Dead is Dead

Ben , Ben, Ben…As we watched the flow of Ben’s life as an Other, all I could think was how sad for him. He was saved by the island, clearly marked by Jacob’s favor, but somehow, he lost it, becoming the same kind of man he ejected from the island. But worse, the island is forcing him to follow his successor, the man Ben can’t kill.

It appears that the hardest part about being the leader of the Others is to keep the position. Oh, and to not be arrogant. Or manipulative.

Ben’s Journey

Charles Widmore was the leader when Ben was healed, and he protested when Richard healed him. But a simple four words – Jacob wanted it done – changed Widmore’s attitude. He was almost tender when he met Ben, telling Ben that the island saved his life. But 11 years later, when Ben took Alex from Danielle, Ben openly flouted Widmore’s authority. “You didn’t say she had a child. What was I supposed to do?” Widmore responds, “You might find this difficult to understand, every decision I’ve made has been about protecting this island.” Ben plainly isn’t buying this, demanding to know if Jacob wanted Alex killed, even telling Widmore to kill her.

Around 4 or 5 years later, Ben is pushing his stolen daughter on a swing, to be told by Richard that the submarine is leaving. It’s Widmore, leader no more, clearly angry at his ouster. Why was he deposed? Because he broke the rules, leaving the island too often and having a daughter with an outsider. And what makes Ben think he deserves to take what was Widmore’s? “Because I won’t be selfish. Because I’ll sacrifice anything to protect this island.”

But Ben wouldn’t sacrifice Alex. He argued that it was because Widmore wanted the child to die, not the island. Was that so? More on that later.

So that’s how Ben became Leader. Now, apparently, we’re watching the crown pass from Ben to John. And Ben’s not handling it well.

First, he wakes up to find John Locke, alive and kicking, calm, cool, and clearly in charge. He covers quickly, telling John that he “knew this would happen” and was only surprised because “It’s one thing to believe it, another to see it.” How sincere Ben looked. But later he told Sun that he was as surprised as she was to see John back among the living:

Sun, I had no idea this would happen. Dead is dead. You don’t get to come back from that. Not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking on this island scares the living heck out of me.

Throughout John and Ben’s journey, John deliberately took Ben’s traditional role. In Ben’s office, John sat in Ben’s chair. John knew where to find the smoke monster. On the way to find said monster, Ben asked John lots of questions, and was obviously dissatisfied with John’s half-answers. Finally, noting that Ben didn’t like it, he added, “Now you know what it was like to be me.”

John, actually, you don’t know what it’s like to be Ben. Ben initially claimed he needed to be judged for breaking the rules by returning to the island, but John saw through that. Ben feels the need to atone for the death of his daughter. The smoke monster showed Ben the moments of his life with Alex, forcing him to relive her final moment. When the smoke then disappeared, Ben looked relieved, and then so happy to see Alex. Who, it turns out, was not Alex. No, the smoke monster can take on the appearance of people, and Alex threatened Ben:

Listen you bastard. I know you’re already planning to kill John again. But if you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and destroy you. You will listen to every word John Locke says and you will follow every order. Do you understand?

A minute later, Ben tells John, “It let me live.” Ben’s face says he wished it hadn’t.

Some other thoughts:

Ben’s Mother Issues

Ben has issues with mothers. He seemed quite ready to kill Danielle until her child stirred. He hadn’t known the child existed. Seems a little odd to take the child, but it's better than killing the child, I guess. Then, in his confrontation with Penny, he actually lowered his gun after he saw young Charlie Hume. I don’t think Ben can allow another child to grow up without a mother, just like he did. Perhaps that’s why he’s so desperate to get women to carry their babies to term.

Ben’s Memory

Ben’s memory appears to have been altered. He could no longer remember how he was injured, and he seemed genuinely surprised when Sun showed him the picture of Jack, Kate, and Hurley in 1977 Dharma. However, he did remember that he didn’t want to return to this father, and he also remembered as an adult that he had been taken to the Temple to be healed (although it may be that he was told by the Others about the latter event).

Ben’s Hair

Wow. Ben had a lot of bad hair days.

Protecting the Island

Both Ben and Charles insist that their actions are to protect the island. What does the island need protection from?

John

John told Sun, “I assure you, Sun, I’m the same man I’ve always been.” Really John? The same? I don’t think so. We’ve just begun to see the new John. And where was he while Ben was summoning the smoke monster, anyway? And what was the deal with the shoes?

John radiated confidence in this episode. I’ve read other blogs that expressed their belief that John was arrogant. You know, the same way that Widmore and Ben are. Will John become like them, arrogant, manipulative, and selfish?

Caesar

Ben’s ability to manipulate remains intact, and Caesar fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. When Ben later turned around and shot Caesar in the chest, I was truly confused. What was the point of Ben’s manipulation of Caesar? The only goal I can think of was to take Caesar’s gun from him. Bye bye Caesar. We knew you even less than we knew Charlotte.

Ilana and the Guns

So, what is the answer to “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Did Ilana and her men come to the island prepared to take over once they found their guns or did they become infected by the sickness? Maybe they’ve turned into Others.

Desmond and Penny

I’m so happy that Penny still lives. At least, I presume she still lives. And how strong is Desmond? Shot, I thought, near the heart. Perhaps it was just a flesh wound. Or perhaps it was more, but the island can’t let him die, since we know the island isn’t finished with him yet.

Danielle and Alex

The taking of Alex did not quite match what Danielle told the others in the Season 1 finale, Exodus. She claimed that the day she saw the pillar of smoke, her daughter was taken while she slept at night. We know that there was a pillar of smoke the day that Danielle killed her mates, and she was awakened when Ben was taking her child. Of course, Danielle was telling the survivors this 16 years after the fact, so they aren’t necessarily discrepancies. But now we know where she got one survival skill: “Every time you hear whispers, you run the other way.”

One question we didn’t get answered was whether the island wanted Danielle and Alex to die. If the island had changed her mates into Others, then it might have seen their murders as a punishable crime. Ben told Widmore that it was Charles who desired their deaths, not Jacob. Widmore’s reaction, “I hope you’re right, Ben. You cannot fight the inevitable.” Could the deaths of Alex and Danielle 16 years later have been course correction?

Ethan

Ethan was allowed by the Others to follow Ben, though Ben refused to let Ethan with his mission. Will we learn more about what turned Ethan into an Other? Was it just the worship of a young boy of an older one?

The Temple

Yes, I’m fascinated with the Temple. Hieroglyphs galore, memorials, underground chambers, all kinds of cool stuff. I’m going to keep an eye out for better pictures of that underground room, because I’m sure I missed some of the symbolism.

Sawyer

Absent from this episode. At least this time, I wasn’t at my mother’s house. If the only Lost we watched together were those with nary a glimpse of Sawyer, I think I would be permanently banned.

Is this a lengthy post or what? What did you think? What does the island need protection from? What is lying in the shadow of the statute? Jughead, perhaps?

The Temple

Here it is, another Lost-eve, and I’ve a few thoughts to share about the Temple. The Temple, of course, is where we saw Richard Alpert carry the unconscious young Ben Linus at the end of last week's episode. We don’t know a whole lot about the Temple, so I thought I’d compile what we know here, and then ask my questions.

We first heard of the Temple in Meet Kevin Johnson, when Ben gave Alex a map to the Temple, saying it might be the last safe place on the island. Oddly enough, the map has a Dharma logo on it. When Karl suggested that the survivors go with them to the Temple, Ben refused, saying, “It’s not for them.” We didn’t see the Temple until This Place is Death. Remember when Montand was dragged by the smoke monster/security system into the hole, losing his arm in the process? And remember that Robert, Lacombe, and Brennan followed Montand into the hole, after he called to them? Danielle would have gone into the well too, had Jin not been there to stop her. This occurred at the Temple – or its outer walls, at least. We saw the walls, covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs (there’s another line of thought –all the Egyptian symbols this season). Apparently there was an official podcast after This Place is Death, in which the producers reported that the walls we saw are just an outer perimeter. The Temple is inside these walls.

We know nothing else about the Temple. But after seeing what happened to Robert, Lacombe, and Brennan, and then after hearing what Richard told Kate and Sawyer about what would happen to Ben, it just elicited a slew of thoughts. In case you need reminding, Richard said:

If I take him, he’s not ever going to be the same again. He’ll forget this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. Do you still want me to take him?

Is it the Temple that turns people into “Others”? How does it alter them? Were the Frenchmen turned into “Others”? What about being an “Other” made them so deadly to Danielle? Who built the Temple – the “Others”? The Dharma Initiative? Who or what decides who goes to the Temple and who doesn’t? Why was it not for the survivors? Has Juliet been to the Temple? Has she been irrevocably changed?

Who are the “Others”, anyway?

I use quotation marks around the word “Others” because it appears that there are two kinds of Others. Ben and Richard are privy to the Temple, but Karl and Alex were not. And I don't know what the differences are.

I am thoroughly intrigued.

Whatever Happened, Happened

Kate Ain’t So Bad After All!



Am I the only person who liked this week’s episode? For me, this is the first Kate-centric episode where I didn’t want to kill her by episode’s end. Some thoughts:

• Sawyer’s request of Kate before he dropped into the ocean was no real surprise.
• Kate and Cassidy’s friendship didn’t seem like a big stretch to me. These two unconventional women and single moms have quite a bit in common.

But mostly, Kate giving Aaron to Carole Littleton (doesn’t she have a great first name? Too bad they misspelled it.) was the best part of her back story. This is just about the most adult, unselfish thing that Kate has ever done in her life. Cassidy helped Kate realize that Kate took Aaron because Kate needed him (though I’m not sure that I agree it was because Sawyer ran away from Kate). I also thought that her reason for returning to the island was a fairly good one, to get Clair back. Why? Because every child needs his mother.

In 1977, I found myself liking Kate more than I like Jack. Yes, Jack is still hot, but his refusal to treat Ben (again) was, in my opinion, reprehensible. However, some of my friends at work (Hi Amber! I would say hi to Kelly but she claims she doesn’t have time to read my blog. Humph.) think that everyone, especially Kate, expected Jack to fix everything, just like he did their first time on the island. But, in this situation, Jack was the only one that could fix it. Neither Juliet nor Kate is a surgeon, and I don’t think we want Sawyer operating on anyone. And Jack’s reason for not operating on Ben? The island just wants to fix things itself. Whatever that means. I was with Kate; I don’t like the new Jack, either. Jack spoke truly, though, when he noted, “You didn’t like the old me.” Well, there are actually three Jacks. She doesn’t like the new Jack or the drunk, jealous Jack. She likes the old, take charge Jack. And we’ve only seen glimpses of the old Jack recently.

I must say that seeing Roger Linus and Kate talking so familiarly made me squirm a little. Still, we saw a more symptathetic Roger, this time, as he acknowledged that he hasn’t been a great parent. We’ve never seen him actually worry about his son, and he seemed more human. Sadly, it may be too late.

The Comic Interludes

Unlike another friend at work (hi Brian!) who found the conversation between Hurley and Miles to be too long, I thought it was delightful! Both characters are fun to watch on their own, but together, they’ve got great chemistry. Hurley spoke for all of us as he questioned the whole time travel thing. I laughed out loud when Miles gave Hurley his gun and asked to be shot. But Hurley asked the million dollar question: why doesn’t Ben remember Sayid when they meet in 2004?

But I was confused by something Miles said in their conversation; how does Miles know about the wheel?

An Ending?

I also enjoyed the scene between Juliet and Jack more than others did. Juliet was justifiably angry (in my opinion) with Jack for refusing to honor his Hippocratic oath, which Miles and Hurley could tell by the expression on her face – they left awfully fast. Her disappointment in Jack was palpable. I felt confident that any feelings Juliet had for Jack are gone. Not everyone agrees with me on this one. Juliet certainly put Jack in his place: “We didn’t need saving. You came back for you!” And Jack isn’t sure what he’s supposed to be doing, now that he’s back on the island.

Do the Right Thing

I must say that I could not have been more proud of Sawyer than I was in this episode. Throughout the episode, his whole goal was to help young Ben, despite his knowledge of what Ben would grow up into. Actually, what Ben would become didn’t even seem to enter into his thoughts. When Juliet told Sawyer that Ben needs a surgeon, Sawyer quickly tried to convince Jack to operate. When Juliet told Sawyer where Kate was taking Ben, Sawyer joined her, saying, “Damn it, Freckles, I ain’t here to stop you. I’m here to help you.” Kate was, I’m sure, thrilled to have his assistance, but probably not so happy to hear that Sawyer was doing this for Juliet, because Juliet thinks it is wrong to allow a child to die. I so heart Sawyer.

The Choice

Juliet realized she couldn’t save Ben, and after Jack refused, knew that only the Others could. Kate, in full Action Girl mode, took off with Ben in one of the VW vans to save the day. Sawyer helped turn the sonic fence off, and carried Ben into the jungle to meet the Others (I assumed at this time that the island was keeping Ben alive through that trip!). After the Others accused Sawyer and Kate of violating the treaty, Sawyer demanded to see Richard. And Richard’s words were quite ominous:

If I take him, he’s not ever going to be the same again. He’ll forget this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. Do you still want me to take him?

As the episode ended, what really struck me was that Jack, Sawyer, and Kate all made choices that led to Ben being Ben. Jack had a hand in refusing to operate on Ben, Sawyer and Kate in agreeing to Richard’s terms. The only other parties were Sayid (of course) and Juliet. But Jack might have been able to save Ben by operating, and Sawyer and Kate might have saved Ben’s soul by refusing to submit him to the Others’ care. Remember all the way back to the second season? When Michael was given a list of Oceanic 816 survivors to bring to the Others? Those on the list were Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley. But Hurley wasn’t their goal – he was sent back. They kept Jack, Kate and Sawyer.

I’m a little disappointed that Ben won’t remember “this”. We don’t know what he will forget – how he was injured? His childhood? We aren’t sure. I guess I was hoping that if Ben does survive, his actions in the past would take on a whole new meaning. Perhaps they still will. Ben will have to have some memory of his life, and he did keep the doll that Annie gave him.

Ending Notes

I’m sure I’m not the only person who caught the Other’s warning to Richard that Ellie and Charles wouldn’t like Richard’s actions. Ellie must be that young woman that held Daniel at gunpoint in Jughead. A lot of people are speculating that she is also Eloise Hawking, Daniel’s mother. Charles Widmore, of course, must be the current leader of the Others. Regardless, Richard doesn’t answer to either. But he still hesitated slightly in taking Ben to the Temple.

And that final scene was fabulous. When Ben awoke, I initially thought he might be suddenly remembering that forgotten time from his childhood, similar to how Desmond remembered his encounter with Daniel in Jughead. Maybe he did. But I didn’t catch who was at his bedside. A quite healthy looking John Locke, “Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Now they are both in the land of the living, after brushes with death. And next week focuses on Ben’s redemption, apparently, as the previews show Ben declaring, “I came back to this island to be judged.” We’ll see.

Favorite line: Roger about Sawyer, after Sawyer asked Roger for his keys, “Bastard doesn’t ask any questions he doesn’t know the answer to.” Sawyer must be a trial attorney!

I have some thoughts on the Temple that I will write on later. In the meantime, I’m hoping to hear what y’all thought about this episode. Do you like Kate better? Or do you still feel for Jack?

One of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days? This is one. I left my notes at work. I thought I could do my blog without them. I was wrong. It just ain't going to happen. But don't worry, I'll be on top of things tomorrow.

Sacrifice of the Little Prince?

Well, it's Lost-eve night and I know that y'all are as excited as I am to see what tomorrow night brings us. Before my thoughts are completely consumed by what the new episode brings, however, I wanted to discuss a theory that Nicole brought up in the comments last week.

"There's some major Christ symbolism going on:

• The island selects a "chosen one"


• The "chosen one" gets killed


• The island resurrects the "chosen one"


• The "chosen one" goes on the lead the island's people.

Ben was the chosen one, he just got killed and will now be resurrected to lead the others. Then, when it becomes Locke's time to lead, Ben realizes he has to kill Locke so Locke can fulfill that same destiny - if Locke would have killed himself then it would all be messed up. This might also be why Ben tried to kill Locke before - but it wasn't time yet. I bet Richard was at one time a leader too (got killed and resurrected years ago - which is why he doesn't age)."

This is an intriguing theory. I know that there is more to it than an attempt by Nicole to justify some of Ben's more abhorrent behaviors. I don't know that Ben's first attempt to kill Locke was really to help John on his chosen one journey so much as an attempt to keep Locke from supplanting Ben. Whether Ben's eventual killing of Locke had pure or mixed motives will be seen.

We've known for most of this season that Locke would die, which Christian/Jacob called a sacrifice. No one said how he had to die. Let's look back at the event. John, heartbroken from his failure to convince any of the Oceanic 6 to return to the island, takes steps to hang himself. Ben breaks into the room, and talks John out of suicide. After talking with Locke a little while, suddenly Ben chokes John to death. He then arranges the scene to look like the suicide John had planned. The only thing he missed was the suicide note.

If Nicole's theory is right, then Ben will die, only to be resurrected so he can lead.

Similarly, Jesus was the Son of God, you know, the "chosen one". He was killed as a sacrifice to save us from our sins. He was then resurrected, and continued to lead his people. Another tale of sacrifice was found in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, in which Aslan chose to be executed by the Witch to save his people, only to be resurrected later.

One difference between Lost and Jesus and Aslan is that Jesus and Aslan knew exactly what they were getting into. They made a choice to submit to death fully aware of the ramifications of their choices. Neither Locke nor Ben made a choice. Yes, Locke knew he had to die, and he made a conscious decision to die, but he changed his mind at Ben's urging. Ben never told Locke, "I'm sorry John, you have to die. And it can't be by your own hand." Nor did Sayid let Ben know his plan to save the future by killing the young Ben. Unlike Jesus and Aslan, there was no free will on the part of Ben and Locke. Instead, it's only the executioners who acted with free will.

Whatever the case may be, I suspect that we've not seen the end of Ben. After all, tomorrow night's episode is titled Whatever Happened, Happened.

Tikrit, Iraq

Perhaps we knew this already - I didn't. Sayid and his family are from Tikrit. Tikrit is also the home of Saddam Hussein. Many of Hussein's co-horts in the Baathist party were also from Tikrit.

Will this have any relevance? I don't know. Sayid's background has always seemed to be the most connected to actual events, including his involvement in the first Gulf War. I mean, they could have chosen any other Iraqi city. Is Sayid's family connected with Hussein's? Or was the choice just another parrallel, this time between the brutality of Saddam Hussein and Sayid.

Just something to ponder on a Monday night.

He's Our You - Part II

So, now that we’ve finished obsessing over the state of Sayid’s soul, I think it is time to focus on the rest of the episode that we saw Wednesday night. Ironically, until the final scene, the episode seemed to be a moderate effort. Not a bad episode, but not an on-the-edge of your seat episode either. Well, the first 55 minutes or so can apparently be very misleading.

Ben and Juliet

If Sawyer is aware that Ben is on the island, surely Juliet knows too. Presumably they’ve met. Assuming that Ben survives his gunshot wound or is resurrected, we must rethink Ben and Juliet’s relationship too. In The Other Woman, we see Ben tell Juliet that “your mine.” Harper, Goodwin’s cuckolded wife (can you be a cuckold and a wife?), remarked that Ben was smitten with Juliet because she looks “just like her.” I had assumed that “her” was perhaps Annie, but perhaps “her” is Juliet herself. Some people think that Juliet might be the woman in the painting above, which can be found in the Linus home. However, I don’t think so. It was first seen in the home shared by Roger and Ben before Juliet joined the Initiative. I think it more likely a picture of Ben’s mother, Emily.

Dharma Initiative

The introduction of Oldham and his odd methods and living habits along with Chang’s experiments furthers my curiosity as to what the Dharma Initiative really is. I just don’t buy that they are a hippie, peace- and yoga-loving group organized to research for the betterment of mankind. We know through various Dharma orientation videos that the Dharma Initiative was created in 1970 by Gerald and Karen de Groot, two doctoral students at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, anyone?). We also know that Danish industrialist Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation financially backed the Initiative until 1987. Allegedly, the Hanso Foundation stopped funding the Initiative alternatively because the Initiative “collapsed” or because of financial struggles. I am looking forward to learning more about this group of people.

Ilana

And now we know how Sayid ended up being on Ajira Airlines 316. She claims to have been hired by the Avellino family. Sayid suspected that she was in actuality hired by Ben, whom she denied knowing. Knowing that Peter Avellino may have been an associate of Charles Widmore’s, I think it is entirely possible that she was really hired by Widmore. Or Ben.

Jack

I guess I was wrong last week – Jack seems to be quite happy to let Sawyer lead. Is he on drugs? Does he need drugs?

Juliet

Juliet had quite a devastating line: “It’s over, isn’t it?” She has a far clearer-eyed view of what the return of the Oceanic 6 has than Sawyer does. Yes, Juliet, it probably is over, I’m sorry to say. The woman who had hoped to leave on the sub as quickly as possible has found herself enjoying domestic bliss. Although she was desparate to leave after her first three years on the island, she is genuinely sad to see her happiness end.

Kate

Not much of Kate in the episode. She somehow missed that Sawyer and Juliet were living together, and apparently knows nothing about cars. I must admit I was slightly frustrated that when Sawyer asked her why they came, instead of saying, “Locke and Jack thought you were in danger,” she starts into her own tale of woe, “Well I don’t know why they came.” However, she really came through in helping rescue people from the burning house.

MacCutcheon Scotch whisky

Don’t bother looking for this at your nearest package store; it only exists in Lost-verse. Widmore told Desmond that a swallow of this whisky is worth more than Desmond could ever make in a month. We even see that Widmore brings a bottle to bed with him at night. Anthony Cooper poured Locke a glass before pushing him out the window. And Charlie found a bottle in Sawyer’s stash, and used it to make Desmond drunk enough to share his secrets. Sawyer was very upset that it was gone.

Oldham

I really wanted to label this “Hey, where’s your brother Darryl and your other brother Darryl?” It’s just impossible not to love William Sanderson. He was quite scary in this role, but I was expecting more torture than truth-serum sugar cubes, especially since Sawyer sees Oldham as the Dharma Initiative’s Sayid. I absolutely enjoyed Sayid’s “moment of truth” under the serum. Everything Sayid said is true, but his listeners (save one) all thought he was babbling drug-induced fantasy. We also learned that Sawyer was right to adopt yet another name.

Peter Avellino

We have only seen Mr. Avellino once, when Sayid killed him after losing a bet on a golf course. Granted, Sayid killed the man not because of the lost bet, but because Ben told Sayid the man is associated with Charles Widmore. It is Avellino’s family that has allegedly hired Ilana to capture Sayid.

Radzinsky

Remains an annoying person. Perhaps it is Radzinsky’s bloodthirstiness ways that make me question the true goals of the Dharma Initiative.

Roger Linus

Roger appears to be one of those nasty drunks who thinks he’s better than anyone else, despite evidence to the contrary. Loved Sayid’s riposte. Seeing Roger shove Ben into the bars of Sayid’s cell just made me feel pity for Ben. I had hoped it would inspire pity in Sayid too. Guess not.

Sawyer

Other than Sayid, this episode was Sawyer’s. We learned that Sawyer truly has no idea for how to handle the Oceanic 6’s return other than to integrate them into the Dharma Initiative. It never seems to occur to him, until too late, that this might not be the desires of his friends. I’m not sure I can blame him, however. Is this the best life Sawyer’s ever had? After all, “These people trust me. I’ve built a life here.” Certainly, this is the most constructive and traditional life Sawyer’s ever had (though it is hard to see the Dharma Initiative as traditional). Sadly, as Juliet said, it’s all over, but Sawyer doesn’t get that. With Sayid, Sawyer clearly wants to do the right thing for his former adversary and ally, but not in a way that will risk his present station. Therefore, he tries first to get Sayid to lie when Sayid wants to run. When the Dharma leaders vote for Sayid to die (with Sawyer’s vote!), Sawyer tries to get Sayid to run, but Sayid wants to stay. Sawyer can’t see beyond his own situation. I said before that Sawyer is most likely not the Little Prince. This episode did nothing to convince me otherwise.

Sayid

Cool parallel of the night: Ben was a captive when Sayid met him; Sayid was a captive when Ben met him. Note to the producers and costume designers: I really prefer Sayid with a full beard. He looks funny without one. Please let him grow it back. And I’m also not fond of that shirt. I’m just saying.

I hope you enjoyed the photographs too. We must thank my husband, who fixed whatever was wrong with my internet connection that prevented me from attaching pictures. Let me know what you think, about the photos and the show!