Don’t Cross The Streams

What I Liked:

• It’s great seeing Terry O’Quinn – easily the best actor on Lost – toggle between NotLocke on the island and a seemingly more accepting of his situation Looke in LA X.
• Unlike Kate’s flash sideway where, despite the details she was essentially the same person she had become on the island, Locke’s was a completely different story and infinitely more interesting.  Considering he’s dead on the island, I guess it would have been piling it on if he didn’t find contentment in LA X
• I love the pairing between NotLocke and Sawyer because Holloway and O’Quinn haven’t shared many scenes together on the show (nothing really significant since ‘The Brig”).
• The numbers! (Just for a recap: 4 – Locke (John); 8 – Reyes (Hurley); 15 – Ford (Sawyer); 16 – Jarrah (Sayid); 23 – Shephard (Jack); 42 – Kwon (Sun and/or Jin)
• Ben’s eulogy and Lapidus’ reaction
• Speaking of Ben, another “oh shit!” LA X moment when Ben showed up as the European history teacher in Locke’s high school
• Other great connections, Hugo in the parking lot and Rose at the temp agency making the most of her one scene with Locke. It was only appropriate that she was the one who set Locke straight on accepting his limitation considering they were the ones healed on the island.
• It’s always great to have Katey Sagal on my TV screen now that Sons of Anarchy isn’t on
• Richard Alpert scurrying through the woods like a scared deer

What I Didn’t Like:

• If Sun and Jin miss each other on her way to the temple, I’m going to be really annoyed.
• I know Sawyer is distraught over Juliet but for a con man, he’s way too trusting of NotLocke

Read the rest of this entry ?

What I Liked:

• Well, I’m not a fan of Kate-flashback/forward/sideways episodes so I’m glad we got it out of the way early
• Since I recently rewatched seasons one and two of Lost, I can fully appreciate the growth of Josh Holloway as an actor.  The scene with Kate on the pier mourning Juliet should be his Emmy reel.
• Naveen Andrews playing Sayid but not really Sayid.  He was clearly a little off and it showed.
• I’m glad we’re done with the Dogen speaks/Lennon translates dynamic.  It was wearing thin fast.
• How creepy was Ethan showing up as Claire’s obstetrician?
• Since Sawyer is in mourning, Miles has picked up the slack in witty lines
• I’m glad Jin finally mentioned Sun.  Jack got her on the plane and hasn’t thought about her for one second since.
• Jack finally did something smart in not giving Sayid the pill and forcing Dogen’s hand
• As a huge It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia fan, it was great to see Rob McElhenny back as Aldo
• The last shot of island Claire!

What I Didn’t Like:

• Well, it was a Kate episode.  Her backstory has never been compelling and we had skipped her flash-sideway, I wouldn’t have complained in the end.
• I missed the NotLocke part of the story
• Something is going to need to happen in the Temple.  This is getting to be too much like the last time they were prisoners of the Others.  A lot of standing around, asking questions and not getting answered

Read the rest of this entry ?

What I Liked:

• Did anyone ever see Sliding Doors?  It’s the first thing I thought about when it was clear that this alternate timelines story telling device was going to be the direction this season.
• I like that the alternate universe isn’t simply “What if the plane hadn’t crashed?” but is operating on a larger scale of “What if they detonated that hydrogen bomb?” showing their plan was short-sighted even to being with. (At least, I think it is.)
• We finally have our villain, NotLocke a.k.a. The Man in Black a.k.a. SMOKEY (I knew it!), A recurring theme in this show is “who are the good guys” here.  We still don’t know what’s really going on with The Others but now we know who, above all, is the Big Bad
• It was great seeing all those old faces on Oceanic 815: Boone! Arnzt! Frogurt! Charlie! Captain Norris!
• The island in under water in the alternate timeline (with a Dharma shark swimming around)!
• Terry O’ Quinn as Smokey might have his second Emmy all locked up if he’s going to be acting like this all season.
• Hurley taking charge after Jack’s “failed” mission has taken whatever leadership away from him
• The Temple! Finally!
• Cindy, Zack and Emma from the Taillies are back!
• Sawyer looking like he’s already planning a con on Hurley

What I Didn’t Like:

• While I will always prefer seeing Elizabeth Mitchell to not seeing her, I don’t know if we needed another tearful goodbye between Sawyer and Juliet.  It takes away the impact of the powerful scene in the season five finale.
• It was annoying that after hearing Juliet’s voice under the hatch, everyone forgot that Sayid was bleeding out.
• It sucked to see certain things back to normal in the alternate timeline, namely Jin being a dick again and Charlie being a junkie
• While I’m glad we’re finally at Temple and as much as I love John Hawkes (credited as “Lennon”), do we really need MORE characters to try to sort through?
• I have no idea what’s going on. I rarely put a theory on record but here’s my first thought: Jack is sorta like Desmond living in this alternate parallel universe and, at some point, he (or all of them) is going to have to choose for everyone which reality. (This post-episode interview with Cuse and Lindelof may have confused me more)

Lines of the Night:

• “This thing goes down, I’m sticking with you.” 2004 Boone to 2004 Locke on the plane
• “If she dies, I’ll kill him.” Sawyer to Kate about Jack
• “I died an hour ago”
  “Dude! That sucks!” – Jacob and Hurley
• “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.” – notLocke to Ben after turning into Smokey
• “We should get coffee sometime…we can go dutch.” – a dying Juliet
• “James. Kiss me.”
  “You got it, Blondie.” – Juliet and Sawyer
• “You should have let that happen. I was supposed to die.” – 2004 Charlie to 2004 Jack
• “It worked” – Juliet’s posthumous words to Sawyer via Miles
• “The paper says is your friend there dies, we’re all in a lot of trouble” – Lennon to Hurley about the note inside the ankh that was in the guitar case Jacob gave to Hurley
• “I don’t like the way English tastes on my tongue” – The mysterious temple leader
• “You’re the monster.”
  “Let’s not resort to name-calling” – Ben and notLocke
• “Do you want to know what he was thinking when you wrapped the cord around his neck? ‘I don’t understand.’ Isn’t that just the saddest thing you ever heard? He was a victim. Weak, pathetic and irreparably broken. But he was the only one of them who didn’t want to leave. He was the only one who realized how pitiful the life he left behind was. I want the one thing that John Locke didn’t. I want to go home.” – notLocke to Ben about John Locke
• “Nothing is irreversible” – 2004 Jack to 2004 Locke regarding his spinal injuries

Read the rest of this entry ?