Does Locke see the light?

Oh, this was one of those episodes where your brain curls up into the fetal position and screams for mercy.

Aaaaaaaagh!

Plenty of Locke flashbacks. A bloody mutiny on the freighter. And a little visit to a cabin in the woods, where we find … not spooky Jacob, but Christian Shepard … and Claire?

“Destiny, John, is a fickle bitch,” Ben tells Locke at one point. Boy, is it ever. Read the rest of this entry »

Claire could have some daddy issues.

Some of my favorite “Lost” episodes feature spooky stuff in the way of ghosts and/or visions. That’s exactly what we had last night as Future-Jack was visited by ominous visions of his dad, Christian, and Hurley spoke of messages deliverd by a long-dead Charlie. Ohhh, feel the chills.

Of course, those who enjoy the romantic entanglements of “Lost” mainly will be talking this morning about how the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle plays out in the future: Jack is living (and showering) with Kate and raising Claire’s boy, Aaron. And it looks as if they’re on the brink of marriage as Jack presents Kate with a big glittery rock and she tearfully says, “yes.”

But all is not bliss (This is “Lost,” after all). We see the beginnings of Jack’s scary plummet into drug addiction — and paranoia. He starts to hound Kate about her unexplained whereabouts during the day, until she finally breaks down and admits, “I was doing something for Sawyer.” Read the rest of this entry »

Creepy Ben pays a visit to sleepy Widmore.

After a long winter’s nap, “Lost” sprung back to life last night and, as usual, the family celebrated with a feast of island-themed fare (Thanks to L&L). Then we had to stay up late to catch the show in its new time slot.

The episode title was ”The Shape of Things to Come” and it left me a little apprehensive. If what is to come of this show centers on Ben and Sayid scrambling around the globe and picking off people from their hit list, I’m not sure I’m up for it. And the whole vengeful grudge match between Ben and Widmore (I’ll kill your daughter because you killed mine) just seems a little pat and old-school for an edgy show like “Lost.”

But then again, I’ve learned to give these producers a little slack because they have a way of surprising us. But it’s starting to look like we’ll be spending a great deal of time away from the island and I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Uh-oh. What’s wrong with Jack? An image from the May 1 episode.

A chat with “Lost” executive producers Damon Lindlelof and Carlton Cuse is always a delicate dance.  On one hand, they’re very accessible and engaging and they exude the passion of true TV fans. On the other, they have secrets to guard and they’ll only go so far in their discussion of the show.

Of course, that’s how it should be.

Next Thursday, “Lost” returns from a break necessitated by the writers strike — in a new time slot (10 p.m., ABC) and we’re being promised some “large and seismic events.” Damon and Carlton took some time on  Thursday to speak with reporters during a conference call. Here’s a rundown of some of the topics they covered:

– On how the second half of the season will be more “epic” than the first: “The first half of a season is setting up the dilemmas for the characters, and then in the second half, we try to pay those off,” Carlton said. “The thing that was frustrating about the writers’ strike was that we has just done the setup part of the season then we had to stop for 100 days. But then when we came back, we got the chance to fulfill all of our narrative desires and so all the stuff we set up in the first half of the season is going to pay off. Obviously we’re missing a lot of pieces between that flash-forward we saw at the end of last season — how the Oceanic 6 got off the island and what connects to that event and we also are going to move forward from that point in time.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your TV Freak take on the latest episode of “Lost.” While reading, try to keep in mind that we’re the good guys:

Thank God the writers strike ended when it did, or last night’s eighth episode of “Lost” would have been the last one of the season (Wow, that went fast). As it is, we’ll have to wait five weeks for a fresh string to begin. Oh, the agony.

But now we at least know how Michael had been spending his time since leving the island. Well, sort of. What was partuclarly frustrating about last night’s flashback-dominated episode is that it joined a distraught, suicidal Michael (Harold Perrineau) in New York. But we never learned, exactly, how he and his little boy Walt got there in their little putt-putt boat. Were they rescued at sea? Did a team of crafty dolphins guide them to safety? Did they take a trip in time? Did the Others help? And tell me this: How did they ever make it through customs? Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your TV Freak take on the latest episode of “Lost.” If you haven’t see it, proceed with caution:

“Don’t trust the captain.” Those were the words on a cryptic note that was slipped to Sayid and Desmod, who remain holed up on the freighter. It might as well have read: “Don’t trust the writers of this show.”

Until last night, I had been having a lot of fun with the way “Lost” had been manipulating its flashbacks and flash-forwards in order to keep us all off-kilter. But I felt that last night’s interweaving of a flash-forward (Sun) and flashback (Jin) was a bit of a cheat and I cry “foul!”

In Sun’s flash-forward, we learned that she is one of the fabled Oceanic 6. She got off the island but is having complications with her pregnancy. An ambulance is called and she’s rushed to the hospital. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your TV Freak take on the latest episode of “Lost.” Stop, if you haven’t watched:

The big questions just keep popping up on “Lost” — like: Why would you tape over a Red Sox game? Especially if it was a World Series game?

That’s what Locke had to be wondering when the ever-creepy and crafty Ben showed him a VHS cassette marked “Red Sox.” Only this tape contained footage of one Mr. Charles Widmore — Penny’s dad — who Ben claims owns the freighter just offshore. “He’ll do anything in his power to possess (the island),” Ben says.

And there, my friends, is the big reveal of the night. On the tape, Widmore (remember his interest in the Black Rock log?) is seen hitting a blind-folded man. Ben says the punching bag is one of his henchmen, who unfortunately was caught. Poor sucker. Read the rest of this entry »

Desmond needs to take a TV timeout.

Here’s your TV Freak take on the latest episode of “Lost.” If you haven’t yet watched, proceed with caution:

Danger, Will Robinson! We’ve got a time-travel story on our hands! No wonder Desmond’s nose is bleeding. 

I can relate. Time-travel stuff usually makes my head spin and my nose spurt crimson. Too weird. Too Trekkie. Just not my cup of TV tea. But hey, this is “Lost” and I’m willing to make the quantum leap. For now.

Besides, we’ve seen this coming for weeks (Some have seen it longer). So I was prepared. Still, it was rather mind-blowing to see poor, befuddled Desmond bounce back and forth from the present day (?) on the freighter to 1996 Scotland and his stint with the army. What’s really weird (and confusing) is that when he is on the freighter, a wigged-out Desmond doesn’t know who anybody is. Not Sayid. Not that scruffy helicopter pilot. Nobody. See what happens when you get blown up in a hatch and exposed to too much electromagnetism? Be careful to never let that happen to you. Read the rest of this entry »

Kate — before securing her freedom.

Here’s the TV Freak take on the latest episode of “Lost.” If you haven’t watched it yet, proceed accordingly:

When Kate made her brief appearance in last season’s stunning flash-forward, many of us were left dealing with two nagging head-scratchers: Why was she not in jail? and Who was the “he” she needed to get home to?

Tonight we got our answers in another breath-taking, mind-blowing episode.

The latest flash-forward reveals that Kate, indeed, was taken into custody by authorities (we see her in jail togs) and she is facing trial on a laundry list of charges, including murder. But fortunately for her, she has become a sympathetic figure in the eyes of the public – a world-famous member of the Oceanic 6. And that image has been greatly enhanced by a lie Jack has concoted that paints her as a hero who saved lives following the crash of Flight 815.

But even more beneficial to Kate is the fact that the lead witness for the prosecution – her mother! — is close to death and, in a move to make peace with her daughter, has decided not to testify. And so with the case in tatters, Kate plea-bargains her way to freedom (on a restrictive probation). Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your TV Freak take on the latest episoide of “Lost.” If you haven’t yet watched, proceed accordingly:

My TV was misbehaving last night, forcing me to miss the first 15-20 minutes of the show (a devious ploy by the Dharma Initiative?), which I had to go back and watch online this morning. The end result is I’m even more confused than usual.

What we did learn is pretty eerie: Sayid is our fourth member of the Oceanic 6, but back in civilization he has become a hit man! Even worse: He’s working for Ben! Even MORE worse: He kills guys on pretty golf courses!

We don’t learn that he works for Ben until the typical “grabber” at the end of the epoisode, but unlike the “Lost” writers, we don’t bury the lead here at Freak Central. Of course, this development, as usual, brings us more questions than answers. Like, why in the world would Sayid ever work for Ben? How did creepy Ben make it off the island without getting Jack-stomped? And when did Sayid have time to hone his golf skills? Read the rest of this entry »