Kevin was brutally honest with John because that's what Kevin does now. I really appreciated Reza Aslan's description of Kevin's shamanic journey; I think it helps explain what's going on with Kevin in the finale.

Probably not, because she was surprised at finding that she was pregnant. If she would have remembered the hotel, she should have remembered the "Congratulations" balloon delivery.

It reminds me a lot of the Hugo/Ben moment in the Lost series finale, at the church, where there's talk of atonement and moving on.

No, I think she was a nutcase who discovered that chubby babies like Lily are actually pretty heavy to tote around. She probably set Lily down because Lily was slowing her down on her sprint into Jarden.

I think you were supposed to.

[Gardening] actually seems like the kind of thing that Locke would have been good with, since he was so in tune with the Island in the beginning.

I'll take a look at the shots of Richard in "Ab Aeterno" vs. Jack in the Pilot when I get a chance. The cinematography of LOST is beautiful and these visual leitmotifs really advance the story.

How about Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella? Or maybe Fiorello, given that 2016 will be an election year?

"If it's loudly sung and in a foreign tongue / It's just the sort of story audiences adore / In fact, a perfect opera…"

Have you seen Hugh Jackman's 1999 TV version of Oklahoma, with Shuler Hensley as Judd? (full version on youtube here.)

No kidding. I saw it onstage the next year, and it just wasn't the same without Queen Latifah in her gold-lame gown.

I would so watch that.

The Cowardly Lion reminds me of Old Deuteronomy in Cats.

No idea. I saw it in summer of '83 to a packed house that cheered its head off all the way through the Battle of Endor and gave it a standing ovation. My sense was that many liked the Ewoks because there was still a hippie "tree people good; Empire and high-tech bad" vibe out there.

Oh, I believe Jacob invited Widmore. It felt tacked-on and abrupt in-show, and it would have been nicer to give us a tiny little scene showing it, not telling. In my view Jacob is desperate at this point.

Google "banyan tree sacred" - it's amazing. The banyan was the tree under which Buddha was born and meditated and achieved enlightenment. In HInduism it's called a kalpa vrishka, the "boon-giving tree." It was thought to signify immortality and to be the residing place of ghosts.

I saw you put spoiler warnings, so I will too.

I figured that pretty much any episode was going to be a letdown after "International Assassin."

The news today is full of teenage girls who join violent / terrorist cults. Evie and her friends were probably alienated and resentful for a long time, especially if Evie knows how violent and crazy her father is.

I ate this episode up with a spoon when it aired. For one thing, I've always liked Richard's almost sinister ambiguity. For another, we just got a huge whopping plate of reveals about Smokey's nature and what he's capable of. Also, I liked the hat-tip to Stephen King's The Stand, especially the scene where the…