Here we are once again, taking a look at an episode of Lost, scoring it, and marveling at my video production mediocrity :-P
After the success of last week's post, DarkUFO and I hope to continue to improve and refine our scoring system, as well as shorten the video updates to a concise and friendly run-time.
This week we watched episode 2x07, "The Other 48 Days." Featuring only 7 of our League characters, this episode presented us with a plethora of scoring questions to resolve before bringing you this update. Below is a special section that we hope will answer most of the scoring questions you might have had while watching. If, after reading through our explanations, you still have a question, write it in the comments section or email us at LFLquestions@gmail.com
Remember, this is a spoiler-free zone, so email any spoiler related questions directly to DarkUFO.
The Other 48 Days (In 500 words or less)
Remember how Oceanic Flight 815 was torn apart as it crashed? Well, boy howdy! Some of those tail section folk done survived that there crash! Whodathunkit?
This episode focuses on the trials and tribulations of these Tailies, as they came to be called. Their exploits, while harrowing and freaky for sure, certainly would not have made for good television. Thusly, we say "good call" to the producers for making Season 1 all about the more "civilized" camp of Lostaways.
Murder, mishaps and mayhem come standard in "The Other 48 Days." Ana-Lucia comes to underwater and swims ashore amidst a swarm of screaming, injured folk- it's a bloody screaming mess. Literally.
The first night, a few of the natives decide to kidnap a few of the survivors. Creepy in and of itself, but we already knew there were 'Others' on this Island, so it wasn't quite as creeptastic as it could have been. These Others are thwarted, however, when Mr. Eko introduces two of them to the finer points of Mr. Rock. As if the bloody bodies of crash victims wasn't enough, the Tailies now have the bloody bodies of some freakish hobos on their hands.
Ana-Lucia, being the smart cookie that she is figures out that these people were here before them and that the beach might not be safe. This sets off some tension between Ana and a guy named Nathan, who, in a clever feat of misdirection, is made out to make us think that he is one of these Others.
Turns out Nathan is just a crabby Canadian guy who lacks quality conflict resolution skills. After getting attacked again and moving camp, Ana-Lucia does her best Charles Bronson impersonation and digs and digs and digs until she is satisfied with her new found playpen (read: tiger pit). Ana chucks Nathan inside and grills him about the people who were taken. Goodwin, who's really the Other, kills Nathan before Ana can realize she has the wrong guy, but it turns out to be too little too late.
After discovering a new DHARMA station, The Arrow (a decidedly dumpy little place that even Locke would struggle to call home), Ana and Goodwin climb up the mountain to test the radio. The hills aren't exactly alive with the sound of music though, as Ana is one smart cookie and makes Goodwin come clean about being an Other. She then skewers him with her walking stick and heads back to the Arrow.
Later on, we find out that Bernard was talking to Boone, Jin floated ashore, and Eko is one bad mother- shut your mouth! He lays some hurt on our Lostaways with his Jesus stick, but they all make nice and head over to the Lostie camp for some s'mores. That and Sawyer is dying from an infected wound. Ick.
The episode ends where we left off the episode before- Ana killing Shannon by accident and Sayid looking like he's about to go medieval on her butt.
A majority of the action in this episode involved Ana-Lucia and Mr. Eko, but they are not in our League. This left some of the scoring a bit sparse for our League folk, but there was no dearth of questions as to how we were to score the episode. Here several important rulings we made that led us to the scores as they currently stand:
1. Nobody gets points for 'discovering' Goodwin. Technically Goodwin discovered the Tailies. He was on the Island first and went to see if there were survivors. He willingly made himself known to the group (even though he hid the fact that he was an Other). It will be hard to tell in Season 4 whether a person intends to be discovered or not, but in this case, Goodwin went looking for the Tailies.
2. Points will not be taken away for hurting or killing animals. Goodwin killed a chicken for food, but this doesn't incur a points deduction. Points are only taken away for injuring or hurting "someone," as our points system says. In the Fantasy League, animals are not people too. Sorry PETA.
3. Getting knocked unconscious counts as an injury. Points will be taken away from those who get knocked out, and from those who knock others out.
4. The Tailies are given credit for discovering The Arrow station. True, we first saw the Arrow station in 2x04 when Michael, Sawyer and Jin were taken there by the Tailies, but the Tailies get those points because "The Other 48 Days" actually shows the moment of true discovery.
5. Goodwin does not get credit for discovering The Arrow. Even though he didn't really seem to be familiar with it, he gets no point because he is an Other. They seem to have a general knowledge of DHARMA, so while he may never have seen the station, he knows those stations are all over the Island.
6. No points are awarded for discovering any of the items in the chest inside The Arrow. While those items are interesting, DarkUFO and I decided that none are significant enough to count for points. It will be hard to tell what is significant in Season 4, but we'll do our best.
7. No points for Eko discovering the DHARMA film inside the Bible. We're watching these test episodes as if we were seeing them for the first time. We never saw the film, so we are to assume he just found a Bible. If we watch 2x09 (where he reveals the film to Locke) during the Hiatus League, then points will be retroactively awarded for the discovery.
8. Once you've been inside/on a DHARMA site and are aware of it, the surrounding area counts as the site itself. The Tailies spend a good bit of time hanging around outside The Arrow; it is their home base. They are still in the vicinity of The Arrow at these times. Otherwise, it will get crazy for us to keep track of who goes inside and outside of a DHARMA site. Anything within eyesight or earshot of a hatch/DHARMA station counts as being there. This also applies to visiting sites like the Black Rock and the Statue.
9. The beach that Cindy and Libby find Jin on counts as them being away from The Arrow. They got points for returning to The Arrow in the next scene.
10. After being found by Cindy and Libby, Jin does not get credit for visiting The Arrow. You have to be aware of the site/structure in order to get points for it. Jin was tied up, blindfolded and facing away from The Arrow. He never knew where he was, so he does not get points at that time. He does get points later when he, Michael and Sawyer are taken there.
11. Bernard talking to Boone, and the Tailies discovering Michael, Jin and Sawyer does NOT count as discovering new people. Yes, these are new people for the Tailies, but not for us, the viewers. People must be new to viewers in order to be points-worthy.
12. Bernard gets points for using the Numbers, even though he said eight-one-five instead of eight-fifteen. He was responding to Boone in order to be clear about the flight number. The flight number is a constructed configuration of the Numbers. It counts for points. A person counting "one, two, three, four" does NOT get points for 23 & 4 because they flow in natural order. The Numbers have to be deliberate in order for points to be awarded.
13. Jin loses points for his injuries sustained from the raft explosion/washing ashore. In Exodus Part 2, Jin has no facial injuries before the raft is attacked. When he washes ashore, he has cuts on his face. Since we saw two potential causes for these injuries (explosion or rough beach), we deduct points.
14. Injuries and deaths that are shown again in other episodes can and will be counted against that character a second time, as long as the injury/death doesn't occur in a "Previously On Lost" segment. We don't count "Previously On Lost" segments for points. But, we saw Michael, Jin and Sawyer get knocked out by Eko in 2x03 and again in 2x07. Since this same injury occurs within the runtime of both episodes, it is counted both times. Thusly, Shannon would lose points for dying twice- first in 2x06 and now again in 2x07. Similarly, Ana would receive killing deductions in both episodes.
15. When the Eko attacks Michael, Jin and Sawyer on the beach, all the Tailies can be seen in the background, so this counts as establishing a presence away from The Arrow. The next time we see any of them at The Arrow, they get fresh visitation points.
16. Cindy does NOT get points for hearing the Whispers. In this episode, we do not see her when the Whispers are going on. In fact, her absence is noted before the Whispers even start.
17. Sawyer does NOT get points for hearing the Whispers. He was unconscious and/or delirious at the time. You have to be awake in order to hear the Whispers; Sawyer was not.
18. The Tailies are given On-Island Flashback points. The episode is a long flashback to show what the Tailies had been through. No centricity points are awarded, due to the lack of a traditional flashback setup (no standard whooshing sound). Also, Michael, Jin, Sawyer and Sayid do NOT get points for appearing in another person's flashback due to the unique nature of the flashback (what I call a macro flashback- a flashback for a larger group instead of an individual). The events of the episode bring us back to the present without that whooshing sound. It's technical, but it's the final ruling.
Think we missed something? Leave us a comment or email your question to LFLquestions@gmail.com
GROUP 7-
Christian (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Kelvin (-5): Absent from Episode
Kevin Callis (-5): Absent from Episode
Mr. Paik (-5): Absent from Episode
Nadia (-5): Absent from Episode
GROUP 6-
Libby (+95): Attendance (+5); On-Island Flashback (+10); Injured in the Plane Crash (-10); Encounters a New Place- The Arrow station (+20); Discovers a new DHARMA Station- The Arrow (+25); Visits a DHARMA Location- three separate visits to The Arrow (+5 x 3 = +15); Hears the Whispers (+30)
Charles Widmore (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Ethan (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Ms. Hawking (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Rachel (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
GROUP 5-
Cindy (+75): Attendance (+5); On-Island Flashback (+10); Encounters a New Place- The Arrow station (+20); Discovers a new DHARMA Station- The Arrow (+25); Visits a DHARMA Location- three separate visits to The Arrow (+5 x 3 = +15)
Aaron (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Marvin Candle (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Penny (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Richard Alpert (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
GROUP 4-
Bernard (+110): Attendance (+5); On-Island Flashback (+10); Injured in the Plane Crash (-10); Encounters a New Place- The Arrow station (+20); Discovers a new DHARMA Station- The Arrow (+25); Visits a DHARMA Location- two separate visits to The Arrow (+5 x 2 = +10); Uses the Numbers- while talking to Boone over the radio (+20); Hears the Numbers (+30)
Alex (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Karl (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Rose (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Walt (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 3-
Jin (+20): Injured from the Attack on the Raft/Being Washed Ashore (-10); Attendance (+5); Injured- Knocked Out by Eko (-10); Visited a DHARMA Station- The Arrow (+5); Heard the Whispers (+30)
Claire (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Jacob (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Rousseau (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Sun (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 2-
Michael (+35): Attendance (+5); Injured- Knocked Out by Eko (-10); Visits a DHARMA Station- The Arrow (+5); Hears the Whispers (+30); Last Line in the Episode (+5)
Sayid (+5): Attendance (+5)
Desmond (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Hurley (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Juliet (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 1-
Sawyer (0): Attendance (+5); Injured- Knocked Out by Eko (-10); Visits a DHARMA Station- The Arrow (+5)
Ben (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Jack (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Kate (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Locke (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Bonus- Non-League Characters
Ana-Lucia (+45): Attendance (+5); First On Screen (+15); On-Island Flashback (+10); Injured in Plane Crash (-10); Kills an Other (-20); Knocks Out Nathan (-5); Discovers a New Place- The Arrow (+20); Discovers a New DHARMA Station (+25); Visits a DHARMA Station (+5); Kills Goodwin (-20); Visits a DHARMA Site- The Arrow (+5); Injured- Knocked Out by Eko (-10); Visits a DHARMA Site (+5); Hears the Whispers (+30); Kills Shannon (-20); Last On Screen (+10)
Mr. Eko (+30): Attendance (+5); On-Island Flashback (+10); Injured in Plane Crash (-10); Kills 2 Others (2 x -20 = -40); Discovers a New Place- The Arrow (+20); Discovers a New DHARMA Station (+25); Visits a DHARMA Station (+5); Knocks Out Sawyer, Michael and Jin (3 x -5 = -15); Knocks Out Ana-Lucia (-5); Visits a DHARMA Site (+5); Hears the Whispers (+30)
Shannon (-25): Attendance (+5); Dies- Killed by Ana (-30)
Goodwin (-40): Attendance (+5); Kills Nathan (-20); Visits a DHARMA Site (+5); Dies- Killed by Ana (-30)
In two weeks we'll be at it again, and we'll be returning to Season 1. Warm up your dvd players and pop in episode 1x14, Special.This episode focuses on the strained relationship between Michael and Walt. It should feature a healthy smattering of League characters and will include the elusive Polar Bear points that are worth oh so much!
This episode will likely help some of you bounce back from any disappointment from this weeks' episode. However, if you've got a lot of Season 2 and 3 characters on your team, you may continue to be in points trouble.
How will it all pan out? Come back in two weeks and find out!
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