"The Variable" (Season 5, Episode 14)

Love him or hate him, you've got to appreciate that President Obama made sure his "First 100 Days" news conference didn't run long and delay the 100th episode of Lost. And with Mother's Day just around the corner, what an appropriate show to appreciate that - hopefully - your own mother isn't as manipulative as Eloise Hawking and wouldn't (knowingly?) shoot you if you time traveled to see her.

Best Line

• "Good Lord, no." Eloise's response to Penny mistakenly believing she is the mother of Benjamin Linus.
  

Did You Notice?

• I couldn't identify it but I feel that the show playing on the hospital waiting room's wall-mounted television was an Easter Egg. Maybe an episode of "Expose".
  
• The song both young and older Faraday were playing on the piano was "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", a melancholy song about elusive dreams.
• Was Eloise crying when she walked in on young Daniel because she knew that she would shoot him on the island? When asked by Penny if Desmond was going to die, Eloise told her that for the first time in a long time, she didn't know what was going to happen next. So perhaps up until then, Eloise did know events in advance.
• Another perfect casting choice with the actress who played the middle-aged Eloise.
• On second viewing, the conversation between young Daniel and his mother ("I could make time." "If only you could.") is very significant.
• The scene in the underground mine with Dr. Chang and the foreman is the same from this season's first episode but from Daniel's point of view.
  
• The catastrophic accident that Faraday speaks of to Dr. Chang is no doubt the "incident" that the doctor later mentioned in the Season 2 orientation film.
• Theresa the lab assistant who Eloise so bluntly dismissed is the woman hospitalized at home that Desmond visited earlier this season.
• Eloise told Daniel in the restaurant that the women (plural) in his life will be terribly hurt. Does she know Charlotte's destiny at this point?
• Again, re-watching this episode adds impact to Eloise's inscription in Daniel's journal: "No matter what, remember, I will always love you."
  
• The woman with Faraday when he is watching the news report on Oceanic 815 was Caroline, his caregiver.
• The magazine that Widmore moves was the 2003 issue of Wired — ''The Super-Powers Issue'' — featuring articles on the plausible science behind far-fetched stuff like invisibility, X-ray vision, and time travel. The cover headline read: ''The Impossible Gets Real!''
• Did you see the look Juliet gave Sawyer when he once again called Kate by her nickname "Freckles"?
  
• Young Charlotte's comment that she wasn't allowed to have chocolate before dinner was also one of the last things adult Charlotte said before she died.
• Faraday's comments about people's choices changing their destiny reminded me of something I had said in one of my early e-mails (pre-blog) when the series first started. I had written that the characters had ended up in their current lives because of choices they had made and Locke was helping each one of them resolve their issues (Jack's conflict with his father, Sawyer's vengeful anger, Boone's love for his step sister).
• Could the hydrogen bomb be what lies in the shadow of the statue?
  
• Charles Widmore is Faraday's father! Add this to the long list of daddy issues seemingly every character on the show has. So this makes Daniel and Penny half-brother and -sister, unless Eloise is Penny's mother, too! And was Daniel conceived on the island? Is this why he is special?
  
• Richard Alpert apparently doesn't recognize Faraday from when he visited him in the 1950's. Crazy theory #1: There is more than one Richard Alpert. Crazy theory #2: Each time Richard is about to die, he goes into the temple and is reborn but has no memory (like when young Ben was healed of his gunshot wound).
• Is Faraday's one of the deaths predicted for this season? He is a well-liked "major-ish" character as the on-line comments referred.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Penny told Eloise that Charlie is 2 years old.
  
• Young Faraday stated that there were 864 metronome beats.
• Jack asked Sawyer what he was busy with at 6 o'clock in the morning.
• Faraday told Miles he will be back in 10 minutes.
• Faraday explained to Chang that the Swan site would have an accident in 6 hours.
  
• Sawyer said they only have 2 options now that they were exposed.
  
• Sawyer noted that there were 2 votes for going back to Square One.
• Faraday had received a 1.5 million pound research grant.
  
• Faraday warned Jack that there will be an accident at the Swan Station in 4 hours.
  

Previews - I had read that next week's penultimate episode, "Follow the Leader", will feature flashbacks for Richard Alpert. Then on May 13, the two-hour finale, "The Incident", the Muppet Babies theme will continue with a young Kate, a young Juliet, and a young Sawyer and a mysterious individual observing each of them.

See You Here Next Week

With nothing new to report from last night's clip show, stop back next Thursday for a recap of the explosive 100th episode, "The Variable".

"Some Like It Hoth" (Season 5, Episode 13)

Lost and Star Wars. Two of my favorite things. I have a blog dedicated to one and a room in my house dedicated to the other. I know, I'm a geek. But who's more of a geek: the guy who writes a blog based on a TV show or the people who read it? Then again, there is that Star Wars room, so I guess I take the prize. On to last night's episode. . .

Best Line (Star Wars-related, of course)

• "And let's face it, Ewoks suck, dude." Hurley to Miles after a Star Wars analogy on the importance of father and son relationships.
  

Did You Notice?

• We can add little Miles to our growing cast of characters with younger selves (Ben, Ethan, Sayid). Maybe the producers should go the Muppet Babies route and create a Saturday morning show with these children? Dharma Street? (Smokey Monster says today's show is brought to you by the letter L and the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.) The Electro-Magnetism Company? (HEY, YOU OTHERS!) Mr. Albert's Neighborhood? (It's a beautiful day in the underground temple.)
  
• The extra key to apartment 4 is hidden under a white rabbit statue. "Alice in Wonderland" reference?
• So the Orchid Station was built in territory belonging to the Hostiles.
• What events led to the breakdown of the Chang family?
  
• The songs heard in the Dharma van are "It Never Rains in Southern California" by Albert Hammond (released in 1972) and "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain and Tennille (released as a cover in 1975).
• Hurley's question about how to spell "bounty hunter" is obviously a reference to Boba Fett from "The Empire Strikes Back".
• Abbott and Costello. Ren and Stimpy. Miles and Hurley. Great comedic pairings.
• Alvarez's filling being pulled through his head was apparently the result of the electro-magnetism.
  
• As previously suspected, Miles is the son of Dr. Chang.
  
• Yet another alias for Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle/Mark Wickmund/Edgar Hallifax: Douche, as in "That douche is my dad."
• Miles' reading of dead Felix leads us to believe that Widmore did fake the crash site of Oceanic Flight 815 as previously explained to Michael by Tom, supported by the photos of empty graves and a purchase order for a plane.
• Miles was hired by Widmore through Naomi to read the final thoughts of the Dharma dead killed by Ben in the Purge.
  
• Lots of notes on Ancient, Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian on the school room blackboard that Jack is (symbolically?) erasing.
• Miles' look when he finds out his father likes country music is priceless.
  
• Bram in the van of men that snatch Miles is one of the three men we previously saw helping Ilana on the beach with the guns. Once again, the code (?) phrase of "What lies in the shadow of the statue" is spoken.
• The $3.2 million (double what Naomi offered him) that Miles asks for from Bram answers why this was the amount he demanded of Ben when Miles first encountered him on the island in order to tell Widmore that Ben was dead.
• Bram's comment to Miles about being on the "wrong team" goes back to Widmore's statement to Locke about the upcoming war and being on the right side. So they are not working for Widmore based on Bram's comments. Are they Ben's people or maybe even Ms. Hawking's?
• I presume one of the "couple of improvements" Hurley was making to "The Empire Strikes Back" was that Chewbacca fired on and successfully destroyed the probe droid as opposed to how it actually happened, which was that Han Solo was responsible while Chewie looked on. (I told you I was a geek.)
  
• The book Chang was reading to baby Miles was titled "Me and My Polar Bear".
  
• So did Faraday leave on the sub in 1974 when the others stayed and is just coming back in 1977, three years later? Has he been at the Ann Arbor, Michigan, headquarters this whole time?
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108
(Only one number reference last week but lots this week!)

• The time on the microwave in the apartment Miles' mother rents is 3:16 (same as the Ajira flight number).
• The landlord wants 2 months of rent up front.
• Young Miles goes into Apartment 4.
• Sawyer asks Miles to erase the tape from security camera 4.
• Horace tells Miles to go to grid 334.
• Juliet tells Roger she was only gone from Ben's side for 10 minutes.
• Naomi offers Miles 1.6 million dollars to go to the island.
• Chang says his son is 3 months old.
• The serial number of the Hatch is (naturally) 4 8 15 16 23 42.
• Hurley says he was 10 when his dad left.
  

Previews - Next week will be a recap of the fifth season so far. "Lost: The Story of the Oceanic 6" will review the lives of the characters since Ben turned the frozen donkey wheel. Then in two weeks, we have the 100th episode, "The Variable" which is being compared to "The Constant". Makes sense.

"Dead is Dead" (Season 5, Episode 12)

It was all about Ben last night. Ben, the boy. Ben, the unexpected father. Ben, the leader. Ben, the killer. Ben, the manipulator. Ben, the repented. And how great to see the various stages of Ben and Charles Widmore's relationship from first meeting to confrontations to expulsion from the island. Although this wonderfully insightful episode focused on Ben, I have to say that death has done wonders for Locke. He is a new man with a twinkle in his eye, a smirk on his face, and a renewed confidence, going so far as to finally being able to put Ben in his place.

Best Line

• "Consider that my apology." Ben to Locke after shooting Caesar in the chest.
  

Did You Notice?

• It was perfect casting of the forty-something (?) Widmore in the the opening scene. I knew right who this was supposed to be. Something with the eyes.
• Are we to presume that the scene with Hitler-haired Ben and young Ethan took place prior to the Purge? The Others are still living in tents and not Dharmaville. If so, what happened to his parents?
• So Ben knows about the whispers since he warned young Rousseau to run the other way when she hears them.
  
• Ben's shooting of Caesar was such a shock, more so than Sayid's shooting of young Ben a couple of weeks ago. The question is whether Caesar is really dead.
• Why did Locke remove his shoes prior to the boat trip? Did he not want them to get wet or was there some other significance since these actually belong to Christian?
• At this point, we've seen Ethan born on the island as well as baby Alex. When did women stop being able to give birth there? And what caused it?
• Why was Charles Widmore so adamant that baby Alex should be killed?
  
• The board game Risk that Hurley was playing last season was on the table in Ben's house.
• We once again saw the portrait of the blond woman in Ben's house. Is it possible this is Juliet as he remembered her from the 1970's?
• I'm not sure I understand (or want to know) why Ben unclogging his closet's drain summons the smoke monster. Was the drain clogged with the hair from all the bad wigs on this episode?
• I loved Ben's line to Penny that what's about to come out of the jungle is something he can't control only to have Locke appear. Foreshadowing!
  
• Desmond and Penny's boat, "Our Mutual Friend", has the same name as the book by Charles Dickens in which Desmond stored his love letter from Penny while in jail.
• So the vine covered walls are not the Temple itself but a protective wall around it. Could the Temple itself be a pyramid in keeping with the Egyptian theme?
• Hard to miss the significance of little Charlie appearing just in time to give Ben second thoughts about shooting Penny.
  
• We now know that Ben shot Desmond, but the question becomes what happened to Desmond after he tossed Ben into the water? Did he survive? He seemed pretty aggressive for someone who was apparently shot in the chest. Or did his bag of groceries contain some bullet-blocking item? Spam? Ben seemed to think Desmond was okay based on his comment to Sun about apologizing for him should she see Desmond again.
• The shot of the blood-belching Ben underwater was both artistic and horrific at the same time.
  
• I once again ask are we really supposed to believe that Desmond and Penny sailed their boat from England to California? Possible, I suppose, but if he desperately wanted to reach Ms. Hawking, why would he take the time?
• Was Ilana's query "What lies in the shadow of the statue" a recognition code phrase or an actual question? Could she be on Widmore's payroll? Are the three men helping Ilana in his employ as well?
  
• The Temple hieroglyphic featured a devil-headed smoke monster face-to-face with a kneeling Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead who lead them to the afterlife. For a closer look, here you go:

• The stone grate had 49 holes, of which the smoke monster only came out of certain ones.
• Ben's encounter with Smokey was reminiscent of Eko's encounter with it as scenes of the past played out before him. Of course, Ben's outcome was more successful. Also, Alex appearing to Ben was like Yemi appearing to his brother, Mister Eko. It's now obvious the smoke monster can manifest itself into people.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• One of the Flight 316 survivors informed Lapidus that Ilana and 3 others found guns.
  

Previews - Next week's "Some Like it Hoth" will feature the adult Miles on a road trip with Hurley and flashbacks to a young Miles. There is also a scene of Jack in front of a chalkboard with references to the Egyptians on it. In two weeks, there will not be a new episode but a recap special of the first 13 episodes, then a return in three weeks to new episodes leading up to the two-hour finale, "The Incident", on May 13.

"Whatever Happened, Happened" (Season 5, Episode 11)

For me, this episode definitely goes in the hit column. When you get right down to it, it was essentially a series of emotional duets. Juliet and Jack. Kate and Sawyer. Kate and Cassidy. Kate and Roger Linus? (I can see it now. Roger: Ben, meet your new mom.) There was humor: Hurley and Miles attempting to explain time travel to each other? Classic. There was heartbreak: Even if you're not a parent, Kate's parting line to Aaron "Bye-bye, baby" was wrenching. There was foreboding: Locke and Ben in a role reversal with Locke in the position of power giving Ben a clever line ("Welcome back to the land of the living.") followed by a knowing smirk before the final thump.

Best Lines

• "No, you're all free to leave whenever you want. But I'll have to shoot you in the leg." Miles in response to Jack's question of whether they were under house arrest.
• "You're an idiot." Miles's opinion of Hurley after his Back to the Future time travel comments.
  

Did You Notice?

• Patsy Cline's "She's Got You" was playing in Kate's car. The singer, who died in a plane crash, has had her songs featured throughout the past seasons of the show.
• Kate was singing "Catch a Falling Star" to baby Aaron, which is the song Claire told the prospective adoptive parents in Season 1 that her father sang to her and she would like them to sing to her baby. It was also the melody of the plane mobile in the Dharma nursery in Season 2.
• We got the answer as to what Sawyer whispered to Kate in the helicopter: Take care of his daughter Clementine.
• I loved that even the show's characters (Hurley and Miles) cannot figure out the convoluted nature of time travel.
  
• Since Jack refused to operate on young Ben, Kate was then forced to take matters into her own hands, resulting in Ben being given to Richard Alpert and the Others. Was this the island fixing itself? If Jack had saved Ben, then would Ben never have turned out the way he did? Would his innocence not have been gone?
  
• Our second answer of the night was what happened to Aaron: Claire's mum is taking care of him.
• Thank you to my co-worker Carl for pointing out the obvious (but not to me) that "Ellie and Charles" mentioned by the Other to Richard was a reference to young Ms. Hawking and Charles Widmore. Sometimes I'm so intent on the details, I miss the easy ones!
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• The grocery store stock boy told Kate the juice boxes were in aisle 5.
• Claire's mum was in motel room K10 and Kate checked into a room 2 doors down.
  

Previews - Next week's "Dead is Dead" looks like Indiana Linus and the Temple of Smoke. Plus, it appears we'll see who Ben may have shot at the marina. Inside sources say it isn't Penny. Well, Desmond, the island may finally be through with you after all. And in two weeks, "Some Like It Hoth" (yes, as in the snow planet from "The Empire Strikes Back") will feature a young Miles and perhaps answer the question of whether he is the son of Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle/Mark Wickmund.