Lost: Through the Looking Glass: Review

Seeing how the last post was kind of a restless rambling, I'm going to give this episode a more thorough blow by blow type of review.

There was three major storylines and one MAJOR twist. I wish i could write major in even bigger letters, and even then it wouldn't really do it justice.

First, The Looking Glass.

Freakin' amazing to see Penny show up like that, and Des was so close, yet so far, once again. Charlie died, semi-needlessly, although he did shut the door to stop the flooding. If that equipment is waterproof, They could theoretically repair the window, open the door, let the water out and use it, but, that's besides the point of everything I mentioned in the previous post. Who even knows who will be there next year. And what was that, like 3 deaths for Mikhail now? And don't really know if he is dead again anyways. Looks like it, but the guy took a spear to the chest and kept rollin, so who knows. Thought one of the women in the Looking Glass might have been Annie, but seems like they were just dispensable Others.

The Beach

We had to know that plan wasn't going to go down well. I was surprised that it was Jin that missed the shot, as he's supposed to be ex-military, and as Rose said, all Bernard did was go hunting. I was also surprised that they did put three shots into the sand, but like Tom said, they're starting to think Ben is out of his mind. Hurley coming out of nowhere to redeem himself was pretty cool, and the Dharma van, which he just had to get running, played the pivotal role, nice. Juliet seems to actually be with the Losties, and although you can never be sure, everything seems to point to Juliet actually turning on the Others.

The Tower

I haven't liked the Jack character in a long time, but tonight I really did. Although as we found out in a jaw dropping, stunning last few minutes, he really did make the wrong decision, and Ben was right. Rousseau and Alex seemed to bond pretty quickly, having their first 'awww' mother-daughter moment when Danielle asks her if she'll help tie Ben up. Awww. I disliked the lack of Locke, which I will get back to in a full posting later on, but he proved yet again that he wasn't a killer, even though I was yelling at the TV for him to pull the trigger.

The Twist

My god, did this change everything. Obviously we were meant to believe this was sometime after Jack's divorce, when he was teetering on alcohol and pain pill addiction, but wow, it sure wasn't. This was an absolutely fantastic idea, and I applaud Lindelof and Cuse for taking such a step. Matthew Fox played this brilliantly, and it was by far the best Jack flashback (or I guess it would be forward) there has been to date. When Kate stepped out of that car, my jaw dropped further than I think it ever has with this show. Too bad they didn't get into who Kate had to get back to or exactly who was in the coffin, but it could easily be Sawyer on both accounts.

Amazing episode, mostly amazing season, can't wait for February.

Lost: Through the Looking Glass: Thoughts

It's been about half an hour, and I'm still a bit breathless after that ending. Snake in the Mailbox for sure.

I don't know if it was Cuse or Lindelof that said "After the finale, you'll wonder how this show can go on." Either way, it's completely true. Obviously it's going to go on, but in what form? Are we going to flash forward a few years until everyone's off the island, and do flashbacks to fill in the gaps? Or are we just going to know that somehow they get off at the end, and keep going on the Island still after some kind of screw job on the escape?

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, so many questions...And it's going to be 9 months until we get anything resembling an answer.

I was watching the Lost: Answers special on the second run through before the finale, and noticed that Damon made a quip about how if they get off the Island, the show was over. These two are always so coy about everything, that when he said something straight like that, I smelled a foiler. And boy was I right.

I think we may start to see either a mix of flash-forwards with flashbacks, or just completely a flash-forward type of format. I hope the Island doesn't take a back seat to the after-Island events, but I think after this kind of game-changer, they're going to be expanding on this after-Island timeline, they kind of have to.

We have to some extent run out of flashbacks, so a switch in formats may be due. It is a crazy idea, but I put nothing past Damon and Carlton, and the Island and post-Island stories running in parallel, instead of pre and present running parallel as we have seen up to now, would be just fine with me.

There's so many different ways they can go, and it really opens the story back up.

Can't believe that Sawyer's dead in the future...or was I wrong on that one? And who was Kate going back to, maybe Sawyer and I was wrong on that one. If so, could be anyone from Locke to Ben, but someone Kate seems furious at. Sawyer seems logical to me, but you never know.

All in all, I think this was a fantastic finale, although I would have liked a bit more resolution on Naomi's people, that's a pretty decent cliffhanger to leave us with. Can't wait till February, I'm sure someone's already got a clock going somewhere...

Brothers & Sisters Season Finale: Review

This show has been a pleasant surprise all year, and I've found over time, as I'm sure a lot of people have, that's the appeal, that the Walker family is a lot like mine.

It's always well written, and the star quality, Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Rob Lowe, Balthazar Getty, Rachel Griffiths, never seem to outshine each other, as can be the case when there are plenty of 'names' on a show.

I think we ended off very well, finding out a few things, leaving some cliffhangers, and seeing the family come full circle from the pilot episode. I'll get back to the circle in a second.

First off, of the things we found out, Saul has to be the most intriguing. Some might say they didn't see this coming, but I think most had a little bit of suspicion, but buried it under the Holly relationship. Well it's all out in the open now, at least to us, and it gives a ton of fodder for next year.

I found it a bit strange that Rebecca was accepted back so readily and easily by the family, but I guess Nora's stare has more power than I give it credit. And speaking of the youngest (half) Walker, what a revelation. It did seem overly heavy, and something like that, you think the girl would learn her lesson about the older, married guys, especially the ones that are married to her sister. Maybe, just maybe.

Justin's story was very touching, and I liked how he tried to include everybody with their own interests into his goodbyes. I wonder if we'll actually get a Justin element next year, or whether he will return shell-shocked, be injured, killed, it could go a lot of different ways.

Speaking of Justin, I think he's changed the most out of all the Walkers, going from a selfish druggie to a thoughtful, caring member of the family. His character's evolution was great to watch this year.

Nora struggling with Kitty's engagement/moving out/Justin leaving was very true to life, and struck a chord with me, and I hope the same for anyone else reading.

Back to the circle. Seeing the entire family jump into the pool that their father collapsed into in the pilot was a perfect way to pull everything together and show how far they came from that point to where they are now. William Walker's death unleashed a tidal wave of secrets amongst his family, but it ultimately pulled them closer together than they had ever been.