Posted on April 24, 2008 @ 10:05 pm
Welcome to Lost-vivor — all the mystery and adventure of Lost with an added dash of Survivor-style competition! Please note that the section ahead contains spoilers for last night’s episode of Lost. Proceed at your own risk.
From what I can gather around the Web, the general consensus on “The Shape of Things to Come” can be summed up in two words: “holy” and “crap.” And I agree wholeheartedly. This was definitely a wild episode — from Ben’s trek through time and space to an amped-up appearance by the Smoke Monster to Alex’s somewhat shocking death. I have no idea where Lost is going next at this point, and I’m loving it.
Did Ben kill Nadia? That’s not how I interpreted his smirk after recruiting Sayid in the future. No, I suspect Sayid saw exactly what Ben wanted him to see and reacted exactly as Ben wanted him to react (i.e. joining Ben in his quest against Charles Widmore). That seems more like Ben’s style.
Does Ben control the Smoke Monster? Again, I’m not so sure. He may have unleashed it, but I didn’t get the impression he could necessarily control it. After all, Ben seemed a little scared of Smokey himself as it ripped through the camp.
I think I’ll cut my opening thoughts a little short this week and jump straight to the scoring. Let’s roll!
Ben:
Dressing in layers is one thing, but a fur-lined parka in the Tunisian desert seems a little like overkill: -1
Tossed his cookies, has a nasty cut on his arm: -2
Of course, I’m overlooking the fact that Ben apparently teleported halfway around the world: +8
Disarmed one Bedouin, shot the other, then knocked out the first one with the rifle butt. Okay, that’s pretty badass: +5
Oh, and he apparently speaks Arabic and Turkish, too: +1
Did I mention he can play piano?: +1
Or that he has a shotgun in his piano bench?: +1
Bestowed nickname on himself (”Dean Moriarty”): +1
Doesn’t know the year: -1
Of course, that more or less confirms that Ben is traveling through frickin’ time: +10
Spotted by Sayid while taking photos: -1
Knows everything there is to know about Widmore’s mercenary, Keamy: +1
Let Alex die (after saying some pretty nasty stuff about how he didn’t care about her): -20
Has a secret room inside his other secret room. How cool is that?: +2
Recruited Sayid in the future: +3
Called in the Smoke Monster. Or let it in. I’m not really sure: +7
Confronted Widmore in the future, promised to avenge Alex: +3
Net gain/loss: +18
Current score: 145 |
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Daniel:
Used some chicken wire and duct tape to get a signal out of the sat phone. He’s a regular MacGruber (“Making life-saving inventions out of household materials!”): +4
Knows Morse code: +1
Used his knowledge of Morse code for deception. Hey, that’s a violation of the Telegrapher’s Oath! Is nothing sacred?: -2
Net gain/loss: +3
Current score: 141 |
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Claire:
Claire done got blowed up: -100
Wait, no…she’s still alive: +103
Net gain/loss: +3
Current score: 101 |
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Locke:
Looks like it’s splitsville for Team Locke: -3
Net gain/loss: -3
Current score: 122 |
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Sawyer:
Bestowed nickname on Hurley (”Chicken Little”): +1
Launched a successful attack on Siberia: +1
Bestowed nickname on Rousseau (”Frenchy”): +1
Check out Action Hero Sawyer! Running around, shooting at people, dodging gunfire, using a picnic table for cover, narrowly avoiding exploding buildings. Not bad: +5
Ended up with a nasty bloodstain on his shirt. Fortunately, it came from some random Lostie and nobody we actually cared about: -1
Led the anti-Locke rebellion in the jungle. It’s about time somebody wised up: +2
Net gain/loss: +9
Current score: 127 |
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Miles:
Freed by Widmore’s mercenaries: +2
Rang the doorbell at Ben’s cabin. That what I call good manners: +1
Net gain/loss: +1
Current score: NA |
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Vincent:
Found Doc Ray’s corpse (of course, Bernard tried to take all the credit): +3
Net gain/loss: +3
Current score: 109 |
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Sayid:
Reunited with Nadia, married his one true love: +27
Until she was murdered, that is: -30
Spotted Ben taking photographs from the rooftop in Tikrit. Sayid is so awesome, he could probably smell what brand of camera Ben was using: +2
Wait, is Sayid…crying? That can’t be right, can it?: -1
Killed Widmore’s assassin, avenged Nadia’s death: +6
Something about Ben’s self-satisfied smirk tells me that Sayid should look for a new boss: -2
Net gain/loss: +2
Current score: 131 |
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Desmond:
“What do ye mean Ben is gonna try to kill my girlfriend in the future to get revenge on her father who had some guy on his boat kill the kid Ben stole from some crazy French lady who shipwrecked years ago on the mysterious Island in the middle of nowhere, brotha?”: -1
Net gain/loss: -1
Current score: 115 |
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Bernard:
Knows Morse code, used knowledge to expose Daniel’s lies: +3
Net gain/loss: +3
Current score: 105 |
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Jack:
Good news, Jack! A job just opened up for a physician on the H.M.S. Penny’s Father’s Boat: +1
Suffering from a mysterious stomach bug: -1
Got tough with Daniel after he lied about the transmission: +3
Uh-oh…appendicitis. I’ll totally give Jack 50 points if he operates on himself next week. How cool would that be?: -5
Net gain/loss: -2
Current score: 107 |
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Hurley:
Get the baby away from the window, Hurley: -1
Hurley! Seriously, get the baby away from the window: -1
Dammit, Hurley, stop waving the baby around in front of the window: -1
Ignored Ben’s orders, let Claire and Sawyer into the cabin anyway: +2
Ended up stuck with Team Locke during the jungle mutiny: -1
Net gain/loss: -2
Current score: 113 |
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Alex:
Taken hostage by Widmore’s mercenaries: -4
Tripped the failsafe while deactivating the sonic fence, initiated Code 14J: +3
Executed by Keamy, presumably dead: -100
Net gain/loss: -101
Current score: NA |
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After nine pulse-pounding weeks of Lost-vivor, here are your updated standings:
- Ben (145) (+18)
- Daniel (141) (+3)
- Sayid (131) (+2)
- Sawyer (127) (+9)
- Locke (122) (-3)
- Frank (116)
- Desmond (115) (-1)
- Hurley (113) (-2)
- Juliet (109)
- Vincent (109) (+3)
- Sun (108)
- Jack (107) (-2)
- Bernard (105) (+3)
- Jin (104)
- Kate (102)
- Claire (101) (+3)
- Charlotte (100)
- Rose (97)
- Miles (94) (+3)
- Michael (79)
Wow! After a crazy week, Ben catapults from third into first place. Sawyer also posted big gains this week, moving up a few notches in the rankings. Beyond that, there were not other major shakeups this week (unless you count Vincent officially eclipsing Jack in the rankings).
That’s it for this week’s slightly-delayed installment of Lost-vivor. As always, feel free to comment, complain, or offer your predictions below. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time.
Only one thought. Holy. Crap.
This episode only further confirms my belief that Sawyer and Claire would make the cutest couple in the history of ever. Commence fangirling!
Did you catch Ben’s smirk as he walked away from Sayid? He is so behind Nadia’s murder and not Charles Widmore. I can’t believe last year’s Lost-vivor winner would fall for that trick.
Totally agree with Gigi. Ben is amazing in that I-hate-him-so-much-but-still-respect-him way. He’s like Lex Luthor of the Lost-verse. I’m also psyched about this episode in general, I thought it was super strong and I was totally unsurprised to see Jack hurting in the previews for next week’s episode. Set up. Can’t wait to read the Jess-endorsed recap.
umm..I do NOT remember Lightening flashes in Smokey. I think the island is P.O-ed. I am also concerned about Hurley’s lack of common sense waving the crying baby around the windows. I though he had more street cred than that!
O yea, I for sure see Hurley losing some points for baby-waving
Despite the baby-waving, Hurley gets points from me for hulking out with the ottoman-hurling so that Claire and Sawyer could get away from the bullets. HOLY CRAP about summed it up for me as well. This was an amazing episode that delivered on all counts. Well worth the wait.
I’m not ready to jump on the “Ben killed Nadia” bandwagon quite yet. I saw the smirk, but the guy Sayid killed definitely knew who Whidmore is and whidmore is definitely shady enough to do that. If it’s Ben’s trick and this ends up rehashing “Revenge of the Sith” (Ben=Palpatine, Sayid=Anakin, Whidmore=Yoda) I won’t be pleased. The executiuon of Alex certainly suggests that Whidmore is a bad apple.
I’m not too excited about Penny getting executed though either. But then if Desmond comes to her rescue, he will get the blessing of whidmore and they can live happily ever after… except that he isn’t one of the 6, so it’d be a bit tough for him to do that.
Fantastic episode! Alex’s death and Ben’s control of Smokey were great. Now w/ the knowledge of Ben controling it, I suppose we need to rethink each person it has killed and figure out why Ben wanted them all dead.
I don’t think he “controls” the smoke monster. I think there’s some religion vs. science stuff going on with the island, which, by extension, means with the smoke monster and Ben’s relationship therein.
I can’t wait until you post it!!!!!!!!!
I like the idea that Ben can call upon it to do his bidding. Just like the crew of the boat in the old Godzilla cartoon from the late 1970s.
I hear ya, Andre. Penny’s impending death is not something I am looking forward to in the least. But if that brings about more Desmond, how can I really complain?
The anticipation of the points is killing me! Post soon
LOL @ Desmond’s “quote”…great job as always on the epi recap. I thought you might give Kate points for actually changing clothes. But then again, I think you already discussed that an epi or so ago. I was so proud of Bernard for busting Faraday!
I think the actor who plays Ben deserves all kinds of Emmys…and the guy who plays Sayid as well. They are two of the best actors on TV!
Haha, fantastic post. Sayid just looking up and seeing Ben, and then hunting him down (after depositing his wife’s casket somehow) was frikkin’ awesome.
Shouldn’t Sawyer get some points for his fabulous quote when he was breaking free from Locke? “If you so much as harm one hair on his curly head” when talking about Hurley staying…that was great you know it.
Also, Hurley and Locke are totally BFF’s…lol.
Great post.
First of all, glad to see the post up. Now, point by point reactions.
Disagree with the claim that Ben can travel through time. I think he was left there by someone. Don’t think that it looks at all like Ben can travel through time.
I seriously did think that Claire was dead. I think that’s a sign of how good this show is that we all assume that a regular character could just die in the middle of an episode, with no trailers hyping the episode or anything like that. That shows commitment. And I love that.
Glad to see that Bernard gets points for exposing the Morse Code Deceptions - although we could all see this plot point coming a MILE away, right?
Super happy to see that everyone’s been loving this episode, I thought it was proof positive that this show rocks.
Ok so that was like the best one yet. Episode and Lost-Vivor.
I like how you went with MacGruber instead of MacGyver. SNL for the win!
And I’m glad Vincent got credit for finding the dead body. I mean after all he is the Bringer of Death.
Desmond’s was perfect. That sums up LOST perfectly! I like how they’re both involved in the biggest plot and they weren’t introduced until season 2.
I don’t know if I’ve said this yet, but thank you for this.
@Michael: I dunno; it looked an awful lot like time travel to me. At the very least, it seems like Ben was somehow teleported into the desert. There appeared to be steam evaporating off his parka upon arrival, suggesting he was coming from somewhere significantly colder (also explaining the parka in the first place). Plus, according to the translations I’ve read online, the Bedouins apparently questioned how Ben got there without any tracks in the sand leading in. From there, the fact that he asked the hotel clerk the year leads me to assume that Ben traveled through time somehow — probably the same way as the Dharma polar bear that Charlotte found in Tunisia.
Hm. Hadn’t thought of the polar bear/Charlotte connection. Also, I definitely agree that he got there through a non-traditional means of transportation (the parka you mention, the steam that I didn’t notice [damn, apparently I need to go back and re-watch this episode!], etc.) but I’m still not convinced of time travel. When he asked the clerk what year it was, it appeared to me as though he knew what year it was, he was just checking. Now that we’re having a dialogue about this, I’m thinking about it a LOT more, though, and I’m certainly willing to say it’s more than possible. If it comes out to be time travel, and I’m wrong, I’ll have nothing against that whatsoever. It’ll just be another great call from you and another great part of the show that I love. Thanks for the comment.
I’m glad that ~captain awkward~ gained three points!!;) Great recap as always Jess! =)
*Seriously Hurley, stop waving the baby around in front of the window!!!!*
Great job Jess! I really enjoyed Lost-vivor and of course this episde of LOST. Both were incredible. I agree with you, Ben was definitely travelling through time. Did you notice the Dharma logo on his parka? Very interesting! See ya next week.
yeah that would be freaking awesome if he opperated on himself!
but did anybody else think it was kinda weird that the house that blew up around claire just kinda disapeared i mean one explosion and all there is is a couple of wooden boards and there was even grass under claire what happened to the flipping FLOOR!!!!
but yeah chicken little reallly needed to get away from the darn window!
and when that phone rang i swore someone was gonna say your gonna die in seven days!
holy crap. i was sooo shocked when Alex got shot. for the first time ever, i felt bad for Ben.
I think Sawyer is going to die soon, maybe saving Claire’s baby or something. I think him already saving Claire is foreshadowing…
I love this blog. It’s freaking brilliant.