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Saturday, May 29, 2010

AL Rookie Of The Year - Jackson or Boesch?

Fifty games into the MLB season, the Detroit Tigers still trail the Twins by a few games. We're probably not going to the playoffs this season, and even less likely to win the October Classic.

But we have what no other team in the MLB has, and what every team wishes they had.

The best rookie in baseball.

The only question is, which one? Austin Jackson, or Brennan Boesch?

Jackson won AL Rookie of the Month honors for April by a landslide, and Boesch is a lock to win the award in May after batting .350 with 8 doubles and 3 HRs. Both are playing great in the field; both are impressive on the basepaths; both hit for power as well as average; and most importantly, both guys are helping the Tigers win.
In fact, with putrid hitting continuing to plague the Tigers' at the bottom of the order (where Laird and Everett combine to hit under .180), Boesch and Jackson are two of the biggest reasons why Detroit even has a shot at the playoffs. If not for Boesch's sudden, unexpected rise to prominence, Detroit's order would completely fall apart after Cabrera. With Guillen missing the past month and a half, Brandon Inge stepped momentarily into the 5 spot behind Cabrera, and needless to say, that didn't work out.

But from the moment Brennan Boesch entered the batter's box on April 23rd, he hasn't been afraid to swing. In fact, the first pitched he faced in the Majors was smacked for a double. Four games later, he faced one pitch in the 5th inning and one pitch in the 6th inning - both doubles.

Everyone expected Boesch to slow down from his torrid hitting pace, including Skipper Jim Leyland - but he's done the complete opposite. He hit an impressive .261 in 6 games in April, and earned a permanent spot in the order while Guillen sat out, largely because of his .522 slugging percentage.

But then in May, Boesch became pure gold - hitting an unbelievable .349 with a .602 slugging percentage, top 15 in the AL in both categories. Against lefties, Boesch has a .500 batting average and the best slugging percentage of anyone in baseball. When he faced the best left-hander in the business, Yankee's ace CC Sabathia, Boesch took him deep for a homer and followed that with a double.

Remember, not only is this guy a rookie, but he wasn't even expected to see the field this year. The Tigers expected to have two rookies playing a prominent role, but it was supposed to be Jackson and second basement Scott Sizemore.
Instead, Sizemore stunk it up, and was actually sent back to the Minors to make room on the roster for Boesch. Guillen will now play 2nd, instead of DH, and Boesch, Ordonez and Damon will rotate between the outfield and the DH spot. It's a much improved offensive line-up, and the best move Jim Leyland could have made. As Boesch continues to pummel pitches, Leyland looks all the more brilliant.
Now, with Guillen healthy and hitting well, the Tigers' regular line-up looks like this:
1. Jackson
2. Damon
3. Ordonez
4. Cabrera
5. Boesch
6. Guillen
7. Inge
8. Laird
9. Everett

While we're still awful at the 8 and 9 spots, the 1-6 hitters are among the best in the Majors. Ordonez, Cabrera and Boesch each knocked in at least 14 runs in May and are all hitting at least .330. If that continues, the Tigers just may have a shot at the AL Central.

A big part of that will hinge on the play of the lead-off man, and fellow Rookie of the Year candidate, Austin Jackson.

Since the controversial trade that sent fan favorite Curtis Granderson to the Yankees, Jackson has made the Steinbrenner family miserable. While Granderson is hitting just .230 with 2 home-runs in the hitter-friendly new Yankee stadium, his replacement has been lethal for Detroit, hitting .330 overall and an AL best .364 in April.
Jackson leads the Tigers in triples and steals, but unfortunately, also leads the American League in strike-outs. For a lead-off man, his walks to strike-outs ratio is quite terrible (15-54). But Tigers' fans can overlook that if he continues to hit. And so far this season, AJ has done nothing but hit.
He ranks in the top 10 in the AL in both hits and batting average, putting him in company with names like Ichiro, Beltre, Guerrero, Cano, Jeter, Crawford, Longoria and Cabrera. That is an amazing list of batters to be associated with, especially as a rookie.

He's also one heck of a fielder. His .992 fielding percentage is one of the best among center fielders, and Jim Leyland isn't shy about saying that Jackson, as a rookie, is the Tigers' best outfielder. Dare I say, he's stepped into Granderson's large shoes and taken off in a sprint, while Curtis is left barefooot in New York.

If not for Boesch's outstanding May, Jackson would easily be the Rookie of the Month in consecutive months to start the season. Instead, another Tiger will be winning the award, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're a Tigers fan.

As we approach the pivotal month of June, the Tigers will rely heavily on Boesch and Jackson as they try to close the gap with the first-place Twins. It's a foregone conclusion that the 2010 AL Rookie of the Year will be a Tiger. It's just not clear yet which one it will be.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

This is what I wrote in January...

"I don’t think Cleveland is a lock to beat Orlando, Boston, or Atlanta. And I know (LeBron's) teammates aren’t great, but that’s not an excuse anymore. If LeBron was actually as great as he thinks he is, he wouldn’t need great teammates. He would make them great. LeBron has spent the entire 2009 season with his head in the clouds, thinking about the 2010 offseason and the enormous $$$ offers he’s going to see from the Knicks and Nets and Clippers and everyone else, and I don’t think he has the focus and sheer competitiveness to sleepwalk through the playoffs the way he’s been sleepwalking through the regular season. I actually think that deep down he wants to lose in the playoffs, because then he has a legit reason to leave Cleveland next season. "

I also wrote that no one in the East could beat Boston.

So basically, I am amazing.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

the end of LOST



Well, LOST is really over.



That's it. There will never be another show like this. Ever.



I should just throw away my TV right now because nothing will ever live up to the legacy of LOST.


Okay, let's cut the crap and talk about the finale.


*

It begins with a beautiful montage of the characters in both Timeline B and on the island, accompanied by some emblematic LOST music. This serves as an extended 'Previously on LOST' segement, reminding the viewers where we been and where we're going.



Christian Shepherd's coffin is being transported while Jack studies some x-rays (of John Locke, probably). Ben Linus is making tea with a broken arm; Detective James Ford looks meaningfully into a broken mirror; Kate sits in Desmond's car, confused.



Jack washes his hands in the river, and stares deeply into his hands, reflecting on the thought that this will be his last morning alive. Ben nervously loads bullets into a gun while UnLocke watches him (those bullets could be important later), and Hurley, Sawyer and Kate sit sadly at their makeshift camp and anticipate the treacherous events to come.

The first dialogue is between Desmond and the guy driving Christian's body around; Des tells him to take it around back, and then gets in the car with Kate. She asks "Who died?" and Desmond smiles to himself. (Knowing that they are all, technically, "dead.") Desmonds tells her it was a guy named Christian, and later she asks Desmond, "What do you want?" He says he wants "to leave."


At this point, the audience has no idea what Desmond is talking about. Leave and go where? We assume he means "go back to the original timeline." Very clever writing throughout the finale. I can't wait to go back and re-watch season 6 and see if the entire flash-sideways is full of these little hints.


On the island, Jack is standing knee-deep in the river, again reflecting on his imminent death, when Sawyer approaches and asks him how it feels to be the new Jacob. Jack explains to the crew about "the heart of the island," and Sawyer goes off to find Desmond.


Hurley (also aware of what Timeline B really is) drives Sayid to the same hotel where Sayid and Hurley went in season 5, after Sayid busted Hurley out of the mental hospital. Sayid still doesn't get it. Hurley says "Stay here" and Sayid says "What if I don't?" Hurley says "That's your choice, but if you stick with me ... you'll be happy you did." (Heaven hint #2)


Hurley goes upstairs and knocks on Charlie's door. Hurley is super happy to see him, even though they don't know each other in this "timeline," but when Charlie doesn't respond as positively Hurley shoots him with a tranquillizer gun. Hurley says going to the concert will be the best thing you've ever done. That's hint #3.


Hurley brings them both to the concert, where Sayid is spotted by Miles, who calls Sawyer, who heads off to the hospital to make sure Sun is okay.


Sun wakes up at the hospital, and a doctor comes in to check on the baby. And ... it's Juliet! Yay! She performs the ultrasound, and Sun and Jin "wake up" and remember their past lives, and their deaths, and everything. Suddenly, they both speak English. This is a beautiful, beautiful scene. I got some pretty heavy goose bumps. And the best part is, now they won't have to deal with Sun's horrible dad.



(Oh, another hint about the Flash-Sideways being Purgatory - before the wake-up, Jin says to Sun "If everything's okay, we can leave soon." And Sun gets all wide-eyed and says "Leave?")


Random note: Juliet's last name is Carlson, which was her maiden name in the original timeline before she married that Burke guy who got hit by a bus. So presumably, in Timeline P (for Purgatory), she married Jack, they got divorced, and she took her old name back.



*
Back on the island, Sawyer finds the bad guys, elbows Ben in the face, takes the gun, and leaves. Locke tells Ben about his plan to sink the island and sneak away on a boat. Ben isn't very excited. The Locke says one of the best lines of the night: "I think there was a dog here."

Desmond wakes up in Rose and Bernard's camp (!) and they exchange pleasantries until Flocke arrives and threatens to kill both of them if Desmond doesn't do what he wants. That Smoke Monster is an effective negotiator. So Desmond leaves with Locke, and we're left to assume that Rose and Bernard live out the remainder of their happy lives together, on the island.

Miles discovers Richard, who is still alive (!) and they head towards the plane, still hell-bent on blowing something up. I have no clue how Richard didn't die; I guess the monster can't kill him according to 'the rules.' At the docks Miles notices Richard's first gray hair, implying that now that Jacob is dead, Richard can finally age, implying that in the years to come following the end of the episode, Richard eventually died, somewhere off the island. Thank goodness. But I wonder why we never saw him in the Flash-Sideways. Or as it should more correctly be called, the Flash-Upwards.


Hey I just realized, it was the producers themselves who first starting using the term "flash-sideways" back when it was first introduced. So they're the ones who led us to believe that these were some kind of parallel timelines. What a bunch of rascals.



As Doctor Jack prepares to operate on John Locke, he tells him: "There's always the chance that I could kill you." Great juxtaposition. And heaven hint #5, "See you on the other side."


Back on the island, Sawyer catches up with the gang, and tells them about Flocke's plans. Jack is all cool and collected, and says "We're all headed to the same place anyway." Giddyup.

As Miles and Richard paddle along, they encounter Frank (!!) who amazingly is still alive. At first I was annoyed, but it was necessary to keep Frank alive so that somebody could fly the plane. No answers on the whole outrigger shootout issuse, but I'm not going to bitch and moan about it, as much as I want to. Part of the beauty of this finale was that a lot of things were left unanswered, leaving the audience with the freedom to theorize and guess and discuss LOST long after it ends. Because that's the best part of LOST, and always was. Getting direct answers is great, but discussing possible theories is even better. Just because the show is over doesn't mean that can't still go on.


The next scene is just remarkable. Just fantastic.



Locke, Ben and Desmond walk out of the jungle into a clearing, and are met head-on by Jack, Sawyer, Hurley and Kate. Like the moron that she is, Kate grabs the gun from Sawyer and fires pointlessly at Locke. Doesn't she know anything?! He tells her to save her bullets, which gives her the perfect one-liner for later in the episode.


Locke walks right up to Jack and they have an awesome conversation, which culminates with Jack giving the best line of the night, and probably the best Matthew Fox performance ever.


Jack: You think you're going to destroy the island. But that's not what's gonna happen.
BSM: Then what's gonna happen Jack?
Jack: I'm going to kill you.
(BSM looks pissed, every one else looks around like 'WTF?')
BSM: How do you plan to do that?
Jack: It's a surprise.


This was without a doubt the best line of Jack's 113 episode career.


Minutes later in the Afterlife, it is revealed that Juliet is the mother of Jack's son, and then as she's leaving the hospital she walks right by Detective Sawyer without a clue that he is her freaking soulmate! AhhhH! Come on!


Sawyer pays a visit to the Kwons, who recognize him from their previous lives and are happy to see him. I like the way Jin calls him "Detective" like he's so proud of him. Sawyer says "Guess you'll be checking out soon" - heaven hint #6 - and the Kwons reply "See you there." (Hint #7) Sawyer's like, "Okay you freaks."


Uh, just one small problem ... I'm pretty sure Sun and Jin left the hospital WITHOUT their baby. Hmm ...


On the island, as Jack, Flocke and the rest of the group walk towards the Source, something beautiful happens. We see a shimmering light from above the patch of bamboo, where Jack first woke up in the opening seconds of LOST, and realize two things, neither of which are imperative, but both of which are really cool.


1) Jack woke up from the plane crash smack-dab in the middle of the source!
2) Remember when Daniel Faraday was looking up at the trees and said "The light doesn't scatter right." Now we understand why.

Locke determines that only Jack and Desmond should come along towards the Source, and right as they depart Hurley runs up to Jack and says "Jack! I believe in you dude."


I'm not sure why but that line struck me as much more deep and beautiful and poetic than was probably intended. I doubt that in seasons past anyone really believed in Jack, if they were being honest. Jack is finally the leader and the man that he always thought he was. He used to act like a leader; now he actually is a leader.


As Locke prepares to lower Desmond into the River of Shiny Light, Des starts babbling to Jack what seems like nonsense about "none of this matters" and "going some place else, where we can be with the ones we love." This is a clear and obvious hint (#7) about the Purgatory World, but we the audience mis-interpreted it as a reference to some parallel timeline. Jack says that there are no do-overs or shortcuts. He's right. But there is an afterlife.



As Locke and Jack lower Desmond into the Source, the scene is fabulously reminiscent of the end of Season 1 when Jack and Locke looked down into the Hatch. Flocke even makes reference to that occurence, and Jack says "You disrespect him by wearing his face." Whoa. Great line Jack. He continues to piss off the Smoke Monster, knowing that the Monster can't do a thing about it. I just LOVE Jack in this entire episode. All the things that he ever wanted to be - brave, wise, compassionate, inspirational - he finally is.

The fade-out shot of Jack and Locke at the edge of the waterfall is just epic. There's really no other word for it. I don't know anything about film or cinematography, but I know that this scene was beautiful beyond words.



Over on Hydra Island, Frank, Richard, and Miles encounter crazy Claire who threatens to shoot them, gets all sad about something, and starts pouting, blah blah blah, it's the finale we don't have time to waste on Claire's emotional fluxuations.


*
Back in Timeline P, Hurley brings Sayid to a street corner where some dude is getting beat up. Sayid watches the fight angrily and seeking justice, and for some reason this scene reminded me so much of The Incredibles when Mr. Incredible is watching the mugging from out the window and can't do anything about it. Weird. But Sayid breaks up the fight, and it turns out it was Shannon! Boone set the whole thing up with Hurley, so at some point Boone had his 'wake-up' thing. Shannon and Sayid touch, and there's a pretty cool montage of memories, although it's nothing compared to the Sun/Jin montage, or the ones to come later. They kiss, and Sayid has forgotten all about Nadia.


At the concert, Juliet leaves due to some hospital emergency, and Charlotte wakes up a groggy, pissy Charlie. I don't particularly like Charlie in this Timeline P, but he does deliver one of the best lines of the episode. "I was shot by a fat man." The way he says it is hilarious.


Charlotte turns and talks to goo-goo-eyed Daniel Widmore, who shakes her hand and talks to her. Shockingly, neither of them 'wake-up.' Could this mean that they weren't meant to be soulmates? Was his love for her never reciprocated? Although LOST had a happy ending for just about everybody, I can't help but feel bad for Daniel.


Claire and Kate see each other at the concert, and as she bursts into sudden labor, she runs into a small tent by herself. That seems like a smart thing to do when your contractions start. Don't call the hospital. Don't tell anyone. Just go run away by yourself. You idiot.


Sidenote: having just witnessed the birth of a child less than 6 months ago, I can say that this scene with Claire giving birth to Aaron may have been the most unrealistic thing that ever happened in LOST, most fabricated than time-travel, smoke monsters or shiny rivers of light. My wife started having contractions at 10:00 in the morning, had them all day long, seperated by about 5-7 minutes, then spent 5 hours at the hospital having serious, painful, massive contractions, then spent over an hour pushing and screaming and pushing and screaming and pushing. In Claire's case, it took about 3 total minutes of contractions and less than 40 seconds of pushing. Push #1 was at 48:58 and she was holding her baby at 49:45. Ridiculous.


Charlie sees her from the stage and is astounded by her beauty, so he chases after her and arrives in time to see the birth of Aaron. As dumb as Claire is and as much as I don't like Timeline P Charlie, this wake-up montage of the two of them was stunningly magnificent. I feel like I'm running out of adjectives to describe the emotions in these scenes. They actually become increasingly more awesome the more you watch them. At first I thought this finale was too much a reflection of the past and seemed like a big happy cast party. But now that I think about it, it's the perfect ending. I think the producers were smart enough to realize that the strength of the show is its characters, not its plot, and many of the strongest, most emotionally-captivating characters are dead (Sun, Jin, Charlie, Sayid, Shannon & Boone). We invested so much into them, and to bring their stories back to life in such a powerful way was great.


*
In the cave, Desmond approaches the bright light and sees skeletons along the wall. People that the Smoke Monster sent down there to try to pull the plug? Not sure. Could be a lot of people. Des enters the electro-water and pulls the drain, shocking himself like crazy but living through it. The light slowly goes out, and the island starts to sink.


So Locke was right and Jack was wrong. The island is going to sink. But then Jack pulls the old switcheroo, jumps on Locke's back and punches him in the face. And he bleeds! The Smoke Monster is scared out of his mind, smacks Jack with a rock and runs away terrified. Awesome!


So what happened when Desmond pulled that plug out of the water?


-The island started to sink
-The Smoke Monster was no longer unkillable
-The Candidates were no longer unkillable


So essentially, all the rules were thrown out the window. "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere." Hmmm



Jack wakes up, it starts raining, and he chases after Locke. He finds him at the edge of the cliff, near Jacob's ladder, and as Alie pointed out, "It's so much like Simba and Scar on the edge of Pride Rock." This scene was so epic that it has to be shown in picture form. Words don't do this scene justice. I will say nothing. Except that you can watch the scene here.





















Now we know why Jack has the scars on his neck and his abdomen.


Just as Locke gives one of the best villian lines of all time: "I want you to know Jack - you die for nothing," Kate comes up and pops suddenly mortal Locke in the back, and retorts with the one-liner "I saved you a bullet." What is this, Die Hard 4?

Jack then kicks Flocke off the cliff, to his death, which is highly poetic for two reasons:

1. It's the same way that Flocke killed Jacob, kicking him into the fire.
2. It's similar to the way original John Locke was thrown out of a window and landed on his back. Except this time Jacob wasn't there to save him. It's likely that his broken back is what killed the Smoke Monster.


So now there's just one thing left for Jack to do - go back to the Source, turn the light back on, save the Island and all his friends, and then die. And long story short, he does it.


*
Back in the other world, Desmond has a quick conversation with Eloise Hawking, and you know what, I'm not even gonna talk about it. I hate Eloise, her character makes no sense, how she somehow knows everything about everything with no explanation, I'm not even gonna think about it. Moving on ...

Moments after Jack kills Fake-Locke, Doctor Jack checks on real John, who is miraculously healed from the surgery and has regained feeling in his legs. Jack can't believe it; John experiences a full-fledged 'wake-up' when he wiggles his toes. I love this scene.

For most of the other characters, it was love and relationships that bought them to awareness and woke them up. Desmond-Penny, Hurley-Libby, Sayid-Shannon, Sun/Jin-Baby, Claire-Baby, Charlie-Claire, Kate-Claire. But for John Locke, it wasn't Helen. It was moving his toes. That's his constant. Weird, but fitting.


One of the initial reactions I had after watching the gathering in the church and the ending of LOST was "What about Helen?" But now that I think about it, John and Helen weren't really right for each other. They were just two unhappy people making the best of it. They weren't soulmates. The Island was John Locke's soulmate.

So Locke 'wakes,' and Jack starts to feel the 'awakening' too, but he resists it. Typical stubborn Jack. Locke says "We have to go!" Yeah, if I knew heaven was just hours away I'd be in a hurry too.


*
Island - Hurley and Ben accompany Jack back to the Source. Hurley because he wouldn't be able to make it down the ladder, and Ben because he's got no reason to leave the island. Kate and Sawyer paddle over to Hydra, where they meet up with Claire, and Kate convinces her to come along on the plane, in a stupid conversation that goes something like this:


Kate: "Come with us or you're going to die you idiot!"
Claire: "No..."
Kate "Why the heck not?! What's wrong with you??!!"
Claire: "Aaron won't like me, because my hair is all messed up..."
Kate: "It's a long flight back to LA, you can fix your hair in the plane."
Claire: "Okay ..."
Sawyer: "Let's go you morons!!"

But this was the last stupid Claire moment of LOST, so I tried to enjoy it. Kind of sad that I won't be able to make fun of Claire anymore.

Before all of this happens, Kate and Jack share an emotional last kiss and an "I love you." But since I'm a tough dude who works on cars and stuff, I did not get emotional at all. I swear.

Kate's line "Tell me I'm gonna see you again!" is subtle heaven hint #8.

Frank and Miles and Richard have some troule making the plane flyable, but Miles gives his last classic line of his clever career - "I don't believe in much, but I do believe in duct tape."

I'm a little confused why Miles didn't particpate in the church gathering at the end; maybe it has something to do with what he said. He doesn't believe in much. I don't know. I have a hard time thinking that Shannon is exactly a warrior of faith. I wish Miles would have been there. And Frank too. But oh well. It was more of a season 1 reunion anyway. Anyway..

Frank manages to make the plane fly, and Kate, Sawyer, and Claire arrive just in time.


*
Now for my favorite scene of the night. Acting, writing, music, this scene is just perfect in every way.

Sawyer is walking around the hospital after his weird Kwon visit, and looking for something to eat. Jack points him in the direction of a vending machine. Sawyer's candy bar gets stuck and who walks in to help ... Juliet!

Here's what she says:

"Can I tell you a secret –
If you unplug it and then you plug it back in again, the candy just drops right down. It’s technically legal."


Not only is this helpful information to help Sawyer get his candy bar, it's also exactly what Jack does in order to kill Flocke. He unplugs the cork of the Island, and then plugs it back in. And it's technically legal, as in it doesn't break 'the rules.' This is some of the most brilliant writing LOST has ever done. And then it goes on, when she says ...

It worked.

Those are her dying words to Sawyer, and we all assumed she was talking about the hydrogen bomb. But she wasn't! She's talking about the candy bar! That's why she followed it up with the seemingly nonsensical "We should get coffee sometime. We could go dutch." Brilliant. By Juliet saying "It worked" in the first episode of season 6, every LOST fan in the world bought into the idea of parallel timelines. Perfect deception by the writers. She was talking about a freaking candy bar! And then ... her and Sawyer touch and see the memories of their years together and their love and I've gotta say, this is probably the best 'wake-up' scene of the night.

I can't imagaine how hard it is to pull off as an actor - you just touched someone's hand, and instantly your consciousness is aware of a previous life in which you loved this person, and all of your old memories come back, and you remember everything. How, as an actor, do you pull that off? Laughing, crying, smiling, shock? All of the above.

I don't think any of the characters did a necessarily bad job of portraying their 'wake-up' scene, although some were better than others. But I do think that Sawyer and Juliet's were the best. They just have such great chemistry. Juliet's a very underrated actress. Amazing scene. Amazing.

Minutes later, Jack meets up with Kate at the concert, and she tries to wake him up, but he resists again. What a pig. When she says "I missed you so much" I think she is referring to her actual human life, after the island. Presumably she lived another 30 or 40 years on earth, without Jack. Maybe she married Sawyer, maybe not. But I think that's what she was talking about. She brings him to the church and says he'll understand.

*
Back on the quickly crumbling island, Jack arrives at the Source and appoints Hurley as the new Jacob. (I'm not sure why a new Jacob is needed, since the Monster is dead, but hey I'm not argue that point). Remember last week when Hurley said "I'm just glad it's not me." Nice foreshadowing.

Ironically, Jacob insisted that the Candidates have a choice, and Jack volunteered. But then he pretty much forced the job upon Hurley. And like the amazingly nice guy that he is, Hurley appoints Ben as the #2, the new Richard, and Ben was as genuinely happy as he's ever been. Man I love Hurley!

Jack drops into the cave, ties Dessy up so he'll be lifted up instead, and says "I'll see you in another life brother." Which turns out to be extremely true. Then he turns the light back on, smiling and dying at the same time. Talk about sacrifice. Wow.

The water rushes up and leaves Jack in the stream, in the same place where it left the original Man in Black (who will be forever nameless, by the way) when he was turned into the Smoke Monster.

I think it's cool that the Smoke Monster never has a name, now that I think about it. Years from now, when LOST is a distant memory and regarded as the greatest TV show ever created, and when it has been studied and analyzed and taught in college classrooms, it will be considered pure genious to have a nameless enemy, a bad guy who is simply called The Monster. He symbolizes evil and hatred and death; why does he even need a name? I'm actually glad they never named him.

Jack stumbles and crawls to the bamboo field, where he woke up on September 22, 2004, and lays down, content and ready to die. He's fully at peace. He knew this was going to happen. Vincent comes along and lays beside him.


Live together, and you won't die alone.


Then Jack sees Ajira plane 316 - with Frank, Miles, Richard, Claire, Kate and Sawyer on board - fly overhead and he smiles. He finally got his people rescued. And it cost him his life. And he's okay with that. He closes his eye, and dies on the Eye-Land, the only place he ever belonged, his one true home. Just like LOST began, it ends.

*
But the majority of the last 15 minutes of LOST is all about Timeline B. Purgatory. A sort of in-between reality that seperates earthly life from the afterlife. They didn't specifically use the "P" word, but this is LOST, and you have to connect the dots sometimes.

We should have been able to guess that it was Purgatory before Christian basically spelled it out to Jack, with all the little hints scattered throughout the episode. And then as John wheels into the church, he sees Ben and forgives him for everything Ben did to him, including the act of killing him. They talk of their old lives in the past tense. Ben is a changed man, finally a true good guy, and he says that Locke's forgiveness matters more than you realize. Locke stands up, out of the wheelchair, and walks into the church. (I wonder if he even said good-bye to Helen?) Minutes later, Hurley comes out of the church and invites Ben in. Ben declines, and says he has some things to work out still. Clearly, Ben has experienced his 'wake-up' moment, probably at some point with Alex. My guess is that he wants to reflect on his life and his many shortcomings and faults and spend a little more time with Alex before he enters the next stage. It's very symbolic for him to be sitting outside the church. Hugo tells Ben he was a real good #2, and Ben says "You were a great #1." I wonder how long the two of them protected and led the Island. We'll never know. Maybe 40 years. Intentionally open-ended. I love it.

The best way to determine what Timeline B is is the convesation between Christian and Jack, at the church, when Jack finds the coffin empty and feels yet another 'wake-up' experience, then turns around to see his 'dead' father standing there...


J: I don’t understand. You died.
C: Yeah. Yes I did.
J: Then how are you here right now?
C: How are you here?
J: (Thinks about it) I died too. (Cries)
C: It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay son.

J: Are you real?
C: Yeah, I’m real. You’re real. Everything that’s ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they’re real too.
J: They’re all dead?
C: Everyone dies sometime kiddo. Some of them before you, some long after you.
J: Why are they all here now?
C: Well there is no now, here.
J: Where are we dad?
(Same line Charlie says in Season 1 pilot - Where are we?)

C: Well this is a place that you all made together so that you could find one another. The most important time in your life was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. You needed all of them, and they needed you.
J: For what?
C: To remember. To let go.
J: Kate, she said we were leaving?
C: No. No, moving on.
J: Where are we going?
C: Let’s go find out.


So while Christian doesn't explicitly say the H word (Heaven) it's pretty obvious. And with the stain glass window behind them depicting the symbols of the 6 major religions, it's also pretty clear that this isn't your typical Christian heaven they're talking about. If it was, how would Sayid and the Kwons fit in? Fundamental Christians will probably have a problem with this, but I think a Christian heaven wouldn't have been very well accepted by LOST viewers as a whole. Probably best to leave the religious stuff out of things. Shoot, one day when we're all dead, we may be surprised at who we see. It's not our job to determine who spends afterlife where. All I know is that God is good.


As the Shepherds enter the church, they see one big giant hug fest - Claire, Charlie and Aaron; Desmond and Penny; Rose and Bernard; James and Juliet; Sayid and Shannon; Boone; Locke; Sun and Jin; Hurley and Libby; and Kate. Everybody's got a lover except Locke and Boone, which is fitting since they were BFFs on the island.

Jack shakes a few hands, hugs a few forgotten friends, and they all take a seat. Beautiful string music plays in the background. Everyone is smiling and laughing and looking extraordinarily peaceful. Then Christian Shepherd opens the back doors of the church, and a bright, white, beautiful light fills the church.


The End.


***


Okay. A few thoughts, questions, ramblings, theories, reflections.


1. What about Miles, Frank, Faraday, Michael & Walt, Eko and Richard? Why weren't they invited?
2. What about Yi Jeon? Did they really leave her alone, again?
3. What about David Shepherd? Now he's got no parents. He must be pretty confused.
4. What about people who did actually die in Timeline P. Like Keamy and Eyepatch and those goons. Do they go to hell?


My thought right now is that Timeline P, or the Purgatory stage of these characters, is actually more like The Matrix than another actual life. I think the people and events that they encounter are not actually real, but just experiences to change and mold and prepare them for afterlife. That's why they can leave the ones that they love (David, Yi Jeon, Helen, etc) because they know that those people don't really, truly exist.

The Matrix is one of my favorite movies (just the first one, the other 2 are terrible), and I do see a lot of similarities between it and this timeline. At least the way I perceive the timeline. What I like most about the Flash-Upwards is that it's incredibly open to interpretation, depending on people's individual religious beliefs. Any LOST fan out there can make of it what they want. It really is a brilliant ending to a far more than brilliant show.

With millions of people guessing what Timeline B is for the past 4 months, it's amazing that the producers came up with an excellent ending that wasn't guessed by anybody. They went through a LOT of work to trick us into believing it was a parallel, alternate reality, and they did an amazing job of it. Purgatory was one of the most popular theories for what the Island was, and instead they did a 180 and made Timeline B purgatory. My mind is still blown, 5 days later.


Let's be honest, there are two kinds of LOST fans out there. Real fans, and casual fans.


Diehards, who read message boards and watch videos and read every word of Lostpedia.


And people who say "Oh wait, it's Tuesday, isn't LOST on?"


I'm one of the people who started saying on Friday "Only 4 more days til LOST."


I'm one of the more obsessed.


So for me, the ending had to be more than just good. It had to be perfect. And sitting on my couch on Sunday at 11:35 PM, I felt disappointed. I felt angry. I felt ... betrayed.




But the truth, the painful truth that I didn't want to admit, was this:

I was confused. Baffled. Blown-away.

You see, LOST rarely confuses me anymore. I've come to expect anything and I almost always know what's going on. Not to be arrogant, but it's true. Not because I'm so super smart. But because I'm a loser who spends an obscene amount of time reading about and thinking about LOST. All of the twists and turns of LOST over the last several years have been great, but never thrown me for such a loop that I couldn't even process what was going on. I couldn't figure it out.

I literally needed to re-watch the finale in order to really soak it in. To really comprehend the ending. Maybe I'm stupid. I don't know. It seemed like a lot of people got it the first time around. I didn't. I was just mad. I thought it was lazy writing, a cop-out. I thought "If they're all dead and moving on, what was the point of the past 6 seasons?!" Maybe that's a fair question.

But it was an appropriate ending. How else could they have brought back characters from the dead without being overly cheesey? We all wanted a happy ending, but we didn't want any easy quick-fixes. Like Jack said, no shortcuts, no do-overs. What happened, happened. All the island stuff, the time-skips, the deaths, the Oceanic 6, everything - it all happened. Jack really died. It was all real, and there was ever only one timeline.

Jack dies and many of the Losties finally escape the island. Sawyer and Claire and Miles get to leave for the first time in 3 years. Richard gets to leave for the first time in 150 years. Aaron gets his mother back. Ben gets to lead the island. The Monster is gone. It's a happy ending.

But, like Christian said, "everyone dies sometime kiddo."

And in the real ending of LOST, the ending of endings, all the dead characters convene at some point where time doesn't exist, in some place that exists only in their minds, in some world that they somehow created amongst themselves to help them remember. And long lost loves are finally reconnected.

Maybe Desmond died on the island; maybe he never saw Penny again. But wasn't it great to see them together in the church, and know that they'll be together wherever they're going. I can't think of a happier ending than knowing that Sawyer and Juliet get to be together again. And Sun and Jin.

Because, once again, this show is all about the characters. The plot stuf is good, but it's the relationships that have carried the show and made it epic. And in the end, it's all about the relationships. The true loves. The soulmates.

As a LOST fan, I was worried the show would end without closure. And yeah, I didn't get closure on the future of the Island what happens with the guys who escaped on the Ajira plane, and yeah a few mysteries went unsolved, but if you want closure, how about all of the main characters entering heaven together. I don't think any show has ever ended quite like that before.

It was a happier than happy ending, and also a conceivably realistic one. And a mind-blowingly unexpcted twist.

Bravo LOST. You got me again.


I'd love to hear all your thoughts on the ending of LOST, and what I should write about now that it's over.

Monday, May 24, 2010

The End

I'm going to wait a few days to digest the finale and I'll have some thoughts up here at some point. My initial reaction is that I LOVED the show as a whole, really liked the finale episode, but didn't necessarily love the last 15 minutes. But I'm not sure yet. I'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on how it ended...?



Wednesday, May 19, 2010

That's More Like It!

I hope this doesn't make me sound like a total flip-flop hypocrite, but I thought the latest episode of LOST was absolutely terrific.

Each of the three storylines - the Jack group, the Ben group, and the sideways - were all highly interesting, full of surprises, and superbly acted. There was never a point where they cut to a different storyline and I felt disappointed. How often can that be said of any LOST episode? The flash-sideways is finally coming along and not a moment too soon.

Don't get me wrong, I still loathed 'Across the Sea,' but in a few subtle ways this episode did redeem it. Not entirely, but enough to appease me and make me pumped up for Sunday's 150 minute finale. It was key that Jacob showed up and spoke directly to the Candidates, and I thought that scene was just absolutely awesome.

Before I say too much, let's break the penultimate LOST episode into its three parts and discuss them one at a time ...

The Flash Sideways

The episode opens with Jack's eye as he wakes up in his Los Angeles home. Quickly he notices in the mirror the recurring mysterious bleeding on his neck. This is the THIRD time something like this has happened, and each time it happened just minutes after he woke up if I'm not mistaken. I think there could be something to this.

Remember, when Locke was asleep at the hospital he was muttering "Push the button ... it's my destiny ..." and when Sun was semi-conscious she saw Locke and screamed in panic "It's him! It's him!" So here's my theory ...

Could it be that when the Timeline B Losties are asleep, their consciousnesses are skipped to the original timeline, to the world of the island. Maybe the island-world is buried deep within their sub-conscious mind, which as Freud tells us in The Interpretation of Dreams (a must-read!) is the origin of all dreams. When they 'wake up,' as we've seen Desmond and Hurley do, their sub-connscious becomes their conscious and they are fully aware of both realities.

So that begs the question: what are Desmond and Hurley up to? Is their plan to wake everyone up? Is that why Desmond is bringing Kate to the concert? Well let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

After Jack wakes up, his spazzy little son, who absolutely adores Jack every since their little heart-to-heart, is eating breakfast enthusiastically and gazing into his daddy's eyes. Pregnant Claire enters the room, says some stupid things, and then Desmond calls Jack pretending to be Oceanic Airlines and telling Jack to come to the airport to claim his father's body, which has been found. (?)

So why is Desmond bringing Jack to the airport? Christian's body isn't really there I'm guessing. Maybe Hurley is taking Sayid to the airport? That's my only guess, since we don't know of anyone else important who could be there.

Cut to Desmond in his car, who is watching Locke and I really though for a second he was going to run him down, again, which would have been HILARIOUS. But Dr. Ben Linus spots Desmond and is all "Hey you rascal, I'm gonna tell on you" and then Desmond is like "Maybe instead I'll punch your face in." It's kind of funny how no matter what Timeline it is, Ben is always getting his face punched in by somebody.

This scene was important though, as it was the beginning of Ben's "wake-up" experience, and also led to Locke being compelled to finally let Dr. Jack "fix him." (Just a hunch, but I think that when Locke can walk in Timeline B, something awesome is going to happen in Timeline A. Possibly John Locke rises from the dead and effectively kills the Smoke Monster. Just a guess.)

Desmond calmly drives away, to the police station where he turns himself in for his crimes. Busy day for Desmond. First he had to set up the plan with Hurley to bribe Ana Lucia, then he prank called Jack, beat up Ben, spent a few hours in jail, and is now headed to a concert with Kate. He's got a lot going on.

Ben tells Locke (the substitute) about how he needs to "let go" and Locke is freaked out. I love the contrast between Locke and Ben in Timeline B - just a couple of real nice guys - and Locke and Ben in Timeline A - a couple of ruthless killing machines. Only a couple of A+ actors like Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson could pull of playing two totally different roles in the same episode. As opposed to, say, Emilie de Ravin, who struggles to deliver 2 simple lines an episode.

In the LAPD scene, Miles is getting all ready to go to the benefit concert at his dad's museum. This might seem like a minute detail, but contraire. This concert is going to be the major reunion party of so many of our Lost characters. To list them:

-Jack Shepherd, with his son David
-David Shepherd's mom (I'm 98% convinced that she is Juliet, more on that later)
-Miles and his dad, Pierre Chang
-Charlotte, who works at the museum
-Charlotte's new boyfriend, Daniel Widmore (aka Faraday), who is playing piano in the concert
-Charlie Pace, rocking the bass. At the concert, he will see ...
-Claire! She'll tag along with her new brother Jack
-Desmond and Kate will surely be there
-Widmore and Eloise are there, supporting their son Daniel
-Penny, meeting up with Desmond
-Sawyer, who will go along with Miles because he's got nothing else to do

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Ben and Danielle Rousseau (how weird/cool was it to see her normal?) go to the concert on their first official date, and Locke and Helen go with them as a double date. Bernard and Rose might be there too, because going to a concert at a museum seems like something they might do. Oh, and Sun and Jin will not be there, because they have a new baby. I don't think we'll ever see them again.

The lingering question is, where is Hurley driving Sayid? To the concert? To the airport? Maybe they need to stop and pick someone up on the way? We'll see.

Okay, here's my take on why Juliet is David Shepherd's mother:

A. We haven't seen her yet in the flash-sideways, but we've seen just about everyone else
B. We know David's mother will be at the concert
C. Her and Jack had a romantic history on the island
D. It didn't work out, thus why they got divorced in Timeline B
E. Jack would have been 21 when David was born, meaning he was in college, meaning he was probably involved with someone else in the medical field
F. Juliet is a doctor
G. And here's the kicker: At Juliet's house in Dharmaville, she had a mirror on the wall surrounded by hats. In David's mother's house in Timeline B, there was a similar mirror surrounded by hats. Coincidence? I think not.

















Little things like that are why I love LOST. What other show would do something like that?

So Juliet is David's mother, and her and Jack have an awkward relationship, and she is single. Which means that, at the concert, she'll run into none other than Officer James Ford, and they'll hit it off instantly, sort of like when Desmond met Penny at the stadium or when Hurley met Libby. They'll "wake up" and Juliet will say the line we've been waiting for since LA X: "We could get coffee sometime. We could go dutch." That'll be fairly awesome. It'll be nice to see Happy Sawyer for the first time in a long time.

Oh, and at the concert, Claire's water will break, and labor will begin, and suddenly, rushing from her cervix, a monstrous cloud of black smoke will emerge. Just throwing that out there.

(Let's hope that's the last time I ever mention the word 'cervix' on this blog.)

And at some point after the concert, Jack will operate on Locke, and I speculate that those scenes will be shown in direct contrast with the on-island fight between Jack and Locke. That should be great.

So while nothing major happened in Timeline B in this episode, there was a ton of great set-up stuff in preparing for The End (that's the name of the finale). With the finale being 2.5 hours long, there should be a good 60 minutes devoted to Timeline B, enough for a full-length episode.

What we still need to find out:
-How did Timeline B come to exist?
-What is its purpose?

Also, less importantly:
-Where is Christian's body?
-Is Kate really innocent?
-Will Claire give birth?
-Will Jack fix Locke?
-What will happen when everyone "wakes up?"

Okay, that's enough. On to the island ...

Jack and the Gang

The 4 remaining candidates are gathered on the beach, angry and sad, and they head off towards the well. On the way, an emotional Sawyer agonizes about the deaths of Sun and Jin and Sayid, and Jack empathizes with him, (gasp!) and says, "No, He killed them."

At this point I said aloud, "Wow, Jack has come such a long way." Season One version of Jack would have turned on Sawyer with that stupid smirk on his face and yelled "Yes you did! you killed them! it's your fault! now give me those damn antibiotics!!!" I HATED Season One Jack, but Season Six Jack just might be my favorite character.

So on their way to the well, Young Jacob shows up and asks Hurley for the ashes that he's carrying around, and then he takes them and bolts away like a little stinker. Hurley chases him into the jungle and instead finds Adult Jacob, sitting peacefully by a fire, and he's all "Hello Hugo. We are very close to the end."

So we must assume that by obtaining his own ashes, Jacob temporarily came back to life, and will live as long as the fire burns. Whatever, I can live with that I guess.

The other 3 candidates find the fire and can actually see Jacob, and the stage is set for an epic conversation, and guess what ... the writers actually didn't let us down!! Jacob just sits there and rattles off answer after answer and astounds both the Losties and the audience with his awesomeness and makes me head explode.

"None of you had a happy existence. I chose you because you were all alone, all needing something that you couldn't find. You needed the island as much as it needed you." Boom!

Think about it ... was there anyone on Oceanic 815 who lived a happy, complete life?

Jack ... nope, he was a maniac.
Kate ... nope, she killed her dad.
Sawyer ... driven by revenge and hate.
Hurley ... cursed and alone.
Sayid - tortured torturer.
Sun & Jin - miserable marriage.
Boone, Shanon, Eko, Ana Lucia, Libby, John Locke - all severely messed up individuals.
Charlie. Michael. The list goes on.

Jacob wanted to give everyone what he didn't have - a choice - which alludes to one of the biggest recurring themes in LOST - free will versus fate.

We also find out that Kate's name was crossed off because she became a mother. That was a direct answer to a question and it actually made sense. Becomming a mother made her 'complete' or at least made it so Jacob didn't want to force her into being his replacement.

Jacob says that one of the 4 Candidates must replace him before the fire burns out, otherwise everyone is screwed, and without much hesitation, Jack says "I'll do it. It's my purpose."

Excellent! Did I mention that I love Jack?

So Jacob leads Jack to the river and they drink a little magic water (?) and Jacob says the same words his mother said to him: "Now you're like me." I'm not gonna get all hung up on the magic water thing ... it doesn't make any sense, but whatever, neither does time travel.

So Jack becomes the new protector of the Island while the other 3 watch in a combination of awe, confusion, and relief. Hurley says "I'm just glad it's not me."

Jack's mission - to protect the Source, and to kill the Monster.

Should make for an awesome finale.

Locke and Ben and the Barracks

Ben, Richard and Miles return from a four episode abscene and somehow are still on their way to the Barracks. I'm pretty sure that like 3 days have passed for everyone else and only like 2 hours for these guys, but whatever.

Before they enter Ben's old house, they walk past Alex's grave, and some unhappy memories are revived in Ben. Inside the house, Ben gives one of the coolest and most profound lines of the season:

"This is where I learned to summon the monster, until I found out that he was actually summoning me."

Wow. This is like one of those "it only ends once..." lines that you have to think about and re-read 5 times to really understand. So when Ben was 'summoning' the monster, was the monster actually coming out voluntarily, to give Ben the allusion that he was in control? So that he could deceive him later? I really don't know.

Richard tells Ben that he would like to "blow the plane to hell" and as Ben grabs the C-4 from the safe, they hear Widmore's annoying chick rummaging around in the kitchen. Charles is standing off to the side and gives his typical "She's with me" line, and arch-enemies Ben and Widmore stand face-to-face for the first time in years. And since Ben was just reminded of his daughter's death, the tension is pretty tight.

Widmore sends Zoe off to the dock to sink the outrigger and get "the stores" (?) but before she gets there, she sees Flocke paddling to shore, so she radios Widmore, and he's like "aw, shit."

Panic ensues, and everyone splits up. Miles runs through the jungle (taking a walkie-talkie with him) and we have no idea what he's up to, but maybe he'll stumle into the Jack group next week.

Widmore and Zoe hide in Ben's secret room.

And Ben and Richard go outside to face the Monster, believing he'll be open to some peaceful dialogue. Not exactly. One of my favorite characters, Richard Albert, is grabbed and thrown dastardly into a tree, bringing his 175+ years of life to a very abrupt end, while Ben watches calmly from the porch.

Flocke approaches Ben and says "Just the man I was hoping to see." Yeah, apparently he wasn't interested in talking to Richard.

While it was sad to see Richard die so harmlessly, it was his time. I'm over it.

It's at this point that Ben Linus the Bad Guy makes a surprising return, and agrees to kill whomever Flocke asks him to in exchange for leadership of the island. Ben Linus really fits the description of a psychopath - " abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct." Bad Guy Ben leads Flocke into the house and opens the secret room, and then delivers a typical, awesome, Michael Emerson line - "Sorry, Charles."

Flocke promptly slits Zoe's throat and then turns on Widmore, with the always-effective threat of killing his daughter. Widmore gives into Flocke's demands instantly, and then ... BOOM! Ben unloads a pistol into Widmore's chest. "He doesn't get to save his daughter." Whoa.

Flocke says that Ben never ceases to amaze him, and the two head out on their killing fest. Flocke comments that he likes the feeling of his feet on the ground, reminding him that he's still human. What a creep.

At the well, Flocke finds that Desmond has been released (presumably by the Jack crew), and is surprisingly happy. Revealing what Widmore told him, Flocke says that Desmond is Jacob's fail-safe way to destroy the Island and prevent the Monster from ever leaving. Flocke tells Ben that he's going to use Desmond to do what he's always wanted to do but never could - "Destroy the island."

(This was quite similar to the way the episode 'Cabin Fever' ended, with Terry O'Quinn saying "He wants us to move the island.")

So, here are my thoughts ...

The fact that Jacob appeared to Widmore off the island and "invited" him to the island, instructed him to bring Desmond, and informed him about the Monster and the Source, makes SO much sense. I'm so glad they included that detail. It killed about 5 big questions with one stone.

Miles is now wandering around the jungle, joining Claire as the two characters who are MIA, could appear at any moment during the finale, and could die at a moment's notice. Oh, and don't forget Rose and Bernard, who may or may not have survived the 1977 explosion and moved into present day. They tend to show up for finales.

Oh, by the way, where did Desmond go?

I actually thought the Ben-Locke storyline was my favorite of this episode, although the other two storylines were excellent. I liked it because I didn't expect much from it. I didn't expect Richard, Zoe and Widmore to all die in a matter of minutes, and for Ben to switch allegiances with little prodding. Mostly, I liked it because it was Michael Emerson at his finest.

Don't you think Ben is going to be kind of pissed at Flocke, for telling him that he could have the Island, but then later vowing to destroy it. Kind of like telling a little kid you're going to buy him a new bike, but as soon as you buy it you're going to smash it to pieces. If I were Ben, I'd be a little upset.

Setting up for The End

"What They Died For" was certainly a set-up episode for the finale, but that's not all it was. In fact I'd say it was arguably the best set-up episode in LOST history, and there have been a lot of them. The stage is set for an awesome finale, and fortunately a lot of answers have already been given, so they can spend the majority of the time actually doing stuff.

So, what will they do? What is gonna happen? Everyone wants to know, how will the show end??

I'll just offer one thought on that, and it's this - the writers of LOST absolutely HATE being predictable. It's their number one goal in creating the show. To be original. To be virtually un-guessable.

For better or worse.

Last week we saw their efforts at creating a history of the Island that was unguessable. Their attempt at an Adam & Eve that were unguessable. "If the fans guess every single character in the world to be Adam & Eve, then I guess we'll have to introduce a brand new character and make her Eve." I really think that's what they said. And last week, it backfired.

But in the past, it's been awesome. With the hatch, and the Others, and Jacob, and the Smoke Monster, and countless other things, the writers have been so outlandish that it blows past out guesses and our theories and makes us say "dang! did they really just do that!?"

So all of the typical guesses for how LOST will end - time loop, death of MIB, someone has to choose between the timelines, Locke comes back from the dead - anything remotely predictable or even guessable - will not happen. That's my guess. My prediction is that the ending of LOST will be literally and utterly impossibly to predict.

That all being said, here are two predictions for what will happen in The End:

1. Something with Aaron. Not sure what. But something. In the original timeline. I think he'll be important.

2. Something with Walt. I really think we haven't seen the last of the bratty little guy. I don't know why. I just have a gut feeling that he'll show up. He's special.

That's all I got.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Keeping Expectations Low ...

Tonight is the penultimate episode of LOST. (In case you didn't know, penultimate means "next to last" and every time you use it you sound instantly smart.)

Last week I anticipated 'Across the Sea' to be an all-time classic, and instead I got an all-time fart. Just one long 60 minute fart of an episode.

So tonight, I'm keeping my hopes low and my expectations lower.

Traditionally, my LOST compatriots (which consist of me, Alie, and Crazy Keith) adhere to several watching rules. No talking during the show, only during commercials. No talking about anything other than LOST between the hours of 8:59 and 10:10. Never answer your phone, no matter who's calling. Don't even think about it. Unless it's a commercial, and you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the call is pertaining to LOST, and in that case you better keep the conversation under 30 seconds. No going to the bathroom unless it's at the start of the first commercial, otherwise you might miss something. And the final and most important rule, if you miss something, it's your fault, do not expect a recap, especially during the show. You pay the price for your own slowness in the bathroom. You want to know what happened, learn to pee faster.

Those are the rules, and they may explain why our LOST party is always just 3 people.

Tonight, in light of last week's colossal disappointment, I might just scrap the rules completely, and watch LOST while simultaneously talking about football, eating crunchy chips, surfing the web, and filling out a crossword puzzle. I'll probably walk in and out of the room at my leisure, regardless of if the show is on or not. I might just go for a stroll around the block, and if I miss the rest of the show, so be it.

What could I possibly miss? More stupid vague crap? More intentional provoking of a loyal fan base that deserves some damn answers? More stupid bull crap from writers who are in way over their heads?

Actually, I probably won't go for a walk around the block, in light of the fact that there was a double shooting on my street last week Friday. No one was killed, but an SUV was attacked and then sped away after someone punched through the window. I know this because I saw it on the news, and also because Alie and I were driving down Logan Street when it happened, and we saw the guy punch through the window, and then we were almost hit by the speeding away SUV while our 5-month old baby was in the back seat. So yeah, it's a good thing we're moving this weekend.

Anyway, back to LOST, tonight's episode is called 'What They Died For.'

No idea who the episode revolves around, but my guesses would be either A. Jack, or B. No one. More likely, I think it'll be an episode that focuses primarily on the flash sideways, and hopefully answers a butt-load of questions raised in Timeline B.

Where is Christian's body? What's up with the scars on Jack's neck and stomach? What IS Timeline B?

As it stands now, Desmond, Hurley and Faraday know what's going on, and no one else does, although several people are getting close. Sayid is in Sawyer's custody, and so is Kate. Jack, Locke, Sun and Jin are at the hospital. Miles is Sawyer's sidekick, Ben knows Desmond drove into Locke so he might be helping the police (AKA Sawyer) hunt down Desmond, and Desmond still has the manifest and may be planning a visit to his next target. Also we're still waiting on the Juliet appearance, which should wake up Sawyer and be a pretty touching reunion.

My feeling is that the writers know how bad they messed up in 'Across the Sea,' and even before it aired they knew it was going to disappoint. Thus, they probably allowed for at least 2 or 3 major crowd-pleasers in 'What They Died For,' in an effort to appease the fans and get us to forget about the awful attempt at explaining the Island's mysterious past.

I'm the most stubborn and angry of LOST fans, I'm pretty sure, so tonight better kick some serious butt to get me to forget about last week.

Juliet better show up and talk to Sawyer. That's 1.

The outrigger shootout must finally be revealed. That 2.

And they have to do something significant and major in explaining what the flash-sideways is, how it came to be, and why everything is different. That would be 3.

The Juliet thing is a given, either this week or next. The outrigger thing is also a necessity, and I think it'll happen tonight. As for some Timeline B answers, I don't think we'll get much tonight, and most of that will be saved for the grand finale.

My thoughts on the outrigger shootout - Ben, Richard and Miles are leaving the Barracks while guns and explosives ready, and they're paddling over to hydra island. On the way, they see a boat and assume it's Widmore's people, or maybe Flocke's people, and after a bit of deliberation, they open fire. They take a few shots, get shot at a few times, and the other boat vanishes. Miles gets a look of understanding and says to the other two, "Uh, guys, I think we were just shooting at ... me ..."

Other possiblities: the time-traveling Losties actually hit one of the guys, most likely Ben, and possibly even kill him. This would be crazy, but would make it more understandable why we've been waiting to see the outrigger shootout for like 25 episodes. Or, maybe they hit Miles, and ironically Miles dies in a shootout with his self, or actually I think Sawyer was the only one who fired from the original outrigger.

One thing's for sure, when they do 'Previously, On LOST' we'll know if the outrigger shootout will be tonight within a few seconds.

That's pretty much all I have for now. Here's hoping tonight's penultimate episode makes up for last week's ultimate crap episode.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

LeBron is LeGone; Question is, Where Will He Go?

In light of Cleveland missing the NBA Finals for a second straight year, the chances of the best player in basketball remaining a Cav are pretty slim right now. A handful of teams have spent the last 2 or 3 years (yes, years) hoping and planning for this moment, and they won't be shy about opening up their checkbooks. After all, LeBron is the greatest return-on-investment in the NBA. You may end up paying him $20 million a season, but you can double ticket prices and still sell out every game, while your merchandise sales skyrocket and you become the most talked about team in basketball. Obtaining LeBron is a no-lose situation, and that's why there's no question that the LBJ Sweepstakes are going to be highly entertaining and competitive this summer.

LeBron officially becomes an unrestriced free agent on June 30th at midnight, and he hasn't denied the fact that he'll keep his options open.


"First of all, I want to win. I think the Cavs are committed to doing that, but at the same time, I've given myself options at this point. We'll see where we'll be at."


"I love the city of Cleveland, of course, the fans, you know ...We had a great time together. We'll see what happens."

We had a great time together, LeBron? Wow, Cleveland fans have got to feel great about that vernacular. No question about it, Cavs-Celtics 2010 is going to go down as the worst thing that ever happened to Cleveland sports.

They haven't won a championship in 62 years. The Browns have never been to the Super Bowl. The Cavs have only been to the Finals once (2007) and won't be back for a very long time. Only the Indians have ever won a championship (1948), and don't expect another one in the decade or two. It's a bleak, bleak, bleak time to be a Cleveland sports fan. But don't expect any sympathy from me, the Lions just went 2-30 over the last 2 years.


So the obvious question is: where will Lebron go?

The major suitors are Chicago, Miami, New York, New Jersey, and LA (the Clippers). Dallas and Sacramento are among the dark horses, and of course Cleveland is in the mix.


Each team has unique advantages and disadvantages, all of which LeBron and his team will weigh in the decisions. There are dozens of storylines at play. The Summer of LeBron has the potential to be more discussed than the Favre Summers of 08, 09 and 10 combined.


Let's take it team by team ...

Sacramento Kings- 2% Chance
Not a sexy choice for LeBron, but the opportunity to play alongside 2010 Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans has got to be pretty interesting.

Dallas Mavericks - 3% Chance
They don't have as much cap space as the others, but they have a superstar who can't get it done by himself (Dirk) and a desperate owner who's not afraid to spend gobs of cash (Mark Cuban).


Cleveland Cavaliers - 5% Chance
It seems like LeBron was almost hoping they'd lose in the playoffs so he could leave town without a guilt conscious.


Miami Heat- 8% Chance
A lot of people think the Heat is one of the most likely destinations for LeBron, and that he could even join Wade there. I think Miami will be able to re-sign Wade, and I don't think that'll leave enough for the record-setting deal LeBron will demand. But if Wade goes elsewhere, the warm weather might lure LeBron to Miami.

LA Clippers - 11% Chance
Wouldn't surprise me at all if LeBron moved to LA and tried to steal the Staples Center from Kobe. He could essentially hand-pick a coach and a GM, and would get to play alongside 2009 #1 overall pick Blake Griffin as well as a great outside shooter in Eric Gordon.



New Jersey Nets - 22% Chance
We'll know a lot more after the NBA Lottery, when the Nets will have a decent shot at the #1 overall pick in 2011 (AKA John Wall). If they get it, it would be tough for LeBron to turn down the chance at playing alongside a point guard with unlimited potential, on a team owned by his good friend Jay-Z.

Chicago Bulls - 23% Chance
LeBron would have the opportunity to literally walk in Michael Jordan's footprints (a challenge I think he'll embrace), and he'll have to change his jersey number, which I think he wants to do anyway to "reinvent himself." He would be able to play alongside a decent big guy in Joakim Noah (who incidentally might be the biggest douche in the NBA) and a top 5 NBA point guard in Derrick Rose. And he could hand-pick his own coach to replace Vinny Del Negro.

New York Knicks - 26% Chance
The lure of playing on America's biggest stage is the key to LeBron being a Knick. They've got plenty of cash, and are the most likely candidates to be able to sign a LeBron/Bosh package. Plus, we know LeBron has been "leading them on" for the past 18 months. Below is a picture of LeBron's 2010 shoe, which believe it or not, has "I Heart NY" on the bottom. I kid you not.


















Every NBA writer and analyst has their own interpretation of where LeBron will go and why, but the truth is, I don't think LeBron himself has any idea where he will go yet. He's put himself in an unbeliavably good situation where basically five or six mega-rich owners will be emptying their pockets and begging him to join their franchises. It's basically the NBA's version of The Bachelor.

But LeBron will have demands, and they'll include more than just $20+ million a year. He wants solid teammates who can win a title NOW, not in five years. He wants three things in particular, none of which he had in Cleveland:



  • He wants a good point guard, someone who will unselfishly run the offense and let LeBron take over whenever he deems necesssary.
  • He wants a good big man, someone who can finish in the paint, play defense, rebound, and create their own bucket if LeBron feels like taking a few plays off.
  • And he wants a good coach, someone who he can learn from, someone he respects as an equal, and someone who can handle his monstrous ego in stride.
The point guard and big guy could be a lot of different players. Certainly New York and Miami are lacking both of those positions, and would need to acquire a Chris Bosh type player to lure LeBron. New York could also retain David Lee if they can't get Bosh, but I'm not sure LeBron wants his main sidekick to be a white guy.

Chicago is the most appealing option from the standpoint of teammates, and LA a close second. If New Jersey gets the #1 pick and John Wall, they'd be third.

As far as coaching prospects, all signs and rumors point to current Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari. I don't understand why LeBron so desperately wants to be coached by a college guy with a history of disloyalty and recruiting scandal, but that's his prerogative. Calipari could easily take the job in Chicago or LA or New Jersey; in New York it would require the firing of Mike Dantoni, which isn't out of the question; if Miami, it would happen over Pat Riley's dead body.



Adding to the drama are two other storylines - Calipari coached Bulls star Derrick Rose in college, as well as future #1 pick John Wall. That's an added bonus that gives the Bulls and Nets a little more hope and hype.

Of course, Calipari tweeted last week that he's staying in Kentucky - quote "I will be coaching at Kentucky next year. Let's finish what we started!" But can you really trust college coaches when they say they're not going anywhere? We've seen that act dozens of times before, and what coach is going to turn down the opportunity to win NBA championships with LeBron? Seriously Calipari, you should have tweeted "Peace out UK! LBJ my main man!"

Making the decision even more complicated are the slew of other talented free agents who will be, or might be, entering free agency this summer. You already know about Dwayne Wade (50-50 that he's leaving Miami) and Chris Bosh (definitely leaving, he HATES Toronto), but there's also Atlanta's Joe Johnson (90% leaving), Boston's Ray Allen (50-50), New York's David Lee (no idea what he's thinking), Utah's Carlos Boozer (probably leaving), Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire (leaving unless they win the 2010 title), San Antonio's Manu Ginobili (50-50), and Washington's Josh Howard (probably staying). That's some serious talent, and will certainly shake up the landscape of the NBA by the time September rolls around.

(Sadly, none of these guys are going to Detroit. We're tied down by terrible, terrible, terrible contracts.)

LeBron's best chance is to pair himself with either Wade or Bosh, or as some people have suggested, both. I don't see that coming anywhere close to happening.

I can't see LeBron and Wade together for ego-reasons. I can definitely see LeBron and Bosh together, but I could also see Bosh and Wade together. Or I could see Bosh not having the value he thinks he should have because all he's done in his career is lose; he's never been past the first round of the playoffs in 7 years.

Ultimately, I think Lebron's decision comes down to two things, two choices, two ideals. Fame, or winning.

Which does he want more. Which one really drives him.

For Jordan, it was never a question. He only ever wanted to win, and if he became famous as a result, so be it. With LeBron, it's been about fame from the first day. He's never objected to being called 'Chosen' or 'King.' When people compare him to MJ or Magic or Oscar, he doesn't offer the obligatory "To even be mentioned in that company..." line that everyone else does. No, instead he says "Yeah, I am the best. Thank you. Now watch me throw some dust up in the air!"

When asked what his goals are, LeBron has stated that he wants to be a "global icon" and to be the world's first billionare athlete. Sure he talks about winning championships, but that always seems to be an afterthought. Where was that drive and dedication against the Celtics? Where was his competitiveness when he was swept by the Spurs in the 2007 Finals?

If LBJ wants to be the most famous athlete in the world, his choice is simple: join the Knicks.

Yes, he could be mega-famous in Los Angeles, hanging out with Kobe and George Clooney. Or in Miami, replacing Wade and stealing the spotlight from Tiger Woods. Or in Brooklyn, hanging out with Jay-Z and Beyonce. But if he really, truly, seriously wants to be the world's first billionare athlete, and I believe he does, then he'll go to New York.




























And on the other hand, if LeBron's main interest and sole priority is winning championships, I think the choice is pretty clear: Chicago. He may be hesitant to go there because of the enormous shadow cast by MJ, and he probably realizes that his chances of winning 6 NBA titles are slim to none, but it is his best chance of raising a banner by this time next year.

From a talent-perspective, Chicago and the Clippers are pretty even. But the difference is, the Eastern Conference is so much less competitive. If LeBron leaves Cleveland and stays within the conference, his new teams instantly becomes the best team in the East.

If LeBron joins the Clippers (or Mavs or Kings), they won't be. They'll have to go past not only Kobe in the playoffs, but also Nash, Durant, Roy, Deron Williams, Nowitzki and Duncan.

In the East, he's got two teams to worry about: Boston and Orlando. Both teams are flawed, and pretty old. Atlanta melted like a cheap candle in the 2010 playoffs, and the young Bulls and Bucks and Bobcats aren't ready to be taken seriously.

If LeBron is smart, and his team of advisors are smart, then their first priority will be simple: stay in the Eastern Conference. That said, if winning is his main priority, I think he has to choose the Bulls. Yeah, the allure of playing with Chris Bosh is pretty excited, but I think LeBron knows that Derrick Rose is a better player and much better teammate than Bosh, and also a more established winner.

Unfortunately for Bulls fans, I don't know if winning really is LeBron's main priority. I think he's pretty torn between the winning and the fame. The spotlight, the stats, and the rings. He can't have it all. If his teammates get better, his stats will get worse. That's just the facts.

Does he really want to try to be the first guy in 50 years to average a triple-double? Does he want to win the MVP award for the next 5 years in a row? If so, he should go to New York, and he should keep Chris Bosh away. Maybe he'll win a championship there, maybe not, but if he surrounds himself with the talent in Chicago, he almost definitely will.

My hunch, even amidst all the "reports" from LeBron's "sources" that have hit the news over the past week saying that LeBron is deciding between Miami and Chicago, is that LeBron will go to New York, just like we always figured he would.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Across the Sea, Part 2

If you missed my initial reaction to Across the Sea, scroll down just a little bit.

Here are my updated thoughts:

I still didn't like the episode, but I'm starting to not hate it as much. I really need to re-watch it.

There are a lot of new theories swirling around about the Smoke Monster, the Mother, "the Source," and what the Island is. Unfortunately, 99% of those theories are in vain. The writers are done explaining the mythology of the show. They got one chance, one episode to do it, and for better or worse, we saw that effort on Tuesday.

Next week they have to go back to the whole Jack-Sawyer-Hurley plot, while also bringing Ben-Richard-Miles back into the show, and also Desmond and Widmore, not to mention wrapping up the flash-sideways somehow. I don't think we're going to quite have time for any more trips back in time to learn more about 'Mother.'

And just because Adam and Eve and the frozen wheel were explained, there's still a lot of mystery left to be answered. ie. who built the statue? where did the Others come from?

We didn't learn anything about what year it was in Across the Sea, but according to lostpedia it was 23 AD, which means Jacob and MIB have been on the island for 2,000 years.

A lot of people are speculating as to whether Smokie is its own seperate entity, or whether the MAN in black (Jacob's brother) became possessed by Smokie, or whether he just became Smokey.

There is some pretty good evidence for any of those scenarios, but based on the MiB's demeanor, and various things that he said in Ab Aeterno (Jacob's stole my body, for example) as well as things he has said as Flocke, (I'm not a what, I'm a who) I think the Smoke Monster (evil) inhabited the body of the Man (who, by the way, DOESN'T HAVE A FREAKING NAME AND NEVER WILL) in Black, but still withholds the spirit of the Man in Black and his personna and his memories and his "self" in the most vaguely philosophical sense possible.

The Monster is the Man in Black, but the Man in Black is dead.

He's been laying there dead for 2,000 years, and yet he's alive.

Because Mother said that anyone who entered the cave wouldn't die, but it would be worse than death.

So MiB's body died, but his soul didn't. Instead, his soul became invested with evil.

Okay, that sounds good to me, enough on that topic. My head is starting to hurt and I'm thinking about smashing my computer with my shoe just thinking about this moronic episode.

A lot of people are also speculating that Mother was the Smoke Monster all along. That's why she's so creepy, and how she managed to kill that whole village of people.

My thoughts ... nice try, but no, that's ridiculous.

Most of the talk among LOST fans is about "the light," also called "the source," and "the heart of the island." Mother says it's "Life, death, rebirth." We don't really have any idea WHAT specifically it is, nor will we ever, so for now, let's just call it "the light" and begrudge the fact that the key to everything is a stupid mystery that we'll never understand.

First, a sidenote ...

Mother said if the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere. But earlier, she said "There is nowhere else. The island is all there is." How can there be an everywhere if 5 minutes ago there is no where else? Again, this episode was simply not well thought out. I'm so dissappointed.
Anyway.

So what IS the deal with the light? There are literally a hundred different theories about it, but frankly I don't like any of them, so I'm just gonna post the conversation verbatum ..... and then offer a few thoughts......

BOY IN BLACK: What is this place?
MOTHER: This is the reason you're here.
[They approach the tunnel]
MOTHER: Don't go in there.
BOY IN BLACK: What's down there?
MOTHER: Light. The warmest, brightest light you've ever seen or felt. And we must make sure that no one ever finds it.
BOY IN BLACK: It's beautiful...
MOTHER: Yes it is. And that's why they want it. Because a little bit of this very same light is inside of every man. But they always want more.
JACOB: Can they take it?
MOTHER: No. But they would try. And if they tried they could put it out. And if the light goes out here... it goes out everywhere. And so I've protected this place. But I can't protect it forever.
BOY IN BLACK: Then who will?
MOTHER: It will have to be one of you.


First of all, this whole conversation is just WAAY to vague and leads my believing that the writers don't have a clue what they're doing. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt for a second ...

So they (meaning people, i.e. Widmore??) could try to take the light, and if they did, it would "put it out," and by doing so, they would "put it out everywhere," which I assume is some sort of apocolyptic reference to the end of the world.

There are numerous references to the end of the world if Smokie ever leaves the island, so we have to assume there's a connection with Smokie (who may be the physical manifestation of the light) leaving the island and the light going out everywhere. That doesn't make sense really ... if the light leaves the island, it goes out? If the light goes everywhere, it goes out everywhere? Huh? It's not that my brain can't comprehend such advanced logic, it's that there is no logic, just muddled nonsense that the writers hope will be misconstued into some kind of stupid sci-fi logic if enough fans take hold of this stupid episode and run with in. Sorry...

So Jacob obviously became the one who has to protect the island, protect the source, and his job is to keep it (ie the monster) from leaving the island. When Mother kills the MiB (but he doesn't really die) she knows he's gonna kill her, and she knows it's time for Jacob to replace her. She says these words:

"It has to be you, Jacob"

Pretty similar to Sayid's final words: "It's going to be you, Jack."

So when Jacob drinks the wine, the immortality and protectorship of the island is passed from her to him, and she becomes killable. And promptly, her unnamed son kills her, and her dying words are "thank you." As in, I've been alive for SOOO long and I'm so relieved to finally die. Probably the same way Jacob felt when Ben killed him. Probably why he let Ben kill him.

Further proof that she knew she was gonna die, and this is a small detail ...

In the next scene, she tells Jacob to go gather some firewood. He says "See you back home" and she doesn't respond. Because she knows she won't see him again.

What she probably didn't anticipate (although maybe she did) was that Jacob would go nuts with anger when he finds MiB has killed Mother, and that Jacob would toss him into the "light," thus turning him into the infamous smoke monster.

"Life. Death. Rebirth. Worse than dying...much worse."






Okay that's all I have time for now... but as far as the next two episodes are concerned, I think (actually I'm 99% sure) that the thing that Widmore is looking for, using Jin's topographical maps to find, is the "source" and he wants to use Desmond to "put the light out" or whatever. But since Desmond doesn't react normally to electromagnetism, Des won't become a smoke monster.

Or maybe Des will become a GOOD smoke monster - wouldn't that be the coolest thing ever?

Remember, Widmore told Des he would ask him to make a sacrifice.

And Flocke wants to stop Des no matter what the cost.

So Des must have an important connection with the source. Perhaps if he enters the source, he will die but also effectively kill the Monster.

I don't think we've heard about the Source for the last time. I certainly freaking hope not.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Okay, okay

Now that I've got that off my chest, I'll just say that it's going to take a few days to digest this episode, to think about it, and collect my thoughts, and hopefully I'll post something semi-intelligent by the end of the week.

Also, on a basketball note, I was mid-way through writing a pretty awesome post about the playoffs and the upcoming summer of free agency, and then last night was a major, major revelation in the history of the NBA. No kidding, it may have been one of the 5 most important games in NBA history. Serious.

Why? Because the Cavs got positively BLOWN OUT at home, and LeBron James played the worst game he's played in about five years. Cleveland fans booed him, the Cavs owner dissed him, and unless Cleveland miraculously comes back and wins the series (now down 2-3), LeBron is DEFINITELY going to either the Knicks or Bulls sometime in July.

And when the most talented player since Jordan changes teams in his prime, it's a pretty big deal.

So basically, the thing I was writing is now all sorts of messed-up, and I'll try to re-work on it and post it up here sometime soon, but I'm a little too worried about LOST right now to think about basketball.

All I know is, I can't stand Lebron (and neither can anyone I've ever met), so the idea of him not winning the championship AGAIN is great news. HAHA!

Across the Sea ...

a friend asked me for my take on last night's lost episode, and this is what i emailed him ...


my take on the show is
it was the WORST EFFING EPISODE they've ever done
all the hype
for NOTHING
no answers, just more questions

who's that stupid lady
how'd she get there
what the HELL was up with the shining river of light
and all the vague talk
like "a little bit of this light is inside every man. And they always want more"
right
what the hell is that supposed to mean
it was just one meaningless nonsensical statement after another
just meant to confuse and conquer the audience into saying 'i dont get it, so i guess i'll go along with it'
too bad that doesnt work cuz the auience wants REAL freaking ANSWERS
the audience is smarter than you think damon and carlton!!!
we're not retarded, we're not gonna be duped into thinking a shiny river holds all the answers
just blatant, obvious proof that they had no idea what the island WAS themselves
they should have just picked one of the theorys from a fan and run with it
but instead they had to be cocky and go their own way and be "original"
and what they decided upon was
"how about a glowing river of light to explain what the island is, how it heals people, keeps people ageless, and ALSO at the SAME TIME ALSO CREATES THE BLACK SMOKE MONSTER!"
yeah, i bet people will fall for that!
and if they still have questions, we'll just have them drink some magic wine
yeah, magic wine always answers all of people's questions

okay so theyre brothers, they play backgammon and jacob is a naive little twit who always tells his mom the truth
and both kids are morons
"what's dead?"
"what's a ship"
come on how stupid can they be
they don't know what dead is? dont they hunt boar? do they eat the boar alive?


jacob is a little dipshit. he sucks. i cant believe i thought he was cool. he's a total loser.

as for the attempt at answering what the rules are (only the potentially most awesome part of lost, it could have been all laid-out like a game), all we get is "I made it so you two can't hurt each other."

how the HELL did you manage to do that??! !?!??!?!
what is she a witch?
why is she immortal anyway??
OOHHH, right, because she drank the wine, i forgot, that makes A TON of sense

if they cant hurt each other, why does jacob punch MIB and make his face all bloody on two different occasions. maybe she should have said cant kill each other???

is that the ONLY freaking rule?
what about the candidates?
what about not being able to kill them?

"one day jacob, you can make up your own game with your own rules."

yeah that was pretty cool when MIB said that, but are we just supposed to assume thats what happened ..
are they ever gonna show that???
what were the rules he made up?
what was the LOOPHOLE???

jacob is such a loser. why did he let ben stab him in the first place.
why not run away
or attack ben first
or something. he just let ben EFFING kill him!!!
he's just an idiot.

heres another question ... how the EFFING HELL did jacob get off the island????????
you know, to visit everyone?? are they EVER gonna tell us that?
NOOOOOO.
they aren't. they just aren't.

we'll never find out about walt being special, or aaron being 'dangerous,' or what the rules actually are

there's too much to do in the next 2 episodes with the whole stupid idiotic flash-sideways and not to mention desmond who better be pretty frickin important (and where is jack's dad's body, are they gonna tell us that? is it gonna take them 45 minutes to slowly reveal like the way it took them an entire 60 minutes to very very very very very very slowly reveal about the frozen donkey wheel (something no one even really cares about) and adam and eve ....
speaking of which!

i thought the way they handled the adam & eve situation was just absolutely horrid

okay, so adam and eve are the MIB and his mom, i guess that's pretty cool, although it should have been rose and bernard, who you can add to the list of people we'll never see or hear about again.

but are we supposed to be stupid enough to believe that those two bodies have been laying by the caves for who knows how many centuries, and have been completely unmoved by anybody??? even though the Others, and Dharma, and god knows how many other random troops of people have been tramping around on the island for hundreds of years???
but when a plane crashes they find the damn stupid bodies in like 5 days
cuz no one would have ever thought to go near the freshwater caves except brilliant doctor jack

how freaking big is the island anyway, if nobody ever found those bodies before?
and nobody ever stumbled upon the glowing river of light, except jacob's mom who knows right where it is every time
and nobody ever found the lighthouse before
and the losties never noticed hydra island before
even though now they see it all the time
they also never found the dharama village, or the 4t oed statue, right?

and those 2 idiotic kids ran around the island every day for 13 years and never noticed a village FULL of HUMANS?
what island is this, freakin australia??


i thought it was the most SLOW MOVING, TIME DRAINING, PAINFUL, EXCRUIATING, HORRRRRIBLE episode of lost ever
i hated every second of it from start to finish

what year was it???
1500 ad? or 2000 bc? no idea.
where the hell did that woman come from??? no idea.
what WAS that woman? obviously not really a human, right?

but then she was killed like she was by MIB...so maybe she was human?

the worst part is, now we'll NEVER know the answers to any of these questions
because this was their ONE CHANCE to provide answers about the island's past and mythology and they did a HORRIBLE job of it

an absolutely HORRIBLE job

in my opinion, this episode proves beyond any doubt that the writers never had a plan for the show when it started, that they've been BSing and making shit up as they go.

it's just total BS
the writers are just full of shit
i hate the show
i cant believe how much time i wasted watching and thinking about it
it's a huge piece of shit waste
i hate everything about it

i dont even think i'm going to watch the frickin finale



other than that ...
what did you think? did you like it?