PARTICIPATE IN THE LOST CAPTION CONTEST TWO POSTS BELOW!

It's here... The season 3 finale of our favorite TV show is here. Yes, it's sad, but season finales are always LOST's strong suit so this episode is bound to hold us over until the oh-so-far-away month of February. Like the premiere, and one other apparently 'unspeakable' episode, the finale is Jack-centric--a "Jackback" if you will. Me, I'm excited that this episode is a Jackback for two reasons. One, it means the premiere won't be a Jackback next year. This is going to be interesting because I can't think of any other person who would have the premiere besides him! Hopefully, but highly unlikeley it'll be Rousseau or Richard. Secondly, Jack's my second favorite character and his flashbacks are always enjoyable. Anyway, the producers have promised the flashbacks will reveal something huge and I can't wait to see what that is. Original, I know. Judging by the title, there is going to be something huge happening at the Looking Glass station. Awesome! That station has, by far, the coolest logo and it seems that it's more important than any other station. I mean, why else would Ben lie that it's flooded?

Okay, I'm obviously ignoring the elephant in the room. LOST... is... over. Eight dang months, people! Luckily, we've got skeena93's book club and a few things I've got planned (like a updated super awesome caption contest (and the return of my riddle contest)) to hold us over.

I don't even want to talk about it... It's too depressing. LOST ROCKS!!!

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Previous TV.com Ratings for Jack-centric episodes:

White Rabbit: 8.99
All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues: 9.22
Do No Harm: 9.32
Man of Science, Man of Faith: 9.37
The Hunting Party: 8.99
A Tale of Two Cities: 8.80
Stranger in a Strange Land: 7.88
Through the Looking Glass: ?.??

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Prediction: 9.2-9.4

I know. I know. I know. "How could you say the finale will be so low, Brian!?" Well, the main reason is becase it's a Jack flashback and 70% of the LOST fans seem to utterly hate Jack. That's crazy talk to my ears, but I can't change it. So, yeah. The other reason is that a lot of people have been complaining about the spoilers that were released about the episode recently and that doesn't bode well for the aspects I base my prediction on. Sure, it'll obviously be a good episode--it's a finale for Pete's sake, but I have this feeling that other people, not me of course, aren't going to like. Who knows though? I thought 'Greatest Hits' would be a 8.9-9.1 and it's a 9.60!

Oh, it's written by none other than Team Darlton (Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) and it's directed by Jack Bender!

7/6c (CTV) for "Blame Canda"
9/10c (ABC) for "America: F**k Yeah!"

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Off Topic:

Some pictures of Jack crying to get you pumped for this week's episode... (They are inside the spoiler tags to save room)


***SPOILER***

I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to get this started but I've been really busy lately and I've been spending so much time on the computer and not enough time watching LOST.
All I can say right now is that I thought it was a great episode that really redeemed both Charlie and EK and AH, the writers of this episode.

On-Island. Real time:



Flashbacks:



"6 Hours Ago" Flashback:



Things I Noticed/Easter Eggs:



Questions:



Dialogue:



Next Week on LOST:

I'll finish the rest of this section later but my prediction is between 9.2 and 9.4.

In honor of this, my 10th caption contest, I've given you people 10, count 'em 10, pictures to choose from! Not only that, but there are 2 wild cards! The best part you ask? You can do as many as you like!

The wild card pictures this week are from season 1, episode 5, White Rabbit! Enjoy them and be funny!

Rules

-Don't have your captions related to eachother
-BE FUNNY
-If you win the wildcard and a regular, you get 4 points
-Wildcard win is worth 2 points
-BE FUNNY!!

CONTEST WILL BE CLOSED AFTER 4,815,162,342 ENTRIES!!
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Do as many as you like you crazy kids!

















WILD CARD:




___________________________________________________________ 

Last Week's Winners:

Pic 1- "DoctorYoda"

Emily: Maybe you didn't hear me the first time: I'm PMSing, in a pissy mood, and, furthermore, I... WANT... CHOCOLATE!

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Pic 2- "FishBulb13"

Sayid: These are not the droids you're looking for.

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Pic 3- "The-Soup-Nazi"

Mikhail: I did doo-doo in my pants.

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Pic 4- "gbvfan13"

(the last few moments of Dharma's Saint Patrick's Day celebration)

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Pic 5- "JoeLostDharma"

Locke: ...and that, my friend, is how I lost my virginity.

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WILD:  "sibbald"

Charlie: Okay, you can see this finger, but guess where the other one is!
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STANDINGS:

DoctorYoda: 9 points *
SondraC: 6 points
FishBulb13: 3 points *
gbvfan13: 3 points *
TheSoupNazi: 3 points *
IslandQueen2: 2 points
athevolunteer: 2 points
ThatLostGuy: 2 points
SabotFox: 1 point
gunnar189: 1 point
didinuta: 1 point
Sawyer and Kate: 1 point
sibbald: 1 point *
JoeLostDharma: 1 point *

I got some sweet new LOST stuff in the mail today and I've uploaded some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

First up, we have a fancy new mug emblazoned with the logo of none other but the Hanso Foundation. What's inside you ask? Conspiracy juice.



Lastly, the mail fairy sent me a fancy new dark red t-shirt with the logo of the coolest of the 6 Dharma stations on it--the Flame.





That's all for now! Here are the links if you feel so inclined to buy them yourself.

ABC Store Link to the Flame Shirt

ABC STore Link to the Hanso Mug

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PARTICIPATE IN THE LOST CAPTION CONTEST IN THE POST BELOW!

LOST... is... almost... over. For this season at least. But who cares!? It's been awesome and that means these last two episodes will probably keep up the trend. Yeah, we're going to have to wait a long time, but I bet these last two episodes, especially the finale, will be so satisfying that the break will go by faster than Desmond can say, "You're gonna die, Charlie." Speaking of Charlie, the new episode this week is Charlie-centric and it's entitled "Greatest Hits." It's such a simple title, but I really like it for some reason. Judging by the title, the flashbacks will probably have something to do with Drive Shaft's heyday/climax or it's establishment. Personally, I think Drive Shaft is one of the cooler LOST backstory creations and hopefully we'll get to see a little more about that. Who knows? Maybe we'll even see that the original drummer for Drive Shaft was Mr. Friendly!

There's a Drive Shaft picture at the bottom to hold you over until Wednesday:

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Previous TV.com Ratings for Charlie-centric episodes:

The Moth: 9.03
Homecoming: 8.94
Fire + Water: 7.84
Greatest Hits: ?.??

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Well, my prediction is based on these reasons:

1. Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
2. Charlie-centric
3. The last Charlie-centric episode wasn't well received

So, because of this, mainl because of who it's written by though, I'm predicting the overal rating will be between 8.9 and 9.1. Now, don't burn me at the stake for saying that because it's what I think. I mean, Edward and Adam are the obvious weak writing team. I have to give them some "props" after D.O.C. because that was a great episode, but that doesn't make up for the weaker episodes they've written in the past. But who knows? It might be brilliantly awesome and make everyone even more excited for the finale. It is possible because, as we all know, Three Minutes, which was also written by EK and AH, left us with a huge cliffhanger last year, the boat on the horizon, and the entire episode answered a lot of questions and was pretty much amazing. Hopefully I'm wrong about people not liking it. Doesn't matter to me though because I doubt I won't like it. Even if it isn't great, IT'S FREAKING LOST!!!

8/7c (CTV) for "O Canada! ..."
10/9c (ABC) for "Oh, say..."

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Off Topic:

I've got nothing this week. Well, I got new golf clubs so I guess that counts. They're sweet.

Happy Mother's Day to all you fathers out there.

It's here, folks; the next installment of season 3's epic game show The LOST Caption Contest! Yay! *crowd cheers* I've got some great pictures this week and I'm eagerly anticipating some hilarity from you people! As you probabaly know, I have recently been embededing a wildcard picture each week and this week's contest continues the trend by having a picture from episode four of season 1, Walkabout! I know; it's pretty exciting. Anyway, there are no special rules for any of the pictures this week, but remember to make your captions separate from eachother! Do not make on caption a response to another. Oh, I'm almost forgot to mention that if you win the wildcard AND a regular picture, then you get one extra point! Excite! 

CONTEST WILL BE CLOSED AFTER 1,000,000 ENTRIES!!
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Choose 4 and do the wild card so you can get double points!!!!











WILD CARD:


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Last Week's Winners:

Pic 1- "No Winners!"

I'm sorry, but I shouldn't have made that rule about the caption having to be about Jack watching the basbeball game. The only reason I chose no winners is because A LOT of people didn't see that I made the rule.

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Pic 2- "FishBulb13"

Jack: Aahh! I think I just dropped a defibrilator paddle down my pants!!

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Pic 3- "didinuta"

Jack: What kind of salad is this? I can't find the onion!

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Pic 4- "SondraC"

Desmond: (thinking) At least I'm alive, but I seem to have lost ma beer..."

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Pic 5- "DoctorYoda"

Widmore: Desmond, my urine here is worth more than you.

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Wild:  "SondraC"

Kate: (thinking) I could totally fit them both.
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STANDINGS:

DoctorYoda: 8 points *
SondraC: 6 points **
FishBulb13: 2 points *
IslandQueen2: 2 points
athevolunteer: 2 points
TheSoupNazi: 2 points
gbvfan13: 2 points
ThatLostGuy: 2 points
SabotFox: 1 point
gunnar189: 1 point
didinuta: 1 point *
Sawyer and Kate: 1 point

Ahhhhhh! Oh my goodness that was a superb episode! Some ungrateful man posted "RIP, John Locke" as a thread title over in the forums, but I don't care anymore. It was shocking, awesome, and mind-blowing all at the same time! That episode was the stuff!

Oh. My. Jacob. That is all I have to say about this week's bar-raising episode of LOST. The one and only thing that could've made this episode better would be if it had been written by Damon and Carlton. Now, I'm not saying the writing was bad, in fact, it was pretty much perfect, but I would've loved it if they were the one's to take credit for the dialogue on this one. I mean, they pretty much came up with the episode anyway so it's okay. But, nevertheless, Drew Goddard and Elizabeth Sarnoff were an awesome writing duo for this episode and Michael Emerson should be given an Emmy just for having a conversation with no one and acting it out perfectly. Oh yeah, and Locke's dead. How is this possible!? The episode was so amazing that I'm not even thinking about how John is now dying in a pit of Dharma bodies! The were so many things going on in this episode that John "dying" isn't a top priority! Good Jacob I love LOST!

On-Island Real time:



Flashbacks:



Things I Noticed/Easter Eggs:

-Ben's birthday is December 22nd

-Ben was born just outside of Portland. 32 miles to be exact! Even more, DoctorYoda pointed out to me that there is a town 32 miles from Portland called "Gale's Creek!"

-There are some amazing Jacob screen caps over at DarkUFO's site. Link to DarkUFO

-When Ben offers Locke some scotch or whiskey or whatever it was, Locke just stares at it. Hmm what happened right after he was offered some scotch last time?

-How great was it showing how Roger "Workman" died and having Shambala playing the car? That was really, really cool.

-During the opening credits, some of the executive producer titles appear on the television with the orientation video on it. They made it look as if they were part of the video. That made me crack up! Here's a picture... Link to LOST-Media

-The woman who played Ben's mother, Carrie Preston, is actually Michael Emerson's wife... Weird!

-There are some parallels between the story of Moses and the burning bush and the story of Ben/Locke and Jacob. For starters, it is required that Moses remove his shoes before approaching the burning bush and Locke needed to turn of his flashlight. By this I mean that shoes are form of technology and, by taking off his shoes, Moses was more in touch with the earth and God as Locke/Ben is more in touch with the island when he turns off his flashlight. Also, the burning bush, who is actually God, and Jacob are both "characters" that seem sort of like an all-knowing perfect being. In the bible, God, through the bush, says that he is the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... Hmm... Jacob? Finally, Ben and Moses both go to there respective places (cabin vs. bush) to be told things to tell their people. It's interesting, though, that God tells Moses to tell Pharoah to free the Israelites while Jacob tells Ben which people to put on the list. And, as you know, people on the list are taken... not freed. One could argue that the people who are taken on LOST, like Cindy, are given a better life than trying to survive on an island as a crash survivor. So, technically, they are freed from that hazardous and difficult life.

-The orientation video says that the fence is sonar and that it's purpose is to protect the Dharmatels from the island's "abundant and diverse wildlife." Yeah, right. More like to be protected form Smokey.

-The video also says that the Dharmatels are given a new code every morning to cross outside the fence, that there are properties on the island that exist nowhere else on earth and that thir mission is to study these properties for the betterment of mankind and the advancement of world-peace.

-There is SOMETHING about those Apollo Bars! I know it!

-When Sawyer is hiding in the bush, you can hear Hurley say, "Dude, you don't know. It can't be worse than haggis." Haggis, of course, is the Scottish meal of Sheep's entrails, seasoning, and oatmeal that is prepared by boiling it in a bag made of animal stomach. Tasty, tasty stuff. Thanks to Steve for pointing out that Hurley said "haggis" not "maggots." My ears are too old for this stuff. Not really though...

-The whispers are back and they said A LOT this time. I'm sorry, but I don't have the programs needed to transcribe them but I'm sure they'll be up on LOST-pedia soon.

-I really think that people like Tom, Mikhail, Klugh, and a few others were later brought to the island AFTER Ben joined the Hostiles. Those characters seem so different than Richard and I doubt that there are many of the original Hostiles left.

-I love Mikhail, but Locke beating him "senseless" was awesome.

-Mikhail is being beaten up by Locke and Ben calls for Tom and Richard. When the camera shows Tom, he's just sitting on the table drinking from his little blue cup like nothing is going on. Ben is losing control over his people.

-A lot of people are confused and don't understand why Alex gave Locke the gun, but it seemed kind of obvious to me. As Ben said, no one has ever seen Jacob besides him and I believe that this means Ben's followers are starting to doubt, like Locke did, that Jacob ever existed in the first place. So, Alex, because she hates her dad and knows that he manipulates people, gave Locke the gun to protect himself because she thinks that Jacob and doesn't exist and, therefore, the only thing Ben could be leading Locke to is his death. That may not have been written as clearly as I could have, but if you don't understand what I mean, then just leave a comment.

-OKay, this isn't really important, but when the teacher, Olivia, says, "Let's get ourselves an eruption" I could've sworn she said "Let's get ourselves an erection." I was freaking out for a second...

-The teacher has the same logo on her shirt that the shark had on his/her tail.

-Horace is a Maintenance man for the Arrow station.

-Ben, uh, doesn't have a lot of friends.

-Jack is the man and you were all wrong about Juliet.

-Remember in One of Us when Ben gave Juliet a gas mask like the Hostiles were wearing after/during the Purge? Am I sensing another Purge coming this time with the 815ers!?! Ahh! In this case, Juliet is in the same position Ben was.

Questions:

There are too many too post so I'll just cover the big ones.

-How did Ben go from joining the Hostiles to second in command?
-Do the Hostiles not age!?
-Does Ben really see Jacob there?
-Is Locke going to die!?
-Is Richard for or against Ben?
-Why did no one stop Locke from beating on Mikhail?
-Why did the Hostiles attack Dharma and why did it take so long to do so?
-Was Ben's mom Smokey the Monster?
-If it's not the fertility problems, why are the Others on the island?
-If the Hostiles don't age, are they related to the Black Rock and the ruins?
-There's a volcano on the island!?
-How does Dharma go about recruiting people?
-What the heck is up with Jacob?
-What was the ash/sand/substance "barrier" around Jacob's  house?
-What does Jack have planned and where did he and Juliet go?

Dialogue:

Drew Goddard is a great writer. He's been a co-writer for a lot of the best episodes this season and 50% of them are in my top 10 (The Glass Ballerina, Flashes Before Your Eyes, The Man From Tallahassee, One of Us). I'm really glad they brought him back (He wrote "Outlaws" in season 1). The other writer for this episode was Elizabeth Sarnoff and, while there is no way to really tell who wrote what, she is, in my opinion the weaker of the two writers. (Abandoned, The Hunting Party, The Whole Truth, Two for the Road, Further Instructions, Stranger in a Strange Land, Left Behind) Here are some of the best scenes, dialogue wise, and lines from the episode:

-When Ben is talking to "Jacob" but there's no one there
-The final scene with Locke looking over the Dharma grave
-The murder of Richard Linus scene
-Locke and Ben in the tent
-Locke: You are the man behind the curtain; the Wizard of Oz! And you're a liar.
-I really enjoyed that the LOSTies actually gathered around and talked about something!
-Locke: You said that, if I killed my father, you'd tell me everything I wanted to know about the island. So, why don't you start at the beginning?
-Alpert: Do you even know what that word means?

Next Week on LOST:

Next week, we have our FIRST Charlie-centric episode since Fire + Water, which aired, believe it or not, one year, three months, and 21 days ago (or 33 episodes).

Earlier, I would be worrying about this episode, but Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have really improved as writers this season and, coming off how good of an episode D.O.C. was, I'm no longer nervous. Sure, it's a Charlie-centric episode and everyone, except me, seems to universally hate Fire + Water, but I have a feeling that the writers wouldn't make an episode they think people would hate right before the finale. Especially after the fan reaction towards F + W. As I mentioned before, this episode, following the trend since season 1, was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.

A few weeks ago, I would have made a lower prediction for this episode, but taking into account that this is the aftermath of everything that happened The Man Behind the Curtain, the fact that Charlie might die, and that it's the episode that sets up the finale, I'm going to have predict that it will be between, um..., a 9.0 and a 9.2. Three Minutes got a 9.2 last year and it's also one of my favorite episodes of the series so, hopefully, this one will live up to the bar that Three Minute set.

Oh yeah, I'm not really going to consider this a spoiler so sorry if it, you know, somehow ruins something for someone (I don't really see how it could though): Rose and Bernard are back!

Yay! LOST!

Top 10 Episodes Update:

1. The Man Behind the Curtain
2. The Man From Tallahassee
3. Live Together, Die Alone
4. Deus ex Machina
5. The Brig
6. One of Us
7. Lockdown
8. Walkabout
9. Man of Science, Man of Faith
10. Enter 77

TMBtC is the best episode of LOST. Hands down. Sure, it might not be your favorite, but it's the best. It was nothing but amazing all the way through.

PARTICIPATE IN THE LOST CAPTION CONTEST IN THE POST BELOW! RIGHT NOW!

Hey! Guess what. We've got a shiny, un-opened, brand-new, tag-still-on-it episode of LOST this week! And, to top it off, it's Ben-centric! How could you go wrong? Personally, I have no clue. Anyway, the episode title is "The Man Behind the Curtain" which, I might add, has gone down as my favorite episode title to date. It barely passes AtBCHDI. Well, as most of you probably know, the title is a reference to the Wizard of Oz and how the big Oz is realy just a small man behind a curtain. Anyone else thinking Jacob? I don't know how you couldn't be thinking that. That's all I really have to say about this episode because I'v recently been gong spoiler free, but I hear that we'll se a lot of Dharma. Dharma is probably my favorite aspect of LOST so I'm pretty excited. What do you guys hope to learn/see/experience in this episode?  

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Previous TV.com Ratings for Ben-centric episodes:

The Man Behind the Curtain: ?.??

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I'm predicting an overall rating between 9.4 and 9.6. I REALLY think that this episode is just going to be superb in every sense. For one, it's written by the third best male writer on the current team and the best female writer (Drew Goddard, Elizabeth Sarnoff). I hope I'm not jynxing it by predicting such a good rating, but it's what I think and last week's episode got a 9.6 instead of a 9.4-9.5 like I thought it would. I mean, it's Ben centric for Pete's sake! We've been waiting for that since One of Them! The only better flashback we could've gotten would be Rousseau's.

8/7c (CTV) for America's Frosted Hat
10/9c (ABC) for The Better Part of Norf Ameriker

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Off Topic:

Dancing machine! Dancing Machine! Aargh!

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Aargh! Lost-media messed up again! Unfortunately, they didn't get any screen caps from last night's episode so I chose some screen caps from previous season 3 episodes. We still have a wild-card though! Remeber the wildcard is worth 2 points! Oh, and, for the first pic, your caption HAS TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT JACK IS WATCHING THE BASEBALL GAME. Other than that, you're free to do what you want! Yay!

CONTEST WILL BE CLOSED AFTER 15 ENTRIES!!
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Choose 4 and do the wild card!!!












WILD CARD:


___________________________________________________________ 

Last Week's Winners:

Pic 1- SondraC with "Desmond: Are ya daft, Charlie!? I'll tell ya once more, that's ME on the left and PENNY on the right!"

Pic 2- ThatLostGuy with "Sun: Fine, I'm coming home. But you are Bpo Bpo this time!

Pic 3- IslandQueen2 with "Mikhail: Don't you ever call me Liam again!

Pic 4- athevolunteer with "Juliet: Oh god, Ben's been recording his sex again."

Pic 5- SondraC with Hurley: "Hi, I'd like to order an extra large pizza. And can you make that half pepperoni and half mushroom? (pause) Cool, thanks, dude! (pause) Where? Um... an island?"

Wildcard: The-Soup-Nazi!

Jack: Well at least we've got dinner for Hurley!
Charlie: Or, at least a snack...
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STANDINGS:

DoctorYoda: 7 points
SondraC: 3 points
IslandQueen2: 2 points
athevolunteer: 2 points
TheSoupNazi: 2 points
gbvfan13: 2 points
ThatLostGuy: 2 points
SabotFox: 1 point
gunnar189: 1 point
FishBulb13: 1 point
Sawyer and Kate: 1 point

Wow. Even if you saw it coming, is it not "Wow?" It's "wow" and you know it. Way to go Damon and Carlton! You pulled off another mind-blowing, heart-tugging, mythologically-dense hour of pure greatness. LOST is, without a doubt, better than life itself.

On-Island:

This was a great episode. Everything about it was just pure greatness. Not only did we get the conclusion to a long standing "mystery," but we also get some great dialogue, the reappearance of the Black Rock, foreshadowing with Rousseau, more information about Naomi's show-shaking statement, some "WTF!?" Jack/Juliet moments, and, of course, the re-return of the awesome Sayid.

Storyline A: After having some serious nookie with hottie-with-a-body, Kate, Sawyer runs into the recently returned Locke while peeing in the jungle. Locke tells Sawyer that he infiltrated the Others' camp and, earlier that night, he snuck into Ben's tent and kidnapped him so that Sawyer would kill him. Sawyer claims that he is not a murder, but Locke retorts, "Except for the man you killed in Sydney." After a dispute between the two about actually killing Ben, Sawyer finally agrees to at least follow Locke to where he has Ben "imprisoned." En route to the ship, Locke tells Sawyer that the Others have birth certificates, criminal reports, medical records, etc. in files on every survivor and even know that Sawyer's father pulled a murder-suicide on his wife, Sawyer's mother. At The Black Rock, Locke proceeds to shut Sawyer in a room with the kidnapped Ben. But, of course, in true LOST fashion, it's Ben. In fact, it is Anthony Cooper who we last saw tied up and gagged in a boiler room in Otherville. Sawyer bangs and bagns on the door, but Locke will not let him out. During this, Rousseau walks in, tells Locke she needs some dynamite, and leaves. Inside the brig, Cooper tells Sawyer that he is Locke's father. The conversation then leads to the fact that Cooper was once a conman and Sawyer asks Cooper what his name is. Cooper tells him that "a conman goes by many names," but he's been known, among other names, as Alan/Adam Seward, Ted MacLaren, Anthony Cooper, Tom Sawyer, and Louis Jackson. Sawyer puts two and two together and concludes that the man before him is the real Sawyer, the man who ruined his life. James asks him if he's ever been to Jasper, Alabama and after Cooper confirms that he has, Sawyer has no doubt in his mind that he's finally found his nemesis. Sawyer pulls the infamous letter out of his pocket and hands it to Cooper. Cooper, however, begins to read it, but immediately disregards it by finishing half of the letter by saying "blah, blah, blah, blah." Sawyer begins to yell at Cooper to finish the letter, but he just rips it up. Infuriated, Sawyer grabs a chain and strangles Cooper to death. Back outside the ship, Locke tells Sawyer that Juliet is a mole in the survivors' camp and hands him a tape recording to prove this to the others. The episode closes with Locke picking up the dead Cooper and, as Ben told him to, carrying him off towards the Others camp.

This was an extremely satisfying conclusion to the Sawyer/Sawyer story. I don't think the writers could have handled the revelation any better and the writing, as well as Josh Holloway's acting, was superb. Getting to see the Black Rock again was awesome because, to me at least, it's the coolest and most interesting of the island's physical mysteries (the columns, the 4-toed statue, the radio tower, etc.)

I also thought the foreshadowing with Rousseau was quite cool. There are a lot of things she could be doing with that dynamite, but I think we can all agree that it has something to do with Alex.

I know I didn't talk much about Naomi's storyline, so I'll talk about that a little bit right here. First off, I'm thankful that the writers didn't postpone this story and actually went right a long and told us what happened next. Overall, I'm kind of pissed they (Charlie, Hurlye, Desmond, Sayid, Jin) didn't tell Jack, but I guess they had justification for not doing so. Personally, I think Jack is the only one of the survivors who actually knows what's going on with the Others and he isn't telling them for a reason. You just watch! Next week or the week after Jack is going to regain his credibility and you are all going to wallow in my awesomeness. Oh, how cool is that satphone?! It's like the iPhone x10! I know a lot of people are wondering what Sayid was digging but it was pretty obvious that he was in a garden. I'm pretty sure he was just working on his feminine mystique. Other points of revelation in this part of the episode include the knowledge that Naomi did in fact take off from a ship, no human has seen the "wreckage" of flight 815, and that Naomi was, as many speculated, sent by Penelope Widmore to find Desmond.

Overall, the on-island stuff was amazing and I'm really eager to see the continuation of all three developments--Sawyer getting the tape, Jack and Juliet finding out about Naomi, and Locke heading back to Ben with his dead father.

it was a great episode of LOST and the flashbacks made it even better. 

On-Island Flashbacks:

The flashbacks were my favorite part of this episode. Yeah, there was great Cooper/Sawyer interaction and that was a 10/10, but something about these flashbacks really intrigued me. Maybe it was seeing that weird new column that seemed as if it predated the 4-toed statue or maybe it was seeing Ben, Richard, and Cindy and all the other creepy Others in their new tent-camp. Either way, these flashbacks were great because they filled in a lot of the holes in Locke's on-island story and they even gave us some new information. I'm not going to do a recap for this part of the episode, but I do have a lot too talk about.

First off, why in Jacob's name did Cooper bite Locke's hand? The best reasoning I've heard is that Cooper was attempting a variation of the "pinch yourself to see if you're dreaming effect." As you know, Cooper believed that he had died in the car crash and was now in hell so maybe he bit Locke's hand to see if he was really there. I don't know, but something tells me that there's more to that than meets the eye. Or, it could be nothing. Who knows on this show!?

The next flashback starts off with Locke helping Cindy, the stewardess that gave Jack the mini bottles of Vodka, build a tent. Cindy tells Locke that the reason everyone is looking at him strangely is because they are excited he's here. In the LOST forums, I have a small theory, which I don't fully stand behind as of recent developments, that Jacob is dead and that Locke is a "second-coming" of a Jacob. I believe that something happened to Jacob, maybe as profound as recovering from paralysis or maybe something les, on the island that led to everyone around him worshipping him. Then, after he died, Ben took over as leader of the Others. But, as Alpert told Locke on the hill, Ben is/was to caught up in things like pregnancy problems that the other Others have forgotten why really came to the island in the first place. Locke is their new leader. Hey, I could be way off or totally correct, but it's my theory so respect it! Personally, as I said over at the forums, I would prefer that Jacob is still alive, but I trust that the writers know what they're doing and that it could go either way and still be satisfying.

Part of this flashback also includes a converation between Locke and Ben in which Ben states that he can't wait to show Locke what the island can do, but he first must kill his father to show his devotion to the island.
Ben also convinces Locke that there is something about him that heals people, but I think it has more to do with where the Others are located on the island. The ruins maybe?

The rest of the flashback, although filling in plot-points about why Locke brought Cooper to Sawyer in the first place, don't provide much to speculate about. They were, however, very revealing and I really enjoyed the scene between Richard and Locke on the hilltop. Richard's such a creepy guy, don't you think? I would LOVE to see a flashback of him. Something tells me that I'll partly get my wish in the next episode.

Things I Noticed/Easter Eggs:

--Locke is Yoda again. For all of you who thought Locke became a bumbling buffoon in the last few episodes, I think we can somewhat agree that he is back to his awesome, awesome self. Even though he kind of chickened out on killing his father

--Rousseau likes to foreshadow. Seriously, what was up with that? What do you think Rousseau needs dynamite for? It definitely has something to do with Alex, in my opinion.

--The Black Rock is the coolest ship in the world.

--Cindy is special. I really think that everyone person the Others have taken are either special or pregnant.

--The lower Others are infatuated with Locke. Did you see the way those people were looking at him? They worshipped him as if he was Jacob!

--Ancient columns! How cool was that? I think we call agree it is definitely related to the four toed statue. Damon and Carlton even said that next year is going to focus on the ruins.

--Kate's pregnant. Duh!

--Sawyer's file had a French police report in it. Rousseau, Sayid, and Shannon all spent time in France.

--Alpert told Locke to get Sawyer to kill Cooper on my 13th birthday! Ah! Yay!

--Ben had a copy of The Oath on his bookshelf.

--I think Ben was right about Locke healing people. (He picked up Rose's medicine (not dead), he's spent time with Ben (walking), he ditched Boone (dead), he killed Mikhail (alive),  he's himself (walking), he built Claire that crib with her (didn't die from pregnancy)) Someone should tell Sun to hang with Locke. If Locke can heal people, is he Jacob's equivalent.

--The ruins (colum, foot statue) are a sacred place that can heal people. I only think this if Ben is wrong about Locke healing people. And, if so, the island can easily heal a strangulation death.

--Fulfilling his life-long mission of killing the real Sawyer and deivering the letter did nothing for James and the interaction DEFINITELY didn't go as planned. He was not supposed to rip up that letter, but that was great writing.

--Cooper thinks he's dead and I loved that. "It's a litte too hot for heaven?" Cooper's names: Alan/Adam Seward, Anthony Cooper, Ted MacLaren, Tom Sawyer, Louis Jackson, and Paul.

Questions:

-How did Cooper get to the island?
-Why did Rousseau need dynamite?
-How did Penny know to look for the island?
-Who built the ruins?
-How did they find all the bodies!?
-Whose covering up the crash?
-Does Jack know that Juliet is still working for the Others?
-What are Jack and Juliet hiding?
-Can Locke really heal people?
-More!

Dialogue:

Are you kidding me? The episode was written by Damon and Carlton, of course it had amazing dialouge! For serious, this week's writing was just pure, pure awesomeness. There were so many great lines and the scene between Sawyer vs. Sawyer and Cooper reading the letter was brilliant and totally unexpected (The ripping up the letter and how Cooper was a d**k until the end). I also really liked that Sawyer and Locke got some time together; they are both really great characters. Here are some of the great one-liners:

-Cooper calling Ben "bug-eye"
-Sawyer: Sawyer's my name too.
-Cooper: Little hot for heaven, isn't it?
-Naomi: Remind me not to rescue you, Sayid.
-The scene between Ben and Locke in the tent.
-All the flashbacks
-Pretty much everything.

Next Week/Season on LOST:

Okay, I'm going on record right now saying that next week's LOST is going to blow everyone's mind. Not only is it written by my 1st and 3rd favorite non Damon or Carlton writers, but it's a FARKING BEN FLASHBACK! Do you understand how epic that it is?! Who would've thought back in season 2 that we would one day get a Henry Gale flashback? I sure didn't. Anyway, because of these reasons, it's going to be awesome: it's a Ben flashback; it's co-written by Drew Goddard; more Locke; Sawyer now knows Juliet is a mole; the coolest episode title for any episode of LOST ever; did I mention it's a Ben flashback? I'm guessing that the overall review will be between 9.4 and 9.6. Hopefully, though, people will like it more than that and it will be a 9.7 or 9.8. I mean, I misjudged this week's episode by +.2; so, you never know.

Can you believe there are only 3 (4 really) episodes left in the season!!!! Ahh!!!!! I can't believe it! It's been such a great season and I want more! I need more! 7 months, people! 7 painful months!

Season 4 is going to rock your world. I'm telling you, it's going to be all about the island. The Ruins galore.

Top 10 Episodes Update:

1. The Man From Tallhassee
2. Live Together, Die Alone
3. The Brig
4. Deus ex Machina
5. One of Us
6. Lockdown
7. Walkabout
8. Man of Science, Man of Faith
9. Enter 77
10. All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

PARTICIPATE IN THE LOST CAPTION CONTEST IN THE POST BELOW! NOW!

We have a brand spanking new episode of LOST this week and I don't know about you, but I'm pretty frakkin excited! I mean, the episode was written by Damon and Carlton; how could you NOT be excited!?! The season is almost over people! It's gonna be a b**ch waiting 7 months for season 4 to start! Anyway, this week's new episode is entitled "The Brig" and it's Locke centric. For those of you who don't know, the word "brig", which comes from the word "brigantine", has two definitions. The first one, which used more commonly, is: a two-masted, square-rigged ship with an additional gaff sail on the mainmast. (Anyone thinking The Black Rock?) The other one is probably the definition that pertains to this week's episode: a prison, especially on a warship. No matter what the episode refers to, it's a pretty awesome title either way. Personally, I hope it's the first definition because I would KILL to see The Black Rock again. It's probably higher on my list of LOST's "WTF!?" moments than the 4-toed foot. I know, saying that is blasphemy.  

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Previous TV.com Ratings for Locke-centric episodes:

Walkabout: 9.46
Deus ex Machina: 9.39
Orientation: 9.08
Lockdown: 9.56
Further Instructions: 9.00
The Man From Tallahassee: 9.62
The Brig: ?.??

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I'm predicting the overall rating will be between 9.3 and 9.5 because of these reasons:

1. Locke-centric
2. On-Island flashbacks
3. We see Locke again for the first time since episode 15 (13 technically)
4. Written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse.
5. Looks like we get some Locke/Sawyer interaction
6. One BIG answer which I won't spoil
7. This episode marks the end of the "See you in a week" week
8. It takes place on my 13th birthday!!!!!!!!

8/7c on CTV for Hockey and 10/9c on ABC for Baseball

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Off Topic:

I'm level 18! I'm level 18! I'm level 18! Yay!!

gbvfan13 sent  me this quiz so I'll put it here. It's in spoiler tags so it doesn't take up so much room.

***SPOILER***

1. What time did you get up this morning? 12:01 pm

2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds because they're a boy's best friend

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Not sure

4. What is your favorite TV show? LOST!!!

5. What did you have for breakfast? A Naked Juice smoothie and two waffles

6. What is your middle name? Gregory

7. What is your favorite Cuisine? Asian food

8. What foods do you dislike? Human

9. Your favorite type of potato chip? Salt and Pepper Kettle chips

10. Who is your favorite musical band? Michael Giacchino

11. Favorite Sandwich? Reuben or a Turkey Club

12. What characteristics in people do you despise? Annoyingness and Attention seekers

13. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? The LOST set

14. What color are your eyes? Hazel

15. Favorite brand of clothing? Wal-Mart! No, um, American Apparel, I guess

16. Where would you want to retire? Europe

17. Favorite time of day? 10pm-2am

18. Where were you born? San Diego

19. What is your favorite sport to watch? Golf

20. Pepsi or Coke? Coca-Cola!!!

21. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night Owl

22. Pedicure or manicure? Both! Duh!

23. Do you prefer funny or mush cards? I hate getting cards...

24. Favorite Holiday? New Year's Eve

25. Favorite dessert? If candy counts, then Kellogg's Fruit Snacks. If not, Boston Cream Pie

26. Ever been to Africa? Nope!

27. Glasses or Contacts? Contacts! They're in right now! Imagine that!

28. Favorite Number? 23 or 16

29. Been in a car accident? A Golf cart accident? Yes.

30. Favorite day of the week? Wednesday

31. Favorite restaurant? Little Tokyo

32. Favorite flower? The Dandelion!

33. Favorite movie(s)? Big Fish, Lord..Rings, Back...Future, Dr. Strangelove, Princess Bride, V...Vendetta, Any Monty Python, Moulin Rouge

34. Favorite ice cream? Maybe Rocky Road without nuts

35. Favorite fast food restaurant? In-N-Out

36. Sandals or tennis shoes? Tennis shoes

37. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? ABC.com, Apple, or Borders

38. What are you listening to right now? You Sure Know How to Hurt Someone by Ann-Margaret

39. What is your favorite color? Clear

40. How may tattoos do you have? 1,000,000!

41. How many piercings do you have? None

42. What time zone do you currently live in? Pacific Standard Time!!

LOCKE!!! SAWYER!!! DAMON!!!! CARLTON!!!!!!!! SAWYER!!! LOCKE!!!! BEN!!! DISCUSS!!!!

I'm trying something new this week! Aren't you excited? I am! Anyway, this new thing that I speak of is adding a wild card picture from any episode in the series. There are 5 pictures from this week and one wild card. What you are going to do is CHOOSE 4 FROM THIS WEEK'S PHOTOS and also DO THE WILD CARD. And, to get you more excited about this wild card thing, the person who wins the wild card will get 2 POINTS instead of the routine 1 point. Are you excited now? You should be! You know the rules: don't make your captions related to eachother!!! Oh, if you choose to do #2, then make sure your caption somehow uses or responds to Jin's captioned line.

CONTEST WILL BE CLOSED AFTER 16 ENTRIES!!
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Choose 4 and do the wild card!!!












WILD CARD:


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Last Week's Winners:

Pic 1- ThatLostGuy with: "Charlie: Hey, look! I'm Boromir!"

Pic 2- gbvfan13 with: "Desmond: And that, brother, was the first time I'd ever sucked a dick because of my alcoholism. But, unfortunately, brother, it wouldn't be the last time."

Pic 3- SondraC with: "Parachutist: (sound of cellphone ringingt) Hey, 'sup? (pause) Hanging in a tree - where you at?"
________________________________________________________ 

STANDINGS:

DoctorYoda: 7 Wins
gbvfan13: 2 wins
SabotFox: 1 win
IslandQueen2: 1 win
athevolunteer: 1 win
gunnar189: 1 win
FishBulb13: 1 win
Sawyer and Kate: 1 win
ThatLostGuy: 1 win
SondraC: 1 win

EXACTLY why I watch this series! Yet another amazing episode with an amazing ending! Last week, I predicted that this episode would be the least awesome of the last seven episodes of the season; I was completely wrong.

What a great episode! A lot of people are saying in their reviews that they didn't really like the flashbacks, but I think that's what really made the episode great in my opinion. For this review, because of my broken wrist, because there aren't any easter eggs this week and because I just typed out a 2100 word recap for the episode, I'm not going to write as much. Well, I probably will, but let's just say I wont.

Anyway, I've always thought that Yunjin was the weakest actor on the show, but I think that she really showed that she has a lot of talent this week. Especially in the scene with Juliet when she find out that, although she is going to die, the baby is Jin's. The entire scene was acted perfectly by both women.

On-Island:

Wow. Usually in an episode, one story is better than the other; this week, however, both stories were perfect in every way.

Storyline A tells of Sun and the aftermath of her finding out from Juliet that all pregnant women have died on the island. In the episode, Juliet convinces Sun to follow her to the medical Dharma station, the Staff, so that she can help Sun find out the D.O.C. of her baby. And, if you watched the episode, you should know that D.O.C. stands for date of conception and is important because, if Sun conceived off-island, she will live, the baby, however, will be Jae's not Jin's, but, if she conceived on-island, then, although it means the baby is Jin's, she wil die. At the station, after explaining to Sun that a male's sperm count is 5 times greater than it is off-island--meaning that Jin could have very well been cured of his infertility, Juliet shows her a hidden storage room behind the lockers that houses all of the equipment that was originally located in other parts of the station. While there, Juliet performs an ultrasound to see and measure Sun's fetus; thus deducing the D.O.C. In the end, the answer is bittersweet because, even though it turns out that Sun was impregnated on-island and, thus, she will die, Sun is elated that the baby is, in fact, Jin's.

I LOVED this part of the episode because it answered so many questions and seeing Sun and Juliet together was a real treat. The two of them together, Elizabeth Mitchell and Yunjin Kim, make an amazingly talented acting duo. In this part of the story, we learned that Jin is the father of Sun's baby, that Jin was really cured of his infertility (Male's sperm count: 5x greater on-island), that Sun was impregnated on the island, that Juliet has lost 9 patients to this pregnancy "disease," and that the Others have not abandoned the medical station as we had previously thought. Overall, the Sun/Juliet/Pregnancy storyline was put together extremely well, was written with perfection, answered questions while raising new ones, and it was satisfying end to one aspect of Sun's on-island life and a great beginning to her on-island death. Depressing, I know.

Despite the greatness of the main story, Storyline B was what really made this episode great. Picking up exactly where last week left off, this part of the episode tells of the attempt to save the parachutist's life by Desmond, Charlie, Hurley, Jin and, of course, the not-so-dead Mikhail.

After discovering that Naomi, the parachutist, is slowly dying due to a punctured lung, the party of 4 attempts to save her life. Even when all seems lost in terms of hope for Naomi, a familiar face with an important skillset appears, shockingly, in front of our 3 survivors + 1 hatch man due to the flare that Hurley accidently launched in the beginning of the episode. After agreeing to help, as long as they let him go, Mikhail treats and Naomi's wounds; thus saving her life. But, right when it seems that Mikhail, like Juliet, was actually trying to help our LOSTies, he attempts to steal the satellite phone. Jin, being the awesome, awesome hitman/quick-thinker that he is, takes Mikhail down after noticing that the satphone has gone missing. Nevertheless, Desmond refuses to go back on his word and still lets Mikhail go free. Finally, in one of the most SHOCKING moments in LOST history, despite it's easily understandable explanations, Naomi tells Hurley that "No. No, Flight 815. They found the plane. There were no survivors. They were all dead." Holy s**t is right!

Despite the pure goldeness of the main story in this episode, I thought that the story with Desmond, Jin, Hurley, Charlie, Naomi, and Mikhail was much more intriguing, probably because of the last line. Either way, I think this part of the episode really complemented the other because, while the storyline A answered questions, this one raised new ones. More so than the other storyline, the writing and acting was magnificent; especially Henry Cusick. There were also some really great lines such as Mikhail's "As your friend pointed out, I've already died once this week," Charlie's "They started it!" and that entire little interaction between him and Desmond. My favorite theory on Naomi's last line is that it was a cover up by either Dharma, the Others, Hanso, Mittelos, or the government. I really think that is a great answer. Other than that, there isn't really much to talk about in this section because I really have no explanation for why Mikhail is alive (But, as the producers have said, that will be explained in the coming weeks) and everything else is kind of self explanatory. Overall, this part of the episode was pure genius! Pure. Frakkin'. Genius! I love LOST!

Flashbacks:

Why didn't people like the flashbacks? I have no idea.

The flashbacks this week told the story of Sun, soon after she married Jin, and her discovery of his parents.

In the flashbacks, we learn that Jin's mother is alive and that she was a prostitute, that Sun was the reason Jin was forced to become Mr. Paik's hitman, that Sun knows Jin's father is alive and that she had met him, that she knows what her father really does to get what he wants, and we learned that Mr. Paik is a robot (Seriously, watch the way he moves when he bends down to open the safe. Creepy!)

The one scene that stood out to me in the flashbacks was the conversation between Mr. Kwon, Jin's father, and Sun. The writing during that scene was really well done, very emotional, revealing, and had superb acting. Because of that scene, the scene between Sun and her father, and the final scene with Jin and Sun, I though these flashbacks were some of the most, in lack of a better word, heartbreaking and they really showed a lot about Jin and Sun's relationship.

Moreover, I really liked how the flashbacks furthered the theme of Sun being a liar. They didn't overdo it, but it was definitely shown.

Overall, even though the flashbacks didn't advance the on-island story, they were very entertaining, emotional, well written and somewhat informative.

Things I Noticed:

-The story of Jin's father not knowing if the child was his or not was very similar to the on-island story of Jin and Sun. Like Jin's mother, Sun has been with many men and she is not certain if the child is Jin's. I loved the tie-in.

-"It's not purgatory and they aren't really dead." That's right! In response to this week's episode, Damon Lindelof, himself, said the previous statement. What does it mean? My guess is that there is some huge cover up and everyone in the outside world thinks that the passengers of Oceanic 815 are dead. Oh snap! It could be some big conspiracy or it could even be as simple as a 'white lie' by the government or Oceanic to bring closure to the families of the passengers. It's depressing...

-The picture of Jin and Sun is different when Jin's mom first points at it and when the camera shows a close up of it.

-The satphone prop is, obviously, not a full faced touch screen. Look at it when Hurley is 'talking' to his mom at the end of the episode.

-The beginning of the episode is very reminiscent of the moments before Sun is kidnapped by Charlie in "The Long Con."

-Mr. Paik is a robot. Watch him bend down to open the case. He totally is.

-Juliet is very, very, very, very conflicted/complicated. I love it!

-Naomi says, "I'm not alone," not "Thank you." You can tell that Mikhail knew this and was using the language barrier to his advantage. Just watch his reaction to what she says and you'll see it too.

-Naomi knows a crapload of languages!

Questions:

-MIKHAIL IS ALIVE!?!?!?! What!? Totally awesome!
-What's really going on with Flight 815?
-Was Sun right about Jack?
-Will Sun be saved?
-How often and why is Juliet making those tape recordings to Ben? Does it have anything to do with "See you in a week?"
-What kind of samples, Juliet!? Why Kate?!
-Does Jin know that Sun kind of led to his horrendous job?
-Which scene was the one that had to be re-shot? (Important, I know)
-Why is Naomi on the island!?
-Since Naomi actually said that she wasn't alone, does that mean there was someone else in the helicopter and she doesn't know it crashed?

Dialogue:

Hey, way to go Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz; you really showed that you have talent in writing! I'm not saying they haven't written good episodes, obviously, but you can really tell that they aren't as strong in writing as the Other writers are. Nevertheless, I really liked the writing in this week's episode. It was very emotional and very funny (which is what Kitsis and Horowitz write best--humor, that is).

-After he shoots off the flare Hurley: Oops...
-Mikhail: As your friend pointed out, I've already died once this week.
- (On the satphone) Hurley: Mom?
-All of the interaction between Mikhail and our LOSTies was really well written

Next Week on LOST:

Woo! Locke-centric! It's going to be an on-island flashback so that makes it even cooler! Oh, and it was written by the two geniuses themselves--Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse!!!!! Whoo! Do I smell another Lockdown? Or even a Deus ex Machina, perhaps?

Based on it's on-island centricity, who it was written by, and how badly I predicted what D.O.C. would be, I'm going to have to say that The Brig is going to have an overall rating between 9.3 and 9.5. Can complainers really be complaining anymore? How can you say this season has been anything less than awesome!? Only 4 freaking weeks until the finale!!!! Aahhhhhh!!!

Yay! It's really hard to type, but I think I can power through. I hope I'll still be able to make submissions for LOST on Thursday... What really sucks is that I had a golf match today and now, obviously, I can't play. Don't ask how I did it, it's embarrassing. I have a temporary splint on now, but I'll be getting a cast when the swelling goes down.

PARTICIPATE IN THE LOST CAPTION CONTEST IN THE POST BELOW! NOW!

Thankfully, we've got a new episode of LOST this week, people! Who's lovin' it? I'm lovin' it! It's entitled D.O.C. which, as some of you very well know, stands for "Date of Conception." By that, you can probably deduce that it's a Sin, or Sun/Jin, flashback! And, based off the awesomeness of The Glass Ballerina, I'm guessing that I'll really like it while other people will not like it as much. Sucks for them. Anyway, because of the title, I'm also guessing that the flashbacks are going to focus more on Sun than they will on Jin. There isn't really much more I can say without causing a "Spoiler Alert!" so, I'm just going to stop right there. Discuss!

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Previous TV.com Ratings for Sun/Jin-centric episodes:

House of the Rising Sun: 9.03
...In Translation: 9.19
...And Found: 8.53
The Whole Truth: 8.81
The Glass Ballerina: 8.83

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I'm predicting the overall rating will be between 9.0 and 9.3 because of a few reasons, but mainly because all you people seem to not like Sun and Jin.... and one other reason... that I can't say without causing, like I said before, a "Spoiler Alert!" I like it though...

8/7c on CTV for the French and 10/9c on ABC for the British

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Off Topic:

Woo! I just realize the LOST mobile game was available for download on my phone and, because of the LOST fan I am, I downloaded it! It's sweet stuff! That is, for a mobile game. I mean, there isn't a whole lot to do, it's kind of easy, and it leaves you with a "To Be Continued..." cliffhanger, but it's the best mobile game I've played.

SUN AND JIN!!! BABIES!!!!! BABIES!!! JULIET!!!! BABIES!!!! PREGNANCY!!!! DISCUSS!!!!!

Unfortunately, LOST-Media really messed up this week and only got 4 pages of Non-Hi-Def screen caps when they usuall have around 25 pages of Hi-Def ones. So, bear with me peoople and, hopefully, next week won't have the same problem.

Because of the very limited choice, there are only three too choose from and they aren't very good choices. Sorry, guys.

CONTEST WILL BE CLOSED AFTER 20 ENTRIES! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
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 DO ALL 3! YAY!








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Last Week's Winners:

Pic 1-Fishbulb13 with: Juliet: GULP! What urine sample!?

Pic 2-IslandQueen2 with: Ethan: And I use this finger for those really lonely nights.

Pic 3-DoctorYoda with: Ben: HOLY ****, Juliet! Get your knee off of my crotch, NOW!

Pic 4-DoctorYoda with: Ben: (singing) This is why I'm hot! This is why I'm hot! This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot! I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, you ain't 'cause you not. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot!

Pic 5-gbvfan13 with: "It's official: Hurley has the biggest breasts on the island!"
________________________________________________________ 


Seriously people, you need to step it up or DoctorYoda is going to win the competition! We can't have that happen!

STANDINGS

DoctorYoda: 7 Wins
SabotFox: 1 win
gbvfan13: 1 win
IslandQueen2: 1 win
athevolunteer: 1 win
gunnar189: 1 win
FishBulb13: 1 win
Sawyer and Kate: 1 win

Although this episode wasn't a mind-blowing hour of television and not as game-chaging as previous Desmond episodes, it did have a healthy supply of plot movement while still bringing the twists and turns.

For those of you who don't know, a catch-22 is an event in which there is a dilemma because of conflicting conditions. (Desmond wants Penny to be on the island, but, to have that happen, Charlie has to die. But, if Charlie dies, then the Jin and Hurley won't want to finish the trip and the parachutist will die). The reason the episode is entitled Catch-22, though, is mainly because Desmond finds the Portugese version of the book in Naomi's pack--along with a 'working' satphone, a hula girl, beef stew, a nutra bar, and a picture of DESMOND AND PENNY!!!!

Flashbacks:

The flashbacks, while still showing an interesting side to Desmond, and answering the question of why he calls everyone brother, were definitely not the highlight of this episode. Also, they were surprisingly short. Either way, the obvious underlying theme of the flashbacks was that people have to make sacrifices for the greater good and thus, sometimes you have a catch-22 or a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation--hence the title of the episode.

The flashbacks tell the story of a pre-Penny Desmond and his time in a monastery while training to be a monk. In the flashbacks, Desmond is fired--if that's even the right word to use--by the head monk, Brother Campbell, because Desmond is apparently not fit to be a monk and Campbell thinks that God has "bigger, greater plans for Desmond." In fact, Brother Campbell was right.

Additionally, we are shown yet another instance of Desmond's cowardice through his relationship with a girl named Ruth, whom he was going to marry. A week before the wedding, Desmond, apparently, had a calling and decided to follow a monk who found him on the street. Ruth, however, does not take this as enough justification for Desmond running out on her.

Then, in a scene that I smiled through entirely, we see how Desmond met Penny.

Obviously, Desmond episodes have been known mainly because of their flashbacks, but, although these ones had a very direct on-island tie-in and had a lot of character development, they were not the main feature of this episode.

On-Island:

Oh snap! The on-island stuff this week was awesome. It's funny how last week the flashbacks were the main focus, but this week it's the other way around.

When Desmond has a flash of a helicopter coming to the island, he must enlist the help of Hurley, Charlie, and Jin because that is the only way the "picture in the box" will stay the same.

I thought the episode did a really good job of explaining what Desmond sees when he has a vision and I really enjoyed the fact that Desmond refers to his visions as putting together the pieces of a puzzle without a picture. (I did that with one of the LOST puzzles, actually (that took forever)) Anyway, after convincing Hurley, Charlie and Jin to come along on the "camping" trip and getting the medical kit from Jack, the 4 musketeers head out towards the cable. At first, I thought the cable was going to play a bigger part in the episode, but it made a lot more sense for it to just be a "landmark" for Desmond's vision. They decide to make camp for the night. During one of Jin's ghost stories, which Hurley seemed to understand pretty well (??), they hear a helicopter flying overhead. At this point, because of the weird sound it was making, I really though that the helicopter had hit some sort of island barrier; kind of like the "snowglobe" that Desmond refers to in Live Together, Die Alone. Either way, the helicopter crashes and, because he didn't see the flashing red light, Desmond thinks he did something wrong and ended up changing the future. Luckily, he was wrong. As Jin turns the other way, he notices a flashing red light and Desmond is very eager to go and find the parachutist because he thinks it's Penny. But Charlie, because he's a big fat loser, says that they should wait until morning before going into the jungle because they might run in to one of Danielle's traps. He was right. The next morning, after they take off into the jungle, Desmond finds what is believed to be the parachutist's pack in a tree. Inside: a Portugese version of Catch-22, a satphone, a hula doll, beef stew, and a Nutra Bar. Oh yeah, and a picture of Desmond and Penny. Oh snap is right! Later, Desmond tells Charlie that he is sure that the parachuter is Penny now that he's found her pack. I don't really understand why he would think that... Does Penny know Portuguese or something? I think the book would've given it away for me if I was Desmundo. This is the part of the episode where the vision of Charlie's death comes into play. In the vision, Desmond saw Hurley and Charlie having a hilarious argument about if Superman or the Flash would win in a foot race. When Desmond recognizes this, he has to decide whether or not to warn Charlie about his impending doom and risk changing things. In the end, I think he made the right decision by saving Charlie. Even though I hate the little hobbit with the furry of a thousand suns. I hate Charlie the character and the decisions he's made, not the actor. I hate him in the way that you are supposed to hate a television character. Anyway, they finally find the parachutist and it turns out to not be Penny. Sorry, Des.

Storyline B, while not being the main focus of the episode, was pretty awesome. Unlike most fans of the show, I actually really like the Juliet-Jack-Kate-Sawyer romance story. And the parts of this episode dealing with that were super cool. And, even though I would be in the Jater category, that hoochie-coochie see with Kate and Sawyer was *cough* really sexy *cough* The sexual tension between Jack and Sawyer during the ping pong match was brilliant. I loved it. Yes, there was sexual tension between them.

Overall, a great episode that was definitely one of the best of the season. The flashbacks tied very well into the on-island storyline and we had one of the best cliffhangers of the season.

Can't wait until the finale.

Things I Noticed/Easter Eggs:

- I really didn't want this to be brought up because I wanted you people to think I was very insightful. Anyway, as Hurley or Charlie said, Desmond, from the first flash he had, totally thought that it was Penny parachuting down.
-Ardil-22 is PORTUGESE for Catch-22 (A great book, by the way)
-Ms. Hawking, ring shop lady, was in Brother Campbell's picture
-Desmond says, 'brother' because it's a habit from when he was a MIT (Monk in Training)
-Kate loves Jack. Jack loves Juliet. Sawyer loves Kate. Juliet loves Goodwin.
-The ping-pong ball was computer generated.
-Charlie is writing again!
-Bernard is mentioned! They're not dead! -Juliet is a butt-kicking, baby-saving, lying carpenter
-The monastery has only bottled 108 cases this year

Questions:

-Who the heck is this parachutist and how does she have Des/Pen picture!??!
-If Desmond let Charlie die, would it have been Penny instead of Naomi?
-Will the parachutist's satphone work?
-Was there anyone else in the helicopter that crashed?
-Why did the helicopter crash? (We are stuck in a bloody snowglobe!!)

-Was Naomi sent by Penny or someone else?

-Juddging by the portugese book title, does the parachutist, Naomi, have any connection to Mathias and Henrik from the end of season 2?
-Where the heck is John!? Aargh!
-Was it just my ignorance about satphones or did that thing look really futuristic?
-Why is Naomi/Parachutist there?

Dialogue:

-Come on. Obviously, I have to give some credit to the hilarious "Flash vs. Superman" argument. That was genius. For those of you who don't know, that was definitely put in there because one of the writers of this episode, Brian K. Vaughan, is a very well known comic book writer; so, he probably wanted to put something like that in there. I thought it was genius. Superman would kick The Flash's butt. Hands down.
-The line about Sawyer making a mix-tape for Kate
-Desmond: Thank you... brother (YAY! Now we know why!!)
-Jack saying, "Oh, right" to Desmond when Des says he's taped a few ankles.
-Kate: I'm up here.
-Sawyer: You guys arguing about who's your favorite Other?

Next Week On LOST:

Sun and Jin's D.O.C. written by none other than LOST's funny men, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Last week I compiled a list of what I thought the order of greatness of episodes would be from Catch-22 until the finale; this episode, I think, while still being a good episode, will probably be the lesser of the 6. I'm predicting that the average TV.com rating will be between 9.0 and 9.2.

(Prediction) In order of rating:

The Man Behind the Curtain (9.6)
Through the Looking Glass (9.4)
The Brig (9.3)
Catch-22 (9.2)
Greatest Hits (9.1)
D.O.C. (9.1)

1. I like Jack Shephard because he's a smart guy that knows what to do in a crisis situation. Yeah, he has a soft spot for blondes with issues, but at least he knows how to gain the upperhand. Also, he kind of reminds me of myself. Oh yeah, and he's the sexiest man alive.
2. I don't know.
3. Sometime around June/July '06. No, I saw it for the first time last summer.
4. Yes, that's a picture of me.
5. Because the sun is refelecting off a number of differently shaped dust particles in the air and this scatters the sunlight and causes a blue-ish hue. It works kind of like a prism
6. Nanobots
7. 15/Male/San Diego
8. No, not what 'they' say, but it is true what 'we' say.
9. Nothing much.
10. Because.
11. 4.
12. Most likely down the rabbit's hole or on a keychain to a Dharma van on LOST-island.
13. He broke the rules.
14. Both 'a genius' and 'my hero'
15. I would've liked to start watching LOST since day 1. Oh yeah, and something else more personal which I won't say.
16. Keep LOST going. Hands down.
17. I have to think more for this one.
18. House.

That's right. In honor of my first blog post over 50, I have decided that I will steal athevolunteer's idea and have a little jamboree of questions.

RULES:

Each person gets to ask ONE question per post by 4:30 pm tomorrow and at 5:00 I'll have a little blog post thing answering the ones that I feel like answering. Which probably means I'll answer all of them. Oh, you can ask another question in another post, but you can't post two times in a row. Yeah!

No stupid questions. For serious, nothing like this: "Why are you the Tubbs?" That's a stupid question.


Like athevolunteer's blog, this is a one time thing so get to it!

The Two Greatest Men in the World:

#50


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