The Lost Diary

Back again with another edition of the "Lost" diary. Hard to believe that after tonight we'll only have two more episodes left before a 13 week hiatus. On one hand, no "Lost" will suck. On the other hand, "Daybreak" looks cool and I am a huge Taye Diggs fan (fellow Syracuse grad). But 13 weeks? That's like trying to quit smoking cold turkey.

So yesterday morning I received two nearly identical instant messages from friends of mine. The message was simple: this better be good. "Lost" has had three episodes that have been below par (except for "those five minutes") -- and the ratings have echoed that. This episode might be the most anticipated non-premiere or finale so far.

As always, I gather with a group of friends to watch the show and keep track of what happens. Tonight's crew: Ari, Lauren (aka Sawyer's future ex-wife) and April. On with the show ...

9:00 -- We open up on Desmond as he stares at Claire and Aaron, no doubt pondering the future. His offer to fix Claire's roof are shot down -- just a guess, but I am thinking they should have listened to him.

9:02 -- Jack is still in captivity, watching cartoons and seemingly fighting psychological warfare with psychological warfare. I think he might be getting to Juliet. Meanwhile, the Others are a little pissed about Sun shooting Colleen. Understandable.

9:04 -- "Sounding a little stuffy there, Chinatown." Sawyer. Seriously, Sawyer must subscribe to Netflix or something.

9:05 -- The Others are all in a frenzy trying to save Colleen. Minor prediction: they need Jack to save her.

9:08 -- Sawyer is plotting his escape from captivity using the bear reward game. Sawyer's plan is great and all, but, once again, he doesn't know the Others are listening. I don't like his chances.

9:10 -- Sawyer flashback time and he's in prison -- one con too many I guess. I notice Kim Dickens among the list of guest stars. She played the victim in Sawyer's long con last season. I am guessing she's the reason he's in jail.

9:11 -- Odds Sawyer ends up with the $10 million somehow? I am saying 100%.

9:13 -- Sawyer's attempt to outsmart Henry Gale didn't work in the slightest. As Sawyer takes a beating, Lauren yells out, "Don't break his face!" The lesson, as always, everyone watches "Lost" for different reasons.

9:14 -- I don't have an official list of "worst things I can possibly imagine," but waking up strapped to a bed with Henry Gale lurking over me would definitely be among the top five. And the "being stabbed in the chest with a needle" thing didn't help either.

9:19 -- So the new guy is a golfer. Almost four episodes in and the guy has had like three lines. Does anyone know his name is Paolo without looking it up? Oh, and his golf swing sucks.

9:20 -- What in the name of holy hell is Henry Gale doing to that bunny?

9:21 -- Ok, now that Henry Gale has explained to Sawyer that he is the human version of the movie "Speed," we have to ask, is he telling the truth? If my theory about the Others needing Jack to save Colleen is true, then they don't have the medical know-how to put in a pacemaker. So, I am going with no.

9:23 -- Back in the cage, Sawyer's first heart-rate test doesn't come from physical confrontation, but from Kate being half naked. I don't have anything strapped to my heart, but I am pretty sure a naked Evangeline Lilly would kill me, too. Lauren says, "This is the best episode for everyone."

9:29 -- Yup, Cassidy is back. She's the one who put Sawyer in jail and guess what? Sawyer's got a daughter. Didn't see that coming. Let's just say he didn't take the news well.

9:31 -- Now Kate is trying to break out through a magical hole in the bars of her cage. Yeah, she's gonna kill Sawyer.

9:32 -- Juliet needs Jack's help. Score one for me, a minor one, but I'll take my victories where I can get them.

9:33 -- Great move to turn on the sirens when the Others move Jack. They think of everything.

9:34 -- There is some debate in the room as to whether Jack should save Colleen or barter his services for his release. The guy is a doctor, he saves people. It's just what he does, it's not in his character to NOT save someone. They cut to a shot of Henry Gale and he has this look on his face as if this were all a test. Let's see how this plays out.

9:35 -- R.I.P. Colleen.

9:36 -- Pickett didn't take his woman's death too well and Lauren isn't taking Sawyer's beating well either. Kate tells Pickett she loves Sawyer. Odds she meant it? Eh, I'll go 50/50.

9:40 -- After watching the latest exchange in jail, I decided to go back to something I wrote during "The Long Con" episode from last season. The definition of the long con, according to Sawyer: "It works by getting someone to ask you to do something like it's their idea, but it's not their idea, it's your idea." Hmmmmm ...

9:42 -- So Kate doesn't love Sawyer, but she's not exactly going to leave him behind either. "I only said that so they'd stop hitting you," Kate. Ouch, that one hurt.

9:44 -- Cut to Henry Gale watching Kate and Sawyer. The man is like a puppeteer. Dance puppets, dance!

9:45 -- "Who am I here to save?" Jack asks. Kind of played out the way I thought it would. I am also guessing it's Henry Gale who is sick -- that would make the most sense. Also, Juliet is a fertility doctor, which is interesting on a few levels. Why do the Others steal all the kids? And is she in someway responsible for Sun being pregnant?

9:51 -- Desmond is building something, probably related to his earlier comments about Claire's roof. Odds that thing protects a tree from falling?

9:52 -- What would the bolt of lightening hit if it didn't hit Desmond's little art project?

9:53 -- Ok, again with the waking up to Henry Gale. This is definitely going to give me nightmares.

9:54 -- And Sawyer got the money. Except he used it to bargain his way out of jail and, predictably, give some money to his daughter.

9:55 -- Whenever the last five minutes involves Henry Gale, I get a little giddy. Not sure what that says about me.

9:56 -- The pacemaker thing was a hoax. No real surprise there, but when Henry Gale tells you something, you never know whether or not to believe him. He could tell me the sky was blue and I wouldn't know what to think.

9:58 -- So the Others took Kate, Jack and Sawyer to a whole different island? This only builds upon my frustration about how little exploration of the island the Losties have done. They didn't notice a whole other island? Of all the implausible things this show has thrown at us, this one seems to bother the room the most.

9:59 -- "You're pretty good Sawyer. We're a lot better," Henry Gale.

So what did we learn this week?

The key to every good con is to pick at a person's weakness, and now Sawyer has one in Kate ... The Others need Jack to save someone's life (is this what Jack is supposed to do "when the time comes?") ... Desmond is still honing his soothsayer abilities ... There is more than one island ...

Anyone frustrated with the first three episodes will probably find reasons to hate this one too. The flashback was just average; interesting, but predictable. The Others continue to screw with the Losties in ways I don't understand. I am of the belief that the Others aren't bad guys, as they say themselves. So why all the secrecy and mystery and conning? If you need Jack to perform spinal surgery, just ask. Makes no sense. If they were just a little more forthcoming, none of this would be necessary.

Oh, and when are we going to see Desmond's girlfriend again? Kinda curious what that is all about.

I give this episode a B-. It was the kind of episode that doesn't answer a whole lot, but does set things up for future episodes. But how many setups can we endure?

The question of the week: When we finally find out what the Others are up to (which, at this rate, might be in the year 2012) will we learn that they are good or evil?

Posted by Daniel at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

Welcome back to week two of the "Lost" diary, I am your "Lost" tour guide Daniel. With last week's mildly disappointing (to me at least) premiere behind us, gotta say I am pretty psyched for this week's episode to see what some of our other castaways are up to.

Going back to last week for a second, I got a few comments about my remark that I threw up after Jack asked about his ex-wife at the end of the episode. Look, I get choked up by television more times than I care to admit, and "Lost" has certainly done it to me from time to time, but last week's attempt at drawing out emotion was just silly.

Let's look at the situation: you survive a plane crash and spend the next two months being terrorized by "monsters" and a gang of island inhabitants known as the Others. Then they kidnap you and your friends and drug you. One of them shows you a file with everything you have ever done in your life in it and asks you if you want to know anything ... and you ask if your ex is happy? Are you kidding me? How about, "Hey, what's with the crazy black smoke monster?" Or maybe, "Um, what did you do with the children you kidnapped?" It's just bad TV, plain and simple.

As always, I watch "Lost" with a group of friends and keep track of what happens. Tonight I am joined by Ari, Lauren, Matt, April, Dana and Jason. On with the show ...

9:00 -- It's Sun flashback time -- or should I say Lil' Sun flashback time. The title of the episode isn't too hard to figure out this time, as Lil' Sun broke a glass ballerina and blamed it on the maid.

9:04 -- Jack is still on lockdown in the aquarium and he's not in a very talkative mood. Juliet went back to see Henry Gale (who I officially refuse to call Ben) and he is watching Jack (and some other areas of the island) on a string of monitors. They are interrupted by another Other (the fantastic Paula Malcomson from "Deadwood") with news that "the Iraqi" has a sailboat. This has Henry Gale very worried, something we haven't seen before. "I want that boat," he tells Colleen. Something tells me what Henry Gale wants, Henry Gale gets.

9:08 -- Sawyer and Kate are being led somewhere by a gang of Others when they are interrupted by Colleen. Seems like she is rousing up a posse. Over on the boat, Sun apologizes to Jin...

9:10 -- But it seems like she has a lot more to apologize for. That two-timer! She was banging her English instructor. And she just got caught by her father. Serves her right. Is Jae the father of Jin's baby? Would explain a lot.

9:13 -- Sawyer and Kate are being led through more of the Others camp. They've been given jobs and Sawyer was introduced to the taser. From now on, I am calling Colleen's boyfriend Mr. Taser.

9:18 -- Sun's dad has just asked Jin to kill the man Sun has been sleeping with. Jin tried to say no, but you don't say no to Sun's dad. Also, I am now pretty sure I could write a movie that takes place in Korea -- just use the words "honor" and "shame" a lot.

9:19 -- The question I have for the remainder of this episode: Will Jin find out about Sun's affair? I'm going with yes.

9:20 -- Sayid plans on docking the boat at an "abandoned" dock ... but seeing as we saw last year's season finale, we know different. Then he promises Jin it's safe -- the kiss of death.

9:21 -- Alex, Rousseau's abducted daughter, sneaks up to talk to Kate and asks about Karl. "You're not even supposed to be in that cage?" Is there a different cage they are supposed to be in? Lauren is quietly chanting, "Make out, make out, make out." I've said it before: we all watch "Lost" for different reasons.

9:23 -- "That would be part of the lying you mentioned." -- Sayid. If I am ever kidnapped, I want Sayid to be the one to find me. Or Jeremy Sisto. But seeing as "Kidnapped" is getting the heave-ho, I'll take Sayid.

9:29 -- Pretty heated discussion I just read between Jin and Sun. The lesson, as always, don't marry the daughter of a Korean warlord if you aren't prepared to kill the guy he catches your wife in bed with.

9:31 -- Jin's caught on to what Sun and Sayid were planning, and he's pissed (shamed, maybe?) but he's down to help.

9:33 -- Is now a good time to ask what the Others are building/digging/trying to find? Actually it isn't, because Sawyer just kissed Kate in a way that made Lauren make a noise I have never heard her make before. After beating down a few Others, Sawyer drops the gun he picked up because Juliet has one pointed at Kate. I don't know what to make of Juliet just yet, but I am leaning towards bad girl at the moment.

9:36 -- Sayid and Jin are hiding in the forest. What they don't know is that the Others want the boat. Sun is on the boat, staying "safe." Let's see how this plays out...

9:37 -- For those of you that said "badly," you are correct.

9:40 -- Lauren has requested we re-watch the Sawyer/Kate kiss later. She describes the kiss as "very romantic. Hot, sweaty and dirty, but really romantic."

9:41 -- Jin begins "delivering the message" to Jae. I am guessing that somewhere in the pleading for his life, Jae apologizes for sleeping with Sun.

9:42 -- Nope, Jae got off easy.

9:43 -- Scratch that. No he didn't.

9:44 -- Colleen, staring down the barrel of Sun's gun, says the Others are not the enemy, but that if Sun shoots her, that is what they'll become. Does anyone else think that speech sounds a little like the Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars"? "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." Anyone?

9:45 -- Bang, bang. Well, guess we'll find out. Sun's shooting draws cheers from the crowd.

9:46 -- Sun manages to escape from the boat and after a Korean version of Marco Polo we get -- what feels to me -- our 10th "Jin and Sun get reunited" moment.

9:50 -- Sun's dad says that Jae "must have felt great shame." See what I told you? This writing for Korean people is apparently very easy.

9:53 -- "You taste like fish biscuits" -- Kate. Great conversation here between the two, but one thing stands out and that's Sawyer's assessment of Juliet. I trust him on these matters so I am now strongly of the belief that Juliet is a bad, bad woman. Oh, and Henry Gale was listening the whole time.

10:00 -- The entire time the last five minutes of the episode was on, I just stared blankly at the screen, jaw wide open. Wow. Ok, where do I begin? Benjamin Linus, pleasure to meet you. What are the Others still doing on the island if they can leave? What does Henry want Jack to do "when the time comes"? Did Walt and Michael really go home?

Wow, ok, so what did we learn? Let's recap...

Henry Gale's real name is Benjamin Linus and he says he's been on the island his whole life ... He claims they can get off the island at any time ... Sawyer is always up to something ... Juliet is to be feared just as much, if not more than, Henry Gale ... The Others are on the island for a reason ... Sun isn't the good girl we thought she was.

Last week we learned the Others had contact with the outside world, via the file Juliet had on Jack. This week we learned either they have Fed Ex or TiVo because they had the World Series on TV for Jack to watch. Tons -- and I mean tons -- of new questions were posed this week, but they came as the result of great truths learned: The Others are here for a reason. What that reason is... I am dying to find out.

This episode was about a B for the first 55 minutes, but obviously it's an A+ for the last five.

Ok, I'm going to try something new this week to spawn some discussion. Let's call it the question of the week. This week's question: You read my take on Juliet, so what do you think -- good or bad? Sound off and I'll see you next week.

Posted by Daniel at 10:26 PM | Permalink

It's that time of year again -- "Lost" is back!!! Welcome to the "Lost" Diary.

Here's how this works: Every week I gather with a group of friends to watch "Lost." I keep a running diary of what happens on the show, throw out some theories and jokes along the way, and hopefully the rest of the peanut gallery chips in with some good stuff. Maybe you do the same thing each week, maybe you don't have any friends who watch "Lost" -- either way, this is the place for all people to sound off on the most addictive show on TV.

I am joined this week by the usuals and a couple of newbies: Ari (our host), Lauren (the "Lost" Nazi) and Matt (be sure to check him out on the new CBS online dating show "Hook Me Up" beginning next week! Couldn't resist.) along with April and Sonia making their debuts.

Enough with the foreplay, let's get to the Diary...

9:00 -- Previously on "Lost" is very Others-centric. Obviously the theme for season three is the Others and I couldn't be more excited. Right now if I had to rank the best characters on TV, Henry Gale would be top 5. Charlie would be somewhere around 10,451.

9:01 -- The opening scene mirrors the opening scene from last season. A character we don't know doing seemingly normal things. Except this time, there are other people involved. And then Oceanic Flight 815 crashes and the Others spring to action. This scene actually goes with my idea for a Henry Gale spin-off show. I picture Gale as a modern day Archie Bunker in an updated version "All in the Family." Except instead of Edith, he lives with his partner, Mr. Friendly.

9:07 -- So apparently it's Jack flashback week and he is stalking his ex-wife. Then he wakes up, laying on a table. Kate and Sawyer wake up as well, in different places, but facing similar predicaments. Jack meets Juliet, Kate gets Mr. Friendly and Sawyer gets some guy.

9:16 -- Another Jack flashback with Julie Bowen. Since I have nothing interesting to say about this uninteresting scene, allow me to vent for a second: how big is this island? The Others were living in a little community and our heroes never came close to finding it? There could be a Hilton on this island and we might not know it.

9:18 -- Juliet and Jack have a little conversation while Kate puts on the dress and goes to have breakfast on the beach with Henry Gale. "The next two weeks are going to be very unpleasant," he tells Kate. I tend to believe what he says. At this point it's just a matter of whether Michael Emerson, who plays Henry Gale, wins the Emmy for best actor or best supporting actor.

9:27 -- Jack is trying to figure out who stole his wife and now he's accusing his dad. I can't decide if I would want my doctor to be a crazed obsessive or not. Better than having him be a drunk I guess.

9:29 -- Juliet brought Jack, now hallucinating apparently, a grilled cheese sandwich and some Dharma water. Juliet takes a bite of Jack's sandwich on her way out -- nice move. She's breaking him down, slowly.

9:33 -- Chaci just helped Sawyer break out of his cage, but unfortunately he ran into Juliet and her stun gun. Apparently Chaci's name is Karl.

9:39 -- Juliet returns trying to bring Jack food. Jack goes to sit in the corner so she can bring him food. You know as soon as she starts to open that door, Jack is going to take her down.

9:41 -- Jack follows his dad to an AA meeting and subsequently has a breakdown in front of some strangers.

9:46 -- And Jack takes Juliet down as soon as she opens the door. This will not end well for him. Yeah, Juliet knocked him out. Nice move. I bet if the Others would just tell the castaways what's going on, there would be no fighting. But I bet they have their reasons.

9:50 -- Sawyer is apparently dumber than bears -- kinda already thought that. And now from all indications, Sawyer and Kate are all lovey dovey. Sawyer offers her some food, but didn't she just have bacon and eggs with Henry Gale?

9:53 -- Apparently Jack is being kept in the "Hydra," an underground aquarium of sorts. Juliet avoids questions about being part of the Dharma Initiative and apparently has a "this is your life" file on Jack. Tons of questions abound, but the one I have is this: If she had this file, why was she asking about the plane and Jack's dad?

9:56 -- So Jack drove his dad back to drinking, and, in a way, killed him.

9:58 -- Jack wants to know if his ex is happy. I missed what happened after that because I threw up.

9:59 -- And Juliet broke Jack down. Advantage: Others.

People watch and judge "Lost" for different reasons. For me, I always like to ask "What did I learn this week?" and judge the episode on that. The show raises questions each week, so I don't think it's unfair to ask for answers. So let's try and break it down:

Henry Gale's real name is Ben ... Kate (and maybe Jack and Sawyer, too) are in for a world of hurt ... The island is HUGE ... The shark and polar bear we've seen previously were probably kept in the aquarium and cages, respectively ... The Others read Stephen King.

All in all, I give this episode C+. We didn't learn much and the flashbacks brought nothing to the table. It was the kind of episode that is good unto itself, but doesn't help us much in the overall scheme of things or advance the story.

Hard to believe we only get five more until the show goes on hiatus.

Posted by Daniel at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)