“Time-traveling bunnies”

This episode was the “Empire Strikes Back” of LOST. Dark, dreary, and full of loss and sacrifice. Superbly written, brilliantly directed, masterfully edited and wonderfully acted. I would venture to say that it was the best LOST episode thus far just from the stand point that they combined all the elements that work well on the show (shocking reveals, “ticking clocks”, the gray area of morality, kick-ass action scenes) and combined them into a 2 hour masterpiece.

To start off, the Sayid/Keamy fight was seriously the best edited and choreographed fights ever. Whoever that editor was is amazing.

Keamy really turned out to be the perfect bad guy. Merciless, cunning, deadly, and heartless. Taunting Ben about killing his daughter was just like Vader taunting Luke about making her join the Dark Side. The clumsy, and yet primal, way Ben takes down Keamy and then viciously stabs him in the throat was perfect-pitch Ben. He quickly dismisses his blood-thirsty rage when Locke says “you just killed everyone on the boat”, Ben coldly replies, “So?”

The fact that I think Ben and Locke are brothers made their interaction even more joyous. The sense of sibling rivalry has always plagued the two. Ben admits defeat and sends Locke off to be the new Island Prophet while he spins the “Frozen Donkey Wheel” and we see a flash similar to the hatch explosion. The Island vanishes (it doesn’t sink for those of you who think so) and water spills in to fill the void where it once stood.

Note: Ben cuts his arm in the Ice Room and is wearing a snow parka. It’s the same parka he’s wearing when he appears in the desert in Tunisia a few episodes back. And his arm is cut. So we know what happened to Ben. He was flashed forward into the future.

Another note: The new Dharma video was cut off as he was explaining that the time-traveling bunny “only appears to have vanished”, but really it…….. What does this say about the island and Ben?

I admittedly got teary eyed three times: 1) Sawyer jumps out of the chopper to save his friends. 2) The boat blows up and Sun goes nuts. 3)Desmond and Penny.

I really wanted the Desmond/Penny thing to pay off much later, but it was done in a way that satisfied me. Note: Ben said he was going to kill Penny. Sayid is his hitman. Uh oh. But Desmond “has to go back” to the island with the rest of them in order to set things right. There’s no way in hell he’s leaving Penny again. That’s going to be a huge conflict.

Sawyer totally reminds me of Han Solo. A scruffy looking rebel with snappy one-liners, can kick a lot of ass, but has a soft spot in his heart. The emotion that stirred from Sawyer’s sacrifice was similar to what we all would have felt had Han sacrificed himself in “Jedi”. Oh, and Sawyer and Juliet think Kate, Jack, etc are all dead from looking at the smoke in the horizon. And Juliet is drinking liquor. And they’re both hot. Is something gonna happen there? I’d do Juliet in a heart beat.

Fuck, what else? I can’t even wrap my mind around this episode. It was huge.

LOCKE IN THE COFFIN! Last year, I thought it was Michael. Then I thought it was Jack (weird I know). Then it came down to Ben or Locke. What the hell happened between becoming the Island Prophet and suddenly being in a pine box? Oh, side note, a line that was cut from the final coffin scene was Ben saying, “We have to bring him back to the Island to resurrect him.”

Sun joining forces with Widmore? Hurley playing chess with Mr. Eko? Walt shows up? WALLLLLLLLTTT! Hurley hints Michael is still alive? Why do all of them “have” to go back? If you ask me, it’s to course-correct the entire universe. I think tragedy awaits the newly united Demond/Penny and I can easily see Desmond sent back in time, back to the hatch, before the plane crashes, punching in the numbers, the plane lands safely in Los Angeles, and Desmond is stuck on the island… pining for Penny. Season Five ending? Blah, just thinking out loud.

Also, quick random note… Lindelof and Cuse said the “flash forwards and backs” will soon meld into one solid present state with a continuous narrative arc.

Oh, and did anyone catch the Dharma Initiative commercial? If not, go here:  http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/  

It’s a viral campaign for Comic Con in San Diego July 24-26. Maybe something big will happen there?

Well. LOST is done. For 8 months. Fuck.