Not In Portland (S3, ep. 7)

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The Ballad of the Shameless Shill

I hope everyone's enjoying the Rewatch so far. The comments that you've seen fit to leave have been insightful, intelligent, and fun to read.

I'd like to see if we can get more people involved, and I'm posting this shameless missive in the hopes that you all will help me out with that. If you've got friends, relatives, acquaintences and/or frenemies that watch Lost - if you visit other websites dedicated to discussing the show or to discussing television in general - I'd like to ask you to pass this site's URL along to them and invite them to join in on the fun.

The person who can draw the most peepers in this direction will be invited to contribute a guest article here on a Lost-related topic of their choice, and that article will be incorporated into one of the Rewatch columns on Chud.com.

As always, my sincere thanks for visiting, for reading, and for contributing.

-MMorse

I Do (S3, ep. 6)

The Rewatch column for "I Do" has been chopped and diced for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.

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The Cost of Living (S3, ep. 5)

The Rewatch Column for "The Cost of Living" has been lovingly laid on a funeral pyre for your reading enjoyment. Apologies for any confusion regarding the title - this column covers only "The Cost of Living," and not "I Do."

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Every Man For Himself (S3, ep. 4)

The Rewatch Column for "Every Man For Himself" has been peeled and sliced for your enjoyment on Chud.com.

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Flashback/Flashforward

Seeing as we're now at the center of the storm, so to speak, having started in on Season 3's Rewatch columns, I thought I'd throw a few links up here for those of you who are just stumbling onto this site. All of the Rewatch columns written so far are available for viewing by clicking through the "Blog Archive" sidebar here on the main page.

In addition to the individual episode write-ups, I've also taken some time to write more in-depth pieces. I've labeled these columns "Too Much Information," and they're scattered throughout the Rewatch columns. Here they are in their entirety, and each one attempts to tackle an aspect of the show:

Too Much Information 7: Sartre-Speak

Too Much Information 6: Gnarly Gnosticism & Mondo Manichaeism

Too Much Information 5: Mirrors & Delays

Too Much Information 4: Gods and Musicians - How The Mythologizing of The Beatles Helps Us Understand the Reality of the Dharma Initiative

Too Much Information 3: Loopholes and Prison-feet

Too Much Information 2: Who is the MiB?

Too Much Information: Stimulus/Response and Control Theory, or How I Learned To Start Behaving And Love Course Correction

Thanks for reading. The Rewatch column for S3, ep. 4 should be up by tomorrow morning.

Further Instructions (S3, ep. 3)

The Rewatch Column for "Further Instructions" has been canned and preserved for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.

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The Glass Ballerina (S2, ep. 2)

The rewatch column for "The Glass Ballerina" is juiced and poured for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.

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Rousseau's Transmission

A thing of beauty. That's how I'd describe this latest screenprint, issued today on Damoncarltonandapolarbear.com. It's larger than the past prints, and it benefits from that sizing. I was lucky enough to snag one of these, and you can still grab one (if you hurry) at Youmightwanttoconsiderhikingboots.com.

A Tale Of Two Cities (S3, ep. 1)

The Rewatch Column for "A Tale of Two Cities" has been lacquered and shellacked for your reading pleasure on Chud.com! I'm offering a prize to the first person that figures out the subtle Sondheim reference in the column for "Live Together, Die Alone." If you think you know the answer, guess here in the comments.

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Live Together, Die Alone (S2, ep. 23)

The Rewatch column for "Live Together, Die Alone" has been marooned on Chud.com for your reading pleasure.

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Too Much Information 7: Sartre-speak

“Life begins on the other side of despair.” – Sartre

“The best way out of hell is through the other side.” – Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers

In the Rewatch Column for “Three Minutes” I briefly discussed Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” and its relevance to Lost. If you’d like to catch up on what was said you can do so by clicking over to Chud.com.

In talking about No Exit I barely scratched the surface of it in general, and more specifically, as it relates to Lost. I’d like to take the time to delve just a little deeper into Sartre’s play in this edition of Too Much Information.

I’ve read two separate accounts of No Exit’s origins. According to one account, Sartre originally titled his play “The Others.” I discussed the concepts of Others and ‘Othering’ in the Rewatch column for “One of Them,” which you can read right HERE.

According to a separate account, he originally published his play with the title “In Camera.” I’m unable to independently confirm that both these claims are true. But assuming that they are (and why not? I’m not an academic, just a curious fella) both of these titles have clear significance to Lost.

Here are some thematic ideas that emerge from Sartre’s play. Rather than spell out the links I see between it and Lost, I’m more interested in your opinion. Can you spot the way(s) in which these ideas may have come into play on Lost? I invite you to use the comments and let me know what you think.

Mirrors

In No Exit, the room in which the play’s three central characters (Garcin, Inez and Estelle) are confined contains no mirrors. Instead, the three characters act as mirrors for each other; literally, as when Inez offers to be Estelle’s mirror by describing her appearance for her, and figuratively, as each of them are reflected back to themselves by the opinions and the judgments of their companions. Within the play, each of the three characters is left with a decision they must make or have, perhaps, already made: to define themselves by how others see them, or to define themselves on their own terms.

Estelle becomes concerned that without mirrors she essentially ceases to exist. Without something (literal in this case, but certainly figurative overall) that reflects back to her who she ought to be she feels lost. Sartre’s belief that humanity is free to choose who it will be and how it will act. He also believed that this choice was a responsibility on the part of each person.

I've discussed mirrors and 'mirroring' quite a bit in the Rewatch Columns. How have you seen this phenomenon crop up on the show? Do you agree that the writers are 'mirroring' intentionally?

Bad Faith

Sartre defined ‘bad faith’ in interesting terms. To act in ‘bad faith,’ one needs only to let another person define who you are. If you love to play music, but stop playing music because a newspaper has given you a bad review then you are acting in ‘bad faith’ – making the mistake of letting someone else’s idea of your self-worth stand in for your own.

Garcin asks Estelle to tell him whether or not he is a coward. Estelle replies that it is impossible for her to say whether or not he is a coward, and tells Garcin that he must decide for himself – something Garcin chooses not to do and professes himself to be incapable of doing so. By denying his own ability to choose how he will define himself, Garcin surrenders his free will to whomever is judging him. If Inez should decide that Garcin is a coward, a coward he will be. The mirror, for Garcin, becomes the reality. He is what is reflected back to him. There is no ‘Garcin,’ apart from the value that Others assign to him.

Sartre’s belief that humanity is free to choose who it will be and how it will act. He also believed that this choice was a responsibility on the part of each person. Failing this responsibility is ‘bad faith.’

Faith is a huge part of Lost's thematic preoccupations. But Sartre's idea of faith is very different from religious faith. In what ways have we seen both kinds of faith explored?

Lies

In No Exit the characters have no reason to lie to each other – they are dead and (one presumes) already judged, if they are judged at all. And yet, despite this, they continue to lie to one another and to themselves.

The castaways on Lost aren't 'really' dead, but their crash leaves them effectively dead to the world and capable of reinventing themselves (or not) among people who do not know them. Despite this, they continue to lie to one another and themselves.

The Past vs. The Present and Suffering

Garcin, like many of the castaways on the Island throughout the course of the show, remains fixated on the events of his past to the exclusion of what is happening to him in the present. He refuses to set aside what has already occurred in order to Rise Up and Converge with his fellow ‘prisoners.’

Suffering, Sartre believed, was essential to experience in order to affirm one’s own existence. Buddhism agrees with Sartre. Lost appears to agree as well. How has suffering helped to affirm the characters' existence?

I ask these questions, not because I'd like you to do my homework for me, but because I believe that Lost is inviting us to participate in asking these sorts of questions. I invite you to do so as well.



Catch up on Too Much Information!
Too Much Information 6: Gnarly Gnosticism & Mondo Manichaeism
Too Much Information 5: Mirrors & Delays Too Much Information 4: Gods and Musicians - How The Mythologizing of The Beatles Helps Us Understand the Reality of the Dharma Initiative Too Much Information 3: Loopholes and Prison-feet Too Much Information 2: Who is the MiB? Too Much Information: Stimulus/Response and Control Theory, or How I Learned To Start Behaving And Love Course Correction

Three Minutes (S2, ep. 22)

The Rewatch Column for "Three Minutes" is pickled and jarred for your reading pleasure at Chud.com.

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? (S2, ep. 21)

The Rewatch column for "?" has been detained for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.

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