Totally Amazing LOST Blog of Awesomeness

MY NINE MOVIES OF 2010

2010-12-22T16:11:00.000-08:00

Last year in a forum not related to my LOST blog, I picked the Top 10 movies that I saw in 2009. Not the 10 best movies, just the 10 movies that I saw that year. Now that LOST is over and THE WALKING DEAD is the new thing, instead of making a Totally Amazing Walking Dead Blog of Awesomeness, I have decided to do my Top 10 movies list right here, as a Christmas present to the three people who still check this blog. (Why, keep your eye on this site, cause I may have LOST my mind and decided to post my thoughts on the finale a mere seven months after it aired).

Sadly, this year I can’t even do a Top 10 list, as apparently I only saw 9 movies. And what really smarts is that it’s almost all Hollywood fare . . . I missed great low budget and independent stuff like Life During Wartime, Splice, Enter the Void, Survival of the Dead, MacGruber, The Kids Are All Right, and so on. I am a disgrace to my people.

Anyway, without farther or do, here is my Top 9 of 2010:

Clash of the Titans – This used to be the title of my favorite movie when I was a little kid, a beloved and cherished childhood memory that seemingly could never be tarnished. Now everyone will associate it with a mostly unrelated movie starring Liam Neeson as Zeus, Hades as Ralph Fiennes, and the guy from Avatar who has to be in everything or else it’s just not as good. And now too everyone will look back at the original and laugh at Ray Harryhausen’s groundbreaking stop motion animation because if it’s not James Cameron releasing the Kraken all over your face while raking up fistfuls of your hard earned cash, then it’s generally worthless. But the original also has Harry Hamlin in his undies, and this new movie does not. That has to count for something. Titans wasn’t the only Greek mythology movie of 2010, and it definitely wasn’t the only 3D release this year, and it wasn’t the only movie featuring Ralph Fiennes as a scary demonic magical being, but it . . . oh wait, apparently this movie has nothing going for it. But the monsters were really cool, and I am grateful to this movie for making me realize that the creature from Cloverfield was actually the Kraken. Also, one of the characters in this update is randomly (and awesomely) a djinn from Middle Eastern mythology, which is not Greek but whatever. I guess what I’m saying is the terrorists have won.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 – This is without a doubt the best half-movie of the year. They really varied the formula with this one: no Hogwarts, no Dumbledore, no pay off to the story. I’m not sure why they actually bothered to title it Harry Potter, but I guess that’s what draws the audience. The main wizard kid, whose name I cannot recall, is really upset this time. And his friends are also upset, so to make things better they go camping. And then they go camping again. And then again. And then they get attacked by a giant snake, so to get over it they decide to break with tradition and go for a little camp or two. Or five. But the snake is awesome, Voldemort turns in another terrifying performance as Ralph Fiennes, the acting is all top notch throughout, and it really does feel as if the previous six movies had all been building to THIS ONE EPIC MOMENT OH EM GEE. And then the movie stops, because we have to wait seven more months for that moment. Okay. Also, Tim Burton’s evil hag-bitch life partner snuffs Dobby. Not cool. However, big up for somehow finding a way to work a Nick Cave song into the Harry Potter franchise. And to think, they said it could never be done . . .

Inception – Cue spinning top! Or is it????????? Now that everyone in the world has washed his feet and sucked his toes in adoration of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan decided to tease us because he knows we'll put up with anything he does (for a while). So instead of just getting to it and making a third Batman movie, he went ahead and did this much-hyped glossy remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. For some reason, they got the woman who played Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose to be Freddy Krueger this time out, and then confusingly kept playing Edith Piaf songs anyway, so I guess what they are trying to say is that Edith Piaf is Freddy Krueger. Leonardo DiCaprio leads the latest gang of dumb horny teenagers who are supposed to get picked off one by one. But most of them don’t die, not even the girl from Juno (the cast of which really has it coming), and the deaths that do happen are pretty lame. And for no reason at all there is a James Bond-esque action scene at a ski resort snow palace, which is really just the movie saying “Yeah, we film in the Alps whenever we want. Why? Cause we’re rich and you’re not, that’s why.” Plus, the writers got lazy and made it impossible to know what parts are really a dream and what parts are really real and what parts are really real for real real, so at no point is there ever actually a way to understand what’s going on. It’s just way too complicated for an Elm Street movie. I mean, Dream Warriors was never this hard to follow, and that had a Dokken song in it, so you know some intelligent filmmaking was going on there. But this? This is just lazy filmmaking all around. Pretty much no thought or imagination went into this movie. A huge disappointment. Or is it??????

A Nightmare on Elm Street – Somehow, despite the fact that Christopher Nolan was already filming a remake of Elm Street, the wonderfully talented Michael Bay’s company went ahead and actually made a movie called A Nightmare on Elm Street. They even had the audacity to name the villain Freddy Krueger! (It’s like Hollywood isn’t even trying anymore). Except this time, instead of being Robert Englund or Edith Piaf or Ralph Fiennes, Freddy is played by Rorschach. It seems that after Dr. Manhattan sploded him, Rorschach became a ghost demon that kills people in their dreams, which suspiciously all look like bad music videos. Seriously though, I’m not sure why Jackie Earle Haley has centered his career comeback on playing child molesters and sociopaths, but whatever works, I guess. If he keeps this up he’ll probably have to start alerting his new neighbors whenever he moves. One plus about this movie is that it’s easier to follow than the Christopher Nolan remake. Come to think of it, they probably should have got the people who made this movie to do an actual remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I bet that would have been awesome.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians – This is the other movie from 2010 featuring a Hydra. It is a very new and unique tale, unlike any other movie released this year, about a downtrodden youngster with a sad home life who finds out that they are really a magical being and then subsequently swept into a hidden world of supernatural intrigue. But with only a minimum of camping! This movie gets a lot of points for having awesome monsters AND Uma Thurman as Medusa AND featuring a Lady Gaga song AND somehow managing to weave Pierce Brosnan into all this madness. The only bummer is that Hades was busy with Clash of the Titans IT’S IN 3D SEE IT NOW WE DEMAND IT, so unfortunately they got Russell Brand or whoever to play Ralph Fiennes in this film. He just doesn’t do as good a job. I took one look at him and said, “Get him to the Greek . . . mythology. Not!” I sincerely hope no one is still reading this.

Piranha 3D – Remember all the popular pretty people in high school who partied and had social lives and thought 311 was a great band and weren’t awkward all the time? Well, those morons all get ripped to quivering hunks of meat in this, the third entry in the blockbuster Piranha franchise. James Cameron thought that no one could top his flying mutant piranha-grunion hybrid movie from 1981, but--just like the time he claimed that Avatar was very original--it turns out he was wrong and even a bit delusional. And did Avatar have a prehistoric fish regurgitating Jerry O’Connell’s member right at the audience? No. No it did not. This is pretty much the best movie ever made. Glad we can finally put that issue to rest.

Resident Evil: Afterlife – After taking a break from the Resident Evil franchise to direct stinkers like There Will Be Blood, Paul Anderson returned to the series to helm the fourth installment, which of course is in freaking 3D oh my gosh big whoop. Milla Jovovich, returning yet again as Alice, continues to kick all sorts of zombie and mutant butt in this movie, most notably in an awesome scene featuring a dude with a big axe who clearly walked off the set of 300 and into this movie by accident. You just cannot go wrong with the Resident Evil series: Milla Jovovich in skimpy clothes killing zombies and tentacled demonspawn, industrial metal blasting over the soundtrack, repeat. This, my friends, is a winning formula. It is also most likely Trent Reznor’s deepest, darkest fantasy come to life. Alas, as with Piranha I did enjoy the 3D on this one, but the very next day went ahead and saw it in 2D and guess what??? Nothing about the movie was different. Same wonderful little film, minus the annoying sunglasses. I think that when Alice finally takes down the ubiquitous Umbrella Corporation, 50 years from now in Resident Evil: Raccoon City Nemesis Apocalypse Rebirth Annihilation , the evil head of the company should be revealed to be none other than James Cameron. And once she fights her way through his army of flying mutant piranha-grunion hybrid hench-fish, she should paint the floor with his bearded head in glorious, glorious 2D. Would that it were so!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Not bad.

The Social Network – This is a hard-hitting yet understated character drama about the perils of success, the difficulties of the creative process, the struggle between the privileged and the visionary, the slippery nature of ownership, and the way technology increases our ability to connect whilst simultaneously depersonalizing those connections and contributing to a broader sense of existential isolation. Whatever. All I know is that David Fincher made Se7en and Fight Club. Those were real movies that spoke to me, because they described exactly what I was going through at the time. Fincher used to have cajones. He used to talk about how happiness is fake and the only real true reality is the one of darkness and pain and serial killers. He used to be Tyler Durden. Now he makes boring “important” movies like The Social Network and Zodiac (which wasn’t even gory and they never even told you who did it at the end! Saw VII was WAY better) and The Boringest Case of Benjamin’s Button Collection. Lame. It also seems like Fincher doesn’t understand kids today. I mean, Facebook is awesome, computers are awesome, and being a 26-year old billionaire is awesome. You get to party every night! I think Fincher is just jealous of Mark Zuckerberg’s success. He obviously doesn’t know what it’s like to be a successful young hotshot living in California, I will tell you that much. Even the score by Trent Reznor, who in the 90’s rocked so hard but now is yet another sellout babbling about sobriety, is just a bunch of wimpy techno music. They might as well have got Enya to do the soundtrack. I think Trent was just ticked because he didn’t get the composer job for Resident Evil: Afterlife. Terrible. And Ralph Fiennes isn’t even in this! Instead it’s this Jesse Iceberg or what have you. He’s like a less pathetic Michael Cera. Could they not just get Michael Cera for this movie? I guess he was busy with Scott Pilgrim. Seriously, kill the f***ing cast of Juno already, is what I am saying. And then waste everyone involved in The Social Network, once Diablo Cody is out of the way. I hated this movie more than Christopher Nolan’s remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I almost hated it as much as I hated the ending of LOST (no fairy tale endings for me thank you, I live in the REAL world). Booo!

Worst Movie That I Did Not See: Meet the Fockers – Actual scene: Ben Stiller has to give Robert DeNiro an injection in his throbbing gristle because the old man has taken too much of something that enhances male performance, all in front of his little kid. Sounds hilarious. Christmas fun for the whole family. And the name Focker sounds like F***er! Do you get it? LITTLE F***ERS! Fock you.

Worst Movie That I Actually Did See: Alice in Wonderland – Okay, I hope it’s obvious how much I actually loved The Social Network. I hate to kneel before the boner of public opinion, but I do agree that it was one of the year's best (and the soundtrack by T-Rez does rule). Not so for Tim Burton’s latest attempt to boost merchandising sales at Hot Topic. Somehow managing to drop or otherwise lose every single element from Lewis Carroll’s stories that is actually interesting, Alice in Wonderland replaces the logic puzzles and mildly disturbing surrealism with a half-hearted Harry Potter/Percy Jackson “chosen one” fantasy type story, then caps it with a totally unearned girl-power motif. The 3D is awful and like trying to watch the movie behind a dim window pane, Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen is such an obvious attempt to appease and appeal to the self-hating narcissism of Goth girls that it’s actually insulting (plus she killed Dobby), and Johnny Depp is in major recycle mode as the Mad Hatter, whose CGI hip-hop dance is the single worst thing that I have seen on a movie screen, ever. You know, something like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a completely pandering movie, gleefully selling itself to nerds and hipsters alike, exploding in a masturbatory burst of self-congratulatory nostalgia and pop culture references. BUT, the movie’s got a heart. It totally earns the right to do whatever it wants, and underneath all the Nintendo references is a real story that surpasses the slam-dunk self-marketing of the movie’s sheen. Not Alice in Wonderland, which is so cynically put together and lazy that there might as well be cue cards telling you when and how to respond to the movie. Here is Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts; Laugh Knowingly and Loudly To Demonstrate That You Get It. Here is Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter; Dress Up As Him For Halloween, Costume Available Now! Look At Alice; She Is So Different and Unlike Her Stuffy British Counterparts, Whatever Will She Do Next?! Fock you too. I don’t even count this movie as something that I saw, hence its absence from the above list; it’s more like something bad that happened to me, such as SARS or Glenn Beck or the time I was robbed at gunpoint. As far as I’m concerned, there is only one movie from this year about an ass-kicking girl named Alice set loose in a fantasy land of monsters and mayhem and corruption, and that movie is Resident Evil. Oh yeah, and Underland? What a crock of shit.

Best Movie That I Have Yet To See: Black Swan – Okay, so I still haven’t seen it, but every Darren Aronofsky movie is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. This stupid jerk can’t stop being talented and awesome all the time. So I’m looking forward to seeing this butt nugget’s latest movie, which I’m sure will be great, and I will probably love it so much I’ll want to kill myself because I am nothing compared to this guy’s latest masterpiece. Thanks a lot, Aronofsky.

THE END

2010-08-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

LOST ended three months ago. Hard to believe that we’re already looking down the barrel of the gun for the DVD release of both season six as well as the complete series. Time goes by quickly, I guess, even if you have a magical electromagnetic island to slow things down.

I spent a decent amount of time this summer composing my each and every thought on both the finale as well as the series as a whole, organizing it all into what was intended to be my final major blog post about LOST. Since it had taken me so long, I decided to wait until shortly before the DVD release, as that would give both myself and anyone who may be reading a fresher and clearer perspective on the show, as well as tapping into the excitement over the final DVD set and its inclusion of the show’s epilogue, “The New Man in Charge,” a humorous and slightly emotional goodbye forever to the world of LOST (as well as an attempt to clarify certain mythological questions, and give closure to the one character who had to be glossed over in the final season’s narrative).

Yes, there are many reasons to finally post my thoughts on “The End,” and I almost did just that. But I’ve decided against it. LOST is over. LOST is gone. Therefore, I think this blog has outlived its reason for being, too. There is not much point in posting my thoughts about the show. Not now. I have other things I’d rather think about, and I doubt many people will be visiting this site much in the future, or even currently. And anyone who may have been eagerly awaiting my post about the finale has, I’m sure, long since given up (and rightfully so).

The reaction to the final season of LOST was an intense one, and I’d be lying if I said I’m okay with being a part of that reaction. I’m very much not okay with it, actually. The sheer amount of anger, hate and feelings of betrayal directed at the series in the wake of the finale was staggering, even to me, and I expected a pretty strongly negative reaction to begin with. But constructive criticism seems to have flown out the window in favor of a response that is grudgingly unfulfilled at best and passionately spiteful at worst. And hey, everyone is free to feel however they’re gonna feel. I just don’t want to be part of it.

Three months after the finale and message boards, blogspots and chat rooms are still filled with ridiculous comments, the collective pitter-patter chitter-chatter of so much empty and angry cyber-rhetoric being flung at all sides like so much bullshit. Liked the finale? Then you’re a moron who doesn’t know what a good story is, who’ll buy any touchy-feely religious claptrap thrown your direction, and who can’t accept that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are two no-talent jackass hacks who conned the audience every step of the way. Didn’t like the finale? Then you’re just a cold-hearted creep who only cares about answers to the show’s mythology and couldn’t appreciate the characters, and were never a “real fan”. Yep, real productive there.

When “Across the Sea” aired, this seemed to be the beginning of the type of polarized, name-calling bickering masquerading as conversation. I remember wanting to write an in-depth discussion about the episode, about why people hated it so much and about why I liked it. But I didn’t. Couldn’t. At the time I thought it was just general laziness, and while that certainly was a factor, I realize now the reason I didn’t defend the episode was because there was no point. I had no real overwhelming drive to discuss or defend LOST in a public forum. It was the end of the show. I just wanted to watch it.

I understand now that my laziness was actually a type of fatigue, a bored and disinterested attitude not toward the show but towards writing about the show on the internet. Online discussions about LOST have always been contentious, but in the furor over the last season, those increasingly rare and tenuously constructive conversations were largely replaced with something else, a growing disillusionment that was really the end point of the game we’d been playing with the show for years.

You see, LOST is the case of the show that offered itself to the audience, and that audience tore it to pieces. The series had built such loyalty and dedication that it seemed like the viewers would be willing to go along for the ride. And that’s where LOST made the mistake. It encouraged the willingness of the core audience to hang on every word, to investigate every subtle reference, despite serious misgivings from those audience members about the show’s characters, storylines, pacing, and direction. The situation was such that, the further the show went along, if anything it actually discouraged people from going along for the ride. People stayed, but many seemed to do so reluctantly.

The series coasted for years on ambiguity and mystery, and those enigmatic gaps were filled by the imaginations of viewers who enjoyed trying to decipher What Is Really Going On. Clues were handed out through alternate reality games, websites, tie-in novels, jigsaw puzzles and podcasts. It all seemed to be leading somewhere, to some defined endpoint where everything would make sense, and many people were willing to accept LOST on the condition that this would turn out to be true. And it wasn’t true. LOST was indeed telling a complex and grandiose story, but not in the way many viewers had assumed. Therefore, the almost paranoid attention to minute details added up to not much in the way of anything when it came to the grand scheme of things.

This isn’t to say those elements didn’t matter. For those interested, they offered a richer background to the universe in which LOST took place. But fun mystery games providing extraneous mythological details were not what many of the most dedicated viewers were hoping for. Again, many people accepted these elements conditionally, on the notion that LOST would bring it all together in the end. And that faith was misguided. LOST, albeit somewhat inadvertently though not totally blamelessly, bred a fanbase almost incapable of just sitting back and enjoying the ride, as the series actually encouraged its own scrutiny, cultivating a cultural hysteria that came back at the show in a major way. Many viewers were incapable of accepting the series in total as they were too busy hypercriticizing every single step along the path, trying to ensure that each move made concise sense and added to the complete picture. And it’s difficult to enjoy something when you’re trapped in the details, lost with no perspective in an endless tangle of mythological questions seemingly going nowhere. John Locke didn’t really believe, but he wanted to. LOST’s viewers were the same way: they weren’t really convinced, but they hoped they would be.

The show’s open-ended mysteries allowed viewers to create their own speculative answers, which in turn gave audience members the license to more or less invent their own LOST. You could decide what was acceptable in terms of the direction of the series, and then hold the series to that expectation. Don’t like Jack and Kate? Hopefully they’ll die before the end of the show. They’d better. Is the mysticism of the island too New Age hocus pocus for you? Well, you heard that everything on the island can be explained scientifically, so that stuff should go away. It’d better. Fascinated by the Egyptian stuff, and need to know more? Rest assured the series will explain all of that in detail, as the writers wouldn’t just be adding that stuff for stage dressing. Right???

I could go on. When you don’t know where things are going, it’s easy to make mountains out of mole hills, and that most certainly happened in the audience’s fascination with the island mythology. Eventually it became so big in the minds of viewers that no answer could ever really be satisfying, as the answers were dwarfed by the questions which spawned them. In the final season there was an overwhelming outcry about answers . . . about not having answers that were deserved, about the answers given being ultimately lame and unsatisfying, about the delivery of those answers having been underwhelmingly written. It was a lose-lose situation, which perhaps makes the title of the series ultimately more fitting. LOST was really doomed from the start, when you think about it.

Perhaps LOST’s biggest failing was that it led people to believe, or at least allowed them to believe, that the series was a solvable mystery . . . a kind of cosmic whodunit with the revelation of the killer replaced with the revelation of What Is The Island. But it wasn’t that kind of mystery. LOST was about the ungraspable nature of mystery, the ineffable experience of truly encountering the unknown, and how people make sense of that encounter as they come to terms with their own lives. But enough of that.

I don’t really think it’s entirely the fault of the show’s writers that good portions of the audience decided to read what they wanted into the series and ignore what the show was actually doing. After all, you can’t control how the audience will react or interpret. All the writers could do was tell the story they wanted to tell, the story they knew they were telling. And ambiguity is the nature of the game with LOST, so it would never be possible to fully clarify to the audience without being pedantic, didactic and condescending, not to mention dramatically inert. But this worked against the show as it bred resentment, when LOST turned out not to be the show many people imagined or wanted it to be. Was the audience really listening to the series or just hearing what they wanted to hear? I have no idea. Furthermore, I don’t give a shit at this point.

Sadly, LOST is heralded as the series that used the internet to become a runaway success. Because of online communities, message boards, fan podcasts and devoted blogs, LOST created a net-based community that supposedly kept the flame alive. Damon and Carlton’s own podcasts as well as the producer-run message board the Fuselage contributed to the increased interactivity between author and audience. However, all of this ultimately turned against the show. The internet community the series helped to foster was the first segment to attack the series when it became abundantly clear that expectations were not going to be met. And Damon and Carlton’s increased media exposure simply ensured that fans would hold them personally responsible for wasting six years of their precious lives.

It was the sense of ownership, entitlement and even co-authorship that LOST provided to the audience which ultimately led to its unraveling in the minds of that very audience, because that authorship was an illusion. The audience really had no say in the direction of the show, nor should they have. But an entire network of rabidly devoted websites would seem to suggest otherwise. When it dawned on viewers that LOST was not beholden to their wishes or demands, people took it very, very personally.

It also doesn’t help that LOST trod out themes that people tend to take personally anyway, especially when they become so mentally engaged in a particular work that its status as a piece of fiction becomes less prominent than its status as something really important and meaningful. (And I consider it a good thing that people found it meaningful; I did as well). Good and evil, life and death, science and faith are all philosophical issues that strike chords with people and rightfully so, but LOST did not play those particular chords or cards especially well for many viewers. LOST was perhaps invested with too much meaning, so that when all was said and done, its failure to live up to that level of meaning has caused it to be perceived as ultimately meaningless.

The criticism of the show is more of a blur than a consensus. LOST should have had more science and less mysticism. It should have been more religious and less sci-fi. It should have been more about good and evil. The good and evil were too ambiguous. They weren’t ambiguous enough. The mysteries were over-explained. The mysteries were under-explained. More Jacob, more Man in Black. Jacob and MIB suck. No afterlife please, this is a show about time travel. Less time travel please, this is a show about people. Less people please, this is a show about mystery. Less mystery please, this is a show about plane crashes. Enough plane crashes, this is a show about tropical fruit. LOST was too complicated. It was too simple. It wasn’t enough of anything.

This glut of boringly dissatisfied feedback hangs over any attempt to discuss the show online like the black smoke monster waiting to pounce after a particularly mind-numbing bender. Why? Because it isn’t just with LOST that many attempts at meaningful conversation dissolve into hyperbolic white noise. It’s with the internet at large, as the web is a medium which encourages a sense of entitlement, in this case an entitlement to opinion. And of course we all are entitled to our opinions, but the internet encourages the broadcasting of those opinions. Everyone is a critic, and everyone is a cynic. As a forum for conversation, the internet often fails because it simultaneously strokes our sense of self-importance and self-righteousness, which ultimately results in a breakdown of actual communication, as our words fall upon eyes that simply will see what they want to see, and the words themselves were probably self-satisfied gibberish anyway.

Even this blog posting is likely a bunch of nonsense, and possibly guilty of everything I’ve said above.

And that’s the problem. By maintaining this blog, I’ve added to the white noise, and inadvertently contributed to the negative and hostile atmosphere surrounding the discussion of this show. People don’t want to have a calm and fun conversation about something they thought was cool. They want to scream and moan and bitch about how much it sucked and what a waste of time it was, or they want to dismiss those who didn’t like it as being less than human (over a TV show???), or they want to sit back with cool indifference and write the whole thing off as an exercise for idiots. The internet—not all of it, but in decent amounts—is a place of gossip, of self-absorbed whining, of ego-stoking fantasies and always justified indignant negativity.

Visit the comments on a Yahoo news article, an IMDB message board, or a LOST blog and you’ll see the same predictable antagonism being recycled ad nauseum. By criticizing the internet on the internet I am in fact fulfilling those same functions. It’s truly like a Hydra: cut off the head, and two grow in its place. It cannot be defeated. The moronic beast that was television is now giving us shows like LOST; thankfully, we can use the internet to destroy such things. Plus, TV is still giving us shows like “My Super Sweet 16,” so the dream hasn’t died completely. We can use the internet to destroy such things. Cyberspace is the equal opportunity destroyer, after all. It is a toxic, poisonous place where everyone gets to be fashionably disappointed together. And, as the Comedian is fond of pointing out, it’s all a joke.

We know too much. Simple as that. The internet spreads information so quickly that we’ve become accustomed to feeling entitled to that information, and parade this supposed knowledge about as if it’s stone hard fact. Take the instances on LOST of characters being written out of the show. People base their feelings on characters like Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Libby, Nikki, Paulo, etc. not just on how those characters’ stories were presented onscreen, but also on what they’ve heard the behind-the-scenes reasons were for those characters being killed off. Ana Lucia sucks because everyone knows Michelle Rodriguez was fired for being difficult to work with, and for her drunk driving arrest. Mr. Eko was great but his death was lame because everyone knows Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje demanded to be written out of the show. Everyone knows there were big plans for Nikki and Paulo but they were killed off because we, the viewers, refused to accept them. But honestly, who cares?

Who gives a fuck if someone was written out because they demanded more money, drove drunk or fought with the caterer? The only thing that matters should be what made it onto the screen, not what our tabloid culture feeds us about the alleged truth. We are killing the illusion, exposing the magic trick before it’s even done being performed, because our hunger for facts that justify our skepticism outweighs our ability to enjoy. We’ve been spoiled by knowledge becoming so available that it’s teetering on disposability.

We contribute to an online culture which claims to appreciate something but then despises that very thing at every turn, just because the internet provides a suitable venue for an arrogant cynicism we don’t get to overtly display in daily life. We treat the things we enjoy as if they’re hunks of meat and we’re ravenous piranhas, the strands of gristle that remain the only bits and pieces we’re willing to appreciate and leave standing, and even then we’ll only appreciate them cautiously, on a trial basis. All of which is just my highly melodramatic (remember, this is the internet) way of saying that I’m tired of talking about LOST online, and it’s time to move on. It’s also my way of saying that I can’t wait to see “Piranha 3D”.

My point isn’t that I hate talking about LOST, or that criticism of LOST is a bad thing. I understand that much of the vitriolic disappointment directed at the show arises from the fact that people were passionate about it. People cared. It’s just that the internet is shaping up to be one of the worst possible places to have these discussions. It’s simply not interesting anymore. I don’t care enough what I think about LOST to write any more expansive blog entries nitpicking every nook and cranny of the show. (Not every nook and cranny, John . . . haha, get it?!). Who gives a shit what I have to say about it, really? Who cares if everyone thinks the characters were dead the whole time? (They weren’t. Sorry, still can’t let that one go). It’s just a TV show, and these are just a bunch of ramblings posted among endless other ramblings in some pervasive net of polished opinions we currently call the blogosphere.

I loved LOST, everything about it, from start to finish, Pilot to The End. But I love it enough that I don’t need to talk about it in a public forum. There will always be plenty of other people who will do that. I’ll keep my ultimate thoughts on the series to myself. I’ve had enough of opinions, even my own. This isn’t a place for living words. The internet is a dead place, with frozen words set to echo effect, disembodied and omnipresent like the whispers which supposedly should have been coming from anything but ghosts. I don’t want to write dead words about a dead show. I want to write something that is alive, and that, my friends, is what I shall do. Time to let go and move on.

I won’t be deleting this blog or anything, as I put too much into it over the last few years. All of the many highlights of my foolishness will remain on display here. (My favorite being when I got mad at season three for not fulfilling my wish about an alternate timeline where the plane never crashed . . . a wish mostly fulfilled three years later, when I thankfully stopped taking the show so personally). Even my whining about Libby’s backstory, Claire’s implant, and Miles’ paranormal abilities are laughable in retrospect. So silly.

Still, I don’t regret this blog. Thank you so much to anyone who visited here, and who cared to read what I had to say. I enjoyed all of the conversations, and I will still read any comments people may leave, even the ones from automated worms that post porn ads in foreign languages and broken English. (“You like a happy time with his slug??? Make a yesterday for satisfying!!!”). Also, to my fellow LOST bloggers who I’ve gotten to know over the years, please don’t take anything said here as being directed at you. It was a pleasure getting to read your thoughts as well. I may one day post my thoughts on the finale, but for now I consider this my final entry and this blog having met its end.

Namaste, and see you in another life.

16 Questions LOST Actually Answered (Sort of), and 8 That It Didn't (Sort Of)

2010-06-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, LOST is over. I loved, loved, LOVED the finale and could not be happier with it. I’m still collecting my thoughts on the episode as well as the series as a whole, but until I’m finished I thought it might be fun to address some of the series’ supposedly unanswered mysteries. I actually think the show has given us enough information so that we can really piece together the answers to some of these mysteries ourselves. The issue of unaddressed questions really hindered some people’s enjoyment of the finale, so I think this is a somewhat timely topic for LOST fans. Plus, this is no less than the third time I have attempted to post this, so this post has been cooking for a while. I swear to the island that I will personally destroy the Source itself if Blogger eats my post once more time.

Ahem.

Before I get to the topic at hand, two things. First, the season six DVD will supposedly include about 15 or 20 minutes of newly filmed footage which will attempt to wrap up some of the below questions in an entertaining way, completely in-story. Rumor has it that even Malcolm David Kelley filmed scenes for this extra material (awesome!). So, in the event that my ideas below are invalidated in a few months by the bonus material on the DVD, my apologies. Secondly, these are just my interpretations. I have tried to hew as closely as possible to evidence provided by the series itself and not project too many of my own opinions, but I’m sure I failed in some respect.

#1. Where did the polar bears come from?

The polar bears were brought to Hydra island by the DHARMA Initiative, who were conducting biological and behavioral experiments on various animals at the Hydra station. The blast door map reveals that DHARMA was genetically altering the bears to adapt them to warmer climates. Once the Hydra station was abandoned, the bears were let loose and eventually swam to the main island, where they took up residence in some of the island’s many caves.

#2. Why is Aaron special?

The supposed psychic Richard Malkin was lying when he told Claire that a horrible fate would await Aaron if she didn’t raise him herself. Essentially, Malkin was a fraud and he was conning Claire, tricking her into giving Aaron to the couple in Los Angeles. Malkin himself revealed that he was a scam artist when questioned by Mr. Eko. (And in a deleted scene, Malkin did explain that he was paid $16,000 by an American couple to scare a pregnant woman into giving them her baby). As for Charlie needing to baptize Aaron, this was likely the island’s way of trying to protect the baby from the monster, given that it was planning to “claim” Claire. The Man in Black even ensured that Aaron was taken off of the island (“the baby is exactly where he needs to be,” is what he said), indicating that he could have wanted to keep Aaron safe from the chaos he was planning to unleash. In other words, the series has more or less suggested that MIB manipulated Aaron’s leaving the island . . . probably out of a weird empathy, wanting the baby to avoid a life of being trapped on the island with a crazy mother. He essentially confirmed this when talking to Kate about his own mother.

#3. What’s the deal with Walt’s powers?

We have seen many characters who seem to exhibit supernatural abilities: Walt, Hurley, Desmond, Miles, Jacob, the Man in Black (both before and after he became the smoke monster), and even Isaac of Uluru (the faith healer who explained the electromagnetism to Rose). The idea seems to be that exposure to the island’s energy can invest certain people with more or less magical powers; those who already have these abilities find them magnified when coming to the island. Walt was just the first of many characters who would experience this, and his powers were particularly strong. The Others took him because they could no longer have children of their own (and he was supposedly on Jacob’s list). Walt was kept in Room 23 on Hydra island after his kidnapping. However, his powers were so weird that he terrified the Others, and this is why they ultimately decided to let him go back to Michael. Walt himself was not necessarily aware of or in control of his abilities, meaning he would cause bizarre things to happen without necessarily meaning to. It seems he maintained some kind of connection to Locke even after leaving the island, which might explain his appearance when Locke was in the DHARMA body pit.

#4. What is the Sickness?

From what we’ve seen, the Sickness is a type of corruption caused by exposure to the dark energy of the black smoke. It drove Rousseau’s team mad, and nearly destroyed Sayid and Claire. The DHARMA vaccine was likely the Initiative’s way of protecting people from the influence of the monster (and possibly the negative side effects of the electromagnetism in general). It is probably not even an actual vaccine, but a chemical agent keeping the black smoke at bay, which would explain why DHARMA members had to use repeated injections. And remember that the vaccine is labeled CR 4 8-1516-23 42. The letter C was used by DHARMA to stand for Cerberus, the DI’s code name for the black smoke, so there’s a decent chance “CR” meant “Cerberus”. We know the vaccine was largely supplied by the Staff station, which likely was devoted to studying the positive and negative effects the island has on people’s health (i.e. the healing properties). This also explains why the Others were injecting Aaron with the vaccine when he was still in the womb; they were trying to protect him from the monster’s corruption. As for the Quarantine sign on the hatch, this was probably just the DHARMA Initiative’s way of keeping Swan station members inside, considering the threat posed by the Others, the monster and the Tempest station, as well as the importance of pushing the button.

#5. Where did the DHARMA supply drop come from?

As we know, the island exists within a warp in the spacetime continuum. Since time on the island is somewhat out of sync with the outside world, it would cause something like the supply drop to seemingly appear out of nowhere. DHARMA was still sending supplies because the Swan station remained in operation after the Purge; whether or not they even knew about the Purge at all is largely insignificant. The “Mysteries of the Universe” feature on the fifth season DVD reveals that DHARMA sometimes had trouble locating the island and would mistakenly drop supplies at incorrect locations, further indicating the disconnect between the island and the rest of the world.

#6. Why was Libby in the mental institution?

Libby explained to Desmond that her husband had just recently died, and not long afterwards we see her at the Santa Rosa mental hospital. Essentially, Libby had a nervous breakdown after the death of her husband, and had herself hospitalized. This was always the explanation that the writers intended, but intense fan speculation about Libby’s reason for being in the mental institution caused them to concoct a much different backstory, supposedly more conspiratorial and along the lines of Libby having a connection to Charles Widmore and the freighter. This would have been revealed in season four, but was cut short due to the writers’ strike. The writers attempted to revisit this plotline in the fifth season, but the actress who plays Libby (Cynthia Watros) turned down their offer, and the entire storyline was ultimately scrapped. Thus, Libby’s backstory remains what the writers originally intended anyway.

#7. Who built the statue? The frozen donkey wheel? The Temple? The Lighthouse?

It’s a safe bet that the giant statue of an Egyptian deity covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics was built by, you know, the Egyptians. They were clearly on the island at some point after Jacob and the Man in Black became the dynamic duo. As we’ve seen, the Egyptians built many monuments and other structures all over the island, not just the statue of Taweret. There’s a good chance they’re the ones who finished the MIB’s donkey wheel, as well as contributed to the Temple (which drew from several different cultures) and constructed the Lighthouse. They were simply one of a variety of civilizations that have come and gone on the island. DHARMA probably used the Egyptian symbols in the Swan countdown timer (as well as in the Valenzetti Equation) because they were studying the island’s ancient history.

#8. Why do pregnant women die on the island?

This is possibly the biggest question people have. By 2004, we know that the island causes a pregnant women’s body to turn on the fetus, ultimately killing both mother and child. It’s almost as if the island is trying to heal the women of their pregnancies. But when the characters went back in time to 1977, DHARMA had no trouble with women conceiving and giving birth on the island. Neither did the Others, since Eloise was pregnant with Daniel and again there were no issues. Juliet is nervous about delivering Amy’s baby (who turned out to be Ethan), but Sawyer mentions that whatever causes pregnant women to die probably hasn’t happened yet. He’s right, and Ethan is delivered no problem. But what happens not long after? The Incident. And everything we’ve seen post-Incident indicates that women who conceive on the island will die not long into their pregnancy. Eloise quickly left the island and fled to the outside world to give birth to Daniel (and hide from Widmore), and over the next 27 years the Others wound up kidnapping/adopting Ethan, Alex, Zach, Emma, Walt and also tried to take Aaron. Most likely, the Incident either damaged the island’s healing properties or simply inhibited human reproduction, and this is causing pregnant women to die. Women who conceive off-island are not affected by this phenomenon (which is why Claire and Rousseau were fine but Sun needed to leave). It’s possible that detonating the Swan station may have fixed this problem—or for that matter, resetting the Source, killing the smoke monster, and/or instituting Hurley as the new leader could have fixed it as well—but we’ll never really know unless this is clarified further.

#9. Who was really in Jacob’s cabin?

The Man in Black. Since Ilana and her team first went looking for Jacob at the cabin, and given the circle of ash surrounding it, we can determine that Jacob did reside there at one time. But eventually he abandoned the cabin and went back to his home under the statue. The circle of ash was broken and the Man in Black started occupying the cabin, which is why Ilana says “someone else has been using it” before setting the place on fire. We saw Christian in the cabin on a handful of occasions, and we know that he was really the Man in Black. So, the smoke monster stayed in the cabin and allowed Ben and Locke to think he was Jacob, which was all part of his long con to use the two of them in order to finally destroy his brother. So when Locke hears “help me,” he is hearing the Man in Black. (And the figure who briefly appears in the chair, while not the same actor, is dressed exactly like the Man in Black).

#10. What happened to Annie?

A lot of people are really concerned with this one, and it does seem that Annie played an important role in Ben's childhood. But where did she go? Given that the two of them are best friends in 1973/74 but she’s no longer around by 1977, it can be extrapolated that her family most likely moved away and that Ben never saw her again. That might seem like a lame or anticlimactic answer, but I think that’s more or less the conclusion you can draw from watching the show. Apparently Damon and Carlton confirmed as much in a recent podcast, but that aside, this is pretty much what the series implies when you look at the whole story.

#11. Who was the guy murdered by Sayid on the golf course? Who was the economist? Who was Jill the butcher? Who tranquilized Sayid?

There were a lot of shady people stalking our characters in seasons four and five, and it gets difficult to keep track of them. As far as the people Sayid assassinated while working for Ben, the show pretty much told us they were all part of Charles Widmore’s secret network. Remember that Widmore was one of the most powerful men in the world, and led a corporate conspiracy to relocate and exploit the island. Sayid was picking those people off one at a time. The goons shooting tranquilizer darts everywhere and terrorizing the Oceanic 6 at the beginning of the fifth season were most likely all working for Ben (just like Dan Norton and Jill the butcher), which was Ben’s weasely way of manipulating and motivating the characters to return to the island.

#12. Who was shooting at the characters in the outrigger canoe?

Admittedly, the show didn’t really answer this question, though the writers originally intended to. But most likely, the outrigger shootout occurred during the chaos of Widmore’s people storming the island. This moment in season five was meant to offer a brief glimpse into the insanity of season six. Of course it would have been cool to see the other side of the outrigger shootout, but oh well.

#13. Did Jughead explode or not?

Yes, Jughead exploded. Richard claims that everyone who tried to detonate Jughead died, which most likely is referring to the fact that he assumed (understandably) they’d all been vaporized. Plus, the screen turns white and the characters are all magically transported back to present day. Juliet detonated the bomb, but it didn’t create an alternate timeline. Instead, the detonation of Jughead is what stabilized the island after the Incident. Otherwise, the catastrophic release of the EM energy would have destroyed the island and subsequently the world. This is what happened and what always happened; Juliet set off the nuke, and the radioactive energy negated the burst of electromagnetism and sent the characters forward in time. (Remember that Faraday explained in season four how electromagnetism and radiation are the two forces which distort time). The island itself was still damaged and necessitated the building of the Swan station to control the static buildup of electromagnetic energy, but it would have been much worse otherwise. Our characters went through time because that’s what needed to happen; their sojourn in DHARMA 70’s was them fulfilling their fate of detonating Jughead and saving the island.

#14. Who is Mother? Where did she come from?

Okay, this wasn’t answered either, but I’m including it because there is something important about this which “Across the Sea” basically explained to us: it doesn’t matter where she came from. As Mother herself said, “Every question just leads to another question”. There has been a long line of quasi-immortal island keepers, and Mother was just one more link in that chain. Who was before her? Before them? When did humans first arrive on the island? These questions are not answerable and are not important for the main story. It’s not like if we knew where Mother came from we would then have the key to the One Big Answer which explains the whole series. All we need to know is that she was guardian of the island, had been so for a long time, and was tired of the job and needed a replacement. This is one of those questions which the show itself actually told us was insignificant, and at some point you either just have to accept that this is a magical island facilitating the events which transpire in the story, or be mad at the show for not providing a logical schematic why everything happened the way that it did.

#15. What’s up with the pool, the plug and the Source?

The series finale essentially implied that some ancient culture had tried to tunnel into the Source via the island volcano (props to the long lost Annie for mentioning the island’s volcano back in season three) and tried to harness the light or the water (or both), causing a release of the Source’s energy a la the Incident. Notice all of the imagery recalling when the characters first ventured into the hatch; the plug is just an ancient version of pushing the button. The island is made stable by the light from the energy source and the cooling water from the island’s streams. Essentially, the island is almost like a self-contained, fully functioning organism, with the energy as its heart and the water flowing into it like lifeblood. Cutting off the flow of water to the Source causes it to go dim and overheat, activating the volcano and hastening the island’s destruction. Whoever built the plug must have used it as their last ditch effort to save the island. The writing on the plug is supposedly cuneiform, meaning it possibly predates the island’s Egyptian civilization, if of course it wasn’t just one of the many pieces of evidence left behind by the Egyptians themselves. It’s unclear if the drainage system in the pool is meant to help distribute water to the Source or drain water from it, but the specifics are less important than the implication of this being some ancient culture’s near-apocalyptic island blunder.

#16. So wait, the characters were dead the whole time?

No! As Christian Shephard explained, everything that happened on the island really happened. The sideways world was a way for the characters to all find each other again after death, and move on to the Source (whatever that may be). Aside from that, the mirror universe, like the Source itself, is very open to interpretation. But the characters did not all die in the original plane crash, or the Ajira crash, or the Jughead detonation. The footage of the silent wreckage of 815 was added by the network merely as a moment of pause before heading into regularly scheduled local programming.

Lest I seem like a LOST apologist, here are eight questions the show really didn’t even try to answer, nor give us enough to go on aside from vague guesswork (of which I shall provide plenty!), and in a handful of cases just abandoned entirely:

#1. Why was Desmond in military prison?

Considering the drama that could be mined from this explanation and given LOST's penchant for answering these types of questions about the characters, especially a fan favorite like Desmond, you'd think this lingering mystery would have been addressed. But you would be wrong. It seems we got close to seeing Des locked up, considering how he was acting like a complete flake in boot camp when his mind starting jumping around in time. But his flashbacks ended at that point, and we've never seen anything between then and his first flashback in "Live Together, Die Alone". Before Desmond went to Oxford he mentioned that he had leave available, so it's doubtful he was sent to jail for taking off and bothering Daniel, Widmore and Penny. All we know is that he was imprisoned and dishonorably discharged for not following orders. Maybe there can be a bonus scene when Libby gives Des the boat, where she explains exactly why she was hospitalized and he explains exactly why he was in military prison.

#2. Who or what was Dave?

When Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave was introduced, it seemed pretty clear he was just that: a hallucination created by Hurley’s mind in order to deal with his own perceived guilt over the deck collapse. Dave was named Dave after Hurley’s father David, and was a projection of Hurley’s own abandonment issues as well as his eating disorder. Or at least, that’s what Dr. Phil would say until learning that Hurley could make things happen just by wanting them to, as well as speak to the ghosts of the deceased that no one else can see or hear. So, this does make us go back and see Dave in a somewhat different light. After all, Hurley’s interactions with ghosts so closely echo his discussions with Dave that even Hurley himself thought he'd gone crazy again. So, was Dave merely a delusion created by Hurley’s mental problems? A projection of the island trying to test Hurley? A malevolent spirit, maybe even Libby’s deceased husband David? (Damon and Carlton nixed that one four years ago, but a lot can change in four years). I still lean towards the simple explanation that Dave was a creation of Hurley’s mind, but I do suspect it may have been a Danny Torrance type of situation, and that it prefigured or hinted at Hurley’s abilities. Regardless, it’s a question worth pondering.

#3. What was Claire’s implant?

Back in season three, Claire became deathly ill, and Juliet explained that Claire was withdrawing from a serum designed to help pregnant women successfully carry to term. This was all revealed to be bollocks at the end of the episode, when Ben seemingly steals a plot point from “Star Trek,” claiming that Claire’s implant has been activated and she’ll show symptoms within two days. Huh? Implant? From where? This storyline is never even mentioned again and leaves us with very little information. All we know is the Others must have put this implant in Claire during her abduction to later pull a con on the castaways, and that the DHARMA vaccine seemingly alleviates the symptoms. Considering that Claire’s symptoms would be experienced by many other characters later in the series (headache, confusion, nosebleed), I’m guessing that these implants must make people susceptible to the electromagnetic brain scrambling which can occur when people are exposed to the island’s energy. Granted, Claire’s mind didn’t seem to be time traveling, but there’s no rule which says that necessarily has to occur. So, this was probably another one of DHARMA’s myriad leftover sci-fi experiments. Assuming the DHARMA vaccine really counters these effects, this makes some semblance of sense, but even then it’s all pretty vague.

#4. How does the ash work?

We know the ash seems to fend off the smoke monster, almost like a magical version of the sonic fence. But how does it work? Is it connected to the way Jacob’s ashes still contained his life force? Is it charged with the same magnetism as the smoke monster and therefore repels it? Is it simply the magic of the island? Is it this way just because Jacob says so? Why did the ash no longer protect the Temple once Dogen was dead? Honestly, I don’t really care about the specifics and figure this should be chalked up to island mysticism, but it is a little weird no one ever asked about this at all.

#5. Why did Desmond foresee Claire and Aaron getting on the helicopter?

I’m guessing that Desmond must have misinterpreted his flashes of the future and assumed it was Claire getting on the helicopter with Aaron, when in fact it was Kate. A misconception about future events by someone who can supposedly see the future is a common sci-fi trope, and it works just fine here. (It could also simply have been a potential future which was never realized, meaning that the Man in Black knew this would happen and decided to intervene). But the series never picked up on this thread, having Desmond generally lose his precognitive abilities by getting smacked in the cranium with an ore. This plot point really wouldn’t be that big of a deal normally (what with all of the other weird stuff going on), but considering it fed into Charlie’s decision to allow himself to drown, it’s hard not to wonder about it.

#6. Miles can’t talk to ghosts. So what about the time he talked to a ghost?

Season five revealed that Miles doesn’t really speak with the dead: he is simply an empath who can read a person’s thoughts and see their past once they’ve expired. Fair enough. But in our introduction to him, we saw Miles go into a supposedly haunted room and interrogate the spirit of a deceased boy (to claim the kid’s drug money, no less). He asked the presence in the room where the money was located, and the ghost seemed to comply by shaking a piece of furniture. So if Miles can’t commune with the dead, what exactly was going on? Well, Miles technically didn’t communicate with the ghost. He spoke to it but it never spoke to him. So, my best guess is that Miles’ ability gives him some sway when it comes to the world of the deceased, but unlike Hurley, his power stops past a certain point. He typically needs the dead person’s body in order for his powers to work properly. Miles likely didn’t even know or believe for certain that a ghost was there; a cynic and a skeptic, he wasn’t concerned with the specifics of what happens after death. He just used his abilities to fleece people. Beyond that, this is a strange scene and it stands in contrast to most of what Miles would later do, but this is as close to an explanation as I think we can get.

#7. How does Harper manage to teleport across the island and harass Juliet?

In “The Other Woman,” Goodwin’s estranged wife (and Juliet’s love rival) Harper magically appears during a cacophony of whispers, then proceeds to give Juliet orders on behalf of Ben and make really annoyed faces at Jack, then magically disappears amidst more whispers. What was up with that? Well, the most obvious culprit would be the monster, but he can supposedly only take the forms of the dead and we don’t know that Harper was dead. (Damon and Carlton confirmed in a podcast that Harper is alive, but who the hell knows). So if it was Harper, how did she manage to pull a Houdini? Is she just really sneaky? Either that, or like Walt she is able to do that weird astral projection/teleporting thing they’ve never really explained. After all, we do know the island brings out certain powers in certain people. Harper says she followed and watched Juliet and Goodwin during one of their little trysts, and you have to wonder if maybe she didn’t use her freaky abilities to accomplish her PI work. I actually like the idea of Juliet’s rival having supernatural powers and doing a kind of “Witches of Eastwick” thing, but the show abandoned the idea and Harper become another one-off character like Sullivan, Isabel, and Oldham. We’ll never know either way.

#8. Just who exactly were Caesar and Ilana, anyway?

Season five went to a lot of trouble to introduce the character of Caesar, making him mysterious and shady and with the producers implying that he was significant in the endgame of the series. He was also clearly not in league with Ilana, hinting that he was intended to represent another interest at play in the island. However, he was anticlimactically shot by Ben and then never mentioned again. Although Caesar provided a voice for the background survivors of Ajira 316 and he was an intriguing character regardless, it does feel as if more was intended for his character. Turns out that the writers wanted to revisit Caesar in season six, but actor Said Taghmaoui opted against returning to the island in order to pursue various film commitments. It worked fine in the end but I’d love to know what they originally had in mind for Caesar. My guess is that he was supposed to be a Widmore operative, but that’s strictly speculation.

The Ajira crash also introduced Ilana Verdansky, an enigmatic woman with a double agenda. We come to learn that she’s really working for Jacob and she’s brought a whole cadre of people to team up with the Others and kill the Man in Black. Oh yeah, and she’s so close to Jacob that she considers him a father. Would you like to know more about her? Well, you can’t. She blew up. Why was she in the Russian hospital, covered in bandages? How did she meet Jacob? How has she been preparing for years and years for her island mission? All moot points once she ‘sploded. Apparently the writers intended to explore her character further, but they simply ran out of time. She fulfilled her role in the story and her death was shocking enough to jolt the characters into action, but it is a little disappointing Ilana never got to realize her full potential. Her forgiveness of Ben was also one of the most touching scenes of the entire season, so there’s that. As for the answers to all the many mysteries surrounding her? All we can glean is that Ilana had a tough life and that Jacob looked out for her and trusted her. Beyond that, no info is forthcoming. Aside from the fact that she’s smokin’ hot (and not just because of the dynamite).

2010-05-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Update: in the event that LOST actually does answer these questions tonight, I've decided against typing a long-winded explanation for these mysteries and looking like a tool afterwards. Instead, I've just put a brief description of my theories in parentheses. LOST should speak for itself; whatever is left over, I'll address after the finale. Can't wait for tonight!

Well, I tried to post a really cool list of unanswered questions that I don't think will be answered in the finale . . . but the twist is, I think the show has already indirectly answered them. It was a good post, I thought. But the internet hates me more than MIB hates Jacob, and some glitch in the spacetime continuum caused my post to be devoured by the abyss. It's late so I'm not gonna rewrite it, but I wanted to at least post something since the last couple hours don't seem like a waste. I have to retype the whole thing, but I'll at least give a list of the mysteries that I feel the show has given us enough to answer on our own:

1. What's up with Walt's powers? (People who have certain abilities find their powers are amplified when exposed to the island's electromagnetic field/magic).
2. What is the Sickness? (The corruption caused by the dark energy of the black smoke. The DHARMA "vaccine" was used to protect against this).
3. What's the deal with the DHARMA supply drop? (The drops seem to appear out of nowhere because island time is somewhat out of sync with the outside world).
4. Who built the statue? (Um, the Egyptians, yo.)
5. Why do pregnant women die on the island? (The Incident damaged the island's healing properties, causing the island to kill pregnant women).
6. Who was in the cabin? (Used to be Jacob before we ever visited there, but the Man in Black by the time Ben brought Locke to the cabin).
7. Why is Aaron special? (The psychic was a fraud, so his prophecy about Aaron is not necessarily significant. What matters is if Kate raising Aaron was the right thing for him).

I really do think the show has basically answered these questions and I'm not so worried about them. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post my actual thoughts, but then again the corrupt nothingness of the black smoke monster may see fit to destroy my work again. We'll just have to see.

Final prediction: the sideways world is a parallel universe where the characters never detonated the bomb. The island upholds the spacetime continuum with some type of cosmic creation energy, and it's the cornerstone of multiple universes. All of the multiverses need to be protected.

And that's all she wrote. See you after the finale!

I'M LATER FOR AN IMPORTANT DATE THAN THE RABBIT IN THE CRAPPY TIM BURTON MOVIE

2010-05-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

For anyone who may still read this blog, my apologies that it's taken me so long to post anything. Been busy with some personal things. Plus, the last two episodes have been so controversial and divisive that it's proven difficult for me to entirely collect my thoughts. Anyway, despite the polarizing reactions, I did love "Across the Sea," and I think, given some time, many of the people who intitially hated the episode will eventually come around and see its place in the grand scheme of the show.

Anyway, I should have my "Candidate" and "Across the Sea" thoughts posted before the end of the weekend. Namaste!

:(

2010-05-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

****! Holy ****ing ****. I can't ****ing believe this ******* show. Still crying. More thoughts tomorrow.

MY FINAL THEORY

2010-04-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

Note: All this pontificating and I realize that I neglected the most obvious Biblical source for my twin brothers theory: Jacob and Esau. There has been so much discussion of this angle ever since "The Incident" introduced the Man in Black, that I guess my mind just glossed over it. I've now added a little bit of Jacob/Esau, but since others have done a much better job of connecting LOST to this famous tale from the Bible, I've kept it brief.

Alrighty. Well the season is quickly drawing to a close, and we have but a few episodes left before the sun sets forever on LOST. Which more or less means that I am running out of time to synthesize and post any of my often wrong uber-theories. I spent a little while over the past week or so giving the series a good think-through, and I’ve developed what is essentially my final theory about the end game of the show. Except, here’s the thing: this time, I think I’m pretty damn close.

That being said, I don’t really care if any of this turns out to be true or not. It’s fun to theorize, but at the end of the day, LOST is what it is, not what we thought it was. Is that Mike Brady enough for ya? Anyway, here is my best and last guess as to what is really going on with LOST:

The island has an electromagnetic anomaly. (Really, Sherlock? I promise to blaze through the obvious stuff quickly). We may never learn what's generating the electromagnetic field. For lack of a better word, the explanation may be dialed down to something as vague as "magic," which actually would make a lot of sense. I truly believe the island is the meeting point between science and magic, and that some sort of pseudo-scientific answer will explain some but not all of the island's weirdness, a la the Force. But if the series really does offer an attempt to reveal the source of the electromagnetism, my guesses would be: energy that has fallen from space (maybe even a distant galaxy), alien technology, or an actual mystical-religious answer like Heaven and Hell. I do think those cards are on the table, but I'm not sure how likely it is the show's writers will really play them.

Whatever may be causing it, this electromagnetism heavily affects people who are born on the island, meaning they are often born with psychic abilities and powers. Those who already have latent psychic abilities find those talents amplified or magnified when they come into contact with the electromagnetic energy. Think Walt, Ben, Miles, Locke, Hurley, Desmond, Isaac of Uluru . . . all of them have been transformed or enhanced by the electromagnetism in some way. (Isaac wasn’t on the island as far as we know, but it did seem he was affected by the EM energy at Ayers Rock).

Anyway, a long time ago on a weird island far, far away, there was a woman. This would be the lovely lady discussed by the Man in Black in “Recon”. Somehow, she came to the island, maybe via a shipwreck as so many others have. This woman was pregnant. With twin boys. She gave birth to them on the island, meaning these children were born with powers afforded them by the electromagnetic energy. One was Jacob. The other’s name we do not know, but he came to be called the Man in Black. Jacob and his brother grew up on the island and always carried with them a rivalry, possibly related to their mother, who herself was driven a bit mad by the island’s strange spacetime fluctuations. As the boys grew older and became men, their powers continued developing until they more or less had abilities that normal people would consider godlike.

The competition continued between Jacob and the Man in Black as they grew older. They played games with each other such as backgammon, where they used black and white rocks that would later become symbolic of their rivalry. Jacob’s brother was always jealous and frustrated with him, as their mother doted on Jacob.

This is where things get weird. Somehow, some way, the Man in Black died. I have no idea how. Maybe his mom was nuts and she killed herself and him. Maybe he died in an accident. Maybe Jacob had to kill him for some reason (that could explain why the knife seems to be so significant). Regardless, Jacob’s brother died, as did their mother, and their corpses were laid to rest in the caves. That’s right . . . I think the Adam and Eve skeletons are the Man in Black and his mother, whom he spoke of so strangely when he was talking to Kate. To be honest, I really wanted them to be Rose and Bernard, just because I think there is something beautiful and poetic about that. But too much emphasis has been placed on the black and white stones this season, and those stones were present in the pocket of one of the corpses. I think those stones belonged to Jacob and the Man in Black. And truthfully, I do lean most toward the idea that Jacob killed his brother, maybe in self-defense or maybe because Jacob was a lot meaner when he was younger. Locke may have gotten it wrong. This isn’t necessarily Adam and Eve: it’s more Cain and Abel. The ultimate rivalry between brothers. This would also explain why the Man in Black blames Jacob for the reason he is no longer strictly corporal.

(I have no real idea where the father figure is in all of this. Since the concept of absentee fathers is very important to the show, it would make sense if he wasn’t around for whatever reason. Neither Jacob nor MIB have really mentioned anything about a father, but on the other hand, that doesn’t preclude the concept either. If there is a daddy who plays into the equation, it’s quite plausible that he could be Adam, instead).

Whether or not the Man in Black is the male skeleton in the cave, I think that he definitely died somehow and that whatever happened gave him just cause to blame Jacob. As we’ve seen, the island facilitates a gateway between this life and the beyond, and souls who are not ready to move forward remain trapped in the island’s energy field. I suspect the Man in Black, either not willing or not able to depart (could Brother J be trapping souls on the island?), found a way to more or less reassemble himself. Since he had deific powers, his life force remained on the island and used the island’s energy to reconstitute into a new physical form, much like Dr. Manhattan in WATCHMEN. This is how he became the black smoke, which is really just a cloud of magnetic dust or some other particles contained within an energy field. And considering the fact that he died, the Man in Black now dwelled in the realm between life and death. This is how and why he always takes the forms of the dead; the realm of the deceased is his realm, his domain. He can adopt their forms if he pleases, using the faces of the dead as a mask, and he oversees the many souls who are still trapped on the island. This is also how he is able to claim people. Those who are dying on the island pass into the realm between places and become his property, and he is able to return them to life, but with a hefty price. They are infected with his energy. Even the living are in danger of corruption, as getting too close to his energy field can eventually induce madness. But being “claimed” by MIB doesn’t necessarily mean that one is damned; it may be possible to break away from his influence.

After becoming this new type of being, the Man in Black continued his dramatic disagreement with his godlike brother. Civilizations came and went on the island, worshipping both brothers, with Jacob acting as a healer/giver of life and the Man in Black acting as the judge, jury and executioner. After many centuries (maybe even millennia), the Man in Black grew tired of people, and tired of these games between himself and his brother. All he wanted was to leave. It’s unclear if he wanted to physically leave the island, or if he wanted to move on to the next world. But he couldn’t leave. Someone (maybe Jacob) built a contraption under ground which restrains his force, via magnetism. The black smoke is invisibly tethered to this subterranean device, and the Man in Black is unable to destroy it. This essentially chains him permanently to the island, offering further humiliation by reducing him to the level of a guard dog. (It’s also possible that he is tied to whatever is generating the electromagnetic anomaly). Being trapped on the island for century after century has more or less driven MIB insane.

The Man in Black has desperately tried to leave the island but needs someone to free him. This could not happen until Jacob died. However, there were rules in place making it so that the Man in Black could not kill his brother. Maybe these are strictly arbitrary rules agreed upon by Jacob and the Man in Black, who both seem to have a thing for games, or maybe it’s something else. What if the energy on the island has two different poles or different ends of the spectrum, and Jacob is harnessing one form of energy while the Man in Black is harnessing the opposite? What if, in other words, they are positively and negatively charged, respectively? This could mean that they literally are not able to kill each other; they both need to exist in order for the energy of the island to be balanced and stable.

What if the protective ash essentially contains one type of charged energy (like traces of magnetic rock transformed by the island’s volcano into ash), and the black smoke is similarly charged, causing the ash to repel the smoke if it gets too close? This would explain why the monster cannot cross the ash, and possibly even why Dogen was testing Sayid with the ash during his little electro-torture session. It also explains all of the black/white stone symbolism (everything from the Black Rock to the white flashes), and could be applied to the contamination of the healing fountain (more on that below).

Perhaps Jacob is trying to protect the world from the black smoke because his brother’s death was his fault, and he has a sense of guilt over what happened, especially since the black smoke would not exist without him. Eventually, I think Jacob found a way to further contain the Man in Black, once he realized that MIB was never going to stop trying to leave the island. He imprisoned MIB’s soul in a cabin that Jacob had originally been using. Separating the Man in Black’s essence from his physical form (the black smoke) weakened his power considerably, and reduced the threat to Jacob. The Man in Black’s life force remained in the cabin, plotting how to free himself and ultimately arrange Jacob’s death. His key pawns were Ben and Locke. We know the rest.

Now that Jacob is dead, the Man in Black is stuck in the form of Locke because he no longer has exclusivity when it comes to departed souls. MIB is as physically incarnate as he possibly can be, since Jacob is rendered incorporeal. Jacob now inhabits the realm of the beyond and can prevent the Man in Black from assuming the forms of the deceased.

However, the Man in Black can still claim those who are near death, and even before these events transpired he has already claimed (or attempted to claim) one character unbeknownst to anyone else: Aaron. The baby stopped moving after the crash, and didn’t start moving again for some time. This is why the “psychic” Richard Malkin told Claire there would be no happy life for her baby if he wasn’t raised by his own mother. She is what he thought would be needed to combat the corruption Aaron would experience in the womb. Maybe in some sense Aaron is already the way MIB has gotten off the island, or is his tool for eventually moving his misanthropic/apocalyptic stage show to the outside world, and he saw to it (through Christian's form) that Claire would be nowhere near the child. The question we now have to ask ourselves is if being raised by Kate or anyone other than Claire had a positive or negative influence on Aaron. (I've raised the possibility before that Jacob may have claimed Aaron, and I still think that idea has some potential. But if Aaron's future really is in question, given what we've seen this season I'm more inclined to suspect MIB).

I don’t really think that the Man in Black has any intention of using the Ajira plane or Widmore’s sub to get off the island, though I could totally be wrong. I’m more in line with the thought that he will be wreaking much more death and destruction, including disposing of even those who have helped him. I strongly suspect he intends to kill every single person on that island. He needs the candidates dead, and I think many of the offers and promises he is making to the characters are partially his way of testing them, and by agreeing to help him they are all failing his test. And if he does want to physically leave the island, my guess is that we’ll find out Locke never really blew up the DHARMA sub. He merely hid it to use as a playing card later, and the MIB knows this because he has inherited all of Locke’s memories.

It seems quite plausible that the flash sideways are what will happen if the Man in Black gets his way: the island is destroyed, he is nowhere to be found, and the lives of all of the characters are supposedly better. But as we’ve seen, their lives are not necessarily better, as many of them are missing out on the destinies that were seemingly meant for them. For instance, Sayid has Nadia again, but not in the way that he would like; Hurley is lucky, but his life is empty; Locke is content but unacquainted with his destiny; Desmond is respected by Widmore, but Penny and little Charlie are absent, etc. Their fates seem to have been erased and replaced with Reality 2.0; perhaps this is the “end of everything” which everyone seems to fear will happen if the black smoke escapes. It seems that Ms. Hawking is well aware of what is really going on, and she is respecting the rules of this “better” reality. If I were her, I probably would too, considering in this chain of events she doesn’t murder her own son and instead is able to keep him by her side, coddling him. Maybe Desmond needs to continue waking these characters up so that the Man in Black does not win.

What if Jacob foresaw all of this? Is it feasible that the creepy kid we keep seeing in the jungle is in fact young Jacob, projecting into the future and witnessing everything that was coming down the pipe? It is extremely possible that the many strange appearances of Walt were due to a similar psychic projection, so is there any reason young Jacob couldn’t have done the same thing? If so, it would mean that Jacob was ready for his death, and has patiently and subtly been manipulating time (or allowing things to happen a certain way, which seems to be more his modus operandi), in order to prevent his rival from destroying the island and to set up his plan of attack well in advance. It would mean he’s been more than one step ahead this entire time. Of course, it could also be as simple as Jacob's ghost appears as a child when in the presence of the Man in Black. Either way, this begs the question: what else could Jacob be planning?

As far as the island storyline goes, I'm guessing that the imbalance created in the island's positive and negative forces will be activating the volcano and hasten the potential destruction of the island. What if MIB's force is dependant upon fire and heat (as I mentioned above, if he is using magnetic ash, it may relate to the volcano and to lava), whereas Jacob's force is dependant upon water and the cold? That could tie into why the donkey wheel is located in a well that is now frozen. Cold water might preserve the pocket of energy, and perhaps Jacob built the wheel in the frozen chamber, which would explain some of his abilities. The Man in Black may even be trapped because his energy is frozen into place, and he needs heat to be released. If the island is going into meltdown in the finale, it could be literal: the ice core keeping the energy stable may actually be melting, releasing the island's energy and causing the volcano to erupt, finally freeing MIB (and possibly the other souls trapped on the island as well). This could also explain how the island is under water in the second timeline, though I'm at a loss as to how it explains anything else.

This would be a literalization of the conflict between fire and water, two forces which are oft-referenced on the series, most directly in the episode actually titled "Fire + Water". (Remember that fire and water are the two elements which always seemed to be taking turns trying to kill Charlie). Water would be an apt symbol for Jacob, given its association with baptism, cleansing, purifying, life-giving, not to mention the healing fountain in the Temple, whereas fire is a perfect metaphor for the Man in Black, with its relation to the concepts of Hell, damnation and destruction, as well as the fact that MIB himself appears as, y'know, smoke. Regarding the healing spring, perhaps the water turned dirty because Jacob's death allowed the fountain to be contaminated by the dust of the black smoke; this could also relate to the muddy pool of water which Ben used to summon the monster. Certainly food for thought.

Lest it seem like I’m pulling all of this fraternal rivalry stuff out of nowhere, let me explain my thought process. First of all, the idea of two brothers was part of the original concept of LOST went it was a pilot script called “Nowhere” written by Jeffrey Lieber (who still shares co-creator credit on the series due to a WGA arbitration). Well before the series had a sci-fi / supernatural sheen and was just an island survivor story somewhere between “Cast Away” and “Lord of the Flies,” the two main characters were half-brothers and rivals. Eventually, the survivors would split into two camps, with the more righteous sibling leading one and his morally questionable brother leading the other.

Beyond that, take a look all the way back to season two’s “The 23rd Psalm”. Eko and Claire discuss why she named the baby Aaron, and Eko talks about how the biblical Aaron was the brother of Moses and that, despite the fact that Moses gets much of the prophetic credit, he wouldn’t have been who he was without his brother. Claire suggests that Aaron was probably always jealous of Moses, which at the time was meant to foreshadow the backstory between Eko and Yemi. In hindsight, this suggestion of a vague competition between two brothers who were mystical prophets again sets up the larger idea of Jacob and the Man in Black being related.

Then of course, as I mentioned earlier we have the classic Cain and Abel story, which does relate to the tale of Adam and Eve. (Let’s not forget other mythological examples of this type of fraternal rivalry and jealousy . . . Romulus and Remus, for example).

And finally and perhaps most relevantly, there is the Biblical story of Jacob and his brother Esau, which has been a major topic of discussion amongst fans ever since Jacob's rival entered into the story last season. Esau and Jacob were twins but Esau was the firstborn; however, he was hairy and red and preferred to live off the land, whereas Jacob's skin was smooth and he was more quiet and introspective. Jake's mom doted on him and even helped Jacob deceive his father in order to steal the blessing of the firstborn from Esau, which understandably pissed Esau off. The rivalry between the two brothers and their subsequent families very much defines their characters in the Bible, and it seems to go without saying that their story is a major influence on the mythology of LOST. It seems likely that the tale of Jacob and the Man in Black is probably a mix of Cain & Abel and Jacob & Esau (with a little Adam & Eve as well, in regards to at least the mother mentioned by MIB), since LOST isn't overtly trying to be directly analogous with Biblical stories, but more providing a general sci-fi riff on various mythological themes.

But to be honest, my main source of inspiration for much of this theory was the mythology of HBO’s terrific and short-lived CARNIVALE, which I have always considered to be a sister show to LOST. In the CARNIVALE mythos, every generation sees the birth of two avatars. One is a representative of light, the other of darkness. These avatars have mystical and magical powers, but every avatar is more skilled at certain abilities than others, and there is not necessarily any rhyme or reason as to which avatars are naturally skilled at which powers. (An avatar of dark could be naturally inclined to heal with the laying on of hands, for example). Anyway, though the series did not last long enough for its mythology to be fully explored, the creators of the show did reveal some key after-the-fact info about the story’s background.

Apparently, the origin of the avatars was a female named the Alpha, who was a magical being not inclined specifically to light or darkness (or creation and destruction; however you want to read it). She gave birth to male twins. Unfortunately, giving birth to avatars often drives the mothers crazy, leaving them batshit nuts after their avataric children are carried to term. One son was the first being of light, and his twin brother was the first being of darkness. One eventually killed the other, but not before a bloodline was sired. Through their avataric blood, the interplay and conflict between good and evil began, the universe striving to maintain a balance between the two. Various avatars have demonstrated a variety of abilities, including but not limited to: healing, telepathy, precognition, empathic powers, telekinesis, summoning of storms, the ability to send dreams, visions and hallucinations, teleportation, astral projection / remote viewing, and communing with the dead. Ahem. Sound familiar?

Not to say that LOST is ripping off CARNIVALE or whatever. Just that they are two shows made in a similar spirit. Anyway, I think my theory does have some precedent, so we’ll see if any of this even comes to pass. Regardless, this is my final major theory.

At least until next week.

SHAME ON YOU AS "THE LAST RECRUIT"

2010-04-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we’re barreling toward the end now. You can practically feel the conclusion of the story approaching. I can’t believe we’re so close to the finish line; it admittedly feels sort of surreal. I don’t know if anyone is still keeping with this blog; if you are, feel free to drop me a comment. Not because I’m eager for lots of comments, really, but because the experience of brand new LOST is rapidly disappearing, and soon there won’t be much of a chance to hear from people on blogs like this. And the spambot stopped leaving me messages like “This is exciting article with word written good. You like free jacket? Try it do not be silly!” It’s getting lonely.

It seems that almost all entertainment news this week is focusing on the Blu-Ray/DVD release of “Avatar” (featuring LOST’s own Michelle Rodriguez, as well as one of my favorite actresses, CCH Pounder). I’m not sure what the big deal is, to be honest. I liked “Avatar” . . . I am a fan of James Cameron, I thought it was a visually stunning movie, and the story had some interesting social and spiritual bits to chew on. But “Avatar” as some kind of life-changing revelation that will forever alter how we think of movies? I’m not so sure about that. The plot was cool but loaded with your standard archetypes, the Na’Vi were a bit too perfect and the humans a bit too across-the-board corrupt, the environmental message was well-meaning and noble but so unsubtle and unambiguous as to be distracting (and I am an unabashed sucker for nature), and even with all of the tree-loving pondering the movie still becomes about blowing shit up real good and killing the bad guys. As for the 3D? It looked beautiful, marvelous, hypnotic and I would call it an artistic triumph. But I have to confess to being a bit of a Luddite, and for as cool as the 3D looked, it didn’t make the movie for me. At all. I have to imagine the movie would still be beautiful in 2D. I really don’t understand all of the people who insist the movie is only worthwhile in 3D; it’s probably not much of a movie if that’s where it derives all of its power. On the other hand, I don’t have a hi-def TV, Blu-Ray player or even an iPhone, so I’m pretty behind in the world of modern technology. But I really don’t find 3D to be all that transformative, cinematically. I saw “Alice in Wonderland” in 3D and found it to be only a so-so movie, and the 3D totally unnecessary. “Avatar” at least makes the most of what modern 3D has to offer, but even so, I really don’t know that it changes the playing field that much. It probably does for moviegoing as a whole, just not for me.

Okay, rant over. On to “The Last Recruit” . . .

I thought this was a terrific episode, one of the fastest-paced and most exciting hours of the show, especially for a transitional episode. Not so much in the sense of major character moments or mythological revelations, though there were a handful, but simply in terms of action and adrenaline this episode really delivered. It felt very scattered, and as many have noted the prime focus of “The Last Recruit” was to move the chess pieces around the board, but this fragmented sensation was more than intentional and worked in the spirit of the episode. Highlights:

- We now have confirmation that the Man in Black can only take the forms of the dead. It’s still unclear if this is some arbitrary rule or an actual law of nature—or supernature, as it were—but at least we know he is bound to the realm of the deceased. This ties into last week’s revelation that the island can act as a purgatory for souls who cannot move on, and that ghosts can use the properties of the island to communicate with the living. It was also a major relief for Jack to finally ask MIB if that was indeed him posing as Christian, as the events of “White Rabbit” have only meant more and more to Jack as time has gone on. I’ve always figured that Christian’s appearance was the island’s way of helping Jack and leading him to shelter and water, so it was nice for Locke to confirm that as well. I actually teared up when they talked about this, because it goes so far back to the beginning of the series and resurrected so many underlying emotions that I couldn’t help but be moved. Call me a sucker.

- And speaking of suckers, the Man in Black called out Locke for being one. I thought his dissection of Locke’s personality in the premiere was somewhat mean, but this was brutal. MIB pretty much admitted that he thinks Locke was a pathetic loser, and had no trouble using him. It made me pissed for Locke and I kind of hope he comes back to life and beats up the imposter. I know the Man in Black admitted that he was trying to help Jack, and I know he’s done other things to help other characters as well, but I still think he’s been manipulating Jack and that he does not have good intentions for anyone on this island. He does not like people, as he’s made very clear in the past, and I think he’ll try to kill pretty much everybody before all is said and done. I think a lot of folks are gravitating to the idea that MIB is maybe just misunderstood and possibly not the villain at all, and that Jacob might in fact be the real bad guy on LOST. And in fact I do think Jacob and MIB are probably misunderstood and a lot more ambiguous than we’re thinking. But I still believe the black smoke to be a misanthropic, homicidal nutcase that will do anything in order to free itself from the island. That doesn’t make Jacob the paragon of goodness (I’m sure we’ll see he’s done some questionable things, and that his ultimate goals will remain controversial), but I seriously doubt the Man in Black is to be trusted. I guess maybe some people are averse to the idea of good and evil being symbolized by Jacob and the Man in Black because it seems too easy, and though I doubt it’ll be quite that simple, in general I do think that is more or less the case.

- Jack sure rocked in this episode. Interesting how the title “The Last Recruit” seems to apply to him. The next episode is called “The Candidate” and I think that title likely applies to him as well; the two titles really symbolize how Jack can go in either direction at this point. I wonder if him being knocked senseless by the bomb at the end doesn’t put him at risk of being “claimed” by the Man in Black, as a similar thing sure seemed to happen to Claire back in season four. Speaking of Claire, I was really happy that Jack and Claire finally got to acknowledge their brother-sister relationship in both timelines. Their reunion couldn’t have been worse timed, though, as Jack essentially had to abandon her and she only wound up on the Elizabeth through Kate’s machinations, not Jack’s. He seems not quite able to really be her brother, which makes sense as he’s being confronted with an awful lot pretty quickly. Jack’s intuitive connection to the island has never been stronger, and it’s anybody’s guess as to what he’ll do next.

- On the subject of poorly timed reunions, we finally got to see Sun and Jin stumble across each other! That doesn’t sound like a dramatic way to word their reunion, but it’s more or less what happened, and my Jacob was it satisfying. The series could not have teased this much longer, but damn if they didn’t do a great job keeping the suspense on high. (And for the record, yes I liked that Sun regained her ability to speak when she saw Jin, and yes I liked Frank’s corny commentary. The show earned it). But no sooner did they find happiness in each other’s arms than party pooper Zoe was all like, “Okay, everybody on yours knees because we need to blow up your friends and also we might shoot you.” WTF, Widmore?

- But it makes sense. I don’t think Widmore is really to be trusted either, so his betrayal of Sawyer felt appropriate. I am inclined to believe that Widmore’s people killed the Ajira survivors. This is war, and whether you’re with Jacob or Locke or Widmore, everyone will have blood on their hands. Charles Wids did authorize the Purge and commit many other horrible acts, so it’s believable that he’d start offing everyone.

- The flash sideways stuff was awesome and intense. I got a chill when Sun looked over at injured Locke and started screaming, “No!” Really creepy. I still don’t really know where all of this is going or how it will come together. Desmond seems to have some sort of end point in mind and I honestly can’t wait to see what it is. He’s surpassed just playing matchmaker and has done things like run over John Locke with his car and intervene in Claire’s adoption process, so something is going on. Though there seems to be a fair amount of good things happening in the flash sideways (Jack’s relationship with his son, Sun and Jin’s baby being okay, Claire finding her half-brother, etc.), there nevertheless seems to be some darkness that must be dealt with as well.

- We finally got a full name for our intrepid exploding heroine: Ilana Verdansky. It was wonderful to see her again, and curious that she had an American accent in this timeline. Hopefully Ilana will make some more appearances in these last few episodes, and hopefully she does not explode in the alternate timeline because that would be bad.

- I loved Sawyer hitting on Kate in the sideways world. Their discussion at the police station slyly recalled Sawyer’s interrogation by the Sydney police way back in season one. Some time before that in the first season, we had seen Sawyer dragged away in the background when Boone was at that same police station. If you recall, that was the beginning of the characters’ lives criss-crossing (or at least our awareness of it). I love all of these little reflections of past events.

- Zoe is getting a lot tougher. Maybe she’s quickly learning that this island demands quite a bit from the people who visit. Normally their souls and stuff. I’m really interested to know just why she came to this island. I have a very strong feeling that Zoe will provide the more empirical, scientific answers to the show’s mysteries.

- Pretty much no one really thinks that Sayid killed Desmond, so this begs the question if Sayid is not fully corrupted by the Man in Black and can in fact still choose goodness. I think that he can, though it may be more difficult. Same with Claire, who seems to have chosen sanity, at least for the time being. Jacob’s whole deal is choice whereas MIB believes everything is predetermined, and it would be cool if both characters could prove the Man in Black wrong by choosing not to act like sociopaths just because they’ve been claimed. On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that every single character will be redeemed and go out on top by series end, and we must be prepared for the possibility that this is a reality which will befall some of these people. That being said, I hope that Sayid redeems himself before the series is over. In fact, I really think that he will. And it sure would be wonderful to see Claire reunited with Aaron, though if nothing else, it looks like they’ll probably have each other in the sideways world.

- I agree: Frank looks like an extra from a Burt Reynolds movie.

Overall, this was a fun, moving and fast-paced episode that delivered a lot of great moments while providing the set-up for the show’s end game. Only four episodes left. I’ll be making a handful of new posts soon. I’m planning on covering a variety of topics, including which forms the Man in Black has taken and when he has/hasn’t been behind the scenes, a discussion about my love of genre TV and what LOST has done for genre programming as a whole, a look back at LOST through the years and how it’s evolved from season to season, and finally one last uber-theory about where the series is going.

Thank you and, as always, Namaste.

I SEE DEAD CREEPLE

2010-04-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

This week’s revelation about the Whispers and the interaction between the dead and the living has really opened up some new possibilities for the story of LOST. Quite a few people online are theorizing about just who these spirits of the dead are serving: Jacob, the Man in Black, or themselves? I really like the idea that these ghosts have their own free will, and that different spirits may have appeared with different agendas. To be honest, I don’t think that LOST will ever provide a clear cut explanation/motivation behind every sighting of something ghostly; that would be downright boring and would eliminate much of the fun of interpretation.

One idea I find really fascinating is the ghosts trapped on the island are trying to find a way out, sort of like the Man in Black. Though they are not the same thing (MIB takes the physical form of those who have died and is essentially an imposter, whereas the ghosts on the island are incorporeal and can only interact with certain people), it does seem interesting that the black smoke almost always takes the visages of the dead, indicating a connection between himself and these spirits. Cerberus was the guardian of the underworld, after all . . . what if the monster is the warden for these souls trapped on the island? I don’t have much more of an advanced theory beyond that, and even that is pretty tentative. I’m also not really ready to say these spirits are allied with any force in particular; they may be an independent party, or have no collective goal at all.

I thought it would be fun to revisit our prior experiences with the visually manifested dead. Call it NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD SORT OF BUT NOT IN ALL CASES.

Here we go:

“Walkabout” – Jack briefly sees a man in a suit and white sneakers standing next to a tree, who later turns out to be Jack’s deceased father Christian. We think, maybe it’s a ghost? Jack thinks, “Wow, I need to get more fruit in my diet”.

“White Rabbit” – Jack’s fruit theory is questioned when he continues to see his father walking zombie-like through the jungle. Zombie Christian is emotionless, distant and uncommunicative . . . pretty much how Jack remembers normal Christian. But he does lead Jack to shelter and fresh water (and to the elder Shephard’s empty coffin, hmmmmm), which more or less saves a bunch of people’s lives. So there’s that.

“?” – On the island, Eko’s dead brother Yemi as well as the recently deceased Ana Lucia visit him in dreams. Yemi also visits Locke in a dream, because Locke was feeling left out that Eko was getting to have prophetic dreams and Locke wasn’t. In Eko’s flashback, young Charlotte Malkin drowns in a river only to come back to life on, y’know, the autopsy table. She tells Eko that she saw Yemi "between places," which is most likely referring to the transition between worlds and not some crappy 80's sitcom. The freaked out coroner retires to raise rabbits in the Outback and drink MacCutcheon by himself.

“Further Instructions” – Locke goes tripping in a sweat lodge (make that a sweet lodge) and winds up hangin’ with Mr. Boone, who makes him feel bad for that whole “sacrifice the island demanded” nonsense. They then go on a wacky hallucinogenic walk through the Sydney airport where Boone gets all bloody-like and tells Locke to rescue Eko from the mean scary polar bears. Locke resolves to lay off the drugs.

“The Cost of Living” – After listening to an Olivia Newton John mix tape, Ghost Yemi decides to get physical and burn down Eko’s tent. The already half-dead Eko then wanders on a vision quest through the jungle where he encounters various peeps from his past, including a rival bunch of gang dudes who he once Jason Voorheed with a machete. Yemi’s charred remains are missing, but then he steps out of the wilderness (noticeably non-charred) and tries to make Eko repent. When Eko refuses, Yemi turns into the smoke monster and has to choke a b*tch. Just kidding. He kills Eko. In a vision, Eko is spiritually reunited with the real Yemi. All without Roma Downey’s help, too.

“The Man Behind the Curtain” – Ben sees his dead mom on the island. Twice. Richard thinks it’s a big deal that Ben was able to see his dead mother since she did not die on the island but in the outside world. We’re like, “Whoa, what?” And the show’s all like, “We’ll address that. Later. Yeeeeeaaaah. Sure we will.”

The Missing Pieces: “So It Begins” – Right after the crash, Vincent encounters a very alive-looking Christian Shephard, who tells our intrepid retriever to awaken Jack. Vincent doesn’t seem that weirded out. Maybe because he’s a dog.

“The Beginning of the End” – In Jacob’s Terrifying Teleporting Nightmare Cabin But Surprise It’s Not Really Jacob’s, Hurley sees a dark figure in a rocking chair. Turning up the brightness on your standard def analog TV will reveal that it is in fact Jack’s dad sitting in the chair, still wearing those white sneakers. Then in Hurley’s flashforward, he’s visited by Charlie, and we learn that their friendship is pretty much the same even when one of them is dead.

“Meet Kevin Johnson” – Michael sees Libby in a dream. She’s dressed as a nurse, but it isn’t that type of dream so stop thinking that. He later sees Ghost Libby aboard the freighter. She tells him not to blow up the ship because it isn’t time yet, presumably because she’s dead and has advance access to the fourth season finale. Maybe someone should ask her how the show ends.

“Something Nice Back Home” – Claire barely survives a house explosion and gets all weird. Her dad, the ever-popular Christian Shephard, plays peek-a-boo with Aaron. This is good, as it’s always a tragedy when kids don’t get to know their zombie grandparents. During Jack’s flashforward, his ghost dad briefly tries to talk to him, but Jack remembers that was Bill Cosby’s low point and the connection is never made.

“Cabin Fever” – Locke pwns Eko again by having another prophetic ghost dream, this time with Horace Goodspeed, who proudly mentions having been dead for the last twelve years. Horace is apparently stuck in a Sisyphus-type deal, cutting down the same tree over and over. His afterlife sucks, basically. Meanwhile, back at Non-Jacob’s Cabin of Horrors, Christian tells Locke to move the island while the trial version of Scary Claire looks on.

“There’s No Place Like Home” – Christian, who’s really making the rounds by this point in the story, teleports onto the freighter to inform Michael that he’s been let go. Michael blows up. Literally. In the future, Hurley plays chess with Mr. Eko, though we never see him because it proved impossible for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje to grace the set with his beautiful, shiny chest ever again.

“The Lie” – In a truly awesome and hilarious dream sequence, Ana Lucia appears to Hurley to offer some much-needed guidance. See, Adewale? Even Michelle Rodriguez put in a cameo.

“This Place Is Death” – Mr. Hey-I’m-Dead-And-I-Still-Get-More-Screen-Time-Than-Jin Christian shows up and won’t help Locke to his feet, tells Locke he has to die, makes him walk with a broken leg and turn a giant wheel which teleports Locke to the middle of nowhere in the alternating blazing/freezing desert of Tunisia. So Locke, of course, assumes Christian must be his friend! Yeah, and Frodo’s your BFF, Gollum.

“The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” – Locke is strangled to death by Ben, only to suddenly be hanging out on Hydra island after the crash of Ajira 316, standing in the ocean, eating delicious mangos (maybe Jack’s fruit theory holds water, after all), and generally scaring everybody despite his attempts to be friendly. We, the easily led audience, assume Locke must have come back to life. It turns out that we is a bunch of suckers.

“Namaste” – Sun and Frank hear the monster, and then find abandoned haunted former Otherville, and then hear the Whispers, and then creepy Christian appears, and yet they find it within themselves to trust him for some reason despite the obvious Guys, You’re Clearly In A Horror Movie set up. Some people never learn.

“Dead is Dead” – Ben falls into a forgotten temple of doom in order to be judged by the smoke monster, who promptly morphs into the dearly departed Alex, who proceeds to celebrate this reunion with her adoptive father by ringing his neck and threatening to kill him if he doesn’t follow Locke’s every word. In retrospect, the Man in Black is a pretty b.a. con artist.

“The Incident” – Ilana and her gang bring their shiny metal box to Richard, revealing Locke’s body inside. I know, I know. Double-u tee eff. This explains why the monster cleverly hid Christian, Yemi and Alex’s corpses, but probably couldn’t get to Hydra island to add Locke’s body to the secret corpse stash because the poor wittew monster is stuck on the big scawy iswand.

“LA X” – Hurley and Jacob resume their conversations, despite the fact that Jacob was stabbed to death and set on fire a short while before. This doesn’t detract from his appeal. Meanwhile, Sayid is dying of a gunshot wound, so the Others think it would be a good idea to try and make him feel better by drowning him in dirty water. Sayid comes back to life two hours later, not quite himself anymore and needing a stiff drink.

“Lighthouse” – Ghost Jacob continues to offer cryptic advice to Hurley, who winds up making Dogen want to cut his head off because Dogen is really Zatoichi and has a sword made by Hattori Hanzo, even though Hanzo swore a blood oath to never make another instrument of death (and is himself a Japanese relative of Magnus, Alvar and Tovard). Jacob guides Hugo and (by association) Jack across the island, directing their paths to a dark tower with magical mirrors. Um, can anybody say “rad”?

“Ab Aeterno” – Richard’s wife Isabella dies in yet another flashback that reveals how much these people’s lives truly suck. He sees her briefly on the Black Rock in a vision heavily implied to have been the work of the Man in Black, who gets his manipulation on h-core. 140 years later, Ghost Isabella sends a message to her husband through Hurley, having gotten the idea from that Patrick Swayze movie, the name of which escapes me.

“Everybody Loves Hugo” – Ghost Michael reaches out to Hurley in an attempt to make up for the whole murdering Ana Lucia and Libby thing. Hurley’s down with it by this point. Michael finally explains what the Whispers are, and a bunch of people get mad and swear they’ll stop watching LOST . . . until the following week, when they will get mad and swear to stop watching LOST.

I debated whether or not to include “Dave” but ultimately decided against it, fantastic episode though it may be. There’s actually no reason to assume that Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave is anything but just that, a character created by his mind to embody his self-effacing guilt, addiction to food, and latent daddy problems (the writers even admitted they named Hurley’s father David as a Freudian connection to Dave). However, in light of the most recent episode, it’s hard not to think of Dave as a mischievous spirit, especially since there is little difference between his interaction with Hurley and some of Hurley’s ghostly encounters. This week’s episode also reestablished Hurley’s connection to Libby and Libby’s overall importance in the story, and weirdly enough we learned four seasons ago that Libby’s deceased husband (her grief following his death being the reason she was in Santa Rosa the first time around) was named David, as well. In the past Damon and Carlton denied a connection between Libby’s David and Hurley’s Dave, but you have to wonder. So, let’s consider that “Dave” may wind up on this list when all is said and done.

ALMOST EVERYBODY LOVES "EVERYBODY LOVES HUGO"

2010-04-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here we are, entering the home stretch of LOST as it readies to air its last handful of episodes. It’s amazing how scattered, confused and disoriented we are, considering that you’d think the audience would pretty much know what’s really going on by this point. But LOST continues to confound us with questions, probably demonstrating that the mystery of this show will never fully die. And that’s a good thing, at least in my book.

“Everybody Loves Hugo” was of course a shout out to season two’s “Everybody Hates Hugo,” as well as containing a handful of references to the classic episode “Dave”. This continues the sixth season tradition of episode titles mirroring those of past installments: “What Kate Does” recalled “What Kate Did,” “Sundown” referenced “House of the Rising Sun,” “Recon” was an answer to “Confidence Man” and “The Long Con,” and now we have this parallel as well. There’s a lot to say about this episode, so let’s cut the jibber jabber and get down to brass tacks:

- Great to see our esteemed Dr. Pierre Chang / Marvin Candle / Mark Wickmund / Edgar Halliwax again. We knew from “Recon” that Miles’ dad worked at the museum, but it was nice to actually see him in person. Notice that he still has both arms, indicating that he did not lose his arm in the Incident and further hinting that the split timeline may not be a result of Jughead’s detonation.

- Chang gave Hurley an award shaped like a T. Rex. Given my obsession with dinosaurs, paleontology and anything prehistorical, I was filled with glee. I know they’ll never have an actual dinosaur on the show but . . . but . . . maybe they could???

- Absolutely wonderful to see Libby again, given Cynthia Watros’ reluctance to return in previous seasons. (She originally she did try to come back for an extended stay in season four, but it was cut short due to the writers’ strike). It was such a relief to see Hurley and Libby finally have their date from four seasons ago, which had been interrupted by her horrific demise. Their beachside picnic was strange, almost surreal . . . it was like picking up where we left off way back in season two, as if Libby’s death had never happened. I really felt that these two characters had earned this moment and it was awesome to have such a lovely and simple emotional pay off for them.

- One thing that is pretty interesting is that we still never really got Libby’s story. Given all the begging and pleading from fans to have some closure for her character, well, we got the closure but her story remains an enigma. The impression I got was that she committed herself because she was suffering from strange delusional feelings, which turned out to be the déjà vu caused by the alternate timeline. But it’s still possible there is more to her story. However, her story from the original timeline has never really been depicted, so I don’t know if there’s much point in detailing her alt backstory either. The impression most of us got from the brief glimpses of her past in the second season is that she had some sort of emotional breakdown following the death of her husband, so to be honest, I pretty much buy that as the reason she was hospitalized the first time around. But anyway, this really did feel like her character finally achieved the closure she deserved. I’m glad Cynthia Watros was able to put aside her differences with the producers and return.

- Nice to see Bruce Davison again as Dr. Brooks, who hasn’t appeared since “Dave”. And they even brought back his picture of the tropical island. Go Dr. Brooks!

- So, this timeline definitely indicates that Hurley did not experience the deck accident, and he certainly wasn’t institutionalized at Santa Rosa. This is in keeping with his supposed good luck. But like Desmond (who I also have much to say about), Hurley has everything in the sideways reality but still isn’t really happy. At least, not until he finds Libby, which is a revelation for him just as Penny was Desmond’s revelation in “Happily Ever After”. I still think the “make your own luck” idea is at play for Hurley in both timelines . . . like Walt, Hurley has a special touch where he is able to make things happen, it’s just that his ability is being applied in two different ways. Not completely divergent ways, though, as one could really argue that in the island timeline he’s still a lucky fellow, just as one could say his luck is only so-so in the alternate timeline (after all, he has everything but is still unfulfilled in some way). It’s just a matter of perspective, really, which is something I think Hurley is slowly learning.

- So, um . . . Ilana. WTF?! I can’t believe they did that. Definitely one of the most shocking moments on the series. I really liked her character and have been a fan of Zuleikha Robinson ever since she played Yves Adele Harlow back on “The Lone Gunmen”, so it was really awful to see her killed off so suddenly. But, as with any death on LOST, I think that’s the effect they were going for. Anyone who remembers Dr. Arzt was I’m sure sitting there thinking, “Be careful with that dynamite Be careful with that dynamite Be careful with that dynamite BE CAREFUL WITH THAT DYNAMITE!!!!” Her death felt as cruel and violent as his. But the good news is that this is the last season, where dead characters thrive, so I’m sure she’ll be making at least one more appearance, especially since she is a main cast member. Also, although Ilana’s death felt unfair (I think Ben’s little statement about the island being done with her summed up his cynical and beaten worldview), I really do think she served her purpose. Her job never was to lead a mission to save the island. Her job was to facilitate the candidates so that they could discover for themselves what they need to do in order to protect the island. Still, I would like to know more about her father-daughter relationship with Jacob, how she even came to know him, and just why she was allowed to get Arzted, so hopefully we’ll learn a little bit more about her. R.I.P. Ilana. :(

- Poor Ilana wasn’t the only thing that blowed up real good in this episode, though. The Black Rock, everyone’s fave creepy ship in the jungle, also met its demise. I’m of the opinion that this is probably a good thing, as no dynamite means less ways that these people can get all dead and stuff. I totally love seeing Hurley take charge and becoming a leader. He’s really coming into his own and no longer being a passive character . . .

- . . . as opposed to Jack, who did a little psychoanalysis on himself and decided that, for once, he’s choosing to be the passive one. Good for Jack, I say, as this is another step for him in taking some control over his life. I think one of the hardest lessons to learn in life is that sometimes we have to surrender in order to win, and Jack is learning that lesson. Go Jack! And still go Dr. Brooks!

- Hurley took with him the bag of Jacob's ashes. Does he know something about it we don't? One thing seems for sure: it will make a great containment system for Locke. Maybe Hurley has something up his sleeve that isn't a DHARMA nutribar.

- Terrific seeing Michael again, as well. I’ve missed Harold Perrineau, as he’s a great actor and added a lot to this show. One of the coolest and most tragic things about Michael is that he’s one of the only characters who really hadn’t committed some grievous sin before coming to the island. It wasn’t until after crashing on the island that he did something awful. The fourth season was the beginning of his redeeming himself, and I think he mostly succeeded, but until last night he hadn’t really had the chance to make things right with Hurley. I’d say he went a long way towards that goal, and that Hurley forgave him. It was a touching moment and made me very happy, as Michael’s rambling and pathetic excuse for shooting Ana Lucia and Libby did not register well at all with Hurley (or anyone else, for that matter) way back in “Live Together, Die Alone.” I hope that, like Libby and Ilana, Michael will appear again before all is said and done.

- Speaking of Michael, we got a couple of major answers in this episode. First, we learned that, yes, Hurley does indeed commune with the souls of the dead (unless LOST is pulling a long con on this topic, which is possible but increasingly unlikely). Secondly, the Whispers were finally explained. And, much to my surprise, my theory from last week turned out to be correct! So I can say I got at least one thing right in my five years of lame theorizing. I could sense that this explanation would probably not go over well with all of the show’s viewership (and I imagine the writers themselves were probably a little nervous about the revelation as well), and indeed, some audience members did find the explanation to be lame or a cop-put. Seriously, though, it really does make the most sense. What is the source of the ghostly whispers in the jungle that cannot be attributed to anything or anyone physically present? Whispering ghosts, of course! Go back and read transcripts of the Whispers from previous seasons and you’ll see they function as a sort of disembodied Greek chorus, so the idea that they are indeed the souls of the dead pretty much fits (and is the only way to explain people like Frank Duckett and Boone being present amongst the Whispers, as well).

I don’t think that this is meant to imply that all of the deceased characters are trapped on the island or that all of the spirits who have communicated with Hurley are stuck in the island’s electromagnetic purgatory (interesting too that the purgatory theory is true in a sense, just not in the way that people originally predicted). Isabella didn't die on the island and certainly didn't seem trapped there, for instance (despite what the black smoke tried to show Richard). To me, it sounds like all of the Whispers are ghosts but not all of the ghosts are the Whispers, if that makes any sense. Michael and the rest of the Whispers are spirits who have not moved on, but the island’s electromagnetic properties allow even those souls who have moved on to come back and attempt to speak with the living. The island blurs the line between our world and others.

- I know some people had a problem with Hurley’s “By George, I think I’ve got it!” moment regarding the Whispers, but I think it made sense. As someone who is a candidate to lead the island, the various pieces of the island’s mysteries would slowly start to fit together for Hurley, and that moment was an example of him beginning to figure things out. It’s further evidence of him becoming a leader.

- Hurley’s ability to speak with the dead adds to this season’s theme of death and rebirth. Much has been made this season about what happens when we die. From what we’ve seen on LOST, we can live on in other universes, time is nonlinear meaning that even when we’re dead at some other point in time we’re still alive, the dead can physically be resurrected, and our souls/essences continue to exist in some fashion after physical death. All somewhat different concepts but all also at play in the world of the show. (These exact ideas about death and the afterlife become some of the main themes in Stephen King’s DARK TOWER series, which I’m fond of mentioning is one of this show’s major inspirations). LOST is in many ways a show about hope, and these are all various forms of hope, counterbalancing the rather grim themes of death, destruction and determinism that have run rampant through these final few seasons. Hurley’s gift is also a little trick pulled on us by the writers, as originally most people assumed that Miles could commune with the dead and that Hurley’s visions were either his mental problems or the island messing with him. But Miles was revealed to be more of an empath, not a medium, whereas Hurley at this point is anything but crazy. Nice way to switch it up.

- So what the eff is going on with the sideways universe, and why did Locke throw Desmond down a well? As revealed in “Happily Ever After,” Desmond is one of the keys to the show’s endgame. I think Locke/Man in Black is well aware of this and was not even remotely happy when he laid eyes on Desmond. He can tell immediately that Des does not fear him. Desmond in both timelines seems to know the score, which makes him a huge threat to whatever game is really being played here. He knows what Locke really is, he knows what the island is, he knows what Widmore is doing, and he knows the reason behind the sideways universe, and he is totally Zen with following through on his destiny. Desmond calmly running over wheelchair-bound Locke was one of the hardest moments to watch on the series (rivaling Locke being pushed out of the window by Cooper), a moment of absolute horror which seemed completely without reason. But of course there must be a real purpose for Desmond to have done this, anywhere from trying to kill Locke (possibly due to Locke's existence in the other universe as the monster) to trying to wake Locke up from the narcotic dream of contentment that seems to be the side-verse, to even trying to heal him (could this accident be the catalyst to Jack fixing Locke's paralysis?).

- It’s also interesting that Des could see the mysterious blonde kid (who will probably turn out to be Danny Torrance), as could Sawyer way back in “The Substitute”. My guess is that the kid is Jacob, though that’s really just a feeling. I like that Hurley, Jack, Desmond and Sawyer have all exhibited strong signs of having a profound connection to the island. They all have unique abilities and individually highlight different properties of the island, meaning there isn’t necessarily just one quality which is required to replace Jacob.

- And on the subject of Jacob, there continues to be much debate over whether he or the Man in Black is truly the story’s antagonist. There’s actually been a fair deal of resistance to the idea of LOST being a Good vs. Evil story. (Check this out to read the always dependable Jay’s insightful comment on the issue). For what it's worth, I do think the Man in Black is the villain of the piece, but I also suspect he will become somewhat more sympathetic before the end of the series. Likewise, I think Jacob is more of a healer than a hurter, but that we’ll see his game of rivalry with the black smoke to be rather questionable. Where do either of these guys get off using human lives to prove their own viewpoints?

That being said, I really doubt that Jacob will be revealed as the story’s villain. I think there is something tragic in both characters: Jacob just wants people to be good and learn their lessons without having to manipulate them, but he is constantly let down by human nature; likewise, the Man in Black is sick of human beings and sick of the island, and he just wants to end it all and be at peace, but Jacob won’t let him. I don’t believe either is an embodiment of absolute Good or absolute Evil. However, Good vs. Evil is still a theme, but it’s centered in the main characters and the choices they make. For instance, I think Sayid’s choices are proof to the Man in Black that people are worthless and corrupt, and because of this I suspect he will be disposing of everyone he can very soon. Whether they know it or not, all of these characters are still being tested by Jacob and the Man in Black.

So yeah, Good and Evil is a theme. It’s been there since the beginning. Is someone like Sawyer or Eko or Sayid a good person at heart, or are they inherently corrupt and unredeemable? Are Ben and Widmore good people? Does committing horrible acts in the name of a greater good excuse those acts? These are the types of questions we’ve been asking since the pilot.

But Good vs. Evil isn’t the only theme. There are a handful of other equally valid ideas at work:

Fate vs. Free Will - How much is a choice and how much is predetermined, and is fate determined by God or by randomness?

Reason vs. Faith - Is rationality the only way to see the world or do we need to be able to take that leap of faith even in the face of hopelessness?

Science vs. Magic - Does electromagnetism explain everything about the island or is there something truly mystical at work?

Love vs. Fear - Love is proving to be a tremendously powerful force on the series, but will the fear of the unknown be humanity's constant downfall?

Life vs. Death - Jacob heals and the monster kills. Can creation and destruction ever be separated?

Us vs. Them - Two groups being pitted against each other occurs every season, begging the question at the core of Jacob's and MIB's rivalry: will conflict always define human nature, and is it inevitable?

These are all prevalent themes as well, again since the very beginning. There was a reason Locke held up the black and white backgammon pieces: it said everything you needed to know about the series.

Well, “Everybody Loves Hugo” stands as another landmark episode, and we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here’s hoping the smoke monster isn’t waiting for us when we get there.

THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS

2010-04-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

One relatively smaller mystery that has always intrigued me on LOST is that of the Whispers. They seem to pop up at random times in a variety of locations, and the series has hinted at several different contradictory origins without ever really directly addressing the question. As revealed by the great David Fury, a writer on the show during its debut season, the Whispers were originally intended to be exactly as they seemed: the Others whispering in the jungle. But as the series has gone on, the Whispers have acquired a level of Lovecraftian creepiness that has enhanced many a scene. Let’s take a look at the various occurrences of the Whispers and see if we can’t make sense of them (we won’t):

“Solitary” – The hour that really changed season one. Rousseau tells Sayid she can hear Others whispering in the jungle, and of course he thinks she’s happily never dafter. But on his way back to camp, Sayid himself hears the Whispers, which seem to be voices debating as to whether or not they should approach him. At first Sayid is convinced the Others really do exist (and as mentioned above, originally these really were supposed to be the voices of the Others), but later he comes up with some lame rational explanation for hearing things, like bad gas or Venus.

“Outlaws” – In this later first season episode, Sawyer hears the Whispers coming from the jungle after a boar ransacks his tent. Amidst the various disembodied voices, he hears one in particular: Frank Duckett, the man Sawyer mistakenly murdered in Sydney, can be heard saying “It’ll come back around,” repeating his dying words. This was the first instance where the Whispers seemed to take on a supernatural significance, and it became clear the island was testing Sawyer by confronting him with his past sins.

“Exodus” – In the first season finale, Rousseau claims she heard the Whispers saying that “they” were coming for the boy. She assumed this was Aaron, but it later transpired that the Others were actually coming after Walt. Everyone realizes that Rousseau is not a reliable narrator just a little too late . . . with the exception of overly devout nitpickers, who never realize this and will be driven to suicide by Rousseau’s backstory in season five.

“Man of Science, Man of Faith” – The second season premiere brought with it the return of the Whispers. Shannon follows Vincent out into the jungle, where she finds herself surrounded by the Whispers before seeing a ghostly, backwards-speaking apparition of Walt. (Reverse the audio and he says, “Push the button; no button’s bad,” not “worship Satan” or “it’s okay to be gay” or “universal health care” as previously reported by reactionaries and hysterics).

“Abandoned” – Ghost Walt apparently couldn’t get enough and returned twice in this episode. Accompanying his second appearance to Shannon (and his first to the often formerly skeptical Sayid), the Whispers can be heard before Shannon is accidentally shot to death by Ana Lucia. Amongst the Whispers is the deceased Boone’s voice, saying “See you on the other side, sis”. Uh, scary.

“The Other 48 Days” – We get the other side of the shooting this time, and watch as Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Bernard, Jin, Michael and the unconscious Sawyer are terrorized by the Whispers in the jungle. Still scary.

“Fire + Water” – During Charlie’s truly awesome religious vision/dream sequence/hallucination, he hears the Whispers and sees the trees moving in the jungle before encountering his dear mum as an angel, Claire as the Virgin Mary and Hurley as John the Baptist. He later realized he shouldn’t read “The Stand” and eat meatball sandwiches right before going to bed.

“Live Together, Die Alone” – During the second season finale, the Whispers are heard right before the Others kidnap Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley. One word is most prominent amidst the Whispers: “Elizabeth”. (This is not long after Libby died and Desmond returned on the Elizabeth, the boat she gave to him).

“The Man Behind The Curtain” – The Whispers were scarce during the third season, but this episode provided plenty of them. Young Ben first hears the Whispers when he follows the vision of his mother Emily to the sonic fence. He later encounters them a second time while searching for his mother’s spirit in the jungle; the Whispers precede the sudden and somewhat unsettling appearance of the never-aging Richard Alpert, who literally seems to materialize out of nowhere.

“Through The Looking Glass” – Locke hears the Whispers right before Taller Ghost Walt makes his cameo in the finale of season three. America snickers because Malcolm David Kelley is obviously much older than his character and their suspension of disbelief is itself briefly suspended (as if the show had just bungled an accurate depiction of astral projecting/teleporting psychic kids), but is still pretty creeped out. The only person not creeped out is Locke, who is seemingly only afraid of wheelchairs, his dad and meaninglessness. Walt tells him, “You have work to do.” But the scariest line of dialogue is within the Whispers: “There’ll be hell to pay.” Chills.

“The Beginning of the End” – The fourth season premiere had one of the freakiest occurrences of the Whispers, as they can be heard whenever Jacob’s Horrific Teleporting Nightmare Cabin first appears, in which Hurley sees the very deceased Christian Shephard as well as the eye of what is supposedly Jacob (but who is increasingly looking like non-Jacob in retrospect). Hurley, as any of us would do, falls over backwards.

“The Other Woman” – Harper Stanhope, by far the scariest psychiatrist on the island, appears and disappears suddenly, accompanied by the Whispers. She gives a very threatening message to love rival Juliet, and looks pretty annoyed when Jack sees her as well. She vanishes and has since never been seen again in the present tense on the series. But one thing is certain: she must have taken "how to disappear completely Radiohead-style and freak everybody out" lessons from Walt and Richard.

“Meet Kevin Johnson” – Not simply the Whispers proper, but Michael hears his suicide tune-of-choice (“It’s Getting Better” by Mama Cass) mingled with some slight Whispers when Ghost Libby appears to him on the freighter. The music was replaced entirely with Whispers in the episode’s sneak peek.

“There’s No Place Like Home” – The Whispers make two appearances in the fourth season finale. They are first heard shortly before the Others put the smackdown on Keamy and his men. Michael later hears them briefly, in what is somewhat a reprise of the previously described scene with Libby, when Ghost Christian/Possible Man in Black appears to him before his death and says, “You can go now, Michael.” Freighter goes KA-BOOM, and all traces of Adrian Veidt’s plan are eliminated.

“Namaste” – In what turned out to be the only fifth season appearance of the Whispers, Frank and Sun hear eerie voices in the spooky, abandoned, smoke monster-haunted Barracks just before the appearance of aforementioned Ghost/Zombie/Black Smoke Clone Christian. Of course, they hang around with Christian and even follow his advice, suggesting that the Whispers are in fact the collective sounds of the audience muttering, “What the eff are you doing?!”

“Dead is Dead” – We don’t hear the Whispers, but Ben tells Rousseau that if she wants her to daughter to live, “When you hear whispers, you run the other way.” You’d think that’s what any sensible person would do on this island (isn’t that right, Sun and Frank?), but thanks for the advice, Ben.

“LA X” – The Whispers are heard in the tunnel beneath the Temple right when the Others attack the main characters, implying that they are the voices of the Others being echoed and amplified by the ancient Egyptian caverns, which explains about two of the instances of the Whispers mentioned above and makes zero sense in the other circumstances.

I am aware that there are other purported Whispers, but these are the ones which I can personally hear (and even then, just barely . . . it’s all that Nine Inch Nails in my teenage years). So, based on the evidence above, it can be deduced that the Whispers are the Others quietly speaking in the jungle AND amplified thoughts when someone is teleporting AND the voices of the Monster when it’s up to its old tricks AND the sounds of the dead. I really doubt that there is such a convoluted explanation the series will offer, so I’ll go with something simpler: the Whispers are most likely the ghosts of the dead--or memories the island has collected, if that’s more scientific (I wouldn't be surprised if it was like Kubrick's version of "The Shining" and the true nature of the phantoms was up for debate)--and they are observing and commenting upon the events on the island. The electromagnetic anomaly bends the fabric of reality, allowing us to briefly overhear the other side. When the properties of the island are being utilized or activated, this briefly amplifies the Whispers. That’s the best guess I’ve got at this point.

ANOTHER TRIP THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (no, not the crappy new Tim Burton movie)

2010-04-07T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well, for yet another week in a row, LOST continues to bring the awesomeness. In a lot of people’s minds, this will rightfully stand as one of the best episodes of the entire show, and even for this extremely unconventional final season, “Happily Ever After” is notably a very different episode for LOST.

Desmond episodes have essentially always been game-changers, and last night’s was no exception. “Live Together, Die Alone” introduced Charles and Penelope Widmore, revealed the identity of Kelvin, and not only confirmed that pushing the button wasn’t just some fool’s errand, it revealed that Desmond himself crashed 815; “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” possibly the most significant episode of the series in terms of changing the rules, brought in the element of time travel, not to mention the very creepy introduction of Ms. Hawking; “Catch-22,” the closest Desmond has gotten to a typical episode, revealed more about his flashes, hinted that he’d been doing a lot more time traveling than what we saw in “Flashes,” and brought Widmore’s freighter to the island in the form of Naomi; “The Constant,” arguably the high point of the series, made good on all of the time travel intimations and gave us the emotional payoff of Desmond finally being able to contact Penny, plus it established Desmond’s connection with Daniel; and finally “Jughead” uploaded a tremendous amount of indispensible island mythology, all the while giving both Desmond and Daniel key roles in what was to come.

And now we have “Happily Ever After,” which gave Des the chance to see into the sideways reality. I’m a little surprised that so many people were surprised that there is a connection between the two timelines; the show had been hinting at this since the sideways timeline was introduced, when we saw Jack have a moment of déjà vu and then find a mysterious cut on his neck. It seemed pretty clear that the two timelines would be interacting at some point. But many viewers had apparently dismissed the sideways story as a mere “what if” scenario, a viewpoint which was dashed upon the rocks last night like Rousseau’s expedition. (Haha? Anyone?).

Anyway, some observations:

- Looks like Desmond was abducted not long after being shot in the shoulder by Ben last season. That’s sort of a crappy deal for him, but Des should be used to those by now. The look on his face after realizing he’d been brought back to the island, followed by his little “if I smash Charles Widmore over the head with this I.V. stand, I’m going to feel a lot better” tirade, was priceless.

- Poor Zoe is obviously in over her head a little bit, but it seems anyone following Widmore winds up in over their heads. And normally they’ll eventually wind up with dirt over their heads. Permanently. Because they’re dead. Do ya not kennit?

- I loved the Dr. Manhattan-esque scene with Desmond and the electromagnetic coils. It’s looking quite possible that Jacob and the Man in Black may have been through a similar ordeal at some point, which might explain their apparent powers. Seriously, I’m running out of ideas for what the hell those dudes really are.

- Notice that Desmond entered the second timeline whilst looking at his reflection. We’ve seen numerous characters encounter a feeling of déjà vu whenever they see themselves in a mirror.

- Sideways Charlie is, quite simply, totally freaking awesome. It’s great that Dominic Monaghan agreed to come back, especially since he’s been given so much to do in episodes like this. At first you assume that Charlie is clearly stoned out of his mind more than ever before, but soon it becomes very apparent that he's undergone some kind of transformation, that something profound has affected him. The revelation about his near-death experience was extremely moving (does anyone doubt he had a vision of Claire?), and adds to the theme of the afterlife which is a major foundation for season six. Charlie’s encounter with Truth seems to be at the heart of this final season . . . are all of the sideways characters going to be experiencing similar revelations as the season winds to a close? I also enjoyed the call-back to Charlie’s death from the third season finale. There was something touching but also frightening about the way Charlie raised his hand to the passenger window. Interesting too that Charlie died in the Looking Glass, and this season we’ve almost literally moved through the mirror into another world.

- In addition to Charlie, we saw the return of Penny, Daniel, Minkowski, and Ms. Hawking. All of these are characters who have played a significant role in Desmond’s life in some way, shape or form, and it was great seeing them assembled again for Desmond’s return. I was so happy to see Minkowski again, I am standing here beside myself.

- Speaking of Ms. Hawking, she’s returned to her scary “Flashes Before Your Eyes” role of being the mysterious woman who seems to have an almost omniscient knowledge of what’s really going on. It seemed clear that she was not just offering advice to Desmond when he wanted to see Penny’s name. She went so far as to deem it a “violation.” If this is true, what rule is Desmond breaking, and what does Eloise (and most likely, Charles by extension) really know about this parallel reality?

- Wonderful seeing Daniel again. It’s cool that, despite his life having taken a very different turn and him now being a classical pianist as opposed to theoretical physicist, he is still pretty much the same guy at heart. And it seems as if he’s in love with Charlotte yet again, which was in keeping with the themes of the episode. (I also dug that he saw her eating a candy bar, a cool shout out to last season’s “I’m not allowed to eat chocolate before dinner” line). Daniel seemed to connect with his alternate self through dreams, specifically after seeing Charlotte, when he had a Philip K. Dick-style epiphany and proceeded to jot down advanced quantum physical equations. Daniel speculated that the sideways reality was created by detonating an atomic bomb, but is that really the case?

- All of this talk and I’m forgetting one key thing about the episode, namely Henry Ian Cusick’s outstanding performance. He has been sorely missed since early last season; he’s appeared since then but not had much to do. “Happily Ever After” changed all of that. This episode allowed him a chance to do a very different take on Desmond, perhaps the most drastic of any sideways character we’ve seen. It’s difficult to imagine Desmond as a slick, wealthy, even cynical right hand man to Charles Widmore, but here he was, and Cusick really pulled it off. By show’s end, he’d become much more the Desmond we know and love, but without losing what new facets were added to the character earlier in the episode.

- Now that I’ve mentioned Widmore’s right hand man, it’s worth noting the absence of Widmore’s post-island semi-Alpert, Mr. Matthew Abaddon. As most people have figured, Abaddon was killed off last season as the awesome Lance Reddick is extremely busy with “Fringe” and could no longer maintain a recurring role on LOST (why they couldn't just pluck another Lance Reddick from an alternate reality is beyond me, as there seem to be several between the two shows). But there was a bit of an Abaddon feeling to Desmond’s position for Widmore, as he had to steward Charlie upon Widmore’s request, just as Abaddon had to assist Locke last season. (It also reminded me a bit of the first season finale of “St. Elsewhere,” where Ed Begley’s beloved Victor Ehrlich had to babysit the drug-addled son of his protégé). Minkowksi himself also recalled Matthew, as like Abaddon, his job is more or less “getting people where they need to be.” There was something almost metaphysical to Minkowski’s presence, as if he were a guardian angel or at least playing cupid, just as Abaddon himself was a bit of a manipulator. Anyway, I enjoyed the subtle parallels to the missing Abaddon.

- This episode very much paralleled “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” as it was a play on the same basic concept, except instead of jumping through time Desmond was jumping through universes. That being said, it also paralleled season two’s “. . . And Found,” the episode which revealed how Sun and Jin first met. The theme of that segment was the intertwining of love and fate, and the exact same idea was presented in an even bigger way with “Happily Ever After”. This episode really carried that theme a few steps further, hinting that love can have a cosmic dimension that has the potential to change worlds.

- Awesome seeing Penny again (in the same stadium where Des and Jack met, no less). I love that when Desmond found his constant, he woke up. It’s cool that her new last name is Milton, as this season has some interesting parallels to “Paradise Lost”.

- So just what is going on with Desmond? We know he’s been special ever since he survived the detonation of the hatch . . . the explosion of electromagnetism changed him in some fundamental way. Not surprisingly, he is very possibly the key to what needs to be done. But that begs the question, what exactly needs to be done? It’s extremely unclear just what Widmore is planning to do, and now it’s equally unclear what Desmond is planning to do, in either the island or sideways timeline. Did Des switch consciousnesses with his alternate timeline self? Does he understand what Widmore wants to do and is now fully in line with it? Does he understand what Locke is really trying to do and is fully in line with that instead? Does he know something no one else knows and is just out for himself? The ending of the episode was so vague and so full of possibilities that it’s pretty difficult to even speculate at this point.

- Now that the two timelines have started interacting in an overt way, we’re still left to wonder just in what fashion they’re connected. There seem to be two major potential explanations. The first is that this timeline is either a divergent or parallel reality, and is operating concurrent with the main timeline. This could mean that one timeline may be in imminent danger of collapse, or conversely that each could theoretically coexist without the other. The second theory is that the sideways story is a timeline created after whatever events will end the series, and that we are essentially seeing the next life for these characters. This would fit with the notion of there being a happily ever after, and that a better future awaits these people in another life. But the sideways reality could just as easily be a reality that is not meant to exist, almost the Gnostic notion of being imprisoned in the false contentment of materialism (and subsequently, the discovery of love in last night’s episode would be a manifestation of Ultimate Reality), which would mean whatever is happening on the island is what was truly meant to be. I’m excited to see which direction the story takes.

ONE BIG "PACKAGE"

2010-03-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

And another exciting episode! The much-touted Sun & Jin reunion did not occur last night, much to the surprise of many. But they’ve been separated in the present timeline since the end of season four, and even earlier than that when you count season four’s flashforwards, so I suppose they can go a little longer without seeing each other. Not much, though, as it’s starting to feel sadistic on the part of the writers to deny them their reunion. But such is the stuff of good drama. Highlights:

- It was fun seeing Room 23 again, as well as the trippy brainwashing video that Karl was being Clockwork Orange-d with three seasons ago. Zoe mentioned that DHARMA was conducting experiments in subliminal messaging (on the polar bears?), which is not surprising considering their penchant for mindgames, though considering the “God loves you as he loved Jacob” message which flashes in the film, one is left to wonder whether this specific brainwashing movie was created by DHARMA or the Others. To be honest, though I’m sure this will spark some debate, I really don’t think the answer to that question matters. The Others used DHARMA’s old brainwashing room to rehabilitate their people when the offender has strayed from the path, as it were. Fun fact: the “Missing Pieces” mobisodes clarified that Room 23 is the room where Walt was being held by the Others, and that this is the room mentioned by Miss Klugh back in the second season.

- We learned that Zoe is a geophysicist. This makes a lot of sense, as a geophysicist would be best suited to explain the electromagnetic anomaly on the island, and we already know that the electromagnetism is the root of the island’s weirdness. (At least on a scientific level; the metaphysical happenings may or may not be so easily explained). I’d imagine Zoe will be a significant character when it comes to answering the island’s core mysteries.

- Totally cried when Jin finally, finally, finally saw Ji-Yeon. I know the writers didn’t forget about her, but it would be pretty upsetting if her existence was merely glossed over. Jin needed to know he had a daughter, and that she was okay. It’s amazing to think how much he doesn’t know about everything that’s happened with his wife. I hope Sun gets the chance to catch him up.

- Having Sun only be able to speak Korean was a great way to return to season one-style storytelling. Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim have been somewhat underused on the show, so it was great seeing them get a real chance to shine last night.

- Mikhail Bakunin lives! And then dies! Again! I’ve always been a fan of Andrew Divoff, so having him return as Mikhail was a great addition to the episode in my book. Also, what could be more evil and threatening than Keamy and Omar? Keamy, Omar and Mikhail! This made quite a bit of thematic sense, as seasons three and four mirrored each other, and Keamy was to the fourth season what Mikhail was to the third. Our favorite Russian crankypants lost his eye again, though I don’t think he’ll be alive enough to need an eyepatch this time. Awesome.

- Mr. Paik is a real friggin’ jerk. The impression I got was that Sun and Jin were having a clandestine affair, and that it didn’t begin until after Jin was working for Mr. Paik (meaning that Sun is not the reason Jin works for her father in this timeline). I could be wrong, though. I hope Sun will be okay, but that bullet wound did not look very reassuring. Anything can happen in this parallel story, so we’ll see.

- As about a billion people strongly suspected, Desmond was of course Widmore’s secret weapon. We all knew he’d be coming back to the island somehow, so this scenario made the most sense. Desmond waking up on the dock from his little narcotic coma, only to first see “Apocalypse Now”-style Sayid staring at him from under water? Priceless! Next week’s episode is called “Happily Ever After” and I’m pretty sure it’s Desmond-centric. It will probably be pretty significant, as Desmond episodes tend to be big game-changers: “Live Together, Die Alone,” “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” “The Constant” and “Jughead” all altered our perception of the show in a big way. My own guess for next week’s episode is that sideways Desmond will be having memories or flashes of the island timeline, and that the storylines will begin to merge more directly. We know that Desmond is a variable in this equation, and considering how he’s able to screw up time, he’s probably a major factor in the parallel universe.

- On the subject of Des, everybody’s favorite drunk Irishman lol, we still have yet to learn why he was in military prison, a question the series keeps almost but not quite getting around to answering. He seemed rather well-off in his brief appearance in the sideways universe during the season premiere. Maybe in this version of events he won the sailing race and is now part of the Widmore family. On the other hand, still doesn’t explain how he wound up in prison in any universe.

- So what is going on with Sayid? I didn’t want to believe this so-called infection had poisoned his soul, but I’m finding no evidence to the contrary. His exchange with Locke, where he says he can no longer feel emotion and Locke then considers it a plus, was positively chilling.

- Speaking of Locke/Man in Black, I’m amazed to find myself trusting him less and less every week. He is so brashly manipulative that I actually find it hilarious, as if he were some demonspawn version of Ben. The way he dismisses Claire as a crazy wench who he subsequently beats down, only to appeal to Squirrel Nutcase Claire two days later and indicate that she’ll get her chance to murder Kate . . . so wrong. He tells people what they want to hear. I don’t necessarily trust Jacob either—he’s got something up his sleeve and he’s manipulative as well, just in a more passive way—but the way the Man in Black seduces people, disguises himself as others and has no problem like, I dunno, killing everyone, it all makes me highly suspicious. I worry that he doesn’t care at all about people, and that he is just using everyone and testing them, and when they all prove themselves to be the monsters he believes them to be, that will seal their fate. I also don’t think he cares about reuniting Sun and Jin; last season he promised to find Jin and then flat out told Ben he didn’t really care about that. So, not trusting the guy so much.

- I know some people are confused about Locke saying he can’t travel to Hydra island in his smoke form, but I think it made sense. The actual black smoke cannot leave the main island, as it seems to be invisibly tethered or leashed to something underneath the ground, but the projections or incarnations it creates can leave. We already saw it appear as Christian in Los Angeles (assuming that really was the monster, of course), so the idea that it can send projections of itself isn’t that strange. It reminds me of the Crimson King in Stephen King’s DARK TOWER series: in the related book BLACK HOUSE, it’s revealed that the Crimson King is imprisoned in a room, but he can send a less powerful projection of himself out into the universe. Freeing him from his prison would cause existence to unravel. (This actually winds up not being true in the TOWER story proper, but whatever). I wonder if there is something similar going on here.

- Sawyer’s little “that would be ridiculous” comment is one of his best quips in the whole series, perhaps rivaling his “Captain Falafel” and “Aw look, there’s my favorite leaf!” asides.

- I enjoyed Locke’s exchange with Widmore. It seems as if, although Charles Widmore used to be out for himself and seemingly didn’t care about Jacob, he’s since changed his allegiance, put aside his conflict with Ben and is now simply trying to stop the Man in Black. This is probably related to the nightmares he began having in season four. (Drink more MacCutcheon, CW!)

- The night vision stuff was cool, but I kept thinking “Where’s the goat?”

- So which Kwon is the real candidate? I think there’s still really no way of knowing. As has been an issue since season one, in actual Korean culture wives don’t take the last names of their husbands, but I’m pretty sure this is a moot point. Also, Jacob did touch both of them, which I more or less take to mean he summoned both of them to the island. What’s funny is that it’s actually possible that the name Kwon may refer to both Sun and Jin . . . who are we to assume Jacob thinks of them separately? Though I doubt they’ll become king and queen of the island, I think it’s still too early to tell who the name refers to. (And to the best of my knowledge we did not see the name “Paik” in either Jacob’s Awesome Name Cave or the Magical Mystery Lighthouse).

- The whole V countdown thing was annoying during the scene where Sun was writing the messages to Jack (who was awesome in this episode, by the way. Go Zen-Jack!). Otherwise, I didn’t really notice it after a while. Besides, I’m sure plenty of other shows get ruined with annoying LOST promotion. Plus, I like giant lizards. So, you know.

- Last night I also watched “I Sell The Dead,” starring none other than Dominic Monaghan and featuring cameos by the great Ron Perlman and Angus Scrimm. An old-fashioned gothic horror movie with a lot of black comedy, it manages to feature grave-robbing, zombies, vampires, an alien, a guy with dog teeth and a crazy chick who looks like a cross between the Phantom of the Opera and Lady Gaga, all in under 90 minutes. Awesome, funny, ridiculous and well worth checking out.

THE MONSTER REVISITED: OKAY SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE HELL IS IT?

2010-03-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we're winding down, exactly halfway through the season, and I thought it might be nice to go ahead and lay out many of the possible explanations for the monster. I wonder if, say, back around this time in season two, we were foolish enough to be thinking we'd know what the monster is by now. "Oh yeah, dude, they'll totally explain that soon. It's not like I'm gonna wait four more years just to find out about a cloud of black smoke, right?"

AAAANNNNGGGHHH! Sorry, Hans, wrong guess!

Anyway, here are the best ways to sum up the most likely scenarios:

GHOST/DEMON

The monster is some type of malevolent being from another world, whether you want to call it an evil spirit, demon or possibly even the Devil himself. Given all of the discussion in the most recent episode about the black smoke being a force of darkness that needs to be contained on the island, plus all of the references to Hell, this explanation seems more relevant now than ever. We've seen a lot this season that revolves around the concept of magic--everything from lighthouses with magic mirrors, to discussions with the dead, to granting immortality with the mere touch of a hand--so much so that this no longer seems particularly far-fetched or even implausible. This also adds to the idea of how the circles of ash will repel the monster; in magic, when dealing with concepts such as summoning demons, circles of protection are important (and elements such as salt or ash are often used). LOST is taking on a scope of apocalyptic proportions that seem downright biblical, so this certainly explains a lot. What it doesn’t explain are the flashes of electrical energy within the smoke, why it makes a combination of biological and mechanical noises when it moves, and what any of this has to do with electromagnetism.

ALIEN/EXTRATERRESTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

Another possibility is that the black smoke is a creature from another world, or possibly some type of probe left behind by an alien race to collect information and study the island. This would explain its seemingly otherworldly nature (without being as overtly supernatural/mystical as a ghost or demon), not to mention the biomechanical noises the smoke seems to make. Also, LOST has made something of a habit of referencing other media that involves aliens—Solaris, Roadside Picnic, VALIS, The X-Files, the UMMO symbols—and the recently released “Mysteries of the Universe” special which explained the DHARMA Initiative made many references to extraterrestrial phenomena, as well. Aliens are as good a reason for the weirdness of the island as anything else I've heard, and besides I think we all know how much I love pretty much anything with aliens in it. Maybe the smoke monster just needs to phone home.

ROBOT/ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MACHINE

If one were to ditch the extraterrestrial hypothesis but still keep the black smoke as some sort of artificial creation, there remains the possibility that it could be either a futuristic form of technology that exists on the island via time travel, or that it was built by the ancient Egyptians to guard the island. Either theory sets up the monster as being a security system, which fits with how it’s been described on numerous occasions. These ideas dovetail with the idea of the electromagnetism as well, since the electromagnetic anomaly would have a hand in sustaining the existence of this type of technology. I've always been a big fan of out-of-control technology stories, as well as the idea of ancient machines which have forgotten their origins (see Star Trek: The Motion Picture for a good example, or even the machines in Stephen King's DARK TOWER series, a major inspiration for LOST). Whether ancient or futuristic, the idea of the smoke being a form of technology fits with a lot of what we’ve seen, and would be an appropriately Philip K. Dick-style twist.

THE MAN IN BLACK

However, unfortunately none of these explanations account for the Man in Black. It’s been established that he is either the smoke monster or at least uses the black smoke as a means of existence. He also insists that he was once a man. If such is the case, is he really the origin of the smoke? And if so, how? The smoke may have existed independently before him; if that is the case, it’s likely he has become one with the smoke’s properties. This would indicate that perhaps he was human at one point in time, and was even the keeper of the black smoke, but perhaps upon the destruction of his physical body he was forced to use the smoke to reincarnate. And if he is actually the origin point of the smoke and it does not predate him, it’s possible that he was transformed by the electromagnetic anomaly into a new type of being, one that could not be permitted to leave the island under any circumstances. Think Dr. Manhattan's transformation in WATCHMEN, but instead of being a blue quasi-god he's a black cloud of quasi-demon. The mechanical noises we hear are because he's magnetically tethered to something under the ground, like an invisible leash.

SECONDHAND SMOKE

It’s also a possibility that the monster is really secondhand smoke that was left behind by the Cigarette-Smoking Man, and was subsequently brought to life by the electromagnetic anomaly. “This blatant anti-smoking propaganda is typical of leftist liberal Hollywood writers, but I wouldn’t discount it.” – Glenn Beck

GLENN BECK

On that note, I'm also not opposed to the smoke monster being Glenn Beck.

SNOOKI

I think we can all agree, this is the most likely explanation.

AB AETERNALLY AWESOME

2010-03-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

Good smoke monster almighty, what an episode! Some observations:

- We finally got a reference to Magnus Hanso being the captain of the Black Rock. This was first mentioned on the blast door map way back in season two, which has a notation stating that the Black Rock is the final resting place of Magnus. His great-grandson Alvar would go on to fund the DHARMA Initiative and eventually locate the island.

- The statue collapsed due to being struck by a tidal wave carrying the Black Rock, which was washed inland. For four or five years fans have been whining and moaning about knowing why the ship was in the middle of the jungle and why the rest of the statue is missing, so this was a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone kinda thing. (Black stone or white stone? Tee hee).

- Some people have pointed out that, in last season’s “The Incident,” the ship was headed towards the island during early morning with clear skies, whereas in this episode it was in the middle of the night during a tropical storm. I’d imagine the ship we saw during the beginning of “The Incident” was either not the Black Rock, or we’re dealing with the fact that day/night can change suddenly when entering the electromagnetic field, not to mention that storms seem to materialize out of nowhere.

- The scene with Richard left in chains for several days was a nod by the writers to a scene from Stephen King’s THE STAND, where a character named Lloyd is trapped in his jail cell after everyone else in the prison has died of a plague. On the verge of starvation, the story’s villain, a shapeshifting demon calling himself Flagg (also known as the Man in Black in King’s “Dark Tower” series), arrives with a key and promises to free Lloyd in exchange for loyalty. He becomes Flagg’s right hand man, just as Richard becomes Jacob’s.

- I interpreted the scene with Isabella on the ship to mean that she was actually a projection of the smoke monster, which had scanned Richard’s mind several days earlier. (Notice that the flashes it produces are probably the “very bright light” which Locke saw in the first season). The Man in Black left Richard alive so he could manipulate Richard into killing Jacob. Some have questioned how it’s possible that Isabella could be inside the ship when we heard the monster outside, but seriously, it’s a freaking cloud of psychic shapeshifting black smoke. I think it makes perfect sense. The smoke was conning Richard, as it’s wont to do.

- Interesting that Jacob told Richard he couldn’t reunite Richard with Isabella and that he couldn’t save Richard’s soul, whereas the smoke had no problem promising those things.

- Jacob’s explanation of the island being a containment system for the black smoke was interesting. It’s difficult to know how literally to interpret his comments. Is the black smoke really a force of darkness and maybe evil? One thing to note is that we’ve seen how proximity to the smoke leads to a kind of infection, something which can corrupt people seemingly irrevocably. If it did get to the outside world, it would theoretically be a bad thing for humanity.

- I like that with Jacob, Richard was dunked into the water (the second weird-ass baptism this season) and then they share wine, whereas with the Man in Black, Richard ate a cloven-hoofed animal. The Biblical imagery this week was far from subtle, not that I'm complaining. But it did seem that a lot of the Biblical imagery was there because Jacob and the Man in Black needed Richard to understand what they were talking about, and Catholicism is the lens through which he saw the world.

- One topic of discussion after this episode is just how was Isabella able to appear to Hurley. She didn’t die on the island, as was the case with all of the people Hurley has seen. This really begs the question as to whether or not Hurley really speaks with the dead. Admittedly, until this season I was pretty sure the ghosts Hurley sees were manifestations of the island, generated to manipulate him, but now am not so sure. This season has pretty heavily implied that Jacob chose Hurley specifically because Hurley can see things that others can’t, and we know the island is able to enhance the abilities of people who have special powers. So I’m now more open to the idea that Hurley is being helped by the spirits of the dead. (On the other hand, they pretty heavily implied that Miles can commune with the dead, only to take that idea away pretty quickly and basically make him an empath instead).

As for where exactly Isabella came from at the end of the episode, we have three options: she was a manifestation of the smoke monster, she was a manifestation of Jacob, or she was really the spirit of his dead wife. I don’t really buy that she was the black smoke. We know that the smoke is now stuck in Locke’s form, whenever it appears in physical form it seems that anyone can see it, and if these spirits were really the monster, it would suggest that the ghost of Jacob is really just the black smoke. None of that makes any sense in my book, not to mention it neutralizes any sense of real drama if Jacob isn’t even really Jacob. So I don’t think it’s the monster.

Isabella could have been Jacob, though. It would make sense, given that her message was that Richard needs to stop the black smoke. Also, it would make sense on the level that Jacob appeared as Isabella in order to offer some comfort to Richard, who was suffering (and, it’s worth noting, was also about to switch sides). Jacob heals people spiritually, not just physically. The idea that Jacob can appear as phantasms that only certain people can see also fits with why the Man in Black and Sawyer saw that blonde kid back in “The Substitute”. However, it does remove a little of the impact of Isabella passing a message to Richard from the other side; it would be like if the scene where Desmond calls Penny turned out to have been an illusion created by the smoke monster. It somewhat dulls the dramatic impact if Isabella is just another part of the manipulation which is going on this season. Also, we don’t know yet that Jacob can appear as other people, and the writers even said Jacob has not appeared in the form of others (though Damon and Carlton aren’t always exactly trustworthy . . . in fact, I wonder if they themselves are the Man in Black and Jacob). And if Jacob appearing as Isabella is related to the fact that he’s dead now and is like Snooki and can do whatever he wants sucka, it still doesn’t explain how Hurley saw Dave, Charlie, Mr. Eko, Ana Lucia, etc.

The last explanation is that it really was Isabella’s spirit, which is a less sci-fi direction and a more mystical and supernatural explanation. But the spiritual seems to be at play this season, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the show is actually a mix of science-fiction, the paranormal and the supernatural. By that token, it would mean the island’s electromagnetism can actually facilitate the communication of the dead with the living, which—considering that the island also has to do with psychic phenomena, time travel, teleportation, alternate realities and demonic clouds of black smoke—I don’t think is particularly that far out of left field for the show.

If it was the spirit or ghost of Isabella, it makes the most sense with the theme of the episode, which is that Richard is hiding from death. He has eternal physical life because he is afraid of what will happen when he dies, but in doing so he is both a.) delaying being reunited with Isabella through death, and b.) forgetting that her memory is always with him until then. Sounds corny, but this is exactly what we heard in the clip from Little House on the Prairie during last week’s episode, and I think it’s the perfect summation of what “Ab Aeterno” seemed to be saying. This also fits with the idea of Isabella on the boat being merely an illusion meant to trick Richard, whereas the Isabella which spoke to Hurley was the real thing. It recalls Eko’s brother Yemi, where Eko rejected the false Yemi that was a projection of the black smoke, and was reunited with the real Yemi through death.

Again, I’m reminded of “The Stand,” where a real world scenario slowly transforms into a science-fiction story, which in turn slowly becomes a story about the supernatural, magical and mystical. The writers of LOST have said that was their model in telling this story, so although I doubt that Jacob is literally an angel and the black smoke literally a demon, I think there are some major metaphysical and magical levels to this story. So while I’m not convinced that Richard seeing Isabella wasn’t manipulation on the part of Jacob, honestly I am at the point where I’m willing to accept that Hurley sees dead people because, well, he sees dead people. Hurley is even partly inspired by the character of Tom Cullen from “The Stand,” and who could Tom communicate with? Yep. Haley Joel Osment.

Speaking of Mr. King: anyone notice a few weeks ago how the Lighthouse looked a lot like a certain Dark Tower? Nice.

ANOTHER POST. LOL.

2010-03-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Lots more awesome comments from Cyberdyne SpamBot 3.0! I recommend checking the comments in the previous posts for some truly enlightening information. And they said television was a wasteland.

It’s been a few weeks since my last post—say sorry, cry pardon—but I couldn’t go another week without posting my really important ideas on the internet. LOST sure has taken some twists and turns since my previous entry. I think probably the most frightening moment on the show thus far has been the smoke monster’s decimation of the Temple, a truly terrifying scene that makes you realize the stakes which are at play in this final season. I was also deeply unsettled by the quasi-holocaust of the Ajira survivors. People are being killed left and right with such unwavering brutality, and all of the factions of characters have some excuse which shifts the blame to someone else. I’m sure much more blood will be spilled, probably sooner than later. I have to admit to being very relieved when Ilana did not kill Ben, as it seems like anyone can be killed at any given moment this year. But even if he dies, at least we know he’s besties with Dr. Arzt in the parallel reality.

I think the person I’m identifying with most right now is Kate, who’s had a pretty understandable “wtf?!” look on her face the last few episodes. Last week when she screamed “No, I’m not alright!,” I was definitely feeling the same way. Things have been so shaken up and unsettled on this show and it’s nice to know the characters are aware of this fact. Kate is stuck with the smoke monster’s gang, too (she didn’t choose to be there but wound up with them mostly as a matter of circumstance), and they are not a very reassuring group of people. Sawyer has no allegiance to anyone and is out for himself, Claire is totally batshit crazy, Sayid . . . um, what in Jacob’s name is going on with Sayid?, and Locke isn’t even Locke but an impostor who can slap Claire across the face and then calmly sit down and confess his mommy issues. Yeah, if I were Kate, I wouldn’t be too thrilled either.

One thing I think the Man in Black/Locke is really doing is something that essentially he’s always done: testing and judging. I strongly, strongly suspect that him giving the knife back to Sayid, offering Ben a chance to join his group, sending Sawyer to Hydra island (where I’m positive he knew Widmore was waiting), letting Claire overreact to Kate’s raising of Aaron . . . all of this is his way of continuing to test people. He believes that people are basically monsters and it takes very little to bring that element out into the open, and so far most of the characters are proving him correct. I don’t think he cares one iota about human beings, not necessarily because he’s evil, but because he’s jaded. He is testing everyone and by helping him they very well might automatically fail, and I doubt it would take much for him to wipe these people out the way he’s killed so many others. I might be reading too much into him, but at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if this proved to be true.

I’m also doubtful that the Man in Black is the smoke monster, at least in the strictest sense. Let me clarify that a bit: I think for intents and purposes at the moment, he more or less is the smoke monster, but that specifically he’s a person who is using the monster as a medium, and that the existence of the monster predates him. My theory follows in italics:

Jacob and the Man in Black are brothers, probably twins. Their mother (discussed by “Locke” in the most recent episode) either lived on the island already, or somehow was brought there. They may have been part of the ancient civilization that existed on the island. It’s possible that long ago, those born on the island were given special abilities by the island’s unique properties, and that people with certain powers may have some of this bloodline within them. (It would explain why the Others weren’t sure if Michael was really Walt’s father, and why they were running blood tests).

Anyway, Jacob and his brother each inherited different duties: Jacob’s job was to oversee the healing fountain and to watch over the island, and his brother was charged with overseeing the island’s security system (the black smoke), to more or less be the judge. Each of them was so wedded to the properties of the island that it gave them powers that would seem magical. At some point, the Man in Black was killed, by the knife that Dogen eventually gave to Sayid. The Man in Black’s soul remained on the island, trying to find a way to reincarnate. Since it was always his job to oversee the black smoke, the Man in Black knew he could use the smoke as a medium, a way to take a new form. To prevent this, his essence was imprisoned by Jacob in the cabin. The Man in Black could use the smoke to take other forms but never for a great length of time, as his essence could not leave his prison. But now he’s been freed, and has fully incarnated himself in Locke’s form, and he’s used the smoke to do so.

The sideways universe is a parallel reality, one of possibly many worlds. The island exists in all of these realities, holding together space and time by acting almost as a cornerstone. If it does not exist or is damaged, eventually the spacetime continuum would collapse, and the various universes would begin to bleed in to one another, creating a domino effect that would unravel reality. The sideways storyline will involve another effort to protect the island—which may be in danger since it’s already sunk beneath the ocean—and eventually this effort will somehow interact with the main timeline.

I think that makes sense given a lot of what we’ve seen. It’s hard to reconcile the idea that Jacob’s nemesis could be an actual person, but he talks about his mother and his past the way only a person would. (And I don’t think he was talking about Locke’s mother; he very specifically says these experiences occurred long before he took Locke’s form). I think he was a man, and now he depends on the smoke monster to continue furthering his existence, but that the black smoke itself existed long before he did. This would also explain why the smoke sometimes serves an almost mechanical function, such as when summoned in the ancient chamber, or why it seems to inspect new arrivals to the island. It also makes weird mechanical noises and is hurt by sound. This doesn’t fit with it being a man with a past and a family. So yeah, it’s under the control of the Man in Black, but it also has to do its own thing, which is guard the island. I think it’s safe to say at this point that Richard arrived on the Black Rock . . . methinks he is the one who stabbed the Man in Black, on behalf of Jacob, and that the Man in Black has been trying desperately to reincarnate ever since, and the black smoke was his way to do it.

As for the parallel universe stuff, I think it also makes sense, as we still don’t know the way the two worlds are related. Granted, I’m not sold on any one theory, but I’d imagine the flash-sideways will come into play with the mythology as well. It’s looking less and less like Jughead actually created this alternate universe (an idea of which I was always suspicious), and more like the two worlds are related in a different way. I think I’m leaning more and more towards a DARK TOWER view of things, where there are many worlds and something (the Tower, or in this case the island) binds them together. This wouldn’t surprise me. I even remember Damon Lindelof saying way back in the “Flashes Before Your Eyes” podcast that not pushing the button would result in the destruction of many worlds, more than just the one we were seeing. Interesting.

I’m definitely dying to know exactly who has Charles Widmore’s allegiance, as he may be a wild card in all of this. I’ve always gathered that Widmore was never really loyal to Jacob (strongly implied when we saw his backstory), and that he was somehow loyal to the Man in Black instead. It does seem like he may have changed his mind, though that doesn’t necessarily put him in Jacob’s corner either. I imagine he either still intends to ally himself with the smoke, or he now supports Jacob, or he’s there on his own terms. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were the last one, either. It would be interesting to see a third party vying for control over the fate of the island. Besides, it’s been hinted since the ARG’s in season two that Widmore is part of a corporate conspiracy looking to find the island, study and exploit it, so it would be nice to see that come to fruition.

So what’s in Widmore’s Special Magic Closet? If it’s not a doorway to Narnia, I’d actually guess Desmond. Don’t know why, I just feel like we’ll see him again.

All in all, I am absolutely blown away by this season, and cannot wait for tonight’s Richard episode. If there is one thing that has not impressed me, however, it’s been the increasingly pervasive negative attitude towards the show, particularly online. Every season of LOST has found the series being pretty brutally ripped apart—a show this meticulously watched cannot avoid intense scrutiny, especially on the internet—but this season has seen a fair amount of what I think is unfair criticism. Yes, I know it’s the last season. Yes, I know we expect the writers to really pull things together for the story’s final act. But the reaction the show is getting . . . sheesh! You’d think nobody liked this show from the way they talk about it.

Just yesterday the actress who plays Zoe, Sheila Kelly, discussed in some interviews how her character appears in a handful of episodes and that she “knows stuff” about the island. That’s so vague I don’t know how you could draw any conclusions from it, apart from the idea that Zoe might play a notable role, which is hardly revelatory on a show about people finding their cosmic destinies. But check out reactions to her interviews and it’s nonstop mean-spiritedness: her character sucks, she’s ugly, kill her off, how dare they introduce a new character this late in the game, etc. Ouch. She also made the mistake of mentioning that her name is on every page of the latest script she received, which had people screaming over her character being so prominent, and who is she to act so cocky when she’s not even a main character, blah blah blah, Calm the Flocke down, people! First of all, we know next to nothing about her character, so how can you decide her worth in the overall story this early in the game? The comments about her being ugly are just plain nasty and stupid, and I’m surprised to see so many supposedly hardcore LOST fans being so shallow (especially when many devoted fans are the first to criticize certain elements, such as the love stories, for lacking depth). The accusations of Sheila Kelly being full of herself because her name is in every page of the script . . . well, she meant her script. For security reasons the actors’ names are printed on the scripts, so if pages leak it will be known who was responsible. LOST always has security measures like this, especially this late in the season. There is also a recently published interview with Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana), and she didn’t fare much better in the reaction. People need to chill out.

What are people so upset about? Can no one just relax and enjoy this damn show already? I see people whining endlessly about how betrayed they feel by episodes like “What Kate Does” and “Recon,” saying that LOST needs to get to the real stuff and stop dilly-dallying. Uhhh, folks, that is the real stuff! The show is not just stopping and spinning its wheels. What happens to the characters this season is what the show is about. Everyone will get their fill of the mythology, but to think that the show is stalling or wasting time whenever it slows down even a little is preposterous.

I cannot wait for when people can watch this show and just enjoy it for being LOST, and all of the scrutiny, whining, overthinking, rumors, spoilers and tabloid nonsense will no longer have any bearing on how people see this show and this story. Since this is the final season, it would be nice if there wasn’t such a negative vibe around certain aspects of the show, but I guess with such a high profile, it’s unavoidable. It’s good to know the internet is such a valuable tool for complaining endlessly about even the things we claim to like. And I here I am, complaining about people complaining. Ha!

In all seriousness, I think there's nothing wrong with criticism, but it's only useful when constructive. Otherwise it's often negative for the sake of being negative. Ah, such is life. Rant over. Very much looking forward to tonight's episode.

2010-02-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

I’m quite enjoying the comments my posts are getting. Instead of being actual comments from people who want to talk about LOST, they are auto-comments from some nameless e-worm that seems to not only be posting random sentences, but occasionally in random languages. But it’s cool. I like seeing the “1 New Comment” tag and then finding a message that says something like, “Thank you for this. You have an informative writing. I am in a place and discovered this very happy. Milk!”

It’s moments like that when you realize, Wow, maybe I changed someone’s life.

Speaking of changed lives, these flash-sideways things are really flooring me. Parallel Reality Locke’s story was one of the most satisfying side stories the show has told, whether it was him finally finding happiness with Helen (yay!) or meeting Hurley’s psychic at the job center or simply being able to laugh at himself when he falls helplessly on the wet lawn, this was Locke as we’ve never quite seen him before. I also very much enjoyed his no-nonsense discussion with Rose, as well as the return of everybody’s favorite d-bag, Randy. Can’t wait to see where all of these characters are in the 2.0 version of their lives.

Of course, there were two other Lockes as well. One was a corpse rotting on the beach, and the other is a smoke monster thingy that is a copy of Locke’s body and mind. I liked the touch with the little bits of the real Locke’s personality coming through with our smokey friend, particularly when he yelled “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” I get the impression that the black smoke inhabits his new personality somewhat uneasily, and that there is a little bit of a bleedthrough effect. Evil Island Copy Locke claims that he was once a man, which I find pretty fascinating. Obviously we’ve seen him as a man before (the Man in Black, muahahahahaha) but we’ve also seen him as a scary cloud of malevolent black smoke that throws people around like rag dolls until they like die and stuff. Not to mention he’s pretended to be Yemi and possibly Christian, and maybe even Alex Krycek and Leland Palmer. So forgive me if I’m not very trusting, Mr. “Locke”. The show has done a terrific job of giving us so much contradictory information as to what the black smoke could be, that I’m about ready to say the answer to any black smoke questions is basically “all of the above”. So yes, it’s a Demon Robot Man Ghost From Another World. There. That explains everything.

The trip to the seaside cave was also pretty cool, and I’m not just talking about the view (though admittedly that’s a big part of it). We saw a scale with a white stone and a black stone, and the black smoke threw the white stone into the ocean now that Jacob is dead. What does this mean? The answer is obvious: the black smoke monster hates white stones because he’s reverse stonist. So ignorant. JK! Honestly though, I’d probably be mad at Jacob too if I were stuck on some magical island but was so bored with my own supernatural powers that I really just wanted to skedaddle cause I was so over it already, Snookie.

We got another sort-of explanation about the numbers, this time that they represent some of the castaways who Jacob is considering as a replacement. Some are complaining that this is a lame explanation for the numbers, but honestly, I don’t see how a recurring string of weird numbers could ever possibly have a concrete explanation, anyway. It’s more about the effect they create, not an actual answer. It always felt like these numbers probably directly related to these characters, even back when we first saw them in season one, so I think this was a pretty satisfying way to bring them to the forefront again. Much has been made over Kate’s absence from the numbers, but I’m guessing that has everything to do with whether or not she’s really supposed to raise Aaron.

Speaking of scary blonde kids, did you notice the scary blonde kid? That was weird. I find it entirely terrifying that the black smoke monster is also seeing things. I think it’s fairly clear that the kid is Jacob or Aaron or some combination thereof, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Speaking of Sawyer, major props to him for blasting “Search and Destroy” by the Stooges, one of my all-time favorite songs. It seemed appropriate for the Man in Black’s mission as well, and provided a decent soundtrack to Smokey’s “Oh BTW did you know I am also the sinister Kandarian demon presence from Evil Dead II?” moment.

Back to Crab Bait Locke for a second: I found it very touching and sad that Ben was the only one who seemed to really, really care about the actual John Locke. Of course his eulogy was absolutely hee-larious, but also very tragic when you consider he probably meant everything that he said. In addition to deterring me from eating at Red Lobster, this scene really stood out as one of the best Ben moments, brief as it was. And later we got Ben as the new version of Dr. Arzt: the angry nerdy teacher who definitely eats by himself in the break room. Maybe him and Alterna-Locke are destined to be besties. (I’m talking about the other Locke, not the other other Locke, dig?).

I’m quite excited for tonight’s episode, “Lighthouse”. I noticed in the preview they briefly show Jack smashing some kind of magic-mirror looking thing. Wouldn’t it be weird if he cuts himself somehow and then that’s why his neck is bleeding in the other reality? I’m a real sucker for parallel universes and stuff like that, especially when they connect in weird ways, so I’ll be pretty stoked if that’s the direction this show takes. I’m greatly enjoying the magical weirdness of this new season so I hope the writers really take the magic eight ball and run with it. Actually, that makes it sound like I’m hoping they get really high and I promise that’s not what I meant because we all know what happened to Charlie, so maybe you could just word that better in your head and pretend that whatever you’re thinking is what I really wrote and forget everything I said. What are we even talking about? WINK.

Lastly, I saw that a couple weeks ago Damon Lindelof tweeted about his frustration with people accusing “What Kate Does” of being filler, and that he got a lot of flak for not being able to take criticism. Without getting too opinionated here, I think Damon deserves a break. Expectations for this final season are so high (higher than Charlie on a magic eight ball, oh wait we’re forgetting about that) that it seems to be verging on hysteria. Visit a message board or a comments section and the whining about LOST is even more cacophonous than usual. Every single moment of the series is undergoing such scrutiny that you’d think the fate of mankind rested in every episode of LOST being some whiz-bang action-packed answerfest. But when was LOST ever like that, anyway? The days when the show actually had to produce what is all-too-often referred to as “filler” are long over, and even then, LOST was a lesson in how to stall creatively. I don’t see the problem with “What Kate Does”. It was a perfectly solid episode that wasn’t that different from your typical episode of LOST. I think it’s a little unfair to call for Darlton’s blood just for doing a slower episode. My two cents, right there.

I hope that you could reading that. Thanks for such a thing. You are so nice! Milk.

I'M A FREE BIT, BABY

2010-02-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

I named this post after the censored lyrics from Lady Gaga's November album "The Fame Monster". I think it's hilarious the record company had to edit the content of the CD (and this isn't a Safe For WalMart mix, either . . . all copies have been censored). Guess Gaga is more dangerous than I thought. That’s right, people. Forget the smoke monster. The greatest threats facing the American people today are health care, characters from “Avatar” who smoke, and Lady Gaga.

Anyway, moving on. So I'm still recovering from the one-two punch that was "LA X". What an amazing episode. I didn't think it was possible for me to love LOST any more than I already did, but apparently I was mistaken. It totally blew . . . me away. Ha. Ha. I also really liked “What Kate Does” but, coming on the heels of “LA X”, it was bound to be dismissed as filler by a lot of people, who will subsequently whine and froth about having to be subjected to a Kate episode as if they lived in a fascist regime and were subjected against their will to an obscene amount of unimaginable horrors. But I digress. It was a solid episode in its own right and in the long run I think it will be much better appreciated.

Three episodes into the season and I really don't know where to start. Though some people find them a little boring, I think these new "flash sideways" are really wonderful (and keep in mind, I’ve been waiting for them since before the end of season three). The scenes in the premiere especially really served as the heart and soul of the episode. To revisit these iconic moments from the pilot, but to have everything be somewhat different at the same time, proved to be one of the more emotionally engaging stunts the show has ever tried. For my mind, the scene between Locke and Jack in the parallel universe just may be the most satisfying moment the series has so far produced. It felt like a moment that truly was all six seasons in the making. I'll be the first to admit I totally cried. Matthew Fox has never been better or more nuanced . . . his scenes with Terry O'Quinn have always been one of the highlights of the show, and this was no exception. I've always loved the irony of Jack being a spinal surgeon and yet having no clue that Locke was paralyzed (from a broken spine, no less), and to see the series finally make good on that little storytelling kernel really gave me the sense that LOST will come to an emotionally satisfying conclusion. And to be honest, I care about that more than the mythology. Though I really, really want the mythology to come together in a somewhat reasonable way, whether LOST succeeds or fails is really going to come down to whether the characters complete a satisfying arc in some fashion. And boy, if this scene ‘tween Mr. Party of Five and Mr. Millennium is any indication, they certainly will.

Speaking of Terry O'Quinn, the man currently has more at his disposal than any other actor on the series, and he's really making the most of it. Probably the second greatest moment in the premiere was non-Locke so casually eviscerating the real Locke's personality in a mix of detached cynicism and a twinge of sympathy. Locke has always had so many facets to his personality and now he’s managed to become even more complex. (Yes, I know it’s not technically Locke anymore but cut me some slack here).

Kate’s flash-sideways took us back to Stone Cold Kate Austen from season one, where she’s on the run from that wily US Marshal Philip Gerard whilst trying to prove that it was the One-Armed Man, and not she, who killed Laura Palmer. I enjoyed the idea that Kate, Claire and Aaron are inextricably bound to have their destinies intertwine no matter what they do, and all of the many parallels to previous episodes of the series which reared their bizarre heads. And the bizarrest head of all was reared in the form of the returned Ethan, nee Rom but now Goodspeed. I don’t care how nice he is . . . he will always be the creepiest OBGYN that isn’t Jeremy Irons from “Dead Ringers”. Seriously though, it’s always great to see William Mapother again, and I hope he’ll make another appearance before the sun sets forever on LOST.

So in the last three hours of the show we’ve seen and learned quite a bit. The Temple was well worth the wait, as it turns out. A mix of Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Far Eastern motifs, the Temple is clearly the spiritual center for the Others as well as the island in general. I know some people are confused by the Temple Others, headed as they are by new characters Dogen and Lennon. But the appearances of Cindy, Zack, Emma and Aldo (Mac attack, fothermucker!) pretty much confirms that these are still the same Others. I’m under the impression that Dogen was probably always guarding the Temple while the majority of the Others were living in Dharmaville, but perhaps the show itself will see fit to clarify that at some point. No matter, they’re all the same Others. I’m a big fan of Dogen, both the actor (Hiroyuki Sanada) and character. He adds some mystique back to the Others, and it’s cool to see a full-on island mystic again, as well.

And we also have John Hawkes as Lennon, who is continuing the series’ tradition of employing every single actor that has ever appeared on “Deadwood”. Awesome.

I liked the touch about the ash warding off the black smoke monster. So, was the ashen ring around the cabin intended to keep the smoke away, or was it trapping someone inside? I'm more inclined to believe the Man in Black started using Jacob's cabin, and that it was him who was encountered by Ben and Locke, not Jacob. He was playing everyone for a sucker, basically doing a long con so he could ultimately have Ben murder John, reincarnate himself as Locke, trick Ben into killing Jacob, and voila! He thinks he wins. It all adds up pretty nicely, in a disturbing evil genius sort of way. Also, I'm thinking the ash is the cremated remains of the previous Jacobs.

One of the biggest questions at the moment is just what in Jacob’s name is going on with Sayid. Many were led to speculate at the end of the premiere that Jacob had reincarnated himself in Sayid, but the latest episode seems to imply that Sayid may be infected with the essence of the smoke monster. It could really go either way at this point. One thing worth noting is that Sayid literally died and then came back to life, in such a way that it surprised even the Others. The healing water, which seems to be connected to Jacob, had turned muddy after Jacob’s death, which apparently bungled Sayid’s healing. But can the black smoke actually resurrect the dead? That seems like it would be more Jacob’s territory, as the black smoke is able to create the illusion of resurrection by copying people’s personalities, whereas Jacob is actually a healer. It does look like a pretty good chance that Sayid is in major trouble, but we probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quickly. After all, Jacob seemed to have a plan up his sleeve, and whatever is currently happening to Sayid may very well be a part of that plan. (Assuming that was really Jacob which spoke to Hurley. I’d like to think it was, just because I’d rather not be so paranoid as to assume that everything that happens is caused by the smoke monster. But you never know).

Speaking of Dogen’s fear that Sayid might be “infected,” the most recent episode seems to be retroactively clarifying a whole bunch of points on that subject. “What Kate Does” called back to moments from “Solitary,” “Maternity Leave” and “This Place Is Death” that all dealt with the idea of there being some sort of infection on the island, the suggestion being that exposure to the black smoke can change people at a fundamental level. What felt clear to me was that the DHARMA vaccine was used to make the DHARMA folks immune to the influence of the black smoke, and that the Others used the same treatment on Elephant in the Womb Aaron in order to keep the baby immune as well. But it was pointed out (by Ethan in “Maternity Leave”) that Claire was not given the vaccine, and I seriously doubt she continued injecting herself with that stuff even after Charlie gave it to her, so it makes sense that she could be “infected,” especially since she had been spending an inordinate amount of time hanging out with Christian/MIB/Smoke Monster/Randall Flagg. Also worth noting: the DHARMA vaccine is called CR 4 8-1516-23 42. We know DHARMA used the term CV for Cerberus Vent, where the black smoke would emerge from underground. Probably safe to assume the C in CR stands for Cerberus, as well.

So what’s up with Jungle Adventure Claire, anyway? Is she infected by the island’s darkness? Is she reanimated after having not survived that house explosion after all? Has she just watched “Rambo: First Blood Part II” too many times? Well, first off, I sure hope not because that movie sucks. Secondly, I really have no idea. But I’m dying to know.

One thing I’m particularly loving is seeing all of these characters finally reaching their conclusions . . . seeing the destinies that have been teased for them since the beginning of the show. Josh Holloway is really knocking it out of the park lately as Sawyer. The character has grown so much and has a wisdom (I almost typed “wiseness”, wtf?!) that he’s really earned, but he’s also in serious danger of returning to the dark side. Kate coming to terms with Sawyer’s grief and Juliet’s death, as well as her own selfishness, was a beautiful moment and Evangeline Lilly broke my heart. And I loved the scene with Jack and Sayid. The bonds that exist between these people are, to me, the real reason Jacob chose them, and what’s happening to them just might be the redemption they’ve all been seeking.

Beyond the character level of the series, the other element that has me very excited is this: LOST has returned to the tantalizing theme from the first season, namely the possibility of magic. In seasons four and five, the show played up the many sci-fi aspects of the story, and hinting at greater supernatural shenanigans that may or may not be in play. But season six has been showing us things that normally fall under the auspices of what can be called magic and mysticism: healing fountains, protective circles of ash, shapeshifting demons made of black smoke, characters speaking with the dead, etc. The series is now directly tackling the spiritual, most prominently in the many references made to the afterlife in the first few episodes. What happens when we die? Do we have a soul? Are we punished or redeemed? Who redeems us? Obviously, these questions aren’t new, but LOST is asking them in a very interesting way.

For instance, is it significant that Sayid actually came back to life, whereas the black smoke is merely impersonating Locke? There’s a major difference between physical resurrection and an evil doppelganger. One is simply an illusion. Mr. Eko’s final episode, “The Cost of Living,” dealt with the notion that the redemption and forgiveness provided by the island may in fact be false. Eko refuses judgment by the false god of the island and is promptly killed. He rejects the smoke-manifested Yemi and at the end is shown walking into the sunset with his brother, perhaps spiritually reunited with the actual Yemi after death. Admittedly, I had always assumed that the “ghosts” which appear to Hurley are simply generated by the island, trying to send him messages. But after Hurley’s conversation with Jacob, it made me seriously consider that Hugo may actually communicate with the spirits of the dead. What if all of the strange things we’ve seen are attributable to different phenomena that are all connected through the island, as opposed to all coming from the same place? I alluded to this in my previous post and I feel it even more strongly now. Perhaps many of the answers on LOST do have a sci-fi basis, but maybe some really only can be chalked up to the spiritual, mystical and, yes, magical. So yes, psychic phenomena, time travel and maybe even aliens* have something to do with this weirdness, but there could be a genuinely supernatural force at work as well.

I’m reminded of the Dogans from Stephen King’s DARK TOWER series. (Yes, in addition to being named after Dogen Zenji, the character is also named after this element from King’s books). In the novels, a Dogan is a place where scientists tried to fuse Magic and Science, only to damage the structure of the multiverse. In fact, one of the most striking elements of the TOWER books is the way King so seamlessly blends the tropes of science fiction with the tropes of magical fantasy, ultimately concocting an awesome hybrid between the two. Could LOST, which draws quite a bit of inspiration from THE DARK TOWER, be attempting something similar?

This brings me to my latest (and favorite, though I probably shouldn’t get too attached) theory. From the top:

The island has an electromagnetic anomaly which not only distorts the spacetime continuum but is also responsible for events that border on the mystical, such as healing the sick and wounded, enhancing psychic abilities, allowing the spirits of the dead to communicate with the living, etc. This energy may be occurring because of a geological phenomenon, or it may be something otherworldly or even divine. We won’t ever really know for sure.

Anyway, thousands of years ago, alien beings visited the island in order to study its unique properties. Before they departed, they left behind a piece of technology to guard the island and to collect information. This included studying any people who might visit the island. The information collection system appears as a cloud of black smoke, and it has the ability to take the form of human beings and of various things it downloads from their memories.

In addition to this smoke, there is also a being who exists completely at one with the island and its properties, so much so that he possesses powers that seem miraculous. He does not age, and he is able to pass part of his life force into other beings. This life force is the healing property of the island. Its powers derive from the electromagnetic anomaly.

The ancient Egyptians (and later other cultures) arrived at the island through the portal in the Sahara desert. They worshipped both the black smoke as well as this divine healer. The smoke, in studying human nature, grew to like being worshipped, and eventually developed a god complex. It grew to hate the healer, as his powers were genuine whereas the smoke’s own powers were merely illusory. The civilization on the island was eventually wiped out by the island’s volcano, leaving behind the black smoke and the healer.

By the mid-1800’s, the healing presence had incarnated itself through a man named Jacob. The smoke took the form of a man whose name we do not yet know. By this point, this ancient alien machine had grown tired of Jacob. He resented Jacob’s powers because he could not fully understand them. He came to feel, from his attempts to understand human nature, that humans are weak and pathetic beings who destroy everything they come into contact with. He also believed that time was set, the rules of the universe unbreakable, and that any attempts to change the course of history would be counteracted by the laws of fate. Jacob, on the other hand, believed that people are essentially good and that people could always choose to change their fate, and he was desperate to prove the black smoke wrong.

Essentially, the black smoke is an ancient alien technology which represents destiny, science and cynicism, and Jacob is a supernatural being who represents free will, faith and optimism, and these two forces have been at each other’s throats for thousands of years, to the point where even time itself has been manipulated. All of the characters on LOST are pawns in a game between these two forces. But the black smoke’s technology is failing, and it is tired of Earth and of human beings and of Jacob’s attempts to prove that humans are good, and it wants to leave this world and go home before it goes insane, even if it means destroying the island and subsequently the planet. But Jacob refuses to allow this to happen.

And that is my theory. The ultimate expression of Science vs. Magic. Wouldn’t that be nifty? Lest this sound like I think LOST will ultimately have to choose which side to favor, I think this famous rule from Arthur C. Clarke is also at play: any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So yes, there may be some surface differences between something scientific and something magic, but the line is also blurred past a certain point. Science and faith need each other, just as the black smoke and what Jacob represents also need each other, and I think we’ll see that play out as we head into the show’s endgame.

Think of the yin and yang, which could be visually represented this way: the smoke monster is black but has light flashing inside of it, and the island's electromagnetism shows as a white light but probably comes from some form of dark matter. Not to mention, the black smoke might be a scientific concept but it can do things that seem miraculous (hence the Arthur Clarke reference), and the island's inexplicable magic still owes in part to electromagnetism, which again is scientific. Each side contains an element of the other.

Is this where the show is going or am I way off base? Only time, however distorted it may sometimes be, will tell.

*When Rose is reading the magazine on the plane, you can briefly see an ad for Morley cigarettes, the brand smoked by the evil Cigarette-Smoking Man from THE X FILES. The ad even says, "The truth is out there." Aliens, people! I'm telling you.

2010-02-02T13:53:00.000-08:00

Well, after five seasons, numerous and painfully prolonged hiatuses, and more questions than a smoke monster could shake a tree at (hah?), we have arrived at the sixth and final season of LOST. It’s hard to believe that we’re finally here. I can remember back in the day, when the world was young and I was but a wee sprout, and we had silly questions like: Does the button do anything? Is DHARMA a mind game? Is Alvar Hanso the leader of the Others? These seemed to be the main questions about the series at one point in its frustrating but astounding history, and they seem like hilarious trifles compared to the directions the show would ultimately take. This goes to illustrate just how much LOST has grown in subsequent years. There was even a time when we wondered if we’d ever see this story come to its conclusion, satisfying or otherwise. But here we are. The death knell has been rung, and our favorite and most beloved television show is finally about to detonate like so much paradox-inducing hydrogen bomb.

But maybe I’m being melodramatic.

Personally, I’m happy to see LOST going off the air while still vital, as opposed to being beat into a bony bloodless mass that is needlessly dragged out season after season. We’ve all seen it happen, and honestly it’s the fate of most TV shows that are, for lack of a better phrase, too successful. Somehow, some way, the gods of the island intervened and LOST gets to go out on its own terms. We fans couldn't’t be luckier.

Although I’ve sort of set this blog to rest for the better part of the last few years, I would still like to update when I can and offer my thoughts while the show is still on (and as Ms. Hawking might point out, that window is closing fast). So, before the premiere tonight I’d just like to offer a few ideas, a theory or two, and maybe a little commentary on the show in general.

HEY, I STUBBED MY FOUR-TOED FOOT

First of all, as the series nears its end, there has been an increasingly gargantuan tidal wave of internet bitching and moaning regarding the answers to the show’s myriad of mysteries which the producers and writers of LOST supposedly “owe” the viewers. Even today, the proverbial shit hit the fan(s) when Damon Lindelof said we wouldn’t learn who built the statue. Some people are practically screaming for blood. Maybe I missed something, but I thought the show more or less implied that the statue was built by the ancient Egyptians, hence, you know, it being an Egyptian deity and whatnot. What else about it do we need to know? See, the essential answers to many of LOST’s mysteries are not going to be these wild mind-blowing concepts that have never before been seen in the history of the universe. It’s all stuff that has been done before, just maybe not executed in this exact manner. But, rabid fans are screaming, why does the statue have four toes??? Because a lot of ancient representations of deities in certain cultures had four toes, not five. There you go. It’s not a major conspiratorial clue as to the true meaning of the universe. It’s just a damn statue of a crocodile god. As Anthony Cooper might say, “Get over it.”

As LOST winds down, the time might come to stop keeping track of the minutiae of every single conundrum presented by the show, and to start just accepting the inevitable. Lots of big questions will be answered, yes, but quite a few will be only partially answered, and many more questions will likely go unaddressed completely. Some of this has to do with the time constraints of the series nearing its end, some of it has to do with not making the show overly didactic. I mean, what should the writers do? Have Enzo Valenzetti come out in front of a chalkboard and explain, “Okay, the time you saw this was the smoke monster, but the time you saw this was Walt, and the Egyptians built the tunnels but actually the ancient Greeks built the pillar that Cooper was tied to, and Jack was just hallucinating that time when . . .”?

Yeah, that would pretty much suck.

But the main reason every question shouldn’t be answered is, LOST is a show about magic and mystery. Anyone who’s read a mystery story also knows the tremendous disappointment that comes when a mystery is completely solved. The sense of pervading mystery that LOST has maintained since the pilot should never be fully evaporated. We should get just enough explained so that we have a sense of what was going on, but have plenty to discuss and interpret long after our mutual friend has officially left the airwaves. I know it sounds like a ripoff to just say, “Well, the island is weird, so X, Y and Z happened,” but I think that’s largely the kind of answer we’ll be getting, and I’m okay with that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I might be disappointed about a couple of things remaining untouched. I’m just saying it’s probably best to let LOST give the basic answers to the mysteries as opposed to a point-by-point breakdown explanation of everything that we’ve seen. This doesn’t mean all will necessarily be boiled down to one general concept (more on that later), but on the whole it would just be impractical, tedious and dramatically uninteresting to go through a laundry list of specific island mysteries.

WHEREIN I BRIEFLY ATTEMPT TO SOUND SMART

On the other hand, some viewers are borderline-psychotically obsessed with answers because, well, they care. LOST has inspired the type of fandom and loyalty that can only occur when an audience is truly devoted to something, and if we all have a tendency to sometimes take our love of the show too far (I know I have), it’s only because we love it so damn much. I think LOST strikes a chord with people for several reasons. In many ways, the show began as a reaction to post-9/11 anxiety. Crashing planes, surviving disaster, imminent attack from a seemingly nefarious group of people . . . the series is nothing if not a perfect summary of War on Terror paranoia. And unlike much of the self-congratulatory “political” products generated by Hollywood, LOST is in many ways much more pure, as it reflects these things without trying too hard to discuss them or offer some type of commentary. Yes, Sayid is a Muslim from Iraq and fought in the Republican Guard, and although this gives his character a particular relevance in the world today, he is far from an allegory for Desert Storm Part Deux. Even a spectacular movie like “Avatar” can’t refrain from hitting you over the head with certain messages (noble though they may be), but LOST rarely has ever made a concentrated effort to be relevant.

It’s also worth noting that 9/11 was a brutal reminder that we now live in a global culture, and this is perhaps one of the most influential concepts on LOST. The series depicts a diverse international cast of characters, from all walks of life, each and every one of them drawn together by the show’s central enigma. Of course, when a story is about diverse groups of people struggling to live together on an island, it’s difficult not to see that as a larger symbol of the world as a whole. The concept of This Island Earth may be clichéd, but it’s still absolutely true. We’re all stuck on this galactic atoll, and how we live together (or destroy each other) will determine what ultimately happens to our species. It’s no coincidence that Jacob and the Man in Black speak of humans as a separate entity from themselves; they are outsiders observing our species, and they are sharply divided in their opinions of us. (I’d say we’re in Rod Serling mode at this point, in regards to the show’s depiction of humanity).

Another tremendous facet of LOST is information. In many ways, LOST is like a video game, but instead of killing bad guys or rescuing the princess, the real goal is to collect information. All of the various storytelling conceits on the series are ways of uploading information to the audience, whether it be intel on the characters’ lives or the island itself. As many have pointed out, each season involves some sort of meta-goal that, when accomplished, opens the door to an entirely new level of the story. The viewers themselves are drawn into this game of information-collection, but the characters are equally as engaged, as they learn new information yet continually hide secrets. No one on LOST shares everything they know. Even the island is engaged in this intelligence gathering: the black smoke literally downloads information from the characters’ minds. In this age where the internet and communications devices have made information more readily available than ever—and it’s worth noting that the universe of LOST is significantly expanded in various ancillary websites—the show seems to be upping the ante in terms of the true value of information. In the world of LOST, information is not only non-disposable, it’s the most valuable form of currency. (Other than Apollo bars, of course, which to me look pretty nasty in that jungle heat).

And of course, LOST is ultimately a search for meaning in a world where the big picture is never truly clear. Do we exist for a reason? Is all a choice or are we destined to do certain things? Can science explain everything, or are there mysteries that truly point to a larger force at work in the universe? LOST presents a wide variety of philosophical, religious, spiritual and moral viewpoints, all seemingly justified in one sense, and yet fatally flawed in another sense. Perhaps no one viewpoint is capable of completely explaining life, instead only presenting one specific part of it. This is in keeping with the status of LOST as a potentially unsolvable giant puzzle.

When the series began, it very specifically presented the argument of science vs. faith, exemplified through the characters of Jack and Locke. The question was, is this island a fantastical place, or are these miracles and mysteries explainable through every day hard science? By season three, it had become quite clear that a more far-out direction was in store, particularly when we saw a psychic cloud of sinister black smoke shapeshift into Mr. Eko’s brother before transforming into a giant demonic hand and crushing Eko like some kind of pissed off Marlboro-sponsored version of King Kong. Yeah, not so much with the hard science. Now that we knew the island was special, we had to ask: are the answers going to be more in the realm of science fiction, or are they actually going to cross over into the supernatural and maybe even the mystical? This also forces us to question if this island is indeed a mystical place at all, or if the salvation it offers is an artificial one. In other words, is the island god, or is it a false god?

A similar question was raised in the (underrated, IMO) final seasons of THE X FILES. For so long, we wondered whether or not the events of mythology could be attributed to extraterrestrial phenomena. Once that question was answered in the affirmative, we had to ponder whether the ultimate answer to questions of the paranormal merely boils down to, “Yes, aliens are real, and they’re coming to take over the planet and wipe out the human race,” or if there is in fact an even greater spiritual force in the universe which can offer some actual hope. Is the answer just “Yeah, it’s aliens,” or is there something bigger and more meaningful than that? I always found this dilemma to be really fascinating and, although the series was running out of steam by that point, it remained an engaging question up through the very end.

LOST finds itself positing similar questions. We can only wait and see where the (black and white) stones finally fall.

QUICK! YOUR THEORY!

Since this is a LOST blog, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer at least a brief theory as to the final direction of the show. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am seriously considering the idea that the black smoke and electromagnetic energy are products of an ancient alien technology. The show has strongly implied that the smoke is some kind of machine, and even in the realm of science fiction, I don’t know how the ancient Egyptians would have invented technology quite that advanced. It also explains why Jacob and the Man in Black (who I believe is the monster) talk about humans in such detached terms . . . the island was left by an advanced race to study human beings, and the technology has since evolved into dueling personalities with opposite opinions on human nature. Jacob is the healing force on the island made flesh, and the various guises of the black smoke are the security system trying to masquerade as a human.

I know a lot of folks who like this theory, but then again I know a lot of people who are adamantly opposed to it. However, when I ask why, the normal answer I get is that it feels like a copout. People say it’s lame if the ultimate answer to the show is just, “It’s aliens”. But it’s not the ultimate answer. Even if the alien bit turned out to be true, it wouldn’t mean that all of the events we’ve seen on the series are attributable to extraterrestrials. There’s also time travel, weird experiments, an evil multinational corporate conspiracy, psychic phenomena, and (possibly) ghosts. Interrelated events, to be sure, but not all able to filed under one heading. Hell, even if the island is home to a giant alien computer, it still leaves a lot of open-ended possibilities, because this means that not even alien technology can truly solve the mysteries of the universe, if it can’t even make sense of human nature.

Speaking of “Mysteries of the Universe,” notice the subjects this little faux early 80’s TV program claims to cover: Cults, Conspiracies, Paranormal Events, Monsters, Lost Civilizations, and Aliens. Well, in some form or another we’ve seen all but the final topic, so I have to wonder if this is a little bit of a clue. Not to mention, LOST has borrowed heavily from “Solaris,” another great alien story, and Philip K. Dick’s divine-extraterrestrial novel “VALIS” has made not one but two cameos on the series. So I don’t think this theory is entirely unfounded, or any more ridiculous than frozen donkey wheels which can send entire islands traveling through time.

Really though, as I mentioned earlier, almost any answer is going to be considered lame by a lot of people. Whether it involves aliens, magic, ghosts, Jesus, Adrian Veidt’s giant exploding psychic squid, or whatever, plenty of viewers will feel that the bigger answers fail to live up to their expectations. Again, I think this has to do with the fact that so many people seem to be expecting this huge revelation that explains everything and which has never appeared in a story before, and that’s just not going to happen. So yeah, it’s probably going to be a mix of sci-fi and supernatural explanations that you’ve seen plenty of times, just mixed together in a really cool way, and the bigger stuff (fate, free will, the human soul, God) will be left up to the viewers to decide. And that’s as it should be.

I do like my alien theory, but I’m open to pretty much anything. LOST should be whatever LOST is supposed to be, not what I think it could maybe possibly be. This is the biggest pitfall of LOST blogging, I think; we get so wrapped up in our own theories that we can sometimes forget to love the actual show. This is why you get some folks frothing at the mouth when a whole episode is devoted to what Kate did with Aaron, and not an in-depth lecture on obscure quantum mechanical theory. At a certain point, you just have to let go of what you want the show to be, and just enjoy it for what it is. For this final season, we’ll all probably be better off if we just loosen up and let LOST do its thing, and just enjoy the ride.

Thank you so much to anyone who’s reading, and to all who’ve offered your time and thoughts over the years. I’ve loved contributing to this blog, and coming up with all sorts of stupid ideas that I’m lucky anyone would bother reading about. I’ll still update when I can, as I’m sure I’ll have a few things to say as we make our way through the final season of this amazing experience.

Okay, before I go, if I could get cocky one last time: four years ago, I was obsessed with the idea that “Through the Looking Glass” would present an alternate timeline where the plane never crashed. Obviously I was mistaken, but the fact that the season premiere is titled “LA X” gives me hope that I may have been ahead of my time. :)

POKER FACE

2009-04-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have named this post after a Lady Gaga song. Yes, I am comfortable with that. Moving on . . .

So I haven't posted in a while and I'm not entirely sure if anyone is still checking this blog, but on the off-chance that anyone is still interested in my thoughts and observations, I figured I'd post while I actually have access to the internet for a small amount of time. I'd like to start off by saying that this season has been a real rollercoaster. I am almost hesitant to speculate about anything because you really just don't know for sure what LOST is going to do next. They seem to have thrown out any attempt at restraint this year . . . I am half expecting a UFO to pop up at some point. Well, here are some ideas and theories I have:

- Okay, what is up with Miles insisting that he can't talk to ghosts? Does anyone remember that in one of his very first scenes, we saw him do exactly that? Yes, we've mostly just seen him crouch down near dead bodies, close his eyes and then he magically knows who this person was and how they died. So yeah, being able to intuit a dead person's thoughts is a totally reasonable explanation for some of his abilities. But in "Confirmed Dead," he quite clearly walked into a room that was supposedly haunted, spoke to someone who wasn't there, interrogated the invisible presence by asking where the money was, and then a shelf seemed to move on its own to indicate the location of aforementioned money. Uh, to the best of my knowledge, that kid's body was not there. So if the grandson wasn't there, and Miles was talking to an invisible presence, and an object in the room moved on its own, doesn't that sound lot like a freaking ghost? Most people I've talked to seemed completely content with the recent description of Miles' abilities, and then when I ask them to explain the scene from season four, they're like "Hey wait a second, that doesn't make any sense!"

So, what's really going on here? The two best answers I can think of are either that Miles is lying because he doesn't want anyone to know the full extent of his abilities (and the writers don't want to directly discuss the supernatural until later), or the writers just wrote that scene in "Confirmed Dead" without really knowing what Miles can really do, and the answer they've settled upon contradicts what they depicted previously. I really really want to believe it's the former, but I am terribly worried that it's going to turn out to be the latter. This is television, after all, and even the best shows like LOST can't get everything right. It's common on TV to be like "Let's show this really cool thing and then we'll explain it later," and then the ultimate explanation doesn't really fit with what you saw. Look at how many times THE X FILES would answer a question with a big "See? Isn't this answer mindblowing???" and you'd just be sitting there thinking, "Yeah, uh, that didn't explain anything because you've contradicted yourself so many times and this is no exception, so I still have no idea how this all fits together." I hope this isn't one of those moments. I guess we'll just see.

- R.I.P Libby. It has been confirmed that the explanation as to why Libby was in the mental institution is not something the writers will be bothering with. So Libby will remain an open question by the end of the series. I know Damon and Carlton had said there were extenuating circumstances about why they couldn't get around to answering that question, and I am very curious to one day know what those might be. They were originally gonna answer our Libby questions last year through flashbacks for one of the freighter characters, and they had concocted some kind of conspiratorial backstory for Libby, but all of that was flushed down the toilet by the writers' strike. I like how the damn strike means that some of our burning questions about LOST will never be addressed. Damon and Carlton have to be politicians when they do interviews, and so they're now saying "Well, that wasn't really a question we ever thought was that important," but the truth is, at one point they were going to answer it in a big way. Oh well.

- Damon and Carlton: I am willing to let this Libby thing go. But for the love of the island, please explain the whole Claire's implant/DHARMA vaccine thing from "One of Us." I will not be willing to let that one go if the series ends and this question isn't answered. I don't even care if the answer is a real brief "Oh, DHARMA had an experiment with implants, didn't we mention that before?" Just please address this before the end of the series.

- So what's the deal with Ilana, Caesar, Bram and these other characters? Who do they work for? My guess would be Widmore, who assembled a group of bad-asses to aid in his return to the island. Also, I am pretty sure Widmore knows Locke is going to be a problem, so they might be there to keep Locke in check.

- Does anyone really trust resurrected Locke? I absolutely do not. I want to trust him because he can be so Yoda-like, but he can also be so Captain Kurtz-like. The island is a manipulator and the people it chooses to represent its wishes are manipulators themselves. Locke seems to have a newfound clarity, but I don't buy his whole "Hey, I'm just like you" thing for a second. I've never fully trusted the guy and I especially don't now. Just my two cents.

- Okay, so Ben explained like three times what he knew/didn't know about Locke coming back to life, and I really didn't buy any of his explanations. He's still keeping what he really knows to himself. Looks like the island has had to resort to drastic measures to keep Ben in line.

- The Egyptian temple was amazing. That was definitely the freakiest scene yet involving the monster. It had a real "Raiders of the Lost Ark" feel to it. I still have no clue what the smoke monster really is, but I like that we're getting closer and closer to an answer.

- I am so glad Ben did not kill Penny. Even before Desmond (rightfully) beat the living snot out of him, Ben had lowered his gun after seeing little Charlie. I'm happy Ben still has a heart, somewhere in there.

- After seeing him in Ben's flashback, Charles Widmore sure is emerging as the villain of LOST. That may or may not ultimately be true, but Widmore has so far been a real creep by everything we've seen. And Richard Alpert clearly doesn't like him, and if Richard doesn't like you, you must be doing something wrong.

- Next week's episode is called "The Variable," which sounds a lot like it will have something to do with "The Constant." I think it's shaping up to being Daniel-centric. It's the show's 100th episode and it looks like it's gonna be a big one. The math-related title really makes me hope that someone might bother mentioning the Valenzetti Equation, which I've been clamoring to see referenced on the series for quite some time now. That's kind of a fool's hope at this point, but Daniel has been hanging around in Ann Arbor, which is the home of the Degroots and the DHARMA Initiative. So, I'd imagine he very well might have enough information to finally give everybody the skinny on DHARMA. That would sure be cool. My main guesses for the episode are that Daniel will try to change the future with some wacky time travel experiments, that he's the person who warns Chang about the Purge, and that he will turn out to be Widmore's son (which is why Widmore funded his research). If Valenzetti's research is discussed, I am guessing his equations are being used by DHARMA to predict various outcomes involving time travel, and that Daniel will have some useful information in this regard.

- I really liked the WATCHMEN movie. Just wanted to put that out there.

I AM NOT LISTENING TO A SONG

2009-03-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I don't have a song to name this post after, so I am not going to bother coming up with a real title. Please forgive my lack of creativity. Anyway, last week brought us another great episode, though at this point it's redundant to refer to LOST as "great". So, I shall again just point out some thoughts and highlights and other things that will turn out to be wrong. Here goes:

- Okay, so we got to see Horace Goodspeed again, but where is good ol' Olivia? She sure seemed to be his wife in "The Man Behind the Curtain." I guess she either left him, or she's dead, or they just couldn't get Samantha Mathis back because she must be, um, busy starring in those hundreds of movies she stars in every year. Seriously though, I am guessing something bad must've happened to her. Perhaps Amy and Horace were able to relate to each other due to mutual grief. He certainly seems more distraught and world weary than he did last time we saw him (and he was dead that time!). Anyway, it's always good to see him again. I've been a fan of Doug Hutchison since he played the immortal liver-eating mutant on THE X FILES, and the totally evil prison guard in THE GREEN MILE. He was the second most evil prison guard, right behind the other evil prison guard from a Frank Darabont movie based on a Stephen King story: Clancy Brown/Brother Justin/Kelvin Inman from THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. But I digress.

- I like the new character Amy. So, she was able to give birth on the island. I am guessing we are pre-Disaster That Kills Pregnant Women, as Sawyer suggested to Juliet. It was mentioned that DHARMA tries to have children born on the mainland. I am guessing this means that being born on the island perhaps weds a person to its properties in a way that people who weren't born on the island typically aren't (wow, did that sentence make any sense?). I think we all figured that being born on the island changes a person in a significant way, but it's nice to see the series slowly inching towards that confirmation. I am still theorizing that Ben is the reason the island's healing power seems to malfunction when women are pregnant, but I will expound upon that later. Now, who is Amy and Horace's child? Is Amy the old woman Amelia from "A Tale of Two Cities"? Interesting questions . . .

- I was so happy that Juliet was finally able to deliver someone's child on the island. In fact, "LeFleur" totally paid off for Sawyer and Juliet in a big way. This episode really serviced their characters. And I totally buy the romance between them. It made so much sense. And the character arc of Sawyer slowly becoming a hero was finally fully realized, something they'd been building towards since "Left Behind". I am just so pleased with the direction all the characters are taking. These people really are on a journey . . . they've all become much different characters since their first appearances.

- GIANT EGYPTIAN STATUE! What god was it? I kind of don't care. I just think it's cool that we saw a giant Egyptian statue, however briefly. I think we can all stop wondering where the four-toed foot monument came from, whether or not that was the statue in question. I think it goes without saying we'll continue to see more and more Egyptian artifacts. So how did the Egyptians discover the island? Well, the same way a plane from Nigeria winds up on an island in the South Pacific: you find a portal in the middle of the Sahara desert. (Remember, we don't really know that's a one way door). Dammit, Charlotte would've been so useful for talking about this stuff! That was why she was introduced in the first place. I guess her death was effective because I'm still smarting over it.

- I loved the joke about Richard's eyeliner. And I loved seeing Richard as well. He looked mighty sick and tired of dealing with the DHARMA Inish. I know, I know. Awesome abbrev! In turn, Horace looked pretty sick and tired of dealing with the Hostiles and their weird ass rules. I guess it's easy to see why the Truce didn't last too long.

- Here is my theory for where the rest of the season is going. I suspect that the Incident is going to occur soon, and that it's not just gonna be a blast of electromagnetism. I think the space-time continuum is going to break down, and the characters won't skip through time, but various time periods are going to merge together awkwardly. This will create a complete catastrophe, and young Benjamin Linus is going to change big time. I think that this Incident is the reason women can't give birth on the island. My own personal theory is that Ben will become completely connected to the island's properties and his guilt over his mother's death then warps the island's healing power, causing the island to try to "heal" pregnant women and in turn killing them. But maybe women can't give birth simply because the Incident messes up the island in general. Charles Widmore will have to turn the wheel to restabilize the island, and he will blame Ben for his having to leave. I also think Daniel will put on his thinking cap and do some heroic science-y stuff. I think the event from 1984 referred to on the blast door map might be the sudden reappearance of the island. I am not sold on this idea by any means but it does tie a lot of disparate things together. I also still think we will learn the details of the Purge, and that Locke has something to do with it.

- In a recent interview, the actress who plays Ms. Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan, anyone remember her as the mom from THE EWOK ADVENTURE? Anyone?) was asked about Ms. Hawking's religious beliefs, seeing as how Ms. Hawking seems to enjoy surrounding herself with various spiritual symbols. She mentioned that she has learned a bit about Ms. Hawking's beliefs and that they are "not of this world and not of this planet". I know technically that most spiritual beliefs fit this criteria, but it's difficult not to wonder if this is opening the door for a certain extraterrestrial angle. We might wanna be readying ourselves for that. (The original Hanso Foundation website did have a project called the Quest for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence).

And finally I just wanted to clear up some questions from my previous posts:

- I know if Widmore got off the island circa 1984, it seems like a stiff deadline to become a multibillionaire industrialist. However, the leaders of the island seem to be the most powerful people in the world. They have access to seemingly limitless funds and resources. We've all seen how crafty Ben is and how much he has, and he's no longer even the leader of the Others. I think if Charles Widmore left the island, he of all people could easily throw together a monolithic corporation.

- I don't think that Alvar Hanso was a bad guy who was taking advantage of some hippies in order to find the key to immortality. He certainly was interested in life extension, but I think his intentions were sincere. He seems to hold the DeGroots in great esteem, and in the Lost Experience game he seems genuinely sorry for any of the things that went wrong with the Hanso Foundation. He seems like a man with good intentions who unintentionally caused some big problems. So I really don't think he was a bad guy. No he's not a hippie, but I think he was trying to do something humanitarian and less military-oriented. The hippieness came from the DeGroots, but even they were very skilled scientists. As for Alvar's military connections, remember he was a munitions dealer in WWII. Between that and the UN, he could easily find out about the military's presence on the island in the 50's. I am pretty sure "Jughead" definitely took place in the 50's . . . the story wouldn't make any sense if it didn't.

- I don't really believe that Locke's conversations with the O6 and Walt were continuity errors. I think they skipped all the "my name is Jeremy Bentham, you weren't supposed to leave, bad stuff happened after you left" stuff because it would've felt like the same conversation over and over again. I think it's implied we just got the highlights of the conversations. That might seem like a copout but the episode is already extended by 4 minutes, and I think it would've been boring and repetitive if Locke's various confrontations with the characters didn't stand out from each other.

- I don't think Daniel knows Charles is his father, nope.

ANOTHER POST IN THE SAME WEEKEND

2009-03-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

What's this? Two posts in two days? Have I gone mad? No, just have unexpected access to the internet and couldn't stay away. I've been working on some theories this weekend and wanted to put them out there while I had the chance. Here goes:

1. THEORY ABOUT THE ISLAND'S PAST

Okay, I have some ideas about the island's timeline as it relates to its past. Let's see how this sounds. In the mid-1800's, Magnus Hanso and his illegal slaving and mining vessel the Black Rock set sail for some more illegal shenanigans. They head into the Indian Ocean where they conveniently disappear near the Sunda Trench, off the coast of Bali. They disappear because someone moved the island and it activated the wormhole located by the trench. The ship appears in the middle of the jungle. Magnus and his crew are never seen in the outside world again. However, an artifact from the ship does make its way to the outside world from the island: the journal of the first mate. This journal winds up in the hands of the Hanso family, and it alerts them to the fact that their relative wound up on magical mystery island. Hanso family is rightfully intrigued.

In the 50's, the United States military accidentally discovers the island in the South Pacific while doing nuclear testing. They set up a camp on the island. At this point in history, the island natives include Richard Alpert, Charles Widmore, and Eloise Hawking, who goes by Ellie in her teenage years. They politely ask the soldiers to take their hydrogen bomb and go blow up something else. Soldiers refuse. Natives kill soldiers and commandeer their camp in the event that more military people arrive. Ellie's (and perhaps Widmore's as well) son from the future shows up and offers some helpful advice on how to dispose of Jughead, the hydrogen bomb which is unfortunately leaking radiation. He disappears. They bury the bomb, and thankfully the military never relocates the island.

In the 60's, following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United Nations commissions Enzo Valenzetti to write an equation which predicts the date of the apocalypse. To everyone's shock and horror, he succeeds. The UN buries the equation, but through his contacts Mr. Alvar Hanso discovers its existence and decides to do something about it. Hanso was a munitions dealer in WWII, and because of that has many military connections. Through those connections he knows the military had recently discovered the island, and he intends to find it again. Hanso knows the island is special, and believes it to be the key in halting the prediction of the Valenzetti Equation. He meets two social scientists from the University of Michigan, Gerald and Karen DeGroot, and with them forms the DHARMA Initiative . . . man's desperate attempt to save himself from extinction. Through them he is introduced to physicist Pierre Chang, who realizes the key to finding Hanso's magical island is by predicting where and when it will appear next. The Lamp Post station is built above an electromagnetic anomaly in the Los Angeles area, and the location of the island is finally determined circa 1970.

Hanso and his scientists set up camp on the island and begin the long process of building stations, radio towers, homes, etc. By this point, Charles Widmore is the leader of the island natives, but he and his people stay out of DHARMA's way. By 1975, folks are being shipped to the island to man the various DHARMA stations. Unfortunately, DHARMA shoots itself in the foot early on by drilling into the electromagnetic anomaly and causing a leak in the event known as the Incident. After this, the original Swan station is closed off and a new Swan station is built around it. This event does not endear the DHARMA people to the natives, who realize that by messing with the island's properties, DHARMA is flirting with the apocalypse they're intending to prevent. Any positive relations between the natives and the DHARMA scientists, who never really understood each other anyway, break down, and the natives soon become known as the Hostiles.

Enter young Ben Linus. He arrives on the island with his father, and comes to soon find that he's special . . . that he has abilities that are enhanced when coming to the island. The Hostiles, particularly Richard Alpert, duly note this. At some point in DHARMA's history, at least Jin and Daniel, and my guess Sawyer and Juliet and later on Jack, Kate and Hurley, become involved in the DHARMA Initiative via fun and wacky time travel. Daniel senses trouble and warns Dr. Chang about the Purge which will one day occur. Meanwhile, Ben falls in love with his childhood sweetheart Annie. As teenagers they do what teenagers do and it winds up getting her pregnant. Unfortunately, pregnant women are now dying on the island due to Ben: his paternally-inflicted guilt over his mother's death is now manifesting itself by killing all woman who conceive on the island. Ben does not know he is responsible for this. Annie dies, and Ben vows to reverse this fertility problem one day. It becomes an obsession.

Around 1984, for some reason Charles Widmore is forced to move the island, thusly resigning as the leader of the natives/Hostiles/Others. When he turns the wheel in the frozen chamber, a polar bear winds up going with him. Widmore will spend the next 20 years trying to find the island again. At some point, Eloise leaves as well. Perhaps she took Daniel and Charles took Penny, assuming they were entangled in that sense. After Widmore leaves, the natives need a new leader. Ben is in line but is too young, and the natives aren't interested in a Golden Child-type scenario. Who emerges as the leader? John Locke, again via fun and wacky time travel. Locke even gets to know young Ben, and eventually Resurrected and Much More Confident John Locke makes Ben an offer he can't refuse: you can be one of us, but only if you kill your father. Young Ben doesn't realize Locke is getting him back for what will one day happen many years down the line.

The island may have moved, but DHARMA still knows where it is via the Lamp Post and continues to drop supplies. By the early 90's, Charles Widmore has become a powerful billionaire and industrialist. He has formed the Widmore Corporation, and is using his considerable resources and global ties to locate the island. In particular, he intends to apprehend Ben, the young "special" boy he remembers from the island who he blames for his ousting. Widmore infiltrates the Hanso Foundation, which gives him access to the DHARMA Initiative, which will in turn help him find the island. Back on the island, Locke becomes aware of this, and he entices Ben to help him with the Purge. If Ben says no, he can warn his people. If he says yes, Ben's decision will betray everyone he has known. Ben agrees, and helps the natives infiltrate the Initiative and overthrow DHARMA. Almost everyone is killed with gas released via the Tempest, though some are shot and, per Locke's demand, Ben personally gasses his father to death. Ben's gesture has earned him a future with the island natives. He finally belongs.

2. THEORY ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE ISLAND

Through some more fun and wacky time travel, our key characters will all move through time yet again . . . this time into the future. Bye bye DHARMA, hello weird future. There will be a period of confusion because, this is just my guess, not everyone will be in the same time periods at the same time. Charles Widmore will finally get his wish and come to the island somewhere in the middle of all this, and I predict at least Desmond and maybe even Penny (assuming Ben didn't kill her) will arrive as well. So Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Juliet, Daniel, Locke, Ben, Charles and everyone else will all be thrust back into the same time period together. Hail hail the gang's all here. However, we now have Ben, Locke and Widmore all on the island at once, and each one of them thinks the island is rightfully theirs. Season six will be all about a battle between factions over who controls the island.

We'll get some new characters as well. I am guessing Aaron, Walt, Ji-Yeon, Clementine, Des and Penny's Charlie (if he doesn't come to the island with them) will all arrive on the island as adults for a little family reunion. Fate, or the island if that suits you better, isn't done with them. The importance of Aaron and Walt will come into play, Walt will get reunited with ghost Michael and finally forgive his dad, Claire can see Aaron again, and Jin and Sawyer will finally get to meet their respective daughters. Yay.

The island will go into meltdown, however, because all this key- and wheel-turning has made the island incredibly unstable. Cerberus/Jacob is going insane, and the properties of the island are getting more and more unpredictable. The island's volcano is reactivating because of this. Just as it wiped out the ancient Egyptians who once lived there, the volcano now threatens to not just destroy the island and everyone on it, but it will also further the meltdown of the island, which in turn will cause the apocalyptic event predicted by Valenzetti. The only way to stop the island from the process of melting down is a preemptive strike: to destroy the island in one swift blow. Enter Jughead, our favorite hydrogen bomb.

What will our characters do? I am thinking of a couple different endings for the series. In one, I could see the characters being kind of stuck in a time loop, where they've been through this before and are doing it all again. Each time, events progress in a slightly different fashion. Perhaps Ben and Charles seem to know everything because they've lived through all of these events before, they're just aware of it when everyone else is not. In that event, I would guess the final shot of the series would be Jack opening his eye at the beginning of the pilot.

Another weird idea I have for the ending of the series is, what if the entire series is a type of course correction? What if the plane found in the Indian Ocean is not a fake but the end result of what was supposed to happen in the first place? Maybe that's not Seth Norris in the pilot's seat because it's . . . Frank. One thing I love about time travel stories is they allow for insane ideas like this.

One more idea . . .

3. THEORY ABOUT THE ELECTROMAGNETIC POCKET IN LOS ANGELES

One thing I've always wondered is how the island communicates with people even when they're not longer near it. I find it interesting that Hurley, Jack and Kate all had weird hallucinatory experiences where the island beckons them to come back, and they are all located in LA when those experiences happen. If these electromagnetic anomalies connect to each other and form a webwork which interacts with the island, could the island continue to communicate with you if you were in close proximity to any of these "portals"?

WRONG

2009-02-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my current blog tradition is to just name my posts after whatever song is stuck in my head, which at the moment would be Depeche Mode's awesome new single "Wrong". If I had the internet at my apartment I would so download it from iTunes. But I don't. Which is also why I am not updating this blog from my apartment, either.

Anyway, I meant to update after "316" but it might be better that I'm updating after seeing both new episodes, since they were a bit of a dynamic duo. Where to start? Again, I'll just list my observations and thoughts . . .

- Well, not to gloat, but I was right about a lot of things in my last post. I'm only excited because I am very rarely ever verging on 100%, but this one time I touched the stars! (Jesus, I need a life). One thing I was happy about is that Ms. Hawking finally confirmed that there are electromagnetic anomalies all over the world, and they can connect to the island. This not only explains the location in Tunisia, but possibly also Ayers' Rock in Australia, the Sunda Trench, and perhaps other places as well (apparently there is one in LA, since the Lamp Post was built above a pocket of such energy).

- We get a new DHARMA station! The existence of the Lamp Post, plus the info shared by Ms. Hawking, fills in a lot of gaps. Magnus Hanso must have wrecked on the island, disappearing completely along with the rest of the Black Rock, and then Alvar either knew about the island because of his ancestor's disappearance or through his military connections. Then Hanso must've hired the unidentified scientist who built the Lamp Post. Who do you think it was? I wonder if this person's identity will be revealed later this season, or if it's even relevant at all. Update: I think it was Dr. Pierre Chang. He taught at the same university as the DeGroots and Hanso would've met him through them.

- The return of Frank was one of the best moments in the entire series. It made so much sense, and it actually gave me chills. He was almost the pilot of 815, and now he's the pilot of 316. Too cool. I also loved it when he asked, "We're not going to Guam, are we?" I love Frank's everyman, "oh shit" type of attitude.

- I dug all the parallels between 815 and 316: Jack has to clear the coffin at the check-in counter, first his father and now Locke; Sun shows up behind Jack at the check-in counter . . . the first time she had to choose whether or not to leave Jin, this time whether or not to go back to the island, and both times she chooses her husband; Hurley brings a guitar in honor of Charlie; Sayid is escorted onto the plane in the same way as Kate was by the Marshal; Locke experiences a rebirth after the crash, etc.

- A lot of material has been left for future flashbacks. What did Kate do with Aaron? What made Hurley change his mind? Why is Ilana escorting Sayid onto the plane? As for the first question, I am guessing Kate leaves Aaron with Cassidy. Everyone and their mother has figured out that Sawyer's favor was for Kate to visit Clementine, and we all know she did and reconnected with Cassidy. I think Cassidy becomes Kate's one real friend, and that Cassidy is the only person in the world who Kate would trust with Aaron.

- So the new characters are Caesar and Ilana. Caesar was curiously searching through the office on Hydra island, as if he was looking for something specifically. Okay, are these two just people who happen to have survived a plane crash, or were they on that plane because they knew it would crash on this island? I find the idea that at least one of them is some type of spy to be very possible. On that note, was there a spy on 815? Could that have been the reason Nathan was "not a good person," because he was there for Widmore?

- Another thing waiting to be addressed via flashback is what Ben's "favor" was for his old friend? I think it's fairly certain that this was his attempt to make good on his promise to Charles Widmore to snuff Penelope. Ben's beaten and bloody appearance at the docks is extremely alarming in this regard. So, did he kill Penny? If he did, I think most people will never like Benjamin again (I know, I know, I'll get to what he did to Locke in a minute). He will seem pretty irredeemable at that point. But it could also be a misdirect. For instance, what if he went to Des and Penny's boat, and fought some of Widmore's people (does Charles truly not know where his daughter is?), and perhaps created a situation where it would look like Penny had been killed. That way, Penny and Des would genuinely be free of her father--until their houseboat winds up on the island, right? Think about it: Ben's goal is not to hurt Penny, it's to hurt Charles. I could see Ben delighting in making Widmore think his daughter was dead. It's a very Ben thing to do. Or maybe Ben just kills her. That also seems like a Ben thing to do.

- Locke's resurrection is all kinds of spooky. I like how they mentioned he was standing in the water in his suit, just like Jack's dad in "White Rabbit". However, there are some differences between Locke and Christian. Jack's father appears often in ghostly situations where only certain people can see him, and he can disappear as suddenly as he can appear, and we truthfully have no concrete evidence that he is ever actually physically "there" (just like with Yemi). However, Locke is not some apparition or spectre or projection of the island . . . he is very clearly brought back to life. Also, Christian seems to be Jacob's emissary. Such is not so far the case with resurrected Locke. I do think that this reborn John Locke is going to be somewhat different from the Locke we've known. Every season we see a new side to Locke's character, and I'm excited about the direction he'll take.

- "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" offered lots of new information. For the first time, Charles Widmore came off as likable. This worries me, because I can't bring myself to trust either Charles or Ben and whenever one of them is likable I can't help but feeling they're selling their latest pitch. We now know he was once the leader of the Others, which I think became a pretty likely scenario after his appearance in "Jughead". Ben and Locke and Charles all have an almost karmic connection, and I think this trio of characters will continue to intertwine. We also finally learned more about the mysterious Matthew Abaddon, whose number seemed to come up in the middle of the episode. However, I am fairly certain that we'll see him again in some fashion . . .

- RIP Helen. :(

- It's funny that in "There's No Place Like Home" everyone knew Locke was calling himself Jeremy Bentham, but he really didn't mention it to many people in the actual episode. I think this was because it would've gotten really old if he kept explaining to everyone that his codename is Jeremy Bentham.

- Locke's brief reunion with Jack was yet another terrific scene between the two characters. You could just see how Jack was a broken man, and Locke's words broke him further. But his observation about Locke was also true: Locke is a lonely old man desperate to believe his life has meaning. It's that wonderful mix of wise and gullible that has always defined Locke.

- Okay, onto the big moment, which would be Ben's murder of Locke. First of all, I think this was one of the best scenes of the show. Both Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson deserve some type of award for this scene, which had about a billion different emotional cues for their characters. I can't tell if this scene was meant to be ambiguous. Anytime Ben does anything it's hard not to think he has an ulterior motive, and this was no exception. Did he murder Locke because Locke mentioned Ms. Hawking? Did he murder Locke because he just wanted the satisfaction of finally taking Locke out of the equation? Did he murder Locke because he knew Locke was supposed to die and be resurrected, but that John also wasn't meant to take his own life? This could have been anything from revenge to an attempt to keep Locke on the right path. Ben is such a slippery little weasel it really is hard to know. Ben did seem to make a tremendous effort on keeping Locke's body preserved. If he did know Locke would be resurrected, then he also knows returning to the island won't make him leader of the Others. If he didn't know, then he just might get an ass-whuppin' from Mr. Locke.

- It was cool to revisit Hydra island. I think it's a neat touch having 316 not crash on the main island. Here's a big question: if the left behind characters are now back in the days of DHARMA, as Jack, Kate and Hurley also seem to be, then why is it that there is no one on Hydra island? Shouldn't DHARMA be, like, conducting experiments there and stuff? Why did Jack, Kate and Hurley disappear from the plane as it was crashing? I can't help but wonder if 316 has not gone to the same time period as the other characters, but has gone to a later time period. Now that would be wild.

ARE WE HUMAN OR ARE WE DANCER?

2009-02-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, the title has nothing to do with LOST. I just got the new Killers album and this is like the catchiest song ever. It makes me happy. Onto our favorite show! I hope everyone has been enjoying the new season. I for one am loving it. The time travel verges on corny at times, but in a good way. LOST is letting the sci-fi flag fly and having a damn good time doing so. I just hope the next time the characters jump through time, one of them goes "Oh boy!"

Looking over my list of theories from a few weeks ago, I was clearly right about a few things and wrong about a few others. Locke gets off the island by turning the wheel (though I still think he didn't blow up the freaking submarine; not sure why I am so convinced, but I am). Widmore was an Other . . . who saw that one coming??? I didn't until that episode, when I starting quietly hoping the snappy British guy would turn about to be Widmore.

Well, let me just list off a few theories and observations:

- Can you believe they offed Charlotte? What was that about? We barely got to know her. At least her death set up her eventual return as Young Charlotte, so her story will be told in some way, shape or form. I actually felt really bad for her near the end there. She was a mix of sad and creepy. Poor Daniel! Did anyone else feel like Charlotte's symptoms were eerily similar to what happened to Claire in "One Of Us"? I am wondering if Charlotte died sooner because she had one of these mysterious implants. Clearly they have something to do with the DHARMA Initiative and the vaccine. Since it looks like a given we'll be spending some time in the days of DHARMA, I hope this question gets answered.

- Rousseau! I was so happy to see all of those moments so cryptically mentioned by Danielle so many seasons ago finally come to fruition. We finally saw Montand lose his frickin arm! I find the idea that Robert, Brennan and LaCombe were changed in some negative way by venturing into Smokey's lair to be incredibly creepy. Kind of a scenario straight out of the THE THING. I wonder what it did to them. The part where Montand is kind of calmly convincing everyone to come help him was seriously spooky. One thing everyone is talking about has to do with whether Rousseau would remember Jin or not. I think that, at the moment, it's a moot point. The woman spent 16 years by herself on the island. She clearly went wacky and is a somewhat unreliable narrator. If the timeline is being changed, that's cool too, but right now I'm not too worried about it. Time travel obviously swiss cheese's people's brains (look at Daniel and his memory loss). The actress who plays young Rousseau is quite cute too. I feel bad knowing what's gonna happen to her.

- I am nervous about the introduction of Jughead into the story. LOST is not a show where you introduce something like a hydrogen bomb and then forget about it. So there is now a hydrogen bomb, a volcano, and a time-warping electromagnetic anomaly which could theoretically destroy the planet, all on the island. Why do I see a bad moon rising?

- Okay, so Daniel's mom is none other than Ms. Eloise Hawking. I think most of us figured that out after the first two episodes but it was still a cool reveal. I notice a lot of people think that the girl Ellie who was with the Others in the 50's is a young Ms. Hawking. Well let's see, Ellie can be a nickname for Eloise, they both know Charles Widmore, they're both British, they both know all about the island, and Daniel told Ellie he recognized her. Yeah, I'm pretty much thinking that was Daniel's mom. I'll go one further and speculate that Charles Widmore just might be Daniel's father, though I think Daniel might be unaware of it. We know Charlotte was born on the island, and a lot of folks are suggesting Miles is Dr. Pierre Chang's son and was born on the island as well (and the show is clearly implying Miles has been to the island before). That's two out of three. Daniel might as well have born there too. That would make it clear why Widmore insisted on those three people comprising his science team, and why Widmore has been supporting Daniel's research.

- Loved the Ana Lucia cameo. Speaking of the tail section, the producers have said that they want to tell Libby's story, but that it's "contingent on factors beyond our control." I am assuming they mean they only have a small window to tell that story now, and if they miss it because Cynthia Watros is unavailable, Libby will be one mystery left open by series end. I just hope their time window is more than 70 hours.

- Alright, why wouldn't Jack's dad help Locke to his feet? I can only think of two reasons. The first is that Jacob won't help Locke because Locke needs to find his own strength. Kind of an Ayn Rand version of Yoda. The other is that Jacob/Christian can't help Locke, because in some sense he is there but in another sense he's not. I mean, we know the island projects images into people's minds at times. Maybe that's what is happening in that scene, and therefore Christian cannot physically interact with anything. Maybe the lantern and all of that wasn't really there. Just a thought.

- So it looks like Ben moving the island caused the wheel to slip off its axis, henceforth causing the characters to be unstuck in time. Methinks the island has stabilized and returned to the days of DHARMA.

- I have a theory about how the characters will return to the island: they have to crash there. I'm thinking they have to board Ajira Airways flight 316 (which is the title of the next episode) because it is going to crash. We've already seen Ajira Air water bottles, so I think this holds water. Bing! Why, let's not forget the Sunda Trench in the Indian Ocean has a weird electromagnetic anomaly. A connection to the island, perhaps? And yes, I still do suspect the wreckage of 815 is not a hoax but an artifact from a seriously screwy timeline. The characters who survived the crash were given a second chance at life, because in another way they all died (Jack even says "Three days ago we all died" early in season one). Another freaky thing that's crossed my mind is that Jack's dad was in a coffin on 815; this means that Locke would be in a coffin on 316. If he is resurrected, will he become the new Christian Shephard?

- I am also thinking that if Locke comes back, he is not going to be the same person. I strongly suspect he will take on a more antagonistic role, at least for a while. I am definitely still leaning toward the idea that he authorizes the Purge. If the remaining 815ers wind up taking shelter with DHARMA or are at least not part of the Others, this means Locke will decide to kill his friends. And under the right circumstances, I can absolutely see him doing that.

- And speaking of the number 316 (which also references John 3:16, the famous Bible passage), we've seen an awful lot of variations of the number 3 the last few years. Michal gets 3 minutes with Walt, Ben gets 3 with Juliet, Juliet and Desmond have both been on the island for 3 years when we first meet them, Clementine is 3 years old when the plane crashes, Ji-Yeon and Aaron are 3 now, the Oceanic Six have been away for 3 years, there were 324 people on flight 815, the compass bearings 305 and 325 get you away from the island, Eko had John 3:05 on his stick, etc. Six has recurred: the Oceanic Six, the six official DHARMA stations, there are six of the Numbers. There are other numbers as well. The plane crashed on September 22, there is the episode "Catch-22," the number 22 is stamped on the toilet in the Pearl. The plane was a Boeing 777, and on the 77th day on the island, Locke entered 77 at the Flame. And let's not forget Ben was born 32 miles from Portland, and Miles demanded 3.2 million dollars. 3, 6, 22, 32, 77 anyone?

- When and if the characters get back, my guess is that we now have a lot of material for more traditional flashbacks as well as more flashforwards and time travel. The writers very smartly left most of the three years the Oceanic 6 spent off the island untold, so that creates lots of interesting stories to tell.

- What will happen with Aaron after Kate leaves? Does anyone else suspect that adult Aaron, Ji-Yeon, Walt and maybe even Clementine and Charlie will be playing a role in the series at some point? With the time travel it's a complete possibility, and we know that Aaron and Walt are important. All of these children seem to have been introduced for a reason.

- Cerberus. While I do believe in a supernatural aspect to LOST (for instance I think the ghosts that Miles can communicate with are quite real), I still lean towards the black smoke monster being some type of technology. I think we have three possibilities for where it came from: the ancient Egyptians, scientists from the future, or aliens. I've been rambling on about option #2 for two years now, and lately have been very open to #3. I am a little iffy on #1, but it does seem to be a possibility raised by the series. I'd like to clarify that if it does turn out to be aliens, I don't think we will see them or anything like that. I am thinking they left this technology behind thousands of years ago and are long gone. Think of TOTAL RECALL. Sort of like that.

- Desmond's whereabouts are now known to Ben, which means he can find Penny easily. Let's not forget what Ben promised Charles Widmore last season.

Okay, those are my thoughts for the time being. Here's looking to "316" this week!

SEASON PREMIERE

2009-01-17T15:15:00.000-08:00

Well, a little less than a week until the first two episodes of season five are aired back to back. Who's excited? This new season looks to be a real mind blower. With the approaching new episodes, I'd like to offer a few theories (not necessarily about these two episodes in particular but the show in general) . . .

1. BEN AND WIDMORE HAVE A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. Maybe neither Ben nor Widmore are necessarily the bad guys, maybe they just resort to villainous actions because each perceives the other as a threat. We don't really know that Widmore told Keamy to kill Alex; Keamy could just as likely have been suffering from the cabin fever that was affecting all the crew of the Kahana, or he could have just been a sonofabitch in general. They each seem 100% convinced the other staged the 815 wreckage, but the wreckage is in a place with the same weird type of electromagnetism that we've seen on the island. Coincidence? I bet when we understand the actual relationship between Ben and Charles, the concept of one of them being the Bad Guy might change quite a bit.

2. LOCKE INITIATES THE PURGE. I'm betting that when the island moved, it moved through time and possibly even space to another location. The ComiCon video with Dr. Pierre Chang all but announces that our characters will meet the DHARMA Initiative face-to-face (though I don't know if all island time travel wackiness would exclusively show us DHARMA, since there are so many other eras of island history we need to see) and warn at least the one-armed doctor about what was to come. I am betting that if Locke really does remain the leader of the Others (if he is in fact their leader), it will be his decision to wipe out DHARMA. In "Cabin Fever," Ben insisted he didn't initiate the Purge:

BEN: It wasn't my decision.
HURLEY: Then whose was it?
BEN: Their leader's.
HURLEY: I thought you were their leader.
BEN (looking down in the pit at Locke): Not always.

I at first assumed he was talking about Jacob but more and more I am thinking Locke. It would make a lot of sense, especially considering Ben seems to know in advance how badly Locke is going to mess things up.

3. FARADAY IS THE PERSON BEHIND THE CAMERA IN THE PIERRE CHANG VIDEO. If what I suggested in the previous paragraph is true, I'm guessing it's Daniel that would try to warn Chang about the Purge. After all, they're both physicists, and I bet Daniel has a very scientific understanding of how the island works. Chang would trust him. I'm at a loss, however, as to the identity of the crying baby in the video, though my guess would be baby Alex. Don't ask me to explain how in the hell it could possibly be Alex, though. My mind might melt.

4. WE WILL SEE ROUSSEAU'S STORY NON-FLASHBACK. If the above theory is true, we'll probably get to see Rousseau's tale firsthand through the main characters, or at least see it as a present-tense tale as opposed to flashback. I am guessing all time periods are going to become present-tense, since we're playing around so much with time. I bet Rousseau and her team were studying the island's properties, possibly for Widmore, when everyone began to go mad due to the side effects of time travel (just like Minkowski). This would explain Rousseau's kookiness and paranoia.

5. SAWYER'S FAVOR IS FOR KATE TO VISIT CLEMENTINE. I think this one's a no-brainer. And imagine the look on Kate and Cassidy's faces when they recognize each other. Probably will be as good as when Jack realized Claire was his half-sister.

6. THERE IS STILL "OCEANIC 6" MATERIAL TO BE COVERED. I wouldn't assume the days of last year's flashforwards are entirely replaced with the days of "we have to go back." There's a bunch of stuff still to see . . . Kate visiting Clementine, Locke visiting the gang as Bentham, Sayid's adventures working for Ben, Jack's troubled past (note that Sarah asks him "Are you drinking again?" in the third season finale, indicating he's been through a fair amount of stuff we haven't seen). I'm eager to see some of those blanks get filled.

7. LOCKE USED THE SUBMARINE TO GET OFF THE ISLAND. I am almost 100% certain that Locke did not actually blow up the submarine. Like a lot of folks, I think he hid it somewhere and merely blew up the dock, saving the sub for a time when he or someone else would really need it. Well, considering he swore he'd never leave the island and then he left to beg Jack and the rest to come back, I'm thinking the sub would've come in handy for that.

8. MATTHEW ABADDON IS THE RICHARD ALPERT OF WIDMORE'S PEOPLE. I don't think this is really news, but I thought it would be worth mentioning anyway. My guess is that during Abaddon's walkabout in the outback, he went to Ayers' Rock (where Bernard took Rose to be healed) and either found a door to the island or was at least affected by its properties. I think he is desperate to find the island because it so profoundly changed him, and this is why he is working with Widmore. On the other hand, Alpert seems awfully manipulative in some ways. Is Abaddon blindly loyal to Widmore or does he have his own agenda?

9. DESMOND IS STILL UNSTUCK IN TIME. Does anyone really believe that just because Desmond found his constant that his time traveling abilities are kaput? The man has relived his past and seen the future, not to mention that in "Catch-22" there were more blackout periods suggested than what we've seen so far in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "The Constant." I don't think being away from the island will prevent Desmond from stepping outside of time. (And remember he had water in his lungs and almost drowned in the finale. His time traveling abilities tend to emerge and disappear based on severe traumas).

10. SAWYER IS THE LEADER OF THE 815ERS. Come on. This seed was planted in "Left Behind" and they've been moving towards it ever since. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Juliet let go of Jack and Sawyer let go of Kate and we saw some Juliet-Sawyer action. Imagine if the O6 come back and find out that, gee, everyone's moved on in life. That would be a moment of drama that I would love to see.

Well, enjoy the premiere! I am so confused by things that I've heard that I pretty much can't make sense of anything, so I'm eager to see just what actually goes down this season.

I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE ISLAND

2008-12-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hello, whoever may still read this blog. It's been so long that the answer to that question might very well be "nobody," but if anyone is still visiting I apologize for the lack of posts. See my previous entry for the rundown of various obstacles that rendered blogging about LOST not very high on the To Do List. While I am still without a car and living in a neighborhood that gets exponentially more dangerous by the hour, things are actually working out quite well. I've been employed for the last two months with my new job at Enterprise Rent-A-Car (yes it's true, I work for a company that deals exclusively in cars and yet I have to take the bus. Go figure), and for once I can say that I'm not in danger of being evicted! Ha.

Now onto our favorite topic, that little show that goes by the name of LOST. With the imminent release of season four on DVD and season five on TV, naturally I've been in full-on LOST mode lately. I am especially excited to see season four in color, since I watched most of it on a crappy little black and white television with bad reception. But anyway, I'd like to use this opportunity to offer some potentially bad LOST-related news, a new theory, and a discussion about the most recent trailer for season five.

First off, the bad news. This has already sent waves of discontent through online LOST fandom. In a recent roundtable discussion to promote the upcoming DVD for season four, Carlton Cuse is asked a question about whether we'll get to see more of Rousseau, Walt and Libby. Cuse goes on to say that although we'll be getting more of Walt and Rousseau (remember we still have to see her backstory), he considers Libby's story "pretty much told." Um. Uh. Huh? When? When was her story told? Was there some mini-season that I missed? I'm sorry. Although I normally defend the writers of LOST and give them the benefit of the doubt, I am gonna go ahead and call absolute bullshit on that one (pardonnez mon francais). I mean seriously, I hope he made that comment because he was having a stroke at that particular moment, because otherwise I am not happy about this one.

You see, it would be one thing if they had said, "Yeah, you know, we couldn't come up with a good story for Libby, so we wrote her off." But that's not the case. First of all, there are the tantalizing hints dropped throughout the second season: Why was she in a mental institution? Why did she just happen to be there to give Desmond that boat? What happened to her husband exactly? Is she lying about her past and identity? At the end of season two, the writers promised we'd get to see her story. At the time, they indicated it would be told through someone else's flashback. Now, while at first they said we just need to see why Libby was at Santa Rosa and what happened between then and when she met Desmond, by the end of 2006 they were saying that Libby plays a bigger role in the overall picture of LOST than any of us could possibly expect. Wow, I thought, this is gonna be awesome. Season three goes by, no Libby flashback. Okay, fair enough. There was a bit too much going on in season three to really fit in a Libby flashback. That summer, Damon Lindelof mentions that the theory of Libby working for DHARMA is "not barking up the wrong tree."

Then it's announced Cynthia Watros will be back for multiple episodes in season four. Everyone gets very excited, only for the writers' strike to kill that plan and reduce her return to a brief ghostly cameo in "Meet Kevin Johnson." Well fine, that wasn't anybody's fault. But then we have Mr. Cuse here saying Libby's story is told, so don't worry about it. Sorry but that's like the lamest thing to pull on fans who've been waiting to see this much-ballyhooed backstory for Libby. You can't promise that kind of thing and then take such a bold-faced 180. My hope is that the writers do have a plan for Libby (possibly they've already filmed it, who knows), they just don't want to give anything away because it's coming up. That's my hope. I would hate to see them do such a disservice to the character of Libby (and to Cynthia Watros). It's unlike the writers of LOST to take the easy way out, so let's hope they don't. They can get away with not answering minuscule stuff like who built the bridge seen in "Numbers" or what's up with the Hurley bird or why Jack can't stop nodding whenever he speaks, but not explaining just what the hell is going on with Libby is a big old cheat in my book.

Okay, that's my rant. Back to loving LOST. So, I promised a new theory back in the spring, and it's one I've continued to advance since then. I'm going to start off by saying one word. Okay, are you ready? Aliens. Wait, wait, come back! Don't go yet. I promise, I'm not going to start going on about the Others coming from outer space and Walt being an alien-human hybrid bred by the Cigarette-Smoking Man and Charles Widmore. Trust me, I'm remaining grounded on this one, and by no means am I saying I definitively believe in this idea. Just hear me out . . .

I've already done a lot of theorizing about how the island/Cerberus/Jacob is some type of system combining electromagnetism and parapsychological principles--essentially, the system is a kind of neural network that acts as the "brain" of the island, which in a sense gives it a consciousness. I'm suspecting that after so many years of collecting/downloading thoughts and memories, the system itself developed a personality called Jacob and began believing itself to be a godlike being and forgetting or ignoring its technological roots. The only question is who built it. An ancient culture like the Egyptians? DHARMA? Time-traveling scientists from the future? Well, what about extraterrestrial or interdimensional beings? What if the weird symbol the Others use is actually a glyph from an alien alphabet? (It seems weirdly similar to the symbol from the UMMO hoax). What if these beings used a numerical system where 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 and 108 were core numbers in their technology? That would explain why the island seems to "emanate" these numbers.

Now, I'm not saying we'll be seeing UFO's flying around and little grey people arriving CLOSE ENCOUNTERS-style (though I'm hoping most people caught the CE3K shout-out during Charlotte's flashback in "Confirmed Dead"). I'm talking an ancient race of visitors who are long-gone and left behind this weird technology, a la TOTAL RECALL. Think about it: one theme of LOST is how we attribute spiritual/mystical properties to things we don't understand, when there are in fact more pragmatic explanations. That doesn't mean there are no spiritual or mystical aspects to be had, it's just that not every event falls under one category. Of course, aliens aren't exactly a "pragmatic explanation" in real life, but this is LOST we're talking about here, and the show has pretty firmly announced we are in the Land of Science Fiction. We have psychic clouds of black smoke and teleporting polar bears in Africa and time traveling bunnies and tropical islands which can be moved by turning a wheel in a frozen chamber. I don't think aliens are particularly far-fetched in this regard.

What exactly has made me start thinking of an alien origin? Well, the show is getting increasingly nuts, so some outlandish theories are proving not quite so outlandish any longer. And let's look at some of LOST's inspirations. We have SOLARIS, first the novel by Stanislav Lem and then the movies by Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderbergh, respectively. The story concerns an alien organism which appears as a giant green ocean. This ocean planet is a living thing which contains a consciousness. It can read minds and take the form of people and places from the memories it collects. The story raises questions about man facing the unknown as well as the parallel between alien life and God. I don't think I need to mention the connection to LOST.

Then look at the book ROADSIDE PICNIC by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, also adapted by Tarkovsky into a film entitled STALKER. The story tells of places called Zones, regions where alien technology left behind many years before has created distortions in the spacetime continuum. The rules of time, space, the weather, geography are all bent by these alien artifacts. The most significant Zone, known as the Golden Sphere, can supposedly fulfill any human wish. In the movie STALKER, this place is called the Room, and is a mysterious location at the center of the Zone. It is said that whatever you want most to appear in the Room will appear, any miracle you want most will be made manifest. Make you think of anything on LOST?

Then of course we have the recent references to Philip K. Dick, with his novel VALIS appearing in two episodes this past season. In both PKD's work as well as his life, VALIS stood for Vast Active Living Intelligence System, a kind of giant information collection system which is in some sense alive and was left behind by an alien race to communicate with us. Yet again, remind you of anything you've seen lately? Even when I first proposed my theory about the island/monster/Cerberus being a machine that has forgotten that it's a machine, people told me how much that sounded like PKD's writings. And in truth, I've been thinking of him since I first started watching LOST: the sci-fi elements with a religious bent, the surreal bureaucracy of the DHARMA Initiative, time-bending episodes like "Flashes Before Your Eyes" (Desmond is a classic PKD character and reminds me a lot of Dick's THE WORLD JONES MADE). So the alien angle would just make things even more in the vein of his writings. Not to mention, the movie I used as an example was TOTAL RECALL, which was based on PKD's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."

Lastly, Damon and Carlton were recently asked by Jimmy Kimmel if all of the characters on the show were born on Earth. They had to think long and hard before they answered a cautious "yes." They told him that was the best and most difficult question they've ever been asked. So you tell me, does this alien theory have some weight behind it? Again, I'm not saying the answer to the show is "oh, it was aliens." I'm saying some of the phenomena we've witnessed may have an extraterrestrial origin. But that still leaves bizarre human phenomena like psychic abilities, and then bigger questions such as course correcting, fate, destiny and free will, which leads to bigger questions about God and the universe which I don't think have anything to do with aliens and which I don't think the show will fully answer. Anyway, that's my current theory.

And finally, has everyone seen the latest trailers? If you have, you've no doubt seen a couple shots which probably proved to be downright shocking. I am now going to make the type dark, because if you don't even wanna know what was in screencaps from the recent trailers, this is technically spoilery. But if you've seen the trailers and know what I'm talking about, highlight below to read . . .

Okay, so the trailers have had two things which really caught my attention. One is a shot of Daniel standing outside of what appears to be the backdoor of the recently imploded Swan station. Except the station isn't imploded; it's there again. And the person pointing the gun at Daniel is wearing the same type of biohazard suit that Kelvin and Radzinsky were instructed to wear when going outside. Now how does that work? And then the other, possibly more shocking, screencap depicts Locke having a rifle pointed at him by . . . none other than Mr. Ethan Rom himself. I will tell you, Ethan doesn't look too dead in this shot. He seems quite alive. Now just what the hell is going on here? I think most people who've seen these images have figured it out: The island has traveled back in time to the days of DHARMA. It's been four seasons and we've had one Swan station flashback and one general DHARMA flashback. So when were they gonna tell us the DHARMA story? I guess this is it. We'll watch it unfold along with the main characters. I am assuming this how we'll see Rousseau's story, as well. And if Libby was involved with the Initiative, this could also signal her return (*fingers crossed*). This also explains the video from this summer featuring Dr. Marvin Candle, who reveals that his real name is Pierre Chang and that someone has come to him and explained that the DHARMA scientists will all be killed in a great Purge. I think we can now safely guess that this source of information is none other than one of our main characters.

I remember a few years ago theorizing that perhaps there was some cataclysmic spacetime event that resulted in the Others and the DHARMA people suddenly being thrust together on the island at once. As in, each group was originally alone, and then WHAM! Suddenly two time periods merge and there are two groups on the island. But I thought that theory was perhaps too out there at the time. While I'm not sold on it, it's been made a lot more possible now, so if anything I was on the right track. This also adds a lot of credit to the idea that the Adam and Eve skeletons are in fact two of our characters. If Ethan can be alive and dead on the island at the same time then that could theoretically happen to any character. Hell, this makes it even more likely that the Bali crash site is real, that it was planted by neither Ben nor Widmore but is an artifact of spacetime distortion. Think of all the characters we can revisit, all the things we never thought we'd see but now will get to witness firsthand. This is just an awesome twist and totally makes good on all of the DHARMA teasing we've endured for the past three seasons.

I hesitate to speculate how wild season six is going to be.

FINALE!

2008-05-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't updated much this season. I don't have the internet anymore, my car died, I lost my job, my girlfriend is moving away, and I'm in serious debt at the moment (whoa, I totally could write a country song right now!). Anyway, obviously updating my LOST blog hasn't been much of a priority lately, say sorry. But I will try to come back soon and do some recaps and offer some new theories (I have a GREAT one) to help pass the nine-month hiatus. Man, we really are in this for the long-haul, ain't we?

Meanwhile, counting the minutes until tomorrow . . .

HELLO BALI!

2008-03-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Boy, been a while since I've updated, huh? My life has gotten no less interesting lately, but I won't bore you with stories of my personal woes. At least, not until you ask me. But what I'm really here to talk about is LOST, of course, and I'd like to set forth my latest idea, which is really just an organizing of several different possibilities. 'Fore I do that, though, I'd like to say what an awesome season this has been so far. I think the only thing really missing has been some real development in the relationship between Alex and Danielle, but "Meet Kevin Johnson" at least began to remedy that problem (and no, I don't believe that Danielle is dead).

While I do love this season, I find myself a little more passive about certain things this year. I'm not as hung up on small details, studying every little micro-fact for some amazing clue which explains the show. The show has been doing such a great job of explaining itself lately, that basically I feel that there's much less work to do. And the answers we're getting are becoming harder to nitpick. We can't debate the time travel aspect anymore when the show is hitting us in the face with it. Heck, Damon and Carlton went right ahead recently and implied that the Adam and Eve skeletons are part of the time travel plot. We all sort of knew that, but it was fun to debate. However, I think the room for debate is growing smaller. So this season, I've been more interested in letting LOST just tell the story than in myself desperately trying to put the pieces together.

However, I still obsess over some things, perhaps most of all this issue with the plane being found in the Indian Ocean. I mean, what the hell??? The cover story for the Oceanic 6 even has them crashing in the Pacific. Why are people not up in arms over this bizarre and inconsistent story? At least the series itself actually addressed the implausibility of someone taking a plane, filling it with 324 dead bodies and sinking it precisely in the ocean. Takes a lot of power to do that, right? Anyway, based on the evidence presented in the series, I believe there are three distinct possibilities:

1. WIDMORE STAGED THE CRASH

This of course is the first possibility presented by the series. It would make sense: Charles Widmore wants to find the island and knows 815 is probably there, but he doesn't want anyone else to find it. So, since he's a powerful man and all, he stages the wreckage in a completely different part of the world. Tom claims Widmore purchased an Oceanic Air 777 and then dug up hundreds of bodies in Thailand. He even had the pictures to prove it. Plus, old Frank Lapidus the Conspiracy Theorist did point out that the pilot's corpse should be wearing a wedding ring. So this scenario makes a lot of sense. Of course, putting the plane in the wrong part of the world with no explanation as to how it got there is awfully conspicuous . . .

2. BEN PLANTED THE WRECKAGE

Ben seems to feel Charles Widmore is his true enemy. That certainly is genuine. But what if Ben staged the wreckage to protect the island? Maybe Ben knew Widmore would be looking for 815--you know, find 815 and you find the island--so he was trying to divert Widmore's attention. Or maybe Ben was just trying to protect the island from the world in general. Maybe he even knew this would be a great way to make Widmore look like the real bad guy. After all, Widmore's possession of the black box from the wreckage seems awfully strange. Why would he care about the black box if he planted the plane? Perhaps Widmore does truly believe Benjamin Linus sunk this plane at the bottom of the ocean. Assuming, of course, the black box isn't part of the ruse.

3. TWINNING THEORY

I have suggested this before, as have others. And I will suggest it again, as will others. We've all seen the Orchid orientation film, with the magically duplicating rabbit. This seems to suggest DHARMA were using the island's properties to mess with time and space. What if, when Desmond failed to press the button, it created the same effect that resulted in the rabbit appearing in two places at one time, except in this instance it was flight 815 that was doubled?

Hear me out: Darlton have already suggested that there are "special places" on the Earth that connect with the island's properties. Ayers' Rock in Australia is one (that's where Rose's faith healer was located, and we all know what he said about electromagnetic properties). Another location is where the polar bear skeleton was located in Tunisia. Well, notice the history of the Sunda Trench where the other 815 was found: many vessels have disappeared there, and a heavy electromagnetic distortion exists there as well (the men who found the plane in "Confirmed Dead" even mention the electromagnetic disturbances). Isn't it possible that a spacetime distortion was created where flight 815 was doubled, and one version crashed on the island while the other went through a wormhole or whatever and wound up in the Sunda Trench? If these places connect to the island, especially during moments when the island's electromagnetism becomes unstable, it would make perfect sense. Then, Ben would blame Widmore for putting the plane there, and Widmore would blame Ben, and neither would be aware that the wreckage was genuine. It would explain why these two powerhungry men have such conflicting stories.

Okay, so why wasn't the pilot wearing the ring? I'm guessing one of two things, if of course the wreckage is real. The first is that the ring may have simply fallen off, or the pilot wasn't wearing it for whatever reason. Just because Frank is a conspiracy theorist doesn't make him right. The other is more farfetched. I think there is still a minuscule possibility that the plane could be a relic from another timeline or parallel universe, where Frank was flying the plane. So, that would be his body rotting down there.

I know, I know. Before anyone jumps down my throat with "BUT THEY CONFIRMED THERE IS NO ALTERNATE TIMELINE AND NO PARALLEL UNIVERSES AND THE FUTURE CANNOT BE CHANGED THEY CONFIRMED IT THEY CONFIRMED IT I TELL YOU MY GOD DID THEY EVER CONFIRM IT!!!!," let's address something here: Damon and Carlton are slippery. Look closely at what they say every time they discuss the whole parallel universe thing . . . they always dismiss this theory in relation to the flashforwards. Always, always, always. They are worried viewers won't be invested in the flashforwards if it seems the flashforwards can be avoided. I agree with this. We need to know the flashforwards are definitely going to happen. And they are. So there's no issue there. But I would be careful about assuming there is only mental time travel, that there are no paradoxes, and that there are no possible other worlds. Just look at the Orchid film -- Dr. Halowax seems freaked because those rabbits could create a paradox. Physical time travel does seem to happen there, in a sense. And if Adam and Eve are also the result of a spacetime distortion, that does seem to suggest some element of physical spacetime jumping.

If there really is only one timeline and the future cannot be changed, then the twinning theory makes sense. Since one plane crashed in the ocean and killed everyone, the twinning effect still allowed fate to be fulfilled and all the necessary people to wind up on the island. It would be a weird type of course correction. If there are still possibly other worlds (separate timelines unrelated to this one, meaning the timeline of the show is the only timeline we are technically experiencing), then it's still conceivable the other wreckage could be an artifact from that timeline, and that Frank's body could really be down there.

I know I'm not the first person to suggest all this, but I think it's something to consider. I certainly don't buy it 100%, but I'm not ruling it out, either.

AND I SUPPOSE JANE WYMAN IS THE FIRST LADY!

2008-03-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, before the season premiered, I joked that we should not expect "the greatest episode of any television show ever produced in the history of the universe" (abbreviated TGEOATSEPITHOTU by fellow blogger Jay). Well, I'm glad I said that, because "The Constant" is in fact TGEOATSEPITHOTU, without a doubt.

I mean, my god! That has to be one of the most satisfying hours of television I've ever seen. It delivered on all fronts. And it's the first contender to possibly bump "Flashes Before Your Eyes" out of my top slot, which is no small feat. One thing I have to say about this new season is the sense of urgency which has been brought to the show. Now that an end date is in sight, it's like the writers are no longer holding back. Season three was getting progressively crazy to begin with--what with the precognition, the time traveling, the ghostly Jacob, the flashforward--and season four has only kicked it up a notch. Now we have Jack's dad chilling out in Jacob's teleporting cabin and talking to Vincent, we've seen a polar bear skeleton in Tunisia (watch out, that's where Strughold is breeding the mutant bees to prepare us for the alien invasion!), and a new character is actually a ghost whisperer . . . as in, he really talks to ghosts. It's as if LOST has gone mad. And I love it.

I definitely cried like a baby when Desmond and Penny finally had the chance to speak to each other. Since "Live Together, Die Alone," their love story has grown in its epic scope, and it paid off in a major way with this episode. On an emotional level, it was just so incredibly satisfying, especially after such an intense hour of television. (I'm not quite on board with the "Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet suck/Penny and Desmond rule!!!" bandwagon, though. I don't mind the love quadrangle, and I don't think it can be compared to Penny and Desmond because, to me, it's a totally different kind of love story. Both have their place on LOST). "The Constant" also solidified Daniel Faraday as one of my favorite characters. He brought a real Doc Brown kind of vibe to the proceedings. He was already my favorite newbie, and I'm a fan of Jeremy "Gene from Eugene" Davies, but this episode really gave Daniel some "oomph." Although 1996 Daniel seemed like a bit of an asshole at first, he eventually came around, and 2004 Daniel is certainly not a creep. Creepy, yes. Just not a creep. I also dig the addition of Fisher Stevens as Minkowski. I was really hoping he'd at some point say, "I am standing here beside myself!," but alas, he did not. Given his mental state at the time, it could have made sense. Oh well. Anyhow, I'm disappointed that he's already been bumped off. Of course, I said the same thing about Mikhail this time last year, and look what happened there. Personally, my guess is that neither Naomi nor Minkowski are truly done with. They're dead, yes, but they are part of a bigger story we haven't seen yet, so I think we'll be getting to know them much better in the future (or the past, or however the hell this time thing works).

Another thing that made me happy about "The Constant" is that it finally, conclusively established that Desmond is really traveling through time. The only bad thing about "Flashes Before Your Eyes" is that 50% of the audience assumed that Desmond's little adventure in 1996 never happened. Everyone was saying he was just dreaming, or it was a smoke monster-induced vision. Even after the producers confirmed that it really happened, people who hated the time travel aspect could just choose to ignore what they said. Not this time, though. If you hate the time travel element of LOST, this episode was probably just completely aggravating. (Take a look at the message boards; people who disliked this episode don't just not enjoy it, they despise it). There seem to be two camps of folks who don't like this aspect of the show. One is people who just don't care for the idea of time travel happening on LOST. Maybe it's too sci-fi, or at least too sci-fi for this particular show. The other group is the folks who keep screaming, "But time travel isn't possible and the producers said everything would have a scientific explanation, blah blah blah." But it looks like everyone is gonna have to get used to it, because "The Constant" announced that time travel is part of LOST for the long haul.

Since I love time travel stories, I was obviously quite happy to see the show so unambiguously move in this direction. This time, there was no doubt we were dealing with something very sci-fi in nature. (Though I'd still like to think the cloud of psychic black smoke was a big indicator we're in science fiction territory). To the show's credit, the writers have presented an interesting take on time travel. Instead of the whole BACK TO THE FUTURE/TERMINATOR type of time travel, which is laden with paradoxes and Future Self having to avoid Past Self and all that type of stuff, we have a version of time travel more akin to the work of absurdist sci-fi authors like Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut. It's a more existential version of time travel, you could say. The episode even directly referenced Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, which is about good ol' Billy Pilgrim becoming "unstuck" in time. In "The Constant," Daniel uses that same wording to describe what's happening to the rat. This reference isn't surprising; after "Flashes Before Your Eyes" aired, many fans (myself included) were discussing SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE and using the phrase "unstuck in time" to explain what was happening to Desmond. So now the writers are just directly cashing in on that concept. Desmond also reminds me of Dick's THE WORLD JONES MADE, about a man named Jones who has premonitions of the future. However, he can't change the future, he can only see it. The future is set in stone. Sound familiar? I was also reminded of Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER. In the third book, the gunslinger Roland goes mad after causing a paradox. Creating a split reality causes Roland's mind to begin splitting as well, and he has to do a little course correction before he goes insane. Although Des didn't create a paradoxical reality, his growing confusion and his need to find a constant very much recall Roland's state in THE WASTE LANDS. Also (*spoilers if you have not read the final book in the DARK TOWER series*), there is a character in the seventh book who has the ability to teleport. But every time he teleports, it damages his brain, causing nosebleeds and eventually seizures. When Des and Minkowski started looking like they'd done way too much coke, I immediately thought of this character from the final book. (And we all know LOST was inspired in part by the DT series . . .)

Apparently the writers have again reiterated that the future cannot be changed on LOST. This time, they've insisted that there are no paradoxes on the show. They feel paradoxes are too confusing, which is not something I'd disagree with. However, I think I counted three paradoxes in the episode alone: Eloise knew the maze because in the future Daniel teaches her, but she knows it from visiting the future, and doesn't have to learn the maze because now she already knows it (and then she dies); Daniel learns the correct settings for his experiment because future Daniel sent them to himself along with Desmond; and Daniel now depends upon Desmond as his constant because he met Des in the past because he told Desmond to go visit himself in 1996. (Trying to write this reminds me of an episode of INVADER ZIM. Zim wants to send a message to himself in the past, to warn himself against time traveling. This confuses his robot Gir, who says something along the lines of, "But if you send a warning to yourself, then you won't time travel, and then you will time travel because you didn't warn yourself, and then you'll have to send a warning--". And then Gir's head explodes. It's how I feel when discussing this subject).

But anyway, Damon and Carlton say there are no paradoxes, and I guess they would know better than me. Yet again they have dismissed the idea of alternate timelines, as well. What's weird is they keep dismissing this theory in relation to the flashforwards, because they are worried the flashforwards will lose their value if people think the future isn't set in stone. It seems they are less concerned about alternate timelines and more concerned about viewers misinterpreting the flashforwards. I for one want the flashforwards to happen, and there is no doubt in my mind that they will. But I guess I'm confused on the whole "things can't be changed" issue. If that's true, why did Ms. Hawking try to prevent Des from proposing to Penny? What's the need for her if the universe will just course correct? Also, if things can't be changed, how can Daniel use his past self to assist Desmond in 1996? How is that type of assistance possible in a world where time is already written? Perhaps things always happened this way, so nothing is actually changing, just playing out the way it's supposed to. But how is time travel possible if time is concrete? Any type of time travel has to have some element of potential change, even if the universe will bump back. I guess it's just that the big picture can't be changed. But if that's true, why did Damon Lindelof (after "FBYE" aired) say in both that week's podcast as well as in EW that anything Desmond did differently in 1996 could resonate in a more global sense further down the line? How could Des have affected the big picture at all? Why would Lindelof say this if it's contradictory to the core philosophical nature of time travel on LOST? I don't get it.

I think the real problem here is that, no matter what rules you make up for it, time travel is ALWAYS confusing and full of holes. It's just unavoidable. The whole concept is so perplexing and loopy that it creates a massive sense of ontological confusion even in its simplest forms. I am glad LOST is taking a different approach, and that the writers have set some major rules so the storyline doesn't unravel. But even with those rules, I think it's a tricky subject and I don't know if it will ever coherently come together.

Well, I am definitely enjoying this season so far. (Ha! As if I wouldn't). Every episode has been rockin' and rollin', though sadly I just haven't had the time or ability to review them lately. But I would certainly say this season feels like a whole new show. LOST has shed its skin and become one lean, mean beast. All of these episodes feel classic to me. I'm not sure why the hate over "Eggtown." I thought it was a great episode, and I already knew the ending. (Oh, why in the name of Jacob are people arguing over whether Kate's Aaron is Claire's child? I don't think there is any mystery here. IT'S CLAIRE'S BABY BEING RAISED BY KATE. I don't think Kate would just name her kid after Claire's son. The writers aren't that sadistic). I also found the bit with Miles and the grenade to be, oh I don't know, immensely disturbing. I totally love Locke this season . . . this is the most ambiguous he's been since the show started. The new characters are also quite a bit of fun; their flashbacks introduced so many new and weird elements into the show, I thought I had accidentally tuned in to the wrong series. And these flashforwards are just killing me. Sayid working for Ben? This is gonzo, man.

So do you know the remainder of the Oceanic Six? I'd like to hear some guesses. Like a lot of starved fans who turned to spoilers last winter, I know who the definitive six are (though I don't know everybody who gets off the island, just the Oceanic Six). I won't discuss it further till after it's revealed, though. But I would like to hear some theories . . .

YOU ALL EVERYBODY!

2008-01-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Sorry about my absence as of late. You'd think I'd be posting out the wazoo in anticipation of the season premiere (48 hours and counting), but sadly I am currently deprived of internet access from my apartment. You see, Paula Abdul Alhazred couldn't pay his AT&T bill, because Paula Abdul Alhazred is skirting the financial depths at the moment, so the internet was thus taken away from Paula Abdul Alhazred. Paula Abdul Alhazred was also passed over for a much-hoped-for promotion at his work, so it's gonna be a little while before I can afford to have the internet reconnected. In the meantime, I'll be less present than normal.

However, I'll still be posting when I can, both here and over at the exciting new Lost Elders site. I'll even be posting a pre-hash of the season premiere over there later this evening. So, check it out, and please keep visiting, and hopefully I will be seeing everyone a lot more soon. I miss chatting with you guys.

"WARNING!" says the Hydra cage computer

2008-01-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

Okie dokie, guys, just wanted to pass on a friendly warning that major spoilers have hit the net. They are in regards to episode 4 of the new season. DarkUFO has released a detailed synopsis of the episode. I have not read it, but it didn't take long scanning comments on IMDB (which are supposed to have spoiler markups) before I saw some things I did not want to see. So, I'm avoiding the rest of this information (and I don't know much to begin with), and for anyone else who doesn't want to be spoiled, I suggest you be careful. Dark has laid some strict ground rules for containing the spoilers, bless his heart, but the odds of being accidentally spoiled have just increased significantly. Not to mention, episode 1 hasn't even aired yet, and the specific details of episode 4 are already available. Dark's spoiler site is still safe, as the details of the spoiler are only allowed to be discussed in the relative thread, but other sites are not so safe. Anyway, just wanted to warn people. We don't want a repeat of the LOSTFAN108 disaster.

EDIT: In the comments for this topic, I briefly mention the tidbit of the spoiler that I do know about (and that is all I know, just one fragment). I believe I provide sufficient warning in the comment itself, but I just wanted to let people know in advance.

NEW STUFF

2008-01-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

So, the Find 815 game has gotten mighty interesting. First of all, we've learned all sorts of stuff about the Black Rock. In fact, between The Lost Experience and this new game, we've largely gotten the complete story of our favorite illegal slaving ship (aside from how it ended up on the island, of course). It seems the Black Rock was leaving Papua New Guinea after mining gold, and then heading for Afrika to trade for more slaves. However, for some reason they sailed East instead of West. Hmmmm. This jibes with Locke's theory in season three, that the captain of the ship was trying to mine the island. The question is: did Magnus Hanso already know about the island, or did they stumble upon it accidentally? Sailing in the wrong direction certainly implies they knew where they were going.

Next, we have last night's revelation that the mysterious Maxwell Group is, of course, owned by the Widmore Corporation. I think this goes a long way in clarifiying that Mr. Widmore is likely the closest thing we'll get to a main villian on LOST. The idea that he is searching for the island--and that his daughter is secretly running her own search--well, that makes a heck of a lot of sense. Also, this paints a clearer picture of the whole DHARMA thing. DHARMA are not the bad guys, but the Hanso Foundation was infiltrated by Charles Widmore (and whatever Charles Widmore represents) as a way of finding the island. It was Widmore who brought in the element which corrupted the Foundation. This isn't to say that DHARMA weren't antagonistic to the Hostiles; I think both sides were equally antagonistic, due to lack of understanding. But Widmore . . . his people represent the real threat. The Maxwell Group is named after the physicist Maxwell, who studied electromagnetism. They are a collection of physicists and other scientists. They know what the island is, and Widmore has had them on standby. Rumor has it that Find 815 will directly connect with the fourth season. While I doubt the characters from the game will be showing up on the series, I'd expect to see some of these elements presented in the show.

So, if this game is to be believed, both the Black Rock and many other vessels have disappeared near the Sunda Trench. This means the island might be located in the Indian Ocean, or at the very least, its access point is in the Indian Ocean. I don't think anyone is surprised with this Bermuda Triangle-esque twist in the story. The game has also made many references to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. This, coupled with the Herarat/Earhart anagram from "One of Us" has many folks speculating that either Adam and Eve are Fred Noonan and Amelia, or that the old woman Amelia who was seen with the Others in the third season premiere is our famous missing pilot. Sorry, no dice. I don't believe this for a second. Here's the deal: when "House of the Rising Sun" first aired, many viewers speculated that the skeletons in the cave were either Amelia and Fred, or Jack and Kate. The producers are just flirting with a popular fan theory, hence the references in the third season and this new ARG. Symbolically, Amelia Earhart represents what happens when someone just disappears. She represents the mystery of that. I think it has more to do with the intrigue surrounding her disappearance than trying to say, "hey, she's on the island too!" I personally think it would be a little too "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" to reveal her as a character in the story. (Also, the game never says that Earhart disappeared in this area; it says her search party disappeared. In real life, she almost certainly went missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean).

The Sunda Trench contains another reference, as well . . . a reference which was removed from the game's website almost immediately. Apparently, the Trench was the cause of the earthquake which resulted in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Last year, Lindelof said a shocking moment was coming which would be a "big reminder that it's still 2004 on the island". I gathered this was a reference to both the flashforward as well as time not moving in the same direction on the island, but many fans speculated he was referring to the tsunami. This speculation was so strong, in fact, that at one point it was supposedly "confirmed" that the tsunami would be featured on the show. At the time, I was totally against this idea. I mean, what's the point of featuring such a recent tragedy, let alone revealing that the island might have something to do with it? It seems a little cheap, maybe even exploitative. It might make LOST seem more real, but awkwardly so. However, if the island is actually located in the Indian Ocean near the Sunda Trench, and if it is still 2004, I guess I can't really argue with this speculation anymore. My only defense is that there are so many implications that it is no longer 2004 in the outside world, that I think we've skipped over the tsunami. Well, if the island is going to be hit by the tsunami, it's gonna happen within the first few episodes, because in the timelime of the show it's almost Christmas.

No matter what, I am very excited by all of these developments.

OT: MOVIES

2008-01-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Alrighty. Now that 2008 is upon us, I thought I'd make a list of the movies I really enjoyed the last couple years. (In my opinion, movies have just been so inspiring lately!). Please add to the list with your suggestions, or comment on mine. Here they are in chronological order:

A SCANNER DARKLY - The first 100% real adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story, this completely captures the spirit of his book. Call it stupid or pretentious, but if you liked PKD'S masterpiece, this is the novel itself perfectly caught upon film. Keanu Reeves does a terrific job in the lead role, and the movie is as confusing and devastating as the book itself. Fantastic.

BORAT - Controversy aside, Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedic genius. Not only does he know how to entertain, he also knows how to make us think. Some folks are hung up on what in BORAT is "real" and what is "fake". Cohen knows better; he smashes the lines between the two, confusing a planet bred on "reality" television and political correctness, taking a fictional character and planting him in the world we all know. He shows us the things we take for granted, and makes us laugh along the way. Not a bad thing, especially in today's climate.

THE FOUNTAIN - A beautiful and spiritual meditation on death, Darren Aronofsky's sci-fi melodrama is unlike anything ever produced by a major studio. Although disliked upon its initial release, I think this will one day be considered a classic along the lines of 2001 and SOLARIS. Aronofsky both makes good upon and deviates from the promise of PI and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, and the result is unforgettable. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz deserved Oscars for this film.

PAN'S LABYRINTH - While considered a horror-action director by American studios, Guillermo del Toro can break our hearts harder than the likes of Steven Spielberg. This fantasy about a girl caught in the madness which occurred in many European countries preceding WWII is soul-crushingly beautiful. Are the young girl's experiences "real" or "hallucinated"? Such questions are transcended by a horrifically human story where cruelty only leaves room for hope. This is also one of the few recent movies to portray violence as awful and disturbing, as opposed to comedic and fun.

INLAND EMPIRE - Love it or hate it, Davie Lynch's three-hour journey through one woman's mind and soul is as confounding and labyrinthine an experience as you're likely to see. No one makes movies the way this guy makes movies. Laura Dern's performance will haunt you for the rest of your life. Shot on DV and independently financed, this is the weirdest home movie ever made.

SUNSHINE - Danny Boyle's sci-fi epic has been accused of simply collapsing into a slasher movie in space. But look deeper, and you'll see an amazing expression of both science and spirituality. The metaphysical cousin of THE FOUNTAIN, this movie is both a testament to the beauty of humanity's resourcefulness and a statement on the always elusive nature of the thing we define as "God".

RESCUE DAWN - Based upon the real-life story of Dieter Dengler, Werner Herzog's latest movie takes us on a journey through hell and hope. Christian Bale, Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies will forever remain burned in your brain (as will the image of Bale eagerly devouring maggots), and the conclusion of the movie is possibly the most well-deserved sappy ending in film history. Herzog comes as close as he gets to mainstream here, which is the most daring thing he's ever done. (Also, see his documentary about Dengler, LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, for an interesting companion to the film).

THE MIST - An adaptation of Stephen King's famous novella, Frank Darabont goes rogue for a TWILIGHT ZONE-esque film which attacks human nature itself. Despite claims of religious and political messages, there are no clear-cut answers in this movie. Marcia Gay Harden turns in a tragic and evil performance, and the ending is the most questionable finale ever allowed by Hollywood. Like THE FOUNTAIN, this will be a well-loved classic in a decade or so.

BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT - After numerous versions, Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER finally comes to us in the director-preferred edition. Despite the various reshoots and digital enhancements, the changes are practically invisible. Essentially, all versions of BLADE RUNNER are classic, but this is the final statement on one of the most important works of sci-fi cinema in history. (And check out the DVD release, which also honors the film's inspiration, Philip K. Dicks' DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, as a rightful heir to this throne).

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN - Based upon Cormac McCarthy's novel, the Coen Brothers have created a complex cross between a Western, horror film, and spiritual treatise. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Barden leave impressions not soon forgotten; Bardem himself will terrify you in nightmares for years to come. The ending is both the most abrupt and hopeful denouement seen in recent years.

KEERAZY!

2008-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Check out the little teaser spoiler that DarkUFO revealed on his site (through a game of hangman, no less). It by no means gives much away, but it's very intriguing . . .

POST #108: FIND 815

2008-01-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

Alright, as most of you are undoubtedly aware, a new ARG has been set into motion. Find 815 takes us along with Sam, a former IT man for Oceanic Airlines who is desperately searching to unlock the fate of Oceanic flight 815. Onboard was Sonya, a stewardess and the love of Sam's life. At the start of the game, Oceanic announces that it will be resuming its flight operations (following three years of financial ruin and bad publicity after the 2004 disappearance of flight 815), and has also called off the search for 815, saying all attempts to locate the missing flight have been exhausted. Sam has in turn started his own investigation. Already, he has been sent a mysterious email from a mysterious person who works for a mysterious company called The Maxwell Group (who have their own password-protected mysterious website). The email contained clues such as "Black Rock," "Sunda Trench" and "Christiane I". Turns out, the Christiane I is a ship which is searching for the wreckage of a historic vessel supposedly sunken in a trench near the coast of, ahem, Bali.

Okay, unless all of this is a grand act of misdirection, I'd say we can guess with fair certainty where the story is going. Find 815 will fill in the missing piece of how the world discovered 815 in the ocean near Bali, which in turn is going to set up the story of how our characters return home (to be seen in the series, of course). Okay, so are these creepy Maxwell Group folks part of the whole freighter people/time-jumper conspiracy? I sure hope so. We need this myriad of faceless, monolithic corporations to start forming a complete picture, not just be a neverending series of red herrings. The DHARMA Initiative is sponsored by the Hanso Foundation which is a partner of the Global Welfare Consortium and which is owned by the Hanso Group which also owns the Apollo Candy Company and which is in turn owned by the Widmore Corporation which has dealings with Paik Heavy Industries. Meanwhile there is a rival company called Mittelos Bioscience which is in fact just a front for the enemies of the DHARMA Initiative and their related affiliates. Plus we have Oceanic Airlines which now seems to have dealings with the nefarious Maxwell Group. I've said it before and I will say it again: we need a published corporate directory. Seriously, though, I think the Maxwell Group is the new people, and that they have been the secret string-pullers throughout this entire story.

One discrepancy which people are getting hung up on is the date of this new ARG: late 2007, early 2008. Specifically, how could Oceanic be resuming its operations in December of '07 when we clearly saw Jack flying Oceanic in spring of that year? Well, I think it's time to acknowledge a mistake here, and it's not on the part of the ARG. "Through The Looking Glass" was not set in 2007. Yes, I know that's what Jack's newspaper said, but no one in the episode says it. In fact, the producers haven't said it, either. They actually keep insisting we still don't know the date of Jack's flashforward, implying the newspaper does not in fact establish the timeframe for the episode. I think this was a prop error . . . most viewers can absolutely not tell that the newspaper says April 2007, so it was left the way it was. This scene wasn't happening in 2007. It's happening later. In fact, if the world doesn't discover the wreckage of 815 until 2008, but the series is set in 2004, how can Naomi know about this? I'll tell ya how: it ain't 2004 on the island anymore. Time is screwy on the island and now it's really screwy since Desmond activated the failsafe. I am almost positive the show is waiting to spring this surprise on us.

I like the set-up of the new ARG very much. Unlike the Lost Experience, which was told exlusively through audio and visual evidence of actual occurrences (websites, commercials, podcasts, phone calls, film and video, appearances by the characters in public), the new game has scripted scenes, fully shot and scored like a drama. This gives it more of a LOST feel, but of course it also establishes the events of the game in a more ficititious setting than the previous ARG. Anyhow, it seems very well made. I like the Sam character, and his spooky vision of Sonya in the window reflection of his apartment raises all sorts of possibilities. Here's looking forward to what happens next . . .

TIME AFTER TIME

2008-01-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

My previous post has my mind spinning in circles about what is likely the most confusing question raised by LOST: the nature of time, destiny and free will. So far, both the series itself as well as the producers have provided a host of confusing and contradictory answers to this question.

Originally, the producers' public discussion of the whole time travel concept boiled down to Damon Lindelof insisting that LOST would not touch upon the idea. Specifically, on the Fuselage forum he said that, "LOST is not a show about time travel" (in response to JJ Abrams' posting something along the lines of "Who says LOST isn't about time travel?"; apparently, Damon Lindelof says so!). The issue in this case was that certain fans were already raising the theory that, due to some type of time warp, the skeletons in the cave could be Jack and Kate. Lindelof set about quashing those rumors. He later told SciFi Wire that LOST is "firmly ensconced in the realm of hard science." He even went so far as to say "There isn't any time travel [on LOST]". In various interviews during the first season, he also insisted LOST is not a sci-fi show, nor does it touch upon the supernatural. Of course, former LOST writer David Fury later revealed that he and the other writers intentionally misdirected the audience after fans started raising questions about the Adam and Eve skeletons. Specifically, the episode "Solitary" originally contained a line where Rousseau tells Sayid her team was studying the concept of time. The line was removed for being too revealing, leading viewers too much in the right direction.

Well, around the second season, both Lindelof and Abrams came clean that LOST really is a science-fiction series. They were forced to lie to ABC so the network wouldn't mispromote the show, and also because ABC was uncomfortable with anything too directly sci-fi or supernatural (likely after the ratings disaster of TWIN PEAKS, as well as David Lynch's failed original pilot for MULHOLLAND DRIVE). Suddenly, we have psychic black smoke flying around the island, and rather scientifically sketchy ideas about electromagnetic anomalies and equations that precisely predict the date of human extinction. I never had a problem with any of this stuff, but viewers hung up on Lindelof's "hard science" comments had much more trouble accepting the show's direction. Around this time, Jeff Jensen over at EW asked the producers about the "everything will be explained by science" remark. Damon and Carlton then claimed the statement was either not made, or if it was made they were retracting it. (And apparently it was made, so I guess it's retracted). Okay, so hard science is out the window, and pseudoscience is likely the name of the day. I can deal with that.

By the end of the second season, Mr. Lindelof starts making cryptic remarks about a big reveal in the third season. He says it will be very sci-fi in nature and will involve the concept of time in some way. He also says some viewers might not enjoy this twist so much. During Comic-Con 2006, Lindelof flat out implies that time is not moving in the same way on the island as in the rest of the world, further fueling speculations. Suddenly, Hurley's little exchange with Sayid in season two (about how the radio signals they're listening to could be coming from "any time") took on new weight, going from an in-joke about debunked time warp theories to a hint in favor of time warp theories.

The big reveal clearly came in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," which showed a precognative Desmond traveling eight years back in time and reliving two days of his life. It also introduced Ms. Hawking, an old woman who seems to be a time traveler with a tremendous knowledge of the future, especially about Desmond. Many fans assumed Desmond's experience was either a dream or a smoke monster-induced hallucination (the episode itself even toyed with the idea that Des was merely trapped in his own head), but Lindelof and Cuse threw a wrench into those spokes by saying Desmond was not dreaming or hallucinating. Specifically, they said the events of the episode "really happened," did not simply take place in Desmond's head, and even stated that the little things which Des did differently this time around would resonate, changing the big picture in a big way. Many fans resisted this information, choosing instead to believe the producers are merely toying with the viewers. Lindelof's prediction that much of the audience would dislike the time travel concept ultimately seemed completely justified.

The series continued to play with notions of time throughout the season: Desmond's flashes of the future and his attempts to change certain things, Richard Alpert's apparent agelessness, the possibility that the survivors are in an altered timeline where Oceanic 815 crashed in the sea and all passengers perished. (Not to mention appearances by A Brief History of Time, Mittelos being an anagram for "lost time," hidden messages such as "only fools are enslaved by time and space," and characters named after physicists who've dealt with time such as Hawking and Minkowski). But the biggest time twist of all was featured in the season finale, where what seemed to be a flashback turned out to be a flashforward. Suddenly, the concept of LOST expanded greatly, raising many possibilities. Since the third season raised many questions of fate and free will, the flashforward added to those questions. Is this a definite future? Is this a future that can be avoided? Is this only what might happen? More than ever before, the internet was ablaze with all sorts of new ideas about what the flashforwards could really mean.

The producers ultimately dismissed the alternate reality theories, stating that the flashforwards are set in stone. Of course, on a dramatic level, this makes the most sense. The flashforwards will lose their dramatic impact if the events depicted in them are merely possible futures; they have much more weight if they show what is definitely going to happen. They will clearly be telling a significant chunk of the off-island story, so it wouldn't work very well if the flashforwards wind up just not counting. But Damon and Carlton took it further, saying they don't really like the idea of multiple timelines, and that Ms. Hawking's rules of time travel--essentially, that the universe corrects our mistakes and that destiny is unavoidable--are entirely in play.

Now, now, wait just a second. What exactly are they saying here? Are they explaining that there are no multiple timelines at all, or are they saying that parallel futures can't exist merely in relation to the flashforwards (for the reasons stated above)? Because if alternate futures are not possible, that means that time travel does not change anything, which in turn renders the entire plot twist of a time warp essentially neutral. Why play with time if the stakes can't be affected? Why even introduce time travel? This also doesn't jibe with the repeated statements that Desmond changed things considerably when he revisited the past. If the future is set, Desmond didn't change anything, so why keep insisting that he did. Also, if the Universe course corrects on its own, why the intervention of Ms. Hawking? What's the point of her not selling the ring to Desmond, if Desmond ultimately has no choice? Why even explain anything to him if fate takes care of itself? Her intervention implies that the future is not set in stone. She is clearly frightened by Desmond's decision to buy the ring, and the flashback even ends with Des realizing he's not just crazy, insisting "I can still change it."

All season, Charlie's death seems inevitable, but Des does choose to save Charlie each time. And when Charlie finally dies, it's because Charlie has chosen to die. But would he have made that choice if Desmond had not told him already what was going to happen? It doesn't add up, not if the future is written. Particular outcomes have been manipulated. Choice is active. Just look at Jack . . . we're clobbered over the head in the finale with the idea that Jack isn't supposed to leave the island. He was meant to stay, and I think his off-island state reflects that. But Jack chose to deny destiny. He is paying a price for it, but he still made a choice. There can't just be fate or free will . . . there needs to be an interplay between them. That's where the real drama comes from, where the real stakes exist. The ability to throw away the meaning of your existence is dramatically heavy to say the least.

Another confusing element is the plane being found off the coast of Bali. If this is not a lie or a conspiracy, if it's true, then this is likely one of the things that Desmond changed. So, two parallel flight 815's, one in the real world where everybody dies and one in a spacetime warp where many people survive, is technically two timelines. Which, in turn, equals multiple timelines. Also, if the island interacts with time in the outside world in a non-linear fashion, this means the island exists as a type of nexus point in time, meaning that the island has its own independent timeline from the rest of the planet. The island is its own timeline. Even more confusing is that Damon still says time travel is important to LOST, even after supposedly debunking the multiple timelines theory. If the future is written, a time traveler can only ultimately observe, not affect. To me, that robs any element of time travel of its dramatic weight.

I suppose the notion of course correction does imply that a mistake has been made; otherwise, why the need for a correction? So, the ability to make a mistake still seems to exist. But again, if the future cannot be changed, why depict time travel? I ask this because the series has given us the present as the story's focal point; we're meant to believe in the on-island, present day story as the most relevant aspect. In our minds, this makes the "present" the moment in spacetime where the characters and story are fixed. We've glimpsed the past, and seen the contrast between past and present. And now we have been shown the contrast between present and future. But if the past can be interacted with (as in "Flashes Before Your Eyes"), does this mean someone can interact with the future as well? I suspect that it does. But again, what's the point if it's all written? Perhaps the series needs to alter its fixed perception a little . . . for instance, wouldn't it be interesting to see an episode set in the future, where it flashbacks to events on the island? (I think they could only get away with that once, but you have to admit it would be interesting). But if the writers alter the fixed point of spacetime in their storytelling, treating the future the same as the present (and I guess theoretically they could do an episode set entirely as a flashback, flashforwarding to on-island events), this could imply better that all these events are set in stone, as opposed to dangling time travel in front of the viewers and leaving it as a giant unanswered question that unravels everything we think we know about the series.

I worry this will wind up like THE DARK TOWER, where Stephen King presents an infitine number of universes as well as time travel within those universes. He creates rules for how it works but it all becomes so confusing and self-contradictory that it completely falls apart upon inspection. He was faced with the conundrum of time travel: if everything can be done and undone by time travel, it erases the dramatic stakes of the story. So he created rules for the characters and for his universe, but they only contributed to the story's incoherence. Ultimately, he should have ditched any rules. The idea of multiple universes and time travel is so mind-boggling that no person could possibly make sense of it, anyway. He mostly embraced the absurdity of the situation--our inability to fathom the weirdness of the universe--and I think he should've just taken it a little further. I see why LOST needs some rules for time travel, because otherwise things could spin out of control quickly. But placing logical rules on a concept that branches out into absurdity sometimes muddles things instead of clarifying them. I'm not sure where the middle ground is but few people have seemingly reached it. (I guess I'm of the Philip K. Dick school of thinking, which more or less embraces the insanity of an idea as opposed to resisting it).

Is your brain clinically dead because mine is about there. Whew.

(BTW, don't let my statements discourage anyone from reading THE DARK TOWER. No, the mythology doesn't come together the way it should, but what do you expect from a series of books written over a period of thirty years? They're still fantastic and a great read, any disappointments aside).

WEIRD!

2008-01-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

Here is something totally weird. Charlie finds out in season three that he is meant to die. Almost all of his deaths involve water in some way: it is raining when he is hung in "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues," he would've been hit by lightning in a rainstorm during "Every Man For Himself," he was supposed to drown rescuing Claire in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," he was going to be killed by the waves throwing him against the rocks in "Par Avion," in "Catch-22" he was almost shot through the neck with an arrow while it was pouring rain, and in "Through The Looking Glass" he ultimately chose to drown. The one time death almost claimed him not involving water was in "Live Together, Die Alone," when he was nearly killed by a ball of fire. So, this makes Charlie's death attributable to either two things: fire or water. And what was his episode titled in seaon two? "Fire + Water." I find this disturbing . . .

MY UEBER-THEORY

2007-12-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, here we go. In the second season premiere of TWIN PEAKS, Agent Cooper tells everyone that he wants to review all of the facts about the Laura Palmer case, saying "I'm ready to lay the whole thing out." Well, I am ready to do that with LOST. Not with just the facts, but with a new theory. So, let's lay the whole thing out. This is what I think might be the deal with our favorite show:

The island exists as a pinpoint in the spacetime continuum, in some senses existing outside of the established boundaries of normal spacetime. In relation to the outside world, time does not pass in the same fashion, and concepts such as distance and geography are not fixed. Henceforth, tiny planes from Nigeria wind up thousands of miles farther than they could have possibly traveled, and intentionally sailing or flying directly to the island is virtually impossible (as is leaving it). This relates to some type of wormhole or other form of time warp, which in turn has its root in a geologically occurring electromagnetic anomaly. This electromagnetism is so intense that currents and weather patterns operate in a different manner than in the rest of the world. It also has side effects that actually can heal certain afflictions in human bodies when manipulated in a particular way, be it cancer, broken bones, or infertility.

Sometime in the future, a group of physicists traveled to the island to study its unique properties. They recognized that the island is in fact playing a role in holding the fabric of the spacetime continuum together. Their intent was to study the concept of time and space, finding a way to somehow bend spacetime to their preference, being able to achieve such aims as time travel or, at the very least, learning how to exist outside of the constraints of linear time (past, present, future). By studying time, they began to learn of the interplay between such concepts as fate and free will . . . sometimes, events seem to be preventable (suggesting choice or free will), whereas other times, certain events seem inevitable no matter which changes are made (suggesting fate or destiny).

Recognizing the importance of the island, these scientists created a security system which would protect the island from unwanted intrusion. This system was a form of artificial intelligence, made up of both a physical and psychological component. The physical element consists of a black smoke-like substance, held together and suspended by the island's unique magnetic properties. The smoke moves by being pulled forward, an entire network of chains and rails existing beneath the ground, moving the smoke in whichever direction the system chooses. When the trails move forward, various doorways open and close beneath the ground, the metal scraping and clanging together and creating a "roaring" noise. Various trails of smoke exist, and can combine when necessary into a greater mass. This substance, as it's held together by a field, can physically interact with other objects, increasing its size depending upon the object. The entire system is based underground, a complex collection of tunnels and wires acting as a type of neural network, the very brain of the island.

The mental component of the system is quite different. It is not tied merely to its physical properties, but can see beyond its reach using various parapsychological principles which are commonplace in the future (telepathy, telekinesis, astral projection). The system scans a human's consciousness through the eye, downloading and replicating the various memories through which it sifts. It then uses these memories as a means of communication with a person; it telepathically sends visions and dreams to an individual, often in a type of code. The idea is for the system to see into the essence of an individual, and judge their intentions accordingly. The system can create hallucinations so real that the individual actually believes they are physically interacting with a particular person or thing, even though they are technically interacting with thin air. It can also sometimes physically manipulate the material world, summoning animals, moving objects telepathically, and even changing the weather. The whispers heard in the jungle are merely psychic crossfire, the fallout of the system's psychological presence. The many memories and personalities copied by the security system continue to exist, eternally echoing in the system and sometimes audible to those who happen to be nearby, and providing a Greek chorus who are commenting on certain events but not physically present. In a sense, these are the "souls" the island has collected.

Unfortunately for the scientists, their security system slowly became entangled with the island's properties. It developed a rogue personality, calling itself Jacob. It came to think of itself not as a piece of technology, but as a spiritual being, a godlike figure whose duty was to protect the island from interlopers. Denying its own nature, the system came to hate science and technology, seeing the very people who created it as threats, their manipulation of time an affront to the Universe. Jacob thusly purged these scientists, either by killing them or somehow removing them from the island.

Since time operates in a nonlinear fashion on the island (especially after the interference of the physicists), the island as well as the security system became accessible to the past. The electromagnetic disturbances have often caused various craft to wreck on the island throughout history . . . Egyptians, Romans, the Black Rock, Rousseau's vessel, Henry Gale's balloon, Oceanic flight 815, etc. etc. These groups of people would encounter the security system after arriving on the island. However, as most of them were not familiar with this advanced system of AI, they came to believe that their God or gods were speaking to them, attributing mystical and supernatural aspects to the security system. Jacob itself even believed this to be so, almost psychotically denying its technological origins. Jacob would test these arrivals to the island, determining who was morally acceptable and who posed a threat. Those who were worthy would be collected by Jacob and his followers, assimilated into the chosen community. Those left behind would be cast to the side, and ultimately killed by Jacob's people once they were deemed a threat to the island.

Only people who possess a certain amount of psychic ability can communicate directly with Jacob (although the use of hallucinogens, which open certain neural pathways, can allow a person to interface directly with the system). In fact, these "special" individuals can use their abilities to manipulate the same system of which Jacob is a part; therefore, Jacob can communicate directly with them, but they in turn can bend Jacob to their will at times. These people become the physical leaders of Jacob's community, both president and prophet. Ben Linus was one of these people, chosen as a young boy. He has found a way to imprison the personality of Jacob, psychically oppressing Jacob's full potential, possibly for what he believes to be Jacob's protection. Walt, in the meantime, has been able (albeit unknowingly) to use the Jacob system as a way to project himself and to see the future. Though Jacob at first considered him a future leader, Jacob now knows Walt is a threat, possessing the ability to enslave Jacob beyond even Ben's talents. Like Jacob, Walt can call animals, change weather patterns and even project images of himself, except Walt is human and Jacob is not. He is too much like Jacob for comfort, and could potentially usurp Jacob's authority. Thus, he was let go, whether merely by Ben or by Jacob himself.

The DHARMA Initiative are not the scientists who created Jacob. They are merely the very beginning of the same scientific efforts, but at a much smaller scale. They attempted to study the island's strange properties: the electromagnetism, the bending of time, the existence of the security system. DHARMA referred to Jacob's technology as the Cerberus System, as it seems to guard the underground network which constitutes its very being. It is unclear if Jacob originally tolerated the presence of DHARMA, or if he and his people resisted DHARMA from the beginning, knowing what DHARMA would become. It's worth noting that the DHARMA Initiative did have the intention of saving the world, and it's possible both Jacob and those who created him were aware of the Valenzetti Equation. However, it soon became clear that DHARMA was beginning to kickstart the very apocalypse they meant to prevent. Jacob's people fought DHARMA, trying to avoid disasters similar to those caused by the scientists who originally visited the island. In turn, the DHARMA members referred to Jacob's people as "the Hostiles". They built a security perimeter around their home base, called the Barracks, consisting of pylons which release a lethal sonic frequency when crossed. The sonic fence was able to repel both the Hostiles as well as the black smoke, though Jacob could still see inside the perimeter. In addition to Jacob and his people, another threat posed to the DHARMA scientists was one more leftover from the future physicists: a form of microtechnology which, upon exposure, can infect a host organism. When activated, this implanted microtechnology essentially acts as a virus, causing those exposed to it to become horrifically ill. To prevent this sickness, DHARMA created a vaccine which neutralizes the technology upon injection. The vaccine wears off after a little more than a week, meaning repeated injections are necessary as a safety precaution.

Over a period of two decades, DHARMA collapsed, both by interference from the Hostiles as well as their own mistakes. The Cerberus System was a threat to them, and at some point it suffered what they believed was a malfunction, perhaps causing it to behave even more erratically and dangerously. (Jacob's technology is likely winding down, manifesting as a form of insanity). After a certain point, all stations except the Swan had either been commandeered by the Hostiles or simply abandoned.

The Initiative became corrupt after being infiltrated by the scientists who created Cerberus/Jacob. This group of scientists have quietly used companies such as the Widmore Corporation and Paik Heavy Industries, turning them into puppet organizations. Using these corporations, they have aquired the Hanso Foundation, trying to access DHARMA and use the project as a means of relocating the island. Unfortunately, by the time they began this process, DHARMA had lost contact with the island following the Purge, making it inaccessible. These scientists have chosen Desmond as their control case. They have been actively manipulating him towards the island, both to save the world by turning the failsafe key as well as to make the island visible by the same method. Desmond has lived this cycle of events repeatedly, and has re-entered his life at various moments. These scientists observe him in order to steer him back on the path to the island, making sure he turns that key.

These physicists include Ms. Hawking (and, by extension, possibly Brother Campbell), Libby, and the couple who bribed Richard Malkin to scare Claire into coming to LA, as well as Naomi, Minkowski, and all of the new characters soon to be introduced. It's likely that Rousseau and her team were members as well, though they may be from an earlier version of the research. Nathan from the tailsection was also possibly one of these people; he and Libby were spies, as their group was already aware of what happens to flight 815. They know who Aaron will grow up to be, and they are attempting to intervene for their own interests. They have access to the very healing methods they learned from the island. Thomas Mittelwerk is one of them, and he cured Peter Thompson's cancer using one of the processes gleaned from the island. Someone also healed Sarah Shephard in the same fashion, for the purpose of manipulating Jack. Since they currently cannot get to the island, they have been waiting patiently on a freighter which is staked out near the location of the island. Jacob, Ben and their people know about the freighter; this is where Ben sent Michael and Walt when they were allowed to leave the island.

Like the people who created it, Jacob now exists outside of time. He has been witness to the same cycle of events, over and over again. The physicists have created a time loop, and are observing the same scenes repeatedly, studying the possibility of manipulating a different outcome each time. In this case, the scientists are trying to kickstart a chain of events where they can return to the island; meanwhile, Jacob is attempting to ensure a timeline where the island remains inaccessible. After the Purge, Jacob had his people venture to the outside world, recruiting those who he feels are worthy and actively fighting against the companies which mask the scientists who are searching for the island. His people have been sabotaging the scientists' efforts, even infiltrating their organizations as spies. Essentially, there is a war occurring between these time-manipulating physicists and Jacob's people, and the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are caught in the middle.

Jacob chose Locke and Eko (when Locke lost his faith) to push the button. Pushing the button made the island invisible, and it was absolutely necessary to prevent anyone from finding it. Jacob already knows what likely happens should the scientists arrive, and pushing the button was the one way to make sure they couldn't access the island. Unfortunately, Desmond had no choice but to turn the failsafe key, thus pinpointing the location of the island to those who were watching. The very same cycle of events is yet again in motion, and the outcome is likely grim. The question will again arise: Can things be changed this time, or are all of these characters doomed to repeat these actions eternally?

MERRY X-MAS!

2007-12-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year, Winter Solstice, Jacob Day . . . whatever you're in to. I hope the holidays treat all of us well and that no one is besieged by the black smoke monster. BTW, if you venture to the movies today, please be nice to whomever is working. Not everyone there necessarily chose to work on Christmas. A polite and friendly customer can make working on a special holiday a hundred times easier. Anyway, happy holidays!

I WANT MORE LIFE, FATHER

2007-12-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

As many of you may or may not be aware, BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT was recently released on DVD after a brief theatrical run. Now, BLADE RUNNER is one of my all-time favorite movies, as it is for many people, and I have been waiting and waiting for a decent DVD release for years. (Again, as have many people). BLADE RUNNER was one of the first films released on DVD, and when watching the 1997 DVD release, you can see how far the technology has come. In 2006, BLADE RUNNER was remastered and re-released on DVD in a higher quality version, but this was only to pave the way for the impending release of the FINAL CUT. Well, finally the FINAL CUT is here, finally, and not only was it worth the wait, it's one of the best DVD editions of any movie, ever.

My supercool girlfriend extraordinaire got me the BLADE RUNNER: 5-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION for Christmas (I thought I'd never be able to afford it, so you can imagine how happy I was), and it really is a remarkable effort. Now, five discs might sound like overkill . . . until you take a look at what's been done here. There have been many versions of BLADE RUNNER that have surfaced throughout the years, to the point where it might be confusing as to which version you've actually seen. This new release thankfullly archives all of the relevant cuts of the film. There's the 1982 theatrical cut, featuring Rick Deckard's noirish voiceover narration and the more upbeat ending; the international cut, which is basically the theatrical cut with added moments of violence and gore for the global market; the little seen workprint version, a rough assembly of the film for test screenings; the 1992 Director's Cut, which drops the narration and the happy ending, but adds a strange vision of a unicorn suggesting that Deckard could be a replicant; and the Final Cut, which is the Director's Cut with tightened editing, improved visual effects, some reshoots to correct more obvious mistakes, a longer version of the unicorn scene, and the addition of all of the violence from the international version, as well as a few new snippits here and there. This set collects them all together for the first time.

Disc One is the Final Cut, Disc Two is a feature-length documentary titled "Dangerous Days" covering the entire production of BLADE RUNNER from start to finish, Disc Three archives the theatrical, international, and Director's Cut versions, Disc Four contains numerous featurettes exploring the world of the film, as well as an hour's worth of never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes, and Disc Five features the ultra-rare workprint version. Everything looks and sound superb, from the menus to the presentation of the film to the numerous documentaries.

Some may gripe about the reshoots done for this new release. Specifically, two things were redone. The first was Deckard's dialogue with the Egyptian snake maker. In the original release, the dialogue is entirely out of sync, not matching the actors' lips at all. The other involved the death of Zhora, played by Joanna Cassidy. During her original death scene, as she crashes through the glass you can tell that it's actually a stunt double in a wig. Not only this, but the scene is in slow motion, which only makes it painfully obvious. So, these two bits were refilmed. Since Harrison Ford was unavailable, his son Ben was brought in to re-enact the scene with the Egyptian. Ben Ford's mouth was then digitally superimposed over his father's in the film. Joanna Cassidy reshot her death, performing the stunt in the same costume and everything, her face now mixed with the body of the stunt double. Many people were fearing a George Lucas-style meddling which would tarnish the film. Such is not the case here. These effects are seamless, completely and utterly unnoticeable. Even if you know it's an effect, when you look for it you will not see it. This is the most tasteful and subtle retooling ever committed to film.

Though there are many special features which cover everything behind the making of the film, my favorites are actually those which center around Philip K. Dick, who wrote DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? (upon which the film is based). PKD is one of my favorite writers, and ELECTRIC SHEEP is a book that blew my mind when I first read it years ago. BLADE RUNNER has many similarities to the source material, but it also differs in some major ways. Perhaps more than any other book and its subsequent adaptation, the novel and the film actually complement each other, two halves which create a unique experience when joined together. The special features more than do the book justice, exploring Philip K. Dick's work and legacy, his ever-changing opinion of Hollywood and of the adaptation of his work, and the major differences between the book and the movie. This acts as a moving tribute to Dick, who never got to see the finished version of BLADE RUNNER (but who was so impressed with what he saw that he fell in love with the movie). Most DVD features would have just said, "Yeah, it was based on a book by a popular sci-fi writer, blah blah blah," but this takes the time to actually explore the novel. Fantastic.

Another interesting feature is a documentary which explores the question of whether Deckard is a replicant. As the docu demonstrates, there is absolutely no consensus, not even amongst the people who made BLADE RUNNER. Ridley Scott is positive that Deckard is in fact an android, but Harrison Ford is 100% certain that Deckard is human. Everyone from Guillermo del Toro to Frank Darabont chimes in on the question, all with different answers. The feature explores the origins of this question, which arises in the novel. In the book, there is a sequence where Deckard is forced to question his own humanity and concept of reality. Though it's eventually revealed that he is not an android, the sequence raises many concerns about the tentative nature of what it is to be human. Ridley Scott transferred this into the film, dropping some major hints that Deckard might not be what he thinks he is. What's interesting is that this question varies depending on which version you see: the theatrical cut makes it fairly clear that Deckard is human, the Director's Cut is ambiguous, and the Final Cut strongly implies Deckard is a replicant.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this question is that, no matter which way you slice it, the movie has profound impact. If Deckard is human, then the film is about how he's become as robotic as a replicant by being a cold-blooded killer. It humanizes a man who has lost his humanity. And by falling in love with Rachael, a replicant, he completely becomes a human being again, finding the empathy he once lost. (Deckard being no better than the people he's hunting is the main theme of the novel). If Deckard is actually a replicant, then it becomes a story about the tenuous nature of being. Deckard thought he was superior to these other creatures, but he's a victim of the same trick which was pulled on them. Therefore, again, he is no better. Both hunter and hunted are the same thing in disguise. If the question is meant to remain ambiguous, then it highlights how the difference between human and replicant is not so clear-cut. After all, we're all in the same boat. We all just want to live. Maybe it makes no difference who's human or who's a replicant. (This completely flies in the face of the book's meaning). Personally, I subscribe to all three interpretations. The movie exists on all these levels and it's important to explore each one. It's sort of like a David Lynch movie. People are always hung up on whether the events in Lynch's films really happened, or if it's all a dream or delusion. Maybe the answer is both.

Another fascinating dimension to the film is offered by the deleted scenes. We see all sorts of lost moments, from brief shots to scenes of Deckard visiting Holden in the hospital (Holden being the gentlemen blown away at the beginning). The deleted scenes also include the majority of Deckard's narration, which shows how little was actually used in the theatrical cut. I have to admit, it made me like the narration even more. Honestly, I've never had a problem with the voiceover, because I really enjoyed the film noir element of the movie (but I am also glad there is a version available without it). I pretty much like all versions of BLADE RUNNER, so I guess I'm easy to please! Anyway, between the five cuts presented and then the deleted scenes, this is the most comprehensive look at the film to date.

The person who should be commended for this release is Charles de Lauzirika, the DVD producer. He handles all of Ridley Scott's films, and was responsible for the ALIEN QUADRILOGY box set a few years ago. The ALIEN set was pretty much the best DVD ever released . . . no stone was left unturned about the making of those four films (though his ALIEN 3 documentary was heavily censored by Fox executives). He actually achieved the dream of many fans by going ahead and putting the rough cut of ALIEN 3 back together, something we all thought we'd never see. (And, while still flawed, it stands as superior to the theatrical version and as a genuinely good movie). De Lauzirika also handled the recent release of the TWIN PEAKS DEFINITIVE GOLD BOX SET, which is probably the best TV-on-DVD which any of us will ever see. The only thing missing is the FIRE WALK WITH ME film and its highly-anticipated deleted scenes, but in his defense, he tried to get all of those things onto the set. Anyway, de Lauzirika actually directed the reshoots for BLADE RUNNER in addition to supervising everything else, and I think this goes a long way in showing what a talent and a blessing he is to those of us who love this stuff. He does not produce fluff or filler; he gets into all those nooks and crannies that us diehard fans are desperate to know about. Maybe one day, he'll supervise the inevitable box set for all six seasons of LOST. Here's hoping . . .

THE MISSING PIECES

2007-12-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

So, last night I was talking to a friend who generally enjoys everything LOST does, and she admitted to being unimpressed with the Missing Pieces mobisodes. She said she doesn't find them engaging at all and gets virtually nothing out of them (aside from the "Room 23" segment). I've noticed quite a bit of grumbling about the mobisodes, in fact. My friend's reaction is calmer than some of the other things I've read on the internet, where people are screaming "I DON'T CARE ABOUT JACK'S STUPID WATCH AND STUPID FROGURT AND STUPID JULIET TALKING TO STUPID MICHAEL ABOUT NOTHING! TELL US WHAT THE MONSTER IS NOOOOWWWWWW!" Geez.

Personally, I don't mind the mobisodes. They don't seem to have been created to answer major questions or even to introduce new mysteries or ideas. They seem to just be little character moments that we never knew existed, with the occasional mythological tidbit thrown in. I don't think they're anything to throw a party over, but I do find them to be well-done and interesting. I mean, hey, it's interesting that Juliet had a little talk with Michael, that Christian gave Jack that watch, that Michael and Sun almost kissed. I think those are neat little moments and I like knowing about them. And heck, these mobisodes are the first time we've seen Michael in almost two years! Sure, we all want to see more DHARMA stations and know the secrets of the island, but there's no way the writers are gonna drop major bombs in two-minute episodes produced for cell phones. What kind of missing moment are we all clamoring for? Jack saying, "Hey Kate, remember that time we found out what the monster is and we forgot to mention it to anybody"? Seriously, the mobisodes are basically glorified deleted scenes, and I don't think there was ever much to expect from them.

So why all the hate? I'm guessing it's because we're all at the breaking point for wanting to see the story get to the next level, and these mobisodes aren't about that at all. People who are desperate to find out what happens after Jack phones Naomi's boat probably aren't too concerned with the time Dr. Arzt yelled at Sun and Jin a few days after the crash. The show is reaching critical mass with both the tensions between the characters and the island's mythology, and tossing the audience morsels that tell them nothing new about the story is perhaps not the smartest thing to do at the moment. I think these mobisodes would have been much better received had they been released while the season was airing; that way, people would be getting what they want out of LOST, and would be more open to enjoying these little asides.

However, that being said, I don't think all of the complaining is entirely justified. The mobisodes are well-made, and they're still LOST. At least someone took the time to make these at all.

THE FREIGHTER PEOPLE

2007-12-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I made a post asking what folks think of the freighter people. Who are they? What do they want? Well, I have been thinking long and hard on this topic, and I just traded thoughts with bigmouth over at his blog. I think I have narrowed it down to three main possibilities for who these people are and what they might be up to. Here goes:

THEORY #1 - They are the DHARMA Initiative coming to reclaim the island. DHARMA was unaware for years that their scientists had been killed, the Others maintaining the illusion that DHARMA was active. But between the turning of the failsafe key and Locke entering 77, DHARMA is aware the Hostiles have likely gained control of the island. So, they have sent people to investigate the situation, and if it's what they fear, they will be taking back the island and doing a little Purging of their own.

PROS: Based on everything we know about the series, this is the most likely scenario. We know about the war between DHARMA and the Hostiles, and we know that DHARMA was indirectly acquired by such nefarious people as Thomas Mittelwerk, Charles Widmore and Mr. Paik. The absolute status of the DHARMA Initiative has not been stated in the series proper, and for everything we've learned about them, we still don't really know what they were doing. This really opens them up to being "the bad guys." Plus, Ben was once with them, and if he regarded them as enough of a threat to kill both his father and his colleagues, that speaks volumes.

CONS: We don't really know what happened to DHARMA in the outside world. In TLE, Mittelwerk flat out says the Initiative was a failure, and Rachel Blake seems well aware that the DHARMA scientists disappeared. The blast door map indicates that the DI fell apart over a period of years, and the procedures at the Swan seem aimed at keeping it isolated, as if the DI knew the Swan was the only operating station. Also, DHARMA seemed like a bunch of easily wiped out hippies, not a threatening presence that would kill every human being on the island. Ben also doesn't profess any direct fear of DHARMA. Plus, Damon and Carlton have said there are two factions of Others, and they are not connected with each other nor are they connected to the DHARMA Initiative. Evidence at the moment suggests the freighter people are the new Others, Other Others, etc., which kills the DHARMA theory. Michael Emerson also said in an interview that the freighter folks are not DHARMA (though he could be wrong). Plus, I personally just find this to be the least interesting possibility.

THEORY #2 - DHARMA is dead. The Hanso Foundation gave up on it, but that didn't stop them from trying to alter the Valenzetti Equation (hence the plot of TLE). However, there is a group of people who have been trying to find the island for their own purposes. This group is represented in part by companies such as the Widmore Corporation and Paik Heavy Industries. The reason they purchased the Hanso Foundation was to infiltrate DHARMA and find the island, but by then, the Hanso Group had lost all communication with their scientists and had discarded the project. Since using DHARMA to gain access to the island didn't work, the group continues to thrive through men like Charles Widmore, staking their freighter in close proximity to the island and patiently waiting for it to become accessible again. Perhaps Widmore himself was even using Desmond as his way of finding the island.

PROS: This makes good on a lot of the hints about Mittelwerk, Widmore and Paik, whilst also conforming to the suggestions that DHARMA is dead. It also explains how the Hanso Foundation became so corrupt for a while. It would also nicely tie together the entire Penelope/Charles Widmore/Desmond drama, with Penny competing with her father to locate the island. And with Paik's involvement, it would follow-up nicely on the Sun/Jin/Mr. Paik situation as well. And I like it much more than option #1.

CONS: There's actually nothing on the series to contradict this. But aside from a handful of hints and suggestions, there's no concrete evidence supporting it, either, so it's all conjecture.

THEORY #3 - We are looking at an entirely new group of people, something we haven't seen yet. They will possess an advanced knowledge of science and technology, to the point where it might seem at times as if they have supernatural powers. (In accordance with the whole "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" rule of sci-fi). If time is non-linear or distorted in relation to the island, then it's possible these are characters who are from the future and have been manipulating time, maybe through the principles of the island itself. At one point, they may have been using the island as an experiment, studying the concept of time. If Cerberus is in fact a form of artificial intelligence, these could be the people who created it as a way of protecting the island. However, Cerberus eventually went rogue, developing the Jacob personality and effectively kicking its creators out, believing itself to be a godlike being. Afterwards, people from the past have had access to the island, and being unfamiliar with this type of technology, attributed supernatural and mystical qualities to it. Since losing control of the island, the freighter people have been trying to get back, and have been attempting to manipulate events throughout time to ensure their return. Rousseau and her team were members of this group, as were Libby and Ms. Hawking, and possibly even Richard Malkin. They are also aware of what Aaron will grow up to be (as is Jacob), and they have been trying to get to the child for that reason.

PROS: This goes a long way in explaining some of the spookier things about the island, especially the monster/Jacob. It would also even explain the other sci-fi elements of the series, such as the time travel and Claire's implant. Evil scientists from the future would certainly make a good reason for Ben to be so afraid, as they would represent a force the Others would have trouble frighting. This also conforms to the various hints dropped that the freighter people are a group we have yet to meet. The time shenanigans would explain all of the "you're meant to do this" and "you're not supposed to do that" talk all throughout the season, whether it's Ms. Hawking talking to Des or Ben talking to Jack. In fact, it would explain how Naomi's people were aware of the exact chain of events of Penny's attempt to rescue Desmond. They beat Penny to the punch because they knew everything that was going to happen.

CONS: This is way, way, way sci-fi. Whether you like Clarke/Asimov speculative hard science, PKD/Vonnegut surreal and absurd sci-fi, or just plain ol' ridiculous STAR TREK/DR. WHO logic, this theory is pretty out there and could be a real turn off to some viewers no matter what. It's unclear how far into the realm of the fantastic LOST intends to travel, so assuming something this far-fetched might be a mistake. However, I still think it's an intriguing possibility.

Finally, I'd like to point out that a fourth possible answer could actually be a combination between the second and third theories. I think the third theory could really build off the second, so that's another plausible scenario.

A SMALL NOTE

2007-12-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

After rewatching "Through the Looking Glass" on DVD, one thing worth noting is that you can definitely see that the window in the Looking Glass control room is too small for Charlie to swim through. When it's in the background, the camera makes it look bigger than it actually is. Hopefully this will sate some of the folks who think he could have just swam out the window. However, nothing will make people stop nitpicking over the air pressure/water level issue. I guess miraculous healings, psychic clouds of black smoke and time travel are acceptable but a room filling up with water is completely unbelievable. Oh well. It was dramatically effective for me so I don't really care about the science of it. (It's people like me that drive James Randi up the wall). This argument reminds me of that Onion article, "Man Vows Never To Watch Another Sci-Fi Movie With Physicist Friend."

A QUESTION ABOUT THE DHARMA DROPS

2007-12-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

One thing that has bugged me for the last couple years is the issue of the DHARMA supply drop from "Lockdown." When did this occur? How did no one hear a plane or helicopter? If the island is so damn hard to find, how are supply drops routinely taking place? And even if the freighter people are not DHARMA, why couldn't they just use DHARMA to locate the island?

When I first saw the second season, my suspicion was that the supply drop was actually an illusion, that it did not come from the sky but somewhere on the island. My reason for thinking this was, at the time, I had assumed that one rule of the show was that people can't leave the island. It seemed to me that being able to leave the island would ruin the show, and that having aircraft just flying to and fro making supply drops violated that rule. In retrospect, I was completely wrong, as we now know the Others can leave the island, and that even some of our main characters will be leaving the island. Based on this, I had been thinking that DHARMA either just uses some type of silent helicopter, or that if time is different on the island, then a supply drop made in the 80's might not show up until 2004. One doesn't really answer anything and the other is pretty sci-fi, but those were my theories.

However, the end of season three and all the hints about season four strongly imply that aircraft goes monumentally screwy when flying over the island. (Probably why DHARMA used a submarine). Not to mention, rewatching season three I think it is now quite clear the freighter people have been trying to find the island, not provide rescue. If they're desperate to locate the island, it really doesn't make sense why they couldn't just get in on this supply drop action. This leads me back to my original assumption. I don't think there are any actual "supply drops" occurring. I think the parachute is meant to maintain the illusion that the island is accessible by air. The whole lockdown process is just a song and dance so that the people in the Swan are led to believe an aircraft is dropping off supplies, and so that they don't see how the actual restocking procedure occurs. I'm guessing it might have something to do with all the underground tunnels and storage areas mentioned on the blast door map. Maybe there's an automated system that raises supply pallets from under the ground, or something to that effect. If this were true, it would explain why the freighter people can't find the island: Because at this point, not even DHARMA can find the island.

Lest you think I'm completely overanalyzing this, it's worth mentioning that on the Access Granted special feature on the Blu-Ray version of season three, Damon and Carlton strongly imply that the supply drop was not actually dropped. Interesting . . .

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

2007-12-18T08:07:00.000-08:00

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Everybody, go to DarkUFO's site right this very second to see the new LOST trailer for season four. Unlike the theatrical trailer, this is loaded with actual clips where you can tell what's going on. Halfway through I actually started tearing up, I was so excited. Seriously, you will be so pumped for the new episodes after you see this thing, it's not even funny. Plus, pay close attention. Look at the new people! See who's in Jacob's cabin! Check out who's still alive! GAAAAHHHHHH! LOST NOW! LOST NOW! (Oh, right, obviously the trailer has spoilers, so stay away if you don't wanna know anything at all).

WHINY POST THAT HAS NOTHING REALLY TO DO WITH LOST

2007-12-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

QUESTION: There is a severe winter weather advisory this evening. What shall I do?

ANSWER: I know! Even though it's been snowing all day, and even though the weather forecast is calling for a lot more snow and ice and has informed me of the rapidly deteriorating road conditions, I will drive however many miles is necessary to go see Sean Penn's brilliant new film INTO THE WILD. After all, it's only been playing for nine weeks. I can't think of a better evening to go than this one! I mean, it's not like it will still be playing tomorrow, right? I will drive through the snow and then park illegally in front of the theater to drop people off, even though the roads are slick and an unsuspecting car could conceivably plow into my vehicle killing both myself and all of my passengers. Then when I purchase tickets, I will complain that it is too cold outside and insist that I pay inside the building, even after the box office attendant informs me that this is against policy. Then, after I storm inside to buy my tickets and make a rude comment about the exorbitant ticket prices, I will ask all employees in sight if the theater sells alcohol. When they inform me that the theater, in fact, does not sell alcohol, I will make a frowny face and express my disappointment. Surely they will start selling alcohol if I frown big enough! After the film starts, I will proceed to repeatedly come into the lobby and express my shock that the weather is so terrible. After all, how was I supposed to know that the weather would be so bad? It's not like I had a warning! Once the film is over, I will chat with my friends in the lobby as employees clean around me, and then remark upon the shocking and unexpected accumulation of snow one last time. Lastly, I will head out to my car and drive home, finally relaxing in front of a warm fire with a nice glass of wine. Boy, am I sure glad I don't have to go to work on a night like this!

Moral of the story: Folks, if you are going to risk your life by venturing into dangerous weather and frequenting businesses which should be closed due to the inclement conditions but sadly aren't, please at least keep in mind that the people serving you had less of a choice in the matter of how they spend their evening, regardless of the weather, and therefore please make concessions to basic concepts of safety, courtesy and common sense. Thank you. That is all.

MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

2007-12-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

I saw THE GOLDEN COMPASS last night. I highly recommend it. Although it's got some problems and probably doesn't compare as well to the book, it's a fascinating movie. The actors are all top-notch (Nicole Kidman is perfect in this role), the world of the story captures the imagination, and the visuals are rich and beautiful without being too rich and beautiful. I'm sure the controversy surrounding the movie will be a turn-off to some people, but I think the movie successfully walked the line. I hope it's successful enough so that the other two films can be made, and the studio sees the majority of the audience is lightened-up enough about the content.

Oh, and I saw the LOST trailer! My girlfriend was with me and she's only just seen "Dave," and the trailer didn't really spoil anything for her. So now I'm not too worried.

WELL, I GOT IT

2007-12-13T13:44:00.001-08:00

Finally, I was able to purchase the DVD of season three. I am a happy camper. (Let's hope my current relationship doesn't end!). Anyhow, as usual, the treatment of this series on DVD is excellent, though I am a little miffed that one super-special special feature is only available on the Blu-Ray version. This makes me more irritated than compelled to buy Blu-Ray discs. Anyway, aside from that gripe, everything looks and sounds fantastic. I do think it's a little questionable that the episode synopses booklet reveals that "Through the Looking Glass" is a flashforward. Also, I have no idea why the season finale has been split into two parts. Yes, I understand that the two-hour finales are technically two episodes and that they air separately in some other countries, but the previous two sets collected them as they initially aired in the U.S. What's aggravating is that, in order to compensate for the new structure, the episodes are edited differently . . . events unspool in a somewhat different order at points. (Plus, there are now credits running over scenes where they weren't before). I'm hoping this decision was made because the producers think the episodes play better this way; otherwise, I can't see any reason for not preserving the episode as it originally aired.

I just read the review of the third season set at Entertainment Weekly and I found myself greatly annoyed by it. (Not that being annoyed by EW is an unnatural reaction). This has been happening to me a lot lately. Essentially, the review says that season three is the most unsuccessful of the series, the writers owe the fans an apology, etc etc. I am tired of stuff like this. Why am I tired? Is it because I think every season of every show I like is perfect? No. I am tired of this because I feel like it's become commonplace to rip on our favorite shows because it's more news worthy. For the last two years, every other headline is something like, "Has LOST lost its way?" Season two was ripped to pieces for the entire year. Then season three started airing and the big question was, Can LOST make up for its lackluckster second season? Then the headline was, LOST is back and better than ever! Then the news was that LOST had completely derailed and was virtually unwatchable. For the remainder of year three, there were competing camps of "LOST is better than ever" and "LOST has betrayed us".

People say they love shows like LOST, HEROES, TWIN PEAKS, etc, but then complain about them endlessly and rip them to shreds. I understand criticism and frustration, believe me. I think it's good to be able to say what you don't enjoy about something. But it's like, based on the reactions of people lately, you have to wonder if they actually like the shows they claim to like. The EW review of the new TWIN PEAKS box set says the set is great, but it's too bad that it included the second season. Well, the second season is 3/4's of the entire show. If you hate it that much, maybe you don't actually like TWIN PEAKS, you know? Again, I see where people have problems with certain things, but it just feels to me that every good show isn't a good show anymore, it's some once-great thing that went astray. Why can't we love something, faults included?

LOST isn't perfect, but it's better than 99% percent of television. Every episode is compelling and well-written, faults aside. With LOST, there's always something to talk about. This is a good thing. Even when it's divisive and frustrating, it's still good television. I don't think the producers owe us an apology for keeping characters in cages for a few episodes, or for introducing background survivors, or for taking their time telling the story. They know what they're doing. I don't. Even when the show pisses me off, I know that I have to just go along with it.

I think I am upset because I feel like I'm watching fans kill the things they love, and critics savaging decent storytelling to make a more interesting article. This isn't constructive. It's destroying something to destroy it. It makes me want to abandon the work I'm doing now. Why create anything when people will just post things on the Internet like "This sucks, I could do so much better"? Why make something so critics can just claim you're not as good as you used to be? This whole thing has me distraught. LOST is a terrific series. Why can't we just say, "Hey, great show. Love it"? I guess something like that just doesn't sell.

UNFORTUNATELY, THE UNIVERSE HAS A WAY OF COURSE CORRECTING

2007-12-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I still haven't obtained the third season on DVD yet, and it's looking as if my efforts will continue to be thwarted for the forseeable future. I was originally just going to ask for it for Christmas, as truthfully I haven't had much money lately. But then I found out that I shouldn't be expecting any presents of that sort this year, which is fine.

So, I decided to order it from Amazon. They had it on sale for $37, and it qualified for free shipping. I placed the order, but it never shipped because apparently Amazon tried to use the wrong debit card. You see, last year I was robbed at gunpoint, and my wallet was taken. That debit card was canceled, but I guess the information wasn't completely erased from my Amazon account. In fact, I noticed that it was trying to use the wrong card, and I actually corrected it the night that I placed the order. However, the correction didn't work, and Amazon still tried to use the wrong card.

Since the DVD was about to come out in stores, and since I live in a building where you might not want your deliveries lying around if they can't fit in your mailbox, I thought it might be best to just purchase the DVD from WalMart, since they have it priced for the same amount as Amazon. I had managed to squirrel away just enough spending money to get it, too. Unfortunately, I don't have a car anymore. The engine and/or electrical system died, and there's nothing that can be done. I don't have the money to get a new car, so I can't get around quite so easy, and there are no WalMarts near my apartment. However, a coworker and fellow LOST fan of mine jumped at the chance to go buy the DVD with me, since WalMart would have it on the shelves by midnight. We went to the nearest WalMart after we got off work. Sadly, it was only 10:45, and the DVD's weren't out yet. The guy working there thought we were looking for LAND OF THE LOST, then he explained that they can't sell the DVD before midnight or they'd get a fine. Disappointing, because we couldn't just wait around WalMart for an hour and fifteen minutes. That would not have been fun.

Today, I really wanted to get the DVD, but a bigger concern became how I was getting to work. I wasted most of the afternoon feeling tired, and before I knew it, I had to be at work in a couple hours. Since our public transportation in this city is crappy and convoluted, I avoid the bus and sometimes just walk the two hours to work. It was raining and very cold, but I decided to at least give it a try, because I love walking and I don't mind the rain as much as most people. On the way there, I was waiting at an intersection for the right moment to cross. When I finally did, this car making a left turn came completely out of nowhere. I'm telling you, had I not stepped an extra micrometer to the right, this SUV would have plowed right into me. It was one of the scariest moments of my entire life (and for the driver of the SUV, too, I'm sure). You could feel everyone waiting at the intersection just thinking, "Holy shit, did you see that? That guy almost got creamed!" The SUV pulled over and the guy driving it asked if I was okay. I told him everything was fine and walked away, though about ten minutes later it caught up with me how close I came.

By the time I got to work, I was fairly soaking wet and a little shaken. The girl I was working with offered to give me a lift home if I'd help her move her art project to this gallery. I said yes, and asked if she would mind if we stopped at WalMart, not just for LOST ATTEMPT NO #2 but also because I needed to buy cat food. We didn't wind up moving her project because of the rain, but we still went to WalMart. Well, not only did WalMart not have the brand of cat food I needed, they still didn't have any copies of LOST. There was a placeholder where the third season should be (and an annoying tag celebrating the price markdown), but no actual copies. Either they sold all the copies earlier today or they were never put out in the first place. The LAND OF THE LOST guy was working again, so he wasn't much help.

Although I didn't get LOST, I did come home to a slip of paper under my door reminding me that I owe my landlord $830 in rent. (I can swing $35 for LOST; $830 is a wee bit trickier). It was kind of upsetting to get this reminder at this particular moment. So, in conclusion, the Universe does not want me to have LOST, but it did possibly prevent me from dying earlier. Despite these other aggravations, I'm happy not to be a bloody smear on the road.

In other news, I just read that the DVD splits "Through The Looking Glass" into two parts, and that the DVD booklet gives away that the episode is a flashforward in the episode synopsis. Someone at Buena Vista Home Video has a punch in the face coming.

NEW THOUGHTS

2007-12-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Alrighty, I was getting this post ready to go, when DarkUFO and Kristin from E! went and revealed some stuff which further backed up my theory. So I figured I needed to post this now before the idea isn't interesting anymore.

So, after rewatching "Through The Looking Glass," and taking into account some of the things we've heard about season four, I think a picture is beginning to form with the flashforwards, and for the series as a whole. This is what I think happened/happens: Desmond turned the failsafe key, which de-staticized the electromagnetic anomaly but caused a violent fluctuation in the space-time continuum. Because he was at ground zero, Desmond shifted out of a fixed point in space-time and wound up briefly reliving a part of his life. I think this has happened to Desmond before and will happen to him again, as "Catch 22" hinted to a similar incident. When Desmond time traveled in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," he made small changes that in turn created a butterfly effect, ultimately resulting in Oceanic 815 crashing in the ocean near Bali, not on the island (and possibly making other big changes that we have yet to see). But the space-time rift allowed the plane crash survivors from the previous timeline to be brought into this splintered timeline where they are all dead.

So, turning the key seriously messed with the space-time continuum, and it also made the island more accessible to the outside world. This is where the new characters enter the picture. They are a group of scientists, very possibly studying time anomalies and the possibility of time travel. They know what the island is, and it's vital for their research. If it's true that they are aware of Desmond's time travel, and that people such as Ms. Hawking are part of this group, then this could imply they were once on the island. I suspect they manipulated Desmond into the chain of events that takes him to the island, to ensure that he turns the failsafe key and makes the island visible. Every time Des revisits the past, he runs the risk of veering off-course, so these people show up and quietly nudge him back onto the path of the island. Desmond is their key to finding the island.

Jacob, on the other hand, represents the island or a force on the island who wants it to remain invisible to the outside world. Jacob, and those who follow him, are potecting the island from these other people. In fact, I am willing to guess that some of the "assignments" the Others are given in the outside world (this was implied in the finale, as Mikhail thought Bonnie and Greta were "on assignment in Canada") are actually missions to spy on and sabotage this group of people who are looking for the island. The Others are dedicated to making sure these people never find the island, as it will kickstart a potentially apocalyptic chain of events. Jacob tried to ensure that the island remained invisible by sending Locke (and, later, Eko) to push the button. Unfortunately, Desmond was put in the position where he had no choice but to turn the key, thus setting in motion the precise events Jacob and the Others were trying to avoid.

The new people have been staked out in the ocean on a freighter, waiting for when the key is turned. Ben knew they were there, and this is the direction he sent Michael and Walt for rescue. Michael wasn't allowed to return to the outside world under his own name, as he was one of the confirmed dead of Oceanic 815. He therefore had to return to society under an assumed identity.

Now that the island is accessible, the freighter characters are approaching. They are arriving under the cover story of rescue, but they are not actually coming for the 815 survivors. They are coming to continue whatever research they need to conduct on the island. They also possibly have the intention of getting rid of the Others. They won't be able to return the crash survivors to the outside world, as all of these people are believed to be dead. However, after much drama, they will eventually choose to let some of the characters go home, a small handful of people who could have feasibly survived the crash of Ocean flight 815 in the ocean. However, they have to return to society under a false pretense; they are never allowed to talk about the island, or what happened there. They will be put in a position where they are told they must forget about their friends and all the people they left behind. The official story will involve these few characters surviving the crash, and then Jack Shephard somehow keeping everybody alive and leading them to rescue. When they return to the real world, they will be celebrated as heroes, Jack most of all. This is why Jack is completely destroyed in his flashforward. Everyone thinks of him as a hero, but it's for something that never happened. What he really did was wind up giving the island to people who never should have come there, and then abandoning his fellow crash survivors. If any of them does try to talk about this magical island, no one will believe their story. Oceanic Air will give the survivors lifetime passes, which only compounds the lie. The small handful of characters who get to leave will be monitored by the new people, making sure no one is going to reveal the true story.

We know that Jack and Kate left the island, and I predict Kate got to leave because she was pregnant. I think this makes it quite possible that Sun might get to leave for the same reason. Desmond said his visions showed him Claire and the baby getting on a helicopter; however, I don't think they return to the outside world, at least not under their own names. I suspect this new group of people are the ones who have been after Aaron since before he was born. They seem to know why he's important. Anyway, I think the flashforwards will depict our characters as they try to re-unite and return to the island.

So, there you go. Oh, and mobisode #6 is awesome!

"LOST" THEATRICAL TRAILER

2007-12-10T11:42:00.001-08:00

Dammit, I just realized something about the LOST theatrical trailer. Not only does it go by real fast and not tell us much, it's actually a major spoiler for people who are waiting to see the third season on DVD. I have a handful of friends who are itching to see season three, and I think watching a trailer that completely fucking announces "RESCUE'S COMING . . . OR IS IT?" is a fairly significant revelation to get in a venue outside of the series itself. I know almost all of my friends are gonna see this trailer at some point, and I really don't want them to know that there are potentially new bad guys approaching the island, or that rescue is now a possibility. That really takes some of the fun out of seeing season three for the first time.

(Sorry about the bad language. But it's my LOST blog and I'll curse if I need to! :)

HOLEE KEERAP!

2007-12-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

No sooner did I just post that stuff, than a brand new thought hit me like a sledgehammer. So, we're all wondering who Rousseau really is, right? She's probably telling the truth on some level, but she clearly knows more than she's letting on. It's already been said that Rousseau has certain connections to the island that will be revealed. What will those be? This is when it hit me: What if Rousseau is actually connected to the new people? If these new characters are folks who've been seeking to manipulate time, what if Rousseau and her team are a part of that experiment? I mention this because I recall a question that former LOST writer Dave Fury answered last summer. He was asked if Jack and Kate could be the skeletons in the cave, and he responded that the writing staff tried to dodge raising this issue in the series itself by removing a particular reference. What was the reference? In the original script for "Solitary," Sayid actually asked Rousseau what her team was studying. Her response? "Time." This was dropped for being too revealing. So now I'm thinking that Rousseau's former friends, or at least people who are somewhat connected to her research, could be the people headed to the island.

THE "OTHER" OTHERS

2007-12-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

So, who do you think the new people are going to be? Are they more Others? DHARMA? Widmore? I'm guessing they are a completely new group of people, unconnected to either the Others or DHARMA/Widmore. This new group is who the Others fear so much. I also suspect these people might have knowledge and abilities that will seem at times otherworldly, though it's because they possess an advanced type of science. I suspect almost all of the new characters (Daniel, Charlotte, Arthur, Russell and Minkowski, if those are their real names) are part of this group, as was Naomi, Libby, Ms. Hawking and potentially Richard Malkin and Brother Campbell. What do you guys think?

IT'S SPOILERS, B****!

2007-12-06T17:49:00.002-08:00

That's right, time for some slight spoilage. I haven't posted any in a while, so I thought this could be fun. Worry not, I shall walk a sensitive line here. I won't be divulging any ruiners, and anything that gets a little too weighty will be posted in good ol' highlightable black. (Most of these are just rewordings from updates over at DarkUFO, with some speculation added of me own. Shout out to Dark. Word). Obviously, if you don't wanna know a damn thing whatsoever about the new season, skip this post.

Still there? Okay, let's see what we've got. First, it looks as if some of the first photos of the Orchid station have been leaked. Is this too cool for school or what? People are debating over the bizarre-looking DHARMA logo, which has been dubbed both the Wave and the Claw by some fans, but it really is looking as if this is the Orchid. I think it would make sense, given the new orientation film seen over the summer. Not only have we gotten some good Orchid snapshots (of the station's exterior, anyway), but some other bizarre evidence was photographed as well. (The rest will be in black, as I'm not sure if this is a major spoiler or not). Set photos have revealed the presence of what appears to be massive dinosaur bones near the Orchid station. Can I get a big "WTF?!" from everybody! Maybe my jokes about a Jurassic Park-esque paleontology station weren't so off-base after all. Of course, some have speculated these are the remains of the JP set, but that movie was shot almost 16 years ago. Would props still be in very good shape? Anyway, it's something to ponder.

So, as we all know, Michael is returning to the story in some fashion this season, as is Libby. Apparently, both Harold Perrineau and Cynthia Watros only recently filmed their returns before the strike shut down production. One just-released photo of Michael shows him on a city street (probably NY, no clue if it's a flashback, flashforward or present tense scene), and another shows him (highlight to read) standing on a freighter, throwing something in the water. Was he nabbed by our new island guests? Not only this, but reports have stated that Harold Perrineau recently filmed a fight scene in an alley. Now, would you like to know who he's fighting? (Highlight, blah blah, you know the drill) . . . Seems that a certain bearded Other who was last seen being blown away by Sawyer is somehow attacking Michael in NYC. If it's a flashback, this raises mucho questions about whether Tom and Michael encountered each other pre-island. And if it's a flashforward, well, I would take this as hard evidence that the world of LOST has gone seriously loopy.

Confirmed flashforwards and flashbacks include a Hurley flashforward, a Juliet flashback, a Sayid flashforward, a Kate flashforward, a Ben flashback and a Sun/Jin flashforward (which was mistakenly reported last season as the subject of "The Glass Ballerina". Isn't that weird?). In Juliet's flashback, expect to see Ethan, Goodwin and Tom again. (That's barely a spoiler, in my opinion). Now, this is the one and only major spoiler that I will record here, and it is indeed a pretty big one. So don't highlight this if you don't want to know: Evidence strongly, strongly suggests that a main character will be killed during their flashforward within the first eight episodes. Supposedly it will be quite upsetting.

What else? Oh, one final thing is that the theatrical trailer for LOST has been released. Let's just say the glimpsed images include footage of a deceased character who fans would very much like to see again: CHARLIE! :)

BLARGH

2007-12-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

Man, I'll tell you, looking at the whole situation with LOST at the moment is really kind of funny. It's like a large scale test to gauge people's devotion to the show. First, there is a nine-month hiatus. The nine-month hiatus comes after a season where there was a four-month break between seasons, then a six-episode miniseason which acted as more of a tease for the remainder of the season, then a three-month break, then sixteen straight mindwarping episodes which ended with the series casting off its shackles and proudly announcing a whole new ballgame. Not bad, all things considered. But no one was excited about waiting nine months, either. During LOST's hiatus, there will be children both conceived and birthed. That's pretty crazy, and a bit daunting when you think about it. However, the hiatus is almost over, so we should be happy, right?

Nope. Not happy at all. The WGA strike has not only shut down production of LOST but virtually all of television. While a definitive plan for season four was outlined and in the process of being executed, the longer the strike lasts, the more those plans begin to crash and burn. It is looking increasingly as if the fourth season of LOST is a wash. Yes, eight episodes have been shot, and unfortunately ABC has every intention of airing them in the winter. But since they are eight episodes not designed to be isolated from the other eight, the viewing experience will be tarnished somewhat. Not only this, but although Carlton Cuse originally returned to LOST to supervise the post-production (no writing, just producing duties), the disastrous failure of the WGA negotiations has caused Cuse to walk off the show completely until the strike is resolved. He is a WGA negotiator and his return to LOST sparked controversy within the Guild, so he had to bail at first sign of trouble. This means that if ABC wants to air those episodes, they'll need to finish the episodes themselves. This could potentially mean eight episodes of LOST that haven't been supervised by Damon and Carlton all the way through to the end, and which therefore don't reflect their decisions as producers.

This is not good. I don't want to see LOST as cobbled together by ABC yes men. I seriously don't want ABC to air those episodes now. Even when you don't like an episode an LOST, you can respect that someone with a vision put this together. But if you're seeing episodes where the main idea people didn't even call the shots for the final versions, well, that's really gonna make the show suspect. Plus, if those episodes are completed by somebody else and aired, that's it. That's what we're all stuck with (including the producers). Maybe LOST has the clout to do a producers' cut of the episodes for DVD, but maybe not. I'd hate to see the first half of season four tarred with the stigma of not reflecting Damon and Carlton's vision. No showrunner = no show, as far as I'm concerned.

I think it's time to temporarily give up hope on LOST. I don't mean stop watching or liking the show, I mean to give up for the time being. I think it's time to say that if we can't see LOST the way it's meant to be seen, then we don't want it. This isn't NIGHT COURT, for God's sake. LOST is designed with a particular type of experience in mind, especially this season. I think it would be a disservice to our favorite show to accept a truncated and subpar viewing experience just to temporarily sate our need for more LOST episodes. It'd be like eating a half-cooked Thanksgiving dinner because you were hungry and just couldn't wait anymore. It might be okay, but nowhere near as good as it would have been. I mean, are those eight episodes even gonna give us much? They'll set the story in motion, answer a few questions, blow our minds a couple times, and then . . . abruptly stop for an indefinite amount of time right when things start to gain momentum. I just can't get pumped about being left in the lurch yet again.

I don't want LOST back until it's ready to be back, and I'm sorry to say, it is not ready to be back.

THE MIST

2007-11-29T14:35:00.000-08:00

Look at this! Two posts in one day. Have I gone mad?

Anyway, I just wanted to recommend the movie THE MIST. It is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the best horror movies to be released in recent years, as well as one of the best Stephen King adaptations filmed. I just loved this movie. I know many people will probably not care for it so much, but it really blew me away. Everything about it just captivated me. And by the time the movie was over, I was wondering how any studio gave a thumbs up to something like this. It is one dark film. It looks like it's tanking at the box office, but I hope it will find life on DVD. And for LOST fans, there are many similarities between both stories, so I recommend at least checking it out.