The Frank Pembleton Award- Lead Character Action

Named For: Frank Pembleton played by Andre Braugher in
Homicide: Life on the Street
Awarded To: The best lead character in an action series from
June 1, 2009 - May 31, 2010
Last Year's Winner: James 'Sawyer' Ford- Lost

Place. Character (Show) Points (My Vote)

10. Patrick Jane (The Mentalist) 2 points

9. Jack Bauer (24) 7 points

8. John Casey (Chuck) 8 points

7. Walter White (Breaking Bad) 12 points

6. Chuck Bartowski (Chuck) 14 points

5. Jackson Teller (Sons of Anarchy) 18 points (3rd)

4. Hugo Reyes (Lost) 18 points (2nd)

3. Raylan Givens (Justified) 19 points (5th)

Runner-Up
2. James 'Sawyer' Ford (Lost) 21 points (4th)

and the Poolie goes to...
1. Jack Shephard (Lost)
32 points (1st)

My relationship with Jack Shephard has been a tumultuous one over the past five years. I was a Sawyer guy from the jump, so it was hard to be on board with Jack at the beginning. When I started watching the series with Lar and Mags, the latter was on the Sayid train and the former was the Jack guy. I wasn't really about either of them.

As the seasons went along, whether it was just hate building on indifference or the fact that he actually did get more and more annoying, my hatred for Jack Shephard grew fierce throughout seasons two to five. Now I know I wasn't alone on this because even though I placed him on last year's ballot for the Teri Bauer Award for the Character You Love to Hate in an Action Series, I was not responsible for any of his three total points.

Then came this final season of Lost. While Sawyer was the absolute stud of season five, he took a back seat to Jack as the season came to a close. Jack started the series as a guy who helped everyone survive out of necessity and although he seemed to grow more and more whiny and arrogant as the series went along, season six changed things.

He still wanted to help in any way he could, but at this point he didn't really know what to do. He who once was the man of science, had taken over for the late John Locke as the man of faith. He had faith that he had come back to the Island for a bigger purpose and he spent most of season six trying to figure out what that was.

This willingness to let others lead, and figure things out along the way, was what made him so easy to love in this final season. The character I previously was all about (Sawyer) clammered on about leaving the Island and really had no idea what was going on; therefore I lost a bit of respect for him. Jack, on the other hand, was ready willing and able to take on the challenge that was in front of him.

Don't get me wrong, he didn't lose any of the 'man of action' in him that made many love him in season one. Come 'The End' he started to figure out what he needed to do and took care of business as he pummeled the Man In Black on the cliffs, got the stopper back into the Glowing Cave, and wobbled through the jungle to find a nice place to die.

At the end of it all, seeing him smile once awakened in the Sideways Purgatory was one of the best moments of the show. I've watch it back three or four times now, and although there will always be a special place in my heart for Sawyer/Juliet, Jack reliving life in his mind might be my favorite part of the show. He did so much for all of the people in his life and in the end he saved one of the most magical places in the world from crumbling into oblivian.

I find it so awesome that this character not only goes out on top in the series, but also in the Poolies. As a once hater, I am now a Jack Shephard lover and wouldn't have it any other way. His place in history is set as he leaves the television airways as the holder of the Frank Pembleton Award at the 2010 Poolies. See ya in another life, yeah?

Lost- See You All In The Next Life, Brotha

Jack Shephard- "All of this matters."

The two and a half hour series finale of Lost was quite honestly the best one sitting watching something I've ever gone through. No other tv episode or movie has ever moved me in such a way. There were so many moments on and off the Island that were of great importance that I can in no way discuss how all of them made me bawl like a little girl.

One of, if not the biggest question of this entire last season, has been what is the sideways universe and how is going to relate to the Island lives we've been watching these characters live for the past six seasons? Well although it ended up being one of the first ideas that people talked about when the season started, I was still a good deal surprised when it became clear that the sideways world was some type of purgatory.

After Juliet died in Sawyer's arms during LA X, Miles relayed her final thought, which was "it worked." Now most people took this and ran with it, thinking it meant that once someone dies on the Island they transfer over to the sideways world where the bomb actually changed history and everyone can live happily ever after with no Island. After a while this theory fell out of vogue as it seemed more and more likely that these two worlds were coming to some kind of convergence.

And technically they were. All of these characters that we have grown to love over the past six years have been living in this in between state of life and the afterlife. In an ironic turn of events, the first major theory about was Lost really was ended up being a major factor in the end game. Not at all in the way people thought four or so years ago, but these people were in purgatory.

Now I am not a religious man by any means, but I was completely satisfied with this ending. I'm curious as to what people of religions that don't have anything resembling this type of life/afterlife situation, would feel about this type of ending to Lost.

Everybody dies at some point. And for our watching purposes, everyone on the Island died at some point. Some before Jack Shephard (Boone, Sun, Libby, etc.) and some long after the good doctor's eye closed in the bamboo forest (Hugo, Ben, Kate, etc.). They all died and somehow they all created this sideways universe in order to find each other, remember, and let go. How they created this world I'm not sure. Was it the a-bomb back in the incident? Or something completely different that we'll never understand?

With the help of one another, beginning with Charlie helping Desmond, which led to Desmond and Hugo helping everybody else, everyone began to remember their lives and let go. In this sideways purgatory they might have thought they were living, but it all seemed like a shallow existence once each one of them remembered the life they once lived. And once they all did this remembering and letting go, they were ready to move on to what some might call heaven.

And it was in these flashes of remembering that I completely lost it every single time. It was almost as if Cuselof figured how they could make the finale in a way that it would be impossible for the audience to not get multiple chills moment, and then came up with doing the sideways universe. This entire season of sideways moments led us to these moments where we got to see these Zombie-like versions of our favorite characters turn back into the ones that we love right before our very eyes.

Whether it was Jin and Sun snapping back to themselves and immediatly learning Enlish after seeing Ji Yeon on the baby monitor, or Sawyer and Juliet crying in each other's arms once all of their memories of each other come flowing through, I couldn't help but be extremely happy. And it was just that. Flash after flash coming at us time and time again until everyone that we've watched over the years had remembered their time on the Island and was ready to move on to the next life, brotha.

But how did this story of our friends finish up on the Island before they all eventually died and met up in purgatory? Well it was in fantastic fashion as well. Before this journey concluded, almost everyone got their 'moment' and that is what I was happy with. Whether all of the intracies of the Island actually make sense to me, I could care less. But the fact that we got to watch Jack sacrifice himself, Kate save the day by shooting MIB, or Hugo take the reins as the new protector of the Island, was a completely satisfying ending to this story.

As the story began to unfold, the Smoke Monster wanting to feel human became a great irony as returning to human form for a few minutes was what gave our heroes the time they needed to kill him for good. In the first of several heroic moments on the Island, Desmond was lowered down the Waterfall into the glowing Light. The MIB thought bringing him down there would help destroy the Island, while Jack believed it would help save the day and kill Smokey. Although they both claimed they were each wrong, they ended up both being right.

After Desmond released the plug to the Light, the Island did start to destroy itself. It also took away Smokey's smokiness. It returned him to a human form which made it possible for Jack to make him bleed when he did a jump punch on the cliffs that would have made Johnny Cage extremely proud. Fake Locke one the battle between the two, as he stabbed Jack in the gut, but the castaways won the war as Kate came up with her heroic moment, shooting MIB in the back.

Now the terrible beast that haunted this Island for a long time was dead, but the Island was still destroying itself and Jack wasn't going to let everyone die. So in the biggest stud moment in television history, Jack decides that he is going to sacrifice himself by plugging the cork back into the light whole in order to save the Island.

But he's the protector of the Island, how could he go on such a suicide mission? We all asked the question, including Hugo. The simple answer. This is what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to protect the Island for one day so that he could sacrifice himself to save it. He would obviously have to pass the torch on to someone else. And how is everyone in the world not happy that Hugo got to take on this new role. And that was the biggest moment of all for me. When Jack said "it needs to be you Hugo" I completely lost it.

So after Jack saved the day by plugging the hole, Hugo took on the job of protector. In a truly epic good guy moment, Benjamin Linus was right there next to Jumbotron, ready to help him accept his new responsibilites. Hugo is scared and Ben helps him understand that he is someone who has always helped people. As the new ruler of the Island he can help as many people as he wants to. He doesn't have to run things the way Jacob did. And in that moment Ben had his redemption, and Hugo makes the whole thing that much better when he asks Dr. Linus to be his #2.

So Hurley and Ben rule the Island for who knows how long after that moment. Sawyer, Kate, Miles, Claire, Lapidus and now an aging Richard Alpert leave the Island on the Ajira plane. Rose and Bernard will continue to camp out like Robinson Crusoe. Desmond is still hanging out on the Island, but I'm assuming Hugo found a way to get him off the Island quickly so that he could spend the rest of his life with Penny and baby Charlie. And this part of the story ends in a complete full circle moment. Jack is spit out by the waterfall and travels around the jungle until he lays down in the bamboo forest and dies as his eye lid closes ever so slowly.

Thank you all for a great six years. Through it all, Lost was the best television series I've ever watched. And it ended in a way that I am completely happy with. I will re-watch this show from The Pilot to The End many times over to enjoy the journey time and time again.

Other Thoughts

-There were more Sawyer jokes in the first segment of this episode than the rest of this entire season.

-I loved that we got a couple of Star Wars lines from Hurley..."He's worse than Yoda"..."I got a bad feeling about this."

-I honestly don't think I could have been more excited than when I heard Juliet's voice say "am I interrupting?"

-The quick moment when Miles pulls a grey hair off of Richard's head was so poignant because of how good Ab Aeterno was in showing us the man that Ricardo was.

-As Locke, Desmond and Ben meet Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hugo in the field we got a classic encounter as UnLocke claims, "well this is gonna be interesting" and then tells Jack what we've all been thinking "you're kind of the obvious choice don't you think?"

-Even though Desmond says none of it matters, in fact like Jack said "all of this matters." They are living life, and although they get to end up with the ones they love in the afterlife, the current life still matters. And saving the Island is a major achievement. Why does Desmond think that they can just go to the sideways and live happily ever after. It seems like he knows exactly what's going on in the sideways, but doesn't really seem to have a grasp on what the sideways is while he's on the Island.

-Almost a comical moment by MIB as he tells Jack "if there was a button down there to push we could fight about whether or not to push it. Just like old times" Doc then gives Locke his heroic moment in giving him almost all the credit for Jack saving the day, "turns out he was right about most every thing. I just wish I could've told him that while he was still alive."

-Why are Linus and others not ready to move on? Does he have a different group of people he needs to move on with? Unlike Faraday and Charlotte who haven't quite flashed, Ben seems to remember everything and still isn't ready to leave? Interesting.

Lost- Fireside Chat

Jacob- "You should get your friends...we're very close to the end Hugo."

It's as if Cuselof were sitting back and enjoying all of the criticism that came from Across the Sea, because they knew that everyone and their mother was going to love What They Died For. Like it or dislike it, the back story of both Jacob/Man In Black and The Island Light completely enhanced the pleasure of this fantastic penultimate episode of Lost.

The whole episode had more of a 'we're leading up to the end' feeling than anything I've ever seen. In both timelines we got everyone coming together to start the formation of what the finality of Lost is going to be.  What that actually is, well that's yet to be determined.

In the sideways we got Desmond doing his best 'get the band back together' roundup as he pushed Locke towards Jack, before turning himself into the police for running Locke over with his car and beating up Dr. Linus. Everything in that parallel seems to be leading to this concert in which Kate will be wearing a pretty dress. After Desmond figured out a way to sneak Kate and Sayid out of police custody (paying off Ana Lucia with Hurley's money), the gang of fools was on their way to the concert. How awesome was Hugo when he pulled up in his Hummer with all of his Island memories asking if Ana Lucia was coming too?

On the Island it was MIB and a Widmore-killing Ben on their way to find the remaining candidates so that Ben could kill them too. MIB says this is to get him off the Island and allow Ben to have it all to himself. Is Ben going along with this or is he now pulling some sort of hoax on old Smokey in order to help bring him down?

On the other side of the Island little Jacob shows up to steal big Jacob's ashes from the tubby Hugo. I'm still a little fuzzy on this because when Hugo runs him down, he finds big Jacob sitting next to a fire. What was up with that transition?  This whole section of the episode was one of the best moments of all time. After telling Hugo that the ashes are in the fire and once it goes out he will be gone, he explains to Hugo that the end is near and he needs all of his friends to come.

"Come and sit down and I'll tell you what they died for," Jacob tells Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hugo. Powerful stuff here. Hugo asks why he brought them to the Island and Jacob explains that they are all flawed and weren't good people off the Island. He talks to them about protecting the Island because one of them will have to start doing it. Instead of picking one of them, he gives them "the one thing he was never given, a choice." (Another moment that is amplified by the great character story of the last episode) Of course Jack volunteers for the position unwittingly. After all, he is supposed to do it. Absolute stud moment for the doctor. What were the other three thinking in that moment? (well we know Hugo was just happy it wasn't him) Jack drank the holy water that Jacob gave to him as he proclaimed, "now you're like me." I could feel all of that Island power flowing through Jack at that moment and it was glorious.

Now we have a new Protector in Jack, an old one's ghost that claims to be disappearing in front of our eyes, and still this feisty Smoke Monster coming to kill everyone so that he can go home. This final two and a half hours has the potential to be masterful.

Other Thoughts

- Who is Jack's ex-wife in the sideways? By not showing or mentioning her the entire season it has to be someone important right? Juliet? Kate? Could it still be Claire Dunphy?

- Again we get reference to how special Desmond is. In an ironic choice of words MIB explains to Ben that he is Jacob's fail safe. He is Jacob's last resort to save the Island just in case MIB kills all the candidates. Is this important because all of the candidates are going to die? Yikes.

- Kate was only crossed off the list because she became a mother. She shouldn't be relegated to a life on the Island if she has a baby to take care of. Didn't stop him from keeping Kwon on the cave wall though.

- Jack stitching up Kate at the beginning of the ep was a great call back to the Pilot when Kate stitched up Jack.

- "We insist. Even if we have to kidnap you," Rousseau explained to sideways Linus. Funny how a bunch of these lines come out the other way around in this parallel universe.

- Did the MIB as the Smoke Monster kill Richard. I thought that wasn't possible. He asked to never die, not just never age.

Your thoughts?

Lost- Becoming Jacob

There are only four and a half hours of new Lost left to air. In last week's post I went on and on about how Jack was becoming the new Jacob, but would they really be this obvious about something? Lost has made a habit out of making you think one thing and then going another way with it. Of course I personally still think that Jack is destined to become the new Jacob and rule the Island for another eternity, but there are plenty of other scenarios I can see coming in the near future.

Jack Becomes Jacob
I've been saying for a while that his new laissez faire attitude, and transition to the man of faith, has seemed very Jacob-esque. He wants to be on this Island because he knows it has a greater purpose for him. That being said, it is a bit of an obvious choice, right down to the point where Sayid flat out says, "it's going to be you Jack." Now sure there are only four episodes left, and maybe finding out who the new Jacob will be is not something to be saved for the final episode, but it still seems a little too perfect.
Odds: 2-1

Ben Becomes Jacob
So a theory that I think came from the mind of Doc Jensen is that Ben is destined to become the new Jacob. The point here is that Jacob has made up all of the candidates to fool everyone, including the Man In Black, to not worry about Benjamin Linus. This way he has an easy path to taking the throne. Jacob wasn't really testing all of the people on the Island by bringing them there, he was testing Ben. And although Ben did some bad things, he has also been heroic and good. His decision to go with Ilana instead of Smokey might have been the turn of the corner.
Odds: 5-1

Desmond Becomes Jacob
Now we all know that Desmond is special. He flashes the future, he can withstand electromagnetic energy, and now it seems he may have the ability to go back and forth between two parallel universes. Is he special enough to become the new Jacob? Maybe. The Man In Black did order Sayid to kill him after all. Many people are saying that the two universes will end in somebody or many people sacrificing one world for another. Now since Desmond is really the only one who has a better Island life (married to Penny, beautiful baby Charlie), what if he has to sacrifice that life by becoming the new Jacob in order to allow everyone else live happily ever after in the sideways world?
Odds: 6-1

Locke Becomes Jacob
Although he is dead in the Island universe, Locke is very much alive in the sideways world. When Jack told him that he was a "candidate" for spinal surgery, don't tell me you didn't have a few strange thoughts about that? In some sort of universe convergence theory, what if Locke was able to cross over to the Island world to become the new ruler? Highly unlikely, but if anybody deserved a chance to take charge over this magical place, it's John Locke.
Odds: 10-1

Nobody Becomes Jacob
There are too many scenarios to play out, in which nobody comes to take Jacob's place. Does the Island blow up? Does it disappear? Does the Man In Black die and therefore the Island needs no more protection? Did it never need protecting in the first place, hence he needs no replacement? A lot of different ways this could go, but it seems like one of these outcomes could be the most likely.
Odds: 3-1

Jacob Becomes Jacob
You know that little "Peter Pan" boy we met in the jungle back in The Substitute? And then saw in Everybody Loves Hugo, looking quite a bit older? This sure as heck should be Jacob right? He first tells Smokey that he can't kill Sawyer because he "knows the rules." This is very Jacob-esque. The theory here is that after Jacob died either he or a reincarnate of him is back to life on the Island and aging rapidly before our eyes. The Man In Black now has to kill all of the qualified candidates before Jacob returns to normal age, and then is allowed to take back his spot as ruler of the Island.
Odds: 8-1

Me and JJ were talking about the fact that at the end of the day a fantastic finish to the series would be if the final scene was two people sitting on the beach having the exact conversation Jacob and the Man In Black had at the beginning of the season five finale. Whether that is Jack and Locke, Jack and Sayid, Desmond and Ben, the new deities of good and evil discussing what continues to occur on this Island would be fantastic.

Man In Black: "They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same."
Jacob: "It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress."

Lost- A Moment of Weakness

Great ep of LOST. I guess Sun and Jin didn't care about their kid when they decided to leave her an orphan.
Wed May 05 12:45:42 via Echofonlarry avitabile
larrington_bevy

Not only did I want to get knee deep in embedding tweets to my blog posts, but I loved Larry's late night tweet for two reasons. 1) this guy is the biggest Lost hater that if he says it was a great ep, you know it was a great ep and 2) his second point about Jin and Sun is so true and I bet no one else is going to say anything about it.

Yeah sure Jin was an absolute stud for being so strong and staying by his wife to die together. Of course it was an emotional moment, rivaling Charlie's drowning of season three *Update- and Juliet's* for most heart-wrenching death of the series. Yeah I absolutely bawled like a little girl. But let's not forget this very important point by Lar. The both of you are leaving your baby girl an orphan!

Yeah we get it that you never want to leave each other because you are so in love, but what about the breathtaking little girl that you were weeping over less than an hour ago? Jin you were so excited to see the pictures of her on the camera, but when you could have saved your own life to somehow get off the Island and spend the rest of your time on earth with what you and Sun gave to this world, you chose to kill yourself while holding hands. Interesting decision at best. At worst? Terrible move by you bro. I'm saving myself, I don't care how much I love Sun.

So how did we get to that epic moment in Lost history? Well sit back, have a Dharma beer and listen up. A ton of this episode was build up to get us all to the submarine. That build up was just so good. What's UnLocke really want? What's his game with the plane and the C4? What's Sawyer really up to? How's Jack gonna get this whole thing right?

The gang is currently captured by Widmore and his people and where are they sent? The cages! Sawyer obviously doesn't want to go in them again, but once Widmore threatens to shoot Kate they all willingly go. Widmore is willing to kill Kate because she is not on his list of names. Sawyer, Hugo, the Kwons are. Where did he get the candidate names? Good question.

Jack, continuing to stud it up in season six, joins forces with Smokey to get the gang out of the cages. When Kate asks the good doctor, "What are you doing here?" Jack calmly replies, "I'm with him." Of course he's not with Smokey, but his delivery of this line is awesome.

So now that MIB has everyone he needs together, we get to the good stuff. The UnLocke Monster gets C4 out of the Ajira plane that he claimed he wanted to use to get off the Island and shows it to the gang in order to gain their trust. Solid move. It's then that he claims that there could be more on the plain and Widmore will try to blow them all up if they get on the plane. I see where you're going with this there Smokey.

Only thing left to do is leave on the submarine (just what Sawyer wanted to do in the first place). Interesting how that all works out for MIB. Now everyone has so many different motives. Sawyer wants to leave with everyone except Smokey and/or Claire and Sayid. Jack wants to stay and could really care less what everyone else does. The MIB wants everyone to think he wants to leave with them, but really wants them all to get on the sub, which of course happens.

Jack is forced on due to the fact that his beloved Kate is shot and he needs to tend to her wounds. Once on board Sawyer starts the boat leaving. Well, well, well what is this? Another piece of C4 with a timer on it in Jack's back pack. "He dooped us again" "We did exactly what he wanted" Jack explained to the rest of the crew trapped in this enclosed submarine with a bomb.

Well yeah! Jack, and I, have been saying this for a while now. The Man In Black needs them all to die in order for him to get what he wants, which may or may not be to leave the Island. I first asked why did the MIB need to go through such an elaborate plan to kill all these people? Why not just turn into the smoke monster and throw them all around until they're dead? Well obviously because they're candidates and he can't kill them.

As Jack explains, the MIB needs them to kill each other. The bomb is not rigged to blow according to Jack. If they don't touch any wires it will not go off. I think I'm in agreement with this analysis by Jacko. The problem is that Sawyer doesn't trust Jack's reasoning and does a half-assed job pulling out some wires. The countdown of course starts going faster and Sayid decides to take one for the team.

Before running down the other end of the sub and blowing himself up, Sayid tells Jack that he needs to get Desmond out of the well because he is important. Yes! We all knew Desmond was important since he first started seeing the future, but it's so great to hear it come out of a character's mouth. "Why are you telling me this?" Jack asks the man of the Republican Guard. Well like I've been writing for a long time now, "it's going to be you Jack." How Sayid knows that Jack will be the one to take Jacob's place I'm not sure. Maybe he meant something completely different, but if not I'm excited. Jack has steadily been making his way back into my good graces and if he is the man that rules the Island for the next 1,000 years or so, I'll be happy.

And then we got Sawyer knocked on conscious and Sun trapped on the sub. Jack saved Sawyer and left Sun for dead with her husband. I truly sad moment, but they were collateral damage. What kind of consequence will all of these deaths be in the end? Will the sideways world have any effect on what happens to those who have died in Island world? I'm not sure, but it was quite a moment for the time being.

LOST- All Hands On Deck

Jack Shephard- "Maybe he's afraid of what happens if we stay."

I usually do all my writing before I read anyone else's ideas on an episode, but after seeing Larry tweet "Lots of walking around the island tonight on LOST...when's chuck back?" I figured I'd look around the blogoshpere to see if I was in the minority in thinking that last night's LOST was fantastic television. I made sure not to check out those with LOST biases (Doc Jensen at EW and Ryan McGee at Zap2It) and still everyone seemed to be on the same page as me. Alan Sepinwall from the Star Ledger, Kristin Dos Santos at E! and everyone in between had nothing but good things to say about last night's The Last Recruit.

And why not? We got one of those LOST episodes that didn't focus on just one character, but gave us a little bit of everyone. On both the Island, and the sideways world, all of our favorite characters were reuniting in one way or another. All the relationships that we hadn't seen for a while (Hurley and Claire, Jack and Sawyer to name a couple) were brought back to us and gave us a chance think about everything these people have been through together.

Sure there was a lot of walking around the island, but there was also swimming and sailing. And does that mean that nothing really happened? No. We start up where we left off. With the reunion of Jack and unLocke. "Hello Jack, I was hoping you'd come back...I think we have some catching up to do" the Man In Black says. Jack goes with him to have a chat and the good doctor continues his journey to being an enjoyable character. He starts asking the MIB questions.

Jack- "My third day here I chased my father through the jungle...my dead father...was that you?
MIB- "Yes that was me."

UnLocke claims that he did all of those things to help him and the people on the Island. In this case it was because Jack needed to find water in the jungle. Do we believe the Man In Black or is he just trying to get Dr. Shephard on his side? But at least we know that the MIB has been taking on the shapes of many of the figments we've seen over the years.

Meanwhile over in sideways universe all of our favorites are meeting up. Sun, Locke, Ben and Jack all end up in the hospital together. What did Sun recognize when she saw Locke in the stretcher next to her? Did she have her memory moment? Did she remember him as the Man In Black? When Jack was about to start his surgery he recognized Locke as well, but this was probably because of the convo they had at the airport right? Not all of their Island history.

Sideways Jack also found out that Claire is his sister when Desmond pushes her to see his attorney Ilana. We also get Sawyer and Kate with a whole mess of chemistry at the police station and then Sawyer and Miles taking down Sayid to bring him downtown. Aren't all of these interchanges just awesome to watch?

Back in Island world the Man In Black comes up with a plan to bring every one over to Hydra Island to battle Widmore. My man James Ford has other ideas. He has decided to get the heck out of this place with Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sun and "that pilot that looks like he stepped off the set of some Burt Reynolds movie" (Sawyer's words not mine). Why no Sayid or Claire? Because they've always been terrible characters? True but not the reason. They've gone over to the dark side Sawyer explains to Hurley. Hugo, the pop-culture fan that he is, explains that you can come back, like Anakin.

Of course Claire has to follow the group of studs and ruin everything. Kate convinces her to come with them, against Sawyer's wishes. Oh well. But who comes up big as a huge stud once again this ep? Jacko. He is just chilling on the end of the boat pondering to himself about the big picture of life ya know? Sawyer confronts him and Jack realizes that this whole plan is wrong. And I agree with him totally.

Like I said before, why would Sawyer's mighty plan be to leave the Island. They've already left the Island. That's not gonna change anything. Jack's right in that "The Island's not done with us yet." The Man In Black is trying to get everyone to leave, so why would you leave? You all know that he is a bad dude. As Jack said, "Maybe he's afraid of what happens if we stay." Exactly. The old man of science has become the man of faith and it shows once again that he may be the man to take Jacob's place.

LOST- The Right Man For the Job

Michael Dawson- "I'm here to stop you from getting everyone killed."

Are there really only six hours of LOST left in my life? Extremely disappointing. If last week's Happily Ever After was game-changing, this week's Everybody Loves Hugo was just a championship level performance of said changed game. Hurley has always been a character I've enjoyed. His humor and sincerity shine through and that is why his sideways story was another intriguing romp through the bizzaro alternate universe (Hugo's words, not mine).

This week in sideways world we watch Hugo Reyes, who is not unlucky with money but an extremely successful businessman who shares his wealth with the unfortunate. His one downfall? He has not found a lady friend to have by his side. That is until one Libby Smith sits down to chat with the big man at Spanish Johnny's. As we move forward from what we learned last week with Desmond, and how the two worlds are somehow becoming one, Libby claims to have known Hugo in another life. Huges doesn't share the memories and blows it off that Libby is as crazy as a road lizard. Thankfully she's hot so Hurley goes on a date with her anyway. On said date, Libby kisses the owner of Mr. Clucks and a lot of his Island memories come flowing back. Awesome.

Also awesome? Desmond running around sideways world getting the band back together. First he finds Hugo to make sure he stays with the Libby thing and now he is running Locke over with his car. Why is he doing this? Because he knows that he is dead in the Island universe? Does the sideways Desmond have that memory? And if he does, what good will killing this Locke do in his plan?

Meanwhile back on The Island, Hugo is met by a ghost of Michael. Here is where I am confused. He comes right after all of the whispers. The whispers represent Smokey right? So is this a true ghost of Michael or just Smokey doing what he does? Have any of Hugo's ghosts been ghosts? Or just Smokey planting his seed to get Hurley to do what he wants when he wants? Michael doesn't want Hugo to blow up the plane. Obviously...because Smokey needs it to leave The Island (with everyone including Sun, Jack and Hugo).

Back in camp Smokey we get UnLocke going on a trip with the new Desmond that will go along with anything anyone says because he has no reason for being afraid. Before the two guys get to the "very old" well they have a run in with the young boy in the woods. The one who has been mentioned as anyone from a young Jacob, a young Sawyer, an old Aaron, an overseer of Jacob and Man In Black, and just a persona of The Island. This time he looked older and looked even more like Jacob. All he did was smile at UnLocke. What's this kid's deal?

After UnLocke throws Desmond down the "very old" well (yeah that was anticlimactic), team Hugo finds themselves face to face with the Man In Black and the rest of his crew at Camp Smokey. Before Hugo and his furry friends make this move we get a very poignant quote from one Jack Shephard.

Ever since Juliet died. Ever since I got her killed. All I've wanted is to fix it...but I can't. I can't ever fix it. You have no idea how hard it is for me to sit back and listen to other people tell me what I should do...but, I think, maybe, that's the point. Maybe, maybe I'm supposed to let go.

Great words from a man who has made his way back into my good graces. If that didn't sound like a foreshadowing for the guy who will be taking Jacob's place as the protector of The Island, I don't know what it is. He's so calm in taking a back seat to others this season. Just as Jacob does. The protector must let others do what they will, without forcing them to do what he wants. Jack wasn't the very opposite of this throughout the first five seasons. Maybe him finding this new way is why he is the right man for the job. What do you think?

LOST- The Hugo Reyes Show

I hope everyone enjoyed last night's episode of The HRS. Yes folks it was the Hugo Reyes hour on LOST this week. Hurley definitely put forth one of the best individual performances of the year, with an array of quips and pop culture references.

Although Lardo was the one that shined through during The Lighthouse, this was a Jack episode. For some reason the sideways storyline seems to matter more to me when it has to do with Jack rather than Locke or Kate. Why? Well because the other Locke is dead and we've recently found out that Kate isn't a candidate so how much can she really matter. Every time Jack made a face during the sideways story, I was thinking about how that could translate to the other universe and how these parallel worlds could collide. And to be honest, I'm not hating Jack nearly as much recently.

It was either Sepinwall or Doc Jensen that talked last week about how the similarities in the sideways stories are so interesting, but this week I loved all of the difference we saw in Jack. Whereas Locke seemed to be in a much better situation in sideways 2004, Dr. Shephard seems to still be extremely troubled in this other universe. The most notable difference...he has a kid. So far it seems as though he has been just as much of a bad parent as Christian was. He is divorced, but we do not exactly know to who.

Back on The Island we got to follow to major arcs. Hugo and Jack's adventure to The Lighthouse and Jin being saved by Crazy Claire. Although a complete nutbar, I absolutely would take this extremist Claire over the annoying whiny Claire we knew before. I loved Jin having to backtrack from telling Crazy Claire that Kate took her baby. Luckily she is so mixed up in her own wackiness that Jin's unease while explaining to her that The Others actually had baby Aaron went unnoticed.

And we finally get to the Hugo Reyes Show. Jacob made his triumphant return to Hurley's side to explain that someone was coming to The Island and he needed Hurley's help in finding it. Of course the big man did what Jacob asked of him, even if he had to write it all down on his arm. When the Seventh Samurai finds him snooping around The Temple, Hugo simply explains that he's "a big fan of temples, history...Indiana Jones stuff." Him trailing off towards the end was what made it work so well.

After Jacob tells him that he needs Jack to go with him, Hurley breaks out his best Manny Delgado impression and pretends to tie his shoe while coercing Jack to go on the adventure with him. "Be cool man. Act natural." Of course it takes a while to get stubborn old Jack to go along with the plan, but he finally is down when he learns that Jacob told him that "he has what it takes." As we learn later in the episode, Christian Shephard always used to let Jack know that he did not have what it takes. When Jack demands to know where Jacob is, Hurley throws down yet another brilliant pop-culture reference in explaining that The Island God is dead and "turns up whenever he wants like Obi Wan Kenobi."

Once Hugo and Jack make it to the Lighthouse they discover the Wheel with the Mirrors (for some reason I find it necessary to capitalize every object on the Island). Obviously the Wheel has all of the numbers on it. Jack sees his name and turns the Wheel to it. The Mirror shows the house he lived in as a child and freaks the F out, smashing Jacob's Mirror to pieces. I didn't think it was quite a smart move at first, but then realized that Jacob is dead and he wasn't much of a fighter when he was alive anyways. So was this Wheel just a way for Jacob to spy on his candidates, or was it another way of attracting them to the Island? I guess we shall see.

So Hurley freaks out when Jacob isn't more upset that they broke the Lighthouse. Jacob, in all of his calmness, explains that the person who needed to get to the Island will find it another way. He also lets Hurley know that he really needed to get him and Jack away from the Temple because someone bad (MIB) is coming there. Since Sawyer and Jin were already out of the Temple, Jack and Hugo were the only other candidates he need to help escape. That must mean that Sayid is no longer a viable candidate because of his new darkness. I guess we can cross number 16 off the cave ceiling at this point.

Other Points

-Claire knows that The Others have her baby because first her father told him and then her friend did. Well how obvious was it that her friend, and her father for that matter, were both The MIB.

-Another great quote by Hurley, "This is old school...you and me trekking through the jungle on our way to do something that we don't quite understand...good times."

-The sign at David Shephard's audition/recital said "Welcome All Candidates." And so Jack walked right in.

-In some of Jacob's last words of the episode we got this, "Sometimes you can just hop in the back of someone's cab and tell them what they're supposed to do. Other times you have to let 'em look out at the ocean for a while." This dude would be better a better Zen Coach than Phil Jackson. He knows just how to cater to everyone's needs.