A very good episode. Disjointed observations and ruminations, in rough chronological order (chronological in the sense of the episode, not time, thankfully):
* When Desmond was describing Scotland to his son, it sounded a lot like the island, except for the part about glens.
* I don’t mean to sound like a chauvinist or anything, but I think we’ve had a few too many childbirths on the show. Claire, Emily Locke, Mrs. Linus, Sun, Penny…we got the idea.
* The revelation that the Others speak Latin was cool, as I recall several Latin phrases on the blast door map. Maybe Radzinsky was an other, Kelvin found him out with his mad spy skills, and Radzinsky didn’t really off himself. Or Kelvin was lying about being DHARMA, or none of this is connected at all.
* The soldiers were Americans, but Jones and his friends apparently just had their uniforms. What’s funny is that they think Locke and co. set the bombs; do Locke, Sawyer, and Juliet look like a 1954 Army battalion?
* At first I thought the Other girl with the gun might be Amelia, but of course by the end of the episode that theory was replaced by a better one.
* Nuclear testing was, at one time at least, a pretty popular theory to explain some of the strange things on the island. While it appears the bomb never went off, it is still interesting…and where is it now? Some people think it may be related to the Swan station, and that perhaps the “electromagnetic anomaly” was a cover for a thermonuclear bomb.
* As soon as I heard people were snooping around Faraday’s research, I figured they worked for Widmore. Usually when I’m right about a question on Lost, it’s one that is raised and answered in the same episode. So if you’re reading this blog, maybe you should find one that’s more insightful.
* I hope for Locke’s sake that Richard, Jacob, or whoever can see how he went all in as an Other by letting “Jones” run away.
* And then I realized that the gun-toting chick wasn’t Amelia…it was “Ellie”…Eloise…the name of Faraday’s rat and the name of Faraday’s mother (who despite my earlier doubts surely has to be Ms. Hawking). Which is why he kept looking at her funny while they were going out to the bomb.
* When the comatose woman that Desmond visited was revealed to be supported by Widmore, I figured he’d really screwed up and outed himself to Widmore. Maybe he did too, because he went all in and visited him. But why was the woman comatose and still alive after all of this time, while Minkowski and Desmond (and now Charlotte) were much closer to death much more quickly?
* When Locke first strolled into the Others’ camp, I kept wondering why he didn’t just give Richard the compass. But then it turns out that Richard doesn’t remember that either, and Locke apparently gives Richard the idea to come check him out as a baby. Of course, in that scene the bombshell is that “Jones” is Charles Widmore himself. So Widmore was an Other (and already one who had trouble with authority as seen by his reluctance to do as Alpert says). This puts things in a whole new light--previously I assumed that while Widmore may have been on the island, it was in some other role, and not as an Other. Now the whole Ben/Widmore conflict looks more like an Other Civil War. Of course, there is still a lot of story to be seen and it will be interesting to see when and why the schism occurs.
* How cute is it that Desmond and Penny’s son is named Charlie? And I hated Charlie.
* Too bad about Charlotte, as it appears she’s in serious trouble. “Why her?” is a good question. Some say it’s because she’s from the island, but one would think that would make her more able to deal with such a thing, not less.
* This was such a good episode that the complete absence of the Oceanic Six + Ben didn’t register until I wrote down my thoughts.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
5x03 Pre-Thoughts
I think I've mentioned this before, but I don’t read spoilers. To me, watching a story unfold on the screen before you is infinitely more entertaining than reading it as lines of text on some website. This year I’m trying to ween myself from even watching episode promos, even though they are usually fairly innocuous from a spoiler perspective.
One exception I make is that I like to know the episode title before I watch it. Especially if the title is unusual (like “The Economist”); it yields no insight about what you are about to see, because how would you know that Sayid is going to seduce a woman to try to get to her boss, the economist? It doesn’t really spoil anything; instead it gets your mind engaged thinking about various possibilities. Then it is satisfying when the connection between the title and the episode is made on screen (except in a truly mystifying case like “Eggtown”, in which the title is an obscure reference that 90% of the audience, myself included, is going to miss).
That is a long-winded way of saying that I don’t know what will happen tonight on Lost, and I won’t try to guess. After reading some of the reviews of the first two episodes on the net, I have additional thoughts on them.
* The “time loop” theory, in which the end game (or at least a significant story point) in Lost is a return to the moment of the crash. While I am open to this being the case, I wouldn’t consider it very satisfying. It would seem to make everything that happened before for naught, and that would be a letdown after four seasons of trials and tribulations.
One line which has been scrutinized by proponents of this theory is from early in Season 1 when Kate jumps Sawyer in the jungle while looking for his stash. Sawyer says “I made this birthday wish four years ago”, and some people think this is evidence of a four-year time loop.
While it is an odd thing for him to say, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense. By the time four years has passed on the show, Sawyer has, um, slept with Kate multiple times. Certainly he might want to do that again, but I think it was just a general wish of copulating with an attractive female rather than a time loop hint.
* Apparently I completely missed the part in which Faraday told Desmond to go to Oxford and find his mother. I head the Oxford part alright, but somehow I missed the “mother”. Of course, everyone and their uncle now thinks that Hawking is the mother. However, Hawking is in LA with Ben and so she’ll have to hightail it over the pond. Hawking could very well be Faraday’s mom, but it seems like it’s set up so well that it would be a good fakeout if it turned out that she wasn’t.
* I like the theory that the whispers are the sound of the time-travelers, although it still doesn’t explain why they only appear at creepy moments. Likewise, it can explain how Harper could appear out of nowhere and bear a message from Ben. My theory is that the Temple allows the Others to manipulate time, which is why Ben told Alex that it wasn’t for the Claire, Aaron, Hurley, etc. And perhaps Ben sent the Others to the Temple to be inoculated against the effects of the time jumping, which is why Locke was alone after the move.
* One of the scenes that has led me to not watch promos this year is the one where Kate tells Aaron, “We’re going on vacation.” I saw that on a promo and thought it was a great line, but was disappointed when it didn’t apply to them leaving for the island but just running when the lawyer showed up. It’s a throwaway line for all intents and purposes, but I had higher hopes for it than were fulfilled. Had I not seen the promo, I would not have the slightest tinge of disappointment.
* On the other hand, what a great line it is when Richard, tending to Locke’s gunshot inflicted by Ethan, says “What comes around goes around.”
* I happened to be watching 1x03 “Tabula Rasa” and I was struck by the scene in which SIX losties who tried to send out a signal (and instead were blocked by and heard Rousseau’s distress call) decide to lie about what happened (Sayid, Kate, Boone, Shannon, Sawyer, Charlie). Doesn’t mean anything, but groups of six formulating lies…of course, Aaron isn’t really part of the decision, and Desmond, Penny, and Frank are in on it too, but you get the idea.
One exception I make is that I like to know the episode title before I watch it. Especially if the title is unusual (like “The Economist”); it yields no insight about what you are about to see, because how would you know that Sayid is going to seduce a woman to try to get to her boss, the economist? It doesn’t really spoil anything; instead it gets your mind engaged thinking about various possibilities. Then it is satisfying when the connection between the title and the episode is made on screen (except in a truly mystifying case like “Eggtown”, in which the title is an obscure reference that 90% of the audience, myself included, is going to miss).
That is a long-winded way of saying that I don’t know what will happen tonight on Lost, and I won’t try to guess. After reading some of the reviews of the first two episodes on the net, I have additional thoughts on them.
* The “time loop” theory, in which the end game (or at least a significant story point) in Lost is a return to the moment of the crash. While I am open to this being the case, I wouldn’t consider it very satisfying. It would seem to make everything that happened before for naught, and that would be a letdown after four seasons of trials and tribulations.
One line which has been scrutinized by proponents of this theory is from early in Season 1 when Kate jumps Sawyer in the jungle while looking for his stash. Sawyer says “I made this birthday wish four years ago”, and some people think this is evidence of a four-year time loop.
While it is an odd thing for him to say, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense. By the time four years has passed on the show, Sawyer has, um, slept with Kate multiple times. Certainly he might want to do that again, but I think it was just a general wish of copulating with an attractive female rather than a time loop hint.
* Apparently I completely missed the part in which Faraday told Desmond to go to Oxford and find his mother. I head the Oxford part alright, but somehow I missed the “mother”. Of course, everyone and their uncle now thinks that Hawking is the mother. However, Hawking is in LA with Ben and so she’ll have to hightail it over the pond. Hawking could very well be Faraday’s mom, but it seems like it’s set up so well that it would be a good fakeout if it turned out that she wasn’t.
* I like the theory that the whispers are the sound of the time-travelers, although it still doesn’t explain why they only appear at creepy moments. Likewise, it can explain how Harper could appear out of nowhere and bear a message from Ben. My theory is that the Temple allows the Others to manipulate time, which is why Ben told Alex that it wasn’t for the Claire, Aaron, Hurley, etc. And perhaps Ben sent the Others to the Temple to be inoculated against the effects of the time jumping, which is why Locke was alone after the move.
* One of the scenes that has led me to not watch promos this year is the one where Kate tells Aaron, “We’re going on vacation.” I saw that on a promo and thought it was a great line, but was disappointed when it didn’t apply to them leaving for the island but just running when the lawyer showed up. It’s a throwaway line for all intents and purposes, but I had higher hopes for it than were fulfilled. Had I not seen the promo, I would not have the slightest tinge of disappointment.
* On the other hand, what a great line it is when Richard, tending to Locke’s gunshot inflicted by Ethan, says “What comes around goes around.”
* I happened to be watching 1x03 “Tabula Rasa” and I was struck by the scene in which SIX losties who tried to send out a signal (and instead were blocked by and heard Rousseau’s distress call) decide to lie about what happened (Sayid, Kate, Boone, Shannon, Sawyer, Charlie). Doesn’t mean anything, but groups of six formulating lies…of course, Aaron isn’t really part of the decision, and Desmond, Penny, and Frank are in on it too, but you get the idea.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
5x02: The Lie
* I enjoyed seeing Ana-Lucia…and then seeing Hurley ignore her “stay away from cops” edict in the end
* What was the package that Ben pulled out of the wall of the hotel room and did not want Jack to see?
* At first I was excited to see Frogurt finally (he was in a mobisode, I think). And then he was a whiny little girl, and I was sick of him. And then he got a FLAMING ARROW IN THE CHEST! My impression was that at that point they had moved to a post-Purge, post-Nigerian plane, pre-815 point. So who the heck were the guys with arrows and (later) guns? They didn’t look like DHARMA uniforms and they should all be dead. Also, it seems as if the times between jumps are getting shorter, but maybe that’s a false impression, or maybe it’s a random effect.
* Ben does not look surprised at all when Jack informs him that Mr. Reyes delivered Sayid to him. Yet another long con by Ben?
* Sadly, it appears as if Jin really is dead. Too bad.
* One of the best scenes in the history of Lost was between Hurley and his mother, as he attempted to explain why they were lying. It was meta-awesome, I guess you could say. And the Expose shoutout was good too.
* This episode was better than the first, and it had the jaw-dropping last scene to fit the part. Of course when you see someone scribbling equations on a chalkboard, your first thought is Faraday. But Ms. Hawking and Ben in cahoots is awesome. And they only have a seventy-hour opening to return to the island. Are the Others somehow “time masters”, able to move through time? It would explain Alpert, it would explain why Hawking and Ben are chummy, and it would explain why only Locke and company are jumping around in time, not the Others. And it would also explain how the compass can “already belong to Locke” in the Alpert test scene from “Cabin Fever”.
* Something I over looked in discussing 5x01: in a previous post I discussed some season premiere trends that could be a guide as to what we would see tonight. One that I should have pointed out but did not was that there is often deception as to who we are watching until the last possible moment. Season 2 did this with Desmond in the Hatch--he could have been man, and we didn’t really see him until the last scene of the whole episode. And Season 4 did it with Hurley during his car chase. Although they tipped their hand with the Camaro, when he was wearing the jean jacket, it seemed as if they were trying to make it look like it might be Kate. And tonight, my first thought was that it was Ben in bed and that he was trying to play house in the real world. But how much better that it was Marvin Candle err Mark Wickmund err Edgar Hallowax err Pierre Chang.
* What was the package that Ben pulled out of the wall of the hotel room and did not want Jack to see?
* At first I was excited to see Frogurt finally (he was in a mobisode, I think). And then he was a whiny little girl, and I was sick of him. And then he got a FLAMING ARROW IN THE CHEST! My impression was that at that point they had moved to a post-Purge, post-Nigerian plane, pre-815 point. So who the heck were the guys with arrows and (later) guns? They didn’t look like DHARMA uniforms and they should all be dead. Also, it seems as if the times between jumps are getting shorter, but maybe that’s a false impression, or maybe it’s a random effect.
* Ben does not look surprised at all when Jack informs him that Mr. Reyes delivered Sayid to him. Yet another long con by Ben?
* Sadly, it appears as if Jin really is dead. Too bad.
* One of the best scenes in the history of Lost was between Hurley and his mother, as he attempted to explain why they were lying. It was meta-awesome, I guess you could say. And the Expose shoutout was good too.
* This episode was better than the first, and it had the jaw-dropping last scene to fit the part. Of course when you see someone scribbling equations on a chalkboard, your first thought is Faraday. But Ms. Hawking and Ben in cahoots is awesome. And they only have a seventy-hour opening to return to the island. Are the Others somehow “time masters”, able to move through time? It would explain Alpert, it would explain why Hawking and Ben are chummy, and it would explain why only Locke and company are jumping around in time, not the Others. And it would also explain how the compass can “already belong to Locke” in the Alpert test scene from “Cabin Fever”.
* Something I over looked in discussing 5x01: in a previous post I discussed some season premiere trends that could be a guide as to what we would see tonight. One that I should have pointed out but did not was that there is often deception as to who we are watching until the last possible moment. Season 2 did this with Desmond in the Hatch--he could have been man, and we didn’t really see him until the last scene of the whole episode. And Season 4 did it with Hurley during his car chase. Although they tipped their hand with the Camaro, when he was wearing the jean jacket, it seemed as if they were trying to make it look like it might be Kate. And tonight, my first thought was that it was Ben in bed and that he was trying to play house in the real world. But how much better that it was Marvin Candle err Mark Wickmund err Edgar Hallowax err Pierre Chang.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
5x01: Because You Left
* Where in time was Faraday in the fantastic opening sequence with Marvin Candle? Was he actually there at the time, or did it happen during the island skipping? And who is his baby? Is it Miles? It HAS to be somebody we already know.
* So far, by my count, the island has skipped in time thrice. The first went back to when the Nigerian plane crashed--sometime after the Purge and before the crash of 815 (I should go to Lostpedia and see what the approximate date would be). The second was sometime after December 31, 2004--the “future” from the perspective of where we left off in Season four. The third was sometime in the past, and it’s hard to tell when, although the smarter minds probably have a theory on that…more later.
* Why will the Oceanic Six coming back save the island? “Destiny”, but what about them is so special? That may be the ultimate mystery of this season.
* Who is behind the attempt to get a blood test of Aaron and Kate? My strong suspicion is that it is Ben. As Sun points out in 5x02, if they wanted to expose the lie, they would just do it. Other possible candidates would include Claire’s mom (doubtful), Kate’s mom (even more doubtful), or some Widmore-backed plot (much more probable). However, I think that this is one of Ben’s well-honed mind games. He knows Kate will run at the first sign of trouble and where better to run to than the island?
* On that subject, Sayid’s comments about Ben (essentially “never trust him”) make one wonder again: did Ben kill Nadia too? I know the popular thought is that Ben is “better” than Widmore, but I believe they are both equally evil, and each are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their objectives. The only reason Ben seems better is that he has a personal connection with the 815ers and they are therefore useful to his schemes. To Widmore, they’re just obstacles with no name, just as most people are to Ben.
* Faraday explains the rules of time travel, which is helpful--"if it didn’t happen, it can’t happen”, but apparently Desmond is an exception--he seems to be some sort of time master, and thus Faraday can bang on the Swan door and talk to him. But that didn’t really happen until just now, and only because Desmond is special, or so I think. So he can be unstuck in time, and any interaction with others is okay, even if they didn’t really happen? Makes your head hurt more than “Flashes Before Your Eyes” or “The Constant”. And I mean that in a good way.
* So far, by my count, the island has skipped in time thrice. The first went back to when the Nigerian plane crashed--sometime after the Purge and before the crash of 815 (I should go to Lostpedia and see what the approximate date would be). The second was sometime after December 31, 2004--the “future” from the perspective of where we left off in Season four. The third was sometime in the past, and it’s hard to tell when, although the smarter minds probably have a theory on that…more later.
* Why will the Oceanic Six coming back save the island? “Destiny”, but what about them is so special? That may be the ultimate mystery of this season.
* Who is behind the attempt to get a blood test of Aaron and Kate? My strong suspicion is that it is Ben. As Sun points out in 5x02, if they wanted to expose the lie, they would just do it. Other possible candidates would include Claire’s mom (doubtful), Kate’s mom (even more doubtful), or some Widmore-backed plot (much more probable). However, I think that this is one of Ben’s well-honed mind games. He knows Kate will run at the first sign of trouble and where better to run to than the island?
* On that subject, Sayid’s comments about Ben (essentially “never trust him”) make one wonder again: did Ben kill Nadia too? I know the popular thought is that Ben is “better” than Widmore, but I believe they are both equally evil, and each are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their objectives. The only reason Ben seems better is that he has a personal connection with the 815ers and they are therefore useful to his schemes. To Widmore, they’re just obstacles with no name, just as most people are to Ben.
* Faraday explains the rules of time travel, which is helpful--"if it didn’t happen, it can’t happen”, but apparently Desmond is an exception--he seems to be some sort of time master, and thus Faraday can bang on the Swan door and talk to him. But that didn’t really happen until just now, and only because Desmond is special, or so I think. So he can be unstuck in time, and any interaction with others is okay, even if they didn’t really happen? Makes your head hurt more than “Flashes Before Your Eyes” or “The Constant”. And I mean that in a good way.
Season Premiere Pre-Thoughts
The Lost season premiere is always an exciting event. It is the most anticipated episode of the year for me. While I believe that the finales have all been of outstanding quality, the excitement of a finale is tempted by the knowledge that it is the end of the road. The premiere though? You have the entire season ahead of you, with endless possibilities and the hope of seeing what happened to Montand’s arm is still alive.
With that in mind, allow me to give my thoughts on the first four season premieres:
“Pilot”--I did not watch Lost until season two, so I missed this the first time around. I had seen the commercials for Lost and my thoughts were something like “How do you make a show about survivors of a large plane crash? First of all, how would there be survivors? If there were survivors, how would they not be found within a short period of time?”
I’m not a huge television watcher. Other than Lost, the only shows I watch religiously are Monk and The Office. I also like 24 and Burn Notice, and other than that, I don’t really watch anything but sports on TV. So for me to be drawn to a show to the extent that I am to Lost is unusual. But as I saw some of the critical praise for the show over the summer of the first hiatus, and learned about the intriguing mystery of the hatch, I decided that this was a show that I should watch. So I read all I could on the internet--episode summaries and the like, and watched the clips that were available (this was before iTunes had the episodes, and the DVD came out pretty close to the season 2 premiere date).
So by the time I actually watched “Pilot”, I knew what the plot was and I knew who the characters were. When I heard a roar and saw the trees shake, I knew that it was the monster that was responsible. I never got the opportunity to watch this episode with a tabula rasa, and it was nobody’s fault but mine, and I regret that.
But even watching it while knowing what was up, I could see why this episode had captivated so many other viewers. It is tremendous, from the beach explosion to Charlie’s haunting question, “Guys, where are we?”
“Man of Science, Man of Faith”--this was the first episode of Lost I watched live, and it was more than enough to keep me on board with this new (to me) show. Once I realized what I was watching in the opening sequence, I had instant respect for the storytelling of the producers. And “Make Your Own Kind of Music” will always represent Lost to me. Season Two may be just about everyone’s least favorite season of Lost, but this to me is the second-best premiere.
“A Tale of Two Cities”--by the time this episode aired, I was a full-blown Lost fanatic. The episode is kind of slow, the green light is not friendly on the eyes, but it sets the somber tone for the first portion of the season effectively. And the first five minutes, for me, topped even the opening of “Man of Science, Man of Faith”.
“The Beginning of the End”--I was convinced that this season would open with the eye of a character we had not met, on the freighter perhaps, listening to music on his iPod. “The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius” would be a nice choice, I thought, keeping with the theme of 60s pop. Alas, we got a pile of papayas…oh yea, and the reveal that there was a group called the Oceanic Six.
More than any of the other premieres, this one felt to me like it was a “wind-down” episode from the previous finale, without a whole lot of new on-island revelation. Don’t get me wrong--it was a fine episode with a few of great moments (Abaddon, Jack tries to shoot Locke, Faraday parachutes onto the island). But it seemed to be more of a utilitarian purpose than not. The next episode, “Confirmed Dead”, was when Season Four really hit the ground running.
So what can we expect tonight? I don’t read spoilers; my only exposure to any future material is the ABC promos, and I don’t watch any that show full scenes. So what I’m about to write will look silly by tonight.
If history is any guide, we can expect a huge revelation before the discordant music plays and “LOST” spins across the screen. I have no idea what that will be, and that’s the fun part. I didn’t guess we’d see the inside of the Hatch right away, I didn’t guess we’d see where the Others lived, and I didn’t guess we’d learn that only six left the island.
The good news is that a lot of the “set-up” function seemed to be taken care of in “There’s No Place Like Home”--the Oceanic Six was rescued, and since we’ve already seen their flashforwards for a whole season, we should be ready to get into serious off-island business. And with two episodes tonight, we hopefully will be able to see both the off and on-island situations (remember how Season 3 left the fate of the Hatch inhabitants hanging until episode 3?) The on-island stuff should be fascinating: where did the island go, and how did that affect its inhabitants? Will the small scattering of non-Others left (Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Charlotte, Rose, Bernard maybe Faraday or Jin if he’s alive) join with the Others? Here I’ll hazard a guess: no way. The tension between Sawyer and Locke was obviously palpable when they pulled guns on each other over Hurley’s status in “The Shape of Things to Come”. I anticipate that Sawyer will take a Jack-like skepticism towards Locke, ironically as Jack on the mainland is going to try to tote his carcass back to the island.
With that in mind, allow me to give my thoughts on the first four season premieres:
“Pilot”--I did not watch Lost until season two, so I missed this the first time around. I had seen the commercials for Lost and my thoughts were something like “How do you make a show about survivors of a large plane crash? First of all, how would there be survivors? If there were survivors, how would they not be found within a short period of time?”
I’m not a huge television watcher. Other than Lost, the only shows I watch religiously are Monk and The Office. I also like 24 and Burn Notice, and other than that, I don’t really watch anything but sports on TV. So for me to be drawn to a show to the extent that I am to Lost is unusual. But as I saw some of the critical praise for the show over the summer of the first hiatus, and learned about the intriguing mystery of the hatch, I decided that this was a show that I should watch. So I read all I could on the internet--episode summaries and the like, and watched the clips that were available (this was before iTunes had the episodes, and the DVD came out pretty close to the season 2 premiere date).
So by the time I actually watched “Pilot”, I knew what the plot was and I knew who the characters were. When I heard a roar and saw the trees shake, I knew that it was the monster that was responsible. I never got the opportunity to watch this episode with a tabula rasa, and it was nobody’s fault but mine, and I regret that.
But even watching it while knowing what was up, I could see why this episode had captivated so many other viewers. It is tremendous, from the beach explosion to Charlie’s haunting question, “Guys, where are we?”
“Man of Science, Man of Faith”--this was the first episode of Lost I watched live, and it was more than enough to keep me on board with this new (to me) show. Once I realized what I was watching in the opening sequence, I had instant respect for the storytelling of the producers. And “Make Your Own Kind of Music” will always represent Lost to me. Season Two may be just about everyone’s least favorite season of Lost, but this to me is the second-best premiere.
“A Tale of Two Cities”--by the time this episode aired, I was a full-blown Lost fanatic. The episode is kind of slow, the green light is not friendly on the eyes, but it sets the somber tone for the first portion of the season effectively. And the first five minutes, for me, topped even the opening of “Man of Science, Man of Faith”.
“The Beginning of the End”--I was convinced that this season would open with the eye of a character we had not met, on the freighter perhaps, listening to music on his iPod. “The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius” would be a nice choice, I thought, keeping with the theme of 60s pop. Alas, we got a pile of papayas…oh yea, and the reveal that there was a group called the Oceanic Six.
More than any of the other premieres, this one felt to me like it was a “wind-down” episode from the previous finale, without a whole lot of new on-island revelation. Don’t get me wrong--it was a fine episode with a few of great moments (Abaddon, Jack tries to shoot Locke, Faraday parachutes onto the island). But it seemed to be more of a utilitarian purpose than not. The next episode, “Confirmed Dead”, was when Season Four really hit the ground running.
So what can we expect tonight? I don’t read spoilers; my only exposure to any future material is the ABC promos, and I don’t watch any that show full scenes. So what I’m about to write will look silly by tonight.
If history is any guide, we can expect a huge revelation before the discordant music plays and “LOST” spins across the screen. I have no idea what that will be, and that’s the fun part. I didn’t guess we’d see the inside of the Hatch right away, I didn’t guess we’d see where the Others lived, and I didn’t guess we’d learn that only six left the island.
The good news is that a lot of the “set-up” function seemed to be taken care of in “There’s No Place Like Home”--the Oceanic Six was rescued, and since we’ve already seen their flashforwards for a whole season, we should be ready to get into serious off-island business. And with two episodes tonight, we hopefully will be able to see both the off and on-island situations (remember how Season 3 left the fate of the Hatch inhabitants hanging until episode 3?) The on-island stuff should be fascinating: where did the island go, and how did that affect its inhabitants? Will the small scattering of non-Others left (Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Charlotte, Rose, Bernard maybe Faraday or Jin if he’s alive) join with the Others? Here I’ll hazard a guess: no way. The tension between Sawyer and Locke was obviously palpable when they pulled guns on each other over Hurley’s status in “The Shape of Things to Come”. I anticipate that Sawyer will take a Jack-like skepticism towards Locke, ironically as Jack on the mainland is going to try to tote his carcass back to the island.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Questions
I don’t intend this to be a comprehensive list of questions about Lost. They are just some of the ones that I am interested in, and are presented here in fairly random order:
1. What is the monster?
Locke and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot, but this is what he asked too.
2. Who is Jacob?
3. Where and when did the island move to?
This should be answered fairly quickly, one would presume.
4. Was Jeremy Bentham murdered?
5. What was the incident?
6. What is the sickness? Is it the phenomenon described by Faraday and experienced by Desmond?
7. Does Christian really speak for Jacob, or for some other entity?
8. What is the true nature of the island? Where is it? Does it have a name?
I’m serious about the name. Have all of the natives always called it “the island” as the Others and Lostaways seem to? Or did they have a special, meaningful name for their home?
9. What are “the rules”?
10. Why do pregnant women die on the island?
11. What and where is the temple?
12. Who built the four-toed statue, and why does it have four toes?
13. Who does the glass eye belong to?
14. What happened toAnnie?
15. Who are Adam and Eve?
16. Are Walt and Aaron actually special, and if so, why?
17. Who actually staged the wreckage?
18. Who is the Economist?
19. What does Widmore want with the island?
20. Who carries about the supply drops, and how?
21. Who does Abaddon work for?
22. Who are the “they” he refers to? Are they the Oceanic survivors, the Others, the freighter people?
23. What was Rousseau’s team’s mission?
24. How did Marvin Candle lose his arm?
25. Is Richard Alpert really ageless?
26. Who was Radzinsky?
27. What is the relationship between Hanso, Widmore, and Paik?
28. Why was Libby in the mental institution?
29. Is the white tennis shoe significant? Is it Christian’s?
30. Why can some people see or hear Jacob?
31. Will anyone ever find the diamonds?
Anything to bring back Paulo and Nikki, right?
32. What is the ash around the cabin?
33. What is the Book of Laws, and what was Locke supposed to pick?
34. What is the significance of the 305 and 325 bearings?
35. Who is Ms. Hawking?
36. Why was Ms. Klugh so adamant about being shot?
37. Who was Eko referring to (“you’re next”)?
38. How was Cindy flipped to the Others?
39. Did anyone find the message on the gull?
40. Why did Miles choose $3.2 million?
41. What are the whispers?
42. How was Ben able to communicate with Harper?
43. Why did Walt appear to Shannon?
44. What did Locke see when he saw the monster for the first time?
45. Why does Tom quote Alvar Hanso?
46. How did Ben summon the monster, and how much control does he have over it?
47. Why does Widmore have nightmares?
48. Did Widmore’s man really kill Nadia? Or was it Ben?
49. What is the history between Ben and Widmore
and finally, most importantly:
50. What the heck happened to Montand’s arm?
Mind you, I don’t expect all of these questions to be answered, nor do I demand it. Some have already been addressed, some are not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. But they are still questions I like to ponder.
1. What is the monster?
Locke and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot, but this is what he asked too.
2. Who is Jacob?
3. Where and when did the island move to?
This should be answered fairly quickly, one would presume.
4. Was Jeremy Bentham murdered?
5. What was the incident?
6. What is the sickness? Is it the phenomenon described by Faraday and experienced by Desmond?
7. Does Christian really speak for Jacob, or for some other entity?
8. What is the true nature of the island? Where is it? Does it have a name?
I’m serious about the name. Have all of the natives always called it “the island” as the Others and Lostaways seem to? Or did they have a special, meaningful name for their home?
9. What are “the rules”?
10. Why do pregnant women die on the island?
11. What and where is the temple?
12. Who built the four-toed statue, and why does it have four toes?
13. Who does the glass eye belong to?
14. What happened toAnnie?
15. Who are Adam and Eve?
16. Are Walt and Aaron actually special, and if so, why?
17. Who actually staged the wreckage?
18. Who is the Economist?
19. What does Widmore want with the island?
20. Who carries about the supply drops, and how?
21. Who does Abaddon work for?
22. Who are the “they” he refers to? Are they the Oceanic survivors, the Others, the freighter people?
23. What was Rousseau’s team’s mission?
24. How did Marvin Candle lose his arm?
25. Is Richard Alpert really ageless?
26. Who was Radzinsky?
27. What is the relationship between Hanso, Widmore, and Paik?
28. Why was Libby in the mental institution?
29. Is the white tennis shoe significant? Is it Christian’s?
30. Why can some people see or hear Jacob?
31. Will anyone ever find the diamonds?
Anything to bring back Paulo and Nikki, right?
32. What is the ash around the cabin?
33. What is the Book of Laws, and what was Locke supposed to pick?
34. What is the significance of the 305 and 325 bearings?
35. Who is Ms. Hawking?
36. Why was Ms. Klugh so adamant about being shot?
37. Who was Eko referring to (“you’re next”)?
38. How was Cindy flipped to the Others?
39. Did anyone find the message on the gull?
40. Why did Miles choose $3.2 million?
41. What are the whispers?
42. How was Ben able to communicate with Harper?
43. Why did Walt appear to Shannon?
44. What did Locke see when he saw the monster for the first time?
45. Why does Tom quote Alvar Hanso?
46. How did Ben summon the monster, and how much control does he have over it?
47. Why does Widmore have nightmares?
48. Did Widmore’s man really kill Nadia? Or was it Ben?
49. What is the history between Ben and Widmore
and finally, most importantly:
50. What the heck happened to Montand’s arm?
Mind you, I don’t expect all of these questions to be answered, nor do I demand it. Some have already been addressed, some are not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. But they are still questions I like to ponder.
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
There are a lot of blogs out there that discuss Lost, and I’m not vain enough to think that I have anything substantive to add to the conversation. However, with just two seasons of this amazing show remaining, I want to keep my own personal journal of thoughts and observations on the show, and in modern times the easiest way to do that is to write a blog. If no one ever reads this, that will be just fine with me.
As a means of introduction, allow me to make a list of some of my favorite things about Lost.
Favorite season: Season 4
Favorite episode: “Through the Looking Glass”
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 1: “Pilot” (a little unfair to compare to that, so my second favorite would be “Deus Ex Machina”)
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 2: “Orientation”
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 3: “The Man Behind the Curtain”
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 4: “The Shape of Things to Come”
Favorite oft-overlooked episode: “Enter 77”...I feel that this episode was the demarcation between the somewhat tedious pace established by Season 2 and the breakneck pace that characterized the second half of Season 3 and Season 4
Favorite character: Jack
Favorite female character: Sun
Favorite Other: Ben
Favorite Kahana person: Faraday
Most compelling backstory: Locke
Most compelling future story: Jack
Most compelling moment by season, excluding premieres and finales:
Season 1--the light turns on in the Hatch (“Deus Ex Machina”)
Season 2--Michael murders Ana-Lucia and Libby (“Two for the Road”)
Season 3--Jacob says “Help Me” (“The Man Behind the Curtain”)
Season 4--Richard Alpert tests Locke (“Cabin Fever”)
Finally, just a few of the “worsts”, with the ever-present qualifier that even the worst thing on Lost is better than just about anything else out there:
Worst season: Season 2 (although I actually enjoyed it a lot; the other three are just better)
Worst season 1 episode: “Whatever the Case May Be”
Worst season 2 episode: “Fire + Water” (also the worst episode, period, and by a large margin)
Worst season 3 episode: “Further Instructions”
Worst season 4 episode: “Eggtown”
Least favorite character: Charlie
Least favorite Other: Pickett
Least favorite Kahana person: Keamy (obviously)
Least compelling backstory: Charlie
Least compelling future story: Kate
As a means of introduction, allow me to make a list of some of my favorite things about Lost.
Favorite season: Season 4
Favorite episode: “Through the Looking Glass”
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 1: “Pilot” (a little unfair to compare to that, so my second favorite would be “Deus Ex Machina”)
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 2: “Orientation”
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 3: “The Man Behind the Curtain”
Favorite non-finale episode, Season 4: “The Shape of Things to Come”
Favorite oft-overlooked episode: “Enter 77”...I feel that this episode was the demarcation between the somewhat tedious pace established by Season 2 and the breakneck pace that characterized the second half of Season 3 and Season 4
Favorite character: Jack
Favorite female character: Sun
Favorite Other: Ben
Favorite Kahana person: Faraday
Most compelling backstory: Locke
Most compelling future story: Jack
Most compelling moment by season, excluding premieres and finales:
Season 1--the light turns on in the Hatch (“Deus Ex Machina”)
Season 2--Michael murders Ana-Lucia and Libby (“Two for the Road”)
Season 3--Jacob says “Help Me” (“The Man Behind the Curtain”)
Season 4--Richard Alpert tests Locke (“Cabin Fever”)
Finally, just a few of the “worsts”, with the ever-present qualifier that even the worst thing on Lost is better than just about anything else out there:
Worst season: Season 2 (although I actually enjoyed it a lot; the other three are just better)
Worst season 1 episode: “Whatever the Case May Be”
Worst season 2 episode: “Fire + Water” (also the worst episode, period, and by a large margin)
Worst season 3 episode: “Further Instructions”
Worst season 4 episode: “Eggtown”
Least favorite character: Charlie
Least favorite Other: Pickett
Least favorite Kahana person: Keamy (obviously)
Least compelling backstory: Charlie
Least compelling future story: Kate
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)