LOST S6: E17 & E18 FINALE- 'The End'

...For a moment the unearthly stillness of the desert enveloped us...
Then Newman said, "My father once told me a story I always think of, when the going gets rough and things look hopeless. It's about Destiny….
Destiny came down to an island, centuries ago, and summoned three of the inhabitants before him. 'What would you do,' asked Destiny, 'if I told you that tomorrow this island will be completely inundated by an immense tidal wave?'' The first man, who was a cynic, said, 'Why, I would eat, drink, carouse and make love all night long!' The second man, who was a mystic, said, 'I would go to the sacred grove with my loved ones and make sacrifices to the gods and pray without ceasing.' And the third man, who loved reason, thought for a while, confused and troubled, and said, 'Why, I would assemble our wisest men and begin at once to study how to live under water.' "
I, too, never forgot that story. When our cause seems doomed and the future LOST, when despair becomes unbearable and the heart is on the edge of breaking, let men summon hope and honor and high resolve in yet one more stubborn affirmation: Come, let us assemble our wisest men and begin at once to think, to study, to try to learn – even to learn, if we must, how to live under water."
-Leo Rosten, Captain Newman, M.D.

Legen... wait for it... dary. From the music to the aerial shots to the battle in the rain to everything coming full circle with Jack lying down and closing his eyes in the same spot he woke up and opened his eyes in the very first scene of the very first episode... loved it. I suppose I will have to find something new to obsess over and blog about now. Sigh. Or get a life.

Little satisfying acknowledgments and reveals:

-LockeNess referring to Jack as the obvious choice, because that is what we were all thinking
-Kate snickering at the name Christian Shephard-Island Claire saying she is crazy
-Juliet is Jack's baby mama as hoped/confirmed (though I guess the little guy doesn't actually exist, sad.)
-The whole story has been a combination of elements from different mythologies and religions, and I love that it remained generic to the end- like Christian standing in front of a stained glass window with icons from several theologies

Things that choked me up:

Okay, so I pretty much started getting emotional from the moment the show began and the music played, but here are some specific times:

-Every time someone had a flashback sequence and finally remembered
-Charlie's face watching Claire from the stage-Kate helping Claire give birth to Aaron, again
-Sawyer whispering, I've got you, to Juliet

-Jack saying to Desmond I'll see you in another life, brother
-Jack's conversation with Christian in the end

Things that made me smile like a fool:

-All the people who remember smiling like idiots at the people who don't remember yet (Hurley at Charlie, the Kwons at Sawyer, Kate with Jack...)

-The joyous reunions that came with two people remembering at once (Sayid & Shannon, Sun & Jin, Sawyer & Juliet, Kate & Claire...)
-Boone already being in the know and he and Hurley giving Shannon & Sayid a little more time
-Ben's face to Hurley when he finally got to be the chosen one
-Jack & Kate's epic kiss on the cliff
-The symbolism of them protecting the Light on the island and then walking into the Light in the end

Favorite lines:

-Sawyer asking Jack what the Burning Bush had to say for itself (te he)
-Kate to Jack- you didn't ruin anything, nothing is irreversible... Hurley, this would be so sweet if we weren't all about to die
-When Desmond was going down the hole and said he would go where the light was brightest, all I could think was, second star to the right and straight on til morning! (From Peter Pan)
-Miles- I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape

-Charlie- I was shot by a fat man

From the very first season, fans clamored around the theory that the island was Purgatory, and the writers/producers promptly shot that down. It was very clever that the twist is that its actually the Flash-Sideways world that is, maybe not Purgatory, per se, more like Limbo, or a literal passage to the light, for the dead to move on. It's a very nice idea that you create a perfect world to find those that matter most to you so that you can remember and let go and then move on together. The ending, with them all hugging it out in the church, which Kirsten aptly named, The Titanic Moment (as in the final scene of Titanic when Rose walks up the stairs and everyone (especially Jack- what a great name!) is there) was also wonderful. Everyone there but those who weren't quite ready to move on yet- Ben, Miles, Charlotte, Daniel... (and those spirits who are apparently trapped forever on the island like Michael?)

For several weeks now I have been suspicious of the to-good-to-be-true nature of the sideways world, feeling like it was some kind of Matrix. Then last week Desmond had me confused when he said that he was there to help them, let go. I was so caught up in it all that the realization of what was really happening didn't hit completely hit me until Jack walked into the Church and looked at the casket and I knew Christian wouldn't be in there because they were all dead. I had an eye-popping, jaw-dropping, make-my-friends-pause-so-I-could-get-a-grip-and-explain moment.

At first when it ended, feeling extremely overwhelmed, I felt like there was a lack of continuity with them all being dead since there were a few in the Island time, aka, Real Time, that were still alive. The more I think about it the more perfect it is though. They really did go through all of that and successfully saved the island and fulfilled their destiny. Those that died seem to have sort of, waited for those who lived so they could all move on together. Hurley and Ben had their moment of -you were a good second...you were a good first, so they really must have cared for the island together for a time. For how long? It hardly matters, because as Christian said, this place they created has no place and no time- they created what was familiar and contemporary to them so that they could all find each other and be together. Though they didn't confirm it, and that's okay, its nice to wistfully think that Desmond got back to his Penny, that Kate and Claire stayed friends and lived a full life loving Aaron, and that maybe Sawyer and Miles did become cop partners! So when Kate said to Jack, I've missed you so much, it really must have been a while for her since she lived years longer than him. (And who knows about Richard.) Its also fun to think of Hurley finding his groove as the new Jacob. He would be a friendly face to meet, with Ben-as-the-new-Richard being the intimidating one. What a pair. I wonder who Hurley chose as his replacement...

Genius. Fulfilling yet lingering. I'll miss it and I want more, but I agree that it was time for it to end. The whole episode answered enough, but was still beautifully ambiguous, which is fitting, because all of LOST has been one exquisitely mysterious journey. C'est la vie.

LOST S6: E16- 'What They Died For'

At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one's LOST self. 
-Brendan Francis

Flash-Sideways:

Desmond has certainly found his stride in knocking the truth back into everybody. It has certainly been some quick and confident thinking on his part to be pulling off all of this. But, like he said to LockeNess on the island, he isn't afraid of anything. So I guess, why hesitate and second guess yourself and your purpose if you have no fear? The whole time I was thinking, 'the gangs all here!' It was so fun to see so many favorites/originals together and I love Desmond for making it happen. He made that call to Jack about the coffin arriving soon, so is his goal to get everyone to the airport? If they fly a plane out over the island will they mesh with their Island entities? Also, though I never really doubted him, it was nice to have it verified that he did in fact hit John to help him let go, and not to actually harm him. That phrase, 'help him let go,' is curious. I have been assuming he just needs to make them all remember, but as we have said before, this Sideways seems to be, for the most part, sort of a dream world idea of closure and being okay with that they have, yada, yada, yada. Maybe the reality, even if its darker, is better, because its the truth, and Desmond has to knock that into them. More than just remembering, but accepting as well, and being who they were before. The way that John is now, once again, a Man of Faith.


Side Note 1- I secretly always thought that Kate and Sayid would have been an awesome, Mr. & Mrs. Smith kinda team. Too bad that never happened. I always liked their chemistry and their mutual respect.
Side Note 2- Anna Lucia! It was nice to see you dear, but unlike all of the other old characters who felt like they were guest stars, she really just felt like a brief cameo, so it felt a little off. But alas, as Desmond said, she's not ready.
Side Note 3- I am still really hopeful that we will see Juliet in the finale, because I know we are going to be seeing some other familiar faces.

Island:

I was loving the whole Three Amigos feel of Richard, Ben and Miles. That is, until Richard got clobbered and Ben started acting like, well, Ben. He realized that Smokey was always the one in control. That conversation with Ben and Smokey on the porch was crazy. I was amused and horrified all at once. Nobody can deliver a line like Michael Emerson (Ben). At first I thought he was bluffing and it was going to be some kind of an attempt at a trap, but nope. Gave Charles up, shot him himself, then asked who else there was to kill. He was practically drooling. Not that I will really miss Charles, but I sort of wanted a little more time for some Charles/Ben frenemy banter. Charles said Jacob visited him after the freighter. Between that (since Ben is still bitter that Jacob never chose him) and Charles potentially getting to save his daughter (while Ben lost Alex) there was no way he was going to let him live.  

The conversation that Jacob had with the Final Four at the fire was amazing. I guess his ashes in the fire allow them to see and hear him? The most 'aaaaaahh' moment of the entire episode for me was finding out that Jacob only crossed Kate off of the list because she became a Mother and that was a more important role. 

I'll tell you what they died for, why I chose them and why I chose you, then I'll tell you all you need to know to protect the island because as soon as that flame goes out one of you will have to do it. Gah! I liked Jacob taking responsibility for his mistake. And then describing why he chose them... I didn't pluck any of you out of a happy existence... you were all flawed... like me... alone... all looking for something... you needed the island as much as it needs you. What is interesting is that he chose people who were more like his brother was, than like he was/is.

Jack volunteered! The minute he did, the first thought in my head was that he was going to get killed and one of the others would have to step up, but now that he's drunk Jacob's blessed water (interesting that its the incantation that counts and not what the liquid itself is- water, wine...) So since he is now like Jacob and Jacob's Crazy Mama before them, he should prove pretty hard to kill. Hopefully Richard isn't really dead from that little scuffle with Smokey and he and Jack can start a beautiful bromance. My friend Adam screeched so long and loud when Smokey came out and whacked Richard. Ha! 

Desmond is a Fail Safe. That's what Charles whispered to Smokey. (Charles was little too quick to give that information up, if you ask me. I know he was trying to save Penny, but he should have stuck with his original, and far more accurate, you'll kill her either way, mentality.) How can Smokey use this information and use Desmond to help destroy the island? Use him as some kind of electromagnetic conductor? Since Island Des and Sideways Des are so in sync, if one died would the other know? Would the other also die?

Striking lines of the night:

In the beginning when Kate was heartbreakingly talking about Sun & Jin and told Jack that they need to kill LockeNess and Jack simply replied, I know. Ooooh, good chills.

Miles to Ben in his old house before Smokey arrived: What's that? A secreter room? Haha!

Smokey to Ben when asked why he doesn't stay in smoke form all of the time: I like the feel of my feet on the ground. Makes me remember I was human. Ooooh, creeper chills.

Jacob to Hurley: You should get your friends Hugo. We're almost at the end. Yeah we are. (Sniffle)

LOST S6: E15- 'Across the Sea'

And then, something happened. I let go. LOST in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.

–Narrator in Fight Club

Ummmm, wow. This post is very quote-heavy because, well, the episode was so chock-full of captivating insights!

Crazy Mama & Her Spouts of Wisdom: Played by the always wonderful and entertaining Allison Janney, an actress that I was certainly not expecting to see in LOST. How long had she been there? Who passed the torch to her? She tells the birth mother that she got to the island the same way as them, "by accident." Then later, she tells the boys, "They're not like us, they don't belong here, we're here for a reason." Seems a little contradictory to me. Was she somehow watching the outside like Jacob later did and knew that the child of that woman would be her heir? She also says that she has "made it so you can never hurt each other." Okay, witch woman, but they can still be killed by others. Is the fact that MIB can't kill the Candidates because they are sort of protected by proxy of her little spell-casting since they are potential new Jacob's?

The Favored: Though there were a lot of eye-popping moments and comments in this episode, the most interesting thing to me is the fact that Jacob wasn't actually the desired Candidate himself. From the very beginning with the birth there was a lot of symbolism. Hair color and complexions aside, Jacob was the firstborn, wrapped in white and not crying, while No-Name is wrapped in black and bawling. From the beginning it appears that Jacob was the one that was innately good, while MIB is prone to deceit and can see the dead. (Though we know from Hurley that seeing the dead doesn't mean one is evil. Ha! That would be the biggest twist of all if Hurley ended up the evil spawn of MIB and a criminal mastermind!) she still states this in a positive way: "Jacob doesn't know how to lie, he's not like you, you're special." Yet she later tells Jacob, "I couldn't let you become one of them, I needed you to stay good." So she knew that Jacob was the 'good' one but favored MIB anyway, despite him being the one who leans towards deceit? Or perhaps because of this? Perhaps because he was more like the rest of humanity than Jacob she thought he would be the one to understand? Because she saw herself in him? MIB asks her at one point, "what's dead?" She tells him its "something you will never have to worry about." I suppose this conversation verifies that she was indeed going to choose him as her predecessor and was planning on giving him the Cup of Life.

From Man to Monster: Thirteen year old No-Name looked a lot like a mini Zac Efron. They did a good job showing us his humanity so that we could semi-relate. With who he was though, and not who he now is, since what he is now is merely a monstrous phantom version of his dead self. Curious that it ended up being Jacob who was the cause of the Man in Black's death and him turning into a monster. MIB has the innate ability to see the dead, but Jacob does not. You really can't blame the man fro feeling betrayed and for wanting to see his homeland and see what is out there in the world. Why should he respect the Light when he hasn't been told why he should, and when he can harness it's power? When he stabbed Crazy Mama and she was dying, he asked, "why wouldn't you let me leave mother?" She replied, "because i love you," and then she added "thank you..." Why the thanks? Because she has been in this position for so long and couldn't die and now she is finally being released?

The Back-Up Chosen One: Despite his seeming very innocent and Adam-like, Jacob was more than what he seemed. Despite choosing to stay with Crazy, he still came to see his brother and watched the people sometimes, to see if Mama was wrong about humanity. He disagreed, and it ended up being MIB who agreed with her on that stance- "You want to know if they're bad. The woman is mad but she is right about that... they're greedy, manipulative, selfish..." yet he wants to be one of them. Also paralleling a conversation we have seen before is when Crazy Mama is describing the warring of Mankind and says, "it always ends the same," which is is the same phrasing that Man in Black said to Jacob the very first time we saw them in the show. Interesting that, though Jacob is the one who stayed with Crazy Mama while No-Name left, it is No-Name who had more in common with her. Jacob never loses his faith and hope in people. It wasn't something instilled in him by his upbringing, so where does it come from? And Jacob knew. He knew that Crazy Mama loved MIB more and was going to choose him. "Why do you love him more than me?" Then later at the Light telling her that he knows that she wanted it to be MIB but she's giving it to him because he's all she now has. A man of duty though, he still accepted the responsibility. Was it all in Crazy Mama's (or something far beyond her) master plan? Did Jacob need to be humble?

The Light: When she first took them to the Light it felt very Garden of Eden-like, and young Jacob felt very much like Adam, innocent and childlike. Crazy Mama told them they had to make sure that no one finds the light- a little bit of the light is in every man but they always want more. Apparently they can't actually take it, but if they try it may go out and if it goes out here, it will go out everywhere. "What's down there?" "Light, death, rebirth... its the source, the heart of the island. If you go down there you will be worse than dead." MIB's new people are clever and innovative and have discovered pockets of magnetism around the island and have built the wheel to harness the Light and water. The bottle Mama used to give Jacob eternal life or to make him the keeper of the Light, or what you will, seemed to be the same bottle that he later used to describe to Richard that the island is like a cork keeping evil from spreading into the world. I used to think that the evil he meant was the literal entity of Smokey himself, but now we understand that it's Jacob's fault that that is the case- when he tossed little brother into the Light, he seemed to suck it all into himself. So I guess now they need to find a way to get it out of him and back into the island? The same thing in essence, but different than I first understood it. After he drank, she said, "now you and I are the same." They aren't though. Maybe in immortality and responsibility, but I don't know how much similarity I see beyond that. He is very much his own person.

Adam & Eve: So the cave our Losties went to in Season One is the home of Jacob's youth, and the skeletons they found are Crazy Mama and Man in Black. Why leave them there like that? It seems that it has been centuries at least, so one thing for humanity is apparently a shared respect of the dead since the bones haven't been disturbed with all the stragglers coming and going over the years. They seem to have kept nicely. Island thing, I guess.

Ooh, and here is a good recap to check out.

LOST S6: E14- 'The Candidate'

Nothing is LOST yet, nothing broken,
and yet the cold blue word is spoken:
say goodbye now to the Sun,
the days of love and leaves are done. 

-R.P.T. Coffin

The Fallen: And then there were four (plus Claire). I found it difficult to feel too emotional when Sayid died for several reasons: 1- I've been suspecting all season that he would die as a martyr, it was a very abrupt scene and he didn't get much of a sendoff, he has been a Claimed bum for a while now, and I know we will see him alive still in the other timeline. That being said, it still stung  to hear Jack yell to Hurley, 'There is no Sayid!'  As for Sun and Jin, that definitely left me weepy. It was a fitting end for them though, finally together and finding a sense of peace about it all, and it was beautifully filmed. Nice to catch a glimpse of Jin taking flowers to Sun in the Sideways right after though. Also, too bad about Lapidus (at least I am presuming he died after getting slammed by that door and probably drowning if that didn't kill him.)

Kate: Widmore has a list with four names on it- Ford, Reyes, Kwon and he didn't say, but I presume the fourth is Shephard. (How did he receive this list? From Jacob before he died?) Kate is not on the list and her name was crossed off in the cave, but I swear 'Austen' was on the wheel in the Lighthouse and was not crossed off. Maybe that doesn't mean anything, maybe the lighthouse names just reflect who Jacob has been watching and not who he has discarded as Candidates, but I still feel like there is some kind of loophole that will be revealed as far as Kate is concerned. Poor thing, thinking she is unneeded and then getting shot my Widmore's folks, almost drowning and losing her friends... she seemed far more concerned for Jack than for Sawyer on the beach in the end. Sawyer was the one lying unconscious and yet it was Jack she fell into, crying 'I couldn't find you... I couldn't find you...'

Jack: Nice parallel that he referred to Locke a Candidate in the Sideways timeline though he no longer is in the Island time. Needing to find the answers and take care of everyone, as always, and discovering a lot of connections with the Oceanic flight in the process. A sweet offer to Claire in the end with the declaration that they are family. Also, in all of the Sideways flashes there has been a shot of someone looking in a mirror, but it was a little different this time because it was both Jack and Claire in the mirror of the music box at the same time. An interesting reaction from John when Jack was trying to convince him to do the surgery. I think he is saying no for more reasons than just guilt over his fathers circumstances, and when Jack said 'I can help you John, I wish you believed me,' he seemed to hesitate, not in a reconsidering way, but maybe in a deja vu way. On the Island, Jack keeps wanting people to trust him and thinks they can't get hurt, but keeps being wrong. First Juliet and now they have lost three more. Best line to put Jack in a nutshell, when John's fiancee asks him, 'why can't that be enough' and Jack responds, 'because its not.' Plain and simple. 

Different Circumstances, Same Outcome: It is interesting what we are discovering about the backgrounds of our Losties in the Sideways world. When we first saw them all in the premiere episode, once again on the Oceanic flight, it seemed that things were much the same with them except that they landed this time. As we are learning, their pasts are NOT the same, though they were still ed (by Fate?) to that same flight again. Sayid was an honest business man this time around, Sun and Jin were together though not married, Locke still ended up in a wheelchair but for different reasons, Jack was still going to pick up his father's body but he has a teenage son now... Kate is still on the run, but I think we will discover that she may be innocent of what she is accused of and it will be something different from blowing up her father. 

Who to Trust?: For one thing, I am confused about the Claimed, Claire and Sayid. Do they just have a difficult time thinking clearly unless a strong and personal emotion is brought out to knock some sense into them? For Claire, talking to Kate about going home to Aaron and for Sayid talking to Desmond about the kind of man Nadia would want him to be? With LockeNess, I think Jack is right that he 'needs them' to get off the island but he has simply been unclear about what he needs of them, that he needs them dead and as I've suspected, he can't kill them himself for some reason. If this is true though, then I am wrong in my theory that he can't straight out lie, since he was threatening Jack about killing him if he wanted to. Widmore- I am very confused about him. He has the list of remaining Candidates that he seems to want to protect, locked them up saying it was for their own good, he shoots at them at the boat, though granted, the only one that gets hit is Kate who he thinks is expendable... he isn't exactly great about making himself clear if he IS a good guy, and it does seem likely that LockeNess lied about Widmore setting up the bomb on the plane, but if LockeNess wanted to blow them up on the sub, why didn't he just do it on the plane and save some time? 

Those Absent from the Episode: Desmond- so he is still in the well, and Sayid acknowledged that 'Locke wants him dead, which means your going to need him." Then he tells Jack that he is telling him these things "because its going to be you Jack." It being the final Candidate? the new Jacob? Does Sayid know this for certain or is he just basing it, like I am, on the fact that Jack seems like likely one at this point. Maybe Desmond can answer that. And, I forget, what were Richard and Ben off doing again?

Betty White on SNL = Happiness

So maybe you have already all heard about this, but I am pleased as punch about it! So everyone's favorite Golden Girl, the hilarious and immortal Betty White, beloved by all, has somehow never hosted Saturday Night Live, in all the years that she has been making us laugh. Don't you think that is a travesty? Well, so do over five hundred thousand other people. People like myself. Connected people. Facebook people. After BW was featured in the hilarious Snickers commercial during the Super Bowl, a campaign was started on Facebook pleading to see BW as the host of the thirty-five year old sketch comedy show.

Well the Powers That Be, aka Lorne Michaels, heard the plea and  it is really happening. Now, BW is going strong, but she IS 88 years old, so they decided to have her host the May 8th episode, which is the night before Mother's Day, and so that she doesn't have to carry the weight of the entire night, it is going to be sort of a Women of Comedy thing, with appearances by six fabulous former SNL cast members, namely: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch.

Yeah. It's gonna be a good one. I am not at all an avid SNL watcher these days, more of an SNL Hulu watcher if I specifically hear about a great skit or to see what the brilliant Kristen Wiig is up to (she is the best part of SNL these days). I will definitely want to be watching this episode, however. I luff BW.

Brother Parker, I will be in Bozeman for your college graduation the weekend this airs. I guess we know how we're going to party afterwards. Some cherry enhanced fountain sodas, some pre-packaged cookie dough, some cozy hotel beds and Betty White on SNL... its like they planned it just for you ;)

Here is a promo. She is fabulous.

LOST S6: E13- The Last Recruit

The doctors take the bodily evidence as the disease. . . . disease is itself an impudent opinion. He throws off the feelings of the sick and imparts to them his own which are perfect health, and his explanation destroys their feelings or disease. . . . He is like a captain who knows his business and feels confident in a storm, and his confidence sustains the crew and ship when both would be LOST if the captain should give way to his fears.
-Phineas Parkhurst Quimby

Wow, so everyone is finally starting to come together in the Flash-Sideways world and also in the Island world, sort of. Also, we got the clarification that it HAS been Smokey/The LockeNess Monster showing up as Christian Shephard, and probably everyone else's loved ones, and messing with everyone all this time. So the only dead spirits I trust are the ones that Hurley sees and Miles hears.

Sayid: Is there still hope for you?! It seems to me that if we didn't see it then it didn't happen, and therefore Sayid did NOT kill Desmond. Loved that conversation at the well. Unlike LockeNess who plays on peoples fears and insecurities and selfishness, Desmond is acting like Jacob and helping Sayid to make an honest and logical choice. The man surely knows how to play the love card. "What will you say when she asks you what you did to be with her again?" Poignant. Even if Sayid is turning a new leaf, I still, sadly, think he won't make it through the end of the season. Maybe he can at least die as a martyr though.

Sun & Jin: Yay! They are finally together on the island! Its been like two seasons that they have been apart! She even got her English back when she saw him. Sigh, gotta love a good Constant. Also yay, in the Sideways their baby is a-okay! Interesting that Sun recognized and was afraid of Locke when she saw him in the hospital. I bet she doesn't even really understand why, and it all ties into the theory that those dead or close too it or badly injured have a closer connection to their parallel selves. when Island Sun was knocked out and made a connection to Sideways Sun and lost her English, Sideways Sun mist have also felt something and had some kind of vision or memory of Locke (Well, Smokey as Locke).

Sawyer: Oh buddy, bitter much? I think Jack is right and he knows that there is still something you need to do on the island, but I can understand him not feeling like he owes the island anything when it has sent him through the ringer- its one thing for Jack who decided to come back, but Sawyer has never even gotten to leave at all since he jumped out of the helicopter for them, got tossed into the 70s and then loved and lost Juliet. He'll come through in the end though. He always does. In the sideways, I liked his comment to Kate about someone trying to bring them together- Oh James, always so surprisingly insightful. I do love always love the sassy back-and-forthing between Kate and Sawyer, and we will probably see a little somethin' somethin' between them in the next couple episodes, but I am still holding out that we will see Juliet before the end, that she will be Jack's baby mama and that she and Sawyer will meet and it will be instant connection.

Claire: Still don't know what to think about her. I think she was sincerely hurt and felt abandoned by everyone and she was definitely shooting laser darts of death out of her eyes as she watched everyone leaving her again. Yet I also think she was sincerely touched by Kate's little speech. I always love the Kate and Claire scenes. I like Kate in the sort of big sister role. When Claire decided to go with them though, I definitely got bug eyes and chills when she said, 'If he finds out we're gone... he's gonna be mad.' In the Sideways, I admit that if I were Claire I would have been a little creeped by Desmond's insistence. Awfully convenient that Ilana (now with an American accent) and her law firm were in the same building and even the same floor and the adoption agency that Claire was headed to. There's kismet for you. Sorry Jack was a tad abrupt with you Claire, sweetie. He's just in a bit of shock. Ummmm, her preggo belly looked super phony.

Jack: "Doesn't feel right leaving the island... last time it felt like a part of me was missing... we're supposed to do something... maybe he's afraid of what we do if we stay..." Sawyer: "Get off my boat." Jack: "I'm sorry if I got Juliet killed." Hmmmm. Well, it is still holding that Jack seems the likeliest Candidate, but again, maybe its to throw us off and surprise us in the end. Then the Widmore bombing. I guess those electromagnetic maps that Jin helped them out with are doing the trick. Good thing it was only extras (who are dressed like they are ready to follow Moses through the Red Sea) that got killed. What body part was it that fell next to Jack's head? Gross. (But it still made me chuckle. I'm so morbid). LockeNess may have hauled you away Jack, because he needs you, but don't you trust him! What exactly did it mean when Claire said that he was with LockeNess? 'You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us.' Jack, make sure Sayid's allegiance is with you, and get Desmond (Is Des out of the well now and stalking LockeNess?) In the Sideways, it was almost too sappy with Jack and his son, which reminded me of a couple of weeks ago with the Desmond episode and how things are supposed to feel perfect here and that it might all be a facade or a Matrix. Except that now, the people from their real lives are crashing into them and its coming back. Will we get a Locke-walking miracle from Dr. Shephard? I liked his confidence going into the surgery.

Lines of the night:

Harshest- "John Locke was not a believer. He was a sucker."

Hurleyism- "What's going on?" "People trying to kill us again."

Sawyerism- "That pilot that looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie." Also, his reference to Claire drinking LockNess' Kool-Aid. Ha!

LOST S6: E12- 'Everybody Loves Hugo'

I couldn't tell fact from fiction,
Or if the dream was true
My only sure prediction
In this world was you.
I'd touch your features inchly.
Beard love and dared the cost,
The sented spiel reeled me unreal
And I found my senses LOST.
-Maya Angelou


Wow, so, Ilana got blown right up there. Just wanted to get that out of the way. Provocative musings by Ben, wondering what the island would do when it was done with all of them.

Hurley & Libby: Aaaah, so once again its a loooove connection that brings it all back. Libby and Hurley are then new Demi and Ashton. Nice how their conversation paralleled their island conversation on the cliff just before she was killed. I chuckled a little after she kissed him and he was like, "I think I'm remembering stuff." I was waiting for him to say, "Maybe if you kiss me some more..." Yeah, yeah, nice line buddy ;) (Also, this knocks Libby out of the runnings for potential Mother of Jack's son, so I'm thinking its Juliet).

Hurley & the Spirits: So the whispers are officially souls that are stuck on the island and can't move on. Is it like poltergeists or like purgatory? I should probably stop speculating into too much detail because I am guessing we won't get this answer, and the details probably don't really matter to the plot, but I can't help wondering what is the criteria for a soul getting trapped? Because they didn't get closure about something in life? Because they can't forgive themselves for their actions? Because someone alive is still holding on to them? Again, its probably unimportant and I can't be nit-picky, but it did leave me curious. Interesting to have Michael, the murderer of Libby, playing Hurley's Spirit Guide this week. Nice of him to apologize, I suppose. I do really think it IS Michael, too. Smokey used to be able morph into different people, but Ilana said early in the season that he had made his choice and I really do believe that at this point, other than still being able to be Smokey, he is stuck as Locke. Therefore, I do believe that every time Hurley speaks with a spirit it really is that person. Does that mean he should always listen to them though? Not necessarily. I mean, now all of the original Oceanic 815 people (who are still alive) are with LockeNess. (Except for Jin, of course- can't poor Sun and Jin catch a break?!)

Theories I Am Clinging To: 1- Jack seeming like the obvious choice for Candidate. I have talked about this before, but it came into play again this week with his conversation with Hurley. Jack is learning that he can't be in control all of the time and learning to let others lead sometimes: "this is me trusting you." 2- Last week with Charlie I talked about how it seemed that perhaps those who were no longer living in the island timeline were closer to their memories. I think that held this week with Libby.

The LockeNess Monster: He told Kate, "You were only able to get on this island because you did it together; if we're going to get off it has to happen the same way." I wonder how true that statement is, and if true, what all 'the same way' entails. The return of the phantom child who keeps haunting/taunting LockeNess. It still seems the most likely that it is somehow a young Jacob, but we await an explanation. He seems to really freak ol' Smokey out (he way Sayid keeps freaking me out with his dead, shark eyes). Another thing that seems to freak him out is Desmond's lack of fear. "What is the point of being afraid?" If Smokey IS a stereotypical mythological villain, then fear is probably his greatest weapon because he can control people that way. You can't manipulate someone who has no fear at all. Unless you create something to make them afraid, I suppose. I didn't even flinch when he toppled Desmond into the well. It was all too obviously coming, and I refuse to believe that Desmond is going out that way, so I'm not bothered by it. Ilana was one thing, because we didn't really know her, but Desmond is too important.

The Conversation at the Well: So the well is really old, and its not the only one, and it was dug by people who wanted to find answers (about the island, the meaning of life, the universe...?) According to Smokey, Widmore is not one of these people and only wants power, not answers. From what we know of Widmore's past and the way he has acted thus far on the island (collecting Jin for his knowledge of the Dharma maps and being, for all we can tell, ignorant of the Candidates situation), I think this is probably true. Does it have to be one way or the other though? If he craves power, can't he also crave answers? He DOES seem to know that Smokey is evil and not to be released from the island. I don't trust him any more than I trust Smokey though.

Flash-Sideways Desmond: I enjoy seeing him play the sweet little guardian angel, pushing people in the right direction. He is so confident and I wish I knew what he knows. I'm torn about his reasons for hit-and-running John: 1- He knows that the way to connect John with his island memories is to get him to Jack and give him a walking miracle, 2- he truly did want to kill him in the hopes or knowledge that it would weaken him as the host/vessel of Smokey.

Favorite Hurley Lines: 'Give me a bucket. Family size' ... 'He's one of the people who come back and yell at me after they die' ... 'Clearly she's good enough for like, a fajita field trip.' Also, him teasing Libby about this 'bizarro universe' she is remembering- gotta love it when the characters call it like it is. I can appreciate writers who can make light of themselves.

Anyone notice how in the preview for next week they were playing the eerie, crazy song from tunnel scene in the 1971 Willy Wonka movie? Creepers.

Also, check out this sweet promo I found, haha!

LOST S6: E11- 'Happily Ever After'

Now, little boy LOST, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
How can I explain?
Oh, it's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn.

-Bob Dylan

Desmond loves Penny...

Charlie loves Claire...

Daniel loves Charlotte...

Love makes them remember... love conquers all! Be still my beating heart during the cat scan Penny flashes! Also Penny's giddy laugh and Desmond's joyful strut as they parted ways at the stands. Does this whole show boil down to soul mates?! I can dig it.

I had fun with the opening island scenes of this episode. It felt all Island of Doctor Moreau-ish. At first it seemed like the Jurassic Park compound and I was sure we would hear raptor screeching, then when they turned on the generator too soon and the dude was still touching it, I wanted it to morph him and give him a crab hand or make him like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly or something, but sadly they played it safe with the old 'fried to death' bit.

Des has always been the wild card and could travel back and forth to the different times in his mind. Widmore knows this about him. Is Widmore aware of the alternate timeline and knows that Desmond is the only one who can connect the two realities? Was electromagnetism the only way to connect him to the other world? In the end Des seemed to understand his purpose, or at least felt good about knowing he had a purpose, but Widmore referred to it as a great sacrifice. What does it entail?

The first few Flash-Sideways sequences we saw seemed to be really positive alternatives and giving people closure. Then we had a couple that were sort of ambiguous and made me question that, like Sayid's and Sun/Jin's. This week is the first time I really viewed the Sideways scenario to be sort of trickery or a facade. Is an ominous Someone trying to keep them happy in this fake world and trying to give them what they want to keep them form their higher callings? It made me think of the scene in Labyrinth when Sarah is sort of drugged to forget her purpose so that her time to succeed will run out, but then she sees some familiar things and remembers. Desmond taking Penny's hand was sort of his, "you have no power over me" moment where he knew who he was and what was needed of him. Apparently in both realities. Not sure why he was so cool going with Sayid in the end, but maybe we is just so zen in his purpose and in the euphoria of Penny that he knows he will be able to accomplish his mission no matter what? He wants the flight manifest because he needs to 'show them something.' What is the plan, Des?

The title of this episode was Happily Ever After, which could just be a sweet reference to the love story that is Desmond and Penny, but I think it is meant to be taken a little more, ironically or sarcastically. The Flash-Sideways seems to represent this facade of happily ever after, but it can't last because there is no such thing as that. Not in a cynical way, just in a realistic way. No 'happily ever after' doesn't mean no happy in your life, it just means there are responsibilities and sacrifices to think of. Also, however much you (whoever the you or what is in this situation) try to give people new memories to keep them... distracted, so to speak, you apparently can't actually rid them of their strong emotions. Reality is their true Happily Ever After and they need to get back to it.

The Flash-Sideways is our Losties Matrix Eloise Hawking Widmore, what do you know, woman? "What happened, happened," - nice touch. She was always a bit of a Seer- does she understand the discrepancies in the Flash reality but prefers to stay in it because she gets to keep her son in this version of her life, like the betrayer in the first Matrix who wanted to forget? What is interesting though, is that with this new perspective of the Flashes I am thinking back on what has been taken from these people to make them start seeing the truth. For Des, Charlie and Dan its their ladies, for Sun/Jin it is their child who they may have lost when Sun was shot... but for others they were given something- A son for Jack, a shot at raising Aaron for Claire... they might be harder to convince. Desmond is the new Jack, trying to get everyone 'back to the island' in a way. Though this episode was the most blatant, Des and Charlie and Daniel aren't the only ones remembering, so maybe it won't be hard to convince the others of the truth, it just might be hard to get them to make the right decision in choosing their real life. There were scenes/moments with some of the others, most specifically Jack, where they seemed to have deja vu or were trying to makes sense of a memory.

Charlie was also, of course, the perfect person to help guide Desmond because of their friendship in the other reality which manifested it in the 'Not Penny's Boat' scene. Charlie looked outside of himself- did he remember the island and Desmond when he almost died before and did the hand thing to jog Desmond's memory? Maybe Charlie is just sort of a talisman since he is dead in the other reality. Maybe its because he is dead in the other reality that he is so much closer to his memories than the others. The way Juliet slipped into it just before she died and the way Sun was affected when she passed out.

Nice touches & parallels with the Flash-Sideways: Running into Claire and predicting a boy, Having the scene in Widmore's office where they drink together and Widmore tells him nothing is too good for him when in a previous situation in his office he won't offer him a drink because he isn't good enough, having George be the driver in this episode since he was in the pivotal Constant episode, the nutty guy who died on the freighter, I believe of a brain aneurysm for his lack of a Constant.

Great lines of the night:

Daniel- "What if this wasn't supposed to be our life?" ... "I don't want to set off a nuclear bomb... I think I already did."

Charlie- "Spectacular, consciousness-altering love," nice description, and "then why are you accosting a man in a dressing gown."

Penny- "I shook your hand and then you fainted; I must have quite an affect on you," and the classic, "have we met before...?"

LOST S6: E10- 'The Package'

When a man has LOST all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse.

-Sophocles

Paik and Kwon, not married. Yowza. They certainly gave us a tricky interpretation of the truth in the season premiere. But he is still working for her dad, who is a jerk in any reality, and it now appears the entire situation was set up to get rid of Jin for getting romantically involved with Sun. A less than warm welcome back to Mikhail, aka 'Patchy,' (now patchless and fluent in many languages). When Jin was tied up that creeper Keamy said to him, seemingly sincere, "some people just aren't meant to be together." I will be very sad if this is foreshadowing. Sun shot in the crossfire- did their unborn child survive? Gaaaahh! If there had been a little more time, I was half expecting a Flash-Sideways scene at the end where they are at the hospital and Jack saying something like, 'I'm going to do everything I can to help you, but I need you to trust me,' to parallel the conversation he had with sun on the beach. I always liked the Jack and Sun friendship- respectful with no presumptions or expectations, just easy and honest. (Side note, I hate Sun's hair in the Flash-Sideways!!)

Island Sun! Good girl for running from LockeNess even though you really want your Jin back! She has been so bitter that I was worried about her making a stupid decision. So he was chasing her just so he could chat some more? Because he apparently can't take them against their will. Can understand English but can't speak it. Jack said it might be Aphasia, but I think maybe it is the two realities colliding. It happened when she had an unconscious occurrence like when Juliet seemed to slip into her other self before she died.

Drug darted by the Tina, er, the Zoe chick (who is apparently a geophysicist (Widmore likes his specialists- Charlotte, Daniel...). They aren't there to rescue them, they just want Jin to explain to them the Dharma grid maps with pockets of electromagnetism, which makes me think that Widmore may not understand the whole 'Candidates' situation. Also interesting that LockeNess is not all-knowing and they could just swipe Jin out from under him. Also, other than making threats and leaving a spy, he didn't do much. So far he's been kind of on top of the situation, but with losing Pretty Eyes last week and Jin this week, I see that he will have to work for it and the odds may be more even than they have seemed. The Package is Desmond! Good to see you Brutha. Sorry you are all drugged up and apparently there against your will. What is that wily Widmore planning? Will Sun be surprised to see him or was she aware of his coming based on the hints of them working together from their off-island conversation a season ago?

That was a surprisingly sane conversation Clairseau had with LockeNess, up until the part when he pretty much told her she's allowed to murder Kate once she assists to gather the other still viable Candidates to leave the island with him. Even after that though, she didn't make a wicked face like, 'yes, I get to kill Kate,' she made more of a confused, 'do I still even want to kill Kate?' face. (Also, unless he was lying to keep his promise to Claire, Kate is officially NOT a Candidate- and yet... he is basing that on the cave and not the Lighthouse where there was distinctly an un-crossed-out 'Austen.' They wouldn't have showed us that for nothing. When Jack and Hurley got to the Lighthouse they wondered why they hadn't seen it before and said something about you see it when it wants you to (or when Jacob wants you to?) So, does Man in Black not know of it? I'm not convinced Kate is really off the list yet). I do think Claire is Claimed like Sayid, but I think that perhaps her maternal affection and hope for Aaron has kept her from going completely over like him, despite all the time they have been separated. Though it was a Kwon-Centric episode, my quote at the top this week was for Sayid. Even in the Sideways his eyes looked dead. He doesn't feel anything and it will help him get through what's coming. What's coming?! War, apparently. If LockeNess gets off the island we would all just 'simply cease to be." Dun dun duh...

Because the Flash-Sideways scenarios have been sort of closure/happy endings until now, a lot of people have theorized that this reality is how the Losties lives would have gone if Jacob had never touched them and so he therefore must be more wicked than he seemed. I never thought much of that, partly based on the fact that Sayid and Hurley were touched just before the Ajira flight and not before the Oceanic flight, yet their lives were different already, but now I should think that theory is for sure out. Even if Sun and Jin's baby can be saved, they are still in a foreign country with no money, a language barrier, and dead bodies to be explained. This then makes me think that maybe as opposed to the two worlds literally becoming one at some point, the Losties will maybe have to/get to make a choice of which they want. Despite all they have been through, I think Sun and Jin would choose the island timeline.

I think the key to all if it is Hope. Hope is tied to faith and love and all of these other themes, but with the scenario of the island being a corked bottle to avoid evil pouring into the world, it reminds me of the story of Pandora's Box where Hope is the greatest weapon to defeat the evil, or, despair in the world. As with the story of Pandora, Hope has the potential to be just as dangerous on its own as any of the worlds evils, but all together, Hope balances the other evils out. The individuals that Jacob has chosen are survivors- after all they have been through they are still fighting, not only for themselves but for each other, their children and the future. You can't be a survivor without a large capacity for, and ability to, Hope.

Another 'Glee' Sneak Peek!

Here is another new Glee promo! I just can't resist. Lea Michelle sounding fabulous as usual singing Like a Prayer from their upcoming Madonna-themes episode where they will apparently be singing a total of ten Madge songs. Yay. A lot.

LOST S6: E9- 'Ab Aeterno'

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and LOST

Than never to have loved at all.

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson

the title of this episode, Ab Aeterno, is a Latin phrase meaning (Thank you Wiki):

Literally, 'from the everlasting' or 'from eternity'. Thus, 'from time immemorial', 'since the beginning of time' or 'from an infinitely remote time in the past'. In theology, often indicates something, such as the universe, that was created outside of time.

Is this referring to Pretty Eyes and his immortal state or to the further knowledge we gained of how epic and timeless the island mythology is becoming? Either way, its fitting.

Wow, so, Richard. He was looking very Last of the Mohicans when we first saw his racing through the Canary Islands on horseback in 1867. Also, though I think most of us were 98% sure already, it was nice to get it officially verified that he did in fact come to the island via the Black Rock ship. Also a nice little touch to know how the Tawaret statue was broken. Interesting that his immortality is because he requested it. also interesting that his reasons were because it would be better to live forever than to go to Hell for his sins since he Jacob couldn't give Isabella back or absolve him of his sins. It was a very touching moment when Isabella, via Hurley, revived Richard's faith in not only making him understand that those we love are always with us, but also making Jacob's prophesy to Ilana true in making him the one who knows what they have to do. they have to keep MIB (Man in Black) from leaving the island or they will all be in Hell. What?! I think they are being lose with all of the tossing around of the term 'Hell.' I don't think in this case they mean literally Hell, just that if MIB is lose it will be like Hell. I literally caught my breath for a moment when they cut to the LockeNess Monster watching them. Oooh, shivers. Was he on his way to get Richard but Isabella/Hurley intervened in time? Now he knows that they will be trying to stop him, so he will be getting desperate and probably more violent if needs be.

Is the island really some kind of Hell and they are dead? No, I don't think that at all. All of this Devil and Hell talk is really just MIB's perspective. To him its Hell because he is trapped and Jacob is the Devil because he opposes him. (And also perhaps a little shout out from the writers to the audience because one of the very first prominent theories was that the island was Purgatory but the writers always denied it) MIB told Richard, 'The Devil betrayed me. He took my body. My humanity.' To be betrayed suggests to me that there had to be trust or friendship there at one point. If a random person is sent to guard you, you don't feel betrayed by them. Are they related or were they friends or is he simply referring to perhaps a trick Jacob played on him to keep him there?

When Richard was having the conversation with Jacob and asking for his wife back and then for his sins to be absolved I kept thinking of Genie in Aladdin, "I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty picture, I don't like doing it!" Of course, other than the Disney version, genies, or djinns, are often viewed in a negative light, contained because they abused their free will, so in this scenario perhaps its MIB who is the genie. I also liked how he said, referring to his home in the statue, 'No one comes in unless I invite them in.' Not only did it make me think of the scripture Matthew 7:7, but it also solidified the reasoning that Jacob knew what was coming and allowed himself to be killed.

This episode definitely brought out some more of the Christian parallels of MIB as a Devil and Jacob as a good God. MIB, not caring who he has to manipulate or murder to achieve his selfish ends, and Jacob, forever having faith that mankind is innately good and wanting them to understand their worth for themselves without his intervening. Even his talking in analogies- the wine bottle explanation was fantastic. I also really like Jacob's Tough Love approach- showing that he can get frustrated like anyone else and practically drowning Richard to make his point. Jacob's explanation of MIB being trapped to prevent his 'darkness' from spreading into the world also brought me back to a Greek example that I touched on a few weeks ago- the ancient war with the Gods where Zeus cast his wicked, Titan father Kronos into the demon prison Tartarus. It's a place in the Underworld even lower than Hades. That could justify the fact that they really are sort of in 'Hell,' though they are still alive as they weren't sent there for sinning and then dying, but as guardians. Also, Titans are often depicted as monster forms as opposed to human- Smokey?

I think that a lot of people are really wanting to know specifically who and what Jacob and MIB are. Christian figures? Egyptian? Greek? Islamic? I don't think that necessarily matters. Mythology of every kind runs into each other to a degree because the themes of 'good vs evil' and 'for the greater good' and 'fate/destiny' are universal. We respond to what is familiar to us. It is their own LOST mythology that parallels stories we know so that we understand, but doesn't have to actually BE one of the stories that we know. As much as we have been frustrated with wanting answers, let's be honest- if Season 1 and 2 had thrown all of the information at us that we are now getting, would he get it? We are just like Jack and the other Losties and have had to go through this long journey for all of this final, important information to mean something.

Beware 'Snake Lake'

Ever seen one of SyFy's original movies with the ridiculous plots and graphics? Well here is a parody of one, called Snake Lake. Ha! It pretty much hits the nail on the head. Why do I love a good over-the-top gorefest so? Why am I so morbid?

LOST S6: E8- 'Recon'

Just because I'm losing doesn't mean I'm LOST;

Doesn't mean I'll stop, doesn't mean I will cross.

Just because I'm hurting, doesn't mean I'm hurt;

Doesn't mean I didn't get what I deserve.

No better and no worse, I just got LOST.

-Coldplay

Flash-Sideways: Sawyer's a cop and his partner is Miles? Sweet. When Miles jokingly asked Sawyer if he wants to die alone, other than the appreciation of the wording since "live together, die alone" has been prominent in LOST, I was screaming in my head, 'of course he doesn't! He just hasn't met Juliet in this reality yet!!' Charlotte, you hussy! You look lovely though, and I can hardly blame you, it's Sawyer after all. Welcome back. I found her character more likable in this episode than I ever did on the island. Maybe she just isn't great under pressure or maybe its because as adorable as Daniel was I always thought she and him didn't make sense. She also had my favorite line of the night: "Yes. I'm exactly like Indiana Jones." Saucy.

It was interesting what he told Charlotte about coming at a crossroads in his life and choosing to become a cop over becoming a criminal. Is there some big choice like that in all of our Losties Flash-Sideways realities that made their life go a different direction? (Sayid pushing Nadia towards her brother, Jack ending up having a son...) I think the sense of closure in this Flash was not finding his namesake so that he could kill him, but rather finally opening up to someone (Miles) about the whole thing. Finally allowing himself to rely on someone and not be alone. Trusting and getting close to others is something that Sawyer has struggled with the entire series. Other details of the Flash- Charlie's brother looking for him at the police station, watching Little House on the Prairie. using 'LeFluer' as the code word for the cops to come in at the beginning (the name he was going by with Dharma in the 70s).

The LockeNess Monster: Though he twists his phrasing and manipulates the truth, he doesn't seem to straight out lie. Can he literally not tell a straight out lie the way he can't straight out kill the Losties? After he stopped Claire from killing Kate and had words with her at the fire my thoughts were that he probably whispered to her something along the lines of, 'not yet,' because when he first sent her into the Temple he made her some promise and my best guess is still that the promise was she is the one who gets to kill Kate. I was really almost finding him charming and calming until his conversation with Kate on the beach: He is not a dead man. Crazy mother. Growing pains. Problems that could have been avoided... just like what is now happening with Claire. Oh, and there it is. LockeNess, trying to convince Kate that Aaron should not be raised by Claire. Charm gone. As crazy as Clairseau is acting, I've still got in the back of my mind what was drilled into us so fiercely at the beginning of the series: Aaron should be raised by Claire. Kate's no dummy.

To Be Claimed: This episode had me revisiting the question of exactly what it means to be Claimed. I don't mean the mechanics of it, like do you have to die first, but the outcome. I had been presuming that being Claimed somehow put an evilness in you or brought out the evil that was already inside you, but after this episode I feel like it more, how to put it... muddles a person's thought process and moral compass. Clairseau seemed truly wicked when she oddly held Kate's hand for a moment and gave her a look of death and it was no big surprise when the attack came. After, though, when she sobbed and hugged Kate, she really did seem sincere. Did letting out some of that rage allow Claire to find some, I suppose the perfect word would be, clarity? Not that I think Kate is in the clear now, as I still feel that Clairity could become Clairseau again at any moment, but it does bring me back to my ramblings of a few weeks ago and whether her Mother's Love for Aaron is enough to break through the spell she is under. Sayid was equally bewildering. Just before the attack, the way he said, 'Kate' when she sat down next to him was so robotic like he was trying to register her and what she was to him. When he told her he believed in LockeNess' plan he had a look on his face like he was trying to sort out what was happening, or having some kind of internal struggle and was just giving a default, programmed answer.

Charles Widmore/Hydra Island: Ummm, I admit I'm still a little confused about the pile of bodies, and who is this lady who looks like a poor man's Tina Fey? Seemed odd, somehow, that Sawyer and Widmore had never met before. They shook on Sawyer's proposition, which Sawyer then revealed to Widmore, but Widmore is no idiot. He isn't really just going to sit there assuming it will play out as Sawyer said. Also, I am trying to recall the conversation, but before Sun came back to the island and was all ice queen without Jin, she approached Widmore and they came to some kind of an understanding because they both wanted the same thing, which was to get back to the island. Could it be that Widmore was tracking Sun somehow and that is how he found the island? Are they in cahoots? Well, those details aside, they are on the same team now, all against Lockeness, and Ben is on that team as well, so it looks as though Charles and Ben will have to find some kind of peace with each other.

Kate/Sawyer: Together again in both realities. I admit, it was nice to see. I don't mean in an I-want-them-to-end-up-together sort of way, I mean in the same way that it was nice to see some of the gang get together on the beach at the end of last week's episode. Sawyer and Kate have always had a great connection and trust and understanding and I truly believe that they will always have each others back and in the current circumstance they are in, that is kind of a big deal. It was especially nice to see since Kate went through a bit of an emotional wringer this episode. I loved how the entire time Sawyer was playing both sides and then he just sits down with Kate and tells her the truth without blinking an eye. I love their history and their friendship. They are both such survivors. It will be interesting to see how things play out with them in the Sideways world.

Other LOST Thoughts, Not Necessarily About This Episode:

Flash-Sideways': I know in the Flash-Sideways sequences we have seen, all of our characters really are the same personalities with the same strengths and weaknesses, just with different life circumstances. I feel like thus far all of the flash-sideways stories have paralleled the Island characters and given them some redemption or closure for things that they didn't get redemption and closure for in the island reality. (Locke realizing that his life doesn't have to be wasted just because he is a cripple, Jack realizing that he doesn't have to turn into his father, Ben making the right choices regarding Alex and his father...) The only one that threw me off was the Sayid episode a couple of weeks ago since he ends up being a killer in both realities. Then I realized that him becoming a killer maybe IS the closure. In both realities he struggled feeling like he was undeserving and needed to be good because of his terrible past, but in the end even Nadia asking him not to didn't stop him from violence. I thought his closure would be about Nadia, and though it does revolve around her, I think it is really Sayid coming to grips with the fact that this violent person really is who he is. but maybe for him the thing he realizes is that really is who he is, sad as it is to say it.

I am viewing the Flash-Sideways of this season much like the Flash-Backs we had in the first couple of seasons. Starting out focused on individual characters with small cameos by the others, then gradually the stories will become more and more intertwined. This makes more confident that we WILL discover the identity of Jack's baby mama and that it will be someone that we already know. Because of David's blue eyes and the age appropriateness, my best guess right now is that it will either be Juliette or Libby. Juliette would make sense because she is a nurse and there was the flirtation with Jack before he left the island and she fell for Sawyer. (Though I still hope that her dying ramblings about getting coffee and going dutch were a conversation with Sawyer). Libby was a psychologist so they could have crossed paths medically, so she is my second guess. (How fun would Hurley be as a step-dad, haha, we still need some Hurley/Libby closure).

Thoughts on Candidacy: Are they going TOO much with the whole, Jack is the front-runner? I feel like they are very much portraying him as the obvious choice, which makes me automatically suspect that it will turn out to be someone else. Someone like Ben? If last weeks episode can be trusted and Ben really has seen the light, then maybe it really could end up with him in charge, but finally the person Jacob needed him to be. Though we have learned that the numbers are associated with our Losties and they are potential candidates to replace Jacob, I still think its not just about their individual potential. Their lives have been crossing in every reality and I think it has taken all of them, and the right chemistry and all of this experience to get whoever will be the chosen candidate into the person and place they need to be. Also, there is a lot of back and forth about 'Kwon'- it was only written once, so is it Sun or Jin? Seems that Jin is the likeliest since all of the other Candidates are male and Kate is still a bit of a wild card with the 'Austen' on the wheel being associated with an unknown number, 51. Could it be both the Kwon's? It seems that when Jacob went to their wedding he touched them both, so for them could it be a package deal? Or, could it have to do with their child? Though, (and I didn't catch this when I watched, but I read it in a comment someone made) apparently in the premiere when they get to LAX and Sun and Jin are detained, Security referred to them as Mr. Kwon and Ms. Paik, Sun's maiden name. Was this a reminder to us by the writers that Sun was not originally a Kwon? If Jacob has been watching them all from the time they were children then the 'Know' must refer to Jin.

LOST S6: E7- 'Dr. Linus'

All the treasures of the earth cannot bring back one LOST moment.

-French Proverb

Flash-Sideways Ben: Once more we see the redemption process happening in the flash-sideways reality. For Ben it is not only making the right choice for Alex this time around but also possibly caring for his Dad (instead of killing him). It was very interesting to discover that they HAD in fact gone to the island with Dharma but in this reality they didn't stay there. Why? From the way he talked it doesn't seem that they are aware that the island is now under water as we saw in the premiere. (PS, I was really bummed we didn't get to see Mama Rousseau. poor thing, working two jobs and all).

Island Ben: "Right up until the knife went through his heart he was hoping he was wrong about you." Ooh, harsh words to hear from Miles via Jacob's ashes. Doesn't mean Jacob didn't know he needed to die though, just means he still held out hope that Ben was a better man than that. Beautiful acting and wonderful scene with Ben and Ilana. For all of the slippery lies and manipulation that have come out of that man's mouth, I really did believe his sincerity. That doesn't mean he is going to stay sincere and trustworthy throughout the remainder of the season, but I think it must mean something that at his emotional rock bottom he picked the right team. I think that shows that he truly does care for the island and still has faith in what he grew up knowing since he chose to stay with Ilana instead of taking the offer of the silver-tongued LockeNess Monster, who likes to propose peoples wildest dreams to get them on his side. Has Ben finally learned that nothing comes that easy? (PS, so LockeNess is headed over to the Hydra Station with his crowd, hmmm)

Richard= Man of Lost Faith: Poor Richard, pulling a Doubting Thomas. Just because you don't know the whole plan doesn't mean that what is happening right now isn't part of the plan. I can understand that you are feeling somewhat betrayed but after all of these years as the right hand of Jacob and all the things you have seen, you decide to lose your faith? Interesting that he cannot kill himself but can be physically killed. It has also been interesting to watch Richard be frazzled this season. The past seasons he has seemed so in-the-know, but now he is seeming like a lost lamb. (Biblical pun intended with the whole lamb thing ;) Also adds more fuel to the fire of the whole Jacob as a Christ/Aslan figure with not telling the whole Plan because choices need to be made and things need to play out and believing without seeing is necessary.

Jack= Man of Found Faith: Jack. Buddy. Thank you for finally starting to comprehend your own worth. Way to believe Fate, or what you will, has a purpose for you. Also, way to keep yourself in the lead as the front-runner Candidate. Having Richard start following you around and blindly following your judgement is a good start to being the new Jacob. All of our Losties who have been 'touched' by Jacob have been given a gift (or a curse?) I'm not ready to jump to the conclusion that the gift necessarily means not aging or immortality just because that seems to be the case for Richard. Maybe the gift is different for everyone. Maybe Jacob's touch instills the possibility of a gift but you have to understand and claim/accept it for yourself before it can have an effect. Like Bastian in the end of The Neverending Story. He had to be taken through this whole long journey of heartache with these characters so that he would know and understand because if he had just been flat out told in the beginning that it was up to him to save this unreal place he wouldn't have believed or cared enough. It had to become his story too.

Ilana: 'Jacob was the closest thing I ever had to a father.' Interesting. How well does she know Jacob? We only had that one flash of her where she is all bandaged up and Jacob comes and asks if he will help her and she agrees. They obviously had a history before that. For how long? Is she very old like Richard? Does she know more than Richard? Jacob obviously trusts her since she is aware of the names and the Candidacy. How is it that no one is wondering if Jacob didn't let himself die as part of his Plan? I mean, Ilana knows about the Candidacy, so what did she think, that Jacob was going to find his replacement and then retire to the Bahamas? Maybe she did know. You could still be hurt and angry about losing someone you love even if you knew it had to be. As the character Penelope says in one of my favorite quirky movies, The Brothers Bloom, "I feel like I want to know more about her."

Charles Widmore: So here comes Widmore in a submarine. Is he good now? Is he who Jacob meant when he told Hurley someone was coming to the island? Since he is coming from off the island, could it be possible that this particular Widmore is of the Flash-Sideways reality? Probably not since the Flash-sideways island is apparently under water and we don't exactly know how these two realities are separated (Space? Time?) If I recall, the last we saw of Widmore he did seem sincerely penitent talking to Desmond because he missed Penny. Also, like Ben, though he can be ruthless and ambitious, I think Charles really does care for the island and wants to protect it. He would be a powerful ally. (Also, I automatically want to trust people named Charles. Maybe because that was the first name of Professor X. Also my Grandpa ;)

As a side note, I have to say it was really nice to see some of the gang getting all back together on the beach at the end! The 'Good Guys' team. I don't know if there is a lot of hope left for Island-Sayid and Island-Claire at this point, but please get Kate, Sawyer and Jin back with you!!

Hurley: "Cheese curds."