"The Package" (Season 6, Episode 10)

You may be surprised to learn that I actually liked this Jin and Sun episode. Although not one of great revelations, nonetheless it had some nifty moments and unexpected developments, not the least of which was the reappearance of Desmond.

Best Line

• "Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I'm not sure Hurley can track anything." Miles doubting Ilana's confidence in Hurley finding Richard.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• Apparently in this time line, Sun never had to learn English to escape her marriage from Jin because she had instead fallen in love with him. Presumably, this Sun also never had an affair with her English tutor.
• I'm sure the male viewers all appreciated the variation on the "button up your blouse" theme. That was to balance out all the previous shirtless Sawyer scenes.
  
• Mirror Moment of the Week: Sun fixes her hair in the hotel room mirror before answering the door. She quite clearly experienced a moment of disorientation. Interesting that this scene followed the scene of her island self being knocked unconscious and losing the ability to speak English.
• Martin Keamy is creepy once again, especially with his "Godzilla movie" comment, "Arab" remark to Omar, and clearly explaining (albeit in English) how he was going to kill Jin right to his face.
  
• If you remember, Mikhail on the island was the eye patch-wearing Other who blew up the underwater Dharma station that killed Charlie. It is obviously predestined that he should lose his right eye, here from Jin's gunshot to the face.
• Mikhail is referred to by Keamy as "Danny's friend". Is this the alternate version of Danny Pickett, the Other who was killed on the beach by Juliet in Season 3? Or could Danny be referring to Daniel Faraday, who we have yet to see in this time line?
• Keamy's comment of living "happily ever after" foreshadows the title of next week's episode.
• After talking to a few people, apparently I wasn't the only one who thought Keamy made a reference to the island when he was confining Jin to the chair in the freezer. What he said was "I'm strapping you in just in case you figure out what's about to happen to you." At least that's what the close-captioning said. But it sure sounded like he said "what's about to happen to the island." It must just be Keamy's natural oiliness oozing through.
  
• There was a sort-of mirror moment when Jin was in the freezer and the metal of the open door reflected his image.
• I wonder if Jin will take wounded Sun to Jack's hospital?
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• The night vision surveillance of the beach camp abruptly ended when they zoomed in on UnLocke.
• Sayid has almost become zombie-like in his "I don't feel anything" condition.
• The tranquilizer dart scene is reminiscent of Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley being knocked out by the Others in the Season 2 finale.
• Miles always seems to be playing games. We've seen him playing Solitaire and Tic Tac Toe at the temple and cards with Lapidus in this episode.
• UnLocke offered his hand to Sun as he had with Kate in an earlier episode, but she too avoided his touch.
• Is Sun's inability to speak English really a medical condition or did UnLocke purposely do this to her when she was unconscious?
• Room 23 where Jin was brought by Zoe is the same room in which Alex's boyfriend Karl had been captive in Season 3.
• The subliminal messages in the Room 23 experiment included "Think about your life", "We are the causes of our own suffering", and "Everything changes". Among the images were a wood-burning stove, a drafting compass, a statue of Buddha, and the moon.
• I was a little confused by why Jin's name would be on a grid map denoting pockets of electromagnetism. In the 70's, he was a security guard for Dharma. Would he have signed maps? Or did someone forge his name. Maybe Daniel Faraday who we did see at the underground drilling site in the 70's?
• UnLocke told Claire her name was not on the cave wall. However, the name Littleton was there with the number 313. Unless of course, the name refers to Aaron.
• UnLocke's comment to Claire about Kate "Whatever happens, happens" is a present tense version of Faraday's statement about changing the time line in Season 5.
• The sonic pylons were strategically arranged to prevent UnLocke from getting to the Ajira plane.
• UnLocke's comment about a wise man saying that a war was coming to the island refers to Widmore's statement when he visited the real Locke in Season 5. Once again, the Man in Black is able to access Locke's memories.
• I really liked the scene with Sun's emotional tirade in Korean while everyone stood around with no idea what she was saying.
• Zoe is a geophysicist, a scientist who studies the physical characteristics of the Earth.
• I presume the Shar Pei dog in the photos of Ji-Yeon on Sun's camera is Bpo Bpo, the same dog Jin gave Sun back in Season 1.
  
• What did Widmore mean when he told Jin that everyone "will simply cease to be" if the Man in Black is able to leave the island? The destruction of mankind? As many people asked me, so is Widmore the good guy? I'm not sure it's that black and white (no pun intended). Of course, is anyone who they seem on this show?
• As opposed to her reaction to UnLocke, Sun readily accepts Jack's outstretched hand.
• Jack really has become a different person since the lighthouse. Will he be the next protector of the island? His last name is Shephard.
• Now we know who was locked in the sub: Desmond. But why? And why did he need to be so heavily drugged? What is his significance to this, and maybe the other, time line?
  

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

• The hotel clerk told Sun her room was on the 8th floor.
• Jin insisted on 2 hotel rooms.
• Jin's room was number 842.
• UnLocke told Claire he was 3 people shy of getting off the island.
• Sawyer started to tell Kate they could be screwed 6 ways from Sunday.
  

Previews
Next week's "Happily Ever After" features Desmond in a "deeply emotional episode that will make you smile" and "involves some surprising old friends coming back into the mix in the alternate time line and someone seeing the truth", according to eonline. I have also read that it turns out Desmond is very special and we'll soon see why he had to be brought to the island.

And does the title refer to him and Penny or a reunion of Jin and Sun? This is also the episode in which we should learn the new four-letter word with no A and an E which characterizes the series. Still sticking with TEST. Although it'll probably be something silly like GLUE or SHOE or DEER. Yes, I'm still dissatisfied with CORK.

Then in two weeks, on April 13, "Everybody Loves Hugo" features two "spirited" appearances by characters from Hurley's life on the island.

Take My First Poll!

To the right is my blog's first poll. Since I seem to be one of the few people who didn't think "Ab Aeterno" (Richard' episode) was one of the best, I'd like my readers to voice their opinion. The poll will be open until next Friday, April 2.

"Ab Aeterno" (Season 6, Episode 9)

"From eternity." "Since the beginning." "For long ages." These are all what the title of tonight's show essentially translates from Latin. Now, I may be in the minority here, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by this episode. It could be that I bought into the hype (most provided by myself in this very blog!). Or as my co-worker Scott thought, the story was so straightforward, there wasn't much for me to have to point out. And subtitles on Lost always interfere with my ability to focus on all the little details. As long-time readers of this blog know I didn't typically like the early Jin and Sun episodes for this same reason. My expectations for Richard's back story was to start with his Black Rock origins but to then move through time, stopping at various points (meeting young Ben, the Dharma purge) until the present. I wasn't necessarily crazy about the telenovelas approach. I was also hoping for a more literal four-letter word for the island, revealing what it is, and not the more metaphorical "cork".

Best Line

• "Oh, this should be interesting." Ben comment at the camp fire right before Jack is told about UnLocke.
  

Did You Notice?

• This was the first episode this season to not feature flash-sideways to the 2004 time line, but only flashbacks.
• The close-up of Ilana's eye opening is classic Lost imagery.
• Richard's rant that they're all dead and in Hell was said to throw us off. I'm not buying in to that theory. Early on, the producers stated they weren't dead and it wasn't all a dream.
• Ricardo's home island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands would, in March 1977, be the sight of the deadliest plane crash in aviation history. Two Boeing 747s collided on the runway, resulting in 583 fatalities.
• Did anyone else for a second think the Spanish priest was Cheech Marin, the actor who plays Hurley's dad?
• In prison, the Bible opens to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verse 37. In this chapter, Jesus has returned from his time in the desert, where he thwarted the temptation of the Devil. As verse 37 approaches, a man with a "spirit of unclean devil" challenges Jesus, who then summons the devil out of the man, much to the amazement of those present.
• The captain of the Black Rock (although we don't see him) is mentioned by Whitfield to be Magnus Hanso. This is the great-grandfather of Alvar Hanso, founder of the Dharma Initiative. Magnus is apparently killed when the ship crashes on the island as one of the officers on deck is overheard to say he is dead when Ricardo and the other slaves are below.
• Since the Black Rock destroys the four-toed statue in the late 1800's, when the Oceanic survivors were jumping through time and momentarily saw the statue intact, this obviously was at a time prior to this.
• In last season's finale, we saw Jacob and the Man in Black on the beach watching a sailing ship on calm waters under a blue sky. It was presumed to be the Black Rock. However, last night's events show a tumultuous sea with waves strong enough to lift the ship to the head of the statue and strong enough to smash through it. If Jacob is responsible for bringing people to the island, could he be behind the storm? Whereas the Man in Black has the ability to shape shift and turn into smoke perhaps Jacob's powers relate to water, including the healing pool and controlling the rain? What better way to disperse smoke than with water.
• We have previously seen the Smoke Monster "flash" when reading a person (Eko, Juliet). Is this how he knows about Isabella and is able to take her form to convince Ricardo they are dead and in Hell?
• Was the butterfly that flew into the ship's hold significant? Was it symbolic of the Butterfly Effect, which states that a small change can cause major differences over a long term? Also, immediately after, it began raining with which Ricardo tried to quench his thirst. Was this Jacob's doing?
• In Season 1, wild boars were also a problem scavenging the remains in the wreckage of Flight 815.
• The touch by the Man in Black seemed to bring Ricardo back to consciousness. Jacob did something similar to Locke when his father pushed him out the window.
• The Man in Black's comment to Ricardo, "It's good to see you out of those chains", is what UnLocke said when he first saw Richard at the statue in 2007.
• The dagger and instructions the Man in Black gave to Ricardo are the same as what Dogen gave to Sayid.
• Jacob's forceful way with Ricardo in the water to prove he wasn't dead made me think it was almost like a baptism. Plus, it was similar to what was done to Sayid at the temple.
• Jacob seemed surprised by Ricardo's comment that if Jacob doesn't step in to shape the outcome, then it's only logical that the Man in Black will. It was if he had never considered that. Is this why Jacob then involved himself in the lives of the Oceanic candidates?
• So Jacob cannot bring back the dead or absolve someone of their sins, but he can, with a touch, grant everlasting life.
  
• Jacob's gift of the white rock ties back (forward?) to the white rock on the scale in Jacob's cave that UnLocke tossed into the ocean.
• In what I like to call the "Ghost Whisperer" scene near the end, did you notice Hurley did not translate everything Isabella said but Richard seemed to hear her and even responded to her?
  
• So if the wine represents Hell, malevolence, evil, and darkness, and the cork is the island, what is the bottle itself? I think this is important since the Man in Black smashed the bottle, proving the wine can be removed without using the cork. Is the bottle mankind's resolve? Its spirit?

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

• Jacob told Ilena in the hospital that there are 6 people he needs her to protect.
• Ricardo's Bible opens to Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Luke.
• Whitfield explains to Ricardo that there are only 5 officers left after they are shipwrecked.
  

Previews
Next week, this episode will not be are-run at 8 p.m. Of course it's the one episode that we would want to have enhanced. Damn you, Dancing with the Stars! At 9 p.m. ET, "The Package" airs featuring Jin and Sun. In their flash-sideways, we learn something about their relationship. Did you notice that the Customs agent in the premiere referred to Sun by her maiden name? Hint, hint. I believe we will also learn from UnLocke what is needed for them to leave the island. And possibly in connection to that, it will be revealed that a female character is "expendable". Is this why we saw what appeared to be an unconscious Sun in the jungle in the previews? And does this mean the Kwon who is the candidate is in fact Jin?

Upcoming
Ready for another hint of what's to come?A new four-letter word will be revealed in two weeks which is very important. This word has no A's, one E, and as of Episode 11, it will be clear that this four-letter word is what this series is ultimately all about. It's also the word that just might end up connecting the two time lines of this season. My guess: TEST. Mankind being tested by Jacob and the Man in Black to prove our worthiness.

The fifteenth episode, airing May 11 (which I think means one week without a new episode) will focus on Jacob and the Man in Black and we should expect it to be different than the pattern of this season's other episodes.

"Recon" (Season 6, Episode 8)

The title of tonight's episode at face value seems to refer to the reconnaissance UnLocke has Sawyer do on Hydra Island, but as a pun ("re-con"), it could play on the various cons that occur throughout the episode: Jim Ford's sting operation, Zoe's fabricated story, and UnLocke's attempts to ingratiate himself to Kate. Nobody's actions can really be trusted in this episode.

Best Line

• "Well, nobody's perfect." UnLocke to Kate after she referred to him as a dead man.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• Bedding a woman for his con was previously done by Sawyer in "Confidence Man" (Jessica) and "The Long Con" (Cassidy).
  
• The woman in bed with Jim Ford is Ava and she is played by Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, who you may know as Gretchen from the TV series Prison Break.
• I like how Ava uses the nickname "Dimples" to refer to Jim. How do you like it, Jimmy?
  
• Is Ava's con man husband someone important? Someone we've seen before?
• Jim's magic word "LaFleur" is of course the alias Sawyer used with the Dharma Initiative.
• Obviously, Jim and Miles are destined to be in law enforcement as their island counterparts held security jobs with Dharma.
• Anthony Cooper (aka the real Sawyer) is Locke's father. So since Locke and he are on good terms (he's invited to Locke and Helen's wedding), are we to presume he changed his ways at some point? And does this mean Jim may be an unexpected guest at the upcoming nuptials?
• Miles' comment about his dad working at the museum indicates Dr. Pierre Chang also left the island before it submerged.
• Will we eventually see who Miles' girlfriend is? Naomi from the freighter maybe?
• If Charlotte is going on blind dates, does this mean she and Faraday are still unrequited lovers?
• We previously saw Charlotte on an archaeological dig in Tunisia when she discovered the polar bear skeleton with the Dharma collar.
• In this time line, Jim Ford chose cop over criminal, although how clean of one is up for discussion. After all, he let Kate flee airport security when he clearly saw she was handcuffed.
• The three books on Jim's dresser (which Sawyer had all read on the island) are:

1. Watership Down by Richard Adams and is often seen as a social commentary using a group of rabbits as the main characters, and chronicling their search for a new place to live after they narrowly escape the poisoning and excavation of their warren by men.
2. A Wrinkle in Time, a children's fantasy novel, written by Madeleine L'Engle, about two children, accompanied by a friend, who search through space and time for their father. It involves an evil that is expanding through the universe and multiple dimensions, culminating in a happy ending.
3. Lancelot by Walker Percy is about Lancelot Lamar, a lawyer, who, when he discovers that he is not the father of his youngest daughter, kills his wife by blowing up their house (shades of Kate). He ends up being confined in a mental institution (shades of Hurley), where he then dwells on the memories of his frightful past. There is a surrealistic element, where reality blends with delirium.

• The man looking for help at the police desk is Liam, Charlie's brother and fellow member of the band, Drive Shaft.
• Mirror Moment of the Week: Jim shatters his reflection in the locker room mirror.
  
• Sawyer had previously told Kate in Season 3 that when he was sick as a child, he watched Little House on the Prairie.
• Charles Ingalls' speech from the rerun is appropriate not only to Jim Ford's obsession with Sawyer but to the theme of Lost itself: "You can spend your whole life worrying about what's going to happen. People aren't really gone when they die, because they live in memories. Memories that sustain us until we see them again."
• Sawyer had given a sunflower to Juliet last season but with better results than what happened with Charlotte.
• "Son of a bitch" is the last line spoken in this time line (when Jim Ford catches fugitive Kate) and it is also the first spoken line of this episode in the island time line (when Sawyer burns his hand on Claire's coffee pot).
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• Now we learned where Sawyer and Jin were during the temple attack: Claire's cozy (or is that crazy?) abode.
• I loved the look on Kate's face when she saw Claire's button-eyed, animal skulled substitute for Aaron. "It's all I had." Yikes.
  
• Random thought: Could children Zack and Emma, tail section survivors, end up being the Adam and Eve skeletons?
• The Hydra Station was of course where Sawyer and Kate were kept caged in Season 3 and it is the dress that Ben made Kate wear that Sawyer finds.
• I'm not sure who's the craziest right now: Sayid or Claire?
• Who did kill the Ajira passengers? UnLocke? Widmore's people? And were these folks just traveling to Guam or, like Ilana and Caesar, were they all Jacob's people on the plane with a purpose?
  
• Zoe means "life" in Greek. She is played by Sheila Kelly, who appeared in the 80's TV series L.A. Law and in real life is married to actor Richard Schiff from The West Wing.
• Kate made a point to avoid physical contact with UnLocke and didn't take his hand when he offered it.
• Zoe's whistle to her associates echoed Jim Ford's "magic word" moment to bring in reinforcements at the start of the episode.
  
• Zoe's chubby-faced associate who held Sawyer at gun point is played by Frederick Koehler, who as a child was Allie's son Chip on the 80's TV series Kate & Allie.
• Was there any truth to UnLocke's comments about his crazy mother and his "growing pains" (what's with all the old TV series references?) or was he channeling the real Locke's memories? Locke's mother spent time in the Santa Rosa Hospital (where Hurley was) for schizophrenia and he was in foster homes. Was this UnLocke's way to get sympathy and even cause Kate to be suspicious of Claire, who UnLocke probably also suggested she make nice with Kate.
• The last time Sawyer saw a sub was in 1977 when he and Juliet were trying to leave the island and start a new life.
• What is behind the locked cabin door on the sub? Or should I say who?
• Interesting how Sawyer's reference to the "bodies in the ditch" to Widmore evokes the image of the Dharma members who Ben gassed during the Purge.
• Kate's comment to Sawyer on them having rabbit for dinner is one more bunny reference in the series.
• I presume Sawyer's taking of the sub will include taking the sub captain as well. Because in addition to not being able to fly a plane, I'm pretty sure submarine piloting is not one of his skills.
  

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

• The motel alarm clock reads 8:42.
• Miles says Sawyer flew back 2 days ago.
• Zoe tells Sawyer she spent 2 days dragging the bodies of the Ajira passengers out of the sun.
• Sawyer's apartment number is 245.
• Charlotte points out that Sawyer kicked her out at 3 o'clock.
• Sawyer comments on Zoe's 6 armed com padres.
  

Previews
Next week, 8 p.m. ET: enhanced version, then at 9 p.m. ET: the one we've been waiting for:"Ab Aeterno" in which we will learn Richard's back story and find out what the island is. As Richard says in the previews, "All this? It's not what you think it is." (My latest guess based on the clue of a four-letter word with an "o" is "book".) This episode which is scheduled in a 1 hour and 5 minute time slot will also mark the halfway point of the final season.

Some upcoming spoilers from eonline:

• Someone we have not yet met will have an important message for Hurley next week.
• UnLocke is going to tell Jin how he plans to get off the island and apparently it's pretty juicy.
• There is a "package" up ahead that might be the most butterfly-inducing reveal so far this season. (Faraday coming out of the locked room on the sub?)
  

"Dr. Linus" (Season 6, Episode 7)

Last week, Ben told Sayid there was still time, but Sayid answered "Not for me." Both island Sayid and Sideways Sayid could not change their destiny of being a merciless killer. This week, though we saw that there was still time for Ben.

Best Line

• "I'll have you." A very forgiving Ilana to Ben after he bares his soul and confesses his belief that only UnLocke will have him. I felt this was a very powerful moment.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• I loved Dr. Linus' lesson on Elba where Napoleon was exiled: "And it was on this island that everything changed, that everything became clear." How fitting.
• Principal Donald Lawrence Reynolds was played by William Atherton, who you may remember as the obnoxious reporter in "Die Hard" and "Die Hard 2".
  
• Maybe if Leslie Arzt knew his island self was blown up by defective dynamite, he might not complain so much about out-dated lab equipment.
• Substitute teacher Locke's comments about Dr. Linus becoming the man in charge and that it was time for a change foreshadowed UnLocke's similar statements later in the show when he told Ben he could be in charge of the island.
• The weekly moment of reflection occurred when Dr. Linus was looking at himself in the microwave's glass door.
• The kindly, gentler Dr. Linus replaces the oxygen tank for his ailing father whereas the island Ben used gas to kill him.
  
• Think about the impact on the island of Roger Linus taking his son off the island. Ben never met Richard Alpert, never gassed the Dharma folks, and never banished Charles Widmore from the island. Did Widmore stay in charge? Did he leave in this time line before the island became submerged?
• The sailing ship in the history book is very similar to the Black Rock.
• I wonder what two jobs Alex's mother, Danielle Rousseau, has?
• The school nurse's name is Kim Kondracki. Nothing important about that other than it seemed like it could be an anagram.
• When Arzt told Dr. Linus he was a real killer, Ben seemed to have a moment of deja vu as if maybe he remembered that his island self was.
• Dr. Linus telling Principal Reynolds to resign due to his indiscretions with the school nurse mirrored Ben forcing Widmore off the island due to him breaking the rules by having a family off the island, specifically a daughter with an outsider.

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• Revealed in the enhanced version of last week's show, the novel Dogen was reading when Sayid confronted him was Deep River by Shusako Endo. Published in 1993, it tells the story of five Japanese people who gather on the banks of the river Ganges (which the author calls the deep river) to tell their stories of suffering & searching.
• Ilana scrounging for and collecting equipment to "build a shelter" was a cover for her true intentions of creating shackles for Ben. Her handiwork as well as her past use of Latin with Richard makes me wonder if she shares a history with him, perhaps going back to the days of the Black Rock.
• Hurley waking up in the grass made me think of the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz" when he comes to in the field of enchanted poppies.
• Lots of tidbits and teases in Richard's comments for the viewers anxiously awaiting his flashback. For instance, when he appeared in the jungle and Jack asked where he had come from, Richard replied "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." And when Jack responded, "Try me", Richard put him off with "Not yet."
• The books Ben found in Sawyer's tent were Justice and Truth in Action by former British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli and The Chosen by Chaim Potok, published in 1967 which tells the story of two boys, their fathers, their friendship, and the chaotic times in which they live. As for Booty Babes, I think the title speaks for itself.
• I loved that Miles commented on the much maligned Nikki and Paulo, who he obviously got their story from the pair's buried bodies since he never met them. And are we to assume Miles did some digging since he was inspecting one of the buried diamonds at the end?
• How revealing that Jacob did in fact care for Ben based on Miles comments. However, when Ben is explaining himself to Ilana, he still thinks Jacob didn't care.
  
• Hurley was funny trying to figure out Richard's seeming immortality: Time traveler, cyborg, or vampire?
• There appeared to be some scratch marks in the post aboard the Black Rock. Maybe to mark the passage of time? Perhaps we'll find out in two weeks.
• So those touched by Jacob receive the gift of not being able to kill themselves, although others can. This might explain why Michael could run his car full speed into a wall and survive or not be able to shoot himself in the head. That is presuming Jacob touched Michael.
  
• The dynamite test pretty much confirms Jack has made the switch from a man of science to a man of faith.
• I loved the recurring theme of the characters on the beach settling in and being reunited with others while composer Michael Giacchino's stirring score plays. It's no wonder he just won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Pixar's "Up".
• When Ben exiled Widmore from the island, he was sent away via the submarine. Now, he returns via a submarine, obviously having found the way back to the island. Passing the beach camp, Widmore is presumably heading for the submarine dock.
  

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

• Dr. Linus tells his class that they will discuss chapters 5 and 6 for tomorrow.
• Principal Reynolds points out that there are only 5 students in the history club.
• Alex says her mother has 2 jobs.
  
• 3.2 million dollars was the amount of Ben's bribe to Miles.
• Miles comments on the 8 million dollars in diamonds buried with Nikki and Paulo.
  
• Dr. Linus has e-mails between Principal Reynolds and the school nurse from a 3 month period.
• Dr. Linus tells Alex he will see her at 4.
  

Previews
Next week, 8 p.m. ET: enhanced version, then at 9 p.m. ET: new episode "Recon". And then in two weeks, the one we've been waiting for: "Ab Aeterno" which is Latin for "from the beginning of time" in which we will learn Richard's back story and find out what the island is. This episode will also mark the halfway point of the final season. Upcoming: The producers recently said that Claire's son Aaron is "important" and "definitely figures into the end of the show." They also said we "will see Walt in some form again".

"Sundown" (Season 6, Episode 6)

Wow! From the amazing opening fight between Dogen and Sayid to the intense final 10 minutes in the temple, this season is bringing it.

Best Line

• "Now why'd you go and do that?" UnLocke to Sayid after being stabbed in the heart.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• The cab driver in the opening, although not seen, sounded to me like Miles. Is he not listening to stiffs in the parallel time line, but actually a working stiff?
• The theme of reflection continued in this episode with Sayid's face in the glass window of Nadia's front door.
• Sayid's brother, Omer, was first seen last season in a flashback as a young boy. In the scene, he was unable to kill a chicken for his father and young Sayid had to do it.
• Dr. Jack is seen walking in the hospital corridor when Sayid and Nadia rush in.
• The license plate number on Nadia's mini-van is 2SAQ321, the same as on Jack's jeep. I'm guessing this is a production error and that the show only has so many California license plates in Hawaii where the show is filmed.
• Omar the thug who forces Sayid into the SUV was one of the freighter mercenaries on the island last season.
• The restaurant kitchen where Sayid is taken is the same one where Naomi recruited Miles to go on the freighter with her.
• Martin Keamy, who was the lead freighter mercenary and killed Ben's daughter, was even more creepy in this time line with his ice blue eyes and unusually white teeth.
• How did Jin get from the airport customs office to the kitchen storage locker? Was the money in his suitcase intended for Keamy or his boss (Charles Widmore maybe?) and it was confiscated so Keamy beat him and tied him up?
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• Dogen refers to man's scale of good and evil not unlike the actual scale that was in Jacob's cave. Co-worker Dean pointed out to me that when he said good, Dogen gestured with his bare hand and when he said evil, he used his black-gloved hand.
• Now we know the significance of the baseball.
• With UnLocke and Claire at the temple, where are Sawyer and Jin? I wouldn't be surprised if UnLocke sent Sawyer on to the frozen donkey wheel. Both Ben and Locke used this to leave the island in the past so perhaps UnLocke will do so as well.
• Dogen referred to UnLocke as "an angry man" who was "trapped" but now that Jacob is gone, he is "free". He also described him as "evil incarnate". Ah, yeah.
• Dogen's dagger appeared to be made of silver. In folklore, weapons of silver are often used to kill supernatural creatures, such as silver bullets for werewolves.
• When UnLocke pulled the dagger from his chest, it was clean with no blood.
• The song Claire is singing in the hole is "Catch a Falling Star". We first heard mention of this song in the series when she asked the prospective adoptive parents if they were promise to sing this to her baby because her father (Christian) sang it to her. It was also heard later as the song the mobile played in the Dharma nursery and again when Kate sang it to Aaron after they returned from the island.
• Dogen's 12-year old son was first seen last week in the parallel time line at the music conservatory auditions.
• Dogen's car accident is the latest in this recurring theme: Michael's hit and run, Kate's as she tried to escape from the hospital, Claire and her mother's to name a few.
• Jacob's request of Dogen to guard the temple in exchange for saving his son made me think of the biblical story of God testing Abraham by asking him to kill his son Isaac. Isaac coincidentally would become the father of Jacob and Esau - perhaps the Man in Black's real name?
• Sayid drowned in the temple pool and came back to life. Could the same happen with Dogen? However, I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Lennon with the slit throat.
• The hieroglyph tile on the temple hallway wall that Ilana pushes to open the secret passage is a Shen ring. The Shen ring is an ancient Egyptian symbol of eternity and protection. In ancient Egypt, the Shen ring also represented dual concepts of time: the cyclic line of periodicity and lineal time.
• The use of Claire's lullaby over the scenes of the smoke monster's destruction at the temple was especially haunting.
• What was going through UnLocke's head when he saw Kate join his group?
  

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

• Miles told Sayid he was dead for 2 hours.
• Sayid told Nadia that the kids went to bed 2 hours ago.
  

Previews
As usual, this episode will be rerun next week as the enhanced version at 8 p.m. ET. Next week's new episode is titled "Dr. Linus". It sounds as if we'll see what Ben Linus, European history teacher, is up to while island Ben appears to be at the island cemetery digging up someone (Locke?). Next week is the first of the final 10 episodes that lead up to the two-hour finale on Sunday, May 23.

In three weeks, we can expect to see Richard Alpert's back story. We'll learn why Richard doesn't age and that it is due to a request (I'm guessing from Jacob). It is also in this episode that Jacob reveals to Richard (and the viewers) what the island is. Last week, I told you the first clue was that it is a four letter word with no E or A. Now I've learned it does have an O. So much for the island being a SHIP! My co-worker Judy is adamant the answer will be VOID, which among the word's many definitions, can refer to a place between parallel worlds.

In other upcoming episodes, we will see the return of Faraday's love, Charlotte. She is returning "in a very big way" and she will be "very close to a male lead". Could she be the mother of Jack's son David and not Juliet? She also has piercing blue eyes. (Juliet makes more sense to me based on Jack and Juliet's lives on the island.) We will also find out if Desmond really was on the plane in the season premiere. And, although we won't see Desmond for a while, when we do, Penny will be at his side.

And last but by no means least, episode 15 (third from the final one) is set in a time and place that you have never seen on a network series before. And if that isn't enough to get you thinking, none of the series regulars are in the episode! I'm thinking distant past, maybe Biblical times, with it being Jacob and the Man in Black's back story.

Some "Spoilers" from Lost Producers

At Sunday night's annual William Paley television festival, there was a panel discussion of Lost and producers/writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof responded to questions. (Although vague, some may consider these spoilers.)

The answer is “yes” to the following: Will Richard and Ilana exchange some words soon? Do some of the characters’ last names have significance, particularly Jack’s? Is Jack married to someone we’ve met before? Was Jacob telling the truth when he said someone was coming to the island? Will we learn more about Hurley and Libby’s connection? Will we see Vincent and Charlie again? Will we learn if Desmond was really on the plane?

The answer is “no” to the following: Will we get a conclusion to the story of Ben’s love, Annie? Will there be a DVD release of the show in chronological order?

The answer is “maybe” to the following: Will the jungle bird that seemingly called out Hurley's name be explained? Will we see Walt again?

The answer is “no comment” to the following: Will we learn why women can’t have babies on the island?

Radio silence: After being bombarded with questions about the show for six years, Cuse said they do not plan on commenting on the series finale after it airs.

Final spoiler from Lindelof: The word he would use to describe the final three hours of the series is “water.”

"Lighthouse" (Season 6, Episode 5)

Another good episode! Not as good as Locke's last week but certainly better than Kate's. And like Kate's, this episode could be viewed as a companion to a season 1 episode, in this case "White Rabbit". In that one, Jack struggled with daddy issues as well, but here he is in the role of father.

Best Line

• "And I just lied to a samurai." Hurley to Jacob.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• The photo of Jack with his parents has his dad in a white suit, his mom in a black dress, and between them, Jack is in a tux (black and white). The black/white theme continues.
• On the island, Juliet removed Jack's appendix whereas in this time line, it was done when Jack was a boy. But why was Jack surprised to see the scar?
• Jack's son is named David, a common name in the Lost universe. It was also the name of Hurley's dad, Hurley's friend at the sanitarium who later appeared on the island, Desmond's middle name, and Libby's husband.
• Jack mentions the Red Sox to David, a baseball team repeatedly referenced in past seasons.
• David has the book, The Annotated Alice. Jack was reading Alice in Wonderland to Aaron when he and Kate were together after the Oceanic Six returned to Los Angeles. Lewis Carroll's books were also the inspiration for the title of the Season 1 episode "White Rabbit" and the Looking Glass Station, which featured a white rabbit in the Dharma logo.
• Jack's comment to David about "Kitty" and "Snowdrop" were Alice's (recurring theme alert!) black and white cats from Through the Looking Glass.
• Could David have been listening to Driveshaft when he told Jack it was a band his father wouldn't have heard of?
• Among the liquor bottles when Margo Shephard pours herself a drink is a red-labeled bottle of MacCutcheon whiskey, the preferred drink of Charles Widmore and Locke's dad, Anthony Cooper.
• I get the impression that this time line's Jack has not taken up excessive drinking. However, his mother's relief at Jack not drinking is that perhaps Christian still had.
• Since Claire is named in Christian's will, are we to believe that he still had the affair in Australian resulting in Claire's conception? Because Christian was dead when the time line reset, could his past not change?
• We are conspicuously not told the name of David's mother, presumably Jack's ex-wife. Is it Sarah as in the original time line or is the actress too busy being the mom on "Modern Family"? You may remember Jack "met" Sarah in the emergency room when she had been involved in a car accident. Jack choose to save her over the other victim, who turned out to be Shannon's father, Adam Rutherford, who died. Will we find out in this time line, Jack instead saved Adam? And if so, what did this mean to Shannon's life? It was recently announced that the actress Maggie Grace has agreed to return to the show so perhaps we'll find out. If David's mother is not Sarah, then could we perhaps see Juliet in this role? And was she out of town because she was visiting her sister or applying for a job in Portland?
• The stone rabbit hiding the house key to David's mother's house is similar to one seen also hiding a key to the apartment of the dead man that young Miles "talks" to in his flashback last season. Rabbits are another recurring theme. Whether mentioned in an episode title, featured in a Dharma logo, or used in time travel experiments, these animals have been referenced throughout the past five seasons.
• This season's theme of characters in front of a mirror (or should I say looking glass?) continues with Jack in front of the mirror in David's bedroom.
• The sheet music in David's room and what he plays for his audition is Chopin's "Fantasie-Impromptu". The popular song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" uses the melody from this composition. This is the same musical piece that young Daniel Faraday was practicing last season in his flashback.
  
• Inside the Williams Conservatory, a sign reads "Welcome All Candidates".
• Did you get the impression that Dogen (like Desmond in the season premiere) was in this time line for a reason and knew of what has happened in the original time line?
• Dogen tells Jack his son has "a gift" not unlike Walt and young Locke being told they were "special".
• Jack's confession to David that Christian once told him "you don't have what it takes" connects back to the earlier scene on the island when Jack is told by Hurley that "Jacob says you have what it takes."
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• Although the characters have had literal (and essentially figurative) reflection in the 2004 time line, we also see island Jack contemplating his reflection in the temple's - for lack of a better term - reflecting pool and again in the lighthouse mirrors.
• Is it significant that Miles and Hurley continually tied when playing tic-tac-toe?
• Apparently Jacob has visited the temple before because he knows where the kitchen is.
• I liked Hurley's comparison of Jacob to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who after his death in Star Wars appeared in ghostly form to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi to provide guidance.
• Jin regaining consciousness in Claire's makeshift hut reminded me of Sayid coming to in Rousseau's abode.
• How true is Claire's statement that "the one thing that will kill you is infection."
  
• Claire has jungle fever and I'm not talking about the Spike Lee kind. She's got dynamite (possibly from the Black Rock?) , does to Justin the Other what Jack Nicholson did to Scatman Crothers in The Shining, and don't get me started on that creepy baby facsimile she created. I'm just hoping that skull didn't come from Vincent the dog!
• I was thrilled to see the return of the skeletons from Season 1. Although I don't think they'll turn out to be Jack and Hurley as Hurley proposes osince Jack had first identified them as one male and one female. Is this the fate of Rose and Bernard who were last seen "retired" and living in the jungle?
• I liked Jack's question of why none of them had seen the lighthouse before this. The island works in strange and mysterious ways, Jack.
• Justin the Other tries to remind Claire that after she was tested, she apparently didn't escape the temple as she thinks she did. Was she released or bodily removed instead?
  
• The images Jack sees in the lighthouse mirror are the pagoda where Sun and Jin were married, the church where young James Ford attended his parents funeral, and Jack's childhood home. The first two scenes coincide with Jacob's appearances at these events, however, he saw Jack at the hospital. Could Jacob have first visited Christian Shephard as a candidate? Since only last names are written on the lighthouse wheel, this could be. It also appears as if the Shephard name was bolder as if written a second time.
• Did anyone else think of the practice of placing ashes on the forehead for Ash Wednesday when Jacob pointed out to Hurley that he had ink on his forehead?
  

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

• Jack's mother says he was 7 or 8 when he had his appendix removed.
• Jin asks Claire if she has been in the jungle for 3 years.
• Hurley asks Jack to wait 10 seconds while planning to leave the temple for their jungle trip.
• The street address number of David's mother's house is 233.
• The lighthouse has 4 mirrors.
  
• Hurley has to set the lighthouse wheel to 108 degrees.
• Jack wants Hurley to set it to 23 degrees.
• Tonight's episode coincidentally (?) was the 108th produced hour of "Lost".
  

Numbers and Names (I felt I needed to separately note the inscriptions on the lighthouse wheel.)

• 108 Wallace - Is this the someone that Jacob said is coming to the island?
  
• 51 Austen - More than likely Kate and her last name was not crossed out nor were 15 Ford (James), 16 Jarrah (Sayid), and 23 Shephard.
  
• Notable names: 20 Rousseau (as in crazy French lady), 58 Burke (Juliet), 101 Faraday, 104 Lewis (Charlotte?), 109 Friendly (as in Tom the Other), 117 Linus (Ben), 124 Dawson (Michael?)
  
• Other names (in case yours is listed, faithful readers): 17 Barnes, 19 Nyugen, 21 McHenry, 24 Kluxen, 25 Asher, 33 Novak (Mike and Marilyn, is there something you're not telling me?), 34 Grimaldi, 107 Hanson (not Hanso), 111 Klein, 112 Horton, 115 Bargas, 119 Almeida (24's Tony again?), 122 Moorehead
  

Once again, this episode will be rerun next week as the enhanced version at 8 p.m. ET. I am not so much intrigued by what is said about a scene (since I have found that I blogged about it the week before!) but what scenes have no comments whatsoever. For instance, this week, no pop-ups regarding the boy in the jungle. Can't give anything away just yet, I'm guessing.

Next week's new episode is titled "Sundown". Is there a double meaning here? Is Sun the female shown falling in the brief previews (Sun down)? I also saw Dogen forcing Sayid on the ground of the temple and another scene of Sayid in the jungle with a big knife. In two weeks, the episode "Dr. Linus" airs, which should make the European history teachers who read my blog happy (you know who you are!).

I have also read on-line that mid-season we will discover what the island actually is. The clue given (sort-of SPOILER ALERT!) is that it is a four-letter word with no A or E. My immediate thought was SHIP. If my alien theory is correct, then perhaps a spaceship. Of course, I just hope the producers answer the most pressing question of all: Whatever happened to Jack's chest hair conspicuously missing again in this episode?

"The Substitute (Season 6, Episode 4)

The title of tonight's episode, "The Substitute", is perfect with its double meaning: Locke the substitute teacher in 2004 and the Man in Black/Smoke Monster substituting for the real Locke. Actor Terry O'Quinn gave another amazing performance as the two incarnations. This episode was so far above last week's.

Best Line

• "This is the weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to." Lapidus mumbling to himself after Ben's eulogy/murder confession.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• In the original timeline, Helen (Katey Sagal from "Married with Children") had broken up with Locke over his obsession with his father. Here, things are much different. She and Locke are planning on getting married and Locke's dad is even invited to the wedding. With this being the case, it's likely Locke had not been pushed out an eighth floor window and his paralysis was caused by some other trauma.
• Since Helen mentions that the wedding is planned for October, I have to believe that the date of 10/22/04 on Claire's ultrasound picture last week was an error. If not, this would mean Locke and Helen would be getting married in less than 10 days. I do not believe Helen would have then referred to the upcoming nuptials as "in October" but "this month" or "at the end of the month". And I don't think Locke would have gone to Australian so soon to the date. I believe then that Flight 815 arrived on 9/22/04 as originally scheduled and we're dealing with an error on the prop picture and not a timeline deviation.
• The coffee cup Locke is drinking from in the bathtub is black on one side and white on the other. This has been a recurring theme since the pilot when Locke explained backgammon to Walt and Claire dreamed of Locke with one white eye and one black eye.
• Helen's comment on destiny ties into this season's theme. What is meant to happen will happen.
• Randy was not only Locke's boss in the original timeline but also Hurley's at the chicken restaurant.
  
• The nickname of "Colonel" that Randy calls Locke refers to Locke spending his lunchtime playing the board game of Axis and Allies as seen in Season 1.
• In Locke's cubicle, there are pictures of Locke and Helen on a beach and another of Locke (with hair) and his dad out hunting. In both cases, it appears Locke is standing, indicating his injury occurred after these pictures were taken.
• Hurley's Humvee is the same as he had in the original timeline when he took his mother to see her new house (right before it caught on fire).
  
• This time line's Hurley's good luck continues as Locke's attempt to scratch his Hummer fails when the ramp jams.
• The box of personal items that Locke has on his lap in the parking lot contains a statue of a polar bear.
• Hurley also owned the box company in the original timeline.
• The word "dream" appears predominately on two of the job posters in the temp agency.
• The temp agency woman is the same actress who played the fortune teller Hurley visited in Season 3.
• Nadler is Rose's married name so presumably she and Bernard are still together in this timeline.
• Locke's alarm clock sounds very similar to the Hatch's alarm when the countdown clock had ticked down.
  
• This season's theme of parallel timeline characters in front of mirrors continues with Locke and his bathroom mirror. Although, he is not seen actually looking at himself.
  
• Helen's t-shirt has the phrases "Peace and Karma" and "Joy and Tranquility" on it.
• Any significance to Helen wearing black fingernail polish?
  
• Now that Locke is teaching biology does that make him a "man of science"?
• How funny to see Ben as a European history teacher complaining about an empty coffee pot! How the mighty have fallen.
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• The smoke monster sounded very roller coaster-ish as it moved over the island.
• Smokey could be seen in the reflection of the Dharma cabin's window.
• The song Sawyer was listening to was "Search and Destroy" by Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The song is about a "forgotten boy" who wants someone to "save my soul".
• Did the blond-haired boy run away before Richard could see him or was he truly only visible to UnLocke at that moment and later to Sawyer? And what was the significance of the literal blood on his hands?
• Will the ashes of Jacob that Ilena took from the fire pit serve the same purpose as the other ash does?
• I strongly believe that the boy in the jungle is an older version of Aaron. His eyes and mouth were strongly reminiscent of Claire's. The producers have previously said that Aaron is a key to the mystery of the island. I would also not be surprised if Aaron and Jacob turn out to be one and the same due to some crazy space/time circularity.
• Is Aaron's reminder to UnLocke that the rules state he "can't kill him" referring only to Sawyer or all of the candidates? We already know that UnLocke was unable to kill Jacob and needed to trick Ben into doing it.
  
• UnLocke's exclamation "Don't tell me what I can't do!" was exactly what Locke told the walkabout tour guide in Season 1. Does this mean some of Locke's personality still can influence UnLocke?
• In Season 3, we saw Sawyer reading John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in prison and he later referenced it to Ben, who quoted from it. The book was published in 1937. Since we saw the Man in Black 140 years earlier on the beach with Jacob in last season's finale, this definitely would be "after his time" as UnLocke puts it.
• Since we have seen the smoke monster become Christian, Eko's brother, and Alex, why is he now "trapped" and "struck" in Locke? Is this due to the death of Jacob?
• The hill of graves where Locke is buried contains the remains of Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, and Libby as well as other casualties of the island.
• Both the bamboo and rope ladders led to Jacob's cave, in other words, Jacob's ladder. Biblically, Jacob's Ladder is a ladder to Heaven, described in the Book of Genesis, which the patriarch Jacob envisioned during his flight from his brother Esau (who some believe is the name of the Man in Black). A Jacob's Ladder has significance in both the Jewish and Christian religions, having many interpretations, among them that it is a bridge between Heaven and Earth. Saint John Climacus (also known as John of the Ladder) wrote a book called "Ladder of the Divine Ascent" which uses Jacob's Ladder as an analogy for the ascetic life. (Interesting then that "John" and Sawyer descended it.) It is frequently read by Orthodox Christians during the season before Easter. This episode aired the night before the start of non-Orthodox Lent Ash Wednesday. Jacob's Ladder is also the title of a movie starring Tim Robbins about a man who experiences an entire series of events that then turns out to have been (SPOILER ALERT) a hallucination as he lie dying. Jacob's experiences appear to have been a form of Purgatory in which he releases himself from his earthly attachments.
• The scale with the white and black rocks again carry through the theme of light and dark, good and evil. The scale is balanced until UnLocke removes the white stone. The inside joke that UnLocke refers is apparently the representation of the white rock as Jacob and UnLocke pitching it into the ocean symbolic of Jacob's death.
• We finally know the significance of the Numbers: 4-Locke, 8-Reyes, 15-Ford, 16-Jarrah, 23-Shephard, and 42-Kwon. That, and Jacob likes numbers. Although Kate as a child had been "touched" by Jacob like the others, why was her name not included? And UnLocke says he doesn't know if Kwon refers to Jin or Sun, but Jacob touched them both. Does this mean they're candidates as a pair? Are they the Adam and Eve skeletons from the cave in Season 1?
• Other names on the ceiling included 10-Faraday and 313-Littleton (Claire). Less well known names: 291-Domingo, 222-O'Toole, 119-Almeida (perhaps an inside joke referring to "24" character Tony Almeida who went from good guy to bad guy and whose TV wife also played Ethan Rom's mom), 90-Troupe, and 10-Mattingley (which may be a reference to Don Mattingly, who played as number 23 for the New York Yankees, which has retired jersey numbers for all of Lost's numbers coincidentally).
• How much of what UnLocke told Sawyer can we believe? That these names refer to candidates for protector of the island? Yes. That the island is nothing but an island. No.
• And if the Man in Black is so powerful, why do he and Sawyer need to leave the island together? I'm reminded of Star Trek 5 (probably the worst in the series thanks to director William Shatner), where "God" supposedly needs the Enterprise to get him off of the planet where he is marooned. Dr. McCoy questions the supposedly omnipotent being: "Why does God need a starship?"
  

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

• 823 is on the side of the airline cargo box which carried Locke's body.
• Substitute teacher Locke tells his students to turn to chapter 4 in their textbooks.
• UnLocke informs Sawyer that he has 3 choices.

Next week, this episode will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "Lighthouse" which features Jack.

"What Kate Does" (Season 6, Episode 3)

The title of this episode is a variation on the season 2 episode, "What Kate Did". In that one, we saw Kate kill the man she thought was her stepfather but was in fact her biological father. She did this by blowing up his house while he was passed out inside. This time around, we have a somewhat gentler, kinder Kate as she helps out Claire. Should we expect a Thelma and very pregnant Louise storyline?

Best Lines (More than one this week because you can never have too many sarcastic remarks.)

• "As you can see, Hugo here has assumed the leadership position. So, that's pretty great." Miles at his most sarcastic.
• "I'm sorry. Is this a press conference?" Aldo responding to Jin's questioning.
• "We'll be in the food court if you need us." Miles to Jack.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Timeline

• Kate and Jack seem to share a moment of recognition in the airport parking lot more than from just their passing each other outside the airplane's lavatory. A simultaneous deja vu for both of them?
• Leslie Arzt says "I'm walking here" which is a famous movie line spoken by Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy" when the cab almost runs him over. Maybe more appropriately, this line is also spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in "Back to the Future, Part II". It also mirrors the time Sawyer used the same line when Ana Lucia almost ran him over while driving for Christian Shephard in Australia.
• The stuffed killer whale Kate finds in Claire's bag is the same as the one Aaron had when Kate was raising him after the Oceanic 6 returned from the island.
• Last week, we had Jack looking at himself in the airplane lavatory mirror; this week, Kate in the mechanic bay's mirror. Alice Through the Looking Glass moments? I'll have to notice if these scenes of reflection (pun intended) continue in future episodes.
• In one of the early episodes, Claire had been warned by the Australian psychic not to let her baby be raised by another. Is the breakup of the adopting couple the universe's way of "course correcting" and making sure this doesn't happen?
• The nurse with the wheelchair who brings Claire into the hospital was previously Kate's nanny in Los Angeles when she was raising Aaron.
• How odd to see a benevolent Ethan Rom, I mean Goodspeed. His hope to not have to stick Claire with needles is a departure from his Dharma alter ego who happily poked and prodded the expectant Claire on the island. This Ethan obviously escaped the island's fate before it was submerged.
• Kate seems to sense a familiarity when Claire mentions her unborn baby's name is Aaron.
• Big shout-out to co-worker Theresa who noticed the date on Claire's ultrasound picture was 10/22/04, exactly one month after the original Oceanic Flight 815 was scheduled to arrive. From the series start, September 22 was their arrival date in LA. Since this episode's parallel events take place on the same day Oceanic 815 landed, then this new date implies the flight took place in October in this version. Check it out:
  

• "Joan Hart", the name Detective Rasmussen uses when asking for Kate, is the same alias Kate used in an early episode when she sneaked into the hospital to see her dying mother. It is similar to the name of actress Melissa Joan Hart, who starred in "Sabrina the Teen Witch" which also featured the actress who played Kate's mother.
• Are we to presume this parallel version of Kate committed the same crime as she did originally or is this why she asks Claire if she would believe her if she said she was innocent?
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Timeline

• Both last week and this week, Miles seems preoccupied with Sayid. Since Miles can commune with the dead, does he know more about Sayid's condition than he's letting on?
• Why is it so important to Dogen and Lennon that Sawyer has to stay at the temple? So much so that Dogen even speaks English to try and convince him not to leave. Does Dogen know of a role that Sawyer will play in upcoming events?
• The Other named Aldo first appeared in Season 3, guarding the Dharma building that housed Room 23 where Alex's boyfriend Karl was being brainwashed by visual stimuli. You may also recognize him from FX's comedy series, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
• Presumably, the dark powder that Dogen blows over Sayid when he is testing him is some of the magic ash that is used to keep the Smoke Monster at bay.
• I believe Sayid fails the test because he doesn't react as Sayid truly would. He seems pitiful as he begs "Why?". As a torturer himself, Sayid would be more stoic. If being "infected" or "claimed" by the Smoke Monster (and not Jacob as some had theorized last week) alters your personality, this may explain why Claire was creepy after she disappeared with her and Jack's dad (or more likely, the Man in Black posing as Christian).
• If you didn't remember (and I'll admit I didn't), Rousseau was shot and killed with Karl by the mercenary Keamy. Miles discovered their bodies on the jungle floor.
• Sayid's comment that Dogen didn't even ask him any questions during the torture is similar to a scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" with Han Solo on Cloud City after Darth Vader has shocked him.
  
• Hurley's zombie remark to Sayid reminded me of a scene early in the series when Charlie said to Hurley that their whole island adventure would probably end with them being chased down the beach by zombies. First Claire, now Sayid. It shouldn't be long before Nikki and Paulo are going to be digging themselves out of the sand!
• The scene of Sawyer lifting the floorboards to get the ring made me think of young Kate and her childhood friend Tom digging up the shoe box to get the treasures they had buried as children.
• We had previously seen Desmond toss Penelope's ring in the water not unlike Sawyer throwing his in the ocean in last night's episode.
• Dogen was also the name of a Zen Buddhist teacher who lived in the 13th century.
  
• Regarding Dogen and his baseball: In the TV series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", Benjamin Sisko, the commander of the space station, always had a baseball displayed on his desk throughout the entire run of the show. In the pilot episode, he used the baseball as a metaphor to explain the nature of linear time to the inhabitants of the wormhole, who experienced time all at once. Also, thanks to co-worker Ben for pointing out that there are 108 double stitches on a baseball. 108 is the total of The Numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. Since the stitches are double, some refer to the number as 216, which is what you get if you multiply 6x6x6. 666 is the sign of the devil. Spooky!
• Dogen's reference to Jack's sister obviously means his half-sister Claire.
  
• In the three years between 2004 and 2007, Claire has obviously taken up the role of crazy, rifle-toting foreign lady whose child was taken and now puts booby traps in the jungle. Rousseau would be proud.
  

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

• Sawyer asks Kate if she thinks there are 5, 10, or 100 guards outside the temple.
• Aldo reminds Kate he was there during her prison break from the Hydra Station 3 years ago.
• Ethan says Claire is 3 centimeters dilated.
  

Next week, this episode will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "The Substitute" which focuses on UnLocke. Look for these episodes and which characters will be featured in the weeks to come:

February 23 - Jack
March 2 - ?
March 9 - Ben (What will Benjamin Linus be like in parallel 2004?)
March 16 - Sawyer
March 23 - Richard Alpert (Black Rock slave backstory?)
March 30 - Sun and Jin

Recap Coming Soon

I should have the posting for last night's episode up by 7:30 p.m. EST.

Finale Date Announced

I know we only just saw the premiere, but it's official: The two-hour Lost series finale will air on Sunday, May 23. This was announced by producer Damon Lindelof on Jimmy Kimmel's show Tuesday night. The bad news is this means we probably won't have new episodes every week between now and then. The good news is it makes this last season last longer!

"LA X" (Season 6, Episodes 1 & 2)

This is it. The last season premiere of Lost ever. The beginning of the end as it has been advertised. Based on what we saw last night, I can only quote Hurley in the Temple (but with considerably less sarcasm and considerably more excitement): "This is gonna be awesome." The concept of the "flash-sideways", as the producers have referred to the new parallel timeline, opens up whole new story lines for the familiar characters.

Best Lines

• "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." UnLocke to Ben after transforming into the Smoke Monster and back again.
  

Note: I've decided to separate the "Did You Notice" section into one for the 2004 parallel timeline and one for the 2007 island version. It seems only fitting.

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Timeline

• Jack was not seated on the wing as in he was in Season 1.
• Cindy the flight attendant only gave Jack one bottle, not two as she had in the first episode.
• Jack's and Rose's reactions to the turbulence were reversed. In the pilot, Jack was the one calming Rose. Was this because Jack knew what had happened or could happen or would happen? Alternate universes make my head hurt.
• Rose was reading Weekly Woodsman magazine. The back featured a flying saucer with the X-Files phrase "The truth is out there." Is this a hint as to the origins of Jacob and the Man in Black?
• Rose's comment to Jack, "You can let go", had a great double meaning considering Jack always tries to fix situations and has a hard time moving on.
• The Oceanic Airlines pilot's voice was done by the same actor who played him in the first episode before being taken out of the cockpit wreckage by the Smoke Monster - Greg Grunberg, who currently plays Matt on "Heroes" and is the lifelong friend of Lost creator, J.J. Abrams. See, it's not what you know, but who you know!
  
• Desmond is on the plane whereas he wasn't originally in Season 1. With the island submerged, I'm guessing his life took another path. Did he seem familiar to Jack because they had briefly met at the stadium when each was running? Or did this not occur because Desmond didn't need to train for his round-the-world boat race and Jack was having another deja vu?
  
• The book Desmond was reading was Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. The larger part of the plot of this children's book occurs on a fictional satellite of the Earth's, named Kahani, whose orbit is controlled by "Processes Too Complicated To Explain". These processes enable it to fly over every single point on Earth. Kahani itself consists of a massive ocean which itself is composed of an infinity of stories.
• I absolutely got goosebumps when the camera zoomed out of the plane's window and dived down through the clouds, plunged underwater past the submerged sonar fence, New Otherton (including the swing set) , a shark bearing the Dharma logo on its tail, and stopping on the statue's four-toed foot.
• So what does the submerged island mean to this timeline? Has it been underwater since the 70's, the result of the Jughead bomb going off or some other reason? Was Ben off the island when the disaster occurred? Did Juliet never go there and is still in Portland? Will she and Sawyer be able to have coffee (going Dutch) as she hoped when she was dying at the hatch? Did Rousseau and her team never land on the island in the 80's? Is this why Hurley's winning lottery numbers were lucky and not cursed?
• How great to see not only the previously gone regulars (Boone, Charlie) but Arzt, who was last seen splattering Hurley due to unstable sticks of dynamite, and Frogurt, not dying from a flaming arrow to the chest but sleeping between Boone and Locke, then later waiting in line for a taxi.
• Obviously, not only is the future changed for some characters, but also their pasts prior to the plane leaving Australia. Hurley considers himself lucky and had been Down Under expanding his chicken franchise and not investigating the origin of The Numbers. Boone was unable to convince Shannon to leave her abusive boyfriend. (In reality, the actress Maggie Grace allegedly wanted a lot of money to return now that she has moved on to making movies.)
• Jin's comment to Sun to button up her sweater was similar to a comment he said to her on the island.
  
• Boone's comment to Locke about "pulling his leg" is a dark-humored reference to the leg amputation Jack had wanted to perform on Boone after his fall from the drug plane. Island Boone refused so the medical supplies could be used for the other survivors instead.
• Sawyer calls Cindy the flight attendant "Earhart" as in Amelia Earhart, the aviatrix who disappeared in her plane.
  
• Jack looking for his pen to perform a tracheotomy on Charlie has ties to the scene in the pilot when on the beach Jack told Boone to find a pen in order to keep him busy while Jack was saving Rose.
  
• Charlie's comment "Am I alive?" was another one of those with a double-meaning. Was he also subconsciously aware of what had already happened?
• Did Desmond simply return to his original seat or is it more likely that Jack saving Charlie caused him to never have been on the plane in the first place? Is Desmond once again jumping through time?
• I loved how brilliantly all the actors came off as so unhappy, even miserable, as they exited the plane. The one outcome the island versions of themselves all struggled for was lost (no pun intended) on them. Was ending up on the island actually better for all of them?
• I anxiously watched as Locke remained seated while everyone else left the plane. Would he stand? Was it possible his past had not left him crippled? But no, there was the wheelchair. His talk of adventure to Boone was just that. But is it possible that Locke's condition will turn out to not be the result of his father pushing him out a window, but from the hit-and-run in his childhood that Richard Alpert averted in the other timeline?
  
• Where is the coffin containing Jack's dad? And does Locke's missing suitcase of knives tie into this?
• The ballpoint pen Kate was trying to use to escape her handcuffs was actually taken from Jack when she exited the plane's lavatory and brushed against him. This was the same pen Jack was trying to find in his coat when Charlie was choking.
• The marshal escorting Kate suffered a head wound on the restroom counter not unlike the head wound he got when the plane originally broke apart and a briefcase struck him. Will we see more similarities between the two timelines?
  
• Although we couldn't see, are we to presume this version of Claire was also pregnant and her trip to LA was to give up the as yet unborn Aaron for adoption?
• Add Jack's comment to Locke, "Nothing's irreversible", to our list of double-meanings.
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Timeline

• The iconic close-up of Kate's eye continues the tradition.
• How many of you momentarily freaked like me when you thought there was something wrong with the show's sound only to realize it was done to reflect Kate's temporary hearing loss?
  
• While Jack and the others lay on the ground close to the hatch after the explosion, how did Kate end up in a tree? Was she next to a sapling in 1977 that thirty years later grew up under her?
• I liked the new sound effect that indicates moving from an island scene to the parallel timeline and vice versa. The traditional "whoosh" has now been replaced with a spinning, off-kilter sound - almost as if something is out of sync.
  
• Terry O'Quinn needs to get an Emmy nomination. He was brilliant in both his menacing and chilling portrayal of UnLocke and his subdued alternate Locke. I even believed him as dead Locke on the beach! And this is only the first two hours of the season.
• The Man in Black is able to deflect bullets. Doesn't that make him the Man of Steel?
  
• One of the first of (hopefully) many answers this season: The Smoke Monster is the Man in Black. Of course, we still don't know who the Man in Black is! And does this mean that all the past figures (Christian, Kate's horse, Sawyer's boar, Eko's brother, Ben's daughter) were all manifestations of the Smoke Monster/Man in Black? They all share a visual darkness about them, whether it be their clothes or fur or hair.
  
• The circle of ash goes back to Jacob's cabin where it encircled it, presumably to keep the Man in Black out of the cabin. Or was it to keep him trapped?
• Does Hurley's red shirt forecast a bad end for him? In classic Star Trek, the red-shirted security officers, always an extra, usually died within minutes of beaming down to a planet while the stars of the series escaped unscathed.
• The book Hurley finds by the one-armed Montand's skeleton is philosopher Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. The title is a reference to a line from Philippians 2:12, "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." An important theme is the conflict between theology and philosophy.
• The ghostly whispers heard off and on for the past five seasons seem to come from the Hostiles, the island's original inhabitants.
• Juliet's "really, really important" comment that "it worked" leads me to believe that in her passing she was able to see the parallel outcome where the plane didn't crash.
  
• The over-sized Egyptian ankh symbol from the guitar case can also be found on the four-toed statue and on a necklace worn by Paul of the Dharma Initiative.
• Jacob's list of names included those he touched in the past - Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid.
• The two children, Zack and Emma, that were with former flight attendant Cindy, were originally from Oceanic 815's tail section. We had last seen all three at the Hydra Station when Kate and Sawyer were being held captive.
• UnLocke's comment to Ben that "he wants to go home" makes me think he and Jacob are unable to leave the island until whatever they are charged to do is completed. The redemption or downfall of mankind? I'm still sticking with my aliens testing the human race over the God and Devil theory.
• UnLocke's flip remark to Richard about being out of his chains seems to indicate that Richard was originally a slave on the Black Rock, the sailing ship from 140 years earlier.
• The temple's pool is obviously the same place where Richard Albert took young Ben after Sayid shot him. Remember that Richard warned Ben would not be the same. Will Sayid suffer the same consequences.
• Was the water in the pool connected to Jacob and his death caused its muddiness? Is Jacob to water like the Man in Black is to smoke?
  
• I think we all caught the Christ-like pose of Sayid as he was taken from the pool, his arms outstretched.
• Jack's desperate attempts to revive Sayid reminded me of his more successful revival of Charlie after Ethan had hanged him.
  
• What did Lennon, the Asian man's translator, want so desperately to tell Jack in private?
  
• I will admit that I took Sayid's resurrection at face value. I presumed the healing waters of the pool saved him. Then, after talking to a number of co-workers, they felt Jacob now inhabited Sayid similar to what the Man of Black was doing. I could see that since we last saw dead Jacob standing over Sayid at the van, telling Hurley to get Sayid to the temple. But I could also argue that the Man in Black took the form of Locke while his dead body remained separate as opposed to actually inhabiting the corpse.
  

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

• Jin said Sayid was at the van 2 minutes away.
• Locke told Boone he had spent 10 days in the Outback.
• Boone commented to Locke that he couldn't go 2 days without his cell phone.
• Upon arriving in Los Angeles, the pilot of Oceanic 815 said there were 6 miles of visibility and 5 mph winds.
• Jack told the airline agent that his father's funeral was in 2 hours.
• Miles said Sawyer took out 4 of the Hostiles before being subdued.
  

I'm sure there are moments I have overlooked or forgotten to comment on, but three hours of blogging is taking it's toll. (In fact, I almost posted this without addressing Sayid!) Next week, the premiere's second hour will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "What Kate Does" at 9 p.m. ET. The website eonline says "It will be an entirely different series with an entirely different framework after the end of next Tuesday's episode." The site also says the last 10 minutes set the stage for what is to come. Can't wait.

Coming Soon!

I'm in the middle of typing up the blog for last night's premiere. It should be posted by early evening.

A Poem

In anticipation of the big night tomorrow, a poem by yours truly.

'Twas the night of Lost's return
And all through my house,
The cable box was ready
As was my computer and mouse.

The DVR was set
To record it, you see,
Since I knew I would watch it
Two times, maybe three.

With me in my Snuggie
And my notepad at hand,
I couldn't help but wonder
What the writers had planned.

When what should appear
On my HD flatscreen,
But Jack on a plane,
Oceanic 815.

Across the aisle from him,
Reading sat Rose,
An image we've seen.
Or had we? Who knows?

As the story unfolded,
One hour, then another,
We saw the survivors
And an occasional Other.

As the final scene ended
With a thump, cut to black,
I smiled to myself
Lost was finally back.

Although this is it,
The beginning of the end,
I look forward to blogging
Each moment, my friends.

See the First Four Minutes of the Premiere

Can't wait until Tuesday night to see the opening of the final season's premiere? Then check it out here. The first half should be very familiar to anyone who watched last week's rerun of the season 5 finale. And the second half should look familiar too with some slight differences (as noted in the video poster's pop-up comments).

Newstands and Viewing Party Favors

With just five days until Lost returns, you may want to pick up the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newstands tomorrow, Friday, January 29. The cover story is the "Secrets of the Final Season".













And anyone having a viewing party for the premiere, may want to head over to abc.com and order the Lost Viewing Party Kit at http://abctvstore.seenon.com/detail.php?p=255004&pa=dotw

(Thanks to Tony for the link.)

Season 5 Finale This Tuesday

To prepare viewers for the Season 6 premiere, ABC is re-airing last season's finale this Tuesday, January 26, from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time.

"Lost" Video from The Onion

Check out this funny "news story" from the satirical website, The Onion.

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/final_season_of_lost_promises_to

Two Weeks!

Two weeks from tonight will be the premiere of Season 6! I recently read that some of the pressing questions will be answered in the first few episodes than in the entirety of most seasons. Well, they better since this is it!