The Season So Far

I've been having some thoughts on this season as a whole, so I decided to do a blog about the season so far, my thoughts, and what my expectations are for the rest of this season, with a little less than half way to go.

First off, this season has gone somewhat differently than I had originally expected. I had initially thought that it would be all about getting back to the island, and then, that next season would be all about the reunion and what happens next (i.e. will they stay on the island, destroy it, etc.). I really didn't expect to see a close-up of Jack's eye and him on the jungle floor, surrounded by bamboo again until, at least, the end of this season, but more likely next season. I was quite surprised and befuddled to see the Oceanic 6 back on the island in episode 6, 316.

I've also felt somewhat disappointed and with something left to be desired this season. Although, I have enjoyed many parts of the story, I'm missing my favorite characters. The show just feels kind of empty to me without much of Desmond, Sayid and John Locke. The stories that I find myself enjoying the most are the tragic ones. And although I am a huge fan of Michael Emerson (he's probably my favorite actor on the show), and Benjamin Linus' story because I think it is probably one of the most interesting, well-thought-out, well-written, well-acted and most cunning stories to ever brace the television screen, I'm still feeling a bit empty. Not to mention that I kind of hate Ben now for one, killing John Locke even if he is, to our knowledge, alive again, and two, possibly killing, or harming in some way, Penny and Charlie or Desmond. I will just completely despise him for that. It's a good thing that Sayid shot that little bastard in the chest.

I'm also feeling a bit restless with some of the storylines. The Oceanic 6 bored me to death the whole time. I just wanted to get back to the island. And now that we're back on the island, I'm bored to death with the campy relationship crap. I just want to know where Rose and Bernard are already, or what the hell happened to Desmond and Penny. And speaking of Desmond and Penny, if there is one relationship, one love-story on the show that I actually want to see, it's that one. Because I believe that it is the most realistic, most believable and relatable, relationship arc on the show. Because Desmond and Penny deserve a true happy ending, of which I am growing more and more weary and disappointed by because I fear that is in jeopardy, and instead I'm going to end up seeing Kate with whomever the hell she chooses this week. Ugh, just sickens me. Desmond and Penny FTW.

The time-travel business has been a bit confusing, to say the least. If there are rules that are set-in-stone, as Daniel stated, that whatever happened, happens, that you can't change the past, then it makes me wonder if that is actually true, or if they're broaching some paradox here.

Questions:

• Are they allowed to change things or are they not?
• Is Sayid shooting Ben a paradox?
• Does he stop the purge and hostile take-over by Ben from happening?
• Why is Desmond special?
• Where the hell are Rose and Bernard?
• Did they land in a different time?
• Are they with the hostiles, in the caves, in another Dharma station?
• Where is Daniel? Is he working with Pierre Chang?
• Is there really course-correction?
• Where the hell is Claire?
• Is Christian Shephard dead or alive already?
• Is Richard Alpert a time-traveler?
• Did he turn the frozen donkey wheel? Is that why he stopped aging?
• Who are the original inhabitants of the island?
• What happened to Aaron?

My expectations for the rest of this season are to find out more about the Dharma Initiative, possibly the DeGroots and Pierre Change, about Charles Widmore, if he was born on the island and how he became leader, Richard Alpert and why he doesn't age, how he got to the island, Rose and Bernard, what happened to Aaron and why Kate is back on the island, who or what convinced Hurley to go back, Desmond and Penny, what Ben did to them, and if Desmond will return to the island, to see Walt again, Daniel Faraday and his work on the island, and finally, the incident.

For the past handful of episodes, I've certainly felt as though we are building up to something big. It seems as though all of the stories that I'm looking for them to get back to (i.e. Desmond and Penny, Rose and Bernard, Daniel) will be returning by the end of the season in some sort of dramatic fashion, and I'm excited about that happening, though I'm not certain it will happen.

I don't read any spoilers whatsoever, not since I got impatient and spoiled myself during Season 2 (Desmond in the hatch, Shannon's death). I don't even like knowing the episode titles or watching the previews for next week. Even the Official LOST Podcast gets a bit too spoilery for me sometimes (the title of the season finale episode was recently given). So, I really don't know what will happen.

Regardless of what happens, within some reason, I'm along for the ride. I haven't speculated nearly as much this season as I have in season past. Mainly because it's season 5 now, the show is almost over, and I just want to sit back and enjoy it until the end.

He's Our You, Initial Reaction

I was really glad to see Sayid back in the mix again, as we've seen so little of him this season. Although, I was a little disappointed with certain aspects of this episode. I'm also wondering if Sayid going rogue means we're not going to be seeing him for a while. Obviously, I wouldn't be very happy with that, considering Sayid and Desmond are my two favorite characters, and having them both out of the show would suck in my opinion.

Questions:

• Is young Ben Linus really dead? Can he die or is he somehow reborn like John Locke?
• Did Sayid change the future? How can he change it without it being paradox?
• If he did, and the purge didn't happen, then what happened to Dharma?
• Are the DeGroots in Ann Arbor, Michigan? Are they the be-all, end-all to the decision making on the island?
• Was the book, A Separate Reality, a hint that we are somehow in a separate reality?
• Why was Richard Alpert dressed differently, with long hair, when he met Ben? Have they been in contact since their first meeting?
• Who lit the Dharma van on fire and sent it into the barracks? Did someone help Ben?
• Why is Oldham out in the middle of the jungle by himself?
• How did they find out that Sayid was the one who killed Peter Avellino?
• Did Ben hire Ilana to bring Sayid to Guam so that he would get on the Ajira Airways flight?
• Is Jack the whipping boy now?

Notes:

• Sayid tripping his face off is fucking hilarious. Any time that Sayid is funny it's great because it's such a rare occasion that he lets it all hang out.
• The book that Ben gave Sayid was A Separate Reality by Carlos Castinada.
• Sayid was drinking MacCutcheon's Whiskey at the bar with Ilana.
• The truth serum that was given to Sayid appeared to be liquid LSD on a sugar cube.
• Right now, I'm not even sure that I care if it's a paradox if Sayid did, in fact, kill young Benjamin Linus, that was just too fucking awesome.
• Radzinsky and Phil really annoy me. I wish they would just die already.
• Oldham is their Sayid? Really? This dude didn't seem very creepy or threatening at all. In fact, he didn't even lay a hand on Sayid other than to put a sugar cube in his mouth. Sorry, not very impressed with that one.
• It was interesting to see young Sayid, as we never have before, and to know that he has a brother. We've never really learned anything about Sayid's family and childhood.
• It was nice to get back to the traditional flashback again.
• Young Benjamin Linus creeps me the fuck out.
• Ilana wanted Sayid. Even I have a man-crush on off-island, suave Sayid.
• Yeah, don't protect baby Ethan. Let the kid die.
• I don't like the "He's our you" line being the title of the episode. It had little and almost nothing to do with the episode. That guy was not their Sayid.
• I'm surprised Kate doesn't know anything about cars.

Namasté, Initial Reaction

There were a lot of little touches/payoffs in this episode. While I liked it, I've been finding myself a little, shall we say, lost, in these past few episodes. I started to wonder why that was, and I couldn't figure it out at first, but then I realized that most of my favorite characters have hardly been in these episodes, or even, in this season all that much. We have no idea where Desmond is or what happened to him and/or Penny and little Charlie. Sayid can be seen on screen but has said little to nothing this entire season. Locke has spent a lot of time dead. And although I like Sawyer as a character a lot, and do enjoy how much his character has grown and developed throughout the series, I'm spending too much time anticipating the impending doom of Kate making a move on him to enjoy it as much as I want to.

Questions:

• Is Christian Shephard dead or alive? Can we just find out already?
• How did smokey get into the barracks?
• Who appeared behind Sun when Christian was talking to her? Was it Claire?
• Why are there Dharma props in Othersville in the future?
• Was the purge somehow avoided in the past?
• Is Sayid going to kill young Benjamin Linus?
• Why doesn't Ben remember Sayid in the future? Or does he?
• Where is Annie? Is she still on the island at this point?
• Where is Daniel? Is he dead or did he leave the island?
• Why was Radzinski designing The Swan station? Has the incident happened yet?
• What happened to Radzinski? Is he really dead? Did he actually kill himself or was he murdered by someone? Did Kelvin know this?
• Why didn't Sun, Ben and Locke travel back in time to the 70s with the others, Jack, Kate and Hurley?
• Why is Sun in the present?
• Has Ben already spoken with Richard Alpert at this point in the 70s?
• Where the hell is Claire?
• Where the hell are Rose and Bernard and the other red shirts?
• Where the hell is Vincent?!
• How is Ethan's last name Rom and not Goodspeed?
• Has the future been changed by something that happened in the past?
• What were the whispers saying?
• How did Ben know that they had to build a runway?

Notes:

• It was really cool to finally see Radzinski, however, I was a little disappointed with his character.
• Sawyer calling Jack out was long overdue. Sawyer is a better leader than Jack ever was.
• Juliet making Kate sweat to show her who's in charge and with Sawyer now was also overdue.
• I'm a little confused with Radzinski designing The Swan station. Okay, so he designed it. He was part of the Dharma Initiative. So, then, why would he need to "trick" the system to fake a lockdown and draw a blast door map of the stations on the island that can only be seen under a black light? This just doesn't make sense to me. Shouldn't he already know about all the stations considering he's actually designing one? Shouldn't he have a map of the island and know where they all are? Why would he need to keep notes on all of it?
• Ethan is Amy and Horace's son, very nice touch. I still don't see him being 27 years old in 2004 though.
• I'm so glad Frank Lapidus is back, though I'm kind of missing the goatee and Hawaiian shirt.
• Jack is a workman. Priceless.
• Juliet and Kate are mechanics. Also priceless.
• Apparently the numbers transmission can be heard as the Ajira Airways plane is going down, though I'm going to have to go back and give that one a second listen.
• Also, what kind of pilot do you think Lapidus is? He landed that damn plane on the runway.
• Phil is really annoying. I hate that dude.
• Sun knocking the snot out of Ben was awesome.

I could really do without the lame love quadrangle. Please, just stop. With that said, I'm getting more and more excited about this season. It seems as if the momentum toward the finale is building with each episode and it feels as though something big is going to happen soon. I just hope it's not both Sayid and Desmond dying.

La Fleur, Initial Reaction

Questions:

• What time were they in before Locke turned the donkey wheel?
• What is the statue? Is it the four-toed statue?
• How did Sawyer get so high up in the ranks at the Dharma Initiative?
• What happened to the woman Horace was with when he met Ben and Roger Linus, Olivia?
• Who is the baby that Amy has?
• Why do they stay? Why don't they leave on the sub?
• Where did Horace get the dynamite from? Does he know about the Black Rock?
• What are the terms, significance of the truce?
• Why do they give Richard Alpert Paul's body?
• What is the significance of all the ties to Ancient Egypt?

Notes:

• What's up with Sawyer's beard? This kept bothering the hell out of me the whole episode.
• When one of the hostiles fired his weapon toward Sawyer, it appeared that a bullet went toward him but didn't hit him.
• The mechanic that Sawyer asks where Juliet is has a name tag on his jumpsuit that says Tom. This could possibly be a younger Tom, Zeke, Mr. Friendly, if you will.
• Though I hate the relationship stuff, it's nice to see Sawyer happy and not being used.

I liked this episode, but the stupid love crap makes me want to vomit. I was really hoping that aspect of the show was over now.