The Last Season

The Last Season
One Dark and One Light...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Kate Austin

Episodes 2 was ( I count the premiere as 1 big episode) very different. While Kate has always been a central character in the 815 Survivor's story, she hasn't had very interesting centric episodes. I didn't much like Eggtown either. Her story lines are all character driven, and center around bouncing back and forth between Jack and James.

I guess I lost interest in Kate after the third, or is it fourth time she switched between J&J. When she slapped Sawyer in the cabin right before she stormed off to the helicopter to fly away with Jack, I knew they were done. If I were either one of those two, I would have made her make a choice and stick with it much sooner.

Jate, Sawkat, excuse me, (I just vomited a little in my throat) was not interesting to me and as we now know was also just a sideline to the real story. This is a time traveling, universal course correcting, multi dimensional show about two dudes trapped in time and space, not a love story.
Kate is not central to that!

She has never really displayed any connection to the mythology aspect of the show. Sure, you say she raised Aaron for 3 years, but to me, it seemed forced, like it was written just to give Kate something to do. It was really totally out of character. She didn't even want to hold Aaron on the island when Claire had her. Then two days later she decides to keep Turniphead and raise him as her own. Naw, it didn't make sense to me then and it still doesn't to me now (no, it's not part of her redemption arc - that whole redemption arc is done, and was only B.S. to begin with). The only redemption is to play Survivor, the last name to be scratched out on Jacob's ceiling gets awarded 1 million dollars at Other tribal council.

The latest Kate move that just seems ridiculous so her tooling around all over L.A. in a bright yellow cab while the cops are looking for a woman who stole a bright yellow cab can't see her. She decides it's cool to go back and talk to the one witness who can ID her from the airport and give her a lift to where ever she needs to go. Huh? Then the cops show up at the hospital and Kate is just hanging out with her new BFF who covers for her and gives her a credit card? BWWWhahahahahah. LOL ROFL ROFLMAO...

So, Kate is not exactly who I thought of as a character who really matters in the end game. I wasn't really surprised she didn't have a number on Jacob's or is it Smokey's ceiling in the cave. I really expect her to be killed off before the last episode. Yes, she was touched by Jacob when she was a little girl, and as such will have a heroic epic death performing some incredible deed like saving Jackass Shepard in the climax of this series.

Namaste,
hatchling23

Off Season












During the extremely long hiatus I had the opportunity to watch some other series on DVD. I had received new box sets for both my Birthday and at Christmas. While watching Deadwood, an excellently written series I must say, I noticed a few LOST alumni. First being Paula Malcomson, who on LOST we know as Colleen, the Other who was shot by Sun on the sailboat. I spotted Kim Dickins, who is Cassidy Yates, Sawyer's partner in crime and eventually his baby mama.

Then I saw Titus Welliver, who we only saw on screen in that visage for a few brief moments in the Finale as the infamous MIB. An impressive presence since that is the only screen time he's gonna get as Locke is now the apparent perma-face for Smokey. There was also William Sanderson, who was the Others interrogator named Oldham when he was questioning Sayid Jarrah while Sayid was tripping on truth serum.

Not last and not least was Robin Weigert, who portrayed Juliet's ill sister whom Juliet was trying, or should I say did impregnate artificially. Kind of a weird vibe during those scenes, I mean why was Ethan Rom/Goodspeed coming out of her room just as Juliet was walking down the hall?

I finished Deadwood a week before the premiere of LOST so the cast was still fresh in my mind. So how surprised was I to see yet another Deadwood/Lost crossover. Lennon, played by actor John Hawkes makes his appearance in the LOST universe(s). WOW, I guess I should check to see if it's the same casting department.

Namaste
hatchling23

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Abracadabra

Any halfway decent magician knows how to pull off a simple magic trick. Sleight of hand, "now you see it, now you don't", just a little classic misdirection. The real trick is getting your attention diverted for the time it takes to make a switcheroo.

For 5 seasons we've been led to believe John Locke was something special. The miraculous healing of his legs, the man of faith who believed in the island. We were led to believe that because Richard Alpert visited him numerous times in his youth, because he was born of a woman named Emily as a preemie that he was somehow special. How many times has John been told by other characters in this show "You're Special, John", you will be the leader of the others?

Turns out John was just a chump all along.

The same thing could be said of Ben Linus. Surely when his character was introduced he was not supposed to be the leader of the Others. But as his character was well received, he was written in as a major player in this epic story. Once again we were led to believe he was of some major importance. Born premature to a woman named Emily, visited by Richard Alpert at a young age, taken to the Temple to be healed after he was shot, then becoming leader of the others and keeper of the islands secrets.

Or so we thought.

Turns out both Locke and Linus are nothing more than pawns in a game played by two characters we've never seen before and know nothing about. Oh, I know we saw a glimpse of Jacob in the cabin back in season 3. But now we know it wasn't really Jacob in that cabin after all.

I'm calling double dog bullshit on introducing these behind the scenes characters this late in the game. This smacks of Deus Ex Machina.

I am a little angry at being snowballed by writing that has to be resolved via "Jacob made me this way". All the little loose ends are now going to be resolved this way?

It's not really a story about plane crash survivor's after all. It's not about redemption or faith vs. science. It's not about Hatches or Dharma or Sawyer killing a con man. Turns out it doesn't matter if Kate winds up with Jack or James or Hurley or Vincent. None of it matters because
IT"S ALL ABOUT 2 GUYS WE NEVER SAW BEFORE.

This is probably the first show in history that has virtually every scene freeze framed, scrutinized and theorized to death. The writers have taken advantage of this and led us down the garden path with so many tangents and false clues that it has been hard to keep track of the way everything is supposed to fit together.

My favorite tangents:
1.) Ms Hawking knowing the man in red shoes was going to die. umm how would she know this? How does she know Desmond is going to make it to the island to push the button?
2.) Pictures on the wall changing. See episode where Miles pays visit to grandma's house. look at pictures on stairs as he goes up and again when he comes down. This is not a continuity error.
Actually there are a lot of examples of things changing, some I can attribute to continuity (moving bullet wound), but this one is too blatent (and they know we scrutinize everything).
3.) What about WALT!, What about LIBBY in the nut house, What about ANNIE? A whole season in Dharmaville and no Annie? Srsly?

After being spoon fed all the hints about "The Wizard of Oz" and "Through the Looking Glass" and how they both end in Alice/Dorothy waking up from a dream, I was all set to see this series end in similar fashion. Not that I'm dissapointed that it doesn't end in some variation of this theme, I just don't like having a god from the machine appear in the last scene to solve the plot.

We were told by the producers that the show is like a puzzle and we were just getting new pieces every week. We consistently didn't have enough pieces to complete the picture. But we now know that they gave us extra pieces that didn't fit, and were never going to fit. Try doing a 1000 piece puzzle when you are handed 1500 pieces. On top of that, after 5 seasons, they are going to change the picture on the box. Surprise! it's a new puzzle.

We just had the rug pulled out from under our feet, people.

Answer me this riddle, BATMAN

How did Ben Linus know Jacob would be at the cabin? As Ben told Sun and John in the finale, he never met Jacob. Richard would always bring written notes to Ben with instructions from Jacob. Now we know that Richard is aware that Jacob lives in the foot of the statue, so where would Ben get the idea that he would find Jacob in Goodspeeds little shack? What was the purpose of the ash surrounding the shack and who put the ash there?

I doubt Richard would send Ben out to see the mysterious man in black, especially since he said he works for Jacob. Ben was on the island before Goodspeeds shack was built, why would he assume Jacob would move in there? Wouldn't he assume Jacob would hang out at the Temple?
Who or what is at the Temple? Are we gonna get yet another mysterious GOD figure in the series finale to wrap everything up nice and neat?

In Conclusion:

The whole business of this long con, getting Locke's body back and convincing Ben to Stab Jacob seems awfully contrived. Are you telling me that in all that island history, Man in Black couldn't convince anybody else to pick up a knife and stab Jacob? Hmmmm?
The island isn't that big that Jacob could hide out for long, especially since he told MIB that he'd be waiting for him right there.

The whole show is just one long misdirection?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A knot in the Time Line

Now that was a fun little episode, good storytelling and the acting sold it. I think Elizabeth Mitchell is getting better with each episode. Love the display of emotion during the delivery and during the kitchen kiss scene with Josh Holloway.


I am not a shipper. In fact I couldn't care less what happens with Kate anymore. The Kate from season 1 and 2 is long gone and I can't see her coming back. Go Sawliet, ha ha ha.

Highlights of the episode included "Jim LeFleur" having a little heart to heart with Richard Alpert and letting him know that that they were waiting for John Locke. But this brings up a question. At this point in 1974, Richard is well aware that John Locke is only 18 years old. Probably a Senior in High School. Wasn't it around this time that he tried to recruit John to his "Science Camp in Portland"?

Which leads into another question. The ageless one (who I assumed was a reanimated spirit like Christian Shepard) is able leave the island and walk around in the real world. Hmmmm.

We saw Richard leave the island at least three times. Once to visit John Locke as an infant in the hospital, once to visit young Johnny boy in the foster home and one more time to recruit Juliette for Mittelos Bioscience . At the time he was with Ethan to recruit Juliette, Dharma was no longer on the island and the Others had occupied not only their buildings and equipment, but apparently the stuff they owned off island as well.

So if Richard and Ethan used the Dharma submarine to get to Portland in 2001, how did he get off the island in 1956 or even 1961? He told Locke that the way to leave the island was priviledged information so we know that it could be done. Follow a certain course like 305º or 316º and you are gone, but on what? It's not like the others have any ships.

And while I'm on this train of thought about the Others coming and going from the island, there is another person of interest who has been in my thoughts since watching "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham". I am talking about Charles Widmore.

Now Charles was supposedly (if we take his words to John Locke at face value) the leader of the Others for 30 years. Mmmkay. Let's say he was tricked by Benjamin into leaving right around the time of the Purge. Because as we saw, immediently after gassing the Dharma Initiative, Richard Alpert started taking orders from Ben. So I have to assume Chuck was gone from the island by this point.

Since Miles stated that Chuck has been looking for the island for over 20 years, then from 2009 going back, that would mean Chuck got tossed back in time by the Frozen Donkey Wheel to around 1989. Not too big a stretch. But was he sent back in time farther? Maybe, and here's why I think he would have had to be. PENNY.

In 1996 she looked to be in her early '20s. clearly she was old enough to marry Desmond. This means she had to have been born in at least 1976 or earlier. Now since we know that in 1976 Charles was the leader of the others, would that mean that Penny was born on the island? or that daddy took trips off the island to make babies? You would think Penny would remember being raised on the island, so I have to assume she wasn't.

This little time line problem is really bothering me. She certainly wasn't raised in Dharmaville. Where the heck were the others living? In the Temple? The Jungle? How could Charles or even more so why would Charles leave the island in the 70's to have a daughter? He wouldn't.

If he was sent back in time even further by the FDW, say to the early 70's then he would have been looking for the island a lot longer than 20 years.

And here's another puzzler.
Charles clearly has plenty 'O Money. Enough so that he could build his own pendulum and hire a staff of mathematicians to figure out the next jump point. Clearly by the mid 90's he would have access to better computing power than the apple II's the Dharma Initiative used in the Lamp Post Station.

Hell, he has guys with guns. just go and take over the Lamp Post and figure out the next return trip. He knows exactly where it is, after all he gave Desmond the address. If Chuckles really wants to get back to the island, I think he could. He got his freighter there and everyone who needed to get to the island made it. Daniel, Charlotte, etc. He could just as easily have ridden on board the chopper.

His exile must be different somehow from just turning the Donkey Wheel. Even Benjamin made it back in one piece. I really can't tell who is the bad guy here. Is there a good and bad? or is everything a gray area and all we are doing is watching these two guys play a game?

namaste,
hatchling23

Thursday, February 19, 2009

We're not going to Guam, are we?

Man, What a rush that episode was. I mean that in 2 ways. One: it seemed like it was over in a half an hour. two: what a massive download of information.
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Two pieces of information were delivered very clearly. The first was given almost as a throwaway remark. Jack telling Kate that the reason his dad was wearing white tennis shoes was because he didn't think it was worth the cost or time to buy him a nice pair of shoes, because who would see them anyway? I know this little nugget has been a nagging question since the pilot episode and we saw the white tennis shoe hanging from the tree branch. I'm actually glad that there is a simple explanation for a few things and not everything has to be wrapped up in the mythology of the island.

The second piece of info, courtesy of chatty Cathy.. er, I mean Ms. Hawking, was an explanation of how Dharma found the island, along with acting as their travel agent and selecting their flight. Pretty soon you will be able to select your window of departure through Expedia, although the selection of hotels and rental cars on the island is a little sparse.

One thing didn't make any sense to me. Why introduce Jack's grandfather? What was the point? He could easily have gotten some shoes or other article of his father's from his mom. Wouldn't Christian's wife have a few mementos of her late husband? It did serve to deflate some rumors I've read concerning Jack's heritage, as if he's descended from a long line of Island inhabitants or some such thing.






Were not going to Guam, are we?






Man the trip back moved along quick. I was a little confused by the role reversal going on though. Sayid was in handcuffs like Kate, Ben went to the bathroom just before the turbulance like Charlie, not to mention showing up at the last second and Hurley crying out, he's not suppossed to be here. some weird stuff.

OK, is there anyone who doesn't think Ben killed Penny. Looks like Penny put up a pretty good fight too. I mean they pretty much have to give Desmond a good reason to go back to the island, so I think revenge will be it. He will arrive back on the island looking to tear Ben's lungs out.

Anyway its' on to theory time...

I think we can scratch one more mystery off our list. Richard Alpert. Yes I know he wasn't in last night's episode, but as soon as I saw the previews for next week, a light bulb literally went off in my head.

Who do we see walking around and talking, none other than John Locke. ( Ben Linus is there in the room when John Locke hangs himself. ) He joins at least two other folks who have arrived on this island as a corpse and were resurrected. One is Christian Sheppard, the other I believe is Richard Alpert. Here goes...

Put on your time travel Dharma jacket and journey with me back to the past, way back, further back, the dim mists of time around 3500 years ago. Picture a funeral procession going down the Nile. Several reed boats, one holding the body of the recently deceased Pharaoh. Suddenly without realizing it, they encounter a window to the island. Transported instantly to a lush green paradise. As they look on in amazement, their Pharaoh rises from the dead. They build a temple, a statue and worship their leader.

Of course in time all of the original people who came with him die. New people arrive through out the ages as they accidentally encounter windows to the island. Richard is there already, Richard is always there.



Hieroglyph for Richard Alpert.



After a few thousand years of people trying to leave the island and getting time warped, a few finally manage to get lucky and figure out the right direction, is it 305˚, 315˚, 325˚ who knows, but the secret is born. "That's privileged information", as Richard told Locke.

Big fat bonus theory...


Since you've read this far and you know my track record for theories is pretty crappy, so don't put too much stock in this one. It came to me watching Jughead. Since they found those skeletons way back in season 1. Jack guessed they must have been around 40-50 years old. Certainly predating Dharma by at least two decades. I was wondering whatever became of Bernard and Rose during the island time skipping. It seems like the I6 were in 1954 for quite a bit of time. Maybe enough time for Rose and Bernard to wanna find a safe place to hide out after their beach camp disappeared. Maybe they went to the caves because they needed fresh water? I'm sure they had no way of knowing what year they were in. One Black and One White, hmmmm...


Namaste,
hatchling23
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Death Warmed Over

Now I must say right up front that of all the freighter characters introduced last season, Charlotte was easily my least favorite. Her attitude right from the beginning was just grating. She exuded arrogance in every curled lip, snarky remark, facial expression and overall body language.

So I wasn't really sad to see her go. I really thought there was going to be more to her character. An anthropologist, history buff, reader of lost languages, I mean come on, I was expecting her to decipher the writing on Ben's secret door, or maybe the column in the Frozen Donkey Wheel cavern. I had hopes of her finding the Temple and translating the hieroglyphs to unlock some island mysteries. But no, she utters a few words of Korean and dies.

There better be a real good flashback for her, something linking her to the islands secrets or it will have been another Nikki/Paulo waste of time!

Now on the other hand, I have to say that Rebecca Mader is a wonderful actress. I think she is very talented and wished she could have had a different role to play.

It is curious how this island is Death by any other name. Even if you get off the island, it wants you to come back to die there. What was it Michael said when Sayid asked him what he was doing back on the freighter? "I'm here to die". Why is it so important to die on the island?

Is that what the O6 are doing coming back to the island? Are they coming back to die? Ben told Jack to gather up everything he wanted to take along from this life, because he was never coming back.

When the Swan Hatch imploded the countdown timer was spinning it's tiles and they finally stopped on Egyptian looking glyphs that we were told spelled out "Underworld". This season we get a glimpse of Smokey, AKA Cerberus coming out of a hole under a temple. A hole big enough for three men to crawl down into. Must be quite a bit of room down there, wish we could have gotten a glimpse down that rabbit hole. Of course Cerberus is an icon of Greek mythology, yet the temple seems to be covered in Egyptian glyphs. Confusing? Yea.

We have been presented with so many different mythologies, religions and references to popular literature, I would need a speadsheet to sort it all out. Is this place over the rainbow or in wonderland? maybe its Atlantis or Mu? Shambala or as we are now given hints of the River Styx. Is Jacob the god Hades? Are the others the Erinyes? Maybe Richard Alpert is Charon, here to ferry all the lost souls to the underworld.

I personally haven't ruled out Purgatory. I don't really care that Damon and Carlton said it wasn't that, they have lied before. It's judgment time on the island and as we near the end of this tale, people will be divided up. Are you on the side of white or black? good or bad? No one gets out alive.

Hey it's either that or we get an alien reveal...


Namaste,
hatchling23

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Lost Island Time

Round and Round and Round we go and where we stop no one shall know.

I have been enjoying the trip through time this season. I really enjoyed the little stop in 1954. Seeing Richard the ageless just is one of the biggest mysteries of this island. I guess with the reveals coming little by little we will eventually get an answer to why he doesn't age.

I'm only going to focus on one of the flashes experienced in "The Little Prince". When the I6 suddenly found themselves on the beach with their campsite ransacked and looking like a hurricane came through. As soon as they showed the Ajira Airways logo I knew this was a flash forward. Their motorboat was missing and instead were a pair of outriggers.

As they paddled away to go to the other side of the island, someone began shooting at them. Many have speculated that these were the O6 who had returned to the island. Yea, probably is them, but why would they have torn apart their camp and built outriggers? They know their way around the island as well as anyone by now, so why would they need boats? Maybe it's to go fishing? I guess the Dharma food drops must have stopped by now.

I noticed that Juliet shot one of the Pursuers, I wonder who's death we might have seen there?

Just how far in the future was this? a few weeks? a few months? Was it really the O6?

I speculate we saw either the next generation of losties (Aaron, JiYeon, Charlie, etc.) or another group of people entirely (a new set of losties) from the next time loop.

It seem like from the previews I've seen, what with the O6 and Juliette wearing Dharma jumpsuits, that they somehow arrive back to the island in the late '80s. Unless they can find a way to return to the present (a relative term I guess) they would have to live out their days until the purge. because otherwise they would be old by the time of the flash forward.

They O6 would have to somehow live on the island at the same time their other selves came down in the crash. I realize that they can exist on the island in more than one incarnation ( we saw Sawyer during Claire's childbirth, and we already know he was at the beach during this time). I guess we should have known this was possible because we saw the second numbered bunny appear behind Dr. Halliwax at the same time he was holding the same numbered bunny in his hands. He know at least that they should not go near each other.

As Dr. Halliwax told the work foreman, "There are rules to time travel". I am kinda confused as to these rules myself, however.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Up Periscope












Not much prep tonight. Straight to the theory.

My Theory

I've been thinking a little too much just how the Oceanic 6 would be departing from Mystery Frikkin' Island, and I have come to the conclusion that they will be going by Submarine. I think were gonna get a Locke flashback that shows John moving the sub and swimming back to the pier.

See, I think John never really blew it up. He just parked it for later and blew up the dock instead. Yea, that's why he's all wet. But it's not just Johnnie Boy that's gonna save 'em. He'll need someone's help to drive the boat. wouldn't you know, Ben just happens to know how to operate the sub too.

Of course, it's a small sub and can only handle a few passengers at a time. So, besides Ben only six others can fit on the sub. Mmmmmm... who could those 6 be? I can see the long goodbye kiss between Jack and Juliette on the pier now. Awwww. Ben and James wouldn't be going back, and since they are somehow split up and in a hurry to leave, Jin and the rest get left behind because they are nowhere around.

It's because they have to leave in a hurry, maybe they are in a firefight and Ben says, "Let's go! We have to leave now!" So this is how they leave the island. Probably forcing Sun aboard because she doesn't want to leave Jin behind. Claire is most likely injured, maybe in a coma and can't be moved, so they grab baby Aaron and run. This also explains how Ben got off the island.

Maybe they make a quick stop over at the Freighter and pick up Sayid. I can see how Michael would get himself killed helping Sayid get rescued by the Sub, and allowing all of the O6 to get away. This completes his redemption cycle. I'm really not sure about Desmond though. I'm postulating here that he makes it back to the island somehow. especially since he can now control his mind during time travel with the help of his Constant, Penny.

And since Daniel wrote in his journal that Desmond is his constant, I imagine we'll be seeing Desmond well into next season, at least.

That is the WTF ending for the finale, but not the last shot. After we come back from commercials for the last 45 seconds of the season, we see Ben dropping them off on some nearby island and disappearing while the O6 are all standing on the beach as a rescue ship approaches, Yea, were saved!

BOOM










namaste,

hatchling 23

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Oceanic 5.5











In the episode Expose', set on day 49 on the island, I picked up on something Ben said. As Ben and Juliette were in the Pearl Hatch watching a monitor seeing Jack in the Swan station, Juliette asked Ben how he would get Jack to do the surgery? Ben's answer? "By finding out what he is emotionally invested in and exploiting it". He got himself captured and found out that Jack's weakness was Kate.

What does this have to do with Season 4 of LOST and what is currently going on? Well, a couple of things I've noticed recently made me wonder what is currently going on with the Oceanic 6.

Now that we know who they are and have had a flash forward of each of them, I think the pieces are starting to fall into place. The first clue was in the Season finale "Through The Looking Glass" when Jack started whining to Kate, "I'm sick of lying". That started me wondering just exactly what he has to be lying about.

The second clue was in Hurley's flash forward when Matthew Abbadon visits him and asks, "They're still alive. aren't they?"

The third clue was Kate and the reveal about her having Aaron as her child. Jack knows that Aaron is his nephew and it's killing him to have to lie about it. He can't bring himself to see Aaron or have to lie to him.





9/22/2004





But the definite proof in the pudding was Sun screaming for her husband during childbirth. Yes, that was a giveaway and it cemented my theory. The date on the tombstone was pretty obvious, especially since the producers made a point of showing the headstone in a close up knowing everyone (especially bloggers like me) would freeze frame it and read the dates.

MY THEORY:

Not only is Jin alive but so is Claire, and for that matter probably most of the rest of the Losties. Somewhere along the way a deal was made, and in this deal, a few people get to leave the island, but under the promise that they must keep their mouths shut.

Who would make such a deal? and what could you hold over someone's head that is powerful enough that they won't spill the beans about the island or it's location? Especially if they are celebrities with the whole world watching them and listening to their story about the plane crash and their survival.

Here is what happens... Somehow Ben is able to manipulate both Jack and Locke to help him get rid of the freighter people. How you say? By promising them a ticket off the island. Not everyone though, and I'm sure he doesn't explicitly say this, But a few are promised a ticket home. I'm sure that he leverages Sun's pregnancy and the urgency of her getting off the island by her second trimester.

But back to pulling the strings. Here's how it works. At some point in the next few episodes Jack will find out that Claire is his sister and that is what Ben has to hold over Jack's head. Claire is held hostage on the island to keep Jack's mouth shut. She will make a heart wrenching decision not to have her baby grow up on Mystery Frickin' Island, so she will give Aaron to Kate to take off the island. Kate must raise Aaron as her own, both to protect Claire and because Ben has probably threated to harm Aaron if she spills the beans.











That's two down. Sun obviously has to leave in order to give birth to Ji Yeon, but how to contain her? By keeping Jin on the island. She said she missed him and now we know why.

Number four is a little easier. Clearly either Ben framed Widmore or maybe Widmore really had Nadia killed. Either way Sayid's anger pushing him to get payback made it easy for Ben to recruit him to work for him. Sayid has always been the dutiful soldier, never directly the leader, but always ready to take orders and act. There is no one left on the island for Sayid to care about as he was really quick to jump on Lapidus' chopper for the first flight out, so Ben had to find and exploit something else Sayid found near and dear. Ben probably has or created evidence of Widmore killing Nadia and used it to recruit Sayid.

Remember Ben saying " Is there anything a man wouldn't do to save his son?", no? You will because he will utter that line in "Meet Kevin Johnson". That is how he recruited Michael in the first place. And how he continues to keep Michael under his control.

But I digress, The last of the Oceanic celebrities to leave is Hugo. Now, I've been pondering just exactly what Ben could hold over Hugo's head that would keep him quiet. We all know that Hugo is a big softie and gets along with everyone. Could Ben have threated Rose? or Claire? This is where Libby would have really come in handy. I'm not sure yet what Ben has over Hurley except that it's something big. Maybe we haven't seen it or her yet? But when Chawley visits Hugo in Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, he tells Hugo, "They Need You".

Yes it's Ben. He's the bad guy here. Somehow by the end of this season we will see Jack and Locke team up with Ben to kill off the Freighties, end the freighter storyline and in the process sell their souls to the Devil (Ben). Once off the island they will be eaten up with regrets and realize what a crappy deal they made. They must get back to save the rest of the losties.











Get Back Jack, Back to Where You Once Belonged.


What's waiting down the road? As Penny once told Desmond in the parking lot when Des asked her how she found him. Penny said "With enough money and determination, you can find anyone".

How true, and this is where Hugo's money and possibly Sun Paik's father's money will come in. They will return to the island and rescue Jin and Claire and all the rest. Well not all the rest, Locke and Rose won't want to leave. They might just spend their remaining days on the island. Who knows, maybe they are the skeletons in the caves?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Puppy Love

Generally characters in this show are introduced by name only when they have some role to play in the overall story. Sometimes in a flashback to establish a connection between two losties or possibly to fill out a main characters back story and provide insight into their life and motivations. I think the latter is the case with the subject of tonight's wacky mystery.

Annie, our young Apollo candy bar eating school mate of Benjamin Linus is a mystery that has been rattling around my little brain for quite a few months now. Really we weren't given very much to go on here so I am going to do some sleuthing and maybe jump to a few conclusions along the way.

Dharma Girl:

At the time Ben first met Annie she appeared to be a little younger than Ben although they were in class together. She obviously had been on the island for some time as she was familiar with classroom procedures and by her opening line to Ben, "Hey, You're new huh?". I noticed she handed Ben the Apollo bar with her left hand although I think this was just for the camera's sake to position the candy bar so the camera could pick it up better. I say this because later in the classroom scene Annie is shown writing with the pencil in her right hand.

Some observations here. At no time does Horace mention he has a daughter nor does Olivia (the teacher) indicate Annie could be her daughter even after the gun shots are heard. She directs Annie to lock the door as if Annie has done this before (she even says to Ben " Don't worry, it's only the Hostiles") but I think a parents natural reaction would be to get close to their child in an emergency. Olivia would have been more protective if it were her daughter. Later, after the purge, when Ben closes Horace's eyes back at the barracks, there is no evidence of Annie. Somehow I doubt that she would approve of Ben killing her parents. Therefore I conclude that Annie is not the child of Horace and Olivia Goodspeed and was not on the island at the time of the Purge.


Annie's comment at the swing set was that" Now we never have to be away from each other" was touching but clearly not true. I believe Annie left the island shortly after this point in time as evidenced by the way Ben handled the doll on the morning of the Purge. He saw it on the table and picked it up very gently, almost reverently and it was clearly worn by years of handling. The paint was worn off and faded. This would indicate Ben carried it with him or held it many times over the years while thinking of Annie, not something he would do if she were around to talk to or spend time with.


Then there's the scene with Ben in the tent holding the doll and reminiscing as Richard walked in. Ben asked him "You do remember birthdays, don't you? Today just happens to be mine". the question has a double meaning as the doll indicates the only person to remember Ben's birthday was Annie. To me this indicates Ben only ever knew Annie as a child and not as an adult. Because if Ben knew her as an adult, he would have a more appropriate keepsake of a woman than a childhood gift. Also, there is no picture other than of Alex, his adopted daughter in his house or tent.

One goofy theory is that Danielle is Annie. There is no glint of recognition in either one's eyes when they meet in either scene, when Ben is caught in the net and she shoots him with the crossbow or when they meet at the radio tower and he introduces Alex to her mother. Also their subsequent conversations about fleeing the freighter people show no sign of emotion, and clearly Ben shows emotion when thinking about Annie as seen when he looks at the doll. Danielle's accent is just a bonus to indicate that she is not from the island and did not conceive Alex on island.


There has been some speculation that Annie got pregnant on the island and died in childbirth and this is why Ben has the obsession with children being born via conception on the island. I disagree. I think that the conception/maternal death has always been a part of the islands makeup. This is why there is not a large thriving indigenous population on this island dating back to antiquity, Ben's obsession is caused by his guilt over his own childbirth, and thus has meaning to him of significantly greater importance than the rest of the others. This explains his need to recruit Juliette to try to grow his little island population.

MY THEORY:

As we will see in a flashback, Juliette has been involved in some interesting lab work in the Orchid Station, directed by none other than Charles Widmore. Yes, 'Ol Chuckie has been to the island more than once and we are talking about after the Purge. But back to the topic of tonight's discussion.

If Annie left the island as a child, she had to be the daughter of someone of some importance in the Dharma Initiative. I believe she is Charles Widmores daughter. No not Penelope, but Penny's older sister. Ben has been traveling off island to try to get to her and this caused the rift between Ben and Charles Widmore that has eventually resulted in open warfare between the two and ultimately Widmore sending the Freighter and it's crew to capture Ben and bring him to Charles.

They are prepared for what the island has to offer because Widmore knows the islands secrets and picked the team for their skills and abilities. Just as Desmond was exiled to Mystery Frickin Island so he would stay away from Charles Widmore's other daughter. That was three years ago and Charles was probably still speaking with Ben at that point since Widmore was on island during the time Juliette was there. He probably told Ben he was sending Desmond to the island and he should keep an eye on him. Kinda nice that it worked out Kelvin did just that by keeping Desmond busy for the next three years pushing a button.

Annie will return to the island at some point and it will be a significant moment for all concerned. It would not even be out of the realm of possibility that the skeletons in the cave are Ben and Annie, although I've really thought all along they would be Desmond and Penny.

Remember The Past:

With all the comings and goings to and from the island that Ben must be doing, I think we have a pretty good idea now who or what his CONSTANT is.






Namaste,
hatchling23

Friday, February 22, 2008

Prison Break (LOST style)

I tuned in at 8:00 pm central last night ready to watch LOST and instead, what came on was Prison Break. I had to check that I was on the right channel. I mean there were the same characters I knew from watching LOST before, Locke, Kate, Sawyer, Ben, and even some angry little guy tied up in a small shed. But what was going on here?

Locke played the part of the warden, Hugo the dim witted guard, Kate the insider with a plan, Sawyer as captain of the guard, and Ben and Miles as the prisoners. What, no guard tower with a machine gun? The rest of the group was busy hiding in their new houses, BAA BAA BAA.

You would think someone like me who is so fanatical about this show that I write a blog about it and have heaped mountains of praise on it's writers, producers and actors could not possibly find fault in it. But sadly, that is not the case. So far, I give this season a grade of D Minus for it's terrible change of direction.

Maybe the writers and producers have been reading too much Shipper fan mail and think that that's all we are interested in. Last nights episode sucked. I even liked "Stranger in a Strange Land" better than this and I couldn't care less about Jack's tattoos.

Kate's motivation was just to find out if the Freighter people knew who she was? Couldn't she have just asked Charlotte or Frank when she was standing next to them. Did we really need the Prison Break drama? What did we learn? Miles wants to extort 3.2 million (not 3.3 million or 3.4 million) from Ben because he knows Ben is worth it.

Another bone I need to pick is, Is it only me or does it seem like the budget for this show has been cut dramatically? All I see now is people walking around and talking in the same sets from last year and flashing a lot of guns around. I did notice that upon second viewing of this episode that there are like 23 executive producers on this staff or roughly one executive producer for every cast member. Is this where the show's budget has gone?

How could we be 4 episodes in to the new season and no Smokey? One incidence of whispers, and that was to Hugo. How come a Ghostbuster isn't hearing anything? NO new hatches, even though we were teased during the haitus about an Orchid hatch, a Wave hatch, a glimpse of Dr. Marvin Candle or a Temple where the Others are hiding out.

In my next post I will write you the outline of the episode you should have written by now. Count me among the Island Mystery fans who are being left out of season 4.

Namaste
hatchling23

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wasting away in Margaritaville

I'm really sorry I read the spoiler for episode 4. Eggtown has "Filler" and "Time Waster" written all over it. I think I stopped caring about Kate some time during season three. I AM NOT A SHIPPER!! I don't even like the term.

I think the whole screwing Sawyer while trying to flirt with Jack is nonsense. She made her choice, now she should stick with it. The whole episode just to get her probation and for that reveal? I won't spoil it for anyone who doesn't know, but I hope there is more to this episode than what I read.

They are supposed to be moving the story forward. Awww, what the hell, maybe I'm expecting too much.

I guess I really liked the show so much better when there were island mysteries to solve. Whatever happened to hatches, smoke monsters, whispers and ancient ruins? How could we be four episodes into this season and no smoke monster? So far, only Hugo heard whispers and only near Jacob's cabin. I would've thought Miles would be going out of his mind with all the dead people on craphole island longing for someone to talk to.

Wouldn't Shannon just be trying to chat up a storm with the only guy who could hear her?

Speaking of Miles, I think he will be the first casualty of the island. Sure, he'll get his chance to chat with Jacob at some point, but then it's curtains for him. He's gonna be a victim of Ben somehow.

The one to watch out for is Charlotte. She's got an agenda, and it's gonna be an interesting one. I don't think she will ever leave the island either, but she will stay by choice. And I don't believe any of this nonsense I've read about Charlotte being Annie's daughter. Ben would not have tried to put two slugs in her if she was.

Speaking of Annie, I have a few ideas I will flesh out in a future article very soon.

Namaste,
hatchling23