Next: “The Package” (Episode 6-10)

Last week’s lavish, lingeringly shot episode was a tough act to follow, but “The Package” still satisfied. For those seeking forward momentum on the island, we certainly got some, and the flash-sideways brought some great moments. Overall, it was a fun ride, but one with an undercurrent of uneasiness… both in the narrative and in “LOST” fandom. Just why is Sayid’s dead soul best prepared for what’s to come? And just how will everything be untangled in the next six episodes? It may be the drugs talking (I’m battling bronchitis), but I’m at peace. The many ways in which this final season has evoked the drama and richness of the first one is more than reason enough for me to surrender to whatever happens.

Locke and Widmore’s confrontation on the beach brings us our declaration of war, and Jin’s first look at Ji Yeon reduced me to a puddle of goo. And as suspected, Widmore’s arrival does bring some solace to those eager for some “science” in their science fiction, with Zoe the physicist asking about the island’s pockets of magnetism. The long-overdue final reveal that Desmond is apparently the key to Unlocke’s defeat ((telegraphed pretty bluntly with “it’s not a what, it’s who”), is at once thrilling and perplexing. Will the mere presence of Desmond cause a rift in the space-time continuum? Is Desmond the only person who can wield the dagger against an otherwise invincible Unlocke?

And what does “cease to be” mean? As a description of the dire consequences, it rings a little hollow. It sounds less like Armageddon, and more like a “Back to the Future”-esque nullification of existence.

One answer, four more questions.

The fact that Sun cut her hand while gardening cannot be insignificant. And having her lose her ability to speak English seems a move straight out of daytime soap operas, so I’m hoping there’s more to it. Coupled with the post-Unlocke pursuit blackout, I’m wondering if she might soon follow Sayid’s path.

I also loved Unlocke’s conversation with Claire, at once rationalizing why he saved Kate from her rage earlier, and resetting the stage for another confrontation. His disavowal of whatever might happen adds another sinister point against the Man in Black being merely a misunderstood prisoner.

Off the island, I was about to roll my eyes in frustration at just how hard the writers were trying to point out how not together Sun and Jin were (“Two rooms! Not married!”), when of course Jin’s discomfort was merely preemptive defensiveness all along. Turning the iconic fight over Sun’s blouse buttons into a seductive move was a brilliant one, in my book. And I’m glad that even in the flash sideways, escaping together was part of the plan. Mr. Paik, though, is one cold dude.

I liked Keamy’s turn this week, from his dismissiveness toward Omar to his fleeting moment of compassion for star-crossed Jin. Jin shooting Mikhail’s eye out was a gruesome yet amusing twist. The way the restaurant confrontation connected with Sayid’s earlier story was a nice touch, but it seems deliberate that he was, at best, only indifferently helpful to Jin.

And Sun, pregnant? But of course!

  • Let’s ponder the line referenced tonight from Widmore to Locke: “Because there’s a war coming, John. And if you’re not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.” Is it safe to assume Widmore meant real Locke, not Unlocke? If so, is the wrong side going to win? Or did Widmore just find another out with Desmond?
  • Claire was not on the list. Kate is no longer on the list, but is vital to collecting those that are. So, why does Unlocke need three more people to get on the plane? Or does he merely need to dispose of them together?
  • So, Sawyer tells Jin that the double-cross deal with Widmore was the real deal, not the double-double-cross deal he seemed to make with Unlocke upon returning to the main island. Is it as simple as that? I guess so, given his disappointment in Unlocke’s return. I think I liked it better when his allegiance were more ambiguous.
  • Miles’ cruelty toward Hurley, harping again on his weight, was upsetting. But I couldn’t be mad for long, with Frank’s admonition: “Hey. Don’t talk about bacon.”
  • Jen’s favorite line: “No, ’cause that’d be ridiculous.” Ah, the powers and limits of the Smoke Monster, always fun to ponder. I think it echoes a Miles line from the time travel period, but I’m not sure.
  • Unlocke telling Sun that he’s not going to make her do anything, and that he’s merely asking her, is yet more emphasis on free will. The line between “forcing” and “asking” seems pretty fuzzy though. Is it just the candidates whose choices must be pure?
  • Top anvilicious moment? The brief dialogue between Unlocke and Jin about the list of names. Now, after all these seasons, they explicitly point out that conversations happen off-screen? That people mysteriously learn facts we didn’t see them learn? It felt awkward.
  • The night-vision moment that opened the episode was also a bit cheesy. It would’ve been cool if they’d depicted infra-red heat signatures, with everyone glowing except for Locke (and Sayid), but… no such luck.
  • Speaking of which, I also couldn’t help wondering why the darts worked on Sayid and Claire. Just how human are those two? The attack, Jen felt, was reminiscent of the hail of flaming arrows last season… just less funny.
  • Who’s Danny? Keamy and Omar’s associate, of Mikhail’s mutual acquaintance. The only Danny we can think of is Daniel Faraday.
  • Locations: The airport where Jin is released is Pier 2 near Restaurant Row. The hotel where Sun and Jin stay in Los Angeles is the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore. The bank where Sun and Mikhail try to withdraw funds is the main branch of the Bank of Hawaii on S. King Street. And the kitchen where the showdown takes place is at the Koolau Golf Club.

We want your feedback on this episode! Please share your thoughts, theories, and favorite moments in the comments below. You can also e-mail us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or leave a one-minute-or-so message on the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808. Mahalo!

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272 Responses to Next: “The Package” (Episode 6-10)

  1. The Package sounded like a ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ type episode name to me.
    But I liked it.
    I like being thrown off.
    What would you have preferred?

  2. Athens says:

    As far as I’m concerned, “The Package” was definitely a buttonless Sun.

  3. @ Athens
    Which reminds me… Damn I gotta me a tivo.

  4. Gotta get me* a Tivo…

  5. Blair says:

    I’ve been a huge Lost fan since the very beginning. I have all the seasons on dvd, I’ve bought books devoted to Lost theories. That said, this season has mostly been a huge disappointment for me. It’s as though we had one set of writers up until the end of last season and then they left and new ones were brought in for this season.

    The flashes sideways have done nothing for the Lost story because the story IS that these people crashed on an island – and then everything that happened to these people on this mysterious island is the REASON for the story.

    I don’t care about the six degrees of separation that is happening off the island; if the sideways flashing had been the original show from Season 1 it never would have made it to Season 2.

    To me, Ben becoming such an afterthought to the entire story/plot in the grand scheme of things makes no sense. I loved Lost when Ben was the driving force behind the mystery of the island. I would have preferred that the Smoke Monster was an invention of the Dharma Initiative that escaped their control, instead of a dark force that wants to rule the world. I loved the hatch, and the numbers, and learning about Dharma and its power struggle with the Others. And I loved the internal struggle that so many of the characters faced and the decisions and outcomes that happened because of it.

    Instead, we’ve got Widmore back on the island (has the whole feud with Ben just been forgotten then?), a lighthouse sitting there that no one noticed before, a group of ‘new’ people in the temple who have been on the island the entire time but that no one EVER bumped into before.

    I’ve loved Lost more than any television show before it, and I hope there are some answers coming that actually make some sense. I’m glad the show is ending this season – it’s not the show I fell in love with.

  6. Coolpeace says:

    These episodes are racing by – I am really enjoying this season.

    Random thoughts and observations :

    MIB needs to collect all the candidates and leave with them ?? No, my guess is that he needs to gather them all and kill them in order to be able to leave. He had, Kate, Sawyer, Jin and Sayid – he said he was 3 shy of getting all those he needed. Who are the 3 : Jack, Hurley, Sun ?? But if Sun and Jin are not a “package deal” then is Sun one of the three ? Is Sayid still a candidate? Somewhere deep inside I have not given up on Sayid coming back or at least getting his emotions back.

    Jin was delivering the 25,000 $ to Keamy as part of a contract on his own head… you have balls Mr. Paik !!

    Important note re Smokey – he can not cross over water. I seem to remember a sort of mote around the Temple. That could have been why MIB could not just have Claire kick the ash off and let him go through … there must have been several layers of security to the Temple : the ash, the water and Dogen.

    Widmore speaks of myths, ghost stories, jungle noises in the night… but MIB says you must know more because of the pylons. The sonic fence must have something to do with the electromagnetism on the island, which in turn must act like the cork and keeps MIB in place. So, MIB must also neutralize the electromagnetism … how would he do that?

    I not used to seeing Widmore as a nice man … But perhaps what he did to deserve the banishment – fall in love with an outsider and have a child with her is just a matter of “the heart wants what the heart wants”. And to get back to the Island he was asked (or thought he had) to sacrifice his relationship with Penny.

    So, if Widmore was in fact wanting to get the real Locke back to the island, he must have sent Abaddon with him to protect him and avoid his death – but of course Abaddon was shot … do we know who shot him?

    Widmore also says that if MIB get out or off the Island then all those we love will cease to be. That is intriguing … he was speaking to Jin about his child and about Penny … is it just about the children or all the Losties.

  7. Carol from Boston says:

    The Boston feed cut off next week’s preview. So I have no idea of what is coming.

    So the key question now is why is Desmond so important to Widmore and the battle?

    re:the electromagnetism hot spots – they neutralize smokey? Best place to lure him? Are they spots to time travel?

    Smokey doesn’t like electricity – remember the cabin – something is up with smokey and energy. Though when MIB is smokey and he “flashes” he looks like he has electricity in him.

    Okay new thought, too much electricity or magnatism will make smokey overcharge and destroy himself? or work up enough energy to cause the sideways?

    BTW today we had a flashsideways that was also a flashback, a flashsidewaysback?

  8. Athens says:

    @Knives Monroe

    Haha, you and me both. But if you’re in the US, there’s always Hulu!

  9. @ Blair.
    I can understand where your coming from.
    But coming from such a devoted fan, I must tell you (as a writer myself)
    You need to relax and enjoy the ride.
    The writers know what they are doing.
    They’ve always known.
    The final episodes will prove this.
    Rest assured.
    This apprehension you feel is natural and I can’t blame you. No one does.
    But you really have to have faith.
    The people behind and in front of LOST have given us the greatest Television show that has ever existed. To sell them out now would be such a sad waste, and the writers, producers, and performers deserve our benefit of faith.
    As they said on the simpsons ‘they don’t owe us anything, if anything we OWE THEM’.
    When LOST is all said and done you’ll know where I’m coming from.
    No sure is perfect, but LOST is damn near close.
    Lets just all be patient and watch the greatest show in existence unfold.
    As Lindelof just said, the conversations will change.

  10. ScottB in DC says:

    Jin cut her hand in the garden before unLocke showed up. I think the cut makes her more suscepitble to unLocke’s influence. Or at least it makes it easier for him to scan her for weaknesses and ways to manipulate. The inability to get her point across to Jack et al would make her feel alienated…..and that’s one of MIB’s go to tools for turning someone to his side.

    Jin’s leg was cut open by Claire’s bear trap, and I think the guy who Claire shot, but then later brought to Jin “he was just pretending to be dead” was actually MIB. Claire drops an axe into his already dead corpse so the two of them can scare Jin into submission I think.

    Way back when Boone’s leg was cut open, and next thing you know he’s seeing Shannon’s dead and mangled body…….another smokey influenced vision.

  11. @ Coolpeace

    Yes Ben shot Abbadon. If my memory serves me correctly.

  12. ScottB in DC says:

    Sun is stunning – Keamy is a great bad guy, what a character

    Sun has been infected, (I think her out of character outburst of anger towards Richard was our second clue that she’s changed) maybe she can turn it around before it’s too late – Sayid is way gone to the dark side, he’s not coming back. Sayid vs Hurley?

    Who was the small boy? Was it Jacob reborn and coming back? Seems like it must be Aaron.

  13. Sobaika says:

    Feel better Ryan!

    I really liked The Package – even though I was fully prepared for a let down after Ab Aeterno. I tend to appreciate the flash-sideways. I’m not sure how they fit into the big picture, but they’re great stand alone stories with winks at the bigger picture. Seeming familiar characters happened more organically this episode as opposed to earlier (ex: Sawyer chasing down Kate) and who didn’t like seeing Mikhail getting shot in the EYE?

    Now, I’m wondering if Sun forgot English because she hit her head, because of Locke, or because the sideways world was bleeding into the on-island one…

  14. MLE in Colorado says:

    I became kinda obsessed with Mikhail after seeing him again tonight. I was sure at some point in a time traveling moment we learned how he lost his eye- so I went back to Lostpedia and read his history. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin

    Though it talks of his many many lives on LOST- it does not mention how he lost his eye- and it remains one of the questions. So I loved seeing his eye get blown off tonight- ok – that sounded bad…like when I said I Loved seeing Keamy blown to bits by Sayid a few episodes ago. It was “satisfying”. My favorite parts of the description of Mikhail on Lostpedia are:
    1)”In every episode where Mikhail makes a non-flashback appearance with speaking lines, he is brutally beaten up or wounded until he eventually dies.”
    and
    2) The fact that he worked in “The Flame” station and “His birthday, November 12th, is also the birthday of Nadia Comaneci (1961-11-12), which makes Mikhail a Scorpio. In 1967, Nadia Comaneci joined a newly formed gym club, “The Flame”. His cat is named after Nadia Comaneci, and also has the same name as Sayid’s former love.”

    I liked those two tidbits.

    I do not like how out of it Sayid is…and thought for a second in his flash sideways that he was going to free Jin and get back on the high road…but only enough to keep us caring what happens to him.

    Also trying to trace back Jin and Sun to find out what changed to make them not be married from being on the Island verses the plane never landing…plane never lands…so some set events do not get set in motion that cause them to be able to get married.

    …and finally- in the scenes from next week…wait- maybe are not supposed to talk about it here- so I wont…but point me to where we can- because I want to ask a question! 🙂

  15. Faraday said that Desmond is special and that ‘the rules’ don’t apply to him.
    Eloise Hawking said that the Island isnt done with Desmond.
    Desmond said that they are just the pieces of this game that they are playing.
    All this sounds like it will be very important going into the next episode. =)

  16. ScottB in DC says:

    How can unLocke be a good guy – “those people could have joined me” as justification for killing them.

    Widmore (like Ben) can be on team Jacob, but get corrupted in a pursuit of power, protecting the island is noble, but that’s not a license to leave your humanity.

    Jacob may be finding candidates to come to the island, but he’s giving them a choice, he’s not killing people like Dogen if they decide not to join him.

    I love the show and trust the writers, but Jin being taken away right when it seems Sun has a chance to find him was REALLY annoying.

  17. HeyKir in NYC says:

    People can disagree with me, but I am soooo happy with the season so far! Its like a beautiful piece of classical music with different movements… some fast paced and exciting and some slow and emotional. So, in keeping with the metaphor, I can not wait for the crescendo and culmination of this Lost symphony!!

    Keep the faith people!!

    …and please feel better, Ryan! 🙂

  18. Mattfromnd says:

    Whoever asked about next weeks promo. Unless I’m mistaken, it was all footage from previous eps, nothing new.

  19. Blair says:

    @Knives Monroe – I hope you’re right….. I hope against all hope that I’m not disappointed. This show has blown me away for all the years that it’s been on. I guess once the next 6 hours are over, we’ll know for sure.

  20. Carol from Boston says:

    When Mikhael spoke to Keamy and asked who shot him did Keamy say “look behind you, you idiot?” because that is what it sounded like.

    Okay – had a thought, what if Desmond is different because when he flashed to being with Penny after the hatch explosion, he was in his FLASH SIDEWAYS!! not in his past. Which is why things seemed a bit off to him, it is also why the photo is a bit different. The glitch in that theory is Eloise advising him about the ring. But it is a cool thought.

  21. @ HeyKir in NYC
    Keep the Faith!
    Lost is like a symphony.
    Could have said it better myself.

  22. HeyKir in NYC says:

    Oh… and I dont think UnLocke did anything to Sun while she was knocked out. Remember, it would have had to be HER choice to go with him (or be on his side). Right?

  23. @ Carol From Boston

    Holy Balls.
    I think you figured it out.
    OMG
    OFCOURSE!!!
    Flashes before your eyes… that must be a flashside ways..
    oh man… I gotta watch that episode again.
    Oh crap!

  24. Carol from Boston says:

    @Blair – is the problem that you have a pre-conceived idea of how it should end and if isn’t that, you’ll be disappointed? I was feeling the same way as you until I made the decision to let it all play out and let them tell their story their way, like they have been for the past six years.

    Even if the ending disapoints you, there were still a lot of great moments and you’ve had 6 years to enjoy the show. Just put aside what you think you want to happen and just let the story take you along.

    I wish this board had spell check. It is after midnight and I know my spelling is horrible and I am too tired to check it. Sorry.

    Anyway, just wanted to help Blair because I know exactly how you feel, and by letting it go I enjoyed this episode a lot.

  25. Isaac says:

    1) it was interesting how Sun lost the ability to speak English after her head injury and in the flash sideways she doesnt speak English(or does she?)….that was a good parallel

    2) After Keamy tells a tied-up Jin why he was kidnapped and what the money was for, Jin replies “Thank you”……what does that mean? Did Jin really mean that? does he understand English?

    3) Are all the flash sideways stories gonna have a resolution? Does Jack find his dad and the coffin? Did Kate kill her dad? How did Hurley win the lottery? why are all these stories bringing up more questions? Im hoping that the producers will prove to us that the flash sideways was a good idea this season. Cuz so far, im not a fan….sorry guys

  26. Carol from Boston says:

    @MLE did Mikhael ever really die? I saw him set off the grenade but he didn’t stay with it, he could have swam away.

    @Knives I am going to watch that episode again as well. A flash sideways could explain why he was going to do something different than Eloise thought as well.

    Okay this is my last post tonight, going to bed now and will have another late night due to thinking about this show instead of sleeping

  27. shannymac3t0 says:

    Absolutely loved this episode, it feels like we have been going up the roller coaster and with this episode we have hit the top and are about to go down! HOLD ON PEOPLE!

  28. Stacey, NC says:

    Count me among the legions that are ANNOYED with ABC and their stupid, friggin’ “V” logo in the corner so that I couldn’t see what was on Sun’s notepad.

    I LOVE that Desmond is back – yay!! 😉

    LOVED Mikhail getting shot in the eye.

    I thought it was funny when Zoe told Widmore that he should have hired a mercenary instead of a geophysicist to head up his team. Does she not know that he tried that already and it ended badly?

    I’m currently obsessed with what Widmore said would be their fate if the Man in Black got off the island, that they’d “cease to exist” (or something like that – I don’t have perfect recall of the exact words). Especially after the shoot-out in the restaurant. I’ll be re-watching that about a half dozen times.

    It wasn’t the best episode, but after last week, just about anything was going to be a letdown. Still, a subpar episode of “Lost” is better than just about anything else that’s ever been on television, so I’ll take it.

  29. Eric in Sedona says:

    (Spoilers for the episode, I guess I shod say.)

    @ Carol from Boston

    Maybe he didn’t flash sideways after the hatch explosion. Maybe the sideways world didn’t exist yet. (Juliet’s “It worked” suggests that the potentially revised incident is what caused that timeline to exist. Temporal mechanics is a difficult thing to work out without knowing all the rules, but that seems likely.) But perhaps now that the sideways world definitely — well, maybe definitely — exists, maybe he can flash to it. In fact, maybe this is the Desmond from that timeline. Or perhaps the ability to flash through time may have fused the minds of those two Desmonds. Making them effectively one.

    If any of those are true, I wonder what that means. Is there useful knowledge to be gained from the other timeline to be used in the main one? Can other minds be made to cross over or fuse? (If so, could real, Sideways Lock merge with MiB, perhaps give some of his humanity to him? Or could MiB crossover and take over his human body? Is that his means of escape? How would he know about that timeline, if it were?)

    Other things of note:

    We have a map mentioning electromagnetism. We have a geophysicist. I think science is indeed coming back into the scene. (And I hope, hope, hope that as electromagnetism is discussed, we get an explanation for why the numbers (those sepcific numbers, in that order, and no other candidate’s numbers) were able to keep the electromagnetic catastrophe at bay every 108 minutes for so long.)

    Hey, Jack did something!!! You don’t suppose that’s what he was supposed to do, is it? I doubt it myself. But if at the crisis point, it comes down to Sun having to communicate with someone besides Jin, this event might tun out to be be big enough, after all.

    If she still has this condition when she and Jin FINALLY get back together (they’d better), he’ll have to translate for her. (If she can’t show anyone else something written.)

    I think there’s significance in Sawyer asking Kate “Where’d you go?” Where else could she go? Sideways, perhaps? If only faintly. If only the people MiB needed were identical to those Losties who survived the incident, I would say that they gained some of the qualities of Desmond in their experience with the electromagnetic force. And that’s why they’re important. That may still be true, as far as it goes. But since those “lists” aren’t identical, there must be something more about those candidates.

    MiB said to Ben that he needed to leave someone in charge of the island when he left. I don’t think that was a lie. I assume he want to make sure that it ISN’T one of Jacob’s candidates. That may be the only reason he wants to take every one of the remaining ones with him, He’s not allowed to kill them, after all. (Or it could be a requirement for him to be able to leave, but that doesn’t have to be true.) But what happens with an island whose leader isn’t one of the remaining candidates? What happens to the world?

  30. docjkm says:

    @ Knives – What, you pulled a Des? One quick glimpse on the plane and you’re gone til now?

    Have no comments tonight, have to think, eh brutha? Don’t want to be laying spoilers.

    If I can interest anyone, I left a long post towards the end of the comments on the last podcast. Really don’t want to do it again, and probably bore people anyway, BUT if you are concerned about the trajectory of this season, of the last six years, you can have my theory there. No, I don’t attempt to explain a thing, but what I expect Darleton et. al. to do to us. And a plea, to Ryan, Jen, and Y’all Everybody.

    Good show? Hmmm. I’ve got some digesting to do. But damn I am so so Lost!
    G’night all.

  31. Ben in PA says:

    I see Sun’s loss of speaking English a sort of reversion to Season 1 Sun. And Jack had a little more of the agency of early-season Jack. I’m not saying everything is returning to its beginning, but those regressions are notable.

    Also, the fact that it’s Sun who has the mirror moment makes me think that she is the Kwon who is the candidate.

  32. Eric in Sedona says:

    Re: the “V” chyron

    Just think of it as a tribute to Elizabeth Mitchell. It’ll make it go down better.

    Also. @ Ben in PA. Another thing about Sun’s mirror moment is that it means that feeling the other world isn’t tied to experiencing the electromagnetic incident. (Same with Claire saying “Aaron.”) That still doesn’t mean Desmond, by his nature, couldn’t be able to cross over and remember. I still think that’s true in one way or another.

  33. Lee says:

    Sun hasn’t had a dozen decent lines this season in English – tonight she barely speaks English.

    This was not a good episode for me. Sun & Jin deserve a better written episode. Everything was so obvious, the anvils were cracking my cement foundation.

    A very generous 6/10 from me tonight. Not impressed at all with this one.

  34. Bryan in Ohio says:

    I think everyone is just assuming Desmond is the package. Maybe he is, but it could also be another slight of hand by the producers to reveal someone else later.

    Overall, I felt like this episode was a little meh. I’m kinda glad the show is winding down. I’m tired of everyone talking in ambiguities.

    I’m bored with Kate.
    They are really going out of their way to include everyone in the off-island world. I did think it was funny though what happened to Mikhail.

    Nothing was going to top last week anyway.

  35. The Joe Buck Eyebrow Challenge says:

    Some thoughts:

    -I think that either Sun or Ji Yeon will die as a result of the gunshot wound in the Alt. In my view, this links up directly with Dogen speaking about how his son could live, so long as he never saw him again. The Alt reality right now is a choice, not a certainty and how this choice will be presented to the candidates is unclear to me. But what does seem clear is that Sun and Jin’s reunion may either not be or will be brief as they both discover somehow that Ji Yeon’s existence depends on her father’s sacrifice to the Island. Dogen’s words were purposeful, perhaps on many registers, vis a vis Jacob’s manipulations, etc. But I also think Jin looking at photos of his daughter were also obviously purposeful, but I’ll wager it’s setting up for yet another heartbreaking end to Jin’s being with Sun.

    -Desmond may indeed be the “Doc” character from Back to the Future of Lost. “Marty, it’s your kids!” LOL. But seriously, I could seem him going back and forth and informing folks in the Alt or influencing their fates so that they match up or affect what is happening on Island.

  36. Marilyn says:

    Regarding the promos for next week, there were sound bytes that appear to be either very spoilerish or very deceiving. Ever since the promo for Dr. Linus when ABC set it up as “the demise of Ben”, I take the promos with a grain of salt. The scenes seemed liked old clips but they used the Amazing Grace song playing through the promo, looking forward to next week.

    I was wrong about what was locked on the sub; in retrospect I should have seen it coming that it was Desmond but I couldn’t figure out why Charles would kidnap Desmond & drag him back to the island given the last scene we saw of Charles & Eloise outside the hospital after Desmond was shot. It would seem Charles changed his mind about Desmond….again. I also noticed that Desmond seemed to be wearing the same thing he was wearing when Ben shot him, so I wonder if Charles actually did kidnap him right out of the hospital.

    We had confirmation that Jin & Sun weren’t married, something I suspected since LAX but here we find out that they were involved in a secret relationship & Sun was planning to leave Korea for good w/Jin & that she was pregnant. It would appear in this FS there was no Jae Lee, nor was there a fertility problem with Jin.

    I’ll admit i’m confused as to who’s side who is on. Charles wants something on the island; he wants Jin & his DHARMA grid maps; he looking for the spots where there’s electromagnetism. The Orchid (FDW) or The Swan site; Jin has this info. If Charles is trying to trap,capture or kill the monster & we have Ben w/ team Ilana are Ben & Charles now on the same side? I don’t see that battle being over. What we do know is that “the war is on”.

    I realize that people are still waiting for further answers to the numbers and still think the Valenzetti Theory is going to come into the show. IMHO this is not going to happen. If we get any further information on the numbers it won’t be about the Valenzetti Theory; that was part of an ARG in 2007; though it may have been said it was Canon back then it won’t end up being canon to the story as it ends. We’re getting the answers to the numbers, i’m not expecting too much more. We haven’t had a Hurley centric yet, so we haven’t seen him win the lottery yet. Let’s be patient and see what happens when we see Hurley’s FS.

    I liked the episode. I was interrupted several times (son,dog,cat etc) and somehow missed the scene where Sun was shot and told Jin she was pregnant, caught it on a rewatch. I was sure this was what she wanted to tell him in the beginning of the episode. If she loses the baby is this an indication that the “evil” was released and the monster got off the island, but how does what’s going on in 2007/08 on Island affect what’s going on in 2004? I don’t know, i’m not sure i’m even buying into the Flocke/MIB is evil thing yet. I’m also not completely convinced that Sayid “feels nothing” as he claimed to Locke; he certainly felt the stun dart when he got hit in the deck, he felt pain & he seemed to have felt something when he saw Desmond. Also, what of Claire now that she knows she’s not on the list of candidates? Then there’s the fact that Austen is crossed off on the cave but not on the Lighthouse wheel; Locke seems to think she’s not a candidate any longer, perhaps he’s mistaken about this. We still don’t know who Ilana considers her candidates. Is Austen on her list, clearly Locke & Sayid are off the list. Jack seems to be making plans to get off the island again, promising Sun he’d get her off safely. I keep remembering that there are 2 pilots on the island; Lapidus & Jack. I can’t forget that back in season 1, Jack told Kate “I took a couple of flying lessons”, certainly something to be considered.

    Ryan sorry to hear you’re not feeling well. Hope you get better soon. There’s a big bruhahaha going around in regards to what Keamy was saying to Jin in the refrigerator at the restaurant. There’s a contingent of fans who seem to think Keamy told Jin “‘I can’t let you know what’s going to happen on the island’. People think this was a HUGE REVEAL, the biggest of the season. On the other hands there are those of us who did not hear Keamy say this, we heard Keamy say ” “just in case you figure out what’s about to happen I can’t have ya freaking out”. Perhaps you’d like to comment on what you heard during this scene, we’ve already asked Damon & Carlton is they could clarify in their next podcast.

    Regards & Aloha

  37. Patrick says:

    Wow, an episode where every major character was included and had lines.
    How long has it been since we had one of those?

    Of course there are mixed feelings but I loved this episode. The on-island story got moved forward. That makes me happy.

    Also, I agree that Sawyer had the best line with “because THAT would be ridiculous.”
    Brilliant!

  38. Spalz says:

    I will have to rewatch the episode, but did anyone pick up on Keamy’s speech to Gin where he said something about the island? Why would Keamy say something to him about that. I watched that scene a couple of times, and he mentioned the island. strange

  39. Rus from Texas (Lonestare) says:

    In a circle, the end meets the beginning… unless someone (or something) can break the cycle.

    Charlie stopped by for more coffee, but had to leave rather abruptly. Something about Aaron first words, “Jac—“.

  40. rusty says:

    “It would’ve been cool if they’d depicted infra-red heat signatures, with everyone glowing except for Locke (and Sayid), but… no such luck.”

    I love that! Too bad they didn’t consult you before shooting this episode.. lol.

    Can’t wait for the podcast.

  41. Maluhia says:

    Desmond seems to be Jacob’s counterpart in keeping the island/cork in place to contain the evil/energy within. Jacob operates on a spiritual dimension (keeping evil in the metaphoric bottle via the numbered candidates), while Desmond on a scientific one (keeping destructive energy under control via the hatch with the numbers). Is Des brought back to be Jacob’s replacement? But then what are the candidates for?

    In thinking more about the flash-sideways, it seems like in this world where Oceanic 815 never crashed, not only are their lives different moving forward, but their pasts are a little different, too. What would this mean if the two timelines (on/off-island) were to link up?

    I also swear I heard Keamy say, “I can’t let you know what’s going to happen on the ISLAND.” I rewatched it a few times and still really think that’s what I heard. But when I turned on subtitles, they just read, “I can’t let you know what’s going to happen to YOU.” Hmmm…

    I can’t believe I just learned about The Transmission and this incredible LOST community right before Season Six started. I feel like I missed out on so much of the ride! Ryan & Jen – incredible podcast, and I’m proud to call it “Hawaii’s Own!” And to You All Everybody – great comments!

  42. Eric Kupers says:

    I really enjoyed “The Package.” This episode, plus recent revisiting of a random sampling of older episodes and podcasts has made a bunch of pieces fall into place in my developing theory of everything LOST:

    1. Building on one of the calls from the LostLine in the last podcast, I agree that the malevolence that Jacob said was “corked” by the island would be seen as evil from a Judeo-Christian perspective, but could be seen as destructively massive amounts of electromagnetic energy from a physics perspective, and other things from other perspectives. So….

    2. Could this mean that Smokey is one and the same with the electromagnetic anomaly at the heart of the island, or at least fueled by it? And….

    3. Could this mean that since the electromagnetic energy below the Swan Hatch and at the invisible barriers to the island and connected to the Frozen Donkey Wheel seem to trigger time unstuckness– that what is being corked by the island could also be seen as a global version of getting “unstuck in time?” And…

    4. Since Desmond is “special” and “not affected by the rules” in relation to time, could that be the reason he is a key piece in stopping Smokey from leaving the island, since in a sense, if the above assertions are true, Smokey is inextricably linked to time mischief? And…

    5. Since Darlton have asserted numerous times that the Flash Sideways are not part of an alternate reality, but part of the same reality, could it be that the world has already started getting unstuck in time from some combination of Juliet detonating the bomb amidst the pocket of energy and Jacob being killed? And then could the resolution of these two timelines be them needing to either merge, or one of them be chosen so everyone can be whole again? And…

    6. Since Widmore stated that one of the reasons he is at the island is to stop Smokey from leaving, could Widmore’s reason for bringing the freighter to the island be more about stopping Ben because Widmore knew (from Faraday’s notebook) Ben was destined to kill Jacob, rather than solely a need for Widmore to control the island? And…

    7. Could “the sickness” that Rousseau and others warned of be the same thing infecting Claire and Sayid, and a version of what happened to Charlotte, and connected to the nature of Smokey? And if so, then could the work that the Dharma initiative, and maybe Zooey or Faraday did be a key piece in putting things right–perhaps bringing back a version of the medicine that Desmond and other hatch dwellers injected? Perhaps bringing Sayid and Claire back to a redemption point?

    It seems that we’re headed to some kind of weaving together of many of the important strands (scientific, mythological, religious, interpersonal) of this LOST journey. At least I hope we are. Maybe many of the things we’ve seen as separate issues will turn out to me the same issues seen through different lenses.

    Some questions I still hope to have answered:

    1. What exactly are the whispers and why do they always seem to arise in service of The Others?
    2. Where did Richard Alpert go when he told Jack and Hurley that they wouldn’t believe him if he told them, and that it wasn’t time to tell them yet?
    3. How did Jacob get his healing powers and what is the origin of the conflict between him and MIB?
    4. How did Jacob find candidates?

    Thanks Ryan and Jen for your fabulous podcasting! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the latest developments.

  43. KC Bob says:

    Is it possible that we’re beginning to see the convergence of the two story lines, with Sun losing her ability to speak in English (as she can’t in the flash sideways) and the normally heroic Sayid, regarding Jin as lethargically as he did Kate a few weeks back when Claire attacked her? Is it possible that the flashsideways is actually an alt-universe? And Desmond is the constant that will reconcile the two? It might also explain Keamey’s odd remark about the island.

    Something I thought of last week. After Jacob gave FLocke the wine bottle, and he smashed it, it made me wonder if that was possibly a metaphor for complete destruction…like say setting off a nuclear bomb. One question I’ve pondered is why were the LOSTies sent back in time to 1977 last season? Everyone of the candidates were sent back to the 70’s (if you’re going with Jin being a candidate as opposed to Sun.)

    Is it possible Flocke sent them there to detonate the bomb, and destroy the island as a way of thwarting Jacob bringing them there? Is it also possible that the time shifts early on in the season were being brought on by both Jacob and Flocke, in a tug of war over which time the candidates should be in?

    JUst some random theories….

  44. Mimi says:

    Ryan, what the heck does “anvilicious” mean?

    Everybody who’s mind went to the male anatomy when they heard the title for this episode, I just want to say, “THANK GOD!!!! I thought I was the only person who also listens to Jim Rome. LOL. That’s all I could think of all week long!

    Um, I remember seeing “Littleton” on the cave wall… although it was crossed out. She was, in fact, number 313. Can’t say as I remember her name on the lighthouse wheel.

    Evil Tina Fey (aka Zoe) is a Geophysicist which is a little more specialized than a Geologist. A Geophysicist studies specifically the physics of the earth such as seismology, volcanology and geomagnetism.

    OK, I’m sorry, but I’m going to get VERY nit-picky here. What Sun is experiencing is Dysphasia (specifically expressive dysphasia as opposed to receptive dysphasia) NOT Aphasia, as Jack said in the episode. If you know medical prefixes “dys” means difficulty with and “a” means without. So saying Sun was experiencing “aphasia” is completely inaccurate medically. That would mean that she was suddenly without the ability to produce or comprehend language.

    In case anyone is wondering, brain trauma can certainly manifest as dysphasia. It happens all the time with Alzhiemer’s and Parkinson’s patients.

    I’m just really upset the writers and the editors didn’t pay closer attention to that detail. Come on guys… that’s b-movie bush league!

    Sorry for the rant guys. Ryan, get some rest, drink plenty of fluids and finish all your antibiotics!

  45. Martin says:

    I found this episode much better then the previous. It was simply more like “Lost”.

    Did anyone find strange as Jack offered his hand to Sun promising to find Jin and get as far from the Island as they can? Mirroring the same what MiB has done including the stretched hand from the beginning of the episode… And the funny grin… I remember MiB having this kind of grin… But I believe MiB cannot take the form of a living person…

    Just wondering… I like it when I do not know what to think… I hate it when it is predictable. Thanks god, Lost is not predictable very often… 😉

  46. James says:

    Oh, dear. What happened to Lost. It is clear now that season six was not what we thought it would be.

    @Blair
    I’m with you, although perhaps in slightly different ways. So many people posting on here are apologists for the show. Most of what they say breaks down to “Just go with it. They had a plan all along. Wait and see!”

    Really? Do you think that in six episodes they will do justice to the last five seasons? We all knew Lost could never end well, for it was always about the questions, not the answers. However, none of us expected that the show would just slowly become tedious and irrelevant. My Lost parties started to lose attendants. I know why. There are no emotional stakes anymore. Even if you deny my point of view, somewhere deep inside you know you are just running on fumes now, just watching to see how it ends.

    I personally blame an inconsistent set of metaphysical rules and emotional stakes. When you can have time travel, the devil, characters dying and coming back to life, international espionage, alternate time lines, nuclear bombs, and so on, it becomes tedious to know what to fear and whom to have empathy for.

    This show lives more in fan discussions than in its own world.

    I am not sure how many of the die-hard lost fans on here are skeptical about how Lost turned out. And yes, I can say at this very late date that I can make some broad conclusions. I don’t need another six episodes to tell me that the show did not have the brilliant trajectory we all thought it would have.

    To those who claim the writers always had a plan. Uh… not exactly. They hatched a plan in the middle of season three because it was becoming increasingly clear that they needed to. Not surprisingly, Lost began a downhill spiral at that point.

    Since then there have been moments of brilliance, but they were just that: moments. Moments that were eventually sentenced to the purgatory of could-have-been-great developments. Alvar Hanso, I’m looking at you. Red headed anthropology girl, you coulda’ been a contender! And Walt and Michael, we’ll always have Paris, eh… season one.

    Speaking of season one. Know why it was so amazing? Why it won the Emmy? It was emotional, compelling, must-see TV. We desperatly wondered how or if these people would get off the island? Who would Kate choose? What does it all mean?

    Oh, and then in a stroke of anti-climactic boldness, we had the oceanic six storyline and somehow Lost wandered off our Watercooler radar.

    There were still high points to be sure, but mostly in what the episodes promised to be. I still dig a couple episodes into season four when we see the new mysterious freighter people, including the archeologist. Somehow the show opened up in an unexpected way. Why was Sayid killing people on golf courses? I also liked the Jacob dimension. What did that mean?

    Well now we sort of know. Nothing. At least nothing coherent in terms of the world we the viewers can relate to. Sawyer went off with Juliet. Do we care about their offscreen romance?

    Cuse and Lindeloff got their Back to the Future season, but did they do anything creative with it? No. In fact, whatever was interesting about Dharma before was now revealed to be mundane.

    To be fair, I liked some of the choices made, yet retroactively took back that respect when they were revealed to be isolated outliers. Narrative blips. As the writers tried to link their cool inventions, I think the show descended into a kind of mumbo jumbo. Those of us that are long time fans remember well how we were promised a very rational show. It was a promise actually.

    The chief problem for me has to do with the emotional stakes of the show. You can tell by this last episode that the characters are even joking about the silliness of reality in this world. “Can’t you just turn into smoke and fly across the water?” I paraphrase, but you get the idea. I’m with Sawyer. Wasn’t this a show about shipwrecked people? Are none of them aware they are now in a supernatural thriller?

    The bottom line is the show has become a post-modern jumble of nonsense. We the people have to deconstruct it and make meaning out of it. I agree with the premise that the flash sideways is a kind of denoument — a clever idea.

    Nevertheless, i find the writers keep chasing the same tired patterns. There is always a war brewing at the end of a season. Always new “others” at the beginning of a season. Always a bizarre lack of communication between these characters (critical so that the show can remain mysterious). And is Kate an actual character or just a pouty actress?

    Now, when promised answers, they only continue their dance into obscurity. We discuss candidates and protecting the island and… well, am I alone in thinking it sort of doesn’t matter anymore?

    I mean, other than resolving the mystery of the show and see what clever ending there is, I don’t think I really care about it from a character perspective. There was a time when I was curious about every clue, but each one was left like so many red herrings in favor of new others.

    Contrast this with the time I froze my TiVo so I could see the blacklight painting on the Swan Station door? That is when Lost was freakin’ cool!

    The ultimate banality was the recent Richard flashback — which was not very mysterious at all — but somehow anti-climactic. The hell concept was laughable at this point. Either it is so on-the-nose, or it is just more deliberate ambiguity. I thought to myself it was perhaps a joke that the writers were going to make the island purgatory after all, just to spite us!

    Whatever you think of the last few seasons, everyone on this blog can agree that we thought this season was going to be a bit more… substantial. Yet it feels so pedestrian.

    And that isn’t what I want this close to the end. I thought season six was going to be one fast paced race to the end. Instead it is more evasive than ever, trying my patience with a lack of synthesis of former seasons.

    I know, I must sound like a heretic. But really I am just a die-hard fan. I guess for me Lost was fantastic up until season 4. Season 4 started off with a bang, and then just dropped off a cliff. They were clearly executing their master plan and something vital was missing.

    The excellent television show 24 makes it up as they go along, and as a result, you never know where they are going to go. The plotting is brilliant. Lost used to do that. So, folks, what may have done this show in when everything is said and done is the very thing people are desperate for: a plan.

    Let’s see what happens. Jack turns out to be a robot; aliens descend on the island; whatever it is, it is sure to be only one more bit of too much.

    Let’s just have them go home. Is that too much to ask?

  47. Glenn says:

    Loved the episode. I’m appreciating every minute of these final hours.

    For the first time, I felt a tangible shift in the story towards the endgame. The buildup to finale is really beginning folks. Enjoy it with beginners mind while you can!

    To be honest, I’ve stopped coming to this blog because I am tired of reading all the complaints by many of the posters here. I prefer to spend my time on other blogs where people are still enjoying the mysteries of Lost. Not with rose-colored glasses, but while still smelling the roses amidst the critiques of each episode.

  48. Mimi says:

    Wow… and I thought I went off on a rant.

  49. Loved the episode! Just loved it! So many things moving on, questions and answers(!) but most importantly… how everything is seemingly fitting together. We know about the repetitive patterns, the mirroring, the catch phrases and the characters so true to themselves and the shape of things is starting to add up very well.

  50. Cat says:

    @KCBob – Think you are on to something with your worlds converging theory. At first I thought Smocke did something to Sun so that she was only speaking Korean but maybe, when she looked in that mirror, she transferred something to Island Sun – e.g. only able to speak Korean.

    I suspect that the line about Sun and Jin not supposed to be together is important – I have always felt that they are doomed as a couple and tonights show did nothing to change my mind.

    DES IS BACK! I suspect the package was kidnapped by Widmore because otherwise how could he get past Penny? Where is Penny….I suspect Des and Penny are doomed as well.

    @ Marilyn – the fact that amazing grace was played by scottish bagpipes hopefully means that we will see much more of Des next week.

    I really enjoyed this episode. It moved the plot along very quickly after last week. Sure, there were some ebs and flows but I don’t get all the hate expressed above. Season 6 is a great ride and I’m enjoying it all – best TV on the air – what would you naysayers watch instead? Dancing with the Stars? Hold on to your seats – the war has begun!

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