Episode Title: The Looking Glass Air Date: 5/23/07
There's just so much to talk about.
"Lost's" third season finale was an absolute stunner. Everything is different after last night. And now we're supposed to wait nine months until we get a new episode? It's just not fair.
So, the most important thing we learned last night? They get off the bloody island. At least Jack and Kate do, and probably Claire and her baby, if Desmond’s vision was accurate (as Charlie’s death would imply.) And we learn all this through an all new “Lost” storytelling device. In what has been described as a "game changer" by the producers, last night's Jack flashbacks were not flashbacks at all...they were flashFORWARDS.
Our first clue of this is when we see a depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, pharmaceutical addicted Jack with a very fake beard flying on an Oceanic Airlines flight, then stumbling around LA, a lost soul with nobody to turn to. He reads a newspaper clipping about a dead man and breaks down in tears, leaves a distressed voicemail, then steps to the edge of a bridge, ready to kill himself. Until a car crashes behind him, and Jack has to go back into hero mode, saving a woman and her eight year old child from the burning wreckage.
Immediately, this doesn’t seem like the Jack Shepherd we’re used to. Jack’s an alcoholic? Just when in his past did he become like his dead (or is he?) father? But the writers don’t let us in on their storytelling trick just yet.
Jack also attends the funeral of…someone. He is the only mourner who shows up, and doesn’t ask to view the body. So who is the deceased? We’ll get to that in the end…sort of.
On the island, in the “present” (or past now?) the showdown with The Others is imminent. Sayid, Jin, and Bernard (of all people) stay behind to blow the tents when Ben’s goons show up as the rest of the survivors head off to the radio tower to shut off Rousseau’s distress call, while Charlie is being held prisoner by some a couple hot Lesbian Others in the underwater hatch.
So yeah, a lot is going on.
When The Others show up, the plan almost works perfectly…almost. Sayid and Bernard hit their targets and blow two of the tents. But Jin misses, tries to run to closer to get a better shot, and is captured. Sayid and Bernard try to run and fight, but both end up surrendering.
The big survivor party sees that only two of the planned three explosions went off, and Kate wants to go back to the beach to help their captured friends, while Jack insists on pushing forward.
In the underwater hatch, Charlie tells his captors that the survivors are heading to the radio tower and that he is there to turn off their jamming signal. They radio Ben, who is surprised to hear them “break radio silence.” Apparently, the rest of The Others believed the two women were no longer on the island and that the underwater hatch was flooded and inoperable. Ben sends the eye-patch sporting Russian to the hatch to investigate, and decides to go to the survivors and “talk them out of” turning Rousseau’s distress call, and allows Alex, his daughter, to join him.
A shaken Sawyer, who is still upset after the events that went down in “The Brig” a few weeks ago, decides to go back to help Sayid, Bernard, and Jin, even though he is unarmed. Kate wants to go too, but he doesn’t want to bring her. Jack is worried about allowing him to go unarmed, but Juliet volunteers to join him and tells them that there is a hidden cache of guns that they can arm themselves with before they head back to the survivors’ camp…after Juliet kisses Jack passionately, raising more than a few eyebrows.
A distressed Kate doesn’t understand why Sawyer wouldn’t let her come and Jack explains that, duh, it’s because he’s trying to protect her. When Kate asks why Jack is sticking up for Sawyer, Jack tells her “because I love you,” in a matter of fact admission that Kate had to have known all along.
Poor Hurley, feeling left out and unsure of himself, asks if he can come along with Sawyer and Juliet. Sawyer tells him he’d be useless and get them killed, in an honest moment that cuts Hurley deeply but had to be said anyway. And oh yeah, Juliet admits that there is no gun cache…she only told Jack there was so he would let them go help their friends.
So the stage is set for three epic showdowns, none of which disappoint.
Ben meets up with Jack and the two of them have a little chat. Ben tells Jack that if he uses the Satellite Phone, the people he summons to the island will kill everyone. He tells him Naomi works for a group of people who have been trying to find the island, who will ruin it. Jack (with reason) thinks he’s bluffing, so Ben radios in to Tom, who is holding the three survivors at the beach hostage, and tells him to kill them if Jack doesn’t relent. Jack won’t budge and hears three gunshots, thinking that he’s doomed his friends to three bullets through their heads.
Meanwhile, Desmond wakes up in the boat above the underwater hatch, with a whopping headache and Charlie’s goodbye note to Claire in his pocket. Before he has time to think what to do next, Eye Patched Russian guy starts shooting at him, so he dives down and enter the underwater hatch. Charlie tells him to hide before his captors catch wind that he’s there, but then Eye-Patch shows up. Charlie informs him that Ben’s been jamming any radio signals to the mainland through the hatch, and Eye Patch decides to radio his boss to decide how to deal with it. Ben convinces him that he’s doing the right thing, and tells him to kill Charlie- and the two unsuspecting female Others.
Eye patch shoots the chicks, but before he turns the gun on Charlie, Desmond pops out and shoots him with a harpoon gun. One of the dying Others tells Charlie the code to stop the jamming signal- the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” tapped into the keyboard (it was programmed by a musician, she says with her last breath.) So Charlie gets to have his big moment and turn off the jamming signal, which will finally get the survivors home. He taps the Beach Boys classic in the keyboard, the yellow light turns off, and a signal comes through…from Penny. An excited Charlie asks Penny about Naomi and the boat off the island, but she tells him that she doesn’t know anything about a boat…Naomi and her crew were not hired by Penny. Before Desmond can talk to his lost love, Charlie sees a terrible sight through a porthole…Eye Patch survived the harpoon through the stomach and is holding a grenade up to the hatch window.
Charlie locks himself in before Desmond can enter, the porthole blows, and water begins to rush in. Thinking quickly, Charlie scrawls a message on his hand and puts it up to the window, telling Desmond that it’s “not Penny’s boat.” Then he dies.
This is a “Lost” first…an original character and fan favorite is killed off. Yeah, they killed Shannon and Boone off…but nobody liked those characters anyway. Charlie’s death is hard to take, and Dominic Monaghan’s performance last night was the best he’s given in the series’ three year run. Charlie Pace, you will be missed.
Back on the beach, Sawyer and Juliet are trying to figure out how they’re going to take out the Others who have their friends at gunpoint…until Hurley zooms in, driving the Dharma VW bus into the action. Hurley! He hits one of the Others with the car, while Sawyer sneaks around and knocks one of them out with a branch. In the scramble, Sayid kills one of them with his legs, Jack Bauer style, and Sawyer takes Tom’s gun. When Tom surrenders, Sawyer still kills him, telling him “that’s for taking the kid.”
Hurley radios in and tells the survivors that they saved their friends and loved ones, a relief to Jack who believes he allowed them to die. At the same time, the jamming signal is off, and Jack and crew turn off Rousseau’s distress call.
We have cell phone reception, people. As Naomi tries to make the call with the satellite phone, she suddenly falls down dead.
Guess who? It’s none other than Mr. John Locke, who was summoned out of what would have been his grave by none other than Walt, or a figment of his imagination in the form of Walt, or the smoke monster in the form of Walt, who tells him “you’ve got work to do, John.”
Jack picks up the phone, and Locke points a gun at him, telling him he’s not supposed to make the call. Jack stands strong, telling him that “I’m done letting you keep us on this island.” Locke relents, unable to shoot Jack, and a desperate Ben yells out “you don’t know what you’re doing!” But the call is complete, and the man on the other end of the line tells him they are coming. And soon.
Cut to the last scene of the “flashforwards.” Jack meets up with someone at the airport…it’s Kate. A distressed Jack tells her that he’s been flying all the time with his “gold pass” that Oceanic gave him, hoping that the plane would crash and take him back to the island. He tells her that “we weren’t supposed to leave,” and that “we have to go back.” Kate leaves, saying she has to go back to “him” (Sawyer?) and leaves Jack to his misery.
WOAH.
So at least Jack and Kate got off the island, and presumably a lot of the survivors have. Charlie’s sacrifice has made it possible for the survivors to be rescued…but the people it’s not clear if the people on Naomi’s boat are the ones who will be doing the rescuing. And a haunted Jack clearly has decided that coming back to the real world was the wrong move…that Locke, and maybe even Ben, were right the whole time.
Mindblowing. The finale implied that “Lost” may be done with the flashbacks, and the “flashforwards” might just be the new way the show will tell its labyrinthine story. Which sounds amazing to me. I can’t wait to see where this baby goes next.
As always, the episode has raised a whole lot of new questions. Who was in the casket at the funeral that Jack attended? He said he was neither family nor friend of the deceased, and nobody else showed up. When he asked Kate why she didn’t come, all she said was “why would I?” So who was it? My money’s on Michael. He betrayed the survivors and murdered two of them, so why would they go to his funeral? But it always could be Ben, or even Locke. His bizarre behavior would imply that not many people like him much anymore. And if he had to leave the island, he might be inclined to kill himself. This would also explain Jack’s guilt and remorse for leaving the island.
And what about Jack talking about his father as if he’s alive in the future? Christian Shepherd is dead. How can Jack tell the hospital’s new chief of surgery to bring his father down and see if he’s drunker if he’s dead? And how can Jack try and get prescriptions for drugs from his father if he’s dead? Did Jack come home to another timeline where his father never died? Is he just delusional at the point that he asks about him?
What are they going to do about Ben? What is Locke going to do? And who the hell did Jack talk to on the phone…are they coming to rescue the survivors…or slaughter them?
Anyone who doubted the show, anyone who turned away from it, gave up on it…it’s time to come back. The show is better than it’s ever been on every level, and it’s time for you to come back to “Lost.” If you thought the show had lost it’s way, you’re wrong. Just get over your fanboy pride and get back on the “Lost” train.
Season 3 ended with a note perfect episode. It was exciting, funny, emotional, and satisfying on every level. Almost every story beat planted earlier in the season has paid off, including the seemingly stupid VW bus episode. The only thing that didn’t pay off was the “Jack’s Tattoo” episode…everything was working in their favor last night to the point that I thought it was going to be the key to killing the smoke monster. The confidence in the storytelling on the show at this point is astounding, and I can’t wait to see how they bring the show to a close over the next three seasons. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I really think they’re going to pull the whole thing off and actually have satisfying ending for loyal fans. If they can equal what they achieved last night, then “Lost” is going to go down as one of the all time great shows.
Nine months is a long time.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Lost Watch: HOLYSHITBALLSWTF
WOAHHOLYSHITBALLSWTFOHMYGODJESUSFUCKAREYOUKIDDINGOHSHITFUCKYEAH.
More tomorrow.
More tomorrow.
Friday, May 18, 2007
"Calvin and Hobbes" Is Awesome
Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" is a masterpiece of an artform that has too few masterpieces (especially today...have you tried to read anything in the "funnys" section of your local paper lately?) The strip was a perfect distilation of childhood, had a wonderful art style of its own, and it was often laugh out loud funny. Its an American classic, and I'm a proud owner of the gorgeous collection "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes," which came out a year or so ago.
One thing that's always been admirable about Watterson is that he refused to sell out his creation. He could have licensed the shit out of "C+H," slapping the characters on T-Shirts, Lunch boxes, toys, stickers, and other junk. But Watterson refused- he wanted to keep the characters in their medium and felt that an image of Calvin on a T-shirt would strip him of his complexity as a character, something that happened with the hugely popular and totally unauthorized "Pissing Calvin" images that seem to be plastered to one out of every three semis you pass on highways. Sure Calvin is "mischevious." But he's also a sweet, funny, naiive kid with a big heart. Watterson, rightly, hated the "pissing Calvin" images.
I always respected Watterson's integrity, but have also been curious about what "Calvin and Hobbes" would look like animated. There was a rumor a couple years back that Watterson was going to make a film based on the strip, and that he was going to be in charge of the animaiton. The rumor may have been totally false, or the project may have just never gotten off the ground, but in any case it never happened. Which is why I'm so impressed by this video I'm posting below. An Italian animation student made it as a class project, and it's damn near perfect as far as the animation goes. The voice work is a bit odd, but everyone has their own idea of what Calvin should sound like in their heads...another good reason for Watterson not have gone ahead with the project. The guy knows what he's doing with his amazing creation. He did the strip for ten years, ended it perfectly, and never let it become an annoying product. He's an artist, and he was right to protect his creation.
That said, this is pretty damn cool, especially for a student project:
One thing that's always been admirable about Watterson is that he refused to sell out his creation. He could have licensed the shit out of "C+H," slapping the characters on T-Shirts, Lunch boxes, toys, stickers, and other junk. But Watterson refused- he wanted to keep the characters in their medium and felt that an image of Calvin on a T-shirt would strip him of his complexity as a character, something that happened with the hugely popular and totally unauthorized "Pissing Calvin" images that seem to be plastered to one out of every three semis you pass on highways. Sure Calvin is "mischevious." But he's also a sweet, funny, naiive kid with a big heart. Watterson, rightly, hated the "pissing Calvin" images.
I always respected Watterson's integrity, but have also been curious about what "Calvin and Hobbes" would look like animated. There was a rumor a couple years back that Watterson was going to make a film based on the strip, and that he was going to be in charge of the animaiton. The rumor may have been totally false, or the project may have just never gotten off the ground, but in any case it never happened. Which is why I'm so impressed by this video I'm posting below. An Italian animation student made it as a class project, and it's damn near perfect as far as the animation goes. The voice work is a bit odd, but everyone has their own idea of what Calvin should sound like in their heads...another good reason for Watterson not have gone ahead with the project. The guy knows what he's doing with his amazing creation. He did the strip for ten years, ended it perfectly, and never let it become an annoying product. He's an artist, and he was right to protect his creation.
That said, this is pretty damn cool, especially for a student project:
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Lost Update: Y'All Everybody
Episode Title: Greatest Hits Air Date: 5/17/07
With next week’s final approaching quickly, there are lots of balls of story being juggled by the “Lost” writers right now, and it’s nice to see everything really clicking for the show again. “Lost” stumbled a bit early this season and some viewers walked away from the show, but hopefully they’ll come back to it when the DVDs come out this summer, because it’s been as good as (or better than) the first season for the last four or five weeks.
Last night’s Charlie-centric episode was no exception. Charlie has been kind of worthless for, oh, two season now, but last night reminded me of why I found the character likeable and appealing…and it was in no small part due to the resurrection of that stupid song from his former band, Drive Shaft. It’s so ridiculous, but I love “Y’All Everybody.” I want to see Oasis cover it for real at a show sometime…that would be boss.
With The Other approaching and the survivors preparing for their arrival, Juliet tells the group that Ben is jamming all communications from the island in an underwater hatch and someone must swim into a supposedly flooded room and turn it off.
Desmond has one of his flashes and tells Charlie that it’s time…he has to die if he want to help Claire and her baby get rescued. A stoic Charlie agrees to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. It’s all very “Poseidon Adventure” or “Armegeddon.” The flashbacks were actually effective and poignant last night, because they scenes of Charlie remembering the best moments of his life before he knowingly goes into a situation he won’t walk away from. It was a nice change of pace from repetitive character beats in the flashbacks, and served more of an emotional purpose than a storytelling one.
Meanwhile, Jack has a plan for The Others. He tells everyone that Juliet has been instructed to mark the tents with the pregnant women with white at night so The Other know which tents to invade. Jack plans on filling the marked tents with dynamite and then “blowing them all to hell” (his delivery of the final part of the plan was classic Matthew Fox over-dramatic acting. He could teach a master class.)
The group realizes they must also head into the woods and turn off Russoau’s distress signal, which might also interfere with communications from the outside world, and that turning off her signal, flipping off Bens’ jamming signal, and the “blowing them all to hell” must happen all at once. It’s like a video game challenge for the survivors.
When Alex’s traumatized boyfriend shows up at the beach to tell the survivors that The Others are coming sooner than they feared, the group realizes they don’t have enough materials to wire the dynamite. So Sayid has another plan (he always does.) Three people will hide in the woods and shoot the dynamite when The Others’ enter the tents. Like in the end of “Jaws.”
Bernard shows up after an unexplained thirty episode absence and volunteers to be one of the shooters, demonstrating his expert marksmanship that was never alluded to in a previous episode. Whatever, it’s nice to have he and the always hilarious Rose back. Where have they been for so long?
The episode ends with Charlie and Desmond taking the boat out to the underwater hatch. Demond offers to take Charlie’s place, but Charlie knocks him out to ensure that he does it himself. What did I say? Just like “Armageddon.” You know, JJ Abrams was one of the 500 writers on that movie, so it’s not a shock. Just sayin’.
Ready to die, Charlie takes the plunge and swims to the bottom, entering the hatch…and surfaces inside a decidedly non flooded room. An ecstatic Charlie celebrates not being dead- until two bad ass chicks run out brandishing guns. Uh-oh.
So we’ve got Charlie being held prisoner in an underwater hatch, Jack and co hiking out to turn off the distress signal, and Sayid, Bernard, and Jin waiting in the shadows for The Others to attack, all of it culminating in next week’s episode. Oh yeah, and we still don't know the fate of poor, shot in the back John Locke.
Anybody think the Jack's plan is going to go perfectly in next week's finale? If you said yes, I’ve got a mystery island in an unknown region of the world to sell to you.
With next week’s final approaching quickly, there are lots of balls of story being juggled by the “Lost” writers right now, and it’s nice to see everything really clicking for the show again. “Lost” stumbled a bit early this season and some viewers walked away from the show, but hopefully they’ll come back to it when the DVDs come out this summer, because it’s been as good as (or better than) the first season for the last four or five weeks.
Last night’s Charlie-centric episode was no exception. Charlie has been kind of worthless for, oh, two season now, but last night reminded me of why I found the character likeable and appealing…and it was in no small part due to the resurrection of that stupid song from his former band, Drive Shaft. It’s so ridiculous, but I love “Y’All Everybody.” I want to see Oasis cover it for real at a show sometime…that would be boss.
With The Other approaching and the survivors preparing for their arrival, Juliet tells the group that Ben is jamming all communications from the island in an underwater hatch and someone must swim into a supposedly flooded room and turn it off.
Desmond has one of his flashes and tells Charlie that it’s time…he has to die if he want to help Claire and her baby get rescued. A stoic Charlie agrees to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. It’s all very “Poseidon Adventure” or “Armegeddon.” The flashbacks were actually effective and poignant last night, because they scenes of Charlie remembering the best moments of his life before he knowingly goes into a situation he won’t walk away from. It was a nice change of pace from repetitive character beats in the flashbacks, and served more of an emotional purpose than a storytelling one.
Meanwhile, Jack has a plan for The Others. He tells everyone that Juliet has been instructed to mark the tents with the pregnant women with white at night so The Other know which tents to invade. Jack plans on filling the marked tents with dynamite and then “blowing them all to hell” (his delivery of the final part of the plan was classic Matthew Fox over-dramatic acting. He could teach a master class.)
The group realizes they must also head into the woods and turn off Russoau’s distress signal, which might also interfere with communications from the outside world, and that turning off her signal, flipping off Bens’ jamming signal, and the “blowing them all to hell” must happen all at once. It’s like a video game challenge for the survivors.
When Alex’s traumatized boyfriend shows up at the beach to tell the survivors that The Others are coming sooner than they feared, the group realizes they don’t have enough materials to wire the dynamite. So Sayid has another plan (he always does.) Three people will hide in the woods and shoot the dynamite when The Others’ enter the tents. Like in the end of “Jaws.”
Bernard shows up after an unexplained thirty episode absence and volunteers to be one of the shooters, demonstrating his expert marksmanship that was never alluded to in a previous episode. Whatever, it’s nice to have he and the always hilarious Rose back. Where have they been for so long?
The episode ends with Charlie and Desmond taking the boat out to the underwater hatch. Demond offers to take Charlie’s place, but Charlie knocks him out to ensure that he does it himself. What did I say? Just like “Armageddon.” You know, JJ Abrams was one of the 500 writers on that movie, so it’s not a shock. Just sayin’.
Ready to die, Charlie takes the plunge and swims to the bottom, entering the hatch…and surfaces inside a decidedly non flooded room. An ecstatic Charlie celebrates not being dead- until two bad ass chicks run out brandishing guns. Uh-oh.
So we’ve got Charlie being held prisoner in an underwater hatch, Jack and co hiking out to turn off the distress signal, and Sayid, Bernard, and Jin waiting in the shadows for The Others to attack, all of it culminating in next week’s episode. Oh yeah, and we still don't know the fate of poor, shot in the back John Locke.
Anybody think the Jack's plan is going to go perfectly in next week's finale? If you said yes, I’ve got a mystery island in an unknown region of the world to sell to you.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Lost Watch: Ghosts in the Machine
So that’s why the still have the flashbacks.
After weeks of showing back-stories that don’t actually reveal any new information about the show’s main characters, this week’s “Lost” was a Ben Linus-centric episode, and it delivered, hard style.
The first thing we learn, right off the bat, is that Ben has been lying to everyone about being born on the island. He was born in Oregon (near where Juliet was flown to when she was first recruited…hmmmm) and his mother died in childbirth. The man who pulled over to help Ben’s panicked father ends up getting him a job on the island, working for the Dharma Initiative…as a “workman” (or janitor, which Ben’s daddy doesn’t take well at all.) The creepy little boy version of Ben sees his mother, or his mother’s ghost, or the black smoke monster posing as his mother, or whatever it is…and follows her out into the woods. Where he meets the slimy Other Richard, who looks like he is the exact same age as he is in the present- and this is supposed to be twenty something years earlier. Richard tells little Ben to be patient, and that he can join what The Dharma bums call “the hostiles” and we’ve been referring to as “The Others.” Cut to a few years later and Ben gets his chance, murdering his father while the rest of the hostiles murder the Dharma people, and then take over their little suburban town. So now we know how they came to live there, before Kate, Sayid, and company crashed the party.
The flashbacks were nice, but there’s no time like the present, and the new episode proved that rule to be very, very true. Locke shows up with his father’s dead body slung over his shoulder and demands answers. When Ben tells Locke that he’s not really the man in charge, that he takes orders from a man named Jacob, Locke demands that he take him to the real head cheese. Ben tries to weasel his way out of hit, but Locke has alpha maled his way into the hearts of the rest of The Others, so Ben agrees, to save face.
Meanwhile, back at the survivor’s camp, the crud is hitting the fan hard as Sawyer brings back the recording that Locke gave him that proves Juliet is still communicating with Ben. When everyone finds out about the injured parachutist, the group wants to know why nobody told Jack. An angry and intense (is there any other kind) Jack shows up and decides it’s time to talk. He admits he knew The Others were coming to take the survivor’s pregnant women folk. And that he was waiting to tell everyone until he had figured out what to do. Then, in super dramatic Jack fashion, he tells everyone “I guess we have a lot of catching up to do.” Thus setting up what might actually be an interesting Jack flashback season finale, and not, y’know, the boring story of how he got his tattoo while banging a weird Thai chick during a vision quest.
When Ben takes Locke to “Jacob’s” hidden cabin, there is nobody in the room. Ben begins to coverse with an empty chair, and for a minute I thought the writers were gonna go all Norman Bates with us and have Ben tell Locke “a boy’s best friend is his mother.” But then Locke hears a hoarse voice creak out “help me,” the room starts to move and vibrate, and Locke realizes, “crap, we might actually have a real ghost giving Ben orders.”
“Lost” easter egg fun fact…go through the scene where the cabin is going crazy to find a couple frames where you can see a man sitting in the previously empty chair.
After Locke’s creepy close encounter, Ben takes him to the pit where all the Dharma Scientists were gruesomely deposited after they were gassed by the hostiles. He tells Locke that he made a choice to join “the original natives of the island” (funny most of The Others seem pretty, I dunno, Caucasian, to be native Islanders) and that he was smart enough to do so and not “end up in that pit.” Then he tells Locke that’s what makes him smarter than him as well- and shoots him.
Ben asks the wounded Locke what Jacob said and tells him “I had to shoot you, because you could hear him.” Clearly, Locke is too powerful, or as everyone thinks he is, “special” to let Ben keep him alive. He’s a threat to his power.
So going into next week’s season finale, we have a new, huge mystery on our hands. A ghostly figure gives Ben all his orders? And Locke can hear him? I don’t wanna give anybody any spoilers, but I don’t think Locke will die. In fact, hopefully we’ll see him swoop in next week, Han Solo style, and save our survivors from the upcoming Other attack. And if Locke gets there in time, he’ll probably replace Ben as the one the Others look to. Once Ben’s is out of the way, maybe there will be more communication between the Hostiles/ Others and the survivors. Because no relationship can survive without communication. And then maybe we can go even deeper into the island’s mysteries.
With this week’s announcement that “Lost” has a set enddate (which means the writers can plan things out in advance and not stall their storytelling for fear that they won’t have enough material to make it into season nine or something awful like that,) this week’s amazing episode, and promises of a great season finale, “Lost” is on fire.
After weeks of showing back-stories that don’t actually reveal any new information about the show’s main characters, this week’s “Lost” was a Ben Linus-centric episode, and it delivered, hard style.
The first thing we learn, right off the bat, is that Ben has been lying to everyone about being born on the island. He was born in Oregon (near where Juliet was flown to when she was first recruited…hmmmm) and his mother died in childbirth. The man who pulled over to help Ben’s panicked father ends up getting him a job on the island, working for the Dharma Initiative…as a “workman” (or janitor, which Ben’s daddy doesn’t take well at all.) The creepy little boy version of Ben sees his mother, or his mother’s ghost, or the black smoke monster posing as his mother, or whatever it is…and follows her out into the woods. Where he meets the slimy Other Richard, who looks like he is the exact same age as he is in the present- and this is supposed to be twenty something years earlier. Richard tells little Ben to be patient, and that he can join what The Dharma bums call “the hostiles” and we’ve been referring to as “The Others.” Cut to a few years later and Ben gets his chance, murdering his father while the rest of the hostiles murder the Dharma people, and then take over their little suburban town. So now we know how they came to live there, before Kate, Sayid, and company crashed the party.
The flashbacks were nice, but there’s no time like the present, and the new episode proved that rule to be very, very true. Locke shows up with his father’s dead body slung over his shoulder and demands answers. When Ben tells Locke that he’s not really the man in charge, that he takes orders from a man named Jacob, Locke demands that he take him to the real head cheese. Ben tries to weasel his way out of hit, but Locke has alpha maled his way into the hearts of the rest of The Others, so Ben agrees, to save face.
Meanwhile, back at the survivor’s camp, the crud is hitting the fan hard as Sawyer brings back the recording that Locke gave him that proves Juliet is still communicating with Ben. When everyone finds out about the injured parachutist, the group wants to know why nobody told Jack. An angry and intense (is there any other kind) Jack shows up and decides it’s time to talk. He admits he knew The Others were coming to take the survivor’s pregnant women folk. And that he was waiting to tell everyone until he had figured out what to do. Then, in super dramatic Jack fashion, he tells everyone “I guess we have a lot of catching up to do.” Thus setting up what might actually be an interesting Jack flashback season finale, and not, y’know, the boring story of how he got his tattoo while banging a weird Thai chick during a vision quest.
When Ben takes Locke to “Jacob’s” hidden cabin, there is nobody in the room. Ben begins to coverse with an empty chair, and for a minute I thought the writers were gonna go all Norman Bates with us and have Ben tell Locke “a boy’s best friend is his mother.” But then Locke hears a hoarse voice creak out “help me,” the room starts to move and vibrate, and Locke realizes, “crap, we might actually have a real ghost giving Ben orders.”
“Lost” easter egg fun fact…go through the scene where the cabin is going crazy to find a couple frames where you can see a man sitting in the previously empty chair.
After Locke’s creepy close encounter, Ben takes him to the pit where all the Dharma Scientists were gruesomely deposited after they were gassed by the hostiles. He tells Locke that he made a choice to join “the original natives of the island” (funny most of The Others seem pretty, I dunno, Caucasian, to be native Islanders) and that he was smart enough to do so and not “end up in that pit.” Then he tells Locke that’s what makes him smarter than him as well- and shoots him.
Ben asks the wounded Locke what Jacob said and tells him “I had to shoot you, because you could hear him.” Clearly, Locke is too powerful, or as everyone thinks he is, “special” to let Ben keep him alive. He’s a threat to his power.
So going into next week’s season finale, we have a new, huge mystery on our hands. A ghostly figure gives Ben all his orders? And Locke can hear him? I don’t wanna give anybody any spoilers, but I don’t think Locke will die. In fact, hopefully we’ll see him swoop in next week, Han Solo style, and save our survivors from the upcoming Other attack. And if Locke gets there in time, he’ll probably replace Ben as the one the Others look to. Once Ben’s is out of the way, maybe there will be more communication between the Hostiles/ Others and the survivors. Because no relationship can survive without communication. And then maybe we can go even deeper into the island’s mysteries.
With this week’s announcement that “Lost” has a set enddate (which means the writers can plan things out in advance and not stall their storytelling for fear that they won’t have enough material to make it into season nine or something awful like that,) this week’s amazing episode, and promises of a great season finale, “Lost” is on fire.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Happy Blog-iversary (To Me)
As of today, I've officially been writing this blog for a year. And by "writing this blog" I mean "occasionally updating it every few months or so (other than the Lost entries, which I'm also posting on the website I work for job anyway.")
So to anyone who has been looking at it for updates on my life, my take on movies, politics, or the like (and not just my redundant opinions on Lost,) I can only say that I'm sorry. And add that there are probably not many of you looking to this blog for that anway, but if there are any, I'm going to try and get back in the habit of blogging, and blogging about more diverse topics than "Lost." Besides, the season is ending next week. It's nice to be able to just sit down and indulge in writing whatever I want.
Besides, the summer movie season is upon us. And y'all know I'll be good for that. In fact, I feel a "Spiderman 3" review coming on.
Editors Note: I thought I made up the term "Blog-iversary." But it's already in the Urban Dictionary, and translates to "The yearly anniversary of someones web-log (blog)" Damn. One day I'll come up with a zeitgeisty buzz word!
So to anyone who has been looking at it for updates on my life, my take on movies, politics, or the like (and not just my redundant opinions on Lost,) I can only say that I'm sorry. And add that there are probably not many of you looking to this blog for that anway, but if there are any, I'm going to try and get back in the habit of blogging, and blogging about more diverse topics than "Lost." Besides, the season is ending next week. It's nice to be able to just sit down and indulge in writing whatever I want.
Besides, the summer movie season is upon us. And y'all know I'll be good for that. In fact, I feel a "Spiderman 3" review coming on.
Editors Note: I thought I made up the term "Blog-iversary." But it's already in the Urban Dictionary, and translates to "The yearly anniversary of someones web-log (blog)" Damn. One day I'll come up with a zeitgeisty buzz word!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Lost Watch: Locke It Down
Episode Title: The Brig Air Date: 5/02/2007
Right now “Lost” is as good as it’s ever been, and last night’s Locke-centric episode, “The Brig” was one of the best in the show’s three year run.
We finally got to see what Mr. Locke was doing for the last eight days since Ben showed him that his father was on the island and recruited him to join The Others, we got a little more out of the woman who parachuted onto the island (including, finally, her name, Naomi,) more mysterious behavior from Jack and Juliet, some resolution to Sawyer’s back-story, and even a few scenes with Sayid (seriously, why is he never in the show anymore?)
And the best news of all was that there weren’t flashbacks that delivered redundant information about the back stories of the characters. Locke’s flashbacks took place on the island and filled us in about what he’s been up to for the last eight days since he’s been with The Others, a question most fans have been desperate to have answered for a few weeks now.
So what did happen during those eight days? Ben tells Locke he had to kill his father in order to “let go of his past” and truly accept the island. When Locke can’t kill him, Richard, the smarmy smooth talker who got Juliet to come to the island, tells Locke that there is somebody else who might be persuaded to finish his father off if he can’t do the job. He hands him one of the files The Others have on all the islanders (who does the filing for The Others, by the way? Do they have an on-island summer intern?) and sends him off.
It’s Sawyers bio. Turns out one of my theories from almost two years ago has finally paid off (I’m not that smart though, I’m sure a lot of people saw it coming as well,) because, drum roll please…Locke’s dad is the original Sawyer, the man who conned our beloved Sawyer’s mom, which led to his father murdering her and killing himself. So obviously, James, let’s call him Good Sawyer, kills Locke’s dad, the o.g. Sawyer, in the bowels of the slave ship where they found the dynamite to blow the doors off the hatch back in season one.
A sentence like that can really make “Lost” seem like a ridiculous show, can’t it?
Before Good Sawyer kills Locke’s dad/ Bad Sawyer, the evil old bastard presents a theory…that they are not on an island at all. He tells James/ Sawyer that he was in a car accident, and right before he blacked out he saw a paramedic smiling as he slipped IV into him, and says “it’s too hot here to be heaven.” So we’re back to the theory that everyone on the island is dead.
But not so fast, Losties. First of all, what about Ben’s claim that he just appeared in a box? Ben contradicts the claim, at least slightly, when he admits that “the box is a metaphor.” And Locke’s dad’s line about a man smiling before he put the IV in him seems more important to me than anything. One of The Others was sent to bring him to the island is the most likely scenario, and they put something in him that knocked him out until he arrived there, just like they did to Juliet. Obviously, Ben is going to great lengths to manipulate Locke. His ability to heal on the island does make him special in some way, and let’s not forget-the island itself talks to him. And the island doesn’t talk to just anybody. It’s kinda snooty that way.
So Sawyer kills the man who gave him his name and fulfills Locke’s destiny for him. The two men part ways, but not before Locke warns him that the Others are planning another attack to steal Sun and any other pregnant women away- and other pregnant women will probably include Kate now that she’s sleeping with Sawyer on a regular basis. Sawyer asks Locke if he’s coming back, and Locke says he never will, that he’s “on his own journey now.”
Meanwhile, back at camp, Hurley, Desmond, Charlie, and Jin are having their own existential crisis after Naomi the parachutist tells them that the Oceanic Flight they were all on was found off the coast of Bali and that there were no survivors. When they bring Sayid in to talk to her, she tells them that she took off from a ship just nineteen miles away from the island, and that she was hired by Penny to look for Desmond. So the big cliffhanger at the end of season 2 has finally paid off…at the end of season 3.
What plane is she talking about if it’s not the one our heroes were on (because as Sayid says “clearly, we’re not dead.) I still stubbornly refuse to believe the “all the islanders are dead” theory, mostly because it would be too simple and obvious, and also because the show’s creators have categorically denied the theory all along. Though they could be throwing us off the trail, I don’t think they’d outright lie to the fans. Which leads to the question, was there a real plane? Did somebody stage a crash to cover up the fact that the survivors are missing, and to keep anyone from looking for them? Or more simply, is Naomi lying?
The last piece of the puzzle in “The Brig” was the group’s refusal to tell Jack about Naomi. Kate gets wind of the new arrival and when Sayid tells her, she informs Jack…and Juliet, who Jack stubbornly defends and tells Kate “anything you need to say, you can say in front of her.” Kate lets Jack know that the reason they haven’t told him about Naomi is that they no longer trust him, but he doesn’t seem concerned about it at all. He seems more concerned with finding out where the helicopter took off from. Juliet looks alarmed and mysteriously says to Jack “we should tell her,” but Jack disagrees, saying “she’s not ready.” So now we know for sure that Jack knows something he’s been keeping from everyone else. Maybe the group wasn’t wrong to stop trusting him.
It was another episode packed with information, drama, emotion, and even a little comedy (loved the bit when Rouseau shows up in the ship while Locke has Sawyer locked in the brig with his father and they have an awkward moment before she leaves with some dynamite…which I’m sure will pay off before the season ends.) So much has happened in the last two weeks that it’s made up for the slow middle section of the season. “Lost” is really firing on all cylinders again, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Right now “Lost” is as good as it’s ever been, and last night’s Locke-centric episode, “The Brig” was one of the best in the show’s three year run.
We finally got to see what Mr. Locke was doing for the last eight days since Ben showed him that his father was on the island and recruited him to join The Others, we got a little more out of the woman who parachuted onto the island (including, finally, her name, Naomi,) more mysterious behavior from Jack and Juliet, some resolution to Sawyer’s back-story, and even a few scenes with Sayid (seriously, why is he never in the show anymore?)
And the best news of all was that there weren’t flashbacks that delivered redundant information about the back stories of the characters. Locke’s flashbacks took place on the island and filled us in about what he’s been up to for the last eight days since he’s been with The Others, a question most fans have been desperate to have answered for a few weeks now.
So what did happen during those eight days? Ben tells Locke he had to kill his father in order to “let go of his past” and truly accept the island. When Locke can’t kill him, Richard, the smarmy smooth talker who got Juliet to come to the island, tells Locke that there is somebody else who might be persuaded to finish his father off if he can’t do the job. He hands him one of the files The Others have on all the islanders (who does the filing for The Others, by the way? Do they have an on-island summer intern?) and sends him off.
It’s Sawyers bio. Turns out one of my theories from almost two years ago has finally paid off (I’m not that smart though, I’m sure a lot of people saw it coming as well,) because, drum roll please…Locke’s dad is the original Sawyer, the man who conned our beloved Sawyer’s mom, which led to his father murdering her and killing himself. So obviously, James, let’s call him Good Sawyer, kills Locke’s dad, the o.g. Sawyer, in the bowels of the slave ship where they found the dynamite to blow the doors off the hatch back in season one.
A sentence like that can really make “Lost” seem like a ridiculous show, can’t it?
Before Good Sawyer kills Locke’s dad/ Bad Sawyer, the evil old bastard presents a theory…that they are not on an island at all. He tells James/ Sawyer that he was in a car accident, and right before he blacked out he saw a paramedic smiling as he slipped IV into him, and says “it’s too hot here to be heaven.” So we’re back to the theory that everyone on the island is dead.
But not so fast, Losties. First of all, what about Ben’s claim that he just appeared in a box? Ben contradicts the claim, at least slightly, when he admits that “the box is a metaphor.” And Locke’s dad’s line about a man smiling before he put the IV in him seems more important to me than anything. One of The Others was sent to bring him to the island is the most likely scenario, and they put something in him that knocked him out until he arrived there, just like they did to Juliet. Obviously, Ben is going to great lengths to manipulate Locke. His ability to heal on the island does make him special in some way, and let’s not forget-the island itself talks to him. And the island doesn’t talk to just anybody. It’s kinda snooty that way.
So Sawyer kills the man who gave him his name and fulfills Locke’s destiny for him. The two men part ways, but not before Locke warns him that the Others are planning another attack to steal Sun and any other pregnant women away- and other pregnant women will probably include Kate now that she’s sleeping with Sawyer on a regular basis. Sawyer asks Locke if he’s coming back, and Locke says he never will, that he’s “on his own journey now.”
Meanwhile, back at camp, Hurley, Desmond, Charlie, and Jin are having their own existential crisis after Naomi the parachutist tells them that the Oceanic Flight they were all on was found off the coast of Bali and that there were no survivors. When they bring Sayid in to talk to her, she tells them that she took off from a ship just nineteen miles away from the island, and that she was hired by Penny to look for Desmond. So the big cliffhanger at the end of season 2 has finally paid off…at the end of season 3.
What plane is she talking about if it’s not the one our heroes were on (because as Sayid says “clearly, we’re not dead.) I still stubbornly refuse to believe the “all the islanders are dead” theory, mostly because it would be too simple and obvious, and also because the show’s creators have categorically denied the theory all along. Though they could be throwing us off the trail, I don’t think they’d outright lie to the fans. Which leads to the question, was there a real plane? Did somebody stage a crash to cover up the fact that the survivors are missing, and to keep anyone from looking for them? Or more simply, is Naomi lying?
The last piece of the puzzle in “The Brig” was the group’s refusal to tell Jack about Naomi. Kate gets wind of the new arrival and when Sayid tells her, she informs Jack…and Juliet, who Jack stubbornly defends and tells Kate “anything you need to say, you can say in front of her.” Kate lets Jack know that the reason they haven’t told him about Naomi is that they no longer trust him, but he doesn’t seem concerned about it at all. He seems more concerned with finding out where the helicopter took off from. Juliet looks alarmed and mysteriously says to Jack “we should tell her,” but Jack disagrees, saying “she’s not ready.” So now we know for sure that Jack knows something he’s been keeping from everyone else. Maybe the group wasn’t wrong to stop trusting him.
It was another episode packed with information, drama, emotion, and even a little comedy (loved the bit when Rouseau shows up in the ship while Locke has Sawyer locked in the brig with his father and they have an awkward moment before she leaves with some dynamite…which I’m sure will pay off before the season ends.) So much has happened in the last two weeks that it’s made up for the slow middle section of the season. “Lost” is really firing on all cylinders again, and it’s a beautiful thing.
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