Lost in a House

I know, it was lame. However, most shows appear to be in reruns this week, rather than go up head to head against the juggernaut of the Winter Olympiad. However, I was able to scrape together a couple of viewings; tonight's Lost, and last week's House.

I'll start with House, as it was a departure from the norm. Just as we had "Wilson" from the perspective of House's only friend, tonight brings us "5 to 9", the length of Cuddy's day. Cuddy is an odd character, written as one note some weeks, and depthy in others. Sometimes her and House look like an item, sometimes she's just the mean old boss lady standing in the way of him and awesome doctoring. This episode loaded her plate up with many many obstacles, the biggest of which was whether or not to terminate their contract with the insurance company who handles most of their business. Cuddy stuck to her guns, was about to resign for screwing up, but then the insurance company blinked and gave in to her demands. Honestly, this felt like a huge copout, having her on the way to giving up before the situation resolves itself. Would have expected something more proactive from her, but this almost felt like a lucky break just landed in her lap. Some of the other bits were amusing: Using a hidden microphone to trick the meth-stealing pharmacy tech (and what a bitch!) into digging her own grave, playing hardball with Thumb Guy, all while dealing with House's usual antics. The episode did do one thing well: make us realize why the show is called "House" and not "Cuddy". They tried to pack way too much in, and while it worked to show us what Cuddy goes through to have her life and her job, it didn't make for a great hour of television.

Lost, on the other hand, was a lot better, although still moving at a mellow pace. Tonight was the Locke episode, and we get to see the ramifications of his pre-815 actions in this no-crash timeline. He comes back bitter (although still with Helen), gets fired for using company money to take his walkabout, runs into Hurley (who just bought the company...and a temp agency (where Rose works!)...and of course, Mr Cluck's), and has the worst luck with his van. Locke, on the island, was always the believer (as Ben pointed out in his eulogy). However, off the island, he is the cynic. There are no miracles in Locke's non-island world, which may be the greatest tragedy of the alternate timeline. At the end though, he gets a job substitute teaching, where he runs into Ben, of all people, who is also teaching. So, is this destiny that all of these people are fated to meet? Or just amazing coincidence?

Meanwhile, back on the island, Not-Locke and Sawyer go on a walkabout of their own. A boy who looks an awful lot like Jacob pops up a couple of times, telling Not-Locke that he "isn't allowed to kill them". The game is still running? They make their way down the World's Most Rickety Ladder (where Not-Locke saves Sawyer's life, probably) into a spooky cave which holds a balanced scale with one white and one black rock on it. Not-Locke takes the white rock off the scale and whips it into the ocean ( "Private joke", he explains), then leads Sawyer into the real part of the cave; a room with many names chalked onto the walks and ceiling. These are the "candidates", people who have the potential to take over for Jacob as protector of the island. They are Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Jin or Sun, Locke (who gets crossed off on account of death), and Sayid. Even better, the names are all numbered, and if you really need me to tell you the numbers of the six names remaining, then you obviously have never watched this show. The episode ends with Not-Locke offering Sawyer the chance for the two of them to leave the island, to which Sawyer responds with an emphatic "Hell yes". And scene.

Well, if you wanted to know what the numbers were, now you know. Big question, interesting answer. Obviously Not-Locke isn't telling the whole story, and Sawyer obviously won't be taken in by the lies. Where do we go from here? Seven days, and we'll find out. Leverage season finale tomorrow!