My LOST Re-Watch

I started to re-watch this season not only with the special edition Dharma package, but with Nikki Stafford's Finding Lost: Season 5. This book is not a play-by-play of each episode, or as the author herself states, is not a substitute for watching Season 5 if you are trying to catch up. This book is a guide to read along with or after you watch each episode, or even after you've watched the entire season. I have almost finished this book, so this book has been both of the options above for me.

I read Stafford's Season 4 edition last year when I stumble upon it in the downtown library. Not only does she give a summary of the episode, but points out little details you might have missed, a list of all The Numbers used in each episode, plot holes, notable deaths and injuries, and deep cultural reference analysis. The last part is what I find to be quite useful. Stafford takes the books and movies read and watched by the characters in this show and gives the reader a detailed cliff note version of that piece of literature. She then analyzes this piece and relates it to what is going on in this episode, and how it is relevant to the entire story. Books like The Invention Of Morel and Valis were among the few mentioned in Season 4, and had me waiting eagerly for Season 5 to come out in November.

I began to read before I started watching because I had to wait for my special package in the mail. The book was a good pick-me-up until the real thing came along, and got me thinking over Christmas break.

I'd almost forgotten how much I loved this show. I had almost let the wonder and awe, and yes, the utter joy I get from watching this series slip away from my mind completely. No wonder long distant relationships never work. You forget the good times, and focus solely on how that person has abandoned you. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, LOST. I'm sorry I compared Heroes to you so many times, just because it was the closest thing around me at the time. LOST is so much meatier and fulfilling than any other show could be, and Stafford's book had so many references flowing through my head, it made me appreciate this season and series more than ever.

I started re-watching Season 5 to prepare for Season 6 like most people do when a season comes out on DVD. I got the special edition which I pictured earlier, so I was extra excited to watch everything again in case I missed or forgot anything. I didn't forget anything, per se, but I was immediately drawn into the world Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof created. It was as if I hadn't even seen any of this before. It was as if seeing the island disappear into the ocean was as surprising as ever, even though I knew exactly how and why it happened.

I'm not going to go into insane details like I did with Prison Break, because that was a disaster, and LOST is a thousand times more detailed than Prison Break. What I will do, however, is briefly go over the elements that really stuck out to me in this season. Those that I liked, and those that I did not. I will start off with how beautiful the synergy of John Locke's interactions with Richard Aplert all match up with the flashbacks we saw from last season. The scene where Richard takes the bullet out of John's leg and tells him he has to die in order to bring his people back to the island is so memorable and chilling.... it's fantastic.

The fact that John is the one who caused all of those scenes of Richard in his childhood does make one question his 'specialness', though. Is he actually the leader? Or did the events just unfold that way because of what he believed or remembered? I think the island sent him to those exact times for a reason. I believe in John Locke, no matter what.

While John, Sawyer, Juliet, Faraday, Miles, and Charlotte skip through time burying hydrogen bombs and watching Aaron's birth, Jin is separated from the others due to the blast of the freighter. He runs into Rousseau's team of scientists and witnesses everything that she told Sayid. He sees them crashland onto the island with their inflatable raft. He sees all of them get pulled underneath the Temple by the smoke monster. He sees them come out and turn on each other, forcing Rousseau to shoot her own husband before he kills her. So awesome to see all of this play out before our eyes.

A few flashes later, Charlotte and everyone has bloody noses. Charlotte falls and dies in Daniel's arms. She tells him that when she was a child a scary man told her never to come back to the island or she would die. She tells Daniel that he was that man, and then she bites the dust. I didn't really get time to care about this character, so her death is sad, but not terrible. I'm more heartbroken over Daniel's sadness than her actual passing.

John and friends continue on after meeting young versions of Widmore and Eloise, and they eventually find the orchid station. It is covered by a well in whatever time period they are in, and John is lowered down by Sawyer before another time warp happens, and the rope breaks. This sends John plummeting down to the ground, breaking his tibia in the process. He screams out and is visited by Christian who tells him he has to bring his people back to the island. John tells Christian that Richard told him that in order to do that he has to die. Christian barely bats an eye and says "I guess that's why it's called sacrifice, John."

That quote could be uncouth, or humorous if you look at it in the right way, but I don't see it that way. John Locke is forever the Christlike figure, and it is no coincidence that a man named Christian is telling him that it is called 'sacrifice' for a reason. John accepts his fate, and, with a broken leg, moves the island once more. Very selfless. Very Christlike.
He ends up in the middle of the desert like Ben did when he first moved the island, and is picked up by a truck full of natives. He wakes up in a hospital where they set his leg, and is being watched by who else but the powerful Charles Widmore.

Damn that Widmore, always lurking around every large financial corner of the show.... Anyways, Widmore fixes John's leg (financially) and sets up a fake identity for him. He sends him off to find all of the people that got off of the island, and convince them to come back. One might think that it is odd that Richard, Ben, and Widmore all have the same plan for John Locke. This often never happens considering that Widmore was banished off of the island when Ben took the role as leader. One might also think that, once John finds all of his friends, Widmore will use them to try to find the island again. What a jerk, huh?

The rest of the flashbacks/present day business is showing all of our friends off the island. Desmond makes a baby with Penny on a boat, Jack gets engaged to Kate then ruins it, Sayid marries Nadia then works for Ben when she dies, Sun gets some balls and outwits her father, and Hurley is back in an insane asylum. All normal stuff, right? I guess. The only un-normal thing? John still hasn't convinced any of them to come back. They think he is crazy, so he is drawn to his last resort to get them all to come together...
Don't jump! John? John? I'm coming in.... Benjamin Linus stops John from killing himself by running into his hotel room which was apparently unlocked. I guess if you are going to kill yourself, you don't really care about who comes in after the fact, right? I don't know, but Ben talks him down right before taking the wire and strangling him to death. Locke told Ben he knew he had to die, so maybe Ben though he had to be killed and not kill himself? Stafford mentioned that killing oneself is a straight ticket to hell in most religions, and since this show is an extremely spiritual if not religious show, that bit of information is probably important.

This is how John Locke ends up in the coffin. This is how Jack goes crazy and almost jumps off a bridge in Season 4. This is why no one came to the mysterious man's funeral. Aha. Ben quickly cleans up his mess and makes it look like John killed himself in the fashion he had originally intended to. He then converts Jack to work with him and bring John's body back to the island. At this point everyone but Hurley is in Los Angeles, and they have a meeting by the dock with a lot of yelling and a lot of guns. No one gets shot or killed in this scene, however, and Ben convinces a few of them to go to a church with him. These few people are Sun, Jack, and Desmond who is there for "different reasons".

The church has a Dharma station underneath it (of course) and it is called The Lamp Post. It is where people make up equations to find where the Island could be at any given time, depending on where the giant pendulum is moving. I won't get into it because I really don't understand it. I just accept it and move on. Eloise tells them they all need to recreate the original flight as much as they can so that they can go back to the island and help their friends. She would also like them to try and help her son, but whatever, I guess that's not important to her at the time.

Jack, Kate, Ben, and Sun all book tickets on the same plane to go to "Guam". Hurley is there with a guitar case (Charlie), Sayid is there in handcuffs somehow, and Lapidus ends up being their captain. Coincidences? There are no coincidences on the LOST Island. Stafford brings up a good point at this point in her book. She explains that Jack has become John Locke, and Kate has become Jack Shephard. Jack believes that they are all here for a reason, and that everything is going to be okay. Kate just says that it's a coincidence because they all wanted to go to Guam. Man of science, man of faith, anyone? It's good to see Jack is a growing, round character at this point.

It's good because as Jack read's John Locke's suicide note that is addressed to him and reads "I wished you would have believed me.", the plane starts freaking out, and our beloved white light shines with a loud POP! Jack wakes up in the jungle exactly like he did in Season 1, but is near a lagoon where he saves Hurley from drowning and quickly finds Kate passed out on the bank. The three of them wander around aimlessly looking for the rest of their "friends". They think that they are alone until Jin pulls up in a Dharma van, expressing that they are in 1977. Hooray.

But where is everyone else? Where are Sun, Ben, Lapidus, Sayid, and these other characters on the plane? They are in 2007 somehow, and Sun and Ben go to the main island to go to the Dharma barracks. John Locke resurrects and follows Sun and Ben so they can find Jacob. John wants to "Thank" jacob for resurrecting him, and Sun wants to know how to find her husband. Ben wants to be judged for his actions (letting his daughter die), so the three of them become a weird team. Lapidus stays behind and hangs out with the woman who had Sayid in handcuffs, and her friend Noah, I believe his name is. Ilana knocks Lapidus out and she says he is a candidate for something even though he doesn't know "What lies in the shadow of the statue." Whatever that means, right?

Sun and Ben meet Christian in a house and he shows them a picture of Jin, Kate, and Jack in the Dharma Initiative in the 1970's. He tells Sun she is in for a long journey to find her husband, and the three of them go off to find Richard and then Jacob.... I think.

Back in the 1970's, a role reversal much more intense than that of Jack and Kate being Locke and Jack and all of that noise happens. Juliet, Miles, and Sawyer have all been integrated and accepted into the Dharma Initiative. Even more crazy is that they are all respected as equals, and Sawyer is the head of Security, going by the alias of James LeFleur.

Yes, yes, the con man we all know and love is the authority figure that the Dharma Initiative has come to fear and respect. Nice turn of events, LOST. It shows progressively how our group of time travelers get to this point. It shows that James tells everyone to let him do the talking because he has lied professionally for all of his life. I am sure glad they all followed his lead, because he talked his way out of a huge war between the hostile and the DI. He calmed Richard down and took blame for two Hostile bodies. He put fear in the eyes of the people we've only heard rumors about or got glimpses of in Ben's flashbacks. James has been a much better leader than Jack ever was, and when Jack finally meets up with him, he doesn't restrain himself from telling him so.

Unlike beating James up like most of us anticipate, Jack sits back and lets James call the shots. he goes through orientation and lets James put him in a janitorial position. Kind of ironic and humorous, but he could really care less at this point. He is on the island, where he needs to be, and he admits to James later that it is nice to have someone else calling the shots for once.

Yes, the man from the Orientation video exists. His real name is Dr. Pierre Chang. He is actually Miles' father, which means that Miles was born on this island, and left shortly after being born. Nice how all of that connects, isn't it? We also see things like Ethan being born and a young Benjamin Linus being abused both mentally and physically by his father, Roger (Workman).

Sayid is shortly found in 1977, unlike previously alluded to before (my bad). He was somewhere in the jungle and Jin finds him while he is at work with a few other Dharma folk. This might seem to be a good thing considering the fact that we though we had lost him in the crash, but the other Dharma folk label him as a hostile, and Jin is forced to place him in a holding cell back home. Wah wah wah..... A young Ben Linus sees Sayid in the holding cell and befriends him. He gives him food and a book called A Separate Reality which, on the DVD commentary, the producers encourage the audience to read and analyze.

What can I say about this book? I didn't even read it and I hated it. Stafford gives a very thorough description of A Separate Reality and it is basically the second book of a trilogy some guy in the 1970's passed off as his thesis. He used the New Age Movement as a legitimate reason to go down to Mexico, find some Native American shamans, and exploit their religious and spiritual use of peyote to get high and hallucinate. I know why the producers wanted the audience to read this. I know why it ties into LOST and all of its mythology and spirituality. But come on. This guy was a crock.

Did this book describe reaching different realms of realities by using smoke (a smoke monster) and encourage people to stop thinking so logically and just appreciate the spiritual world for what it is? Did it describe the specialness of someone who came along an ancient culture who could one day lead them all? Did it describe hallucinating about seeing dead people from one's past that told them things they needed to know about their future? Yes, yes, and yes. But this guy used something sacred to a group of people and just used it to get high as a kite. I read excerpts from these pieces of "literature" and was unimpressed. It sounded like some of my old hippie friends from a past life of mine discussing a bad trip. This man is unprofessional, and was eventually found out and no longer allowed to turn his thesis is on this subject. Although I am glad I read about this book, I am also glad that I did not actually read it. Sorry Damon Lindelof. Sorry Carlton Cuse. Sorry young Ben Linus.

Sayid is broken out of prison by this young Ben, and Sayid shoots him in return, thinking that he can undo all of the bad things Ben has done in his adult life. He shoots him in the chest and runs away before Jin finds him and brings him back to Dharmaville. There Juliet and her team of surgical nurses try their best to save the young Ben, but the prognosis is bleak. He is losing too much blood, and the Dharma initiative isn't very prepared for stuff like this.

Kate comes in and decides to help Juliet save the young child. Has she gone crazy in her travels? Does she remember Ben putting her in a polar bear cage for his amusement? Or has raising Aaron over the past three years given her a different perspective on life? As much as I hate Kate's character, this decision makes me hate her a little less. It is a completely selfless act on her part, which is something we have never really seen her do before. Even taking Aaron under her wing was a selfish act to begin with. When confronted by Jack with the logic of "That's Ben!"

Kate just looks at him and says "It's not Ben yet. .... I can't let a kid die."

She then finagles Ben out of the infirmary and into a Dharma jeep. She explains to Jack that Miles' and Hurley's conversation of "Whatever Happened, Happened" backs up her every move. She says that she was always supposed to save Ben and turn him over to Richard. She says that this will set in motion everything that has already happened, they just hadn't yet experienced it for themselves. Jack's take on this theory is that if it already happened in the past, he will just sit back and let it happen to him. Logically, he always just sat back and watched Sawyer run the town. I think his ego is still shot and he's just making up excuses to be damaged and lazy.

The theory of "Whatever Happened, Happened" is from Daniel Faraday who inherently returns in this episode from doing experiments in Ann Arbor, MI at the Dharma headquarters. He comes into Sawyer and Juliet's house after Miles and Hurley have a very detailed conversation about the results of time travel. The basis of this theory is that one cannot change the future by doing something in the past. One can die in the past because it is that person's present, so to speak, but it is still linearly the world's past. It is said that Sayid always shot Ben, and Juliet and Sawyer always lived in a house together in 1977, they just didn't remember it because it was in their own personal future. The universe will always course correct itself and make the linear time line happen the way it is supposed to. Got it? Good.

Now, Sawyer helps Kate take Benjamin over the sonic fence border to Richard. Richard taked Ben into his arms and says that if he does what they ask, then "He will lose his innocence" and never be the same again. He then proceeds to take him into the Temple through a door we have never seen before, and that is the end of the scene. This leaves the viewer to believe that the Temple not only judges people for their actions, but can save them from dying. But if it can save them, what did Richard mean by "lose his innocence"? Is the smoke monster going to pop young Ben's cherry? Is the smoke monster going to make him evil, and erase his old memories of the DI? Is it going to make him more powerful? Is the smoke monster even involved in this ritual? Another set of questions that have to wait until Season 6, I guess. Ugh.

Upon Faraday's arrival, he convinces Jack and Kate that while "What Happened, Happened" is a formidable theory, he now believes in free will. He believes he can change things, and tells them he needs them to take him to his mother, Eloise. She was the one that brought the Oceanic 6 back to the island at The Looking Glass Station, and is the woman who explained Desmond's destiny in episodes like "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "The Constant." She is pretty much the founder of "Whatever Happened, Happened." The only bad thing? She is the leader of The Others in 1977, so getting an audience won't be as easy as Daniel wishes.

Kate, Jack and Dan all hop in a jeep together and go across the sonic border once again to the jungle. They had to steal some guns from the motor pool beforehand, and got in a pretty heated gunfight with Radzinski in the process. Oh well, at least they didn't follow them into the jungle, right? Right. Dan is grazed by a bullet but will survive after Jack looks it over. Just a flesh wound, Dan.

The three find The Other's camp quite quickly (I guess they weren't on the move in 1977), and Dan takes it upon himself to hold a gun up as he enters the camp, demanding to speak with Eloise. He is awkward and almost seems like he is waiting for something to happen... he finds Richard who is sitting down drinking some tea or coffee or water or something, and points his gun at him. Richard is unarmed, save for his mug, and tries to calm Daniel down. He talks to him for a bit and then....

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daniel! Daniel, noooooooo! Don't die! What? What? But you were so.... you were supposed to..... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daniel is shot by his own mother and falls flat on his back, his beloved Diary in his jacket. Jack and Kate are astounded as they watch from the treeline, and Eloise shows absolutely no mercy about her actions. "He had a gun on you." She tells Richard.

Even HE is astonished. "He wasn't going to shoot me!" Fucking Eloise. You are so grounded.

Daniel looks up at the woman who he knows to be his mother and a tear falls down his face. He tells her that she knew all along that this was going to happen. He scolds her that she sent him here to die, and didn't do a thing to stop it. He dies with a broken heart. So terrible. I remember watching this episode and freaking out. I couldn't believe my eyes. Had they really just killed Daniel off? Was he really gone? The man with all of the answers? The one who was going to inherently save us all?

I guess so.
This brings me to a section of my blog I would like to call Dear Richard Alpert. I have so many questions for this guy, I decided to write them all down in the form of a friendly letter. Here goes:

Dear Richard Alpert,

Who are you?
How old are you, really?
Are you a pirate?
Are you Egyptian?
Are you from Ancient Rome and that is why you speak Latin?
Is that why all of The Others speak Latin, because you taught it to them, and made it the language of the land?
Did I just answer my own question? I think I did. Yes.
What is the real purpose of The Others?
What do you even do on a daily basis?
Do you just sit around the campfire drinking tea, discussing "Who's your favorite Other"?
Were you the leader before Eloise?
How do you know all of the secret passages into the ruins?
Why are you so strong?
Can you regenerate like Claire Bennet from Heroes, or are you just un-aging?
Do you know what the smoke monster is? Can you tell me?
Why didn't you time-jump along with Locke and the others?
Are you a part of the island?
How does Ilana know to ask for you?
Is Ricardus your real name?
Are worldly things such as love and relationships below you?
Could you learn to love me if they weren't?

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Brittany

Kate and Jack go into the camp a little more calmly than Daniel had, and explain to Eloise that Daniel is her son. She finds his Diary in his jacket, and reads the inscription written on the cover in her own handwriting. She then invites them into her tent and they tell her that Daniel had a plan to correct the future. They tell her that they need to detonate a bomb to counteract the Incident of electromagnetism so that none of the bad stuff in the future can happen. She agrees to go and help them, as long as Richard goes along with her, and the four of them are on their way to get a bomb.

Meanwhile, in 2007, John Locke has resurrected, and brought Ben and Sun along with him to find Richard and The Others. Mmmm. There is so much Richard in this finale, it is so awesome. Anyways, Richard greets John Locke like an old friend, but after he demands to be taken to Jacob, Richard gets a little suspicious. He voices this concern to Ben who isn't really any help in this situation, and the lot of people just sort of follow Locke on his journey across the island.

Richard is right to have his suspicions, though. He says he's never heard of anyone rising from the dead before, and that it is probably because of Jacob. John counters his suspicions by saying that he's never seen someone that doesn't age before, but it doesn't mean it can't happen. Touche, John Locke, touche.

"I'm this way because of Jacob."

That's the only clue to Richard's backstory we get in this segment. Thanks a lot, world. He confronts Locke and takes his answers with a grain of salt. As he follows the entirely "New Locke" to Jacob's layer, it is revealed to the audience that John Locke's dead body is in a metal crate being carried by Ilana and her group of misfit toys. This was a huge shock, and can only mean one thing.... Locke is still dead. Dammit. The one thing that sucks that I didn't really think about the first time I watched this was how sad John Locke's death is. Not the fact that he died, but the fact that no one cared. John Locke spent his whole life trying to be special, to fulfill his destiny and to do the right thing. He was always unappreciated, doubted, betrayed, and abandoned in the end. Because the audience knew that John Locke was walking and talking on the island after the Ajira crash, John Locke's death was almost as unimportant as his life felt to him. We just assumed he would come back to life, so our reaction to his actual death is sub par. I don't even remember mourning over the passing of my favorite enigmatic character, which is a big damned shame.

R.I.P. John Locke. You were the best character on a television show. Ever.

So who is this bald guy convincing Ben that when they reach Jacob, Ben is going to have to kill him for him? Who is this man with all of the answers and confidence to order Richard and Ben around as if they were Boone and Charlie in Season 1?

Well, let me give you the rundown. At the beginning of the last episode, we open with a man in white making an Egyptian tapestry in what looks like The Temple. He catches a fish, eats it, and sits back as he watches an old pirate ship get closer to the island. At first no one knew who this man was, or what was going on in this scene, but of course we all knew that it was important.

A man dressed in black walks up to him and sits down, asking him if he brought the ship here on purpose.

The Man In Black: "It always ends the same, they come here, they corrupt, and destroy." He clearly believes in destiny, and the fact that people are inherently evil and selfish.

The Man In White counters him by claiming that "It only ends once; everything up until then is only progress." Clearly he believes in free will, and that people are inherently good in nature.

"Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?" The Man In Black stares at his counterpart.

"Yes."

"Someday I will find a loophole....It's always nice talking with you, Jacob."

Jacob?............................Jacob?................................Jacob! Bladow! The big supreme being we have heard so much about... the man behind the curtain is finally revealed! The scene is so cryptic and subtle, it was everything I wanted and more. And I didn't even think that I was going to be able to see Jacob this soon. Such a good move, Lost. I almost forgive you for killing Daniel. Almost.

While Jack, Richard, Eloise, and Sayid (yes, Sayid switched places with Kate as she went to grab Sawyer and Juliet off of the escape sub) find the bomb in the temple, we see flashbacks of our Beloved Jacob. We see that not only has he been around long enough to see the Black Rock land on the island, but has played pivotal roles in the lives of the Oceanic 6. He touches each one of them individually, coming out of nowhere in very pivotal points in their lives. He touches Jack after he cuts the dural sac on the young girl at work, he touches Kate after stealing a lunchbox, and Locke after falling out of his father's building. He touches Jin and Sun on their wedding day, blessing their marriage. He touches Sayid after he returns from the island and distracts him while his wife is run over by a car. Yeesh. And finally he touches Hurley when he gets out of prison and into a cab. He tells Hurley that there is a plane going to Guam, and that he should get on it to go back to the island. He leaves him with a guitar case in remembrance of Charlie. He tells Hurley that he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to, but the plane is there and he should think about getting on it. He leaves, and we are once again reminded about his firm belief in free will.

Clearly his influence means something, and clearly, it worked. The Oceanic 6 are all on the island, even if they aren't all in the same time period. Jacob is also shown to have a flashback with the mysterious character Ilana. She is in a hospital in Russia, I believe, and is bandaged up to the point where you can only see one eye and her mouth. Jacob comes to visit her with gloves and a coat on, and does NOT touch her. The two of them speak in Russian, and she says she is glad to see him. He asks her if she is willing to help him, and she agrees, bandages and all. This scene makes my head spin. The way they were talking means that they have had a semi-casual relationship before, and that this girl is in a lot deeper than we thought. It does, however, disprove my theory that she is working for Widmore. So that is nice.

Her and her friends arrive at Jacob's residence with Locke's body in towe, and she asks which one is Ricardus. Clearly she is Jacob's right hand if she knows to ask for Ricardus, right? Right?

"It's Richard, actually." Richard, who are you kidding? We all know you are a bajillion years old.

"What lies in the shadow of the statue?" She asks him this as she has asked a few others in hopes to find whatever she is looking for. Richard is the first man to answer her correctly. In Latin, he responds:

"The one who will save us all".

Well, it's really a shame he let Fake John Locke con him into opening the Shadow of the Statue for both Ben and Locke to visit Jacob. Ilana shows Richard John Locke's dead body, but it is too late for Richard to do anything... or so he makes it seem.

"John Locke" told Ben that he wasn't going to kill Jacob when they reach the statue, but that Ben was going to. Ben looked apalled at this statement, and asked why he had to kill Jacob. Kind of a nice twist, Ben fearing the act of taking someone's life and all, but he went along with it until now. Until now, Ben talked with Richard and shared suspicions and gave Sun fake answers about the island. Until now, Ben was scared to death that John Locke was alive and well when he strangled him to death in his own hotel room.

But now the two of them are in Jacob's lair, and Jacob is sitting in a chair, just waiting for them. He is calm and cool and looks at John Locke.

"I guess you found your loophole."

"I guess I did." Duhn duhn duhn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ben is just as surprised as we are watching this interaction. Sure, we figured there was something wrong with "John Locke", but we weren't thinking it was something this cataclysmic. Ben looks at Jacob and asks if they know each other, and Jacob syas that yes, in a matter of speaking, they do. "John Locke" looks at Ben and tells him to do what he came here to do, and Jacob stands up to come and talk to Ben.

"Whatever he told you.... you have a choice." Jacob is comforting and calm,much like Richard always is. Even in his most dire moment, he still preaches that Benjamin has a choice, to walk away or to do what "John" told him to do.

When "John Locke" told Ben that he wanted him to kill Jacob, Ben questioned his logic. "John Locke" tells Ben that he has lived here all of his life, and has never seen the man that gives him orders. He tells him that despite his loyalty, he contracted a tumor in his spine, and watched his own daughter die before his eyes. "John Locke" then asks him why he wouldn't want to kill Jacob, and then quickly walks away.

This doubt-ridden speech leaves Ben to mull his whole life with The Others over. When "John" tells Ben to come with him into the statue, he follows with little reluctance. Now that they are in Jacob's presence, and "John" tells him to do the deed, he unleashes his feelings. When Jacob told Ben that he had a choice, he almost wells up with tears. He asks Jacob what choice ha had? He says that all of his life he has been hearing songs and praises of his name. Things have happened to him 'because Jacob wants it to happen'. He claims that he has done everything Jacob asked him to and then some, but has gotten nothing in return. He says that he had to pretend to talk to an invisible man in a chair to make it seem to John Locke that he really was worthy of an audience with Jacob. He says that he has requested an audience with Jacob after all of the fighting, and all of those lists he would give him, but not. Ben was told that he had to be patient. Ben was told that he needed to wait to see Jacob and that everything will happen in due time.

He looks at "John Locke" and says that Jacob talked to John, and John could physically see him. He said that John asked Richard to see Jacob, and he gets marched right up to his statue. John didn't have to wait or be patient like Ben did, and Ben has been doing all of the work for over 16 years now. Ben looks up at Jacob with the knife in his hand and stares at him like a child. He has lost his faith in a god that he has been raised to love and respect, but everything was taken away from him. His loyalty, faith, and devotion to his god has gone unnoticed, and he wants answers. Who can blame him?

"What about me?" Ben stares at Jacob, hoping to get an apology or a reward, or.... something.

"What about you?"

Poor Benjamin Linus' faith is not just broken, but shattered into a thousand pieces with these words. No wonder he finds it easy to follow "John Locke"'s instructions. Ben stabs Jacob several times. Jacob falls to the ground and barely gets out the words "They're coming," before he dies and is tossed into the fire by "John Locke". What could he have meant by that, "They're coming"? Does he mean Ilana and her random group of myspace friends? Or does he mean the Oceanic 6 if their plan works? Or does he mean someone else? Only time will tell.........

And speaking of time, Jack and Sayid have managed to get the core of the bomb out of its huge shell, and are transporting it through Dharmaville to the Swan station. Richard knocked Eloise out and refused to go with Jack the rest of the way, so it is the old gang again. Jin, Hurley, and Miles picked up Sayid and Jack after Sayid was shot, and they drive to the Swan. Sayid is losing blood, and the plot is losing time, and of course, Juliet, Kate, and Sawyer make a road block to stop the detonation of the bomb.

They stop the car and Sawyer and Jack fight it out over destiny and Kate and doing the right thing and the love of Juliet and whatever. Jack tells him it needs to be done so they all decide to just sort of... go with it. Damned flipfloppers. The gang of Losties goes to the Swan station, and the magnetic pocket of energy has been breached by the drill Radzinski is running. It is only a few moments before they can detonate this bomb, destroy the pocket of energy, and reset their lives.

The bad thing about this idea, even though it sounds like it might work, and it is written down in Daniel Faraday's journal? The bad thing is that they could be causing the very incident they are trying to stop in the first place, as Miles brings up before everything gets intense. The bad thing is that John Locke will never know a purpose in his life. The bad thing is that Daniel will never get better, even though he dies. The bad thing is that no one will remember these life-changing events in their lives. The bad thing is that Kate will still be in handcuffs, and Sawyer will be a con-man, and John Locke's dad will still be alive, and Nikki and Paulo will be as well. The bad thing is.......


NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Juliet gets caught by some tangly chains that pull her toward the tunnel of doom Radzinski had just drilled. So much for science, assholes. Kate sees her first and grabs her, and then she yells at Sawyer to come help her. It is one of the most emotional scenes in this series to date. Sawyer is half-in the tunnel as the chains pull her down, and Kate is trying to reach down and get the chains off of her, but it is impossible. Sawyer is crying as he holds onto his love and says that he won't let go, but she says that it's okay. Her last words are "I love you so much," and she lets go, falling into the electromagnetic abyss. She lands at the bottom right next to the hydrogen bomb that still hasn't gone off yet, and smashes it with a rock until the screen goes white and LOST comes across as the end of the season. I cry every time I watch this part, and I don't care who knows it. I have always been a Juliet fan, and her demise was definitely the most heartbreaking. Yes, it was even more terrible than Daniel's death. But that's because part of me thinks that Daniel knew he was going to die in the first place, but that is neither here nor there.

Why was this scene so sad? Why do we care about Juliet, and inherently, no longer care for Kate? I think that Kate is selfish, and, even though she does not try to 'steal' Sawyer back in any way, Juliet notices changes in his behavior upon the Oceanic 3's return. She notices he calls her Freckles again, and when Rose and Bernard talk about just being together and happy, she looks at Sawyer while Sawyer looks at Kate. Her life has been riddled with divorce and disappointment from her early childhood. Her parents were divorced, she had a cheating husband who she divorced but still worked for until Richard found her, and the only man she loved on the island was married to someone else. Maybe they weren't in love, but after Ben found out about this affair, he set this man up to be killed by the Tail section of Oceanic 815 survivors. Nothing lasts forever to her, so when Kate returns, it is like everyone she has ever been with all over again. And all she wanted to do was get her cancerous sister pregnant. She was going to change the world! She was amazing. Ugh, dammnit, electromagnetism, you stole our last good female character away from us.

R.I.P. Juliet Burke. You were amazing and misunderstood and good-hearted and beautiful. I'm sorry this had to happen to you.

So that's it. The end of Season 5. I watched it really fast, and actually took more time reading up on it and writing this damned thing than I did viewing actual LOST footage. But, that's what you get for being obsessed, I guess. I will leave this entry with a few questions I want answered by the end of all of this.

What is Frank Lapidus a candidate for?

Who is Ilana?

Will we get a Richard backstory?

Who can kill the smoke monster?

What's with the Whispers?

Can you bring Daniel back?

Thank you ever, ever, so much.

Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.