"Live Together, Die Alone" Commentary and Notes

If you haven't watched the season finale yet, I strongly recommend that you do so before you read the rest of this post.

Wow... what a crazy episode! While many season finale spoilers out there were proven to be accurate (e.g. Libby giving Desmond the boat), an awful lot of unexpected events occurred as well. There's so much in this episode to discuss that it will take fans weeks to sort everything out. Jay and Jack have gotten a good start in their latest podcast, posted early this morning [podcast links are in the sidebar].

Following are just a few of the things we learned from "Live Together, Die Alone." We now know a little more about Desmond; the woman in the photograph is his love, Penny Widmore, the daughter of Charles Widmore. Libby seems even more likely to have been participating in the Dharma Initiative before she was on Flight 815, as we see her assuming yet another identity in the Desmond flashback. We also see flashbacks involving Desmond's hatch-mate, Kelvin Inman, and we learn about Kelvin's former hatch-mate, Radzinsky, who seemed to know an awful lot about the Dharma Initiative, the hatch, and the island (he is apparently the one who started the blast door map). Tom is the real name of "Mr. Friendly" AKA "Zeke." The fake Henry Gale turns out be to some kind of leader to Tom's group of Others. "Pushing the Button" really did serve a purpose—repressing a massive amount of electromagnetic energy—and was more than just a psychological experiment as implied by The Pearl's orientation video. Desmond's failure to push the button on time caused Flight 815 to crash on the island.

Now for some LOST Experience notes. Last night, "Hugh McIntyre" of the Hanso Foundation was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show on ABC. McIntyre confirmed that the Dharma Initiative was real, but claimed that it had been cancelled in 1987. He claimed that the events on LOST—including the hatches and the island—are purely fictional, merely creations of LOST's writers and producers, and not actually connected with the "real-life" Hanso Foundation. McIntyre also claimed that the reason Alvar Hanso allegedly hasn't been seen in years is that he's very busy (this contradicts DJ Dan's conspiracy theory that Hanso has been cryogenically frozen). The complete Hugh McIntyre interview can be watched online here.

Speaking of DJ Dan, a second "podcast" is supposed to be available sometime tomorrow. You can listen to it early, albeit not in MP3 format, by typing in the code "108" on sublymonal.com (note that eventually this may not work, as this site recently changed dramatically and may yet change again). After the MP3 has been posted, it will probably be available via a link at http://www.djdan.am/podcast.html.

Season 3 spoilers! (Or hints about what we can expect, anyway.) ABC has an interview with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse in which they discuss Season 3. Damon says that there will be some new characters and that "we'll be getting some in-depth explanations of characters that we've already met." Carlton says that the Others will be a big part of Season 3: "who they are, where they come from, what they want, and their relationship with the island." We can expect to see the rest of Libby's story through flashbacks, according to Carlton. "[The] end scene [of the season finale] really does set up one of the important mysteries of Season 3," says Carlton, but Damon warns, "We would advocate patience in some ways." Damon clarified that we're going to find out at the beginning of Season 3 what the Others want with Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, "but you might have to wait a little while" to find out exactly how the last few minutes of the show are going to pay off in Season 3—"but they will, and in a very significant way." Carlton says that "there will be a lot of romance in Season 3," specifically talking about Claire and Charlie's relationship beginning to develop.

You can now preorder The Complete Second Season of LOST! Reserve your copy today: http://tinyurl.com/p3zrd

That's all for now! Check back soon for more LOST updates.