Insta-Reaction: That was a very solid episode with no real answers, but some very tantalizing suggestions. Widmore is a Jacobian? Possibly. Desmond as weapon? Maybe. Sayid as a Hollow Man, in the manner I theorized about earlier in the season? Seems likely. Anti-Locke is going to use Ajira flight to leave the Island? Seems that way, but who is going to pilot it? After all, Anti-Locke doesn't seem to care about Frank at all, and he knows that Frank's the pilot.
Near as I can tell, nothing in this episode disproves the Second Snake theory, and I enjoyed the turns that the off-Island story took tonight. I'm betting that there are going to be two points of controversy among fans after tonight - Sun's sudden and bizarre Ephesia (sp?) and the lack of Answers. This isn't bothering me at all at the moment, actually, since I'm increasingly sure that we're going to get direct answers to only the "major" questions, leaving the audience to connect the dots on many of the minor questions. What did you think?
Original Post:
As of today there are eight episodes and nine hours of Lost left to go.
Sad-face.
That said, I'm really looking forward to seeing the story advance for the on and off-Island castaways, and I'm hoping that revelations about Smokey, the MiB and the "infections" are forthcoming.
Following the episode I'll be here with an Insta-reaction (which will be slightly delayed, since I'm heading to a friend's place to watch it, and there will be beers). Looking forward to your comments, thoughts, criticisms, etc.!
Tuesday, March 30
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I am sure we will be here waiting to comment! I am farly certain this will be a much slower episode setting up for a good one next week. The only great thing out of tonight will probably be Sun and Jin reuniting.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to tonight's show! I'm hoping we'll get to follow both "camps," since Sun and Jin are with opposing factions right now, and also maybe that the flash-sideways stories might start to cross a lot more. We remember that Sayid found Jin in the closet at the end of his sideways story. I'm curious what led up to that...
ReplyDeleteThough due to my nasty night class, I'll probably be catching the show on Hulu tomorrow morning. :( Worst part is my roommates like to watch, and I always get home while it's playing in the living room and halfway over.
Anyone who is complaining that the episodes are moving too slow and not giving up the answers fast enough really hasn't been paying attention. If you've watched the show since season one, then you know that they are going to give us the answers that they are going to give us and they're going to do it on their own time and schedule. I think the problem people are going to have is: They are expecting the show just to dump all the answers on a 1-1 basis, like saying "this means this and that means that" but that would go against everything they've ever done. I think the answers are going to be weaved into the fabric of the show. There are going to be answers that are just in the background and your only going to get them if you pay attention. This show has always rewarded close watching and attention to detail and I see no reason they would change up at this late date. I think like all great works of fiction, there will be things left unanswered at the end and I think all the answers they give, or at least a lot of them, will be left open to interpratation by the viewers at the end. I could be wrong, but that's just a feeling I have, based on how they've done things for the last six seasons. Either way, I don't care, because for me it's all been about the journey, not the destination.
ReplyDelete@Michael,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Fans are putting their expectations onto the final season, and the show is just doing what it's always done: deliver stellar storytelling.
When all is said and done, LOST will have done everything on it's own terms. That is what I'm most impressed with.
To both Micheal and Anonymous -
ReplyDeleteI agree that the show gives us answers in the details but I find that it is weird you say the show does what it wants to. This show has always listened to its audience. Nikki and Paulo are a perfect example.
LOST LOST LOST!!!!! It's Lost day!!
ReplyDeleteActually, Darth, INTRODUCING Nikki and Paulo is an example of listening to fans, but killing them was not. General arcs for each character get mapped out between seasons, and final drafts of individual episodes of the show are written two to three months before they air. People were complaining for two season that we didn't get enough information about the background characters, so the powers that be introduced Nikki and Paulo, but by the time people were complaining about them, though, their deaths had already been planned, if not already shot.
ReplyDeleteMorse, if you fail to include a shot of Sun unbuttoning her blouse in your recap you are dead to me.
ReplyDeletehaha, well stated anonymous. I think that the title referred not to Jin's gift to Keamy, nor to Widmore's captive Desmond, but to the bundles that Sun unwrapped for Jin in her hotel suite.
ReplyDeleteSo that said, I thought it was a really solid episode and not at all trite. And I am so glad it wasn't just a matter of Locke/MIB wooing Sun to his camp. I felt she had gotten so bland that they might let her go with him that easily.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that she started lashing out about her frustration of going along with things for the last 12 episodes or so and then REALLY let it go. I felt they went a long way to making her seem more like Sun that we know and loved before she tried to do deals with Widmore to kill Ben Linus (What up with that btw? How does that jive with what we are seeming to learn about Widmore?)
Honestly, the language loss is convenient and feels sort of "plotty" but I have no problem with it. At this point, anything like that that happens, can sort of be written off as the will of the island, or Jacob, or maybe the MIB did that to her before he left so that her need for Jin would be greater. It doesn't really matter. It *is* an interesting switcheroo now that Jin is fluent. But mainly, it doesn't phase me. If anything, i think it gave her and Jack an awesome moment to bond. Yunjin Kim did an awesome job in that scene without speaking a word.
- Des.. Awesome, so i think we're going to get a lot of intel downloaded next week in the form of Widmore explaining himself and probably his history of manipulating Desmond to make sure he goes to the island etc (because he saw Faraday's journal also). Desmond episodes always rock.
Fans hated N&P and those characters were killed off because of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous. I really did not mention either the introduction or the murder of these charachters initially, just their names. The point I was really trying to make was that although the writers of this show have their own plan, they also listen to the fans and constantly shout out to them...
ReplyDeleteThat said, as far as last nights installment, very nice indeed. I had planned for a slower episode and was pleased on how this turned out. I think MiB took Sun's English so that she becomes more of an outcast and needs Jin more than ever.
The return of Mikhail ... awesome, and shot in the eye where the patch is to go. SWEET! I think there is more to this than just the face value (pun intended). I am thinking that the 2 universes are starting to converge. Did anyone notice the transition noise was different last night? I have a theory: What if the whole sideways universe has been what happens before the island universe? So that at the end of this season, it matches up with the beginning of the pilot episode ... how cool would that be? So when we see Mikhail for the first time in the series, we know how he got the eye patch. It's a stretch, I know, but hey ... just spit ballin'.
I loved MiB talking to Whidmore and saying back Whidmore's words as " a wise man once said, war is coming...."
Already salivating for next weeks Des episode. That is sure to rock us!
Aphasia
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tralfamadore.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts, everyone. The strangeness of Sun's Aphasia aside, I really dug this one.
Would this help? http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lost-the-package6.jpg
ReplyDeleteThis ep was cool. It was so much about not being able to communicate/understand one-another. Aphasia, Alt Jin/Sun not being able to speak english, jin + sayid, keemy + jin, sun + richard, jack + sun, mikhail speaking every language ever...and yet widmore and locke speak face to face.I cant wait to see your commentary on this because while I see the occurrence, i can't figure out the significance.
ReplyDeleteA good episode, and not half as much a letdown as I feared (I never liked the Jin/Sun-episodes).
ReplyDeleteThoughts:
Why is Claire still worrying about Aaaron when she is as dead inside as Sayid?
What does Widmore need a geologist for?
Michael and Desmond - awesome!
Jack is really coming back to his leader-role from season 1.
Room 23! I guess that's all we will learn about it's original purpose.
Miles comment and Lapidus' counter-comment - genius!
Richard's masterplan is to... destroy the plane? Wow, that's really clever.
All in all that was one of those episodes that got me craving for the next.
The "sideways" Sun seems not to have learned English, as the island Sun had. When island Sun got knocked out did she merge, to some degree, with sideways Sun?
ReplyDeleteInfected emotionless island Sayid got knocked out, and his sideways self responded more coldly to Jin's predicament than his Sayid-centric episode led me to think he would.
Grasping at straws?
We only know Claire to have the "infection" because that is what the Others said at the temple. They could have lied. Dogen only told Jack that, because it was his sister and maybe was hoping that would aid him to kill Sayid with the poison. She may not be infected at all. In fact, there may not be an "infection" what-so-ever. MiB could have taken Sayid's emotions away as well as Sun's English.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that there is a crossover of the sideways and island timelines - although that drills severe holes in Morse's Second Snake theory - but it would annoy me if we were witnessing crossovers from different times AND universes. I.E. The sideways storylines take place in September 2004 and the island storylines take place in 2007.
ReplyDeleteSo for exampled, if Juliet WAS crossing over while she died in Sawyer's arms in the season premiere, it would seem that would happen in 2007. Not shortly after the flight landed in 2004.
The best analogy I can think of offhand is that Marty McFly's delorean could travel though time. But as it changed times, it retained it's same speed, momentum and location. It didn't ever leave Hill Valley except to go outside city limits. There was no time travel from the Old West to Ancient Egypt.
So it would seem sloppier than this show is if they made a 33 year old character in one universe merge with his or her 36 year old self from another. Why wouldn't they be the exact same age at that time?
Good point.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone brought up the idea that the only characters whose lives have changed off island are those of the candidates? If Anti-Locke needs all of them to go off Island (willingly?)does he strike a bargain with them to do so? If so, does that explain the "sunken Island?" I'd imagine that it has some (minor) implications on the second snake theory, which would exclude everyone except the candidates.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Morse has brought it up before.
Aphasia is super fascinating. That guy Oliver Sacks has written on it some.
lon, interesting point, except it's not just the current candidates who have had changes. Ben may (was he?) have been a candidate once, but his life has changed a lot. Same with Roger Linus, Alex and presumably Danielle Rousseau, Rose and Bernard. Charlie, Miles and presumably Pierre Chang, Charlotte, Arzt, Claire, Ethan, etc. so it's a pretty powerful ripple effect if so.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'd be inclined to sign off that if these folks are that important, the ripples would be larger.
Really good episode. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteOkay, we've waited long enough. How were those beers you had while watching Lost?
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some good points Miles. The ripple would be extensive. The very definition of The Butterfly Effect, the differences grow more extensive and more wide spread as time passes. the detonation of Jughead would have profound effects on the entire world and universe.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised I haven't seen anyone mention yet about Anti-Locke's intentions. During the Jacob/MiB conversation in last weeks episode, Jacob said that as long as he is alive MiB isn't going anywhere and if he is killed someone will take his place. MiB promptly says he will kill them too.
Does it not make sense that he needs to gather all the potential candidates so that he can exterminate them all before he can leave?
Speaking of MiB leaving, in season 4's "Something Nice Back Home" Jack centric episode was visited by Christian in the lobby of his office building. Since Jacob has already appeared to Jack, who was taking the form of Christian? Why did the smoke alarm go off right after?
Also remember Hurley was told to tell Jack that he was not supposed to raise Aaron. Just like Claire was told by the psychic she had to raise him. More signs from the past that Aaron is MiB, and that he could leave the island just like Jacob, because they are 2 halves of the same whole.
My current, bizarre, theory after reading Darth's post is that when Jack takes over Jacob's duties (being presumptuous here), Jack's multidimensional paternal lineage and progeny will collapse into one entity. Just like Jacob can leave the island, so can Christian-Jack[ob]. Oh, and he can shapeshift into any of his forms. Why was Christian-Jack such a jerk sometimes, trying to lead ordinary-Jack off of a cliff? Just toughening him up. Not a good theory, just talking out loud.
ReplyDeleteJDR22 Here...
ReplyDeleteI went into this episode expecting a slower-paced, Jin/Sun reunion episode (for the record: I like Sun/Jin episodes).
It blew my expectations away.
There was a lot going on, and it contained some BIG implications. Sure, it didn't reunite Sun and Jin, but it was a very satisfying hour for me. I was so happy to see Desmond!
Some interesting points for me:
-Some people think that the MiB can't cross water, and therefore could not have been Christian on the freighter. We have seen the MiB cross water several times via boat, so it is feasible that he took a boat to the freighter.
-That said, if he can cross the water in a boat, what's stopping him from leaving the island via boat? Why does he need all remaining candidates to be with him?
-I thought it was interesting that Sun lost her ability to speak English after being knocked unconscious. It didn't cause any controversy for me (as MMorse said it might inspire). It seemed to me that the Sideways Sun was over-lapping with On-Island Sun. The implications of this are extremely cool.
-Zoe didn't bother me as much as she did in 'Recon', but I'm not a fan of her character. That said, I liked everything she was involved in, perhaps I'm just not big on the actress.
-The Widmore scenes (with both Jin and MiB) were great. I also find it interesting that...
-Desmond is The Package. This wasn't terribly surprising, but it was incredibly awesome to not only see him again on-island, but to know that he plays a MAJOR role in the endgame. This makes me smile. What's interesting to me is why Desmond is needed to defeat the MiB. Obviously he's miraculously special, but is it because of his exposure to electromagnetism? Or is it something else? This is getting good...
-There's much more that I didn't cover, but oh well.
Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. Here's looking forward to next weeks' installment!
@Miles
ReplyDeleteTrue, true, but these lives have changed as a direct result of the Island changing. Their lives are exactly (perhaps) the same. They've been to the Island but now that there is no Island (water everywhere makes me think of the wine spilling) their lives have changed as a result. However, I'm kinda growing fond of the idea that, if Anti-Locke gets off the Island there is no need for candidates, and there is no need for candidates if the Island itself has become a version of Atlantis. If there is no need for a Candidate then Jacob doesn't influence their lives, which allows for the possibility of their lives to change more dramatically because Jacob was, even if only slightly, there to nudge our Candidates.
But, Kate is the same. Charlie is the same, Claire, etc...
As for Ben, he's the same. His life is different only because he left and never returned. When and why he left is interesting and probably the last key to figuring out everything, not that I'm in a hurry.
In this case, too, the death of MiB may also signal no need for the Island in which case the lives because they are no longer needed.
i hate myself. Just trying to get the idea out there as fast as possible (I gotta take a piss).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my point is that only the candidates change significantly. They do because they are no longer candidates. The rest, who were never candidates, change as well, but they change for entirely different reasons. Where Jacob is the prominent force in their lives, the Island is a prominent force in others, and the rest, who never see the island and cannot be influenced by it as a result, are set on the same path they were before the plane crashed.
Why all of this is happening is anyone's guess. I suspect it has happened as a result of either the MiB getting off the Island or the MiB being stopped from getting off the Island. If the second snake is a result of "defeating" the MiB, then I think the show will miss an opportunity to have our characters do what we reaaaaaallllllly want them to do. Realize they know each other. There's no need for them to realize this unless they have one last "mission." Beat the bad guy on his "new," off-Island turf.
I'd also imagine that we'll get a little kryptonite to this Superman? What happens to the MiB's powers when he's away from the magnetic juice of the Island?
Holy cow.
ReplyDeleteYou guys have been busily churning out excellent thoughts while I've been hurriedly slapping together something for you to read, and I love the things you're coming up with.
Ion, I've talked about how the people who seem to have made "positive" changes within themselves seem to be the ones who are happiest off-Island. Jin and Sun, however, throw that thinking off. Both of them have made enormous advances in the show, and those changes seemed to be reflected in the way that off-Island Jin and Sun have come together without destroying themselves. But then Sun gets shot. By Jin. So....
"Okay, we've waited long enough. How were those beers you had while watching Lost?"
Delicious.
I think everyone is taking the fact that MiB can't leave to literally. He stated in "The Incident" that he wanted to go "home". Fact may be when MiB says he just wants to "leave" or asking Jacob to "let him go", he wants to be released from Jacob's grasp. This doesn't mean he cannot physically leave the island.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I can't believe how kick ass this blog is.
ReplyDeleteThe Jin/Sun stuff is even more interesting if we believe that the only lives to have substantially changed are those of the candidates. If this is so, we meet Jin and Sun who both represent the two divisions of passengers who were aboard flight 815-- those who WERE Candidates and those who were not.
Why they're no longer Candidates, I don't know. Maybe they make a deal with Jacob maybe they make one with MiB.
Anyway, Jin and Sun (one of whom is a Candidate and one who is not)become interesting because their lives are influenced by each other in a post Candidate "universe." So, they represent a paradox. This paradox is what keeps them apart. The former candidate's life was changed infinitesimally by stripping them of their Candidate-ness.
Sweet Jesus! What am I saying! I give up!
@ Lon -
ReplyDeleteYes this blog is the kickinest Lost blog out of any that I have seen on the net. This is the only place I go now (besides Chud to read the full Morse columns). You will not find "I think the island is on the moon" here!
Darth,
ReplyDeleteThat's enormously cool of you to say. Thank you very much.
Watch as the Island is now revealed to be on the/a moon! ;)
I am tying a noose just in case :-)
ReplyDelete