Thursday, June 05, 2008

S4Ep13- There's No Place Like Home,
Parts Two & Three

Hello my dear friends -

I might as well get this out of the way upfront: No, I will NOT be changing the name of my site. Locke cannot be DEAD dead... I refuse to believe it (as the saying goes, "De Nile ain't just a river in Egypt"). But obviously I will talk a lot more about the shocking ending of the finale later.

Luckily for me, I was able to watch all three hours of the show from my hotel room in Boston (shout-out to AW, who watched it with me). Perhaps it was because of the huge Oreo cake slice and frosted cookie that I devoured out of nervousness over that time period, or maybe it was because of the dreadful suspicion in the back of my mind that my man really was a goner, but either way, I didn't sleep much that night.

At the end of "There's No Place Like Home" I felt straight-up confused. I thought the finale was great, but I didn't see a lot of the twists coming. The good news is that I'm actually one of those people who LIKES having more questions raised than answers doled out in this show, so I was pleased at how surprised I was throughout the two new hours.

Below you will find a short section of commentary on the new scenes they showed from the first hour, and then I'll talk about the two new hours--Island events followed by the flash-forwards. And yes, this post is especially long, but guess what? The good news is that you've got EIGHT MONTHS to read it!

And for those of you who are new to the site, be sure to roll over the pictures for more "insight"...


I WILL REMEMBER YOU...
WILL YOU REMEMBER ME?


The biggest thing that came out of the extended scenes was that we learned the names of the three others who survived the plane crash but later died (all in the fake O6 story, obviously): Boone, Charlie and Libby. (If you didn't see the new scenes, you can do so here.) I'm not going to spend too much time trying to figure out why they chose those three, because it seems to have no rhyme nor reason. And if this information was cut from the main airing, it can't be that important (a fact that the producers echoed in a recent podcast). But I will provide one off-the-top-of-my-head reason for each of the three:

1) Boone - A lot of people are guessing that the O6 picked to mention Boone because he used the radio in the drug plane and maybe they thought someone might have picked up that transmission. But remember, it was only Locke who knew that Boone used the radio. Boone died before he could tell anyone about the call, and Locke never mentioned it (I checked the transcripts to be sure). Plus, we learned in "The Other 48 Days" that it was Bernard on the other end, anyway (something that I don't think any of the rest of the 815ers ever pieced together). So all I can figure is that since Boone and Shannon were from a rich family, the O6 picked one of them to mention. Perhaps Sayid wouldn't have wanted to drag up memories of Shannon, so they chose Boone.

2) Charlie - The most obvious reason is that he made contact with Penny, who might have told others on her ship about it, so they were just trying to be safe. Plus, he was a once-famous rock star. You All Everybody!

3) Libby - I really have no idea on this one. Perhaps Hurley pushed for it because of his crush on her. Or maybe the writers didn't want us to forget about her since she'll probably pop up again, seeing as how we still don't know how/why she was in the mental ward with Hurley AND gave the boat to Desmond...

There were a few of those "pop-up" boxes in the episode that are also worth noting:
- They clarified that Aaron was actually over 8 weeks old at the time of the press conference, but that Kate said he was 5 weeks old as part of the cover-up story.
- Sun was 6 months pregnant in her flash-forward with her father where she informs him that she bought the company.
- Our favorite number, 108, is tied to the number of days the Oceanic Six survived the crash until they reached Sumba.


OK, on to the Island and freighter events...


WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT
NO! WE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT
WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT...
ANYMORE

After surrendering at the Orchid, Ben was led to the helicopter by Keamy and his goons. I think two of the most important questions of the night were asked at the beginning of this scene:

1) KEAMY to BEN: What is it that makes you so important, hmm?
2) BEN to KEAMY: Did Charles Widmore tell you to kill my daughter?

You all know that I hate Keamy with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns, but I have to admit that he made a good point. Why IS Ben so important? Some have wondered if Widmore and Ben are perhaps each others' constants (so they therefore can't kill each other), but I really don't think that's the case. We haven't seen any evidence of either of them conscience-traveling or experiencing the "side effects" that sometimes come with leaving the Island. We know that there are "rules" that the two men are abiding by, and that they each want ownership of the Island.

And from Ben's question back to Keamy, we also know that it's absolutely tearing him apart that one of these rules was broken when Alex was killed. I think the mysterious rules emanate from the Island--like some sort of honor code--and that we will learn more about them next season.

Because we certainly didn't get an answer from Major Meathead in this episode... Kate interrupted his chat with Ben by bursting onto the scene and claiming to be running from the Others. Chaos ensued, during which I was truly surprised to see Kate help Ben after his fall when they were both trying to escape a rifle-toting Keamy. I was actually amused during the whole When Others Attack! scene, because the Others were up to their old tricks: slingshots and crazy darts... it was comparable to when the Ewoks brought down the Imperial troops on Endor in Return of the Jedi by throwing a bunch of rocks around. Keamy and his small army of highly-trained mercenaries were no match for the barefoot, khaki-sporting Others.

Then Sayid springs out of the bushes like a ninja and I started screaming, "Bust out the breakdancing move! BUST OUT THE BREAKDANCING MOVE!!!!" Alas, there was to be no display of neck-snapping leg twists, because Ageless Richard ended the battle with some shots to Keamy's (body armor-protected) back.

It was clear that Ben and Ageless Richard were on the outs, but they stuck by their Others Code and agreed to let Kate and Sayid leave the Island.


WHY, OH WHY
CAN'T WE SEE EYE TO EYE?

But no one was about to go anywhere without Captain Jack, who was with Sawyer and Hurley over at the Orchid. Although Jack wanted to run off in a huff after coming upon Locke in the greenhouse area, Hurley persuaded him to at least hear what Locke had to say.

While any confrontation between Locke and Jack is bound to be entertaining, I actually didn't find their showdown at the Orchid to be that suspenseful. It was clear that Jack had had it with Locke and all of his talk about destiny and what they were "supposed" to do. And although even Jack referenced their shouting match in "Exodus" (when they were on the brink of blowing open the original hatch), to which this Orchid scene has been often compared, my favorite exchange between the two is still from early on in Season Two in "Orientation," when they were fighting about whether or not to enter in the numbers for the Countdown Clock o' Doom:

LOCKE: ... Why do you find it so hard to believe?
JACK: Why do you find it so easy?

Those are two of my favorite lines ever uttered on this show, and they continue to sum up the differences between the two leaders. For now.

What I found most interesting about this scene was that it was actually Locke's idea for the soon-to-be Oceanic Six to create a cover story. I was POSITIVE that the O6 were going to be intercepted by some third party who forced them to lie. Now knowing that it was originally Locke's idea (which Jack initially disagreed with), it's all the more intriguing.

So Locke and Jack go their separate ways... Locke with Ben down into the Orchid, and Jack with Sawyer and Hurley to the helicopter. Their final stare-down as Locke was lowered into the hatch was the highlight of the scene for me.


IT FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME,
IT FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME,
IT FEELS LIKE I'M ALL THE WAY BACK
WHERE I COME FROM


Meanwhile, Daniel did not run out of gas for his raft, and was back on the beach gearing up for another trip out to the freighter. He told Miles and Charlotte that they needed to ensure that they were in the next group to leave. Miles declined the invitation, ensuring a potentially awesome run-in with all of the many Island Ghosts (including Jacob, perhaps?) next season.

Charlotte also decided to stay, much to Daniel's chagrin. I mean, he has kept his tie on to impress her for a full ten days! (Shout-out to reader "skid" for the official count.) Some guys just can't win.

Obviously, though, the more important parts of the Original Helicopter Team scenes weren't regarding who stayed or who left the Island. They were about Miles' abilities and Charlotte's background.

While we knew that Miles was a ghost whisperer, it was only hinted at before that he could also perhaps read the minds of the living. When he first met Michael as the freighter crew was assembling, Miles said that he knew "Kevin Johnson" was lying about his name, and indicated that others on the ship had secrets, too. Now we see Miles confront Charlotte about all the time she spent trying to "get back" to the Island. Methinks Miles can do more than just talk to the dead...

Which leads us to Charlotte. Between what Miles said and her comment to Daniel about looking for the place where she was born, the most obvious theory is that Charlotte was in fact born on the Island. Many of us suspected this before... in fact, here's what I wrote the first time we met Charlotte in "Confirmed Dead": "Others think that she is a descendant of Dharma members and used to live on the Island, and now is trying to get back ... When she splashed down into the water from her precarious position on a tree limb, she seemed not only happy to be alive, but also flat-out ecstatic to be on the Island. Like it was either a place she'd been trying to get to all of her life and couldn't believe she was finally there... or a place she had been to before, to which she was relieved to return."

I personally think that she is the daughter of Annie and Ben, and was whisked away from the Island (possibly by her mother) shortly after she was born. She would therefore have no actual memories of the Island, but it would explain her giddiness in the lake when she initially crash-landed. And if Ben only had the file on her from Michael's spy-work on the freighter, he would have no way of knowing her true identity (thus his attempt to shoot her early on).

We KNOW that Annie has to come back into the picture somehow. I mean, they wouldn't have even had her as a character if she wasn't going to matter (and the producers have indicated as much). I think Annie is important because the Island never wanted Ben to have a life of his own. The Island wanted complete dedication from him. So my thoughts are that Ben fell in love with Annie, had a daughter with her, and then perhaps thought he lost that daughter. So he proceeded to take Alex for his own and became obsessed with figuring out how to stop pregnant women from dying on the Island.

But perhaps pregnant women started dying on the Island in the first place because of Ben... because he stopped devoting himself completely to the Island and got too wrapped up in Annie. As a punishment, the Island made it so that no one else could ever have children and Ben would have to bear the guilt of that situation. I wouldn't be surprised if Annie herself died in childbirth, but I think for now that's neither here nor there... in this episode our wheels were meant to get cranking on Charlotte's background.

And I definitely do NOT believe that Charlotte IS Annie, as I've read in a lot of posts on the message boards. I think that would be really silly and would be a much-too-complicated storyline to pull off. Not to mention being kind of gross (I do NOT want to ever see a Charlotte/Ben kiss?!?!).


DON'T JUST STAND THERE,
BUST A MOVE!


Back in the depths of the jungle, the helicopter departs with Frank at the helm, and Jack, Sayid, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer inside. While Jack mentioned that "a dead body" washed ashore from the freighter, he didn't tell Sayid exactly who it was, so Sayid was not concerned and deemed the freighter to be safe. I guess the mystery of Doc Ray will have to be answered next season.

So the group was on its way... and I tell ya, those "helicopter lift-off" scenes still get me. I was all choked up much earlier in the season the FIRST time Sayid left the Island (with Desmond and Frank), and I got the chills this time when Kate peered over the side taking in the jungle for the last (?) time as the group headed out.

But their relief at finally escaping didn't last for long, as Frank quickly discovered that the copter was leaking fuel at an alarming rate. My husband had guessed from the previews that Sawyer was going to jump into the ocean in order to help conserve gas, but had he not put that idea into my head, I wouldn't have seen it coming. After whispering, "I have a daughter in Alabama. You need to find her. Tell her I'm sorry," to a bewildered Kate (not to mention giving her a big ol' smackeroo as Jack looked on), Sawyer stunned the group by diving out of the helicopter. As the remaining passengers looked at each other in shock, I couldn't help but think that Sawyer had finally one-upped Jack.



I TOLD YOU
I WAS TROUBLE
YOU KNOW
THAT I'M NO GOOD

Unbeknownst to anyone on the helicopter, Keamy had survived the Rumble in the Jungle and made his way to the Orchid to attempt to capture Ben for the bazillionth time. I was seriously FREAKED OUT when the elevator was slowly coming to rest and Locke and Ben waited in anticipation to see who it was. I thought it was going to be either Widmore or Ageless Richard. The possibility that it could be Keamy never crossed my mind (though I wondered what was going on with his dead-man's trigger when it seemed that he had been killed earlier).

I also was surprised by Ben flying out of the darkness and knifing Keamy Basic Instinct style. Good God! That was brutal. As Locke freaked out at the destruction of innocent lives on the freighter, I remembered why I should never feel too sorry for Ben. His "So?" reaction reconfirmed that, despite the fact our beloved O6 are working with him in the future, I'm not so sure he's actually a "good guy." Yes, he tried to explain away his reaction later on, and I definitely DEFINITELY understand his rage at Keamy, but what Ben did was still pretty heartless.



AND THE TEARS STREAM
DOWN YOUR FACE
WHEN YOU LOSE SOMETHING
YOU CANNOT REPLACE

As Keamy finally kicks the bucket, the helicopter arrives at the explosives-laden freighter. Desmond, Jin and Michael had spent all episode trying to figure out how to disarm the C-4, to no avail. For some inexplicable reason, Jin stayed with Michael while Desmond ran on deck to start warning people. I really thought Jin would've wanted to get his wife and unborn baby out of there, so it seemed out of character that he stayed behind.

Despite Desmond's frantic arm-waving and shouting to Frank to turn back, our favorite helicopter pilot really had no choice but to land and refuel. In another twist I didn't see coming, Kate told Sun that she would go get Jin. I guess in retrospect there was really no other way they could've ensured that Sun stayed on the plane, so it makes sense. But Jack pulled Kate back shortly thereafter, and the Oceanic Six Plus One Brotha and One Kenny Rogers Lookalike Contest Winner were up, up and away. I wasn't quite sure what had happened to Desmond until they showed him a few moments after take-off, so I was gravely concerned for a bit there.

In the C-4 Room, Michael told Jin to bust out as the last of the liquid nitrogen sputtered onto the battery. And even though I knew that Jin wasn't going to make it off of the freighter, boy was I shouting for him to run run RUN through the hallways and at least make it onto the deck. I was extremely tense during those scenes.

And then, Zombie Dad appeared and I knew it was over for Michael. At first I was confused that it would be Christian to release Michael from the Island's command, but since he's been popping up so much lately, I shouldn't have been surprised. Many people think that Michael's main purpose (although he wasn't aware of it) was to ensure AARON'S safety, and so it was fitting that Turniphead's grandpappy be the one to tell Michael that he "can go." Think about it, if the C-4 had blown when it was supposed to, the helicopter people wouldn't have landed yet, so they still would've been safe. Sure, they would've crashed into the ocean, but we know they survive that same scenario later. So the only people Michael actually saved by his actions that are key to the show are Desmond, Sun and Aaron. And since Aaron is the only one with a prophecy-of-sorts around his life, well, it seems that the Island really wanted to ensure that baby's safety, doesn't it?

But forget Aaron, because Lord Almighty, I seriously COULD NOT DEAL with Sun's screams as Jin ran out into view and the freighter exploded into flames seconds later. Talk about intense! That woman puts all other screamers to shame. Yunjin Kim deserves not only an Emmy, but also an Oscar, a Tony, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and one of every other kind of award there is out there, because I have never seen anything like her performance. It made me nauseous, and it was supposed to.

On the Island, Juliet was pretty sick herself--from Captain Morgan's (Dharma-style, that is). She couldn't even be cheered up by a vision of Sawyer, rising bare-chested out of the ocean like King Triton himself. She had seen the freighter's explosion, and was joined in silent horror by the con man-turned-hero. I'm sure she was thinking of Jack, and he was thinking of Kate, and they had no way of knowing that the helicopter and its occupants had evaded destruction.



WHEEL IN THE HATCH KEEPS ON TURNING...
DON'T KNOW WHERE I'LL BE TOMORROW

Back in the Orchid, Ben distracted Locke by shoving another orientation video at him. And we all know how Locke loves him some videos! This one covered much of the same information we had learned previously from the other Orchid reel played at Comic-Con last summer, but it curiously rewound itself before getting to the meat of the information (I'm assuming that was the Island's doing... there was something it didn't want Locke to know just yet).

But Ben couldn't have cared less... he just wanted to keep Locke busy while a hole was blown in the Orchid, allowing him to move the Island per Jacob's command. And so, we saw the familiar Dharka donned, and we watched Ben and Locke shake hands. Ben's final words to Locke were, "I'm sorry I made your life so miserable." Uh, yeah, you could say that! Some people are wondering if Ben's words meant that he had a hand in ALL of Locke's disappointments and tragedies throughout his life... although that seems pretty extreme.

The proverbial torch was passed, and Locke went out to meet his followers, finally assuming the position of Leader of the Others. Meanwhile, Ben carried out Jacob's orders, and I did feel badly for him for a few moments down there in the frozen chamber. When Ben said, "I hope you're happy now, Jacob," it was perhaps the one time we can be sure that he was saying what he meant. No one was around to lie to or to trick or to deceive. It was clear that--to Ben--Jacob IS real, and Ben is dedicated enough to him to voluntarily banish himself from the only place he knows and loves... the Island. You could tell he was scared there at the very end, too. But seeing as how we know that he quickly rebounded and went on to kick Bedouin butt moments later, I will stop the pity party now.

For those of you who were shocked that the "code name" the producers had given this finale--the Frozen Donkey Wheel--turned out to literally be the device needed to move the Island, count me among your ranks. I was dying laughing: "Holy crap, it is actually a frozen donkey wheel!?!?!" While I know some people were kind of mad or disappointed about the mechanism that held the key to the Island's mysterious location, I offer you this take on things to make you feel a bit better...

We were already aware that something is going on with ancient civilizations because of the Four-Toed Statue, the Hieroglyphic Door to Smokey's Bedroom, and now the additional glyphs in the wheel room. From what I know about ancient civilizations, many of them actually had crazy "technology" which still cannot be figured out or duplicated today--think of the Egyptians or the Mayans. So a time-traveling device, or whatever the wheel should be called, shouldn't have to look sophisticated. As my brother said to me, it's not like anybody has ever seen a time machine. (Well, I actually have, but I'm not telling you what it looks like.) They've been represented before as DeLoreans, phone booths, wardrobes, etc., etc. So let us not judge the frozen donkey wheel so harshly. After I got over the shock of seeing it, I really started to love the fact that it was so simple. Oh, and the collar around the polar bear skeleton that Charlotte found in Tunisia? That was most likely because the polar bears were once used to turn the wheel so that THEY would be banished instead of a human. Hence the bear remains in the middle of the desert.

Also on this subject... I'm not so sure that the donkey wheel actually even moved the Island. If it did, I definitely think it moved it through time rather than to a different physical location. But many believe that all the wheel did was shift the "field" around the Island so that a different bearing would be needed to make it to shore. Kind of like there was one little hole in a bubble around the Island, and that hole was shifted.

But while the Island may not have necessarily moved through time, we KNOW for a fact that Ben did. He landed in Tunisia, ten months into the future. It did seem like he'd been there before though, so does that mean he went to that same spot in the past without turning the wheel?


AND THEN, WHEN IT
ALL SEEMED CLEAR
JUST THEN, YOU GO AND
DISAPPEAR... DISAPPEAR...

When Ben succeeded in turning the wheel, we saw the purple and white sky that occurred before when Desmond turned the fail-safe key. The first thing I thought was, Does this mean Desmond also moved the Island? I guess it doesn't really matter, but you would think the same thing happened at that point, too, even though it didn't "banish" Desmond from the Island.

Anyway... everyone was momentarily blinded during the flash of light...and then we witnessed, from the helicopter gang's point-of-view, the Island straight-up vanish with a little "plop!" into the ocean.


I absolutely loved how the silence was broken by Frank shouting about where the Island had gone... and then pausing a second before ranting, "Where the hell am I gonna LAND this thing?"

Jack suggested the other island where the Hydra was located, but that had vanished, too. I think Jack may have mentioned the second island for a reason... we were meant to realize that everything in the Island's "realm" probably moved along with it. The producers stated earlier this season in a podcast that Desmond was never able to sail away from the Island before (remember when he just got drunk after going in circles?) because he was still within its domain.

So I believe that the second island, Daniel's raft, and possibly even the freighter (there was a reason they showed it being visible from the beach when it hadn't been before) were all within the Island's pull when Ben turned the wheel. Since we know that the helicopter group floated on the life raft for quite some time before being rescued, I would think that freighter wreckage would've been shown around them if it was still in the vicinity (and if they really wanted us to stop questioning whether Jin is dead). That being said, I can't explain why the helicopter in the sky wouldn't have also been sucked up along with everything else.

But for now I'm going to choose to believe the following things:
- Michael is definitely dead, as he was right next to the explosives. His death was also meant to show that when the Island is done with you, it's really done with you.
- Jin is NOT dead. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we didn't SEE Jin die, then he's not dead. More on this topic later when we get to Sun's flash-forward.
- Jin gets back to the Island one way or the other, as does Daniel and the rest of his raft peeps.
- Jin will tell Sawyer, Juliet, Locke and everybody else that the helicopter did in fact make it safely away from the freighter.


STAYIN' ALIVE
STAYIN' ALIVE

What Jin couldn't have known, however, is that the helicopter crash-landed into the ocean shortly after lifting off from the ship. That scene really freaked me out when the heli hit the water and flipped over. Ugh. Obviously I knew the O6 were going to survive, but I was concerned about Frank (I thought, OK, no need for a pilot anymore...) and of course, Desmond. They really messed with our heads when Des was shown lying face-down in the water, huh? Those evil writers.

Ah, but Des was going to have his moment in the sun soon enough, now wasn't he? From what I've read on the message boards, hardly anyone thought we'd actually get the long-awaited Desmond/Penny reunion with two seasons still left to go! It really surprised me as well. When the group on the raft first saw the lighted boat off in the distance, the first thing that sprang to my mind was that it was going to be Hillbilly Boat II and when it got close, some bearded freak was going to holler, "The thing is, we're gonna have to take the boy," meaning Aaron. At this point I still thought that the group was going to be intercepted by a third party.

But as soon as Jack said, "We have to lie," I thought... hmmm. (By the way, he came around to Locke's idea because: 1) He could pass it off as his own to the rest of the group and 2) Hurley just ripped him apart for not believing that Locke moved the Island.) Next I thought it would just be some random boat that would eventually drop them off at Membata or Sumba, then when I heard the crew member say "Widmore" I thought it was Daddy Widmore. Never did I expect it to be Penny until I saw her. They really did a good job of throwing ME off, at least!

When you think about this finale as a whole, it was pretty damn depressing. So I am glad there was one small moment of happiness, and that it was for our feisty Scotsman and his lovely lass. And I'm quite sure, since we know Ben is after Penny and that Desmond is also in hiding, that we haven't seen the last of them. I seriously hope that Frank becomes their private pilot or bartender or something awesome like that. He's got to come back one day, too... because he rocks!

A week later, the group was revived and ready to rejoin the world. I liked how Jack repeated the "See you in another life" line to Desmond as they parted ways. Things were a lot simpler running laps up and down the stadium stairs, weren't they, boys?

Finally, we see the Oceanic Six wash up on a not-quite-as-crazy island. And so the web of lies began.





YIKES, we still have all of the flashes to go through. No better time than the present...


HIT THE ROAD, JACK
AND DON'T YOU COME BACK

NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE


The second hour of the finale started off where Season Three ended, in the empty road near the airport. I immediately began yelling at the screen: "No WAY. Sweet! Sweet! Sweet!" I must say that I was impressed with Evangeline Lilly's acting when she slapped The Mad Doctor after he mentioned Aaron and yelled, "Don't you say his name!" You all know I'm not the hugest Kate fan, but even I was like, "You go, girl!" The women totally brought it in this episode.

Kate made it clear that she had no intention of returning to the Island after trying to forget what went down on the day they left three years ago. She also mentioned that "Bentham" had visited her and that she thought he was crazy. We could deduce that this same mystery person had visited Jack as well, and that Jack took him very seriously.




A LONG TIME AGO
WE USED TO BE FRIENDS
BUT I
HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF YOU LATELY AT ALL


The next two flash-forwards took place at Santa Rosa, Hurley's institution. In the first, Waaaaalt and his grandma show up. Walt tells Hurley that Bentham visited him (at which point I thought, This Bentham dude is makin' the rounds! It was also the first point that night where a teeny-tiny thought crept into my mind that Bentham might be Locke, since he was so close to Walt, but I batted that out of my head immediately). Walt went on to ask why no one else came to see him. While Hurley explained the reasoning behind the cover story, he couldn't bring himself to mention that Walt wasn't going to ever hear his name screamed by his father again.

At that point in the episode, we didn't yet know that Michael had definitely been killed. But now that we are aware of how it all panned out for Michael, it's quite sad to think about Walt's lot in life. He and his dad were not even on speaking terms when Michael left for the freighter--Walt still was shunning him because of his actions on the Island. I certainly hope that at some point Walt is told that his father died a hero.

The second Hurley-centric flash also featured Sayid, who was rocking his long, flowing locks once again. I was like, "YESSSSSZZZZZZ." No other man can pull off girly-hair like Sayid can. He's turned in his trademark black tank top for a black jacket, and is intent on busting Hurley out of the asylum. But not before telling Hurley that Bentham is dead.

While it wasn't explicitly mentioned, it can only be assumed that Bentham had visited both Sayid and Hurley, too (Hurley knew who Bentham was when Walt mentioned his name). We can't be sure what Sayid has planned for himself and Hurley, but he did tell Hurley that they were not going to go back.

What I found strange was that Hurley didn't want to go back. When he and Jack played basketball in "The Beginning of the End," Hurley said, "I don't think we did the right thing, Jack. I think it wants us to come back, and it's gonna do everything it can to..." before being cut off. Now, despite the fact that he's still seeing visions of dead people from the Island (gotta love that Mr. Eko line), Hurley no longer wants to return. What up with that?


SHE'S A BAD MAMA JAMA

The much bigger "Saaaay whaaaaaat?" moment of the night, however, came when we saw Future Sun meet up with Widmore. To be honest, I wish they had handled that scene a little differently, because when she slipped him her business card it was kind of cheesy and didn't sit right with me. But that's being nitpicky... all that matters is that she claimed to have "common interests" with Widmore, and walked away after stating that "we're not the only ones who left the Island."

D'aaaahhhh! What is going on?!? Is the "we're" she's talking about the O6, or is she referring to Widmore as well? Is she talking about Ben, or Desmond, or... now that we know the ending, perhaps Locke?

Theories about what Sun is up to include:
1) "Bentham" visited Sun and told her that Jin is still alive. She now has reason to go back to the Island, but must think (or else Bentham told her) that Widmore is key to her return. She may be willing to sell out Desmond and Penny's location in exchange for information on how to find the Island again.

2) Sun is working for Ben and it is all an elaborate set-up for Ben to finally find and kill Penny, unbeknownst to Sun, who was told her actions would help the O6 or protect those on the Island in some way.

3) Sun learned that Ben left the Island and is willing to "trade" him for Jin, if she has reason to believe Jin is alive and that Widmore can find the Island.

4) Sun still thinks that Jin is dead, and the second person she blames for his death is Widmore, who controlled the freighter and therefore the explosives. She has a plan to somehow ruin him. This theory could work even if she thought Jin were still alive... she could still blame Widmore for their separation and it could have nothing to do with believing he held the key to returning to the Island.

5) Sun could have learned that Widmore was once on the Island and was "banished" after moving it, just like what happened with Ben. She could tell Widmore that she wants to go back because she believes her husband may still be alive, and that she knows a workaround for him to return as well. I mean, he must believe he can go back, because why else would he still be looking for the Island? (He might not have ever turned the wheel, in which case he just needs to find the Island and isn't worried about banishment rules.)

I honestly have no idea what is going on with Sun, but when she walked away and Widmore shouted after her "Why would you want to help me?"... she definitely had a look on her face like she hated that man and was out for revenge. I think the writers WANT us to think that Sun has "turned bad" and is going to sell out the O6, Ben, Locke or Desmond, but I highly, highly, highly doubt that will end up being the case. Whatever she's up to, it took her three years to approach Widmore, and I think that's timed a little too closely to Bentham's appearance. I think Sun has new information on Jin and intends to use Widmore to get what she wants. Or what we ALL want, really... a Sun/Jin reunion! They've had one too many sad good-byes on this show, haven't they? I'm calling it now... every single one of us will cry when Jin finally gets to meet Ji Yeon. Start stocking up on the Kleenex!



BOY, DON'T YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME?
OOH, DARLING 'CAUSE YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY BAY-BEE

My #2 "What the..." moment of the night came in the form of Kate's dream, in which Claire appeared. First and foremost, in case you didn't hear about what the voices on the phone said early on in the dream, you can hear them for yourself here. If you just want to trust me, then they said, "The Island needs you. You have to go back before it's too late." (I think the voice sounded like no major character, but others think it sounded like Sawyer, Locke or Richard, or some combination--one sentence by one person and the second by another.) My question is, if the Island wants Kate to come back, why does it send backwards messages?!? Who in the heck is going to know what all those nonsense words mean? Come on, Island, get it together!

After hanging up, Kate runs with a gun to Aaron's room, where she finds his real baby mama, Claire. EVERYONE was expecting her to say "He's NOT your son!"... but instead she said, "Don't bring him back, Kate. Don't you DARE bring him back!!!"

And then millions around the country simultaneously said, "Huh?"

There are some pretty far-fetched theories out there about how Claire wasn't talking about bringing Aaron back to the Island, but rather was talking about letting Jack "back" into Kate and Aaron's home. Uh, I don't think so. This really seems to be a case where the simplest answer is best. For whatever reason, Ghost Claire doesn't think Aaron should return to the Island. The question is, why?

The prominent theory, and the one I'm subscribing to at the moment, is that there are some ghosts/visions that the O6 are seeing now that they've returned home that are truly the work of the Island. Then there are others that are the work of a force opposing the Island. We just can't be sure which are which. We know Dead Charlie told Hurley "they need you" more than once. Lord only knows what Mr. Eko told him. We're also not sure at this point if Zombie Dad has actually said anything of substance to Jack.

While it seemed that Christian was definitely appearing on behalf of the Island when he informed Michael that he could "go" right before the freighter blew, I'm still pretty suspicious of the lack of Jacob sightings ever since Christian started getting comfy in the cabin. I can't help but wonder if Christian is holding Jacob captive, and if Zombie Claire is in cahoots with him, and for some strange reason they are "bad" spirits.

All I know is that, especially after what went down in the final scene of the night, I'm growing more and more convinced that BOTH Widmore AND Ben are up to no good, and the Island needs the 815ers to save itself from those two.

Finally, after we learn that Kate's vision of Claire was a dream (or was it?), we see her enter Aaron's room and say "I'm sorry." Some people think she's saying sorry because she knows she does in fact have to take him back to the Island, despite his ghost-mom's plea. I just took it more as that she was apologizing for the fact that Aaron has had such a crazy life. I didn't read too much into Kate's words, but then again, I still do think that they're all going back. There are two more seasons left, after all! Is there anyone out there who actually doesn't think they're going to make it back?


COME TOGETHER,
RIGHT NOW...
OVER ME

At the end of the episode, as Jack broke into the funeral home and stared at the release form for the body of Jeremy Bentham, I actually said out loud, "Anybody who doesn't realize at this point that Ben is in the coffin is totally stupid."

Oops.

I love it when I'm wrong about this show, but not this time. We'll get to who WAS in the coffin in the next section, but for now I want to concentrate on what Vampire Ben (did anyone else notice he was looking very Nosferatu-like?) said to Jack after he scared the crap out of him by appearing out of nowhere.

We learned that Bentham had contacted both Kate and Jack about a month prior, and had revealed that "very bad things" had happened on the Island since they left. Bentham blamed Jack for these things, and said that he therefore had to return.

Ben responds by informing Jack that ALL of them had to come back together--kind of a twist on Jack's infamous phrase, like "Return together, die alone." And I don't think this next scene was meant to be funny, but Jack's comeback to Ben had me laughing when he was all, "Well I don't even know where Sayid IS, and Hurley's INSANE, and no else will TALK to me..." Perhaps it was because he was still all messed up on pills and booze, but Jack came off as kind of comical at that point.

No matter, because as we all well know, Ben always has a plan. He told Jack that he had "some ideas" about how he could get everyone working together again. And I couldn't help but wonder at that point if he had already started enacting his plan... I mean, we did see Assassin Sayid, who we know was working for Ben at that point, come and get Hurley. And we saw Sun make contact with Widmore in an uncharacteristic move. So it's possible that Ben has already started the wheels turning with the rest of the group.

But he was quick to say that it wasn't only the Oceanic Six who had to come back. EVERYONE had to go back. And then came the dreadful scene...



OH, I WISH SOMEHOW
I DIDN'T KNOW NOW
WHAT I DIDN'T KNOW THEN

When Ben showed up in the final scene, I knew that my biggest fear had been realized and that Locke was in the coffin. The fact that I've had a year to ponder this possibility didn't make seeing it any easier, though. On that note, thank you to everyone who wrote me to ensure I was OK!

If you remember, back in my write-up for "Through the Looking Glass," I admitted that there was a possibility that Locke could be a goner: "God forbid, but there definitely is a chance it could be my man in the coffin (once again, assuming the deceased is one of the Lostaways who changed their name). Locke didn't really have many connections back in the real world, Kate doesn't like Locke because of all of the times he tried to stop them from getting off of the Island, and Jack would feel remorse because he realized that Locke had been right all along, and that Jack wasn't supposed to call for rescue. But Locke wasn't originally from New York, didn't have a son, and never lived in the L.A. area."

Obviously the last bit above, referencing the information contained in the obituary Jack had in the Season Three finale, was part of Locke's made-up background (though many people do find it weird that it mentioned a teenage son).

But here's the thing... though I did wake my husband up several times the night of the finale asking, "You don't really think he's dead, do you?", I wasn't nearly as upset at seeing Locke in the coffin as I was when I posted an emergency message after Locke had been shot by Ben at the Skeleton Pit near the end of last season. At that point, I thought it was possible that he could really be dead. Strangely enough, when seeing him in the coffin, I didn't have that same feeling.

Here are my reasons:
1) There was much talk about miracles in this episode. Locke told Jack that miracles happen on the Island, to which Jack responded, "There's no such thing as miracles." Later, on the raft, when Hurley asked if Aaron was OK, Kate replied, "He's fine... it's a miracle." Cut to Jack's face, grimacing at the mention of that word. And let's not forget that they all survived a plane crash, Rose's cancer was cured, Locke could walk again, etc., etc. But what bigger miracle could there be than for Locke to rise from the dead when his body is returned to the Island?

2) Ben said they ALL have to go back, including Locke's body. They wouldn't be doing that if Locke was going to stay DEAD dead. I accept the possibility of Locke becoming a Christian Shephard-like presence on the Island... somewhere in between fully dead and fully alive. I mean, what if he's only mostly dead? As we all know, mostly dead is slightly alive! Bring in Miracle Max to get working on him!

3) They chose the name "Jeremy Bentham" for Locke's identity on purpose. As we've seen with other characters' names time and time again on the show, Bentham is a philosopher, and you can read about his beliefs here. But what was more interesting to me is that the real-life Bentham had his body preserved. Hmmm....

4) Many people believe that it's not Locke at all in the coffin, but rather some sort of mannequin, and that the whole thing is a ruse set up by Ben to scheme a way back to the Island on the heels of the O6. While I wouldn't put it past Ben to be scheming something, I do think the real Locke did actually visit everyone who mentioned they talked to him off-Island. There are obviously mysteries around his death, as the obituary claimed it was suicide, but yet the doorman heard "noises." And why would the Island let Locke die? It just doesn't all add up.

5) Some people think that it IS Locke in the coffin, but that he has been bitten by the poisonous spider like Nikki and Paulo, and therefore isn't really dead.

6) Another interesting theory is that the empty coffin Jack saw in Season One was NOT his father's, but rather Locke's. People think that when Jack opens his eyes in the premiere episode, that's actually his return to the Island, but he doesn't have complete memory of everything. This would have to mean that they all go back in time and kind of have a "do-over." But if all of the O6 have to go together, that doesn't really make sense for, say, Aaron, now does it? Would he magically be back in Claire's stomach again or something? One thing I will say, however, is that it STILL bugs me how in "White Rabbit" (the fifth episode of Season One), when Kate tackles Sawyer he says "I made this birthday wish four years ago." It's just such a strange thing to say?!?! So I still think there's a small chance that there's some sort of time loop going on and that it takes 4 years to complete (over three of which the O6 are off of the Island).

7) Yet another idea is that if the Island has moved in time, to a year in the past, when Locke's body is returned it will spring back to life, because he is not dead in that year.

8) Another fairly prevalent theory is that Jeremy Bentham is Locke's "bad twin." Remember the manuscript of the same name that Hurley found, seen both in "The Long Con" and "Two for the Road?" I have the "Bad Twin" book but never read it, so perhaps I will finally have to this summer. Anyway, a lot of people have picked up on the fact that Locke's eye scar doesn't appear visible in the coffin. They also think that Locke would never outright blame Jack for everything that has gone wrong on the Island. And if it isn't really Locke, then perhaps the Island would let this person actually die. But as much as I don't want Locke to be dead, I don't want them to go the "evil twin" route even more. That would be pretty lame.

9) Some think that it is really Locke and that he is really dead, but that when the O6 go back to the Island, he will be just like Christian Shephard (who also arrived on the Island in a coffin, mind you) and will take over as the new Island Consciousness, perhaps even taking over for Jacob. And then Jack, who has completely come full circle to be a Man of Faith, will take over as leader of the Others and everyone will live on the Island happily ever after. The end.

There are of course tons of other theories out there (including: "Locke is dead and isn't coming back in any way, shape or form--deal with it"), but for the most part they all contain shades of the nine listed above.

I take solace in the fact that even if Locke is DEAD dead in the coffin, we'll still probably see a lot of him over the final two seasons. We have three years to fill in on the Island to see the "very bad things" that happened, and I can't believe that when the O6 return with Locke's body, that he won't still play some role, even if it's as a spirit. While the producers have said that "characters who die ARE DEAD," we're not technically sure if it's actually Locke in the coffin and if he's actually dead. And the producers have also said that they would be complete morons for writing off the Emmy winner. So I think Terry O'Quinn, and the rest of us Locke fans, can rest easy over the hiatus.


WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
WE'RE AT THE CROSSROADS, MY DEAR

Taking a step back and looking at the three-hour finale as a whole, it's actually pretty insane how much happened. I'm most curious about what Sun is up to, but I am also wondering if Ben thinks there is a way he can get back to the Island if he helps the O6... like maybe that's a workaround for his banishment or something. I would also like to know how Locke left the Island... did he have to move it again, and if so, why would he think anyone could ever get back? Or did he learn the new bearing and leave the Island in a more conventional way, like Michael and Walt did?

Speaking of Walt... when Ben said they ALL had to go back, does that include Walt? Would it also include Desmond and Frank? I think it would include Walt because I am standing by my theory that the 815ers were "chosen" by the Island to help save it. But Desmond and Frank aren't in that same category.

I'd also like to get a clear answer as to what is going on with Claire. Remember Desmond's vision that she and Aaron leave the Island by helicopter? Well, was Aaron four years old in that vision, perhaps? I hope they explain that whole thing one day.

And what could've possibly gone so horribly wrong on the Island? It's the remaining 815ers, the Others (including Cindy and all those kids they stole...), Charlotte, Miles and most likely Daniel left. Couldn't they all just get along? Did the Island Ghosts and Smokey stage a revolt? I really can't imagine what possibly went down to make the situation so dire.

There are many, many more questions raised by the finale, and so I've decided that I'll probably do a few posts to cover them all over the course of the late summer, fall and early winter (it's sad that we have that much time to think about things, isn't it?). I intend to go through some of the "running tally of questions" I did in my Seasons One and Three finale posts and see what we've learned since those points in time. And I'd also like to do a "reader question and answer" type of thing so that we can all bounce ideas off of each other and keep our minds fresh!

But for now, here is my ultra-high-level prediction: The O6 WILL go back to the Island.

Earth-shattering, huh?



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE



DESMOND: (Exhales deeply) This is a... this is a trip wire. Move it, and... boom. This is dummy wiring. If you cut the wrong one... boom. This is multiple firing systems. You disable one, the next one... boom. Um, this... battery's the power source. If you disconnect it...
JIN: Boom.



LOCKE: Jack, you need to hear what I have to say--
JACK: No, what I need to do is to walk back to the chopper, get on it, and get the rest of our people off this island.
HURLEY: Uh, dude, probably not the best idea right now. Those Rambo guys are taking Ben to that helicopter.



SAWYER (watching Locke and Jack): What the hell they talkin' about in there, anyway?
HURLEY: I don't know. Leader stuff?



(Sawyer eyes Hurley's wrapper of soda crackers.)
SAWYER: Where'd you get that?
HURLEY: Came from a box Ben dug up out of the ground. They're good.



JACK: You threw a knife into the back of an unarmed woman. You led half of our people across the Island and got most of them killed.
LOCKE: Well, Jack, you put a gun to my head and you pulled the trigger. I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones.



BEN: Am I interrupting?
(Jack whirls around to see Ben entering the greenhouse. He points his gun at Ben, cocking it.)
BEN: Nice to see you, too, Jack.



BEN: Couldn't find the anthuriums, could you?
LOCKE: I don't know what they look like!



WALT: Hey, Hurley.
HURLEY: You're getting big, Dude.



LOCKE: Is this the magic box?
BEN: No, John, it's not.



SAWYER (to Frank): Hey, Kenny Rogers! What you trying to do there, pick a lock?



SAYID: Hello, Hurley.
HURLEY: I think visiting hours are over, dude.


JACK: He told me... that after I left the island, some very bad things happened. And he told me that it was my fault for leaving. And he said that I had to come back.
BEN: Yes, I heard that you've been flying on passenger planes... hoping that you'd crash. That's dark, Jack, very dark.




HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU
KEEP SMILIN' UNTIL THEN


- For those of you on Facebook who would like to keep in touch over the eight-month hiatus, you can add me as a friend here. Please write a few words with the add request so that I know you read the blog and don't think you're a random stalker... and thank you to everyone who has already done so. I really get a kick out of "meeting" people across the country and the world who are reading my posts and share my obsession with this crazy show.

- I probably won't post again on this site until after the Comic-Con conference in late July, at which the Lost producers will undoubtedly throw some tantalizing Season Five tidbits our way. After that, I do intend to post maybe once a month or so until the show returns in January--I have a few ideas on what I'll write about that are mentioned in the section above "Best Lines."

- In the meantime, if you find yourself in need of an "e fix," or just want to waste time while working for The Man, I post pretty much every weekday on my other site, According to e. I do movie, book, TV and concert reviews, cover celebrity gossip, and write about random stuff going on in my life as well. I have a very special post I'm cooking up before The X-Files movie premieres in July... let's just say there are some "vintage e" pictures involved. And for those of you outside of the U.S., now that most of the "reality TV" shows I watched during the fall have ended, hopefully my post topics will be a little more relevant for you, too.


Thanks again for reading and commenting this season. There is no greater pleasure for a writer, or at least for this writer, than knowing that people are interested in and reacting to what you have to say. I have immensely enjoyed getting to know many of you over the past few years thanks to the power of the Internet!

A special thanks to my brother, who braved the message boards on my behalf to gather ideas and theories so that I would remain unspoiled.

And of course, a HUGE HUGE HUGE "thank you" to DarkUFO for featuring my recaps this season--it's been a blast!

And finally, to all Lost fans... when the Hiatus Blues get you down, just remember that we've made it through a just-as-lengthy break before and were rewarded with the awesomeness that was Season Four. We can do it again.

The Oceanic Six "have to go back!!!!"... which means that WE'LL be going back soon enough, too.

- e

58 comments:

jantje_lover said...

Great recap, I don't think Jin is dead either. Also I was very scared Desmond wasn't on the helicopter. They should've shown that better!

I think the Locke coming back as a christian shepard like person is the most plausible theory.

This was my first season I read recaps and such, and that made up for an even better Lost experience, so thanks for that!

Anonymous said...

Awesome write-up as always e! I'm gonna miss this every week over the long hiatus :( Think there's any possibility that in Kate's "dream", Claire meant that she never should have taken Aaron away from the island, as in don't you dare bring him back (to the US)? After all, she left him in the tree thing on the island and when Locke asked (in the cabin) where Aaron was, Christian said he's where he belongs. Maybe he was never supposed to leave the island?

Anonymous said...

Love the blog e.

I've been reading since about episode 3 of season 4.

I just read your wrap up of the finale and thought I'd show some love from Australia.

Anonymous said...

Hi e, another amazing write-up. What did you think of the alternative endings? They freaked me out a bit! They also had a show after the finale here which the producers said Sawyer wanted to cut his hair for the next series.

Anonymous said...

took me a few hours to read, lol... but that was *amazing* :)

i live in sd and i'm hoping to make it to comic con this year...

countdown to season 5 anyone?
*sigh* at least 150 days away...

i'm never making it...

Anonymous said...

When Ben apologized to Locke before saying goodbye he said he was sorry for making his life so bad. I took this to mean more than what is believed. We all know Locke had a long string of bad luck throughout his life but was it really luck or chance or did Ben actually influence a lot of this? I think Ben knew that Locke was being recruited by Bushy eyebrow eyeliner man and wanted to make Locke pay. It also makes sense how Ben knew about Lockes dad. I can see how Ben knew public knowledge about these guys but not some of the private issues. I beleive that Ben manipulated Lockes life among others.

Now onto Dr. Haliwax, wickmund and candle. Do you see the trend? WAX, WICK and CANDLE. Hmmmmm. I believe that he must have some sort of clones. The same as how there was two #15 bunnies there might be multiples of him.

Also the reason why Ben wants the O6 back together again is that it's the only way Ben can get back on the island. The island will only accept them as a package deal and if Ben tags along he'll get sucked into the island again as well.

All in all I think the writers are limiting the number of questions because most viewers and the casual viewers complain that they cannot keep up so they just don't watch. The show is a lot more fast paced now and definitely answered a lot of questions.

Except for one. The four toed statue.

Scott said...

Just wanted to take this opportunity before the LONG hiatus {sob} that I read every recap I can find on the web, and this is definitely my favorite. I feel like you watch this show on the same level most of us do - mostly for the entertainment value of a damn good tv show, but also educated enough about the "big picture" stuff of the show (the science, themes, clues, etc) to pick up on most of that stuff as well. Somewhere between the TV Guide recap and Luhks/Vozzek/J Wood on the scale, I guess...those guys go over my head pretty quickly when we start talking about science. :-)

In regards to this episode, I too think we will see PLENTY more of your man Locke...why would Ben specifically tell Jack that he has to bring Locke with him, if he's just a rotting corpse?

Anonymous said...

On a side note I'd love for the writers of Lost to end the series with one or two crazy twists and cliff hangers and then a couple years later do a Lost movie and tie up the whole series.

Anonymous said...

Hey! Amazing stuff, e! A couple of thinghs, though: we all know that Ben usually lies about his knowledge of all Island-related items (Smokey, the "I-was-born-on-the-Island" thing, etc., he even ackowledged this to Locke recently, saying something like "I wasn't being entirely truthful"), and yet we all believed him when he told Locke that those who move the island cannot return. What if that's not the case, and he's just saying it to stop Locke asking annoying questions? Yes, he sounds really sad when he says "I hope you're happy, Jacob", but he might be referring to the way things turned out to be (I mean, his "daughter"'s dead, after all), and not to the fact that he's about to be banned. Anyway, I just want to tell you that I find myself yelling at the screen mostly the same things as you, only in Spanish. And I also thing that the Locke-Jack dialogue in season 2 is one of the all-time Lost Greatest Hits, though my favourite line is the one that comes right after the ones you quoted: (Locke:) "It's never been EASY!"

Anonymous said...

I am intrigued by your theory that Charlotte is the daughter of Ben and Annie; but if pregnant women die, I wonder how this would happen. Goodwin's wife told Juliet that she looked like "her", maybe Charlotte was conceived on the island, but Annie left before her 2nd trimester?

Thierry said...

Good recap e

I agree on most thing especialy that the all O6 got to come back ....

For a reviva lduring the hiatus i'm going to go back to Season 1 and watch the show from square 1....

Can you believe there's isn't recaps for the first episods of season 1 there @ longlivelocke ? ;)

Will let you know if i find something interesting !!

Crap i don't have Season 1-3 on HD ,(

Anonymous said...

Thierry, on ABC.com you can watch all 4 seasons in HD. I just finished season 1 this past week.

Anonymous said...

What a great read that was. You really do such a great job, much appreciated.

Going to be a long wait until season #5....

Nick said...

Awesome stuff, as always. My take on Ben:

I think Ben was lying about pretty much everything to Locke. I think Ben knew that Locke would not know what to do once he got down in The Orchid, and that Ben would be back to help him out and move the wheel/island (after being saved by Richard).

Also, on why Ben had to blow a hole in the "don't put metal in this thing" room... We know that polar bears moved it before, so there was obviously another "entrance" to the donkey wheel room (likely connected to the cave-like passageway that Ben walked through). So why didn't Ben use that entrance? Was it too far away? And if there isn't another entrance, how did they get the bears down there to begin with? It's just a bit confusing to me.

Great recap!

Anonymous said...

Maybe Miles can only speak to the dead... and he sees dead people all around that tell him these inside scoops???

Anonymous said...

e -

I just started reading your recap of the finale and I'm going to savor each and every word, but! I was watching a movie last night and thought of you. Have you seen Smoking Aces (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475394/)? Actors in the movie are: Jack, Keamey and Ageless Richard! AND! Andy Garcia's character's last name is Locke. Sounds like the writers of that movie are Lost fans!

Anonymous said...

I feel like I would almost be a little disappointed if they went the route of the coffin in the pilot being Locke's casket, not Christian's. I can't explain why... I just don't think I like that very much.

But who knows, they could do that and execute it beautifully, and I could be whining about nothing, which wouldn't be a first when it comes to this show. :P

I think that I am going to take advantage of this hiatus by starting over again from season one, starting this weekend. I think Locke would want it that way. :)

Great recap, as always... I will keep checking back over the summer!

Anonymous said...

e- LUV the great passion you put into every recap, YOU ROCK!!! I wish to point out one important thing, if the C-4 on the freighter had blow without Michael's delaying it, the helicopter gang would NOT have had the life preservers or the life raft. Everything not bolted down was tossed in route to the freighter. During the helicopters mini-pitstop, Frank barked orders for someone grabbed them. So Michael's delaying the C-4 did more that just get Desmond, Sun & Aaron on the helicopter.

Anonymous said...

Nick, I thought that myself. Why would he have to blow a hole instead of using a different entrance and that could be either because the blown up hatch had another entrance, maybe the other entrance in the others camp or they have never used this before.

I also thought that maybe he wanted to destroy the pod so that Locke and the other islanders couldn't use it. Maybe he didn't want Locke to turn mad scientist on him. At first I thought he broke a sheet of ice on top of the ladder but it was glass, or they intended on it being ice but used bad props.
Also remember how he ends up about 10 months in the future and Dr. Haliwax said that the rabbit was going into the future 1000 ms and would seem like it dissapeared. Maybe it took 10 months for the island to travel and reappear since it's so large.

Anonymous said...

thank you for these awesome recaps! you're definitely one of my favorite recappers. I can't imagine how LONG it must take you to write these, week after week.

all this year, I printed out your posts to read while I'm waiting at my kids' swimming classes, and they are 15-20 pages long, every week. that takes serious dedication from your part!

I'll be back next winter (sob) to read you again. Have a great summer!

Annie (in Quebec)

Anonymous said...

Another option for Sun's motives:
Locke told her how Ben sacrificed the people on the freighter for his own revenge, making him the 2nd person she blames for Jin's death. So now she is aligning herself with Widmore to destroy Ben. Thoughts?

Unknown said...

I think you missed something about orientation video. Even though it looked like it was rewinding, it wasn't, it was still playing forward. I think the experiment in the hatch rewound the scene they were filming (bunny moves forward or hatch moves backwards in time, the effect is the same)...

Anonymous said...

Ah, another year gone by. Amazing how quickly time flies and how long ago (but yet not so long ago) season 1 feels. Loved watching the Finale w/you!

wjl (Wolfgang Lonien) said...

Great recap; thx for that one. Still, three things to which I'd like to comment:

1. Forget about terms like "good" and "bad" - the world really isn't that easy, and it would be a big disappointment if Lost were that easy.

2. Sun's screaming, weeping, and acting: I absolutely agree here. For me, she was *the* actress of that season, even with Kate showing more and more of her beautiful body ;-)

3. The Des/Penny reunion, plus the question whether we'd see them again: sure we will. You mentioned that Ben wants to kill Penny in revenge for Alex, but did you also remember that Desmond is Daniel's Constant?

Anyway; thanks again for all the work and thoughts you put into this. It's really appreciated.

cheers,
wjl aka Wolfgang

Anonymous said...

I also believe that Jaacob kills women on the island for Ben's(lets say) ilegitimate child.



*excuse spelling.

Unknown said...

e,

Your recap this week was like the finale--AWESOME! The photo captions were especially funny.

So much info to digest. It will take me awhile to think some of this stuff all the way through. Your recap, as always, helps to see things more clearly.

Like many of the other posters, I think I'll re-watch the series during the hiatus. I bet Darlton actually hates the fact that we re-watch everything, because they know they better make things air-frickin' tight or there will be hell to pay!

Have a great summer. I'll check out your other site from time to time to help deal with the withdrawals.

another e

klueless kj said...

On tape rewinding..
"I'm assuming that was the Island's doing... there was something it didn't want Locke to know just yet."

I think not.. I assume this was TPTB's doing.. there was something it didn't want the audience to know just yet

LisaCPhotography said...

Hey there,

This was my first season reading all of the different recaps and information, and yours is one of the best. I am interested in figuring out who was left behind... we didn't even see Rose or Bernard in the final final scenes, and including Locke and Sawyer, are they the only 4 original 815 passengers?
Not going to make it until January!

lisactv

PenguinJosh said...

E!! What am I gonna do without reading my favourite Lost review every week??
Hell, what am I gonna do without Lost? Curse the length of the wait till the boxset!

Anyways, just wanted to say, another great write-up, thanks for taking your time every week to do a knock-out job!

I'll keep checking the according-to-e blog as always, and I've added you on face book too!

[P.S. I love you for mentioning about Yunjin's acting- I thought it was incredible too :D]

Brian said...

Maybe I'm underthinking, but I thought the thing that Boone, Libby, and Charlie had in common was that they had actually died. I'm not sure why this makes them the best people to say were a live for a bit, but it did seem like the most simple connection.

RowanRaven said...

Fantastic blog, e!

First, let me say: I do NOT want Locke to truly be dead. But, sadly, I also wonder if the reason that Locke-in-the-Coffin did not quite look like Island-Locke was due to the hideous embalming process (?). Dunno, just a thought. Dead folks are forced to wear lots of make-up, too, which could/would hide I.L.'s scar. But!! I'd rather it be true that he is NOT indeed dead!!!

Agree: 'Bad twin' outcome would be kinda silly, but there is so much durn twinning on this show it's hard to ignore [I recall thinking Miles was Sawyer's 'bad twin' back when he first came on the show, due to his giving-of-snappy-nicknames and his quick wit and conning nature.]

e! Thank you mucho for all that you write! I thoroughly enjoy your analysis, commentary, and hilarious pic-caps! Therefore, I am pleased-as-punch that ye shall be addressing more L O S T goodies over the hiatus. I've been an aficionado of yours since I first got hooked [I only started watching L O S T for the first time on broadcast tee-vee last winter, but since then have rewatched the entire series twice, and am completely OBSESSED].

A superb summer/hiatus to all of us L O S T - geeks...

Anonymous said...

what do you mean locke never lived in the LA area??? thats where he lived, the LA area. HE WORKED AT A BOX COMPANY IN TUSTIN, 20 minutes outside los angeles.

klueless kj said...

Thx e!! Finally finished reading the entire blog. Very interesting as always.
Awesome captions.. Got a kick out of...

"What if I am supposed to kick your ass",
"Nickname for my daughter"
"I need some mascara air-dropped like yesterday"

e!
I m surprised you didn't write about Black Rock. I think when the island moved before, it caused Black rock, which was in the ocean, to land exactly in the middle of the island.
This also means we can assume it hasn't moved after that since its less likely that with its unpredictability of moving that its likely to have landed in the same location twice after moving. Ergo, Desmond did not move the island with the fail-safe key.

Amanda said...

Thank you so much for always giving such insightful and interesting write ups. I look forward to them every week.
I also don't think that Jin is dead.
As far as reading books related to LOST I'm not sure if you have seen this blog before but I found it very interesting. http://coyotemercury.com/blog1/category/books/lost-book-club/

Thank you again, your readers totally appreciate you!

Lula! said...

Well, e...it's been a good 3 years as a follower of LongLiveLocke. And this season was amazing, no?

As always, thanks for your passion and commitment to this site. Your weekly recaps are a wonderful addition to my Lost obsession and I sing your praises to all my Lost peeps...most of whom ask me, "How did you find this girl? She is awesome!" In all honesty, I don't remember how I found you...but as a reader from way back (pre-Dark UFO), I feel as if I can brag, "I knew her when..."

I'll keep up with you via LLL as well as According To...
And, as per usual, I forever remain a fan of your subject headers. Anyone who can cite both Twister Sister AND Chantal Kreviazuk in one post is completely cool in my book!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for a thorough and fun wind-up to season 4.
Re:Deaths(?)
I'm sorry about your loss (JL) but I do agree--he's going to be back. Would you be disappointed if he were back Christian Sheppard style? I am very interested in the theory that CS was bitten by a spider (and possibly JL). I can really see the NIkki Paulo episode having a point if the spiders come back into play/ That would be fabulous!! Also, I loved your reasoning on Jin being alive. Thank you for that. My husband feels very doubtful that Jin is alive while I have always maintained he can't just DIE!! I have hope that when the time loop comes back around, they will be back.
Re:time loop
Wasn't this ruled out by producers? DOesn't it seem neccessary at this point? What gives? I'm considering it to be a strong contender for overarching story tie-ups. FOr instance, thinking about the weather predictions by Locke (and Juliet)--"its going to rain" maybe he knows because he's lived this before.
Re:weather
If Walt can really influence the island weather-rain stops when he needs to find Vincent-perhaps he is a kind of island monkey wrench, SOmeone who can disrupt the pattern of the loop at will.

Wow, my comments are all over. I hope you can mine something interesting from this. I sure appreciate the provocative write up that got my brain going.
Best wishes for your hiatus--may life be ten times more exciting (in the good ways) than Lost could ever be.
c

ps I have been bummed since i wrote last that I was such a whiner when you were working on this. So let me say again: I'm truly sorry. You do great work. Thank you for your time and efforts, its been a great time this season.

Anonymous said...

I thin it's possible that Widmore did not break the rules when he killed Alex, if indeed Alex is not Ben's biological daughter.

ElsieM said...

Hi e! Just discovered your wonderful recaps through darkufo. I'm so happy to find a pro-Locke recapper. I enjoy so many of the recaps of others, but they rarely see John for more than a "crazy old man". I appreciate your getting his deeper, more complex character.

I look forward to reading much more from you!

Elsie

Anonymous said...

the phone call kate received would have had to come from someone OFF the island. the caller said 'you have to GO back...', not 'come back'. maybe this is ben's way of scaring kate into returning to the island? maybe the message being said backward has to do with time travel not to the future but with turning back time? i can't wait for next season!

Anonymous said...

Jack has the power to bring people back to life. He did it in episode one with Rose, then clearly with Charlie, and most recently with Desmond. Maybe Locke actually did kill himself because he knew it was the only way for his body to return to the island, and he knew Jack could revive him...hmm...

Beerage said...

Great recap, your blog posts for Season 4 have been amazingly detailed and helped me continue the lost phenomenon, I started reading since mid season 3, they were great too but have improved in quality :)

Just a tad bit of information incase you didnt already know, when Charlotte auditioned for the part, they already wanted her to have an American accent, so the whole being annie/annie's daughter thing is very plausible. The only reason she has British accent is because the writers loved it so much :D - If you want more info, try to find SkyOne's after season 4 show, they interviewed both damon and carlton.

Anonymous said...

What if Ben were cloned when he was banished and disappeared? So now he is in two places, which is why he can't go back. So the polar bears also are cloned (the one in Tunisia). And now your man Locke is cloned and still on the island in a different state somehow?!?

Erika (aka "e") said...

Hey everyone -

Sorry I have taken so long to respond to comments. My life pretty much stopped during the week I was writing the finale post, so I had to take some time to get back to normal!

I wanted to address a few of the more common questions and ideas above since I won't be able to respond to each individually at this point...

1) I still think Claire was talking about not bringing Aaron back to the Island. It's the only thing that makes sense given the fact that she was in Aaron's room.., and how what she said was worded. But I am not so sure that was the "real" Claire, either. I think it was meant to get us thinking that there are two forces of "ghost people" -- some who work for the Island and some who work against it.

2) I do not think that there will be or have been any type of clones in the show (Halliwax/Wickman/Candle or Dead Locke). I would be seriously pissed if they went the clone route, too, as a side note. For the Dharma videos, I think the guy simply used different names, that's all. We also have seen no other indication of cloning. With the Orchid video from Comic-Con and the two bunnies, that was meant to show that something went wrong with the time-space experiment and that the SAME bunny was showing up in the same place at the same time, which, as all science geeks knows, is bad news. So I don't think there are clones or two "instances" of anyone on the show.

3) The producers have said that they definitely will never do a LOST movie, which I'm glad about, because I think that would be cheating us out of a proper, definitive ending (that's what they said, too).

4) I like the idea that perhaps Ben is simply lying about being banned from the Island. I don't know why I didn't think of that! But that's why Ben is such a master... he makes us forget that all he does is lie!

5) Yep, I started my write-ups with Season 1, Episode 9! I didn't watch the show when it first came on! Unbelievable, now that I think about it...

6) I did know about Charlotte's real/fake accent, I wrote that up in a separate post about the special podcast done with her. Definitely could feed into the Ben/Annie Daughter theory... and now they could easily explain the accent if she was raised somewhere else. Also, regarding pregnant women dying on the Island... remember, we only know of that from RECENT flashbacks... as in, from the point they brought Juliet in. We don't know if that was always the case. Which is why I think it's even more likely that Ben somehow brought on the condition by falling for Annie against the Island's wishes. I think we will get other flashbacks of that nature next season.

7) The time loop was never ruled out by producers. Time travel was (and we know how that all turned out), as was "anything that cannot be explained by science"... um, uh huh. I don't really think we can trust anything they say completely, because they obviously have a vested interest in keeping fans surprised and unsuspecting, even if that means telling white lies along the way. But they have specifically said that something is obviously going on with "the space-time continuum on the Island." The only thing I think we can believe that they've said regarding plotlines is that the survivors are definitely NOT in purgatory... as should be obvious now that they're back in the real world.

7) Good point about the helicopter peeps not having the life raft/vests before they reached the freighter. So I guess Michael did indeed save all of the O6 + Frank and Desmond!

8) My take on the Frozen Donkey Wheel entrance... I think there probably was another entryway, or perhaps the hidden entryway was fixed after the last time the hole was blown. But since bears were most likely down there, and since we know there are tunnels under some of the Dharma stations, there probably was another way to get down to the wheel. I think Ben thought it was too urgent to move the Island because the freighter people had located it and could have relayed the info back to Widmore, hence Ben's rush to just blow a hole in it. He couldn't be sure everyone on the freighter died, and he just wanted to ensure the Island's safety the quickest way he knew how. That's the only way I can think to explain it...

9) I don't think Jack himself has the power to bring people back to life... I think the Island has given him that power, just like it gave Locke the power to walk again. Locke is realizing that these miracles are the Islands doing, while Jack is not.

10) And finally, I would be disappointed if Locke was just like Zombie Dad after coming back to the Island... yes... Locke in some form is better than no Locke, but I think it would still kind of suck. But if he's happy as a spirit, then I guess I would be happy. I just want him to achieve some level of lasting happiness, as to this point he's had a pretty sad existence. Sniff.

Thanks for the recommendation to check out Smoking Aces, I definitely will. I will also include the links to the Sky One interviews with Darlton in my August post!

Hope you are all kicking your summers off nicely... it's beautiful in Chicago and that has greatly helped the pain of Lost being over.

Thanks again for reading and commenting!

- e

Craig said...

e, I didn't get a chance to read this when you first posted it because I was out of town (in Chicago actually, trying to get myself on a TV show, but that's a story for a different time), and now that I have read it, I am almost overwhelmed by the amount of material here. With so much there, I make no guarantees that I won't come back later and post another comment when I remember something else. As always, thanks for taking the time to do such a great write-up.

I agree with you on the subject of the wheel. I was a little weirded out at first, but then I came to much the same conclusion that you did. In fact, here is what I wrote not long after the show in response to a commenter on my blog who was upset by it: "I know exactly what you mean about the wheel. It's seems pretty random and out of place. Once I started thinking about it, however, I realized a couple of things (1) it's not like it would exactly be believable if there were a button or switch that made a whole section of the world teleport either. Why can't it be a wheel? (2) They have set things up to make it very clear that many of the weird things on the island are not new. They seem to date from well before Dharma came. Smokey came from behind a weird ancient looking door. There is a temple that is supposedly the safe place. The Black Rock crashed there long ago. The four-toed statue is supposedly important and is obvious quite old. If the 'negatively-charged exotic matter' was present on the island already, perhaps the original inhabitants found a way to utilize it before Dharma ever showed up." I think it was a point when we realized or had it hammered home that Dharma was not the initiator of the island mythology, they were just some latecomers who were using it for their own purposes.

I like possibility #4 for Sun, because we never get told (by Sun) who the second person she blames is. Jack says it's him, but Jack thinks everything is his fault and always has, so that doesn't mean much. I watched the scene with Sun and Widmore hoping that she blames him and that she is a double agent.

The only way I can see Locke possibly being dead, really dead, not mostly dead or playing dead is if returning him to the island will allow him to become the new Jacob (for lack of a better term). This would fit so well with who he is/was and has been travelling toward becoming. Along those same lines, I think the scene where Ben says goodbye and passes the torch to Locke were absolutely beautiful because of how well it brought him to the point he had been trying to get his entire life. John had always wanted to lead. He had always wanted to be the go-to guy, but at the same time, he was always looking for approval and guidance. This is what let him be tricked into giving up his kidney, how he ended up on a commune growing pot and later accidentally betraying them. It's how he was so easily manipulated by Ben many times. In the end, Ben makes like the Great and Powerful Oz and tells him that he's had what he needed all along. Locke never truly needed all those father figures to guide him. He's always found his way, his problems came when he put his trust in someone else and not himself.

One of my very favorite sequences comes just after the island disappears and the helicopter crashes. They sit there looking at the empty spot where Craphole Island once sat and Hurley says that he can't believe Locke really moved it. Jack, as always, argues despite all evidence to the contrary and Hurley finally shuts him up by asking for another explanation. The look Jack has at that point is so meaningful, because he realizes that he has been wrong. Locke was right and he was wrong, and then he starts the speech about how they have to lie. They lie because Jack realizes that Locke knew exactly what he was talking about, that they can never tell the truth, and maybe he's just beginning to have some doubts about whether they should have left. From that point on, it's only a matter of time before he ends up flying constantly and hoping to crash. Locke may have told him about the very bad things that happened but it was that moment of realization on the raft that was the start of his downward spiral.

It's going to be a long eight months.

Anonymous said...

Hi e,
If you have an iPod (or other handheld devices) you may wish to visit the web site www.decalgirl.com use the search term 'Dharma'. You will find vinyl skins that are very LOST-fan(atic) oriented. (If you order, type in "gimme10" as discount code for 10% discount.) I hope you check it out and pass the word to your devoted followers. -Lisa

Beerage said...

Hey, just curious what your opinon's are if they were to release a book. It does mean they can go and explain things in alot more detail and wouldnt be tied down with the whole filming thing.

They would probably have to do it at the very end of lost though, once the tv show has ended.

I'd definitly read a book if they made one, I mean a full book about lost, not a sort of spin off about only a certain part.

Anonymous said...

Amazing incredibly well informed review.

I cant wait to read more. i masturbate to kate.

Carina Menaker said...

e-
Well, consider yourself an inspiration--I've started a blog.
LOST led me to things I never thought I'd do--becoming part of an online forum for instance--and now I'm blogging. That's due in part to the fun I've had reading your writeups. Mine is also LOST related--but hiatus specific. Look me up at livingwithoutlost in the google blogs. I've posted here as carinainthesnow, but am now writing as losterandloster. I think its going to be a "learning experience". Best wishes.

Carina Menaker said...

e-
uh that's:
livingwithoutlost.blogspot.com
Sorry I didn;t include the actual address in my last note.

Anonymous said...

Hi, finally finished reading the review!


I have some input regarding ben saying they "ALL HAVE TO GO BACK". I think it means ALL. If he included Locke, and Locke wasnt part of the Oceanic Six, then I would assume it would have to mean Desmond, and the Pilot Frank, as well.

2 lines in the script convince me of this. Someone (cant remember who) Saying to Desmond, "HIDE, dont let them find you" ...well, now they will NEED to find him.

The other was jack saying to Frank, I hope I never see you again, or something like that.

Those 2 lines convince me that is exactly what they mean...

Ernie said...

e,

Definitely let us know if you read Bad Twin & if its worth picking up this late in the game.

Anonymous said...

I've gotta say I think Jin is dead and as for your FIVE theories on the Sun/Widmore meeting I think you missed the most obvious...

The second person Sun blames for Jin's death is Ben after he killed Keamy knowing it would blow the freighter. The frighter would not have blown-up and Jin would still be alive if it were not for Ben and his stabbing tendencies!! The only person that knew Ben did that to Keamy was Locke and the Sun/Widmore meeting happened after Sun was visited by Locke (can't get used to calling him Bentham)...

Anonymous said...

im pretty sure im the reason you keep adding those things about face book....sorry!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to "Locke" a day late!!!

SKID said...

So did you see the Comic con panel and the nifty prizes that were given away?

There I was . . . watching it on YouTube and lo and behold . . .

An actual Daniel Farraday tie (given away as a prize). I about died.

If only I had been there to ask the question.

I keep telling everyone that we need to keep our eye on that tie. I do however think that Damon’s “stay tuned” comment was more mocking people like me than it was foreshadowing but TIME will tell.

Hilarious that the tie is now getting it’s due.

SKID

Anonymous said...

new arg up :)

thought you'd like to know, that my neighbor and i were talking about lost, and she goes "omg, have you ever been to the long live lock blog? this girl writes the *best* recaps"... you're quite popular in sunny california :)

Erika (aka "e") said...

SKID - Yes, I LOVE that a tie was given away and I immediately thought of you. You deserve one.

Kristyn - That is very cool that one of your friends was also reading LLL, unbeknownst to you. The power of the Internet! I will track the new ARG, though I don't usually play those things myself, and will be sure to report on any critical info that comes out of it before Jan/Feb...

- e

SKID said...

e,

It's me . . . SKID the Farrady Tie Guy . . .
Just a random thought I had while driving down the road and listening to an old CASSETTE tape I found from my PAST where a friend and I recorded random stuff. ANYHOW, the tape is old and fading, but as we listened to it I could hear something strange that was indecipherable until I turned the tape over and played the other side . . . and realized that what I was hearing on Side ONE was what was recorded on SIDE TWO except that it was BACKWARDS.

. . . and man did it sound like the whispers on the island. Just wondering if maybe the electromagnetic properties of the island cause it to act like some huge cassette tape recording conversations or even better . . . thoughts from the past and somehow the what we are hearing on SIDE TWO is what was recorded on SIDE ONE at some point in the past. This does not explain why they are hearing it on their phones, or even in person, BUT it was just a strange observation causing me to ask: "Is it live or is it Memorex?!"

Anyone have any thoughts?