Why can’t you leave the thermostat alone?
I was COLD, okay?

(Elizabeth Mitchell and Rebecca Mader of LOST)

Oh, those silly island folk

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<– 3.08: Flashes Before Your Eyes

Well, one thing is for sure: If you write an episode about the origins of a tattoo, then you definitely have no idea which stories to fill the episode with. It is another Jack-centric episode, and after the season opener and the season finale we have in this season four hours of Jack-centric episodes. He might me the main character in the show, but this is definitely too much. It is too much boring, it doesn’t give anything to the viewers and it
only has one really interesting scene. But you can also say this is the last “useless” episode of the series. The last filler episode, the last episode with nothing to say, the last episode on Hydra Island (yeah, the story is finally over), the last episode without asking questions and not answering other questions. This is really the last boring episode.

What makes the episode not so special is the fact that Jack’s (Matthew Fox) flashbacks reveal the origin and the meaning of Jack’s tattoo, and it couldn’t be more uninteresting. To try to make it interesting, the setting is somewhere on a beautiful holiday island (but in reality just another beautiful Hawaiian beach), and he meets a beautiful Asian woman named Achara (Ling Bai) and has a wonderful time with her. She gives Jack a little bit love, which is necessary after what he experienced in his life – a broken marriage, a broken relationship with his father, and fixing things isn’t anymore (a nice parallel storyline to Jack’s island story, in which he starts to love Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and finally can fix something again). The story about this little holiday relationship could have been more interesting, when the writers would have chosen to write about Jack’s feelings instead of how he got the tattoo.
This woman has some secrets; and if you want to you can compare that little story element with the secrets all the other characters on the island have. But the secret is so full of shit, I wonder what the writers wanted to say with this: She can see the people and she marks them with what she sees. Ehm… where is the surprise in here? Why is it a secret? Why did Jack get beat up at the end, because he has the tattoo now? I didn’t see any relevance to the rest of the series and even to Jack as a character himself. So all this crap about getting the tattoo was not only really boring, but a waste of time.

The on-island story wasn’t really interesting as well, with the exception of one scene. This scene was the appearance of Cindy (Kimberley Joseph) and the kids from the plane, Zack (Mickey Graue) and Emma (Kiersten Havelock). For the ones who forgot: The Others captured the kids from the surviving tail section during the first night, and when Ana-Lucia, Cindy, Libby, Bernard and Mr. Eko went with Sawyer, Michael and Jin to the camp top the other survivors, Cindy got lost, short before Ana-Lucia killed Shannon (“The Other 48 Days”). Now we know where Cindy is, and she obviously is living with the Others from the time she got captured.
When she got captured. Lots of questions are rising up to the sky here: Was Cindy even captured, when the tail section noticed she was missing? Was she one of the Others from he beginning and recruited people to the island? Was she one of Ben’s spies to actually be on the plane when it crashed (like Ethan and Goodwin, but both weren’t on the plane)? To Jack’s question what she is doing with the Others, she only says that it is not that simple. Before she said “They are not…”, before she abruptly ends the sentence and practically didn’t answer Jack’s questions. Well, even though we now know the Others are the successors of the hostiles and a few of them definitely were with them during the Purge, so they proved they are violent. So, what is not that simple?
The other thing was Emma: She looked happy where she lived, so the children actually are not really captured, and like Karl (Blake Bashoff) says, they were given a better life. What better life, when mothers can’t bring children to the world, because they die before giving birth? What better life, when the Others are killing people, and even killing each other? Sadly, the question was never answered later, and we never saw Cindy again, but maybe the writers didn’t forget her existence and she maybe will return. We still have the group of people Locke was with, when Ben moved the island (“There’s No Place Like Home”). I can’t remember (and I have to see during my rewatch) if Cindy or anyone else was with that group. This group Locke was supposed to lead, got “lost”, when Locke traveled through time, and never picked them up again, because he was dead. So, Cindy’s fate is still open, and the questions she has risen in this episode are still unanswered.
The little side plot with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Karl wasn’t really interesting as well. Of course Kate wants to go back, because she can’t left Jack behind (interesting parallel to the Oceanic Six leaving the rest of the survivors behind), and to give Sawyer and Kate some conflict potential, he is against it and he fights with Kate – together with the sexual tension both of them have. I know, this is part of the series long question, if both of them are getting each other at the end, but in here it was useless. But nice of Karl to repeat the phrase “God loves you as He loved Jacob” – it looks like this one is really important now, otherwise the writers wouldn’t have build that in here. Or they just wanted to show that the brain wash scene worked for Karl, because he thinks like one of the Others. I still believe this phrase might play a key role in the sixth season.

All in all: It really was a boring episode. And because almost all of the eight previous episodes were that uninteresting, it pulls down the points for the season average at the end. But let’s be honest: I was glad to see that even the Lost writers wrote some dull storylines together. Even Darlton are not Gods in the TV business.
By the way: If you were wondering, if Jack’s tattoo really means “He walks among us, but he is not one of us”, then you are wrong. Click here to learn the real meaning of Jack’s tattoo.

4/10

Tomorrow: Tricia Tanaka dies. Who was she and what did she have to do with Hurley? And how the hell did a van get on the island?
And Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you have some wonderful holidays.

Trailer for “Tricia Tanaka is Dead”

<– 3.06: I Do

There we are. The season gets more interesting. Probably because I am able to write more than 1000 words, as I wasn’t during the first six episodes of the third season. And I can’t say there will be another review with less than 1000 words from now on…

Well, if this is not an important episode for the mythology…
Hello, Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), nice to finally meet you, I heard nothing about you before this episode, and some even won’t recognize you again on the island, even though your eye-liner is pretty… unmissable, to say it nicely. And, boy, what an impression you made in this episode. Did you kill Juliet’s ex husband Edmund (Zeljko Ivanek), just to get her to the island?

“He was hit by a bus.” With the knowledge of later seasons this sentence even has more meaning and is more interpretable. Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) said to Richard in the interview that her ex husband should be hit by a bus, and finally then she could take the job offer. With Richard being an adviser for the leader of the island and him not aging and so on, he could have asked Jacob to let her wish become true, so her knowledge and talents can get on the island – who knows if it wasn’t Jacob’s choice to bring Juliet on the island, and not just Ben’s or Richard’s? With the little fate game, Jacob could have done that (if he really has the power to change fate, what I don’t believe, but Juliet’s ex hit by a bus… come on, this wasn’t just an accident, like Richard wants to let her believe, especially when you look at his face when he says that to her). But this would probably mean that Jacob is omniscient of the lives of everybody involved in the island – and therefor practically God. But I can’t believe that. When Jacob is really God, then where are we?
Well, the rest of Juliet’s flashback was mostly boring; her pregnancy study might be interesting (and connected with the past of the island that women can’t give birth to their babies), but it doesn’t interest me; her troubles with her ex husband don’t interest me (though the scene with him and his new girlfriend in the laboratory was really awkward for Juliet); Rachel (Robin Weigert) was a nice character, but she doesn’t interest me. So, the on-island story was more important and the most interesting part, and fortunately lots of stuff happened.

Back in the game is Alex (Tania Raymonde), who helps Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) out to escape from the smaller island, but before that can happen, her boyfriend Karl (Blake Bashoff) has to be rescued. The brainwash scene was very interesting and probably had a few clues – “Everything changes”, “We are the causes of our own suffering”, “God loves you as He loved Jacob”, some of the pictures in the brainwash video. Especially the last one seems really interesting: God loved Jacob – is there a connection to the fifth season finale? Is Jacob tied with God? After all those symbolics (black & white mostly; the clues about angels and demons, with Ben probably being an angel and Keamy a demon sent by Lucifer Widmore to destroy God, more to that during my review to the season four episode “The Shape of Things to Come”), could it mean that Jacob was once an angel (that’s why he seems to live in the Black Rock ages and our present), God loved him, but now he doesn’t? And what has Richard to do with everything as an adviser? Is he specially tied with Jacob; probably being axed by God as well (that would explain his non-aging, too)? When I saw that during the rewatch (I never noticed it before), my eyes were wide open and my brain was active and thinking. Maybe the series really has a conclusion, which involves God and Lucifer, together with parallel realities and time travel, and the dead wandering around disguised as the living (e.g. Claire, when she was really dead in season four). So there is practically every genre in one series. Awesome. I will keep the brainwash scene in mind, when I am reviewing the sixth season, and hopefully there are some connections to it. And, hey, I already think Jacob IS God in this review, hehe.

Other than that, the rest of Kate’s and Sawyer’s escape was full of action and a bit thrill, but meaningless for the mythology. They didn’t discover anything, Hydra Island is as tree-rich as the main island, and Alex has hiding places everywhere. Jack’s (Matthew Fox) little problems in the operating room were interesting, too, because there was much character development. Not only because he helped Kate and Sawyer to escape and he told her to not come back for him. It would be a “Wow”, if I would see the episode for the first time, but I think, Jack just didn’t want them to come back, because he was on his way off the island on his own. And maybe he just didn’t want the survivors to know that he was gone. That Ben (Michael Emerson) did want to send Juliet back home was surprising though. But it is logical, when we see her development on-island during the situation with Ben short before his death, together with the “good-hearted” Juliet three years earlier in the flashback. More surprisingly was that she killed Danny (Michael Bowen). Whoho, finally he is dead and he can join Colleen. Interesting that pairs are dying all the time in short distances. There are not much days between Boone’s and Shannon’s death; almost all of the survivors of the tail section, who merged with the other survivors, were killed within a few days/weeks (except Rose and Bernard, of course), Charlie and Claire died within a few days, and so on… I don’t remember right now, but there are definitely more couples.
The bonding scene between Tom (M.C. Gainey) and Jack in the operating room was hilarious. At first Tom was the “hard” guy with the big beard, who says “This is not your island, this is our island” (“The Hunting Party”, season two), and now he is scared of blood, like Hurley, and tries to be buddy-like – awesome.

So, Kate and Sawyer are on their way back to the main island together with Karl, Alex is left behind, Juliet killed somebody, Ben still lives and Jack goes back to his cell. Basically the season arc can begin, because the Hydra Island story is about to end… Finally. Hallelujah.
A good episode and I liked almost everything of it.

8/10

Tomorrow: It could have been the episode for the Emmys, but it wasn’t. “Flashes Before Your Eyes” changes the fate of Desmond and Charlie.

Trailer for “Flashes Before Your Eyes”

<– 3.05: The Cost of Living

The season finale of season 2.5, but the first six episodes didn’t work as a link between season two and three, so this one is clearly season three, and not 2.5, like some fans want this six episodes to be. This episode for itself was good (kind of like “The Cost of Living”), but it was irrelevant in the series mythology and there is not much to write about, except the actual story of the episode. But it wasn’t really interesting as well.

“I Do” deals with the folks on Hydra Island and nothing more, so why did the producers show the funeral scene for Eko in here, which felt more incongruous. Did they just wanted to show that Eko was buried? Did they just wanted to show that Locke (Terry O’Quinn) looks on Eko’s Jesus stick, so he can find the engraving? They could have done this in the next episode or so, but in here it felt like a filler to bring more minutes into the episode.
To make the rest of the episode a Kate-centric episode, we had lots of moments between Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) in here, as well as Jack (Matthew Fox) trying to save those two after he saw the two fornicate in a bear cage (let this melt in your mouth!) on the monitor. But neither Kate’s flashback story was interesting, nor was the on-island story pretty good. At least it is about to end with Kate’s and Sawyer’s escape, proudly presented by Jack trying to kill Ben (Michael Emerson) – how obvious was that? When I saw “The Cost of Living” for the first time, in which Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) showed him the video, I was thinking: Why the hell doesn’t Jack say ‘Fuck it’, operates Ben and kills everybody in the room, and escapes then? Why the long detours? And why not just kill Ben? It is so easy now, but Jack must have a conscious here… argh. Not that I dislike the story, but it would have been the best chance for the survivors to end their capture and probably their stay on the island, but they don’t use it. Instead Kate kisses Sawyer after she got out of her cage (AGAIN!), and both of them are having a sweet moment together, when they have sex (that would be the second on-screen sex scene on the island in Lost, and in both scenes Sawyer was in it) – without knowing that the cameras are on the two and their actions for Jack clearly to see. Why are they not running, why are they not fighting? Sure, they are on the smaller island, but they could still fight…

There weren’t really much clues in this episode, practically nothing. The intercom is working again, the door to Jack’s aqua cell is mysteriously open (was it one of Ben’s plans to let Jack see that Sawyer and Kate did it?), Jack operates on Ben, Danny (Michael Bowen) wants to kill Sawyer. Yeah, not really a revealing episode, so I practically don’t know what to write anymore.
Nice to see Alex (Tania Raymonde) back in business again, and I love her impersonation of Bart Simpson. At least she talked something about “They killed my boyfriend”, which prepares the next episode, but it also looks like the writers wanted to have her in this episode, just so that she can say “They killed by boyfriend” and on Kate’s face magically appear lines full of doubt. But unfortunately the scene didn’t really work that way.
At least the writers managed to bring some development into Juliet’s character. It is interesting to see, how they included Juliet into the bigger story arc, but not the freaks Nikki and Paulo. With the knowledge that Juliet wants as badly as Jack to go home, even if it means killing one of her own, we have important information for her flashback episode in “Not in Portland”.

Kate’s flashback gives us the part of her life we didn’t see so far. In the season one episode “Outlaws”, Kate and Sawyer played the “I Never” game and Kate mentioned she was married – this flashback deals with her marriage. And I really would be bored to death, when the producers didn’t find Nathan Fillion for this guest spot role, who plays Kevin, her husband for a few days.
Kate stopped running in Miami, calls herself Monica, meets Kevin, who is a cop, loves him, lives with him and marries him. But she soon notices her dark and cold past on her shoulders and she knows she can’t hold up this new life forever, and that’s why she calls her flashback nemesis Edward Mars (Fredric Lehne, the Marshal) and later drugs Kevin so she can start running again…

Like I said, a good episode for itself, but unimportant for the series mythology. Like the rest of the beginning of this season.
But I am glad the Hydra Island story kinda sucked and the fans started to yell and scream at the writers, so that they actually saw what was going on and what they did wrong. And I am glad that ABC decided to give Lost three more seasons to give this show an end date. This was not only pleased by every fan out there, but it gave the writers the chance to plan everything ahead. Until this episode you never had the feeling the writers planned ahead for the single episodes, but after the decision of three more years, they really could plan every episode. My two cents to the fall/winter break.

7/10

After this episode, Lost went on hiatus for a while, so that’s why this wonderful trailer was made for tomorrow’s episode “Not in Portland”, which isn’t really the trailer for the episode, but of what’s to come.

Trailer for “Not in Portland”

<– 3.04: Every Man for Himself

It is the episode of another major character death. And it is the episode in which the writers got rid of a character, which resolved a few problems during the story, and not just because of his beliefs.
Yeah, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) dies and I won’t miss him. His character was always a bit boring, and the whole deal about his beliefs and his flashbacks went on my nerves after a while. At least he gets a pretty death: He gets killed by Smokey himself.

So, Smokey actually killing a major character for the first time in the series. After it only killed a few people (the pilot, Shannon in Boone’s vision) and let many stunned (to begin with the Black Rock visitor in the first season finale) it actually really kills for the first time an important character. And the big question is: why? After what we know after five seasons, Smokey can be summoned, so was somebody behind the death of Eko like, let’s say, Ben? But why would he kill Eko, he didn’t even know him.
But that isn’t all about Smokey: The biggest gasp is the judgment Eko had to face. Yemi (Adetokumboh M’Cormack) said to him, he has to be judged for what he did, he has to confess. If Yemi was in fact Smokey at that time, did it already know to kill Eko after his confession? Another thing: Eko’s judgment could be similar to Ben’s judgment in front of Smokey in season five (when he stood in front of Alex). Another question: If Smokey is really the man in the black shirt, we saw in the fifth season finale (Jacob’s nemesis), why is he killing one survivor after another? Which lets me ask another question: Why is Smokey killing at all? It killed the pilot in the pilot episode and it wanted to pull Locke into a hole in the first season finale (by the way: Could Locke have seen Jacob as white smoke/light/whatever he saw, when he mentioned that to Eko, and saw it in the season one episode “Walkabout”?). But it obviously had an obsession with Eko, because he regularly saw Yemi on the island. Another gasp was the moment, when Yemi said to Eko “You talk to me as if I were your brother” – if Yemi was in here really Smokey, then Smokey isn’t just something to describe it as “it”, behind Smokey is somebody, maybe a human being, maybe a soul of a dead human being, maybe a lost consciousness or whatever (the being summoned theory is still open for discussion). But Smokey seems to have something human in it. And I am asking, if Yemi was in real Smokey in here, because I doubt that, after what I saw in the fifth season. When Smokey is the savior of the death (connected to the Anubis legend), then why is it killing around? When Smokey is the protector of the dead, then why do I believe that Jacob’s nemesis is Smokey, a guy who wants to kill Jacob after all. Or maybe Smokey isn’t connected to the Anubis legend at all. Or maybe Jacob is Anubis (and went to Locke as bright light in “Walkabout”) and Smokey his nemesis. Especially after watching this episode, the mystery of Smokey is even more confusing than normal, when you consider the future of the series. Oh my god, my head explodes right now, I have to stop, before I go off-topic.

Well, the episode is clearly Eko-centric, his flashbacks are just pretty boring for his very last episode. He took Yemi’s position at the church, but didn’t keep it for long, after he killed the militia in the church (excellent scene, Eko could have been an action hero on the show). The story with the vaccine was boring and the conclusion to his cliffhanger as well; at least it had a connection to his confession in front of Yemi on the island.
The side plots were partly interesting. We finally see Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) and Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro) for more than just one scene (and they even have dialog more than just a half of a sentence – what a miracle), and I can understand why the fans hated them – when the writers need five episodes to bring a bit of importance to their roles, than this is just bad writing. They managed it to write Juliet in a proper way, so why not with these two freaks? And they aren’t even important in any way.

The Pearl station had another appearance in here, and with it the guy with the eye-patch we will formerly know as Mikhael (Andrew Divoff). When he appeared on the screen, I had goosebumps – finally a step back to the mythology of the series again, another mystery wanting to be solved, another Other somewhere on the island, and Locke (Terry O’Quinn) is happy about meeting him in the near future (look at him smiling). And when I wouldn’t know better I would have thought Sayid (Naveen Andrews) was very unimportant during the Pearl scenes (as well as Nikki and Paulo), but Sayid needed to be prepared for the upcoming story. And the other two freaks needed to be in front of the camera, because the viewers didn’t know the two until now. And we still don’t know them…
The story on Hydra Island was boring, though it prepared the last episode before the fall/winter break. Colleen was given a funeral, but she wasn’t buried, which is interesting – do the dead people have to be buried or is a simple funeral enough to prevent that the “security system” on the island will appear as them (considering that the Others know about Smokey, they were the hostiles after all and living in the jungle for years; at least they knew about burying the bodies) or something else. And Jack (Matthew Fox) learns the truth why Ben (Michael Emerson) captured him – not really a revealing scene, but, again, well acted by Michael Emerson, especially when he was thinking Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) told Jack.

The episode was average, but the death of a major character was just… blah. I didn’t care. Unlike Boone’s death I didn’t have feelings about Eko’s death. When the writers intended to let me impress feelings with Eko’s death, they failed, because it was just lame written.

6,5/10

Tomorrow: the Fall Season Finale, “I Do”, and who Kate did marry back in her flashbacks.

Trailer for “I Do”

<– 3.03: Further Instructions

“Every Man for Himself” was a good episode, but it is nerve-wracking that writers cannot use all of the characters in one episode once in a while. Like the three episodes before, the story concentrates more on one group than the other, and this time it is the triple on Hydra Island again. Sure, this isn’t changing during the run of the series (especially season five changed between the story of the survivors left behind on the island and the Oceanic 6 very often), but this is one of the points of the series I don’t really like.

I already wrote about it in “The Glass Ballerina”, but here once again: There are continuity problems with Hydra Island. Ben (Michael Emerson) said here to Sawyer (Josh Holloway), the island is roughly twice the size of Alcatraz, but the island looked really big, when Frank landed on it in the fifth season episode “Namaste”.
Another fact is the discussion Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Ben and Colleen had in “The Glass Ballerina”, when Colleen told Ben that Sayid, Jin and Sun were circling with a sail boat. Juliet said that they can circle around the island, so they are busy – is it not possible to see the smaller island from the main island? Why would Juliet say that they can circle around the main island to keep them busy? When they are circling around the main island, they eventually see the smaller island. I am a little confused, when it comes to the smaller island.
The other question would be how “involved” the smaller island is with the main island regarding the time travels in season five. It is sad that the writers never included the smaller island in their mystery. In season three it is only Hydra Island and the place with the cages, in season five it is the crash site of Ajira 316 – but nothing more.

To the story of the episode: Ben conning Sawyer the whole time was partly hilarious, partly interesting. Great acting by Michael Emerson, when he supposedly is killing the bunny with the black 8 on it and confusing why Sawyer is falling for that con so easily. Just the again working intercom in Jack’s (Matthew Fox) aquarium is confusing. Why would Jack hear Sawyer screaming? And: It is definitely not a coincidence anymore the intercom is working with Jack in the aquarium (and everybody saying the intercom hasn’t worked for years), but the writers never came back to that little mystery and probably stays open after the series finale. By the way: Why would there be an intercom in an aquarium for dolphins? I could imagine this aquarium was filled with water once to keep the big fish inside for a while without killing them, so that probably means the intercom was built in after its use as an aquarium. Hm, confusing…
At least the writers finally managed to develop the Sawyer/Kate (Evangeline Lilly) relationship with both of them across each other in bear cages, though I don’t know how Ben could consider Jack to help him, when he would see Sawyer and Kate together (which is obviously the reason, why he brought Kate and Sawyer with Jack. He only needed Jack for his operation).
Much more important is the little side plot at the beach: Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) starts having flashes of the future and already saves Charlie’s (Dominic Monaghan) life for the first time. I just don’t understand why Desmond isn’t coming out with the truth, but I believe the writers wanted to save that for Desmond’s episode or didn’t want to overload the current story with Sawyer, Kate and Jack with the Others (that’s obviously why we barely see something on the beach – they didn’t even start looking for the captured friends). Or it was just the not-communicating syndrome.

Sawyer’s flashbacks look like the writers didn’t really know what story to tell. Like in Jack’s flashbacks, Sawyer’s life story is already told and the rest would just be uninteresting bonus. Short conclusion: His prison time was boring. Sawyer behind bars, that is not really interesting. It is a nice parallel to his prison time on the island right now, but the story brought nothing except another appearance of Cassidy (Kim Dickens) and the fact that Sawyer is a father now. Only it isn’t developing Sawyer’s character in any way and it is just a preparation for Kate meeting Cassidy in her flashbacks – and a reminder that Cassidy even existed (for the ones who forgot what happened in the last season) and that she will remain important in the background of the show’s mythology. It was only nice to see that Sawyer’s con story is still on-going, with him lying and conning his way out of prison, which was somehow hilarious.

The episode was good, but within the series mythology irrelevant. One big problem the first episodes of this season have, amongst the too bigger storyline with the three captured survivors.

7/10

Tomorrow: “The Cost of Living” – ABC said the next two episodes will change everything. Really? Find out!

Trailer for “The Cost of Living”

<– 3.01 A Tale of Two Cities

“The Glass Ballerina” was an average episode with nothing much happening. Not only were Jin’s (Daniel Dae Kim) and Sun’s (Yunjin Kim) flashbacks really boring, the story on the island was boring as well. Basically this was one of the weakest episodes in Lost so far, and didn’t bring anything new or interesting into the series mythology. Other than that, it brings us Jin a bit closer as future action hero, when we find out he knows a lot more about his wife than we (and Sun herself) anticipated. And this episode marks the best example that Sun doesn’t want to live without Jin – which wasn’t the case before the plane crash.

While the last episode centered around the three prisoners on Hydra Island, this one dealt with the second group of people who are separated from the beach folks. Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Jin and Sun are still out to help Jack (Matthew Fox) with his plan to get back to the Others for what they did. But the Others came first, captured Jack, Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and the guys on Desmond’s sail boot don’t know about that and are still hoping the plan is at go. But Sayid wouldn’t be Sayid, when he isn’t noticing that exact fact. And soon starts to lie to Sun and Jin, because he has his own agenda.
The boat is docking at the dock, at which Michael got loaded on a boat, so he can travel home, while Jack, Kate and Sawyer got hoods over their heads. Sayid notices the dock isn’t abandoned like it should be and he is planning even a bigger ambush than he had in mind, when Jack was still in charge. So, Sayid lies to Sun, Sun has to lie to Jin, but Jin knows everybody is lying, because he can understand English way better than Sun would have thought – that just seems a bit illogical, why would he lie to Sun in this “matter”. This revelation looks like a plot device to give Jin and Sun a conflict during the episode, and a reason for Sayid to send Sun on the boat later and Jin on a gun to keep shooting when the Others arrive.
To stop with the boring recapping: Their story was really not interesting. Sayid wants to capture two of the Others, while Ben wants their boat. It is surprising that Ben (Michael Emerson) didn’t know anything about the sail boat. Kelvin had this boat for quite a while, after his death Desmond had the boat for quite a while, and nobody from the Others notice that there is a sail boat somewhere on the shore? I don’t think so… But why would Ben be surprised and lie here? And why was he so serious, when he said “I want that boat”, as if he really wanted the at boat? For what? After all he has a submarine…

At least the little action scene at the dock was nice (the season beginning didn’t have anything to offer regarding action scenes), though I can’t understand why Jin and Sayid didn’t notice all the men on the boat. They had to come from somewhere and Sayid as a super soldier didn’t notice that? Hm, another one of those cheap plot devices…
Surprising was the scene with Sun and Colleen (Paula Malcomson, definitely one of the characters I wanted to see more about). I had a little theory about it for a short time while rewatching this episode. When Sun said “I will shoot”, Colleen respond with “No, you won’t, Sun. I know you.” – it sounded like Colleen did really know that Sun won’t shoot, as if she knew the future. Did the writers throw the first stone here that fate can be beaten by free will (notice Juliet’s quote from last episode)? Is this the first scene of the series, which shows that the future can be changed? Or is it just Sun having balls and killing a person for the first time?
Well, after the scene the Others won the boat, while Sun was jumping off it and we never saw it again. Ben probably destroyed it or sunk it. And, who knows where the survivors land after the season five finale, maybe we will see that boat again. At least we have to see, what Ben did with it, after the Others stole it from Sayid, Jin and Sun – I want to see what he did with it.

Further more on the island: The Others build a runway on Hydra Island. But I am curious who the other people are, who help building it. Sawyer and Kate are prisoners, this is obvious, but are the others, too. Danny (Michael Bowen), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and some of the guards have all weapons… So, how many prisoners are there?
Another thing is the size of Hydra Island. Ben will tell Sawyer in two episodes the island is not even two times larger than Alcatraz Island – how small can a runway be on such a small island? And together with the season five episode “Namaste” I don’t think that Hydra Island is really that small. So, there is inconsistency about the size of Hydra Island…
Jack is bonding more and more with Juliet; the first steps to their “relationship” are done.
And: ALEX (Tania Raymonde)! Hell yes, she is still in the story. When I am watching episodes before “The Shape of Things to Come” and I see her, I am always sad. Though I think her many appearances in this seasons were a bit too much. I have the feeling she was in every second episode; I have the feeling the audience wanted to see her more often and the writers did the fans a favor – nice and fine, but after a while it was really a bit too much. But I still like Tania Raymonde.

The flashbacks of Sun and Jin were partly interesting. Only the stories regarding Sun’s father Paik (Byron Chung) was interesting, because I think he is an important character. I always had the feeling he had something to do with the island. There were a few clues that his company was related to Dharma, Hanso or whatever, but somehow related to what was happening on the island. And Mr. Paik is almost appearing in every flashback of either Jin or Sun. He could be like Sarah, an important part of their lives, so he is always in the story, but there could be more behind this. Though after five seasons, I don’t think so anymore.

Well, like I said, the episode was mostly boring. The story didn’t develop very much (again we didn’t see anything from the beach folks) and most of the character development was useless. Sun showed us, she can be a real pain in the ass and Jin shows us he is not the ballsy control freak he was in the first episodes of the series.

5/10

Tomorrow: the review of “Further Instructions” – why Locke couldn’t speak and Desmond nude…

Trailer for “Further Instructions”

Normally, I would post a season overview. But while I was rewatching the seasons and noticed I am reviewing way too much and nobody would read a post with more than 20,000 words, I decided to give Lost some (well… a lot of) extra posts. Starting with this episode, every single episode will have its own little review by me. And because the sixth and final season is not far away, the complete third, fourth and fifth season will pe posted daily, until the start of the sixth season.
I will try to post a season overview for the first two season as soon as the sixth season starts – and when I have a chance to rewatch them (I started my rewatch with the third season).

If you want to, you can rewatch yourself parallel with these reviews (I stole that idea from Nikki Stafford, who does the same thing on her blog) and if you want to, you can comment. I try to comment your comments.
So, let’s get started, 47 days until the start of the sixth season, 54 episodes to be reviewed until then…

Do you remember? The Others captured Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Hurley, after appreciated help by Michael, who was promised to go home with his son Walt. Ben said “You’re coming with us”, while Hurley was sent back to the beach to tell the others what happened. Meanwhile Desmond used the failsafe key to save the world, as usual. Only the station blew up, exploded or whatever and the sky turned purple. Pretty much an awesome season cliffhanger for a series in its second season.
And now the third season opens with a scene, which could have been the first scene in the series ever, but wasn’t because the scene after this one was the series opener. We see the plane crash from another point of view, from the eyes of Ben (Michael Emerson), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Ethan (William Mapother), Goodwyn (Brett Cullen) and all the others in Dharmaville. The complete opening scene is awesome, though I think it came a bit too late in the series. It is perfect to introduce us to Dharmaville and Juliet, but witnessing the actual plane crash from the surface of the island came a bit too late (maybe because the writers chose to reveal the Others no later than with Ben/Henry Gale’s appearance in the season two episode “One of Them”).
One little dialog scene kept my interest though: When Juliet said “Here I am, thinking that free will still actually exists” I had to think about Daniel Faraday and his theories about the future and how it can’t be changed (his “Whatever happened, happened” theory), and the fact that the later seasons will show the viewers a view of fate versus free will. Especially the finale of the fifth season, in which Jack tries to prove that Daniel and Locke were right all the time: You can change the future, you have a path in life. Though Juliet’s quote didn’t even targeted the whole “change the fate” deal, it was pretty interesting to hear the “free will” topic this early in the series from another character than Locke.

Jack, Kate and Sawyer as prisoners of the Others could have been a suspenseful story, but the writers never picked up the better part of the story and instead started with getting out the mythology of the Others to the viewers. We had the little scene with the intercom in Jack’s aquarium: It was Christian’s (John Terry) “Let it go”, which I think it was Smokey. But why did it do that, and why at that time?
Jack’s flashbacks were alright, it showed the last stage of his marriage we didn’t see until now (after we saw Jack and Sarah first meeting each other, than marrying, then breaking up, then Jack having emotional trouble after the divorce). And it is a shame that it would have been the last episode we saw Sarah (Julie Bowen), because she is an interesting character. Though we see her in this season finale, it could have been her last episode… I just don’t know why she made a big mystery out of her new boyfriend. Jack’s troubles after that were good, because it shows his obsession to things. Here he had the obsession to find out, who is with his wife, just because he saw him one time (just like his obsession to fix things). In his flash forwards it is clear that he developed an obsession to go back to the island, which came by Locke telling him to go back (in the season five episode “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”), and it explains his obsession to change fate in the season five finale by dropping the bomb. Practically, Jack is an obsessive man, but when he had the obsession, he always was on a low-point of his life – together with pills and alcohol.

Juliet’s introduction is really good. She got the first scene of the season and she got lots of character development during the episode. She barely likes Ben (for what reason soever, we will see in her flashbacks), she barely likes what she is doing (the last scene with Ben), which explains her actions later in this season. Interesting is that she has a copy of Christian’s autopsy – so he must be really dead. Still, his body was out of the coffin, before Jack hammered it together in the season one episode “White Rabbit”. Still, we see him appearing on the island. Before the fifth season finale I would have thought, Smokey is appearing in form of the people, who died on the island (Christian didn’t die on the island, but his body was/is on the island), and when he does, the bodies disappear. A theory of mine, which was destroyed in the fifth season finale with Locke’s body in the box. And the other thing: Smokey appears as Christian, though he didn’t die on the island – don’t they have to die on the island, when he wants to take the form of them?
The rest of the episode was barely interesting. Kate had a “nice” talk with Ben on the beach (hilarious how he told her that she isn’t getting any coffee, when she doesn’t put the cuffs on) and showered, while Sawyer danced to hilarious music, because he got a fish biscuit. The fact that Karl (Blake Bashoff) is in the cage across is confusing me. What did Karl to be in the cage at all? He must have manipulated the work of the Others for quite a while now. Or it is just Ben, who doesn’t want his daughter Alex to have a relationship with a boy, who manipulates the work of the Others? We have to wait until the season finale, why Ben chose to cage Karl in…

The season opener didn’t really have interesting highlights, which would make the episode really good. It was basically a normal episode with normal stories, except the stories were a chance for new beginnings. With Jack, Kate and Sawyer on Hydra Island a new story begins; the mystery involving the Others is going to be solved, new characters are and going to be introduced and there are some nice moments in here, wich foreshadow future events. And not only Juliet working against Ben.
It is interesting to see, how the mythology of the island and its inhabitants isn’t really built yet; the third season had lots of difficulties to bring the actual story we saw in season four and five, up to speed, and that is why the earlier seasons are a bit boring, compared to what we saw the second half of the series. But it is interesting as well, that we have some solved mysteries, like the polar bears.

All in all: It was a good episode, but for a season opener average and without any highlights. Kind of like the rest of the first part of the season. Now since the Others are revealed, the mystery around them is completely gone…

6,5/10

Coming up in a few minutes: the next episode of this season, “The Glass Ballerina”. So stick around (sounds like the last words before the commercial break)

Trailer for “The Glass Ballerina”

Data
Title: Lost: Season Five
Year: 2009
Network: ABC
Episodes: 17, at 43 minutes
Creators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Directors: Stephen Williams, Jack Bender, Rod Holcomb, Paul A. Edwards, Mark Goldman, Greg Yaitanes, Bobby Roth
Writers: Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Paul Zbyszewski, Brian K. Vaughan, Melinda Hsu, Kyle Pennington, Greggory Nations
Starring: Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Jeremy Davies, Michael Emerson, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Ken Leung, Evangeline Lilly, Rebecca Mader, Elizabeth Mitchell, Terry O’Quinn
Music: Michael Giacchino
Distinctions: Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor (Emerson)

My reaction
Synopsis: time-traveling survivors
How I saw it: streaming online (from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Great.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). This is what television should be. Granted, I could do without the whole 10% of the show spent waiting for a character’s name to be revealed thing, and I was pretty disappointed when A Certain Character didn’t end up dying after all at the end of the finale, but whatever. Easily the best season so far.
Objective Rating: 10/10 3.8/4 (Great).

Boys and Girls,

As far as I can tell, the fate of humanity is at stake tonight. Will Russell, the best Survivor to ever play the game, survive? Will ex-Agent Bennford shoot Agent Harold Noh? Will Kumar and Doogie find two ladies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-cKF6mLHPg)?

So much at stake…

Will Twenty2 read my ranting idiocy again?

Mostly I wonder about Flashforward… how much will the multiple universes thing come into play? Seems like yet another cop out.

And I wonder if there are more pictures of Elizabeth Mitchell floating around out there? TPTB over at V must have her in some compromising positions to convince her to do such a crappy show. She’s a talented actress, who was at the top of her game on L O S T, and then V. Seems like David Caruso was giving her career advice.

I hate to promote a stunt like this, but it’s important to note that the Maine Christian Civic League (CCL) never rests.  Luckily, neither do we.

The Lincoln County News, who endorsed Yes on 1, covered the latest efforts by CCL.  Through a Freedom of Information Act, CCL requested all documents referencing conversations or meetings that Maine State Senate President Libby Mitchell had with groups who worked on the issue of marriage equality (EqualityMaine, the Maine Civil Liberties Union [MCLU] and the Human Rights Council).  One of these documents mentioned a meeting taking place tomorrow with EqualityMaine and MCLU.

In response to this meeting, CCL has tried to imply that Mitchell and representatives from these groups are up to some secret, backroom dealings.  I’m sure that any scan of conservative politicians from Maine would show a meeting at some point with CCL.  That’s what advocacy organizations do–meet and talk with policymakers.

The false indignation that CCL has summoned clearly has two intended purposes.  The first is to rally their base (and donors) against the “relentless push to undermine traditional values” (or some ridiculous talking point to that effect).

Sadly, the second target is clearly Senator Mitchell.  Sen. Mitchell is running for governor and polling shows her to be a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.  This is clearly an attempt to rally the conservative voting base against a her in the chance she receives the party’s nomination.  They will undoubtedly try to use her support of equality against her.

At this point, I don’t know enough about the candidates to say that I support one over another, but we have to be prepared for this and be ready to defend those who stood up for marriage equality (another leading candidate, Steve Rowe, is very good on civil rights issues).  As a refresher, here is Sen. Mitchell’s speech from the day the State Senate voted on LD 1020.

h/t Debbie

yesterday i saw steve buscemi.  he came in to the cafe where i started working this week. when i got home a couple of hours later, i googled him to see if he lives in the neighborhood or if he is shooting nearby.  i didn’t find out any of that info, but i did find out that he worked as a firefighter at this fire co. in the 80s.  i didn’t know when i snapped this photo.

he also volunteered with them september 12, 2001 digging through rubble at ground zero in 12 hour shifts for a week.  despite his portrayal as neurotic and creepy characters, he’s a pretty stand up guy.

even though i didn’t speak to him, it reminded me of one of the highlights for me last year when i met elizabeth mitchell.  she plays juliet on the tv show LOST.  it is one of the only shows i watch.

i was working a gala at the arts magnet school where elizabeth mitchell, erykah badu, edie brickell, and norah jones graduated.  my job that afternoon was to keep an eye on the green rooms and get the famous alumni water and snacks if they wanted it.  while i was somewhat excited about the idea of meeting erykah badu and edie brickell, i didn’t find out until after i arrived that elizabeth mitchell would be there.

suddenly i was overcome with nervousness.  what if she is a total bitch, it would ruin LOST for me!

thank goodness she  was absolutely delightful, warm, and kind.

cheers to pleasant unexpected encounters that brighten the day.

  Wow never let me say that a show can’t pack a punch in four episodes, because man oh man did V ever pack a punch.  The only question is whether or not it was enough of a punch that it left an impression big enough to last until March.  I know the Olympics are coming up in Febuary, but I still don’t see why they could not have aired new episodes up until that point and then pulled it off for a month instead of 3 months.  I know that I will be tuning back in come March, but will other viewers do the same?  I sure hope so because (and forgive me Dominic) out of the 2 new science fiction shows abc has right now this one shows the most promise so far.  Dont get me wrong FlashForward fans I still like the show, but when it comes to pacing and forward (forgive the pun) momentum V is running circles around FF.  In four short episodes they have managed to establish the point of the series, a couple of WTF moments (RIP Dale), and they managed to set up storylines that could conceivably stretch for another couple of years. 

And even with all this not once during the fall run did I ever get the feeling as though the show was merely dragging along and trying to fill up space.  Oh sure there were some parts that I would rather have done without.  Namely killing off Dale, but that is strickly form a geek crush perspective, and even I have to admit that it was a masterful way to introduce the continued existence of the Fifth Column.  Long live the Fifth Column.  Ooh boy I can’t wait to see more of that particular storyline.  Hopefully the Blissing Anna put over her ship won’t cause too much a derailment.  I also could do without the angsty teen drama the show has going on, although again it did provide EM with what I can only describe as unnervingly funny reaction to seeing her teenage son with a half naked girl in his room.  I know I am probably going to get some boos for this one but I really donit like Joel Gretcsh’s character.  I’m sorry but he just seems so misplaced.  And frankly compared to the rest of the cast his character seems like a bit of a wimp.  Ass kicking V’s aside.  Ok go ahead boo away I know you want too.

Some Notable Moments:

The unhinging of Georgie – He is one to watch.  I have a feeling he isn’t done coming unglued.

You’re a Priest!

Anything with Scott Wolf – Keep your eye on Chad Decker there is definitly more going on underneath that ladder climbing exterior.

Skin Him – Nothing more need to be said on that one.

What do you mean you can’t cure the common cold?  What the hell good are you?

 Best engine room ever.

Damn it’s an invasion!

They killed Dale.

Score one for the resistence.

 What does a guy who is really an alien look like when he gets told his gf is going to have a baby?  Well the same way a human guy would look if he heard the same news.  Its nice to see that some things are universally scary as hell.

Após uma bela escorregada no episódio anterior (A Bright New Day), essa semana V veio com tudo aquilo que o primeiro episódio prometeu. Explosões, manipulações, desconfianças, escolhas e beijos sem graça. Eu estou tão decepcionado com a atuação de Logan Huffman, o Tyler que me pergunto se ele morrerá na série. Será que demora?

A correria dessa semana vai para Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) e sua desconfiança em Ryan (Morris Chestnut). Tudo na série tem que dar certo o mais rápido possível. É, eu sou exigente. Ryan atira em Combs (Craig Fraser) para salvar Erica e rola aquele silêncio de “Olha só, posso confiar nele”, e depois a Erica faz a mesma coisa com Ryan, salvando a pele dele de outro V maluco e acontece o mesmo silêncio. Isso nem é mais clichê, é cafona. Mas eu torço tanto para a série dar certo que nem ligo!

O relacionamento entre Erica e Tyler vai de mal a pior. O adolescente deslumbrado com o “amor” de Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) deu as costas para a mãe e partiu pra nave V para conhecer a mãe da loirinha, Anna (Morena Baccarin), que já manipulou a mente do garoto mostrando aquilo que ele gosta e falando aquilo que ele quer ouvir, que ele será uma pessoa importante caso fique ao lado dos V’s. É como Erica disse, os humanos são previsíveis e os aliens sabem disso.

Anna tem poderes, é isso? Como assim, “benção”? Aqueles humanos que receberam a benção, o monge, a mulher, são V’s disfarçados de humanos, né?Fiquei um pouco confuso e não quero me sentir sozinho nessa.

Que fazer com a sede de vingança do Georgie (David Richmond-Peck)? Ele vai acabar colocando em risco todo o grupo por causa disso. Quer dizer, já levou uma bala por isso. Ainda bem que o padre Jack (Joel Gretsch) já foi para a guerra no Iraque e soube fazer o curativo no colega. Padre Jack é meu personagem favorito. Onde mais um padre já foi para guerra no Iraque não uma, mas duas vezes e ainda guarda sua arma na igreja? Além do que sabe bater e derrubou o V careca com um belo gancho de direita! Já disse que o padre Jack é meu personagem favorito? Forças, Jack, esse ferimento de hoje não há de ser nada!

E quem diria o bebê híbrido será de Ryan e Valerie! Eu estava torcendo para ele vir de Lisa e Tyler porque são adolescentes e poderiam abordar o tema da gravidez na adolescência, o que seria ótimo para passar a mensagem de não fazer sexo sem camisinha e o risco de vir a dar a luz um bebê aberração. Ok, parei.

Enquanto isso, na nave de Anna, Joshua (Mark Hildreth, que já foi a voz de Terry Bogard nas animações de Fatal Fury!) teve que retirar a pele, ou seja, matar seu amigo David (Ryan Kennedy), que se entregou como assassino de Dale (Alan Tudyk) para benefício dos rebeldes. Anna já desconfia que Joshua é o informante da Quinta Coluna. Nos resta saber quem é esse John May e o que ele está fazendo, porque o tanto de nave que está só aguardando o sinal de Anna para invadir nosso planeta não é brincadeira, é melhor ele ter um bom plano guardado na manga. Não querendo ser chato, mas o que esse bando de alien veio fazer no nosso planetinha? Just asking…

Eu só espero que V engrene de vez. Até agora o que vimos foram só esforços de manter o público, porém nada de muito surpreendente aconteceu. Mas ainda tenho esperanças!

I was a big fan of the original V-series back in the mid-eighties so when I heard that a remake was in production I was horrified, but also a little curious. So I just had to watch it.

And after watching the pilot episode of “V” 2009-style I was hooked. I’m not loving it as much as the original, but I still like it a lot. It sadly doesn’t have the same eerie kind of score and the special effects varies from excellent to really terrible, but the writers has added an interesting twist to the story and the series is packed with a lot of great actors from other TV-shows.

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), and Joel Gretsch, (4400 and Taken) stars as FBI agent Erica Evans and catholic priest Father Jack Landry. The incredibly beautiful Morena Baccarin, who I already love after seeing her guest appear as Chloe on How I met your mother, co-stars as the V leader Anna.

But even if there are a lot of great actors, I do think that the characters they have to play aren’t as great as the ones from the original series. I especially miss someone like Ham Tyler, brilliantly played by Michael ironside, or Mike Donovan, played by Marc Singer.

Marc Singer as Mike Donovan

Only four episodes have been produced in the new series as some kind of test to see what ratings it would get. And since it started off with the biggest rating a new show has gotten in a long, long time I think we will get a full season starting March 15 2010, when the fifth episode is scheduled for broadcast.

And hopefully by then, the writers has added some new, cool characters. I can’t wait to see.

photo courtesy of newtek.com

Anna announcing that the V’s will be offering vitamin injections. Ryan quickly figures out that this is part of a larger scheme. He says it is the reactivation of an old plan. Erica runs all of the names of the V’s that were involved with the old plan through the FBI and find one lead, Peter Combs.

When Georgie, Erica, Ryan and Jack go on their little spy mission, Georgie goes a little nutso and shoots Peter, but Peter shoots back. Peter swallows a suicide pill so that be fry’s into ashes. Turns out Jack is was in the military and stitches Georgie up so he’s just fine. A little bonkers in the head, but physically fine. “Pretty soon you’re going to need to decide what you are, a priest, or a solider.”

Erica finds out that Ryan is a visitor when Peter calls him a traitor. Ryan tells Erica about the 5th column. She gets over the fact that Ryan is a V rather quickly.

Erica, Ryan and Jack break into some building to investigate a lead gathered from Peter’s briefcase. Originally, they thought the V’s were going to put their drugs into the vitamin shot, but here they figure out that they are putting R6 into the human flu vaccine. See, no government agency is going to be concerned about the flu vaccine when there is a new vitamin shot and with these vaccines mingled in with others, there is no way to pick them apart. In this building they tested the shot, and that is why it is filled with dead bodies. The V’s find out that they’re in the building, a couple punches, gun shots and strangles later and the building blows up.

Our human nature is very calculated. They more predictable we are, the more vulnerable we are.

photo courtesy of abc.com

The world gets a little smaller. We find out that Valerie is Tyler’s psychiatrist. Tyler gets Valerie an appointment at the V’s healing centers. At her appointment there, she discovers that she is pregnant. Little does she know, she’s pregnant with half a V/half a lizard.

Chad does a report on the medical miracles that the healing center is doing. He gets a funky diagnostic full body scan to demonstrate the procedure. While he is getting this scan, he gets some startling news. He is going to die in 6 months unless he lets the V’s heal whatever is going to develop in his brain. They can determine medically what has happened and what will happen.

Erica’s former V partner was murdered by a member of the medical staff and Anna is on the hunt to find out who. As far as we know, there are 2 members of the medical staff that are a part of the 5th column. The one who didn’t murder her partner takes the blame because the other is the chief medical officer and he’s too valuable. His sentence? Skinned to death.

photo courtesy of abc.com

Jack is stabbed by someone who comes in the church pretending to look for help after hours, I believe it is a man/V from the warehouse that was blown up.

This new show has got me pretty hooked, but I have one major complaint. This was the last episode of 2009. What kind of crazy show has 4 episodes and then stops for the year?

Watch The Full Episode