Lost: The Last Recruit Review

Summary: Jack talks to Locke, and reunites with Clair. Zoe shows up and threatens Locke's camp with missiles unless Desmond is returned. Locke decides to make his way over to the Hydra island to settle it, and sends Sayid to kill Desmond. Sawyer betrays Locke, steals Locke's boat, and convinces Jack to escape with Sun and Frank and Hurley. Claire follows, and nearly shoots Kate... but sadly does not. Jack has doubts, so he jumps off the boat. Sun and Jin reunite, and then Widmore betrays Sawyer. Sayid says he shot Desmond, but does so in a shady manner... and then all of Locke's people get blown up and Locke saves Jack.

In Alt-Lost, everyone starts converging. Sun/Jin/Locke/Jack are at the hospital (Sun and her baby are fine). Desmond/Claire/Jack are at the adoption agency (Desmond is super creepy). Sawyer/Miles are at the police station with Kate, until they go to get Sayid.

Reaction: Great episode. I can't wait to see what's going to happen next, and will all the losties end up in the hospital in the Alt world, recognize each other, and then sing Kum Ba Ya? Also, did Sayid totally redeem himself this episode - much like Hurley said was possible? And poor Sawyer... If you didn't see widmore betraying you, you probably should get your glasses back on.

Themes: A good bit this week. Jack seems to have finally made the switch from man of science to man of faith, and it should be interesting to see what happens now. He, at this point, seems to be the most logical candidate for Jacob's replacement.

Speculation: Next week should be a good one - finally a confrontation between Locke and Widmore? Where are Miles/Ben/Richard? Where is Desmond? Did Cindy and the kids die?

This show is setting up an epic finale...

NHL: Conference SemiFinals Preview

First a review of my picks from Round 1:

PICK: Washington over Montreal in 5. ACTUAL: Montreal stuns em in 7. Halak!

PICK: NJ over Philly in 7. ACTUAL: NJ fizzles out in five.

PICK: Boston over Buffalo in 6. ACTUAL: Boston over Buffalo in 6!!!

PICK: Pitt over Ottawa in 6. ACTUAL: Pitt over Ottawa in 6!!!

Eastern conference: 2 picks exactly correct, and 2 picks way wrong.

PICK: SJ over Col in 4. ACTUAL: San Jose struggled, but still won in 6.

PICK: Chi over Nashville in 6. ACTUAL: Chicago in 6!!!

PICK: LA over Vancouver in 7. ACTUAL: Vancouver over LA in 6, but this series could have gone either way.

PICK: Det over Phoenix in 5. ACTUAL: We struggled, but won in 7...

Western conference: 3/4 teams, and one series correct.

On to the Conference SemiFinals:

(4)Pittsburgh vs (8) Montreal:

Can Montreal summon the magic and knock off another team? No... Sorry... Pittsburgh in 5. (Although there's part of me that wants to say Halak is 2003 Giguere...). But not...

(6)Boston vs (7) Philadelphia:

Rough defensive series. Philly plays good playoff hockey... Philly in 6.

(2) Chicago vs (3) Vancouver

Don't have much of a read on these two teams. I'll pick Chicago in 6 because of home team advantage and because Vancouver came real close to losing against LA.

(1) San Jose vs (5) Detroit

Ah yes, our good friends San Jose. We beat them in 2008 when we won the cup (I think?). And they are the masters of the playoff choke.... As we nearly saw in Round one. Detroit in 6.

Lost: Everybody Loves Hugo Review

Two weeks behind on this one, so it will be a short one, and I'll get right to work on The Last Recruit (and NHL Round 2 Preview).

Summary: Ilana blows up by carelessly handling dynamite. To prevent anyone else from arzting themselves, Hurley blows up the Black Rock. Then he decides to go talk to fake John Locke; Jack, Sun, and Frank go with him. Richard, Ben, and Miles go to blow up the Ajira plane. In sideways Lost, Hurley runs into Libby, but she's crazy, so he doesn't do anything until Desmond pushes him... Then he goes on a picnic date with Libby, and kisses her, and starts to remember the Island.

Oh, and Desmond gets pushed into a well by Locke.

Reactions: Saw Desmond ending up in the well, but I liked his calmness in the face of fear. Hurley and Libby getting a picnic finally was a sweet moment.

Themes: Love. Sideways world getting something right - in this case the picnic. Not being afraid of your purpose.

Speculation: None this week, because I already saw the next episode. Tune in tomorrowish for The Last Recruit Review.

NHL: Playoffs Preview

The NHL playoffs arrive this week, and it's a much different landscape than last year. Let's take a look with the Eastern Conference first:

1) Washington vs 8) Montreal: One of the best teams in the league vs a team that scraped into the playoffs? That was an easy pick to start with. Washington in 5, and Ovechkin nets four goals.

2) New Jersey vs 7) Philadelphia: The one team NJ probably didn't want to play... Philly is a rough team any time of the year, and they seem to have the tenacity of a bulldog come playoffs. The team to take them out the last two years? Pittsburgh, repeating Eastern Conference Champions. But, this is Brodeur we're talking about. He'll steal two games, at least. NJ in seven.

3) Buffalo vs 6) Boston: Battle of the goalies. Tuuka Rask vs Ryan Miller. I think this will be the series that no TV analyst will want to put on... 1-0, 2-1, etc. In the end, it's a crapshoot. Neither of these teams are going anywhere, so I'll take Boston as the upset. Boston in 6.

4) Pittsburgh vs 5)Ottawa: Freaking Pittsburgh. I hate Sidney Crosby with a passion that burns from my inner soul. Unfortunately, I agree with Scott Burnside that Pittsburgh has an on switch... And Ottawa just has no playoff soul. Pittsburgh in 5.

Western Conference Picks:

1) San Jose vs 8) Colorado: That worked out well for San Jose. They caught a layup first round; existing in the same situation as Washington. Colorado is flailing, and won't put up much of a fight. San Jose in 4.

2) Chicago vs 7) Nashville: Tough series. Nashville is a nasty playoff team. But Chicago outmatches them in skill and talent. Chicago in 6.

3) Vancouver vs 6) Los Angeles: Why is LA in the playoffs again? I have zero feel for this team. Maybe They can prove a cinderella and upset Vancouver in 7?

4) Phoenix vs 5) Detroit: Poor Phoenix. Finally get to the playoffs again, and have to face Detroit. Detroit has more Cup rings than Phoenix has players... And on top of that, because of the nature of Detroits auto industry's various relocations, playing in Phoenix is like playing a home game. Detroit in 5.

Further Predictions:

Washington over Boston in 5.

Pittsburgh over NJ in 6.

Pittsburgh over Washington in 7.

Detroit over Chicago in 7.

San Jose over LA in 5.

Detroit over San Jose in 5.

Detroit over Pittsburgh in 7.

Lost: Happily Ever After Review

Summary: Best Episode so far! That's the summary!

To be more in depth, Desmond wakes up, pissed to discover he's back on the island. Widmore locks him in what appears to be a machine that will fry him (as it just fried a redshirt). The machine gets turned on, and we flash to sideways world, where we spend most of the rest of the episode.

AltLost: Desmond is Widmore's successful right hand man, and was really on the flight 815. Widmore sends him to pick up a certain druggie bassist, none other than Mr. Charlie Pace! Charlie tells Desmond that as he was dying from the drugs caught in his throat, he had a vision of a beautiful blonde woman (Claire!). And it was real... And to prove it, Charlie crashes Desmond's car into a lake, and as Desmond frantically tries to pull Charlie out, he starts to remember Charlie drowning in the Looking Glass. Desmond rescues Charlie, and at the hospital, he starts to have memories of Penny. Charlie ditches Desmond after telling him to find Penny.

Widmore is not happy to have lost the bassist, so he sends Desmond to apologize to his wife and son. Eloise doesn't worry about it, but gets really concerned and upset when Desmond tries to inquire about Penny. Desmond is about to give up when Daniel Faraday shows up and shows him the way! Apparently, Dan saw a redhead (Charlotte!) in a museum, and fell instantly in love. Then he dreamt some nuclear equations, and figured out that he set off a nuclear bomb. He tells Desmond where to find Penny. Desmond finds Penny running in a stadium, and as he introduces herself, he...

wakes up on the Island. And here, he forgives Widmore for kidnapping him and swears to help him. As he's walking, Sayid shows up and kills some of Widmore's guards, and then takes Desmond with him. And then Des flashes back to Altworld...

Where he gets a date with Penny, and then asks his driver (George! Minkowski!) to get the flight manifest.

"Because I have something to show them."

LOST

Reactions: Best episode this season. A purpose for the Alt world. A direction for the end of the season. Desmond episodes always rock, and this was no exception. It helped that two of my favorite deceased characters - Faraday and Charlie are back. I wish Charlie had been funnier though...

Themes: True love. Penny is a constant. Desmond is unique. Sayid is not someone you want to run into in a dark jungle at night.

Speculation: From my good friend Dave, a theory that the sideways world is sort of a deal with the devil - Most of the losties have gotten what they think they want. Jack has solved his daddy issues. Sayid gets a chance to repent. Jin and Sun are together. Desmond has Widmore's approval. But just like any good deal with the devil, those are two sided - Jin and Sun are together, but Sun's shot. Jack solved his daddy issues by becoming a daddy (with issues). Desmond has Widmore's approval, but no Penny. Sayid gets a chance to repent, but fails... Kate and Sawyer I'm unsure of.

Next week is Hurley. I'm apprehensive - Hurley episodes are of two sorts. There's "Everybody Hates Hugo" which was boring and didn't really move the plot... And then there's "Numbers" which was integral to the mythology of the show. I think this will be more of a "Numbers" episode though - we're in the stage of the season where we need to set up the finale, and Hurley's ability to talk to dead people (Jacob, and was that Michael (WWWAAALLLTTT!!!) in the previews?) should lead to some interesting revelations.

Lost: The Package Review

Summary: On the the island, Jin is kidnapped by Widmore, who also has DESMOND in the sub. Sun sees Locke, then runs away and gets Aphasia. Jack gets her a pad of paper, and they make up.

Um, what else? Sawyer makes fun of the smoke monster. Sayid gets sent over to spy/assassinate Widmore?

ALT Lost - Jin and Sun aren't married, but they still are knocking boots, which means Sun is pregnant, and she wants to run away with Jin. Since the money has been confiscated, Keamy kidnaps Jin, and then tells Sun (via Mikhail "Patchy") to get the money. Keamy and team are killed by Sayid, who assists Jin in escaping. Jin shoots Mikhail through the eye, but not before Pregno Sun is shot.

Reaction: Sun/Jin episodes always bore me. There were a few interesting things that happened, but overall a let down. Even the reveal of Desmond was clumsy and easily predicted. Things I liked? Sawyer being a smartaleck, Action!Richard, and Sun not screwing around with Locke, but running away. Things I don't like: Sun / Jin. Things I'm actually neutral about: Aphasia. Who cares - it's Sun.

Themes: The helplessness of language barrier. Some people not being meant for each other. Locke offering a choice - and sides being clarified.

Speculation: Maybe the key to the aphasia is the start of the universes bleeding through to each other... Other than that, I have no idea. Desmond is next week, so my prediction is that one of two things will happen:

1) Desmond will change something profound - we will be having much different discussions next week.

2) Desmond will make a surprising allegiance change. With Widmore perhaps?