Dr. Linus

Lost put forth another solid effort with "Dr. Linus," but for fans who wanted big answers around every corner, this season must be really frustrating. While the episode did shed light on some of the island's mysteries and the last scene will have fans talking all week, this was more about Ben Linus himself and the situation he now finds himself in. A few episodes ago, Jack mentioned being broken and he definitely was, but no one is more broken right now than Ben. His entire island world has been rocked ever since he let his daughter be killed. The chain of events that followed have put Ben in a place that he never thought he'd be in ... a place where he isn't in control.

Flash Sideways Story
Once again, I had trouble with the flash sideways story. My main beef again is not knowing how invested we should be in these. A big fan theory now is that these sideways stories will be the life that everyone is given once they leave the island, either through Man in Black or once the entire conflict between Jacob and Man in Black is resolved. Last week's episode with Sayid seemed to hint strongly at this with Nadia being alive in Sayid's story but with the twist that Sayid isn't with her.

This week, we follow Dr. Ben Linus as he tries to blackmail the principal so he can have "the big job." We run into a lot of old faces, and it's hard to not just say, oh cool it's Dr. Arzt or hey, there's Alex (who is a student of Ben's). Ben's blackmail scheme doesn't pan out as the principal turns it around on him by hurting Alex's chances of going to Yale. Old school Ben would have found a way around this, but Dr. Linus gives in, and Alex gets her letter of recommendation, while Ben goes back to being just a teacher. He does get out of covering detention though and reforming the science club.

I guess this story was told to show us that in the sideways world, Ben isn't cut out to be the cunning manipulator he's been on the island. We also got a bit of sideways island history from Uncle Rico himself, Roger Linus. Ben's dad, who is bad off and needing to be on oxygen, reminisces about signing up for the DHARMA Initiative and wondering what would have happened if they stayed on the island. Hmm, so in this new timeline, there was still DHARMA and Ben grew up on the island. Can we assume the same for Ethan Goodspeed? We still need to learn what happened to the island after they left. Maybe they evacuated just before The Incident.

Return to the Black Rock
After their adventure to the Lighthouse, Jack is ready to go back to the Temple, but Hurley is hesitant because Jacob told him about the bad things that are happening there. Suddenly Richard appears and leads them to the Black Rock. Jack asks him where he came from and Richard replies you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Does he mean where he came from just a bit ago, which he confirms to have been the Temple, or does he mean originally, like in the Black Rock itself? Or was there a place that he was just before running into Jack and Hurley that they wouldn't have believed? Later, they get to the Black Rock, and it's clear to Jack that Richard has been there before. He tells Jack that after all the time he's been on the island, this is the first time he's been back.

So Lost fans, there you have it. We can forget about the guesses that Richard was Egyptian. We can quit looking into Man in Black's comment about Richard being out of those chains. It now appears that Richard indeed arrived on the island via the Black Rock, and from the way he examined the chains, he was a slave on the ship. It'll still be cool to see Richard's backstory on the show, but we can put to rest all the other crazy theories about his origin. The other notable thing about his return to the ship is that he went there to die, which brings me to ...

Jacob's Touch
Richard tells Jack and Hurley that the reason he is like he is, i.e. ageless, is because Jacob touched him. He said it's supposed to be a gift, but its more of a curse. Is there more to Richard's
agelessness than just a touch from Jacob? Remember that when Jacob visited Ilana, he wore gloves to make sure he didn't touch her, but he touched Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Jin and Sun when he visited them. Does this mean that everyone he touched is ageless like Richard?

It turns out Richard isn't really immortal, as he can and wants to die. He just can't die by his own hand. I wonder what would have happened if Ben hadn't been the one that killed Locke. Would Locke's suicide plan have not worked since Jacob had touched him? Why did Richard blindly follow Jacob all these years if he never was given the details of Jacob's plan? Seems like it would be tough to do everything Jacob wanted if you didn't know why, but then again, he did provide the gift of agelessness to him.

Jack is still angry at Jacob and wants answers, but he's becoming more accepting. Seeing the scene between him and Richard was great. Richard was nervous and ready to die, but Jack knew that it wouldn't work. He realizes that he was brought to the island for a reason and is now eager to find out what that reason is. This is such a change from early Lost Jack. He would have never believe he was brought there for a purpose, but now he's fully buying into what Jacob and the island are selling. He's becoming more and more the candidate that Jacob hoped he would be.

The Redeeming of Ben Linus
The bulk of the on island story focused on the redemption of Ben Linus. We picked up with him just after his visit to Sayid in "Sundown" and his catching up with Team Ilana. We soon learned why Ilana picked up Jacob's ashes, as she had be suspicious about who killed Jacob. She probably knew that Man in Black couldn't kill Jacob without a loophole, so she gets Miles to confirm her suspicions. Finally, Miles is given something to do in season 6.

Once the group arrives back at the beach site, which was Ben's idea, the trouble continues for Ben. Ilana restrains him to a tree and makes him dig his own grave. She told Ben that Jacob was the closest thing to a father she's had. Wonder what she meant by that. Does she not have a father? How long has she been a part of Team Jacob and how does one become so close to Jacob in the first place, especially off island?

Miles paid Ben a visit and filled him in on Jacob's final thoughts. Turns out Jacob thought more of Ben, right until the knife went through his heart, he hoped he was wrong about him. These words hit Ben hard, and he starts to realize that all his service to Jacob and the island did mean something.

Not long after, Man in Black appears and releases Ben. He tells him about a gun 200 yards away and that he could get the jump on Ilana. He tells Ben about his plan to leave from the Hydra island and presents him with something he's always wanted, control of the island. Ben decides to go, and he makes a run for it.

Lots of juiciness here. Miles' information from Jacob shows Ben that he wasn't just being used by Jacob and that Jacob did see more in him. But then Man in Black gives him the proposal of his lifetime, to be in control of the island. Ben figures that he can't stay and continue digging his own grave so he decides to deal with the devil once again. Curious that Man in Black's group is headed to the Hydra island. Are they going to leave via flight 316?

Redeemed
Ilana caught up to Ben, but he did make it to the rifle first, so he now has the upper hand. But what follows is Michael Emerson at his best. He is torn emotionally and tells Ilana about Alex being killed and his motivation behind killing Jacob. Ilana asks him what he wants and where he will go. Ben is going to go with Locke because he's the only one who will have him. Ilana tells him that I'll have you and starts walking back to the beach.

With Ilana seemingly forgiving him and Ben making the decision to return to the beach, what does that mean for Man in Black's plan? Was leaving the island in Ben's care ever really part of his plan, or did he say that just to get Ben to follow him again? Does this prove that Jacob was wrong about Ben, and he really is one of the good guys?

There was some awkwardness when Ben arrived back at the beach, but that soon passed with Jack, Hurley and Richard making their way to "where it all began." Now we have our two teams, one at the beach site and one headed for the Hydra. But wait, what if there's another team or at least another member of one of these teams? Glad you asked:

Another Sub for Locke to Blow Up?
The final scene of "Dr. Linus" showed a submarine just below the surface. We follow the periscope and find none other than Charles Widmore himself. Someone on the sub tells him that there are people on the beach and asks if they should stop? Widmore replies, no proceed as planned. Whoa!

So what is Widmore's plan? Has he come to do some damage to those on the island or to the island itself? Did he crew believe that there would be no one on the island? The questioning of whether they should stop made it sound like they'd be bombing the island or something, but why would Widmore want to bomb the island? Remember, he told Locke that a war was coming to the island. Many thought it was the war between Ben and Widmore, but did he know about Jacob and Man in Black? Another question is how did he find the island? Was Eloise Hawking involved? How did he know what bearing to take? So many questions and only nine episodes left.

Other Tidbits:
One of the first things I thought when they returned to the beach was that we'd see the outrigger scene soon. You know, the one from last year when they were time traveling and decided to take one of the outriggers from the beach camp. They were traveling to the Orchid and someone started shooting at the time traveling Losties from another outrigger. Then Juliette shot back and appeared to hit someone. Well, that group will probably be someone from either Team Jacob or maybe Team Locke traveling to the Hydra Island.

Ilana knows about the candidates and says there are six left: Sun or Jin, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer and Kate. Are these the six she is referring to? Strange that Richard doesn't seem to know anything about the candidates, and Ilana knows everything.

Is it safe to assume that Danielle Rousseau is Alex's mother? Why are they in Los Angeles? Is Danielle not a French scientist in this new timeline?

Ben tells the others that Sayid killed Dogen and the interpreter, so this confirms he is aware of those two characters from the Temple.

How many people are left of the Others off island? Ben told Miles that he had a vast network of people, and he could still get him his $3.2 million. Lucky for Miles, he can commune with the dead and is aware of the $8 million in diamonds buried with Nikki and Paulo. He's seen examining one of them toward the end of the episode.

Other recaps and analysis on "Dr. Linus":

• Lostpedia Dr. Linus
• Doc Jensen's initial reaction; Doc Jensen's full recap; Recap Addition
  
• The Watcher
• Washington Post's Dueling Analysis
  
• What's Alan Watching
• Zap2It Recap
• JOpionionated Initial Thoughts & Theories
• Things I Noticed by Vozzek
• Geronimo Jack's Beard
• LongLiveLocke
  

Next on Lost: "Recon"

*Photos from Lost-Media.com and GetLostPodcast

Offseason, what offseason?

The defending Super Bowl champions (can't wait to write that all year) will have a slightly different look next sure. Sure, the main players on the team like Drew Brees, Jonathan Vilma and Tracy Porter will be back, but a few Saints mainstays will not.

With the start of the new league year and free agency, teams are now taking shape for the 2010 season. Besides tendering most of their restricted free agents, the Saints made a tough but not surprising decision to part ways with DE Charles Grant.

Grant was the longest tenured Saint, having been selected by the team in the 2002 draft. A couple of years ago, Grant was awarded a big contract, but he failed to live up to it. He's been one of the most passionate players in the organization. Unfortunately, he wasn't one of the most productive. Injuries have also taken their toll on him and he leaves the Saints with 47 sacks in eight seasons. With the uncapped year, the Saints were able to take his big contract off the books and not suffer any cap-hit consequences. Frankly, this move couldn't have come at a better time for the team.

There was a surprising move, however, during the first weekend of free agency. Four years ago, Sean Payton was hired as the Saints head coach and two of the teams first moves was to bring in Drew Brees and Scott Fujita as free agents. Both resurrected their careers in New Orleans, but surprisingly, Fujita is now part of the Cleveland Browns.

It turns out the Browns made a better offer than the Saints were willing to make, so he went where the money was and signed with the Browns to play inside linebacker. Its not a huge loss for the Saints, but the team will certainly need to address linebacker now in the draft or free agency. It would have been nice to have Fujita back, but fans and media were already speculating that the Saints would need an upgrade at linebacker, so with Fujita's departure, it opens that door sooner. The team has a nice group of young linebackers, but they still may look to the draft for Fujita's replacement.

In one odd twist thanks to the uncapped year and the Saints Super Bowl victory, the team was basically frozen as part of the Final 8 rule and not allowed to sign an unrestricted free agent until the team lost one of their own. Now that Fujita has moved on, the Saints can entertain free agents. Rumors are circulating on those that the team is interested in, and the focus is on defensive linemen. DE Leonard Little (who doesn't seem to fit in with this high character group of players and his signing would upset a lot of Saints fans), DE James Hall, DT Maake Kemoeatu and DT Jamal Williams are all rumored to be on the Saints radar. With them only allowed to sign one player, it will be interesting to see which direction they go.

Another player to watch is safety Darren Sharper. The Saints certainly want him back, but the safety market may be inflated now, with Antrel Rolle's deal with the Giants. The Saints will probably take more of a wait-and-see approach with Sharper. Remember, he wasn't signed in New Orleans until later in the free agency period last year. Another thing working in New Orleans' favor is that Sharper recently had knee surgery, so this may scare off other teams to bring him in for a visit.

The team is also preparing for April's NFL Draft, so they'll start to attend Pro Days and bring players in for visits. In an offseason that's slightly more than a month old, the defending Super Bowl champions have their work cut out for them.

California Dreams Reunion

I, like Jimmy Fallon, grew up watching Saturday morning staples like Saved by the Bell. With Fallon's SBTB reunion not coming together, he set his sights on another Saturday morning show, California Dreams. Well, this time, he got the entire cast together and they even performed the theme song:

Lost Blogging Collective

I've been invited to participate in a weekly Lost blogger Q&A over at Stream of Consciousness. There are are total of 15 bloggers answers two Lost related questions each week and yours truly is in on the action. Check out the answers to this week's questions: What is Jack's mission? and In the alt timeline, do you think Ben, Ethan and Dogen are just regular people, or are some undercover Others?

Sundown

I have a feeling that season 6 of Lost will turn out to be one of the better seasons of the show once its complete, once fans can see the big picture. But right now it's just OK, and this isn't a just OK show. If I had to grade this season thus far, I'd give it a B-, bordering on a C+.

With that said, I didn't hate "Sundown" at all, but I didn't fully love it either. It had its moments, and while I always love me a good smoke monster attack and I'm glad we're moving on from the Temple, this episode felt like another one that is setting up the plot for the future.

Flash Sideways Story
In the original Lost time line, Sayid was a torturer who was in love with Nadia but some force always seemed to keep them apart. First she was on the run after the Gulf War and Sayid never could find her, then once they were together, she was killed. As far as his torturing ways, as much as he tried to put past behind him, he always went back to being that man.

Now we jump to his flash sideways storyline and, check this out, Sayid is a torturer -- having still served in the Gulf War -- and he's in love with Nadia, but can't be with her -- this time because she is married to his brother. He says that he doesn't deserve her because of his past. Sayid tries to distance himself that his evil past, but he is pulled back in when his brother owes a debt to one Martin Keamy.

It was cool seeing Keamy again and is now another person from their previous on-island timeline to show up in the sideways world. This time its someone from the freighter instead of an Other. I guess no matter what timeline, Keamy has to die. But he can cook a mean egg.

What are we to take from Sayid's story? Not much overall has changed for him this go around. While his life is different, he was in Australia on a business trip, he is still the same as a person.

The flash sideways story ended with Sayid finding Jin bound and gagged at the restaurant. My guess is that Jin was delivering Mr. Paik's watch to Keamy, perhaps to bring it to Charles Widmore, and things didn't go as planned. We'll see more on this story later this season.

Fight Club
I guess we got the answer to who would win in a fight out of a former Iraqi torturer and a former banker. If you guessed banker, you knew more about Dogen's surprising backstory than I and you would be correct. My first guess would have been Samari or Ninja but I'll have to settle with banker. It was a great back and forth fight between the two with Dogen ultimately getting the upper hand and instead of killing Sayid, he banned him from the Temple.

Later, Sayid comes back and confronts Dogen over why he didn't just kill him then. So instead of getting a Dogen flashback later this year (remember we are running short on episode time here people), Dogen decides to do what a typical Lost character would never do, he opens up and reveals his past. Turns out Dogen was a banker who had gotten a promotion, after a night of celebrating he was in an accident. He made it but his son did not. Jacob offered to save his son, but Dogen had to go to the island.

I'm curious to learn more about Dogen once he came to the island. Things like how long he was on the island, how he became so ninja like with his fighting skills, how long he's been in charge of the Temple are just a few of the lingering questions that probably aren't important enough to be answered. I'm also curious to know if Ben knew him or at least knew about him.

But Dogen's story may be done as Sayid provides the same treatment the Others gave him and drowns Dogen in the Temple's pool. Lennon also dies by Sayid's hand, but not before he reveals that Dogen was the only one left keeping Man in Black out. So it's not the circle of ash surrounding the Temple that repeals Smokey, it was Dogen himself?

What are you?
After Claire reluctantly entered the Temple, Dogen sends Sayid to talk with Man in Black. He equips him with a dagger that was hidden in Dogen's chamber and warns Sayid that to prove that he is still good, he needs to stab the Man in the chest without letting him speak. I was surprised that Sayid actually did it. He immediately stabbed Man in Black, but didn't get the result he planned. There was no blood, and Man in Black simple pulled the dagger out. How can Man in Black be stopped? He can't be shot and can't be stabbed.

I guess Sayid wasn't fully infected yet, and he was trying to still do good, but Dogen had actually set him up. Just like original Locke couldn't kill his father and he got Sawyer to do it, Dogen was trying to get someone else to kill Sayid. Sayid isn't sure what to think now of the man that Dogen described as "evil incarnate." Man in Black sends Sayid back to deliver a message and that message is that Jacob is dead so the Temple isn't safe anymore. The people there don't have to stay anymore. The causes chaos among the Others as they question what to believe. So has Jacob been trapping people on the island all along? Has he been forcing people to stay there?

Promises Promises Promises
Looks like Man in Black gets what he wants by making promises. The question is, can he keep those promises? A few weeks ago Ilana said that Man in Black was recruiting and now he's recruited a full posse. He's got Claire, Sawyer, Sayid and perhaps Kate and Jin to go along with a large portion of the Temple Others. With Claire, he's promised to reunited her with Aaron. With Sawyer, he's promised answers and to get off the island. For Sayid, it looks like he's promised him Nadia and for the Others they have to go with him to be safe and they can now leave the island. Kate and Jin just seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Smokey Time
Sundown comes and all the people who want to live are leaving the Temple, everyone else feels the wrath of Smokey. With Dogen now dead, Smokey is able to tear the place up. He kills everyone who stayed behind and wrecks the Temple.

I thought Miles was a goner, but he runs into Frank, Ilana and Sun. Ilana knows what's going on and gets them to safety. How does she know so much? Has she been on the island before? Has she been through this exact scenario before? She has so much information, but it seems like they've just ignored this throughout the season. Surely we'll get more about her and her plan in the near future? Meanwhile, Ben tries to get Sayid to safety, but it's clear that he's now fully infected. Ben seems to know what's happening to him and immediately recognizes that Sayid is changed and backs away.

The episode ends with a spooky slow motion exit from the Temple. Claire and Sayid have evil smirks on their face, and Kate is utterly confused when she sees Locke. So now we have our two groups of good and evil: Ilana, Miles, Frank and Sun (along with Hurley and Jack likely) on Jacob's side and Sayid, Claire, Sawyer, Kate (maybe Jin) and the Others with Man in Black. Kate doesn't realize what she's gotten herself into but there was something odd about the way she was looking at Smoke Monster passing above her and Claire in the pit. Could she be getting the infection too?

Other Tidbits:
Dogen told Sayid that every man has a scale with good and evil on each side and that his scale tipped the wrong way. I wonder if the whole idea of good and evil will depend, as Obi Wan Kenobi put it, on your point of view. Man in Black may feel he is good and Jacob may feel that he is good, while they both turn out to be evil.

In the on island story, where were Sawyer (last seen in the name cave) and Jin (last seen in Claire camp)?

Has anyone else noticed that infected Sayid sounds different than regular Sayid? His accent is different, more like Naveen Andrews real voice. Credit to Alan Sepinwell at What's Alan Watching for pointing this out a few episodes ago. I definitely caught it last night.

Dogen's baseball belonged to his son, who loved to play baseball. Dogen would pick him up from practice every day and on the day of his promotion, they go in an accident. The baseball is both a reminder of his son and the deal he made with Jacob.

Any chance that the pool can heal Dogen and/or Lennon? In last week's "Lighthouse" it looked like Jacob was pouring something into the water. Did he restore the healing power?

While Kate's already in a bad spot with Man in Black's group, you have to wonder what Claire will do to her based on her confessing to having been raising Aaron. She didn't look to happy with this info. Will this also interfere with Man in Black's promise to reunite her with Aaron?

Claire was singing "Catch a Falling Star" while she was in the pit. It was also the song that was played during the slow motion exit of the Temple. You may remember that song as the same one Claire wanted sung to Aaron when she was attempting to give the baby up for adoption. ("Raised by Another")

Claire also had a few bits of curious dialogue that likely will have more meaning in the long run. She told Kate that she's not the one who needs rescuing. Does she mean that Kate needs rescuing? Someone else? The other bit of dialogue was when she told Kate that he's coming and there's nothing you can do to stop him. Does Claire know that Kate is a candidate (#51 on Jacob's dial) and is one who is capable of stopping Man in Black?

Other recaps and analysis on "Sundown":

• Lostpedia "Sundown"
• Doc Jensen initial analysis; Doc Jensen's full recap
  
• The Watcher
• Zap2It Recap
  
• Get Lost Podcast Sceencaps & Easter Eggs
• Washington Post Dueling Analysis
  
• "Sundown" Untangled
• Doc Arzt
• What's Alan Watching?
• LongLiveLocke Recap
• JOpinionated Initial Thoughts/Theories & Responses
• Geronimo Jack's Beard
• Things I Noticed by Vozzek
  

Next on Lost: "Dr. Linus"

*Photos from Lost-Media.com and GetLostPodcast

NFL Updates Logos

Check out today's Uni Watch blog to see some of the updates the NFL is making to its logos. I'm not sure I'm a fan of these changes. I like the conference championship trophies the way they are and the different Super Bowl logos made each game more unique.