Again, I apologize for how late this Lost recap is. I spent most of my weekend at the Carrier Dome -- first, sleeping in my tent to assure my place in line, and then watching my team implode down the stretch and throw the last remnants of their NCAA Tournament hopes out the window. I haven't been too quick to recover.
To borrow from another deliciously mind-blowing show: what a mindfrak that episode was. Connecting us back to last year's Desmond time-traveling episode, "Flashes Before Your Eyes," this episode wxplored some of the larger questions about the island. Is it some kind of wormhole? Why does time move differently on the island? Why do some people experience these side effects when traveling to and from the island?
We pick up with Desmond, Frank, and Sayid as they make their escape from the island via heliocopter. Des freaks out midway, as his consciousness is jumping back and forth through time, making pres

ent-day Des think it's 1996, and 1996-era Des believe that the present is a very vivid dream. This concept of consciousness time-traveling was explored by a young Oxfrd professor named Daniel Faraday, and present-day Faraday directs Desmond to seek out his past self in order to restore his mind completely to the present, or else he'll suffer a massive brain hemorrhage and die. Wow, this just sounds ridiculous when you actually type it out. I swear, it kind of made sense while I watched.
Suffice it to say, 1996 Desmond gets help from 1996 Faraday, but not before learning that being exposed to the electromagnetic radiation from the hatch implosion probably gave him his future-seeng powers. 1996 Faraday tells Des he needs to find a constant -- someone he can connect to in both 1996 and 2004. Naturally, he picks Penny. Trouble is, back in 1996, he has just broken up with Penny and she wants nothing to do with him. He has to beg her for her phone number, which his 2004 self remembers and dials from the freighter's phone. A touching phone conversation follows, (Finally, finally, finally!!) during which both Penny and Desmond express their love for one another and they promise to find each other again. I cried, of course.
We also get an answer (possibly?) to Daniel's memory problems from last week. He experienced some side effects as well, but he has written in his journal that Desmond is his constant. So maybe now, he'll remember everything? And, Ben's spy on the boat: totally Michael. How are they even going to make that a surprise? I mean, Harold Perrineau is back in the main credits.
The Wire, Season 5, Episode 9 "Late Editions"

Now, for the super-depressing part of the program. We've arrived at the penultimate episode of The Wire. The entire episode was a fitting microcosm for the entire series: good things happen, but then bad things happen that threaten to undo (and eventually will undo) all of the good things.
The police get on the resupply for Marlo's entire organization, and they move on it, arresting almost everyone, including Marlo, and grabbing 120 kilos of heroin. Michael and Snoop are the only characters we care about not included in the round-up.
Lester goes to Daniels to tell him the good news, but of course doesn't tell him the whole story. Daniels calls Rhonda and asks her, "Are you sitting down?" Her suspicious, "Why?" was a bright moment in the episode. Carcetti calls a press conference and puts the dope on the table, while Snoop, Michael, and some lackeys watch from Michael's house.
In jail, the Stanfield crew (Marlo, Monk, Chris, and Cheese) look for someone to blame, and they note that Michael is not sharing their cell. This is bad news for Michael, especially since they now the police had just recently brought him in for questioning. Chris vouches for his protege, but he's not willing to bet his life in jail on it. But it doesn't really matter for Chris, anyway. Bunk's DNA sample will keep him in jail whether or not everyone else stays.
Lester and McNulty have a scene on the traintracks. The scene is exceptional for two reasons: McNulty is too depressed about extracting himself from his serial killer that he doesn't take the booze Lester offers, and two, Lester mentions Shardene! I knew she was still around! Lester is drunk and happy and wants to go home to his woman.
Snoop tells Michael that someone needs killing, and advises him not to bring his gun, one will be provided for him on the way. Something about this makes Michael suspicious, so he watches Snoop and figures she's setting him up to get killed. So on their way to the job, Michael makes Snoop pull over, pulls out his gun, and after some small talk, ("You were always a smart kids," "You were never one of us," "How does my hair look?") Michael kills her. Whew! And...now I'm rooting for a character to kill others to preserve hs own life. Michael knows that killing Snoop just made him a wanted man, so he takes Bug out to the county to live with their aunt. There are a pair of heartrending good-byes, and while I'm glad Bug may have the chance to grow up away from the game, he doesn't have either of his big brothers to rely on. Michael distances himself from Dukie, and drops him off in an alley with the junkman, condemning him to a life of...what? Drugs? Stealing? He's the next Bubbles, isn't he? I just can't take that thought.
Marlo meets with Levy, and the latter wants to know who would have snitched -- because, see, Lester can't reveal that he had a wire, so they're going for the wire now and saying that they had a tip before, which they used to move on the Stanfield operation. Levy is a wee bit suspicious, so he sends Herc to do some digging. And Herc, who apparently can't get enough praise from either Levy or his former cop buddies, digs around a bit and reports back to Levy that there are rumors of a wire, but all of the money went to McNulty's serial killer. You can practically see the wheels turning in Levy's head. He knows something isn't right.
Meanwhile, Carcetti is flipping out because crime hasn't decreased, and his stupid chief-of-staff tells Daniels and Rawls to get creative with the stats, because he needs the drop now. Which, God. I want to like Carcetti, I really do. But he has passed the point of no return this year. Norman is too good for him.
At the paper, St. Gus is subtly checking into Templeton's stories. He finds that the story about the marine is BS, and so is the quote from Daniels in the original piece about his promotion.
Finally, Kima can't take McNulty's bullshit anymore, so she pays a visit to Daniels to tell him the truth. He, in turn, tells Rhonda, and with one quick trip to evidence control (Hello, Det. Polk!), they realize McNulty is full o'crap. The stage is set for everything to collapse. Guess we'll find out if it does in a week.
Quick Hits:
Michael K. Williams' name is still in the opening credits. Tear.
The legend of Omar keeps growing, even in death. Michael and Spider were discussing how it was three machine-gun wielding killers that finally took him down, not tiny Kenard.
Namond made it out OK, all the way to the debate team. At least we got to see Bunny again.
We get a call-back to "evacuated," when McNulty examines a dead homeless guy and lectures Christensen on the meaning of the word.
Fletch is still hanging with Bubbles, who has been sober a year now, and who finally opens up about Sherrod's death.
Lester turns Clay Davis and find out that it was Levy who has been leaking stuff from the district attorney's office to his drug-dealer clients. Maybe, just maybe, Lester can hold this over Levy's head long enough to keep him from squealing about the illegal wiretap. It's probably too much to hope for, but it's there.
Here we are: one week away from the ending. I wouldn't even know where to begin any speculation, so I won't start. There will be plenty of time for predictions in the week to come. Look for some special finale-week coverage on the blog. As for the actual finale, it's not being offered OnDemand, and on Sunday, neither Allie nor myself will be able to watch the show. (She'll be out of the country, and I'll be in a rented house without HBO for spring break). Needless to say, this is causing great amounts of stress here at TCB HQ. We may be bringing in a guest blogger, and probably resorting to any means necessary to watch the finale ASAP. Stay tuned.
Desmond photo from Entertainment Weekly
Michael photo from HBO