Getting Psyched

January 31 Lost returns Thursdays at 9pm.
I’ve just completed my Lost-a-thon of Season 3. Some random thoughts:

Themes of Redemption and Remorse
Mr. Eko’s violent death at the “hands” of the smoke monster was seemingly due to his unrepentant nature for the sins of his past. Mr. Eko, when confronted at the end by the image of Yemmi and told to confess, felt he had nothing to confess for. Everything he did, he did for the benefit of his brother, so that Yemmi could have a better life. He did it to survive. And he has nothing to feel sorry for. The Yemmi image then says “You speak to me as if I am your brother” then proceeds to pummel him. Eko feels no remorse for his actions, but clearly the Island/Jacob/Image of Yemmi thinks he should.

A few episodes later, Kate meets up with Cassie who helps her to arrange a meeting with her mother. Kate does not understand why her mother turned her in. When she confronts her mother, she has no remorse for her actions. If she stayed on the island, her fate would probably be the same as Eko’s, yet we all know Kate leaves, probably for a better life back in the real world.

In the flashbacks in “Enter 77”, Sayid has to reckon with a former victim of his torture. For most of the episode, Sayid resists admitting that he was the one who tortured the woman, until the end, when he realizes that the right thing to do, to give himself and his victim peace, is to acknowledge what he does. Sayid does have remorse. Remorse may lead to redemption for sins of the past.

The killing of Locke’s dad
Locke is not a murderer; Sawyer is. Ben tried to get Locke to kill his dad because it would diminish Locke in some way as far as the Island/Jacob was concerned. Locke knew this, but knew that he also had to rid the world of his evil father; therefore Sawyer was used as a tool.

Jack’s Stubbornness
The overarching theme for Jack last season was his stubbornness. Juliet comments on it right after they first meet. The first Jack episode has him stalking his now ex-wife until she gives up the name of her new lover. His stubbornness and resulting paranoia have him accusing his father of sleeping with Sara (We do not know if this actually happened or not) The inevitable accusation of his father leads Christian Sheppard to fall off the wagon and presumably to err in the operating room which is what Jack rats him out for and gets him removed as chief of surgery.

The next Jack story was the pathetic one with Bai Ling in Vietnam, where he finds out she is a tattoo artist who “sees” people then “marks” them. Jack insists on her giving him a tattoo, even though she is afraid to give it to him—and insists it is wrong and “against her people”. After he is “marked” he is outcast from the beach and beaten up by the locals and told to leave.

The third Jack story is “Through the Looking Glass” where is he now a ruined man, stubbornly denying his addiction, stalking Kate and obsessed with getting off the island. Jack’s stubbornness combined with his refusal to admit his first instincts may be wrong are his biggest failings and ultimately, his undoing. Jack will eventually have to atone for the ruination of his father.

As an interesting side note, we had only one Claire backstory last season and Claire, like her half brother Jack, also has a streak of unreasonable stubbornness in that she refuses to take her mother off life support despite Christian’s offer of help and advice to do same.

Previews
Sawyer tells Kate (presumably in conjunction with his announcement to stay on the Island) that he will “Do what I always do: Survive.” Eko says this same thing to Yemmi’s Image right before he is pounded by the Black Smoke. We can only hope that Sawyer’s decision to stay will somehow lead to Sawyer’s redemption, because we want Sawyer to stick around until the end. I would say that his killing of “Anthony Cooper” was a step in that direction until he offed our Mr. Friendly in such a cold blooded manner. Sawyer will have to atone for the murder of Tom.

Some Lostaways stay, some go. The previews I’ve seen all but confirm what we began to suspect last year, which is that Ben (and the Others) are acting in the best interests of the Island (except Juliet, who is a mercenary out only for herself.) The “Rescuers” are not there on the primary business of rescuing the survivors of Flight 815, because as our dearly departed Naomi informed us, before she was knifed by Locke, there were no survivors of Flight 815—the wreckage had been found and the survivors’ bodies identified. Ben was right: the Others were the Good Guys. Our Lostaways were catalysts that are bringing about a clash between the Good Guys and the Bad Guys.

Hurley jumps into the ocean: “Now I will be free”. I’ve browsed around a couple of Lost fan sites in the off-season, but I don’t want to get too involved in them (more on that later). However, just based on Hurley’s “Freedom” speech (and it’s really more of a sentence) I believe it IS in FACT Hurley in the coffin in Jack’s front story in “Through the Looking Glass”. It fits with the theme of everything is reversed or opposite, especially when viewed in connection with the episode where Hurley finds the Hippie bus when Hurley fights the skepticism of his fellow Lostaways and brings hope and victory and unites the folks on the island. Additionally, it is Hurley who plays Sawyer in ping-pong and forces him to go three days without nicknames. It is Hurley who helps Sawyer mend fences by creating goodwill. Also, it is Hurley who saves the shooters who are captured by the Others by storming the beach in said hippie bus. When Hurley gets off the island, we can only assume he has done something so heinous that no one can forgive him—hence no one shows at the funeral and Kate asks Jack “Why would I go?” I stand by my Hurley prediction now more than ever.

The logo of Lost at the end of the previews with the backdrop of the island, but the reflection is a big city.

Why I don’t get too involved in the fan sites
As much as I am dying to know what is going on, I want to figure it out for myself. There is nothing quite like the “Aha!” moments when something on this show finally comes together, or big reveals happen. Internet rumors and foreknowledge diminish this somewhat, such as Walt finding Locke in the pit or the Anthony Cooper-Locke-Sawyer reckoning. However, the Jacob moment and the ending of Through the Looking Glass, not to mention the entire episode of Desmond’s “time traveling” following the EMP were moments of pure storytelling genius that I found all the more satisfying for not having seen them coming. The writers of this show have earned my trust so I’m backing away from the internet rumors and spoilers, not that I put much faith in them anyway. I’ll stick with the Preston and Steve recap and that’s about it.

Season 3 DVD
I would highly recommend re-acquainting yourself with the series through a condensed viewing of the entire 3rd season. It plays much better in short, uninterrupted breaks than it does in the format we were subjected to for the first two years. Overarching themes become more apparent. The seventh disk is one of extras, and here is the stuff I found particularly worthwhile:

Lost Bookclub
Writers, producers, and actors comment on the many books that show up in the series and their influence. Of course Stephen King and the Stand feature prominently, however Carrie is also a big one in that they draw parallels between the outcast of Carrie and Juliet. It remains to be seen whether Juliet is telekinetic or not. Also, I think an obvious King book that has been missed, but maybe we will see this season is the Dead Zone in conjunction with Desmond. In the Dead Zone, the main character, Johnny Smith, gains precognitive powers just after a horrible accident. But he also has the power to change the terrible things he sees in the future by his own free will. Des does too, however we have that whole “Universe is course correcting” thing happening as well.

One of the things they all point out is that it is usually Sawyer who is doing the reading, which kind of plays against type for him, but is a part of his character I love. Especially since he needed those improvised glasses Jack made for him in season one. A partial, but by no means complete, listing of books mentioned follows:

Carrie
The Third Policeman (themes of redemption and it is revealed that the main character has been dead all along at the end)
Dostoyevsky
Of Mice and Men
Watership Down
Are You There God, it’s Me, Margaret (One of my favorite books as a kid and Sawyer calls it “Predictable”)
The Fountainhead
A Brief History of Time
Wizard of Oz
Alice in Wonderland (that one I added, see below)

Lost in a Day
An interesting documentary on how the show is actually put together. No clues, but very interesting nonetheless. And say a little prayer that the writers’ strike is resolved soon because from what I’ve heard they only have 8 episodes in the can. And that’s. Just. Not. Enough.

Sneak Peeks
Lots of crappy ABC promos, but there is a 30 second Lost preview that I haven’t seen in general circulation. Something to the effect of: “They thought they knew the enemy. They were wrong. Defend the Island” all to some trippy native music. Kinda cool, I guess.

Dharma Orchid Orientation Film
Cool Dharma film which is interesting for what it reveals about the properties of the Orchid station. Out Korean white lab coated professor is back in the grainy 70’s era film, this time unedited as some things go wrong—he’s holding another white rabbit, this one labeled 15, when all of a sudden something falls through the ceiling and he turns around and the very same (presumably) white rabbit #15 is also behind him on the shelf. “What the hell….? Don’t let them touch each other!” Teleportation? Time travel? I’m looking forward to exploring the Orchid.

Oh, and by the way, may I take this opportunity to point out that the White Rabbit is a recurring theme throughout season three—the Looking Glass station’s logo is a white rabbit. Ben had one as a kid, and pretended to kill #8 when he was conning Sawyer. Through the Looking Glass, of course, is the sequel to Alice in Wonderland.

Lost Flashbacks
Deleted scenes from season three flashbacks. Noteworthy were Jin attending Jae’s funeral and undercover FBI agent arresting all of the “family” at Locke’s hippie farm commune, but letting Locke go.

Deleted Scenes
Lots of Nikki and Paulo stuff that can be skipped. Most noteworthy is “On the way to Jacob’s” where Locke confronts Ben about Alex, telling him he knows she’s not his daughter and why didn’t you tell her mother was alive. Ben says” Because her mother was a psychopath who killed her whole team then spent the next 16 years living in dirt holes. Wouldn’t your life have been better if you didn’t know your real parents?” Which is Ben’s way of maybe not addressing the fact that Rousseau maybe only went crazy after he took Alex.

Also interesting is the scene between “Alex and Daddy” where Alex in a fit of teenage pique about Ben’s treatment of her boyfriend Carl has her telling Ben she wishes he was dead, to which Ben replies “You may get your wish” and tells her about the tumor. Alex appears to contemplate this for a few minutes then tells Ben “I don’t care what happens to you.”

A bonus Easter Egg
On almost all four menus, you can move the pointer around and get little Easter egg effects and sometimes clips. Some of them are stupid, like the Sat Phone lighting up, or the clip about the chickens or the spider wranglers (who look like they came right out of Dharma central casting—and who assure us, in case anyone was worried—that no spiders were hurt in the filming of the Nikki and Paolo episode, and that they were all set free after the filming.) No, the real bonus is to get your pointer on door 23 where you can then watch the trippy brainwashing movie that Carl was subjected to. Sorry, no 3D glasses were included.

Ok, one more time: Get psyched and let the countdown begin.