"New Man In Charge"

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

FOCUS: BEN, HURLEY
EPISODE: 6.18?
AIRED: N/A

12 minutes to explain a few of the show's plot holes in a non-amusing, annoying, largely sloppy (why would Chang explain polar bears and room 23 in the same video?) way? Fuck you, "New Man In Charge". What a total waste of time. Worse, it even has its OWN new, never-to-be-answered questions? What the hell do they want Walt for, exactly? Who is watching the island while both Ben and Hurley are dicking around in Santa Rosa? And what did they do with Desmond, which I seem to recall hearing was the point of the thing in the first place? Yeah, thanks for letting us know why Chang had a different name, though. Pointless fan-wank.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Everybody Loves Hugo"

JANUARY 30, 2011

FOCUS: HURLEY
EPISODE: 6.12
AIRED: APRIL 13, 2010

One of the final (maybe even THE) final traditional “centric” episodes of Lost, “Everybody Loves Hugo” is also one of the more depressing ones to re-watch once you know (spoiler – I forget if I need to point that out) that none of the flash sideways stuff ever actually happened. The opening scene depicts Hugo Reyes as an extraordinarily generous man, opening schools and hospitals and related facilities and generally being an enormous benefit to society and possibly the world. And none of it’s true. Hugo’s just a rich dude who likes chicken.

But he’s also (again, spoiler) the future protector of the island, and again we see him really stepping up in this episode, dictating their next moves and even getting Jack to open up about his failures as a leader. I mentioned before that the first time Hurley got involved with this sort of stuff it felt awkward, and it still kind of does – he spent so much of the series just being a comic relief sort of “B” character, it’s a bit odd to see him barking orders and such. Some have suggested that by making Hurley the protector, it was the writers’ way of saying that the show now completely belongs to us (as Hurley was often our voicebox, saying aloud the things that the writers got in fan feedback), and perhaps that’s true, but if it was part of their plan all along I think they were afraid of tipping their hat too early or something, because his stepped up role really does come abruptly.

Luckily, it’s Hurley, who everyone loves, and thus it’s OK. If Claire had suddenly become the leader, it would be atrocious – she’s a dull, largely pointless character. But Hurley? We can get behind that. His goodwill even extends to those he has to share scenes with; if anyone else had delivered the “I feel like we’re on the date we never had” line besides Libby, I think folks would be throwing their remotes through their TV screens. But you feel for the big lug, and so it’s easier to let such glaringly on-the-nose writing pass. To be fair, there are some good lines in this one – I particularly like “How do you break the ice with a smoke monster?”, as well as his description of the way ghosts communicate with him (“the people who come back and yell at me after they die”).

One thing I noticed – Flash Sideways Hurley doesn’t seem to care about the numbers as much. Not only did he never mention the “coincidence” of it being flight 815, or baggage carousel 4, or Desmond’s chicken number being 42, these things didn’t even seem to register on him. I guess he was just as sick of them forcing them down our throats all the time too.

And I like that this episode opens up the idea of Desmond being some sort of puppet master for them to all get back together. He goes into a greasy chicken place while dressed in a nice suit just to convince Hurley to find Libby, and then he apparently follows them to make sure their date occurs. And from there he drives to a school and runs over Locke (AWESOME scene by the way), because he knows somehow that it will bring him together with Jack. Good way to make up for basically leaving the guy out of the show for the past season and a half.

I had forgotten about Ilana’s Arzt-like death in this one. Again I’m not sure if this was an actor availability thing or what, because two episodes prior they had introduced the idea that she was badly injured at some point – why bother working that in if they planned to kill her off two episodes later? But it’s a good shock death all the same, raising the stakes a little and evening the sides out a bit (Ilana was pretty much the only badass on Team Jacob; Team MIB boasts Sayid, Sawyer, (possibly) Kate, axe-wielding Claire, and the goddamn smoke monster). Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it – Zuleikha Robinson is quite lovely to look at, particularly her stunning eyes. Someone get her on another show.

Five episodes to go! So many deaths and afterlife reunions that would have made me cry the first time around if I knew what the hell was going on...

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Lie"

JANUARY 4, 2011

FOCUS: HURLEY
EPISODE: 5.2
AIRED: JANUARY 21, 2009

I don’t recall this, but I guess “The Lie” aired on the same night as “Because You Left”, which is a good thing since it’s a vast improvement over that mess, so by airing right after it was probably a lot easier to get people to stick around, whereas a week of the bad taste of “Because” would have probably sunk the show’s ratings even more than they already were (indeed, S5’s ratings declined steadily; these were the highest rated episodes of the season).

Most of that can be attributed to two things: a clearer focus and a return to following a central character, in this case Hurley (I now realize that by giving him the first “centric” episodes of both S4 and S5, they may have known his ultimate fate this far in advance after all, as it primed him as a more important character than the first couple seasons had suggested). It’s not a traditional flashback episode or anything, but he is the guy we spend nearly all off-island scenes with, as he tries to get help for Sayid and escape the cops (or ghosts of cops – thanks for bringing back Ana Lucia, guys, we really missed her).

(That was sarcasm.)

It’s also a damned hilarious episode. Hurley’s reaction to Ben with his Hot Pocket is one of the funniest gags in the show’s history (and Michael Emerson’s reaction isn’t too far behind on that list), and I loved his choice of shirt to replace the one with “blood” all over it. And even though it approaches meta/winking/“you can’t mock us if we mock ourselves first” areas that I don’t care for, Hurley’s description of the main plot of the show thus far is pretty funny. And I love that his mom doesn’t say “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard” or something; by believing him, it sort of validated the nonsense for me. Even though it was indeed pretty silly, her having that reaction made me remember that I loved these characters, and even though the story was going into places I didn’t care for (i.e. time travel), I knew I’d stick around to see how they all fared.

Speaking of Hurley’s parents, I love that Cheech (I forget his character name) stood up to Jack in order to protect Hurley. Like all Lost dads, he’s been depicted as kind of shitty thus far, so it’s nice to see ANY of them do something parental for once, let alone a beloved actor who has been largely characterized as kind of a dumbass until this point. It also lets him join the club with the other dads who got to be part of the main story, like Christian and Cooper (and to some extent Mr. Paik).

It’s also a less “busy” episode – Locke doesn’t even appear until the very end, and the writers hilariously pull another massacre off by killing pretty much every background survivor that was left. I laugh at it, but in a way it’s kind of sad – Jack went from a guy who was trying to save 47 other people to a guy who only sort of saved about a half dozen or so. Sounds like a pisspoor captain. It’s worth it to see Frogurt get killed though; he only appeared in two episodes but man that guy was annoying.

My only complaint with the episode is the stuff with Ben, which opens up the story even MORE. See, if you look at the show as one long story, then we’re essentially in the third act (not even at the beginning of it if you go by episode count instead of by seasons) – do we really need to introduce more characters and business at this point? I guess the writers agreed, at least later – we never know what he was putting in his bag, or who “Gabriel” was. I don’t even recall if they ever explained why he was seemingly partnered with a female butcher in Los Angeles.

On the other hand, I am sort of tickled by the fact that Ben and Jack are now calling each other like old pals, due to my endless love of the uneasy truce. When Lost was originally airing, my 2nd favorite show was Prison Break, which was constantly having old enemies team up against common enemies, and I love movies like Assault on Precinct 13 or The Killer that depict this sort of stuff. But again, it just raises the question – why couldn’t Ben have just been friendly toward them in the first place? 90% of the bad things that happened in the first two and a half seasons were the result of the Others being antagonistic toward the Oceanic folk – if they weren’t trying to actually kill them, why not bring some pineapples to the beach camp and invite them over to New Otherton for roast boar? So I take it back, they didn’t plan shit.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Beginning Of The End"

DECEMBER 16, 2010

FOCUS: HURLEY
EPISODE: 4.1
AIRED: JANUARY 31, 2008

Right off the bat, I sensed something was amiss with Season 4 of Lost, when I realized that “The Beginning Of The End” was a Hurley episode and not a Jack-centric one, despite being a season premiere. Jack had been at the center of the two previous season premieres, and was one of the ones to get a flashback in the pilot – he’s our premiere guy, dammit! It might even have been helpful to use Matthew Fox’s weight loss (he slimmed down for a horrible, horrible movie in between seasons) in a flashback, since it’s kind of jarring to see him looking so different in an episode that takes place directly after the S3 finale.

Now, 4 as a whole isn’t too bad, and contains one of the all time best episodes, but it also set in motion a lot of things that would cripple the show for me, including the dividing (pretty much for good) of the two camps. Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, and Claire (plus some other survivors no one cares about) would head off to the barracks, six of the others would become the “Oceanic Six”, and the rest would pretty much just wander around on the island, dying or doing whatever the plot required them to. I understand the need to split folks apart, but it should be a temporary thing. Hell, I’m not sure if Desmond ever even sees some of these folks again after this one (since he was sidelined during most of S5 and 6).

But let’s not get too far ahead of myself. I liked the bulk of this episode, particularly the few emotional scenes involving their reaction to Charlie’s death. I tear up every time when Desmond tells Hurley, and everyone sort of stops in their place as they realize how caught up they were with the “story” that they didn’t even notice. I also love Sawyer’s attempts to be a shoulder for Hurley to cry on; it’s probably one of his most humane moments ever (at least, that didn’t involve someone he enjoyed sleeping with; then again, they WERE roommates despite having a whole empty city to themselves...).

I also liked some of the things they set up, such as Abbadon and the idea of the Oceanic Six. With the flashforward structure essentially spoiling the fact that some folks did escape the island, it was a terrific way to keep the suspense afloat – who made up the six? We know three of them now, but who are the other three? Why just them? Why do they have to go back? Etc. It particularly tickled me, because I was always one of those cynics saying that their various attempts at rescue (the raft, a message in a bird’s foot, etc) would never work because then there wouldn’t be a show – it was nice to be proven wrong in a way I never considered. Granted, it didn’t exactly turn out for the best in my opinion, but I still applaud the concept.

The magic cabin shit just annoys me even more now than it did when it first aired. Why does it move? Who is in it? I guess we can sort of figure out why Hurley seems to be able to see it, but there’s a lot of baffling nonsense surrounding it that was never explained, nor was it even particularly interesting – it’s just the sort of thing that kept driving folks away (according to Lostpedia, this was the highest rated episode of the final three seasons – even the big finale didn’t draw as many people back). And while it was a nice surprise that Hurley was the one to watch over the island, I preferred Hurley as the guy who was just there offering moral support and levity to the situations at hand, not as a major player. If HE starts getting mixed up with all this hooey, is there ever going to be another fun moment again on the show? He can’t very well be making golf courses and such if he has to go on a trek to find Jacob and blah blah blah...

One final criticism about this episode/season – spoiling the identity of the “man on the boat” for the entire season by re-adding Harold Perrineau into the cast list. It’s bad enough when they spoil a surprise appearance by John Terry or whoever, but why add a recognizable name back 7-8 episodes before he even appears? Sure, it wasn’t exactly the biggest mystery in the world (once it became clear that it WAS a mystery, who else could it be? No one else had left without dying), but it was still rather stupid to not even allow us to theorize.

Oh well, again, this is to be discussed later. This particular episode is pretty good.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Trisha Tanaka Is Dead"

NOVEMBER 27, 2010

FOCUS: HURLEY
EPISODE: 3.10
AIRED: FEBRUARY 28, 2007

Unlike in Season 2, when the worst episode was followed by one that wasn't really that much better, Lost rebounded quite awesomely from "Stranger In A Strange Land" with "Trisha Tanaka Is Dead", a crowd-pleasing yarn that actually tosses in a lot of hints about future revelations while basically making the audience happy and forgetting all about Jack's goddamn tattoos.

In fact, Jack's not even in the episode at all. In fact he's the only one of the original Islanders that doesn't appear; everyone else appears and has dialogue and everything (though Claire only 'talks' in the background while music plays), for I think the first time all season. And he's mentioned, as Kate makes her "I OWE him that!" speech that will be replayed in the "previously" montage at the beginning of seemingly every single episode for the rest of the season, then goes off to get help in finding him, tailed by Locke and Sayid.

Her target, naturally, is Rousseau, whose daughter was the one that helped Kate get away in the first place. Not that it was the biggest surprise, but anyone who read the credits would have known that Mira Furlan was going to appear, and since it wasn't until the last 30 seconds of the episode that she did, I consider the credits sort of a "spoiler". And it wouldn't be the first time; several 'surprise' appearances would be ruined in the opening moments of the show. It's something that annoyed me for a long time until I finally learned not to read them (it's something I can't help - partially because doing credits is my job), but I wish they could have just used better judgment in doing their opening titles and saved 'surprise' actors for the end credits, like a lot of other shows do.

Side note about this subplot - Sayid's explanation of how they got a compass bearing is so damn funny. The look on Naveed Andrews' face is hilarious. He's pretty much the most "serious" character on the show, so the rare moments where he's actually smiling (almost laughing) are a delight.

Anyway, the main focus of the episode, and thus what makes it so good, details Hurley's discovery of a Dharma van and his attempts to get it running. Not only does he team up with the three folks he has the best chemistry with (Jin, Charlie, and Sawyer), but he actually does something for the good of everyone (and it would have a great payoff in the season finale). Like he says, the survivors could use both some hope and fun, and it seems the golf course is closed. It might even be one of the last "fun" A-plots left in the show - as the mythology got more complex and the danger levels got higher, there simply wasn't an opportunity for the writers to devote an entire episode to a few of our guys trying to fix a van so they could drive around.

Plus it's literally packed with funny character moments - Sawyer teaching Jin the most important things he needs to tell a woman, Hurley not knowing what a "work man" is, Roger's poor head, etc. Even the potentially angry moments are dismissed quickly; Sawyer comes looking for Hurley to confront him about his missing stash, and it quickly turns into a rather touching reunion, complete with a man-hug and Sawyer's oddly affectionate nickname of "Snuffy". Speaking of the nicknames, possibly the funniest moment in the episode is Hurley's terrible attempt at one ("Red...neck... Man!") and Sawyer's hilariously impressed reaction.

And I don't care, I cry happy tears at the end when they get the thing started and just start driving around in circles. Everyone's laughing and happy for once (plus Vincent's there!), Giacchino's score is wonderful... it's just an awesome moment. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I never cared as much about the Others and mythology stuff as I did seeing these people grow and form bonds (probably why the actual ending didn't piss me off as much as a lot of other folks), and when you consider the point of "Lost Heaven", it's moments like this that sort of justify it. And even though it's slightly marred by Sawyer's sadness about Kate, the montage at the end, with Jin giving Sun a flower (by the way - what the hell does Sun use in her hair? Look how long it's gotten since last season!) and Charlie regaling Claire with the story of their adventure, is a pretty sweet epilogue to the proceedings. It's one of the "warmest" episodes ever.

Hurley's flashback is also pretty fun, since it has some stuff about his curse but for the most part just tells a nice story about him and his dad (welcome to the "daddy issues" club, Hugo!). I kind of like that we actually got a "reveal" about how he got so husky (again though - they answer THIS?), and the stuff with his mom's "needs" is pretty hilarious. But it also adds dimension to his character - he's still the comic relief, but he's got a lot of baggage too - you really feel for the guy, which isn't something you can say about most comic relief types on big ensemble shows. I don't know if Jorge Garcia has much of an acting range (I've never seen him in anything else), but he definitely gives one of the most underrated performances on the show. His opening bit, talking to Libby, is pretty sad stuff, and Garcia nails it.

Only thing I don't like is the title event. I know he's cursed and all, but a meteor just seems too far-fetched, even for this show. They also throw in some dialogue about entering the building before the ribbon was cut, which doesn't jive with the curse idea anyway. And why did he agree to do the show anyway, when he clearly wasn't interested in it? A more "normal" disaster would have been a much better kickoff, I think.

If memory serves, tomorrow's episode has some fun stuff too (I think it's the ping pong one?), which makes me wonder if they KNEW "Stranger" was a dud even in the writing stage and were like "OK guys, we're going to need to earn a lot of goodwill back after this thing! Bring the fun and funny!"

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Dave"

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

FOCUS: HURLEY
EPISODE: 2.18
AIRED: APRIL 5, 2006

Holy shit! Libby was in the institution with Hurley! Surely it will be one of the coolest episodes when we discover - what's that? She dies two episodes later and they never really explain this throwaway detail? Oh. Well, otherwise, "Dave" is a pretty good episode; it doesn't keep up the "revealing" pace of the previous episode, but has some of that (Ben's reveal that "the guy in the beard" isn't in charge, for example) and a good character story to boot.

Plus it has a good twist. Since we've grown accustomed to seeing people on the island that aren't really there (Christian, Walt) it's entirely plausible that Hurley would be seeing his old pal Dave there as well, especially since he's obviously the craziest person on the island in a clinical sense. But the fact that Dave was never there PERIOD was a pretty good "Whoa" moment, especially when they actually get around the whole "if you paid attention you'd realize they never talk to anyone else" problem by having Hurley's doctor (Bruce Davison!) "talk" to him in order to prove his point later. Nice move.

And who didn't cheer when Hurley went apeshit and tackled Sawyer, repeating all of his unflattering nicknames as he smacked him around (with Sawyer seemingly never getting in a punch of his own). Not only is it a great moment for anyone who was ever picked on, but it's just a hilarious scene all around. I particularly love Jin just standing there laughing and letting Hurley have his way, before almost begrudgingly pulling him off (seemingly just to appease Sun, who wasn't as amused for some reason). Again, any combination of Sawyer, Charlie, Jin, and Hurley is automatically gold, and the more the merrier (which is why the one where the four of them find the van is probably one of my 5 favorite episodes).

I also like that they were potentially explaining the entire show, or merely canceling out a popular theory, depending on how you look at it. Dave's explanation that it's all in Hurley's head totally makes sense (it also fully introduces the show's tendency to make fun of itself), and you can't help but wonder if that was always a "back of the mind" idea to use if the show suddenly lost popularity and had to be canceled abruptly.

One nitpick - Hurley wasting a ton of food doesn't make a lot of sense. I get that it was slightly cathartic for him, but wouldn't it make more sense AND help him psychologically to give it to the others? Ranch dressing is one thing, but throwing away a lot of crackers and other basic foods when you're stranded on an island with no rescue in sight doesn't seem right. Dick move, Hurley.

Back to the Libby thing, they had to have known by now that she was on her way out, so why did they throw this detail in? Obviously it couldn't really be explained in another Hurley-centric episode, or else he would have recognized her. I guess it worked as a nice sleight of hand maneuver to help shock us with her death later, but it's still a real sore spot for me. Apparently on one of their podcasts Darlton explained that her husband had died and she had a nervous breakdown, which is why she was there (or maybe this was explained when she met Desmond, I forget), but they made such a big deal out of it (note it's one of very few episodes to end on a flashback) that it seemed like there would be more to it than that.

Libby wouldn't be the only go-nowhere plot element in this episode: we also get more of the church that Eko and Charlie were building. As I re-watch these, I realize that the tailies ultimately served no purpose beyond helping Bernard and Rose reunite, since he's the only one that was still alive by the halfway point of Season 3. Guess Sam Anderson is a good driver.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Everybody Hates Hugo"

OCTOBER 28, 2010

FOCUS: HURLEY
EPISODE: 2.4
AIRED: OCTOBER 12, 2005

Now this is how you do a "telling us stuff we already know" flashback. When "Numbers" showed us that Hurley won the lottery, they didn't show that he sat on the ticket for a few days, not telling anyone and seemingly trying to avoid actually cashing in the dough (a far cry from me - if I hit 2 bucks on a scratch ticket I practically run back into the store), which is what we see in "Everybody Hates Hugo". Yes, we know that he will collect his earnings, but the episode shows us that Hurley, above all else, wants things to stay the same and doesn't want people to resent or use him, which is something we DIDN'T pick up on from the other episode.

It's also the first (I think?) instance of a flashback being cut rapidly back in forth with the island stuff. As Hurley breaks down to Rose, explaining how everything is going to change and he will be hated, we cut a few times back to the night his "secret" was revealed, with his friend looking betrayed and Hurley practically crying as the reporters swarm around him. Obviously, the flashback structure would be modified and experimented with a lot over the show's run, and this was sort of the baby steps of that process (in a couple weeks, we'd get an episode that was basically one long flashback, and later in the season, we'd get flashbacks to stuff that occurred a few days before on the island out of sight of our heroes).

You notice I mentioned Rose - she returns here! It's her first appearance since she helped snap Charlie out of his shell about halfway through season one, and her role here is very similar, being all calm and level-headed while helping one of our heroes get through a sticky spot in their journey. But it's no mere coincidence, she had to come back this week in order for the closing scenes of the show to work, when we learn that her husband, Bernard, is indeed still alive despite everyone besides her assuming he was dead. It's a real "happy" tear-jerker of a scene (and not the only one in the episode either - the peanut butter kills me), topped only by their actual reunion a few episodes later. It's a testament to how good the writing is (was) on this show, and how good the actors were, that a supporting character who we've never seen can hear good news about a character we've barely seen, and still make us feel something.

Speaking of which, it's the rare episode with a happy ending. Usually the ones that seem to be happy end on a down note (Hurley's batteries dying, for example), but this one's all uplifting. Bernard's moment, Hurley delivering food (and everyone eating happily, forgetting their situation for a bit)... even Sun burying the bottle of messages is sort of an "up" moment - she's essentially protecting the optimism of everyone else. And setting the stage for next week's/tomorrow's subplot about her losing the ring, something that touched a nerve for me (I'll explain in that review!).

This episode helps further our hatred of Ana Lucia as well. While Libby is warm and even Mr. Eko is rather friendly toward them, she's still throwing rocks at Sawyer's head, smacking him around, yelling... she truly is one of the most hateful people ever on this show. Even Widmore had some mild sympathetic nature about him. If not for the fact that she killed one of the show's other annoyances, I'm not sure if she ever would have displayed a single sympathetic trait on the island (her flashback is tragic, yes, but again, she was totally friendly and charming at the airport bar, so she obviously got over that).

Also, the scene where Jin speaks English creeps me out. Definitely one of the odder moments on the show, especially in this early stage.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Numbers"

OCTOBER 8, 2010

FOCUS: HURLEY (!)
EPISODE: 1.18
AIRED: MARCH 2, 2005

Finally, a Hurley episode! “...In Translation” gave us a pretty tantalizing clue about his past (since I assume most, if not all, folks figured his $83,000 debt with Walt wasn’t something he could actually cover), but “Numbers” explains it right off the bat – Hurley is a multi-millionaire, thanks to some peculiar numbers coming up in the lottery. So we also finally get confirmation that all of the 4s and 15s and 23s on the show so far weren’t just lazy number-writing. This shit MEANS something!

Seriously, if anyone who ever watched Lost disliked Hurley, they are the worst person in the world. Jack’s expression when he hands him the battery at the end of the episode just sums it up so perfectly – the guy is just an endless source of surprise and joy. Sometimes they would use him in a bit too meta of a way, but for the most part he was just delightfully laid back and awesome, and I wish he had gotten more centric episodes over the course of the show. I also got to thinking – since Hurley was sort of our “voice” on the show (he’d often repeat things that were brought up on message boards and such), was it intentional that he (us) would be the one to guard the island after everyone left? Like, the show is gone but it lives on through us, or something like that?

(There’s probably about 900 pages worth of discussion on this on one of the Lost sites, but for the most part I never really went on those – too easy to lose an entire day reading theories and such. I always chose to more or less let the show speak for itself. Also, if you haven't guessed yet, the mythology stuff wasn't as interesting to me. I kept coming back for the characters.)

I also like that it’s one of many “trek” episodes, with a few of our folks going off to rescue/find someone or whatever, because we haven’t had one for a while. I always liked these (particularly in the earlier episodes) because it gave the characters a chance to bond a bit on one-on-one terms. That or they just remind me of Stand By Me. Either way, I’m always happy to have one.

The subplot with Locke building the cradle for Claire is also very sweet. It seems like for a lot of Season 1, Locke was there to more or less guide or offer advice to each character individually, without having too many plots of his own. So here it’s Claire, last week it was Shannon (and Walt, a bit), Sawyer before that... he’s like NBC’s “The More You Know”, but with knives. Next week (so, tomorrow) he gets his own episode again. I feel Locke was the least consistently written character on the show, and given the lamest possible death, so going back to episodes like this just reminds me of how much that pissed me off. Casually killed by Ben in a hotel room somewhere instead of on the island... so friggin weak.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...