Culture Surfing

LIVE TOGETHER: or Die Alone

First thing’s first: SPOILERS ABOUND. Second thing: What lies in the shadow of the statue?  A whole lotta win. “Lost” certainly delivered another one of its trademark “epic” season finales.  The episode titled “The Incident” should be renamed, in hindsight, “Because of Jacob.” Because of Jacob our Losties are all on the island in the first place. Because of Jacob we have a reason for all of this madness and a real chance at a great final season. Most importantly, because of Jacob, Richard “Ricardos” Alpert was made immortal and non-aging in all his attractive glory, and for that we are truly grateful.

The cast list this week was immense, but “The Incident” closed more doors than it opened with former and current cast members.  Another alternate title for the episode might have been “Vincent’s Return,” a situation pondered by fans since the whole frozen donkey wheel mess began. Never fear, Vincent is living happily with Rose and Bernard (who inhabit what later becomes Jacob’s cabin). Wisely, the two want nothing to do with the rest of the Losties, but instead are retired in a cottage living each day as it comes and unconcerned about death. Black-and-white rock/Adam and Eve, anyone?

Pretty much everyone on the original Oceanic 815 flight got a shout-out tonight, mostly in regard to Jacob’s role in his/her past, which helped bring them to the island. Plenty of questions answered there, one of the biggest being how Hurley was released from prison and gained access to Charley’s guitar.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ season 5 finale” »

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RIP: Brother from an Other Mother

I typed two completely different versions of this review — one last night that was full of love, and one this morning that was full of hate. (*Spoiler Alert*!) The swap came after some rumination over “The Variable,” set up to be an epic “Lost” classic. (The show’s 100th episode to follow Obama’s 100 days speech? Come on!) It succeeded and it failed in its attempts. I’m mostly frustrated for myself and every other nerdcore Lostie out there who’s sat through recent episodes this season saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK we know, we know … but now what?”

“The Variable” belonged completely to Daniel “Twitchy” Faraday, fan favorite only behind his oft episodic-counterpart Desmond “Motorboater” Hume. Some questions of Faraday’s history were answered (yes, Widmore is his father); his present revealed (Why we saw him in the Dharma mines to open the season; Why it was so important to find Eloise Hawking), and his future decided (gunned down by mother as an adult in her past — would anything less complicated do?), all of which played out good guesses with a few twists that, in typical “Lost” fashion, both satisfied and beguiled.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 14″ »

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YOU CAN LEAVE: But I will shoot you in the leg, dingbat

We’ve definitely returned to (un)necessary flashback/character-driven mode in Lostville these days. Most of us had guessed that Kate gave Aaron to Claire’s mother before heading back to the island, and that she’d been keeping tabs on Clementine Ford as well. Kate-isodes aren’t typically the show’s strongest, but despite a quick surfacing of the “Jate/Skate” relationship quandary, last night’s offering was, on the whole, solid. The best moments may not have included Kate, but credit must be given to Evangeline Lilly’s excellent portrayal of anguish over leaving Aaron behind.

“Whatever Happened, Happened” had a touch of “Grey’s Anatomy” to it, with two doctors battling it out over whether or not to save a young boy who will grow up to be, well, Ben Linus. In an interesting twist, Jack’s refusal to help young Ben turned out (of course) to play right into the realities of Ben becoming a Hostile.  Facing certain death among the Dharmas, young Ben is transported to Hostile territory by Kate and Sawyer, looking for help from our old friend Richard Alpert. Instead of being stitched up and growing up to be the village sandwich-maker, Richard will, er “take his innocence,” and Ben will become a Hostile and remember nothing. Anyone else feel like this was a cop-out? Since meeting young Ben, many speculators have started putting together the pieces of what adult Ben may remember from his Dharma days. Did he love Juliet because he remembered how she tried to save him? Did he make Sayid’s life hell because Sayid had tried to kill him? Would it explain why he had that list of specifically Hurley, Sawyer, Jack and Kate to take hostage in season two?

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 11″ »

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