Wow, does this rain suck or what? My basement (the place in which I am currently writing this column) tends to flood a bit whenever it rains, but this weekend it’s gone all out. It’s not so much that it floods in the “deep” sense, but in the spreading sense it is wreaking havoc. I’m getting progressively nervous as the water creeps closer and closer towards me (and, worse yet, my computer).
Well, I’ve found that the reaction to this week’s Lost was pretty extreme, as people either felt that a great deal of information was given, or they felt that little to no information was revealed. I believe the former, so in light of the fact that this was pretty much the only original show I saw this week (with baseball taking over FOX), and I feel like the episode really needs to be dissected, this week’s column will be 100% Lost. Well, I’ll also do the Continuity Police and the Fun Fact of the Week. So it’ll be like 85% Lost.
CONTINUITY POLICE, VOLUME 9:
I’m actually going to let my IP colleague Brendan Campbell handle this week’s edition, with a little tidbit he sent me a few weeks ago regarding Prison Break. Personally, I’ve never seen the show, so if you have any beef with the example, take it up with him, because it’s not my jurisdiction. See what I did there? Continuity Police….jurisdiction….get it? Hell, Prison Break…jurisdiction….this works on so many levels. Anyway, take it away, Brendan…
Already found some continuity for you in freakin Prison Break…in what, episode 4?
Two weeks ago or something, Veronica the girlfriend/lawyer (played by Robin Tunney), went to visit Lincoln, the brother on death row. The two used to date, and she represented him in court.
He was found guilty, and was put on death row. Either way, he was framed, and we know this, but Veronica didn’t, and when Lincoln told her, she was all sad and didn’t believe him for the most part. She said she’d look into it, but was skeptical.
Now, after two weeks of investigating, she believes him. She just told him that in tonight’s episode, and also told him her and her fiancé broke up. He said “Aw, that’s too bad” (obviously not that upset, since he likes her) and she says “You always were a bad liar.” WTF? About a month in and they’re already messin’ around with things.
I know it’s small, but still, how could she have not believed him right away if he’s always been a bad liar?
Hey, works for me. Then again, I’ve never seen the show, and sometimes the littlest continuity contradiction bothers me beyond belief. But keep sending in those continuity errors, people! It’s a fun feature, and I’d like to see it continue.
LOST:
Wow, a lot certainly transpired this episode, huh? I chuckled a bit when they picked up the hatch scene where Jack was pointing the gun at Locke (which we had seen already, numerous times from a number of perspectives) because I honestly wondered if we would ever make any progression with this scene. To say the least, we certainly did.
First things first, let’s discuss the happenings with Sawyer, Michael, and Jin. It looks like a lot of people’s predictions were right, where they were held captive by the tail end survivors, and not The Others like many assumed. When Ana Lucia claimed that she had survived this entire time on her own, I knew that something was up. Considering what a tough time the front end survivors had, WITH teamwork, WITH all of the luggage, and WITH a number of capable outdoorsman, it definitely seemed a little fishy that somebody could survive on her own like that. Then again, I guess the French chick has for the past 16 years. Anyway, when she became exceptionally inquisitive about the gun, you just knew she was up to something.
The question remains, why do this to them after she knows that they are survivors as well? There are a number of possibilities. First, they may be “sick,” which Desmond made reference to last week. The illness could be something that makes them act like savages, like in 28 Days Later. Also, a lot of people have been critical about a group of people going insane and acting all Lord of the Flies after only a little over a month. It’s important to remember what sort of crazy stuff happens on this island, and that that could surely accelerate the journey towards insanity. We also don’t know what trials and tribulations they’ve been through. On the staff forums, Matthew Romanada had a great theory that the lack of a strong leader (or a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians) led the tail end survivors to act like savages, and may have formed groups and turned on each other when there was no easy way to get food or water. I like the idea that they didn’t have a strong leader, and it led to the downfall of civilization, because it echoes Jack’s sentiments in the beginning of the first season, and further accentuates the value of Jack’s leadership.
Next week looks very interesting with this side of the story, and I just love Sawyer telling Ana Lucia that if she hits him again, he’ll kill her. I’ve really, really liked the evolution of Sawyer’s character this season. Oh, and is there anything crazier than Jin saying, in PERFECT English without a twinge of an accent, “Everything is going to change.” That is crazy.
I’ve been pretty surprised with how much of the season has focused on Jack, Locke, Kate, and the hatch, and how much we haven’t seen of Charlie, Claire, Hurley, Sayid, and Shannon. That is by no means a criticism, but it shows great restraint on the part of the writers. Unfortunately, many fans seem to be frustrated by this. I’m a big fan of Jack, as he may even be my favorite character. However, a lot of people have been critical of him, saying that they find his character annoying. As a big fan of his, I have to admit that I found him extremely unlikable this episode, almost to an unbearable extent. I completely understand Jack’s mentality right now: He’s dealing very closely with a guy who has the polar opposite view of life that Jack does, he’s under an exceptional amount of pressure trying to protect the other survivors, and he just came face to face with a guy he arbitrarily saw many years ago. I can imagine it’s very overwhelming, and I don’t envy his situation in the least. The thing is, Locke really didn’t do anything wrong, and Jack was just overly harsh towards him. Maybe the fact that we were getting some Locke flashbacks made me more sensitive towards him, but throughout the episode I downright felt badly for Locke because of the way Jack was treating him. And I understand his reluctance to blindly put all of his faith in, well, faith…but I just feel like considering the things he’s seen on this island, he should open his mind up just a bit.
I really liked this Locke-centric episode, as it helped fill in a few gaps between the two other Locke perspective episodes we’ve seen. I’m sure many of you noticed that Helen (the woman in his flashbacks) is also the name of the phone sex operator (or at least what he called her) he spoke to in a previous Locke episode, and the name he called out when he was trampled by a boar early in the first season. My prediction is the obvious one: That the relationship ended badly, and in depression and loneliness, he would call a phone sex number and asked the woman if he could call her Helen. What’s interesting is that we still don’t know how Locke became paralyzed, and whether that has anything to do with the end of his relationship with Helen.
A couple of months ago when I watched the first Jack-centric episode from season one (where he is following the white rabbit that is his father), I noted that it was nice seeing a vulnerable, frantic side of Jack, since at that point we had only seen the calm and heroic aspect of his character. Likewise, it was really refreshing seeing a desperate side of Locke, since we’re so accustomed to seeing his rugged side. This episode did a wonderful job of reminding us that Locke was very much so once an ordinary man with very ordinary feelings and issues. Right now, to everybody on the island, he seems like this blind believer in faith and destiny. What they don’t realize, of course, is that he once blindly put his faith in his father, only to be so harshly and heartlessly (or kidneylessly, in his case) scorned. That sort of rejection is unfathomable, and with this episode we saw what sort of emotional and psychological damage that truly did. It was nearly impossible for him to take that leap of faith for Helen, a woman he genuinely loved. In this episode, you could really feel Locke’s desperation, especially when he asked Jack to stay after Desmond left (where he emotionally told Jack he didn’t want to do this alone), and at the end of the episode when he told Jack that he wanted him to press the execute button.
With that specific scene in mind, I LOVED when Locke cried out “It’s never been easy!” in response to Jack’s assertion that Locke so effortlessly believes in faith. And then, nearly in tears, telling Jack that he can’t do this alone, and that he doesn’t want to, finally uttering the words “it’s a leap of faith,” echoing the sentiment that Helen had told him all those years later. Terry O’Quinn (who plays Locke) did an exceptional job in this scene, truly making you feel the emotions that Locke was possessing at that moment. Again, it was great seeing a more vulnerable, desperate, and emotional side of Locke. The fact that he’s had so much faith and been such a believer in fate and destiny is arguably a big reason why they’ve survived this long, and it was really great seeing the internal struggle he’s been having this entire time to keep believing.
Now, of course, one must examine that video that was shown concerning the Dharma Initiative. Due to time and lack of care, the film was obviously not in the best condition, and no doubt some significant clues were included in those clips that were cut out. What we do know is that every 108 minutes, somebody must type in the code 4, 15, 16, 23, 42, and then hit execute. What happens if they don’t do this? Well, we’re not quite sure, but evidently something with electromagnetic implications. Jack believes it’s an experiment, which seems plausible, especially since the orientation video mentioned B.F. Skinner, who had theories on conditioning and reinforced behavior. Seems somewhat similar to what Desmond is doing in the hatch. My biggest qualm with this theory is that it seems like an awfully elaborate and expensive method of doing such an experiment. Also, I’m sure it’s no mistake that polar bears were used in the film when discussing the study of zoology. What’s interesting is that we see two polar bears, and so far there are exactly two polar bears on the island that we know of (the one Sawyer shot in the pilot, and the one that attacked Walt). Perhaps the polar bears were planted there by those running the experiment, and the entire island is some experimental, observational utopia. This could also explain the whispers the French lady hears (and Sayid had heard), which could either be the people running the experiment communicating with each other, or some sort of human intervention to see how the subjects react.
One must wonder, though, that if this is not an experiment (that is to say, typing in the code truly does execute something), what is the “incident” that the orientation video makes reference to in the first place? Perhaps the incident caused the deaths of the people on the island, and in return the last survivor left the repeating message of the numbers for whoever found themselves on the island (this message, in turn, brought the French woman and her crew to the island, and eventually reached Hurley)?
I can’t take credit for this (that goes to fellow IP columnist Matthew Michael), but two of The Others (from the season finale) bore a physical resemblance to Gerald and Karen, the creators of the Dharma Initiative (from the film). The Other who took Walt had a bushy beard (like Gerald), and the woman who threw the explosive onto the raft had blonde hair (like Karen). Could The Others be the people running the experiment? Again, this theory could explain the whispering that the French Woman and Sayid have heard. Here are some images for comparison:
Again, credit for that observation goes to Matthew Michael.
There are also some who believe that the woman in the picture with Desmond right as he runs out of the hatch is actually Sarah, Jack’s ex-wife. After pausing the scene I couldn’t tell for certain whether that’s her or not, since the photo was not in the best condition. However, it’s worth noting that the photo was taken in Sydney. Based on Jack’s reaction, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s her, especially since it was after seeing the picture that he decided to chase after him. And considering his reluctance to admit to Desmond (and everyone else) that they had met in the past, I wouldn’t put it past him to not ask that question immediately.
With what we know now, lets take another look at the mural from the premiere to see if we can now decipher any of the clues. This was my description of it a few weeks ago:
Well, the number 108 is inside the sun, and below that (possibly in the moon?) is the number 16. You can also see the number 42 to the right of that, with an arrow pointing to the sky in between them. On the top right of the screen is what appears to be a face screaming. At the bottom is a house, with an arrow point up at something that possibly says “Sick.”
What I described as a house could actually be the hatch, and there’s a cloud over it that says “Sick” (or “I’m Sick”?). Could this be the incident that occurred, and why Desmond asked how many people were sick? The screaming face actually looks more like crossbones (the sign for poison or death). We know that every 108 minutes they need to type in the code, so that’s the easy interpretation of the “108” in the sun. Perhaps it’s saying that if you don’t type in the numbers, people will get sick and death will follow (either for themselves or for others)? The sun could represent life, hence why 108 is within it (in other words, the 108 preserves life).
Nevertheless, next week looks very interesting, especially since they now have full access to the hatch. Jack’s decision to not give out the food is unusual. It also looks like the front end survivors could start getting pretty primal as well, as evident with Charlie’s reaction to finding out about the food and that it’s being kept secret. The hatch does look very spacious, with plenty of food, cooking supplies, electricity, showers, and a couple of beds. It does seem strange that they wouldn’t move everybody in there immediately.
Oh, and I forget to mention this every week, but has anybody else noticed how Locke has been calling Hurley “Hugo” (his real name) since the finale? Has far as I can remember, this has not been explained, since (as far as we know) he’s only told Jack about his real name. Any significance to this?
Well, I hope you enjoyed that lengthy interpretation of the episode.
TV FUN FACT OF THE WEEK:
This week we’ll take a look at another cult favorite (albeit one of yesteryear), ALF. Without further adieu, here’s your fun fact of the week:
ALF’s name is Gordon Shumway, and he’s from the planet Melmac.
Ya’ know, both him and Sid the Cookie Monster have surprisingly ordinary names.
Well, I’ll be back later this week with my Smallville recap, in which a still powerless Clark Kent apparently gets shot. I opted not to do a “faster than a speeding bullet” joke regarding Clark losing his virginity, but it looks like I’ll have another opportunity (albeit in a different context) this week.
