All the hub bub over the Masters of the Universe Classics Moss Man a couple weeks ago got me reminiscing about the vintage Moss Man. An original series figure I did not get. Oh, I remember quite vividly seeing him hanging on the pegs at the County Variety 5 & 10 in Kinnelon, NJ. I remember staring at him longingly and at length and on multiple occasions. So why the heck didn’t I get him? Because I had decided I had to quit buying action figures. Of course, I had some help making that decision!

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There has been lots of talk about the peg holes in the Brave and Bold line.  Some of us like them.  Some do not.  In my opinion, the two Metal Men showcase the worst and best use of this feature in the line.

Your typical basic figure comes with one plug in accessory that makes sense with the character.  Gold comes with zero.  None.  That’s right, not a single thing to plug into those peg holes.  They are useless.  Instead, he comes with a starfish.

The typical deluxe figure comes with multiple accessories.  Iron comes with 4 accessories.

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The great author and toy maker Willl.I.Am Shakespeare once wrote the immortal line, “To articulate, or not to articulate, that is the question”. He then goes on to ask whether it’s more noble to suffocate Green Arrow or get a good fortune after a Chinese meal, or some such thing, but the important part is about the articulation. Ever since that golden age, toy manufacturers and designers have struggled with the same nagging conundrum, and the inevitable fall out from making those difficult decisions. But, let me pose something to you  (see what I did there? ‘Pose’? Ha!) : are we all getting just a little too hung up on articulation these days?

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Who’s Gonna Make S’mores?

The half way point of the final season opens up with a scene that was first part of the Season 5 finale (“The Incident”). Jacob visits Illana in a Russian hospital. The scene was extended to show us that Jacob tasked Illana with protecting the six remaining candidates (who are Jack Shephard, Hugo Reyes, James Ford, Sayid Jarrah, Sun/Jin Kwon, and Kate Austen). Jacob also told her to ask Richard Alpert for further instructions. The Losties and their friends gathered around a fire on the beach. Everyone looks really happy. No, not really! They are all looking to Illana for answers. But she doesn’t have them. She says Richard does. Richard, off in the distance gives a giddy giggle and says he doesn’t know squat. He tells everyone that they are all dead and in hell before he grabs a torch and runs into the jungle.

There is a moment of confusion after Richard departs. Illana grabs her gun to go after him, but Jack talks her out of it. Then he sees Hurley off to in the shadows talking in Spanish to the ocean breezes. He goes over and demands to know what Jacob has said. Hurley says he isn’t talking to Jacob. Jack wants to argue the point. But, Hurley tells him that it isn’t all about Jack and walks off into the jungle. Whoa, dude. Way to smack down Jack!

Do You Take Medicade?

Taking a break from the sideways shuffle. And so we do a flashback. Not ALL the way back – not to ancient Egypt – but back to the Canary Islands. As it turns out, the Canary Islands actually have a connection to ancient Egypt. It’s tenuous, but it’s there. The Canary Islands are named after ‘canaari’, which means, in Latin, “the ones who worship dogs.” Apparently, the indigenous people worshiped dogs as their gods. The other most famous dog-worshipers are in fact the ancient Egyptians, whose god of the afterlife, Anubis (pictured in the hieroglyphics under the Temple wall where Ben encounters the Smoke Monster), is associated with dogs. Historians don’t know whether the people of the Canary Islands were in contact with the Egyptians, though ancient Greek texts establish that the Greeks knew of them.

The flashback drops us off in1867 Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Richard rides up on his horse and goes into his home where his wife, Isabella, is very ill. This is not a “take two aspirins and call me in the morning” thing. No, she coughs up some blood and Richard takes what little money and Isabella’s crucifix to pay for a doctor. He rides through a terrible storm to get the doctor.

Arriving at the doctor’s place he forces his way in past the servant. The doctor doesn’t know that universal healthcare has just been voted into law and refuses to go out in the storm. He tells Richard that he has medicine, but that it’s very expensive. Obviously this doctor is a card-carrying republican. Richard shows him his money, but the doctor to tell him that he doesn’t have enough money. He tosses Isabella’s crucifix to the fire and says it’s worthless. Richard is begging him and he grabs the doctor who is repulsed that a common man would touch him. They struggle as Richard pleads with the asshole doctor and the doctor stumbles and hits his head on the table and dies. Richard takes the medicine and runs out of the house. He arrives home to Isabella, but she has unfortunately already died. A sobbing Richard is taken to prison.

Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned

Richard is interrupted from reading a bible in prison by a nasty looking priest. Padre looks like he isn’t on a first name basis with soap. Richard makes a confession and is told by Farther dirty that he cannot be forgiven for the sin of murder and will be hung in the morning. Richard desperately pleads for absolution and says he will do any kind of penance to escape hell. The priest doesn’t budge, which seems pretty unpriestly. And the Catholic church wonders why attendance is dropping…

The passage he was reading from the Gospel of Luke, by the way, concerns Jesus rejecting the Devil’s temptations, which is obviously relevant to the episode.

The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands were Roman Catholic in the 19th century, so Richard’s spirituality makes sense. While nearly all forms of Christianity (most all religions, probably) have significant views on hell, the Roman Catholic position on hell is different from other branches of Christianity in a few important ways. Most relevant here is that God’s forgiveness – which is what saves one’s soul from hell – needs to be granted through an intermediary. In many other Christian sects, a person is sent to heaven or hell based on what’s in their heart, on “faith alone”. But Roman Catholics, at least until recent times, had to be absolved by priests in order to have their sins cleansed, and absolution was granted only if the person was truly sorry and if they made up for their mistakes by doing good works.

It is not enough for Richard to be sorry. He must do good works, too, and as his priest tells him, he has no time for that, as he is going to be hanged the following day. Of course, Richard is eventually saved from this fate in exchange for committing to 140 years of Jacob’s work. As far as Catholic theology is concerned, Richard has more than made up for his sin by now. (Most of us Catholics can usually be absolved in return for saying a couple Hail Mary’s, Our Father’s or something.)

A Three Hour Tour…

The next day Richard, thinking he’s being taken to be hanged, is brought to a Mr. Jonas Whitfield, who buys him as a slave to work in ”the new world.” (so that’s why he was in chains!) because Richard speaks English and has strong hands. Whitfield also looked in his mouth, but I’m not sure what that was all about. Aboard the Black Rock, Richard and Mr. Whitfield and the rest of the crew and slaves get caught in a Typhoon (caused by Jacob?). One of the slaves peers through an opening in the side of the ship and sees Diablo! The next thing you know, Richard is making the sign of the cross and the Black Rock is riding a tsunami and runs into the four-toed statue, knocking it down to the ankle!

Now maybe it’s me, but this didn’t make a damned bit of sense to me. We saw Jacob and MIB sitting on the beach on a sunny day as the Black Rock sailed into view. So what the hell happened between that moment and the typhoon in the dark of night that drove the ship into the jungle and, why was there no devastation to the jungle from the giant wave (aka: tsunami) that put the ship so far into the jungle? I mean, come on! I read comics, so I’m willing to suspend belief, but some things just don’t add up here and this is a big one in my humble opinion (IMHO).

Let’s dig a little deeper and do a little fact-checking here. America wasn’t exactly “new” in the 1860s. However, that’s not conclusive enough for me to definitively rule out America as the Black Rock’s destination. I think it likely that Richard was referring to America when he mentioned wanting to start a family with Isabella in the “new world”. A huge number of people from the Canary Islands emigrated to South America during the mid-to-late 19th century, to places like Venezuela. With so many of his countrymen leaving, Richard could have easily wanted to go there.

But I don’t know if Jonas Whitfield was referring to America when he mentioned the “new world”. It’s 1867, the Civil War has just ended and slavery is illegal in the United States. As for South America, it’s possible that varying degrees of indentured servitude were still taking place, so Hanso could have been heading there to sell his captives. I do want to mention another possibility, however. Australia and the Dutch East Indies are very much still a “new world” in the 1860s. Gold had been discovered in the 1850s in Australia, and certain Australian colonies were experiencing gold rushes. There were all sorts of spice plantations in the East Indies. I couldn’t find out whether Australia had indentured servitude at the time, but it was still partly a prison colony for the British, so it seems plausible to me that Hanso was headed to Australia to get rich working his slaves in the mines or trade them to plantation owners in the East Indies.

This would of course also explain how the Black Rock crashed on an island we know to be in the middle of the Pacific (if you sailed from the Canary Islands to America, you wouldn’t cross the Pacific, but you would if you sailed around Africa and your destination was Australia). This also links Richard’s journey, thematically speaking, to the Oceanic 815 survivors.

Isabella

The following morning, Richard and the slaves awake. They survived the tsunami and are in the hold of the Black Rock in the middle of the jungle. Mr. Whitfield comes below and starts stabbing the slaves with his sword. He tells Richard he’s doing this because they are shipwrecked and he’s afraid they will try to kill him if he sets them free. But just before he kills Richard, Smokey comes and kills the remaining crew members, including Mr. Whitfield.

Richard lives in chains for a few days. He unsuccessfully tries to free himself with a nail he’s retrieved from the ship’s deck. He runs off a wild boar that is eating one of the dead slaves. He sees Isabella who tells him they are dead and in hell. She tries to free him, but is re-killed (I only know this can happen because I’ve seen Beetlejuice) by the smoke monster. Finally, the Man in Black comes to save him. The Man in Black frees him, saying “It’s good to see you out of those chains,” the same line Locke used when he saw Richard in the Season 6 premier. The Man in Black tells Richard that Jacob has his wife and to get her back Richard must stab him in the chest before he says one word (the same thing Dogen told Sayid about killing Locke in Season 6, Episode 6. “

Like A Redheaded Step Child

Richard travels to the four-toed statue and attempts to kill Jacob, but fails. He fails big time! Jacob proceeds to whip his ass. Richard tells Jacob that he is dead and in hell, which Jacob denies. Jacob then repeatedly dunks Richard in the ocean to prove that he’s alive. After swallowing several gallons of the Pacific, Richard agrees that he is, in fact, alive.

Cork In A Bottle

Jacob drags him back up on the beach and fills Richard in on the dynamics of his relationship with the Man in Black, which proves to be one of the most insightful conversations we’ve overheard this season, or any season on Lost. Jacob compares evil to the wine in a wine bottle, saying that the island is like the cork. Without the cork, the wine could get out of the bottle. Without the island, evil could spread and infect the entire world. Jacob works to keep evil, or the Man in Black, contained. Jacob brings people to the island, where their past no longer matters, and allows them to choose between right and wrong. Richard points out that Jacob could just influence people’s decision, but Jacob says that he doesn’t want to interfere. Richard points out that if he, Jacob, doesn’t work with the people brought to the island, MIB will. Jacob sees his point. He then offers Richard the job of mediating between him and the people he brings to the island. Richard agrees and since Jacob can’t reunite him with his wife, or absolve him of his sins and save him from hell, he chooses to never die. Jacob touches him strange music begins, and, there we go, we know now how and why Richard is immortal.

If You Change Your Mind

Richard returns to the Man in Black, who tells Richard if he ever changes his mind, he could always come back to his side. Richard hands him a present from Jacob, a polished white stone. Take that, Man in Black: one point for Jacob. MIB seems pretty cool with all of this. He says that Jacob can be persuasive. He tells Richard that if he ever changes his mind, his offer still stands. And he means ever. Like 200 years from now ever. Apparently he knows that Richard is now immortal. He gives Richard Isabella’s crucifix and disappears. Literally. Richard buries the token.

Three Way With Hurley

We then see Richard in the present, continuing his journey through the jungle. I suddenly realize that the bulk of the program has been a flashback. Wow!

Anyway, Richard has returned to the place where he and MIB had that conversation so long ago. He digs up the crucifix and then yells to the sky that he’s changed his mind and would like to be on the Man in Black’s team now. I can understand how Richard may be a bit disgruntled after all this time with Jacob, but isn’t it a little late in the game to switch teams? There is a noise and Richard turns. Hurley shows up, and mediates a conversation between a dead Isabella and Richard. Isabella tells Richard that he must stop the Man in Black from leaving and if he doesn’t, we’re all going to hell. Off in the distance stands Lock. He doesn’t look happy.

Something To Pass The Time

“Ab Aeterno” ends in a flashback (the last time that happened was in Season 2, with the episode Dave). Jacob bring the Man in Black a bottle of wine. The same bottle of wine that Jacob used for show-and-tell with Richard. The two converse some more about how the Man in Black wants off the island and how Jacob will prevent. MIB says he will find a way to kill Jacob, or his replacement, in order to leave the island. The last image is of the Man in Black smashing the wine bottle, releasing the wine and bypassing the cork. Eerie!

LOST

So we learned a lot. Not only did we learn Richard’s backstory, we learned more about Jacob and the Man in Black (I wish we knew his name!). This episode was full of references to hell, good and evil, right and wrong, death, and black and white. One of the most important lessons “Ab Aeterno” brought us was that Jacob isn’t necessarily protecting the island, but he’s protecting the world from evil. Interesting idea, but are we sure that the Man in Black is bad and Jacob is good? I’m not convinced yet.

I’m inclined to believe that Jacob and the Man in Black are simply different entities with some differing philosophies but many of the same operating procedures. Both are expert con men, both murder or allow murders to take place, both have lied to the people who were following them, etc. There are faith and science, destiny and free will questions built up around both of these characters. But good and evil? If anything, MIB is the more sympathetic one, based on the fragments of his history we’ve learned. And for that matter, Jacob’s philosophy seems flawed. He doesn’t want to tell people what to do, but telling Richard to tell people is almost exactly the same thing.

Not that the Man in Black is necessarily Mr. Free Will all the time. When he gives people the choice between obeying him and dying, it’s not really much of a choice. My point is only that far from Jacob being good and MIB being bad, it’s just as likely that both have good and bad in them. Think of the role they play in this episode, as the little angel and the little devil sitting on Richard’s right and left shoulders, just like in all those great cartoon shows. But whenever an angel and a devil appear on a character’s shoulders in other media, isn’t the point usually that both the angel and the devil are misleading the character for their own ends, and that the character would be better off telling both of them to take a hike?

We’ve been given a lot of food for thought this week. With only eight episodes left, Ab Aeterno helped fans dig a bit deeper into the mythology of the island. What next week will bring is a total surprise.

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“Recon” Lost Episode 8 Review

This Is Your 8am Wake Up Call

At camp Claire, Sawyer makes a cup of tea and goes inside the shelter to wake Jin up, Jin asks how long he has been asleep and Sawyer replies that he figured Jin could use the rest. Sawyer tells Jin that Claire and Locke have gone but will be back before sun up. Jin pleads with Sawyer to leave as he wants to find Sun. Sawyer says no because he wants Man in Locke to get him off the island and he promises to help Jin find Sun. They hear something outside and go to watch Man in Locke, Sayid, Kate, Claire and the other people from the Temple return. Sawyer and Kate say hello to one another.

In Sideways LA, Sawyer is in bed with a woman who refers to him as Jimmy. In a very similar incident to the con Sawyer has previously played he remembers he has to attend a meeting at nine o’clock and the clock currently says 8:42am. He reaches for his briefcase and its spills open and money falls onto the bed. He tries to explain to her that he is heading to a business meeting, when she puts on a robe and pulls a gun on him accusing him of being a con man.

Sawyer answers that he isn’t a con man and that he works for the police, that the room is bugged and surrounded by armed police. He says they have no interest in her and want her to take the briefcase to her husband who is currently in hiding. She calls his bluff and cocks her gun, Sawyer then says the codeword “LaFleur” and the door bursts open and police charge in ordering her to put the gun down. Miles comes in and throws a police badge to Sawyer and tells him to put some clothes on, Sawyer says ok and calls him partner.

Claire’s Squirrel-Baby Looks Like Jar-Jar Binks

On the island Claire is packing ropes and knives when Kate joins her, she looks oddly at the make-shift baby in the bassinet, Claire explains that this is where she has lived and the make shift baby was all she had. Kate makes and “Ewwww” face. They go outside and Man in Locke asks them to gather around and says, “I know that everyone is tired. It was a long traumatic night for all of us. And you all have a lot of questions, I know, and I will make myself available to answer them. But first, right now we need to keep moving. We have to take advantage of the daylight.”

Cindy asks what happened to the rest of the people at the Temple and Man in Locke explains that the black smoke killed them, Zach and Emma look upset so Man in Locke comforts them and promises to take care of them. At the mention of Smokey, Claire grips Kate’s hand. Is it fear or protective? Sawyer approaches Kate and asks if Jack, Hurley and the rest of them made it out ok and Kate says yes, he then asks about Miles to which Kate answers that she doesn’t know what happened to him. She asks Sawyer if he is with Locke now and Sawyer replies by saying he isn’t with anybody.

In Sideways LA, Sawyer is sitting at a desk, the name plate reads “Det. James Ford, LAPD.” He is on the phone ringing various people named Anthony Cooper, and asking them if they were in Alabama in 1976. Miles comes over with two coffee cups – one white, which he gives to Sawyer and one black, which he keeps; and Sawyer hides the piece of paper with all the Anthony Cooper names on, Miles however asks who Anthony Cooper is and Sawyer lies to him saying he was an old school buddy who is going to hook him up with some LA Lakers tickets. Miles asks if Sawyer reconciled with him in Palm Springs last week, and after a brief moment of confusion Sawyer says yes. Miles then tells Sawyer he has arranged a date for him and when Sawyer objects he says, “What is your deal, Jim? Do you want to die alone?” Sawyer agrees to the date and Miles asks for a Lakers ticket. Sawyer says he won’t be able to get Miles a ticket and Miles asks Sawyer if there is something he is lying to him about, Sawyer brushes it off and Miles walks away.

Sawyer’s Recon Mission

On the island Man in Locke is leading the group through the jungle, he says they’ll make camp up ahead and could be there for a couple of days. Sawyer interrupts him and questions when he was planning on leaving the island, they go to talk in private. Man in Locke tells Sawyer he forgives him for interrupting and then confesses to Sawyer that he is the smoke monster, Sawyer asks why they didn’t just join Man in Locke and he answers that they were convinced they were protecting the island from Man in Locke, when in fact all he wants to do is leave. He says it’s either kill or be killed and he doesn’t want to be killed.

They come out onto the beach and see an outrigger, Man in Locke tasks Sawyer with a recon mission to travel to the Hydra Island (I don’t recall it being called that previously) and report back what he finds about the plane and to see if there is anybody there who may wish to harm them. He tells Sawyer he doesn’t worry about Sawyer’s safety because he is the best liar Man in Locke has ever met and he could tell them anything and gain their trust and then when they have access to the airplane they will be able to leave the island. They push the outrigger into the water together and Sawyer leaves on it.

Date a Redhead/Die Alone

Back in Sideways LA, Sawyer goes for his date, he is in a fancy restaurant and meets up with Charlotte Staples Lewis. They discuss what they do for a living and Charlotte tells him she works in archaeology, Sawyer refers to her as being like Indiana Jones and asks if she has a whip. She gives him a naughty look and for a minute you think that it’s gonna get nasty. She questions why Sawyer became a cop and after trying to brush her off he finally confesses that he reached a stage in his life where he was either going to become a cop or a criminal and he chose to become a cop. Charlotte seems really interested and moments later they are back at his apartment in bed. They make love and Sawyer leaves to get her some water, she asks to borrow a t-shirt and Sawyer says they’re in the top drawer. As she opens the drawer she finds a file named Sawyer and opens it to see a picture of a family consisting of Mom, Dad and Son, she picks it up and looks at it and opens the file to return the picture but sees a newspaper story headlined, “Local Man Kills Wife, Self, Survived by Nine-Year-Old Boy.”Sawyer returns angry that she is prying and demands that she leaves immediately, she picks up her clothes and walks out, Sawyer picks up the picture.

Hydra Island… Now With 700% More Death, Carnage, and Flies!

On the island, Sawyer reaches the Hydra Island and passes the cages he and Kate were locked in and had sex in. Kate’s dress is still in the cage and Sawyer picks it up., but he doesn’t sniff it.
Meanwhile, on the main island Kate asks Sayid if he believes Locke and Sayid replies that he does, Kate asks him if he is ok and Sayid replies that he is not. Suddenly Claire pulls Kate backwards and attacks her with a knife to her throat, Sayid just watches as they struggle not moving while Kate implores him to help her. Man in Locke pulls Claire off and Kate picks up a rifle and looks set to hit Claire with it. Man in Locke explains to Claire that Kate did what she had to do with Aaron after Claire disappeared, Claire objects and Man in Locke slaps her across the face and says her behavior is completely inappropriate. Claire looking stunned follows his orders to distance herself away from Kate. Man in Locke asks Kate if she is ok and he looks genuinely worried when she replies that she is not. Man in Locke walks over to talk to Claire.

On the Hydra Island, Sawyer finds the Arija plane, he notices a trail where something has been dragged and follows it, and he sees a group of dead bodies. It obviously smells really bad as it’s covered with flies and Sawyer covers his nose and mouth. He sees a woman running and tells her to stop before catching her. She pleads with him not to hurt her and says she is the only one left.

The Not-Yellow Submarine

At the precinct desk in Sideways LA, Charlie’s brother Liam is at the police station asking about his brother, he turns and asks Sawyer for help but Sawyer brushes him off and says it’s not his department. Miles asks Sawyer to join him in the locker room and when he does Miles shoves him against the lockers and tells him that he ran his credit card, and Sawyer wasn’t in Palm Springs he was in Australia and he wants to know why. Sawyer tells him it’s none of his business, and Miles agrees and says they’re no longer partners. Sawyer looks at his reflection in the mirror and then punches it.

On the Hydra Island, Sawyer gives the woman a drink and introduces himself, she then introduces herself as Zoe. She says she can’t believe she found another survivor from the plane but Sawyer tells her he’s from a different plane crash. He asks what killed all of the people and she says she was collecting wood and heard screams and when she arrived back at the beach they were all dead, and that she dragged them into the jungle out of the sun. She asks if Sawyer is alone, and he says he is with a group of people and he’ll take her back with him, she thanks the Gods but Sawyer says it has nothing to do with God.

Kate is sitting on the ground sobbing, when Man in Locke walks over and apologizes for Claire’s behavior. He tells her it is his fault for lying to Claire about the others having Aaron, and that Claire’s confusion will disappear in time. Kate says he’s very insightful for a dead man, and he says that nobody is perfect but tells her he promised to keep everybody safe and that includes Kate. When asked, he leads her off to show her where he has sent Sawyer.

Sawyer and Zoe are walking towards the outrigger when Sawyer begins questioning her reasons for being on the plane, she asks questions on whether Sawyer and his people are armed. Suddenly, Sawyer pulls his gun on her and calls her out for being a con woman. She looks defeated and whistles, Men come out of the tree line with guns and order Sawyer to put his gun down. Sawyer drops to his knees and asks them to take him to their leader.

Man in Locke shows Kate the Hydra Island and tells her that he sent Sawyer there, but he brought her out to talk to her, he says that he isn’t a dead man, and tells Kate that a long time ago, before he looked like Locke he had a mother, just like anyone. But she was a disturbed woman and as a result of that caused Man in Locke some growing pains and problems that he is still trying to work through, problems that could’ve been avoided had things been different. Kate asks why he is telling her this and he says because now Aaron has a crazy mother too. Kate has a stepped in dog crap look on her face.

Sawyer is being led through the jungle, he sees some of them putting up pylons that look like miniature sonic fence thingies and they come across a submarine, Zoe tells him to go inside and says that he is waiting for him. They pass a locked door which Zoe makes sure is locked and tells Sawyer it’s none of his business what is inside the room when he asks.

Sawyers Deals

Sawyer arrives home in Sideways LA. He fixes himself a microwave dinner and is watching Little House on the Prairie, Pa is telling Melissa Gilbert about life and Sawyer turns off the tv and leaves to go to Charlotte’s apartment with a sunflower and a six pack of beers. Charlotte tells him to leave and that he blew his chance with her, Sawyer leaves the sunflower by the apartment door as he exits.

Inside the submarine Sawyer is taken to see Charles Widmore, he refuses to shake his hand and accuses Widmore of sending the freighter full of people to kill them all, he also accuses him of murdering the people outside in the ditch. Widmore comments on how sad it is that Sawyer actually knows so little and claims not to have killed the people on the Hydra Island, he asks Sawyer why he has come to the Hydra Island. Sawyer says that John Locke sent him and when Charles Widmore says that John Locke is dead, Sawyer says Charles knows exactly who he is referring to. He then offers Widmore a deal, that he’ll return to the Man in Locke and tell him the coast is clear, then he’ll deliver Man in Locke to his front door where Widmore can kill him. Sawyer says he wants a safe passage off the island for him and his friends in exchange. Despite neither of them really being able to trust the other they shake hands to agree and Sawyer leaves to return to the main island.

Elsewhere, Kate pulls her rifle up as Claire approaches her, Claire says sorry to Kate for her over reactions and asks for forgiveness, and tells Kate that she understands why she took Aaron. The two hug as Claire continues to apologize. Claire breaks down and sobs and Kate comforts her.

Sawyer returns and Man in Locke runs down to him and asks him what he saw. Sawyer tells him that everyone from the plane is dead, and then tells him about the deal he struck with Charles Widmore.. He says that Widmore is hiding something in a locked room on the submarine, and his team are constructing pylons, the type that stops the smoke monster entering. He also says they are heavily armed, but that this knowledge will allow Man in Locke to get the jump on them. Man in Locke thanks Sawyer for his loyalty, to which Sawyer replies that a deal is a deal.

In Sideways LA, as Miles leaves the police station Sawyer beeps the horn of his car and beckons him over. He hands Miles the Sawyer file and tells him the story of his father killing his mother because of a man called Sawyer. He says he has tracked him down and his name is now Anthony Cooper and that he wants to find and kill him. Miles asks Sawyer why he kept it from him and Sawyer tells him that Miles would’ve only tried to talk him out of it.

Suddenly a car slams into them and the driver, wearing a hoodie to disguise themselves, gets out and begins running away. Sawyer and Miles give chase and Sawyer catches the driver. He pulls the hood off and says “Son-of-a-Bitch” when he realizes its Kate and remembers her from the Oceaniac flight.

Its night time on the island and Sawyer asks Kate what’s for dinner as he is starving, Kate replies that its rabbit. She questions why Sawyer is now running errands for Locke, Sawyer says he isn’t running errands for anybody. He tells Kate about Widmore and that his men want Man in Locke, and that he’s just going to lead them all into a big fight, and while they’re busy he and Kate are going to leave the island. Kate counters by saying even if the plan worked they don’t know how to fly the plane. Sawyer tells her they aren’t taking the plane, they’ll be taking the submarine, he calls her freckles.

So what do you think of yet another action packed episode? So many new questions! What is being hidden in the locked room on the submarine? Who is Man in Locke’s mother? And what made her crazy? What a surprise it was to see Sawyer as a cop in his flash-sideways, will he let Kate escape again? Let me know your thoughts.

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Sure, action figures are the focus around here, as evidenced by the name of the site. If you’re anything like me, though, your collecting habits involve more than just little plastic men. With STAR WARS, DC Direct, Justice League Unlimited, G.I. JOE, Marvel Universe, and anything I can find from my favorite comic books, movies, and television shows, I am definitely an action figure junkie. My hobbies extend beyond toys, though.

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Dear Matty,

You stopped getting my money last month, so this is for everyone who would still like to do business with you despite your best efforts.

People reported having Moss Man in their cart more than 10 minutes before the sale date.  The earliest instance I found was 11:48am EST.

Starting at 12:00pm EST, customers reported Moss Man as sold out.

At 12:05pm EST, your MattyCollector.com forum representative reported both versions of Moss Man were indeed sold out.

We all know the shopping cart mechanism on MattyCollector.com is meaningless.  You know it too; that’s why you posted a guarantee of FUBAR on 12 March.  So, that’s nothing new.  My questions to you for this month are:

Why were customers allowed to purchase figures prior to the 12:00pm EST on-sale date?

Why, regardless of when the figures are sold, are there so few Masters of the Universe Classics figures available to non-subscribers*?

Why, if there are as few figures available to non-subscribers as there appear to be, are individual customers allowed to order as many of 10 copies of a given figure?

Thank you very much for your attention.  I look forward to your answers below, or somewhere prominent on the Internet.

Your Friend,

Jasey

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So, I’ve fallen off the ’ol AFi radar for a while. Not by choice, mind you, but just thanks to life getting in the way. This is an action figure blog and not a therapy session so I will spare those of you kind enough to be reading this the details. Suffice it to say I’ve been engaged in swell activities like packing up my entire collection and moving it to a studio apartment! Anyhoo, I was exploring my newish environs here in downtown Phoenix today and stumbled on a couple geek culture related spectacles. Forgive this dull attempt to ease back into the blogosphere…

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Dr. Linus Review of LOST episode 7

RUNNING BLINDLY

The episode opens with Ben running through the jungle in the dark away from the temple where a very spooky Sayid has told him he’s beyond saving. Ben falls on his face and then finds Ilana, Frank, Miles and Sun. When Ilana asks about the whereabouts of Sayid, Ben informs her that Sayid probably won’t be joining them giving that he has just murdered Dogen and his interpretator (or as I liked to call him, “hippie”).

Sun questions Ilana saying that she told them they would be safe at the temple, Ilana answers her by saying that’s what she was told. Ben suggests they go back to the beach where Locke is buried and the others agree.

Detention

In Sideways LA, Ben is conducting a history class he writes the word “ELBA” on the board and begins to discuss Napoleon. His discussion, if you listen closely, is very descriptive of our friend Ben. “ELBA is where Napoleon faces his greatest test, because exile wasn’t the worst of his fate. What was truly devastating to him was the loss of his power. Sure, they allowed him to keep the title of Emperor, but without any power, it was meaningless. He might just as well have been dead.” The bell rings and the class is over.

There is a man standing by the door who Ben acknowledges as Principal Reynolds. He looks like he has terminal hemorrhoids. What a happy chap! Principal hemorrhoid tells Ben to walk with him. Ben follows behind like a meek bunny. They discuss a shift in schedule as they walk outside. Principal Reynolds informs Ben that due to budgetary restraints and events above his pay grade some of the staff will have to pull double duty. What a demeaning asshole our principal is. He’s the kind of guy you hope kids put mothballs into his car’s gas tank and jimmie the trunk and fill with cow manure. Ben will be tasked with supervising detention for the week. When Ben challenges that he runs an after school history club Principal hemorrhoid indicates that due to the low number of students attending the history club he sees detention as being more important. As he walks off Principal hemorrhoid thanks Ben in a most condescending way and refers to him as Linus. Ben quietly refers to himself as Doctor Linus

In the faculty room the amazing exploding Leslie Arzt is complaining at a stain on his shirt caused by an incompetent student spilling formaldehyde on him. He complains at the lack of lab aprons and the fact that his lab equipment is some fifty years outdated. Ben and Leslie Arzt begin discussing the poor job the Principal is doing, Locke sitting at another table tells Ben that maybe he should be the Principal, due to the fact he cares about his job, and maybe it is time for a change. Ben says that no one would listen to him, Locke raises his hand and says that he’s listening.

Like A Father To Me

Back on the island Sun, Frank, Miles, Ilana and Ben are moving through the jungle, Miles asks what exactly the smoke monster was, Ben replies saying that it is the same thing which killed Ilana’s friends back at the statue. Ilana steps in and questions whether it also killed Jacob, Ben nods and says it did. Ilana then turns to Miles and asks him to communicate with the pouch containing Jacob’s ashes and tell her how Jacob died. Ben looks like he just did a doodoo in his underwear. Miles gets on his knees and listens, then stands up and says “Linus killed him.”

Ben’s eyes almost pop out of his head and he says this a lie but Miles insists and Ilana approaches Ben and says that Jacob was the closest thing she had to a father, she turns and walks away and the rest follow.

The next morning they arrive at the beach camp and the shelters are in bad shape, Ilana goes off to look for tools and work on the shelters, she encourages others to look for firewood and food. Ben approaches her and asks if there is anything he can do. When she doesn’t answer Ben accuses Miles of lying and refers to the time Miles tried to black mail him. She walks away and Frank walks by and says, “You make friends easy, don’t you?” Poor Ben. He’s the pariah of the group.

Ben, Roger & Alex
Back in Sideways LA, Ben is at home and has prepared a healthy, organic meal microwave meal for his ill looking father, and tells Roger he is trying to keep him healthy. Roger tells him he may be a little late for that, and they begin to discuss Ben’s day at work.

Ben refers to the misuse of his doctorate in history and complains that he has been assigned detention duty. Roger tells Ben that this is not the life he wanted for his son, and tells Ben that the reason he signed them both up for the Dharma Initiative was so Ben was around smart people and that their lives would be so much different now if they’d have stayed. Ben throughout the conversation is maintaining the tubes on the tank of Rogers machine, he turns on the oxygen again and Roger thanks him.

The doorbell rings and Ben answers it to find Alex Rousseau. She questions why he had to cancel history club and he apologizes and says the club is cancelled this week due to him covering elsewhere, Alex says that she has an AP test on Friday and was counting on the tutoring, they make arrangements to meet in the school library the following morning before school begins. Alex thanks Ben and calls him the best before leaving.

Candidates

On the island Sun approaches Ilana to ask how long they are going to stay at the beach and indicates she is keen to find her husband. Ilana says thay she too is very keen to find Jin and explains that she is unsure which of them is a candidate and therefore which of them she needs to protect, or whether she needs to protect both of them. Sun questions why they need protection and Ilana informs her they’re candidates to replace Jacob. Sun looks surprised and asks what replacing him would entail Ilana says that “If you’re the one selected, I imagine you’ll find out.” Sun asks how many candidates there are and Ilana says there are only six candidates remaining. Nobody says how many there were to start with.

Way To The Temple

Hurley is on the ground sleeping and mumbling “cheese curds,” when Jack wakes him up and says they should begin to make there way back to the Temple. Hurley, in typical Hurley fashion, tries to stall Jack remembering what Jacob told him about the bad incident which was to happen at the temple, but Jack insists they leave now. Hurley tries to trick Jack into taking a short cut which will bring them away from the temple. Suddenly, Richard steps out and informs them they’re both wrong and to follow him, Jack asks where he came from and Richard replies saying that Jack wouldn’t believe him if he told him. Richard begins walking away and Jack and Hurley follow. Let’s see… Polar bears, smoke monsters, time travel, seeing dead people. I think they would believe you, Richard.

Dig

Back on the beach, Ben is rifling through a shelter, maybe Sawyers, looking through magazines when Frank approaches and asks him for help collecting firewood, Frank refers to Ben as nostalgic when Ben thinks back to the plane splitting in half and crashing on the island, Frank informs Ben that he was supposed to be the pilot on Oceanic 815. When Ben questions why he didn’t pilot the plane Frank tells him that he overslept. Ben says that the island still got him in the end. Frank chuckles and walks away. Ben is kind of smiling and thinking he’s starting to fit in when Ilana puts her rifle to Ben’s neck and walks him up to the graves to a make shift shovel. She ties a cable around his foot and a tree points the rifle at him and tells him to pick up the shovel and start digging a grave, when Ben asks who the grave is for, she tells him that it is for him because he murdered Jacob.

Horizontal Mamba

In sideways LA, Ben is tutoring Alex in the school library when Alex begins to become stressed about the exam and refers to the upcoming test as her entire life is balancing on it. Doctor Ben says she is being a bit dramatic, she answers back that her mum (presumably Danielle Rousseau) is working two shifts to just pay the rent and could no way afford tuition costs at Yale College. Where is that deadbeat husband of Danielle’s?

Ben tells her that she is one of the brightest students he has ever had and if it helps he will write a letter of recommendation, Alex stops him mid-sentence saying that she needs a recommendation from someone who attended Yale and that the only person in the school is that pervert, Principal Reynolds aka: principal hemorrhoid. Ben pushes her to explain her comments calling Principal Reynolds a pervert and asks if he has ever been untoward to Alex, she appears grossed out by this and says no but explains that when she was in nurses office one day she saw and heard Principal Reynolds and the school nurse doing the nasty on school grounds. She makes Ben promise to keep this a secret and Ben agrees. But… The timid, nice Doctor Ben has that island Ben look on his face…

In Sideways LA, Ben is conducting a history class he writes the word “ELBA” on the board and begins to discuss Napoleon. His discussion, if you listen closely, is very descriptive of our friend Ben. “ELBA is where Napoleon faces his greatest test, because exile wasn’t the worst of his fate. What was truly devastating to him was the loss of his power. Sure, they allowed him to keep the title of Emperor, but without any power, it was meaningless. He might just as well have been dead.” The bell rings and the class is over.

There is a man standing by the door who Ben acknowledges as Principal Reynolds. He looks like he has terminal hemorrhoids. What a happy chap! Principal hemorrhoid tells Ben to walk with him. Ben follows behind like a meek bunny. They discuss a shift in schedule as they walk outside. Principal Reynolds informs Ben that due to budgetary restraints and events above his pay grade some of the staff will have to pull double duty. What a demeaning asshole our principal is. He’s the kind of guy you hope kids put mothballs into his car’s gas tank and jimmie the trunk and fill with cow manure. Ben will be tasked with supervising detention for the week. When Ben challenges that he runs an after school history club Principal hemorrhoid indicates that due to the low number of students attending the history club he sees detention as being more important. As he walks off Principal hemorrhoid thanks Ben in a most condescending way and refers to him as Linus. Ben quietly refers to himself as Doctor Linus

In the faculty room the amazing exploding Leslie Arzt is complaining at a stain on his shirt caused by an incompetent student spilling formaldehyde on him. He complains at the lack of lab aprons and the fact that his lab equipment is some fifty years outdated. Ben and Leslie Arzt begin discussing the poor job the Principal is doing, Locke sitting at another table tells Ben that maybe he should be the Principal, due to the fact he cares about his job, and maybe it is time for a change. Ben says that no one would listen to him, Locke raises his hand and says that he’s listening.

Jacob Cared
On the island Miles brings Ben some food and refers to his lacklustre attempts to dig. Ben retorts he’s not really all that motivated and attempts to convince Miles to cut him free and he will find a way for Miles to get the 3.2 million dollars he tried to bribe him for in the past. Miles refuses and says he doesn’t need to considering that Paulo and Nikki who were buried alive have $8 million in diamonds on top of them. Ben cannot believe Miles won’t help him considering Ilana is going to kill him, Ben says, “Ilana is going to murder me for killing Jacob, a man who didn’t even care about being killed.”

“No, he cared,” Miles continues, “right up until the second the knife went through his heart, he was hoping he was wrong about you, I guess he wasn’t. Miles walks away and Ilana shoots the ground next to Ben and tells him to dig.

Black Rock

Hurley still following Richard asks Richard if he is time travelling because he looks the same now as he did thirty years ago. Richard says no, Hurley then asks if Richard is like the terminator, or a Cyborg, an exasoerated Richard says no and explains that Jacob gave him a gift. But, it’s not a gift, it’s a curse.

Jack asks Richard what he knows about Jacob and Richard replies saying that he knows Jacob is dead. They walk into a clearing and see the Black Rock, Richard explains he lied about going back to the temple and that he had just come from that way and everyone there is dead. He tells them he doesn’t know what happened and explains that he didn’t see Sayid or Kate and they might have made it out alive.

Hurley tells Jack that Jacob hinted to him that something bad was going to happen, Richard becomes interested and tells Hurley that whatever Jacob said to him that Hurley should not believe. Richard says he is going inside the Black Rock to die.

Artz Wants Aprons

Artz is working in his classroom when Ben persuades him to hack into the school nurses email account to look for inappropriate emails between Nurse Kondracki and Principal Reynolds. Ben tells him of the relationship between them and that he is looking for emails to use as leverage to get the Principal job.
Arzt agrees to help in exchange for a better car park spot and lab aprons and modern equipment, Ben agrees. Arzt says that the sweater vest Ben wears fooled him and that Ben is a real killer. Ben gives him a surprised look.

Time To Die

On the island in the Black Rock Richard goes inside and studies the chains, Jack asks him if he has been here before and Richard says he has but in his whole time on the island this is the first time he has returned. Hurley joins them as Richard opens a box of dynamite, he tells Jack he is unable to kill himself and asks Jack to light the fuse for him and that the fuse is long enough for Jack and Hurley to escape. He throws down one stick of dynamite to display that it will not blow up.

Jack asks him why he wants to die and Richard replies, “I devoted my life, longer than you can possibly imagine, in service of a man who told me that everything was happening for a reason. That he had a plan. A plan that I was a part of and when the time was right he’d share it with me and now that man’s gone. So, why do i want to die? I just found out my entire life had no purpose.”

Hurley pleads with Jack to not do it but Jack lights the fuse on the lantern and then sits across from Richard, he tells Hurley to leave and he’ll follow him out. Hurley sees the flame get closer to the dynamite and runs off saying if Jack changes his mind he’ll be like a mile away.

Richard tells Jack to leave before he dies, Jack chuckles and says that neither of them are going to die, and explains that he has been to the lighthouse and seen the mirror reflection of his house. He realizes that Jacob got Hurley to take Jack to the lighthouse so Jack could see that Jacob has been watching him since he was a child, and based on that he’s willing to bet that if Jacob went to all that trouble, that the island won’t allow for him to be blown up now.

The flame gets to the end of the fuse and fizzles out, Jack laughs and offers Richard another stick of dynamite while Richard stares at the fuse in disbelief. Richard says that since Jack seems to have all the answers what should they do next. Jack says they should go back to where they started.

Smoke and Mirrors
As Ben continues to dig he hears the sound of the smoke monster and Locke appears and asks Ben why he is digging his own grave. Ben answers by saying that due to Locke talking him into killing Jacob; Ilana is going to kill him, so now Locke has what he wants.

Locke answers saying that he doesn’t want Ben to die, in fact when he leaves this island he wants Ben to take charge of things. He motions his hand and Ben looks down and is free of the cable, Man in Locke tells Ben to travel two hundred yards inland where he will find a rifle leaning against a tree, this should allow him to get the drop on Ilana, then to travel to the Hydra station where he will be waiting for Ben. He tells him not to hesitate because Ilana won’t.

Ben takes a look at Ilana before throwing the shovel and running, Ilana gives chase.

Machiavellian Maneuvers

In Sideways LA, Ben confronts the Principal armed with thirty or so incriminating emails about the Pricipal’s relationship and sexual activities on school premises. He demands that Principal Reynold’s resigns and that he recommends Ben for the job, and since the Principal is held in such high esteem by the school board it shouldn’t be a problem.

Principal hemorrhoid mulls over the proposal and then counters that Ben has two options, either the Principal will resign and write a letter to Yale College which would torch Alex Rousseau’s career, or he will not resign and write a good recommendation letter. He asks Ben is the power of the Principal job that important to him.

I’ll Have You

On the island Ben find the rifle and points it at Ilana and demands she drop her gun. Ilana drops the gun and asks Ben what he is waiting for. Ben says he wishes to explain his actions, and that he saw his own daughter Alex die in front of him and that he had a chance to save her but chose the island over her, all in the name of Jacob.
He says that Jacob didn’t care, and admits that he did stab Jacob, but he was so angry and confused and he was terrified of losing the only thing that had ever mattered to him. But he now realizes that the thing that matters to him was already gone and that he is sorry for killing Jacob, and he doesn’t expect forgiveness because he cannot forgive himself.

He asks her to let him leave to join Locke as he is the only one that will take him, Ilana tells Ben that she’ll still have him and pick her gun up and walks away. Ben thinks for a moment, and then follows her.

Back in sideways LA, Ben, dressed much nicer than usual walks into the principals office. He looks at the name plate on the front of the desk and smirks when Alex comes by to thank Principal Reynold for writing such an outstanding recommendation to Yale for her, Ben refuses to accept any plaudits and as the hemorrhoid returns Ben says he’ll see Alex at history club, and says that they have their old slot back after Principal Reynolds found someone to cover for detention. He leaves the office and Arzt approaches him asking if he successfully outed the Principal, Ben says no and offers Arzt his parking space when Arzt complains. Ben smiles watching Alex leave the Principal’s office looking completely happy.

Upscope

On the island Ben follows Ilana back to the beach, he begins helping Sun with her shelter. Frank carries firewood and puts in on the fire as Miles looks at a diamond in his hand. Ilana is sat alone, crying. They see Hurley, Richard and Jack, and they greet each other and exchange hugs.

Out at sea, a periscope pops out of the water and observes the goings on at the beach camp, and we see Charles Widmore inside a submarine, a man says to him that there are people on the beach and asks if they should stop. Charles says no, and tells him to proceed as planned.

LOST

For the first time, I thought that the sideways segments tied in concisely with the island segments. I always enjoy the episodes where Michael Emerson is the “star.” The episode seemed to go in a complete 360 and leave us not much different from where we started, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ben is broken. He’s not the same man he once was. That seemed to be the point of this episode. He’s not a doormat. But he’s not interested in power anymore. The only thing he ever cared about is gone and it just dawned on him that he had been deceiving himself since the moment she died. Ben realizes what his lust for power has done and has changed. Call it his path to redemption. The old Ben that you speak of seems to have faded away to minority at this point. I’m a bit disappointed about that too. But it’s to be expected after all of the trama he has gone through in such a brief time period….

I know lots of people don’t like the sideways / parallel story. But I think it’s interesting and what if it is really the end of the story? What if somehow the MIB is defeated in the end and the island is destroyed and sinks to the bottom of the ocean and this parallel story is how all of our Losties actually go on after that? Are we seeing the end of Lost all season long and we don’t quite know it yet?

I was a bit less flippant than I normally am in my synopsis. Maybe it was the episode that toned me down. I dunno…

So what were your thoughts on this episode? Ben has a much improved relationship with his father off the island, and has Ben now redeemed himself and can he be considered to be a good guy now? What are the consequences of him not joining Man in Locke? How did Charles find the island? Was Richard a slave on the Black Rock? Let me know your thoughts.

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Does your Retro-Action DC Super Heroes collection suffer from a debilitating condition causing the figures to stoop, bend, lean and otherwise act depressed, listless and hunchbacked?

 Come find out how you can cure this terrible condition just like our friend Hal here!

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I recently found and bought a new JLU figure at Target (Firestorm).  I was thrilled.  But at the same time, it was obvious I had missed the other new figure that was released with it (Deadshot).  Over the past few days, its been nagging at me.  All the other JLU I’ve barely – or never – seen and not had the opportunity to buy.
 
It started with the pieces shown at SDCC n 2006.  Yes, that long ago.  Many of the 3 packs shown there only appeared at my local Target (Warwick, RI) once.  Some not at all.  If you follow the line, you know their names by heart. 

Then came round 2. 

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Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Super Powers Highlight!  Since Toy Fair 2010 has recently passed us by, I thought it appropriate to photograph this piece this week…the Samurai carded sample. It’s unclear as to what this sample would have been used for, but until subsequent information disproves me I’ll continue thinking it was used for Toy Fair in 1985 when the 3rd wave of figures was presented for retail buyers to purchase for their stores.  Unfortunately no documentation exists to confirm it, but then again none exists to disprove it either…and this little boy will continue to dream big. 

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Howdy all, and welcome to another edition of the Super Powers Highlight here at Action Figure Insider.  Today I’m calling attention to a rarity most people might not know about.  What’s generally known amongst people who collect this fantastic line is that there were three total waves of figures released from 1984 to 1986.  The figures that were among the first two waves all came with a free mini-comic that illustrated a short adventure of the character.  The third wave of figures had no comics, probably due to the second wave of figures performing so poorly on the retail shelves.  Cost-cutting to sell the retailers on the 3rd wave, you see.

The advanced Super Powers collector also knows about at least a few of the more popular foreign releases…namely the Pacipa Super Amigos Riddler from Argentina, the Gulliver El Capitan Rayo from Columbia, and the Super Amigos Cyborg from the same Pacipa line as Riddler.  Most people even have the carded Cyborg in their collection instead of the (mislabeled) "rare" US-released Cyborg.

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SUNDOWN Review of LOST episode

Previously on Lost, all sorts of stuff happened to Sayid. He got shot. He seemed dead. He drowned. He dead. He alive. Sayid, Sayid, Sayid. I think it’s going to be a Sayid episode.

HONEY, I’M HOME

In sideways LA we watch Sayid get out of a cab at a house in LA. We see Nadia and her children! But not Sayid and Nadia’s children. They call him Uncle Sayid. Uncle Sayid? Inside the house, some dude asks Sayid if he brought flowers for his wife. Sayid says dude can have them if he wants. Turns out it’s Sayid’s brother, Omar.
They sit down for dinner. Sayid is working for an oil company interpreting contracts. His brother takes a call. “Dinner is over,” he says. “This is business.” Nadia looks concerned. Omar leaves, and Nadia asks Sayid if he got her letters. He says he did, but he never wrote back. Nadia’s kids run in with the picture of Nadia that Sayid was keeping in his bag. Busted! Omar looks pissed.
Meanwhile, on the island, Sayid storms into the torture chamber and asks Dogen about the machine that he used to determine Sayid was infected. Dogen breaks it down: each man has a scale, good and evil and all that, and Sayid’s tipped the wrong way. So Dogen thinks it would be best if Sayid were dead. Sayid disagrees.
You don’t know me, homie.says Sayid. Then Dogen flips him! Flips him for real. They get it on. They throw stuff and hit each other with stuff. It’s pretty cool. I’m always amazed at what a great fighter Sayid is. It looks like he’s holding his own but then Dogen throws him on a table and is going to stab him when his precious baseball rolls off the desk and he stops short of killing Sayid. “Go. Leave this place. Never come back.” Sayid leaves.
Outside the outer wall of the temple in the jungle, Smokey Locke and Claire are hanging out. Right at their feet is a line of ash. Claire wants to know why Locke is sending her. He says he can’t go himself. Apparently, the ash still has bad juju for Smokey Locke. Claire says she’ll do it to get Aaron back. Smokey Locke says he always does what he says he will. Claire asks if he’s gonna hurt peoples.

“Only the ones who won’t listen.”

HELLO GOODBYE HELLO

In sideways LA, Omar wakes Sayid up, and Sayid freaks out. Turns out Omar is in trouble. He borrowed money for his business from some bad dudes and now they want a piece of everything. Sayid says he’ll pay them, but Omar wants Sayid to put the hurt on them and convince them to leave him alone.. Sayid declines. Omar says he knows what kind of guy Sayid really is. But Sayid says he’s not that guy anymore.
At the temple, Sayid runs into Miles on his way to banishment. Sayid doesn’t understand why Dogen brought him back to life for this crap. Miles says they’re not the ones who brought Sayid back. He says Sayid was real dead, for real. And that Dogen and Hippie dude were as surprised as Miles was to see Sayid come back.
Claire chooses this moment to stroll into the Temple. Her friend wants Dogen to come to him. Dogen says her friend will kill him if he leaves. Claire tells him to send someone that her friend won’t kill. Cool, says Dogen. He tells hippie dude to go get Shephard and Reyes. Funny thing is, they’re gone and the Others can’t seem to find them. Dogen is pissed and tells hippie dude to look harder. He then asks Sayid to hang for a hot second.
Back inside the Temple, Dogen tells Sayid that Dude Known As Smokey Locke is evil. “Evil incarnate,” in fact. He gives Sayid a short sword or knife to kill Smokey Locke from some box he had burried in a potted plant. He tells Sayid that the person will appear as someone Sayid knows, someone who is dead. He tells Sayid to plunge the knife deep into Dude’s chest, as opposed to brushing Dude’s hair or clipping Dude’s nails with it. He tells Sayid that if Dude speaks before the plunging part, it’s too late. Sayid want to know why he would do all this for Dogen. “You said you’re good. Prove it.” Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Back in sideways LA, Sayid is hanging with the niece and nephew. He says he’s only there for a couple more days, than off to Toronto. They want Uncle Sayid to stay as they board the bus for school. Nadia runs out to tell Sayid that Omar, is in the hospital.
They rush to the hospital. They walk by Jack! But Jack is not their doctor. Their doctor tells them that Omar has a punctured lung and stuff. Turns out he was mugged, i.e., beat up by the thugs he borrowed money from. Nadia tells Sayid to go home and take care of the kids, not find those thugs and kick ass. Sayid is like OOOOOOOOOOOOOKAY.
Outside the Temple, Sayid runs into Kate. You leaving, Sayid? He tells her to talk to Miles. She does. Miles surprises her with the news that Claire is back. “She just strolled in here a couple hours ago, acting all weird,” says Miles. “Still hot, though.” Kate wants to see for herself.
In the jungle, Sayid is surrounded by the rustling of trees and other dramatic stuff that we’ve come to expect from a Smokey Smoke Monster arrival. No surprises in this episode so far. Smokey Locke appears. “Hello, Sayid.” Sayid lets him talk first! Then Sayid plunges the knife into Smokey Locke’s chest.
It didn’t work.
We rejoin Sayid and Smokey, who gives Sayid his knife back. No hard feelings. Smokey asks Sayid what he knows about him. Sayid relates the evil incarnate thing. “Well, sorry for you,” says Smokey. Why? Smokey explains that Dogen knew this crap wouldn’t work, and thought Smokey would kill Sayid. “Shame on you for being talked into it so easily,” says Smokey the Guilt-Tripping Monster.
So what do you want to talk me into, then, asks Sayid. Smokey wants Sayid to deliver a message. Why not Claire? Because it would mean a lot more if it came from you, says Smokey.

Then Smokey gets into deal-with-the-devil mode and asks Sayid, you know, what if you could have whatever you want. And Sayid is like, that’s not possible. And Smokey is like, what if it is. And Sayid is like, what I want died in my arms. And Smokey is like, I feel you, but what if I could fix that for you, playa. Sayid is like, I’m all ears.

Is this the most predictable episode ever?

LOAN SHARK
Back in sideways LA, Nadia returns to her house to find Sayid fixing a vase broken by the boomerang he brought to them from Australia. Good news: Omar is okay. Sayid says he can settle their debt, but Nadia says that’s O’s problem. Nadia asks Sayid why he pushed her toward his brother, especially Sayid is still simpin with her picture on him all the time. Sayid says he doesn’t deserve her. I’m a loner, Nadia. A rebel.
Temple time! Sayid returns from his Smokey meeting with a message for the people: Jacob’s dead, there’s a (Smokey) man who’s going to leave the island, go to him by sundown or die. Dogen’s like, this story sucks. The stewardess from Flight 815, Cindy, isn’t loving it either.

In other news, after putting the hurt on hippie dude, Kate finds Claire. They exchange hellos. Claire says she’s here for her baby. Kate’s like, ah. I took him. I took him off the island. You weren’t around. I raised him. It’s all good. He’s super cool. I want to get you guys back together. Claire is not feeling this story! Kate wants to rescue Claire, but Claire says she’s not the one who needs rescuing.
“He’s coming, Kate.”
Who’s coming? Most Predictable Episode Ever!
After Sayid’s speech and the news about Jacob, people are leaving the Temple left and right. Hippie dude, who has recovered from Kate’s assault, tries to keep them there, but who’s going to listen to a hippie? C’mon son.
Back to sideways LA, a black SUV with super dark tinted windows comes for Sayid, and Andre Agassi gets out to threaten Sayid and the kids. Actually it’s Omar from the freighter (not to be confused with Omar, Sayid’s brother – you’d think the writers could come up with more than two arabic names). Sayid goes along with him. They drive to a dark, sketchy kitchen. Some guy is there, making eggs. “Want some eggs?” That guy! Is! KEAMY!
“Martin Keamy.”
“Sayid Jarrah, but you already know that.”
“That I do.”
Keamy gets his Christopher Walken/Frank White on here. He asks how Omar is doing. He’s being a tough guy. “It’s a dangerous world, Sayid. You know that cause you’re from Iraq.” Totally. Keamy talks greazy for a bit, until Sayid can’t take it anymore and starts shooting and killing these fake-ass gangstas. You know how Sayid gets down for his. Soon, only Keamy is left. He offers to forgive the debt, but Sayid doesn’t. He shoots Keamy, too.
Then he hears noises in the other room. Sayid investigates and it’s! Jin! He’s tied to a chair and looks like Keamy’s boys were working him over before Sayid sent them to hell. Sayid asks what the deal is, but Jin can’t speak English. Remember? Okay, the Keamy thing was not predictable, points for that one.

WTF
We see Dogen chillin by the Dirty Water Pool of Life as Sayid stop by to hang. “You let him talk to you,” says Dogen. Sayid says he stabbed him in the chest, then let him talk. But Smokey talked first, technically, so I wonder if that matters.
Sayid asks Dogen why he tried to have him killed, not once but twice. Dogen decides to open up a bit. Turns out he was a successful businessman in Osaka, he got wasted one Friday night after work, he picked up his son from baseball, he got into a car accident, he killed his son. Then a guy told him he could save his son if he came to the island and never saw his son again. That guy was Jacob.
“Jacob drives a hard bargain,” says Sayid. Dogen says he figures that Smokey offered Sayid a similar bargain. Yup. Dogen asks Sayid if he’s going to stay or go. Stay, says Sayid. Then in the most unexpected moment of the episode, Sayid drowns Dogen in the water. Hippie dude stops by. He’s frantic! He says Dogen was the only thing keeping Smokey out of the Temple. “I know,” says Sayid. Then he slits hippie dude’s throat and leaves him and Dogen in the pool. Good riddance to any characters we didn’t meet before Season 6!
Guess what time it is. It’s sundown. And you know what that means. Smokey Smoke the Smoke Monster of Smoke is here and ready to get busy.
As Smokey starts the predictable business of beating and killing people while making all sorts of noises, Kate and Miles flee in separate directions. Kate goes after Claire. Miles runs into Ilana, Frank and Ben. Ben goes after Sayid, who’s not interested in leaving.
Ilana finds Jacob’s secret tunnel and gets her crew to safety in the nick of time. But not before Miles tells Sun that Jin is alive and in the jungle looking for her.

In the aftermath of rampant Smokey death and destruction, Claire is chillin. Sayid is chillin. Kate picks up a gun, still somewhat out of the loop. Smokey Locke and Sayid meet again. Smokey gives him the “What’s Poppin” look. Claire gives Smokey the “What’s Goody Good” look. Kate gives Smokey Locke the “Locke?” look. Smokey Locke is like, wha? Sayid is like, Holla. Kate is like, WTF? Smokey is like, let’s ride. And everyone marches off into the jungle.

L O S T

The good news is, no more Temple! That means nowhere to hide. We’re back to some wild island rules. And this time, the Smoke Monster has a posse. It’s also interesting to see more and more characters interact in sideways LA. When will we find out the significance of that seemingly alternate universe?
The bad news was that this was a very very predictable episode.

The good news is that next week looks awesome. A Ben episode! Ben episodes are, IMHO, always the best of the season. Can’t wait.

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