Johna, Doug and even Henry discuss the spectacular season ender - "Through the Looking Glass": DOWNLOAD HERE

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Also available on iTunes! (click HERE)

So, Desmond's vision wasn't wrong, it just took a bit to fully come together ... poor Charlie, his heroic effort was quite touching, especially when he used his last moments to scribble a warning to Desmond. I also enjoyed his attitude, humor and scheming when he was being held captive.

Official word from important players seems to be that Charlie is Eko-Boone-Shannon dead, not merely Patchy dead. EW.com has an interview with Dominic Monaghan and the producers talking about the decision that Charlie would die.

The reaction to Charlie's death seems to fall into three camps:

1)C'mon Charlie, you didn't even try! You could have made it out with some effort! Aaarggh, stupid druggie rock star.

2) Practical, believable reasons mean that Charlie couldn't have gotten out safely (insert long discussions of air pockets, how moon pools function, here). Doing what he did allowed Desmond to live despite Patchy's sabotage.

3) Charlie could have made it out with some effort, but didn't even try because he was commited to the idea that carrying out Desmond's vision completely was necessary for rescue to occur.

I have read pages of discussion on this issue, and here's what all this hullabaloo reminds me of: Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars. Think about it. Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrifices himself for reasons that seem to have little logical connection to his actual circumstances. I still remember the first time I went nuts over the fact that everyone was already getting away, the mission was accomplished and Obi-Wan just stands there and let's Vader take him out without even putting up a fight.

Does this mean that now that the station's killed him, Charlie will become even more powerful than we can imagine? Hmmm, probably not. But Charlie made the ultimate sacrifice to save those he loved, so that's bound to confer a certain level of immortality. Not bad for a one-hit wonder, in the end.

UPDATE:
• Juliette in the coffin??
END UPDATE

• A message on the official boards says that Season 4 will take place in 2006 and encompass one month.

• Was Penny wearing the same thing she wore in last year's season finale when she got the phone call from the arctic stations? Could last year's finale been a FLASH-FORWARD too?

• What was "the temple" that Ben mentioned?

• Could the person in the coffin be a new character?

• Screen-caps seem to point that the person in the coffin's name starts with a "J" and ends with a "ntham". Could it be Jeremy Bentham, named after the father of utilitarianism? The same way John Locke is named after a philosopher?

• Or is Jacob in the coffin?

• Where's that FOUR-TOED FOOT STATUE!?!

I'm thinking the funeral was Locke (see evidence in comments from David) and Kate ends up with Sawyer.

What are your theories?

Wow, that was great...like a action packed mini-movie.

I'm gonna have to sleep on it to collect my thoughts.

I'm really hoping that the future scenes play a big part of season 4.

Update: TheTailSection.com has evidence that Charlie DID NOT die: the song he was working on was playing on Jack's radio when he pulled up to the funeral parlor. HMMM.

As everyone pointed out... it was a Nirvana song! End Update

Actually, now that I think about it, outside of the Tom and the random baddies on the beach and in the "Looking Glass", did any real character REALLY die?

It's the ultimate cliffhanger!

I laughed. So should you!

Click Here

Doug note: Yeah, and Pedro's in there too! Vote for him!

... and all "you know what" breaks loose.

I'm not reading any more rumors, spoilers or predictions.

I was kind of looking forward to seeing 'Pirates' on Thursday as my 'LOST' hangover cure, but I've already heard it's awful.

Sigh.

After watching last night's show (which was more encompassing that I thought it would be), I am glad to finally be able to put these things to rest:

• The electro magnetic burst from the hatch, and nothing else, caused the plane to crash. That's the definitive answer.

• The Losties are not, not, not, not, NOT in Purgatory.

Things still left up in the air:

• The smoke monster. Although the producers did say they thought it was probably collecting thoughts from the people it encountered.

• That big four-toed foot statue. They didn't even mention that.

Johna and Doug (is Henry dead?) train their thoughts on 'Greatest Hits': DOWNLOAD HERE

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Also available on iTunes! (click HERE)

I found this on my own. If Henry had found it, he surely would have posted it to the blog... but, alas, I found it!

Click to see it larger. Enjoy:

Anyone else notice how Charlie's teeth seem to have straightened and whitened since he's been on the island? Evangeline must love this hobbit!

H

A LOOK AT THE QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ANSWERED AND THE MYSTERIES YET TO BE SOLVED FOR THE SURVIVORS OF OCEANIC FLIGHT 815 WILL BE THE FOCUS OF A NEW SPECIAL -- IN ANTICIPATION OF THE UPCOMING SEASON FINALE EPISODE -- ON "LOST: THE ANSWERS," AIRING THURSDAY, MAY 17 ON ABC

The Special is Hosted by "Lost" Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse

ABC once again invites new and avid "Lost" viewers to take another look at one of the most talked about and critically acclaimed shows. "Lost: The Answers" will explore the series in a way that will bring new viewers up to date -- but which current viewers will also find illuminating - in anticipation of the Season Finale episode. The special will take an in-depth look at the mysteries of both the island and its inhabitants and recap the secrets that have been revealed, as well as those that remain unanswered. "Lost: The Answers" airs THURSDAY, MAY 17 (9:07-10:00 p.m., CT), on WFAA-TV.

I figured Charlie was a goner, what with the flashbacks and the present-day action reminding us why we liked him in the first place. It's so Lost to show a character's vulnerability and strengths before sending him to the chopping block. Loved the surprise that the station isn't flooded, but does have even more unknown players who are armed and dangerous.

Other thoughts:

Ben bugs out: When Ben returned to camp, it seemed like he wasn't even trying to hide the crazy anymore. His zeal for capturing or killing pretty much everyone seemed to alarm his little gang. It made me wonder how long even a freaky-deaky weird-science-style cult was going to keep listening to his orders.

Man with a plan: Was intrigued by Jack's sudden openess and the development of a potentially effective plan, but am still in wait-and-see mode with him. It's been widely circulated that the season finale will feature Jack-centric flashbacks of considerable significance. I'm curious and looking forward to a Jack story more than I have in some time.

Desmond's visions: For a mysterious ability over which he has no control, Desmond is certainly trusting of his visions being accurate and worthy of action. What to make of the fact that his vision for Charlie was completely off? I still trust Desmond, but don't trust his supposed "psychic" ability. It seems more likely that speculation that these visions are manipulation by outside forces is correct.

Charlie's hits: I'm with Doug, it was incredibly touching to see Charlie reflect on the high points of what he sadly dubbed his "excuse" for a life. Sniff. One odd note, this show has gone to such extremes with all the evil dads, that I was actually scared during the pool scene with kid Charlie -- I thought at first his dad was going to let him let sink just to teach him to swim. It was nice to see a positive family moment for a change.

Overall, this episode really moved the plot forward and got us in position for confrontations to come in the finale. It seems increasingly clear that the crash survivors aren't stranded so much as they are imprisoned, and this distinction is going to be a huge part of the show going forward I think.

This ep ignored Locke's fate, which I expected, but here's hoping some answer on Locke is coming next week. It would be too cruel to make us wait until 2008 to know!

Speaking of cruel, loved the little exchange where Karl threw Juliet under the bus ("They already know, but thanks, Karl"). Ha. The humorous character bits in the midst of all the outlandish storylines have always been a part of why I love Lost so.

I'm gonna have to have therapy to come down from the gloom and doom of the 'Greatest Hits' episode. It's had such a sense of foreboding, gloom and complete sadness... great stuff

I think the show was a perfect set-up for the events to transpire next week. It's nice to get all the technical points out of the way before the "you-know-what" hits the fan.

What I noticed:

• No real mysteries to have to decipher, just straightforward storytelling.
• Rose and Bernard are back... we complain about their disappearance in the podcast and BAM they show up. HMMMM.
• The 'Alice in Wonderland' references are back. The underwater station is the "Looking Glass" with a symbol of a white rabbit in the Dharma logo.
• Another white rabbit (see above)
• Jack looked really old... compare Mr. Fox to season one, he looked 10 years older in 'Greatest Hits'
• Charlie's story was really sad. Made even sadder by the fact that he valued the five BEST moments in his life. When was the last time we saw flashbacks that were uplifting, not depressing?
• Nadia is back AGAIN and she met Charlie.
• Apparently you can create a city-leveling explosion on the island and not many people will notice... this has been proven before.
• In the past Charlie had lied about not being able to swim. Obviously he's a great swimmer. Why lie?
• Thank goodness we've got a whole new crop of characters to deal with in the Looking Glass. I was getting tired of the current 10,000 cast members.

Bring on the final episode!!

I've got some major spoilers... if you really want to ruin the show, check after the jump. You've been warned.

Again, you've been warned...

How many times this site is listed in Google?

Henry's spoilers are even mentioned on some blogs...

...we won't EVEN tell you what he's been telling us about the season finale...

...I think enough people are mad at him already!

The omnipotent Gutsch found this:

Real or not?

Johna and Doug (minus the evil Henry) chat it up about 'The Man Behind the Curtain': DOWNLOAD HERE

SUBSCRIBE HERE

Also available on iTunes! (click HERE)

Eric Stoltz from 'Mask'!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob
Let's remind everyone that Jacob had a twin brother, Esau.

Jacob, together with Esau, was born to Isaac and Rebekah after 20 years of marriage, at which time his father was 60 (Genesis 25:26), and Abraham was 160 years old. He and his twin brother Esau were markedly different in appearance and behavior. Esau was a ruddy hunter, while Jacob was a gentle man who "dwelled in tents," interpreted by many biblical commentators as a mark of his studiousness and reserved personality. ( sound like two people we know?)

Esau was the firstborn. His brother Jacob was born immediately afterwards, and was grasping Esau's heel. His name, Ya'akov (יעקב), derives from the Hebrew root "עקב," "heel." Commentators explain that Jacob was trying to hold Esau back from being the firstborn, and in that way claim the Abrahamic legacy for his own self. According to the text, Jacob was favoured by his mother, while Esau was favoured by his father.

Jacob was Benjamin's father in the bible.

....just sayin'

I'm still light-headed from 'The Man Behind the Curtain.' That was great-show greatness!

Brian K. Vaughan (the comic writer brought in for story development on the show) is really helping make this season a knockout. I can't remember a show with so many home-run episodes in one season.

Here's what I noticed or wondered about:

• What happened to Ben's friend Annie?
• What's with Annie's dolls?
• The deadly fence seemingly can be set to "stun"
• There are white rabbits on the island ('Alice in Wonderland'?)
• The dark sand in, and around, Jacob's cabin... could it be the smokey nano-bots/monster in sleeping state?
• Could smokey/monster be Jacob?

Really the only thing I'm still really worried about is:

Who built that four-toed foot statue-thing?

Locke dead from a gunshot wound? Please, nooooo....we've been through so much with him on a crazy journey from the beginning, and I'm not ready to lose what he brings to the table.

This episode freaked me out. I did not see Ben turning on Locke to that extent coming at all. Here's hoping Locke will be get a reprieve and make it through somehow.

Ben is more ruthless (and nutty) than I had imagined. Killing his own father (sitting right there with him, too, not even doing it from afar) and being in on the mass murder of his little village -- ice cold. Especially if Annie, his childhood bud, was part of the purge (who knows at this point).

Per usual, everything we are told just brings up more questions. (For one, what's up with Richard staying forever young -- do original recipe Islanders not age? The encounter with Jacob -- total put-on by Ben, an insane Ben projecting, some actual manifestation of a real being known as Jacob? What is the real agenda of the people we know as Others, who appear to be putting on a good show about still being Dharma doing their thing?) But I don't care, I am loving the ride and can't believe we are closing in on the end of Lost for the entire year.

And if you are still wondering: Am I crazy, or did some kind of figure show up during the Jacob scene? A figure could be glimpsed in the shadows, it helps to pause the DVR and go really slowly to check it out. Here's a link to my favorite screencaps site, which got the Jacob images up pronto.

ABC GIVES VIEWERS 48 MORE ORIGINAL EPISODES OF THE HIT DRAMA LOST
CULMINATING IN AN EXCITING SERIES CONCLUSION

Episodes Will Air Uninterrupted Over Three Seasons

Starting with the 2007-’08 season, ABC will begin airing the 48 remaining original episodes of the hit drama “Lost,” it was announced today by Stephen McPherson,
President, ABC Entertainment. The episodes will air uninterrupted over three
seasons (16 episodes each season), with the series concluding in 2009-’10, with
a highly anticipated and shocking finale.

Wow, what an intense and involving episode. This has been a really great season, dating from the big episode break. On to the specific points to praise and ponder:

The Others get creepy again: After so much faux-suburbia doings, it was cool to see the Others regain a bit of their strange, inhuman spookiness. I found the scene where they gathered around to watch the execution of EvilLockeDaddy -- ultimately turning away in disappointment -- to be quite chilling, especially given the children from the plane crash taking it all in. It was just very cult-like and strange. These folks obviously think whatever grand mission they are on justifies all sorts of behavior, including the willy-nilly killing of anyone doesn't get their "good person" seal of approval.

Along those lines, Ben's matter-of-fact description to Locke of the raid-to-come on the beach was both scary and funny. The tone struck me as something like: "Oh Locke, don't make that face, we abduct pregnant women all the time and it's fine. You 815 people make such a fuss about every little experiment we do, honestly."

This guy's theory is so good.....it might be right: http://www.thetailsection.com/lost-mythology/lost-is-locke-the-primary-hero.php#more

LOCKE TRIES TO PERSUADE SAWYER TO HELP RID THEM OF A GREAT
NEMESIS, AND THE SURVIVORS LEARN SOME SHOCKING INFORMATION
ABOUT OCEANIC FLIGHT 815, ON ABC'S "LOST"

"The Brig" - A newly focused Locke breaks away from "The Others" in an attempt to persuade Sawyer to help rid them of a great nemesis that has caused nothing but pain in both of their lives. Meanwhile, a new island inhabitant discloses some shocking information about Oceanic Flight 815, on "Lost," WEDNESDAY, MAY 2 (9:00-10:00 p.m., CT), on WFAA-TV.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are M.C. Gainey as Mr. Friendly/Tom, Kevin Tighe as Anthony Cooper, Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Kimberly Joseph as Cindy and Marsha Thomason as Naomi.

"The Brig" was written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse and directed by Eric Laneuville.

Last week on our podcast we discussed wanting a map of the connections between the Lost characters. Well, look no further than.....ABC.....aren't we idiots!! Check it out: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/connections/index

Also here: http://lostwiki.abc.com/page/connections

and here: http://lostwiki.abc.com/page/Characters%3A+The+Back+Stories

“Greatest Hits” – While Jack devises a plan to do away with “The Others” once and for all, Sayid uncovers a flaw in “The Others’” system that could lead to everyone’s rescue. But it requires Charlie to take on a dangerous task that may make Desmond’s premonition come true, on “Lost,” WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

“Lost” stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie and Terry O’Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are Tania Raymonde as Alex, Blake Bashoff as Karl, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Mira Furlan as Rousseau, Brian Goodman as Pryce, Marsha Thomason as Naomi, Neil Hopkins as Liam, Joshua Hancock as Roderick, John Henry Canavan as Simon Pace, Jeremy Shada as young Charlie, Zack Shada as young Liam, L. Scott Caldwell as Rose, Sam Anderson as Bernard, Andrea Gabriel as Nadia, Lana Parrilla as Greta and Tracy Middendorf as Bonnie.

“Greatest Hits” was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Stephen Williams.

Source: ABC Medianet