TomBall: The Classic in 10 AWARDS

Here they are, the Awards for The Classic in 10. Everyone will be surprised with these, so take a gander. **NOTE: This is the first time in TomBall history that The Best did NOT win Defensive Player of the Classic.**

Defensive Second Team
Night Crawler
Wet Nap
Professor X
Thief

Defensive First Team
Primetime
The Best
The Mathematician
The Litigator

All-Classic Third Team
Sooooo Good
Thief
King Wilhelm I
Up & Coming

All-Classic Second Team
Wet Nap
The Litigator
Primetime
Rosetta Stone

All-Classic First Team
The Best
AKA
Good News
The Mathematician

Defensive Player of the Classic
Primetime

MVP
The Litigator

TomBall: The Classic in 10 OFFICIAL STATS

No need for chitchat. Here are the official stats for the TomBall Classic in 10! The highlighted numbers just mean they were the leader in that specific category. Click on each picture to enlarge it!

ROUND ROBIN

PLAYOFFS

OVERALL

(36) - LOST Finale

Hey guys. I'm really very sorry that I haven't posted in almost two months, and that I left you all hanging with my LOST recaps. I dropped the ball. My apologies. I'm not even sure I can put into words my feelings now that LOST is officially over. I very much enjoyed the finale, and while it did not answer every question, I was satisfied with how they left the show. In the past two weeks since the finale I've been having serious withdrawal, and so to help with that I created a LOST collage in photoshop. Worked on it a few hours each day, and now I'm pretty happy with what I've created. Included are characters and images from all six seasons of LOST. I hope you enjoy and pass it on to whoever else loves LOST. Please click on the image to view the full image. When you click it will take you to flickr.com. Click on the "All Sizes" button to see it in the largest possible format. If you'd like a larger file, please contact me via this blog or twitter or whatever. Enjoy!

(35) - Everybody Loves Chicken

Doesn't everybody chicken? Hurley sure does, as he turned his Mr. Clucks into an international franchise, which in turn helped him to give back. According to Dr. Chang, Hugo and "giving" became synonymous, as he gave to charities and started his own charity. And he was soon to receive an award from The Human Fund (awesome Seinfeld reference). Was his mom happy? Yes. But she knew Hugo needed a woman in his life, a woman who was not his mother. We'll come back to that though. First, past predictions that deal with this episode:

• Desmond is able to kill LockeMonster
• Well, judging by the fact Locke threw him into a well, I'm going to say TRUE. How is he able to kill him? No idea, but LM was sure spooked by him.

I think that's about it. No, let's eat "Everybody Loves Hugo."

1. LOST is a love story. The show is defined by the relationships that are kept and the one's that are destroyed. Desmond/Penny = Constant, Charlie/Claire = Drowned, Sun/Jin = Fluxuating, Hurley/Libby = Real. Last night, after three and a half seasons, Libby returned from the dead. Not in the Island timeline, but in the alternate reality. She had checked herself into Santa Rosa after seeing Hurley on the TV and getting bombarded with flashes and feelings which she never had before, which apparently came from another life. After bumping into Hurley at Spanish Johnny's (seriously, odds they're both there that night? Zilch. That sort of stuff only happens on TV. Wait a second...), she truly believes they were together in another life. Hurley wasn't 100% sold, but something was "off" about the whole encounter. He believed her, he just didn't feel it.

Desmond, fresh off of obtaining the Oceanic 815 passenger list from George, apparently started with the R's and found Hugo and stalked him to one of his Mr. Clucks, and urged him to give the girl another shot. To see exactly what she meant. Ahh, the matchmaker, it suits you Desmond. That accent, the hair, it could work on a different show. We'll get back to Desmond later, who went psycho. So Hugo made a generous donation in exchange for some face time with Libby. He asked her on a date, and they went on a picnic! At the beach! The date that never happened was happening. And then Libby kissed Hugo, and that was all he needed. The thoughts and emotions that filled Island Hugo have now downloaded into Alto-Hugo. "Dude." Desmond was looking on, and saw that the connection was made. One down, a few more to go.

2. Island Hugo is becoming the alpha male. People are listening to him. He's taking charge. Ilana and Richard were the two people on Team Jacob that were barking orders. Their new orders were to get dynamite and to blow up the Ajira Plane. Sun didn't like this idea, and apparently neither did Hugo. He was willing to go along with operation blow plane up until he was visited by an old friend/enemy: Michael. Michael's message? Don't do this, people will die, and it's going to be your fault. GUILT! Remember in this timeline, Hugo feels very badly about his weight. He believed it was his fault a deck collapsed and two people died. If he wasn't so big, it would have never happened. That's why he was in Santa Rosa. And remember the season two episode (and this episode's counter), "Everybody Hates Hugo." Hugo wants people to like him and for people to not die.

So he argues with Ilana about blowing up the plane: he doesn't want to be stuck with this "thing," the dynamite is unstable, etc. Ilana kept getting fed up, slammed down the bag of dynamite, and BOOM! Arzt all over again! Ilana blew up. I guess I should have seen it coming looking back, but at the same time, we have this whole Ilana backstory which I guess we're never going to see. Why was she in bandages when Jacob came to see her? How has she been training all of her life for her stay on the Island? How does she know Jacob? Why was the closest thing she's ever had to a father? And with one explosion, that was all gone. Will she come back to have those questions answered? Probably not, that's my guess anyways.

What to do next? Richard says to do the same thing: get more dynamite. But this time, Hugo is all for it. Obviously something was up, we just didn't know what it was. It turned out that Hugo snuck ahead of the entire crew (how is that possible?), got to the Black Rock first, and blew up the entire ship. Gone. No more. Goodbye Black Rock. Richard is extremely upset. WTF DUDE?! And then there's a split in Team Jacob. On the one side: Alpert, Ben Linus & Miles. On Team Hurley: Hugo, Jack, Frank and Sun. Why the split?

Hurley made up some BS that he was talking to Jacob who said we should go talk to LockeMonster. Richard called his bluff, but Hurley grew some balls and said that he didn't have to prove anything to him. Linus went with Richard because I'm assuming he knows LM won't give him another chance once he declined his initial offer. Miles went with Richard because I guess after Hurley told him he listens to what dead people tell him (and that they can be trusted more than alive people), that freaked him out. So he peaced. Why did Jack stay with Hurley? Because he trusts him completely. He knows he was making up the Jacob BS, but he has fully realized that he cannot fix everything. With Juliet now dead, he has realized he cannot be the ultimate fixer, and as much as it pains him to realize that, he does. And with that, it is now official (not official, but in my head official), Jack is the new Jacob. That's the transformation. Looking out on the ocean after smashing the Lighthouse really transformed his way of thinking. After this revelation by Jack, we get another answer to a LOST mystery.

3. The whispers. Hurley pieced it together himself: the whispers are all the people who have came to the Island and have died. Michael clued him into the rest: They cannot move on due to something they have done or not atoned for. They are stuck. They cannot move on to whatever is beyond the Island. The producers brought the whole the Island is purgatory theory right back into play. Michael then tells Hurley that if he ever sees Libby again, to please tell her he is sorry. But don't tell Ana Lucia? Fucked up Mike.

4. Sawyer is getting impatient with Locke. Whyyyyy are they waiting??? Stop being a whiny bitch Sawyer. LM was carving a long wooden stick when Sawyer approached him. What's that, a spear? LM's response: he's not sure what it is, but when the time is right he'll know. AKA, relax Sawyer and sit your ass down. You don't want to? Then I'll tell you a little bit more: They all came back to the Island as a group, and that's how they have to leave. I'm calling BS on this. Again, my theory is that he needs all the Candidates together so he can wipe them out all at the same time, this way Jacob's essence cannot fill a human host. Sawyer didn't come in on the plane, neither did Jin. Bologna if you ask me. He wants everyone to die, we know this.

Sayid returns, with the package in tow. He had tied Desmond up to a tree in case he wanted to run off. Desmond's response was that he had no where to run, so why even try? LM cuts him free, and asks him do you know who I am? "Of course. (pause) You're John Locke." Locke smiled and dismissed Sayid so he and Desmond could go on a walk and have a chat. What was so odd about this exchange? Something bugged me. Desmond is now this enlightened being, he knows he has to do something "important." He knows about the alternate universe. Sawyer called LockeMonster on his bluff, he knew immediately it wasn't him. Jin knew it wasn't Locke. So what gives? Why didn't Desmond know? And that's when I thought, that Desmond did know. That he was correct. That he was staring at John Locke.

• Yes I know. That makes no sense. We saw the dead body, and dead is dead. John Locke died when Ben strangled him. We get it. But what if, just what if, the loophole that the man in black was talking about wasn't looking like John Locke, but becoming John Locke? What if John Locke finally understood the Island and what it wanted from him, or what it wanted to use from him, and he was ok with it? What if the loophole was that the Man in Black got John Locke on his side? How do you explain the dead body, you ask? No fucking clue. Is this theory correct? 100% incorrect. But I thought it was interesting to add. Desmond seeing LockeMonster for who he really was: John Locke.

Anyways, they go for their walk and come upon a well. One of they many wells on the Island. Dug by man, deep deep into the Island. Why? Because they wanted to understand the Island and its properties. They knew It was/is special. Des told LM that he was kidnapped by Widmore, and what they wanted from him was to help identify electromagnetic hot spots on the Island. How does he know this? Experience, he says. LM clearly didn't like this answer. He knows Widmore is on to something. LM asks Desmond why he isn't afraid. No one on this Island saw him except for Sayid and LM, and he is alone with LM now. Why isn't he afraid? Because there is nothing to be afraid of. Uhhh wrong answer buddy. LM proceeds to push him down the well. There goes Team Jacob/Team Widmore's one hope to save this universe. LM goes back to his crew, Sayid questions him about Desmond and before he can really give an answer Team Hurley shows up. They want to talk. But no one can get hurt! That's the rule! LM hands over his knife, sounds good. Team Hurley comes out, Jack last. Sees Kate, Sawyer, and then, holy shit, John LOCKE?! WTF???!!! Craziness.

5. Cut to Alto-Verse (that's my new way of saying the alternate universe). Desmond is being creepy and staring at little girls at a high school. Orrrrrr he's just waiting for Locke to get out of class and cross the street so he can run him over with his car!!!!! Make sense? Not yet. But it obviously will. Desmond has either gone mad (which he hasn't, he just got Hugo and Libby together) or he wanted to kill John Locke for some reason. Or, he wanted Locke to connect with his Island consciousness. Maybe for some people, love is the connection. For others, it's pain. And what has John Locke felt all of his life: PAIN. Major daddy issues, including getting a kidney stolen and being tossed out a window. So for Desmond to make Locke's connection, he had to put him through a ton of pain. Now Locke will get sent to the ER and run in to...Dr. Shepherd!!! Ahh how the world goes round and round.

I don't believe Desmond ran over Locke because he doesn't want LM to transfer consciousness into Alto-Locke. I don't think Island Desmond and Alto-Desmond have a current link. I think Alto-Des has all of the thoughts that Island Desmond had, and vice versa.

6. Predictions!

• Continuing a past prediction: Jack will be the new Jacob. 
• Desmond ran over Locke so he can experience a shitload of pain hoping that would connect him to his Island counterpart (wait....that makes no sense. Maybe he did run him over hoping he'd die...)
• Sayid will help Island Desmond out of the well. I know this is out of left field, but I'm hoping all of Sayid's soul didn't die. And since he's the only other person who has even an inkling where Desmond might be, he'll track him and help him out.

 I'm hungry for chicken.

(34) - Penny's Boat?

Welllll I didn't think there'd be a better episode than "Ab Aeterno" until the season finale, and of course, I'd be wrong. "Happily Ever After" is the episode. The one where we finally, finally see what this alternate universe is supposed to be. Before that, let's deal with some past predictions:

• Desmond aka "the package" is actually the Desmond from the alternate world
• Ehhhh false. Whatevs.
• Desmond wasn't on the plane in the premiere. He was skipping through universes.
• Well we're led to believe that this isn't true. But I'm not sold. Check below.
• Alternate Universe consciousnesses will be coming to the Island
• Possibly. Still not sure where Desmond's head is at, but we'll see.

Ok, let's get "Happily Ever After." This is another long one, as this episode is the benchmark for the rest of the season.

1. Widmore kidnapped, drugged and brought Desmond to the Island because he is the only person known to have survived a massive electromagnetic explosion. Desmond obviously flips out and starts beating Charlie-boy with the IV stand. After being restrained, Charles tells Desmond that the Island wasn't done with him yet, and that he's going to need to make a sacrifice. What has Charles ever sacrificed? Oh nothing, just his tenure on the Island, his marriage, his son who was shot by his own mother, other than that nothing at all. Widmore needs to make sure he can survive that explosion again, so they need to test it out. They accidentally fry another member of Team Widmore before Desmond, who sees the after effects of the explosion. He tries to get free, but Widmore flips the switch before Desmond can get free and hopes Desmond is able to survive. What follows is truly, amazing.

We are flying through the clouds. My first thought was that his consciousness was rebooted ala after the hydrogen bomb explosion, and he was going to be on Oceanic 815 with everyone else. Instead what we got was a reflection of Desmond (the first of TWO reflections), staring back at himself, but the camera refocuses and we see he's trying to find the baggage claim for his flight (or is he? check the bullet point below). Hurley confirms that it's on carousel #4. As he's waiting for his bag he tries to make small talk with Claire asking about her baby, who seems taken aback by the questions. But she's nice enough to make small talk as Desmond helps with her bag. As they're leaving Desmond offers her a ride (huh? why?), but she says she can take a taxi, after which he tells her it's a boy.  So what does this mean? Keep reading.

2. Desmond finds his driver, and who it be? Old George Minkowski, the freighter electronics officer who once got too close to the Island and went crazy from his conscious constantly time travelling. How apropos, don't you think? Desmond, the one guy in the world (maybe one of two -- Faraday?) who's mind can withstand the Island's electromagnetic force, being driven around LA by the best example we've seen of the effects of said electromagnetic force. George is extremely talkative, and apparently has the hookup. He can get anything Desmond wants or needs, including some ladies of the night. He only asked about that because he noticed he wasn't wearing a ring. Huh? But wasn't he wearing a ring on the plane when we saw him the premiere? What gives? My take:

• There is one version of Desmond, but he can skip through realities. When we saw him on the plane in the premiere there was only one Desmond, and at that moment he happened to be on the plane. He was "in flux" after his gunshot from Ben. Widmore grabbed him when he was in the current reality. Desmond's consciousness changes depending on what reality he is in, without Desmond knowing the change. When Widmore fired up the machine to test it on Desmond, it awoke his other consciousness and placed him at the LA airport (NOTE: I do not think Widmore is aware of other realities. He might be aware of the possibility of other realities, but I do not think he believes they exist). Wasn't he staring at his reflection in an odd way? Almost like, what am I looking at? Where am I? So, Desmond was on the airplane, and Hurley and Jack did see him, but he wasn't on the plane the entire time. And due to his "in flux" consciousness after Ben shot him, his alternate life was also "in flux." So when he was on the plane, he was happily married to whoever it may be (most likely Penny). That marriage wasn't a fixed thing. When Widmore created Desmond's second consciousness, his in flux consciousness became stable in the alternate universe, without a wedding ring. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's my best explanation.

3. George drives Desmond to see the boss. Mr. Charles Widmore. In this alternate reality, Desmond has earned what he has always wanted (according to Eloise, more later) -- Charles Widmore's approval and affection. He even shares his 60 year old scotch with Des, who he deemed unworthy in another life. Desmond is Charle's go-to guy, the "best, fix-it man," as Eloise says. His current task: babysit a spoiled, druggie rock star who was arrested on Oceanic 815 and make sure to deliver him to his wife's fundraiser, where their son, a musical genius, was going to combine classical music with modern rock. Playing the parts:

• Rock Star -- Charlie Pace
• Wife -- Eloise Hawking
• Son/Musical Genius - Daniel (Faraday) Widmore

No problem, says Desmond. Consider it done. He drives himself to go pick up Charlie at the police precinct (which is weird, because every other scene he's being driven around by George). As he approaches the front door, we see reflection number TWO for Desmond. He gets closer and closer to the reflection, a little foreshadowing I presume. Let's talk about the reflections for a second. I haven't really mentioned them in depth yet because I thought they were a too-obvious ploy for the audience to say, "Oh s/he's staring at her/himself!!! They must know about the alternate universe!!" But now we have Desmond's reflectionS. With a capital "S," because he is the first person to have two reflections. Why is this significant? We weren't sure at the moment, but by the end of the episode we understood. The rules do not apply to Desmond. At the end of the episode he understands this. He knows what he has to do. More later. I'm going to come back to the reflection angle in a bit, because there was another reflection which my mouth dropped at.

4. Charlie immediately walks across traffic to a bar to grab a drink. He clearly does not care about his life. Desmond follows him, says one drink, and then he's out. What follows is a nice, eye-opening conversation. Charlie tells Desmond the story of the plane and how he choked. How he got spooked by the Marshal on the plane, went to the bathroom to swallow his drugs, and at that moment the plane hit turbulence, and he choked. And he was losing consciousness, or, was he merging consciousnesses? He described a vision of a blonde, rapturously beautiful, and he knew her, and he loved her, and he felt safe with her, and just as he was about to embrace her (Claire? Virgin Mary Statue), Jack and Sayid "saved" his life. He had felt true love, mind bending and altering love. The kind of love that makes you never want to leave it, the kind of love that only exists in movies. But he can't quite get Desmond to understand, who chalks it up as nice poetry. Desmond gives Charlie a choice to stay or leave, but it wasn't actually a choice. 

They're driving along, driving along, DriveShaft's hit comes on the radio, "You All Everybody," when asked Desmond says that it's good "for what is is." Charlie says he feels bad for him, for his life, Desmond's response, "Why? Because none of it's real?" Whaaaat?? He's obviously referring to Charlie's mind altering experience with love, and how that is truly real, and that Desmond's material wealth and possessions are "fake," but what a question. "Because none of it's real?" None of it is real. THIS reality was never supposed to happen. Good one Desmond. 

Charlie proceeds to give Desmond a choice, but just like his choice, it was never a choice. He takes the wheel and plunges the car into the depths of the ocean. Desmond tries to free Charlie but needs some air, and then goes back down to try and open Charlie's door.  And then the strangest thing happened. How it happened I am not sure. It couldn't have been Charlie's other conscious switching universes, because he is dead in the current timeline, maybe it was the Island? In any case, Charlie lifts his left palm and holds it up to the window, just like in the season three finale "Through the Looking Glass," when he found out the freighter wasn't Penny's boat, wrote NOT PENNY'S BOAT on his hand, and held it up to the glass on the door as Desmond was trying to pry it free. That was when Charlie died. And BOOM - the link was created. The sound dropped, and we heard the loudest silence we've heard on the show. Flashes before Desmond's eyes, and he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. And as quickly as they came, they went away, and Charlie passed out. Desmond obviously saved him, and then woke up in the hospital. 

Desmond tries to get up to see Charlie, to ask him questions, but the doctor said the CT scan was inconclusive and he wasn't going anywhere until "we find out what's going on inside your brain." Umm good luck Doc. No one has any idea. Desmond heads to the MRI room, where the technician explains to Desmond that if there's any problem, to "push the button" (ala the Swan Station), and then Desmond goes in for his MRI. The machine turns on and it sounds like the countdown clock from the Hatch being reset to 108:00. Then it gets loud, and then the sound drops again. The MRI has triggered the alternate universe consciousness, and Desmond gets more and more flashes of his "real" life. Charlie, Penny, baby Charlie. He slams on the button, gets out of there and goes to find Charlie. Charlie cannot explain what he saw it or why, but he says the only thing that matters now is to find Penny. Charlie isn't playing the concert because nothing matters now, except finding his love. And with that, Charlie is gone, hopefully returning in the finale.

5. Desmond explains what happens to Charles, who is upset with how everything went down, and says that he, Desmond, is going to have to explain to his wife what happened. And according to George, Mrs. Widmore is not a pleasant lady. If she doesn't get her way, you will get dead. Desmond approaches her, she turns around, and her mouth and eyes drop for about a millisecond, because she recognizes who he is immediately. Apparently, even though she's in another reality, she still knows "everything." More on this in the next paragraph. Also, check out what she's wearing on her dress: two parallel lines with stars in each line, but both at different parts of the line. Hmmm, alternate realities? Two Desmonds? Anyways, they have their chat, and to Desmond's surprise, Eloise is fine with Charlie backing out at the last second. "Rock stars bring a certain, unpredictability." "What happened, happened." (The episode "Whatever Happened, Happened" aired in season five when Kate tried to save Young Ben Linus from Sayid's gunshot wound). Not a big deal at all. Strange. As Desmond is leaving, he hears the guest list being read aloud, and who should he hear, but none other than "Milton, Penny (solo)." He tries to see the list, but Eloise intervenes and begins to get angry. She kicks everyone out and begins her explanation.

Eloise says that Desmond needs to stop. That someone has clearly affected the way he sees things. That what is happening is in fact, a violation (part of the rules?). That whatever it is he thinks he is looking for, he needs to stop looking for it. He doesn't need this list because his life is perfect, and that he has attained the one thing he has always wanted -- her husband's approval. And when questioned how does she know what he wants, her response: "Because I bloody do." He cannot see the list because he is not ready yet. Eloise really is all-knowing, in both universes. This happened in the season three episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes," when we find out what happened to Desmond after he turned the failsafe key and imploded the Hatch. Eloise has now had to explain herself twice to Desmond, in two different realities. What is he not ready for? Merging the universes, in my opinion.

6. Desmond is in the limo, drinking, and tells George to just drive around. He's depressed that he might not ever find out about Penny Milton. Cut to outside the limo, looking at the window where Desmond is sitting. We cannot see in because the windows are tinted. We see a reflection approaching the window, but we can only see the outline of who it is. We cannot make out the face. Daniel (Faraday) Widmore cannot see his own reflection, and neither can we. What the hell does that mean? So not only do we get TWO reflections of Desmond, but we get a reflection of Faraday which we can't even make out. Does that mean his alternate universe consciousness is dead? That would make the most sense. Or is it deeper than that? He had the same mind bending and altering experience that Charlie had when he was at the museum and saw a redheaded woman eating a chocolate bar. Obviously Charlotte, and the chocolate a nod to what she told Faraday as her consciousness was going back and forth between time periods, and he told her that she wasn't allowed to eat chocolate before dinner. So maybe, we cannot see his reflection because he knows about the other universe?

In any event, he begins to explain to Desmond that after he saw Charlotte, that night he wrote in his notebook a very advanced, quantum mechanics equation, that only someone studying physics their whole life could have known. We know in the other timeline Faraday was a renowned physicist, so after his encounter with Charlotte, thoughts from his other consciousness downloaded into his own consciousness. He tells Desmond, what if all of this, this whole life, we weren't meant to live this life. That we had some other life. He goes further, saying that what if the only way to stop something very bad from happening was to set off a massive amount of energy, ala detonating a nuclear bomb. Faraday says he doesn't want to set off a bomb, but believes he already did, in another lifetime. Why is he telling Desmond all of this? Because Desmond asked about Penny, his half-sister.

7. And where does Desmond find Penny? At the stadium where he was training for his race around the world, where he first met Jack, where he told Penny that he was leaving her to prove to her father that he was worth his daughter's love. He approaches her, asks if she's Penny, and goes to shake her hand, and at first touch, the sound drops again, for the third time, and Desmond awakes back on the Island.

He survived the electromagnetic explosion, again. Widmore knows he's ready. He extends an arm to help Desmond up, and Desmond takes it. And before Widmore can even attempt to convince Desmond to help him, Desmond says you said I was brought here to do something important. Well let's do it.

Zoe and two Team Widmore members are walking with Desmond, and Zoe is questioning the quick turnaround. She said they "fried his brain," when Sayid pops out of nowhere and takes down the two goons, and tells Zoe to run. Sayid tells Des that these people are bad and that they have to leave, to which Desmond easily agrees. I'm not sure what to make of this. I don't think Team Widmore is bad, I just think they have a different agenda. Plus, Sayid has no soul. So we can't trust him.

Snap back to sideways Desmond, and he has collapsed on the ground. Penny jokes she must have quite an effect on him. He asks her for coffee, and against her better judgement she agrees to meet him in an hour. Penny + Desmond = Awesome.

Desmond goes back to the limo, and finally makes a request of George. To get him the flight manifest of Oceanic Flight 815. Why? Because he has to show them something. LOST!

8. Predictions!

• There was only one version of Desmond, and he was "in flux" between the two universes until Widmore tested him on the Island. When that happened, the alternate reality Desmond became a constant.
• Widmore is unaware of the alternate universe, and just wants to use Desmond to stop Evil Incarnate so he will be able to live forever
• Desmond is going to be able to present all the losties with a choice of which reality they would like to live in: Alternate or Actual. Then he will be able to merge both consciousnesses into a super-consciousness in whichever reality they choose. (Stealing this from Doc Jensen: BOTH consciousnesses will have to want to merge, otherwise it will not be able to happen)
• Claire and Sayid will be unable to merge consciousnesses because they both have no souls
• Desmond is the key. He will is the "star" in both realities that can make this possible.

Way too long, apologies. Hurley next week.

(33) - I Don't Like Secrets

We got a nice Jin and Sun flash sideways story Tuesday night. First let's deal with some past predictions:

• Sayid and Claire's souls are lost
• Jury is out on Claire, but Sayid expressed to LockeMonster that he can no longer feel anything. (Sidenote: In one of the more comical moments of last night, look at when Widmore's goons attack LM's camp, when the stinger hits Sayid he falls in the funniest way.)
• Desmond is behind the double locked door on the sub
• Boom! The Package! Desmond is speciallllll

I think that's about it. Let's open "The Package." I'm hoping for a short recap tonight. I'm going to Indianapolis tomorrow for the Final Four. I know my buddy Adam needs my blog, and since I won't be able to write it while I'm away, I'm trying to power through it right now. Let's do it!

1. Desmondo is the package-o. Not really a rhyme. But Widmore told Jin he was going to use the "who" to destroy LockeMonster. How? Is Desmond the only one that can "kill" LockeMonster? We know from Faraday that the rules do not apply to Desmond, whatever that means. We know in the season six premiere, he was sitting on a plane with Jack, and then he wasn't. He just disappeared. We know Faraday's mother, Eloise, told him that the Island was not done with him yet. We know Charles Widmore has always thought of Desmond as being unworthy for his glass of scotch, let alone his beloved daughter Penny. DOUBLE-U TEE EFF? Why Desmond? Obviously these questions will be answered. My guess? The Desmond you see is from the alternate universe. "The rules" do not apply to Desmond. These must be the same rules that the little boy was talking about to LockeMonster earlier in the season. He said to LM, "You know the rules. You cannot kill him." Obviously LM wants to prove him wrong: don't tell him what he can't do. Well, since "the rules" do not apply to Desmond, is he able to kill LockeMonster? Yes. 

2. Is Widmore being sincere with Jin? We know him as a piece of shit, evil mofo. What's his endgame in all of this? It can't simply be to just kill LockeMonster and save our universe (he said that if LM were to get off this Island, we would all cease to be). I still think his aim is eternal life. And I still think he will become the new Evil Incarnate. You cannot kill Evil Incarnate. I know above I just said Desmond will be able to kill LockeMonster, and I still think that's true. Remember, LM is just a body. His essence is Evil Incarnate. He'll be able to kill LM but the essence of Evil Incarnate will still exist, and it will take up shop inside of Widmore, where he'll have to try and find another loophole. Happy everlasting life.

3. I want to quickly touch on the sideways Jin and Sun life. Awesome storytelling. Every Jin and Sun story is always an outstanding episode. And no, not much happened by way of Island life, but we got a few answers, and the acting by DDK and YJK (Jin and Sun, respectively) was superb, as always.

4. LM doesn't like secrets. So he sent poor, soulless Sayid on a mission to find out what the package was. With this news I'm sure LM will begin his final phase of whatever plan he has. That obviously involves getting all the candidates together. We know he wants to kill them, he told Jacob this. LM wants to leave the Island. My guess: when there's only one candidate left, Jacob's essence takes over that body. Since there are six candidates left, LM will get them all together and kill them all at once, this way Jacob's essence will have nowhere to go and LM will be free to leave the Island.

5. A wise man once told LM that a war was coming. Who was that wise man? Charles Widmore, in the season five episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." And it looks like that war is here. But is Widmore on Jacob's side? I am still nowhere near sold on this. I think Widmore is a third party, just looking for his everlasting life. He knows that he will have to take the side of Jacob though. He knows the consequences if LM leaves the Island. He knows that LM is not John Locke, and the rest he's heard from a combination of ghost stories, tales and strange noises in the night. Before he came back to the Island he knew he needed an ace in the hole: the package. Desmond.

6. Zoe needed Jin to go over pockets of electromagnetic energy on the Island. Why? We know Widmore was pissed off she jumped the gun. She brought Jin back early. Too early. His plan wasn't fully ready yet. That's going to bite him in the ass. 

7. LockeMonster lied. The first lie that I can remember. Last week I made it a point that both Jacob and Man in Black spoke in half truths, never lies. But LM lied to Claire. Twice. First she asked if her name was on the cave wall, when in fact it had been. Second she asked if Kate's name was, and he replied no not anymore, when we know it's not crossed out yet. She might not be a candidate, but it is still on the wall/lighthouse wheel. We know LM is a master manipulator, and has manipulated Claire for the past three years on the Island. LM said that he needs Kate to get three more people before he can leave the Island (Jack, Hurley, Sun), and after that "whatever happens happens." AKA, if you decide to kill Kate because she stole your baby, then go for it. I won't stop you again.

8. Sun, relearn English please. Is it aphasia? Or some black smokey magic? Either way, her not being able to speak English will hurt the candidates down the road somehow. Not sure how, but in a time of war she won't be able to write on a tiny fucking notepad, that's all I know.

9. What does that tomato mean???????? Is there hope among the chaos? Last tomato standing?

I think I covered mostly everything. Some predictions!

• The Desmond that Widmore has labeled as "the package" is in fact the alternate reality Desmond that disappeared off Flight 815
• The rules do not apply to Desmond, therefore he is able to kill LockeMonster
• Charles Widmore will become the new Evil Incarnate after Desmond kills LM, the ultimate fuck you to your father-in-law that has literally made your life a living hell
• LockeMonster aims to eliminate all of the remaining candidates at once so that Jacob's essence cannot claim a body, and therefore he will be free to leave his Hell, the damned Island

(32) - Welcome to Hell, My Friend

We got a treat Tuesday night with a Richard Alpert back-story. Finally! The man who has been the most mysterious, we got a fair amount of answers. But first, onto some past predictions that dealt with this episode (hint: I'm dece good).

• Richard was a slave on the Black Rock
• This episode definitively showed us how Richard Alpert came to be on the Island. He was sold as a slave to Magnus Hanso, el capitain of the Black Rock. Magnus is the great ancestor to Alvar Hanso, who co-founded the Dharma Initiative. Could all that have been to find his great great great grandfather?
• Richard proved to Jacob that man can be inherently good and not evil, which in turn is why Jacob made him ageless
• Ha! Read on to get a full breakdown of this argument.
• Evil Incarnate/Locke Monster/Man in Black knows the consequences of his actions and that if he leaves the Island something bad will happen
• Well, we're led to believe this at least with the last scene. More later.
• The knife Sayid attempted to kill LM with is special
• Richard attempted to kill Jacob with that same knife, using the same instructions Dogen gave to Sayid. Evil Incarnate said to stab him right away, do not give him a chance to talk. Once he talks it will already be over. Jacob beats the shit out of Alpert and grabs the knife from him, and screams/asks him who gave him this knife, even though he already knew the answer. This knife holds some special value, we're just not exactly what value yet.

The inherently good vs evil bit I'm particularly proud of. Anyways, let's start "Ab Aeterno..." (from the beginning of time). FYI, long one.

1. Well now we definitively know how Richard Alpert came to the Island, how the Black Rock ended up in the middle of said Island, and how Tawaret was downgraded to just a four-toed statue. THREE pretty big answers in the first twenty minutes, not bad. More was to come though. Ricardo was sold as a slave after he murdered a doctor trying to save his wife Isabella from TB. Isabella was the love of his life, Isabella was his constant. And he would (and still will) do anything to save her. During his trip to the New World from Tenerife in the Canary Islands as a slave, their ship (the Black Rock) got caught in a massive storm and headed to the Island, which according to Ricardo's slavemate, is guarded by the Devil (or just a massive statue of Tawaret, goddess of fertility and childbirth). The Black Rock rides a MASSIVE wave and runs straight into the top portion of the statue, destroying it, and then proceeds halfway into the Island. How big was that wave? Like, 150 feet? I'm willing to roll with it though. Once awake, the ships first mate comes down and begins stabbing all the slaves, because, according to him, if he let's any of them go it would only be a matter of time until they killed him. That sounds awfully LockeMonsterish/inherently evil to me. "It's kill or be killed, and I don't want to die." Just as he's about to kill Ricardo, the last of the slaves, the smoke monster appears and goes to town on everyone. It shimmies its way down to the lower deck and comes smoke to face with Ricardo, studying him, flashing on him, gathering intelligence. And then, it vanishes. Thus, Ricardo is left for dead, all alone, chained in the lower deck of the Black Rock.

2. After trying, for what seems like days, to pry himself free of the chains using a nail he dug up, Ricardo is on the precipice of death, knocking at the door. They really wanted to stress the point of how long he was down there. And then the love of his life appears, embracing him, telling him that he is dead and that they are in Hell together. Huh? The smoke monster appears, and he pleads with her to leave and promises her (again) that he will save her. She runs up the stairs and promptly gets swallowed by the darkness. It seems like another day has passed when someone walks down the deck and touches Ricardo's shoulder ala the way Jacob touched John Locke after his dad pushed him out of the window. But it is not Jacob this time, it is the Man in Black, Evil Incarnate. He explains that the Devil has Isabella trapped and if they are going to free her they'll need to work together. Ricardo agrees to do "anything" Man in Black asks for. This was an OUTSTANDING manipulation of Ricardo; he should get an award or a medal or something. He waits until Ricardo is ripe for the picking, dangles Isabella right in front of him and then promptly snatches her away. By the time he frees Ricardo he's willing to do anything he wants.

This is where things get interesting. So far we've seen throughout this season that Man in Black/Evil Incarnate/LockeMonster doesn't seem to or doesn't like to lie. So far he hasn't lied. But he also doesn't tell full truths, he omits certain information, and might spin something one way, but he hasn't really, fully lied. Which I find quite intriguing. He has helped Ricardo out of his chains, picked him up and carried him outside where he cooked food for Ricardo. Those words are bolded for a reason, we'll come back to them. He explains to Ricardo that the Devil has Isabella, and the only way to get her back and to escape this place (Hell) is to kill the Devil. So far he has not lied -- this place might not be Hell, but to him, to the Man in Black, that's exactly what this place is: his own personal hell and he cannot escape. For some reason or another, he is bound to this place. He hands Ricardo a knife, the same knife Dogen gave to Sayid to kill Evil Incarnate, and explains to him that he must kill Jacob right away, and that if he lets Jacob talk it is already too late. First, Ricardo is hesitant; the reason why he is here in the first place is because he committed murder, and he doesn't want to again. He just wants his wife back, etc. MiB says that we have all lost something, my body was stolen from me (we'll come back to this in a sec). Second, Ricardo doesn't understand how he can kill the black smoke with a knife, but Man in Black tells Ricardo that he is the smoke. Another truth. But wait, the next sentence, the way Man in Black words it is....odd. Ricardo says that Isabella was running from you. MiB says that no, by the time "I" arrived, "he" had already gotten her. Now, there are a few options to what is exactly going on here:

• MiB is manipulating Ricardo. He takes the form of Isabella and then stages her "death," and then says the Devil (Jacob), has taken her away, and that the only way to save her and escape this place is to kill him
• He is telling the truth. Maybe, and stay with me here, Man in Black and the smoke monster are two separate entities, sharing a host body. He says that his body was stolen from him. When MiB says that "he" has her, he means the black smoke. And by the time "I" got there, they were gone. What if, when they first merged, MiB wasn't fully evil. He was pissed off his body was "stolen" from him, and something evil had filled him inside, but he was not of the same mind as the black smoke. They had two different consciousnesses (not even sure that's a word). But over time, MiB slips up, and goes into smoke monster mode because the line between the two consciousnesses has become so blurred, he's not sure where he begins and the smoke monster ends. MiB keeps calling Ricardo "friend." Maybe because he is being honest, he wants a friend, he wants help. He wants to cast out this evilness from his body because he can no longer control the line between himself and the smoke, and he believes the only want to do this is to leave the Island. So if he is telling the truth, is Jacob in fact the Devil? Just a thought...

Either way, Ricardo wants Isabella back. So he's going to attempt the almost impossible, kill the Devil.

3. And attempt he did, miserably might I add. Jacob absolutely demolished him. No contest. TKO.  Jacob beats the shit out of Ricardo and grabs the special knife from him, and screams/asks him who gave him this knife, even though he already knew the answer. It seems as though this is the first time Man in Black has tried to find a loophole to kill Jacob and escape. Jacob seemed bewildered, shocked, almost disgusted, even though deep down he knew MiB would resort to this someway. Jacob hated to admit that MiB tried to get another man to kill him. Jacob probably now understands his time on the Island is limited, and he needs to find his replacement (even though he wont really for another 140 years. That's probably a short amount of time to Jacob though). Ricardo asks Jacob where Isabella is to which his response is, "Who?" It seemed genuine and authentic. Jacob apparently has zero idea. But I'm not sold. This is Jacob, all knowing and such. Shouldn't he know who Isabella is? More in a second. Ricardo believes he is in Hell and that he is dead, to which Jacob dunks him in the water a bunch of times while screaming, "STILL THINK YOU'RE DEAD?!" Ricardo finally concedes and gasps that he wants to live, which is apparently the only sensible thing he has said so far, and Jacob throws him back on the ground. He then tells him to get up, because they have to talk (keep up with the bolded words).

They have a pow wow, and Jacob flat out denies that he is the Devil. If both Jacob and MiB don't lie, then someone must be lying. Unless, Jacob isn't necessarily the Devil but MiB's personal devil, just like this Island is his personal Hell. Very probable. Jacob then goes on to say exactly what the Island they are on is. A question that was first posed in the series premiere episode by Charlie: "Guy, where are we?" Well Charlie, apparently you are (or were) on a cork. Not literally a cork, but you are on the one Island that stops Hell, evil, malevolence, darkness, etc from seeping out into the world and taking over. Jacob uses an analogy of a decanter of wine and a cork to explain this to Ricardo. The wine swirling around in the decanter is all of the above words (evil, darkness, etc), and the Island is the cork. It stops all of that from spreading.Very interesting. And I buy it as well. Jacob and MiB both don't lie.

Jacob goes onto explain that MiB believe man is inherently evil, and that Jacob brings man to this Island to prove him wrong. And on this Island, their past doesn't matter (so redemption is possible...). So basically, they have a running bet going on. You bring man to the Island, and I'll prove to you without a doubt that they have evil deep in their core, at the root of their being. Jacob tells him others have been here before him but they are all dead. Why? Because Jacob wants people to help themselves. He doesn't want to interfere. What's the point of it if they don't figure it out on their own? Ricardo says that if you don't step in, he will, meaning Man in Black, which tip the scales in his favor. Apparently this never occurred to Jacob until Ricardo mentioned this. It was as if a light bulb went off in his head. So Man in Black has been cheating all this time? Not sure of this, but it seems Ricardo is the first person to prove man can be inherently good. In turn, Jacob offers him a job. He wants Ricardo to be the intermediary between himself and the people he brings to the Island. He wants Ricardo to "guide" or "advise" them against Man in Black. He offers this job before Ricardo asks what he gets in return. He only offers Ricardo a job, and Ricardo wants something in return. This seems to me like Jacob was funneling Ricardo towards choice three. Choice 1: Isabella. Can't do that, Jacob says (remember, dead is dead, even on this Island). Choice 2: Absolve all Ricardo's sins so he can go to heaven. Can't do that either, Jacob says. Just like the priest said in the beginning, that would be unfair. Ricardo needs to work himself back into God's good graces. Choice 3: Live forever, never die. Now that I can do, Jacob says. And with a touch of his shoulder, he is ageless.

Ricardo returns to Man in Black, who immediately knows Ricardo now sides with him. He's not upset, he knows Jacob can be very persuasive. Which leads me to believe what I said a while ago, Jacob tricked Man in Black somehow, and that is how his body was stolen from him. Ricardo hands him a white stone, says its from Jacob, a little ha-ha I defeated you this round. The same white stone that LockeMonster threw out to the sea from the cave where he took Sawyer. MiB explains that he does not blame Ricardo, but that he knows he can never see Isabella again, to which Ricardo seems he has made peace with. MiB says that if he ever changes his mind, and he means ever, he'd love to have Ricardo on his side. MiB hands Ricardo Isabella's cross, says it must have dropped on the ship, and then promptly vanishes. Ricardo buries the cross, forever saying goodbye to his love.

4. Richard Alpert has gone crazy, and wants to switch over to the dark side. We saw him storm off in the beginning of the episode, and through his back-story we realize where he's going -- to dig up Isabella's cross. He wants to see her again. He screams out that he's changed his mind, hoping LM hears him so he can see his constant again. Hurley has followed him and says that his wife is here on the Island, right beside him, and through a very touching scene, we see Richard turn back into Ricardo and calm down and compose himself. Isabella, through Hurley, asks Ricardo why he buried her cross, but we know why. When Ricardo buried Isabella's cross, it was his way of saying goodbye. Since he was going to live forever, he knows he'd never see her again so he had to forget about her. Bury the cross, and move on. Quick flashback to last episode, Alternate world James Ford is in his apartment watching "Little House on the Prairie." What was being said in that episode was something to the effect of, when people die, you hold onto them in your heart and in your memories, and you know that what happened is only temporary, and that you will be united with them again. Well, too bad that show didn't come out 150 years earlier so Ricardo would know that. The only way he could move on was to forget about her. Now that he knows they can be together her and now (in his heart and in his head), he puts on her cross, so he can always remember her.

Hurley says one more thing. Isabella says that you have to stop the Man in Black. For if he escapes, we all go to Hell. And we know Richard/Ricardo will do anything to save Isabella, so he will not let this happen. Cut to a wide shot of where they are on the Island, and pan out to see LM looking at them. Craaaazy.

5. I thought that was the end of the episode, but one last flashback with Jacob and Man in Black. MiB is sitting alone, looking out at the ocean when Jacob approaches. He asks you tried to kill me, and seemed offended. So this was the first time this happened. MiB responds if he expects him to apologize. MiB said he wanted to leave this place and would kill him to do so and anyone else who got in his way. Jacob handed Man in Black some wine (the same in which he used as an analogy for Richard) to "pass the time," indicating he'd be here for a while, and then says he'd see him around. Man in Black responds with "sooner than you think" and smashes the wine on a rock, spilling out the "evil" Jacob referred to in the analogy. So, Man in Black/Evil Incarnate/LockeMonster knows, that if he leaves the Island, evil will spill out into the world, and most likely into other worlds. Awesome.

6. Last quick thought, read Luke Chapter 4. Basically a parallel for LOST (thanks Doc Jensen!).


7. Predictions!

• MiB is sharing a body with the smoke monster because he was tricked by Jacob long ago. He and the smoke monster are not one in the same, but because they have shared a body for so long the line between the two consciousnesses was blurred so badly he doesn't know who he is anymore.
• If this is a place to earn redemption (like what Jacob said: bring people here to prove they are inherently good, their past DOES NOT matter), then Sayid and Claire are fucked. They cannot earn redemption. Their souls are LOST.

Long, my apologies.

(31) - The Name's Ford

Sawyer really has turned into such a dynamic character. Through season one I wasn't quite sure what to make of him, but he's really had a great character arc. After season five I figured season six would be rebooted to the beginning, bringing our favorite LOST characters full circle. That's not really happened. They haven't come full circle but it's more like they're coming 180 degrees around. First some past predictions that had to do with this episode.

• Sawyer is pulling the ultimate Long Con
• Hmm. I mean, he sort of is, but not the way I want him to. I want him to turn on LockeMonster at the end, and be like, yeah, I am the greatest liar ever, I just OWNED you. Now that's not looking like it will happen. Sawyer seems to be playing every side possible. Being truthful to both LockeMonster and Widmore, he's just looking for a diversion so he can take the sub off this Island. More on this later.
• The Island is special and needs to be protected from LockeMonster
• LM himself touched on this. He said all he wants to do is leave. I believe him. But I believe he knows that if he leaves the Island something bad will happen. Whether it's this universe ceases to exist, or all universes cease to exist, something will happen. He's aware of it. It's kill or be killed he said, and he doesn't want to be killed.

Ok, let's do some "Recon"

1. Recon

This episode was a filler episode. Not much happened. Not much was revealed. We already knew Widmore was at the Island. We still don't know why. We already knew LM wanted to leave the Island to get home. Still not sure on all of the reasons or the consequences. We knew Claire wanted to kill Kate. We knew Sayid is basically a zombie. We knew pretty much everything that went on. We were left to do some "recon" to figure out exactly how LOST will finish up. We were supposed to pick up clues along the way. Some that I caught:

• Sawyer both begins and ends the episode with the words "Son of a Bitch" (more later)
• Who/what killed all the people on the Ajira flight?
• What/who is in the locked door on the sub?
• Miles and Sawyer will always be partners, no matter the universe
• Is Other Locke aware that Anthony Cooper is a con man/grifter/bad guy? Why is he still invited to the wedding?
• Miles and his dad (Dr. Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle/Edgar Halliwax/Mark Wickmund) have a good relationship
• Who is Miles's girlfriend? Juliet? Hmmm
• LockeMonster is the master manipulator (more on this later)
• James Ford (Other Sawyer) is an awful con man whereas Island Sawyer is the best liar LockeMonster has ever seen (stretch much? CON - more later)

If I'm missing anything please post some comments.

2. Re-Con

So does this mean that we're witnessing a con that's already taken place? This episode totally messed with my head. Who is doing the conning? Who is aware of what exactly is going on? How many LONG CONS are actually going on? LOST is the master chess game, but with like more than just two players (LockeMonster, Jacob, Widmore, Sawyer, Jack?). Let's run through all the cons from last night quickly.

• Island Sawyer conning LockeMonster
• LONG CON
• Island Sawyer conning Widmore
• Not sure how this is going to turn out. A massive fight definitely, but we'll see. Does Sawyer know as much as he says, or is Widmore right, and he really has no idea what's going on? Widmore was definitely taken aback that Sawyer knew LockeMonster wasn't actually John Locke. Maybe there's more going on...
• LockeMonster conning Island Sawyer
• He knew that Widmore was on the Island and sent Sawyer over there on a recon mission to see the Ajira passengers. Sending Sawyer a message? Mess with me and I'll kill you. Did LM kill the Ajira passengers? I'm going to go out on a limb and say no. I still don't think LM can smokey his way over to that Island, and quite frankly there hasn't been enough time in the timeline to do so. So if it wasn't Widmore, who or what was it?
• Does LM ever intend to let Island Sawyer go? Like I said, I think LM knows the consequences of his actions, and Sawyer is just a means to an end. He is evil incarnate.
• LockeMonster conning Kate
• The ol' send Sawyer on a mission, let Claire attempt to kill Kate so you can break up the fight, get Kate alone and reveal tiny bits and pieces about yourself so she'll side with you con. Classic. And LM pulled it off too. Almost. Kate doesn't trust him -- yet. She's still getting her feet wet. She wouldn't accept his hand when he offered to pull him up, so he had to dig a little deeper and talk about his mother, who was crazy. Now Claire is crazy he says and Aaron is going to have a crazy mother. Con you ask? Kate, you have to kill Claire, she isn't fit to care for her child.
• LockeMonster conning Claire
• He needed to give her something to keep living? Eh, probably. I still don't know what exactly happened with Claire. She was zombified, ala Sayid. But I still don't really understand that. She's a nutjob.

3. Island Sawyer does not go by the name Sawyer. He goes by his actual name: James Ford. He became a cop simply as a means to end: find Anthony Cooper, and kill him. He revealed this to Miles, his partner, right before Kate literally crashed into him. Hmmm, coincidence? Let's digest this. James Ford is a shitty con man, everyone knows his tells. From the girl he slept with in the beginning, to Miles knowing he's lying, to Charlotte, to himself. He finally realizes he's done trying to play himself. He wants to give up, he practically begs Miles at the end to stop him. That's why he comes clean. He wants to change. And there it is, another story of a character willing to change. Jack wants and is trying to change, Sawyer wants to change but isn't quite sure how to, Ben is willing to change his ways, Other World Locke was willing to change, Kate can't change but that seems like it's a good thing (I don't mean her running, I mean how she cares for people. Bitch has to learn to sit still). Sayid cannot change, he will always be haunted by his past. So far the people who are willing/want to change seem to be on Jacob's side and the people who cannot change are on LockeMonster's side (in my head at least, I know right now Sawyer and Kate are literally on LM's side, but that seems like it will change. LM is a means to an end for Sawyer.). Sawyer takes a look at himself in the mirror after Miles dumps him as a partner, and smashes the mirror rejecting seeing what he is quickly becoming: the Island version of himself. He doesn't want that. He doesn't want to be alone. 

So James Ford is willing to change, and then BAM, Kate comes crashing into him. There's zero chance this is a coincidence. Does this mean even though Sawyer will try and change he'll never be able to? Does this mean that Sawyer wants to change but he cannot because of Kate? Or does this mean he is destined to be with Kate? I'm not sure what it means. But I do know this. He catches Kate, pins her up against the wall ala when he pinned her against the cages at Hydra Station before going to town on her, takes off her hat and hood, recognizes her from the airport (EDIT: quick thought -- James Ford is a cop. Why does he let Kate go in the airport? He clearly knows what the code was that airport security said was classified. This doesn't make much sense, but maybe it does? Their connection? I have no idea), and says "Son of a bitch." The same thing Sawyer says on the Island in the beginning of the episode when he burns himself in Claire's creepy home. This also cannot be a coincidence. There has to be a literal "son of a bitch." Well there doesn't have to be, but I feel like there ought to be. So who could this "son of a bitch" be? LockeMonster? We know he said his mom was crazy, so that's a possibility. Jacob? We don't know his backstory? Widmore? We don't know his mom. There's a theory by Doc Jensen that LockeMonster is made up of all of the souls from the Island but that there are two drivers to this force, and those two drivers are Faraday and Juliet. I can't go into specifics because quite frankly I don't understand it, but that is a very interesting idea. The "son of a bitch" could be Faraday, his mom was freaking crazy. She knew she was going to kill him back when he was like nine, and still had to let it play out. And then that can lead to this...

4. And behind door number two is.....? Well it's locked. It's actually double locked. So whatever is behind that double locked door on the sub HAS to be of importance, otherwise they wouldn't have mentioned it. First thing is, I think it's not a what behind the door, but a who. Widmore brought someone to the Island of much importance. Following on the theory above from Doc Jensen, IF LockeMonster has some sort of Faraday incarnation inside of him, then the person inside door number two is Theresa Spencer, Faraday's girlfriend and lab assistant who was in a terrible accident and almost died, had it not been for, ding ding ding, Charles Widmore. Widmore, on his own dime, kept Theresa alive for years after her accident, and we never found out why. Could this be why? Widmore knows how to defeat LM/Faraday and Theresa Spencer is the answer? I really like that theory a lot. My only problem with it: who the hell remembers Theresa Spencer? That'd be a weak way to bring down LM.

My guess as to who is behind door number two: Desmond Hume. Remember, the rules do not apply to Desmond. He is special. Faraday told us this much. Widmore knows this, and he has Hume locked in that room and he's waiting to let him go. How can Desmond stop LM? Zero idea. But I like this thought, for now.

5. Predictions!

• Desmond is in the double locked door
• Next week it looks like we're going to be given a boatload of answers with a Richard back story, color me excited. It's titled "Ab Aeterno" which translates to "from the beginning of time." Yes sir.

Sawyerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

(30) - Oscar Results

Sorry this is so late. My friends and I held an Oscar pool and I won the pool picking 17 of the 24 categories correct. I changed my original picks two days before the Oscars, so those results do not reflect my original picks that I posted on my blog. Lets see how THOSE picks did:

• BEST PICTURE
• MY PICK: The Hurt Locker
• WINNER: The Hurt Locker
• REACTION: Very deserving. But in 10 years we'll look back and be like, how the fuck did The Hurt Locker beat Avatar?
• BEST ACTOR
• MY PICK: Jeff Bridges
• WINNER: Jeff Bridges
• REACTION: None
• BEST ACTRESS
• MY PICK: Sandra Bullock
• WINNER: Sandra Bullock
• REACTION: None
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
• MY PICK: Christoph Waltz
• WINNER: Christoph Waltz
• REACTION: None
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• MY PICK: Mo'Nique
• WINNER: Mo'Nique
• REACTION: None
• BEST DIRECTOR
• MY PICK: Kathryn Bigelow
• WINNER: Kathryn Bigelow
• REACTION: Same as Best Picture reaction
• BEST WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
• MY PICK: Up In the Air
• WINNER: Precious
• REACTION: Huh? How? What?
• BEST WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
• MY PICK: The Hurt Locker
• WINNER: The Hurt Locker
• REACTION: I wanted Inglourious Basterds
• BEST FILM EDITING
• MY PICK: Avatar
• WINNER: The Hurt Locker
• REACTION: Toss Up
• BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
• MY PICK: Inglourious Basterds
• WINNER: Avatar
• REACTION: Makes sense. So gorgeous.
• BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
• MY PICK: Avatar
• WINNER: Avatar
• REACTION: None

I was 8 for 11 in the categories I predicted. Not bad. Not bad.

(29) - They Called Me Dr. Linus

Two words regarding last night's episode: EM, ME. Michael Emerson, welcome to your second Emmy (also in the cards, Emmy for Best Writing. Not sure who the writers were). Excellently portraying not one, but two Benjamin Linuses, Michael Emerson last night showed why Ben Linus has been if not my favorite character, in my top two since he came on the show. Last night's episode was rich with with mostly half-answers (kinda sorta answering questions we've wanted answered, but not totally). First let's recap my predictions and such.

• Why are all the Candidates male?
• Hmm. Maybe they're not all male. Illana wasn't sure if Candidate Kwon was Jin or Sun, so she was tasked to protect both. She also said there were six Candidates left. Locke is dead though. Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack and Kwon. She's probably counting both Kwon's as one Candidate, but just an interesting thought: Is there another Candidate? Kate? Or is she still counting Locke?
• Richard was on the Black Rock
• Well we finally got this answer. He was, and by the way he was holding and staring at those chains, he was a slave. Why Jacob gave him his gift we don't know yet. But I'm holding firm to the thought that somehow Richard showed Evil Incarnate man can be Good and not Evil.
• Jack is Jacob's #1 Candidate
• See below for some thoughts

Now, let's dissect "Dr. Linus"

1. Ben has always been one of my favorite characters not only because of how well Michael Emerson plays him, but because of how Ben is so rich with all of this mystery. I think last night we may have gotten the last of that mystery. Ben has always been multiple steps ahead of everyone, but in the last season and a half we've seen him level off with the rest of the characters. He's been touting since season two that he's one of the good guys, but we've seen him do some bad things (see: killing Locke, choosing the Island over Alex...). Were they a means to an end? Is he really good? Well last night Ben bared his soul to Ilana. Even though it wasn't his choice, he realized he had to come clean. If not only to clear his conscience, but in order to survive. And that's what Ben is about, or half of what he is about. Survival (the other half being Power/Relevance).

Ben was given a choice last night by LockeMonster. He's now the fifth person on the Island to be given a choice by LockeMonster (Claire, Richard, Sawyer, Sayid being the other four). His choice: run 200 yards inland, find the gun propped there, kill Ilana before she killed him, join LockeMonster at the Hydra Station, rule the Island when LM and everyone else leaves. And for 200 yards or so, it looked like Ben decided that's what he wanted to do. He wanted to survive, and we know he loves his power. But instead, Ben came clean to Ilana. Ben renounced evil (this will probably cost him in the near future). Explained to her why he had killed Jacob, the closest thing she had ever had to a father. He was angry and upset that after all of his devotion to serving him, the only thing he truly cared about was taken away from him. He chose the Island over Alex and it cost him dearly, more than he probably realized. So flash back to season four, when Keamy killed Alex, what's Ben's reaction: "He changed the rules." Now in that episode at the end, we get the showdown between Ben and Charles Widmore with Ben explaining to him that he is going to kill Penelope after what "he" had done to Alex. But now I'm not so sure the "he" Ben was referring to was Widmore. Ben could have meant that "Jacob changed the rules." After all of his frustration with Jacob he stabbed him, after which, Ben is amazed that Jacob just let it happen. He could not understand it. Then Miles tells him last night, that right up until the second Ben stabbed him, Jacob was hoping he was wrong about him. He was hoping that Ben could change. And that's when it clicked:  Ben decided I'm going to change. I am a good guy. Fuck this LockeMonster (even though he said he was going to follow him, I doubt he was). Was he expecting Ilana to forgive him? Definitely not, considering his expression when she said, "I'll have you" and walked back to the beach. He gets back to the beach and immediately offers help to Sun. Ben has changed his ways. He has always wanted to belong, and now he does.

Ben's sideways world proved what happened in the end of the episode with Island Ben: that Ben could change. Ben had a choice: he could blackmail the principal and take his job and power and at the same time kill Alex's hope of getting into Yale, or he could let that power go and help Alex get into Yale. Island Ben, without question, would have sacrificed Alex for the betterment of the school (we saw this happen literally, when he chose the Island over Alex). But Sideways Ben, he does not sacrifice Alex. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did. So he gave up the power he could have potentially gained in order to see his favorite student excel in life. What does Island Ben do? Give up the power he could potentially have in order to belong.

2. Abandon all hope ye who enter the Black Rock! Richard wants to die. Unfortunately he can't kill himself. So he tricks Jack and Hurley to tag along to the Black Rock telling them they're going back to the Temple. Once inside the Black Rock, Richard tells Jack and Hurley that for as long as he had been on the Island he had never once come back to visit the ship that brought him here. Richard probably gave up about 300 years of his life in servitude to Jacob with the hope that at one point Jacob would fill him in on the master plan. Unfortunately, Jacob died before he got the chance to share any information with Richard. After Richard's run-in with LockeMonster when he was informed about Candidates, Richard believed that he had wasted his life, that this was all for nothing. He needed Jack to light that fuse so he could finally die and be at peace. So Jack lit that fuse and then showed Richard just how far he had come. Old Island Jack would never have believed enought that the fuse would go out before the dynamite blew up. New Island Jack truly believes he is here for a reason. Jacob had been watching him since he had been a kid, he was brought here for something specific. He doesn't know what, but just like Michael, the Island will not let him die. This act of faith shows Richard that he did not waste his life, that it was not all for nothing. It reaffirmed his faith in Jacob, even though minutes before he told Hurley to not believe a word that man says. He was just venting, upset that Jacob had died without giving any answers. But now he is back on the path thanks to Dr. Jack, the #1 Candidate. Jack has faith now, he's changed. He believes.

3. Let's go back to where it all began. The Beach. That's where Ilana's camp heads after the Temple Massacre. That's where Jack decides he's going after the Black Rock. Sun hasn't seen Hurley and Jack in three years and they all have a great slow motion hug. And then there's Ben. Everyone just sort of stares at him, not quite sure what to expect. Ben's ready to be part of the group. Jack's ready to believe. Ilana will protect the Candidates at all cost. This is shaping up to be sweet.

4. Quick final thoughts

• "They're coming." Who's coming? Well, we saw last night at the end Widmore has finally found the Island! How? No idea, but he's here. Does he want to exploit the Island like Ben believes? Doubtful. Does he want to live forever? Possibly. New Evil Incarnate? Hmmmm.... :-) 
• Ilana tells Sun that the six Candidates left are there to replace Jacob, ruins the other theory that they were there to replace Evil Incarnate
• How is LockeMonster able to leave the Island and travel to the smaller island with the Hydra station. There's lots of water inbetween the two islands. Am I missing something?
• Where the fuck is Sawyer? On vacation?
• Random: Why was the pilot of Oceanic flight 815 killed by LockeMonster in the pilot episode? Does this make any sense?
• Has Ben been thinking he's serving Jacob when really all along he's been serving Evil Incarnate?
• I only ask this because Sideways Ben was urged on by Sideways Locke to rise up and take down evil. Was Sidways Locke really LockeMonster? I highly doubt that. But maybe everything Island Ben has been doing was a Long Con set up by LockeMonster to press the right buttons inside Ben so when the time came he would stab Jacob and not change his mind like he did with Ilana.

5. Predictions!

• Ben renouncing evil will bite him in the ass. LockeMonster is going to take that as a slight and just like he told Claire he always does what he promises, he'll kill Ben by the end of the series because he does not like being rejected (same with Richard, LM really wanted Richard to join him and told Richard that he didn't want to hurt him but he would).
• Widmore will be the new Evil Incarnate. He wants to live forever, and this is how it will happen. I'm guessing this is the root of the conflict between Jacob and Evil Incarnate. This is why he wanted to kill Jacob so badly. He tricked him into becoming Evil Incarnate. And now he wants to return home. And in the process will destroy the universe!

Ok I'm out. Seriously, where is Sawyer?

(28) - What If I Told You...

The lines have been drawn. The teams, set. Let's get it on. Previous thoughts/predictions:

• Teams will be drawn -- Good vs Evil.
• Check, sorta. Not necessarily Good vs Evil. LockeMonster is now free because Jacob is dead and cannot keep him in check, and he wants to peace the Island, so some people sided with him because they either don't want to die or they want to leave as well. Either way, if they leave the Island, I believe they, along with everyone else, will die. LockeMonster leaving the Island is BAD!

Let's talk about "Sundown"

1. Sayid is evil, or confused. However you want to say it, Sayid is clearly on Team LockeMonster. He drowned Dogen and slit Lennon's throat, dirty. Ben: "Sayid let's go. There's still time." Sayid: "Not for me." Dunzo. The darkness has reached his heart and taken over. Not only did he kill Dogen and Lennon, but when he killed Dogen he unleashed LockeMonster, and so all of the deaths caused by LockeMonster are on Sayid as well. He is a bad mothershutyourmouth.

Alternate World Sayid -- Try as he might, he cannot change. He will ALWAYS be a torturer from the Republican Guard. He will never escape that. He's tried to for 12 years unsuccessfully, and that is why he says he cannot be with the love of his life, Nadia (ps. does anyone really believe Sayid translated contracts for oil companies? Nah). Also, awesome cameo by Keamy and Omar in this alternate world. After Sayid kills them, he finds Jin tied up in the fridge. Huh? Last time we saw Jin he was being taken away by customs. So what happened? Was Keamy the person he had to deliver the watch to? Hmmmm.

So last week we see an episode where Jack finally takes the humble road, realizes his faults and accepts them, and begins to move on. This week, we see a man who cannot move on from the past. He is stuck there, trapped. Maybe that is why the darkness was able to take him over so quickly. He will always be stuck in the past. Whereas Jack was and is willing to change and has forgiven himself, Sayid, try as he might, will never be able to because he will never be able to forgive himself.

2. So who is good, who is evil? Is it all relative to individual people, or are there specific sides? I'm still not sure. But this is what we know: To serve Jacob, you must give up a whole lot. See Dogen's story: Celebrated, got drunk, picked up his son from baseball practice, had accident where son was severely injured, made deal with Jacob to heal his son. The deal: serve Jacob on the Island forever, never see his son again. So when is a baseball not a baseball? When it belongs to and reminds you of the son you almost killed.

On the flip side, to serve LockeMonster, he says he will give you what you want the most; your heart's desire. Claire -- her baby. Sayid -- his love, Nadia. Sawyer -- Juliet? We're not sure about this yet. But it seems LockeMonster's deal seems to be better on the surface, but my gut is telling me this just ain't true. These deals are messed up, he won't keep them, something will go wrong if these deals were to happen. Dogen says LockeMonster is Evil Incarnate, which is pretty trippy. Reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You can never kill Evil Incarnate, it will always be around. Jacob is needed to keep LockeMonster in check. Without Jacob, Evil Incarnate is free and can apparently leave the Island and go home. We still don't know where home is, but he wants to go there. And if he gets there, that's it. That's the end.

Speaking of trying to kill him, the knife Dogen gave Sayid to kill LockeMonster, I guarantee that is a special knife. I'm not sure what, but I think it will be explained towards the end of the series. Also, did Dogen think LockeMonster would try and kill Sayid? I say no. I think he thought the knife would work, why? Claire came in with a message that LM wanted to see Dogen. Dogen balked at that idea, knowing he'd just die. Claire's response: "So send someone he won't kill." Dogen immediately sends for Shephard and Reyes, both of whom peaced out a few hours ago. So he asks for Sayid, the last remaining candidate. Dogen truly believed the knife would work, but it didn't, and I'm sure Dogen was confused as hell. Then LM plays mind games with Sayid, yada yada yada, I just explained what follows in the above.

3. Watch out Kate. Claire is going to kill your face off. How creepy was Claire singing "Catch a falling star?" Loved it. That's it for this point, no idea what's going to happen.

4. Kate walking out with Team LockeMonster at the end. Hmmm. LM clearly eyed her up and down. What's he thinking? Kate will now be reunited with Sawyer and help him pull of the Long Con. My thoughts at least.

5. Illana, Lupidis, Miles and Sun were able to escape. Where did Ben go? He went to grab Sayid but after that was a lost cause, he just disappeared.

That's it for this recap. I posted it quickly for my buddy Adam. Rough week where I wasn't able to post it yesterday. I'll be back on par next week. Thoughts!

(27) - Show Me the Way

First, an apology. Sorry for the late LOST post. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder on Wednesday and then our power went out yesterday. Back and running now. Let's get to another recap! First up, previous thoughts that had to do with "Lighthouse."

• Jack's relationship with his father as a driving point of the series
• BIG time. This episode was filled with Jack and his dad, as well as the newest Shephard, David
• Christian is on the side of LockeMonster
• Maybe I should have said, Christian IS LockeMonster. We couldn't really tell from this episode but I believe it was inferred when Claire was explaining to Jin how she knew Aaron was inside the Temple. "First my dad told me, and then my friend."
• Claire is the new Rousseau
• CHECK. So does this mean that Rousseau was infected? And her shipmates weren't infected? We saw in the time travel what happened to her shipmates, but this got me thinking maybe she was infected all along.

Now, let's get into the meat of this baby (skip to Point #4 to get a quick recap of the below).

1. Jack and his daddy issues. This plotline has gained a ton of steam throughout the series. My thought: Jack is now Jacob's #1 choice to take over the Island duties (since Locke is dead, and dead is dead, even on this Island). But until Jack can leave all of his daddy issues behind him, he cannot take the torch. Unlike Hurley, Jack cannot be told what to do -- he has to do it by himself, on his own terms. He has to realize that he "has what it takes." Jacob knows that Jack has it, but he just has to find it out for himself.

When Jack was young his father Christian told him that he didn't have what it takes. Throughout the series we have seen Jack try and protect the survivors from everything, and every time he failed. Every decision he made was increasingly worse until he completely lost himself in his "hero" complex. His ex-wife said it best: "You will always need something to fix." Jack needs to fix himself now. He told Hurley himself that he was broken, and he stupidly thought this Island could fix it. Well Jack, you're wrong. While the Island can help you fix yourself, YOU have to do the legwork. YOU have to make it work. And this is what Jacob is waiting for, or at least hoping for.

In the alternate world, Jack is a father, but he still has the same daddy issues we know and love (hate?) from the current world. Try as he might, Jack cannot seem to connect with his son David. David just wants to get through each of their visitations. They only connect after Jack tracks David down and finds him at an audition for a spot in a music school. Jack believed David had given up playing the piano and long time ago. For his audition David chose to play Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu #4 in C Sharp Minor. Interesting choice; we heard Daniel Faraday practicing this same piece as a young boy when his mother told him he had to stop. Speaking with David outside of the school, we find that David never wanted his father to see him fail. After explaining to him that he will always love his son and that he can never fail in his eyes, they go back to the apartment to share pizza. This would NEVER happen with Christian and Jack. It shows that Jack has the ability to change and accept his failures from before and put those behind him. He failed at being a father, and has now owned up to that failure, and is ready to move on to a new future with David. 

2. Claire and her search for Aaron, takeover for Rousseau and her search for Alex. So the darkness over took her, as the darkness is currently claiming Sayid. She seems off her rocker, and when it comes to her baby, she'll believe anything. So she followed her father (Christian) off into the jungle leaving Aaron behind. We next see her in Jacob's cabin with Christian, telling John that everything is fine. And then she's gone (save her popping up in Kate's dream). In the three years since we saw her, apparently she became crazy. Baby crazy. She wants her boy back, and will do anything to do so. Kill Kate, oh she'll do it. Kill the others, been doing it (see: axe). She explains to Jin that she knows Aaron is with the others because both her dad told her and then her friend. Who's her friend you ask? None other then LockeMonster. This statement leads me to believe that LockeMonster was occupying Christian's body looking for the loophole he needed to kill Jacob, only Christian's body wouldn't allow him the leverage he needed. When he could occupy Locke's body, this provided him with his loophole. This is when Claire stopped seeing her father and instead began seeing her friend, LockeMonster.

Claire must have been "claimed" when she first walked off with her father into the jungle. And now she's either blocked out her memory or is crazy, but she believes that the others were going to kill her, even though the other she captured was trying to tell her that she wasn't remembering it correctly. So what actually happened? Could Dogen and co. have saved her? Doubtful. Either way, she is clearly on the side of LockeMonster. That side is shaping up to be quite a doozy: LockeMonster, Sawyer, Claire and probably Sayid (although I still believe Sawyer is pulling a long con).

3. Who is coming to the Island? Jacob assigned Hurley with the task of making sure this person could find his way to the Island. Instead we found out that what Jacob wanted was for Jack to go apeshit and smash mirrors. From the top:

• Hurley/Jack needed to set the contraption at the top of the Lighthouse to 108 degrees.
• Like the cave LockeMonster brought Sawyer to, each number had a name associated with it with most of these names crossed out
• As Hurley is moving the dial to 108 degrees, Jack sees two images reflected in the mirrors. The first image looked like a building from Japan, and the second looked like the church where Sawyer's parent's funeral was
• Jack moves the dial to 23 degrees, aka his number, and sees the house he grew up in reflected in the mirrors, and proceeds to demand that Hurley summon Jacob here right now
• Of course he can't, and Jack smashes all four mirrors and goes to sit on the rocks and stare out at the ocean and think
• Jacob appears to Hurley and says he isn't worried, explaining that this person will find another way to the Island
• He further goes onto reveal (or we infer) that the reason Jack was needed on this mission was precisely because Jacob wanted him to smash the mirrors. Jacob needs Jack to get over his issues and get on with his life, just as his alternate world self has (also, Jacob apparently needed his candidates as far away from the Temple as possible)

So, who is coming to the Island? Well, number 108 on the wheel in the Lighthouse said the name "Wallace," but his name was also crossed off. Also, on the wheel we saw the name "Austen" with Kate's last name still not crossed out. Her number is 51; not one of the magic numbers, so what exactly does that mean?

My theory on the Lighthouse device? You turn the wheel to a number and it corresponds with a name, and reflected in the mirror is the exact moment when that person was "broken." Jack's was most likely when his father told him he didn't have what it takes. If that was Sawyer's church, then his moment would be when he wrote his letter to Mr. Sawyer telling him that he would find him one day.

4. Final thoughts! Almost done now!

Recap

• Jack needs to get over his daddy issues. He is Jacob's #1 man. Once he leaves his issues in the past, he will be truly ready to be a hero and save the Island and protect it.
• Claire is crazy and wants her baby back, and will do anything to do so. She appears to be on the side of LockeMonster.
• The Lighthouse shows the exact moment when a person was broken.

Other Thoughts

• Who is Jack's ex-wife in the alternate world? The easy answer is Sarah, his ex-wife in the current world, but I'm venturing a guess that it is either Juliet or Libby, with my money on the former.
• Who is coming to the Island? Is it one person (Wallace? Desmond? Widmore? Walt?)? Or is it a group of people, or more specifically, an alternate group of people? Could both timelines, the current and alternate, be merging?? I truly believe that both timelines will collide. How it will happen I'm still unsure of, but I'm going to guess that both Locke and Desmond are keys to making this happen.
• Thought I'm abandoming -- Sawyer will be the new Richard. I still believe he is pulling a Long Con and Jacob will offer him eternal youth, ala Richard. But now I believe Sawyer will decline.
• Adam and Eve in the cave is not Kate and Sawyer. Maybe Rose and Bernard? I'm stealing that idea, but I like it.
• LockeMonster speaks in truths. Jacob speaks in lies, riddles and puzzles, hiding the truth. Who is the good guy? My money is still on Jacob, and I'll go back to the season two finale for this one. Michael asks Ben on the docks, "Who are you people?" Ben's reply: "We're the good guys, Michael." Ben also spoke in lies and riddles, but ultimately proved to be a "good guy," even if he did straddle that line on more than one occasion. 

Predictions

• The good vs evil teams will be drawn in the next episode. We'll see who is with Jacob, and who is with LockeMonster.
• Expanding on a prediction from last week: the Island might not be a Higher Deity, but it could be the heart of life. If it dies, so does life as we know it. 

Until next week (or actually, three more days, gah)...LOST

(26) - And So It Begins....

Best episode of the season so far. The premiere opened with a bang, but this episode really got the ball rolling. It set the true foundation for how the season will pan out and how the series will conclude. Let's get to some of my past predictions.

• Sawyer will follow fake Locke only to turn on him towards the end
• Ummm, check! Well, we won't know until Sawyer turns on him, but come on, that's in the bag. I'll explain a little later on, but two words: LONG. CON.
• Dead Locke will come back to life
• Hmm. He was buried. But I truly believe he will be resurrected and must face "himself" aka LockeMonster in order for good to triumph (stole this name from my buddy Adam -- "There are rules, boy")

Now, let's digest this episode; The Substitute!
(EDITOR'S NOTE:  If you think I write too much, you can scroll to the end of this blog post for my Predictions and Recap and see my main points. Otherwise read on...)

1. I love the storylines the writers give us when Locke and Sawyer are paired up for an episode, and this storyline is no different. LockeMonster (for the rest of this post will be LM) after unsuccessfully attempting to "recruit" Richard went after Sawyer, just as I had thought. He found him drunk, sulking the loss of his future wife in his former house. Sawyer, after living through everything he's experienced, is not phased in the least that Locke is standing there talking to him. After a while though he knows that this man, this intruder, this substitute is not really John Locke. "Locke was scared, even when he was pretending he wasn't." (Sawyer and Locke were always an interesting duo. Not enemies in the sense that Locke and Jack are, but not friendly either. I feel like Sawyer was always trying to best Locke because Locke figured he had him pegged. He called him James when no one else would, and that pissed off Sawyer because he believes he needs to be alone and for no one to "get him," when actually, it is the relationships that Sawyer has that define him.)
      Intrigued, Sawyer follows LM to see what answers he can get. Why is he on this island? On their trek they encounter a young boy, but what's interesting about this is that Sawyer can see the boy. Before, when LM was trying to get Richard to follow him, Richard could NOT see this same boy. Sawyer can, hmmm. LM chases after the boy and trips. "You know the rules, you can't kill him," the boy says, before calmly walking off into the jungle. While this is happening, Richard catches up with Sawyer and tries to get him to come back to the Temple, but Sawyer "wants answers" even though he knows that it isn't Locke. This surprises Richard, and he tries to explain that he's going to kill EVERYONE, but then has to run off when LM comes back.

• How is LM seeing things? We were led to believe in the premiere episode of season six that LM was responsible for everything the characters were seeing because the smoke monster can take the forms of those dearest to us (see: Alex, Yemi, Dave, etc). So then, was the smoke monster NOT responsible for all of those hallucinations? Does the Island recognize that It is in serious danger and is sending out it's own messengers?
• This is when I came up with my LONG CON theory. Richard is pleading with Sawyer that LM is evil, and he won't budge. LM comes back from chasing the kid and Sawyer asked what happened to the kid. "What kid?" "Then lets get on with it." Sawyer is pulling the ultimate con job right now. It's not worth any money, but he needs to string LM along until he can find out exactly what he is planning. He will see exactly how LM is planning to destroy the Island (and world) and in the process find out how to stop him. I'm presuming it will have something to do with resurrecting dead Locke.
• Who is the boy? Young Jacob? Older Aaron? Young Sawyer? All interesting choices. But I like Jeff Jensen's theory the best: The boy is the first person LM killed. That was when LM chose his side, the side opposite Jacob. I really like this for obvious reasons, as it could show us a backstory to LM and how he became like this and why he and Jacob are enemies.
• What are the rules? We know LM needed a loop hole in order to kill Jacob, but we don't know why. What are these rules???
• And who is "him?" Is it Jacob? Sawyer?

2. So Sawyer was running for Savior of the Island and he didn't even know it. The final candidates have been revealed:

• 4 - Locke
• 8 - Reyes
• 15 - Ford
• 16 - Jarrah
• 23 - Shephard
• 42 - Kwon

Why the numbers? "Jacob has a thing for numbers." But the final candidates were specifically the "evil" numbers that have been present throughout all of LOST, of course they were. They had to be. LM crosses out Locke's name because now he is dead. We can presumably cross out Sayid's name because of the darkness growing inside of him. That leaves Reyes, Ford, Shephard and Kwon (Sun or Jin). I'm not willing to throw out Locke's name just yet, but he is currently dead. (Sidenote: Why are all the candidates male? Kwon could mean Sun, but presumably right now, they are all male. Do you need some balls, literally, to protect the Island?)

• Where is Austen? Why is Kate not listed. Jacob visited her just as he did Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, Sun & Jin. Theory: Sawyer will pull off the Long Con on the LM, Jacob will make him like Richard, and he will live on the island with....KATE. Just a thought.

According to LM, Sawyer has three choices now that he knows he is a candidate.

• He can wait and see how this whole thing plays out, not choosing to do anything.
• He can accept the candidacy for protecting the Island. "From what?" "From nothing, James. That's the joke...it's just a 'damned' Island."
• He can get the hell off this island with LM, and go home. LM apparently needs him though to get off the Island. They need to do this "together."

Sawyer, wanting to pull off the Long Con, says he's ready to get the hell off this Island. I like LM's attempt at manipulation. "All the choices you thought you made weren't ever choices at all." Sawyer is doing that to you AS YOU SPEAK LM (sorta), watch out. Don't mess with the bull.
Clearly, the Island needs to be protected. The Island is special, it may be "damned" to LM because he his trapped there, but protecting the Island = saving the world. We were clued into this back in season 2. Kelvin was saving the world. Desmond was saving the world. Locke was saving the world. Eko was saving the world. Pushing the button = protecting the Island = saving the world.

3. There were a few camera angles in this episode that really caught my by surprise. At first I thought they were Point of View shots (POV - where the character looks directly into the camera, almost breaking the fourth wall and staring at us, the viewer), but they were just, and I mean just off-center.

• When Locke is screaming at Hurley in the parking lot, he turns around in his wheelchair and it looks as though he's staring at us when he says, "But I don't have to park there. I can park anywhere I want. You need to stay inside the lines." Very curious choice of words. We need to stay in the lines. Well don't you have to stay inside the lines LM? Aren't there rules that you cannot break? "You can't kill him."
• When Sawyer points the gun at Locke after talking about Of Mice and Men. It looks like Sawyer is pointing the gun at us, but again, we are just off-center.
• In the alternate world, when Locke is at the Temp agency talking to the agency rep, the rep looks directly at the camera when she says, "Of course. I'll go get her." Now, I cannot remember any significant LOST POV shots, so when one occurs I feel like it has to be for a certain reason. We've seen it when we are the smoke monster (occurred earlier in the episode), so why now? Why do we take the place of Locke in this alternate world at this temp agency? Maybe I'm reading too much into these things...

4. Final Random Thoughts

• How did Locke get injured in this alternate world? It wasn't when his dad shoved him out of a window, because we know by the pictures at his desk and Helen's mentioning of inviting his dad to the ceremony. So then how?
• In this alternate world, Locke is a man of science, not a man of faith. He doesn't believe in miracles, having not lived through a plane crash and being able to walk again. He doesn't believe any surgery will help him. He wants to start living his life the way it is, and not the way he thinks it should be. And finally to drive this point home, he is a substitute teacher teaching biology. BOOM. This is very interesting because in the real timeline the Locke vs Shephard, Faith vs Science has been a driving point since season one. Something is going to have to happen in this alternate timeline in order to get Locke back to being a man of faith.
• Why did Illana take Jacob's ashes out of the fire pit? What does she need them for? To make more ash for protection from the smoke monster? To drop into the Temple's spring in hopes of resurrecting Jacob?
• Ben's eulogy of Locke was amazingly truthful, to the point where he confessed murdering him. He even says Locke is a man of faith, "he was a believer."
• Locke's alarm clock in the alternate world was the exact sound of the alarm sounding in the hatch when they had to input the numbers. Awesome.
• Richard doesn't know about the candidates. Why? If he is supposedly Jacob's second in command, why doesn't he know this? We know he never talks to Jacob, but how come? STEALING A POINT: Jeff Jensen notes that Richard is treated like an angel. Jacob, the supreme deity on top, loves his creations (humans) more than he loves his followers (Angels/Richard). Love it.

5. Predictions/Recap

• Sawyer is pulling the ultimate Long Con on LockeMonster
• Dead Locke will be resurrected and face LockeMonster and defeat him in some capacity (not necessarily kill him)
• Who is the young boy? What are the rules? Who can't he kill? Why is LM seeing little boys?
• Why are the candidates numbered? all male (maybe)?
• Weird camera angles that were nearly POV -- are these important?
• LockeMonster leaving the Island is BAD for everyone and everything and every universe.
• The Island is special and needs to be protected. If the Island is not protected, the world will cease to exist (Parallel I just thought of -- in the movie Dogma, two of God's fallen angels want to return home and can do so by passing through holy arches. These arches will absolve every sin they've committed and because of this they can return to heaven. Doing this would prove God wrong, and since God can never be wrong the world would cease to exist). LockeMonster leaving the Island would mean he is no longer in a "damned" place and would prove God/Jacob/Higher Deity wrong, and this would destroy the world and alternate worlds.
• Prediction I just thought of: The Island is alive. Well duh, we've known this for a while. But I'm thinking the Island is the Higher Deity. Almost like in X-Men (the comics), Krakoa the Island is a mutant who is evil and is luring other mutants their and trapping them. This Island is not a mutant or evil, but the Higher Deity.

Another long one, sorry guys. Once I get started I can't stop. Onto next week! LOST