TV Geek Out 134: Lost, "The Substitute"

TV Geek Out covers the first Locke episode of Lost's 6th season, "The Substitute," in this epic discussion. The flash-sideways follow Locke as he gets home from his trip to Australia, and we find out that he's still with Helen in this reality, and they're even engaged to be married! After getting fired from his job, he runs into a very upbeat Hurley, who hooks him up with some employment services. There, Locke meets Rose, who still has cancer, and she helps him come to terms with his limitations. Later, when Locke gives up on trying to get fixed and comes clean to Helen about his activities in Australia, the two have a very sweet heart-to-heart. Locke's new job turns out to be as a substitute teacher at a high school, where he meets... Ben Linus, European History teacher! On the island, UnLocke has a little chat with Alpert, in which it comes to light just how much Jacob had kept Richard in the dark. UnLocke asks him to come away with him, but he's rebuffed, so he moves on to a very drunk Sawyer in New Otherton. As Ilana tells Ben over the remains of Jacob, UnLocke is recruiting, and he does his darnedest to win over James Ford. It takes a trip down Jacob's ladder and into a dark cave, but the episode ends with a "hell yes!" from Sawyer, so UnLocke seems to have added a member to his entourage. Listen in as Dana, Heather, and Perry geek out about the return of The Numbers, the awesomeness of FranticRichard, and the surprise flash-sideways appearance of Ben; ponder who the mysterious young boy in the jungle is; and chat about all the other goings-on here.

TV Geek Out 133: Lost, "What Kate Does"

TV Geek Out is back to our coverage of Lost's 6th season with this discussion of "What Kate Does." Yes, Darlton dared to give us a Kate-isode as the follow-up to the awesome season premiere, and a lot of viewers were not happy, to put it mildly! Even here at the Geek Out, opinions were varied. The episode's flash-sideways focus on Kate's taxi-cab getaway from the airport, with Claire in tow. Kate winds up magically transforming the pregnant girl from a frightened hostage into a trusting friend when she helps her out and even takes her to the hospital after she goes into premature labor. In the island storyline, Sawyer makes his own getaway from the Temple, and Kate, Jin, and a couple of Others head out on a mission to retrieve him. It's not long before Kate has ditched the posse, and she heads to New Otherton on her own, where she finds Sawyer in no mood for company. Meanwhile, Dogen tortures Sayid to test his true allegiance, and determines that he's been infected and "claimed," and tries to get Jack to give him a pill -- filled with poison! All this, and Jin runs into the long-lost Claire -- looking extremely disheveled -- in the jungle when she takes out the Others he's with just as they're about to kill him. Listen in as Perry, Dana, and Heather have a lively debate over the quality of Kate-isodes, freak out over the surprise appearance of Dr. Ethan in L.A., praise the acting of Josh Holloway, and more here.

TV Geek Out 132: 2010 Oscar Nominations

Sure, we like to geek out about TV, but some us actually geek out even harder over movies, and the Oscars offer us the prime opportunity to indulge. Listen in as Dana, Heather, and Perry break down the nominations, offer insight into how having ten Best Picture nominees affects the race, and pray that Meryl Streep wins an Academy Award for the first time in over 25 years. Check it all out here!

TV Geek Out 131: Lost, "LA X," Part 2

TVGO returns with the second part of our "LA X" discussion, in which we talk about the aftermath of Jacob's murder in the foot of the statue. Among other things, Ben finds out that the real Locke is dead and that his impostor is actually also the Smoke Monster -- when he changes form and kills all of the armed men Ilana sends into the crumbling structure! UnLocke then terrifies Ben some more as he chats with him about how pitiful Locke was and shares the man's dying thoughts with his murderer. When UnLocke finally emerges, he sets his sights on Richard, they exchange some cryptic dialogue, and he knocks Alpert out with a few frighteningly strong blows and carries him into the jungle. Meanwhile, the group that just traveled back to the future from the '70s heads to the Temple, where they're quickly caught by some other Others, lead by an awesome samurai. Some quick thinking by Hurley gets the Others to spare their lives and then attempt to "save" the dying Sayid. It doesn't work... until several minutes later when Sayid seemingly comes back from the dead! Listen in as Heather, Perry, and Dana discuss all the goings-on and theorize about the coming season here!

TV Geek Out 130: Lost, "LA X," Part 1

TV Geek Out's coverage of Lost season 6 begins with a 2-part discussion of the mind-bending premiere, "LA X." Lost is finally back, and the biggest news is the introduction of what seems to be a new reality/timeline in which the plane does land safely in LA, and the island is submerged underwater! In addition, the story on the island continues, as Kate, Jin, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer -- and a not-quite-dead-yet Juliet -- are transported back to "present day" and have to deal with their seeming failure to reset the timeline. Yep, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are sure as hell not playing it safe for the final season, and their new "narrative device" is proving to be more challenging and controversial than perhaps even season 5's adventures in time travel. Listen in as TV geeks Dana, Perry, and Heather debate all the new developments, mourn Juliet (again!), and exchange theories on just what the heck might be happening in the crazy world -- er, worlds? -- of Lost. Check it all out here.

Also, stay tuned for the second part of our chat, in which we delve into the aftermath of Jacob's murder and geek out about finally getting to see the Temple!

TV Geek Out 129: Lost, "The Incident," Part 2

In this second part of TVGO's discussion of Lost's awesome season-5 finale, "The Incident," we talk about the "present-time" events and discuss the ramifications of everything that occurs. On their journey to see Jacob, Locke drops his own bomb on Ben -- he wants Ben to kill Jacob. When they eventually make it to Jacob's abode, we find out that he lives in the foot of the four-toed statue! Locke insists on taking Ben in with him to see Jacob, much to the chagrin of Richard. Meanwhile, Ilana and co., along with Lapidus and the mysterious big crate, make their way to the same place, arriving at the foot shortly after Ben and Locke have gone in. They reveal the startling contents of the box -- the dead body of Locke! Inside the foot, we learn that the man who appears to be Locke is an impostor, and is in fact the Man in Black from the long-ago flashback with Jacob; he's found a "loophole" and has manipulated Ben into stabbing Jacob to death. Back in the '70s, it turns out that Juliet is still alive, though gravely injured, at the bottom of the shaft of the Swan site, and she uses all of her might to trigger the bomb by bashing it with a rock... and the screen goes white! Listen in as TV geeks Heather, Dana, and Perry finish their discussion of all the goings-on here.

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.