smacky and bucky

We're heading toward the season finales for some shows I watch, so I thought I'd ramble a little about them. Spoilers below, so if you're waiting to watch last night's Jericho or Lost, be warned.


Jericho: It would be interesting if the series isn't renewed. A really open-ended ending to the show. I wonder if killing the show's biggest name was a response to being up in the air about the future of the series. If it's not renewed, killing him was a chance to give the actor a good death scene with no ramifications for the future of the series.

I'd like the show to return, but with the military coming after Hawkins (whether it's the "real" American military or a splinter group (the real America wouldn't change the flag like that. The flag is a rallying point, something to bind the nation together. Only a splinter group would design a new flag), the New Bern/Jericho shootout at the end bound to have more casualties (like farm boy that didn't want to die), and the death of the dad, I'd completely understand if this was it.

Oh, they also gave Gerald McRainy the most awesome line of the night. His son asks why he isn't curious about Hawkin's revelation that he has access to a satellite. Gerald's response: "Son, I'm about to go to war with New Bern, Kansas, home of the closest Costco. I'm far beyond questioning anything."

Lost: Wow, last night's episode gave us some answers. Ben wasn't born on the island as he asserted. His dad is Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite ("Bet I can throw this football over that volcano?"), a sad alcoholic addicted to all that free Dharma brand beer who could never remember his son's birthday. You feel sorry for little Ben for a little while, until you see that he sold out Dharma and let the island "hostiles" nerve gas the whole group (with, one would assume, the exception of the guys in the Swan hatch, who had to continue pressing the button). I'm a little confused about the timeline. I don't know exactly when this "purge" occurred, but I know Kelvin was brought to the Swan hatch after Gulf War # 1 in the early '90s, so Dharma must have still been functioning then. I don't know why the food drops continue though. Why would the outside world folks running Dharma assume their employees are still on the island? Is Ben making sure the company still receives regular reports? How is it that no one from Dharma has sent someone to check up? Curious.

Locke, even with a bullet in the gut, is still badass. Yay for the return of mystical Locke, who has been buffed up with a "don't take no for an answer" backbone. Standing up to Ben in front of the Others, beating up Mikhail (Patchy) (and the Others' complete lack of response to it, even when Ben ordered them to stop him. Loved that!), and demanding to be taken to Jacob. Awesome.

The ghost or whatever it was in the cabin? Meh. Not sure how I feel about Ben exploiting a trapped spirit or whatever the hell he's doing. I hope for a little more clarification. Jacob asking Locke for help? No way Locke is gonna die from Ben's bullet. And Ben's time as leader is definitely coming to an end if Locke walks back to camp, completely healed and quoting Mark Twain: "News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated."

Ben nerve gassing his pop and the rest of the group, walking around and seeing all the dead after? Creepy. The mass open grave with all the jumpsuited skeletons? CREEPY, but oh so cool. This show has really delivered this spring, after a really shaky fall. I can't even begin to predict what will happen these final two episodes. Charlie's death is being predicted all over the place, but I think it's a red herring, and someone else will die and we'll all be totally shocked by it. But who? Jack? Sawyer? Hurley? Sayid? I think any of those are good candidates. I think Jin is safe, with his pregnant wife, and Desmond, since his love story with Penny is supposed to be central to the rest of the show.