LOST: Deciphering The Incident

I'm going to warn you beforehand. This is going to officially be my longest post. I wasn't going to continue my evaluations/sharing of internet wisdom any longer but dearest Emily told me I should do otherwise. So, let's get started

Hey, you like my homemade shirt?

The episode starts out with one of the most discussed yet never seen properties of Lost weaving a rug. Jacob then heads out and cooks himself some fish on a rock. We are lead to believe that the time period is somewhere in the 1800s. Could that be the Black Rock floating around out on the horizon? Hells yeah it could be.

We also finally get a good hard look at the statue in this brilliant opening scene. It appears (against everyone's predictions I might add) that it's definitely not Anubis but seems to be Sobek, a crocodile god. Before you go off and say WTF? crocodiles? Let's learn more: in mythology Sobek was linked to power, protection and fertility. That's right, he enables proper baby making.

Soon Jacob is joined by a mystery man. The internet has been abuzz calling him Esau (the Biblical Jacob's brother's name). I'm quite hesitant to believe that Lost would go so overtly Christian in their mythology, but we're going to use it for this review's sake.

Esau has a seat beside Jacob and begins the most important conversation in the history of Lost. In it, we find out that Jacob is the one that allows the island to be found by humans. He brings them there and Esau is terribly pissed about it. Esau says that they only bring destruction and carnage and that it always ends the same. Jacob tells him that it will only end once, everything leading to that is progress.

So, do you guys remember waay back in season one when Locke gives his speech about archaeologists finding backgammon sets in Mesopotamia and how it's the oldest game in the world? Well, it seems that our duo here fits the bill of the game quite handily. Jacob, dressed in white and Esau being the dark menacing figure struggling in an everlasting game.

Before leaving Jacob to finish his meal, Esau cooly asks if he realizes how much he wants to kill Jacob. He then warns that he will find a loophole and it will mean the end of the light.

It seems, from this, that their are rules to their interactions. Otherwise, what would be preventing Jacob from being filleted right there on that rock alongside his fish? It only seems like yesterday we were asking about the rules that Widmore and Ben lived by. That was a sandbox, now the big boys are playing.


Everyone Needs A Helping Hand

Throughout the episode we are shown key moments in our 815 and 316ers lives. In each, Jacob interacts with the passengers. What's the significance of this?

Our first visit is with Kate trying to shoplift the New Kids on the Block lunchbox that serves as the time capsule of hers and Tom's. (you know, back in season one...the toy plane that lead to her entire life of crime, well aside from blowing up her dad) She is caught and the cops are about to be called when Jacob steps in and pays for it. Kate promises never to steal again (lying bitch) and Jacob taps her on the nose.

Then we see young James Ford at his parent's funeral writing his iconic letter to one Mr. Sawyer. His pen runs out of ink and Jacob steps in and offers a replacement, giving his condolences to the child as well. When he hands over the pen, he lingers a bit and touches his hand.

Later, Jacob is sitting on a bench reading when Locke's body comes flying out of the building behind him. He cooly stands up and heads over to the battered Locke. He squeezes his shoulder and John awakes with a gasp. Jacob tells him he is very sorry that this had to happen to him and leaves.

We see Jack in yet another tie to the first season as he rips the dural sack of the 16 year old patient. He never mentioned in his retelling to Kate that it was good old Christian that gave him the idea to count to five and let the fear in. Jack fails at getting a candy bar and confronts his dad over putting him in a "time out". Afterwards Jacob shows up offering the candy bar and tells him the machine just "needed a push" while his finger lingers on Jacks.

Apparently Sun had two different wedding dresses? We see another flashback to their wedding and this time Jacob is a guest offering his congratulations in perfect Korean while patting them on the shoulders.

That's the entire list of the people we see him interacting with before the original fateful flight of Oceanic 815. Now, does this mean that they were the only ones who were intended to be there? We're not sure.

Moving forward, after the Oceanic 6 return to the real world Jacob comes to Sayid and Nadia as a lost tourist in Los Angeles. He asks Sayid for directions while Nadia proceeds to be plowed down by a hit and run SUV.

We also see him visit Ilana in a hospital and they both apparently speak Russian as well. Ilana is in terrible shape, her face completely bandaged. They seem to know one another and Jacob tells her that he needs her help. She is the only one that he doesn't touch.

The most interesting interaction was definitely that with Hurley. In this encounter, Jacob has no pretense and tells Hurley that he was waiting on him and that he certainly knows about the island. He asks what if Hurley isn't cursed, perhaps he is blessed. He also reassures him that he is absolutely not crazy. He tells him about the Ajira flight and that he can go back, but it's up to him.

So, what good did this do? We see that Jacob has interacted with each one of our passengers that are still alive and he seemingly hand picked (pun intended) them to be on either one of the planes. He also seems quite keen on free will as well.

Way Back Through Time And Through Space

The incident felt just like season two all over again right? Flying metallic objects, weird noises, white flashes of light. Ah, good times. A lot happened that I wasn't a fan of here so I'm going to hit on the highlights.

We finally get to see Rose and Bernard! They didn't die during any of the time jumping, in fact they went off and set up their on sweet little resort. Rose had one of the best lines of the night with "there's always something with you people". I want to be like them, happy and care free.
Was it just me, or was there something ominous about Bernard's offer of tea to Juliet?

In short, Jack has taken up Daniel's "reset everything" quest. One important thing that happens is that Richard tells him that Locke visited and told him that he would be their leader later. Richard says that during his visits to the mainland during Locke's childhood that he didn't seem very special at all. Sayid and Jack take the core of the bomb and traipse off to Dharmaville, only for Sayid to be shot in the gut and Hurley to come to the rescue in the Dharma van again. Juliet goes all broken heart badass and they get off the sub and are now planning on stopping/helping them. Whatever they choose in that five second interval.

How delightfully irritating was the return of that goddamned love quadrangle? Juliet loves Sawyer, Sawyer loves Kate, Kate loves Jack, Jack loves Kate. NO ONE CARES. There, I hope they all die instead of ending up with one another.

We see how Chang loses his hand. That, to me, presents several odd ideas. Since he still lost his hand, there are still things that happened before that are still happening. So, does Jack believe that this bomb will only affect their future? It confuses me and my brain hurts.

They toss the bomb in, it doesn't explode. Things start going all "I was wrong for not pushing the button" again and Juliet is sucked down into the ground by chains wrapped around her.

She, however, doesn't take a literal dirt nap. She awakens, badly injured and beats the shit out of the bomb with a rock until she altered the end credits with them being white and not black. Good going Juliet.


What DOES Lie In The Shadow Of The Statue?


Here's where the good story advancement happened. Where to start? How about Ilana, Bram and co? We see them arriving on one of the northern shores, crate and Lapidus in tow. Bram asks why they brought the furry pilot and suggests that he could be a candidate. Hmm...I wonder what for?

They end up visiting Horace's old haunt the cabin. It looks as though it's been through some rough times, even the kick ass dog painting is on the floor. Before they get there though, the notice that the circle of ash has been broken. I shall get into my theory about this later. Once inside, Ilana says that Jacob hasn't been there in a very long time. She also points out that someone else has been using it. They decide to end that by torching the whole thing.

With Locke's trek we see him tell Ben that he wants him to do the actual Jacob murdering bit. When asked why, Locke asks him why wouldn't he want Jacob dead. He mentions having to sacrifice his daughter and then being banished from the island, all in the name of a being he never met.

Richard grows even more hesistant as their journey continues. He genuinely seems worried about Locke's new plan about talking with him. He also is baffled by Locke coming back from the dead, an argument that Locke counters with asking him why he doesn't age. We find out he's that way because of Jacob.

Richard shows the way inside the statue to John and he and Ben start to enter. Richard tells him that only he alone can enter and is shot down once again and both walk into the base of the statue.

It's now that our two Ajira crews reassemble. Ilana asks for Richard and then goes on with her favorite bit of trivia "what lies in the shadow of the statue". We finally find out, in Latin no less, that it's "He who will protect/save us all". She seems satisfied by this answer and they open the crate to reveal Locke's dead body.

Woah.

We then go back into the statue and Ben finally meets Jacob. The J man definitely seems to know what's going on and says "I guess you found your loophole". Ben then starts asking questions about why he never was allowed to see Jacob, why he did what he did and what about him. Jacob responds with a scrutinizing "What about you?". Ben then proceeds to stab him repeatedly in the chest. In his dying breath, Jacob informs them that "they're coming". Locke then kicks his body into the fire.


Who Is That Mysterious Man?

We're about to get theoretical on your ass now. It seems that Locke has been dead all along. As we found out earlier in the season "dead is dead". I've read theories about clones, a Locke double. I don't buy it. I think it's as simple as this. Esau = Smokey.

We've seen him take on the forms of dead people plenty before. Yemi and Alex, as prime examples. So why couldn't he become the beloved John Locke, the leader of the others, to regain and audience with Jacob?

I've been reading for seasons now that Smokey's prerogative doesn't seem quite the same as Jacob's. It also helps explain why the monster keeps attacking. He hates people. He absolutely doesn't want them there. He feels they are vile and full of destruction. When Eko refused to repent, he ended his life.

It seems perfectly logical for Ben to be interacting with Smokey, since Jacob is nowhere to be seen. He heads over to Esau for a "judgment" (alone, while "Locke" is in another part of the temple no less) and what should the monster tell him? It says he must obey everything that Locke tells him.

This lends a new, even creepier vibe to the Christian Shepherd that's been waltzing about the island living in Jacob's cabin. He was quite honest though, when Locke asked him back in Season 4 if he was Jacob he tells him "No, but I can speak on his behalf". It's also quite scary to contemplate what that means is happening to Claire if she's in the possession of Esau.

This also means that Richard has been duped into buying into betraying Jacob by following E-Lockes' instructions to tell the old Locke that he must die in order to "save them". Esau needed Locke to be gone so he could become John to go take care of Jacob.

This episode has reduced the once fear-inducing mastermind of the others to nothing more than a pawn in the great game of the island. This, sadly, also seems to imply that Locke was indeed never special in his life. He was used, up until his last breath, and afterwards for that matter by a force of evil.

So What Happens Now?

That's one helluva questions ladies and gentlemen. You know that my feelings about this season were rather skeptical. In my opinion, it's still the weakest, but with some of the strongest most important information we've ever received. It's been a rough ride, but The Incident was a welcomed reward for sticking with it through the season.

Is the old, beloved Locke gone forever? That's what the implications are. I certainly don't hope so though.

Will the 1977 crew get back to their own time?

Will 815's path be reset and the crash never happen?

What exactly was so "special" about Desmond, seeing as how he hasn't been a major player in this season since the 3rd episode?

We shall find out, in approximately 8 months. It's going to be one wait.

What do you guys think?

LOST: Forget All That "Whatever Happened" Bullshit

Forgive me, I took some time off from the TV recapping to keep my sanity. Also, I didn't feel I had much to say about it. However, after many questions of what happened to it, here we are again.

This week's episode "The Variable" was another somewhat stronger addition to the season after that god awful middle part we saw. I'm going to skip the recap and give my opinion:

Good things:
1. I heart Hawking. Plain and simple, it has nothing to do with the character and everything to do with Mrs. Flanagan. Anytime she's on screen I'm ok.

2. We get some reasons as to why Daniel was so bloody scatterbrained. It was all his experimenting. Daffy bastard.

3. Juliet's delightfully snide bitchy response to Sawyer calling Kate "freckles". The code is 141717, you should go.

4. They seem to be bringing the idea of them being able to actually change what can happen up as a major possibility.

5. Kate saying what's on the audience's mind if 815 were to land successfully.

Bad things:
1. So, Faraday is the offspring of two British people, one of which, we know he spent time with. He has an American accent. Also, his name is Faraday. I don't get it.

2. Daniel died. That was...weird

3.That absolutely ridiculous shoot out with Radzinsky and crew. I just don't see Jack as the little action hero they tried to pull him off as.

Ok things:

1. Widmore is Daniel's dad. Well, obviously right?

2. Miles finally decides to stop being the Dharma chauffeur

So in short, they probably can change what's supposed to happen. They're (obviously) not supposed to be in the 70s and Daniel gets shot in the back by his own mother. Not a bad episode.

Only three to go, I think perhaps it could get better. We shall see.

Dollhouse: She Made A Mistake And She's Sad

Yet another fantastic Dollhouse this week. I can't think of any reason why this is doing so poorly in the ratings. It has made Lost look like a retarded cousin to me this year. "A Spy in the House of Love" was even more along the Alias lines that I thought the show was already following. From the misleading opening scene to the breaking into NSA offices and the "12 hours earlier" segments, it screamed Sydney Bristow. It made me smile.

On to the important things.
In the beginning we see Sierra and Echo walking around and a big struggle in Topher's office followed by flashing and blood on the windows.

12 Hours earlier

Hey you got NSA tech in my peanut butter
Topher finds a chip inside the chair that doesn't belong to the Dollhouse. He tells Boyd and then they inform Dominic and then the panic ensues. He grabs Sierra and takes her up to be imprinted as a hunter. Echo (in her blank state) has evolved even more and insists that Topher can make her be able to help. She is then imprinted to be a Sherlock Holmes infused interogator.

Imprint: November
We see the episode play out through the eyes of the four different actives. November is re-imprinted with Mellie's mind and sent back to Ballard. When she gets there he brings her inside and is explaining how much more he knows about the Dollhouse to her. She then goes blank and delivers a message from the saboteurs. Ballard is finding out that the woman he has developed feelings for has only been in his life to keep tabs on his activity relating to the Dollhouse. She tells him that Mellie is a sleeper agent and has no knowledge of the fact she's an active and he can never say anything to her. He must never discuss the Dollhouse investigation with her either. She then returns to the Mellie state.

It was another fantastic scene with Miracle Laurie having another drop-jawed revelation moment. Gah, I love it.


Imprint: Sierra
Here was the uber-sleek Alias stuff. Sierra is imprinted and sent to the NSA headquarters to break into their files and find the identity of the mole. She sits beside the person she's taking the identity of dressed exactly alike and asks for a pen. The lady notices her and her eyes widen then Sierra injects her with a tranquilizer and says "Nevermind, I've found one". I loove it ha.

Then she gains acccess to the vaults, steals the plastic sheet, has a shoot out and runs for a roof extraction. All in stilletos. My new hero.


Imprint: Victor
Victor is being sent for another Ms. Lonely Hearts mission (you remember her being mentioned right?) First of all, is it just me or does he get hotter every episode? I mean....drool.

So, I called this before it happened, but he heads off for his engagement and who does Ms. Lonely Hearts turn out to be? None other than our very own Adelle DeWitt. It was a fantastic scene (again) wich gave us some rather intriguing insight to her character. And Victor was half naked again so win win. The only problem? The horribly fake ocean behind them in the scene. It never even moved.

So Victor and Adelle have their fantasy date with fencing, sex and stressful conversations. Then Adelle realizes that having this engagement isn't worth the risk.


Imprint: Echo
Echo begins interrogating the employees of the Dollhouse in Adelle's office. When Dominic tells her that Sierra was coming back with the identity of the mole she seems perturbed by the news. He then shoves Ivy in and accuses her. Echo asks how long he is planning on keeping this up.

It turns out that Dominic is the NSA spy (well of course he is) and they have yet another awesome Dollhouse fight there in DeWitts office. In the end, Echo prevails and DeWitt is brought back to deal with the situation.

We finally find out what happens to people when they go to the attic. During their conversation Dominic tells DeWitt that he wasn't there to bring down the Dollhouse but to prevent it being brought down from the inside. He asked what would happen if Rossum Corp. couldn't hold onto the Dollhouse. She then tells him that he's off to the attic once Echo has thoroughly interrogated him.

During this interrogation, Dominic says that Echo will end up destroying the Dollhouse and that they will never see it coming. Then Dominic is taken to Topher's office and put in the chair with a large amount of struggle. (I'm not sure why they didn't sedate him). They do a complete wipe of him and store his memories/mind on a harddrive. Then his body is put up. Creepy. In the process Adelle was shot ("just a graze!") and had to be treated by Saunders.

Topher then tells her of the fact that Echo is still evolving and needs to know if he's to re-wipe her. DeWitt tells him no and that Echo saved the entire Dollhouse. She may prove to be useful to them in ways they didn't know. Boyd is then promoted to head of security and Echo receives a new handler. She is still connecting to Boyd during the process.

The Big Questions
1.Why does the NSA care if the Dollhouse succeeds?
2. Will Boyd risk their operation out of his ongoing concern for Echo?
3. Will Ballard be able to keep his research from Mellie?
4. What is the Dollhouse's purpose? (we've heard this twice now)

Guys, this show is dying in the ratings. There are only three episodes left and how they fare will probably be a huge determining factor in whether we get a surely amazing season two. Watch it, just turn your TVs on to Fox even if you don't pay attention. It still counts.

LOST: Dead Is Dead(ish...Kind Of....)

Ok, I know, I know. This is what you would call "late" but bear with me. Let's talk about the latest, greatest, still disappointing episode of Lost.

I think I'm going to do more of a "I had a problem with" kind of review than the usual recap. First and foremost:

1. The timeline of the island has now officially been raped up the ass
Let me explain to you why: In the eighties we see Ben and Ethan off on a "Kill that crazy French woman mission" (more on my problems with this later) and then they return to the Others' pitch a tent party. So, we are to believe that Ben and Ethan can just wander off for a few days. Free from the prying eyes of Dharmaville (who we have seen just how bloodthirsty they can be when they were dealing with Sayid).

We have also been shown in this episode that Widmore was exiled from the island post the purge of the Dharma-ites. He, however, has been complaining that he's been searching for the island for more than twenty years. The purge=1992. Most of the storyline=2004-2007. No wonder he was exiled. He can't count.

2. Rousseau was a flippin' pansy
How terribly weak was this scene? Ben rolls up into her little shelter, grabs Alex and all Danielle does is "no, no, not my baby" in a convenient bi-lingual begging. There's also another point of problems here: SHE HAS MET BEN. Surely, the most traumatic experience of her life would have a lasting impression on her memory. 20 years later, when she catches Ben in a net, instead of beating the shit out of him and finding her daughter then and there, she just says "he's one of them" and turns him over. Furthermore, in season one (you know, back when the plot was airtight) she tells Sayid that she's never seen one of them. I know she's crazy, but this is just stupid.

3. The smoke monster prefers you to flush
Last season, when you find out that Ben can summon old smokey, I was thinking it had to be this amazing awesome process. He reaches into a muddy ground toilet. That's it.

4. The origins are (more or less) revealed
Speaking of smokey, we got to see where he comes from. The answer: the Egyptians. Apparently Anubis was a fan/follower. I can't lie though, the scene was rather thoroughly engrossing. It could be interesting to see what goes on with the actual purpose of the monster. We have seen it as a judge/executioner. I wonder if there will be more to it. I've heard the theory that their may be multiple monsters. The one who enveloped Ben did seem a little friendly compared to our usual tree-ripping variety.

5. There were some good things.
For example: the new, confident John Locke is rather kickass. I also really liked Alex being back and all wonder woman-y slamming Ben around like a bitch. The most interesting thing, which I can't figure out why, was Ilana. Her ending up being the resident badass of the island instead of Cesar was very good to me. Then she goes on her mysterious "what lies in the shadow of the statue" tirade. I find her to be fascinating. We also got to see Desmond. It had been six episodes since we last laid eyes on our Irishman's Scottish man's (Sorry about that Emily) face.

The Big Questions
1. Will Lost fix its new gaping storyline contradictions anytime soon?
2. Is there a point to this entire 1977 mess?
3. What DOES lie in the shadow of the statue?
4. Will Charles ever learn to add?

Dollhouse: Think Of Them As Pets

Sorry it has taken me so long to get around to writing this review up. This was another great episode (Lost, are you taking notes?). Let's jump right in shall we?

Let's Have A Pow-wow
The episode starts off with all the head honchos of our Dollhouse gathered for a meeting to discuss the actives. They are going to have all the handlers on watch for any "abnormal" behavior. The handlers are instructed to report any infraction to DeWitt immediately so the active can be handled.

5 Star Floor Coffins
Echo, Sierra, November, Victor and "Mike" all wake up in the middle of the night, with their personalities in tact. There's much talk about what is going on (millionaire perverts, aliens, lab research, the like...) The actives decide to try to assimilate themselves into the non-effected people in the dollhouse. This, of course, doesn't pan out fantastically. "Mike" is captured and sent off for a treatment. The remaining four end up escaping to the garage and are about to leave for good. Echo then realizes that she can't leave the others behind and insists that she goes back inside.

Here is where we find out that the entire escape plan is all a ruse by DeWitt to test the actives and her personnel.

A Little Closure
November, Victor and Sierra are driving away and November mentions that she has a daughter and she knows where to find her. They stop and she exits the car. Sierra and Victor head to find the man that put Sierra in the dollhouse. She remembers now that her name is Priya and the man who put her away is Noland.

November wanders into a graveyard and rests at her daughters gravesite. She collapses into tears. Sierra and Victor confront Noland and punch him (thankfully, 'cause he was a douche).
While they are running from his security, our two actives embrace and kiss.

When Barbies Get Upset
During this time, Caroline goes on a rampage through the dollhouse. She has a rather kick-ass fight with a handler. (am I the only one that went uuughhh when she whacked the hell out of her with that fire extinguisher?) Then she grabs a gun and heads up to Topher's office. Their confrontation was rather informative as we find out that Caroline doesn't have her memories but she still can access one about the mountains (that wasn't the first time we've seen that shot btw).

DeWitt enters the room and tells Caroline that she would not give her memories back. She says that she has been easing Caroline's pain at her request. Caroline shoots the chair and a computer in the room. She takes the gun and tells DeWitt that everyone has to leave the dollhouse and all the actives need to be set free. When they get outside, Caroline collapses and security returns all the actives back inside.

They then cut to November and the other actives and see that they have all fallen asleep.
Back to the meeting at the beginning of the show. We see that the doctor has recommended that the four actives be given a chance to go on a self-guided journey to "close the gap" that some form of longing has created and is causing their programming to glitch. Sierra needed to reclaim her freedom, November needed to deal with the loss of her daughter, Victor needed to 'get the girl' and Echo needed to free them. When the actives found closure, a sedative was released in their systems.


What's A Boy To Do?
During this episode, Ballard is having dreams of sleeping with Echo, Mellie finding them and Echo becoming a corpse. Creepy. He also tears his house apart and finds the dollhouse bug. He takes it to an analyst who tells him it's an amazing piece of technology and that "however big you think you are, they're bigger".

During Caroline's rampage through the dollhouse, when the cameras went down, she found Ballard's file. She calls him and tells him the dollhouse is closer than he thinks and that she needs his help.

The Big Questions
1. How exactly did Noland get Priya into the dollhouse?
2. Do they actually let the actives go at the end of their contracts?
3. What is important about the mountains?
4. Will Ballard get into the dollhouse?
5. What happened to Katie?
6. Will we find out exactly how Caroline got there?

In other news, it's not looking good for the future of Dollhouse. The ratings haven't improved any over the course of the season. It's looking dim. Just prepare for the worst sadly. GO WATCH THE SHOW!

LOST: The Truth About Turniphead

Good. But still not great.

Last night's Lost focused on Kate (again) but it was one of her better episodes. We get to see the return of Cassidy and Clementine in non-infant form. Also some Richard Alpert goodness and more 1977 fun. Let's get started.

Ok, Ok, I'm a big liarhead
This episode showed us what happened to good ol' Turniphead when Kate decided she had to go back to the island and that Jack shouldn't ask her where the child was and should boink her instead. During Kate's flashbacks she fulfills her promise to Sawyer and visits Cassidy and gives her a large sum of money for Clementine. Cassidy knows better than to believe that Sawyer gave Kate the money and calls out such. Kate then essentially crumbles and tells her most of the true story. (If Lost were back on cool ground there would be more to Cassidy than meets the eye in my opinion) Anyway, Kate feels that she can still lie about who Aaron is, but once again Cassidy is a smart cookie and knows that he isn't her child.

Later, we get to see Kate and Aaron grocery shop (yes!) and she pulls a poor mother routine and loses the tyke. When she next seems him in the store, it appears that his real mother is taking him out, of course we know it's not her. Point of interest though: did you notice the grocery store clerk's face when she told him her son (that he had just seen 30 seconds before) was gone? He looked at her like she had just eaten a shitcookie. ie: confused.

After that, Kate decides that Aaron might be better off with his grandmum. So she packs him up in a hotel room, goes and tells Carol who she is, what happened and that Claire is alive. (Poor Carol by the way....I mean talk about a lot at once) Then she walks off and washes her hands of the Aaron situation, telling Carol she's returning to the island to find Claire.

Dude, That's Confusing
Back in Dharmaland in 1977 our Losties are still schmoozing with the Initiative. When Jin wakes up he sees injured little Ben and wait...his bullet hole was on the opposite side of his chest in the last episode. I've read some interesting theories on this. Anyway, they rush Ben off to the hospital where Juliet starts trying to save her future dictator's life. She can't fully fix him though, and sends for Jack. Mr. Shephard wants nothing to do with the situation though. He claims that he's "been there, done that" and that he won't operate on Linus to save his life again.

In this time period, Hurley and Miles have a rather amusing/interesting conversation on how their time jumping works. It's a case of What happened happened vs. we can change what occurs. I'm one of the "they can alter things" situation seeing as how if they can't, this is one big elaborate drawn out way of giving Dharma backstory.

Back to the Ben story, Kate and Roger have a couple of heart to hearts and they really try to show the softer side of Daddy Linus. (odd, right?) Juliet tries her hand at Jack being all "maybe the island is trying to fix things itself, I'm not getting involved" and catches him in the shower. Jack doesn'st seemed bothered by this fact, he doesn't even bother drying off before he put his shirt on. I don't get it.....unimportant.

Kate and Sawyer drag Ben outside the fence and set up a rendezvous with Maybelline man himself, Richard Alpert. He knows that it's Ben who was hurt and tells them that if he helps him that Ben won't remember any of it and that his innocence will be gone. He then reasks Kate if she's sure she wants him to take him. As he starts to walk off, one of the others asks if he should wait on word from Ellie and says that Charles wouldn't like it. This finally confirms that Charles does indeed seemingly take over as the head honcho of the Others. He says that he doesn't answer to either of them and then takes Ben into the temple. So have we changed something? Did Ben always get shot and go off into the temple and re-infiltrate Dharma?

Ohhh Shit.
Once young Ben is carried off into the temple, we flash up to 2007 with old Ben waking up to see Locke sitting as his bedside and tells him "welcome back to the land of the living". Ben looks like he may have soiled himself.

The Big Questions
1. Will Jack go back to the original Mr. Shephard or will he keep up his Locke-like attitude?
2. Have things been changed with Sayid shooting Ben or did it always happen?
3. Where did Alpert come from in the jungle?
4. Does he answer to anyone at all? What exactly is his place in the others?
5. Are Widmore and Hawking running the show with the others right now?
6. Will Locke finally just punch Ben senseless?

Dollhouse: Caroline's A Victim

This week's Dollhouse, entitled "Echoes" was quite good. Not mind-bending amazingly good like "Man on the Street" was, but very good. Let's get started.

This week, we had a very Lost-like format to the episode. We see Echo returning to the University, while we watch flashbacks of Caroline in the events that led up to her becoming an active. The weekly plot was that a drug capable of loss of impulse control has been released at a local campus. The person who enlists the Dollhouse has deep ties to it's beginning it seems. More on that later. The theory is that since the actives have man-made mental blocks in, that the drug shouldn't effect them. That plan, of course, is no good. Each active remembers things that have happened to them in various forms. Sierra begins to remember her recent rapes while in her blank state. Victor is flashing back to him being a soldier in possibly Iraq. What we don't know, in this situation, is if it's before he became an active or if he was on an assignment. I'm betting on the former. November/Mellie is remembering her recent assault and comes rather close to saying her trigger phrase herself.

Echo, while on a repeat engagement, sees the news about the drugs and her programming triggers her to act. She feels compelled to act on the situation and doesn't know why. She is rembering her actions back before she was an active.

Let's focus on the Dollhouse mythological aspects. We find out that Echo's real name is Caroline Ferrell. Leading up to her becoming an active we see that she was involved in an animal rights group. She plans a break-in to the Rossum Building on the Freemont campus. When her and her boyfriend make their way in, they find out that the Rossum corporation is not only experimenting on animals, but that there are human fetuses that are being used for their testing.

It seems that the Rossum Corporation has ties into the Dollhouse. Their CEO, Clive Ambrose, speaks with DeWitt rather personally. She later says in her drug-induced state that their jobs may be connected in some form. (That she could have had his, and vice-versa). It looks like Rossum will certainly resurface during the course of the show.

We also see more of that conversation that started out the season premier. We find out that DeWitt offered Caroline "her life in exchange for her life" and that she seems to be under a five year contract. At the end of the episode, Sam (who released the drug on the campus) is offered the same deal. It will be interesting to see if we find out what other reward they offered Caroline for her cooperation.

Other things that happened.
Mellie/November leaves Ballard and comes to the Dollhouse
DeWitt says that Caroline is "getting back" to her through Echo
We see the first return customer so far (and he's tied to a bed)

The Big Questions:
1. What connection does Rossum have to Dollhouse?
2. It seems November is out of Ballard's life right now, so what will he be up to?
3. What happened between the Rossum building incident and Caroline becoming an active?
4. What kind of research was Rossum doing?

In other news: Topher in his underwear = Thumbs up.

LOST: A Bad, Bad Man With Pretty Hair

Alrighty, so Wednesday's Lost was a slight improvement over last week's absolutely uneventful "Namaste". We see what Sayid has been up to over the course of, well, his entire life.

Early in his life, little Sayid gained the praise of his father by killing chickens. Good to know. Then, we flash through different points of the three years he spent off the island. He uses his metrosexual disguise to kill a guy in Moscow, which Ben informs him was his last kill. "He was the last of Widmore's men" Ben tells him. I suppose that, at this point, we can all assume that the killing that Benry had our Iraqi doing was essentially of no purpose other than reinstating the fact that Sayid is a killer in his own mind. I find it hard to believe that they were actually doing much damage to Widmore's "team" seeing as how when Locke comes off the island, Charles doesn't seem to be sweating it.

We finally find out why he was in handcuffs heading to Guam of all the places on Earth. I did like that they included a resolution to the golf course scene from S4. This development also lends massive amounts of interest points to Ilana's character. Finding out she's a bounty hunter possibly working for Ben instead of yet another cop makes me sit up and pay attention a bit more.

As far as the island's events: Dharma seems to be some bloodthirsty folk eh? The Others, while living in their little houses, had book club meetings. Our favorite researchers? They held votes on whether to kill people. But before all that, Sawyer/James/LaFleur tries his best to get Sayid to head over to Dharmaland and play house along with the rest of the 815ers. He wants nothing to do with it, however, and later claims that he finally understands his purpose on the island.

Little Benjamin Potter is back in this episode making more culinary treats. We have the return of Roger, being an absolute dick again, throwing said sandwiches across the room and pushing little Ben around. Hell, Linus is getting it easy compared to later in the episode though.

When Sawyer's attempts at saving Sayid fail, they take him to one of my new favorite characters Oldham. Living out in a tent, using old school everything, Oldham is Dharma's torturer we are told. There isn't much torture going on, however, as he just gives him some Veritaserum and Sayid starts pouring out the truth. Which, by all reasonable accounts, they don't buy into.

Then, Ben sets up a distraction in flaming bus form and sets the course for Sayid's escape. How is he repaid? By a bullet in his twelve year old chest. Super intense.

The Big Questions
1. Ben can't die right? That doesn't make sense...however read number two
2. Has Ben been prepping 2005-7 Sayid to go back and injure 1977 Ben? Perhaps Linus knows that something of this magnitude can alter the "future" and thereby change Ben's luck in the future?
3. Why does Oldham live way off outside of New Otherton? He seems to be more at one with the island than his fellow riders of the blue buses.
4. Who did hire Ilana to bring Sayid? Was it the obvious Ben or is she perhaps a Widmore lackey?
5. Is it just me or did next week's trailer seem like another boring episode?

Dollhouse: There Are Three Flowers In A Vase

Absolutely. Brilliant.

So much happened in this marvelous episode entitled "The Man on the Street" that I'm probably going to have a hard time trying to actually put this together.
Where to begin, where to begin?

1. There are over 20 Dollhouses around the world with connections to the highest ranks of government. As hijacked Echo says "fulfilling fantasies is their business, it is not their purpose". This, of course is right after her and Ballard have a knock-down drag-out brawl trough the kitchen of their nearest Chinese restaurant. Which leads us straight into number two...

2. Alpha appears to have moved onto some other organization. Echo ensures Ballard that the people who added this directive into her programming are not the same as the person who sent him his initial photos of Caroline. This implies that there is a somewhat more large scale operation going on. It also changes the entire way that we have to look at the Alpha situation. (hell, that is if Alpha is even actually involved in this)

3. Hearn was raping Sierra when she was in her blank state. Langton catches onto this and exposes him. DeWitt handled him with flair by sending him to kill Mellie. Read on.

4. The most dropped jaw moment of any show recently. Mellie (our sweet, adorable, unassuming neighbor) is a fu*$ing active!! The scene with her being attacked by Hearn was wrenching to begin with, since she's so flipping cute. Then DeWitt comes on the phone and things starting going crazy. "There are three flowers in the vase. The third flower is green." Then...just wow.

The Big Questions:
1. What is the Dollhouse's purpose?
2. Who imprinted the sub directive into Echo?
3. What will Ballard do now that he's off the force?
4. Are there other long term actives aside from Mellie?
5. Who's the "man on the inside"? (actually my theory about this may be that it's Dominic. He is worried about them grouping and about how Echo seems to be retaining info from engagements. What if it's because he is concerned that he'll be found out?) Cue "ooooooooos".

I'm sorry that this post was mostly rambling. I should have taken time to compose my thoughts. Joss Whedon is the new Jesus. Sans the cross and sin thing.

LOST: Welcome To Dharmaland

Alrighty, episode 5.09 of Lost, "Namaste" was a big pretty pile of not much happening. Sure, in theory things seemed to be going on left and right. However, nothing of overt consequence happens in the entire episode, in my opinion.

Let's recap:

1. We see the crash/perfecty fine landing of Ajira 316 (which we already knew to be on the island and most of its passengers alive). I think the most interesting thing about that was we finally got to see a use for that damn runway that they had Kate and Sawyer working on back in S3.

Why this was unimportant: We already have seen the aftermath in the episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham". Locke isn't among them yet, we know that Cesar gets his way and they explore the Hydra station, and we knew that Sun and Lapidus already took one of the outriggers. I suppose we know now why Ben was in the room with the injured people. (wowzers!)

2. Jack, Kate and Hurley are swept up into the DHARMA Initiative by LeFleur/James. Kate and Sawyer share some awkward moments. Sawyer and Jack have a little spat about how much better of a leader Sawyer is. He explains that his "think then react" strategy is superior to Jack's impulsive "action then whine" response.

Why this was unimportant: It's flipping 1977! They better pull some amazing feat off with this story line, otherwise things are looking down. We find out that Horace and Amy were Ethan's parents (all of which are now officially dead). I suppose finding out that Ethan was part of DHARMA and that Ben wasn't the only one taken into the Hostile/Other side was interesting.

Speaking of Ben, we saw our favorite little liar in his tween stages in this episode. He brought the incarcerated Sayid a sandwich, with no mustard! The treachery begins! You could see all the anger in the world behind those little Harry Potter glasses as he notes his impressive evil victory over condiment endowed sandwiches everywhere! (ugh)

Other tidbits:
1. We get to meet Radzinsky, who, after this episode, we can see was a whiny little man who may be deserving his eventual staining fate.

2. In 1977 the Swan station hasn't been built yet. Radzinsky is still in his paper model phase of the hatch. Which, it seems, means that the Pearl is not around either. That is based on the assumption that the Pearl's only purpose was to watch just the Swan.

3. According to Mr. Chang, the DHARMA peeps on the mainland are a bit dodgy with their paperwork and timing. I believe it was this poor office procedure which lead to their ultimate demise.

4. Christian is continuing his "Hey, I'm speaking for Jacob" bit. Telling Sun that she has a long journey ahead of her. I hope that involves her bringing the others back to present time and not the other way around. Having the 815ers in the 70's just seems stupid. There, I said it.
Also of note in this scene is the fact that Christian interacts with objects, which kind of goes agains the entire "he's a ghost" theory.

That's that. Hopefully 5.10 will blow me away. I'm skeptical. Thoughts?