LOST Reaction: "Lighthouse"

I'm gonna keep these shorter from now on. Just my reaction, no synopsis.

It was another whirlwind of "Holy Crap!"s and "What the...?"s last night on LOST. Hurley has become a weird sort of spiritual leader for those still in the Temple, as he can "see" Jacob. Jacob sends Hurley and Jack to a lighthouse that no one has ever noticed before, and Hurley does a fine job of being a leader and convincing Jack to go with him. But we'll get to that in a bit.

I like this new version of Hurley. He's not as crippled by his fear of bad luck or himself anymore. He knows that he has a purpose on the island, and he's doing his darnedest to live that out. Even if that means he has to lie to a samurai (one of my favorite Hurley lines).

Jack continues to piss me off. For the first four seasons he was the sensible leader of the Losties, making mostly good decisions and doing what he could for everyone. Starting last season, he was a resigned whiny-pants pansy who asked "Why?!" every other sentence. Ugh.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole Crazy Claire line. Is she Smokeylocke's apprentice or something? They're drawing a lot of parallels between Claire and Rousseau, even though I don't think Rousseau was ever "infected." Her team was, but I don't think she was ever infected.

In the LA timeline, I thoroughly enjoyed Jack having a son. Jack has the worst daddy issues on the show (I guess except for Locke and the whole being pushed out of a building thing), and seeing him deal with it by doing things differently with his own offspring is refreshing. Dogen popping up at the recital was a great addition, in my opinion. It really shows that everyone is always intertwined, no matter what happened.

As for the episode's namesake, the Lighthouse was a big reveal. This ancient tower was how Jacob watched, and for all we know, communicated with the Losties during their lives. I only glanced three locales in the mirror before Jack got all angsty. The church where Sawyer's parent's funeral was (and where Jacob gave him a pen to finish his letter to the con man), the setting of Sun and Jin's wedding (where he congratulated them in "excellent Korean), and Jack's mom's house. The candidate's names around the outside of the wheel was intriguing, and I was really hoping we would see who's at bearing 108. 108, by the way, is what 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 add up to. Trippier and trippier, man.

LOST Reaction: "The Substitute"

Island Timeline (present day)

The episode featured Smokeylocke and Sawyer (and Richard, kind of). An intriguing Smokey-eye-view shot through the jungle opened up the episode. We see (or rather, are) Smokey chattering and clanking through the jungle, pausing outside a Dharma house to listen to some music coming from inside (which turns out to be Sawyer), and zooms back into the jungle to find a machete. He then presumably turns back into Fake Locke (which Ilana later says he's trapped being; he can't change the people he's imitating again) and cuts Richard down from a tree. He tries to recruit Richard for some unknown purpose, and Richard wisely refuses and is clearly freaked out by Smokeylocke.

While Smokeylocke is out and about (this also happens with Sawyer later), he sees a small blonde boy. He chases him later and the boy tells him "you know you can't" or "you're not supposed to kill him." I can't remember which. Smokeylocke was visibly freaked out.

Smokeylocke then successfully recruits Sawyer, taking him to a mysterious hole in a cliff. This is where the big questions came from. There was scale right inside the entrance with two rocks on it , one black and one white. Smokeylocke threw the white one into the sea, calling it an "inside joke." He is relishing in his supposed victory quite disgustingly. Then comes the big one.

Smokeylocke shows Sawyer a cave with names scribbled all over it. This is the origin of the mysterious "lists" from previous seasons. And there's a few names we recognize.

Jarrah, Reyes, Ford, Shepherd, Kwon, and Locke. Each corresponded with 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 or 42.

Kate was noticeably absent from this list, even though Jacob interacted with her before the Island.

No mention of the Temple folk this week. Instead, we have the beach folk (Ajira flight). Ilana, Ben, Lapidus, Sun, and a few others decide to go to the Temple where "it's safe." Sun insists on burying the real Locke, which they do, next to the other people who have died on the Island (Boone, Shannon, Eko, Ana-Lucia, etc.). Ben delivers a possibly heartfelt apology in which he reveals that he killed Locke. Lapidus says "This is the weirdest d@#$ funeral I've ever been to." Truer words were never spoken, Lapidus. He's becoming the new Hurley in terms of comic relief.

LA Timeline (2004)

This was a Locke-centric, so we got to see Locke back at his old job, which he gets fired from for lying about attending a conference in Sydney. We also discover that, much like the other 2004 timeline, he tried to go on a walkabout, but was not allowed because of the wheelchair.

In happier news, Locke is engaged to Helen! It looks like he didn't get conned out of a kidney or any of that, so he didn't get weirdly obsessed with his punk dad.

Hurley is back and even more awesome. He is apparently so rich that he owns a temp agency, which he uses to help Locke get another job, and the box company that Locke got fired from. Lucky happy Hurley is much more enjoyable than sad and freaked-out Hurley.

Locke eventually lands a job (with the help of Rose, who runs Hurley's temp agency) as a substitute teacher, where he meets another teacher at the school, our dear friend Ben Linus.

Ben's back, and he's an obnoxious European History teacher. This should be good.

Reactor Reaction

Locke-centric episodes have ranged from illuminating to depressing. This was definitely on the illuminating side, a trend that I expect to continue for the entirety of the final season.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2004 timeline, seeing that Locke didn't give up so easy this time around. Him being connected with Rose, Hurley, Jack and Ben should prove quite interesting as the story moves along.

As for the Island Timeline, seeing Richard that scared of something is a pretty big red flag that something's going down. My theory on Richard is that he's seen most of Smokey's tricks, and it appears that what Smokey-as-Locke is doing is new and terrifying.

My wife and I hypothesized that the names on the cave wall were for "candidates," a suspicion that was confirmed by Smokeylocke. We know we can't take his word for it, so the Jacob(s) of the Island must be protecting it from something. Another interesting idea we came up with is that Jacob is the goalie, keeping Smokey on the Island and away from the rest of the world. Smokeylocke keeps pushing to get off the Island, so we can only assume that something bad will happen, should that occur.

The candidates' names being associated with The Numbers is also very intriguing, and hints at just how long Jacob and Smokey have been at this game. If the Numbers were broadcasted 30 years before all this happened and Jacob had interacted with many of the Losties during that time, that could mean that Jacob was preparing for those seven for more than 30 years.

Trippy stuff.

Music Out Of NOWHERE

After living here in Kansas City for almost ten months now, my taste in music has widened considerably, due in part to the library and to the radio. Yes, I know, that's SOOOO 1990.

The public library system in Johnson County has a buttload of music. I have been going through their collection and finding new and wonderful things, some of which I didn't even know I would like.

I listen to 96.5 ("The Alternative, 96.5, The Buuuuuzzzz....") here in KC, which plays alternative rock, as well as some weirder stuff. I've gotten hooked on three or four bands because of this station. If you're in the KC area, though, don't listen from 12-3pm or so. The DJ that runs that slot is a nutjob.

Here's two albums and artists that I've discovered recently. I'll post some more now and then.

1. The Republic Tigers, "Keep Color"

I have a few sources to thank for this one. Amanda and I watch NBC's "Chuck" every week, and while I was waiting to get married this summer, I noticed a Republic Tigers song ("Buildings and Mountains") in an episode, and recognized it as something I had heard on 96.5 a few times. I found the album and was hooked.

The Republic Tigers are out of KCMO, which makes it even cooler. They are an indie-style band with non-indie lyrics. Sure they're ambiguous and odd lyrics, but decidedly on the happy side. The music is diverse and is easily repeatable live. They even have a song about playing air guitar.

Here's a live vid. Pretty awesome.

2. Jon Foreman, "Spring and Summer"

I found Switchfoot's frontman's album at the library completely by accident. His two-disc "Spring and Summer" is outstanding stuff.

I've had a love-hate relationship with Switchfoot. I hated Foreman's voice when I heard one or two songs on the radio back in 2001. Once I got a few albums, I appreciated his voice and song-writing styles even more.
His solo work really allows his writing to shine. It's a lot more pared-back than Switchfoot's surf rock. It's more indie-tinged, with a few songs featuring just Foreman and a guitar (and sometimes a very well-placed cello).

Foreman and Relient K's Matt Thiessen are two of the music industry's most creative and underrated songwriters.

And best yet, Foreman's solo work retains Switchfoot's sunny feel. I'm listening to a few songs right now while it's 20 out, and my mind is drifting back to Southern California...ahhh.

Here's one of the best of the album.

LOST Reaction: "What Kate Does"

LOST continues to weave its tangled web.

Island timeline (2008?)

In this week's episode, "What Kate Does" (which plays off the older Season 2 episode "What Kate Did"), we start off in the temple and go through a lot of "Who are you people?" and even more "I don't trust you/I'm going off into the jungle/I'm coming too." It got old real fast. Almost as old as the Temple folk, Lennon (the hippie guy) and Dogen (the Chinese dude) who have hilariously nonthreatening or impressive names saying "Come with us. We need to talk to you."

That stuff got old, but Dogen's attempts to "diagnose" Sayid's resurrection are quite foreboding.

Sawyer stomps off into the jungle, Kate, Jin, and two other Others go after him, Kate runs after Sawyer after knocking out the Others, etc. One of the Others mentions that they are protecting the Losties from Smokey. Pretty standard running through the jungle stuff. Kate finds Sawyer digging out the engagement ring he bought for Juliet, and the two have a sad and heartbreaking conversation. Kate leaves.

At the temple, Dogen tries to get Sayid to take a pill, which Jack convinces him not to, because it ends up containing poison. I swear, these people have some of the most messed-up trust issues I've ever seen. They're all diagnosable.

Dogen tells Jack that Sayid is "infected" and "claimed" by something.

The Others try to kill Jin as he makes his way back to the Temple, but a Rousseau version of Claire shows up and saves him. Looks like she's been setting traps, too.

LA Timeline (2004)

These flash-sideways are going to get confusing real fast. Kate commandeers a cab with Claire in it, but not before seeing Jack and having deja-vu. Weird.

Kate kicks Claire out of the cab and gets her handcuffs cut off by a mechanic that almost looks like Mr. Friendly/Tom. Kate realizes she took Claire's bag of baby stuff and brings it back to her. Aww.

Kate then gives Claire a ride to the family that's going to adopt Aaron. Why Claire ever gets back in the car with someone who just hijacked it a few hours before is beyond me.

Turns out the family doesn't want the kid, and Claire starts having contractions. They run to the hospital, where Claire's doctor is Ethan.

Yes, Ethan. Only this time his name is Ethan Goodspeed, which means he took his father (Horace)'s name. Does that mean Horace is still alive? The island is underwater in 2004, so what does that mean for the Dharma folks?

Kate leaves, Claire might keep the baby.

Reactor Reaction

Kate-centric episodes are always fraught with a lot of Kate pretending to be a lot tougher than she is and a lot of close-ups on people crying. Sawyer being emotional is fine, but good night give the guy some screen time when he's not crying or scowling. I have a feeling that the whole love story is about to get a lot more sappy and obnoxious this season.

The revelations at the Temple are most certainly foreboding. Who/what is Sayid, really? What did Dogen mean when he said the same thing happened to Claire?

Ethan's reappearance is startling. What happened to the Dharma folks?

It was a good episode in terms of fitting together puzzle pieces (or showing gaps in the completed puzzle). I can't wait to see how the two timelines interact. It's obvious that they're connected. Ethan is still Claire's doctor, Kate is still connected to Aaron, and she and Jack have both had deja-vu.

Questions, questions, questions. Let's hope they're all answered, otherwise ABC's going to host the nerdiest riot ever.

LOST Premiere Liveblog (LA X)

I'll be posting my reactions to the LOST premiere episode, "LA X," during every commercial break.

8:00 pm: The Quick Recap: Starting off with the MIB and Jacob talking about progress, Ben killing Jacob, Flocke kicking Jacob into the fire.

Then over to Faraday explaining The Reset. The crew runs to The Swan, Jack drops the bomb, Juliet falls down the shaft, and hits the bomb with a rock.

Flash to white. Recap over.

Now we're looking out the window of a plane...and there's Jack! He looks younger. Did it work?

Cindy the stewardess asks about Jack's drink...this is all from the pilot!

Here comes the turbulence, and Rose explaining turbulence to Jack. Plane shaking more and more...and...nothing happens.

This is different.

Rose tells Jack he can let go. They didn't crash! Bernard comes back from the bathroom, everything's okay. Weird.

Jack gets up and goes to the bathroom. He looks confused, and there's something weird on his neck. And...Desmond's on the plane! Holy crap! "Thanks brotha" got a weird look from Jack.

Jack has deja vu...

And camera goes down through the clouds and water...the island's underwater?! LOL at the Dharma Shark!

And there's the foot!

Amanda asked "Did the Hydrogen bomb sink the island?" Hmm...

8:09 pm: Recap back to Jack dropping the bomb, Juliet falling down the shaft, and hitting the bomb.

Flash to white again.

Close up on eye...and it's Kate. She's in a tree. The sound is muffled...I feel like I need to pop my ears. Wow. Cool effect.

She's stumbling around the jungle, and runs into Miles. They find a Dharma door, and the imploded Swan Station.

Looks like they're back in the present. Or Future. Or something.

They find Jack knocked out.

Ian Somerholder's name just popped up...Boone's back?!

Sawyer punches Jack into the hole and is pissed.

Are there two timelines?

A different flashback noise, and Jack's on the plane. Then he runs into Kate. Still looks deja vu-y.

Sawyer bumps into Kate and the federal marshal.

Hurley does a Mr. Cluck's impression for Doc Artz. Whoa.

Hurley tells Sawyer he's the luckiest guy alive. Weird.

Back on the island...

Hurley and Jin are back by the Dharma van. Jin gets Jack to help him with Sayid.

Kate picks through the Swan wreckage, and hears something. Is it Juliet?!

Back to Sayid. He's sounding rather pessimistic about his current state.

And something's in the jungle...Hurley's trying to use a gun, and it's not working.

And out of the jungle pops...Jacob?!

8:22 pm: Sun and Jin on the plane, Looks like Jin is back to being a jerk.

Locke is reading the emergency guide, and Boone is pessimistic about a possible crash. They talk about Australia. Is Shannon not on the plane?

Locke actually went his Walkabout then! Awesome!

Back to the island, Flocke cuts a piece of cloth out of Jacob's rug. Ben's staring at the fire, but Jacob's not there.

Flocke sends Ben to get Richard.

Near the foot, Richard is talking to Ilana and her crew. Lapidus and Sun are suspicious. Lapidus fills Sun in on "the good guys."

Ilana tells Richard that Jacob invited them there.

Ben tells Richard that John wants to talk to him. Richard shows Ben dead Locke. Weird music.

8:30 pm This is taking too much work. I'll just post a quick reaction to each segment.

Jacob tells Hurley to take Sayid to the Temple. They try to get Juliet out, Sawyer threatens to kill Jack if Juliet dies, and (back on the plane) Jack and Sayid find Charlie passed out in the bathroom. Looks like things on the plane have a slightly different chain of events.

8:40 pm Jack digs a bag of heroin out of Charlie's mouth. Sayid is helping.

Sawyer digs into the Swan wreckage and finds Juliet alive. Their love story is surprisingly resilient, by LOST standards.

Hurley convinces Jack to let him take Sayid to the Temple. Hurley finally grew some balls.

Ilana's crew (sans Ilana) goes in see Jacob, and they try to kill Flocke, who disappears and turns into Smokey (offscreen). The head dude protects himself for a bit with a circle of ash, but Smokey still gets him. And Flocke admits to being Smokey. Whoa. He's terrifying in both forms.

8:53 pm Juliet dies. One of the sadder moments in this show. Sawyer's blaming Jack. That should create some massive tension.

Back on the plane, Charlie gets arrested. A sentimental shot around the plane of all the characters as they land at LAX. Charlie is escorted off the plane by cops. And, Locke is carried off the plane in a wheelchair. So not everything's different.

9:04 pm Part 2. Hurley, Jack, and Kate take Sayid to The Temple while Sawyer and Miles bury Juliet. Sad stuff.

Back in LA, Jack finds out the coffin wasn't on the plane. They lost it. Where's Christian?

Back on the island, they bring Sayid down into the hole under the Temple. They all get caught by The Others and brought to the real Temple. It's a giant pyramid. I guess all we've seen is the wall of it...this should be interesting.

9:15 pm In LA, Kate knocks out the marshal and escapes! Kate's kinda scary. She and Sawyer run into each other. Sawyer covers for her and helps her duck some TSA guys.

Back on the island, Miles talks to dead Juliet, who said "It worked." Does she know about the alternate timeline?

At the Temple, some Chinese dude and a hippie try to kill Hurley and the others. Hurley tells them Jacob sent them, and gives them a giant Ankh in the guitar case. A list with all their names on it is inside. The hippie dude says that if Sayid dies, they're in trouble. Are these the real Others? Why is Cindy, the stewardess from 815 one of the heads?

9:28 pm In LA, Jin gets busted with a buttload of cash. Sun isn't married to Jin (the TSA lady called her Ms. Paik), and doesn't speak English. How did that happen?

Back in the Temple, a pool is red, and that's bad. Apparently.

The Others put Sayid in the pool, and the Chinese dude turns a hourglass. They hold Sayid under the red water, and he starts to thrash around. The hourglass is done, and Sayid isn't moving. He's dead?! What the heck? What did The Others do?

9:40 pm We're back in LA. Cops are looking for Kate. She's trying to get a taxi, and the marshal spots her. She gets in a taxi with Claire! She's back! Woo!

Back in the Temple, the Others capture Sawyer and Miles. Hurley tells Chinese dude and hippie that Jacob's dead. They freak out and start lighting fireworks and pouring ash everywhere. Are they preparing for Smokey?

Under the foot statue, Ben confronts Flocke/Smokey. Flocke makes fun of Real Locke. Interesting shots of him in shadow and sunlight. Interesting.

Flocke/Smokey tells Ben he wants to "go home." Followed by a really scary look.

9:51 pm In the Temple, everyone's bummed. Sawyer's still pissed at Jack.

In LA, Jack and Locke start talking in the lost luggage room. Locke starts talking about some existential stuff. Jack talks to Locke about his spinal injury.

And we're back on the Island. Richard sees the fireworks. Flocke/Smokey knows Richard and tells him "it's good to see you out of those chains." He then beats him up and takes him. What the heck is with Richard?!

Back in the Temple, Hippie man threatens Jack.

And Sayid's awake.

Fade to LOST.

Shuffleboard 7

It's been awhile since I've subjugated the Internet to my weird music preferences. Shall we?

1. "Den of Vice" by Atticus Ross from The Book of Eli

I haven't seen The Book of Eli yet, but it's high on my list of movies-to-see. I picked up this soundtrack because I read that Atticus Ross worked with Nine Inch Nails on some of their instrumental stuff, which is some of the most unique and enjoyable weird stuff out there.

As for this specific track, it's ambient, it's eerie, it's odd, and it makes me want to see the movie all the more. Ross' whole score is ambient, save for a few action cues, and that really illustrates the bleak post-apocalyptic world portrayed in The Book of Eli.

2. "Disconnected" by RJD2 from Magnificent City Instrumentals

Oh man, how did I not discover RJD2 sooner?! I'm getting more and more into weird stuff, and RJ's odd blend of electronica, Moby-style samplings and grooving R&B/Hip-Hop beats is up there with some of my new favorites.

This track sounds like it belongs in one of the Ocean's movies. Hot horns, a little rock organ, and a few drum tracks. It's stylish, makes you bob your head a little, and if you listen to it while walking down the street, you automatically feel cooler.

As for the video, just listen. Don't watch. It's a ninja dancing. It's weird.

3. "Fall: Marion Barfs" by Clint Mansell from Requiem for a Dream

From one of the all-time most depressing movies (seen it once, will never see it again) comes one of the most overused pieces of music ever. Mansell's "Lux Aeterna" theme has been used/remixed into more movie trailers than explosions or cheesy 70s love songs.

This track is from halfway through the film, when stuff starts to head downhill. The three main character's plan of getting rich by being drug dealers is backfiring as they become more and more addicted.

The score for the whole film is somewhat repetitive, but effective. It's depressing and really accentuates the feelings of absolute despair onscreen.

As the scene is pretty intense and disorienting(and isn't embeddable), you can view it here.

4. "Volare" by Dean Martin from The Capitol Years

I got a whole bunch of Dean Martin, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra for our wedding reception. The library is wonderful for free music!

Dean Martin isn't my favorite, but it's nice every once in a while. This song has an English section and an Italian section, so you know it's sophisticated.

Fun Note: Volare is Italian for "to fly."

5. "The Slug Party" by Nicholas Hooper from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

When I started watching the Harry Potter films last year, I was sad to discover that John Williams had only scored the first three. The score for the forth was boring, but then I found the fifth and sixth, both done by Nicholas Hooper. He really "grew up" the score, which is appropriate, as the movies definitely grew up.

This track accompanies the great scene where Harry and Hermione are invited to a horribly stuffy party by their weird professor. The track is uncharacteristically upbeat for the rest of the score, but portrays the ridiculous party well. A jazzy beat (with bongos!) and bass line back up an awkward string melody. This is how the attendees saw the party, no doubt.