Lost - "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

I've been stalling writing about this episode, mainly because I'm not sure what to say. It was solid and moving but I think we were all kind of expecting a Walkabout or Cabin Fever level episode. "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" was not as series-defining as either of those Locke outings, but a strong ending kind of redeemed it.

We start on the tiny island with the Hydra station on it, where it turns out that Locke is alive again. How? Why? We don't really know, because the last thing Locke remembers is dying. With that, its flashback time and it begins with Locke turning the wheel again and, like previous wheel-turners, he lands in Tunisia. This time, however, there's a camera at the exit. Soon there's a bunch of people there too who rush Locke to a local hospital to fix his leg. It turns out that this was all orchestrated by Charles Widmore. Widmore reminisces about their last meeting, circa-1955, and then tells Locke his origin story. If we can believe him, Widmore was once the leader of the Others, until Ben Linus came along and took them over. He tricked Widmore into leaving the island, so now Widmore won't stop until he can get it back. Apparently, that may happen sooner than we thought because, "there's a war coming" and Locke needs to be back on the island for Widmore to win? My big problem with Widmore's story is that Ben had the chance to get Locke off the island in the finale and instead Ben turned the wheel himself. Also, its not news that its easy to manipulate Locke, but God, that man is so naive. Literally anyone can just tell him he's special and he'll do whatever they tell him.

So Widmore also wants the O6 to come back and he happens to know where they all are. To help the once-again-wheelchair-bound-Locke, he also gives him a driver: Matthew Abaddon. Yes, it turns out that Abaddon works for Widmore. First, they visit Sayid, who wants to do good and has no interest in going back (this is clearly post-falling out with Ben). Then he goes to see WAAAAALT. As far as disappointments go, this was one of the biggest. While they reiterated Walt's specialness (they wouldn't have reminded us that he has psychic dreams if they didn't intend to resolve that at some point), the interaction basically amounted to "what's up" "nothing much" "cool, see ya." As far as why Walt didn't go back, well it seems that it was just because Locke couldn't bring himself to do it. Whatever.

Next was the Kate scene and allow me to just take a moment and say that Kate may be the worst character in television history. Its like she's on a completely different show. "You've never been in love?????" Really, Kate??? Oh, and a note to the ABC promo people, Kate and Sawyer reuniting is most definitely NOT the moment I've been waiting for. I'm about as excited for that as I was to find out the origin of Jack's tattoos.

So its here that things kind of picked up a little. Abaddon showed Locke Helen's grave, apparently she died of a brain aneurysm. I know some people think it was a fake, but I personally think its legit. This may be the last chance they get to tie up that loose end, and it makes sense and fits. Speaking of tying up loose ends, after discovering a little about Abaddon (he gets people where they need to be), we bid farewell to the guy forever when Ben shot him, presumably leaving Lance Reddick free to continue on Fringe without being hassled with questions about Lost. Locke escaped from the gunman and plowed right into another car, putting him at a hospital with none other than Dr. Jack Shepard.

Here we got to see Jack and Locke reunite to play their old hit, Faith vs. Science. Snarkiness aside, this was a good one, with Jack getting in some pretty nasty digs at Locke ("you're just a lonely old man who crashed on an island") and Locke telling Jack that he saw Christian Shepard on the island. I imagine that fact may have been what sent Jack over the top, although interestingly enough, watching this scene from Locke's perspective makes it seem like it was really a much worse conversation for Locke than Jack. And yes, as some fans have pointed out, the timing doesn't really work out here (Locke died just a few days before "Live Together, Die Alone," but Jack told Kate that he had been flying on planes for weeks), but I'll roll with it for now.

Because this next-to-last scene of the episode was everything I hoped it would be and more. John Locke, consigned to failure and trapped again in a wheelchair, abandons hope and prepares to hang himself when he gets a visit from our good friend Ben Linus. Ben tells Locke about how special and important he is, even kneeling before him, and gets Locke to come down. But then he hears that Locke has Jin's ring to give to Sun, and that Locke has to visit Eloise Hawking. One of the other of these facts convinces Ben that Locke actually had to die, so he goes ahead and kills him. It was a pretty shocking moment and everything that led up it was awesome. Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn are easily the best actors on the show and this may have been their best moment together. So then we came back to the island, where Locke stumbled upon the bashed-up, unconscious body of Ben Linus, a rare moment of triumph for the island's favorite punching bag.

As a whole, this episode was kind of uneven. It reminded me a lot of "Meet Kevin Johnson," both in terms of structure (one big flashback bookended with a couple on-island scenes) and in terms of the fact that it didn't really tell us much that we hadn't figured out already. That being said, it definitely got better as it went along and ended with a bang that was kind of redemptive.

A-

The Theory-Down:
5. So I'm sure you've all heard the big casting related rumor by now, but it looks like that's not true. I can't imagine the show ever dumping her, because that would pretty much means its abandoning all of the not crazy stuff. But really is anyone still watching to find out if Kate will end up with Sawyer or Jack?

4. So, with the coolest episode title out of the way, which ones doe we have to look forward to? Well, we're two weeks away from "Namaste," which could be packed full of Dharma goodness. Also, in April, there's "The Variable," which could turn out to be a direct sequel to the definitive Lost episode (that would be "The Constant"). And for fans of Star Wars related puns, there's "Some Like It Hoth." What?

3. I didn't mention it in my recap, but there was that business where it turns out that the pilot and "a woman" took one of the canoes to row to the island proper. That woman? Clearly Sun and boy does that suck, because I think that means that she's not in the Dharma Initiative time with Jack, Kate, Hurley, and of course, Jin. So why did some O6ers go back in time, while others did not? What are the people who are in the present going to be doing and how does that relate to the war that's coming?I had assumed that the war was going to involve replaying the old Dharma story, but maybe that's not the case, since Locke isn't around?

2. Changing the future, week 6. Its been a while, but I'm wondering about Widmore and the cameras this week. How did he know Locke was coming? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Widmore suddenly had this memory of meeting John Locke, just like how Desmond suddenly remembered Faraday. I wonder if this lapse in time between the event happening on the island and remembering it in the world relates to the gap in time that Locke and Ben experienced when they landed in Tunisia? And does this mean that Locke's meeting with Widmore and the entire "Jughead" adventure did involve changing the past?

1. So what do we make of the Widmore-Ben rivalry? If Widmore is to be believed, then maybe Ben's not the good guy. I'm guessing that it'll turn out to be a little greyer than that. Either way, I think they need to explain this one this season. Its going to be difficult to care about this "war" if we don't know exactly what the stakes are and why we're fighting it.

WAAAAAALT!

A classic that may or may not be germane to tonight's episode:

Big Love - "Come, Ye Saints"

If this season of Big Love doesn't get at least an Emmy nomination, it will be a travesty. This episode was easily one of the best in the show's short run. When the show started, I was passively interested. It was an entertaining show that required investment, but I didn't have a problem missing an episode and catching up later. Now I find myself counting down the days before a new episode. In its third season, Big Love has become like Mad Men, a show that, from week to week, is a short film in a series, not a television show. Last night's episode was one of the best hours of television I've ever seen. And without further ado, let's talk about it.

The family was off on a road trip across the country, with the ultimate goal of burying a family time capsule. For Bill, this was to be a huge moment. Finally away from the UEB mess, away from his mother, away from his business woes, and above all, away from Anna, he hoped to achieve a spiritual renewal that would save his family and help things make sense again. But so many things were happening, both known and unknown to him, that the journey would no doubt devolve into the disaster it did. As Bill sat in a field burying his capsule alone, telling God he couldn't feel his presence, it was the first time this show has ever made Bill seem truly vulnerable. Sure, he's had moments where's he's been foolish or brash and therefore vulnerable to be attacked, but never has his faith wavered. Always the confident father and husband, he's always had a grip on at least some part of his life, until he sat there as an "angel" was raised to the heavens behind him.

Everyone had about four different threads going, and it's hard to untangle them, so I'm going to break down individual happenings and discuss them.

-When Margie's mother's urn fell off the car, even I gasped. For as hard as she clung to those ashes, it was heartbreaking to see them simply fall in the middle of a road trip. It does however seem fitting, considering Margie's mother's seemingly whimsical life.

-Alright, Margie and Ben?! This has been brewing since season one, and their naked moment was classic, but seeing Margie put it to rest once and for all was pretty fantastic. Ginnifer Goodwin is a phenomenal actress, and it was really great to see her do something other than the fligthy character Margie normally is. Her performance carried that scene and made it believable when it very easily couldn't have worked at all.

-Nicki is still in to Captain Cardigan. I thought it was funny when she tried to sleep with Bill in his cardigan. Bill also finally found out that she was taking birth control (though he was taking Viagra), which was a long time coming. I understand that it's reasonable to get angry at her for this, but how many times is Nicki going to do something so bad that Bill isn't sure if he's going to forgive her? First there was her massive debt, and goodness knows what will happen when he finds out that she was helping her father, but she is consistently in the dog house.

-Amanda Seyfried was fantastic in this episode. Her breakdown when Barb accused her of taking the birth control pills was really terrific. It seems like when Sarah goes to college, she's going to be written out of the show so that she can go pursue her rising Hollywood star (she had a big song during the Oscars last night), because her character has a fantastic depth to it. It was crushing to see her lose her baby, but watching the family comfort her (especially Nicki!) was what makes this show so great. The pay off for threads that go on for a long time is always good, and the ending of this episode was terrific.

I can't say enough how great this episode was. The only reason I can see it not getting nominated is that a lot of it required an understanding of the show, and Emmy voters aren't always keen on voting for shows that require an understanding (see: Lost). But acting nominations should start pouring in this year. This is Big Love's big year, and I can only hope that it gets better and better.

A+

EDIT: If you missed it, check out the preview for next week's episode. It looks like things are going to get insane.

Lost - "316"

An eye blinking open. Cut to a wide shot of Jack Shepard, lying in the grass, decked out in a suit and tie. Any of this sound familiar? After spending three miserable years lying to those closest to them and hiding from sinister forces beyond their comprehension, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Kate, Sayid, Ben, and Locke are back on the island. How they got there was the focus of this occasionally frustrating but mostly exhilarating hour of television.

After a prologue showing Jack, Kate, and Hurley actually on the island, we flashed back to see how they got there, picking up where we left off last week. Mrs. Hawking took Sun, Jack, Ben, and Desmond down to the Lamp Post, which is an L.A.-based Dharma station that tracks the island. According to Mrs. Hawking (who got in one of my favorite lines tonight in this scene, in reference to whether or not Ben was lying), they had less than 36 hours to make it back and there happened to be one commercial airline flying a route over the island's location: Ajira Airlines Flight 316. The plan was to recreate the conditions from Oceanic 815 as much as possible, in order to get the island to take them back. I'm not very clear on what that means or how it works, but I'm sure that's a season six question. Desmond opted out, despite Mrs. Hawking's sinister warning that the island wasn't done with him yet, but everyone else was in.

Then Jack got a little extracurricular time with Mrs. Hawking where he learned that he was going to have to give Locke something that belonged to Christian Shepard. Conveniently, later he received a pair of the elder Shepard's shoes from his grandfather. But before we jump ahead, I want to look at a pair of scenes that fall in between those two points. In the first, Ben tells Jack the story of Thomas the Apostle, someone who volunteered everyone to go with Jesus to Judea, where he would surely die. Later, Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had risen until he felt the wounds from the crucifixition. But upon feeling them, he became a believer. Everyone does, according to Ben, eventually, and it seems like our boy Jack is finally coming around. But Ben's religious devotion to the island was questioned (in my mind) minutes later by the conspicuous appearance of a magic show. Magic shows are built on creating belief in what is ultimately just an illusion. Is that what's happening here? Are Jack et al being convinced by a massive sleight-of-hand? Or was the magician there simply to further the themes of doubt and belief?

After all that Kate showed up, told Jack she would be coming along (without Aaron), and slept with him. The next morning, Jack went to the butcher shop and picked up Locke's body after getting a call from a bloody Ben, located in a marina. Given what he said earlier about keeping a promise, it seems clear that Ben paid a visit to Penny. What happened beyond that is unclear, and perhaps as big a cliffhanger as anything else, but given the state he was in, I'm doubtful that Ben actually killed her (or maybe its just wishful thinking on my part). So Jack traded shoes with Locke and got the coffin ready to go after sharing a powerful scene with Locke's corpse (I especially liked the line about Locke laughing his ass off).

Finally we got to the airport, where the entirety of the O6 (except for Aaron) happened to be there. Sayid escorted by a marshall, Hurley carrying a guitar, and Jack hauling along the body of man he neither understands nor respects, but feels bonded to nonetheless. And just like Hurley's nearly missing the closing of the cabin of 815, Ben just barely made it in time to catch his return flight to the island. After an awesome plane ride, and a reveal that their pilot was none other than Frank Lapidus, Jack finally tore into Locke's suicide note. And just as he was reading the words "I'm sorry you didn't believe in me," Ajira Airlines Flight 316 hit turbulence and some kind of time flash, bringing us back to where we started. But before Jack, Kate, and Hurley could track down the rest of their crew they ran into a Dharma Initiative volunteer who just happened to be Jin!

A few nitpicks: I understand that having everyone show up suddenly and without explanation at the airport was a plot necessity in order to A) get everyone on the flight and B) provide some flashback material for the O6, but it felt a little rushed and sloppy. Also, while making it a Jack episode was an understandable choice, some of the action dragged towards the middle. But honestly, my biggest complaint is that we have to wait a week to find out what will happen next. We've been waiting for this moment for a long time and Lost delivered. The giddy excitement of watching everyone find their way back to the island made this episode the most fun of the season, while perfectly pivoting into the season's next phase.

A-

The Theory-Down

5. Will there be any ramification from not bringing Aaron back? I'm going to guess no, because both Christian and Claire have indicated that they didn't want him to come back. What about Waaaaaalt? How cool would it be if it turned out he was on 316 (doubt it)? And I'm pulling for Lapidus to make it through the crash. I was very happy to see him back again.

4. So, what happened at the marina? I've already said that I don't think that Ben killed Penny, and I'll defer to our fearless leader Michael, who thinks that when Ben tried it, Desmond delivered an ass-kicking.

3. What got everyone to the airport? Its pretty strange, isn't it? I'm going to guess that Hurley got some visitors from the island who told him he had to go back and Sayid was caught by an agent of Widmore who was escorting him to Guam.

2. From the last scene we can surmise that when Locke moved the island, he stuck it in place during the Dharma-era. And that the Losties still left there have been killing the time by volunteering for the Dharma Initiative. I think this is about to get very interesting.

1. That white time-flash seemed to indicate that the passengers of the plane were travelling back in time. This would make a lot of sense since they seem to have landed in the 1970s. However, does this mean that the island was there, in 2008, and if so, why didn't everyone just crash onto the 2008 island? Did everyone travel back in time?

P.S. Since we're wrapping up the first act of the season, now seems like a good time to go back and reevaluate the episodes so far. I tend to get a little excited after getting some new Lost, and I usually overrate some episodes so, with that in mind, here are my new revised grades. I'll keep the old ones up in the old recaps, just to keep myself honest:

Because You Left - A
The Lie - B-
Jughead - A-
The Little Prince - A-
This Place Is Death - C+ (the whole Charlotte thing really pissed me off)

All in all, I think that the different structure for this first part of the season was an interesting, if not entirely successful experiment. The result was a slightly more conventional show that had a tough time finding the same emotional resonance, partially due to the breakneck pace and partially due to the lack of flashbacks/flashforwards. That being said, we've learned a lot over the last five weeks and I think we're at a very exciting spot. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Big Love - "For Better Or For Worse"

I want to preface all of this by saying that I think this season of Big Love has been phenomenal. I wish that I hadn't gotten so out of touch with writing so that I could discuss how much has happened in this show since it returned from its strike extended layoff. There was Roman's trial, which spawned threads ranging from Bill's attempts to trust Albie to his growing separation from Nicki. The show had so many different stories going on that you don't feel bogged down in one storyline to heavily. It's diversity helps keep it interesting, which I love. That being said, too much is being squeezed in to every 50 minutes. There is clearly a lot that the writers want to accomplish this season, but they're rushing through things that could be drawn out. I'm not saying they should be season arcs, but some of these episodes could have easily been stretched to two without giving up any of the integrity of the plot.

This brings me to "For Better or for Worse." It was wonderful to see Anna accept Bill's proposal, but I shared her look of surprise when the decided to have the wedding the next day, and again when they all rushed off at its conclusion. For a show that harps on how sacred the bonds of marriage are, this was out of place. I understand the goal was to show Anna's reaction to such a non-traditional lifestyle, but it seemed contradictory to the message the shows tries to present in the first place.

From there, the episode centered on finding the harmony, not between the wives and Bill, but between the wives themselves. Anna represented something for each of the wives. For Barb and Margie, she was a friend. For Nicki, she was someone to take the pressure off her to deliver more children to the family. In the middle was Anna, who was fighting just as much as her new sister wives for independence in a family that calls for constant selflessness. Her outburst at Bill over her tips was fantastic: Bill always asks his wives to step up to play for the team, and they all seem to have lost elements of themselves as a result. In the end, the bickering and the homogenization of the family was too much for Anna, who asked a crushed Bill for a divorce. It's really a shame because I liked Anna and the direction her story could have gone. The show started with three wives already in place, and I would have loved to see the family adjust to a fourth. Unfortunately, it looks like we won't get that chance, at least not with Anna.

The rest of the show had the other plots shoved in. Nicki responded to the crush that her boss, the guy from Whose Line, had on her, which will be interesting in the coming episodes. I really like that they've set up an alternate story line with Ben and Sarah also. They often were forgotten, and now that they have their own gang with their own direction which is separate from that of their parents, they're far more interesting. By my calculations, Sarah better tell her parents about the pregnancy soon before they figure out she's preggers. Roman also appears to be slowly returning to power. Albie is scary and weird, but if Roman can get himself out of jail time, he'll get himself back into power on the Compound.

Like I said in my preface, I have greatly enjoyed this season, but this episode was great at showing why it's moving too fast. Everything in this episode took place in about three days. That's insanely fast for so much on a show that's not Lost. What sets Big Love apart from many shows is that it's a family drama with external drama on the periphery. Family drama in the real world doesn't get resolved that quickly. My suggestion? Take a big breath Big Love. Slow it down and you'll have a stellar season on your hands.

B

Flight of the Conchords - Unnatural Love

This season of FOTC has been quite different from Season One. In its previous season, the show was filled with the awkward and non-sequitur comedy of the duo. The songs featured on the show all came from a set, polished on the road and on their earlier BBC radio show. Having had a long layoff between seasons, the boys have returned with a better idea of what to do for their show. Unfortunately, as the plots have become more daring, the songs have suffered and the episodes, though they've had their moments, they've overall been a bit weak, unable to stick the landing.

That brings us to last night's episode, "Unnatural Love," which saw Jemaine falling for an Australian girl. Directed by the wonderfully weird Michel Gondry, the episode was essentially a half hour bashing of Australia, something the Conchords and the entire country of New Zealand have always been a big fan of. Jemaine becoming a Australian was pretty funny, and Brett's making gloves that look like his hand were all very funny, but the episode was stagnant. Watching though the episode, I had no idea that they'd end up getting robbed by the Australian women, but at the end I felt that the episode had reached the ending that it was undoubtedly going to reach. Like the rest of the season, the episodes have had one joke and haven't reached past that.

The songs in tonight's episode were split for me. "Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor" was a club romp with a strange (but typical for Gondry) dance with disco ball phalluses and crazy lights. It seemed like either the joke of the song or the establishing scene for it was a bit forced. The other song, "Carol Brown" was much better. The song was funny and didn't seem hastily made so that HBO could get them back on the air quickly. To me, it was the high point of the season thus far. Hopefully the Conchords can pick it back up and get back to Season One awesomeness.

B

Lost - "This Place is Death"

Charlotte, we hardly knew ye. Yes, the leader of this week's death pool bit the dust, a victim of the time flashes. But let's go back to the beginning of an episode that was kind of a slog, except for a couple of scenes.

After washing up with Team Rousseau last week, Jin found himself reconnecting with an old friend: Smokey! The monster killed one of Rousseau's crew and dragged another down to its lair underneath a temple (is that the Temple, that mysterious Others location that we've heard references to a couple of times?). In one of the most awesome things I've ever seen, the monster RIPS OFF MONTAND'S ARM. Hell And Yes! That was some season one level scariness from our island's resident, man-eating puff of smoke. But since Montand was still alive, everyone went down into the cave. Everyone, that is, except Rousseau, who Jin stopped from going in because of her baby. What happened next? Jin flashed away before we could find out, but he and us got to see the aftermath, as Rousseau popped her (now ex-)husband in the face. But not before he tried to shoot her. I have to admit to being a little let down by these sequences, which seemed to be more about fleshing out things we already knew, rather than giving us any new info about that doomed French expedition.

So Jin flashed away and met up with Sawyer et al in a very nice scene. But things started getting a lot worse for everyone as the flashes happened with increasing intensity and frequency. And it was at this point in the story that Charlotte checked out, but as her mind began racing through time (seemingly like a more intense version of the Desmond/Minkowski effect) she told us her backstory. Charlotte grew up on the island because her parents were in the Dharma Initiative, but daddy went crazy so her mom and her left the island. Once back in England, her mom convinced her that the island was merely a childhood flight of fancy, sort of like the creation of the other C.S. Lewis. Oh, and while she was on the island, a scary man who may have been Daniel Faraday told her never to come back or she'd die. All of this sounded like it would have had the makings of a killer flashback episode and that was kind of my problem with it. Why not show us all this, instead of having Charlotte tell it to us. It was uncharacteristically sloppy writing from a show that normally is guilty of digging too much into its characters' backstories. Honestly, more than anything else, this was what bugged me about the episode. It was a giant missed opportunity.

So, minus Charlotte and her loving caretaker Faraday, the gang all set out to the Orchid. Jin, however, had some qualms with the plan for bringing everyone back. Mainly the fact that he doesn't want everyone to come back. He made Locke promise that he wouldn't find Sun and gave him his wedding ring as proof that Jin was dead. The Locke went down the well and into the Frozen Donkey Wheel for what was tonight's standout scene.

After a time flash caused Locke to take a perilous fall and hurt his leg, he found himself in the presence of none other than Christian Shepard. Christian explained that it was Locke who was supposed to turn the wheel, not Ben (when did listening to him ever get you anywhere worth a damn). But now the time has come to make it right. Locke hobbled over to the wheel which had been thrown off its axis. So...Ben broke the wheel? That's what's been wrong all this time? Or is there something more? Either way, Locke turns it and leaves the island, with one last fantastic exchange with Christian (who's your son). We probably won't be hearing about the life and death of Jeremy Bentham until a week from Wednesday, in the episode titled The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, so for now we'll put that on the backburner.

Meanwhile, in LA, Sun prepared to shoot the crap out of Ben, but Ben managed to stall her by convincing her he could take her to proof that Jin was alive. Kate and Sayid wanted no part of this, so it was just the would-be murderer, her would-be victim, and a doctor with a God complex on the road together. It was mostly uneventful except for my other favorite scene of the episode: Ben's freakout. I like to believe that it wasn't simply calculation and, for a moment, Ben actually lost his cool. It certainly felt like we were watching a different Ben than what we normally see and I liked the implications of what he told Sun and Jack.

Once they got to their destination it turned out that Ben's proof was just Jin's ring, that he got from Locke. But he had to get them to the church to meet with Eloise Hawking. Who happens to be receiving another visitor: Desmond. Yes, Eloise Hawking is the mother of Daniel Faraday. She greets them and tells Ben that, even though its not everybody, it will "have to do."

So that's about it. I can't say I loved this episode. It had its moments, but on the whole it felt a little disjointed and a little rushed. That said, it looks like all the pieces are finally in place for the big return to the island. That is something that I cannot wait to see.

B

The Theory-Down

5. So where do we leave the people on the island? I think, as sad as it is, the flashes may be over. On the up side, no one else will die. On the down side, the flashes were a great way to explore the island's past and I hope they come back soon. My guess, Locke's fixing the wheel caused one more flash and now the island is locked into one time. That time? The 1970s, when a group of crazy hippies came to the island with a utopian vision and tenuous grasp of somewhat dubious fringe science.

4. The sickness seems to have nothing to do with time travel and everything to do with the monster. Everyone who went down to visit him turned out dead, but it doesn't look like Rousseau was as crazy as we thought (all though she is still very, very crazy). I don't have much here, but I'm sure there's be more later.

3. We found out that Ben was never supposed to turn the wheel. This was interesting to me, because it felt like there was maybe something else going on in those scenes in the finale. What if (and this will shock you) Ben was lying and he knew he wasn't supposed to turn the wheel? Did he leave the island to get away from the carnage that was about to happen? To get his revenge on Widmore? Stick it to Jacob? Is this part of a larger plan?

2. So, who's going back to the island? We've been led to believe that everybody has to go back, but Eloise seemed to be willing to rock it with just Sun, Jack, Ben, Locke, and Desmond. I'm betting that at the very least Kate will join, but I think that the whole O6 is going to have to go or there needs to be some consequences. It would be just too gaping a hole to leave open. On the same note, as much as I love Desmond, I am willing to accept never seeing him again if it means he doesn't go back to the island. Come on, Desmond! You can't abandon Penny and Charlie! And is Ben going back? He said whoever moves the island can't, but Locke certainly seems like he's headed for a return trip. And I'm sure Ben's going to find a way to weasel his way there too.

1. Changing the future, week 5! This was a big week for not changing the future. First, it was Jin who stopped Rousseau from going into the monster's lair, ensuring that she and Alex would be the only one's not affected by the sickness. Then Charlotte described how she saw Faraday in the Dharma Initiative, which obviously hasn't happened yet. That last bit is important because it would seem to settle the argument over whether all these things in history that we've heard about happened with the Losties, or if this is all new stuff. In Charlotte's past, Faraday was on the island, while that event is still to come in Faraday's future. So it seems like we've seen and heard some pretty definitive evidence that the gang is participating in events whose results we've already seen and not trying to change them. But I wonder if we'll see any wrinkles in that notion in the future (or is that the past).

Dollhouse Will Probably Be Good

Oh I remember the internet. I think I used to post on a blog like this years ago. As I get back into the swing of doing things, here's a review from Slate of Dollhouse, which it calls the best action show on TV.

Pregaming Tonight's Lost and a Programming Note

Hey everyone,

First a quick note. I've got some very important business to take care of tonight, so I'm not going to be watching Lost live. That means you can expect a recap either some time over night, or Thursday afternoon. The good news: instead of being subjected to my crackpot theories, you'll get to hear crackpot theories I stole from others!

Now onto business. What I'm going to be discussing is based on the promos, so if you don't watch those, then what is about to follow will be spoilery. However, I am only going to be speculating, so I won't actually be spoiling any major twists.


Still there?


All right, so given what we heard from the promos and this week's title (This Place is Death) it sounds like someone's not going to make it through tonight, so let's break down the odds of who is most likely not to survive the episode with an old-fashioned Death Pool:

Charlotte - 2:1 - The most obvious candidate, Charlotte is the least interesting of the Freighties and she's been the sickest the longest. However, there's still a big mystery about her (the fact that she was born on the island) and having an anthropologist around would seem like a good idea if the writers want to start exploring any ancient civilizations who liked to build statues with four toes and frozen donkey wheels. That being said, the island's time skipping could provide a way out for both of those.

Penny - 4:1 - They can't really do it, right? Sure, Desmond's taking her to LA, the current whereabouts of revenge-crazed Ben Linus. And sure, he's going to be visiting with a woman who is, in all likelihood, Ben's collegue Eloise Hawking. But they can't kill Penny, right? They aren't that cruel, right?

Lapidus - 7:1 - They've got to something with Frank eventually and killing him would up the tension and stakes for the Oceanic Six. I think this may be a very strong sleeper pick.

Ben - 10:1 - Ben makes the list this high because we know he's about to have a gun pulled on him by Dark Sun, but come on. They aren't going to off the show's best character.

Locke - 20:1 - We know he's got to die at some point. However, since we're about two weeks away from an episode titled (spoiler alert) The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, I think he's good for now.

Miles/Juliet - 25:1 - They are also sick, but they're not going before Charlotte does unless its by some other force.

Rose/Bernard - 25:1 - Whatever's going on with them, I can't imagine its good, but I also think it would be a little too sudden and anticlimactic.

Sayid - 30:1 - Of the Oceanic Six, he seems like the one with the least amount of story left to tell and we know there are people trying to kill him. But I doubt it.

Jin - 40:1 - They wouldn't bring Jin back just to kill him the next week. Except that they did have Locke save Eko's life only to kill Eko one episode later. But back then the writers had a lot more time to kill.

Sun 45:1 - Sun's probably safe at least until she reunites with Jin. But crossing Widmore doesn't seem like a great idea.

Desmond/Hurley - 50:1 - God, wouldn't that be terrible?

Faraday - 60:1 - He's not going anywhere until the time travel stops.

Hawking/Alpert/Abaddon - 75:1 - Could any of these fan favorite side characters meet their demise?

Rousseau - 100:1 - OMG! THE PAST CAN BE CHANGED!!!!

Aaron/Charlie - 500:1 - You know, time travel hasn't alienated enough of our audience, so let's kill some babies.

Jack/Sawyer/Kate - 1000:1 - Come on, how would the writers fill the non-time travel half of the show without these three?

So that's it. Enjoy the episode and I'll catch up with you guys later.

Lost - "The Little Prince"

Its funny to think that there was a time when people used to complain about nothing happening on this show, isn't it? This week continued with the pedal to the floor mentality and gave us what may be the first great Kate-centric episode ever.

We started on Penny's boat, with Kate agreeing to lie and going a step further, volunteering to claim Aaron as her own child. Of course, that lie would come crashing down on Kate in the present, with the evil lawyer turning down her deal. So, with Aaron safely in the care of a revenge-crazy Korean billionaire with a loaded weapon hidden under candy, Kate set about her plan of waiting for the lawyer to lead her to his client.

Meanwhile, in awesomer corners of Oceanic 6 world, Sayid got to kick some ass before reuniting with his one time employer: Benjamin Linus. Sayid doesn't seem thrilled to see him but, for whatever reason, he's willing to go along with this for the time being. I'm hoping for an answer about what Sayid was doing between The Economist and now and why he hates Ben so much. Jack splits off from them to go see Kate while Sayid and Ben learn that Hurley will probably be released soon because of a lack of evidence (since its not like there's a picture of Hurley holding the gun used to murder one of the victims or anything...).

Jack and Kate followed the evil lawyer right to Claire's mother, who was staying a hotel. However, it turns out that she wasn't the client after all. Ben was! Not to brag, but...CALLED IT. Actually, to be fair, if I had to guess before tonight, I'd have actually gone with Sun, but what as everyone knows, it doesn't count if you don't blog about it! My favorite O6 moment of the night? Jack rushing to Ben's defense, only to be shot down immediately by Michael Emerson's deadpan, "I did it." Ben is my hero. Of course, his minutes may be numbered since Sun is waiting with the aforementioned loaded gun. However, if I had to guess, I'd say the show's best character just might find a way to get out of this one. Especially given what we know happened on the island.

Charlotte did indeed survive the flash from last week, but her condition is deteriorating, and Miles and Juliet are also being victimized by the Nosebleed of Doom. This week flashed out heroes to three different times, each awesome in its own way:

First, they went to the recent past, specifically the night Boone died. Locke realized this when he saw the shiny light beam coming from the hatch, and he got all misty and nostalgic for the days when the hatch seemed cool and mysterious, like one of those Lost-haters who quit after season one. However, the more powerful scene from this time period, indeed what would have been the emotional highlight of the episode were it not for a certain appearance we'll get to later, was Sawyer seeing Kate again. It was heart-wrenching to watch him fight the urge to say something to her and then to see him realize that this may be the last time he ever sees her. I tend to be less interested in the Love Triangle and I don't want to seem too biased, but I think its worth noting that almost without exception, the Kate-Sawyer scenes are more powerful than the Kate-Jack scenes.

Then they flashed to an unknown time, but given the abandoned camp, I'd bet that they're in the near future. What of those canoes? And the Ajira Airways branded water bottles (they fly everywhere!)? Well I'm betting that the time they jump to is after the return of the Oceanic Six. And those people shooting at them in the other canoe. Its Jack et al. Why? How? I have no clue and that will have to wait until later, because we still haven't gotten to the greatest part of the episode.

Time, like fate, is a fickle bitch and, while it rescued the team from the people shooting at them, it dropped them right smack into the middle of a raging storm. So, Locke leads the team to a shore that features some wreckage with writing in French? At this point, the heart of every Lost fan began to beat a little faster. Could it be!?!?! Yes dear friends, it could. We are in the 1980s, and the wreckage belongs to a science expedition who counts Danielle Rousseau among its members. And they had a little extra cargo: the still-alive Jin-Soo Kwon!!!!!

This episode managed to make the Oceanic Six exciting again, while being packed with awesome moments, stunning twists, and a few very moving emotional beats. Making Sawyer/Kate the heart of this episode grounded it in a way that was missing from the first couple episodes. In a way, Lost viewers are in a similar predicament as the characters. Jumping from place to place with things moving so fast and the familiar rhythm of the last four years out the door, we need a constant that we can emotionally ground ourselves in. Tonight delivered that, and it enabled the mind-bending shifts and twists to go down smooth.

A

The Theory-Down

5. I failed to mention the moment where Daniel dropped a truth bomb on Miles, but damn. Has Miles been to the island before? Does that explain his ghost whispering powers? And is he, as many have speculated, the child of Pierre Chang? I wasn't sold on that one, but tonight's episode certainly seems to help that case.

4. Assuming Locke gets to the Orchid, I imagine his plan is to turn the wheel again and get himself off the island, but assuming that's what happens, where and when would that leave the people on the island? Would they lock themselves into a single time? Would it get worse? I guess I'm trying to say that the plan seems ill-conceived to me. Also, we still need to see a polar bear turn that wheel.

3. Changing the Future, week 4! So, if the future can't be changed, then how did Rousseau's expedition have that extra passenger? This week didn't really bring us any closer to resolving whether the Lostaways are changing things, or if they were simply there the first time around, but I imagine Rousseau would have mentioned the disappearing Korean they found washed up on shore if it had happened.

2. My longstanding theory on what happened to Rousseau's team was that "The Sickness" is the time travel thing that took down Minkowski and is affecting Miles, Charlotte, and Juliet. But given Daniel's theory about the sickness being related to the amount of exposure to the island, that would seem to not be the case. However, I don't want to give it up that easily, so maybe what's happening to our heroes is slightly different from what happens if you travel to the island using the wrong coordinate. After all, instead of being sent to different points in their lives, like Desmond was, Locke and the gang are traveling through different points in the island's life. Therefore they'd experience the sickness at a different rate.

1. So I touched on this a little in the recap, but what do we make of the prominent Ajira Airlines namedropping and that whole sequence with the canoes. My theory is that we've just gotten a major clue about how the Oceanic Six is getting back to the island. I think, in order to come back, the Lostaways are going to have to get on another plane and go through another crash (just like Jack wanted). Maybe its even important to have some kind of dead body on board, like Christian Shepard/Locke. I'll admit this doesn't explain the canoes. Or the shooting. But I'm working on it.

P.S. I forgot to say that this has been a very good week for Lost actors popping up in other places. First, Charles Widmore extended his Reach of Evil by appearing as the Australian ambassador on Flight of the Conchords. Then, the sleazy lawyer showed up as the heroic plant worker on 24.