The Shape of Things to Come

Have you missed me? I have to say that El Donk and I were feeling a little abandoned after the last episode. Don’t make us go Benjamin-Linus on your arses this week!

So what is the “Shape of Things to Come”?:

1. THROWING UP IN MY MOUTH MOMENT: Why in the world did they open the episode with a semi-strip tease by Kate? Seriously, the bile in my mouth didn’t go away until the episode was almost over.

2. On the Beach:
-- Vincent returns! (and so did Smokey . . . coincidence? I think not!)
-- Jack is popping painkillers and lying about it . . . antibiotics my ass!
-- Dead Guy discovered by Bernard (who is so much smarter than he gets credit for) and Vincent is the doctor from the boat . . . more on this later.

3. You sunk my battleship! -- Hurley, Sawyer, Locke, and Aaron are involved in a mad game of Battleship. Hurley states, “We’re all gonna die.” Should we read something into that?
*****”Australia is the key to the whole game!”

4. At the Barracks:
-- How dumb are these people? They all come running out one after another when they hear gunshots. Seriously – who does that?
-- Miles rings the doorbell. Classic.
-- Martin Christopher Keamy leads the invasion to capture Ben. He is also the captain of the boat. We learn he is a mercenary who did some bad stuff in Uganda.

5. Why is Hurley the only one who knows how to find Jacob? And is THIS what he was referring to when he told Jack in the future, “I shouldn’t have gone with Locke”? I ask because . . .

6. I think Claire is going to get killed soon.

7. Speaking of Claire, do you think James (aka Sawyer) is developing a thing for her? He kept calling her “sweetheart.”

8. HOLY CRAP MOMENT #1: Keamy shoots Alex. “He changed the rules.”

9. Ben can control Smokey somehow. We watched Smokey over and over, and we could make out some vague faces and shapes that looked like they might be Polar Bears. Anyone see anything else?

10. Flashforward:
--Ben can clearly control his ability to Jump back and forth in time.
-- He first goes to Tunisia where he delivers one of the great lines of the night after shooting one of the Bedouins: “Oh, so you do speak English.” Ha!

n His next stop is Tunisia, where he checks in as Dean Moriarty (see this week in Lost Literature). It is 10/21/2005. He sees Sayid on a television report. He sees an opportunity . . .
n To go to Tikrit and trick Sayid into becoming his very own mercenary

11. Sayid:
-- Found and married Nadia. They were living in LA when she was killed.
-- Apparently his little tryst with Shannon didn’t mean much.
-- His grief “becomes anger and never goes away,” just as Ben tells him it will.
-- So now we know why he works for Ben

12. THIS WEEK IN BIBLICAL STUDIES:
-- The man who Ben claims killed Nadia is named Ismael:
Ishmael is also a biblical name. He was Abraham's first son, who was born not of his wife, but of her servant, whom he had also married. Ishmael's half-brother was Issac, who was the father of Jacob.
-- And even more interesting:
Both Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael as the ancestor of Arab people. [1]
Judaism has generally viewed Ishmael as wicked though repentant.[1] Judaism maintains that Isaac (the father of the Jewish people) rather than Ishmael was the true heir of Abraham.[3] The New Testament contains few references to Ishmael. Biblically, Ishmael is used to symbolize the older - now rejected - Judaic tradition; Isaac symbolizes the new tradition of Christianity.[1] Islamic tradition, however, has a very positive view of Ishmael, giving him a larger and more significant role. The Qur'an views him as a prophet. According to the interpretation of some early theologians whose view prevailed later, Ishmael was the actual son that Abraham was called on to sacrifice, as opposed to Isaac.[1][4]
We’re entering a whole new realm here . . . Sayid has now “killed” his own belief system.

13. My boy Bernard: He reveals the truth of the Morse code message . . . and therefore forces Ferraday to admit that there was never any intention of getting the Losties off the Island.

14. THIS WEEK IN LOST LITERATURE:
-- Ben uses the alias “Dean Moriarty” – the “Hero” of On the Road by Kerouac
-- Ismael is also the name of the captain in Moby Dick
--The Shape of Things to Come by HG Wells -- The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems
-- Desmond is never gonna find Penelope; his Odyssey will go on forever . . .

15. Ben’s final jump – Widmore’s penthouse suite in London. Some interesting things are revealed:
-- Widmore is frickin hilarious: “You stand there with those horrible eyes of yours”
-- Widmore can’t be killed . . . but Penelope can.
-- Widmore also says, “Everything you have, you took from me.” What does this mean?!

16. WHAT IS GOING ON WITH LOCKE? THEY BETTER EXPLAIN HIS LAMENESS PRETTY SOON!

So now it is your turn . . . what did you discover? What questions do you have? Would you make out with Ben?

Namaste,
Your Loyal Lost Loser