speaks in Japanese with great disdain and leaves. Hugo asks what he said; Jacob says he doesn’t want to know. Jacob asks Hugo why he didn’t bring Jack like he told him to. Hugo complains about having to write everything down and lie to a samurai, explains the challenge of getting Jack to do anything, but says he’s open to ideas. Jacob smiles. Awesome.

So, in the funniest sequence of the show, Hurley goes to Jack and tells him to act natural. He says to wait ten seconds and follow him to a secret tunnel into the jungle. Jack could not be less interested. Hurley says Jacob knew Jack would say that, and that he told him to tell Jack, “You have what it takes.” Jack get up, mad as hell. He wants to talk to Jacob. Hurley says he’s dead, he just shows up sometimes like Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Jacob will be where they’re going. Now Jack is in.
ROCK-A-BYE-BABY

Jin wakes up at a small camp in the jungle. He calls for Claire, but there’s no Claire there. He props himself up with an oar and looks around the camp. He uncovers something weird looking.
It’s weird. It looks like some animal bones and rags put together. Is this supposed to be Aaron? Couldn’t Claire have made a sock monkey or something? This proves she’s not only turned to the dark side, but she’s nuts to boot.
Claire shows up with one of the Others, Justin, who played dead. She’s acting crazy. Or is Claire kind of on point, I wonder? They’re going out of their way to make us think Claire is crazy and infected, so I have to wonder if they’re tricking us a bit here. Or I’m just a sucker for crazy people who live outdoors.
We join Jack and Hurley in the jungle. Jack sees Kate by the water and calls out to her. She turns on him with her gun out, but doesn’t shoot him. They flirt and make small talk. Kate’s looking for Claire. Hurley tells her about the secret tunnel, but she’s not interested. Jack invites Kate on their mission, but Hurley says she’s not invited. “I’m inviting her,” says Jack. Kate doesn’t want to join, but wishes them good luck finding stuff and heads off into the jungle.
ALT LA, Jack and his mom talk as they comb through Dad’s office. They can’t find his will. Mom says David was upset at the funeral. Jack didn’t know. Mom says bad communication runs in the family. We already know about Jack and Christian, we get it. Mom finds the will; she asks Jack if he knows anything about a Claire Littleton. Jack looks puzzled, as though he knows the name from somewhere, but can’t place it. I bet it’s Jack’s sister Claire from Lost!
Back in Camp Crazy Claire, Justin tries to persuade Jin to free him so that he can snap Claire’s when she returns. Jin thinks about it, but Claire comes back and interrupts. She stitches Jin’s mangled leg up. Claire wants to get Aaron back from the Others. Justin says they don’t have him. Claire says they do, because her father told her, and her friend told her. Your friend? “My friend.” Your friend. Jin is all stitched up. Claire proceeds to walk over to Justin, brandishing her axe which she has just sharpened. “Okay, now it’s your turn.”
OLD SCHOOL
Hurley and Jack walk through the jungle. Hurley apologizes for “wrecking your game with Kate.” Hurley wonders what’s up with those two, he saw a real future there, kids and junk. Jack says he’s not cut out for it, he’d make a terrible dad. Until this episode, we didn’t even know he was a dad.
We’re at the caves! Hurley sees the old skeleton couple and ponders, what if we time-traveled back to dinosaur times? What if those skeletons are us? Jack is preoccupied with his dad’s old coffin. He tells Hurley about the time he followed his father’s ghost into the caves and smashed up the coffin that was dadless.
Back in ALT LA, Jack gets home and sees no David. He calls him on the phone and hears no David. He goes to Mom’s house–who’s Mom? Kate? Ilana? Rose?–but there’s no one there. He checks messages, hears one from himself to David, and one about a conservatory audition.
On the island, Hurley and Jack walk through the jungle. “This is cool, dude. Very old school.” What, says Jack. “You know, you and me, trekking through the jungle, on our way to do something that we don’t quite understand. Good times.” For real! Hurley asks Jack why he came back. Jack asks Hurley the same thing. Hurley tells the Jacob-in-the-cab story. Hurley asks again. Jack says he came back because he was broken, and he was stupid enough to think this place could fix him. “Dude, I’m sorry,” says Hurley. Awkward! They’re almost there.
And now they’re there. The Lighthouse.

THE LIGHTHOUSE
Jack doesn’t get why they never seen it before. “Guess we weren’t looking for it,” says Hurley. Or, maybe the writers just dreamed it up for this season.
Back at Claire’s place, Claire wants Aaron answers. Justin says they don’t have him. Jin tries to calm Claire down. Claire tells Jin that they took her to the Temple, branded her, stuck her with needles and would have killed her if she hadn’t escaped. Justin keeps trying to reason with Claire, but she’s starting to swing the ax around a bit. Jin stops her. He tells her Kate took Aaron, that Aaron is off the island, that Aaron is three. Claire cries a little. Justin asks her to untie him. Nope. Axe to the chest!
At the Lighthouse, Hurley tries to open the door but it’s jammed. Jack kicks the door in on some “beat Jacob’s ass” aggro Jack business. You know how he do.
Back in Mr. Shephard’s Opus, David is rocking his audition. The piano music is drowned out by Lost music and sappy Jack. “Is that your son?” a boy asks Jack. He tells Jack that David is really good. The boy walks over to his father. His father! Is! Dogen!
“They are too young to have this kind of pressure, aren’t they?”
“Yes, yes they are,” says Jack. But Jack can’t keep up with the conversation about David’s gift and how long he’s been playing…because he doesn’t know how long he’s been playing. The script for the ATL is incomplete.
At the Lighthouse, Hurley and Jack are in the old-timey, wheel-and-mirrors lighthouse light control light room. They have to crank the thing to 108 degrees. Crank that Lighthouse mirror! As the mirrors turn, Jack sees weird stuff in them. Then Jack notices that everyone’s name is on the lighthouse light wheel. Including, most importantly, his own. Time to make it all about Jack! He tells Hurley to turn it to his name. Jack sees the house he grew up in as a child! In the mirror. Jack wants to know why Jacob has been spying on him. Hurley has no clue. Jack gets louder and louder as he yells at Hurley about this freaky situation. But Hurley doesn’t know. Jack finally snaps, grabs the telescope and smashes the mirrors! Smash! Smash! Jack failed recess, he does not play well with others and he runs with sissors.
Back in ATL, outside after the audition, David is getting his bike together when Jack shows up. “You were great in there.” David is shocked to see him. Jack didn’t even know he was still playing. David says he made Mom promise not to tell Jack, because Jack got too into it. David says he didn’t want Jack to see him fail. Jack says he took a lot of crap from his dad, that his dad told him he didn’t have what it takes. Jack tells David that he will always love him, that David will never fail. Jack just wants to be part of his life. Things are getting very emotional around here. Jack says he has pizza back at the house. David is like, you a doctor, why we gotta eat old pizza son.
Meanwhile, back at the Lighthouse, Jacob returns to Hugo! Jacob is nonplussed. Hugo is mad as hell that nothing worked out with Jack, the lighthouse in helping someone to get to the island. Jacob just glances over at Jack, who is sitting on the rocks in the distance, staring out at the sea and apparently feeling sorry for himself.
“Wait a minute,” realizes Hugo. “Did you want Jack to see what was in that mirror?” Jacob protests not. “Why?”

“It was the only way for him to understand how important he is,” says Jacob. Hugo says that plan backfired. Jacob is like, nah son. “Jack is here because he has to do something. He can’t be told what that is. He’s got to find it himself. Sometimes you can just hop in the back of someone’s cab and tell them what they’re supposed to do. Other times, you have to let him look out at the ocean for a while.”
Hugo asks if he can get the info up front next time. Jacob explains the need for secrecy. “I had to get you and Jack as far away from that temple as I possibly could.” What? Why? “Because someone is coming there. Someone bad.” Hugo wants to warn them. “You can’t warn them, Hugo. I’m sorry. It’s too late.”

MEET MY FRIEND
Back to Claire and Jin. She asks why he said Kate was raising Aaron. “I was lying,” says Jin. He says it was to save Justin’s life, but that Claire is right, the Others have her baby. “Aaron is at the Temple. I know because I saw him there. But you’ll need me to get to him.”
How’s that gonna happen, asks Claire? “There’s a secret way. No one will see us.” Claire thanks Jin. She also says that if Kate was raising Aaron, she’d kill her.
We hear a voice. “Am I interrupting?”
Holey Smoke! It’s Locke!!
Jin craps his pants. “John?”
Claire hits Jin with the C’mon Son face. “That’s not John. This is my friend.”
Locke smiles at her, then looks at Jin.

Wow! That was a wild ride. The Lighthouse sure was cool, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing that again sometime when we time-travel back to the good ol’ days. And Jin certainly has a interesting crew to roll with. And seeing Jack and Dogen intersect in the ATL was interesting. Plus we had Jacob and Smokey Smoke in the same episode, albeit not interacting with each other…yet. Well, hold on. Do we know for sure that’s Jacob? Could it be someone else? Hmm.

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Recently, I caught a post on this very site for a toy so cool, it literally took my breath away for a moment. Super 7 announced they’re making a ‘Star Wars’ Stormtrooper Super Shogun figure, reminiscent of the great Shogun Warriors from the 70’s. Right down to it’s shooting fist action! The moment was bittersweet, however, when I immediately recalled my own M.I.A. Dragun Shogun Warrior, which mysteriously vanished from my childhood home some time in the past 25 years. (See earlier traumatic post from me). But it did get me thinking…..

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The Marvel Universe deserves more support here at AFi.

I’m part of the problem.  I grew up on the Super-Friends.  Spider-man and his Amazing Friends just did not have the same impact.  But I always loved team books.  Here is one area where Dan Didio and I agree.  Buying a team book with a bunch of heroes in it instead of a solo title made us feel like you were getting a good deal.  Many for the price of one.

So at some point I decided it was foolish to limit myself to one comic company.  I jumped into the Marvel Comic universe with Avengers 225.  The Black Knight was either in that issue or appeared shortly thereafter.  I read the Avengers for years after that.  West Coast Avengers too.  I love the characters and the crazy huge roster.

pictures credit to: The Grand Comic Book Database -

http://www.comics.org/

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Before we begin, let me say, unequivocally, this post is born of my selfish desire to have the action figures I want based on properties I love.

And I am not alone.

I had two posts planned regarding Diamond Select Toys.  The first was going to be a fun Top 10 List (who doesn’t love those?) devoted to figures DST could make in order to increase the viability or their Star Trek line, specifically as relates to The Original Series.  

The second was going to be a frustrated, though reasoned, screed about how DST is butchering three beloved sci-fi television action figure lines: Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, and the aforementioned Star Trek.  

That was the plan.

Then I read this in the latest DST Q&A…

"…TRU has decided to cancel their orders for the latest TOS wave of figures. They are not selling enough to support the space but we have agreed to review the line at each of our future meetings to see if they can be brought in again."

…which was followed shortly by this…

"…the chances are the traditional action figure line is on hold for Trek in 2010"

If you know DST, even at all, you know within that statement lie the death of their Star Trek action figure line.

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[quote="Leeway"] JLU: Do we support this line or not? [/quote]

To me, this idea of "supporting a line" is just strange.  I work too hard for my money to buy things I don’t like.  Sure, I should have canceled my subscription to the Green Arrow/Black Canary comic 6 months ago because it was awful.  But I like the characters and thought it would get better.  For toys, its even clearer.

If I do not like the character, why would I buy it and put it on my shelf, subjecting myself to looking at it every day and knowing I could have spent the money on something I would rather have?

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"The Substitute" Review

HONEY, I’M HOME

We begin with Alternative Time Line (ATL) Locke. He’s pulled into the driveway of a nice suburban home in his minivan. As he’s leaving his van he has trouble with the lift that takes his wheelchair from van to ground. He’s not quite at ground level, so he tries to jump it. Unfortunately, it appears that ATL Locke hasn’t been participating in those games and competitions for people with handicaps and he wipes out, big time. Cue sprinklers. LA X Locke is all wet. But don’t dispair, Helen comes out and helps him regain his dignity.

And as we watch Locke bathe, we learn that they are engaged. Helen finds Jack’s card, asks who he is. Locke explains that he’s a spinal surgeon, "met him at lost luggage. He lost something, too." Helen tells Locke to call the doc. "Maybe it’s destiny." Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m really glad to see Helen is with John in the ATL. All John has really ever wanted was to be loved and Helen loves him. Really loves him.

YOU CAN FLY, YOU CAN FLY, YOU CAN FLY

Back to the island and the Main Time Line, the smoke monster is on the move. This is pretty damned cool. We get the perspective of Smokey as he zooms around the island. I don’t recall this ever happening before. While Jacob could apparently leave the island, the dark man could turn into smokey and fly. We zip around the island from Smokey Smoke’s perspective, jumping from island setting to setting, white flashes marking each transition, all the while making the usual mechanical grinding noises. Smokey stays on the grind! Smokey stops to pick up a machete. Now it’s turned into Smokey Locke. He cuts down something tied up in a tree. It’s Richard Alpert. "Time to talk," says Smokey Locke.

WORKIN’ 9 TO 5

Back to ATL Locke. He’s rolling off the elevator and getting to work. He gets welcomed back by his asshole boss Randy. Randy plays games with John over his trip to Australia. Locke makes excuses, but the guy is stringing him along, he already checked and knows Locke didn’t go. Locke says it was personal, asks if it can be counted as a vacation week, pleads a bit and so on I’m embarrassed for John. Nothing worse than a boss that gets wood from making his subordinates grovel. Randy fires him. Let’s all pray that Randy gets Erectile Dysfunction that isn’t cured by the little blue pill.

ASHES TO ASHES

ATL! Smokey Locke apologizes to Richard. Richard looks like he was in that bag with a dozen wildcats. He looks bad. Richard wants to know what Smokey Locke wants, and why he looks like Locke. He wants Richard to come with him, and he knew the Locke look could get him access to Jacob, because "John’s a candidate. Or at least he was a candidate." Richard doesn’t get it. "Didn’t Jacob tell you any of this?" Richard is clueless. Smokey Lock tries a bit of the ol’ triangulation to paint himself as more trustworthy than Jacob, again asks Richard to come with him. Richard is not going for the hustle.

On the beach, inside the foot statue, Ilana asks Ben what happened, you know, with Locke and all. Ben tells her that John Locke turned into a pillar of black smoke and killed everyone. She asks if the pillar of black smoke killed Jacob, too. "Uh, yeah playa, you right," lies Ben. She asks why his body isn’t there. Is this Law & Order? Ben explains that Locke kicked Jacob into the fire. Ilana takes some ashes out of the fire pit and puts them in a bag. Ben continues to stare with Bette Davis eyes. Ben asks why "Locke" took Richard into the jungle. "He’s recruiting," says Ilana. It’s like The Stand, only more drawn out. Think if it took this long to meet Randall Flagg. I’m now a little worried that I’ve committed 6 years to this program and it’s just a rehash of The Stand.

At the barracks, Smokey Locke follows the sound of loud music to find Sawyer drinking whiskey in his underwear. Serves you right for popping in unannounced, Smokey. Sawyer takes a good, long, drunken look at him. "I thought you were dead."

"I am."

Sawyer pours a second glass of Dharma whiskey for his visitor. "Here’s to being dead," says Sawyer. Smokey remarks that Sawyer’s taking the appearance of a dead man rather well. "I don’t give a damn if you’re dead, or time traveling or the Ghost of Christmas Past. All I care about is this whiskey. So bottoms up, and get the hell out of my house."

Smokey Locke disputes Sawyer’s ownership of the house. "Who are you?" asks Sawyer. "Cause you sure as hell ain’t John Locke." Sawyer astutely points out that John was always scared, even when he didn’t act scared. But Smokey Locke ain’t never scared. Hum. Seems Sawyer has been paying a lot more attention that he let in all the previous seasons.

Then things pick up a bit. "What if I told you I was the person who could answer the most important question in the world?" What’s that? "Why you’re here." Sawyer explains that his plane crashed, etc. "That’s not why you’re here," says Smokey Ls. "And if you come with me, I can prove it."

"Well, I guess I better put some pants on."

HUGE DOUCHE

Back in ATL, Locke, his meager belonging on his lap as he leaves his office is having yet another problem with his chair lift. This time, a yellow Hummer is blocking it. Because John is refusing to accept his paralysis he didn’t park in the handicapped space and he can’t access his chair lift. Locke hits the monstrous car with his hand, a car alarm sounds and the driver shows up. It’s Hurley! It’s Hugo!

Locke lays into him for parking poorly. Turns out Hugo owns the company. He offers to talk to "huge douche" Randy and get his job back, but Locke declines. So he sets Locke up with a temp agency he also owns. They’ll hook him up with a new job, pronto. Great. Hurley seems pretty powerful in this ATL world, and he seems to be a helluva lot happier. Perhaps wiser than he’s letting on. Wonder what’s up with that.

WHO’S THE KID?

On the island and MTL, Ilana gets her crew together on the beach and makes plans to hit the Temple. She tells Sun that Jin will be at the Temple. Sun insists that they have to bury Locke.

Out in the jungle, Smokey Locke asks Sawyer where his friends are. He tells him they’re at the Temple. Smokey presses some more, but Sawyer doesn’t want to talk. He just wants to get those sweet answers. The boy appears in the woods again. Sawyer asks who the hell it is, which shocks the usually cool Smokey, who didn’t think Sawyer could see the kid. Smokey Locke runs through the jungle to catch the boy. He trips on a vine. And guess who’s looking down at him.

The boy says, "You know the rules. You can’t kill him." Smokey Locke yells at the boy about not telling him what he can’t do, but the boy just nods his head "No" and bounces. Smokey yells some more. He’s not looking all that powerful in this scene. And, it appears that the real John Locke’s personality has surfaced in this unsettling encounter.

Meanwhile, as Sawyer yells for Locke even though he knows it’s not Locke, a frantic Richard Alpert appears. He tells Sawyer to hustle it up and get back to the Temple. He explains that Smokey Locke isn’t John Locke, and that Smokey Locke wants everyone dead. Then Richard hears Smokey returning and runs away. Smokey Locke wants to know who Sawyer was talking to and he says no one. Sawyer asks about the kid, but Smokey Locke says, "What kid?" Right, says Sawyer. Back to the walk.

ARE YOU A PEOPLE PERSON?

Back in ATL, John Locke struggles through an odd interview at the temp agency. He doesn’t like the weird psych-profiling questions from the woman who looks like she should be teaching at Hogwarts, so he asks to see the interviewer’s supervisor. She obliges. The supervisor is Rose! Locke wants to cut the crap, so to speak, and Rose is happy to help, metaphorically speaking.

Locke points out a construction job on the vacancies available. Rose politely tries to talk him out of it, but Locke is getting that walkabout attitude. Rose asks him to be more realistic, and Locke gets snippy: "What do you know about realistic?" Funny you should ask, son. Rose tells him that she has terminal cancer, she was in denial about it before, then she got over it. Get over it, John Locke. He gets over it a little. Now let’s get you a job that someone in a wheelchair can do, John Locke. He acquiesces.

OF MICE AND MEN

Smokey Locke and Sawyer continue their joyless journey through the jungle in MTL. Sawyer starts talking about how he likes Steinbeck, particularly Of Mice And Men. Know that one, Locke? "Nope, a little after my time," says Smokey Locke. Smokey Locke is so old, he owes Jesus a food stamp.

Apparently Sawyer is fixated on making an Of Mice And Men reference, even though Smokey Locke has not read the book, in order to make the buildup to Sawyer pulling a gun more literary. Smokey isn’t fazed, of course. He lays down his pimp talk on Sawyer. "What I am is trapped. But before I was trapped, I was a man, James. Just like you." He lays it down strong. "You’re so close, James. it would be such a shame to turn back now." Is this Lost, or Love And Death On Long Island?

Back by the beach, Ilana and the gang carry Locke’s body to his fresh grave which is where Boone and his sister and everyone else is burried. Ilana says she brought Locke to the beach so that everyone would know who they were up against. But couldn’t he change again, asks Ben? Ilana lets us in on something significant: Smokey Locke can’t change his appearance again. "He’s stuck this way," she says. Interesting.

Who’s going to say something about this guy? Anyone? Ben steps up. "John Locke was a…a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I will ever be. And I’m very sorry I murdered him." Ilana and Sun make pants-crapping faces.

Frank Lapidus says, "That’s the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to." Then he starts to shovel dirt over Locke. Magic dirt?

ATL Locke’s alarm clock goes off. It sounds a lot like the hatch. He gives Dr. Jack Shephard a call, but then Helen walks in and he changes his mind, hanging up on the receptionist. Helen asks who it was, and Locke admits it was Jack after some prodding. But he’s not going to go, he says. What’s the drill, asks Helen. Locke tells her about getting fired.

BRRRRING! Special delivery! It’s that lost luggage that Locke lost. Locke confesses that he lied, he didn’t go to the conference in Sydney. He tells her to open the case, which she does, and it’s a little freaky to open a suitcase and see a bunch of knives out of context, so I’m not sure why he took that approach. He then provides the context, tells her how he tried to go on a walkabout, but Australians are huge haters. He tells her about the yelling scene. He says he’ll see doctors if she wants him to, but that there’s no point, there are no miracles. Man of grumpy cynicism!

Helen says that’s cool, the only thing she was ever waiting for was Locke. And she tears up Jack’s card.

WE’RE ALMOST THERE

Now it’s time for Smokey Locke and Sawyer to climb down a cliff. Sawyer says there’s no way he’s climbing down first. Climb down second? Okay! Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets Cliffhanger as Sawyer stumbles, Sawyer falls, Smokey Locke helps him and finally they get down to an interesting little hideout, a hole in the cliff.

The hideout features a scale with a black rock and white rock, balancing each other. Smokey takes the white rock and skips it across the water. Inside joke, he says. Sawyer wants to know if he’s here to see this crappy room with rocks and crap. Smokey takes him to the other room. "That’s why you’re here," says Smokey Smoke, gesturing upwards with a torch. "That, James, is why you’re all here!" The torch reveals a ceiling covered with words, ostensibly names, mostly crossed out. We see a couple of familiar names, like Jarrah, and numbers, like 16. I wouldn’t qualify this as a full-on answer to the question of why they’re all here, but Sawyer seems impressed. I’m wondering if the numbers by the Survivors names all coincide with Hurley’s numbers. I’m gonna have to watch this scene again.

THE SUBSTITUTE

ATL again, where Locke has found a suitable job as a substitute teacher. He yells at kids in gym, he yells at kids in class. He’s the perfect substitute teacher. He rolls into the teacher’s lounge at lunch, where a familiar voice is chiding the room for improper coffee preparation. He turns to Locke.

"I don’t believe we’ve met," he says. "Ben Linus, European History."

THE ANSWER – SORT OF

Back to the cave! Sawyer asks who wrote all of this. Smokey says Jacob. Sawyer asks why all the names are crossed out. "They’re not all crossed out."

We see one such name: 23 – SHEPHARD. There’s a flashback of Jacob giving Jack the Apollo Bar. Next up, 8 – REYES. "That’s Hugo, right?" Right, Sawyer. "What’s the 8 about?"

"Jacob had a thing for numbers," says Smokey Locke. Really? That’s all we get?

"16 – JARRAH. 42 – KWON. I don’t know if it’s Sun or if it’s Jin. Here: 4 – LOCKE. I think we both know him. Last but not least, number 15 – FORD. That would be you."

"Why would he write my name on this wall? I never even met the guy."

"Oh, no. I’m sure you did meet Jacob. At some point in your life, James, probably when you were young, when you were miserable and vulnerable, he came to you, manipulated you. Pulled your strings like you were a puppet. And as a result, choices that you thought you made were never really choices at all. He was pushing you, James. Pushing you to the island."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"Because you’re a candidate."

"Candidate for what?"

"He thought he was the protector of this place. And you, James, have been nominated to take over that job."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you’ve got three choices. First, you can do nothing, and see how this all plays out. And possibly, your name will get crossed out. Second option, you can accept the job, become the new Jacob, and protect the island."

"Protect it from what?"

"From nothing, James. That’s the joke. There’s nothing to protect it from. It’s just a damned island. And it will be perfectly fine without Jacob, or you, or any of the other people whose lives he wasted."

"You said there were three choices."

"The third choice, James, is that we just go. We just get the hell off this island. And we never look back."

"And how do we do that?"

"Together."

This gives Sawyer pause.

"So what do you say, James? Are you ready to go home?"

Sawyer considers for another moment. Squints his eyes and says, "Hell, yes."

This episode put some interesting people together: Sawyer and Smokey; ATL Locke and Helen; ATL Locke, Ben and Hurley. But to what end? Methinks we’re still getting the runaround when it comes to who and what is really important and how this is all going to tie together neatly. And I really hope I am wrong that this is simply a rehash of The Stand.

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“WHAT KATE DOES” Review

A LITTLE LIGHTHEADED

The fun thing about TV is that even though you have to wait a week in suspense, the next program begins immediately after the last one ends. It’s sorta like time travel. Like on LOST. Anyway, Hippe walks quickly through a stone hallway in the temple and goes into a room where the Vest is typing on a typewriter. “He’s alive,” the tall man says.

At the spring, Jack goes to Sayid. Hurley comes over. “It worked? Dude, you’re okay!” Hurley hugs Sayid and Jack says to let him breath. Sayid is feeling a little lightheaded. “You died,” Jack says. From a little ways away, Kate says to Sawyer, “How is that even possible? Now he’s fine?”
“Of course he’s fine,” Sawyer says. “He’s an Iraqi torturer who shoots kids, he definitely deserves another go around.”

Kate notices that he’s looking outside and asks what he’s looking at. “How many guys with guns do you think are outside this place?” he asks. Sawyer says he’s thinking for running.

RUNNING

At the airport, Kate looks for a cab. She sees Marshal Mars and hears him say, “She’s wearing handcuffs. She’s probably got them covered.” Then he sees her and she jumps into a cab with Claire. The driver says he already has a customer and she points a gun at him and tells him to go. He speeds away and she tells him to slow down. Claire begs Kate to let her out.

Kate sees a police car. The driver of the taxi stops and Kate asks what he’s doing. There is a man in the road, bent over picking up his luggage. He turns around and it’s the amazing exploding Arzt. He yells, “Hey, I’m walking here, I’m walking here!” But he doesn’t do a very good New York accent. The driver beeps the horn and Kate sees Jack on the sidewalk. She gives him a second look, like he looks familiar but she can’t place him.

Claire starts to get out and Kate says, “Do not get out of this car!” She tells the driver to go. The cabbie mows over Arzt’s bags while he yells that he got the licence plate.At the stoplight, the light turns yellow and then red. Kate says, “At the light, take a left.” Claire and Kate get into an argument and the driver jumps outta the cab and runs off. Kate climbs over the seat and takes charge and the two women zip away. Kate takes Claire’s purse and makes her get out in some industrial area. And drives off.

Bullet Wound Healed

Jin and Jack help Sayid outside. They sit him down and Sayid says, “Who are these people? What do they want?” “It’s the Others, dude,” Hurley says. “They caught us, again. I don’t know, I think they’re trying to protect us.” “As you can see,” Miles says, “Hugo, here, has assumed the leadership position, so that’s pretty great.” “What?” Sayid asks Jack. “The wound,” Jack says, “it’s almost completely closed.” Sayid looks at it and says, “Thank you, Jack.” “For what?” “Saving my life.”

Vest walks out, followed by Hippie and other men. Vesst seems like he can’t quite believe Sayid is standing there. He says something and Hippe says he wants Sayid to come with them. Sayid wants to know where. Hippie says inside. Jack intervenes and a fight erupts and a gun is fired and they all turn to see Sawyer pointing the gun. Through Hippie, Vest gives the command not to shoot and to lower their weapons. To Sawyer, Hippie says, “Please, you don’t have to do this. We won’t hurt your friend.” “He ain’t my friend,” Sawyer says. “Do what you want with him and anybody else. But me, I’m walking out of here.” After a little discussion, Sawyer leaves.

Some of the men take Sayid, and Jack asks where they are taking him. Aldo points a gun at Jack and says, “Everyone just calm down!” Kate says she can track Sawyer. Jack looks upset. Jin says he’ll go with Kate and the Others.

KATE LOOSES THE CUFFS

Kate drives the taxi to an auto repair shop and points a gun at the man working there. “Where’s your tire hammer?” He stops working and looks at her handcuffs. “You’ve got a problem.” The auto repair dude helps Kate get the handcuff off without cutting off her hand. She says thanks. At first, I thought the man behind the protective eyegear was so going to be Tom the Other. Wouldn’t it make sense that in the ATL, gay Tom is an auto mechanic? But alas, just some (rather helpful) guy.

She goes into the garage bathroom to change clothes and takes Claire’s bag into the bathroom and takes off her jacket. She opens the bag to find a picture of pregnant Claire inside. The bag is full of stuff for the baby, including a stuffed whale. Kate looks ready to cry.

THE TEST

At the temple, Kate packs a backpack and Aldo says, “You better not slow us down.” “You better not slow me down,” she says. If she had pigtails, I think Aldo would pull them now. Jack wants to go, but Kate reminds him that Sawyer will kill him. She starts to walk away and says goodbye. He pulls her close and says, “Be careful.”

Inside a room elsewhere in the temple, Sayid is shackled to a table. “What is it that you want?” Sayid asks Vest. “Please, whatever you’re thinking of doing–” Vest opens a can that has ash in it and blows some over Sayid’s bare chest. He studies the ash. Sayid is looking really scared. Vest connects wires to Sayid and then cranks a wheel. He flips a switch and there is electronic buzzing and a light goes on. He turns a dial and Sayid begins writhing in pain. Vest turns off the machine and takes off the wires. “Why?” Sayid asks. “Why are you doing this?” Vest pulls a red hot poker from the fire. “I don’t have any secrets,” Sayid says. Vest puts the poker on Sayid’s chest while he screams. He speaks Japanese to Hippie. Hippie steps in with two other men and says, “We’re sorry we had to put you through that. It was a test. We had to be sure.” “Test to be sure of what?” Sayid asks. “Don’t worry,” Hippie says. “You passed.”

Sayid is removed from the table and the other Others take him out. Hippie says to Vest, “I just lied to him, didn’t I?” Vest says yes.

CLAIRE’S STUFF

Kate drives the taxi back to where she’d let Claire out. Claire is sitting on a bench. Kate gets out and they have a strange conversation. Kate convinces her to get in the cab and she takes her to Langdon Street in Brentwood. She explains to Kate that there is a couple there who are going to adopt the baby. They were supposed to meet her at the airport.

KATE’S ESCAPE

As they walk through the jungle, Kate asks Aldo why they are keeping them at the temple. He asks if she’s ever seen a pillar of black smoke that makes a ticka-ticka sound and looks pissed off. She says yes. Aldo says they are protecting them from that.

Jin wants to know if they know anything about another plane coming to the island. An Ajira flight. Aldo wants to know when the press conference started. The other Other with Aldo, Justin starts to say the he thinks Jin is talking about the one that landed – - when Aldo tells him to shut up.

They continue walking, but Kate stops and says, “No, no, that’s a decoy trail. He went this way.” Aldo questions Kate’s decision and Justin agrees with her. Aldo is not a happy Other. They continue on and Aldo asks Kate, “So what’s your strategy for bringing your boyfriend back? I hope you got one, because he shot a guy on his way out. If he tries that on me I’m going to blow his head off.” Kate almost trips once of Rousseau’s traps. Justin starts to talk about her and Aldo gets all pissy again. Kate shoves a canteen into Aldo’s chest. “What was he going to say?” “You don’t even remember me, do you? You don’t recognize me. Well maybe this will jog your memory. Three years ago you staged yourself a little prison break. And you did it by knocking the guard out with the butt of your rifle. That would be me.” So, what is this a high school reunion where Aldo is upset because he used to sit next to Kate in Algebra and she doesn’t remember him? To show she does recognize Aldo, Kate hits him with the canteen and then throws the canteen on the trip wire. The net full of rocks swings down and hits Justin. Kate takes a pistol and a rifle and Jin asks what she’s doing. “Escaping,” she says.

INFECTION

The two Others bring Sayid into the room where the spring is. Hurley yells, “Jack, he’s back.”
Miles and Hurley sit Sayid down against a pillar. Sayid tells them that Vest tortured him and he doesn’t know why. That they didn’t ask him any questions. Jack goes to the guards and tells them to step aside. They look at each other and step aside. Jack goes into the room where Vest is grinding something by hand. Hippie is leaning against the wall looking at a book. “Hey, Shephard,” he says. “We were hoping you’d come on your own.” Jack is in a pissed off mood and wants to know what they did to Sayid. Hippie says that they didn’t do anything to him and that Sayid is sick. “Sick with what?” Asks Jack. Vest speaks Japanese and Hippie says, “He’s, well, there’s not really a literal translation. The closest thing would be infected.” “Infected?” Jack says. “He’s not even running a fever.” Vest smiles. “Did I say something funny?” Jack says. Hippie says that he, Jack, doesn’t really have a sense of humor. Vest puts a capsule on a piece of paper and says something. He hold out the paper to Jack and Hippie says that Jack has to give Sayid the pill.

Jack chuckles. “Are you serious? Why don’t you give it to him?” Hippie says it won’t work unless Sayid takes it willingly and he won’t take anything willingly from them now. Jack, showing a little sense of humor says that maybe they should have asked him to take it before they tortured him. Hippie says they we not torturing him, but were diagnosing him to see if he was infected. He says that Sayid is infected.

“I’m not going to give anything to Sayid unless I know what’s in it.” He starts to walk out and Hippie looks worried. Vest puts his hand up to stop Hippie from saying anything and in English says, “Tell me, Shephard, your friend, how did he get shot?” Jack says Sayid was helping him and Vest says it was Jack’s fault. Jack says yes. Vest continues, “And there have been others who were hurt or died helping you?” Again, Jack says yes. “Well, then this is your chance to redeem yourself.” Says Vest. He grabs Jack’s hand and puts the pill in his palm. “It’s medicine. And your friend needs it.” Jack wonders what will happen if he doesn’t give it to him. Vest says the infection will spread.

THE PILL

Miles talks to Sayid. “So nothing, there wasn’t anything? No white light? Angels singing? No dead relatives?” “I remember being shot,” Sayid says. “You’re not a zombie, right?” Hurley says.
“No, I am not a zombie,” Sayid says. Jack returns and asks Miles and Hurley if they mind giving him and Sayid a minute. Hurley gets up and says, “Yeah, see private talks kind of freak me out because they usually lead to me having to do something that I don’t fully understand.” As they depart Miles has the best line of the hour. “We’ll be in the food court if you need us.”

Jack sits and takes a drink of water. He tells Sayid that they were trying to diagnose him with the hot poker. “Right. They told me it was some sort of test, which they said I passed, but clearly I didn’t.” Jack opens the paper with the pill in it. “What’s that?” Sayid asks. “They want you to take it. It’s medicine, according to them.” Jack confesses that he doesn’t know what the pill is or what it will do to Sayid. He tells him that they fixed him, not Jack. Sayid says that he doesn’t care who fixed him, he cares about who he trusts and if Jack wants him to take it he will. Jack closes his hand around the pill.

THEN WHAT?

Jin follows Kate through the jungle. “Wait,” he says, “where are you going?” She tells him she’s catching up with Sawyer. “So you never planned to bring him back to the Temple?” She says she isn’t interested in being a prisoner. Jin asks where her plane landed. She tells him she doesn’t know. Jin explains that Sun was on that plane and he has to find her. “You think they’re going to tell you? You think they care about you or about Sun or about any of us?” Jin asks what she cares about and Kate wishes him good luck and heads off into the jungle. He asks what she’ll do when she catches up with Sawyer. She says she guesses they will figure it out together.

MEET THE BASKUMS

Kate looks at the directions that Claire had written down while she drives. Claire is defensive about the couple not meeting her at the airport. She finds the house and they walk up together and when the woman answers the door Mrs. Baskum looks at Claire and starts to cry. She says her husband left her and she can’t do it alone. Kate looks like she’s gonna pop a cap in Mrs. Baskum’s ass. Claire doubles over and says the baby is coming.

This wasn’t really working for me as a plot development. It seemed like a lazy way to remove the adoption possibility. But it makes me wonder whether Richard Malkin was still the one who sent Claire to Los Angeles. We’ve been led to believe that he put Claire on the plane knowing that it would crash and that she would be forced to raise her baby rather than give it up. Would he still send her to LA if he didn’t foresee the crash? Of course, as things turned out, Claire only ended up raising her baby under the crash scenario for about 100 days, anyway. And Malkin did tell Mr. Eko that he wasn’t a real psychic. In any case, I’d love to run into Malkin again in any timeline.

SAWYER CRIES

Kate tracks Sawyer to the Othertown. She hears clattering and goes into the house. She follows the noises and sees Sawyer in the bedroom pulling up floorboards. He pulls out a shoebox and sits down with it. He opens it and pulls out a little black bag and begins to cry. Kate watches and then tries to sneak away, but the floor creaks. Sawyer grabs his gun and says, “Who’s there? You better come out now or I’m just going to start shooting.” He goes into the hallway and lowers his gun when he sees Kate. “What the hell are you doing here?” “I was worried about you,” she says.
He walks out.

CAN”T A GIRL HELP A GIRL OUT?

Claire goes into labor and Kate, pulling a 180 from the desperate-to-escape convict we saw earlier, drives her to the hospital in the stolen cab and even stays by her side. The doctor is none other than our good friend Ethan, which I thought was one of the episode’s more favorable developments. “I don’t want to stick you with needles if I don’t have to,” he says. I guess papa Horace got him on the sub in “The Incident” or else he wouldn’t actually be alive in this time line. Ethan is very concerned with making certain that Claire and the baby are both okay. Talk about a change in personality.

Interestingly enough, Claire names her baby Aaron in a moment of panic that is both very similar and very different to the way in which he was named in season one. On the island, Claire doesn’t name her baby until Rousseau kidnaps him a few days after his birth. In the alternative time line, Aaron’s name comes 40 days early, but also under duress.

ALONE

Sawyer sits at the end of the dock and Kate goes out and sits next to him. Sawyer is crying. Kate tells Sawyer that she came back for Claire to try and bring her back to Aaron. Huh? She says she shouldn’t have followed him to which Sawyer replies, “Which time?”
Sawyer says that it’s really his fault that Juliet is dead and that he thinks that some people, like him and implied – Kate, are meant to be alone. He takes a ring he’s holding and throws it into the water. “You can probably make it back to the Temple by nightfall.” He walks away and she cries.

DOGEN

Back at the temple, Vest is sitting in the room where they put the hurt on Sayid. He’s spinning a baseball around on his desk. Jack comes in and asks what it is. “It’s a baseball,” says Vest. Jack asks Vest why his baseball-spinning ass doesn’t speak English more often. Vest says he does it to maintain a healthy distance from the people he has to look after. Jack asks for his name. “My name is Dogen,” says Vest a.k.a. Dogen. Jack asks how he got to the island. Dogen says he was brought to the island, like everyone else. Jack doesn’t understand. Dogen says “You know exactly what I mean.” Okay. Now that made a helluva lot of sense.
Dogen guesses that Jack didn’t give Sayid the pill. Good guess. Jack wants to know what’s in it. Dogen won’t tell. You’ll just have to trust me, he says. But as we know, Jack does not play that. Jack takes the pill! Ha! Dogen runs over and ass-kick Heimlichs the pill out of Jack. Now will you tell me what’s in the pill, asks Jack? “Poison,” says Dogen.

JOAN HART, CAB DRIVER

In Claire’s hospital room, a detective shows up looking for Joan Hart. The woman who signed in with Claire. Joan is Kate secret identity. Claire covers for her. Kate reappears after the cops leave. Kate tells Calire she’s innocent and Claire believes her. Claire gives Kate her credit card. Kate tells Claire to keep the baby, you know, because they’re so close now. Claire says she doesn’t know where the name Aaron came from, it just came out. Then Kate’s like PEACE.

HAVE SOME TEA
In the Temple, Hippie is in disbelief over Jack swallowing the pill. Believe it, Hippie. Jack failed recess, he does not play well with others. He runs with sissors. Dogen gives Jack some tea. Jack wants to know why they would want to kill Sayid. Dogen says the believe he was bad juju. Hippie translates it as “Claimed.” Jack doesn’t understand and wants to know by what exactly. Dogen says there is a darkness growing inside Sayid and once it reaches his heart, everything that was Sayid will be gone. Jack thinks this is more island bullshit double-talk and Dogen says “Because it happened to your sister.” That gets Jack’s attention.

JUST LIKE IN A JOHN FORD WESTERN

Jin goes to a stream and takes a drink. Justin and Aldo catch up with him and rough him up. Aldo wants to know where the bitch is. Jin says he’s going back to the Temple, but Aldo is still mad that Kate kicked his ass and didn’t remember him in algebra, and considers taking it out on Jin. But just when Aldo is about to shoot Jin…POP! POP! Aldo down! POP! Justin down! Jin looks to see who the shooter is. Claire!
“Claire?”
Claire looks at Jin, confused. Claire?

Truly loving Lost means we have to be honest when it misses the mark. And this episode, my friends, was a dud. While Kate episodes aren’t known for being the finest hours of the show, this one was particularly distasteful due to some especially uninteresting subplots and irritating character motivations.

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Earlier this evening I attended what was considered the  "world premiere" of the film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan. Although it has been widely available illegally on the internet, this was the first official screening of the film, before it’s debut on multiple media formats Feb. 23rd. In attendance were the writer of the film Dwayne McDuffie, voice director of the film Andrea Romano, and actor James Woods.

The film tells the story of the titular Justice League facing evil versions of themselves in a parallel universe, and really, what more could you want? This film is the latest in a series of direct to video films featuring characters from the DC Universe. The script was written many years ago to be used as a back-door pilot film for the Cartoon Network show Justice League: Unlimited. The script was never produced, until finally executive producer Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series, JLU, JL: The New Frontier), a long time champion of the script, got it off the shelf and into production.

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Dear Matty,

On behalf of myself, and everyone else boned today:

Do something….about something.

You’re embarrassing yourself and us.

Thank you.

Your Friend,

Jasey

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Here we are, on the eve of Toy Fair.  I know we’ve had topics similar to this, but they were pretty much limited to specific companies or lines.  I’d like to put here, in a place you do not need to register to post, an opportunity.

 If you were at Toy Fair this week, in person, and got to talk directly to the marketing folks for any company, 1) which company would it be and 2) what would you want to say to them or ask them.  I’ve been really thinking about my collection, what I feel is missing from it, and what I want to see added soon.  With this is mind, here is mine.

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“LA X Part 2″ Review

The second hour begins with the main time line in the jungle on the island. Sayid is on a stretcher and Sawyer gets Miles to help him with burying Juliette. He gives Jack a vicious stare and Jack looks like he stepped in dog crap.

We’re next at LAX. Jack is in line to go through Customs when he’s paged to the Oceaniac courtesy desk where he’s told his father’s coffin is missing. Oceaniac, like all good airlines these days doesn’t have a clue where it is. And, no you can’t have an extra bag of peanuts.

IS THAT A WALL IN YOUR POCKET OR ARE YOU GLAD TO SEE ME?

We’re back in the jungle and our group arrives at the temple. It’s a big wall. Hurley says they are to get in by going through the tunnel. Inside they find a chamber with a one-armed skeleton. Jin says Smokey tore the guys arm off. Nice. Kate makes a torch and they all shuffle around a hole.

There are strange noises and Kate goes to investigate. She disappears and Jack goes looking for her only to hear a disturbance behind him and then Jack gets smacked and wakes up and they are all prisoners of the Others and are taken to a ziggurat temple that is inside the wall.

BORN TO ESCAPE THE MARSHALL’S CUSTODY (EVERY TIME)!

Back at LAX, Mars declares a murder (Kate) to the Customs agent. Don’t know where that is exactly on the form. But then I never had to claim one so I never really looked that close. She has to go to the bathroom and reluctantly Ed takes her into a women’s restroom. You know this is a science fiction program because it is #1 spotlessly clean and, #2 empty. Mars checks a stall and in goes Kate with a 2 minute warning. She instantly produces Jack’s pen. Remember he was going to use it on Charlie, but it wasn’t in his pocket. Seems, Kate was a busy girl in that brush with our doctor. She takes it apart to use to unlock her handcuffs and drops the spring which rolls out from the stall.

Marshal Mars takes a minute to wipe the grime of 14+ hours in Oceaniac 815 off his face and doesn’t see the spring. But then he begins to give Kate hell for taking so long. Maybe she has froze up because he’s right outside the door. Just as Ed is raising hell because he’s found the spring from the pen under his foot (remember, the bathroom is spotlessly clean), Kate bursts out and does some really good whipass on our Marshal.

This girl just can’t be brought to justice, can she? We’ve seen Ed Mars lose her over and over again, and then when he finally gets her, he dies after a plane crash. In the alternative time line, Kate’s escape is completely ridiculous. Would Mars really take that moment to wash his face? He knows what a flight risk she is. This scene was a rare moment of “LA X” worthy of criticism IMHO.

She jumps into an elevator with Sawyer. Being the bad boy he is, he knows she’s up to no good, but there is honor among thieves and he helps her get out of a sticky situation with two security folks that board the elevator. I wonder if he was exiled from Australia?

WHERE IS MY OUIJA BOARD?

Miles and Sawyer finish putting Juliette to rest. Sawyer wants to know what the important thing Juliette wanted to tell him before she died. Miles feels like a cheap date. Sawyer throws him onto the grave and Miles makes contact. He has a startled/shocked look on his face. He tells Sawyer that she said, “It worked.” Sawyer looks confused and stomps off into the jungle.

YOU SAY PYRAMID, I SAY ZIGGURAT. LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF

Back at the ziggurat, the Survivors are taken to the entrance when a Japanese guy in a long leather vest comes out with some hippie dude in very 60′s round glasses beside him. Vest speaks in Japanese and Hippie interprets, asking the Survivors who they are. Stewardess Cindy, looking good with some long hair that might have been dreadlocks, steps out from behind some of the other Others, and says they are survivors of the first flight, Oceaniac 815. Vest says something and Hippie says “Are you sure?” Vest turns, mumbles something in Japanese and walks away and Hippie says “Shoot ‘em.” Hurley yells out that Jacob sent them. Vest wants Hurley to prove it and Hugo points to the guitar case. Vest opens it and it’s a giant, guitar sized anhk. Vest breaks it in half and pulls out a scroll and reads it. He then wants to know all the Survivor’s names. Everyone identifies themselves and Vest talks to Hippie who tells them to bring Sayid into the spring.
It was cool to see a decidedly hippie-esque Cindy. Sawyer nicknaming her Amelia Earhart seems especially appropriate for her dramatic reappearance after three years of wondering where she was after being captured by the Others. She seems perfectly happy to let them all be shot by the Others.

And that brings up a point. Is it just me, or have the Others lost some of their cool factor? They’re so quick to shoot people that it’s just kind of annoying. But if anyone plays the Jacob card, then they turn into complete whimps. And these Others dress much more strangely than Richard’s group. I can’t imagine these people having ever lived in the Barracks.

Hurley, getting a little pissed about being the messenger that doesn’t know what the hell he’s carrying tells Vest that after dragging the damned guitar case all over hell’s half acre he has a right to know what the scroll says. Hippie tells him and the others that if Sayid dies they are all in a lot of trouble. He doesn’t mention that it begins with ‘T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stand for pool.

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DECLARE?

We whiz back in time and space to LAX where Jin and Sun are trying to clear Customs. The agent going through their bags looks like he’s pissed that he didn’t qualify for LAPD and had to settle for a Customs job and is taking it out on all foreigners he encounters. After dealing with the watch from his father-in-law, Agent doesn’t-like-foreigners finds a small bag in Jin’s suitcase with a buttload of US currency in it much to Jin’s chagrin. Jin hasn’t declare the money and it’s over $10 grand so he’s taken away. A nice female Customs Agent asks Sun if she speaks english and if this is all a misunderstanding to speak up now. Sun mulls it over and then says “No. No English.”

SPLISH SPLASH, I WAS TAKIN’ A BATH

Zipping back to the island, the Survivors are taken into the temple where there is a large bubbling spring that reminds me of the set where baby Moses was found in The Ten Commandments. Hippie is very concerned because the water is cloudy. It looks like there is blood in the water to me, but I’m not watching in HDTV.

Vest walks down some steps, produces a knife, slices his hand open and sticks it into the bubbling spring. He then tells the Survivors, through Hippie, that if they do this there are risks. Sayid is taken and put in the spring, face down by three big Others goons while Vest turns over an hourglass that looks like he stole it from the Wicked Witch of the West. Sayid begins to struggle and all the Survivors are screaming that he’s drowning. Our Iraqi friend stops thrashing and the sand runs out shortly thereafter. He’s brought up and put on the floor and Vest checks him over, sighs and says, through Hippie, that “Your friend is dead.” Everyone looks sad and Jack starts CPR until Kate stops him.

REMEMBER BAGS LOOK ALIKE, PLEASE HAVE YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIM TICKET

Sayid is in baggage claim at LAX looking at a picture of Nadia when the amazing – exploding Artz walks up and they share an awkward silent moment together. Kate brushes by them and manages to get outside.

And then after failing to steal Frogurt’s taxi (you caught him snoozing between Boone and Locke on the plane, right?), she uses the marshal’s gun and hijack’s a taxi with Claire in it!
We can assume that she was on the plane, though we didn’t see her. I wonder if she saw Charlie and had any vague feelings of recognition.

In the taxi, it was impossible to tell whether she was pregnant or not. I’m going to guess yes, though, because the possibility that Kate plays a role in Aaron’s birth and/or raising once again is too interesting to pass up. Of course, I’m not sure I can make myself care about the fate of a new Aaron when I’m still not sure if the original Aaron is going to see his mommy again.

This issue is kind of a problem with the alternative time line storyline in general, actually. I’ll admit that I love the potential, here, to wrap things up more nicely for some characters, to offer something more than redemption – an actual shot at happiness, for things to go right. But still, these aren’t the same characters. These are shades of the characters we care about. The real Claire isn’t driving in a taxi with Kate – she’s presumably been wandering the jungle for three years. It will be nice to see alternative Claire get a bright future, but I want something for real Claire, too.

This, I think, is the danger of the alternative time line. It’s a diversion, a “what if”. But the main focus, at least in viewers’ hearts, or at least mine, will still be the island. Hopefully the show doesn’t forget that. It doesn’t look like that’s going to be a problem, though, with all the great on-island action.

SORRY, I THOUGHT YOU KNEW

In the temple everyone is sitting around in stunned silence. Cindy and a couple of the kids that were kidnaped in the first season bring in some food. Miles and an unconscious Sawyer are brought in. Miles says James knocked three of them out before he was hit with a rock.

Hippie comes and gets Hurley. They go to see Vest who, through Hippie asks what Jacob told him. Hugo says he was told to come where they are and that the people would save Sayid. Hurley figures out that Vest speaks English. Vest tells him he doesn’t like the way English tastes on his tongue. Hippie asks when is Jacob coming. Hurley looks at them oddly and says “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” They ask why and he says, “Because he’s dead.” Vest and Hippie freak out and pandemonium ensues at the temple. Rockets are fired into the air, Gates are reinforced. People are pouring ashes around the perimeter. Hurley says “I guess we’re not getting out.” Hippie says “It’s not to keep you in, it’s to keep him out!”

LET’S NOT RESORT TO NAME CALLING

Locke is dragging the dead guys into a pile while Ben sits over in a corner wide eyed. “What are you?” He asks. Locke says he’s not a what, he’s a who. He apologizes to Ben that he had to see him that way. “You’re a monster!” Cries Ben. “Let’s not resort to name calling.” Replies Locke. “You used me.” Bemoans Ben.

Locke tells Ben that John Locke was very confused when Ben killed him. He tells Ben that the last thing John was thinking when he died was that he didn’t understand. The conversation continues with Locke telling Ben that John was the only one of the Survivors who didn’t want to go home. Evidently, Locke didn’t meet up with Rose and Bernard. Ben asks what he wants and with very effective lighting on his face, Locke says he wants to go home.

We only got a few of them, but these were easily my favorite scenes. As well-acted as John Locke was, I think Terry O’Quinn might play an even better villain.

GOODBYE DUDE

At the bubbling spring Hurley leans over a soggy Sayid and says “Goodbye, Dude. If you ever wanna talk, I’m around.” Miles looks very freaked at Hurley. Elsewhere Kate is reviving Sawyer. He tells Kate he “Ain’t gonna kill Jack. He deserves to suffer with the rest of us.”

MEETING AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME

Jack is talking to his Mom about his Dad’s coffin not arriving on his cell phone in an Oceaniac baggage claim office. I have to say, Jack’s upset about his father being missing, but he’s not SO upset. I definitely think the version of Jack we’re seeing here is more balanced. And I think this becomes apparent in a big way in his subsequent conversation with John. John, for his part, has lost some luggage too: his knives. He’s probably better off without them. He’s a farmer, not a hunter, right? And when he picked the knife in Richard’s test, he failed. Let ‘em stay lost.

John explains to Jack that though his father’s body might be missing, his father’s spirit is somewhere else entirely. Yes, that has island ramifications, but it’s also a nice thing for a John who strongly believes in faith to say. And you know what? Jack appreciates it. He appreciates this nod to faith.

And then the reverse happens. Jack asks about Locke’s paralysis and politely offers him a free checkup to see if there’s anything he can do to fix it. John accepts Jack’s card gratefully. And just like that, John has proven that he can be a man of science, too – he hasn’t totally given up on the idea that he can be physically healed. “Nothing is irreversible,” Jack says. Would this comment be the opposite of Whatever Happened, Happened? Is this a universe where Whatever Could Have Happened, May Happen?

Jack and John both seem to be more complete characters in the ATL. It’s not Man of Science, Man of Faith here. They respect each other immediately – they acknowledge each others’ philosophies. I hope – I really, really hope – that John goes to see Jack and Jack fixes his paralysis. And that they play backgammon together every Tuesday thereafter.

Enter the really tricky questions like – is the Christian Sheppard that walks around in the main time line the body from the missing coffin of the alternative time line? Not that they need an extra body, since Jack found the body-less coffin in the main time line. IS Christian Sheppard even dead now?

GOOD TO SEE YOU OUT OF THOSE CHAINS

Outside the statue, the Temple has signaled Richard’s group of oncoming danger. Locke emerges from the Statue, delivers Richard a cryptic greeting, “It’s good to see you out of those chains”, beats him unconscious, reprimands the Others, “I’m very disappointed in all of you!” and disappears with Richard slung over his back.

This gives enormous credence to the views of Richard as either a prisoner aboard the Black Rock or a slave from ancient Egypt. In either case, Richard knows man in black, but it seems like they haven’t encountered each other for quite some time.

I’M FEELING MUCH BETTER NOW

Back at the temple, Hippie asks Jack to join him for a conversation. As they argue Hurley yells, “Jack!” Everyone turns to see Sayid sitting up. “What happened?” he says. You know the answer to that Sayid! Whatever Happened, Happened!

But is this really even Sayid? Can Jacob take the bodies of dead people, just like the man in black? There’s a chance that this Sayid actually is the man in black, although it’s a slim chance. If this body was someone other than Sayid, experience tells us the real body would still be around, too. And we know that Ben has undergone a similar procedure as a child without having his body taken over by some other force. It will be very interesting to see what Sayid is like from now on. I’m pretty excited about this development – it could be just what Sayid’s character needs to really break out of his doomed shell.

CONCLUSIONS

So there it is. The stakes are obviously high. We know for sure the face of the enemy, though we wish we knew its real name: the Man in Black/Black Smoke Monster. What sort of defenses will the Temple be able to employ against him? What will Ilana and Richard’s Others do? It seems like it might be a good idea to meet up with the Temple Others, though Locke might get to them first.

In one reality, the island stands ready to be the battlefield between ancient competitors: the forces and belated guardians of Jacob vs. The Dark Enemy. In another reality, there is no island. We have two groups of characters – those we have come to know, love and hate, and those who share traits with them but aren’t quite the same. Let’s see how both turn out.

Learning what was in the guitar case so early in the season was a pleasant surprise, and the giant Ankh was certainly an impressive prop, regardless of the fact that a sealed envelope would’ve probably worked just as well.

Finally, we see the temple, and meet a whole new group of characters. It’s a good thing Hiroyuki Sanada is so good at being the mysterious Vest, because these original recipe Others (shunning technology and performing rituals) could very well have been too much, too late. Instead, Sanada seemed a perfect disciple and ally of Jacob, and through him, the Others again seemed to be a tribe to be reckoned with. An intimidating air that was reminiscent of the first two seasons, before Kate found the costumes.

What of the temple spring? Apparently it’s supposed to heal, as the Island itself does, though that power went missing as the water turned cloudy. Sayid, instead of being revived, apparently died. But that was likely always Jacob’s plan. I bet that Jacob now has a new agent or vessel in Sayid, given the unfamiliar voice with which Sayid asked, “What happened?”

But with word that Jacob is dead, the Others at the Temple prepare for battle with “him.” Their flare alerts Alpert, who’s sadly pummeled by Unlocke/Man In Black, and I guess the battle is on.

NOTES

From beyond the grave, Juliet says, “It worked.” So can she see the other timeline? Is it even, really, another timeline? After all, in Los Angeles, it’s 2004. On the island, it’s 2007 or so. Maybe the writers can somehow connect the two into one single timeline? Does that even make sense?

The Man in Black’s tribute to the late John Locke was a bittersweet one. He spoke the truth about our sad, defeated friend, and our would-be hero. But perhaps not surprisingly, Terry O’Quinn’s “menacing” look is incredibly effective, and I’ll gladly let John Locke go in favor of seeing what the actor does with a whole new soul.

The Man in Black wants to get off the island, and go “home.” I guess it’s fair to ask where or what “home” is, but I think the real story is why he (and likely Jacob) are trapped on the island. His reference to Alpert’s chains, meanwhile, hint strongly at the suspected link between Alpert and the Black Rock.

Hurley can see Jacob, but Jin can’t, though Jacob touched them both. Therefore, Hurley is special, and seeing the dead is simply his thing. Indeed, he seems almost too suddenly fine with it, barely reacting when Jacob tells him he died three hours prior, and talking warmly to the recently deceased Sayid. Miles, too, got to let his freak flag fly, and this time his communion with the dead came with a great deal of dramatic flourish. Sometimes, I can’t believe this is the same show we were watching in Season 1.

Great lighter moments. Hurley saying he knows how to use a gun, or arguing about trademarking the word “Outback.” Locke telling Boone he’s not pulling his leg, and Boone telling Locke he’d follow him to stay safe on a plane. And, of course, a Sawyer nickname: Earhart.

Richard said, “Asking me what’s in the shadow of the damn statue doesn’t mean you’re in charge.” He flippantly referred to a line that, up until now, was infused with significance and weight. Kind of like, “Live together, die alone.”

Fun with pointy things! Jack was again looking for a pen to save someone’s life. And how great is it that a character named Bram dies via a stake through his heart?

Book: “Fear and Trembling” by Soren Kierkegaard, a retelling of the biblical story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac.

In case you missed it, one of Jacob’s bodyguard’s bullets ricocheted off of the Man in Black/Smoke Monster, so this Big Bad cannot be shot and seems to be invincible. Quick, somebody, git a rope!

OTHER THOUGHTS

1) Was Charlie trying to kill himself? Did he accidentally swallow the package during the turbulence? I didn’t get it. Yes I understand the parallelism of Jack having saved Charlie before, and in the current storyline him failing to save Sayid… but this seemed weird to me.

2) How much is different? Is it just these character’s lives? Have other things turned out differently? For instance, will the Red Sox win the series and George Bush be re-elected President (as Ben explained to Jack during his captivity in the MTL). I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if the show never goes in that direction, but you gotta wonder.

3) We didn’t see Michael or Walt on the plane. Was that because they couldn’t get the actors to show or because Michael and Walt were no longer on the plane? It seems like Walt is too important not to be touched on in either the ATL or the MTL, and the ATL might end up being a better place to do it. Then there’s the Tailies – what about Eko, Ana Lucia and Libby?

4) I’m not willing to believe that Sun doesn’t speak English. Sun is the second biggest liar on Lost. Only Ben tops her.

5) Poor Shannon! Since Maggie Grace has been too busy shooting movies to come back to Lost, Shannon is stuck in an abusive relationship for all of eternity—and will never get the chance to cozy up to hot Naveen Andrews/Sayid for some lovin’. Boo! Shannon’s new backstory, as well as Hurley now being “the luckiest man alive” and Desmond being a passenger on 815, illustrate that this is a separate, new reality and not a do-over of what happened before.

6) This also confirms that Hurley truly does have the power to talk to dead people, as this is the first dead person that we can unequivocally say is NOT the Man in Black.

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Well, I’ve been hoping this would come.  After the really cool trading card game they did with Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, I was hoping there would be one for the next movie.  And WB/DC Animation did not disappoint.

JL Crisis Facebook App

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 I wish people who wrote virus programs used their time more productively.  I’ve been hit yet again on my older PC which is still running XP.  MacAfee, provided by my cable company, failed to stop it.  Last time, I went crazy, trying all kinds of things and ultimately reset it from the beginning.  I never got around to putting all my backed up data back on the PC this time.

Instead of the stress this time, I’d like to try to put a positive spin on this.  I’d like to ask the community what their favorite anitvirus tools are and their favorite web sites for advice on problems like this are.

(more…)

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Did Faraday’s plan work? We look at the exciting two-part season opener! Or otherwise known as How Lost got it’s Groove Back! Tuesday night’s season premiere served up enough gasps, shrieks and heartbreaking moments to make it feel like a season finale—and it is only the beginning.

Please return your seats to their full upright position and fasten your seatbelts. LAX, here we come!

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WE HIT A POCKET
Initially I thought ABC was messing with our minds when the program started out with all hell breaking loose at the site of the magnetic anomaly. Then Juliet sets of the bomb and we return to the flight of Oceanic 815. I confess that I shouted, “I knew it!” startling my wife. Seeing the same airplane scene played out but re-filmed was one of those Yogi Berra moments: Deja vu all over again.. Of course, some things were different. Jack’s hair was longer. Cindy still gave him the booze, though it was one less bottle, wasn’t it? Jack and Rose had their conversation. The turbulence hit. And…

No crash! Seth Norris (Grunny lives! The “captain speaking” on the alt-Flight 815 was Capt. Norris, aka Greg Grunberg himself.) announces that they hit a pocket but everything’s okay. And now it’s clear (if it wasn’t before) that we are in an alternate timeline. Some nice juxtaposition there, as it was a drill hitting an electromagnetic energy pocket that launched this alternate in the first place. These pockets seem to trip up our Losties quite frequently.

Jack acts like something’s strange. Rose and Bernard seem to sense it, too. They give each other a knowing look. Of course, if they do know about the other reality on the island, they shouldn’t be too happy about being in this one. Life was good for Rose and Bernard on the island. In this world, Rose might (or might not) have cancer. Meanwhile, Jack goes to the restroom and observes a phantom cut that has appeared on the side of his neck.

Note: I checked photos from the original “Pilot” episode, but I didn’t see that exact same scratch anywhere (evidence of a THIRD reality! Just kidding). But it’s interesting that he isn’t just feeling mentally displaced – the cut is strong evidence of some physical manifestations of the other reality, too.

The key to this thread of the Lost narrative will be figuring out what’s already been changed, what can be changed, and what it means for the “real” story in the other timeline (yes, I’m making a big assumption that the events on the island are the real timeline and not the one where 815 arrives safely in Los Angeles). This should truly be a unique viewing experience – it’s almost like we get to watch a new show, except these characters aren’t new to us. They aren’t starting fresh, there’s no “Tabula Rasa”. We have ideas about them already. It’s like if they remade Lost intro a movie twenty years from now. We’d be wondering, “Oh, will they include Jack’s tattoos? Is Hurley still unlucky? What will they change about Sayid?” I think that’s how we’ll feel, now.

SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE BRO… OH, THAT’S WHAT WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW

Jack returns to his seat and finds he has a new seat partner. Desmond! How cool was that? It was really, I think, a perfect way to introduce us to all the weirdness of the alternative time line (by the way I don’t want to keep typing “alternative time line” for the whole damned season. Anyone have a suggestion for an alternative or abbreviation?). Desmond has always been bound to show up in the most interesting places, as if he were permanently unstuck in time like Billy Pilgrim in the novel that inspired “The Constant,” Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five.” Speaking of books, what was that he was reading? It’s a book by Salman Rushdie, and after carefully studying the frame I believe it’s titled “Haroun and the Sea of Stories.”
I haven’t read it but a quick Wikipedia check reveals it’s about a city so old that it’s name has been forgotten (sounds like the island, huh?). There’s also an electromagnetic device intended to destroy the ocean, which sounds an awful lot like the island’s final resting place in this timeline. By now we’re trained to look for similarities in every book that appears on Lost, but this one appears to be an especially good fit.

Jack thinks he recognizes Desmond – the question is, does he recognize him from the running of the stadium steps (which may or may not have happened in the alternative time line) or from the mainstream time line? Because I’m not sure the stadium steps meeting would occur in the ATL at all. If the bomb went off in 1977, it certainly killed Charles Widmore, who was on the island at the time. No Widmore should mean no Penny. No Penny should mean no sailing race and no sailing race should mean no stadium steps run. This stuff would make you want to get into the sealed box with Schrödinger’s cat. I hope we see much more of Desmond this season. His iconic “See you in another life, brotha,” is more relevant than ever.

While Jack ponders the multiverse and why he didn’t keep reading comics while he was in medical school, we jump out the window of flight 815 and dive into the ocean below. And then we get our first look at the island in the alternative universe – buried on the ocean floor! The Barracks are there, Dharma sharks, and the remains of the Statue. The only thing missing was Aquaman or Namor. This is almost certainly the result of the detonation of the Jughead in 1977. This means that the timeline doesn’t deviate when Oceaniac 815 stays airborne during the turbulence. It deviates when the bomb goes off in 1977. Things – some things, at least – have been different ever since then. And we fade to black to ponder these things while ABC makes money and Disney tries to figure out where to put Lost Land in the happiest place on earth.

CHAIN, CHAIN, CHAIN… COME ON, SING WITH ME NOW!

The show begins again and I think some dufus in the control room at ABC has accidently reset the tape as we’re seeing the construction site again and all hell is breaking loose. But, it quickly becomes apparent that this is different. This is from Kate’s perspective. After the boom, we get the eye of Kate. Nice that they remember that opening sequences with someone’s eye are a “thing” on the show.

There is a piercing tone in the background as we and Kate discover she way the hell up in a tree and just manages to save herself from falling out of it and it’s night. She climbs down and yells to see if anyone is around. She’s still having problems hearing and starts walking through the jungle only to have Miles surprise her. While they are talking about their hearing problems, Kate spots something and runs to the door of the Swan Hatch. With Miles trailing her, she’s off like a shot to the crater that is all that’s left of the hatch when Desmond turned the key and the sky turned purple.

They get to the remains of the Swan station and Miles asks if that is the construction site. Kate tells him it’s the Swan station. Miles is astounded that they built it. Kate finds Jack in the tall grass. She revives him and tells him they are at the hatch. Jack is confused that the plan didn’t appear to work according to Faraday’s plan – apparently, he doesn’t sense his other self landing safely in LAX. Sawyer appears and smacks the crap outta Jack, knocking down into the pit. “You were wrong!” Says Sawyer. The three of them climb down into the pit and Jack says he thought it would work. “Well, it didn’t!” Screams Sawyer. And he hear a jet engine noise.

Flash to the alternative time line with Jack walking to the restrooms again. That drink that Cindy gave him must have run it’s course, or maybe he just forgot to pee when he found the booboo on his next previously. Anyway, he reaches the restrooms only to find Marshal Ed Mars who he asks if he’s in line. Mars says he’s waiting for a friend. Just then Kate bounds out of the potty and bumps into Jack. The hands on each other linger just a moment longer than normal and Kate apologizes as Mars takes her back to her seat. Sawyer then walks by and bumps the arm of Mars as he’s heading back to his seat. Like Jack, Kate and Sawyer look at one another for just a moment longer than normal.

Arzt, the amazing exploding man, shows up for the first time since he played with spiders in Expose! Arzt is pestering Hurley about being the chicken man while Sawyer takes his seat. Arzt didn’t add much, but helped reveal the life of Bizarro Hurley, who is super lucky rather than super unlucky. It’s hard not to wonder if every thing is switched. The bad luck did in fact make Hurley richer – will good luck mean that he won the lottery but nothing much else happened? After Arzt goes back to his seat, Sawyer tells Hurley he shouldn’t mention he won the lotto, but he’s dismissed by the luckiest guy alive. Now, what exactly does that mean?

Further, we didn’t learn too much about what Sawyer is like in this reality. It’ll be interesting to see if his story’s changed, although I guess the major defining event of Sawyer’s life – his parents’ deaths – happened before the Jughead went off, so maybe he won’t turn out much differently. Gotta wonder whether he still killed Frank Duckett, though.

As Hurley slips on his earphones with a contented smile on his face, we cut to the main time line and Hurley is sitting on the ground outside the VW minibus with Sayid. Sayid quickly loses consciousness after reflecting on all the people he’s tortured. Again, just like last season, Sayid spends some serious amounts of time unconscious. Jin comes out of the vehicle with a flashlight. He tells a panicked Hurley that he thinks they traveled through time because of the white light, headache and loss of hearing. They hear Sawyer yelling in the distance and Jin takes off into the night.

At the Swan Jack and Sawyer are still debating the merits of using a hydrogen bomb to travel through time. Jin shows up and tells Jack that Sayid needs help. Kate hears a faint cry for help from the rubble pile and then so does Sawyer. It’s Juliette. She’s burried under all the crap where the energy pocket used to be.

Suddenly, we’re back with Hurley who hears a rustling in the jungle and does the funniest scene in the program, grabbing a gun and fumbling with it. He finds Jacob who asks if he, Hurley, has got a minute.

After a commercial break we are back on Oceaniac 815. Making our way among our favorite survivors, we come to Jin and Sun. Sun is smiling to herself as she watches Rose and Bernard. Jin is still a controlling jerk – he gives her the “button your shirt” just like right after the crash. I’m not totally buying Sun’s characterization anymore in the main time line (she’s been three drastically different people before the island, on the island, and after the island), so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with her here.

BOONE MADE IT FALL. THEN HE DIED.

I really like that bonding seems to be occurring among the same sets of people. It’s as if their fates are so intertwined they can’t help but have the same conversations, no matter what universe they’re in.
From Jin and Sun we move to a talk between Boone and John. John was cool, and full of irony. And Boone thinks he wants to go with Locke if the plane goes down… I’d say things are much better for Boone in the alternative time line. Maybe he’ll finally be able to give up Shannon. And he won’t die! Speaking of which, no Shannon, huh? Oh well. No beach = no bikini = no real purpose for Shannon.

John tells Boone that his trip was for pleasure and he weaves an elaborate tale of going on a walkabout. I will say is that John’s walkabout tale sounded almost as if he was talking about being on the island. He and Boone are channeling their crash-survivor selves, just like Jack.

Back to the temple. John picks up the knife covered in blood and wipes it clean. Ben is inshokc and asks why didn’t Jacob fight bab. Locke sends him out to get Richard. Richard is arguing with the “bodyguards.” Sun and Frank are confused. I’m confused. When Ben tells Richard that John wants to talk to him, he drags a scared and jabbering Ben, drags him to the box and throws him into the sand beside the body of John Lock. We fade to black.

After commercial While Sawyer, Kate and Jack set to work trying to dig Juliet out, Hurley and Jacob talk. Jacob admits to being dead and pretty much confirms that the Losties are now in 2007 – the same time period as Locke and Co. This is good, because it would just be too much to keep track of if there was another alternate reality and two different timelines in a main reality. Anyway, Jacob tells Hurley that he’s been dead about an hour, which makes sense, since Hurley can talk to dead people. I’m glad that Jacob didn’t just come back to life – that would be a little unfair, you know? Dead is Dead, after all. But there’s a greater sense of urgency and mortality when we know the characters can fail and die.
This also confirms that Hurley truly does have the power to talk to dead people, as this is the first dead person that we can unequivocally say is NOT the Man in Black. Jacob tells Hurley he has to save Sayid by taking him to the temple. He tells Hurley that Jin knows where it’s at – a hole in the wall with the French team. Oh, and bring the guitar case. Jin appears and they load Sayid into the VW. Hurley asks him if he knows where the hole in the wall is and Jin says yes as the drive through the jungle to the Swan hatch. Chains are attached to the I-beam and Sawyer tells Kate that if Juliette dies he’ll kill Jack.

Back on Oceaniac 815, Cindy gets on the intercom and asks if there is a doctor on the plane. Jack pushes his call button and they got to the restroom. Sayid appears and offers to help. Again, one of Sayid’s first scenes in “Pilot, Part 1″ was offering to help fix the transceiver. Apparently that’s how Sayid makes new friends. Sayid kicks in the door and out tumbles Charlie. He isn’t breathing. Charlie is choking on his drugs. I’m fairly certain it’s not too important, but it’s cool how even this scene – Jack asking for a pen to save Charlie – mirrors what would have happened had the plane gone down, when Jack asked for a pen to save Rose. Jack saves Charlie (Was it attempted suicide? An accident? I’m confused.)

Back at the Swan station, the I-Beam is moved and Sawyer climbs down into the hole. He finds Juliette who’s in a bad way.

Back on the beach, Ben tells Richard to go inside the temple, but the Bodyguards grab Ben and take him inside the temple. John and the Bodyguards have a confrontation and one of them shoots John who runs up the stairs. Smokey comes down the stairs and all hell breaks loose inside the temple. The guy who shot John finds the bullet and it looks like it hit the side of a battleship. WTF? The first Bodyguard pours a ring of ash around himself and when Smokey comes after him it slams into an invisible barrier and there is a beam of light that shines on the guy who looks real pleased with himself. Smokey is obviously pissed off and crashes into a pillar making all sorts of turmoil, including a large chunk of stone hit the guy and knock him out of his circle. Smokey proceeds to impale the poor slob on Jacob’s loom. Ouch!

Ben is watching all this with eyes as big as silver dollars when John appears again and says, “Sorry you had to see me like that.”

WE SHOULD GET COFFEE

Sawyer gets his final moments with a dying Juliet. Up until her last breath, I thought she might yet live, somehow. It was almost more heartbreaking watching Sawyer get that chance to say goodbye.

But even at death’s door, Juliet delivers some very important info. “We should get coffee,” she says. This immediately reminded me of Charlotte’s final words to Daniel, “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before supper.” I’m betting that was deliberate, and that it was done in order to suggest that maybe Juliet’s consciousness was, on some level, in another place. Could that place have been the alternative time line? Probably. Juliet was the one who actually set off the bomb, so I imagine she might have some of her own “The rules don’t apply” status, much like Desmond did for turning the failsafe key. Both these events took place very near the electromagnetic anomaly, so I’d be willing to buy it.

Maybe this isn’t a good time to ask, but why did the Jughead detonation launch them all into 2004 without harming them? And why just them? I was a little disappointed not to see what happened next between Miles and Pierre Chang, but Chang was gone. Shame, I hope Miles gets a chance to talk to his father sometime. I also really hope Miles doesn’t die, but he’s somewhat on the periphery, I feel, because he doesn’t yet have a place in the alternative timeline.

I’d really like to see Juliet and Sawyer get together in the alternative timeline. It won’t completely make up for their unhappy ending in the main timeline, but it would still be nice. Plus, if the island is destroyed in 1977, Juliet will never have to part with her sister and go there. So, even though Juliet’s death was very sad, we’re pretty much guaranteed to see her and Sawyer “get coffee” in another universe.

But Juliet had more to say before she died. But what was it? After kissing Sawyer, she dies in his arms. He carries her out of the hole and stares down Jack. “You did this.” He snarls and Jack looks like he would gladly change places with Juliette right now.

Flashback to the plane where Charlie is zip-tied. He tells Jack he should have let it happen. He was supposed to die. Cindy tells Jack some people don’ know how to say thank you. I think Cindy is hitting on Jack.

Jack returns to his seat to find Desmond gone. He asks Rose if she saw him, but she says she and Bernard were asleep. Jack sits down as Captain Norris announces final approach to LAX. The remainder of the hour is a sad music overlay as we see Cindy, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Jin & Sun, Boone, Frogurt (who was sitting between Boone & Locke the whole time with a sleeping mask on), John, Kate & Mars and Jack.

The plane lands and LAPD collects Charlie and his guitar case and everyone gets off the plane. Jack and John are the last two on board and Jack sees them bring the wheelchair for John.

Speaking of Sayid, who’s carrying his famous Nadia photo, does this guy have it better in the ATL or what? He’s on his way, presumably, to meet up with Nadia, instead of dying in the jungle from a gunshot wound. Talk about an upgrade.

After the fade to white that concluded season five the general feeling from the fanbase was that the story could go in one of two directions. Either Faraday’s plan worked and the season six premiere would be feature a reset with the former survivors on the plane or the plan didn’t work and the premiere would deal with the fallout. There were those wild cards who suggested the potential of an alternate universe but I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect the story to go in that direction. Well, it appears as if I was wrong and that, at least for the next short little while, Lost will be told from two separate realities. It’s an interesting gamble for Lindelof, Cuse and the rest of the writing staff. On the heels of a season that dealt with time travel, they now tackle an entirely different sci-fi concept – alternative realities – and make it faithful to the story thus far, understandable and entertaining. After the first two hours I can safely say they’ve succeeded.

It was a rocky start though. The first hour threw a lot of punches right out of the gate. Taking copious notes as I try to do with every review seemed like a ridiculous endeavor after the first twenty-minutes or so. Simply put, there were plenty of “WTF” moments in that first hour and it was fairly difficult to keep up with the pace at which information was being delivered. Not only are we asked to accept the concept of these characters now coexisting in two different realities but we’re given a ton of different pieces of information over the course of an hour. Little things like the strange scar on Jack’s neck may be completely lost to some viewers who don’t partake in re-watching the episode like many die-hard fans (like me – I gotta get a life). Especially when juxtaposed against big reveals like the entire island being submerged underwater in a glorious display of terrible computer graphics.

Throw in plenty of appearances by various Lost alum and a couple of inconsistencies with what we originally know about Oceanic Flight 815 and you have an episode that demands rewatching once more and maybe even a third time. It’s a simple issue of pacing and that first hour is paced poorly in relation to all the information that needs to be imparted to the audience. The second hour more than makes up for it, however.

Jack checks out his reflection. First, I want to jump into a couple of those inconsistencies with the original Oceanic Flight 815 that I noticed. There may be more but these are the ones that I thought stood out. First, we have the appearance of Desmond on the plane. It’s great to see Desmond back and it is starting to become more and more apparent that his story may be the key to understanding how both of these realities are intertwined. Last season I felt that they had really pulled the focus from Desmond in the last few episodes for a very specific reason and I still feel that way. He may very well be the constant in these two realities.

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 HeroClix have been back for a while.  And I feel remiss for not blogging their return.  Then again, most stores in my area have not carried the product since the return and there are no nearby places to play anymore.  So they only kind of came back.

Brief history.  HeroClix were created by WizKidsGames.  The owner sold the line to Topps.  Topps decided to stop producing.  NECA is the new producer.  The first set from NECA is Hammer of Thor, which came out in November of 2009.  To be honest, unless you are a huge Thor or Norse god fan, the set is kind of limited in appeal.  Added to the recent sets Avengers, XMen & Hulk, and Invasion it does a nice job of rounding out some aspects of the Marvel Universe.

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