Lost Season 4 Rewatch: Episodes 4x4 - 4x7

My continuing look back at Season 4 and its lingering questions in light of all five seasons of Lost.

Eggtown (4x4)
Oceanic 6 member Katherine Austin gets a light sentence for murder, arson, resisting arrest, and a litany of other crimes. What a fantastic lie! I originally believed Oceanic Airlines would have to be corroborating this lie for anyone to believe it. That’s apparently not the case. The O6 are just that good of liars.


This is a pretty weak episode dealing mostly with Kate’s "will she-won’t she" attitude about leaving the island. And more flying back and forth between Jack and Sawyer. Give it a rest, woman!

Why doesn’t Jack want to see Aaron? Is he that remorseful over leaving his long-lost half-sister Claire on the island? If anything, I’d think the family tie would make him want to take some responsibility for the child.

The reveal at the end of the episode is one of this season’s best though – when we learn Kate is raising ugly mutant toddler-aged Aaron. Harkening back to one of the series’ original mysteries: that Aaron shouldn’t be raised by an other! Still, nothing catastrophic has happened as a result of Aaron being raised away from his mom all these years.

And why won’t Kate let her own mom see Aaron. Is she afraid Diane will somehow be able to identify the child wasn’t hers. (A flimsy lie I can’t believe anyone bought in the first place.)

On the island we get further hints that Dan Faraday’s memory is broken or, as we’ll soon learn, that his brain is unstuck in time.

The Constant (4x5)
Seeing this episode for the third or fourth time I was finally struck at how brilliant the writing, directing, and acting all are. Before S5 came along, this episode left me kicking and screaming – please don’t make Lost about time travel! I guess I’m finally resigned to the idea and can now be a fan of “The Constant” episode.


I love that 1996 Dan Faraday gives a little commentary on Lost when he suspiciously calls Desmond’s story, “a time paradox cliché.”

It’s interesting to note that Desmond’s consciousness shifting seems to change history. He certainly didn’t do these things the first time he lived through 1996, otherwise he’d remember them. And yet the people he effected, Dan Faraday and Penny certainly seem to have always been effected by these events in a Whatever Happened, Happened sort of way.

Penny would have never been looking for the island unless Desmond had made his manic plea to her in 1996. And Dan has seemingly had Desmond's name listed in his journal as his Constant since sometime before coming to the island. The fact that Faraday doesn’t remember Desmond’s visit could be chalked up to his established faulty memory.

Also, it seems to me Faraday's memory problems seem to stop after this episode. Is that because he’s finally met his Constant, Desmond?

Of course the Desmond reunion with Penny via the Batphone is one of the highlights of the season.


The Other Woman (4x6)
This episode is among the least essential of this season. Dan and Charlotte’s little trip to shut off the gas feels like an adventure of the week-type side mission. And while I’m always a fan of more Juliet flashbacks, despite her interesting and creepy "history" with Ben, it doesn’t seem to have much effect on the rest of the series.


This episode sets up that a jealous Ben might punish Jack and the Losties for taking Juliet from him. And yet, by the time Ben is busy plotting his return to the island, he’s got so much on his mind that Juliet is no longer even a factor for him. (In fact, he barely had time to swing by and try to kill Penny like he promised.)

The obvious question here is was Harper a Smokey/Black Shirt manifestation or was she actually sent by Ben. Ben was trapped at the time, remember?

Harper tells Juliet to stop Dan and Charlotte from gassing the island, and yet, as we learn, this was not their goal anyhow. Dan and Charlotte were in fact sabotaging Keamy’s easiest option for killing everyone on island. So does Black Shirt’s objective lie with Widmore and the Frieghties or not?

In the Barracks, Ben shows Locke video of Widmore beating up a guy in an alley. This is supposed to prove Widmore is a threat to the island and is responsible for planting the fake plane wreckage. And yet, if you thing about it, this tape proves nothing except that Widmore beat up a guy in an alley.

Ji Yeon (4x7)
Sun is revealed as the sixth and final O6 member. This episode employs the most contemptuous use of the flashback/flashforward convention in the series. Jin’s race to get a toy panda is completely pointless. It just provides a big got’cha moment at the end.


Of course, the reveal that Jin is probably dead was certainly a sad moment in the series.

We find out that Juliet’s guess was right: babies conceived on the island can be born off the island. I guess that means something/someone is simply opposed to the cycle of life repeating itself on the island. I’m referring of course to Black Shirt. But Jacob won’t be stopped, he just keeps summoning more people to the island.

Juliet makes her bitchiest move ever, outing that Sun cheated on Jin. She later claims she did it because Sun was her "patient," which is hardly accurate and certainly doesn't justify it.

We also learn the Freighties believe that Ben is responsible for the planted 815 wreckage, a pointless confusing plot twist.


And suddenly we’re already halfway through Season 4! I will give this season credit for not dragging in places like S3 did. But that’s mostly due to the network’s episode count decision and a writer’s strike which shortened an already brief season.

Lost Season 4 Rewatch: Episodes 4x1 - 4x3

So I’ve got to admit that Season 4 is perhaps my least favorite season of Lost as a whole. Something about the Freightastic Four’s intrusion into the cast never sat well with me. And while I’ve come to like all these characters pretty well, their integration didn’t seem as organic as the Tailies or Ben and Juliet.


This season also took the magic of Lost WAY off the island: a Ghostbuster from Los Angeles, the island preventing people from dying in Manhattan, and island ghosties showing up all over the place. Understandably now, thanks to the Season 5 finale, we can trace the source of most of this supernatural stuff back to the island.

The flashforward convention was a bold experiment, which I enjoyed at the time. However it now seems like a contemptuous way to mess with the audience. The question for the off-island scenes became when are they now, pre or post crash? – instead of how do these scenes advance the story?

The real problem of the flash forward is – instead of providing perspective and vital information to the present storyline, as classic flashbacks have always done – the flashforward removes some of the suspense from present story. I mean, once we know who gets off the island, it becomes just a matter of waiting to see how they get there.

This season spends a lot of time on the messy mystery of Widmore’s fake plane wreckage – the motivations of which are still murky.

Also S4 introduces, through flashforwards, the section of the story (3 years in fact) that I refer to as the Oceanic 6 period: a sticky period during which the continuity and character motivations become even more confused by what we see in S5.

The S3 finale reveal that “they had to go back” was so brilliant and exciting, yet over the next season and a half it never really became clear WHY they had to return. Apparently each of them returned for their own ambiguous reason. Yet, despite Mrs. Hawking’s ominous remarks, there was never any real threat or evil let loose upon the world that our characters, by leaving the island, unleashed and which they had to go back to set right.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s dive into the episodes of S4. My comments are somewhat briefer than in previous seasons of the rewatch. The purpose of the rewatch, for me, is to put the entire series into the context of what we know after 5 seasons. And to explore what are still lingering questions. It was most interesting to see how the early seasons lined up with the story as a whole, which led to longer posts. However, there’s still a lot to chew on in S4.

The Beginning of the End (4x1)
“The beginning of the end” is something Ben mentioned at the end of last season, referencing the coming of Widmore’s boat. “The end” is clearly something Ben doesn’t want; interesting because “the end” is something Jacob is presumably hopeful for.


Hurley gets his own glimpse of the cabin, and there were seemingly two people inside it: perhaps ghost Christian and Black Shirt? What’s more confusing is this episode makes the entire cabin seem ghost-like – that is, it disappears. It also seems to show up at different places. Hurley found the cabin somewhere different that Locke did. So is the cabin real or not? Didn’t Horace Goodspeed build a physical cabin at one point?

In flashforwards we find Hurley at the mental health home where Charlie visits him. The troubling thing is another asylum patient can also see Charlie, which means he’s more than just a figment of Hurley’s mind. So what is he?

Hurley confesses to Jack that he should have never gone with Locke. This scene really hypes up the idea that something awful would be caused by their departure from the island. While John Locke was misled about a great many things on the island, nothing about Hurley’s choice to go with him to the barracks OR when he chooses to help Locke find the cabin later directly contributes to any cataclysmic events these O6 dudes should be worried about. So what’s Hurley going on about here?

Confirmed Dead (4x2)
A great episode introducing the Freightastic Four through old school flashbacks. We get our first glimpse of what we’ll come to know as “consciousness time shifting” when Faraday is seen crying over the deceased 815 passengers – people he hasn’t even met yet. Faraday’s mind seems to have become unstuck in time before ever leaving for the island due to the massive radiation he’d exposed himself to.


Locke, when leading his troupe of survivors to the barracks, said, “This is my mess, I have to clean it up.” Something the island told him at the beginning of S3. And something Ben said at the end of S3 regarding the Lostie’s revolt against the Others.

The episode starts with the mind blowing reveal that there IS a downed plane at the bottom of the Sunda Trench. However, knowing that this is Widmore’s phony plane, it’s difficult to believe he would have broken the air lining into three chunks EXACTLY like what happened to the real 815. This was just a diversion to make the audience believe the plane might have duplicated somehow – through a wormhole or something. Widmore wouldn’t know how the plane broke up.

What’s more troubling is I still don’t understand how Widmore even knew the plane crashed on the island to begin with. I know he’s spent his life looking for the island. I know the hatch implosion may have alerted him to the island’s present coordinates. Yet, what led him to believe the island would be full of Oceanic survivors?

The Economist (4x3)
Sayid is the fourth of the O6 to be revealed. And now he’s a hit man working for Ben Linus. What’s confusing is WHO is Sayid killing for Benjamin? Ben is telling him these people work for Charles Widmore. But is that true?


There is evidence for these people working for Widmore. We know the person Ben said killed Sayid’s wife Nadia DID work for Widmore. He responded with recognition when Sayid told him he had a message for Widmore. (However we don’t have any real reason to believe this man actually killed Nadia. Seemingly Jacob had a hand in her death – weird. And we have no idea who drove the car that struck her, or even if this was intentional manslaughter.)

Also, we know that Naomi had an identical bracelet to the woman who worked for “the Economist.” Naomi is definitely linked to Widmore, which means that the Economist also works for Widmore or possibly even is Widmore. (Although what kind of person sends their assassins out with matching golf bracelets, I have no idea.)

There’s also evidence against these targets working for Widmore. In S5 Widmore and Ben have a lot in common. They both know where Eloise Hawking is, and Eloise knows how to find the island. They both want to get the O6 back to the island (with or without a living John Locke). And they both have a common enemy in Ilana’s secretive team – the Dharma Kids as I call them. It seems to me Ben might have been having Sayid kill the “What lies in the shadow of the statue” crowd all along.

Back on the island it’s interesting to note that the cabin is not where Locke last saw it, and yet the circle of ash is still there. Are there more than one ash circle in which the cabin can appear? That seems silly.

The networks have forgotten their mandates

Is it just me or is anyone else scratching their heads over the programming decisions of various cable networks over the last few years?

AMC, with the word "Movie Classics" in their name, started by producing scripted TV dramas. (But they get away with it because of all awards it's winning them.)

Cartoon Network is diving into live action.

The SyFy (formerly SciFi) Channel, with "fiction" abbreviated in their title, has produced several "reality" shows, not to mention become the new home of professional wrestling! Sigh. Figh.

MTV, which hasn't produced any music TV in a decade, was caught this year showing Star Wars!

The Travel Channel shows poker.

The History Channel's main ratings generator is the present-day reality show, Ice Road Truckers.

And now TV Land, the old people's safe haven for classic sitcoms, is producing their own scripted series.

Have the executives at these companies forgotten what channel they work for? I thought the benefit of a plethora of cable networks was that each could cater to its own niche market. But how can the niche audiences find the right station if the networks' mandates are continually changing?

I suppose the real answer is that these moves are desperate ratings grabs in a time when changing distribution models (numerous providers, Hulu, and other online outlets) make the TV landscape uncertain. It's all good though because I too like Mad Men.

Lost Season 3 Rewatch: Episodes 3x21 - 3x23

Wrapping up my look back at Season 3 in light of all 5 seasons.

Greatest Hits (3x21)
This is a truly great episode. Greatest Hits uses the flashback convention to great effect to push away any hard feelings we may have had toward Charlie and confirm him as a selfless hero.


Here we’re told of Desmond’s final vision of Charlie dying: that if Charlie drowns shutting down the Looking Glass station it will result in the helicopter rescue of Claire and Aaron. This is one of the most nagging lingering plot points of the series. There was a helicopter rescue of sorts, but Claire was most definitely not on it. Was the vision wrong? Did Desmond lie to Charlie to bring about his own rescue by Penny?

We’ll hopefully be getting Claire back into the story this season, so who knows – maybe the very end of the series will have her and Aaron (back on the island?) eventually rescued by helicopter. It’s just very frustrating that Desmond’s vision has never been addressed, and more frustrating that Desmond never gave Claire Charlie’s “Greatest Hits” list. While Desmond remains one of my favorite characters, until Claire is rescued or his vision is explained, his intentions here are still suspect to me.

As a side thought: when Sayid is looking for a way to shut down the Looking Glass’ signal jammer, as a first attempt, I’d try cutting that cable that runs through the sand and down to the station. I’m not sure if that would work, but it seems simpler than trying to swim into the station and work a bunch of unfamiliar machinery.

Also, when Ben learns Juliet betrayed him and he must hurry up the raid on the beach camp, he tells his goons to kill any Losties that get in their way. If Ben is so willing to just kill these people, why did he let live them for so long to begin with? Also, since he already knows about Naomi’s arrival and has connected that to Widmore’s boat (as we learn in S4) then why is he even bothering with kidnapping pregnant women at this point? Is the oncoming threat on his life and his position as leader a little more important than yet another preggers-napping raid?

Through the Looking Glass – Parts 1 & 2 (3x21 & 22)
The mind-blowing S3 finale is one of Lost’s all time best. Craftily introducing the audience to the convention of the flashforward (a term that now has it’s own series on ABC!), we find out that the rescue is seemingly successful, but that life for Jack at least is miserable, that there has been some kind of monumental mistake, and that they will “have to go back!”


On the island, Charlie is matching wits with the Looking Glass gals, Bonnie and Gretta. The question is how long have these ladies been down there jamming outgoing transmissions? I always assumed they’ve been down there for years, and that it’s always been Ben’s protocol to keep radio silence. However, it’s clear that Mikhail had made contact with the outside world at least the day before the 815 crash (the video of Juliet’s sister). Also, I believe Mikhail and Tom both said communications went down when the sky went purple. Does that mean, Ben sent these girls down there to jam signals only after the Swan blew up? If so, why? Did Ben know the Widmore’s would be searching for such an electromagnetic anomaly, and that once the hatch blew they’d be coming for him? Was he trying to block any further communications or transmissions that might help Widmore find them?

As Ben sets out to make war on the Losties he says, “I’ve got to clean up this mess I’ve made.” That’s interestingly the same thing Locke was told to do at the season’s beginning.

Down in the mass Dharma grave, Locke gets a visit from Taller Ghost Walt. Now Walt and Locke have always seemed to have a connection. Even when he’s off in New York, Walt is still having dreams about Locke on the island. But this visit seems pretty clearly to be a deceptive manifestation of Black Shirt/Smokey. Walt tells Locke he’s got work to do. That’s pretty much exactly what Black Shirt needs Locke to think to set in motion the time loop that results in Jacob’s death.

It’s pretty clear that the Others have lost their faith in Ben by this point. They follow his orders reluctantly and some even turn against him. The pieces are all in place to create enmity between a new pair of island leaders.

When Jack is about to call Naomi’s boat, Ben tells him, “Making that call is the beginning of the end.” This reminds me of Jacob’s promise that “It only ends once, everything else is just progress.” Now both Ben and Locke don’t want Jack to make that call. Since both Ben and Locke are beguiled by Black Shirt, it seems pretty obvious that Black Shirt wants nothing to do with the “end” that making the call with bring.

During the flashforwards, we see that Sara has gotten pregnant. My first thought was that the baby might be Christian Shepherd’s. But we know this is three years post-crash and that daddy Shepherd has been dead for a long time. I guess Sara was seeing someone else all along besides Jack’s father. It’s just my continued hope the Christian Shepherd in life (not just as an apparition) will have played an important role in the Lost mythos.

We get our first look at the mystery coffin, a brilliantly plotted arc that kept us guessing and hoping for two seasons about the eventual death and seemingly promised resurrection of John Locke.

The season left us with the brilliant revelation that they had to go back! We’ve been trying to sort out the meaning of this proclamation for two seasons now. What seemed so monumental was poorly explained later in what I call the Oceanic 6 period. It’s never been clear why they thought leaving the island was such a mistake, and we’ve only been given muddy reasoning for why they HAD to return.

Don’t mean to end this season’s post on a downbeat. While the Season gets off to a rocky start, with some of the more boring and pointless episodes of the series, I really feel the second half of season 3 is Lost at its most exciting. It may not have the elegance or deep characterization of seasons 1 & 2, but the added mysteries, island mythos, and sense of urgency toward the end is what I like about it.

Lost Seaosn 3 Rewatch: Episodes 3x17 - 3x20

My continuing look back at Season 3 in light of all 5 seasons.

Catch 22 (3x17)
Naomi’s arrival explodes the series forward to its dramatic conclusion.


This episode really calls into question some of “laws” of the Lost universe. I’m talking about “course correction” versus “whatever happened, happened” versus “fate.” It seems to me the first two ideas are incongruent. If Desmond prevents things from happening that he foresees in flashes, that would seem to invalidate the concept that “time is like a string” and whatever happened, happened. If fate uses course correction to achieve its outcome no matter what Desmond changes, then whatever happened, happened goes out the window again. Of course, the rules of time don’t apply to Desmond (for whatever reason!), but it’s silly to think this whole “course correction” philosophy of time only applies to one man. Further, if whatever happened, happened is true, then fate is sort of irrelevant because whatever happened IS fate, right?

As it applies here, when Desmond once again saves Charlie’s life, does he, as he says, change the result of his vision? He envisions Penny coming to save them if Charlie dies with an arrow to the neck. After he saves Charlie from the arrow, it’s Naomi that shows up, not Penny, and she’s not there to rescue them. Did Desmond change the outcome? Or did fate bring Penny to the rescue later (she does eventually get there) through course correction? This is the sort of mind screw Lost presents in its handling of time and later time travel.

I’ve always wondered if Desmond’s prolonged vow of silence in the Monastery was a test to see if he’d be up to the task of spending years alone in the hatch. Of course, we know Brother Campbell, Desmond’s “boss” at the monastery, is an associate of Eloise Hawking, who was most interested in getting Desmond to the island.

What’s more, in the flashbacks Desmond recounts to his ex-fiancé a “religious experience” he once had where he passed out, woke up somewhere else not knowing how he got there, and when he woke a monk was there telling him to join the monastery. I wonder if the blackout Desmond describes is not another example of what we’ll come of know as consciousness time shifting – and if the monk didn’t show up after that episode to guide Desmond toward his fate.

Further proof that the puppet masters were already pulling Desmond’s strings even before he met Penny is the fact that Charles Widmore made a sizable donation to the monastery. It’s quite a coincidence that both Hawking and Widmore had connections to the monastery where Desmond happened to be.

D.O.C. (3x18)
When Juliet helps Sun determine her Date of Conception, we learn that women who conceive on the island die there during their third trimester. But, as we learn later, on-island conceptions can be taken off island to give birth successfully (I’m talking Ji Yeon here). So it seems the real matter here is that something/someone wants to keep the island’s inhabitants from procreating. We know that Jacob has repeatedly brought people to the island to prove his point about mankind to Black Shirt. Perhaps Black Shirt is the one stopping people from reproducing on the island because of his belief that things always end tragically for the people here.


This is the first time we see Mikhail seemingly back from the dead.

Just like it’s unusual that the Others speak so many different languages, why should Naomi speak so many languages? As she’s fading in and out of consciousness we hear her slip into many global tongues.

Naomi delivers the news that there were no survivors of the 815 crash – that all the bodies were found. It’s strange that she tries to use this cover story on the survivors themselves when it’s obvious later that she doubts the validity of Widmore’s fake plane all along. But I like that her story called into question for the audience whether the Losties were in fact already dead and that this island was some kind of after life.

The Brig (3x19)
When Locke comes traipsing into the Others’ encampment, Cindy and several of the Others seem nervously excited to see him. She says, “We been waiting a long time for you.” That reaction is all the more powerful now knowing that Black Shirt craftily sent Locke time traveling to predestine his place as a future leader of the Others. Of course the Others don’t stop Locke when he starts disrupting the order, he promised his own coming over 50 years ago. (How many of the Others are aware of time travel is still unclear though.)


Who came up with the dad-killing assignment for the future Other leaders? Locke’s task of killing Cooper was clear. Is it just a coincidence that Ben had to kill his own dad before taking over as leader?

Cooper tells a story about how he came to be on the island. He was in car crash in Florida, a medic smiled at him as he put Cooper under, and then he woke up gagged in the Other’s compound. It could be that some of the Others nabbed Cooper from Florida, drugged him, and brought him there on the sub as a test for Locke. Or Jacob or Black shirt could have brought him there in some more supernatural way. Or Coooper may just be another manifestation of Smokey/Black shirt. Ben doesn’t seem to know how Copper got there; leading me to think Black Shirt is responsible.

But if it was Black Shirt playing Cooper, then why would he play along when Locke brings Sawyer to kill him? On the other hand, it seems Sawyer’s entire life and reason for being on the island has led to him killing Cooper, so this may all be part of someone’s plan/scheme.

Supporting the idea that this was the real Anthony Cooper is the fact that he confirms Naomi’s story that all the passengers on flight 815 were found dead. Why would Black Shirt confirm this story to Locke and Sawyer who never even heard Naomi’s cover story? However I do like that he reinforced the notion that the island might be some kind of purgatory or hell – a clever misdirection by the writers.

The Man Behind the Curtain (3x19)
And then Lost became a Ghost story… I’m not going to comment here much about invisible Jacob, and who’s actually asking for Locke’s “help.” The most revealing aspects of this episode are about the D.I. and Richard Alpert.


A noteworthy line in this episode is when Ben quips to Richard Alpert, “You do remember birthdays.” A clue to the fact that Richard may be ageless and would have no need of birthdays.

Ben tells Locke that he brought most of these people here, but was it Ben or Jacob that actually did the bringing?

Ben acts surprised to see Mikhail return after the incident with the sonic fence. Mikhail says he was lucky the pylons were not set at lethal levels. Why the snarky tip toeing around the issue that Mikhail cannot be killed? Or was the fence actually just set to stun? The foaming at the mouth and the blood gushing from the ears made him look pretty dead to me.

This episode provides our first big look at the 1970’s and Dharma that was, a setting we’ll spend much more time in later.

Standing out to me is the fact that new Dharma recruits were inoculated upon arrival to the island, seemingly in the same way that Desmond inoculated himself against the “sickness” and Claire was drugged up under the guise of inoculation. This adds further confusion for me to the overall “sickness” plotline. If there never was a real sickness then why confuse that matter by repeatedly bringing back these inoculation guns used by the D.I.?

In the flashbacks we get the promise of some kind of volcanic activity playing an important role in the island’s past. Although since Olivia Goodspeed wasn’t brought back for any of the 1970’s action, I doubt her Dharma school lesion about volcanoes will end up playing into the story.

Then of course, there’s Pirate Richard recruiting young Ben at the sonic fence. When Ben reveals he had just seen his dead mom, Richard seemed especially worried about whether she died on the island or not. Do the Others have a history with mysterious appearances of dead people, and does it matter if these ghosties are of people who died on the island or not? Hints again of possible resurrection among the Others. Clearly Ben’s mom was never on the island, but there she was as a manifestation.

Is This For Real?

So I'm a pretty big (but casual) alt energy enthusiast. As so as I'm in a position to, I'll happily go off the grid. Yet looking at these products which promise to provide half to all of your household electricity needs for only a few hundred dollars, I have to ask, can this be for real? If it was real wouldn't everyone be doing it?

Sure some of these rooftop panels look tacky, but if they could cut you power bill in half people would be scrambling to get them on top of their houses. Not to mention the enviros who'd love the low to no-impact implications of these green generators. So why haven't I heard of people doing this?

Lost Season 3 Rewatch - Episodes 3x13 - 3x16

The second half of S3 is still my favorite stretch of Lost so far. From One of Us forward, each episode is one of my favorites in the series. These episodes provide the first real glimpses of the Others’ history on the island. The arrival of Naomi drives the action forward with the exciting hope of rescue and directly sets up all of season 4 (even if her cover-story isn’t entirely congruent with what we learn about the Freighties in later seasons). Of course the mind-blowing cliffhanger and revelation in the season finale is Lost at it’s best.

The Man From Tallahassee (3x13)
Locke has made it to the barracks with the goal of discovering from Ben the true nature of the island. In their discussions, we find out that some of the Others are not “fully committed” and that Ben must work to keep their trust. This again reminds me of seemingly different levels of fanaticism certain Others have toward their cause. There are those like Ms. Kleugh and Mikhail (who for all we know is an immortal like Richard) who seem happy to “die” for the island. Then there are other Others who, like Juliet, seem forced there to do a job but would leave if they could.


Further in their discussion Locke accuses Ben of not knowing the true nature of the island. Ben retaliates by saying John only thinks he knows the island. After everything we’ve seen, it seems both Ben and Locke understand only things about the island they needed to know in order to play out their parts in the Jacob-killing plot of Black Shirt.

At the end of the episode Locke’s father Anthony Cooper appears out of the island’s “magic box.” The story he tells of how he got to the island makes his appearance still a mystery.

Expose (3x14)
As horrible as Nikki and Paulo are most of the time, their episode is still delightful if meaningless to the story overall. It’s another example of how masterfully plotted Lost can be – each annoying N&P scene throughout this season were woven together in this little mystery episode.


There’s little of substance to take from this episode to the series as a whole, except Locke’s line to Paulo that, “Nothing stays buried on this island.” Considering hints of resurrection and the Others’ seeming fixation with their own dead, I’m surprised we haven’t had any zombie Nikki and Paulo’s in the two seasons since they passed.

Granted, since we have no idea were the story will pick up next season or in what timeline, we very well may get another visit from these two jewel thieves.

Left Behind (3x15)
Juliet’s “handcuff plan” always seemed a little hard to swallow to me. Once the Monster shows up and she’s forced to reveal that she’s been carrying keys to the cuffs all along, she still wants Kate to believe that her people left her and that she dragged a drugged up Kat WAY out into the jungle… All to gain Kate’s trust? If I’m Kate, I’m not buying it.


Like many of the Other’s schemes, it’s a little overly complex, but the questionable nature of Juliet joining Team Lostie is a great beginning to her uneasy relationship with the rest of the survivors.

It’s also interesting that Juliet was scanned by Smokie, and then the Monster came back after her in a very menacing mood. Did Smokey determine that Juliet was not faithful to Ben’s cause? Was it coming to kill her? And why is Smokey not smart enough to go OVER that stupid sonic fence?

One of Us (3x16)
This is one of my all time favorites (but so are nearly all the remaining episodes this season). It goes a long way to beautifully sympathize us to Dr. Burke’s sad plight on the island, but at the very end confirms her duplicitous role in the Lostie’s camp. It tells us to like her, but not to trust her.


We learn that Ben put Juliet up to the “handcuff plan.” However it’s hard to believe that after recently trying to have Jack kill Ben on the operating table, that Ben would trust Juliet with the delicate task of infiltrating the Losties’ camp. Also, since Ben knows Juliet was ready to leave on the sub, why would she agree to a plan that keep her on the island even longer?

Juliet’s flashbacks reveal more of the island’s mythos. We learn that Jacob is able to heal Juliet’s sister’s cancer off the island. Which raises the question, if Jacob can heal cancer, why didn’t he heal Ben’s spinal tumor? It seems that Ben’s good graces with Jacob and his position as leader of the Others were already beginning to slip before the crash of 815. Although you could argue that when Ben found out he had spinal cancer, Jacob brought him an expert spinal surgeon out of the sky who did heal him.

We find out that Richard was off island video taping Juliet’s sister as proof that she had recovered from her cancer. This was the day before the 815 crash, meaning Richard was (most likely) off island for the crash. It seems to me that if Ben, and presumably Richard, knew about the oncoming crash of 815 from Faraday’s journal (which, granted, is still speculative) the island’s “advisor” might want to be around for such an important event. This may be the sort of thing Richard was referring to when he told Locke that Ben was fixated on trivial matters like fertility problems (i.e. Juliet).

On the other hand Richard did help recruit Juliet, and it’s been said Jacob is the one who brings people to this island, so was Juliet brought there for a more cosmic purpose? It seems her purpose was not actually to solve the fertility problem, which she never accomplished. Was she simply put through all this just to eventually detonate the Jughead, and set into motion next season’s endgame?

Capitalism: A Love Story for Republicans?

AICN actually had a pretty thought provoking write up on Capitalism: A Love Story. This actually makes me want to see new Michael Moore doc.

"This film isn’t about partisanship or differing ideals. It is about US vs. THEM! But rather than Red vs. Blue, it is about the worker versus the fat cat. It is about the handful of people who deregulated the financial industry, looted the people and then scored $700 Billion dollars in tax money to clean up their mess, restructuring Wall Street as they saw fit."

I agree that what's missing in policy debate, be it the economy or health care, is civil, thoughtful, and intelligent discussion. The article also says:

"I look around and see our nation’s leaders being shouted at by the people (a good thing) who don’t understand anything that they’re actually talking about (a bad thing) and are merely just repeating what they’ve heard on TV (a REALLY bad thing.)"

Paradoxically, the expanding media landscape gives us fewer options for getting real information these days. Local news broadcasts have turned into a circus to scrounge up ratings. Cable new has digressed into a gang war between networks. Newspapers are dead. And while I recommend going to the Internet for your news (that's what I do), news blogs skew to their niche audiences to the extent that readers only get one side of every story (their side!). After all, on the Internet, readers have to actively seek out their news sources, so why would they look at sites expressing opinions other than their own? This trend further galvanizes audiences (that is, citizens, all of us) into an us versus them attitude toward politics and policy.

Rounding back to the film at hand, if Michael Moore can provide a voice to steer the debate back toward facts instead of attack, then all the better. I hardly expect a film's message to bring about consensus on what a perfect Utopian society should look like. However Republican, or better yet, Libertarians, could benefit by not just pointing the finger at them (because them ain't us) but instead sort out the facts of what policy and people got us into this mess. I'm all for public protest, but we'd be wise to admit that preserving personal freedoms does not mean letting every criminal on Wall Street do whatever they want with our money.

The AICN article was more thoughtful than the usual news about who's been recast in Iron Man 2, which is what I usually find there.

Lost Season 3 Rewatch: Episodes 3x9 - 3x12

My continuing look back at Season 3 in light of all five seasons of Lost.

Stranger in a Strange Land (3 x 9)
This is the Bai Ling episode. They apparently felt Lost was in need of guest starts during this season.


Juliet gets “marked” for killing a fellow Other. She was supposed to be killed but got off with this lighter sentence. What’s this mark mean? The symbol is rather similar to the marking on the tree where Juliet retrieved medical supplies in One of Us. Now that Juliet is most likely gone, will “making” be addressed, or was it just an invention to parallel Jack’s tattoo story in the flashbacks?

Season 3 gives us various glimpses into the still-mystifying existence of the Others. While we still don’t know how they got there or what they’re up to, it seems different Others have varying levels of commitment to the Other agenda – some show a cult-like willingness to take one for the team, while others seem to be just doing their job and looking out for themselves. It’s almost as if certain Others are aware of the big picture, knowing all the island’s secrets, while some only know bits and pieces.

Here the Others insist they have given those they captured a better life. Even a sympathetic Other like Carl affirms this idea that their lives are better now. But better than what? What do these Others do or know that is so amazing? And how do they offer it to newcomers?

This is the first time we see Cindy and the kids since they were kidnapped. They seem to be pretty chill about hanging with the Others. But why are they even on Hydra island at this time?

Tricia Tanaka is Dead (3 x 10)
Continuing this season’s string of special guest appearances, here we meet Cheech Marin as Hurley’s father.


The meteorite that kills Tricia Tanaka inside the Mr. Clucks reminds me of another possible Lost space rock. There are theories that the island’s many craters were caused by giant meteors and, more importantly, that the island’s unique electromagnetic properties were caused by these alien rocks.

This episode is where we first meet Rodger (or at least his skeleton). It’s amusing that this corpse turned out to be an important character in later seasons.

The whole van sequence is a lot of fun. Apparently Hurley figures that if Charlie is destined to die, he might as well help his friend by driving down the side of a cliff!

Vincent delivers to Hurley the van’s key ring from which hangs a white rabbit’s foot. Hurley sees the whole van-experience as a lucky omen. Is this the end of the curse as far as Hurley’s concerned? He doesn’t seem to mention it much from here forward as far as I can remember. While the numbers recur a lot through the rest of the series, they seem to have lost their ominous meaning to Hurley.

Enter 77 (3 x 11)
This is our Losties’ first encounter with Patchey. What’s strange is that Mikhail tells them a more or less accurate story about the Dharma Initiative, the Hostiles, and the Purge. Except he lies and switches which group purged which. However, if Mikhail was just going to lie – to pretend to be a member of Dharma and not an Other – then why tell such an elaborate and nearly-true story?


Also, since it’s clear Mikhail is an Other and not in the D.I., why does he wear that Dharma jumpsuit? Does he wear it all the time just in case strangers show up and he can use this (not terrible useful) cover story? Or, does he perhaps wear the jumpsuit because, as the Others’ communication officer, he is pretending to the outside world that the D.I. is still in effect on the island – as part of a con used by the Others to keep food drops coming and to prevent intervention from the off-island Dharma reps?

Further, how do the Others end up with a Soviet-era Russian working for them? This raises more questions about the Other’s origins. Clearly they are not born on the island (in fact, in recent times they CANNOT be born on the island). How do they end up with people whose accents originate from all over the place?

The Other’s we’ve seen speak languages from all over the globe. “The Sheriff” in Stranger in a Strange Land spoke Mandarin Chinese, and here Ms. Kleugh speaks Russian. Later we find out they all learn Latin in Dharma school.

If they are from everywhere, why do they end up adopting this suburban American lifestyle, watching American movies and reading American books?

Ms. Kleugh shows again how fanatical certain Others are to their cause. She demands that Mikhail shoot her rather than give information to the Losties. It’s almost as if she expects to come back to life later, like Mikhail seemingly does a few episodes from now. However, the S5 reveal that Locke did not return from the dead seemingly confirms for us that “dead IS dead” on this island.

This episode is our first glimpse of just how far off the rails John Locke has gone in his search for significance on the island. Here he blows up the Flame station, and from this point he goes on a rampage that lasts the rest of the season.

Par Avion (3 x 12)
Mikhail drops another couple curious nuggets in this episode. He tells the Losties the “are not capable of understanding” what the Others are really doing on the island. He also says their leader is the one who brought them all to the island. It’s pretty clear from The Incident that Jacob is responsible for summoning people to the island. But for what purpose, and what does he have the Others doing that’s so amazing that average folks can’t comprehend it?


Here we learn that Kate, Sayid, and Locke were not on Jacob’s list supposedly because they are flawed people. I’m beginning to suspect Jacob’s list has less to do with a person’s actions or character, and more to do with the role they had to play in the timeline. Jacob knew all these characters had time traveling to do for events to unfold as they must. If Jacob had these characters kidnapped and given “better lives” by the Others, then they couldn’t go on the journey that will result in them (presumably) righting what was wronged when Jacob was killed.

Just before being killed at the sonic fence Mikhail says “Thank you.” Does he know he’ll come back to life? Is he just that hard to kill? Or does he know his fate will be worse than death if he leads to the Losties to the Barracks? Again, Mikhail is pretty fanatical, but we also learn later he’s got a pretty major death wish, basically asking to be killed again in D.O.C.

We learn Locke stole some C4 from the Flaem. He’s got some more rampaging to do before we’re through!

In Claire’s flashbacks, it seems Christian Shepherd was trying his hardest to see Carol Littleton unplugged from her life support. Yet, when the O6 return, Carol is in wonderful health. It’s difficult to say if Christian Shepherd (during his life) was really tied to the island mythos at all. If he is, then it’s interesting he’s basically trying to kill someone who is later (seemingly) miraculously healed.

Finally, the last scene of this episode in one of my all time favorite Lost moments. When the rescue team makes it to the barracks, they find Jack running as if he’s trying to escape. It’s very exciting. Then we learn he’s just playing football with Mr. Friendly. As this moment led to the S3 midpoint and a hiatus that broke the season in two, we were left thinking Jack may have joined the Others. It’s one of the best WTF gotcha moments in the series.

Lost Season 3 Rewatch: Episodes 1x5 - 1x8

My continued look back at Season 3 in light of all five seasons.

The Cost of Living (3x5)
While Mr. Eko’s short stint on the show seems somewhat insignificant, this, his death episode, unpacks some major Lost mythology. On island and in flashbacks Mr. Eko is told to confess and be judged. I was quite surprised to here these actual words used in this episode. Who does Mr. Eko encounter when he’s judged? The good old Smoke Monster. Later in Season 5 Ben seeks out the monster to receive his judgment. I thought Smokey acting as judge was invented later in the series, but I stand corrected as it was set up much earlier.


It’s difficult to say whether Smokey is actually judging people based on the lives they’ve lived and the content of their character, or if there is a hidden purpose to the way it “scans” individuals. Ben’s S5 meeting with Cerberus seems like an elaborate rouse to trick Ben into following Locke as opposed to an actual judgment on Ben’s soul. In other cases, such as Locke’s encounter with Smokey in early S1, it sees Smokey is out to find if individuals are “amenable to coercion” and can be used in Black Shirt’s plan.

That’s what I assume is also the case with Smokey and Eko. In Eko’s first encounter the monster determines the penitent Eko can be used to influence John Locke. Perhaps Eko is even a possible candidate as a vessel for Black Shirt. Eko fulfilled his first task, leading Locke to the Pearl station. But on a second scanning, in this episode, Eko’s spirit is defiant. He refuses to apologize for the life he’s led, saying he has not sinned. At this point Smokey/Black Shirt can no longer manipulate Eko and therefore dispatch him. Just a thought on what could seem like inconsistent actions from the beast.

At the end of Eko's talk with Yemi, the manifestation says, "You talk to me as if was your brother." If this is Black Shirt talking through Yemi, why would he break his cover here? Is this the first hint another entity is behind these ghosties?

In this episode we see the Others bizarre funeral ritual on the beach in those ridiculous white robes. The Others sometimes have serious and confusing issues with death. At one time I felt Black Shirt/Smokey could only manifest itself as people whose dead bodies resided on the island. Therefore the Others, even if they no longer understood the reason, sent their deceased out to sea to prevent them from mysteriously manifesting later.

However the notion that every ghostly manifestation was of an on-island corpse is disproved by this episode. During his judgment Eko is faced by many of the gangsters he put to death during his time as a drug lord. The bodies of these men, not to mention the parishioners of his church who also appeared, were clearly not on the island.

Locke tells Desmond not to “mistake coincidence for fate,” a constant theme for the series. The question of coincidence or fate seems most pertinent to how all these people – whose pasts were so intertwined – ended up on the island together. Certain characters were steered there by human puppet masters – by Ben, Widmore, and Hawking. Other character’s paths seem directed there by the touch of Jacob. But so many of their connections seem like coincidence – but also seem too big to be coincidence.

I’m constantly amazed how much Nikki and Paulo grate on my nerves every time they appear.

This is the episode where Locke admits that when he saw the monster it appeared to him as a beautiful light. Presumably this vision plays into his attraction to the island, and finding out the meaning and source of this beauty.

Juliet shows Jack her little home movie with the cards begging him to murder Ben. While the video plays, she again says the f word, mentioning, “free will is all we’ve got, right?” Free Will vs. Fate being what I feel is a central theme of the series. There’s a great article here that explains nearly exactly my sentiments on that theme pertaining to the show as a whole.

I do (3 x 6)
This is one where Kate married Captain Mal Reynolds. It's also when Sawyer and Kate hook up and Jack botches Ben's surgery to ensure Kate's release.


What sticks out is Locke’s insistence that Mr. Eko died for a reason. I’ve got two different ideas on the “reason” for Mr. Eko’s death. 1.) As I explained above, Eko may have been a candidate for Black Shirt’s plan, but when he showed himself unable to be manipulated he was disposed of. Or 2.) as I’ve suggested before, Eko was first used to take Locke’s faith in the button away (by leading him to the Pearl). After the hatch exploded Eko was used to give Locke his faith back, but to put that faith in something else. At his burial, Eko's scripture stick sets Locke on his new path, one that leads him to the Others, beginning his new obsession with learning from the Others and ultimately becoming one.

Not in Portland (3 x 7)
Juliet’s first flashback episode is also the first time we see other Others off the island. We discover Ethan hanging out in Miami scouting the fertility doctor. This is also the first time we meet Richard Alpert. Considering what we know about Alpert’s origin now, it seems kind of silly meeting him here pretending to be some corporate tie-wearing flack. However, Alpert does function somewhat as the island’s HR officer, so maybe it’s appropriate he’s off recruiting Juliet.


This is where we first see Alex’s stupid slingshot.

Helping Jack and Kate escape, Alex takes them first to rescue Carl from Room 23. I’ve discussed his Clockwork Orange-style brainwashing session in more detail here. But what stands out most from his video is, I believe, the show’s first mention of the name “Jacob.” Also, the statement “We are the cause of our own suffering” sounds exactly like what happens because of the time loop. The events the ‘77 Losties set into motion are exactly what lead many of them to end up coming to and suffering on the island.

Juliet’s ex-husband was hit by a bus after she suggested that’s what she’d like to see happen – Black Shirt, Jacob, coincidence? Will they ever clarify the source of these off-island miracles and major coincidences?

Flashes Before You Eyes (3 x 8)
This is probably one of the most discussed episodes of the series. I remember after this episode first aired thinking, no, please don’t make this show about time travel, not so late in the game! Yet here is our first example of time travel, or what we’ve come to know as consciousness time shifting – a somewhat confusing plot device caused by exposure to massive amounts of radiation.


We meet Charles Widmore here for the second time, acting like his usual jerk self. And we’re introduced to Eloise Hawking, acting like some mystic authority on fate and time travel. How she knows so much about the nature of time and destiny is unclear. How much information did her son leave her in the journal he left behind 1n 1977? Did he mention Desmond would have to sail to the island to push the button for years? If so, that explains why Widmore and Hawking go to such efforts to drive Desmond in this direction.

This episode also introduces the concept of fate’s course correction. How would Hawking know anything about this? Perhaps she spent the first many years after receiving Dan’s journal trying to change or prevent the events described in it, but through experience she learned that fate would make all these things happen somehow anyway. Instead of fighting what was predestined for her, she becomes an accomplice in making them happen.

Yet the very notion of course correction seems incongruent with “whatever happened, happened.” Changing certain historical events without changing their results, is by no means the same thing as whatever happened, happened. And if you can temporarily change little details in fate’s timeline, as Desmond often does, then what does that say the existence of fate at all? Alas, I guess that’s why they wrote in that the “rules” don’t apply to Desmond. But why don’t they?

Then there’s the guy with red shoes whose death Hawking predicts. Certainly this event was not in Faraday’s journal. Does this mean she time traveled or consciousness shifted to this moment? How else would she know?

We get to see Desmond take his famous photograph with Penny here. It’s a Polaroid. That means only one copy – which Desmond took. So how does Naomi end up with her copy of the same photo when she arrives later this season?

The end of this episode is when Desmond reveals that Charlie is going to die. A powerful and suspenseful plot arc that last through the balance of the season.

Also check out Lost Season 3 Rewatch: Episodes 1x1 - 1x4

"The Crash"

So that whole Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear thing... Besides hinting at the title for the first episode of Season 6 (LA X), the Paul Schreer site turned out to be an elaborate setup for a Lost fan art auction. The original DCAAPB site is no longer online. Instead the URL diverts you to a site selling limited edition screen printed artwork. Check them out here.

I'm glad this one is sold out, otherwise I'd probably waste 50 bucks I don't have to hang it on my wall. This makes Lost look like a movie. Somehow the mammoth 5 seasons of plot are distilled here to capture the fell of the whole story.

Is Everything on Craigslist a Scam?!

The latest Wired magazine has a great feature on why Craigslist is such a mess. It asks why the world's most popular site for job searching, apartment hunting, and dating looks stuck in the web circa 1999. Craiglist doesn't have a single contemporary feature common to any online transaction site, such as user profiles, ratings, electronic tracking of transactions, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like Criagslist. Or I like the idea of Craigslist. It's like an online worldwide garage sale. Where else can you find a SHOWER IN A BUCKET! And there's always so much free dirt!

Everything on Craigslist is anonymous and un-archived, while the rest of our online lives ask for endless personal information and every jot and tiddle of info can be saved forever. Sounds like a relief, right? Unfortunately this fact has created a breeding ground for Internet scammers.

Be it selling furniture or looking for apartments, I haven't been able to do a thing on Craigslist lately without being overwhelmed by scammers.

After inquiring about a perfectly legitimate looking ads for apartments all over Los Angeles, here's the type of email I've been receiving:

It is a great pleasure that to you are interested in my House.Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you.I am Michael Barasch,the owner of the house you are making inquiry of.Actually I resided in the house with my family,such as my wife and my only daughter before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in the (West Africa Nigeria) and presently my house is still available for rent. Including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is furnished .Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent a lot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own...

Blah, blah, blah... Basically they ask for me to send them a check and they promise to mail me the keys to the place! And in case I go to look through the windows and find there's furniture in the place (cause obviously someone still lives there!), they assure me they had to leave some personal items behind. They're always written in poor English and (strangely enough) always claim to be living in West Africa. The names, details, and amounts change from on listing to another.

Who's falling for this! Seriously! What's most annoying is that it literally adds hours to the time I spend on Craigslist trying to sort out what ads are scams.

The site wasn't this bad say two or three years ago. But I feel that in Craigslist's resistance to change with the times, it's become one of the last safe havens for this widespread type of scamming.