Welcome back from the long, cold, solitary hiatus. It was kind of like the Writer’s Strike only self-imposed exile.

Anyhow, here’s the bare-bones recap of tonight’s episode of Lost: The Shape Of Things To Come:

  • The Shape Of Things To Come

    • Clearly Lost is laying down “new rules” a la Ben and changing our perception of the series.

    First and foremost, it seems as though Widmore & Ben had a previously peaceful truce. Why Widmore saw fit to change that fact or, ultimately, why Ben thought he could talk his way out of Alex’s murder will hopefully be answered in the future.

    Suffice it to say we now have the very explicit, tangible struggle between two men and the things they hold dear: their families and the island. Of the two, Ben seems more craven (he did dare Keamy to kill Alex) but I think that’s only because we’ve seen more of him.

    Widmore did fuck with Desmond and he has a drinking problem (MacCutcheon again!) because of nightmares, so I’m guessing his interests aren’t above reproach.

    I also like that we’ve closed a loop started this season: Sayid’s “employment” by Ben. Why Ben has to be so conniving (character trait/flaw? he likes it?) in indoctrinating/employing Sayid is another point, but again, part of the growing, flash forward, off island narrative. And whatever Ben’s reasons it’s great storytelling to have Sayid ask to be a part of the whole thing/Ben not have to tell him what to do to get him to do it.

    Am I dreaming if I want Seasons 5 & 6 to take place off-island in the “present” and the flashes all occur on the island? Have I mentioned this before? Is this time travel?

  • Time Travel?

    • Yet again Daniel Faraday can’t answer a straight question about how long ago things have happened and the island and the boat seem to be out-of-synch. It’s a minor plot point in tonight’s episode but it’s still there and it’ll likely be a major part of the endgame, whatever the hell that is, though Cuse & Lindelof say it isn’t a one-sentence deal, which makes the USA Today call for short-form theories and their eventual display all the weirder.

    But I digress. ABC’s gotta market the excitement and curiousity. I can’t begrudge them that; I’m in the same business.

    Anyhow: time travel. LOVE that Faraday still hasn’t come clean but I’m betting he gives up some of the goods before Season 5.

    Hoping, actually.

  • Smoke Monster

    • Cuse & Lindelof deliver on their promise to bring back Smokey but I wouldn’t have guessed that a little axle grease and a Temple of Doom style secret passage would be involved.

    Plus, kudos to Ben for having said secret passage behind another secret passage. Layers, people. Layers.

    I’m really torn here. Ben holds himself up as some paragon of responsible, moral behavior but he can let his daughter die and then sic the Cerberus metaphor on dudes with guns? Maybe this belongs in the Widmore/Ben bucket above, but I’m really curious to see just how white or even grey we can make a once black character.

    You get my drift. Maybe the smoke monster is *that* metaphor as well: a completely ambiguous force of nature that people use to justify their own morality. The ultimate embodiment of vengeance and self-righteous anger that is colored by the forces that control it.

    Or maybe I’m jumping off the cliff here.

  • Little Things

    • All the finer points and Easter Eggs we noticed. Certainly not a complete list.

    1. 1623

      2. The code Alex inputs on the fence

    2. Code 14J

      3. We all got this one. It’s this week’s “open” bingo square

    3. Halliwax

      4. Ben’s jumpsuit name. Also one of the many pseudonyms of Orientation video dude.

    4. Red shirt dies in gunfire

      5. I love it when JJ Abrams includes a Star Trek reference in Lost. JJ’s doing the new Star Trek movie and the ensign in the red jumpsuit *always* dies on away missions.

      But you knew all this already. Didn’t someone recently do an actual scientific analysis of this effect already? I’ll update in the AM.

  • “Australia is the key to the whole game”

    • Sure they were playing “Risk” or “Stratego” or “Axis & Allies” and it was a toss-off line by Hurley, but I think it’s telling. Clues and such have been hidden less artfully.

    I think this is the Producers telling us that the beginning of our story - Oceanic Airlines Flight 815’s departure of Sydney - is the key to the whole mystery.

    Now what that *really* means is anyone’s guess. Not mine. Anyone else’s. I just start the thoughts here, I hardly ever finish them.

    Or I could just be sleepy. Maybe I’m reading to much into it.

    Still, with the “game” changing rules and this being the “shape of things to come” would it really be that weird of the narrative to look backward yet again? At least from a resolution/explanation standpoint.

Bonus Links:

Onion AV Club Interview w/ Cuse & Lindelof
Jimmy Kimmel Interview w/ Cuse & Lindelof - Part 2 available Friday.
Notes from the ‘Lost’ set
Lost: Nine ways to die on The Island - Needs to be updated to include Alex’s death.

UPDATE: Best. Doc Jensen. Article. Ever. Seriously, I’m a rank amateur compared to this guy. The break has hobbled me. I’ll do better next week.