That's a lotta sperm!

I don't know if it was quite as great as the past two weeks, but I still don't think I can really find anything from last night's episode to complain about. (Except maybe Mikhail's patch still looking as brand new as the day he bought it from the costume shop.)

The very best thing about last night was Yunjin Kim. The show has finally managed to feature an actress who can hold her own in scenes with Elizabeth Mitchell. I loved every single scene of theirs together. What I learned from Sun and Juliet this week:
- I still trust Juliet
- I am glad that the baby is Jin's (Or I am glad that Sun thinks that the baby is Jin's...maybe I don't have complete trust in Juliet.)

And I thought that the flashbacks were one of the most compelling flashbacks the show has ever given us. Not because it was especially informative or revealing in term's of the Island story, but because helped to illustrate yet another level in Jin and Sun's already complex relationship. By trying to protect Jin's honor, she in effect caused the thing that would ultimately doom their relationship (pre-crash). She gave her father a reason to hire Jin, which changed him from the guy we saw in the flashbacks this week. And it also gave more emotional impact to the reveal that he is the baby's father. (I also think Korean is a very poetic language, so I love watching Jin and Sun's flashbacks for that reason alone.)

Speaking of Jin, I think Daniel Dae Kim's acting often gets lost in the language barrier, and it's too bad because he was really fantastic last night, both in the past and on the island.

For the past two weeks, Charlie has not been nearly as annoying as he was the past season and a half. Making him more sympathetic will give greater impact if/when they kill him. (He has a flashback the week before the finale, I believe.)

So Jack was really weird this week. I don't know if I really have anything to say about other than his conversation with Sun made me squirm a little.

And I am thrilled that Mikhail has been raised from the supposed dead. (In relation to his appearance, I am glad to see that all of the castaways are talking, maybe finally realizing that Jack was right when he speechified about "live together, die alone.")

I'm guessing that how a character "dies" is important. Almost similar to Claire/Peter on Heroes, in that if the cause of death is removed, perhaps you can be cured.

I still really want to like Heroes, but I still really don't. While Lost can be frustrating at times with its lack of answers, I'd rather have questions than pedestrian explanations for everything. And I'd also like the show to really, really shock me. Come out of left field with something instead of being excruciatingly telegraphed. I hope Mohinder is the exploding man. Actually, I just hope Mohinder explodes into a million boring, monotone pieces. And Jesus Christ, how did he transport a "dead" body across Manhattan?!? Come on!

Anyway, if you looked at Mikhail, he actually still had blood in his ears, so he was harmed in some way. We never saw them check him after he collapsed, right? They could have just assumed he was dead. (Which would have been stupid, especially for Sayid, but I'll overlook that because the show has been so fantastic recently.)

I haven't been able to find a definite translation of what paratrooper (according to ABC, her name is Naomi) said to Patchy that he translated as "Thank you," but I'm willing to bet it wasn't that. The closest translations I have found were that she was speaking Portuguese and said something like "I am not alone."

Of course, that WTF ending...My immediate theory (and the 'Occum's Razor' answer) is that the crash of 815 in the real world was a set-up and that the real 815 was brought to that island by Jacob or Ben or Hanso or whoever. I am sure with the great resources of Widmore/Hanso/Dharma/Paik a cover-up would not be that difficult at all. However if it is something to this effect, my first question is where exactly did Ben send Michael and Walt? I don't really need to know now, but that is something that definitely must be addressed at some point before the series ends.

If not that, I go back to my "there are other worlds than this" theory of Lost, which I actually like better. And that hearkens back to Desmond's flashback in February ('Flashes Before Your Eyes') which I originally saw not as an argument for time travel, but for time branching. And if that is the case, maybe the purple sky incident shifted their place in time and the people on flight 815 really are dead in this branch that they are in now. It's also a device used in many of Stephen King's books and the producers are admitted King fans and originally were said to be very influenced by The Stand, which actually takes place on Earth, but in a separate dimension/world from the "real" world.

And now that I'm thinking about this, I cannot help but think of King's opus, The Dark Tower series (which is tied closely to The Stand). I don't really want to get into that (because only Angela will understand and I could probably write for days), but in my head, it's REALLY interesting.

Desmond Hume, the runaway bride (Or is he?)‏

Two episodes in a row in which I have nothing to complain about. That
picture on the monk's desk (I'll get to that later) maybe even made this
episode more enjoyable than last week's for me.

Since I have nothing to complain about, I feel certain that Jess also should
have nothing to complain about, after all, Sawyer did confirm that Bernard
is still around. And your big complaint from last week is that you didn't
know what happened to Penny. Now we know that she is still looking for
Desmond. So the only problem you might have with this episode is the
Kate-Sawyer sex. Though knowing your obsession with couples on certain
shows, I guess that might be a problem for you.

Speaking of Kate, that scene between her and Jack was so super awkward and
so enjoyable, all I could think was that the only way he's gonna notice her
again is if she gets in some kinda trouble and he takes it upon himself to
fix her problem. Loved the spoon-licking. Awesome.

And Sawyer was really on his game this week. He had a bunch of great
moments: calling the Others perverts; "You two arguing over who's your
favorite Other?"; beating Jack at ping-pong and "We don't play every 108
minutes, the island's gonna explode." If nothing else, the abduction was
great for Jack and Sawyer's relationship. (At least for now.)

So, onto Desmond...

The opening if the episode was awesome. It is too bad it was a flash
forward, because that would have been such a ballsy way to kill off Charlie
- completely unexpected and shocking. And even after the reveal that it was
a flash, and even though I was 99% sure that Des wasn't going to let Charlie
die, I was still a little on edge. How cool would it have been if the arrow
got Jin or Hurley after Desmond pushed Charlie?

The obvious significance of "Catch-22" applying directly to Desmond's life
(lives?) is the circularity of it all and that was very nicely illustrated
in the flashbacks. Also it hearkens to the ongoing fate vs. free will motif
of the show. How much free will does anyone on the show have (Desmond
especially)? Did he actually change the future by saving Charlie? If Charlie
had died, would the parachutist have been Penny? If that's true, that's
certainly a strong argument for free will.

"Ardil-22" (the name of the book in the parachutist's bag) is Portuguese for
"Catch-22." In last season's finale, those guys who noticed the "event" were
speaking in Portuguese.

And not just Desmond's life, but the show as a whole is almost a catch-22 at
times. Not just the circularity and the deja vu of it all, but the "damned
if they do, damned if they don't" position that the producers and writers
always seem to be in.

So, onto my absolute favorite part of the episode, something so small and so
easily missed, but something I see as incredibly important in the grand
scheme of Lost: that picture on the monk's desk. In the picture was the monk
himself and Mrs. Hawking, the jewelry store salesperson. Whereas from
Desmond's last fantastic episode, she could be explained away as part of his
subconscious, I think last night's episode points to her as a very real part
of their world, regardless of her actions in "Flashes Before Your Eyes."
(Especially because the audience saw the picture, and not Desmond.) To me,
it means that for whatever reason, Desmond was pushed to the Island for
quite some time and it also places a great amount of question on Penelope.

So, this is how I see it: spineless Desmond with a massive case of cold feet
(just like Jack!), goes out for a night of drinking and passes out on the
street, the monk finds him and Desmond finds his "calling." (By the way,
Desmond's ex calling him out on his quick change of heart: "Good thing it
wasn't a shepherd who helped you up!" An allusion to Jack? Or Christian?)
Anyway, Desmond is just glad that he's managed to avoid making a commitment
that he thinks he belongs with the monks. He takes his vow of silence (just
like Locke when he wanted to 'reconnect' with the Island!) and the monk
calls him "one of us" (just like Juliet!). However, he soon realizes that he
cannot commit to them either and the Head Monk fires him, but not before he
tells him that he has to help load some wine into a truck driven by Penelope
Widmore. And we all know that it's because of Penny and her father (and
possibly Ms. Hawking) that Desmond eventually ends up on the Island, and is
thus stuck with the ultimate commitment that he cannot seem to escape.
That's really crappy karma.

Looking at it this way, isn't his life the ultimate catch-22? If he marries
the first girl, if he stays a monk, if he stays with Penny, he (presumably)
damns the world, himself included. He doesn't do any of that, but ends up
damned anyway, and is forced to relive all of these events ad nauseam.
(Whether in flashes or just in memories.)

But anyway, I loved Desmond and Penny's first meeting and like I mentioned,
it adds even more dimension to Penny's character. Of course, she could have
been an unwitting pawn too, but I can't help but assume sinister
motivations. Maybe halfway through her assigned part in Desmond's life, she
changed her mind and that's why she is hunting for him now. I personally
think that since Penny was left as the scorned woman, no matter how much she
loved him, why would she go to so much trouble (3 years!) to find someone
who left her and by that does not care for her as much as she cares for him?
I think that the guilt she feels in being complicit in his arrival on the
Island would be a great motivator.

I've written all this nonsense and still didn't comment on the very
Tarrantino-esque pop culture conversation of the Flash vs. Superman or the
hilarity that was Jin's ghost story.

There are only four episodes left until the finale, I think. It really seems
like it's building to something fantastic. I just hope it more like last
year's finale and not the cop-out that was the first season finale.

And I still hope Charlie dies. (I also think I'd be upset if they killed
Jack, so now is a good time to do it before I hate him again.)

And I hope we see Vincent again. (Maybe he is Jacob? Where exactly does that
dog go when we don't see him?)

They're not bad; they're just drawn that way.‏

I don't think there is one thing that I disliked about last night's episode.
It answered questions, created some more, developed characters and featured
the best acting I have ever seen on Lost. Honestly, I know I've gushed about
Elizabeth Mitchell in previous emails, but she's really, really good.
(Especially after last week's average episode centered around the decent
acting of Evangeline Lilly.) Those couple of scenes with Ben - the first
with the news of his tumor and then in Mikhail's bunker - were riveting.

And even after the reveal at the end of the episode, I'm still with Jack (I
don't think I've ever said that). To an extent, I trust Juliet in a way that
I never trusted Henry Gale. (I call him Henry Gale because I think Henry and
Ben are two very different characters.) While I think they are setting up
Juliet as Henry Gale 2.0, ultimately, I think she's not really on Ben's team
or Jack's team; she's on Juliet's team.

And related to Juliet's motives, what if Jack is in on it too? Or what if he
was brainwashed a la Karl in Room 23? His explanation to Kate about keeping
his head down and doing what he was told seemed odd to me. I mean Jack's
never been Sayid with the questions, but I find it hard to believe that he
was there for days and never asked any questions to Juliet or Tom. Also,
it's gotta be at least 2 months since Claire's abduction and he didn't
question Juliet on the withdrawal symptoms. An episode that makes Jack
interesting again is something special.

So according to Juliet, women who get pregnant die, but Ben (or Jacob) can
seemingly sure cancer. And Juliet's there to fix the pregnant women dying
thing, and has had success only with Claire. But the Others still want
pregnant women, so does that mean that Kate could be pregnant? (As in they
orchestrated her and Sawyer's 'incident')

Is Sun's life in danger? Technically, if Juliet is telling the truth and if
Sun conceived while off the Island, then she's in the same boat as Claire
was. But if Jin is the father and they conceived on the Island, what does
that mean? Is the cure of cancer related to the decline in heath caused by
pregnancy?

Could there be another spy in the camp? Obviously, we don't know why Juliet
has infiltrated the castaways, but one guess would be because Sun is
pregnant. Who knows about that? Sun, Jin, Kate, Sawyer (he gave her the
pregnancy test) and maybe Jack.

Wouldn't it be awesome if Juliet killed Charlie? Or even better, if a
brainwashed Jack did? That would just turn everything upside down. Whatever
happens with Juliet and Jack, I think last week setting up Sawyer as leader
of the camp will become more important.

If I was stuck on the Island of Tortured Souls with those castaways, I'd
wanna be good friends with Sayid. Does anyone besides Ben have better
instincts then that guy? Especially during the last few episodes, they've
been focusing on what a great judge of character he is, especially compared
to everyone else. I wonder if that will become more important, or if it is
just there to reinforce his character.

I liked Batmanuel in the previous episodes that he's been in, but I thought
he was especially good last night. He's a different kind of creepy. Not
Ben-creepy or Ethan-creepy, he's got this smarmy nastiness about him that
really came across well last night. His nonchalance at telling Juliet that
he just put tranquilizer in her OJ was perfectly played.

While I never really had a problem with the first 6 episodes of the season,
I think that, regardless of how you feel, it was all worth it for that great
reunion scene. I especially enjoyed Sawyer and Jack reuniting. (And I think
Sawyer's description of Ben as a "bug-eyed bastard" was pretty apt.)

What may go down as my favorite line of the season: "I had the day off."
(Juliet to Hurley)

Is Jacob real? Is he a 'deity' of Ben's creation that everyone thinks is
real? (Maybe it's an acronym: Just Another Codename Of Ben's)

What I keep coming back to is Ben's line to Michael at the end of last
season: "We're the good guys." I obviously don't really know what that
means, but I do believe that Ben really believes it. While the Others may be
manipulative and potentially dangerous, I think they have (Ben has) a good
reason for not giving full disclosure. Since the beginning of this season, I
have been given no concrete reason to believe that the Others are as EVIL as
the castaways seem to think they are. Sure, they are cryptic and mysterious
(and the show wouldn't be as awesome if they weren't), but what bad have
they done to the castaways? All the bad that has happened has been the
castaways doing, one way or the other. The Others? Not so much.

Ethan - If Juliet's telling the truth, by kidnapping Claire he saved her
life.

Pickett - He seemed kinda mean, but he was out for personal vengeance and
was motivated by anger.

Goodwin - He was just gathering information.

Mikhail, Ms. Klugh, Batmanuel - I have yet to see them do anything terrible.
If anything, they were/are just acting the part given to them.

Tom - Pretty much all smoke and mirrors with him, since he seems to be the
nicest of all the Others.

Henry/Ben - His manipulations have lead to some poor outcomes, but he wasn't
holding Michael's hand when he shot Ana and Libby.

Juliet - I think she's more of a victim, so I don't even consider her an
Other.


Oh, and does anyone else think that Juliet did not get to the Island via the
submarine? That might just be my latent conspiracy theorist talking. I feel
like I have to question every answer the show gives me.

Damn, Jack!‏

So, I apologize for not emailing you guys earlier. I've been so disinterested in 24 these past few weeks that I actually waited until Tuesday night to watch this week's episode. And maybe it's my lowered expectations, or the return of Keifer as star of the show, but I actually thought this week's episode was pretty good. The ratio of 50% over-the-top Keifer, 25% CTU absurdity and 25% Presidential nonsense worked this week. I still have absolutely no interest in anything going on at CTU. I thought the ol' switcheroo with Fayed was pretty obvious (especially after they "killed" Jack), but the joy of seeing Jack ride under a garbage truck and the glee on his face as his hung Fayed from the chains (and his parting words) was glorious. And his confrontation with the terrorists (still from parts unknown, of course) was the perfect ridiculousness I expect from 24. The best thing I can say about 24 this season is that they've had two really good reveals at the end of episodes: first with Logan (where is he?) and now with Audrey. (Side Note: Why would the Chinese ever give her up? She's gotta be the ideal political prisoner: she'd crack real easy under pressure, she's the daughter of a prominent politician and she's a member of the U.S. Department of Defense.) Those Chinese have great timing though, right? Last season grabbing Jack just as he's about to be reunited with Audrey and now having Audrey call Jack just as he saves L.A.

I wish Kate had been buried alive‏

The main thing I came away with this week: If they wanted me to dislike Kate
even more than I already did, they succeeded.

I've never really been the biggest Kate fan - especially when related to her
romantic entanglements - but maybe that's because I don't understand why
Jack or Sawyer would want to get involved with someone so annoying, no
matter how attractive she is. She was at least interesting when the series
began, because we didn't know anything about her, but now, like Jack, I feel
like they are beating a dead horse every time they have a Kate flashback. Do
we really need an episode that tells us that Kate is selfish and has no
self-awareness? Now, I'm not entirely opposed to more Kate (or Jack)
flashbacks, but if the flashbacks are used to illuminate character traits,
maybe they shouldn't be wasted on such paper thin characters.

And I as much as I am intrigued by Juliet and want to see more of her, I was
hoping that the monster would kill both of them, just so I wouldn't have to
deal with Kate anymore.

I guess my other problem was with the actress that plays Cassidy, Kim
Dickens. She was a regular on Deadwood, and I don't really get her as an
actress - she talks in a monotone, almost deadpan voice all the time. I
guess that works for some people cuz she keeps getting work, but for me, it
detaches from whatever she is trying to do. The woman who played Juliet's
sister (Robin Weigert) was also on Deadwood (and actually shared a lot of
screen time with Dickens) and I hated her on Deadwood, and found her to be
exceptionally distracting, but thought she was quite good in Juliet's
episode. I mean, Kim Dickens is no Bai Ling, but she's no William Mapother
(Ethan) either.

Hey, we got definite confirmation that the baby is Sawyer's, so that's
something, I guess.

Also, mud wrestling? Cat fights? Seriously? Are they really that hard up for
the horny male vote?

But there were things I liked:
- The crazy look in Locke's eyes when he talked with Kate.
- Juliet getting the drop on Kate with her crazy kung fu moves
- Juliet having the key all along
- The Others don't understand the monster, but are aware of it
- After Kate cries and apologizes to Jack, he asks about Juliet. Awesome.
- The stuff with Hurley and Sawyer, but only because it was "the lamest con
in the history of cons." If they were actually going to exile him, well that
would be stupider than trusting Ben.
- Is Ben playing mind games with Juliet by leaving her behind or is he
screwing with Jack, Kate and Sayid? Is she Henry Gale v. 2.0?

I think there are a lot of basic similarities in characters of Locke and
Kate. But while Locke is awfully frustrating at times, at least he remains
interesting and he doesn't lie to himself. He lies to everyone else on the
island, but he knows his motives are selfish and that everything is does is
for his advantage. Does Kate really think that she went back to save Jack
for Jack's sake? How could anyone still have such little self awareness,
especially after everyone else is telling her otherwise: Sawyer, Sayid, Jack
and Juliet?

It wasn't bad, but I hope things pick up again next week.