jon stewart is my hero
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c |
| http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:307953 | |
I’m definitely not a fan of the way the whole thing is being handled, but if that was actually the next iPhone then count me in.
this will never work
Apparently a County in California has decided to ban toys from certain kids meals in an effort to encourage healthy eating. This has absolutely no chance of working. None at all. Instead of kids choosing a salad to get some crappy toy this county is going to end up with a whole bunch of angry, chubby, greasy-faced kids looking for a fight. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we end up with a Children of the Corn situation in Santa Clara a few months from now.
One thing I learned very early on as a parent: never (and I mean never) come between a kid and his Happy Meal toy. Bad things are bound to happen.
everybody loves hugo (especially me)
I’m going to dispense with the apology for being gone for so long and get right into the good stuff. Hope that’s ok with the four of you who actually read this nonsense.
“Everybody Loves Hugo” has easily moved into the top spot on my list of favorite episodes of this final season (and it’s fairly high up there on the all-time list as well). It was a fantastic balance between character-driven story and subtle holycrapdidyouseethat moments. Plus, how can you go wrong with a Hurley-centric episode?
When the moon hits your eye like a fried chicken pie
Somewhere along the way Lost has turned into a giant pile of sappy chick-flick love. And for some strange reason I don’t really mind at all. The latest version of the Lost Love Connection featured the formerly star-crossed Hurley and Libby. After three seasons and a pile of bodies they finally got to have their beach picnic date. And who couldn’t see that mind-altering kiss coming a mile away? It was about as obvious and on the nose as Lost is likely to get, but it fit so perfectly. I think Hurley is the only character outside of Desmond that is universally loved. All of us were pulling for him to somehow end up with Libby and the writers gave it to us.
You’ve got some…meta…on you
I really felt like Ilana getting blown up by the dynamite was a message to us from the writers. It was as if they were telling us that not everything on this show is going to be tied up neatly when the final credits roll. Once a plot element no longer useful they have no problem simply walking away from it (or blowing it to hell). Ben echoed this later on in the jungle when he talked about the island being done with her. Maybe I’m looking way too deep into it, but I think they are trying to remind us that not every dangling question is going to get answered. They’ve said it dozens of times out in the real world and now they are reminding us in the show’s world.
He’s our you
And what do we make of sideways Desmond? His early appearances in this episode find him playing Chuck Woolery to Hurley and Libby. Then at the end of the episode things take a weird turn. He watches John from across the parking lot for a little while then decides to run him down with his car. I’ve heard some people theorize that Desmond is bad or is trying to punish Locke or whatever. I don’t really buy that at all. I think this Des is simply the sideways version of island Locke. He’s a man on a mission, and he is going to do whatever it takes to see that mission through. In some cases it’s just a little nudge to pursue a crazy woman. In the case of sideways Locke, stronger action was needed. Sideways Hurley was not at all content so pushing him towards Libby was easy. All it took was a well-placed line or two and Hugo was off to the mental hospital. In this new sideways world, John Locke was content, happy, and complacent. He needed a wakeup call much stronger than a simple beach kiss, and I think that’s why Des ran him down.
Think about it….John Locke was the same man who drugged Boone and tied him up to help him break free from his totally gross and completely wrong feelings towards Shannon. He blew up a sub that would have taken Jack and Juliet home. He spent hours and hours secretly trying to get into a hatch because it’s what he thought he was supposed to do. Destiny was his driving force and no one was going to get in his way. That’s exactly what I see in Desmond. He’s manipulating people to get them to do what he thinks they are supposed to do, mo matter the cost.
A mystery no more
One of the longest-running Lost mysteries was solved last week. Ever since season one we’ve thrown theories around as to who (or what) the whispers were. Now we know. But Michael’s face leads me to think there’s more to the story than he’s letting on. I don’t think he’s lying…I think he’s omitting a very important piece of the whisper puzzle. The two conversations he had with Hurley reminded me very much of the when he betrayed our castaways and left them on the dock with the Others. His first conversation at Libby’s grave was quite direct. It was very reminiscent of when he was convincing Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, etc. to come with him to get Walt. There were very specific moments in the second conversation that reminded me of the moment when he gets on that boat with Walt and heads away. It’s like he was being forced to tell Hurley this stuff….he didn’t want to, but he had to. Or else.
Or else what, you ask? I think all the souls that make up the whispers are not only stuck on the island but are also somehow enslaved to the man in black. He forced Michael to convince Hurley to lead everyone to FLocke’s camp. Michael had no choice but to obey even though he didn’t want to see his friend hurt. There was something in his face beyond the regret that came with being a double murderer. It had that same, “I’m so sorry…I have no choice…please understand” feel to it as when he and Jack locked eyes on that dock.
Predictions
I honestly have no idea what we are about to see (t-minus ten minutes and counting). The Willy Wonka promo at the end of last week’s episode really got me going though. It set and incredible mood and felt like a great teaser trailer for an epic movie. I do think that at some point soon we’ll find out more about the relationship between Jacob and the man in black. As I have said before, I don’t think that Jacob is explicitly good. I think we’ll find that he is someone with a job to do and will use our castaways as needed to make sure it gets done. His job – keeping smokey on the island – is probably inherently good. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out that his methods cross into a gray area or two. I highly doubt this while happen tonight though. My guess is we won’t see much clarification on their story until an episode or two prior to the finale.
That’s all for now. I’ll post some initial impressions after watching tonight with a full post later in the week.
quick thoughts on "sundown"
“Sundown” will definitely be getting a full post within the next few days. In the meantime, here are a few initial thoughts:
- Dogen, we hardly knew you. This show’s history tells us that we probably aren’t done with you yet.
- Kate had multiple chances to die and survived each of them. Color me disappointed.
- I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I absolutely LOVED Sayid as the heartless killer. He’s always been so polite and so proper. It’s nice to see him embrace the other side.
- On a related note, the look on Ben’s face when Sayid refused to leave was priceless. It’s not often that Ben Linus really gets scared.
- I’m a huge fan of the way the answers are being delivered this season. I hope they keep it up. I understand that some people are frustrated with the pacing of the answers, but I think it fits the story very well.
lighthouse
Squirrel baby. That’s all there is to say.
(Although I will add that I feel pretty good about the ideas I’ve put out there. So far they seem to be holding up. We’ll see what happens tonight.)
numbers, caves, and bears…oh my
Thanks to last week’s episode we now know that each of the numbers corresponds to a castaway chosen by Jacob. In addition to this, we have been told in the past that the numbers correspond to variables in an equation developed by Enzo Valenzetti. This equation predicted the exact amount of time left until humanity wiped itself out. In the aftermath of The Substitute I’ve had conversations with some who feel let down by Fake Locke’s dismissive explanation that Jacob just has a thing for numbers. While I understand the feeling, I think there’s a lot more going on than what’s on the surface of Fake Locke’s answer. I think he’s probably completely right while also being very wrong.
the substitute
Ok, now I feel like the season has really started. The Substitute hit us square in the face with a great flash-sideways and an awesome download of on-island (possibly fake) mythology. Last week was a speedbump episode, and now it feels like we are heading full-on down this final road home. Since I’m so late with this post I’m going to share just a couple quick thoughts. I’ve got a theory post I’m working on that should be up later tonight.
- The smoke monster pov shot was one of my favorite things we’ve seen in six seasons of the show. Total geek out moment.
- I love the new John Locke. Both of them. I find these Lockes to be very interesting characters.
quick thoughts on "what kate does"
- At first glance the episode seemed rather bland. Though now that I’ve slept on it I think there was a ton of stuff below the surface of this one. I don’t at all look at this as filler…I think they are laying the groundwork for what is to come. That being said, this episode definitely had weak spots and was clearly a step below the premiere.
- I feel even better about my theory concerning the alternate timeline. I’m sticking to it for now.
- Fun fact: the date on Claire’s sonogram was 10/22/2004. As soon as the sonogram flashed on the screen, my wife and I paused it and dissected each part. Thank God for DVR and HD. This means flight 815 in the alt timeline was one month later than the one in our primary timeline. I have some ideas on this that I’ll share later.
- Dr. Ethan was awesome. Two things I find interesting: he was using Goodspeed and not Rom as a surname, and he was an OB instead of a surgeon (as Ben claimed in season 3).
- I knew Claire would be the new Rousseau as soon as we saw the first trap. It was still pretty cool to see her take out those annoying other Others.
- Josh Holloway is killing it so far this season. His work is phenomenal.
- “What Kate does” is bore the crap out of me. She pretty much has only one face (the almost-cry). I hope this is the last of the Kate-centric episodes.
la x
About 45 seconds into the season premiere of Lost I paused the DVR, turned to my wife, and told her I thought we were seeing the end of the show. Looks like my resolution to keep theories to a minimum lasted less than one minute.
Throughout the rest of the episode I couldn’t shake the feeling that this whole flash-sideways thing was a glimpse into future as well as the past. The past portion is pretty obvious…flight 815 took off in September of 2004, but the “current” timeline on the island is 2007. So a safe and sound Oceanic landing would happen in the past relative to the island stuff we saw in this episode. I think that the on-island happenings will eventually lead our characters to the events we saw in the premiere.
so it begins (or ends…whatever)
Tomorrow night at 8:00pm CST Lost will air its final season premiere. Typing that sentence fills me with equal parts excitement and dread. Why dread, you ask? Because once this season ends I have no idea where I am supposed to go. Lost has always been my refuge from the stupidity of so many other television shows. Lost was the one show where I constantly felt intellectually engaged. It promoted the heavy use of Wikipedia, Google, and even (gasp!) books. Sure, you could thoroughly enjoy the show without ever going beyond what was presented on the screen. But it was so much more fun to pick up all the little clues then research the hell out of them. What other show does that?
For the last five seasons I have tirelessly analyzed each screencap and every nuanced line in an effort to get some sort of knowledge of what is to come. It was an exhilarating cat and mouse game where getting that one last answer meant everything would fall into place. I would spend hours carefully constructing a theory only to have it blown to bits two episodes later. And again, it was so much more fun that way.
