!!!!!

Not a spoiler really but I just read what next week’s episode is about – and who – and OMG!!!!!!

It needs to be May 6th RIGHT NOW!

“You knew” – Lost 5×14 “The Variable”

Spoiler Alert: The following post contains spoilers only for the latest episode of Lost. If you didn’t watch it yet, you really should not read this post. I do not know or care to know spoilers for anything beyond what has already aired, please refrain from inadvertently posting them here. Thanks!

I should start off by saying I watched last night’s new episode of Lost pretty late and after an amazing night at the theater seeing Spring Awakening – featuring Karl from Lost!!! (he was great) -  so forgive me if I miss a few things. I need to watch “The Variable” again for sure. That being said, I liked it a lot. Highlights:

• Happy 100th Episode! So many past, so few to come.
• We finally, FINALLY, get an episode about Daniel. I’ve really missed Mr. Crazy this latter half of the season so it was nice to see him back and in the spotlight, slightly less Mr. Crazy and more Mr. Crazed.
• Ok, so my prediction that Ms. Hawking would not turn out to be Daniel’s mom was wrong. Sometime I read too much into this show. I think we all called Widmore being his dad though. Just how many kids does Widmore have? When did Penny come along? And how did Charles get to L.A. so fast when just that morning he was talking on the phone to Ben in London? Did he drop everything and run to L.A.? On second thought, yes, he probably did.
• Ms. Hawking certainly is a cold character. More on that below.
• There were a lot of FTW moments last night. Loved Juliet giving the fence code to Kate and Sawyer’s look of shock. Loved Jack’s face when Daniel told him he was wrong to come back (poor Jack). And I especially loved badass Jack in that fight. The shooting was pretty intense but I loved that he shot the gasoline tanks. I guess Jack is done playing around.
• Was disappointed we didn’t, at least this week, get a Jack and Richard scene. That’s gonna be cool.  But still, any scene with Richard in it is good by me. I love him and his little coffee cup. And he did look genuinely worried about that gun. Can Richard be killed?
• Why did Miles not corroborate Daniel’s “from the future” story?
• I’m glad they addressed the question about getting off the island on the sub. Why don’t our Losties just leave on the sub? Sure it is 1977 but at least they’d be off the island. I think Hurley put that question to rest with acknowledging all the crap they went through to get back.
• Poor Juliet. The island gods just do not want her to stay in those houses.
• Yes! we got an answer! It was Charles Widmore who staged the plane crash of 815. Much more on what that means later.
• It was cool to see so much of Widmore but I didn’t get the significance of the Penny/Desmond scenes. In fact, I’m almost kinda over them.
• Anyone else think this idea of blowing up the hydrogen bomb on top of the hatch is a bad one?
• Conundrum facing our peeps: If you could go back in time and make it so that Flight 815 never crashed on the island, would you? Should you? The question of the season now goes from CAN you change the past to SHOULD you change the past. Interesting.
• Come on, didn’t we all know Daniel was gonna kick it? It was pretty obvious from the get go for me. But how he went was indeed surprising. To be killed by your own mother who doesn’t even know who you are is one thing but that Ms. Hawking persuaded her son – “Yes I would be proud of you” – to go back to the island knowing full well she kills him when he does is pretty hardcore (of course, I bet Widmore knew it too and did the same thing). I have to think that his parents did this to him because he HAD to go back and die in order for certain events to happen, at least in their minds. Still…
• Add Daniel to the list of heartbreaking deaths on the show.

Like I said, I need to watch it again to pick up on all those little things I didn’t get at 11:30 last night.

“We’re on the side that’s going to win”

Spoiler Alert: The following post contains spoilers only for the latest episode of Lost. If you didn’t watch it yet, you really should not read this post. I do not know or care to know spoilers for anything beyond what has already aired, please refrain from inadvertently posting them here. Thanks!

Okay, I can’t let this go so easily. I’m really torn as to what is up with this group that I’m now dubbing the statue people, so called because they keep asking what lies in the shadow of the statue,  until we find out who they really are. Included is Ilana – the chick who got Sayid on the plane and who seems to be in control in 2008 island time – and Bram, the guy who told Miles last night that he should not get on the freighter to the island. Lots of theories floating out there. I want to list some of the possibilities.

1. The most likely in my mind: the statue people are working for Ben. In “Dead is Dead,” it seemed clear to me that Ilana and Ben knew each other. She greeted him “good morning” which is oddly friendly for her considering her later actions towards Frank. Ilana also knew where to find Sayid in L.A., which Ben knew, and that he killed that golfer guy, which Ben had sent Sayid to do. Ben needed Sayid on that plane and Ilana got him on there. Bigger question here would be who is Ben working for? Other evidence includes Miles asking for 3.2 million from Ben, the same amount he asked for from Bram.
2. The statue people are working for someone who is working for Ben but they are not aware that they are actually working for Ben Linus. Who that someone is, I would have no idea. But it seems like a Ben thing to do. He’s using them to get something done while keeping his hands clean.
3. It was all a ruse and those statue people are actually working for Widmore and that whole van scene was to push Miles into going onto the freighter. If true, it worked cause Miles did go onto the freighter despite the warning he was given.
4. The statue people represent a third party in the ultimate battle for the island. This third party could be:

• New Dharma: I don’t like this theory though I think it rather probable. Dharma had their shot, I don’t want them back on the island.
• Richard’s people, aka the descendants of the original inhabitants of the island. Not necessarily the Others but the group sworn to protect the island. Would explain that “what lies in the shadow of the statue” code/question which, let’s face it, sounds like a Richard thing to say.
• A totally new party after the island. This would be very unfair to introduce a new group one season away from the end of this show.

Or, the statue people could be the second party in the ultimate battle for the island. Ben and Widmore’s battle is between them but they are actually fighting on the side of the Others. These statue people are not.

And with all these theories, I have no idea what to think.

“Then you’re not ready to go to the island” – Lost 5×13 “Some Like it Hoth”

Spoiler Alert: The following post contains spoilers only for the latest episode of Lost. If you didn’t watch it yet, you really should not read this post. I do not know or care to know spoilers for anything beyond what has already aired, please refrain from inadvertently posting them here. Thanks!

I know the episode was Miles centric but the above screencap is too juicy an easteregg to ignore. More on that to come. Overall, I liked last night’s Lost. Highlights:

General Impressions:

• After the anxiety filled hour that was “Dead is Dead” it was nice to watch a new episode of Lost feeling fairly comfortable and at ease. Therefore, while certainly not an explosive episode, “Some Like it Hoth” was a keeper in my book. I enjoyed just being in the land of Lost for an hour.
• It is also to the show’s credit that towards the end of Season 5 they can do a character-based episode that is semi-heartwarming and emotional, akin to the early Lost episodes. And yay to Miles for getting a flashback ep. I thought Ken Leung (sp?) was really good.
• Hurley FTW! The whole thing about him writing Empire Strikes Back but with some improvements was hilarious and also tied in nicely to this season’s posed question of can you change what’s already happened…
• BUT! I liked the Ewoks!

“Funny, you’re name is Miles too”

• Not a huge shock that Miles is Dr. Pierre Chang’s kid. I think most us figured that when we saw his baby at the beginning of the season. Bigger mystery remains what happened to Chang to make him “abandon” his family? As my mom pointed out last night, he seemed to be a pretty doting father to baby Miles.
• Hurley trying to get Miles and Dr. Chang talking in the van was classic. It was so nice to see Hugo be his old, merry self again. Of all the O6′ers, he seems to be the most content doesn’t he? Interesting…
• I said a couple weeks ago that I didn’t want to like Roger Linus and apparently the Lost gods listened to me. What a jackass.
• And speaking of, Jack was a bit less jerky in this one though the image of him wiping down a blackboard was very amusing, which brings me to that screencap. Notice the writing? The Dharma kids are studying Egypt. Not just Egypt, but Egyption language such as hieroglyphs which just happened to be all over the ancient parts of the island…is this a red herring or a clue?
• 1st crazy theory of the week: Sawyer is losing his new-found power. Evidence: he called Jack “doc” at least twice in the span of a couple minutes, verbally giving Jack higher status. I thought these two were at odds with each other?
• Side note: Matthew Fox is the only actor who can pull off that Dharma jumpsuit.

Questions and Answers

• So, um, why is Dharma killing hostiles? From the shady proceedings with Horace, Radzinksy, and Dr. Chang, this all seems like Dharma is preparing to take over the island and, ahem, purge out the hostiles. But maybe I’m jumping the gun.
• Why is Miles the way he is? Why can he read a dead person’s thoughts? I wasn’t expecting that we needed a reason until that Bram guy in the van asked him.
• Yay! Dan is back! Looking pretty good too. One tiny question: Why was Dan in Ann Arbor, supposed homebase to the Dharma Initiative? I’m guessing we’ll find out in two weeks.
• “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?” Crazy Probably True theory of the week #2: That isn’t a literal question. It’s a code and if you have the right answer to that code, it means you are part of this special little group. It’s like a password, a security question. Only those in on it know the right answer. This deserves its own post, coming later today.

Is there a third team?

• This also is going to get its own post, but I’ll pose the question now: Ilana and Bram and that whole group are not working for Widmore as Bram strongly urged Miles to not work for that man. I still think it is likely that these people, in perhaps a roundabout way, are working on Ben’s team. But what if there is a third side, a third team unaffiliated with either former Other leader? What if these really are the good guys? More on that to come.
• ETA: I just read something that is very interesting. A viewer seems to think these “statue” people might be…wait for it…new Dharma! Intriguing.

The fake 815

• Naomi had Miles read a dead guy carrying papers to Charles Widmore, papers that included a purchase order for a plane and a bunch of photos of empty graves. In Season 4’s “Meet Kevin Johnson”, these are the same documents that Tom (we miss you Tom!) shows to Michael to convince him that Widmore planted a fake 815 at the bottom of the ocean and that he is a bad man. If Widmore planted that plane, why was a nondescript guy named Felix taking him a purchase order and why would he get killed for it? Crazy theory of the week #3: Tom was lying to Michael. Ben and the Others planted that plane and killed this Felix guy before he could get to Widmore…or crazy theory of the week #4: neither Widmore nor Ben did it and it was this third group.

I need to think about these last couple of things more. I should be posting later today. In the meantime, did you guys like this one or was it too slow to be near the rapidly approaching end of Season 5?

“Hey Hermano!” – Could it be?

I keep seeing this theory. First from the kid who plays ‘lil Ben and then on a few message boards. So I’ll pose the question here:

Could Locke and Ben be brothers?

At first, you think of course they aren’t. We know both sets of parents. But looking at it a little closer, it’s not that outrageous.

Locke’s mom was very young when she had him. Her name is Emily and she gives John up for adoption. We don’t know what happens to Emily after that, do we?.

Ben was born in the woods outside Portland to a young(ish) woman by the name of … Emily.

Disregarding the age of the actors and that they look nothing alike, Ben would have been born about, what, 5 to 10 years after Locke? Plenty of time for Emily to meet Roger Linus and have a kid.

I think sometimes we credit the writers too much with the control and detail they have in the show but that seems too hard to believe that they would name Locke’s mom Emily and Ben’s mom Emily and there’s no link between the two. The two are natural competitors, Ben being the one who got to lead on the island in Locke’s place.There’s obviously some kind of connection between these two and if you go back to that major theme of the bad twin, this would make a lot of sense.

Imagine the reveal if it were true.

“It worked.” – More “Dead is Dead” Thoughts

In his weekly Lost recap, Jeff Jensen had an interesting and very different take on last night’s proceedings than I came away with. In short, he says that Ben was playing Locke throughout much of the episode and that he never really intended to go visit Smokey but to lure Locke into another trap and dispose of him once and for all. Because, as Ben said, “dead is dead” even on the island. Jensen claims that Ben did not know Locke would be resurrected and was supremely disappointed to see him so because Ben wants to be king of the island again. His whole life, Ben has usurped Locke’s power position and is continuing to try to do so.

I agree and disagree. I think Ben was leading Locke on, definitely. That old power struggle is alive and well on present 2008 island. But I’m still holding to the hope and idea that Ben killed Locke for a higher purpose, in service of the island and that he believed John would come back once they all returned. I still think when Ben said “I’ll miss you John” after killing Locke that he either meant it as he thought he was going to die by Smokey before seeing Locke again or, and more probably, that Locke did not come back the same man he was. Props to Terry O’Quinn because the subtle differences in Locke’s behavior were just there enough to make us question what is up with this character.And as far as Ben usurping power, I’m not sure you can get away with that on the island. If Ben was falsely using anything on that island, why would he have been allowed to a) come back and b) live after his judging?

But maybe I’m wrong and Ben’s whole agenda was to come back to the island having rid the world of John Locke and take over again.

More thoughts:

• So I misinterpreted that big steel case I guess. Seems other people are saying that’s where Ilana and all them found the guns. My guess is they had help there. My guess also is that these people are Others, of the same variety as Jill the Butcher and all the other people helping out Ben in L.A. and around the world. More on this later once I come up with an actual theory on that statue line.
• I’m increasingly beginning to think that Richard has a stronger connection to Jacob than pure messenger. Is it possible Richard either is Jacob or takes the human, albeit ageless, form of Jacob, just as the smoke is Jacob and Christian is Jacob? Is Jacob not so much  a deity but a spirit or bundle of knowing energy? I’m thinking along the lines of Stephen King’s It in which the monster was not really a clown or big turtle but an “it” of evil. Ben’s line “We don’t have a name for it but I believe you call it the monster” is a load of hooey.
• Jeff Jensen also made the connection that I had missed with the ongoing theme of bad daddies. This time, it was Ben who was being the bad daddy in that he let his daughter die to stay on the island, sacrificing anything to do so. Why Ben never thought that Alex would actually die is up for debate. Was it only because he thought the island wanted her alive?
• A lot of references to “the rules” in this episode again. Would love to know what the rules are. Obviously murder is not one of them because Ben’s done a lot of that – which again leads me to ask why the smoke monster only judged him on Alex.
• Jeff Jensen (and seriously if you don’t read his columns but read this babble, you really should check them out) also brought up the intriguing plot twist we were left with, basically that Ben’s fate is now up to Locke. Ben has to follow Locke’s orders, listen to his every word and not try to do him any harm. Where do I think this is going? Ben’s gonna end up sacrificing himself for Locke, having become a true believer (hence the Doubting Thomas speech he gave to Jack in “316″) and realizing that this is why he was allowed back, this is what his ultimate service to the island can be and the means to his redemption. When will said sacrifice happen? Well, we have about 5 more episodes this season. That’s right, I’m officially back on the “God I hope Ben doesn’t die but I think he’s going to” bandwagon.

Question I’m still struggling with: is the island good or bad?

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” – Lost 5×12 “Dead is Dead”

ETA: Wasn’t able to cover everything in this post. I’ll be back later on today with more. In case anyone cares…which I don’t think it is true.

Spoiler Alert: The following post contains spoilers only for the latest episode of Lost. If you didn’t watch it yet, you really should not read this post. I do not know or care to know spoilers for anything beyond what has already aired, please refrain from inadvertently posting them here. Thanks!

Damn! If you wanted an epic Lost episode you certainly got one in “Dead is Dead” last night. It was an episode so good I immediately went back to watch it a second time. Thoughts and highlights:

General

• Thank you Lost gods for not killing Ben in this episode! I was on pins and needles the whole time, eventually being 100% positive he was going to die by Smokey. Doesn’t mean he’s safe as there is still a big death supposedly going to happen this season but it makes me feel better all the same.
• Locke was kind of a dick in this wasn’t he? Or do I just have so much love for Ben that I didn’t like Locke delivering his comeuppance? That was a good line though, the “Now you know what it was like to be me.”
• I’m not sure we can say enough good things about Michael Emerson on this show.
• That golden light around the temple wall was really pretty – especially in HD – and it was there in last week’s too when Richard took Lil’ Ben to be healed. Temple anomaly?
• Dear Lost wig department: I know you are trying your best but making those old farts look young by putting bad rugs on them is not the way to go.
• Can anyone read hieroglyphics?

Widmore(s)

Very cool we got to see more of Charles Widmore on the island. Here’s some thoughts:

• Richard’s line, something like “Jacob wanted it done” and “the island chooses who it chooses”, delivered to Widmore make me think that Widmore was not ousted by Ben but ousted by the island and he took his anger out on the young kid throughout their whole relationship. So Ben traded one abusive father for another abusive father figure.
• Real nice, Charles. Why do you want Alex dead so bad? If Jacob/the island wanted her dead, you should have had no problem killing her yourself. And I’m still on Ben’s side of this. Widmore ordered Keamy to kill Alex but in a way so as to let Ben make the final decision.
• Time line: The Others were still living in the jungle when Alex came. When Widmore left, they were living in the New Otherton, formerly called Dharmaville, meaning that Widmore was on the island when the purge happened and Ben already had Alex. My guess? Widmore ordered the purge.
• The phone call on the marina was great. “Hello Charles, it’s Benjamin!” Ben was almost giddy.
• It’s clear to me at this point that Charles Widmore really is the bad guy in all of this. I’ll let the show prove me wrong but until then, that’s what I’m going with. BTW, he totally lied to Locke about how he left the island. Didn’t seem like Ben tricked him at all.
• I was wishy-washy on this but thank God Ben didn’t kill Penny! That was heartbreaking when he saw little Charlie and I do think it wasn’t hesitation but a change of mind that stopped him. Desmond the super hero beating him up was pretty cool too. I’d like to say I can’t believe Ben shot him like that but with Ben, that wasn’t all that shocking I guess.

“If you want her to live, when you hear whispers run the other way.”

• The kidnapping of Alex pretty much happened the way I thought in that Ben literally just took her to give her a better life. Was hard to watch though, I really felt for Danielle.
• Side note: I think some might call “foul” on this one. If Danielle had seen Ben take Alex, why did she not recognize him and immediately kill him back in Season 2 when she caught him in that trap? She did insist he was one of them and to be fair, in Ben’s words, she is a crazy woman.
• Widmore ordered Danielle to be killed. Why? Did he know about Alex?
• What the hell does that “whisper” line mean? I can’t even come up with a theory on that one.
• And yeah, Ben holding that cute little baby melted me. See, he does have a heart! And keeping her name Alex was a nice touch. So why was he automatically drawn to her? Can I be annoying and theorize it has something to do with Annie?
• Ethan(!) Has joined the Others in what looks like pre-purge days. Interesting.
• Richard Alpert still wins the hottest Other contest.

Oh right, there are other people on this show besides Ben

• Oh Sun, why are you still so unbelieving? You’ve seen some crazy stuff happen and yet you still can’t believe that Locke resurrected? C’mon.
• Poor Lapidus. Of all of the people on the show, he seems to be the purest doesn’t he?
• If you have to die on the show, what better way is there than how Caeser kicked it? That was an awesome moment that I did NOT see coming. Ben shot that dude as if he was nothing more than pawn…hmm?
• What does lie in the shadow of the statue? The temple? The bomb, aka Jughead? Jacob? Gold? Sayid? Better question, what the hell was in that crate that they were trying to move? I definitely have a theory on this one, saved for another post.
• Locke looks pretty good for having been dead for, what, about a week or so? This downloaded knowledge of his has really helped his complexion and demeanor. Good to see him again.

“It let me live”

The real star of this episode was obviously Ben.

• If there was ever any doubt as to whether of not Ben had the capacity to care about someone, it was put to rest in this one. Ben loved Alex very much and as much as he wouldn’t admit it, he did blame himself for her dying.
• I’m very curious as to what prompted Ben to come back and be judged by Smokey. We know he wanted to come to the island but was that his goal all along between 2005 and 2008? Or was he really trying to get them all back for the benefit of the island?
• I think Ben absolutely knows the Losties were part of Dharma. He was lying to Sun. There’s no way that kind of information goes unnoticed. Furthermore, I think at least one Lostie is going to die in the purge.
• Ben was expecting to die. I don’t think he sure of it but he thought the chances of Smokey blaming him for Alex’s death and making him pay for it were pretty good. Otherwise, why would he have been so scared and hesitant to get it done with? The line to Sun was telling “If you ever get off this island, find Desmond Hume and tell him I’m sorry”, said with very much emotion and regret. The end line “it let me live” was said with much surprise. Did a part of Ben actually want to die? To have it all be over with?
• Recap: So Smokey comes out through those holes and surrounds Ben, showing him the best and worst of his life with Alex – and with Alex ONLY. It makes him relive all of this and then goes back into its wherever it came from. Then it reappears in tangible form as Alex. First, Emerson just about killed me with his acting during this part. Second, Alex says that she knows he’s going to kill Locke again and that he must follow every word Locke says or else “I will destroy you.”
• Reaction #1: Um, what? Smokey only judges Ben on Alex?! What about the myriad other atrocities this guy has committed such as, oh I don’t know, killing his dad, experimenting on people, shooting a lot of people, killing even more, etc? The purge? Do those things not count? OR was Ben telling the truth and doing all of that in service of the island, in which case Smokey probably wouldn’t have a problem with it.
• Reaction #2: Ben would not have come back to the island if the island didn’t want him to come back, meaning that the island isn’t done with Mr. Benjamin Linus yet. But as his ghost daughter threatened him, he’s on some very thin ice. I wonder where this is all going? (I have a theory!)
• Reaction #3: Again, thank God Ben made it through that scene! I don’t think I was breathing through the whole thing.

Ok, there’s my ridiculously long take on this episode. I have more to say but it’s now late enough that I can’t pretend to not be doing this anymore. Final question: what did the title of this episode “Dead is Dead” mean?

Finally!

Apart from the season premieres and finales, I’m not sure I’ve ever anticipated an episode so much as tonight’s new one of Lost. I think the secret is out now: it is a Ben episode.

And I think I know the answer to the will he die tonight? question but I guess time will tell.

12 more hours!

I know I keep using this picture but I love it!

Another Post About Annie

Warning: If you have not seen or seen and thought about the previews for this week’s new episode of Lost you might not want to read the following as I’ve been obsessing over the little snippets we’ve gotten from the promo for 4 days now.

Oh character of Annie, how you intrique me.

In both seasons 3 and 4, around this time of the season we’ve gotten a Ben-centric episode. Season 3’s “The Man Behind the Curtain” and Season 4’s “The Shape of Things to Come” probably rank as my two top favorite episodes of all of Lost. Thanks to the previews for this week’s new episode, titled “Dead is Dead” (whatever the hell that means…it better not mean what I think it might mean!), we know this week’s ep is going to be another Ben-centric story. Thus, I rewatched the two previous Ben eps to refresh my memory.

In the commentary for “The Man Behind the Curtain” Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse say outright that Annie is one of the two most important women in Ben’s life, the other being his now deceased daughter Alex. They also promise that we have not seen the last of this so-called pivotal character. And that was two years ago. In the previews for this week, clips are shown of Ben talking to a young Danielle Rousseau, there’s a clip of Ben at the marina in 2008, and there seems to be a clip of Ben when he goes to summon the smoke monster after Alex is killed. Seems to me that we are getting pivotal backstory scenes in this Ben-centric episode this week.

Putting two and two together, does this mean we are finally, FINALLY, going to see Annie again? I’m spoiler-free and I have no idea but my guess is – my hope is – that we are. For two years we’ve theorizing about who Annie is, what happened to her and what the connection was between her and Ben. If we’re getting a run-down on Ben’s most decisive actions, doesn’t Annie have to be included in that?

My guess? She got pregnant and was one of the first women on the island to die in childbirth, pre-purge. I can’t imagine the character is still alive though that would be pretty freaking cool.

Eesh, is it Wednesday yet?

A wild thought…

…what if it wasn’t Penny that Ben went after before getting on that plane in episode “316″ but her father, Charles Widmore?

What if (!) Ben killed Charles Widmore who was trying to protect Penny and that the whole “I’m going to kill your daughter” thing was just a manipulation to take Widmore out of the picture?