Lost is finally back!--and better than ever? See our analysis and leave your thoughts after the break. As usual, MEGA spoiler warnings apply.
Very, very intense. Love the code for "OK I'm opening the fence BUT it's only under duress." Reminiscent of both Naomi's codephrase and Ben's line back in Season 3:
LOCKE: [checking to make sure they've left] The man from Tallahassee? What is that? Some kind of code?
BEN: No, John, unfortunately we don't have a code for "There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head." Although we obviously should.
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Man_from_Tallahassee_transcript
Makes me wonder if they DO have a code for that and Ben was just choosing not to use it. :)
Nifty, too, how they exploited our knowledge of what is to come to make us all think Claire was a goner.
Interesting that we have the research arm of the freighter crew, who served as scouts, and now the militant arm. What was the point of the research stuff? Just to see if the coast was clear? And the disarmament of the Tempest seems more signifiacant now that we know the crew had been planning an invasion. Of course, they couldn't stop Cerberus. :) Makes me wonder whether they were worried about it. You'd think they'd put the fence back up after going through. But there the monster was, in the heart of the barracks. Could it have circumvented the fence? Hmm. (It was probably just that they were too dumb to put the fence back up.)
What was up with Ben summoning Cerberus anyway? How'd that work? How come he came out all roughed-up and dirty? At first I though he'd teleported/time-travelled. Which, moving right along, was clearly how he got to Tunisia. The Orchid. That's why he was wearing Halowax's coat.
Poor Alex / Poor Ben. It's sad that the last thing she heard him say was that she was just a pawn, although he clearly didn't mean it. And it's sad for Ben that she died. I thought a few things when he let it happen. (1) How often does that happen in TV and movies? That the guy doesn't give in to the hostage plea, and that the hostage then gets shot? Not too often. (2) When he said he had things under control, he seemed to mean it. Which brought me back to the bizarre "off-island dead people returning on-island" issue. Could it be that even if she was "killed," she wouldn't truly be dead? But no. The writers have talked about this. Even amidst all the craziness, they don't want to introduce a cop-out like that. So scratch that. But as soon as he said "He changed the rules," I thought that (3) Jacob had told Ben that Alex wasn't SUPPOSED to die and thus couldn't, a la Michael. So he thought he had to have faith that the gun would jam, or Keamy wouldn't go through with it, or whatever. But someone brought up a very good point after the episode: (4) Maybe it was WIDMORE who had changed the rules. They're clearly fighting over the island, and maybe they promised each other at some point in the past that they wouldn't target each other's families. You know--civilized war. And thus it had been Widmore who changed the rules, and with that rule broken, Ben felt OK about going after Penny.
Speaking of Widmore--wow. Makes Ben look like the bad guy again after all, eh? I'm guessing Widmore controlled the island before Dharma. (Or maybe he led Dharma, of course--that's in ways the more obvious answer--but in a way it's more interesting if we're introducing him as the group that preceded everything we know, but which is implied via cyclicity to exist. Would certain Hostiles be remnants of that group? Richard, maybe? ...nah...
Interesting the way Ben said Widmore would never find the island, and Widmore said Ben would never find Penny. Seems oddly... parallel, no? What if Widmore *is* associated with Dharma, and the island isn't the only "special spot" on the face of the earth, and Penny's being hidden in another???
And there were definitely Star Wars-esque moments there, especially revolving around fear/anger/grief comments. But the stress in Lost is on revenge. The stress in Star Wars is on fear. Fear is pre-emptive; revenge is retailiatory. In general, there's huge overlap (REVENGE of the Sith, anyone?), but that's an interesting distinction to make. Another Star Wars connection: the Widmore/Ben relationship is reminiscent of the relationship between Sith. Hm.
For the Class of '08'ers out there, could the guy named Ishmael be a reference to the themes of our favorite gorilla book???
OK, I could write more, but I really should be getting back to other things.... oh, and what's up with Jack??? Drug issues????? Already???????
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Friday, April 25, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "The Shape of Things to Come"
Monday, March 24, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "Meet Kevin Johnson"
It’s now on break until April 27, but Lost went out with a bang this Thursday. Eh, sort of. Not really. Anyway, thoughts follow. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS AHH DON’T CLICK if you haven’t seen the episode.
Hmm... OK, so no big surprises, Michael is the spy and Walt was just dropped off at home. (I was half-expecting him to be locked away on the freighter somewhere.)
This, for the most part, felt like it was just filling in a bunch of holes--a bunch of stuff that we just needed to know to keep going. We saw too little of the island itself for my tastes, but oh well. I was expecting an invasion or something, judging by the preview. So much for a midseason climax.
There were several moments when it seemed the concept of the island as purgatory/underworld were about to be introduced--for instance, when it seemed Michael had committed suicide. (Remember especially Locke's dad's highway accident.) But no, it was as if they were just teasing us. I think people (including me) are probably a little too quick to go to the supernatural for explanation of these things on this crazy crazy show.
Speaking of supernatural, though, the most interesting thing from tonight, from the Michael storyline anyway, was how the island wouldn't let him kill himself. It just wasn't supposed to happen. I think that explains a lot of why he was willing to go on the mission. (1) What else is he going to do? (2) I think ultimately he just wants to die, and he thinks the island will only let him die if he does this first. ("What are you doing here?" "I'm here to die.")
Oh, and regarding Walt: I didn't catch it, but Lostpedia says he was played by a double in that episode. Interesting. Does that mean they're going to have issues if they want to bring him back as a regular character, or are they going to explain it away with some little time travel excuse?
Image of double in Meet Kevin Johnson: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Fake_Walt.jpg
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Walt#Trivia
Also: interesting how the Captain (working for Widmore) was implying that Ben planted the fake plane, while now Ben is saying that Widmore did it. And the captain seemed utterly nonplussed by Sayid’s revelation that Michael’s a traitor.
And also interesting: Miles. He's always been a little different than the rest of the freighter folks--more violent, confrontational, sneaky. "Another Sawyer," as Hurley put it. Apparently Locke took the grenade out.
BUT, OF COURSE, the most exciting part was the very end. Looks like Ben got his daughter's two best allies killed. Poor Danielle! And she had an interesting story, too. She was the one who was always talking about the illness and the whispers and what not, both of which remain mysteries. And she was always helpful to the Losties. And she was so sneaky, with her traps and everything. Of course, she may not be dead.
To whoever was manning the blowdarts--nice aim, it took you, what, like three shots to hit Carl? Actually, it almost seemed like an automated defense system, Indiana Jones-style. But no, you can't reason with a trap, which is what Alex was doing there at the end.
So presumably that was the Others, the Hostiles, Richard's people. Why would they kill Carl and Danielle? Did they not "belong" at the Temple? And what exactly IS the Temple???
So many questions left unanswered! So long to wait! This episode had lots of Michael, not enough island. Oh well. It was still great, of course. Any Lost is great, from my undiscerning point of view. :)
Oh, and apparently Aaron is the last of the Oceanic 6. Eh. Not a huge fan of that, but whatever. It has some interesting implications, now that that's locked down:
1. Michael doesn't make it back again.
2. People still don't know about Michael.
3. Either people still don't know about Walt, or he somehow ends up back on the island.
4. But there's no easy way for him to get back, soo...
5. He seems like an interesting ally in Jack's inevitable quest to get back.
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Sunday, March 16, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "Ji Yeon"
Another interesting episode. Only one left before the break! :( Read our thoughts here, and leave your own in the comments. As usual, beware of spoilers! Only continue if you're up-to-date!
Hmm... OK, so nothing has really matched the splendor of The Constant yet. But next week will be a sort of mini-finale, so that ought to be very interesting.
The main plot dealt with Sun and Jin. I was originally unsure of whether Jin's scenes were flashbacks, but I'm now almost certain. The old-fashioned cell phone was the first tip-off...
It was pretty terrible of Juliet to reveal Sun's affair like that... she has an "ends justify the means" philosophy that I really dislike...
What was up with Hurley's ultra-creepy "good"???
HURLEY: Is anyone else coming?
SUN: No.
HURLEY: Good.
The tombstone is interesting. It lists the date of death as September 22, 2004--the day Oceanic 815 crashed. My guess is that the Oceanic 6 are just telling the world that Jin was one of the many who died in the crash, so clearly Jin hasn't made it off, but I'm not so sure he's dead. He could very well be one of those to whom Jack thinks "we have to go back!"
There was also some interesting stuff going on on the freighter. First of all, where's the helicopter??? Apparently Frank has taken it somewhere, and Ray-the-doctor implied that he was heading back to the island, but managed to dodge the question. Judging by next week's preview, maybe he's, y'know, getting ready to storm the beaches or something... or maybe there's something else out there, something he could land on other than the island, that the doc doesn't want Sayid knowing about.
Regina was weird. First with reading her book upside-down, and then with her suicide. And no one seemed surprised by that stuff. Clearly there's something maddening about the island, or at least there's something maddening about the snowglobe barrier.
And the captain didn't seem that bad. He implied that Ben was in on the faking of 815, which is interesting. The black box was also interesting. But was it the box of the real 815, or the planted 815? Here's the dialogue:
GAULT: That's exactly what it is. Now here's the funny thing. This black box comes from Oceanic Flight 815. A salvage vessel recovered it from the bottom of the ocean. It took a considerable amount of Mr. Widmore's resources to procure it. It was found with the wreckage of the plane, along with all 324 dead passengers. (to Sayid) That's not the complete story, as you are well aware, Mr. Jarrah, given the fact that you're standing here, breathing... The wreckage was obviously staged. Now can you imagine what kind of resources and manpower go into pulling off a feat of that magnitude? Faking the recovery of a plane crash? Putting 324 families through a grieving process based on a lie? But what's even more disturbing... where exactly does one come across 324 dead bodies? And that, Mr. Jarrah, Mr. Hume, is just one of the many reasons we want Benjamin Linus.
So it seems it's from the fake 815. But then what good is it? It's not like you're going to track it back to Ben's secret off-island HQ landing strip. It would be much more useful if it were from the real plane, and it would help explain how the freighter had found the island. But then how in the world would anyone have recovered it? Recovering it would presumably mean finding the plane, unless it had somehow escaped and floated off to Fiji or something. And we don't know of anyone finding the plane, the real plane. So, what, did Ben find it and sell it to Widmore? Seems unlikely, given how much he hates the guy. Did he find it and give it to Michael to take it to Widmore and lead him into a trap or something? Haha, nah. If Ben was the one who planted the fake, then maybe he took the real black box and planted it with it, but that'd just be stupid. Doesn't make any sense.
Also, it seems like one of the Oceanic Six remains unknown. Could it be the one in the newspaper clipping? It's odd--you'd think it'd be the funeral of someone Jack & Kate knew from the island, right? But if it was one of the Six, they'd be a celebrity, and of course their death would be a big deal and lots of people would go. So, non-Sixies who they knew from the island who made it off... um, Ben? I'm not sure anyone would go to his funeral, and he's sort of been operating in secret. We know it's a man, don't we? For Sixies, that leaves Hurley, Sayid, or the one yet to be revealed. Hm. Out of those choices, and knowing nothing about the sixth Sixie, I'd have to say Ben, however sad it would be to admit that the man we love to hate is mortal. Hey, he could always be faking it.
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Friday, March 7, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "The Other Woman"
What’d you think of the latest episode of Lost? Where do you stand on America’s favorite love quadrangle? Read on for some of our thoughts, and leave yours in the comments. Spoiler alert: stop reading now if you’re not up-to-date!
First of all: The Tempest plot felt a little rushed. I'm really gonna miss the 9 episodes we're missing this season....
Moving on, umm, I can't stand Juliet. However lost she may have been upon arriving on the island, Ben has gotten to her, by which I mean that she has been infected by his sneaky schemingness. Except when Ben does it it's great, and when Juliet does it it's annoying. She has adopted the "ends justify the means" mentality. Whatever she’s doing—saving them all, killing them all, whatever, it’s hard to tell sometimes—she is not afraid to completely betray her allies (many times over) in the process.
Regarding Ben & Juliet's relationship: whoah, crazy. I think there needs to be Lost-brand Valentine's Day cards with that great line—“Why? You're asking me why? After everything I did to get you here, after everything I've done to keep you here, how can you possibly not understand THAT YOU'RE MINE? …Take as much time as you need.”And it could be one of those talking Hallmark cards, for extra creepiness.
HARPER: So, Juliet, what do you think of Ben?
JULIET: He's great. Uh, very smart... and intense. Challenging. He's been really good to me.
HARPER: Of course he has. You look just like her.
It’s unclear who Harper was referring to—Annie is one possibility, but Liz suggested Emily, his mom, which would be oh-so-Oedipal. Anyway, the Annie reference is intriguing--if she's still around, and I'm still convinced she is, then Ben's relationship with Juliet seems a little... dishonest. And it’s further proof that Harper is very close to Ben (professionally, naturally), and probably has been for a long time. Also, it's dangerous for Ben to be forming attachments like that. I've mentioned how I think so much of what he does is motivated by his guilt over killing his mom, and that has probably caused him to make some unwise decisions. Any sort of romantic relationship jeapardizes his ability to be a cold, calculating, removed, infinitely patient, oh-so-creepy mastermind.
What was going on in the present with Ben and Locke was pretty interesting. I think Ben was lying when he said the Widmore info was his last bargaining chip--hello, how's he contacting Harper and Juliet???--but may have been telling the truth when he said his people don't want him any more (which isn't to say that most of them aren't still loyal to him). I've thought for a little while that it's possible that the failed attack on the Losties last season was actually orchestrated by Ben to cull the weak and disloyal from his group. Or it may just have been a big stumble. Speaking of stumbles, it would seem he stumbled by failing to stop Daniel and Charlotte. But who knows. His new allegiance with Locke ought to be interesting.
I'm hoping that the relationships are only so messed up now (e.g. Jack w/ Juliet) so that it will be that much more satisfying when, ultimately, everyone ends up with the person with whom they are SUPPOSED to be. The universe has a way of course correcting, and Jack is way off-course. I hope.
Regarding the Widmore revelation—I’m pretty sure Penny isn't manipulating/using Desmond. I'm pretty sure that, if anything, her dad is just secretly piggybacking on her work. But of course, he's been looking for longer than she has. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Desmond is on the island in part *because* Mr. Widmore was looking for it. That race around the world? What if he had a vague idea of where the island was, so he decided to send hundreds (?) of sailboats streaming past it under the pretense of a "race"? What if he was tracking every boat in the race (you'd think he would) via GPS, and Desmond actually led the freighter to the island?
I LOVED the Red Sox bit. But after Ben's tape of Widmore, instead of going to static it should have gone back to the game. That'd have been awesome.
And finally, did anyone else notice the "hostiles" talk?!? Completely reinforcing the concept that the Island's power progression is cyclical.
JACK: That woman--what was her name?
JULIET: Harper.
JACK: The two of you friends?
JULIET: Not exactly. She was my therapist.
JACK: You people had therapists?
JULIET: It's very stressful being an Other, Jack.
JACK: Seemed kinda hostile, even for a therapist.
---
CLAIRE: John, we have to find out who these people are and where they came from and why they're not interested in rescuing us.
JOHN: And you don't think I'm gonna get that out of him?
CLAIRE: No, I... I just think we might be taking the wrong approach. I mean, you killed one, Ben shot one, and now we're holding one prisoner. You know, it's not hard to understand why they might think we're hostile. I might be just a little less intimidating.
See?!? Damon & Carlton (the writers) made a good point in some interview: when the Losties arrived, there were already cliches and power struggles going on, but the Losties didn't have a sufficiently nuanced view of the situation to call them all anything but "others." And now the Boaties have arrived, and they're not all sure who to trust, and they sort of see the Losties/Others as being hostile. Look at how they killed Naomi! Of course, *we* know that that was just Locke, but how are the Boaties supposed to realize that Locke is fundamentally different than the rest??? The Losties ARE the Others.
Images from http://www.lost-media.com/ (beware of spoilers, including for upcoming episodes)
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Friday, February 29, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "The Constant"
Read some of our thoughts and discuss the latest episode of LOST in the comments below. We'll update throughout the week as we think things over. Spoiler alert: don't click through if you haven't seen "The Constant" yet!
Um, wow. Gotta be one of my favorite episodes ever.
First of all, the Black Rock thing was awesome..jpg)
We got more hints regarding time dilation and such. (Dan's way of putting it--that their perception of the passage of time was different than the helicopter's--was interesting.) And, as suspected, the storm does indeed look like a permanent feature of the world/island "snowglobe barrier" (as Maddy put it). Looks like it's a combination of time dilation and some sort of... well, not portal/wormhole, but some sort of catastrophic event that "unhinges" people from time. If you think about time as just another dimension, like time and space, it makes sense. People are free to move around wherever we want in space.
Great to see who Minkowski was--fascinating given his namesake that he, like Desmond, would also suffer from temporal unhinging.
You know how Penny said she's been looking for Desmond for 3 years? Interesting that, by going back in time and telling her about the island, he causes her to then look for it. But you know, I don't think he could change anything significant about the past even if he tried. This is not Back to the Future (although tonight's episode was extremely reminiscent of it). The universe has a way of course-correcting; paradoxes may not be allowed to exist.
Then again... I wonder. What the creepy ring lady was saying (the course-correcting thing) was essentially that the universe was stable. Like those little dolls that can't be pushed over, or a river in a deep gorge, it always comes back to the same spot, the same path. But what if the river reached a delta? Is it possible that it could become, well, *un*stable? That'd be baaaaad news, I reckon.
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Thursday, February 21, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on “Eggtown”
Will some of the above turn out to be the same thing? Who knows… UPDATE 23 Feb. 08: MR. CAMPANALE (fac.) 
OK, so we’re a little late to the party. But from now on, every week, members of the Beaver community will share their thoughts on LOST in this new column. This isn’t about summarizing what happened, although there will be some of that—it’s about sharing and discussing theories & ideas. Throw in your two cents in the comments.
Major spoilers after the break; don’t keep reading if you’re not up-to-date! (But please don’t post spoilers about upcoming episodes…)
So, like every other week, this episode was full of countless twists, revelations, and, typically, questions. We learn that Jin speaks perfect English, Daniel can’t remember the three of spades in his pack of Dharma playing cards, the helicopter is M.I.A., and apparently Kate has a son. Oh wait- CORRECTION: Kate STOLE AARON.
Apparently the Oceanic Six have an entire story crafted out; eight people survived the crash, two died, the other six returned, along with (or including?) Aaron, posed as Kate’s son. The obvious question is, what did they do to get off the island, and, in this specific situation, why did they take the kid but ditch the mom (Claire)? Are the other Losties still on the island, or are they dead?
An important thing to consider is how exactly Kate could pull off being Aaron’s mom (this is, of course, assuming that Aaron is Claire’s baby, and not actually Kate’s, whom she decided to name after Aaron Sr.). One thing we must come to realize is that they don’t get rescued for a long time after the freighter people land on the island. If, lets say, they were to get home within a few months of where the show is now, it would be very obvious that Aaron was born only a few months after the crash. This would be discovered because, for young children at least, it is very easy to deduce when they were born. They would realize that Kate would have had to be in her third trimester prior to the crash, which she definitely wasn’t. If Aaron was a few years older, however, it would be harder to predict his exact time of birth, meaning that Kate could pretend that she was only a few months along at the crash, or got pregnant on the island.
Something else to ponder is why Jack seems so hesitant to see Aaron in the future. Well, there seems to be a few possible explanations to me. We all know that Jack and Claire are half siblings, although they don’t know this—yet. My guess is that they somehow figure this out, and that is why its so difficult for Jack to face his nephew. He most likely feels guilty for either leaving her on the island and stealing her kid, for the fact that she is dead, or, in Toph Tucker ‘08’s opinion, Jack feels bad for murdering his new-found sister. (Note from Toph: I’m not saying it happened, just that we need to consider the possibility. :)) Another fact we must consider is something that Desmond told Charlie last season—he told Charlie that he had a vision of Charlie pushing “the button” and then saw Claire and Aaron getting onto a helicopter. Of course, maybe Des only said this to get Charlie to push it, or maybe they both did get on the helicopter. Maybe they pushed Claire out over the open ocean and kept the kid? Who knows, it could happen…
One thing that, looking back, struck me as odd, was something that Kate told Jack in front of the taxi. She clearly states that “she has a son”- something that Jack knows is a lie. But before this, they were being completely honest about the lies that Jack had just told in court, so why would she be trying to cover up now? Or is it really her son? My initial thoughts when I saw Kate’s “son” was, why is he blonde? Now that looks like proof that it is Claire’s son, although, one could argue, that Kate might have the recessive trait for blonde hair (cause we know her mom is blonde), and Sawyer, if he is the father, has pretty light hair as well. No matter whose child he is, though, there is one thing that is answered; we now know that, in the season 3 finale’s last scene, when Kate says, “I have to go, he’ll be wondering where I am,” she is referring to Aaron. Still doesn’t answer whether Aaron is actually her son, or, as suggested by the ending of this episode, Claire’s. But would the writers really name the kid Aaron if it was Kate's child? I mean, isn’t that ridiculously confusing? Well, of course, this is LOST, which means that anything is possible.
Wanna see the episode again? Just go to ABC.com and watch it again for free, along with every other episode of LOST. As Locke said at the beginning of this episode, “you might catch something that you missed the second time around.”
Tonight’s episode focused a lot more on Kate than on the “big picture,” unlike the past few episodes. Since this is the first time we’re doing this, I’ll share some of my accumulated thoughts about stuff beyond Kate.
1. Time Dilation
“The Economist” introduced what promises to be a huge plot point: there’s something going on between the island and the rest of the world that messes with time. The clock on the payload was about half an hour ahead of Dan’s clock. There appear to be TWO phenomena at work. (1) The payload arrived much later than expected. (2) When it arrived, the clocks had fallen out-of-sync.
It could be time travel. But if I were a betting man, my money would be on time dilation—time moving at different speeds for different people/places. Super-high speeds (like INSANELY fast, faster than anything on Earth) can slow down time, as can big gravitational fields. We know the island exhibits wacky electromagnetic characteristics. Could there also be gravitational weirdness? What if the button in the hatch, which was releasing electromagnetic buildup every 108 minutes, also regulated that? Now that the hatch is gone, could the island be falling out of sync with the rest of the world?
I think the characters would have noticed higher-than-normal gravity on the island. But what if it’s something about the water surrounding the island? Some kind of barrier?
Tonight we may have gotten another clue, as the helicopter appears to be late getting back to the ship. A lot of people have written theories and such on Lostpedia, etc. But none of them are particularly convincing, and it's not clear that all these people have a clue what they're talking about. I need to think more about this…
…and then again, there’s a precedent for time travel facilitated by the island: Desmond. We have no evidence of prior time dilation. But in the “real” world, time dilation has been tested and proven, whereas time travel has not. Then again, I can’t remember the last time I saw a smoke monster, either. I suppose I’m just lucky I’m not a betting man.
2. Equilibrium
The island appears to have a different sort of "equilibrium" state than the rest of the world. In normal life, people are born, age, reproduce, and die. And that's the natural state of the world. But look at Richard--who, like Locke (at times), appears to be "in tune" with the Island. And look at the pregnancy problems. Assuming that Richard, like Locke and unlike Ben (e.g. Ben's cancer wasn't cured), is somehow more a "friend" of the island, and thus exists in the way that he is "supposed" to. It appears, then, that the natural state of the island is that no one dies, but no one is born. In the real world, change is constant and unavoidable. On the island, it is smothered.
3. Matthew Abaddon
I'm still wondering about his line to Hurley, "Are they still alive?" We don't know who "they" are, and we don't know how the Oceanic Six got off the island. But the line is one piece of evidence that Abaddon is somehow out-of-the-loop. That, of course, doesn't tell us that the Oceanic Six got off via someone other than the freighter people. But it tips the equation in favor of that. After all, if the Six had gotten off via the freighter, Abaddon & Co. would've have plenty of time to question Hurley & Co. on the way back, in whatever setting they desired, on their "home turf." But now Abaddon has to track down Hurley to ask him? And Hurley doesn't recognize him? (We don't know whether Abaddon is on the freighter, of course.) Again, it doesn't tell us anything conclusively, but it makes me lean away from thinking the Six & the freighter people are all friendly with each other. Oceanic, on the other hand, seems to be friendly with them. (Then again, no matter how the Six turned up, Oceanic would of course be quick to hand them Golden Passes and everything. It's also possible that Oceanic is associated with the freighter people.) And Ben, we now know, can come and go. Maddy mentioned another thing: Abaddon could just be playing games with Hurley. Who knows.
4. Coming Full Circle
As Ben pointed out, he is once again being held captive, LOCKEd in a room by Locke. But there’s more. Just like the Hostiles/Others wiped out Dharma and began living in their houses, the Losties have now driven away the Others and are living in their houses. Ben referenced this natural cycle of conflict, purge, and rebirth in the Season 3 finale. It would be interesting to know whether anyone came before the Others & Dharma. Also: the Others clearly survived the Losties’ mini-purge. Of the Dharma Initiative, Ben, at least, survived the Hostiles’ purge (because he defected, akin to how some Others have survived by defecting to the Losties). What about others? Specifically, what about Annie? We still haven’t seen the Others this season. Last we heard they were heading to “the temple.” I’m going to guess three things: Mikhail survived, Richard is leading the Others, and Annie is at the temple. Remember, there’s a ton to the island that we still haven’t seen. Roger Linus even mentioned an airplane in a way that makes it sound like there could be a little airport somewhere. It’ll be interesting to watch.
5. On Parenthood
Parenthood seems to be a big theme. All the characters seem to have problems with their parents. And sometimes, parents who died off-island show up on the island. (Note that Richard was careful to ask Ben whether his mother had died on- or off-island.) So the island likes old parents, but—since mothers-to-be always die—not new parents. Weird.
Ben, who never knew his mother and who may feel responsible for her death, seems to have somewhat of an obsession with this. Being reunited with his mother was his goal from the start. And Richard mentioned to Locke that Ben was getting distracted by the fertility stuff, to the point of ignoring what the island is really about. Obsessions tend to be bad. Obsessions tend to lead to bad decisionmaking. Again, we’ll see.
6. Faction Overload
On Day 1, there was one faction: the survivors. That quickly began to grow, thanks to the others, stragglers on the island, separate plane sections, flashbacks, flashforwards, and more. Who are they all? Let’s think.
*First, check out Lostpedia on the episode: the part about why the episode is named "Eggtown" is awesome and filled with depth in all the meanings of "egg" and its references. As you know, I love connections and deep references!
*Also, the "unanswered questions" section on the episode page is interesting, too.
*Locke's leadership proved to have a lot of layers (THINK Prospero, Rochester, and Lord of the Flies in how it played out in many ways): his weakness when flipping out after meeting with Ben which is exactly what happened in the hatch; him asking Ben for help is a preposterously dumb move by a leader; his calling it "not a democracy"; Kate calling it a "dictatorship"; Locke calling himself "not Jack"; Locke getting easily duped by Sawyer for Kate; then Locke deciding that he has to rule with an iron fist and punish people; yet, Kate still fears him enough to leave the barracks in the morning.
*Weird scene with Daniel and the cards: I always thought he was a little strange, but his memory loss thing is odd. Not sure what's going on with that.
*Jack's story on the stand: we should really be wondering, now, about 8, not 6 people. Obviously only 6 make it back, yet for some reason they had to say that 8 survived. The fact that their whole hero status is wrapped around all THREE TYPES of LYING is very interesting.
*Aaron: I'm kicking myself for not realizing there was a reason that the episode focused on Kate and Claire (and also Jin and Sun at the beginning!) and realizing that something was going to happen because of that. Very, very, very cool twist to the story. (sidebar: my mom called me today and asked who the father was of Kate's baby. I said, "What?!" She said, "Yeah, her baby 'Eric." After I finished laughing over the phone, I had to break it to her that Kate didn't say 'Eric'......)
*Miles: I loved it when Ben said to him, "Why not 3.3 or 3.4 million?" because that's what I was thinking. Wonder why 3.2??
*Next week's episode: It should be filled with a lot of action based on the previews and the fact that we didn't see the helicopter the whole time. The previews showed the picture of Desmond and Penny, so we may get some answer as to why Naomi had that picture. [ed. note: see the preview here.]
There's more swirling around, but that's a chunk.
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Tuesday, February 12, 2008
“This is just the beginning:” Star Wars comes back to big screen, small screen, all sorts of screens this fall
TOPH TUCKER ‘08
And you thought it was over. Not even close.
Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., and Turner Broadcasting have just announced a deal that will bring a new 3D animated film (think Pixar), titled Star Wars: The Clone Wars, to theaters everywhere this August 15. The movie will be continued as a TV show on Cartoon Network and TNT shortly thereafter.
The film and show take place in-between Episodes II and III during the Clone Wars, a period ripe with potential. Stylistically, it’s a major departure from Episodes I – VI, namely in that it is essentially a cartoon. If you saw the 3-15 minute cartoon shorts on Cartoon Network back around 2004, you have the right idea. Indeed, that series (titled Star Wars: Clone Wars, without the “the”) served as a sort of pilot for this one. But visually, this is dramatically more complicated. Indeed, it’s truly like nothing you’ve seen before… except maybe a videogame.
Speaking of which, LucasArts will be releasing its latest project, a video game called Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, around the same time. It is billed as the next episode (lower-case “e”) in the Star Wars saga, and follows the training of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice in the previously-unexplored years between Episodes III and IV. The game is being released for all major platforms, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and N-Gage. But the version you want is the one for the 360 and PS3, because only those versions feature two revolutionary new technologies: Euphoria and Digital Molecular Matter.
Euphoria lets the in-game enemies behave realistically, instead of according to pre-recorded animations. Stormtroopers on a wobbly bridge will actually shuffle and trip and balance in real-time; if they’re shoved off, they’ll try to save themselves by grabbing a box, ledge, or even each other. Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) means that if those stormtroopers are standing on that bridge, you could Force-throw a crate, knock out a support, and watch the bridge collapse realistically. Or you could throw your lightsaber in the forest and watch trees fall and splinter like real wood. The possibilities are endless.
The Force Unleashed is actually what LucasArts refers to as a “multimedia project,” which means that it will be accompanied by books, comics, and toys—as will, I’m sure, The Clone Wars. And the casting of an established TV actor (Sam Witwer, who has appeared previously on ER, Bones, CSI, Battlestar Galactica, and more) as the main character in The Force Unleashed suggests that the character could play a role in the next big Star Wars event: a live-action series, still early in development, set to air in 2009.
With these and other ongoing undertakings, Lucasfilm is pushing the limits of cross-media projects. The Episode I trailer was one of the first to ever be shown online, back in 1999; the original Clone Wars animated short series was one of the first TV shows to be available in its entirety online. The saga has already stood at the pinnacle of its genre for 30 years. Now, with the two movie trilogies finished, new endeavors spanning film, television, and gaming look to keep Star Wars alive and kicking for generations to come.
In the interest of full disclosure I, Toph Tucker, am a gigantic fan of Star Wars. I’m not sure I could be unbiased if I tried. I don’t even mind Jar-Jar. I’m always up for a good Star Wars debate, by the way. For instance: did Palpatine let Mace Windu win, or was Windu actually the superior swordsman? Think about it.
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Friday, February 8, 2008
"Gossip Girl" does not live up to expectations but still draws in viewers
MARGARET GREGORY '10
“Gossip Girl” aired last year on September 19, 2007, and immediately became one of television’s hottest new shows. The teenage party scene in New York’s Upper East Side has everyone talking and people just can’t get enough. The television series is based on the award winning series written by Cecily von Ziegesar. “Gossip Girl” is incredibly entertaining and addicting.
The show has eight main characters, all with different backgrounds and agenda. Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) was a teenage party girl who was spiraling out of control when she left town suddenly without telling anyone. The show starts when she returns from her long break as a new, more responsible young woman. Serena’s best friend is Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester). Blair is a manipulating and conniving girl who is dating Nate (Chase Crawford). Nate is a fun and popular guy who drives his fictional cast mates and viewers alike insane with his charm and good looks. Nate, seemingly a simple socialite, displays his complex side when coping with his troublesome family life, causing an interesting twist.
The dramatic premiere upset many viewers because the characters and setting did not live up to the infamous novels. The writers took the liberty of adjusting the television story line, a necessary step to distance itself from a well-know plotline. The book’s characters are much more dramatic and the situations that they get themselves into are more extreme, living up to the shock value that American pop culture demands. Despite their discontent, most viewers voted that they still watch the show religiously
Sadly, the show has been on a hiatus since the start of the 2007 writers’ strike. “It’s been a very weird, surreal sad time. Both shows are going great and everyone loves working on them, so to have to step away from the shows is very painful,” said Josh Schwartz the creator of “Gossip Girl.” It is clear that shows that had just begun to air their first season (like “Gossip Girl”) are truly suffering as a result of the writers’ strike. They have had a downfall in viewers but are still doing well.
Don’t forget to check out: “Gossip Girl” reruns on Mondays at 9\8c!
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