(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

(25) - LOST take 2

So a bit of an underwhelming episode following the awesomeness that was the premiere. But I feel like that has happened nearly every year, maybe it's just me. Let's check on my thoughts from last week that have to do with this past episode.

• New Sayid = Sayid from different reality.
• Ok, not what happened. Quite frankly I like what has happened instead. There is a darkness growing inside of Sayid and once it reaches his heart the Sayid we know and love will be dead. More on this later.
•  Kate will end up with Sawyer on the island
• This episode did not support this theory at all. The darkness that's growing inside of Sayid seems to also be growing inside of Sawyer. Sayid physically died, Sawyer emotionally died. He's a man on the edge and it looks like he will fall. More on this in my predictions.

That was it, considering we got nothing from the current timeline of Locke, Ben, etc. So let's digest this episode, "What Kate Does."

1. I wish I had thought of this theory, but that's why they pay him the big bucks and I get paid zilch. Jeff Jensen at EW.com always posts a looooonnnng LOST recap after every episode. He dives deep into LOST whereas I only skim the surface. If you haven't read his stuff yet, please do, it's outstanding. I was looking at the title "What Kate Does" and thinking that it's a sort-of sequel to the season two episode "What Kate Did," and what she does to stay away from authorities. Kate runs. We've known this since the season one episode "Tabula Rasa." Kate cannot stay in one place for too long, she get's antsy and wants to leave. Kate needs to be free. Jeff Jensen instead digested the episode looking at both timelines and what Kate does in these timelines. Yes, she does run. But then, she stops running, at least for the time being.

• In timeline 1 (current timeline), Sawyer runs off back to Otherville and Kate tracks him under the guise she will bring him back. Obviously we know this isn't the case (turns out she wanted his help to track Claire). Kate is going back to "check" on Sawyer, Kate is making sure Sawyer is ok, Kate is trying to protect Sawyer. Once Kate gets free from the Others she goes after Sawyer and finds out how heartbroken he actually is. He was going to propose to Juliet, he had the ring and all. Wanting to keep Sawyer distracted she wants him to accompany her to find Claire. Sawyer wants no part of it. Sawyer is dead on the inside (darkness creeping up...).
• In timeline 2 (alternate world), Kate hijacks Claire's cab (cue deja vu #1 when she sees Jack) and kicks her out making sure to keep her wallet and luggage. Kate manages to get her cuffs off and goes to change with Claire's clothes only to find out the bag is packed with baby things because Claire is pregnant. Also in the bag, a Shamu plush toy. Why is this significant? -- this is the SAME PLUSH TOY Kate gave to Aaron in timeline 1 (cue deja vu #2). So what does Kate do? She goes back to help Claire (it's amazing that she found her honestly). She returns her stuff and wallet (swearing she didn't take any money) and offers her a ride to her destination. Kate then accompanies Claire to the hospital...and stays with her to make sure she is ok! (Claire also covers for Joan Hart aka Kate when the cops come).
• Jack's last name is Shephard, and through much of the series he has tried to herd the group off the island. He has tried to protect them from smoke monsters and killer, kidnapping Others. Kate's last name is Austen, and she is a shephard. As much as she runs to stay free and run, she wants to make sure those close to her are ok. She will ALWAYS return for her "young." Jack may have a "fixing" complex, but Kate has a "caring" complex. She cares too much, even though she does not want to admit it.

2. So Sayid came back to life. Pretty crazy. Sayid "volunteers" to be tortured by Dogen who performs three tests on Sayid's body. Before the tests Sayid pleads with Dogen saying he "has no information." Hmmm....Very odd indeed.

• First Dogen blows the same ash that keeps the smoke monster away over his body to see how it reacts. 
• Second he hooks up Sayid's body to an electric current that needs to be wound up by hand and see how he reacts. 
• Third he takes a red-hot fire poker and brands Sayid to see how it and he reacts. Lennon (Dogen's translator) lied to Sayid and said he passed and let him go.

What is Dogen looking for?? Signs of the Smoke Monster?? Sayid returns to the main Temple room to see Jack and co. and report to them that he was tortured. Jack, being the caretaker of the group, storms off to question Dogen. The guards let him through which seems odd, but it turns out Dogen and Lennon were expecting Jack (Side Thought: You wake up in a room with one other person who you hate and a door. You believe you have the choice to leave but instead you stick around and annoy that other person knowing he cannot do anything to you. After you've had enough you decide to leave the room only to find that the door had been locked the whole time. Did you ever have a choice to begin with?). Jack always plays right into the hands of the Others. He cannot figure them out...until later in this episode.

Dogen gives Jack a pill and says that Sayid needs to take this pill on his own accord. He cannot be forced the pill otherwise it won't work. Jack, man of science, demands to know what's in it. Dogen plays Jack by asking him if Sayid being shot was his fault, and how many other lives he risked and lost. "This is your chance to redeem yourself" (or something to that effect). Jack tells Sayid about the pill, and his reponse was that he trusts Jack more than the Others so if Jack tells him to take the pill he will. Jack goes back to Dogen who realizes he did not give the pill to Sayid. He tells Jack to trust him and to give Sayid the pill. Jack finally grows up. "I don't even trust myself" and swallows the pill and calls Dogen's bluff in the process. Dogen leaps to action and makes sure Jack doesn't swallow the pill by making him cough it up and then reveals that it is poison. Whaaaaat?!?! "There is a darkness growing inside of him, and once it reaches his heart, all you know about him will disappear" (or something to that effect). What will happen? "The same thing that happened to your sister." WTF happened to Claire? She was with Christian last we checked?

3. The end of the episode we have Jin returning to the Temple, or trying to find Sun, when he's abducted by the two Others who accompanied him and Kate. Kate knocked them out so they're both not happy, but one of them (Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) is about to kill Jin when he gets shot twice in the chest and the other guy gets shot in the knee. Who shot them? CLAIRE. Welcome back to the current timeline Claire.

4. Those were the three big happenings from "What Kate Does." Predictions!

• Christian is on the side of Man in Black/Smoke Monster/Locke, whatever side that is.
• Claire is the new Rousseau. The Island is beginning to go in a loop. Things need to be replaced.
• Sayid is a Zombie...sort of.  In future episodes he will side with Locke/etc on the side of man is inherently evil. (EDIT: Sayid will become the new Ben. Thoughts??)
• Sawyer will be the new Richard Alpert. Locke is going to try and persuade Sawyer to join his cause or whatever, and because of how Sawyer is right now he will at first. He is emotionally destroyed and all eaten up inside. But towards the end of the season he will prove Jacob right that there is ALWAYS a choice and will show man is inherently good. In the process Jacob will make him the way he made Alpert.

That's all for now. I'm tired. Comments!!!!

LOST

(24) - L to the OST

So the sixth and final season of LOST premiered this past Tuesday, and what a download of information. I think it set up the final season in a great way. I want to write down some of my thoughts, for if they come true, I can say I called it.

1. Locke = Man in Black (Esau?) = Smoke Monster = Enemy of Jacob
God what a great scene. Locke's line: "I'm sorry you had to see my like that." Simply wow. Great delivery on that. I'm still working on this one. Apparently he/it wants to get home, most likely off-Island, which means trouble. First of all, why would anyone want to leave The Island? We've seen what it can do, and SmokeLocke should know this for he's been on The Island for at least 200 years, and most likely a lot more. Second, if Smokey leaves The Island, then what the fuck? I'm sure that spells trouble for something, I'm guessing something to do with that alternate world we saw glimpses of...

2. Alternate World
This one comes straight out of FRINGE, I was half expecting to see William Bell pop up at some point on the plane. There are subtle differences between the world we knew and the world we were introduced to in this episode (they will be presented in WORLD WE KNEW vs ALTERNATE WORLD): flight attendant hands Jack two bottles of alcohol vs one bottle, Jack attempts to calm down Rose vs Rose attempting to calm down Jack, Desmond is on The Island vs Desmond is on the plane...? WAIT?!?

• Yeah, apparently Desmond made it onto the plane in this alternate world, and he has a wedding ring on (Penny?...Libby...?), but then something funny happened...Desmond disappeared. We were led to believe he went back to his old seat, but I think he actually, physically disappeared off the plane. Remember what Faraday said, the rules DO NOT apply to Desmond. Something is up with him.
• Kate managed to escape...again. Surprise surprise. Actually the surprise was who helped her escape, sort of (Sawyer in the elevator), and who's cab she hopped in (welcome back Claire).
• Charlie is alive, although he believes he should have died. Jack to the rescue again....that doesn't seem to have changed.
• Hurley is the luckiest man alive?? Very interesting, that's a drastic change. This truly proves we are in an alternate world.
• Boone could not save Shannon, but he would be in Locke's camp had the plane went down. It seems Boone is doomed, as no matter what world you in, you are bound to make the same choices (maybe with different consequences?).
• Does Sun speak English? And Jin's in some trouble...
• Locke is still unable to walk. His condition is irreversible he tells Jack. Jack's response: "Nothing's irreversible." The scene they shared in the lost luggage (hmmmm...) department was great stuff.
• Jack's dad is lost (misplaced?). He either never made it on the plane, or disappeared from the plane. Not quite sure what's up with this. I've read some theories that one of the driving themes behind the show from the beginning was Jack's relationship with his dad, so this has to play into it somehow.
• This alternate world will collide with the current world at some point, and I have no idea what's going to happen.

3. Current Timeline - Jack and co.
So, Juliet blew up the bomb. There were two consequences from this. The first you just read about, the alternate world. The second was that everyone on the island who was in the past (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid,  Jin, Miles, Juliet) time traveled back to the future (love that movie, #16 all-time), aka 2008.

• Juliet was at the bottom of the imploded Swan Station. After working together to get to her ("The Moth" episode...) Sawyer goes down to try and save her. But of course, he is too late. Which sucks, because Juliet was one of my favorite characters. Before dying, she asks Sawyer if he wants to get coffee, riiiight? And her final message? Couldn't say it, because she died. Good thing we have someone who can talk to the dead (Miles) who found out she wanted to say "It worked." What worked you ask? It HAS to be that Juliet was flickering in and out of the current timeline she was in and the alternate world that everything was rebooted to. But I guess we'll find out.
• Jacob is officially dead, and who does he go see? The other guy who can speak to dead people, although Hurley can actually see them and hold current conversations with them, not like Miles. Jacob reveals himself to Hurley and tells him he must bring Sayid to the Temple so he can be saved, and that he must bring the guitar case Jacob gave to him before he hopped back on the Ajira flight.
• Hurley, Jack, Jin and Kate head off to the Temple and are abducted within the basement of the walls surrounding the Temple. Sawyer and Miles get abducted in the jungle. Who lives at the Temple? The Others! But now they're good? But according to Ben, they have ALWAYS been the good guys (end of Season 2).
• The leader of these Others is Dogen who understands English but doesn't like the way it tastes on his tongue (amazing line). So he has Lennon speak for him. He first tells Lennon to order these trespassers dead, until Hurley becomes the leader of this group saying Jacob has sent them and he has proof. In the guitar case is not a guitar, but an Ankh (ahh of course). Apparently Jacob used Ankh's as envelopes because hidden in the Ankh was another one of Jacob's famous lists. And who's on the list? Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sayid, Jin, Miles, Sawyer. So great.
• The spring used to heal (?) had murky water, not clear water. This presented a problem as the spring could not revive Sayid (like it did to young Ben last year). Sayid is dead.
• Hurley informs Dogen and Lennon that Jacob is dead which sends them into a panic of fortifying the Temple with ash and alerting the other others who are by the statue where Jacob used to hang out.
• Sayid comes back to life. Yes, you read that right. He comes back. My prediction: the spring that saves people really takes your personality from another world and transports it into your body. Richard warned Kate and Sawyer last year that there would be consequences to saving young Ben: he would not be the same as his innocence would be lost and he would not remember a thing. My first thought was that Jacob needed to save Sayid in order to inhabit his body. But I'm thinking that's too easy of an option.

4. Current Timeline - Locke and co.

• Locke requests to see Richard after killing Jacob. Ben tries to deliver this message, albeit in his usual lying ways, but Richard doesn't move. Bram and co. (the good guys from the Ajira flight, minus Ilana) take Ben back into the statue, only to get killed by Locke/Smokey. Bram proved that Smokey cannot cross the ash that he layed out, which is interested. What's the ash made of?
• Richard shows Ben the real body of Locke, which leaves Ben dumbfounded. He no longer has any answers. Ben is COMPLETELY in the dark, and he hates it.
• Locke and Ben come out of the statue, and Richard finally realizes what the fuck is going on. He knew last year that something was different about Locke, and now he finally realizes it. Best conversation of the night:
• Alpert: No no don't shoot him!
• Locke: Hello Richard, nice to see you out of those chains.
• Alpert: ...You?
• Locke: ME. 
• (Locke kicks the shit out of Alpert in 0.7 seconds).
• (Locke picks up Alpert over his shoulder and beings to walk -- stops).
• Locke: I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED, IN ALL OF YOU.
• (Locke walks off into the jungle).
• Whaaaaaaaaat?!?! So sick. So my guess: Richard was on the Black Rock as a slave, showed great devotion and loyalty to Jacob and Jacob rewarded him with eternal life. I'm assuming Man in Black tested everyone on the Black Rock as a way of proving to Jacob that man was inherently evil, but Richard showed that man can be saved. 

5. Recap
I did NOT expect to write this much. But my main points:

• Smokey getting off the island would be BAD for this world AND alternate worlds
• Desmond was off the plane when Jack came back to his seat: the rules DO NOT apply to Desmond
• New Sayid = Sayid from a different reality
• Richard was on the black rock and proved that man is inherently good, not inherently evil
• Going further: This is the basic theme for the entire series, and the producers will prove this position.
• Jack's relationship with his father is another driving point of the series

Side points I'm predicting right now:

• Claire and Jack will find out they are step siblings
• Kate will end up with Sawyer on the island
• Locke in the current timeline will come back to life at some point
• This season will be fucking awesome

I'm so fucking LOST, and I love it

(23) - Oh, Oscar!

The Oscar nominations came in this morning. Below you can find the nominations in the major categories and then who I think SHOULD win and who I think WILL win.

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up In the Air

SHOULD WIN: Inglourious Basterds
WILL WIN: The Hurt Locker
(Note: If either IB or HL win this award I will be ecstatic, both were phenomenal films.)

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up In the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

SHOULD WIN: Jeff Bridges
WILL WIN: Jeff Bridges

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

SHOULD WIN: Carey Mulligan
WILL WIN: Sandra Bullock

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

SHOULD WIN: Christoph Waltz
WILL WIN: Christoph Waltz

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up In the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up In the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious

SHOULD WIN: Mo'Nique
WILL WIN: Mo'Nique

BEST DIRECTOR:
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up In the Air

SHOULD WIN: Kathryn Bigelow
WILL WIN: Kathryn Bigelow

BEST WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up In the Air

SHOULD WIN: In The Loop
WILL WIN: Up In the Air

BEST WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

SHOULD WIN: Inglourious Basterds
WILL WIN: The Hurt Locker

BEST FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

SHOULD WIN: Inglourious Basterds
WILL WIN: Avatar

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

SHOULD WIN: Inglourious Basterds
WILL WIN: Avatar

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

SHOULD WIN: Avatar
WILL WIN: Avatar

Only a few short weeks away from the awards! We'll see how I did then! Comments??

OSCAR THE GROUCH