Some Sad News…

So, this was announced a few weeks back but I was too busy writing about Lost to mention it, however it seems that the CW have cancelled Reaper, meaning that the episode that aired on Tuesday was the last we will see of it. Apparently ABC who produced the show are looking to find it a new home (now I don’t claim to understand the world of TV but don’t ABC have their own channel???) however I don't think people are holding out much hope. 

In possibly even worse news, the Kuzuis are talking about a new Buffy Movie. Now, don’t get me wrong, Buffy and Angel were awesome and I have seen both at least 3 times each, however what made them great was not Fran and Kaz… Nope, it was Joss, Tim Minear, David Greenwalt, Marti Noxon, David Fury, Jane Espenson, the list goes on and that is exactly what this film, if it ever comes to light wont have. Fran Kuzui directed the original (terrible) Buffy movie and was a driving force being getting Fox on board with the Tv Show (So I read at any rate.) However her decision to attempt a solo flick without Joss or the other writers  seems doomed to failure.

On top of not taking on Joss there is talk of the movie not featuring any of the original cast and characters which really begs the question why bother at all. Interviews I have read with Anthony Head and Sarah Michelle Geller certainly suggest they are not on board and apparently the most anyone has heard from creator Joss is “I hope it’s awesome.” The main problem I have with the concept is that you have to see it to go “Yup, it was crap.” but by then you’ve paid your money and made it a hit with a sequel and a cartoon mini series!

Finally I want to end this mini update on a high note and so here goes… THEY’RE BACK! Yes, at long long last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original series from 1987) has made it to Britain on DVD. A special 25th (I know the figures don't add up, I’m assuming its a comic book anniversary) anniversary edition compiling the first two seasons of the original series has arrived in the UK. I can’t vouch for the DVD yet, but I can for the episodes. I’ve watched all the episodes so far released in the US and the first and second series are some of the best.

Even better, maybe, the first series never saw the light of day in  the Uk except as clips in the poorly edited “How It All Began.” on VHS. The episode was composed of clips from the first 8 episodes, the first 5 of season 1 and three from season 2 all mushed together and it made very little sense. Now you can see the entire origin story in excellent DVD quality as you take a trip down memory lane. The set contains all 5 episodes from season 1 and all 13 episodes from season 2 with the bonus 4 episodes from season 10 (which makes no sense as the animation is completely different, as is the tone of the show, but hey, they’re free episodes and its turtles…!)

So to finish, the shameless plug, you can buy the 25th Anniversary set from My Amazon Store, it’s the same as buying it from Amazon except I get 5%… hint hint… Anyway, I hope to be back soon with more TV news, stay tuned!

The First Evil…

Ok, so welcome to part three of the Lost finale where I will try to   make some sense of what exactly is going on in Carlton and Damien’s heads. If you missed parts 1 and 2 you catch them here and here

So, Joss Whedon fans might recognise the title of this blog. Throughout this final episode I found myself thinking, “This feels familiar” and it wasn’t until I re-watched the episode with my mum (of all people) that she pointed out where we’d seen it before… Buffy! Remember the season 7 baddie, The First Evil? An evil entity that could take on the form of any dead person it wanted? Ringing any bells? That’s right, Man #2, the man I suspect to be Jacob’s brother (possibly called Esau.), the man who has taken the form of John Locke in order to get close enough to Jacob to kill him. We can now safely assume that he is also Christian Shepherd, Harper (When she appeared to Juliet) and possibly even Walt, although I have not yet figured out how, unless that is why Walt is “special”. More importantly though I’m almost definitely positive that he was, in fact, Dead Alex who conned Ben into doing everything John asked.

This raises a question about the relationship between Jacob, Esau and the Black Smoke. Firstly I am assuming they are, in fact, three different entities and that the Black Smoke is under the control of neither man. Although if I am right that Dead Alex is ‘Esau’ then the Black Smoke retreated from Alex and I although I doubt it was working for him it certainly could have been afraid of him. If this is the case then the Black Smoke is a lesser entity than either Jacob or ‘Esau’. Also, if this is the case we can assume that Smokey didn’t finish judging Ben and that possibly it would have killed him for his crimes. Maybe ‘Esau’ knew that Smokey couldn’t kill Ben while he was around (hence it not coming when called) and so was not worried about losing the instrument he needed to kill Jacob. (I’m assuming he couldn’t kill Jacob himself as he would have done so that first flashback on the beach.)

So, what about the whispers? The whispers came before Harper’s appearance (in Season 4 Episode 6 “The Other Woman”) and if Harper was ‘Esau’ then are the whispers related to him? In that episode Harper tried to help Juliet stop Daniel and Charlotte who were planning to take a weapon from Ben, the poison gas. If Ben could not defend himself and was captured then he would be useless to ‘Esau’. It’s just a theory, but there were other times too when the ‘Esau’ tried to stop people coming to the island. For example, he was unhappy that the Black Rock was there. Also I believe he may have assumed the form of the seemingly indestructible Mikhail (remember eyepatch?) and blown up the Looking Glass station to prevent Charlie from letting Widemore bring his freighter to the island. If you take this a step further and assume that Jacob wants the opposite, he could have been the one who dislocated Desmond in time, saving him from the imploding hatch and giving him the insight into the future, so he could save Charlie, the only person capable of bringing the freighter to the island, through his musical background. Taking it a step further and assuming that the two entities, Jacob and ‘Esau’ are in fact brothers, then would it not stand to reason that they both have the same power, to assume the forms of dead people? So could Yemi appearing to Echo have been Jacob? And the same for the dead people who talk to Hurley?

Anyway, if the whispers are not ‘Esau’ then we have to assume there is a forth entity on the island and that might just be a little too much. Also Ben’s cryptic comment in episode 12 “Dead is Dead” to Rousseau “Every time you hear whispers, run the other way…” seems to suggest that Ben knows what the whispers are, or at least that they are not a friendly entity, especially to those who aren’t supposed to be there.

Speaking of Dead is Dead, what do you make of this image on the Temple wall?

I notice three points of interest, I even circled ‘em and numbered ‘em and everything.

1. Clearly we have Jacob’s statue, which I assume represents him, feeding the Black Smoke, like a pet, or a guard dog.
2. Behind Jacob there is a snake, poised to bite his back. This I assume is the entity I am calling Esau. Interestingly the Snake in the old testament also represented the Devil.
3. The final point is odd as I can’t really make it out but can anyone else see what look’s like a drowning man? The squiggle beneath could easily be the sea with the odd oval shaped bit being the island. Is this a depiction of the Oceanic 815 plane crash on the wall on an ancient temple?

Interesting no? The image could be of the coming War, with the 815ner’s trapped in the middle? There are also various pictographs around the edge of this image, one above for example is an all seeing eye, possibly suggesting the presence of someone else who is watching to see who the winner will be in the final conflict (Isaac?). After all, it seems that Jacob and ‘Esau’ have been waging this conflict for some time now, but as Jacob says “It only ends once. everything else is just progress.”

So I pose the question then, if it is Jacob that brings people to the island, like the Black Rock, and it is ‘Esau’ who wants to keep them away, then, who are the Others? Are they Jacob’s only successful settlers? Did Jacob bring the Dharma people too? Was that his attempt to supplant the Others with a better more civilised group? If so, then did the Other’s go over to the other side? Join Esau? Was that why Widmore insisted on killing Rousseau’s party, to stop another group being brought in to take their place. Certainly the 815ner did a very good job of wiping out most of the Others, those, at least, that were not at the temple. Does ‘Esau’ have his own group of Others, or does he rely on his ability to assume the forms of the dead and manipulate others?

And what about those Others at the Temple? Why were they chosen? How were they chose, are they in fact Jacob’s chosen people? We have had many theories on Lost about the island being purgatory, however now I am willing to suggest that it is something much more than that, I believe it might just be the Garden of Eden. Or at least within the Temple walls is. Certainly it seems only the pure were allowed to enter, children. Is Jacob trying to start over again, is that what he means by progress? If so, and Smokey is a security system, when it retreated from ‘Esau’ could it not have been returning to the Garden to warn them he was coming, you know, to keep the Snake out of the Garden? And if it is the Garden and Jacob and ‘Esau’ are brothers, could they no be Kain and Able?

Just supposing I’m right, then I think that the island wanted Eko to teach at the temple, to show the new Children the ways of the world. However first he needed to realise that what he did was wrong, that killing was wrong, no matter what and when the island saw that Eko could never be the person it needed… Well you know the rest.

And, still supposing I am right, that the island is the Garden of Eden, then I propose that Jacob is not the be all and end all, but instead he is a guardian (hence living beneath the guardian statue.) and gate keeper, like St. Peter and it is his presence that has stopped the Snake from entering the Garden and that is why ‘Esau’ would want him dead.

Woa! This is getting heavy now no? Right then. let’s wrap this up.

Somehow ‘Esau’ has stopped islander’s being able to reproduce, which means that Jacob has no more Children for the Garden, so Jacob brings down 815 and the Others take the Children. ‘Esau’ however sees the opportunity to corrupt the new group and turn them against Jacob’s chosen people. He takes on the guise of Christian Shepherd and convinces Locke to move the island. Unfortunately Ben does it and instead of getting rid of the chosen leader of the Others (possible saviour) he loses his instrument to bring down Jacob. However because of the botched experiments by the Dharma folk Christen can still put things right. He gets Locke off the island by conning him into pushing the wheel. Somehow he knows that Locke will die off-island, thus solving the possible saviour problem. However Jacob interferes and convinces at least Hurley and Ilana to come to the island, although he could possible be behind several of the incidents that bring back Jack and co (Jack's attempted suicide perhaps?) When Ben discovers that John really does know how to return to the island he kills him, to stop him from taking over as leader. ‘Esau’ then uses Locke and Alex to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob, while Jacob transports Jack and co. back to 1977 to act as a reset switch, knowing that he can’t stop what’s about to happen, not without John Locke anyway. ‘Esau’ then uses Richard to secure an audience with Jacob. As Richard points out  “Only the leader can request an audience with Jacob and the island can only have one leader at a time.” But ‘Esau’ cannot actually harm Jacob himself, which is why he needs Ben. Jacob is killed and his dying words are, “they are coming…” And I can only assume that ‘They’ are Jack and company…

Right, well that’s all I can get my head around, until next year this has been My Two Cents on Lost.

It was all a dream…

… Jack Shepherd awakens, his forehead drenched with sweat, fear gripping his heart like a vice. He can hear the sound of the shower in the distance but in his disoriented state it doesn’t register. Then who should walk out of the bathroom but his father! Thank God, that whole island thing was just a dream…!

Ok, so, it’s not exactly Dallas, but this season is about trying to stop the crash, 27 years before it happens and assuming the 815er’s are successful we could be looking at starting over back at season one next January and if that happens then what? Right then, enough pondering, lets get down to business. By the way, if you haven’t seen this weeks finale of Lost “The Incident.” stop reading NOW, I will be revealing the end of this episode!

This is the second of three posts I will be doing about the finale of season 5, this post will cover island time, you can view the post on Flashbacks here. 

So we open with Kate, Juliet and Sawyer on the sub with Miss  Austen trying to convince Mr Ford to go back to the island… Now, I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure a Submarine is fairly difficult to operate. A few episodes back Sawyer suggested they could commandeer it, how exactly, they don’t have anyone with that kind of experience. Kate warns the other two about Jack’s plan and Juliet changes her mind about a life with Sawyer and decides she needs to return to the island. The three of them get free and hold a gun to the captain’s head, a gesture that might be halfway scary if they weren’t underwater with no way of escape and no possible way of knowing how to operate the sub should they shoot the captain… When will these scriptwriters learn…

Anyway, down beneath the Dharma Initiative Sayid and Jack, following the instructions in Daniel’s journal, remove the plutonium core from the hydrogen bomb and then they shield themselves from the radiation by putting it in a cloth rucksack.  Yup, this is the same bomb that gave plenty of Others severe radiation burns because of the cracked casing and had to be buried but is now perfectly safe. Let’s put it this way, if this was 24, both Jack and Sayid would be dead before the day is out.

Out at the Swan Chang has shutdown construction. Radzinsky shows up and speaks his famous last words, so to speak, “I came to this island to change the world and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” In fact, if what we hear about the energy in the Swan is correct, then Stuart didn’t change the world so much as nearly  bring it to a cataclysmic end.

Meanwhile Locke is still leading his pilgrimage to Jacob and Sun and Ben take some time out to explain things for those who haven’t been paying attention to the last four seasons. “Who is Jacob?” Sun asks. “He’s in charge of this island.” What does that mean? Is Jacob the arbiter of the rules? Or is he merely the King of the Hill? The dictator who runs the island, makes demands, pushes the leader to do whatever particular whim takes his fancy that day? Sun asks Ben what Jacob is like and Ben replies, in the beautifully school boy-like manner he has developed since his dead daughter appeared to him. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen him.” A statement we later learn to be the truth. (Shock Gasp)

Locke and Richard, meanwhile, are discussing Locke’s miraculous return from the grave. Richard still can’t believe it and Locke reminds him that he can’t age so why is he so amazed by a man returned from death? Richard attributes both occurrences to Jacob and I wonder, should Locke kill Jacob and he is responsible for these miracles, would John not just die and Richard not just age (however many hundred years) in that instant? Or are Jacob’s powers one off gifts that do not need to be maintained? Before they set off again Locke tells Richard that when all is done with Jacob they will have to kill the passengers from flight 316.

Cue Ilana and the other Shadow of the Statue-ites rowing across from the Hydra island, the flightcase and Frank in tow. Beaching the outrigger, Bram, Ilana’s number one, asks why they brought Frank along and questions if she believes he might be a candidate. Now, of the four people that Abaddon insisted must be on the freighter only Frank has not been shown to have been born on the island. Which leads me to believe that he was. Also, if the Statue-ites know that John intends to kill Jacob then maybe they think Jacob will be resurrected, maybe in a new body??? Whatever the case Jacob recruited Ilana for something and she is insisting  Frank come along too. The pilot asks them what they have in the flight case and Ilana shows him, “Terrific.” Frank replies sarcastically.

Locke and Ben discuss, very openly, John’s plans for Jacob, loud enough for the random extras walking by to hear I’m sure. Ben confesses that his daughter told him to do everything Locke told him to do without question… Why Ben, why would you tell John that? He has always been so good at keeping things a secret, why would he give the man he surely intends to overthrow, such a hold over him? Locke turns around and smiles, “Good, I wont need to convince you then.” “Convince me of what John?” “I’m not going to kill Jacob, Ben, you are!”

Cut to Richard, Jack, Sayid and Ellie getting ready to exit the tunnels. Richard picks up a sledgehammer in a very menacing way, but only uses it to smash through a wall into one of the dharma houses. Specifically Horace’s house. Interesting that Horace built his house directly over the bomb and would later go on to build Jacob’s hut. Was Horace a secret Hostile? A worshipper of Jacob? Or was it just coincidence? Anywho Richard knocks Ellie unconscious and tells Jack and Sayid he’s done his bit. But what about Ellie? Somehow she must have been banished from the island, was it because she helped Jack? And is she the outsider that Charles will later father a child with? (i.e. Penny)

Hiding in plain sight Jack and Sayid throw on Dharma uniforms and trot on outside with a nuke strapped the Iraqi’s back. Poor old Roger however recognises Sayid and, unwilling to share his punching bag (young Ben), he shoot’s Sayid in the gut. A firefight erupts and Jack begins to shoot completely randomly, in fact the only thing he actually seems to take aim at is the Dharma van that comes to his rescue. With Hurley at the wheel, Miles and Jin pull the Doc and the dying Iraqi aboard and set off for the Swan.

Meanwhile Sawyer, Juliet and Kate are rowing their way to shore and Sawyer and Kate acting like road-trip buddies is not improving Juliet’s mood. They pull the boat ashore and seconds later Vincent comes bounding out of the bushes to greet them, followed by a voice. “Oh hell no!” Cries Rose, followed by Bernard, stealing Sawyer’s catchphrase “Son of a bitch!”

Sawyer can’t quite believe that Rose and Bernard would choose to leave the group. “I had Jin out, searching the island, grid by  grid.” It seems that Rose and Bernard did not want to be found and it also seems that everybody’s favour Korean doesn’t search all that well as he managed to miss the bungalow Rose and Bernard have built for themselves. Eager to get a move on to stop Jack and his insane “blow up the island” scheme, Juliet asks for the location of the barracks from where they are and the group sets out wishing Rose and Bernard the best of luck. 

Ilana and the other “Good Guys” as Bram puts it, have reached the cabin, where they note the ash circle that rings it has been  disturbed. It would seem then that at some point Jacob moved out of his residence under the statue of Taweret (Who along with being a protector in Egyptian mythology was also the wife of an evil demon of darkness called Apep. The fact that the statue was destroyed seems to point to the island being no longer under her protection. As for her husband, Black Smoke anyone? Or maybe Apep is the one who destroyed the statue?) to the cabin and the circle of ash would seem to be some kind of protection for Jacob. Against what though? What could be powerful enough to scare Jacob away from the hut and who helped by breaking the ash circle? Inside Ilana finds part of a tapestry depicting the statue, letting the Good Guys know where to go next, but before they traipse off into the jungle they torch the cabin to the ground.

Across the Island John Locke leads the Others to the destroyed camp that had once belong to Jack and company. John plonks himself down with Ben and talks about old times, while Sun roots about in Aaron’s crib and finds Charlie’s ring. John asks Ben about the day he took him to the cabin and Ben tells John that he made it all up. This seems like a cop out to me but I do like the way that Ben’s entire complex network of lies has come crashing down about him. I particularly like Ben’s new, what does anything matter attitude, brought on by his vision of Alex, (shame that it is all a con or so I think, more on that next week! )

The now dying Sayid somehow manages to rig the nuke to blow up on impact, despite his condition and his never having done such a thing before, or having any tools to hand at all and he warns Jack that he has to drop the bomb at the exact moment of the incident or all of it will be for nothing. Moments later Hurley slams on the breaks. “Why the hell are we stopping?!” pause, camera pans round to Sawyer, Juliet and Kate standing in the road, guns drawn. (Lovely shot btw) “That’s why…”

Meanwhile the Others have reached the four toed foot and Richard informs Locke that this is where Jacob lives.

Back at the van Jack and Sawyer head off for a heart to heart. Sawyer tells Jack that he could have stopped his daddy killing his mommy had he left the island the year before, but he didn’t because what’s done is done. Jack disagrees and Sawyer demands to know what Jack had done that was so bad that he wanted to blow up the island for a second chance. “I had her…” Jack replies. “Well, damn Doc, she’s standing right on the other side of those trees!” It’s odd isn’t that Sawyer has become the man of reason and logic, the true leader if there ever is such a thing in Lost. But Jack will  not change his mind so Sawyer clocks him one and after one of the most brutal fist fights in Lost history the Red-Neck Con-Man throws the Spinal Surgeon down and begins to strangle him. And he would have done too if Juliet hadn’t called him off.

It seems Jules has had another change of heart and she wants to blow up the island too. Sawyer, quite rightly, demands to know why and Juliet tells him it’s because he looked at Kate. Over reacting much? Your man looks at another woman and you decide to set of a hydrogen bomb? Sawyer tells her that he is with her, no one else, but that’s not enough for Juliet. Once again Juliet seems to know more than she is letting on here, which leads me to think she knows a little bit about the future, maybe her time on the island gave her some insight into the incident, but she seems to know that something terrible is going to happen and twice she tries to avoid it, getting on the sub and trying to stop Jack, only to  change her mind and eventually accept the inevitable.

Back on the beach Sun asks Ben about the statue. Ben replies “I don't know, it was like that when I got here.” Yet another school boy response, followed by another recognition of his loss of power. “You expect me to believe that?” “Not really…” John, Richard and Ben prepare to head inside and  Richard objects to Ben’s inclusion. Locke ignores Richard, calling him a liar, suggesting that Richard just makes up rules (those damn rules!) and maybe Richard is a liar, after all he is the voice of Jacob, but something about Locke’s behaviour isn't sitting right.

Over at the Swan site Miles brings up the point that we’ve all been making, if you can’t change the future, then, most likely, Jack’s bomb will cause the incident. A thought that had apparently not occurred to anyone else. Phil and the security team show up, locked and loaded, making it impossible for Jack to get close enough to the drill shaft to drop the bomb. Luckily, the others, spurred on by Miles’ speech ride to the rescue, even Sawyer has joined up with team Jack. Good old Jimmy La Fleur takes Phil hostage and effectively brings the fire-fight to an end. (Personally, I think Phil is just as expendable as the other dozen dead guards but what do I know?) Chang tries to shut down the drill but the electromagnetism below the Swan is pulling the drill down. Jack drops the bomb and boom! Oh, no, wait, it didn’t go off…

Instead the whole of the drill gets dragged down. Things start flying everywhere and a toolbox hits Sawyer in the head, causing him to release Phil. Phil, seeing his opportunity to be rid of his rival (The Dharma peeps really need a better screening process, what with Roger, Stuart and Phil all being psychopaths!), Phil turns on Sawyer, only to get a steel bar through the chest, bye bye Phil…

Part of the drilling mechanism drops on Chang’s hand and Miles rushes in to save him, possibly then the future has been changed, from where I was sitting Chang’s injury did not seem severe enough to cost him his arm, maybe Miles changed his father’s fate?

Some chains get whipped up into the maelstrom and wrap themselves about Juliet, dragging her into the pit. Sawyer and Kate do their best but Jules has had it. All too late she realises who exactly it is that Sawyer is in love with, before disappearing down the shaft. Although I had a feeling Juliet might know something about the future, something she didn't want to come to pass, I was still fairly shocked that she would be killed off. Having disliked her since season three for being whiney, she had really started to grow on me this season…

Back on the beach Ilana and the other Statue-ites turn up to speak with Richard and to show him what exactly is in the flight case… And wouldn’t you know it, for the second time on Lost, the contents of a box we’ve not been allowed to see inside, are none other than John Locke’s corpse! And if Locke is dead on the beach, then who is inside with Jacob?! That’s right, Man #2 from the flashback at the start of the episode. (More on this next week.)

Jump inside the statue and Ben is finally realising his dream of meeting Jacob, with the imposter Locke right behind him. “Hello Jacob.” Locke smiles. “Well,” Jacob replies. “You found your loophole.” Locke asks Ben to kill Jacob and you can see it on his face that he doesn’t want to, if anything he wants fall down on his knees and worship, but then Jacob just has to speak up. “Ben, you have a choice.” The same thing he said to Hurley about returning to the island. Jacob, apparently offers freewill, but maybe Ben was always destined to kill Jacob, maybe that is why Alex had to die, why Ben had to get sick, why Jacob brought a woman to the island who looked exactly like his lost love but made her see him as repellent? Is it possible that all of those things happened to drive Ben to this?

“What choice?” Ben asks and Jacob makes the fatal mistake of telling Ben he can leave. After all the years of waiting Ben is finally in Jacob’s presence and Jacob wants him to leave?! Ben objects and stabs Jacob, twice, just for good measure. Wounded but not dead the most powerful entity on the island drops to his knees and whispers “They’re coming…” Locke listens and then kicks Jacob into the fire, where he burns up.

Cut back to the hatch, Kate and Jack drag Sawyer away, who is still devastated after his lost love. However, pan down the shaft and who should we find still alive, that’s right, it’s Juliet, with a rock. Now, the 30ft drop down the tunnel didn't set the nuke off, however, somehow, the near dead Juliet believes that a couple of well timed blows might just do the trick… BOOM!

Right then, so we are none the wiser about anything then… The biggest cliff hanger ever in Lost and we cannot possibly know where it will go from here. Did it work? Did we reset back to the start of season 1? Or did Juliet just kill everyone in the blast radius? Are only Sun and Locke the only two surviving members of the original cast? Whatever the case, my questions and theories are too numerous to discuss here, so tune in early next week for the final part of My Two Cents…

Renewed

Ok, just a quick update, the second part of my Lost blog will go up tomorrow, however I just wanted to post this list. I apologise now if the shows you want to know about aren’t here…

Everything I watch has been renewed!

Chuck has definitely got a third season, however it seems only thirteen episodes have been confirmed and possible budget cuts may see one of the cast axed from the show, no word on who that could be though.

Dollhouse too has been renewed for another 13 episodes, despite the odds and FOX’s other new show Fringe will be returning for a second season as well.

On CW Supernatural will return for a fifth season (Can’t wait for the season four DVD’s so I can catch up with Sam and Dean.) No word yet on Reaper which finishes it’s 13 episode run next week.

CBS have renewed the Unit for its fifth season. Heroes too is getting a fourth season and according to EW NBC will be ordering between 18 and 20 episodes so we can probably expect two volumes ,one in the fall and one in the spring.

ABC definitely have Lost returning for its final season which will probably be around 17 episodes, the same as season 5 and apparently they have also renewed Scrubs (despite the finale of the season 8) with Zach Braff and the other series cast returning for at least six episodes. And with the pilot of a new sci-fi series Flash Forward also airing soon on ABC we may have even more to expect from them next year.

Until tomorrow…

Sons of Isaac?

Ok, it’s been four days since I watched it and I’ve been putting off writing this but I can’t do it any longer, so here goes nothing…  The Lost season finale “The Incident.” Being a double episode I’m going to split it up into three parts, this post will be flashbacks, then in the next post I will cover island time and lastly I will posit my season-wide theories on what the hell is going on!

Flashbacks:

So, we open with Jacob and another man sitting on the beach watching the Black Rock bobbing up and down on the horizon. It seems that Jacob brought the Black Rock to the island and the other man is non-to-pleased. In fact he tells Jacob that one day he  will find a loophole and on that day he will kill him. Loophole? Is this where the Rules stem from? Are these two the creators of the rules? Or are they, like the rest of the islanders, trapped by the rules? IMDB lists the two of them as Man #1 and Man #2, however we know that Jacob is Man #1 and I’m willing to bet that if the other can be given a name it will be Esau, the sons of Isaac.

So the link through the flashbacks in this episode is Jacob and we will follow him as he appears to various members of the oceanic 815 crash. First on the list is Kate. Kate and Tom (One of three Tom’s in the show.) are preparing to steal a New Kids on the Block Lunchbox, however Kate messes up and gets caught, only for Jacob to bail her out, saying “You’re not going to steal anymore, are you?”. Of course Kate does steal, in fact she plans a bank robbery to steal the plane Tom is playing with in this episode. So, she lied to Jacob.

Next up is young Sawyer, just after his parents funeral; it might just be me but I think its a mite odd that they had a joint one, considering Sawyer’s Daddy MURDERED his Mommy! That’s one wake I think I’d avoid. Anyway, we cut to little Sawyer sitting on the steps of the Church penning his letter of revenge to Mr. Sawyer (Another Tom) but his pen wont work, cue Jacob with a fresh pen. “I’m very sorry about your mother and father James.” Almost instantly Sawyer’s uncle shows up and admonishes James for writing the letter and tells him he must move on. James promises he will, again, a liar…! Except that this time was it not Jacob who was facilitating James’ revenge? Is Jacob a believer in an eye for an eye? Or is he merely ensuring that Sawyer does go to Australia to track down the man who killed his parents and in doing so ends up on 815?

After Sawyer comes the turn of Sayid and we finally see Nadia’s death. Walking along Sayid insists they celebrate their anniversary. Now, I’m sure he told Hurley that it had only been nine months… Anyway, Nadia is paying no attention and is searching for her sunglasses as she crosses the road on a zebra crossing. Sayid however has stopped just on the curb to help Jacob find where he is going. Nadia calls out that she has found her sunglasses, the next minute a car knocks her down dead. I had always assumed she’s been shot! Jacob doesn't speak to Sayid after this. I have two theories. The first is that Jacob stopped Sayid crossing the road to save his life, even at the cost of Nadia’s. The second is that, had Jacob not stopped Sayid he could have saved Nadia’s life and Jacob needed her dead to give Sayid the motivation to return to the island. At this time I’m not willing to commit to either theory.

Next is the turn of the only non-815er Ilana. She has clearly been in some form of accident and her face is all bandaged up. Jacob comes to visit her and they seem to know each other. Is this because they have met before or is Ilana the example of the true believer? The one that would recognise her, and I use the term tentatively, saviour, no matter what guise he appeared in? “I’m here because I need your help.” Jacob states and she agrees to. I can only assume then that Jacob cures her, much like did with Locke, Jin and Rose and if that is true then why not Ben? Was Ben’s cancer a test, like Peter denying knowing Jesus or Judas and the thirty pieces of silver? Was it something that had to happen in order for Jacob to be assured of Jack’s loyalty, something, we will see in my next blog, it was imperative to ascertain.

Flashback to Jacob sat on a bench reading a book entitles “Everything that Rises must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor. After some quick research (and I mean quick.) I discovered that this book is a collection of short stories, one of which is called Revelation. The following is quoted from Wikipedia.

“Mrs. Turpin strikes up a conversation with the pleasant woman about the importance of being refined and having a good disposition. They also talk about being grateful and how it is important to be thankful for the good things you have been given in life.”

“Before she leaves, she whispers a powerful message to Mrs.Turpin. Just loud enough for her to hear, she says, "Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog." Mrs. Turpin finds this comment very unsettling, and she wonders if it may have been a message from God, who may be trying to intervene in her life.”

You can read the whole thing here. It is seldom the case that books  in Lost have no relevance and this story certainly seems to indicate that “God” may be talking to the 815ers through Jacob. Also the top quote, about being thankful for what you have, certainly applies to all the characters in Lost and it was because they weren’t thankful that they ended up “Lost” in the first place. For example; Claire not thankful for her baby, Charlie not thankful that his brother was living clean, Hurley not thankful for his millions, the list could be endless.

And so it is that Locke falls from the window behind Jacob, who then gets up and very casually lays his hand on the “dead” Locke’s shoulder and we can safely assume revives him. In effect Jacob gives Locke the gift of life, even though he remains paralysed, but is John thankful, nope, does he end up on the island, yup! (see endless!) It could also be viewed that Jacob gives Locke just enough healing to give him his motivation for ending up on flight 815.

Next, Jin and Sun’s wedding day and yes, you guessed it, Jacob showed up there too! Looking somewhat out of place, as the entire wedding party was Korean. Did Jacob get an invite? Is Mr Kwon in someway embroiled in the island war? Jacob congratulates the newly weds and tells them to cherish their love. It was at this point that I begin to question Jacob’s motives. Kate stole  after he told her not to, Sawyer killed an innocent man, Jin and Sun broke up after their love managed to survive the social/class divide, add into that the fact that Jacob may have allowed Nadia to be killed and you have to wonder if Jacob is really the good guy in all of this!

So it’s Jack’s turn and its the flashback we all know word for word, the one where he counts to five. Only it isn’t as fairytale as Jack made it sound. In fact, it is Christian Shepherd who tells Jack to take a time out and get over his fear. Afterwards Jack goes and punches the vending machine to make himself feel better, before starting on his father for embarrassing him in front of his team. “I know you don’t believe in me, but I need them to.” Jack diggs. “Are you sure I’m the one who doesn’t believe in you?” His father retorts and that’s it, that’s Jack’s problem. He doesn’t believe in himself and that is why he failed as leader on the island. He spent too much time seeking everybody else’s approval instead being convinced that he could do what needed to be done. But by the end of this season he overcomes that flaw…

Anyway, Jacob comes round the corner with an Apollo bar “One of these yours?” Jack responds with “The machine got stuck.” Jacob smiles “I guess it just needed a little push.” Is that what Jacob is doing? Giving the machine a little push? Is he ensuring that 815ers get to the island by visiting them each in turn? If so then do we assume that those he doesn’t visit don’t matter? After all Charlie, Desmond, Michael and many other pivotal characters get no flashbacks here, did Jacob visit them too and  we just haven’t seen it?

Juliet and Rachel are next on the list but there is no sign of Jacob here. Are those destined to be Others not entitled to meet their saviour? Are they in fact like Thomas the apostle? Should they believe blindly without seeing? Through out this episode Juliet has displayed a kind of prescience but I will discuss that more in the next blog. On with the Flashbacks…

And it’s Hurley’s turn. This flashback takes place just after Hurley is released from jail. He grabs a cab and sitting beside him is Jacob. Hurley quickly assumes that Jacob is dead, but he is assured that is not the case. Jacob was sitting in the cab, with a guitar case, waiting for Hurley to tell him “You have a choice Hugo.” something he will later tell Ben. Is it then not imperative that Hurley returns? Is he surplus to requirements? If so then why bother visiting him, never mind transporting him back through time to 1977? Therefore is Jacob offering the illusion of freewill? Making it seem like it was Hurley’s idea? After all, the concept of time travel in Lost is that everything is already predestined, you can’t change the past and therefore by extension you can’t change the present or the future, so Jacob already knows Hurley will return to the island, so, does he have  a choice? Does he have freewill?

As Jacob leaves the cab Hurley calls after him. “You forgot your guitar.” “It’s not my guitar.” Can we therefore assume it is Charlie Pace’s? Is Charlie going to make a dramatic come back in season 6? So far in this episode we have his ring and his guitar, add to that his own personal sacrifice to save everyone else on the island and I think you have a pretty potent case for resurrection!

Anyway, that’s it for flashbacks and that’s My Two Cents worth, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll have time to summarise Island Time.

Kill Thy Self

Ok, so I know I promised a Heroes: Fugitives post but I think I should really re-watch it through to really do it any justice, but fret not, here’s the 411 on the finale of Dollhouse instead.

Now, after Jane Espenson’s jovial take on the character of Alpha last week, Tim Minear takes the reins and leads us down a very dark road indeed. Omega opens with Dr. Saunders calling out for help for poor mutilated Victor and in the ensuing chaos the doc stays very calm as if recalling a memory and then states simply “He came for Echo.” A statement that we will come to realise the true meaning  of later on.

Dewitt storms into Topher’s office demanding to know what Alpha imprinted Echo with. Topher doesn’t know and he can’t track her because Alpha has removed her gps tracking device. DeWitt leaves but Dr. Saunders remains. “He asked me if I always wanted  to be a doctor.” She says. “Who can fathom the mind of crazy person?” Topher jests. “The one made him crazy.”

And at last it clicked for me and realised what it was about the character of Dr. Saunders that was out of place, she’s a doll!

Cut to Alpha and Echo imprinted with trailer trash imprints driving a stolen car with a store clerk trussed up in the back seat. Alpha begins to flash, taking to himself in different voice and carrying on an argument in his head, a clue to what a “composite event” actually is.

Flashback time… Now I’m not a fan of flashbacks unless they are  specifically part of the style of the show i.e. Lost. Two actives are missing, one is Alpha and we assume the other is Echo. Alpha has kidnapped the client and is demanding to know who is in the van, the black vans the handler’s drive. Clearly Alpha, a paranoid thief, realised he was being followed and assumed it was a government agency. However the whole thing is a game, a fantasy dreamed up by the client. In the background a girl dances seductively, her features masked by smoke and headlights, still we assume it is Echo. Alpha continues to torture the man and eventually he cracks, telling Alpha that he isn’t real, neither him nor his girlfriend. Not a wise move me thinks…

“She’s real, she’s the last real thing you’re ever gonna see!” Then she comes, walking out of the smoke, Whiskey a.k.a Dr. Saunders. Boom! The doors come flying off their hinges and armed men rush in and take down Alpha and Whiskey and then we’re back to the present.

DeWitt sits down with Paul Ballard and explains the situation to him. Interesting as last week she wanted his brain pulled out and his body dumped in the attic. She explains the man he believed to be Kepler was in fact a broken Doll called Alpha who experienced an unfortunate technical anomaly. Agent Ballard replies with “My God, what have you people done?” to which Angela turns the tables back on him with playground logic. “What have you done!? You brought this thing back into my house!” Interesting how she thinks, no? I mean, they created Alpha but somehow once he was  out of the House he was no longer their problem. Also, considering the fact that DeWitt had been bonking Victor for who-knows how many years, you’d think she might show some concern that he’d just been cut up.

Anyway DeWitt knows that she can use Ballard to help track down Alpha, but she also knows she can’t just ask for his help, so she plays the guilt card instead. “And now, he’s got Echo, Caroline.” And it’s your fault Paul. Boyd gets a call that a bomb threat has been called in and the building is locked down, meaning no one can be dispatched to follow Alpha. Ballard thinks he can help and offers his services.

Badger is back, (yey) or to give him his Dollhouse character name Tanaka. Mark Sheppard played the recurring  pretty criminal Badger in Firefly and now he plays FBI Agent Tanaka and while the two characters are polar opposites with regards to their legal standing they both share that “pain in my ass” trait. Ballard comes strolling out the front door and tells Tanaka that this is the location of the Dollhouse and that the bomb threat is a hoax. To be honest it’s hard to tell if Paul is actually asking for help because he knows that Tanaka thinks he’s off his trolley but at the same time Ballard’s compunction to bring down the House is so strong that maybe he believes if he keeps trying someone will eventually believe him. That person, however, will never be Tanaka, who on hearing what Paul has to say quickly calls off the bomb squad and heads home. However Ballard has in effect saved his own life. Even if Tanaka doesn’t believe him Dewitt can’t exactly bump him off now because no FBI agent, not even one as clearly prejudiced as Tanaka can ignore evidence in a missing person’s case.

After the FBI leave Ballard turns and smiles for the camera and DeWitt smiles back, in the same way she might look at a small obedient child. Seconds later in comes Topher with news, all of Echo’s imprints, primary and back ups, all gone.

Down in sick bay Dr. Saunders is seeing to Victor. “I’m not my best anymore. I want to be my best.” It’s interesting that the Dolls are somehow imprinted with the desire to please, even in their dormant state. Its eerie, they are too pliable, too ready to serve, slave-like (Caroline calls them Zombies!) and it doesn’t sit well with my conception of right and wrong. In fact, I think its part of the show’s intention, to mess with your moral sense of what is right and wrong, who is good and who is bad. Certainly DeWitt is easy enough to pick out as a bad guy, but what about Topher or Boyd? And if they are the villains then who are the heroes? Certainly not the Dolls themselves, if anything they are the victims. What about Ballard, is he the good guy? Or is it Alpha? Or is there no black and white, merely different shades of grey…

“How can I be my best now?” Victor asks, eye’s wide and innocent, his face cut to ribbons, held together with threads. Dr. Saunders looks away, but subtle hints are not easy for a Doll to grasp and Victor persists. “How can i be my best?” “You can’t Victor.” She snaps her mind trying to recall who she was before she was slashed, trying to reconcile what she knows about her past and how she feels now. “Your best is past… your past you  can’t even remember… you’re ugly now, disgusting, all you can hope for now is pity and for that, you’re gonna have to look somewhere else!!” Harsh words Doc.

Flashback time… Finally the real Dr. Saunders is revealed as old man with a stack of lollypops and to be honest the name suits him better than it does Whiskey. Zoom out to Alpha as he watches Echo being brought in. You can see in his eyes that he is attracted to her, the same way that Victor looks at Sierra, which makes you wonder about the suitability of men as Dolls. An issue which is a minefield of potential sexist comparisons and examples which I shall let someone other than me examine.  

Back to real time and Ballard is trying to be holier-than-thou with the wise cracking Topher. “So, this is where you steal their souls.” “Yes, and then we put them in little glass jars with our fireflies.” (Is Firefly code for something, dreams, hopes, aspirations maybe? :P) “Why is there a tall, morally judgemental man in my imprint room, besides him?” Indicating Boyd. I don’t think Topher much cares for people with morals, he doesn’t have them, or if he does his scientific curiosity overpowers them. Remember back around episode 6 I suggested that an event would occur when Topher’s over confidence would bite him in the ass (I seem to recall a Jurassic Park parallel being used.) Well now I believe that event has already happened, the creation of Alpha.

Cut to evil laboratory, Alpha has the nice, shop assistant lady, Wendy, strapped into the chair ready to imprint her. The lab itself is reminiscent of Mr. Universe’s lair in Serenity. It is this rough and experimental look that I love about Joss’ trips into sci-fi- land. Even inside the Dollhouse which is so pristine and clean, Topher’s lab is still messy, still real. Echo asks what Alpha has planned and he explains. “Wendy is going away, she wont be here in a minute.” and then we’re back in a flashback.

Alpha is stalking Echo, waiting for her to come by so he can surprise her with a kiss. It’s scary just how infantile Alan comes across in this sequence. Around the corner comes Alpha’s handler and catches them in the act. Unfortunately his attachment to his active causes him not to report the incident, not wanting Alpha to be sent to the attic. A failure that would prove fatal. “Just… watch your step.” His handler warns, a warning Alpha takes literally, although you get the impression from Alan’s eyes and gestures that Alpha is a lot more aware than he is supposed to be.

Back in the present Ballard is looking for answers. Topher finally explains the meaning of a “composite event.” It seems that Alpha got 48 complete personalities dumped into his brain simultaneously, which would explain the talking to himself. Paul asks who it was that Alpha went for first, not who got in his way, but the person he went after as soon as he had the choice. Topher slowly realises that Ballard may be on to something. “Himself.” Alpha killed himself, by destroying all the copies of his personality. Ballard takes the next logical step and asks Topher for Caroline’s original self. The self proclaimed genius comes back with a smashed harddrive. “Where’s the backup?” Topher looks guilty. “This was the backup!”

Wendy is gone but Caroline is back. Alpha has imprinted the kidnapped shop assistant with Caroline’s self and Caroline is more than a little shocked to be looking at her own body. “Whose body is this?” Caroline asks. “It’s just a body, there all pretty much the same.” And there it is, Alpha’s take on life, the explanation behind his own self destruction. He is a collection of personalities that need a flesh and blood body in order to operate. It is merely necessary to have a body, it doesn’t matter what that body is.

“I want back in my brain!” Caroline cries out. “You should have thought of that before you vacated the premises.” Again Alpha recognises the truth, that their own selves cared so little about themselves that they abandoned their bodies and from that Alpha surmises they do not deserve to be allowed back. And the problem is that a part of me agree with Alpha and yet he is so twisted that he just cannot be the ‘hero’.

And so we return to flashback and the actives are clipping their bonsai trees. Interesting Alpha’s is more erratic and one sided than the others. Further indication that he is not following the same programming, that he is “evolving”? “Whiskey, let Echo be number one.” Alpha calls in his child-like way that is so very very creepy, before he slashes her face apart with his pruning shears. Security grab Alpha and dump him in the chair. DeWitt wants answers but Topher has none. He is running a full diagnostic, bringing up every imprint to see if something matches… oh dear… Alpha’s handler gets knocked into the computer and the  composite event occurs. Alpha’s handler is the first to go, his eyes squished out, followed closely by a rather foolish Dr. Saunders. But Alpha didn’t go for Topher… why? After all it was Topher who enslaved him? But it was also Topher who created him…

Back in the secret lab Echo is in the chair and Alpha is about to help her “ascend”. And so, with the immortal words “Alpha, meet Omega.” the composite begins and Echo is reborn. “I get it.” She whispers, ironic really as it’s actually Alpha who gets it, where it is a pipe to the head. “Now I understand everything.”

Ballard comes before DeWitt demanding to know “Who is Alpha?” After some debate DeWitt hands over a file. Carl William Craft and DeWitt reveals that Alpha, along with other Dolls, presumably, were volunteer prisoners and they wonder why Alpha went slasher happy! How thick are these people, I mean, honestly! So Ballard and Boyd set out to find the girl Craft almost killed. When she answers the door and they see her face, it becomes apparent that Topher is wrong, that whoever the actives were before still  exists below the imprint.

In the evil den Alpha and Echo debate philosophy. Alpha believe they are Gods, “Perfected, objective, something new.” Objective? I think not, Mr. Alpha. “I get it, I understand it, I’m experiencing 38 of them right now but i somehow understand that not one of them is me… There is no me, I’m just a container.” Caroline pipes up. “There is a you, she’s sitting right here.” When will people learn to keep stum around crazy god-like beings? “He may be crazy, but he’s right, you left me alone.” Cue Alpha with pipe. The two of them slug it out. Alpha has given up on Echo now, realising she is not the person he thought she was. Echo knocks him down and proceeds to untie Caroline, who requests to be put back in the wedge. Echo asks “Why don’t you come home?”  and after a little ummming and arrrring Caroline agrees to go get back in her own body and is promptly shot! “Now… Do as I say, or I will blow your brain out.” Alpha sneers, pointing his gun at the wedge with Caroline’s personality inside.

Meanwhile Topher realises that Alpha was using an old Whiskey imprint on Echo, but way too late to be of any use, except to confirm the address for Ballard and Boyd. However Dr. Saunders is becoming self aware too and she wants answers.

Alpha, spurned by Echo, explains his evil plan for revenge. To imprint as many girls as possible with her personality and keep killing her over and over. See what I mean about him being too unhinged to be the hero? But Echo wont lie back and take it. Alpha warns her “I’m not fooling, he’s not kidding, we’re not bluffing! I’m bluffing… But the rest of us, we mean business.” (brilliant!) Alpha shoots Echo in the shoulder and makes a dash for it. After a brief chase Alpha throws the Wedge away and Echo goes after it, but it falls, straight into Paul Ballard’s well placed hands. So, he  did save Caroline after all… awwww.

Topher catches Whiskey on his computer, she turns to him knowing now that she was once a doll too. “I think you gave me more computer skills than would be required by a medical doctor. I understand, why hire a new physician when you can just imprint the broken doll.” and without a pause “But why did you decide it was so important for me to hate you?” And why did he? Is it that Topher feels responsible for what happened? Whatever the case you definitely get the feeling that he goes deeper than what we see on the surface. 

So Alpha escaped and now Ballard is working for the Dollhouse on the agreement that November is released from her contract. An interesting but not entirely unpredictable change of heart. Echo is returned to herself but we can’t assume she has come out of the whole ordeal without some kind of damage, in fact as her glass lid over her bed slides into place, she breathes a single  word… “Caroline!”!

So that’s it, the first season is done and dusted and it seems I had a lot more to say about this episode than i first realised. However the series is in a position where it could easily stop without too much of a problem, no cliff hanger or major unsolved issues to be dealt with. Ballard found the Dollhouse and saved the girl. Topher and DeWitt were humanised. We discovered the spy in the House was Mr. Dominic and we know who and what Alpha is, even the quirkiness of Dr. Saunders has been resolved. However there is certainly room for the show to grow should it find itself renewed. Echo will have to deal with her ever growing sense of self. Ballard will have to work out where he fits in the grand scheme of things and then there’s Alpha…

So Favourite Episode: This award has to go to Briar Rose or Man on the Street, the former purely for Alan Tudyk’s performance and the latter because, it was, for me, the turning point when the series went from good to great.

Favourite Moment: This award goes to Topher in Haunted, when you realise that he had no one in his life and that once a year on  his birthday he is allowed to make himself a friend. *wipes tear* Beautiful, brilliant and yet so incredible sad all at the same time.

Right, well I’ve gone on long enough, this has been My Two Cents and hopefully I’ll be writing about Dollhouse again soon…