LOSTthoughts - The Final Season!

Greetings & salutations LOST Candidates! The time has come to revisit my LOSTthoughts and make it even more fun & hilarious with the addition of several characters from Z.O.P.E. There's SPOILERS afoot, so in case you haven't finished the 6th & Final season or maybe wanted to wait until the full series was released on DVD today, come back to enjoy our show after The End.

For those still craving more LOST or for those just getting into it, welcome. You've got quite the experience to enjoy. We're doing this for every episode, but first with the 6th Season episodes that we debuted (& became a major hit with) in March 2010.

We start out with a phenomenal episode of the Season that raises the stakes for the Candidates & dooms several to a Smokey end. 

Ep. 6x06 - "Sundown" ****1/2

                              Director : Bobby Roth

               Writers :  Paul Zbyszewski & 

                                      Graham Roland

Watch below for an overview of "Sundown", but realize that it will ruin the Awesome experience of watching the actual episode for the first time. Hey, it's on DVD now.  

Pretty unbelievable right from the get-go. Sayid is battling inner demons and we're not sure if he's going to go full Anakin to Darth Vader or not. With a swift lunge, it looks like Sayid believes that the MIB is evil and he doesn't want to be further corrupted by him. This caught me off guard because I did NOT think Sayid would actually stab Flocke (fake Locke). To his surprise (not ours), Locke doesn't die, but slowly takes out the dagger from his chest and offers it back to Sayid.

 "Now, why you'd go and do that?"

By the way, I have been loving Terry O'Quinn's ***** take on Locke and the MIB (Man in Black) lately. He definitely finished out the series strong and is nominated along with Michael Emerson ****** in the same category of Best Supporting Actor at the 2010 Emmys. Both have won this title before, and rightfully so. His immense talent at tackling such a complex character(s) is only one of the reasons so many fans have stuck with the show & his character throughout it's 6 year run.


I'm sure O'Quinn's been loving it too. Locke has always been one of the most interesting & intriguing characters since the beginning. Our favorite Locke seasons would have to be S1, S5, & S6. As the MIB, he has an incredible confidence and intimidation factor that he doesn't have as John Locke, especially when he's in extra sad-sack mode. 

Anticipate some great showdowns once he finally meets up with Jack for the first time since claiming Locke's body.

Wow, I did NOT expect Dogen and Lennon to die so early. I originally predicted that Dogen would be claimed by someone else, possibly Jacob. Although, you would think that MIB would know this before killing him in the sacred Lazarus pit stream. 

It was great to learn more about Dogen's tragic past and the meaning for the baseball having belonged to his son, who he had to abandon so that he could help protect the ISLAND. This makes his story even more heartbreaking since he turned out to get a raw deal from Jacob.

Especially like this shot composition. Another great thing about LOST is that major characters CAN be killed & it WILL have impact! And yet, the actor assigned the role may still be able to appear as a ghost or in a different timeline, thus demonstrating its genius structure.

Dogen should have been a more important character because he knew things about the candidates, the end game, MIB, the temple, & Jacob. 


These are major mysteries that need to be solved before LOST wraps up. Lennon - eh, not so much. John Hawkes **** is a good actor, but this character was almost completely unnecessary. 


Now that he's dead, we're never going to find out what role he really played as #2. At the end of the day, we think Lennon was underutilized as a generally lame character who was often a few steps behind our LOSTies & got annoying quickly.

We kept wondering is he ever going to have more importance besides translating for Dogen, who can actually speak English anyway! C'mon Darlton Cuselof!

"I make great eggs." 

Hilarious. It was cool to see Keamy again. This time, a bit more charming, yet still menacing. Kevin Durand **** is the man. It's always been fun to see callbacks and re-occurances of characters in a different situation. 

This time, we get a whole season of that in the 2004 timeline. It better mean something & the consciences & manifestations should be crossing back and forth any episode now. Especially with Jack's, although being the main character and one of the most stubborn, he will learn this last.

This is the Empire Strikes Back ****1/2 ending moment when Han Solo is frozen in carbonite. MIB has recruited Sayid, Claire, a bunch of others, and a bewildered Kate to the dark side. 

Sayid is his Anakin who's just killed all the young Jedis at the temple. MIB has assembled a team for the war. I initially thought this would occur closer toward the finale, but in typical LOST fashion, storylines don't often follow generic patterns. However, because the end is nigh, the pacing is much faster, and there is much to get to even after the ultimate candidate is chosen.

I find it strange that Kate kind of just goes along with it. I'm disappointed in her. Great facial expression of utter shock and general trauma by Evangeline Lilly *****1/2 here. I don't think she's going to be on MIB's side for long. Especially once she sees that Jack is on the other side. Although Sawyer is also on MIB's side, so that could be incentive for her. 

The war has begun. Such a powerful ending in silence with only score & slow motion. LOST does this extraordinarily well & the last 5 minutes or so are almost always done with instrumentals. Only dramas I can think of that come close to pulling off silent montages this emotional are Six Feet Under ***** and Sopranos ****1/2.

One of the last things I wanted to bring up is Cindy, the stewardess from Flight 815. She & the kids from S1 are now in MIB's dark army, although kind of along for the ride, much like Kate. There's been talk that she might have been planted by Widmore or Jacob. Cindy had a few lines here and seems to be kind of important.

"Fuck off!"

She and the kids haven't done anything for a long time. We just see glimpses here and there in S3 like when she approached Jack in the Hydra Station, tells him that they're watching him, & he flips out. Seeing that she enabled Jack to get drunk for the initial crash hints that she knows that at least he is a Candidate. He was also safe from the crazy kidnappings of the tailies. It's like she's protected by Widmore or more likely, Jacob, and she's fine being a pawn in his game of Senet.

Anything else worthy to discuss?...

"Was Jin here?" 

Shut up. Another thing they need to tie up soon is Sun & Jin's obvious reuniting. Hey, have you tried call each other's cell phones? You're in the same timeline now!

Enough milking it already. Let them reunite so they can be useful again. Sun, you're supposed to be in cahoots with Widmore. Get back to that storyline.

Come back often to see our RATA-fied Awesome LOSTthoughts for another highlight episode of the Final Season - "Dr. Linus." You can also see a bunch more episodes now on the LOSTthoughts page. Don't forget to comment it up, tell your friends, and watch for our TV Shows on RATA TV!

=========================

Ep. 6x11 - "Happily Ever After" *****

 

Alright, this was probably the last Desmond-centric episode, so thank God they made it a good one - nay, a great one. His episodes usually have massive revelations and wheels are put into motion that will result in the endgame. This was definitely the case, with Desmond being one of the only LOSTies to really start to figure out what's going on with multiple timelines. And it's about damn time someone did.

Desmond has long been one of the key players ever since he turned the fail-safe key. And it's been a long time since seeing him. We got confirmation he was back during the last scene of "The Package," when it was revealed Spoiler Alert ! that he was the package. Before that, the last time we saw him, he was making Ben look more and more like Penguin at the finale of Batman Returns **** and getting shot by Ben at the pier back in Season 5.

The episode starts like many other great LOST ones, with a pullout from a close up of an eye. Desmond wakes up to learn that he's been brought back to the island by...

Hey Widmore, how'd you get that gash on your forehead? Oh, that's right, Desmond beat your head in with an I-V stand after your confession. "The Island isn't done with you yet!" - Widmore springs back to his feet like a bad-ass robot. Even though Desmond may save the world through some kind of sacrifice (probably by having to die for the good of the many), you got to admit it was kind of a "dick" move. And just wait until Des finds out what's in store for him...

Oh shit! Captain Overeager is a scientist! Him, Zoe, and the others are conducting experiments at the Hydra station. They aren't ready yet, but Widmore says they're going now anyway.

Geez, Scientist Overeager is acting like a pussy. He can't even flip the switch. Why don't you get that other switch-happy guy who needlessly fried his buddy Simmons to do it. Oh, Widmore's gonna do it? Okay.

Widmore needs to find out that Desmond can withstand another catastrophe. I bet Sayid is pretty happy that Dogen didn't put him through this kind of test. Desmond screams and tries to get out of the raptor case, very much mirroring Dr. Manhattan's origin, until...






White. That's it. Whiteness. Bam! Desmond is in the Flashsideways, having just landed in LA X.

Beautiful transition, showing multi-layered subtext of where Desmond really is. He has a quick brush with Hurley and Claire.

"Bet it's a boy." - I think Des is just making small talk. I think that many characters have inclinations of what their Island life is, but I don't think he knows of Aaron during this moment. Regardless, Claire should pay more attention to her suitcase.

Look, another familiar face. But not to Desmond. To us, the part of Abaddon will be played by actor Fisher Stevens ****, George. Better known to us as Minkowski, the other guy who could flash through time while on the freighter, resulting in his death. That was during one of my all-time favorite episodes, The Constant *****, which coincidentally is also a Desmond episode. It also was written by the same writing team - showrunner Damon Lindelof ***** & Carlton Cuse *****. Same Awesome veteran director Jack Bender ***** as well.

Say what? Desmond is Widmore's right-hand man. Widmore digs Des so much he says "Nothing's too good for you." Cheers.

He even pours him a shot of that famously expensive MacCutcheon's whiskey, that keeps popping up. This is another direct opposite parallel to the main timeline where Widmore basically drank some whiskey, poured some on Desmond, and then rubbed his face in it. All because of Penny. Hey, where's Penny. Desmond doesn't even know her yet, but soon the ALT pulls him toward her. Now who's gonna push him toward that ultimate happiness of love with Penny?

A completely delusional and selfish version of Charlie, fresh from jail and an overdose. Desmond was placed to bring him together with his band to play for a charity event. But it's Desmond that gets the education in reality. Charlie doesn't care to live in this world because he's taken the red pill and he wants Desmond to take it too. Widmore has been keeping him happy, content, and empty. It's time for Desmond to find something to fill that empty hole. 

For now, let's go for a drive. Wanna see something? That's a pretty marina --

Ahh! screams Desmond, I didn't need to see it that close. Damn, Charlie, you had to try to kill me just to show me something!

Yeah, that's the point. LOSTies have to have a near-death experience to sense the other side. That's what Charlie had when he almost overdosed. He saw his lost life with Claire. I loved how Charlie eerily sat up and placed his hand on the window. What's he trying to tell him?

Now, Desmond sees flashes before his eyes while mirroring a scene from "Through the Looking Glass" *****, the season 3 finale also written and directed by the same people - Darlton Bender (that kind of works). This has got to be my favorite scene from this episode. Of course, during Flash-sideways, I'm CONSTANTly on the look out for parallels of both timelines. Once the car hit the water and this shot came up, I instantly thought of when Desmond was feverishly trying to save Charlie from drowning in the Looking Glass station.

This episode had tons of fantastic imagery that referenced other storylines. Let's not forget about this one, in Widmore's office.

Clearly a reference to the Candidate cave where MIB and Jacob kept the very same scale with black and white rocks weighing them down. 

Des goes to talk with Ms. Widmore (who recognizes him immediately by the way) and wants to see the list of attendees. He's curious of this Penny who could be his soul mate. "Are you questioning me?" Eloise threatens. Shut down. That's one scary bitch. 

Desmond presses on and she urges him to stop fucking with this Matrix and concedes that he's "not ready yet" to find out why he's important. And that Charlie stepped over the cosmic line and violated a sacred rule. I wonder if that will have repercussions.

Maybe the piano player knows something...You knew it was him, right?

Daniel, complete with killer ALT fedora, has some thoughts to share with Desmond. Daniel is only a musician in the ALT, but talks and draws like a hardcore physicist. 

He also shares his feeling of love at first sight with an ALT Charlotte. This reconfirms Desmond's suspicions about Penny and scares him into believing further when Daniel mentions that he thinks he's already set off a nuclear bomb.

Earlier, Desmond was coerced into almost taking an MRI, but a funny thing happened on the way into the MRI...

He's imprisoned in a cage or hatch and has to press a button to save him.

Once again, unbelievable symbolism in this episode. Listen to me doubters, Damon & Carlton know what they are doing. They've brought us a phenomenal show. It's going to have a great ending. It's already had a fantastic beginning of the 3rd Act. Other shows wish --

Woah, who's that? Can that be Penny? She's beautiful. Lovely the way her hair --

Okay, I get it. We're supposed to be together. Sheesh (pushes button). Nurse, let me out of here. My Spidey sense is tingling!

It's a good thing Penny likes to run up and down empty stadiums just like Desmond does when he first met Jack back in Season 2. It must be fate.

Let's go out for a coffee at Switzer & Melrose. I hope there's actually a coffee shop there. We can double date with married couple Jack & Juliet. It'll be the bee's knees. Nice to meet you (shakes hands).

Damn, back on the Island. Only out for a few seconds. 

Neck snap. Judo chop (draws gun).

"Run" Zoe. Get a new change of clothes while you're at it. Desmond, "Come with me if you want to live." Lead the way, Sayid.

"Minkowski, can you get me the Oceanic 815 manifest? I need to show them something." In another life, brotha.

Check back later for additions to this LOST page, including other screencaps, some of my theories, polls, pictures, and lists of THE MOST NEEDED MYSTERIES TO BE ANSWERED.


Comments, discussion, and questions are strongly encouraged.

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