Well, on the bright side, he’ll never have to deal with the swine flu…

So I loved last night’s Lost, but I’m not without concerns, so I think this is going to be tough to write, even though I have about 2 pages of notes.

Honestly, the ep is still swimming in my head and I don’t really know how to respond. I’m just going to transcribe my notes and see if I can go from there…

Writing the title of the ep got me even more excited to watch. I was hoping for the greatness of “The Constant.” I don’t know if we’ll ever get that greatness again, but as I said it was a really, really good ep and Jeremy Davies was fantastic, but I think I set my bar a bit too high for this one. It wasn’t the disappointment that “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” was (I actually quite liked a lot of that episode too, but a few things bothered me, and in this season of greatness, I have come to expect greatness week to week, not just goodness that “Bentham” was) but it certainly wasn’t “The Constant.”

Guess Desmond’s injuries are why they didn’t finish off Ben. Was wondering about that. Not that I wanted them to finish Ben off, but I did wonder why he was able to swim to surface and leave unscathed when Des had just wrestled him to the ground and thrown him in the water. Mystery explained.

Lost ‘whoosh’ fading into Star Trek promo (not great) was very freaky and weird (not in good way.) I yelled at the TV when I saw the stars behind the Lost logo. Did not care for that.

This new younger Hawking casting = really good. Facially and vocally, a very nice match for Finnoula Flanigan (sp?)

Miles: Faraday inventing DVDs. Oh Miles…

Faraday “outing” Miles to Chang. Could this be what causes Chang to send Miles and his mom packing? Does older Miles survive the 1970s? (Based on what has now happened to Charlotte and Faraday, not looking good.)

Sawyer calling Faraday Twitchy. That’s a billion times better than Freckles.

Sawyer: “He still crazy?” Miles: “On a whole new level, man.” Favorite exchange of the evening.

GREAT sequence (x4)!!! About halfway through the ep, they had 4 GREAT back to back scenes: Widmore visiting Faraday/The Meeting at Sawyer and Juliet’s house/Daniel talking to young Charlotte/Shootout between Jack, etc. and Radzinsky, etc.

Wired Magazine? In Widmore and Faraday’s scene, Widmore picked up a Wired magazine that the camera seemed to linger on for an extra few seconds. Is this significant or I am being crazier than usual?

Sawyer calling Faraday H.G. Wells. Not as good as Twitchy, but worth a giggle. Interesting to note…as their world is crumbling, Sawyer is going back to his old habits of calling people by nicknames. Maybe I just noticed it more last night, but it seemed more prevalent than it had been.

Josh Holloway’s acting in the meeting scene. I think I’m more disappointed than Sawyer that their life in the DI is coming to an end, because my heart broke with Sawyer’s during this scene. I hope that Juliet and Sawyer survive whatever the DI has planned for them, but if they don’t, I’m glad that they are going down together. I know I’m a broken record sometimes, but I wouldn’t feel the same if it was Jack and Kate. I do love Juliet and Sawyer and it hurts to think that they might not make it.

“Your Mother is an Other?” That might be my favorite line of the night.

“I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner.” That is definitely the most heart-breaking line of the night. I immediately flashed to poor older Charlotte dying in Daniel’s arms at this line. I miss Rebecca Mader, but I’m gonna miss Jeremy Davies more.

Poor Faraday. God, that short scene between him and young Charlotte was so powerful, so well-acted, and the camera pan away as they finished their conversation was beautifully done. And essentially, Charlotte is what brings about Dan’s death. He wants to change the future so she doesn’t die (in the past…). That’s really his motivation: if Charlotte is not a variable (heh) in his equation, he never comes back to the Island to try to change the future.

“Do you have something for a beginner?” Faraday bringing the funny. I think that’s probably something I would say.

Jeremy Davies and his incredible acting eyebrows. A lot of actors on this show And in general, of course) use their eyes to convey emotion, but I don’t know if anyone uses their eyebrows more than Davies. He’s got some flexible muscles up there.

FF = better this week. I thought that the last time we saw Finnoula Flanigan, she was a bit too over the top (especially in her scenes with Jack), but that she was more effectively used in this ep. There was still a bit of overacting, but she worked better this time for me.

Hawking says yes to Widmore? I was surprised that Hawking told Dan to go to the Island at Widmore’s request, but I guess that was cleared up later as her “sacrifice” for the Island.

Jughead? Well, I guess I saw that conclusion coming…

It can’t work, right? I just don’t think anything can really change, so while I was certainly surprised by Dan’s death, I think it does make sense.

Don’t leave Charlie alone with Hawking?!? Penny, c’mon! I truly expected Hawking to walk out of the hospital with little Charlie. In fact, as she walked out, I expected to see a small child struggling under her trenchcoat.

Oh Des. You’re the greatest. (Tears) I actually was afraid that they might kill Des. Obviously, I am very happy that they didn’t, especially because this tension produced my favorite scene of the night. Generally, any scenes between Des and Penny are fantastic, but reunion scenes just make it that much better. And those two have the greatest chemistry in the history of chemistry. I need more Desmond, so I do hope that the show isn’t done with him.

Widmore = Dan’s dad. Wha-huh? Not something that was at all shocking, but the execution was kinda swept under the rug. I don’t really think it makes a difference who his father is and Ellie and he obviously have a history, so I buy it, but I guess I don’t really care. I would probably have more of a problem with the Widmore is Dan’s dad reveal if it wasn’t executed so matter-of-factly. It was almost like an aside and then they were gone.

Dan really dead? I don’t watch previews, so I don’t know if he showed up in them. The show would miss Davies as an actor and Faraday as a character, and I do really love both, but I’m at peace with his death. I think the problem with a character like Faraday running around the Island is that he would constantly be trying to change the future (which I staunchly believe cannot be done) and he’d become a one-trick pony at this point in the show. Either that, or he’d be shuffled into the background and everyone would be asking where he was. Since his point in coming back seemed to be to change the future, I think to prevent ruing a great character, he had to die. And I find it satisfyingly twisty that his mom did him in. Creepy, yet satisfying. The more I think about it, the more I like it. (I know there’s only two weeks left in the season and presumably, we’re coming to the end of their time in the 70s, but then you’d have Faraday trying to change the past in the future, you know?)

Issues: Failsafe key, Chang video. So onto my issues:
Number One: Desmond’s turning of the failsafe key. I don’t really know what to make of this after Dan’s claims last night. Shouldn’t everyone have died if no one was pushing the button? Or am I not understanding this correctly? Could the failsafe key be connected to the hydrogen bomb? If so, how? It’s not like the Hostiles and the DI were chummy, and one has the bomb, while the other is building the Swan.

Number Two: Faraday and Chang in ComicCon video. So I guess that it wasn’t Faraday’s voice in the video made by Dr. Chang, unless Faraday is still alive. Was it ever officially confirmed that it was Faraday? That video has to be filmed soon because Miles is still a baby in it, but there clearly was no time for it to have been done during last night’s ep. Could it be Dan’s “spirit” like Christian and Locke? (Even though both of them died off the Island?)

Time travel. I think I spend too much time writing about how I think the show feels about time travel. I need to find some time to work out my thoughts on it, mostly because I think it will help me understand what I think better if I write it down. (If that makes any sense…) Basically, I think that it always happened this way. Even though in 1977, Dan isn’t born yet (I guess Jeremy Davies is playing way younger than he is – I think he’s about 40), he was always there to get shot by Ellie. It’s not about course-correction or variables (not in my mind at least). It always has to happen that way. Kinda like The Terminator (the movie, not the machine). John Conner has always been the son of Kyle Reese, even though Reese is from the future. Maybe one day, I’ll sit down and write a few pages on this. Don’t have the head for it now. Not with Lost still swimming around in there.

Hydra Island and Polar Bear Turds

I knew this was an ep that was going to be Miles and Hurley centric, so my expectations were not as high as say, last week, when I knew we were all about Ben. However, where my expectations were met last week, this week they were exceeded by quite a healthy margin. Answers, intrigue, crazy hair/piercings for Miles, and Pierre Chang; something for everybody.

So the DI was building Swan on Hostile territory – why? They were doing it seemingly on purpose, but how did they get away with it? It’s not like it was a one day job. I assume it was chosen because of the electromagnet and the dead dude was just an unfortunate casualty. I mean we later see the gate covered in foliage to hide the work, but the Hostiles are smarter than that, right? Oh and those black jumpsuits with the Sawn logo make everyone look much more sinister.

The flashback with Miles talking to his dying Mom and asking about his father, cuts to scene with Horace on phone with Dr. Chang – subtle, Lost, real subtle.

Are we to assume that perhaps Dr. Chang did something to Miles as a child that caused him to be able to speak to the dead and also caused his mother to take him and leave? Something like Room 23? Could it have been THE Incident that caused it? Could this have also caused her cancer?

Hurley has had a good few weeks. Tonight’s highlights included:
- His suggestion that he and Miles carpool to prevent global warming.
- His insistence that he makes a good garlic mayo.
- “Sometimes we even play chess.”
- “You’re just jealous because my powers are better than yours.”
- His reaction to discovering who Miles’ dad is – I didn’t write down the quote exactly, but the gist of it being that Miles’ dad is the star of all those movies and that his real name isn’t Marvin Candle. I think I gotta rewatch that scene tonight.
- His reaction to Chang’s threats.
- His reaction to the hatch being built.
- His “rewriting” of Empire and his assertation that Ewoks suck. I’m glad we’re on the same page, Lost.

Favorite quote of the night: Juliet: “Well, here we go.”

I wish I could accept Kate’s stupidity as calmly as Juliet. For all my praise of her two weeks ago, Kate is back to being a moron. It takes a whole ep for me to like her for once and then she goes and ruins it with one scene. It was hard to stop from smacking my forehead repeatedly during her scene with Roger.

I thought that the body that Miles picked up was somebody who mouthed off and was shot by Radzinsky. However, a filling shot through his head because of electromagnet is WAY cooler.

Hey, it’s Hank from ‘Breaking Bad’! He was the guy that Miles duped.

Naomi’s not really my type, but much prettier off-Island. (Hair was a bit crazy though, no?) It was nice that we got answers with really no other questions (in her scene at least), i.e. the staging of the crash (I assume that this was confirmation of Widmore’s staging of the crash), Miles was part of the 4 because they wanted to use him to use Island to find Ben, Miles’ $1.6 and then $3.2 million. All pretty logical and satisfying as well.

“That dude is a douche.”
“That douche is my dad.” (That may not be the exact exchange – I can’t read my handwriting – but it’s close enough...)

I love how Chang says Hurley’s name. I also loved Miles’ reaction to Chang saying that he liked country music. In fact, I loved that whole conversation with Hurley trying to help Miles get to know his dad better.

Other things I love about Dr. Chang: “What body?” In other words, “You’re in the trust circle now, so shut the hell up.”

Seeing the Swan being built and especially the numbers being etched into the top of the hatch was very surreal.

The scene with Jack, Sawyer and Juliet was nice. No name calling, no lovey-dovey meaningful glances, very - dare I say it - adult. I completely disagree with everything Jack said, but good on him and Sawyer for behaving like grown men.

So onto the van that kidnapped Miles: Dude (Bram? Brom? Bam?) riding shotgun and doing all the talking was on Flight 316 and was with Ilana when she knocked out Lapidus. So are they part of some kind of cult that has ties to the Hostiles? If he seemingly knows what lies in the shadow of the statue, and he doesn’t work for Widmore, does guy work for Ben or Hawking? Could there be three teams?

Didn’t really need the extra flashback to Hank from ‘Breaking Bad’ with Miles returning the money; it wasn’t bad, I just didn’t really need it, since I had already grasped that Miles has Daddy issues. He wouldn’t be on the show if he had a good relationship with his father.

And then the ending: Scientists from Ann Arbor! I was all excited to finally get to meet Gerald and Karen DeGroot and then who should pop out of the sub, but Faraday?!?!?!? What the what?

So he’s been off Island this whole time doing research, working with the DI to do what exactly? I am so happy to see him and can’t wait to find out what he was doing but, I never really thought that he would actually be off Island and an important member of the DeGroot’s team. And he arrives wearing the black jumpsuit of a Swan constructor! Wha-huh?

I wish I was as cool as Brian K. Vaughan

Unfortunately, I really don’t have time to write much this morning, so I’m just going to transcribe my notes from last night’s fantastic Lost and and expand a bit on my thoughts. Hopefully, I can revisit this tomorrow or some time next week.

In the first flashback, the guy playing younger Widmore looked a lot like Alan Dale – good casting.

Very amused by Ben making Locke into new castaways’ Ethan.

Ethan is like Anakin to Ben’s Obi Wan. (Padawan, right? I’m rusty on my Star Wars lingo…)

The whispers – Ben tells Rousseau to run when she hears them. I guess that’s why she’s so scared of them, but what are they?

“I assume you’re referring to the fact that I killed you.” Only Michael Emerson could deliver that line.

Ben’s shooting of Caesar shocked me – I certainly thought he would last longer. But then again, maybe he will if the Island wants him to.

Risk – When Ben entered his old house, they clearly showed the game of Risk that Hurley, Sawyer, etc. were playing back in season 4. I took this to mean that there are no alternate timelines, i.e. whatever happened, happened.

Was slightly frightened for Ben, but didn’t really think they would kill him.

Was more scared for Penny – thank you, Lost, for not killing her. That would have been devastating. But the fake out (“…apologize to Desmond Hume for me.”) made my heart skip a beat.

Should we believe that Ben knew Locke would be resurrected? Can you believe anything he says? Lying and manipulating truly comes so easy to him. But he doesn’t seem to want Locke around and certainly doesn’t enjoy being the one asking the questions. So enigmatic is that Benjamin Linus. Which is why Michael Emerson is so damn awesome.

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” So do Ilana and the others have ties to the Island? Are they part of a cult? Do they know Richard and have connection to the hostiles/original Islanders? Could they be “infected” like Robert and crew?

I think we received confirmation that Ilana, etc. are the people in the outrigger that were shooting at Sawyer, Juliet, etc. in the “future” rainstorm. (In “The Little Prince,” I think.)

“I have some ideas.” If I’m remembering correctly, Ben said this to Jack in the funeral home while they looked at Bentham’s coffin.

Ben telling Sun that he can’t control what comes out of the jungle (thinking it’s the Monster) only to have Locke appear = foreshadowing?

I guess Ben doesn’t know about Christian, because new Locke seems very Christian-esque. Could new Locke be like Christian? Is he different? They both seem to be very connected to the Island. Could they both be part of the Island now? Could Jacob be possessing Locke? Could Locke simply be another manifestation of the Monster?

The hieroglyphics that Ben was looking at inside the temple seemed to show the Statue reaching out to the Monster, which had a face. I don’t really know what to make of that.

The holes that the Monster came out of = Cerberus vent? Or is the vent the hole that it pulled Montand into? I’m still assuming that Cerberus is the Monster as named by Radzinsky. How would he know about the underground vent though? Probably wrong about this one.

So happy to see grown-up Alex again. Wonder if she’ll show up again to haunt/watch over Ben.

I loved the “Sins of Benjamin Linus” smoky montage.

Loved that Desmond’s boat was named “Our Mutual Friend.”

Seems like there is more to Widmore’s banishment. He clearly had some sort of leadership role among the Hostiles, but Ben did openly defy him with Rousseau, so his power wasn’t absolute. Maybe because the Island never chose Widmore? Could all these problems be related to the wrong leader of the Others? Widmore wasn’t right, Ben wasn’t right, maybe Locke truly is and the Island needs him.

As always, Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson do fantastic work together. I’m thinking a remake of ‘Perfect Strangers’ starring Ben and Locke’s post-finale Island adventures. (Assuming they are both still around by then.) If this happens in the fall of 2010, I want my cut. (And Sam Anderson could reprise his role as Mr. Gorpley!)

Ben as villain or hero? This was my last note of the night and obviously I could write for days about this, so I think I’ll leave it as is. My gut says ultimately Ben will be viewed as a hero of the Island with questionable morals. But I’m more often wrong than I am right, so we’ll see…

Just another great, compelling, entertaining, answer and question filled ep. I think there are only 5 more episodes before the end of the season. I’m guessing we’re heading toward “The Incident” because why else would we be back in DI time if we weren’t going to see that, but I don’t know how that will hook up with “future” time. Well, unless the two are related – could this be how Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Juliet, Faraday, etc. all return to 2008? And if so, what happens next year? Once again, I’m getting way ahead of myself and I think I should just let the show get us to the finale before I start worrying about the final season.

One request before I head off. Ok, two requests. Please let us find Faraday soon. And please bring Desmond back to the main story on the show. I really miss them both.

And you can see daisies in her footsteps. Dandelions, butterflies...I wanna be Kate!

Hell freezing over. Pigs flying. Republicans and Democrats actually working together. Three things that I was sure would happen before something that did happen last night: I loved an episode of Lost that featured Kate’s flashbacks. Now, I’m not going to go join the Kate and Jack 4Eva Fan Club, but last night went a long way toward me understanding and sympathizing with Kate.

There are three major things I want to write about, but I’ll go through my quick notes first…

- Any doubt that Sawyer whispered to Kate about Clementine was ruined by “previouslys.” Not that I really had any doubt what he said to her, anyway, but still…the previouslys are almost as bad as the previews.
- Evangeline Lilly had a great reaction to Roger Linus. (More on her later)
- Episode overall was very tense. I kept waiting for the shit to hit the fan and was literally on the edge of my seat for most of the show.
- Quote of the night: Hurley: “I’m checking to see if I’m disappearing.” (More on this later)
- Jack is a douche. I had some sympathy for him off-Island, but since he’s been back, I hate him all over again. Though, I suppose I should be thanking him for not saving young Ben. Not that he could have, because whatever happened, happened, but if Jack had been willing to save Ben, and he did, he actually would have changed everything. That is really hysterical to me and I hope that Jack realizes it one day.
- Jack: “Maybe I was just getting in the way.” Why can’t he just find a happy medium between his two extremes? Why does he have to be Super Proactive-Aggressive Man or Douchey Bump-on-a-Log Guy?
- Something else surprising about this ep: the scenes between Jack and Juliet and Kate and Sawyer were all pretty decent, especially the Kate/Sawyer scenes. They reflected on the history without being too cheesy, cloying and annoying. They didn’t move into the love quadrangle that I had feared they would at the end of “LaFleur.” You know, the one that dominated much of the end of season 3 and season 4. Sawyer does what he did last night for Juliet. He acknowledges he is different now and is happy with that.
- I’m not sure how we’re supposed to read Juliet’s expression when she suggested that they bring young Ben to the Others.
- I’ve always thought that the actress who plays Claire’s mum looks like a Caucasian Gina Torres. Don’t know that I’ve ever written it down though.

So my three big discussion topics:

#1: Hurley and Miles: I loved, loved, loved the discussions between Hurley and Miles. Just brilliant, funny, entertaining and perfectly placed. When the writers do stuff like this it shows me that they really know what they are doing, and it renews my faith. It’s not that I truly ever doubt them, but sometimes I’m afraid that they don’t know what they are doing or where they are going. This discussion addressed almost every possible question related to all this time travel that’s been going on. From the Back to the Future comment to Hurley’s question about Ben not knowing Sayid in 2004, it all bolstered my faith in the show. And that question about Sayid in 2004 (and Hurley’s triumphant crossed arms) - it was exactly the right question to ask. How often does that happen on this show?

#2: The implications of the scene with Richard. Does the smoke monster cure Ben? If Ben is truly reborn on the Island, maybe that’s why he has said that he was born here. Maybe he actually believes it. I wonder if his memories will just be missing Sayid shooting him. I also wonder if he knows that the Island saved him and that adds to his shock upon discovery of the tumor in 2004. Also, this goes a long way in explaining why the Others/Hostiles hold Ben in such him esteem.

And what of Richard’s comments about Ellie and Charles? Of course, this looks like it will lead to their ousters from the Island – maybe they feel like they were deserving of whatever is going to happen to young Ben.

But is this the mistake that sets everything into motion? Was Ben never supposed to be Island leader? Was he never supposed to be saved? Such questions are almost pointless if whatever happened, happened, but they are questions I have nonetheless.

Did Richard act so impetuously because he needed the DI gone so badly? Were they truly doing that much harm to the Island? Did he see an ally in young Ben and save him because he thought it was his best chance to rid the Island of Dharma? Did he think that would save the Island and that’s why he didn’t consult Ellie or Charles? If Ben will no longer be innocent, is the Island they taking from him or giving to him? Could he not be innocent any longer because he will learn all the Island’s secrets? Perhaps even his future? (Maybe that’s why he was so shocked when Widmore killed Alex – because the Island told him that it would never happen.)

But I think I’m getting ahead of myself (again) and by next week all of these questions could be answered or proven inconsequential. On to discussion topic #3…

#3: Evangeline Lilly! Never have I been so impressed with Lilly’s acting. Never have I been so pleased with Kate’s actions. I’m still not really over how much I enjoyed the episode and how great she was in it.

Two flashback scenes stand out in particular: The flashback discussion between Cassidy and Kate about losing Aaron in the market – on the nose and perfect. Nicely explains Kate’s state of mind and decisions she made in a logical and acceptable fashion. Thank you, Cassidy. (Or really, thanks Darlton!)

My problem with Kate has always been that I just never really “got” her. There are other characters that have made decisions that I wouldn’t have (I’m looking at you Mr. Locke) but they don’t bother me as much, because I understand where those decisions come from. It seems like we’ve always been asked to accept Kate and her directions because she’s pretty and has Daddy issues. (But really, who on this show doesn’t?) But finally, we get some character growth and dimensionality for this character.

Oh, and it certainly was intentional that the woman in the market looked like Claire from behind. For a second I really thought that it would be her and got some major goosebumps.

The other scene that stood out was my favorite scene of the night: Kate’s with Claire’s mother and her goodbye to Aaron (forever?). These two scenes were certainly the best work that Evangeline Lilly has ever done of the show. I nearly cheered when she said she was going back for Claire and my heart broke with hers when she said “Bye Bye Baby.”

And her on-Island actions also illustrated a very different Kate. Kate as the hero. Kate as the voice of reason. What is the world coming to?

It’s so interesting that the birth of Benjamin Linus (presumably as we know him) and his reign of manipulation over the Lostaways is now shown to be the “fault” of the Lostaways themselves. (At least that’s how I read it.) Obviously Sayid set it all in motion, then Jack’s refusal to save him (again) would have prevented them from taking him to the Hostiles and Juliet, Kate and Sawyer all had a hand in actually getting him to said Hostiles.

Of course, that is assuming that this is how it always happened, and there definitely is still room for that view to change. The show has gotten me many times before…