UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Let's get our nerd on now and analyze the data from this week's show in a very random and inaccurate manner...

I'm very curious to know whether Jin is stuck in Rousseau's time, or if he's jumping around with everyone else -- if so, it's awesome in a very Douglas Adams way that he drifted through all those different points of time only to be picked up by a hugely improbable rubber raft.

I don't think the show wants their to be any black and white/evil and good characters. Benjamin Linus is one of the most complex characters I've ever seen. And I guess my admiration for Benjamin Linus is of a piece with my admiration for Stringer Bell. (Don’t freak out, he’s from a different show, THE WIRE)

The difference between Stringer and Ben, or one important difference, is that Stringer didn't want to be a bad guy; he just saw it as the most efficient path that would end in his becoming a legitimate businessman. He was Joe Kennedy, let's say. Ben Linus just is who he is. He may not be gratuitously violent or manipulative (that's debatable, actually), but he will never try to leave manipulation behind like Stringer tried to move past killing.

Another difference is that Stringer's tactics were pretty identifiable -- he applied economic theory and robert's rules and public choice to violence and drug dealing. Ben relies more on an implausibly supernatural ability to read motives and to predict conduct. this makes String more believable and less of a comic book supervillain tan Ben.

When the jumps in time occurs and they go to a new time, what happens to theirselves (is that right?) in the time they just left? I know that’s confusing, but let me give you an example

Locke is talking to Richard in the tents last episode and all of a sudden locke and the others are transported to a different time and everything is gone. BUT WHAT DOES RICHARD SEE ON HIS END? Does locke just disappear in front of him mid sentence?

Just really confuses me

- So its official (or damn, damn close), the sickness that killed Rousseau's team was the time jumping, the bloody nose, etc.

- Are they are totally setting it up for Sawyer and Juliette to get together?

- I’m developing a nosebleed fetish.

- Jin is alive, cool. I wonder if that was the plan all along or they decided to bring him early (perhaps earlier than expected as I always assumed he was alive) because of negative feedback to Jin "dying" lasgtg season

- Jack has become a wishy washy dick who no longer stands for anything, man of science, my ass! Grow some nads, dude.

Okay - dark ufo has screenprints of Sun's package. It refers to the subject as SHE, staying at 103 pinecrest drive, driving a yellow VW Bug. If I'm reading the report correctly, the pictures we see attached to Sun's report are actually the pictures the subject under survelliance received in the mail (apparently so anxious to receive that the subject would go to the mailbox 7 times a day and camped out by the mailbox for 4 hours waiting for them). It also states subject was speaking on the phone and said Lee Chin is dead, a victim of suicide. It talks about HER calling Oxford City cab to take her to an animal clinic (Ben?). It also mentions HER going in a hardware store and buying all the black, green, and red spray paint. This is strange stuff - and it may be jibberish - but maybe it's not...

My opinion - Maybe Sun was running surveillance on Eloise Hawking for Mr. Widmore.

I would have to say that there is some evidence to support the fact that Ben's "moving" of the island and the Oceanic 6 leaving triggered a lot of the island's history that we already know. The island was moving through time and space, so it caught many things by surprise during that process:

The Black Rock
The French Crew
Desmond's boat
The real Henry Gail's balloon
The Nigerian Plane
The referees from Super Bowl XLIII (who clearly were not watching the game I was, so they must be time traveling)
Michael Phelps’ bong

Basically, the time jumping was already written into destiny, so anyone aware of it already knows what is going to happen and when. Ben and/or Widmore are such people.

Nose bleeds are happening to people who have been on the island along time. I’m guessing Charlotte and Miles (and, of course, Juliette) were all clearly on the island before and I’m sure Miles was born on the island before the whole baby-kill plotline was developed.

LIST:

People who appeared on the show who I’m pretty sure will have nothing to do with the final outcome:

Eko
Shannon
Walt
The dog (oops! My bad, the dog is time traveling)
Nikki (although she was smoking hot)
Paolo
Flaming arrow death guy

FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THE LIST, and add your own comments as always, or do what you normally do and avoid this post because you hate the show and are sick of people talking about it…

LOST recap, 2/4/09

We open with Jack and Kate from years ago (we know this because Jack's lame beard is gone)...It's right after they were rescued by Penelope...Kate tells Jack Claire was going to give Aaron up for adoption...This is where Kate decides to tell everyone that Aaron is hers...Jack's okay with this despite knowing that Kate is a convicted felon...Jack then gets Kate to go along with his "master"lie...The plan that will ultimately lead to the undoing of the island, and all of mankind, and what's left of my six brain cells...

Flash ahead to today...Kate is staying with Sun, who gets a delivery of a box of candy...Only it's not just candy, there's a gun hidden in the second row where the crappy dark chocolates usually are...Millions of people scream at their TVs, "Shoot me, Sun, put me out of my misery!!!!"

Juliette confronts Faraday about whether he knew this time warp thing was going to go down, and dragged innocents like the viewing audience into hell for no reason...He whispers something incoherent...Charlotte continues the world's longest nose bleed...Did the Dharma Initiative not have any tissues?

Kate confronts the people who want a DNA sample from Aaron...She demands to know who put them up to this...They say "neener neener we don't have to tell you" but in a real adult way...Kate says she needs to know who's doing this to her and her son, dammit!!

Back at the island, Locke tells Sawyer he has to bring the oceanic 6 back...Sawyer looks at him like he's crazy...But then he says "you want HER back don't you?" Sawyer gets wood.

Charlotte comes to and I notice somebody wiped her nose. But she has no clue who Faraday is. Neither do I.

Jack has taken Sayid to the hospital despite being suspended from medicine. Jack calls Hurley in lock up (who knew they had size XXXXXXXXL orange jump suits?). Hurley tells Jack Ben won't find him in the looney bin.

A strange visitor tries to kill Sayid, but the Iraqi strangles him with his IV line and asks who sent him. The guy says the address is in his pocket. Sayid then shoots him with a tranquilizer gun and gets the address, it's KATE'S!!!

Jack and Ben rush to get Kate and Sayid goes to get Hurley. They're going back to the island!!!

Back on the island, Locke steers the posse away from a strange light. I know this references a past show, but I'll be damned if I can remember what one.

Faraday asks Locke a great question for time travelers "Do you know WHEN we are?" Try asking that to your drunk friends this weekend, chances are they will punch you in the head.

Saywer stumbles upon Claire giving birth to Aaron with Kate's assistance. Clearly it's four years ago. Then the white light comes and takes them to another time. Sawyer wistfully tells Locke it doesn't matter what he saw because he ain't getting any tonight unless Locke wants to be the catcher.

Back in now, Kate compliments Jack for shaving the goofy beard. She tells Jack what's going down with all the DNA testing and what not. She tells Jack to get in the car because "she's gotta go" to follow the lawyer.

Locke presses for more info, but Sawyer twists it on him and asks "How come you know what time it is?" Locke's answer confuses Sawyer and me, but I'll pretend I know what it meant tomorrow at the water cooler.

Miles gets a mystery nose bleed but tells Faraday not to tell anyone else so as to save them a "freak out".

The island posse comes upon some outrigger canoes on the beach...They take them out on the ocean for some purpose unclear to me...Sawyer starts to reveal to Juliette what he saw in the jungle when someone starts shooting at them...Luckily a time warp comes and Sawyer yells "Thank the Lord", but the time warp takes them to a tropical storm in the flimsy outriggers in the ocean. "I take that back"...

Kate follows the lawyer to a hotel where she finds out it's Claire's mom who's responsible for seeking out the DNA test. This really isn't an "a-ha" moment, because for the first time, a chain of events on this show makes perfect logical sense. Your pregnant daughter is in a plane crash. Survivors are found, including a kid who would be the exact age as your daughter's kid, and it looks just like her. Yeah, I think I would order a DNA test too. Or at least try and get on the Maury Povich Show.

Jack says he'll go talk to Claire's mother and come clean about the whole situation. Keep in mind, Jack's father and Claire's mother were doing the nasty, resulting in Claire. Claire's mom knows nothing about the kid. (Creepy music sting). WTF???? I'm about to go Christian Bale at this point.

Ben is driving with Sayid in a van down by the river. I believe it's the MIX van and they're going out for a remote at a gas station. Ben meets with the nebulous lawyer that was seeking the DNA. He's also working with Ben to get Hurley out of the slammer. His master plan to get everyone back to the island is in full effect...

Back on the island, the posse comes across wreckage that has French writing on it...Juliette presses Sawyer to tell her about seeing Kate. (CUE WISTFUL NEW AGE MUSIC) Sawyer says he was close enough to touch her when he notices her nose is bleeding...Damn it. can we get some Kleenex please?...

Switch to some survivors floating in a life boat, they are speaking French (which leads one to believe they're tied in to Rousseau somehow)...They see some flotsom on the water...A body is floating on it...They get closer and turn him over ...It's JIN!!! Holy Hell!!! He's been floating in a different time!!! Or continually time travelling while half dead on a board...

back to today, Kate asks Jack why he came to her place...He tells her what's going on with Sayid and Hurley...She gets out to see Ben walking along the dock...Kate is stunned to learn that Jack is with Ben and they're together...Kate figures out that its Ben who's trying to take Aaron away from her...Sun pulls up in a car with Aaron, she has a gun...

Back on the island, the French quiz Jin about his origins, he notices the French girl is pregnant, she tells him her name is ROUSSEAU!!!! The music swells as if we didn't figure that one out already....

Things ar eplace for a kick ass reunion of everyone. Well, everyone except Eko, Paolo and Nikki. Those are characters that are never coming back because they were created before this show had a point, thus confusing us even further...

As always, love to hear your thoughts, and I'll be back again tomorrow wfter I watch the show again and let it all sink in...UNTIL THEN, HAPPY TIME TRAVELING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Upon further review...more contemplation on LOST

Okay, first somebody please tell me that desmond just named his kid after Chrlie and he isn't really CHARLIE!!! Becuase that would just freak me out. Not that lots about last night's episode didn't freak me out, like the whole John inviting Richard to see him when he's born TWO YEARS LATER. But in Richard's weird world where he never gets older, a request like that is par for the course.

I can't believe Desmond talked Penny into naming their son Charlie, considering her relationship to to her father Charles. I mean of course he was named after rocker Charlie who we love but I do find it ironic.

Faraday professed his love for Charlotte, so I imagine SHE is the girl who's brain is trapped in the past, right? Did anyone get a good look at the girl in the hospital bed? By the way, speaking of Faraday's projects, I'm pretty sure most of the rats on Baltimore's east side are time travelling. I swear to God there's a rat in the alley in Canton by Claddagh that never gets old.

I know if I found a hydrogen bomb in my yard, I would NOT build a scaffolding for it and suspend it six feet off the ground! It's clear to me now that a majority of the "others" are just plain stupid. Who else would let a doofus like Ben seize control? It's not like his manipulations are original at all. Most of them are out of the Michael Mancini school of serial TV hijinks, as seen on the 90's series, Melrose Place.

Now that it has beenrevealed that Widmore is on the island with the Others, I imagine some sort of riff is going to develop to get him banned from the island. Like maybe he uses too much peanut butter, or won't take on extra duty like yard work. Or maybe he steals Ben's girlfriend, seeing how Ben routinely strikes out with the ladies. At any rate, I'm looking forward to those fireworks.

The H-bomb is named “Jughead” – as in Jughead Jones from the Archie comics?

Here’s an interesting link: There was a series called “Jughead’s Time Police,” in which Jughead is the hero and a member of the Time Police (remember when one of the creators called Eloise Hawking a “temporal policeman”?). Jughead’s infamous beanie (a gift from a “benefactor,” like Widmore is to Daniel) gives him the ability to time travel by thinking. (The Oxford custodian said Daniel sends the rats’ BRAINS back in time!) Jughead’s job: to ensure history remains the same for the future’s sake by repairing past disturbances.

Now that "Jughead" is on the island, I think we should refer to Juliet as Betty, Kate as Veronica, and Jack as Archie.

The smoke monster seems to be back in the hizzo, and it seems to me Miles is going to feel its wrath. Or maybe Miles is the smoke monster, with his death talking capabilities. You remember the smoke monster was comprised of little pieces of Eko's life when it killed don't you?

How are the "others" on the island defined? Juliet says all the "others" know Latin. So she considers herself one with the military dudes they're encountering now. And apparently, Locke does too.

And what's up with Latin anyway?Is it a pre-requisite to being an “other” or a product of becoming one? Is that how Juliet knows they are "others" like she was - that they all know Latin?

An interesting tidbit: in 1954 the US was testing hydrogen bombs in the Bikini Atoll (perhaps the source of the hydrogen bomb on the island & the 4 dead U.S. soldiers in the fresh grave?) and the Lord of the Flies was first published. Additionally, according to Wikipedia, the first kidney transplants were completed that year (hello, Locke!). Coincidence?

Here is one for everyone: The girl with the gun? Here goes-SHE IS MRS.HAWKING!!!!! Remember Daniel saying she looks "familiar"?? Sure she is his mom-50years ago! That is NOT a spoiler by the way-just a guess(a GREAT guess!)

Who else went to Oxford looking for Faraday and his research? Before Desmond? The work man said there had been others but they hadn't found his work. It wouldn't have been Widmore because he was funding Daniel's work and one could assume that he would have access to it. If Ms Hawkins is Daniel's mother chances are she would have access to his research. Who would be left? Ben?

In next weeks promo, Sawyer tells Juliet that he just saw Kate in the jungle...

Now the question is, did he see her in the present, or in the past during a time skip?

"sizzle, crackle" - the sound of my brain frying.

AS ALWAYS, SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS...

LOST recap 1/28

Penny and Desmond have a baby?! On this show, that means he'll age at a rate of five years per minute like Walt. He'll have a beard by the time the show's over.

Charlotte asks Farraday when he inquires about her health, "What's the matter, you look worried?" Ahem. He always looks worried. Ever since he's first appeared on the show, he's been overly concerned. And no wonder, all that time tripping leaves others on the island pissed off, including the Swiss Miss who has popped out of the woods in fatigues and levelled a M16 at our heroes. She's smoking hot in her little wife beater t-shirt. I'm a sucker for guerillista fashion.

Back in the present day. Desmond is fretting over finding Farraday's mom. The island is apparently a point of contention between Penny and him. No wonder, with his constant time tripping to a place where there's hot chicks galore.

Sexy Swiss Miss interrogates Farraday as to where his compadres are. Miles says maybe they were blown up by the land mines they keep stumbling on. She says you put those there. Nobody on this island knows who's doing what do they?

Locke and Sawyer have captured several "soldiers" who communicate by talking in Latin to each other. Juliette figures it out, and talks to them in Latin in return. Apparently, it was the language of the "others". They didn't have much in terms of culture, but it appears they did have a Catholic School.

Swiss Miss brings Farraday to creepy Richard Alpert who asks them if they've come for their bomb.

Desmond is striking out in his attempt to locate Farraday and his mother in real time. So he breaks into the place he saw Farraday last. Everything is dusty and packed up as if it's been abandoned. A university worker comes in and tells him Farraday is gone, and the university denies his existence because of something he did to a girl. Oops! I hate when that happens.

Back in 1954, Farraday and Alpert discuss a hydrogen bomb that has become leaky, as evidenced by the radiation burns on the soldier. Farraday also declares his love for Charlotte. What a player my man Farraday is. He's got a girl in every decade!

Down by the river, Juliette engages the soldiers in a Latin conversation that I can only follow when they use words associated with the old Catholic liturgy, which means I'm glad they had subtitles. It's something about camp and Richard and yada yada yada. One of the soldiers takes off and Sawyer tells Locke to shoot him. Locke doesn't, says he can't shoot one of "his people". "His People"? He doesn't even know them yet. That doesn't come until 2004.

Desmond locates the woman involved in Farraday's experiment. She's in a hospital bed at her sister's house. Nothing says she's messed up in a TV series quicker than a hospiptal bed and a nurse! Her sister says Farraday abandoned her and left for the states, and that Farraday's benefactor Mr. Widmore has been paying her bills (cue spooky music)

Farraday reveals the whole h-bomb thing revolves around US bomb testing on the island. Richard says he killed several soldiers who were setting up testing on the island.

Locke asks Juliette how old Richard is, the response is "old." Locke has entered "crazy town" according to Sawyer. I believe Locke eventually becomes mayor of Crazy Town.

Farraday tells Swiss Miss she looks familiar (the girl in the hospital bed, perhaps?) She shows him to a bomb hanging in a scaffold. He must disarm it.

FYI -- the dead founding fathers in the Turbo Tax ads creep me out. They're supposed to look like they do on various denominations, but instead they look like pale green zombies. And why are they dispensing tax advice. I imagine the tax code has changed slightly from 1776.

Farraday tells Swiss Miss to bury the H-bomb, because he knows it's not going to go off. Why? Because he's been on the island fifty years from now, and it hasn't gone off. That must really sound bat shit crazy to her. "I'm from the future and I'm here to help," is apparently not anymore reassuring in 1954 than it would be if somebody told you that now.

Desmond storms into Widmore's office. He demands to know where Farraday's mom is. Widmore wants to know if Penny's okay. He tells Desmond this whole mess is bigger than he knows and it doesn't involve either of them. Get your bidness done and move along. Desmond disses him.

Locke marches into the others camp and introduces himself to Richard. Richard is all "ya, ya, whatever" until Locke drops the name Jacob, and that gets his attention. But the big news here is Richard calling a soldier who wants to off Locke "Widmore." (music zing) What's you first name, Charles? says our bald friend. "Whatz it to ya," snaps young Widmore. Cue Locke for the wry smile.

So Widmore was part of the original others who established a community on the island in the 50's at about the same time the US was conducting nuclear tests there? Here's a question, why were the others there and when did the Dharma intiative get there and get all up in the other's grill?

Desmond looks in on Penny and their son. He tries to lie to her about Farraday's mom but she catches on. He tells her he's going to blow off going to LA to find her, but she warns him it'll keep happening unless he takes care of it now. THEY'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!

Locke tries to tell Richard what the hell is going down, including the fact that Richard once told him he would be their leader, but before he can find out how to get off the island, another time warp comes and takes them to another time on the island. What year is it now? Who the hell knows, but all this time travel is killing Charlotte, as she passes out with a bloody nose. Why is she affected by this and no one else is?

THESE ANSWERS AND EVEN MORE QUESTIONS ON THE NEXT LOST!!!!

BWE recap

Best Night Ever: 1-21-09 @ Yahoo! Video

LOST season preview

LOST season 5 episode 1 recap

One thing I try to remember when approaching a new season of LOST is not to overload my mind with too much crap from the recap show. I like to take a drink of it a little at a time, let it wash around in your mouth a little before swallowing. But last night this was impossible. They smacked us around pretty early with so much new and relevant information that my mind was spinning from the get go.

Marvin Candle from the instructional videos is called Dr. Chang off camera and jamming to Willie Nelson. What kind of creepy world have we slipped into. Wherever and whatever it is, Farraday is in it too, working as a mere underling. (As always, I live in the stream of conscience, so correct me if I'm wrong on anything)

Daniel then announces to the boat LOSTIES that the explosion and subsequent "disappearing" of the island means they are now caught in a time warp of some sort that he equates to a record album skipping on the phonograph. (Explain to the kids in the audience what a phonograph is, grampa, because my kids had no clue what he meant.) Does this mean all the flashbacking in the first three seasons was the characters actually coming in and out of time? Dammit. There goes another gear slipping in my head.

This revelation is causing my to rethink most of what I thought was happening on the show. For instance: when Locke is helped by Richard after being shot near the drug plane, he hands him a compass and tells him to give it to him next time he sees him, even though he won't know who he is. (That sentence alone is hard to grasp). What else did Locke have in his hand? A knife. Now, remember back to when Richard came to visit Locke as a child and he asks to give him an item? What did Locke give him at first? A freaking knife! And Richard got mad because it was the wrong choice.

One can only assume then that Richard has mastered and can control his time travel, while everyone else cannot. Ben may also have that capability. Perhaps Farraday is chasing them through time in an attempt to stop them from using it for evil means, and by evil, I mean f-ing over Widmore.

This is also brings up the idea of the "constant", the one thing needed to ground time travellers. For Desmond, it was Penny. Clearly, Richard gave Locke the compass to use as a constant, but maybe the Oceanic 6 are a constant for someone or something on the island and that's why they need to return. Or is the island travelling in time, and the people don’t? How does this logic work? Why can't I have a mini-Faraday to explain these things to me as I watch the show?!

Desmond continues to be Dans constant but whats going on with Char? Is someone erasing her memories like someone is adding memories to Desmond?

At this point, I would just like to spend a few moments in the simplicity that was the character "Neil". Neil, a person portrayed by a guy I've seen heretofore only in commercials, debuts as a whiny complainer. Several times in the first hour, he appears to complain about something, and instantly you know he's going to die, you just don't know when. BLAM, a flaming arrow appears and cuts him down. OOF! Did I see that before in a previous season? Not sure. We jsut have to revel in the fact that the whiner got offed in a spectacular way!

QUICK TRIVIA: Neil and Farraday were both apart of Bill Paxton's tornado chasing crew in "Twister".

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW...Share your own in the comments, please...

Should we read anything into the fact that Hurley didn't use a crisper sleeve for his hot pocket?

How is that Sawyer is getting flabby? He seemed a bit leaner two days ago.

Is it possible the old lady at the butcher shop (also the ring lady form last season) is Kate, years from now?

Is Farrday's notebook his constant? He takes notes as he travels through time to manipulate what he can.

"Dude if you ate more comfort food, maybe you wouldn't kill people"

"It's MISTER Wizard."

Dr. Chang's wife had a baby, so did she have it on the island? See how I'm over analyzing everything now. Marvin Candle's baby = Miles the ghost whisperer?

There is no person really asking Kate for the blood sample. I think it's just Ben trying to flush her out to easily get her to go back to the Island.

This was the second Hot Pocket incident that I saw on TV this week. Hardison dropped his too hot Pocket on Leverage earlier this week. Conspiracy????

I'm convinced that both Ana Lucia and Libby are just Hurley's hallucinations. But if the entire show is just a hallucination, I will hunt down the writers.

Are they ever going to tell us about Walt and why he could walk away or was that just a case of bad casting, having a kid cast in a time jumping show that needs continuity? (Which is why they should have gotten Sawyer an ab roller)

Here's another theory courtesy of popcandy:

I think the whole thing comes down to balance. When a new group arrives on the island it replaces the old group. To leave the island you have to sacrifice an(other). Claire doesn't want Aaron to come back because she sacrificed herself to let him safely leave. Maybe "Jacob" is a soul in search of a host body, and that's why there has to be a dead body aboard whatever comes to the island. When 815 crashes Jacob inhabits Christian's body, when the 6 return, I'm willing to bet Locke becomes the new "Jacob".

Until next week..........