Winter TV Review: The Best (and Worst) TV of 2010

I know I'm late to the party, but I have planned to get back to more television writing here at NYaT. I have to admit, I'm far from a TV expert. I don't have time to watch every show (and there are a few on my list to pick up in 2011) but I wanted to compile a list of shows I like a lot--and a few I couldn't stand. So without further ado, let's get to my list top television series of 2010:

Miss Blankenship was one of the best characters of 2010 (AMC)

Top 5 Series

1. Mad Men: It was a really weird year for Don Draper and SCDP but what made it different, made it great. In my opinion it was their finest season yet. The season started with the question "Who is Don Draper?" and by the end of the season we realized that it may be a man (and a company) headed for some rocky times. The omission of the very annoying Betty Draper for much of the season was enough to bump up the season and "The Suitcase" was one of the all-time great episodes of the show. The latter episode should get someone an Emmy (Elizabeth Moss who I have been critical of in the past was excellent) and I don't know what award we can give to "The Queen of Perversions", Miss Ida Blankenship, but maybe they can add her to the "in memorium" part of the Emmy's. Her death joins the "lawnmower scene" as the two most sickly funny things that have happened on the show.

2. Breaking Bad: Every once in a while I'll decide I've had enough of not watching a show that everyone else loves and catch up on it. Breaking Bad was an easy choice and I zoomed through two seasons of the show. I found it entertaining and was excited for the third season. And the third season blew me away like Jesse Pinkman blew that guy away in the finale. The shootout scene in the parking lot at the end of "One Minute" was something the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino would have been proud of. The season finale left a lot of questions in the air for Walter White, Jesse Pinkman and the whole drug operation, but the season answered a lot of questions about the contender status of this show: it's truly one of the best. The mark of a good show for me is that when I can recommend it to my dad and we both really like it. Dexter and Breaking Bad are two of the best and they both fall under this category.

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LOST with Lost: One Last LOST Post--The Epilogue

After LOST was done, I felt like I needed a breather until I thought about it again. It was such a rich and deep show and I felt overwhelmed when it was finished. I was also disappointed that there would be no LOST. 6 seasons never felt like enough even though I was happy in the way they concluded the story. I was pretty sure they concluded the story.

Well...that wasn't entirely true. The "Official LOST Epilogue" was leaked on the internet and after watching it on Jezebel, I can agree with them you should be seated when watching it and, yes, "OMFG". If you wanted to know more about the package drops, fertility issues, polar bears, or even (semi-spoiler alert after the jump)

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Quote of the Day: LOST Co-creator on Wimbledon

This is an awesome quote from LOST co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof via Twitter on the recently completed marathon Wimbledon tennis match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner:

@DamonLindelof: I found the ending of Isner/Mahut satisfying, but wish they had answered more questions.

Nice serve, Mr. Lindelof. 

Picture from The Star-Ledger

Lost with LOST: Peace, Love and Closure

Namaste! If you were to tell me two years ago that the final episode of LOST would answer no questions, I would have been pissed. I would have probably stopped watching. I would have been wondering what was the point of continuing with the show. But last night's finale was exactly what I needed to close out such an emotionally charged series: closure. It's a funny word to use considering [spoiler alert] everyone dies in the end, but I can't think of another word that describes the feeling I was hoping for--and was achieved--at the end. It was a magical journey through the years, one that kept all of us guessing and theorizing and debating. But in the end, I've always said that the show was about the characters and their battles with redemption, love, and faith--and the finale was all about those three themes. One last time, let's go under the waterfall and go down the rabbit hole, shall we?

Overall Summary

I usually do the conclusion at the end, but I'm sort of going to skip ahead to this step for this 2 1/2 hour episode. The episode had four parts in my mind. The first part was ridiculously (for the topic) funny* and self-referential. The second part was action-packed, choppy (how many freaking commercial breaks?) and tense. The third part was emotional, reflective and enlightening. And the last part was happy and satisfying. I truly believe the end filled my deepest desires to finish the show on a strong, emotional, and clear note. After the show, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had a few fake "alternate endings" and one was a replica of the Sopranos. The hope was that LOST would end on a more clear note than the Sopranos and with a stronger finish than Seinfeld and I think it delivered.

*Side Note: Speaking of funny, the Target ads were great (if you caught them in between furious fast forwarding of the DVR). The "smoke detector" one was the best. Kudos to Target to be the only company to treat this like a Super Bowl. And as for the self-referential, I had no clue for the first hour or so if the lines were meant for the character in the show or for the audience. I'll take the homage to me but in some ways, it got a little cutesy (more on this in about 10 seconds)

The ending was not without flaws, though. I felt at times it was getting too self-referential to the point it was cheesy at times. Things almost seemed to work out too perfectly and the "reunion episode" feeling of the final scenes were a bit too easy for me as did some weak plot twists. I loved the scene where Detective James Ford goes into the hospital room to see Jin and Sun and they're just smiling ear-to-ear since they know so much more than him, but I could have dealt without some of the other cutesy moments that I felt were easy outs (like the Boone line about how hard it was to get Shannon back). So was the whole "purgatory" idea when the creators swore up and down the show wasn't about that (though, to be fair, I guess "The Island" wasn't that place). And I'm not a big fan of Sayid's constant being Shannon--a whiny brat who he had a week affair with (as Ari said during the show, it was his "white girl phase") and they needed to find a way to write her back into the show for the finale--instead of Nadia or somebody else (hey, I'd have taken Rousseau who was his "constant" for the entire first season). And didn't it feel like a ton of the narratives just sort of ended with a bloody knife like Dogen? But that's the end of my larger quips for now since I really did love the finale. On to the recap, which, unlike last night's episode, will be presented commercial free.

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Open Thread: The End of An Era Part 1 -- Goodbye LOST!

It's a one-two punch to the gut. LOST ends tonight with 24 following tomorrow. I don't think there's any question that 24 revolutionized television in a way with its unique format, topic, and style, but while we'll talk about 24 a ton tomorrow, today is set for the other revolutionary show: LOST. At a time when we as a nation were dealing with questions about spirituality, questioning authority figures, love, science vs. faith, loneliness, redemption and maybe were all feeling a bit, well, lost, a show came around and blew all of our minds. It was never without its flaws (*cough* Nikki and Paulo), but LOST was generally an A grade experience, ranking it someplace very close behind Seinfeld on the TV pantheon (in my humble opinion). I waited excitedly for it every week and when the show finally came, all I wanted to do was discuss it with everyone.

That's why tonight feels like a break up you knew you needed to do, but still can't bring yourself to go through with it (and tomorrow will be rinse and repeat). For a while now I moved my LOST discussion from e-mails and water cooler talk to this blog and it's been cathartic every day-after to pound out a post and see who agrees with me and who thinks I'm crazier than Hurley in the mental hospital. But even though the show is ending, I think we're far from over with discussing the show. The plan is to have an open discussion here where you can post all your last thoughts, theories, feelings, question and whatever else you want--as long as they don't contain any spoilers. Then at midnight tonight, you can come back here and talk about anything you want from the show that happened. As usual I'll throw up a recap tomorrow but once I digest, I'll have another LOST post for later in the week with some more thoughts on what went down during tonight's 2 and 1/2 hour epic.

But this is your place to vent so go ahead and start chatting below as we all prepare for the end of an era.

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Lost with LOST: The Chinese Food Episode

Last night's LOST left me with one overarching thought: it felt like a meal of Chinese food--I digested a lot but I'm still hungry and I'm not sure what I ate. And although I got a cookie at the end of the meal, the fortune inside wasn't exactly what I was looking for when I sat down to eat. Since LOST planned its end date, I don't think I've been disappointed by very many episodes but I have to say that I was not a fan of last night's "Across the Sea". And "not a fan" may be an understatement; I disliked it. With now only two nights left of LOST, I feel like last night's episode was a diversion from what I loved so much about LOST: meaningful character development. When I listed my favorite LOST episodes yesterday, the theme of each one was that it helped further our understanding of the people on The Island. "The Man Behind the Curtain" and "Ab Aeterno" sent us in a deep dive into the mysticism of The Island, but the reason I loved those two episodes was because of the meaningful character development.  Last night's foray into the history of The Island didn't live up to the expectations I had set out for it in so many ways.

Really! with Andrew, Jay and Jim

It has been quite a few years since I sat down and watched an entire Saturday Night Live episode, but this past week's Betty White-hosted episode was worth watching, especially to see the return of old stars Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon. Poehler, Fey and Seth Meyers teamed up together on the "Weekend Update" desk for a segment called "Really! With Seth, Amy & Tina" where they sarcastically blasted the news (Mediate has the details including my favorite, on last Thursday’s stock market-crashing typo “How is there not a backup system? When I delete a picture on Facebook, it asks me if I’m sure!”). Well I'm now going to "Really!" the heck out of "Across the Sea"

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Lost with LOST: My Favorite LOST Episodes Ever (To Date)

As we approach the end of two shows that revolutionized television (LOST and 24), it's time to look back and reflect on the shows best (and sometimes worst) moments. LOST ends May 23rd and 24's finale is the night after, May 24th so we'll start here with LOST. For a show the has relied so little on plot and so much on characters, I found it tough to narrow down the show to favorite episodes. I have my favorite characters and background stories but recalling individual episodes was tougher than I originally thought. I even have my least favorite episode ("Exposé" with "Stranger in a Strange Land" coming in a close second), but recalling my favorite was tougher than originally imagined.Well thank goodness for Lostpedia--maybe the most important website to accompany a show ever?--(and it's episode portal). I admit, though, I couldn't narrow it down to just 10. So we have pairings and I do not have them ranked--I'll let you do that in the comments. Here are my thoughts on the best episodes to date (with some help from my friends):

"Pilot, Part 1 and Part 2" and
"Walkabout"

They go hand-in-hand. The pilot episodes introduced us to The Island, to Jack and to the Smoke Monster (though many thought it was just a polar bear at that point). We open up on injuries and Doctor Jack Shephard saving people (but counting to 5 first). In "Walkabout" we have The Island in a whole new way: the mystical side. We have John Locke and a powerful flashback juxtaposed to his Island life (one of the best uses of this to date). John Locke's sudden ability to walk upped the stakes on this show: we weren't in Kansas (or Gilligan's Island) anymore. Before we ever had the Man of Science vs. Man of Faith argument, we had these two episodes pitting both sides of LOST against each other. The soundbite of the entire first season was spoken in the Pilot when Charlie asks "guys...where are we?" It's a question we've been trying to answer since that point. Jay says about the pilot: "totally over the top by pilot standards.  Set the stage for everything.  The writers even worked in some stuff that is still relevant today (Locke playing backgammon with Walt, for example)."

"Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "Orientation"

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Lost with LOST: And Then The Sun Sets On Disney Happy Endings

Last night's episode was one where most people finish it so engulfed in a sea of emotions that all they can say is "whoa". Or at least that was my reaction. Last night's show was a quick reminder that LOST is now about Disney-style happy endings. The characters don't all live and defeat the evil and go on with their happy lives. No, they sometimes (usually?) end up dying. But in that death, sometimes characters find their own happiness. Charlie died a hero, Shannon died having finally found a man who would treat her well (Sayid), and Sayid even got his own redemption in death. In some ways, Jin and Sun found that same happiness in each others arms, dying in the most tragic/poetically-beautiful of ways. That doesn't make things any easier to swallow for the audience which lost Sun, Jin, Sayid, and probably (maybe?) Lapidus last night. Let's take a look at what happened on The Island and the Sideways World in last night's great returning episode:

Island World

Sun and Jin - let's get right into it. Sun and Jin had been trying to get back together since the fateful freighter scene many moons ago. Last episode, we finally got their long-awaited tearful reunion. This episode, we shed some more tears for them. Shannon died in Sayid's arms, Juliet died in Sawyer's arms and last night we had lovers die hand in hand once again. It was a tough scene to watch. You sort of knew that Sun wasn't getting out of there. And you got the feeling that Jin wasn't leaving without her. So what happens to little orphan Ji-Yeon? What happens to their candidacy? Was their daughter the candidate all along? We know we'll probably see the characters again in the Sideways World but what does this say for Sideways Jin and Sun? So many years spent trying to get back together and their reunion was tragically short-lived. I loved the scene in the cage where they were talking to each other (in English!) about their daughter. I smiled when Sun pulled out the ring to give to Jin. Their marriage had finally come back full circle (remember "no ring" in the Sideways World?). Let's hope there's more love for that couple in the afterlife. And it was also very appropriate that these two characters spoke Korean to each other in their last moments considering the first season showed them climbing down the Tower of Babel. RIP Jin and Sun.

Lapidus - If that was Captain Frank Lapidus' end, I'm going to be pissed. Like really pissed. I was OK with characters like Ilana or Casear having quick, unceremonious deaths, but Lapidus? It can't be. He (like Desmond) has to be alive. Right? There's no sub anymore so this plane is their last chance. And Lapidus is their pilot. Hopefully.

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Lost with LOST: Oh The Places We'll Go

A whole lot of nothing happened last night on LOST. Yet, a lot happened. Last night's episode was a "Matthew Abaddon" episode. The other one this season occurred the last time we saw Sawyer and Miles in the Sideways World. It was also the one where FLocke tried to recruit Sawyer. In last night's episode, we saw FLocke try to recruit Jack with many of the same double speak. Meanwhile, Sideways Desmond is pulling his own Matthew Abaddon impression, shepherding all the Castaways towards consciousness. It wasn't an episode I loved but it seemed like a necessary one to set up the rest of the season. So in honor of last night's episode being on 4/20, put a whole lot of nothing into our [tobacco-only] paraphenalia, put on some Geronimo Jackson, light our Dharma matches, inhale, and let the world as we know it float away.

That's FLocke'd Up!

The above was uttered by Stacey as we watched the episode and it was certainly true. Let's bring out a few large questions/reveals from the episode and I'll give my opinion on it. I want to know your opinions too so make sure to chime in below in the comments. Because we all know that I'm bound to be wrong more than I'm right, but since you're here reading my blog post, you must think something of my commentary. (I'm more curious about yours)

FLocke tells Jack that his dead father's ghost was actually Man In Black running around the forest in Smokey's body. Do we believe him?

[Deep exhale] I don't know. In some ways, this makes sense with everything we've learned from LOST so far. But there are some serious holes here. If the Man In Black can't leave The Island then how did he show up as Christian in Los Angeles during Jack's flash forward in "Something Nice Back Home"? Was he Christian when he appeared before Michael telling him "you can go now" in "There's No Place Like Home: Part II"? Is it possible that Christian's body never made it on the plane in the Island World as it didn't make it on the plane in the Sideways World? I've learned not to trust "bad guys" on LOST (from Ben to Widmore to FLocke), so excuse me if I'm not going to believe the shifty FLocke just yet. And Claire did say to Jin that she was kept company on The Island by Christian and a friend (MIB). It keeps me wondering...

Sayid couldn't have killed Desmond, could he have? Come on, brutha!

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Lost with LOST: Everybody Cluckin' Loves Hurley (and Libby too)

If LOST has taught me anything, it has taught me to live outside the box, outside my realm of comfort. So this recap is being typed on the train. One hour to get you all my knowledge about this last episode. No convenient editing. No Lostpedia. No Doc Jensen, no Alan Sepinwall, no James Poniewozik. No interwebs. Just me, Hurley, FLocke, Libby, Desmond, Jack and the remnants of Ilana. And my stream of thought. So here we go, kids. Jump into the well with me and let’s figure out what the heck happened on Tuesday night.

THE Love Story and THE Puppy Love

I just came back from Vegas (if you didn’t know from my other posts stating the same) and my boys and I stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. Everything was “THE”. THEcafe. THElounge. THEpad. Even THEtp. Well, if they were to apply that to LOST we would have Desmond and Penny as THElovestory and Hurley and Libby as THEpuppylove. I don’t think I’ve felt as cheated out of anyone’s story as I was by Libby and Hurley’s budding romance. Damn you LOST writers, fate, Michael, and Cynthia Watros’ DWI!

Tuesday night it came all rushing back to both Sideways Hurley and to me. While I ridiculed the “reunion episode” feel of Season 6’s first 10 episodes, I’ve done nothing but love it the past two episodes. The Sideways World has won me over. Mostly thanks to Desmond. Nice job, brutha! We open up an episode called “Everybody Loves Hurley” on our greatest sustained comic relief of the season. We had the great philanthropist, Hurley, being lauded by Dr. Chang (who was not such a big fan of the big fella back in the 70s). We had Hurley’s mother* totally unthrilled by this fact: why didn’t Hurley spend more of his energies on LOVE? I mean he had his little dog with him, but what he really needed was not a puppy, but puppy love.

*Side Note: My question: where was Hurley’s dad? Did the cosmos keep him from coming back to the family or did Hurley’s giving away his money not jive with his money-grubbing lifestyle? Or was he just getting a little high? Riddle me that, LOST fans. Also, in a funny episode, did everyone get the Seinfeld reference to the Human Fund? Loved it but not sure the reference. Was Hurley money for himself? Was this about Festivus? A strike? I can't figure it out!?!

So he goes on a blind date with an absent Rosalita (Ben would like us to cue Bruce Springsteen here). What happened to Rosalita? Who knows? But who shows up instead? Libby. A very informed Libby. She knows more than she’s letting on*. And Doctor Brooks is back to make sure she doesn’t bother poor Hurley, escorting her to the nut house.

*Side Note: Libby knows more than everyone else. Like our buddy Charlie. Like our buddy Daniel Faraday/Widmore. Maybe Charlotte knew more as well when she was snooping around James Ford’s apartment. Let’s discuss this more later. Since they all have one thing in common with each other—they’re all sort of dead. So is Eloise dead since she knows more? Possibly

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Lost with LOST: Constant-ly Messing With Desmond's Happy Ending in the Matrix

I watch basketball and baseball very differently. For the most part I don't turn on basketball until the second half. There's no reason to, in my mind. It's like American Idol, Dancing With the Stars or the ilk (a host of shows I do not care to watch): you really just care about the ending and everything else before it is just filler. Baseball is different. It's a finely woven story from first pitch to the final out. Some find that difference boring but I'm not one of those. It's the only major sport that's not timed. I love the intricacies of the game, the games within the games, and how each pitch changes that at bat and the at bats after it. "Whatever happened, happened"...but until the last out is recorded, the game isn't over. LOST is baseball (you were probably wondering where I was going with this analogy. Well, I'm here). You have casual watchers who turn it on for enjoyment but you also have people who analyze every pitch, every at-bat. You have the real hardcore "nerds" who take it to the next level and search every literary reference and spoken word in LOST or every "PitchFX" in baseball. I sit someplace in the middle. But if LOST is truly baseball, then Desmond Hume is the set-up man: a misused character that literally sets up some of the most important parts of what we're watching. Desmond may disappear when we want him most and not be used enough, but he's always giving us great production. We, like Daniel Faraday, need Desmond Hume--he's our constant. And last night's episode was our set-up for the rest of the season.

As good as a shot of MacCutcheon 60 with John Updike

I ended last night's episode "Happy Ending", with a big "what the heck just happened?" I still will honestly say I don't know. But what the heck, I'm going to give it a try, brutha! John Updike*, in the same New Yorker article that he famously described Fenway Park as a "lyric little bandbox of a ballpark" also wrote of Fenway that it was "a compromise between Man’s Euclidean determinations and Nature’s beguiling irregularities." Hell, we could use the same description to paint a picture of The Island.

*Side Note: I wrote the Updike piece because I happened to stumble upon it this morning and then saw this (!) in The Atlanic: "On the island, we see a white rabbit named Angstrom who apparently is being subjected to Widmore's electromagnetic tests. Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom is the main character in five John Updike novels and represents the struggles of mid-century middle class Americans, with many problems surrounding his family life." (!!!!)

The Island is where we open this episode. In the eye* of one Desmond Hume. The man who is declared to be "special" by everyone Widmore: Charles, Eloise, Daniel, and even Penny. Except when Desmond is blasted into his Sideways World, he has no Penny. He's a rich man without a Penny--which would make him Penniless. He has everything but nothing. He has the approval of Charles Widmore--a man who he constantly sought the approval for in the Island World.

*Side Note: Now, let's remember, when we talk about the eye, we can remember another Bostonian, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and his essay titled "Circles". Read through that when you get a chance for some big LOST-y statements made. The only reason I have this literary reference? 10th grade English and my need to memorize Emerson, Thoreau and all those American authors. But this one was one of my favorites. And I think the most relevant to LOST. Oh yeah, and Penny's last name is Milton. Which I think refer's to John Milton...who wrote "Paradise Lost". I do remember that too.

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Lost with LOST: Playing "To Tell The Truth"

There's a series of DirecTV commercials airing right now that pit "Cable", Dish TV, and DirecTV against each other on a fake version the gameshow "To Tell The Truth"--a show that had aired on and off since 1956 (if you're wondering, it's also the show being depicted in the opening scene of Catch Me If You Can). Anyways, the reason that I thought of the show is that it is quite relevant to the sixth and final season of LOST. Let's say that Jacob, Charles Widmore, and the Man In Black/FLocke were the three contestants on the show. Now Jacob is like DirecTV in the commercial because they're the ones who the audience expects to tell the truth. But imagine if they were actually pitted against each other in the gameshow version and you are a Castaway and you had Jacob, Widmore and FLocke all telling you to follow him and he could get you off The Island. Who do you believe? Now that's the question. I wrote about the search for truth in LOST on Tuesday before the show aired. But I believe even more now, after watching "The Package" that the show is after exactly that--truth. Not only figuring out who is telling the truth but figuring out the true person inside you and allowing that person to get out. The problem is that in the characters search for truth on LOST, there are casualties along the way. Jin and Sun certainly fit into that category and although "The Package" was a huge drop from the epic "Ab Aeterno", it was still a good episode.

Sun-dry Thoughts

As I've seen this Sideways World, I've asked the question: how do we know that some of these events wouldn't have occurred if the Castaways hadn't reached Los Angeles? Like what if Jack really has a son and he's just never talked about him in the "Island World"? I'm pretty sure we know that Sawyer isn't a cop back in the Island World, but Kate and Claire have followed their Island storylines in the Sideways World. So are we sure that Jin's mission to America wasn't to deliver that watch and got whacked for doing it? I mean he may have gotten wind of Jin's plans to run away (if he hadn't gotten plans of his own daughter's). Maybe he sent him to America to get him killed. Not totally out of the realm of possibilities.

This Sideways story told us how Jin got from being interrogated about his money at LAX (or is it now LA X?) to Keamy's restaurant and also how he got that gash on his head (damn Omar, you have to be more careful). We learned that in the Sideways World, Jin and Sun aren't married*, but are very much in love. It also seems like a gentler, kinder Jin that we saw at the beginning of the show. So maybe not being married to Sun was going to work out OK for him. Him and Sun were planning to run away anyways, though I guess Daddy Paik wasn't so happy about that one. Sun says that it's nice knowing that no one was watching them was certainly untrue in this episode and ironic considering "Lighthouse" where we found out that Jacob had been, in fact, watching all of them. Coveting your neighbor's daughter? Sounds like the 10th Commandment right there!

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24 Recap: The Beginning of the End

This is it. The end. I know I said I was happy about 24 ending, but the proximity to the finale left me feeling nostalgic. So I ditched the note-taking for a week, sat back and watched the episode last night like I had from the start: with wide-eyed wonder. How would they end a show that had revolutionized television? How would they take us towards a finale none of us really wanted to reach? How would said finale “tee us up for the movie” as Kiefer Sutherland promised? And how much longer do we have to deal with Denny? I need answers to my questions, DAMMIT, and I’m going to interrogate this episode like Jack—with the aid of nothing else but my own two hands. Here we go…

In the Line of Fire

Jack McCoy Shephard Bauer (maybe I do need notes) has wore a lot of different hats over the years. He’s been an agent, head of CTU, head of field Ops, a paper pusher for the Department of Defense, undercover, terrorist bait, a trading chip, on the run, in hiding, etc etc. The hat he was given last night was as a bodyguard. Of course, with a nuclear threat against the city of Manhattan, the best use of Jack Bauer’s time is to escort a dignitary. It’s not like he could be chasing down terrorists (oh wait, he could be? My bad). I’m sure you’re right, Madam President, we should definitely dedicate America’s most valuable natural resource to the same role that Kevin Costner played in Bodyguard or Clint Eastwood played in In The Line of Fire.

Oh right—this just in—where Jack goes, so does the firefight. He realized something was up and started to retreat but it was too late. Jack’s convoy was attacked (by Americans, no less…more on that ridiculousness later) and like everyone who partners Jack on a mission, they are being knocked down like bowling pins. A heroic Secret Service female agent tells Jack to stay with President Hassan while she adds to Ari’s body count. Good plan, lady. Why don’t you both go with Hassan? Wouldn’t that make more sense? Isn’t the point of the Secret Service to stay with whomever they’re protecting and make sure they’re safe? Is she promoting FOX’s new show, Human Target? Regardless, she’s a dead woman.

Jack, Freckles (so happy to have her back) and company are fleeing when Hassan tells Jack to go back for his men*. Jack knows better—those people only signed one episode contracts. They continue to run through this tunnel which all of a sudden has gotten a lot larger than when they were going the other way and realize they are trapped. Jack gives Hassan a gun and Freckles instructions to fire willy nilly into the crowd once Jack sets off a smoke bomb. What did that do? The last time I saw someone brandish a gun that recklessly, Plaxico was in The Latin Quarter. Oh wait…it doesn’t matter. Jack and Freckles unlocked the code for unlimited ammo! Gotta love 24, the video game.

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Lost with LOST: The LOST Genie, The Bible, and the 9th Commandment

Quick programming note: due to the Jewish holiday of Passover and me moving, 24 and LOST recaps for the week will be delayed. But that doesn't mean that I don't have a ton to say about both. I wrote about 24 on Friday and now it's time to rub the magic lamp, check in on our bible studies and get ready for LOST as I enjoy my new Firefox theme:

The 9th Commandment

We've been agreeing with EW's Doc Jensen that LOST's 6th season has followed the 10 Commandments to a T. I wrote on 3/17 (post the Sawyer-centric episode and greatly named "Recon"): "[We knew that tonight's episode] had to be Sawyer because of our 10 Commandments telling us the 8th is 'thou shalt not steal'. The 9th? Do not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Not sure what that means to LOST, but I'm excited to find out." But then I was left questioning--after Richard's "Ab Aeterno" episode (that Jay so excellently recapped here)--if we were still following those commandments.

"Do not bear false witness against your neighbor" isn't exactly what last night's episode was about. No one lied in court or accused their neighbor of something that they didn't do. But it doesn't mean the episode wasn't devoid of "lying". When Ricardo was in Spanish jail and awaiting execution, the priest came to him an asked for his confession. He lied. Sort of. And this may have been a reason that the priest would not accept his confession. As Doc Jensen wrote: "It made me wonder if the priest declined the confession because he saw that it wasn't genuine. Ricardo didn't really consider himself guilty of a crime. He called it accidental. He called it killing instead of murder. He didn't view himself as a sinner who needed God. Rather, God was a means to an end — a last gasp hope to be reconciled with Isabella in the heaven of her faith."

Or the priest, Father Suárez (whose namesake has tons of juicy LOST themes associated with his name including a lot about metaphysics and predestination), was lying himself. Suárez refused to grant Ricardo forgiveness, claiming that there is no absolution of sin for murder (which, I'm told, is contrary to Catholic doctrine). Suárez then told Ricardo that he would only gain absolution through penance...but he wouldn't be able to achieve it because he had been sentenced to be hanged. That leaves Ricardo in a pretty desperate state of life. So desperate that he had to say yes when Suárez walked through the door the next day and offered to extend his life by selling him into slavery. Maybe Suárez lied to break Ricardo down and make the offer that much sweeter.

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Lost with LOST: Where's the money, Ricardo??

Andrew has written excellent recaps for the first 8 episodes, but he is understandably quite tired.  So he's calling for his closer to finish out the 9th.  Just call me The Sandman.

As every Lost fan will tell you, nothing is a coincidence on this show.  Everything happens for a reason, and those reasons are often quite subtle (or not so subtle).  Lost will also embed subtle literary and cultural references, which sometimes advance the plot, but often exist just so that eagle-eyed viewers have something fun to catch.  As I will discuss in detail later, this episode featured a whopping example of the latter.

Fittingly entitled "Ab Aeterno" this fantastic episode focused entirely on Richard Alpert.*  But we begin at some point in the pre-2007 past, where bandage-wrapped Ilana finished her visit with Jacob.  Jacob shows off his multilingual talents by conversing in Russian.**  He tells her that her job will be to protect six candidates, that the names of the six are on a list, and that Ricardus*** will know what to do next.  Why didn't Jacob just tell Ilana what to do next?  Because it would be very un-Lost to actually tell the characters (or the audience) what the hell is going on.

*In Latin, "ab aeterno" means "from eternity," and the phrase is commonly used to mean "since the beginning" or "for long ages."  I think it fits this episode perfectly, not only to describe Richard's gift (or curse) of immortality, but also to describe the struggle between Jacob and the MIB.  It could also refer to length of the episode, which checked in at a plus-sized 65 minutes.  Just kidding.

**This makes sense, as Ilana also speaks Russian.  But it does not explain why Jacob does not later converse with Ricardo in his native Spanish.  I'm inferring that Jacob can speak all languages, or at least the languages that his candidates/protectors/representatives speak.  So why speak Russian with Ilana and revert to English with Ricardo?  This issue is neither here nor there, but arguably worth mentioning.

***This episode introduced two new names for the eternal Richard Alpert: the old standby Richard, plus Ricardo and Ricardus.  Richard is clearly his Anglicized name, and Ricardo was his name in Tenerife.  So where did Jacob get "Ricardus" from?

Flash-forward to 2007.  Ilana tells the Losties that some of them are candidates.  Sun helpfully volunteers that they are candidates to replace Jacob.  Thanks for showing up, Sun.  You really earned your paycheck for this episode.  A brief but awkward silence ensues as some of the others (i.e., Miles, Lapidus, Ben) realize that they are not candidates.  Bummer.  Always the rational one, Lapidus asks what they should do next.  Ilana says that Richard knows what to do.  But Richard chooses to play dumb and rambles on about how they're all dead and the island is actually Hell.  Savvy and experienced viewers immediately dismissed this theory and waited for Jack to declare Richard crazy.  Which he promptly did.

Wait, did you hear that?  That was definitely a whoosh.  Not a flash-sideways whoosh.  A flash-back whoosh!  Back to the 19th century we go...

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Lost with LOST: Cops & Robbers and a "Matthew Abaddon"-esque Episode

When Matthew Abaddon (of The Wire and Fringe fame) came to pick up John Locke from Charles Widmore, Locke asked Abaddon what he did for Mr. Widmore. Abaddon's response? His job was to get people to "where they needed to be". Well, that's really what I felt was the purpose of last night's episode of LOST: to set up the "war" that Widmore talked about with Locke and to get us as the audience to where we needed to be. It was filler. Sure it was nice to see Charlotte again (looking hot) and I'm always interested in the Sawyer plots as he does the good-guy, bad-guy cop routine in his real life. But we didn't really answer any questions, we didn't get any big character developments, we didn't learn that much more about the Sideways World and the plot hardly moved. And at first glance, I can't say I loved it. That didn't mean that there wasn't plenty to talk about, though. So, like Matthew Abaddon, let me try to get you where you needed to go.

Take Me To Your Leader

Sawyer has always been an interesting character. It seems that Sayid is a killer and will always be a killer. Kate is always running from something or someone. But Sawyer has evolved as a character. He may be the best damn liar FLocke's ever seen, but we've seen him move from unforgiving con man to head of security for the Dharma Initiative and from "I don't care about women" to a protector of women. But above all, Sawyer has never really told the truth. So I knew that when Sawyer made deals with Widmore and FLocke this episode, he wasn't telling the truth either.

The last time a war was coming, Sawyer pitted both sides against each other as well. That was way back in Season 2 when Jack and Ana Lucia were trying to get the weapons from Locke and while they were fighting over them, Sawyer (and Charlie) stole all the guns. It was our first look at a con man's work from Sawyer on The Island. He tried to do the same thing when he saw The Others and the Dharma Initiative fighting and realized he could fit his way into that situation as well.  

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Three Reminders: Poll, Fantasy Baseball and NCAA Tourney Pick'em

Three reminders for you on this Tuesday night before LOST as the New York Rangers fight for their playoff lives with the Montreal Canadians.

First, we have the poll going on the right side for the best closer in New York. Right now, it's a runaway win, but there's still time to vote.

We also have a free Fantasy Baseball league with two open spots and a NCAA Tournament Pick'em League with NYaT bragging rights on the line.

Picture from the Albany Times Union

Lost with LOST: What's the Diagnosis Dr. Linus?

LOST's 6th iteration has overall left me a bit confused and wanting. It's not that I haven't spent years waiting for answers that never come and rather seem to bring more questions. And it's not like I expected all my questions to be answered so quickly in LOST's final season. But I was waiting for the writers to, in the words of another Doctor, Dr. Evil, "throw me a freakin' bone, here." Last night's episode started to do just that but left me equally as frustrated as when it began. That being said, I think it finally set the stages for the battle that we've all been waiting for and provided us with a much better episode than last week's "Sundown"--while answering some of LOST's questions.

Where Are We?

This one wasn't answered in the sense of how Charlie asked it in Season 1. But we're starting to get a sense, as we look around, that we are about where we're supposed to be. I refer you back to the pre-season 6 Last Supper photo. Click on it and make it large. Who is on the left side? Sawyer, Kate, Sayid and Claire. The right side? Jack, Ben, Hurley, Miles, Sun, and Lapides. Locke or FLocke is in the middle of it all. The only people seemingly on the "wrong" side right now are Ilana/Richard and Jin. And we saw glimpses this episode of why they could be switching sides.

But in another sense, we can answer the question above by saying that we're back at the beach*. This is where it all began, where they all returned to when things went wrong, and where all the bodies are buried. We saw the shelter they made, the graves they left, the diamonds they were buried with, the porno mags that Sawyer stole, and little glimpses of the life they made on The Island. We also saw, at the end, a familiar scene, with people returning to the beach and being greeted warmly by old friends. Reunions, though, are always short-lived on LOST as Charles Widmore and his submarine are lurking in the distance (more on this later).

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Lost with LOST: Are You Following?

The question posed in the title has double meaning after the past episode of LOST. On one hand it asks if you’re following as in “do you have any clue what’s going on?” And on the other hand, after the bone tingling ending from this week’s episode, it’s asking, “who is following FLocke?” The truth is, that while this past episode was pretty epic in terms of plot movement and actual things happening (and how many times can LOST really claim that in the 5+ seasons?), I don’t know if I really liked it. My issue with this episode—and, really, this season as a whole—is that I feel that it’s escaping from everything about LOST we know and are familiar with and venturing out into a different, somewhat odd world. The problem with taking a character driven show away from the characters and moving it to the plot in such a drastic way is that I feel we’re losing a lot of the foundation we had built. It would be like adding marble columns to a trailer home. But since I still subscribe to the motto of “in LOST we trust”, I’m hoping we see some signs of old LOST shining through as we head down the home stretch of this final season.

As I said in my last post, I’m rewatching LOST again from the beginning right now so I can point out some interesting things I’ve seen and how it may relate to the rest of the show. After the epic Season 2 finale, I asked Sarah who is watching this for the first time, what her biggest questions that she wants revealed (and doesn’t know if they will be). Here was her top 5 list with my comments in parentheses: what is the smoke monster? (definitely gets revealed); why do they take the children? (I’m not sure we’ve answered this fully, but we have some idea); why does the island have the power to heal? (again, we’ve touched on this but I don’t think we have a definitive answer quite yet); how do the other’s have connection with the outside world? (definitely gets answered); and, why were those people sitting in a science station in Siberia at the end of Season 2? (also answered). The point of listing these is that you realize while some questions get “answered”, many of them don’t fully, and the questions that we had back in Season 2 don’t seem all that relevant now. It has seemed that as one question gets its answer on LOST, another two get asked.

So now the biggest question most have is what the heck is going on? What do these Sideways Worlds have to do with the Island World and why would they collide—as many have expected them to do? I believe the answer may lie in Season 3. We end Season 2 with a big flash of light covering the sky after the hatch has been blown up by Desmond. And we see a lot of parallels from when the hatch was blown up at the end of Season 5, especially when we look at the characters who were near the imploded hatch. First, Charlie wakes up and it sounds like he’s underwater and he can’t hear out of one ear—sort of like Kate did at the beginning of Season 6. Mr. Eko, a man who had been “forced” to do a lot of bad things over his life and was unrepentant for them, woke up in a near-death state and needed saving, a saving that would be short-lived until an Island darkness took him over (in Eko’s case, Smokey)—sort of like Sayid this season. Locke awoke realizing that what he had done to blow up the hatch was wrong and that his ideas on how to fix things were not what The Island wanted (and he woke up mute)—sort of like Jack this season.

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Lost with LOST: What If's and Bending Free Will

I've always felt that Jack Shephard was the most easy to relate to of all the characters on LOST. John Locke's father tried to kill him after stealing a kidney, Sayid was a torrrrtttturrrerrr, Hurley won the lottery, Kate killed multiple people, Jin beat up people for a living, etc. Basically, all their stories were beyond the scope of what normal people go through (except maybe Jack's sister, Claire, but more on her later on). But Jack was just a guy with daddy issues who followed in his father's footsteps but never felt he could live up to the expectations of his father. There's nothing abnormal about that. For as much as people don't like Jack (and I am not among them), the one truth everyone can feel is that you can somewhat relate to him. But as we look at the journey we've seen Jack go through, we're left with a lot of "what if's" and wondering if a helpful hand helped him get to this place or someone messed with his fate.

Jack is a foil for many characters in LOST (Locke and Sawyer, most notably), but the one character that Jack may be the biggest foil for as a "character" is Hurley. Jack is a skinny, serious, good looking man who is searching for things he can't see. Hurley is a fat, funny, not-so-good-looking man who feels cursed by all the things he can see. The one place it seems that both come to a common understanding is that they need to help out others and that they're both "cursed" in some ways. I think that Jack has always blamed this curse on his father and his search for Jacob in this past episode was just as much a search for answers from the man Jack felt he could never do enough to impress. Most of the time, the Shephard men run.

We have found out that this seems to be a family trait. We met Jack's grandfather, Ray, who seems to be one who likes to "run off" quite a bit from the nursing home he feels too confined by. Jack's father seems burdened by a lot but also seems to run away from all that from his "other" family to his end-of-life journey down under. Jack, too, seems to have this bug as he can't be satisfied in his relationship with Sarah and is also unfaithful and runs away from her in many ways. This week we find out that Jack's son, David*, also runs away from his father. The one constant seems to be that everyone who runs away is tracked down by Jack. Including himself.

*Side Note: This relationship didn't just echo the one of Jack and his father, but certainly echoed what happened between Michael and Walt. It also reminded us of other characters who tried to reunite with their father or their father tried to reunite with them: Locke, Claire, Jin, etc. It was a really touching ending to the Sideways World plotline.

Let's get to David, because I know there's the most questions about him (and I know the second question is bigger for most people than the first, but since this is my blog, I'll do it in the order I like...so deal with it!). My biggest one is: What if... David exists in both timelines. Meaning: if we look at the story we've been told about Jack's past from the beginning of the show, is it possible that he had a somewhat-estranged son the entire time? I think the answer is yes. Maybe Jack's problems with his dad are because he's grappling about what it means to be a father. Maybe his desire to get off the Island is about connecting with his son or making things right or telling him all those things his dad didn't get to say? It could be totally blowing steam, but wouldn't that be interesting if we found out that Jack's desire all along wasn't about finding his dad and getting answers, but stopping himself from becoming his dad? We get a sense of that with Jack already that I don't feel it's that far-fetched.

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