Regarding those changes I was hinting about...

I'm starting a new blog.  This one won't be going anywhere, you will still be able to access all of the archived posts and I'm not sure I'm going to entirely abandon it just yet.  But as of right now, I will no longer be posting here.

The new blog is called My TV and Me, and the web address is http://mytvandme.wordpress.com.  As the blog title suggests, it will deal almost exclusively with television matters.   I would like to say that I decided to narrow the focus of the blog on my own, but in fact it's been happening for a while now. My online presence has become increasingly fractured by Facebook and Twitter - FB is where I post most of my photos and share funny videos and interesting news items with family and friends and Twitter, well, it's yet another diversion.  I have been a terrible blogger in recent months, and I'm hoping that starting all over, with a more specific focus, will light a fire under my ass.  It hasn't been an easy decision for me to make - I've had this blog since 2001 (!), and I'm not as fond of change as I would like to think I am - but I do believe it's time.  I chose Wordpress because of its behind-the-scenes functionality and cool designs.  And it's also free.

So, thank you for visiting thisisgina, whether this is the first time you've been here or you've been reading this blog for years.  Seriously, thank you :).

See you at my new site!

Today's Tweets

Via @ebertchicago - A British cemetery encased in caterpillar silk

Via @Movieline - Daniel Craig in talks to play Mikael Blomkvist in US film of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (Oh, please please please PLEASE!)

Via @feliciaday - Animals with their tongues sticking out!

Today's Tweets

Via @vanityfairmag - Liz and Dick, the Ultimate Celebrity Couple

Via @EW - 10 Rookie Shows Ken Tucker Wants to See (Of that list, the only ones that appeal to me are No Ordinary Family and Undercovers. Otherwise? Meh)

Via @npr - Artist Tattoos Indelible Iraq Memorial Into His Skin

Via @televisionary - HBO's new True Blood trailer!

The Daily Otter

How did I not know about The Daily Otter??  How have I managed to live out each day without a dose of these guys?? I feel like I have been living a life half full.

Not any longer.

LOST: The End

"Remember. Let go. Move on."
~Damon Lindelof, Twitter, May 23, 2010, midnight

My God, where do I even begin? There is no way I can do a thorough recap so soon, so I will give you my immediate, knee-jerk reaction (which often times is the most reliable): I thought that it was, by far, the best series finale I have ever seen. It was about as close to perfect as it could have been, at least for me and what I was wanting out of a finale. Would it have been nice to have had the mythology of the show addressed a little more directly? Perhaps, but certainly not at the expense of anything we saw last night.

I have dissected (or tried to dissect) the mysteries of this show right along with the geekiest of LOST geeks, and the tantalizing weirdness of LOST was a big part of the appeal for me. A great television show, however, does not survive on mythology alone. How far would The X-Files have gone if it weren't for the iconic Mulder and Scully? And look at how much the series finale of that show suffered for its emphasis on tieing up an already messy mythology. No, for me, the plot should always serve the characters, and not the other way around, and I would have lost interest in LOST very early on if I hadn't gotten so invested, so quickly in these characters.

There was so much about the finale that I loved, but let's get a couple of questions out of the way, first:

• So what exactly happened when Juliet detonated the bomb? Nothing? I was assuming it had because of her saying "It worked" to Sawyer right before she died; but we now know that "it worked" was really just what she said to Sawyer about the candy machine trick. Was it the detonation of the bomb that created the sideways place?
• Why was the Island at the bottom of the ocean in the sideways world? Perhaps this one is connected to the first question.

I know I have more questions than that, but these will be a good start.

I'm going to take the easy way out and bombard you with bullets. No! not the kind that are always flying around on this show, this kind:

My favorite parts on the Island:

• Rose and Bernard are alive! Vincent is alive! Richard Alpert is alive! Frank Lapidus is alive!! Man, that was a great way to start things off.
• I admit to laughing out loud when poor Ben got hit in the face one last time by Sawyer
• Jack and Locke's epic fight on the cliff was the best fight scene on LOST, ever. As well it should be.
• I'm not a huge Kate fan, but I was pleased that it was she who shot Locke and then got to carry out one last badass move and jump off of that cliff before Sawyer did.
• The scene where Jack hands the baton to Hurley was note perfect.
• and, of course, the final scene. By the time Vincent came and laid down next to Jack, I was a blubbering idiot.

My favorite Sideways parts:

• Hurley's face when he saw Charlie. So much love and affection.
• Sun, Jin and Juliet - that's where the crying began.
• Then Claire, Kate and Charlie had me nearly sobbing.
• But it was Sawyer and Juliet who put me over the edge, especially when he whispered, "I got you, baby" in her ear.

From that point to the end I was crying like a baby. I was wrecked.

I think the thing I took away from the finale - and the show as a whole - is that it is our relationships with others that sustain us through our life and beyond, and that what was important was the they all found each other again. Live together, or die alone.

OK, that's about all I can write for now. What did you all think?

This is my final review of LOST. I can't believe it. I want to thank everyone - however few you may be! - who took the time to come here, to listen to my ravings, and to share in the discussion. I will miss watching LOST, miss it terribly, and I will miss talking about it with you.

Namaste.

LOST

So this is it.

For good or bad, there was never a television show like LOST - innovative and interactive, at times frustrating but mostly rewarding - and I doubt there will ever be another one like it.

I'm not sure what to expect tonight, but I am almost certain I will love it no matter how it ends. This will be the very last LOST episode, ever. Enjoy it.

LOSTapalooza III

Jimmy Fallon grills Fox, Lilly and Garcia:



Remember this?

LOSTapalooza II

Fabulously long Vanity Fair interview with Michael Emerson

Mo Ryan's favorite LOST characters (i.e., just about all of them!)

A graphic guide to LOST

The entire series of LOST re-enacted by cats in 1 minute:

It's a LOSTapalooza

I'm just going to keep posting LOST stuff all weekend, as I find it, until it's over.

Jorge Garcia says goodbye to LOST. *sniff*

Auditions for the Smoke Monster:



The shirtless men of LOST, ladies!

LOST Reading Recs

Alan Sepinwall loved it.

Mo Ryan liked it

I don't think Vanity Fair's Mike Ryan liked it.

Televisionary really liked it.

And Tom and Lorenzo called it the most satisfying episode of the season.

LOST: Episode 6.15

What They Died For

"We're very close to the end, Hugo."
~Jacob

What makes a LOST episode great, amazing, unlike anything else on TV? I'd say it was a combination of things: emotionally resonant character interaction, heart-stopping action, moments of humor, and just plain freaky shit. (Richard! No!) And that pretty much describes last night's fantastic episode.

What did I love about it? I think just about everything, but mostly the great character moments. Let me count the ways...

Alt-Desmond - well, the night was an embarrassment of riches for him, wouldn't you say? Particularly the scenes in the jail and the prisoner van.

Ben - I think the same can be said for Ben, in both timelines. The selflessness of alt-Ben, juxtaposed with the self-preservation skills of Island Ben. I love that the rumored romance for Ben (which frankly I had forgotten about) turned out to be with Rousseau. When his breath caught after learning he was like a father to Alex, I almost lost it. Loved the kidnapping line, too.

Alt-Locke - He was amazing in the scene in Jack's office. What an expressive face TOQ has.

Jack - His acceptance of Jacob's job has long been predicted, yet it didn't feel anti-climactic to me. I think it's because his character as come so far to get here. I loved the breakfast scene in the alt world. I hope that happiness doesn't get shattered by the real world.

Sawyer - Poor, poor Sawyer. What a shitty week or so he's had, huh? I am so glad he acknowledged his part in the sinking of the sub, but my heart broke for him.

Even Alt-Sayid and Alt-Hurley had their moments - Sayid's snarky "Oh of course, sure, I promise!" and Hurley's effusive "Hey, Ana Lucia!" - in the middle of all the madness. And Miles, of course, rocked the smartass stuff. I guess when you spend 6 years building strong characters it only takes a line or two.

OK, the random stuff and the questions:

• When Desmond started the car I actually said out loud to an empty room, "He's not going to try again, is he?!"
• Who let our Desmond out of the well? Sayid told Jack he was in there, so it wasn't him. Claire, perhaps?
• What's going on with alt-Jack's neck? And what purpose does telling him that the airline found his father's coffin serve?
• Has Ben regressed to his old ways? I don't think so. I think the memory of Alex's death was fresh (because of Miles), that when he saw Widmore all he wanted to do was to get revenge. Then when he saw what MIBLocke did to Richard (Richard! No!), he knew he had no chance of defeating him, at least not on his own. He's got something up his sleeve. He always does.
• So all of the events of the sideways world are leading up to the concert - I'm assuming David's concert is the same as the museum one. Attending so far: Jack, David, David's mother (Juliet?), Miles (with Sawyer?), Desmond, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid. I wonder how (or if) Jin, Sun, Ben and Locke will get there?

So what do you think? Will MIBLocke succeed in destroying the Island (remember, the Island is at the bottom of the sea in the alt world)? And will that be the point at which "none of this will exist anymore", leaving the sideways world as the "real" one? I can totally see that happening. And I can imagine the final scene - or at least one of the final scenes - being Juliet, after meeting Sawyer at the concert, asking him out for a cup of coffee. I will bawl my eyes out, but I think I could deal with that ending.

Oh, and one more thing: Kate? the next time a sexy Scotsman gives you a little black dress and tells you he's taking you to a concert in a smokin' red Camaro, just say "OK".

Three and a half hours and then it's over.

Tonight is the penultimate episode of LOST, which will be leaving our TV screens forever - FOREVER! - in less than a week. This time next week, it'll all be over. GAH!

The Internet is of course awash in all things LOST in the lead-up to "The End", so I thought I'd point out a few things that you may have missed.

New York Times interview with Lindelof and Cuse

Reflection on LOST from the stars, fans and bloggers

Dana Carvey's LOST Spinoff:

Dana Carvey's LOST Spin-off from Dana Carvey

Televisionary previews tonight's episode - without spoilers:

While "Across the Sea" felt like an entirely different series, a parable slotted in right after a particularly tense and heartbreaking episode, "What They Died For" feels entirely like a penultimate episode of Lost should: it sets the stage for the final chapter (airing Sunday evening, of course) and kicks the action into high gear, signaling in no uncertain terms that the end is about to arrive.

Enjoy the show.

Fan-Made Trailer for LOST Finale

Get psyched!

LOST Reading Recs

Alan Sepinwall liked it (the discussion in his comments really illuminated some stuff for me)

Mo Ryan hated it

And Tom and Lorenzo can't get over the "big, glowing vagina."

LOST: Episode 6.14

Across the Sea

WARNING: Heavy Exposition Work Ahead!

This one? Eh. I'll take it for what it was: Backstory and exposition. We need it, they have to give it, so here it is. I had very little emotional connection with any of the characters, but I did love the last 10 or 15 minutes.

This is what I think went down:

Mother is one in a long line of Island protectors. I think her years (decades? centuries?) of isolation on the Island have made her a little crackers, as well as a bit homicidal. She sees the opportunity for recruiting candidates for the replacement position when a pregnant woman washes ashore. So, after the babies are born, she kills her and raises the twins herself, Jacob and the one with no name, who I will continue to call MIB. She shows them a stream leading into a cave filled with a golden light, telling them that is what they need to protect, but they can never enter it. Whoever did would suffer a fate worse than death. "Mother" favors MIB, possibly because he seems to be the brighter of the two, but his intelligence/inquisitiveness/thirst for knowledge will eventually lead him away from her and Jacob.

30 years later, and MIB is thisclose to getting off the Island for good when Mother ruins everything - destroys his donkey wheel contraption and murders all of his "people". Afterward, Mother annoints Jacob as her successor, letting him drink from the cup of everlasting life. When MIB discovers what Mother has done, stabs her with his special dagger and kills her. Then Jacob in a fit of rage beats MIB and tosses him into the golden cave where I believe his soul is ripped from his body and released in the form of the Smoke Monster (pure rage?). Right? Sounds downright Shakepearean, doesn't it? Or maybe Biblical is a better description.

And if I'm looking at this screencap correctly, the light has gone out of the cave. So Jacob had the job for what? A few hours before he destroyed the source of all life or whatever that light is supposed to be? The Island seems to be the source of all life, right? Or maybe just the soul?

Anyhoo, Jacob finds MIB's dead body, which he brings back to the cave and places next to Mother's body, placing with them the small pouch with the black and white stones. Adam and Eve explained. The origin of the Others, where the statue came from? Not explained.

Does all of that sound about right?

Some random thoughts:

• I did think it was interesting that MIB was the one who was supposed to have the job, and that he was 'special' like Hurley, with the ability to see dead people. Jacob, on the other hand, seemed more than just naive - he actually seemed a bit dim. Jacob also seemed to be the one with the violent tendencies, almost beating his brother to death those two times. MIB not only seemed more on the ball, he possessed a cynicism and world-weariness even as a boy.
• Here are a few things that I did not like about the episode (and they were kind of big things): 1) I thought that Allison Janney, who I usually love, was miscast. Her affect was too flat; 2) I thought the dialogue was very clunky, and suffered from the fact that MIB had no name; and 3) You're telling me that these ancient people understood the electromagnetic powers of the Island/its light and figured out that if you build some kind of contraption, hook it up to the light and install a donkey wheel, that you can turn that donkey wheel and get off the Island? Maybe end up in Tunisia somewhere? Come on. I would rather have not had that answer!
• The writers have said that they knew all along who Adam and Eve were - thus implying that they pretty much had the story mapped out in their heads from the beginning - and we would have proof of that when we found out who they were. Just the identity of the man and woman, though, wouldn't have been enough to convince me that they knew from the beginning - they could make any scenario work at this point, e.g. Rose and Bernard, or Jack and Kate - and pretend that they knew it was going to be them all along. It's the black and white stones in the pouch that Jacob places with his Mother and MIB and that Jack and Kate found with Adam and Eve way back in season 1 that leave me convinced that they really did know how things would end when they started.

Well, now that we've gotten the Jacob/MIB origin story out of the way - and I do think we needed this episode - let's get back to the people we really want to see!

LOST Scraps

A few tidbits in the lead-up to tonight's episode...

New York Post Michael Emerson Interview

Hurley gets the EW with Sawyer on the cover (so did I, but I'm not complaining!)

Dharma product labels, just in time for your LOST finale party!

(all links via tvtattle)

Maybe it's really a head bandage *disguised* as a bandana?

OK, before I say anything else, I want you all to know that I am very happy that Bret Michaels seems to have recovered nicely from his cerebral hemorrage. Really, I am. He's a cheeseball with terrible taste in women, but he also seems like he's a pretty nice guy.

So anyway, I was just wondering if anyone finds it hilarious that he's wearing his bandana in that inset photo? I bet he's got his guyliner on, too.

Today's Tweets

Via @CuteOverload - Baby Otter Webcam!

Via @Movieline - Lost's Jeff Fahey on the Fate of Frank Lapidus and that Machete Trailer

Via @fuggirls - Anne Hathaway really knows how to pick 'em.

Today's Tweets

@vanityfairmag - The LOST Good-Bye

Via @fuggirls - The Fug Girls' Annotated History of Mickey Rourke's Fashion Choices

Via @EW - This week's cover: The End of LOST

Via @redwingx (my friend) - Sunrise over Bryce Canyon

Via @popcandy - Downloadable PDF season finale calendar

LOST Reading Recs

I thought I'd point you in the direction of some great reviews/recaps of last night's LOST episode. Enjoy!

Alan Sepinwall's review

Televisionary Jace's review

Tom and Lorenzo

and

Mark Lisanti's "23 Questions About LOST Episode 614 Answered"

A big thank you to all of the above for helping me to make sense of what I just saw.

LOST: Episodes 6.13 and 6.14

THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS HERE!

I am still reeling. It is no lie when I say that my heart was still racing when I went to bed a full hour an a half after I finished watching. Was "The Candidate" a good episode? Um, I think so. The massacre at the end has kind of obliterated, for now, the forty minutes that came before it. Oy!

Before I get to last night's episode, a few brief words about the one I neglected,

The Last Recruit

Two weeks I've had, and I still didn't manage to get a post up for this episode, and I am really sorry about that. It was a solid episode that spent a lot of time moving people around like pieces on a chessboard, and blowing up a lot of stuff. While it felt a bit too brief and/or understated at the time, after last night Sun and Jin's reunion at the end of "The Last Recruit" will probably play a little better upon rewatch. They barely had time to say hello when the guns got whipped out again.

I loved how we got to see all of the players finally come together. This show always works well when everyone plays a part, imo.

I don't really have too much else to say about this one. If you'd like to delve more deeply, please check out Alan's review and its comment section.

Now, on to last night's soul-crusher...

The Candidate

Sayid: "Because it's going to be you, Jack."

Me, after it was over: "I wish Sawyer had believed him."

My God, where do I start? Honestly, I have no idea where this thing is going anymore. Well, I never actually KNEW, but I felt I could give an educated guess. Not anymore. And I'm sort of afraid. That's not necessarily a bad thing - it probably means that the writers are doing a good job - but it's scary to be afraid!

(Warning: If you couldn't tell already, this thing is going to be all over the place because that's what the inside of my brain is like now)

With the end so near, I was preparing myself for the inevitable shocking deaths but Jiminy Cricket! FOUR people in ten minutes?! That's more shock than my heart can take, thank you very much.

Frank Lapidus - My favorite wise-crackin', honorary LOSTie. There's no way he survived getting hit by that bulkhead and drowning. Is there?

Sayid - The one thing that MIBLocke did not count on, and that was a human being's capacity for good, for choosing to do the right thing, even if he is a zombie with an infected soul. Like Hurley said, you can always come back from the Dark Side. I was pretty confident that there would be no other ending for Sayid but death, and I am glad that it was a redemptive one.

Sun and Jin - I don't know what to say. I think I'm still processing it. This is not the ending I wanted for them, not by a long shot. Their story, however, was done being told, and I suppose there is comfort in the knowledge that they died together, at last. *sniff* Doc Jensen at EW posted a short interview with Lindelof and Cuse in which they talk about some of the stuff that went down in "The Candidate". This is what they said about the Kwons' death:

“Because now you know this show is willing and capable of killing anyone,” says Damon Lindelof...Why was it so important for Lost to prove that it can be downright homicidal during its last season? To establish once and for all that the Locke-ness Monster is the true villain of season 6 and quite possibly all of Lost. “There is no ambiguity,” says Cuse. “He is evil and he has to be stopped.”

Point well-made.

I'm just going to put everything else into a bullet point list because I just can't be prosy right now.

• I don't think Widmore put the C4 on the plane. I think it was Richard, Ben and Miles - isn't that what they went to do? Get explosives from Dharmaville and rig the plane to blow? No? Whoever put it there, MIBLocke already knew it was on board - why else would he have taken the dead guy's watch before he climbed into the plane?
• Jack was 100% correct about MIBLocke's intention with regard to the bomb. If they let the clock run out, the bomb would not have gone off (just like the dynamite in the Black Rock). MIBLocke was counting on Sawyer doing exactly what he did, including his betrayal.
• I enjoyed all of the alt-timeline, watching the veil between the sideways world and the real world slip away a bit more as Jack starts making connections between Oceanic 815 people (Bernard!) and more of the real world begins to seep into their subconscious minds ("I wish you'd believed me", "Push the button", "What happened, happened", Catch a Falling Star playing on the music box). Great shot of Jack and Claire in the music box mirror, btw. Terry O'Quinn was amazing in the final scene between him and Jack in the hospital hallway.
• That final scene on the beach killed me. Killed me! To see them all so devastated, to hear Hurley sobbing and to see the pain in Jack's face...Jesus, show!

I need to wrap this up because, in my real world, I'm supposed to be working. Like I can concentrate now.

What did you think?

I want what he's smoking!

Two of my loyal readers - or should I say, "my two loyal readers"? - have made reference in the comments of another post to how fantastic Fringe has been these past few weeks, and I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, I think it's one of the best shows on TV right now.

Last night's episode - "Brown Betty", a pot-fueled, noir fantasy sprinkled with song - might not have been everyone's cup of tea, but I thought it was fantastic. Being the geek that I am, the sci-fi aspects of the show are what drew me in, but it's the characters and emotional storytelling the keep me watching. And "Brown Betty" was filled with both, allowing us to see the characters through Walter's eyes. Both Peter and Olivia seemed more alive, somehow (and didn't she look gorgeous?), and had more chemistry together in one episode than they have had in all the others combined. Interesting that Walter sees them that way. I liked the metaphor of the glass heart, how Peter had stolen Walter's heart when he left. Walter's own view of himself - as the villain of the story, the stealer of children's dreams, someone unworthy of a happy ending - was so sad.

As far as the musical portions (mandated by FOX as part of their musical-themed week of programming), they weren't nearly as intrusive as I thought they would be, and I especially loved Broyles' song and Olivia singing "For Once In My Life" to Peter.

"Brown Betty" allowed us to pause and spend time with the characters, to understand where they are emotionally before the inevitable shit starts hitting the fan on the way to the season finale. I just hope that ultimately, when all is said and done and the show finishes its run, that Walter, Peter and Olivia get the happy ending that they deserve.

I'm looking forward to watching it again.

MoMA

03-28-2010 027, originally uploaded by gina64.

Here are some photos that I have been meaning to post.

On March 27 friends and I went to the Museum of Modern Art to see the Tim Burton Exhibit (which has since ended). The Burton exhibit was awesome - so great to see items from his movies as well as his many drawings - but unfortunately, there was no photography allowed. The photo above - Toxic Boy - was the only Burton image I came away with.

Besides Burton, I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy MoMA, since I consider myself not a fan of modern art. Well, I was wrong because I was wrong about what is considered modern art. I really enjoyed seeing many of the paintings that I've always loved (particularly Van Gogh's "The Starry Night").

OK, on to the images...

There was an exhibit of Monet's Water Lilies:



This, part of a performance art exhibit, was titled "Unspoken Communication". Or, as I like to call it, "Staring Contest":



People admiring Picasso's "Les Demoiselles":



Admiring a sculpture piece:



One of my favorites, Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World":



And finally, Van Gogh's "The Starry Night", probably my favorite painting of all (probably):

Where the hell is my LOST recap??

It isn't up yet for two reason: 1) I've been laid up with back trouble and 2) We've had company for the past two days. I will do my best to work through my drug haze and get something posted by the end of the weekend.

Have a nice one :)

Oh, and I loved the episode.

Today's Tweets

Via @vanityfairmag - Great interview with Kristin Chenowith

Via @ebertchicago - Stunning photo of the ash from the Iceland volcano

Via @EW - Behind the scenes photos from the best Star Wars film

Via @vanityfairmag - Oh, Kiefer.

LOST: Episode 6.12

Everybody Loves Hugo

"What's that, girl? Desmond's in the well?"

You can really feel it now, can't you? The push to the end, the sensation that the story has built some serious momentum and is now hurtling toward the finish line. So much happened in this episode. Here are some of my erratic thoughts on it.

Island

"Dude. You've got some Ilana on you." Holy crap! Before you could say, "I wouldn't toss that bag of unstable dynamite around so casually" -- BOOM! Ilana blew herself up. I guess the Island was finished with her, huh? It was a great WTF moment, mostly because I really thought she still had a part to play in the story. Huh.

Speaking of things blowing up, bye-bye Black Rock. I guess you won't be on the LOST Location Tour, huh?

I liked Hurley in his leadership role, and Jack as a follower. I'm thinking that Hurley, contrary to appearances, does have a plan of some kind for dealing with MIBLocke: He has Ilana's bag of Jacob's ashes, which he knows can be used to contain the smoke monster. I think Hurley will try to do just that. Unfortunately, I don't think he's planned things out any further than that.

It was surprisingly nice to see Michael again, especially since he wasn't screaming about WAAAAALLLT! And because he was doling out the info: According to him, the Whispers are actually the souls of people who in life have done wrong (to the Island? on the Island?) and so are unable to move on in death.

It's very sad what's happened to Sayid but you know what? ZombieSayid is kind of cracking me up. He embodies the term "dead pan", don't you think? I'm still holding out hope that there's some small bit of the good part of him deep down inside and that he will ultimately come down on the side of the good guys in the end (although it will most likely be at the expense of his own life, and that makes me sad).

OK, here's a question: Was that the same kid as the one we saw in The Substitute? Because I'm not so sure. His face is sort of the same, but the hair color is totally different. Check out these screencaps (click on the image for larger size):





Could he be getting older? Is the dark-haired boy just an older version of the blonde? Or are they two different boys? Perhaps the blond boy is Jacob and the dark-haired boy is Esau (MIB)? Jacob and Esau were brothers in the bible, after all.

As soon as I saw that well, I KNEW MIBLocke was going to toss Desmond in there. GAH! Here's the thing, though: Isn't this well one of the EM pockets on the Island? Has MIBLocke inadvertently deposited Desmond exactly where Widmore wants him to be? By the way, I think Desmond was totally telling a lie when MIBLocke asked him if he knew who he was and Desmond said, "Yeah, John Locke." I think Desmond knows very well that Locke is not Locke anymore. And that brings us to...

Alt-Timeline

...the whopper of a final scene in the alt-timeline. First, though, a few words about the alt-story.

I was so happy to see the Hurley/Libby relationship, for all intents and purposes, "consummated". I got all teary when they showed him spreading out the blanket on the beach, the way he would have on their original picnic date if Michael hadn't murdered Libby the way he did. It wasn't a near-death experience that awoke Hurley's memories of the real timeline, like it was for Charlie and Desmond, but a kiss from someone he was in love with, much like Daniel seeing Charlotte brought on his visions of the the real timeline. So it would seem that there are two triggers that "wake" people up: 1) almost dying and 2) re-connecting with the person you were in love with in the original timeline.

If that's the case, then I suppose the most obvious reason for Desmond RUNNING OVER A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND MAN, was that Locke was already with his true love and only a near-death experience would do the trick. I couldn't believe it when I saw it! Here's the thing, though: How could Desmond know he wouldn't kill Locke? My first thought was that he was trying to do just that because Alt-Locke's death would somehow affect MIBLocke...but I'm not sure how that would work. I do know one thing: Alt-Locke is totally headed to Jack's hospital, where Sun and Jin probably are, too.

Bits:

I chose this photo for my Desmond screencap this week because, well, let's just say he's right where I want him.



And finally, the fabulously AWESOME, Wonka-fied preview for next week's episode (turn it up loud!):



I can't WAIT.

Today's Tweets

Vie @thefutoncritic - Deadliest Catch executive producer Jeff Conroy chats about the loss of Phil Harris, and the beginning of tonight's new season

Via @movieline - Steven Seagal is the worst boss ever.

Via @CuteOverload - 'Tugboat' the bebe pug.

Via @ebertchicago - Great (and too short) New Yorker Mag article about Christopher Walken

Today's Tweets

Just one today.

Via @EW - Favorite Flashback Episode Poll (I had such a hard time choosing! In the end I voted for Firefly, "Out of Gas", but now I'm thinking maybe it should have been BSG, or Futurama, or West Wing...)

LOST: Episode 6.11

Happily Ever After

There's always a choice, brutha.

~Desmond

And now we have a show, people! This was the first episode this season that directly (somewhat) addressed the nature of the "flash-sideways" (an expression widely used around the internets, but one I don't really care for), giving us some clues as to what it could all mean. As with just about all Desmond episodes, this one was one of their best, right up there with my all time favorite, The Constant. And so far, I think it's the best of the season.

Yes, I am biased, but that doesn't mean I'm not also right.

Here's what happened:

Widmore brought Desmond back to the Island against his will because somehow, Desmond's ability to survive exposure to massive amounts of elecrtomagnetism (EM for short) make him the key player in setting things to rights. But first, Widmore needs to verify Desmond's EM-immunity, so he tosses him in a big box and turns up the juice. In a familiar flash of white - remember the same flash when Desmond turned the failsafe key and when Juliette set off the bomb? - we cut to the alt-timeline, where Desmond has just gotten off Oceanic Flight 815.

As it turns out, in the alt-timeline Desmond is not with Penny - doesn't even know her, in fact - but he does work for Widmore. He's his right hand man, who in Widmore's eyes can do no wrong. Just what Desmond always wanted, apparently. Widmore sends Desmond on errand that involves someone named Cholly, who is walking around in a weirdly serene, fairly smug state since nearly choking to death on that bag of heroin. Des has been charged with delivering Charlie to Widmore's harpy-of-a-wife's charity benefit. Widmore's wife is Eloise Hawking.

Charlie tells Desmond that none of "this" is real, that he got a glimpse of the true reality when he nearly died and was in a different state of consciousness and saw a blonde woman he realized was his soulmate (Claire). To prove his theory to Desmond, he forces their car off the road and into the waters of the harbor. With the car submerged, Desmond tries to save Charlie; as Des tries to open the door, Charlie puts his hand up on the car window - that's when the two timelines smash together, I gasp out loud, and Desmond has a vision of the scene from "Through the Looking Glass", where Charlie wrote the message "Not Penny's Boat" on his hand and then drowned in front of Desmond's eyes.

At the hospital, Desmond is ordered to undergo an MRI to make sure his brains aren't scrambled (too late!), but being doused with all of that magnetic energy opens the flood gates of Desmond's unconscious mind and images of his true timeline, his life with Penny, come rushing in. Desmond tries to get answers from Charlie, but he totally bags on him.

Desmond warily tells Eloise that he was unable to get Charlie to the benefit and is surprised when she does not castrate him there on the spot, as he fully expected her to; instead she smiles and says "no problem" and sends him on his way. For now. When Desmond overhears Penny's name as he's walking away and starts asking questions, the claws come out. Eloise tells him to "stop talking" and stop looking for whatever it is he's looking for; she tells him that someone has obviously changed the way he sees things, and that is a "violation". Hmm. Before sending him away, she tells Desmond, "You're not ready yet."

As he's about to leave, someone knocks on Desmond's limo window. It's alt-Daniel (Faraday) Widmore, who in the alt-timeline is still Eloise and Widmore's son, but is not a theoretical physicist. He's a musician who, after seeing alt-Charlotte and falling in love instantly, begins writing complex notes/equations in his journal. He tells Desmond that he thinks that he may have done something that created an alternate life (the alt-timeline) that they are not supposed to be leading. He tells Desmond that Penny is his half-sister and he knows where she is. (How sad is it that in his "true" life, Daniel dies so tragically?)

Desmond finds Penny running at the same stadium where he first met Jack. They meet and have crazy instant chemistry together and when Penny's hand touches his, Desmond's consciousness zooms back to the present Island time, where he's lying on the floor of the EM box. A calm has come over him and he tells Widmore that he is ready to help. As Des walks through the jungle with Zoe and a couple of red shirts, Sayid attacks, kills the red shirts and sends Zoe away. Aw, even as a zombie Sayid is a gentleman. Sayid tells Desmond that Widmore's guys are bad news and he must leave with him, and Desmond's so zen that he's like, "yeah, cool, let's go." But there's something else behind his eyes.

Then we're back in the alt-timeline, post-Penny meeting, and I don't think I've ever seen Desmond so happy, and at peace. He asks his driver (Minkowski!) if he can get him the manifest of Flight 815. Minkowski says yeah, but why? Desmond says he needs to "show them something." (Them being the passengers who are still alive and still on the Island - the candidates - I presume)

I found it very interesting that we weren't shown some sort of catalyst for the final scene in the alt-timeline. His consciousness was sent there when he got blasted by the EM energy, and then his consciousness returned after he made contact with Penny, who is his constant. But what propelled him back to the the alt-timeline? There was no white flash shown before that final scene. What I'm thinking, is that Desmond's consciousness, after exposure to the high EM levels, is now existing in both timelines.

We still don't know exactly what the alt-timeline IS, but we do know what it ISN'T: According to Charlie, "none of it matters" and isn't real, and according to Daniel, he "isn't supposed to live this life". I think whatever it is, the alt-timeline is not a naturally occurring event but something that was created by someone. Eloise knows who and is playing the same part she did in "Flashes Before Your Eyes": steering Desmond in a certain direction, and away from Penny, his constant.

I am really looking forward to seeing how Desmond is going to open the others' eyes and show them that the life they are living isn't the one they were supposed to live. I think that there is a part of all of their consciousnesses that understands that there's something "off" (mirror scenes). And I think that in the end, they will all be presented with a choice between the two realities. And I think I'm going to be doing a lot of crying.

LOST: Episodes 6.9 and 6.10

Real life constraints force me to combine the last two episodes into one brief post, before tonight's new episode airs and I find myself even further behind. I'm such a bad LOST blogger that if I were on the Island, MIBLocke would have no trouble stealing my soul.

Ab Aeterno

From Wikipedia: Literally, "from the everlasting" or "from eternity". Thus, "from time immemorial", "since the beginning of time" or "from an infinitely remote time in the past". In theology, often indicates something, such as the universe, that was created outside of time.

While it didn't feel like a LOST episode in the classic sense, I still enjoyed this immensely. A wonderful character piece that filled in the backstory, at last, of the mysterious Richard Alpert, "Ab Aeterno" revealed not only how Richard got to the Island and why he is immortal, but it also offered more information/hints about the roles Jacob and MIB are playing and what purpose the Island serves and why it must be protected (it's a cork in hellmouth bottle!).

Definitely a solid episode, very entertaining and Nestor Carbonell acted his little pants off. You can read more about it in Alan's review.

The Package

I was right about two things in my "Recon" recap:

1. MIBLocke does apparently have a reason for "collecting" followers. Specifically: He needs to gather all of the candidates together. I suspect he doesn't want to play some pickup basketball with them; and

2. Desmond (DESMOND!) is The Package behind the padlocked door.

I've said this many times before and I'll say it again: Sun and Jin episodes are among my favorites. This one was no exception.

A few things:

• Again, the alt-timeline shows a similar version of the characters, who have made slightly different choices and seem happier, although Sun and Jin's timeline seems to be heading in a tragic direction. I hope the Island timeline doesn't go in a similarly sad direction. Keamy's remark that Sun and Jin weren't meant to be together, however, makes me very worried.
• Hey! It's Alt-Mikhail! And he has both ey--Wait, I take that back!
• And again, the mirror theme continues in the alt-timeline, with Sun pausing an extra moment while looking at herself in the hotel mirror.
• If Sun wasn't already a favorite of mine, the fact that she ran as fast as she could away from MIBLocke would have made her one. Atta girl! It happens so rarely that when a LOST character actually show some sense, it automatically elevates the quality of the episode.
• I loved the Sun/Jack scene on the beach. At the risk of sounding like a broken record...Jack rocks this season. He looks pretty good, too.
• (Paraphrasing) Ben to Ilana: "Why won't you believe me when I say that Sun was already unconscious when I found her?" Ilana: "Because you are speaking." Hee. Speaking of Ilana, her expression when she saw Richard enter the beach camp was so well done.
• I was totally verklempt when Jin was looking at the pictures of Jeon. I hope that's not the only way he's going to see her.

That is so not the best picture of him - in fact, he looks like Russell Crowe - but I don't care. He's back! My joy, however, is mixed with anxiety about what his ultimate purpose is with regard to the Island, and what his ultimate fate will be. I don't like the fact that Widmore had to drug him and keep him under lock and key in order to get him to come back to the Island. He was brought against his will, apparently, and Widmore's plan must involve Desmond's special "connection" with the electromagnetism of the Island. I just hope his role isn't a sacrificial one.

And so I head into tonight's episode filled with anxiety. It's about Desmond, and as Damon Lindelof tweeted last week, "In one week, the conversation is going to change."

What does that MEAN??

Today's Tweets

Via @vanityfairmag - Liam Neeson: A Thinking (Wo)Man's Badass (doesn't he look like Lloyd Bridges in that picture?!)

Via @feliciaday - "Amazon reviewers think this masterpiece sucks"

April Fools!

Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name

The two best Idol performances from last night.

I gave up watching American Idol at the end of the David Cook season, and hadn't watched it since. Not until, that is, Katie Stevens - who hails from my hometown - made the cut. Of course we had to watch. And so, once again I have been sucked in by that evil show.

I think Katie is very talented (and adorable), and I wish her all the best, but I have to confess that she is not my favorite. That would be Crystal Bowersox. There were two performances last night that I loved: Lee's "Treat Her Like A Lady" (wow, welcome to the competition, Lee!), and of course Crystal's "Midnight Train To Georgia". Enjoy.

Today's Tweets

Via @ebertchicago and @nytimes - Father reads to daughter 3,218 nights in a row

Via @moryan - All you wanted to know about "V", and more!

Via @televisionary - Five reasons to tune into tonight's return of "V".

I'll miss Sawyer.

I spent the weekend in NYC - saw the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA, photos coming! - and I'm going to use that as an excuse for not having my recap of last week's episode done. What can I say? I'm a son of a bitch!

Nothing like a good cup of Joe.

True Blood returns on June 13 with the season 3 premiere!

LOST: Episode 6.8

Recon

March 23...I don't have my recap ready - I realized this morning that I never finished it! - so this post will act as a place holder for now. I hope to post more when I get home tonight, before I watch the new ep. In the meantime, consider this:

Am I the only one distracted by Josh Holloway's physical appearance this season? He seems changed. There's something about his face that's different. New teeth? Perhaps. He looks puffy, too. And if he didn't have on a wig or at least some sort of hairpiece or extensions in last night's episode, I'll eat my tin foil hat. It's really bothering me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later...Well, I wasn't really successful in putting together a coherent recap/analysis of this episode. I'm not sure why. I do know that I felt a little detached while watching it, and I think that's because it aired following one of LOST's best episodes - "Dr. Linus" - and wasn't as emotionally resonant for me as that one was. It was also really plot heavy, which I don't always mind, but when there's so much going on it can be tough to connect with the characters on screen on a meaningful level.

So what I've got here are a whole bunch of notes and questions that I am going to pretty much just transcribe here. Sort of willy-nilly.

• I loved that Alt-Sawyer is a cop, but still obsessed with avenging his parents. He's clearly made better choices in this timeline of his life, and the portrayal of his alternate character fits with the others we have seen so far: They still have their central conflict, or characteristic, but they don't let it define them. Except perhaps for Kate. And Sayid.
• There were tons of callbacks to prior episodes/characters/episode details in the Alt scenes: Miles and Charlotte were the obvious ones (Charlotte looked beautiful but I really would have preferred she turned out to be Juliette); Charlie's brother Liam looking for him at the police station; the code word "LaFleur"; Little House on the Prairie, which Sawyer admitted to watching in a previous ep; "Watership Down"; and Sawyer bringing Charlotte the sunflower, like he did for Juliette.
• So, if Sawyer is a cop, why did he let Kate go at the airport? Now that we know he's a cop, though, it makes his admonishment to Hurley about people taking advantage of him sincere and credible.
• Do you think Sawyer was planning a con against MIBLocke from the very beginning, or at least since the cave, or do you think it wasn't until he found out that MIBLocke is the smoke monster and killed all of the people at the Temple?
• Sayid and Claire really are off their respective nuts. I think they are lost for good.
• What the heck was MIBLocke talking about when he was telling Kate about his crazy mother? For a second there I thought he was implying that, through some time loop thingy, that he was in fact Aaron and Claire was his mother, but I've since abandoned that one (this show makes you think crazy things). Could he have been manipulating Kate into killing Claire? I'm actually starting to feel bad for Kate.
• OK, so MIBLocke's big plan is to leave the Island on the Ajira plane. Who is going to fly it? Or is he just telling a tale to get people to follow him and help him escape? I doubt he can just get on a plane and fly off the Island. I don't know, it just seems too easy. There must be some reason he is gathering followers, something that he needs them for, like maybe he needs to pay a "ferry man" to get off the Island and the toll is like, 20 souls or something. I'm just not seeing a logical plan yet.
• Speaking of a plan, who's going to pilot the submarine, Sawyer?

And speaking of the submarine, what in the world is behind that padlocked door?? I'd like to think it was Desmond (please please please), but I'm not sure that Widmore would have to keep him locked up like that. Next week's episode is called "The Package", so I think it's a good bet we're going to find out.

I will try to get something posted about this week's fantastic Richard Alpert episode tonight, but I am going to NYC in the morning for the weekend, so I may not get to it. But I will try!

Crystal. Kicks. ASS.

Today's Tweets

I haven't posted tweets in a long time. Facebook and Twitter are seriously impeding my blogging, and I apologize for that (if there are any of you still coming here). I'm not sure how to change that without weaning myself off of one of them. Perhaps it's time to cut back on Twitter. It *is* awfully addictive.

That said, here are some tweets for you! Heh.

Via @reduced - LOST Reduced:



Via @nprmonkeysee - Miley Cyrus as an Idol mentor?? They're joking, right?

Via @popcandy - Banana museum for sale!

TV Talk: Drive By

Very quickly:

Justified premiered Tuesday night on fX, but I haven't watched it yet. Will let you know when I do.

True Blood is back on HBO for a third season beginning June 13, 2010. Woohoo! (HBO's re-airing season 2 beginning on Sunday, March 21)

Discovery's 11-part series life begins on Sunday, March 21 at 8PM.

Not sure I mentioned this here, but Futurama is coming back to Comedy Central with all new episodes in June. Woohoo again! Here's a teaser trailer.

And last but not least, I have half a draft of my recap of this week's LOST episode done, but I don't expect to finish it for another day or so. Don't forget to check back!

LOST: Episode 6.7

Dr. Linus

I went into this episode convinced, based on the "next week on LOST" preview, that Benjamin Linus was going to die. As much as I didn't want that to happen, it made sense: Ben's story seemed to have run its course and his character has been marginalized so far this season. It made sense that he would have to pay for killing Jacob - among other nefarious deeds - by being killed himself. And so I watched with dread as Ilana discovered the truth about Ben's part in Jacob's death and set him to work digging his own grave.

Then MIBLocke appeared and offered Ben a way out of his death sentence. I didn't want him to die, but I also didn't want Ben to accept MIBLocke's offer since doing so would be choosing to go down a path - one in pursuit of power and his own personal interests - that was much like the one that got him into his current messy predicament. Much to my great delight, instead of being his final episode, "Dr. Linus" turned out to be a very emotionally satisfying redemption story for Ben. And it proved once and for all that Michael Emerson is one of the best actors on TV.

I loved this episode, and would rank it as one of my top 5 favorite LOST episodes.

OK, some stuff:

Alt-Ben

I'm still grabbing at straws when it comes to figuring out what these alternate realities actually are, besides being great character pieces. Alan Sepinwall has formulated the theory that they are in fact an epilogue for each character, they we are being shown what reality each person will be "gifted" with as a result of the outcome of whatever war is currently brewing:

"For now, I'm sticking with my theory that the flash-sideways are an epilogue in advance - that this is where and when the characters all wound up in the aftermath of the war between Smokey and Jacob's forces. (I have no idea if I'm right, nor will I be upset either way when the reveal comes, but right now it's important for me to have some idea of what the alt-timeline scenes mean, even if it turns out I'm completely wrong. Otherwise, there's no weight to them this late in the "real world" timeline.)"

I do agree that there is a need at this point to know what they are, but I can't say I buy the epilogue theory. I'm still leaning towards the idea that the time stream split in 1977 when Juliet detonated the bomb, and the universe will course-correct and eventually the two timelines will converge, probably in the finale. Why does everyone so far in the alternate timelines seem to be happier, and make better choices? I don't know. My brain can only process so much.

Alt-Ben is still a little Machiavellian, but it appears that a healthier relationship with his father has stemmed some of his more evil tendencies. In the end, he makes the choice that our Ben, until now, would never have been able to make: the happiness of someone he loves over his own lust for power. He is able to save Alt-Alex this time, choosing her, elevating her needs above his own.

So, we learned a few things in the scene with his father, one being that Alt-Ben has the same microwave as I do! I mean, he could totally be standing in my kitchen in that picture. Ha! We also learned that even in the alternate timeline, the Linuses joined the Dharma Initiative and went to the Island. I suppose that means that they left shortly after they got there (before the 1977 explosion), when Roger was unhappy about being hired as a "Workman". Also, great touch having Ben "gas" his father in the alternate reality, only this time it's just oxygen.

Jack, Hurley and Richard

So we got sort of a confirmation that Richard was on the Black Rock, perhaps in chains as a slave (or a prisoner?). He's been so controlled all along that I love watching him freak out now. The dynamite scene with him and Jack was, well, dynamite. It seems that perhaps Jack is finally beginning to believe. I think he's also going a little crazy, but I suppose that's to be expected since it was only about 11 days ago in LOST time that Jack was going to kill himself by jumping off the bridge. Can you believe that? (check the LOSTpedia Timeline) Check it out:

Jack finds out about Locke's death in 2007 L.A. and tries to jump off the bridge;
5 days later, he's on the Ajira Flight 316 and it crashes and he flashes to 1977;
He spends only 4 DAYS in 1977,until Juliet detonates the bomb;
they get sent back to 2007 at the beginning of this season, and only 2 days have passed since then. That's why this show works SO well on DVD.

Island Ben

There's really nothing more to say about the scene with Ilana except that it was amazing and heartbreaking. Only Michael Emerson could make you love such a weaselly character.

Like I said last week, LOST really knows how to end an episode, and the slo-mo beach reunion this week was awesome. As was the arrival of Charles Widmore! I don't think I speculated here about who the man was that Jacob said was coming to the Island, but I thought it was Widmore right from the start. What his intentions are, I dare not speculate - look how Ben's character has turned around! - but I think there is one big question that must be answered: Is Desmond on that sub?

Desmond's Replacement

I bought a new t-shirt today. If you would like one, hurry: they're only available for a little over 9 more hours.