Hi there, my hundred or so mysterious daily readers who I love and appreciate.
I will not be blogging much in the next two weeks because I am organizing and participating in a very big event. However, after that and all summer long, I will be blogging far more frequently. Look for many movie, music and and summer series TV reviews, as well as pop culture and occasional baseball rants.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!
…but I really want to see both movies!
Ever since Waitress debuted at Sundance in January and I wasn’t able to get a ticket, I have looked forward to the release of this Keri Russell film with enthusiasm. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews, which is bittersweet given that writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly was murdered late last year before she ever got to experience the success of her little-film-that-could.
Besides the welcome return of Keri Russell (Felicity) into our entertainment consciousness, Waitress features a great supporting cast: Nathan Fillion (Firefly/Serenity), Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under), Eddie Jemison (Oceans’ 11-13), and Andy Griffith (!).
As for Knocked Up, it looks damn funny; the movie had me with the first trailer. Believe it or not, I’m actually a big fan of Katherine Heigl’s comedic chops (and look forward to witnessing it on the big screen, especially after her dreadful Grey’s storyline this year). Plus, this film is from the mind of Judd Apatow, who wrote and directed The 40 Year Old Virgin.
The more recent ‘guy’ movies from the last two years have been very disappointing. If this film had Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell or a Wilson brother in the lead role, I would not leave my couch on a Friday night. But Seth Rogen? I’m first in line for the Milk Duds in popcorn.
Here are the trailers for both:
WAITRESS
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/waitress/trailer/
KNOCKED UP
http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/knockedup/
Dear Toxic & Teeny Tinseltown Tarts of the Tabloids:
Eat a sandwich. Get a driver. You can afford both.
Your Well-Fed Friend with a Clean Driving Record,
Jo
p.s. Cocaine does not count as a condiment.
Read MoreWhat I didn’t say in my first Season Finale blog was that I absolutely loved this episode. It was like watching an intense two hour movie. With commercials. And (thankfully) a TiVO remote to fast forward through them.
The Season 3 Finale of Lost was like my Television Super Bowl, and I reacted like Tom Cruise after 3 weeks of dating; jumping up and around on the couch. Yelling like a madwoman. But at the TV, not Oprah. And without an audience. Except for a good friend, who might have been more entertained watching me react to Lost than by the actual show.
After a second viewing, keeping the big twist/game changer in mind…here are some additional thoughts and questions.
In the opening Flash Forward, many events mirrored that of Jack’s story in the pilot and first season of flashbacks:
Season 1: Oceanic Flight Attendant Cindy (and seemingly now converted Other) gives Jack an extra bottle of booze, flirting with him.
Season 3: Flight Attendant refuses to serve Jack more booze, because he’s becoming belligerent.
Season 1: Jack saves Sarah’s life (and subsequently marries her) after she is in a horrible car crash with Shannon’s father.
Season 3: Jack wants to operate on the woman who crashed on the bridge because of him. Will we see him marry her in a Season 4 Flash Forward?
Could it be that Jack was that distraught over the Obituary because whoever died was the last remaining rescued survivor of Flight 815 (besides him and Kate)?
Sayid told Jack that “I am willing to give my life if it means rescue.” That is why Jack allowed the Others to (apparently) shoot Sayid, Bernard and Jin. My guess is that Jack wasn’t willing to give his own life for the rescue of anyone other than himself and Kate, and thus, the suicidal guilt in the future.
Bonnie & Greta, the women in the Looking Glass station, refer to Charlie as “one of them.” We are used to hearing the Losties refer to the Others that way.
Why didn’t Ben ask where Juliet was when he intercepted Jack and the beach crew on the way to the radio tower? She betrayed him in every way possible. It will be interesting to see how they interact next season.
Add Jin, Bernard, Hurley and Locke to the growing list of Losties who have now killed someone on the island. Ben still claims that the Others are the good guys…which is true in the sense that they haven’t actually killed any of the Losties. It’s the other way around.
Why, years after the crash, would Sarah (Jack’s ex) still be listed as his emergency contact? If Juliet was also rescued and they were together, wouldn’t she be listed? This is an indication that her little out-of-the-blue smooch with Jack did not form into a relationship that continued off island. Obviously Jack and Kate never worked out as a couple off of the island either.
Sawyer told Kate that “there is always someone to go back for” when she asked him to return to the beach to help their friends. Is Jack trying to desperately locate the island after rescue because he has someone to go back for? Juliet would be the obvious answer. Or any number of Losties that were left behind because of something he did or a decision he made…
Is Ben a musician? Or was it just a random Beach Boy-lovin’ Dharma worker who programmed the signal jam?
I didn’t notice this the first time, but Dr. Hamill refers to Jack as a hero “twice over.” I can’t believe I’m one of the only people who had NO idea that what we were watching were FUTURE Flashes. Remind me to remain spoiler-free in Season 4. It is SUCH a better viewing experience.
Forget the love triangle. I am quite looking forward to the love square next season: Jack and Juliet, Kate and Sawyer.
If Mikhail was the island communications expert, how did he never notice that a main signal to the outside world was jammed for 16 years? Also, his Flame Hatch (before Locke blew it up) contained cables and links to all other hatches. How was the Looking Glass fully functional without his knowledge and without being linked to the Flame? Does the cord that runs from the Looking Glass underwater connect to a hidden station that only Ben knows about? Why on earth didn’t Sayid or any of the Losties ever follow that damn thing into the jungle to find out?
Walt is SO Jacob. Or the Black Smoke Monster. Or a combination of both. Walt said to Locke, “Get up, John. You have work to do.” Come on.
Kate is a piece of work. She has been in love with Jack since day one on the island. She even carelessly used Sawyer to make him jealous. But in classic Kate mode (as we’ve learned from many of her flashbacks), she runs from anything or anyone that gets too close to her. That is why she didn’t respond when Jack made that surprising declaration of love for her during their journey to the radio tower.
If everyone in the outside world sees Jack as a hero because of his actions after Flight 815 crashed, who told them about his heroics on the island? Probably not Kate. Did she not receive the same accolades because of her criminal record?
The people who have been trying to find the island are not searching for or expecting to find the survivors of Flight 815; they’re after the Others. If and when they arrive, they will exterminate every person still living there, unaware that the Losties who crashed there are not with the Others.
Will we see Ben experience the moment when the Losties are rescued, as Jack wished? And if so, is he also forced to leave the island against his will? Could he be the one who was in the casket that Jack visited? Did he kill himself after rescue because he couldn’t live without the island?
How did Jack not notice that Hurley disappeared from the group and went back to the beach? Why didn’t he stop him, knowing the potential danger awaiting him? Obviously he couldn’t stop Sawyer and Juliet, but it seems odd that he didn’t try to stop Hurley. In a tight-knit group of plane crash survivors, if the only guy that makes everybody laugh goes missing, his sudden absence would be quite notable.
Did Desmond’s flashes end because Charlie whacked him over the head with the oar in the last episode? The flashes began at the end of last season, after Desmond was blown out of the original hatch when Locke blew it up. Will he figure out why his precognitive powers have disappeared and try to knock himself out again in order to experience more Penny-related flashes?
In their brief conversation before the grenade went off, Charlie told Penny that he was a survivor from Flight 815. Why didn’t she tell him that there weren’t any survivors, just like Naomi did? She should have been surprised to hear that. After all, she and her team were supposedly searching for just Desmond and the electromagnetic anomaly…or were they?
When Jack makes contact with Naomi’s crew, the man on the other end of the line also wasn’t surprised to hear Jack say that he was one of the survivors of Flight 815. Remember that Naomi wasn’t on the island looking for them either; she was sent to find Desmond…or was she?
If the casing for the Looking Glass computers were waterproof, does that mean Desmond will be able to talk with Penny on the monitor after he opens the door to let out the water in the room where Charlie drowned? Obviously he would have to first swim outside of the station and block off that broken window before opening that door; otherwise the entire station would flood.
Why is it that Rousseau has lived on that island for 16 years and yet she didn’t find or live in any of the hatches, didn’t find the cord on the beach leading to the Looking Glass, didn’t try to find/take her daughter sooner, etc.? She didn’t seem to have much of a reaction to Ben’s capture; then again, she had him captured in one of her nets last season before handing him over to Sayid. So what is the true nature of their relationship? Are you telling me that the man who kidnapped your child and has lived on the same island as you for the past 16 years is not your mortal enemy?
If Future Kate really didn’t want anything to do with Future Jack, why live in the same city? Could it be because she (and potentially other rescued Losties) were brought to Los Angeles (their original destination) after the rescue, and never flew anywhere again?
After watching that last scene again, it seems that Kate also received a Golden Pass from Oceanic. And judging from her reaction to Jack’s Frequent Flyer Friday Flights, she hasn’t used it.
It was very interesting to hear Jack say that he wants to crash again and doesn’t care about anyone else onboard the plane. He started off that way, on a plane full of strangers that he eventually led and loved…
FAVORITE FINALE MOMENTS
Rose and her aversion to Jack’s oft-delivered ‘Live Together, Die Alone’ speech.
Sawyer to Juliet: “So, you screwing Jack yet?”
Juliet to Sawyer: “No, are you?”
Ben’s casual and less-than-enthusiastic introduction of Rousseau as Alex’s real mother. Followed by Rousseau’s very first words to her long lost daughter, “Help me tie him up.” Classic.
Sayid’s badass and quick disposal of the Other on the beach. With his feet. Which were bound.
Charlie’s very last moment under water, crossing himself and then floating. Beautifully filmed, superb acting.
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Sigh. Now what?
Read More
[Please note: in order to publish this at a decent hour and quickly enough after the Finale, I have rushed to put this entry up without taking the time to read it before posting. So please excuse the random nature of the thoughts & theories, and any unusual spelling or grammar mistakes. And stay tuned for further entries about this episode very soon!]
If the very first scene of Episode One in Season 4 opens with a close-up of Jack’s eye, followed by the reveal that he experiences flash forwards like Desmond, I might cry a little. I want that holy-sh*t reveal of the future to be real.
Will the next season feature all Flash Forwards instead of Flashbacks?
Is it possible that Desmond’s original flash showed him Penny’s face on that monitor in the Looking Glass station, and that he got Charlie to sacrifice himself by lying about Claire & Aaron’s rescue? He might have seen/known that he needed a musician to crack the code to contact Penny.
Isn’t it a tad convenient that at the very moment Charlie makes contact with the outside world, Penny just happens to be at her monitor?
Why is it that Mikhail keeps dying, only to live? Is he one of the original Hostiles, an immortal Lost Boy like Richard Alpert? Or do the same island healing powers that work on Locke also work on Mikhail? If so, was Mikhail cured from a pre-existing condition (like Locke, Rose and Jin)?
In the future, Jack refers to his father in the present on several occasions. Was his death in Sydney a fake? After identifying him at the morgue, Jack never actually saw his body in the coffin that was loaded onto Flight 815. That same coffin was found empty on the island after the crash. And in Jack’s flashback in Season 1 (aptly titled ‘The White Rabbit,’ another Alice in Wonderland reference), he ‘saw’ his father on the island. Then again, Future Jack was blasted out of his mind on drugs and alcohol when he referred to his father both times.
Or, does Christian Shepherd being alive in the future indicate that the Losties (or at least those who were rescued) were given a second chance or do-over? Or did their flashbacks even happen?
At the end of the episode, Jack told Kate that they have to stop lying. Did they lie about how they were rescued or the details about their time on the island? OR…were they the only two who survived and were rescued? Was Ben right – did Naomi’s team kill the remaining Losties when they found them? If so, how did Jack and Kate escape? Also, Jack might be a train wreck in the future and wracked with guilt because Ben warned him, and he allowed Naomi to signal her crew anyway, which led to the death of almost everyone. OR…were the rest of the Losties left behind, while Jack and Kate moved on with their lives after their rescue/escape? Is that why Jack is so obsessed with returning? Remember, Sayid told him he’d give his life to be rescued, that under no circumstances should Jack come back to rescue him.
When Jack gets in touch with Kate on the phone and asks to meet, she knew the location. Obviously they’ve reunited since their rescue.
If Naomi wasn’t sent by Penny Widmore, something tells me she was sent by Dharma. They must have finally figured out that all is not right on Dharma Island, that they’re making food drops for the devil (Ben). They then sent a team to kill those who they believe killed the Dharma folks (not realizing that the people on the island are actually the survivors of Flight 815).
I also have a feeling that Daddy Widmore either funds Dharma or has something to do with Naomi. He hates Desmond, is the reason that he went on the race around the world, and probably paid to have him marooned as part of the Dharma experiment. That could be why Naomi had Desmond’s photo; to identify the man that Bad Dad wants dead.
Was Walt yet ANOTHER manifestation of the Black Smoke Monster?
So…your Communications Officer doesn’t go with you to the radio tower, and your other two choices to accompany you on your dangerous mission are the only two married men? How is that logical?
The Others said that Juliet marked 3 tents that housed potential child-bearing women. Besides Kate and Sun, who else was marked? Was it Claire, because she had her baby and lived?
In the future, is Kate’s past a non-issue? Was her criminal record expunged, given the traumatic circumstances of what she’d gone through?
Ever since James Ford (Island Sawyer) killed the real Sawyer, he has been surlier than ever. He also dropped all nicknames; Kate, Hugo, etc. Is it because he no longer goes by the nickname Sawyer? He was cruel to Hurley, but redeemed himself by killing Tom for kidnapping Walt.
Did Ben steal Alex from Rousseau when she was an infant? I doubt that Ben is Alex’s real father; Rousseau lived after giving birth, which means that Alex was conceived before her team crashed on the island. Just like Claire.
I love that Hurley used Ben’s dad’s van to kill one of the Others.
Charlie had already found out that Naomi wasn’t associated with Penny when Mikhail appeared with the grenade. Why didn’t he just leave and lock the flood inside rather than just die in it? Was he truly following Desmond’s flash/premonition?
So the Looking Glass code was programmed by a musician. Too convenient. Are we to believe that he programmed it in some past or future version of himself? Is the Looking Glass station a time traveling portal?
What exactly is Richard’s role? He didn’t travel with Ben and also didn’t go to the beach to grab the women.
Will it come back to haunt Bernard that he was the big mouth who spilled the beans about the Losties’ location and plans?
Why did Jack’s ex-wife say that it would have been ‘inappropriate’ for her to give him a ride home from the hospital? In the future, is she involved with someone that Jack knows, or another Flight 815 survivor (if they did in fact get rescued)?
Did we ever find out who Jack’s ex-wife was having an affair with?
I did love the juxtaposition in the end, with Jack in the Locke role, claiming that leaving the island is a mistake, and Kate in the Jack role, claiming that it wasn’t.
Whether or not Jack and Kate were the only ones who were rescued, did Jack ever find out that Claire was his half-sister?
What’s in Canada? That’s were the two women in the Looking Glass were supposedly on assignment.
Did Locke survive the gunshot wound because the island heals him, or because he was shot where his kidney should be (but isn’t because he gave it to his father)?
How did Locke know where Ben and Jack were? Did he walk back to the Others’ camp and did Richard tell him?
After Locke told Jack that he wasn’t supposed to make contact with the outside world, he walked away. Now this is the same Locke who blew up The Flame communications station and the submarine, so he probably went to blow up the radio tower.
Jack said that Oceanic gave him a Golden Pass. Why didn’t Kate get one too?
WHO WAS IN THE COFFIN?
Jack said they were neither family nor friend.
1. Locke or Ben. Both men were not very popular on and off the island, so it would make sense that no one attended their funeral. Jack could have been that distraught about either of them because they represented faith in the island, which he so strongly objected to while marooned there but so desperately wants to return to.
2. Michael. He was the first off the island, but would have been a social piranha because people would know that his freedom came at the expense of two lives (Ana Lucia & Libby). But why wouldn’t Walt attend his funeral? It would explain why Kate would not attend his funeral; if Michael was the only other person who escaped from the island and was a murderer, she certainly wouldn’t want to be reminded of it.
3. Juliet. She really doesn’t qualify as either friend or family to Jack, and there certainly is no love lost between her and Kate. If Jack truly fell for her on the island, even though he declared his love for Kate, could that be why it drove him to near suicide?
DID YOU NOTICE…
The name of the funeral parlor where Jack visited the mystery coffin was called Hoffs/Drawlar, which is an anagram for Flash Forward.
Jack’s apartment was covered in maps. Obviously he’s obsessed with finding the location of the island. He told Kate that he takes weekly flights, hoping to crash. Probably because even though they escaped it, that’s the only way to get back to the island.
Ben told Richard to go the temple. Is there one still standing, or is he referring to their old camping spot where Locke’s dad was tied up to the old temple column?
The doctor who was questioning Jack was named Dr. Hamill. The Lost producers are huge Star Wars fans, and Luke Skywalker was played by Mark Hamill. POP CULTURE ASIDE: Dr. Hamill is played by James Lesure, who starred with Naomi (Marsha Thomason) in Las Vegas.
I’m no cartographer, but the map that Ben was marking up featured a shape that looked far more like the Black Smoke Monster than a mountain range.
The voice of the pilot in Jack’s first Flash Forward is that of Lost co-creator and producer Damon Lindelof. I know. Only a giant nerd like me would recognize it from the official Lost podcasts.
REPEAT THEME
Yet another car crash. See this entry for more details.
CRAZY THEORIES OF THE WEEK
1. Could the woman and child who crashed on the bridge when they saw Jack be Rachel (Juliet’s sister) and her son?? Perhaps that is why Jack felt so strongly about operating on her; I’m sure that Juliet told him all about her sister. If it was her, then Rachel really did beat her cancer, just as Ben said she did.
2. Jack and Kate were actually in the PAST, and not the future. Perhaps the island was indeed a time warp of some kind, and now they have to live with themselves knowing what they’ve done on the island. Or they are given the opportunity to change things. And the people they love may not have to die as a result of their actions.
3. Did Kate have a son? If so, could that be who she was referring to when she told Jack that she had to get home to ‘him?’ And if so, is he Sawyer’s son? This would also indicate that she lived even though she conceived a child on the island.
LINGERING, MADDENING, UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
What the F does any of this have to do with a four-toed statue?
Where the F is Sheriff Isabel?
Who/what controls the Black Smoke Monster?
Was that substance outside of Jacob’s cabin either ash or gunpowder? Does it have something to do with his apparent captivity?
What on earth did Ben tell Kate during their mysterious breakfast on the beach at the beginning of this season?
Where are Flight Attendant Cindy and the Tail Section kids, if not with Ben’s crew or the Losties?
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For the record, I much prefer Dirty Island Kate to Future Glam Shot Kate.
I am far from through with the Season Finale. These are only my initial observations and theories.
Post your theories in a comment below! And thank you for reading, all season long.
Is it February yet?