LOST less Thursday One, first thoughts

Well, week one without LOST.  I feel different, somehow incomplete.  We will try to soldier on regardless.  (Although as the Killers say, "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier").

The good news about no LOST last night is that I got to watch Reaper as it aired a new episode instead of a few days later due to the magic of DVR.  Of course, just as this show is getting outstanding we hear about the possibility of it not coming back next season (although I think it's chances are pretty good at getting a second season, my fingers are crossed).  Last night's episode was among the best.  I clapped in excitement when Sam and Andi kissed (what can I say, I'm a romantic, at least as long as said romanticism occurs in a SciFi or Fantasy setting), but I got most excited by the fact that Andi finally has an inkling that something strange is going on in Sam's world (his parents sold his soul to the Devil and he has to work for him now, yeah, that classifies as strange alright).  If you recall from my review of the premiere of Reaper, my main concern with it was it's portrayal of the female characters despite being a show created by females.  If you don't recall, feel free to reread that post right here.  Well, that has definitely become less of an issue as the show has continued, thanks mainly to the great character development of Andi, but I still think it is high time to get a female on this Scooby Squad (to steal a nickname of demon fighting friends from Buffy).

Also, I dug the next door neighbors of our heroes.  Those two guys are awesome and the demophobic storyline was classic.

"You stopped hanging out with us because we're gay, didn't you, Sam?"
"No, not that.  It's because you're demons.  Have you eaten anyone recently?"
"That is offensive.  We don't have to listen to this."

Hilarious.

Despite there being no new LOST last night, there was a new Eli Stone, another show that has gotten progressively better as it continued (especially last weeks episode which I'll get to in a minute).  Last night's episode was the second this week allowing a pop star with a tendency toward tabloid troubles* to show off their acting chops, and it was the second this week where said pop star (Britney in How I Met Your Mother and George Michael last night on Eli Stone) greatly impressed me.

"Another thing that Bono and I have in common, we're both visible."

Awesome.
 
Last night also provided me with the opportunity to do something I had been wanting to give a try for some time, the Recap as viewed at such sites as Television Without Pity or my personal favorite Zap2It.  Normally, I just give my views on the episode, but the fine bloggers at these sites (as well as some of the other people who cover LOST) instead give a recap of the episode, catching you up if you missed it, and possibly pointing out something you missed even if you watched it.  I like the idea and secretly wanted to give it a try myself, but had never quite gotten around to it.  Then, last night, I got a Facebook message from a friend who had missed the first 22 minutes of the episode.  Ah hah, I thought to myself, I can do a 22 minute recap to sort of ease myself into the recap writing process, see if I'm any good at it or not (I'm not) in order to catch my friend (dear, little friend, who if she studies really hard can become a Eli Stone alum like me) (okay, maybe Xanga isn't the place for inside jokes such as the one inside of the parenthesis before these, but I couldn't resist) up.  So, I used said trusty DVR and recapped the first 22 minutes and replied on a Facebook message (seriously, how did I communicate before Facebook?  It is entirely possibly that I never had a conversation before the invention of Facebook.  I'm a little addicted to Facebook) with the missing 22 minutes.  While I feel that I did an adequate job, I discovered that it is not my passion.  I would much rather talk about the episode with the understanding that those reading my post have already seen said episode so that together we can dig a little deeper into the meaning.

That being said, I want to do that a little bit with last week's episode of Eli Stone, the one where Eli had the vision of the Earthquake that never happened.  I would have talked about it last week, but we had the whole Michael is back on LOST thing, so we'll talk about it now.



But we are all pretty sure that it isn't.  So, the question becomes, what was the point of getting all of those poor people kicked out of their homes?  What was the point of getting Eli to become unethical?  (Even when he was fighting for the side of injustice before the whole aneurysm thing, he was at least doing it ethically.)

I think that it was just to get Patty back in that church.

While Eli and Patty were talking in the church, Patty mentioned she hadn't been in there for some time, but everything that had just happened had gotten her to go back.

I personally really dig the idea of that.

I also like that the episode didn't spell it out for you what the point of the visions were in this episode.  It seems to me that if there were a modern day prophet in this sort of situation, things like this would be the norm, not a Dragon to represent Dr. Agon. (Although, that is pretty funny when you think about it.)

Until Next Time, only four more weeks.

*always about adding alliteration

Just A Little Taste to Get You Excited

* Spoilers * if you aren't caught up on Battlestar Galactica you might not want to watch this clip....

Also, tomorrow on SciFi, at 9:00pm CST is Battlestar Galactica: Revisited to catch you up on all the preceding moments of the greatest show on television (possibly ever), and at 9:30pm is Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon which allows some famous people to comment on why this is the greatest show on television (possibly ever).

April 4th is the season premiere for the final season.

Until Next Time, I'm going to give you one more taste of something to get you excited, Chris Carter talking about the upcoming, still untitled, X-Files Sequel.

HIMYM, the Britney Spears Episode, first thoughts

First of all, let me just say, I love this show very, very much, and it has little to do with the fact that I see way to much of myself in the main character Ted (played by someone named Josh, coincidence? You be the judge), and more to do with the fact that it is HI-larious (as well as Awesome, and Legendary).

I was a little concerned when I heard that Britney Spears (who has become a joke in and of herself) would be on the second episode after the return from the writers strike.

I needn't have worried.  Last night's episode was among the best of the show's three season history.

And Britney Spears was fabulous.  I laughed pretty much every time she said anything.  She truly did a great job.

Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for her yet.

The real reason that I'm writing this, however, is because I'm wondering if Sarah Chalke (who also guest starred on last night's episode, she's played the second Becky on Roseanne and is currently Elliot Reed on Scrubs, and last night played the doctor removing Ted's "Tramp Stamp") might be the "Mother".

If you noticed, when she was telling Ted why she couldn't date him she told him that the only time she'd been out besides her once a month Girl's Night Movie Excursion (and how cool are these girls that they went to see Plan 9 From Outer Space by the way) was a St. Patty's Day party, from which she left early.

We were told in last weeks episode that the "Mother" was at the St. Patty's Day party that Ted attended with Barney, but that they didn't meet there.

I'm betting that Sarah Chalke isn't the "Mother", but that she is friends with her and was at the same party with her that Ted and Barney were at living as if it were their last night.

Until Next Time, with no LOST for five weeks, I might be tempted to use my LOST trained mind to over analyze other television shows.  You'll have to excuse me.

Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News First?

I suppose that the question is actually rhetorical considering that by the time you read the title, I'll already have written the post and therefore have also already made the decision on whether I will proceed with the good news or the bad news and follow with the other.

Let's start with the bad news since that way we can end the post on a positive note (sorry if you chose the other way around, like I said the title was rhetorical.)

JERICHO CANCELLED BY CBS (AGAIN)

That's right, everyone's favorite post apocalyptic most of America has been nuked type of show has been canceled.  Again.  Luckily there are so many other shows of this type for us to fall back on... oh wait, you mean this is one of the most original shows in the history of television?

Yes, it is, and I have no doubt that many of my readers have never seen it (hence the second canceling in as many seasons) despite it being second on last year's Josh's Choice for Best New Show of the Year list, but that is their loss.  Unfortunately the low ratings due to the fact that most people haven't seen it is resulting in its canceling which is a huge loss to those of us that have watched this outstanding show.

Of course, there is small hope that someone else will take a chance on this show with its small but fiercely loyal fans, after all it was canceled last year too and we still got seven episodes this year thanks to the rabid fans.  Surely some cable network would be interested in getting some loyal viewers.  (Are you listening SciFi?  The show would be perfect on your network, and Battlestar is coming to an end this year.)

Which brings me to the good news (see aren't you glad we did it this way, it led to a perfect segue.)

PREQUEL TO BATTLESTAR GALACTICA GREENLIT BY SCIFI

That's right, CAPRICA, the prequel to the best show on television ever (with the possible exception of The Wire which I'm about to start watching on the magic of Netflix, but haven't seen yet so I can't say for sure which truly deserves the title, sad though that they both end this year) has been greenlit, so even though we're losing BSG, we will still have stories set in that world.  With Adamas.  I can't wait.

Also in the good news category, it appears that Scrubs will in fact be returning, but on ABC, according to Variety.  Also in that article is the long rumored, but still unofficial news that FNL (last year's Josh's Choice for Best New Show of the Year winner) will be back next season with some help from DirecTv, that would be among the best news possible.

Until Next Time, I'm back to CBS (despite their canceling one of my favorite shows) for some more March Madness.

LOST Meet Kevin Johnson, first thoughts

Well, I loved it.

Welcome back Michael, but more importantly, welcome back LIBBY!!!!  The first time we've seen her since the Season 2 finale (also the last time we had seen Michael until last week.  Coincidence? I don't know.)  I'm glad to see her again, giving me hope that we'll get more of her in the future and answers to many questions (such as why was she in the mental hospital with Hurley).

Great episode, especially for the love to hate him Benry Gale.  Right when you start to think that maybe he actually is the good guy, he kills off his "daughter"'s boyfriend and (in a shocking moment, making up for the annoyance I felt when I thought Carl was going to be the foretold death) her mother.  Yes, I think that Benry Gale was behind the death of Carl and Rousseau.

The big question is who is behind the faked Oceanic 815?  (I'm afraid that the time has come to accept that the plane at the bottom of the ocean is not a duplicate plane due to alternate dimensions as many of us hoped, but is in fact a fake).  Was it put there by Benry Gale (as the freighter captain told us last week) or by Charles Widmore (as Tom Friendly told us this week)?  My money is on Benry Gale, because I just don't trust him at all.

Even though I don't trust him at all, I don't doubt that it's possible that he is doing the things he is doing for the side of good, but that doesn't change the fact that I think even if the Others are the good guys, Benry Gale is pure evil.

Of course, we'll have five weeks to argue about it.

Speaking of the great Tom Friendly, I was glad to know that he had a little time to indulge himself before heading back to the Island to be killed by Sawyer.

How awesome was the irony of Sayid turning Michael in for working for Benry Gale when we know in the future that Sayid himself will also be working for Benry Gale.

Well, the previews for the next new episode (five long weeks from today) confirmed that Aaron is one of the Oceanic 6 as well as hinted towards my theory that Claire is not long for this world is also true.

Michael clearly wants to die and I don't think that he's going to feel resolved of his sins due to how this whole freighter thing has gone, leading me to think that he'll try to kill himself and succeed sometime in the future resulting in his completely unattended funeral in Dr. Jack's season 3 flash-forward.

Speaking of suicide and Dr. Jack, apparently we know now why Dr. Jack was unable to jump from the bridge in his dark and drunken future, the Island wouldn't let him.  Very interesting.

Well, I'm sure that I'll have more on the eight episodes we've seen so far in between now and the next episode (did I mention that it is five looooong weeks away?).

Until Next Time, despite my LOST predictions not doing that well, I did go 15-1 in my first day picks of the NCAA Tournament.

LOST Meet Kevin Johnson, predictions

Big episode of LOST tonight, the last for over a month.  We get to learn a little about where Michael has been and what he's been up to, which is exciting.

We also lose someone tonight according to the previews, so the big question is, "Who will die?"

If you've been keeping up with my LOST posts, you should know where I'm going to fall on this one.

My Dharma paycheck is on Claire.

I just don't see anyway that she and Aaron are separated unless she's dead.  Don't get me wrong, I'll miss her, but maybe she can get a ghost like Charlie apparently had in "The Beginning of the End" and they can be happy again.

I'm betting that they make it seem like Jin is going to die first, though.  Because they showed his grave site last week, a lot of people are predicting a Jin death.  Doc Jensen of EW.com has Jin's odds at 5-2, second only to Carl.  A Carl death wouldn't surprise me, but it also wouldn't be worth the hype, so I'm not considering him a possibility.  His reason for it not being Claire is the emotion and drama involved in Kate trying to reunite Aaron with his real mother on the Island.  How is that better then Sun trying to reunite herself to her husband and introduce her baby to her husband?  Jin staying alive makes more sense and provides more emotion and drama then Claire staying alive.  And the fact that we saw his grave means absolutely nothing, since the grave said he died on Sept 22, 2004 and we already know that that is a lie, why wouldn't his death be a lie as well.

The other thing I'm predicting for this episode is that Michael is the man in the coffin from Dr. Jack's flash forward in last season's finale.  If the episode doesn't tell us that right out, I'm thinking that it will give some big arguments towards that theory being correct.

Until Next Time, thank goodness for Tivo, as I can take an hour long brake from Basketball for LOST and then come right back to it, right where I left off.

In Memory

Yesterday, Arthur C. Clarke and Anthony Minghella died.  Both were instrumental people in the film industry, both Oscar nominated.  Clarke was nominated along with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Minghella was nominated for the screenplays of the films The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley and won as director of The English Patient.

A sad day for the world of film.

Until Next Time, I think I'm going to rewatch 2001, one of my favorite films of all time.

LOST Ji Yeon, first thoughts

Alright, I'm a little upset, not gonna lie, but we were told after this episode we would be completely sure who the Oceanic 6 actually are.  Well, I'm only completely sure on 5 of them.  I suppose that this means we have to assume that Aaron is number 6, but it would have been nice to get confirmation of this since we were supposed to be sure after this episode.

The five we know for sure, without question, are Dr. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, and Sun.  It looks like Aaron has to be number 6, as he would have been rescued with the rest of them, even if he didn't actually have a ticket on the flight.  Other possibilities include Benry Gale, who could easily have assumed the identity of someone who actually did die in the crash.  Although since we are pretty sure that he has ways to get off of the Island whenever he wants I doubt that he would want the notoriety of being one of the Oceanic 6, as he seems to like to work in anonymity.  Desmond is currently off of the Island, and if I were him I wouldn't let them make me go back, which lends credence to them faking an identity for him to make him one of the Oceanic 6, but if that were the case, I think that perhaps Desmond would have shown up with Hurley at the end of Ji Yeon and been called some other name in order to tell us for sure that was the case.  Michael is off of the Island, and was actually on the boat, but it doesn't seem that he wants anyone there to know it, so I don't see why he would change his story now, it looks like he is simply Kevin Johnson from here on out. 

Therefore, I'm going to have to go with Aaron as Oceanic 6 member number 6.  See, that was an awful lot of work when we were told that we'd be sure after this episode.

However, I did like the episode over all.  I liked the flashforward/flashback effect that they did.  I began to get suspicious when I saw Jin's cell phone which was old and clunky.  I had said that we might get a scene off of the Island that we would be led to believe was a flash forward, only to find out at the end it was a flashback.  That turned out to be the case on Jin's scenes off of the Island.

At the end, when Sun and Hurley go to visit Jin's grave, the headstone shows that Jin died on Sept. 22, 2004.  That is the day of the crash, so Jin supposedly died in the crash.  (Which if I were the press and did the math on Sun's pregnancy, I'd want to know who the father was, since it couldn't possibly have been Jin, as he supposedly died about a month before Sun conceived.  Just saying.)  We already know that the 6 are lying about things, claiming only 8 people survived the crash, and only 6 of those survived on the Island.  And we already know that Jin didn't die in the crash, so I'm led to believe that Jin is actually still alive on the Island, and isn't actually dead.

A few weeks ago, I claimed that Claire would have to be dead, because I couldn't see any reason that she would let herself be separated from Aaron.  I still believe that to be true.  Jin, however, I could see letting himself be separated from Sun if he knew it would mean that Sun and the baby would live.  He would sacrifice his ability to leave the Island if it meant that Sun and the baby would get off, and therefore wouldn't both die.  I have no doubt that this is what will happen.

After all, LOST has a penchant for ironic statements in the episodes.  A few weeks ago, Sayid claimed he would never trust Benry, then we find out that he's working for him.  The week after that, Kate says she never wants to care for a baby when asked to pick up Aaron, later we find out she's calling Aaron her son.  This week, Jin says to Juliet, "I go where Sun goes."  I think we'll find out that he lets Sun go and stays behind in order to save her life.

Well, whatever we can and can't be sure of, one thing that I think we can be sure of is this, I was wrong about who is in the casket from the Season 3 finale.  It can't be Sawyer.  Instead, I'm changing my opinion to Michael.

There has already been speculation of Michael due to the fact that the viewing was held in a black neighborhood, but what I think settles it is the fact that while we don't recognize the name on the newspaper clipping that Dr. Jack reads to find out about the funeral, and we don't know the name Kevin Johnson either.  If you change your name once, what's to keep you from changing it again to Jo-  -antham (what we could read of the name from the funeral clipping)?

Until Next Time, I'm really looking forward to next weeks episode, which I'm assuming will be a Michael-centric episode answering how he became Benry's Man on the Boat.

LOST The Other Woman, first thoughts

Let me start by saying that I double checked and Benry Gale does tell Richard to continue on with the Others to the Temple, not the Tempest.  As I was thinking about it last night, I also checked out what Shakespeare's play The Tempest was about, and wouldn't you know it involved people trapped on a dessert island.

I thought that the choice of title was interesting.  Obviously it makes sense in that Juliet was "the other woman" in regards to Goodwin and his wife, and also that there is the underlying Dr. Jack and Kate relationship in which Juliet is "the other woman", although at the end one could argue that Kate has become the other woman.  (Anyone else think that this is probably the best move Dr. Jack could have made to get Kate to stop thinking about Sawyer and back on the Dr. Jack bandwagon?)  But these aren't the things that I think the title was actually referring to.  I think the titular woman is actually whoever it is that Juliet reminds Ben of.

As I noted many times in my Thoughts As I Had Them post of this episode, the thing that struck me was Harper's line "You remind him of her".  The "her" to which she is referring has to matter, otherwise why keep it a mystery and try and sneak it in without shedding a lot of light on the question?  Also, I referred many times to the Purge, featured in the Benry flashback episode, The Man Behind The Curtain.  There is an obvious tie between these two episodes.  Last night's episode helps to answer some of the questions involved with the Purge, giving some idea at least of how something like that was accomplished.  Also in that episode, The Man Behind The Curtain, we were introduced to Annie, a childhood friend/sweetheart of Benry's.  Since there is such a thread (the gas and the idea of Purging the Island of all its inhabitants) running through the two episodes, I think it is logical to conclude that the titular other woman is actually the girl from the other episode, Annie.

We don't know what Annie looks like grown up, but she could look something like Juliet.  As to who Annie is, if you recall one crazy theory I through out in my questions and theories post prior to the start of this season I mentioned that I thought it possible that Diane, Kate's mom, is actually Benry's Annie.  (After all, now we know Kate's middle name is Anne).  Kate's mom, played by Beth Broderick, does have some similarities to Juliet.  Something to think about anyway.

I did want to point something out again that's in the Thoughts As I Had Them post, did anyone notice that along with the whispers, the black smoke appeared very quickly in the background right before Harper made her startling "out of nowhere" type entrance.  And although I didn't notice the smoke when she disappeared, the whispers where there again.  It was very similar to the way Richard appeared to Benry in his flashback in (surprise, surprise) The Man Behind The Curtain (see, lots of connections between these two episodes).  Can the Smoke somehow be used by the original inhabitants of the Island to travel?  Again, something to think about.

Finally, in regards to my "One of them is the Author of the Entire Situation" theory, I'm beginning to be sold on that person being Benry Gale.  After all, this episode showed him reading VALIS, and we were told by Harper that he is exactly where he wants to be.  How much of a stretch would it be to think that he was exactly where he wanted to be the last time the LOSTies held him captive?  After all, it gave him a chance to observe Dr. Jack and Locke up close and personal which has come in quite handy for him.  There is the theory, which I subscribe to, that Walt was a little too much for the Others to handle, and Benry's captivity helped them get rid of the Walt problem as well as apparently put Michael in position to become Benry's "man on the boat."  Then you have the fact that this episode shows Benry "authoring" the death of Goodwin in what I noted was a very David and Bathsheba way (it's a Bible story, look it up).  All in all, I'm liking the idea that everything is going according to Benry's plan, especially if you consider that the Oceanic 6 getting off of the Island sets Benry up with an assassin to take out undesirables on some sort of list.  (We really need some more info on these lists.)

Anyway, that's all I have for now.

Until Next Time, I look forward to finding out who the last of the 6 are next week.  Obviously from the preview Jin and Sun are the favorites, but if it isn't a flash forward episode for them, I'm betting I'll be correct with my Michael and Walt theory.

LOST The Other Woman, thoughts as I had them

I thought we'd do something a little different this week.  Here are my thoughts as I had them during tonight's episode...

LOST The Other Woman

Juliet episode.  Flash Forward or Flash Back?

Flash back, she’s with the Others.  I liked that they made you think she was one of the 6 somehow.  Good to see Friendly again.

C.S. Lewis and Faraday headed into the jungle and Sun and Jin start to find out all is not as it seems with the “rescuers”.  Good to see that the whispers are back, did you notice the smoke was there also?

Okay, so the psychiatrist (Harper) must be like Richard, one of the few original inhabitants perhaps, non-aging and connected to the whispers and smoke, able to appear seemingly out of nowhere as Richard did to Benry in the episode with the Purge.

Ah, of course, the masks.  They must be from Dharma here to pay back the inhabitants for the Purge.  That would explain why they want him, if they know he was responsible for the Purge.  And apparently “the Tempest” is able to release gas throughout the Island.  That must be how Benry did it the first time.

Goodwin and her get together, which we know from a previous Juliet flashback, but he was married to Harper, that is very interesting.

The Tempest is an electrical station that powers the Island.  That’s news.  I’ll throw in last year’s season finale to see if Richard was told to go to the temple or the Tempest after the episode.

Kate is headed back to Dr. Jack, but runs into Faraday and C.S. Lewis.  Have Lewis and Kate met?  I’m pretty sure we weren’t shown them meeting.

“You people had therapists?”

“It was very stressful being an Other, Jack.”

I’m uncomfortable with Benry making a move on Juliet.  Damn he’s perceptive though.  I’m not even sure if Goodwin and Juliet know they have something going on yet, but Benry Gale has already figured it out.

Harper said, “You look just like her” in regards to why Benry Gale is so nice to her.  Apparently Goodwin and Juliet have figured out how they feel about each other.  Did Benry know that Ana Lucia would kill Goodwin?  Did he plan that like King David to get Bathsheba?  Is Goodwin Uriah?

“All Charlie said was who’s boat it isn’t.  Don’t you want to know whose boat it is?”

Harper told Juliet that Benry was right where he wanted to be.  Benry says he always has a plan.  David and Bathsheba, I’m telling you.  “What’s Ben gonna do?”  Send you to get killed by Ana Lucia, that’s what.

Kate and Dr. Jack reunited (and it feels so good).

Back to New Otherton, let’s see what Benry’s secret is. 

36 15 28 

Benry lies again?  Or are Penny and her father at odds?  Do they each know that the other is also searching for the Island?  Why is Widmore doing the dirty work of beating a guy up himself?

Locke asks for the man on the boat, it’s gotta be Michael.

Benry creeps me out.  Juliet doesn’t like you, man.  And what the hell is your deal with her anyway.  Who does she look like?  Annie?

We need to know more about the list.  How is it made?  What does it mean?

Benry knows Goodwin is going to die.

What station is it?  Orchid?  Or is the name of the station Tempest?

If the Purge came from a Dharma station, how did the Others (Hostiles to the Dharma types) get there and release the gas?  Benry was just a work man.  Did they have some one else on the inside?

So they were trying to take the weapon away from Benry Gale.  Has that man ever told the truth?  Even once?

He’s not denying it.  He meant for Goodwin to be killed.

“You’re mine.”  Damn, he’s a bastard.

Take that, Kate.  I think I like Juliet better.

Horseshoes?  Seriously?  Locke is losing them.  He had to know that they wouldn’t be cool with Benry Gale being let loose.  This is no doubt part of Benry's plan also.  Not only is he out of the basement, but he's fracturing Locke's hold on these people as well.

Preview for next week...

Damn.  I was wrong.  Sun and Jin are the last two.  But wait, I think it’s a throw off.  I think I’m right.  Michael will be back at the end of the episode next week.  I guarantee it.

Until Next Time, I'll check out the episode from last season to see if The Tempest and The Temple are actually the same thing.  If so though, why weren't the Others there?  Tomorrow I'll hit you up with the normal "first thoughts" post, but this way you know where those thoughts come from, they'll just be better formed into a theory or some cohesive sort of thing.  Good episode.

LOST Eggtown reveal discussed some more and other LOST thoughts

I've already stated that I wasn't a big fan of the episode Eggtown (especially considering how great The Economist was the week before and the fact that I believe The Constant the week after was the best LOST episode ever), but I suppose we need to take a look at the ramifications of the supposed shocker ending as was brought up to me by a friend in response to my last LOST post.

Back in season 1, in the episode "Raised By Another", Claire was told by the psychic Richard Malkin that she had to raise the baby herself because her goodness must influence the baby.  She refuses to listen, but finally decides to take his advice when he apparently has changed his mind and tells her there is a couple in Los Angeles who can care for the as yet unnamed Aaron.  She is given a ticket on Oceanic Flight 815 and told that it can be no other flight.  Claire wonders at the end of the episode (as do we) whether the psychic knew that the flight would crash and she would be forced to raise the baby herself.

However, in the season 2 episode, "?", Eko is researching a supposed miracle involving the daughter of Richard Malkin.  During Eko's investigation, Malkin admits to Eko that he is a fraud and not a genuine psychic.

So, which are we to believe?  Is Richard Malkin a psychic as reported in Claire's flashback of him or a fraud as reported in Eko's flashback?

I think that this is an important question, because if he is a psychic, and was therefore correct in asserting that Claire needed to raise Aaron, then we have a serious problem in the future considering that Aaron is being raised by another, Kate.  Especially if it is imperative that Claire's goodness influence Aaron.  While I like Kate, I don't think you could make the argument that she has the same inherent goodness as Claire.  Sure, she's had reasons for doing the things that she's done, and I wouldn't consider her evil, but she has committed evil deeds, and therefore, I doubt she fits the bill for the inherent goodness necessary in raising Aaron.

Things we've learned since then actually support the idea that Malkin was a psychic and did foresee something which made him believe that Claire had to raise the baby herself.  If he had that vision (or flash akin to Desmond's visions of the future) then he would have seen a catastrophe caused by someone other then Claire raising the baby.  But we learned in the season 3 episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes" from Ms. Hawking that the universe has a way of course correcting.  Therefore, if Malkin did foresee Aaron being raised by another, despite his attempt to change that future by putting Claire on a plane destined to crash on the Island, the universe will in the future course correct to make sure that Aaron is raised by someone else (Kate), and most likely that isn't a good thing.

Anyway, these are some of the thoughts I had about the reveal that Kate would be raising Aaron as her own in the future.  Thanks Adriane for bringing the issue up.

One other little thing to think about, I read that we'll know the entire Oceanic 6 by the end of episode 7 of this season.  That's the episode next week.  Assuming (which is always dangerous as the very same Adriane who inspired this post once pointed out in Chemistry 2 back in high school) that we are only aware of 4 of the 6, Dr. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid, that Aaron doesn't count because he didn't actually have a ticket on the plane, and that Benry Gale isn't one of the 6 by having taken over a dead passengers identity.  Assuming all of that, we would have two members of the Oceanic 6 still left to discover.

Based on the previews for tomorrow's episode, I think that it will be a Juliet episode.  I don't believe that she is one of the Oceanic 6 either (as she wasn't on the plane).  Therefore, I am going out on a bit of a limb to predict that the last two will both be identified in next weeks episode.  This leads me to believe that they are connected, which narrows it down considerably.

Of the people left on the Island, the only twosomes would be Sun and Jin or Rose and Bernard.  I think that we can safely eliminate Rose and Bernard partly because they are technically supporting characters and also because Rose believes if she leaves the Island, her cancer will return.  Sun and Jin make sense, because they are in the Dr. Jack "please rescue us" group, and Sun believes that she will die due to her pregnancy if she doesn't get off the Island adding some incentive for their wanting (and needing) to leave.

So, Sun and Jin would make sense whereas Rose and Bernard wouldn't, but I'm not going to pick either of those twosomes as my guess for the last two members of the Oceanic 6.  No, my prediction for the last two members is actually Michael and Walt.

Forgot about them, didn't you.  A large part of me thinks that it is possible that Michael is also Benry Gale's man on the freighter.  After all, Frank left the Island on the helicopter on a bearing of 305.  Benry Gale sent Michael out on a heading of 315.  It doesn't seem impossible that Michael and Walt ran into the freighter coming in.

The biggest reason I have this belief is that Harold Perrineau

Of course, we could find out tomorrow night that I'm completely off base, but at the moment I'm feeling pretty good about this prediction.

Until Next Time, hit me up with your thoughts on who the last of the Oceanic 6 are.

More Thoughts on LOST The Constant

So, I've been thinking a lot about one of the paragraphs I wrote in the LOST, The Constant post...

"What's interesting about Vonnegut's book [Slaughterhouse Five] is that a main character in the book is Sci Fi writer Kilgore Trout, who is the book version of Kurt Vonnegut.  In Phillip K. Dick's Valis, which Locke gave to Benry Gale to read last week, one of the main characters is Horselover Fat, the book version of Phillip K. Dick.  Not sure if that connection is intended or important, but it certainly was interesting to me."

I can't shake this comparison from my head.  Plus, I've added to it.  The creators talk about Stephen King (who is a huge fan of the show) being a big inspiration for the show.  We've seen Juliet use Stephen King as her choice for the Other's book club, and when Benry Gale was first given a book by Locke back in season two, he commented, "No Stephen King?"  In Stephen King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower Series, (which the creators of LOST have talked to Stephen King about adapting) the last three books include a character who is a writer named Stephen King.  That's right, he puts himself into the story.

So, what does this mean?  I think it means that a character we have been introduced to is actually the "author" (if you will) of the events the LOSTies are embroiled in.

So, who is it?

Well, as I see it, there are a few possibilities.  Let's look at each I think likely in turn.

Benry Gale:
Seems the most obvious, as two of the things that caused me to construct this theory center around him, he was given VALIS and he made the Stephen King comment.  Plus, he placed himself in the hands of the LOSTies for reasons that have never been made completely clear.  What was he doing and why did he get caught by Russeau?  Was it because he wanted to get caught by the LOSTies, to see Locke and Dr. Jack in their habitat to better judge them and how they might react?  It is certainly a possibility.  We've definitely learned over and over again that he isn't trustworthy.  He first introduces himself as Henry Gale, we later find out his name is Ben Linus and that he has numerous other aliases.  He claims that he was born on the Island, which is a lie, and claims that he never leaves it, but if he doesn't leave, why all the foreign currency and the fake passports, and why do the Freighter people have a picture of him that appears to have been taken off of the Island?  Therefore, anything that he says can not be taken at face value, and he could easily be something else that we haven't previously suspected.

Jacob:
Of course, we aren't too clear yet as to who or what exactly Jacob is, but I think it is entirely possible that he is the "author" of everything that has happened so far.

Christian Shepherd:
This is the one that I'm leaning towards.  Partly because of the fact that Hurley saw him in Jacob's chair, partly because of Dr. Jack's insistence that he was upstairs and alive (if drunk) in his flash forward from last season's finale.  Whether it is actually Christian Shepherd or not (maybe the body was taken over by Jacob who doesn't have a body of his own?) is up for debate, but fact that Christian Shepherd is going to play a larger role is something I have no doubts about.

Matthew Abaddon:
Again, we don't know too much about this guy, but seeing as he was introduced just before this connection was placed into by consciousness due to the use of Valis and the homage paid to Slaughterhouse Five, I have to include him as a possibility.  The fact that he asked Hurley "Are they still alive?" makes me think it probably isn't him.  The author of their situation would know about the fate of the other LOSTies.  However, we have to consider the possibility that the situation being authored is the situation of the Oceanic 6, meaning the lies that they are being forced to tell concerning the Island and what happened there.  If that is the case, he is a logical choice.

In my mind, these are the most likely possibilities, a few others that are possible are the heads of each of the big corporations that we have been introduced to throughout the history of the show.

Mr. Paik: Sun's father and head of Paik Heavy Industries

Charles Widmore: Penny's father and head of Widmore Labs

Then there's Alvar Hanso, founder of the Hanso Corporation and Dharma.

I stand by my belief that the connection of these companies (be it as competitors or partners), so the head of any of these corporations could be the "author" of everything that happened.

Until Next Time, these are some of the thoughts I had this weekend as I played over the events of last weeks brilliant episode again and again in my head.