More photos that I’ve taken lately:

There’s an orchid breeding place at the bottom of Botanic Gardens that has all these scientific doodads rigged to help the little guys procreate. The whole thing made me think of  the Dharma Initiative’s Orchid Station I LOVE IT.

It was a Sunday and warm.

I saw this across the road from Lasalle. Thought it was flower at first, but upon closer inspection realized that it was crumpled up pink garbage shoved into the fence. Kind of depressing but also really beautiful.

Up until this point, Miles stuck me as kind of dead weight…a season 4 character with an attitude problem that could have easily been disposed of by now, despite his genuinely enjoyable wittiness. And even though I saw the revelation of his origins coming since the season five premiere, I felt like time spent on Miles was time wasted. Luckily for me, Miles has, for the most part, only been along for the ride, following the time flashers around and looking vaguely grumpy. He did have some screentime in this season’s “Jughead” and I didn’t really care for it.

In this episode, I actually really enjoyed witnessing the development of Miles Straume as well as Ken Leung’s acting ability.

Flashbacks, as always with me, are awesome. Little Miles was pretty cute and a convincing portrayal of a younger ghost-whispering con artist. Punked-out Miles looked pretty ridiculous. Unfortunately, his conversation with his dying mother wasn’t particularly revelatory, aside from the fact that Miles’ mom appears to bear his father no fondness. It was interesting to see how he first meets Naomi, though I wonder how Widmore even suspected that Miles’ powers were legit. It’s also interesting to note that Miles has some sense of morality and honor, returning the money to the last person he conned. Similarly, he returns the old lady her $100 in “Confirmed Dead,” thoug he pockets the secret stash. So Mr. “Give me $3.2 Million” is definitely out for a fast buck, but draws the line at cleaning out certain people.

And then there’s Bram…more on Bram later.

C'mon, man...You really need a $1.6 million bribe to work with this hottie?

Horace’s, Radzinsky’s and Pierre’s “circle of trust” seems ridiculously easy to get into. “Hey, can I trust you? Alright, help me transport some secret bodies.” And Sawyer was a part of it? Does that mean he has some idea of the type of risks associated with the Swan site? Or does he also “ask no questions?”

The Hurley-Miles dynamic continues to be entertaining. I wonder if Hurley actually believes that he talks with full-blown ghosts or if he was just saying that to pry Miles up. Seems to me like the island has messed with Hurley’s head before…but I’m not convinced he has a power comparable to Miles’. While his nosiness is almost cartoonish, his attempts to bring Miles and Dr. Chang together are endearing. To be fair to Miles, Dr. Chang really does come off as something of a douche…but he might just be hyper-stressed about the power lying beneath the Orchid and the Swan.

Hurley would try to speed up the release of The Empire Strikes Back…though he obviously still doesn’t understand the mechanics of time travel. If he sends that in to George Lucas, then he won’t improve anything. Lucas will take Hurley’s ideas and insert his own, as Lucas is prone to do (granted, in this case, I don’t understand why you would mess with Empire). Also, huge disagreement with Mr. Reyes…I like Ewoks.

"No, fat boy, YOU suck!"

It looks like things are getting too chaotic for Jim LaFleur. There will probably be a point where he’s going to have to make a choice to abandon DHARMA…but until then, it’s satisfying to see that nuisance Phil get punched in the face. Also, how does Jack get off being so smug? He’s done nothing to make Roger less suspicious…he’s just associated himself with her. Roger Linus could potentially get all of them in trouble with Horace and the Dharma leadership. Also, it seems like they were right in assigning Jack to workman. He can wipe chalkboards in a few seconds flat.

"And then Dr. Frankenstein domesticated the monster and was regarded the greatest man in history, all due to his ability to defy natural law with the power of SCIENCE. SCIENCE, Miles!"

5.04 The Little Prince

Nose bleeds are a bitch.

Remember this will be a SPOILER review.

An episode focused mostly on the Oceanic Six this week.  Which sadly aren’t all that interesting.  I love all the shenanigans that’s going on the island that when it diverts to the off island Losties, it’s just not that compelling.  It’s not to say it’s boring, I cannot wait until I find out how they get back to the island.

We have Kate wanting to find out who is the client that wants to the maternity test.  Along with Jack it first looks like Claire’s mother is the one who hired the lawyers but it was just a ruse.  Yes as many have guessed it was Ben who hired the lawyer to scare Kate in running.  Not much else was really going on with the Oceanic Six.  Sayid was attacked again, Jack helped Kate and then brought her to Ben at the end.  By the episode’s end, we have all the Oceanic Six besides Hurley.  Sun has her gun and wants to kill Ben, which ain’t going to happen.

Back on the island, Charlotte awakens from her pass out from the previous episode.  Daniel sure knows something but isn’t saying anything.  Probably because he can’t do anything about it.  Now both Miles and Juliet have started to bleed from the nose.  According to Daniel, it’s probably happening because the individual has been exposed to the island for a long period of time.  Daniel asks Miles if he’s sure he’s only been on the island less time than Sawyer and Locke.  Hinting towards that Miles has probably been on the island before.  Fan theory is that Miles is Pierre Chang’s son that we saw for a glimpse second at the start of this season.

Locke believes that they need to go back to the Orchid so he can leave the island and bring the six back.  During their journey to the Orchid, they see a bright light in the distance.  That light is from the light when Locke banged on the hatch door during season one, it was right after Boone died.  Sawyer then came across Kate delivering Claire’s baby.  In a wonderful scene and beautifully acted by Josh Holloway, we saw him witness this scene from afar.

After that scene another flash happens and the group make it to the beach.  The camp is there but it’s trashed, the Zodiac raft is gone and there is a canoe on the beach.  No one was on the beach which I assume was sometime in the future after they started moving through time.  I’m thinking we’ll find out how that canoe ended up on the beach.

The biggest surprises in this episode and we seem to have at least one every episode is that a group of shipwreckers come across a man in the sea.  That man is Jin and I’m so happy to see him again.  Though the shipwreckers who found Jin are in fact Danielle Rousseau and crew.  So while I’m ecstatic that Jin is back, I’m even more excited that we’re going to be seeing Rousseau’s story.  There are so many questions about them that we’re at the point that they’re going to be answered and that is making me wish that the next week would just time jump ahead.

Geeky Thoughts:-

• How did Jin time jump like everyone else?  If he did jump off the freighter then shouldn’t he have been outside the radius when the island disappeared?
• Sawyer and co. found a water bottle in the canoe, the bottle was from Ajira Airways.  If you’re a hardcore fan, you’ll know that the logo for the airline appeared in Lost’s season 5 promo music video.  The airline is based out of India.  As mentioned earlier, I think this is the future, after the island disappeared.  I think we’ll find out later this season how that bottle ended up in the canoe.
• Who was shooting at the canoe?  People we know?  I have a feeling we’ll be seeing this scene again from a different perspective.
• When they got to the beach, Locke found Vincent’s collar.  This was quite signposted by Locke, like the writers made sure it would be remembered.  I’m assuming Vincent had his collar on him when he was time jumping with the rest. Does someone have Vincent?
• Did Danielle and Jin ever meet before she died?  If they did, you’d have thought she’d remember him.  Though she was the crazy French lady, so it’s easily explainable if she didn’t remember.

Quote of the episode: Sawyer “Thank you lord…(flash, pissing it down)…I take that back.“

Favourite Scene: Sawyer watching Kate help Claire give birth to Aaron.

5.01 Because You Left

What’s the time?

Remember this will be a SPOILER review.

Initially I was going to review the first two episodes together but after watching these two brand new episodes, I knew that it would be hellish for me to even attempt to review both episodes together.

So time travel, a device in storytelling which can really fuck up a show.  A device that should not be used unless you are confident in it’s execution.  Heroes has been a recent example of how not to use time travel.  Time travel has always been fascinating to me, I love trying to work out the complexities of it all.  So this first episode really kept my brain working trying to work out timelines and how it relates to everything we’ve seen so far.

The episode kicks off in usual Lost fashion, season 2 style with a man waking up in bed and putting a record on.  That man turned out to be Dr. Pierre Chang (or Marvin Candle to the people who have not seen the Comic Con 2008 Lost video).  A wonderful moment to see as this is the first time we’ve seen him not in a Dharma video.  He is told that there is a problem in the Orchid station.  We see the station in it’s building stage which was a wonderful moment in itself.

Though the main surprise in this scene was that Daniel Farady was working the excavation site.  Obviously this happens in the future of the show but in the past, probably in the 70’s sometimes I suppose.  Hopefully that makes sense, with Daniel and co. skipping through time then it makes sense why Daniel is there at that moment.  Though the question to ask is, why is Daniel at the building of the Orchid station?  Does he have to turn the wheel?  The first of many questions which have been posed during these first two episodes.

So onto the island people skipping through time.  All the Oceanic 815 leftovers, Juliet, and the freighter people are unstuck in time and keep moving into the past and the future.  Daniel is the key to making the audience understand what’s going on.  He states that they cannot change the future.  An example of this was Sawyer banging on the hatch door and getting no response.  This is because when Desmond and Sawyer met they never recognised each other so Desmond would have never opened that door for Sawyer.  Though when Daniel banged on the door, it opened and out came Desmond.

Somehow Desmond is “special” according to Daniel, he is the exception to the rule.  Daniel tells Desmond to go to Oxford and find his mother when Desmond leaves the island.  Desmond wakes up in the future, well 2008 and remembers something.  The meeting between him and Daniel is now a memory.  We know that Desmond and Daniel never recognised each other when they first met.  Though Daniel had written in his journal that Desmond was his constant but he never had any memory of a prior meeting with Desmond.  It’s certainly the most complex question that was posed, once I’ve had more time to mull over it, I’m sure I’ll have a better understanding of the situation.

When the island moved, Locke was with the others but then he was alone, the others had disappeared.  Now why is this possible, shouldn’t the others have stayed as well?  Well I’m guessing that there is a certain part of the timeline that if anyone arrived on the island after that part in time then they would move backward and forward in time.  The Others with Locke have been on the island for a while so that could explain it.  Maybe anyone who came to the island after the first incident is unstuck in time like everyone else.  Though if that’s the case then what about the Others who came from Oceanic 815?  Well that’s a question that could debunk my theory but we haven’t seen Cindy and co. so there’s no evidence yet to say I’m wrong.

Locke witnessed Yemi’s plane crash onto the island.  Obviously this is Locke’s future but if we cast our minds back to season one, Locke had a vision of that plane crash which led him there.  Now did he have that vision because he actually witnessed the plane crash and his consciousness was telling him where it was?  Seems very likely that his past self would remember something in his future.  When Richard visited him as a child he gave him items to pick out that belonged to him.  One of those items was a compass, the same compass Richard gave to Locke in this episode.  So it seems that he would remember something in his past that happened to him in the future.

Geeky Thoughts:-

• Why was Charlotte bleeding from the nose?  Is it something to do with not having a Constant?  Though if that was the case, wouldn’t other people be having them too?  Maybe it’s because she was maybe born on the island? She is looking for the place she was born.
• Sun has aligned with Widmore to make sure Ben is killed.  I assume the other person she blames for Jin’s “death” is Ben.  Though what is her game?  Maybe she’s got another agenda.
• Who’s the client of the lawyers that wanted to test to see if Kate was Aaron’s mother? Ben? Widmore?
• Who are the guys that tried to subdue Sayid?  Again it’s either a choice between Ben or Widmore.  Though somehow I’m thinking they could have been hired by someone completely different.
• Who is Farady’s mom, is she someone we’ve possibly seen before?
• Are the whispers from people who are unstuck in time?  It’s a theory that I’m sticking too because it seems to make a lot of sense.
• Sayid can kill people with his legs and also a dishwasher.  I doubt you’d even see Jack Bauer being able to do that.

Well one episode down and another one to come.  My god this episode was fast paced and full of goodness.  Lost is back and I can’t be more fucking happy about it.  My brain might explode by the time I’m done with reviewing episode two.

Quote of the episode: Hurley “You know, maybe if you ate more comfort food, you wouldn’t have to go around shooting people.”

Favourite Scene: The whole opening, pre-title sequence.  It was glorious.

PART 1:

Pentultimate episode of the season. We open on the Oceanic Six being rescued. Jack’s still the leader. Telling them how to deal with the media that awaits.

FLASHCURRENT: The chopper is overheard to be landing over the Orchid, which none of the Losties know is another Dharma station. Jack is trying to be a hero (a-gain) even though he just had surgery.

Turns out Dan Faraday knows what the Orchid station is all about and tells Charlotte, “We have to get off this island tight now!” 

FUTURE: Oceanic has a press conference with The 6; offering a lot of crazy manufactured details. The press is pretty harsh with them. (‘You guys look pretty healthy for being on an island’) It should be a fluff piece! Sayid and Nadia are re-united.

One group if off to the freighter with Jin and Sun and Aaron and some random people. So we know the fate of them is not certain.

FLASHFORWARD: Sun shows up at her father’s company, pregnant and gaining control of her life and her father’s company. She got her money and bought controlling interest in dad’s biz. And she blames dad for Jin’s death.

Hurley, Locke, and Ben are off to the Orchid. But they realize that Widmore’s guys (Freighties) are already there.

Jack presides over a wake for his father. And Claire’s mom attends. And tells Jack that Claire was his sister.

Sayid and Kate have gone after Jack (for a rescue) but meet up with Richard Alpert and a host of other armed people who capture them.

Ben gives some instructions to Locke about getting into the Orchid station while Ben’s going to surrender for a diversion.

THOUGHTS & QUESTIONS:

Who put the crapload of explosives on board the freighter?

Why did they feel the need to create such an elaborate backstory about the Losties? Why is Jack so happy to go along with this plan?

Why does Kate need to claim Claire’s baby as her own?

What was with Michael’s claim about landing on an island filled with people?

When do they 6 get together? And how are they (and just them) going to get away. That boat brought Jin and a few other random people who don’t make it. So, is the freighter gonna explode or is there gonna be a war waged on the freighter once the mercenary types return? Will they return?

Thinking: Sun and baby get off the boat and the helicopter goes down with Sayid, Jack, Hurley and Kate; then they could re-unite. And maybe the pilot could be one of the faked 8 (one of the two that “make it off the plane but die later”).

So Ben “has a plan” but we know that plan cannot be surrender (he hasn’t even told Locke what to do once he gets to the Orchid station) so how is Ben gonna get out of Keamy’s control? 

You can assume that Ben signaled to the Others to help him; but if he did, why did Richard Alpert and the Others show up at Sayid’s locale and not report directly to the Orchid. Is there gonna be a hostage negotiation? Because no one cares about the Losties. That’s out.

What kind of horrible things can/will go wrong with an attempt to move the island? (Thank god for Hurley bringing one ounce of logic into the equation – ‘Won’t the bad guys move right along with the island?’).

When Sun names her father as one of the two responsible for her husband’s death – who was the other?

When Keamy left with that weird thing tied to his arm – is that connected to the ridiculous amount of explosives? Would he want to take the freighter out with him, or on his command?

So Sun is poised to take control of her father’s company, but in the back of my mind I still think her father is somehow connected behind the scenes, does she know, will she find out, what’s she gonna do?

I am so pumped to see where The Others are taking Sayid and Kate! I want to get to know them a little bit better.

PS – Is it possible to love Sun more than after this eppy?

Tonight’s episode of Lost will show us a new station… The Orchid.  (I’m assuming that the 2 bunnies are actually 1 bunny in 2 time periods. Kind of like Desmond last week.)   Notice how Dr. Marvin Candle has a different name in each orientation film and that in this one he has use of both arms, no prosthetic?)  Oooohhhh I love it!  It’s cracktastic, that show!