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Lost: The Incident (Both Parts)

Sawyer: "What do you think, Blondie?"
Juliet: "Live together, die alone."

Lots of introspection. Lots of exposition. A two-hour episode about a character we'd never met before, and he died at the end. I was looking at the clock at twenty to eleven and thinking, you know, nothing has really happened yet. And then everything went nuts, so be careful what you wish for.

We did get a big concepty breakthrough. All of those flashbacks with Jacob touching the Losties at some point in their past meant (to me) that Destiny is a great big go. Locke always believed in destiny. Jack is a recent convert. Sawyer may still have some work to do.

The Incident

If it's all about Destiny, Jack and Jughead probably did just cause The Incident, after all. That bomb going off at the very last moment of the episode was absolutely infuriating, because I really wanted to see The Incident and its aftermath. But noooo! It was the Lost cliffhanger of all Lost cliffhangers, because we now have no frigging clue about next season. Who died? What time period will they be in? What will they remember? What if nothing changed? What if nothing stayed the same? Arghh!

Unless most of the cast managed to race to minimum safe distance in the space of a minute without a jeep or minivan, most the cast just got blowed up. This is a pretty big clue that they're either going to completely recast the series in its final season, or the explosion will do something to dropkick the time travelers somewhere else – quite possibly, back to their own time. Is it unreasonable to think Juliet may actually come out of it alive? I don't want to lose Juliet. Or Sayid, for that matter, who was also dying. Ditto Jack, Sawyer and Kate.

Unless the final season is all flashback. They wouldn't do that to us. Would they? No. Actually, after reading Josie's review of Stephen King's The Stand and how it relates to Lost (link at the end of this review), I've realized that season six is probably going to be about good versus evil. Which brings us to...

Jacob and Whats-his-name

The answer to "What lies in the shadow of the statue" is "He who will save us all" in Latin. And that's Jacob, who has a really weird basement apartment with a circular fireplace and handmade Greek wall hangings and a skylight with a view of the Foot. Who, or what, is Jacob? If he can be killed, he's probably not the living embodiment of the Egyptian god Sobek.


(We got a really good look at the statue this time: head of a crocodile, body of a man, ankh in hand, god of power, protection and fertility. I think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobek. Ben said the statue was just a foot when he came to the Island, though. So it wasn't the Incident that blew the statue apart? Was Ben lying?)

The opening scene with the bad CGI of the Black Rock (i.e., long time ago) showed Jacob and another man, whom I'm going to call Nemesis Guy. Nemesis Guy was talking about how unhappy he was that Jacob kept bringing people to the Island (like Flight 815, maybe?) and that Nemesis Guy planned to find a loophole so he could kill Jacob. Apparently, Jacob, Nemesis Guy, and Richard are virtually immortal, but not puncture-proof. And they can't kill each other.

This raises many questions about the Walking Dead, as well as the Cabin. Locke seemed like Locke: mighty hunter, wry sense of humor, all of Locke's memories, and so on. But the real Locke is dead in the big airline crate. So Nemesis Guy can borrow the form and personality and memories of the dead, and right now, he's walking around looking and acting like Locke. What about Christian, Charlie, and so on? Were they all really Nemesis Guy? Who was in the cabin before Christian and Claire? Did someone trap Jacob or the Nemesis in the cabin with the circle of ash (shades of Supernatural) and did he manage to get free?

Jacob's spinning wheel, the Greek letters, and the confirmation that Destiny exists in this 'verse made me think of the Three Fates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moirae). Would that make Jacob the spinner, and Nemesis Guy the one who cuts the thread, Death? Would Richard the "adviser" be the one who measures, then? Or is there a third Male fate hanging around the Island, incognito, perhaps?

Flashbacks

The visits that Jacob made to certain Losties in the past included some interesting details. Jacob physically touched each of them. And he gave most of them an object.

— Little Kate, in Ames, Iowa with her friend Tom (and his toy airplane) got a jump start on her life of crime by shoplifting a "New Kids on the Block" lunchbox. Jacob bought it for her and touched her on the nose, and said, "You're not going to steal any more, are you?" No, she's going to move up to patricide, Jacob.

— Eight-year-old Sawyer was at his parents' funeral and writing his letter to Locke's father. Jacob gave Sawyer a pen and touched his fingers.

— Sayid's flashback was the most ambiguous. Did Jacob save Sayid from dying in that car accident with Nadia? Or did he make certain Nadia died so Sayid would return to the Island? Jacob was holding a map and touched Sayid the moment Nadia was hit.

— Ilana's flashback wasn't like the others. She was in a hospital and her face was covered in bandages. Jacob came and asked her for help, in her own language, and she knew who he was. (What language was it?) He didn't touch her or bring her anything; he was even wearing gloves.

— Locke's flashback was plummeting eight stories and, apparently, dying. Jacob touched Locke's shoulder, and Locke started breathing again. Jacob told Locke everything was going to be all right. Locke is dead now, though, so I guess that isn't exactly true.

— Sun and Jin's wedding. Their vows about never being apart, like the earth and the sky. Jacob touched them both on the shoulder at the same time and blessed them in perfect Korean.

— Jack's five seconds of fear. Except we didn't know before that it was Christian who told him to do it, and that Jack was angry with him about it. Jacob gave Jack the Apollo candy bar from the machine, and touched Jack's fingers. (I think Jack thought it was a come on.)

— Juliet and her sister Rachel, as children, learned that their parents were getting a divorce. No Jacob. I thought Jacob was the point. Or maybe the point was that Juliet realized her relationship with Sawyer was over, and it was nobody's fault. (I noticed a book entitled The Mysteries of the Ancient Americas on the coffee table.)


— Hurley, released from LA County lockup, shared a cab with Jacob and a great big guitar case. Jacob told Hurley that he, Jacob, wasn't one of the Walking Dead, that Hurley could be blessed. Like Jin and Sun, perhaps? And Jacob told Hurley what plane to take. And touched him.

Moving right along to...

The Love Rectangle of Death

Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Juliet came together at the end of the episode, ready to die together to change their future. That final scene where Sawyer lost Juliet was wrenching. (So to speak, since there were actually wrenches and other tools flying about.) It was like she wanted to die, or knew it would happen. During the brief scene with Bernard and Rose talking about being together even after death, Juliet looked at Sawyer, and Sawyer looked at Kate. (Dammit, Sawyer. Why did you do that?)



Jack really does love Kate, and thinks he blew it when they were in Los Angeles. The way she was looking at him near the end and recreating their "cute meet" (with blood) in the pilot, though? I think he still has a chance. If they still know each other in season six, that is.

Character bits:

Rose, Bernard and Vincent had a hut and a nice Zen-like retirement by the ocean. I thought them saying they wanted nothing to do with the guns and running around was pretty hilarious. Who can blame them? At least, if they never show up again, the fans will stop asking where they are.

I was certain there was a body in the Mysterious Huge Coffin-like Airline Crate, but I didn't expect it to be Locke. Will Locke return next season as the Nemesis Guy? How's Terry O'Quinn's driving record?

Speaking of which, the only character we didn't see in the finale was Desmond. I hear he's in legal trouble.

Sawyer was aware that he could have tried to prevent the death of his parents in 1976, and he chose not to because he didn't think he could. And yet, he changed his mind and tried to help Jack, Kate and Juliet. I wonder why. Probably because Juliet wanted him to.

I thought it was lovely (and again, way circular in a time travel way) that Miles saved his father's life. All through those last scenes, I kept watching Dr. Chang's arm, expecting it to get bonked at any moment. Which it was.

Did Sayid get his karmic reward for shooting young Ben when Roger shot him? That's sort of what it felt like.


Yes, yes, yes, Eloise was pregnant with Daniel in 1977. I missed that in the last episode and a lot of people wrote and told me. Mea culpa.

According to Ilana, Frank may be a candidate. For what? I'd like to see Frank next season, actually. So I hope he's a candidate. Whatever that is.

Radzinsky came to the Island to change the world, and he thirsts for the power of electromagnetism. As I've said before, he really deserves to spend the next twenty-five years pushing a button until he kills himself. If that happens this time around.

Sun found the ring Charlie left in Aaron's crib. Does that mean Charlie is coming back? That would be cool.

Sawyer told Jack about his (Sawyer's) parents. They do tend to share those big honking moments every now and then. I wonder if he ever told Juliet? Jack reciprocated by saying (or implying) that he loved Kate, but knew he couldn't have her now.

Sawyer finally called Juliet a nickname: Blondie. Right before he may have lost her forever. And he called Miles something I couldn't make out. Amos?

Bits and pieces:

— In the Locke flashback, Jacob was pointedly reading Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge. There was a pierced dove on the cover. Coincidentally, Phil was killed in much the same way as the dove. I don't think that meant Phil was the embodiment of peace. But it probably meant something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_That_Rises_Must_Converge

— I am told that the Greek phrases were from The Odyssey, "May the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires" and "May the gods grant thee happiness." Desmond's journey has been compared to the Odyssey. He even has a wife named Penelope who never stopped waiting for him.

— "Locke" aka Nemesis Guy said he was going after the Ajira people next. Maybe the Ajira people really are the good guys.

— Mark Pellegrino (Jacob), like Brad William Henke (Bram), had a key continuing character role in the first season of Dexter.

— Isn't it interesting that the ending was one great big rabbit hole? I have to say that seeing the Jeep pulled down into it made me laugh out loud. Not that Juliet plummeting to her death was at all funny. I like Juliet a lot.

— One last thing. Guest writer Josie Kafka, who knows her way around literary criticism, just posted a review of Stephen King's The Stand and its relationship to Lost. So if you're interested in Lost-related book reviews, stop by the blog this summer. We've also got numerous other summer retro reviewing projects going on, as in X-Files, Wonderfalls, Highlander, and Doctor Who.

Quotes:

Sun: "Who's Jacob?"
Ben: "He's in charge of this Island."
Sun: "You said John was in charge."
Ben: "No, I said he was the leader. A title that I've discovered is incredibly temporary."

Frank: "What's in the box?"
(I immediately flashed on Dean on Supernatural doing that Brad Pitt imitation.)

Locke: "You mind if I ask you a question?"
Ben: "I'm a Pisces."

Kate: "Jack has a bomb."
Rose: "Who cares?"
Kate: "Excuse me?"
Rose: "It's always something with you people."


Jack: "We're not going back in time."
Miles: "Right. Because that would be ridiculous."

Locke: "Well, it's a wonderful foot, Richard. But what does it have to do with Jacob?"

Jack: "Three years ago, Locke told me that all of this was happening for a reason, that us being here was our destiny."
Sawyer: "I don't speak destiny."

Sawyer: "This don't look like LAX."

Really good. Not as great as some of their finales, but I enjoyed it tremendously. And I don't know what I want for season six. But waiting until 2010 is going to be tough,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

44 comments:

  1. As always, a great review, Billie. I hope you're right about Sayid getting his karmic reward, because that would imply that he lives, right? (Fingers crossed.)

    I really liked Sawyer and Juliet as a couple. So it's not all tears and heartache--it looked like a great "marriage."

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  2. I think Juliet will come back - totally naked like Desmond. Later when they build and complete the hatch to suppress the anomaly they have to install a 2nd nuclear bomb to prevent a 2nd incident from destroying the world. If Juliet doesn't come back, I'm going to be so unhappy.

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  3. Juliet let go because she knew that James loved her - and also because it was impossible for him to pull her out. The whole drilling platform was being swallowed by the magnetic force - it was a hopeless situation. But it was enough satisfaction for Juliet to know that James really did love her (even though he may have feelings for Kate).

    Juliet and all the others are probably killed - but the island will bring them back to life, like it did with Desmond.

    Earlier, James finally got around to calling Juliet a nickname because at that point he thought their relationship was totally over. And he was also pretty sick of her changing mind.

    I don't think anyone dies here. The losties prevented the anamoly from ultimately destroying the world. The Dharma Initiative builds the hatch and plants a 2nd nuke bomb which Desmond later activates after Locke destroys the computer in Season 4 or 5(?). It obliterates the hatch and that entire complex and also kills Desmond etc.. who is later resurrected or saved by the Island.

    We'll probably begin Season 6 with Radzinsky punching in the code down in the hatch and slowly going suicidal.

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  4. “... and the devil hath power, To assume a pleasing shape”

    Okay, so that was Jacob. Typical, we finally met the guy and they kill him off in the same episode. Have the last five years really all been Not-Locke’s convoluted plan to get his loophole and have Ben kill Jacob? But before he died Jacob mention that "They’re coming" which really seemed to upset Not-Locke.

    For some reason, mainly because I had it on for the kids last week, this whole Jacob/Not-Locke situation reminds me of the movie Dragonslayer, the 1981 Disney fantasy. In the film Ralph Richardson plays Ulrich, a wizard who concocts a bold plan to slay a vicious and powerful dragon that oddly starts with him letting the bad guy kill him.

    Its possible Jacob has sacrificed his own life to put his final masterplan to stop Not-Locke into action. Every epic battle between the forces of good and evil includes some form of self-sacrifice, usually a father figure (Obi-Wan, Gandalf, Spock, Kyle Reece, Dumbledore, John Winchester) so that the hero can fulfil their destiny and triumph over evil. But who is the hero in this saga, Jack? Sawyer? Kate? Ben? Charles Widmore? Vincent? Would be awesome if Frank is the saviour of us all. Hope we see more of him next season.

    Like everyone else I have no idea where we’re going next season. I don’t think everyone is dead, they wouldn’t kill off most of the core cast with one season to go. I hope Juliet isn’t really dead, she’s one of my favourite characters.

    All in all a great finale but, argh, still too much frakking confusion. At least we’ve only got one more season to go so we better get some goddamn answers.

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  5. Great review Billie!

    You know what I'm hoping for in the next (last!) season - but most probably won't get?

    That it worked. That Jack (Juliet) nullified everything and the plane doesn't crash - so that we therefor get to see how life turns out for each and every one of the main characters. One character per episode. Wouldn't that be neato?

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  6. Great review as always Billie... Thanks!

    I thought for sure we were going to find out who shot at Juliet on the canoe. But oh well...

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  7. Hey all,
    Billie, would you consider changing Nemesis Guy's name to Mark Greig "Not-Lock". Personally, I think it's much better.

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  8. Another great review Billie, as usual! Just thought I'd throw my two penny's worth in about some of the stuff in this episode.

    About Jacob, I doubt very much if that is indeed the last we'll see of him - it doesn't seem likely that they'd build him up all these years and then just kill him off. I think he will still appear (even if it is only in flashback form).

    However his death raises some interesting questions, for instance if he really is some kind of immortal can he truly be killed just by being stabbed and pushed into a fire? If that is the case why would Nemesis Guy need someone else (in this case Ben) to do the deed? If it was that easy surely he could have killed Jacob himself centuries ago? Why is it that Nemesis needs a loophole to kill Jacob?

    Of course, if the bomb plot goes to plan history will be changed and Locke will never go to the island, meaning Nemesis wont take on his appearance, meaning he wont be in a position to kill Jacob...

    Nemesis himself is a fascinating character aswell. So he has the capability to change his appearance and take on the memories and personalities of others? Doesn't that sound familiar? A little like a certain Smoke Monster? Remember that it was smokey who told Ben that he should obey Locke's every command, and 'Locke' (Nemesis) was trying to kill Jacob...is the Smoke Monster affiliated with Nemesis or in fact is Nemesis actually the Smoke Monster himself?

    Whatever happens I cannot wait for the next season! Here's hoping it all builds to a satisfying conclusion!

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  9. Yeah...I'm with Flint. Five seasons of build up, only to have Ben kill Jacob with ease? He didn't even put up a fight. Which tells me that either (a) he wanted to die because his death will somehow bring about his grand purpose, or (b) he wasn't bothered about being killed because he's essentially immortal.

    I do like the recurring idea of bad versus good in this show (without ever really knowing which is which). First we had the survivors versus the others. Then Ben versus Widmore. And now we have Jacob versus Nemesis Guy.

    It's all good stuff.

    PK

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  10. I'm gonna see this episode on Sunday but it looks brilliant and as per usual, Billie you went all out on the review.

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  11. Something else I noticed when re-watching the episode was that at the start on the beach, Jacob was wearing white and Nemesis black...reminds me of a scene in one of the earliest episodes of season one (I forget which, exactly) when Locke was showing Walt how to play backgammon and he explained how it was about 2 sides, black and white and it was a battle between dark and light, good and evil.

    Seems pretty apt if the events of the whole saga have really been some kind of meta-game or battle between Jacob and Nemesis.

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  12. Wow, this episode was really amazing!

    After a season that I found slow, this episode really impress me. I like the way that they were revisiting the old seasons. When Locke said ''Home Sweet Home'', it felt so great. The thing that I missed in the seasons 4 and 5 is that they were not staying at one place, they were always moving. Now, I hope that they will stay at their camp, for an amazing finale season.

    Well, the writers did an amazing job! Maybe not for the part of Jacob but the majority of the finale was really good.

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  13. When Jacob helped Kate, he paid for her lunch box with a some folded bills.

    Jacob gave young Sawyer a pen.

    Jacob then gave Jack some candy.

    When Hurley was released from jail, his belongs included a some folded up bills, a pen, and some candy.

    I thought it was interesting that Nemesis and Jacob couldn't kill each other. It didn't dawn on me at first that Nemesis used Ben to kill Jacob.

    I think that anytime we see someone who is dead reappear (i.e. Charlie, Yemi, Christian, etc.), it is Nemesis. Like you said, Jacob has touched people, physically touched them.

    It seems like Nemesis can't. When the real Locke fell down the shaft and broke his leg, he asked Christian for help (I'm assuming that Nemesis took Christian's form). Christian told Locke that he couldn't.

    Anyway, those are just my thoughts. I could be way off.

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  14. Thinking about this latest development, I started to wonder whose side Widmore is on. He told Locke there was a war coming and that Locke needed to go back to the Island or the wrong side would win--was he really setting up Locke for Nemesis? Ilana's people seemed to be working against Widmore, and they are definitely on Jacob's side. Where does that leave Ben? If he finds out that his murder of Jacob was ultimately orchestrated with Widmore's help, he's going to be super-pissed.

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  15. I just read the Anonymous comment below my previous post. It made me think about how Ben and Widmore's relationship parallels Jacob and Nemesis's relationship. None of these guys can kill each other because it's against the rules.

    A friend of mine has a theory that maybe Jack and Sawyer will replace Widmore and Ben as the new "rivals" on the island that are not allowed to kill each other.

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  16. Jacob creeps me out for some reason. And for all the free will talk on his part (oh, it's your choice, you don't have to do what he says), he was okay with issuing directives via Richard, and people (the Others) obeying without question.

    Is Nemesis the Island? Is the Island tired of humans screwing with it and trying to shake them off once and for all?

    Also, about Juliet--I think she's a variable. She wasn't touched or visited by Jacob (unlike the fusalage folks) and unlike the freighter folks, she was not born on (or concieved on) the Island. So the Incident may well have originally been the magnetic field getting all haywire; Juliet being there to detonate the bomb may have changed things. She may be the real wildcard in all of this--no island force or Jacob force really bothered with her. She was brought by Ben and kept against her will, and every group she was involved with she was actually not a part of--among the Others she was an outsider, among the 815 survivors she was an outsider, and among Dharma she was an outsider. Heck, even in her relationship with Sawyer she felt like an interloper. Maybe that's because she's the one person who wasn't "supposed" to be there and could change things somehow?

    Also, I have to say, I *love* how, despite the awkwardness over Sawyer, Juliet and Kate consistently had each other's backs this season. I see a sit-com spinoff, a la the Flintstones. ;)

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  17. Hi I would like to put in my 2 cents over the Incident finale….I got the impression that Jacob and the Nemesis guy were like two immortal chess masters…well if not immortal, very very old…who have seen everything over the centuries, wars, human race hating each other, corruption and fighting, the same cycle starting over and over again….the difference between the two is that Jacob has kept the faith in the human race, the faith that humans are ultimately good, or can change to become good………and Nemesis guy thinks the opposite….they will start a bet…where Nemesis guy wants to prove to Jacob that the human race is ultimately corrupted and will become Jacob’s end….this becomes a mastery of planning over the years, where Jacob will slowly try to help them stay good, or at least try to prevent them from turning bad (i.e. Kate not stealing anymore)…at last, Nemesis guy will kill Jacob through Ben, proving to Jacob that humans are weak and cannot be changed into good…but bad has not won yet...Jacob says with his last breath that “they are coming”…referring probably to Kate and Jack and the others getting back to the present because of the incident that created another space travel hole…and the whole 6th season will be about Kate and Jack and the others against Nemesis guy…through proving that they are capable of human sacrifice and virtually saving the world….

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  18. As for Jacob's nemesis, I wonder since Jacob is a biblical figure, if the person is his brother, Esau. Esau and Jacob had a Caine/Abel type relationship.

    For some time, I've felt like Richard was a crew member on the Black Rock. Perhaps, he was near death or did some favor for Jacob that gave him his immortality. If you look back at his clothing and more disheveled appearance in "The Man Behind the Curtain," it just strikes me that he was a castaway.

    I thought all and all, this was a pretty good finale. What I found myself drawn to much like you Billie was the destiny aspect of it. This season has some great moments for me including the Sawyer and Juliet romance. I hope the final season will be fantastic.

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  19. Another great review Billie! Just a minor tidbit, the statue is actually of Tawaret (the Egyptian goddess of fertility).

    From ABC.Com's official recap of the finale:

    "In an unknown room, we see a man dressed in white at a spinning wheel creating a tapestry with an intricate design containing Egyptian and Greek symbols. We cut to the man sitting on the beach cooking fish over a fire. It's morning, and on the horizon, out over the ocean, a large ship is sailing towards the island. Another man, this one dressed in black, walks over to the Man in White. The Man in Black asks why the Man in White brought the ship to the island -- is he still trying to prove the Man in Black wrong? The Man in Black says they come, fight, destroy, corrupt, and it always ends the same. The Man in White tells him it only ends once, and everything else is just... progress. The Man in Black says he wants to kill the Man in White, and one day he's going to find a loophole. The Man in White says he'll be right there. The Man in Black leaves and addresses the Man in White as Jacob. Yes, this is Jacob. The camera pulls back over the ocean, and we see they were sitting on the base of a giant stone foot. And next to the foot is another foot -- and both feet have four toes. And as the camera pulls back, we see what we've been waiting to see since we first glimpsed that four-toed foot over three years ago... the towering, majestic statue of the Egyptian goddess Taweret. And we clearly know we're a long time ago, so let's get the finale of season five started..."

    I wonder... is this truly the end of Locke? To tell the truth, I honestly wouldn't be disappointed if it was. If Locke, much to Richard's suspicions, wasn't actually special at all. That he spent his entire life being manipulated. Rather fitting death as well.

    My wish list for season 6:
    - Some backstory on the Black Rock.
    - Actually seeing the inside of the Temple.
    - Finding out what the deal with Libby was (alas I don't think we'll get this one).
    - Seeing the ancient society that built the Temple/statue via flashback.
    - Getting more info on Smokey (who I'm thinking is Nemesis guy)

    8 months to go! ARGH!

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  20. The speech that the Man in Black gave (at the start of the episode) to Jacob - may indicate that its not a simple tale of good vs evil.

    Jacob is the one bringing humans to the island who cause great suffering. Jacob doesn't care about the humans it seems.

    The Man in Black hates this and wishes he could kill Jacob.

    Hmmm...

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  21. Btw Ilana and Jacob are speaking Russian

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  22. I don't think Richard came in the Black Rock, because Ilana was seeking out Ricardus, which is a Latin name. Maybe his name WAS Ricardus but he's changed to Richard due to modernity. This would suggest he's much older than the Black Rock crew. In fact, he may have arrived after the decline of the Egyptian society that lived there AND STILL be ancient.

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  23. "Jacob came and asked her for help, in her own language, and she knew who he was. (What language was it?)"

    Billie Doux, it was Russian.

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  24. I am pretty sure that unfortunetelly Sayid and Julliet will be dead in season 6 (which is very sad as they are my favorite characters) just because they played their parts. There is a kind of logical final of their way shown. It seems that there is nothing to tell about them anymore, their stories are told. The island doesn't need them anymore (As Not-Christian said to Michle in the final of season 4 - "you can go now").

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  25. His name isn't Nemesis! why is everyone calling him that!?

    LAME

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  26. Hey Billie, been reading your reviews for years, they always add to my viewing experience. De-lurking for the first time because no-one seems to have spotted that there's some fairly compelling evidence that Black Shirt Man/Nemesis IS the smoke monster. We know that Nemesis is appearing as Locke at the moment, the only other character we've seen appear as dead people is Smokey. Also, Locke and Ben went to see Smokey a few weeks ago. Presuming that Locke has actually been Nemesis-Locke ever since Locke-Prime died, then we saw Ben fall down a hole, Nemesis-Locke run off(to find a rope or something). Suddenly Smokey appears as Alex, tells Ben to do whatever Nemesis-Locke says. Smokey/Alex dissapears, and Nemesis-Locke comes running back. Same character, betcha :P

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  27. Yah, I mentioned that in my previous post Trousers. But nicely explained :)

    Also, more Desmond next season please. Minor characters like Ilana featured in season 5 more than him!

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  28. Not sure if you're into the Lost ARG's Billie, but the latest (and most probably last) one seems to have already started:

    http://blog.lostpedia.com/2009/05/who-is-simeon-hobbes.html

    Interesting...

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  29. Well that'll teach me not to skim-read in future then. Go_banana, Desmond is one of my fave characters too, and as a result I'm wary about wanting to see too much of him next year. He's one of the few characters to have had a happy ending of sorts, and I have a feeling that to get him back on the island they'd have to do something horrible like kill off Penny.

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  30. Well, that was annoying ! Talk about a cliffhanger.

    On the whole I enjoyed this ep. I'm not sure if i was on board with Jack's plan or the various motivations of everyone for helping him but it was still exciting to watch. I especially loved the blue van shoot out rescue. I also loved Ben having a kiddy tantrum. And Jacob interacting with everyone. I think the writers really pulled it out of the bag(I'm not even gonna try and analyse the Jacob Nemesis/Locke scenes).

    And if Sayid and/or Juliet die, as much as i love the characters, i think it'll make sense. Sayid in particular seemed suicidal to me and it seems like a natural end to his story.

    However, if the whole cast are dead i will not be impressed.

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  31. When Jacob met Hurley outside the prison, during the taxi ride Hurley asked Jacob who he was, straight away Jacob said to the taxi driver "I'm just up here on the the corner"
    However if you listen to it he sounds as though he is answering Hurley's question and saying "I'm just a pier on the corner"

    Not really sure what it could mean.

    Also when they rolled Locke out of the box, his corpse was lying near the bottom of the statue. He could be the thing which lies in the shadow of the statue, the one who will save us all. However he would need jacobs magic touch to bring him back to life.

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  32. I'm not convinced that Nemesis / Locke is the black smoke. Look at NemLocke's reaction to Ben when he revealed that he had to obey Locke's every word. Surely if NemLocke was the black smoke then he would already know that....?

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  33. Maybe the Locke which is alive doesn't know that he's Nemesis, maybe nemesis can control and manipulate Locke from within having him act out his desires.

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  34. But then, why doesn't fake-Locke know about the statue? Richard takes him in front of the four-toed foot and he has no clue where he is. He says something like: "Nice foot, Richard, but what does it have to do with Jacob?". Nemesis knew where Jacob lived.

    As per the nuclear bomb, I am quite sure it will cause another time-shift. Faraday knew what he was doing, so the bomb is taking everyone somewhen else, probably with the rest of the group in 2007. It would be funny to see Radinzky thrown in 2007...

    Red

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  35. Fake-Locke knew about the statue. He was lying all along. It was all a ploy to get Ben into Jacob's chamber.

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  36. "Fake-Locke" wasn´t lying all along. He did tell Ben the truth when he announced his plan to kill Jacob. In fact he withheld information to manipulate people just as Ben did before.

    Anyway, I don´t think that "Fake-Locke" or Nemesis is a shapeshifter. He´s wearing the same clothes Locke does. So I think that Locke´s body (and mind) was somehow duplicated when he passed the flashing white light.

    Christian Shepherd was dead when the plane crashed on the Island, but "alive" afterwards. Is it possibly that the electromagnetic incidents created a living duplicate of every dead person involved?

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  37. I think that the most correct way of calling "Fake-Locke" would be Esaul, the Biblical character, brother of Jacob, who was betrayed by his brother and promised to kill him. Pretty much like "Fake-Locke" that was expelled fromt he Island and tried to find a way to kill Jacob. Now I have a theory and I would like to hear some thoughts about that. Could Adam and Eve (the skeletons in the cave) be Rose and Bernard? That would make sense, wouldn't it? Or am I just going nuts with the long wait for season 6?

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  38. Hi, Samantha:

    I hope they give the nemesis guy a name really early in season six so we don't have to keep coming up with names for him. :)

    I bet you're right about Rose and Bernard. It's been mentioned in several places and it makes a lot of sense.

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  39. All very interesting discussion. I thought Jacob's emphasis on free will was probably significant, given all the talk this season about no-one being able to change anything because it just 'had to be' or had 'already happened'.

    Anyway, a couple of things:

    1) The nuclear warhead. I actually felt like Lost had 'jumped the shark' when Sayid single-handedly disassembled a thermonuclear warhead wearing a pair of oven gloves, then pulled out the fission primer like it weighed 5kg. From what I can read, it would weigh at least 50kg. (I felt the same way about Charlie's death. I guess I'll get over it.)

    2) The exit from the island. The bit of desert where Ben & Locke were both spat out is exactly on the other side of the world to where the island is. This I figured out with Google maps. ;-) Maybe people have mentioned this already but I haven't seen it.

    3) 'Everything That Rises Must Converge' is a book by O'Connor but the title is a quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who proposed that the universe was inevitably evolving towards an 'omega point' of ultimate complexity and consciousness. Sounds pretty Lost-like philosophy to me! Good article about him on Wikipedia.

    Anyway, it has it's flaws but it's a great show. I still have no idea where they are going with it, but it sure made me read a lot!

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  40. I'm finally caught up on Season 5 - thanks for the review. I'm usually so impressed by the accuracy of this show, but I cringed when I saw the flashback of Kate at the store in Iowa. The sign on the store said "Ames," which led me (and Billie) to believe the scene took place in Ames, Iowa. However, Ames is a large town, and would have been in the late 1980s. Thus, having a store near a cornfield with no town in site would make this a small town, not a large, college town like Ames. Just thought I would point that out. I was impressed by the details of the license plates, however. I could see the old, dark blue ones on all the cars. You guys can take my word on this one - I grew up around Ames and had my own collection of New Kids on the Block posters, lunchboxes, etc....

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  41. I miss Lost... btw , where can you get the hieroglyphic ttf font for the Hatch symbols?

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  42. So my whole comment got deleted. 😭 Take 2:
    Well that is one way to do a season finale!
    We finally got to see the statue! When I saw The Man In Black, I shouted out Bosch! I love Titus Welliver in that show and was disappointed we didn’t see more of him. Imagine him morphing from Locke to himself in front of everyone!
    Can we please take a moment to celebrate that Vincent is ALIVE!! He’s the real MVP. Good to see Rose and Bernard again, completely unbothered. Interesting comment about them being the “Adam & Eve”.
    We got some good quotes! I exclaimed, “she finally got a nick name!” when Sawyer called Juliet Blondie. I loved Ben’s deadpan “I’m a Pisces” and I hoped you would include it in your review.
    Speaking of Blondie, Juliet’s face when she’s in the sub between Sawyer and Kate talking was priceless! So unimpressed.
    We had some interesting meta moments. Eloise shoots Faraday whilst pregnant with him, then observed that it is her [future] handwriting in his journal and then sets off with the crew to the hydrogen bomb and exposes fetus Daniel to the radiation [that makes him special?]. That...happened. Miles watching his dad yell at his mom to leave with baby Miles to save them was a tender moment. Team Dr Chang!
    I love that Sun found Charlie’s (well Aaron’s now) Drive Shaft ring. Can we please get a series finale of the cast singing You All Everybody? Anyone? Bueller?
    There are some [okay MANY] unsolved mysteries. I was confused when someone commented they want a Libby resolution - she’s dead. Then I remembered her being in the institution with Hurley and I am on team Who Is Libby. Also, what is in that case that was in the cab Hurley took with Jacob? I presume a guitar (perhaps Charlie’s?), but anything is possible.
    When Jack asked Kate why she told him to never bring up Aaron, I was waiting for her to tell him that Claire is his sister. She didn’t. Will Jack ever know?
    Radzinsky is the worst. Full stop.
    We haven’t seen a polar bear since that first one. They are all probably off by themselves having a time. Let’s add The Polar Bear Faction to the list. Alternate ending: the polar bear gang rolls up and hurls fish cookies at everyone until they submit to their authority/leave.
    I noted, “dead is actually dead, but not always”. I would like to know where Claire has been. It’s inferred she is one of the Walking Dead so as to imply she died in her sleep and then arose, walked off into the jungle and left Aaron in that giant leaf. We never had full confirmation that she is dead, though. Cf my dead is actually dead, but not always observation.
    Will Jin and Sun ever be reunited? Will they abandon their baby forever? How creepy is Jacob?! (At their wedding, with child Kate & James, etc.)
    I too was anxious when they had to swim underwater. I wonder if Kate can’t swim/is afraid of water?
    Finally, Hurley with literally anyone is the best. More Hurley please. Of particular note is the lauded exchange with Dr Chang. (Which, come to think of it, is a nod to when Jack, Hurley, and Kate were “new recruits” and worried that they would be asked who the president is.)
    I have much sympathy for you all who watched when it aired and had to wait for Season 6. I’m so glad for this space that is spoiler free. It almost doesn’t feel like I’m watching alone. Thank you, Billie!

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  43. A few things that somehow don't seem to have been covered yet:

    1. Ben told Locke he was a Pisces. I don't know much about astrology but I was curious about the continuity so I looked it up and apparently that's late February, early March? I don't think that's right. He was born outside of Portland and it looked like summer, everything green, everyone in short sleeves and a little sweaty. It's still pretty chilly in that area through early March. Ben was, of course, making a joke, plus you can pretty much tell that he's lying about something if you see that his lips are moving, but that seems random and makes me think they might have made a little continuity error.

    2. I really liked the casting of the kids overall. They were all instantly recognizable and did a great job of acting like their adult counterparts, too. But one thing bugged me probably too much. Sawyer/Josh Holloway is a lefty and the kid who played him was a righty. We've seen Sawyer write and fire a gun and so forth too many times to not know that that he's a lefty, and they had the kid writing, an activity makes it extremely obvious that he's a righty. I'm fine with them casting this kid anyway; as I've mentioned, he was a great lookalike. But he didn't actually have to write anything on camera (he could have just scribbled something) so why not have him do it left handed?! I don't know why I was so annoyed by that, but here we are.

    3. Re the question in the review: Sawyer called Miles "Enos". It's a reference to the bumbling sheriff guy on The Dukes of Hazzard, and he says it when they have to do sheriff-y things together. He first said it in "LeFleur" when they had to go get drunk Horace and take him home.

    4. Juliet's death is the only thing on this show except for Charlie's death that's made me cry actual tears. And the crazy thing is that I've never even been a huge Juliet fan. I don't DISlike her; I'm just sort of meh. She's fine. But I AM a huge Sawyer fan, and poor Sawyer has been through SO MUCH his entire life, and now he finally finds someone who seemingly makes him truly happy, and they take her away from him?! It's true that he does, annoyingly, keep looking at Kate at the worst possible moments and calling her Freckles right in front of Juliet and etc, but still. It was devastating to me. Maybe she'll be back. Either way... well, let's just say that as Breaking Bad was winding up, all I cared about in that entire universe was that Jesse would be ok. And all I care about here is that Sawyer will be ok. I know the outcome of one of those things; waiting to find out about the other one is slightly killing me.

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  44. Season 5 Rewatch thoughts:

    Overall Grade: A-
    It wasn’t my favorite season when I originally watched it all those years ago, but I found it to be highly entertaining upon the rewatch. I guess maybe an island skipping through time was a bit of a high concept in 2008, but nowadays, if your sci-if doesn’t have time travel, causality loops, or multiverses, are you even trying??

    The writers were exceptionally clever in making our beloved Losties the actual ones moving through time, expanding on the historical background of The Others, Dharma, Widmore, Eloise, and Richard, without having to revert to flashbacks again. Weaving in the off islanders decisions to return and tying all of it up by end of season was actually done quite masterfully.

    At this point, the seasons are shorter and the content consistently good to great so no point in choosing a best or worst episode. Instead of listing those, I’ll just point out a few things that I enjoyed this season:

    - Widmore is the leader of the Others in the 70’s, until he was deposed by Ben! Widmore spent his leadership galloping around the island on his noble steed, wind flowing through his flowing curls. Apparently someone clued him about his future hair situation and he wanted to enjoy it while he could.
    - Widmore is the leader, except when negotiating truces with Dharma, that’s when Richard steps in. Or deciding to detonate a hydrogen bomb. That’s Eloise’s category. In 1977 the Others had a bit of a leadership problem.
    - Every person’s reason for returning to the island was actually believable. I wasn’t sure that was possible after the scene at the dock, but it worked.
    - The evolution of Sawyer, Miles, Jin, and Juliet on island over the 3 years was wonderful to see. It defines who they are through the end of the series wonderfully.
    - Losing Juliet still hurts, she was such a great addition to the cast.
    - As is usual, the finale rocked. I literally had no idea what we were in store for in Season 6 when I first watched this, and my son was SURE the bomb would not go off.

    All in all, another great season, and more enjoyable than I remembered. On to season 6.

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