With Special Guest Star Smokezilla

"The Shape of Things to Come"

Last night's episode of LOST, the first in five weeks, opened up a lot of doors. I'm not going to summarize the episode, so if you haven't seen it, stay back, and if you have, clicking on the above link might be a good idea.

Time Shit: The body of the Doctor from the freighter washes up on the shore, throat slit (bad-TV-make-up-style), even though the dudes on the freighter claim the doctor is A-OK on their end. So wtf does this mean? We know that the Island is not, shall we say, "temporally consistent." But we're lead to believe, earlier in the season, that the Island is behind in time, not ahead.

After the Commandoes cap Alex, RoboGirlfriend turned and asked, "Why did he do that?" The "that" being Ben not turning himself in to save her. And I replied, "Because Ben is the biggest coward there is." It's something we've seen again and again, and looking at Ben's actions through the prism of cowardice makes total sense. Locke can talk to Jacob? Gotta shoot him -- or else he'll take over! NOOOO. Gotta get Ben out of the hatch? Get Michael to cap bitches for him (bitches as in people who die like them, not that they happened to be women). And either confront his fears and sacrifice himself to save his daughter or--

BLAM. BRAIN'D!

I like that the question we've been pondering since the end of Sayid's last episode -- why did he become Ben's private assassin? -- was answered. Though the look on Ben's face as he turns from Sayid, just after having Sayid sign on, betrayed his plan all along -- Ben, even in flashforwards, is still going to play people.

Then there was the Smoke-monster freight-train. Perhaps the coolest thing we've seen in any episode of LOST, is how I prefaced it when I returned to my RoboApt. where RoboRoommate v.2 was watching the TiVo'd ep. To be fair, it is the coolest thing we've ever seen in an episode of LOST. Though, like anything else in the show, all it does is raise more questions. What is the smoke-monster, and how did Ben control it?

Let's talk about Tunisia a second, and also the unnecessary titles that accompanied locations in the fast forward. Ben's in a desert. We get it. Dudes who look middle-eastern or North African show up on horses. Cool. I think we get it that we're not on the Island anymore, Toto. We don't need you to tell us we're in the Sahara. One, it's totally bad-ass that Ben has a bad-guy weapon, his ROD-O-DOOM. He's wearing a Dharma jacket, which may be a mislead -- I don't think he has anything legit to do with the project -- but I think it's also OK to assume that he traveled there via a means he has little control over. There are theories on the series-of-tubes that wormholes (or something) on earth are the reason some crazy shit happens. Because we know that Ben did not get to the middle of the desert via a trip to Fiji and a plane ride to wherever. Also, time-travel again rears its ugly head. "2005...?" "Yes, 2005." More questions, more questions, more questions.

And finally, the big bad showdown between Widmore and Ben. It's set up that they can't kill each other. Weird. Why not? It's also set up that this is a power-struggle much larger than the Island. And that perhaps Widmore and Ben have a peculiar history...

Widmore: Everything you have you stole from me.

Whoops. But it looks like Ben has set his destination for a show-down with Desmond (assuming Desmond is alive in the future) over the fate of Widmore's daughter, Penny, who looks to be the recipient of sweet (if misplaced) revenge.

I would like to comment on the lighting and set design in this show-down scene. Ben is wearing BLACK, and is in shadow and dark light. Widmore is lit completely by his bed-side lamp, and is wearing light colors. Light and dark. Good and evil. A struggle larger than we can imagine.

Sounds kind of hokey to me.

RoboGirlfriend turned to me after this scene to add a nice observation. "The game of RISK Sawyer and Hurley were playing... it was a metaphor for Ben and Widmore." Yes. It seems like it was. But with RISK, we know what the two are playing for -- amusement. In the LOST world, the stakes between Widmore and Ben are unknown, as is the reason it exists.

Here's to hoping we find out soon.

Back towards the beginning of the ep. I like that some of the Survivors get capped like there's no tomorrow. Sawyer rushes to one of them, who then gets a line. RoboRoommate v.1 turned to me and went, "Who's that guy?" That Guy delivered another line then -- BLAMMO. Obviously the Survivors who went with Locke aren't too bright -- they hear gunshots and all come running out of the cabins... and into bullets. That Guy gets capped? Wow, Lame Extra has to run out and investigate. Oh no, Lame Extra was shot! Chick Extra needs to find out what happened to Lame Extra! Oh no, she hit a wall of bullets. Of course, OF COURSE, when trying to shoot Sawyer, the Commandoes immediately become shitty shots. I suppose you could say it's because they weren't trying to kill him, they were trying to "convince him" (with bullets) to turn Ben over. OK. Sure. Whatever. Lame.

Claire was definitely not in that cabin when it es'ploded. She must have been outside. Otherwise she is indestructible. I do not think she is indestructible. I am, in fact, hoping she is completely destructible. I'm over Claire. She whines. A LOT.

On a tangential side note, when are Jack and Kate just going to bone? I mean, obvi she's kind of tainted by the Sawyer-love she's been on the receiving end of, but they just need to do it and get over it. Frealz.

A good resource for those of you nerding out over the ep, I give the Lostpedia, and it's entry on last night's episode.

Here's looking forward to next week. Maybe we'll get some more s'plosions. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for answers. But I know, I know, that's hoping for too much.

-RoboNixon