The End is Nigh

At the end of 2008’s The Dark Knight, Commissioner Gordon states that “sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.” And after this week’s penultimate episode, “What They Died For,” I believe that my faith has been rewarded! This was another great, eventful episode that has me giddy with anticipation about what the finale will bring.

Although he’s been so passive on the sidelines for much of this season, I was ecstatic to see Ben step back into the fray. The painful reminder of Alex’s death, followed so closely by his encounter with Widmore, the man Ben holds responsible for that death, clearly set him off. I have no idea what his true motivations are, but I want to believe that ultimately Ben will find some sort of redemption. How fantastic was his story in the sideways world? The new suburban, single-mom Rousseau was a delight and a genuine surprise for me. I’m also completely hooked on Desmond’s quest to draw everyone together. Of all the things I’m looking forward to in the finale, I’m perhaps the most excited to see what happens to the sideways world. Also, who do you think Jack’s ex-wife and David’s mother will be (assuming that we will get to find out)? A lot of people think it will be Juliet, but I’m personally hoping that we’ll get to see Sarah (Julie Bowen) again.

Back on the Island, the remaining candidates dealt with the aftermath of the submarine. Josh Holloway has played grief really well this season, and Sawyer’s conversation with Jack about his culpability for the deaths of their friends was heartbreaking. I was very satisfied by the candidates’ confrontation with Jacob. I spoke with a fellow fan who was disappointed that they didn’t ask more questions about, well, everything. But I found their conversation to be very natural and believable. At this point in the story, I don’t think they’d be very interested in bombarding Jacob with a laundry list of questions. I did enjoy part of Jacob’s answer to Kate as to why her name was crossed off. “It's just chalk on a wall, you can have the job if you want it.” It was a nice reminder to the audience that not every mystery on the Island has earth-shattering significance. And then came the moment that so many of us have anticipated, when Jack embraced the mantle of Island protector. Again, I liked the understated way they handled this scene. A lingering question: How did Desmond get out of the well? Was it Jack and the gang or someone else (Miles? Rose and Bernard?)?

Now it’s time to predict what happens next. What are your grand predictions for how it all ends? Here is my half-brained prediction: Fake Locke will pursue his mission to destroy the Island…and succeed. But the castaways will turn the tables on him so that he is trapped and destroyed too. Meanwhile, Desmond will “rescue” everyone by bringing them over to the sideways world, with one significant exception. Because of Jack’s status as Island protector, he will be unable to cross over and will have to sacrifice himself to defeat Fake Locke. I also have a high level of confidence that I am probably wrong.

What else do I want to see on Sunday? I want to see Vincent again! I’d also love for them to solve a few more mysteries, such as why women die during childbirth on the Island and why Desmond’s vision of Claire and Aaron getting rescued off of the Island (recall that this is why Charlie chose to embrace his death) never happened. But I’m pretty much okay with whatever they choose to answer or not answer.

I do know one thing: I’m going to be sad. It’s hard to put into words just how emotional the end of Lost will be for me. Check back on Monday (hopefully) for some final, concluding thoughts about the finale, what I think it all means, and what this show had meant to me for the last six years. In the meantime, what are your predictions for the finale? What questions do you still want to see answered?

Keeping the Faith

When a show has been on the air for six seasons like Lost has, it’s inevitable that there will be a few episodes that just flat-out disappoint you. I don’t know about the rest of you, but last week’s episode, “Across the Sea,” was exactly that kind of episode for me. I even tweeted that I considered it “The Midichlorian Episode.”

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have regularly compared the audience’s demand for answers to all the various mysteries of Lost to the midichlorians of Star Wars. For those who still have no idea what I’m talking about, in the 1999 Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace, George Lucas came up with a extraordinarily lame explanation for what “The Force” is and how it works. Their point was that they could give you answers to all of the Lost mysteries, but you probably wouldn’t like them and the questions are more fun than the answers anyway.

So with last week’s episode, depicting the origins of Jacob and the Man in Black, I felt that the show crossed over into the territory of trying too hard to come up with answers that weren’t really necessary. Some of it was cool, but a lot if just didn’t work for me (the faux-mythic melodrama, the occasionally cheesy effects). It almost felt like a bonus episode that you would find later on the DVD. I was perfectly content with the information that we got from “Ab Eterno,” where Jacob explained to Richard that the Island was a cork. I also didn’t like the placement of the episode. We’re really at the end of the show now. Smokey/Fake Locke is waging war on the candidates and has killed half of them and so now we’re going to take a time out for an Island history lesson? It really disrupted the momentum of the show. We’ve been told all along that the focus of the show is the characters, not the mythology, and this episode, coming so close to the end, contradicted that.

But I’m not writing to just dump on the show I love. And I genuinely do love this show, even if this final season has occasionally left me frustrated. I knew going into this season that I had to let go of my expectations and let the producers tell the story they want to tell. I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts this week where the Lindelof and Cuse have discussed the polarizing response to “Across the Sea.” They’re general response is that they were pleased with the episode and that “this is what answers look like on Lost.” So I’m choosing to trust these guys and trust that there is a reason why they wanted to tell this part of the story at this point in time. There are only three and a half hours left in this story, and I want to enjoy them to the fullest. I’m still invested in Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Hurley and everyone else who’s left, and I want to know what happens! I still have faith that these last few hours will be thrilling, satisfying, and yes, probably a little perplexing too.  I can’t wait.  What are your thoughts on this season as we reach the end?  What questions do you still want answered?

Accidental Wisdom?

On this week's episode of Glee, there's a fascinating scene where Sue Sylvester confronts Kurt about his sexuality.  In short, she tells him that he's only sixteen and that liking show tunes doesn't mean you're gay.  Since Sue followed this with her typical ugliness, and since Kurt responded to this confrontation by unsuccessfully trying to act straight, I guess the show wants us to see Sue's behavior as some kind of intolerance.  But does she kind of have a point?  Are kids who are still struggling to get through puberty and adolescence capable of fully understanding their sexuality?  Does modern society and popular culture force kids into adopting sexual labels and identities unnecessarily?  And can a guy still be effeminate and straight?  Watch the clip below:

Lost recap: KABOOM!

Oh, fellow Losties.  Only an incredibly frustrating episode like last night's "The Candidate" could push me out of blogging hibernation.  So let's get right to it.

Sayid, Jin, Sun.  Dead.  (And apparently Lapidus too!)  Sayid's death felt appropriate and earned.  He has spent the last two seasons wrestling with light and darkness, and with his final act he decided once and for all that he wanted to be one of the good guys.  I had no problem with that.  I would still like to know what the "infection" was that Dogen referred to, but I guess that mystery will remain unresolved.

Sun and Jin's deaths?  I had three major problems.  First, (and this applies to Sayid as well) the show has spent the entire season trying to get us to believe in this sideways world that was apparently created when Juliet detonated the bomb.  It finally clicked for me during the Desmond-focused episode from a few weeks ago.  I'm invested in it, I believe it's real, and I believe it's relevant and even critical to how the grand saga of Lost will end.  So now that they've won me over on the sideways world, they have created a real dilemma.  How am I supposed to take these deaths seriously?  They're not entirely dead!  In fact, moments after Sun and Jin's watery demise, I saw Jin alive and well in the hospital on his way to visit Sun!  I think I'm of the mind that unless you die in both realities, I'm just not going to accept that you're really dead.  Second, their deaths were not in any way emotionally satisfying.  This poor couple has been separated from each other since season four.  They were finally reunited as almost an afterthought at the end of the last episode.  And now they've been killed off.  If the show doesn't even care about the Kwons anymore, how am I supposed to care?  Third, did they suddenly forget that they were parents?  "I'm going to die with my wife" is a noble sentiment, but it simply doesn't ring true when there's a child back in South Korea.  Did you notice that neither of them mentioned Ji Yeon in their final moments?  I think it's because the writers knew it wouldn't be believable if they talked about her!  As tragic as Sun's death would be, they would BOTH want Jin to escape to take care of their daughter.  I just don't buy it any other way.

The only other thing I can say about it is this: over the last six seasons, this show has reduced me to tears and puddles of emotion on numerous occasions -- Charlie's death, Desmond's phone call with Penny on the freighter, Sawyer losing Juliet, Jin telling Sun why he has to go on the raft to save her way back in season one -- but last night's deaths did not move me.

Unfortunately, I have one other significant frustration with last night's episode.  The episode finally confirmed that Fake Locke/Smokey is a real bad guy.  But I always thought he was a bad guy, so why did they spend so much narrative energy trying to trick us into thinking that he might be morally ambiguous?  It just seems like they wasted alot of time.  At least now Flocke's agenda is out in the open for the last few hours of Lost that we'll ever see.  Here are a few lingering questions to ponder going forward: what have Richard, Ben and Miles been up to?  What role will Desmond and those pockets of energy play in the endgame?  Will Sawyer now feel the weight of responsibility for the deaths of Sun, Jin and Sayid the way that Jack does for Juliet?  Sideways Jack and now Sideways Locke keep flirting with an awareness of the Island reality but they haven't quite broken through -- what happens when they do?  For my sake, can we please get a Sideways reunion of Claire and Charlie?

I really like what's going on with Jack.  In Sideways World, he is confessing to Locke that he has to work on letting go, and in the previous episode we saw how he was reaching out to Claire and how his relationship with his son is already blossoming.  On the Island, he admitted to Hurley that he is learning to trust other people and that he doesn't have to try and fix everything.  I think that while other characters will choose to "cross over" to their sideways life, Jack is going to have to make the tough choice to forsake this alternate life where everything is pretty good to take his place as Island protector.  Remember Sayid's last words, "Because it's going to be you, Jack."  There are just 4.5 hours left of Lost.  Despite last night's hiccup, I'm still looking forward to a satisfying conclusion.

Destined to be Apart?

Have you ever had a great idea or prediction in your head, but you never told anyone about it? And then a few weeks later your prediction comes true, but now nobody will believe that you thought of it first? That’s me! The moment I saw Sawyer walk past that locked door on Widmore’s submarine during the episode “Recon” I thought to myself, “I bet Desmond is locked in that room. I bet Widmore had to use him to get back to the Island.” But I haven’t blogged in a while so I didn’t get to share my awesomeness with all of you and now, well, whatever. But I totally called that.

So as I was saying, I’ve been absent for a bit. I didn’t get a chance to talk about the fantastic buddy cop show with Sawyer and Miles that debuted in “Recon” (can we please make that into a spin-off?) or the mind-blowing mythology download we were given in “Ab Aeterno” (note: to all the people still complaining that they aren’t giving us any answers, they ARE giving us answers, lots of them, just maybe not the way you pictured it in your head). But I’m here now, so we can talk about “The Package,” the episode where Sun and Jin were finally reunited. Oh wait, that’s right, they weren’t reunited. In fact, they were moved further apart. BLURG! Seriously, what’s up with this? They’ve been doing everything possible to keep these two apart since season four; can we give it a rest already? I’m ready to wrap this thread up. Alas, I have a feeling the show is committed to dragging it out until the end or very nearly the end. And like their Island storyline, the Kwons’ storyline in the sideways world left us hanging too. What else happened in this episode? We got some nice “walk down memory lane” moments with Mikhail, Sun’s garden and Room 23. FLocke confronted Widmore face-to-face (as a diversion for Sayid’s covert op), we learned that Claire still kinda wants to kill Kate (and FLocke kinda really wants her to), and Jin finally got to see his daughter. This was the real emotional gut punch moment of the episode for me (you can’t help but think that Widmore was just using the pictures to manipulate Jin).

So where do we go from here? For all his personal growth, Jack is still over-promising. He promised Sun he would reunite her with Jin AND get them both off the Island, no matter what. Are you sure, dude? Maybe he should have said something like, “I’ll do whatever it takes to find Jin, but I can’t guarantee you what will happen after that.” Something along those lines. Oh well. The stakes for Jin and Desmond are extremely high. They are both separated from the one they love and they both have a child waiting for them back in the real world. If the show screws either one of them out of a happy ending, I think there will be rioting in the streets. As anxious as I am to see Sun and Jin reunited, I am equally anxious to see Ben and Widmore together again. The last time they confronted each other, they were equals of sorts contending with one another for control of the Island. Widmore is still driven and powerful. Ben is now pretty much neutered, a shell of the man he was before. And why is Widmore interested in identifying all of the pockets of electromagnetic energy on the Island? I do think this season is moving slower than I would like, but that’s been true of previous seasons too. We are now running downhill in the second half of this final season, and I think we’ll start to see the pace pick up a little faster from here on out. Did I miss anything big? What did you think?

Catching Up

After a regrettable delay, I wanted to offer a few thoughts about the past two episodes of Lost before tonight's new episode.

I was very saddened, but not surprised, to see Sayid's fall into darkness in "Sundown".  More surprising to me was my sadness at the abrupt departure of Dogen.  I was just starting to really enjoy that character.  The most chilling moment of the episode was the exhange of looks between Ben and Sayid at the very end.  Ben look positively terrified, while Sayid almost had a smile of glee.

I think it's very interesting to see how Fake Locke/Smokey approaches and tempts his potential recruits.  For Sayid, he promised a reunion with his beloved Nadia.  And for Ben, Flocke offered a chance to once again be the leader/protector of the Island.  In each instance FLocke identifies the thing that cuts to the core of what the person desires most. 

I absolutely adored the episode "Dr. Linus".  I am intrigued by the idea that there may yet be redemption for Ben, who for so long has taken the role of "villain" on this show.  I particularly enjoyed his storyline in the parallel world.  We got our first hint of the new Island history, as we were told that the Dharma Initiative existed in this timeline and that Ben was a part of it.  Why did he and his father leave?  And did it have anything to do with the Incident?  It was nice to see Alex again (and Dr. Arzt).  And I was delighted to see that Jack has once again embraced a sense of destiny.  That guy definitely goes all-or-nothing, and he has once again declared that he is all-in and firmly on Team Jacob.

Last thought, I love the beach reunions on this show.  We've had a few of them over the years.  You know what I'm talking about -- after a long separation, our castaways reunite at the beach camp in slow motion, exchanging hugs and handshakes while happy/sad music plays over the scene.  For some reason, the one at the end of "Dr. Linus" felt particularly cathartic.  When Hurley gave Sun a big bear hug, I think a little dust got in my eye.  I bet that Ben, standing off by himself, was secretly wishing for a big Hurley bear hug too.

Lots of other stuff happened -- Smokey cleans out the temple, Widmore is back -- but I'll hold everything else until tonight's new episode.  Back with more soon!

Mission 2 Mars

No, I'm not referring to this Disney dud from 2000.  Last week, Disney announced a release date for Mars Needs Moms, based on the children's book by Berkeley Breathed, creator of the classic 80s comic strip Bloom County.  The movie will open on March 11, 2011, occupying the slot successfully used this year by Alice in Wonderland.  To be honest, I had completely lost track of this project.  I remember reading a long time ago that Disney was developing it, which delighted me given that I'm a huge fan of Breathed.  The movie will be another film produced by Robert Zemeckis using his 3-D motion capture technique (The Polar Express and Disney's A Christmas Carol) and will star Seth Green and Joan Cusack.  I'm hoping that instead of creating "dead eye" replicas of the actors involved, the motion capture technology will be used to bring Breathed's distinct illustrations to life intact.

Ironically, Disney also announced last week that it was shutting down Zemeckis' motion capture studio facility, effective January 2011.  The new ImageMovers Digital studio was originally supposed to be the start of a long and fruitful partnership with the Academy Award-winning director that put Disney on the cutting edge of mo-cap special effects.  But given the high costs and disappointing returns associated with A Christmas Carol, Disney has apparently decided to cut its losses.  I assume that waiting to close the facility next January will give Zemeckis time to complete both Mars Needs Moms and Yellow Submarine.

Meanwhile, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland opened to a record breaking $116 million last weekend which, I'm sad to point out, already surpasses the lifetime box office of The Princess and the Frog.  By the end of this weekend, it will likely cross the $200 million mark, and could potentially be on its way to becoming one of Disney's all-time highest grossing live-action films (not taking into account the inflated ticket prices for 3-D and IMAX shows).

Also last weekend, Pixar's Up took home two Oscars, one for Best Animated Feature and another for Best Original Score.  The second Oscar was a nice little surprise and a much deserved recognition for composer Michael Giacchino.  Giacchino is a Disney regular, having also composed the music for The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and tv's Lost.  He will next perform scoring duties for Disney on John Carter of Mars, currently in production.

Finally, if you haven't seen this yet, do yourself a favor.  It just about blew my socks off.