Welcome back to a regular edition of Curtinho’s blog on the finest US tv has to offer. This week will be focusing on Lost, Chuck and Flashforward!
So where else to start than the behemoth that is Lost. With episode 11 of the final season last week, we now have only 7 hours of Lost remaining! What a cruel day in May it will be when it all ends, but hopefully the show can pull off a spectacular finale. And if last weeks ep is anything to go by, we should be expecting something very good indeed.
Happily Ever After was one of the best Lost episodes I have ever seen. And by no coincidence whatsoever, it was Desmond centric. Desmond is probably my favourite character on the show, and I have yet to see a bad episode that he is featured in, but generally he brings out the best, such as The Constant, which featured at no.3 in my Best moments of the first five series in last weeks blog (And here it is again. Any excuse…).
We saw Desmond this week in the Alternate universe, with everything he ever wanted. A well paid job which enables him to travel the world, the respect of his superiors, peers and underlings, and the approval of Charles Widmore. But Desmond knows there is something missing. And all it took was a British rock star to show him the way. Thats right, Charlie was back!
Desmond was assigned a job by Widmore to bring Charlie to his sons musical event. However, Charlie, as any drugged up rock star would, refused to go. He claimed to have seen true love in the shape of a blonde woman when he almost died on the plane. And he decided to show Desmond what he meant by forcing the car they were travelling in to crash into a river.
Desmond and Charlie have quite the history
This showed Desmond glimpses of the other world, including Charlies tragic death (also in last weeks Lost best moments, am I psychic?). With these new-found visions, Desmond sets out to find his long lost love from the real timeline, Penny. With a bit of help from the welcome return of Daniel ‘Widmore’ Faraday, and despite the obstacle of Eloise ‘Widmore’ Hawking, who still knows everything about the timelines, Desmond succeeds. He meets Penny at the very stadium he told her he could not be with her in the real timeline, a very nice reference. But this time he asks her out on a date, before making plans to show the other passengers of 815 the real timeline. He is a man on a mission.
And it affected his on island self too. Back in the normal reality, Desmond awakes to find Widmore has kidnapped him and taken him back to the island. But his initial anger fades after his alternate experiences, and although he is taken away by soulless Sayid, Desmond appears willing to do what he can to save the world. Ironic for a man who spent three years doing just that reluctantly.
This episode was fantastic, and it changed the direction of the season completely. Now there is a clear link between realities, and of course it had to be Desmond who would bring them together. Henry Ian Cusick is just a great actor, and his chemistry with Sonya Walger’s Penny is the best on tv anywhere. Where they go from here will be very interesting, but it seems Desmond has become the alternate realities Locke, searching out the Losties to show them ‘the truth’. Godspeed Desmond! 9.5/10
Desmond and Penny's famous photo
Chucks mid-season finale was also a great episode this week, and very significant. Not only did Chuck tell Sarah he loved her, but he also saved her life and killed an enemy for the first time. Long time fans will know about Chucks aversion to guns, but he was forced to shoot Brandon Routh’s Agent Shaw to save Sarah from certain death. Shaw had gone rogue and joined the Ring after learning that Sarah had unknowingly killed his wife on a CIA mission five years before. And Chuck and Sarah ended the episode by finally getting their relationship together. And it’s about time!
The episode was testament to why Chuck is great television. Not only did it feature exciting action scenes and nice twists, but also great comic relief. Joshua Gomez’s Morgan completely stole his scenes with great aplomb as he campaigned hard to be brought into the spy game, finally succeeding after helping Chuck save the day. He was joined by everyone’s favourite gruff-but-lovable agent Casey, who was reinstated after capturing the director of the Ring. With the gang all back together the only problem is the three-week wait before the resumption of the series. Grrrr. 9/10
Zach Levi's Chuck finally got his heroic moment
Finally, to Flashforward. This show divides me. On the one hand, it can be pretty bland and drag on for part of its 40 minute time. Dont get me wrong, the story is still entertaining, but it gets a bit bogged down sometimes and focuses too much on the smaller issues. But then every time it hooks me back in with a crazy killer twist at the end of the episode. Last week it was a message for Dimitri that was recorded in 1991, and this week it was revealed that an agent we all thought was 100% loyal and dedicated to the team has always been a double agent, despite all the emotional scenes she has been involved in with her pregnancy and other outside-CIA matters.Whatever will they do next. Decent episode though, built on the previous twists well and revealed a little more of what is to come. 7/10
Finally, the final two moments in the Lost countdown. In second place, the last-minute twist that fooled everyone. I am talking about the stunning ending to the third season finale, Through the Looking Glass. The Jack moments we all assumed to be flashbacks were revealed to actually be Flash forwards, when he met Kate in a car park. This was the moment we realised that Jack and Kate had gotten off the island!
And finally, and aptly during a Desmond centric week, we have my no.1 Lost moment of the first five seasons. From the second season finale and first Desmond centric episode, Live Together, Die Alone, the moment that Desmond realises he crashed the plane that brought the Losties, and averts a catastrophic disaster all thanks to the inspiration of a love letter he found from his beloved Penny.
Until next week, “I’ll see you in another life brother”.
Tags: Brandon Routh, Charlie Pace, Chuck, Chuck vs the Other Guy, Desmond, Flashforward, Happily Ever After, Joshua Gomez, LOST, Penny, Queen Sacrifice, Widmore
