>: 95 SOME LIKE IT HOTH

About the best episode title imaginable.

No “Previously . . .” but 8:15 gets replaced on the microwave by young upstart 3:16. “It’s a steal at $200,” this IS a flashback. Recognized Laura Chang right away and knew at once that it was Miles time. I guess a little Kind of Blue would have been too much but it was nice for Hurley to at least acknowledge the situation. From Miles’s sole flashback in 4.02 >: CONFIRMED DEAD, it’s always been a question, is he really communicating with ghosts or just another stripe of Sawyer, conning his way down the line? This first scene let’s us know that it’s real. Miles talks to dead people (the trumpeter probably did too, at least between ’76 and ’80 in the tunnels beneath his house, man, that autobiography just wins). And white rabbits are everywhere.

That shot of Miles reading the latest issue of Sports Illustrated on the cover is hilarious, just checking in with the latest news.

Man, Radzinsky really does seem to be a ratfuck. Poor old Alvarez. I guess it would be too much for HIS story to cycle back around in twenty episodes, somehow.

Giacchino continues to drop the ominous staccato piano and strings.

Laura’s delivery on the Island being “somewhere you can never go” is so spot-on, not even counting the cut to Miles tromping down the stairs and Horace saying his dad’s name (how did Dr. Chang wind up with a French moniker?).

Kimbley and I have discussed the fact that Hurley is pretty much the ultimate foil for anybody in any given situation. Sharing a chocolate bar (or not) with Ben while waiting for Locke to come out of Jacob’s cabin with Christian’s instructions, not really eluding Widmore’s men in motels with Sayid, defiling Ben’s dad’s corpse and drinking his beer with Sawyer and Jin then almost doubling down on Charlie’s fate before being saved by Three Dog Night, D. J. Fucking Qualls and a girl called Starla. EVERY scene he’s in with Sawyer. Now this bit with Miles, first without, then with his dad. All I’m saying is, why wasn’t he on the ill-fated raft? That could have been an entire classic episode, somehow. More rewatchable than 2.02 >: ADRIFT. But back to what actually happened. I love that bit about “How do you spell bounty hunter?” That’s Ilana’s job description, not so weird at all, even though the first thing I think when I hear the question is still that scene with Fett and Bossk and IG-88 (and who was the FOURTH?), I correct for that, tune back in, but how wonderful the way it works out.

And great spin to put on things, Hurley just embracing Miles into the fellowship of those who speak with phantoms. Because we’re kind of conditioned to think that Hurley’s just crazy, not really playing chess with Eko, of course not, whereas Miles is REALLY communing with spirits. But, eh? Is this so?

They shot it convincingly, but you’ve got to know that Miles is ripping off that football player’s daddy.

And Naomi’s right back in the game, Miles sniffing after her.

Roger is displaying an incredible amount of intelligence and ability to perceive undercurrents while being drunk on the swing set with Kate, doing a bit better than we’ve seen from him, thus far. The plot is almost driving here, given everything that we know about him up until now he A) shouldn’t really give a shit that Ben’s gone and B) certainly wouldn’t be questioning what Kate’s been saying but rather be trying to parlay the sympathy poke, I should think.

When Chang pauses, checks the stitching, and says, “Hurley,” the universe takes a deep breath, but doesn’t quite shatter.

Miles’s “Yes, sir,” to his dad is perfect.

And, back in the kitchen with Naomi and Felix, Miles really gets back to work. Felix was delivering papers for the plane and pictures of the empty graves housing the bodies from the fake crash. Delivering these to Widmore. At first I yah-hah’d that at last we knew that this meant that Widmore staged the crash but it really tells us nothing, Felix could have been delivering the evidence of Ben’s machinations. All we know is that Widmore killed him, and more than anything that makes him Ben’s man. Soooooo, the needle now, I guess, swings toward Ben for faking the crash. (and, why not, Ultimate Bad Guy [if there must be one and not both] because they’re making Ben seem so bad this season, then we’ll swing back to how awful Widmore is next season and then finally reconcile in the middle that they’re both terrible or that, yah, Widmore is the White Knight)

Great scene between Jack and Roger. Afraid the Doc hit his mark a little bit too hard, could have talked Roger down off the ledge with a bit more finesse, but subtlety’s never really been his thing. Ever. We can’t all be Jim LaFleur.

And that scene with Hurley in the backseat behind the two Changs. I hope there’s like half an hour of that on the DVD, every beat is just gold. Jorge really plays it well. You know, I’m not sure how much of an actor he is in the traditional sense, Jorge appears to = Hurley in every situation that I’ve seen, but it really doesn’t matter, his timing, every facial expression he makes here, perfection.

“I like country.”

The construction of the Swan. Too much. So THE NUMBERS were just the serial number for the hatch door? I mean, I know they were more than that, but THAT’S the reason those numbers were imprinted on that metal, not some warning, or nothing to do with, oh, the fact that they have to, or will have to, be entered on Radzinsky/Kelvin/Desmond/Locke’s computer inside post-Incident? We will see. Man, I need some kind of crushing #s endgame, not just “Wasn’t that cool, those numbers? They were EVERYwhere!” This is not a step in the perfect direction (the one that cannot be pointed to) but there is time, there is time.

Craziest scene of this entire episode is Miles getting abducted and taken for a ride in the van with Graham (?) and his friends. That’s the guy who’s either on 316 and crashes, or gets to the Island some other way and is waiting, Ilana’s smirking sidekick who bounds off after Lapidus went down. Are these “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” people some entirely new faction? That would be psycho. Or are they just Ben’s army? That’s certainly a simpler solution, and gives this fellow an easy way onto the Hydra island with the 316 passengers and Sawyer and Kate’s runway (still just crazy about that). This scene also gives like a 22-episode payoff, so funny when Miles simply doubles Naomi’s earlier #s-based payoff up to $3.2 million dollars to keep him off the Island, finally explaining the weird non-Valenzetti price he quoted to Ben in Locke’s basement in return for “taking care of Charlotte” and convincing his employer that Ben was dead, way back when Kate let him have 60 seconds (never figured out why that one was called EGGTOWN, a literary reference? About afraid to Google anything at this point)

How how how does the Incident expand things to the scale of World-Threatening? The fact that Hurley’s reiterating that, they’re really going to go with it. Just can’t imagine what it means.

And Hurley’s writing EMPIRE. I just about have no words for that, except he continues to be EveryFan and God bless him for it. I love this idea. So much. “With a couple of improvements.”

And Jack & Juliet had tea. Lots going on off-screen at this point. Sawyer commits himself by decking Phil/Jimmy. They’ve either got to go or kill him, it’s that simple.

(I don’t like seeing President Palmer hawking All-State during 24, it has always enraged me, and I don’t like seeing Michael as an Unusual during commercial breaks here. It throws me, and not in the good way)

That wrap-up with Miles and the football dad, nice bit of flashback closure the like of which we used to get every week back in the first couple/three seasons, but that have gone by the wayside with all the insanity that’s erupted since we took it to the bridge. Uncle June’s cohort did a fine job with his –centric. And wow, this is the first and only so far of the Freighter Folks’ cancelled fourth season spotlights, cheers Writer’s Strike. Charlotte’s obviously out, but Faraday might be up to bat, the way that Kate lateral’d over to Ben makes me think and deeply hope that it’s finally time to of course not get to the bottom but plumb the depths just a bit and learn why a man would cry at the sight of a faked plane crash on the television set and, most importantly, if he hasn’t been a savage in a cave for the last three years bemoaning the death of his beloved as I thought, just what the hell he’s been doing on the mainland, in Michigan no less, for the last three years, that genius fractured mind, with all the knowledge of what’s to come.

And skipped ahead (which, how can anybody fault me for?) but enjoyed Hurley’s wrap-up vis a vis lack of Skywalker communication that inspired Miles to witness those incredible seconds of his dad reading to him. Could not handle the pride on Chang/Candle’s face while handing the tyke over.


ONLY THREE MORE TO GO!

FARADAY IN THE CHUTE!

SAWYER REVERTING TO HIS TRUE NATURE!

RICHARD ALPERT AND CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD STILL WALK THE ISLAND W’NARY A FLASHBACK BETWEEN THEM! (though God knows they’re all over everybody else’s)

CLAIRE STILL NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!

AND SAYID STIIIIIIIIIIILL DEEP IN THE DEATHTRAP JUNGLE!
WAITING.




STAY TUNED, ISLAND FAITHFUL, PUSH THAT BUTTON ON YOUR REMOTE WEDNESDAY AT 9/8 CENTRAL!

YOU HAVE NO CHOICE.

>: 94 DEAD IS DEAD

Clearly the Ben episode from the PREVIOUSLY. So, right away, I’m just charged, can’t look, flinching away from the fate of the Humes. And that opening shot, they really are going for the adventure aspect of things this season. Young Widmore, hard charging on his steed! No surprise we don’t get a peek at the inside of the Temple. Boo on Young Ben not remembering how he got injured. That kid’s not quite as effective when he isn’t channeling the Emerson creepy. Ben and Charles’s first meeting definitely didn’t go the way one might expect.

And then can’t believe they just rerun the last scene from last week, that had no place at the end of the episode! Was Ben telling the truth about going back to be judged? Great news, of course, to hear that we’re heading off in search of the Monster. Is Cerberus Radzinky’s moniker, then, if the Others/Natives/Jacob followers (what are we calling those folk anyway these days, Team Alpert?) don’t have a name for it?

So, clearly those are the guns in the AA-823 crate that Ilana and crew “have to get moved.” Ben trying to work his mojo on Cesar is pretty hilarious, “What if…he was already here?” Getting Ben’s back is never really good strategy.

Ethan was all ready to kill Rousseau. Alex’s abduction was interesting, never figured that it was pretty much the most humane gesture from Ben that we’ve ever seen. That line “If you want your child to live, any time you hear whispers, you run the other way,” is probably going to mean a lot more in fourteen months’ time. The answer to exactly what the whispers are is a big un.

Who took that picture of Ben and Alex? They sure look happier than we ever saw them.

Locke really, really seems like himself. A bit sharper, more predatory where Ben’s concerned, but that’s to be expected. More later.

Ben just fucking shotgunning Cesar at close range was certainly the surprise of the evening. Certainly makes Cesar finding it under Ben’s desk at the top of 5.7 and hiding it from Ilana a lot crazier. Stole it back, I guess. Hah, great line about the apology. BKV! When the hell will Old Man Harris finish EX MACHINA #41 (and how hard did #40 throw you from the eighth floor like an ungrateful conman biological father, Stew?!?)? Exactly when and how did Ben filch that gun? Did anyone catch the commercial for the ABC investigative special report “IF I ONLY HAD A GUN” airing the following Friday in the commercial break right after? That’s comedy.

And damn, what a shot of them rowing in. Even looked amazing not in HD. Someone else hurt the arm. Ominous ominous.

Was sure that it was Claire and Christian hanging out in Ben’s house. Certainly not Sun and Lapidus playing RISK. Wonder who took Australia.

Oh, is Ben lying about not knowing that they were in the DI?

Loved Locke’s little wave. “Yup, it’s me.”

(or IS IT?!?!??! Dun dun dunnnn!)

Lapidus makes no bones about an exit, just out. Figured that meant he was leaving the narrative as well, but I guess not, as there’s no one else back with the 316 nuts that we care about.

“Better get to it, then.”

Great little sequence with Ben burrowing down to the summoning pool. We skipped a few of those steps back in 4.9, didn’t we? Again, more kind of pulp adventure trappings with the lamp and cavern and all. This show soaking up Indiana Jones for the fifth season is in no way a bad thing. And the Monster understands English. Locke couldn’t be the Monster, otherwise what is Ben summoning? Right?

So, the Widmore exile timeline doesn’t quite line up (unless, I guess, the Island’s been outside of linear time, which of course it is), wait, getting garbled, all I want to point out is that Widmore told Locke that he was cast out by Ben twenty years ago, even restates that figure to Ben over the phone this time out (“almost twenty”), yet Alex is clearly four or five when Ben’s pushing her on the swing while Charles is getting marched out, and we know she only makes it to be 16 years old. So, unless they just screwed it up, only eleven or so years passed on the Island while Widmore was gone for 20. Which is of course entirely possible. Just saying.

(and never thought to wonder who Pen’s mother is, could even THAT be important, too?)

And then Ben does a complete reversal, tells Sun he had no idea about John coming back. Lying, now? To what benefit? Why would he really care about Sun’s opinion? Makes much more sense that he was lying at the top, to John. We haven’t seen him interact with Christian and he certainly didn’t flare up when Sun said that name, though that doesn’t really mean much. But he does raise the most interesting point of the evening, aren’t the people that the Island brings back Creatures of the Island? Christian sure seems to have a different agenda post-815 crash (though I like to think that it’s merely expanded and he’s still getting just shithoused off-screen). Yemi, Boone, Ana-Lucia, they all seem to simply be furthering the Island’s agenda. Wonder how that coincides with Claire appearing to Kate and seeming to oppose the Island’s plan (Right? The Island wants Aaron, yas?). And of course, Locke’s just out communing during all this, standing in for the Monster (and rustling right out of the bushes, a la Tony and the Bear at the end of, I think, Season Five, right after he sprinted away from the bust at Phil Leotardo’s)

But, DEAD IS DEAD, caught that in a heartbeat, even gave it the two-finger swish as soon as Ben said it, told the empty room that that’s what we’d be calling this one.

Then as soon as we come back from commercial, Locke makes his case that he hasn’t changed. A bit forced, I thought.

Man, then as soon as that flashback wave starts to swell, was just like “nomarinanomarinanomarina” and it had to be. If we knew the name of Desmond’s boat, I’d forgotten. Sick. Still got that book, ready to go whenever he goes down.

Hah, then Locke’s first line to Ben the next scene. “Shoot.” That’s terrible.

And we’re back to the hole all the French people went down before they got “infected.” This should end well.

Great great bit before the jump, Ben asking Sun to convey his apologies. I mean, I was pretty sure that Desmond wasn’t dead, but very cool to tell us right at the last second, even while heightening the dread for the other two ever so much.

Oh and the Scottish fury! Was glad to see Des just beating hell out of Ben. Didn’t look like he hurt the arm, though. Threw the gun out of it, but not enough to damage it the way they’ve made such a point of. Was so tense to get back to what happened after Ben fell in the water but just nothing. Never occurred to me that they’d cliffhang that, though surely Pen is dead and either young Charlie is as well or he’s going to pull a Doc Brown.

Just no idea what’s going on with Ilana and her little posse. But if there’s one man who’ll get to the bottom of things, it’s Frank Lapidus!

(I fully support a time-travel spinoff of Cap’n Lapidus doing just that, hairy-chested Indy style, when all this is said and done, answering the 107 questions that will surely be left dangling)

And then see, they thread the needle so well. Because Locke’s concern at Ben’s fall seems so genuine, and he’s off for the rope. But is he just coalesced Monster particles pulling a Kent dash to the phonebooth? It was the same bit with Yemi when Eko went down. The second he was gone, everything got creepy. –er, I guess I should say, as we had already been talking to the dead brother.

Need to find out what those glyphs all say.

All right, I hate to say it, but the climax fell a bit flat for me. Not the beginning, it was staged perfectly, that pictograph of Anubis or whomever kneeling, and the way the Monster engulfed Ben. But then it just . . . for the first time, it felt like this was a TV show trying to be a movie. Made me think of ol Chuck Heston rocking the stone tablets or something. Ben’s entire time inside the Monster just didn’t crush me the way that I expected, needed it to. Maybe it was because almost every single clip was either in the flashbacks tonight or in the PREVIOUSLY (literally, all but that one about Ben being more dangerous than the Freighter Folk, I think)(oh, and Alex hating his guts). The way this show traffics in tiered revelations, it really seems like we should’ve gotten something new here, some twist that lent new insight into Ben’s character, not just the same scenes that we’ve all rewatched over and over. Yeah, Kimi killed Alex. Ben’s acting was crushing. He should have taken the Emmy over Juliet’s husband. But that’s not what I want to be thinking about INSIDE THE DAMN MONSTER. An answer, or at the very least some new information, kind of seems like a prerequisite for taking a camera, again, INSIDE THE DAMN MONSTER. Not cutouts from Season 4 interpolated over smoke. Something about why the Island wanted Alex to die. Or if it’s reviewing his life, why not put the sickest flashback right here? I’m pretty sure that the writers are up to the task. Maybe time is going to tell, and I’ll see that they couldn’t drop a bomb here that they were saving for later (allo, Jughead) but this week, at this time, this feels like a misfire and a huge opportunity wasted.

Then as soon as Ben’s out of the smoke, we’re back to the brilliant framing that gets Stephen Williams other paying gigs on 24 and EXPOSE on top of this. Such a pleasure to get the goodbye sound from the Monster, even down here.

And, emphasizing the episode title, Alex shows up and lays it down. Love her choice of verb with “destroy,” there. Say it! Thought for a second that she was going to take Ben out right there, kind of an inversion on the Eko ep with specter sparing him and Monster killing him. Well, not kind of.

And, just like faithful Clark, Locke is right back on hand with the vine rope the instant that the spooky weirdness is over. Masters of ambiguity.

Kimbley calls favorite episode of the season, but I can’t agree, with that stumble in the smoke, found 316 and LAFLEUR much more crushing, for my money. Certainly enjoyed this, just not #1. Interesting the way they’re spreading things out this season, how we jump away from Jack and the main crew and check in on everybody else, over to Sawyer’s group for Episodes 3 and 8, with Locke and now Ben picking up the threads in 7 and 12.

How the hell are Ben, Sun, and Locke going to get back to 1977?

Is John Locke made of flesh and blood, or black smoke?

How massive is the portion of the ’77 (or, really, for all time) jungle that at this point needs to simply be redistricted DEATHTRAP, thanks to the careful preparation of our man in the Republican Guard?

What evil lurks in the heart of the Temple?

Is it finally time to learn how the Chahlie-ghost talked Hurley onto 316 with his guitar case?

What is Richard Alpert’s story?

And, for the love of God, what lies in the shadow of the statue?

Stay tuned, Island Faithful. All will be revealed.

I bow to you.

>: 93 WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED

Just happened to catch LEFT BEHIND in syndication Wednesday afternoon, so I was all primed for the return of Cassidy.

Ben’s “Please…help,” earned an early Boo. Not a Sayid killshot? Seems like a stretch. And ridiculous. I'd sooner believe that this man, intending to, could take out a kid by shooting him in the heart than I would Ana could accidentally land a killshot on Shannon in the rain. But I guess it's the sacrifice that the writers/Island demanded. Or not.

Jack can’t help being himself, not going to get ordered around. Will be interesting to watch him continue to butt heads with Horace.

Roger’s really a creepy guy, even when he’s trying to be suave.

So great how Kate always listens to Patsy Cline, no matter what. Both of her conversations with Cassidy were handled really well, writing and acting.

And the Miles/Hurley bit was pretty hilarious. Loved them coming into it with Marty McFly’s disappearing hand. “It’s really confusing.” “Yeah, well, get used to it.” Pretty blatantly talking to the chunk of the audience who’s not time-travel-friendly.

Whoa, didn’t see Jack’s refusal coming! That was a solid twist. Especially since it looks like that’s the impetus for the entire conversion of Ben situation in the first place. He’s not putting up with it. Was glad for him to throw the Season 3 situation in Kate’s face. Yeeees, we have done all of this before.

You know, it’s interesting, in that first scene of the season, the foreman of the dynamite crew mentions going back in time and killing Hitler to Chang when he brings up time-travel. This whole thing with Ben is definitely a spin on the old smother-Baby-Hitler-in-his-crib conundrum. (also, speaking of Chang, in that Comic-Con video, he mentions getting his degree at Ann Arbor)

Losing Aaron in the store was well done. Was sure he was gone and was also thinking, “Yeah, it’s about time.” Kate played Crazy Mom real well.

The whole bit about Kate needing Aaron, I liked how that was written, between her and Cassidy and her and Claire’s mum, just solid emotional beats, hit very well. Evangeline did well with her episode, I was quite sad that she had to leave Aaron, too.

And then of course the money scene of the night is when Sawyer and Kate hand Ben over to Richard. He’ll lose his memory? Oh, the old ‘3-PO mindwipe! I hope that winds up not being the case, just because I like the idea of Ben maneuvering our crew into place since Season 2 so much better. He’ll “lose his innocence”? Um, that sounds creepier than it’s probably supposed to. And the wildest line of the night, that one Other guy just mentions Charles and Ellie like it’s no big deal. Ho! I instantly felt like a fool. Widmore told Locke in Tunisia that he was the leader of the Others until Ben ousted him, I think, twenty years ago, so of course it tracks that he would be the boss at this point. But it’s just so much crazier with those two having been out there in the jungle all this time. The immediate thing that I wonder is if Penny and D. Faraday might be the second pair of half-brother/sisters on this show. That would certainly explain Widmore’s patronage. The dynamic seems to have shifted in the 23 years since we first saw those two under Richard’s leadership.

Great bit with Richard taking Ben into the Temple. They should have closed on that. That last scene with Ben waking up to Locke’s unsmiling mug didn’t really carry anything forward and was a bit soap operatic for my tastes. Also, a weird way to cap off the Kate-centric episode, particularly if this wasn’t a lateral and Ben finally gets a –centric next week.

I was 1 for 3 last week, no Faraday or Sayid but yes, all of this has happened before. Even got a word in the title, hey.

>: 92 HE'S OUR YOU

Seeing Young Ben and Richard on that PREVIOUSLY is a little freaky if you just rewatched 3.20 this weekend. I figured that we were already at the Ben episode and it was over for Penny. But no, what a weird dynamic, we get a continuation of the Ben flashback in the story’s present, since it’s in ’77. And really a Sayid episode.

That opening mirrors Mr. Eko’s earliest scene pretty closely. A boy doesn’t want to kill, but his brother steps up to do the job. And, dust. At first, when it was just the one kid, I was thinking “Wow, quite a journey old Sayid’s been on,” but as soon as you see the little bro roll up and drop the “I got this” with a pat on his brother’s back, it’s pretty obvious which one Sayid is and that he hasn’t really come that far, after all this time.

Then Young Ben brings Sayid a chicken salad sandwich. That kid is incredible, completely channels the Emerson Creepy. I could actually picture the older model delivering most of those lines, “If you’re patient, too . . .” and what not. And more literary taunts with the Castenada. A SEPARATE REALITY. Unless that’s what we really find ourselves in by episode’s end.

One last scene of Sayid as stone-cold assassin. The Russian guy should know that a bribe wouldn’t work. Apparently, that Russian marquee that Sayid walks by later that night to meet Ben says Oldham Pharmaceuticals. Funny times. Sayid’s “What do I now?” to Ben is a callback to the show’s theme of fulfilling one’s destiny (see: any time Locke or Jack drops the word “supposed”). Purpose.

And Horace, Mathematician is looking tough. Hard not to laugh at him trying to lay it down on Sayid. Oh no, Horace! Not the next level! Never imagined all this time that Radzinsky would be such a dick.

Weird to only get like a minute of Jack. The three of them played that soap-opera moment well. I liked Kate’s “huh.”

Young Ben crushes the terrified-of-Roger-Workman-face. Hell, I was scared for him. You would think that the father parallel would punch through and make an impact on our caged bird.

I thought Sawyer was going to slip that taser to Sayid, not slip it to him in the Republican Guard! Youch! Tingly-tangly.

That scene between Sayid and Ben scans so differently on the rewatch, the You’re a killer bit. If the Island does bring the kid back and Ben knows firsthand just how much of a killer Sayid is . . . just too much.

And then out in the jungle, there was all of a sudden a real DELIVERANCE vibe, filtered through Dale Cooper’s unforgettable rock-throwing scene from the second episode of TWIN PEAKS. That Billy Holiday on the old-school gramophone was perfect, made everything so so damn creepy. And then E.B. Farnum is Oldham! That’s why I shield the bottom third of the screen from my eyes when the guest star credits roll. He gave an excellent performance, defied expectations, they set him up the entire episode as this terrifying inquisitor (and I’m sure he will drop some horror later on) but he didn’t have to get particularly ugly with Sayid. I feel like it would have taken more than Radzinsky and Phil to get Sayid in the straps, though, hunger strike or no.

And I know they’re just giving us context, but I really didn’t need to see an entire minute from the top of 5.5. Just show Sayid walking off, I think anyone who’s stuck around can make the leap. Chick does a great job of cozying up to our boy, even gets a glass of MacCutcheon and a ribeye out of him.

What a scene, when Sayid starts talking.

You know as soon as he says his name that it’s going to be something serious. Andrews played it to perfection, the bliss, the sadness at being a bad man (again with the good and bad, can’t wait to really get down to the heart of what’s going on there). The look on his face opposite Sawyer’s concern makes for an excellent juxtaposition. Oldham drops “been here before”, quite the charged phrase by now (when Baltar dropped it at the climax of the Passacaglia opera house madness, I almost swallowed all my teeth)(but that was thousands of years ago). “Ask Sawyer,” how tense! And Sayid’s breakdown of the stations, classic, especially since they cut him off right as he’s going into the Incident (not that, I guess, he really knows any more about it)(we don’t even have a date, right? for THE Incident, seems like there’s one in ’83). But oh my God, Sayid’s insane laughter along with “You used exactly enough!” is maybe my favorite thing of this entire insane season, serious serious acting.

Did Sawyer refer to Radzinsky as Stew? Wow, even the new mama wants Sayid’s blood. Was sure that THE RADZINKY SOLUTION was going to be the title of the episode, just the right Ludlum touch to this tale of assassin’s guilt. Bet it made the final cut, at least.

And man, Horace has been kind of rubbing me the wrong way this entire season, but after that “I’d really like to say it’s unanimous,” it’s hard to even feel bad about the old Purge at all. Fugg’em! Such a shame to see Sawyer buckle, too. He got built into such heroic leading man mode in LAFLEUR but, no, he’ll keep his head down and sell out his compadre in order to preserve this little bubble that he’s built for himself. More realistic, perhaps, but unfortunate. There are finer things in life than bacon with Juliet.

Sayid got kicked in the face! That’s what happens when you let the Republican Guard run the show.

Aw, Kate was about to tell Sawyer she loved him. Then the burning bus! Pretty sure just about no one saw that coming. It takes Sawyer maybe half a second to formulate the perfect quip for Jack. Was pretty sure that Sawyer was responsible for that bus, just another con to break Sayid out. The keys to the motor pool are in his cabin, after all. So, was actually surprised for just a second to see Ben in the Jedi robes making his way back to the cell.

Oh, and Sayid’s “Yes I will, Ben. That’s why I’m here.” Could not be any better.

Back at the Ajira terminal! Sayid’s reaction to seeing his old friends is some kind of funny. And exchanging the look with Ben as he walks on the plane. Madness. Surely she was working for Ben and just didn’t realize it.

Thought Sayid was going to break Ben’s neck as soon as the kid turned his back on him. That kind of threw me, made me think I was imagining it, even thought “Oh, if this WAS the sickest show of all time, then he would totally take out the kid and break time, Emmett Brown b’damned.” At least Sayid didn’t kill Jin, that would have been awful. I got tricked again, though, as Sayid was hunched over with the gun telling Ben that he had been right about him, all of a sudden I thought Sayid was going to off himself rather than take out the kid, didn’t have what it took to smother Baby Hitler in his crib, as the saying goes. And yeah, it was a Sayid-centric, all of a sudden I thought it was suicide time. But no, just working himself up to shoot the kid stone dead.

And he died. That was a kill shot. The light went out of his eyes. If he was just unconscious and Jack was able to save him in the first fifteen minutes next week, that would be a ripoff. However, we’ve certainly seen that dead doesn’t necessarily mean dead on this island. So. Either the Island is going to resurrect young Benjamin Lazarus . . .

Or Sayid just broke time.

Which is a very attractive notion, and plays back into that Castenada, all of a sudden our crew finding itself in a Darko tangent universe. But I’m betting that this is exactly how things have always gone down (and that trapped new character scene in 2.14 is one of the sickest hidden meaning encounters of all time).

So yeah, let’s have predictions!

-All of this has happened before
-We’re going to need to go find Faraday to tell us this, and maybe we’ll get his long-awaited flashback.
-The last stand of Sayid Jarrah.

I really really hope not. But he was just so brilliant in this episode, as a character and actor, and that’s never a good sign. And I didn’t realize that he was doomed until I remembered that this is exactly what they did with Chahlie, set it all up one episode, made us think that he was toast and then surprised us with gun-toting girls! Belying the fact that he was out the following week. + he’s a bad man. Like Eko.

It doesn’t look good, soulful-eyed soft-spoken Arab assassin fans.