john locke

(S05E15) "I have a purpose now." - Locke

I can't believe how fast this season of Lost has gone by. There's probably a time-travel joke buried in that realization somewhere, but my head is still spinning from "Follow the Leader," so I'm not really in clever witticism mode. Honestly, I'm speechless. For the most part, this wasn't one of my favorite episodes of the season. But for me to be at a loss for words at one of Lost's sub-par installments - well that says something about the quality of this show. "Follow the Leader" was a lot of set up for next week's two hour finale and the events that have been set in motion (even though it seems they always happened) are mind-numbing.

(S05E14) "Well, I got some bad news for you Jack. You don't belong here at all. She was wrong." - Faraday

After listening to Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof ranting in last week's Lost audio podcast, I didn't expect "The Variable" to be this much of a game changer. Everything we thought we knew about the island, time travel, and course correcting - it all got turned upside down. I think it's safe to say that the 100th episode of Lost is going to be remembered for more than just its milestone significance.

Tonight is the 100th episode of Lost, and it's one that revolves around Daniel Faraday. We haven't seen much of him in the past several episodes, except for his appearance at the end of the last episode when he emerged out of the sub and met Miles. I have a feeling something big is going to happen tonight, and judging from this clip I think I'm right.

(S05E13) "That douche is my dad." - Miles

I've been waiting for an episode like this. We've gotten close to nothing when it comes to backstory on the freighter folk and had it not been for the writer's strike, I'm guessing that "Some Like it Hoth" (or at least something Miles related) would have aired during season four. Last time we got any substantial info on Miles' orgins was "Confirmed Dead" and all that filled us in on was ghost whisperin' powers and his conscience - ripping people off doesn't come easy for him. We got a helluva lot more info this time around.

(S05E12) "Well... John, we don't even have a word for it. But I believe you call it 'the monster'" - Ben

Wow, I'm not quite sure where to begin. This wasn't one of the best episodes of Lost (for lack of a better term, it was safe), but I walked away from it feeling enlightened. It's not often that Lost leaves you with more answers than questions.

That being said, I still have a ton of f%#k&$g questions.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER.

When we last left our castaways on Lost, Ben had just woken up and seen that Locke was sitting next to his bed. Locke obviously has a ton of questions for Mr. Linus, such as "why did you strangle me to death," and Ben had a look of surprise on his face.

So fans are wondering if Ben is shocked to find out that Locke is alive (because he was, you know, dead) or if Ben killed Locke knowing that he would come back to life some day (I just realized how crazy that sentence must sound to people who don't watch the show). Well, after the jump is a sneak peek at tonight's new episode, courtesy of Kristin over at E!

(SPOILER!)

(S05E11) "Maybe there's something they can do." - Juliet

At the risk of sounding clichéd, I'm gonna say it anyway - all the pieces are coming together. While I didn't particularly care for any of tonight's flashbacks (personally, I've never really gotten into Kate at all), what happened on the island in 1977 was mesmerizing. It's looking more and more like the Oceanic 6 (plus Juliet, Miles, etc.) were directly responsible for, well ... everything.

(S05E10) "A twelve-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?" - Sayid

Hands down, no doubt about it - best episode of the season. "He's Our You" was much more of a traditional Lost episode, in the sense that we had regular ol' flashbacks. There's been a lot of questions about Sayid (we haven't seen too much of him this season), and this was probably the most sensible way to do it - lay out his current predicament while flashing to all the moments that got him there. Who likes sandwiches?

(S05E09) "Dude, your English is awesome." - Hurley

We've had two weeks to stew on the events of "LaFleur" and maybe that's why I went into "Namaste" expecting so much more. That isn't to say that I was disappointed with the Oceanic Six/Left Behinders reunion. The simplest way to put it is that the nature of the narrative on Lost has forced the show to change so that these are the types of stories that are most organic to the plot now.

The flashbacks from the first few seasons are a distant memory at this point, and it's exciting because for a while now, we've been watching stuff that didn't already happen. Well ... technically it did since they're all in 1977 now, but you get what I mean. One thing is for certain - no matter how you slice it, three years is a long time.

(S05E08) "Yeah, thanks anyway Plato." - Sawyer

I think the best way to describe this episode was safe. Nothing crazy or out of place happened and you knew how it was going to end the second it began. Think of it this way - when we first started watching Lost, it was like dumping a giant puzzle onto the floor. At this point, the entire puzzle is assembled, and for the most part, we can almost see the big picture, save for a bunch of pieces that are still missing. "LaFleur" was one of those pieces.

We won't find the answer to this question on tonight's episode of Lost, but I've been wondering: who is the real bad guy in the Lost power struggle, Ben Linus or Charles Widmore?

On one hand, Ben has done so many evil things that it's hard to see him as a good guy, and killing John Locke last week was probably the ultimate proof that Ben-haters have to name him as the bad guy. But he has also helped the islanders at several points (though we still haven't found out if he's doing that for his own reasons), and is it possible that he killed Locke himself because Locke has to die but can't kill himself for some reason? It's going to be interesting to see Ben wake up from his nap on that bed and see Locke alive again (or will he be surprised)?

(S05E07) "I remember dying." - Locke

I was really excited for this episode. However, and it wasn't bad, but it turns out that the whole mystery surrounding John's alter ego Jeremy Bentham wasn't much of a mystery after all. The entire hour played out as a laundry list of confirmations - things that we either kind-of-sort-of knew based on past episodes or things that most avid fans of Lost assumed to be true anyway. If anything, it was a nice pat of the back because it's always a good feeling to think every now and then, "Hey, I do get this show!"

(S05E06) "We're not going to Guam, are we?" - Lapidus

Whether you've been prepared for it or not, Lost is becoming a very different show. I'm not bringing that up as a negative. I'm not bringing it up as a positive either. This is just the natural progression of what has become the most densely written sci-fi drama ever. Eventually, we were going to reach a point that just seemed utterly ridiculous even by Lost's standards.

Let me put it this way - for as far-fetched a show as Lost is (that isn't a bad thing), I've never really felt like I had to suspend my disbelief to buy into it. With this episode, I did.

(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.

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.)