WELCOME, WELCOME to another exciting installment of pW's wacky adventures! In store tonight: Lost, Lost, and random thoughts... about Lost. Tonight I return from a long hiatus, and we're going to start things off a little lite with a write-up of LOST SEASON 5's 5 TOP MOMENTS SO FAR. Sentences will be typed. Paragraphs will be broken. Tears will be shed.

Well, maybe that's just me -- I was rewatching The Two Towers last night and for some unforseen reason the Ents' march on Isengard really got me, more than even usual. What can I say? I'm a sucker for selfless sacrifice of the epic variety. And here he is making this great speech looking out somewhere into the distance with this proud look in his eyes... and he knows he's probably going to die, but if his death can make a difference, Colonel Tighbeard is prepared to ...

Erm. Right. Treebeard.

This blog's gone without an entry for some time, and we've had quite a few episodes of Lost since then. Last we chatted, The Little Prince, episode #4, had just aired. Since then have come and gone This Place is Death, 316, The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, LaFleur, Namaste, He's Our You, Whatever Happened, Happened, and now Dead is Dead.

I'd like to take a moment to ask "what the hell is up with the episode titles this season?" (Let's not forget the infamous season premiere, Because You Left / The Lie) This is by far the most uninspired assortment of episode names to ever grace a Lost season. "This Place is Death"? "He's Our You"? "Whatever Happened, Happened?"? "Dead is Dead"?

REALLY? Half of these aren't even relevant to the episodes they come from. The other half sound plain stupid. Just because one of your characters said something in an episode is not a reason to name the episode after that single (UNCATCHY) phrase. Has Lost grown so in love with its own completeness that it feels no outside symbolism to be required?

Instead of "Dead is Dead," I suggest "All Along the Temple." Instead of "Whatever Happened, Happened," -- "All of this has Happened Before, and all of it will Happen Again." Instead of "He's Our You," -- "My Name is Sayid Jarrah; I am a torturer. Whatever else I am, whatever else it Means, that's the man I want to be."

Errr. Where is this coming from?!

But I digress.

I promised LITENESS for this reunion, and I'm getting away from that. But I know just the thing to set the mood... in case you haven't seen it yet -- I know I hadn't:

I feel kinda bad for the Lost cast. It's one of the best looking casts on TV -- by far -- and they're usually stuck wearing grimy, dirty clothes, running around sporting eternal five o'clock shadows, their faces streaked with mud. Evie's gorgeous, there's no denying it -- but I'll always remember the first time she really floored me. It was in the season 4 episode Eggtown where she's taken to court and gets to walk around in high heels and a suit. And all I could think was "Who's going to get fired for stranding this girl on an island for four seasons?"

LOST SEASON 5's TOP 5 TO DATE

#5 -- "You'll never ask me that question again." ("316")

Kate's been getting quite a bit of props lately, due, in no small part, to the responsibilities she's undertaken. In other words, in more of a behind-the-scenes approach, after five seasons the writers have finally figured out how to take advantage of Evangeline Lilly's talents other than as a dashing damsel in distress.

But a lot of that props needs to go where it's deserved -- Evangeline Lilly herself. She's come a long way since season 1, and this single scene highlights that like no other. Her performance is tired, sad, frightened, and somehow resolute. Her vulnerability is haunting, and doubters will be forced to eat their words.

Nevermind the fact that none of Whatever Happened, Happened's numerous explanations to the numerous mysteries of the last half-season lived up to high expectations -- while Ms. Lilly is on-screen, all those insignificant details are going to be far, far from your mind.

#4 -- "The fact that John Locke is walking around this island... scares the living hell out of me." ("Dead is Dead")

On its own, the scene seems hardly significant. Yes, Ben doesn't know what's going on with John, but really -- who does? That's not surprising. Oh, yes, there's more. He also happens to be saying the exact opposite of what he told John at the beginning of this episode ("I knew it would work!").

Even so, it's both of those things combined with the mindgames Ben plays on everyone throughout the entire episode that make this a stand-out moment. Never before has the audience borne such intimate witness to Ben's manipulations, following him as he contradicts himself from scene to scene, deliberately playing the characters against one another.

Last we chatted, I attempted to nail down the problems with the structure of this new Lost season. I can see now how close I was ("Lack of Over-Arching Premise," I called it)... but it would take an example of just what we had been missing all this time to show me the error of my ways. What was this mystery ingredient?

BEN. Aka, some grand antagonistic force. For the first time this season, we have an antagonist who threatens our characters ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" gets a pass because his intentions were so vague), and watching his duplicity unfold from scene to scene is terrifying. The power this man has with his mind and words alone is staggering.

Unfortunately, with his Deus Ex Machina-inspired heel-face turn (translation: ghost of Alex past tells him, "I shall do unto ye as you do unto this Holy Man.") it looks like his presence will be gone as swiftly as it came -- but that steals no thunder from the power of these scenes.

#3 -- "We're not going to Guam, are we?" ("316")

All it takes these guys is a single episode to deconstruct an entire season. From the brilliant opening which parallels directly the first scene of the show to the number of role-reversals undertaken by the characters, it's all exercised with the precision of genius. But it takes this scene to really drive the message home.

They're walking into Ajira 316... and then the music starts. The same music that played during the fateful boarding of Oceanic 815 back in Exodus, the season 1 finale. Except now the notes are disjointed, confused, as if they realize that this is only some twisted, warped mirror image of the earlier scene -- that so many things are terribly wrong, that this time there is nothing innocent about the planecrash we know must come.

Sayid in Kate's handcuffs. Sun's toying with Jin's wedding ring -- so much like Rose. Ben's last-minute arrival, a copy of Hurley's. And Jack... Jack, who has taken five seasons to become the John Locke of the pilot. The music acknowledges all of these references, but echoes our suspicions about the dark complexity of the characters' circumstance.

In a show whose greatness stems from the power of reversed perspectives, the episode 316 -- and the boarding scene in particular -- may stand to be one of its greatest moments.

#2 -- "Charlotte. . ." ("LaFleur")

It's interesting that it would take so long for a show based on the idea of the "inevitable" so long to address it once again so bluntly (for original bluntness see "Flashes Before Your Eyes). Recall that Lost's pilot started with Jack being stranded on an island, helping people survive this terrible ordeal... and then flashed immediately back to what had happened on the plane.

But we know the plane is going to crash. We've known that from the first minutes of the show. By all rights, the scenes should be worthless -- and yet they are jam-packed full of detail and character and plot, and despite the 'inevitability' of what will come, they are necessary.

Some moments rise above necessity into greatness. Exodus, the first season finale, flashes back to the boarding of Oceanic 815, and the innocence of these strangers sharing a space for what is only meant to be some 8 hours of their life, never to meet again, is contrasted sharply, beautifully, with everything that has happened since. There's no dialogue, no plot twists, as Jack and Locke share a polite nod and smile -- yet the gesture is powerful.

And here we have Daniel, a brilliant man whose heart and brain could not be more at odds. He understands better than anyone else that "whatever happened, happened" and that if Charlotte remembers him warning her to stay away from the island as a baby, he has no choice but to play out the part that has been written for him. And yet his heart tells him blindly, "I won't do it. I won't do it," as he repeats the words over and over again to Juliet and Sawyer in the beginning of the episode.

And then he sees her.

It is a moment of perfect contrast. The music swells up and Daniel's voicing of her name, filled at once with hope and despair, serves as the only narration the imagery requires. The beautiful naivete of an innocent young girl is set against the dark, complete understanding of the man who will VAINLY try to save her life. She dances around, full of life and in a bright red dress, against a black night background that reminds us of her tragic fate.

#1 -- "We're all convinced sooner or later." ("316")

Ben: "Thomas the Apostle. When Jesus wanted to return to Judea, knowing that he would probably be murdered there, Thomas said to the others, "Let us also go there and we might die with him." But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery. His claim to fame came later when he refuses to acknowledge the resurrection. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it. The story goes that he needed to touch Jesus wounds to be convinced."

Jack: "So was he?"

Ben: "Of course he was. We are all convinced sooner or later, Jack."

I'm not a religious man; I'm not even very familiar with the Bible. And here is an account that had me on the edge of my seat, and stands head and shoulders above its competition as the greatest moment, so far, of Lost season 5.

You come to another show and say... "Okay, let's try something deep and complex. Let's try a perspective-reversal." They're going to freak out. These things are dangerous. Then you continue, "The perspective we're reversing is the Bible, and the popular understanding of it by the masses."

Lost doesn't balk at the idea -- it rises to the occasion with enthusiasm and gusto. It is a subtle, beautiful allegory, brilliantly written, that perfectly encapsulates the changed nature of Jack's and Locke's relationship. Always before Jack has had the upper edge, and here, he is the doubter, he is the skeptic. Jack is forced to contend with the truth -- that all this time, he has been causing grief and anguish and suffering to the man he has now come to believe was right all along.

For so long, John Locke has sought Jack's acceptance -- their experience in the Hatch stands as a monument to this, from start to finish -- and now the protagonist and Hero of this story, can do nothing but acknowledge how wrong he has been. He is speechless. He is humbled.

But we're not angry with Jack, we sympathize with him, and therein lies the true beauty of Lost's triumph. These characters are real people, and the circumstances they contend with, while superficially surreal and fantastic, are only tools that allow the writers to wade deep into that complexity and show off their genius.

It's both ironic and fitting that the moment of John Locke's ascendance to the greatness of seasons 1 and 2 be a moment in which he is not present... and yet, his influence is felt more deeply, more intimately than his face could have done if it had graced the screen. I've argued that since season 2, there have been two instances where John Locke was truly written as he used to be -- "The Man Behind the Curtain" and "The Beginning of the End." Unlike Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, most writers struggle with this weighty character and the complexity he brings to the show.

And here, through the acting of Michael Emerson and Matthew Fox, through the music of Michael Giacchino, through the writing of the Head Honchoes that do it all, everything comes together. Jack has seen the error of his ways, and he stands now where John Locke stood at the beginning of this series.

There is only one question...

If this is where Jack's journey has taken him... where does that leave John Locke after his own?

On the Horizon:

You may have noticed my inability to focus completely on Lost. That's because one of my favorite shows of all time recently ended, and I've been kind of avoiding that topic, lest this reunion get too serious too quickly. Now, I'm not going to name the show tonight, but rest assured that I'll address the Battlephant in the room next we meet.

Also in store, more in-depth reviews of all Lost episodes so far... and... what? Well, I'm open to suggestions! If you've got some topic that you think deserves a more than cursory overview, feel free to share, and if it's my cup of tea I just might bite.

Also make sure to let me know if you agree or disgaree with my top five picks, and why! Go ahead and post up some of your faves.

Thanks for tuning in... we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

-pW