This is not an isolated incident. I recall cases like major car manufacturers balking on California emissions/fuel economy regulations. The government will pass tough laws, then people or companies will complain that they “don’t have time” to comply, or that it would be too tough to do it in the time frame dictated. So the government, acting like the big wimp that it is, will often turn tail, and bow to the demands of the corporations, or the complainers. I usually lean liberal/libertarian, but Republicans have been talking about this problem for years. Enforcement of laws is not consistent, and needs to be taken more seriously. Before we change laws or “relax” them, let’s try enforcing them, and then see where we get with that strategy. I will not right now espouse how border/immigration law enforcements might be a good solution to the immigration debate. After all, I need some yard work done this weekend, and I want to pay cash under the table. Ssshh!

What is justice really? According to dictionary.com, justice is the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. In Paris’ case, there is not much fairness or rightness about her being allowed to break the law and then go home because she doesn’t like jail food. In many cases these days, it seems that personal responsibility is not only being ignored, but the system is encouraging just that. Lewis Libby is going to jail for lying to the authorities in the Valerie Plame case. But no one has been charged with leaking her name to the press, which is an obvious breach of national security. So where is the justice in that? An undercover CIA agent is exposed, and we yawn. So If we are not going to hold our political leaders to high standards for behavior, why should we hold tabloid celebrities to any standard at all?

The problem is that the fault in these matters falls directly on YOU, the reader! And me, of course. All of us who have not written letters to elected officials, or marched in a public demonstration have not done their part in the process. Are we not a government by the people and for the people? Posting on a message board is nice, but ultimately not enough. When CBS cancelled the television show “Jericho”, fans were outraged, and sent 25 tons of peanuts to the network, prompting them to rethink their decision. So it is obvious what we need to do. If you don’t like the Plame investigation, send outraged letters to your local Congressmen and Senators. It sounds played, but you can make a difference if you get involved. Here is a link to the LA country Sheriff’s Department website, where they have listings for all sorts of people you can voice your distress to. Me? I am thinking about whether or not to mail them boxes of cashews or walnuts. Probably the cashews, since they look like deformed peanuts, and (can you feel it coming?), this situation is an example of DEFORMED justice. Snap!

UPDATE: According to TMZ, the release of this prisoner was to prevent her having a nervous breakdown. LA top Sheriff Lee Baca signed off on this, so this goes to show the idiocy goes straight to the top. Because there is no way other prisoners are sitting in their cells being nervous. Is Lee going to send them all home?

UPDATE #2: She’s going back in the clink! Hurray for Cashews! And the filter, for making it happen, of course.

Each year I get jazzed for the Bee. There are two main things that thrill me about it. The first is the pure competition. These young people are under tremendous pressure, studying spelling for years just for this purpose. Jonathan Horton, one of the favorites, had been in the Bee for years, studying hours a day, and then he got the boot on his first word of the final round. Since this was his last year of eligibility…that’s it. His competitive spelling career is essentially over, and he is not even fifteen years old. So watching these kids live and die by the dictionary has a certain appeal.

My favorite example of this is when Akshay Buddiga fainted on stage right in the middle of his turn. A lesser competitor might have accepted help or medical aid, but Akshay had the resolve to get right up and nail the word! This is guts and glory at its finest. And it is not just the kids that take this seriously. This year the parents of ousted favorite Samir Patel appealed his elimination, claiming a pronunciation variation cost him his chance at the title. The appeal was, thankfully, rejected. After all, the Bee was made for winners, not whiners!

The second reason to love the Bee, which I suspect is the main reason for many people watching, is the personalities of the spellers. Many of these kids are home-schooled, and that makes for some interesting sound bytes. The most famous, and one of my favorites, is Rebecca Sealfon, the champion of the 1997 Bee. Rebecca just oozes personality and enthusiasm, as you can see in her spelling the championship word, “euonym”. She knew this word, as she started to celebrate before she actually spelled it. If she had made an error, it would have been similar to Lindsey Jacobellis botching her gold medal in the 2006 Olympics. Thankfully for Rebecca, spelling doesn’t have as much opportunity for showboating. Check out Rebecca’s post game interview. A true classic. And sometimes these kids are funny on purpose too.

My only real complaint with the Bee is that they need to stop buying all the kids’ shirts in the same size. Can’t the National Spelling Bee afford to buy a variety of rugby shirt sizes? Good lord, some of these kids are basically wearing dresses. Sadly, the Bee is now over, and we are left waiting another twelve months for the next generation of whiz kids to make us laugh, cry, cheer, and feel stupid. I for one, cannot wait until next spring. And if I mis-spelled any words in this column, don’t blame me. I went to public skool.

At first, I thought it was sad that Josh made these fatal mistakes. But today I found out that this death really wasn’t his fault. I feel so stupid, since I always thought people should not drink in excess. I mean, unless someone is forcing you to drink (let’s say with an IV in your arm) you are pretty much supposed to know when you have had too much. I also feel dumb for thinking that cell phones impair your ability to drive. There are many states that are passing laws about driving while taking; but I guess I mistook that for common sense. Oh, and I also had to call up Bobby Hurley, and ask him why he preached wearing a seatbelt in all those PSA’s after he was almost killed. I am embarrassed that I believed in Bobby, when I guess wearing your seatbelt isn’t something that results in bodily injury.

If you are not detecting my sarcasm, then you likely find nothing wrong with the lawsuit that Josh Hancock’s father has filed in regard to his son’s death. He is suing the bar that served Josh drinks. I have heard of this before, where bartenders are held accountable for serving drinks to drunks. I don’t agree with it, but I have heard of it. The thing that really sticks out is that not only is Mr. Hancock suing the bar, he is suing the towing company that owns the tow-truck his son hit, AND the driver of the car that was being towed. Let’s review this again, so all the kids can learn a good lesson. He is suing the driver of the car that was in need of assistance, because his drunk son was talking on his cell phone, while not wearing a seatbelt, and crashed his car into the tow-truck. And died.

Where has common sense gone? Where has personal responsibility gone? Does Mrs. Hancock actually believe that this person whose car was stalled caused his son’s death? According to the police report, the car stalled after being spun out when some other bad driver cut him off. So if we continue Mr. Hancock’s line of thinking, we need to locate that driver, and sue them for spinning this other guy out to begin with. And while we are doing that, shouldn’t we sue that driver’s driving instructor from high school, who obviously didn’t teach him not to cut people off?

Ideally, the judge or jury involved in this case will see past this ridiculous grab for post mortem satisfaction, and throw the case out. I had a family member (my 22 year old cousin) who died from blunt head trauma after getting dunk and falling off a bridge. I guess when my family came to the realization that it was a sad event, and we wished my cousin hadn’t had so much to drink, we were misplacing our grief. Maybe if Mr. Hancock was in the family, we would have channeled our grief into anger, and sued the city where this happened. Or better yet, the inventor of gravity!

*And if you want to know about Josh Hancock’s 4 and 5 mistakes:
I read that Josh was speeding at the time of the crash, and police found 8.55 grams of marijuana in his vehicle. But I am sure Mr. Hancock will find the people other than his son that are responsible for that as well. As for me, I will expect to be contacted by Mr. Hancock’s lawyers in the next few days. But in court I plan to blame my parents for instilling the values in me that made me write this column. Then I will sue them.

What is Terry’s motivation here? On the cynical side, we might assume that Terry simply doesn’t care about people with dangerous weapons mixing it up with police, and wants a running back to gain lots of yards and score touchdowns. That might sound believable, but Clarett stinks these days last I heard. Then again, I suppose a team that is offering open tryouts to anyone could embrace a player that had at least one great college season, instead of a local bartender looking to live out his dream. (That sounds like a movie I heard of) On the hopeful side, maybe Terry thinks that by giving Clarett another chance, he can finally get his life sorted out. While the first idea is irresponsible, this one seems merely stupid. If a guy like Clarett is in trouble in his life, the place for him is with a therapist or doctor of mental health, not on some football field where anger and aggression can be rewarded. If society thinks a man like Clarett is worthy of being saved, we should be trying to get him emotional help, not ask him to carry a team of the Eastern Indoor Football League. Ironically, on the HitMen website, using the mouse to select different menu options produces a sound effect like a gunshot. I should mention that Clarett was originally tazered, but was wearing a bulletproof vest, so the police then had to mace him. Looks like Mo really was fixing to be a real hit-man. And, you know, his coach is cool with that.

LONDON - Syd Barrett, the troubled genius who co-founded Pink Floyd but spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, a spokeswoman for the band said Tuesday. He was 60.

See you on the Dark Side of the Moon, Syd.

AMSTERDAM (Hollywood Reporter) - Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will headline a spinoff of 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” franchise.

At international industry conference Cine Expo, the studio promised the gathered exhibitors a Jackman starrer titled “Wolverine” for next year. Jackman himself sent the conventioneers a taped promise to back up the news.

Yeah, I know this isn’t exactly groundbreaking news, but it’s nice to have some solid confirmation. Click the link if you want, but those three sentences are the entire article.

I am. I didn’t find the finale OVERwhelming, but it was far from UNDERwhelming like last year’s cliffhanger. I thought it was nearly perfect. There was so much going on it’s still sinking in for me, but I’ll try to get through everything as quickly as possible and then on to the big talking points. Spoilers ahead!

Flashbacks

I know this review is pretty text-heavy, so I’m going to get some pictures in here soon. In the meantime, enjoy the Wes’s extremely exhaustive review. — Chris

Desmond’s story was awesome. Not only was his character interesting, but his flashbacks intersected with a lot of other characters and it revealed a lot of answers in the process. We learn that D was a soldier in the Queen’s army and that he was imprisoned for not following orders. After he was dishonorably discharged, the mysterious Charles Widmore, Industrialist and Philanthropist, met him with two boxes. In the first box was every letter that Desmond had sent Penelope Widmore, Charles’ daughter, while D was in prison. If Desmond agreed to cut off all contact from Penny, Charles would give him the second box, filled with money. Desmond took the money.

Later at a café in America, D ran into Libby who helped him pay for his order. They sit and talk and D tells Libby he’s planning on entering a sailboat race around the world, sponsored by Charles Widmore. He plans to beat Widmore and win back his love, Penny. He needs $42,000 (do I need to even write, ‘note the number’ anymore?) to buy a boat. Libby tells him that her husband, David, just died a month ago and has a sailboat named after Libby — the Elizabeth, from Newport Beach (between Los Angeles and San Diego). She tells him that David would want Desmond to have it.

To train for the race, Desmond runs stadium stairs at the same stadium as Jack. The night of their encounter, Desmond receives a surprise visit from Penny. He asks how she found him, and she gives him a potentially revealing response: “With enough money and determination, you can find anyone.” Indeed. She goes on to say that she hasn’t set a wedding date with her new beau, probably because she’s still waiting around for Desmond. He tells her he’ll be with her after he gets back from the race because he has to “get his honor back.” If that’s what it takes, I say, go crazy.

Once in his sailboat, predictably, Desmond is caught in a crazy storm and washes up on the island where he is recovered by his future hatchmate, Kelvin Inman (who is formerly Joe Inman, the U.S. soldier who taught Sayid how to be a torturer). Kelvin is dressed in a yellow biohazard suit with an oxygen tank to supposedly protect himself from an infectious disease.

Upon waking up in the hatch, Desmond is introduced to his new workplace. The countdown, the button that saves the world, the dangerous outdoors. Kelvin tells him that his boat was wrecked, and Desmond spends the next two years never venturing outside the hatch.

Many questions are answered by Kelvin. Kelvin’s old hatchmate, Radzinsky, originally started the blacklight map that Locke saw in the episode “Lockdown.” Between K and R they figured a way to hotwire the blast doors and make them come down so R could work on the map from memory. Eventually, Radzinsky blew his head off with a shotgun, so Kelvin continued working on map and pushing the button. Kelvin also showed Desmond the key that will blow everything up if necessary — at least that’s what I took from this scene. My impression was that the hatch could essentially be ended if the key was turned. I’m not positive on this one, so get back to me.

As time goes on, Desmond gets antsy about being down in the hatch. He wants to go outside in the biohazard suit to conduct tests or whatever it is Kelvin is doing out there. His request is denied, but one day he decides to follow Kelvin anyway to see where he goes. Turns out, Kelvin doesn’t need that suit as there is no infectious disease, and he’s secretly been rebuilding Desmond’s boat to get off the island. Furious, Desmond confronts Kelvin on it, accidentally killing him as they struggle on some rocks. Desmond has to run back to the hatch to input the code, but he shows up late and the place is rumbling like an earthquake. He manages to get the countdown working again, but little does he know that now, he has brought down Oceanic Flight 815 out of the sky.

Another month passes and Desmond is starting to lose it being in solitary confinement. He pulls out Charles Dickens’ “Our Mutual Friend” the last book he wants to read before he dies. In it, he finds a letter, long ago hidden by his love Penelope Widmore. She tells him that if he is reading the letter, he must be in a very desperate place but not to give up because she still loves him. (Nerd Alert! - In “The Odyssey” Penelope is Odysseus’ wife and for years she remains loyal to Odysseus not knowing if he is alive or dead. Even at the urging of her father she refuses to marry and rejects over 100 suitors!) Desmond reads the letter and puts off suicide for another day. It happens to be the day that Boone dies and Locke bangs on the top of the hatch wondering how to get inside. Desmond tells this to Locke as the hatch goes apeshit at the end of last night’s episode, and tells him that he saved his life, so Desmond is going to return the favor.

At this point, Desmond inserts the key and a blinding white light can be seen all over the island. It’s unclear what exactly happens and this will be possibly the biggest mystery going into next season. Was it a suicide mission to save the island and/or the world? Did Eko and Locke survive? How did Charlie get out of there? And why was he acting kind of strange when he got back to the beach? What of the countdown now? Is that hatch simply destroyed? Is the electromagnetic energy going to reveal the island’s location?

Island Action

Everyone was right on with the “Desmond is in the boat” prediction. The episode began with Jack, Sawyer, and Sayid bringing a very drunk Desmond to the beach after he failed to sail away from the island. D told them he left 2 1/2 weeks ago — after he ran like a bat out of hell from the hatch — and headed west towards Fiji, only to end up back at the island. He spends the better part of the day saying things like, “There’s no escape,” “this is it” and “ignorance is bliss.” He also tells Claire that the medicine Charlie gave her doesn’t do anything. Clearly, he’s out of positive things to say.

With newfound access to a boat, Sayid and Jack hatch their plan. Sayid will sail to the other side of the island to scout the Others’ camp, then create a signal fire for Jack and the rescue party so they can meet up and take down the Others. Sounds good on paper, right? Sayid enlists Sun and Jin to come along because they apparently have sailing experience. Jin was a fisherman, so, I buy it. Those three set off on the boat while Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and Michael head into the jungle.

Meanwhile, Locke confronts Eko on the button-pushing and tells him that it needs to be stopped so they’re no longer slaves in the hatch. Eko doesn’t take kindly to Locke so he kicks him out and locks the door. Locke returns with Desmond and they distract Eko long enough for D to hot-wire the blast doors and make them go down, locking Eko out. Unhappy, Eko runs into Charlie who helps him find leftover dynamite from last year’s finale with the intent of blowing the blast doors open. Isn’t that why they’re called “blast doors”? Because they can withstand…blasts? Someone get back to me on that. Anyhow, as Eko is setting it up, Charlie yells at Locke to open the door so they don’t have to use the dynamite and Desmond says, “Twould take an atom bomb, brotha.” That’s too bad for Eko and Charlie because when they set off the dynamite, both of them get knocked on their asses for not getting far enough away in time. And of course, the dynamite does nothing. As Casey Kasem would say, “And the countdown rolls on…”

Out in the water, Sayid, Sun, and Jin pass a very strange ruin as they sail around the island. It is a four-toed foot wearing a sandal that looks to be standing on a platform, which is situated on a rock formation jutting out into the water. The leg only rises up to where the shin might be. When I saw it (Nerd Alert!) I remembered my Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article of the Colossus of Rhodes.

The sailors end up at the Others’ camp where Michael was being held. Sayid goes on a reconnaissance mission and discovers the camp has been abandoned. Not only that, but the hatch that was being guarded when Michael was there was nothing! Sayid opened the doors to find a dirt wall — very Looney Toons of them.

Back in the jungle, Kate realizes they’re being followed by two people across a river, so she and Sawyer start firing into the brush. Jack joins the fray and Sawyer mows down an Other while the other Other escapes. Then comes, what I thought, was probably the most intense scene of the night. Jack, infuriated about the situation, calls out Michael’s bullshit in front of the group. He screams at him over and over to tell them what’s really going on. Michael, panicked and distraught, reveals the details of the deal with the Others. When he confessed to the murders, I really thought Hurley was going to go apeshit on him like when he attacked Sawyer. Hurley asked point blank, “So, you killed them?” Jorge Garcia’s delivery was money. He was insanely calm and didn’t go nuts when Michael confirmed that he murdered Libby and then tried to justify his apology with “they took my son!” It was great. All the respect that we’ve lost for Michael over the past two weeks, all the jaw-dropping, all the sympathy we felt for Hurley was put on display in the faces of Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and Jack. I thought that scene was well done. The group resolves to keep moving and not give the Others any indication that they don’t trust Michael.

Later, they come across a plastic chute in a clearing where dozens, nay, hundreds of plastic tubes have been sent from the Pearl Station to a pile in the middle of nowhere. Sawyer finds Locke’s map that he sent two episodes ago. While everyone is wondering what to make of it, Sayid’s smoke signal rises over the tree line from the Others’ camp. Too late. After briefly hearing the weird whispering voices that we have not heard in awhile, they attack with dart guns to take down the rescue party.

Back in the hatch, Locke and Desmond continue to wait for the countdown to hit zeroes. Desmond asks Locke about the Pearl Station and Locke tells him about the monitoring stations, the experiment, the notebooks and tube, and the printouts of all the numbers. He tells him that the two-man team in the Pearl was monitoring the “button experiment” going on in the Swan. After reviewing the numbers from one of the printouts Desmond starts to put it together — the day that Desmond didn’t push the button in time was September 22, 2004. The printout from that day read “922044:16” and then SYSTEM FAILURE was repeated over and over again. Desmond: “I think I crashed your plane.” Well, shit. Thankfully that was figured out at the last possible second! After Desmond realizes that the Pearl Station was the actual experiment, and the button in the Swan did need to be pushed Locke smashes the computer to ensure the code is not entered.

It’s pretty much all downhill from here. The rescue party, bound and gagged, is taken to a dock where Henry Gale reappears and completes the exchange with Michael. Michael is given a motor boat, the same one seen in last year’s finale, and the coordinates to a rescue point with Walt. Henry issues Michael a warning, telling him that A) he’ll never be able to find the island once he leaves, and B) if he tells anyone about what has happened, people will come for Walt again. Michael asks if his friends are going to be hurt (that’s a bold move, still throwing around the “friends” term). Henry tells him that they are going to be joining the Others’ camp. Who knows what that means. With that, Michael is reunited with Walt and they leave the rest of the people on the dock.

Once the countdown hits zero, the hieroglyphics that mean DEATH pop up, and the hatch goes haywire. The electromagnetic energy is triggered and everything metal starts flying around like Pearl Harbor. The earth starts shaking. Charlie and Eko narrowly avoid silverware in the chest on a few occasions. Luckily, Desmond left the key for the override system in the hatch bookshelf. He grabs it and climbs underneath the hatch, inserts the key, and…then…something happens. I’m not really sure. There’s a bright white light that is visible everywhere on the island. A piece of the hatch comes crashing down on the beach. We don’t see the end result in the hatch, we only know that Charlie walks back to the beach alive and is surprised to hear that Locke and Eko are not back yet. Then again, he’s having trouble hearing anything since his ears are still ringing, presumably from the earlier dynamite blast.

After Michael leaves, Hurley is set free and told that he must deliver a message to the Camp on the beach: stay away. He hesitates, but Jack gives him a head nod to go. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer all have the bags put back over their heads and are led away.

The very end of the episode tripped me out. Two dudes in a remote arctic station playing chess when suddenly a computer alarm pops up reporting an “Electromagnetic Anomaly Detected.” They call Widmore — Penelope Widmore, to report it. She still has a picture of her and Desmond next to her telephone. See the Analysis post for more thoughts on this.

Notes/Thoughts

The Michael-Walt story was sort of resolved. Father and son were reunited, but is that really it for them? They motor boat off into the sunset to be rescued? Henry Gale told Michael that once he leaves he’ll never be able to find his way back. Further, he won’t tell anyone what has happened because people will find out and they will come for Walt again. Is it possible that Michael and Walt will actually make it back to the States only to reconsider and come back to the island? Or will they reconsider before being rescued. Keeping in mind that redemption is a huge theme of Lost, it seems that the only way for Michael to redeem himself is to correct the mistakes he has made and save Jack, Kate, and Sawyer who are all in peril. If he did that, would he be able to win back the Camp’s trust?

“Zeke” has a real name. It’s Tom. And Ms. Klugh was referred to as Bea (I assume it’s spelled like Bea Arthur). Just to quickly review: the Others use make-up, fake beards, probably wigs, have aliases, protect fake hatches, and abandon camps and other hatches somewhat regularly. They most likely work for the Dharma Initiative. I don’t think they comprise the entire project.

Tom and Bea clearly defer to Henry Gale. HG may be the leader of the Others on the island and he may be high up in Dharma Initiative, but I’m still not convinced he runs the show.

Desmond sailed for 2 1/2 weeks due West and figured he’d end up in Fiji. Instead he ended up right where he started. Was his navigation equipment messed up because of the electromagnetic properties of the island? Did the island pull him back? Drunk driving? With all the focus on the power of electromagnetism, you have to believe that it messes with navigation instruments and keeps people not only from finding the place, but escaping as well. Is this place the Bermuda Triangle of the Pacific? Didn’t Amelia Earhart disappear in the Pacific on her last flight in the 1930s?

Sayid, Sun, and Jin are still on Desmond’s sailboat after Sayid discovered the abandoned camp that Michael was held at. Just like last year’s finale, people are still out at sea with their status uncertain. Maybe Michael and Walt will motor right past them at the beginning of next season. If that happens, Sayid will know what went down and will be in a bad mood. Michael better hope they don’t cross paths.

HG gave Michael the coordinates of 3-2-5. I’m not really sure how you write that — 3’ 25’? He also told Michael, “We’re the good guys.” Something tells me that, down the road, we may find out he is telling the truth.

If the Lostaways are in control of a sailboat, will some of them make an effort to escape? We know Bernard and Rose are not in a hurry to leave. Neither is Locke. Then again, is Locke even alive? I can’t imagine they’d kill off Locke and Eko — they’re too awesome — but I’m sort of assuming that Desmond is dead. Your thoughts?

Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are, in my mind, the three brightest stars of the show and they’re very much at the mercy of the Others at this point. I don’t even want to begin to speculate about how they’ll get out of this one. But as long as Jack is away from the Camp, anyone needing a doctor is screwed. So if Locke and Eko are in bad shape after the hatch incident, they’re not going to get any better anytime soon.

Charlie and Claire’s relationship took an expected turn at the very end of the episode. They seem to be the next pair giving romance a shot on the island. A “shot” — get it? (Uncontrollable laughter) The track record says one them is gonna eat it if that’s the case. My money will be on Charlie next season.

Speaking of Charlie, he was acting a little strange after he came back to the beach from the hatch. He complained that his ears were ringing. From the dynamite, right?

Well, the showdown that I wanted to see so badly wasn’t so much of a “showdown” as it was a “beatdown”. I should have known better with the Others. This isn’t the Civil War where everyone lines up and takes a shot. This is like Vietnam with the Cong hiding in the jungle. They are some wily bastards.

Right before the rescue party headed out into the jungle, Sawyer said, “Let’s roll”. Immediately I thought of the Flight 93 guys. Intentional?

Libby said her husband, David, got sick and died. Sick with what, I wonder?

Why did Radzinsky make edits to the Orientation film in the Swan? And how did a piece of the film end up in a hollowed-out Bible on the other side of the island? Where are the other pieces?

When Kelvin was drunk and playing with the key, he gave it to Desmond and told him to “make sure you put it back behind ‘Turn of the Screw’” a novel that has been referenced more than once on this show. I understand Lost shares some of the same themes from the book, but my knowledge is limited overall. I pulled this quote about it that kind of applies to Lost: “One of the most challenging features of The Turn of the Screw is how frequently characters make indirect hints or use vague language rather than communicate directly and clearly.” Sound familiar?

Kelvin “joined” Dharma Initiative. I’m curious to know where you apply for a job. Most people, it seems, have to be lured or kidnapped into it.

The population of the island was whittled down a little bit again. Sawyer killed one of the others. Not the one he wanted to kill, but good stuff nonetheless.

Locke told Desmond that Eko and Charlie were not his friends. He also told Desmond “I was wrong” while the hatch was going completely crazy. It wasn’t really John Locke’s day.

Desmond told Locke his trademark, “See you in another life brother” as he prepared to enter the key to shut everything down or, perhaps, blow everything up. Who knows? But unfortunately, I think he’s dead. Which would suck because I really grew to like his character in a single episode.

What was the language the two guys in the arctic station speaking? Russian? Are they in Siberia, or near the North Pole? Widmore is a very rich dude who may or may not be involved with Hanso Foundation and Dharma Initiative. My money says he is. And Penelope’s money may very well be trying to find Desmond. Or maybe she’s just trying to find the island?

Outrageous Claims

Well, ever since I started doing these posts for Chris back in March, I’ve speculated and theorized as personal exercises to think critically about the show, and also to get others to do the same if they were lucky enough to read the reviews. I managed to hit on some of the stuff that happened — magnetism was the cause of the plane crash, Sawyer killed somebody in the finale, Locke gave up on the countdown — but I was way off on just about everything else, which actually still makes it fun for me to do this section of the blog. I made cases for four or five cast members dying and was only right on Ana-Lucia. I was wrong about there being another crash and introducing new characters. And I was wrong about the Michael-Walt resolution — though I think that is still up in the air. Walt could still be working for the Others! Just wait and see!

Which makes for a nice segue into speculation for next season. Take it with a grain of salt:

We’ll get a look of what exactly happened in the hatch as Desmond turned the key. We’ll see Eko, Locke, and Desmond be killed and brought back to life by the power of the electromagnetic energy. Many fans will wonder if the producers expect us to believe this.

Sayid and Rousseau will lead a daring mission to find Jack, Kate, and Sawyer and break them out. Rousseau will see her daughter Alex and some crazy shit will go down. Alex will provide information to Danielle and the other Lostaways, but she won’t be able to escape the Others.

The father of Sun’s baby will be revealed. If, IF it’s Michael, Sun may become the next target of the Others since there was so much interest in Walt and whether Michael was Walt’s biological father.

Jin will continue to improve his English. By Season 4, there will be no more subtitles.

The phone call to Penelope at the end of the Season 2 finale implies that she has been actively searching for the island for one reason or another. Her quote: “With enough money and determination, you can find anyone,” says a lot. Is she looking specifically for Desmond? If she is or isn’t, I think there may be some off-island activity that is explored next season with the Widmore family.

When Locke was trapped under the blast doors in the “Lockdown” episode, Henry Gale must have punched the numbers in. He told Locke he didn’t just to mess with his head. Obviously, shit hits the fan when the numbers aren’t entered, so that begs the question, what was HG’s motive? To test Locke? To get him to not push the button? HG was looking directly into the bright light when Desmond turned the key — was he thinking that he fooled Locke into creating a disaster?

If Desmond “accidentally” brought the plane down, then maybe it’s not an international conspiracy to have all the Lostaways there on the island. Maybe coincidence outweighs fate. Who knows — I’m really tired of writing though, so hopefully there are a lot of good comments to shore up my really long review. There’s plenty to discuss. Have at it.

There’s nothing official about my grading system, so I give it 7 out of 8 stars. I think one quick shot of the hatch aftermath would have pushed it over the top to a perfect score for me. As of now, the first episode next season isn’t slated to air until October 6th. See you then.

Wes

Last week I made a guess about a surprise death, boldly stating that Hurley could be on the chopping block. I’ve decided to add another name – Charlie – to the very same block. Redemption is a huge theme of ‘Lost’ and Charlie has certainly come full circle this season. He’s fought off the temptations of the heroin again and again, rediscovered religion, and made peace with Claire after their relationship deteriorated for the better part of this year.

Again, I need to clarify. I like Charlie and Hurley both as characters. Obviously, the guy that plays Charlie is somewhat famous for his role in the Lord of the Rings series, so I don’t know that they’d axe him. I’m just speculating – IF there was going to be a surprise demise, it could be one of those two.

Just about 6 hours to go. I’ll catch up with everyone tomorrow once it’s all sunk in.

Curbed seems to think it’ll be U2, which was my first guess. My sources tell me, however, that it’s going to be The Red Hot Chili Peppers. This actually makes a lot of sense, seeing as how Apple held listening parties for the release of Stadium Arcadium in its stores, and gave away iTunes cards for free downloads of “Dani California.”

It’s a total mob scene anytime Apple opens a new store, but it’s a safe bet that this will be many times more insane. I’m going to try to be there, so check back for updates.

Back off if you haven’t seen last night’s episode of LOST.

Every few weeks, the Lost writers give us an episode that essentially “sets up” the next few weeks or, as it were, the 2-hour finale that is coming next Wednesday. Set-up episodes can be hit or miss. With an audience that is constantly clamoring for clues, hints, and answers, the episodes that offer little in the way of such information can sometimes be a letdown. For that matter, if the episode also lacks action or suspense, we often turn off our sets frustrated and say things like, “Next week better be awesome,” or “I’m never watching this damn show again!”

But you know that’s not true.

Yes, last night was essentially all a set-up for next week. There was little in the way of action, suspense, or answers except for the Michael flashbacks which were not as informative as I thought they might be. But there were little things that I thought made it a good episode, especially if you’re into the character-driven stuff.

The flashbacks this week were of Michael’s activities starting 13 days ago when he locked Jack and Locke into the storage room and took off after Walt. We get to see a marginal expansion of the scene where he has Jack at gunpoint and tells him he has to go after Walt, alone. Immediately before, he was conversing on the primitive IM system and typing very quickly that he was “on his way.” The person on the other side, who may or may not have been Walt, tells him to head north and that he’ll see rocks with a big HOLE in the middle. I have to believe that he wasn’t talking to Walt - how would Walt know which way north was? Plus, once Michael got going, the Others were waiting for him with a trap and took him captive. As we begin to understand the Others’ methods more and more, it seems to me they were baiting him. Assuming that’s the case, you also have to assume the Others’ are running the island’s internet, and probably keeping tabs on the hatch to know they are speaking to Michael on the computer. We found out last episode that there is at least one camera in the hatch that is still functioning and has spying capabilities. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe the Others have been monitoring the inhabitants of the hatch from the beginning. (Sidenote: why didn’t Locke or Eko mention the fact that there is a camera in the hatch to anyone? Do they really think the TV in the abandoned Pearl Station is the only one watching them? Is it really that hard to share information with people you’ve known now for over two months?! Damnit!)

Switching over to the present, the smell of gunsmoke has barely settled down in the hatch and Jack is already talking about striking back against the Others. Five people have died under the good doctor’s watch, and the Camp believes the Others’ are responsible for three deaths (Shannon, Libby, Ana-Lucia). Come to think of it, the men should be very upset because there is a growing shortage of attractive single women on the island. Before long, Kate may end up being the grown-up version of Smurfette… but I digress…Jack wants to react immediately, and Michael and Sawyer are on board. Hurley interjects, saying, “We haven’t even buried them yet!” Good point. The group sets the funeral for sunset with the intention of heading north for the Others the following morning.

As the day goes on, the bodies are removed from the hatch to the beach, and Michael begins cleaning up the blood he has spilled. Eko appears and lends him a hand. Michael asks Eko if, as a priest, he believes in Hell and/or God’s forgiveness. Eko tells him the story of a boy who beat a dog to death while protecting his sister from the dog’s attack on her face. The boy asked Eko if he would go to Hell for his actions. Eko told the boy that if he was sorry, God would forgive him for what he did. But the boy wasn’t worried about forgiveness - he was worried that if he went to Hell, the dog would be waiting for him. I’m not a religious man, but I thought the story was an awesome metaphor. We learn in this episode that Michael is indeed at the mercy of the Others, and was sent back to set notHenry Gale free. I think Michael was misguided in his actions, but he only killed to further his goal of saving his son. He seems to be truly sorry for what happened. He believes he’s doing the right thing to get his son back, and that maybe he will be forgiven in the afterlife if he repents his sins. While they discuss this, Eko wrings out bloody water into the bucket. Heavy symbolism. Awesome scene.

Cutting back to Michael’s flashback, we see him being taken captive and held just out of sight during the scene where the “line in the sand” is drawn. As Zeke tells Jack, Sawyer, and Locke that it’s their island, Kate has a bag over her head less than 10 feet away from a bound and gagged Michael. Alex, Rousseau’s long-lost daughter, asks him questions about Claire, if she had the baby, was it a boy or girl? Michael looks confused about her knowledge of Claire, but says nothing. Alex is ordered to bring Kate out, but refuses. She also reassures Michael that no one will be hurt, that Zeke is simply “delivering a message”. You get the sense that Alex is the “reluctant-to-follow-orders-because-I-don’t-want-to-be-here” type, as we’ve seen her undermine the Others twice now (helping Claire escape, refusing to bring Kate out). I have a feeling she will be instrumental down the road in helping the Camp out even more.

Michael is then led to the Others’ “camp” which, though it’s exactly like he described it two episodes ago, can’t possibly be how they really live. We’ve seen Zeke without his beard and make-up on. We know there’s more hatches and bunkers where Ethan was a doctor performing tests on Claire. Certainly the huts and teepees and fishing was all a ruse, right? Also, they take a blood sample from Michael. More tests?

We’re introduced to a new character at this point, a woman named Ms. Klugh, who asks Michael a bunch of questions about Walt. “What age did he start talking?” “Did he ever have headaches or dizzy spells?” “Did he ever appear somewhere that he wasn’t supposed to be?” That last question tripped me out. Shannon’s visions of Walt before she died are put into some type of perspective. There have been indications that Walt is “special” and may very well have powers or abilities that are metaphysical. Maybe he was projecting himself to Shannon in an attempt to warn the Camp about the Others. Why Shannon though? Because she was watching his dog?

Three days before Michael returns to the Camp, he’s given three minutes to meet with Walt. It doesn’t go over well. Walt tells him the Others are not who they say they are and not to believe what they say. He says he hasn’t been harmed but Ms. Klugh threatens to put him in “the room” if he doesn’t stop discussing the Others. Michael assures him everything will be okay, but Michael is also tied to a pole and not really in a position to be making those kinds of promises. Walt runs and hugs his Dad but is quickly pulled away and hauled off, presumably to “the room”. Michael is then given a task. If he brings four people from his Camp and only those four people, he will be reunited with Walt. If he doesn’t, he’ll never see Walt again. The list includes Jack Shepard, Kate Austen, Hugo Reyes, and James Ford (Sawyer).

Once he’s back and everyone’s glad to see him, he spends the day trying to assemble his Party of Five (har har) and get them going for sunrise the following morning. Sawyer recruits Sayid (the Red Beret) because he’s “the only one of us who’s actually been in a damn war.” But Michael quickly puts the kabash on that, thinking it will compromise his plan to get Walt back. As they’re walking over to the funeral though, Sayid informs Jack that he believes Michael has been turned against them. He also thinks if they go along with the plan, they can use it to their advantage against the Others. Look for said plan to be devised in the beginning of the finale.

Notes/Thoughts:

The funeral scene was touching despite the fact that I didn’t much care for either Libby or Ana-Lucia. It seems that funerals are the only time the Camp comes together in unison which sucks for them.

Though Jack and Locke’s roles have conflicted all season long, Jack is still the undeniable leader of the Camp. While he was the featured speaker at the funeral, Locke sat on the beach and then walked off. Where’s he going? Also, it should be noted that Rose was right - his leg healed in less than a week.

While wandering the halls of the hatch, Eko noticed his cross was being drawn to the magnet, just like Jack’s key was drawn to it earlier this season. Significance? I think we’ll find out in the finale.

Claire and Charlie have sort of reconciled. He stopped by and handed off some medicine for her and the baby and then she held his hand at the funeral. I imagine that will be a continued storyline for next season.

Also, Vincent the dog brought Charlie a Virgin Mary heroin statue which was pretty funny. “Did someone put you up to this?” he asks the dog. Charlie then threw the rest of the statues in the ocean, so he’s most likely done with Sweet Lady H for good.

What’s up with that boat just offshore? See the Outrageous Claims.

The Jack/Sawyer scenes were great tonight. First in the tent with Sawyer inquiring about Jack and Kate out in the jungle. “Getting caught in a net…is that what they’re calling it these days?” Then later in the hatch, Sawyer told Jack about banging Ana-Lucia and how she got the gun off of him. Jack asked, “Why are you telling me this?” Sawyer: “Because you’re the closest thing I have to a friend, doc.” And then, the best line of the night: “At least I get to kill somebody now.” Oh yes, there will be blood.

Outrageous Claims:

Well, here’s my last chance to look like a psychic - the finale is 6 days away and the writers/producers have promised answers in this finale, unlike last year’s disappointing “there a ladder in that hatch!” ending.

Sayid wants Jack to go along with Michael’s plan to head to the Others’ camp. Michael will lead Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer to “rescue” Walt, though Michael’s true intention is to trade those four for his boy. Here’s my theory:

We know it’s a Desmond-centric episode, so Desmond will be a big focus. Sayid and Jack will go out to the boat to discover Desmond on board. He was sailing around the world when he came to the island so it makes sense that he’s on a sailboat. They’ll bring him to their beach where Desmond will reveal some information concerning the hatch, the Others, and what exactly he’s doing on his boat. Jack and Sayid will devise their plan to ambush the Others without Michael knowing.

I still think the magnetism of the island is going to be explored and will be revealed as the cause of the crash. Also, we can deduce from the previews of the finale that the countdown is going to hit zero and something is going to happen. Since Eko is sitting in the chair now, someone will have to dislodge him long enough to let the timer run out. That someone is probably Locke who we saw walking away from the Camp at the end of last night’s episode. My ongoing theory is that once the button is not pushed there will be an “incident” that’s been alluded to in the orientation film. I think there’s going to be another crash.

Okay, I’ve sort of gone over that theory before in previous posts. Here’s new stuff that I think may happen:

Sawyer will make good on his statement “I finally get to kill somebody,” and that somebody will be directly related to his earlier promise that “you and me ain’t done Zeke.” I think he’s going to shoot that dude the same way he shot the guy in Australia.

Alex Rousseau will play a part in the showdown between the Others and the Camp.

We will see notHenry Gale again in Desmond’s flashbacks.

I think Walt is also working at the mercy of the Others. I think he was told that if he acted the way he did during the “three minutes” with Michael, that he would get to be reunited with his Dad. I think the Others were playing Michael and Walt against each other to get to Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley. But to what end? Walt is the special one, so are they really going to let him go back to Michael? I doubt it, at least not without a fight. I’m really back and forth on this one - it’s just hard for me to believe that Walt, being young, impressionable, and having barely established a good relationship with Michael, would NOT be compromised by the Others. Not to mention he told Locke in Season 1 that he didn’t want to leave the island…what if he was promised that he could stay if he helped out the Others? What if Michael joins the Others’ camp to be with Walt? I think that’s a possibility, but it would make it difficult to further their stories next season.

My friend Patrick thinks one of the main Lostaways is going to die in the season finale and he’s been trying to get me to post a guess as to who it could be. I think if any of the main characters is going to die, it’s going to be Hurley. I really don’t want that to happen, but face it, his backstory has been exhausted, his storyline with Libby was just extinguished, and he’s going on a mission that he really has no business going on. Hurley isn’t exactly the “warrior” type and his character wasn’t originally supposed to even exist. He’s the comedic relief but I feel like he no longer serves a purpose beyond that. Like I said, I’m not sure that anyone else is going to bite it after two surprise deaths two weeks ago, but if I had to put money on anyone, it’s the big man.

This is a really long review. Expect a similar one next week and then I’ll talk to you again in September.

This episode gets 5 out of 7 stars.

The Chili Peppers’ two-disc set, “Stadium Arcadium,” opened with sales of 442,500 copies, a record for the Los Angeles-based quartet.

Its previous best was 282,000 for its last studio release, “By The Way,” which opened at No. 2 in 2002. The band’s biggest commercial success was the 1999 album “Californication,” with sales of 5.3 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The article goes on to say that Californication is their top-selling album, but the RIAA disagrees. They say it’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

If you haven’t picked up Stadium Arcadium, and you have any interest in the Chili Peppers, I highly recommend you give it a spin. I’ve got a review in the works, but an album with 28 full-length songs takes a while to take in fully, and free time is scarce these days.

This review is pretty heavy on the summary, but I’ve put together a few pretty good observations. We’ve got pictures aplenty for your forensic pleasure. The usual spoiler disclaimers apply, so if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d stay away. Otherwise, dig in!

The episode starts out with Ana Lucia standing on the beach, when she reveals to Eko that he’s only dreaming that he can see her, just like the dream in which his brother told him to build a church. She tells him he needs to help Locke. Apparently Mr. Eko’s got some pretty useful dreams. In the same dream, his brother tells him he needs to find the question mark — and bring the axe.

Locke, Kate, Sawyer and Jack return to the hatch to find Michael stumbling out with a gunshot wound, telling them that Henry got a hold of a gun and shot Ana Lucia and Libby. Eko shows up to help, and back in the hatch, Michael is shocked to find out that Libby isn’t quite as dead as he thought she was.

Luckily for Michael, Libby, convulsing from a couple of slugs to the abdomen, isn’t very talkative. Jack gets ready to take off after Henry, but cooler heads prevail as Sawyer, of all people, reminds him that as a doctor, he should probably stick to where the gunshot victims are. Eko, heeding Ana Lucia’s advice from his dream, volunteers to go, and take Locke with him.

Flashback to Australia, Eko style. It turns out that the African Assassin decided to become a man of the cloth before actually landing on the island. He’s just received a fake passport in preparation for a trip to the United States when he’s forced to put his plans on hold to investigate claims of a miracle. A woman claims her daughter came back to life after drowning, but Eko is skeptical.

Back on the island, Locke isn’t enjoying his seemingly aimless trot through the woods with Eko. A head butt from Eko sets Locke straight. Locke shows Eko the drawing of the map he made while stuck under the blast door, at the center of which is — get this — the question mark.

Deeper in the woods, the map has led Locke and Eko back to the plane that Boone and Locke found — the same plane that contained the body of Eko’s brother and a bunch of Virgin Mary statues filled with smack.

The next morning at the hatch, Jack sends Sawyer to get heroin from his stash to help ease Libby’s suffering. He assigns Kate to go with him so he’ll be forced to reveal the location of the guns. Much to Kate’s surprise, it’s all buried right below Sawyer’s tent. Hurley shows up as they’re heading back to the hatch, asking about Libby.

While Kate is presumably giving Hurley a glossed-over version of what went down at the hatch, Eko’s brother shows up in a dream and leads Eko to the top of the cliff near the plane. Eko falls as he reaches the top, as he lands, we learn that this was Locke’s dream, not Eko’s. Suddenly Locke is regaining some of his faith. Eko needs to find out what’s at the top of the cliff.

Another flashback takes us back to Australia, where Eko, conducting his investigation, is prevented from talking to the supposed drowning victim by her father — the man says his wife is just claiming a miracle occurred out of spite for him, because he’s a phony psychic — the same phony psychic who warned Claire about his baby.

Eko, himself doubting a miracle happened, and wanting to leave for Los Angeles, tells the man that he plans to report to his monsignor that no miracle happened.

Back in the woods, Eko surveys the area from the top of the cliff and finds the question mark, cut into the plants.

A little digging reveals a hatch, and with a little help from the axe that Ana Lucia told Eko to bring, the two open it and prepare to head inside.

This hatch is much different from the others we’ve seen so far. The main room that we see contains another console, two chairs, and a wall stacked with vintage televisions.

Most screens show nothing but static, but Locke and Eko are shocked to find that one of the screens shows a live feed of what’s happening back at the hatch. Locke prints a report from the console that reveals a log of “accepted” numbers — different numbers than they’ve been entering. Eko finds a video tape labeled “Orientation” and pops it into a VCR.

The tape hosted by Dr. Mark Wickman is the orientation video for Station 5 - The Pearl. Wickman says that The Pearl is a monitoring station for watching participants in Dharma Initiative experiments — “not only for posterity, but for the ongoing refinement of the initiative as a whole.” Sort of makes me wonder if anybody is actively monitoring them now. If not, what happened to them?

Wickman goes on to say that the pair assigned to The Pearl will be responsible for observing a psychological review in progress. Dr. Wickman says that the observers don’t need to know why they’re doing their job, only that the subjects believe their job is important.

After watching the tape, Eko begins gathering documents to take back with them, but Locke doesn’t see the point anymore. He’s convinced that they’re just rats in a maze, but without the cheese. Eko believes they push the button because he they were meant to, but Locke has completely given up on the hatch and the numbers. It’s now meaningless to him.

In another flashback, Eko is confronted at the Sydney airport by the miracle girl. She has a message from his brother, who she says visited her when she was “between places.” Eko, thinking this girl was sent her by her phony psychic father, seems a bit shocked and insulted by the girl’s message, but blond stranger — Libby— butts in and calms him down.

Eko tells Locke the story of how his brother took off in Nigeria in the very plane that marked this hatch’s location. To Eko, nothing could have more meaning at this point. If Locke won’t push the button anymore, he will.

Back at the original hatch, Libby isn’t doing so well. Hurley and Jack on hand to hear her say her killer’s name just before she dies. The two have no idea how significant Michael’s name is.

Notes/Thoughts

First, “Dr. Mark Wickman,” is the man from the original 8mm film reels that were found in the hatches by Locke and Eko. But did you notice that his name in the original films is Dr. Marvin Candle? Wickman — Candle — interesting. I’m picking up a theme here. Either way, they can’t both be his name. Also, he seems to have perfect use of his bum arm.

“Dr. Wickman” mentions in the tape the name of someone has written that “careful observation is the only key to true and complete awareness.” Who is this someone? Good question, the tape had a hiccup right at that moment. Sounds like a name that we’ll hear at some point in the future though.

Dr. Wickman tells the observers to return to the Pala ferry at the end of each shift, which will take them back to the barracks. This explains why this hatch is so spartan in its accommodations. If these barracks are where the others live, it’s clear that they’re not living in conditions quite as bad as Michael said they were. After killing two people and setting Henry free, there’s not much reason to believe anything Michael says at this point.

If these video feeds are being recorded, this may spell big trouble for Michael. I don’t see this being the case, because the observers at The Pearl are supposed to be writing down their observations. Is it part they they themselves are part of an experiment?

Remember back when Henry said he never pressed the button? Now that the tape in The Pearl has essentially said that the job being done in the other hatch(es) isn’t important, it lends some credence to what he said.

Why does Locke put his map in the tube? It probably doesn’t matter much at this point, but he may have just sent The Others a nice little message.

Did you notice that Eko’s brother was sitting in a wheelchair in Locke’s dream?

So what happens next?

I’m intrigued. This episode didn’t contain any shockers like last week’s, but it did tell us a lot. We got a few more castaways who are now tied together. Libby and Claire now intersect with Eko. Even Locke and Boone connect to Eko, even though it’s a connection that happens on the island.

I don’t know if there’s really time to learn more about this hatch. It is what it is. The biggest mysteries of this hatch are the tube for the reports, the barracks and how this relates to The Others. Clearly it’s been abandoned for a while. Next week, I expect some revelations.

Thoughts?

The organization claims that “Bad Twin” is filled with misinformation regarding Hanso and its partners. For more information on The Hanso Foundation, visit their Web site. Hyperion has more information on “Bad Twin.”