February 16, 2010

Just finished watching Lost.

Wow.

I'll work chronologically from my notes since my mind is so jumbled from what I just saw.

In the opening segment, it was made very clear from the moment we saw Helen (Katey Sagal) come out the front door of the house, that, as we suspected, the past is indeed different prior to the crash-time of Oceanic Flight 815. Did you catch when she was talking to John about their wedding (it is still on!), she was talking about inviting her parents and "your dad." Looks like John's relationship with his father is a bit better than it had been in the past. Although to be fair, it doesn't take much for a relationship to be deemed 'better' than the one where your dad stole your kidney and threw you out a window.

I found it interesting that Helen said "What are the odds of you running into a spinal surgeon?" Eerily reminiscent of Ben on the Island...what are the odds of a spinal surgeon just falling out of the sky?

I liked the Point of View camera shot of Flocke (I will now refer to The Man in Black/Fake Locke as Flocke) searching around the Island and finding Sawyer at the Dharmaville barracks. Creepy having the clicking sound as it searched the Island.

"All Right, Richard. Time to talk."

Awesome pre-credits opening. Perhaps the best one yet.

Back in the Flash-Sideways (the 8 pm Enhanced version of last week's episode confirmed that it is indeed referred to as 'Flash Sideways'), it was nice to see that one thing that didn't change was that Locke's boss Randy was still a douche. (I actually wrote 'Randy = douche' in my notes before we saw Hurley say the same thing!)
A-ha! A picture of Locke and Anthony Cooper together on his desk! So Locke got his daddy after all. See it in the picture above?

All this talk of candidates is very interesting. Remember Bram and Ilana last season talking about who may and may not be a 'candidate'?

Flocke goes from sympathetic, to evil, and in this episode, completely seductive when he said to Richard, "Come with me and I promise I'll tell you everything." Richard knows that seductiveness is a lie, and amidst the pain of his clearly throbbing neck (did you see that bruise?), he refuses.
Who was the Kid in the woods? What the hell was that!? His hands were bleeding the first time we saw him, and then the second time, he spoke to Flocke, saying "You can't kill him. You know the rules." Was the blond hair supposed to tell us it was Jacob? Was it a young Richard? Is it young Flocke? I have no idea!

All this talk of rules is clearly related to the rules that Flocke/Jacob had, and Ben/Widmore had about what they can and can't do to each other. Or is this another set of rules that Flocke has to follow with regards to someone else? Is he referring to Sawyer? Or the castaways in general? Or the ones that Jacob touched? ARGH, my head!

Flocke yelling at the mystery kid, "Don't tell me what I can't do!" The spirit of John Locke lives on!

Ben is telling Ilana the truth about what happened in the foot, and then flat out lies about what happened to Jacob. It's no coincidence that right after that scene, Flocke is telling Sawyer the truth...that he (Locke) is dead. And why did Ilana gather the ash from the fire where Jacob burned?
Flocke's seductiveness again, "I'm the person who can answer the most important question in the world. Why are you on this Island?" Man, I wouldn't have even had to be drunk on Dharma whiskey and grieving over losing my girlfriend (twice) in a hydrogen bomb blast that caused me to time travel to fall for that one! Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that one...

Sawyer - "Guess I'd better put some pants on, then." Um, yeah...maybe because it looks like you crapped yourself.

The scene in the Flash-Sideways between Locke and Hurley really gave some insight into Hurley's new demeanor. Just as he appeared on the plane, he really is optimistic in life, and things are going well for him. He's confronted with an angry guy in a wheelchair, and handled it well, apologetically, and ended up offering him a job. We see some of the old John in his response to Hurley asking about the handicapped spot, "I don't have to park here!"

I'm not buying Sun's standoffish-ness. She is currently a character who serves no other purpose than to ask questions so that others can answer them. I'm not buying her relevance at this moment...she seems useless. They're running the risk of Ben (the greatest character on Lost) heading this way, too. I sure hope not.

Rose still has cancer? I guess the Flash-Sideways changes aren't all rainbows and unicorns, huh?

I loved when Sawyer asked Flocke about John Steinbeck and Flocke replied that it was "A little after my time." Great line.

When Sawyer was ready to shoot Flocke, he was told he had the choice whether to do it or not. Here we go again...free will and the power to choose. I told you last year this was at the core of the show's mythology. Remember in the season 3 premiere, at Juliet's book club meeting, when she was starting to say "I thought on this Island we still had free wi..." before the crashing plane brought them all outside.

Interesting to hear Flocke say that he was trapped, and that he used to be a man. He went on to say that he feels things...like joy...and pain...

(Sorry, I couldn't resist...)

I wonder what Ilana meant when she said that Flocke can't change his face now, and that he's stuck. Why is that?

Ben's final words at Locke's burial were chilling. "John Locke was a...a believer. He was a man of faith. He was...a much better man...than I will ever be. And I'm very sorry I murdered him." Now, he's telling the truth again? Ben, make up your mind, are you the evil mastermind still, or are you trying to become a sympathetic character? And by the way, I didn't really need to see the giant spider run across Locke's bald head as his dead body was laying there!

Frank - "This is the weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to." Funny line, but now Frank is apparently just around for sarcastic one-liners, like "We're not going to Guam, are we?" Somewhere, Jerry Orbach is looking down and smiling at Jeff Fahey.

John tells Helen that there's no such thing as a miracle. So, in the Flash-Sideways, he is no longer a man of faith. And did you notice that Helen's shirt said 'Peace and Karma'? Does that mean something? Probably not.

I like the different sound effects for the Flash-Sideways. Totally different from the Whooosh sound we're used to for the Flashbacks, and Flash-Forwards.

In the Flash-Sideways, nice swerve with Locke as the substitute teacher asking the black student...who wasn't Walt (ha! Fooled ya!) for directions. Did you pick out Ben's voice in the staff room before you saw him? Wow, Ben's a super-geek when he's not an evil genius.

The black and white stones in the seaside cave made me gasp when I saw them. But when Flocke chucked the white one out into ocean and said "Inside joke", I actually laughed out loud. Damon and Carlton, you kidders with your knowing nods to us Lost geeks! We luv ya!

Ok, I have to say, the moment when Sawyer's torch illuminated the writing on the ceiling and I saw "15-Ford" and "16-Jarrah", I jumped off the couch and started yelling, "Oh my god! Oh my God! They're the f*cking numbers!" It was...without a doubt...the biggest "OH MY GOD!" moment in the entire six seasons for me.

I couldn't stop saying it for the entire commercial break. "They're the numbers! They're the numbers!" Blew my mind.

And for those of you that missed it, here is the summary of what we saw:

4 - Locke
8 - Reyes
15 - Ford
16 - Jarrah
23 - Shepherd
42 - Kwon

"Jacob had a thing for numbers."

But where's Kate? Where's Austin on the ceiling? Jacob touched her too when she was a kid. Is this a hint that what Flocke is telling us is a lie? That he's making this up? I doubt it. Is Kate #108 perhaps (the sum of the rest)? Or is a possible hint that Kate is actually the crux of the show, and that in the endgame, it will all be related to her somehow? Something is amiss with her name not there.

More talk of being a 'candidate', and now Flocke's seductiveness is back as he tempts Sawyer with 3 options. Damn...why is this show only one hour?

Please chat away in the Comments section. I'm so geeked out right now, I want to start a good discussion.

Here is next week's trailer for the fifth episode, "Lighthouse."