TV Geek Out 128: Lost, "The Incident," Part 1

TVGO's discussion of the Lost season-5 finale, "The Incident," is so jam-packed that we're bringing it to you in two installments! Jacob makes a major debut, along with an as-yet-unnamed frenemy, whom he has a cryptic conversation with on the beach, long ago. Jacob also takes over the flashbacks for the episode, which reveal visits he's made to many of the characters, some at points in their childhoods and others much more recently. Back in the '70s, Kate ruins Sawyer and Juliet's submarine ride of love and convinces at least Juliet that they need to go back to the island to save the day. Jack is still determined to detonate the bomb at the Swan site and reset the past, along with Sayid -- who gets shot during their not-so-stealthy escape from Dharmaville -- and a van full of Hurley, Miles, and Jin. They're stopped in the road by Kate, Juliet, and Sawyer, who's got a gun pointed right at them. He asks Jack for a 5-minute talk, which quickly devolves into one of the most brutal beatdowns in Lost history. Juliet finally puts a stop to it by flip-flopping to the pro-detonation camp, and the plan is on. Lots of exciting action at the Swan site ensues, the bomb is dropped but fails to go off(!), and the energy pocket turns into a deadly magnet! Listen in as we chat about Jacob, debate the characters' motivations, and mourn the loss of our fair Juliet here.

And stay tuned for a discussion of the present-time island developments, as well as much more theorizing and geeking out, in the second part of our finale discussion!

TV Geek Out 127: Lost, "Follow the Leader"

TV Geek Out covers the penultimate episode of Lost's 5th season, "Follow the Leader." After being taken captive, Jack talks the Others -- specifically Richard and Eloise -- into helping bring the dead Faraday's explosive plan to fruition, but Kate doesn't want anything to do with it. The missing Sayid runs into them in the jungle and joins up for the mission; while Kate goes her own way, the rest of them take a swim to a secret cavern, where Jughead was stashed. Elsewhere on the island, Miles and his pals convince Chang to evacuate the island, and Radzinsky and Phil get violent with their captives, Sawyer and Juliet, who end up on the departing sub -- which they're happy about... until Kate shows up. Back in the future, after an awesome detour to help out his time-traveling self, Locke makes Richard lead him -- and all of the Others -- to see Jacob. On the way there, Locke chats with Ben and tells him that his real plan is to kill Jacob! TV geeks Perry, Heather, and Dana discuss all the goings-on here.

TV Geek Out 126: Golden Globes Discussion

The Golden Globes are the biggest party of the year, since few things are more entertaining for pop-culture fiends than a roomful of drunken movie and TV stars. Listen as TV Geek Out geeks Heather, Dana, and Perry praise host Ricky Gervais, highlight the deserving winners, and try to figure out if it’s scientifically possible for James Cameron’s ego to get any bigger. Check it all out here.

TV Geek Out 125: Lost, "The Variable"

As TVGO continues on with our coverage of season 5 of Lost, we discuss the moving Daniel Faraday episode "The Variable." Faraday has just returned to the island (in the '70s, of course) with some radical new ideas on how the Losties can influence their destinies. You read that right -- Daniel "Whatever Happened, Happened" Faraday now thinks that they CAN change their "futures" if they take into account the variable, rather than the constant, in the equation. Naturally, this means they should detonate the hydrogen bomb (Jughead) at the Swan construction site, because what problem can't be solved by blowing stuff up? Okay, so it's not quite that simple, but it's also highly theoretical and risky. Everyone reacts differently to this plan, but Faraday gets through to former leader Jack, so the scientist is making progress. Flashbacks follow Faraday's sad upbringing with his emotionally distant mother, his graduation from university, and his reasons for joining up for the freighter mission that brought him to the island with Charlotte and Miles. Elsewhere, Hawking visits the hospital to check up on Desmond, where she speaks with Penny and runs into Widmore. Listen in as TV geeks Heather, Dana, and Perry rejoice at the return of our favorite twitchy scientist, and get out your hankies as we mourn his tragic death at the hands of his own mother. Check it all out here.

TV Geek Out 124: Lost, "Some Like It Hoth"

TV Geek Out continues our coverage of Lost's fifth season with this discussion of the amusingly titled "Some Like It Hoth." It's Miles' first solo flashback episode! His story here is about his daddy issues, and his journey from a confused young child just starting to hear dead people to an adult whose special skills are a sought-after commodity. In Miles' "present," 1970s Dharmaville, Horace brings him into the "circle of trust" and has him haul a "package" around the island -- and Hurley ends up along for the ride. Because riding with Hugo is as good as taking truth serum, Miles soon spills the beans that there's a dead body on board and, yes, he talks to ghosts; this is all okay, though, since Hurley also chills with the dead and is "writing" The Empire Strikes Back in a Dharma composition book. They also talk to the dude from the Orientation videos himself, Dr. Pierre Chang, whom Miles reveals is his father. Meanwhile, Phil confronts LaFleur about him kidnapping Ben, and a very beloved scientist from Ann Arbor finally returns! Listen in as we discuss all the goings-on here.

TV Geek Out 123: Lost, "Dead Is Dead"

TV Geek Out continues our coverage of season 5 of Lost with our discussion of one of its best episodes, "Dead Is Dead." It's the Ben and Locke magic hour! Or at least it seems magical when we get this many Michael Emerson/Terry O'Quinn scenes in one episode! The storyline revolves around Ben, his tense reunion with Locke on Hydra Island, and their journey to The Island so that Ben can supposedly face some Smokey judgment. Along the way, flashbacks fill in more info about Ben's past, including how he stole Alex from Rousseau and eventually banished Widmore, and how he came to be über-beaten-up before the Ajira flight. Meanwhile, back on Hydra, Ilana is overseeing the preparation of a rather large, mysterious metal box for transport.... Listen in as Dana, Heather, and Perry have a major geek-out about the brilliant acting by Emerson and O'Quinn, as well as discuss the mysteries of Smokey and all the other goings-on here.

TV Geek Out 122: Lost, "He's Our You" and "Whatever Happened, Happened"

TV Geek Out discusses two episodes of Lost's fifth season in this jam-packed discussion! In "He's Our You," Sawyer struggles with what to do with the presumed-Hostile Sayid, who doesn't seem to want to be helped. When the Dharma folks take the mysterious stranger to their resident torturer, Sayid takes a not-completely-unpleasant drug trip to truth-ville, but reality is a little too strange for even the science hippies to believe. The creepy young Ben ends up giving Sayid the sense of purpose he'd thought he'd lost, but that doesn't end well for the kid, whom he shockingly shoots in the chest. In "Whatever Happened, Happened," everyone deals with the fallout from Sayid's actions, with Juliet and Kate trying desperately to save Ben, while Jack refuses to help. Sawyer ends up accompanying Kate on a mission to Hostile territory to see if Richard Alpert can bring Ben back from the brink of death. All this, and Miles gives Hurley a very meta schooling on the rules of time travel! Listen in as Perry, Heather, and Dana debate and discuss all the goings-on here.

TV Geek Out 121: Late Night Wars

There hasn’t been a television story as Shakespearean as Leno’s return to The Tonight Show in quite some time, and of course it fascinates us TV geeks, so listen in as Perry, Dana, and Heather declare their allegiance to Team Coco, analyze how much fun this all is for David Letterman, and ponder where Conan lands his next gig. Check it all out here.

TV Geek Out 120: Lost, "Namaste"

TV Geek Out continues our coverage of season 5 of Lost with our discussion of "Namaste." Many of the original Oceanic 815 survivors reunite in '70s Dharmaville, but it isn't as joyous an occasion as the Oceanic 6 might have expected. Actually posing more of a problem than a solution, Kate, Jack, and Hurley have to be snuck in as new Dharma recruits, and Sayid is mistaken as a Hostile -- and taken prisoner -- when he stumbles in a little late. Meanwhile, 30 years later on Hydra Island, Ben gets his 50th beat-down after Sun and Lapidus join him for a stroll in the jungle. The pilot and Sun take the outriggers to the main island and find the Ghost-town Dharmaville of the present, where Sun learns that she's got a loooong journey ahead of her if she wants to find Jin! TV Geek Out geeks Heather, Perry, and Dana ponder all the goings-on here.

TV Geek Out 119: Lost, "LaFleur"

TV Geek Out favorite Lost returns to the air in less than a month, and we're finishing up our coverage of the previous season in preparation for that joyous premiere. We left things off with "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," so let's continue on to "LaFleur." After being perilously unstuck in time for many episodes, Sawyer and his merry band of time travelers find themselves stuck indefinitely in 1970s Dharmaville, and do their best to survive, fit in, and surprisingly for some, flourish there. Listen in as TVGO geeks Perry, Dana, and Heather discuss all the goings-on here.