Pre-order now: Lost: The Complete Fifth Season (DVD) | Lost: The Complete Fifth Season [Blu-ray] | Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiation Kit | Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiative Orientation Kit [Blu-ray].

[Courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. ©ABC Studios.]

Related posts:

1. LOST Season 5 DVD Sneak Peek: Jacob
2. LOST Season 5 DVD Sneak Peek: Action Figure Faraday
3. Episode 5.08 “LaFleur” – Two Sneak Peeks

Courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. ©ABC Studios.

Related posts:

1. New Season 4 Deleted Scene: “I Know Chicken”
2. New Deleted Scene from the Season 4 Finale: “Lost Journal”
3. LOST Season 4 Damaged Footage Deleted Scene

Source: Sky.com/Lost

Related posts:

1. The LOST Initiative – “This Place Is Death” – Midweek Edition
2. The LOST Initiative – “Namaste”
3. The LOST Initiative – “316″ – Midweek Edition

On today’s debate we want to hear your theories on Faraday’s whereabouts. Is he working at the Orchid Station? Has he just gone crazy because of Charlotte’s death? Has he left the Island? We do know that, at some point, he goes “all Nostradamus” on Pierre Chang by telling him a few details about the future:

So, what do you think? Sound off in comments!

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1. Mondays’ LOST Debate: The Statue
2. Mondays’ LOST Debate: “A War Is Coming”
3. Mondays’ LOST Debate: Who Is Amy’s Baby?

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Source: Sky.com/Lost

Related posts:

1. Al Trautwig’s Thoughts on “Namaste”
2. The LOST Initiative – “316″
3. The LOST Initiative – “LaFleur”

As you can see, “Namaste” is the least favorite episode of the season for SL-LOST.com readers, but not for IMDB and TV.com voters.

Related posts:

1. Nielsen Ratings for Episode 5.09 – “Namaste”
2. Episode 5.09 – “Namaste” – 4 New Sneak Peeks
3. Episode 5.09 “Namaste” – Sneak Peek

Source: The Monitor

Related posts:

1. “Namaste” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman
2. Al Trautwig’s Thoughts on “316″
3. Al Trautwig’s Thoughts On “The Little Prince”

Previously, on Lost: The bitch came back.

This week, on possibly one of the greatest episodes of Lost ever: It’s 2007. Ajira Airways flight 316 experiences turbulence somewhere over the Pacific. Veteran pilot Frank Lapidus is forced to take extreme measures, just as a brilliant white light engulfs the plane, flipping it upside down and transporting it from dead of night to mid-day sun. When they come out of the clouds, an island looms before the plane and Frank and the co-pilot manage to coax the limping plane toward a clearing that looks like an old dirt runway. They drop a couple hundred feet in the matter of seconds before making a dashing landing and plowing into some trees. “I’m a leaf in the wind,” the co-pilot screams, just before he is Washed on a big ol’ tree limb.

We interrupt this recap so I can bring you an important announcement: Suck it, Whedon.

Now, having landed the plane somewhat safely, it’s ascertained that of the Oceanic Six only Sun is left – and Locke, of course, but nobody knows that just yet. Ben and Lapidus are there, too, and Caesar and the marshal, Ilana, and Auntie Em, and … nevermind. The rest of the journey of those left in 2007 are interspersed throughout the episode, but I will recap that all right here because it’s way way more convenient.

Caesar has found some old abandoned buildings and wants to go exploring. Ben, knowing what the buildings are, takes off into the jungle, and Sun follows him. Ben tells her that if she’s looking for Jin, she’ll likely have more luck on the main island, and oh, by the way, there are some handy outriggers just over here that I figure might still be there even though I have no idea what time this really is. Okie doke, says Sun, and then Lapidus shows up and there’s the usual couple of lines of “oh, are you sure about this?” and “Yes, I have to trust him” and then Ben is, not surprisingly, knocked upside the head. Again. That guy must have a steel plate up there, because there’s no way he doesn’t have brain damage by now.

Anywho, by the light of the moon, Sun and Lapidus take one of the outriggers over to the main island, and land at the old submarine dock. They make their way across the battered dock and hear Ol’ Smokey playing around in the bushes. Once Cerberus gets tired, they take a path that leads them over to New Otherton, which is in shambles after the mercs got all blast happy last season and then Ol’ Smokey had to come and eat ‘em up. The wind blows through the ghost town and then a light comes on in one of the bungalows. Lo and behold, it’s a ghost! Well, close enough – Christian Shephard. He takes them into a house and shows them a photo of the 1977 Dharma recruits, which are, of course, Jack, Kate and Hurley. Then Christian tells the two that they have a bit of a journey ahead. Cue the …

Wait! Let’s jump back to 1977.

A whole bunch happens back in ‘77, but let’s hit the highlights, shall we?

Sawyer meets Jack, Hurley and her at the bluff, and is dumbfounded. There’s a short-lived reunion before Sawyer has to hightail it back to the Dharma barracks for some clothes for the three. Juliet is there and wants to know what’s going on. Sawyer tells her who has come back to town and Juliet’s face drops. Yeah, we know you feel, babe. Juliet tells Sawyer that there’s a sub coming in that day and sets of to doctor the manifest.

Sure, honey, you go pick them up at the bluff … I’m going to go look for my gun, I MEAN, the sub manifest.

Meanwhile, Jin thinks that maybe the plane landed back in ‘77, so he heads over to the Flame to check with Radzinsky. Yes, that Radzinsky. You know, the one that was partnered up with Kelvin down in the Swan for so many years until he blew his brains out? The guy that helped draw the blast door map? You know, that guy. Anyways, he’s there building – surprise, surprise – an architectural model of the geodesic dome that is built for the Swan computer room. Jin bursts in and wants to check radar logs, but Radzinsky isn’t happy. Jin doesn’t care, though, and gets all Korean mob hit man on the guy and throws him up against the wall.

Hey, crazy guy … whatcha building there? I like models.
Yes, kids, now you too can build your very own electromagnetic research and containment facility, with only simple household items.

Juliet goes to see Amy, who has just had her baby. She obviously can’t work, so it makes it a lot easier for Juliet to steal the sub manifests. Oh, and we find out that Amy and Horace’s baby is just Ethan. Yawn. She asks when Juliet and Mr. LaFleur are going to have a baby and Juliet says she doesn’t know, but the timing has gotta be right. Hah. Hahahahah. You see what she did there? Time travel humor cracks me up.

Over at the Flame, Jin and Radzinsky get a call on the batphone that someone has broken the Dharma perimeter. Jin tears ass through the brush and pulls his rifle on someone loping through the brush. It’s Sayid. He’s still handcuffed. Radzinsky is hot on Jin’s trail, though, so the two Oceanic survivors don’t have time to hug and catch up. Jin has no recourse but to take him prisoner as one of the Hostiles.

Sawyer gets Jack, Kate and Hurley up to speed on everything that’s going down, gives them some hip late-’70s fashions to put on, and drives them to the Dharma processing center. And here’s where the fun starts. First, Jack is processed by none other than Pierre Chang, who takes a look at his aptitude test results and summarily hands him a jumpsuit with “Workman” stitched on the breast. A heh. Hehehe. Hahahahhahahahah.

“I’m sorry … what does ‘Workman’ mean, exactly?”

Meanwhile, Kate’s getting the third degree from Phil, one of the watchmen we were introduced to in last episode. She’s starting to sweat bullets until Juliet shows up and hands over a revised manifest. Phil looks it over, gives Kate the hesitant stink-eye and leaves things alone. Juliet gives a nice, little diplomatic ‘fuck you’ grin to Kate and lets her know exactly who’s in charge around these parts.

“I’m sorry … did you have something to say to me? Because I’m all ears, missy.”

Sawyer heads back to the Flame, where he collects Sayid and transfers him to the Barracks. For the time being, Sayid is just going to have to remain a fake prisoner, until Sawyer can figure something out.

Later that night, Jack pays Sawyer a little visit in his bungalow. He’s greeted at the door by Juliet, and for a split second I see Jack grin like a school boy and I hate myself for liking him and then he comes on in and lights into Sawyer and he’s back to being good old Jackass, again. Whew, thank God. So, yeah, Jack does the usual Jack thing and demands to know what Sawyer has planned. Sawyer very calmly tells him to stick it where the sun don’t shine, saying that Jack always just reacted as a leader, and many people died because of it. If Jack had just stopped to think from time to time, things might have turned out differently. Then Sawyer shows him the door. Hell freaking yes. Like I said, one of the best episodes ever.

Sawyer lingers on the porch for a second, and there’s miss thang, standing by the porch light one bungalow down, working her homewrecker mojo. They give a little wave to each other and I just mutter “good grief.”

Back at the holding cell in the bottom of the barracks, Sayid is sitting patiently. A boy approaches with a bag and hands it to Sayid. He asks if Sayid is a hostile. Sayid simply asks the boy if he thinks Sayid is. Sayid introduces himself, and the boy does, as well. With no fanfare and not much surprise, his name is Ben.

Now cue the thonk!

For as much action and revelation as went on in this episode, there is surprisingly little to cover – or at least what there is to review isn’t terribly complicated. Shockingly, I don’t have any temporal diagrams or ley line maps, and I won’t be going into deep quantum theory. What we will talk a bit about, though, are some of the predestined time events going on, and the slippery slope our survivors are traversing in the past. Let’s get to it!

THE GANG’S ALL HERE
First and foremost, this episode managed to get most of the gang back together, albeit in another time. It finally felt like the old Lost, with Jack and Sawyer going at it again, Kate up to her old whoring shenanigans and Juliet being a sexy badass. The tables got turned on Sayid and he became the prisoner, with young Ben eagerly waiting to be the torturer’s apprentice. Only Sun – and Locke – were left out of the equation. The question is, why?

The easiest answer is that it makes the most sense for literary reasons. It creates a conflict wherein Jin and Sun are still looking for each other and that drives the story forward. However, within those same literary constructs we can also find some meaning, and what it means for the Island could be kind of shocking.

In my opinion, the reason that Sun and Locke are left behind is because they need to be in order for the Island to survive. By having the Oceanic survivors jump into the past, there seems to remain a risk that they might muck something up back there, and jeopardize their’s and the Island’s future. To fix what has gone wrong, someone has to remain in the present (2007) and they need to have a reason to want to get the others back. Out of all the Oceanic Six, Sun is that one person. She wants her family back together again, which is why she agreed to come back to the Island in the first place. She will stop at nothing to find Jin and a way back for him.

Locke was left behind, and subsequently resurrected, because he is the right hand of the Island. Locke is someone that will stop at nothing to fulfill his destiny and serve the Island by doing what’s needed. What will be needed is to get the others back from the past. Sun will need guidance, and Locke will be the guide. Ben was left behind, as well, which also makes sense. In one aspect, the Island has passed his mantle off to Locke, but the Island still needs him. Throughout their trials, Locke has been pushed to do what he needs to do mostly by Ben. Without Ben, Locke lacks a rudder, of sorts.

And, so, we have the three components the Island needs to set itself straight – the heart, the muscle and the catalyst. How it’s all going to go down, I can’t quite speculate just yet.

Another aspect of Locke and Sun being left behind could also have to do with “the list” from season two. You do remember the list, right? It was the one that Bea gave Michael so that he could bring back Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley to the Others in order to get Walt back.

Yeah, you all remember this.

At any rate, I always found it interesting that those four were the only ones on the list. In season three, it was revealed that Jack was brought there to perform surgery on Ben and Kate and Sawyer were brought in order to influence Jack. Well, I find it all a bit too convenient now that those four are the main survivors to be back in 1977, especially since there was a picture of three of them on one of the walls of the Dharma barracks that Ben and the Others had access to. The first “list” is the only one not to be attributed directly to anyone. It’s implied that Ben put it together, but subsequent lists were mentioned to have been put together by “him,” which is meant to imply Jacob. No matter who put the list together, it’s quite obvious that the Others would have some interesting inside information on at least Jack, Kate and Hurley. Of course, that is based on the assumption that the time travel that’s happening on the Island is pre-destined and not part of a self-correcting causality loop. Those particular theories are best saved for another day, however, as I need a little more evidence to make up my mind as to exactly which is occurring. Don’t worry, we’ll talk later; like any of you can make me shut up about temporal theory.

IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING
The previews for next week look like all hell breaks loose in the Dharma Initiative, and I can’t quite pin down any sort of precedent for the actions from clues in previous episodes. The blast door map is years from being made, as the Swan clearly hasn’t been built and Radzinsky isn’t keeping track of the downfall of the Initiative just yet. The “incident” – the fall of the entire Dharma Initiative – doesn’t occur for another few years, as we see Ben at the end of the episode and he’s still in his tweens. When Ben does obtain the nerve gas and eliminate Dharma, he appears to be in his early 20s, so there’s probably about ten years before the “incident.”

We do get a few clues to the history of Dharma, though. For one, we learn that Radzinsky developed the Swan and that he was worried that the Hostiles would not be happy with where they planned to build it. He was also worried that Sayid was a spy, so the “truce” may be in jeopardy. Richard also knows of the existence of Sawyer now, and his true identity and purpose. As for how that will shake out in the future remains to be seen.

The bottom line of all this, though, is that our crew have a few years before they have to worry about dying at the hands of young Ben.

THE GHOST AND MRS. KWON
So I rarely go out in the wild Internet in search of easter eggs and theories and whatnot, but I just couldn’t resist this week. I was sitting there watching the episode, and Sun and Lapidus were being shown around by the ghost of Christian Shephard, and the camera pans around to Sun and, there, back in the darkness, was a person! I swear I saw someone. I had to back up the DVR about 20 times before I got a clear look, but I know I saw what I saw. This wasn’t the “cardboard cut-out ghost” from Three Men and a Baby, either, this was an actual person.

Anyway, I couldn’t get a clear enough shot on my own, so I went looking around the Internet. Lo and behold, others had seen it, too. Here’s an enhanced shot with what I’m talking about.

Okay, so it looks a bit like a Klingon in a band t-shirt, but whatever.

It may be an illusion, or someone on the set, or it could be a manifestation of Ol’ Smokey. Or it could be Claire. Or … it could be a Klingon in a band t-shirt. I don’t know. All I know is that I saw something and I’m not crazy. Did anyone else catch it, too?

That about wraps it up for this week. There’s more we could discuss, but we’ll have more time next week after things get blowed up a little bit around the Dharma camp. In the meantime, if you come across anything or have an epiphany, don’t be shy. Tell me something good.

Namaste.

- Chris Kirkman

Visit hobotrashcan.com to see Chris’ weekly LOST drink recipe!

Related posts:

1. “LaFleur” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman
2. “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman
3. “316″ Recap & Analysis By Chris Kirkman

Below are several critics’ reviews for episode 5.09 – “Namaste”.

Click on the authors’ names to read the full reviews.

1. Emily Nussbaum (New York Magazine):

Not bad, not bad at all. Granted, we grade on a curve for any episode set in the seventies — peasant tops! — but while it was no LaFleur, this serviceable episode shifted our game pieces nicely, provided a few nice reveals, some Dharma culture, and only two bits of disgusting Kate-Sawyer eye contact. (We watched with our hands over our face.)

Only trouble is that there was a strange shallowness to it all — so much love quadrangle, so many fantasy payoffs of people kicking one another’s ass. Show, you are so strange and inconsistent, why do we love you? Clearly you are our wonderful, awful Kate.

2. Alan Sepinwall:

God, can we just stay in the ’70s for the rest of the series? I’ve been loving this season overall, but “LaFleur” and now “Namaste” feel like a cut above the rest, because the 1977 version of Sawyer may be the most appealing version of any character in “Lost” history. The three years in the Dharma Initiative has mellowed him and given him time to mature. He’s the Sawyer we know (still tossing out nicknames, still chesty with Jack), but he’s smarter, and sneakier, and every bit the leader that Jack mistakenly believed himself to be, and that Sawyer himself never believed he could be. When he dresses down Jack and says he’s going to find a way to get Sayid out of his present predicament, I believe him. Sawyer-as-LaFleur just puts a damn smile on my face and leaves it there for the rest of the hour.

[More reviews after the jump.]

3. Jeff Jensen (EW.com):

”Namaste” in a nutshell: Time travel trio Jack, Kate, and Hurley got assimilated into 1977 Dharma society. Time traveler Sayid was suspected of being a ”Hostile” and got thrown in the Dharma detention center. And back in the present — which in Lost time is the year 2007 — Sun and Lapidus paddled to the big island and learned from Christian ”Dead Man Walking” Shephard where and when the other castaways are. It was a transitional episode of Lost — an installment that cleared up some unfinished business and put everyone where they needed to be for the episodes to come. Coming out of the two-week break, ”Namaste” was good for reminding us where we are in the larger season 5 saga.

4. Patrick Kevin Day (Los Angeles Times):

Most weeks “Lost” raises more questions than it answers. Tonight, we got more answers than questions. But not by much — we still have plenty of questions. What made “Namaste” a great episode was the manner in which it gave us the answers. Instead of having everything spelled out, we got our answers casually, dropped in throughout the episode. So casually, in fact, that those who complain that the show never answers anything could easily continue their gripes, because on “Lost,” the answers come only to those willing to pay close attention.

5. James Poniewozik (Time):

We’re at the time of the Lost season when it tends to be given over to getting-there-from-here episodes. “Namaste” was certainly one of those, setting up the dynamics for the Lostaway Reunion Tour ’77 as it goes forward. The most satisfying, for those of us who tended to get, shall we say, rubbed the wrong way a bit by Jack, was seeing Sawyer assert his authority as alpha dog in trying to get the crew out of their predicament.

As leader before the Oceanic 6′s escape, “You pretty much just reacted. … You didn’t think,” Sawyer tells Doc. “I’m going to think. Because that’s how I saved your ass today.” Pretty harsh. And pretty true, no? I mean, to be fair, Jack did prove himself capable of strategizing and taking the time to contemplate a plan (as when he allied with Juliet in season 3). But it often backfired, and he would do it an a high-handed Doc-knows-what’s-best-for-you manner (see same example).

Jack, for his part, comes back to Sawyer that he did get the Six off the Island. Sawyer does not say—as Ben did in another context—”And how did that work out for everyone?” He doesn’t need to.

6. Tim Goodman (SFGate.com):

While watching “Lost” last night the feeling wasn’t so much that “I really want tons of things to happen and questions to get answered,” it was more “I really missed this show last week. Thank God it’s back.” Mrs. CrankyPants was quick to point out the giant allure of “Lost” – that it changes the playing field (and sometimes the rules) with swift creativity. It’s what makes the series so intriguing – to create whole new scenarios and strange universes out of what’s already familiar to us. And here I thought 1977 was big for the punk revolution ahead, on “Lost” it’s cool because the writers basically say, “OK, we’re back on the island. It’s going to be 1977. Let’s just mess around with what this means for those in the moment, those thinking ahead and those aware that not everybody is in the present. Let’s just tread some water 30 years back in time and see how it all play out.”

So, while you could argue this is a place holder episode, I wasn’t bored for even a second. You can soak in this show, Madge. Whether it’s Hurley’s jokes, the ’70s vibe (and clothing), Miles (we need more of Miles), Young Ben, the Muppets on the monitor, how quickly Juliet gave back Baby Ethan, or the idea that while the ’70s are set in motion, a few of our strange new Ajira friends are on the beach, in 2008 (or is it 2007?), ready to explore. And I don’t trust them at all. I think Caesar has plans. And they’re dangerous plans.

7. Jace (Televisionaryblog.com):

All in all, “Namaste” was an intriguing installment that offered some answers to some of the series’ most recent mysteries while also seemingly setting the stage for some major drama next week. (It helps now that the castaways seemingly know as much as we do now.) After all, there’s only so long that things can stay happy and mellow in the groovy 70s before the darkness creeps in.

8. Paul Levinson:

You gotta hand it to Lost – I certainly do. Tonight’s episode 5.9 was as different from the earlier Los Angeles based story this season as Los Angeles was to the island episodes of the past seasons, and tonight’s all-island episode was another complex gem. What we really having going on are three distinct epics of Lost – the original island and flashbacks, the Los Angeles and island and flashforwards, and now just the island, in two different times.

The feel and flavor is appropriately different. We’re in 1977 Dharma ville, and Sawyer is head of security, living and in love with Juliet. Jack and Kate and Hurley would have a hard time surviving, without Sawyer figuring out how to integrate them. But the result is demoting Jack to a position far inferior to Sawyer’s. He and Jack have a confrontation of sorts tonight, and it’s clear that Sawyer has no intention of ceding any authority, even secret authority, to Jack. Another fine Lost conversation.

9. JOpinionated:

Through five seasons, I never truly considered that the title of the show is about us rather than them. Tonight was the first time that I actually said “I’m lost” out loud. It happened when Sun and Lapidus arrived on the main island, and that they were in a different era than Jin, Sawyer, etc. Even though they were on the same plane as Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid. It only took me 91 or so episodes to realize that Abrams and Lindelof knew exactly what they were creating and how it would affect us.

10. Chris Carabott (IGN):

“LaFleur” set in motion what has been a surprising and welcome direction for the series. Integrating Sawyer’s group with the DHARMA Initiative has given the storytellers and the audience a remarkable new viewpoint on the island and the Lost universe. We’re now able to see events through DHARMA’s eyes and this will hopefully lead to us having a better understanding of the role they play on the island. One perk that is immediately apparent is being able to see those rundown old DHARMA stations at the height of their use. It was great to see The Flame again and Radzinsky (Eric Lange) building a model of The Swan station.

The highlight of “Namaste” isn’t just the reuniting of Sawyer’s group with Jack’s group but how their relationship develops over the course of the episode. The sentimentality of their initial reunion begins to slowly erode over the course of the episode. It’s subtle at first. Juliet’s reaction to the news speaks volumes as she sits silently for a moment knowing that the return of Jack’s group will eventually cause problems for the life they’ve created for themselves. On the flipside, Jack endangered his friends and strangers to return to the island so that he could bring back those left behind. Now Jack finds those he has come back to save living happily ever after (as can be) – in 1977.

In stark contrast to that friendly reunion, Jack and Sawyer’s final conversation this episode cemented the new pecking order on the island. Sawyer is calling the shots now and in his style he let Jack know his place in this new regime. The sense of animosity that quickly resurfaced in that final scene was great and a reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Sawyer reminding Jack of how people died while he was in charge seemed petty and a little more in line with the Sawyer of old. There’s no doubt he enjoys being the one in charge now. Assigning Jack to janitorial duties was undoubtedly Sawyer’s doing as well.

11. Cultural Learnings:

This isn’t a mind-blowing episode of Lost in terms of major revelations, but it fills in some key gaps that we hadn’t quite pieced together in the last few episodes, and draws attention to our central conflict. The show is purposefully trying to reboot itself in the middle of a season, knowing full well that it’s impossible – that impossibility is embodied by the characters, the characters who are either trapped separated by decades from the people they came to see or those trapped in the distant past with no clue as to their mission. Just as they can’t forget about the past, pretend like nothing happened, neither can I, and this kind of narrative disconnect in fact sends us back to these characters, and even back to past events in previous seasons, to get a real sense of what has changed.

12. Ryan Mcgee (Zap2it):

If “LaFleur” set the stage for the second half of Season 5, then “Namaste” started to place the pieces in motion. While Sawyer is clearly in control at this point, the show reminded us this week just how tentative that control really is. The three-year time of peace, love, and namaste is over. The time for epochal action has begun. And said action may save the Island once and for all, or tear it to shredded, decayed, monster-slithering pieces?

13. Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad):

We’ve had two weeks to stew on the events of “LaFleur” and maybe that’s why I went into “Namaste” expecting so much more. That isn’t to say that I was disappointed with the Oceanic Six/Left Behinders reunion. The simplest way to put it is that the nature of the narrative on Lost has forced the show to change so that these are the types of stories that are most organic to the plot now.

The flashbacks from the first few seasons are a distant memory at this point, and it’s exciting because for a while now, we’ve been watching stuff that didn’t already happen. Well … technically it did since they’re all in 1977 now, but you get what I mean. One thing is for certain – no matter how you slice it, three years is a long time.

That was really the whole point of this episode, wasn’t it? How much things have changed? It works on a much higher level, too, because when Lost is finally over, “Namaste” will definitely be remembered as an episode that changed the tone of the show, as well.

14. Drew McWeeny (HitFix.com):

I thought “Namaste” was a good episode, but not a great one.  More than anything, this was an episode designed to set certain things in motion, bring other things to a resolution, and launch whatever the rest of this season is going to be.  As a piece of stand-alone drama, it’s almost useless, but on any show as mythology-heavy as this one, I contend you’re going to HAVE to have a couple of episodes like this during the year.  It’s inevitable.

The good part about tonight was that you could really hear the clear authorial voice of exec producer Brian K. Vaughan, particularly in the scene where Sawyer criticizes Jack for reacting instead of thinking.  It’s a criticism that’s been leveled against the series over the years, certainly, so it’s a nice little meta-joke, but more than that… it’s similar to some moments in “Y The Last Man,” Vaughan’s comic book series, in which his protagonist was finally called on some reckless behavior after maddening choice after maddening choice.  I like that Sawyer… oh, I’m sorry… LaFleur… put Jack in his place and really called him out.  It’s interesting to see how well Sawyer and Miles and Jin and Juliet have adapted to being part of the Dharma Initiative.

Over the next few days, we’ll be posting the recaps and analyses by Chris Kirkman, Jeremiah, Gitsie Girl and the SL-LOST Team.

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.06 “316″ – 16 Reviews
2. EW Reviews the Season 5 Premiere
3. Critics’ Reviews of Episode 5.08 – “LaFleur”

1. The Numbers can be heard when Frank is trying to land the plane on the runway. You can listen to the audio on the player below:

   [audio:http://www.sl-lost.com/audio/numbers509.mp3]

2. Radzinsky was working on the model and plans of the Swan Station. Simply awesome. Click on the image below to enlarge.



3. Smokey was spying on Frank and Sun when they arrived at the dock. Audio below:

[audio:http://www.sl-lost.com/audio/smokey.mp3]

4. There were some whispers too:

[audio:http://www.sl-lost.com/audio/whispers.mp3]

5. Smoke, or Smokey?

6. There was clearly a woman in the background during the same creepy scene:

Was she Claire? Charlotte? The Photography Director? Sound off in comments!

Related posts:

1. Episode 5.06 “316″ – Easter Eggs
2. “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” – Easter Eggs
3. Will We See Claire in Season 5?

TV Guide reports:

9 pm: American Idol‘s results show delivered 23 million viewers, slipping 7 percent week-to-week. Criminal Minds followed with 13.5 mil, down a half mil. Lost‘s numbers weren’t terribly groovy, dropping 14 percent to an all-time low of 9.08 mil. (Next week, Sawyer & Co. face an even tougher hurdle: Idol‘s Obama-cized, two-hour performance show!) Life also took a plunge, to 4.22 mil.

Sources: tvbythenumbers.com & TV Guide.

Related posts:

1. Nielsen Ratings for “LaFleur”
2. Nielsen Ratings for “LaFleur” Rerun
3. Nielsen Ratings for “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”

Source: ABC

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What did you think of the episode? Leave your opinion and theories in comments!

Episode 5.09 “Namaste”

Official synopsis: When some old friends drop in unannounced, Sawyer is forced to further perpetuate his lie in order to protect them.

Written by: Paul Zbyszewski & Brian K. Vaughan.
Directed by: Jack Bender.
[polldaddy poll="1465748"]

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Episode 5.09 – “Namaste” – Sneak Peek #3

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Episode 5.09 – “Namaste” – Sneak Peek #4

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[Watch two more clips after the jump.]

Episode 5.09 – “Namaste” – Sneak Peek #5

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Episode 5.09 – “Namaste” – Sneak Peek #6

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Source: DocArzt.com

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LOST On Location Uncut – Michael Emerson

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LOST On Location Uncut – Josh Holloway

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[Watch the rest of interviews after the jump.]

LOST On Location Uncut – Henry Ian Cusick

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LOST On Location Uncut – Yunjin Kim (Minor Spoiler for Episode “Namaste”)

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LOST On Location Uncut – Naveen Andrews (Spoilers for Episode 5.10)

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Source: Sky.com/Lost

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Source: CarLost

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The Star Telegram has published a new interview with Michael Emerson. It’s a great read, but if you are very spoilerphobic, don’t click on “read the rest of this entry”.

Viewers aren’t the only ones mystified by what they see on ABC’s Lost. Most of the time, Michael Emerson says, the actors are just as much in the dark.

“We sit and talk about it amongst ourselves the way people do at home,” says Emerson, who stars as Machiavellian islander Ben Linus. “In a way, it’s more clear on the screen than it sometimes is on the printed page, like in those episodes where the white flashes kept coming and people kept waking up in a different time.”

Those scenes “played better” onscreen, the Emmy-nominated actor admits, than they did in his imagination. “The actors struggle with it, too,” he says. “We’re just as caught up in the mysteries and how to puzzle it all out.”

There’s no point in pumping Emerson for answers to the time-tripping castaway drama. “We’ve been trained into being careful about the few secrets we have,” he says.

Emerson will tease, however, that new revelations about Ben and how he went bad are coming. The first in a new batch of episodes airs at 8 p.m. March 18.

1 Is it true that you thought this gig would last only a few episodes?

Yeah. And I’m glad I got it the way I got it. If someone had called me and said, “Listen, you’re about to become a regular on an iconic television program,” I might have been nervous and possibly messed it up. In a way, I was a regular before I realized it. I was probably the last to tumble to it, although I should have known: They kept not letting me go home.”

2 When did you first know that Ben was the ultimate schemer?

I remember about three or four episodes into my work when Sayid was torturing me and trying to get me to give the name of my master and I was whimpering and pleading and saying I couldn’t tell. The director came to me after a take and said, “Let’s go again and, this time, your master is the scariest man in the world.” I said, “All right, I’ll do that. But what if I’m the head guy?” And the director blinked and said, “I can’t discuss that with you.” And I thought, “Ah, I see what’s going on.”

3 What can you share about the four-episode story line that will feature Ben as a young boy?

It’s safe to say we are going to revisit Ben’s youth. With some surprising developments and some recontextualizing of events we’ve already witnessed, which is one of the things our writers have license to do. Not only can we travel in time, but we can go back and replay a scene from two years ago and not stop the scene where it stopped before, let it run on a bit, so that we can find out something that completely changes our sense of what happened in the scene we thought we already knew.

4 Ben gets beaten to a bloody pulp a lot. What’s your take on that?

I see that as a pressure release valve that the audience needs. If Ben gets away with too much for too long, I feel the audience might grow disgusted. So every so often, he has to pay down a penance for his sins. Also, I think the taking of a beating is a strategic tool that Ben employs. After all, he always comes out of the beating wounded but with an information advantage.

5 He would be good participant on Survivor, wouldn’t he?

Absolutely. He’s willing to sacrifice himself, his physical well being, in order to gain an advantage, no matter how small.

— David Martindale

Special to the Star-Telegram

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