The Rewatch Columns for "Some Like It Hoth" and "The Variable" have been goaded toward tragic ends for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Saturday, January 30
Friday, January 29
Whatever Happened Happened & Dead Is Dead (S5, eps. 11 & 12)
The Rewatch Columns for "Whatever Happened Happened & Dead Is Dead" have been judged for your reading pleasure on Chud.com
Thursday, January 28
Namaste & He's Our You (S5, eps. 9 & 10)
The Rewatch Columns for "Namaste" and "He's Our You" have been assigned to the shed for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Tuesday, January 26
The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham & LaFleur (S5, eps. 7 & 8)
The Rewatch Columns for "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" and "LaFleur" have been deputized for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Wednesday, January 20
This Place Is Death & 316 (S5, eps. 5 & 6)
The Rewatch Columns for "This Place Is Death" and "316" have been fitted with significant shoes for your reading pleasure on Chud.com
Jughead & The Little Prince (S5, eps. 3 & 4)
The Rewatch Columns for "Jughead" and "The Little Prince" have been kicked from their army tents for your reading pleasure.
Thursday, January 14
Monday, January 11
Because You Left (S5, ep. 1)
The Rewatch Column for "Because You Left" has been given a nosebleed for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Lost: Missing Pieces (S4 DVD)
The special, bonus Rewatch Column for "Lost: Missing Pieces" is available to read here, exclusively on Back To The Island. Click this link to soak your brain in it.
Friday, January 8
Vote Now!
Welcome, Chud readers. if you're here to vote, please scroll down and find the poll available on the sidebar. I ask that you vote only once, and that you vote honestly. Thanks for coming by, and for taking the time to read and comment.
Best,
MMorse
Best,
MMorse
There's No Place Like Home (S4, eps. 12 & 13)
The Rewatch Column for the Season 4 finale, "There's No Place Like Home" has been moved for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Wednesday, January 6
The Poll Truth, And Nothing But The Truth
Hola, all.
We're nearing the end of Season 4. The columns for the two part finale should be written and posted by the end of the week, and we'll launch into Season 5 on Monday. Once the rewatch wraps, I'll begin writing weekly columns about Season 6, which will post after each episode airs. I hope you'll all stick around for those.
I've gotten a lot of really wonderful, positive feedback on this little project, and more than a few suggestions that I make all of this material available to folks off-line. I'm seriously considering this, and I'd like to solicit your opinions.
If you're so inclined, please participate in the poll I've slapped up in the sidebar of this blog. The question: Would you purchase a book that collects all the material I've written (or will write) about all six seasons of the show, if that book were also to contain new material that would attempt to tie everything together, eliminating false guesses and misguided conjecture? This wouldn't be something I'd do for any potential financial windfall (as the audience for this kind of book would be 'small,' and essentially for die-hards only), but for the enjoyment of it. If I felt as though others would enjoy it also, I'd be inclined to make it happen.
Let me know what you think in the poll, and be honest. Thanks again, all of you, for reading and commenting.
Best,
M.
We're nearing the end of Season 4. The columns for the two part finale should be written and posted by the end of the week, and we'll launch into Season 5 on Monday. Once the rewatch wraps, I'll begin writing weekly columns about Season 6, which will post after each episode airs. I hope you'll all stick around for those.
I've gotten a lot of really wonderful, positive feedback on this little project, and more than a few suggestions that I make all of this material available to folks off-line. I'm seriously considering this, and I'd like to solicit your opinions.
If you're so inclined, please participate in the poll I've slapped up in the sidebar of this blog. The question: Would you purchase a book that collects all the material I've written (or will write) about all six seasons of the show, if that book were also to contain new material that would attempt to tie everything together, eliminating false guesses and misguided conjecture? This wouldn't be something I'd do for any potential financial windfall (as the audience for this kind of book would be 'small,' and essentially for die-hards only), but for the enjoyment of it. If I felt as though others would enjoy it also, I'd be inclined to make it happen.
Let me know what you think in the poll, and be honest. Thanks again, all of you, for reading and commenting.
Best,
M.
Tuesday, January 5
Too Much Information: Info-Dump
If you take a look at the sidebar, you'll see that all of the Too Much Information columns, focusing on specific aspects of the show that have interested me during the Rewatch, have been linked on the main page for ease of access.
If you haven't perused my diseased rantings on topics ranging from Sartre and Existentialism, to the concept of "Good Being," to how The Beatles may help to understand the reality of the Dharma Initiative, I invite you to take a look through them and soak up the ambient madness.
If you haven't perused my diseased rantings on topics ranging from Sartre and Existentialism, to the concept of "Good Being," to how The Beatles may help to understand the reality of the Dharma Initiative, I invite you to take a look through them and soak up the ambient madness.
Something Nice Back Home/Cabin Fever (S4, eps. 10 & 11)
The Rewatch Column for "Something Nice Back Home" and "Cabin Fever" has been prepped for emergency surgery for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Friday, January 1
Lost: Missing Pieces (S4 DVD)
Welcome to a Very Special Episode of Lost: The Rewatch. Today we’ll be taking a look at the “Lost: Missing Pieces” – 13 miniature “mobisodes” that were shot for some promotional reason or another, and which were included in the Bonus Features of the Season 4 DVD.
Technically, these aren’t within the boundaries of the show itself – and this rewatch has, up ‘til now, focused solely on what’s presented within the show itself, not the various on-line games and puzzles, or the Lost videogame, or any of that stuff.
But “Lost: Missing Pieces” is different and distinct in my mind from any of that other material in that these “mobisodes” (that’s a terrible word that seems to have died a swift and inglorious death, much to my pleasure) feature the actual actors, are written by the show’s actual writers, and have been announced as ‘canon.’ They're also nifty for the most part, since these vignettes take place at different points in time during the first four seasons of the show, and are placed in no particular order, inviting you to figure out ‘when’ they each occur. Intentionally or not, this mimics the time-skipping effect of the Island in Season 5.
Let’s cruise through these things and see what there is to see, shall we?
“King of the Castle”
-- The first of these shorts takes place after Jack has performed surgery on Ben (S3). It’s a simple scene: Jack and Ben are in Ben’s Dharma house playing chess together. If you’re looking for patterns it should be noted that Jack plays on the “light” side and Ben on the “dark” side.
-- Ben makes it clear that he ‘intends’ to let Jack off the Island, and Jack calls him out on his choice of wording, but Ben insists that if the “Island” doesn’t want Jack to leave, he won’t be able to leave (this may be a quasi- religious/mythical explanation for the rule of “whatever happened, happened”).
-- In Season 3, Locke becomes convinced that he needs to destroy all ways of leaving the Island, and he blows up Jack’s ride home. We know now that Ben either (a) wanted Locke to destroy the sub, or (b) knew that Locke would destroy the sub (because, as we’ve seen, Ben is may be privy to some information about the future – see his building of the Ajira runway on Hydra Island). Either way, he’s very careful with his wording around Jack.
Watching this after finishing Season 4 I’m left wondering three things:
1) Does Locke blow up the sub and attempt to cut the Island off because, on some level, he ‘remembers’ that a freighter is coming, or that it’s a ‘bad’ thing to let Jack get off the Island (see the ‘castaway reincarnation’ theory in the column for The Constant)?
2) If not, how does the “Island” communicate with him? Are we to assume that he’s had more ‘visions’ in his sleep that we haven’t gotten to see?
3) How much, if anything, does Ben know about ‘the future’? His certainty when he claims Jack’s Queen suggests that he KNOWS Jack will leave and regret it.
“Jack, Meet Ethan, Ethan? Jack.”
-- The title says it all. Jack and Ethan meet for the first time (S1) when Ethan brings over a suitcase stuffed with medicines. He claims he found it in the jungle, and compliments Jack on his ability to “think long-term,” then points out that Jack might have to deliver Claire’s baby.
Then we learn something new: Ethan’s wife and kid seem to have died as a result of the Island’s ‘baby-plague.’
“The Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt”
-- Utterly non-essential, but marginally cute if you can forget that there’s a tragedy happening. Hurley’s shown stealing some wine for his date with Libby (S2) when Frogurt catches him and makes a long speech about how he’s gonna get some of that fine Libby action before Hurley stops him and informs him that he’s about to go on a date with her. At this moment, Libby’s being shot in the gut down in the Swan Station.
“Room 23”
-- “Room 23” is Lost simultaneously at its best and its most infuriating.
We’re shown alarms going off outside of Room 23, where Walt is being kept (S2). Ben and Juliet discuss Walt, but in the most eye-rollingly-oblique manner possible. Typically, Lost walks a fine line with its secrets, erring (for this viewer) on the side of the seductively mysterious. But occasionally, the show goes too far, pushes the limits of just how much mystery is can believably maintain, and we end up with dialogue like this:
Ben: “What’s happening?”
Juliet: “He did it again.”
Ben: “Did what again?”
Juliet: “You know”
Ben: “Well, you’re going to have to tell him to stop doing it.”
Uggghhhhhhh.
-- Ridiculously veiled dialogue aside, “Room 23” is good stuff. We get just a taste of why it is that Walt was given back – the Others weren’t lying when they said that he was too much for them to handle. Whatever Walt ‘did’ in the room, it’s got the Others scared spitless. And we get confirmation that Walt is able to somehow draw birds to him, the way we saw him do in the S1 episode, “Special.”
I’m going to theorize that Walt is somehow able to manipulate electromagnetic energy. Recent scientific studies have shown that earth’s electromagnetic field may be visible to birds, and that they may use this sight to migrate and to fly generally. If Walt can manipulate/direct/interfere with electromagnetic energy (and this ability may relate to the concept of the Island as “magic box”) then that ability might draw birds to him. That ability was comparatively ‘weak’ in the outside world (and so only one bird hits the window of his home in “Special”) but seems to be much stronger on the Island, where there is much more electromagnetic energy (thus the ‘flock’ of various dead birds found outside of the Room 23 building).
Walt is “special,” and so was Ben, at least according to Richard. Are they the same sort of special? Does Ben have ‘abilities’ like this also?
“Buried Secrets”
-- One aspect of Season 1 that was hinted at, but never focused on, was the apparent attraction between Sun and Michael. That’s given a little more color in this segment, which is nice to see. They come close to kissing only to be interrupted by Vincent (of course it’s Vincent). Apparently, Sun was going to become “Dahlia Choi” when she got to LA.
“Operation Sleeper”
-- Juliet steals into Jack’s tent to tell him that she’s a spy and she’s there to study the women and figure out who was pregnant (S3). Then they talk about some more stuff we already know.
Maybe the most useless of the Missing Pieces, in that it imparts no information, and remains resolutely un-entertaining.
“The Watch”
Great Christian Line: “Good, good! Get all that rock-throwing out before you get married.”
-- Grandpa Ray makes his first (unseen) appearance. I surely wasn’t the only one who thought it was odd that Jack suddenly visited his never-before-seen Grandpa Ray in Season 5, just to get a pair of his dad’s shoes. Well, apparently Ray got his first mention here – in “The Watch.”
-- Christian gives Jack his father’s watch, which he’s never worn due to Ray’s feelings about Christian’s choice in wives. It’s his way of telling Jack that he’s made ‘the absolute right choice,’ which feels bitterly ironic now.
Christian: “Would you do me a favor? If you and Sarah ever have a kid? Try and treat him a little better than I treated you.”
-- That’s a sadly sweet sentiment. I’m really looking forward to seeing if Christian’s story will be continued in Season 6. Is the “Christian” that we see on the Island actually the MiB? Is it actually Christian? Something/someone else entirely? Tell me, Lost!
“Jin Has A Temper-Tantrum On The Golf Course”
-- Best title of this series, bar none.
-- Granted, I’m a fan of the character to begin with, but I like the way that this segment lets Jin finally explode. Thinking back on it, I don’t know that we’ve ever seen Jin thoroughly lose his s*** the way he does here. It’s practically operatic. Funny, but also a little sad (Jin sitting on the ground, moaning that he’s ‘so alone,’ is grimly hilarious).
Contains the best line of this entire group:
Jin: “You horrible ball! Why why why?”
“The Envelope”
-- Co-written by J.J. Abrams, apparently.
-- Juliet and the Other known as “Amelia” talk about Ben just before the book club meeting that opens S3, and Juliet tells her that she thinks “we’re all in big trouble.” She swears Amelia to secrecy, and then pulls out an envelope that I assume contains Ben’s x-rays.
This is an interesting exchange, as it hints that Ben’s sudden cancer spells problems for all of the Others.
It’s also an interesting scene due to the presence of Amelia, who we haven’t seen since the opening of S3. “Amelia” may actually be Amelia Earhart, the female pilot who attempted to circle the globe by plane, but who crashed in the Pacific Ocean and was never found. At the very least, I'm willing to argue that the choice of her name is intended to evoke Earhart.
“The Deal”
-- Juliet comes to Michael while he’s tied up in the Others’ camp (S2). She talks about Walt with him, and tells him he’s ‘special.’ She seems positively eager to get Walt away from the Island, which is interesting.
Technically, these aren’t within the boundaries of the show itself – and this rewatch has, up ‘til now, focused solely on what’s presented within the show itself, not the various on-line games and puzzles, or the Lost videogame, or any of that stuff.
But “Lost: Missing Pieces” is different and distinct in my mind from any of that other material in that these “mobisodes” (that’s a terrible word that seems to have died a swift and inglorious death, much to my pleasure) feature the actual actors, are written by the show’s actual writers, and have been announced as ‘canon.’ They're also nifty for the most part, since these vignettes take place at different points in time during the first four seasons of the show, and are placed in no particular order, inviting you to figure out ‘when’ they each occur. Intentionally or not, this mimics the time-skipping effect of the Island in Season 5.
Let’s cruise through these things and see what there is to see, shall we?
“King of the Castle”
-- The first of these shorts takes place after Jack has performed surgery on Ben (S3). It’s a simple scene: Jack and Ben are in Ben’s Dharma house playing chess together. If you’re looking for patterns it should be noted that Jack plays on the “light” side and Ben on the “dark” side.
-- Ben makes it clear that he ‘intends’ to let Jack off the Island, and Jack calls him out on his choice of wording, but Ben insists that if the “Island” doesn’t want Jack to leave, he won’t be able to leave (this may be a quasi- religious/mythical explanation for the rule of “whatever happened, happened”).
-- In Season 3, Locke becomes convinced that he needs to destroy all ways of leaving the Island, and he blows up Jack’s ride home. We know now that Ben either (a) wanted Locke to destroy the sub, or (b) knew that Locke would destroy the sub (because, as we’ve seen, Ben is may be privy to some information about the future – see his building of the Ajira runway on Hydra Island). Either way, he’s very careful with his wording around Jack.
Watching this after finishing Season 4 I’m left wondering three things:
1) Does Locke blow up the sub and attempt to cut the Island off because, on some level, he ‘remembers’ that a freighter is coming, or that it’s a ‘bad’ thing to let Jack get off the Island (see the ‘castaway reincarnation’ theory in the column for The Constant)?
2) If not, how does the “Island” communicate with him? Are we to assume that he’s had more ‘visions’ in his sleep that we haven’t gotten to see?
3) How much, if anything, does Ben know about ‘the future’? His certainty when he claims Jack’s Queen suggests that he KNOWS Jack will leave and regret it.
“Jack, Meet Ethan, Ethan? Jack.”
-- The title says it all. Jack and Ethan meet for the first time (S1) when Ethan brings over a suitcase stuffed with medicines. He claims he found it in the jungle, and compliments Jack on his ability to “think long-term,” then points out that Jack might have to deliver Claire’s baby.
Then we learn something new: Ethan’s wife and kid seem to have died as a result of the Island’s ‘baby-plague.’
“The Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt”
-- Utterly non-essential, but marginally cute if you can forget that there’s a tragedy happening. Hurley’s shown stealing some wine for his date with Libby (S2) when Frogurt catches him and makes a long speech about how he’s gonna get some of that fine Libby action before Hurley stops him and informs him that he’s about to go on a date with her. At this moment, Libby’s being shot in the gut down in the Swan Station.
“Room 23”
-- “Room 23” is Lost simultaneously at its best and its most infuriating.
We’re shown alarms going off outside of Room 23, where Walt is being kept (S2). Ben and Juliet discuss Walt, but in the most eye-rollingly-oblique manner possible. Typically, Lost walks a fine line with its secrets, erring (for this viewer) on the side of the seductively mysterious. But occasionally, the show goes too far, pushes the limits of just how much mystery is can believably maintain, and we end up with dialogue like this:
Ben: “What’s happening?”
Juliet: “He did it again.”
Ben: “Did what again?”
Juliet: “You know”
Ben: “Well, you’re going to have to tell him to stop doing it.”
Uggghhhhhhh.
-- Ridiculously veiled dialogue aside, “Room 23” is good stuff. We get just a taste of why it is that Walt was given back – the Others weren’t lying when they said that he was too much for them to handle. Whatever Walt ‘did’ in the room, it’s got the Others scared spitless. And we get confirmation that Walt is able to somehow draw birds to him, the way we saw him do in the S1 episode, “Special.”
I’m going to theorize that Walt is somehow able to manipulate electromagnetic energy. Recent scientific studies have shown that earth’s electromagnetic field may be visible to birds, and that they may use this sight to migrate and to fly generally. If Walt can manipulate/direct/interfere with electromagnetic energy (and this ability may relate to the concept of the Island as “magic box”) then that ability might draw birds to him. That ability was comparatively ‘weak’ in the outside world (and so only one bird hits the window of his home in “Special”) but seems to be much stronger on the Island, where there is much more electromagnetic energy (thus the ‘flock’ of various dead birds found outside of the Room 23 building).
Walt is “special,” and so was Ben, at least according to Richard. Are they the same sort of special? Does Ben have ‘abilities’ like this also?
“Buried Secrets”
-- One aspect of Season 1 that was hinted at, but never focused on, was the apparent attraction between Sun and Michael. That’s given a little more color in this segment, which is nice to see. They come close to kissing only to be interrupted by Vincent (of course it’s Vincent). Apparently, Sun was going to become “Dahlia Choi” when she got to LA.
“Operation Sleeper”
-- Juliet steals into Jack’s tent to tell him that she’s a spy and she’s there to study the women and figure out who was pregnant (S3). Then they talk about some more stuff we already know.
Maybe the most useless of the Missing Pieces, in that it imparts no information, and remains resolutely un-entertaining.
“The Watch”
Great Christian Line: “Good, good! Get all that rock-throwing out before you get married.”
-- Grandpa Ray makes his first (unseen) appearance. I surely wasn’t the only one who thought it was odd that Jack suddenly visited his never-before-seen Grandpa Ray in Season 5, just to get a pair of his dad’s shoes. Well, apparently Ray got his first mention here – in “The Watch.”
-- Christian gives Jack his father’s watch, which he’s never worn due to Ray’s feelings about Christian’s choice in wives. It’s his way of telling Jack that he’s made ‘the absolute right choice,’ which feels bitterly ironic now.
Christian: “Would you do me a favor? If you and Sarah ever have a kid? Try and treat him a little better than I treated you.”
-- That’s a sadly sweet sentiment. I’m really looking forward to seeing if Christian’s story will be continued in Season 6. Is the “Christian” that we see on the Island actually the MiB? Is it actually Christian? Something/someone else entirely? Tell me, Lost!
“Jin Has A Temper-Tantrum On The Golf Course”
-- Best title of this series, bar none.
-- Granted, I’m a fan of the character to begin with, but I like the way that this segment lets Jin finally explode. Thinking back on it, I don’t know that we’ve ever seen Jin thoroughly lose his s*** the way he does here. It’s practically operatic. Funny, but also a little sad (Jin sitting on the ground, moaning that he’s ‘so alone,’ is grimly hilarious).
Contains the best line of this entire group:
Jin: “You horrible ball! Why why why?”
“The Envelope”
-- Co-written by J.J. Abrams, apparently.
-- Juliet and the Other known as “Amelia” talk about Ben just before the book club meeting that opens S3, and Juliet tells her that she thinks “we’re all in big trouble.” She swears Amelia to secrecy, and then pulls out an envelope that I assume contains Ben’s x-rays.
This is an interesting exchange, as it hints that Ben’s sudden cancer spells problems for all of the Others.
It’s also an interesting scene due to the presence of Amelia, who we haven’t seen since the opening of S3. “Amelia” may actually be Amelia Earhart, the female pilot who attempted to circle the globe by plane, but who crashed in the Pacific Ocean and was never found. At the very least, I'm willing to argue that the choice of her name is intended to evoke Earhart.
“The Deal”
-- Juliet comes to Michael while he’s tied up in the Others’ camp (S2). She talks about Walt with him, and tells him he’s ‘special.’ She seems positively eager to get Walt away from the Island, which is interesting.
Then, basically, it’s largely a repetition of information we already know, and fairly boring to boot. Eminently skippable, really. That makes two of these 'modisodes' (uuuugggggghhhh) that Juliet features in, and which don't add much of anything to the story of the show either plot-wise or emotionally.
“Tropical Depression”
-- Hey! Arzt the science teacher! We’re back in S1 now, pre-Arzt-explosion.
Arzt says that he made up all that stuff about a monsoon(!), which is bizarre, but then he launches into a story about flying to see a woman in Australia that he met on the internet, only he used someone else’s picture, and so she freaked when she actually saw him, ordered a lobster and left the restaurant without eating it, and I realized that Arzt is one strange, sad dude.
Very entertaining.
Side-note: Prior to Arzt's monsoon lie, the Island's tides shift suddenly and violently without warning. I've suggested that this was the first time we'd seen the Island 'move,' and Arzt's revelation that he fibbed makes the idea that the Island moved way back in Season 1 more plausible to me, since it removes a potential 'natural' explanation.
“Artz & Crafts”
-- Hey! More Arzt! He shows up asking whether people are moving to the caves (S1). He tells Michael and Hurley that he saw Jack running through the jungle, “crying for his daddy,” which would place this after the episode “White Rabbit.” He leaves when they hear the sound of the Smoke Monster in the distance. Eh.
“So It Begins”
-- Without a doubt the creepiest and coolest installment of all. This final "Missing Piece' is actually the first scene of the entire show, coming as it does directly before the shot of Jack's opening eye in the first episode.
We follow Vincent’s POV as the dog makes his way through the jungle. Vincent enters a clearing and we see Christian standing there in white tennis shoes, whistling and calling the dog to him, telling Vincent to go and wake Jack because "he has work to do." That phrase has come upp a number of times now during the course of the show. Until we know for certainty who/what Christian truly is, it's impossible to place this scene in context. Either the MiB or some emissary of Jacob has just begun their figurative backgammon game anew.
“Artz & Crafts”
-- Hey! More Arzt! He shows up asking whether people are moving to the caves (S1). He tells Michael and Hurley that he saw Jack running through the jungle, “crying for his daddy,” which would place this after the episode “White Rabbit.” He leaves when they hear the sound of the Smoke Monster in the distance. Eh.
“So It Begins”
-- Without a doubt the creepiest and coolest installment of all. This final "Missing Piece' is actually the first scene of the entire show, coming as it does directly before the shot of Jack's opening eye in the first episode.
We follow Vincent’s POV as the dog makes his way through the jungle. Vincent enters a clearing and we see Christian standing there in white tennis shoes, whistling and calling the dog to him, telling Vincent to go and wake Jack because "he has work to do." That phrase has come upp a number of times now during the course of the show. Until we know for certainty who/what Christian truly is, it's impossible to place this scene in context. Either the MiB or some emissary of Jacob has just begun their figurative backgammon game anew.
----
All in all, Lost: Missing Pieces is an enjoyable way to spend an hour, but with the exception of MAYBE "Room 23" and "So It Begins," none of them are even close to being essential.
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