This week seemed like a set-up episode that explained a few things and set the stage for some explosive show-downs in the future. There was enough irony in this episode to keep me blogging for a week! To name a few instances: No matter how hard he tries, Michael can't kill himself; Michael is reunited with Walt only to be denied access to him by his own mother; Sayid turns Michael in to the freighter captain for working for Ben--but Sayid himself will be working for Ben in the not-so-distant future; Locke says 'no more secrets' but fails to tell everyone about Miles' demand for 3.2 million; in order to redeem himself for the murders of Ana Lucia and Libby, Michael agrees to murder an entire BOATLOAD of people.

Maybe it was just me, but much as I enjoy Kate, Jack, Hurley, and the rest of the beach camp Losties, it was kinda nice not to see any of them this week.

I'll be honest, though--I'm a little bummed that the show so easily and quickly offed Rousseau and Carl. I guess they weren't much use from a plot perspective, but they were innocent people! Poor Alex. Looks like her role will be expanding this season...

Whoa moments:

-Michael's reason for being on the boat: "I'm here to die"
-Rousseau actually agrees with Ben on something! Alex's safety
-Michael is a messy guy--look at that apartment
-Why does he want to commit suicide?
-LIBBY SIGHTING! She's a nurse at the hospital--yet anoter smoke monster manifestation?
-His mother won't let him see Walt--and Walt doesn't want to see him? Why?
-WALT SIGHTING!
-How the heck did Tom get off the island?
-Now we know why Tom told Kate "You're not my type" a couple of seasons back!
-Ben says Widmore planted the fake plane wreck, but Widmore says Ben did. WHO is the bad guy here?
-Libby sighting number 2: what's up with her hair?
-NOT YET
-Ben is cruel to give Walt's name as the caller
-Sayid turns Michael in
-Carl is shot dead!! NO! Rousseau, too! SAD!! Ben set them up. HORRIBLE

Quotables:

-Locke to his campers: "No more secrets." HA!
-Michael to pawn broker: "I want a gun with bullets." As opposed to one...without bullets?
-Ben to Michael: "Consider yourself one of the good guys."

Lost in Hawaii locations

Locke's camp: YMCA Camp Erdman
Michael's speeding suicide attempt: a Honolulu pier
Port of Suva: the same Honolulu pier, during the day?
Help me out on the pier situation, I don't usually go near the water in town...

Basketball lovers and Losties everywhere will appreciate what The Washington Post has created: a March madness bracket system pitting Lost characters against each other in order to determine "a champion--otherwise known as the best 'Lost' character ever."

Online voting started last week (oops!), but it's not too late to put in your two cents over the next few days--it's down to the Elite 8, which are going to be tough contests: Sayid (who beat Jack) vs. Sawyer (who beat Kate!), Charlie vs. Eko (my favorite!!), Desmond vs. Rousseau, and (HA!) Ben vs. Jacob.

My picks? Sayid, EKO, Rousseau, and Jacob...although I have a feeling that Ben may make it into the championship round....

Vote now!!

(Champion to be revealed Tuesday, March 25th)
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Also, check out Ryan's blog for some great shots of a Middle Eastern town created in the middle of Honolulu last week.

Anyone else spot filming recently?

There were a couple of shockers and a couple of not-so-shockers in tonight's Korean Drama episode. Once again, there was a slightly unexpected twist in the format of the show: we saw both flash-forwards (Sun) AND flashbacks (Jin)--brilliant!!

Also, good job everyone on predicting that Michael is Ben's spy on the freighter--was it just me, or did he look like he'd seen better days? Yikes.

Whoa moments:

-Sun has been pregnant before? No, it's a flash-forward
-There's the giant stuffed panda! (question: why does it HAVE to be a panda?)
-Juliet spills Sun's biggest secret to Jin: DRAMA!!
-The woman on the ship commits suicide and nobody cares...?!!
-Finally meet the captain of the freighter, whom we are not supposed to trust; it makes me wonder--is Ben really the bad guy? Because I'm convinced that Widmore is a BAAAAAD guy...
-Sun performs the fastest birth EVER: It's a girl!
-MICHAEL is the janitor on the boat
-Jin forgives Sun--tender moment!
-Jin's entire storyline was a flahBACK--he's not one of the Oceanic 6!! PLEASE tell me that he's not really dead....he's still on the island with the rest of them...I don't believe it!!

SOOO, we have Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and ?? as our Oceanic 6. Who's the last one? Aaron? Locke? The guy in the coffin?

Quotables:

Jin: "I need the panda."
End credits/next week: "Someone WILL die."

Lost in Hawaii locations:

Jin catching a taxi - Chinatown
Toy Store - Toys N Joys, Waialae Ave
Cemetery - looks SO familiar, but I can't place it!! Anyone?

Don't read on if you haven't yet watched last night's episode. There. You've been warned!!

It was another night of fabulousness during this week's episode. I thought it very interesting that the entire episode took place on the island--there were flashbacks, but they all took place within the past 3 years. Does this mean that the island vs. rest of the world time discrepancy is shrinking? There were a few moments of ridiculousness, such as when a downpour (and nightfall) conveniently converged as soon as the search party set out, or when Kate recovered completely from being knocked out with a possible concussion in about 30 seconds (the island's healing properties at work again?).

Did anyone else notice that Juliet started straightening her hair once Goodwin was sent away? I think that we really see a more vulnerable side to Juliet this week, and it explains a lot of her hard-to-trust behavior. What I don't understand is why she feels the need to harbor so many secrets. It seems a little excessive, even when her motive to do so is to protect Jack. All in all, I have to say that she's growing on me, and I may yet end up liking her by the time the series is over...haha.

'Whoa' moments:

-Ben lied to Juliet about how long she'd be on the island from the get-go
-THE VOICES ARE BACK! It would seem that Harper is the latest manifestation of the smoke monster...but Jack saw her, too!
-Harper was married to Goodwin!
-Of all people, Kate finds the runaways
-Goodwin stops by to see Juliet, but Ben is there: AWKWARD!
-Locke just loves chopping bloody meat
-Juliet left Jack and Kate in the jungle...THIS is why I can't trust her
-Penny's father is Ben's nemesis--and the owner of the boat
-Ben and Juliet have a two person party: seeing Ben excited and
-Ben sent Goodwin to be killed out of jealousy: "YOU'RE MINE, Juliet!"
-JACK KISSES JULIET! Awwww

Quotables:

Juliet: "It's very stressful being an Other, Jack."
Ben to Locke, re: RED SOX video: "I taped over the game."

Lost in Hawaii locations:

-Locke's camp: YMCA Camp Erdman, Mokule'ia
-Beach Camp: Papa'iloa Beach, North Shore
-Juliet and Goodwin have a secret picnic: Kawela Bay, North Shore
-The Tempest Station: the old army bunker at Kualoa Ranch
-Goodwin's final resting place: Kualoa

Also, EW's Doc Jensen talks about the loves of Juliet.

Any Lost star sightings recently? Keep your eyes peeled--production starts up again Monday, so most of them should be arriving this week. We've seen Henry Ian Cusick already, and apparently Yunjin Kim (Sun) appeared for an impromptu photo shoot on a random boat this weekend in Hawai'i Kai.

The front section prop of the plane is back in He'eia Kea. It was missing during the filming for first half of this season, so I'm thinking we're going to get yet another version of the initial crash to introduce a new character (think Nikki and Paolo from last season).

And speaking of the plane, I came across this game someone invented--the object is to keep the Oceanic Flight 815 plane from crashing. I admit, I'm pretty horrible at it, but it was strangely addicting...

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Also, as chawan_cut reminds us, don't forget to check out the new Lost video game (for PS3, XBox 360, and PC)!