'Survivor 14: Fiji' - East Coast Update - 2/22/07 - Reward

Moto won reward - chose fishing gear (three choices). They sent Sylvia to Exile Island. She will return before Tribal Council and is not immune.

'American Idol 6' - Voted Out - East Coast Update - 2/22/07

Return to this post for more results as they happen on the east coast.

Paul Kim first voted off.
Amy Krebs second voted out.
Nicole Tranquillo is out.

Final update at this entry.

'Lost' - "Stranger in a Strange Land"

Well, I think I enjoyed the novel of the same name a bit better. ABC hyped and hyped this episode claiming we would have the answers to three of the mysteries. Hmmm... yes, they answered the meaning of Jack's tattoo, but then brought up the possibility of another meaning.

As for the other two mysteries, I think things are a bit murky. I believe the questions where exactly do the Others really live and why do they abduct the children. Or, maybe one mystery was why Jack saved Ben. If you think anything else was remotely addressed, let me know. I may be missing something.

This episode was Jack-centric and I'm beginning to think I prefer when they focus on Locke, Sayid, Charlie, and the others who weren't captured by the Others. I like smoke monsters and giant polar bears. I'm kind of tired on the ongoing love-triangle drama between Kate, Sawyer, and Jack.

In Flashbacks
The flashback segments brought us back to when Jack was living the easy life in Phuket, Thailand. He met a young woman named Achara while helping a young boy with a kite (which Jack himself had no clue how to fly). They struck it off well together, shared a bed, shared dinners at her brother's restaurant and were having a great ol' time of life.

When he mentioned his father, she told him she didn't want to hear about him. "You are here to find yourself." And, then she told him that she had "a gift." No, not the kind of gift you give someone, more like a special power sort of thing.

Jack was intrigued by Achara's mystery and followed her to find her going into what I thought was a brothel. Hey, she was dressed hooker-ish, high-class hooker, but hooker indeed. I was wrong, though. It was a tattoo parlor of sorts. She told him that she "can see who people are" and make special tattoos for them. She refused to tell Jack "who he is," but said he was a leader and a great man who gets very angry. She reluctantly put his tattoo on him, but warned him there would be consequences.

Jack returned to the beach where he frightened the child he had helped earlier. Achara's brother and a group of men came along, looked at the tattoo and stomped Jack senseless telling him to leave the beach, leave the country.

On The Island - Kate, Sawyer, and Karl
Sawyer, Kate, and Karl were still where we last left them -- rowing to their island. Kate wanted to go back for Jack, but Sawyer nixed the Freckles... and blah, blah. Karl came to for a moment to tell them that "God loves you as he loved Jacob."

Sawyer and company land on the island to make camp overnight. Sawyer and Kate kept arguing, Karl spoke again. "You shouldn't fight. You're lucky to be alive."

They asked Karl about the Others. He told them that the Others didn't live on "that" island, they lived on this one (where 815 crashed). That island was only used for projects. When asked why they abducted the children, he told them it was to give them a better life. When pressed "a better life than whose," he told them, "A better life than yours." We found out he has no clue who the Brady Bunch were, but he did have a backyard when growing up.

Karl is bereft without his beloved Alex. Sawyer, kind soul that he is, told him to "Cowboy up!" When Sawyer told him if he loved her that much, he should go back to get her, Karl told him that if he did, he'd be killed this time.

That got Sawyer thinking about his own situation with Kate (and Sawyer). He told her she only was with him the one time because she thought he was a dead man. The main island scenes ended with Karl star-gazing and a shot of Alex doing the same -- something they used to do together.

The Other Island - Jack, Ben, and More
Jack was being moved from the dry dolphin tank area to the cages so that the Others could put Juliet in the tank. No, they're not happy that she shot the one who tried to kill Sawyer and Kate. She's a prisoner and they (Jack and Juliet) cross paths in handcuffs to their destinations.

There's a new sheriff in town and her name is Isabel. Jack later found out that Ben, if he could be, is still the leader and Isabel is just his top gun... or something to that effect.

Juliet, accompanied by guards, asked Jack if he would help Ben. Despite her own predicament, she had been asked to check his failing condition. His sutures show signs of infection and it could be life-threatening. Jack pressured her to tell him why she's in trouble and she told him she just killed someone. She asked that he attend to Ben as a personal favor. Jack doesn't want to help either Ben or Juliet, no way, no how.

Isabel stopped by his cage and started to speak Chinese. She mentioned his tattoo. Jack said that he had been lying when he told Tom that Juliet asked him to kill Ben. When asked why he was lying for Juliet, he said he wasn't. He was lying so his friend could escape.

Jack was put back in the polar bear cage and we endured a flashback incident in Thailand. Upon returning our view to the cage, it was almost like the cage was in an actual zoo with folks milling about looking at the animals (Jack).

Jack recognized some of the Taillies -- folks from the tail section of the plane who were abducted as they were being led by Ana Lucia. One of them, Cindy, spoke with him. She told Jack they were watchers, just there to watch. Um, okay. They didn't know that Ana Lucia had died. He tried pressing for more information, but she was frightened and left. One of the abducted children, Zach, turned to look at Jack while clutching his teddy bear. He looked very eerie, for the lack of a better word.
After the watchers scattered, Alex came along and broke the surveillance camera to the cage. She demanded to know why Jack saved Ben. He told her that he would answer her questions when she answered his about Juliet -- where was she, what was happening. Alex told him she had killed "one of us." The penalty would be death, an eye for an eye and all that. Jack then told her that he saved Ben because he said he would. He demanded she get him out of the cage.

He went to Ben and attended his infection on the basis of Ben saving Juliet. Ben gave a note to the trial folks and Isabel despite telling Jack that Juliet doesn't care anything about him because "she's one of us."

Jack was told by Alex that Juliet's life would be spared, but she would be a "marked woman." They branded her back with a mark sort of like this -- >|<. Juliet brought him a sandwich and told them that everyone (including him) had to head back to the other island. Isabel later came along and told him that his tattoo means "He walks amongst us, but he's not one of us." Jack denied that meaning and I have to say that something stronger had to set off Achara's brother for the beating and exile. The Others and Jack rowed out to a large ship and [Lost clunk]...

All in all, I preferred last week's episode. How about you?

Tonight's Blogging Schedule - Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007

A review/recap of last night's Lost is currently in progress and should be posted within an hour or so after the time this entry. So, if you're a Lost fan, please check back! I'd love to read your thoughts about the episode.

At 8 PM ET/PT American Idol is scheduled and tonight two guys and two girls will be voted off. I will post an East Coast Update with the names of those voted off by 9 PM ET for those from other time zones who have to know and also for any discussion. I don't plan on recap/reviewing the Thursday show in its entirety but you can check here to see who goes home.

Also at 8 PM ET/PT, Survivor 14: Fiji starts. I'll post important happenings (Reward, Immunity, cast off) as they happen in East Coast time. A full review/recap will be posted late this evening.

If you're a Grey's Anatomy fan, remember there's a group of blog readers regularly discussing the show at the Grey's Anatomy Discussion entry. They'd love to have new folks join in on the conversation!

Surviving Idols ready?

[And, hi to Mark.]

'American Idol 6' - Top 12 Girls - Part 2

I covered the first six girls performing in Part 1. So, if you haven't read that one, please do! And, of course, if you hit the American Idol 6 label at the bottom of any American Idol 6 entry on this blog, it will bring up all the show's entries. You can also use the show title in the Categories section on the sidebar of the main blog page for the same result.

Onto the last (but far from least) girls performing tonight...

Nicole Tranquillo was next up on the stage singing "Stay" by Chaka Khan. (Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan... oh, I'm sorry. I can't say Chaka Khan without doing that.) Oh, my. I'm not sure what to say about the performance. I didn't care for it. Maybe I'll just keep saying, "Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan."

Randy was a firm no. Paula said it was good. My eyes went rolling with that! Simon called it indulgent, fake, and over-rehearsed. Bingo, Simon.

Then it was Haley Scarnato singing Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." Um. Okay. I found it boring, but that song is a bit draggy anyway. It wasn't as bad as Sundance's song last night, but close.

The second Randy sighed, I knew I was right. He said it was "just okay." Simon said she sounded like she was a 40-year-old. Hey! Is there something wrong with being 40? Oh, wait... she's about half that age. I think she might be gone soon, maybe tomorrow.

Doolittle is a misnomer. This girl can do a lot. Melinda Doolittle has been one of my favorites since her first audition and she's getting better each time I see her. She's growing her confidence, yet retaining a humble presence. She belted out Aretha's "Since You've Been Gone" in a style which had to make Aretha proud.

WOW! Now, this is the best performance of the night... so far. The judges were as ecstatic as I was. Randy yo-yo'd and said she "blew it out of the box." Paula didn't say she was pretty, but called her a "firecracker" and a "front-runner." Simon said she's an "incredible singer and a fantastic person." Yay, I say.
Alaina Alexander followed a tough act. And, she didn't make the grade as far as I'm concerned. She sang The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket." While I like the song, her version did nothing for me. It wasn't horrible, no. But it didn't excite me.

Randy sighed and said it wasn't great. Paula said she didn't make it her own. Simon quoted some lyrics from the song -- "I'm special" -- and then claimed she wasn't.

Then we had to endure another Simon/Ryan spat. I don't know what's with them this year, but I find it annoying. Just give the boys boxing gloves and let them duke it out or something. Simon thinks Ryan is biased in favor of Alaina and Ryan thought he's overly harsh to her. Give me a break, guys.

Gina Glocksen, who's never been one of my favorites, sang next. She performed Celine Dion's "All By Myself." It's a hard song and historically hasn't gone over too well with contestants on the show. I didn't care for it.

Paula and Randy both thought it was good. Simon didn't think she hit the "big note" and Gina took issue with that. She kind of sort of hit it, but the whole song seemed a bit off to me. I thought she was too "throaty" at times during the song.

And then all heck broke loose with Lakisha Jones' performance. I have to claim bias -- she and Melinda Doolittle have been my favorites all along. But, wow, Lakisha rocked the house with a song perfect for the occasion in oh-so-many ways. The song was "And I Tell You I'm Not Going" (how perfect is that?) and it's from Dreamgirls with Jennifer Hudson. Her performance was the epitome of the term "owning the song." Tremendous! Yay, Lakisha!

The judges were as awed as I was to the point of Simon predicting a win which garnered him glares from the other judges. I know that's been a controversy during past seasons -- Simon declaring a winner. He said she and a few others were in a different league.

They sure are.