A Case of the Mondays

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I hope everybody enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend. Me? Well, it’s been exceptionally tiring, to say the least. One of my best friends is going to be doing a medical internship in Tokyo for the summer, and he leaves on June 1st, so on Saturday night we had a good bye get together in the city. We started drinking at about 7, and I didn’t get home until about 4 in the morning. Then I had to wake up a little before 7 in the morning to go the beach, where I proceeded to spend much of the day sleeping and, in turn, get pretty brutally burnt.

So, anyway, that was more or less my weekend. So as I write this, I’m pretty significantly tired and uncomfortable. The good news, though, is that this was pretty much a two show week, so the column will be pretty short, relatively speaking.

Oh, before I get to that, I wanted to give my thoughts on a question one of my IP TV columnist cohorts brought up last week: Who would you rather be friends with, Jack Bauer from 24, or Clark Kent from Smallville. To me, the answer is pretty simple: Clark. Why, you ask? Well, the fact of the matter is, Clark (on Smallville, anyway) is never willing to sacrifice the lives and well-being of those he cares about to save the many. Jack Bauer is. So, basically, if me dying meant that a lot of other people would be saved, I’d definitely rather have Clark’s loyalty to his friends over Jack’s patriotism to his country.

LOST:

Wow, what an episode! I thought this finale was a HUGE step up from last year’s, and the writers really, really delivered. They answered a whole lot of nagging questions, but still have us asking a lot more, and I am definitely looking forward to next season.

This year’s finale did a great job of tying up the ongoing themes of the season, primarily all of the hatch stuff. In the premiere, Desmond ran off and disappeared. Where did he go, and what has he been doing since? Well, that’s been answered. Does pressing the button every 108 minutes do anything, or is it just an experiment? Now we know.

I thought the Desmond flashbacks were great, and the connections to past characters were very interesting. Intriguingly, Edmund, the person in the hatch before Desmond, was the soldier working along with Kate’s father, who interrogated Sayid. That’s a deeply interesting connection. I also found it fascinating that Libby told Desmond her husband’s name is “David,” which is suspiciously the same as Hurley’s imaginary friend in the mental hospital.

Oh, and I found the “it smells like carrots” response to the snowman riddle pretty humorous.

I’m wondering where this whole Widmore thing will lead to. Apparently the Widmore logo appeared on the pregnancy test that Sun took earlier in the season. And they must somehow be connected to the Dharma Initiative, otherwise how would Penny even know to look for electromagnetic activity in the first place?

The stuff with Locke and Eko was a very fitting conclusion to their season-long story arc. Before the tailies and main characters united, people had drawn immediate comparisons between those two characters, and they hit it off pretty instantly as well. Along with that, the way their relationship devolved, despite being so similar, is very interesting.

The big reveal as to why the plane crashed was highly fulfilling, actually. It made perfect sense, validated the importance of the hatch and what they were doing, and stays true to the mythology of the show.

I think the MVP of the episode may have been Charlie, actually. I had previously noted his redemption a couple weeks ago, and I thought his character was perhaps the most enjoyable throughout the finale. In the midst of the whole Locke/Eko thing, Charlie seemed like the only voice of reason. When Eko was planning to ignite the dynamite, Charlie tried to talk him out of it. When he knew he couldn’t, he tried to resolve things peacefully with Locke. When Locke wouldn’t listen, he laid out warnings to ensure his safety. After the explosion, he immediately tried to come to Eko’s aid, and continued doing so until the end. Charlie’s character has had a pretty crappy season, but I thought this was a very satisfying end to it.

The stuff with Michael, Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, and the Others was definitely a high point of the finale. Evidently the theme of this season was the hatch, and next season will be about The Others, with us finding out about who they are and what their histories are.

I think, more than anything, I was most surprised by the apparent revelation that Henry is the leader of the crew. That was definitely a shocker. I am also wondering the significance of us now knowing two of their real names (Tom and Dee). I definitely think that was revealed for a reason.

I’m also wondering if we’ve seen the last of Michael and Walt. By that token, I am intrigued by the fact that The Others always seem to hold up their end of the bargain in these deals they make.

I am also interested in the exchange between Kate and Jack before they were hooded by The Others. Was it a knowing gaze, as if they had a plan? Or was it something romantic? I was definitely intrigued by the fact that it was Jack and Kate, and not Sawyer and Kate, that shared that stare.

Some miscellaneous thoughts: What was the deal with the fallen statue with four toes? What was up with the canisters that the papers are sent to going to nowhere? What was with the hatch leading to nothing but a brick wall?

Without a doubt, I am looking forward to next season. It is going to be a long, long summer.

24:

So, did the finale live up to possibly the greatest season of 24 yet? In my opinion, yes.

A lot of people were unhappy about the fact that we never found out who the people were that were pulling the strings for Logan. Personally, I didn’t mind that too much, as it adds to the realism of the show. After all, things don’t tie up in a neat little package exactly 24 hours after it started.

Another thing some people have complained about was Jack falling for the “Kim is calling you trick,” basically asking how on earth she would know to reach him there. That’s a fair point, but there are some logical explanations: Maybe she called CTU and the call got transferred there (although, admittedly, they probably would have called his cell). I also think that it’s important to maintain that Jack is a human being who has weaknesses. He loves Kim and desperately wants to have a relationship with her. With that in mind, I think it’s believable that he may become irrational when it comes to her.

I thought the conclusion with President Logan was very good, with a nice twist where you actually wondered if he may get away with it. Seeing Novick and Pierce get all that screen time was excellent as well. And I also enjoyed Buchanan’s attempt to ask Karen out on a date. If nothing else, this season did an absolutely fabulous job of developing once considered minor league characters.

The end, tying up the loose end of the Chinese prison, was wonderful. I also enjoyed the implication that Logan likely set it up, saying earlier in the episode that Bauer would be taken care of.

Overall, a greatly satisfying finale, much like Lost. And much like Lost, I cannot wait until next season.

Anyway, I’m exhausted and I need to get some sleep. I hope everybody enjoyed their Memorial Day, as I plan on enjoying some aloe.

Until then, Case Closed.

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into various popular television shows. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.