Bob is out sick so Seth chats with Brian and Eric about episode 6.7 "Dr. Linus"... for the record... the call cuts out the Lost police got me for importing this weeks episode in from the states a week before it was available in the UK... good thing I have a good lawyer.

I can't post the actual podcast from the UK.. but you can get it at www.bobnbrian.com but I will also have it posted here upon my return.

Well I just finished speaking with Brian and Young Eric on the phone from the UK and I really wasn't kidding, I literally finished watching the episode minutes before we chatted so I really haven't had time to marinate in this episode... but wow, for as much as I was negative after last week I have to say this is probably my favorite episode of the season so far.

What great storytelling between Ben's island time line and his flash sideways time line. They ended up being nearly polar opposites of each other but in the end we end up with one simple truth... Ben Linus is not a bad man. He's done some despicable things but ultimately we saw in this episode that there is good in him... and perhaps that he is a fundamentally good person. I still say, as I have for the last 4 seasons now that this is going to come down to not good/evil, black/white but where each of our characters fall in the middle. I used to call it the "gray area" on Bob & Brian... not I think we can say it will be about where each person's individual scale is sitting.

I did love the use of Napoleon's exile on Elba, which clearly references Ben's own loss of power. At the end Locke was giving him the option to be in control of the island again but that was like Napoleon being allowed to keep the title of Emperor even though there was no real authority behind the title.

The conversation between Ben and his dad was also fascinating. Not only did we get to see Ben giving his dad a canister of life saving gas when in the island time line he used a canister of gas to take his fathers life... we also heard them talk about what their lives would be if they hadn't left the island. Isn't it amazing how we always think that the choices we didn't make would have led to better results? In this case we know had they stayed on the island they would have died when the bomb went off and the island sank to the bottom of the ocean.And of course in the island time line... sure Ben' life would have been very different because he would become the power hungry father killing man we came to know. And for those of you still unclear about how Ben and Roger left the island in the flash sideways, don't forget that Dr. Pierre Chang ordered the evacuation of any nonessential personnel before "the incident".

The biggest questions from this episode for me are:

How did Widmore find the island?
Is he the one Jacob was trying to bring to the island in the episode "Lighthouse"?
Who's "side" is he on or is he on his own side?
Did Jack fulfill the task Jacob told Hurley about by restoring Richard's faith or does he have more to do? (I think he has more to do)
Why is Smoke Locke gathering "his" people at the Hydra Station?

That's is for now... I am off to enjoy more of London and then off to Munich. I'll get the podcast of today's segment with Eric and Brian as soon as I can.

Cheers! And stay Lost!

Sorry about the previous formatting issues on this post last time... I blame the British. Should be fixed now... enjoy!

Greetings from London Lost fans! So far the SethIsLost.com International promotion tour is a huge success. As I a sure is the case with many of you I love rehashing the most recent episodes with anyone who is willing to talk Lost and there are a LOT of lost fans over here. Over the years that I have been on Bob & Brian I have to admit that some of my most brilliant insights didn't come from me alone. Sometimes they come after exchanges with some of my favorite fellow Lost fans. I have referenced my friend Ted Renslough who is currently the foremost Lost expert in the greater Des Moines area... and perhaps all of Iowa. I can now add Aaron Beatty as my London/Northern Ireland correspondent!

Most of the time the insights come from conversations with 102.9 The Hog's webguy (and all around good guy) Chris Coris. Before I left he and I had a very interesting conversation which I then shared with some of my other favorite Lost fans. They are a little shy so I'll change their names and call them Sergio and Kelly. They are a great couple, like Penny & Desmond... except... you know... Sergio didn't leave Kelly and end up marooned on a crazy island. Those of you who have been listening to the Seth segment from the beginning might remember Sergio as the man who wasn't afraid to cry during the very touching Penny/Desmond phone conversation in "The Constant". Truth be told ol' Seth shed a tear then too... real men aren't afraid to cry.

ANYWAY... here is the text of a string of emails between Kelly and I today. It starts with random questions and gets good when we start talking about the theory that was shared with me by Chris Coris, who I am guessing (but don't know for sure) also isn't afraid to cry:

Kelly: Why us is there no Walt or Michael? Are we supposed to pretend they never existed?

Seth: Michael WILL be back this season. Walt will not. I don't know about Des and Penny for sure. I am fairly certain they are committed to appear again. The common thought by most bloggers I have read is that their story is pretty much done. I think they will pop up again though. Widmore isn't done for sure. Alan Dale who plays him is committed to appear this season.

So think about this... Jin is being held captive by the now dead Keamy... Jin works for Mr. Paik... in the island time line Keamy was hired as a mercenary by Mr. Widmore... do you think it is possible Keamy is working for Mr. Widmore in the flash sideways and that has something to do with why Jin was locked in the walk-in cooler?

Kelly: Why would Widmore want Jin in the alternate reality?

Seth: Probably doesn't... my best guess is he is pawn for something between Widmore and Paik. Also... did you notice that when they were checking Jin's luggage at the airport, the security person called Sun Ms. Paik... not Mrs. Kwon... it's possible that they are not currently married in the flash sideways.

Kelly: I wonder what is going to happen to Kate, I loved the look on her face when she saw Locke when leaving the temple. I need to watch the rest of the season with the creators, can I hold them hostage in my house? I'm going to need them for some explaining this season!!! Complicated.

Seth: Well, my guy Chris Coris has this theory that while she isn't "with" Smoke Locke that she has ended up there because her internal scale is more evil than good. I found that interesting because I think we have seen a lot of good out of Kate, but when you think about it, even many of her "good" actions have been to serve her own purposes.

It is even more interesting when you think about who else is with Smoke Locke... Sawyer... he was a pretty bad guy before coming to the island. Jin, who although is more or less there against his will, was a pretty bad guy before coming to the island. I am not saying these people are evil... but maybe Smoke Locke knows where their internal scale rests and thinks they can be turned more easily.

Kelly: I wonder about Claire, is she evil? What did she do so bad? I did think about this evil thing too... maybe it is like a purgatory or something.

Seth: Claire is the only one who doesn't fit with that theory... but we also don't really know what this "infection" is all about either. The creators of the show have been denying the purgatory thing all along... but if you think about it, they denied a number of theories and if someone was to guess right, its not like they would be willing to admit it and blow the rest of the show. Interestingly one of the "candidate" names we saw crossed off in the cave was "Troup". That is a reference to Gary Troup... the fictional writer of Bad Twin... the manuscript that Sawyer was reading in season 2 that was released as a book by the creator's of Lost and had references to Alvar Hanso and Charles Widmore... and of course Gary Troup is an anagram for Purgatory.

For the record, I don't think it is purgatory, but who knows. Anyway I am off to explore more of London. This will be my last post for a few days but I will be calling in to Bob & Brian on Wednesday so make sure you tune in!

So I know I haven't posted a recap yet... sorry... I was watching late last night because I was at the Marquette Louisville game. But honestly... I don't know if I have a whole lot more to say about this episode than what we talked about this morning. I am going to watch it again tonight. Maybe I'll feel differently then:

Download | Duration: 00:09:51

Seth and the boys discuss "Lighthouse".

Download | Duration: 00:12:04

A big thanks to all of you who came out to see me and say hi at Bob & Brian's Gutterbowl X last Friday at Classic Lanes. It was a great day and we raised a ton of money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

A quick note for all of you people who listen to this segment live. This Wednesday I will be on Bob & Brian at an earlier time... around 7:40am before the Steve Czaban Sports segment.

So while everything with Claire was quite interesting last night... again my time is short this morning so I want to get into the meat of last night's episode, namely the Lighthouse. Jacob is telling Hurley that Jack has something important to do. I am getting the feeling that Jacob didn't bring all of these people the island because they are ALL candidates. I think he knows who his "replacement" is and everyone else was still brought there for a purpose and they are not allowed to leave this tail until that purpose is fulfilled. Much like Michael was not able to kill himself because he "still had work to do"... he was brought to the island for a purpose. He wasn't brought there to replace Jacob, but rather to help Jacob's replacement get to where they need to be. Michael Dawson, by the way, was number 124 on the lighthouse wheel and his number was crossed out. You could see A LOT of names on that wheel, here are the ones I saw that we are familiar with (not including our remaining candidates):

#20 - Rousseau - crossed out
#32 - Rutherford (Shannon) - crossed out
#51 - Austen - NOT CROSSED OUT - but also not one of our known numbers.
#58 - Burke - crossed out
#101 - Faraday - crossed out
#104 - Lewis (Charlotte) - crossed out
#106 - Radzinsky - crossed out
#109 - Friendly (Tom) - crossed out
#117 - Linus - crossed out
#124 - Dawson - crossed out
#313 - Littleton - crossed out

The big one is who is #108. If you look the name is Wallace and it is crossed out. Remember that the button had to be pushed every 108 minutes and the sum of Hurley's numbers, which we now know are assigned to Locke, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, Hurley and one of the Kwons also add up to 108. So who is Wallace and why is he/she important?

Here are some other things to think about... Jacob needed to get Hurley and Jack out of the temple so they were safe... presumably because Smoke Locke is about to attack. Does he not care about anyone else in the temple?

In the Lighthouse mirror we saw reflections of the Korean Temple where Jin and Sun got married (where we saw Jacob visit them) and the church where he touched Sawyer. But for Jack it was his childhood home, not the hospital where we saw Jacob touch him. I think that shows that Jacob had been watching them their entire lives and guiding them which supports my theory about the flash sideways and how Jacob not being in their lives is responsible for the differences. We don't know who Jack's wife is... maybe it is someone besides Sara? And of course we are seeing more connections between flash sideways characters and real time characters (ie Jack's appendix).

All very interesting... I wish I could write more now but I am jumping on the radio with the boys. I will try to write more soon... now go listen to your radio!

First off let me say that I think most of you are right. All of the people assigned numbers are men so it is most likely that they are referring to Jin as #42. It also sort of makes sense from another perspective. In the Entertainment Weekly article that came out right before the season premier the creators said they would NOT answer the question of why Sun didn't flash back to 1977. However they did say that there would be enough clues throughout the season that those who are finely tuned to the secrets of Lost could figure it out. Did she not jump back because she is not a candidate and not incredibly important to the long run? But if that is the case why did Kate go back in time? She is apparently not a candidate. So if you are curious about why Sun did not go back in time, just leave yourself a mental footnote right here as I am sure this is just one of many clues.

Speaking of Entertainment Weekly... if you get the chance read this past week's episode (it has Jack and Claire on the cover) it has some great spoiler free info about the end of the series. It is certainly worth a read. There is also a ton of good Lost stuff on www.EW.com if you have never been. I don't miss much when watching Lost but the EW article did point out something that I did miss. When Jin and Sun arrive in LA in the flash sideways and Jin is being questioned about the large amount of money he is carrying, they refer to Sun as Ms. Paik... her maiden name and not as Mrs. Kwon. It could be yet another unknown result of the butterfly effect I have been talking about.

There is something that I apparently should make clear about this butterfly effect as well. It is something that I assumed was pretty obvious but upon reading some comments on the site and talking with Lost fans I need to explain. So we know that Jacob has been pushing our characters to the island. They thought they had free will but really it was Jacob pulling the strings pushing then and nudging them to the island. Well if the Island sinks in 1977 then at that point Jacob would no longer be pulling those strings... at least not all of them. We know that Sawyers parents died before 1977 so Jacob still would have touched him. I am pretty sure his interaction with Kate was also before 1977. And that is not to say that the times we have seen him meddle in their lives are the only times he actually did so. So we have to understand that he may have been the reason Jin and Sun got married. He might be the reason a lot of things happened. But if the island sinks in '77 then much of Jacob's influence in their lives is negated. So one might argue that the flash sideways is showing what would happen if their free will was in tact. Right now we have no way of knowing how big of an impact it really would have had on the world.

OK... I wish I could dive more into "The Substitute" but I am short on time today. Enjoy tonight's episode "Lighthouse". It was written by Damon and Carlton themselves AND directed by Jack Bender. Those 3 are usually behind the most crucial episodes so I think we are in for a treat tonight.

Stay Lost! 

Seth, the Boys and Stephanie Sutton from WISN Ch 12 talk about "The Subsititute"... and Brian gets taken to the woodshed for not knowing how to use his DVR properly

Download | Duration: 00:13:38

Well, I don't think there is a whole heck of a lot from last week that wasn't covered by either part 1 of the recap or the Bob & Brian segment.  Sure there are plenty of questions and some of them new. The biggest of which is what is the illness or infection. You could argue that this is not a new question since it was referred to all of the way back in season 1. However this is the first time it is seriously being discussed as a real possibility. What is the infection? Well that leads me to a point a number of you are leaving comments on... who is evil... Jacob or the Man In Black/Smoke Monster/Locke?

On this site so far I have been referring to Jacob as good and MIB as evil. I should really clarify my position on that moving forward. I have used those terms because that is how in general the characters are presented on the show. Several of you our there who are commenting that Jacob is the evil force and MIB is be good. I am not going to go so far as making that bold of a prediction, but I think you have to be open to the possibility. I mean the first question of "are they good or evil" was brought up about the Others. We STILL don't have an answer to that and it is basically the Others who are telling us that Jacob is good... so how can we trust that?

I have no idea which is really good and which is evil. Chances are neither scenario is 100% accurate, Those of you who have been following this site and listening to me on Bob & Brian for a while have heard me say this time and time again. The show is brilliant at taking things that are on the surface black and white and forcing them into a gray area. Ben let his daughter die... so he is evil. But doing so crushed him and it turns out that he feels great remorse. So is he actually good... no. It is just gray area. Sometimes good people have to do bad things to accomplish a goal. Some time "bad" people do good things to achieve their ends.  This show has largely been about the difference between black/white/gray.

I do strongly agree with one of the posters to this site. Whether Jacob is our protagonist or our antagonist... either way the show is going to make us think he is both at one time of the series or another. Look at the characters of Ben and Charles Widmore. For the last few seasons we've been trying to figure out which is "good" and which is "evil". The Lost writers have used several repetitive themes throughout the series... why change now.

And having read that back... I think it is time we stop using good and evil to describe these guys and start trying to figure out who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. It is probably a much more accurate way to describe them because protagonists can (and usually are) flawed in some way and there are times when we feel a soft spot for the antagonists in stories we love. I have a feeling this could be one of those times.

Enjoy watching tonight's Episode 6.3 "The Substitute" which is a Locke episode... so we should get more info about the Man In Black as well as see how Locke's life would be different if the plane hadn't crashed.

Stay Lost.