"...we're going to need to see that again..."

For what is increasingly turning in to a Lost blog, I completely forgot to post at all about last week's episode, 316. So, this one's going to have to cover that, and The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham... So;

316

In which the Oceanic Six finally got back to the Island. Well, apart from Aaron. And Desmond, but he doesn't really count... 

The most intriguing thing about the episode is how they had to recreate the circumstances of the original crash to ensure the return to the island. So, Jack once again was escorting a dead body, only this time it was Locke's rather than his dad's. There is a theory that all the others were tasking on the circumstances of other characters, albeit unwittingly, to aid the returm;

Sayid was taking the role of Kate in the original crash, in that he appeared to be under arrest and handcuffed to some sort of marshall.

Hurley was taking on Charlie's role; he came on board with a rock and roll guitar.

Ben took Hurley's role in that he almost missed the flight.

There is a suggestion that after Kate and Jack's night of passion she's pregnant, and thus she's taking on Claire's role.

The only doubt is which role Sun is taking... the only one that appears to fit is Rose, as initially she was seperated from her husband, but that occurred after the original crash, so doesn't really fit. 

Then, of course, the fact that we saw events solely from Jack's point of view meant that there were many unanswered questions;

• Who beat up Ben? (My money is on Desmond.)
  
• Who told Hurley about the flight? (I reckon he had another vision of Charlie, who told him to take the guitar...)
  
• Why is Sayid is custody?
  
• What happened to Aaron? Where is he? Who has him? (I reckon she's with Claire's mum.) 
  
• Where did Desmond go to, and is he going to return to the island?

Still... I guess these are all things we'll find out in forthcoming episodes...

The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

This episode did answer one question that was dangling from the previous episode; did Jack et al get back on the island via a time-flash or the plane crashing...? 

The appearance of Jin in Dharma gear made it obvious that at least Jack, Kate and Hurley were caught up in a time-flash, but it's clear that this isn't the case for all of them. We know that at some point after the O6 rescue the Ajira plane arrives on the island, as we can tie this in with the earlier episode with the canoes. And here we see the Ajira plane landed on the Hydra island. Remember at the start of Season three where Sawyer and Kate were clearing a path of some kind... and Sawyer joked it was a runway for a flying saucer... well, he was half right; it was a runway. But for this plane. 

So, now we have the question as to why some time-flashed and others didn't. We know Jack, Kate and Hurley time-flashed, and we can assume Kate and Sayid did. So... if these 815ers time-flashed, why didn't Locke...? It's odd.

This whole episode was quite something. We had more of Abbadon in this one episode than we've had in all of his appearances put together. And just as we get to know him... BAM... gunned down. Mind you, I guess Lance Reddick is busy with Fringe these days... There were some very intriguing things...

There's the whole timescale of events. It appears that from Locke seeing Jack in the hospital there is little time passed between that and his death, but then that should mean there's little time between his death and when Jack sees his coffin, and corpse, at Hoffs Drawlar. But that can't be the case as it's Locke's visit that causes Jack to start taking flights in the hope that one will crash him back on the island, and going by his beard growth that's got to be a good couple of months. So, the times don't seem to add up unless... there are events we've still to be shown. Which, knowing Lost, wouldn't surpise me in the least.

Also, you have Widmore and Ben on opposing sides, yet both are trying to get the O6 back on the island... this seems odd, as you would think that this would aid one side over the other yet both seem to be wanting the same thing. Curious. 

But the oddest thing... after spending all that time talking Locke out of killing himself, at the mere mention of the name "Eloise Hawking", Ben strangles him to death. It is really most odd indeed. We see a different side to Ben when he's speaking to Locke. He's tender, compassionate even. And then, with the mention of the name it all turns on its head. It's a sudden, and shocking moment. Yet, when Ben apologises afterwards you know he genuinely means it. What is it about her that caused that reaction...?

You really have no idea what is going to happen next.

This is the best thing about this show; you make assumptions about what the show is about, and where it's going and it cheerfully leads you one way and then... oh, it takes you another. I mean, the assumption from the start was that the show would just be about how they got off the island... the end of season 3 smashed that assumption. I am really quite sure that any guess as to where the show will end up by the end will be somewhat way off the mark. It's very interesting to note that apparently one of the titles considered for the show before they settled on Lost was The Circle. I only read this recently, and in light of recent events, the whole time-flash malarkey, it does throw some light on things. Oh, and then you have Mrs Hawking's brooch from the first time she appeared; an ouroboros symbol. Now, Lost does have a habit of hiding things in plain sight, so I think this brooch is significant. Really, I can't help but think that the whole show will end where it began; with the crash of 815. How, I don't know, but it does seem like a distinct possibility... 

"...it was twenty years ago today..."

On Februray 24th, in a small town in the American North West, a body washed up on the banks of a river. Wrapped in plastic. That was the body of Laura Palmer, and this was the start of what was probably the best TV show ever, Twin Peaks.

A brief blog post like this cannot convey the true brilliance of the show, but it was truly stunning. It looked great, it felt great, and it sounded great. 

The UK release of a box set containing all 30 episodes is due soon. Buy it. Watch it. Cherish it. Though, if you can't wait it's already available from the US.

Oh, but don't watch the film before the TV show... though set before the TV show, it was made after it ended and this is how its meant to be seen.

"...blogging in the name of..."

Ah, I guess how this blog is perceived is entirely my own fault... an offhand comment elsewhere has made me realise that there must be a perception that this blog is dedicated to TV programmes. This is, by no means, the intention. The title of the blog;

Digression

should be a clue. It's meant to be about diverse, various, subjects. About whatever I feel like writing about at the time. It just so happens that at the moment, I seem to be writing mainly about TV. And in particular, Lost. This is mainly because I love and adore Lost more than any other TV programme at the moment. And, and the moment, we are 5 episodes in to the 17 episode run of season 5. So, there'll be plenty more Lost blog posts over the coming weeks... it'll die off a bit in the gap between seasons. 

In many ways, this blog is meant to be a 21st century version of my fanzine. When I wrote things for that it was about my main interests at the time. Had I started a fanzine in January 2009, rather than 2008 chances are it would have been called 108 and had loads of articles on Lost in it. Rather than, say, Kenickie... 

So, although it appears this blog is mainly about TV this is not the intention. There will be more digressions as time passes. Really. 

Talking of fanzines, I did have an idea late last year about the old fanzine I used to do that lasted for 24 issues between 1998-2000. You see, I did have this plan to upload them all to my website, but this kind of got stalled at #3. There were all sorts of hassles with the OCR on the scanner, and even now you can still see blatant typos on there.

So I came up with the idea of reprinting the lot of them.

All of them.

But all 24 issues in just one volume. 

The idea was to do this via lulu.com, the self publishing site. I'd set a nice low price that covered the costs of producing each issue and bosh... but it wasn't to be just a straight reprint of the 24 issues. I'd also include the one mini-Munch produced, as well as all the flyers. And maybe even reproductions of the actual Munch Questionnaires as filled out by various bands (they all had on the back page one request - draw a picture of anything you want - that never made it to the zine itself). There would also have been an article about how the zine came to be, and reminiscneces and so on, and introductions to each issue. And I was going to canvass as many Munchers as possible to get their contributions. Oh, and I'd have persuaded Timmy 2Hedz to have written something for  it as well...

...however, the page count of the thing, and the eventual cost to get copies printed seemed too high to me. Maybe I'll have another look one day to see if it's viable. It's something I'd like to do, though. The thought that all 24 issues of Munch would be available to anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time... it's exciting. 

Every now and then, I'll pick out an issue of Munch and have  a flick through it and think "ah, I did good there". I know it sounds egotistical, but those 24 zines (well, 23; #24 is, really, a bit rubbish) are something I'll always be proud of. They're not perfect. Some of the stuff in them is a bit dodgy. But with all of them I kept on trying to do something different each issue; to keep it fresh and new, and not get in to the trap of every issue, essentially, having the same template. Ah, I still maintain that if you took Deadline #12, and The Zine #1 and mashed them together you'd have the perfect zine. 

"...I can hardly wait, baby, I can hardly wait..."

Pixies fans amongst you will get what the quote refers to... well, as long as you're a Lost fan as well. So, five episodes in and this latest one, This Place is Death, is starting to pull things together. Although it did pull things apart a bit. 

With all of the Oceanic Six bar Hurley together at the end of episode 4 it appeared that all would be plain sailing... but both Kate and Sayid made sharp exits, and it was only Ben's quick tongue that saved him from a bullet in the head. Ben continues to be my favourite character in the show. He conveys a world of emotion with a single sentence. The moment where he pulls the van over and practically screams at Jack and Sun "What I'm doing is helping you; and if you had any idea what I've had to do to to keep you safe, to keep your friends safe, you'd never stop thanking me." and it's a testament to Michael Emerson's acting skills that it all sounds so convincing. His performances really do steal the show so very often.

So, instead of getting all of the Oceanic 6 together, by the end there's just the two with ; Jack and Sun. Although, conveniently, as they arrive to meet Eloise Hawking (Daniel's mum) they happen to bump in to Desmond who is also there to find her... It really does make you wonder how they'll get Kate & Aaron, Sayid & Hurley together to go back to the island. And will they need Frank Lapidus as well...? I guess we'll find out next week...

Locke's plight is intriguing. In order to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island, he has to die. It is very interesting to note that in Season 1 he said that Boone was "the sacrifice the island demanded". Was he wrong then. Is Locke the sacrifice the island demands...? 

The most frustrating aspect to this episode, however, was the minimal amount of time we spent with Danielle's party. I was hoping we'd get to see much more of them, how the sickness manifested itself and what drove Danielle to kill them all. However, Smokey's attack was very interesting. Smokey appeared to be emanating from the ruins of what looked like a Temple (is this the same Temple Richard has taken the Others to...?). The hieroglyphics appeared to match those on the door underneath Ben's house; from where he was able to summon Smokey to attack Keamy et al. But most intriguing was how all of Danielle's party went down the hole got "the sickness", but Danielle was unaffected. A connection, perchance? I do hope we see more of young Danielle in future...

And, oh, so many other things that I could mention... I've not really touched on the well, Charlotte's death, the convenience of some of the time changes, that the company name on the van - Canton Rainier - is an anagram... oh, so many things.

Also, they've swapped the next two episodes around, which suggests that the episode that was due next, but is now #7 - The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham - must be pretty self contained, telling only of Locke's adventures off island... 

...and I bet when his corpse is brought back to the island, he'll come back to life. Which, I'm sure, is also what happened to Jack's dad. Which means, Jack's dad has been on the island before... 

"...I've always been with you, Jack..."

Okay. So, in the last episode of Lost, when Kate said:

"I've always been with you, Jack."

how many of you mentally added;

"...well, apart from when I was shagging Sawyer..."

: )

(And, yes, I blatantly nicked this from elsewhere...!)

"...I've been here less than two weeks..."

Okay, so in the latest episode of Lost, "The Little Prince" (look away now if you've not seen it...) Daniel says that the nosebleeds etc that people are experience are related to the length of time they've spent on the island. The longer you've been there, the sooner you'll suffer. So... Daniel (on island a fortnight), Locke (4 months), Sawyer (ditto) have not experienced any nosebleeed. Juliet's(3 years) only just started to get them, as has Miles. Charlotte's suffered the most. 

Now, we can thus deduce from this that as Miles started to get the nosebleeds at about the same time as Juliet, he must have been on the island for about the same time as her; 3 years in total. But as he says, he's only been on the island a fortnight... or has he...? Now, there is a theory we have already seen Miles on the island this season, played by a different actor... have a think about it, see what you can come up with, and I'll tell you when I think we already saw Miles later at the end of this post.

But Charlotte... ah, so when was she on the island before? She, too, has apparently only been on the island a fortnight, yet she suffers worse than Juliet who's been there about three years. So, when was she there before, and why was she there? Was she Dharma? Is she someone significant? We shall see.

Elsewhere, off-island, we see the Oceanic 6 et al getting ever closer to returning to the island (in episode 6, anyone...). Ben being the one behind the lawyers at Kate's house did surprise me. I'd had that one pegged as Sun's doing... but what about the people with the trank guns...? Are they Ben's, too? Or are they Widmore's? 

I was very glad to see Jin alive at the end, and even more pleased to see that at long last we're going to see Danielle's back story. This has been promised as coming soon in Seasons 3 and 4, and finally here it is. The "surprise" reveal that the lady was Danielle wasn't a massive surprise - everyone's hopping through time and we see a group of French people wash up on the island? Kinda obvious... even listing them as "Frenchwoman" and "Frenchman" 1-5 in the cast lists posted on the web didn't really preserve the surprise. Better to have put them as "Woman" and "Man" 1-5, I reckon... Still, this lack of surprise doesn't make the huge sense of anticipation for the next episode dissipate at all. It'll be interesting to see what the sickness her party experienced was, and whether or not it's the same time-displacement sickness as experience by Minkowski and Desmond in Season 4. I'm possibly looking forward to next week's even more than the intriguingly titled episde 7; The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.

Anyhow, to conclude this post I return to the Miles theory as mentioned above; we saw Miles before in the opening scene of Season 4. Miles is Pierre Chang's (aka Marvin Candle etc) son. He's the baby at the start of the season, who presumably lived there for the first few years of his life. Hence being affected by the nosebleeds etc sooner than Locke & Sawyer...

"...theorising that one could time travel..."

Somehow Lost has turned in to Quantum Leap. Sort of. Only instead of just one person leaping through time, it's half the cast. And there's no Al. Presumably he's still too busy being evil in Battlestar Galactica.

Talking of which... (and I apologise for any Sky viewers reading this in case I give away spoilers; really I don't know what day it's on there, so if you've not seen S4 Ep 13, stop reading now and only come back for the bit at the end which is about Lost theories. That's safe as Sky viewers are enjoying episode I'm writing about as I type, and who's sad enough to read the internet whilst watching new episodes of TV shows. Well... as some loony forums attest, quite a few people. There are entire threads on some written by people who are giving their "OMG!!!", "SQUEEEEEEEEE" and "ROLF" opinions as things are happening. Losers.)

Anyhow... Battlestar Galactica's latest episode was an absolute belter. Rebellion. Insurrection. Mutiny. And with, erm, Felix Gaeta in charge... it was a real hum dinger of an episode, with each twist and turn bringing ever more unexpected happenings. Who would have thought that Gaeta could amass such a large amount of people to launch a successful (well, successful at this stage) mutiny without a single word of it getting back to The Powers That Be. Impressive. There's one thing that BSG does really well, and that's putting its characters in to dark and dire situations. This goes right back to the mini-series where virtually everyone is killed, followed by 33 (which I maintain is one of the very best single episodes of anything) where the Cylons relentlessly pursue the fleet with only a 33 minute window between each new attack. That one episode, actually, is BSG in miniature, summing up the bleak nature of the show, yet ending with a hint of optimism. The bleakness continued with the New Caprica arc at the start of season 3; with most of humanity under Cylon subjugation you got the impression, for a while, that this was it and that there was no way out. And I'm getting that feeling again. Only now, as the show enters its final run - just seven episodes to go, remember - all bets are off, no-one's safe. Though having said that, anyone who thinks Adama and Tigh are dead at the end of this episode has rocks in their head. Adama makes the finale, that's fer sure...

Also heading to its end is Lost, although rather than just 7 episodes to go, Lost has 31 more. The third episode saw several things slot in to place, and the great thing was that they weren't shoehorned in, and weren't over egged. For example we now know why Richard Alpert was at Locke's birth; because Locke told him where and when he was to be born. The bomb, which was to be buried in concrete is clearly the thing that was buried in concrete in the Swan in Season 2... oh, and as ever it opens up the possibility of theories...

1 - that Ellie chick who Daniel thought looked familiar...? 'Course she looked familiar, Danny-boy, she's your mother. Ellie = Eloise, and it's odds on that Eloise Hawking is Daniel's mum.

2 - "Do not mistake coincidence for fate," said Eko back in Season 2, but Eloise and Charles Widmore on the island together...? Could Charles be Daniel's daddy...? Who knows...

But my favourite is this one:

3 - Penny's dad and her son are the same person... think about it. Penny gives birth to Charlie who grows up a bit and ends up travelling back in time to the island in the 50s where he prefers to be known as Charles. Think about it. It works. It'd make Desmond Charles Widmore's dad. However, it does mean Charles would have to shag his own grannie to create Penny. But would he know he's doing this...? 

Ooh. I do love Lost