“Lost” for Beginners—Season 6, Episodes 9-16 (and beyond!)

                “It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”

                Well folks, this is that “once!” LOST is at an end, and oh, what an end it is. We get to see everything come full circle as the writers bring back events and themes from as far back as the very beginning of season 1 and show them in a whole new way. The end of LOST is a moving tale of redemption, good and evil, life and death, and just about any other epic things you can think of. I remember when these episodes aired, and having to listen to my friends gripe about how nothing was being answered. Now, having seen the show in its entirety, including the epilogue “The New Man in Charge,” which I will be discussing at the end of this post, I have to say I really don’t understand what everyone was whining about. Not only did I feel satisfied with the ending and feel that it answered all of my major questions at least implicitly, but I was also blown away by how compelling it was and how well they made everything fit together in the end. Honestly, “The End” may indeed be the single best series finale I have ever seen! Also, since this will be my last post, I’m pulling out all the stops and talking extensively about things that happen in the final episode, so SPOILER ALERT!!!

                So, we left off with two universes, which I dubbed Universe A and Universe B in my last post. Turns out, this terminology is not entirely accurate in retrospect, considering what Universe B is actually revealed to be in “The End.” But we’ll get to that later. In this latter half of the season, the characters of Universe B first begin to realize that something is wrong, something is “off.” This starts with Daniel in the episode “Happily Ever After,” and he soon converts Desmond to his cause. Desmond proceeds to start doing everything he can to get all of the other Universe B versions of the characters to remember their pasts, and these recollections are manifested as color-saturated visions of key events of the first five seasons. There’s some irony for you. The reason the characters in Universe A set off Jughead in the first place was to create a better world for themselves. Now, these other selves are unhappy and looking to get back to the way things were. The irony really resonated with me in that same episode, when Universe B Charlie drives his car into the water, claiming that he had seen “love” and wanted to go back to it. In a continuation of the theme of revisiting past moments, Charlie puts his hand up against the car window as the car is sinking into the water. Revisiting that moment sent chills down my spine, and for the first time in quite a while, I actually screamed out loud!

                The theme of atonement is strong throughout the coming episodes. Ben starts to feel remorse for everything he’s done, Jacob still feels guilty for creating the Smoke Monster, but my favorite atoner has got to be Sayid. After having been claimed by the Man in Black toward the beginning of the season, he has spent the better part of the season on “the Dark Side,” as Sawyer called it. When sent by the Man in Black to go kill Desmond, however, Sayid experiences a change of heart. Desmond’s talk of Nadia snaps Sayid out of his hypnosis, or whatever you want to call it. This moment begins the “love conquers all” theme which ends up being very prevalent in “The End,” to the point of being a little cheesy, I have to admit. But anyway, I found it fascinating that not once does Sayid vocalize his feelings; he goes back to the group and takes back on his old role. But then, in “The Candidate,” Sayid ends up proving himself through his actions, when he sacrifices himself for the rest of the group.             

The ending of this episode threw me for a loop when 3 people who had been major characters since episode 1 were all killed in one fell swoop. Although it was pretty dumb of Jin to stay there with Sun when they had a daughter to think about, it was still very intense. Oddly enough, the full tragedy of it didn’t really hit me until the survivors are on shore and Hurley starts crying. I mean, he just starts BAWLING HIS EYES OUT. I don’t believe we had ever seen Hurley cry on the show before, at least not a full-out audible cry like that. Hurley, the character who has been the upbeat comic relief for six seasons, just breaks down. That was what did it for me.

                In this next episode, “Across the Sea,” we finally get to see the whole truth about Jacob and the Man in Black. Let me just point out the irony in one of my season 5 posts. I spoke of “an epic war going on between Ben and Widmore,”  and how “the Oceanic 815 survivors [are]…pawns in this epic war.” Back when I wrote that, I thought Ben and Widmore’s conflict was going to be the center of the show up until the end. Little did I know that, come season 6, Ben and Widmore’s conflict would seem totally insignificant next to the struggle between Jacob and the Man in Black. You can basically take that passage I wrote back during season 5, replace “Ben” and “Widmore” with “Jacob” and “The Man in Black,” and it would embody how this episode made me feel. The main element of this episode that stood out for me was at the end, when it flashed to the season 1 scene of Jack finding the bodies and the 2 stones in the cave. Bet you had forgotten about that, huh? I know I sure as hell did. I know that a lot of viewers, my own mother included, felt sometimes like the writers were just making it up as they went along. And maybe they were, to some extent. We’ll never know. But they had enough of a clear plan to include toward the beginning of season 1 something that would become a major plot point in the 3^rd-to-last episode. That’s testimony for something.

Things really get down to the wire in “What They Died For,” when Jacob anoints Jack as the new Protector of the Island. That scene with Jacob and the Candidates all around the fire was very poignant to me. Someone asks him why he brought them there, what right he had to take them from their old lives. This was a question that viewers (or at least I) needed reconciled. Not so much for the sake of “answers,” but for the sake of understanding. Because at first glance, Jacob’s bringing people to the Island against their will, knowing full well that many of them are going to die there, seems just as evil as anything the Man in Black has done. And we as viewers want to see Jacob as at least somewhat of a good guy. After all, he’s the one passing down this essential leadership role, and we as viewers need to have a high (or at least medium) opinion of him in order to feel satisfied about the fact that one of our beloved characters that we’ve known for six seasons is going to take over in his place. And then, Jacob gives us an answer: “Did I pluck any of you from a happy existence?” he asks. The Candidates fall silent. He’s right. I remember back when I was watching season 1, thinking “Wow, most of these people don’t even have any loved ones who will miss them.” At the time, I thought this was unrealistic, and I figured it was just a plot device to avoid having to make episodes about the castaways’ mourning loved ones. Now, I see that this was probably intentional all along. Jacob says that he would never have taken anyone from a happy home raising a happy family and brought them here. The characters were all brought here because they were “looking for something.” As the camera focuses on each Candidate around the fire, I realize how true this is: they were all missing something, and all of them have found that something on the Island.

And now, the time has arrived to talk about “The End.” It’s the end of a groundbreaking TV show, the end of some of the characters’ time on the Island, the end of some lives, and the end of a legacy. And now that it’s here, I really don’t know what to say first. I guess I can start by saying that to me, “The End” was thoroughly satisfying. I was truly blown away, and cried through nearly the entire thing (both because it was so powerful and because I didn’t want it to be over). I know a lot of viewers were frustrated and felt like they didn’t get enough answers, but I completely disagree. I would have even been satisfied just by “The End,” even without watching “The New Man in Charge,” which answered an impressive amount of lingering questions in its 10 minutes. OK, so they didn’t explain why Jacob and the Man in Black couldn’t kill each other originally, we still don’t know exactly how the Island moved, and we never got a concrete definition of what the Numbers were. But, does any of that really matter? Moreover, would answering them have contributed positively to the narrative? My answer to both of those questions is a firm “no,” and I would actually go as far as to argue that any more explanation would have had negative effects on the finale as a whole. Mechanical, step-by-step explanations of phenomena that are integral parts of the show’s identity as a work of speculative fiction would have defeated the whole purpose of introducing these phenomena in the first place. They are supernatural happenings. If supernatural happenings are overexplained, they cease to be supernatural.

Now that we’re clear on my opinions of the finale as a whole, let’s dissect it and look at a few specific elements. The finale culminates with an epic battle between good and evil, light and dark, as Jack, the newly appointed Protector of the Island, fights the Man in Black to the death. Well, actually deaths. This is a common formula for series finales, especially within the speculative fiction genre. However, I found it to be a quite surprising and kind of incongruous (but not in a bad way) ending for this show, since the show’s morality had always been ambiguous at most up until this season. In my post on the second half of season 2, I talked at great length about how LOST was a show about moral relativism that “doesn’t really seem to have a clear set of ‘good guys’ and a clear set of ‘bad guys,’” and in which “not one character is completely good or completely evil.” Yup, I was pretty adamant about how morally gray everything was. Fast forward four seasons, and here we have a battle that is literally between light and dark, in which the color scheme of black and white is manifested in a variety of different ways (the stones on the scale, the backgammon tiles, the clothing in “Across the Sea,” etc.). The Man in Black is made out to be evil incarnate, and it is implied that if he were allowed to leave the Island he would destroy the entire world. That’s pretty dang evil, all right. So why the drastic change? Honestly, I don’t know. Never before have I seen a show change the way it looks at morality so dramatically. Maybe it’s another way for the writers to draw viewers out of their comfort zones. Maybe they felt it was the most powerful way to end the series. Whatever the reason though, I’ve got to say I think they made it work. That final battle was filled with very poignant moments for the characters (Jack and the Man in Black each confidently saying the other was wrong, “Just know you died for nothing!”, Kate delivering the fatal shot to the Man in Black) so I’ve got to say it worked for me, because the writers succeeded in making it just as emotionally powerful as what we have been seeing on the show all along.

The big reveal at the end about the true nature of Universe B came as somewhat of a shock to me, but not completely. I had first started to suspect that something was strange about Universe B earlier in the episode when Universe B Sun had her vision, a vision that involved her own death in Universe A three episodes prior. That struck me as off right away. If Universe B had been created when the characters in Universe A blew up Jughead, then when the Universe B characters remembered their other selves, they would logically only remember what had happened up until the detonation of Jughead. At least, that was the logical train of thought I was using. Thus, when Sun remembered something that had happened well after Jughead’s detonation, I started to get suspicious. In retrospect, it should have been somewhat obvious to me that the flash-sideways was actually purgatory. After all, in my post on the first half of season 6, I described Universe B as a place where “the characters seem to be facing down the demons that have plagued their Universe A selves for the past five seasons” and a place where they can achieve “reconciliation for what happened in Universe A.” Theologically speaking, if you replace “Universe A” with “life on Earth,” that’s exactly what purgatory is! It’s funny how I noticed the purgatory-like elements of Universe B without actually connecting the dots.

As I mentioned previously, I did think it was a little cheesy that so many of the characters remembered their other selves (more accurately, “living selves”) through touching their soul mate in Universe B/ the Afterlife. After it happened to 4 different couples, one of which shouldn’t have even been soul mates in my opinion (Sayid and Shannon—wasn’t Nadia his one true love?), I started to feel a little like I was watching a Lifetime movie. Luckily, the overdone “love conquers all” theme didn’t apply to every character; I loved seeing Kate remember her life on the Island by delivering Aaron, and Jack remember his by touching his father’s coffin. I’ll talk about that more in a bit.

Since this is indeed the final “Lost for Beginners” post, it is also our final trip together on the Ben-Coaster, and I thought the Ben storyline ended in the best way possible. We were introduced to him as this sadistic, lying sociopath in seasons 2 and 3, and then somehow slowly managed to end up really feeling for him at times. He is indeed trying to turn his act around a bit in season 6, an effort which I thought was captured best by one single moment. He’s sitting on the beach and someone calls him on one of the many, many lies he’s told, and he utters his old catchphrase—“I lied; it’s what I do,”—but in a defeated, remorseful tone, nothing like the smug tone in which he used to brag about being such a good liar. That was when it really hit me: here’s a guy who feels genuinely sorry for the horrible things he’s done. I guess, all along, he has been doing what he thought was best for the Island, and he’s always been so committed to the Island and—HEY, WAIT A MINUTE! He ordered the kidnapping of dozens of innocent castaways off of the beach and brainwashed them, he held 3 of our beloved castaways prisoner in polar bear cages, he killed everyone on the freighter and didn’t even care, he strangled Locke to death, and he almost killed Desmond and Penny! He doesn’t get off that easily!

That is exactly what was going through my mind regarding Ben all through this season, and I ultimately felt kind of duped when he got to be Hurley’s “Number Two” at the end. But then came the scenes in the church. And Ben is sitting outside on a bench as Hurley enters the church. “I don’t think I’m coming in,” he says to Hurley. Now, by this point, although it hasn’t yet been stated outright that Universe B has been Purgatory all along, many viewers have put 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 together (instead of 2 and 2 together…ha) and figured it out already. I was among these viewers, so I fully understood the implications of Ben’s decision not to enter the church (or inability to enter the church, whichever you prefer). He can’t move on with the rest of them. At least, not yet. He’s got a bit more atoning to do in Purgatory before he can fully move on. This was a very fitting final moment for Ben as a character, because it depicted him as a changed man while simultaneously acknowledging (and not downplaying) the horrific acts he committed in life.

                So now, the time has finally arrived to talk about the final moments of the series. These final moments will stay with me forever, in all their glory. Jack is in the church, which is beautifully (and cleverly) adorned with sacred symbols from several faiths, and he touches his father’s coffin. His father appears to him, which leads Jack to the realization that he is, in fact, dead. Was it fitting for Jack to be the last one of the castaways to realize it? I mean, he’s always been the leader, and now everyone has beaten him to this final revelation? Well, I say yes. I think it was a fitting end for Jack, to be the last one to realize. After all, he has been essentially the main character all along, so it felt climactic to have his revelation come at the very end in order to tie the entire series together. But even more than that, I mentioned in my last post how many things in Universe B were the opposite of what they were in Universe A (Ben choosing to protect Alex, Roger Linus’s oxygen tank, Sawyer being a cop, “Everybody Loves Hugo,” etc.), so naturally, the one who was the leader of the group in life is consequently the last one on board in the afterlife. (“And the first shall be last?”) But even more than THAT, one of Jack’s many roles on the Island was that of the Man of Science. Locke was the Man of Faith, the believer, while Jack doubted everything, only believing in what he could see, touch, and prove. He and Locke had several long discussions on the topic of faith versus science, which often turned into heated arguments. “Don’t mistake coincidence for fate,” Jack once told Locke. So, never having been a believer in anything supernatural, always the skeptic, of course it fits for Jack to be the last one to realize that he’s dead. The Man of Science that we knew on the Island would have scoffed at the idea of Purgatory, and even once he’s there, he is still the same doubtful man he always was, which is why it takes him so long to realize the truth. The final moments of the series flash rapidly between Jack’s death on the Island and the castaways all in the church and finally moving on. Remember the Pilot episode, the first scene we ever saw was a close-up on Jack’s closed eye as it opened to take in the Island for the first time. Now, in a perfect full-circle ending, the last thing we see on the screen is Jack’s eye closing as he takes in the Island for one last time.

                Wow. What an ending! I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up several times while writing this last post. You know that writers have done an excellent job when just THINKING about the way something ended has the power to make you cry. I felt like they ended the show in the best possible way it could have ended, and I laud the writers and producers for crafting one of the most all-around great shows ever to grace TV.

                But wait! There’s more! Included in the DVD is a special 10-minute long epilogue entitled “The New Man in Charge,” in which we as the audience get a glimpse into the “next generation” of the Island, if you will, with Hurley in charge and Ben at his side. The epilogue takes place in a DHARMA Initiative packing plant, where there are people hard at work still dropping food on the Island (bet you’d been wondering where the food drops were coming from!) Ben comes in and tells them that they can shut down production. As he turns to leave, one of the DHARMA packers plays audience surrogate and says “Wait a minute! You can’t just leave without giving us any answers!” Ain’t it the truth. This is, after all, the absolute final chance for us to get any answers to any lingering questions we had about the show, since executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have pretty much said that LOST will never be re-visited in any way. So, 10 minutes on the clock, and Ben needs to answer as many of our questions as he can. And he does a REALLY GOOD JOB of it. The epilogue proceeded to answer questions I had even forgotten I had, by way of one final DHARMA orientation video, starring our good friend Dr. Pierre Chang. From this video, we learn why there were polar bears there, what the “Hurley Bird” was, and the origin of Room 23, the brainwashing room, among other things. The explanation of Room 23 (how it was originally used by the DHARMA Initiative to coerce the native Others into giving them information about Jacob) even somewhat answered the question I had regarding Richard (if he was there to guide people and show them how to be good, why would he have taken part in the Purge, which was essentially an act of genocide, and then bend to Ben’s every sinister whim?). Knowing that the DHARMA Initiative started the conflict by capturing Others and subjecting them to psychological torture for no reason makes Richard’s violent actions against them seem a little more justified.

At the end of the epilogue, we even get to see Walt one final time! I had almost forgotten the whole subplot of Walt being “special” that was emphasized in the first two seasons. Although we don’t learn the precise nature or origin of Walt’s power (which is totally fine by me; see my earlier comment about supernatural phenomena), we do find out that his powers make him a next-generation Candidate, and that Hurley wants him to come back to the Island to help Michael, who is still trapped on the Island as a ghostly Whisper. Of course, this begs the question of, if we are supposed to believe that indeed Walt does go back to help his father, why are neither of them moving on in the church at the end? Well, I like to think that maybe Michael and Walt just wanted to spend a little more time in Purgatory as father and son, their earthly relationship having been cut short by tragic circumstances. Maybe while all the rest of the castaways were ready to move on, Michael and Walt simply needed to live out their father-son relationship the way it should have been on Earth. That’s what I think. But I guess we’ll never know for sure. And I like it that way.

                Before I wrap up “Lost for Beginners” for good, I just want to give a big THANK YOU to my Mom and my dear friends Jenny and Cathy who watched with me for making my LOST-viewing experience more amazing than I could have ever imagined! As a wise man named Hurley once said, “I’m the luckiest guy (gal) in the world.”  THANK YOU!

Season 6, Episodes 1-8

“Lost” for Beginners—Season 6, Episodes 1-8

                We’re down to the wire here, folks! This marks the beginning of my viewing of the final season of Lost. It just keeps on getting more and more intense, and I really can’t imagine how they’re going to wrap it all up in just 16 episodes! One quick note: we’ve now got parallel universes going on, and writing about them is really confusing. Thus, I’m going to call the “real” world that the characters have been living in for the past five seasons, the one in which they are all still on the Island, “Universe A.” The dimension that sees the characters land safely in LA on Flight 815 will henceforth be known as “Universe B.” Got it? Good. Let’s begin.

                So, in the season 5 finale, “The Incident,” Ben killed Jacob, and Juliet detonated the Jughead bomb in an attempt to reset the timeline. It was quite a lot to take in! We’re left wondering whether the detonation of Jughead does indeed change the way things happened. As we entered season 6, I found myself really torn on what I wanted to see happen. On one hand, I would feel really cheated if the timeline completely changed and none of the events of the past five seasons had ever happened. This show is too brilliant to just be retconned into oblivion. On the other hand, I was very curious to see how the characters would have fared if the plane hadn’t gone down. We know where they were all headed, and why they were on the plane, and we’re naturally curious about how their lives would have turned out if Desmond hadn’t accidentally crashed their plane onto the Island. Would Kate have gone to jail? What would Claire have done with Aaron? Would Sun have left Jin? Would Sayid have found Nadia? All these “what if” questions are running through our minds, and we’re just dying to see them play out. There’s something really alluring about seeing these characters in normal society, after we’ve seen them in the crazy environment that is the Island. So naturally, I had mixed feelings going into season 6.

                Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, either way! We get to have our canon cake and eat it too! Right from the beginning, we flash-sideways between Flight 815 landing safely in LA, and the castaways still on the Island after the detonation of the bomb. Instead of changing the timeline, it appears they’ve created an alternate reality. I’m sure the writers must have realized that if they had just done one or the other, they would have had a lot of very angry viewers on their hands! So, now we get to see the story continue in two directions; the tale of the Island continues in Universe A, while we also get our secret wish of seeing the characters exist in normal society in Universe B. This is great, because story lines that never got to be actualized before can be done now; it’s like the characters are all getting a do-over.

                And boy oh boy, do they do it over! Now we get to see the characters get to know each other in a whole new setting, a much more normal one! After they get off the flight in Universe B, the characters keep on crossing each other’s paths again and again. We get to see twisted versions of things that have already happened in Universe A, and at times this makes it almost feel like a dream sequence. In a sense, the characters seem to be facing down the demons that have plagued their Universe A selves for the past five seasons, while at the same time having no knowledge of their other selves being plagued by these demons. In the episode “What Kate Does,” Universe B Kate helps Claire deliver Aaron, and in return Claire doesn’t tell the police where Kate went. I saw this as a kind of reconciliation for what happened in Universe A with Kate raising Aaron and surrendering him to his grandmother for the sake of going back to the Island. Similarly, Jack has a son in Universe B, with whom he at first has a rocky relationship. But as the episode goes along, Jack wrestles with his inner demons concerning his own father, and ultimately refuses to make the same mistakes his own father did, and patches things up with his son.

                In addition to this, some aspects of Universe B are downright opposite from what they are in Universe A. Hurley calls himself “the luckiest man alive” instead of thinking he’s cursed, Sawyer’s a cop instead of a con man, and Jin and Sun are pregnant out of wedlock, instead of being unable to conceive when married. However, the most interesting and most thorough opposite scenario, in my opinion, is Ben’s. In the episode “Dr. Linus,” we get to see what his life would have been sans Island. Instead of being a clinically insane pathological liar, he’s a high school history teacher. Early on in the episode, we see that he lives with his father, Roger. You know, the guy he killed in Universe A? Furthermore, we see Ben caring for his ill father, replacing his father’s oxygen life support tanks. It’s shown pretty quickly and subtly, and nothing is said about it, but that was a really intense moment for me. If you remember, in Universe A, Ben killed Roger using poison gas. In Universe B, instead of using gas to kill his father, he’s using it to keep him alive. Then we get to see Ben at work. He’s especially close to one of his students, who happens to be none other than Alex Rousseau. As the episode progresses, “Dr. Linus” gets woven into a scenario where he must make a choice: either get promoted to principal, or help Alex get into Yale. The audience naturally can’t wait to see what decision he makes. We all recall that in Season 4, Universe A Ben let Alex die because he refused to relinquish his power on the Island and turn himself in. Now, in Universe B, he’s presented with a similar scenario: Alex or power? In keeping with the themes of opposites and atonement for old Universe A sins, you can probably guess what his final decision ends up being.

                Then we get to episode 8, “Ab Aeterno.” After almost 3 seasons of being completely baffled by Richard the ageless wonder, we FINALLY get to see his back story (although they never do explain his weird-looking eyes  :P). This is very awesome, but I thought the best parts of the episode were the scenes with Jacob. This episode really deepens our understanding of Jacob and the Man in Black; the Man in Black is apparently pure, unconcentrated evil that can only take the form of dead people (Season 7 of Buffy, anyone?), and Jacob and the Island are what’s preventing this evil from being unleashed on the world. Or at least, that’s what Jacob says. Anyway, what we have now presents Jacob as a sort of God figure.

It was clear to me that the writers are being heavily influenced by ancient religious texts. When Jacob starts talking about how he brings people to the Island to prove the Man in Black wrong about it being human nature to sin, I was instantly reminded of the Book of Job. You know, God allows a guy to go through unimaginable torture to prove a point to the devil? That seems to be what Jacob is doing here, and we as viewers aren’t sure how to feel about it. I mean, we think Jacob is good, but why is it necessary for him to put people through suffering? Jacob even talks about how people on the Island in the past have killed each other, and Richard calls him on it, asking him why he’s never stepped in to stop it. In this day and age, I feel like these are the same questions a lot of people have in the world today. Many people in real life want to believe in a higher power, but just don’t understand why the world has to be full of so much evil if there really is a benevolent divine being looking after all of us. I wrote an entire research paper on this topic my sophomore year of college; if I were writing that paper now, I would discuss the events of Richard’s conversation with Jacob at length. Anyway, Jacob tells Richard that the reason he doesn’t step in is because he wants people “to know the difference between right and wrong without [him] having to tell them.” He goes on to say that if he always needs to step in, it would all be meaningless.

So there’s some food for thought on the subject. I found myself really, really thinking after this episode, about the nature of good and evil, about a higher power, about life, the universe, and everything, and I hope it makes you think too! Anyway, the point of that interaction, besides raising a great deal of philosophical questions, was to show how Richard became immortal. Turns out, Jacob agrees to make him his intermediary. Richard steps up to the plate, offering to be the one to step in and guide people on the Island to make the right decisions. In exchange, Jacob makes him immortal. Okay, so that’s been answered, but now there’s a new, highly problematic question: If Richard is supposedly there to guide people into doing the right thing, then why is he Ben’s subordinate 140 years later, just going along with all the evil stuff Ben is doing? I REALLY hope this gets at least somewhat explained; I guess I’ll find out soon!

Well Losties, that about wraps up this post! Join me next time as I take you through the home stretch, the final 8 episodes of the show! Will all of our questions be answered? Will I find the ending satisfying, or will I be left wanting more? Now that the box set containing the epilogue is out, I’ll be sure to watch that as well. After all that, we’ll see what I think as I give my final thoughts on the series. Later, dudes!

Season 5, Episodes 8-16

“Hello. My name is Dr. Marvin Candle and welcome to orientation at the DHARMA Initiative Swan Station.” And to another edition of Lost for Beginners! It’s been quite a while since we first saw that orientation film and learned of the DHARMA Initiative (3 ½ seasons, in fact—can you believe it’s been that long?) and we still have one hell of a lot of unanswered questions about this mysterious organization. One of the main purposes of the 2^nd half of season 5 is to answer some of these questions for the viewers. However, since none of the original DHARMA Initiative members are still living, that eliminates the prospect of revealing these secrets via flashbacks. Couple this with the fact that our friends on the Island have been time-travelling for the past 7 episodes, and we’ve got a perfect way to fill in any DHARMA-related plot gaps that have been brewing for 3 ½ seasons.

Episode 8, “LaFleur,” opens in the year 1977 in a DHARMA station. We see two young Initiative members having a fling, and then a guy named Phil comes in, yells at them, and says he’s going to get LaFleur, the Head of Security. He knocks on the door of one of the houses in the barracks, and we see a rear view of a man going to answer the door. Now, I’ve watched the show long enough to realize that whenever someone is first shown from the back when introduced, this means that, when the camera rotates, we will be shocked by this person’s identity (it’s been done most recently with Eloise Hawking a few episodes ago). So I knew that “LaFleur” must be someone we’d seen before. Still, I honestly had no idea who it was going to be. So imagine my surprise when we see the scene from a different angle, and standing there in the doorway is Sawyer! Since the group stopped time-hopping in the previous episode, we know that they are stuck in whatever time they stopped, but we don’t know when that was…until now. Still, we’re thinking “How on Earth did these guys make a life for themselves in 1977 so quickly?” Soon enough, we get our answer, as we flash back to “three years earlier”—1974, and see the castaways when they first stopped time-hopping. With this, we’re able to infer that our friends on the Island have been living in the 1970s as members of the DHARMA Initiative for THREE YEARS.

Wow, that’s a long time! I mean, we knew 3 years had passed with the Oceanic Six on the mainland, but when Locke went back to the mainland, it had only been a few days on the Island since the Oceanic Six left, but the Oceanic Six had been home for 3 years already. Once Locke is back on the mainland, THEN the castaways on the Island have their 3 years to catch up with the 3 years that have gone by on the mainland. So, it’s been 3 years for everyone except Locke; it was only a few weeks for him. I kept trying to wrap my brain around the logistics of this, but eventually just decided to chalk it up to “wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey,” and leave it at that.

So, putting that aside, I have really, really loved the second half of this season. Every episode has grabbed and kept my attention! I love seeing the characters in the 1970s, as the show flashes from 1977 back to 1974 periodically, to see how the characters built their new (old?) lives in the DHARMA Initiative. Here’s another case of the characters and the audience kind of being in the same boat; they have all the same questions we have regarding the DHARMA Initiative, and now they’re getting their questions answered by experiencing it directly, which proves way more interesting and fun for us than if we’d found out about it via some sort of exposition. It’s also a lot of fun getting to actually meet characters that, up until now, we had only seen in the orientation films (i.e. “Dr. Marvin Candle” AKA Pierre Chang) or in visions (i.e. Horace). We get to see them as real people, instead of just as memories, and we get to see how they interact with the characters we are already familiar with. It’s a really unique dynamic!

Now, I bet you all (everybody) remember “Tabula Rasa,” one of the first episodes ever. The castaways had just arrived on the Island, and the episode dealt with how crashing on the Island provides all the characters with a “clean slate” to start their lives anew. Since nobody else knows who they used to be, each character got the chance to be a new person, to have a fresh start. In the latter half of season 5, this “do-over” happens again. With the main characters all stranded in the 1970s among the strangers of the DHARMA Initiative, they have no choice but to essentially start over, even to the point of forgetting their previous time on the Island, for some of them. Along with forgetting their previous time on the Island, they seem to forget, or at the very least disregard, the roles they’ve previously played. Having a new start in a new time period, many of the characters reinvent themselves, unencumbered by previous status. Sawyer, for one, has become the leader of the group, something he had never been during the first four seasons. His street smarts and quick thinking helped him and his companions work their way into the DHARMA Initiative, and as a result they look to him as their leader and main decision-maker, a position that, up until now, had always belonged to Jack. Sawyer’s name change to “Jim LaFleur” reflects this change in status that he has undergone.

We really get to see the full extent of his newfound leadership in episode 9, “Namaste,” in which Jack, Hurley, Sayid, and Kate return to the Island, also stuck in 1977. The four of them are confused and disoriented, as well as concerned about how to plausibly integrate themselves into this society. In a reassuring manner that shows everyone he’s got things under control, Sawyer simply says “I’ll do the talking.” Is it just me, or has Jack said that exact sentence many, many times over the course of the series? Sawyer’s keeping his cool in a tense situation, just like a good leader should. He has a plan, just like a good leader should. Then, in a move indicative of both his cunning and of the amount of weight he now pulls within the DHARMA Initiative, Sawyer presents Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid as new recruits to the DHARMA Initiative, with all the evidence to back it up, and the DHARMA people buy it! So now, Jack and company are majorly indebted to Sawyer for helping them out. Still, when they all convene in Sawyer and Juliet’s house, Jack (of course) tries to reclaim his position as leader, challenging Sawyer’s leadership decisions. Sawyer berates him for “not thinking things through,” but the two continue to butt heads for the rest of their time in 1977.

One final note about all of this: at many points in the second half of the season, Miles and Hurley make remarks about how Sawyer “always has a plan.” They have the utmost trust in him as a leader and have faith that everything he does, he does for a reason. It reminded me an awful lot of what people used to say about Jack. Back in season 3 when Kate and Locke were spying on the Others, they saw Jack playing football with Tom Friendly. Kate immediately freaked out, while Locke assured her that Jack “had a plan.” This amazing amount of faith that the castaways placed in Jack has now been transferred to Sawyer, because they need someone to put their faith in. They need that one person who “always has a plan,” as their one comfort amidst all the uncontrollable chaos around them.

No “Lost for Beginners” post would be complete without a trip on some “Coaster,” so all aboard the Ben-Coaster! In the shocking episodes “He’s Our You” and “Whatever Happened Happened,” we get to see a major traumatic event in Ben’s childhood, a large factor contributing to who he is in the present. Turns out, the parties responsible for said event are none other than Sayid and Jack, two of our heroes! So now we have a crazy conundrum: in 2004, Sayid and Jack both hate Ben for the lying, manipulative bastard he is. Now that they’re in 1977, and knowing what they know about the kind of person Ben grows up to be, they try to alter the timeline and make it so Ben never grows up to be that person (never grows up at all, actually). They fail, and now innocent 12-year-old Ben is traumatized by what has happened. It’s to be inferred that this event is a large part of what made him untrusting of the DHARMA Initiative, of what later drove him to initiate the Purge. So who’s really the hero here, and who’s the villain? In 2004, Ben did inexcusable things to the innocent Jack and Sayid; in 1977, Jack and Sayid did inexcusable things to the innocent Ben! So who’s really at fault here for everything that’s happened with Ben? This is one of the many problems that arise when time travel enters the equation, and it’s one that really doesn’t have a definitive answer. Still, this whole ordeal made me feel a little bit more sympathetic for Ben, and helped me better understand the motivations behind his actions.

                                                                                                           One final note: I haven’t really talked at all about the special features for each season, mainly because I haven’t been watching them for fear of spoilers about upcoming seasons. However, since the final disc of the season had only one episode on it, I felt the need to get my money’s worth (needing the disc in a pinch, I rented it for five bucks instead of borrowing it from the library like I have been doing—yes, I know, I’m cheap!), and so I watched some of the special features. There’s one in particular that I want to mention for its sheer awesomeness, and that is “Mysteries of the Universe.” Now, I’m not sure if there really was a TV show in the 1980s by that name; that was before my time. However, this extra presents itself as an episode from a 1980s documentary series that examines a different mysterious or paranormal occurrence in each episode. This “episode” focuses on the DHARMA Initiative! It’s done in true TV documentary style, with the eerie music playing, the somber voiceovers, and the same creepy photos being shown over and over again. It expands on what we already know about the DHARMA Initiative from the show. As well as mentioning Eloise Hawking and Daniel Faraday, the “documentary” also gives us some background information on the DeGroot family and Alvar Hanso, names we had previously heard only in the DHARMA orientation films (“On behalf of the DeGroots, Alvar Hanso, and all of us here at the DHARMA Initiative, we welcome you.”) This was really fun for me to watch. It was like those Harry Potter companion books: not fundamental to the understanding of the story, but adding a whole lot of information that will enrich the story for you. So definitely check that out.

                                                                                                        Wow, I can’t believe we only have one season to go! I’m missing Lost already! In case you’re watching along with me, I’ll wait until my next post to discuss the shocking events that take place in the season 5 finale, “The Incident.” Join me next time as we enter the final season. Does Daniel’s ambitious plan work? Does the entire chronology change? Will we ever find out why Richard doesn’t age? Find out, in the next installment of “Lost for Beginners!”

Season 5, Episodes 1-7

Hello, Lost junkies! Thanks for joining me today as we embark on our journey through season 5—this show just keeps getting weirder and weirder, I’m sure you’ll agree, and I am LOVING it!!!! This season, I’ve been unable to stop watching. It’s at the point where a few hours without an episode is too much. So, let’s get to the reviewing. As a side note, technically episodes 1-8 make up the first half of the season, but the show takes a distinctly different turn in episode 8, and thematically it really belongs in the 2^nd half of the season. So, enough with the explanations; let’s get started!

                So, the first half of season 5 deals mainly with Locke, now on the mainland, trying to convince the Oceanic Six to go back to the Island. Meanwhile, the people left on the Island are time-hopping, a la “Where in Time is Carmen SanDiego.” Their stay in each time sometimes lasts as little as a few minutes, sometimes as long as a day or two. The show flip-flops back and forth from showing the people on the Island to showing Locke trying his luck with the Oceanic Six. All of this proves very demanding for the viewer, but anyone who’s come this far is more than capable of following the plot as it gets even crazier (even if you have to do a lot of mental recapping!) It’s cool to see that the writers and producers aren’t afraid to demand more and more of their viewers as the show goes on; the fact that millions of people kept on watching despite how confusing it got is a real testimony to the quality of the show.

The main new attribute that makes this season harder to follow than previous seasons is the time-hopping going on on the Island. After each hop, the characters have no idea when they are until they stumble across some event unfolding (and even then they sometimes don’t figure it out!) During this time-hopping, the audience is very much in the same situation as the characters—using clues around them to figure out when they are. Except, you know, without suffering the nasty side effects that the characters do. This proves to be a lot of fun for the audience, because we get to have this interactive element that isn’t normally found on TV. I felt almost like it was a race between me and the characters to figure out what time they were in, and I would always try to figure it out before they did! It was really novel to me that at times I didn’t know precisely what I was watching, and it was up to me to figure it out. A favorite of mine is the episode “The Little Prince,” where Jin, who has miraculously survived the freighter explosion, washes up on shore completely unaware of the time-hopping. And who finds him but…well, I’ll let you see for yourself, but this was one instance of getting to figure out what year it was by using what I already knew. There are plenty more examples like this one throughout these episodes, and as well as being fun riddles for the audience to solve, they also serve to fill in some older plot gaps. This filling in of plot via time travel takes a distinctly different and bizarre turn in episode 8, “LaFleur.” Stay tuned!

               

It’s during the first half of this season that we really start to understand the true scope of what’s been going on for the past four seasons. It’s all part of something a lot bigger than we thought. Turns out, there’s an epic war brewing between Ben Linus and Charles Widmore, rooted in an old rivalry between them. We first saw glimpses of this war in season 4, but now that the Oceanic Six and Locke are off-Island, we get to see the true extent of how far both Ben and Widmore can exert their influence. For four seasons, we have seen the Oceanic 815 survivors as the major players in this story, as the ones making everything happen. Now, in a rather unsettling twist, we see the true nature of what’s been happening: there’s a war over the Island going on, and it seems like EVERYONE is involved, from Locke’s old orderly to Daniel Farraday’s mom (who we saw previously in season 3, not knowing who she was). Everyone has got a role to play in this war, and it’s devastating when we realize that everything we’ve been seeing for the past four seasons is only a small part of this whole saga, this saga that goes back to when Ben and Widmore were both on the Island together, and maybe even further back than that. All this importance has been placed on the Oceanic 815 survivors, and now many of them are being used as pawns in this epic war, by one side or the other. In episode 7, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” we see Widmore and Ben fighting over Locke; each of them is trying to get Locke on his side to do his bidding. Locke has always been a leader, a character who doesn’t hesitate to think for himself, even if his opinion is unpopular (which it usually is), and now he’s being used like a puppet, being pulled one way by Widmore’s strings, and another by Ben’s strings. This giant shift demonstrates how close we now are to the show’s end. The pieces are being put into place, set up for something big. Everything seems to be gearing up for some major showdowns involving the castaways, the Others, the Freighteries, and practically everyone we’ve ever seen on the show. It’s got another year and a half to play out to fruition, and I’m sure it’ll be amazing!

                One more thing before I wrap this one up; in my last post, I mentioned that I was going to switch from doing the “Sawyer-coaster” to starting up the “Ben-coaster.” If you recall, I had actually started sympathizing with Ben a little bit after his daughter was shot to death in front of him and he prepared Locke to take over his position as leader. After watching the first half of this season, however, my opinion of him has once again dropped, so quickly and suddenly that I couldn’t even believe I’d been feeling bad for this guy a mere few episodes ago. Let’s take a look at some of the selfish things he’s done now. First, in the episode “316,” the Oceanic Six are preparing to return to the Island, and Ben is coming with them (for some unknown reason, considering that in the previous season finale he made it very clear that the Island wouldn’t let him come back). Anyway, for several episodes I had been wondering what would happen to the dozens of other passengers on this new ill-fated flight, and I was very surprised that none of the Oceanic Six brought this up with Eloise Hawking when they visited her, or even raised any concerns about it to each other. Then, we see that Hurley bought every available seat on the plane, so as to save others from the fate that he is about to face. Still, there are a few others on the plane, and Jack begins to worry. He turns to Ben and asks “What’s going to happen to everyone else on this plane?” Ben just looks at him, with his usual cold, emotionless stare, and says “Who cares?” That line really hit home for me, and reminded me what kind of a person Ben really is. He cares so much about the Island, and what’s best for the Island, that he long ago stopped seeing fellow human beings as individual people. To him, they’re all nothing but pawns in the grand story woven by the Island, and he really doesn’t care what happens to anybody. And then of course, there’s the matter of “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” where he TALKS SOMEONE OUT OF COMMITTING SUICIDE and then KILLS HIM HIMSELF after getting some important information from him. I was absolutely shocked when this happened; I had not been expecting it at all, even though we already knew from the flash-forwards that this character was going to die. I was just blown away. Any sympathy I’d had for Ben at the end of season 4 is, as of now, completely gone.

                Well folks, that’s a wrap! Have any thoughts or opinions on the first half of the season? I’d love to hear about them in the comments! Anyway, I’ll see you next time as we discover DHARMA (for real this time), and wipe the metaphorical slate clean, in a way. Until then, later dudes!

                

Season 4

               Hello, Lost fans! This season being really short, I have decided to cover the whole season in one (slightly long) post each. It was crazy how quickly this season flew by for me, and there are A LOT of major changes that have been made to the show since last season. I’m going to talk about these changes, and also a little about the new characters. And, of course, what “Lost for Beginners” review post would be complete without a trip on the Sawyer-Coaster (maybe the last one EVER!!!!) Let’s get started.

                So, first I’d like to talk a little bit about the four new characters that have been integrated (albeit begrudgingly) into the group. Since the manner in which they were introduced reminds me of the “Tailies,” and since they come from the freighter, they will hence be known as the “Freighteries.” Not the kindest name, I know, but neither is “Oceanic Six,” so we’re even. First, we have Daniel, a physicist who seems to be a generally good guy. Even though he lies to the castaways more often than not, he does help save Desmond’s life in episode 5, “The Constant” (more on that episode and its significance later). Then there’s Miles, a cynical ghost whisperer who ends up trying to bribe Ben. I really like the addition of his character to the show, because he is a large part of what helps move the show all the way into the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Before Miles was introduced, we’d seen a few characters with supernatural powers: we’ve got Walt’s bird-killing, Desmond’s flashes, Richard’s apparent immortality, and Jacob’s invisibility and telepathy. However, none of these have been as concrete and explicit as Miles’ ability to commune with the dead. Walt’s powers are merely hinted at, Desmond’s flashes are the result of a freak accident and can’t be controlled, Richard as a character hasn’t really been explored at all yet, and we’ve only seen Jacob once. Now, however, we have a series regular who has this supernatural ability; no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Furthermore, he uses his ability to helpful ends in a few episodes. A character who has control over and isn’t afraid to use his superhuman power is a definite mark of a sci-fi/fantasy show. However, something about Miles just doesn’t sit well with me, which I’ll talk about later on. Next, we’ve got Charlotte, a British anthropologist. As of right now, I really don’t like her. She comes to the Island with no intention of rescuing the castaways and no intention of revealing information about why she’s there and who she works for, and then she constantly gets unreasonably angry when the castaways are distrusting of her. At least Daniel knows full well that he’s deceiving everybody, and understands when the castaways rightfully shut him out. We can’t say that for Charlotte. And she doesn’t do anything to try and get the castaways to like her, either. Everything she says to them is some sort of criticism or snarky remark. In addition to that, she so far hasn’t added anything significant to the show, aside from being a possible love interest for Daniel. Finally, there’s Frank, definitely my favorite of the bunch! He’s just a laid-back, down-to-earth pilot who figured out on his own that the Flight 815 wreckage was faked, and did something about it (albeit not knowing what was ultimately going to happen). He’s nice to everyone he meets on the Island, and by the end of the season, he’s even risking his own life to help the castaways out, which is much more than we can say for Daniel, Miles, or Charlotte. Here’s a guy who’s not afraid to do what’s right, no matter what the cost, and I really hope we get to see more of him in the seasons to come.

                The introduction of new characters isn’t the only way in which the show has changed. Starting with the season 3 finale, the show has gotten downright TRIPPY! One main reason for this is the harsh contrast between the scenes taking place on the Island and the flash-forwards in which six of the characters (the “Oceanic Six”) have been rescued. In the flashbacks from previous seasons, we saw the characters behaving in similar ways on-Island and off-Island. Any changes in their behavior came gradually and were aspects of character development on the Island. Now, some of the characters we see in the flash-forwards are radically different from the characters we have known and loved for 3 seasons. For example, Jack, leader of the castaways who always does what’s best for the group, has become a pill-popping alcoholic whose life has spiraled out of control. Sayid, who loathes Ben probably more than anyone else on the Island, has become an assassin working for Ben! These drastic about-faces played back to back provide the viewer with a feeling of disorientation unlike anything the show has thrown at us so far. Also, the nonlinear aspect of the storytelling is much more pronounced now; I mean, we’ve always had the flashbacks, but in many cases, these flashbacks merely set up the circumstances for the main dramatic action that was taking place on the Island. Now, the flash-forwards ARE the main dramatic action! Equal importance is placed on the goings-on of the Island, and the Oceanic Six’s post-rescue lives. The scenes taking place in both the present and the future are integral to where the storyline is going (wherever the hell that may be!), and all of the characters are (or will be) affected by every event that’s shown taking place, which is more than can be said for the good ol’ flashbacks. So while this change demands a lot more from the viewer, at least we can rest assured that we’ll no longer be subjected to inconsequential flashback stories showing us things like how Jack got his tattoo.

                Now I’ve heard that at around this point, many viewers stopped watching the show because it got too sci-fi for their taste. While it’s quite true that the show has gotten distinctively more sci-fi oriented this season, I’m not entirely sure why this change alienated viewers. I mean, it’s not as if the show had been totally realistic before now and the writers just decided to abruptly take it into sci-fi territory. Right from the beginning, there have been supernatural elements sprinkled throughout the show, and they’re simply coming to fruition now. Let’s take a look back; in the first few episodes of the first season, we’ve seen an invisible monster that can destroy everything in its path, polar bears, miraculous healing, and hallucinations of dead characters. Clearly, there was already something weird going on here on this Island right from the start. True, the writers have chosen lately to further develop the sci-fi aspects of the show, but even the most bizarre paranormal twists are not outside the scope of believability on this show, because we’ve known from the beginning that this Island was special, and that anything could happen here.

                So let’s take a brief look at the factors that have eased along the show’s transition into full-blown sci-fi/fantasy territory. First is the introduction of Miles, as explained previously. Also a large factor is the prevalence of time travel. Now, the first glimpse of time travel we got was in the season 3 episode “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” when Desmond’s consciousness was being projected back, forcing him to re-live some painful events of his life. Since then, we hadn’t seen any more of it. That is, until episode 5 of this season, “The Constant.” In this episode, we get a more extensive look into time travel, and we get the sense that it’s going to be a recurring thing on the show, which it is proven to be, a few episodes later. And, last but not least, in the season finale, “There’s No Place Like Home,” Ben makes the Island…well, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Suffice to say it’s CRAZY!

                There’s also been a new development with characterization this season, or at least I never noticed it before. A few of the new characters we’ve been introduced to serve as “shadows” of some of the main castaways. In other words, some new characters seem to represent the negative aspects the main characters, aspects the main characters have sort of “outgrown” since coming to the Island. The Island really has brought out the best in many characters, and I didn’t realize how far many of them have evolved as human beings until being reminded of their former negative qualities by way of the new characters. Let me give an example of what I’m talking about. The one I noticed first was Miles as Sawyer’s “shadow.” All along, Miles has been sarcastic and kind of a jerk at times, but the similarities between him and the Sawyer of season 1 didn’t fully strike me until episode 10, “Something Nice Back Home.” Miles, Sawyer, Claire, and Aaron are on a long journey back to camp, and Miles starts hitting on Claire, in a very crude manner, might I add. Sawyer, taking on the role of protective leader, puts an ad hoc restraining order on Miles, essentially forbidding him from coming within 20 feet of Claire. They make camp and say good night, and the next morning Claire is gone. Sawyer starts freaking out, asking if Miles saw anything. Miles admits that he was woken up by Claire leaving in the middle of the night, calling for her father. Sawyer asks him why the hell he didn’t do anything to stop her, and Miles smugly replies, with that devilish smile on his face, “You gave me a restraining order.” Now let’s look at what has just happened. Miles is acting completely irresponsible, apathetic, and irreverent. Sound familiar? Haven’t we seen this character somewhere before? Yes, we have. It’s exactly how Sawyer used to act in season 1. Remember, back when he used to make demeaning sexual remarks to Kate and not give a crap about anyone but himself? What Miles has just said and done is like a page right out of Sawyer’s season 1 script. As viewers, this event gets us to recall what Sawyer used to be like in case we had forgotten, and also to see how much he’s grown as a person, going from being an obnoxious little bastard to a genuinely noble guy who puts obnoxious little bastards (like Miles) in their place.

                This “shadow” thing also happens to an extent with Sayid and the kill-happy ex-marine from the freighter, Martin Keamy. Through flashbacks, we’ve seen that back in the Gulf War, Sayid’s job had been to torture people. The job forced him to push away all emotion and just carry out the brutal deeds that he was asked to carry out. Similarly, Keamy doesn’t question the orders he’s been given by Widmore to kill every living thing on the Island, and actually seems to relish the task. Since coming to the Island, Sayid has moved away from the person he used to be and has become caring, and a very noble leader. Seeing Keamy’s eagerness to kill innocent people is like seeing an even worse version of the Sayid we’ve seen in the flashbacks, and again, it reminds us of Sayid’s personal growth since coming to the Island.

The final example of this, although not entirely the same, is between Locke and Ben. Toward the end of the season, Ben prepares to leave the Island and appoints Locke as his replacement once he’s gone. Ben is essentially trying to train Locke to become a better version of himself which, in many ways, he already is. They’re both “special,” in terms of knowledge of the Island and ability to communicate with the still-mysterious Jacob, but Locke’s actions are usually selfless and in the best interests of his people, while Ben has done some horrendous things for purely selfish reasons. The two of them exchange some meaningful dialogue, during which Ben advises Locke on how to be a better leader than he ever was, giving him advice like “Don’t let your emotions have control over your leadership decisions; I’m sure you’ll do a better job with that than I ever did.” This rings very true at the moment, considering that very recently, Ben has been guilty of this (blinded by grief over his daughter, he essentially kills everyone on the freighter).

This scene had far-ranging implications for me, and for my opinion of Ben as a character. Through this scene, we see a side of Ben that we’ve never seen before; a regretful, sorrowful, even guilt-ridden Ben. Upon seeing him like this, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him! Just like it’s impossible to hate a guy being carried around on a stretcher, it’s equally impossible to hate a guy who’s just watched his daughter die, and knows that his time on the Island is up. Now granted, if he had just surrendered to Keamy, Alex would still be alive, but judging by the look on Ben’s face when Keamy shot her, Ben really hadn’t been expecting Keamy to actually do it. I really think Ben genuinely loved Alex as his own, and that saying “I stole her from a crazy woman, I don’t care what happens to her” was a ploy to try and get Keamy to release her. So, at this point, all the terrible things Ben has done seemed only a memory, and all I saw in front of me was a heartbroken father grieving over his daughter. Yes, folks; I never thought this day would come, but I feel sorry for Benjamin Linus. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!?!

So what does this mean for my future viewing? Well, my sympathy for Ben dropped considerably when he let everyone on the freighter die, similar to the way my sympathies for Sawyer used to rise and fall with each new action he took. So, ladies and gentlemen, it looks as if I’m going to be getting on a new ride. It seems that my opinion of Sawyer is permanently high; this was cemented by how protective he was of Hurley and Claire in “Something Nice Back Home”, and even more so by the sacrifice he makes at the end of “There’s No Place like Home.” So I think my trip on the Sawyer-coaster is over; I’ve made up my mind that he’s a really good, even lovable guy (or at least, he’s BECOME a really good, even lovable guy). I’m sure I’ll still be talking a lot about Sawyer, because he still is a very interesting character, but I don’t think he’ll be taking any more dips when it comes to my opinion of him. So, I’m shifting my coaster attention to Ben, who I bet will be going up and down in my esteem quite a lot in seasons to come. In future posts, I’ll be riding the “Ben-coaster,” and following his moral development (or lack thereof) as a character, the way I did with Sawyer. So join me next time for the first half of season 5 as we take our first trip on the Ben-coaster, discover DHARMA, and see Tabula Rasa happen all over again. Until later, see you in another life!

                

Season 3, Episodes 13-24

Welcome back, Losties old, new, and gently used! Today we’re exploring the 2^nd half of season 3, and boy, is it crazy! Full of twists and major events, it’s got a lot to write about!

                So, I ended my last post saying that the so-called “Sawyer-coaster” would take a big turn in the latter half of this season, but I didn’t say whether that turn would be a rise or a fall. Truth is, this one can be seen as a great rise or as a great fall, depending on how you look at it. I’m talking about “The Brig,” the 19^th episode of the season. So somehow, the Others have gotten Locke’s father, Anthony Cooper, onto the island, and Ben tells Locke he needs to kill his father in order to learn the secrets of the island. But Locke’s not a killer, and has qualms about killing an unarmed, helpless man, even if that man did steal his kidney, ruin his romantic relationship, and—oh yeah—RENDER HIM PARAPLEGIC BY PUSHING HIM OUT A WINDOW! But still, Locke can’t bring himself to kill the guy. Lucky for him, he gets to have his cake and eat it too, thanks to the file on his father that Ben gave him. What follows is a big reveal that we as the audience find out at the same time Sawyer does in the episode, something I first started to suspect 6 episodes ago in “The Man from Tallahassee” when Anthony explicitly referred to himself as a “con man.” Locke’s father is, in fact, the same con man who ruined Sawyer’s life when he was a child, the guy he’s been looking for all these years. When sawyer finally realizes this, he forces Anthony to read the letter he wrote all those years ago, and then strangles him to death.

This ties in with the old theme of interconnectivity between the characters, but it has even more significance for Sawyer’s character development. What we have in front of us is a character finally exacting revenge after almost 30 years of trying. What we have in front of us is also a man strangling another man to death with his own handcuffs. What we have in front of us is also, in a lot of ways, an act of redemption and closure on Sawyer’s part. Of course killing an unarmed prisoner is wrong, and therefore the viewer’s first reaction may be to think less of Sawyer as a character. However, the more and more I thought about it, the more and more I saw this murder as something more. Let’s start with who Anthony Cooper was. He was the ONLY character to this point on the show to be portrayed as completely and totally evil. I know I’ve talked a lot about the moral relativism in the show and how none of the characters is fully good or fully evil, but this guy is the exception. I mean, EVERY SINGLE THING he has ever done has been incredibly harmful (whether physically, emotionally, or both) to someone else, and has been beneficial to nobody but himself. He doesn’t seem to even regard his fellow human beings as worthy of being alive. We as viewers never see even an ounce of good intentions in him. And, on a show where even a character like Ben Linus has a few shining moments of decency (helping Locke when his leg was trapped under a door in the hatch, genuinely believing himself to be a “good guy”) in between his long stints of criminal insanity, that is saying something! So, to me, the character of Anthony Cooper represents pure malice and unadulterated bad intentions. There’s also the factor of Sawyer having murdered the innocent shrimp vendor in Australia, who he’d been tricked into thinking was the con man he was looking for. Ever since then, whether he admits it or not, Sawyer’s conscience has been weighed down by this instance of mistaken identity that ended in the death of an innocent man at Sawyer’s hands. And he has never stopped searching. That’s plain to us in the season 1 episode “Confidence Man,” when Kate finds the letter he wrote as a boy. So, now let’s re-consider what has just happened. Sawyer has eliminated the one purely evil character after forcing him to read the old letter. In a way, this atones for having killed the shrimp vendor, who had done nothing wrong. In both murders, Sawyer’s aim was the same, but this time he got the right guy, and this time, the man he killed actually did deserve punishment. It’s as if Sawyer has gotten a second try, a do-over, and now he has done what he had originally set out to do. (It’s also worth noting that Anthony is indirectly responsible for Sawyer being on the island in the first place, since Sawyer’s arrest for murder in Sydney was what landed him on Flight 815, so now that can be added to Sawyer’s list of grievances against him.) Anyway, Sawyer’s nightmare is over, and so is Locke’s. The man that ruined both of their lives is dead, and now both Sawyer and Locke can carry on without this enormous burden to bear. So what do you think? Did Sawyer act justly? Did he do the right thing? Is this a rise for him, or a plunge? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments below!

We absolutely can’t talk about the 2^nd half of season 3 of Lost without bringing up episode 20, “The Man behind the Curtain.” WOW. What an amazing episode. This one comes right after “The Brig,” and consists of Ben showing Locke “the secrets of the Island.” It also answers a lot of our questions, while also (of course!) creating scores of new questions. This is the first (and maybe the last, for all I know) time we get a glimpse into Ben’s back story. Let’s face it: he’s the one that viewers (meaning me) are most eager to see the back story of. With the exception of Anthony Cooper of course, Ben currently seems to be the most evil person on the show, even though he thinks of himself as a “good guy.” We are DYING to see how he got to be such a sick and twisted individual. Now in the past, the flashbacks have shed light onto characters that seem to be evil, or at least pretty mean. The flashbacks have showed us why they are the way they are, and have provided some justification for their actions, making them seem not so bad after all (Sawyer, Jin, and Juliet to name a few). So at the instant when I realized that it was Ben’s back story I was watching, I prepared myself for the possibility that the writers would try to get me to sympathize with him and see him as a victim. In my head, I reminded myself of all the terrible things Ben had done so far in the series, not wanting these flashbacks to mess with me and alter my perception of him as a bad guy.  

Turns out, the flashbacks did indeed mess with me in some ways, but they did not change my perception of Ben as a character. Even after seeing what a tough life Ben had growing up, I still don’t find his actions justified. Oddly enough, I found Ben’s youth to be strikingly similar to Voldemort’s youth in the “Harry Potter” series. I mean, mother dead in childbirth, grew up hating his father and feeling lonely and disconnected from all the other children, and this grief and rage one day driving him to commit genocide, starting with his father. Once I noticed these similarities, it was nearly impossible for me to see Ben as anything but a bad guy. I mean, true, we still don’t know why the DHARMA Initiative had quarrels with the natives (including Richard, who apparently doesn’t age?), but even if they were treating the natives poorly, that’s hardly a reason to kill every living person in the DHARMA barracks. So that’s my current verdict on Ben, but who knows? Maybe I’ll end up sympathizing with him yet.

The scene in that episode where Locke first encounters the mysterious (and invisible) Jacob was compelling and highly well done. I loved the intensity of this scene, with things blowing around, windows cracking, the works. It was also great to see a new emotion out of Ben: jealousy. He’s been proud, afraid, angry, sad, vengeful, but never before jealous. His jealousy stems from the fact that Jacob spoke to Locke (through mental telepathy or something, maybe, since only Locke heard it). Ben’s position as leader, as the only one on the Island who can see and communicate with Jacob, has been put in jeopardy. And this fact terrifies him more than anything, certainly more than having a life-threatening brain tumor ever did. I can’t wait to see how this plays out; as of the end of season 3, we’ve seen no more of Jacob, nor has the incident been brought up, but there’s no doubt it’ll come to a head eventually, and when it does, I’m sure it’ll be EPIC.

There’s one final thing I’d like to bring up, and it’s something that’s been bugging me for a while. I feel like so many of the castaways’ problems could be solved if only they had better communication skills. Over the course of these 3 seasons, there have been so many mishaps that could have been avoided if the castaways had regular meetings or something to sit down and all share what they knew. This really jumped out at me twice in the finale, “Through the Looking Glass.” When the castaways are holding Ben prisoner and he starts telling them not to contact the freighter, the only reason he gives is the vague “because if you do, every living thing on this island will die.” Now, by this point, the castaways all know damn well that Ben is a lying liar who lies, and of course most of them dismiss his claim as just more of his bull. Which raises the question: why doesn’t he elaborate a bit more on his point? If he had, at that point, told the castaways IN DETAIL everything he actually knew about who sent the freighter, who was on it, and exactly what they planned to do, they may have been even slightly more inclined to believe him, instead of dismissing his words as a lie told in desperation. A while later in the episode, Locke comes out of nowhere and kills Naomi, their supposed rescuer, giving no reason why other than a cryptic “it was what I had to do; it’s what’s meant to be.” Really, John? That’s all you have to say on the matter? You just killed your fellow castaways’ best chance of being rescued (or so they think at the time) and that’s all you have to say for yourself? Why not explain to them your concerns regarding this woman and who she might work for? I mean, sure, they’re in no mood to listen to Locke right now after what he just did, but I feel like if he had explained himself like a rational human being, he could have at least avoided almost being shot in the head by Jack. Anyway, my point is, these characters could use some communication skills; maybe have daily or biweekly meetings to discuss what’s been happening. Then again, that would make for a really boring TV show, instead of a really amazing one. So maybe the characters’ communication issues are something I’ll just have to live with

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Okay, so I guess I lied about that being the final thing I would bring up. I just want to say how much I absolutely ADORE Desmond right now. He is definitely my favorite character at this point. The poor guy had to re-live an extremely difficult part of his life and was powerless to change it, and now he’s stuck seeing into the future but essentially still being powerless to change it. And yet, he still goes into the ocean after Charlie to help him out at the underwater Looking Glass DHARMA station, even though he’s seen repeatedly that Charlie is destined to die. Desmond just can’t sit back and let his friend die; he needs to do something about it, even if it means risking his own life and possibly never seeing the love of his life again. Now that right there is a great man. I also can’t help but notice the resemblance between Desmond and Jesus, with the long brown hair and beard, and the fact that he addresses everyone as “brother.” Significant? Maybe.

OK, that’s really the last of this post. Join me next time for Season 4! (Since it’s a short season that’s about half as long as the other seasons, I have decided to each talk about season 4 as a whole.) Things get trippy, time gets bendy, and Richard doesn’t get any older! Also, the unthinkable happens—I START TO SYMPATHIZE WITH BEN!!!!!

Season 3, Episodes 1-12

Hello there, and welcome to the first part of my review of season 3. Things are really heating up and getting insane and twisted and AWESOME, and there is much to be said about it! Let’s get cracking!

               Mere SECONDS into season 3, in the season premiere “A Tale of Two Cities,” events occur that alter our entire perception of everything that has happened on the show so far. Season 3 opens with a woman we’ve never seen before living in a cute little suburban cottage and having a book club in her living room. After 2 seasons of being stranded on an island, running from billows of black smoke, and pressing underground buttons, this calm setting is a welcome change. The image of this kindly blonde woman baking cookies and discussing a Stephen King novel with her neighbors brings us as viewers back into our comfort zone; this is the archetype of the American Dream that we all know so well and are so very comfortable with seeing on TV. This woman is clearly a suburban housewife that may remind us of our mothers, aunts, or even of ourselves. “What a cute little house. What nice people, having a book club meeting. Nothing to be worried about here!” the audience thinks. When I first watched this scene, I figured this was somebody’s flashback, or maybe what was going on in civilization while the main characters were stranded. Even when Ethan showed up (Yeah, remember him? The Other who kidnapped Claire and was later killed in a brawl with Jack back in season 1?), I refused to be pulled out of this safe environment that the show was presenting to me, thinking “This must be before he came to the island, before he was an Other.”

And then, the woman (who seems to be called “Juliet”) steps off of her property. And we see the backdrop of this landscape that had seemed so quaint to us mere seconds before. It’s the frakkin’ island. She meets up with Fake Henry Gale, calling him “Ben,” and then we see Flight 815 fall from the sky. Oh. My. GOD. We, as the audience, have been majorly duped once again. The writers have lulled us into this false sense of security, painting a picture of everything “homey,” getting the audience to really latch on to this blonde woman and her cute, housewifely ways, getting us to think that maybe, just maybe, we had a new character on our hands who was sweet and motherly, and then dashing these hopes to the ground along with Flight 815. So, now we’re left with the knowledge that this sweet, seemingly benign woman and her book club friends are all Others. Where does this knowledge leave us? It leaves us having been tricked into sympathizing with the Others and seeing them as regular people, specifically Juliet. This is an extension of Ben’s “We’re the good guys” assertion at the very end of season 2, because now we really have seen them as “good guys,” if only for a few minutes. What does this mean for the show? Clearly, a radical change from everything we thought we knew.

Now that I’ve taken two lengthy paragraphs to discuss events that take about 3 minutes to play out on screen, let’s look at those 3 minutes’ implications on the rest of the season. Throughout the first half of this season, the writers really flesh out Juliet as a character now that they have their foot in the door. For the first few episodes of the season, we as the audience see her holding Jack captive. This presents a sort of paradox about her character, since we have also seen her in a quaint little setting where she seemed like a kind, sweet person. Just as the Others are playing mind games with Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, the writers are playing mind games with us. Our sympathies obviously lie with the characters we’ve known and loved for two seasons, but as the first half of the season progresses, we catch more and more glimpses of the kind side of Juliet that we saw briefly in “A Tale of Two Cities.” This comes to a head in the seventh episode of the season, “Not in Portland,” in which we see Juliet’s back story, and see that everything she has done to Jack, and even her being on the island in the first place, are indirect results of her very human desire to be there for her sister. This takes the whole theme of moral relativism to new heights, because the Others have been built up as antagonists for two whole seasons, and now suddenly the show is forcing us to see one of them as a regular woman with feelings and desires, no different from all of the castaways. We see that she is essentially Ben’s prisoner, just like Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are. It makes us wonder if all of the Others are being held on the island by Ben against their will, and if our perception of them as ruthless savages has been wrong all along.

But enough about them; let’s talk a little bit about the flashbacks we’re seeing. It seems that, once again, the writers may be running out of flashback ideas. Some of the flashbacks aren’t nearly as interesting as the main storyline, and a few even leave you wondering “Why did we even need to see that? What does that add to this character?” The main episode I’m speaking of is “Stranger in a Strange Land,” which chronicles how Jack got his tattoo. Granted, one could argue that the events of this flashback help put some of Jack’s later actions toward Juliet into context, but I feel like his actions toward her would have been believable even without this episode. All in all, I found this flashback unnecessary to the storyline and to Jack’s character development. However (and this is a big “however”), the writers seem to be aware of the fact that some of the flashbacks aren’t very strong, and take measures to counter it, which prove very effective. In this season, the writers bring out some big flashback guns. Things we have been wondering since season 1 as well as plot twists with huge implications are stunningly revealed in some of the flashbacks. It’s almost as if the writers knew all along that the flashbacks were going to get a little less interesting around this time, and purposely saved a few big reveals to stick in as well. Either that, or they just felt like withholding stuff from us. Who knows? Anyway, the episodes “Par Avion” and “The Man from Tallahassee” hit us like a one-two punch (and yes, I am aware that “The Man from Tallahassee” is technically from the 2^nd half of season 3, but I feel like it needs to be discussed now). In these two episodes, the writers serve us a mind-blowing family tie regarding Claire, as well as the knowledge of how Locke became paralyzed. These two big reveals are more than enough to make up for some slightly sluggish flashbacks!

The first half of season 3 introduces another simple yet significant change in the show. That change is the use of humor as one of the show’s main elements. Sure, in past seasons, there’s been a snarky Sawyerism here, a Hurley “Duuuuuude” there, but never before have there been entire plotlines that are, in and of themselves, funny. The first two seasons, which covered the first 2 months on the island, dealt a lot with the shock and trauma that came with surviving a plane crash and being stuck on an island, haunted by mysterious enemies. Now that it’s been a couple months, and the castaways are used to their new way of life, “settled in,” if you will, the shock has died down a little. This is the characters’ way of life now, they all know each other pretty well, and day-to-day living isn’t as difficult as it was at first. These factors open up the door for a few funny story lines, even though new life-threatening problems are constantly plaguing the characters. It’s a great juxtaposition. My favorite funny subplot has got to be when Sawyer loses a bet and isn’t allowed to call people by nicknames for a week. Because of the way time progresses on this show, one week on the island ends up spanning five or six episodes, so we get to see a lot of Sawyer hemming and hawing, wanting so badly to call Kate “Freckles,” or Sayid “Aljazeera” or Hurley “Jabba,” but ultimately restraining himself. Another fun one was Hurley tricking Sawyer into being nice to his fellow castaways (“That’s gotta be the lamest con in the history of cons!”). Although the overall tone of the show remains definitively serious, and I would definitely still categorize it as a drama, rather than as a “dramedy,” if you will, seeing humor take on a slightly more prominent role in the series makes for great fun.

Before wrapping up this post, I want to take a quick look at the Sawyer-coaster. Right now, what I said about him at the beginning of season 2 goes for him again now. Just like it’s hard to hate a guy being carried around on a stretcher, it’s equally hard to hate a guy being kept prisoner in a cage like a lab animal. So, I’m once again sympathetic for the guy, especially with how much he’s grown to care about Kate. He’s constantly protecting her from the wrath of the Others in one way or another, and even begins to value her life over his own. Still, he seems to have no concern for Jack’s well-being, despite Jack being a fellow prisoner in the Others’ camp. So I guess he’s gone from caring about nobody but himself, to caring about nobody but himself and Kate. It’s a start. And, without spoiling anything, there is a MAJOR Sawyer-coaster event coming up, but is it a peak or a low? We’ll find out! Also in my next post, we’ll explore Ben’s back story and discuss the castaways’ lack of communication with each other, among other things. Until then, I’ll see you in another life, bruthah!