Tuesday, January 5

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.

Feel free to Digg it if you dig it!

9 comments:

  1. Great recap, I love Cabin Fever. One of my favorite episodes. I'm really glad you singled out the "I'm here because I was chosen to be / ...That's absolutely right" exchange. That's one of the most unsettling moments in all of Lost for me.

    I love that the Book of Law is a callback to a season two episode (What Kate Did? I think?). You're right in that it's somewhat appropriate that Locke doesn't choose it. When Eko hands him the book and tells him the story, Locke doesn't show any signs of particularly caring about it one way or another, he just goes right for the role of film inside. Later Eko tells him not to mistake coincidence for fate, a lesson Locke decidedly does not learn. It's like Eko's waving red flags all over the place for poor John, but he's not picking up on the hint. So Little Locke picking up the knife instead of the book is fitting. It's a bit odd that Alpert reacts so strongly against it, though, as the Others try to get him to use one to kill Cooper only forty or so years later. And Locke refuses it then, which is pretty universally frowned upon by Ben, Alpert, and the rest. Weird. I wonder if its some kind of reflection on a shift in the operations/philosophy of the Others in that period of time.

    And on a related note, is the comic book in Alpert's test the same comic book that Walt reads during Season One? I can't remember.

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  2. Definitely a great recap Morse - Both really seemed robust enough to standalone, but i enjoyed getting the two-fer.

    I also really loved the work between Michael Emerson and Jorge Garcia. Ben's contempt for Hurley and the situation that made them seemingly equals was great. Although the analogy of their roles isn't perfect, it's like asking Emperor Palpatine to hang with R2-D2.

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  3. Cloneazepam :) It's prescribed as an anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and Anxiolytic.

    Same family of drugs as Valium.

    Explanes the slured speech, decreased motor function (Jack falling into the stand in the pharmacy) and drowsy appearance as if drunk.

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  4. woops, that was meant to be Clonazepam!

    Love the blog as always Mr Miles

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  5. Katie:

    Nice thoughts on Eko and Locke from Season 2! That's a connection that I hadn't made, and it seems like a valid one. The comic that Walt reads in Season 1 is, I think, a Flash comic, so it isn't the same one. It is interesting, though, that both books seem to contain Island-relevant imagery. In the Flash comic it was a Polar Bear and what appeared to be a ship caught in ice (is there a ship buried on the Island somewhere?). The comic in Cabin Fever is an older one, and it features a story set in a 'hidden land.'

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  6. It kills me that I continually am not able to register at CHUD and take part in the conversation there. Does CHUD have some kind of wait list or something? It has been impossible to join the site.

    Anyway, I definitely agree that Christian is a suspicious character. When he speaks with Locke he manages to answer Locke with non answers. Like when asked if he knew why Locke was there he responds "Yeah. Sure. Do you?". I mean, he lets Locke himself fill in the blank. And he definitely tries to suppress a smirk when he says "that's absolutely right". All of his appearances on the island have had a sinister tone to them, which is in contrast to the essentially decent view of Christian that we see in flashbacks.

    There was a question asked at CHUD as to why he appears to the other survivors. And I think I know why. In a way it's like Stephen King's "IT". In the book the Losers all share a special link. There's a scene where Stan thinks that if one of them saw IT as a werewolf that that image would solidify in all of their minds. Jack was the first of the Losties to see an apparition. So maybe the same thing is happening here?

    TC

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  7. Interesting thoughts, TC - especially the "IT" comparison.

    Sorry to hear about your difficulties in joining up at Chud. If you email them I'm sure they'd be able to tell you whether there's a 'no new registration' policy at the moment - I don't believe that's the case, but it's possible.

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  8. The beginning of "Something Nice Back Home" is the only time I've enjoyed watching/cared about Kate's romantic life. The portrait of her raising Aaron with Jack was a sweet one, and I remember watching it the first time and thinking that it would be nice if they could help each other find peace. Of course, it's ruined at the end with Jack's "I'm the one who saved you!" whining, and I'm already dreading his hissy fit in S5 where he admits going back to the island was All About Kate.

    Cabin Fever - really interesting to rewatch in the light of all the revelations coming up regarding Jacob/MiB and the leadership preceding Ben. My head still hurts when I try to keep track of everyone's motivations and who is on which side. One thing that stood out to me this time was that Richard was recruiting young Locke while Widmore and/or Mrs. Hawking were leading the Others. Did they know what Richard was up to? Was Locke young enough not to pose a threat to the current leadership, but to be the next in line? If so, then it lends even more credence to the idea that Ben is a usurper and was never "supposed" to lead. In the final season, I hope we find out exactly what the nature of Ben's connection with Jacob is - has he fallen out of favor, or was he never in favor at all?

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  9. "Something Nice":

    That Alice In Wonderland quote applies more than ever with Season 6. Damon and Carlton said they've known they were going to do the sideways flashes for two years now. I wonder if this is foreshadowing, then.

    It's weird that Charlotte lies about knowing Korean. There's no reason to.

    Seems to me that Kate could have avoided a lot of heartbreak by just telling Jack she was with her friend Cassidy, maybe introducing them later. No reason to bring up Sawyer.

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