"Lost" raises questions, delivers answers worth waiting for

Let me start off by saying I am a very devoted (meaning biased) fan of ABC's hit drama, Lost. Since the beginning, I've spent countless hours with my ass glued to the couch and my eyes fixed on the set. The defining point of my week is Thursday night, when the new episode airs. If you are as devoted a fan as I, then you will surely realize that "The Constant" was one of the greatest episodes of the show so far.

Airing on February 29, 2008, this episode did more to answer the mysteries of the island than any previous one. It focused on Desmond David Hume (as played by Henry Ian Cusick), and began to unravel the reasons for his mysterious gifts. Desmond, the tragic hero of the show, sees flashes of the future. These flashes show what is going to happen, and though they can be altered, their end result will be the same, because as Desmond learns, the future cannot be changed. Last season this created some of the most intense drama on television. Desmond was haunted by flashes of a fellow friend and castaway dying, and time after time, Desmond did all he could to save him, knowing that the universe has a way of "course-correcting" itself and that his actions were only postponing the inevitable. This subplot made Desmond one of the most admirable characters on the show, one who you genuinely care about, and this new episode begins to explain his gift (or curse, depending on how you look at it).

When Desmond turned the key in the hatch, back in the season two finale (like I said, you have to be a fan for any of this to make sense), something happened to his brain. Whether it was being exposed to extremely high levels of radiation or something more surreal that granted him his gift, it is fully explained. Desmond's consciousness has been traveling back in forth in time, and leaving the safe confines of the island has had the side-effect of destroying his perception of time, causing him to think he is living ten years in the past. He has no idea what is going on in the present, and his reality keeps jumping back and forth, forcing him to live within two different worlds, two different times. Quantum physics comes into play in this episode, and the writers delve deep into the science behind the island for the first time. The island has always had its supernatural and sci-fi elements, but now they are brought to the forefront as the viewer begins to understand just what the island is.

This episode was so ambitious, so revealing, that it really is amazing that it was not a complete catastrophe. The show could have turned absurd when the time travel element was introduced, but everything seems plausible. Every moment is so intense and entertaining that the viewer will not care how far-fetched an idea may be, especially when the creators make it work this well Every moment is executed perfectly, every set is lush and fully realized, every performance is memorable, and everything is so perfectly- balanced that none of the elements sink. The episode's presentation is excellent, jumping back and forth sporadically at first with no explanation, jarring the viewer's brain in the same way that Desmond's brain is being jarred.

The new character Daniel Faraday (played by Jeremy Davies), an awkward, out-of-place physicist, becomes a much more significant part of the show. The mysterious scientist (who is on the island for reasons no one can guess) formerly specialized in Quantum Physics at Oxford, and it seems that he will become a much more significant part of the show as he appears to hold the answers to (and may be the root of) some of the islands mysteries, particularly those surrounding time travel and the concept of time on the island.

In the present, Faraday learns about Desmond's side-effects, so he urges him to travel back to Oxford the next time his consciousness flashes into the past, so he can meet up with a much more eccentric Faraday then. At this time, a disrespected Faraday is still being ridiculed by his peers for his crazy ideas, but he has found a way to allow the brain to travel back and forth through time. This does come with side-effects, as Desmond realizes when Faraday's time-traveling guinea pig dies of a brain aneurysm. Unwilling to meet the same fate, Faraday tells Desmond that he must find a constant, something his brain can use as an anchor in any time, in order to stabilize it and save himself.

The series has always been known for its great cliff-hanger endings that tease the viewer by offering even more questions for the following week. This ending reveals a note that Faraday wrote to himself at one point, saying, "Desmond will be my constant." This leaves even more implications for time travel in the show's future, and may be foreshadowing Faraday's rise to become one of the most important characters.

It's impossible to predict how big of a role these revelations will have on the overall mystery of the island. It seems to be one of the most important episodes in the series thus far (if not the most), and may present a turning point for the series. Up until now, the show has been about raising questions in the viewer's minds. Now the creators have finally started to answer some of these questions, and they have proved that the answers were well-worth waiting for.

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"Grey's" writing and memorable cast will keep it from flatlining

As its fourth season unfolds, the award-winning ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy continues to dole out drama like its own life depends on it. And in fact, it does. With decreased ratings and the prolonged writer’s strike to grapple with, the hour-long show is piling on the sex and intensifying plot lines to keep viewers in their seats – hopefully, on the edge of them. Creator Shonda Rhimes has skillfully inserted new characters into Seattle Grace Hospital while continuing to build upon the lives of the doctors viewers know and love. In doing so, she and the Grey’s Anatomy writing team have strategically counteracted last season’s loss of two major characters.

The brilliance of

Grey’s lies within its intricacy – this is not a show for leisurely viewers. In order to recogni

ze the complexity of episodes like Thursday night’s “Physical Attraction … Chemical Reaction” (original air date 11/8/07), one must already be familiar with, for example, the ongoing love story of Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). However, the show is not a constant development of season-long plots – each episode incorporates the drama of multiple new patients as well as the introduction or resolution of a new character conflict.

Writers Tony Phelan and Joan Rater have exemplified this idea with “Physical Attraction …”, the seventh episode of the new season. As always, Meredith’s voice-over narration opens the show, introducin

g a theme of sorts for

the hour – chemistry. The perfect scene follows as Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and Dr. George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) struggle to find sexual chemistry in the bedroom. This particular subplot is a continuation from last season, when George’s marriage to Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), another doctor at Seattle Grace, was broken as he and Izzie unsuccessfully tried to suppress their attraction. Their story, more prominent in this particular episode, is one of about five subplots following the 12 doctors/residents at the hosp

ital.

As if the ever-dramatic, and at times overly dramatic, lives of the central characters aren’t entertaining enough, what would a hospital be without patients? Grey’s avoids stagnancy by introducing new patients at Seattle Grace each episode. In “Physical Attraction …”, a cranky and constipated old man brings comic relief to the serious situation of a young mother who dies, leaving her newly adopted baby with a husband who has yet to bond with the newborn. Who knows if these patients are authentic, but their stories are convincing enough and their acting is certainly en

gaging.

The decline in popularity of a show as fast-paced and intense as Grey’s Anatomy seems inevitable, but the quality of writing and acting make this drama a standout. Every member of its diverse cast is memorable – the unyielding devotion to the medical field of Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang, the sass and ferocity of Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey, and the lovable sternness of James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber, chief of surgery, are only small aspects of a talented group of actors. Their work, combined with the witty scripts of gifted writers, will continue to make Grey’s Anatomy a medical miracle. Let’s hope the show avoids a code blue for many years to come..

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