And thus a new entrant into the Top Ten (well, almost).
Yes, the title was a spoiler.
Hope -- it's funny how much I missed it. LOST's first season in many ways was about hope. Each episode someone seemed to find some sort of resolution or at least a direction of growth that pointed to a resolution. Season 2 had the meta-storyline of The Button which shifted the hope conversation into one about faith: how does one maintain hope in the face of contrary evidence? While I've enjoyed Season 3, it has been a relentless psychological mindfuck. (And should we expect anything less from The Others?) We needed some sunshine, and this eppy was it.
From the first scene, we knew what would really be weighing Hurley down: the memory of Libby. Everything that came after that was just a stand-in for that loss. Worse was the seeming inevitability of everyone around him dying. Charlie telling him Desmond's prophecy didn't surprise him, just further confirmed for him what he come to accept his own fate to be.
*Fate, free will, destiny, faith -- a lot of the major themes were played around with in very subtle ways. We've been set-up to believe the NUMBERS are cursed and there's nothing that can be done about them. Father issues tend to be major factors in each character's backstories, usually resolving with the father or father figure abandoning his son or daughter. Here both LOST "traditions" were teased and subverted. Even Charlie staring death in the face as the DHARMA Bug plunged down the hillside ended up being a life affirming moment rather than just another case of fate and destiny having its way. Is that all we need to really change our bad fate: to stare it in the face and dare it to bring it's worst?
*The bug was everyone's escape: Sawyer getting away from Kate, Jin getting away from Sun's pressure to learn English, Hurley getting away from the memory of Libby and Charlie avoiding his fate. Brilliantly executed. Bringing everyone back to camp, newly restored, just emphasized that. Everyone, except of course for for Sawyer.
*Kate/Sawyer -- another brilliantly executed bit. Right when you think they'll make up they don't... they're just not like that.
*It's interesting that Hurley's bad luck didn't hold. In the Lost Experience online game from the summer of '06, it was made clear the NUMBERS are universal constants factoring into The Valenzetti Equation, a formula that predicted the exact time the world would end. Basically: yeah, dude, the NUMBERS are cursed. So, Sawyer, you are wrong: hope lives on this Island. Indeed, was the Island selected by Alvar Hanso, The DeGroots and The DHARMA Intiative because it is the ONLY place on earth hope definitely lives, the last chance to change the Equation and save mankind?
*Time: oddly enough the weird Time stuff going on may be reflected in the DHARMA beer still being drinkable after all these years. Either that or Sawyer has a senseless tongue and iron stomach.
*Was it just me, or did the Push the DHARMA Bug scene remind anyone of Little Miss Sunshine?
*Poor, Roger. I kept thinking this was a reference to the Amazing Screw-On Head. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future we see Roger's backstory crossed with someone else's only to know he would go to The Island and die while transporting recylcing.
*I need to compile a Top Ten of the eppy's best lines... but there were so damned MANY of them.
NEXT WEEK: The Sayid-centric "Enter 77"
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
3x09, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
It's Creative Writing 101: Show. Don't tell. And unfortunately this episode was more about telling us what a hero Jack is rather than showing it.
The flashback lacked a narrative arc. It felt almost like the first two segments were for the sole purpose of showing off Bai Ling. The revelation that she's a tatoo artist instead of a prostitute isn't much of a payoff for the flashback... really it didn't pay off much of anything. And what she sees in Jack: that's pretty much what everyone's already gotten from just watching the show for two and half seasons. Yes, Jack is a Leader. Yes, he is a hero. If that indeed means, "He walks among us, but he walks alone," then SHOW it in scene. Getting beat up on a Thailand beach doesn't count. Really, the arc would've worked better if he was rejected by people who should've welcomed him, like family or other doctors back home or the Losties back at the beach. Instead the tension between the loneliness of being a hero and strength that drives one to charting his own course was merely brought up in the last bit of dialogue exchanged between Jack and "The Sheriff".
It's funny though that this came up... several months ago I was talking with JBS about LOST and we got to Jack and she pointed out that Kate can not possibly choose he because as the hero he must walk alone. Now that's been steadily established through the course of the series. This could've been the capstone for it, but instead it felt like a wasted opportunity.
Overall, the most disappointed and outright bored I've ever been watching an episode. Shame, too, especially after last week's, one of my very favorite of the entire series.
The flashback lacked a narrative arc. It felt almost like the first two segments were for the sole purpose of showing off Bai Ling. The revelation that she's a tatoo artist instead of a prostitute isn't much of a payoff for the flashback... really it didn't pay off much of anything. And what she sees in Jack: that's pretty much what everyone's already gotten from just watching the show for two and half seasons. Yes, Jack is a Leader. Yes, he is a hero. If that indeed means, "He walks among us, but he walks alone," then SHOW it in scene. Getting beat up on a Thailand beach doesn't count. Really, the arc would've worked better if he was rejected by people who should've welcomed him, like family or other doctors back home or the Losties back at the beach. Instead the tension between the loneliness of being a hero and strength that drives one to charting his own course was merely brought up in the last bit of dialogue exchanged between Jack and "The Sheriff".
It's funny though that this came up... several months ago I was talking with JBS about LOST and we got to Jack and she pointed out that Kate can not possibly choose he because as the hero he must walk alone. Now that's been steadily established through the course of the series. This could've been the capstone for it, but instead it felt like a wasted opportunity.
Overall, the most disappointed and outright bored I've ever been watching an episode. Shame, too, especially after last week's, one of my very favorite of the entire series.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
3x08, "Flashes Before Your Eyes"
I'm under the weather right now so forgive me if this doesn't make sense. Managed to get myself together enough to post this at the 'Lage.
This isn't time travel.
A number of things could've happened. Among them:
*The flashback and the flashes are all in his mind, a "vision" given to him by the Island to understand the nature of fate.
*He is indeed living his life over and over again in a loop, much like Groundhog Day.
*There is no loop. Turning the failsafe key allowed him to see all time -- past, present and future -- as one ever present moment. Thus there is no past or present or future. But he's not in the proper state of mind to undestand that and perceived events as still occurring in a certain order. But if he were to see events as ocurring all at the same time, much as Billy Pilgrim does in Salguhterhouse-Five and Dr. Manhattan does in The Watchmen, then cause and effect are irrelevant.
I think it's the third option because it also ties in with the references to Buddhism (such as the Bagua, use of the word DHARMA and the "Only Fools Are Enslaved to Time and Space" backwards audio in the Brainwashing video, which is a Buddhist saying). Moreso, I think yesterday's episode was all about "nirvana".
In my amateur studies of Zen Buddhism in high school and university I came to the conclusion that nirvana isn't what most people think it is. It's isn't a state of total bliss or happiness. It is freedom... freedom from an endless cycle of births and deaths caused by our attachment to the things of the world. Once that attachment is dissolved, there is nothing tying onself to the cycle any longer... and the cycle is ended.
This attachment isn't limited to objects... more importantly it is attachment to a mindset that views the world in terms of cause and effect. If one were to live in the present, "Be Here Now", one is not burdened by the past and one does not fear the future. One is set free.
And we've seen this as a fundamental narrative structure of every episode of LOST: people burdened by their pasts, given a clean slate, a tabula rasa, on the Island. This is why the most popular theories about LOST describe the Island as purgatory. In many ways it isn't purgratory, it is nirvana.
What's interesting here is that Desmond, because of what happened to him when he turned the failsafe key, can start seeing this pattern for himself. He is going through exactly what Dr. Manhattan went through in The Watchmen. The difference here is a matter of perspective. Dr. Manhattan wanted to be a watchmaker so he grew up understanding the universe as a well-oiled machine where a number of different parts work together in precisely the right way for the entire machine to work correctly, and in cycles. Desmond doesn't understand that, so the Lady in the Diamond Store needed to tell him that he can't deviate from his course, or else the machine, the universe, wouldn't run correctly.
What's interesting about "Flashes" was it portrays predestination as something to despair. In Watchmen, that is a point of despair, too, until Dr. Manhattan realizes the amount of happy (and unhappy) accidents it took to bring together the parents of Laurie, his love.
So Desmond may not actually be caught in a cycle, it's just one he perceives. How he breaks out of it, ends the flashing, may have everything to do with how Charlie does (or doesn't) die and may finally be his "great man" moment, one even greater than sacrificing himself to push the button continuously for three years to save the world.
Here's another thing: Desmond saw his life flash before his eyes... but I think what we saw was indeed what happened the first time around. But how is that possible if he's referring to events during the flashback that haven't happened to him yet? It is possible if you view past and present as one moment.
Interestingly enough, someone on the episode boards pointed out that "McCutcheon", the name of Widmore's whiskey, is also the name of a folk-singer who wrote a song in 1989 called "Waters from Another Time" Part of the lyrics, perhaps a line that could be apporpriated for The Island: "The past & future are wedded there."
Indeed.
Easter Eggs:
*Charlie's middle name is "Heironymus". Check out this link for Heironymus Machines. Is there a link to The Monster?
*The painting in Widmore's office depicted a polar bear. "Namaste" was written backwards on it.
*There's Apollo bar and Oceanic Airlines ads on the sidelines of the soccer game.
*The book Hurley found in Sawyer's stash was Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov.
This isn't time travel.
A number of things could've happened. Among them:
*The flashback and the flashes are all in his mind, a "vision" given to him by the Island to understand the nature of fate.
*He is indeed living his life over and over again in a loop, much like Groundhog Day.
*There is no loop. Turning the failsafe key allowed him to see all time -- past, present and future -- as one ever present moment. Thus there is no past or present or future. But he's not in the proper state of mind to undestand that and perceived events as still occurring in a certain order. But if he were to see events as ocurring all at the same time, much as Billy Pilgrim does in Salguhterhouse-Five and Dr. Manhattan does in The Watchmen, then cause and effect are irrelevant.
I think it's the third option because it also ties in with the references to Buddhism (such as the Bagua, use of the word DHARMA and the "Only Fools Are Enslaved to Time and Space" backwards audio in the Brainwashing video, which is a Buddhist saying). Moreso, I think yesterday's episode was all about "nirvana".
In my amateur studies of Zen Buddhism in high school and university I came to the conclusion that nirvana isn't what most people think it is. It's isn't a state of total bliss or happiness. It is freedom... freedom from an endless cycle of births and deaths caused by our attachment to the things of the world. Once that attachment is dissolved, there is nothing tying onself to the cycle any longer... and the cycle is ended.
This attachment isn't limited to objects... more importantly it is attachment to a mindset that views the world in terms of cause and effect. If one were to live in the present, "Be Here Now", one is not burdened by the past and one does not fear the future. One is set free.
And we've seen this as a fundamental narrative structure of every episode of LOST: people burdened by their pasts, given a clean slate, a tabula rasa, on the Island. This is why the most popular theories about LOST describe the Island as purgatory. In many ways it isn't purgratory, it is nirvana.
What's interesting here is that Desmond, because of what happened to him when he turned the failsafe key, can start seeing this pattern for himself. He is going through exactly what Dr. Manhattan went through in The Watchmen. The difference here is a matter of perspective. Dr. Manhattan wanted to be a watchmaker so he grew up understanding the universe as a well-oiled machine where a number of different parts work together in precisely the right way for the entire machine to work correctly, and in cycles. Desmond doesn't understand that, so the Lady in the Diamond Store needed to tell him that he can't deviate from his course, or else the machine, the universe, wouldn't run correctly.
What's interesting about "Flashes" was it portrays predestination as something to despair. In Watchmen, that is a point of despair, too, until Dr. Manhattan realizes the amount of happy (and unhappy) accidents it took to bring together the parents of Laurie, his love.
So Desmond may not actually be caught in a cycle, it's just one he perceives. How he breaks out of it, ends the flashing, may have everything to do with how Charlie does (or doesn't) die and may finally be his "great man" moment, one even greater than sacrificing himself to push the button continuously for three years to save the world.
Here's another thing: Desmond saw his life flash before his eyes... but I think what we saw was indeed what happened the first time around. But how is that possible if he's referring to events during the flashback that haven't happened to him yet? It is possible if you view past and present as one moment.
Interestingly enough, someone on the episode boards pointed out that "McCutcheon", the name of Widmore's whiskey, is also the name of a folk-singer who wrote a song in 1989 called "Waters from Another Time" Part of the lyrics, perhaps a line that could be apporpriated for The Island: "The past & future are wedded there."
Indeed.
Easter Eggs:
*Charlie's middle name is "Heironymus". Check out this link for Heironymus Machines. Is there a link to The Monster?
*The painting in Widmore's office depicted a polar bear. "Namaste" was written backwards on it.
*There's Apollo bar and Oceanic Airlines ads on the sidelines of the soccer game.
*The book Hurley found in Sawyer's stash was Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Friday, February 9, 2007
3x07, "Not in Portland"
Kubrick would be proud.
While it was a great episode, one that probably would've served as a much better ending to the fall mini-season than "I Do", I still can't help but feel this wasn't the showcase for Elizabeth Mitchell it could've been. I don't doubt we may see another Juliet flashback eventually, but this particular one seemed more about advancing the mythology of the show than about Juliet's character development. We were supposed to think of her sister getting pregnant as her "White Rabbit" moment when she finally recognizes her potential as a leader. But it wasn't properly set up enough for me to buy the pay off. I would've wanted to see more failed attempts to get her sister pregnant, more attempts in the face of hopelessness. Parallel to that, we're supposed to compare her repression at the hands of her ex-husband with her treatment from Henry. The problem is we still don't know why she's beholden to Henry in the first place. And while the Bus Gag was surprsing and quite frankly a deserving end to such a miserable man (did you catch him chewing out his mom on the phone?) it meant Juliet acquired her freedom by accident or conspiracy and not through her own strength. Granted, they could be saying she's a weak leader, with a ways still to go till she finally topples Henry, but then there'd be no reason to fear her now. There's definitely a big gaping hole here where she went from timid fertility doctor to the Girl with the Gun who turned Pickett to swiss cheese without hesitation. This episode should've plugged that hole and instead it brought it up and then made it wider.
With that out of the way, I can't say enough about the momentum of the episode... just a relentless torrent of action. The Clockwork Orange-esque brainwashing segment almost felt like a breather. And despite it being predictable, I was still caught off guard by Juliet shooting Pickett. That's all about pitch-perfect editing and directing.
Then cap that off with one of THE emotional high points of the series, Kate recounting the fear story to Jack. I'd initially thought Jack telling her to recall the story was a way to reconnect with her one last time before she'd be out of his life forever. What better sendoff than remembering that beautiful, intimate moment they first met as strangers who just survived a plane crash. In this episode however, the meaning of the story actully gets restored: It served as Jack's lifeline... you could almost see him counting to five again as he worked to save Ben. And that of course made Jack and Kate's parting even more bitter. Awesome, awesome moment.
Next week: Desmond. "3x08: Flashes Before Your Eyes"
YOUR BRAIN WILL BE FRIED. Be prepared.
Easter Eggs (and by gawd there's a ton of them):
*Brainwashing screenshots
*Time stuff: Damon and Carlton have been hinting at a "brain frying moment" and stuff about how time works on the Island. I think the two are connected (and next week we may get some further insight). There were no less than four big clues as to what we may be dealing with.
1) Mittelos: the anagram stands for "lost time". Carlton said in the recent EW.com Q&A that the anagram would be a clue about Adam & Eve, the skeletons found in The Caves.
2) The guard was reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Someone at the Fuselage claims the very page he's reading is one about wormholes.
3) In the brainwashing video, there's hidden audio that if played backwards actually says, "Only fools are enslaved by time and space", a quote from the Dharmapada. I SHIT YOU NOT.
4) The x-rays the Mittleos recruiter showed to Juliet were of a 26 year-old with a 70 year-old womb. WHAT.
Add that all up and it seems to point to time moving differently on the Island in relation to the rest of the world. The nature of that difference will be a big reveal. Is time moving faster or slower? Is it looping somehow. Is it perhaps not even moving forward at all, but in stasis, in a wormhle or pocket universe where there is no time, period?
*"Not quite in Portland": I'm gonna say that Ethan and the Recruiter arranged the bus accident. It wasn't a coincidence... it was indeed a conspiracy. But does that mean that DHARMA conspired to bring anyone else to the Island? I think that's a no. There's too many variables and it's a hell of a lot easier to just ask someone to come, as they did with Juliet, than arrange for a plane crash... or as some at the 'Lage have speculated, arranged for the plane to land on the Island, only to crash because of Desmond failing to pres The Button.
*9/11: According to Lostpedia, the date of "Not in Portland" is December 3, 2004. If you count backwards to find when Juliet got to the Island it's September 5, 2001. Is it a coincidence? Will it be part of the plot (and this is keeping in mind they just brought in Brian K. Vaughan who wrote the 9/11 centered Ex Machina #1)? Or is living in a "Post-Island World" similar to living in a "Post-9/11 World"?
*Is Alex Ben's bilogical daughter?: I think Rousseau didn't give the whole story about her boat crash landing on the Island. It was strange that when she let Ben enter Sayid's custody, she told him he'd lie "a long time". How would she know? Of course it's a lot more logical to assume Alex doesn't even know about Rousseau and has been fed a lie her entire life, raised by Ben as if she were his child.
*Deadwood Trifecta: Juliet's sister was played by Robin Weigert, the third actress from Deadwood to guest. Liz Sarnoff, a prominent producer on the HBO show is now on board with LOST.
*Pregnancy Test: Her test appears to be another Widmore Labs one. Remember, these are the tests previously used by Kate in "I Do" and Sun in "The Whole Truth".
While it was a great episode, one that probably would've served as a much better ending to the fall mini-season than "I Do", I still can't help but feel this wasn't the showcase for Elizabeth Mitchell it could've been. I don't doubt we may see another Juliet flashback eventually, but this particular one seemed more about advancing the mythology of the show than about Juliet's character development. We were supposed to think of her sister getting pregnant as her "White Rabbit" moment when she finally recognizes her potential as a leader. But it wasn't properly set up enough for me to buy the pay off. I would've wanted to see more failed attempts to get her sister pregnant, more attempts in the face of hopelessness. Parallel to that, we're supposed to compare her repression at the hands of her ex-husband with her treatment from Henry. The problem is we still don't know why she's beholden to Henry in the first place. And while the Bus Gag was surprsing and quite frankly a deserving end to such a miserable man (did you catch him chewing out his mom on the phone?) it meant Juliet acquired her freedom by accident or conspiracy and not through her own strength. Granted, they could be saying she's a weak leader, with a ways still to go till she finally topples Henry, but then there'd be no reason to fear her now. There's definitely a big gaping hole here where she went from timid fertility doctor to the Girl with the Gun who turned Pickett to swiss cheese without hesitation. This episode should've plugged that hole and instead it brought it up and then made it wider.
With that out of the way, I can't say enough about the momentum of the episode... just a relentless torrent of action. The Clockwork Orange-esque brainwashing segment almost felt like a breather. And despite it being predictable, I was still caught off guard by Juliet shooting Pickett. That's all about pitch-perfect editing and directing.
Then cap that off with one of THE emotional high points of the series, Kate recounting the fear story to Jack. I'd initially thought Jack telling her to recall the story was a way to reconnect with her one last time before she'd be out of his life forever. What better sendoff than remembering that beautiful, intimate moment they first met as strangers who just survived a plane crash. In this episode however, the meaning of the story actully gets restored: It served as Jack's lifeline... you could almost see him counting to five again as he worked to save Ben. And that of course made Jack and Kate's parting even more bitter. Awesome, awesome moment.
Next week: Desmond. "3x08: Flashes Before Your Eyes"
YOUR BRAIN WILL BE FRIED. Be prepared.
Easter Eggs (and by gawd there's a ton of them):
*Brainwashing screenshots
*Time stuff: Damon and Carlton have been hinting at a "brain frying moment" and stuff about how time works on the Island. I think the two are connected (and next week we may get some further insight). There were no less than four big clues as to what we may be dealing with.
1) Mittelos: the anagram stands for "lost time". Carlton said in the recent EW.com Q&A that the anagram would be a clue about Adam & Eve, the skeletons found in The Caves.
2) The guard was reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Someone at the Fuselage claims the very page he's reading is one about wormholes.
3) In the brainwashing video, there's hidden audio that if played backwards actually says, "Only fools are enslaved by time and space", a quote from the Dharmapada. I SHIT YOU NOT.
4) The x-rays the Mittleos recruiter showed to Juliet were of a 26 year-old with a 70 year-old womb. WHAT.
Add that all up and it seems to point to time moving differently on the Island in relation to the rest of the world. The nature of that difference will be a big reveal. Is time moving faster or slower? Is it looping somehow. Is it perhaps not even moving forward at all, but in stasis, in a wormhle or pocket universe where there is no time, period?
*"Not quite in Portland": I'm gonna say that Ethan and the Recruiter arranged the bus accident. It wasn't a coincidence... it was indeed a conspiracy. But does that mean that DHARMA conspired to bring anyone else to the Island? I think that's a no. There's too many variables and it's a hell of a lot easier to just ask someone to come, as they did with Juliet, than arrange for a plane crash... or as some at the 'Lage have speculated, arranged for the plane to land on the Island, only to crash because of Desmond failing to pres The Button.
*9/11: According to Lostpedia, the date of "Not in Portland" is December 3, 2004. If you count backwards to find when Juliet got to the Island it's September 5, 2001. Is it a coincidence? Will it be part of the plot (and this is keeping in mind they just brought in Brian K. Vaughan who wrote the 9/11 centered Ex Machina #1)? Or is living in a "Post-Island World" similar to living in a "Post-9/11 World"?
*Is Alex Ben's bilogical daughter?: I think Rousseau didn't give the whole story about her boat crash landing on the Island. It was strange that when she let Ben enter Sayid's custody, she told him he'd lie "a long time". How would she know? Of course it's a lot more logical to assume Alex doesn't even know about Rousseau and has been fed a lie her entire life, raised by Ben as if she were his child.
*Deadwood Trifecta: Juliet's sister was played by Robin Weigert, the third actress from Deadwood to guest. Liz Sarnoff, a prominent producer on the HBO show is now on board with LOST.
*Pregnancy Test: Her test appears to be another Widmore Labs one. Remember, these are the tests previously used by Kate in "I Do" and Sun in "The Whole Truth".
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
On the Lost Connections
I wouldn't have posted till tonight, but in a fascinating Q&A on EW.com, Damon and Carlton say there's an anagram hidden somewhere in tonight's episode that is a clue to who or what Adam and Eve are.
The article also includes this amazing quote where Damon explains the "lost connections" as explicitly as possible:
Did Desmond's failure to press the button REALLY cause the plane to crash — or is there more to this story?
LINDELOF: In terms of the pragmatic reality, Oceanic 815 never would have crashed had Desmond pushed the button. But is there a larger, more faith-based, spiritualized reason that these people happened to be on that plane when he failed to press the button? If Desmond hadn't run into Jack at that stadium, would he have made the same choices that he made in his life? They all impact each other's lives. The fact that that guy is on that plane up there, and Desmond brings that plane down, it speaks to an interrelatedness among characters, why these people, why do they all connect. No amount of mythological answers will ever speak to this. That's the one thing that when the show ends, you won't have a causal explanation for why did all these people interconnect. Why some, why not others? The answer is just that they just do. The show is a massive Rube Goldberg device, in which all the components of the machinery are humans.
The article also includes this amazing quote where Damon explains the "lost connections" as explicitly as possible:
Did Desmond's failure to press the button REALLY cause the plane to crash — or is there more to this story?
LINDELOF: In terms of the pragmatic reality, Oceanic 815 never would have crashed had Desmond pushed the button. But is there a larger, more faith-based, spiritualized reason that these people happened to be on that plane when he failed to press the button? If Desmond hadn't run into Jack at that stadium, would he have made the same choices that he made in his life? They all impact each other's lives. The fact that that guy is on that plane up there, and Desmond brings that plane down, it speaks to an interrelatedness among characters, why these people, why do they all connect. No amount of mythological answers will ever speak to this. That's the one thing that when the show ends, you won't have a causal explanation for why did all these people interconnect. Why some, why not others? The answer is just that they just do. The show is a massive Rube Goldberg device, in which all the components of the machinery are humans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)