Twilight Saga: Eclipse VS The Last Airbender

Tomorrow marks another day in tween history: the release of another Twilight film. The Twilight films are based off of the world wide best selling novels by Stephanie Meyer whose success story was rocket fast in the world of publishing. When the films came to be movies, they launched an obsession for tweens, despite Twilight being classified as young adult fiction.

Twilight was only rated so-so if not down right hated in the eyes of many fans, but many of them considered the sequel New Moon to have delivered. With the introduction to the Bella/Edward/and often shirtless Jacob triangle as well as some additional fight scenes that were not in the books (but really helped the film), it was actually a good movie (if you didn’t mind Bella screaming and crying in her sleep for half of the film). New Moon actually debuted with the number one opening day gross ever with over seventy-two million dollars surpassing the Harry Potters, Spiderman 3, Transformers 2, and even the beloved Dark Knight.

But New Moon is easily the favorite book from the Twilight series, so can Eclipse outperform it’s predecessor?

My money is on “probably”. It’s main promotion is for it’s vampire and werewolf war drawing in people who may not care about romance and may not know it’s a romance, but they like seeing things fighting and killing each other. Also, young Jacob actually gets up the nerve to fight for young Bella’s affection instead of staring at her intensely and waiting for her to lean in and kiss him. Edward doesn’t disappear for half the film either so it’s a full on fight for Bella’s love.

If I were a film maker, I wouldn’t put up anything against the power of little girls who beg their mommies to take them to the theaters so they can stare at men too old for them and cry over situations they’re too young to understand. But M. Night Shyamalan has proved to take risks creatively with some of his work. It’s no shocker that he’s taking a risk and putting The Last Airbender on the line against a major contender.

The Last Airbender–known to many as “The REAL Avatar” (sorry Cameron), are looking forward to this highly anticipated film. The Last Airbender is based off of a hugely successful cartoon created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko that aired on Nickeloden and attracted an audience well beyond it’s demographic with it’s brilliant story telling and serious subject manner. It’s easily one of the greatest cartoons of all time. Avatar: The Last Airbender isn’t a love story, though there is romance. It’s a story about young kids with powers who have to fight a world wide war to save the world from a truly evil man and his army. The premise sounds more epic than a random small town girl deciding whether or not she wants to give up her non-interesting life to turn into a good vampire. The show is still very fresh in the fans minds and they were desperate for more stories. So who will win the tween vote?

The Last Airbender has been surrounded with some controversy. Two main characters, Sokka and Katara, are brown skinned in the television series but are being cast by two Caucasians, one of them who plays Jasper Hale in the Twilight series. Another controversy comes from the villain and eventual good guy, Zuko, who is a fair skinned character yet is cast by a boy of Indian descent, Dev Patel, who is best known for Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. While no one is questioning their acting ability, fans of many different nationalities are angered by the race changes and even coined the term “race bending.”

But even with that going against the film, the previews themselves are compelling the fans to give it a shot. Besides the obvious nationality changes, the film mirrors the source material in a lot of ways and the special effects are down right cool.

With Last Airbender coming out in 3D, it also has a chance to outdo Eclipse in sales due to 3D prices being a bit higher, which is how Cameron’s Avatar made it’s groundbreaking amount at the box office.

Eclipse may have two successful films backing it, but The Last Airbender appears to be a film that moms and highly testosterone filled dads will take their kids to see. Besides, with Twilight films subject matter becoming increasingly more adult, such as the eventual impregnation of Bella in Breaking Dawn, the eight year old girls might have to start sitting out of the shows.

So who is going to win the epic battle for biggest movie of the summer? We’ll see this weekend. Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiers June 30th and The Last Airbender premiers July 1st.

Lost "Across the Sea"

Lost...

What is there to say about “Lost”? Well, I’m a little “lost.”

I’m on the fence on whether or not I liked last night’s episode of Lost, because I wanted so many more answers that I never really got. One thing we found out from “Across the Sea” is that the “Adam and Eve” in the cave was the MIB and his crazy adoptive mother and Jacob put them there.

It’s cool to know, but I had an awesome theory that maybe it was Rose and Bernard, since they were all time traveling and what not, but that was a theory from like two seasons ago, so I can accept that I was wrong, mostly because there was no way to ever guess their true identities.

The episode opened up with a line that said “Every question will lead to another question.” It was like the writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse just wanted to mess with our minds and put it in there as a reassurance that we’re not going to be satisfied. But to be fair, even if they answered every single question, people would still be upset and they wouldn’t accept it all. I heard a lot of people angry about the “Whispers” in the jungle really being dead people. Not everyone is going to be happy. I think maybe that’s an impossible task for Damon and Carlton since the fans have such high expectations.

But I’m on the fence about the episode because I didn’t feel like a lot happened, at least not enough to progress the story line. We got a back story episode about the most mysterious people on the island and we’re still probably going to get way more information from the present. We can only hope that we do! We don’t have a choice.

But now we know that there’s a light on the island that’s perhaps the good of humanity and that’s what Jacob had to protect and now one of the candidates (which I hope is Jack) has to do it instead.

But is smokie now the light transformed into darkness and there is no more light? Is it possible for smokie to be light again? John told Jack that when he had a face off with smokie that he saw a beautiful light. Now we know he was born of the light? Perhaps fake Locke can’t leave the island because the source can’t leave the island because it would go out and then all the light would go out.

But if this is true, then how is the sideways universe functioning?

Why did Ben Linus think that smokie was a judge? How does his relationship with people on the island evolve? It’s clear that he does judge people, like Mr. Eko. It appears that he kills who he doesn’t need and who he knows is no longer a candidate. Smokie is a lot of things to a lot of different people and I didn’t get the feeling that he was THE bad guy until this season. What was his relationship like?

And how much of smokie is really MIB? Certainly his ambition about getting off the island is included and smokie can’t kill Jacob or his candidates, so there’s still a connection. Evil Locke also told Kate that his mother was crazy, which was true for original Locke and MIB. But smokie seems to take characteristics from those he takes period since he yelled John’s famous “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”

Something I found misleading though was the fact that MIB/Jacob’s brother (before smokie was born) didn’t seem all that bad. His mother was a psycho and Jacob could get nuts when he got angry and saw that his brother wanted to leave. I already suspected that Jacob was a little nuts after he beat Richard so well on their first encounter. So in the previous episode, Carlton and Damon admitted to killing Sun and Jin to prove that fake Locke was surely evil. Now we have this episode that suggests that he was severely misunderstood. I can still accept that fake Locke is evil, but I’m not sure about this whole Jacob business.

Jacob is interesting because he observes people from a distance and doesn’t really know them. He’s seems afraid to interact with them. That’s probably why he never got involved with the people on the island before Richard and that he wanted Richard to delegate for him. But since he doesn’t know people face to face, he thinks they’re good. His twin brother, MIB, lived with people and know that they’re corrupt and evil. So if Jacob really got to know humanity, would he feel so strongly about protecting them or is he simply honor bound by his mother?

I strongly feel that Jack has to be the new Jacob, because I don’t know who else is nuts enough to ruin people’s lives and pester them to get them to the island. Certainly Locke could have, but he’s dead.

I’m not sure if I enjoyed this episode. Well...I didn’t really enjoy it. I’m not sure if it’s good or not, because for the first time I feel really confused because of all the loopholes and the situation involving smokie and MIB that I kind of want to stop speculation and just wait until they tell me what I need to know.

Smallville "Escape"

Let me start off by saying that I find it a little strange that Smallville took so many weeks off and then decided to premier a new episode during Good Friday. It’s a good thing I saw a commercial, because I would have waited until next week to turn on the television.

But anyway, Clark and Lois go on a getaway vacation and it turns out Oliver and Chloe are there. As predicted, Chloe and Oliver are really just booty call type folk and don’t care to be anything more. The romance is ultimately ruined by the awkwardness and also The Silver Banshee.

Now I had seen some images of The Silver Banchee and it just wasn’t very good. Smallville haters really took the opportunity to bash it and I couldn’t blame them. It seemed like they took a very...dead animal approach to it. However, it looked really nice in the dark and instead of looking like dead animals, it was black and white, as it should be. The history was of course appropriated for Smallville, but it wasn’t bad. I thought their interpretation was actually well done...for them anyway.

One of my favorite parts of the episode was when Chloe questioned Clark about his super sex and he looked embarrassed and stated that he was in control of “everything.” It was a funny episode, not hilarious. It was more for chicks I would say.

I do have to point out that I’m really getting sick of Chloe’s dialogue. Her metaphors are driving me nuts! I’d like to get through one episode without her using three.

On with some more important plot advancements, Zod is enjoying his powers and finally got it on with Tess. She figured out that he had powers and used Kryptonite on him. He didn’t know what it was and she won’t tell him. So at the end of the episode, he calls Lois pretending to be “The Blur” right in front of Clark and asks her to find out some information about Tess. She swears not to tell anyone. I think it’s pretty funny.

It was a solid filler. Nothing spectacular happened, but it was enjoyable. If someone was waiting to see something epic to be satisfied from the long break...then I don't know what show you're watching. Though Smallville can have great moments, I've never really been immensely satisfied with epicness.

Lost "Ab Aeterno"

Finally, some answers!

This episode mainly deals with Richard Alpert and by mainly, I mean there aren’t really any flashbacks fading in and out of the present. It’s mostly a flashback of Richard’s life. I’ve got to say it was another great episode.

The show opens up with Ilana explaining that she came to the island to protect the candidates and that the candidates are people who are supposed to replace Jacob. Her instructions after she took the candidates to the temple were to ask Richard what to do next, but he goes off on a crazed frenzy. He says he’s known a secret that no one else knows about the island and it’s not what it seems and I hold my breath. But then he continues his crazed frenzy and thinks he’s in Hell and storms off stating that he thinks he might follow someone else.

Jack sees Hurley talking to no one in Spanish and assumes it’s Jacob. Hurley says it’s not and storms off.

The flash back starts in 1867 on Tenerife on the Canary Islands. Richards wife Isabella is ill so he rides into town to get medicine taking all of the money he has and his wife’s gold cross. The doctor refuses to ride in the rain to help her and he won’t sell the medicine for such a cheap price. Richard panics and pushes the doctor and he hits his head on a table and dies. Richard leaves panicked with the medicine and returns to his wife, but she has already passed. He cries over her body as men come to take him away.

In prison, a priest visits him and Richard has a confession. However, the priest will not forgive him for his sin, because the priest says he can’t absolve him of his sins for murder. If the Dharma Initiative was instated at the time or if Jacob was recruiting Others, I would have sworn that the priest was behind something sinister, because it was such a shock and he did look creepy and not really sympathetic. He said Richard needed to do penance but he didn’t have time because he was going to be hanged. I’m not sure what was the point in the confession, but the priest didn’t seem concerned. It was like “Want to be forgiven? That’s too bad. Have a nice time burning in Hell, you murderer!”

Instead of being hung, a British Captain buys Richard because he can speak English and plans on taking him to the New World. During the ride a storm breaks out and they are drawn to the island. The Black Rock smashes into the Statue of Taweret, which answers what happened to it and then the ship crashes in the middle of the jungle.

The Captain is sure the slaves will rise up and kill them and the supplies are limited anyway, so he starts killing all of the slaves. Richard is the last one, but the killing spree is interrupted by the one who does it best: Smokie! The smoke monster begins killing the crew and the Captain looks up while blood is dripping down on him. It was kind of horrifyingly awesome for tv. Then Smokie kills the Captain and does the whole “I’m gonna approach you but leave” thing to Richard.

Richard is stuck trying to escape for the next few days but then he sees his dead wife. She tells him that they’re in Hell and that he has to leave before the devil homes. They hear Smokie and then she runs away. Richard hears her scream and begins to panic, still trapped in chains and unable to help.

Enter Man in Black. He gets Richard out of the chains and gives him water. He admits to being the black smoke and confirms that they are in Hell and that the devil has his wife. He give Richard a knife and tells him to go kill the devil living in the statue. Richard agrees since it’s the only way to save his wife. It mimics how fake Locke convinced Ben and how Dogen convinced Sayid.

He goes to kill Jacob, but Jacob kicks his butt and convinces Richard that he’s not in Hell by sort of drowning him. I thought Jacob was a lot more passive than what he appeared to be in this episode, so I was a bit shocked. He tells Richard that he brings people to the island to prove to the Man in Black that people are good while the Man in Black believes that they are corrupted. All of the people Jacob brought has died. Some people think that Jacob might not be as good as what people believe but it would seem that his has a disconnection with humanity. All of these people’s lives are like games to MIB and Jacob. Richard wants to know why Jacob doesn’t interfere and Jacob says that he believes that there’s no point in the argument if he has to tell people to choose good. Richard says “If you don’t then he will.”

Jacob then asks if Richard would like a job to interfere on his behalf. In return, Richard asks for his wife back and Jacob says that he can’t do this. I thought this was very important because we keep seeing dead people appear on the island but whose to say who is dead or what? No one has really ever come back for the dead so resurrection seems to be out of the question, though the Man in Black is promising it to Sayid. Is Man in Black lying or does he posses a power that Jacob does not or does Jacob think it’s wrong to resurrect people? Richard also asks to be absolved from his sins, but Jacob says he can’t do that either so if anyone has any theories that Jacob is God, then I think that proves them wrong, but he does seem to have a separation from humanity. Then Richard asks to live forever so he can never go to Hell and Jacob agrees to doing that.

Richard’s first task is to give the Man in Black a white rock. MIB explains that he knows Jacob can be persuasive and says that if Richard EVER changes his mind, he’ll have him.

MIB and Jacob talk. MIB just wants his body back and he wants to leave the island. Jacob can’t do that because apparently, MIB is evil incarnate. MIB says he has no choice but to kill Jacob and Jacob says that if he manages to kill him, he’ll just have a replacement. So the candidates are NOT protecting the island. The island is protecting everyone else from MIB. This makes a lot more sense. But since there is no island in the sideways universe, I’m curious to know the consequences.

Flashbacks end and Richard goes to a spot where he had buried his wife’s cross. He cries and calls out to MIB. Hurley then emerges and says that he was talking with Isabella. After Richard and Isabella have a conversation via Hurley about how her death wasn’t his fault, Richard feels better. Hurley also tells Richard that Isabella said that they have to stop MIB from leaving the island or “they all go to Hell.”

In the distance, MIB is watching.

This was a very great episode. I was troubled by how Richard snapped, but I suppose he has been around for a long time and there's no telling everything he went through. His story with his wife was very sad and it was touching when he got to speak with her again. This episode was probably the second best of the season, but I'm looking forward to some more great ones before it's all over.

Lost "Recon"

I’m sorry to admit this, but Lost was sort of a disappointment. It’s weird saying that since I adore watching Sawyer and he’s had some very interesting storylines, but I feel that this episode pales in comparison to the emotion and plot progress that the last episode possessed.

There was a surprise in Sawyer’s sideways universe, but it was the most shocking thing of the entire night. Sawyer was playing his favorite con, in bed with a wife of a rich husband and he gets up and takes his suitcase and all his money falls out. The woman is supposed to see it and decide to become part of the investment scheme he has going on and Sawyer takes her money and leaves. Well, his girl (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe who played Gretchen on Prison Break), totally saw right through it since her husband is a con artist. Sawyer tells her that he’s really undercover and if she doesn’t cooperate, she’s going to jail. She doesn’t take him serious and I assume it’s another good lie from Sawyer trying to get out of being shot, but as it turns out, his backup comes piling through the door and arrests Gretchen.

Sawyer is a cop, so he doesn’t go by “Sawyer.” He goes by James Ford. I know I had a pretty stupid expression on my face, and I’m not sure what it meant or what I was really thinking at the time. I was just surprised. Sawyer is a rugged, bad boy. It’s all part of his charm. But the most important thing to consider is that Sawyer is presumably changed for the better without interference from Jacob and the island. Is Jacob really not on the side of good? That’s a question that a lot of people are beginning to wonder. I would personally feel a little betrayed if that were the case, so I’m theorizing that he’s good. I believe that there will be a very good reason as to why the cast had to live such miserable lives to get to the island and I assume it has something to do with the smoke monster. I hope Jacob is in the end justified, but it doesn’t look too good on his part.

Anyway, Miles is James’ partner and James is keeping him and everyone in the dark about his past. His father still killed his mother and himself and James is tracking down Anthony Cooper who is actually the only person called “Sawyer” and plans on killing him once he finds him.

James goes on a blind date set up by Miles with Charlotte. They hit it off and go back to his place but when she finds his secret files on “Sawyer”, he freaks out and kicks her out. He tries to reconcile later, but she tells him that he “blew it.” He also gets into a huge fight with Miles because Miles finds out that James was in Sidney and not on vacation.

James really contemplates the entire episode about how he is pushing people away by living in the past and holding onto revenge, so he tells Miles about what happened and what he plans to do. There’s not really a conversation stating that James will stop his hunt so I wouldn’t say that there was real growth like in the last episode with Ben Linus.

However, James did catch Kate at the end. That was an interesting twist, but leaves me to wonder why James seemed to aid Kate at the airport when he was always a law abiding citizen.

On the island, the smoke monster/fake Locke sends Sawyer to Hydra island for a recon mission. Locke wants to know if there are any passengers from the plane left and their intentions so he can use the airplane and fly home. Sawyer does as told and discovers that all the left over passengers are dead and there is only one survivor. Sawyer eventually finds out that she’s lying and discovers that she’s one of Widmore’s people. They are armed with guns and sonar weapons like The Others/Dharma had to keep him out the smoke monster. Sawyer is taken to Widmore and promises to take fake Locke to him so he can kill him and so he can escape on the sub with his people. Widmore agrees. But, something to wonder about is how the passengers died. Widmore claims that he did not kill them. It very well could have been the smoke monster, but Sawyer doesn’t believe Widmore, though he seems suspicious of fake Locke since he knows about the people at the temple being murdered because of the smoke monster.

Back at camp, Claire finally snaps and attacks Kate. While Claire is holding a knife to Kate’s neck, Sayid is watching. Locke comes to save Kate and then she leaves to cry and wonder why the world has turned so wonky. I personally would have ran out of there. She knows that Locke is really dead. I don’t know if she has enough sense to realize that Locke isn’t really a resurrected Locke and something is off. Claire is also crazy and Sayid is obviously off his rocker as well. Locke explains to her that he told Claire that The Others had her baby so she could hate someone because it’s a very powerful survival skill and all that hate was transferred to Kate. Locke also stated that he had a crazy mother and he had issues because of it and expresses concern because Aaron’s mother is now also crazy. It’s interesting because the real Locke’s mother was off, but it seems like fake Locke is talking about himself. He did used to be a man. Since he mentioned it himself, I would hope that his past is further explored. Claire does apologize and hug Kate and cries, but I would still get out of there if I was Kate.

When Sawyer returns, he tells fake Locke about his deal with Widmore and Locke sees it as loyalty. Kate confronts Sawyer when they’re alone and he states that his loyalty doesn’t belong with anyone and he intends on letting them fight it out and escaping on the sub.

What was interesting was that Widmore and fake Locke knew of each other’s presence. I’m curious as to how and I’m curious if they’ll actually end up being enemies or allies. After all, Widmore and Ben are true enemies and Ben rejected Locke’s offer to join him. The enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of thing may come into play, unless it ends up being an every man for himself scenario.

This episode wasn’t bad or anything, but I’m not sure if I would watch it back just because. With great episodes like “The Long Con” under Sawyer’s belt, I just thought there might be something more with this one.

It would also seem like Sawyer is catching on that Locke might be the smoke monster, but Kate seems to be missing some bananas out of the bunch, because there was more than enough red flags to send me running into the jungle after Jack.

Another food for that, it’s not a prediction, but it would seem that Jack is becoming a man of faith who believes in the island and a mission that it might hold while Sawyer is willing to do whatever he can to get off, which seems to be the relationship of Jacob and the smoke monster.

Also, it’s possible that the island might be the smoke monster’s prison. If that thing were out in the real world, what kind of chaos would ensue?

Can’t wait until Richard’s past is revealed next week. I’m ready for some answers!

Lost "Dr. Linus"

I’ve been waiting for this episode ever since I found out that Ben was in the sideways timeline, well and alive. Lost did not disappoint with this episode. It was without a doubt, the best episode of the season and contained one of the best emotional pieces of the entire series.

I’m not going to try and recap the complete episode, just go over some of the most important things. The episode was centered on Benjamin Linus. He’s traveling with Sun, Frank, Ilana, and Miles. Ilana was always weary about Jacob’s death so she gives his remains to Miles and he confirms that Ben, not Smokie, killed Jacob.

All seems to be going awkwardly well as they walk back to the beach. Then Illana ties up Ben, points a gun to him, and orders him to dig his own grave. Ben is trying to get out of it by talking to Miles and offering him the millions he asked for years ago. Miles threw in that Pablo and Nikki had diamonds buried with them, so he didn’t need Ben’s money. Then when all hope seems lost, fake Locke comes and offers Ben a chance to escape. He releases his chains, tells Ben where he can find a gun, and offers Ben the opportunity to join him. His reward will be to once again become the leader of the island once fake Locke gets what he wants.

Ben runs for it and I am seriously on the edge of my seat once he starts running through the jungle with Ilana right on his tail with a riffle in her hand. Ben is really my favorite character. If he is to die, I at least want him to survive to the very end. This episode is very nerve wracking for me. Luckily, Ben gets to his gun first and then you ask yourself is Ben going to do the right thing or is he going to save his own skin again.

Instead of killing Ilana, he explains that he knows what Ilana is feeling after losing Jacob, because he lost Alex. He acknowledges that it was his fault and how he was angry because he chose the island over Alex and Jacob didn’t seem to care about any of Ben’s sacrifices. It was truly one of the most heart felt dialogues of the show and something you might not have expected to hear Ben Linus say. If you haven’t seen the episode, you truly need to watch his performance. Top notch.

After apologizing to Ilana, he says that he plans on joining Locke. Ilana then asks why and his answer is one of the saddest, most pathetic in a “I want to feel bad for you” kind of way, things I’ve ever heard. His answer was “Because he’s the only that’ll have me.”

Ilana says, “I’ll have you.” And they both turn around and go back to the beach. Even though they had this emotional moment, I’m constantly watching the clock and waiting for her to snap and shoot Ben in the back of the head or something, but she doesn’t. Thank goodness!

In the sideways timeline, Ben is a history teacher who cares about the students, but the principal is on a power trip. Ben is encouraged by Locke to become the principal and he tries dirty politics to get in. At the last minute, Ben sacrifices his flawless plan to become principal for a student’s well being, who is Alex Rousseau. It was a pleasant twist.

Ben has done some terrible things in his past in the name of his power, but after Alex died, he realized that power wasn’t the most important thing. It seems that this revelation has somehow connected in the sideways time line, because he didn’t sacrifice Alex for his power. I’m curious of the relationship of the sideways time line and how it really will coincide and if the two worlds will ever collide or become aware of one another.

Ben wasn’t the only character who had a breakthrough. Jack is starting to become a man of faith. Richard lost his way and thought his life had no purpose because Jacob died and so he wanted to die. We’re all well aware that he can’t age, but we found out that he also cannot kill himself. He returns to the Black Rock and the popular suspicion that Richard came from the ship is confirmed. Questions are being answered!

Richard asks Jack to light a fuse on a stick of dynamite and Jack obliges the request, but sits and waits for the stick to blow up. Now this is pretty gutsy of Jack and of course we know Jack isn’t going to blow up. Jack’s reasoning is that Jacob wouldn’t want him to go through all he’s been through just to blow up. Our reasoning is that Jack has to have a showdown with evil Locke and or bitter Sawyer. Yet knowing all this, I’m still sitting on edge. I mean, if Jack blows up, a lot of people would feel cheated, but it would be completely unexpected. Jack ends up being right and the fuse burns out right before it reaches the stick.

Jack, Richard, and Hurley return to the beach and meet up with Ben and everyone else.

The big shocker though, the moment that made me scream, was when I saw a submarine in the water. I thought for sure that something was going to come up and snipe Ben. My heart was pounding. After all that emotion and anticipation, it would be terrible if he got popped the last minute of the show. Instead, there is an even bigger twist that I think no one saw coming.

Charles Widmore is back and he’s found the island!

So far, I can’t say that any episodes of Lost this season made me feel shocked or left me with that intense anticipation for the next episode until this episode aired tonight. It was bloody fantastic. Emotional, suspenseful, some questions were answered, faith reassured, and plots started coming together. This was the first time I screamed in shock the entire season and that’s why I watch Lost. I like that there’s a show brilliant enough to emotionally involve me.

I can’t wait until next week. Nine episodes left.

Lost "Sundown"

I am really pumped about Lost this season. I really–in fact–desperately would like to be satisfied with all of the mysteries and the questions and so on. When I saw that the title of this episode was “Sundown” I assumed it was going to be about Sun. I found out some days prior that the main focus was Sayid. I wasn’t too excited about that. Sayid has had such a depressing life that I thought they should have let him die after he got shot last season. Why bother trying to save him? He worked most of his adult life to get back to a woman who he finally married and she was run over by a car and died in his arms.

Sayid’s sideways story was interesting though. I caught on as soon as he was dropped off by his taxi that Nadia was going to be with a different man. I just didn’t know that it would be his brother. They clearly still love each other, but he thinks he doesn’t deserve Nadia and that’s why they didn’t get together in the sideways universe. Sayid’s brother made some bad business deals and got himself in a lot of trouble with none other than Martin Keamy, the man who infamously killed Benjamin Linus’s daughter, Alex. Sayid’s brother got hurt, Sayid was taken, and then Sayid killed everyone there, except for none English speaking Jin, who is tied up in a back room.

On the island, Sayid has a showdown with Dogen. Some people think it’s too late to introduce Dogen and get attached to him, but I like him. It was also cool to see him fight Sayid in hand to hand combat and I enjoyed that he came up on top, since Sayid is supposed to be turning evil. Dogen banishes Sayid after sparing his life.

Claire comes to the temple trying to get Dogen to leave to speak with fake Locke, but Dogen refuses and they take Claire away. Dogen then asks Sayid to kill fake Locke.

Sayid tries, but can’t. Then Smokie tells Sayid that he can give Sayid the one thing that he wants more than anything in the world. I can only assume instead of something noble like redemption, he’s going to do the crazy thing and attempt to resurrect Nadia.

Kate returns and talks to Claire. She can’t tell that Claire needs to be sent to the loony bin, even though she’s alone and singing lullabies in a very creepy fashion. Claire tells Kate that she thinks that The Other’s have Aaron and Kate tells her the truth. Kate doesn’t notice how epically pissed Claire looks and continue chatting about how lovely and wonder Aaron was and how she had been raising him. Of course she claims that she wants to reunite the two of them, but I have a suspicion that Claire is going to kill Kate as soon as she has the chance.

Sayid returns to the temple and informs everyone that they have until sundown to leave. Whoever stays will die. A lot of people leave. Sayid goes back to Dogen and they have a moment. Dogen explains that he came to the island to save the life of us son and assumes that Sayid was offered a deal just as good. Sayid then drowns Dogen.

Dogen’s minion, Lennon, panics and says that Dogen was the one who was keeping the monster out. Sayid turns full out psycho, admits that he knows that, and kills Lennon as well. Smokie starts on a killing spree.

Miles and Kate begin running but get separated when Kate goes after Claire. Miles runs into Alana, Sun, Lapidus, and Ben. Ben runs off to go find Sayid and at this point, I start yelling. They already killed my cool, samurai guy and I am in great fear that they will kill my favorite character. I just know that Sayid hates Ben and will snap his neck. But when Ben sees Sayid, it’s clear that Sayid is evil and off his rocker and Ben looks at him horrified and runs away.

Alana finally saves some people and opens up a secret passage way to get her, Lapidus, Miles, and Sun out. I don’t know where they’re going, but it’s pretty bogus that they took all that time getting to the temple to be safe and as soon as they get there, Smokie strikes. It’s like the only point of going to the temple was to save Miles, but that hardly redeems her after letting Jacob get whacked. I don’t dislike Alana, but I hope she does something epically amazing. It’s bad enough that she came to the island especially to protect Jacob and then he was killed.

Kate gets to Claire and barely misses Smokie during his pursuit of destruction. After it’s all over, Kate, Claire, and Sayid are looking at all the bodies of dead people. I’m extremely disturbed that Kate is just continuing to follow them without saying anything since she just saw a non dead John Locke leading the people, but whatever. Kate does what she feels like anyway. I guess she feels like being demented and confused.

I was expecting Claire to say “kill Kate” to Locke or go ballistic right then and there, but I’m sure she’ll have her battle with Kate eventually.

As far as the questions answered, I can’t say that there were any of the original questions from seasons prior answered. Questions about Dogen’s origins were answered and why the temple was safe was answered. However, we don’t know why Dogen had that ability to keep Smokie out of the temple in the first place.

A new question is what exactly does Claire want the fake Locke to do for her? Everyone has a price. She may be nuts, but she clearly stated that there was a promise that he made to her.

I predict that Claire and Kate will have their blowout, but I’m thinking Jack will be around for it. The woman that he’s been obsessed about and his sister in a death match over three years of his nephews life.

I’m kind of worried for team “good” though. I mean, it seems like it’s going to be Sayid, Sawyer, Claire, and Smokie vs Jack and Hugo. The odds are not good.