The Little Prince

There wasn't as much Lost season 5 craziness in this week's "The Little Prince," or did it just seem that way? There was still more island time jumping, more nose bleeds, a look at some season 1 events, and a couple major revelations about past characters on the show ... and that was just the on island events. I guess it was just your typical season 5 episode.

Below are some of my thoughts and questions on what took place in the episode. In my Lost episode recaps, I like to look at the events on the show and get people thinking about why those events took place and where the show might be going. I stay away from spoilers, but do check out other blogs and speculation, so I include some of that here as well.

Here's a curve ball
The off island events focused on Kate trying to find out who is trying to take Aaron from her. She meets with the lawyers, finds out she's in no position to negotiate and proceeds to do some FBI work to find out the lawyer's client.

In the meantime, Sayid gets attacked once again (who is behind these attacks? Widmore?), and he and Jack learn that the attackers may be targeting Kate next. Hurley checks in from county lockup and Jack gets to work trying to keep Kate safe/persuade her to go back to the island.

Jack and Kate follow the lawyer to a hotel where he's meeting his client. Big reveal, it's Claire's mom. The fix-it man, Jack Sheppard, tells Kate that he'll clean this up. He almost spills the beans about Aaron and then learns, here's the curve, that she doesn't know who Aaron is. She isn't the one trying to take Aaron from Kate, so who is it?

The Oceanic 5?
Glad you asked. As many fans speculated, it turns out Ben was behind scaring Kate, in hopes that it would force her to come back to the island. When the Oceanic 5 (Sun was creeping up in the distance, packing heat) get together at Dock 23, we get our first reunion of the survivors together since the Oceanic press conference (minus Hurley, who's doing time, but it looks like Ben's lawyer is taking care of that as well).

Other than that, not much happened off island. We learned more about what Sun is plotting. She had someone spying on Jack and Ben, taking photos of them, and someone sent her a box of chocolates, oh yeah, and a handgun. You know what they say, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." And sometimes they include handguns, who knew?

So who sent Sun the package with the photos and the gun? Was it one of Widmore's people or does Sun have a group of her own? There is a lot more to her story, and it will be interesting to see how she reacts when she confronts Ben and the rest of the Oceanic survivors. It had looked like Sun would be the hardest to convince to go back to the island, but knowing what we know now about a certain someone, she may be a tad bit more eager to return.

Nose Bleeds for everyone
Back on the island, we pick up with Charlotte still unconscious. She is soon revived and is still feeling the effects of the time jumps. Juliet press Daniel for more information, but he doesn't reveal everything he knows. Later, Miles and Juliette both experience nosebleeds. It seems that the nose bleeds and other effects are directly related to how long a person has been on the island before it started time skipping, leading Daniel to question Miles if he's sure he hasn't been on the island before. Hmm, Pierre Chang's son anyone?

Haven't we seen this before?
Locke and Sawyer decide that the next plan of action should be going to the Orchid. Locke figures that the problems started there, so maybe they can be fix there as well. On their way to the beach camp, they notice a beam of light in the air. Locke realizes that its from the hatch, the night Boon died. Later, Sawyer happens upon Kate and Claire, as Claire is giving birth to Aaron.

So it seems one mystery is solved. It looks like they can run into their "old-selves" on the island. Sawyer asks Locke why he didn't go talk to himself to save him the pain, and Locke said that he needed that pain to get where he was at today or does he mean yesterday? or tomorrow? Anyway, it's basically like Sawyer says later in the episode, "What's done is done," or as Daniel said, you can't change the past.

The Other Others
When they get to the beach camp, they find a couple of canoes, but no zodiac or other survivors at the camp. In one of the canoes is a water bottle from Ajira Airways, an Indian airline that flies all over the world according to Juliette. How does she know about Ajira, if she's been on the island for 3+ years? There has been speculation about Ajira for a while now with ads, billboards and Web sites for the airline being promoted before the start of season 5.

The group decides to take one of the canoes to the Orchid. While at sea, they are fired upon by a group (who Sawyer had dubbed Other Others). Juliette fires back and seems to have hit one of them, then the flash comes and they reappear in a terrible storm. Fan speculation is that this sequence takes place in the future and that the group who came in the canoes (and flew in on Ajira Airways) where the Oceanic 6. I don't really think this will be the case, unless there was another group who fired at Sawyer and company while they were paddling. Why would Jack, Sayid or any of the Oceanic 6 fire at them once they got back?

Another Gear
"The Little Prince" was okay until the last 15 minutes or so, then it rocked fans' socks off. Once the group makes it back to the beach after the last flash, they come upon some wreckage and debris from a French vessel. Cue the excitement! Let me think, there was a group who shipwrecked on the island, wasn't there? And didn't one former character leave a message in French on the transmission loop and was known as the French Lady for a portion of her time on the show?

Before we get confirmation on that train of thought, we get the major shocking reveal of the episode. The shipwrecked group happens upon a man floating on a piece of debris. Our first thought it that he's part of their crew, but they turn him over and BOOM, Lost fans everywhere rejoice, Jin's back!

Jin comes to on the beach and the French group try to figure out where he came from. The young, and noticeably pregnant lady of the group speaks English and tells Jin that she is none other than Danielle Rousseau. Who would have thunk it? Two major revelations in the last ten minutes of an okay episode. Now you know that Lost is nearing the end of its run. Every episode so far has given us a few blow your mind moments.

So what has been happening with Jin? Has he been experiencing the time jumps while he was passed out? And Rousseau's group! Fans have been longing for her backstory. Now we know why the producers have held onto it for so long. They have always said that we'll get information only as it fits into the show. They knew that it would be part of the time jumping story, so they've been holding onto it.

Now we should learn more about the sickness, Montrand losing his arm, Alex being taken by Ben and the Others and Danielle losing her mind. Does anyone remember if older Danielle came in contact with Jin on the island? I'd be curious to see if she recognized him or how those scenes played out before, knowing what we now know.

Final Tidbits
One fun Easter egg that fans found in this episode was that Canton-Rainer (written on the side of Ben's van) is an anagram for reincarnation. Is this a clue for the future of one Jeremy Bentham, aka John Locke?

Jin being alive allows for a variety of story-telling avenues. Sawyer and Locke weren't aware that he supposedly died on the freighter. Did Locke think that he'd have to bring him back as well (he doesn't mention Jin when he names the ones he has to bring back)? When will the group meet up with Jin, and will they meet up with Danielle's group too?

I've seen some grumblings that fans didn't care for this episode that much. That's to be expected, especially after a killer one like "Jughead." I think it has a lot to do with this being a Kate-focused story. There seems to be a backlash against her and Jack's stories, but I did enjoy this one. It was more character driven and was necessary to get the wheels started on gathering up the Oceanic 6.

Next on Lost: "This Place is Death"

*Photos from Lost-Media.com

National Signing Day

Today marks the first day that high school players can officially sign with their college of choice. National Signing Day is akin to the NFL Draft for college football. Coaches will gush over their class of 17- and 18-year-olds, and fans will dream of 1,000 runners and 3,000 passers. In reality, it's hard to gauge how an 18-year-old kid will handle life away from home on the big stage of college football.

However, that doesn't mean that recruiting and signing day isn't still a big event. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program and Signing Day is the culmination of months of work for coaches.

LSU has already nailed down a top 5 recruiting class, with many services touting the Tigers as the #1 class in the country. There are still a few surprises with top players like Rueben Randle and Trent Richardson still in the mix for multiple schools, including LSU.

You can follow LSU's signings and other recruiting information on the Web throughout the day. Here are a few sites to check out:

• LSU Sports.net
  
• The Advocate
  
• Tiger Gumbo
• ESPN
• Tiger Bait
• Scout.com
  
• The Daily Reveille
  

Super Bowl XLIII

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on their 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. I'm not sure if I can put this game above last year's, but many analyst are calling it the greatest Super Bowl ever played.

The fourth quarter certainly was exciting, but I think that anytime we get a good game, the media jump on it as the greatest game ever. They've covered too many 48-10 type games that anytime they get an exciting finish or a close contest, it automatically becomes number one. What ever happened to the Rams/Titans Super Bowl? That one came down to the final play and one yard short of overtime. Or how about any of the Patriots Super Bowl vicotories with last minute field goals?

This year's game certainly lived up to the hype, but since the Cardinals were a surprise team participating, many didn't know what kind of game it would be. For it to come down to the final minutes and have lead changes late in the fourth quarter, it will definately go down as one of the most exciting, but best ever? Let's let history decide that one.

Usama Young in the Super Bowl

Jughead

Lost season 5 continued to move along, although not at the same lightning quick pace established last week, in episode three, "Jughead." While the pace slowed a bit, the answers are still coming strong. We are starting to see characters in a different way, and the time travel elements of the show, while still a little confusing, are helping to flesh out the history of the island.

Charlie (Hume?)

We begin the episode with the birth of Desmond and Penny's son. They don't refer to him by name for most of the episode, but later reveal that his name is Charlie. This is a sweet gesture to remember the Drive Shaft rocker who sacrificed himself to save Desmond and everyone else on the island. But the way Lost fans are, theories are starting to develop over baby Hume. Who does baby Charlie grow up to be? I've read everything from Charlie Pace to Charles Widmore to Charlotte. Let's just let this one play out people. This is probably a case of the fans looking for something that just isn't there.

The Others

We learned a lot about the history of The Others during this episode. Last week, we had seen members of a military group capture Sawyer and Juliette and then get taken down by Locke. This week, another fraction of that group captures Miles, Daniel and Charlotte, after more red shirts are killed from a trip wire by the creek. They are brought to the Others main camp. During the capture, Ellie (more on her later) asked Daniel, You just couldn't stay away, could you?, making the audience wonder how many times has Daniel been on the island? But it turned out to just be that she assumes they were part of the American military, not that she recognized Daniel.

Meanwhile, Juliette, Sawyer and Locke learn that the military guys speak Latin, alerting Juliette that they are indeed Others. Juliette breaks out some Latin herself and lets us know that all Others can speak it. When one of the captives starts giving too much info, "Jones" snaps his neck and makes a run for it. Locke doesn't shoot at him because he's one of his people.

Lots of information to digest in these scenes. How do all the Others learn Latin? Does this have anything to do with Room 23 or are we looking into this too much? Also even though they are in the past, Locke feels like he is the leader of the Others.

Richard Alpert

During Juliette's dialogue in Latin, she asks the Others about Richard Alpert. We later see that he is the leader at the campsite. Locke asks Juliette how she knew Richard would be here, and she says that he's always been here. They confirm that he's really old. So Juliette and the rest of the Others know about Richard's agelessness. And he's always been there? That's a generic statement, but it may also mean a lot. Has he been there since the island was created? What's his connection to the island and why isn't he the permanent leader of the Others? Why does he take a backseat to Ben, Locke or whoever else?

Jughead

At the Others camp, we learn why this episode it titled "Jughead." Jughead is the name of a hydrogen bomb that the U.S. military had brought to the island. They had been testing these types of weapons in this area. The Others killed the soldiers and now have the bomb. Richard says that they were force to do this, but it looks like it wasn't his decision. He tells Daniel that we all answer to somebody.

Daniel convicnces Richard that he needs to disarm the bomb or they're all in danger. It turns out there's a crack in the casing and the way to solve that issue is to cover it with lead or concrete and bury it. Hmm, where have we seen a thick wall of concrete with some radiation and other weird properties going on behind it? Maybe the Swan hatch?

How does the bomb play out in the future of the island? Is it indeed buried in/near the Swan Hatch location? Does the radiation from the bomb have anything to do with the incident or the inability of women to conceive on the island? Also, how did the U.S. military know the location of the island? Did they just happen upon it? If they did know the location, have they tried to go back too?

Wow, would you look at that, more questions after watching a Lost episode. Who would have thunk it?

So we meet again, again, again ...

Last time Locke and Richard spoke, Richard gave him the compass and told him that the next time they meet, he won't recognize Locke. Well, here we see the next time they meet. Locke walks right into camp and to prove to Richard that he needs to listen to him, he says that Jacob sent him. This gets Richard's trust right away. So we learn that Jacob is a force even during this time on the island.

Locke gives Richard the compass, but Richard doesn't seem to know why. Locke tries to convince him that he's the Others' leader, but Richard mentions the selection process starts when the person is young. We learn that the year is 1954 and that Locke is born two years later. Richard seems to believe Locke, but he won't give him the piece of information that he needs, how to get off the island. Richard says that's privelaged information. We see the flash coming, and boom Locke's off to another time.

We learned a ton from this meeting. We now know why Richard was present at Locke's birth. Locke himself told him when and where he'd be born. We also know why Richard was so insistent on Locke picking the compass when he visited him as a boy. There's a big circle thoughout time forming with this compass. Don't even try to wrap your brain around how this compass can even exist. Future Richard gives it to Locke, Locke gives it to past Richard, who gives it to future Locke. It's just one big circle.

We also learn why the Others are so thrilled to see Locke and why they've been waiting for him. The Others first meet John Locke in 1954 and he tells them he's their leader, then he disappears. For years, they've heard about this man and then in 2004 he appears on their island again. Of course they are going to think he's special, they've known about him for 50+ years.

Jones = Widmore

Fans have long assumed that Charles Widmore had been on the island in the past, based on his and Ben's conversation last season. But what capacity he held on the island was an unknown. There was speculation that he was part of Black Rock or Rousseau's group, but we now know that he was part of the Others long before Ben was even a thought.

Locke's line was funny when he realized that he was Charles Widmore. So how did Charles leave the island and why? Was he banished? Did he have to move it? Why is he so eager to get back now? How long was he there? Questions, questions, questions.

Ellie

We were introduced to a new Other (or were we?) in this episode. Part of the Others group that captured Daniel and company was a young woman, who we later learn is named Ellie. Daniel is caught staring at her and mentions that she resembles someone, but doesn't say who.

With everything pointing toward Ms. Hawking as Daniel's mom (Widmore gives Desmond her address in Los Angeles, where we saw Ms. Hawking and Ben las week), does Ellie remind Desmond of his mother? In the enhanced replay of "The Lie," it was revealed that Ms. Hawking's name is Eloise. This has yet to be revealed on the show, so we'll have to see if it is true, but could Ellie be short for Eloise? Also, remember Daniel's mouse from "The Constant" was named Eloise too.

It would fit that Ms. Hawking was a member of the Others in the 1950s, but what role does she play now? Is she also trying to get back to the island or just protect it? What is her relationship with Charles Widmore? Theories are starting to form that Widmore is Daniel's father. I'm not sure if I buy that one, but we'll see.

Other Thoughts

The episode ends with Charlotte experiencing a major nosebleed and collapsing. Daniel tries to revive her and holds her in his arms. What will be her fate? Why hasn't Daniel told her what's happening to her? Does she need a constant or is this sickness something totally different, since we know/assume she was born on the island?

It seems as though Daniel knows exactly what's happening to Charlotte. Could it be because he saw the same thing happen to Theresa Spencer? We see Theresa in a vegetive state and her sister informs us that she's out right now. When she comes to, she'll think she's 3 or that she's talking to their father. Sounds a lot like the consciousness jumping that Desmond did in "The Constant." Two surprising things from this scene: Daniel left her like this and fleed to the states and Charles Widmore has been funding her care.

Not sure why Daniel would have left her like this, but obviously something serious happend. His lab is all packed up and basically hidden away and Oxford erased him from their history. We learn that Widmore had funded Daniel's research, so he knows all about time travel ... maybe from encountering Locke on the island or has he time jumped himself?

Another thing that we learn is that Daniel knows about Miles' ability to talk to the dead. When they walk over a fresh grave of U.S. soldiers, Miles tells Daniel. Not a big reveal, but an answer nonetheless.

Lastly, here's something that I wonder if they'll address. We've seen what happens when Locke and the group flash, but what is it like from the other people's (Ethan, Richard, the Others) perspective? Richard was talking to Locke one second, the next, does he just disappear right in front of him?

Next on Lost: The Little Prince

*Photos from Lost-Media.com

LSU Alumnus Choosen to Ref the Super Bowl

LSU graduate Terry McAulay has been selected to referee Super Bowl XLIII. This will be his second Super Bowl to officiate.

I was not aware that MsAulay was an LSU graduate, but it's great to see fellow alumni on such a huge stage as the Super Bowl ... as long as he doesn't blow any calls.