Television: Revolution, "Fear and Loathing"

Where were we? Oh, right, Monroe & Son had been caught trying to steal diamonds in New Vegas; Charlie had helped them but escaped. Neville & Son were hitting up Miles and Rachel in hopes of bagging Monroe and dragging him back to the Patriot President so as to save Julia. And Aaron and Priscilla were being held hostage by their old friend Peter. All three of them were suffering from the nanos appearing to them, but while Peter was using this as some kind of pseudo religion, Aaron and Priscilla were less enthusiastic. Hence the Peter locking them into a hotel room part.

Truly, the situations in this show only get increasingly ridiculous. While, at the same time, the characters find themselves in the same kinds of predicaments over and over again. So that there's never any real sense of progress. And it's starting to get dull as well as dumb.

In tonight's foray, Charlie managed to save Monroe and Colin by first saving the life of Duncan, thus meaning she owed Charlie. (Sure, I could go into the whole dog fight story, but God, who really cares?) The sum total of the story line was that Duncan gave Charlie five of those big, brawny types that Monroe had been hoping to purchase with the diamonds he tried to steal. The big twist being that these guys will only take orders from Charlie, not Monroe Dum or Monroe Dee. Not much of a twist at all, really. More like a cute tweak.

And the Miles/Rachel/Neville/Jason thing? The only progress we managed to make there was that Neville finally came clean and admitted he was only there to get Monroe so he could save Julia. He offered to come back and help Miles and Rachel clean out some Patriots once Julia was safe, but . . . Miles wasn't for it. Instead of simply saying, "Well too bad because Monroe isn't here," he inexplicably decided to go with, "Monroe is with us now, so you can't have him." Uh . . . Now we're just creating drama for the sake of it, and never mind that Miles has enough other problems not to have to make more for himself. This is me rolling my eyes.

Finally, in the Aaron story, the nanos begin begging Aaron, Priscilla, and Peter to save them. Priscilla insists they should let the nanotech die out. Peter of course feels quite the opposite. Aaron asks how they can possibly find whatever glitch in the computer code is causing the problem without, you know, a computer. But duh, the nanos can fire one of those up for them, no prob. So then we went through the very vogue let's-have-writing-all-over-every-wall thing until Aaron announced he'd found the flaw in the code. Now I could tell right away what he was doing, and Priscilla's reaction only confirmed it. So it was no big surprise when whatever "fix" Aaron was inputing into the computer began to actually kill off the nanotech. Derp. Made me wonder how this Peter guy had ever been useful at all if he couldn't spot the issue the moment Aaron had pointed out the "problem" on the wall—that is, Peter literally couldn't read the writing on the wall, or at least not make any sense of it. "You always were the smart one," was Peter's throwaway line, but then what the fuck did Peter do to help create this nanotech?

My other issue with this was: Why did the nanos let Aaron input this kill code? If they were the ones running the computer, why not shut it down the moment they realized what Aaron was doing? Instead they just kept saying, "You're killing us . . ."

The final scene of the episode had Aaron waking up in 2014 to a world as we know it: electricity, cars, etc. Apparently we're going the Lost alternate timeline route now. Sigh.

What we need more of—what we've had precious little of this season—is Miles + Monroe + Neville. These three play off one another so well, their little bitchy exchanges . . . That's worth watching. The rest of it has become something of a repetitive, derivative drag. I wonder whether Revolution will even see another season, and whether I'd miss it at all if it didn't.

Television: Intelligence, "Secrets of the Secret Service"

So a couple of American "journalists" get captured in Syria and are accused of being spies. We know right off the bat that they probably aren't journalists. How? Well, for one thing, it won't take a whole hour for Gabriel to break them free, so there has to be more to the story. For another, the way the woman (Emily) behaves suggests there's something else going on. (The poor guy cast as the male journalist doesn't even get any lines; he just hangs there, and later just lies there, and then we find out he dies. Geez, why even have him? But I guess a credit is a credit.)

A former president—the one to sign off on Project Clockwork, in fact—goes to Syria Clinton-style to negotiate for the journalists' release. But the real plan is to have Gabriel, and by extension Riley, break the journalists out. Gabriel and Riley are attached to the FP's (can't remember his name) Secret Service detail. Riley is right at home, since this was what she used to do. And of course Gabriel is amused at seeing Riley interact with old friends/flames . . .

It strikes me that Josh Holloway is pretty much doing his Sawyer thing, only less heavily. Gabriel is Sawyer Lite. That's not a criticism. This isn't a bad thing. In fact, I find Gabriel far more tolerable than I ever did Sawyer. And so his needling of Riley is more fun than the way he used to needle Kate.

Anyway, of course Gabriel gets into where the journalists are being held, only to be told by Emily that they are actually CIA and unless Gabriel rescues their target—an American scientist who has something to do with missile guidance systems—they (the journalists) will not go with Gabriel. The logic being that if the CIA agents break out, the scientist will be moved and they'll lose track of her. Emily tells Gabriel where to find this scientist, and that it's a woman, but that's all they know.

Except, of course, Gabriel knows everything. So he's able to figure out who the scientist is, and they find her at a marketplace and are all set to take her home to America when we go the Not Without My Daughter route and have to stop to pick the little girl up from school.

So they have the scientist, they have her daughter, they're headed back to the FP's plane, and the FP and his retinue meet them there. Done?

Nope, Gabriel insists on going back for the CIA peeps. And here is where we get a little bit of a shoot out and discover the male agent has died. But Gabriel and Friends rescue Emily at least and get her on the plane.

And then HQ (Lillian & the Cassidys . . . sounds like a band . . .) discover Emily's mission was not to extract the American scientist but to kill her. So Gabriel and Riley and that other Secret Service guy that Riley used to work with must stop Emily mid-air. Really? Did they just need to fill the hour? Or is this some kind of commentary about how we are sometimes our own enemy, killing our own, etc.

B and C plots for the episode include the aforementioned Gabriel working out the relationship between Riley and that other Secret Service guy (something to do with Panama, but I wasn't paying that close attention) and Lillian continuing to struggle against bureaucracy. The episode ends with Lillian and Clockwork being put under closer scrutiny because the current president is concerned Gabriel might, you know, start thinking for himself and making decisions instead of just doing what he's told.

It's a shame this show is likely to be cancelled; it's actually pretty good by network standards. I think the 10:00 timeslot works against them a bit because (for me at least) I have to make a conscious decision as to whether I'm willing to stay up late and watch or if I'll just save it for later. So far, I've stayed up to watch Intelligence. But really, it's not a show I feel I have to see when it airs. It'll keep.

Shows should have short shelf lives. They should be the kind of thing that won't keep. That's hard to do these days, what with DVRs and all.

As for me, a lot of the shows I watch because they're on and I'm home. Appointment viewing? True Detective . . . And I try not to miss Elementary. Broadchurch when it was on was definitely appointment viewing for me, and Game of Thrones . . . And I look forward to Community every week, though I wouldn't cry if I had to postpone viewing. Those are the majors. What does that tell us? Well, mostly that a compelling through story is the key to getting people to come back, day of, and watch. They can't wait to see what happens next. And they don't want it to be spoiled for them online, so they have to watch NOW to be part of the conversation. Take that as a guide, television writers and producers. Every time you end a story line, be sure to have a new one going. Never completely satisfy them. Always leave 'em wanting more.

Television: Revolution, "Come Blow Your Horn"

For good or ill, it appears Miles and I think alike: "Where did they get dogs?" I really have to wonder. I mean, I saw all those German Shepherds and was like, "Unemaciated dogs. Is someone breeding and training them somewhere?"

Well, and then it just so happens Charlie had a dog whistle. For all those dogs that aren't around. (Except that episode last year. But seriously, we never see dogs anywhere. They've probably been eaten or something. The ones that haven't gone feral that is.)

Whatever. This episode was less about dogs and more about

• Aaron and Cynthia getting caught and handed over to Dr. Horn.
• Dr. Horn's deep-seated need for psychotherapy after a traumatic childhood and his resulting severe maladjustment.
• Monroe wandering off . . . Though if he wants to know where his son is, shouldn't he stick around in case Miles is still alive.
• Really drudging emotional stuff regarding Gene's having turned Aaron in to save Rachel and Charlie, except Rachel and Charlie are upset he did that, etc. etc.
• Oh, and Neville finding Allenford's husband (who I guess is also Allenford, but they called him Roger) and talking him into killing her in order to save his own skin. Man, Neville must've been a hell of an insurance salesman back in the day.

Do we all agree that Aaron is really just Hurley from Lost? You know, fat and hairy and somehow a magnet for bizarre luck and circumstances?

Horn began preliminary experiments on Aaron and discovered cuts heal almost immediately. Then, to test Aaron's Firestarter powers, he had some of his men hurt Cynthia. Horn had the wit to leave the room first. I wonder how he's going to gather his data?

Speaking of Horn, flashbacks this week were dedicated to his super-religious upbringing in which his mother died when his father refused to get her medical help, instead insisting that prayer was the only hope. When young Horn got his mother medicine, his father blamed him for his mom's death. Horn went on to tell a drugged-up Aaron all about it because Aaron can totally multitask as (a) lab rat and (b) therapist.

Miles, Charlie, and Rachel were all left trying to figure out how to save Aaron (and I guess Cynthia) and Gene (who tried to placate everyone's anger by sacrificing himself when the Patriots came looking for them) . . . Stuff that will happen next week, I suppose. According to next week's previews "the truth about the power will be revealed." Um, okay. But will they explain the dogs?

Television: CBS's Fall Premiere Dates

If you're already counting the days until the Fall TV season returns, CBS has at least given you a definite target by having announced their premiere dates. The only show I currently watch on CBS (as those who follow along should know) is Elementary, which starts its second season on September 26th at 10:00 p.m. Also starting that date is the new Robin Williams/Sarah Michelle Gellar comedy The Crazy Ones. The casting has me curious, though I'm not 100% convinced of the show's viability.

Those of you anticipating Lost's Josh Holloway's return to your living rooms will have to wait until February 24th; CBS has his Intelligence slotted for mid-season.

Television: Revolution, "The Longest Day"

Ugh. Is there anything worse than a lame love subplot? One that starts with the woman coming on to the guy and ends with her saying the next morning, "This was a mistake"? I'd say not, except there's also the whole Aaron-in-the-notebook thing, so I'm hard pressed to determine which is worse.

As for Miles and Nora—they were lovers once before, right? Isn't that their back story? So why should we be surprised, or even very interested, if they fall into bed together again? It seems like the writers, once again, are looking for ways to "layer" the stories, ways to up the tension. But they're going for all the obvious plots.

As for Aaron and Rachel, they have evidently spent the entire night with Aaron going, "Why am I in this notebook?" and Rachel saying, "I don't know."

And Rachel's broken leg? Good thing she took those nanites out of Danny after he died.

Monroe sends a couple fighter jets that fire missiles into the Rebel-Georgia headquarters, or encampment, or whatever it is. From 300 men to 30 in short order. And Charlie and Jason are missing. As Monroe's troops close in, Miles deduces there must be a mole that gave away their location. But who has time for that when he and Neville must make nice at least long enough to work together find their respective family members.

Oh, and get the survivors down to the boats.

Jacob (that's not his name, but that was his name on Lost, so that's how I always think of him) convinces Monroe to take a break and go have a drink with the boys, just in time for an assassination attempt. Coincidence?

This Week in Flashbacks: Seven years after the blackout, Rachel turns up in answer to Miles's summons (though he was looking for Ben). He wants to know if Ben—or Rachel—can get the power back on. Rachel throws his "Butcher of Baltimore" nickname in his face. Bad dialogue fills us in on his and Rachel's fling.

Monroe's paranoia kicks into overdrive. How did the assassin know he would be at the bar? How did Jacob escape being hit when he had nowhere to cover? If you guess this ends with Jacob dying, you're right.

Charlie manages to dig herself out of the rubble. (They'd found Jason some time ago but then been distracted by something shiny. Or bad guys. One or the other. Shiny bad guys?)

Rachel being a bitch as usual. Aaron slack-jawed as usual. Neville and Jason squabbling as usual. (At this point I'd had some rum and was beginning to tune out.)

Miles saves Charlie from a not-so-shiny bad guy (though his sabers were shiny). But then he can't find Nora. Seriously, this guy can't keep track of his women? How's he supposed to lead an army?

Monroe is shocked to learn the assassin, found to be a Georgian spy, was actually acting alone. Jacob has died in vain.

Stupid Romeo-and-Juliet subplot involving Charlie and Jason . . .

Best line ever: "God, you're useless."

Monroe has Nora, btw.

And unless Miles can do something brilliant, President Foster of Georgia will surrender to Monroe.

Television: Revolution, "The Stand"

You know, like the Stephen King novel.

By the way, if the pendants are "amplifiers," what are they amplifying?

I wasn't sure I'd continue to watch this show, and clearly (from my belated posting), one can tell I didn't prioritize it.

But anyway, we begin with Miles & Co. escaping Philadelphia and Miles plotting to use his newfound (and literal) power to turn all of what was once the United States into the Monroe Republic.

I can't get over the sense that Elizabeth Mitchell is really just reprising her role from Lost for this show. Exact same attitude.

Pretty stupid, I'd say, for the Miles Mob to head straight for where they know the bad people are going to be (i.e., the Rebel camps). I realize this is because they are "good" and want to help, want to stop the bad guys from killing all the good ones. But how to do that if you're dead too? No one seems to be thinking things through very well. As viewers we're supposed to root for them, heart over head, even as they follow their hearts . . . This is, I suppose, what separates these good guys from the rational, unfeeling bad ones. The good guys only kill when there is no other choice. The bad guys kills "preemptively" and often delight in it besides.

But I am not connecting with these good guy characters. And since my heart isn't in it with them, my head only continues to point out how dumb they act and react to things.

In fact, the bad guys—Bass Monroe, Major Neville—are far more engaging than any of the good crowd. It's easier to connect to them because they are more complex and more interesting. Not in a way that makes you want to side with them, but you'd rather watch them than Miles and Friends.

Neville's son Jason breaks with his father by disagreeing with the butchering of Rebels. He runs off to warn Charlie that the choppers are coming. But instead of running, hiding, the Rebels decide to (title check!) take a stand. (Again, like the Stephen King novel. Also: Randall. These writers really like Stephen King, I think.)

Speaking of Randall—remember him? from when Rachel and her husband took on a project from the government? and now he has Grace? (oh, and Colm Feore was in that Stephen King miniseries)—Rachel and Miles go to one of her ex-associates (John) for help, but he alerts Randall to their presence.  It turns out to be not much of a plot point, however, because Miles and Rachel escape without too much trouble. And they get some bazookas while they're at it.

Danny uses said bazookas to good effect against the choppers when they come against the Rebels. Alas

[SPOILER ALERT]

the choppers manage to cut Danny down, sending Rachel on a self-flagellation bender while Charlie merely redoubles her determination to fight against Monroe.

Randall drives (yes, drives) with John to offer Monroe his services . . .

And Rachel removes a blinking light from Danny's corpse (though, seriously, the effects were weak because it didn't even look like real skin she was cutting into) . . . We can, one guesses, draw some kind of line between this light and the unique operation Danny had as a child.

Previews of coming weeks suggest, too, that someone has Daniel Faraday's notebook.

Television: Revolution, "Soul Train"

The formula here is set, and very much to the Lost template: use flashbacks for big reveals, at least one per episode, sometimes more. And have a character in current time also reveal something now and then. Like the fact there are twelve of these little power pendants for example.

I liked Lost and I like Revolution, but the reveals are no longer so revealing because we've come to expect them. Like dogs who sit and wait for their treats. Now I'm waiting for the show to up its game. Because really, after last night, we're back where we started: the militia has Danny and Charlie, Miles, and the gang must catch up to them and get him back.

An argument could be made, I suppose, for saying that it will only become more difficult now that Danny is in full custody at Militia HQ. It's an old trick: have your hero(s) do the same thing but make it harder than before. What I'm getting at is, thus far the show is solid but not especially inspired. I'm looking for the next big impact moment. The first was in the pilot, when we found out Miles had been militia. Then there have been a string of "falsies" like Maggie dying or whatever, stuff that's supposed to evoke some kind of feeling, but doesn't really. I'm particularly interested, though, in the history between Bass and Miles (and Ben and Rachel by extension), and I'm starting to suspect there really might be something going on with Aaron (Google Guy has a name!) . . . Or maybe they just haven't got around to his flashbacks yet. A lot of people to manage, after all; Even Lost took a while to get to everyone.

Some shows do progress more slowly than others, but it has to be done right and done well. Babylon 5 is the prime example for that. Even the least of the episodes saw advancement of the overall plot and/or character development. Right now the characters of Revolution are static, and we only get the sense they've developed by looking at their pasts. It might be time for the writers to consider letting these people move forward in more ways than one.

Television: Revolution, "The Plague Dogs"

More Charlie flashbacks. Turns out she was just as annoying as a pre-teen as she is as a teenager. Also Maggie flashbacks, which seems strange given what happens later in the episode (spoiler alert!).

When I take a step back and look at Revolution as a whole, I have to admit it's flawed. The characters are more like positions than actual players, by which I mean you almost see the show as one of those locker room graphs. This is the hazard of plotting too much, of trying to prove you have a story and a mythology and are going somewhere with all this. Everyone plays a part, steadfast and direct, and in shorthand so that character development does not factor. That is the point of stereotypes, after all—to give the brain a shortcut so you can get on with things.

So while I like Revolution, I wish the characters would be a little more fleshed out. More three-dimensional. Lost did this well with both the flashbacks and the incidents on the island. Revolution appears to be attempting something similar but it's not quite working.

Okay, on to the spoiler. It seems strange to me to devote so many flashbacks to Maggie only to have her die. I suppose seeing her Skyping with her kids the night of the blackout, when paired with previous talks of the pictures on her phone, and then piling on her futile attempts to get back to England was all meant to build sympathy so that her death became more sad to an audience that hardly knew her. Or maybe it was just misdirection. Maybe we were supposed to think, "Well, with this much backstory, she's safe." But really, there wasn't room on the team for two strong women and a teenaged girl. Nora won out because she had more dramatic heft (that is, a history with Miles). Maggie had to go.

Interesting juxtaposition of The Wizard of Oz and tornado weather. Good use of the "no place like home" bit in Maggie's death scene. The writers of the show clearly have a love of literature. I just hope they don't start laying the metaphors on too thickly. Then the show becomes a kind of university lecture in disguise.

I'll continue to watch. I'm hungry for more Miles and Bass stuff, which continues to be the most interesting part of the show. And I'm still waiting for Google guy (seriously, does he have a name? I can't remember it) to have some flashbacks, too. We've heard a lot of his story from his own mouth but . . . I'm starting to wonder if any of it is true. Flashbacks as confirmation?

Television: Revolution, "No Quarter"

Much better than last week's episode, in part because Charlie's earnestness was kept to a minimum and the flashbacks were about Miles and "Bass" (Monroe). Their story is so much more interesting than anything Charlie or her parents could offer . . . Though there's a chance Charlie's dad has something going on that we've yet to see.

It's true that Miles appears to be a kind of Standee version of the good-at-heart type who made some bad choices. Even his belt, which he wears like Han Solo or Robin Hood, gives off this devil-may-care (but I really do care, deep down) vibe. Still, Billy Burke brings all he has to the role, making it palatable and playable. In particular, I enjoyed his Stephen King references. Clearly Miles is a reader . . . of at least one author/genre.

Charlie really is the low point of the show. I can't decide if it's the way she's written (so zealous about family and doing the right thing; she has no depth or dimension aside from the fabricated need to protect and help, especially her brother, but really all of mankind), or if she's badly acted, or both. Someone needs to tone her down or scale her back or give her some real personality, because as it stands she's a kind of an annoying terrier nipping at her uncle Miles's heels. Maybe there will be a learning curve for her. Maybe this adventure is her country mouse learning about the real world. But right now it's just bleh.

Nice to see Danny do something for himself there, though. So far he's been mostly milquetoast, but he upped his game slightly last night.

Google guy and Maggie are doing their own thing, but though the time devoted to them was short, it was used well.

And who else enjoyed seeing Jacob from Lost back on the small screen? The potential triumvirate of him, Miles, and Monroe—their past and rise to power—has my attention more than anything else on the show.

So far, so good. I'll continue to watch despite Charlie. For now.

Television: Revolution

Much as I love J.J. Abrams, I can't say I had high expectations for Revolution, a new drama series about the aftermath of a worldwide blackout. In short, people have had to learn to live without electricity—and all the things we've come to depend upon electricity for. Still, for J.J.'s sake, I wanted to give this one a try. It premiers on Monday, September 17th, but if you have Hulu, you can go watch it now. NOW!

It seems we may finally have a worthy successor to the Lost mantel. Revolution is steadily paced but doesn't tarry. The characters do border on stereotype, but the plot is interesting enough to buoy the show on the whole. Because as it turns out, Revolution is about far more than dealing with a lack of video games or iceboxes. There is a mythology here, held in the center of the show like a dark pearl. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but the reveal near the end of the pilot episode ups the interest level quite a bit.

And then there's just the fun of watching people fight with crossbows and swords. So we've got some Buffy and Highlander kinds of stuff going on there, too. Though the wardrobe choices were definitely more informed by Firefly. And seeing that the pilot was written by the guy who created Supernatural . . . Well, that shows, too. So this should appeal to fans of all sorts.

In short, I definitely recommend giving this one a try. I'm crossing fingers and toes it won't get canceled before it can live up to its potential. Revolution has made my "must" list for viewing this season.

Television: Lost finale

So last night the television series Lost came to a much heralded conclusion. Don't read any more than this if you haven't watched it yet and don't want it ruined for you.

Locke and Ben find Desmond—who was rescued from the well by Bernard and Rose, who have kept Vincent as a pet, just in case you wondered what happened to all of them—and are taking him to the center of the island (where the light is) to destroy it. Desmond is, as Jack would later put it, a kind of weapon. Apparently his natural resistance to electromagnetism has something to do with it, but whatever. (I can't help but wonder what Widmore planned to do with Desmond?)

Jack, Hurley, Kate and Sawyer also catch up with Locke, Ben and Desmond and it ends up coming down to Jack and Locke and Desmond going to the light and sending Desmond down to—as best I can figure—pull a giant drain plug. Which causes the island to begin falling apart, but slowly enough that Jack and Locke have time to fight it out on the cliffs overlooking the sea. Jack wins that one, and he sends Kate and Sawyer off on Locke's (which was Desmond's) boat to the other island so they can catch the plane with Miles, Richard, and Lapidus—and have just enough time to convince Claire to come along too.

Since the island, meanwhile, is still disintegrating, Jack leads Hurley (who refused to leave) and Ben back to the place where the light had been. Jack intends to go down and fix things; basically, he's going to go put the plug back in the Drain of Doom. Hurley is left to become the next new Jacob, with Ben as his sidekick. While Jack is at it, he ties the wounded but not dead Desmond to the rope so Hurley and Ben can lift him to safety and (hopefully) get him home.

As an aside, I just want to say, I thought the light/drain mythology bit was dumb. I like fantasy and Indiana Jones as much as anyone, but that was . . . I don't even have the words. Navel of the World tourist postcards forthcoming, I suppose?

Back in the sideways world, Desmond is working double time to pull everyone together so that they can trigger their island memories of one another. I won't get into all the ways it happens, but I will say Claire's and Charlie's moment made me tear up. Jack is the one left out of all this, or maybe he's just the most resistant to it. A moment with Locke after having done spinal surgery, another with Kate when he arrives too late for the concert . . . She then leads him to the church where his father's body has been sent after Oceanic's temporary misplacement of it. But Jack will discover that the coffin is empty. He'll see his father again and realize he himself is dead. And he's come to the place where he's being reunited with his loved ones. Which isn't to say they're all dead (yet, in "our" time, if there is such a thing in the show). But apparently the lovely thing about this "Heaven" is that they're there regardless, just as you best remember them. Because love is eternal and knows no time.

For the most part, I liked the ending. I found it hopeful and uplifting. Warm, really. I enjoyed some of the imagery, like opening the show with the progress of Christian Shepherd's coffin: a symbol for laying the show itself to rest. And I totally called it that the final image would be Jack's eye closing. The writers of the show certainly show a liking for symmetry.

As for the island side of things, I can only say I hope that (a) Bernard, Rose and Vincent suffered no ill effects from the earthquakes as the island was breaking apart, and (b) Desmond was able to get home to Penny and Charlie. I was really glad that Claire and Kate both were able to go back to Aaron; a nice balance against the fact that Sun and Jin did not get to go home to their daughter.

I originally wanted to believe that the sideways timeline was an alternative option for those who didn't get happy endings on the island. I haven't quite decided if it was or wasn't. Whether it was Jack writing all of that in his head or something bigger. One theory suggests that the moment of Jack's death occurs during the flight, at the point where Rose tells him it's okay to let go after the turbulence. But that might also just coincide with the moment Jack gets back to the island via Ajira and does let go, as in ceasing to attempt to control things or be the leader. My media studies degree notwithstanding, I'd have to go and watch a lot of stuff over again before coming up with a solid answer for myself.

But like Jack, I don't necessarily feel the need to do that. I've let go of Lost, and am happy to just let the experience of it wash over me . . . Like a bright, warm light.

Television: Lost and Bones Finales

Let me preface this by saying that I started getting sick on Wednesday afternoon, and the way I was feeling may have colored my opinions. On the flip side, since I wasn't attending any big Lost party as so many others did, I'm also inclined to believe that mob mentality may have caused a concentrated amount of enthusiasm to build in Lost fans in general.

I was underwhelmed by the Lost finale. While I did find the Jacob aspect interesting, as far as the castaways went, I was unimpressed. At the beginning of the two-hour block, Jack Shepherd was planning to detonate a hydrogen bomb. At the end of the two-hour block, the bomb went off. Some other stuff happened in between, but as far as that story line went, it was a Point A to Point B situation. Sure, Jack and Sawyer had a big fight. And Sawyer suffered Juliet's . . . whatever it was. (As an aside, let me just say that I like Sawyer + Juliet WAY more than I like Sawyer + Kate.)

The character who interests me is Richard. I'm mostly enjoying the pseudo-mythological plot involving him and Jacob and the Locke-alike. Given the Egyptianish motif of the temples and statues and such, the finale made me wonder whether this was an Osiris/Set sort of thing (making Smokey a sort of Sobek). But my guess is that this is really some amalgam of several mythic ideas. Cain and Abel, Zoroastrianism, etc. Given that I have a minor in classics, with a focus on mythology, and that I teach mythology from time to time, it's little wonder that I like this part of the show the most.

But overall, eh. Many people are going on about what a big cliffhanger it was and how they'll have to wait, but I simply have no such anticipation built in me about it. Again, this may have been because I was literally sick and tired. My husband felt similarly about the whole thing, and he's suggested we try watching it all again after a week or so to see if we're somehow just missing the boat (or submarine) here.

Then again, I may just be becoming hard to please, because I wasn't wowed by the Bones finale, either. And Bones is my favorite show at the moment. It's generally very well written, and the actors have fabulous chemistry. However, last night's attempt at doing something different fell flat for me. Once Jack started narrating, I was pretty sure he was either (a) trying to write a hard-boiled detective novel, or (b) reading aloud to a comatose Booth as the latter recovered from surgery. As it turned out, it was Brennan who was writing--but apparently hearing Jack's voice as her internal narrator?

I suppose I could cast it as "sweet" and even an interesting character anomaly to look at it this way: Brennan was, in effect, fantasizing about being married to Booth and having his child (or expecting to, anyway). She was creating another life for them, in effect--and including all their friends, too. But as a story, even of the alternate-reality variety, it was a bit weak. No wonder she deleted it in the end. (Though, honestly, just hitting "Delete"? Puh-leeze. We all know she'd either need to close and choose "Don't Save" from the prompt or Select All and then delete. Just hitting "Delete" without having anything selected doesn't do anything. Okay, I'm done here.)

Well, I'll look forward to a new season of Bones come the fall, and Lost in the, er, winter? Early 2010 anyway. Hopefully they will spark something in me then.

Television: Lost

You know, I took a class in college called Parageography--the geography of imaginary places. As in Narnia and Middle Earth and Oz, or even the places Odysseus (aka Ulysses) visited when trying to get home from the Trojan war. Part of the class required us to create our own imaginary places. Mine was an island called AElit. It was an island no one could find. The back story was that an Englishman named Jonathan Engleman had gone on a sailing holiday and disappeared for 11 years, only to turn up talking about this island he'd been on . . . Now AElit was inhabited, mind you, and had its own history and language, etc. I used to have a Web site devoted to it, but I let the domain name lapse a long while back. Now I'm not saying the Lost guys stole, in part, my ideas. At any rate, mysterious islands--ones that move or can't be found--are nothing special to literature or myth. Islands seem to lend themselves especially to being small enough to lose in the great expanses of water that house the world. It's all in the execution of said story or myth . . .

A few thoughts about last night's episode:

• Is the "very clever" person Hawking mentioned her own son?
• Did Ben go off to attempt to murder Penny? After all, once he saw Desmond, he must've assumed she was in the vicinity. And Ben did tell Charles that he (Ben) would kill Charles' daughter (Penny) as revenge for Ben's own daughter's death.
• I'm guessing Kate probably left Aaron with Claire's mother. Giving up a child is difficult, even when one does it with the child's best interests at heart. But if anything more drastic than that had happened to Aaron, Kate would surely have been an even bigger emotional wreck than she was.
• So the island has always been jumping? In space, if not in time? But turning the donkey wheel made it move in time as well? Am I understanding this right?

As we neared the point in the show where it was clear something would need to happen to the plane soon (Ajira 316--which conjures the biblical John [Locke?] 3:16), I turned to my husband and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if they just landed in Guam?" Think about it: that would have been pretty funny. "Great, now we're in f***ing Guam! Now what?" But of course that wasn't the case. Just as well, I suppose, since we don't need any more stretching of this part of the story.

Snippet Television Update: Lost

Just one thing I want to say about last week's Lost: everyone is saying that Locke's turning the frozen donkey wheel will have stopped the time flashes. Oookay, then why exactly do they need the Oceanic 6 to return? I thought they were required to stop the skipping record. Did I miss something? Misunderstand something?

Snippet Television Updates: American Idol, Lost

First up, AI. I just want to say that Tatiana del Toro needs to go. People that annoying aren't entertaining. They're JUST annoying. I don't want to meet them in real life, and I certainly don't want to have to endure them when trying to unwind in front of the TV.

Meanwhile, Joanna Pacitti--just shown last night making it to the top 36--is now ousted after being deemed "ineligible." You think? It took them this long to decide that? The girl already had a recording contract and a single, AND she was BFFs with some execs at 19 Entertainment (yes, the people who produce AI). Sorry, honey, the biz is surely about who you know, but America won't stand for the semblance of unfair.

Not that I don't think AI is utterly rigged for ratings. Else Tatiana (who doesn't actually sing that well, especially not compared to many who were given their walking papers) wouldn't still be on the show. And Nick/Norman might not be either. I say "might" because despite his quirks, he can actually sing. He just needs to get serious. Or else find a different outlet.

Now on to Lost. Don't tell me! I haven't seen last night's episode yet because my husband had a work function/dinner and I decided to wait for him so we could watch together via DVR tonight. However, I do have a theory to float about Jacob and the cabin. Is it possible that they're caught in a sort of time vortex? Maybe Jacob was a Dharma worker who got sucked in or something . . . Maybe that's how he knows what will happen and what people should do--he's skipping around in time and can sort of see past, present and future? Might also explain why the cabin isn't always there. Yeah, the idea is wacky, but then so is the rest of the show.

Television: Lost versus Time Travel

Starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, Elizabeth Mitchell, Josh Holloway
ABC, Wednesdays at 9:00
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Time travel is often the bane of televisual storytelling. It almost never works. This is because of all the paradoxes created when dealing with time travel. The only show I can say consistently and logically dealt with time travel would be Quantum Leap.

Now, the trouble with Lost and time travel is this: we never know how much they're not telling us. Will some of the problems be explained eventually? Is Faraday lying about how time travel works, or . . . ? We won't know until the final episode airs, really, how much they plan to tell us.

But already there are questions. At the end of last season Ben (Michael Emerson) "moved" the island by turning a "frozen donkey wheel." The island moved not in space, but in time. Unfortunately--at least, I suppose it's unfortunate--it keeps moving, sort of like a stone skipping over water, except it's not going in just one direction. So maybe it's more like a combination lock, forward and back again, not finding the correct set of numbers on which to settle.

Okay, that's well and good, but the people? The people on the island are moving in time, too . . . Or, some of them are and some aren't? Here is where it gets confusing. One could say, "Well, the people who are dead and/or who have already left the island are not affected the same way." Mmm hmm. So at one point in time, the now time-traveling islanders discover the hatch is still closed and Desmond is still inside. Faraday points out that Desmond "doesn't know them yet." Right, except Juliet is standing right next to Sawyer, and she knows him, even though at that point in time she should by all rights be across the island and not know him at all. And Jack should now also be back on the island, along with Kate et al. IF Desmond is, too. Right?

Of course, Faraday does speak to Desmond once the others have left, and he tells Desmond that he (Desmond) is "special." So either that will come into play in all this time travel stuff OR the logic simply doesn't hold.

Still, no one can be in two places at once. That's the primary paradox of time travel, the one Quantum Leap solved by having Sam leap into other people. And anyway, Faraday (assuming he wasn't lying) says that no one can change anything when traveling in time. In which case, one shouldn't actually be able to interact with others when traveling. In fact, one should simply be put back where they were at any given moment. For example, if the island should skip to when Oceanic 815 crashes, then none of the current survivors should be on the island when it happens (because they're on the plane, right?), and yet Sawyer and the others have been there for all these moments in which, really, they should have been somewhere else--polar bear cages, what-have-you.

I'm curious to see where the writers and creators take this. They've been a mostly savvy lot, so it's my hope that they have this planned and will reveal all in, er, time.