Sayid the Torturer! Plus, Lorelai Loves the Vineyard in the Winter

The hatch is back! I can't even begin to express my complete elation over the return of the hatch on last night's episode of Lost. And we were so close to finding out what happens if you don't push the button in time. I so wanted to know, but they pulled a fast one on us as Locke hit the "execute" button right after the weird red and black images appeared and warning sounds began to flare. Bummer! Was anyone able to make out what those images were of? I rewound my TiVo and did a frame-by-frame analysis, figuring that I was missing something, but you could only see three of the five images clearly, and it wasn't too clear as to what they were. I could make out something that looked like a bird, another that looked like a rifle or stick and another that seemed like a flame or razor (depending on which way you saw it). I'm sure there's some sort of meaning to it all, but I haven't a clue as to what it could be. The whole almost-meltdown happened because Locke was preoccupied with Jack who was angry that he had changed the combination to the now-empty armory in order to allow Sayid privacy and time to properly interrogate the strange captive who claimed to have crashed on the island with his wife in a hot air balloon. Whew! So, is this captive one of The Others? Hard to tell, but he definitely seems to be lying about something. Plus, actor Michael Emerson seems to play a lot of bad guys (anyone remember him as the psychotic killer in The Practice?). The crux of the episode hinged on Sayid's past as a torturer for the U.S. military during the first Gulf War. He started out working in the intelligence division of the Iraqi army until the U.S. captured him and showed him that his commanding officer was responsible for the sarin gas attack on a village where his loved ones lived. Armed with that knowledge, Sayid tortured his former commanding officer to learn what had happened to an American pilot who was shot down. He had made a pact with himself that he would never torture again, but an American agent promised him that there would be a time when he would need to use the skills he learned from torturing his former commanding officer. Enter the time when he needs the skills and he began to revert back. While he was working with the Americans, Sayid actually met Kate's dad. We see a U.S. soldier looking at a photo of his daughter, and then we see the photo is of Kate, so yet another connection before these survivors met on the island. One last thought on last night's outing, the show lost a few points and Sawyer is now on my dislike list for squishing that poor, innocent frog. I'm still not over it!

As promised, I watched Tuesday's episode of Gilmore Girls last night. I have a question for all the ladies reading this, are you OK with Luke's improvised gift? Because if I found out that my fiance hadn't brought a gift for me on our Valentine's weekend in Martha's Vineyard, but my daughter's boyfriend had bought two gifts for her, and therefore, my fiance accepted one of them to give to me, I'd be not-so-happy. I would much rather said fiance just didn't give me anything, especially since Luke's not a big proponent of the holiday, than give me a gift that was not intended for me. I'm only a casual viewer of this show, but I have a feeling that Lorelai is not going to be happy either if she finds out. It did set up a funny scene, though, with Rory pointing out how similar her tennis bracelet is to "Lorelai's" necklace, and just the look on Lorelai's face when Luke knew that it was a tennis bracelet. Luke's assertion to Lorelai that they will get married was really sweet, and I liked the way the writers have Lorelai wanting to be OK with the revelation that Luke has a daughter, but not quite pulling it off. You can tell that she's telling herself that she's fine, but realizing that she's not. The ending scene with Lorelai checking her messages and finding out that her mother had, in true Emily Gilmore style, placed the wedding announcement in the paper set up an interesting dilemma for future episodes. Now that her extended family thinks the wedding will take place June 3rd, what will Lorelai do? It should be interesting to watch it unfold. As I mentioned above, I'm only a casual viewer, but I don't get Logan. Sometimes he seems OK, and other times he seems a little snooty and completely devoid of a backbone when it comes to his father. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Asia isn't happening, so I hope Rory doesn't get too married to the idea because she'll just end up disappointed.

About Last Night...Fox won the first hour of the night with American Idol, followed by NBC's Olympic coverage and CBS comedies Still Standing and Yes Dear. At 9, NBC took over with its continued Olympic coverage, followed by ABC's Lost and Fox's Bones. The final hour of the night went to NBC's Olympic coverage, followed by CBS' CSI: NY (r) and ABC's Invasion. For more on last night's ratings, visit Zap2it.

~Primetime Pass~
@8 p.m. - NBC's Olympic coverage continues with Figure skating (Men's free skate gold-medal final), Snowboarding (Men's snowboard cross gold-medal final), Speed skating (Women's team pursuit gold-medal final), Speed skating (Men's team pursuit gold-medal final) and Skeleton (Women's gold-medal final). Over on ABC, the four remaining teams compete in two more dances on Dancing with the Stars. UPN's Everybody Hates Chris finds Chris defending his title as the neighborhood "Asteroids" champion.

@9 p.m. - The beauties must ask the geeks out on dates on the WB's Beauty and the Geek. ABC reruns last Sunday's conclusion of Grey's Anatomy beginning at 9:30.



QUICK CUTS

*Fox's American Idol is down to 24 finalists (12 men, 12 women) after last night's episode. The 12 women include the 17-year old granddaughter of Ann Nesby (former lead singer for the gospel choir Sounds of Blackness) from Fayetteville, GA; a 17-year old basketball player with a athletic scholarship to Boston College from Wrentham, MA and a 16-year old former member of the Los Angeles cast of The Lion King musical from Anaheim, CA. The 12 men competing for a spot in the combined final 12 include a 27-year old diabetic on an insulin pump from Richmond, VA; a 16-year old who has sung for two presidents from The Woodlands, TX and a 16-year old Clay Aiken-type with a similar big voice from Levittown, NY. The women open the next round of competition next Tuesday on Fox, and the men begin next Wednesday. The live results shows, where two people will be eliminated, will air every Thursday.

*And finally, the second season finale of Sci Fi's popular Battlestar Galactica win run 90 minutes. In keeping with the show's style, it will also end in a cliffhanger. Production on the third season will begin in April with Lucy Lawless set to appear for a 10-episode arc. The second season finale airs Friday, March 10th at 10 p.m. For more on the finale (including spoilers), click on over to The Futon Critic.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for thoughts on Everybody Hates Chris and Dancing with the Stars (It's down to the final four!). Plus, all the latest television news. And don't forget to send me you questions for Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas either through the comment link or email them to veronicaquestions@yahoo.com so I can ask them on my visit to the set at the end of this month!

*Lost picture from abc.com

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