Trust and Blood (E2, V4)

I will keep this brief since I don't have much time to write it this week and it was more of a transition episode. We got to see a few important and interesting things, though. The fugitives came together and Matt started drawing the future again. Ando and Daphne came to save the day, but Daphne ended up getting killed in the process. So, now we have our little band of heroes which includes Matt, Hiro, Ando, Mohinder, and of course Peter. There is also Claire who is part of their cause, but stuck at home under her parents watchful eye. I have a feeling she will join their side soon enough.

Nathan is trying to round up these heroes because he feels they are dangerous. He captures Tracy and keeps her locked up. He is desperately trying to keep his secret of having an ability while trying to capture others with abilities. He also calls his Mom to try to get her support, but she isn't willing to give it.

We also got to see Sylar get a new apprentice who is a boy who can emit microwaves. Sylar held the boy's father hostage in order to try to get information about his own father. When the man tries to escape and attack Sylar, the boy instinctively melts his father which shows that he is now on Sylar's side. The boy also indicates that he knows where to find Sylar's father. So, it should be interesting to see how this dynamic works. I really like the direction this new volume is going in and am interested in seeing how the fugitives can bond together and overthrow Nathan and the government. It should be fun!

The Little Prince (S5, E4)

How can one show be so awesome? I absolutely loved this episode of Lost! We got to see more about the Oceanic 6 and their process of gathering to get ready to return to the island. It still seems like it is going to be a difficult process, but it doesn't seem quite as impossible. Ben is working his magic and I think he is going to get what he wants. We also got to see some more time travel, which allowed the viewer to look into more history of the island. So, let's get into this!

Regarding the oceanic six, the episode focused on Kate and her going to the lawyer who came to her in the first episode demanded a blood sample from her and Aaron to determine if Aaron was really her son. Kate left her son with Sun, which might not be the most safe move ever since Sun recieves a package with a gun and chocolates. And Sun's method of parenting is fattening the kid up with candy and setting them in front of a TV. But, anyways, Kate goes to the lawyer and wants to know who his client is. She says that she will allow them to take a blood sample as soon as she knows who the client is. The lawyer says he'll talk to his client, but the answer is no. Kate doesn't take no for an answer, so she waits in her car to follow the lawyer to his client. Kate is interrupted though by a frantic Jack who has discovered her address in the pocket of a man who tried to attack Sayid. They end up leaving together to follow the lawyer and are shocked to see the lawyer go to...Claire's mother!

Jack insists that he can talk sense to Claire's mother and get them to leave Aaron alone. What he discovers though, is that Claire's mother has no idea about Aaron and is actually sueing Oceanic for a completely unrelated reason. Who is the real client? Benjamin Linus, of course! The lawyer meets Ben in a garage and tells him that he can get Hurley cleared of charges so they can recruit him. Things are starting to come together. The oceanic six minus Hurley and plus Ben all meet up at the marina. Sun is watching from a distance with Aaron in the backseat contemplating storming up and shooting Ben for revenge. Kate is not happy with the idea that Jack is now on Ben's side and that Ben is the one who was trying to get Aaron. So, there are still a lot of issues to work out, but the oceanic six got one step closer in this episode. Good luck, Ben!

On the island we got to see some more nosebleeds, meaning that the castaways are really starting to feel the effects of time travel. Miles and Juliet now join Charlotte as the nosebleeding three. The castaways took off for the Orchid so that Locke could leave the island like Ben did and convince the oceanic six to come back to stop all the time travelling craziness. They got to see a familiar moment from season 1 where the hatch lit up after Lockes despair over Boone's death. And Sawyer got a glimpse of Claire giving birth to Aaron with Kate playing doctor. This scene was important because it shows that Sawyer really misses and loves Kate, and it shows the beginning of Kate's involvement with Aaron. Another flash came, and the castaways ended up in more current times (although perhaps in the future) evidenced by their ravashed camp.

They find a boat on the shore and take it and start paddling to the orchid station. They end up getting shot at and are "saved" by another flash that sends them into a downpour and they quickly go to the shore. We then cut to another scene where a raft of people see a man out in the ocean laying on some wreakage. They bring him onto their raft, and we discover that it is Jin! He is not dead! The raft people bring him with them to the beach and start questioning him. They are talking in French, but switch to English when they find out that Jin speaks a little English. Big shocker: These people are Rousseau's crew! We see a very pregnant Danielle Rousseau talking to Jin. I am very curious to find out the backstory to these people.

So, that was an incredible episode and I can't wait to see the next episode! So, who do you think were in the boat shooting at the castaways? Could it be the oceanic six who have just come back to the island? Who will be next in having nosebleeds, and what does this mean for our beloved castaways? And what really happened to Rousseau's crew? Hopefully these questions will be answered soon. I can't wait!

A Clear and Present Danger (V4, E1)

Heroes is back! There have been a lot of complaints about the last volume and I agree with some of them. There were a lot of believablity issues, which are bound to pop up on a show that is so involved with time travel and varying superhuman abilities. But, the great thing about Heroes is you can put the previous volume on the shelf and have a fresh start in the new volume. Sure, there are many carryover elements from previous volumes, but the story at large is a whole different animal. Here are some things of interest from the epiosde that I noticed.

The episode was mainly structured around the main characters being hunted down for their abilities. The Heroes are trying to go back to their normal lives- Peter as a nurse, Mohinder as a cab driver, Matt as a cop. The problem is, Nathan has other plans for these Heroes- to lock them up and throw away the key. He feels they are dangerous and shouldn't live amongst the general public. He seems to forget, though, that he is one of these Heroes himself. For some reason, in his mind, even though he has a power he doesn't deserve the same fate as all the others with powers.

Before everyone got taken into custody, we got cool glimpses into their lives. We got to see Hiro take on a new role as the man behind the hero. Hiro lost his powers last volume, but he refuses to let his passion for saving the world die, so now his is living through his friend Ando who just recently acquired powers. It is a complete role reversal for the two and Hiro is taking it to the extreme by injecting them with tracking devices and having a whole computerized setup so Hiro can communicate with Ando from the home base. Ando is most excited, though, about the new motorcycle, which he takes out and ends up at a strip club much to Hiro's dissapointment. Ironically, the Heroes gatherers took Hiro (the one without powers) and not Ando (the one with powers). They must not know yet that Hiro has no ablilities and Ando does.

We get to see Mohinder try to dodge several agents trying to take him in. We discover that Mohinder still has his super strength, but must have gotten rid of the side affects. HRG is the one who manages to catch Mohinder and take him into custody. Peter made the dumbest move of the volume so far by voluntarily giving his brother a hug and then getting shocked immediately afterwards. I can't stand Nathan.

Matt discovers that he has a new calling as a prophet who can paint (or draw) the future. He gets tutored by African Isaac from the previous season. He is together with Daphne and trying to live his life without use of his powers. Daphne on the other hand is having a difficult time slowing down. Matt gets caught right after getting warned by Claire of the incoming danger.

So, there they were, our main characters were all knocked out and put on a plane. Claire managed to escape and became the hero of the situation, freeing Peter while they are in the air. Peter now needs to touch other people to gan their powers and staged a great fight by taking Mohinder's strength. Peter accidently took Tracy's power and ended up freezing a side of the plane causing it to break off and start sucking the Heroes out of the plane. Peter is hanging on for dear life and Claire discovers that her dad (HRG) is on the plane as well in the copilots chair. This is where the episode ends, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

But, this recap is not over yet, because there was one "Hero" that the agents couldn't capture. His name is Sylar. Sylar spent the episode trying to find out who his real parents are. He went to who he thought his father was, but the man ended up being his uncle who gave him the address to his real father's house. While at this address, Sylar was ambushed by numerous agents who managed to shoot him with tranquilizer darts and tie him down. But this wasn't enough to keep Sylar down. He used telekinesis and electricity to beat down all the agents and he demands to know information about why they are there. He does his famous trick by starting to cut open the head of one of the agents.

So, what will happen? Will Sylar be the only chance for the Heroes survival since he can't be captured, or will Ando and Daphne team up to save the day as the most unlikely pair ever? I'm excited to see what happens once the plane crashes. Will they land on a mysterious island and start skipping through time? I'm excited for the volume and am very hopeful with the direction it is taking.

Jughead (S5, E3)

This is the first truly brilliant episode of the season for me. I loved every minute of it and loved it even more as I continued to think about it. Perhaps the reason is that it is a Desmond episode, and those always tend to be my favorite. Whatever the reason is, I loved it. There are really two storylines here that were featured- Desmond finding Daniel's mum and the castaways experiences on the island. I'll start with the Desmond storyline.

If you remember, Desmond was told by Daniel that he needs to visit he mother in Oxford. So, Desmond goes to Oxford. We get a cool flashback that shows the birth of Desmond's son, which is nice to see since a big part of the previous season was Desmond and Penny's love for each other. Desmond goes back to the place where he had his conversation with Daniel in the past about time traveling rats. He is surprised to find that nobody at the University knows of a Daniel Faraday. So, Desmond sneaks into his lab and is discovered by a man who seems to know the reason why Daniel was fired. This leads to Desmond going to a girl who was a 'patient' of Daniel's. This girl is in a coma and only pops out of it occasionally, confused about what time period she is in. Her consciousness is traveling through time similar to Desmond's experience in "The Constant" last season.

Well, Desmond gets a good piece of information- Widmore funded Daniel's research for several years. So, Desmond storms into Widmore's office and demands to know the whereabouts of Daniel's mom. Widmore gives Desmond the information about Daniel's mom, who happens to be in Los Angeles. Could she be the very same Ms. Hawking shown at the end of the last episode? Widmore also urges Desmond to keep his daughter safe since, as we know, Ben is out to hunt her down and kill her. Desmond goes back to the boat with Penny and tries to lie about getting information, but Penny sees right through it. She knows that Desmond won't quit until he has completed his mission, so she vows to go with him (right to the same city that Ben is rounding up oceanic sixers- not good). We also get a cool little moment where we discover that Desmond and Penny have named their son Charlie, surely after the rock star islander who saved the rest of them by writing "Not Penny's Boat" before drowning. I hope he is named after this Charlie and not Charles Widmore...

On the island, even more fascinating things are happening. To get more stabilization, this episode mainly takes place in the same time period on the island- the 1950s. The scientists- Daniel, Charlotte and Miles, get taken by the Others of the past and are delivered straight to Richard Alpert who looks exactly the same then as he does in present day. They discover that there is a hydrogen bomb on the island that is unstable and they need Daniel's smarts in order to disable it. So, Daniel is led to the bomb by someone he thinks is familiar (after declaring his love for Charlotte). I have strong suspicions that this girl pointing a gun at Daniel is none other than Daniel's mom- Ms. Hawking. Crazy, I know. Daniel tells the girl that they simply need to bury the bomb and it won't be a problem- evidenced by the fact that Daniel is still alive in the future on the island. Sawyer and Juliet also come up to save the day right before another flash of light comes.

Oh yeah, I should also mention that John Locke makes his way to the Other's camp and demands to speak with Richard Alpert. John gives Richard a compass and tells him to visit him in a couple of years after he is born. This explains "Cabin Fever" where young Locke gets a visit from Richard and is asked to identify which item is his from a selection of different items. The compass must have been the right choice, not the knife as little Locke chose. We also get a big piece of information when we discover that one of the others that led John to the others camp is none other than Charles Widmore! Charles Widmore was an other on the island! This causes the question, what happened that made Widmore come off the island? Is he under the same predicament as Ben?

The episode ends with Charlotte getting a severe nosebleed and fainting in Daniel's arms. She must be experiencing severe problems from time traveling so much- but it is odd that it doesn't seem to be affecting anyone else in the same way. Maybe they have altered something in the past that affects Charlotte and she is facing the results of it. This could be why she is starting to forget things like her Mother's maiden name. Maybe she is being wiped out of history because of something they've done. Who, knows! All I can say is that I'm pumped for the episodes to come and to recieve even more answers. Lost is the greatest show ever made. Hands down.

The Lie (S5, E2)

I was curious how the structure of Lost would change with this new season. For seasons 1-3, for the most part, each episode was centered around a single castaway and featured flashbacks giving insight into their pre-island past. In season 4, there was a mixture of Flashback episodes, and then Flash Forward episodes, but they were all still focused generally around a single character. So, how would season 5 structure its episodes? Would they simply drop the idea of character-centric episodes, or would they once again find a unique way to still focus in on a single character?

It seems the later is true, because this episode was clearly a Hurley episode. There was one flashback at the beginning which showed the oceanic 6 discussing their need to lie to the world about those they left behind. Hurley is obviously not in favor of lying, but has no one to back him up, not even Sayid, which causes him to have to go along with it. This obviously provided the key element to the episode- how Hurley deals with having to lie. Hurley has always been one of the more moral characters on Lost, so it makes sense that he deals with this quite differently than the other oceanic sixers. This episode involved Hurley carrying around Sayid and trying to fix him up after being shot by a dart in the previous episode. Hurley gets a visit from Ana Lucia, telling him to avoid running into cops and getting in trouble. And then Hurley goes to his dad for help with his current situation.

Their solution is to take Sayid to Jack to get fixed up. While this is happening, Hurley reaches his breaking point and spills out 4 seasons worth of information to his mom who simply says, "I don't understand it, but I believe you." Then Hurley is approached by Ben. Hurley has been told by Sayid that he should do the exact opposite of whatever Ben tells him. So, when Ben tells Hurley that he should come back to the island so he can stop lying, Hurley runs out and turns himself to the cops for his 4...I mean 3...murders. Now, things are that much trickier for Ben, since he needs to perform a prison break with Hurley to get him on board to returning to the island.

Meanwhile, Jack is able to save Sayid. On the island an annoying guy named Neal gets struck with a flaming arrow and dies (after complaining about there being no fire, very ironic!). And the islanders get caught by men with guns, until Locke comes with his knife throwing action and saves the day. Also at the end of the episode, we get another glimpse of Ms. Hawking, who was a sort of guide to Desmond when he had his first flash when the hatch exploded. She is working hard with various devices and computers, and Ben comes to visit her. Apparently they only have 70 hours to get back to the island or else "God help us all." This was a great episode that gave us insight into Hurley's dilemma since he has been back. It also gives a time frame for the 6 to get back to the island. Can Ben work his magic and somehow get the oceanic six together? Will them coming back fix the island so it stops hopping around through time? And, how did Locke die, and is he going to stay dead? Hopefully these questions and others will be answered soon. I'm excited!

Because You Left (Lost S5, E1)

On the Island, we get a introduction that features Pierre Chang, the man who is the focus of each Dharma Initiative training video. He is interrupted from making his latest video and is brought to the very same place that we saw Locke and Ben at last season: The Orchid. The workers there have been drilling holes in the wall, and their drill bits keep melting when they try to drill through. Pierre is given a sonar printout that reveals the "frozen donkey wheel" that Ben turned in last season to move the island behind the wall. Pierre demands they don't drill any further, or else doom will ensue. As he is walking away we see a man come walking the other way in a construction uniform, and it is none other than Daniel Faraday!....LOST....

I loved this first episode of the season because it set up the structure of the upcoming season- which is a distinct lack of structure. After Ben turned the big wheel, the castaways on the island jumped to a different time period before they ever came onto the island. Their camp was missing because it hadn't been built yet and Locke had a run in with none other than the heroin carrying plane that would end up being Boone's demise. But, there is more, the castaways at random times move to different time periods on the island without warning. There is a brilliant flash of white light and all of a sudden, they are in a different time period. This is a fascinating development because it allows for the viewer to get an interesting perspective on the history of the island. They can go back to the beginnings of the Dharma Initiative, and find out more back story about the mysterious others. I am very excited to see where this time travelling goes.

We got to see quite a few important things on the island in this particular episode. Locke got shot by past Ethan and had to be fixed up by a futuristic Richard Alpert. Richard gave Locke a compass and told him that he would have to die in order to get the Oceanic 6 back to the island- which is an important step to fixing their current predicament. Daniel Faraday became useful since he is the only one on the island who has any idea what is happening to them. After telling Sawyer that he can't change anything in the past and that it is useless to knock on Desmond's hatch door, he waits for Sawyer to leave and does it himself! Apparently, Desmond is special and is the only one that can help them. Daniel tells Desmond to find his mom in Oxford, and Desmond wakes up in the future and remembers this and knows he needs to help Daniel out.

As for the Oceanic 6, we got little glimpses of them that showed how bad off they are since leaving the island. Kate had to run off after being approached by an attorney who wanted to test to see if Aaron was really her son. Sun is out for revenge specifically against Ben who she feels is responsible for Ben's death, and she is allying with Charles Widmore to do it. Sayid has become a dangerous hit man and estranged from his boss, Benjamin Linus. Hurley is going back to being crazy and has had numerous encounters with dead people. Then we have Jack who is depressed over Locke's death and knows that it is important to go back to the island. Him and Ben are working together to try to gather up the oceanic six and somehow get them back to the island. But, because of the varying conditions of the oceanic 6 and their mistrust of Jack or Ben, it seems impossible for them to gain the trust of the other members of the oceanic 6. I can't wait to find out how Ben is able to manipulate this situation to his advantage.

Just a quick note...

I have changed my blogging technique a little, and I felt I should explain here what I did and the implications it has on the future of my blogs. This blog started as "Progressive Entertainment" and was a grab bag of basically everything I liked, no matter how related or unrelated they were. This made for a very confusing and crazy blog with one post being about the show Survivor, the next about an album I like, and then another about American Idol. It was getting a little crazy, I think, so I've seperated the main two subjects that were included in "Progressive Entertainment" into two new blogs.

The first is this blog, now called "So Many Shows". This blog will be about the various tv shows that I watch. I will give reviews and commentary about recent episodes of shows such as: American Idol, Survivor, Amazing Race, Lost, Heroes, and potentially others. I realize that these shows aren't all incredibly similar, but I feel that it'll make a lot more sense to have a blog about TV in general.

The other blog is "The Leviathan" and is now my music blog. On that blog I will mainly do reviews of current progressive rock albums and will occasionally spotlight what I consider to be classic prog albums. My 'main' blog is called "The Way Home" and is basically a journal of my life and progress working on my personal goals and so forth. I will provide a link to these blogs on the right side of the page. So, I hope this all makes sense and will lead to many interesting posts!