LOST 4.2 - Confirmed Dead

I really enjoyed this episode. The writer’s found a great way to introduce us to the four “freighter people” while giving us some peeks at what’s been happening off the island in the past 91 days. I’ll cover those off the island events in a separate post.

Let’s start with Locke and his entourage…

As you know, I’ve really come to hate Locke lately. His first appearance in this episode made me smirk. Locke seemed to be “communing” with the island. OK, I know it’s been demonstrated that he has a special connection to the island, but now he’s coming off to me like he’s some kind of island swami, and his demeanor seems more hokey than real. Not that this is a bad thing… it helps reinforce my opinion of him. I just hope they don’t take it too far.

I think that Hurley is going to regret accidentally letting on that he knows about the cabin. (It was obvious to me that Ben and Locke both caught on to this… even though they seemed to ignore it.) Just wait until Ben and Locke find out that Hurley’s also seen Jacob! That will be a hoot!

I would like to have seen a bit more discussion about who Locke is taking his orders from. (After Sawyer questions him, Locke tells Sawyer that he is taking his orders from a taller Walt.) I think that Locke is in reality still taking his orders from Jacob, or whatever Jacob is… and I think that Locke doesn’t want the rest of his entourage to know the true nature of his relationship with Jacob. He used the vision of Walt as a deflection. I think that “Walt” was actually another physical manifestation of Jacob, one that could exist outside the cabin, and that we’ve actually seen three incarnations so far (unknown bearded man, Jack’s dad, Walt).

Sawyer comes across much smarter in this episode than usual. I love the way that he keeps pestering Locke about why he is keeping Ben around. We all know that Ben’s a menace… I’m glad that someone is still pointing that out to the somewhat oblivious Locke (perhaps he’s still communing with the island), who calls Ben “harmless. It takes “harmless” Ben’s shooting Charlotte to wake Locke up to the threat (he finally admits that he must “clean up his mess”).

Locke’s “clean up”, of course, leads to one of the episodes climaxes… first Ben’s denial that he knows what the smoke monster is (I think he’s lying), and then his acknowledgement that he knows who the “freighter people” are because he has someone on board their ship! What does that mean? I think it means that Ben has had a lot more contact off island than we’ve ever been lead to think. Perhaps he’s even been off island himself!

Which leads me to a discussion of the “freighter people”.

Even though I know we are supposed to believe that these characters are the new “bad guys” of LOST, I really liked all four of them. They’re all really intriguing characters!

What a weird guy! Dan, the “physicist” – “I don’t like to be pigeonholed” – is described as a genius by another character, and he is such a bad liar. I guess he wasn’t selected for this mission because of his acting chops. I think it’s pretty obvious that he was picked to participate because it was thought that the team might encounter some strange physical phenomenon (“the light doesn’t scatter quite right”) and that his expertise might be needed in that area.

Even though Miles comes across as a jackass, he’s such a cool character. In just a few minutes of screen time, the writers and actor have made him totally believable as a bonafide “ghostbuster”. After all, Naomi “told” him that our survivors didn’t kill her… more on that later. Why was Miles chosen for this team? I think it was because of the strange spiritual forces of the island (whispering voices anyone?). I think that it was thought that Miles’ talent would be extremely valuable in communicating with the island.

Charlotte Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis?!) is a bit different than the previous two. She seems almost surprised that she is really “here”, on the island… like being “here” is something she’s aspired to for some time. I don’t quite know why she was chosen. In her flashback (again, I’ll discuss that one in another post), she seems to be seeking out Dharma, trying to find evidence of the Initiative. It seems that she does know some pieces of the story of the island… she’s very curious when she sees Claire and Aaron. She asks if the baby was born on the island, as if she knew the difficulties of pregnant women on the island. Why would she be chosen for this mission when someone/thing/entity is so dead set on keeping everything secret?

Frank is obviously tied directly to the story of Flight 815. Why was he chosen for this mission? We know that Frank was trying to blow the whistle on the 815 cover-up. Perhaps he was sent on the mission not only because he could pilot a ‘copter, but also to get rid of him… to shove him aside so that he couldn’t make more noise about what he knew.

A few notes about Naomi – I don’t think that she’s really dead! Remember last season during Paolo and Nikki’s episode, we continued to see flashbacks from their perspective even though we thought that they were dead? The producers explained that on LOST you NEVER see anything from the perspective of a dead person and that that should have been a giveaway that Paolo and Nikki weren’t dead, just paralyzed. Well… if that is one of the “rules” of the LOST world, then Naomi can’t be dead because we saw a scene in this episode from her perspective. It couldn’t have been from Mr. Abbadon’s perspective since we haven’t met him in the current time frame yet. I expect we will see more of Naomi!

Finally… what is the purpose of the mission of the freighter people? As Miles reveals at the other climax of the episode, it is to find Ben. But why?

At first it seems strange that Miles, Dan and Frank are all unfazed by the presence of 815 survivors on the island. I think that they were told that the survivors might be there, and that they were told to lie to them, tell them anything to keep them out of the way so that the team’s real mission could be accomplished. (However, I have to admit that this does not explain why Naomi originally told the group that she had been dispatched by Penny to find Desmond. Maybe she had to make up that story to cover their real mission?)

I think that the Dharma Initiative sent the team there to avenge the people that were killed in the Purge. I think they were sent to kill all of the Others. Why else would they have a box filled with haz-mat uniforms and gas masks? They were going to do unto Ben as Ben did unto them! If the 815 survivors got killed in the process, then they would be acceptable collateral damage.

So, in a very real sense, Ben hasn’t been lying… he told Jack that everyone would die if he contacted the freighter. He just didn’t say it was because of him!

More Notes: LOST 4.1 - The Beginning Of The End

I’ve had a chance to look back through “The Beginning Of The End” and have a few more comments.

As I said in my previous post, I really hate Locke right now. I was entirely ecstatic when Jack “shot” Locke. It doesn’t matter that the gun wasn’t loaded, I still loved the moment.

It’s kind of disturbing that I really liked all of the violent moments in the show…

I particularly loved Danielle for slugging Ben’s face when he called Alex “his” daughter. In fact, I’m very pleased with all of the beating that Ben is taking!

One of the gentle moments that I loved took place when Hurley was talking with Bernard about his lottery winnings. He was expressing how freeing it would be to get back to the real world, where the money won’t matter any more. Particularly sad when juxtaposed against what we’ve seen of Hurley’s future.

Hurley’s always been one of my favorite characters. It’s nice to know that Hurley is “special”… that he too has a connection to the spirit of the Island.

I’m wondering why Hurley saw Jacob in the form of Jack’s dad! Does Jacob present “himself” to each person differently? Does he take on different forms? What is the significance of Hurley’s vision?

There’s been much discussion about the “eye” that Hurley saw and to whom it belonged. My first (and still strongest) impression is that it belongs to Locke… he had been back to the cabin to commune with Jacob and get “further instructions”.

I laughed on my second viewing of the episode when Kate once again screws up by taking events into her own hands (remember when she followed Jack, Locke and Sawyer out to meet Mr. Friendly in season 2). She thinks she is helping by tracking Naomi, but ultimately her actions allow Naomi to warn her cohorts on the freighter.

Another reason I hate Locke: I hate how he preyed on Hurley’s grief when trying to convince Hurley to follow him. I think that if it hadn’t been for Locke’s pushing he would have stayed with Jack.

Although I will give this to Locke, he genuinely appeared sympathetic when he witnessed Hurley telling Claire that Charlie was dead.

But I got extremely angry again when Locke tells the gathered survivors “All I have ever done has been in the best interest of all of us.” To that I say CRAP!!! See my comment in the post below.

Finally a note about the split:

Locke’s group--
In the context presented in the episode, I understand Hurley, Claire and Sawyer’s decision to go with Locke. I get that Rousseau doesn’t want to leave the island, but I don’t quite get why Alex and Karl go with Locke, unless they just want to stay with “family”.

Jack’s group—
I think Sayid stays with Jack because he knows that even if the rescuers are “bad” that the survivors can deal with whatever they bring. We know that Juliette desperately wants to get off the island. I loved Rose’s answer to Bernard when he asks if she wants to stay (knowing that if she leaves her cancer will probably return)… “I’m not going anywhere with THAT man!” Smart cookie! I think Kate stayed simply out of loyalty (not love) for Jack. Finally, why does Desmond stay, even after he’s been warned that it’s “not Penny’s boat”? I’m not sure. We don’t know if he’s had any more flashes that would give him insight as to what is to come. He’s a mystery to me.

LOST 4.1 - The Beginning Of The End

I don't have a lot of comments tonight.

The first episode of the new season was everything I had hoped it would be. Mostly I had hoped that it would be emotionally satisfying... and it was.

I felt Hurley's pain for the loss of his friend Charlie.

I felt Jack's pain at being betrayed by so many of the people that he fought so hard to save.

I felt hatred for Locke for causing the group to split. I don't care if he thinks he's right, or that in the long run he may BE right... he's done nothing but serve his own interests lately... he hasn't earned the trust he's asking for.

I felt hungry for more information on (and can't wait to see, as difficult as they might be to take in) the events that must ultimately put Jack and Hurley in such horrible places.

I got to spend a few more minutes with Charlie... I never really liked him until I saw his life through his eyes in his top 5 life moments.

I got to see a few more brief seconds of Jacob.

I got what I wanted... how about you?

WDCC Ducks!

Some of you know that I collect sculptures from the Walt Disney Classics Collection. This year's membership gift piece is Donald Duck from "Good Scouts". Donald is accompanied by this three nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie! (Forgive me if I spelled their names incorrectly.)

Here are some pictures of the new pieces. I love them!

New Year's Morning!

Here's what waited me when I woke up on New Year's morning...

LOST Season 4

The excitement is building! I can't wait for January 31.

There are also things going on on-line with a new internet game which concludes a few hours before the 4th season premiere.

I have never posted my thoughts on the final episode of season 3 and hope still to do that before season 4 begins. I'll have to go back and re-watch the episode (I got the DVD set for Christmas).

LOST 4.1

Finally some good news. ABC will premiere the fourth season of LOST on January 31, 2008 at 9:00 p.m., and will run the eight currently completed episodes.

The bad news is that the strike still has not been resolved so the status of the final eight episodes of season four is up in the air.