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.
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):
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.
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!):
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...)
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.
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.
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."
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.
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