Not that the 1st half was devoid of laughs. The opener was very funny, Dwight stating ‘I need a baby !’ to outsell Pam and Jim. Kevin’s gourmet cooking was nice. ‘Pregnant Pam and I share meals together Second breakfast, second lunch and first dinner’. But the whole ‘we want to check in after midnight because of insurance’ ran way too long, and wasn’t really funny. Jim freaking out because his wife doesn’t want to listen was amusing though.

Once the show is on the road though, escorted briefly by Dwight, things kick really off. Though Dwight’s rampage through the kitchen was also a bit over the top, as was the contractual baby with Angela. Someone mentioned in the above linked blog post that Dwight had become a cartoon character. Although he always was a bit cartoony, I think I’ll have to agree with that.

The classic ‘too much information’ joke, with Micheal walking in too early in the delivery room, was pulled off nicely. I guess the screaming wasn’t too much of a hint for him. The male lactasion consultant scene was the funniest thing of the episode, though the switching babies thing, was funny as well.

It’s nice to see that Errin and Andy finally are going to be dating. Partly thanks to Micheal’s matchmaking. The fax scene was very nice. It’ll be interesting how things will develop with those two.

All in all a very nice double episode, certainly one of the best of a not so great season. Though no contender for the marriage episodes.

Sayid then kills Dogan and the smoke monster can go into a rampage inside the temple. Some of the temple people are now following Man In Locke, the sides are now being established. Hurley and Jack will be on the other side with the help of Dead Jacob, it’ll be interesting to see who will follow them.

Some more thoughts:

• Dogan’s baseball somehow seemed of importance. Did it tip the scale of good and evil ?
• Is Man In Locke really evil incarnate ? The killing spree in the temple didn’t help to prove he isn’t, but I don’t like Jacob’s manipulative ways either.
• We’re supposed to believe that MIL is free now that Jacob is dead. Why does he still want to kill everyone on the island ? Does he want to destroy it, because after having spend so long on the island he hates it that much ?
• What are the people who hid in the temple, Ben and Lapidus going to do ?
• Still not sure what the flash sideways mean. Sayid’s brother has married the love of his life, and he wants to cleanse himself of all the bad things he has done in the Iraqi army. Killing those gangsters didn’t quite help, although maybe killing bad people doesn’t count .

The transmission has some great thoughts as usual !

Jack broke your lighthouse dude, mission unaccomplished !

- Hurley

Hurley was great ! Apparently he is now the one Jacob is focusing on. He might also be the most susceptible, as he is used to seeing dead people. He leads Jack to the lighthouse, which Jack subsequently smashes up… We did learn that the numbers seem to correspond with degrees from the wheel in the lighthouse ? Which still doesn’t make a lot of sense. Hurley’s conversation with Jacob after that was funny and interesting. Jack is on the island to do something, but he has to find it himself !

Jacob tells Hurley that man in locke is now gathering forces and he’ll be going to the other’s camp, and it’s too late to do something about it now.

Claire indeed has a very weird evil streak about her. Very well played by Emilie de Ravin by the way. Her friend turns out to be the man in Locke. We still don’t know what exactly happened to her, the night she disappeared. It seems like she doesn’t either as she has no clue as to what happened to her baby. I liked it how Jin is now playing her to try to get back to Sun at the other other’s camp where he thinks she is staying.

All in all a fine episode with some clues and more questions !

Man in locke emphasizes free will, that Jacob manipulated people into making choices that weren’t actually choices at all. Pushing them towards the island, because they are nominated, as a protector of the island.

This is all a bit ironic since Man in locke also seems to be a bit manipulative. I assume he rigged the ladder Sawyer was on, so he could gain his trust.

Come with me, and I’ll promise, I’ll tell you everything

- Man in Locke to Richard Alpert.

Drunk Sawyer listening to Iggy Pop was funny. Well I guess I better put some pants on ! was very amusing ! Since he didn’t have anything to loose and he’d like to get some answers to his questions Sawyer now seems to be on Mil’s side.

Lapinus got the best one liner this time though: “Weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to !”.

The blonde kid was interesting. There is already a lot of speculations who it is (Aaron ?). M.i.l. seems to be a afraid of him ? We’ll see how that pans out and what role the kid plays.

Not that much to say about Locke’s flashsideways. Locke’s life seems to be rather bland. His encounters with the other losties were interesting indeed. Especially Ben as a whiny teacher was a nice touch !

I hope the Lost writers can keep it up ! We need more episodes like this to conclude the series on a high .

But this one showed that there is still hope ! Jim is back to being a regular salesman, making fun of Dwight. I am hoping the Sabre CEO will leave soon, and Michael is back to being manager again. They could have done some more funny stuff with Michael as a salesman, but they didn’t. I guess Dwight and Ryan’s plan to take down Jim won’t be nescessary any more, so that storyline can end as well.

The Erin and Andy storyline needs to move on soon though. The situations they get in, are funny and one of the best of the show at the moment, but at some point they need to realise that they like each other. Not quite sure what’s supposed to happen then, as we have already seen one office romance in The Office.

Let’s hope they can keep this up and this show will keep on being funny instead of just slowly fading away.

Only thing that sort of spoiled it for me is Lucas, the doofus boyfriend. First of all I don’t like the character at all, and second, I don’t see why Cuddy would hook up with someone like that. And why would House join him on a stake-out ? But the episode was enjoyable anyway.

What it did show though, House’s antics bring some humor and comedy to Cuddy’s very busy day. He isn’t just a nuisance, although she pretends he is, but I think she really likes the break from all the regular business stuff she has to do.

The last 2 minutes of the show were a bit over the top. Everything fell into place, nothing went wrong, all was well… If only real life was like that !

Links:

Medical review

What’s Alan Watching

The scene with Sawyer on the docks lamenting the loss of Juliet was nice. Other than that the scenes with Kate only had me wishing they’d show Locke, Jacob or some of the other more interesting mysterious characters. Ethan as delivery doctor for Claire’s baby was interesting though. He even knew the boy’s name already .

Dogan, Japanese dude, was brought to the island. What exactly that means is not further explained as ‘we know what he means’. The medicine for Sayid turns out to be poison. Sayid is apparently possessed as a lot of Lost followers already thought. Once ‘the darkness’ (which made me think of the Smoke Monster) reaches his heart, he won’t be the same person again. I assume this is the disease that Rousseau was talking about, when we saw how she got onto the island. And we now know more about what happened to Claire. She got ‘claimed’ as well. She makes a surprise reappearance at the end !

All in all a not so engaging episode. Especially regarding the fact that there is only about 14 left ? Would have loved to see more Locke who really shined in the premiere…

LAX timeline

As it now seems, the a-bomb did explode ? Juliette claimed it did. It did something, we now have an alternative, or a what if the plane didn’t crash timeline. I wasn’t too keen on this at first to be honest. But it seems to be very well done. Also at first glance nothing weird appears to be going on, but Desmond was a weird appearance and he also vanished into thin air ? Charlie swallowing his drugs was odd. In his flashback way back, he seemed to flush his drugs ? And Jack’s fathers body disappearing is of course quite weird too. I really liked the Locke / Jack scene. Locke seemed to be more at peace, did he, or did he not go on the walkabout ? And there is now a link to Jack in this reality. Will Jack operate on Locke ?

The Monster

A lot of weird stuff happens on the beach, with dead Locke’s body on the beach. I really liked the little scene with Ben and the Monster (no need to start calling names !).

He was weak, and pathetic and irreparably broken. But despite all that there was something admirable about him. He was the only one of them who didn’t want to leave. The only one who realized how pitiful the life he’d leave behind actually was.

- The Monster on John Locke

I want to go home ! is the monster’s theme. He apparently did have some unresolved issues with Richard (Oh it’s you), as he promptly knocks him out when they meet again. Then drags him on his shoulders and they depart the beach. Why was he very disappointed though ? Because they choose Jacob’s side ?

The Others

Sawyer is very angry (and understandably so) as Juliette dies. We finally get to see the group that had the children we saw in season 2 or thereabouts ? A Japanese person and a hippie like guy are running the show here. They seem to be very interested in Hurley. At least we finally know what is in the guitar case.

Resurrecting Sayid was really odd. For some reason the ritual has to run as long as the hourglass dictates. He appears to be dead but then wakes up later. I immediately thought, is that Jacob somehow coming back to life ?

The others are getting ready for the attack by ‘them’ as Richard and the other people at the beach notice the flare in the sky…

Conclusion

As usual a lot of questions . I am sure not all will be answered, they’ll leave us hanging on some issues. But somehow the timelines will merge at a certain point and some sort of epic finale will come. Or maybe not ! A very enjoyable start of season six though.

One final thing: Terry O’Quinn did a wonderful job, playing angry guy in Locke’s body and the Locke guy on the plane.

Links:

Ryan and Jen Review

Jay and Jack – More goodies on their site, like an interview with Jorge Garcia !

What’s Alan Watching ?