After watching the pilot last night I was reminded about how great it was and how many clues to the course of the series were planted: black & white, the smoke monster (which sounded just like 815 breaking apart), levels of trust and communication issues with the Losties.
Some of my favorite LOST moments are in the pilot, and got me thinking about great moments throughout the series:
Charlie's ominous question after they hear Rousseau's transmission, "Guys, where are we?"
Mr. Eko face to face with the smoke monster.
Desmond and Penny, on the phone, declaring their eternal love for one another.
Ben, still posing as Henry Gale in the Hatch, manipulating Jack and Locke while asking for milk. "I guess it's a good thing I'm not one of them, huh? You guys got any milk?"
Richard communicating with his dead wife with Hurley's help.
There are so many more, but these are a good start and a reason to watch the whole damn thing again.
So Dharma radio silence until the finale has been watched and digested. I'll probably have to check out the Jimmy Kimmel special on the web later this week. The internets are abuzz with LOST-related end-of-an-era activity. Here are some fun links, but mostly tonight I'll be glued to the set, with a box of Kleenex close-by, just in case.
This LOST episode was all about people being led towards something, either known or unknown. The end, I'm afraid.
On the Island, Jack tells the surviving candidates that they need to find Desmond. As Jack sews up Kate's gunshot wound, nicely mirroring Kate sewing him up in season one, Kate expresses how pissed she is that Ji Yeon's now an orphan. "Locke did this to them. We have to kill him, Jack." "I know." Kate is still a mother first, by instinct. Sawyer watches the flotsam and jetsam wash up on the shore from the sunken submarine. Four candidates left, staring out at sea. Jack tells them they have to find Desmond. Sawyer is the first to follow him, guilt-stricken that he may have been responsible for the deaths of his friends.
Sideways, Desmond is herding the Losties back towards the Island. Jack's eye opens, another beautiful morning. He checks himself out in the bathroom mirror and the cut on his neck is bleeding again. Is the Island reality literally bleeding through to the Sideways world? He and his son David and his sister Claire all seem as happy as clams at the breakfast table. So far, if Jack is having any flashes of his Island existence, he is suppressing them.
The phone rings, they've found Christian's coffin, but it's not flight 815 calling Jack, it's Desmond! I thought for sure that on the Island Jack & Co. would find Desmond and we would get to hear what his role would be, but Desmond on the Island remains elusive. Can he really be two places at once anymore? Maybe he is now the Island's constant. He is working overtime to get the Sideways Losties where they belong, back on the Island. First by stalking Locke. "Dr. Linus" sees him, in his car, revving the engine, and is about to call the cops when Desmond literally slaps Ben back to Island reality. Ben not only sees glimpses of his Island life, but believes Desmond when he tells him he's not trying to hurt Locke, but to "Help him let go."
Desmond then heads to the police station, asking to see the world's coolest cop team, Sawyer and Miles. He admits to the Locke hit-and-run and to his latest Sideways crime, beating up Ben. All to get into a cage with Sayid and Kate. Kate tries to work her magic on Sawyer, but he takes the high road. As the criminal trio are loaded into a van, presumably on their way to a larger lock-up, preternaturally calm Desmond tells them, "I think it's time to leave. Do want to get out of here or not? I'm going to set you free. I'm going to ask each of you to do something. Do you promise?" Sayid signs onto his as-yet-unrevealed plan without a thought (a touch of zombie here too?) Kate is more skeptical, but decides to go along with him. The van stops suddenly and the door opens to reveal Ana Lucia, a crooked cop, there for a pay-off to set them free. Desmond's friend with the pay-off cash-in-hand is of course . . . Hurley. Hurley asks him about Ana Lucia, "She's not coming with us?" Desmond replies, "She's not ready yet." Naturally Hurley, who was the first to follow Jacob, would also be the first to not only sign on to whatever Desmond is planning, but to instinctively know it's the right thing to do. Desmond hands Kate a fancy dress and tells her they're going to a concert. I don't think it's Drive Shaft, but Jack's kid's recital. David's mom is supposed to be there too, and we all already know who that is, right? (Jul - cough, cough - iet)
Locke shows up at Jack's office. He's connecting all the Sideways dots. "Maybe this is happening for a reason." Jack isn't interested in the mystical connections, but he's more than thrilled that Locke is willing to let him "fix" him. Maybe you guys have time to fit in a concert before surgery?
On the Island, Ben is leading Richard and Miles toward explosives. But does Desmond's Sideways Ben-slapping also slap some of the scheming, power-mad Ben back into Dr. Linus? Because in the Island reality, Ben is leading the cavalry of himself, Miles, and Richard back to the Dharma/Others village, towards Ben's "secret room." Brings back some creepy memories of Locke cooking eggs in Ben's kitchen . . . As they cross the white picket fence, Miles gets vibes from Ben's daughter Alex. Richard admits to burying her body after Ben left. "Thank you Richard." They go to Ben's house and the secret passages are all still intact. He opens up a safe and . . . oh no, not more C-4. And not in a backpack. Not a good idea. They hear noises from the kitchen. The trio investigates. It's Zoe—just shoot her! But Ben is gobsmacked at the sight of her boss, Widmore. Almost as much as he is Sideways by . . . Rousseau! It's a love connection. Rousseau tells him that Alex considers him the father she never had, which chokes him up. Sideways is the land of the good fathers.
Ben should channel his good side. He's going to need it back on the Island. Widmore tells them in that reality that he is back on the Island because "Jacob invited me." Are Ben and Widmore finally teaming up (!?) Smokey is coming, heading directly for them. Miles, never shy when it comes to expressing his terror, runs off. Richard and Ben choose to stay and face Smokey. Smokey, in his smoky form, grabs Richard and throws him. Far. Yikes? What the? Is Richard no longer immortal? Or is he just immortal and really banged up? No answers yet on that one. I still hold out hope that he will represent the left flank. And Miles is out there loose, running around the island, with all the whispering ghosts. That must be fun for him. Ben calmly takes a seat on his porch and appears to bargain with Smokey. Can Smokey not read people's minds any more? Or is Ben shifting allegiances yet again?
Ben leads Smokey directly to where Zoe and Widmore are hiding in his house. Smokey dispatches Zoe, dismissively, as soon as Widmore tells her not to talk, "She had nothing to tell me." He then threatens Penny, so Widmore starts to tell him about the amazing magnetic Desmond and why he brought him to the Island. This whispering conference is interrupted when Ben shoots Widmore dead, with multiple gun shots. "He doesn't get to save his daughter. You said there were other people to kill?" Ben, in all the previous seasons of LOST could twist with the wind, but I'm still hoping that he is trying to con Smokey big-time. I guess we won't be getting that in-depth Widmore origin story now, either. See ya, Charles.
Jacob is leading the candidates to their destiny. Ghost Boy Jacob steals his ashes from Hurley, who chases him, leading him to Ghost Man Jacob, who has thrown them in a fire. "When those ashes burn down you'll never see me again. We're getting close to the end." You can say that again. And that fact makes me sad, both not to see Jacob again and the inevitable end we seem to be hurtling toward, with the Losties.
Jack, Kate and Sawyer find Hurley and Jacob by the campfire, lit by the remains of Jacob's ashes. They can all see Jacob, which distinctly freaks Hurley. Jacob promises to tell them the ultimate campfire tale, "What they died for," and anything else they need to know before he goes up in a puff of smoke and one (or all?) of them decide to protect the Island.
Hurley asks the first question. "Why did you bring us to the Island?" "I made a mistake. You call him the monster. I made him that way. I brought you all here to replace me. I didn't pluck any of you out of a happy existence. I chose you because you were like me. You were all alone. You needed this place as much as it needed you."
Jack gets where this is all leading. "You want us to kill him. Is that possible?" "I hope so, because he will try to kill you." Jacob makes the case that there is a very important vacancy and one of them will need to take the job.
Jack jumps in, fixer to the end. "I'll do it. This is why I'm here. This is what I'm supposed to do." "Is that a question Jack?" "No." "Good. It's time."
Sawyer has the best line of the night, per usual, "I thought that guy had a God complex before . . . "
A relieved Hurley, "I'm just glad it's not me." Not so sure you're off the hook completely just yet, dude.
Jacob leads Jack off to perform the ritual, but the other three get to watch. Apparently you don't need wine and an ancient corked bottle. The protector just needs to bless some liquid for his or her successor to drink. "Now you're like me."
Smokey is still trying to write the story, not just follow it. Smokey and Ben are at the well. But Desmond isn't there. "Widmore told me that Desmond was a fail-safe. One final way to make sure that I never leave this place." For a moment it seems like Smokey is going to tip Ben into the well, but he's too busy bragging about his evil-super-genius plan. "I'm going to destroy the Island."
As I have suspected all along, the hall of mirrors that is the Sideways world, if it continues, is the result of Smokey on the loose. If he succeeds, the Island is sunk, under the ocean, and the Losties' lives are completely changed. The hard part will be convincing the ones who are gone in the Island world that the Sideways world is a wrong world. To explain to them what they died for.
Jack's got his work cut out for him. Even though he went through Jacob's ritual, I'm not convinced that the protector job should be a solo gig. That he should or can do it on his own. The best way to defeat Smokey will be as a group. I think they have to do it together. Desmond is trying to orchestrate a team effort in the Sideways world. Jack needs to do the same on the Island.
Not Penny's Boat. Of course Desmond would experience the first direct connection between Island world and the fractured Sideways world. If anyone can pull together the two worlds, it's time-tripping Desmond.
I thought it might be a good idea to re-watch the two most Desmond-centric (and brutha-brutha-brutha fabulous) episodes, Flashes Before Your Eyesand The Constant to prepare for last night's episode, Happily Ever After. The title sounds even more ominous after viewing the episode, but maybe that's because I still think Sideways is a false world, a place of smoke and mirrors. I'm all about the Island surviving. Of course now all three episodes are flashing before my eyes, like mirror fragments, confusing me. A bit like what it must be like to be Desmond. Is that the whole point of this season?
The Island isn't done with you yet. White experimental bunnies aside, on the Island Desmond is now the lab rat, or maybe he always was. In The Constant, his encounter with Daniel Faraday and his rat's maze helped Desmond to realize Penny was his constant. Sideways Daniel also told him where to find her (running in the same stadium where a running Desmond originally met Jack), setting him once again on that path towards love and self-realization. The theme of lovers destined to be together kept repeating throughout Happily Ever After, as Charlie reported seeing a vision of Claire, Daniel felt déjà vu on seeing Charlotte, and Penny flashed before Desmond's eyes while he was under water and during his MRI (In hospital, any excuse to get Desmond to unbutton his blue shirt. I'm not complaining.) Desmond and Penny's romance has always had very definite Odysseus/Penelope parallels, without the rival suitors. Is Sideways Circe's Island? Will this hero ever find his Ithaka again?
There's always a choice, brutha. But is it the same Desmond flashing between both worlds? We have been thinking that these are two separate worlds, but it is looking more and more as if Sideways doesn't truly exist, except in the mind, or maybe through the looking glass.
In the Island reality Desmond had major connections to the Losties. He foretold Charlie's death, tried to prevent it on numerous occasions, and even named his son after him (it was SO great to hear You All Everybody again.) Desmond and Charlie are bound together by fate, near-death and by water. Sideways Charlie is always trying to get himself killed, guiding Desmond this time—towards Charlie's death? Uniting the two realities? Breaking the damn mirror? (Yes, Jack, I'm STILL pissed.)
On the Island Desmond rescued Claire from drowning (Sideways he predicted the sex of her baby.)
Sayid helped Desmond stop tripping through time by doing his best MacGuyver to help Desmond place his phone call to Penny. I had forgotten that Sayid was so important in The Constant. Last week Zombie Sayid discovered Desmond was "the package" on Smokey's recon mission.
In The Constant Faraday hoped Desmond would become his anchor, his constant—he never had the chance to test his theory. Sideways Daniel uses his father's last name of Widmore and has been free to pursue his music, although this reality is shattering and his Island physicist self is peeking through. We may just end up with one big cubist painting . . .
And now to that not-so-happy couple, the Widmores. Sideways Desmond & Widmore are BFFs? As Charlie called it, Desmond is Widmore's lackey, his henchman. And talk about a mirror image—the 60 year-old McCutcheon scotch scene was great. I wish I could have seen the painting on the wall a little closer—I wouldn't be surprised if Sideways "Namaste" wasn't in reverse . . . (I swear I've seen it both backwards and forwards) [NOTE: It turns out I saw a painting, but later viewing clips on the 'net it appears to not be the Namaste painting at all in the Sideways world, but a painting depicting a scale with one black stone, one white stone, just like the one in the cave on the Island. Hmmm . . . ]
The universe has a way of course correcting. And then there's Eloise, who always seems to know what's up, Sideways or Island. Is she, like Desmond, able to flash between worlds? Was that even Eloise, or was that Smokey on the loose? Whatever happens, happens. She sure was acting like a miffed smoke monster You have everything you wanted and you're still not happy? Except he doesn't. He doesn't have Penny (yet). Or (baby) Charlie. In Flashes Before Your Eyes Eloise told Desmond, "If you don't go back to the Island, we all die." Sounds a lot like Hurley's message to Richard in Ab Aeterno. Eloise was as creepy as ever.
After Widmore's magnetic jolt on the Island Desmond started flashing between worlds again, but he was so much more zen about it. And so far, no nose bleeds. Will it be up to Desmond to decide which world survives? On the Island he seemed so ready to help Widmore, which I at first assumed to mean that he would do whatever it takes to make the Island the only world. But then he meekly followed a Widmore-flunky-murdering Zombie Sayid, and when he almost immediately flashed Sideways he seemed just as happy to be there, too. He told Widmore he "knows" what to do. Does he know how to stop the Sideways world? Or to merge it with the Island world? Sideways it looks like Desmond, by using the 815 flight manifest, is going to track down the Losties to tell them how to flash Islandways.
That's not how it's supposed to happen. Eloise said that to Desmond in Flashes Before Your Eyes. That sort of sums up Sideways for me. See you in another life (or two) brutha.
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episode was all about people being led towards something, either known or unknown. The end, I'm afraid.
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