LOST Season 3 Finale

Update May 31: Season 3 will be coming out on Blu-Ray December 11! Woops, never mind!

**SPOILERS **

Best Moments (will re-order this to be chronological)

1. Charlie sacrifices himself: Emotional moment, I nearly cried! Also, the prophecy of his death was really handled well. We kept guessing to the very end when we finally realize that Des' prophecy will come true exactly as he said.
2. Flashforward! Wow. Love it. The producers have said all along that they know where the story is going and that they aren't making this up as they go. No better way to prove it, in the here and now, than to start showing us the end point. Or specifically, what's after the end point- after they get rescued.
3. Anything Ben says: Although these last few eps have shown cracks in his methods, we can never tell if he's lying or telling the truth. Most remarkably, he's been able to manipulate people by telling them the truth. Amazing.
4. Jack beats Ben to a pulp. Wow. Catharsis baby. That scene could've run a little longer.
5. Penelope: Totally didn't expect her to pop up on that transmission. LOST has trained us to never trust anything, so we never knew if Naomi was the real deal-fine. But Penelope just showing up was exciting. Also, she finds out that Desmond is alive on the island!
6. Hurley saves the day: Nice build-up to his heroism as no one wanted his help.
7. Juliet kisses Jack: SHOCKING!
8. Jack tells Kate "I love you": WOW WOW.
9. Beach Trap for the Others: Felt good our guys finally had the upper hand, if only for a fleeting moment.
10. Sawyer kills Tom: "That was for taking the kid off the raft." Wow. Not condoning what he did, but that moment really put us in the mind of Sawyer. Following, the look on Juliet's face spoke volumes. I think she fully realized what a fine line she is walking by betraying the Others, joining the Jack-camp, yet her true motivations are still in doubt. She must be thinking, "I could end up like Tom."
    
11. Jack tells Kate why he didn't kill Ben: Like Sawyer, this moment really let us into the mind of Jack. On one hand he's the leader and hero of the group, on the other we see how on the edge he is. *shudder*
12. Rousseau meets her daughter: Sweet tender moment.
13. Sayid uses his feet to break neck of an Other: b@d@55!
14. Rousseau, "This is my home now" and Ben, "What do you have to go back to?" both to Jack:

Big Questions
(In no particular order)

1. Who's in the coffin? When Jack is standing next to it, you can tell that it is a small coffin- it wouldn't fit someone his size; therefore is it a child? If we ignore the size, my guess is that Michael, who betrayed his friends, is in the coffin.
2. Who are these people on Naomi's freighter?
3. Does Jack actually see the flashforwards in his mind? Or is it just for the viewers? Likewise for the flashbacks, are the characters actually recalling their past?
4. Has Jack been pretending to cozy up to Juliet to get information out of her?
5. Who's "he" that Kate refers in the final scene?

"Earl Grey. Hot."

I was just nuking my lunch (I know, it's 3:30PM!) ...

... and a lady made a fresh cup tea at the tea/coffee station next to the microwave. By the very distinct aroma, and dark black color (ahem, colour) I could tell it was Earl Grey.

**Everybody** knows Captain Jean-Luc Picard orders his favorite tea, curtly, "Earl Grey. Hot."

Being a Star Trek geek in my younger years, I actually tried Earl Grey just because of Picard. I found Earl Grey to be like coffee- it's an acquired taste. Acquired.
"Warp factor 9. Engage."

DishTV HD

Unfortunately, we don't get any TV reception using an indoor over-the-air antenna at the new place so we ended up getting DishTV and went for the HD DVR.

Observations:
- The connection to the satellite is not as reliable as when we had Dish before at our old place.
- Don't watch that much TV, but when scanning what to watch, I pretty much only look at the HD channels.
- Setup the DVR to record movies off HBO-HD (3 mo. free) so we can watch 'em whenever.
- Speaking of which, HBO-HD has Star Wars Ep. 1 and 3 in high-def already! It looks great, needless to say- much better than std. DVD.
- The NFL Network has "America's Game" which profiles a specific NFL team's season. Got the 1994 49ers one that has Steve Young, Brent Jones and Merton Hanks talking heads with narration by Bruce Willis. Nice to reminisce that last Super Bowl.
- Pretty much anything is better in HD... like Food Network.
- The Kung Fu Network (HD) is... interesting.

Anyways, the real fun will come when "LOST" re-starts next month. Maybe I'll even get on the "24," "Battlestar Galactica" bandwagons.

Also caught Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" on HBO-HD which I'll write about later, but in short: thumbs up.

LOST: s03e06 prediction

I think Kate's been comprimised! In the season premiere, Ben (Henry Gale) sits down for a meal (breakfast?) on the beach w/ Kate. She asks why is he doing this. He says that he's doing this so she has something nice to hold on to over the next two difficult weeks. That's all we know. Next time we see her she's being put into the bear cage.

Something else must have happened there, which we weren't shown. Perhaps Kate was presented with some dilemma involving Jack and Sawyer?

Also, waaaaay back in season one, a strong theme in Kate's stories was her ruthlessness: Her primary motivating factor was to run to avoid capture by the law. Since then, that theme has been cast aside as it had become clear there was no way off the island, hence no where to run. Until now. Though it doesn't seem as if Kate knows that the Others have contact with the outside world, perhaps Ben's offer was for her to help him while betraying her friends in exchange for her getaway from her crimes. Michael betrayed his friends to get Walt back and leave the island, why not give Kate a similar offer?

LOST: One more new ep. before end of the year!

Season 3, Episode 5

I can't believe they killed off Mr. Ecko. Most of the deaths on the island have occurred once characters "made peace" with their pasts. In Mr. Ecko's case, he not only did not "make peace," at least according to The Island's sense of morality, (I sound like Locke, "The Island!") he refused to make peace. Then the monster killed him. Great character, great actor, but Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (I'll call him Triple-A) doesn't like to be on one show for too long.

The whole Jack, Juliet and Ben(Henry Gale) triangle is really intriguing. Fundamentally, who is playing who? That whole dynamic is a total mind game. You can drive yourself crazy with all the speculation. Is Juliet good or bad? Were the X-Rays of the spinal tumor a plant intended for Jack to see? Is Ben really good when we've thought he was bad all along?

Some quick hits:

• The monster finally re-appeared, but it just didn't feel as scary as it used to be.
• The Others have really lost their mystique. Ana-Lucia said they can suddenly appear out of nowhere. There were the whispers different people have heard in the jungle.
• From the promo for the next ep. shows that Kate chooses Sawyer, not Jack. The producers say as much in their podcast, though it sounds as if this question.
• Why is Pickett so intent on killing Sawyer? It doesn't make any sense.

Anyways, I'm still on the LOST bandwagon... er, Island, that is.

Fall TV 2006

Haven't posted in a long while, so why not re-start with something easy- TV!

The fall TV season has begun! More accurately LOST is back! Season 3!

So far, through three episodes, it has been pretty awesome. They always find a way to start the season in an incredible way- that "What the heck is going on?" moment:

Season 1: Open on Jack's eye and we follow his horrendous discovery of the plane wreckage.
Season 2: Some dude wakes up, eats, excercises, does dishes, and punches something on a computer... pull back to see Lock and Jack peering down the hatch shaft! HOLY COW- they just showed us everything in The Hatch!
Season 3: A book club discussion... rumbling... outside we see the Oceanic 815 coming down, breaks in two... "Henry Gale" comes out! WHOA! They just showed us where The Others live!

Of concern though is LOST's Nielson ratings are going downhill. YIKES! Tim Goodman of the SF Chronicle and many others have good theories on this. The mystery is too complex. The serial nature of the storyline makes it hard to gain viewers compared to shows that have self-contained stories in each episode. Further, viewers that miss an episode or two may get lost (pun) and stop watching. Also, seeing the success of LOST and Desperate Housewives from two years ago, serial dramas are everywhere now. Anyways, the LOST producers say the story runs about 5 seasons, so as long as they have enough time to finish the story w/out rushing it, I'm happy.

Speaking of serial dramas, I've started watching "The Nine" (on ABC, after LOST) and "Heroes" (9PM Mondays on NBC). Both are very LOST-like shows based on a high-concept premise. "Nine" is about 9 people survive a 52 hour bank robbery hostage crisis. "Heroes" is about various individuals discovering they have superpowers. From there, the show is about the characters and how they deal with the situation and it's effects on those around them. Interestingly, there is no "bad guy" (yet) in "Nine," whereas "Heroes" has a mysterious one. BTW, "Heroes" might as well be called "Unbreakable: The Series."

On a side note, shows from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and probably other Asian countries are mostly serials. The key difference from their U.S. counterparts is that they usually only span one season of 20-40 episodes. A second season, if any, is usually considered a sequel rather than just a continuation of the story, a la LOST season 1, 2, 3 etc.

The last few nights, I've also been feverishly watching "Taken," the 2002 Steven Spielberg produced miniseries on Sci-Fi channel about alien abduction. There are "only" 10 episodes, but each is about 1hr 20mins. I watched the 1st few episodes when it first premiered, but got busy with other things, and then M was born; hence I'm finishing it now. Highly recommended- well written stories and good character development. I'm going to watch the final episode tonight.

Anyways, LOST will still be my main show. I don't have time to keep up with 3 shows at once. I'll probably try to stick w/ "The Nine" through the season, though I hear it's ratings aren't so good, so it's in danger of getting cancelled. I'll save "Heroes" for the summer when I'm counting the days till LOST starts again.

"LOST" Entertainment Weekly Cover Article

EW.com has a cover story on "LOST." It's a pretty good read.

Some nice bits:

"''When they pitched the button, my first reaction was 'No f---ing way!' And I mean that in a good way,'' says ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson,..."

"'For me,'' he [Exec Producer Damon Lindelof] says, ''Lost is about meaning — and the search for meaning.''"

"Says Yunjin Kim, who plays Sun: ''When a character reaches some kind of redemption, perhaps it's time to start packing your bag.''"

>> This was true for: Boone (came to terms w/ his feelings for Shannon), Shannon ("redemption" via Sayid "believing" she saw Walt in the jungle), and Ana-Lucia (wanted to kill Henry Gale, but didn't)

...and finally:

"''The more I hear about disgruntled Americans who believe there never was an exit strategy for Iraq, the more I understand why they want to know that the story we're telling has a...well, an exit strategy,'' says Lindelof. ''If they can't get answers to mysteries in real life, they most definitely want answers on their TV sets on Wednesday nights. And they deserve them.''

What those answers will be remains to be seen. Fox, at least, is willing to say what one of them won't be. ''Nobody is going to wake up on this show and mysteriously end up somewhere else.'' Promise? ''That's a promise.''

Told of Fox's pledge, Lindelof betrays a mischievous smirk. ''Well, then,'' he says, ''I guess we're going to have to do that.''"

Those last quotes from Fox and Lindelof are ironic, since the series started off exactly like that: Jack woke up (on the show), and mysteriously ended up somewhere else- the island!