OK, so I’m seriously still reeling. Last night’s episode of LOST was simply the best this season. As Maria suspects, it’s only going to get better from here on in. Let’s debrief.

This week’s episode, titled “Dr. Linus” unsurprisingly followed Ben Linus through both the present timeline and the alternate one. In the alternate timeline, we learned previously, he’s working as a high school history teacher. In the present timeline he’s, well, himself. But despite being, literally, worlds apart, these two Bens are forced to make very important choices. Crucial choices.

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This week’s episode of LOST, like last week’s trip through the jungle, felt a little bit like old times. Instead of moving forward the theory-based plots and revealing more about the nature of the island or Jacob and his nemesis, the story revolved around action and adventure. Easily the most action-packed episode of the season, it hearkens back to an older kind of LOST, before we got mixed up in all these wild theories and speculations—be that what it may, let’s debrief.

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Continuing our power walk to the Oscars, Maria and I watched Precious over the weekend and I’d like to share some thoughts.

My initial thought—and it was Maria’s too—was finally. Finally a movie, out of all the Best Picture picks we’ve watched so far, that truly deserves a nomination. Precious deserves the Best Picture nod. Absolutely.

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Commercials and advertisements for this year’s Academy Awards are billing it as historic. Ten nominations for best picture, they say, because 2009 was such an incredible year for film. It’ll go down in the record books, they say. Monumental. I call shenanigans.

Like District Nine, the latest venture from the brothers Coen, A Serious Man, does not belong on the list of this year’s best films.

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What I absolutely love about a show like LOST is how caught up you can get in it. Ever since the very first season—which Maria and I watched, in its entirety, during one winter weekend—the show has been wholly captivating. I love the layers. Every week I try puzzle it out, try to figure out what just happened, where the pieces fit, and the more you think about it the deeper you get. There’s so much depth to this show. As a disclaimer, I’m not an expert in Ancient History or Mythology—my History degree is mostly in modern, war-time history. Still, I’ve done some research and I want to take some time, maybe for the first time, to flush out some interesting mythological illusions and connections in LOST.

Since pretty early on in the show there’s been a lot of religious and mythological imagery both subtle and overt. Since the end of last season, when the island began to be revealed in a brand new way, it became obvious that there are distinct and clear connections to ancient mythology and, perhaps, ancient civilization. We’ve now seen the Temple, the wheel that moves the island, and the giant statute where Jacob lives. But there are plenty of more subtle nods to mythological ideas or creations, too.

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