I'm curious about who out there reads this stuff. If you read this and enjoy it, let me know with some eprops... oops, I mean a Like or something. Hollllla. I'm curious. Although this might not be a great note to try it on, since it's a day late. Alas. Also, I should note that I did read Alan Sepinwall because I couldn't resist (but it's less in depth than other posts of his anyway because he's sort of on vacation), but not Doc Jensen... so hopefully I won't replicate Alan's stuff too much (http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2010/04/lost-everybody-loves-hugo-throw-scot.html). He does touch on some things I touch, which is unavoidable, so I promise I am trying to give my personal feel on it from when I was watching it and from my own thinking .
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SPOILERS AHEAD
The season has certainly continued a stronger storyline as opposed to earlier in the season. I don't think many would disagree with that. I definitely enjoyed yesterday's episode, although I think I was thrown off by it during my actual viewing of it because it was late and I was distracted. But looking back on it throughout the day, I definitely enjoyed what happened.
Ilana dying was a weaker point. I'm OK with her dying, sure, and it gives more screen time to other characters. I wasn't crazy about the way she died. For one, there's something about those dynamite deaths, like with Arzt, where you're like hmm I feel an eerie vibe here, and then BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE GET THAT VIDEO REFERENCE. Also, it makes me feel like, uh great, so now we're just done with that character. Similar to how I felt with random Caesar last season and with Dogen this season. We also still haven't gotten some relevant information from Dogen or Ilana, which might come later in the season in another form, although I wouldn't be surprised if the writers just decided to move on from that and leave some things unanswered... as they have hinted at in press. I think I'll be OK with that, as long as enough stuff gets cleared up and the show's awesome.
Another weak point about Ilana's death was just the poor quality of the explosion. The effects for that explosion and for the explosion set off by Hurley later on were not very impressive. Sometimes, stuff like that doesn't affect me in other shows, but I found it to be off compared to normal LOST quality.
I enjoyed the continued extra emotion of Richard Alpert. Nice to see him with a range of feelings now and to let Nestor Carbonell do more with his material. I enjoyed Ben's pondering about what will happen when the Island is done with them. I was cool with the way they ended up splitting up that group, although man... LOST, just so much splitting up. And this one was especially short-lived. They were just chilling on the beach and planning. They didn't even get to do anything! But maybe they will soon.
I was glad that Jack mentioned Juliet's death, because it has been a while in terms of episodes, although not in terms of time during the story. I think some people have mentioned how weird it is that Jack has been acting the way he has... but remember, he has the major guilt of the Jughead plan supposedly failing completely and the loss of Juliet, who he was close to. Jack was also already at a weird point during the 1977 timeline before Faraday came about with his Variable plan, and only then was he more like Jack of old. Now he has reverted to a combo of his broken self during the Oceanic 6 story combined with an enlightened, new self that has realized that it might be better to go about things another way. His plans have failed. Hurley? Hurley seems to be chosen for leadership now, and Jack recognizes this. How can you not like Jack? He's the man!
I'm unsure about where we go next with Hurley's camp and Locke's camp. I will say that I loved the look between Jack and Locke at the end though. Let's not forget also, Jack and Locke had their last Island conversation at the end of Season 4, before the freight explosion and the Island move. They left somewhat at peace with one another, with Locke telling him that he shouldn't leave but being cool enough about it. Then, Locke/Bentham ended up in Jack's hospital, and they had a messy conversation there. Since that, we had Locke's note to Jack "I wish you had believe me." Not a whole lot over these two seasons between our favorite disagreeable gentlemen of Seasons 1-4. I expect the writers to make up for that here.
So what do I think happens with the Hurley/Locke storyline next? I dunno. If I HAD to guess, I would say that Locke doesn't hurt them in any way because they're candidates and because Sawyer/Kate would go against him. I could see them talking and maybe agreeing to do something to Widmore, even if one of the parties is secretly just playing along until they can make a move. I don't feel like guessing further on that one though. I'm intrigued by the potential conversation between realized half-siblings Jack and Claire... AND if Claire will shed any light on Christian Shephard. And oh man, no reunion for Sun and Jin! "Dear love. SUCK IT. Sincerely, LOST writers." It's a little amusing that Sun goes from running away from Locke to coming to his camp.
I was surprised by how happy I was to see Libby back. She really is a charming lady, even if she's supposed to be crazy by real world standards. Her appearance during Hurley's story was wonderful. It was great to see them wrap stuff up with that, since that was unfortunately cut too soon by the drama of Michael's killings in Season 2 (seriously WTF Michael WTF). Her longing to have Hurley recognize her was moving, as was her deja vu over a first date picnic on the beach that never happened. I think of all things, that might have been the best realized "fantasy" that's happened in LAX timeline thus far. And probably for the rest of the season.
I enjoyed Desmond's conversing with Hurley. Nice to see him try to lead Hurley toward the light but not completely force him to. Almost Jacob-esque. Him driving off after Hurley and Libby kiss and Hurley has his Chuck-esque download (anyone?) was baller. Then, I enjoyed the mini-confrontation between him and Ben. It was probably good to have Ben so protective of the children too, since, well, he gave off creepy vibes with Alex in that one episode. I'm just sayin'. And it was interesting to see Desmond mention Charlie as his "son" even though he's not his son in this timeline. Too bad we (likely) won't see the Desmond/Penny coffee conversation, although I guess that would be a waste of show time.
I still don't get why Desmond so agreeably followed Sayid, although again, maybe he had no choice so why not? And what Raymond said last time. But did he plan to get attacked by Locke and all that jazz? Honestly, I haven't been able to bang out a theory of my own. So I'll try to wing it right now.
I do think that Locke tried to kill Desmond with the well drop, but I don't think that Desmond tried to kill Locke in the car hit-and-run. Now, LOST writers have asked us to suspend our belief sometimes (see: Sayid, a trained killer, shooting young Ben quickly and then running off without making sure he was dead. I mean, you gotta confirm the kill, Sayid!), so I could be wrong, but if Desmond wanted to kill Locke, I think he would have chosen a better method. A gun or a setting where he didn't have to run off so that he could make sure that Locke died.
I don't know why he would want to hurt but not kill Locke, so here's one try: Desmond wants to hurt Locke's body so that it will hurt Man in Black's Locke body on the Island. Maybe with them being connected or whatever. And... I don't really have anywhere to go from there. And I know we don't think Desmond is dead on the Island, but how? My theory is that whatever explosion stuff he's interacted with has made him somewhat immune to some laws on the Island. Dude ain't dead. He might be injured ala Locke down the well in Season 5, but he probably will be mostly OK. "What is the point of being afraid?" He ain't scared. He'll be fine. Plus, did anyone else think that when Sawyer saw someone in the distance, it was Desmond, not Hurley? That woulda been INSANNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DANGGGGGGGGGGGG.
All in all, a good episode, with an exciting ending. I didn't even realize the show was almost over by the last scene, so when we saw Locke on the ground and the show coming to a close, I was like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa shooooooooot. Locke had a look similar to other accidents for him in the past. Any chance he was starting to remember the Island in those final moments before the episode closed? I think so.
Some notes:
-Dr. Chang! They didn't really try to change his look that much to make him older. Just some graying. Anyone else figure it was him midway through the presentation?
-Kate/Sawyer are being wasted while waiting around for Locke. Can't wait to see them in action more. Next episode.
-I like how Hurley actually said "bizarro alternate universe".
-Another mysterious boy! WTF. This is some Shining crap right here! Also, I forgot to even touch on that earlier. I have no intense thinking on this subject. I guess that might be younger MIB? Sure.
-The answer to where the whispers come from was somewhat sensible and done in a decent manner with Michael's solemness and his help to Hurley. I'm not completely sold on it. Why were the whispers always there when the Others were around? Did the Others somehow start it up in some way?
-Favorite Hurley quote of the episode may have been "I've got 6 different types of cheeses."
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