Merry LOST CHRISTMAS everyone. I thought “The Other Woman” was great. We learned a ton and there was plenty of action.

Things I liked about this episode:

1. The return of the whispers. I liked how it debunked the terrible theory of the whispers being from someone other than the Others.
2. The cat fight between Harper and Juliette.
3. We see a side from Benjamin that we hadn’t seen before — flirtacious and jealousy.
4. The ongoing power struggle between John and Ben.
5. Only women who conceive on the Island are prone to it. That clears the pregnancy question of whether the women are infected if they have sex on the Island or if they give birth on the Island.
6. This is the most assertive Claire has been ever during LOST.
7. My Widmore theory is correct. I don’t want to brag, but this is the first major theory I’ve called.
8. The fight between Juliette and Charlotte = hott.
9. Juliette looks great in a bikini.
10. “See you guys at dinner”

Questions:
1. Why does Juliette have so much makeup for her session? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her wear it beforehand.
2. Are the Others plotting anything against Ben?
3. If Dan and Charlotte were just going to render the gas inert, why would they need the gas masks? In case he failed?
4. How did Benjamin Linus find out and how did he inform them? I think Jacob told Benjamin but how did Benjamin tell Harper if he was trapped in John Locke’s basement?
5. Where did Goodwin’s burns come from?
6. Is there anything else in Juliette’s file besides her affair with Goodwin that she wouldn’t want Jack to see?
7. Didn’t Mr. Smiley once tell Jack that Juliette and Ben had “history”? Did Juliette cheat on Benjamin with Goodwin?
8. How does Ben know about Widmore?
9. Does Penny know of her father’s intentions?
10. Is Benjamin making up the Ana Lucia story to trick Juliette? I think so.
11. Are Benjamin and Locke working towards a common good or is this all part of another one of Linus’ manipulations?
12. Was Benjamin also pissed at Ethan too?

Theories:

1. Harper was relaying her sessions with Juliette to Ben. How conniving of him.
2. Ben’s intentions were that Juliette was going to stay on the Island for a long time. Why else would he give her a house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms?
3. Jacob informed Benjamin of Charlotte and Daniel’s mission.
4. Goodwin’s burn came from mixing chemicals to create poisonous gasses.
5. I agree with Juliette that Ben intentionally sent Goodwin, knowing that there was a good chance he’d be killed.
6. Widmore wants to turn the Island into a vacation destination and make huge profits off it. Ben’s intentions are to protect the Island’s sanctity.
7. I think this one is obvious, but Widmore somehow found out about the Island via the notebook from the only remaining survivor of the Black Rock. There must have been directions on how to get to the Island. But how did Widmore first learn about the Island? I also think that the Widmore Corporation’s pregnancy tests (the brand on the one that sun uses) could play a part in it.
8. In an earlier flashback when Charles Widmore offers a job to Desmond, I think that Widmore was planning on sending Desmond on the freighter to the Island. But it wasn’t Desmond’s destiny to do so, so that’s sorta obsolete.
9. Who does Juliette remind Ben of? I’m pretty certain that’s it’s going to be Annie, the young girl whom Ben befriended when he first moved to the Island in “The Man Behind the Curtain.” The only problem with that is Annie had freckles, Juliette does not. Perhaps Juliette’s personality resembles Annie’s.

Other Widmore occurences on LOST:

• pregnancy tests Kate, Sun and Rachel use
• on Henry Gale’s hot air ballon
• on a billboard in Fire + Water

Season 4, Episode 3 “The Economist” was another great episode of LOST. I think that I need to watch it one more time to fully understand what was going. If you had told me that Sayid was going to be working as a hitman for Benjamin Linus before this episode, I thought you would have been crazy. Here’s some thoughts on tonight’s episode:

Things I liked about this episode:
1. Sayid’s a badass.
2. Sayid becomes a con man, similar to how Sawyer and Locke’s father were.
3. Manipulation once again is a motif. Sayid manipulates Isla and vice versa. Ben tried to manipulate Sayid. Sayid manipulates Kate and Jack (he is weary of the freighters.) Hurley tricks Kate, Sayid and Miles.
4. From a cinematopraphy point of view, the shot of Sayid on the copter is great.
5. Ben’s passport has the name of the protagonist in “On the Road.”

Questions:
1. Who is Ilsa’s boss?
2. Do the freighters plan on killing Desmond? (Cross apply last week’s theory that the freighters work for DHARMA Initiative which is a subsidiary of Mr. Widmore, who wants Desmond away from Penelope.)
3. Why is there such animosity between the freighters? Miles seems to hate everyone. The pilot doesn’t seem to get along with Daniel either. Then when Frank gets on the phone with Regina, he tells her to hang up if George Minkowski arrives. This is strange since Minkowski was the one who was on the phone with Jack before. This seems strange. Perhaps they have their own personal agendas which seems very likely.
4. Where are the Others?
5. If that’s Ben’s home, why does he have a secret room behind the shelf?
6. What was Daniel’s experiment about?
7. The cabin?

Theories:

1. My first theory is that the Freighters, who I think work for DHARMA Initiative and Hume, end up coming and taking/killing the Others. Benjamin is spared, as he always is, and he is trying to seek revenge via Sayid. This would make sense that Sayid is in Berlin because, according to the LOST Experience, a base of the Hanso Foundation for electromagnetic compatibility testing is in nearby Bad Salzdetfurth, Germany. Plus, most of the Hanso Foundation is centered in Western Europe — in Switzerland (where Ben’s passport was from), Denmark, Iceland and Luxembourg. However, I doubt that Ben would have Sayid be used as a pure assassin. I think he has Sayid on board as an interrogator. In both instances we saw, the person who he may have been trying to get information on caught on to Sayid’s game, so Sayid had to kill them.

2. My second theory is that the reason that Locke let Sayid take Charlotte was because Locke wants Sayid on that freighter so Sayid can find out what’s going on. I think Locke and Sayid are working together on this plan and have been since their rendezvous with Hurley in the first episode of season four.

3. My third theory is that this episode has something to do with Oceanic Airlines. Notice how Berlin is on this real-life Oceanic billboard.

“Confirmed Dead” was a glorious episode. It just an atypical episode in that they had to introduce four new characters at once, meaning that the flashbacks never really drew you in. I liked how as each flashback was shown we learned a little more about who they were. If they hadn’t done it that way, we would have had more questions and we wouldn’t understand certain aspects of the episode — like how Miles figured out what had happened to Naomi. It was beautifully finished when Ben lists who they are and says what they are here for. It also serves as a great segue into the next episode.

In many aspects, it reminds me of Episode 3.1 “A Tale of Two Cities.” Both great episodes. Basically, this episode was more about discovery than actual action. It’s difficult to do both in a 42-minute spot.

Some quick things I like about this episode:
1. Everyone is catching onto Ben’s ways of manipulation.
2. Continuation of the saga between Ben and Locke.
3. How each flashback essentially started at the same time.
4. We learn (kinda) what the black guy does?

Questions:
1. When did they discover the plane in the water? (I’m sure this can be answered by looking at the Tunisian newspaper).
2. What exactly is this project? (Or who do the Landies work for? Mr. Widmore? Hanso Foundation?)
3. How did Ben get one of them?
4. What are the rest of The Others doing right now?

Theories:
1. Well, it’s not much of a theory but I think that the Landies were planning on gassing The Others similiar to how Benjamin Linus and the Insurgents gassed the Dharma Initiative. Basically, my theory is that the Insurgents didn’t kill all of the Dharma Initiative and took one as prisoner. (Thus meaning that the Landies are part of the Dharma Initiative, which isn’t much of a stretch since the Dharma Initiative would conceivably be interested in Parapsychology — extra-sensory perception and the afterlife. Also, it makes sense because Charlotte found the polar bear and sneared when she saw the Dharma logo around the bear’s neck.) The other possibility is that there were Dharma Initiative members that weren’t on the Island, which makes sense, because we saw the Portuguese eskimoes in “Live Together, Die Alone”. These guys came back, one was captured and the rest of the Dharma Initiative is trying to do to Benjamin Linus what he did to them. It would be poetic justice, in a sense. After The Others captured this person, they shut off communication to the Island so the Dharma Initiative could not find them. The only problem with this is that Penny, who likely is involved with the Dharma Initiative, doesn’t know who Naomi is. She may just not have known Naomi because Naomi isn’t high up on the totem pole, so to speak. (She reports to Matthew Abbadon.)

2. (Courtesy of Mark) The Landies were originally sent by Mr. Widmore (Penny’s father) to kill Desmond and capture Ben. This was supported by the fact that, according to the LOST online game, Mr. Widmore is associated with the Hanso Foundation who runs the Dharma Initiative. Widmore wants Desmond dead because he doesn’t want him to marry his daughter. The reason Naomi had the photo was to not let Desmond off the island.

CNBC reports the strike is over. Thank you LOST.

I won’t be around to post until Sunday. Back to the alma mater Friday and Saturday, then to Pennsyltucky on Sunday.

Edit: I was just surfing the Internet for Best Week Ever’s analysis of last week’s episode of LOST and some asshole posted the Oceanic Six on the G.D. first comment without a spoiler alert. Luckily, I forget who one of the six were.
Ahh. I hate you, internet.

Oh man, it’s going to be great.

Internet has been running slow. Plus, I have a trojan called Vundo that won’t go away. I’ll be in New Jersey (eww!) and Long Island for business in the next three days so no postings until Saturday night.