dharma

(S05E05) "Um... he's Korean. I'm from Encino." - Miles

The beautiful thing about Lost is that there's never two bad episodes in a row. That's not to say that "The Little Prince" wasn't good, but it certainly wasn't what we've come to expect. It was just too slow. Not the case this week - "This Place is Death" roared back and didn't let up once during its 60 minutes of perfection.

After last week's revelation that Jin was indeed still alive (Was anyone actually surprised by this?), the attention immediately shifted from him to the people who rescued him - Danielle Rousseau's research team. Fans (myself included) were furious when Danielle was killed so nonchalantly last season, mainly because we still had so many questions about her backstory and history on the island. Wish granted.

(S05E04) "I have to make them come back... even if it kills me." - Locke

And so begins the quest of Jeremy Bentham. That's been one of the real treats this season - seeing the Oceanic Six in the present while having their plot juxtaposed against the real-time (well... as "real-time" as real-time can get when you're time traveling) plight of those still on the island three years ago. The fact that we only saw Locke lay the foundation for his plan involving the Orchid to get everyone back was still mesmerizing. I love knowing what happens to him but not knowing the circumstances of his "suicide" and how he ended up in that coffin at Hoffs Drawler. Despite the lack of any more development on Locke's plan beyond what we got, this episode was still phenomenal - mainly because two people we've all been missing finally showed up again.

(S05E03) "Because... he's one of my people." - Locke

I really need to get in the habit of taping my mouth shut while watching Lost because my jaw is always on the floor by the end of every episode. Time-traveling has added an entirely new dimension (literally) to the story-telling techniques of this show and the first three hours of this season have been some of Lost's best. The flash-backs always lacked a certain amount of tension because they already happened. On the flip side of the same coin, the same can be said about the flash-forwards because you know they're going to happen. But time-traveling has created this new ripple where nothing has permanence anymore, whether it happened, is happening, or will happen. This is mesmerizing stuff to watch unfold because everything becomes new the second Faraday, Locke, and Co. make a new jump. They may not be altering the ultimate outcome, but they are altering the moment.

(S05E02) "There's no calling my father off." - Penny

Everybody lies. Some people enjoy the thrill of getting away with it ... and then there's Hurley. While this wasn't a traditional flash-back/flash-forward episode with one character as the focus (hard to say if those will ever be feasible again), this was pretty much a Hurley-centric hour anyway.

As the plot progresses this season, it's going to be interesting to see who becomes important (and who becomes irrelevant) to the ultimate endgame. That being said, we learned one pretty important fact in this episode:

Without Hugo in the mix, "then God help us all."

(S05E01) "You're gonna have to die, John." - Richard Alpert

Time travel! The future is now! later! here! gone! beginning! ending! OK, I give up. Lost is back and the future is... well, we don't know what the future is. Or the past. Or the present. All we know is what they were, because now they're just one big time travelin' mess.

As with seasons past of Lost, the fifth chapter of TV's favorite mindf*ck opens by presenting an entirely new storytelling technique - one that demands equal parts patience, attention, and imagination. More than anything, it's a test for true fans because the casual Lost viewer (do they exist?) probably had a hard time moving from A to Z (worst metaphor ever - I know) in tonight's season premiere. That being said, this whole hour gave me my own bloody nose.

As amazing as Lost is, I still hate it for one tiny reason - every time a new season begins, I get terrified that I won't "get it." If that happened, it would completely deflate my enjoyment of the show. While Lost has had its fair share of WTF episodes, most of them are decipherable after repeat viewings; season five's first two installments definitely fall into that category. It's like playing the sequel of your favorite video game - for the most part, the controls and game-play are the same, but there are enough changes that it still takes you a few hours to get a handle on it.

So in the most recent episode of Lost, Christian Shephard told Locke that the only way they can save the island from the invaders is if they, um, move it. Yeah, that's right, move the island. Thanks Doctor Shephard, I'll get right on that.

But viewers thinking that this was some crazy thing that could only happen on television and in the movies are...well, probably right. But in this Popular Mechanics article, the author of the book Physics of the Impossible says that it actually could be done. Michio Kaku says that it sounds like they're going to use the electromagnetic properties of the island and the Casmir Effect to "open a transferable wormhole to different points in time and space."

(Hold on a second while I go take two Advil.)

Thursday's Lost panel at Comic-Con had some of its thunder stolen by an earlier announcement at the Television Critics Association press tour - Harold Perrineau would be rejoining the cast. Harold put in a surprise appearance at Thursday's panel, but knew about as much as those of us in the audience did as to why Michael would be returning and when. Co-executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse did reveal that Michael is back for good - not in a flashback, not as a "guest star." No word on "flash forwards" or whether or not Michael would be on the island or in some other locale, but it wouldn't be Lost without its secrets.

Lindelof and Cuse were so reticent to let any real scoops out of the bag that each brought a bell on stage to hit if either started getting too generous with the spoilers. Unfortunately for us, they kept themselves in check. We learned some generic information, which I'll sum up after the jump to avoid offending the spoiler-sensitive amongst us.

On the off chance you find yourself sitting around with nothing to do while you wait for the next installment of Lost, the fine folks over at Insanely Great Tees have a little project for you. Armed with a printer, some paper, the IGT pdf, and a little patience, you too can make your very own Dharma Initiative products. They even have a Hanso logo and Nutrition Facts. Although, as someone in the Digg comments points out, the UPC code should really involve "the numbers."

It's a little silly, and some of your guests may look at you a little funny, but for the TV nutter that has everything, a sixer of Dharma barley pops makes a perfect gift. Of course, if that's just a little too far out there for you, they also have what are purported to be insanely great shirts.

[ via Digg ]

The Mercury News A+E blog has a look at the new Lost Season Two DVD. As would be expected from the Lost team, the set has a lot of extras. Of course there are the traditional bloopers, deleted scenes, and commentary tracks. On top of that, fans will get a feature on Sawyerisms, more Dharma footage, and a short film titled "Mysteries, Theories, and Conspiracies."

In the short, the writers, once again, assure fans that they are indeed working with a plan and not just making this stuff up on the fly. While that remains to be seen, the line "producers say they will 'open up' the show in ways no one can anticipate" is intriguing. And it certainly sounds better than the talk of exploring the love story from Cuse and Lindelof's podcast.

CBS has a lot of confidence in Jenna Elfman. Her comedy, Courting Alex, didn't even last for half a season on CBS, but the network is already creating another show just for her. She has reportedly signed a development deal with CBS and is now searching for a scriptwriter.

Is Elfman worth it? She's hot and funny and, according to Joel, she's "sexy in a non-threatening way". Is she worth hanging onto?

(S02E21) I've been waiting for this episode ever since I saw its most interesting title: a simple question mark. We all knew what it would refer to once we saw the mysterious map Locke caught a glimpse of, but it was knowing that this would be an Eko-centric episode that, to me, made it all the more interesting.

For those of you who like to over analyze the episodes on a microscopic level like we do, you may have noticed that little scene in Eko's dream where a bunch of images flashed by before he saw his brother, Yemi, sitting at the computer. Here's a list of what was shown:

Were "two great tastes that taste great together" combined and we didn't even realize it? I happened to come across an article from The Star-Ledger (in a New Jersey paper of course), which goes in to detail about a theory that Tony Soprano wasn't dead, he was in Purgatory. The author has personal contact with David Chase (The Sopranos creator and driving force) and after he referred to the two episodes as a "dream sequence," Chase quickly scuttled that word. After hearing the author's thoughts about it being Purgatory, it made perfect sense to me. Wikipedia defines Purgatory as "a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace are not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions". Not only was Tony's brief life as Kevin Finnerty temporal punishment by sheer lack of ... well anything, but Sopranos family members have referenced Purgatory in the past, Paulie in particular; he stated that he had come to grips with the fact that he was going to have to spend X amount of time there before he finally got to the pearly gates.

After weeks of idling, Lost finally gave us a juicy nugget in last night's episode. It came in the form of a glow-in-the-dark map on the inside of a blast door. It appears to be a map of all the Dharma Initiative hatches on the island, and something in the middle signified with a giant, pink question mark. It looks as though all the hatches were meant to lead to that middle spot, but they weren't finished or were blocked off (as marked with X's). Maybe that's what the concrete is that Jack and Sayid found.

According to this guy, who evidently stayed up all night decoding the map, it has several phrases, such as "Sursum Corda", and "I Am Here" on the Swan hatch (where the characters are). There are several other phrases that I'm guessing are in Latin.

Here's another, deconstructed version of the map with a lot more text (somebody has Hi Def TV!).

What do you see?