When I saw this scene at the end of this week’s NCIS, I was immediately reminded of Taylor (Charlton Heston) riding up the beach near the end of Planet of the Apes. The only thing missing was the Statue of Liberty.
Another good episode of Justified. It remains an open question whether Boyd has truly turned over a new leaf or if his prison conversion is the cover for something else. My thought is that he intends to reform but circumstances will pull him back in, starting with the accidental killing of the undercover informant. The judge was a real hoot, with his red speedos and bon vivant lifestyle. My favorite line of the evening was Raylan’s response to the accusation that he’d been involved in some gun play during his vacation. “I wasn’t in a shootout,” he said. “I was just near one.” His prayer was funny, too.
I started reading Avoid Boring People by James D. Watson and Villain by Shuichi Yoshida. The former is a biography of one of the two men who solved the structure of DNA, and the latter is a crime novel translated from Japanese.
There were reports that alternate endings of the series finale of Lost would be aired on Jimmy Kimmel on Sunday night, making people think of the season ending surprise concerning who was in the coffin a couple of years back. At that time, they filmed the alternate endings to prevent leaks. This time, however, the alternate endings weren’t filmed by the production company but are part of Kimmel’s gag, apparently.
While I was on the fence about last week’s episode, I can see now exactly what they were aiming for. I do agree that the entire exposition could have been done in a few minutes (perhaps part of Jacob’s fireside chat), but I think last night’s episode paid last week’s off. (I know not everyone will agree with that.)
I appreciated the storytelling symmetry—both with the camera lens on Jack’s eye and Jack sewing up Kate, since Kate did the same for Jack all those years ago. Kudos to Kate for being one of the few Lost characters to ever ask a direct question to someone who has all the answers. No beating around the bush—straight out. Tell me that this has all been worthwhile.
The ongoing theme of personal choice versus random destiny came up again during Jacob’s chat: “I want you to have what I never did—a choice.” In my opinion, though, Jack jumped on the opportunity too quickly. (“I only thought the guy had a God complex before,” Sawyer said). Hurley mumbled that he was glad that it wasn’t him—which may be a subtle hint that it will end up being him after all. My vote is either for him or for Desmond. Thematic statement: “I didn’t pluck any of you out of a happy existence. You were all flawed.” We also learned why Kate was eliminated, and that the elimination was arbitrary and revocable. “It’s just a line of chalk. Job’s yours if you want it.” I wonder if Jacob did something to the water in the pool at the temple to make it something like the water-into-wine trick he did with Jack.
I’m sure people must have wondered why Fake-Locke wandered around in human form when he could travel as a cloud of smoke. Now we know. “I like the feel of my feet on the ground. It reminds me I used to be human.” I think he made a major miscalculation concerning Ben, though. Ben, who cooly waited on the front porch and offered Fake-Locke a glass of lemonade after he pulverized Richard. (Richard, who still thought it was all about him. And is Richard dead? Can he be?) MIB offered Ben the island all to himself in return for his service…but at the end he told Ben that he was going to use Desmond to destroy the island. (Maybe sink it like we saw a while back?) I think Ben agreed to help MIB too quickly—in much the same way that Jack agreed to be the island guardian too fast. Ben always has a plan. Always. As much as MIB is using him, Ben is using MIB—witness his actions against Widmore. “He doesn’t get to save his daughter.”
Miles got the lines of the evening. When they were in Ben’s closet they see the passage underground. “What’s that? A secreter room?” And, later, after challenging Ben’s directions. “I lived in this house thirty years before you did. Otherwise known as last week.”
Lots of fun off island. We still don’t know who Jack’s wife is (my bet: Juliet. I mean, who else could it be? Unless it was his wife from the original timeline.) Ben gets his nose punched in (again) by Desmond (again) and has his first awareness of island time. Then he gets his little family when Alex invites him home to dinner and Rousseau brings him to tears by saying that he’s the closest thing Alex has ever had to a father. Nice little inside joke about having to “kidnapping” Ben, too.
And Locke hears the echoes of destiny and decides to see Jack, who immediately reminds him not to mistake coincidence for fate (again). Desmond is the man with a plan (a plan that includes putting Kate in a little black dress—bravo, brother!), exacting promises from the jailbirds and enlisting Hugo’s help. Nice interplay between Hugo and Ana Lucia, who “isn’t ready yet” for whatever Desmond is planning. It looks like everyone is headed to a concert…except perhaps Jack? Why else lure him off to the airport on a wild goose chase?
Does anyone else feel another Sawyer sacrifice coming on? He knows that his pig-headedness played into MIB’s plans, with deadly results. Maybe he’ll have another chance to jump from the chopper and save everyone.
So it all comes down to this. The end of our six year journey is at hand. I can’t wait. I don’t want it to end.
