If I go to Hell, I bet Mohinder will be there‏

I think this week's Lost episode was more of a set-up episode than anything.
No crazy WTF moments, no cliffhangers, but a lot of foreshadowing.

Some stuff I loved:
- Josh Holloway was AWESOME. That was the best acting he has ever done on
this show. Especially the stuff with Cooper/RealSawyer.
- I don't necessarily like Jack, but in the past few weeks he has become so
much more interesting. I think the best scene of the night was when
StupidKate went and tattled on everyone else. I love that Jack and Juliet
act so superior to StupidKate. I bet that infuriates her. It's like they are
king and queen of the prom and StupidKate is Jack's dumpy ex-girlfriend or
Juliet's nerdy friend. (And not that we saw much of her this week, but I
still trust Juliet. But I don't necessarily trust Jack.)
- Sayid doesn't trust Jack. (Or really anyone.) Sayid is awesome. They
should have a whole episode of Sayid and Ben trying to get the upper hand on
one another. Lock them in a room and see who breaks first.
- Terry O'Quinn's nonchalance when he addressed Rousseau: "What brings you
to the Black Rock?" Not only did that serve to set up something for future
episodes, but it felt very much like Locke of season one. Actually, in much
of his interaction with Sawyer (James), Locke felt like the old Locke. Not
so much when he was being played by Ben. AGAIN.
- I liked that the episode was off-the-island flashback-free. I thought it
worked really well with this particular episode and wouldn't be upset if
they revisited this device periodically in the future. However, I really I
hope they don't abandon the traditional flashbacks next year, as I think
they really gives the show its meat and emotional power.


Other thoughts/conclusions:
- Even if Naomi is telling the truth, I don't think it would be too hard to
fake the results (especially by people with money) of a deep sea exploration
of a "crashed plane." I'm still hoping for multiple timelines though. Or
maybe she is just an Other and is executing another part of Ben's (or
Jacob's) Master Plan.
- I don't doubt that many people think that Cooper will come back to life,
but I'm not so sure. There's so much we don't know about the Island's
healing ability. I never thought Patchy was dead in the first place, so I'm
not so sure he actually came back to life. I could be wrong though. It would
not be the first (or last) time I read something wrong on this show.
- Ok, the tape recorder - Locke is just not that smooth. Why would Ben tell
him all that information about Juliet, about the raid on the beach, etc.?
Ben is not the "I must reveal my evil plan before it comes to fruition" type
of villain - he's the type that makes gullible assholes like Locke and Jack
think that he actually is that type of villain. BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Why
does Ben want the castaways to know that Juliet is a plant? Confusion? Is he
double-crossing Juliet in anticipation of her double-cross of him? Or was
all of this part of his original plan? And does Juliet know that this is
coming?
- Why is Richard so well coiffed? Nice hair, nice clothes, messenger bag.
It's like he has a personal stylist stashed somewhere on the Island.
- Wherever the Others were camping, it reminded me of the 4-toed statue.
- It seemed obvious that Cooper wanted to be killed, but why? Has he really
reached that point of complete self-loathing? Does he really think he's in
Hell?
- Who is more annoying: Kate or Locke? If Kate actually once stopped to
think about her actions before doing something, I think my head would
explode because I couldn't handle it. And Locke is just a whiny bitch of a
man when he's around people like Ben and Cooper. How could he not have
killed Cooper? For all intents and purposes, he was castrating him in front
of a crowd of strangers. Locke looked like he wanted to run behind a tree
and cry.

Next Wednesday won't get here soon enough - it is the long-awaited Ben
episode and I'm thinking that no matter what happens, I am going to love it.
Because the more Michael Emerson, the better.

And so begins my anti-Heroes rant of the week...

You know what I love about Lost? The shows creators are not shy about their
outside influences. While the show as a whole is certainly a unique TV
concept in design and execution, from the beginning the producers have
explicitly stated (and subtly imply within episodes) that they have been
influenced by a number of science fiction and pop culture icons.

And I know by now you have guessed (if you didn't already know) that the
exact opposite approach has been taken by the creator of Heroes. The dude's
name is Tim Kring and he has stated more than once that he has never picked
up a comic in his life (which I can't fault him for), but that because of
that, all of the ideas that he came up with for Heroes were not influenced
by ANYTHING ELSE. Now I can't even go into the argument that the world of
entertainment hasn't come up with a truly original idea in at least ten
years (just other ways of presenting it), but it is just so fucking arrogant
of the creator of this show saying that he is in no way influenced by comic
books.

After last week's obvious Watchmen overtones, this week was ripped right
from the X-Men Days of Future Past storyline (and I'm not even that familiar
with the latter - only what I remember from the cartoon and some
supplemental reading I have done). I have no problem with someone paying
homage to other material that influenced them, but to say that they are your
own ideas is bordering on plagiarism.

Anyway, I already told Joe that this week's episode game me a headache, so
here are a few reasons why. Answer my queries if you can, please. Prove me
wrong, please. (Just don't tell be I'm being over-analytical, because that
is a fruitless argument with me.)

1. Why does Peter - who has regenerative powers - have a scar? (I don't know
why I didn't think of this question until this week.)

2. Sylar, who we have seen is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, manages
to keep his secret for years? I can see him duping Mohinder, but Parkman? He
can read minds! And how could Sylar as Nathan even be around the Haitian
when the Haitian can block powers?!?

3. Why can PresentHiro suddenly understand English fluently? And why does
FutureHiro have no trace of an accent?

4. I can't even begin to question the time travel aspect of the show,
because it makes little to no sense. Two Hiros makes no sense in the
equation that they have created. Their whole idea of time travel in regard
to Hiro makes no sense.

5. Niki/Jessica survives? Why? All the groping and kissing she and Peter did
made me feel even dirtier when I remembered that she already slept with
Nathan. Yuck.

6. Not really a question, but: The 9/11 overtones were very uncomfortable
(and as misplaced as anything this show has ever done), but I don't recall
watching the news every year since 2001 and seeing Bin Laden's picture pop
up on the screen like the news in the future did with Sylar.

7. Did anyone else notice that Mohinder developed a super power of his own
this week? (Other than killing every scene that he is in.) He has the
ability to lengthen and shorten his facial hair at will when he walks
between rooms. (Or Heroes just has a really bad makeup crew.)

8. Also not a question: I know not everyone pays attention to stuff like
this, but Zachary Quinto (Sylar) had his name in the opening credits, so I
was waiting for him to show up at some point in the episode and figured that
he wasn't dead. It lessened my surprise when he was revealed to be
fauxNathan. What could have been a real shock, was just a "huh" moment for
me. (But Adrian Pasdar was really good in the episode, because as I was
watching fauxNathan, I kept thinking that something was really off about
him.)

Funny thing is, I still have no plans to stop watching the show. So this
headache is self-inflicted. At least I have all my other TV shows to give me
respite.