You're gonna need the jaws of life to pop this bitch.

EXODUS

The season finale brings everything and everyone to the preverbial head. Or not depending on who you mean.

Danielle warns the survivors of the others. She says they are coming. How did she start the fire that caused the black smoke? Wasn’t she on the beach with the survivors when the smoke started?



We see Ana Lucia, who would have a bigger role in the second season, for the first time. I didn’t remember that she was in the first season finale, so this was a sort of pleasant surprise for me.



Sawyer and Jack have one of my favorite scenes of the season when Sawyer tells Jack about meeting Christian. In the normal, around about, Sawyer way, he gives Jack Christians final message.



We see the scratches on Danielle’s arms that she got from Claire. Boy what we didn’t know then, eh?

Danielle talks about the Black Rock, the dark territory, and Montand’s missing arm. Danielle sheds some light on what the smoke monster is when she tells them that it is a security system that protects the island. So she knows more about it than anyone else and she never fully comes clean about it.



Walt tells Shannon that he wants to give Vincent to her to watch after him. He tells her that Vincent needs her, she needed him as well.



Sawyer looks for Kate to say one last goodbye, just like she looked for him. Something tells me that if she had been there Sawyer might not have gone on the raft.



When Vincent swims towards the raft at the end of the episode it still causes me to tear up. It’s that good of a scene. Well, except for the goofy "smiling way to much guy" that walks by waving in the background.



As the group arrives at the Black Rock, Hurley asks the question; “Exactly how does something like this happen?”. Rousseau answers by asking him if he is on the same island she is on. Enough said. Her back story is still one of the most key elements that has yet to be explored. Now with her dying at the end of this past season getting more of her story might be harder to get than originally thought.



Locke talks about the Black Rock and says it was probably a slave vessel blah blah blah, more useless Locke knowledge that is suddenly useful.



Arzt blowing up; still shocks the hell out of me.

Watch Locke’s face when Kate tells Jack that carrying the dynamite is something she needs to do. He feels that Kate is coming around to his side.



In the flashbacks. Michael wants to get rid of Walt by pawning him off on his (Michaels) mother. Funny that that is exactly what ends up happening in the end. On the island it was fairly clear that Michael really didn’t want the responsibility of being a father to a ten year old boy. Mr. Friendly made sure he got that wish.



When you look at Locke’s face when the monster is heard, it seems that he is comfortable with it being near. Then look at his face when the monster comes toward him in the jungle, he’s frightened of the monster this time. Or should I say he is frightened of this monster this time. Look at his eyes when he is on the ground, you can see the shadow/reflection of the smoke monster. The one we now know (and love) is shown in Locke’s eyes. You didn’t see that the first time Locke came face to face with the monster. Different monsters - different reactions. The first time Locke saw the monster there was no dark reflection in his eyes. Is there more than one monster and each one looks different? Or did the effects team just not have enough time to put it in the first episode Locke saw the monster?



This time when we hear the monster we hear the most from it than we had ever heard previously. Let’s disect all the sounds for a second. We hear the roar or moan or call and we hear the adding machine/dot matrix sound. We hear the Hurley bird for the first time which may or may not be connected to the smoke monster. Then we hear something that almost sounds like a rollercoaster. Think about any rollercoaster you’ve been on, think of the sound when you are climbing up that first big hill. The metal clacks it makes as it goes up the track and being pulled by a huge pulley and chain system. Sounds similar doesn’t it? In case you haven’t figured it out, the smoke monster is one of the biggest mysteries of the show for me and I can’t wait for it to be explained. And it better be good or I’m writing my congressman!



Then the monster tries to take Locke down a hole which could be one of the Cerberus Vents (CVI, II, or III?). Kate drops a stick of dynamite on it’s ass (does the smoke monster even have an ass?) and it seems like the explosion of the dynamite happens very far away. After the explosion the smoke monster comes up out of the ground somewhere else. Maybe another vent? Oh, my brain!



Sun gets a healthy dose of belief in fate and destiny this episode.



Charlie is made of steel when he lets Sayid cauterize his head wound. Damn!



Still one of the wild cards, Hurley, we still do not know if he was meant to make the flight or not.



The first man of science/man of fate debate/argument/discussion or whatever you want to call it is still the best. Jack makes a good point about everyone wanting him to be a leader until he makes a decision that they don’t like. When that happens they give him the “who the hell are you?” act. Aside from that, one thing I didn’t understand was why Jack says that when they get the hatch open they are going to have a “Locke problem”. Sometimes this guy puts two and two together and gets five.



As season one draws to a close in my rehashing stage, I have one more thing to ponder. We know that this past season the finale was titled “There’s no place like home”. The episode was ironic in that it showed the Oceanic 6 leaving the island but in reality the “home” the title of the episode was referring to was the island. Let’s bring that all the way back to the end of season one and see if the title Exodus really applies to the folks on the raft as well as the rest going to the caves and away from the beach. Maybe the real “exodus” happened when all of the survivors got on the plane. The exodus was from the “real” world and they all made it (back?) to the island.



See you in a bit when we begin to tackle season two!



Hey, nice hatch. It's name is Richard.