S6: Sundown

Flash sideways Sayid appears to be a good man.  He's paying the price for his years served in the Republic Guard by not being with Nadia and pushing her towards his brother who she has had three children with.  Unfortunately, his brother takes a loan from Martin Keamy and is now extorting him.  Sayid refuses to help his brother and listens to Nadia.  Keamy's men decide to come and pick Sayid up and force his hand.  Sayid easily dispatches his two henchmen and then doesn't stop himself from killing Keamy.  He then finds Jin in the freezer.  I'm sure that will lead us into Jin and Sun's story soon enough.

On island, Sayid's scale, the balance of good and evil inside of him, is leaning more towards the evil.  It isn't said in so many words, but there is something inside him that brought him back to life and it wasn't from the spring.  So is there part of the MIB/Locke inside of him?  It appears so, and he joins the MIB/Locke.  He kills the leader of the Temple and his side kick.  The Smoke Monster (MIB/Locke) kills everyone else who wouldn't leave the Temple.  Again, he gave them until sundown to leave before you acted.  It's hard not to like the MIB because he gives you a choice.  Unfortunately, if you choose the one he didn't want you to choose, you end up dead.  So he's a pretty bad guy and manipulates just as much as he claims Jacob did.

Suddenly during the slaughter at the Temple, Ilena shows up to save the candidates, but the only two that are there are Kate and Sayid.  Sayid appears to be beyond saving and Kate is still on her mission to take Claire home.   Unfortunately for Kate, Claire is with the MIB.

So to recap there are three groups.  We have the MIB/Locke, Claire, Sayid, Sawyer, Jin and Kate.  In another group we have Ilena, Lapidus, Miles, Ben, and Sun.  And lastly Jack and Hurley are elsewhere and will mostly join group 2 in the coming episodes.

The candidates are all spread out and I look forward to how they converge since it's unclear and I don't directly recall.  Jacob told Hurley in the Lighthouse episode that someone is coming.  Maybe that person will bring our friends back together.  It was great seeing Illena show up because I forgot about that scene.  And the best good news of all is that we finally bid the Temple adieu.

As I mentioned in a different blog post, it feels so weird to wonder about the Temple for so long and when it's finally revealed then to hate it so much.  I blame myself slightly since I built it up in my mind and there was so much mystery that surrounded it that I felt that there would be more answers there.  As it turns out, there were more answers in a cave and a lighthouse than there ever were at the Temple and that's the most disappointing.  I understand that you have to keep people in the dark so they can follow their own destiny and make their own decisions, good and bad, but sometimes there should be some give and take with the ones that are so knowledgeable.  Now, for all the Temple folk did (and didn't do), they lay dead in the water.  I hope that this isn't how I feel in the end after my re-watch and I'm still optimistic that I won't be.

S6: Lighthouse

In this Jack centered episode, we see in his flash sideways that he has a son with a now unidentified wife who he is divorced from and, for some unknown reason, he only sees his son once a month.  Because of this, they appear to be estranged.  Eventually, he works things out with his son and we learn that Jack's father told him that "he didn't have what it takes".  He uses this to bond with his son.

On island, Jacob must have knowledge of this quote as he uses it through Hurley to drive Jack to the lighthouse.  At the lighthouse, it is revealed how Jacob assigned the numbers to the candidates and that Jacob could see where they all lived off island.  A great line is said by Jacob -- "Sometimes you can just...hop in the back of someone's cab and tell them what they're supposed to do. Other times...you have to let them look out at the ocean for a while."  (I googled this quote so I had it exactly right.  Every blog up to this point, I've only used google for spelling purposes.  I mean for these blogs to come from memory and from the heart.)

This quote and this episode tug at the heart strings ever so slightly and overall it was a pretty good Jack episode.  After such a great Locke episode, it made sense for the writers to bring us an equally good episode for Jack.  They did a good job for the most part.  Thankfully this episode took Jack and Hurley (and the audience) away from the Temple as Jacob reveals, shit is about to go down there.  It can't come soon enough!

S6: The Substitute

Thankfully the Temple is not shown but only talked about in this episode.  There is some great stuff that happens in this episode and a huge question is answered - why is everyone on the island.

The answer - Jacob brought them there.  They are a candidate to take over protecting the island.  Protecting it from who?  From what?  More answers will come.

This episode treats us to flash sideways Locke who is going to marry Helen, loses his job, but gets a better one, and it's mentioned that his father will be coming to the wedding.  More importantly, he's happy, not miserable, and he doesn't need to walk, nor does Helen need him to walk, to be happy.  He's pretty much the exact opposite of the Locke we knew in the flashbacks.

On island, Locke/MIB reveals to Sawyer about the candidates and that he has three choices - do nothing and see what happens, become the protector, or leave the island.  He chooses three which seems to make Locke/MIB happy.

Everybody is happy!  I'm happy because this was a great episode.  It was cool seeing Hurley and Rose again just for a moment to help put Locke on his path.  Also Ben being a school teacher where Locke is substituting was a very nice touch.

S6: What Kate Does

What does Kate do?  Well on island, she revels that she came back to find Claire to hopefully bring her home and reunite her with Aaron.  Off island, she takes Claire to the hospital.  No baby yet, but he's doing fine.

And that's pretty much it.

Sawyer cries because he was going to propose to Juliet.  Jack does NOT get manipulated by the Temple Others who determine that Sayid has been consumed by a darkness, the same darkness that has manipulated his sister, Claire.  Claire, who we haven't seen on island for quite some time, suddenly emerges to save Jin from some Others.

Unfortunately, it's another lack luster episode in the final season of Lost.  I'm sad to say that I'm surprised that there have been two crappy episodes thus far, but it brings back memories of watching it with my friends and how frustrated we all were on first watch.

S6: LA X: Part 2

So what's going on at the Temple?  Why is it so safe?  So fortified?  There must be some important people there.  It turns out there really isn't.  These people seem more shady than any other group they have met thus far.  And now Sayid is a zombie?  It's funny when you have a certain image in your mind of a place, and then when you finally get to see it and it doesn't live up to the picture in your mind how disappointed you are.  But I guess the Temple is just like any other place on the island - it's not important at all.  Jacob's ankh, which also looked important, was just destroyed with no thought at all.

Elsewhere on the island, why is MIB/Locke stacking and organizing the dead bodies under the foot statue?  Then he knocks out Richard, saying that he looks good without chains, obviously foreshadowing to a past event we haven't seen.  So in other words, nothing on island is making sense and appears to just be setting up something more important to the plot.

Weaved into this episode were a cool moment between Locke and Jack at LAX.  Jack's father's body/coffin is missing.  Locke tells him that his body is lost, that they didn't lose his father.  Other than that, Kate escapes and is sharing a taxi with...da da da...Claire.  That was the biggest surprise for me since I forgot about that scene.  Hopefully we're done with LAX and we move on to quickly because this episode kind of sucked.

S6: LA X: Part 1

And thus begins Season 6.  What we have learned from this episode:  The bomb appears to have gone off and the Losties are no longer in 1977.  Somehow the bomb didn't kill them but moved them through time.  I don't think any of them know WHEN they are yet, but it's definitely after the time that Desmond blew up the Swan hatch.  Juliet dies in Sawyers arms, and he's pissed.  Ghost/Dead Jacob appears to Hurley and tell him to take Sayid to the Temple to save him.

Elsewhere on the island, it's confirmed that Jacob is definitely dead and Locke is actually the Smoke Monster who must also be the Man in Black (we won't find out how the MIB became the Smoke Monster until very close to the end of the season).  The Smoke Monster kills all of Jacob's followers who decide to attack him instead of leave when they were given the opportunity by the MIB/Locke.

But the big thing this season is the new story telling device, lovingly called  a Flash Sideways.  Flashbacks and Forwards are pretty much done.  The Flash Sideways appear to be showing us what WOULD have happened if the bomb actually worked - the island sinks and the plane lands safely in LAX.  But the title of the episode is LA (space) X, so it's not exactly a reality.  So far, there are some similarities but also differences.  As the season progresses, we will see what's the same, what's different and how our beloved cast will find their way to their destiny.

S5: The Incident: Part 2

And Season 5 ends with a bang or does it?  It's over and it felt like it just began yesterday.  What a great season!

In the greatest cock tease of television history, for the past couple of seasons, we've been hearing about this guy Jacob.  Who is he?  Where does he live?  How is he the leader?  So many questions!  Then when we finally get to see him, Ben kills him.  While that is happening, it's confirmed that Locke isn't really Locke.  So then who is he?  Jacob comments to fake Locke found his loop hole and the last person he said that to was the Man in Black.  Interesting.

Off island, Jacob is seen touching Jack and Locke and having a conversation with Hurley.  I believe that's all the flash backs their were.  The rest of the action was on island.

In 1977, Jack and Sawyer have a few words.  Eventually everyone decides to help Jack with the plan.  Shit hits the fan when the bomb doesn't go off when dropped down the hole where the drill is hitting the pocket.  All of sudden, a burst of electromagnetism kicks in, killing some and injuring others.  A chain wraps around Juliet, dragging her down the hole.  She wakes up and begins hitting the bomb with a rock and then we hear an explosion sound, a flash of white, and the episode ends.

Again, great episode and awesome end to the season.  There were a lot of questions answered and new ones introduced.  The writers did a great job tying everything together and making you think.  I'm a sucker for time travel, so I loved that element of the show a lot.  It was great having this season tie back to moments and characters of the past four seasons.  Now that I'm close to the end, my only hope is that I enjoy season 6 as much as I did season 5.  I remember being semi frustrated with it the first time, but I'm optimistic.

S5: The Incident: Part 1

I can't believe it!  It's the season finale already!  It now makes sense why the episode "Follow the Leader" felt like a set up episode because it was setting up the finale.

In Part 1, we finally, after all this time, meet Jacob.  We also meet the Man in Black.  And even though Jacob is only shown in the flesh on the island hundreds of years ago, he gets all the flashbacks off island.  We see him meet Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, and Sun & Jin.  I didn't notice it when I watched the episode the first time, but I read and specifically watched as he deliberately touched each one of them physically which makes sense in Season 6, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

In 1977, Jack and Sayid are on their way to the Swan.  Miles, Hurley and Jin save them in the nick of time because they are getting shot at by members of the Dharma Initiative.  Sayid was shot by Ben's dad and is bleeding very badly where Jack can't stop it.  Without warning, blocking the road are Juliet, Kate and Sawyer.

In 2007, the "good guys" visit the cabin and then proceed to burn it as someone other than Jacob has been using it.  Elsewhere, Locke and the Others are still on their way to see Jacob.  Locke tells Ben that he is going to kill Jacob and ask him, after all he's been though, "Why wouldn't you want to kill Jacob?"

As Part 1 plays through my head, visions of Part 2 begin to flood my memory and I need it to stop so I actually enjoy the episode tomorrow.

Seeing Rose, Bernard and Vincent was great.  It's funny that they managed to survived in the jungle for three years.  Hell, if the Hostiles (Others) can do it, then why not them, right?  Great episode.  Looking forward to Part 2 of the finale!

S5: Follow the Leader

Season 5 has taken us far.  It has brought those who left the island - back, it transported those left behind to 1977, and it has put Locke back where he's wanted to be - the leader of the Others.  But who else is leading?  And who is following who?  This episode shows us a few things.

It appears that Eloise is the leader of the Hostiles (the Others).  Horace was the leader of the Dharma Initiative and it seems that Radzinsky is taking over.  And in Faraday's death, Jack appears to be leading those that wish to follow on a plan that Faraday put in his head

Everyone has their mission.  Jack's mission is to destroy the energy at the Swan station, erasing the last three years.  The Dharma Initiative is evacuating all non essential personnel, and continuing, on schedule, to tap the energy at the Swan station.  Locke plans on killing Jacob.

So what's going to happen next?  Will Jack be successful in erasing the years he was on the island?  Is what Jack is doing what he's meant to do all along?  Is "the incident", mentioned in the Dharma Initiative training video, in the making?  And with Locke destroying Jacob, how will that effect events?

The best part of this episode, for me, is when Jack explained his plan to Eloise, she turns to Kate and asks if he's telling the truth, if Jack actually believes and knows what to do.  Kate coldly says, "He thinks he does."

One could argue that that one line could be the basis for the whole show.  People on and off the island do what they do because they think it's in the best interest of themselves, their friends, or the island itself.  And that's just human nature.  Ask Ben what's best for the island, and he'll tell you, it's killing off the Dharma Initiative or stopping those on the freighter, or killing Locke.  From each person's point of view, he/she believes they are doing the right thing.  Even when Sayid shoots young Ben, he believes he is doing the right thing even though he knows it's wrong.

I really enjoyed this episode.  It definitely opened a lot of doors and it will be great to see what happens when they walk through them.

S5: The Variable

Since Miles had his back story episode, Faraday was jealous so he got one too!  Haha!  But seriously, this episode shows us that those who once lived on the island will do anything to protect it.  Some go as far as sending their only son to the island knowing that they will be the one to shoot them someday.  Because of the flow of time, you can't prevent it.  It's inevitable.  Faraday is right thought -- whatever happened, happened.

Unfortunately, or inevitably, he gets this idea in his head that the people are the variables and that they can somehow change the past.  His idea is to use the hydrogen bomb to destroy the energy at the Swan station.  This will not only erase the Losties coming to the island and their plane will land safely at LAX that it should have, but that will mean that if they land, Faraday's team will never have to go to the island and Charlotte will never have to die.  He's blind to the fact that the variables, the people, really don't have free will.  It appears that they do, but they don't.   Something is going to happen, whether it be hydrogen bomb related or not, something has to happen to create the future that we know in 2007 and the past can not be changed no matter how hard they try.  Even if they try to escape their fate and maybe Jack decides to kill himself, his death will probably motivate someone us to take up the cause and future will still happen.  Somehow.

As for 1977, Eloise does her job and makes sure people end up where they are supposed to be.  Because of her pushing and pushing and pushing, Daniel will do anything to win her approval and so he goes to the island and the rest is history.  It's sad to see him go, but it made sense for the story and it had to happen.  His ideas will be carried and his wishes be taken care of regardless because they were meant to be.

I really enjoyed this episode the first time I saw it.  Again, as I've said before, there are certain episodes that aren't as great the second time, and while I did enjoy it a second time, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first time.  The end was so surprising the first time that it would be hard pressed to forget that Eloise killed her own son, but of course, didn't realize it was her son until after the fact.  But knowing that fact, she still pushed him to go to the island.  Pretty heavy stuff.

S5: Some Like It Hoth

This episode centers on the character of Miles.  It was an ok episode.  I don't care about Roger Linus and Kate was being stupid talking to him raising suspicion.  The best part was the end, but I'll get to that in a second.

One cool thing is that we learn that Pierre Chang is Miles's father and that Chang "left" his mother and son when Miles was just a baby.  What leads to him "leaving" will be shown soon enough and was hinted at in this episode...

It appears that someone has died when their filling in their tooth came out and went though their brain due to electromagnetism.  This isn't exactly confirmed, but after seeing The Orchid and The Swan being built and knowing the supernatural properties of both of those places, the writers don't say much more it.  At The Swan, it was great seeing the numbers being banged into the hatch door.

This title of the episode is a play on words where Hurley is rewriting Empire Strikes Back for George Lucas with some improvements.  Hurley relates the story to Pierre/Miles father/son relationship or lack their of, like Vader/Luke in Star Wars.  It was a very Hurley thing to do.

It was cool seeing Naomi recruiting Miles and later on, Gram trying to stop him from going to the island.  The scene also provided the connection of the specific amount of money that Miles wanted from Ben.

After all was said and done, the best part of the episode was Daniel Faraday finally making an appearance.  He was in Ann Arbor with the scientist and he has returned to the island.  He's obviously returned for a reason and that reason will drive the rest of Season 5.  So I look forward to that and what is happening in 2007 with Locke and Ben.

S5: Dead Is Dead

So Locke is walking around and everyone is dying to know how (haha bad pun).  I remember it drove me crazy the first time watching this season.  Does the island have the ability to bring people back to life?  We see Christian walking around and he was dead when he came to the island, but there's something mystical about him, about Locke too. Hmmmm. ;)

This episode centered on Ben and with most Ben episodes in the past, we get a lot of good info about the island's past.  We get his first meeting with a 20 something Widmore, then a 40 something, then maybe 50 something.  We see how Ben acquires Alex with a teenage Ethan.  The coolest part is we get to see how he summoned the Smoke Monster the first time and then even cooler, we get to see under the Temple where he is surrounded by the Smoke Monster replaying his memories.

Ben is seeking forgiveness for being responsible for his daughter's death.  He meets "Alex" below the Temple after the Smoke Monster leaves and she tells him to not kill Locke and to listen to him.

A cool scene off island is that we finally get to why Ben looks like crap when he gets on Ajira 316.  He goes to the marina to kill Penny. Desmond gets the jump on him while he's distracted, kicks his ass and throws him into the water.  It was good to see Desmond.  I hope to see more, but I'm not positive that we do.

This was a good episode and it was just what I was craving to see.  Let's keep it going, Season 5!

S5: Whatever Happened, Happened

Ben has been shot!  He's going to die!  Time and space are going to unravel!  At least that's what Hurley is thinking, and maybe the audience, but Miles explains (albeit poorly but we get the gist) that Ben must have been shot in the past and the Losties didn't know and experience it because even though it's their present it's Ben's past.  With Ben hanging by a thread, Kate takes action and Sawyer helps her because Juliet tells her to.  They give Ben to Richard Alpert who says that Ben won't remember and he will lose is innocence.  He then proceeds to take him to the Temple.

Two great scenes in this episode.  1)  Jack refusing to help dying Ben.  Kate tries to convince him saying that she doesn't like the new Jack, one that doesn't take action and she misses the old Jack.  He throws it right back into her face telling her that she didn't like the old Jack.  Boom, Kate!   In your face!  2)  Kate building up the courage to let Aaron go and give him to his grandmother, his rightful guardian.  Great scene and great music.

This is an example of an episode done right.  There were a few off island scenes with Kate and Sawyer's ex, which weren't cool, but added to the backstory of off island activity.  

The episode ended with Ben waking up in 2007 to Locke sitting by his bedside.  Hopefully the next episode might give us a little more on that situation, but I'm not sure.  So far we've seen full backstories for Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Sayid, Kate, and a little bit of Sun/Jin I think.  I'm hoping to see some Faraday soon as well.  I will fight the urge to look at the title of the next episode as this sense of wonder will be my work-out motivation for tomorrow!  My interest in Season 5 started to dip a little bit but thankfully this episode has turned that dip back upward.  I hope the next episode continues the trend.

S5: He's Our You

In this episode, we get to see more of what Sayid has been up to for the past three years off the island.  After working for Ben and killing everyone Ben told him to, they part ways and Sayid decides to do a sort of Habitat for Humanity type of business in South America.  Ben shows up to let him know that Locke is dead and Widmore has people watching Hurley at the mental institution.  So Ben, the puppet master, gets Sayid back in L.A. which connects the events that happened previously.  We also learn why he's in handcuffs and in custody on Ajira flight 316.  Seeing these connecting events was cool, just like in the Locke episode, but sad to say, it wasn't very enjoyable.  It was a lot of plot, needed plot for things to make sense and answer people's questions so it was good just in that aspect alone.

On island, nothing exciting happens.  Sayid is still prisoner.  Twelve year old Ben helps him escape after being tortured.  Someone from Dharma named Oldham did the torturing by making Sayid drop acid, I think?  Sayid spilled his guts and told the truth, but it sounded so ridiculous that no one believed him.  After escaping, Sayid runs into Jin, acquires a gun by force and shots young Ben and the episode ends.

Now when I first watched this episode, I think I gasped at Sayid's actions, but we know he can't die because he doesn't so it was a pretty big mind fuck, but at the same time after hearing and believeing what Daniel said in the past, whatever happened, happened and if Ben got shot, he must have gotten shot when he was young and didn't remember the traumatic experience.  Of course, this will all be semi explained later.

Reflecting on Sayid, I don't think he's a bad person.  None of the Losties are bad people, but they have done some bad things and they made some bad decisions.  At this point, I'm having trouble remember why Sayid was in Sydney in the first place.  I think he might have been undercover or something.  I also think he was on his way to L.A. to find Nadia because he was told that she was spotted there.  Unfortunately, he doesn't make it and then when he's finally reunited with her after being on the island for 100 days, she's murdered a few months later.  So life certainly sucks for him, but that didn't make him the way he is.  I don't know how he's able to do the things he does, maybe because it's in his nature like Ben said.  Maybe that's why they show that he's able to kill a chicken at such a young age when he brother couldn't do it.  Maybe some people are just born to kill even though they may not like that that is what they are good at.  Sayid has been very fun to watch and I don't remember where his story will go next this season, but I look forward to seeing where and hopefully there will be a little more heart attached to it.

S5: Namaste

James Sawyer aka LeFleur is a no bullshit, take charge kind of man.  Without Jack fighting him on every issue, he has lived happily with the Dharma Initiative for the past three years.  Now shit has hit the fan.  With quick thinking, Sawyer disguises Jack, Kate and Hurley as new recruits, Juliet amends the sub manifest, and with Sayid's life in danger as a supposed hostile, Sawyer moves him to the barracks where, for the time being, he is safe.  On island, but 30 years in the future, Sun and Lapidus head to the main island to look for Jin.  They hear the smoke monster and run into Christian at the old Dharma town.  He shows them a picture of Jack, Kate, and Hurley in the Dharma Initiative in 1977 and tells them they have a lot of work to do.

There are no off island flashes, unless you count the scene in the beginning showing Lapidus successfully landing the plane after the bright flash.  Most of the action took place between 1977 (the past) and 2007 (the present).

It was cool seeing Pierre Chang introduce himself to Jack.  In all the Dharma training videos viewed in 2004 when the Losties first crashed on the island, he went by the name Wick or Candle.

The best scene of the episode was between Jack and Sawyer.  After the dust had settled on the crazy day, Jack went to Saywer's house and gave him crap about reading a book and not having a plan.  Sawyer shoved the fact that he got a lot of people killed in the past and that his ability to sit down, read and help him think allowed him to solve all the problems of the day.  He really put Jack in place and Jack kind of just laughed it off and left semi defeated but relieved because, for the time, people weren't looking to him at the leader.

The Sayid and young Ben scene ended off the episode.  It wasn't anything special, but that scene and a lot of other scenes in this episode laid the ground work for more exciting and interesting future events.

S5: LaFleur

It's Sawyer's turn in the spotlight in the episode titled "LaFleur".  LaFleur means the flower and Sawyer used it sound Croatian to match with his story that he told Horace, leader of the Dharma Initiative.  Horace bought it and Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, and Daniel were allowed to stay two weeks and then leave on the sub from the island.  But as it appears, they don't leave, they join Dharma and three years later, Jin brings Sawyer some people that he found - Jack, Kate, and Hurley.

When Locke set things right with the donkey wheel, Sawyer and friends flashed one more time, but it felt different.  Their bodies could feel that the flashes had stopped and their headaches and nose bleeds were gone. They were in 1974.

While heading back to the beach, the group sees an altercation and they intervene.  In doing so, that sets forth the events of them eventually becoming part of the Dharma Initiative.  At one point, there was a really cool scene with Richard and Sawyer.  Sawyer aka LaFleur is the head of security and seems to be settled and integrated into his new life on the island in Dharma.  Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, things aren't going to stay normal for much longer.

The great part of this episode was Sawyer's speech to Horace about three years being long enough to get over someone.  Will his future actions match his words?  I really enjoyed the payoff of this episode with that scene and the reunion scene at the end.

S5: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

With episode "316" being focused on Jack, this episode's focus is on Locke.  We see that Locke ends up in Tunisia after moving the island just like Ben did.  This time, there appears to be cameras that alert Mr. Widmore of Locke's presence.  Mr. Widmore helps Locke by providing him with a fake identity, money, and Matthew Abaddon as his driver.  Locke visits Sayid, Hurley and Kate where he is unable to convince them to go back to the island.  He even stops to see how Walt is doing.  

After visiting his ex-girlfriend Helen's grave, Abaddon gets shot and Locke ends up in the hospital after getting in a car accident.  Fate or probability brings Locke face to face with Jack.  Unable to convince Jack, Locke decides to hang himself.  Ben comes to stop him and then kills him anyway and makes it look like a suicide.  And that was pretty much it.  It was interesting, but kind of dull.  It was cool getting some of the puzzles pieces to put the big picture together, but the overall picture seemed to get a little fuzzy with this episode, but that's the nature of Lost.

On island, we seem Locke alive and well, or so it seems.  Sun and Lapidus took off in a boat with the plane's manifest.  Lastly, we find that Ben is in the infirmary and Locke identifies him to Caesar as the man that killed him.  

Note:  Caesar and Ilana appear to know each other and Caesar almost appears to be in charge if that makes any sense, which it doesn't right now, but I believe it will make more sense very soon.

S5: 316

In a loving tribute to Season 1 Episode 1, we begin this episode where it all began -- Jack waking up in the bamboo forest on the island.  He runs out, not to burning wreckage this time, but to save Hurley who is drowning and yelling for help.  In fact, the plane, Ajira Flight 316, is no where to be seen, and after waking an unconscious Kate who was on the rocks near Hurley's location, they all confirm that none of them remember a crash.  They also don't know where Sayid, Sun or Ben are.  Without warning, a Dharma van pulls up, and an armed Jin sees his friends for the first time in 3 years.

So now we know that they made it back, but how?  Well it appears that the Dharma Initiative found the island using science and the Lamp Post station.  Eloise Hawking gives them the minimum necessary information they need, which is to recreate the original flight as best they can.  The episode shifts its focus to mainly Jack who meets with his granddad, gets shoes that belonged to his father, put those shoes on the deceased Locke and it's finally revealed why Christain has always been walking around in golf shoes since the very 2nd episode.  Eloise tells Jack to take a leap of faith as she gives him Locke's suicide note.  Surprisingly, Jack decides to do that.  Also surprisingly, all his friends appear on the flight (the backstories of the main characters and new characters will be revealed over time just like Jack's back story was in this episode.)

The best part of the episode is when Lapidus comes on the intercom as the captain of the flight.  Jack asks to speak to him.  He comes out of the cockpit to see all the other guys.  He exhales and says, "We're not going to Guam, are we?"  Hilarious.  Great episode all around.

Note:  Desmond finally meets up with Daniel's mom, delivers the message and peaces out.  To me, it was always a little anticlimactic, but I guess it was cool hearing Eloise tell him that the island isn't done with him since I can't remember how he gets back so that'll be a nice surprise.

S5: This Place Is Death

There's some really bad things happening on the island.  The flashes are closer together and it seems that everyone's nose is bleeding save for Daniel, Locke and Jin.  Locke eventually makes it down to the donkey wheel.  With the instructions of Christian Shepard, he fixes the dislodgement which will hopefully stop the flashes.  Unfortunately, Charlotte dies but not without revealing info about herself and a future interaction (past for her) with Daniel.

Also on island, we see more of young Danielle Rousseau and her team as Jin watches them die.  It's no wonder why Rousseau is so messed up.  Only a few short hours after coming ashore, she sees a smoke monster, her friends turn on her, and she sees Jin disappear and reappear twice before finally running away and the island flashing again to a different time period.

Off island, Sun confronts Ben and Sayid and Kate bounce out.  Ben takes Sun and Jack to the church where Eloise Hawking is and it's revealed that she is the one that will help them get back to the island to help their friends.  Sun, now knowing her husband is alive, wants to go back.  Desmond also finds his way to the church, so that was pretty cool.

It's funny as I review Season 5, I step back and notice that the events of the episodes can be described as "on island" and "off island".  It reminds of Season 1, when each episode centered around the events of one person and the audience would see how the character was ON and OFF island.  This technique allowed the writers to have two storylines going at once, and it was great how the writers weaved both of them together to tell an awesome story.  The same thing is happening in Season 5 thus far.  While the people on the island are trying to solve the problem of time traveling and avoid death, the people off the island are trying to get back.  It's great that even though they both have different goals in mind, their stories still weave together for a very enjoyable experience.

S5: The Little Prince

On island, the Losties flash to the birth of Aaron (and the death of Boone) which is the same night the light comes on in the Hatch.  Then they flash to some point in the future where their is a skiff with Ajira water bottles.  Then they jump to very bad storm, and make it to land and see supplies with French on it.  We are then shocked to see that Jin is alive and these French people save him.  The nice woman gives Jin water and introduces herself as Rousseau.  I feel like I'm missing a flash, but that may have been it.

Off island, Kate, Jack, Ben, and Sayid all meet up at the marina.  Jack had been helping Kate track a lawyer who is after Aaron.  It's revealed that Ben is the brains behind the lawyer.  Also at the marina, Sun is about to make an appearance (with Aaron in the backseat), but we don't see that part this time.  No Hurley, but Ben's lawyer will have him out of jail in no time.

I enjoyed this episode, especially the time jumping to the different time periods, but overall I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous five episodes.  A lot of answers are being revealed and the puzzle pieces are starting to connect.  Loving Season 5!

S5: Jughead

It's the year 1954.  A group of people living on an island kill 18 US Military troops who would not leave when given the choice.  The military's purpose was to do some H-bomb testing.  Unfortunately, the bomb was compromised.  A group of scientists happen upon this situation and tell the people to bury the bomb and everything will be fine.  Wait a minute?  Is this Lost?  Well it is, thankfully.  The group of people are the Others and the scientists are Daniel, Charlotte and Miles who time traveled to that year.  Elsewhere on the island, Locke, Sawyer and Juliet follow a young Charles Widmore back to the Others' camp.  During Locke and Richard Alpert's conversation, the sky flashes and they jump through time again.  Really great stuff happening on the island.  Very enjoyable to watch.

Off island, Desmond is on trying to find Daniel's mother.  He doesn't find her at Oxford, but clues take him to a comatose girl with a conscience that appears to be traveling through time, and eventually to Charles Widmore who tells him that Daniel's mother is in LA.  So I have a feeling that Desmond is going to be seeing his old friends very soon.  The off island stuff was cool, since it's always great to see Desmond, but the on island stuff was the great part of this episode.  Lot of great story, questions being answered, events that haven't happened being set up for the future and some really funny Sawyer lines.

S5: The Lie

I enjoyed this episode as it was revealed that Ben appears to be working with Eloise Hawking to get all those who left the island back on the island.  We've seen Eloise course correcting Desmond in a previous episode and it appears that is what she up to yet again, but there appears to be a specific time window since the island has moved or maybe is still moving.  Also, in the previous episode, Daniel Faraday sends Desmond to see his mother, but I don't believe the Eloise/Daniel - mother/son relationship has been revealed yet.  So Ben has 70 hours and he has some road bumps ahead, but things appear to be moving in the right direction.  Kate and Sun are hanging out together in LA, and currently so are Jack and Sayid.

 On island, there hasn't been a flash in a while, which is unfortunate for some of the random survivors of Oceanic 815 who are shot with flaming arrows from an unknown source.  With the survivors scattered, Sawyer and Juliet are captured by three military men.  Thankfully, Locke shows up and saves the day.  That was a great scene.  Two episodes in, Season 5 has not disappointed.