My blog is up at Smartpop. Total spoilers. Here is a sample. Click the sample to read the whole thing.
And I DO. NOT. CARE. how many times we have done the slow-mo-long-lost-castaways-are-reunited-on-the-beach-to-Michael-Giacchino’s-score thing. They get me every time, and Giacchino won an Academy Award a few days ago FOR A REASON. This one was no exception, and we have a Sun and Jin one on the way to look forward to. (Lost knows everyone liked the tension of Desmond and Penny separated: I think it was kind of cheap to just do it again with Sun and Jin, but whatever. I can get over it.)
I thought it was hilarious that the unique page URL for this week's Smartpop is http://www.smartpopbooks.com/616 -- all this talk about alternate universes, and the number 616 is how we identify this post. (A note to my mother, who now reads by blog now -- "616" is how Marvel Comics identifies their main universe of Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America and the X-Men, as opposed to other universes where say, all those characters are Zombies because history went different there).
One thing to add here, also for my mother: I forgot to mention what a beautiful moment of Christian forgiveness is shown to Ben in this episode: to not forgive him is not just cruel but puts his soul at hazard (in McCarthy's words), as he will have no choice to side with the Satan figure of The Man in Black (if that is where we are going with this, which is by no means clear, or desirable).
Thought on Sun and Jin - there's actually a good reason that they were separated, again. Look at the people who were transported to the island's past, versus those who were not. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid beamed down - four of the six surviving candidates. Sawyer and Jin were already there, and Locke was dead, so he was left behind. Sun was left behind, too - because, I can only presume, Jin is the candidate and not Sun. So it's not just a painful plot-twist - it makes sense, too.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the double-blackmail scene - they wanted to show him doing 'the right thing' (seriously? we're supposed to think that leaving the corrupt principal in power is 'the right thing'? and why was this guy, as far as I could tell, a totally new character?) and didn't much care that it didn't work.
I also get the feeling that Richard might not give us the answers we want. Jack has his chance to demand them and didn't - he's willing to let things unfold they way they will. The producers might expect the same of us.
Neil -- that is a good point about Jin, though I wonder if their kid will end up being the candidate.
ReplyDelete"Jack has his chance to demand them and didn't" - He did, didn't he? "Let's start at the beginning"? We just didn't get to see it - which is frustrating in its own way, I guess.
ReplyDeleteBen and Uncle Rico "left the Island", but when?! Is it possible they absconded between shooting Sayid and the bomb going off? You'd think that whole bit would come up in any Island reminiscing...
Also, I guess Sun has immediately stopped being mad at anyone (after 3 years of stewing) now that she knows Jin's alive - didn't she (justifiably) blame both Ben and Jack for his apparent death?
ReplyDeleteRE: Sun, Jin, their kid as candidate -- It was Sun and Jin who were touched by Jacob, which implies that they are a candidate or were "given a gift." We have no indication that Jacob has touched their kid.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's both of them - maybe they're supposed to solve this island conflict by assuming both roles?
ReplyDeleteDo we think Kid Kwon is the candidate? Jacob gives Richard Eternal Life and the Kwons get a baby. Sort of Jacob's son, like with Jin and Sun in the Joseph and Mary roles?
ReplyDeleteSort of Jacob's son, like with Jin and Sun in the Joseph and Mary roles?
ReplyDeleteOh, I like that idea...that's the best way around the whole "Jacob touched them, not the kid" argument.
Similarly, had we ever seen Jacob touch Claire, we could apply the same logic to Aaron, but since we haven't yet, and Aaron seems removed (at least directly) from the narrative (despite his implied importance early in the show) right now, it's probably best to disregard him for the time being.