LOST: Week 12

Back as normally scheduled. But LOST will not be next week. In case you haven't heard, LOST will be on break next week (props to Paul Lee for tipping me off on that one). Strange, although it makes more sense than what I originally thought would be the case, where they would have the penultimate showing on May 11th and have us wait 12 days until the Sunday series finale on the 23rd. Now, although we have to wait more than a week until the next episode for the first time since the middle of Season 4, we also have only 5 days between the likely very suspenseful May 18th episode and the 23rd finale. So I'm cool with it... for now. We'll see how I feel next Tuesday when my LOST itch kicks in. As for my Facebook note series, I might take next week as an opportunity to write a big post on a non-LOST topic. I'm not sure how that one will turn out, but I think I'll enjoy writing it, and I think some of you will find it intriguing. Anyway...

SPOILERS AHEAD

The "Previously on LOST" scenes start very LAX timeline focused. They had to remind the viewers of a lot of different scenes to cover the wide range of stories this week. As I sort of suspected, both because of the lack of any talk about a specific character and because it seemed like every character had been given enough concentration and the writers needed to cover various LAX points now, this episode jumped about in the LAX timeline, touching on many relevant plot points. This is important, as it is giving much more urgency and interest in the sideways-flashes. Now, instead of why the heck are we watching Kate and Claire bond like Thelma and Louise, we're wondering when characters are gonna recognize each other and in what situation.

I liked the way connections were crafted. I didn't think at all about Sayid getting caught by the police... I suppose after all the other stuff he's done in the world, like being Ben's assassin, I figured he was immune to that stuff. Sawyer's slick manner of catching Sayid was pretty hilarious. Right there, we'll be seeing a potential mishmash of Sayid, Sawyer, Kate, and Miles. Cool. I dug too how Kate noted that Sawyer must not have arrested her in the airport because he didn't want anyone finding out he went to Sydney. Didn't even think of that one! Two points for you, Kate Austen! And creepin' Desmond bringing Claire to Ilana, connecting her with Jack (or so I assume). Nice, Des. And you're so smoothly in action after hitting a man in a wheelchair! You crazy for this one, Des! Did anyone else like how Ilana asked Jack if he believed in fate, and there was no reply? (I did.) I want to note that Jack learning that Claire was his half-sister at his father's 2nd funeral (when the Oceanic 6 return) is a fave Jack moment of mine. Powerful scene.

Near the end of last week, I decided to accept that Des wanted Locke to flash on his Island life, as many of you and people in general suggested, and that appears to be the case (even though that wasn't yet confirmed). I also decided that it couldn't just be that, that Des coulda done his near-death experience in another way that was less permanently damaging. Charlie put Desmond in a near-death experience, but Charlie was partly crazy and didn't know exactly what he was doing, and that situation wasn't gonna injure Desmond in any serious, permanent manner (outside of, ya know, maybe killing him). Desmond hit Locke knowing that he would get hurt pretty badly one way or another. I decided that Desmond must have wanted Locke to interact with Jack in the hospital and that a serious surgery situation (alliteration!) might be the best way to pull off that kind of thing. That might not be the case, but we'll see.

I was disappointed that there weren't more cool revelations after the Sun recognizing Locke part in the beginning. Even that was too much of a tease, since we don't know yet what context Sun recognized him. Did she think of him as the Man in Black? And for stuff that he did that we haven't yet seen?* Or did she think of him just as Locke and she remembers stuff from the Island and freaks out? To give that to us at the beginning was disappointing with the lack of follow up. We only got five hours left here, people! The timing of Sun recovering and waking up in her bed compared to Locke going into surgery was weird and didn't seem to make sense to me, but whatever.

*Sometimes when I think of how these different timelines flow, it just hurts my head. Like when I think about last season, with the 1977 Dharma timeline going back and forth in story-telling with the 2007 Ajira timeline, and it's like, are these happening at the same time flow-wise, but just in different times? And I get confused. Does anyone else know what I mean?

Let's talk about the Island story.

We start right with the Jack-Locke scene. Excellent. Nice to clarify about the Christian Shephard thing, although this is slightly disappointing. Does this mean that we won't have a pivotal scene between Jack and Christian later on this season? Hmm. I was looking forward to that. But Jack-Locke is also pivotal. Following that, we have another scene I wanted to see, which was the Jack-Claire "hey, we're siblings!" scene. I liked how Claire seemed to be at her most humane this season. Family and familiarity gave Claire some memory of a regular self, it seems. At the time, it weirded me out a lot too. Poor Claire. She just got screwed over by Man in Black leading her away in her weird haze.

I appreciated Hurley's line about Anakin Skywalker, how "you can always bring people back from the dark side". I was pretty devastated to see Sayid supposedly go bad for sure when he killed Dogen, but Hurley's reasoning and this episode reminded me that Sayid (and even Claire) might not be out just yet. Sayid didn't kill Desmond (or if he did, then that's a disappointing narrative move), and really, would we expect him to take down anyone like Jack, Hurley, or Jin/Sun? I don't. We'll see. Perhaps that just means I'll be emotionally punched in the gut harder.

This is murky territory, really, to try to decide who might actually be bad. I mean, really, most LOST main characters haven't gone bad in the past. Michael did, but even he had that circle of redemption in Season 4. Here, my feeling and probably my hope is that Sayid and Claire both find redemption and that the only true bad guy is someone outside the main circle, ala fake Locke or Widmore. Again, I'll probably be wrong and sad. Either way, Desmond made a very good point to Sayid about what he would say to Nadia if he got her back (I wish someone had pointed that out to Anakin before he killed a bunch of Jedi boys and Samuel L.).

I really liked the Jack-Sawyer boat scene too. I think part of the reason that I like a character like Jack so much over a character like Sawyer, even though I still like Sawyer a lot, is that I probably have a hope for what lies ahead with characters sometimes, and so I make excuses for some of their short-term actions, i.e. Jack being a jerk or a douche, for hopes and expectations for the future. Jack always struck me as a character who would be the good hero and the redemptive soul. I feel like that's starting to show more and more.

This episode showed his likely correct determination that Man in Black wants them to leave the Island and that they should reconsider (I mean... really... would Locke not realize how easy it would have been for them to slip away? Or I could be wrong). Sawyer's plan was probably wrong, and that likely shows with what happens at the end of the episode. Jack is a little too passive here, which comes off as both likable (he isn't a jerk, which is what some people complain about), but it also would have been better if he did a coup on the boat for leadership! So... tell me people, which Jack do you prefer? I wish he had stopped Sawyer, even though, well, this is the story as is.

The Jin/Sun reunion was nice but not as emotion-evoking as I expected. I think I was more moved by Jin looking at the camera pictures of Sun and his daughter. Plus, them speaking in English was just strange, even though it showed that Sun gained her English speaking abilities back. That just didn't sound right between the two of them.

We ended the episode on a suspenseful cliffhanger for sure. ARE OUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS ABOUT TO BE EXECUTED (no)? Jack back in the hands of Locke, and the explosion making things all crazy and TBA on the shore. What the heck is Widmore's deal? I'll leave the theorizing up to you guys. For now I think I'm done writing. I will probably follow up with thoughts in the comments.

Notes:

-Some more great lines in this episode. One was definitely Sawyer listing the people to bring on the boat and describing Lapidus as "that pilot who looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie".

-Can someone remind me if we ever got an explanation for why certain people jumped with the Island and certain people stayed? Juliet, Faraday, Charlotte, and Miles jumped around. Claire didn't. Why? She might not be a candidate, but neither were those aforementioned folk or Bernard/Rose or the random other castaways who got killed/separated (RIP Frogurt).

-I guess Julie Bowen didn't have time away from Modern Family. Unless Jack's ex-wife is... dum dum dum... ANA LUCIA. Just kidding. Or who knows.

-Sawyer's line about how "we got pills for that, doc" was amusingly naive. Uh yeah...Sawyer, you see, Jack's already gone down that route...

-Are we gonna see Boone anytime soon, or was he just a cameo in the premiere episode? Guesses, anyone? My bet is on the next episode for our man, Mr. Carlyle. Yes, I had to Google that last name.

LOST: Week 11

I didn't get to watch LOST until late last night because of a Rice alumni event in Chicago (whoo whoo alums), and I didn't have time to write anything until now. I had a couple of first half ideas in mind, but none that I want to spend time writing at the moment. Some of those will wait. But OH BOY. JUST YOU WAIT. As LOST gets more and more intense toward its end, so will my topics as we get near to the end of this LOST-writing run! Or not. It'll actually probably just depend on the week.

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."

The Best TV Show Ever (not LOST)... and LOST: Week 10

I should note that it feels weird to write this first half after such a great LOST episode. But even if every final episode of LOST from here on out is as good as tonight's, I'm still gonna feel the same about the show I'm writing about first. If you want to skip to LOST, use the Find function and type in "spoilers ahead".

I've thought about how to best do this entry. For the sake of originality in spite of all the articles I've already read about this topic, for the sake of you readers who I want to convince, and for the sake of honoring this show in the best way I can. I take this seriously. I am NOT effin' around. In the end, I've decided to go with an imaginary conversation between you, the reader, and me, the writer. You are in italics. I am not. You are welcome in advance for this enlightenment.

Hey Matt. I'm on the hot seat for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Anil Kapoor just asked me the 20,000,000 rupees (which isn't even $500,00 USD, FYI) question. If I get this wrong, then the Smoke Monster is gonna eat me alive and Freida Pinto's gonna make out with my brother to spite me. Help me! The question is: "What is the best TV show ever?". The answer choices are

Wait right there. You don't need to give me the choices. Now, realistically, I can't say I can actually answer this properly. After all, there are tons of shows I've never seen before. Still, there are a fair amount of shows I have seen. You could also argue that after seeing a show as perfect as this one, it's hard to believe there's a better show out there. Plus, outside of my opinion, I'm making this case on the many TV critics and folks out there who claim this show to be the best ever. And this wasn't a show that earned Emmy awards or anything, nor did it receive good TV ratings, so this claim is in spite of things that are typically used as evidence for a show's greatness. Plus, folks, really, this show is really, really good.

Just say what show it is. Our imaginary 30 seconds have been done for a long time already. Anil Kapoor and Regis Philbin both just punched me in the groin to mock me.

Alright, alright. The "best TV show ever" is The Wire. And for the sake of the rest of this entry, I'll just make the case for why The Wire is really amazing; better than LOST, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Seinfeld, Arrested Development, Dexter, Happy Days, Temptation Island, or whatever other show you might want to make this case for.

Honestly, I'm writing this because I just want to have more people I know get to watch The Wire. I want people to be able to appreciate a show so great. I would like to be able to make throwaway references about The Wire and have people recognize them, in the way some people would know what I meant if I talked about the Smoke Monster, the Final Countdown, or Festivus. Right? You knew at least 2 of those things, right? OK, so I don't know if The Wire will ever reach that point, but I want more people to watch this great show. When Faheem started checking it out, I was like YES! And then he loved it. Now Harriet is checking it out, and she dug Season 1, and I was like YES! And you're next, person-reading-this.

What's The Wire about? I don't know anything about it. Is it about a tightrope artist?

That's a stupid guess. The Wire... it's complicated. Whenever I try to explain it to someone, I start rambling and trying to clarify stuff. It's hard because I want to give a description that befits a great show without possibly saying too much. So here goes.

You could say that The Wire is a tale of the American city. Set in Baltimore

Baltimore? Dude, you just like this show because it's set in Baltimore. Homer! Homer!

No. Come on now, stop that. The Wire being set in Baltimore is a nice plus, and it certainly adds value to the show for me because I lived there and because I recognize some nods to the city and the state that others wouldn't really. The location aside, The Wire could be great regardless of the city. With some details changed here and there, you could set this tale in Detroit, Cleveland, New York, etc. (although Baltimore works so well with this subject matter). The creators of this show knew Baltimore from their time spent in the city, and they chose to write about it. That's just the way they did it.

Anyway, set in Baltimore, The Wire begins Season 1 of 5 focusing on cops and drug dealers. You have a group of cops trying to take down a drug crew. Sounds like a simple cop show, right? Wrong.

What makes The Wire great is the way everything is part of one grand story, the story of a city and its dying institutions and the people who are trying to survive and excel within them. Season 1 specifically expands on the complications of a few of the cops who want to do good police work and take the drug gang down, but they are held back by poor resources, other bumbling cops, and bosses who want quick arrests that will lead to no progress in improving the city but bring them good publicity and easier budget issues. The show makes extensive portrayals of the supposed "bad guys", the drug dealers. One of my favorite characters is introduced to us while he is being cleared of a murder charge (and he definitely did the murder). Also, the show isn't just trying to give you cheap thrills and cliffhangers each episode to keep you hooked. The pilot doesn't have a Smoke Monster or a terrorist attack to hook you. But every piece of basically every scene adds up to one great message and story.

As the seasons go along in The Wire, the show expands to other themes while keeping past themes in mind, still present. Season 2 brings in the working class of the dying city port, Season 3 brings in the political scene, Season 4 brings in the school system (holla to you teachers in city schools!), and Season 5 brings in the press. With more and more stories, the show gets richer with the message it's sending.

You have continued detailing of characters that have been around, along with new characters here and there that are also great. The Wire has so many great characters that there's a legitimate list of the best 50 characters on the show on some website (don't check it out if you haven't seen the show), and there are still a few characters missing from the list that I'm annoyed about. These characters range from drug lords to kids to important politicians. All over the place. The Wire doesn't waste episodes. It doesn't waste characters. There aren't story holes, like "whatever happened with so-and-so?", or "what was the whole point of that random story with those few characters?".

You'll come away from it thinking "Wow." Maybe you won't think that after Season 1 or 2 (although I did), but you'll at least think that after Seasons 3, 4, and 5. Personally, it's a show I'll think about in connection to random things in life. Maybe something happens with real world politics, and I'll think of The Wire. Or some random thing will remind me of a great scene from The Wire. And I'll wanna go to Youtube just to look up favorite scenes from The Wire. You'll love it. I promise.

The Wire is so good, it just makes other stuff look crappier. Like, I saw The Blind Side a couple months ago. Lots of people love it, and yeah, I enjoyed it and thought Sandra Bullock did well. But all the street scenes sucked to me. They just seemed so lame and non-genuine compared to The Wire. And I've been watching Dexter in recent months. Comparing the character development in that show's homicide department vs. The Wire's... Dexter just comes off inferior. The show's so good, I can't go back to other stuff and appreciate it in the same way.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... oh sorry, I was just... closing my eyes. What were you saying again?

Maybe you feel that way after my long answer. OR hopefully, you're like:

Oh, interesting. Maybe I should check it out.

Yes! Please check out The Wire. Give it a try. That's all I ask. Maybe this summer, maybe RIGHT NOW, maybe the next time you have a chance, check out the first season. Watch the first 3 episodes or so at once, because a lot of characters are introduced, and you might need some time to get used to everything. You'll enjoy it, I promise. It's a remarkable show. It's a one of a kind. And yes, folks, it's better than LOST. There ain't no Nikki and Paolo here.

Now, if you have stuck with this entry so far and haven't stopped reading or haven't skipped to the LOST portion, let's have a couple random Q&As for some topics I didn't think of squeezing into the general flow of the earlier rambling.

What about old shows? There are so many shows in TV history. How can you just pick this show out of all the classics in the past?

TV has evolved. In fact, I've read/heard several arguments in the past year that TV is going where the film industry once was but is beginning to lack. At least, this argument can be made better now than in the past. With HBO and other cable networks pushing the envelope, TV has gotten riskier and has also become a greater field for show-runners with visions. If you want to tell a grand story, you can do that in a TV project now and elaborate on things in more ways than you might be able to on film (of course, there are things that are better suited for film as opposed to TV, but yeah). In the past, you might have a great show, but it would be hampered by the stricter traditions of network TV. 20+ episodes were a must, even if you were running out of story (heck, even now, look at how 24 episodes ruin seasons of 24, which should really limit themselves to 16 or so), along with episodes sporadically through the fall and spring. You wouldn't be able to have the maturity of violence or swearing or whatever else network TV might not allow that might hamper your vision.

So, TV has arguably gotten better as a whole. And The Wire is the cream of that crop.

Why have I never heard anything about the show before? I've never heard of it winning awards or being one of HBO's big shows. Maybe you're just some guy who really likes this show, and I probably won't like it.

Things that are great about The Wire also hurt it in terms of ratings and awards. Not many people watched The Wire. It's not an easily marketable show. Unlike, say, The Sopranos, there is no James Gandolfini main character gangster to draw people in. The Wire doesn't have lead stars throughout every episode. The focus on characters vary depending on the season and the story. A main character one season can disappear for most of another season and then come back prominently again. It's all about the story, not about the ego of the actor demanding to be the star. The story is also so intricate, detailed, and not for cheap thrills that it's hard for someone to follow it by jumping into a random episode.

Also, to put it bluntly, the predominantly black cast dealing with subjects like drugs doesn't really appeal to a typical American audience. This ain't Denzel Washington in American Gangster with Russell Crowe, directed by Ridley Scott. This is Black Guy A you never heard of and Black Guy B you never heard of, along with a couple White Guys you never heard of. Well, you've heard of some of them now, but even the most recognizable actors (like Idris Elba, who played Charles Minor, the black boss, in The Office) aren't that recognizable.

At the same time, with so much award acclaim for shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The West Wing, and 24, and with award voters who didn't check out The Wire, it didn't receive the award love either. From what I've read (since I watched all of the show after it ended), The Wire didn't really receive much interest from the press until Season 5, the final season, which also happened to be feature a storyline about, well, the press. And now after people have caught up on The Wire, Treme (the new show from the makers of The Wire, about New Orleans post-Katrina, to be on HBO) is getting so much hype and respect before it even begins. How about that for a change for the show's makers?

Basically, The Wire has received its love, not just from its most loyal viewers, but from those who started to experience the show after it began, whether from DVDs or other means. With "best of the decade" lists that came out at the end of 2009, many articles featured The Wire near the top, if not at #1, above shows like the previously named. Looking back at the final product, people say that yes, The Wire is the best show.

You talk so much about this show though. All your links and inside references to it... it gets a little annoying.

My bad. Can't help it. I watched The Wire all at once, and now I have a bunch of references to pull from. Think about LOST viewers. They've sporadically made LOST comments/references for 6 years, and they even inspired a video mocking the anticipation of annoying LOST fans this season. I'm exploding all at once with The Wire references.

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On that note, I think I'll end my The Wire ramblings. If you read all of that and don't want to give it a try, then I failed. But I tried. To end, here's a quote I read in an article today, actually, go figure. It's from a long NY Mag feature on the creator of The Wire, David Simon. An excerpt from the article about The Wire:

Like any person publicizing an artistic product, Simon had his pitch, which he made most succinctly to Nick Hornby in The Believer: “The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces.” In its structure, it was a response to cop shows: It made it impossible to watch Law & Order without knowing better. But at a deeper level, it built a case, dramatizing how each city system—the schools, the police, the mayor’s office—crushed individual attempts at change. Despite the show’s humanism (the way it lit up the lowliest kid dealers), The Wire was a very grim portrait of the city Simon loves—a pitiless exposure of “some shameful shit right there.” -http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/65235/index1.html

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And.... SPOILERS AHEAD

Tonight's LOST episode was my favorite of the season. Probably not coincidentally, it featured a favorite character, Desmond, with some fine performances from Charlie and Faraday, along with a script from Lindelof/Cuse and direction from Jack Bender. I loved most of the episode. It really gave a lot more to the meaning of the LAX timeline, which I'd been longing for. Great acting. Compelling. Loved it. LOVED IT!

The beginning scene gave me a Jurassic Park vibe. That wooden cage, when we first saw it, reminded me of that T-rex intro scene. When "Simmons" went in there to check it out, I was like NOOO there's danger in there. And he dies thanks to his idiotic teammate. Outdoor wooden cages. They're bad. Unless you're Desmond F-ing Hume (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBBh7KKD-Hc).

The Widmore/Hume interactions, starting with the beginning scene, going through the end, certainly signaled the further consideration that Widmore might not be the horrible person he's supposedly looked like in the past. Does Penny hate him? Did he mess up Penny and Des' relationship? Yes. But he's aware of this, and he seems resigned to it. After all, he accepted the death of his son for the sake of the Island's plans. Maybe he just had to accept the hatred of his daughter as well. This topic also gets confusing when you try to think about how much Widmore may have already known, and how much he had to help lead toward its course of events (i.e. Faraday getting shot by his mom, Desmond going around the world on a boat, a freighter exploding and killing lots of people, the Island moving).

The sideways "twists" were frustrating me earlier on in the episode. Oh hey, it's George Minkowski! He helped Desmond out in The Constant! Or, oh hey, Charlie and Desmond are back together again! I also wasn't enjoying the Widmore/Desmond lovefest (along with the weird music played to cue this weirdness when they say hi to each other in the office) earlier on in the episode. The part with the Scotch made me roll my eyes. It gave me the same vibe as previous episodes, where it seemed like they were throwing in cameos from Arzt and Keamy just to be like hey, isn't this funny?

Two things made me come around on it. The first was the acting. Once Charlie and Desmond sat in the bar, and Charlie gave his speech, I began to get hooked. The actors did good work with their material this episode (and let's not forget the "You All Everybody" in the car!). The second was, well, the mythology that it brought. When Desmond and Charlie were in the water, and I realized how similar this was to them in the water in Through the Looking Glass, I was intrigued, and the "NOT PENNY'S BOAT" revelation made me totally psyched.

Next, the hospital scenes were great. The doctor asking Desmond about his brain and the Penny flashes during the scan were both good buildups. Jack's cameo got me itching for a revelation about things right then and there, but I'm sure Jack will be one of the first people Desmond contacts once that story gets revisited. Especially because Jack is the one who's had hints of memory, with his recognition of Des on the plane and with his scars.

Then, Eloise. In the LAX timeline, it certainly seems like she still knows something, like with her "You're not ready yet" to Desmond. That woman knows too much! Share some knowledge with us, girl! Did anyone else notice them hinting at Faraday viewing Desmond/Eloise from the piano? I was so happy to see him interact with Desmond (this episode made me glad to cover the bottom portion of the TV with my hand when guest stars were shown). His journal! Talking about Charlotte! Saying "We need to talk" when he greets Desmond! His conversation with Desmond about the nuclear bomb, oh man was that a revelation. I loved that stuff.

This revelation certainly throws out the epilogue theory in my eyes, and thank goodness if so. I'm glad to see Desmond play a role in bringing the universes together, and it'll be really interesting to see how. With his manifest and his interactions with people like Jack and Faraday, I look forward to what's next. It'll also be interesting to see where it goes with Eloise and Charles in the LAX timeline. Plus, now Desmond is directly on Oceanic 815 even though he wasn't before. How will Ben be brought into this, considering he wasn't on the flight? Or maybe he won't be in the LAX timeline?

Did anyone else feel faked out by the end of the episode? I figured it would end after Desmond told Widmore that he wanted to know how to help. When Sayid popped out and led Desmond away, I figured that might be the last scene. On that note, the Sayid scene was probably the one strange note to me. I just don't quite understand yet why Desmond was so cool with following Sayid. I guess they're buds, and Sayid wouldn't let him go away anyway, but he seemed awfully understandable about what had just happened.

The manifest issue was a great ender though. This also brings into point why characters are randomly running into each other, with Kate interacting with Claire and being caught by Sawyer, with Locke under Hurley's employment and in interaction with Rose.

With these revelations and with the revelations from Ab Aeterno, we'll have to see how this all comes together. How will Desmond's actions in the LAX timeline collide with the Locke/Widmore war on the Island and with Hurley/Jack/Richard/etc.'s doings? I'll wait and see on that one before further thoughts.

Now for some miscellaneous notes:

-Zoe. I'm not impressed with her. She's no memorable character yet. With the way she was all confused about Desmond's actions at the end, I'm curious to see if there's more than meets the eye with her character.

-Did anyone else notice how Widmore/Alan Dale pronounced "scheduled"? Just curious.

-Why is no one running to Desmond in the water?! He was on the side there for so many seconds before they cut to break. He needed help, damn it!

-I like how the scan guy wrote "Charles Widmore" for Desmond's emergency contact in less than a second. The dude couldn't have gotten more than 3 letters in that time span.

-After Charlie and Desmond's scene in the hospital, it would have been funny if Charlie walked away and they showed his bare ass in the gown. That would have been done in a comedy, for sure.

-I'd never really thought about how Faraday and Penny are half-siblings. Also, uhhhh how did Charles Widmore have Penny and still stay married happily to Eloise? I guess she was forgiving...

-And gotta love how the stadium was where Desmond met Penny. Nice throwback. I liked that one.

What'd everyone else think?

LOST: Week 9

The blog entry on the "mysterious" best TV show ever will have to wait at least one more week. I haven't prepped quite enough for that yet. Also, because a lot has already been written about that show being so great (and a lot that I have read already), I wanna make sure I can try to give you enough of my own to warrant reading it instead of linking to someone else's praise. Instead, we'll have a typical long entry on tonight's episode. It might even be longer than usual.

SPOILERS AHEAD

----------------------

Whaaaa Jin and Sun aren't married. At first, that doesn't even make sense. This set-up seemed more illogical than others just because it's so odd that Sun's dad would have Sun go with Jin on a business trip with questionable clients. Sure, Sun's dad might be different in this world, but still. Of course, this view changes when it's revealed that Sun's dad actually wants Keamy to kill Jin. GASP. Yet, once again, why'd Sun have to come along? Was she going down too? That would be a twisted parent thing to do. Or maybe she had to be there to suffer the knowledge that she caused Jin's death by hollering at him?

Either way, my patience for the flash-sideways is running thin (although I'm probably holding out longer than others, like, say, my boy Alan Sepinwall. This one continued a lack of progress towards my hope of seeing the way this world will collide with the other world. It also didn't convince me toward that other theory of these sideways being the epilogues. It just doesn't add up for me. We had more "hey, it's that person!" cameos with Mikhail (with both eyes! and then he gets shot in the eye! Hilarious!) and some more Keamy love, and then we had a lot of show focusing on a seemingly irrelevant plot. I want to learn more about the stuff on the Island, not on Sun getting shot and randomly exclaiming that she's pregnant. Just all seems poorly put together.

It's funny to see Ben going back to an unlikable, annoying type again after joining the crew. He's already nagging Nadia about how Richard Alpert isn't coming back and how they're screwed. Pretty soon Ben's gonna just start asking "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?". It was good to see Sun assertive on the Island in her anger rant at Jack, considering she's been really passive and underused since the return to the Island. Sun's been a lame character since Season 5, really, with her cop-out in trying to come up with some special revenge plan with Widmore and her weird charade with the gun and Aaron, followed by her uselessness on the Island. It's cool to see her complaining about the situation and how she doesn't care about candidates.

Then, the show frustrates again by throwing in a plot of Sun forgetting how to speak English. WTF man I don't need this. At least this plot device provided us with a scene of sweet and kind Jack. How can you not like Jack? He means well. Remember when he was like this all the time in Season 1, helping others with his doctorly ways and his earnestness? That's my boy, Jack! You have what it takes! I did sort of raise my eyebrow (really, I tried to raise my eyebrow when it happened. OK, not really) when Jack promised to get Sun/Jin far away from the Island. I feel like he's said that before, probably even right before he kind of abandoned Jin on the freighter and made Kate come with him and Jin blew up (remember when we thought Jin was dead? That seems like it never even happened). Does anyone else remember any promises like that directly between Jack and Sun or Jack and Jin? Then again, either way, he's a different man now, and so the promise would have different weight behind it.

Kate and Sawyer were sadly underused this episode, as were most people, thanks to the flash-sideways. Thanks a lot, flash-sideways! You ruin everything! Also, how scary is the prospect of Kate getting killed by Claire by the end of the series? Either way, there looks to be a definite face-off coming between the two. Why can't we all just be friends, crazy Claire?

Seeing a greater importance with Jin is definitely intriguing when you consider the lack of major importance assigned to Jin/Sun for most of the show. What could make Jin so important? Or, perhaps, are Jin/Sun combined important? Maybe the happy married couple is the answer to the Island's salvation. Man in Black did want Jin and Sun reunited too. I dunno. I'm rambling... The scene where Jin sees the pictures of Sun and Ji-Yeon was quite moving. His expression, the background music, imagining what he must be feeling when he sees those pictures. It got a little dusty in the room during that scene. Probably spring awakening or something. SPRING AWAKENING WHAT A MUSICAL.

Desmond's reveal as the package and the man behind the locked door = sweet. Well, first, sad because the preferred ending for Desmond (For me. Maybe you have a crueler heart) would be to have Des, Penny, and Charlie H. living happily ever after on a boat somewhere with T-Pain and Lonely Island. Still, this had to be expected at some point considering all the crap from Eloise about how the Island isn't done with him and because, well, he's been in the main cast all season (and he wasn't gonna earn those reps in the LAX universe!). Why is Desmond so important to this situation?

One random theory off the cuff: Desmond has always had weird timeline powers. He introduced us to that concept with his jumping around in Season 3 after the hatch explosion and his foresight of Charlie's death. He was the man who starred in The Constant, another timeline-jumping episode that was also one of the best episodes of the series for many people. We saw him randomly show up at the beginning of the first episode and then disappear randomly. Why? Is this all part of Desmond's weird power to jump about places? Is he the key to uniting these two universes and thus saving the Island from Man in Black? I think he must have some role in that. That's my preferred basic theory right now, without the intricacies of any other stuff since I'd probably be wrong anyway.

Concerning Desmond showing up on the Island, let's also remember how soon this probably is after he got shot. It might be a week or so since he got shot. Widmore must have stolen him from the hospital bed (I'm guessing he didn't gain any progress with his damaged relationship with Penny). This seems contradictory to his scene with Desmond in Season 5 where he told Desmond to go back into hiding. Perhaps he didn't realize at that point that he was going back to the Island and taking Desmond with him. What made him act? Did Jacob send him a message somehow? Did he and Eloise realize that Locke's dead body would become Man in Black (ehhhh)? Hmm. Not sure.

Desmond is important. I feel like Kate must still be important, and so is Richard. And probably Ben. Just because you aren't a candidate doesn't mean you aren't important.

Sayid and Desmond. You know, seeing Sayid spot Desmond gives me a glimmer of hope, probably false hope, that Sayid could turn it around. Sayid and Desmond had a connection with their trip to the freighter and their stuff in The Constant. Could Desmond be his chance at salvation? Ehhh doubtful.

Finally, Widmore's people stealing Jin and then Locke asking for Jin back reminded me of the Trojan War. Random, I know. But let's roll with it. Why not? Why can't I have a Doc Jensen-ian moment?

So check it. Man in Black is Agamemnon, the unlikable leader of a group filled with otherwise more likable people. We got the hero, Achilles/Sawyer, pretty boy who isn't completely good and has a bad-boy edge to him. We got Jin as Helen of Troy, the vaunted treasure of both parties who will start a war between the two sides. We got Widmore as Priam, since both are old dudes. We got Kate as... I dunno, Achilles' homeboy Patrocles, since she might die and since Patrocles and Achilles were rumored to be in a romantic relationship too. And we got.... alright I think I ran out of ideas with that analogy. But that was amusing.

Random notes:

-I noticed a couple of lines of dialogue that were mentioned in this episode that are repeated themes from before. I jotted them down, but I don't actually remember the context of either. We had "what's done is done" and "Whatever happens, happens."

-I definitely enjoyed Sawyer's conversation with Locke, especially when Sawyer said "No, cause that would be ridiculous!" in response to the thought of Locke being unable to leave the Island even though he's a Smoke Monster. Well played, Josh Holloway.

-Man in Black is pretty amusing. His defense of his actions is so indirect. Sun calls him out for murdering everyone at the Temple and Locke's just like "Those people were...confused." So I murdered all of them, even the random ones who probably would have succumbed to me once Dogen and Lennon were dead. Yeah OK, Man in Black. You're a good guy. Right.

-The V countdown really irked me during the episode. A lot. Heck, all the campaigning for it in commercial breaks was annoying too. The creepy short-haired lady with the white background, that same rock song they play halfway through the commercial. It's repeated stuff like this that makes me dislike watching stuff live. But with LOST I make an exception. Begrudgingly.

LOST Mid-Season Review...and LOST: Week 8

We're at the halfway point of this season...I think. If I'm wrong, please correct me, but my understanding is that we've gone through 9 hours out of 18, and 8 weeks out of 16. So what do we do with a mid-season post? Give a mid-season review!

Plot A aka the Island Plot: I give it an A- right now. I've enjoyed a lot that has happened on the Island. Negatives? My main gripe is that I wasn't crazy about the Temple people, especially Lennon and Dogen before he started going full English. That led to a strong payoff, however, starting with Hurley and Jack's excursion to the Lighthouse, Sayid's rampage of darkness, and Ben's conscience turning. Still, I've enjoyed crazy Claire, fake Locke, Ben when we've seen him, Miles/Lapidus' comedy contributions, and lots of stuff as a whole.

Plot B aka the Flash-Sideways Plots: B. I enjoy most of them, but I still don't get what the heck is going on with them. I was most compelled by the Locke-Jack interactions in the lost baggage section, but that might not even get revisited considering Locke and Helen got rid of Jack's card. Otherwise, we're halfway through the final season, and we don't have a clearer picture yet of where this is all going. I still believe it must have some sort of collision with the other timeline, and I don't believe it's an epilogue thing (it's called flash-sideways, not flash-epilogues). I'm gonna try to think more on a written-out theory of what I think the flash-sideways are for. It'll be a little bit off of things I've read from other people, molded with my own thoughts.

MVP: Locke/Fake Locke. He had a pretty compelling flash-sideways, Terry O'Quinn is a great actor, and Locke on the Island has given us some great scenes, with his manipulations of Sayid, Kate, Claire, Sawyer, and so forth. I also still believe that real Locke will come back into form later in the season. Maybe I'm just holding on there, but I gotta believe it. Other contenders I foresee in the second half of the season? Jack surely must have more to do in the 2nd half. Richard Alpert seems destined for relevance after tonight's plot developments. Sawyer has done well when he's been in it. And Ben. Oh, Ben. You are fantastic.

Best Episode: My favorite was probably Sundown. That ending with the Temple raid was just awesome. The stakes, the chaos, the kicker of Sayid's turn, the death of Dogen all had me gripped.

It's strange to think of this as the halfway point still. The plots are being set up toward the finish, but it doesn't feel like it quite yet. There's still so much to be said. Regardless, the season has been entertaining and good for the most part thus far; here's hoping it'll be awesome in the second half.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THIS WEEK'S EPISODE

For starters, the set-up of this episode was strange. I'm not gonna act like I did any research on this, but it reminded me of one of those long flash episodes, like Desmond's flashback (that was most of an episode, right?) and Michael's flashback as he returned to the series. Michael's was like Richard's, in the sense that it broke away from the Season 4 flash-forwards for an episode, while Richard's breaks away from this year's flash-sideways.

Compared to Desmond's and Michael's, I was not nearly as compelled during the first half of the episode. Throughout the time until Man in Black showed up, I kept thinking about what a waste of an episode this was for the final season. Sure, after the episode, I'll concede that it made sense to spend time on Alpert's wife and the prison, but I wasn't crazy about it. Also, I didn't enjoy the priest telling Richard that he couldn't do anything to absolve his murder. Not feeling your theology, sir.

Mr. Whitfield. MR WIDMORE. Anyone else think that?

The main joy of this episode did come with the return of old-school "Esau" and Jacob. It was great to see them try to compete with each other in their grand game. It would have been a shame if that Season 5 finale opening scene had been their only history shown.

A couple things from that Season 5 finale. First, how close was the Black Rock to Jacob/MIB during their supposedly morning conversation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lACK3yxRDIE)? Seems weird how it would automatically turn into a crazy storm that brought it ashore. Also, what do you think caused the statue to turn into the foot as it did? The ship? The Man In Black saying EFF YOU to Jacob? Cloverfield?

The Jacob/Esau fight reminds me of God and Satan with Job. Esau is trying to prove that men are inherently bad, and he can push them towards it. Jacob is trying to prove otherwise, and he's trying to not directly influence them. It's pretty crazy to think how they (who knows whose call it was) killed everyone on the boat just to see how Richard would go when choosing between the two. It was also entirely fascinating to see their conversation post-Richard, especially with the white rock that Jacob hands Esau (I'm just calling him Esau now 'cause I like it), which called back to when Locke throws the rock off the scale out of the cave.

So, letting Esau off the Island will cause the destruction of Earth? I think that's what we're heading toward. Here's another question off of that then. A lot of theories I've heard think that Jacob and Esau will both be replaced by two of the characters on the Island. But could it more likely be that this final battle is to just end the argument altogether? As Jacob said in the Season 5 finale, it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress. So if this has all just been progress, perhaps it's finally time to end it all. Jacob will defeat Esau with his legion of folks like Richard, Jack, Hurley, etc. And maybe Widmore, who knows. Perhaps the "candidate" will be the one who actually takes Esau down. Man, this show is freakin' confusing. I'm gonna stop it at that with the longer paragraphs. Here's a shload of notes:

-The Ilana and Jacob scenes at the beginning were pretty unsatisfying since they cut away from that to focus completely on Alps.

-I loved Richard's laugh in response to what he should do next.

-It's the Hell/Purgatory theory! They're all dead! Except that can't be it. Richard, my man, you are wrong. You must be. I mean, you've traveled back to the real world to recruit people and stuff. Don't be a fool.

-Jack doesn't know about Locke. I hadn't even realized that yet. I can't wait for Jack and Locke to face off.

-SMOKE MONSTER IN THE 1800S. BLOOD FROM THE DECK. OH SNAP.

-I noted this after a long preview of V during one of the commercials, but has anyone else noticed an increase in the use of perkier narrators? I noticed this first with the zest and peppiness of Glee's "Previously-on-Glee" narrations before episodes, and V had a peppy lady trying to summarize V so far. A change from the typical deeper-voiced narrators, such as with LOST right here.

-It's good to see the Man in Black in his pre-Locke form. During his first scene with Richard, I was trying to imagine him vs. Locke vs. him as they are the same person. It was certainly amusing to hear his comment about seeing Alps out of his chains. The question? Did Terry O'Quinn see any of this actor's scenes to imitate or, more likely, vice versa? Did they work together to try to learn how to do this character? Does the world explode if they're both in the same room?

-Richard and Esau. Do you ever want to see your wife again? Once again, the issue of doing whatever it takes. Like with Sayid. And Darth Vader!

-Did anyone else jump when Jacob rocked Alpert? That was shocking. Angry Jacob. What a beast. This is a side of him we hadn't seen; it was cool.

-How was it that Dogen basically said to Sayid what Esau said to Richard? Thoughts?

March Madness Suicide Pool

Picks:

Round 1:

Matt - Maryland and Wisconsin

Alex - Kansas State and West Virginia

Fred - Maryland and Wisconsin

Marshall - Maryland and Georgetown (L)

Peck - Pitt and Georgetown (L)

Molly - Michigan St. and Maryland

Harriet - Pitt and Wisconsin

Khadir - Maryland and Wisconsin

Round 2:

Matt - Villanova (L) and Duke

Molly - Tennessee and Butler

Harriet - Duke and West Virginia

Alex- Duke and Wisconsin (L)

Fred - Tennessee and Villanova (L)

Khadir - Duke and Texas A&M (L)

And then there were two.

Round 3:

Molly - West Virginia

Harriet - Baylor

Round 4:

Harriet - Michigan St.

Molly - Kentucky by default (L)

Harriet is the champion! Congrats to her, and thanks to everyone who participated in the experimental 1st March Madness Suicide Pool. We'll see you again for the NFL season, when it will be much more legitimate and structured. Yay...

LOST: Week 7

No prologue today. We're running through the episode. It's late, I didn't get to watch it live again, and I want to get this done before I get tempted to read other recaps. Again, for those wondering, I particularly enjoy reading sepinwall.blogspot.com (I read most of his stuff in general for things I watch) and Doc Jensen on ew.com, who is a much more lengthy writer (I think a lot more of you know about him). Anyway, onward to the episode. Spoilers ahead!

I really enjoyed seeing Sawyer with the double (or triple? or single?) fake-out con revealing himself to be a cop. A nice remix of an old retread. Stuff like that, when well done (like in this case), make for entertaining flash-sideways. Although... I am starting to lose my interest in the sideways flashes, just 'cause I would like to know more about their purpose. But that probably won't be for a little while longer... Anyway though, it was great to see Miles be Jim's partner in the LAX timeline with a nod to their Dharma times. Ah LeFleur.

It's interesting to find out that Sawyer's a cop and to consider how he let Kate go at LAX. Considering she was a convicted criminal in handcuffs on an airplane with a freakin' U.S. Marshal, you would think he would have to consider stepping in there. Shows that he's not all good as a cop. That is, unless you crash into his car.

After seeing a mini-reunion on the beach last week but not seeing the following conversations quite yet, it was kinda nice to see Sawyer, Jin, Kate, messed-up Sayid, fake Locke, and kookoo Claire all back together. Well, I guess it's not exactly the same as in Season 1, but still. It was a little disappointing to only see a glimpse of Jin at the beginning (you KNOW he would have had Kate's back during Claire's blitz attack) and to not get more exact info on why Sawyer/Jin didn't make it to the Temple.

It was cool to see Charlotte back in the house. I'll grant the LAX timeline major props for giving us the treat of seeing LOST dead alums again, in better circumstances. Also, I must say that Charlotte looks far better as her LAX self with makeup and all than the last time we saw her. You know, bloody and crazed out and uh, not as flattering. Charlotte shows us another pre-1977 Island inhabitant too. I guess she got off the Island before the bomb anyway, so that doesn't really add much, right? Someone correct me if I'm mistaken... I sure hope to see Faraday at some point this season.

Concerning Sawyer and his different path in the LAX timeline. I think it's important to consider how Jacob gave little James Ford the means to finish his letter as a child in the standard timeline, but in LAX, Jacob is more absent, if not gone completely. So, James likely didn't finish his letter and commit to full vengeance and becoming Sawyer, although yeah, he still wants to kill Locke Sr. Does that make Jacob bad? Not necessarily. It doesn't make him look great, but I guess dude has his reasons. We'll see. (yeah that was a copout couple of sentences, whatever!)

Miles is a baller. I'm just sayin'. Gotta love him. As for Sayid... man it's really sad to think of his current state. :(

I had totally forgotten about the other Ajirans. Remember Caesar? Lolz what a fail. What killed that pile of people? I do believe that Widmore and co. didn't kill them. Was it the Smoke Monster when he had time to go after them? Did he really have any time to do so? Tangent, at what point during this time did he get to Ben on the beach? I thought today's episode was about the same time as last week's, but Widmore was still heading towards the Island at the end of last week, and he's already set up at Hydra Station this week. Unless today's episode was a day later. Hmm, I'm gonna have to check out the timeline on lostpedia or something.

It's strange to think of Kate talking to fake Locke when you consider how much Kate already wasn't crazy about original Locke. She didn't even want to go to the funeral! Sad. I miss you old Locke. REDEMPTION IS COMING. I BELIEVE.

I was gonna be really annoyed if that lady turned out to really be from Ajira flight, so thank goodness she wasn't. I was thinking that Lost would hold out on us and not bring up Widmore this episode, but thankfully he was in the house. Cool to see him talk to Sawyer & make the deal, and intriguing to see that locked door too. What's in it? The Holy Grail? Walt? Desmond? A...flamethrower? Oh snap.

I'm looking forward to learning more about ol' boyo Charles (I thought it was funny last year to discover that Dezzy Des and Penny Hardaway named their son Charlie after Charlie Pace considering Charles Widmore's name). Why did he want that Black Rock stuff at the auction? Why'd he want Ben off the Island so badly? Whose side is he on? Did Jacob want Charles to take Ben off the Island? WHAT'S GOING ON. Widmore has always been such a mysterious, intriguing character, so it'll be great to see more of him, even though I still think the season 4 showdown between him and Ben off the island looks to be more and more of a road we won't be going down soon.

All in all though, I wasn't as crazy about this episode, especially after the 2 before it. Sawyer's switching around seemed a little messy to me by the end of it, with him saying something to someone, and then relaying it to someone else and so on (Widmore, then to Locke, then to Kate). Got a little redundant over time, and I don't really know if what he's telling Kate is true. Well, it probably is, but it doesn't really excite me as much as other stuff this season so far. Also, I want more Jack. And Ben. And Omar. Oops, wrong show.

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