Don't worry, Lostophiles, my recap of Lost Episode 310, "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," is only a little delayed. It will be up by Friday. In the meantime, check out this tease for next episode, "Enter 77," which will be focused on Sayid. This mythology-palooza promises to be a doozy, complete with a new Dharma installation (the Flame), a face-to-face with Patchy, more Rousseau, another Dharma film (starring our old friend, Dr. Marvin Candle), a find that will give a good sense of the geography of the island, and, according to the powers that be, the connection between Dharma and the Others will be revealed.
The recap of 310 will be up by Friday! I promise!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Great New Desmond Time Travel Theory
A poster named "annafromfrance" on the privately-run Lost message board, www.lostusers.com pointed out this little nugget: In "Flashes Before Your Eyes," we got a glimpse of a small table in Desmond's London flat on which were featured two small stones (and nothing else). Way back in season 1, in the cave, the castaways found two skeletons, who they named "Adam and Eve," who were holding a black stone and a white stone. Now that time travel and Desmond and Penny's desire to be together have become pieces to the puzzle, could it be that Adam and Eve are Desmond and Penelope?
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Ep 309 - Kite Won't Fly for "Stranger in a Strange Land"
After two great episodes, Lost hit a speed bump in “Stranger in a Strange Land.” The ABC promo-writers (who already did everything they could to spoil what should have been the episode’s biggest moment) promised us the answers to three of Lost’s biggest mysteries. I only counted one and a half answers, and no big mysteries were solved. In short, the episode fell a bit flat (I’m liking Jack flashbacks less and less) and only served to catch Jack, Kate and Sawyer up on things we already kind of knew. So here’s what happened…
FLASHBACK
In Jack’s flashback, a local boy in Phuket, Thailand sold “Dr. Jack” some sodas while chattering in the native tongue, which Dr. Jack doesn’t understand. Jack struggled to assemble a kite (sigh, his daddy never flew kites with him), until he was assisted by an exotic local named Achara (B-movie action star Bai Ling). Later, at an outdoor restaurant, the waiter (Achara’s brother), told Jack he was very brave to eat Thai food. (Maybe it’s just living in L.A., but isn’t Thai food pretty ubiquitous these days?) Achara asked if he was in Phuket to find himself, when a stranger gave her an envelope because, she explained, “I have a gift.” Jack retorted in his typical “I scoff at curtness but never demand explanations” manner, “must be one hell of a gift.” After a month of cavorting by the beach, Jack followed Achara into an alley, through a beaded curtain, and into what appeared to be a tattoo parlor. Achara protested, “I am not a tattoo artist. I am able to see who people are. It’s not creation, it is definition.” Naturally, Jack wanted to know who he was. Achara first told him it’s not allowed because he’s an outsider, then “revealed” to Jack that he is a leader, a great man, but that makes him "lonely and frightened and angry.” When Jack demanded that she then “put it on him,” Achara warned in her pervasive faux-ominous manner that there would be consequences. He snapped back, “there always are.” Later, on the beach, the kid who sold him the soda before ran away in fear. Locals showed up, saw the Asian characters tattooed on Jack’s shoulder (which was still devoid of the more obvious pyramid and “5” he now sports), and opened up a can of Thai whoop-ass. They ordered him to leave the country, while Achara looked on in the background. She was crying but seemed to have led the men to Jack, since, you know, there are consequences....
REAL TIME PART 1 – JACK
Back in real time, in one of the better scenes of the episode, Jack assumes Tom’s claim that Jack is being “moved” means they’ll kill him, what with all the kidnapping and torturing the Others have done before…Tom retorts about Jack being in a glass house and in need of stones. The Others cuff Jack and march him past Juliet, also in cuffs, who is led to Jack’s former cell. He (and we) meet a new character amongst the Others, a somewhat older woman who Tom later calls “the sheriff” (but not literally, Jack) and who we then learn is named Isabel. Jack is moved to Sawyer’s polar bear cage. Tom brings a cold sandwich and tells Jack that Juliet is in trouble.
Later, as Jack plays with the fish biscuit device but stops short of a shock, Juliet brings Jack a picture of Ben’s infected stitches. She asks, as a personal favor, for him to help, and tells him she is in trouble for killing someone. He asks who, but she responds only that “it’s complicated.” (Really? She needed to help save Sawyer and Kate, and Pickett was about to kill Sawyer. I just explained it in one sentence, but Juliet felt compelled to be…mysterious). But Jack refuses to help either Ben or Juliet, and she’s led away. Later, Isabel reads Jack’s tattoo, in the original Chinese. He insists he knows what it says. She asks Jack to come with her to an office where Juliet is cuffed to a chair. Isabel confirms that not only do they not live on Hyrda island, but the Others don’t even like to go there. She asks Jack some questions about Juliet’s story. Jack denies Juliet asked him to kill Ben, saying he meant to turn them against each other to create chaos. Isabel asks why he’s now lying for Juliet, and Jack asks to go back to his cage.
Later, Jack awakens to a gathering outside his cage. People are muttering, and up comes…Cindy??? Jack recognizes her (which kind of annoyed me since, although she was the flight attendant on a plane he took two and half months ago, there has never been any sense that he interacted with her at all). Jack asks the straight question – what is Cindy doing with the Others after they took her? She says it’s not that simple, and they’re here to watch. The abducted girl (a runner-up to the recent Grey’s Anatomy guest star for “worst performance by a little blonde girl with a pony tail) asks how Ana Lucia is doing (an odd question, since they were abducted before the tailies rendezvoused with the beach crew). Rather than press Cindy for more meaningful answers, Jack angrily sends them away. As an aside (and one of my several complaints about this episode), this scene should have been the big wow! moment of the week. I mean, here were the tail section abductees, healthy, happy, and dressed like they just received their J-Crew Spring Catalog order. But since this scene has been available online and in TV promos for weeks, there was no shock in seeing these long-missing characters, and since they told us nothing about where they’ve been, it fell a little flat.
FLASHBACK
In Jack’s flashback, a local boy in Phuket, Thailand sold “Dr. Jack” some sodas while chattering in the native tongue, which Dr. Jack doesn’t understand. Jack struggled to assemble a kite (sigh, his daddy never flew kites with him), until he was assisted by an exotic local named Achara (B-movie action star Bai Ling). Later, at an outdoor restaurant, the waiter (Achara’s brother), told Jack he was very brave to eat Thai food. (Maybe it’s just living in L.A., but isn’t Thai food pretty ubiquitous these days?) Achara asked if he was in Phuket to find himself, when a stranger gave her an envelope because, she explained, “I have a gift.” Jack retorted in his typical “I scoff at curtness but never demand explanations” manner, “must be one hell of a gift.” After a month of cavorting by the beach, Jack followed Achara into an alley, through a beaded curtain, and into what appeared to be a tattoo parlor. Achara protested, “I am not a tattoo artist. I am able to see who people are. It’s not creation, it is definition.” Naturally, Jack wanted to know who he was. Achara first told him it’s not allowed because he’s an outsider, then “revealed” to Jack that he is a leader, a great man, but that makes him "lonely and frightened and angry.” When Jack demanded that she then “put it on him,” Achara warned in her pervasive faux-ominous manner that there would be consequences. He snapped back, “there always are.” Later, on the beach, the kid who sold him the soda before ran away in fear. Locals showed up, saw the Asian characters tattooed on Jack’s shoulder (which was still devoid of the more obvious pyramid and “5” he now sports), and opened up a can of Thai whoop-ass. They ordered him to leave the country, while Achara looked on in the background. She was crying but seemed to have led the men to Jack, since, you know, there are consequences....
REAL TIME PART 1 – JACK
Back in real time, in one of the better scenes of the episode, Jack assumes Tom’s claim that Jack is being “moved” means they’ll kill him, what with all the kidnapping and torturing the Others have done before…Tom retorts about Jack being in a glass house and in need of stones. The Others cuff Jack and march him past Juliet, also in cuffs, who is led to Jack’s former cell. He (and we) meet a new character amongst the Others, a somewhat older woman who Tom later calls “the sheriff” (but not literally, Jack) and who we then learn is named Isabel. Jack is moved to Sawyer’s polar bear cage. Tom brings a cold sandwich and tells Jack that Juliet is in trouble.
Later, as Jack plays with the fish biscuit device but stops short of a shock, Juliet brings Jack a picture of Ben’s infected stitches. She asks, as a personal favor, for him to help, and tells him she is in trouble for killing someone. He asks who, but she responds only that “it’s complicated.” (Really? She needed to help save Sawyer and Kate, and Pickett was about to kill Sawyer. I just explained it in one sentence, but Juliet felt compelled to be…mysterious). But Jack refuses to help either Ben or Juliet, and she’s led away. Later, Isabel reads Jack’s tattoo, in the original Chinese. He insists he knows what it says. She asks Jack to come with her to an office where Juliet is cuffed to a chair. Isabel confirms that not only do they not live on Hyrda island, but the Others don’t even like to go there. She asks Jack some questions about Juliet’s story. Jack denies Juliet asked him to kill Ben, saying he meant to turn them against each other to create chaos. Isabel asks why he’s now lying for Juliet, and Jack asks to go back to his cage.
Later, Jack awakens to a gathering outside his cage. People are muttering, and up comes…Cindy??? Jack recognizes her (which kind of annoyed me since, although she was the flight attendant on a plane he took two and half months ago, there has never been any sense that he interacted with her at all). Jack asks the straight question – what is Cindy doing with the Others after they took her? She says it’s not that simple, and they’re here to watch. The abducted girl (a runner-up to the recent Grey’s Anatomy guest star for “worst performance by a little blonde girl with a pony tail) asks how Ana Lucia is doing (an odd question, since they were abducted before the tailies rendezvoused with the beach crew). Rather than press Cindy for more meaningful answers, Jack angrily sends them away. As an aside (and one of my several complaints about this episode), this scene should have been the big wow! moment of the week. I mean, here were the tail section abductees, healthy, happy, and dressed like they just received their J-Crew Spring Catalog order. But since this scene has been available online and in TV promos for weeks, there was no shock in seeing these long-missing characters, and since they told us nothing about where they’ve been, it fell a little flat.
Tirade over…Alex breaks the camera by Jack’s cell. She asks why Jack saved Ben, and tells Jack Juliet is going to have her verdict read. The Others are pretty strict about killing one of their own. Alex tells Jack, “If it wasn’t for you, she never would have done it.” Jack tells Alex, “I saved your father because I said I would.” Alex confirms that Isabel will do what Ben says, so Jack tells Alex to get him out of the cage. Back in the O.R., Jack stops the Others from injecting Ben. Thankfully, Ben is awake – Hydra island scenes are always better when Ben is in them. Jack scoffs that he’d be more impressed with the Others if they had a surgeon. “We had an excellent surgeon, Jack,” says Ben. “His name was Ethan.” (Prepare for next tirade…) Jack says he has to re-incise and Ben needs a doctor to stay with him, which he will do if Ben stops Juliet’s execution. Ben assures Jack she doesn’t care about him and she’s one of them, but writes the order for Alex to deliver...
So let me get this straight… Ben learns he has a tumor. He shares a suburban subdivision with an excellent surgeon (Ethan). Yet when a plane breaks up overhead, and he as yet has no idea who’s on board, who does Ben order to infiltrate the survivor’s camp? Ethan! Now, I love Lost’s puzzles as much as the next guy, but this strikes me as much more of a logical blunder. Ben could have sent Tom, Pickett, Isabel, Ms. Klugh, or any of the countless other Others, but instead he sent his only surgeon off into an unknown situation. Sorry, folks, but this just seems dumb to me. Tirade number 2, over…
Alex takes Jack to Juliet’s sentencing hearing in what looks like an elementary school auditorium. She hands Isabel the note, and Juliet’s sentence is commuted. Ben has, however, ordered that Juliet is to be “marked,” which seems to really freak out Tom.
Later, Juliet brings Jack his grilled cheese in the cage. He asks her to let him see the marking. She turns around, and on her back is an asterisk shaped brand with a long upper prong. Ew.com
refers to this as a scorpion shape, and, as you can see from this picture, thetailsection.com likens it to an upside-down Scientological cross. Jack tells her to break off an aloe branch, and he spreads the oil on her new mark. Jack tells Juliet he helped her because, since both were told they were going home, Jack wants to make sure Ben keeps his word to both of them. Juliet tells Jack that, since Kate and Sawyer know where Jack is being kept, the whole gang (with Jack in tow) will be leaving Hyrda for what Ben calls “home.” Finally, Isabel reveals what Jack’s tattoo means: “He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us.” How apropos! He wasn’t Thai when he was in Thailand, and he’s about to be a non-Other in Othersville! Jack replies, “that’s what they say – that’s not what they mean.” Jack appears to prefer the apparently fake explanation Achara gave him (about being a lonely leader). Jack, Ben and another Other row off to where some large boats await in the background. Juliet and Jack later ride off on a boat like the one Tom’s crew used to ambush the raft and take Walt.REAL TIME PART 2 – KATE AND SAWYER
Still in Alex’s boat, Kate tells Sawyer to stop paddling, turn around to save Jack. Karl, still in la-la land, repeats some of what he saw in the aversion therapy video, “God loves you as he loved Jacob.” Sawyer snarls at Kate, “Sorry kiddo, Jack’s alone.” Sawyer decides to take the boat straight to shore instead of paddling around to their camp, since it's hard to steer in the dark.
On land, Karl tells them they shouldn’t fight because they’re lucky to be alive. He also reveals (to them, anyway), that Hydra is just where they work on “projects” but the Others actually live on the main island. As for the abductees, “We give them a better life than yours.” They even have back yards! Sawyer’s reaction is, “well ain’t that quaint.” In the morning, Karl is gone. They find him crying. Sawyer punches him so he’ll “cowboy up.” Sawyer calls him Bobby of the Brady Bunch, which Karl has never heard of (oh, the humanity!) Sawyer tells Karl to go back to where the backyards are and get Alex back…even if the Others will kill him. Sawyer later tells Kate he sent Karl away because Karl is a target. He tells Kate she feels guilty that she was with him just because she thought he would die (self-loathe, much, James?) Kate and Sawyer make their way through the jungle, Karl looks up at the stars, as Alex does the same (a scene ripped off from “An American Tail”) and Jack, Juliet and the Others steam back to Othersville.
So what were the big reveals? Jack’s tattoo means he’s an outsider? Gotta tell you, I obsess about this show more than most people, and I never lost any sleep over Jack’s tattoo. What else, that Cindy and the kids are alive and well? Saw it on the promo. And that the Others don’t live at the Hyrda station? We already knew it. After the smorgasbord that was “Not in Portland” and the brilliant puzzle that was “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” I felt let down by “Stranger in a Strange Land.” Jack has got to stop thwarting our thirst for answers with his angry tirades (some more face time with Cindy would have been nice). Sawyer’s sabotaging his new relationship with Kate when they finally have a moment to relax was also pretty lame. And after last week left us with “no matter what I do, you’re gonna die, Charlie,” I wanted to see more of the beach camp folks. Oh, well. I guess they can’t all be gems.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The Doctor has Theorized, Responses to Comments, and Teases
Greetings, Lostophiles. A bunch of stuff to combine into one post here before tonight's Jack-centered episode, "Stranger in a Strange Land."
First, the 10-word tease provided by Damon Lindeloff to Ew.com's Jeff Jensen for tonight's episode: ''Can a six-thousand-mile journey help Jack find himself?''
Warning - Don't Watch Too Closely
In other words, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. In this week's podcast, the Powers that Be answered a viewer's question which pointed out that, in last week's episode, the military poster Desmond stopped to look at en route to his breakup with Penny used the American spelling "Honor" instead of the British spelling "Honour." The viewer asked if this was a clue that Desmond's flashback did not really send him to England, but rather a British facsimile in the U.S. The response - nope, it was just a prop mistake! So, yeah, Lost has lots of hidden clues, but sometimes, a mistake is just a mistake.
Response to User Comments
My recap of last week's episode garnered two comments, that point out a key component to Lost's cult appeal. You get out of it what you bring to it. Not surprisingly, regular reader (and my cousin) Mike Turner, who was a phsyics major and soon will be a Lost Loving intellectual property Lawyer, was a huge fan of "Flashes Before Your Eyes." His background from college made that episode really work for him (similarly, years of comic book reading in my ahem youth made it resonate for me). On the other hand, a poster identified as "Bill" (Dad?) is clearly the more casual viewer who by now wants answers, not puzzles. To Bill I say only this: have patience. I can't guarantee the ultimate answers will be as great as the puzzles themselves, but since Lost promises to have a relatively finite future, you won't have to wait too long.
Doc Jensen's Flying Theory Circus
Finally, I beg and implore you to take a moment to read this week's column by "Doc" Jeff Jensen on ew.com. He spins four theories to explain Desmond's time travel-ly experience, each of which makes you scratch your head and go "hmm." One of these theories ties Desmond into the story of "Dr. Manhattan," a character from the 1985 comic book series, "Watchmen" (pictured here). Jensen has been a fan of the over-arching theory that Lost will ultimately be the story of Desmond since last season's finale, and his fourth theory this week begins to crystalize this idea in light of what we've just seen. Jensen also got the same clarification from Lindelof that the latter gave us in this week's podcast. To wit: " a clarification or two from the co-writer of the episode, executive producer Damon Lindelof:
1. The episode is essentially an ironic riff on some Big Ideas put forth by Desmond's namesake, the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Those big ideas include a skeptical posture regarding the notions of interlocking cause-and-effect and seemingly miraculous phenomenon.
2. According to Lindelof, the events that transpired in Desmond's flashback 'did NOT happen solely in Desmond's imagination.'
3. If Desmond truly did travel back in time, says Lindelof, then 'ANY changes he made during this series of 'flashbacks' indeed DID happen... and thusly, the ramifications of said changes might reverberate later.'
4. It would be a faulty leap in logic to assume that because Desmond's flashbacks were a form of time travel, then ALL flashbacks on Lost have been a form of time travel. 'I don't really see anything in the show to support that,' says Lindelof.
5. Otherwise, the episode is open to interpretation."
So with that caveat, please do click on the title of this post to be whisked away to Jensen's column. And yes, I do plan to spend some time on the anagram he asks about at the bottom of his piece...
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Grass Roots Movement - Early Reveals
Folks, I'm starting a grass roots movement, and I'd love to have you all jump in. What I want to accomplish is this - let's get the producers to "end" the series in two stages: 1) the reveal of the mysterious backstory of what the f___ is going on on Lost island, and 2) the castaways, armed with this knowledge (we would learn the truth when they do) can then spend the "last" season or so dealing with the knowledge and using it to get home. This would avoid the pitfall that Lost's predecessor, "Alias" suffered in which, for 5 years, we wondered what the Rambaldi mythology would turn out to be about, only to have both the answer and the heroes' dealing with that answer all wrapped up in one finale episode. It's a waste of two perfectly good climaxes (and an uncessary delay in revealing the mysteries). Maybe you agree. Maybe you don't. If you do, here's what you can do:
1. Go to Lost.Abc.Com
2. Click on "Message Boards" on the top of the screen.
3. Go into the "questions to the producers" board.
4. Propose the two-stage ending in a post (and if you can add a mention of this blog, including the address, so much the better).
The Powers that Be have listened to fans in the past, and would likely at least consider this idea this time. The payoff? We get answers earlier than we would have.
Just a thought.
1. Go to Lost.Abc.Com
2. Click on "Message Boards" on the top of the screen.
3. Go into the "questions to the producers" board.
4. Propose the two-stage ending in a post (and if you can add a mention of this blog, including the address, so much the better).
The Powers that Be have listened to fans in the past, and would likely at least consider this idea this time. The payoff? We get answers earlier than we would have.
Just a thought.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Episode 308 - Philosophy Class "Flashes Before Your Eyes."
The chicken or the egg? Free will or determinism? Slaughterhouse Five or "Peggy Sue Got Married?" These questions are all suggested by last night’s head-scratcher, “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” which showed us what former Shakespearian actor Desmond David Hume has been experiencing since the moment he turned the fail-safe key in the hatch.
Now, most weeks I give you a recap of the flashback in the past tense, followed by the “real time” action in the present tense. That model simply doesn’t apply this week, where time as a relative concept was anything but absolute.
The episode opens with Hurley questioning Charlie about his rifling through Sawyer’s stash (and astonishing amounts of pornography), when Desmond appears and takes them to where Locke and Sayid just buried Eko. Desmond seems tuned to another channel as Locke asks Charlie and Hurley to help calm the camp in the wake of Eko’s death. Locke explains to the shocked pair that “the island killed Eko,” and elaborates on this only by saying, “you know what I mean.” To be sure, Charlie has seen Smokey, but since the lostaways are not big on sharing, I wonder how Locke knew this? Suddenly, Desmond takes off, chucks his shirt and swims out to find…Claire, floating lifelessly in the ocean. Charlie, realizing she’s out there, tries to help. Desmond revives Claire, and refuses to let Charlie help. Charlie asks how Desmond knew she was drowning, and Hurley puts the pieces together from this episode and Desmond’s prediction of Locke’s speech – “that guy? Sees the future, dude.”
Sometime later, looking at his treasured picture of himself with Penney in front of a marina, Desmond is approached by Claire, and tells her Penney’s name. Claire and thanks him for saving her, with a very leery Charlie looking on while holding Aaron. Charlie and Hurley decide to figure out what’s up with Desmond, and figure to get him drunk with a bottle from Locke’s stash. Desmond, however, turns down the booze as he’s spent too much time drunk lately… until he sees the whiskey label says “MacCutcheon” and starts to laugh, and takes a drink from the bottle.
Evening hits and, after some drinking songs, Charlie asks, “how’d you know?” Desmond says he could hear Claire calling, but Hurley points out he was a mile away. Charlie asks pointedly – “did you hear the lightning, as well?” Charlie calls Desmond a coward, which sets Desmond off – “you don’t want to know what happened when I turned that key! You don’t want to know!”
Flashback to the unstable hatch scene from last season’s finale…Desmond turns the key, sees all kinds of flashing images, then wakes up in a pool of red paint on a floor, with Penney tending to him. Desmond just fell off some stacked-up ladders and suffered a minor concussion, back on the day that Penney moved in with him. Familiar but slightly off images are all around him – he is wearing a jumpsuit identical to the one he wore for three years (minus the Swan Hatch logo). The bedstand clock displays “1:08.” He’s back in “our flat,” and can’t be happier than to be with Penney. But something’s different – Desmond seems conscious of the fact that he’s in his flashback. Later, as he’s dressing for his interview to get a job from Penelope's father to earn Mr. Widmore’s respect, Penney says it’s not “the end of the world” if he doesn’t get the job. He starts to hear beeping, just like the sound of the hatch timer – but it’s just tea heating in the microwave. Des experiences this as déjà vu, and blinks back to his current reality.
At the Widmore Enterprises reception desk, Desmond hears a delivery “for 815,” (get it? 4, 8, 15…) and Desmond starts to have visions of entering numbers in the hatch. In Charles Widmore’s office are paintings similar to the mural in the hatch, including one featuring a Buddha, a polar bear, and the backwards word, "Namaste." He admires a model boat, and Charles says he’s sponsoring a race around the world – Des flashes to Elizabeth and the death of Kelvin. Des confesses he wants, not a job, but Penney’s hand in marriage. Widmore appears to offer a drink of 60-year-old MacCutcheon. He tells Des the swallow he is about to take is worth more than Des could earn in a month…and to share it with him would be a waste, because Des will never be a great man. “What you’re not, is worthy of drinking my whiskey – how could you ever be worthy of my daughter.” Des tosses the tie in disgust outside, and sees Charlie Hieronymous Pace playing guitar for change on the street. He says he knows him but cannot place how. More flashing to the island…he remembers his “past” on the island…then realizes he remembers this day from before the island, and just as he remembers aloud that it then started to rain, down comes the shower! Notably, this seems to be the first time any of our island dwellers appears conscious of a pre-crash connection...
Desmond runs to see a physicist friend, Donovan, to ask what he knows about time travel. Over a couple of Guinesses, Desmond relays his story, and asks if it’s possible to go back in time and live his life over again. Donovan’s response – this is just Desmond’s response to being berated for not being great. Desmond hears a song on the jukebox and remembers the come-from-behind win in the soccer game on TV – but it doesn’t happen. He remembers somebody coming through the door and attacking the bartender – but it doesn’t happen. Donovan grounds Desmond and tells him to go marry Penney.
Back at the flat, Penney says it’s time to celebrate – the occasion is because she loves him, because he’s a good man. In her experience, they’re pretty hard to come by. Desmond goes ring shopping in an antique shop. He says he’s not a man of means, and the shopkeeper (identified on ABC.com as “Ms. Hawking”) shows him a ring in a teardrop shape. He says he’ll take it, but she says, “no you won’t. This is wrong – you don’t buy the ring, you have second thoughts and walk out the door.” She knows his name…and tells Desmond he will break Penney’s heart, find himself entering a race to win back her heart, he’ll push the button on an island for three years and turn a failsafe key, because if he doesn’t, every one of us is dead. “So give me that sodding ring!” Notably, this is the first time somebody in an off-island flashback (other than Ethan and Alpert last week) indicate any knowledge that there is a crazy Dharma island out there. And does anyone else make anything of the fact that actress that plays Ms. Hawking appeared in the Nicole Kidman film, "The Others?"
Ms. Hawking takes Desmond for chestnuts. She points out a man in red shoes coming from the tube, and calls it a bold fashion choice worth noting. Desmond assumes this is all an effect of his concussion, his subconscious talking him out of marrying Penney. He no longer believes in the island, and says he’ll spend the rest of his life with her. Ms. Hawking says he will not…and a scaffolding collapses on the man with red shoes. She says didn’t stop it because it wouldn’t matter. Had she warned him, he’d be hit by a taxi the next day. “The universe has a way of course correcting” – that man was supposed to die. It was his path, just as it’s Desmond’s path to go to the island. He does not choose to, he’s supposed to. “You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only really great thing you will ever do.” He asks again how much for the ring, and she just walks away, leaving the ring in his hand.
Desmond walks on in the rain, and is taken aback by an army recruiting poster (a future we know is in store for him). He meets Penney by the Thames, and a photographer gets them to take the picture in front of a fake backdrop we’ve all seen so many times. Desmond looks at the print, and instantly recognizes how long he’s cherished the photo. He remembers now that there is no marina, and heeding Ms. Hawking’s words, he knows his next few years are predetermined, so he breaks off his relationship with Penney. She demands that he admit that he’s doing this because he’s a coward. He apologizes that they’re not supposed to be together. He chucks the ring he was going to give her into the river.
Desmond returns to the pub, sees a bottle of MacCuthcheon, but orders a bottle of the cheapest, since he’s made the biggest mistake of his life, and that he’s sure he’s made it before. Turning around, he hears the same song on the jukebox, then the soccer comeback happens…and in walks Jimmy Lennon, who takes a swing at the bartender, but he hits Desmond instead, who tried to intervene (since he knew what was going to happen)…and Desmond awakens nude in the jungle, as we saw him at the beginning of the season. He finds artifacts from the hatch, and the imploded hatch itself. And there, next to a warped record, he finds that picture of him with Penney in front of the marina backdrop. He pleads, to no one in particular, to let him go back one more time, and he promises to do it right, to change it.
Flash back (forward?) to the campfire on beach, and Charlie’s questions. Desmond tells Charlie that no matter what he does – he can’t change it. “When I turned that key, my life flashed before my eyes, and then I was back in the jungle, still on this bloody island, but those flashes, Charlie, those flashes? They didn’t stop.” Desmond reveals the two times he apparently saved Claire (and appeared to emasculate Charlie in the process), he wasn’t saving Claire – he was saving Charlie. In his flashes, Charlie was electrocuted by the lightning bolt, and then Charlie dove in after Claire to save her, but he drowned. Desmond knows, he keeps trying, “but no matter what I try to do, you’re going to die, Charlie.”
Analysis
As I hinted above, there were several pivotal moments here. First of all, for the second straight week we have a very subtle reference to Stephen Hawking, the preeminent physicist of our time, and the notion of time being less than absolute. We also have hope, through Desmond, of the characters' realizing that the connections between their pre-island lives and their present are meaningful, and that some events in the outside world are related to those on this island. There were still more hints of the connections between Widmore and Dharma. And most importantly, there is the favorite conundrum of time-travel/ sci-fi: free will or determinism? As ew.com points out today (referring to the Wikipedia entry on Desmond’s namesake, philosopher David Hume), “it all makes sense. Kinda. Basically, Hume's theory of compatibilism posits that free will and determinism both exist, and that what we do with our lives is essentially the result of these two concepts butting against each other. In other words, things are going all Sophie's World on us: Desmond Hume is living one of David Hume's theories.” I recall (from my own Wikipedia searching this summer) that David Hume was also quite against the notion of causation – i.e., that causal relationships are an illusion of the mind formed of sequential but not necessarily linked perceptions. Tying this to Desmond David Hume, I wonder, sure, Desmond’s failure to push the button was followed by the crash of flight 815, and may even be related to it, but given the determinism expressed by Ms. Hawking, would the plane have found a way to crash on the island, even if Desmond had not been wrestling with Kelvin?
Next week – the promos tell us – the answers to three of Lost’s biggest mysteries will be revealed.
Now, most weeks I give you a recap of the flashback in the past tense, followed by the “real time” action in the present tense. That model simply doesn’t apply this week, where time as a relative concept was anything but absolute.
The episode opens with Hurley questioning Charlie about his rifling through Sawyer’s stash (and astonishing amounts of pornography), when Desmond appears and takes them to where Locke and Sayid just buried Eko. Desmond seems tuned to another channel as Locke asks Charlie and Hurley to help calm the camp in the wake of Eko’s death. Locke explains to the shocked pair that “the island killed Eko,” and elaborates on this only by saying, “you know what I mean.” To be sure, Charlie has seen Smokey, but since the lostaways are not big on sharing, I wonder how Locke knew this? Suddenly, Desmond takes off, chucks his shirt and swims out to find…Claire, floating lifelessly in the ocean. Charlie, realizing she’s out there, tries to help. Desmond revives Claire, and refuses to let Charlie help. Charlie asks how Desmond knew she was drowning, and Hurley puts the pieces together from this episode and Desmond’s prediction of Locke’s speech – “that guy? Sees the future, dude.”
Sometime later, looking at his treasured picture of himself with Penney in front of a marina, Desmond is approached by Claire, and tells her Penney’s name. Claire and thanks him for saving her, with a very leery Charlie looking on while holding Aaron. Charlie and Hurley decide to figure out what’s up with Desmond, and figure to get him drunk with a bottle from Locke’s stash. Desmond, however, turns down the booze as he’s spent too much time drunk lately… until he sees the whiskey label says “MacCutcheon” and starts to laugh, and takes a drink from the bottle.
Evening hits and, after some drinking songs, Charlie asks, “how’d you know?” Desmond says he could hear Claire calling, but Hurley points out he was a mile away. Charlie asks pointedly – “did you hear the lightning, as well?” Charlie calls Desmond a coward, which sets Desmond off – “you don’t want to know what happened when I turned that key! You don’t want to know!”
Flashback to the unstable hatch scene from last season’s finale…Desmond turns the key, sees all kinds of flashing images, then wakes up in a pool of red paint on a floor, with Penney tending to him. Desmond just fell off some stacked-up ladders and suffered a minor concussion, back on the day that Penney moved in with him. Familiar but slightly off images are all around him – he is wearing a jumpsuit identical to the one he wore for three years (minus the Swan Hatch logo). The bedstand clock displays “1:08.” He’s back in “our flat,” and can’t be happier than to be with Penney. But something’s different – Desmond seems conscious of the fact that he’s in his flashback. Later, as he’s dressing for his interview to get a job from Penelope's father to earn Mr. Widmore’s respect, Penney says it’s not “the end of the world” if he doesn’t get the job. He starts to hear beeping, just like the sound of the hatch timer – but it’s just tea heating in the microwave. Des experiences this as déjà vu, and blinks back to his current reality.
At the Widmore Enterprises reception desk, Desmond hears a delivery “for 815,” (get it? 4, 8, 15…) and Desmond starts to have visions of entering numbers in the hatch. In Charles Widmore’s office are paintings similar to the mural in the hatch, including one featuring a Buddha, a polar bear, and the backwards word, "Namaste." He admires a model boat, and Charles says he’s sponsoring a race around the world – Des flashes to Elizabeth and the death of Kelvin. Des confesses he wants, not a job, but Penney’s hand in marriage. Widmore appears to offer a drink of 60-year-old MacCutcheon. He tells Des the swallow he is about to take is worth more than Des could earn in a month…and to share it with him would be a waste, because Des will never be a great man. “What you’re not, is worthy of drinking my whiskey – how could you ever be worthy of my daughter.” Des tosses the tie in disgust outside, and sees Charlie Hieronymous Pace playing guitar for change on the street. He says he knows him but cannot place how. More flashing to the island…he remembers his “past” on the island…then realizes he remembers this day from before the island, and just as he remembers aloud that it then started to rain, down comes the shower! Notably, this seems to be the first time any of our island dwellers appears conscious of a pre-crash connection...
Desmond runs to see a physicist friend, Donovan, to ask what he knows about time travel. Over a couple of Guinesses, Desmond relays his story, and asks if it’s possible to go back in time and live his life over again. Donovan’s response – this is just Desmond’s response to being berated for not being great. Desmond hears a song on the jukebox and remembers the come-from-behind win in the soccer game on TV – but it doesn’t happen. He remembers somebody coming through the door and attacking the bartender – but it doesn’t happen. Donovan grounds Desmond and tells him to go marry Penney.
Back at the flat, Penney says it’s time to celebrate – the occasion is because she loves him, because he’s a good man. In her experience, they’re pretty hard to come by. Desmond goes ring shopping in an antique shop. He says he’s not a man of means, and the shopkeeper (identified on ABC.com as “Ms. Hawking”) shows him a ring in a teardrop shape. He says he’ll take it, but she says, “no you won’t. This is wrong – you don’t buy the ring, you have second thoughts and walk out the door.” She knows his name…and tells Desmond he will break Penney’s heart, find himself entering a race to win back her heart, he’ll push the button on an island for three years and turn a failsafe key, because if he doesn’t, every one of us is dead. “So give me that sodding ring!” Notably, this is the first time somebody in an off-island flashback (other than Ethan and Alpert last week) indicate any knowledge that there is a crazy Dharma island out there. And does anyone else make anything of the fact that actress that plays Ms. Hawking appeared in the Nicole Kidman film, "The Others?"
Ms. Hawking takes Desmond for chestnuts. She points out a man in red shoes coming from the tube, and calls it a bold fashion choice worth noting. Desmond assumes this is all an effect of his concussion, his subconscious talking him out of marrying Penney. He no longer believes in the island, and says he’ll spend the rest of his life with her. Ms. Hawking says he will not…and a scaffolding collapses on the man with red shoes. She says didn’t stop it because it wouldn’t matter. Had she warned him, he’d be hit by a taxi the next day. “The universe has a way of course correcting” – that man was supposed to die. It was his path, just as it’s Desmond’s path to go to the island. He does not choose to, he’s supposed to. “You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only really great thing you will ever do.” He asks again how much for the ring, and she just walks away, leaving the ring in his hand.
Desmond walks on in the rain, and is taken aback by an army recruiting poster (a future we know is in store for him). He meets Penney by the Thames, and a photographer gets them to take the picture in front of a fake backdrop we’ve all seen so many times. Desmond looks at the print, and instantly recognizes how long he’s cherished the photo. He remembers now that there is no marina, and heeding Ms. Hawking’s words, he knows his next few years are predetermined, so he breaks off his relationship with Penney. She demands that he admit that he’s doing this because he’s a coward. He apologizes that they’re not supposed to be together. He chucks the ring he was going to give her into the river.
Desmond returns to the pub, sees a bottle of MacCuthcheon, but orders a bottle of the cheapest, since he’s made the biggest mistake of his life, and that he’s sure he’s made it before. Turning around, he hears the same song on the jukebox, then the soccer comeback happens…and in walks Jimmy Lennon, who takes a swing at the bartender, but he hits Desmond instead, who tried to intervene (since he knew what was going to happen)…and Desmond awakens nude in the jungle, as we saw him at the beginning of the season. He finds artifacts from the hatch, and the imploded hatch itself. And there, next to a warped record, he finds that picture of him with Penney in front of the marina backdrop. He pleads, to no one in particular, to let him go back one more time, and he promises to do it right, to change it.
Flash back (forward?) to the campfire on beach, and Charlie’s questions. Desmond tells Charlie that no matter what he does – he can’t change it. “When I turned that key, my life flashed before my eyes, and then I was back in the jungle, still on this bloody island, but those flashes, Charlie, those flashes? They didn’t stop.” Desmond reveals the two times he apparently saved Claire (and appeared to emasculate Charlie in the process), he wasn’t saving Claire – he was saving Charlie. In his flashes, Charlie was electrocuted by the lightning bolt, and then Charlie dove in after Claire to save her, but he drowned. Desmond knows, he keeps trying, “but no matter what I try to do, you’re going to die, Charlie.”
Analysis
As I hinted above, there were several pivotal moments here. First of all, for the second straight week we have a very subtle reference to Stephen Hawking, the preeminent physicist of our time, and the notion of time being less than absolute. We also have hope, through Desmond, of the characters' realizing that the connections between their pre-island lives and their present are meaningful, and that some events in the outside world are related to those on this island. There were still more hints of the connections between Widmore and Dharma. And most importantly, there is the favorite conundrum of time-travel/ sci-fi: free will or determinism? As ew.com points out today (referring to the Wikipedia entry on Desmond’s namesake, philosopher David Hume), “it all makes sense. Kinda. Basically, Hume's theory of compatibilism posits that free will and determinism both exist, and that what we do with our lives is essentially the result of these two concepts butting against each other. In other words, things are going all Sophie's World on us: Desmond Hume is living one of David Hume's theories.” I recall (from my own Wikipedia searching this summer) that David Hume was also quite against the notion of causation – i.e., that causal relationships are an illusion of the mind formed of sequential but not necessarily linked perceptions. Tying this to Desmond David Hume, I wonder, sure, Desmond’s failure to push the button was followed by the crash of flight 815, and may even be related to it, but given the determinism expressed by Ms. Hawking, would the plane have found a way to crash on the island, even if Desmond had not been wrestling with Kelvin?
Next week – the promos tell us – the answers to three of Lost’s biggest mysteries will be revealed.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Fantastic New Theory Nugget by the Doc
Heading into tonight's episode, "Flashes Before Your Eyes," ew.com's "Doc" Jeff Jensen has begun to assemble a new and interesting theory based on clues from "Not in Portland." His theory, which you can check out by clicking on the title of this post, is that the island is something like a black hole. The clues from last week - the anagram for "Mittleos," ("Lost Time") and the black hole chapter of A Brief History of Time, which Other Aldo was reading when he was duped by Sawyer, Kate and Alex. As Jensen points out, this would explain the inability to leave the island, and the island's apparent invisibility to the outside world. Indeed, Jensen points out there are "holes" in this theory (i.e., is the 2-volunteer system really a good way to avoid having the Earth collapse into a black hole?) but it offers some intriguing possibilities. As for tonight's episode, Damon Lindeloff's tease to the Doc - "Riddle me this - when is a flashback not a flashback?"
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
The Powers that Be Answer Viewer Questions
In this week's edition of Jeff Jensen's piece of Lostology on ew.com, the Doc ceded the floor, er, screen to Lost executive producers Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse. Alas, the site seems to have pulled the artilcle, but most of it appears in sidebar in this week's Entertainment Weekly print edition (surrounded by another Jensen piece on the state of the show), but the online version was a bit more complete. Some of it is spoilerish - again, in the vein of when questions will be answered, but not what those answers will be so I won't reprint it here. Click on the title of this post and you'll be whisked away (alas, TPTB chose not to answer my question about just how many toes Ben has). The one spoiler I will give here are the two mysteries the honchos say will never be solved on the show, which appeared online but not in print:
1) the construction of the rope bridge;
2) Rousseau's Yugoslavian accent.
In any case, check out this week's Entertainment Weekly (with some Lost cast members on the cover) to see what the producers had to say.
1) the construction of the rope bridge;
2) Rousseau's Yugoslavian accent.
In any case, check out this week's Entertainment Weekly (with some Lost cast members on the cover) to see what the producers had to say.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Episode 307 - Hurley or Paolo? "Not in Portland."
Yeeeeeehaaaaaw! We're back, ba-beee! Backstory! Death! Logical conundrums!! Right out of gate in 2007, Lost definitely dazzled us with a fantastic episode in “Not in Portland” (AKA “Others: Miami”).
First, the backstory. Dr. Juliet Burke was once a meek research scientist in Miami working in a lab run by her oppressive ex-husband, Edmond (24 season 1 villain, Zeljko Ivanek). (Does anyone else note the strong connections to Florida in Lost? Kate was married there, Sawyer did time there, and now Juliet worked there…) Her specialty? Extreme fertility. She successfully impregnated a male mouse (though she modestly pointed out it didn’t carry to term). She also had been stealing samples of some chemical which, when injected into her cancer-stricken sister, Rachel, induced pregnancy. In the first scene at Rachel’s apartment, we saw a familiar face – deceased Other Ethan Rom walked past Juliet in the hallway and said “hello,” though it’s clear from Juliet’s reaction she did not know him at this point. (Did you catch the other imagery around Rachel? At her bedside was a sculpture that looked like a Dharma logo with a yin/yang symbol in the middle, and her pregnancy test was the same Widmore Labs model that Sun used).
Edmond caught Juliet stealing the chemicals she was giving Rachel and threatened to report her to the authorities and ethics boards unless he got publication credit on her research. Juliet was also approached by Mr. Alpert of the Portland-based Mittleos Bioscience, who somehow seemed to know about both her mouse experiment and her secret project with her sister. Alpert wanted Juliet to bring her research to their campus, but she commented in an off-hand way that would only happen if Edmond were hit by a bus. On “Mittleos,” three things: 1) I see an obvious anagram for “Lost Time,” which Juliet’s reveal at the end of the episode suggests is no accident; 2) EW.com notes that “mittleos” is German for “poor” or “bereft of funds” (implications currently unknown); and, 3) perhaps a bit of a stretch, but some similarity to “Mittlewerk,” the Machiavellian scientist who, according to Bad Twin and The Lost Experience, wrested control of the Hanso Foundation from Alvar.
As soon as Juliet revealed her success with Rachel to Edmond, he was, indeed, hit by a bus (which sported an ad for Apollo candy bars, favorite of Hurley and Lost Experience fans everywhere). The creepy factor of this shocking death hit a new high when Alpert showed up at the morgue where Juliet had just identified Edmond’s body, and introduced her to his colleague, Ethan (!), who seemed familiar to Juliet (remember the hallway?). Alpert told Juliet he knew about Rachel’s pregnancy and assured her she would be back within six months for the birth. He also conceded that the Mittleos facility is “not exactly in Portland.” All of this of course took on new meaning at the end of the episode…
Back on the island, still in their hiatus-beginning walkie-talkie chat with Jack (“dammit, Kate, Run!”) Kate and Sawyer make their move and kick some Pickett arse, complete with a fish-biscuit button shock. They steal a gun, lock Pickett and his cohort in the cage and run. Juliet gives the order to have her fellow Others retrieve Kate and Sawyer, even if they have to kill them, defiantly telling Jack he won’t let Ben, who is still on the operating table, die. Jack reveals Juliet’s murderous plans for Ben, and Tom gives her the boot.
An angry Pickett is set free and he and two fellow Others begin their chase. Kate spots the beach (and their “home” island) and finally the reality of the situation sets in. She radios Jack for a boat, when a lucky shot from Pickett blasts her radio. Gunplay, running, and jungle dodging ensue. A few shots later, Sawyer is out of ammo. One of the Others closes on Kate, only to get pegged by Alex’s slingshot! The inexplicably French-accented Alex leads Kate and Sawyer to a trap door, where they hide while the Others pass overhead.
Ben, having overheard Tom’s questioning Jack about Juliet’s instruction to kill him, awakens and demands, of all things, Juliet’s return to the O.R. Ben asks Jack, “one gentleman to another,” for three minutes alone with Juliet. From the gallery, Jack sees them speaking but can’t hear what they’re saying. Tom introduces himself by name to Jack and explains of Ben and Juliet “they’ve got history.” A teary Juliet leaves the O.R. and asks Jack to finish the surgery, promising to help Kate and Sawyer escape. Tom looks on with a surprised look but makes no move to stop her.
Alex tells Kate and Sawyer she has a boat, which they can use if they help her to rescue Karl.
Oprah plans to reveal her biggest secret…no, wait, that’s just a commercial – maybe I watch this show a little too closely.
Juliet spots Kate, Sawyer and Alex on the Hydra monitors as they approach the place where a young Other named Aldo is guarding over Karl (actually, more than guarding, Aldo was reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Wonder what that's all about?). With just one unloaded gun, they hatch a quick plan – Alex marches Kate and Sawyer to the door at gun point and claims to have caught them in an escape attempt. Aldo warns Alex that her dad won’t be happy she’s there. Alex’s dad? Aldo calls “dad” and asks for…Ben! Sawyer jumps Aldo and says he fell for the “ol’ Wookie prisoner gig.” Kate threatens to kneecap Aldo with the rifle they captured from him, and Aldo coughs up Karl’s location. Kate assures Sawyer this was not a bluff. In cell “23” they find Karl, being bombarded with loud noise and bizarre imagery. Karl is hooked up to an i.v., messages blaring and flashing on screen like “we are the causes of our own suffering” and, tellingly, “God loves you like he loved Jacob” (another reference to “Jacob!”). Sawyer carries Karl out of the cell and demands the boat. As an aside, could this be the “room” that Miss Klugh threatened to return Walt to last season? As another aside, what goes on in the cells numbered 4, 8, 15, 16 and 42?
Pickett angrily wakes Aldo. Juliet tells Pickett to let Sawyer and Kate go, claiming it’s Ben’s request. Pickett’s response – I know Ben would rather die than let them go.
Tom begins to explain to Jack that they couldn’t take Ben to an off-island facility because, ever since the sky turned purple…but then an unexpected bleed interrupts! More on this later…
Loading Karl into a boat on the beach, Sawyer tells Alex he is surprised to learn she’s “the boss’s daughter.” Pickett appears and is about to shoot Sawyer (oh, how he hates Sawyer), when Juliet calls to him and guns him down. This cannot possibly play well with her fellow Others…Juliet won’t let Alex go with Sawyer, Kate and Karl because the only way her father will let Karl live is if Alex is around when he wakes up.
Kate radios Jack and lets him know they’re safe. She repeats the story Jack told her on their first day on the island about his first botched surgery (their code for a signal of safety). Just as Kate reaches the part of the story where Jack saved his first surgical patient, Ben stabilizes. Jack demands that Kate promise she will not come back for him. Kate and Sawyer shove off with the dazed Karl on board, Juliet and Alex looking on.
Later, Jack stares at Ben, in recovery, when Juliet returns. Jack tells her he was able to remove the tumor, and suggests a biopsy to see if it’s malignant. Juliet says Jack will go back to his cell until “they” figure out what to do with him. What did Ben say to make Juliet want to save his life? Juliet tells Jack she’s been on the island 3 years, 2 months, 28 days (a lot more than 6 months!) Ben told her he would finally let her go home if she let him live and helped Jack.
So that’s what happened. What does it mean?
Juliet
In light of the first scene of the season, we know Juliet’s story pretty well by now. Always a sucker for domineering men (like Edmond, Alpert and Ben), she was suckered into research in this “not exactly in Portland” facility by off-island agents of the Others, she found a message of empowerment in her favorite novel, Stephen King’s Carrie (about a similarly weak high school girl who eventually explodes with telekinetic rage). We now know the reason Juliet cried in that first scene of the season when she listened to the song, “Downtown” – as idyllic as Othersville seemed, she is nonetheless a prisoner. We also know now what the Powers that Be meant when they teased during the hiatus that Juliet’s agenda is more in line with the 815 survivors’ than the Others’ – she wants to leave the island. The nature of her research and the baby-napping obsession the Others seem to have suggests they have 1) a fertility problem and 2) a real need to sustain their society on the island. Finally, we also know how long she’s been with the Others: just over three years, or almost exactly since the moment Desmond arrived on the island, as well. Will this turn out to be a coincidence?
Deepening Mysteries, or Shark-Jumping?
We got two reveals in “Not in Portland” that seem to throw our sleuthing for a loop. 1) The Others claim that Ben is Alex’s father, and 2) Tom seemed to suggest they needed Jack to operate on Ben because the implosion of the Swan hatch cut them off from the outside world.
We’ve long been led to believe that this French-accented Alex is the teenage daughter of Rousseau, who was abducted as an infant by the then-unseen Others. Rousseau claimed she was pregnant when her ship was marooned on the island, but Ben told Jack he had lived there his whole life. Granted, Ben also once told Jack he was Henry Gale from Minnesota, but still… There is an obvious explanation, particularly in light of the Others’ apparent fertility problems: Ben is more Alex’s adoptive (abductive?) father than her biological one. Still, until anything is stated plainly, it will be hard to know for sure.
As for the Others’ needing Jack to operate on Ben because of the “sky turning purple,” let’s recall the order things went down – the Others selected Jack, Kate and Sawyer (and Hurley) before Michael returned to camp. They ambushed the group, then the Swan Hatch imploded, and then they sent Walt and Michael off on the little ferry. If the implosion cut off their contacts with the outside world, then Walt and Michael never escaped, the Others didn’t need Jack to do the surgery until after they already had him, and they didn’t need Kate and Sawyer to manipulate Jack until then, either. So there must have been a different plan in mind for these captives, which was further supported by Pickett’s snarl that Ben would rather die than let Kate and Sawyer escape (i.e. they had more in store for the pair). I’m also intrigued that the same event that seemed to momentarily reveal the island to the outside world in last season’s finale also somehow cut off the Others’ access to the outside world. I’m hoping for more on this next week, when the Powers that Be say we’ll get more on the Penelope Widmore Arctic Research Bonanza.
Finally, unlike most questions-answered-with-questions moments on Lost, I’m relieved by the idea that the Others’ master plan was not simply to force Jack to do one surgery by threatening Kate and Sawyer. As master plans go, that was kind of weak. Still no idea what they in fact wanted from the trio, but it’s gotta be better than that. Of course, they never just come right out and tell you, so maybe Tom’s cut-off explanation about the “purple sky” wasn’t going in that direction. We’ll have to wait and see.
Until next time, I’m signing off.
First, the backstory. Dr. Juliet Burke was once a meek research scientist in Miami working in a lab run by her oppressive ex-husband, Edmond (24 season 1 villain, Zeljko Ivanek). (Does anyone else note the strong connections to Florida in Lost? Kate was married there, Sawyer did time there, and now Juliet worked there…) Her specialty? Extreme fertility. She successfully impregnated a male mouse (though she modestly pointed out it didn’t carry to term). She also had been stealing samples of some chemical which, when injected into her cancer-stricken sister, Rachel, induced pregnancy. In the first scene at Rachel’s apartment, we saw a familiar face – deceased Other Ethan Rom walked past Juliet in the hallway and said “hello,” though it’s clear from Juliet’s reaction she did not know him at this point. (Did you catch the other imagery around Rachel? At her bedside was a sculpture that looked like a Dharma logo with a yin/yang symbol in the middle, and her pregnancy test was the same Widmore Labs model that Sun used).
Edmond caught Juliet stealing the chemicals she was giving Rachel and threatened to report her to the authorities and ethics boards unless he got publication credit on her research. Juliet was also approached by Mr. Alpert of the Portland-based Mittleos Bioscience, who somehow seemed to know about both her mouse experiment and her secret project with her sister. Alpert wanted Juliet to bring her research to their campus, but she commented in an off-hand way that would only happen if Edmond were hit by a bus. On “Mittleos,” three things: 1) I see an obvious anagram for “Lost Time,” which Juliet’s reveal at the end of the episode suggests is no accident; 2) EW.com notes that “mittleos” is German for “poor” or “bereft of funds” (implications currently unknown); and, 3) perhaps a bit of a stretch, but some similarity to “Mittlewerk,” the Machiavellian scientist who, according to Bad Twin and The Lost Experience, wrested control of the Hanso Foundation from Alvar.
As soon as Juliet revealed her success with Rachel to Edmond, he was, indeed, hit by a bus (which sported an ad for Apollo candy bars, favorite of Hurley and Lost Experience fans everywhere). The creepy factor of this shocking death hit a new high when Alpert showed up at the morgue where Juliet had just identified Edmond’s body, and introduced her to his colleague, Ethan (!), who seemed familiar to Juliet (remember the hallway?). Alpert told Juliet he knew about Rachel’s pregnancy and assured her she would be back within six months for the birth. He also conceded that the Mittleos facility is “not exactly in Portland.” All of this of course took on new meaning at the end of the episode…
Back on the island, still in their hiatus-beginning walkie-talkie chat with Jack (“dammit, Kate, Run!”) Kate and Sawyer make their move and kick some Pickett arse, complete with a fish-biscuit button shock. They steal a gun, lock Pickett and his cohort in the cage and run. Juliet gives the order to have her fellow Others retrieve Kate and Sawyer, even if they have to kill them, defiantly telling Jack he won’t let Ben, who is still on the operating table, die. Jack reveals Juliet’s murderous plans for Ben, and Tom gives her the boot.
An angry Pickett is set free and he and two fellow Others begin their chase. Kate spots the beach (and their “home” island) and finally the reality of the situation sets in. She radios Jack for a boat, when a lucky shot from Pickett blasts her radio. Gunplay, running, and jungle dodging ensue. A few shots later, Sawyer is out of ammo. One of the Others closes on Kate, only to get pegged by Alex’s slingshot! The inexplicably French-accented Alex leads Kate and Sawyer to a trap door, where they hide while the Others pass overhead.
Ben, having overheard Tom’s questioning Jack about Juliet’s instruction to kill him, awakens and demands, of all things, Juliet’s return to the O.R. Ben asks Jack, “one gentleman to another,” for three minutes alone with Juliet. From the gallery, Jack sees them speaking but can’t hear what they’re saying. Tom introduces himself by name to Jack and explains of Ben and Juliet “they’ve got history.” A teary Juliet leaves the O.R. and asks Jack to finish the surgery, promising to help Kate and Sawyer escape. Tom looks on with a surprised look but makes no move to stop her.
Alex tells Kate and Sawyer she has a boat, which they can use if they help her to rescue Karl.
Oprah plans to reveal her biggest secret…no, wait, that’s just a commercial – maybe I watch this show a little too closely.
Juliet spots Kate, Sawyer and Alex on the Hydra monitors as they approach the place where a young Other named Aldo is guarding over Karl (actually, more than guarding, Aldo was reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Wonder what that's all about?). With just one unloaded gun, they hatch a quick plan – Alex marches Kate and Sawyer to the door at gun point and claims to have caught them in an escape attempt. Aldo warns Alex that her dad won’t be happy she’s there. Alex’s dad? Aldo calls “dad” and asks for…Ben! Sawyer jumps Aldo and says he fell for the “ol’ Wookie prisoner gig.” Kate threatens to kneecap Aldo with the rifle they captured from him, and Aldo coughs up Karl’s location. Kate assures Sawyer this was not a bluff. In cell “23” they find Karl, being bombarded with loud noise and bizarre imagery. Karl is hooked up to an i.v., messages blaring and flashing on screen like “we are the causes of our own suffering” and, tellingly, “God loves you like he loved Jacob” (another reference to “Jacob!”). Sawyer carries Karl out of the cell and demands the boat. As an aside, could this be the “room” that Miss Klugh threatened to return Walt to last season? As another aside, what goes on in the cells numbered 4, 8, 15, 16 and 42?
Pickett angrily wakes Aldo. Juliet tells Pickett to let Sawyer and Kate go, claiming it’s Ben’s request. Pickett’s response – I know Ben would rather die than let them go.
Tom begins to explain to Jack that they couldn’t take Ben to an off-island facility because, ever since the sky turned purple…but then an unexpected bleed interrupts! More on this later…
Loading Karl into a boat on the beach, Sawyer tells Alex he is surprised to learn she’s “the boss’s daughter.” Pickett appears and is about to shoot Sawyer (oh, how he hates Sawyer), when Juliet calls to him and guns him down. This cannot possibly play well with her fellow Others…Juliet won’t let Alex go with Sawyer, Kate and Karl because the only way her father will let Karl live is if Alex is around when he wakes up.
Kate radios Jack and lets him know they’re safe. She repeats the story Jack told her on their first day on the island about his first botched surgery (their code for a signal of safety). Just as Kate reaches the part of the story where Jack saved his first surgical patient, Ben stabilizes. Jack demands that Kate promise she will not come back for him. Kate and Sawyer shove off with the dazed Karl on board, Juliet and Alex looking on.
Later, Jack stares at Ben, in recovery, when Juliet returns. Jack tells her he was able to remove the tumor, and suggests a biopsy to see if it’s malignant. Juliet says Jack will go back to his cell until “they” figure out what to do with him. What did Ben say to make Juliet want to save his life? Juliet tells Jack she’s been on the island 3 years, 2 months, 28 days (a lot more than 6 months!) Ben told her he would finally let her go home if she let him live and helped Jack.
So that’s what happened. What does it mean?
Juliet
In light of the first scene of the season, we know Juliet’s story pretty well by now. Always a sucker for domineering men (like Edmond, Alpert and Ben), she was suckered into research in this “not exactly in Portland” facility by off-island agents of the Others, she found a message of empowerment in her favorite novel, Stephen King’s Carrie (about a similarly weak high school girl who eventually explodes with telekinetic rage). We now know the reason Juliet cried in that first scene of the season when she listened to the song, “Downtown” – as idyllic as Othersville seemed, she is nonetheless a prisoner. We also know now what the Powers that Be meant when they teased during the hiatus that Juliet’s agenda is more in line with the 815 survivors’ than the Others’ – she wants to leave the island. The nature of her research and the baby-napping obsession the Others seem to have suggests they have 1) a fertility problem and 2) a real need to sustain their society on the island. Finally, we also know how long she’s been with the Others: just over three years, or almost exactly since the moment Desmond arrived on the island, as well. Will this turn out to be a coincidence?
Deepening Mysteries, or Shark-Jumping?
We got two reveals in “Not in Portland” that seem to throw our sleuthing for a loop. 1) The Others claim that Ben is Alex’s father, and 2) Tom seemed to suggest they needed Jack to operate on Ben because the implosion of the Swan hatch cut them off from the outside world.
We’ve long been led to believe that this French-accented Alex is the teenage daughter of Rousseau, who was abducted as an infant by the then-unseen Others. Rousseau claimed she was pregnant when her ship was marooned on the island, but Ben told Jack he had lived there his whole life. Granted, Ben also once told Jack he was Henry Gale from Minnesota, but still… There is an obvious explanation, particularly in light of the Others’ apparent fertility problems: Ben is more Alex’s adoptive (abductive?) father than her biological one. Still, until anything is stated plainly, it will be hard to know for sure.
As for the Others’ needing Jack to operate on Ben because of the “sky turning purple,” let’s recall the order things went down – the Others selected Jack, Kate and Sawyer (and Hurley) before Michael returned to camp. They ambushed the group, then the Swan Hatch imploded, and then they sent Walt and Michael off on the little ferry. If the implosion cut off their contacts with the outside world, then Walt and Michael never escaped, the Others didn’t need Jack to do the surgery until after they already had him, and they didn’t need Kate and Sawyer to manipulate Jack until then, either. So there must have been a different plan in mind for these captives, which was further supported by Pickett’s snarl that Ben would rather die than let Kate and Sawyer escape (i.e. they had more in store for the pair). I’m also intrigued that the same event that seemed to momentarily reveal the island to the outside world in last season’s finale also somehow cut off the Others’ access to the outside world. I’m hoping for more on this next week, when the Powers that Be say we’ll get more on the Penelope Widmore Arctic Research Bonanza.
Finally, unlike most questions-answered-with-questions moments on Lost, I’m relieved by the idea that the Others’ master plan was not simply to force Jack to do one surgery by threatening Kate and Sawyer. As master plans go, that was kind of weak. Still no idea what they in fact wanted from the trio, but it’s gotta be better than that. Of course, they never just come right out and tell you, so maybe Tom’s cut-off explanation about the “purple sky” wasn’t going in that direction. We’ll have to wait and see.
Until next time, I’m signing off.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
The Powers that Be in their Video Podcast
This follows on the coattails of the spoiler post. This is the Powers that Be and certain members of the cast in their end of break video podcast. Enjoy!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Running down the Spoilers
With only 6 days to go until Lost returns, you should know I've spent the past 12 weeks hitting the bricks of the internet, rounding up hints, spoilers, and coming attractions. Before we get to all that, a programming note. Want a reminder of what was going on three months ago when Lost left us longing for more? The Powers that Be, Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse, will be hosting a recap special on ABC on Wednesday, February 7 at 9:00 EST/PST, 8:00 CST/MST, before Lost returns at its new time, 10:00 EST/PST, 9:00 CST/MST. So now, with special thanks to Doc Jensen, the "Ask Ausiello" column on TVGUIDE.com, and the good folks at ABC.com, here is what we know will be on the horizon next week and beyond....
The return episode, "Not in Portland," will focus on Juliet, and will reveal quite a bit about her past.
Juliet's duplicity takes on new levels of complexity. Tom will reveal to Jack that the Others know Juliet told Jack to kill Ben, but will threaten to kill Jack if Ben dies. Meanwhile, Juliet will order the more militant Others, like Pickett, to prevent Sawyer and Kate's escape, even if it means killing them.
The subplot from the last scene of last season's finale involving polar researchers working for Penelope Widmore will resume in episode 8 (February 14), but will only connect to the main action on the island in this season's finale.
Charlie's about to get his comeuppance for kidnapping Sun last season. According to Carlton Cuse, "Sun finally finds out who actually did that to her. It takes place in another character's episode, but it becomes an important ancillary part of that episode." Cuse adds that it's a "reasonable assumption" that the reveal will cause problems between Charlie and Claire.
Vincent is still on the island, per Cuse, who reveals, "The dog is coming back very soon."
When Vincent returns, it will be with a rotting human arm clutching a mysterious key on a rabbit's foot keychain in his mouth. He will lead Hurley and Charlie into the jungle, presumably to the lock the key opens.
Desmond continues to suffer as a result of whatever happened in the hatch implosion, and his newfound prognostic ability is not making him any happier.
Hurley will suspect that, a-la the Fantastic Four, whatever gave Desmond his new abilities may have impacted Locke and possibly Charlie.
Sawyer will definitely make it back to the main island, where he and Jin will drink some Dharma beer in an old VW bus.
The meaning of Jack's tattoo will be revealed, as will the story behind where he got it (in a sultry Southeast Asian locale, it would seem).
We will learn how Locke became paralyzed.
There will be a more overt mention of "Jacob," but we will not meet Jacob this season.
Bearing in mind that in "Lost time," we're somewhere in November 2004, a real-world event will soon impact the island. Internet buzz suggests this may be the Indonesia tsunami (which may also provide a hint as to just where the island is located).
We have not seen the last of Walt or Michael.
We will see the last of the island housing the Hydra station about three weeks from now.
Ben and Juliet will be around for a while.
Cindy, the flight attendant/ girlfriend of late author Gary Troupe, and the last of the tailies to be abducted by the Others will return, and she and other Other abductees will be sent to "watch" something that will happen to Jack.
Nicki and Paulo's story will be told around the 14th episode.
We will see another Dharma installation, "The Flame."
Hopefully by the end of this season, ABC will anounce the planned endpoint of Lost. This will enable the Powers that Be to better pace the show and avoid the "X-Files phenomenon" of lasting two seasons too long, or creative stall.
When Lost returns next season, it will be in January, and there will be no breaks in the schedule like the hiatus we've just endured.
Jeff Jensen reports that background materials that will make "Not in Portland" work better for you include: Edmund Burke, A Clockwork Orange, and A Brief History of Time.
For some very heavy (and possibly ridiculous) additional spoilers, go to...http://www.thetailsection.com/lost_news/lost_february_preview_spoilers.php#more
Namaste, fellow Lostophiles. Until the recap of "Not in Portland," I hope I've kept you interested during the hiatus.
The return episode, "Not in Portland," will focus on Juliet, and will reveal quite a bit about her past.
Juliet's duplicity takes on new levels of complexity. Tom will reveal to Jack that the Others know Juliet told Jack to kill Ben, but will threaten to kill Jack if Ben dies. Meanwhile, Juliet will order the more militant Others, like Pickett, to prevent Sawyer and Kate's escape, even if it means killing them.
The subplot from the last scene of last season's finale involving polar researchers working for Penelope Widmore will resume in episode 8 (February 14), but will only connect to the main action on the island in this season's finale.
Charlie's about to get his comeuppance for kidnapping Sun last season. According to Carlton Cuse, "Sun finally finds out who actually did that to her. It takes place in another character's episode, but it becomes an important ancillary part of that episode." Cuse adds that it's a "reasonable assumption" that the reveal will cause problems between Charlie and Claire.
Vincent is still on the island, per Cuse, who reveals, "The dog is coming back very soon."
When Vincent returns, it will be with a rotting human arm clutching a mysterious key on a rabbit's foot keychain in his mouth. He will lead Hurley and Charlie into the jungle, presumably to the lock the key opens.
Desmond continues to suffer as a result of whatever happened in the hatch implosion, and his newfound prognostic ability is not making him any happier.
Hurley will suspect that, a-la the Fantastic Four, whatever gave Desmond his new abilities may have impacted Locke and possibly Charlie.
Sawyer will definitely make it back to the main island, where he and Jin will drink some Dharma beer in an old VW bus.
The meaning of Jack's tattoo will be revealed, as will the story behind where he got it (in a sultry Southeast Asian locale, it would seem).
We will learn how Locke became paralyzed.
There will be a more overt mention of "Jacob," but we will not meet Jacob this season.
Bearing in mind that in "Lost time," we're somewhere in November 2004, a real-world event will soon impact the island. Internet buzz suggests this may be the Indonesia tsunami (which may also provide a hint as to just where the island is located).
We have not seen the last of Walt or Michael.
We will see the last of the island housing the Hydra station about three weeks from now.
Ben and Juliet will be around for a while.
Cindy, the flight attendant/ girlfriend of late author Gary Troupe, and the last of the tailies to be abducted by the Others will return, and she and other Other abductees will be sent to "watch" something that will happen to Jack.
Nicki and Paulo's story will be told around the 14th episode.
We will see another Dharma installation, "The Flame."
Hopefully by the end of this season, ABC will anounce the planned endpoint of Lost. This will enable the Powers that Be to better pace the show and avoid the "X-Files phenomenon" of lasting two seasons too long, or creative stall.
When Lost returns next season, it will be in January, and there will be no breaks in the schedule like the hiatus we've just endured.
Jeff Jensen reports that background materials that will make "Not in Portland" work better for you include: Edmund Burke, A Clockwork Orange, and A Brief History of Time.
For some very heavy (and possibly ridiculous) additional spoilers, go to...http://www.thetailsection.com/lost_news/lost_february_preview_spoilers.php#more
Namaste, fellow Lostophiles. Until the recap of "Not in Portland," I hope I've kept you interested during the hiatus.
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