Wow. All I can say is WOW. As a long time fan of the show Lost, and my husband and I both instantly loving it from the pilot to the very end, besides a few off episodes that seemed to be one-offs and time killers, I can honestly say that the series finale show of Lost was truly moving. I love it. I even was moved to tears a few times. Where to start on this epic journey?

My husband and I discussed how some fans may not think there was enough explained, and I felt the opposite. I like to use my imagination on any loose ends that were left, and I’m even going to go back and watch the finale again to pick up on any more tidbits I may have missed the first time around.

Oh, and we live in Akron, Ohio and there was a colossal screwup on the locally served station, and most of the show was pixelated so bad you couldn’t tell what they were saying. We were still able to get the gist of the finale, but they are actually re airing the show again on Saturday at 8:00 because so many people complained about it.

We find out that the sideways flashes, as they’ve been coined by Losties and the producers, are actually a sort of purgatory, a self created reality by the characters, satisfying what they feel may have been their destiny, or a facilitator in helping them to let go and accept their death and also their life. This wasn’t clear until the end when Christian Sheperd (aptly named since he gathered everyone togetehr at the church) told a befuddled Jack who opened his coffin only to find his father standing, apparently alive, behind him. tells Jack that he needs to “let go”.

We see simultaneous scenes flashing in between where the knife wound that Locke/smoke monster has inflicted on Jack ends up killing him. But he doesn’t die alone. Vincent – remember the adorable golden lab from season past, lays down with him while he dies. Tear jerking scene number 2. Tear jerking scene number one was when Juliette and Sawyer remember eachother by touching one another in front of a snack machine.

It is in this sideways flash that all the major characters end up running into, and remember their time on the island with, the ones they most loved. It is explained that in purgatory, the in between before these souls move on into their afterlife or whatever else it is they are moving on to (that is not clear, up to the watcher to decide), time does not matter. They have all mostly died at separate times, and have come toghether to see one another one last time before they move on.

After Jack had volunteered to be the watcher of the island, Hurley had to step in and take the ropes, and Ben ends up becoming his number 2, like Richard was to Jacob. Richard, after the giant cork is pulled out and the island begins to destroy itself, like Jack and Smoke monster guy, ends up becoming mortal again, as evidenced by a grey hair plucked by Miles before they board the plane.

The man in black/smoke monster meets his demise by a shot from Kate, and then a swift kick over a rocky cliff from Jack. From there, the show is less about good and evil and mysticism and fairy tale, and more of a spiritual journey for the characters. After all, this was a character driven show.

LOVED IT. I’m going to watch it again saturday, and maybe I’ll have some new insites or theories to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I just heard that they are planning on cutting the critically acclaimed AMC show Mad Men off after six seasons. I am now just finishing up season 3, which I got as soon as it became available on DVD. I can fly through three episodes a night on the weekends, so it doesn’t take me too long.

And I can’t do that with too many shows, so that says a lot about Mad Men and how I feel about it. I feel like all the actors are really hitting their stride with their characters these season. They seem to have gotten to know their characters more intimately, and have made them more and more multi faceted, or shall I say fascinating, to watch.

For instance, instead of seeing a cold, shallow bitch in Joan Holloway, not Joan Harris after marrying her doctor fiance off screen, we see a more human woman.  She has gone through her own struggles, but she does so quietly and privately, in a dignified way, which seems to reduce her formerly in your face sexuality to a more down to earth identifiability this season. Women identify with her much more I can guarantee that. And how has the actress who plays her become so much more ethereally beautiful!?

But it’s not just Joan.  All the characters, Betty, Don Drapers wife played by January Jones, another stunner of course, has also hit her stride, and is now playing a much more multidimensional character. Her flirtations with a councilman will hold you rapt to your television. Even though you know Don has stepped out on her numerous times you still don’t want her to lose her seeming innocence, even though she pretty much lost that last season with her one night stand with a stranger.

Don has evolved as well. Of course, he’s still a sympathetic character, but yet he still has that weakness where he seems to look for happiness in women outside of his marriage. It’s the typical Tony Soprano complex where you don’t think he could ever be satisfied in a monogamous relationship for very long without getting restless and looking for “more” outside the walls of marriage.

We see Don having a hard time also with the new British management at Sterling Cooper as well, which helps to bring his uber handsome character who seems to handle everything so effortlessly, down a few notches and more identifiable.  We even see different sides of Pete Campbell and Trudy’s marriage and of Salvatore Romano (Sal) and his struggles with being a gay man who is just coming to grips with it himself.

This season is truly gripping and engrossing. It can get a bit depressing, because you really start to identify and feel for the characters, but it’s nonetheless a pleasure to watch the talented actors, the awesome scenery and sets, and to be transported back to a time when things seemed to be much simpler, but the same human struggles are somehow present.

My currently favorite show to watch (now that we’re done with Battlestar Galactica) is Lost. Now, with only five more episodes to go, and a demanding and discerning fan base, they are trying to explain away as many of the secrets and mysteries of the beautiful tropical island and exactly why Jack, Kate, Hurley, Locke and company all landed there.

The facts are now leaning heavily to the religious/spiritual side, with most signs pointing to this being some sort of a purgatory where people have the opportunity to make better choices or to fulfill some unfulfilled purpose before they say bye forever and move on the the afterlife.

So, are they all dead? Well, it certainly is looking more and more like that, but it’s hard to tell with the twists and turns and sometimes conflicting plot points that don’t quite mesh with my ever expanding list of theories. The recent Hurley episode seemed to point more to the idea of both Hurley and Desmond having some sort of pivotal roles in the fate of all the other Oceanic passengers and their destinies.

We see Hurley in his “flash sideways” where he happens to meet Libby again in the outside world. Except Libby knows him, but he doesn’t know her. Oh, and in this world, as in the other parallel world, Libby is in a mental institution (just like Hurley was after the crash).  She says she knows him, has memories of him and that they had feelings for eachother, remembers being in a plane crash with other survivors on an island, and remembers them going on a date.

Hurley kisses her, and finally the memories come flooding back, another indication that some of the people in the flashes sideways are having memories of their plane crash and of life on the island or the people they met on the island who meant something to them.  So are these flashes sideways their real purgatory, a chance to put things right, or is the island?

Locke shows his evil side again by throwing Desmond into a well when he asks why he isn’t afraid to be alone with him when anyone else would be .Another sign that Desmond is perhaps some sort of guardian angel?  He runs Locke over in the flash sideways, Locke being in his wheelchair. I’m not quite sure what that accomplishes, but hopefully we’ll get some more clues in the next heart pumping episode of Lost, next week!

I have a few favorite characters on the show “Lost”. One of them being Desmond. I don’t know why, but this talented actor’s air time was always intriguing, and you always wanted to learn a bit more about his back story and how he got to the island.  Of course, being a die hard Lostie, I have other favorites as well. I always liked Richard, and of course his back story episode which just aired a few weeks ago was one of the best in Lost’s history.

One thing we’ve known about Desmond is that he came to the island and became the “button pusher” to prevent the island from suffering a major electromagnetic disaster.  He wasn’t even sure why he had to do it, but he thought that if he didn’t, everyone would die.  It ends up that he was the reason behind the Oceanic flight that brought Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sun, Jin and all the other passengers to crash on the island.

His character has taken long breaks from the show, but whenever he has come back it’s a great one.  This time we get to see Desmond’s alternate reality.  In it, he is a business man who works for the uber wealthy Charles Widmore (Penny’s dad who he could never win the acceptance of in his “real” life).  He’s a bachelor in this life, and he is tasked with bringing home a drug addict who is a band mate of his son’s (Farraday reprises his role, this time though, he’s a musician, something he has said in the past he wanted to be).

The musician he has to bring home is of course none other than the (singer this time) for the band Drive Shaft, Charlie.  Charlie says some strange things to him from the beginning, accusing Desmond of being unhappy, of missing out on love in his life, and asks him if he can “feel” it.  Desmond of course is in total denial until Charlie takes the wheel and slams the car into the ocean.

Desmond escapes the car, then goes back down for Charlie.  Charlie, who appears unconscious, re-animates for a moment and puts his hand up to the window, just like he did in the submarine right before he died to sacrifice himself for everyone else.  His hand reads “Not Penny’s ship”, just like it did on the island.  Desmond then starts thinking that he needs to find this Penny woman, that maybe she is the woman in his waking dreams when he was in the MRI machine.

He then gets further conviction when he runs into Daniel Farraday, who says he also had a dream about a woman (Charlotte) that he knew he was destined to be with. Desmond ends up seeking out and finding Penny, and becoming a believer that he must seek out the rest of the Oceanic flight and figure this puzzle out.  We get more answers on what the alternate realities may be. It sounds like they are playing out their true destinies in these alternate realities, but we can’t be sure because some of them choose the wrong paths, again.

So last night’s episode of Lost had me riveted to the television, I must admit. Then again, I am a fan of Sayid, and any episode which uses him a lot in the story line usually has me glued to the TV set. It doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes, but his acting is really superb on the show, and he’s a consistent reason that I like to watch it.

Naveen Andrews plays soft and hard all at once so well, being a ruthless, deadly assassin and torturer that he was for the Iraqi Republican Guard, and alternating between his newfound “good guy” turn since he joined the island survivors. Sayid is one of the best examples of a bad guy put in purgatory, and I think he’s one of the compelling arguments that people have for this show being about heaven hell, evil and good, and limbo, or purgatory.

However, to my dismay, Sayid seemed to choose the evil side in last night’s episode, joining Locke’s entity (we’re still not really sure who this guy is, besides “evil incarnate”), along with Claire, and at the end of the episode a dazed and confused Kate whose played by the lovely and talented Evangeline Lilly (what did that mean anyway, is she still lost between the blurred lines of good and evil, after all, remember, this girl did kill someone in the real world, before the island).

Last night was all about Sayid, and his life back in the seeming alternate reality, the intermittent flashbacks to a different “real world” for some of the characters, including Kate, Jack, Claire, Locke, and now Jin and Sayid.  Sayid apparently works for an oil company in this alternative reality (is this the reality that would have happened had he not landed on the island, or the reality that is going to happen if Locke fulfills his promise of reuniting him with his long lost love?)

There is a tandem thing going on though, because Sayid ultimately chooses murder as the way out of his quandry back on earth, and he also chooses murder as the way out back on the island, which seemingly joins him back to the dark side with Locke and Claire.

Is the choice he made in the alternative reality the reason that he joined the dark side on the island?  It’s hard to say how the two are related.  My theory now is that the people on the island were approached by Jacob back on earth/reality and given options to make the wrongs in their life right – aka purgatory. They had the chance to prove themselves on the island, and if they fulfill their destinies on the island and make the right choices, then they ultimately will go to a good place or “heaven”.  The problem is, I’m still trying to fit these alternate flashbacks in with that theory, and it won’t quite work together.

So, I’m very excited about the show “Lost” coming back on the air in the near future. To be exact, the hit series about a group of plane crash survivors who find themselves on a mysterious island that has supernatural powers, is going to be back on it’s network, ABC, Tuesday February 2nd.

My husband and I started watching the series faithfully from the very first episode, and we were hooked in after that first fateful episode where a potentially mysterious monster that seems gigantic was revealed, but only through the shaking of trees and the earth, and the noises.

You see, we’ve never really seen much more of this monster, which incidentally is probably the smoke monster that we’ve gotten a glimpse of a few times, however, you can’t be sure, because you can’t be sure of anything on this show.  Last season was a flash forward and flash backward season, which worked, even though we though it might really stink. They pulled it off though, and showed our favorite characters, Kate and Jack, back “on earth” in normal lives, which seemed to be falling apart.

Jack is convinced that they were never meant to leave the island, and starts to sound a lot like the more superstitious and spiritual John Locke with his theories about fate and karma.  It’s an interesting turn we see the characters take that got off the island, but also, we see how they still think about everyone who was “left behind” and ultimately, how the decision is made for them to go back to the island.

I can’t wait for this next season, which if I’m not mistaken, I think they’ve decided will actually be the last, and what they have in store for us. I’m wondering if they will give us any concrete answers or leave us hanging. Either way, as long as it’s well acted, filmed, and produced, like it always has been, I’m a shoe in watcher for the whole final season, and I’ll be hanging on every word of the new Lost Season, like the true lost Geek that I am

We’ve just started the second season of the show 30 Rock, which was in jeopardy of being cancelled just a short year ago when it came up for potential renewal on NBC.  I’m glad they didn’t cancel it, because it’s one of the few intelligent, quirky and edgy comedies out there that actually tickles my funny bone more than any other new sitcom. In fact, it’s the only network sitcom I can stomach at the moment.

We tried out the Courtney Cox vehicle Cougar Town,and while that show had some good laughs and great jokes, there was just something missing. It seemed too contrived, too planned, whereas 30 Rock gives you more of a pros of comedy feel, with excellent comedic timing and even better writing by the likes of Tina Fey and other SNL alums. No wonder why the humor is edgy and hilarious.

Not that 30 Rock is without it’s dud episodes.  It definitely has those too. For example, we just watched the finale for the first season, and I’d have to count that among one of their dud episodes, especially since it was the finale and the finales are typically held to higher standards of impressions.

The chemistry between Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin is irresistible.  They’ve kind of developed that sort of comedic timing that Ted Danson and Shelly Long had in Cheers so many years ago, and that “will they or won’t they” factor is starting to creep in a bit too, although you know if they did get together, it would totally ruin the show, and it would probably end it, so they will keep sort of subtly dangling that in our face for a while I’m sure.

Kenneth, the tour guide and general gopher for all the other people on the show is great too. His wide eyed hick yet totally loyal character is great, and just looking at him makes me laugh. Not sure where this guy came from, but Hollywood should definitely give him lots more work after this show is cancelled, because he is great. Judah Friedlander, the free spirited, negative, you think he smokes weed constantly character is great too. And Tracy Morgan is awesome as the phsychotic yet loveable Tracy Jordan, a takeoff of himself and other black comedians who have been geniuses of their time, but also troubled by demons and scandals that were later made fun of.

All in all, 30 Rock has been a great filler show to watch and has provided me and my hudband with lots of laugh, big and small, I’m really glad they didn’t cancel it!

Ok, well, I’m kind of bummed to give you my review of Battlestar Galactica’s The Plan movie that was recently released on DVD.  We rented it on Blu Ray, which had some nice extras on it, however I can’t really give this movie a glowing review because I felt that there was  more footage from old seasons than anything.  Let me give you an idea of what I’m talking about.  Lee Adama and Starbuck were not even in any new scenes, the few scenes they appeared in within The Plan looked like they were just pulled from stock footage from past seasons of the show.

I guess I went into this movie with false pretenses, thinking that we were going to get some new insights on the cylon perspective.  That’s sort of how the movie was advertised, so we did go in thinking we’d gain some new understanding of things that happened, and while there were a few revelations, there was nothing new or groundbreaking that we probably didn’t already have some clue about from logical deduction in the first place.  For example, we find out that Sharon Valeri, aka Boomer, was triggered from a sleeping agent to an active cylon by Father Cavil using a small elephant figuring and putting it in her hands to make her active.

We see how she sabotaged the ship, and how she was triggered to snap out of her humanity and into cylon mode when she shot Adama.  We sort of get a little better showing of how cylon Leoban becomes infatuated with Starbuck, played by Katee Sackhoff (can I tell you again how disappointed I was that she was barely in it, except for from old footage?)

Father Cavil is probably the only one with any real meaty role in The Plan, and we do get a better understanding of his character’s struggles against his own models, how there was essentially a good and bad model of him, one that believed the humans were supposed to live and it was a mistake to attack them, and one that believed humanity should be exterminated once and for all for all of it’s grievous “sins”.

All in all, I have to admit, it was nice to get that familiar chill up my spine when the movie started, excited to see my favorite old characters at it again, but ultimately this was just a big rehashing of the same recycled footage with a little bit of gratiuitous extras.

Larry David is a comic genius of sorts.  If you watch the HBO show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, which stars big time television producer and legendary co creator and writer of probably the biggest sit com hit ever, Seinfeld, as himself, then you know what I’m talking about.

Not only is his comic acting and timing spot on, who would have known after he spent years behind the scenes in his earlier days as a TV producer, but the man has talent for writing the most hilarious, albeit totally irreverant and uncomfortable scenes in the history of TV.  Sure, he touched on the uncomfortable, ego driven humor in Seinfeld on regular tv, but on “Curb” he can touch on that with a whole lot more leeway.

I’ve always said that Curb is like Seinfeld, only much dirtier and much more potentially offensive to the wrong viewer.  Yes, some people would be TOTALLY offended by some of the dialogue and situations in this show, so the easily offended should be warned. However, if you love edgy, quirky humor with a healthy dose of irreverence, you absolutely need to check this show out – period!

This season, Larry has concocted the ingenius idea of doing a Seinfel reunion as the background story.  Trust me, these characters still have the timing they used to, and they’re even funnier “behind the scenes” as themselves, where of course, they are just as quirky, only in slightly different ways than their television personas.  The second half of the season centers around Larry being approached again to do a Seinfeld reunion show.  He is hesitant, because he hates reunion shows. He thinks they’re always forced and phony. He’s right. There are also multiple references to them “blowing” the series finale, since so many people complained that it really wasn’t as good as it should be.

Larry cooks up a hair brained idea that doing the reunion show might be able to get him back together with his estranged wife, Cheryl, played by another great actress with great timing, Cheryl Hines.  She’s started acting again and is interested in starring as George Costanza’s ex wife in the reunion show.  Of course, having an ulterior motive (his M.O.), he agrees to do the reunion show. So, basically you get two shows in one, they do a Seinfeld reunion without actually doing it, it’s ingenius really, and trust me, it’s funny as hell.

This season was just like the others, filled with bust a gut humor, where you’re laughing so hard you’re crying.

Yes, I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a total BSG geek. For those of you who don’t know the lingo, BSG is Battlestar Galactica. I know, quite a mouthful for the name of a television show, but this gem is probably the best piece of television I’ve ever seen in my life. Period. End of story. Even if you’re not totally into sci-fi types of things, this show has it all. It’s got drama, it’s got love stories, it’s got the sci-fi aspect.

It’s got a little bit of blood, it’s got suspense, murder, action, you name it. More importantly though, Battlestar Galactica has the best cast I’ve seen on any show, the best dialogue and most original story lines, and most interestingly, it has it’s very own lexicon that totally works. For example, the books in the BSG universe have, and for that matter, every other piece of paper, is not squared edges, instead it is cut off across the corner edges, like someone cut a triangle off the tip.

There’s also the advent of the great sort of swear word, but really not “frak”, which believe me, if you started watching the show, you wouldn’t be able to stop saying and almost saying this when you mean to curse. That’s just one example of how this show gets inside your head. We watched it when it was all out on DVD, just a year or so after the last season aired it’s last episode, and I couldn’t imagine watching it while it was on, having to wait from week to week to see what was going to happen.

Enough with that though. We’ve been done with the show, all seasons, for a while now, and we’ve been waiting to get the new movie, which is the story told from the CYLON perspective of the human/CYLON war. We finally got it in the mail yesterday, and we’ll be watching it tomorrow night, the night afterThanksgiving. So I’ll have a review for you all shortly on what I thought. I’m sure I’ll love it, there’s really nothing they could do that I wouldn’t be totally enthralled with at this point, I’m convinced.