Before I begin talking about what I enjoyed and thought about before/during/after this episode, I want to address my concerns about the LOST fan community. I don't know how many of you who read this site are avid readers of other blogs about LOST, but I am. I spend probably way too many hours during the week reading others' thoughts about the current episode and the series in general. Usually, I just like to read what the main author has to say, but some sites, such as DocArzt, Nik-At-Nite, and Lost-Media, find me reading the comment boards as well.
Lately, the trend among commenters has been to tear down the current season of the show. Last week's "Ab Aeterno" excepted, it seems like nearly every episode this season has been lambasted by fans. The most recent episode, "The Package," seems to be taking tons of heat especially. I just spent about an hour on the Lost-Media message board and couldn't believe how many negative comments I've been hearing about what I felt was a fine hour of television.
Why should this matter to me? To you? To anyone? Well, it matters to me because I love this show, and want all of the fans to be as satisfied with it as I am. I know that's not possible, but it's what I feel. But I think mainly there's a part of me that wonders if perhaps I'm just fooling myself -- is LOST as good as I think it is? When tons of "fans" are tearing the show apart at the seams, is there something I'm missing? Am I just so blinded by love for the show that I can't see when it's failing?
The answer to this is simple: I'm not blind. Season six has been a terrific thrill ride; it just hasn't been the ride most expected. I think most fans right now are having a hissy fit on par with the one Sun had tonight in her native Korean. They don't want anymore adventures, anymore mysteries. They want ANSWERS!
We got answers tonight, though. Several, in fact.
It just wasn't good enough for some.
It was good enough for me. I don't just want answers. I want a fucking amazing story. That's exactly what I'm getting.
So, for all those whining, bitching fans out there: sit down and shut the fuck the up, will you? You watched this show because of the mystery (or at least stuck with it because of that), so be thankful you get to watch the best hour on television every week. LOST is a once-in-a-lifetime type of show. We won't ever see the likes of it again, so let's enjoy it!
Now! About "The Package?" Here's what I was thinking:
Widmore's Game
LOST has been about games since the first episode when John Locke taught Walt about Backgammon. And one thing we know about games is that all games have sides. And in this episode we finally got to see all three sides represented: Evil Locke's, Team Jacob's, and Widmore's. I was reminded of the episode, "The Shape of Things to Come" (Season 4, Episode 9), when Hurley, Sawyer, and Locke were engaged in a game of RISK.
HURLEY: We're all gonna die.
[Inside the Barracks, Sawyer, Locke, and Hurley sit around a table in heated deliberation.]
SAWYER: Calm down, Chicken Little. The sky ain't falling just yet.
HURLEY: This is exactly what he wants -- to fight amongst ourselves. You're making a big mistake, dude.
LOCKE: It's his to make, Hugo. (To Sawyer) Let's get on with it.
SAWYER: Right. ...I'm attackin' Siberia.
[A loaded board game of Risk sits on the table. Hurley holds Aaron in his arms. Sawyer and Hurley roll the dice, and then Sawyer laughs, picking off some of Hurley's pieces.]
SAWYER: Sorry.
HURLEY: Can't believe you're just giving him Australia. Australia's the key to the whole game.
SAWYER: Says you.
[Sawyer rolls again]
In "The Package," we come to find out that Widmore is on Jacob's side. He has ideas as to whom the Man-in-Black is and wants to keep him from leaving the Island. He doesn't know everything, of course, but enough to say to Jin, "If he [The Man-in-Black] gets off the Island, your daughter, my daughter, everyone we know and love would cease to be." This is profound shit, and adds more weight to Jacob's explanation of the Island to Richard in last week's episode.
Sidenote: Is this a clue that the flash-sideways is a world in which the Man-in-Black does get off the Island, especially in light of Sun being shot in her pregnant belly? After all, in the sideways reality, Ji Yeon now has little chance of existing.
As with all games that have three or more players, though, the objective is seldom a community one. Widmore seems to have more motivation here than simply protecting the Island. He has Zoe, the Tina Fey look-a-like, show Jin some maps he had signed back in the 70s featuring highlighted pockets of untapped electromagnetism. Is this to show that he has more plans than merely stopping Evil Locke? This would make sense, of course, being that Widmore's been trying to come back to the Island since Ben banished him. Should we believe that Widmore's been trying to return just to stop the elusive Smoke Monster?
A couple more Widmore questions:
1. If his aim is just to stop Smokey, why did Widmore send Keamy's team to the Island to capture Ben? Does Ben know something that will prove useful to saving the Island?
2. How does this fit in with Bram's comment to Miles in last season's "Some Like it Hoth" when Bram tells him that Widmore is not playing for the right team? Bram worked for Ilana, who works for Jacob, which must mean that Widmore has an entirely different agenda with goals that are in alignment with Team Jacob's for right now.
Oh, the Irony
If, indeed, Widmore is working against Evil Locke, that puts him on the same side as his nemesis, Ben Linus. This is rich indeed.
Other ironic moments tonight:
1. Finally Sun gets to say something interesting, but she has to do it in Korean so no one can understand her. Fuck, man!
2. Jin is asked to render payment for his own murder. That sucks!
3. Jack earns Sun's trust. I guess he got her off the Island once before so he should be able to do it again, right? Nonetheless, I think she forgot that the last time he promised this, he also promised Jin would go with her. Look at how that worked out.
Desmond and the Sideways World
We're finally getting somewhere with these...somewhere tangible, I think.
First of all, the scene where Sun undresses for Jin was HOT! I loved the play on Jin demanding Sun button up her top. Sexy.
Now, for the important stuff. Two things happened tonight that I think reveal the connection between the two realities.
1. Sun can't speak English. Notice she starts to tell Jin that she can, but she's cut off right around the same time as she runs into the tree on the Island.
2. Desmond is back.
These two things now have me firmly believing that everyone on the Island is in some state of consciousness travel, just as Desmond was back in both "Flashes Before Your Eyes," and "The Constant." Currently the traveling is not having as significant an impact as it did on Des and the members of Keamy's crew, but now that Sun has been shot in the Sideways world, I think things are about to change. The problems in the Sideways world are going to begin leaking through the sieve separating the two realities.
And Desmond is the only one who can stop it.
When we first learned about Desmond's abilities in full back in "The Constant," we learned that he was Faraday's constant when we saw Faraday's journal. I don't know how it's possible, or why, but I do believe now that Desmond is everyone's constant who is on the Island. He is the hub to everyone's spoke. Like the Dharma blast-door map, Desmond is the question mark in the middle. We know the "rules" don't apply to him, which puts him in a special place to be the savior of everyone on the Island.
I cannot wait to see what lies in store for us in the next episode, a Desmond-centric (spoiler?) episode entitled "Happily Ever After."
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