Previously on Rewatching Lost:
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
Spit it Out, Farraday
Time Travel
Blech. I wish I could spit that taste out of my mouth. While watching season 6, all I kept thinking was, "what the hell are you even talking about?" First of all, I felt like the whole season they were just filling up time. Basically like 3 things happen. Jack vacillates between trusting and not trusting the fake Locke, and at the end they both lower Desmond down into the light together. Like nobody even knows what's going to happen. They're both just hoping that shit comes out alright for them.
The two episodes where they actually give a few answers are "Ab Aeterno", the Richard episode, and "Across the Sea", the Allison Janney Episode. The remaining 15 episodes are there because they promised a full season. In "Across the Sea" it is entirely ambiguous as to whether or not the man in black is actually evil and if his leaving the island would actually cause the end of civilization. When the man in black kills Allison Janney and asks her why she wouldn't let him leave, she says, "because I love you." She does not say, "because you are evil incarnate." or "because it would mean the end of civilization." There's really no reason to think that's the case. In the beginning of that episode this lady Claudia washes up on the island and she's mad pregnant and presumably Allison Janney brought her boat to the island in whatever way she and Jacob manage to do that. Then Claudia gives birth to Jacob and then unexpectedly to the man in black. Then Allison Janney kills Claudia. And the rest of the people on the boat colonize another part of the island. The man in black is "special", but that's never really explained.
Jacob is like super naive and doesn't seem to understand nuance of any sort. This makes me wonder if the whole conceit of the show is like a misunderstanding of some sort. Allison Janney is batshit crazy and the kid just wants to go home. It's entirely unclear to me why that kid is evil. And it would be an entirely plausible interpretation of the show that the man in black is not evil and nothing would happen if he left and Allison Janney just made that up because she lived alone on an island for a thousand years and went crazy.
There's clearly something magical about the island, but what it is is never actually laid out. The closest they come is that Allison Janney says that it's, "the source. Live, death, everything." Also interesting is that the island actually is purgatory all along. Michael is stuck there along with other people who can't move on. But then also at the very end people like Ben and Analucia and Ilana never have that flash moment where they realize they're dead and that place is also a lot like purgatory. Maybe the island is hell instead of purgatory, as many of the characters alluded to through the run of the series.
I didn't have any revelations about this show. It is not any clearer than the first time through. It is not any less frustrating. Every season was just a red herring for the shit that was to come. The Dharma Initiative is worthless. The Others, worthless. The Ben Linus vs. Charles Widmore rivalry, worthless. To a certain extent, even the Jacob vs. Man in black rivalry is meaningless. I mean, I guess that's what it came down to ultimately, but it feels really empty to me. Like it might not even be valid. The 815ers where there because they were all candidates to replace Jacob. Ok, I guess that's the main explanation for why they're there, but still we're wondering like what the fuck is this place?
And what was the point of the island before the man in black was born? It's clearly larger than just that guy trying to leave the island. It serves some other purpose. And I'm going to assume that Allison Janney at some point went into the light cave and then presumably became the smoke monster. Maybe I should assume. And when Jack went in the cave, did he become the smoke monster? It seemed like he just died. And what are Hurley and Ben protecting the island from if the man in black is dead? You know what, this is an exercise in futility. I was really interested in parsing through this stuff in the first 3 seasons. I think the posts will reflect that. I grew much more frustrated and much less interested in the last 3 seasons. It really just falls apart for me.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Rewatching Lost: Time Travel
Previously on Rewatching Lost:
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
Spit it Out, Farraday
Whoa, season 5, whoa. Hold on there a minute. Right now I'm through 11 episodes of season 5. I've slowed down my watching pace mainly because I'm just not that interested anymore. At this point, I'm kindof just watching because I've decided to do it, rather than because the show is grabbing my interest. Before taking on this endeavor my recollection was that seasons 1 and 2 were awesome, 3 and 4 sucked, 5 and 6 were good, though disappointing in a big picture way. That is not my current experience. 1 and 2 were, in fact, awesome. Season 3 was really not as bad as I thought it was. Season 3 is actually pretty good, especially the second half. Season 4, however, no thanks. Right now, though, in the midst of season 5, I gotta say, it's pretty freakin' dumb. Yeah, freakin', I said it, with no G neither.
So, they go back to the island in order to save the people they left behind because Locke and Ben insist that they are in terrible danger. Except they're not in terrible danger. They're perfectly fine, albeit in 1977. Had they never returned, then the whole thing would never have gone to shit. It's likely that the Dharma Initiative would never have been purged, and Ben would never have been evilized after Sayid shot him because Sayid would not have shot him. Charles Widmore and Ben would never have engaged in whatever their whole power struggle deal is and Widmore is probably never exiled from the island. This is a fallacy in thought, I know, but like they caused all this shit. Consistently, the people who were on the plane want one thing to happen and then their actions cause the exact opposite to happen.
So, when they go back to the island Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid travel back in time to 1977 for some reason that is altogether unclear. Even more, unclear, however, is why Sun does not travel back in time. This is pure contrivance by the writers to keep Sun and Jin apart for as long as possible. And, I suppose that's fine if they want to keep them apart, but then there's got to be a reason for it. If you've created a mechanism through which the 815ers travel back in time, then it has to apply to all of them. You can't create rules and then break them within your universe, it's fucking annoying to the people who are following your rules. I get it that it's ultimately more satisfying when Sun and Jin are eventually reunited (and it feels so good), but think for like 5 extra minutes about something that doesn't violate the rules that you established. Like you want me to be happy with the idea that all the people on the plane land on the island in 2007 except for the 815ers who are transported to 1977. Ok, I'm with that. It's weird, but like, time travel and shit, ok, I'm with you. Except not Sun. Why not Sun? For no reason, that's why.
They keep Ben alive. Again. After Sayid shoots Ben (like finally someone took the bull by the horns), Juliet, Kate, and Sawyer all conspire to save him. Why? "Because he's just a kid." Except you know he's Ben. Don't be daft (I'm British now). Sayid had the good sense to shoot him and Jack had the good sense to refuse to treat him (except Jack has done a fair amount of listening to Ben in order to end up back on the island and Sayid has done a lot of listening to Ben when he became a serial killer on Ben's orders) and then those clowns go and save him. And Richard is all, "If we save him, he'll never be the same. He'll always be one of us." And still Kate and Sawyer agree to do it. The whole story is a Deus ex Machina through which the 815ers act against any logical judgment in order to keep Ben alive so that he can continue to fuck up their lives.
At this point in the show, they have written themselves into a corner on more than one occasion. And it's basically become an in joke that they are at an impasse between conflicting plot points and they are just going to scoff at the one they don't want at the moment and pick the one that's more convenient for them. One (of the several) example(s) of this is the conversation between Miles and Hurley about Back to the Future. Hurley is expecting to fade away because Sayid has shot Ben and they have no way to save him. Hurley recounts the events that brought them to that point, all of which involve Ben, so that if little Ben dies, they should fade away. Miles explains their time travel rules, which is basically that you can't change the past. Whatever happened, happened, so that since they know Ben is alive in the future, he must have survived. Fine, I'm with that. Then Hurley says something like, "Ok well then when we first captured Ben and Sayid tortured him, why didn't Ben remember that this was the dude that shot him?" To which Miles pauses, as if stumped and says something like, "Ooh, good question, I don't know." Or maybe Miles says, "I hadn't thought of that." I think it's the second one, actually. But on several occasions freakin' Farraday, who seems to know exactly what is happening, chooses to answer questions with, "I don't know", instead of an explanation. I'm thinking of when he's explaining to Juliet why Charlotte is dying. He answers half of the questions cryptically and the other half with, "I don't know." And this is basically the writers choosing to say, "We don't feel like answering that question and so we're not going to."
Something that I wanted to write about in a previous post but forgot to was about how people seem to come back to life on this island for no reason whatsoever. Mikhail initially is killed by the sonic fence (which is later revealed not to have been set at a lethal setting (set fence to stun (inception)) and I guess that's ok since later Sawyer and Juliet and Farraday and Miles are stunned by the fence even though Mikhail got much more fucked up by the fence than those other guys and also they felt his pulse) and then later on Mikhail is shot through the heart (and you're to blame) in the underwater station with a harpoon but comes back to life again in order to flood the station and kill Charlie (by the way, I know this is nitpicky, but Charlie had plenty of time to exit the room and shut the door, he did not need to lock himself in to save Desmond). There was someone else who came back to life just to serve the purposes of the plot, but I can't recall who it was at this moment. Presumably Mikhail is dead now, but one never knows.
Anyway, to end on topic rather than on a tangent, season 5 is not as good as I remember. It's kindof a clusterfuck and the events that bring them back to the island are not especially satisfying. And it's annoying that Jack vacillates between trusting and not trusting Ben whenever it's convenient to the plot. Also, in the big picture analysis, they've pretty clearly established that Sayid is not a good dude and that he's a natural killer, but he gets to go to heaven while Michael has to stay on the island. Mad racist.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Blargh
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
Spit it Out, Farraday
Whoa, season 5, whoa. Hold on there a minute. Right now I'm through 11 episodes of season 5. I've slowed down my watching pace mainly because I'm just not that interested anymore. At this point, I'm kindof just watching because I've decided to do it, rather than because the show is grabbing my interest. Before taking on this endeavor my recollection was that seasons 1 and 2 were awesome, 3 and 4 sucked, 5 and 6 were good, though disappointing in a big picture way. That is not my current experience. 1 and 2 were, in fact, awesome. Season 3 was really not as bad as I thought it was. Season 3 is actually pretty good, especially the second half. Season 4, however, no thanks. Right now, though, in the midst of season 5, I gotta say, it's pretty freakin' dumb. Yeah, freakin', I said it, with no G neither.
So, they go back to the island in order to save the people they left behind because Locke and Ben insist that they are in terrible danger. Except they're not in terrible danger. They're perfectly fine, albeit in 1977. Had they never returned, then the whole thing would never have gone to shit. It's likely that the Dharma Initiative would never have been purged, and Ben would never have been evilized after Sayid shot him because Sayid would not have shot him. Charles Widmore and Ben would never have engaged in whatever their whole power struggle deal is and Widmore is probably never exiled from the island. This is a fallacy in thought, I know, but like they caused all this shit. Consistently, the people who were on the plane want one thing to happen and then their actions cause the exact opposite to happen.
So, when they go back to the island Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid travel back in time to 1977 for some reason that is altogether unclear. Even more, unclear, however, is why Sun does not travel back in time. This is pure contrivance by the writers to keep Sun and Jin apart for as long as possible. And, I suppose that's fine if they want to keep them apart, but then there's got to be a reason for it. If you've created a mechanism through which the 815ers travel back in time, then it has to apply to all of them. You can't create rules and then break them within your universe, it's fucking annoying to the people who are following your rules. I get it that it's ultimately more satisfying when Sun and Jin are eventually reunited (and it feels so good), but think for like 5 extra minutes about something that doesn't violate the rules that you established. Like you want me to be happy with the idea that all the people on the plane land on the island in 2007 except for the 815ers who are transported to 1977. Ok, I'm with that. It's weird, but like, time travel and shit, ok, I'm with you. Except not Sun. Why not Sun? For no reason, that's why.
They keep Ben alive. Again. After Sayid shoots Ben (like finally someone took the bull by the horns), Juliet, Kate, and Sawyer all conspire to save him. Why? "Because he's just a kid." Except you know he's Ben. Don't be daft (I'm British now). Sayid had the good sense to shoot him and Jack had the good sense to refuse to treat him (except Jack has done a fair amount of listening to Ben in order to end up back on the island and Sayid has done a lot of listening to Ben when he became a serial killer on Ben's orders) and then those clowns go and save him. And Richard is all, "If we save him, he'll never be the same. He'll always be one of us." And still Kate and Sawyer agree to do it. The whole story is a Deus ex Machina through which the 815ers act against any logical judgment in order to keep Ben alive so that he can continue to fuck up their lives.
At this point in the show, they have written themselves into a corner on more than one occasion. And it's basically become an in joke that they are at an impasse between conflicting plot points and they are just going to scoff at the one they don't want at the moment and pick the one that's more convenient for them. One (of the several) example(s) of this is the conversation between Miles and Hurley about Back to the Future. Hurley is expecting to fade away because Sayid has shot Ben and they have no way to save him. Hurley recounts the events that brought them to that point, all of which involve Ben, so that if little Ben dies, they should fade away. Miles explains their time travel rules, which is basically that you can't change the past. Whatever happened, happened, so that since they know Ben is alive in the future, he must have survived. Fine, I'm with that. Then Hurley says something like, "Ok well then when we first captured Ben and Sayid tortured him, why didn't Ben remember that this was the dude that shot him?" To which Miles pauses, as if stumped and says something like, "Ooh, good question, I don't know." Or maybe Miles says, "I hadn't thought of that." I think it's the second one, actually. But on several occasions freakin' Farraday, who seems to know exactly what is happening, chooses to answer questions with, "I don't know", instead of an explanation. I'm thinking of when he's explaining to Juliet why Charlotte is dying. He answers half of the questions cryptically and the other half with, "I don't know." And this is basically the writers choosing to say, "We don't feel like answering that question and so we're not going to."
Something that I wanted to write about in a previous post but forgot to was about how people seem to come back to life on this island for no reason whatsoever. Mikhail initially is killed by the sonic fence (which is later revealed not to have been set at a lethal setting (set fence to stun (inception)) and I guess that's ok since later Sawyer and Juliet and Farraday and Miles are stunned by the fence even though Mikhail got much more fucked up by the fence than those other guys and also they felt his pulse) and then later on Mikhail is shot through the heart (and you're to blame) in the underwater station with a harpoon but comes back to life again in order to flood the station and kill Charlie (by the way, I know this is nitpicky, but Charlie had plenty of time to exit the room and shut the door, he did not need to lock himself in to save Desmond). There was someone else who came back to life just to serve the purposes of the plot, but I can't recall who it was at this moment. Presumably Mikhail is dead now, but one never knows.
Anyway, to end on topic rather than on a tangent, season 5 is not as good as I remember. It's kindof a clusterfuck and the events that bring them back to the island are not especially satisfying. And it's annoying that Jack vacillates between trusting and not trusting Ben whenever it's convenient to the plot. Also, in the big picture analysis, they've pretty clearly established that Sayid is not a good dude and that he's a natural killer, but he gets to go to heaven while Michael has to stay on the island. Mad racist.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Blargh
Friday, July 12, 2013
Rewatching Lost: Spit it Out, Farraday
Previously on Rewatching Lost:
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
I am like 10 minutes into season 5, which is not much farther than my last post. Daniel Farraday is not at all surprised when the island moves in space and/or time and he seems to know exactly what and why is happening. Right when the sky changes color (for the second time now) and they are in the raft still next to the island he says, "we must have been within the radius." This statement implies that he knows that the island can be moved, the mechanism through which it is moved, what would happen when it moves, and that there exists a radius around the island which would become dislodged in space and time. They've already shown Farraday in the past as part of the Dharma Initiative in the Orchid station while it is being built. So presumably he knows something about it.
Next they show what happens immediately after the island moves. The people are there, but all the stuff is gone. Farraday says he needs to be taken to something man made on the island, presumably to determine where in time they are. But he doesn't ever explain this to anyone. At least not in these first ten minutes. He's a fucking Oxford professor, he needs to be able to explain himself better than he is. Instead of saying, "your camp isn't gone, it just hasn't been built yet," he could say something, anything, that is infinitely less cryptic than that. If I were Farraday, I would say, "Okay let's walk while I explain. The island has become dislodged in time. Here's why......."
Based on what he says he knows what happened, and that it's going to continue happening, and basically everything. He knows everything. Spit it the fuck out, Farraday. He has no reason to be so fucking cryptic within the context of the reality on the island. He's only being cryptic so the writers can let out information bit by bit, or not at all.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Time Travel
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
I am like 10 minutes into season 5, which is not much farther than my last post. Daniel Farraday is not at all surprised when the island moves in space and/or time and he seems to know exactly what and why is happening. Right when the sky changes color (for the second time now) and they are in the raft still next to the island he says, "we must have been within the radius." This statement implies that he knows that the island can be moved, the mechanism through which it is moved, what would happen when it moves, and that there exists a radius around the island which would become dislodged in space and time. They've already shown Farraday in the past as part of the Dharma Initiative in the Orchid station while it is being built. So presumably he knows something about it.
Next they show what happens immediately after the island moves. The people are there, but all the stuff is gone. Farraday says he needs to be taken to something man made on the island, presumably to determine where in time they are. But he doesn't ever explain this to anyone. At least not in these first ten minutes. He's a fucking Oxford professor, he needs to be able to explain himself better than he is. Instead of saying, "your camp isn't gone, it just hasn't been built yet," he could say something, anything, that is infinitely less cryptic than that. If I were Farraday, I would say, "Okay let's walk while I explain. The island has become dislodged in time. Here's why......."
Based on what he says he knows what happened, and that it's going to continue happening, and basically everything. He knows everything. Spit it the fuck out, Farraday. He has no reason to be so fucking cryptic within the context of the reality on the island. He's only being cryptic so the writers can let out information bit by bit, or not at all.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Time Travel
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Rewatching Lost: Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
Previously on Rewatching Lost:
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
First of all, season 4 is only 14 episodes. But thank goodness for that. Season 3 ends with the helicopter and the Not Penny's Boat out in the ocean somewhere. The entire next season is about how the 6 people come to leave the island. This is Lost at its worst. Absolute worst. I didn't think season 3 was terrible in aggregate, though the first half dragged. Season 4 in total is just bad. Tons of new characters, tons of new plot lines, no answered questions, even a new Dharma Initiative orientation video for the orchid station, when Locke and Ben go to move the island. Oh yeah, they moved the island, that was a thing.
Again, the whole entire season was about the boat showing up and all the shit that happens until the 6 of them leave the island and the rest of them get moved when the island moves. Lord, Jesus, it's a fire. Ain't nobody got time for that. Charlotte is a useless character. Frank Lapidus is useless save for the fact that he's a pilot. Miles is probably useless, I don't really remember what he does later. Everything that they established in the first three seasons is irrelevant. The numbers, the Dharma Initiative, like everything.
Also, at least 10 different people on at least 20 different occasions had the opportunity and the motive to kill Ben Linus and no one ever did. And Occam's Razor says he should be dead by now, and then much of this nonsense would have been avoided.
The whole thing where "the island won't let you die", like with Michael and what not is utterly ridiculous. Also Ben has the ability to call the smoke monster, which he does when the army guys attack his house, but not until after they kill Alex. And then the smoke monster comes and appears to devastate the 6 to 10 army guys, but only one of them dies. So the smoke monster has killed 3 people in 4 seasons.
It's entirely unclear what the Others are doing there in the first place. I think they address that in season 5, but as for now, nothing. It's also unclear why they're taking people from the wreckage and not announcing their presence and being more friendly with the people who crashed on the island accidentally.
John Locke has been targeted since birth by Richard who doesn't age. Relatedly, a lot of shit happens by chance that also seems to be destined to happen. Locke ending up on the island and also Claire. Jack crashing on the island when Ben has a tumor. The dude from the Wire (awesome show) visiting a bunch of the people and being the guy who suggested Locke go on a walkabout. I feel like in the future Jacob is going to be visiting people either before or after they've gone to the island.
They've finally set up the time travelling, island moving, Jacob is in charge of the island, and Ben Linus vs. Charles Widmore things. Although that last one is another red herring. Useless. They haven't set up the smoke monster vs. Jacob yet. Also if the smoke monster is all the ghost people on the island, like Jack's (and Claire's) dad for instance, then he was the one in Jacob's cabin talking to Locke.
In conclusion, season 4, wherefore art thou?
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Spit it Out, Farraday
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
First of all, season 4 is only 14 episodes. But thank goodness for that. Season 3 ends with the helicopter and the Not Penny's Boat out in the ocean somewhere. The entire next season is about how the 6 people come to leave the island. This is Lost at its worst. Absolute worst. I didn't think season 3 was terrible in aggregate, though the first half dragged. Season 4 in total is just bad. Tons of new characters, tons of new plot lines, no answered questions, even a new Dharma Initiative orientation video for the orchid station, when Locke and Ben go to move the island. Oh yeah, they moved the island, that was a thing.
Again, the whole entire season was about the boat showing up and all the shit that happens until the 6 of them leave the island and the rest of them get moved when the island moves. Lord, Jesus, it's a fire. Ain't nobody got time for that. Charlotte is a useless character. Frank Lapidus is useless save for the fact that he's a pilot. Miles is probably useless, I don't really remember what he does later. Everything that they established in the first three seasons is irrelevant. The numbers, the Dharma Initiative, like everything.
Also, at least 10 different people on at least 20 different occasions had the opportunity and the motive to kill Ben Linus and no one ever did. And Occam's Razor says he should be dead by now, and then much of this nonsense would have been avoided.
The whole thing where "the island won't let you die", like with Michael and what not is utterly ridiculous. Also Ben has the ability to call the smoke monster, which he does when the army guys attack his house, but not until after they kill Alex. And then the smoke monster comes and appears to devastate the 6 to 10 army guys, but only one of them dies. So the smoke monster has killed 3 people in 4 seasons.
It's entirely unclear what the Others are doing there in the first place. I think they address that in season 5, but as for now, nothing. It's also unclear why they're taking people from the wreckage and not announcing their presence and being more friendly with the people who crashed on the island accidentally.
John Locke has been targeted since birth by Richard who doesn't age. Relatedly, a lot of shit happens by chance that also seems to be destined to happen. Locke ending up on the island and also Claire. Jack crashing on the island when Ben has a tumor. The dude from the Wire (awesome show) visiting a bunch of the people and being the guy who suggested Locke go on a walkabout. I feel like in the future Jacob is going to be visiting people either before or after they've gone to the island.
They've finally set up the time travelling, island moving, Jacob is in charge of the island, and Ben Linus vs. Charles Widmore things. Although that last one is another red herring. Useless. They haven't set up the smoke monster vs. Jacob yet. Also if the smoke monster is all the ghost people on the island, like Jack's (and Claire's) dad for instance, then he was the one in Jacob's cabin talking to Locke.
In conclusion, season 4, wherefore art thou?
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Spit it Out, Farraday
Monday, July 8, 2013
Rewatching Lost: I Don't Remember A Lot of This
Previously on Rewatching Lost:
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
So this is the second time I'm posting today for a couple of reasons. First is that in the last post I meant to say that I was going to try to remember who were the "Oceanic 8" that escaped the island. I forgot to write about that, though. Since then I have watched the first episode of season 4 and I've been reminded that it's actually the Oceanic 6. That's better for me since I could only remember Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid. Did they count Aaron? I know Claire didn't go. Was Locke one of them? That can't be. Except I know that the funeral that Jack went to where he was the only one who showed up was for Locke. At least I think I know that. And the coffin is empty. I think.
So I'm trying to remember the circumstances under which only 6 of them leave the island and I'm trying to remember exactly when Locke dies and is reborn as the smoke monster. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's possible that Ben killed Locke when he shot him and that is the point he turned into the smoke monster. And that is evidenced by the fact that he killed Naomi and Locke wasn't capable of murdering anyone, even his father who stole his kidney. Of course, I could be remembering incorrectly. And if it's Locke's funeral, then he must have left the island. Right?
I realized why all the stuff I remember from the flashbacks happened in the first two seasons. It's because after season 3, there are no flashbacks. Season 4 is flash forwards, and I think season 5 also. Season 5 is also the time travelling, so the flashbacks may be infused somehow. Season 6 is the flash sideways.
People who figure prominently in the end like Jacob, Man in Black, Charles Widmore, Farraday, Eloise Hawking, Miles, et al. have not figured to any extent in the first 3 seasons. Farraday appears for 5 seconds at the end of season 4, episode 1. Jacob is mentioned, never seen, and so far has said only "help me" to Locke. Charles Widmore was in one scene talking down to Desmond. Hawking was in one scene talking to Desmond about fate. Man in Black I guess has technically appeared since the first episode and every time someone sees an apparition on the island, but he has not appeared in proper, nor has his role been outlined whatsoever. Miles is coming soon, I think. (Fun fact: Miles is the son of a guy I used to teach with.)
I feel like the story is starting to get away from them. I just feel it spiraling our of control. It's not nearly as tight as it was in seasons 1 and 2. I know I'm biased, because this is the conclusion I'm trying to confirm, but also I think I'm right. I'm trying to be open minded.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3
So this is the second time I'm posting today for a couple of reasons. First is that in the last post I meant to say that I was going to try to remember who were the "Oceanic 8" that escaped the island. I forgot to write about that, though. Since then I have watched the first episode of season 4 and I've been reminded that it's actually the Oceanic 6. That's better for me since I could only remember Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid. Did they count Aaron? I know Claire didn't go. Was Locke one of them? That can't be. Except I know that the funeral that Jack went to where he was the only one who showed up was for Locke. At least I think I know that. And the coffin is empty. I think.
So I'm trying to remember the circumstances under which only 6 of them leave the island and I'm trying to remember exactly when Locke dies and is reborn as the smoke monster. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's possible that Ben killed Locke when he shot him and that is the point he turned into the smoke monster. And that is evidenced by the fact that he killed Naomi and Locke wasn't capable of murdering anyone, even his father who stole his kidney. Of course, I could be remembering incorrectly. And if it's Locke's funeral, then he must have left the island. Right?
I realized why all the stuff I remember from the flashbacks happened in the first two seasons. It's because after season 3, there are no flashbacks. Season 4 is flash forwards, and I think season 5 also. Season 5 is also the time travelling, so the flashbacks may be infused somehow. Season 6 is the flash sideways.
People who figure prominently in the end like Jacob, Man in Black, Charles Widmore, Farraday, Eloise Hawking, Miles, et al. have not figured to any extent in the first 3 seasons. Farraday appears for 5 seconds at the end of season 4, episode 1. Jacob is mentioned, never seen, and so far has said only "help me" to Locke. Charles Widmore was in one scene talking down to Desmond. Hawking was in one scene talking to Desmond about fate. Man in Black I guess has technically appeared since the first episode and every time someone sees an apparition on the island, but he has not appeared in proper, nor has his role been outlined whatsoever. Miles is coming soon, I think. (Fun fact: Miles is the son of a guy I used to teach with.)
I feel like the story is starting to get away from them. I just feel it spiraling our of control. It's not nearly as tight as it was in seasons 1 and 2. I know I'm biased, because this is the conclusion I'm trying to confirm, but also I think I'm right. I'm trying to be open minded.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
Season 4. Dear God, Why, Season 4?
Rewatching Lost: Season 3
Previously on Rewatching Lost:
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3 of Lost. Ugh. Season 3. I gotta say, it wasn't terrible. The first half was bad. Like pretty bad. Also they dropped a thousand more hints that they were all dead. I'm gonna look into the idea that they actually are dead starting with season 4. I don't think it will fit outside the first 3 seasons, but it's possible. This is to say, the first 3 seasons definitely fit into the idea that they are all dead, and they play it up quite a bit at the end of the 3rd season. Anthony Cooper (John Locke's dad and the dude who swindles Sawyer's parents) talks about getting into a car accident and waking up on the island. Noami (the parachutist from Not Penny's Boat) says that they had found the wreckage of flight 815 and accounted for all the bodies. The people who get to the island do so after either having been in an accident that should have killed them (Oceanics, Anthony Cooper, Naomi, Richard who doesn't age) or after having been drugged or sedated (Juliet). Ben is the only one who seems to have arrived under fairly normal circumstances, but can't you imagine his shitty dad having killed the pair of them over the fact the he blames Ben for killing his wife, Ben's mother? You can also probably work the no babies can be conceived successfully on the island thing into there.
Basically in season 3 they kill the Dharma Initiative. At the end they show about how the original hostiles killed all the Dharma people in "the purge". I guess that's supposed to end all the questions about anything Dharma related, since it doesn't exist anymore. The only survivor was Ben. The only thing that doesn't exactly jibe is the fact that there are apparently still fresh food deliveries to the Dharma Initiative. Also in season 3 Locke goes crazy, hears Jacob's voice, blows up the submarine, and tries to prevent the second escape attempt as well. It's unclear to me why Locke is so opposed to everyone leaving the island. He could easily stay behind if everyone else left.
I'm trying to remember whose boat it is if it's not Penny's. It must be Charles Widmore's. Also they introduce Farraday's mother (Eloise Hawking) way earlier than you would have figured. She's in the episode where Desmond realizes he can tell the future as the person who tells him he can't change the universe's plan. She also appears in a picture on a monk's desk when Desmond is a monk (I didn't remember that either). She's not named yet, and it's not implied that you'll see her again.
The smoke monster kills the pilot (Matt Parkman from Heroes) in the pilot (episode). The only other person he kills in the first 3 seasons is Mr. Eko. It's not exactly a reign of terror.
I really love the Nikki and Paolo episode. It's basically a throw away, in that you could have missed that episode and really only missed the part where Charlie confesses that he dragged Sun into the forest. But it's really entertaining. Nice tone shift. I like how they set it up a few episodes before, too. I don't know if this was their original plan for those characters, but I like how it turned out. If Nikki had just waited in the jungle to get unparalyzed, then it wouldn't have turned out so badly. I know it's the lynch pin to the episode, but that was a really stupid idea.
The 2 part finale is the original flash forward. I remember being blown away when I realized it was a flash forward instead of a flashback originally. When I already knew it was a flash forward, then it's a pretty tedious exercise belaboring the point that Jack wants to go back to the island. It does not hold up, I guess.
Add to the list of murderers Juliet (one of the Others), Locke (Naomi), Sayid and Bernard (some Others attacking the camp to steal pregnant people), and Sun (one of the Others on the boat).
There's that thing of where Jack's dad is also Claire's dad.
Season 3 is real big on the fate vs. free will theme. Charlie dying and Desmond being fated to end up on the island and also Locke. Also some other stuff. It's a sticky issue, hard to say where they intend to come down on it.
Desmond is named Desmond David Hume. David Hume was another Enlightenment philosopher (like Locke and Rousseau) who wrote about human nature. He's often linked with Locke when it comes to empiricism. He wrote A Treatise on Human Nature. So more philosophers. The only one missing is Immanuel Kant.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
Rewatching Lost
The First 20 Episodes
Season 2, Episode 3
Stuff That I Don't Want to Forget to Notice
Analucia and Mr. Eko
Season 2
Season 3 of Lost. Ugh. Season 3. I gotta say, it wasn't terrible. The first half was bad. Like pretty bad. Also they dropped a thousand more hints that they were all dead. I'm gonna look into the idea that they actually are dead starting with season 4. I don't think it will fit outside the first 3 seasons, but it's possible. This is to say, the first 3 seasons definitely fit into the idea that they are all dead, and they play it up quite a bit at the end of the 3rd season. Anthony Cooper (John Locke's dad and the dude who swindles Sawyer's parents) talks about getting into a car accident and waking up on the island. Noami (the parachutist from Not Penny's Boat) says that they had found the wreckage of flight 815 and accounted for all the bodies. The people who get to the island do so after either having been in an accident that should have killed them (Oceanics, Anthony Cooper, Naomi, Richard who doesn't age) or after having been drugged or sedated (Juliet). Ben is the only one who seems to have arrived under fairly normal circumstances, but can't you imagine his shitty dad having killed the pair of them over the fact the he blames Ben for killing his wife, Ben's mother? You can also probably work the no babies can be conceived successfully on the island thing into there.
Basically in season 3 they kill the Dharma Initiative. At the end they show about how the original hostiles killed all the Dharma people in "the purge". I guess that's supposed to end all the questions about anything Dharma related, since it doesn't exist anymore. The only survivor was Ben. The only thing that doesn't exactly jibe is the fact that there are apparently still fresh food deliveries to the Dharma Initiative. Also in season 3 Locke goes crazy, hears Jacob's voice, blows up the submarine, and tries to prevent the second escape attempt as well. It's unclear to me why Locke is so opposed to everyone leaving the island. He could easily stay behind if everyone else left.
I'm trying to remember whose boat it is if it's not Penny's. It must be Charles Widmore's. Also they introduce Farraday's mother (Eloise Hawking) way earlier than you would have figured. She's in the episode where Desmond realizes he can tell the future as the person who tells him he can't change the universe's plan. She also appears in a picture on a monk's desk when Desmond is a monk (I didn't remember that either). She's not named yet, and it's not implied that you'll see her again.
The smoke monster kills the pilot (Matt Parkman from Heroes) in the pilot (episode). The only other person he kills in the first 3 seasons is Mr. Eko. It's not exactly a reign of terror.
I really love the Nikki and Paolo episode. It's basically a throw away, in that you could have missed that episode and really only missed the part where Charlie confesses that he dragged Sun into the forest. But it's really entertaining. Nice tone shift. I like how they set it up a few episodes before, too. I don't know if this was their original plan for those characters, but I like how it turned out. If Nikki had just waited in the jungle to get unparalyzed, then it wouldn't have turned out so badly. I know it's the lynch pin to the episode, but that was a really stupid idea.
The 2 part finale is the original flash forward. I remember being blown away when I realized it was a flash forward instead of a flashback originally. When I already knew it was a flash forward, then it's a pretty tedious exercise belaboring the point that Jack wants to go back to the island. It does not hold up, I guess.
Add to the list of murderers Juliet (one of the Others), Locke (Naomi), Sayid and Bernard (some Others attacking the camp to steal pregnant people), and Sun (one of the Others on the boat).
There's that thing of where Jack's dad is also Claire's dad.
Season 3 is real big on the fate vs. free will theme. Charlie dying and Desmond being fated to end up on the island and also Locke. Also some other stuff. It's a sticky issue, hard to say where they intend to come down on it.
Desmond is named Desmond David Hume. David Hume was another Enlightenment philosopher (like Locke and Rousseau) who wrote about human nature. He's often linked with Locke when it comes to empiricism. He wrote A Treatise on Human Nature. So more philosophers. The only one missing is Immanuel Kant.
On the next episode of Rewatching Lost:
I Don't Remember A Lot Of This
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