“The End” and a LOST GIVEAWAY from CafePress to help us cope!

Contest Closed
After watching the final chapter of a show I’d become fond of obsessed with, I needed some time to process the information presented.  It certainly wasn’t the ending that I had expected and hoped for, and it didn’t even make sense at first.  Not that I am surprised that it wasn’t wrapped up for us into a neat little package for us faithful viewers.  I mean, the show was essentially a ‘series’ of questions being answered with many many more questions, delightfully stringing us along for six years.  I think us losties have grown accustomed to that, and deciphering the puzzle is what made it such an interesting series.  

LOST was so smart and engaging, like no other movie or television series I’ve known.  It forced us to look at the same situation from different angles, proving that a person’s point of view can make all the difference.  I did have a feeling the finale wasn’t going to live up to my expectations, but I knew that I’d be okay with that because it’s LOST, and I’m used to it. 

I’m thankful for what ‘The End’ brought us.

• Lovers like Sayid and Shannon, Charlie and Claire, Desmond and Penny, and Sawyer and Juliet were reunited. I was a hot mess during those final moments of the show.  Yes, of course I wanted all of our friends to be alive, for their destinies to have been changed into ATL while also living with the awareness of the island time that never existed(?).  But as we’ve been told before, “Dead is Dead.” Even if our beloved characters are no longer living, if that’s what it took to get the reunions we all hoped for, so be it.  
• The love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer was finally solved.  Kate finally declares her love for Jack, but how awkward was that moment with Sawyer just a few yards away?
• The ending was happy for all in that they were each able to work through their various issues before finding each other and ‘moving on’.
• Hurley became the last remaining(?) candidate.
• The Target commercials were spot on!  They gave me a chuckle and time to dry my eyes.

But there was so much left unsaid.  It wouldn’t be LOST without bringing so many new questions to the forefront of our minds, such as:

• What was the point of protecting the island, especially after the Smoke Monster was dead?   What did they all, including Jack die for?
• What of the electromagnetism, time travel, Dharma research and polar bears, oh my?  There seemed to be no conclusions with all of the scientific aspects of LOST.
• Did the Ajira plane finally make it off the island and exactly when did our LOSTies die?
• Was Desmond ever able to return to the mainland?
• Why was the island shown sunken under the sea at the beginning of the what we called, “alternate timeline”.  Is the island gone now?
• Were all of the other people in the “alternate reality” in purgatory too, or were they just the dead helping others move on?

I could think of million another questions, so I won’t bore you by going on.  We’re all frustrated by the fact that the details that seemed so important all this time were sort of glossed over.

One thing that stood out to me was that not everyone joined the group inside the church.  Ben for one, opted to sit this one out, which makes me think that he had more work to do before moving on.  Could it be because he murdered Widmore?  Did he not pay his dues as Hurley’s number two? Ana Lucia was a corrupt cop in purgatory L.A.  And what about Michael and Walt – where were they?  Not ready to move on?  Well, neither am I, boo!

Of course I am still struggling with the fact that there will be no more sarcastic nick-names from Sawyer, no Star Wars references from Hurley, no more piano/violin music that made me cry at the drop of a note.   In fact, I think I am hurting so much by this that my subconscious created a LOST-inspired dream for me just this weekend.  Seriously, we all have to cope somehow.  I will miss this show, and I’m still mourning my loss.

CafePress has millions of personalized gifts – for all topics, hobbies, and brands including LOST T-shirts and other items like the mug shown at left.  The show is over, but I’m happy to drink in the memories of LOST right along with my morning coffee.  I love the dharma-inspired LOST products on CafePress, they don’t spell it out, and only true losties will recognize this iconic symbol.  It hasn’t arrived but I know it will be the same high quality product that’s synonymous with CafePress.

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"Everybody Loves Hugo" #Lost Thoughts

If you are not up to speed with the latest LOST episode,

please skip this post!

"Everybody Loves Hugo," was a speech honoring Hugo Reyes, the do-gooder.  Given by none other than...Dr. Chang?  Okaaay.

How funny was it to see the slide showing the view of the pyramids from a Mr. Clucks window.  Did anyone else get a kick out of that?

Libby remembers her relationship with Hugo after seeing his restaurant's commercial and then by chance runs into him at another restaurant.  I have to admit I was never a real huge fan of her character, but I was pulling for Libby this episode, and finally Hurley ends up remembering too.  Yay for Hurley.  That would never happen on island time, but he gets the girl in the ATL, or whatever on earth it really is. Also, I liked that Hurley made peace with Michael, even offering to help the man that killed his lady.  There simply aren't enough Hurley's in the world, I tell ya.

It seems like Desmond is remembering a lot more than everyone else now.  He's orchestrating all of these meetups, and remembers Flocke.  But just as Sayid tried to off young Ben, I don't think Des will succeed in killing Locke by running him down with his beamer. Did NOT see that comin'.  It sure did look like Locke was "remembering", though didn't it?

It's the end of the road for Ilana, dog.  I really liked her character.  Her last major scene with Ben was fantastic, and I was interesting in learning her whole back story.  I'm guessing this won't happen anymore, but who knows with this being the most crazy (and awesome) show ever.

Questions:

• Does Jacob's touch still apply in the ATL, even though the island is "gone"?  I guess we'll get closer to finding the answer when we discover whether Locke survives.
• In the same way, Desmond must be unable to be killed as well since we see him sitting at the bottom of the well next week.
• Wait a minute.  Is Desmond a candidate now that he's back on the island?  That would make sense for Widmore to bring him back then, and he's somewhat invincible (?), and he SAW jacob, who seems to be aging, right?
• Did Flock want Desmond to be afraid?
• Still no reunion for Jin and Sun.  Are they saving that for last?

Answers:

• The whispers are the people that are trapped on the island, like Michael.  They can't move on.
• Hugo has no history in the alternate timeline of ever being in a mental hospital. 
• Don't be so cavalier with your dynamite!

Best quotes of the night, a la Hurley: 

"Dead people are more reliable than the alive people." - Hurley to Miles

"It takes a lot of guts to go up to a total stranger and tell them you know them from some bizarro alternate universe." - Hurley to Libby

What do YOU think?  Please leave a comment!

"Happily Ever After" (Lost Thoughts)

*Spoilers ahead: If you have not yet seen "Happily Ever After", skip this post.*

This episode was almost a little too much to wrap my head around.  What I've been calling the alternate timeline, doesn't seem to be an entirely different reality after all.  I mean we have seen hints at scars on our Losties from the island experience, but the new reality seems to be more concurrent than alternate. In fact, for the first time, it seems that the ATL isn't so "Happily Ever After" as I had thought. 

On the island, after Desmond endures the electromagnetic machine, he seems to be transported to the ATL.

When Oceanic Flight 815 lands in L.A., Desmond is leading a life with "no attachments", as Widmore explains.  BTW when Desmond's driver mentioned the boss, I knew it was going to be Widmore! It was nice to see the two men getting along though.  But when Charlie and DriveShaft were mentioned, I suspected that Widmore was still aware of the island situation.

We now know that Charlie was not trying to commit suicide on the flight.  He was hoping to evade authorities when he swallowed the bags of heroine.  He almost died, and he saw "the light", which also can be referred to as Claire.  When the others "saved him", he was pulled away from this happy place and back to his crummy reality.

So as Des attempts to make Charlie keep his commitment to perform at the Widmore party, Charlie steers their vehicle into the bay, and Desmond has a similar experience.  Though he is conscious when he remembers that the two of them interacted before.  How cool was that to see Charlie make the same motion with his hand against a window and to see the "Not Penny's Boat" flashback?  But Des saw more during the MRI, fully-conscious.

Widmore and Eloise (it was so cool to see her again) seem to be trying to steer our losties away from their past realities.  Daniel is a musician in the ATL (fantastic to be seeing him again), not a math whiz.  Desmond, single and not with Penny.  I admit, I want them to make these connections in the ATL and be with their long lost loves, but I can't help but see that the separation is probably for their own good.  I'm seeing Widmore in a new light.  He's sacrificed so much for his family, and now Des seems to be cursed with the same fate.  Time will tell.

Add Daniel and his quantam physics equation to the mix.  He's also been clued in that something is up, and he helps Des track down Penny.  This gave me Déjà vu.  Haven't we seen this scene of Penny running in the stadium before? 

But hold up, this limo driver, he creeps me out.  I knew I had seen him before, but I had to google it and discovered he was with the freighter group from last season.  Anyway, Des convinced Penny to meet him out for coffee.  Does anyone else think that this won't happen? Mostly because Penny is now doing "Flash-Forward".  

Back on the island, after all of Desmond's ATL experiences, he's convinced.  He agrees to assist Widmore, and he seems to be aware of the ATL while still on island time. 

Questions. I have so many, I don't know where to start!  Here are the main ones:

• Was Eloise always Widmore's wife?  I'm thinking no, since all of the kids and half-kids look the same, and I'd think we'd still be following rules of biology and the gene pool, but who knows with Lost?
• If I'm right about the statement above, who is Penny's mother? 
• IF, the Widmore's are trying to keep everyone apart, why did they connect Des with Charlie?  Seems like there's a hole in their plan, maybe?  Or do they know what's happening, concurrently on island time and that it will convince Des to assist?
• What major catastrophic event is Widmore referring to, that Desmond endured?
• Why does Des agree to go with Sayid, after helping the other others?  Is this part of Widmore's plan?
• Do they really have a "Panic Button" during an MRI?  I don't remember that - ha ha!

Best quote of the night:

"Then why are you accosting a man in a dressing gown?" -Charlie

If you have an opinion, thought, or if you blogged LOST, let me know.  Leave a comment!

"The Package" (LOST Recap)

DON'T CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN "THE PACKAGE"

Well, finally.  The story of Jin and Sun.

In the ATL, Jin and Sun are unmarried.   That whole "button up" routine was an act.  In fact, papa isn't even aware that there is a relationship between the two.  Or so they thought.  Turns out this whole "trip" was designed by dear Dad as a way to off Jin.  This is how/why Jin ended up in the restaurant's walk-in-freezer at the hands of Keamy, as we saw in "Sundown".  It's funny how this show makes you look at the same situation so much differently once you've gotten a little more information.  Having the stack of cash detained at the airport was actually a blessing for Jin.  That was his blood money.

Did Sun notice something different about herself in the mirror at the hotel, like with Jack?

We found that Jin escaped, but sadly Sun was caught in the crossfire, while pregnant.  I knew from the beginning that this was the secret she was trying to tell Jin back at the hotel.  I hope she's alright.  The producers really left us hangin'.

Always the victim, Jin was captured in island time, too.  He's back in that horrid Room 23 - the subliminal messaging room created by the Dharma peeps.  Jin is there at the hands of Widmore's people.  It was very touching to see Jin get a look at his daughter for the very first time.  Yes, I cried - who wants to know?

Did you catch when Smoke said to Claire: "Whatever happens, happens." Giving Claire the nod to do whatever she wants with Kate once he's done using her to bid farewell to the final three candidates.  Pure.  Evil.  Smoke can't kill the candidates, but I guess there's nothing in the rule book about sending them leaving on a jet plane. 

I was disappointed that we didn't see a reunion between Jin and Sun on the island.  Really bummed.  But holy mother, Desmond is back!

Best quote of the night:  "I don't think she wants to go."  - Hurley, after Sun's rant in Korean.

If you have a LOST recap, or thoughts about the show posted on your blog, let me know!

"Ab Aeterno" - (LOST Thoughts)

ATTN: IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN "AB AETERNO", DON'T READ WHAT FOLLOWS!

At the very beginning when Richard declares that they're all dead and in hell, all I could think about was that this theory was shot down by the producers long ago.  This couldn't be!  Turns out he was just freaking out (I guess?). Richard has been calm and collected before this season, so it's strange to see him all panicky.

I really liked learning the back story on Richard, or shall we call him Ricardo?  The love story was very touching, and it was interesting to see the softer side of Richard, who always seems so matter-of-fact.  

Between the television show that Sawyer was watching last episode and Richard's attire back in 1867, it all seems "Little House on the Prairie" to me.  When Richard went off to get medicine for his ailing wife, I thought for sure this was going to be some elixir that he would take and so begins his immortal life.  Once again, I was dead wrong.  I know that Jacob's touch was ultimately the cause, but again I thought the meds would have something to do with it.  But no, Richard asked to be immortal to avoid going to hell for murdering that nasty doctor.

It definitely seems like Jacob is like God and MIB is the fallen angel, aka satan.  But if Jacob were God, he'd be able to absolve Richard's sins.  And he wouldn't be in hell with satan.  Can you tell the opening scene really threw me off?

Hurley brought Richard back to reality by bringing his wife and her words back to him once more.  I couldn't keep it together.  I think her coming through helped to prove not only to Richard, but also to all of us watching, that MIB is the bad guy.

It seems ridiculous that the evil on the island has to be contained by one man (?) so as not to wreak havoc on the universe.  What gives Jacob that much power, and how would any of the candidates have such power over MIB?

I feel like the writers are toying with us a bit.  But I am still enjoying the ride and I am more confused than ever.  And I can't believe there are only 8 episodes left.  I'm in denial.

With Hurley back in the mix, he gave us the quote of the night, "Sorry Jack, but this has nothing to do with you." 


If you blogged about "Ab Aeterno", leave the link!

"Recon" - LOST Thoughts

WARNING:  DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN "RECON"!

Finally, Sawyer is back!  And a topless Sawyer - you're spoiling me now, producers! But Sawyer as a cop in the ATL?  Interesting twist.  But he's not all good - he still wants to kill the real Sawyer.  Too wrongs don't make a right, dude.  And since when do they make badges hung on a necklace - that an L.A.P.D. thing?

Sawyer's partner in crime, er crime-fighting is Miles!  I was hoping sawyer's date would be Juliet, but when I saw that red hair I knew it was all Charlotte.  Not my favorite character.  After all, she was only in a few episodes, and not very engaging.  Did Miles set them up so she could spy on Sawyer?

Smoke - Good or Bad?  Surprisingly, he did do some good deeds in "Recon", which makes a person wonder where he stands.  He informed Sawyer about the fact that he is "the smoke thing".  And saved Kate from crazy Claire.  When Sayid wouldn't (guess the darkness is growing within).  We learned that Smokey's mama was just as crazy as Claire and he feels for Aaron.  I think he's trying to earn trust, and I don't think he is really the good guy, but you never know with this show.

Smocke sends Sawyer over to Hydra Island to scope out the situation with the most recent Ajira plane crash survivors.  When he gets there everyone is dead except one lone survivor, the "expect the best" girl from the movie, "Singles".  Minus the big earrings of course.

Sawyer smells something fishy (other than the rotting carcasses) and pulls a gun on her, and then her men come out from the bushes.  Is one of them the kid from Roseanne?  She takes Sawyer to the boss man, Widmore.  He says he didn't kill all those people, so who did?

It looks like there's a battle up ahead between Smocke and Widmore.

Best Quote of the Night: "Take me to your leader." - Sawyer

If you blogged about "Recon", let me know so I can come see. 

"Dr. Linus" - LOST Recap

So I know I'm roughly six days late with my recap, but for me to completely skip over one episode like it never happened would be, well, sort of like an episode of LOST.  By now, you've all probably seen "Dr. Linus" (if you watch), so I don't think I need to include the standard "spoilers ahead" warning, but just in case: Don't continue reading if you haven't seen the most recent LOST episode.

Candidates
In the cave that Smoke showed Sawyer, only the name "Kwan" was written on the wall, and many of us wondered who was indicated by this, Sun or Jin. Ilana isn't sure either, we now know.

Ben's Redemption
I think we've all picked up on the fact that Ilana knew it was not possible for Smoke to kill Jacob.  And Miles proved it, by "reading" the remains of Jacob.  Ben was officially busted and had one foot in the grave.  Literally. 

The most touching scene for me was when Ben escaped into the jungle and 'splained himself to Ilana. She asked why he wanted to join forces with Smoke, and he told her, "Because nobody else will have me." Then three powerful words were spoken, "I'll have you". Forgiveness is a wonderful thing.

On the island the first time, Ben chose power over the life of his own daughter, but in the alternate timeline, he protected her, even sacrificing the promotion of a lifetime. He's such a great man, and Dear Dad is alive and not-so-well, but Ben is caring for him.

The redemption of Ben is complete. As long as he doesn't pull any more funny business.

Jack, a Man of Faith?
In comes my third main man (after Jack and Sawyer), Richard.  He's disappointed with Jacob, almost in the same "what about me" flavor we previously heard from Ben and he decides to have Jack put him out of his misery, because he can't die from self inflicted wounds for some reason.  Jacob's touch did that for him, but it must be a different kind of touch than the others have received, with this apparent almost immortality.

It's funny how Jack, previously a man of science, has become a man of faith ever since he realized how important he was to Jacob.  He agreed to light the dynamite and stayed with Richard, to prove that neither of them could be successful at suicide.  Jack's almost like a kid seeking approval from the father he never had.  Interesting.  And it was neat to see the Black Rock again.

A Bittersweet Ending
Ah, the sappy piano music and happy reunions on the beach.  It gets me every time.  And then, he's baaack.  Widmore is up to no good, spying on the LOSTies via submarine.  I hated the creepy music right after the sappy piano.  Gives me the heebie jeebies.

I'm so excited for tomorrow to come, and I'll try not to wait 6 days for the recap.  :)

Best quote of the night 
"Wanna try another stick?" -Jack


Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.  If you've blogged, leave the link so I can visit.

"Sundown" - LOST Thoughts

I don't even know where to start.   Sayid has been one of my favorite characters of the show.  In the alternate timeline, his love Nadia is married to his brother.  Apparently at the urging of Sayid himself.  What the hay, might as well keep it in the family, eh?  They still seem to have the same connection, though.  But in the ATL they still can't be together, just for different reasons. 

We saw more path-crossing in the ATL, with Keamy and Jin.  Guess Sayid's brother wasn't the only one who owed those loan sharks money.
 

Ironic that Sayid was drowned in the temple by Dogen the same way that Sayid was.  After their exchange, I thought Sayid was going to surprise us.  He fell for it, and has proven he will take any and every chance to see Nadia again.  Dogen was the key, for some reason he was what was keeping smokey out, other than the ash.

I really thought that Sayid was going to stick with him for a second, after Dogen poured his heart out regarding his dead son.  It seems both Jacob and Smokey are making promises of resurrection to get folks to take sides.

Questions/Comments:

• The look on Claire's face after Kate told her about Aaron scared the bleep out of me.
• Does Claire realize now that her son was never in the temple?  That was the whole reason she went over there, wasn't it?  Did she forget so soon that her "friend" told her he was there?
• Where is gimpy Jin?  Is he still sitting in Claire's humble abode with the "baby"?
• Are we to assume that Ben, Ilana et al were killed in one fell swoop?  Or did they make it out?
• What's going to happen to Kate? 
• Dogen said, "You let him talk." If Sayid had stabbed Smokey before he uttered a word, would it have worked?
• I'm having a moment of sadness.  The reality of the show actually ending.  Ugh.  
• I had some other brilliant thoughts as I was drifting into a deep sleep last night but alas, I can't remember.  Why are we always more brilliant in our last few minutes of wakefullness?

Best quote of the night:

"She just strolled in here, acting all weird. Still hot though." -Miles

If you have a LOST blog post, paste the link below.  And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a LOST t-shirt!

Lighthouse - (LOST recap)

 SPOILERS AHEAD!!  STOP READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN "LIGHTHOUSE"

Finally, we got a new episode that seems to be moving us forward, but it also raised many more questions.  For instance, how is it possible that in the alternate reality our losties still see evidence of what would have happened on the island?  We've seen a few examples of this with Jack.  First the dart-mark on his neck and now in "Lighthouse", he noticed the appendectomy scar from the surgery he didn't perform on the island.  Wait.  What?  I'm so confused, but I still love it!

Breaking news: Jack has a son named David!  This has to be all alternate reality.  It's sad that Jack started their relationship by acting like a typical high-pressure Sheppard male, but I'm glad he committed himself to changing that by pledging unconditional love for his son.  Doesn't it seem like the island time, though it did not happen, is somehow impacting everyone's lives?

It was also neat to see Dogen and his son in at the piano recital.  Dogen is a force, whether temple leader or daddy.  I wouldn't want to mess with him.

At first Claire seemed somewhat like herself.  That is, until she killed the temple guy and announced her kinship with the smoke monster.   She must stink to high heaven!

Thoughts/Questions:

• I want that Tic Tac Toe game that Hurley and Miles were playing.
• Is the woman in the picture with Jack and his Dad the mother of David/Jack's ex-wife?  That didn't look like Sarah.
• It does seem like Jacob is not opposed to lying/manipulating situations (like we saw in "Lighthouse"), though I still think he is good.
• I hope Claire and Kate don't run into each other on the island, because Claire will kill her if she discovers she took Aaron. 
• Did Claire know she was losing her mind when she appeared to Kate about not bringing Aaron back?  
• Is it me, or did some of the trees in the jungle look bloodied?
• The lighthouse thing was cool!  How the heck did Jacob watch the candidates when they moved?
• What's up with Sawyer?  Someone mentioned he might be pulling a long con on smoke-monster Locke

Hurley was on fire tonight:

"I'm a big fan of temples and like history and Indiana Jones stuff."

"I'm a candidate and I can do what I want."

"You already made me write down way too much stuff and I just lied to a Samuri."
"Thanks for the seven years of bad luck, by the way."
"He just appears like Obi Wan Kanobi."

If you're a LOST fan, enter my giveaway to win a LOST t-shirt!

What Kate Does (LOST Recap)

***PROCEED WITH CAUTION - SPOILERS AHEAD!***

Just when last night's LOST episode was getting interesting, the power went out. I was DYING. I was going berserk until the power came back on at 8:30am. That's 11 hours of suspense, folks!

I love to watch the enhanced recap before the new show. There are always little tidbits of information that you forget, which is also why I love this show so much - because it makes you think.

Due to the power outage, I had to re-watch the episode this morning.  I usually like to do this anyway after I've had some time to process what happens.

Here are some things we found out about the alternate timeline:  

• Kate escaped from the airport and that nasty Fed.
• She and Claire are now connected in this new timeline, as Kate took her to the hospital and stayed by her side.  Interesting, because she helped Claire give birth on the island post-plane crash.
• Claire still wants to name her baby Aaron.  It looks like she may decide to keep him now that the adoptive parents broke up and are no longer interested in the adoption.
• Creepy Ethan is a Doctor in L.A.  His face was made to frighten.

And back on island time:

• Sayid is alive, albeit "infected" and his body "claimed" according to the Temple people after they've tortured him as a "test".  He failed, though they lied to him saying he passed.
• The Temple leader tells Jack that Sayid must take a pill to keep the infection from spreading as it has with Jack's sister (Claire).
• The Temple leader plays on Jack's guilt and tell him that making Sayid take the pill will redeem him.  It's in Jack's hands.  Sayid will take the pill if Jack tells him to.
• Sawyer escaped the temple.  It's important to the temple folks that he return.  Kate and Jin go after them along with two temple people.  One of them was Kate's prison guard.  After she takes care of them, Kate tells Jin to get Lost when she goes after Sawyer, again.  Poor Jin, he was just trying to help out.
• Sawyer was going to propose to Juliet.  It broke my heart seeing him cry again - I miss Juliet.  When Kate finds out she cries, and I'm not sure if it's for Juliet or herself because Sawyer is over her.
• Claire is alive!  She looks much like the French woman, Rousseau.

I really wish the temple people would stop beating around the bush and just come out with it.  Share some information.  I questioned throughout this episode whether they're 'good guys' or 'bad guys'.  I'm inclined to believe they're good, since Jacob sent Hurley there to save Sayid.

Favorite quotes:

• "You're not a zombie right?" - Hurley to Sayid
• "We'll be in the food court if you need us" -Miles

The preview for next week shows Sawyer interacting with smoke monster Locke.  Uh oh.

If you have a LOST post on your blog, paste your link into a comment below so that I can read it!

Lost Season 6, Episode 1

SPOILER ALERT!  If you haven't yet seen the season premiere, do not read this post!

Season six opens by showing us a parallel universe (alternate beginning?) where the plane does not crash but lands at LAX as planned.  As Bernard makes his way back to his seat next to Rose, it hits me that she will die; her cancer will not be cured by the island's magical powers as it did before.  Gosh, after all of this time hoping that the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors would find their way home and get off this freaky island, it occurs to me how sad this would have been is for all of the Oceanic Six (plus a few more).  Kate is on the run again, Sun and Jin are once again in a complicated and loveless marriage, Claire is giving up her baby, Locke is paralyzed, heroine-addicted Charlie almost dies in the airplane's bathroom, Jack is dealing with the death of his father and I assume Sawyer is still working as a con.  Not to mention the fact that they may never meet and know one another as they did on the island (we'll have to see about that). 

The only person who seems to have a perfect existence so far is Hurley who exclaims, "Nothing bad ever happens to me.  I'm the luckiest guy alive!" Hmm...Does this mean his grandfather is still alive and his mother's house did not burn to the ground before he boarded the plane as we have previously seen?  He tells the Cluck U fan that he won the lotto, but I guess the lotto curse never kicked in? We also see Boone; he is alive and well but could not bring his sister Shannon back with him, could not convince her to leave the bad boyfriend.

Then we see Desmond.  But he was never on the plane!  He was sitting in the hatch pressing the button.  Then we are shown the island, and in this reality at least, it lies beneath the ocean. 

So Locke is not Locke.  He is the man in black, who also happens to be the smoke monster.  I admit I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to putting the pieces together when it comes to LOST, but this I had figured out from the season 5 finale.  They did show us Locke's dead body. Yay, something finally made sense to me!  I'm hoping for more of this as this final season unfolds.

The thing that really ticked me off was that the producers gave us false hope that Juliet would pull through.  As unrealistic as it was, Sawyer stepped on into the hole where she lay (it seemed just a few steps down under the ground) and pulled her out after hearing her voice from above.  She expressed her disappointment that it the hydrogen bomb did not not explode and then later Miles tells Sawyer that dead Juliet says, "It worked."  How did she go from crying "It didn't work!" to realizing that it did?  Maybe her spirit friends told her.

Now the smoke monster shrouded in Locke's body took advantage of Ben.  He convinced Ben to do his dirty work by killing Jacob, because he couldn't do it himself.  I'm not sure why he couldn't do it by his lonesome, but how is this for justice?  Too bad the real Locke wasn't around to see Ben get manipulated for a change.  But still, I don't like that Jacob is dead and the evil smoke monster has manifested into a human body and is now more powerful than ever.  And even with his track record, I can't help but sympathize with Ben a little bit.  However knowing him, he'll probably become smoke monster Locke's right hand man because he's a big coward.  I wonder how he unleashed the monster before all of this happened?

It seems that Jacob expected this to happen/knew it was going to happen.  He didn't fight back when Ben killed him.  He also visited the Oceanic 6 throughout their lives and convinced Hurley to return to the island.  Which is key to this next part.

Back to the jungle.  We know Hurley can see the dead, and Jacob's spirit tells him the Sayid can be saved if Hurley brings his body to the temple.  They go there and meet some other other others (Mayans?), in an attempt to save Sayid, but instead they drown him.  Nice.  But then at the end he's alive again.  Thank God - I love Sayid!  I guess it was too late for Juliet. The other other others know all about Jacob and the smoke monster, and one of their people was on flight 815!

Now in the parallel universe, Oceanic Airlines have lost Jack's father.  Correction: They didn't lose him, they just lost his body.  At least that's what John Locke tells Jack.  I'm not sure what will come of this yet, but I do think that the smoke monster had previously been existing in Christian Sheppard's (Jack's father) body.  This is another thing that makes sense to me.  His father had seemed to be alive in the cabin and the real Locke had heard Jacob saying "Help me." So dead bodies = helpful for Mr. smoke monster.

The season premiere was a bit like a roller coaster, and to me was a little disappointing.  I don't want parallel stories and different endings.  And that appears to be the way it's going.

What do you think?  Did I miss something, or do I have something confused?   Link up your LOST posts!