Nikki and Paolo are buried alive. Any questions? Anyone care?
All joking aside, week's episode was a good solid episode that did nothing in the way of advancing the overall plotline. However, it was interesting to see how the producers incorporated footage of Nikki and Paolo into the first season's wreckage episodes and it was nice to see Shannon and Boone again (I miss Shannon. She was so delightfully cranky). Also, it was interesting how Nikki and Paolo were the first ones to discover the Pearl hatch and the wrecked plane that was the scene of Boone's eventual demise. How they had information that would have benefited the Lost-aways "in the loop" had they been included in the inner circle was a neat twist.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Man from Tallahassee SE3 EP13
“Because you’re in the wheelchair…and I’m not.”I'm not even sure where to begin recapping this episode--it was sooooooo good!! As usual, Locke backstories never disappoint.
Locke's Backstory
Every Locke backstory so far has been heartbreaking and last night was no exception. Obviously suffering from debilitating depression, Locke is living his pathetic life in his dismal apartment when Peter Talbot shows up at his door. Talbot does not trust the guy his mother is madly in love with and going to marry. The only thing Talbot really knows about him is that he got a kidney from John Locke. Locke lies to the kid about his father--tells him it was an anonymous donation, then goes to confront his father himself (Roy DeSoto from "Emergency!") He tells his father to call off the marriage. His father agrees to do as Locke asks. Then the cops show up to question Locke about the death of Peter Talbot. Locke lies again to cover for his father, then goes to confront him himself, only to be reassured that his father is a con man, not a murderer. Then the dude full body checks him halfway across the room and out the eighth story window of the apartment. Locke still secretly craves his father's affection and approval--he covers for him twice in last night's episode. He wants to believe that there is some good in him, or that his father feels something for him. Locke's father brings out the very worst in him--his judgment gets impaired, he loses control of his temper. The depression he was suffering from was obviously a result of his father's rejection of him--and possibly the loss of Helen from his life.
Evil Father Syndrome
Seems that many of the main characters on Lost have some deep daddy issues. The most intriguing I heard mentioned today on WMMR was that Locke's dad (not Kate's, as we originally speculated) was the original "Sawyer" who caused Our Sawyer's dad to kill his mother. Jack, Kate, Sun, Jin, Hurley, and Claire all have issues with their fathers. Jack and Claire have the same father. Desmond has issues with Penelope's evil father. And Benry tells Locke that Alex (who may or may not be his daughter, but at least she was raised as his daughter) hates him right now so holding a gun on him may not be that effective.
Meanwhile, back on the Island....
Great exchanges between Benry and Locke. I loved when Locke asked how they were getting electricity and Benry answered that there were two giant hamsters running on giant wheels in the underground lair. Better was when Benry "tries" to "talk Locke out of" blowing up the sub by telling him that there is a box on the island that can give him anything he wants just by thinking about it. Locke responds that he hopes it's big enough to hold a submarine. Locke tells Benry that he's "cheating" the island--that he understands it but Benry doesn't. Ben says again that he was born on the island--how would Locke know it better than he? "Because you're in the wheelchair..and I'm not." Ben's interest and knowledge of Locke's life seemed genuine--he did truly know everything about him, but his questions, "How did it feel?" "How soon were you able to walk? Was it Immediate?" were intriguing and he sounded like a scientist getting feedback from an experimental subject.
Alex warns Locke on the way to the sub that Benry is manipulating him--because that's what he does. He only makes it seem like it's your own idea. Sure enough, Locke has played right into Benry's hands by destroying the sub--Benry can't let Jack go because then he'll be perceived as weak, but he can't renege on his promise because then he'll lose the trust of his followers. Locke neatly solves that problem for him by blowing up the sub. (Sorry Jack). BTW, I don't believe for a minute that Juliet thought they were getting off the island. She knew Ben had some alternate plan for keeping them there--but specifically thanked him for "keeping his promise". And for what it's worth, I also think that Locke did the right thing by blowing up the sub--just like I believe he was right to blow up the Flame station last week.
Locke's dad is in the box!
This adds a whole new set of issues for Locke to deal with now. On the island, he is confident and sure of himself. He lost his faith once, now has it back. What will the presence of his dad do to Locke's confidence? And about that box...is that the source of Kate's horse, Sayid's cat, Hurley's Dave, etc.? We know that the horse, at the very least, was not a hallucination because both Kate and Sawyer saw it.
Is Jack an Other?
I do believe Jack has been successfully manipulated by the Ben, Juliet and the Others. I do not, however, think that Jack has been "turned"--I think he thinks he's still in control of his destiny and he's just doing what he has to to survive. But I think the Others have him firmly in their grasp.
Other noteworthy scenes
Sayid telling Alex that she looks like her mother--and Alex, bewildered, replies how would he know? Her mother is dead. Sayid's response, "I'm sure that's what they told you." earns him a pounding. Jack and Kate in the game room, when Jack promises to come back for Kate. Also, the guy at the door with Ben before the big Locke's dad reveal is the same one who recruited Juliet earlier this year in her back story. And since Ben told Locke the only way off the island is on that sub (and it's a one way trip--once you leave, you can't come back) where does that leave Michael and Walt who left on that dinky boat?
Next week
Somebody dies and Sawyer gets roundhoused by Sun. I'll be on vacation, so no recap.
Locke's Backstory
Every Locke backstory so far has been heartbreaking and last night was no exception. Obviously suffering from debilitating depression, Locke is living his pathetic life in his dismal apartment when Peter Talbot shows up at his door. Talbot does not trust the guy his mother is madly in love with and going to marry. The only thing Talbot really knows about him is that he got a kidney from John Locke. Locke lies to the kid about his father--tells him it was an anonymous donation, then goes to confront his father himself (Roy DeSoto from "Emergency!") He tells his father to call off the marriage. His father agrees to do as Locke asks. Then the cops show up to question Locke about the death of Peter Talbot. Locke lies again to cover for his father, then goes to confront him himself, only to be reassured that his father is a con man, not a murderer. Then the dude full body checks him halfway across the room and out the eighth story window of the apartment. Locke still secretly craves his father's affection and approval--he covers for him twice in last night's episode. He wants to believe that there is some good in him, or that his father feels something for him. Locke's father brings out the very worst in him--his judgment gets impaired, he loses control of his temper. The depression he was suffering from was obviously a result of his father's rejection of him--and possibly the loss of Helen from his life.
Evil Father Syndrome
Seems that many of the main characters on Lost have some deep daddy issues. The most intriguing I heard mentioned today on WMMR was that Locke's dad (not Kate's, as we originally speculated) was the original "Sawyer" who caused Our Sawyer's dad to kill his mother. Jack, Kate, Sun, Jin, Hurley, and Claire all have issues with their fathers. Jack and Claire have the same father. Desmond has issues with Penelope's evil father. And Benry tells Locke that Alex (who may or may not be his daughter, but at least she was raised as his daughter) hates him right now so holding a gun on him may not be that effective.
Meanwhile, back on the Island....
Great exchanges between Benry and Locke. I loved when Locke asked how they were getting electricity and Benry answered that there were two giant hamsters running on giant wheels in the underground lair. Better was when Benry "tries" to "talk Locke out of" blowing up the sub by telling him that there is a box on the island that can give him anything he wants just by thinking about it. Locke responds that he hopes it's big enough to hold a submarine. Locke tells Benry that he's "cheating" the island--that he understands it but Benry doesn't. Ben says again that he was born on the island--how would Locke know it better than he? "Because you're in the wheelchair..and I'm not." Ben's interest and knowledge of Locke's life seemed genuine--he did truly know everything about him, but his questions, "How did it feel?" "How soon were you able to walk? Was it Immediate?" were intriguing and he sounded like a scientist getting feedback from an experimental subject.
Alex warns Locke on the way to the sub that Benry is manipulating him--because that's what he does. He only makes it seem like it's your own idea. Sure enough, Locke has played right into Benry's hands by destroying the sub--Benry can't let Jack go because then he'll be perceived as weak, but he can't renege on his promise because then he'll lose the trust of his followers. Locke neatly solves that problem for him by blowing up the sub. (Sorry Jack). BTW, I don't believe for a minute that Juliet thought they were getting off the island. She knew Ben had some alternate plan for keeping them there--but specifically thanked him for "keeping his promise". And for what it's worth, I also think that Locke did the right thing by blowing up the sub--just like I believe he was right to blow up the Flame station last week.
Locke's dad is in the box!
This adds a whole new set of issues for Locke to deal with now. On the island, he is confident and sure of himself. He lost his faith once, now has it back. What will the presence of his dad do to Locke's confidence? And about that box...is that the source of Kate's horse, Sayid's cat, Hurley's Dave, etc.? We know that the horse, at the very least, was not a hallucination because both Kate and Sawyer saw it.
Is Jack an Other?
I do believe Jack has been successfully manipulated by the Ben, Juliet and the Others. I do not, however, think that Jack has been "turned"--I think he thinks he's still in control of his destiny and he's just doing what he has to to survive. But I think the Others have him firmly in their grasp.
Other noteworthy scenes
Sayid telling Alex that she looks like her mother--and Alex, bewildered, replies how would he know? Her mother is dead. Sayid's response, "I'm sure that's what they told you." earns him a pounding. Jack and Kate in the game room, when Jack promises to come back for Kate. Also, the guy at the door with Ben before the big Locke's dad reveal is the same one who recruited Juliet earlier this year in her back story. And since Ben told Locke the only way off the island is on that sub (and it's a one way trip--once you leave, you can't come back) where does that leave Michael and Walt who left on that dinky boat?
Next week
Somebody dies and Sawyer gets roundhoused by Sun. I'll be on vacation, so no recap.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Par Avion SE3 EP12
Who’s your daddy, Claire?
Is there any doubt that Lost is back?
After a somewhat slow start to the beginning of the second half of the season, the last two episodes were chock full of stuff that made us fall in love with the show in the first place.
Before we break it down, may I just comment on what a solid and satisfying episode last night's was? I knew the ending would blow us away when they did the big reveal of the Claire/Jack connection halfway through the show.
Claire's Backstory
Jack's Dad! Claire's Dad! THEY ARE THE SAME GUY!!!! Ok, many of us kind of saw that coming but how cool was it that they laid it right out there for us? No coy little hints, no maddening little clues, just "Claire, I am your father." Seeing goth-chick Claire, who basically caused her mother's condition was totally believable. Themes of false hope and guilt--recurring themes that we've seen before--between Jack and his dad, first with Jack's wife (before she became his wife) and next with the Spanish chick's dad who Jack failed at saving. And in spite of Dad's advice, Claire keeps her mother on life support--apparently for at least a year, because we assume when she comes back and performs her act of contrition at her mother's bedside, she is very pregnant and probably on her way to L.A. to give the baybay up for adoption. The question remains, however, whether Jack and Claire will ever put their connection together. Remember, Claire doesn't even know her dad's name.
Jack's Dad
What is Jack's dad's connection to all of this? An interesting theory from one of my co-workers posits that he is still alive and may in fact be the "Great Man" the Others all seem to be referring to (It's NOT Benry--he's NOTHING!). His body was never found, just the empty coffin though Jack id'ed him in the morgue, he could have been cryogenically frozen ala Walt Disney to be re-animated upon arrival on the island. He has too many connections to too many people on the island--Jack, Claire, Ana Lucia, Sawyer, I'm sure more will come. Plus, remember that trippy episode in the first season when Jack kept seeing him standing in the jungle? Also, the man's name is Christian Sheppard--could it possibly BE any more symbolic than that?
Claire, Charlie, Desmond and the Birds
I fear that the birds really only migrate to Other-ville and they are tagged probably by Juliet, so I don't think Claire's idea will work. However, I find it interesting that not only is Desmond still using apparently every waking moment to divert Charlie's ultimate fate, but he seemed to have no qualms about telling Claire exactly what he was doing and why once she confronted him. As annoying as Charlie is, the scene between him and Claire at the end, when she vows to stand by him and get through it together, is very touching. Mark my words, Charlie will die right after they sleep together. Sex is the kiss of death for everyone on this island except for the ones that are married.
Security System
Hands down the coolest way to kill an Other so far. Sonic waves cause mouth to foam and brain to explode. "Scanners", anyone? And note that Mikhail actually thanks Locke for pushing him into the "beam". Again, better to be killed than captured? Oh, and has anyone figured out how Kate, Locke Sayid and Rousseau are going to make it out of there? That tree ramp was way too high to reach from there side of the fence.
Sawyer's Book
Ok, here's a theory I came up with this morning. You all know that taking note of the titles of books and music is an integral part of the Easter Egg nature of Lost. Sawyer was reading The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. Now The Fountainhead has typically been used as a prop in Hollywood to lazily define ruthless, selfish jerks--you will typically see it in scenes used to define a character (Robbie, the jerky waiter in Dirty Dancing gives it to Baby to read and tells her to make sure she gives it back because he has notes in the margin). This is probably because no one in Hollywood has ever actually READ these books, but whatever. So The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are two books with similar plots by Ayn Rand defining her "Objectivism" philosophy--a philosophy that embraces capitalism and that is one hundred percent at odds with the Communist philosophy under which Rand grew up. I believe the placement of The Fountainhead in last night's episode may serve as a valuable clue--not that Losts premise is directly related to the plot of The Fountainhead, but to the what some may call the Ayn Rand masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. The premise of that book is that a form of communism/socialism is choking creativity and capitalism (it's a philosophy novel, ok?) All of the big industrialists suddenly start disappearing one by one after finally not being able to take the stagnation on government regulation. The world begins to go into decline as the most talented people--the ones who make the world go around--start abandoning the infrastructure businesses that they built up. The central query in the novel is "Who is John Galt?" We find out in the second half of the novel that John Galt is a "great man" who has approached these industrialists one by one and convinced them to come and live in his isolated "commune" in the middle of the Rocky Mountains--no one from the outside can get in or out. The heroine, railroad magnate Dagny, is one of the last to join--and when she comes to the "retreat" she finds these major industrialists living quite simply in a very advanced society, but also having the freedom to explore their wildest ideas and bring them to fruition--a perpetual fuel-less motor is one of the inventions. Anyway, I tell you all this by way of saying that I think the Others may be based on the Randian industrialists--Hanso, Widmore, etc. They believe they are the "good guys" (of course, in Rand's book, the industrialists really ARE the good guys, but if we're going to propoerly Hollywood-ize the novel, we have to make them menacing) The "great man" they all talk about is a "John Galt" type character and Other members are recruited--ala Juliet and now Jack. If you have read the book, you will see the parallels pretty easily. If you haven't, I'd recommend it--but it's pretty heavy reading. Perhaps Cliff's Notes, just so you can follow along with my theory. And, if you have read the book, let me know what you think of my theory.
Jack scores a touchdown
Great scene! Sayid tells Kate they have arrived at Other-ville. They look through the leaves and see our happy little Other suburban neighborhood and all of a sudden, Jack is sprinting towards them. Kate goes to call out to him and Sayid stops her just as...he catches a pass from Mr. Friendly aka Zeke aka Tom. Touchdown! Jack spikes the ball. Boom--fade to black. Best ending since Michael got the message from Walt at the computer in the hatch! Has Jack been converted? Is he one of them or just playing along? THIS is why we love the show!
Next week
Locke back story. Need I say more?
Is there any doubt that Lost is back?
After a somewhat slow start to the beginning of the second half of the season, the last two episodes were chock full of stuff that made us fall in love with the show in the first place.
Before we break it down, may I just comment on what a solid and satisfying episode last night's was? I knew the ending would blow us away when they did the big reveal of the Claire/Jack connection halfway through the show.
Claire's Backstory
Jack's Dad! Claire's Dad! THEY ARE THE SAME GUY!!!! Ok, many of us kind of saw that coming but how cool was it that they laid it right out there for us? No coy little hints, no maddening little clues, just "Claire, I am your father." Seeing goth-chick Claire, who basically caused her mother's condition was totally believable. Themes of false hope and guilt--recurring themes that we've seen before--between Jack and his dad, first with Jack's wife (before she became his wife) and next with the Spanish chick's dad who Jack failed at saving. And in spite of Dad's advice, Claire keeps her mother on life support--apparently for at least a year, because we assume when she comes back and performs her act of contrition at her mother's bedside, she is very pregnant and probably on her way to L.A. to give the baybay up for adoption. The question remains, however, whether Jack and Claire will ever put their connection together. Remember, Claire doesn't even know her dad's name.
Jack's Dad
What is Jack's dad's connection to all of this? An interesting theory from one of my co-workers posits that he is still alive and may in fact be the "Great Man" the Others all seem to be referring to (It's NOT Benry--he's NOTHING!). His body was never found, just the empty coffin though Jack id'ed him in the morgue, he could have been cryogenically frozen ala Walt Disney to be re-animated upon arrival on the island. He has too many connections to too many people on the island--Jack, Claire, Ana Lucia, Sawyer, I'm sure more will come. Plus, remember that trippy episode in the first season when Jack kept seeing him standing in the jungle? Also, the man's name is Christian Sheppard--could it possibly BE any more symbolic than that?
Claire, Charlie, Desmond and the Birds
I fear that the birds really only migrate to Other-ville and they are tagged probably by Juliet, so I don't think Claire's idea will work. However, I find it interesting that not only is Desmond still using apparently every waking moment to divert Charlie's ultimate fate, but he seemed to have no qualms about telling Claire exactly what he was doing and why once she confronted him. As annoying as Charlie is, the scene between him and Claire at the end, when she vows to stand by him and get through it together, is very touching. Mark my words, Charlie will die right after they sleep together. Sex is the kiss of death for everyone on this island except for the ones that are married.
Security System
Hands down the coolest way to kill an Other so far. Sonic waves cause mouth to foam and brain to explode. "Scanners", anyone? And note that Mikhail actually thanks Locke for pushing him into the "beam". Again, better to be killed than captured? Oh, and has anyone figured out how Kate, Locke Sayid and Rousseau are going to make it out of there? That tree ramp was way too high to reach from there side of the fence.
Sawyer's Book
Ok, here's a theory I came up with this morning. You all know that taking note of the titles of books and music is an integral part of the Easter Egg nature of Lost. Sawyer was reading The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. Now The Fountainhead has typically been used as a prop in Hollywood to lazily define ruthless, selfish jerks--you will typically see it in scenes used to define a character (Robbie, the jerky waiter in Dirty Dancing gives it to Baby to read and tells her to make sure she gives it back because he has notes in the margin). This is probably because no one in Hollywood has ever actually READ these books, but whatever. So The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are two books with similar plots by Ayn Rand defining her "Objectivism" philosophy--a philosophy that embraces capitalism and that is one hundred percent at odds with the Communist philosophy under which Rand grew up. I believe the placement of The Fountainhead in last night's episode may serve as a valuable clue--not that Losts premise is directly related to the plot of The Fountainhead, but to the what some may call the Ayn Rand masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. The premise of that book is that a form of communism/socialism is choking creativity and capitalism (it's a philosophy novel, ok?) All of the big industrialists suddenly start disappearing one by one after finally not being able to take the stagnation on government regulation. The world begins to go into decline as the most talented people--the ones who make the world go around--start abandoning the infrastructure businesses that they built up. The central query in the novel is "Who is John Galt?" We find out in the second half of the novel that John Galt is a "great man" who has approached these industrialists one by one and convinced them to come and live in his isolated "commune" in the middle of the Rocky Mountains--no one from the outside can get in or out. The heroine, railroad magnate Dagny, is one of the last to join--and when she comes to the "retreat" she finds these major industrialists living quite simply in a very advanced society, but also having the freedom to explore their wildest ideas and bring them to fruition--a perpetual fuel-less motor is one of the inventions. Anyway, I tell you all this by way of saying that I think the Others may be based on the Randian industrialists--Hanso, Widmore, etc. They believe they are the "good guys" (of course, in Rand's book, the industrialists really ARE the good guys, but if we're going to propoerly Hollywood-ize the novel, we have to make them menacing) The "great man" they all talk about is a "John Galt" type character and Other members are recruited--ala Juliet and now Jack. If you have read the book, you will see the parallels pretty easily. If you haven't, I'd recommend it--but it's pretty heavy reading. Perhaps Cliff's Notes, just so you can follow along with my theory. And, if you have read the book, let me know what you think of my theory.
Jack scores a touchdown
Great scene! Sayid tells Kate they have arrived at Other-ville. They look through the leaves and see our happy little Other suburban neighborhood and all of a sudden, Jack is sprinting towards them. Kate goes to call out to him and Sayid stops her just as...he catches a pass from Mr. Friendly aka Zeke aka Tom. Touchdown! Jack spikes the ball. Boom--fade to black. Best ending since Michael got the message from Walt at the computer in the hatch! Has Jack been converted? Is he one of them or just playing along? THIS is why we love the show!
Next week
Locke back story. Need I say more?
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Enter 77 SE3 EP11
Sayid Backstory
Right up until the end, I thought that Sayid's victim had it wrong. Sayid was so convincing that it was not him who tortured her. There was the obvious irony of the torturer getting tortured as well, but the real shocker was Sayid lying right up until his victim brought that damn ugly cat in and told the story of the boys torturing it. I so want to believe in Sayid's integrity and that episode highlighted his flaws.
The Flame
We finally met Eye Patch aka Mikhail who smoothly lies that he is the last of the Dharma initiative. The Flame is obviously the Dharma communication station and it has been disabled. Apparently as a consequence of the electro magnetic pulse. Of course, it's Sayid who picks up on the lies of Mikhail long before Kate--and Rousseau didn't trust him from the start. (BTW--I love Rousseau--she doesn't even care what they have to say--she's just all for killing them.) Miss Clue is back and begs Mikhail to kill her, which he does--but why? Better to be killed than captured? The chess game that Locke was so preoccupied with paid off with a message from our one-armed doctor friend who gave a listing of codes to push for various communications--all of which are disabled (again--due to the electro magetic pulse? Seems Locke may have created quite an inconvenience for the Others when he refused to push the button). Locke then pushes, I think it's 77 to give the code for hostile infiltration of the hatch. The Flame then blows up shortly thereafter. And there's that damn ugly cat again.
I think from this episode, we can pretty much conclude that the Others are definitely a separate group from the Dharma initiative. No doubt some of them may have been recruited for induction into the Other society, but I think it's pretty safe to say that the folks at Dharma had concluded that the Others were hostile to them--just as our Losties have. When you think about it in those terms, Locke entered the exact right code since obviously the station had been infiltrated. The Dharma Initiative, an the weird psychological experiments they conducted on the island may have been a fringe scientific group, but Dharma never included the Others in their calculations and had to adapt to their presence once they set up on the island.
Right up until the end, I thought that Sayid's victim had it wrong. Sayid was so convincing that it was not him who tortured her. There was the obvious irony of the torturer getting tortured as well, but the real shocker was Sayid lying right up until his victim brought that damn ugly cat in and told the story of the boys torturing it. I so want to believe in Sayid's integrity and that episode highlighted his flaws.
The Flame
We finally met Eye Patch aka Mikhail who smoothly lies that he is the last of the Dharma initiative. The Flame is obviously the Dharma communication station and it has been disabled. Apparently as a consequence of the electro magnetic pulse. Of course, it's Sayid who picks up on the lies of Mikhail long before Kate--and Rousseau didn't trust him from the start. (BTW--I love Rousseau--she doesn't even care what they have to say--she's just all for killing them.) Miss Clue is back and begs Mikhail to kill her, which he does--but why? Better to be killed than captured? The chess game that Locke was so preoccupied with paid off with a message from our one-armed doctor friend who gave a listing of codes to push for various communications--all of which are disabled (again--due to the electro magetic pulse? Seems Locke may have created quite an inconvenience for the Others when he refused to push the button). Locke then pushes, I think it's 77 to give the code for hostile infiltration of the hatch. The Flame then blows up shortly thereafter. And there's that damn ugly cat again.
I think from this episode, we can pretty much conclude that the Others are definitely a separate group from the Dharma initiative. No doubt some of them may have been recruited for induction into the Other society, but I think it's pretty safe to say that the folks at Dharma had concluded that the Others were hostile to them--just as our Losties have. When you think about it in those terms, Locke entered the exact right code since obviously the station had been infiltrated. The Dharma Initiative, an the weird psychological experiments they conducted on the island may have been a fringe scientific group, but Dharma never included the Others in their calculations and had to adapt to their presence once they set up on the island.
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