Live Chat: LOST, s06e05, "Lighthouse"

As expected, last week's episode of Lost was pretty solid - easily the most enjoyable of this still-young season. We got a nice dose of both mythology -- Jacob's cave and its "candidate" names -- and the character moments that always separated this show from the sci-fi pack. Even if we're still not sure where all of this parallel world stuff is going. Last week also saw our best chatjam yet, as well, both in terms of number of participants and quality of discussion. One of our chatters even decoded the "Jacob's Ladder" imagery before any of us had caught on. So join us at 9 pm for tonight's Jack-centric episode. Jack is not our favorite character, admittedly, but the show does seem like it's better when he's prominently involved. If that doesn't make any sense, then in the words of just about every character on this show at some point, "you're just going to have to trust me."

Also, an aside: io9 did a list of Lost character arcs that didn't go anywhere. Their choices are pretty solid, particularly poor Sun, whose dark turn had so much potential. But I'd like to add one, with the obvious caveat that this season hasn't played out yet, and it may yet get some more attention:

Ben vs. Charles Widmore. Okay, yes: we did find out why they hate each other, and there was that business where Ben tried to kill Penny. But for a lot of season four it looked like it was their conflict -- not Jacob and Smokey's -- that made the foundation of the show. I assume this particular battle was introduced to foreshadow and stand in for the eventual Jacob/Smokey showdown, but the problem is that two millionaires battling within these specific, almost gentlemanly parameters for control of this mystical, supernatural Island where amazing things happen strikes me as more compelling television than a war between two supernatural beings. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.

Anyway, onwards. To the "Lighthouse."