Channel Surfing: Katee Sackhoff Turned Down True Blood, Guests for Post-Lost Special, Stephen King in Sons of Anarchy, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has the scoop on why Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24) turned down the role of Debbie Pelt on Season Three of HBO's vampire drama True Blood, a role that was later filled by The Middleman's Brit Morgan when Sackhoff decided instead to join the cast of ABC drama pilot Boston's Finest. "I am a huge fan of True Blood,” Sackhoff told Ausiello. "It’s a phenomenal show and [executive producer] Alan Ball is a f—ing genius. But I wanted more security than one season of something, so I rolled the dice with [Boston's Finest]. This entire business is about rolling the dice and hoping you made the right decision. I almost didn’t take 24 to do my own series on USA Network, and that worked out. I’m sure [Brit] is going to be fantastic [as Debbie]." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian takes a look at just which cast members from Lost will be appearing on ABC's post-finale special Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost. Quoting the network press release, Adalian writes, "Kimmel will be joined in studio by Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Alan Dale, Jeremy Davies, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Matthew Fox, Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O’Quinn and Harold Perrineau, with special appearances by Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly and an exclusive look at THREE ALTERNATIVE FINAL SCENES from the minds of executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse." Adalian was quick to notice that Yunjin Kim won't be participating... (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Novelist Stephen King has been cast in an upcoming episode of Season Three of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, according to Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice. King will play "a quiet loner who appears in Gemma's (Katey Sagal) time of need." King, who is an outspoken fan of the series, will appear in the third episode. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Variety's Mike Schneider looks at why ABC decided to extend the series finale of Lost, thus positioning its final half-hour outside of primetime. "That might seem like an odd decision to make, given that every ratings point counts as the networks sprint toward the May sweeps -- and 2009-2010 TV season -- finish line," writes Schneider. "But in the case of Lost, the network is able to sell more commercial time with the extra half-hour -- which is why they didn't balk when producers called from the edit bay asking for additional time. Ditto ABC's affiliate stations, which were given additional ad time in exchange for the show pushing into local news time." So there you go. (Variety)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that adult film star Sasha Grey has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on HBO's Entourage, where she will play the new girlfriend of Adrian Grenier's Vince Chase, whom he meets at a bar in the fifth episode of Season Eight. (TV Guide Magazine)

Syfy is developing superhero drama series Metadocs, based on the comicbook series, about a "secretive wing of a large urban hospital that treats injured superheroes." Michael Chernuchin (Law & Order) will write and executive produce alongside Bob Cooper, J.J. Jamieson, and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Project hails from Landscape Entertainment, FremantleMedia, and Universal Cable Prods. (Variety)

G4 has given a ten-episode order to Attack of the Show spinoff It's Effin' Science, which will feature Angie Greenup, Marc Horowitz, and Chad Zdenek as they attempt to push the scientific envelope. According to The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd, segments will include "trying to build a hoverboard as in Back to the Future II, blasting a Port-a-Potty 100 feet into the air and trying to construct night-vision goggles." Series debuts June 15th. (Hollywood Reporter)

Boxer Gavin-Keith Umeh (All My Children) has been cast in at least two episodes of FX's upcoming drama series Lights Out, where he will play Javier Morales, described as "a younger fighter who squares off against Leary (Holy McCallany) in one of his first tune-up fights." (The Wrap)

The CW announced yesterday that it would begin airing repeats of Alex O'Loughlin's vampire drama series Moonlight, which it will air on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT starting June 3rd. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Meanwhile, E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos offers an explanation of why the CW would decide, now of all times, to begin running a short-lived series that has already had a second window on cable. "I'm told that the decision was made in part to keep O'Loughlin's fan base chugging along, in the hopes they'll follow him to the new Five-O this fall," writes Dos Santos. "(The CW and CBS are all one family, you know.) Plus, maybe you've heard, people kinda like vampires these days? So the ratings shouldn't be too shabby either, and will keep the TV audience busy." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

The CW's current supernatural drama Supernatural, meanwhile, is heading to Fridays, where it will air repeats following the Smallville, beginning May 28th, according to The Futon Critic, who writes, "The move will undoubtedly fuel speculation that Supernatural will permanently take residence there for its sixth season." (Futon Critic)

20th Century Fox TV has signed a two-year overall deal with writer Liz Astrof (Kath & Kim), under which she will develop new projects for the studio and be staffed on an existing or new series. "The studio has obviously had a great year in comedy launching Modern Family, The Cleveland Show and Glee, and we're always looking for great comedic voices," said 20th Century Fox chairman Gary Newman. "Liz has excelled at a number of series, both multi- and single-camera." (Hollywood Reporter)

Fox Television Studios signed a new two-year overall deal with Mikkel Bondesen's Fuse Entertainment, under which the production shingle of the Burn Notice executive producer will develop new projects, primarily for cable. (Deadline.com)

Style Network has ordered a second season of Endemol USA's reality series Jerseylicious, which has been renewed for ten episodes. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Televisionary Heads Back to AOL's Instant Dharma

It's time for some more Instant Dharma.

Last night, I had the extreme pleasure of being invited back to AOL's weekly Lost-centric show Instant Dharma, where I joined host Maggie Furlong and Kate Aurthur, my editor at The Daily Beast, to discuss this week's episode of Lost ("The Candidate"), where we talked about--SPOILERS!--this week's tragic deaths, another failed getaway attempt, why the castaways are now family, and much more.

You can catch my appearance on this week's episode of Instant Dharma below and read my further take on "The Candidate" here.



The final season of Lost airs Tuesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Drowning, Not Waving: Sea of Love on Lost

"We're not strangers; we're family." - Jack

Last night's episode of Lost ("The Candidate"), written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Jim Galasso and directed by Jack Bender, may have started off a little wobbly with yet another switch-up among the alliances and another about-face with their destination but, by George, the last twenty minutes of that episode still has me in tears the morning after.

We can cross a few more names off the cave wall now, thanks to an episode that definitely brought the emotional painfulness back to Lost as well as brought things full circle to the notion of family and the bonds between these characters. When Lost first began, it was essentially a story of survival as a group of strangers--united by tragedy--had to discover a way to stay alive, deciding whether to live together or die alone.

Over the course of six seasons and countless threats to their survival, these disparate characters have grown into something akin to a family. A highly dysfunctional one, granted, but one nonetheless. The invisible threats of fate that linked them at the beginning have been replaced by strong emotional tethers. When Lost-X Jack calls Claire "family," it's not just about their newly discovered sibling bond but about all of the characters on the series.

Family, after all, is what you're willing to lay down your life for, to make the ultimate sacrifice, to stay to the bitter end as the waters rise up over your head. What's united these castaways all along is love.

So what did I think of this week's episode of Lost? Grab an oxygen bottle, bite into an Apollo bar, open up the music box, and let's discuss "The Candidate."

As I mentioned earlier, I found the first half of last night's episode a little tiring. This season, we've seen an endless array of alliance permutations as the castaways splinter, reform, and splinter again, choosing between following Jacob and following the Man in Black, between staying on the island or leaving, between heading for the plane or the sub.

It's felt, to steal a phrase from Sawyer this week, like they've been "running in circles."

With only a handful of episodes remaining, I wanted some real emotional impact, some major stakes raised, rather than just another trek through the jungle or another double-cross of ol' Smokey. Fortunately, the Lost writer gods must have been listening to me because the last twenty minutes of "The Candidate" packed in more plot twists and unexpected tension than several entire episodes.

And, thanks to the death of three major characters (and the assumed death of another), we saw the castaways shattered in a way we haven't seen them in a very long time. Escaping from the wreckage of the submarine, they're scared, shaken, and very sad. Those moments on the beach bring it all home. There's been so much talk of supernatural entities, candidates, and greater purposes that it's become easy to lose sight of the true battle going on here: survival. The deaths of Sun and Jin and of Sayid are an inescapable reminder that they--and we--are just all too mortal. When your time is up, it's up. You don't always get to have the happy ending that you deserve.

I thought that the submarine sequence was gorgeously shot and that the entire last twenty minutes or so--from the time they arrive on the dock to the very end of the episode--had me on the edge of my seat, either gasping in shock (Kate's shooting) or sobbing (Sun and Jin's death). I had a feeling, as soon as I saw that the Man in Black had removed the C4 explosives from the plane that something awful was about to unfold but even I couldn't have predicted that the producers would be killing off three major cast members in one fell swoop. (As well as leaving the fate of poor Frank Lapidus so ambiguous, though I can't imagine that the pilot survived.)

The Man in Black. Say what you want about the mysterious Man in Black, but he's a master manipulator, a cosmic trickster who lies right to your face with a wink and a smile. He knows exactly what he'll encounter on the Ajira plane as soon as (if not before) he steps into the clearing and dispatches Widmore's flunkies without breaking a sweat. Yes, I'm saying that he knew he'd find explosives on the plane because he knows that Widmore has planted them there and left just two redshirts to guard the plane. Why? Because he steals a watch off one of the corpses before he even boards the Gilligan's Island-style bamboo staircase to investigate the plane.

He knew that he'd use the watch to create a ticking bomb that he'd use to kill the remaining candidates... just as he knew that Sawyer would once again try to double-cross him. He was counting on everything playing out just the way it did, in fact. Hell, he was so confident that he let the group in on his plans, displaying the C4, and telling them that Widmore's plan would have them all in one place, in a confined space, with little chance of escape.

And that's just what happened. While it's not Widmore's plan, I believe that the Man in Black always knew just how he'd attempt to get rid of the castaways. While he claimed that he needed them to escape the island, I believe that the reverse is true: he needs the candidates to be dead before he can leave. No replacement for the jailer means that the exit will no longer be barred to him. As long as there is someone to take Jacob's place, he's trapped on his island prison.

So what does he do? He proves that he knows the castaways all too well. He knows that Sawyer will attempt to escape and betray him... and that Jack will likely be caught up in the escape plot, which he is. All he has to do is sit back and let the counter go off and his trouble with the candidates will be over.

Which seems a bit at odds with his inability to kill the candidates, with the fact that his hands are tied due to certain rules that govern the island. Or does it? We've been told that the Man in Black can't kill them and, in fact, he often goes to great lengths to save their lives (Jack, Sawyer). So how could he think that his bomb threat would work?

Because he knows these castaways inside and out. Had they waited out the clock, the bomb wouldn't have gone off, as Jack suggests. They're protected by Jacob's influence. But because Sawyer removed the wires and tampered with the mechanism, he is therefore acting on his own behalf and unleashing a threat against the others. (As Jack said, the Man in Black wants them to kill each other.) It's not the Man in Black's hand on the detonator, but Sawyer's. He knew that someone on the sub wouldn't follow Jack's belief that they were protected and therefore provide a loophole by which the candidates would be vulnerable to death.

Then there's the matter of the ending, as the Man in Black and Claire wait on the docks. He's immediately aware that the sub has sank to the ocean floor (though obviously it can't be seen from there) as well as the fact that not all of the candidates perished in the explosion. Grabbing his pack and his gun, he sets off to "finish what [he] started."

That anyone could say that the Man in Black is nothing less than evil incarnate is beyond me. He doesn't want to help the castaways. He wants off this rock and is prepared to kill all of them to do so. He can't directly cause their deaths but he can create a situation that, once one of them acts, will lead to their deaths (i.e., Sawyer pulling out the wires). As for that scene on the dock, you might be wondering just how he knows that the candidates aren't all dead. Simple: he can leave the island once they're all dead. If he can't leave, then they are still alive. Just as he knew the sub had sank, so too does the Man in Black know that the way is still barred to him. Escape is still not a possibility.

Widmore. So what was Widmore's game then? Why throw the castaways into the bear cages? He claims that he's doing it for their own good and, while I've doubted Widmore's motives in the past, I do actually think he's telling the truth here. He orders his men to move the sonic fence around the cages and locks the castaways inside in an effort to shield them from the Man in Black.

Which would mean that Widmore's mission is to keep the castaways alive. The longer they live--and the more of them that do--the less chance the Nemesis has of escaping the island. Widmore is attempting to keep the balance between light and dark, to keep the scales even as Jacob's candidate is called. He knows, therefore, just what the Man in Black is attempting to do.

So why rig the plane with explosives? To stop the Man in Black and his few remaining followers. After all, when the plane was likely rigged, Widmore already had the majority of the candidates--save Jack and Sayid--in his custody. So if the plane went boom, it would likely only kill the Man in Black's followers. (He did seem to take an awful lot of precautions to keep the Man in Black from the candidates but didn't think about back-up generators, clearly.)

Sun and Jin. I was one of the viewers who was disappointed by Sun and Jin's reunion two weeks ago, which--after all of this time--lacked a real emotional hook. Yes, it was cut short by the arrival of Widmore's men and the brandishing of firearms, but I didn't feel like the brief moment of reunion was strong enough, given how long many of us have rooted for these two to find one another again. This week, they get a brief scene in the bear cages where Widmore's men have stashed them as they talk about Ji Yeon and Sun returns Jin's ring, another symbol of coming full circle. (We also find out just who is watching Ji Yeon back in South Korea.)

(I was surprised that there wasn't a moment of frisson passing between Sun and Widmore, who had, after all, had some words together back in Seasons Four and Five about their mutual interests and Sun's desire to kill Benjamin Linus. But, alas, there wasn't even a flicker of recognition between the two.)

Here, we get the scene that their entire relationship has been building to as Sun is trapped in the wreckage of the sinking submarine. Faced with an impossible decision, Jin can either escape and save himself or they can die together. The fact that the Kwons were always represented with a single candidate number--42--is a poetic foreshadowing of the way they exit the world: bound together, united, hands intertwined. Their moment of unity is heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time: an undersea ballet of billowing hair and clasped hands, a blue-hued postcard of the power of true love. These two never get their happy ending but they also get to die together, in each others arms, beneath the sea. It's only in death that their hands are separated...

(Sigh. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it again.)

Sayid. I was glad to see the old Sayid again, even if it was just one last time at the end of his life. For too long, we've seen a cold, emotionless Sayid, a walking zombie, who cared little for anyone else. But this week, Sayid seems to spring back to life again, recalling the Sayid from the earlier seasons, with his knowledge of defusing bombs. A zombie wouldn't willingly sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but Sayid--now once again alive, it would seem--does just that. He tells Jack about Desmond's location and instructs him to find Desmond and tells him that he is the one, the candidate of the title. And then he runs with the bomb and is blown to smithereens. He redeemed himself with that one act, proving that redemption is possible for anyone, regardless of their past actions.

Frank. And then there's Lapidus, who is felled by a bulkhead as the compartment fills with water. I don't see how Frank could have possibly survived that and escaped the submarine in time. I'm sad to say that our 1970s style pilot may actually be well and truly dead.

Claire. Like Sayid, Claire too seems to be more in touch with her emotional state this week, perhaps influenced by proximity to the castaways. Just as she is stunned that they would leave her behind once more, she seems terrified that the Man in Black has killed them all on the submarine. It's as though she's seeing the Nemesis clearly for the first time in all of these years. (There's also a brief moment of emotion when Sawyer thanks the Man in Black for saving their lives at the Ajira crash site and says he was wrong about him. Claire seems to react briefly to this comment as though she's all too aware that the Man in Black is far less kind than he seems.) There's not only a sense of horror on the dock but also deep sadness for the fact that some of her former comrades in arms may be dead or dying. Could it be that Claire has come back from the land of the shadows at last?

Kate. Would Widmore actually have killed Kate? I think he might have. He's proven himself to be an ends-justify-the-means sort of guy and he knows that Kate isn't a candidate to replace Jacob and therefore is expendable. If killing her would protect the others, he's all too willing to do so in order to prove a point. And it's Kate who gets shot on the dock, after all. Did Widmore give instructions not to hit any of the others? Hmmm...

Jack. I have to say that I've liked Jack a hell of a lot more since he finally embraced his destiny and became the man of faith that Locke had pushed him to be for so long. But we also see here a Jack that is shaken by uncertainty. He believed that, if they let the counter go off, there would be no explosion. That they couldn't be killed. I do feel that Jack was right: it was Sawyer's involvement that led to the explosion. Just as the dynamite didn't kill Jack and Richard Alpert, the bomb here would have failed to detonate when the timer reached zero. But because Sawyer chose to pull the wires out, it's his action that has consequences for the rest of the group and his hand on the trigger.

Despite Jack's conviction about the bomb, it doesn't make the aftermath any less painful for him. Saving Sawyer's life and getting him back to the beach and reuniting with the wounded Kate (who was desperately looking for him), the group succumbs to tears as Jack walks over to the water's edge at stares up at the heavens as he too begins to cry. It was a powerful scene that spoke volumes about Jack's journey and his struggle to believe in something unseen, something powerful and invisible, and give himself over to his destiny. But it doesn't cut any less to lose the people that matter to you. To lose the family that keep you going and protect your back. Lost might be about love but it's also about lost love just as much.

Lost-X. The flash-sideways this week brought together a number of characters, most notably Jack, Locke, and Claire (though Jin is glimpsed en route to Sun's hospital room as Locke wheels by). Locke-X, following his surgery, appears to have regained the lost memories from the island, as seen by his use of "push the button" and "I wish you had believed me" (from his suicide note to Jack). Which means that Desmond successfully awakened him, even if he's still not completely connected to those memories yet. But there's enough of a tenuous connection that he feels a profound sense of deja vu at the end when Jack utters those words to him, "I wish you had believed me."

This John Locke is one who refuses to take a leap of faith and who won't allow Jack to operate on him--after he's told he's a "candidate" for a new spinal surgery--to enable him to walk again. While the other timeline's Locke was paralyzed after being pushed out a window by his villainous father, Anthony Cooper, here his paralysis is a punishment for injuring Cooper in a plane crash just a week after getting his pilot's license. The other Locke saw the magic of the island because he was able to walk again; it was proof positive of the existence of something bigger than him, of something mystical and powerful. But here, Locke can't let go of his past. He's atoning for an accident but carrying around tremendous guilt for making his beloved father catatonic. Because he will never walk again, neither should John.

It's interesting here that the tables have been turned. Whereas Anthony Cooper did nothing but harm to John and use him, here he's a much loved father for whom Locke would do anything. Locke finally got his perfect family but at a staggering cost. Here, he's to blame for the fate that has befallen them and he's unable to move through his guilt.

Jack's advice to let go is a particularly profound one. That's been the struggle of each of the characters since the beginning of Lost, really. The flashbacks have illuminated their personal conflicts throughout their pre-island lives while, in the present, they attempt to move on, to let go of their conflicts and flaws, to accept who they are and become fully formed people. Could it be that once the two timelines come together again (as I believe they will once the island is raised up from the ocean floor) the survivors will finally receive their missing pieces, the parts of themselves that they needed to complete their very being?

The Music Box. Jack seems staggered that he keeps encountering people that were on Oceanic Flight 815 with him, from Bernard Nadler (yay!) and John Locke to his half-sister Claire Littleton. I wanted there to be a bit more of a shocked reaction from Jack than there was; after all, this is seriously weird. If you were on a plane from Sydney to Los Angeles and kept running into people who were on the flight a week later in strange and unpredictable ways, wouldn't you think there was something profound going on here, something that was propelling each of you to come together again?

While Jack goes in search of Anthony Cooper and attempts to heal Locke (his need to always fix things seen again here), he's surprised when Claire visits him at the hospital, bringing an item that their father had bequeathed to her. It's a music box that just happens to play "Catch a Falling Star," the nursery song that Claire had been singing a few weeks back. It also contains another appearance of the looking glass as well, as both siblings stare into the box, their reflections staring back at them. Could it be that these two are the next to "awaken"?

Jack is not going to let Claire go. He invites her to stay with him, saying that they're not strangers but family. As I mentioned earlier, this is an important piece of the Lost puzzle and, here in the alternate reality, we're going to see these characters be pushed together closer and closer as their purpose becomes clear.

Jack, meanwhile, doesn't want to let Locke get away either. He wants to fix him, to help him let go of his demons, his guilt, and his shame. Both of their fathers are gone, lost to them, and nothing they do--not punishing themselves, certainly--will fix that. Whatever happened, happened and hey have to let go and move on. They have to believe.

And they have to find what they're looking for. It's a subtle comment made by Bernard to Jack but it carries significant weight here. Just what is Jack hoping to accomplish? What are each of them looking for? And by coming together once more, will they achieve that end?

Ultimately, the writers are telling us that we're at the end of the narrative. The players are narrowing as the bodies begin to stack up once more on the island. I don't think we'll be seeing Sun and Jin again. Unlike Michael, their souls will be free to leave the island and won't be trapped there to whisper in the jungle. The final battle approaches and it will likely be a bloody and horrific one as the Man in Black makes his final gambit to escape his prison and unleash himself on the world. Will the remaining castaways be able to stop him and restore balance on the island? Are they each prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice? And will Jack be able to fulfill his destiny and become Jacob's replacement and the island's protector? I can't wait to find out over the next three episodes.

What did you think of this week's episode? Were you as moved as I was by Sun and Jin's death? Now that we're moving into the final act of Lost, where do you think the story is going? How do the timelines connect to one another? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Lost ("Across the Sea"), the motives of the enigmatic Man in Black are revealed.

Channel Surfing: ABC Expands Lost Finale (Again), Actors and Execs Talk Lost Twist, 24 Movie Update, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Looks like there's more Lost than we thought. The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that ABC has expanded the series finale of Lost by a half an hour, bringing the finale's running time to two and a half hours on May 23rd, after the two-hour recap special, Lost: The Final Journey, and before a special edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live featuring the cast at 12:05 am that night. The decision to expand the series finale was made after executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse completed post-production on the final episode. "The producers of ABC's hit drama have shot so much crucial material for the show's hugely anticipated series finale that the network has agreed to extend the last episode by an extra half hour," writes Hibberd. Which means that we get another half an episode of the series. Lucky, lucky us. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE OF LOST! Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen has an interview with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about last night's episode of Lost ("The Candidate") and about certain matters of good and evil. Asked why the producers had to kill off Sun and Jin this week, Lindelof said, "Because now you know this show is willing and capable of killing anyone." And those wondering about the Man in Black's true nature need to read the following quote: "There is no ambiguity,” said Cuse of the Man in Black. "He is evil and he has to be stopped... There will be very little debate at the end of this episode that [Fake Locke] is evil and bad and has to be stopped. The main narrative reason for him killing our main characters is to establish how much of a bad guy he is and to clearly identify him as the antagonist rolling into the end of the series." (Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch)

Elsewhere, TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams talks to Lost's Yunjin Kim about last night's episode. "It was a brilliant way to end Sun and Jin's life on the island," said Kim of the episode that killed off her character and Daniel Dae Kim's Jin. "Because of the way the story is going, especially once we get to Episode 15, 16 and 17, it's moving at a pretty fast pace. Let's say if Jin dies alone, Sun would only grieve for Jin for two seconds and we'd have to move on with the storyline. It was a very romantic death... As soon as I got on the phone with Damon Lindelof, he said 'This phone call is not one of those phone calls.' He told me how it was going to happen and I actually thought it was a beautiful ending to both of the characters. It will only propel the other survivors to go after Locke [Terry O'Quinn], and have a very good reason to go after Locke as aggressively as they do in the final episodes." (TVGuide.com)

E! Online's Megan Masters talks with 24 executive producer Howard Gordon, Kiefer Sutherland, and Mary Lynn Rajskub about the long gestating 24 feature film... and how the series finale of 24, set to air later this month, will impact the plot. "It's less of a cliff-hanger as much as it is a personal ending between a few of the characters, which is very intimate for us, when we're not blowing up the planet," Sutherland told Masters. "It was very wonderful for us to make and I hope the audience likes it as well. I'm very happy with it." Gordon agreed: "It's exciting, it's emotional and it just feels right. The ending fits somewhere between Jack dying and a happily ever after." As for Rakskub, she believes she'll be playing Chloe for some time to come. "The series really lends itself to the movie, but having said that, it is a satisfying ending," Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays fan fave Chloe, says. "Things are coming to a head in a pretty exciting way. This whole year has been a really strong year to go out on and the ending is just as strong... I know for sure that I'll be Chloe for at least a few years from now." (E! Online's Watch With Kristin)

NBC has confirmed that Jimmy Fallon will be the host of the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be telecast on Sunday, August 29th at 8 pm ET and 5 pm PT. "Hosting the Emmys has been a dream of mine ever since they told me I was doing it," said Fallon. (Variety's Emmy Central)

Deadline.com's Nikki Finke and Nellie Andreeva have an update on their Primetime Pilot Panic List, tracking rumors about which pilots are going to get the greenlight to series and which will fall by the wayside. (Deadline.com)

The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that Laurie Holden (The Shield) is the latest actor to board AMC's upcoming zombie drama series The Walking Dead, where she has been cast as Andrea, described as "a key member of the survivor group who has a proficiency with a sniper rifle and falls for a man twice her age." Also cast: Steven Yeun, who will play Glenn. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Life on Mars co-stars John Simm and Philip Glenister are set to reunite on-screen for Sky1's upcoming murder drama series Mad Dogs. (Broadcast)

Steve Blackman and Craig Turk have been promoted to co-head writers on ABC's Private Practice. They will report to creator Shonda Rhimes but will serve as "de-facto co-showrunners" on the series, which is widely expected to be returning next season. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jessica Walter (Arrested Development) has been cast in an upcoming episode of ABC Family's Make It or Break It, where she will play the grandmother of Cassie Scerbo's Lauren. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

It's official: Debra Winger is heading to Season Three of HBO's In Treatment, where she will play a patient of Gabriel Byrne's Paul in the upcoming season of the psychoanalysis drama series. (Variety)

GSN has ordered raunchy comedy game show Late Night Liars, featuring Jim Henson Company's puppets, and will launch the series on June 10th at 11 pm ET/PT. Larry Miller will be joined on the series by "two human contestants [who face] off against a panel of four 'celebrity puppets' who are also drunk and telling half-truths." (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Jenna Mullins talks to Glee's Jonathan Groff about his character's motives on the FOX musical-comedy. "He's certainly up to something, that's for sure," Groff said. "My reasons for being at the high school are surprising. I was surprised... He has some surprises up his sleeves, none that I can reveal right now." (E! Online's Watch With Kristin)

Jamie Ray Newman (Eastwick) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on Season Two of Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva, where she will play "an accomplished lawyer from a rival law firm who possesses a killer instinct," according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. In other casting news, the series has also cast Emily Kuroda (Gilmore Girls) as the mother of Margaret Cho's Teri and Robin Givens will play "a mean-spirited cosmetics lab exec who accuses Jane’s (Brooke Elliott) client of wrongdoing." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

TLC has renewed reality series Hoarding: Buried Alive for a second season, with nine episodes on tap. (Variety)

A&E has renewed Paranormal State for a firth season, with 20 episodes set to air in the fourth quarter of 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: NBC Goes Undercovers, Lost Leaked Finale Pages, Evangeline Lilly on Kate, Katee Sackhoff Talks 24, and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.

NBC has given a series order to spy dramedy Undercovers, from executive producers J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims, the first series pickup for the 2010-11 season. Series, which revolves around the exploits of a married couple who both work in espionage, stars Boris Kodjoe, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Carter MacIntyre, Gerald McRaney, and Ben Schwartz. “Having J.J. on our creative team is a great reason for celebration,” said Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios, in a statement. “In Undercovers, J.J. and Josh have found a breakout couple that is rich in character and brimming with romance and action. We feel he’s found the perfect cast.” (Televisionary)

MEGA-SPOILER! I won't be clicking over to read these (and would ask that you not discuss them in any specific detail here) but Italian blog Macchianera has obtained six script pages from the Lost series finale, scheduled to air May 23rd on ABC. While neither ABC nor executive producers Damon Lindelof or Carlton Cuse have commented on their provenance, it's believed by many that the pages are authentic and they are ridden with spoilers for plot twists between now and the season finale. [Editor: again, WARNING, don't click if you don't want to be spoiled! I also have to wonder why no one in Lost's production thought to individually watermark these pages.] (Macchianera via The Onion's A.V. Club)

Vulture's Mike Ryan, meanwhile, talks to Lost star Evangeline Lilly about the imminent end of the mind-bending drama series. Among the many questions posed to Lilly, one was regarding whether the actress had wished she could rewrite a scene that had featured Kate. "There is this one scene that I stand by that if I could have chosen or written it, it definitely would have gone down differently: the scene where Kate watches Jack carry a meal over to Juliet at the survivors camp," said Lilly. "They sit down together and eat and they're laughing and talking, and then Kate subsequently goes to Sawyer's tent and lavishes him. I feel like it was a cheapening of the character. I feel like she was always an emotionally confused women between these two men, but she was never that manipulative sexually, I don't think. I feel like that was something that if I could have rewritten it — and I tried to work with the producers on that one; I tried to change so at least it wasn't a cut. It could have been Kate seeing Jack then maybe a couple scenes go by, time goes by, and then you see her go to Sawyer's tent. It ended up being a direct cut and that she literally went in a snit, and was in a pout, because Jack was playing with another girl and she went and seduced Sawyer. I didn't dig that. I would have rewritten that." (New York Magazine's Vulture)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks with Katee Sackhoff about last night's recent plot twist on FOX's 24, which saw Sackhoff's Dana Walsh murdered by Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer. "She doesn’t have one redeeming quality," said Sackhoff of Dana. "I tried desperately to give her a redeeming quality. I really tried. The only thing I could come up with was that she didn’t crack when she was tortured... I kind of figured if I couldn’t give her a redeeming quality, I was just going to be the most ridiculously unsympathetic villain ever. I was going to try and make everyone hate her. That was my goal, and I think I succeeded." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FX has renewed Justified for a second season. (Televisionary)

Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore has signed a two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, under which he will develop projects for both broadcast and cable through his Tall Ships Prods. shingle. Moore had previously been based at Universal Media Studios. (Deadline.com)

TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams talks to V showrunner/executive producer Scott Rosenbaum about what to expect from the final three episodes this season as he offers up eight hints about upcoming plotlines, ranging from V soldiers and alien babies to showdowns, attacks, and betrayal. (TVGuide.com)

Variety's Cynthia Littleton is reporting that NBC might order one or two other projects this week, ahead of its upfront presentations. The likely candidates include dramas The Chase, Kindreds, and The Rockford Files, with The Event and Love Bites also said to be in the mix. On the comedy side, the strongest players appear to be Outsourced, Perfect Couples, Next, This Little Piggy and possibly Beach Lane, which is said to require some reworking. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Smallville executive producer Brian Peterson is "very optimistic" that Allison Mack will return to the CW superhero drama next season. "We’ve learned the hard way not to say [it's official] until everything is signed and dotted," Peterson told Ausiello. "So the best we can say is we’re really optimistic. And so is Allison." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Slightly better news for Party Down in its second episode; the Starz comedy scored a 129 percent increase week to week, bringing its ratings to 289,000 viewers. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Look for Adrian Grenier's Vince to cut his hair this season on HBO's Entourage, according to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck. “It’s for a story line where Vince cuts his hair without telling the director of his new movie,” executive producer Doug Ellin told Keck, denying reports that it had been Grenier who had shorn his locks without telling the producers. “As always with our show, art imitates life.” (TV Guide Magazine)

20th Century Fox Television has signed a multi-year overall deal with writing partners Patrick Masset and John Zinman--who together worked on Friday Night Lights and Caprica--under which they will develop new projects for the studio and be placed on the staff of a new drama series, likely either Midland, Ride Along, or Breakout Kings. (Hollywood Reporter)

Newcomer Jeff Rosick has been cast as Buddy Jr. in Season Five of Friday Night Lights, where he will recur throughout what will likely be the final season of the drama series. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

History Channel has ordered reality series Stan Lee's Superhumans, which the comic book guru and Daniel Browning Smith, will host as the duo meet "people who have remarkable abilities because of being genetically different." The series will be joined by a slew of other new programming at the cabler, including Brad Meltzer's Decoded, Top Gear, The Kennedys, and Chasing Mummies, as well as specials Voices From Inside the Towers, Jefferson, President's Book of Secrets, and Reagan. (Hollywood Reporter)

Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva offers a look at the rest of the development slate for nascent pay cabler Epix, which includes projects from Todd Field, Todd Holland, and Lawrence O'Donnell. (Deadline.com)

Spike has ordered reality pilot Weapon X, from executive producer Thom Beers, about "whether certain military battles could've been won if the losers had built a high-powered weapon that utilizes today's technology," and has ordered scripted drama pilot Rebel League, from writer Stephen Engel and executive producers Denis Leary and Jim Serpico, about the dysfunctional 1970s World Hockey Association. (Variety)

Syfy will air backdoor pilot (or, er, four-hour mini-series) The Phantom--starring Ryan Carnes--on a single night: Sunday, June 20th, beginning at 7 pm ET/PT. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Allison Janney Heads to Lost, Damon Lindelof Speaks, Chuck Fans Plan Flash Mob, Veronica Mars Update, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

SPOILER! "Presence," huh? TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck attempts to get to the bottom of just who Allison Janney (The West Wing) will be playing on the May 11th episode of Lost by going right to the source: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who are being rather cagey about Janney's mystery role. "We were so happy that she was able to do this," said Cuse. "It was really hard for her because she was getting ready to shoot a pilot, but she squeezed us in. Then once we saw her in this part we were like, 'How could anyone else have done this but Allison Janney?'" Lindelof wasn't giving Keck anything either: "We’ve been talking about this character for awhile and how nervous we were that we wouldn’t find the right actress," he said. "When we first started talking about this character in the writers room we called her 'Allison Janney' under the assumption that we wouldn’t be able to get her." [Editor: so who is Janney playing? My first instinct said that she'd be playing the mother of the Man in Black (or Penny's never-before-seen mother), though whether that will turn out to be true remains to be seen. Regardless, the role calls for someone with "incredible presence" and Janney has that in spades.] (TV Guide Magazine)

Elsewhere, The Hollywood Reporter's Matt Belloni has a video interview with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof in which the two discuss the series finale, the flash-sideways, and the fact that Desmond wasn't in the series' final cast photo ("A cast photo that includes some characters but not others is beyond our area of involvement," he said). Most intriguing is the fact that producers had brand new sets built for the final moments of Lost's series ender. "We did not shoot the final scene of the series on the final day ... for reasons of maintaining the secrecy of the show, and we had to build some sets for the finale -- the construction of the new sets took awhile so that's the work that we did last," Lindelof said, who went on to say that there will be a definitive ending to the series, even if some questions are left for the viewers to answer on their own. "The Sopranos ending only worked on The Sopranos," said Lindelof. "The series finale has to fit the show. We're trying to end lost in a way that feels Lost-ian and fair and will generate a tremendous amount of theorizing. We're going to be as definitive as we can be and say this is our ending, but there's no way to end the show where the fans aren't going to say, 'What did they mean by this?' Which is why we're not going to explain it."(Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Chuck fans are headed to Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, and Philadelphia (and possibly other cities as well) to initiate flash mob publicity stunts in support of a Chuck renewal. The idea, the brainchild of chucktv.net, will have fans congregate wearing the series' trademark Buy More uniforms. "Chuck fans are the most loyal, dedicated, imaginative and passionate fans any show could ever hope for," Chuck co-creator Josh Schwartz told The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "Every season they offer more proof they should be licensed and professional fans teaching other fans how it's done. This is yet another example of their awesomeness. We are, as always, grateful and inspired to deliver a show as good to them as they are to us." (Hollywood Reporter)

E! Online's Breanne L. Heldman caught up with Kristen Bell to ask her about the status of the potential Veronica Mars feature film that's been rumored for quite some time (and which someone asked creator Rob Thomas about at last week's Party Down panel at the Paley Center). "I wish I had news," said Bell. "Still in the process of campaigning to tell Warner Bros. that people would actually see it. I think that as long as you guys keep asking those questions and I keep answering them, Warner Bros. will one day get the picture that everybody does want it and that it will make its money back. I think, truthfully, they're a company and they want to know that they'll make their return back. We just have to convince them that they will." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

ABC Family has decided not to move forward with its comedy series 10 Things I Hate About You, which will wrap its second season in a few week. News of the cancellation was made originally by executive producer Carter Covington via Twitter."Sad news... ABC Family canceled the show," wrote Covington. "Thanks to our amazing fans. You are the reason I do this." (Variety)

SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has a first look at Rob Lowe on NBC's Parks and Recreation, where he is set to join the comedy series next month along with Party Down's Adam Scott. According to co-creator/executive producer Mike Schur, Lowe's character, state auditor Chris Traeger, "very quickly falls into a romantic entanglement" with a resident of Pawnee. "I don’t want to spoil who it is because it’s kind of a surprise," said Schur. [Editor: having already seen a sizable chunk of Lowe and Scott's first Parks and Rec episode a few weeks back, I can honestly say that fans are in for a treat with these new characters.] (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Well, that makes one NCIS cast member who definitely will be returning next season: Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that David McCallum yesterday closed a deal to return to the CBS procedural drama next season. Negotiations continue for the three other actors--Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, and Sean Murray--whose deals have expired. (Deadline.com)

USA Today's Gary Strauss has a profile of Breaking Bad's Dean Norris, who plays DEA Agent Hank Schrader on the AMC drama series. In its third season, Norris' Hank has quickly psychologically unraveled. "For an actor, playing one character and transitioning to a completely different one is a dream come true," Norris told Strauss. "Part of me misses the old Hank. But nothing could be better than to set up a character, dismiss him and then bring a whole different side to him." (USA Today)

Warner Bros. Television is said to be about to close a multi-year overall deal with Sex and the City multi-hypenate Michael Patrick King that will have him launch his own shingle at the studio, according to Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva. (Deadline.com)

Futon Critic is reporting that NBC will keep struggling freshman medical drama Mercy in the 9 pm timeslot on Wednesdays for the remainder of its season. (Futon Critic)

VH1 has ordered eight episodes of The OCD Project, in which an anxiety expert will attempt to rehabilitate six individuals with several obsessive-compulsive issues who will live together in a house and participate in "exposure and response prevention" therapy. Project, launching May 27th at 10 pm ET/PT, is executive produced by JD Roth, Todd A. Nelson, Adam Greener, Matt Assmus, Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, and Noah Pollack. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

UK satellite network Sky1 has commissioned a musical competition series, Must Be the Music, in an effort to compete with ITV's X Factor and Britain's Got Talent. Rather than dangle a recording contract, the series will award the winner a cash prize and the opportunity to perform live in a music arena. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere in UK television news, Kevin Lygo will quit Channel 4, where he served as director of television and content, in order to head up ITV Studios as managing director. (Broadcast)

Disney Channel has ordered a telepic based on Mark Peter Hughes' novel "Lemonade Mouth," about five high school freshmen who meet in detention and launch a band centered around unusual musical instruments. Project will be written by April Blair and executive produced by Debra Martin Chase. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Stay tuned.

Lost Without Lost: Jimmy Fallon Is Late

Missing Lost as much as I am this week? You're not alone.

While there was no new episode of Lost this week (though, rest assured, it returns next Tuesday evening with "The Candidate"), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon sought to help us make it through our withdrawal with another installment of their Lost parody series, Late.

On the latest episode of Late ("Carlton"), the survivors try to build an elevator to get off the floor, Jimmy is forced to confront his past, Higgins reunites with his father, and we learn the meaning of the mint, the goldfish, and the bathroom attendant.



Missed the four previous episodes of Late? No worry as you can watch them all below, beginning with the first. Just get your super-secret father-son handshake in order.

Episode One: "Where Are We?"



Episode Two: "Not Alone"



Episode Three: "Who Are You?"



Episode Four: "My Hairiest Adventure"



Lost returns next week.

Island Dreams: Surviving a Lost-Less Tuesday

Well, I made it through the wilderness: I survived a Tuesday night without a new episode of Lost with only a modicum of shaking and withdrawal pains.

Sure, I should be looking at this as a set-run for what will likely be the rest of my life without Lost, but it didn't remove any of the sting or pain of not having a new episode to think about (and write about) today. (That said, I probably slept better last night than I have in weeks, without Lost keeping me awake for fitful sleep of island-related dreams, bizarre theories, and an appearance or three of the Smoke Monster himself.)

It wasn't easy. My Tuesday evenings have a strict schedule that's usually built around watching Lost at 9 pm: dinner is eaten way in advance, dishes washed, tea made, and the phones shut off altogether. I like my Lost silent and I watch it live so that I can discuss the previous act with my wife during the commercial breaks.

Last night threw off that routine, so I took the opportunity to catch up on some screeners, including FX's fantastic Justified ("Blind Side"), which featured the first on-screen appearance of Bo Crowder, the imprisoned father of Walton Goggins' Boyd, who was played by none other than Lost's M.C. Gainey (a.k.a. Mr. Friendly himself, Tom).

Which sort of through my whole universe back out of whack again. I didn't expect to see Gainey turn up here, much less as an incarcerated felon whose anger is the stuff of legend and who might be the key to unlocking Justified's serialized story arc this season.

It was another reminder that Lost is ending and that we should get used to seeing many of the series' familiar faces begin turning up in other series and in other roles. I've been in a little bit of denial that we have less than a handful of episodes of Lost remaining until it goes to that island in the sky.

Its legacy is undeniable but the end of Lost also arrives at a time when serialized dramas are increasingly a dying breed at the networks, with the departure of both Lost and 24 signaling an end of an era at the broadcasters, which have seen increased competition in the genre from cable, both basic and premium.

I'm going to miss Lost. I dare say that there hasn't ever been a series quite like it and there won't ever be one quite the same once it's gone. Last night was a glimpse through the looking glass into a world without Lost, and it was a far less interesting place indeed.

Next week on Lost ("The Candidate"), Jack's suspicions about Locke make his decision more difficult after he is asked to complete a difficult task.

No New Lost Tonight Makes Jace Unhappy

Just a reminder: Lost is a repeat tonight. (It's a repeat of the Richard Alpert-centric "Ab Aeterno" from a few weeks back, to be specific.)

Don't shoot the messenger, though. As I said on Twitter earlier this morning, with no new episode of Lost on tonight, I feel like my whole week is off-kilter.

It's making me crabby and slightly anxious. Not in a nutty, constructing-a-squirrel-baby-out-of-bones-and-fur sort of way but it's an odd sensation when we're this close to the series finale.

Tuesday evenings have become a must-see night of television, between Lost, V, Glee, Justified, The Good Wife, Survivors and a slew of others and the highlight for me is definitely Lost, particularly with so few installments remaining before the drama series sails off into the sunset... or explodes with the heat of 1000 suns.

But no new Lost tonight makes Tuesday seem a little less special in my heart. Sure, we'll soon have to deal with a television landscape that is entirely devoid of Lost (as will fans of FOX's 24), but the world just seems more interesting with Lost it... and the rest of the work week a hell of a lot more exciting with a brand-new episode of Lost to theorize over, dissect, and deconstruct with friends.

I'll have to get used to not having that soon enough, but in the meantime, I can't help but wonder why Lost decided to break the momentum now and not, say, two weeks earlier, leaving us with the strengths of "Happily Ever After" to keep us content?

I'm curious to see what you think. Are you bummed that there's no new Lost tonight? Or are you relieved that you won't have to mentally juggle your candidates and recruits and metaphysical theorizing for one week? Discuss.

Next week on Lost ("The Candidate"), Jack's suspicions about Locke make his decision more difficult after he is asked to complete a difficult task.

Switching Sides Again: Lost Questions, More on "The Last Recruit"

Welcome to what's proving to be a twice-weekly feature now that Lost only has a handful of episodes remaining before it sets sail for the island in the sky.

I'll be taking a second look at this week's episode of Lost ("The Last Recruit"), which brought up so many reader questions and seemed to offer some tantalizing answers to the season's overarching mythology, I felt like it more than merited another post.

While I discussed "The Last Recruit" in full over here (along with theories about Christian, the Man in Black, Sayid, Sawyer, and more), I thought I'd answer some reader questions from the episode that arrived via comments, Twitter, or email.

So, without further ado, let's prepare to board the Elizabeth and head over to Hydra Island.

The War. Amanda from Michigan asked, "This war they were talking about, is it between Widmore and Smokey Locke?"

Good question. That's patently unclear. All season long, battle lines have been continually drawn, but it hasn't been entirely clear who represents either side. Was it a war between Jacob and his Nemesis and their followers? Between Sawyer and Jack? Between Widmore and the Smoke Monster currently using John Locke's form? Just what did Charles Widmore mean when he said, "war is coming to the island." Was he the one bringing it? Hmmm...

With all of the candidates and the recruits and the castaways, it seems as though the Final Battle is between Good and Evil with capital letters but I'm still not entirely sure just who will come to represent those two ideological positions in the end. Certainly, Jack seems tipped to be the Leader of the Good, even though he's currently in the Devil's clutches. But perhaps by not giving in, by not making a Faustian bargain with the Man in Black, Jack can escape his grip.

After all, it does seem to be as though Jack has already achieved his heart's desire: he's back on the island. If there's one person who might be able to succeed Jacob at this point, it's the good doctor himself. Could it be that he's the one destined to pick up the loom and start weaving a new tapestry?

As for the others, I dare say that we're going to see some of them coming back from the dark side, just as Hurley said Anakin did in Star Wars. Ben has already made a major step towards redemption this season. Sayid has already seemed to snap out of his darkness (at least a bit), having gained some knowledge that his master isn't infallible. Will Claire show her true colors? Is she too far gone, having snapped mentally long ago?

Christian Shephard. One of the major reveals this week was that the Man in Black claimed to have been the various manifestations of Christian that we've seen since the beginning of the series. But I had some doubts about the veracity of his story. As did some of you as well. Rockauteur wrote:

"I think MIB was lying about being Christian at the beginning of the series. You point out a lot of inconsistencies with this and I think you're right. Though if its not him, is it Jacob? Even though Jacob was alive the entire time in the foot of the statue? And who really was talking to Hurley both in Los Angeles at the insane asylum and on the island? Actually Michael? MIB as Michael? Jacob as Michael? Ditto with Charlie. Confusing. And who convinced Locke to turn the wheel? Because the wheel not only stabilized the island, but it allowed for passage of Locke from the island. Did MIB as Christian manipulate Locke as Jacob's best replacement and island protector to leave the island, hoping he would never return? Did he know he would die and thus be able to use his body as a loophole? Or was that Jacob as Christian (or some other force) that needed Locke to turn the wheel so that Ajira could land on the island, thus bringing back the candidates?"

Let's take that apart one point at a time. We've yet to see Jacob exhibit any ability to appear as another person, living or dead, so far on the series. While I believe that the boy in the jungle is an incarnation of Jacob himself, he was only seen after Jacob's corporeal form had died. Jacob has appeared to the castways off-island but only in the guise of himself. Hurley has seen dead people before, but they've proven to be the dead individuals themselves rather than any manifestation of the smoke monster. Which I take to mean that the Michael that's talking to Hurley (as well as those other individuals he's spoken to such as Charlie Pace) actually are the people in question and not the smoke monster.

If the Man in Black was telling the truth, then every appearance on Christian was really in Jacob's Nemesis, attempting to manipulate the castaways into doing something that would help produce the loophole he needed to escape the island.

The fact that Christian has appeared to Jack off-island is troubling to me because we've been told time and again that the smoke monster can't leave the island and thus this entire endgame has been manufactured as a means of egress for him from the island. I'd posit that the Christian who appears here and likely appeared to Jack at the start of the series (leading him to water) isn't the Man in Black but Christian Shephard himself (which would square away with the Christian/Vincent scene in the webisode "So It Begins"). Which means that Christian is alternately Christian Shephard and the Man in Black-as-Christian.

As for who told Locke to turn the wheel, I'd say that was definitely the Man in Black as Christian, who needed Locke to move the island and make his way back to the main island so that he could put his entire plan into effect. As a result, Locke is killed by Ben, Locke is brought back to the island with Ben, the Man in Black assumes Locke's form, and Ben kills Jacob... giving the Man in Black the loophole he needed.

As for Ajira landing on the island, we're told that they needed a proxy for Christian's corpse in order to approximate the conditions of the Oceanic Flight, but I believe that any corpse could have sufficed, not just Locke's. The fact that the coffin contains the dead John Locke is what sets up this entire sixth season. Had Locke never turned the wheel, none of this would have occurred and Locke never would have left the island. Therefore, I still say it's the Man in Black's doing.

On a similar note, Pan asked, "Wasn't it Christian who appeared to Michael on the freighter telling him that the island was done with him as the freighter blew up? Now he can't get to Hydra without a boat?"

Good point. I'd argue in that case that it was the actual Christian Shephard who appeared to Michael rather than Man in Black-as-Christian. Which would allow for the fact that the smoke monster can't cross water (a necessity for an island prison) and explain why Christian here seemed to be attuned to the island's rationale and will. Otherwise, there's a bit of a paradox about the fact that the smoke monster can appear across bodies of water (as in the above) but not just make himself travel to Hydra Island. To play devil's advocate, maybe there's something about the fact that he's locked into a corporeal form now? (Though I still think there are two separate entities when it comes to the Man in Black and Christian.)

And Kilmooni asked, "What do you think MiB reasoning would have been for killing Eko way back when? Something to fear there?"

No, I don't think so. After all, he killed the pilot and there was nothing to fear from Seth. And he's killed indiscriminately over centuries, slaughtering people for no real reason other than he can (remember: the candidates are protected). Besides, the smoke monster really killed Eko because Adawale wanted off the series. (I kid, I kid!)

Sawyer. FoosRckKona wrote, "When you pointed out how much Sawyer wanted off the island it clicked and I drew comparisons of MiB to Sawyer and then Jacob to Jack. Sawyer wants off the island as bad as MiB and Jack knows (to a certain extent) that it would be a bad thing if MiB got off the island. Maybe?"

I think it's a deliberate attempt to set up the same sort of dichotomy there: Sawyer wants nothing more than to leave the island and Jack won't let him. But I think that the difference is that Sawyer will eventually realize that he has to stay and thwart his own selfish desires. He hasn't seen what happens when you leave the island, having been trapped there this entire time (like Jin). Will Jack be able to convince the skeptic? After all, Jack seems to have assumed Locke's old role in preventing them from leaving at all costs. The skeptic has become the believer. So, who's to say that history won't repeat itself?

Oceanic Six Disparity. Rockauteur stated, "...we still need explanation on why some of the candidates ended up 1977 and why Sun et al didn't."

Yes, we do. I believed that some force--Jacob, perhaps?--was keeping Sun and Jin apart this whole time for a very specific reason but this week saw the two of them come together and finally reunite.

What should we make of the fact then that Sun didn't travel back to 1977? I'm not sure. Could it be because of her involvement with Charles Widmore? (Which seems but all forgotten about thus far this season. I'm hoping that we get a scene between Sun and Charles in the next episode that alludes to their deal from Season Five.)

Because Sun didn't travel back to 1977, she was the sole member of Oceanic Flight 815 stuck in the present, alongside John's corpse, Ben, and Frank Lapidus. I think that's a significant fact. And her presence in the past would have meant that Jin wouldn't have been so desperate to find her once the others traveled back (and forwards) in time. He wouldn't have ended up in Claire's trap, then the Man in Black's camp, and then in Widmore's makeshift HQ. So... causality?

Lost-X Locke. Jonah Blue said, "I'm seriously hoping that the real Locke in the Lost-X time-line will get to do something significant to make things right, because he was the original man of faith when it came to the island (and, ironically, was in opposition to Jack who once lacked this faith)."

I think he will. Jack's spinal surgery and his remarkable--some might say miraculous--ability to walk again will lead him to resume his position as the island's champion and true believer. While the Oceanic Flight 815 passengers are as unyet unaware of the island's existence, they will begin to figure out that the impossible memories they all seem to share revolve around the same locale: the island. Which means that they will begin to try to find this place and, as I've mentioned since the beginning of this season, have to raise the island up from the ground. But in this timeline, will John Locke be killed again? Or will he achieve his rightful destiny?

Alien space ship. HKL theorized, "Maybe Jacob is an alien and the island is his spaceship (would explain the electromagnetic anomalies nicely, would also explain how it can sink to the ground of the ocean, would also explain how it can suddenly disappear and travel in time, would also explain the donkey wheel as part of the ship controls). Either he is sent by his species to assess if and when humans are ready to make contact, or maybe he is an individual that somehow uses human emotion to survive. If he is sent by his species, maybe he is searching for a candidate to make contact with his people. Waw, this is just too much off, hehe."

Agreed, it's way off-base. I don't think that Team Darlton is going to go the whole alien route this late in the game. Just not going to happen. No way that Jacob is an alien, sorry!

Atlantis. Perry K, wrote, "I still believe the island is or was Atlantis. If I remember some of the legend, there could have been a war. Which could explain that statue and the paints on the walls under the statue."

Yes, the legends of Atlantis, at least those written about by Plato, indicate that Atlantis was involved in a failed military invasion of Athens and then sank into the ocean after "a single day and night of misfortune." But I'm not convinced that it is Atlantis, particularly given the Egyptian symbolism and hieroglyphs that cover the Temple walls and other areas. Yes, the island is at the bottom of the ocean in the Lost-X timeline and is impossible to find at various times, but that seems to be more the result of various electromagnetic properties and semi-mystical abilities that the island has rather than it being the famed lost kingdom of Atlantis.

Personally, I'd hate to see it end up being Atlantis. I'd almost rather, if it went the route of borrowing from mythology that it was the floating island of Chemmis, where the god Horus was raised by his mother and was protected from his uncle Seth. It fits more with the sort of iconography that Lindelof and Cuse have been using, pays homage to Egyptian mythology and explores some of the themes of good vs. evil that have embodied the series since the beginning.

Heart of Darkness. The promo for the next episode of Lost used a variation of a quote ("Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.") found in Joseph Conrad's seminal 1902 novel "Heart of Darkness," about the constant struggle for good and evil, sharing with Lost a similiar preoccupation with dissecting the duality of light and darkness in the soul of every man. Only fitting, really.

Come back Wednesday to discuss next week's episode and head to the comments section here to discuss any of the above thoughts, theories, or additional questions...

Lost returns with a new episode on May 4th.

Channel Surfing: ABC to Reair Lost Pilot, No Two and a Half Men Sans Sheen, Hal Holbrook Gets Anarchy, Parks and Rec, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Looks like ABC is trying to make its Lost fans even happier. The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that ABC has scheduled a repeat airing of its two-hour pilot for Lost, which will air Saturday, May 22nd (from 8-10 pm ET/PT), the night before the series finale of Lost, bumping the number of hours the network is devoting to lost to ten that week. The network will be airing the enhanced (read: pop-up) version of the pilot. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

In other Lost-related news, tickets go on sale today at 10 am PT for Lost Live: The Final Celebration, being held May 13th at UCLA's Royce Hall. The event will feature Michael Giacchino conducting a full orchestral performance of original music from Lost, an advance screening of the penultimate episode of Lost and appearances from cast members Nestor Carbonell, Michael Emerson, and Jorge Garcia. Tickets can be purchased here or here. (via press release)

RadarOnline.com is reporting that Warner Bros. Television won't reconfigure Two and a Half Men without Charlie Sheen and should he not return to the series, it will mark the end of the highly rated CBS comedy. "There has been absolutely no discussion about reworking Two and a Half Men without Charlie. No one is even considering it,” an unnamed studio source told RadarOnline.com. "At this moment, if Charlie doesn’t come back, that’s the end of the series." (via Fancast)

Five-time Emmy winner Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild) has been cast in four episodes of Season Three of FX's Sons of Anarchy, where he will play Nate Madock, the father of Gemma Morrow Teller (Katey Sagal), currently on the lam after being framed for murder. Holbrook will make his first appearance on the third season premiere of Sons of Anarchy, slated to air in September. (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Megan Mullally will be heading back to Pawnee next season. Mullally will reprise her role as Tammy, the malicious ex-wife of Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), in an episode that will air during the series' third season, currently shooting to accommodate Amy Poehler's pregnancy. (Entertainment Weekly)

Syfy has cast Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5) in original telepic 51 and A.J. Buckley (CSI: NY) in The Doomsday Scrolls. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

We're Done Going Back: Shifting Sides on Lost

Do our actions or our intentions define us? Once someone has given themselves over completely to the dark side, is it possible for them to cross back over? Do we each have the potential, inside ourselves, for redemption?

This are some of the questions raised by this week's episode of Lost ("The Last Recruit"), written by Paul Zbyszewski and Graham Roland and directed by Stephen Semel, which showed yet another restructuring of the tenuous alliances maintained by the castaways as the battle for the island--and possibly the world at large--begins once more.

Since the beginning of its run, Lost has always circled around the notion of belonging as various factions within the group sprung up over time, typically around the division between Jack and Locke, the ultimate man of science/man of faith dichotomy. In recent weeks, Jack has displayed a major departure from his scientific leanings, approaching the island and his purpose with the sort of singular grace and faith that marked John Locke--dead but far from forgotten--for so many seasons.

So what did I think of this week's episode? Draw yourself a map, sign in to reception for the fifteenth floor, take a dive in the ocean, and let's discuss "The Last Recruit."

I have to say that I liked "The Last Recruit," but I didn't love this week's episode. I was engaged the entire time but it didn't leave me with the sort of rampant excitement and awe that mark the very best episodes of Lost. Instead, it answered some questions in a very matter-of-fact way, featured a reunion several seasons in the making, and reshuffled the deck as to where the castaways are, who is controlling them, and whom they are loyal to. (The latter of which is typically: themselves, always.)

I had my doubts that Sun and Jin would ever reunite, given that it seemed as though some mystical force had contrived to keep them separated for the last few seasons. (And not just then either: the two spent a good deal of Season Two apart as well when Jin ended up with the tailies after the Others destroyed the raft and kidnapped Walt.) But despite the fact that it look thirty-odd episodes to bring these two back together again, I found their reunion to be almost entirely devoid of emotion.

Which is weird, as I like Sun and Jin a lot but I wasn't emotionally moved by their reunion scene and the fact that Sun finally regained her voice as a result. It should have been a bigger, more powerful sequence but I didn't really feel like it met up with other previous reunions. I can't quite put my finger on why this didn't do it for me, either. It just felt a little hollow, and not just because their tender scene together was cut short by Zoe.

Elsewhere, the group once again split off and reconfigured themselves. Sawyer hatched a plan to steal Desmond's sailboat, the Elizabeth, and use it to get to Hydra Island and away from the Man in Black. But, uh, philosophical differences between Sawyer and Jack lead to him being ousted from the group while crazy-haired Claire tagged along and Sayid may have switched sides, again.

New York Times' David Izkoff said earlier today on Twitter, "Lost is like watching a fist-fight in a foreign country's parliament - no idea how it got so factionalized and no clue who to root for," and I'd have to agree. I'm not sure who I am rooting for or why. Jack seemed to finally have a revelation about their purpose on the island, only to wind up back in the clutches of Jacob's Nemesis; Hurley's plan to go see Locke may have reunited the group but lost them the person who might be the ideal candidate to succeed Jacob. All of which is a little head-scratching, really.

While each of the castaways returned to the island for a specific reason--most of which haven't changed since the beginning of Season Five--there's a lot of back and forth here, which--while it ramps up the tension in the short-term--also begins to erode the drama a little bit. Answers are being given but they're often so matter-of-fact that it eliminates any sense of revelatory surprise. (I'm thinking specifically here of learning that the Man in Black was masquerading as Christian Shephard for several seasons.)

Christian Shephard/Man in Black. Speaking of which, yes, we learned this week that the ghostly appearances of Christian Shephard that have dotted the series' narrative since the beginning didn't reflect any resurrection of Jack's dead doctor daddy, but rather another manifestation of the smoke monster, given his ability to take on the shape of those who have died.

However, I'm still not entirely sure how this resolves the mystery of where Christian's corpse went to after the plane crash--or that Lost Moments webisode from Vincent's perspective that had Christian appearing to the dog and telling him to wake up his son ("He has work to do"). Nor does it explain Christian's appearance at the hospital to Jack in Season Four...

The Man in Black claims that he appeared to Jack as Christian because Jack and the castaways needed to find water and he wanted to help them. Whether this is true is unclear as the Nemesis is a master manipulator and often doesn't totally speak the truth. He further claims that he was always trying to help the castaways leave but that Jacob wouldn't allow it as they had been chosen and were therefore trapped on the island by their purpose.

All of which makes me very suspicious. While he might claim to be a sheep in wolves' clothing, I don't trust the Man in Black at all. After all, he's spent the last few centuries looking for a loophole to escape his island prison and, hell, he has killed several of the castaways so I hardly think that he's quite as helpful as he claims to be. He needs these people just as much as Jacob does. They're the rocks placed on the scales. In order to escape, he needs to tip the scales towards black and he needs these specific people--former and current candidates to replace Jacob--for his own devices. Is it possible that both Jacob and his Nemesis are selecting their replacements from the same candidate pool?

The Final Recruit. The titular character would therefore appear to be Jack Shephard, who could arguably be described as the central character within Lost's entire mythology. The Man in Black's expression at the end of last week's installment seemed to point towards some major tipping point when he saw Jack enter the camp. While the Nemesis claims that he needs all of the castaways in order to make his escape from the island, he seems to have an especial interest in Jack Shephard. It's Jack, and not Hurley or anyone else, that the Man in Black wants to catch up with and he immediately begins to spin him a web of (possible but likely) lies about dead fathers, water sources, and providing an unseen assistance to the castaways in their early days on the island.

Is it possible that Claire is correct and Jack became the Man in Black's catspaw as soon as he heard the first word from his mouth? Can his voice really have that much power over the castaways? After all, Sawyer has proven to have no such compunction about selling out his supposed lord and master, even after speaking with him multiple times. Can one word rob you of your free-will and destiny?

After all, Jack does opt to take a dive off of the Elizabeth and swim back to the island rather than attempt to leave. He knows just what fate will befall him once he returns to the "real world," a place of anguish for him where he ended up a drunken, broken man at the end of his tether. On the island, he has a purpose and, other than Hurley, he seems to be tipped towards being the ideal replacement for Jacob. But, in choosing to get off the boat, he places himself back int he path of the Nemesis... and Widmore's artillery shells. Thrown through the air when one explodes on the beach where he's just been found by the Nemesis, his life is saved by the Man in Black, who carries him off the beach and into the thicket.

While the Man in Black is allegedly forbidden from killing Jack, couldn't he have just let him get killed by the shelling of the beach? In theory perhaps, but that presupposes several things: that he doesn't need Jack and that he can stand by and watch as he dies. Both of which would appear to be wrong. After all, he could have let Sawyer die several episodes back when the rope ladder snapped but he saved his life, which makes me believe that both Jacob and his smoky counterpart need these individuals and need them alive. The island isn't done with them yet, after all...

So is Jack on the Man in Black's side now ("You're with me now") or is his loyalty still up for grabs? I'm leaning towards the latter as I don't see him siding with the darkness or the smoke monster in the upcoming battle. Jack knows that his purpose is to safe-guard the island and his lack of wanting to leave would point towards his willingness to take over for Jacob, now that John Locke is dead.

Sayid. Interestingly, Sayid appeared to change sides as well. He seemed quite prepared to murder Desmond, who was alive but stranded at the bottom of the well but Desmond managed to be quite convincing in his defense, awakening a realization in Sayid that, even if the Man in Black was able to follow through on his promise, that Nadia would still turn from him after seeing the blood on his hands. (It's also interesting that Desmond seems, while lacking fear, to have a Zen-like calm and precise reason about him. His arguments are not emotional but rational, and he seems to win over Sayid.)

So does Sayid shoot Desmond? It doesn't seem that way, especially as we'd be privy a scene in which the highly pivotal Desmond, you know, died. Instead, Sayid returns to the rendezvous point with the Nemesis and tells him that he followed through with his mission. Not only does Sayid issue a bare-faced lie but the Man in Black believes him. It's an important turning point for Sayid because it's proof positive that the Man in Black is not omnipotent or infallible. He fell for his lie quite easily in fact. The glimmer of a smile on Sayid's face points towards dawning realization as well as the knowledge that he can perhaps trick the master trickster.

In doing so, does Sayid take the first step on the long road to redemption? It does appear that way, especially if he didn't kill Desmond. Which means that there might still be another candidate out there, one that can bring together Jack and Desmond and reunite the entire group for the first time in what seems like a zillion seasons.

Claire. And then there's Claire. She too seems to be far too gone to even hope for any chance at happiness or redemption. Her suspicious nature and hatred of Kate allow her to get the drop on the escapees as they attempt to board the Elizabeth. Claire isn't quite as mentally unstable as she initially appeared (though I'd have to question the sanity of anyone owning a squirrel baby); she's aware of the fact that the Man in Black pretended to be her father and seems also aware that he isn't John Locke either (despite the fact that she calls him John), but instead follows him because he was the only one who didn't abandon her.

Which brings Claire to a crossroads. She can attempt to stop the castaways from taking the boat and thwarting "John's" plan or she can go with them. Ben lay the first brick of the road of redemption when he was forgiven by Ilana. Here too Claire's soul seems up for grabs as Kate holds out an olive branch and suggests that Claire come with them and be reunited with Aaron, her sole reason for coming back to the island in the first place.

It all comes down to a choice and it always does: the path of righteousness or destruction. In getting on the ship and seeing Kate not as an enemy, it's appears as though Claire has too switched sides. Now let's just hope that Desmond had a hairbrush and some face soap on that boat....

Sawyer. I found it interesting that Sawyer's argument to Kate about rescuing Jack after he jumped off the boat was that they're done going back, a clear reversal of Jack's battle cry of "We have to go back!" from the Season Three finale. Sawyer never escaped the island. He's been there for years at this point and doesn't have the benefit of Jack's experience of what happened when they left. He believes that he's done with the island but he's still thinking in terms of self-preservation. He's not ready to make the leap of faith that Jack has. While it seemed as though Jack was playing skeptic to Locke's believer, it now seems as though the ultimate skeptic is Sawyer himself. Convincing him that he may have to sacrifice himself in order to save the island--and the world--is not going to be easy. Especially when he's just as hell-bent as the Man in Black in getting the hell off the island.

Widmore. Never con a con man... but that's just what happened to Sawyer here. In attempting to play Widmore and the Man in Black against each other, Sawyer foolishly believes that Widmore will keep up his end of the bargain. But now that he has his hands on nearly all of the castaways--save Jack and Sayid--his plan has changed dramatically. Just what does Widmore want with them? Is he willing to kill all of them--as he was in the past--in order to prevent the Man in Black from having a means of escape? Or is Widmore after something else entirely? Is it power? Reclaiming the island and his destiny? Hmmm...

Lost-X. This week's flash-sideways showed the tightening of the web as the castaways found themselves being drawn closer and closer: Sawyer interrogates Kate before he and Miles pursue Sayid for the restaurant killings; Sun and Jin arrive at the hospital, just as Locke is being wheeled into the OR; Desmond brings Jack, Claire, and Ilana together before she's able to take her adoption meeting. (Could it be that in this reality, Claire does manage to raise Aaron after all?)

Intriguingly, there's a moment of frisson as Sun seems to recognize John Locke as they're both being taken inside the hospital. Recognize is putting it lightly; she's actually terrified of him, saying "It's him, it's him" to Jin. I'd posit that Sun has begun to become aware of her memories of the other timeline. Her recognition of John Locke isn't that he was a passenger on their flight from Sydney but something far worse. In that moment she sees not John Locke but his alternate reality doppelganger, the Man in Black. Sun is therefore tapped into a multi-dimensional awareness; the aphasia and bump on the head transferred her lack of English to mainstream Sun while that Sun sent something back: a memory of Jacob's Nemesis. (Though, please be aware, I'm not suggesting for a second that Lost-X Locke is the Man in Black because that's patently untrue.)

I'm interested to know just how Desmond knows Ilana Verdansky, here the Los Angeles attorney overseeing Christian Shephard's estate. Gathering Jack and his son David for the reading of Christian's will, it seems an act of fate that Ilana should come face to face with Claire Littleton, whom they had been looking for after she was bequeathed a portion of Christian's estate in his will.

Desmond seems particularly charming and silver-tongued here. Despite her reticence about seeing a lawyer, Claire is finally convinced by Desmond to see his friend, who owes him a favor... only to discover that she's been reunited with her family. As I said before, I can't help but wonder if this Claire decides not to give Aaron up for adoption after all. Desmond seems to indicate that she could be taken advantage of and her sudden introduction to her half-brother Jack might deter her from taking that meeting after all.

Jack, meanwhile, is called away to operate on none other than Locke, whose life was--rather ironically--saved by his wheelchair. Jack recognizes him as he begins his surgery, likely restoring Locke the ability to walk... as well as a belief in the miraculous power of destiny. Everything, as they say, comes back around...

All in all, an interesting if not show-stopping episode of Lost that offered some insights and solved a few mysteries while keeping the action humming along as the various gamesmen are moving their pieces into place. With only four episodes remaining until the series finale, I anticipate some major revelations ahead as the Final Battle gets underway.

What did you think of this week's episode? Wonder what Widmore is planning? Did Sayid turn good again? Will Claire betray the group? Agree with the above theories or disagree? Still have questions? Head to the comments section to discuss, ponder, probe, and more.

Next week brings a repeat of "Ab Aeterno," so we'll have to wait a fortnight for our next brand-new installment. In two weeks on Lost ("The Candidate"), Jack's suspicions about Locke make his decision more difficult after he is asked to complete a difficult task.

Channel Surfing: Matthew Weiner Wants Six Seasons of Mad Men, More Breaking Bad (?), Lost, Doctor Who, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Looks like we're at the halfway point for AMC's Mad Men, at least according to creator Matthew Weiner. Speaking at last week's National Association of Broadcasters, Weiner stated that he would like to wrap up the period drama after six seasons as he couldn't see the series, produced by Lionsgate Television, going past that point. [Editor: Personally, I think that this is a good thing as an end date would allow Weiner to not only go out on a high note but begin planning the back half of the series' run while knowing just when it will end, much like Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had requested an end date for Lost/] (The Weekly Blend via The Wrap's Weekly Blend)

Elsewhere at AMC, The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that Breaking Bad is likely to be back on the cabler for a fourth season, following news that executive producers were told that the series is ready for a renewal. However, there is currently no deal in place between studio Sony Pictures Television and AMC. While neither side would comment, Adalian writes that "all parties are hopeful [a deal] will happen." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

Looks like some lucky fans will be able to say goodbye to Lost in style, with ABC preparing several official Lost-related events next month in Los Angeles and New York. Carlton Cuse spilled the info on the May 13th Lost Live: The Final Celebration event at UCLA's Royce Hall last week on Twitter, which is believed to be a fundraiser that will feature an advance screening of the series' penultimate episode and a live orchestra performance, conducted by Michael Giacchino, of music from the series. ABC has yet to announce this or several other events that are being planned for Los Angeles and New York in May, including two overseen by Paul Scheer and Upright Citizens Brigade for May 22nd. (Variety)

TV Guide Magazine, meanwhile, has the "final Lost cast photo," which depicts the cast of Lost among the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 as the actors are asked where they would like to see their characters end up once Lost wraps its run next month. (via Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor will be appearing in two episodes of Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures, both of which will be written by former Doctor Who head writer/executive producer Russell T Davies. The move marks the first time that Davies will have written for Smith's Doctor. The two-parter, part of the series' fourth season which is set to air this fall on CBBC, finds the Doctor reunited with former companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning)--last seen in 1973--and Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) herself, as well. "It's a fantastic script and I can't wait to work with another Doctor and hope Matt has fun with us," said Sladen. "I've known Katy for ages and I am delighted to be working with her. I last met her in LA but this time we will be in Cardiff. LA was good but Cardiff is better."

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Aaron Ashmore (Smallville) has been cast in a recurring role on USA drama series In Plain Sight this season. Ashmore will play "the smart yet rough-around-the-edges long-lost half brother to Mary (Mary McCormack) and Brandi (Nichole Hiltz)" who looks to reconcile with his siblings. He's slated to first appear in the back half of Season Three. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd is reporting that CBS is has shot a pilot presentation for a hidden camera comedy series WTF! (that would be, ahem, Wow That's Funny!) with Drew Carey. According to Hibberd, "the project combines a hidden-camera show with flash-mob tactics as the group pulls benevolent pranks on deserving citizens." Project is produced by Raquel Prods and RelativityReal, with Jay Blumenfeld, Tony Marsh, Charlie Todd, Drew Carey, and Tom Forman serving as executive producers. (Hollywood Reporter)

TVGuide.com's Adam Bryant talks to Stana Katic about tonight's episode of ABC's Castle, in which Katic's Kate Beckett gets a love interest, who just happens to be played by Battlestar Galactica's Michael Trucco. "It's really wonderful to have the opportunity to show a more sensual, romantic side to Beckett," Katic told Bryant. "I think it's great having someone like Tom Denning who is genuinely interested in Kate and is formidable enough to become a bit of a competitor for Castle... It forces Castle to have some introspection as to why he hasn't approached her yet in that way and what's going on with his relationships and past romantic experiences. He's had a number of girls swing in and swing out. So, this is an opportunity for us as an audience to delve deeper into something he may not realize he's missing." (TVGuide.com)

Casting tidbits: Henry Zebrowski (Michael & Michael Have Issues) has been cast in NBC comedy pilot Beach Lane. Elsewhere, James Carpinello (The Punisher) will recur on CBS drama series The Good Wife. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Land has ordered nine episodes of comedy Retired at 35, starring Johnathan McClain and George Segal. Series, from executive producers Chris Case, Michael Hanel, and Mindy Schultheis, will premiere in first quarter 2011. (Variety)

Warner Bros. Television has signed a blind pilot script deal with Canadian writer Rob Sheridan (Corner Gas), under which he will move to Los Angeles this summer to develop a half-hour comedy for the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

HBO Documentary Films has picked up US television rights to Alex Gibney's documentary My Trip to Al-Qaeda, which it will air this fall. (Variety)

Cybill Shepherd has been cast opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in an untitled Lifetime original telepic, where she will play Hewitt's mother, a waxer at a women's beauty salon who discovers that her daughter has become a prostitute in order to pay her bills and keep her family in their home. (Hollywood Reporter)

VH1 is set to launch a staggering 44 series, each of which will fall into the cabler's newly devised programming hubs: music, celebrity and "real life stories." (Hollywood Reporter)

Marjorie Cohn has been promoted to president, original programming and development, of Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids and Family Group. She continues to report to Cyma Zarghami. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

More Whispers in the Darkness: Lost Questions, More on "Everybody Loves Hugo"

Welcome to what's proving to be a twice-weekly feature now that Lost only has a handful of episodes remaining before it sets sail for the island in the sky.

I'll be taking a second look at this week's episode of Lost ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), which brought up so many reader questions and seemed to offer some tantalizing answers to the season's overarching mythology, I felt like it more than merited another post.

While I discussed "Everybody Loves Hugo" in full over here (along with theories about the totality of consciousness, Locke, the Boy in the Jungle, and more), I thought I'd answer some reader questions from the episode that arrived via comments, Twitter, or email.

So without further ado, let's tilt our heads and listen to those whispers once more.

Whispers. This week's episode finally revealed just what the whispers were, though recent seasons haven't utilized the whispers as much as the early seasons. On that note, rockauteur asked, "Didn't the whispers get Shannon killed? What were they warning of exactly in that situation?"

Good point. In this week's episode, Michael explained to Hurley just what the whispers were, saying that they were those who couldn't escape the island and had to remain there and that he was trapped there because of what he had done. The whisperers then are people who once were on the island and committed actions that chained their souls to the island. But while it seems here like the whisperers want to help Hurley, maybe that's not their main agenda. At least, not typically.

Shannon was killed by Ana-Lucia after Walt appeared to her (whether or not that was actually Walt is still under debate, several seasons later) and the whispers surrounded her. But who is to say what the whispers were urging her to do? Walt, in particular, seemed to tell her to be quiet, placing his finger on his lips in a strict "shhh!" fashion. Had Shannon not run into the jungle and remained silent, Ana-Lucia wouldn't have had reason to shoot. Could it be that the whispers were actually warning Shannon of her impending death?

When We (First) Meet Again. rockauteur asked, "Pierre - wouldn't he remember Hurley from 1977 Dharma?"

Short answer: nope.

Long answer: still nope, but I'll tell you why. Hurley met Pierre Chang in 1977 as part of the Dharma Initiative but the reason he did so was the last link in a long chain of causality. Let's look at that backwards: he was in 1977 because he traveled back in time after returning to the island on Ajira Flight 316. He was on that flight because he wanted to return to the island. He wanted to return to the island because he escaped as a result of the island moving while he was aboard the helicopter with the other members of the Oceanic Six. He was looking to get off the island after being there for more than 100 days. He arrived on the island because Oceanic Flight 185 crashed.

It's that last point that's the most important. The only reason Hurley met Pierre Chang in 1977 stems from the fact that the plane crashed in 2004. Had the plane not crashed, Hurley would not have met Pierre Chang. Therefore, in the Lost-X continuity, because Oceanic Flight 185 doesn't crash, it never lands on the island (it's undersea, remember), so Hurley never travels back in time to meet Pierre in 1977.

Confused? Let me break it down further. Because time travel has played a role in several formative events for the series, those events have all been negated because the plane never crashed on the island in the first place. Even though Juliet detonated the hydrogen bomb in 1977, the Lost-X 1977 was a different place because the castaways weren't there. That explains why certain things haven't lined up: why Ben and his dad are on good terms and live together in LA, why Pierre works in a museum, why Daniel became a concert pianist.

Of course, the plane also didn't crash because there was no island for it to crash on. And because there was no island, there was no need for Desmond to be pressing a button every 108 minutes. Or not pressing it once. Given that Desmond's failure to do so is what brought down the plane, everything once again spirals back to Desmond. Without him, none of this plays out as it "should."

The Bag. There has been some confusion about the bag that Hurley swiped from Ilana's stuff after she, well, exploded. To me, there was never any thought that it was anything other than Jacob's ashy remains. Which is what Hurley was looking for in the first place, given that he knew of its existence from when Miles "read" the ashes in order to see what Jacob's last thought was. [CORRECTION: Hurley wasn't with the group at that point, so he didn't know of the ashes ahead of time, but the rest holds true here.] Some have incorrectly believed that they were Nikki and Paulo's diamonds but this makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Why would Ilana have had the diamonds? Why would she have taken them from Miles, who did have them?

She wouldn't have. The bag is what's left from Jacob's corporeal form and it's necessary that Hurley keep these with them as they make their next move. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one...

Walkabout. Wes asked, "So you really think that Locke will walk again in the X timeline?" It's a theory at least, yes. I think that we're seeing more examples of course correction at work here. The fact that Locke was so against taking Jack up on his offer and even went so far as to tear up his card doesn't matter: they have always been destined to come together. While Locke's paralysis won't be cured by the island, something else will have to give him the ability to walk again.

And now that he's been struck down by Desmond's car, Locke is going to end up right in Jack's OR... and Jack will have to make the decision to perform spinal surgery. Just what Locke's reaction will be remains to be seen, if that does play out how I envision. He'll either be furious... or will once again regain the ability to believe in miracles, especially after he experiences the emergence of his own island memories.

It makes me wonder just how much fate versus free will is at work within the Lost-X timeline. Locke chose not to undergo a surgical consult to see if Jack could repair his spine but, regardless of that decision, he's still likely to end up right under Jack's knife. The web of destiny that has bound together all of these individuals looks to become tighter and tighter as we ramp up to the finale and as Desmond's plan to reawaken the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 continues apace.

On a similar topic, KriZia wrote, "Does that mean he's going to recall dying off the island and experience a zombie-like reawakening on the island? Or will he affect FLocke simply because MiB is imitating his appearance?"

I don't think that Locke will wake up on the island. His body is dead--and likely rotting--and the Man in Black assumed his form, so I don't think we'll see Zombie Locke climb up out of the grave and start taking bites out of oranges any time soon. Like Charlie and Libby (not to mention Boone, Shannon, and Ana-Lucia), Locke is dead in the mainstream reality so his consciousness has nowhere to go and can only remain within the Lost-X timeline. For him, it's a one-way street: he will be able to access memories from the other world but not transmit anything back.

As for why Desmond sought to run Locke over, Harleypeyton asked, "Why would Locke require this kind of violence in order to get him in touch with whatever?" My answer would be that (A) Locke didn't have a love on the island, and (B) it worked when Charlie unlocked Desmond by placing him in jeopardy. Of course, in the mainstream reality, Desmond had just been chucked down a well by someone who looked like John Locke, so there's always the possibility that he's just really, really angry. (Though I don't think it's a revenge fantasy but Desmond looking to activate him as quickly as possible.)

The Boy in the Jungle. In a comment on the main thread, reader Caitlin wondered about the mysterious boy in the jungle and said that she believed that there were in fact two boys lurking about: one with light hair and the other dark.

Any truth to that? While his appearance in this week's episode was marked by a somewhat darker tint to his hair, there's only one boy running about in the jungle. The boy seen in the jungle in "Everybody Loves Hugo" is the same boy who appeared in "The Substitute" and was seen by the Man in Black and Sawyer. In both cases, he's played by Kenton Duty. So, while his hair might appear darker this time, it's the same mysterious kid...

On that note, Caitlin also asked, "Could Jacob and Nemesis at one time have been the same person? (Which might explain the emphasis on both good and evil being present in the characters, and it not always being clear which will win out.) Thoughts?"

It's an interesting theory and one that I pondered briefly. If Jacob and his Nemesis are the same person, it raises some intriguing possibilities. For one, it would explain why we haven't yet learned the Nemesis' name, the answer being that he doesn't necessarily have one if he's an incarnation of Jacob himself. Was he always comprised of various incarnations--Jacob, Nemesis, Smokey? Is he a trinity?

Additionally, such a reveal would also mean that Jacob is both jailer and prisoner, a trippy scenario that would, however, make a lot of sense within the emotional context of the series: is it possible that we create our own prisons and have within ourselves the ability to unlock our cages? Do we choose to punish ourselves, to ask for forgiveness, or do we try to break free?

That said, I don't know if Team Darlton would go that route. It's a little too metaphysical, even for this series. While the struggle between light and dark, good and evil, has been part of the series since the beginning, I don't know that I want that duality to be quite so blatant as to have an entity split himself into two warring factions. We all have those battles raging within us on a daily basis but I don't know that I want to see them go that route in such a fashion.

Good Versus Evil. Frank1569 wrote, "Jacob is the bad guy. More proof - he let Ilana die. Who did Smokey kill this week? Nobody."

True, Smokey didn't kill anyone this week... but he did toss Desmond down a well, so I wouldn't consider that the actions of someone "good." As for Jacob killing Ilana, he may have "let" her die but he didn't kill her. Ilana chose to get the dynamite and failed to listen to Hurley's warnings about the explosives being highly unstable. Plus, Ilana isn't a candidate and wasn't touched by Jacob (remember, he wore thick black gloves when he went to see her in the hospital). Ilana's main purpose in life is to protect the candidates: to fight for them and, if need be, to die for them.

Besides, by your argument, any deity that lets anyone die for any reason would be evil. And if the Devil himself were to play nice for a bit, he'd be good. Smokey has murdered countless victims directly, by his own hands. While Jacob's name has been invoked in the murder or torture of others, there's been no sign that he was either aware of this or condoned it. After all, religion has been used as a motivation for all sorts of violence for thousands of years. Doesn't mean that it's just or right but that the message is often corrupted or abused by its followers...

Lost-X Locke. Seat42F wrote, "I thought Locke being run over by Desmond was proof that the Man In Black got off the island and Desmond was doing something about that. The idea of going from one prison (the island) to another (the wheelchair) seems perfect."

There is a nice symmetry there but I don't think we've seen any evidence that supports that Lost-X John Locke is anything other than John Locke. Certainly not that he's the Man in Black somehow. I think Desmond is trying to awaken those dormant memories in Locke's subconscious rather than attempt to run down a pan-dimensional entity that can turn into ethereal black smoke and scan your memories and kill you with a thought. Just my feeling though...

Willy Wonka. Yes, Roald Dahl's eccentric chocolatier would seem to play at least a thematic role in the goings-on within Lost, as evidenced by the use of Gene Wilder's "The Wondrous Boat Ride"/"The Rowing Song" from the 1971 feature film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on Dahl's 1964 novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Echoing my own thoughts on the subject, reader Caitlin drew a parallel between Dahl's story and Lost, "a story which relies on candidates to take over an operation, and in doing so, tricking them to test their loyalty and true character." Like Lost, Dahl's novel and the subsequent feature films had a quixotic individual bringing some candidates to a magical place after being selected as possible replacements to his duty: the care and oversight of this place. While the island isn't a chocolate factory, it is a magical place and, like Wonka, Jacob is looking for a replacement... and the competition gets whittled down as the story goes on. So which character will be our Charlie Bucket? We'll have to wait to find out...

And with that, I'll leave you will the full lyrics for "The Wondrous Boat Ride/The Rowing Song" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (itself adapted from Dahl's poem "The Rowers").

"There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining? Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes! The danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing!!!"
Come back Wednesday to discuss next week's episode and head to the comments section here to discuss any of the above thoughts, theories, or additional questions...

Next week on Lost ("The Last Recruit"), alliances are forged and broken when Locke and Jack's camps merge.

Channel Surfing: Michelle Forbes Gets Killing, Annie Wersching Talks 24 Consequences, Glee, Lost, Modern Family, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

From maenad to murder victim's parent: Former True Blood series regular Michelle Forbes has joined the cast of AMC drama pilot The Killing, along with Brent Sexton (In the Valley of Elah), Eric Ladin (Generation Kill), and Jamie Anne Allman (The Notebook). They join the previously announced Billy Campbell in the drama pilot, from Veena Sud and Mikkel Bondesen, which revolves around the police investigation into the murder of a young girl. Forbes and Sexton will play Mitch and Stanley, the girl's parents. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

If you haven't seen Monday's episode of 24, stop reading. TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams has an interview with 24's Annie Wersching, who discusses the aftermath of this week's surprising twist and what's next for her. "In not knowing each other for that long, they are very similar and understood each other in a lot of ways," said Wersching about the relationship between Renee and Jack Bauer. "No one truly understood what it is to exist as someone who has to do the things that Jack Bauer does. Renee is as close as he was going to get to finding someone that really got him, and vice versa... Poor Jack cannot get a break. As you can imagine, he wants to take care of every single person who was involved with this... I'm so sad that I died, but she's very much still there in these last episodes all the way up until the end. For the most part, he goes rogue and wants to do things that people don't want him to do. Of course, he's Jack Bauer, so he finds a way to do them." (TVGuide.com)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jessalyn Gilsig's Terri and Cory Monteith's Finn are getting a "major season-ending storyline" that won't involve them becoming enmeshed in a romantic relationship. (Whew.) "Finn gets a job at Sheets & Things," co-creator Ryan Murphy told Ausiello. "He is very down on himself, and Terri realizes that she was not very supportive of her husband and she sees a lot of him in Finn. She met Will at 16, so she sees a way to redemption…a way to redo that relationship in a positive way [by acting] almost as Finn’s guardian angel, his fairy godmother. She gives him proper moral advice." The storyline will continue into Glee's second season, which launches this fall. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SPOILER! E! Online's Megan Masters talks to Lost star Jorge Garcia about this week's Hurley-centric episode of the ABC drama series and about the explosive death of Zuleikha Robinson's Ilana. "Don't hold your breath about too much more information about Ilana," Garcia told Masters. "You will see her again, but there's a lot of stuff to get to in the next six hours, so..." [Editor: I figured that we'd at least see Ilana again before The End but assumed that we'd get at least some information about her backstory, either via flashback or the divergent reality.] (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Fancast's Matt Webb Mitovich talks to Modern Family star Julie Bowen about iPads, Julianna and Clive, working with Sofia Vergara, and why she won't be returning to Lost for the final season. "I really wish that was true, but that’s just a rumor," said Bowen about filming Modern Family in Hawaii and sneaking off to shoot scenes for Lost. "I would have loved to have done more for Lost. I’m a huge fan of the show, I love doing the show..." (Fancast)

Boom: Michael Bay has teamed up with Magical Elves' Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth to develop reality series One Way Out, a reality-based action-adventure series that that "pits everyday people against one another in a competition that involves physical challenges as well as the PSYOPS of creating alliances and keeping their own 'secret pasts' hidden from other players," according to Variety's Cynthia Littleton. Project is being shopped to the networks this week. (Variety)

Former Scrubs star Sarah Chalke is in high demand this development season: after shooting ABC comedy pilot Freshman, Chalke has now been cast in a second pilot, CBS high-school comedy Team Spitz. Given her role in Freshman, Chalke's participation in Team Spitz, where she will guest star as a high school guidance counselor, is said to be in second position. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Cast change afoot at Josh Schwartz and Matt Miller's CBS comedy pilot Hitched, where Sara Fletcher (My Secret Girlfriend) has replaced Kristin Kreuk just before the table read for the pilot. "Kreuk starred on two drama series, including her star-making turn on Smallville, and she was wonderful in an arc on Schwartz's NBC dramedy Chuck this season but she has never done a half-hour sitcom and Hitched ultimately proved not a perfect fit for her," wrote Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva. (Deadline.com)

Tina Brown and Bill Haber have optioned Laura Lippman's novel "In a Strange City," which revolves around female investigative journalist Tess Monaghan (who becomes a gumshoe when her paper closes), with an eye to adapting the book as an ongoing television series. Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York) has been brought on to adapt Lippman's novel and the trio plan to shop the project to broadcast and cable networks for next year's development cycle. (Variety)

Carla Gugino (Watchmen) and Addison Timlin (Cashmere Mafia) have signed on to appear in multiple-episode story arcs next season on Showtime's Californication), where Gugino will play a love interest for David Duchovny's Hank and Timlin will play an actress who stars "in a film within the show," according to Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva. (Deadline.com)

Comedy Central has ordered ten episodes of comedy The Onion Sports Network, will offer a satirical look at the work of sports. Project, executive produced by Julie Smith and Will Graham, will premiere in first quarter 2011. (Variety)

Production has been shut down on A&E's Steven Seagal: Lawman by the Jefferson Parish Police Department, following news that the series' star has been accused of sex trafficking. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Color me intrigued: UK's Channel 4 is developing a female-oriented comedy with the creators of comedies Peep Show and Two Pints of Lager and a Bag of Chips. (Broadcast)

MyNetwork has shored up its fall primetime schedule, which will include off-network acquisitions of such series as Burn Notice, Monk, and Without a Trace. Returning to the schedule are Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and Don't Forget the Lyrics! (Broadcasting & Cable)

VH1 has ordered eight episodes of reality series Football Wives, which will follow the lives of NFL spouses. Project, from Shed Media, is set to launch at the end of 2010. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Whispers in the Darkness: Guided by Voices on Lost

Well, we finally learned just what those whispers are in the jungle.

This week's episode of Lost ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by Daniel Attias, provided a few answers as well as some explosions in an episode that focused on Hugo Reyes in both timelines. Acting as a bookend with Season Two's "Everyone Hates Hugo," this weeks installment cast Hurley not as a doomed victim but as a millionaire philanthropist beloved by everyone and lucky in every way.

Except maybe love.

Given that we now know that Lost as a whole is about the transformative and redemptive powers of love, it's only fitting that Hurley would get a second chance at achieving true happiness with his own soul mate. If the Lost-X timeline represents a new set of variables for the character, what was Hurley's greatest desire? The chance to reverse his luck, to bring good to the people around him rather than destruction?

So what did I think of this week's episode? Grab yourself a family size bucket of Mr. Cluck's chicken, make a donation to the Human Fund, pucker up, and let's discuss "Everyone Loves Hugo."

While not my favorite episode of Lost this season, I thought that this episode did a fine job at delivering some answers to a long-standing mystery (the whisperers), reintroducing Libby (Cynthia Watros) back into the overarching mythology of the series, and paying homage to some classic moments from the series' past. (Boom.)

Jorge Garcia's Hurley has long been one of my favorite characters and a misunderstood one at that. I've loved the way that the writers have gradually given Hurley more prominence within the castaway group, slowly raising him to something approaching a spiritual leader, one who connects the world of the living with that of the dead and is able to pass messages back and forth between the two spheres.

But this Hurley is one who has been plagued by self-doubt, by thoughts of despair, and by self-hatred. His ability to see and communicate with the dead has lead him to the madhouse and his bad luck has tainted nearly every one of his relationships. Which is why Libby once offered him the promise of something better: of the happiness that comes from romantic union, from finding your soul mate and having your love reciprocated. That revelation was cut short for Hurley when Libby was brutally murdered by Michael back in Season Two.

Lost-X Hurley. So imagine just how lucky you'd be if you got the chance to make that first connection all over again, which is just what Hurley gets to do in the Lost-X timeline. Here, Hurley is a successful businessman, the owner of a global chain of Mr. Cluck's chicken restaurants and a gracious philanthropist who donates his time and money to many charitable organizations. (Hence, the good karma, one can assume.) He's introduced at yet another function celebrating his achievements and good works by none other than Pierre Chang, here a warm and loquacious master of ceremonies who is only too willing to fete Hurley and announce the opening of a wing of the museum in his name.

But while Hurley might be successful and magnanimous, he's still being bullied by his overbearing mother, who arranges a blind date for him with a neighbor's relative, Rosalita. The assumption is that, despite his wealth, he can't be truly happy without the love of a woman. But, despite his mother's well-intentioned meddling, Rosalita doesn't turn up for their blind date at Spanish Johnny, leaving the door open for Hurley to be reunited--in a sense, anyway--with someone else.

Lost-X Libby. While we're no closer to learning about the mainstream Libby's still mysterious backstory than we were several seasons ago, we did get a chance to see Hurley and Libby get that first date after all. Here, Libby is once again a patient of Santa Rosa Mental Hospital (while Hurley is psychologically stable) but, unlike in the mainstream reality, Libby isn't a catatonic mess but there voluntarily, hoping to uncover the truth about the seemingly false memories that are rattling around in her skull.

Like Charlie before her, Libby is able to tap into her subconscious to remember events from the mainstream timeline, events that--as it's 2004--haven't even happened yet and will never happen. While they're impossible memories, they're also entirely real, the cumulative experiences of another Libby living a different life. So why are Charlie and Libby able to remember while the others cannot? Easy: they're both dead in the mainstream reality. They have no consciousness in the other timestream so instead the totality of their being is housed in their Lost-X bodies.

Given this fact, the memories are closer to the surface for them, they are more easily accessed, and therefore more vivid. They don't need Desmond to awaken them for they've already been activated. It's this juxtaposition of memory, the dissonance of having two sets of memories laid on top of one another that leads Libby to Santa Rosa. It's important that she's there out of free will rather than being imprisoned, though her time at the hospital likely means that she wasn't a passenger aboard Oceanic Flight 815, a major difference between this reality and the mainstream one. (Likewise, Shannon too wasn't aboard the flight, which makes me wonder about tailies Mr. Eko and Ana-Lucia as well.)

Is it fate or coincidence that brings Hurley and Libby together at Spanish Johnny? After all, Hurley is meant to be meeting his blind date Rosalita when he's approached by Libby, who tells him that they are soul mates and that she has memories of time shared with him. While Libby is led off by Dr. Brooks (Bruce Davison), Hurley can't shake what happened, even though he has no recollection of Libby and believes her to be mentally unstable.

But the two are meant to be together. And Desmond, acting in the capacity of course-correction, appears at Hurley's side at Mr. Cluck's (along with the number 42) in order to bring the two of them together. Desmond's plan works as Hurley goes to see Libby at Santa Rosa (where, in quite a nice callback, a patient plays Connect Four in the background) and arranges a picnic with Libby on the beach. Once there, Libby's kiss awakens the dormant memories within Hurley's subsconscious as his mind is flooded with images from the time he spent with Libby on the island.

A switch has been flipped, not just within Lost-X Hurley, finally able to complete himself now that he's been reunited with Libby but also within the mainstream Hurley, as he steps into his own destiny: to lead the survivors.

Hurley. Back on the island, Hurley seems to be able to finally take on the mantle of leader as Jack is oddly willing to take a back seat for a change. (Which, if I'm being honest, makes me like Jack a hell of a lot more.)

While that role is initially Ilana's, having trained her whole life to protect the candidates, her divine mission comes to an end this week as she's blown up by the volatile dynamite she brought back from the Black Rock. Boom. It's a nice callback to Leslie Arzt, who suffered a similar fate at the end of Season One. It's interesting that the writers would chose to kill Ilana off now: we still haven't gotten her backstory and, despite the fact that we've spent nearly two seasons with her, I don't feel like we've gotten to know her at all. But it does mean that it's one less newbie to focus on as the emphasis is being placed back on our original castaways... and Desmond Hume.

With Ilana dead, the group is unsure what to do next. Richard wants to go get more dynamite and use it to blow up the Ajira plane so that the Man in Black cannot use it to escape. (Little does he know that there's another means of egress from the island with the submarine.) But Hurley, having been instructed by the ghostly presence of Michael, knows that he can't allow that to happen as people will be killed as a result of that. He opts to play along with Richard but instead uses the dynamite to blow up the Black Rock, destroying the cache of explosives and the historic ship in the process.

And that's when things get interesting. Hurley lies to Richard and claims that Jacob told him that they need to go talk to the Man in Black but Richard's far from convinced, especially after Hurley is unable to tell him what the island really is. (Hint: it's the cork in the bottle metaphor.) Richard opts to continue on the path to render the plane inoperable, suggesting they head to the Dharma barracks to get explosives; he's joined by Miles and Ben. (Interesting.)

While Richard seems to be on a path of destruction, Hurley opts for a nonviolent confrontation with the Man in Black, choosing words over grenades. It's fitting with his sudden emergence of a Christ-like leader among the group, with a foot in both the worlds of the mundane and the divine. While Richard wants to destroy, Hurley wants to turn the other cheek, to talk rather than battle. And, only fittingly, Hurley stands up to Richard rather than be cowed by the former spiritual leader of the Others. He doesn't have anything to prove to Richard. Not anymore.

So what did Hurley take from Ilana's pack? We see him toss aside Ilana's Russian book to take a sack with him. Does it contain Jacob's ashes? And is that why he suddenly has a hell of a lot more conviction? While he claims to Jack that he has no idea what he's doing, he's leading them right into the heart of darkness, armed only with torches: a fire to illuminate the night, the spark of truth set against deadly lies.

Interesting too that the group that contains Hurley is symbolically comprised of those whose purpose is to lead: a shepherd (Jack), a pilot (Frank), a sun (Sun), and a true leader in Hurley himself. Each are tools by which others can follow and yet each of them chooses the path of peace rather than that of war. Could it be that Jacob was right to bestow his favor on these individuals? And could Frank Lapidus also be a shadow candidate?

Whispers. This week's episode answered the question about just what those mysterious whispers are in the jungle: the souls of those who can't leave the island, who are trapped there by dint of their actions. The whispers precede Michael Dawson's appearance at Libby's grave at the start of the episode and when Hurley hears them once more in the jungle at night, he finally realizes just what they are. When Michael appears to him once more, he gets his confirmation: the whispers are the voices of those for whom the island is truly purgatory: a place of eternal unrest where they remain, perhaps until they can redeem themselves. The whispers then are an attempt for the dead to communicate with the living, to help, to perhaps act as a chance at redemption.

As for Michael, he seems to be acting here as a positive influence for Hurley. While he doesn't tell him that he has to go see the Man in Black, he's able to point Hurley towards his camp and issues an apology of sorts to Libby, saying that if he ever sees her again (which he has in the Lost-X timeline) to tell her that he's sorry. For, you know, killing her.

I'd be interested to know just who else is trapped on the island, unable to move on: those who committed crimes against the island and its inhabitants or souls who were never able to come to terms with their own issues, trapped by their own inability to grow psychologically, spiritually, or physically. Or those who just never achieved closure?

The Truce. By bringing the group right into the Man in Black's camp, Hurley has seemingly fulfilled the wishes of Jacob's Nemesis, as he was looking to grab as many of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors--and those that managed to return on Ajira Flight 316--as possible as he believes that's the only way that his plan will work and he'll be able to flee the island.

He's already prevented from harming the candidates, per the rules of his eternal agreement with Jacob, but that doesn't mean that he can't attempt to sway them to his side. Giving his knife to Hurley is nothing more than a symbolic truce, a way of saying that he won't harm them directly, a physical bond of his word. But I think he's hoping that he'll be able to manipulate the candidates into siding with him... and that they'll chose otherwise. At the very least, I'm hoping that this reunion isn't short-lived now that each of the castaways--save Jin, of course--is finally in one spot together.

And then there's the look the Man in Black gives to Jack when he sees him enter the camp. It's a look that a cat might have upon seeing a mouse, an expression right before he pounces. The game is, as they say, afoot and the Nemesis has just gotten even closer to controlling all of the pieces.

The Boy in the Jungle. Of course, Jacob's Nemesis hasn't won, not yet. There's still the fact that he appears to be alternately afraid of and irritated by that young boy that keeps popping up in the jungle. It's significant that the boy smiles at him here and that it enrages the Man in Black to no end... and that Desmond, like Sawyer before him, can see the boy.

So who is he? I theorized a few weeks back when we last saw The Boy that he was an incarnation of Jacob and I'm still convinced that that's true. After all, dead isn't really gone, not on the island. Just because Jacob's corporeal body was destroyed and burned up in the fire, doesn't mean that another--ethereal manifestation--won't rise from the ashes, a holy spirit rather than the man himself. (It's also telling that The Boy appears after Desmond says that the island has it in for all of them.)

The fact that both Sawyer and Desmond are able to see him points to the candidates being privy to the island's mysteries, able to see the hidden face of the island. Sawyer, as we know, is a candidate. Desmond likely is too, the Wallace (a traditionally Scottish name) indicated on the 108 degree mark on Jacob's lighthouse wheel. After all, Jacob wanted Jack to turn the mirror to that mark, saying that someone was coming to the island. That someone did end up being Desmond, the shadow candidate whose fate is bound up with the number 108, not just with the candidates' reference points (themselves representing the 4-8-15-16-23-42 of the cursed numbers) but also the fact that he pushed the button every 108 minutes for three years. Could it be that he's the island's last hope?

Desmond. Desmond, meanwhile, found himself the unwitting prisoner of the Man in Black and Sayid this week but didn't seem to be in any real need of escape. (I loved his line about having nowhere to run.) This Desmond, one experiencing a Zen-like inner calm, is at odds with the one we saw at the beginning of last week's episode, one who attempted to kick and punch and escape his captors at every turn. He's very cool towards the Man in Black, saying that he knows that he's John Locke. (Or does he know something more? Hmmm...) And he's all too willing to share with him just what Charles Widmore did to him in the solenoid chamber, dosing him with a massive amount of electromagnetism.

The Man in Black takes Desmond to an ancient well (not to be confused with the one that contains the frozen donkey wheel, now the site of the Dharma's Orchid Station). He claims that this spot is where compass needles spin and that people, looking for answers, dug down into the earth. Is it a meeting point for ley lines? Another pocket of electromagnetic energy, the very ones that Zoe is looking for? Jacob's Nemesis claims that Charles Widmore is looking not to protect the island but for power, but I felt like I couldn't quite trust the MiB here. Neither could Desmond either, as he seems skeptical about why MiB would have brought him to the well.

There's another reason, of course. The Man in Black seems infuriated by the fact that Desmond isn't afraid. That he has no fear, even being alone with him in the jungle, away from everyone, and standing over an ancient well that's pretty deep. While Desmond, again very Zen-like, says that there's no point to being afraid, the Man in Black knocks him right down into the well. Ouch.

Lost-X Desmond. In the Lost-X timeline, Desmond is spotted by Benjamin Linus hanging around the parking lot of the school where he and substitute John Locke work. Significantly, Desmond doesn't appear to be there for Ben (his name, after all, wasn't on the passenger manifest) but rather is keeping an eye on Locke himself. Ben is suspicious and Desmond lies about why he's there, saying that he's looking for a school for his son, Charlie. Why Desmond chooses Charlie as a fake name for a son he doesn't have is also significant; is it because Charlie Pace is on his mind after recent events? Or does he have knowledge of his actual son Charlie in the mainstream reality?

Interesting too that Desmond then puts his car in full throttle and runs down John Locke in his wheelchair. Is he looking for payback? ("Locke" did just throw him down a well in the mainstream reality.) Or is he looking to awaken Locke's memories of the island? Given that he has no island love to reconnect him with, Desmond chooses to instead bring Locke close to death, to use his brush with mortality to fire his synapses and recover those lost memories.

Locke will, of course, have to be rushed to the hospital, where I believe Jack will be forced to operate on him, removing the choice of spinal surgery from Locke and course-correcting once more. This Locke will walk again and will once again regain his belief in miracles, especially after he glimpses another world through the veil. Casting off his pragmatism, Lost-X Locke will be forced to believe once again, to reconnect to the island.

I'm also intrigued by another possibility: given the fact that the Man in Black is currently using John Locke's form in the mainstream reality, would Lost-X Locke's repossession of his island memories have any consequences on his body back on the island? Could we be seeing the return of the one true John Locke? Hmmm...

What did you think of this week's episodes? Agree with the above theories? Disagree? Get yourself over to the comments section to share your thoughts on last night's episode, pose some questions, and discuss.

Next week on Lost ("The Last Recruit"), alliances are forged and broken when Locke and Jack's camps merge.

Channel Surfing: Bones Dish, ABC Super-Sizes Lost Finale, Mandy Moore Heads to Grey's, Jersey Shore, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

WARNING: If you haven't yet seen last night's simply amazing 100th episode of Bones, look away. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has an interview with Bones executive producers Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan (and series lead Emily Deschanel) in which they talk about the big twist at the end of the episode. You know, the one that has to do with Booth and Brennan? "I think it opens it up in a whole new way," Nathan told Ausiello about the twist. "It gives us some history, which allows us to see all the additional possibilities that could occur between the two of them." Hanson went a step further. "We aren’t nervous about making them a couple, but we want it to play out in a way that is realistic for these two and that will make fans happy," said Hanson. "Everybody always mentions Moonlighting, but that honestly never comes up in our discussions on how to deal with them. The Moonlighting curse? Don’t believe in it. I think that was all about [Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd] hating each other’s guts. [David and Emily] do not hate each other." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Elsewhere, Fancast's Matt Webb Mitovich also talks to Stephen Nathan about the landmark 100th episode of Bones. "The agenda was to try to answer a lot of the questions the audience has had for so long – like, 'How did this start?' 'What was the genesis of the relationship between Booth and Brennan?' – because obviously something occurred prior to the pilot episode," Nathan told Mitovich. "What was it at that time that drove them apart? And at the same time, what was it about their [initial] relationship that made them come together again? We wanted to get a real glimpse into that relationship that we haven’t been able to in five years. We had a lot more leeway here where we could have them open themselves up. Because for them to be so careful around each other, that had to happen after they had been so vulnerable with each other." (Fancast)

The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that ABC has opted to make its farewell to Lost five hours now, expanding its pre-show recap show from one hour to two. That special will air from 7-9 pm ET/PT on May 23rd, just prior to the two-hour series finale of Lost. Later that night, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, along with the cast, will gather together for Jimmy Kimmel Live--Lost: After the Final Rose. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos talks with Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey about Katherine Heigl's departure from the ABC medical series, as well as impending heartbreak. "I think it's very sad, we had a great time working with her, we always had a great time, always prepared," said Dempsey of his former co-star. "And it's a real loss to the show. I think she had a great character and great energy, absolutely beautiful and talented actress, and it's a shame she's moving on." As for Mer-Der, Dempsey told Dos Santos: "There will be some relationships that end and go away, and some new ones that begin. Typical Grey's, there's always drama in the relationships, can't seem to get a healthy relationship! So far Meredith and Derek have been good this year, but something will happen I'm sure before the end of the season." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

In other Grey's-related news, TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams is reporting that Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) is checking into the two-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy, which is slated to air May 20th. Moore will play Mary, a patient at Seattle Grace who is under the care of Chandra Wilson's Bailey. S"ources said Moore is just one part of the kind of finale that executive producer Shonda Rhimes loves keeping under wraps," writes Abrams, "so no further details on her role were released." (TVGuide.com)

MTV has announced that Season Two of Jersey Shore will launch on Thursday, July 29th at 10 pm ET/PT. "It's official," said an MTV spokesperson. "The Jersey Shore cast began filming Season Two in Miami. Once the boardwalk heats back up, the series will return to the Jersey Shore to complete the season." Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Paul "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Vinny Guadagninom and Angelina Pivarnick will all return for the second season of the reality series. (MTV)

Casting update: Mare Winningham (Grey's Anatomy) has been cast in HBO's upcoming mini-series Mildred Pierce, where she will star opposite Kate Winslet, Brian F. O'Byrne, and Evan Rachel Wood. Elsewhere, Lizzy Caplan (Party Down) has been cast as one of the leads in CBS comedy pilot True Love, where she replaces Ashley A. Morris, and Sharon Leal has joined the cast of CW drama pilot Hellcats. (Hollywood Reporter)

Details have emerged about the slate of programming expected to air on the nascent cabler OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network when it launches January 1st. Those programs will include Gayle King Live, a talk show hosted by Gayle King; reality competition series Your Own Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star, executive produced with Mark Burnett; Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind; Oprah's Next Chapter, Why Not? With Shania Twain; and Behind the Scenes: The Oprah Show Final Season. (Variety)

Diane Lane has been cast in HBO telepic Cinema Verite, the behind-the-scenes look of the filming of seminal 1970s American reality series An American Family, where she will play Pat Loud, described as "the mother and main character of the documentary, which chronicled an intimate look at a Santa Barbara family." (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has unveiled its finale schedule, which includes the season ender of Castle on Monday, May 17th, the season finale of V on Tuesday, May 18th, Wednesday comedies on May 19th, Grey's on May 20th (and Private Practice the week before), and FlashForward on Thursday, May 27th. (Variety)

Hookers for Jesus? Apparently, they're coming to Investigation Discovery with upcoming series Saved on the Strip, about former prostitute Annie Lobert's outreach ministry Hookers for Jesus. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)

ITV Studios has alleged that BBC Worldwide's upcoming ice-skating version of Dancing with the Stars for ABC is in fact a rip-off of its format Dancing on Ice. BBC Worldwide, however, has stated that its series is based on a format that predates Dancing on Ice and aired two years before ITV broadcast its celebrities-on-ice concept. (Variety)

Jeremy Podeswa (The Pacific) has come aboard Showtime's upcoming period drama series The Borgias as a director. He'll share duties with Neil Jordan, who is writing and directing the first two installments, while The Tudors creator Michael Hirst is writing the rest of the season's scripts. (Hollywood Reporter)

Discovery Channel has pacted with Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks TV, and DreamWorks Animation for animated mini-sieres Future Earth, which explores just what the planet will look like in 25, 50, and 100 years, using futurists and scholars to predict how events and institutions will evolve over the next century. (Variety)

Reid Ewing (Modern Family) has been cast as one of the leads in MTV's upcoming telepic The Truth Below. Elsewhere, Jill Hennessey (Crossing Jordan) has signed on as a guest star in HBO's horseracing drama pilot Luck, where she will play a veterinarian. (Hollywood Reporter)

Comedy Central has given a third season order to Tosh.0, ordering 29 installments that will launch on January 12nd. Move comes just four months after the cabler ordered 25 episodes for a second season. (Variety)

CBS alternative programming VP Chris Carlson will leave the network to become the new executive producer of Undercover Boss, which is produced by Studio Lambert. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Back Through the Veil: Lost Questions, More on "Happily Ever After"

I don't always discuss a single Lost episode twice in one week but after this week's episode ("Happily Ever After") brought up so many reader questions and seemed to offer some tantalizing answers to the season's overarching mythology, I felt like it more than merited another post.

While I discussed "Happily Ever After" in full over here (along with theories about sleepwalkers, invisible threads of fate, Marvel Comics' "House of M," and more), I thought I'd answer some reader questions from the episode that arrived via comments, Twitter, or email.

So without further ado, let's head back through that veil once more.

Not Penny's Mom. Rockauteur asks, "Who is Penny's mom? To me, she always seemed older than Faraday, which begs the question if her mother is an Other, or was someone just in the regular world. Could she be related to any other castaways?"

Penny's mom is not an Other. We're told in the mainstream reality that Charles Widmore is exiled from the island because he conceived of a child with a woman who wasn't an Other, apparently a crime in the society living on the island. (I'd still love to know just what this tribe of Jacob's followers call themselves.) While we've still never seen this woman, we did learn that her name is Milton (again, a reference to John Milton, author of "Paradise Lost") in this this week's episode, given that Penny's full name in the Lost-X timeframe is Penny Milton.

I believe that Lost-X Charles Widmore either had a relationship prior to Eloise and had a child with this woman... or that he had an affair during his marriage to Eloise and Penny Milton is the offspring from that liaison. I'm leaning toward the latter, given that it's likely that Charles and Eloise have been married for some time (given Daniel's age) and that Widmore and Penny's mother had an affair together. As for Penny being related to other characters on the series, I'm hoping not. It's enough that she's the half-sister of Daniel Faraday and the daughter of Charles Widmore without wishing another sibling on her. I'd be really displeased if she somehow ended up being an estranged relative to another Lost character. But that's just me.

Reunion. An anonymous commenter (grumble) asked, "Why waste time (which, with only 7 episodes left, we probably don't have) tracking down everyone when Desmond in the Lost-X universe can just go to either the hospital where Jack works or the police station where Sawyer works and find all the important people?"

My answer would be: define the "important people"? Yes, Jack works at the hospital and Sawyer and Miles work at the police station, but what about everyone else? What about Hurley? Or Locke? Yes, we'll begin to see the invisible threads that bind these characters tighten a hell of a lot more over the next few episodes, but there's no reason to believe that if Desmond turns up at one of these places that everyone will be there. Besides, Desmond isn't aware of who is "important" in the grand scheme of things yet. He can barely remember who else was on that plane, which is why he needs Minkowski to get the passenger manifest for the flight. It's going to be trial and error--and likely Fate--that will lead him to the candidates and those he needs for his mission.

Layla Miller. Over on Twitter, several people agreed with my thoughts that Lost's sixth season--vis-a-vis the Lost-X alternate timeline--shared certain similarities with Marvel's "House of M" storyline, in which heroes get their heart's desire in a world that's not "right" and must band together to put the world back again.

One follower, @iamwesley, felt that I had incorrectly cast Desmond as truth-awakening character Layla Miller and that Desmond was more analogous to Wolverine's role within the "House of M" storyline as he remembered the world as it was before and couldn't contemplate how his memories of this world and the other could overlap one another.

I'd disagree with Wesley. While Desmond does seem to retain some memories of the mainstream timeline, his entire purpose--as seen at the end of the episode with his scene with George Minkowski--is to awaken the other passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 and show them what he had seen: the truth about their world and the other one and the memories that he couldn't possibly have as they hadn't happened. To me, Desmond's role here--as the one doing the waking up--immediately drafts him into the Layla Miller role, while Wesley gave that part to Eloise Hawking. But the Lost-X Eloise seems determined to keep Desmond in his slumber at least for now, based on their conversation and her insistence that he stay away from Penny and stop looking for her, saying it was a "violation."

The Matrix. Scott S. asked, "Doesn't The Matrix predate 'House of M' -- a fake world where people get the life they want, in order to keep them docile?"

Yes, The Matrix predates "House of M" but The Matrix didn't posit the warping of reality in order to ensure that people got what they wanted, rather placed them into a virtual reality that was little more than a computer construct, a digital dreamland that was definitely less real than the actual world.

Here, as in "House of M," both worlds are "real," just one of them has been seemingly altered. The dead are once again alive, old enmities healed, new alliances formed, loves regained. In The Matrix, Neo had to be awakened but it was from an actual dream and he's thrust into a real post-apocalyptic battlefield. Here, they're being forced to reckon with two very real worlds, one that's "right" and one that's "wrong."

There's nothing less real about the people in the Lost-X timeline or their lives. These are real people with real relationships and issues, living lives that are no less "real" than the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 who did crash on the island. But the flashes of memory, the repeated sense of deja vu experienced by several characters now, and the fact that certain patterns are repeating themselves would point to a thinning of the barrier between these two worlds as well as a dawning recognition on the part of the dreamers that something is not right here, that the world is inherently wrong and that something is off.

After all, if this world was designed--perhaps by the Man in Black himself--to keep the Losties docile and complacent, they're less likely to ask questions about the nature of the universe and their place in it. It's far harder to sacrifice a seemingly idyllic life where you've achieved your perfect happiness than one where you've lost everything. Which would make their journey all the more heartbreaking, no?

Eloise. KateL posited a theory that had the Lost-X universe created by Eloise Hawking herself: "Perhaps she decided that she didn't want to sacrifice her son, and wanted a world where that was no longer required. There are signs that she dotes on him in the Lost X timeline - allowing him to follow his desired path of becoming a musician, indulging his crazy rock/classical request for the charity event. Of course, this could simply be out of gratitude for getting what she most wanted, her son alive, as opposed to being required to sacrifice him, but I can't help but wonder if there is something more intentional going on. If this is the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see a connection between her and the Man in Black in this timeline."

An interesting theory, Kate, and one that is certainly tantalizing but I don't know that Eloise Hawking herself had a hand in creating the world. Certainly, she too received her dearest wish--that her son was alive and safe--and may be aware of the other world, as seen from her scene with Desmond at the site of the party, but I don't know that she has actually created the Lost-X timeline. If she's aware of the chasm between the worlds, then I can see why she might want to ensure that Desmond doesn't want to rip down that sheer veil that separates them: she stands to lose everything, from her husband (Charles Widmore) to her son (Daniel).

Her entire life in the mainstream reality was an attempt to ensure that things played out according to plan, including the death of her own son, sacrificed in order to ensure the safety of the island. I can see why, given a second chance, she might have second thoughts. After all, in this timestream, the island is deep underneath the ocean. Daniel can follow his own dreams of music rather than physics, he needn't travel to the island, flash backwards in time, and be murdered by her own hand in 1977. But if Desmond starts asking questions, starts pulling at those strings, he risks undoing everything that she's managed to grab a hold of here. Hmm...

Desmond's Doughnut of Doom. Rockauteur wrote, "I also had a weird theory that maybe Desmond actually died in Widmore's test, and is now embodied by Jacob, who used the test as a loophole to find human form again. I don't think its right but something to float anyway."

I'd disagree with this. Given Desmond's expression and his outstretched hand when he emerges from the solenoid chamber, there's no other possibility other than it's Desmond whose consciousness has connected or been momentarily transferred between timelines. There's no evidence to support that Jacob was able to take a hold of Desmond's form or that he's even capable of this ability. While Jacob's Nemesis seemed to be looking for a loophole to escape, I don't think we've seen anything that suggests that Jacob himself was looking to once again find human form.

The Mission. Frank1569 writes, "Widmore's plan appears to be to send Des back to stop The Incident and, hence, the splintering of the 'mirror' Timeline, his 'sacrifice' being that he'll be stuck in 1977?"

I don't think that we've seen that Widmore's plan involves anything having to do with The Incident or 1977, though that's likely the year that the timeline split from the mainstream reality. I don't know that traveling back to prevent The Incident is at all on Widmore's mind. After all, he claims that "whatever happened, happened." I don't think he wants to get mixed up in any time travel mayhem.

Rather, his mission for Desmond is definitely related to preventing Jacob's Nemesis from leaving the island and shoring up the island's defenses using the electromagnetic pockets that Zoe is attempting to use Jin to find. We've seen that Desmond can withstand a catastrophic electromagnetic incident and survive and I still maintain that Widmore is (A) aware of the existence of the alternate timeline, (B) using Desmond to send a message, and (C) looking to stop the Man in Black from unstopping the metaphorical bottle and escaping his island prison.

Wedding Band. Another anonymous commenter asked, "Why was Desmond wearing a wedding band on the plane?"

Good question. If you remember back to the first episode of the season ("LA X"), astute viewers will recall that Desmond was wearing a wedding band when he was shown sitting next to Jack on Oceanic Flight 815. While it seemed to indicate that Desmond was married, perhaps to Penny or even to Ruth, Desmond seemed to invalidate this line of thought this week with his discussion of how he is unattached, with no family, and fixated entirely on his career. So what's up with the wedding ring? Is it a clue to the existence of another Desmond from another timestream (unlikely) or just a production gaffe?

Given how important this week's episode was and the struggle for Desmond to remember Penny and be reunited with her, I'm going to go with the latter. Either Team Darlton changed their mind about Desmond's story this season midstream... or it was just a production error and Henry Ian Cusick wasn't meant to be wearing his wedding ring on screen.

What do you think? Keep your comments, questions, and theories coming and be sure to come back Wednesday for my thoughts on the latest episode.

Next week on Lost ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), Hurley agonizes over what the group should do next, while Locke is curious about the new arrival to his camp..

Piercing the Veil: Dawning Recognition on Lost

"None of this is real." - Charlie

Imagine a world where you managed to achieve your heart's desire. Would you be questioning the nature of the universe around you? Or would you be so complacent that you'd be blinded to what's actually going on until cracks started to form in the seemingly perfect veneer of your existence?

It's the latter that has given the Lost-X (or "sideways" timeline) some of its heft this season on Lost as several of the characters have begun to feel an eerie sense of deja vu or a biting sense of frisson in which they seemed to realize, if only for a split-second, that something was "off" with the world and their place in it.

This week's magnificent episode of Lost ("Happily Ever After"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by Jack Bender, offered the biggest clues yet to the real function of the Lost-X timeline as Desmond was forcibly returned to the island to participate in Widmore's test, a test that would have serious consequences for every single living person in the world should he fail.

A lot of speculation has been made about just what the Lost-X timeline actually is, with many critics and viewers jumping on the bandwagon that is the epilogue for the entire series. I've never been one of those who believed in this theory and last night's episode went a long way to disproving it all together.

So what did I think of last night's episode? Grab yourself a glass of MacCutcheon, make your way to baggage carousel four, buckle your seatbelt, and let's discuss "Happily Ever After."

Personally, I thought that "Happily Ever After" was hands down the best episode of the season, even if it didn't feature many of the main cast members (other than Hurley, Jin, and Sayid, all very briefly). But what it offered was a new prism through which to see the sixth and final season and it placed a significant weight on just what was unfolding within the Lost-X timeline, pushing it and the main timeline closer together while making each of them vitally important.

The Lost-X timeline isn't the ending for Lost, nor is it just a way of revisiting relationships and characters we haven't seen in a while. It's the very crux of the entire season, the outcome of Jack and Co.'s efforts to detonate Jughead, and it's resulted in each of the characters having their consciousness split between these two realities.

The alternate timeline established when Juliet detonated the hydrogen bomb at the future site of the Swan is just as "real" as the mainstream one but it's a divergent timeline that I believe will require--as I've said several times before in the past--the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 to raise the island from the ocean floor and recork the bottle. This is a world where each of them has received their heart's desire but it's made them unable to see what's truly happening around them, making them little more than sleepwalkers in an eternal battle that they're blind to.

In other words: someone needs to wake them up.

While watching "Happily Ever After," I turned to my wife and said, "Des is Layla Miller?!?" with a chuckle. For those not in the know, Layla Miller is a comic book character introduced during Marvel Comics' "House of M" storyline a few years back. Without getting too sidetracked, here's the gist of the storyline: the Scarlet Witch, once one of Earth's mightiest heroes and a mutant wielding the power to warp reality, succumbed to madness and killed several of her teammates before disappearing with her father, the evil mutant Magneto.

The heroes banded together to deal with her but suddenly the world went white and they found themselves living in another world, where each of them had--aha!--been granted their heart's desire and where mutants ruled the world under the House of Magnus. But not everyone was happy in this seemingly idyllic paradise and eventually--thanks to young mutant Layla Miller--many of the heroes were "awakened" and realized that the world around them was fake, created by the Scarlet Witch to trap them and keep them docile. Layla had ripped through the veil separating their consciousness from the truth about the world and then set out to overthrow the House of M and return the world to the way it was meant to be. Of course, there was a price to be paid...

The sixth season of Lost would seem to owe a debt to "House of M," whose themes and narrative devices Lost has cribbed from a bit this year, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Desmond would seem to be cast in the role of Layla Miller, someone whose main purpose is to remove the heroes' blinders and grant them the ability to recognize that their world is inherently wrong and not meant to be. Each of them has already experienced moments where they realized this on a subconscious level but there's a difference between a second of realization and full-blown recognition. That's where Desmond comes in.

Desmond, after all, had survived--as Charles Widmore puts it--a cataclysmic electromagnetic incident that rendered him able to shift his consciousness to other timelines. We saw evidence of this in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," where Desmond visited an alternate reality and attempted to change his fate, before Eloise Hawking intervened and pushed the timeline back into place. Given that he's already been charged with subatomic particles, he's the ideal candidate to deliver a message to the other timeline.

This supposes several things. One, that Widmore has known all along that Desmond activated the failsafe in the Swan Station and experienced an electromagnetic incident. (Check.) Two, that Widmore also knows about the existence of the alternate timeline and that the Incident split time into two streams, one of which is the current mainstream reality and the other in which the island doesn't exist. Three, that recreating the incident could transfer Desmond's consciousness into the other timeline or give him a multi-dimensional awareness (much like Juliet possibly experienced at the bottom of the Swan shaft). Four, that it's possible to bring these divergent timelines back together again somehow or that there's a way to safeguard their own reality by tweaking things in the Lost-X world.

Invisible threads of fate bind each of the Oceanic Flight 815 passengers together and their paths continue to cross as they are forced back together in an act of course correction. While their flight never crashed on the island, these individuals are still of vital significance to the island, which hasn't finished with them yet. (Or started, one could argue.) Everyone who set foot on the island in the mainstream reality--from Daniel Faraday to Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking--will need to band together to change the world, to cast off the illusion that this world is the right one, and sacrifice their own happiness in order to put things right. The cracks are growing bigger...

Desmond. Given the importance of Desmond in the overarching mythology of the series, it was only fitting that his first episode back would been entirely Desmond-centric. Returning to the island by way of Charles Widmore's, er, undersea hospitality, Desmond is the subject of a crucial test ordered by Widmore to test his resilience in the face of an enormous electromagnetic energy wave that would fire any lesser man. (Though I do wonder if they should have attempted to test it first on the bunny Angstrom, named for the physicist whose moniker is used to to measure "lengths on a scale of the wavelength of light or interatomic spacings in condensed matter.") Instead, Widmore orders Zoe and Seamus to conduct the test on Desmond straightaway.

But that's not before Desmond attacks Widmore. I mean, if your supposedly evil and estranged father-in-law kidnapped you, tearing you away from your wife and son, and brought you back to a place of unspeakable torment from which you had only fairly recently escaped, you'd be pretty angry too. But if we see Widmore not as pure evil but rather a man for whom the ends justify the means, much of his actions throughout the series can be perceived as acting to protect the island, particularly if he knew that Ben would be the one to kill Jacob and therefore allow the Man in Black to potentially escape his prison via a loophole.

Widmore tells Desmond that he'll have to make a sacrifice in order to save the entire world, a fact that Desmond finds ironic as Widmore has never had to sacrifice anything in his entire life. But not so: he willingly gave up his relationship with his daughter Penny, allowed his son (Daniel Faraday) to die on the island, and has never even met grandson Charlie. Everything he's done has been in service to the island.

The Mission. Desmond, of course, does survive the solenoid dosing (though does experience burns over his body, indicating that he doesn't quite come through the test unscathed) and now understands his mission on the island. His sudden docile nature and willingness to work together is vastly at odds with his behavior before the test (given the fact that he attempted to bludgeon Widmore with an IV stand). Just what does he "understand"? His actions inside the solenoid chamber would seem to point toward the fact that he is aware of the other timeline (his hand is raised here, just as it was in the Lost-X timeline) and knows that he must do something involving the two divergent realities. But what?

While he's ready to get to work with Widmore and his team, Desmond is also all too willing to along with Sayid when the assassin shows up, kills his escorts, and demands that Desmond comes with him. But why exactly? Was that his mission all along? To make his way to the Man in Black? The way that Desmond just says "Of course, lead the way," either points to that fact or to Desmond having some knowledge of what's to come in the days ahead.

But perhaps it doesn't physically matter where "our" Desmond is because half of the mission has already been started: Lost-X Desmond will begin to gather the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 and wake them from their slumber. Things are already in motion.

Lost-X Desmond. While some might wonder just why--if Desmond got what he always wanted (or thought he always wanted)--that he's been split up from Penny, that's not really his heart's desire. What Des has always longed for is the approval of the one man who would never give it: Charles Widmore. In this reality, Desmond is an unattached single man whose entire life revolves around his career and his job working for Widmore, here happily ensconced in an office in Los Angeles with a stash of MacCutcheon whiskey and a provocative painting of scales (symbol alert!); he's also married to Eloise and his son, Daniel, is a classical pianist. Eloise is hosting an event and Desmond is sent on a mission to ensure that Charlie Pace, about to be released from jail after his suicide attempt, is at the concert to perform with Daniel.

And that's when things start to go wrong, or right depending on your point of view. Charlie, in the moments before death, experienced a shift of consciousness that displayed another reality, one in which he was in love with Claire Littleton. (In fact, it would seem that the main thrust of the entire series is love, actually.) He wants to show Desmond something, proof that their lives are wrong and that their world is a lie. He seizes control of Desmond's car and drives it into the ocean (in fact, right near the dock where Desmond had been living with Penny and Charlie). Under the water, Desmond attempts to save Charlie (echoes of Season Three) and has a vision of a similar incident in which Charlie pressed his hand against the glass of the Looking Glass Station (another instance of a looking glass, in fact!) and Desmond read the words, "Not Penny's Boat."

While Desmond was unable to save Charlie in the mainstream reality, here he successfully rescues him from drowning and the incident forces a switch to be flipped inside his brain, a switch that's all the more potently felt when Desmond undergoes his own test in this reality, an MRI at the hospital. An MRI, after all, is an example of magnetic resonance imaging, in which a "powerful magnetic field [is used] to align the nuclear magnetization of (usually) hydrogen atoms in water in the body." Or succinctly: more magnets, which allows Desmond's consciousness to connect to the other reality and send back images of Penny. Unable to withstand the mental onslaught, he pushes the button (dun-dun-dun) and demands to see Charlie... who is attempting to flee the hospital.

Charlie does give Desmond an important piece of information, telling him that none of this is real and that he has to find Penny. His first clue comes when he goes to tell Eloise that Charlie won't be appearing at the event. But she's eerily calm about it, despite George Minkowski--here Desmond's driver in this reality--warning him about her temper. But Eloise just shrugs it off, offering yet another example of that old Lost adage, "whatever happened, happened." Which made me wonder: did Eloise already know that Charlie wouldn't be turning up? And how much is she aware of the chasm between the realities?

The answer to the second question would appear to be answered somewhat by the heated exchange between Eloise and Desmond when he asks to see the guest list after hearing the name Penny Milton. (Why does Penny have a different last name than Charles despite being his daughter? Because he is still married to Eloise and never married Penny's mother. And, yes, Milton would clearly seem to be a reference to "Paradise Lost" author John Milton, a title that seems to offer a sharp foreboding about what's to come in the Lost-X world.) Whereas Charlie spurred Desmond on to find Penny, Eloise seems to be against it, saying that it is a "violation" and that he's "not ready yet." Hmmm...

Lost-X Eloise. It's interesting that the more Eloise protests, the more Desmond believes in the righteousness of his mission. But whereas Eloise offered a course-correction previously, here her hands seem to be tied and the use of the world "violation" seems particularly meaningful. Why is Desmond not ready to be enlightened about the truth of their world? If Eloise is once again aware of the divergent realities, why does she seek to prevent Desmond from seeing Penny? Or is it just that Eloise knows that Desmond will eventually meet Penny--that he has to in this universe as well--but that things are now unfolding not in the proper sequence or timeframe? Curious. I would have thought that this Eloise would have wanted things to course-correct, even if it means losing Daniel all over again...

Lost-X Daniel. Loved that we got a glimpse of Daniel Faraday, much missed this season. Here, Daniel too has achieved his heart's desire as he got to follow his chosen path to become a concert pianist rather than a physicist. Though he's plagued by a sense of deja vu, experiencing an otherworldly attraction to Charlotte Staples Lewis when he spies her in the museum, and an inexplicable talent at advanced quantum mechanics, something he couldn't have done had he not studied physics for years. Nice callback with the notebook, where this Daniel made a chart that included an axis that read real space, imaginary time. He believes that they changed things and that somehow, somewhere, he had detonated a nuclear device and altered reality. He tells Desmond that Penny is his half-sister and enables him to find her. Despite Eloise's efforts to keep the two apart, it's her own son that pushes Desmond and Penny together. Could it be that the universe is course-correcting, even without Eloise's influence? (Also loved the reflection of Daniel in Desmond's car window, another example of a looking glass.)

Lost-X Desmond and Penny. Desmond, of course, does come face to face with Penny, as she is runs up and down the stairs at the stadium, the same one where in the mainstream reality Desmond met Jack for the first time. Penny herself has a moment of deja vu upon meeting Desmond but his consciousness flashes over to the island when they actually touch, a moment of profound connection that bridges the chasm between the two realities. (We see this as Desmond wakes up, still apparently shaking Penny's hand.) The incident spurs Desmond to ask Minkowski to track down the passenger manifest for Oceanic Flight 815. Why? Because Desmond will begin to track down each of them and "awaken" their true consciousness, granting each of them the ability to become aware of the other world.

Which would put them on the path of putting the world right again--bringing the island back to the surface--in order to recork the bottle and get the genie (the Man in Black) back in his prison. But to do so, they'll have to sacrifice everything they hold dear in this world in order to chose a world that's more flawed--if proper--than their own. Yes, each of them will be faced with the choice to leave Eden behind in order to do the noble thing and each will be judged accordingly.

Would you give up a chance at love to put the world right again? If you got your heart's desire, could you turn your back on it? Is ignorance bliss or just blindness? With only five episodes remaining before the series finale of Lost, I think we're about to see things get increasingly dark as lives will be lost, alliances broken, and sacrifices made. If last night's episode is any indication of the road ahead, I dare say that we're in for quite a ride.

What did you think of this week's episode? Agree or disagree with the above theories? Were you struck by the similarities to "House of M"? Got predictions on just what will happen next? Head to the comments to discuss.

Next week on Lost ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), Hurley agonizes over what the group should do next, while Locke is curious about the new arrival to his camp.

Getting Lost: Televisionary Heads to Orientation: Ryan Station Podcast

Looking for more Lost goodness?

After a particularly busy week, I was extremely honored and more than happy to crash on Friday evening in front of the computer, pour myself a drink (Hendrick's gin and soda with lime, to be precise) and catch up with The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan and Zap2It's Ryan McGee.

Yes, I was the mystery guest this week on the latest edition of their weekly Orientation: Ryan Station Lost podcast.

Discussing this week's episode of Lost ("The Package"), we had a lot to say about Sun and Jin's separation (which I believe to be intentional), that stubborn tomato and a certainly conveniently located tree branch, the possible merging of the two realities, the handling of the series' female characters, and much more.

You can give the podcast a listen here (and very conveniently watch along to the episode on the embedded Hulu player), download this week's episode here, and subscribe to the podcast here.

Curious to see what you think, Lost fans! And thanks for listening.