Last week’s lavish, lingeringly shot episode was a tough act to follow, but “The Package” still satisfied. For those seeking forward momentum on the island, we certainly got some, and the flash-sideways brought some great moments. Overall, it was a fun ride, but one with an undercurrent of uneasiness… both in the narrative and in “LOST” fandom. Just why is Sayid’s dead soul best prepared for what’s to come? And just how will everything be untangled in the next six episodes? It may be the drugs talking (I’m battling bronchitis), but I’m at peace. The many ways in which this final season has evoked the drama and richness of the first one is more than reason enough for me to surrender to whatever happens.
Locke and Widmore’s confrontation on the beach brings us our declaration of war, and Jin’s first look at Ji Yeon reduced me to a puddle of goo. And as suspected, Widmore’s arrival does bring some solace to those eager for some “science” in their science fiction, with Zoe the physicist asking about the island’s pockets of magnetism. The long-overdue final reveal that Desmond is apparently the key to Unlocke’s defeat ((telegraphed pretty bluntly with “it’s not a what, it’s who”), is at once thrilling and perplexing. Will the mere presence of Desmond cause a rift in the space-time continuum? Is Desmond the only person who can wield the dagger against an otherwise invincible Unlocke?
And what does “cease to be” mean? As a description of the dire consequences, it rings a little hollow. It sounds less like Armageddon, and more like a “Back to the Future”-esque nullification of existence.
One answer, four more questions.
The fact that Sun cut her hand while gardening cannot be insignificant. And having her lose her ability to speak English seems a move straight out of daytime soap operas, so I’m hoping there’s more to it. Coupled with the post-Unlocke pursuit blackout, I’m wondering if she might soon follow Sayid’s path.
I also loved Unlocke’s conversation with Claire, at once rationalizing why he saved Kate from her rage earlier, and resetting the stage for another confrontation. His disavowal of whatever might happen adds another sinister point against the Man in Black being merely a misunderstood prisoner.
Off the island, I was about to roll my eyes in frustration at just how hard the writers were trying to point out how not together Sun and Jin were (“Two rooms! Not married!”), when of course Jin’s discomfort was merely preemptive defensiveness all along. Turning the iconic fight over Sun’s blouse buttons into a seductive move was a brilliant one, in my book. And I’m glad that even in the flash sideways, escaping together was part of the plan. Mr. Paik, though, is one cold dude.
I liked Keamy’s turn this week, from his dismissiveness toward Omar to his fleeting moment of compassion for star-crossed Jin. Jin shooting Mikhail’s eye out was a gruesome yet amusing twist. The way the restaurant confrontation connected with Sayid’s earlier story was a nice touch, but it seems deliberate that he was, at best, only indifferently helpful to Jin.
And Sun, pregnant? But of course!
- Let’s ponder the line referenced tonight from Widmore to Locke: “Because there’s a war coming, John. And if you’re not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.” Is it safe to assume Widmore meant real Locke, not Unlocke? If so, is the wrong side going to win? Or did Widmore just find another out with Desmond?
- Claire was not on the list. Kate is no longer on the list, but is vital to collecting those that are. So, why does Unlocke need three more people to get on the plane? Or does he merely need to dispose of them together?
- So, Sawyer tells Jin that the double-cross deal with Widmore was the real deal, not the double-double-cross deal he seemed to make with Unlocke upon returning to the main island. Is it as simple as that? I guess so, given his disappointment in Unlocke’s return. I think I liked it better when his allegiance were more ambiguous.
- Miles’ cruelty toward Hurley, harping again on his weight, was upsetting. But I couldn’t be mad for long, with Frank’s admonition: “Hey. Don’t talk about bacon.”
- Jen’s favorite line: “No, ’cause that’d be ridiculous.” Ah, the powers and limits of the Smoke Monster, always fun to ponder. I think it echoes a Miles line from the time travel period, but I’m not sure.
- Unlocke telling Sun that he’s not going to make her do anything, and that he’s merely asking her, is yet more emphasis on free will. The line between “forcing” and “asking” seems pretty fuzzy though. Is it just the candidates whose choices must be pure?
- Top anvilicious moment? The brief dialogue between Unlocke and Jin about the list of names. Now, after all these seasons, they explicitly point out that conversations happen off-screen? That people mysteriously learn facts we didn’t see them learn? It felt awkward.
- The night-vision moment that opened the episode was also a bit cheesy. It would’ve been cool if they’d depicted infra-red heat signatures, with everyone glowing except for Locke (and Sayid), but… no such luck.
- Speaking of which, I also couldn’t help wondering why the darts worked on Sayid and Claire. Just how human are those two? The attack, Jen felt, was reminiscent of the hail of flaming arrows last season… just less funny.
- Who’s Danny? Keamy and Omar’s associate, of Mikhail’s mutual acquaintance. The only Danny we can think of is Daniel Faraday.
- Locations: The airport where Jin is released is Pier 2 near Restaurant Row. The hotel where Sun and Jin stay in Los Angeles is the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore. The bank where Sun and Mikhail try to withdraw funds is the main branch of the Bank of Hawaii on S. King Street. And the kitchen where the showdown takes place is at the Koolau Golf Club.
We want your feedback on this episode! Please share your thoughts, theories, and favorite moments in the comments below. You can also e-mail us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or leave a one-minute-or-so message on the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808. Mahalo!
Great Article. Thanks Ryan and Jen for all you do. The Lost experience would not have been the same without you.
I enjoyed this article. Very cool to read about Ryan’s and Jen’s supreme dedication to this terrific podcast and blog meeting place, and about the enrichment to your home and marriage. We all appreciate you two so much!!
Congrats, Ryan and Jen! What a cool article! Nice to put faces to your voices, too!
@ Lostyfan ~~ I also like the psychology (metaphor) behind Jack’s tomato remark… although my initial reaction was that he might be referring to Jin ~~ others’ thoughts on this?
HURLEY ~~ also a MAJOR key player ~~ it would not bother me if the whoe show rested on him ~~ he is such a good (pure) soul
I rewatched the season premiere. When Dogen read the list of names supplied by Hurley, we can assume they were a list of candidates to be protected. Sayid was on the list, and Lennon said if Sayid died they were all doomed (or something like that). So why would they be doomed it something happened to just one of them when candidates have been dying all along? Why will one more make the difference? Also did the dunk in the water make Sayid infected or would he have lived and been infected either way?
Do all six of them have to stay alive in order to save the world from MIB?
OMG Ben, what a fun thought!
Where’s the podcast?!?! 🙁 Waiting!
(ps – enjoy the ipad)
My website was wrong. Just righting it.
Hey has anyone heard more about a live theatre event 3 days prior to the Lost finale.?
As posted on Ain’t it Cool news:
ABC/Disney appears to be organizing a live in-cinema event aimed at hard-core “Lost†fans.
Michigan’s Celebration Cinemas chain has this on its website:
Description: Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the creators of LOST, will have an in-depth live discussion about the show’s creation, its six years on the air, and its finale on May 23, 2010. The TimesTalks Participants include Award winning Carlton Cuse, who currently executive produces LOST, along with Damon Lindelof, the co-creator and executive producer for the LOST series. The discussion will be interspersed with video clips from past shows as well as a one-minute sneak peak from the finale. The discussion will be followed by a 30-40 minute Q&A with questions taken from the live crowd at the NYT Center, pre-submitted fan questions and questions texted from guests on event night. Guests will be offered the opportunity to text in a question.
Looks like this is happening May 20, three days before the finale airs. I assume it won’t be limited to Michigan cinemas.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44406
ps. to Ryan and Jen : great article (Thanks Carol) and many thanks for giving us a place to gather… and something to listen to.
I really liked this episode. It was great to see the passive Sun just lose her cool again, and it was wonderful to be reminded, in the island world and the sideways world, of the Sun-Jin Romance.
I’m bumming that people are saying the show jumped the shark or is going downhill. I do not see that. I think that each episode a layer of the onion is being peeled away and we are learning more and more.
Will we get eveything we want? No, probably not—it is a lot easy to plan things out in our minds or in a fanfiction world than to translate those ideas into an actual hour long drama. In other words, writing this show is probably a hell of a lot harder than we give these people credit for.
Finally, even in the sideways world, things happen as if they were to suppose to happen. Mikail ended up dead, and without an eye. I am reminded of Charlie yelling at Jack in the sideways world after Jack saved Charlie’s life, that “I’m supposed to be dead.” Because, alas, in the island world, Charlie did die.
This of course spells potential doom for Sun in the island world as she’s the first Lostie to be hurt in the sideways world.
Finally, I assume that coming up in the sideways world we will see Jack or Juliet tending to the pregnant Sun’s injuries.
Earlier today, as my sister read the NYTimes:
Sister: What’s the name of that Lost podcast you listen to?
Me: The Transmission. Why, are they mentioned?
Sister: Uh, a little more than mentioned…
Guys, that’s completely awesome!! Congratulations are in serious order, I think, if that’s the appropriate well-wishing for people who get an article devoted to them in the NYT! You SO deserve the attention!
(And uh, you know, that thing about season one… well, I wouldn’t say no…)
The REAL purpose of Room 23.
Seeing the Pylons that Widmore put up and room 23 made me think:
This so called “experiment room” built by DHARMA
is not what it seems. Let’s look at the facts:
1. Everyone was “DHARMA material”, picked especially for the island.
Excelling mentally and physically.
2. If you look at the details of the Video of room 23, it
doesn’t “feel” like a experiment at all.
I feel this room was built “as the result” of people being
“mentally scanned” by smokie and had their mind “altered”.
Let’s look at some of the people that have had this problem:
1. Rousseau’s team.
2. obviously Razinski was exposed (with his ramblings on the Blast door).
3. Locke was exposed to Smokie twice (once scanned and when once when
he was dragged into Smokie’s layer).
This room (origionally) was to “treat” DHARMA people who were exposed
to Smokie before the security Pylons were developed.
How did DHARMA know to put up the Pylons (to repel smokey)?
Once DHARMA found out about this creature, they studied it, found it’s
“strengths and weaknesses” then they found a way to “repel” Smokie
with the Pylons.
Yes I know that “the others” used it with Walt and Karl, but they
“changed” the programming to fit in with Jacob’s ideology.
But that wasn’t it’s origional purpose.
~ THE Pemstar Initiative ~
Awesome, awesome NY Times article!! I loved the Ryan & Jen “flashback” to how and where you met. I learned so much about you two! Congratulations on that piece!!
Season 1? Yes, please!!!!! 🙂
What if MIB and Jacob are the same person and Jacob is MIB’s flash sideways? Looking forward to Happily Ever After episode. Going back to watch all the Desmond episodes in preparation.
Listening to the discussion of the unspecified nature of the catastrophe that would happen if the Man in Black ever got off the island (whether everybody would “cease to be” or we would all “go to Hell”) eminded me of another unspecified catastrophe, namely the one from Season 2 which would supposedly occur if somebody didn’t push the button in the Swan station every 108 minutes. We never learned the exact nature of that one, but it was at least implied that it might kill every living thing on Earth. Was this the “scientific” version of the end of the world, as opposed to the “theological” one offered in the current season which happens if the “Devil” is unleashed? Or is the catastrophe that’s threatened in the current season actually related to the one from Season 2, with some scientific super-energetic geo-magnetic explanation for both (explaining the need for Zoe the geophysicist)?
The interesting thing about these two catastrophes is Desmond’s role in preventing each. The speculation about why Desmond might be the key to preventing the second catastrophe overlooks the fact that he was the key to preventing the first one. When the survivors blew the hatch and entered the Swan, Desmond was introduced as The Guy Who Pushed The Button. Later, when Locke lost faith and destroyed the computer, Desmond was the one who used the fail-safe key to prevent the catastrophe. When Daniel saw him briefly at the Swan station in the Season 5 premiere, Faraday told Desmond that he is uniquely special, and that only he can help them because “the rules” don’t apply to him.
On another topic, all this talk about the Man in Black leaving the island with the final candidates on the plane seems just “plane” ludicrous. If the Ajira Airways plane was intact and in any shape to fly, don’t you think that Frank Lapidus would have proposed taking off in it? The fact is, the plane overshot the Hydra Island runway and is currently beached. Even if everyone on the island were to pull on a big rope made of vines and were somehow able to turn the plane around and drag it back to the runway, is the runway likely to be long enough to accommodate a commercial airliner? Is it likely to have enough fuel left to get anywhere? Does anybody know the special compass direction that you have to take to get off the island at this point? The fact is, the Smoke Monster is no more likely to escape on an airplane than he is to cross as smoke from one island to the next. The MIB is clearly just shining these guys on! Like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, he’s holding out the candy to disguise the fact that he means to use them in some other way to get off the island–one that none of them are likely to survive.
Congrats on the article and it’s nice to see where the “real” magic happens! lol
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/04/arts/04lost2/04lost2-popup-v2.jpg
Steve Colbert lambasts ABC for the V countdown clock. So funny.
http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/04/colbert-mocks-abcs-v-countdown-clock-video.html#more
Sayid’s dead soul? Did I nod off or what? Was that at the temple? Or what? Sorry!
Hey guys, love the podcast.
One of my favorite characters right now is Miles, so I wanted to correct you guys on something from the last podcast, regarding the “bacon comment.” You were talking about how Miles and Hurley should be buddies because of their three years in the DHARMA Initiative together… but Hurley was only in the 70’s for a few days, along with Jack, Sayid, and Kate. Definitely not three years.
Don’t think Miles was trying to be rude, he was just being his normal sarcastic self.
Will pushing that button be the best thing Desmond ever did like Eloise said or was her knowledge limited? I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s episode!
@Steve from NYC – Thanks for that link! LOL… LMAO… It made my entire day! Let’s hope ABC saw it too!