LOST There's No Place Like Home Part One, first thoughts

Well, you can't be right all the time.  I'm definitely intrigued to see how only the Oceanic 6 will get off of the Island since Sun and Aaron are on the freighter along with Jin and four other nameless survivors, while the other four (Dr. Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley) are headed to roughly the same place, the Orchid station.

(More on that in a minute).

I do think that one of my earlier theories (from after the season finale last year) is correct.  I think that Widmore is dharma, and I think that Widmore owns Oceanic, which is why the conspiracy has been cooked up to explain their disappearance.  Otherwise, it's possible that Widmore cooked up the conspiracy and Oceanic actually believes the story that the 6 are telling to be true.

LOST does a great job with tearful reunions.  I especially enjoyed Hurley seeing his mom again and Sayid finding Nadia (although that's a little sad since we know she's going to die soon after they wed.)  It's because of this show strength that I still don't believe Jin is actually dead.  The finale will have to have a Sun/Jin reunion (as well as a happy ending for Desmond/Penny).

Although I have to admit, the second that he was on the boat with Sun, I did get worried about his fate.
When Sun reunited with her family, did you see the look on Paik's (her father) face?  Like Widmore, he definitely knows more about that Island then we think he does.  After all, C.S. Lewis knows Korean and knew the Dharma insignia when she saw it on the Tunisian Polar Bear, it isn't much of a stretch to think she knows Korean because she works for Paik.

And I hate to admit it because her namesake is one of my favorite authors (and Prince Caspian opens tomorrow!!!) but of the four freighter folk we know the best (Frank, Faraday, Miles, and Lewis) she seems the shadiest.

I love how Dr. Jack found out that Claire was his sister.  The look of horror in his face when he realized that Aaron was his nephew was priceless.  I can only imagine how much guilt he now feels for not getting her off the Island too.  And then Kate holding Aaron while Aaron's grandmother comments on him, let me just say that was a brilliant, brilliant scene from beginning to end.

Okay, the Orchid Station.

I've shown this video before, but now I'll put it up again in case you're a new reader or forgot what it showed.

This is the Orientation film for the Orchid Station....

It does seem to involve time travel of some sort.

We'll know in two weeks.

Until Next Time, what are your thoughts on the fate of Jin.  Because Sun says to her father that he's at fault for Jin's "death" does that make you think that he's actually dead or is she sticking to the official story and uses dead instead of "lost on the Island"?  We've got two weeks to discuss that and anything else on your mind.

LOST Season Finale theories and predictions

"He told me to move the Island" -John Locke So, what exactly does that mean? There's a couple of theories on this. One, it could mean move the Island in time.  This seems to be a popular theory online and amongst some of my friends, and being a sucker for all things time travel, I like it myself, but that can't be all of it. Krazy Keamy has threatened to torch the Island.  Even if John moves all of the Others to another time on the Island, the Island itself will still be there to torch and Krazy Keamy wants more then Benry Gale now, he's pissed at the Island because of our old friend Smokey. I've always thought that the Island isn't really in our reality. I've always believed that it is actually in a separate dimension from ours. As I pointed out last week, the time differential isn't stable or predictable.  Sometimes it's earlier on the Island then it is off of the Island, sometimes its vice versa. I think that is because the Island is in a completely different universe. However, it is accessible through certain wormholes, including one in the ocean that the freighter is currently in supposedly offshore.  If, however, the Island were moved... meaning, in my opinion, that the Island would be closed off from those particular wormholes, then the freighter would just be sitting in the ocean away from any land base whatsoever. Here's what we know. Dr. Jack was thrown a sat phone from the helicopter.  It was from Frank, but he probably thinks it was from Sayid or Desmond.  He knows that the freighter folk are dangerous so he'll be tracking them secretly, hoping to take down anyone dangerous. The helicopter is heading towards wherever it is that Benry Gale will be next, thanks to intel from Widmore given to Krazy Keamy. That means that Benry Gale, Locke, and Hurley will be met by the helicopter and Dr. Jack. Meanwhile back at the beach, Sayid will arrive in the boat to start ferrying survivors back there. Now to the theories. Sawyer will arrive with Miles and Aaron to the beach and will have Kate and Aaron head for the freighter while he goes back to look for Claire (despite the fact that she's dead).  Jin will make sure that Sun is on the transport as well.  It's a small boat, so Sayid's first load will be himself, Kate, Sun, and Aaron. Meanwhile, Locke, Benry, Hurley, and Dr. Jack with the help of Frank (and we can only hope, Smokey) will overpower Krazy Keamy.  Frank will take Dr. Jack and Hurley back with him to the freighter, leaving John able to move the Island. When Frank and Sayid head back to the Island in their two transports, Locke will already have closed the wormhole and they will be unable to locate it, meaning the only people to get off will be Dr. Jack, Sayid, Kate, Sun, Hurley, and Aaron, aka the Oceanic 6. Everyone else will still be alive (except Claire, because I'm fairly certain that she's been dead for a few episodes already), but still on the Island. Now, I want to leave you with some more thoughts on last weeks episode. Benry Gale's mother's name, Emily Linus. John Locke's mother's name, Emily Locke. Both were born 3 months premature. Their mother's first words after their births was "Name him...." Both have a strong connection to the Island and people connected to the Island were at each of their sides shortly after their birth. Benry appears to have been born in the early 60's whereas Locke was born in the late 50's. Let's call it about 5 years difference. So, about the time that Richard Alpert tested Locke and failed him for choosing the "Walkabout John" method of reaching the Island, Benry Gale was born. The Island tried at least one more time to recruit John to the Island through Alpert (using Mittelos Labs), but again John refused, perhaps subconsciously sticking with the "Walkabout John" plan.  About that time, Horace Goodspeed got his friend Roger "Workman" Linus a job with the Dharma Institute on the Island, causing him to bring little Benry. So, what does this all mean? Clearly, the Island wanted John Locke as its Leader and Liaison all along, but settled for its backup plan (Benry Gale, substitute leader of the Others) until Locke arrived. The second that Locke arrived, the Island didn't need Benry Gale anymore.  (Thank you very much for your service, we'll mail you your last check).  Immediately he lost his ability to speak to (or in fact even see) Jacob, he stopped having the dreams ("I used to have the dreams, John", said Benry Gale), and worst of all, the Island made him sick, giving him cancer in a place where, as Rose pointed out, you don't get sick, you get better. Seems like the Island has no need for Benry Gale to me.  Looks more like it was tossing him out like old garbage. I don't know about you, but I doubt that Benry's going to take this lying down.  If Locke is out of the way, Benry, the substitute, is necessary once again. I'd watch my back, Locke, if I were you. Until Next Time, part one of the three hour finale will air tonight.  Unfortunately next week will be a LOSTless Thursday, but then we'll be treated to a two hour finale on the Thursday after that.  See you after the show with my first thoughts.

BSG Faith, first thoughts

I was right, Deanna will be unboxed in order to unmask the Final Five, although I'm not sure that Anders is as excited about that.

How about the revelation that the Final Five are from Earth, though, that's interesting.  Where they created there or did they go there separately?  And I'm still confused as to why the Boomer/Athena model is number 8, meaning one of the Final Five is a number 7.

We know that 8 is a different Cylon, able to buck programming easier.  Athena has left the Cylons to join the side of the humans, and Boomer left the rest of the 8's for Cabal's side to vote against 6's group, breaking the tie.

Is it possible that the first 6 Cylons are different then the last 6 Cylons, but that number 8 broke ranks with the last 6 making them 5?

I think that it is.

A couple of BSG posts ago I mentioned how strategically placed the four we know of the Final 5 seemed to be.  President Roslin's conversation with Torry at the beginning of the episode confirmed that.

Speaking of President Roslin, her arch in this episode interested me.

I never imagined that Roslin would buy into the One True God concept simply because it was Baltar that was preaching it, and she will always be unable to see past her hatred (as much as that hatred is probably justified) of him.  But through the character Emily on this episode, Roslin got to see that faith from a different angle.

And the concept of One True God is probably important to her understanding of the Opera House Dream, considering everyone involved in that vision except for herself is Cylon or half-Cylon, and thanks to the Hybrid we know now that Roslin (the dying leader) will soon know the truth of that vision.

Which is good, because I'd like to know the truth of that vision as well.  Especially since it started roughly at the same time four of the crew started hearing All Along the Watchtower and we saw where that lead.

We got more of the "Harbinger of Death" and "lead them all to their end" about Starbuck that we got in Razor, but if I've learned anything from reading fantasy extensively since 6th grade, it's that Prophecies never turn out exactly how they sound.

I'm wondering more about what all of this "Children of the one reborn" is all about.

Until Next Time, did anyone else watch Smallville last week?  It was Sci-Fi Doctors Guest Appearance Week as Robert Picardo (formally the Doctor on ST: Voyager) played Mr. Teague (the father of Jensen Ackles's character and the husband of Jane Seymore's character) and Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle on BSG) played the antique expert helping Lex figure out the significance of the item he discovered in the Zurich safety deposit box.  I kept expecting to see Dr. Crusher.

It's Official!

Take a deep breath and step off of the ledge HIMYM fans...

How I Met Your Mother will be returning for it's fourth season on CBS.  It will start next fall in it's current day and time!

The show has been averaging stronger ratings since the return from the strike, with big numbers for the appearances of Britney Spears who was once again funny as the Ted-Obsessed Abby.  Who knew when she was going crazy and shaving her head that a few months later she would be helping to save one of the funniest shows on television.

Until Next Time, the news wasn't as good for a comedy that not as many people were watching, but that they should have been, the CW canceled Aliens in America.  I didn't talk too much about it, but I did love this quirky show with lots of heart, and am sad to see it go.

Big News on the Renewal Front

Okay, first of all, I want to apologize for not having talked about last Friday's BSG yet, but that's because I haven't had time to see it yet.  Soon.

Also, to look forward to, I'll be detailing some new theories I have on the happenings at our favorite Island.  My Claire theories went over so well, we'll try some new ones before Thursday's episode.

But the reason for today's quick post is that ABC announced their upcoming schedule meaning two big news items.

First, ABC has, as was expected, picked up Scrubs for next season!!!!!  Good news, as J.D. deserves a real send off (although I thought My Princess was a pretty good episode).

Secondly, Eli Stone will be back next season!!!!!  I'm pumped as for the most part, this show got better and better each and every week, and I can't wait to see what the second season will hold in store.

Also, the CW announced that Reaper has gotten a 13 episode order for next season as well, so good news day overall for religiously themed television shows.

Until Next Time, I just want to mention that the Cubs have the best record in baseball!

LOST Cabin Fever, first thoughts

We'll start with the time differential.  I think that it is clear that there is no standard time differential, but that it varies.  While the Island and off Island are close in time, they can be up to hours, maybe even as much as a day, apart.

When Faraday did his rocket test, the clock didn't show up until half an hour after it was supposed to, but the Doctor's body showed up hours before he was killed, so the differential can go both ways, and there is probably no way to predict it.

Moving on.

There has been a lot of speculation as to what Benry Gale meant by saying Widmore "changed the rules".

To borrow an idea from Battlestar, "All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again."  More precisely, I think that there is a script that is supposed to be followed.  Those "in the know" basically know what is supposed to take place.  Benry Gale and Mr. Widmore are fighting for control of the Island, but there are certain things that are decided, and they have to make their play for the Island within those rules.  Killing Alex wasn't supposed to happen.

Benry Gale rarely seems surprised, and often it is said about him that he is right where he means to be.  If he knew roughly what was happening and what would happen, then getting yourself into the right position would be fairly easy.  And when something happened that wasn't supposed to happen did happen, that would explain the rare shock that we saw from Benry a couple of weeks ago, as well as the disbelief in the fact that the rules had been changed.

Obviously Widmore has some of the same "right place, right time" understanding that Benry has, since he supposedly gave directions in a safe to Krazy Keamy detailing where Benry would be.  The Captain asked Krazy Keamy how Widmore could know such a thing, and Krazy Keamy answered, "He's a very smart man."  Someone who had some understanding of the future would certainly be able to be described as such.

Also it makes me wonder if Desmond's ending up on the Island was orchestrated by Widmore as a way to discover the Island's location.  He knew that Desmond would enter his race, crash on the Island, and destroy the Swan station setting off the electromagnetic signal that alerted Penny (and therefore probably her father as well) to the Island's location.

Which Dr. Daddy informs Locke can be changed.  Interesting.

John's connection to the Island has been there his whole life apparently.  Even causing him to draw a picture of the Smoke Monster as a child.  Awesome.

Alpert (who hasn't aged a day for even longer then we first surmised) was at his side shortly after his birth.
He then came and tested him as a child.  I had no doubt that he would pick up the sand, the compass, and the knife, but Alpert seemed surprised he picked up the knife.  I'm surprised he waited till last to pick it up.  I wonder why picking up the knife was a bad thing.

By picking up the knife, perhaps John locked (no pun intended) in his future.

If he had chosen something else, Richard would have taken him to the Island right then and there, raising him as one of the Others (or whatever they were known then, which would have been even before the Dharma group).

Although Richard gave him another chance in high school (through the same company that later would recruit Juliet, already pretending to be based in Portland) I think it was already impossible for things to change.

The knife represents what I'll call "Walkabout John", the Locke that we know, the Locke that we discovered tonight was set into motion by Abaddon.  I don't think it is wrong to assume that Abaddon doesn't work for the Island while Alpert does.  By selecting the knife, that meant that John would be sent to the Island through Abaddon's actions, not Alpert's.

Obviously Michael still has work to do for the Island as Krazy Keamy's gun jammed when he tried to shoot Michael.  I think that it is pretty obvious now that Michael will be the one in the coffin from last season's finale as he will finally succeed in killing himself after he helps save the Island and helps get the Oceanic 6 off of it.

If you haven't read my Claire post from earlier, check it out.  I'm leaning toward theory number one, as she freaked me out hanging with Dr. Daddy in the cabin tonight.

In case you can't remember, Horace who helped John find the cabin is the same guy who was there when Benry Gale was born prematurely and was the person who brought Roger Work Man (Benry's dad) and Benry to the Island to work for Dharma.  When the Purge took place, it was Horace who Benry went to and almost lovingly closed his eyes.

I find it interesting that both Benry Gale and John Locke were born three months early.

Finally, not related to the main storyline tonight, I found Desmond's comment worth mentioning.  He says to Sayid, "I'm not setting foot on that Island again."

Do you think that's true, or will Desmond be forced back to the Island before it is all said and done?

Until Next Time, the season certainly appears to be ending strongly as tonight's episode was fantastic.

LOST Theories on Claire

I've been saying since the episode of Eggtown that Claire had to die, one prevalent theory now is that she already has.

Two episodes ago, Claire's bungalow was blown to smithereens by the mercenaries.  Some argue (and the argument is a good one) that she actually died in that explosion, and the "Claire" that Sawyer rescued from the wreckage was actually her ghost (much like the ghost that Dr. Jack has seen of his father, or that Hurley has seen of Charlie in his flash forward).

It would explain the fascination that Miles seemed to have last week regarding Claire, as he is clearly drawn to the dead, but this vision of a substantial ghost able to walk, talk, and hold a live baby, is different then any ghost he's seen or communicated with before causing him to be unsure of exactly what is going on, but knowing that something is, so he keeps a close eye on her trying to figure it out, causing Sawyer to institute his 25 ft rule.

At one point, Miles tries to touch Claire, offering to help her navigate a trail, but is stopped by Sawyer, I think it is because there is something about her that has drawn the interest of his "ghost-sense" and he felt he might be able to understand it more clearly if he touched her.

We now know that the ghosts can hold babies, as we saw Dr. Daddy holding his grandson before he took Claire with him.  If she's dead but doesn't know it, that could be what Dr. Daddy has come to explain to her.
The other possibility is that she isn't dead, and in fact won't die at all.  The reason that she isn't with Aaron as one of the Oceanic 6 is that she is still missing when the "rescue" happens.  This could also explain why
Sawyer isn't off the Island, because he refuses to go without her.

Miles could still be interested in her, because he sees something about her that has drawn Dr. Daddy to take her away, some affiliation she now has with the Island due to her near death experience in the bungalow.

My feeling is that one of these will be true, meaning that either Claire isn't going to die or that she already did.

Until Next Time, hopefully we'll finally find out a little more about Jacob tonight, and I wonder if Locke's flashes will be your typical flashback or if we might get the first ever flash forward not involving the Oceanic 6.

BSG The Road Less Traveled, first thoughts

I'm intrigued by the direction the series is taking.

To be honest, I thought that there would be a lot more action then the last couple of episodes have offered.
Is that a bad thing?  I don't think so, but it's hard to tell since I'm not entirely sure where the show is going at this point.

I think that the last two episodes are going to be extremely important when it comes to our understanding of our newest Cylons.  I wrote about Tory, the Chief, and Tigh last week (and the Chief got some more screen time this week with his new Lex Luthor inspired look), but this week belonged to Anders.

It might not have seemed like it on the surface, but when I think about the episode I keep coming back to Anders.

Is it his humanity (the part of him that believed he was human) that trusts Starbuck so completely when everyone else on the ship thinks that she has gone batty (if they even admit that its really her), or is it his Cylon nature that is causing him to follow her.

With the other three new Cylons we've seen definite deviations from their normal selves as they deal with the news that they're toasters (hope I didn't offend anyone with that pejorative) but since the premiere, Anders has just been Anders.  Is he dealing with it better or is he doing exactly what he's been programmed to do?

That's the question that I have after this episode.

Until Next Time, I've been rewatching X-Files season 1 through the power of Netflix and the early episodes have a distinct connection to BSG, primarily episodes 12 and 13, "Fire" and "Beyond the Sea".  In "Fire" our favorite lawyer not named Adama, Romo Lampkin, is the pyro-able baddie Bob.  In Beyond the Sea, we learn that Scully's nickname from her father is none other then Starbuck.  Awesome.  (He of course is referring to the Melville character, but it's awesome nonetheless.)

I Am Iron Man

Right off the bat, let me tell you that Iron Man is without question the greatest Superhero movie ever made.

Not only is it a fantastic Superhero movie, but it is an amazing movie period.  It's very well written, incredibly well acted, and Jon Favreau has come a long way since Made as a director.

I stick with my assertion that Robert Downey Jr is the greatest casting in a Superhero movie ever, and his real life experiences helped add depth to his performance as well as an automatic understanding in the audience of who Tony Stark is as a character.

The film has the perfect mix of action and story, which superhero films that desire to be more then just an action flick often have trouble achieving.

The movie is extremely enjoyable on a novice level, if you're someone who hadn't heard of Iron Man prior to the film being made, but at the same time there are lots of nods to the longtime fan of the character throughout the film as well, including a hint towards the future appearance of War Machine.

The Summer movie season is off to a fine start, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall just got knocked off the top spot in 2008's Josh's Top Ten list.

Until Next Time, I was disappointed with the amount of laughter the full theater gave to the previews of You Don't Mess With the Zohan and The Love Guru.  Neither preview really struck me as that funny.

LOST Something Nice Back Home, first thoughts

Very mixed bag episode.

The flash forwards stuff was awesome, and the Island stuff not involving Dr. Jack was amazing as well, but the Dr. Jack Island story line seemed beyond pointless.

I mean, after the flash forward phenomena, any "danger" the Oceanic 6 face isn't going to be very suspenseful.

Not only that, but we're in the midst of a Dr. Jack flashforward in the very episode.  We know that he's going to be fine in the future, because we're seeing it before he ever goes under the knife.

Very poorly plotted to be the main Island storyline.

It did give Rose the opportunity to comment on how the Island was making Dr. Jack sick just when they needed him the most, but that was really the only way that the impact of Dr. Jack's health on the survivors was looked at at all.  I think that should have been the point, how their leader getting sick was effecting the other LOSTies.  The actual surgery and such should have been greatly downplayed and the effect said surgery was having on everyone else should have been the focus.

If that had been the case, this would have gone from a so-so episode to one of the best, because everything else in the episode was brilliant.

Let's stay on the Island, but go to the other side where Sawyer was leading Claire, Aaron, and Miles back to the beach.

There definitely seems to be some Sawyer/Claire romantic foreshadowing going on.  Sawyer got all jealous when Miles watches Claire from a distance and imposed a restraining order on him, which caused Miles to do nothing when Claire up and left their camp site to follow none other then Christian Shephard, her and Dr. Jack's father.

Do you all remember my prediction as to why Dr. Jack seemed to be wary of hanging with Aaron in the Kate episode Eggtown?

I said that I thought Sawyer and Claire would see Christian, Claire would say "That's my dad" and Sawyer would say, "That's Dr. Jack's dad" and then Dr. Jack and Claire would know that they were brother and sister.

Well, it looks like I might have been pretty close.  If Sawyer goes after Claire and finds her with Christian, then realization happens, but another possibility is that Miles sees Christian somewhere and tells Sawyer (and or Dr. Jack) that it is Claire's father, causing realization to happen.  Either way, by the flash forward future, Dr. Jack knows, because he says to Kate, "You're not even related to him," which implies that he himself is.

Apparently, the mercenary baddies escaped Smokey more or less intact, giving us the opportunity to know that we can at least trust Frank the pilot, as he protected our merry little band from the Freighter Mercenaries.

I'm beginning to think that the four on the Island (C.S. Lewis, Faraday, Miles, and Frank) and Michael on the boat are the only Freighties that we can trust.

Alright, let's head to the future.

A whole lot was given to us in this flash forward.

We got to see how Dr. Jack goes from happy Island survivor to bearded, suicidal, drug addicted Dr. Jack.

We know now why drunk (and drugged up) Dr. Jack told the doctor to go upstairs and fetch his father in last season's finale, because by that point he'll probably have had quite a few conversations with Christian.  As of yet, Dr. Daddy has only gotten to say "Hello, Jack," but I'm sure it won't be long before we get to "You've got to go back to the Island, Jack".  (Leading to Dr. Jack's plaintive cry, "We've got to go back!" from last year's season finale.)

It's nice to know that Charlie is still visiting Hurley.

Okay, let's talk about the phone call that got Dr. Jack all riled up.  I have no doubt that Kate was talking to Cassidy, Sawyer's ex and the mother of his child.  If you'll recall, he got a large amount of money while in prison working on a con with the warden and used that money to set up a bank account for his daughter Clementine.  Kate and Cassidy already know each other as well.  I think that Sawyer wanted Kate to check on his daughter and make sure that Cassidy and Clementine were doing well and were provided for and Kate is honoring that request.

You know Sawyer would never want Dr. Jack knowing that he was a concerned father.  Can you imagine what that would do to his reputation?

Anyway, it is nice to know that Sawyer stuck on the Island still fraks with the Dr. Jake/Kate relationship.  Even displaced in time and space, this love triangle stays strong.

Did you notice what Dr. Jack said about Sawyer though?  He said that our favorite con man chose to stay behind, chose.  Very interesting.

Until Next Time, I wish that the "Dr. Jack has surgery" storyline hadn't dominated the episode, because then this episode would have been brilliant.