909 Watches TV: Peaky Blinders

[909]

A TWO HEADED BEAST

Here's what matters in this episode. Captain Turner and Dan Dority go toe to fucking toe. One man drops, the other lives. This is one of the best fights ever filmed for a television show. Everything about this is just so good. I actually yelled at my television. There were a few other things too. One is that Steve berates Hostetler into killing himself. These scenes make me feel gross. They are profoundly wrong and hard to watch. At the end of this episode, after Hearst's man has been killed, Bullock grabs him by the ear and hauls him off the jail. This seems like it will not go well. Bullock was pissed off about what happened to Hostetler though, and when this guy gets pissed off he loses all control of his temper and does very stupid things. Would Al back him? I didn't know.

A RICH FIND

I knew Alma was using dope again. In some ways I'm glad because characters have to be affected by major events like miscarriages. I did forget to mention a while ago that I think the Doc has TB. But that isn't in this episode. Also not in this episode, is that Hearst is inevitably going to kill this dude Odell. Believe that. I have no idea why someone would be so idiotic. Hearst is also very mad at Bullock and is going to deal with that in some way too. I think we have some deaths in the pipeline here. The rest of this episode isn't all that big a deal other than when Trixie gets fired and Al tells her she won't be allowed to work for him again.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Hearst makes Cy look like a common thug, IMO. He also makes the eventual Deadwood movie so worthwhile.

 

[909]

UNAUTHORIZED CINNAMON

In typical Deadwood fashion, this episode begins literally at the moment where the last one ends. Odell goes in with Hearst and has dinner with him while they talk about a gold find, and Odell disappears after some rather tense moments later in the episode. I did some looking even though I shouldn't have, and Odell does not come back at all. Strange. Anyway, there's a big meeting where the participants are supposed to plan for war against Hearst, or for how to kill him. Instead, Bullock shares a letter he's written that stops any plans for Hearst's demise. The other thing is, they can't just kill Hearst. Not right now and definitely not after the end of the second episode. The entire episode revolves around these two things and little else is of real consequence other than the scene with Joanie and Jane.

LEVIATHAN SMILES

In this hour, we're introduced to Wyatt Earp for...I don't really know what reason. This also feels like a point at which the theatre troupe is taking up too much time on screen. This show certainly wasn't ready to end, but there are some strange creative decisions here that break up the flow from one episode to the next. Also, while everyone's getting ready to deal with Hearst...this fool up and called 25 Pinkertons into the camp. Talk about an escalation. He knew these guys were coming for him. We got confirmation that the Doc has tuberculosis, and racist Steve is now fucking brain dead from a horse kicking him in the dome. If anyone ever deserved it more. The Wyatt Earp shit though, that's a problem for me and it's a big distraction that takes away from the main storylines of the show. It just doesn't matter.

 

[909]

AMATEUR NIGHT

Of course it was going to come out that Odell had been killed. Of course Aunt Lou would know that Hearst probably ordered it and of course Hearst would pretend like he didn't. The Wyatt Earp thing still fucking sucks but at least he's gone now. I also feel nothing for the theatre guy who died or for Brian Cox's character. The amateur night thing is pretty good though and got a lot of genuine laughs out of me. We do also learn here that Hearst is attempting to rig the upcoming election in his favor. However, you can also tell that Deadwood has one of those accidental endings. There is no crescendo being built to a finish or any of that kind of thing at all. That being said, also in this episode? You can tell how much the camp is going to coalesce around Al and try to fuck Hearst over.

A CONSTANT THROB

At the start of this episode, you see exactly how they want to fuck Hearst over. Someone shoots at Alma in the thoroughfare just to scare her, and Al comes flying off his balcony trying to protect her. Al knows that Hearst wants someone to come after him, presumably so he can shoot them. Ellsworth and Bullock are his most likely targets. Instead, Al controls the situation to prevent that. This makes Hearst extremely upset. I don't know how these last two episodes or even the much later movie will go. I loved Al killing the Pinkerton though. He kills him and immediately runs out to his balcony to spread a pile of bullshit, and that's what this show is supposed to be about. Here's hoping the last two episodes are all about this kind of stuff and mostly don't feature the Brian Cox stuff.

 

[909]

THE CATBIRD SEAT

You know how I said the show wasn't building to a crescendo? Well, these two episodes sure changed that. I definitely saw it coming when Ellsworth got brained at his tent. I didn't think that Alma would react this badly though, even though in the last few episodes it seemed that she actually came to love him, which was definitely not expected from my end. Things just don't go according to plan from here. Trixie freaks out and shoots Hearst, which solves the amount of fuck all because someone would just take Hearst's role in doing horrible shit at the camp, and now Hearst is going to be looking for a whore to kill. Fantastic. If she had killed Hearst, the investigation would probably lead to all of them getting killed though. Almost everyone in the show winding up in the Gem at some point during this episode makes the whole thing work. This episode or the next also has the best Wu scene of the bunch. WU CUSTER CITY BACK DEADWOOD SWEDGIN 150 CHUNG KUO GUN COCKSUCKAS HANGDAI

TELL HIM SOMETHING PRETTY

Now this episode, you can tell that someone (probably David Milch) knew the show was going to get cancelled by this point. What a final episode this was. It wasn't satisfying, but it was violent and resolved the story. Al has to kill another girl who looks like Trixie in order to appease Hearst and make Hearst believe it was Trixie. If the show was made now, they would have showed the murder. Instead, they did not. The show ends with our knowledge that Hearst will prevent Bullock from being elected as sheriff, and that Hearst will leave the camp leaving Cy Tolliver in control of his holdings. Cy does not want to do this, but he has to and that summarizes his much diminished role this season. We don't get to see a lot of the things that would have taken place over the course of the series because it was cancelled. The Gem would have been burned down. Bullock doesn't get to become friends with Teddy Roosevelt. Sol never winds up in the state legislature. I do suspect that some of these things will be in the movie though, which I'm watching tomorrow. Instead, in this altered universe, Trixie and Sol accept their love for each other. Hearst left. Charlie makes a powerful enemy in Hearst before his departure. Wu brought 150 Chinese cocksuckers to camp for no reason. Cy kills the dope fiend. Jane and Joanie seem to have a romantic love. And it all ends with Al scrubbing out a bloodstain. Quite fitting.

I'm going to watch the movie tonight and I'll have a recap post with rankings and shit by Friday, but I can't believe so many people have never watched this show.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

The movie is exactly what you'd want and expect if you were a fan of the show. Calamity Jane and Al could probably duke it out for the best character of the series, but the core cast becomes so well fleshed out by the series close that their return in the movie is like a grand, violent family reunion.

 

[909]

DEADWOOD: THE MOVIE

It turns out that they saved the best material for 13 years later. The movie is a reframing of the series in that with so much time between the series and the TV movie, there are characters who are given their proper placement and others who are adjusted to new roles within the movie. Everyone gets a scene to shine, but some get more than most. I would go so far as to say this is a movie where Bullock and Jane are the main characters. It is the absolute best way to deal with all scenarios and give the characters the conclusion they deserve. That applies to Hearst, and well, everyone else too. I actually find myself with very few complaints, but I'm glad I didn't have to wait 13 years. It cracked me up how everything seamlessly fell into place despite it being that long between these two incarnations. The movie is still weird in that Al is reduced, but the way everything worked out I didn't think it was a problem at all. We even get a scene where Hearst gets the shit kicked out of him, and Milch was smart enough to not make Bullock's character betray himself during that.


I don't really understand what the point of Caroline's character was, but despite that, this was the shit. Also, this would have been good even if it was just a Western movie without the weight of three seasons of television behind it.

 

[909]

Favorite Episodes: Deadwood Movie, Mister Wu, A Two Headed Beast, The Catbird Seat, Childish Things, A Lie Agreed Upon
Least Favorites: Advances, None Miraculous, Full Faith and Credit

Favorite Characters: Man, this is gonna be hard. I'm gonna go with Al and Jane in that order. Then I feel like I need to put down two more. Mister Wu is one, and I think lastly I'll go with Trixie, whose outbursts were good even during poorly scripted episodes.
Least Favorites: Hearst. Steve. Tolliver. Langrishe. Easy to make that list.

Favorite Deaths: Wolcott hanging himself seems to me to be the easiest thing to put down here.
Least Favorite Death: I feel like given that the show was prone to alternative history, they killed Wild Bill too quickly.
Best Scenes: Wu's scenes. Hearst getting beaten up. Dority and Captain Turner going toe to toe. Steve getting kicked by the horse. The scene where Bullock beats up Farnum, and the scene where he does the same thing to Alma's shitbag dad. Numerous scenes of Jane's drunkenness fit here too.
Worst Scenes: The entire Wyatt Earp thing. A lot of the theatre troupe scenes. Wolcott being a perv. Steve berating everyone constantly is also the worst in that I actually hated the shit and thought it didn't belong in the show.

Season Ranking

2
1
3

Overall Rating: 9/10



Next up, I'm finishing....

LOST

But I need to write some other stuff first.

 

[909]

LOST SEASON 1

I'm not going back and writing a lot of shit for a show I last watched 10 years ago or so. It's pretty much impossible to do that. What I will write is that for many years I thought this was the best season of television ever created. The mystery still mattered greatly. The flashbacks were inventive, especially at the time. The coincidences were at this point not too great to entirely disbelieve. Everything about this show was engaging. There were some misfires and there was a point where this show became too much, but that had not yet happened. Some of the characters weren't interesting but I'd say that none were outright bad at this point. The ones that were interesting were too good though. What I really liked about this season, and about the show as a whole, is that they introduced a lot of concepts and decided that they were going to plow through with the show and discard some of the poorly received ideas as things went along. This one fucking season though, was pretty close to perfection as far as network television goes.

LOST SEASON 2

This is where things start to go off the rails a little bit, but at least until the middle of the third season, the train stays on the tracks. The additions to the cast were mixed. Mr. Eko was great. Ana Maria not so much. The introduction of the Others is one of those things that's awesome, but there's no way to properly end the story from there without it becoming too convoluted. Of course, it did become too convoluted. For the duration of this season, what we needed to know was the function of the hatch and why everyone had to push the buttons. I still don't know the purpose because I haven't finished the show. I do know about the electro-magnetic shit and all of that but I'm still awaiting full explanation, which I'm aware may not yet come. It was merely a catalyst to revolve the show around. Anyway, there's a lot of shit in this season I've never forgotten. Like the Dharma videos. I don't really know how to describe what this show is about to other people though. Weird shit is the best thing to say, I guess.

LOST SEASON 3

Due to the nature of how and when I watched these, I find my own writing to be grossly lacking. But that's all I can do. The third season was a frustrating one though, and while there were good things about it, you can see that the show was getting too big and introducing too many scenarios without answering the ones that previously existed. Locke wasn't in the show enough. There were too many characters that were now ruining the screen time that should have been appropriately devoted to the characters who started the season. That being said, in the second half of the season, they fixed that. The flashbacks were more focused on the people that had to be featured. We learned a lot of details about how things came to be, some questions were answered. The Expose episode was legitimately horrendous and even still doesn't get the scorn it deserves. The end of the season was so good though. Charlie dying was a rough moment. The damn flash forward, I still remember how I felt about that.

LOST SEASON 4

The writers strike helped the fourth season in that they didn't have time to completely ruin shit. The stuff with the damn freighter is to me anyway, all that matters in this season. Michael redeems himself. At the same time the show hits the point of being too ridiculous even though it wasn't ruined yet. The coincidences are now just too much. That being said, The Constant is the best episode of the whole show and that's full of coincidences. Seems a little hypocritical coming from me, don't it? Anyway, Desmond is the best character. For me this is not in dispute. The cast is still too large for a 13 episode season, but man. The shit was a ride. It's not that there isn't any bad shit, it's that the good shit overrides the bad so much.

LOST SEASON 5 (partial)

I don't know how the public feels or felt, but I'm not a fan of this season. I didn't really care for anyone being taken off the island but I care even less for everyone going back in the manner in which they did. It's blatant fan service but the end result, with everyone falling into positions working for Dharma, doesn't really jive. The last episode I watched was The Variable, in which I think Daniel dies and also features the most ludicrous coincidence in the whole show, and nothing else even comes remotely close to how ridiculous that was. That's why I didn't finish the show, actually. The time jumps also become completely ridiculous, but Lost usually resolves things in its final episodes, which of course I have not yet watched. Perhaps tomorrow.

 

[909]

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Alright, so after putting this off for a while I finally started again. Part of putting it off is the reticence to see how they could have fucked this up, and anything good about the ending of the show will come as a positive surprise. I thought things went off the rails in the last episode. Well, they continued to go off the rails here but I didn't automatically hate it because it sounds like we'll be getting some resolutions. Namely, we'll find out who Jacob is. It also seems that the show is careening towards the viewer finding out what The Incident is. Also, will anything they do matter now that Sawyer, Kate, and Juliet have been given the big boot from the Island? I dunno. I know I'm way late on this shit but somehow I haven't had the end of the show spoiled for me. I'm cool with not knowing.

 

[909]

THE INCIDENT

This was a two part episode that featured a lot of flashbacks in addition to some explanations as to why these characters don't die regardless of what happens to them. If that's actually the case is yet to be determined. At the same time I'm not a big fan of how Jacob is retroactively used to have been an extremely minor component of the characters lives at some point or another. Also in typical Lost fashion, the finale leaves us with as many questions as we have answers. What happens after the hydrogen bomb? Who are Jacob and this other dude who seems to have possessed John Locke? The explanation for what happened to Nadia makes sense though and that's why Sayid is how he now is. But, anyway, all in all it's very difficult to review a mystery show that ended such a long time ago. I think to some extent the reason why I haven't finished the show was because I was content with not knowing the end result to all these questions. Now I'm seeing the resolution of them and don't know how to react. I do know that I hate Jack though. That shit ain't changing. And who is Ilana and why does it seem like some of these people (are they people) speak Greek?

 

[Gert]

I started a re-watch of Lost around the first of the Year, and I am now a few episodes into the last season. I do think it is a show that watching it after knowing all of it does make it better, although I have no problem with people who view it as going way too far in many different directions.

I think there is one question from S5 I still have a problem with is that I don't think they addressed well enough why Sun and Locke's corpse and Frank stayed in the current time frame while everyone else of the Oceanic 6 went to the 1970's.

 

[909]

LA X

I was wondering what would happen when everyone on the beach found out John Locke was...not John Locke, but this two part episode didn't delve much into that. Rather, at the end, that's when people see what happened and we don't get much of a reaction. Not exactly the best way to start a season there. The flashes towards a reality or non-reality where everyone arrives at LAX after their flight on Oceanic 815 are a lot better though. Lots of returning characters up in there. The stuff at the temple is also really good. Sayid living is what I expected, but the manner in which it happened a bit less expected. And what is this shit with Hurley? Not like I know. I'll see what actually matters to me by the end of the show, but the alternate reality seems pretty clearly to not be real, and because it isn't real, there's opportunities where the writers could fuck around with the characters and give them a good sendoff. Or it could be shit. It's difficult to write about a show with this amount of mystery between such a large amount of characters.

 

[909]

WHAT KATE DOES

I completely, entirely forgot that Mac was in this show as one of the Others. Imagine my reaction when he shows up yelling threats. This is another weird episode in that the events of the alternative reality seem to confirm that it just isn't real. It's also awfully early to be doing that, considering there are so many episodes remaining in the show. That being said I like the decisions that they made. Ethan delivers Claire's baby in an entirely non-creepy way in a scene that I actually liked. Who would've thought? Of course, Ethan's inclusion confirms that all this is just not real. The scenes with Sawyer are just sad. Over at the temple, we have good stuff. Maybe Sayid is fucking tainted. Maybe he's like Claire, who shows up at random at the end of the episode and saves Jin from Mac and the other random guy.

THE SUBSTITUTE

This kind of episode is what I really felt was needed. We finally have some goddamn answers here. In the alternate reality John is a happy guy and shit and he's about to get married and shit. So that's a good aside from everything else in this episode, which very largely features "John" leading Sawyer through the jungle to a cave where Jacob lived or did work or something. Whether Richard is telling the truth or not about "John" wanting to kill everyone on the island, I don't really know but it would seem like he is. It is claimed that Jacob manipulated the people currently living on the island to be there for his own purposes. Who knows if that's true. But he does present Sawyer with a series of options and Sawyer is led to pick the one that "John" wants him to pick. For a Lost episode, these are answers even if they still present questions that aren't easily deciphered. I cracked up when Ben gave his eulogy to John too. Good episode here.

 

[909]

LIGHTHOUSE

In typical Lost fashion, we follow an episode with a lot of answers with one that presents new questions. Enter the lighthouse. What is the lighthouse? We've never seen it before. At Jacob's behest, it is Hurley's job to convince Jack to come along with him, and it turns out this is done both to get Jack to destroy the lighthouse mirrors and for them to be away from the temple when it's attacked in the following episode. It was nice to see the caves again while they were on this adventure. That being said there were other scenes not so nice. Like when Jin tells Claire what happened to Aaron. Where the fuck is that gonna go? I have absolutely no idea what to make of the false reality where Jack has a son. Eventually I assume there will be more about that. Maybe there won't. This is Lost after all.

SUNDOWN

This is a Sayid alternate reality episode, during which he turns heel and decides that the path Jacob is driving everyone else towards is not the one for him. Of course, these people also messed with Sayid and to some extent his actions are entirely justified. They want to kill him and at the same time Sayid's mind is corrupted, or so they say. They also banished him. And it seems like Claire's mind is also corrupted. I laughed pretty hard when Sayid tried to stab "John." Of course that didn't work. At the end, after the black smoke monster killed everything in the table, Kate, Claire, Sayid, and some of the others are now with "John." Jin is unseen while this is going on, while Sun was hiding in the temple. The alternate reality with Sayid just makes even more clear that this all isn't real. The fuckin guy from season 4 is there making fun of him. I don't remember his name. But anyway, Jin being locked in a freezer was highly amusing.

 

[Aero]

I guess it's implied that the lighthouse is only visible because Jacob wanted it to be found, because I think Jack specifically asks why they never found it before... but it always stood out as one of the more memorably silly plot devices of this season. Jacob's secret cave lair with all the names, from a few episodes prior, isn't much better.

 

[Gert]

The secret cave lair is much more understandable than the Lighthouse strictly by logistics.

And 909, you're thinking of Martin Keamy, one of my favorite secondary characters on Lost.

 

[909]

DR. LINUS

This is a Ben centric episode, which means that in my eyes it just isn't going to be as good as the other episodes. It's not that there's anything wrong with Ben's character other than that he's merely less interesting to me. The thing is, the end of the episode really makes up for a lot of that. Regardless, it's distracting from something that's way more intriguing, which is that Richard has found Hurley and Jack. They all venture back to the beach, and they meet up with Ilana's group there. The Ben and Alex meet up in the alternate reality was weird though, and it serves as some kind of redemption for Ben. Which, alright then. It also didn't make a lot of sense because Ben could have forced that guy to write the letter and taken his job. The Widmore part is REALLY good though.

RECON

It's funny how certain episodes that are just average are followed by those that are near perfect. This is one of them. Recon entirely focuses on Sawyer and what he's doing, with the exception of Claire trying to kill Kate and getting slapped around by "John". In the alternate reality we have Sawyer as part of LAPD, working with Miles as his partner. I found this highly amusing. Charlotte also returns here and Sawyer blows it with her. Now, back on the Island, Sawyer has been sent by "John" to see what's on the other island, the one where the Others had kept him and Jack and the rest captive. Well, now Widmore is on the other island and he has a small paramilitary group who captures Sawyer and brings Sawyer to him. He wants to kill "John" for some reason not yet known. Sawyer agrees to do it, then goes straight back to "John" and tells him everything. Afterwards, he tells Kate that they're going to escape while these two groups are killing each other. I cracked up at "John" telling Sawyer what happened back at the temple. The performance of "John" is really, really good, and that's really all there is to this episode other than the extreme (also extremely good) focus on Sawyer.

 

[909]

AB AETERNO

This was an episode I imagine was much anticipated, one that I've waited for answers from for a long fucking time. This is the Richard Alpert origin story. All of it is extremely good even though it doesn't make sense how the Black Rock could crash into the large statue to begin with. Not only is this Richard's origin story, but this explains to great extent what Jacob and the Man in Black's issues are and how they pertain to the story and island. Fortunately Hurley keeps something very bad from taking place. This is probably one of the best episodes of the show too. Ricardo's story is good the entire time. So much is explained and now the viewer is able to understand why Richard never ages, why he is this way, and how he was prior to arriving on the island. The key component is that he is actually not a murderer. He just loved his wife, something bad happened on accident, and when pushed to attempt to kill someone else he didn't have the heart to do it.

THE PACKAGE

Alright, so, the package. When they showed what was behind that locked door from a previous episode (Desmond), I kinda wigged out. It's always good when the best character in the show comes back, but I don't understand why he was brought there. I'm sure I'll see soon. Anyway, this episode is about Jin and Sun. The alternate reality is quite amusing. They aren't married, and Sun doesn't know English, but they're sleeping together. Jin gets taken hostage by Martin because they didn't have Mr. Paik's money which was going to be a fee to kill Jin, and Sayid rescues him. Sun gets shot in the process. I almost didn't notice the Russian guy. Meanwhile, in the real world (is it?), Sun gets chased by "John" and runs into a tree. Richard wants to blow up the Ajira plane. "John" tells Claire that for them to leave, all the remaining candidates need to come with them. Sayid says he has no feelings. Widmore takes Jin. Needless to say, a lot of shit happens. This wasn't as good as the last episode, but it's clear that a lot of steam is building up towards the end, and that Richard is going to stop "John" or die trying.

 

[909]

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

These Desmond centered episodes are by far the best material in the entire show, this being no exception. In this case it's almost entirely belonging to the alternate reality as Desmond has been placed in a contraption full of electromagnetism, which doesn't kill him in the same way the hatch also didn't kill him. But why? Widmore wants Desmond to make a sacrifice when this is over though. But, the alternate reality is way more important and now we're starting to see some blurring over between that reality and what's actually happened. There's so much good stuff going on here. Desmond and Charlie are brought back together, so are Desmond and Penny, Desmond and Jack, Desmond and Charles, Desmond and Faraday, and you know, yeah. Then at the end Sayid captures Desmond to bring him back to 'John.' Who knows why.

EVERYBODY LOVES HUGO

In a lot of ways, these alternate reality bits feel like the proper way to end the series even though it's hard to figure out what they mean, and the fact they only occupy about half or less than half of most episodes. Of course, in this one Hurley reunites with Libby, and Desmond encounters Hugo prior to Desmond deliberately running over John at the end of this episode. I have absolutely no fucking idea why. Anyway, a lot happens here. We get some progression on the 'blowing up the plane' plot line, where Ilana goes to get some dynamite and accidentally kills herself while arguing with Hurley. This motivates Hurley to lie about being told what to do by Jacob, at which point his group splits. Miles, Ben, and Richard go on their own, while Jack, Lapidus, and Sun go with Hurley. As the viewer knows, Hurley is actually taking direction from the ghost of Michael. At the same time, 'John' has captured Desmond and after a lecture of some length, throws him down a goddamn well. And then, Hurley's group catches up with 'John' for a discussion, at which point Jack finally sees for the first time that 'John' is alive.

All these revelations in the last season are simultaneously good and confusing, so many plot elements are intertwined with each other that I don't see how they can possibly end in a remotely satisfying way. That's why it's taking me so long to finish up.

 

[909]

THE LAST RECRUIT

This is a bit of a disjointed episode that brings everyone together in the alternate reality while aggressively pushing the show towards its conclusion in the main timeline. Apparently Widmore also has mortars, which he threatens to use should Desmond not be returned to him by a certain time. Sawyer subsequently takes this opportunity to try to bail with his group, which in the end consists of everyone except Sayid, 'John', and Jack. Yep, Jack. After all this time he now no longer wants to leave the island at all, but he knows that's what 'John' wants him to do and he just won't do it. Anyway, you can see a lot of this stuff coming from the start. Sawyer is betrayed immediately after Jin and Sun finally reunite, and in the alternate timeline, Jack has to do surgery on Locke after he'd been trucked by Desmond. The people in this reality are also starting to recognize each other.

THE CANDIDATE

I knew something was coming where a lot of characters would die, but I didn't realize how angry it would make me until it actually happened. It seems clear they have done the alternate reality in order to give everyone a "good" ending, but man, what the fuck. I still cracked up when it turned out that in the alternate reality, Locke became paralyzed by crashing a plane. Not sure how that will tie into everything else, but the alternate reality doesn't even matter in this episode. I could not believe that the writers of this show killed off Jin and Sun. Sayid was more to be expected at this point given everything they've done with the character. The other two are a bridge too far. We're going to need some answers as to why 'John' wants to leave the island, and with only three episodes left they better come quick. I think all that being said though, there might have been an oversight as it relates to Jin and Sun's child, who didn't come up during the scene in the submarine. That doesn't seem right. At the same time I realize that it needed to be shown how evil 'John' actually is, and doing so in this manner is the only way to really drive the point home.

 

[909]

ACROSS THE SEA

While this episode answers a whole lot of questions, some of which I wanted answered. Others I did not, and I feel like I would rather have never known after seeing the results of these answers. I don't have a lot to say about this episode other than I could have done without it and feel like it shouldn't have happened. It would have been better for the characters to say these things rather than to have been shown them.

WHAT THEY DIED FOR

This episode is the complete opposite of the previous one, providing the answers that I wanted without doing it in a way that I found to be entirely disengaging. In the alternate reality, it is clear that Desmond and Hurley are entirely aware of everything that happened on the island. It is also now clear that Desmond wants to bring everyone together for something, presumably the concert at Widmore's. I don't know what for or for why, at least not yet. In any case, events on the island are flying towards the end, and I enjoyed pretty much all of these scenes. Particularly of note is when Ben kills Widmore. Jack taking over Jacob's position is a little unexpected though. After all, Hugo is the one who can see dead people, the one who could see Jacob, and because of this I was a little confused. Regardless, man. This is almost over. I started watching this shit when I was in high school and could never bring myself to finish in part because of things like that episode about Jacob and MiB. But, you know. Almost there. I feel like the finale will be good and bad at the same time.

 

[Aero]

Yeah, Across the Sea was widely panned when it first aired, and rightfully so. Pretty sure everyone who was dying for answers for so long regretted it after that one.

My favorite part (paraphrased): "There's light behind these rocks, and I'm going to stick this wheel in it, and I'm going to get off this island".

 

[909]

Yeah, Across the Sea was widely panned when it first aired, and rightfully so. Pretty sure everyone who was dying for answers for so long regretted it after that one.

My favorite part (paraphrased): "There's light behind these rocks, and I'm going to stick this wheel in it, and I'm going to get off this island".

Yeah, that............................is the kind of shit you don't really need to be answered because there's no way it would make sense anyway.

 

[909]

THE END

This, on the other hand, was something I did not remotely expect. What I mean by that is that I'd read a lot of people saying that this finale sucked since it aired, but I didn't know any of the details or the reasons why. I also mean that this finale was extremely good. It's better more in the alternate reality, which is now clearly purgatory. Some of these scenes were pretty rough. Bear in mind that I started this show in high school and had never finished it. A lot of the stuff in the last two seasons is either meandering or pointless, but this episode was not and it kicked some of those bad feelings out of my mind. I understand why a lot of people wouldn't like this, but I'm in the opposite camp. I thought that this episode also sufficiently answered the remaining questions I had to an extent where a lot of the ones I didn't want an answer to were also not answered. I was also thinking that the island was supposed to represent Eden, but the writers never really went there. Anyway, again, I don't need this stuff to be answered. Eloise is also one of those characters with a lot of unanswered questions that don't need an answer.

It is weird that I will no longer procrastinate watching or finishing this show, but I thought that the ending was something befitting what the first two seasons were rather than a lot of what the last two seasons were. And, you know, fuck. I'm just surprised that the finale was something that satisfied me because that isn't often the case with last episodes.

 

[909]

Favorite Episodes: The Constant (I really should only mention this), The End, Through the Looking Glass, The Pilot, Walkabout, Orientation
Least Favorite: Stranger in a Strange Land. No others need apply. This episode was absolutely fucking stupid.

Favorite Characters: Desmond. John (the real one). Sawyer. Most of the rest are good, but not this good.
Least Favorites: Michael, Ana Lucia, and honestly there isn't a ton of competition for these two. They are so much the worst that nobody else could compare.

Favorite Deaths: You can't be surprised that I'm gonna say when Michael killed Ana Lucia. When Sawyer kills John's dad is a close second.
Least Favorite Death: Charlie was killed off too soon and nothing will convince me otherwise.
Best Mysteries: There are too many good scenes to present this in normal fashion. The best mysteries are the black smoke monster, the numbers, and the end of the show itself.
Worst Mysteries: Obviously, Walt's powers rank high on this list. Not a fan, shouldn't have been in the show, etc. The same can be said for the polar bears because they irrationally inflated people's expectations of the series.

Season Ranking

1
2
3
6
4
5

Overall Rating: 8/10

I feel like I may have neglected to mention something, but I can't remember. In any case, as far as network TV shows go, it isn't likely for there to be many better.

Next I'm going to watch a docu-series:

The Staircase (TV Series 2004–2018) ⭐ 7.8 | Documentary, Crime, Drama

| TV-MA

www.imdb.com

I don't know if something like this lends itself to writing about each episode. I don't think it does, but we'll see.

 

[909]

Next I'm going to watch a docu-series:

The Staircase (TV Series 2004–2018) ⭐ 7.8 | Documentary, Crime, Drama

| TV-MA

www.imdb.com

I don't know if something like this lends itself to writing about each episode. I don't think it does, but we'll see.

Spoiler alert: It does not. But this is really good and should be watched.

 

[AA484]

Spoiler alert: It does not. But this is really good and should be watched.

Did you finish it?

 

[909]

Did you finish it?

Nope, I watched the first two episodes. The second in particular is fucking mindblowing.

 

[AA484]

Nope, I watched the first two episodes. The second in particular is fucking mindblowing.

Cool, I want to hear your thoughts but didn't want to spoil anything in case you hadn't finished.