LOST Season 5: Episode 15: Follow the Leader

Again, this post is so after the fact but I have to blog about season 5 of the best show ever in its entirety, so here goes:



I thought this episode was going to be Richard-centric. I guess you could describe it as such. I don't know...this one just might be the most disappointing of the season for me. Not that it was bad, I just thought we'd come to understand the eternal youth of Richard and how long he's been on the island. It was actually Richard/Locke-centric. Honestly, not much happened really....no major developments. We saw Daniel's mother think twice about the fact that she killed him without thinking first and then try to make sense out of the Losties being from the future.

Then we saw a cool underwater tunnel where Richard and the young Eloise brought Jack and Sayid to get to the hydrogen bomb called Jughead.

Mr. Chang finally accepted Myles as his son and the fact that Myles and Hurley are from the future.

I guess we did learn one thing: We now know that the incident was what really made Dharma leave in the first place. But what will happen to Juliet and Saywer? Will they board the submarine? Are they leaving the island? We shall see.

This episode was kinda about leadership...we saw Locke reclaim his leadership position after coming back from the dead. Then he said he's going to kill Jacob. Yeah right. You probably can't kill Jacob! So as the show ended, Locke is leading all the Others to Jacob's creepy cabin.

Tomorrow is the finale. All of LOST's season finales are insanely good so I'm sure I will be more thrilled with it than I was with episode 15. This is still my favorite show!!! I still love the show and it's still the best show ever!

Academy II Celebrates Earth Day by Planting a Tree

[OK, this post is SO late but hey, better late than never. I've been extremely busy.]

Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in Isaac Bildersee Intermediate School’s Academy of Urban Planning and Environmental Design planted a white oak (Quercus alba) tree on East 82nd Street on Tuesday, April 28, 2009. It was the first major theme-related project in which students participated since 2007 when students visited the intended Atlantic Yards site in downtown Brooklyn. Ms. Treena Hall, an English language arts teacher, applied for a free sapling from the John Browne Nursery in collaboration with New York City’s Million Trees Initiative. In addition to Principal Alex Fralin, Assistant Principal Dennis Herring, Jr. and Parent, Rae Phillips, in attendance was Ms. Julia Bove, Executive Officer of Instruction for the Integrated Curriculum and Instruction learning support organization. The weather was perfect as custodian Bernie Young assisted the students with digging the hole properly and generously watering the newly planted tree. The students, who wore “Go Green” t-shirts that they designed, rounded out the ceremony with readings of essays and poems that memorialized the significance of Earth Day.


Much gratitude to Ms. Treena Hall for spearheading this endeavor. It's quite a chore to put something like this together and still deliver the instruction of the regular curriculum. Thanks to all the students who wrote poems and essays and read them during the ceremony. Thanks to the guys of class 281 who dug the hole. Big shout out to Bernie for helping us with the water.

At first, we were told by the John Browne nursery that we weren't going to receive the tree because they never received our application by fax. Then the tree was surprisingly delivered the day after Earth Day. It looked like a plant. Thanks to all the rain we've had recently, the tree has sprouted several huge leaves although it hasn't grown in height yet. Ms. T. Hall will take pictures of the tree each month and display the images on her blog. So stop by the library to check out the bulletin board with student work and pictures and then visit right outside exits 9 & 10 and check out the Academy II tree! (Thanks, Ms. T. Hall for the pictures).

LOST Season 5: Episode 14: The Variable

First of all, my sister called me at 9:16 pm. You don't do that!



Look at Daniel, all dazed and confused with no short-term memory. Well now we know why! Where do I start with this 100th episode???

I found it to be well worth the wait. This episode totally delivered. It was Daniel-centric, but we still don't know exactly how he left the island after going back to 1977 and then returned as a consulting scientist for the Swan station. Nevertheless, I enjoyed several moments:

-When Daniel said "Myles is your son" to Dr. Chang.
-When Kate, Daniel and Jack had a shoot out with Dharma security.
-Finding out how Daniel's girlfriend became comatose.
-Jumping back to when Daniel was crying over the news story of 815's found wreckage.
-Learning that Desmond was OK after getting shot.
(Until now, we thought the grocery bag was bullet-proof or something.)
-Learning that Eloise Hawking WAS A HOSTILE!!!
-The anticipation of what would happen if Daniel SHOT Richard Alpert!!!
-Daniel confronting Dr. Chang about the island's catastrophic electromagnetic potential.
-I loved how Kate let Daniel walk through the security fence first!!! LOL
Did she think that perhaps Juliet had given them a fake code?
-Daniel revealing that he is from the future to Dr. Chang.
-Daniel's mother shooting him!!! (WOW WOW WOW)
-FINDING OUT THAT CHARLES WIDMORE IS DANIEL'S FATHER!!!(WOW WOW WOW)
-So that means Penny and Daniel are brother and sister, just like Jack found out that Claire was his sister.

So the big question is...[drum roll] DID ELOISE HAWKING KNOW THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN AS DANIEL SAID AS HE LAY DYING??? And why would she want to kill her own son?

-Is Daniel really dead? You know how LOST is...he could be OK next week. Maybe.

-How will our Losties make it back to their beach and "start from square one" as Saywer put it if they are now being held by the Dharma Initiatve?

-Would Daniel's plan to manipulate the VARIABLES and change history have worked had his mother not shot him?

Actually, I guess this had to happen being that the tag line for this season is "Destiny Calls."

-WHERE ARE ROSE AND BERNARD? ARE THEY IN 2007 OR 1977?

OK so all in all, this episode totally rocked. And next week's show looks even better! I thought I caught a glimpse of Sawyer having the cynicism beat out of him in the preview. LOL.

I will venture to say "The Variable" was just as good as "The Constant" in Season 4.

Can't wait till next week's show. Once again, check out the fans' theories at abc.com.

I end several posts with this line, and it's difficult to explain to non-viewers or passers-by, but LOST is the best show ever! These writers are talented beyond belief. The way in which events and themes are connected and intertwined from season to season and character to character is incredible! This is the season of a thousand "Oh, so that's why...(fill in the blank)" moments!

LOST Theories

LOST viewers and fans are SO CLEVER in their theories.
Visit abc.com by clicking here and go to community, message boards, LOST.

Also check out Lostpedia.com for the comprehensive LOST experience.
There are things on there that even avid viewers miss.

WARNING: You may find yourself on either of these sites for extended periods of time, thereby forsaking your everyday responsibilities.

*

LOST Season 5: Episode 13: Some Like It Hoth

What an excellent episode! Once again, we got to be a fly on the wall for a conversation that any two viewers of the show would probably have while trying to make sense out of everything as Hurley and Miles spoke to each other.

Miles is the latest character to have "daddy issues" (i.e. Kate, Jack, Sawyer, etc.) and this episode gave us a good idea as to why. According to Miles's mom, his father left them, but at least the adult Miles got a chance to see himself as a baby listening to a story being read by his dad. In brilliant LOST style, the book was called Me and my Polar Bear.

Hurley shared that he "talks to dead people" just as Miles can, but in a very different way as we have seen when Hurley chats with Mr. Ecko and Charlie. Miles communicates with the deceased while the body is still there. Dead people actually come and visit Hurley. There was a connection to the uber electromagnetic pull of the island which killed the worker whose tooth filling sliced through his brain. This was the body being transported by Miles and that relayed that information.

We have a special next week, but in two weeks, we will see the "explosive 100th episode." I think I might invite my LOSTIE friends over for that one.

As a cliffhanger, we saw Sawyer knock out the guy who watched the surveillance tape in which Kate and Sawyer appear taking young Ben to the Others to be healed.

Other brilliant things about this episode:
-the return of the great looking Naomi as she recruited Miles.
-Seeing the construction of the original hatch, the Swan Station.
-Seeing the construction of the Orchid Station.
-Hurley stating the last number in the sequence (42) to Miles's amazement.
-The question asked to Miles by the guys who picked him up on the street which we heard for the first time last week: WHAT LIES IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATUE?
-even better-the information that if he doesn't know the answer to that question that he's "not ready to go to that island."
-THE RETURN OF DANIEL FARADAY ON THE SUBMARINE!!! HOW DID HE GET OFF THE ISLAND IN THE FIRST PLACE???
-I KNOW you all saw the Egyptian notes on the chalk board in the Dharma classroom!!!

This episode was insane! Off the hook! Well done!

QUESTION: Now that Daniel's back, where are Rose and Bernard and them?

Can't wait for the 100th episode!
The special, not so much...unless there's some new information to be gathered. I'm going to watch it, of course.

Check out the trailer for next week's special and episode 14 (airing 4/29/09) which is Daniel-centric, entitled "The Variable:"



LOST is the best show ever!

Now that I've learned...

...how to embed video from YouTube, here's a very cool recap of seasons 1-3 of LOST, the greatest show ever:

LOST Season 5: Episode 12: Dead is Dead

I don't know how to take episode 12, Dead is Dead. Why then do we constantly see those who have been killed? Is Christian Shephard dead? He was dead from the very first episode and yet he's popped up in every season since. And what about Claire? I have mixed feelings about this one. It was kinda all over the place and so are my reactions:

The episode in itself was interesting, to say the least. It was Ben/Widmore-centric. We learned that Widmore at some point became the leader of the Hostiles/Others and was then banished under Ben's leadership. We don't know why, though. Again, we saw that Richard was around the same age he's always been all through Widmore growing up to become the leader.

I don't believe that Danielle would let Ben walk away with Alex the way that he did. But then I chalked it up to her not being so island-savvy and skilled at the time Alex was taken as she was when we met her in Season 1. It was weird that she wouldn't have Alex more protected.

In a flashback, we learned how Ben sustained those wounds before Flight 316 and that he was almost successful in killing Penny Widmore. Perhaps he will give up on killing her now that he admits that it's his fault that Alex was killed by Widmore's Rambo-type freighter leader.

Ben talked his way out of being held captive by Ceasar and his cronies and left to go back to the main island with Locke. Ben also talked his way out of why he killed Locke...for now at least. I don't think Locke bought the story. Ben shot Ceasar-this was a complete shocker. Locke led Ben to the place where the Smoke Monster resides so that it could judge Ben for his past actions. Turns out the Smoke Monster and Ben are old friends and Ben walked away free.

It's a good thing that I don't let my confusion or questioning dictate my viewership. I have faith that it will all come together in the end. I must say that this season has been great so far, learning all about the Others and Dharma and all. I still want to know where Faraday is while all this is happening...makes very little sense. I bet he knows how to escape to Tunisia and has left already.

WHAT LIES IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATUE? This question, which Ilana asked Frank Lipidus before she knocks him out, eludes us. I assume she's talking about the ever enigmatic four toed statue. There are some DEFINITE connections to ancient EGYPTIAN history and culture as evidenced by the hieroglyphics in the chambers under the Orchid Station. And what is in the metal box that the "new leaders" are towing?

Next week's show looks like we'll get some answers in what appears to be a Miles-centric episode:

High School Musical Rehearsals

We're down to the wire! Get'cha Head in the Game!!!

Rehearsal will begin on Monday, April 6th at 3:20 pm sharp!

We expect everyone to be focused and ready to learn Stick to the Status Quo right from the start of practice. This is a major number that includes just about everyone so please be on point and prepared to follow instructions.

We are also looking for seniors from all three academies to join the cast.

Lastly, you need to be off book by April 20th.
That means no scripts. Learn and memorize your lines!!!

LOST Season 5: Episode 11: Whatever Happened, Happened

Whatever Happened, Happened was an excellent Kate-centric episode. The writers continued their clever insertion of questions, ideas and theories that the audience probably has by having Miles and Hurley engage in a discussion on what the heck is going on with the time travel back to 1977. The jury's still out on that one. The definitive explanation must have something to do with Locke turning the wheel but that's all we can (maybe possibly) be sure of.

I'll be the first to admit that I thought young Ben was really shot dead. I never thought he'd survive that gunshot inflicted by Sayid. In true LOST style, he was just seriously injured. It's good to know the show can still surprise me (as it pretty much does each episode) and I still find it interesting and essential viewing week after week.

We now know where Aaron is. Kate dropped him off with his biological grandmother and said she was going back to the island to find Claire. Good luck, Kate.

Jack refused to scrub in on Juliet's inadequate operation on young Ben to repair internal bleeding.

Sawyer pretty much let Kate know that he is with Juliet for the long haul. [For now.]

Sawyer and Kate delivered the critically injured young Ben to the Richard Alpert and the Hostiles as suggested by Juliet. She, of course, has some inside information on the Hostiles from the time she spent with them for several years in the 2000's and hints that they have the ability to heal Ben, although Richard warns Kate that Ben will "lose his innocence."

So this brings us back to the title of this episode. I feel like I missed something...this episode was a little too straightforward the first time watching it, so I'll have to look at it again this weekend.
If whatever happened happened, I'd like to know where our Losties were when The Purge occurred. How could the Losties, as adults, have gone to the island and not remembered being there in the 70's? And shouldn't they have been school-aged children (or younger in Hurley's case) in the 70's?

Questions, questions prevail! Well next week's episode looks amazing...we get to check back in on Locke and Ben back in 2007. Ben said he came back to the island to be judged. By whom? And what is coming out of the forest that he can't control??? (The Smoke Monster?)

To the writers: Where are Desmond Hume and Daniel Faraday and what are they up to?

LOST is the best show ever.

Finally...

...Prince releases music that is true to the sound that made him famous. For diehard fans like me, this is a very big deal. Despite our loyalty, the past 5 or so years of Prince music has been a little too experimental and wavered too far from the brilliance and genius that is Prince....that mojo that everyone aspires to but will never achieve. Did I mention that I saw the Musicology Tour show three times during the summer of 1994 when I became an AP? These two albums (released together!!!) are a breath of fresh purple air...well done, Prince!

Doodle for Google!

Here are the entires that we submitted for the Doodle for Google contest. Thank you, Ms. T. Hall for coordinating this effort and seeing it through to completion. Thanks to the students who composed these works of art.

LOST Season 5: Episode 10: He's Our You

OK so this episode was definitely Sayid-centric, just as this season as a whole is Dharma Initiative and Hostiles-centric. As the picture suggests, this installment was quite an explosive one. Like last week, the last few moments were mind-blowing. Sayid's struggle with self-worth and his "true nature" [as a killer?!] was at the forefront. He eagerly and unapologetically kills a helpless chicken back in Iraq as a young boy as the episode opens. Later in the episode, we understand how Sayid came to be on flight 316. One question is why he would fall for the sexy femme fatale character a second time. Turns out this was Lana, the one who was escorting him a la Kate and the marshall.

There were a couple of moments when we thought Sawyer's cover would be blown when Sayid is given the truth serum by Dharma's resident torturer from whom the episode gets its name. It was fun to watch the Dharma folks' reactions of amazement and confusion as Sayid named a few of the stations and their purpose! This was chalked up to too much serum.

Juliet told Kate in a nice way to "stay away" from Sawyer (or LaFluer, if you will).
Kate kinda sorta expressed to Sawyer that she only came back to the island for him. (Aaaaw!)

Sayid shot the young Ben and knocked Jin out while fleeing the Dharma camp.

Now if Daniel said that the past can't be changed, WHAT IS GOING ON???
And on that note, WHERE IS DANIEL???
There are definitely more questions now than ever.
How will the ADULT Ben in 2007 be affected by the ADOLESCENT Ben's death in 1977???
How will Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Myles, and Juliet's true identity remain a secret?
And where are Sun and Locke???

Maybe next week we'll find out what Ceasar was doing going to Guam.

So far, this season is sick! LOST is the best show to ever hit the small screen.

LOST Season 5: Episode 9: Namaste

Episode 8 was mindblowing. Going a week without a new episode was worth the wait. Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid showed up unscathed after the crash of flight 316. Sun, Locke and Ben remained in 2007 while the aforementioned went to 1977 with Sawyer (or Lafleur), Juliet, Jin and Miles. Sawyer thought quickly on his feet and smuggled them in as new Dharma recruits. The lies continue. And what is up with Christian Shephard showing up at the Dharma dock in 2007 when Sun and Lapidus get there? And where's Claire?

Meanwhile, we keep running into younger versions of adults that we have met. This time, the shocker was young Ben coming in to meet a captive Sayid in a holding cell. We're also getting a lot of inside information about the Dharma Initiative and how they run their portion of the island.

The writing and storylines just keep getting better. I think this is the best season yet. Can't wait to see the rest of the story behind Widmore being one of the original hostiles as well as the full story on the giant statue. Here's looking forward to the next episode.

Senior Dues

Senior dues are $85.00 and they are due now.
You should pay the fee sooner than later. Or we might wind up graduating downstairs in the auditorium. The fee covers the following:

• The cost of renting Walt Whitman Hall at Brooklyn College
  
• Caps and gowns


• Full color yearbook

Senior dues must be paid in the form of cash or money order and should go directly to your academy assistant principal. Checks are not accepted. Please make your money orders out to I.S. 68. You will receive a receipt.

The $85.00 senior dues fee does not cover the cost of the prom or the senior trip. These are separate fees. The prom is usually $75.00 and the senior trip is usually $65.00. Please plan ahead if you are considering attending either of these or both.

In the unfortunate event that you do not graduate, you can opt to receive either a full refund or a partial refund depending on whether or not you would like the yearbook. By the way, the third marking period ends on Tuesday, March 31st, so be sure to hand in all of your assignments and study extra hard to pass that last test before Tuesday.

Surprise!!!

Class 264 threw a surprise birthday party for Ms. Hristodoulou today. She was surprised. Thanks Ms. Overstreet for your assistance.

LOST Season 5: Episode 8: LaFleur

Lafluer was yet another wonderfully surprising and visually entertaining episode. We saw the back of the rest of the mysterious four-toed statue very early in the show. The flash took everyone to 1974 when Dharma was in full swing. Again, we met Horace who was leading Dharma.

While waiting for Locke to get back to the island with the Oceanic 6, Sawyer, Juliet and Myles wound up staying for three years. They joined Dharma even though they were given a chance to leave on the submarine that Locke blew up. They lied about who they were (just like the Oceanic 6 were lying in the U.S.) to maintain their cover from the Dharma Initiative. Juliet helped to deliver a baby. The mother and the baby were fine. Therefore, this happened before all the women on the island could no longer give birth to a child while staying alive herself.

This was a great episiode. The scene between Sawyer and the Oceanic 6 was just as I predicted last week. Too bad there's no new episode next week.

LOST Season 5: Episode 7: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

We've been bamboozled! Hoodwinked! We were lead to believe that Locke killed himself and all the while Ben killed him. Very clever those LOST writers are. This didn't happen until after 10 pm...the show went to about 10:06. What other show is so good that they can bogart time from the next show that's coming on?

Episode 7 was very informative. I'm leaning more towards Charles Widmore being a "good guy" after this episode. That is, until the true nature of the original Hostiles is revealed or we get a little more information on how he became as powerful as he is.

Matthew Abaddon was killed by Ben also. If he was a bad enough guy for Ben to kill him, was it just to finish getting rid of all of Whidmore's constituents or is Widmore just as equally immoral and "bad" as Ben [who is most probably likely maybe definitely bad] and they're just two bad guys trying to outdo each other at the expense of the Losties?

I guess I was wrong in assuming that Ceasar, the new guy, is of Middle Eastern descent. He had a Spanish accent and Ceasar is to Latinos as Day-Shawn is to African Americans. Lana, the woman who was escorting Sayid, seemed kinda Spanish too. It's unclear whether their leadership roles are accidental or if they're key characters for the remainder of the season. Next week, Kate and Sawyer will reunite. Can't wait for that...or will they get glimpses of each other at the very end of the episode as the screen fades to black?

Question: Why didn't Locke survive Ben strangling him just like Michael couldn't die when he returned to New York?

I love this show, but the locations in Santa Monica, California and New York City in this episode were unmistakenly Hawaii. You could see mountains in the background during the car crash scene. They were tropical moutains, not North American ones. And there's no white colonial style edifice on 67th Street and 8th Avenue! [By the way, Walt looks about 21 years old now.] They did a much better job making Hawaii look like the Middle East when Sayid went to bury Nadia. I'm just saying...but LOST is STILL the best show ever!!

Ms. Charles Went to THE ISLAND!!!

Over the break, Ms. Charles visited Hawaii and got a chance to see where LOST is filmed. It's safe to say she didn't get there the way that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 got there. I'm pretty sure these very shots have appeared at some point over the course of the first four seasons of LOST. She was kind enough to share these photos from her excursion. Looks like she and her husband had a great time. Me personally, well I just went to Staten Island and Long Island over the break...

I wonder if she ran into any of The Others such as Ethan or Ben?

Thanks for sharing, Ms. Charles!

LOST Season 5: Episode 6: 316

Episode 6 was incredible as expected. We learned how the Dharma Initiative found the island in the first place. Desmond decided not to return to the island. 5 out of six returned on a flight to Guam with Aaron being the only one left behind. Who knows where he is. Even Locke's corpse is on the flight. Mrs. Hawking's advice was correct in that they had to best recreate the original conditions that brought them to the island in the first place. Ben was assualted in some way and sustained injuries. Jin greets Jack, Kate and Hurley when they arrive back and is shocked / happy / surprised to see them. We don't know where Sun, Sayid, Ben and the 2 new characters wound up.

I'm sure there are some interesting plot twists and developments related to the 2 new characters. One is escorting Sayid as a prisoner much like Kate was being escorted in the very first episode. The other is another Arabic/Middle Eastern dude who was a passenger on flight 316 to Guam. Next week's episode answers the question of Locke's death/suicide. LOST is the best show ever!

High School Musical Rehearsals

We covered a lot of ground today at rehearsals. Ms. Piton worked on Start of Something New with the cliques and Traven & Leandra. I worked with Shae and Abraham on Bop to the Top. Both pieces are looking really good so far. Ms. Hall worked on the backdrop. We're out next week for some much needed R&R so everyone be sure to practice what we've learned. Tomorrow, I will get scripts to those who have lost theirs.

Please join me in wishing Leandra lots of luck in her audition for the 2009 Summer Arts Institute at Stuyvesant High School for which she applied today.

Thanks everyone for a great day of rehearsals. Check out a quick video of the action.

LOST Season 5: Episode 5: This Place is Death

Last night's episode of LOST was very well done. The flashes were happening right and left. We found out a little more about Danielle Rousseau and what happened to her team of scientists. Turns out she shot them, which is different from the "sickness" that she said they got when she recorded the sixteen year old message. Ben continued to try and rally up the Oceanic 6. They all wound up at a church to meet Mrs. Hawking (pictured here). Desmond showed up too? Does he have to return to the island as well?

I enjoyed the scene in which Jin struggles to communicate with the French...very well written and executed.

Turns out Mrs. Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mother. Charlotte is the first casualty of the season. We did learn that she was indeed born on the island. This was hinted at in season 4 when she said she spent a lot of time "trying to get back." Locke found his way to the wheel where Jack's father was waiting for him. Locke turned the wheel and will probably wind up in LA next week.

This was an excellent episode. Mrs. Hawking turned out to be much more important than we probably figured when we first met her in London and she told Desmond not to buy the engagement ring for Penny. I particularly enjoyed last night's episode in High Definition. The colors seemed to pop a little more than usual. All in all, excellent episode. Can't wait until next week when we're off from school. Mrs. Hawking is going to explain how to get back to the island. Best show ever!

Your Cell Phone is Gone for Good!

Once it's lost or stolen, your cell phone (or other coveted electronic device) is gone for good. One of the main reasons why personal electronic items aren't allowed in the building is to prevent loss or theft. The funds used to purchase these robotic, futuristic, George Jetson type contraptions should have been spent on books for your home library anyway.

From this day forward, I will not attempt to assist you in searching for your lost or stolen cell phone, PSP, iPod, Blackberry, iPod Touch, iPhone, G1, digital camera, Sidekick, Game Boy, mp3 player, Milo or any other electronic device. It's too much of a headache and often, the item is never recovered. There are about 1200 students here. We can not and will not search all those students. And don't ask Ms. Harry to look for it either. So the moral of the story is, once it's lost or stolen, your cell phone (or other electronic device) is gone for good.

St. Louis Guest Stars on the Second Floor

Thanks for stopping by...

Class 281 went to Harlem

Class 281 went to Harlem with Ms. T. Hall to visit the Schomburgh Center for Research and Black Culture last fall. When they returned, they wrote a reflective piece that interpreted what they saw and experienced and that mirrored the writing of the author they were studying at the time, Walter Dean Myers. Thanks, Ms. T. Hall for putting this trip together and thanks, Ms. Jones for accompanying them last minute.

LOST Season 5: Episode 4: The Little Prince

Tonight's episode was awesome. The time travel twists just keep on coming. The sky flashes and their effects were prevalent once again this week. Next weeks's episode looks amazing as well. JIN IS ALIVE!!! The next question is Is Michael alive too?

I knew Ben was behind the men showing up at Kate's house to get blood samples from Aaron and her the moment they arrived at the door. But that doesn't explain who's trying to tranquilize Sayid. If it's Ben, why is he going to such lengths?

Danielle's crew arriving on the island was also kinda predictable, but that doesn't take away from the creativity factor of the writing thus far this season. How brilliant to have Jin, of all people, meet up with the French crew 16 years ago!!! And will we see what actually happened to the French crew that left Danielle all alone (well, kinda) on the island? If time keeps jumping around the way it has been, this is unlikely. Either that or we'll see bits and pieces here and there out of chronological order and have to configure it ourselves. Could this season rival season 3? We'll see...