Lost: I Didn't Know Jack

There are a lot of reasons that I haven’t written down my thoughts on the “Lost” series finale until now, four days later.

1.) I’ve been extra busy at work because Memorial Day pushed up our deadlines this week. 2.) I’ve been putting off writing what will be (sniff) my last official word on one of my favorite shows. 3.) I’m lazy as hell.

The problem is none of those reasons are true. 1.) Yes, I’ve been busy (and a little sick too), but that hasn’t stopped me from pumping out recaps of (and incorrect predictions for) the “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars” finales, as well as a semi-detailed wrap-up of “24.” 2.) That’s BS too. The season 6 DVD comes out in August, and you can bet I’ll be re-watching it in light of what we learned in the series finale. Also, I can’t imagine NOT referencing “Lost” in one way or another in my writing and conversations for years to come. 3.) Ok, there’s no arguing with #3.

Still, the real reason is that I needed a few days to digest this epic two-and-a-half-hour episode (that was really more like one-and-a-half, thanks to those omnipresent commercials).

Here were my thoughts immediately after the end of “The End” — I was both incredibly moved by the story it told and I was absolutely impressed by the epic-scale of this TV presentation. (The overhead shots when Jack and Locke were fighting on that cliff were breathtaking — even if Jack’s Falcon punch going into the preceding commercial break made me laugh out loud.)

The only problem was that I really didn’t know what the hell had just happened.

As I’m sure you know, there are a lot of different theories and interpretations out there, but the consensus seems to be that the six-season-long drama on the Island actually happened and the Sideways world we followed this entire season was basically Jack Shephard’s personal limbo.

I’m inclined to believe this interpretation and I also think it was a neat trick to make the Sideways world limbo/purgatory, since people had been guessing for years that the Island itself was purgatory.)

I really liked this finale revelation because (I’m not proud to say) Jack, with his raging stubbornness and his addiction to fixing everything, was always the character I identified with the most. (We all wish we were cool and quippy like Sawyer or lovable like Hurley, but a lot of us are Jacks and we’re afraid to admit it.) However, I also completely understand why people had problems with the finale.

I’m guessing if you had problems with the finale, it was for one of two big reasons: 1.) You demanded answers (that you knew deep down the show was never going to give you). 2.) You hate Jack.

To the Jack-haters, I feel your pain. After that heroic first half of season one, the good doc became more and more of a pill until his hard-headedness became downright unbearable. Still, you can’t be THAT shocked that the season 6 story (and to a lesser extent, the story of “Lost”) ended up being about Jack. This season was all about Jack humbling himself and accepting his limitations, and I think the change looked good on Matthew Fox. If you want to go further back, look at the show’s iconic first image — Jack opening his eye in the jungle! (How else would you expect it to end other than by having Jack’s eye close in the very same spot?)

The answers-demanders have a much more legitimate gripe, in my opinion. As I mentioned before, people in this category HAD to know the series finale was not going to answer all their questions (otherwise, they haven’t been paying attention all this time). There’s actually not much I can say to make these people happy because I don’t have the answers.

I think what we have in this case is a philosophical difference. Most shows on TV (and works of fiction in general) introduce a mystery/question and eventually answer it, while a select few encourage viewers to puzzle out the answers themselves. “Lost” obviously falls in the latter category. In my opinion, the show presented us — over the course of six years — with enough evidence for us to come up with our own answers as to why women who get pregnant on the Island die, or why the Others kidnapped Walt, or why Sun didn’t time travel back to 1977, along with the rest of the Oceanic 6, etc.

Here’s where the philosophical difference comes in. You can read my previous paragraph and say, “Screw that…I actually want to REALLY know why women couldn’t have babies on the Island?” OR you can go back, analyze what we’ve all seen and come to your own conclusion. I don’t think either response is incorrect, but the second response takes much more work. What’s more, even when “Lost” tried the direct approach (Michael explaining to Hurley the origin of the Whispers), I felt like it was clumsy and unnatural.

What I’m saying is that I can totally understand why the answer-demanders are frustrated (why should TV have to be work?!), but I definitely fall in the other category. I LOVE that “Lost” has engaged my imagination all these years whereas, in contrast, people probably stop thinking about the latest “NCIS” the minute it’s over. (Then again, NCIS is the #1 scripted show on TV, while “Lost” struggled in the ratings toward the end, so what do I know?)

(Of course, there’s a very strong chance that I’m full of it and that the producers simply wrote themselves into a corner, ran out of time and couldn’t possibly explain all the mysteries they introduced.)

Ok, I’m tired of blabbing (and you’re tired of reading) about all this Big Picture stuff regarding the end of “Lost.” Here are some stream of consciousness thoughts on the finale itself.

- Although I’ve expressed that I liked the twist of having the Sideways world be Jack’s limbo, I still have a few issues with the Sideways storytelling device.

1.) If this was all told from Jack’s perspective, did we REALLY need Sideways episodes dedicated to stuff like Ben’s high school-level scheming and Sayid pining after Nadia — in other words, stuff that had NOTHING to do with Jack. I get that we needed to see what those characters were up to and how they’d eventually be put in a position to recall their Island lives, but all those episodes seem somewhat like a waste of time since they were basically supporting players in Jack’s story.

2.) On a completely selfish level, I HATED that Jack’s son David was never real. (I now see Sideways Locke’s “You don’t HAVE a son” line was meant to be harsh.) Whereas most of the other characters welcomed the idea of remembering their Island past, Jack was definitely the most resistant and I’m guessing his reconciliation with his son (which probably ended up being a manifestation of Jack’s wish to reconcile with his own dead dad) the main reason why.

- Speaking of those Island Enlightenment moments, I found pretty much all of them incredibly touching. You could say the circumstances in the Sideways world were incredibly contrived, but that world was basically revealed to be a fantasy, so I can overlook that. My favorite part was recognizing each moment right before it happened. For example, I got chills right before Juliet showed Sun and Jin their baby for the first time, meanwhile, my girlfriend Erica totally called Kate helping Claire deliver her baby. (I’d also throw in the moment with Jack and Anti-Locke lowering Desmond into the cave mirroring Jack and Locke lowering Kate into the hatch…where Desmond was.)

- I’ve even come to accept the Sayid/Shannon reunion. At first, I was as confused and annoyed as you, then I realized that this is Jack’s purgatory. I don’t think Jack ever really saw Nadia as the love of Sayid’s life — to him, Sayid and Shannon meant to be together. (Or they just wanted to shoe-horn Maggie Grace into the finale.)

- When/why did Desmond and Hurley find time to re-Enlighten Boone, of all people? (Nice to see Ian Somerhalder back.)

-Speaking of Hurley, I thought Jorge Garcia (an underrated dramatic actor) was all-around outstanding in this episode. I LOVED how happy he was to see Charlie (kinda alive) again in the Sideways world. I LOVED the speech he gave Sayid about the Iraqi (or Pakistani, as his mom might say) torturer not believing what people say about him. I also LOVED that he ended up being the Island guardian, with Ben as his #2.

- In a related story, who else wants to see a little bit of “Lost: The Burley Years”? By the way, the quick “You were a great #2” exchange between Ben and Hurley is my strongest argument against people who say the passengers of Oceanic 815 died in the original plane crash. That line CLEARLY implied that they worked together on the Island for years.

- Underrated touching moment: Locke forgiving Ben before he went into the church. I’ll probably miss Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson doing their thing together most of all.

- O’Quinn gave TWO Emmy-worthy performances this year. Just sayin’.

- So Kate, of all people, actually ended up saving the day. Though the character caught a lot of flack over the years (Evangeline Lilly’s work was always strong though), I feel like the finale more than redeemed her. Kate shot Anti-Locke, FINALLY made a choice between Jack and Sawyer, AND wore a really short tight dress. (Notice she had changed clothes to something more appropriate once she was actually in church — she didn’t want to arrive in heaven looking like a hooker.)

She also had, arguably, the best line: “Christian Shephard? Seriously?” (She turned out to be more right than we knew.)

- I have to side with the answer-demanders on two points.

1.) I REALLY wish we’d gotten at least a little more background on the Island. I can accept the light/source, but what about that cork business? I get that uncorking Island effectively killed the light/source (which had been giving Anti-Locke his power, thereby making him mortal) and that re-corking it restored the Island’s magic. I’m more wondering about the mechanical aspects of the Island.

Also, why is the Island able to move?

2.) Also, what WAS the deal with Desmond and why was he so special in what turned out to be Jack’s story. I mean, the dude wasn’t even on the original Oceanic 815. My best guess is that Desmond being the actual cause of Oceanic 815’s crash probably had something to do with it.

So what’d you think of this episode? What was your favorite Island Enlightenment moment? (For me, it was Sun and Jin, especially since they were so happy to be back together and Jin was so amused that Sawyer was a cop.) Why do you think Ben wasn’t ready to join his friends and move on? (Did he feel like he needed to atone more or did he simply want to spend more time with Alex and Rosseau?) Finally, what did YOU think of “The End” of “Lost”?

John's Top 10 Episodes of "Lost"

The end of “Lost” is a few days away.

In the time leading up to and after the finale, there will be countless retrospectives and analysis on the show’s final episode and on the series as a whole.

Before that din gets too deafening, I thought I’d add my two cents as to what I consider to be the very best (and in one case, the worst) of a landmark television series.

A few points before we get into it:

1.) I did my very best to include at least one episode from every single season, but the top 10 is still pretty season 1 and season-3 heavy. (For example, when I was going through the episode list, I nominated the final four episodes of season 3 for my top 10.)

2.) I tried to not have the list be dominated by (the typically-excellent) season finales. I also tried to spread the love among all the characters - but I still ended up with three “Desmond” episodes.

3.) This was REALLY hard. If you were to ask me to compile this list tomorrow, it might be different than it is now – that’s how close it is!

Let’s hand out some preliminary awards before the main event:

MOST POPULAR EPISODE I DIDN’T REALLY LIKE
The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, season 5: Don’t get me wrong – the scene at the end where Ben kills Locke is unimpeachably FANTASTIC. The problem is everything before it was a major disappointment. This was supposed to be the episode in which we found out how Locke had come to be known as Jeremy Bentham, and how he ended up in a casket in the season 4 finale.

As with this season’s “Across the Sea”, it seems to me like the writers tried to pack two hours worth of story into one. That resulted in Locke delivering a truly pathetic pitch to get the Oceanic 6 to come back to the Island that amounted to, “Guys, you have to come back to the Island.” “Get outta here, you sad old man!” (That basically happened four times.) Also, we didn’t really learn why the castaways had started calling the man they’d always known as “John Locke”, “Jeremy Bentham” in the season 4 finale, other than to gratuitously keep the identity of the casket-dweller a secret. Just not as much fun for me as it should’ve been.

UNPOPULAR EPISODE I ACTUALLY LIKED
Exposé, season 3: Yes, we were all annoyed by Nikki and Paolo. (Or, as Sawyer called them – “Nina and Pablo.”) Fortunately, the people behind the show also seemed aware that the audience wasn’t really grooving to the two characters who were supposed to represent the underrepresented Oceanic 815 survivors that weren’t Jack and Co. So they killed them off in a fun, jaunty episode that featured one of the most creative and chilling deaths on a show that has had its share of memorable deaths.

UNPOPULAR EPISODE I DIDN’T REALLY LIKE
Stranger in a Strange Land, season 3: Aka, the episode that finally solved the (not-so) burning mystery of Jack’s tattoo. Also featured Bai Ling (ugh) and the introduction of Isabel - the Others’ sheriff - who we never saw or heard from again. Alright then.

One last bit of stalling before the top 10.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
The Economist, season 4: I REALLY wanted to include a Sayid episode in the top 10 because I think Naveen Andrews is fantastic. It was between this one or this season’s “Sundown.” I ultimately went with “The Economist” because it showed Sayid at his most suave, cold-blooded badass (assassinating people on Ben’s behalf) and at his most vulnerable (being betrayed by the woman he’d fallen for).

If Naveen Andrews has big screen aspirations (especially in action/romances), he should send this episode out to casting directors.

The Other 48 Days, season 2: “Across the Sea” was hailed as a departure because it didn’t feature any of the show’s regular characters, but to me “The Other 48 Days” (kinda) did it first and better back in season 2. This is the episode where we learned how the passengers in the tail section had spent their time on the Island, and it was really the first (and only?) time Michelle Rodriguez’s polarizing Ana Lucia was somewhat softened. (Or at least we found out why she as such a hardass on the Island.) I remember this being the first of several creative chances (in terms of storytelling) the show would take over the years.

There’s No Place Like Home/The Incident, season 4/season 5: These are excellent in their own right. I still vividly remember Sun’s anguish when she thought Jin had been blown up on the freighter in “Home”, and I recall how the first ever scene between Jacob and the Man in Black at the start of “The Incident” gave me goosebumps. (Unfortunately, both of those events have ever so slightly lost some luster given what we’ve seen in season 6.) As I said before, I didn’t want to include too many season finales in my top 10, so these two missed the cut.

Lighthouse, season 6: The scene where Jack finally bonds with his son David in the Sideways world had me crying like a little girl, so let’s move on.

Ok, you’ve waited long enough. Here’s hoping “The End” will crack this next list.

THE TOP 10

10. LaFleur, season 5: I wanted to include a Sayid episode but couldn’t. I HAD to include a Sawyer episode, and it came down to this and season 3’s “The Brig.” (Where Sawyer killed Anthony Cooper for Locke.) “The Brig” may have been Josh Holloway’s breakout as a tremendous dramatic actor, but “LaFleur” (in which he takes command of the time-travelling castaways stuck in the Dharma days) is the episode where he (temporarily) became the heart of the show. Holloway (and Elizabeth Mitchell) completely sold a Sawyer/Juliet romance that could’ve easily been a disaster, and Holloway’s face at the end of the episode (when he sees Kate) was Emmy-worthy in and of itself.

9. Happily Ever After, season 6: With a little more time and perspective, I can see this season 6 offering climbing higher. You can always count on Desmond to save the day. Not only is he the character currently and cheerfully trying to remind his Island friends of their past lives, but this is the episode that gave the TV-viewing audience renewed faith in the Sideways storytelling device. Also, any episode that directly references two other episodes in my top 10 is a shoo-in.

8. Two for the Road, season 2: This aired back before I had TiVo, so I was watching live. Characters had died on this show before, but none really at the hands of someone we’d known from the beginning and someone who we considered a good guy. Ana Lucia getting shot was bad enough – Michael turning around and shooting Libby took it to another level. (And, wait a minute, did Michael just shoot himself?! Ugh, I have to wait till next week to find out?!)

7. Flashes Before Your Eyes, season 3: We knew something was up with Desmond after turning the fail safe key and exploding the Hatch, but we didn’t know what. Turns out his consciousness had been zapped back to his time before the Island and he’d been given a second chance with Penelope. The only problem is that the cheerfully malevolent Mrs. Hawking got in Desmond’s ear about what he had to do and “course correction” and Desmond ended up back on the Island.

Looking back, Desmond’s “flashback” was a preview of sorts for this season’s flash-sideways. (He wasn’t aware of his Island life at first, but it eventually came flooding back.) On top of that, “No matter what I try to do…you’re gonna die, Charlie” is probably still my favorite ending of any episode of “Lost.”

6. The Man Behind the Curtain, season 3: You can almost never go wrong with Locke and Ben episodes because Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson can do no wrong on this show. “Curtain” was our first glimpse at shifty Ben’s Dharma past. (I love that the perpetual liar was outed as a fraud before the end credits even started – he hadn’t been born on the Island.)

One freaky trip to “Jacob’s” Cabin later (in retrospect, what was THAT about?!) and the episode ended with the revelation that Ben had helped murder the entire Dharma Initiative in the past, and with Ben shooting Locke and leaving him for dead in the present. I’m so happy those two are together heading into “The End.”

5. Pilot, season 1: This is where it all started. Although my girlfriend Erica was underwhelmed by this episode to the point that I had to basically BEG her to give this show a second chance (mission accomplished – she’s a big fan!), I don’t think even she could deny the sheer scope and spectacle in the J.J. Abrams-directed pilot.

This episode gave us our first taste of the Monster (which would go on to become the show’s Big Bad), but my favorite parts are the end (“Guys, where are we?”) and the beginning (the iconic shot of Jack’s eye opening in the jungle before he springs into action). Also, how cool is it that the Island’s light source is apparently near the spot where Jack was lying (and where the show began).

4. Exodus, season 1: There have been splashier, more mythologically-significant finales since the season 1 ender. However, this excellent capper to the show’s legendary first season shouldn’t be overlooked.

In the five subsequent years, the sights and sounds of this episode have stayed with me. Those nefarious Others showing up, kidnapping Walt and blowing up the raft? (“We’re gonna have to take the boy.”) Wow. Unsung “Lost” MVP Michael Giacchino’s “Parting Words” theme as Michael’s raft is launched? Chills. Jack and Locke blowing up the hatch and peering down inside only to discover…wait till next season, suckas! (It was such a good cliffhanger, that the season 2 premiere is the show’s most-watched episode – people wanted to know what the hell was in there!)

3. Walkabout, season 1: Whenever I try to convince anyone to watch “Lost”, I tell them to just watch disc 1 of the season 1 DVD to see if they like it. It’s really not fair because I have a secret weapon. “Walkabout” is the last episode on that disc and it is damn near guaranteed to get anyone hooked.

The initial John Locke showcase was the first taste we got of what a singularly fantastic Terry O’Quinn was, conveying the Island badass and the off-Island loser with equal amounts of believability. More importantly, the twist about John Locke being in a wheelchair before arriving on the Island is one of the all-time great WTF moments in TV history. (It doesn’t even feel like I’m exaggerating.)

2. The Constant, season 4: People much smarter than I am have written about the greatness of “The Constant”, so I’ll try to keep it short.

In telling the tale of Desmond’s life-threatening time/consciousness jumps, “Lost” (and maybe no other show) has never been better at mixing provocative and potentially head-scratching science with a big dose of heart without having things become either confusing or sappy. The fact that we care so much about a couple of secondary (they may even be tertiary) characters is a testament to how strong the writing and acting is on this show.

1. Through the Looking Glass, season 3: You may remember me saying earlier that it was really difficult to put this list together. Well, that’s not exactly true. This season 3 finale was ALWAYS going to be my #1.

Not only is it my favorite episode of “Lost”, it just might be my favorite episode of any television series ever. As with “The Constant”, it’s almost obnoxious how much I’ve talked about the greatness of this episode.

To summarize, I laughed (at Charlie’s taunting of his “Looking Glass” captors and at Jack’s ridiculous beard), I cried (at Charlie’s death), and my mind was blown (flashfoward?!) What more can I ask for?

So what’d you think of this list? Please feel free to tell me how wrong I am. More importantly, why don’t you tell me about your favorite episodes of “Lost.”

Lost: Fireside Chat

I wasn’t very kind to last week’s episode of “Lost”, which basically gave our beloved castaways the week off and gave us the story of Jacob, the Man in Black and the origin of questionable parenting on this show.

Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t mad at the show for taking a risk (if I were, then I’ve been watching the wrong show all these years). In fact, having seen last night’s episode, “What They Died For”, I’m not even mad that “Lost” decided to hit the reset button so late in the game last week. What we saw in “Across the Sea” shed new (campfire) light on Jacob’s motivations and his reasons for bringing the castaways to the Island. (For the record, the main reasons I didn’t like “Across the Sea” was because it was poorly staged, questionably acted and included mediocre acting from performers I KNOW can do better.)

Either way, it was good to have the old gang back on out TV again (maybe I DID secretly resent “Across the Sea” for benching our favorite characters after all), including Ben, who we hadn’t seen in a month (or at least it felt that way).

More importantly, whereas “Across the Sea” left me dissatisfied and worried about the show’s impending finale (that it wouldn’t deliver), “What They Died For” re-invigorated me. I’m going to be very sad when this show is gone, but I’m ABSOLUTELY excited for “The End” this Sunday.

“What They Died For” had everything. Shocking deaths (and shocking “maybe deaths” – unlike with Lapidus, I’m optimistic that Richard is still alive somewhere), answers, (Jacob’s fireside revelations to his Candidates) equally compelling action on AND off the Island and Michelle Rodriguez (who is infinitely more fun in these cheeky little cameos than she was in all of season 2).

The hour began with the wounded submarine survivors (Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer) solemnly declaring their mission – they have to kill Locke. Thus far, I don’t think we’re meant to have any idea how the candidates are supposed to do that. I can only use fuzzy logic to guess. For example, I’m guessing since the Man in Black knew how to kill Jacob, that Jacob knows how to kill the Man in Black. I’m also guessing that since Jack is now the new Island guardian that he knows what Jacob knows, including how to kill the Man in Black.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. On their way to find Desmond, Hurley was intercepted by the young version of Jacob, who grabbed the Jacob ashes Ilana had gathered and proceeded to burn them. (Not really sure why the young version of Jacob had to do this, but whatever.) This action apparently allowed the Mark Pellegrino version of Jacob to appear to all the castaways (I loved the moment with Hurley describing where he was, despite the fact that everyone could see him now) and explain what they had to do.

Jacob explained that he brought them to the Island to basically clean up his mess (turning his brother into the Smoke Monster) and to protect the Island’s light. Sawyer bristled that Jacob didn’t have any right messing up their lives, but Jacob countered that their lives were already messed up. (I’m paraphrasing here – he actually said their lives were all “flawed” and “lonely.”) This was a good point, but I half expected Kate to back Sawyer up or Sawyer to put up a stronger defense, but we only have one episode left, so things need to keep moving. Jacob also needed someone to willingly step up and take their place as Island Guardian (a choice Jacob never received from his mother).

Jack stepped up because it was his destiny and everything we’ve seen from Jack this year (his gradual enlightenment) points that way, but something still felt…off. It FEELS like Jack should be the rightful candidate, but I can’t shake the nagging feeling that he won’t be by the end of the series. More amusing were Sawyer’s (“And I thought he had a God complex before”) and Hurley’s reaction (relieved that it wasn’t him). Kate was even able to throw her hat back in the guardian ring, despite the fact that her name had been crossed off the cave wall. (I wouldn’t be shocked if she ends up being the Island Guardian when all is said and done.)

Speaking of amusing, I kind of wish there’s been a way to give Miles more to do this final season. As we caught up with Miles, Ben and Richard arriving at the Others’ barracks, the guy unleashed two of the season’s best lines. He pulled rank on Ben’s occupancy of the barracks by saying, “I lived in these houses 30 years ago – otherwise known as last week.” Later, when they were in Ben’s house to retrieve the C-4, he asked Ben if his Smoke Monster summoning chamber was his “secret-er room.”

Ben ran into his old nemesis Charles Widmore (and viewer nemesis Zoe) and the tension between them was palpable. As if there weren’t enough badasses in the room, word came that Anti-Locke was approaching. Ben told the others to flee through his secret compartment, but Richard decided to stay and confront Anti-Locke, for some ridiculous reason. (Smoke-slam!)

That left the door open for Ben and Anti-Locke to have a conversation on Ben’s porch. Anti-Locke unsheathed his knife and appeared to do everything in his power to intimidate Ben into killing the rest of the candidates. First, Anti-Locke asked Ben where Widmore was and Ben told him. (Why didn’t Charles and Zoe run out into the jungle?) Anti-Locke slit Zoe’s throat after Widmore chided her for speaking out of turn (and the crowd went wild!) and he eventually got Widmore to tell him the reason he’d come back – Jacob had recruited him to bring Desmond back to the Island as a fail safe of sorts. (If you recall, “Desmond” and “fail safe” are no strangers – Des turned the fail safe key at the end of season 2 that temporarily saved the Island/world.)

Widmore was telling Anti-Locke more (after the Monster promised to spare Penny’s life), but Ben gunned him down in a gesture that served two purposes, in my opinion. 1.) He’s obviously been wanting to kill Widmore for a long time (revenge for Alex, who we learned was buried just outside). 2.) It proved to Anti-Locke that Ben was back in “amoral killer” mode.

I don’t buy it. More accurately, I don’t want to buy it. I WANT to believe that Ben is playing Anti-Locke to get close to him and figure out a way to bring him down. I WANT to believe that Ben’s redemption from earlier this year was real. Whatever the case, I’m ecstatic that Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn are together heading into the final episode. (I wouldn’t have it any other way.)

As for the Sideways world, things are starting to come together in exciting (if not mind-bogglingly contrived) ways. It is now clear to me that Sideways Desmond is operating with some sort of working knowledge of the future. (He’s also operating as a total debonair badass.)

When he was sitting behind the wheel of his car observing Locke, I actually thought he was going to try to hit him again. Instead, he was confronted by Ben, who Des pummeled into a pulp (Ben can’t go more than seven episodes without getting his ass beaten). He also seems to have pummeled some memory of his Island life back into him.

Ben’s injuries led to him being taken in by his favorite student Alex, and her mom Danielle Rosseau (cleaning up quite nicely). I’m not sure how I feel about a potential romance between Ben and Rosseau (kinda ick, actually). I’m more intrigued by what would happen if ALL of Ben’s Island memories return to him in the Sideways world and he realized that Danielle wasn’t the only one who did a little “kidnapping.”

Before Des beat Ben, he expressed to him that he was trying to help Locke let go. Locke got that message and he also got the message that Jack received during “The Candidate” – that all their chance meetings could not be coincidence (although Jack DID unleash the classic, “Don’t mistake coincidence for faith” line). Locke agreed to have the surgery.

Then there’s Desmond, smoothly moving from one castaway to another yet never forcefully trying to coax Island recall out of them. (At least not as forcefully as he did with Locke or Ben.) The smile when he turned himself in to Sawyer and was placed in a cell with Sayid (and next to Kate) was priceless.

With a little assist from (a FULLY enlightened) Hurley, Des busted Sayid and Kate out. Des told Kate they were going to a concert. Maybe it'll be the same concert David made Jack promise not to miss.

So what’d you think of this episode? Who helped Desmond out of the well? (It couldn’t have been Sayid, because Sayid told Jack that Des was still in the well before he blew himself up.) What was inside those cases in Widmore’s outrigger? Sideways Juliet is totally David’s mom, right? Finally, how DO you kill a Smoke Monster? (Do you use a Scotsman or a spinal surgeon?)

Lost: Mommy Issues

I’m afraid that we keep letting our imaginations get the best of us when it comes to this final season of “Lost.”

It happened for many (including me — a little) before “Ab Aeterno.” Before we actually saw Richard Alpert’s origins, we all let our imaginations run wild about how maybe the character was thousands of years old or an Egyptian god or any other manner of craziness. Instead, Richard’s back story rather straight-forwardly revealed how he came to the Island and that he was a measly 175-ish years old.

It DEFINITELY happened going into “Across the Sea”, which promised to unveil the origins of Jacob and the (still infuriatingly unnamed) Man in Black.

We had these two as Yin and Yang, God and the Devil, the personification of good and evil, etc. A part of me dug the notion that they were no different from our beloved castaways — Jacob and MIB have messed up parents…just like us! — but a bigger part of me was disappointed by this outing.

It got off to such a promising start with Latin-speaking and very pregnant castaway Claudia washing up on the Island a VERY long time ago and being brutally murdered by an unnamed MIB (Mom in Black, played by the reliably-excellent Allison Janney). Claudia had just delivered twins. She’d picked out the name Jacob for the one wrapped in the black blanket, but the unexpected second baby went nameless.

If this is the show’s way of telling us that the Man in Black shall remain nameless, I call BS. I understand that Claudia hadn’t picked out a name for him, but Jacob and his unnamed mom must’ve called him SOMETHING throughout all those years. (The lack of name is a little easier to digest with Mom in Black because her boys can just call her “mom.”) I mean, did they just say “Hey you” whenever they needed him? I know I sound like I’m ranting, but this was all extra annoying when you consider that writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse seemed to go out of their way to have someone say Jacob’s name every 20 seconds.

Bad form! This was as annoying as the season 4 finale, “There’s No Place Like Home”, where all the Oceanic 6 referred to dead Locke as “Jeremy Bentham” for no other reason than to keep his identity secret from viewers. (When it was revealed that Bentham = Locke, they went right back to calling him “Locke.) No, I still haven’t let that go.

More than my tedious issues with name-calling aside, my biggest problem with this episode is that the term I would use to describe it is a term I have never, EVER associated with “Lost.” I thought this episode was dumbed-down. (At least, “Ab Aeterno” had an epic love story to carry the day.)

I thought they tried to pack about two-hours worth of story into one. I thought the revelation that the secret of the Island (and the world?) is that it’s home to some sort of cheesy, illuminated Cave of Wonders was pretty disappointing. I thought that having Jacob ALWAYS wearing white and MIB ALWAYS wearing black was over-the-top. (What are they? Animated characters?) I loved that the show took a risk by not featuring any of its regular characters, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to make a couple of child actors carry the first half of the episode. (Especially when Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver have been SO good as Jacob and MIB, respectively.)

Oh well, at least we now know that little boy haunting Anti-Locke in the jungle was Jacob.

I know I’m coming off as cranky and probably too harsh, but all I know is that at 9:55 p.m. Eastern Standard time, all I was thinking was, “This is it? Is there going to be some mind-blowing twist in the end? Should I get a jump on DVR’d ‘Glee?’”

Don’t get me wrong, there were some things to like in the hour. We got some of those answers viewers are always hankering for. The story revealed that Mom in Black was the Island’s protector and obsessed with shielding her boys (especially the black kid) from the outside world and other humans. As adults, Jacob stayed with his mom, while the MIB joined a band of humans who stumbled onto the Island’s light source (the original Dharma Initiative?) and MIB’s ticket “home.”

Since the Island Protector job seems to come with knowledge of the future, I wonder if Mom in Black getting killed by her “son” was her plan all along. (She DID whisper, “Thank you” as she died.) I wouldn’t be surprised if her plan all along had been to raise Jacob to be her replacement as Island Protector and raise MIB to kill/liberate her.

But I believe I mentioned answers being given out in this episode. However, in classic “Lost” tradition, these answers lead to even more questions.

We found out who the Adam & Eve skeletons were. They weren’t Sun and Jin or Bernard and Rose (those active imaginations again). It was MIB’s mortal body laid to rest along with his mom’s by Jacob.

The reason this was slightly confusing (to me) is because minutes earlier we’d apparently seen the Man in Black become the Smoke Monster.

After murdering their mom, MIB was thrown by Jacob on the creek leading up the Cave of Wonders and seemingly killed when he hit his head on a rock. His body floated into the cave and out emerged the Smoke Monster. (To a curiously nonplussed reaction from Jacob.) I thought falling into the lighted cave had literally transformed the Man Black into Smokey (Mom in Black had warned strongly against going in there). However, MIB’s mortal corpse had been deposited not too far from Jacob, leading me to assume that the Smoke Monster had somehow been lying in wait in that cave the entire time, waiting for another dead body to drift in so he could impersonate it.

In other words, we learned that MIB was NOT originally the Smoke Monster. Meaning, we still have no idea what the hell that thing is.

The frustration with that scene was a microcosm for my feelings about this overly ambitious, fascinating, yet ultimately disappointing hour of television.

So what’d you think of this episode? Am I being way too hard on this episode? What do you make of MIB killing his “mom” with a knife — the same way Ben killed Jacob? Finally, are you depressed, excited or (gasp!) a little relieved that this whole thing is coming to an end? (I’m actually hearing from a few people that they just want this thing to be over with. Oh oh.)

Lost: Quick thoughts on "The Candidate" before tonight's new episode

Yes, I saw “The Candidate” last Tuesday night just like you.

I was excited, shocked, angry and may have even cried (a little) just like you.

Unfortunately, a number of different forces — an unusually busy week at work in which I had to do five days worth of work in four; a weekend trip that kept me away from my computer; a computer that is on the verge of crapping out — conspired to keep me from writing a proper recap/column/reaction to “The Candidate.”

Still, in the spirit of better late than never, I wanted to (relatively quickly) express my thoughts on one of the most monumental (and one of the saddest) episodes of “Lost.”

- As I alluded to earlier, I was thoroughly pissed off when it became clear that the show was going to kill Sun and Jin one measly episode after reuniting them. I was so angry that when the music that played during Charlie’s death in “Through the Looking Glass” started up as Jin and Sun drowned, I was too annoyed to cry.

Then I thought about it some more and I felt better — a little.

From a dramatic standpoint, the argument could be made that Sun and Jin’s character arc on the show was finished as soon as they got back together. People on this show have a habit of dying once their redemption arc is over. (Like Shannon in season 2.) Of course, there’s a newly orphaned girl named Ji Yeon who would probably disagree with me. However, the fact that Jin apparently chose to abandon his little girl when he stayed by Sun’s side weirdly gives me hope. Maybe I’m naïve, but I simply can’t (or don’t want to) believe that THIS is how the Kwons’ story ends. I’m thinking/hoping they’ll ultimately be reunited with each other (and their baby) in whatever the Sideways world turns out to be.

What’s interesting about that is that, up until now, I’ve gotten a phony, suspicious vibe from the Sideways world — like it was created by malevolent forces. Now I’m actually rooting for the Sidways world to be viable.

Most importantly, there only so many Ilanas (characters who are vaguely important, but vaguely in the periphery) the show can kill. Eventually, they had to kill characters people actually care about to show us Anti-Locke is a bad dude.

- I really hope this puts to rest the silly notions most people had that Anti-Locke/The Man in Black was somehow the good guy.

- Sideways Bernard is a jaunty character...kinda wish we'd seen a bit more of him this season.

- I love Naveen Andrews’ work on this show, but I wasn’t really sad to see him die. Part of it was that it happened so quickly, but most of it was that I was tired of seeing the guy suffer so damn much.

What’s more, the writers found an exceedingly clever and poetic way for the character to die and redeem himself. If you recall, Sayid originally worked with authorities in season 1 to infiltrate a suicide bombing attempt in exchange for information on Nadia’s whereabouts. To have him die in a suicide bombing that actually saved people was a strong way for the character to go.

- Still, "There IS no Sayid" hurts.

- It’s been almost a week and I still have no idea whether Lapidus is alive or not? He SHOULD be dead, and I THINK he’s dead, but I also subscribe to the “no body, no death” rule of television.

- With all the emotional carnage in this episode, the scene that made me cry was the one where Jack, an unconscious Sawyer, a wounded Kate and Hurley all washup on the beach and just started sobbing over their friends. Jorge Garcia as Hurley, in particular, let out a hearth-wrenching cry to start the whole thing off. He was matched by Matthew Fox, who continues to do strong work in this final season.

- So it turned out that Sideways Locke was the titular candidate. To be honest, the most significant tidbit I got from this storyline (in light of Lapidus’ maybe-death) was the revelation that Sideways Locke was a pilot. Hmm.

- Let me get this straight — Sun, Jin and Sayid (and maybe Lapidus) are dead, but annoying Zoe/Evil Tina Fey is still alive?! Come on!

So what’d you think of this episode? Was Jack flirting with Rose? Whose death hit you the hardest? Also, how about Sawyer being the new Jack? (Making a boneheaded decision which cost lives.)

Lost: Short-Lived Reunions

We’re getting down to the final handful of “Lost” episodes. (Insert tear.)

After last week’s joyfully chaotic “Everybody Loves Hugo”, I expected a similarly action-packed, anything-can-happen vibe from “The Last Recruit.”

We definitely got the “action-packed” part (explosions! Characters yelling at each other to drop their guns – which happens A LOT on this show!), but I just didn’t get the “anything-can-happen” vibe. I realize episodes like “The Last Recruit” are absolutely necessary to get characters where they need to be for the ultimate endgame, but it really felt like too much of the hour simply had our Losties grumpily trekking through the jungle. For the most part, this workmanlike episode simply didn’t engage my imagination.

Or maybe I’m just grouchy because the long-awaited Jin/Sun reunion was a MAJOR letdown. Yes, we waited nearly two seasons to see these two reunite after being separated by time (about 30 years) and space. For some reason, whenever I pictured their reunion in my head, I always imagined there’d be a lot less Zoe. I also didn’t hear a groan-worthy line like, “Looks like somebody got their voice back.” Oh well, at least Sawyer’s emotional reaction to Jin and Sun getting back together (ever so briefly) salvaged the scene. Kinda.

Then again, maybe I’m cranky because the long-awaited reunion of our original Losties (that was SO season 1) lasted about 10 minutes.

In the previous episode, we were left with Hurley, Jack, Sun and Lapidus eventually surrendering themselves to Anti-Locke and his camp. More specifically, we were left with Anti-Locke and Jack exchanging a chilling and meaningful look. I continued to have high hopes for this reunion after a terrific scene between Jack and Locke at the top of the episode.

Anti-Locke could sense that Jack (unlike Desmond) was uncomfortable in his presence. For his part, Jack held his ground and started asking Anti-Locke questions. Anti-Locke cut through the crap and implored Jack to ask what he really wanted to know – whether the Smoke Monster was responsible for the apparition of Christian Shephard that Jack had been literally and figuratively chasing all these years. Anti-Locke answered that he was indeed responsible for that apparition and pretty much every other impersonation of a dead person who’d been brought dead to the Island. (Locke, Mr. Eko’s brother Yemi.)

Do we believe him? If you think about it long enough, you can poke holes in this explanation. (The Smoke Monster can’t leave the Island, so how could he have appeared to Michael in the freighter just before his death?) Personally, I’m inclined to believe Anti-Locke, and any storytelling holes that may come out of this can be attributed to the writers’ not necessarily planning out every last detail of this show (they probably didn’t know that they were going to make Christian the Smoke Monster when they had him pop up in the freighter) combined with a desire to resolve some “mysteries” before the show wraps up. Or maybe it’ll be revealed that Anti-Locke was lying after all.

Either way, things sort of went downhill after that electrifying opening scene (and after a significant reunion in the Sideways world – more on that later).

Saywer enacted his great sub escape plan, which was to include Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun and Lapidus. Claire - who lost her ticket when she tried to kill Kate - and Sayid - who had gone to the dark side and was a zombie - were not invited. Hurley ended up trying to make a case for his dark side-leaning friends by evoking a certain “Star Wars” anti-hero, but Sawyer responded with “Who the hell is Anakin?” (Really, Sawyer!?)

Sayid was sent on his separate way. The killer-for-hire was dispatched by Anti-Locke to dispose of Desmond after Zoe came into Anti-Locke’s camp looking for Des (curious that neither mentioned him by name) and failed to intimidate him by shooting rockets near his camp (what if one of those missiles had killed Desmond – she didn’t know where he was stashed!)

That lead to another one of the episode’s best scenes, in which Desmond all but certainly talked Sayid out of killing him by asking him what Anti-Locke had promised him and making Sayid think about how he’d explain what he’d done to be reunited with the woman he loves. Just like Sayid was told to kill Anti-Locke before he had a chance to speak, it seems that letting Desmond speak allowed Sayid to be swayed, this time to the side of good. I was actually pretty giddy to learn that Sayid is NOT completely dead inside.

Jack was briefly reunited with his half-sister Claire, but he mostly seemed generally creeped out by her (which is understandable because she’s insane). She didn’t take too kindly to being ditched when Jack tried to bring Hurley, Sun and Lapidus along for Sawyer’s escape plan. That resulted in a face off between her and Kate. For a second I allowed myself to think she was actually going to shoot Kate (people are going to start dying off soon, right?), but instead she begrudgingly joined her fellow friends. I still don’t trust Claire as far as I can throw her. Also, why doesn’t anybody ever snap back with, “Hey, you walked away and left your kid in the jungle!” whenever Claire starts babbling about being abandoned.

As they boarded the Elizabeth – the boat that Libby had gifted Desmond – to make way for Hydra Island, Sawyer tried to make peace with Jack. This was another of one of the episode’s stronger scenes. Jack eventually announced that leaving the Island didn’t feel right, which infuriated Sawyer.

I can actually sympathize with both men on this issue. Jack has left the Island before, so he knows first-hand what it’s like to feel incomplete when the Island isn’t done with you (it drives you to grow a crazy beard). Sawyer, on the other hand, has NEVER left the Island since crashing there, so he can be forgiven for thinking Jack is full of it. Either way, when Jack jumped off the ship (in a similar pose as Sawyer jumping off the helicopter to save fuel back in the day), he probably should’ve jumped a little further out to avoid being killed by a propeller.

Sawyer and friends were greeted by Jin (yay!) and Zoe (BOO!) who seemed to double cross them by taking them as prisoners and ordering the bombing of the other Island. Jack washed up on shore, only to be semi-blown to bits and rescued by Anti-Locke. (“You’re with me now.” Shudder.)

Sorry that I haven’t mentioned the Sideways world at all, but I don’t really think there’s THAT much to report yet.

Well, not that much other than the fascinating moment when Sideways Sun and Sideways Locke were being rolled into the ER together and SideSun freaked out and started shouting “It’s him!” seemingly recognizing SideLocke as the Smoke Monster.

Besides that (as was the case on the Island), characters were mostly placed where they needed to be. Desmond (semi-creepily) reunited Claire with her half-brother Jack at the reading of Christian’s will (conducted by Ilana). Sawyer exchanged “witty” banter with Kate before arresting Sayid. And, finally, Jack came face-to-face with John Locke, whose life hung in the balance.

We still don’t know what exactly triggers Island memories in the Sideways characters’ lives. Is it a kiss? It was for Hurley and Libby, but not for Sun and Jin, who we know slept together. Is it a life-threatening event? It was for Desmond and Charlie, but not for Locke, who presumably hasn’t flashed on his previous Island life.

After last week’s chilling cliffhanger, I hoped to get some of those answers in “The Last Recruit”, but it turns out that all the episode did was put us IN POSITION to get those answers. That’s better than nothing.

So what’d you think of this episode? Is Island Jack a paraplegic now — or even really still alive? (I can’t help but think of his half-sister maybe/probably getting blown up in that Dharma barracks explosion and never being the same again.) How is David supposed to keep himself busy while his dad presumably operates on Locke for hours? Finally, there’s no way Sayid killed Island Desmond, right?

Lost: Boom Goes the Dynamite

Sorry I’m late with this “Lost” recap, but as the show continues to wind down, these episodes are getting increasingly mind-blowing. (Well, there’s that and the fact that, at times, I’m shockingly lazy.)

I’ve spent the better part of the last week cleaning up pieces of my brain (and Ilana) off my wall. (I’ll try to keep it short because much smarter and more insightful people have already said far more interesting things about this episode.)

Coming into “Everybody Loves Hugo”, I was looking forward to wrapping up our initial tour of the Sideways world since Hurley was the last major character who hadn’t gotten the alternate-reality treatment. I was also (naturally) expecting a bizarre version of season 2’s “Everybody Hates Hugo”, in which Hurley worried about alienating his friends off the Island after winning the lotto, and worried about alienating his fellow castaways when he was tasked with overseeing the food supply.

The Hurley in the original timeline believed himself to be cursed by his lotto win, so I also expected Sideways Hurley to have ridiculously good luck, especially since the character had referred to himself as the luckiest person in the world during the season premiere.

However, the Hurley we encountered in the Sideways world wasn’t all that different from the Hurley we’ve all grown to love over five and a half seasons. He’s lonely, he has low self-esteem and he eats when he’s bummed out. (I suppose he didn’t quite say “dude” yet.) In fact, all the “luckiest man in the world” stuff was mostly out of the way during an episode-opening montage that saw Hurley win a humanitarian award presented by Dr. Pierre Chang. I know it’s cool to see old characters pop up in a new context in the Sideways world, but Chang’s appearance makes no sense. In the 2004 Sideways world, he looked pretty much the same way he looked during the 1970’s Dharma days. I realize this is nitpicky, but I felt like the writers got too cute by half by including him.

Anyway, Hurley’s hilariously harsh and doting mom had set him up on a blind date with no-show Rosalita. Instead, Hurley met former Island crush Libby, who felt very connected to him after seeing him in a TV commercial. Hurley’s parade was slightly rained on when he realized that she was a patient in a mental institution, but Hurley was able to bribe his way into another visit with Libby (after a little prodding from chicken enthusiast Desmond).

Libby explained to him how some of her Island memories had come flooding back to her after seeing that TV commercial. Unfortunately, Hurley didn’t remember any of it, but he agreed to a beach date anyway because he must’ve anticipated that she’d be wearing a top that would show off maximum cleavage. (The beach scene got a huge AWW from me, because it was the date they never got to go on after Libby was shot while looking for a picnic blanket.)

Although he’s the show’s main source of comic relief, I like the Hurley episodes because they really give Jorge Garcia a chance to show what a great actor he is. He and Cynthia Watros had believable sparks and chemistry, which went a long way toward me buying their kiss. Of course, that kiss ended up being the same thing that jolted Hurley’s memory in regards to his past Island life.

That concludes the sweet love story/character study portion of this episode because everything else was bats--- INSANE!

The first jolt came with the unfortunate death of Ilana. (At least I THINK it was unfortunate, since everyone else seemed to get over it pretty quickly.) While visiting Libby’s grave, Hurley got a visit from Michael, the man who shot her. Michael insisted that if Hurley didn’t stop Richard from blowing the plane up, that a lot of people would die. Michael also claimed it was Hurley’s responsibility because a lot of people were listening to him now.

Ilana (and Richard) grew frustrated with Hurley’s objections, which is what led her to slam the dynamite down too hard and join Dr. Arzt in the great pantheon of characters who’ve blown themselves up with dynamite from the Black Rock. Richard’s resolve didn’t change, which led Hurley to (somehow) get to ship before everyone else and blow it up. Hurley tried to bluff and act like he was doing Jacob’s bidding, but Richard, Miles and Ben (who is afraid what might be in store when the Island is done with him) decided to go to Dharmaville to get some grenades.

I’m not saying this was a perfect episode. I didn’t like seeing the Jack Attack group get split up once again, but I’m sure Richard, Ben and Miles have a big move in their back pockets down the road. I also thought the inclusion of Michael was a bit clumsy. I like Harold Perineau and the idea of involving Libby’s murderer was interesting, but his blatant, clunky explanation of what the Whispers in the jungle are (they’re the souls trapped on the Island due to something bad they’ve done) was bothersome. I realize some people need the “mysteries” of this show to be spelled out, but I think having two characters step aside and actually discuss it was AWFUL. (I don’t mind figuring things out for myself.)

Hurley was joined by Jack, a skeptical Sun and a REALLY skeptical Lapidus. I really liked the scene where Jack articulated what most of us suspected. He’s trying to let go of his “fixer” ways and see what happens when he tries to follow. I also thought the argument from Hurley that maybe Jack IS NOT supposed to change the way he is was fascinating. Either way, the episode ended with the group marching right up to Anti-Locke’s camp and former frenemies Jack and (sorta)Locke exchanging loaded, chilling looks.

Things hadn’t been going so well for Camp Anti-Locke until Jack showed up and that creepy smile crossed Terry O’Quinn’s face.

The main thorn in Anti-Locke’s side was an unnervingly calm and unafraid Desmond Hume. When Anti-Locke asked him if he knew who he was, Desmond barely suppressed a smile when he said, “You’re John Locke.” (Am I the only one wondering if there was actually a little truth to Desmond’s statement?)

Locke decided to isolate Desmond by giving him a little history on the Island’s myriad wells and then tossing him in one. I was absolutely horrified when this happened because I had no idea how deep that well was! (Seeing Desmond pop up in next week’s previews assuaged my fear.)

What does it say about this episode that Anti-Locke randomly tossing Desmond into a well was only the second craziest thing that happened?! The top honor, of course, goes to Sideways Desmond (or is it Island Desmond since he mentioned his son Charlie to Sideways Ben) running over SideLocke…and presumably sending him to the hospital to meet up with a certain Sideways spinal surgeon.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that Sideways Desmond ran over Locke to either jog his Island memory then and there, or lead him to Jack so they could jog each other’s memory ala Hurley and Libby (sans the kiss, I hope). My main problem with this is that there’s no way Desmond could know FOR SURE that running over SideLocke wouldn’t kill him. I mean, how does one brutally hit someone with their car just hard enough to jog their memory, but without killing them? The smile on Desmond’s face only adds to the mystery.

Still, I love that I have no idea what the hell was going on and the anything-goes vibe that’s sure to continue through the end of the series.

So what’d you think of this episode? What’s the deal with that stick/spear Locke was carving? Was the little boy Locke and Desmond encountered in the jungle the same one Locke saw in the jungle when he was walking with Sawyer? Finally, why DID Desmond run Locke over?

Lost: All You Need Is Love

“Through the Looking Glass” (the shocking introduction of flash forwards, Charlie’s beautiful death, “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!”) is my all-time favorite episode of “Lost.”

“The Constant” (the series’ most romantic and emotional episode) is in my top 5.

“Flashes Before Your Eyes” (“I’m sorry because…no matter what I try to do…you’re gonna die, Charlie”) is in my top 10.

“Happily Ever After” - the latest episode of “Lost” - was basically a mash-up of those three episodes.

So, yeah – I kinda liked it. But besides giving me a severe “Lost” geek-gasm, “Happily” was notable for finally forging a clear connection between the Island world and the Sideways.

I’m not one of those people who have been down on the Sideways world. As someone who’s seen every episode more than once, I found it fascinating to see the variations between each character’s choices in the original Island timeline and in the Sideways reality. More importantly, I have COMPLETE faith in this show’s writers. I realized they needed about 10 weeks to establish where everyone is in their Sideways iteration (once we get the Hurley episode next week, we’ll be done with the major characters), and that things would really kick into gear right after that.

That’s why it was a pretty pleasant surprise to get such a game-changing episode (seemingly) a week early.

Desmond has always been told that the Island wasn’t done with him, and we’ve always been told that the character is “special” and that the “rules don’t apply” to him, but I just want to know what Henry Ian Cusick did to/for the writers that they decided to consistently make him the centerpiece of some of the greatest episodes in the show’s remarkable run.

Other than a cameo at the beginning of the season premiere aboard Oceanic 815, and a brief appearance at the end of last week’s episode, we haven’t seen Desmond at all this season.

It turns out that Charles Widmore picked him up from the hospital after Ben had shot him on the pier, drugged him, and brought him to the Island against his will. Desmond wasn’t amused and proceeded to beat Widmore down with his IV feeder.

Widmore remained intensely calm and downright hospitable during his Island interactions with Desmond, which was surprising given how much he hated Des and how little he thought of him. I can’t decide whether it’s because Widmore needs Desmond to achieve his mission or because Widmore knows precisely what Desmond is going to have to do. (And it’s not pretty.)

There was plenty of talk of sacrifice. Widmore informed Desmond that he’d have to be willing to sacrifice, which made Desmond scoff because a Richie Rich like Charles wouldn’t know anything about sacrifice. Widmore shot back that he’d sacrificed his son’s life and any relationship with his daughter and grandson. I actually found this oddly comforting. When there was talk of Desmond making a sacrifice, I immediately assumed he’d have to give up Penny and baby Charlie. However, Widmore has already given up Penny and Charlie. To make Desmond do the same would be downright redundant, and I don’t think the writers would go there.

The reason Desmond was so important was because he was the only person Widmore knew that had survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event. (Turns out Simmons, the Widmore lackey who got fried in Widmore’s electromagnetic chamber, isn’t quite as special.) Charles strapped Desmond into a rickety chair that was reminiscent of the one in “Jacob’s” cabin, and appeared to zap him into nothingness.

The next thing we saw were fluffy, serene clouds, and Desmond checking out his reflection in LAX in the Sideways world.

After a helpful run-in with Hurley, and a brief (flirtatious?) scene with Claire, we learned a bit about Sideways Desmond. First off, he’s the kind of guy who gets picked up at the airport by slightly lecherous drivers. (In this case, it was Freighter radio operator and fellow time/consciousness traveler George Minkowski.) It turns out he’s Charles Widmore’s right-hand guy, worthy of drinking Chuck’s expensive MacCutcheon scotch and of receiving a hug.

Charles gave Desmond the very important task of picking up a very petulant rock star from jail and escorting him to his son’s bizarre classical/rock music for Widmore’s wife’s concert/charity event. Of course, the musician was Driveshaft bassist Charlie Pace, who we last spotted almost chocking to death on Oceanic 815 and continued his death wish ways by walking into traffic.

The two had a drink, and Charlie explained that he hadn’t been trying to kill himself. He’d spotted Kate’s U.S. Marshal escort, panicked and tried to swallow the drugs. Instead, the plane hit turbulence and Charlie almost died. In that near death state, Charlie had what he believed to be a vision of love involving an all-encompassing and rapturous blonde woman who disappeared when he was brought back to life.

Unfortunately, Sideways Desmond, the complete opposite of Island Desmond, had no use for love. Or did he? When Sideways Des was describing his jet-setting life, he didn’t seem too convinced that he had it all that good. I wonder if the character was always meant to have felt that unease or if it was a result of his more romantic Island consciousness being zapped into his brain via Widmore’s machine.

Either way, Desmond was driving Charlie to his gig, but Charlie decided he had something to show Desmond and made their car plunge off a harbor. As soon as I saw the car go into the drink, I had a dreadful flashback to “Through the Looking Glass.” (Oh no, it’s happening again – Charlie’s going to drown.) My mind went to how Mikhail got shot in the eye last week, the idea being that the character was always meant to wear an eye patch, no matter what reality he was in. I feared Charlie was meant to drown in whatever world he existed.

That’s why it was so exhilarating to see Desmond take a deep breath, and go back to rescue Charlie. Inexplicably, (almost as if he were possessed) the formerly unconscious Charlie woke up and re-enacted his “Not Penny’s Boat” pose, giving Desmond a jolt. That jolt got a lot stronger later at the hospital when Desmond was in the MRI machine, and he got flashes of his Island life. (Electromagnetism really does funny things to this guy.)

Another run-in with Charlie (after a brief stop with Jack) revealed that Charlie had been having similar inexplicably visions. The only thing left to do was for Desmond to find Penny.

But first, he had to break the news that Charlie wouldn’t be coming to Mr. Widmore’s allegedly terrifying wife. Eloise Hawking (now with poofy white hair) seemed to take it well, and was happy to get Desmond on his way. On his way out, he heard a “Penny Wilton’s” name on a guest list and decided to inquire. This is when Eloise got rapidly testy and shooed him away by telling him he’s not ready to hear the information that he wanted and that what he was doing was a “violation.” He had everything he wanted, but he STILL wanted more, she scolded. I was giddily reminded of the scene in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” where Eloise berates him for buying an engagement ring for Penny, because it deviated from his pre-ordained button-pushing destiny on the Island. Most provocatively, this all but guarantees the fact that Eloise Hawking has some working knowledge of the Sideways world and may even be behind its creation. (Maybe Charles is in on it too.)

Desmond was about to give up his Penny-finding mission until he was intercepted by a peculiar young man named Daniel Widmore. I love that, even in the Sideways reality, Faraday won’t take off that damn tie!

Anyway, Daniel informed Desmond that he’d had visions himself, of a beautiful redhead with striking blue eyes (I’m assuming he wasn’t visualizing her getting nailed by Sawyer) and that he’d written a complicated physics equation, which was weird because he’s a musician, not a scientist. Daniel also shared his suspicion that the reality they lived in was counterfeit and that he’d probably had a hand in creating that fake reality by detonating a bomb. (Damn I’ve missed the acting stylings of Jeremy Davies.)

Most helpfully of all, Daniel was able to tell Desmond where to find his half-sister Penny. It turns out she runs stadiums in the same place Jack and Desmond did their exercise in the Island world.

The wide shot of Desmond approaching Penny in the stadium was gorgeous and their introduction was sweet. Under normal circumstances, it’d be creepy to have a guy you don’t know come up and start talking to you in an empty stadium, but it’s almost as if Penny and Des intuitively knew they were lovers in another lifetime.

When they shook hands, Desmond had a “Constant”-esque consciousness trip and woke up on the Island with a clear head and a willingness to help Widmore. I mean, the guy didn’t even mind when Sayid killed a couple of guys, told Zoe to get lost, and kidnapped him. The Desmond at the end of this episode seemed to know exactly what he had to do on the Island.

So did the Desmond in Sideways world. He scored a coffee date with Penny (will they go dutch?) and asked Minkowski for a copy of the Oceanic 815 flight manifest, presumably to do for them what Charlie and Daniel did for him. I’m guessing his first stop will be Jack, since he knows the good doctor was on the flight, and he knows where to find him.

It appears as if the Sideways world, despite what the producers said about both worlds being equally viable, IS an alternate world to the Island reality. What remains to be seen is if each character’s ultimate mission will be to escape the not-so-bad alternate world or if this “Matrix” of sorts IS their ultimate destination. Then again, maybe it’s both. Maybe the ultimate goal is to take all their Island experiences and redemption and apply them to their not-perfect but mostly-better Sideways realities.

I also think it's remarkable that, despite all the scientific mumbo jumbo and religious Big Ideas, the link between the two worlds is simply love. (Desmond and Penny, Daniel and Charlotte, etc.)

So what’d you think of this episode? How long can you hold your breath? (Not as long as Demsond, I’ll tell you that.) What other direct examples can you think of the Island world bleeding into the Sideways world? (I’m thinking of Claire yelling out the name Aaron during her false labor, despite not knowing the sex of the baby.) Finally, where do you rank “Happily Ever After” on the list of best episodes of “Lost”?

Lost: Delivering "The Package"

Last week’s Richard-centric episode was going to be an extremely tough act to follow for two reasons:

1.)“Ab Aeterno” was an epic-scaled hour (and six minutes) that also gave us a heaping helping of Island mythology. After doling out some insight into the Island’s history and purpose, it’s only natural for the writers to downshift the following week. 2.) This week marked the beginning of the second half of the final season of “Lost.” This entire thing is going to end soon and we (whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not) really want stuff to start happening now. (If not now, when?)

(An unofficial third reason: it’s truly unfortunate to follow an episode so steeped in Island history with an episode that focused on Jin and Sun, arguably the regular characters who have the least to do with Island history and are the most self-contained.)

It’s too bad because if “The Package” had aired in season 1 or 2, we’d be all over the jungle intrigue and the action (in more ways than one) off the Island. Unfortunately, the way it played was that our beloved characters were split into three different groups (Anti-Locke’s group, Widmore’s team and the Jack Attack) and did little more than sit around not trusting each other.

Then again for a guy as nerdy and as obsessed with this show as I am, there were still plenty of pleasures to be found. Chief among them is actually the idea that no one on this Island knows who to trust. (Except for Sun, who seems to know exactly who she trusts and who she doesn’t trust.)

The episode had Anti-Locke trying to keep various members of his entourage at bay. He started the episode by promising Jin that he would be reunited with his wife and that (once he had all the candidates) he’d be able to leave the Island. Last week we heard from the Man in Black that, once he killed Jacob, he’d continue killing whoever stepped up to replace him meaning that Anti-Locke’s ultimate endgame appears to be doing away with all of Jacob’s candidates so he can be free. The only problem is that Anti-Locke doesn’t appear to be allowed to kill them himself.

I still don’t know whether Kate is a candidate or not, but Anti-Locke seemed to re-plant the seed in Claire’s mind that she could go after Kate once Anti-Locke had what he needed. (Whatever happens, happens.)

Anti-Locke also had a notable interaction with Sayid, who confessed that he felt nothing. I wonder if this numbness is exclusive to Sayid’s role in the Temple massacre or if he’s been feeling empty inside ever since he was resurrected. Either way, Anti-Locke told Sayid his lack of feelings is probably for the best given what’s to come. Uh oh.

Still, the funniest interaction between Anti-Locke and his crew came with Sawyer, who spotted Sayid and Anti-Locke before they were about to paddle over to Hydra Island on an outlander. Sawyer hilariously asked Anti-Locke why he didn’t just turn into smoke and fly his ass over there. Anti-Locke kept his composure, but I can’t help the feeling he’s growing impatient with his group.

Eventually, Anti-Locke came face to face with Charles Widmore, his apparent opponent in the coming war. I found their meeting to be very bald and sneakily electrifying, given that the last time the two saw each other, Widmore warned Locke that there was a war coming and if Locke wasn’t there “the wrong side would win.” Well, now Locke is there (sorta) he’s throwing Widmore’s words back at him and I don’t know for sure which side is the wrong side.

Widmore had his hands full this week. He also had to deal with his reluctant lead mercenary/geophysicist Zoe going semi-rogue, tranquelizing Anti-Locke’s camp and kidnapping Jin. When all the people in Anti-Locke’s camp got incapacitated, I assumed Widmore was making a move on the candidates. Instead, it appears the operation had nothing to do with the candidates since Zoe simply wanted Jin to help her identify some pockets of electromagnetic energy in a map they found.

In the end, Widmore seemed to get in Jin’s good graces by showing him pictures of his daughter Ji Yeon. He also told Jin that if Anti-Locke is allowed to be, everyone he loves will “cease to be.” It was a touching scene (Daniel Dae Kim acted his ass off), but the whole thing felt undeniably manipulative on Widmore’s part, as did his attempt to bond himself to Jin by bringing up his own estranged daughter Penny.

I’m not sure how estranged he still is from Penny given that he likely ran into her when he kidnapped her man and dragged him to the Island. (Or that probably made him even more estranged.) As was the case in “Ab Aeterno”, the biggest reveal of the night was something most of us had probably guessed. The thing inside the secret room in Widmore’s submarine was a battered Desmond Hume, who made eye contact with an amphibious, spying Sayid in the episode’s final moments. I’m going to go ahead and re-assume that when Jacob told Hurley in “Lighthouse” that someone was coming to the Island, he was referring to Desmond, not Widmore.

Meanwhile, over in the other camp, the directionless natives were growing restless. Sun, in particular, was sick of waiting around and went to her garden to work out some of her frustration. I LOVED how the scene between her and Jack in the garden reeked of season 1 when he would go and check on everyone. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the mood to chat and sent him away, which left her vulnerable to a visit and offer from Anti-Locke (who left the Smoke Monster sound effects at home this time).

Anti-Locke offered to reunite Sun with her husband and reached out his hand. Sun bolted and he gave chase, causing her to bump her head on a tree branch and knocking the English out of her. (I like how Miles’ skepticism spoke for the audience.) Jack diagnosed the head injury as aphasia, but it’s just as likely Anti-Locke worked some of his mojo on Sun while she was out to further alienate her from his opponents. Richard returned with a purpose (to blow up the Ajira pland and prevent Anti-Locke from leaving the Island), but Sun lashed out at him (in Korean) because she wasn’t interested in saving the world – she just wanted to get back with her husband. (That is SO not candidate talk.)

Later, Jack came armed with a surviving tomato from Sun’s garden, which seemed to give her hope, and a notebook so she could express herself. She wrote that she trusted him and took his hand. (Or at least, that’s what I think she wrote – that awful countdown clock for “V” blocked the lower right part of my TV screen!) As much fun as it is to see him blink rapidly when he gets angry, calmness and serenity look good on Matthew Fox. Maybe it’s just me, but he came off as very Jacob-y in that scene – except for the part where she promised Sun that she’d be reunited with Jin. That was classic Jack.

I feel really bad that I haven’t talked about the flash sideways at all, because it was arguably the most action-packed.

Whereas many of the other Sideways stories were slight variations of the original castaway journey (Sawyer’s the same, but he’s a cop!) the Kwon’s story was completely different and delightfully unpredictable. Were they married? Did they even like each other? Did either of them speak English? Did both of them speak English?

It turns out that, in the Sideways world, Jin and Sun didn’t speak English and were not married. Instead, they were carrying on a secret affair. The unbuttoning scene with Sun teasing Jin was kinda hot, and the shirtlessness of both Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim brought a little something for ALL the viewers at home.

Unfortunately for Jin, the last guy who carried on a secret affair with Sun was dropped out a window. As it happens, the $25,000 that was confiscated at the airport was payment form Sun’s dad to the casually racist Martin Keamy (“I feel like I’m in a Godzilla movie” “Go get the Arab guy”) who was supposed to kill Jin.

Keamy coldly said this to an oblivious Jin in English as he waited for Sun to deliver the money from her secret bank account (that her dad had cleaned out). Instead, Keamy and his men were taken out by Sayid, who did the absolute minimum to help Jin escape. Jin got into a fight with translator Mikhail (who is destined to have one eye no matter what reality he’s in) that resulted in Sun getting shot in the stomach and revealing to Jin that she’s pregnant.

I’m guessing Jin will take Sun to hospital where Jack works, because that’s where every character on this show who winds up getting injured in Los Angeles ends up. Maybe Jack will get an assist from the good gyno Dr. Ethan Goodspeed or (better yet) the baby doctor who specializes in miracles and has already treated Sun. (Come back, Juliet!)

So what’d you think of this episode? What does Widmore want with those pockets of electromagnetic energy? What is Desmond’s purpose on the Island? Finally, why won't you believe Ben? (Because he's speaking, duh!)

Lost: Put a Cork in It

This is the episode people have been waiting for ever since Richard Alpert showed his face in the present day to recruit Juliet and in the Dharma days to recruit a young Ben Linus to the Other side — and it turned out that the face looked exactly the same.

After seeing the feature film-scale “Ab Aeterno”, I suspect that your enjoyment of the episode hinged largely on how much time you spend thinking about “Lost.”

If you watch the show casually, then you probably thought it was a thoroughly entertaining hour of romance and action (the scene with the Smoke Monster taking down the Black Rock crew was sneakily outstanding) with a healthy dose of Big Ideas about good and evil, God and the devil jammed into the second half.

If you’rea semi-obsessive fan (like me), this episode didn’t seem to reveal a lot of new information, because you already theorized that Richard had come to the Island on the Black Rock a long time ago and that he was immortal because of Jacob’s touch. (That second fact had been pretty much stated explicitly by Richard himself.)

Some of the people in my group (the semi-obsessives) may complain that they didn’t learn anything new, but I’m always grateful to get concrete confirmation on any “Lost” mystery. (Just because I’m pretty sure about something, doesn’t make it so.) Also, if you do a little work for yourself (like Jacob would want you to do), you’d probably see this episode revealed plenty of the sort of character-based nuggets that truly make this show great.

For example, we could all guess how Richard became immortal (and we were all right), but this episode also told us WHY.

Richard was actually Ricardo (though never called “Ricardus” at any point last night), a Spaniard living in the Canary Islands in 1867. His wife Isabella had tuberculosis and Ricardo had accidentally killed a haughty doctor who refused to go out in the rain to help her, despite the fact that Ricardo offered him everything he had (including his wife’s necklace). Ricardo grabbed some medicine, but couldn’t make it back in time to save his wife.

He was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. The poor guy couldn’t even gain absolution from his priest, who told Richard that there was no way for him to do penance and avoid hell since he was going to die the next day. Enter a man named Jonas Whitfield who bought Richard as a slave on behalf of Magnus Hanso (ancestor of Dharma Initiative founder Alvar Hanso) and put him on the Black Rock. During a particularly violent storm, the ship was hurtled into the famed four-toed statue (which Richard and his companions thought was a representation of the devil), allegedly wiping out most of the statue and leaving the Black Rock in the middle of the Island.

(Two things here: 1.) I’m guessing that the ship Jacob and MIB saw in the distance during their breakfast chat in season 5 finale “The Incident” was NOT the Black Rock, since that happened on a bright sunny day. 2.) Maybe I’m being thick, but I still don’t understand how a wooden ship or the accompanying tsunami could wipe that four-toed statue out like that, and I REALLY still don’t understand how Richard’s ship landed so far inland and relatively intact. I guess it’s just one of those things.)

Fortunately, Nestor Carbonell (stepping into the “Lost” spotlight for the first time) really stepped up and did a terrific job of carrying this episode. Yes, the romance between Ricardo and Isabella was rushed and underdeveloped (we saw her alive for about two minutes), but Carbonell’s passion and intensity went a long way toward selling it. Even more impressive was the way his eyeliner-y eyes portrayed the guilt (over committing murder; over not being able to save his wife) that Ricardo carried around. It turns out the reason he never wanted to die is because he was afraid of going to hell!

Ricardo became convinced that he was in hell and it was hard to blame him. Whitfield had killed the rest of the crew (out of fear of running out of resources) and was about to run a sword through Richard before the Smoke Monster intervened, took out Whitfield and got an up close and personal look at Richard. Another reason for Richard to believe he was in hell was probably his wife popping up and telling him that they were in hell.

Now, I realize there’s a lot of speculation as to who is “good” and “evil” in the Jacob/MIB power struggle, and I also realize this show delights in subverting our expectations of those very concepts. However, after last night’s episode, I think it’s pretty clear that Jacob represents “good” and MIB is meant to represent evil.

For example, it was pretty obvious to me that it was MIB who appeared to Richard as Isabella and made it seem as if she’d been kidnapped by “the devil.” That allowed the still-nameless Man in Black to conveniently appear with a set of keys to set Richard free and offer a way for him to reunite with his wife – he had to kill “the devil.”

Now, when I say that Jacob is clearly “good” and MIB is clearly “evil”, that’s obviously just my perspective. In this case, perspective is everything because I think that the MIB character honestly believes that Jacob really does represent “the devil”, at least as far as he’s concerned. He offered Ricardo a knife and the same instructions Dogen gave Sayid in “Sundown” – kill him before he has a chance to speak and persuade you.

Unfortunately for Richard, Jacob kicked his ass and disarmed him without even opening his mouth to speak. I thought it was interesting that Jacob defended himself so vigorously (as opposed to the way he let Ben stab him in 2007). I’m guessing the reason he let Ben kill him was because he knew he had backup coming in the form of the castaways he touched. If Richard had been able to stab him, he would’ve died and MIB would’ve won.

Anyway, the subsequent scenes between Richard and Jacob were absolutely terrific. I loved the forced baptism (“I want to live” “That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said.”) I love that we got some insight into the purpose of the Island (Jacob brings people there to prove MIB wrong, since MIB believes people are inherently wired to sin.) Jacob even laid out his own God-like philosophy to explain why he doesn’t intervene in the Island inhabitants’ lives, leading to a fantastic exchange: “Why should I have to step in?” Jacob asked. “If you don’t, he will,” Richard responded, in reference to the MIB.

Most importantly (probably), was Jacob’s explanation of the Island’s purpose in relation to MIB. He used a half-full bottle of wine to explain that the wine was hell/evil/etc, while the Island was the cork that kept it from getting out and spreading. My question would be, “How much worse could the world be if MIB was allowed to escape and spread his influence?” I mean, the castaways’ lives with MIB as a prisoner were pretty sucky. Maybe the flash sideways represent what happens if MIB got loose – and things aren’t so bad.

I particularly enjoyed the final scene between Jacob and the MIB which ended with the MIB smashing the bottle – to me, it suggested that the MIB is hell bent on finding a way (a loophole) to free himself, and that it’ll probably be a way that Jacob never considered.

Back in the present, Richard (who had let out a hilarious yelp and freaked out when Ilana asked him what they were supposed to do next) had his faith restored thanks to Ghost Whisperer Hurley.

In a scene that definitely should’ve been ridiculous, Carbonell and Jorge Garcia delivered a pair of knockout performances that absolutely made Richard’s restored faith believable (and may have brought a tear to some people’s eyes). (Not my eyes, I swear, but I can see it happening.) Through Hurley, Isabella was able to convey that she and Richard will always be together through their shared experiences and pulled him back from the despair that had caused him to run in the jungle and seek out Anti-Locke’s allegiance. My favorite part was Hurley’s translation of “Tell him his English is beautiful” to “She says your English is awesome.”

Now, we’ve had Richard’s back story and we got crucial intel on the Island’s history. With the final season of “Lost” at its halfway point, the two sides have been set (Anti-Locke’s team vs. Jacob’s Jack Attack) – it’s time to get down to business!

So what’d you think of this episode? How IS Richard supposed to stop the MIB? How did Ilana end up all bandaged up in the hospital? (And do we care?) Finally, would Hurley really align himself with someone who is “evil”? (That’s my best argument for why Jacob is “good.”)

Lost: The Con is On

My reaction to this episode was pretty much the same reaction Sayid had watching Claire try to drive a knife through Kate — shocking indifference.

It’s a shame too because I was excited to see the Island’s pre-eminent grifter take center stage in “Recon” (he puts the “con” in “Recon”) after having him sit out the last couple of episodes.

Instead, the hour sort of peaked before the signature “Lost” logo spookily floated toward us. (At least for me.)

We caught up with Sideways Sawyer in pretty much the same predicament we originally met Flashback Sawyer – in bed with a woman and about to execute a con by having a suitcase full of money “accidentally” fall open. Of course, the twist in Sideways world was that James Ford was a cop heading a sting, but I still thought the writers managed to bring off a decent amount of tension before the reveal. (Maybe I’m just gullible, but I thought there was a decent chance he could’ve been lying.)

Now the clever thing about this particular Sideways story was the fact that, whether he’s a cop or a criminal, James Ford is still haunted by a family tragedy (daddy killed his mom, then himself) and hungry for revenge. (It’s gonna take him a long time to get through every “Anthony Cooper.”)

At least he has Miles Straume as his partner to dote on him. I really like the fact that the writers have firmly established that James and Miles are friends thanks to their three years spent in the Dharma Initiative – just because we didn’t see those three years doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. (I believe I’d watch a buddy-cop show with those two.)

Miles even cared enough about his boy to set him up on a blind date with Charlotte Lewis, who was never, EVER this smokin’. (Right?) Charlotte may not be allowed to have chocolate before dinner, but she can certainly have Jim Ford in the restroom if she wants to.

I thought the chemistry between Rebecca Mader and Josh Holloway was surprisingly strong (Holloway appears to have chemistry with every character he shares the screen with), yet not quite right (which I believe was done on purpose). That’s probably because we (or maybe just I) were hungry for a Juliet cameo in his Sideways story or any sort of indication they’d end up together. Maybe as a consolation prize we’ll see a bit more of Charlie down the line, since his brother Liam came to L.A. looking for him.

Another interesting bit in the Sideways story was the idea that James – the best liar Anti-Locke has ever seen – could not lie to save his life in Sideways world. Charlotte saw through his BS (the two eventually fell through when he blew up at her for going through his “Sawyer” file), and Miles eventually discovered he was lying about going to Australia. James confided in him about his “Sawyer” file and seemed relieved to get that weight off his shoulder (I read the scene was James letting it go since Miles would never let him kill Anthony Cooper.)

That tender moment was broken up by Kate (literally) crashing back into James’ life. Maybe he’ll explain why, as a cop, he pretty much helped the fugitive escape in “LA X.”

So, you see – there were certainly some interesting ideas going on in Sideways world. (I’m especially intrigued by the idea of the main characters – Ben and Locke, Sayid and Jin, Kate and Sawyer – starting to pair up.)

I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the Island story. I understand that not every episode can be an action-packed extravaganza, but the Island portion of “Recon” seemed to say, “There’s going to be some really good stuff happening – later.”

Or maybe I’m just annoyed that I have a new group of people to get to know. (It seems a bit late in the game for that, no?) Yes, I realize Charles Widmore’s squad, led by Zoe, aka Bizarro Liz Lemon, likely won’t be major players, but I still couldn’t suppress an eye roll when they popped up out of the jungle.

After his Temple massacre, Anti-Locke and his new followers picked up Sawyer and Jin at Claire’s Krazy Hut (goodbye Statue-looking skeleton baby) and set out on a trek. Sawyer boorishly asked how Anti-Locke planned to get them off the Island, so Anti-Locke pulled him aside and gave him a mission – paddle over to Hydra Island and get information on the people who came on the plane, which they would use to fly off the Island.

Instead, Sawyer found a stack of dead bodies and Charles Widmore inside his submarine. The scene between the two men was interesting for a variety of reasons. I was surprised by Widmore lamenting “how little” Sawyer knows when Sawyer identified him as the man who sent a freighter full of folks ready to kill everyone on the Island. I also thought Sawyer’s straightforward approach (he used it on Anti-Locke too) probably threw Widmore (and later Anti-Locke) for a bit of a loop. Mostly though, I found it fascinating that, for a guy who’s spent decades trying to locate the Island, Widmore is still holed up in his sub. Sure, it’s possible that he’s walked around the Island, but I thought showing him not actually set foot on the Island was an interesting choice.

So it turns out Sawyer’s plan is to play Widmore and Anti-Locke against each other and use the sub to escape with Kate (and Jin and Sun, I’m assuming). I wonder how Jack and Co. figure into those plans. I realize Sawyer is still probably peeved at Jack over Juliet’s death, but Sawyer seems to have turned a corner in terms of his grief. Earlier this season, he was in a truly dark place, but right now he looks like he’s back in hero mode.

This comes none too soon since Anti-Locke seems to have his sights set on Kate. I’m convinced Anti-Locke knew full well that Claire would go after Kate, so he positioned himself as Kate’s savior to gain her trust. I even thought that, by trying to convince Kate that Claire is an unfit mother, Anti-Locke was trying to get Kate to eventually kill Claire. I wouldn’t put it past him, but I really don’t see why he’d bother with killing Claire, unless there’s some way she can subvert him. (The way he slapped her to calm her down was startling.) I know a way she can subvert him – she can tell us his name!

Maybe we’ll find out next week during the upcoming Richard-centric episode. I mean, after watching “Recon” it seems like even the writers were looking ahead to that one.

So what’d you think of this episode? Who do you think killed all those people on Hydra Island? (I’m guessing it was Anti-Locke.) Who does Sawyer expect to actually pilot the sub for his getaway plan? What (or who) is in the locked room inside Widmore’s submarine? (Desmond?) Why did Anti-Locke have so much trouble speaking during his conversation with Kate about his crazy mother? (Maybe Sayid stabbing him with Dogen’s knife did something after all.)