Lost (May 3): Two For the Road

Wherein what's going on is probably nothing like what's written below

We're down to the last four episodes and five hours (two-hour finale). Let's take a quick survey of where we're at and where we might be going. I'll do this in two parts, the first being where my thoughts are before the episode--getting them down for the record, and then reflections and tweaking after viewing Two For the Road, an Ana Lucia flashback.

First, if you're interested in spoilers, TV Tattle links to this story about ABC revealing the finales for Lost and Alias. Read if you wish, but do not mention or discuss here. At So Quoted, Lost discussions only involve what we know from what has been aired. No insider knowledge is allowed.

Podcast: Little, if any, useful information given out. As usual. Producers lay to rest the rumor that the loony bin maintenance man in Hurley's season 1 flashback was Henry Gale. It is not. We'll find out why Ana Lucia went to Australia. Rousseau may not be all she seems; we won't see her the rest of this season, but we will learn more of her story. Who impregnated Sun will be dealt with in Season 3.

Sayid: Back in the first or second episode Sayid was messing around the concrete wall and trying to figure out a way around it. This has never been mentioned again. I'm hoping this hasn't been forgotten and we'll find out that he's slowly been chipping away. My theory is that this is one of the corridors leading from the Swan Station to the unknown Question Mark (see Hatch maps).

Spies: I've previously said that "Rose is evil." I don't really believe this, though it would be fun. I do think it's a very likely possibility there is still a DHARMA spy in the group. At this point, the best bet is for an, as yet unseen, unknown red shirt. I'd also considered Libby, but she seems tied to Hurley in some other way. There is more to her story and she could still be a spy, I just think we'll find something else about her.

Mr. Eko: It has been confirmed that he is building a church. Why? Who knows. I've read a few guesses that the concept of sanctuary may come into play. Why is the drug plane with his brother on the island? This makes no sense.

Sawyer: Sawyer has the guns. Sawyer also convinced Charlie to attack Sun. Before the end of the season, Sawyer will throw Charlie under the bus and turn over the guns. Expect him to do something slightly heroic and redeeming.

Locke: Right now, Locke is the most confused. He know longer knows what to believe in or who to trust. He's almost convinced that nothing will happen if they stop entering the numbers.

Michael: He's back...whoot. Guess it's too much to hope that if the writers can't give him better lines than shouting "Walt!" or "He's my son!" they just kill him off. Wasted character.

Walt: In Lost time they've been on the island about 70 days. In the real world, it's been a year since we've seen Walt. He's probably grown a foot, has a beard, and speaks with a deep baritone. Explain that one with magical magnetic rocks.

Rousseau: I'm not convinced of her story. She's been marooned for 16 years and has never come across a hatch or met the others and hasn't run out of ammunition. Questions: where's her ship and what's up with that wire running from the beach toward her shelter. I think she's a plant from the Others (DHARMA). She gave the first explanation of the The Others, introduced Henry Gale into the group, and helped them find the medical Hatch when Claire didn't remember fast enough.

Henry Gale: Evil. His job is to screw with anyone he comes into contact with and sow mistrust. Don't think he reckoned on being tortured.

Desmond: He's the guy in charge. Let's forget that it's a complete coincidence that Locke even found the hatch; and then didn't even do a decent survey to see if there was a back entrance. Desmond was there to introduce the Losties when they broke in, explain the B.F. Skinner operation, then haul ass, leaving the Losties to figure it out for themselves. When Desmond left Locke could not track him because Desmond left no tracks (like The Others). No way only one person could be in charge of the numbers for a long period of time. You can't sleep more than 1.5 hours
at a time, so eventually you'd get so tired you'd sleep through the alarm. Desmond is the guy and we (the viewers) will find that out, though I'm not convinced that the Losties will know.

The smoke monster: No clue. Seems to leave you alone if you show no fear and have faith(?). How it works or why, I don't know. I'm guessing it's an out of control experiment.

The Others: At the start of season two I was convinced two groups of Others existed: one good, one bad. And the Losties would need to join forces with one to defeat the other. I've pretty much discounted this theory. Most likely just one group of DHARMA scientists. Some are violent, some are not. As a whole, they do not seem concerned that the Losties have killed a number of Others. As soon as the Losties plane crashed on the beach, The Others were there impersonating passengers.

What does it all mean?
Let's consider a few options:

• The plane crashed on purpose
  
• The plane crashed accidentally
  
• The plane didn't crash, the Losties have just been made to believe
  it has
  
• The Others are other strandees
  
• The Others are there on purpose as DHARMA scientists
  
• The DHARMA project went awry and they are stranded
  
• The DHARMA project did not go awry

I think The Others are DHARMA scientists and Desmond is in charge. Let's start there. This is a long-term project that predates his involvement, he's just the latest manager. But something still could have gone wrong with the project since he got there.

If the plane crashed, it must have been accidental. If on purpose, there are too many variables for what could have happened. I've mentioned this a few times, but I am becoming more and more attached to the idea that no plane crash occurred. We see it from the Losties perspective and they think they've crashed. The purpose is to study just a few of the passengers. Their circumstances were worked to get them on the plane; other passengers are coincidences.

Regardless of how they got there, I think they were put there purposely. And if so, then The Others are not stranded, and everything we've seen has been manufactured to cause certain reactions in the Losties. I think the map on the blast door is another red herring--not for us, though it works that way--but for the Losties. Everything they've found have been clues in a maze. The Losties were supposed to find the medical hatch and the costume makeup. It's to what end I can't figure out. None of this seems to square much with the DHARMA projects. Unless certain Losties were chosen for special characteristics it was felt the island would enhance.

If Desmond is the main guy, that makes Jack the clue to the whole thing. When Desmond met Jack in the stadium, he knew Jack was going to cure his future wife. Question is does Jack have some special ability the DHARMA people detected or did DHARMA intervene. We have not yet seen what caused Jack and his wife to split and I'm thinking whatever happened is related to DHARMA's interest in Jack.

By the end of the season we will have found the remaining six hatches and know much more about DHARMA. I'd like to see the Losties rescued in the season finale, but it turns out to be a DHARMA ship and they're still captives.

I think it's clear I have no idea what Lost is doing or where it's going. I blame Bush, but Kerry would have been worse.

Now let's watch "Two For the Road" and see what this adds and subtracts from it all

updated May 5, contains spoilers
The main lesson from this episode is that unprotected sex will kill you. Much like the slasher movies of the 1980s, rampant immorality will be punished.

So who is dead? (Note: I purposely did not watch the previews for next week, so any information given I do not have nor want.) Most likely Ana Lucia and Libby, and maybe Michael. I thought Michael shot himself in the chest but THE Wife is sure he shot himself in the shoulder. Either way, Michael has in some way been turned by The Others. I wasn't buying his "I saw one on the beach and followed him back to camp" speech any way. It just screamed 'trap'. Question is (assuming Michael is alive), did he willingly join The Others or has he been brainwashed/hypnotized/threatened. He did seem unnerved by shooting Libby. Was this because he was surprised, she was a good one to be saved, or she is one of The Others?

Hurley is going to freak and we'll probably get a tear-jerker of a dramatic scene from Jorge Garcia. On a lighter note, the thumbs up from Jin was hysterical.

Jack's dad is on a bender to meet his daughter? Did I hear that correctly? Who else thinks the woman he tried to see is Claire? He had a lot to say about fate; talking to Ana Lucia at the airport bar: "It's fate...so we can help each other now."

And finally Henry Gale admitted to being pure evil: You killed two of us. Good people who were leaving you alone. Other than stealing people in the middle of the night and Goodwin snapping that guy's neck and Charlie being strung up dead, yeah, I huess you were leaving them along. Asshole.

Henry was still trying to manipulate Locke, luckily Locke is tuned into it now. Henry professed to being afraid because "...the man in charge...is not a forgiving man" because Henry "failed my mission" which was "coming for you." Locke is intrigued, but closes the door. Not that it matters, I'll be very surprised if Henry is still there.

Where does this put the show with four hours left? It seems to me that The Others are trying to force the Losties to take aggressive and violent action. For what reason, I don't know.

That manuscript Sawyer was reading on the beach? You can buy the Bad Twin at Amazon.com:

Amazon.com Exclusive: Author Gary Troup delivered the manuscript for his hotly anticipated thriller, Bad Twin, just days before he boarded doomed Oceanic Flight 815. Watch the recently uncovered video clip of Gary Troup on Book Talk interviewed by Laird Granger talking about the controversy surrounding his mysteriously out-of-print first book, The Valenzetti Equation, and his new novel, Bad Twin.

Uh, no thank you.

Commenting on Throwing Things comments:
At Throwing Things they mention a Hanso phone number. We missed that. I guessing it's for the Lost game, which I've pretty much decided I won't be spending any time on. Oh, it was in a commerical. Also a vote for Claire being Jack's sister. Speculation that Jack's father was having an affair with Sarah, his daughter-in-law--sounds plausible.

Here's a good one pointing to Ana Lucia and Libby definately being dead:

I guess this explains what Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros were doing driving around Oahu drunk . . . not to mention why MR wanted to do five days in jail instead of committing to many many hours of community service in Hawaii.

Commenting on Begging to Differ comments:
Greg, at Begging to Differ, has more information on the "Lost Experience" interactive game. Also picks up on the 80s slasher film morality. Also has a rundown on the everyone's kill total. As I'm leaning towards Rousseau being one of The Others with the role of deceiving the Losties, I'm not believing anything she says about who she killed.

another comment
Here's one The Wife sent from a coworker. I'm not buying it and think it would be a stupid idea, BUT it is not completely out of bounds:

It also seems that Jack's dad is the common connection between alot of the survivors. This kind of goes along with my earlier theory that Jack's dad is in fact a part of the Dharma Initiative and he is the one running the show. We know he lost his medical license and was probably hurting for money. He could never work as a > "real" doctor again. I think he joined this Dharma experiment to do medical experimentation and that he faked his own death so his family would not know where he was. He went to this island where he is living and working with the Dharma group. I think he may even be "the one" and the man in charge that they talk about. We already know he is not a forgiving man. We have seen how he treated Jack his whole life, so that would be on par with the way Henry described the man in charge as not being a forgiving man. I think the fact that we have seen his connection with so many of the other survivors makes it seem even more likely that he is in fact on the island and and part of Dharma (like the writers are throwing in his connections to the other survivors to make it more of a surprise if indeed he is part of Dharma.) When Jack was hallucinating and thought he saw him, that could have actually been him, running into he forest. And it totally makes sense that with the way this show is written, the two "groups" on the island, one is led by Jack, and the other is led by his father.