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« Roush Dispatch
Wednesday's Surprise Endings
Yunjin Kim by Mario Perez/ABC
In case you hadn’t heard, American Idol was in a giving mood this week. Save the children. Save the world. They put Heroes to shame this week with their all-star charity drive to raise money to help victims of poverty in this country and in Africa. The footage was at times quite wrenching, of orphaned-by-AIDS African children and of children in this country dispossessed by Katrina and disenfranchised in urban centers or rural backwaters, seeking relief and comfort and, in the best of all possible worlds, an education.
At first it looked like the Idol results show was being awkwardly tacked onto this earnest all-star telethon, for the most part handsomely mounted until we got to that truly bizarre, undeniably creepy Celine Dion/Elvis duet. Reminds me all over again why I resist all invitations to go to Las Vegas, cheese capital of the world. I must have missed Celine’s obit, because there is no way a member of the living human race was responsible for that.
Anyway… to the results. Or, more to the point, to the nonresults. Once Ryan Seacrest began announcing everyone as being “safe” in no particular order, I began to suspect no one would be sent home. As I said, American Idol was in a generous mood this week (including many of the judges’ comments on Tuesday), in keeping with the “charity begins at home” mantra. Still, how sick to try to contrive suspense throughout the long two hours, and how truly sick to make any of the gullible among us worry that Jordin, now pretty much seen as a (if not the) front-runner, was going to be sent packing. The twist reduced her to tears, prompting the rest of the gang to group-hug her in support. Truth is: After watching all the suffering in the documentary packages, imagine how ridiculous it would have looked to see an ejected Idol contestant snuffling over being sent home. They and we know how lucky they are. Next week, it’s back to business as usual, and we’ll say goodbye to the bottom two using this and next week’s cumulative vote totals. (The most vulnerable, it would seem, are LaKisha and Phil-or-Chris.)
With that “surprise” ending behind us, let's move on to Lost, which had a powerhouse climax of its own. The bulk of the episode was spent in Sun’s head, with another magnificent performance by Yunjin Kim. She was obsessed with shame: the shame Jin felt over his parentage (we met his mom, a blackmailing prostitute); the shame Sun felt about her own corrupt father and how she was responsible for putting her husband deeper in his debt; and mostly, the shame she felt for having cheated on Jin, a worry compounded by her surprise pregnancy. Thanks to Juliet (more great work by Emmy-worthy Elizabeth Mitchell), Sun learned that the island can increase even an infertile man’s sperm count by as much as five times, and the date of conception was calculated to having taken place on the island. That’s good news/bad news. The good: Jin is the father, no shame necessary. The bad: women who conceive on the island never survive to the third trimester. Juliet’s and Sun’s looks of joy during the ultrasound scene were a marvel to behold, which only added to the impact when Juliet filed her secret and sinister report to Ben, promising to get samples from the other female castaways. As she signed off with an “I hate you,” I couldn’t have loved this enigmatic character more. But can Juliet save Sun, or will she lose her 10th patient?
An excellent question to ponder, along with the bombshell dropped by the mysterious multilingual parachutist, who told Hurley in the episode’s final moments that, to the outside world, Oceanic Flight 815 was considered lost with everyone on board dead. “They found the plane. There were no survivors. They were all dead.”
Time to rev up those “Lost as purgatory”/No Exit theories. Next week: the return of Locke. Yay!
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Apr 26, 2007 9:44 AM
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On AI, I also had realized that no one was going home around the middle of the show, for just the reason Matt mentioned -- how could they do a show about giving and compassion, and then boot somebody off?
At the end, however, I kind of had the feeling that the contestants already knew that no one was going home. (The only thing that contradicted that was Jordin's crying.) Did anyone else sense that?
And on Lost, didn't Juliet turn off the tape recorder before saying "I hate you," or did I imagine that?
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Apr 26, 2007 11:31 AM
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I saw Juliet turn the tape recorder off before saying "I hate you" too--at least I thought I did, and now I'm mad that I erased it from my Tivo and I can't verify it. The "I hate you" moment was the only moment in the excellent episode that felt false to me. Elizabeth Mitchell is so amazing as Juliet, I felt like she could have conveyed that moment without words, it just felt really expositiony to have her say "I hate you" to a tape recorder that had been turned off. Like, hello inner thoughts, let me introduce you to being expressed on the actor's face. But otherwise, two emmy worthy perfs.
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Apr 26, 2007 11:40 AM
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Yeah Juliet did turn the tape recorder off before saying I hate you. I loved last night's episode. Not sure why Juliet had to sneak into Sun's tent in the middle of the night. COuldn't they just say they were going for a walk or something during the day? Would anybody really suspect anything?But both actresses were just terrific. Mitchell should be a lock for at least an Emmy nom and Kim wouod certianly seem to be deserving after last night's effort.
As for AI, I had pretty much come to believe during the day yesterday that nobody was going home, so by the end of the two hours I wasn't shocked at all, especially since Melinda was the first to be told she was safe. I mean, with Ryan hyping "most shocking results" over and over, it might have created more drama if Melinda wer left dangling til the bitter end given she is the favorite to win.
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Apr 26, 2007 12:03 PM
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She turned it back on before adding the "I hate you."
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Apr 26, 2007 12:55 PM
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Elizabeth Mitchell is far from being "Emmy-worthy". The woman can't even move her face!
Yunjin Kim, on the other hand, is simply amazing. She, more than any other cast member, deserves an Emmy. Sun/Jin flashbacks are boring, but Ms. Kim makes the best of it by bringing her A-game every time. Bravo.
The ending was a shocker. It brought back memories of season one, when the show had the power to actually surprise the audience. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
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Apr 26, 2007 1:57 PM
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Elizabeth Mitchell says more with her eyes than most actresses say with their whole bodies. I'm one who thinks she is emmy worthy. I don't like or trust Juliet, but that's another story. She is corruptable in her work with the Others however. That is what I learned by the turn off of the tape and the 'I hate you.' She could be turned.
I don't buy the purgatory thing. I now don't trust the parachutist either! Lost is making me paranoid, but I enjoy it too much to turn away!
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Apr 26, 2007 3:06 PM
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She turned it back on before adding the "I hate you." - achyfakey
So she turned it off, then turned it back on and said "I hate you"?
Elizabeth Mitchell is far from being "Emmy-worthy". The woman can't even move her face! - KetchupFreak
Oh, my God, I couldn't disagree more! She has been a great addition to the show.
I agree with you, however, about Yunjin Kim -- she is amazing, when she gets the chance to actually do something (like last night).
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Apr 26, 2007 3:28 PM
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So she turned it off, then turned it back on and said "I hate you"?
Chappy, yeah. That is what made is so cool.
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Apr 26, 2007 4:11 PM
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I don't know about that whole purgatory theory. The "Lost" producers are well aware of the popular theory, so I doubt they'd actually use it. My first thought was that someone fixed it so that everyone in the outside world would think the passengers had all died and wouldn't come looking for them, since it seems they were all brought to the island for a reason. That would suck for them!
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Apr 26, 2007 5:14 PM
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Oh yeah, that "I hate you" moment was great, as were those last moments of the ep.
And if you want to see Ms. Mitchell at her best, it was in her last flashback episode..wow. It was all the buzz a few weeks ago. Can u say Emmy?
Lost is back if anyone was in doubt!
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Apr 26, 2007 6:02 PM
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Chappy, yeah. That is what made is so cool. - achyfakey
I sure am glad you pay attention to these things, achy! I need to stop trying to do other things while watching TV (or, at least, while watching Lost)!
Lost is back if anyone was in doubt! - nsgal
It certainly is.
I think the last few episodes of the season are going to be absolutely amazing. I just feel this powerful momentum building.
In fact, I've even come around to realizing that the first part of the season -- as hard as it was to get through -- was necessary for the show to be where it is now.
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Apr 26, 2007 7:56 PM
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No, the tape recorder was off. I watched the clip again online. She says "I hate you" after the tape stopped. Juliet has her own triple-crossing to do. She wouldn't let Ben know she's not 100 percent behing the Others.
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Apr 26, 2007 9:18 PM
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Okay, to settle this, I dug out my tape from last night and watched it for myself, and....
Sorry, achy, but anner2 is right. Juliet turns the recorder off, says "I hate you" and then puts the recorder on the shelf.
That's what I thought to begin with, so it's good to know that I get one right every once in a while!
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Apr 27, 2007 12:21 AM
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According to another poster on another thread, the parachutist didn't say 'Thank you for saving my life' as Mikhail told them, but 'I am not alone.' If that's true - it speaks volumes.
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Apr 27, 2007 12:58 AM
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