Sorry folks, no video this week! With DarkUFO coming back from vacation, I wanted to run a bunch of scoring questions from this week's episode ("Something Nice Back Home") and from Week 9 by our fearless leader. I'll be back in all my mediocre video glory next week though, when we tackle episode 4x11.
Viewership was down and the polls indicate that "Something Nice Back Home" was a letdown (if not a total bust) for many Lost fans, but that didn't stop the episode from thoroughly dominating in points! Week 10 is the highest scoring episode ever in the short history of the LFL. I'm not crazy about "ships" but it appears that "Jate" is VERY good for the Lost Fantasy League! :-P
But how did your team do? Did you take part in the utter points domination or were you left hanging in the cold? Check all the data below for all the scoring details and points rulings as per usual. Comment away and shoot us any questions you have. You know the email by now- LFLquestions@gmail.com.
Also, don't forget about the DarkUFO Facebook Group and the Lost Fantasy League Facebook group. They're two more ways to strengthen our little Lost community!
SPOILER WARNING: THE CONTENTS OF THIS FANTASY UPDATE CONTAIN EPISODE INFORMATION FOR EPISODE 4X10. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THIS EPISODE (AS IS THE CASE WITH OUR EUROPEAN FRIENDS) THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WILL SPOIL THE EPISODE FOR YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
“Something Nice Back Home” (in 600 words or less)
Jack wakes up. Jack is sick. Jack passes out. Jack needs his appendix removed. Jack wants to watch and help lead the surgery. Jack is a control freak.
Nobody at the beach trusts the Freighter Folk and they haven’t even been attacked, shot and blown up yet. Sun, Jin, Daniel and Charlotte head to the Staff station to get medical supplies while Rose ponders why, on an Island where everyone seems to be healed, Jack is sick.
Sun, Jin, Daniel and Charlotte reach the Staff and Jin notices that Charlotte is paying attention to his conversation with his wife. In Korean. Jin realizes Charlotte knows Korean and confronts her about it when they return with the surgical supplies. She tries to play coy, but drops the act when Jin threatens to break Danny-boy’s fingers one at a time. He tells her to make sure that Sun gets off the Island when the helicopter returns.
Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles are walking through the jungle when Frank pops out of the bushes and tells them to hide because Keamy is coming. Aaron almost blows their cover but Keamy heads off in the opposite direction. Miles is paying a lot of attention to Claire and Sawyer doesn’t like it. He gives Miles a restraining order. Late at night, Claire wakes up and finds Christian Shephard holding Aaron. Weird.
The surgery starts. Jack tries to bear the pain. He can’t. Juliet kicks Kate out. Bernard knocks Jack out. Juliet takes Jack’s appendix out. Juliet tells Kate that she knows Jack loves Kate more than her. Jate nation rejoices. Jacketeers lament.
In the morning, Sawyer wakes up to find Claire gone. Miles said she left in the middle of the night with someone she called dad and didn’t follow them because of his restraining order (sarcasm meter is off the charts). They hear Aaron crying and Sawyer tracks him down but there’s no sign of Claire. While holding the baby, Sawyer spins around shouting her name. “Claaaaire!” is officially the new “Waaalt!”
In the flashforwards, Jack wakes up naked, picks up a pair of sexy orange panties off the floor and chats with a girl who is in the shower, speaking in an unnecessary lower tone than usual. It’s Kate. Jack helps dry her off and they kiss. Jate nation squeals with delight. Skaters cringe.
Some time after Kate’s trial, Jack had a change of heart and now they are playing house. Jack reads stories to Aaron and Kate basically just walks around in her underwear. They kiss, have sex a lot and even get engaged. Jaters are in heaven, Skaters are in hell.
Jack begins seeing his father and pays Hurley a visit. Hurley tells Jack that Charlie says Jack’s “not supposed to raise him,” possibly implying Aaron. Jack sees his dad again and resorts to popping pills and drinking a lot to make him go away. Jack comes home early and finds Kate having a secret phone conversation. He becomes jealous and launches into good old Dr. Douchebag mode.
He demands to know what Kate is doing. She says it’s a favor for Sawyer. Jack gets jealous and demands to know more. Kate says no because Sawyer wouldn’t want him to know about it. Jack gets mad and walks out on her. Thus falls the House of Jate (at least for now).
After conferring with DarkUFO, all of last week's points rulings will remain in effect for Week 9. Week 10 was a little tricky, but we have made up our minds on "Something Nice Back Home."
1) Jack waking up naked and finding the panties on the floor was enough implication to merit sex points. We felt that the writers and producers were trying to show us how radically Jack had changed his mind, going from not wanting anything to do with Aaron to having sex and living with his surrogate mother.
2) Jack picking Kate up and darting into the next room with her was enough implication to merit sex points. Again, they were trying to show us the radical difference in Jack's mindset from a few episodes ago.
3) Jack only incurs one injury deduction for the entire episode. His appendix continues to cause him discomfort, but our rules state that characters can only lose points once per episode per injury. Since his appendix issue is one extended injury, he only lost points the first time he passed out.
4) No portion of the surgery results in injury deductions. In the Hiatus League we established a precedent where helping someone by causing them pain or discomfort would not count against either party. Jack is stupid enough to try and watch his own surgery, but the cutting and pain it caused was all part of a process to help Jack. Jack does not lose points for feeling pain, Juliet does not lose points for cutting Jack open, and Bernard does not lose points for knocking Jack out.
5) For the moment, Claire has only received points for attendance. Neither DarkUFO nor I have any idea what to make of Christian Shephard's appearance on the Island. We didn't feel that calling him an Island vision was appropriate, because he was holding Aaron and was also seen by Miles. We also weren't sure it was appropriate to call him an icarnation of the Smoke Monster, because Camp Locke just fled the Barracks to avoid Smokey and the soldiers. So for now, we're not handing out any points for the encoutner. We are hoping that a little more light will be shed on just exactly what the on-Island Christian Shephard is. If we don't get any resolution on this matter by season's end, DarkUFO and I will confer again and make some kind of final decision.
"Something Nice Back Home" was anything but a downer in the points department! Unfortunately, Jack and Kate stole the show, picking up 370 points between the two of them. So, if you didn't have Jack or Kate for Group 1, you pretty much lost out on the mother load this week. This means over half of you are now probably hopelessly behind our current leaders. Better luck in Season 5 I guess.
"Jate" made for an exciting week in the LFL as we've finally broken into quadruple digits! Of course, if you were to cut out the two implied sexual romps and the four kisses, the episode would have been hacked down to around the rest of the pack.
Here is this week's detailed points breakdown:
Group 1-
JACK (+230): Attendance (+5); First on Screen (+15); Has an Eye Close-up (+5); Gets Hurt- His appendix continues to be a problem, causing him to pass out (-10); Centricity (+25); Flashforward (+20); Has SEX with Kate (+15); Kisses Kate- as she steps out of shower (+20); Kisses Kate- has her picked up in the hallway (+20); Has SEX with kate (+15); Has an Island Vision- sees his father quickly walk by at the office (+30); Kissed by Kate- we hear a clear lip smack when Kate kisses him on the neck after he proposes (+20); Has an Island Vision- Sees his father again at the office (+30); Kisses Kate- shortly before he mixes pills and booze (+20)
KATE (+140): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25); Has SEX with Jack (+15); Kisses Jack- as she steps out of shower (+20); Kisses Jack- when he has her picked up in the hallway (+20); Has SEX with Jack (+15); Kisses Jack- we hear a clear lip smack when she kisses him on the neck after he proposes (+20); Kisses Jack- shortly before he mixes pills and booze (+20)
SAWYER (+20): Attendance (+5); Last Line (+5); Last on Screen (+10)
BEN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
LOCKE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 2-
HURLEY (+30): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25)
JULIET (+15): Attendance (+5); First Line (+10)
DESMOND (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MICHAEL (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
SAYID (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 3-
JIN (+10): Attendance (+5); Visits a DHARMA Location- The Staff (+5)
SUN (+10): Attendance (+5); Visits a DHARMA Location- The Staff (+5)
CLAIRE (+5): Attendance (+5)
ROUSSEAU (+5): Attendance (+5)
JACOB (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 4-
BERNARD (+5): Attendance (+5)
KARL (+5): Attendance (+5)
ROSE (+5): Attendance (+5)
ALEX (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
WALT (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 5-
AARON (+40): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25); Last Person on Screen (+10)
CINDY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MARVIN CANDLE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
PENNY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
RICHARD (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 6-
ETHAN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
LIBBY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MS. HAWKING (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
RACHEL (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
WIDMORE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 7-
CHRISTIAN (+30): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25)
KELVIN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
KEVIN CALISS (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MR. PAIK (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
NADIA (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
We had five Fantasy Geniuses of the Week for episode 4x10! Congratulations to you all. Each of them earned 330 points for one single episode! The maximum anyone could have earned was 340 for the week. But, all of our FGotW had Alex on their team, which kept them back from the absolute maximum possible for the week. Here are our Week 10 geniuses and their teams:
Loquo: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Libby, Christian
mfll: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Libby, Christian
Paul Reynolds: Jack, Hurley, Jin, Alex, Aaron, Rachel, Christian
Ryan: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Libby, Christian
The Vindicator: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Ethan, Christian
Next week's episode is called "Cabin Fever" and it seems pretty evident that it will focus on Locke. Locke was a dominant force in the Hiatus Fantasy League but has left a great many contestants begging for more of Jungle John in Season 4.
This late in the game, it seems very unlikely that a singular, strong, Locke-centric episode will launch any team with Locke on it into the upper echelon of our points totals, but I think that we'll finally see everyone have a positive overall score. Some of you have been stuck in the negatives almost all season long, but I'm hoping that getting out of the red and into the black will be a nice consolation prize for you guys and gals.
With only three episodes left, the LFL is winding down, but the excitement is ramping up! I think there's still a good bit of competition left between our leader board titans. Only 80 points separate 1st place and 10th place, so hang on tight folks! We're going in and we're going in fast! Check back next Monday night (US Eastern) to see how "Cabin Fever" has impacted your team and the overall League standings.