The Howling Man.

This is part of The Twilight Zone Marathon that is going on today and tomorrow on SyFy; "The Howling Man" plays tonight at 11pm Eastern, 10pm Central Time. It's a rare episode that isn't always included in many of the video collections, or at least it never used to back in my day. It's worth checking out. There are a few nerdy parallels to LOST, best of all the line by Brother Jerome about the mysterious prisoner, something about not talking to him, for if he speaks to you it will already be too late?

Smokey?

"You can catch The Devil, but you can't hold him long."

Happy 2011, Everyone!

Jacob and Smokey heart Dharma Coffee Sleeves.

LOST: Across the Sea

I just watched it again yesterday and I'm ready to go on record: This, after the finale, was my favorite episode of LOST. This one episode explains EVERYTHING.

The real mother was stoned by the island mother after she snubbed the darker twin and refused to name him. Later the island mother admitted that if she had let the woman live, she would have taken the boys to her people and they would have become bad. She has a negative view of people, this island mother. "Because they're people, and that's what people do. They come, they destroy, they corrupt, and it always ends the same." She also seems to know that the dark-haired twin leans toward the sinister, as she explains "Jacob isn't like you, he doesn't know how to lie," and "you're . . . special."

Since Jacob ends up being the one to eventually guard the island, and since he admits to Richard that he wants people to be able to help themselves (believing people are good at heart), he seems to have more faith in humanity than his mother and brother.

When she first shows the boys the light, it's bright enough to take up the entire cave and spill out onto the surrounding water and rocks in the stream. By the time Jack gets there, it's much, much smaller. If this means anything, it probably means that through time, the power and beauty (life, death, rebirth, etc.) that she described has been diminished by evil. She called the light the source, something that each man had a little of inside. The source of the souls of mankind? Have our souls diminished in brightness over the years? In The Howling Man, Serling put in a bit about how having the devil out and about, free to roam the world resulted in the unleashing of massive, widespread evil that brought disaster and world wars--things humanity couldn't have managed without the Devil's help. Might the light have lessened because the inhabitants of the island were corrupting and destroying? Might the fertility on the island have gone away for the same reason?

The island mother leveled the dark twin's people when he showed her his makeshift donkey wheel being built in what would become The Orchid Station. Maybe later, Jacob had to do the same kind of thing (the purge) when the Dharma folks were getting too close to the light (the donkey wheel in The Orchid, the business in building The Swan, etc.) and order Richard to gas them all in order to protect the light. They were getting too greedy, curiosity killed the cat? God made that flood rain down on everyone for a similar reason, right?

Island mother was a weaver. She pulled strings. The dark twin said to Jacob, "it's easy for you, looking down at us from above." Jacob was able to touch humans and alter them somehow. He was the knower of things, he wasn't physically present when Jack crashed into the bamboo fields, but he knew that it happened. He was able to know of things happening off-island (Sawyer's parents, Kate's decent into the world of crime beginning with the lunch box, etc.)

I know, go ahead and jump on me, but I think the island was literally the source of man, and the island's keepers were what we have come to know as God. The beginning of land and life didn't come to be in a blink, but it became. The keeper wasn't a super power but a human being. The island had been moved, probably many times, once the donkey wheel started spinning and the people figured it out. This could explain the polar bears, or the fact that the exit from the donkey wheel was in Tunisia (proximity to what we know as The Holy Land?). I think it's a beautiful fairy tale.

And Jack. The fixer. The savior. The one who rescued everyone! What if a group of writers and producers posited that the Messiah was a character you were emotionally invested in? What if there was something tangible that this character was saving you from, not just a general far-off concept? This idea did more for me than watching Jim Caviezel getting beaten to a pulp. . . what if it was someone you knew?

I think it took six years to get to this end for that reason; we needed that much time to get invested in Jack. True, he's had his moments, good and bad, but that last haggard walk, shoe bloodied and clutching the wound Locke gave him? Come on. Juxtaposed with the reunion with all the people from the island he saved, all the people he doctored, all the people he cared about where for once and for real, he actully looked happy? This show was a sentamentalist's (my) wet dream.

(Again), Bravo.

My aunts used to tease my mother when she was a little girl because she cried every time she watched Lassie. I might be crazy, and I might be reaching, but I know how she felt.

Why "The Candidate" was well-written.

There once was a young man that I sort of was acquainted with who prided himself on knowing EVERYTHING. I'm kind of a know-it-all sometimes, so me saying this means basically that this dude was insufferable. He would argue really minute points, lecture people, make smart ass comments on peoples' semantics and grammar mistakes, etc. I hadn't thought about him in a very long time, but last night, as I was combing the LOST boards and forums, there were several people (stuff-shirts?) who were ANGRY about last night's episode. As in, they thought it was bad, or horrible, even, saying:

it was too predictable.
there wasn't anything personal/all action
only the Asian characters died
it moved too fast
it moved too slow
it was boring
it wasn't believable
it pales in comparison to the time travel events
etc.

COME. ON. Just come right the hell on.

This isn't an opinion matter, either. This is basic fact, the episode was well done. Anyone wants a piece of me, I'll argue it to the death. If I have to break it down scene by scene, event by event and EXPLAIN why it was good, how each of the elements that went into making it contribute to it BEING good, then so be it. Following is a hit list, ARE YOU EFFS READY TO GET YOUR GEEK ON? This may be the biggest media rant that ever was.


1. "if you give me a shot, Mr. Locke, I think that I can fix you." Jack wants to fix the physically (and later we find out mentally) broken John Locke. Earlier in the season Jack told Hurley that he went back to the island because he was broken and that he was stupid enough to believe that "this place" (the island) could fix him. Perhaps the island DOES fix Jack, so perhaps Jack WILL fix John.

2. John Locke is genuinely happy with Helen, and Jack notices this. Even if Locke doesn't ever walk again, he is obviously in love. This is important lesson to be learned in life. Also, every time Helen comes on I have to just celebrate the fact that FRICKING PEGGY BUNDY is on LOST!!

3. The music while Jack is on the beach: Acoustic guitar reminiscent of a western leading into The Hydra cages: very Hitchcock, very Twilight Zone suspense. REVEL IN IT; it's always been good like this.

4. "Because I'm the one with the gun." "NOT ANYMORE, DOUGH BOY." Sawyer snatches the gun and wratches it. Widmore explaining who's on the list is very much something else I've seen, maybe a horror, maybe The Twilight Zone. It's escaping me now, but I've heard that chilling British voice explaining something unpleasant before. "FORD is on it, as is REYES and The KWONS." Where the hell is that from?

5. Bernard seems to know things, almost seems to be waiting for Jack to show up! He remembers things, smiles as if to encourage Jack to draw conclusions and make connections. "Maybe you're onto something here." So obviously this is a hint that Bernard and Rose are still a part of all this, has Desmond visited them, do they remember for some other reason? Where's Rose? Is her cancer gone? The only information Bernard gives to Jack is ANTHONY COOPER's name. Obviously Jack needed to meet him, see what has happened, understand why John doesn't want the surgery, and then go from there.

6. Back in the cages Sawyer tells Kate her name was crossed out. WHY IS IT CROSSED OUT? She is obviously still alive; Locke was crossed out presumably when he died, but what is the reason for Kate not being a candidate? (knocked up?) This is a big one. Why is she even there?

7. John won't get the surgery just like Jack wouldn't listen to him about not leaving the island and then having to come back. The Daddy issues return.

8. John Locke (the smoke monster) walks through bullets. What a bad ass. I like the Marcellus Wallace briefcase-quality the bomb on the plane was given, this mysterious item that is obviously important. Also, he took the watch BEFORE he found it, obviously he knew it was there. Did he reevaluate the plane as a death device or was this his plan all along? He explains about "a nice, confined space we have no chance of getting out of" and then puts the C4 in a backpack, just like the real John Locke put the other C4 in his backpack when they left the Flame Station.

9. "I don't trust that thing one bit." That THING! Do you suppose by the end of all this Sawyer will have a new nickname for the Smoke Monster?

10. These items: Apollo bar. Music box playing "Catch a Falling Star," Jack and Claire in the mirror. Obviously we've seen Apollo bars before. The song was always about Aaron. The box, left to Claire by Christian is maybe supposed to ensure that brother and sister are together, a part of each others' lives? Aaron really needs someone to read "Alice in Wonderland" to him. This prompts Jack to invite Claire to stay with him, confirming maybe, that they will continue to have a relationship? Jack neglected his first wife, Sarah, in favor of fixing people at work. Christian may have fallen into the trap of neglecting people too? Maybe this is all to teach Jack to be able to see the forest for the trees? Good lesson for all of us.

11. "You think you two can get our backs?" "ABSOLUTELY." Juliet said this to Sawyer not once but two times when he asked her the same thing. Jack shows loyalty to John Locke by telling Smokey Locke "JOHN LOCKE TOLD ME TO STAY." Jack showing loyalty to Locke is awesome, ADMIT IT.

12. At the sub, the gunfire does not start until Locke has been pushed into the water and there is a completely clear shot at Kate. WHO SET THAT UP? Widmore, Locke, WHO? More about this. What is her role in all of this? Again, why is she even there? There are a lot of open, loose ends with her, grounds for tons more discussion, which face it, LOST fans obsess over, so good, right?

13. "Nothin' personal," Lapidus to the guard on the sub. Sawyer and always "HOSS" to people! (a southern, colloquial term for 'partner') Bag switcheroo. It was a tense moment, Jack was obviously preoccupied with the mission at hand, I don't buy TOO PREDICTABLE. After all, most of these events are really just recast replays of things that have already happened on the show, so even if it was an easy out for the plot, it gels with everything else that has gone on until this point. Jack switched Kate's bag when they carried the dynamite back from The Black Rock, so in a way, he had it coming. (All the little things you do will end up coming back to you. . .)The way they have switched events, characters, and even LINES in this show is brilliant, and it's obviously taken a lot of work and geekery. GIVE PROPS.

14. The realization that Jack has is HUGE. Three years ago he never would have entertained the idea that The Devil even existed. Now he's explaining principals of faith to everyone else, with CONFIDENCE, even! I love Jack. "I think he can't leave the island unless we're all dead. What if he can't kill us because--he's not allowed to? HE CAN'T KILL US!"

15. Sayid's sacrifice? People can come back from the dark side, ANAKIN SKYWALKER!!! He gets his redemption. This was alluded to in a tasteful way and then carried out in a tasteful way. Say what you want about a cliche suicide bomber ending, this fit Sayid's character just as Michael's end fit him.

16. I will accept that maybe Lapidus survived. I won't get militant about it, but it's definitely a possibility. (please God, let it be ding-dongs.) If I get substantial proof next week you can be sure I'll have a black dress on and be playing the funeral march on the piano, but I'm holding off for the time being. Lapidus as a character was very well done and always good for laughs. If he's really gone, I'm very much going to miss him.

17. The flooded sub is like the flooded Looking Glass station and the countdown to death in the Swan station, blinking lights, struggle, etc. Jin and Jack KNOW that Jin and Sun are not going to make it. Jack tries to give Jin the oxygen and Jin won't take it. If you haven't cried by now, YOU NEVER WILL. These characters, people we have spent SIX YEARS with, are almost as real as anyone else can be, it was extremely difficult seeing this. Say what you want about Titanic, it was sad. Piano instrumentals and still shots of the flooded sub ending with the breaking apart of the hands? I would say it was the most emotional moment on the show to date, up there with Juliet biting it and Sawyer telling Jack about Christian wanting to call him on the pay phone.

18. Orderly wheels John down the hall just like Matthew Abaddon did after the push out the window. Abaddon then gives John a suggestion that influences him to go on his walkabout. Does this have any bearing on the discussion Jack has with him? John has guilt over his father's injuries just as Jack has guilt over his own father's death and later, Juliet's.

19. "What makes you think letting go is so easy?" "It's not, in fact, I don't really know how to do it myself."
"Why is it so easy for you to believe?" "It's never been easy." (season 2, outside the hatch).

20. Hugo sobbing on the beach? Again, if this didn't move you, chances are you could pour a quart of boiling water down your throat and piss ice cubes.

I WISH YOU BELIEVED ME. This was amazing. Acknowledge it.

The Stand as it pertains to LOST.

I just finished it today.

And there is something a little unsettling about the evil element in The Stand (Randal Flagg, aka The Walkin' Dude, aka Richard Something-or-Other, aka RUSSELL FARADAY) having the same name as our beloved DANIEL FARADAY?!?!?! What is with RF? And now, in this season, we have DANIEL WIDMORE, not FARADAY. Why? On Lostpedia it says that his birth certificate did not list a father's name, in the main narrative, I suppose it's unknown in the flash-sideways what this situation is.

If they're being clever with names, I want to know just WHAT Smokey's real name was back in the day (I'm not a WHAT, Ben, I'm a WHO!) and I want to know if it was Faraday. If it was, was Eloise KNOCKING BOOTS WITH THE SMOKE MONSTER? Is Eloise evil? She seems to be a Martha Stewart-caliber BITCH, for sure, if nothing else.


Nukes play a large role in both narratives.
Pregnant women play a substantial role in both narratives, Frannie in The Stand, and Claire in LOST. Nadine Cross is impregnated by Randal Flagg, Lucy Swann by Larry Underwood. Sun and Jin conceived a daughter, would that leave perhaps ONE MORE POSSIBILITY?!>?!?!
maybe Kate is supposed to carry Smokey's love child but can't because Jack has already knocked her up? Oh what fun!

There were four men who were told they had to defeat Randal Flagg, friends, as it turned out: Glen, Ralph, Stu, and Larry. Mother Abagail told them, "God didn't bring you folks together to make a community or a committee, he brought you here only to send you further, on a quest. He means for you to try and destroy this Dark Prince, this man of far leagues."

Are Jack, Hugo, Jin, and Sawyer going to be the ones to destroy Smokey, FOREVER? I sure hope so. OR, with all that "he walks among them but he is not one of them" tattoo business on Jack's arm, (Jack the fixer), will the three others sacrifice themselves so that Jack can go on to do the one ETERNAL fix of keeping the devil inside the wine bottle? That seems to be a pretty significant task. . .

Floored.

Wow. I don't know WHAT fricking end is up after that episode, which I thought was amazing, btw. We're getting close to the end now, and I'll say that I still think Jack and John are going to have to duke it out (DID YOU LOVE SMOKEY LOCKE'S "HELLO JACK!" AS MUCH AS I DID?), and while Jack might get the most press out of being the show's savior, I'm not entirely discounting Hugo. He's good, pure, and honest, and he's remained that way all along. He would see the good in people, were he required to somehow prove it, right?

Jack is the fixer. He can't NOT be the fixer! He wants to fix things. Matt thinks Sawyer and Kate are going to die. I think Kate's knocked up. Poor Illana, gone the way of Ernst. Just for the record though (and NOT in the flash-sideways), Sawyer has Clementine waiting for him "back home," Jin and Sun have their daughter. Kate has no one anymore, unless you count her old bitch-face rabbit mother who sold out her own daughter. Aaron = with the Grandmama. Jack has nothing but his mother. Hurley has nothing but his religious mother and Cheech. Ben and Lapidus probably don't even care.

Ding, dong, bell, Desmond's in the well. . . that was unpleasant. I hope he's okay.

My brain hurts. Here are some images.

The Life and Times of Richard Alpert

HAPPY RICHARD ALPERT DAY, EVERYONE!

Tonight, at long last, we get something we've been waiting YEARS for! How exciting! I want to know everything about Richaardus, EVERYTHING!

A few items, just for the hell of it.

1. What is it about the island that makes people want to destroy it? Did the armed forces bring JUGHEAD to the island, and if so, for what purpose? How is it that it was never detonated (before Juliet)? How would anyone be able to find the island and then get a nuke onto it? Was that the work of The Smokey Man? (It's an island, it doesn't need protecting.) I think he was telling a big lie with that one.

Is the island the only place that can **contain** The Smokey Man? Is that why he wants to leave it and then have it destroyed? If this really is like The Howling Man, then he can only be contained by the staff of truth, maybe the island is a bigger, more special staff, that can contain the devil, and that's why he wants to go? He can't leave as long as his opposing figure (Jacob) is keeping him there, but now that Jacob is gone, he's free to bolt?

The Island is under water during the beginning of the flash sideways. If LOST=Howling Man, someone let the Devil out, and if the island (staff of truth) is underwater, the only thing that could contain him is gone, leaving him free to unleash his evil all over the world.

2. What is up with the Statue and what is up with the loss of fertility? How did that statue get reduced to just a foot? Does that symbolize The Smokey Man having more power over what happens on the island than Jacob? (Bad is more powerful than good, by the time Jack and Locke get there?) They COULD have successful reproduction before, what changed that? Wikipedia says that the Sobek Statue symbolized The River, Warfare, and Fertility. Sobek = God of Creation, often paired with Ra, God of Sun. Sobek was also said to be a repairer of evil. If the statue got hashed, chances are good that 1. the evil cannot get repaired and 2. the evil did it.

More later, I have a feast to prepare and some heavy black kohl to apply.

Let's not forget about Rose. . .

I have been watching Season One again in between Tuesdays to review.

I still think these shows are very much like the Twilight Zone. The subject matter is mysterious and sometimes creepy, the accompanying score is almost like a 50s horror film (think Bernard Hermann of "Psycho" fame), and there is just something fantastic about all of this.

Knowing what I know now, things are popping out left and right during the pilot and first two episodes ("Tabula Rasa" and "Walkabout")
1. When John Locke is in his box-distributing office, he is adding figures on an adding machine. The sound is subtle, but THE FRICKING SMOKE MONSTER is edited in at the same time just as the scene ends! SMOKE MONSTER SOUNDS! Like a premonition?
Very cool.

2. John Locke obviously meets the Smoke Monster in the jungle when they go out for their first boar-hunt. He looks RIGHT at it. Kate and Michael are off tending to Michael's leg; John is alone. When he surprises everyone by returning to the beach, alive, Michael asks if he got a good look at "it." "NO," he lies. Why does he lie? And why did it just leave him? It totally bitched up the pilot and snatched him from the plane. . .

3. When Kate and Jack are on the beach after she tells him that she wants to tell him what she did, Jack says that he doesn't want to know. Then he says, "We all DIED. I think everyone deserves to start over." Hmmmm. This after Jack (in the pilot) wakes up quite a distance away from everyone else (He walks among them but is not one of them).

4. Rose. When she's sitting on the beach fondling her wedding ring, Jack talks with her a bit. She says, "You have a nice way about you. A good SOUL. I guess that's why you became a doctor." Jack says NO, he was born into it. In a few later episodes comments are made about Jack's **unpleasant** bedside manner. By Hurley, and someone else, I think. As in, he has a nice way about him when he's NOT being a doctor (You don't have what it takes, Jack).

Rose KNOWS things. That her husband is not dead. That her cancer is gone. Not to follow John (I'm not going anywhere with that man!) Then later, she and Bernard seem to know that Juliet is going to croak. I thought at first they were regarding her with tenderness (are you sure you don't want some tea?) because she was pregnant or something; no, she was just a few minutes away from getting sucked into the swan pocket. It's like she isn't influenced by the things that are going on around her, she just makes her decisions and sticks with them and to hell with the rest of you!

There are a few things that I want to know.

1. Explain Horace, Mathematician. What the hell was his deal? Did he build the cabin?

2. Give me some closure on that child, Annie, that was Ben's friend.

3. Lapidus and Miles are the only two from the freighter that have survived. The pilot and the corpse-whisperer. Miles has proven useful by telling Sawyer that Juliet wanted to tell him that IT WORKED. We know that Lapidus is not a candidate. We know that he can fly both helicopters and "big birds" in less than ideal circumstances. We know that they were making a runway over on Hydra Island. Is Yemi's beechcraft still around or did Eko burn it? The Ajira plane must still be there, but I think there were trees in it. . .

4. Why was Dogan the only thing keeping Smokey out? Did Dogan CATCH it? Serling used the staff of truth to keep the devil inside his cage; was Dogan using some sort of holy ash or something? Was there something INSIDE Dogan? A sacrifice to never see his son again?

More, more, more.

There's Still Time.

Not for me, says Sayid.
I can't even write about this last episode, it was one of the few things in life that has left me speechless. I watched it, sat there dumbfounded, reloaded it on the DVR and watched it over again. The flash sideways in this one was a little ho-hum, I mean a lot happened, but not even Abrams could follow up what was going on on-Island with equal action; the stuff that happened there was pretty much the coolest and most exciting series of events to ever happen, if you ask me. I did however appreciate that horrible Martin Keamy getting creamed again, THAT I'll watch as many times as it needs to happen because I don't think I've ever been as grossed out by anyone.

Wow. Just ONE. BIG. WOW.

And the image above is taken from The Twilight Zone, the episode is titled, "Mirror Image." The uncomfortable leering glance back is to the man's other self, or twin. I thought it was fitting, given Sayid's similar grin to Ben as he tries to get him to come along with the good guys. And the last word that my scanner unfortunately cut off on the bottom is "ALTER-EGO."

Sometimes I think the shows are one and the same.

Daddy Issues.

Oh boy did I bawl. Jack comes back in the alternate reality to tell his son what EVERY SON NEEDS TO HEAR FROM HIS FATHER?

1. I will always love you.
2. In my eyes, you can never fail.
3. I want to be part of your life.

wow, Bob, wow. Good parallels with the appendix and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Also the piano-playing. We know that Jack himself played because he started belting out a slow-ish tune when he was in one of the New Otherton houses waiting for the sub to take him off the island (before Kate did what Kate always does: barges in and ruins everything.) The young Master Faraday also played the piano, quite well, but was forced to explore other career paths after a somber Eloise explained to him that boys who are able to mentally keep track of metronome clicks while practicing do not grow up to be pianists. . .

Not to mention DOGAN-san being the other pianist's father? Nice. (There are some cool videos of pretty complete translations of his lines in these episodes on Dark UFO that are really interesting, check it out).

And also, HUGO? The lines lately are killer!
"He just shows up whenever he wants, like Obi Wan Kenobi."
"Thanks for the seven years of bad luck, by the way."
"I'm a candidate, and I can do what I want."

Does JJ have kids? I need to research this more. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Three Things.

1. That last episode (The Substitute?) was pretty much **the** perfect episode. In it you get Richard Alpert, who was bloodied and beaten but still smokin' HOT, Lapidus, being all, well, Lapidus (I half-expected him to mutter something like, "this fucking place. . ." when Ben went off about being sorry for murdering John), Smokey Man TELLING US INFORMATION (even if it's all lies, I don't care), and the real John Locke together with his Peggy Bundy Helen. WHAT COULD BE BETTER? I had a great time.

2. Alana and Richard KNOW things. Alana knows to gather the ashes and save them for future use? Also that Smokey Man cannot change his face again. How does she know these things? What experience does she bring to all of this? She was all bitched up in a hospital when Jacob came to her (vulnerable) and he spoke Latin to her. . . and she knew Richard as "Riccardes." Richard knows that Smokey Man is trying to pull one over on Sawyer and that he originally wanted Richard on his side. Well, WHO DOESN'T? But Richard obviously knows more about this business. And what of the chains Smokey referred to last week? I want more. Much, much more.

3. Obviously whatever they did to the hatch in 1977 had a major impact on everyone's life from that point on, as the alternate (true?) reality is very different for many of them.
a. The Plane does NOT crash.
b. Charlie Pace is taken away in cuffs.
c. Jin and Sun are screwed in customs.
d. Hugo is the luckiest man alive.
e. Boone leaves Shannon to her own devices.
f. Kate meets Claire and lends her emotional support.
g. Jack meets John and offers him help.

h. Locke is still with Helen, which means they met, obviously, but the same way? In a support group for angry people? So does this mean that he still got conned out of his kidney by the old man but then later forgave him? Because Helen mentioned what seemed to be a relationship when she suggested eloping and getting Locke's dad. . . ? Where's that crazy red head that was his mother? Swoozie Kurtz? Mothers don't do well on this show. I'd like to see that change by the end, please.

Randy Nations is allowed to remain a dick, it seems. DON'T FUCK WITH JOHN LOCKE! Randy, I hope a meteor falls on you.
I am in absolute heaven with this goddamned show.

The Non-Utilitarian Dr. Shephard

The Jack vs. Sawyer bit is getting more solidified in my head. I used to really hate Jack but I seem to be coming around to his camp, slowly.

"He walks among them but He is not one of them."

Jack always came off as a crappy leader because his choices seemed to always be crappy. Obviously he's not a stupid man, but so much of the time I wondered why he always seemed to be betting on the wrong horse or putting his eggs in the wrong basket. I think he got the shaft all the time because of something his father told him in one of the earlier seasons during the flashback when Jack tried to save his friend from getting beat up. . . "YOU DON'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES." and later, "YOU HAVE TO LET IT GO, JACK."

He doesn't, and he can't.

Back in a intro to ethics class, there were two major opponents in our text, Immanuel Kant (treat people as ends and not as means to an end) and the Utilitarians. The Utilitarians wanted their leaders to do what was best for the greatest number of people. This would involve something like sacrificing a child in order to save a village (you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs). The followers of Kant didn't go for it and wanted each person to be treated equally and equally valued. Many of the parents in the class were with Kant and not the Utilitarians. Jack seems unable or unwilling to act as a Utilitarian, even though he was technically a leader of people, as a doctor off island, and on the island with the survivors. Locke seemed a little more comfortable using a Utilitarian approach ("Boone was a sacrifice the island demanded," "This is not a democracy, Claire." etc.)

I find it interesting that Jack puts his own safety on the line (for Sayid) by almost swallowing that ash-pill, and the guy takes great care to get it out of him. Also, that those guards in front of the Apothocary office just willingly let him in when he demanded they stand aside. Why do they listen to him, and why do they need him to get Sayid to do anything? And where is Old Man Shephard during all of this?

When Hurley asks Sayid if he's a zombie, Sayid's eyes FLUTTER rapidly; it's weird. Sayid, a professional INTERROGATOR, has a little fidgety tic all of a sudden? My guess is then, YES, HE'S A ZOMBIE.

Claire = Rousseau (nouveau?) No more baby-stealing. Is Kate pregnant? There was too much pregnancy-sticking and allusions to Kate as a non-mother/mother/potential mother for me to let this drop.

If I could ask JJ one question right now, I'd ask him if the Twilight Zone has any bearing on how this will all end, and if yes, I would immediately put my money on SHADOW PLAY.

Nothing is Irreversible.

More? Of course.

1. I used to think the final battle of LOST would come down between the proverbial MAN OF FAITH and MAN OF SCIENCE. I don't think that anymore. I think this will come down to Jack and Sawyer. John is important, no doubt. But those two have been butting heads from the beginning, and now with Juliet gone the way she is, (and Sawyer blaming all of it on Jack DESPITE telling him to drop the nuke) the anger will grow and grow. Bitterness, over a lost love, especially, could provide a seeding hate that could create the Jacob/Smokey Man rivalry. I was so hoping she was going to tell him she was pregs. . . . but that would have been a little too TERRI BAUER for this show. Wouldn't have worked. See, earlier this year, I totally thought that Juliet would carry Sawyer's child and Kate Jack's, and these two boys would somehow get displaced back to the day of the full Sobek statue and continue the sins of the fathers, so to speak. I don't think it's out of the question, necessarily, but. . . it doesn't seem quite so fitting anymore.

Sawyer is shittin' PISSED. Well, I am too, actually, Juliet was my favorite girl after all. I had such high hopes for her.

I had a very difficult time watching Smokey Man kick the hell out of Richard. BE CAREFUL WITH HIM! He might not show age physically, but I'm sure he's EONS old, kids.

Also, Jack just can't have this terrible luck follow him around for much longer. It's like the misfortunes of John Locke, pre-island: No one should have to deal with that much misery in one lifetime. Jeez. It's all happening for a reason, definitely: The Nuke doesn't work (well, not all the way), Charlie is angry at Jack for saving his life, The coffin containing Christian is M.I.A., Juliet croaks, Sawyer blames Jack, Sayid (at first), etc. Hopefully this is teaching him things for whatever the last main event will be.

JOHN? He seemed like a regular jolly old soul on the plane back! I don't remember him being quite so personable in any of the flashbacks before; he hammed it up with Boone AND Jack, very confident, very impressive! As I recall, he was NOT quite so chipper during the first flashback before the boarding of Oceanic 815, wasn't there some issue about the wheelchair and him being carried on? And Hurley? The "Luckiest Man Alive?" Hmmmmm.

Oh MAN! Six days is WAY too long to wait for the next one! My son watched the last part of it with me this afternoon and was quite concerned about the "cuts" on Sawyer's face. I told him he should draw LOST tonight for an art project and he decided he would draw The Smoke Monster coming out of John Locke, thought I'd share it with you. Kate and Sawyer also made an appearance, along with a yellow Dharma bus.

If the clues to LOST really are in seasons 3 and 4, I am guessing the Orchid Station is going to hold all the answers to what happens, WHY, and how they're going to fix what happened.

When the crew is there (Jack, Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Hugo, Jin) in the 70s, the Orchid Station hasn't been finished yet. Faraday goes to it, knows it's there, and talks to Dr. Marvin Candle about being from the future. Dr. Marvin Candle doesn't die in the Swan Station incident, but he presumably loses his arm in that little crunch (which Miles saves him from), as the later Dharma videos show him with a prosthetic. Dr. Marvin Candle somehow gets involved with the rest of them and then together they use Faraday's journal and information to create or further the Orchid in order to be able to time travel to change or prevent some event from happening. The event could be anything. . . .

1. There was some confusion over WHO was really supposed to move the island at the end of season 4. Ben insisted that it had to be him as he claimed (to Locke) that Jacob wanted him to suffer the consequences (not being able to return). But later, when Locke talks to Christian after he falls down the well, Christian insists that JOHN was supposed to be the one to move it. ? ? ? ?
If John was initially the one to move the island the first time, he never would have been the one to fix that wheel when it was all cockeyed off its axis and maybe the interaction between Locke and Widmore would have been different? Or the flashes through time would not have happened the way they did because John would have done it right the first time. He would not have been out and about trying to get everyone back to the island and Ben would not have been able to kill him? We know that Richard can come and go as he pleases, maybe he could have brought John back?
Maybe the event they need the Orchid for involves preventing John's death (and subsequently Jacob's?)

2. Maybe they need the Orchid to fix something with Ben, to either prevent him from doing something or eliminating him altogether?

3. Something happened between Eloise and Widmore. What was it? She took off after having Dan, knowing what, that he would need to go to Oxford to figure out all his quantum physics and do his rat experiments? Dan just wanted to play piano.

4. Did Widmore order the Dharma extermination? Ben seemed to claim it was someone above him but never said who it was. Ben really only killed Roger Workman, and then when he returned Richard asked if he wanted them to get the body, Ben said NO. Richard **shot** Martin Keamy but did not kill him, and he did it to protect Ben. Widmore seems a little kill-happy. . . .(Rousseau, baby Alex). What if the whole time the OTHERS were in charge they were acting more by NOT-JACOB'S philosophy? Team smoke monster does not want outsiders on the island but if they happen to show up, they pick and choose which ones to keep on their team and then kill the rest? Ben seems to have a very Dharma-ish situation going on with the fertility experiments and recruiting. Locke taunts Ben for needing a submarine and having chicken in his refrigerator and therefore CHEATING; John is an island purist. Maybe Jacob thinks that everyone can share in the island and its miracle power which is why random people keep getting pulled in there?

5. Jack is going to have to DO something. It's gotta be about him in the end. His dad is roaming around the island and Claire just wandered off for absolutely no reason. Was this so eventually Jack and Kate would come back, because they felt responsible for her, Jack as a brother, and Kate as a surrogate mother for Aaron? I still think they need to explain Kate totally jumping Jack's bones the night before they left. . . .is she knocked up or what? Are they supposed to spawn a new breed of others?

Lost Season 3

I just may need to permanently tape my glasses here and start up a website like RICHARDALPERT DOT COM. . . .

SMOKEMONSTER DOT COM?

WIDMORE INDUSTRIES, MCCUTCHEON WHISKY? OCEANIC 815 DOT COM?

PUSH THE BUTTON IN THE SWAN STATION DOT COM.



Season 3 is really valuable. This is what I am leaning toward a little over halfway through my review of it:

1. Juliet. Is "mole-ing" for Ben initially, but is doing so only because she knows he has access to her sister and son in Miami. The recording she leaves in his locker about Sun's pregnancy and the "I hate you" that she left out on the end seems to support this. She's definitely my favorite chick on the island. A fertility specialist who loves Stephen King? Genius.

2. The Episode "The Brig" is probably one of the most important in the season. Locke joins up with Ben and The Others, sees his father being held in a room (Ben told Richard to bring him The Man from Tallahassee) and then gets is humiliated by Ben in front of the entire camp when he is unable to slit the guy's throat. Ben says to everyone, "I GUESS HE'S NOT WHO WE THOUGHT HE WAS."

Hmmm. I smell a super elaborate set-up here. Ben KNOWS that John Locke is who they all think he is, and therefore must humiliate him to get the peoples' allegiance back until the next issues arises. How rude. This comes to pass in several other situations down the line, and always, someone important seems to intervene or help John stay on the right path (Walt, Richard, Christian Shephard, etc.).

I don't buy that Ben is trying to "test" John or to get him to find his own strength. Richard, on the other hand, comes to John with Sawyer's file and explains that the old guy (Locke's dad) has got to go. Knowing that Locke won't do it himself, Richard gives John the file that presumably explains that Cooper not only ruined Locke's life by stealing his kidney, treating him with cruelty, and pushing him out a window, but also Sawyer's, as he was the original "Sawyer" who caused James Ford/Sawyer's father to go ape shit, ruining another life.

I love Richard Alpert.

Jack's Daddy Issues

So what gives with Dr. Christian Shephard being so instrumental on the island? First he leads Jack to water but then it's revealed that the casket was empty? My question is, did the ticket agent at the airport totally pull a fast one and simply board the casket (after all, Jack insisted that THE COFFIN had to be on the plane and said really nothing regarding the corpse of his father that technically should have been inside THAT) without the body, did the body somehow fly out in all the chaos during the crash or has Dr. S just randomly taken to walking around the island in all his deadness, body and all?

What link does Christian have with the island that makes him important enough to be the new Jacob in season 4, telling Locke to MOVE THE ISLAND?!?!?!? They better explain this.