For those that enjoy the Sky One Podcast - Here is the latest.
Note: The UK is now over 1 week behind the US in airing.
Showing posts with label Something Nice Back Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Something Nice Back Home. Show all posts
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The Lost Fantasy League: Week 10 Update
Sorry folks, no video this week! With DarkUFO coming back from vacation, I wanted to run a bunch of scoring questions from this week's episode ("Something Nice Back Home") and from Week 9 by our fearless leader. I'll be back in all my mediocre video glory next week though, when we tackle episode 4x11.Viewership was down and the polls indicate that "Something Nice Back Home" was a letdown (if not a total bust) for many Lost fans, but that didn't stop the episode from thoroughly dominating in points! Week 10 is the highest scoring episode ever in the short history of the LFL. I'm not crazy about "ships" but it appears that "Jate" is VERY good for the Lost Fantasy League! :-P
But how did your team do? Did you take part in the utter points domination or were you left hanging in the cold? Check all the data below for all the scoring details and points rulings as per usual. Comment away and shoot us any questions you have. You know the email by now- LFLquestions@gmail.com.
Also, don't forget about the DarkUFO Facebook Group and the Lost Fantasy League Facebook group. They're two more ways to strengthen our little Lost community!
SPOILER WARNING: THE CONTENTS OF THIS FANTASY UPDATE CONTAIN EPISODE INFORMATION FOR EPISODE 4X10. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THIS EPISODE (AS IS THE CASE WITH OUR EUROPEAN FRIENDS) THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WILL SPOIL THE EPISODE FOR YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
“Something Nice Back Home” (in 600 words or less)
Jack wakes up. Jack is sick. Jack passes out. Jack needs his appendix removed. Jack wants to watch and help lead the surgery. Jack is a control freak.
Nobody at the beach trusts the Freighter Folk and they haven’t even been attacked, shot and blown up yet. Sun, Jin, Daniel and Charlotte head to the Staff station to get medical supplies while Rose ponders why, on an Island where everyone seems to be healed, Jack is sick.
Sun, Jin, Daniel and Charlotte reach the Staff and Jin notices that Charlotte is paying attention to his conversation with his wife. In Korean. Jin realizes Charlotte knows Korean and confronts her about it when they return with the surgical supplies. She tries to play coy, but drops the act when Jin threatens to break Danny-boy’s fingers one at a time. He tells her to make sure that Sun gets off the Island when the helicopter returns.
Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles are walking through the jungle when Frank pops out of the bushes and tells them to hide because Keamy is coming. Aaron almost blows their cover but Keamy heads off in the opposite direction. Miles is paying a lot of attention to Claire and Sawyer doesn’t like it. He gives Miles a restraining order. Late at night, Claire wakes up and finds Christian Shephard holding Aaron. Weird.
The surgery starts. Jack tries to bear the pain. He can’t. Juliet kicks Kate out. Bernard knocks Jack out. Juliet takes Jack’s appendix out. Juliet tells Kate that she knows Jack loves Kate more than her. Jate nation rejoices. Jacketeers lament.
In the morning, Sawyer wakes up to find Claire gone. Miles said she left in the middle of the night with someone she called dad and didn’t follow them because of his restraining order (sarcasm meter is off the charts). They hear Aaron crying and Sawyer tracks him down but there’s no sign of Claire. While holding the baby, Sawyer spins around shouting her name. “Claaaaire!” is officially the new “Waaalt!”
In the flashforwards, Jack wakes up naked, picks up a pair of sexy orange panties off the floor and chats with a girl who is in the shower, speaking in an unnecessary lower tone than usual. It’s Kate. Jack helps dry her off and they kiss. Jate nation squeals with delight. Skaters cringe.
Some time after Kate’s trial, Jack had a change of heart and now they are playing house. Jack reads stories to Aaron and Kate basically just walks around in her underwear. They kiss, have sex a lot and even get engaged. Jaters are in heaven, Skaters are in hell.
Jack begins seeing his father and pays Hurley a visit. Hurley tells Jack that Charlie says Jack’s “not supposed to raise him,” possibly implying Aaron. Jack sees his dad again and resorts to popping pills and drinking a lot to make him go away. Jack comes home early and finds Kate having a secret phone conversation. He becomes jealous and launches into good old Dr. Douchebag mode.
He demands to know what Kate is doing. She says it’s a favor for Sawyer. Jack gets jealous and demands to know more. Kate says no because Sawyer wouldn’t want him to know about it. Jack gets mad and walks out on her. Thus falls the House of Jate (at least for now).
After conferring with DarkUFO, all of last week's points rulings will remain in effect for Week 9. Week 10 was a little tricky, but we have made up our minds on "Something Nice Back Home."
1) Jack waking up naked and finding the panties on the floor was enough implication to merit sex points. We felt that the writers and producers were trying to show us how radically Jack had changed his mind, going from not wanting anything to do with Aaron to having sex and living with his surrogate mother.
2) Jack picking Kate up and darting into the next room with her was enough implication to merit sex points. Again, they were trying to show us the radical difference in Jack's mindset from a few episodes ago.
3) Jack only incurs one injury deduction for the entire episode. His appendix continues to cause him discomfort, but our rules state that characters can only lose points once per episode per injury. Since his appendix issue is one extended injury, he only lost points the first time he passed out.
4) No portion of the surgery results in injury deductions. In the Hiatus League we established a precedent where helping someone by causing them pain or discomfort would not count against either party. Jack is stupid enough to try and watch his own surgery, but the cutting and pain it caused was all part of a process to help Jack. Jack does not lose points for feeling pain, Juliet does not lose points for cutting Jack open, and Bernard does not lose points for knocking Jack out.
5) For the moment, Claire has only received points for attendance. Neither DarkUFO nor I have any idea what to make of Christian Shephard's appearance on the Island. We didn't feel that calling him an Island vision was appropriate, because he was holding Aaron and was also seen by Miles. We also weren't sure it was appropriate to call him an icarnation of the Smoke Monster, because Camp Locke just fled the Barracks to avoid Smokey and the soldiers. So for now, we're not handing out any points for the encoutner. We are hoping that a little more light will be shed on just exactly what the on-Island Christian Shephard is. If we don't get any resolution on this matter by season's end, DarkUFO and I will confer again and make some kind of final decision.
"Something Nice Back Home" was anything but a downer in the points department! Unfortunately, Jack and Kate stole the show, picking up 370 points between the two of them. So, if you didn't have Jack or Kate for Group 1, you pretty much lost out on the mother load this week. This means over half of you are now probably hopelessly behind our current leaders. Better luck in Season 5 I guess."Jate" made for an exciting week in the LFL as we've finally broken into quadruple digits! Of course, if you were to cut out the two implied sexual romps and the four kisses, the episode would have been hacked down to around the rest of the pack.
Here is this week's detailed points breakdown:
Group 1-
JACK (+230): Attendance (+5); First on Screen (+15); Has an Eye Close-up (+5); Gets Hurt- His appendix continues to be a problem, causing him to pass out (-10); Centricity (+25); Flashforward (+20); Has SEX with Kate (+15); Kisses Kate- as she steps out of shower (+20); Kisses Kate- has her picked up in the hallway (+20); Has SEX with kate (+15); Has an Island Vision- sees his father quickly walk by at the office (+30); Kissed by Kate- we hear a clear lip smack when Kate kisses him on the neck after he proposes (+20); Has an Island Vision- Sees his father again at the office (+30); Kisses Kate- shortly before he mixes pills and booze (+20)
KATE (+140): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25); Has SEX with Jack (+15); Kisses Jack- as she steps out of shower (+20); Kisses Jack- when he has her picked up in the hallway (+20); Has SEX with Jack (+15); Kisses Jack- we hear a clear lip smack when she kisses him on the neck after he proposes (+20); Kisses Jack- shortly before he mixes pills and booze (+20)
SAWYER (+20): Attendance (+5); Last Line (+5); Last on Screen (+10)
BEN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
LOCKE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 2-
HURLEY (+30): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25)
JULIET (+15): Attendance (+5); First Line (+10)
DESMOND (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MICHAEL (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
SAYID (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 3-
JIN (+10): Attendance (+5); Visits a DHARMA Location- The Staff (+5)
SUN (+10): Attendance (+5); Visits a DHARMA Location- The Staff (+5)
CLAIRE (+5): Attendance (+5)
ROUSSEAU (+5): Attendance (+5)
JACOB (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 4-
BERNARD (+5): Attendance (+5)
KARL (+5): Attendance (+5)
ROSE (+5): Attendance (+5)
ALEX (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
WALT (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 5-
AARON (+40): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25); Last Person on Screen (+10)
CINDY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MARVIN CANDLE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
PENNY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
RICHARD (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 6-
ETHAN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
LIBBY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MS. HAWKING (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
RACHEL (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
WIDMORE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 7-
CHRISTIAN (+30): Attendance (+5); Appears in Jack's Flashforward (+25)
KELVIN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
KEVIN CALISS (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MR. PAIK (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
NADIA (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
We had five Fantasy Geniuses of the Week for episode 4x10! Congratulations to you all. Each of them earned 330 points for one single episode! The maximum anyone could have earned was 340 for the week. But, all of our FGotW had Alex on their team, which kept them back from the absolute maximum possible for the week. Here are our Week 10 geniuses and their teams:
Loquo: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Libby, Christian
mfll: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Libby, Christian
Paul Reynolds: Jack, Hurley, Jin, Alex, Aaron, Rachel, Christian
Ryan: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Libby, Christian
The Vindicator: Jack, Hurley, Sun, Alex, Aaron, Ethan, Christian
Next week's episode is called "Cabin Fever" and it seems pretty evident that it will focus on Locke. Locke was a dominant force in the Hiatus Fantasy League but has left a great many contestants begging for more of Jungle John in Season 4.This late in the game, it seems very unlikely that a singular, strong, Locke-centric episode will launch any team with Locke on it into the upper echelon of our points totals, but I think that we'll finally see everyone have a positive overall score. Some of you have been stuck in the negatives almost all season long, but I'm hoping that getting out of the red and into the black will be a nice consolation prize for you guys and gals.
With only three episodes left, the LFL is winding down, but the excitement is ramping up! I think there's still a good bit of competition left between our leader board titans. Only 80 points separate 1st place and 10th place, so hang on tight folks! We're going in and we're going in fast! Check back next Monday night (US Eastern) to see how "Cabin Fever" has impacted your team and the overall League standings.
Monday, May 5, 2008
S4Ep10 - Something Nice Back Home, by Erika
Here is this week's recap from Erika Olson (aka "e") from LongLiveLocke.com .
The bad news: "Something Nice Back Home" was clearly a "set-up" episode. Its main purpose was to get all of the Lost players in position for the final four hours of the season (three of which technically comprise the finale) while filling in a few gaps in the story line (even though we had already figured out most of them). Necessary, but slightly boring to watch.
The good news: The next episode looks like it will rock the house.
While this latest installment of our favorite show was Jack-centric, I actually found the parts that had nothing to do with Jack to be the most interesting, especially the Miles/Claire/Aaron/Sawyer scenes. But I'm getting ahead of myself... Island events first, followed by Jack's flash-forwards.
DOCTOR, DOCTOR
CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE BURNIN', BURNIN'?
OH, DOCTOR, DOCTOR
IS THIS MY CLAMP YOU'RE FEEEELING?
So I wasn't too far off last week when I speculated that The Mad Doctor might try to perform surgery on himself. And I thought *I* was a control freak! I covered my eyes during Jack's appendectomy and apparently missed some extreme grossness. I personally can't believe that Juliet and Bernard even started the procedure while Jack was still conscious -- helllooooooo??? Anyone could've called that he'd be twitching around. At least they didn't dream up some contraption like the Amputron 2000 to hack Jack apart, like he had rigged up for Boone (RIP). This topic is disgusting, so I'm going to move on.
In my mind, there was really only one important thing that came out of the whole appendicitis drama, and that was what Rose said to Bernard:
BERNARD: Honey, I am sure Jack is gonna be OK. An appendectomy is just about the most common kind of surgery there is.
ROSE: That's not what I was thinking about. I was thinking, "Why did he get sick?"
BERNARD: Why? It's just--it's just bad luck.
ROSE: The day before we're all supposed to be rescued, the person that we count on the most suddenly comes down with a life-threatening condition, and you're chalking it up to bad luck?
BERNARD: Well, what are you saying, that--that Jack did something to offend the gods? People get sick, Rose.
ROSE: Not here. Here, they get better.
Rose voiced a question that has been on many fans' minds for a while now: Why does the Island seem to "cure" some people, like Locke and Rose, while others still get sick, like Benry and Jack? Perhaps the Island and its special electromagnetic properties have the power to make some people better, but can't necessarily prevent other illnesses. Or maybe those who have gotten sick were not "in sync" with the Island (so the Island begins to sing "Bye Bye Bye" to them. Sorry, I couldn't resist).
Believe it or not, this is one mystery that the producers have directly addressed. You can read their take on why some are cured and others get sick on the Island near the beginning of this article. If you want to read the second part of the article (an interview with the Lost producers by Jimmy Kimmel), it's here. (I have read the linked pages and feel that they are safe, so no worries about having a major plot twist revealed.)
If Rose is on to something and the Island somehow willed Jack's near-fatal condition into existence, the next question is, why? Does the Island not want Jack to leave? What "work" does he have left to do ? Maybe the Island doesn't want any of the Lostaways to leave, and it figured that if it disabled their leader, the rest wouldn't be able to figure out the means for rescue. This would tie into my theory that the Island influenced the fates of the surviving 815ers so that they got on that specific flight... because the Island isn't too pleased with the thought of having Ben or Widmore in control.
But now that I really think about it, the most likely explanation for Jack falling ill is that the Island is a "Skater" and doesn't want Jack to end up with Kate in the future. Kill The Mad Doctor and then Kate will have no choice but to go back to Sawyer! How romantic.
One last thing... to all of you who laughed at me for wondering if there was a possibility that Jack could somehow die in this episode even though we know he's alive in the future... I point to the previews for next week's episode. And to the hundreds of other inexplicable things that have happened on this show. We should all know by now that there are very few scenarios that can be entirely ruled out in this crazy series...
VOICES CARRY
Elsewhere on the Island, Miles, Claire and Sawyer made their way back to the beach with baby Aaron in tow. Miles commands the group to stop, and we soon realize that he's hearing a replay of Karl and Rousseau's last moments. They are, in fact, dead and buried right under everyone's feet. Did anyone else think that those faces totally did NOT look like Karl and Rousseau? And why would Keamy and crew go to the trouble of actually burying the two? My take is that the faces were just bad props and that the Island "swallowed" the two bodies. But I do really think this means that they're both utterly and completely dead.
Back to the people who are still alive... I am betting that this dialogue from early on in the jungle-trekking scenes will turn out to be important:
SAWYER: You okay?
CLAIRE: Yeah, just a bit woozy.
SAWYER: How's your head?
CLAIRE: It's better. Bit of a headache, but at least I'm not seeing things anymore.
MILES: Yeah? What'd you see?
Between the exchange above, Miles' interest in Claire and Aaron, and Zombie Dad beckoning to Claire in the middle of the night, you can be sure that all is not as it appears to be with Claire.
From what little I read on the message boards this week, I gathered that a good percentage of viewers strongly believe that Claire is already dead. Here's how that would work:
1) Claire died when her apartment was bombed.
2) The Claire that Sawyer rescued was not Claire at all, but rather an apparition of the young Australian mother, similar to others on the Island, such as Eko's brother Yemi. "Claire" is really Smokey or Jacob or the Island possessing Claire's body.
3) Miles is either completely aware that Claire is undead, or suspects that something is up. That is why he keeps staring quizzically at her, and why he made the "I wouldn't be so sure" comment last week.
4) Since Claire is not really Claire, she had no qualms about walking off into the jungle with Zombie Dad and leaving poor Aaron behind.
A very intriguing theory, I must admit. I don't totally buy it, though, because I feel like Claire must remain alive since there's still the whole issue of "who raises Aaron" in the future. I feel that Hurley's ominous message for Jack would apply to Kate as well--neither of them are supposed to raise Aaron because he shouldn't be "raised by another." If Claire was dead, however, there wouldn't be too much they could do about the situation... obviously someone would have to raise Aaron who wasn't going to be his mother. The mystery around Aaron would be greatly diminished if Claire were no longer in the picture.
So if Claire isn't dead, what else could be going on? Here's another possibility:
1) Claire was behind her apartment hanging clothes (again) when the bomb went off, hence her survival (many people claim that Sawyer stepped outside of the house's foundation and was clearly in the backyard when he found Claire--I didn't re-watch it to check). So she really is alive.
2) When Sawyer woke Claire, she said "Charlie?" In this latest episode, she referenced "seeing things," and Miles wanted to know more about what she saw (before Sawyer cut him off). Many believe that Dead Charlie came to Claire before the bomb went off to get her out of the house (she was supposed to be napping, as Sawyer mentioned). (And there was apparently a scene filmed where Claire had her visions, but it was cut. I do not know for sure what her visions were of, though.)
3) Miles senses that something is special about Aaron, and/or is also getting a weird vibe about Claire, and that's why he's staring after them in the jungle.
4) Since Claire wanted nothing to do with her father (Christian Shephard, who's also Jack's dad), it does seem a little odd that she would leave willingly with him and put Aaron under a freakin' tree. While Claire is not aware that Christian died, she should still be sufficiently shocked to see him pop up on the Island. But Miles claimed that she simply "walked off" with him... not that Christian dragged her away. What is going on here? Why would Claire abandon Aaron? Who/what IS Zombie Dad? Does the actor who plays him get paid as much as the main Lostaways, because he appears just as often? We're just going to have to wait to find out.
No matter what you think is going on with Claire, you probably agree that after a few fake-outs, we now have finally seen (at least part of) how she came to be separated from Aaron. And those final moments with Sawyer screaming in the jungle? Chilling.
Geez, I almost forgot to mention the brief appearance of Enemy #1... Keamy. I was all, "Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no..." when it seemed like Aaron's gurgle had alerted Keamy and crew to the hidden group's presence. I could hardly stand to look at the screen and watch what was going to happen, and felt a flood of relief when the evil freighties (and Frank) went on their way.
Speaking of Frank, I think it's now safe to say that Frank, Miles, Charlotte and Daniel are not "bad" in the sense of ever intending to kill anyone. While they're not totally innocent, either, they at least seem to want to distance themselves from Keamy and his group now that things are getting ugly. I have decided that I really like all of them, except for Charlotte. She's still way too snooty (Snooty? Snotty. Snotty?) for my taste.
I'LL ALWAYS BE
KING OF PAIN
When Sun, Jin, Daniel and Charlotte went to the medical hatch to get the surgical tools necessary for Jack's procedure, nothing much happened, except for the fact that Daniel reminded us that no one knows where in the hell the Island gets its electrical power from. (I took this to mean that we'll soon find out.) We also learned that Daniel supposedly has a crush on Charlotte, though I totally don't see it (denial?), and sincerely hope we never have to witness those two getting romantic. There is no chemistry between them and I couldn't imagine a more awkward pairing. The nerd never gets the girl, come on!
But Charlotte must at least care a teensy bit about Daniel, because she caved to Original Gangsta Jin's demands when he threatened to hurt her fellow freightie. While many people didn't seem to like Jin's return to treachery, I was cheering at the screen. All that mob training had to be good for something on the Island, right? You nasty, nasty boy, Jin!
Besides giving Charlotte a much needed smack-down, Jin's warning to "Red" served two other purposes:
1) It set up Sun's escape from the Island, and showed that Jin had expected that he may not be able to leave with his wife and unborn child.
2) It revealed that Charlotte knows Korean. "So what?" you say? Why would she know Korean, of all languages? Sure, perhaps it's because she's a highly educated anthropologist who's had to learn a lot of languages because she travels all over the place studying cultures and digging up polar bear skeletons. But maybe, just maybe, it's because she works for someone who is Korean. Like Sun's father, Mr. Paik. Through great feats of translation, as well as participation in The Lost Experience game, fans have pieced together a connection between Paik Heavy Industries (Sun's father's company), Widmore Corporation and the Hanson Foundation. Could Charlotte be working for Paik? I think it's a strong possibility.
That's it for the Island.
THERE ARE WORSE THINGS I COULD DO
THAN GO WITH A BOY... OR TWO
For fans who were rooting for Jack and Kate to get together, this episode was probably quite the roller coaster:
"Kate's in his shower!?!"
"Holy crap, he proposed!?!"
"Is she cheating on him already?!?"
"This isn't going to end well..."
I would also imagine that the brief lovey-dovey scenes were ultimately unsatisfying to the Jaters (Jack + Kate fans) of the world, as we already knew that these two were no longer together after Jack had to go and grow his damn hillbilly beard. (Kate likes her doctor clean-shaven--hence the new razor!)
As I've stated before, the love triangles/quadrangles on the show are extremely uninteresting to me, so I'm not going to spend much time dissecting whether or not Kate ACTUALLY, TRULY, ONCE AND FOR ALL, FOREVER, OMG OMG OMG ends up with Jack versus Sawyer. Because I don't really care.
What I do care about is why Jack had kept away from Aaron for a good chunk of time after the Oceanic Six left the Island. Or what exactly Kate is doing for Sawyer back in the real world. Or why they're letting a very young child play with the Millennium Falcon. I mean, it did make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, so I'm not denying its awesomeness, but the toy's packaging clearly states that it's for older children. Bad parenting!
Of the early Kate/Jack scenes, there are only a few things I deem worth mentioning:
- The timeline: Between the August 31, 2007 Yankees/Red Sox article that Jack read, Kate's comment that she was glad Jack "changed his mind" about seeing Aaron, and Jack's entrée into the world of drug abuse, we can place these flashes after Kate's trial ("Eggtown") but before the season three finale scenes ("Through the Looking Glass"). (By the way, if you are confused about the April 2007 date on the clipping Jack read in last season's finale (about the funeral), it is being considered a prop error by most people. It's happened before... the producers have copped to screwing up the date on the newspaper that Nikki and Paulo read in their flashback). Lostpedia has updated its post-Island timeline here, and I agree with how they've pieced things together so far.
- Intentional shout-out: Most people believe the Millennium Falcon toy was not only yet another shout-out to Star Wars, but also a shout-out of sorts to Sawyer. Jack muttered, "Son of a bitch!" when he stepped on the toy, and as we all know, that's totally Sawyer's line. And we saw later in the episode that Jack is indeed still jealous of our favorite bad boy. I would also like to point out, however, that perhaps it was a small hint that they chose the Millennium Falcon as Aaron's toy rather than, say, a Hoth Wampa. Because what is the MF known for? Traveling through hyperspace... a form of time-warping. (Sawyer has also been compared to Han Solo, captain of the MF, numerous times on the boards.)
- Another intentional allusion: If there's one story that's been referenced in Lost more than Star Wars, it's "Alice in Wonderland." That's what Jack was reading to Aaron.
- Jack's appendectomy scar: It IS there in his flash-forwards, but just very, very faint. Many on the boards found this to be suspicious. People also wondered why The Mad Doctor has apparently taken to shaving his chest in the future (I'm telling you, that's Kate's doing!)
- Jack's back tattoo: Some people think it's new, some claim in was in the pilot episode. Some people think it looks like a Transformers symbol and that Jack is really a Decepticon. I'm going with that theory. Does that mean my boy Shia LaBeouf is going to guest-star soon?
AND I'M HERE
TO REMIND YOU
OF THE MESS YOU LEFT WHEN YOU WENT AWAY
This is the second flash-forward in which Jack has gone to visit Hurley in the medical institution. This time, Hurley's not doing well at all. He's convinced that the Oceanic Six are all dead, and now I'm convinced that the producers are laughing their asses off, having just revived the "are they all in Purgatory?" theory that we long-time fans despise.
Anyway, Hurley tells Jack about the visits from Dead Charlie, and also goes on to read a note from the one and only Darth Hoodie: "You're not supposed to raise him, Jack." Hurley then forewarns Jack that he's about to get a special visitor of his own. This sufficiently freaks The Mad Doctor out, to the point where he ends up sitting in his car outside of the mental institution, waiting to see if Dead Charlie moseys on over. Alas, he doesn't.
So here's what I don't understand. Does the Island want Aaron to be raised by Claire, or "by another?" When the psychic warned Claire that horrible things would happen if she wasn't the one to rear lil' Turniphead, and then went so far as to put her on Flight 815 (which he may have known was going to go down), was he working on behalf of the Island? Contradictory things seem to be happening, so I can't figure out what's going on. Consider all the evidence to date (well, I'm sure I forgot something, but here's what I remember off of the top of my head):
- Claire is pregnant pre-flight and considers giving her baby up for adoption.
- She visits a psychic, who warns her that Aaron must NOT be "raised by another."
- She goes to sign adoption papers anyway, but her pen keeps running out of ink (the Island's doing?). She has a change of heart and decides to keep the baby.
- Then the psychic calls her at home, repeatedly, and begs her to see him again. He tells her he's found a wonderful couple in L.A. and that she should give her baby to them. Claire questions his about-face:
CLAIRE: You spent the last 4 months telling me I have to raise the baby myself. Now you're giving me money and saying I don't have to?
PSYCHIC: I found a couple in Los Angeles who are very eager to adopt. The baby will be safe in their care. Now, I've foreseen. . .
CLAIRE: Heh, Foreseen? I don't even know why I'm here. I'm sorry.
PSYCHIC: I know this sounds ridiculous, Claire. All this psychic business, and I appreciate that you must think I'm a raving madman. But this is what must happen.
CLAIRE: So you're giving me 6,000 dollars to give my baby to a couple of strangers in Los Angeles?
PSYCHIC: 12,000. The other 6 when you arrive in Los Angeles. And they're not strangers, Claire. They're good people.
... but she takes the ticket he's bought for her for Flight 815, and then realizes once she's on the Island that the psychic KNEW she would end up stranded with her baby, thus forcing her to raise him and thereby preventing the doom that had been foreseen.
- The Others try to steal Aaron, unsuccessfully. As does Rousseau.
- Zombie Dad takes Claire away from Aaron in the jungle.
- Jack gets a life-threatening illness right before he leaves the Island.
- Aaron is taken from the Island with the rest of the Oceanic Six, for reasons as-of-yet unknown.
- Off-Island, Dead Charlie claims that Jack should not be raising Aaron. One could assume this goes for Kate as well.
- Off-Island, both Hurley and Jack end up wanting to go back to the Island.
- Off-Island, Jack's suicide attempt is interrupted when a car wreck occurs right behind him (the Island's doing?)
WHAT IS GOING ON??? If the Island wants Aaron to be raised by Claire, then why did Zombie Dad (who I can only assume is one with the Island) take her away in the first place? What would the Island need Aaron for anyway? This is one huge mystery that I really hope they have a good explanation for. Does anyone have any non-spoilery ideas?
I WANNA BE SEDATED
Just like Hurley predicted, Zombie Dad starts popping up in Jack's hospital. I LOVED the fact that the smoke alarm started beeping before Christian appeared in the lounge area (Smokey, anyone?). But I loved even more that the doctor who wrote Jack the prescription that represented the beginning of his descent into madness was named Erika. Erika Stevenson. Not too far off from... Erika Olson. Erika is behind The Mad Doctor's downfall! Hee, hee. Oops, I probably just invited the rage of thousands of Jack fans. You know I love me some Mad Doctor and would never wish him harm!
While many people guessed that Jack, like Hurley, would start seeing visions which would lead to his drinking and drugging, it was nice to see that hunch confirmed. What was curious was that in the mental institution, other people saw Dead Charlie, whereas in Jack's office building, Dr. Stevenson didn't see Zombie Dad. I'm not sure if there's any significance to this discrepancy. But now we know why Jack kept referring to his father in "Through the Looking Glass." HE was seeing Dr. Christian Shephard, even if no one else was!
Back home, Jack grows suspicious of Kate. I was as well. I was like, "Damn, girl! Are you already cheating on him? That was quick!" It turns out that Kate was off running an errand for still-on-the-Island Sawyer... something secret that she had promised him she'd do. Most people think that Kate was checking in on Clementine, Sawyer's daughter. Perhaps Kate transferred some of her Oceanic Six settlement over to the young girl or something? I'm sure we'll eventually find out, so I'm not going to obsess over it.
But whatever Kate did, just the mere mention of Sawyer's name was enough to push Jack over the edge. He was all, "That's it! I AM going to grow a hillbilly beard! You're not the boss of me!"
OK, so that's just what I wish he'd said. What really went down was this exchange:
KATE: Jack. You can't--you can't do this. If you have problems, you need to figure them out. Alright? 'Cause I can't have you like this around my son.
JACK: Your son? You're not even related to him!
Normally I wouldn't think much of Jack's line... when people are all drunk and mad and in fights, they tend to say what they know will hurt the other person most. However, considering the fact that Zombie Dad just walked off with Claire into the jungle, and the fact that WE know that Jack and Claire are related (making Jack Aaron's uncle by blood), AND the fact that we still aren't sure why Jack refused to see Aaron after leaving the Island, I'd say that Jack's words to Kate mean that there's a chance Jack has found out about his connection to Aaron. Would his anger about his father having an affair that resulted in another child (Claire) be enough to make Jack refuse to see Aaron? It seems like a weak excuse... I mean, it's not Aaron's fault. I don't think we're going to have to wonder about this one too long, though. There are only four more hours left in the season, and I think a lot of loose ends like this one are going to get tied up before the credits roll on May 29th.
BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
CHARLOTTE: How are we supposed to know why they're not answering?
ROSE: Oh, who's talking to you?
CHARLOTTE: And in case you haven't noticed, we're not on the bloody boat, are we?
ROSE: Just watch your tone, Red.
JACK: Listen to me.
ROSE: Jack, are you all right?
JACK: No, I'm fine. We just have to be patient, OK? I've gotten us this far. I said I was gonna get us off the Island--all of us. I promised that I would.
(Jack proceeds to keel over in the sand)
SAWYER: How's your head?
CLAIRE: It's better. Bit of a headache, but at least I'm not seeing things anymore.
MILES: Yeah? What'd you see?
SAWYER: Back off, Donger.
JACK: When was the last time you did this?
JULIET: An appendectomy or shaving a man's stomach?
That's it, folks. I think we're in for a wild ride this week, and I can't wait. The best thing is the next episode's title: "Cabin Fever."
Bring on Jacob!
- e
P.S. If you missed my bonus post on the latest official podcast, you can read it here.
The bad news: "Something Nice Back Home" was clearly a "set-up" episode. Its main purpose was to get all of the Lost players in position for the final four hours of the season (three of which technically comprise the finale) while filling in a few gaps in the story line (even though we had already figured out most of them). Necessary, but slightly boring to watch.The good news: The next episode looks like it will rock the house.
While this latest installment of our favorite show was Jack-centric, I actually found the parts that had nothing to do with Jack to be the most interesting, especially the Miles/Claire/Aaron/Sawyer scenes. But I'm getting ahead of myself... Island events first, followed by Jack's flash-forwards.
DOCTOR, DOCTOR
CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE BURNIN', BURNIN'?
OH, DOCTOR, DOCTOR
IS THIS MY CLAMP YOU'RE FEEEELING?
So I wasn't too far off last week when I speculated that The Mad Doctor might try to perform surgery on himself. And I thought *I* was a control freak! I covered my eyes during Jack's appendectomy and apparently missed some extreme grossness. I personally can't believe that Juliet and Bernard even started the procedure while Jack was still conscious -- helllooooooo??? Anyone could've called that he'd be twitching around. At least they didn't dream up some contraption like the Amputron 2000 to hack Jack apart, like he had rigged up for Boone (RIP). This topic is disgusting, so I'm going to move on.In my mind, there was really only one important thing that came out of the whole appendicitis drama, and that was what Rose said to Bernard:
BERNARD: Honey, I am sure Jack is gonna be OK. An appendectomy is just about the most common kind of surgery there is.
ROSE: That's not what I was thinking about. I was thinking, "Why did he get sick?"
BERNARD: Why? It's just--it's just bad luck.
ROSE: The day before we're all supposed to be rescued, the person that we count on the most suddenly comes down with a life-threatening condition, and you're chalking it up to bad luck?
BERNARD: Well, what are you saying, that--that Jack did something to offend the gods? People get sick, Rose.
ROSE: Not here. Here, they get better.
Rose voiced a question that has been on many fans' minds for a while now: Why does the Island seem to "cure" some people, like Locke and Rose, while others still get sick, like Benry and Jack? Perhaps the Island and its special electromagnetic properties have the power to make some people better, but can't necessarily prevent other illnesses. Or maybe those who have gotten sick were not "in sync" with the Island (so the Island begins to sing "Bye Bye Bye" to them. Sorry, I couldn't resist).
Believe it or not, this is one mystery that the producers have directly addressed. You can read their take on why some are cured and others get sick on the Island near the beginning of this article. If you want to read the second part of the article (an interview with the Lost producers by Jimmy Kimmel), it's here. (I have read the linked pages and feel that they are safe, so no worries about having a major plot twist revealed.)
If Rose is on to something and the Island somehow willed Jack's near-fatal condition into existence, the next question is, why? Does the Island not want Jack to leave? What "work" does he have left to do ? Maybe the Island doesn't want any of the Lostaways to leave, and it figured that if it disabled their leader, the rest wouldn't be able to figure out the means for rescue. This would tie into my theory that the Island influenced the fates of the surviving 815ers so that they got on that specific flight... because the Island isn't too pleased with the thought of having Ben or Widmore in control.But now that I really think about it, the most likely explanation for Jack falling ill is that the Island is a "Skater" and doesn't want Jack to end up with Kate in the future. Kill The Mad Doctor and then Kate will have no choice but to go back to Sawyer! How romantic.
One last thing... to all of you who laughed at me for wondering if there was a possibility that Jack could somehow die in this episode even though we know he's alive in the future... I point to the previews for next week's episode. And to the hundreds of other inexplicable things that have happened on this show. We should all know by now that there are very few scenarios that can be entirely ruled out in this crazy series...
VOICES CARRY
Elsewhere on the Island, Miles, Claire and Sawyer made their way back to the beach with baby Aaron in tow. Miles commands the group to stop, and we soon realize that he's hearing a replay of Karl and Rousseau's last moments. They are, in fact, dead and buried right under everyone's feet. Did anyone else think that those faces totally did NOT look like Karl and Rousseau? And why would Keamy and crew go to the trouble of actually burying the two? My take is that the faces were just bad props and that the Island "swallowed" the two bodies. But I do really think this means that they're both utterly and completely dead.Back to the people who are still alive... I am betting that this dialogue from early on in the jungle-trekking scenes will turn out to be important:
SAWYER: You okay?
CLAIRE: Yeah, just a bit woozy.
SAWYER: How's your head?
CLAIRE: It's better. Bit of a headache, but at least I'm not seeing things anymore.
MILES: Yeah? What'd you see?
Between the exchange above, Miles' interest in Claire and Aaron, and Zombie Dad beckoning to Claire in the middle of the night, you can be sure that all is not as it appears to be with Claire.From what little I read on the message boards this week, I gathered that a good percentage of viewers strongly believe that Claire is already dead. Here's how that would work:
1) Claire died when her apartment was bombed.
2) The Claire that Sawyer rescued was not Claire at all, but rather an apparition of the young Australian mother, similar to others on the Island, such as Eko's brother Yemi. "Claire" is really Smokey or Jacob or the Island possessing Claire's body.
3) Miles is either completely aware that Claire is undead, or suspects that something is up. That is why he keeps staring quizzically at her, and why he made the "I wouldn't be so sure" comment last week.
4) Since Claire is not really Claire, she had no qualms about walking off into the jungle with Zombie Dad and leaving poor Aaron behind.
A very intriguing theory, I must admit. I don't totally buy it, though, because I feel like Claire must remain alive since there's still the whole issue of "who raises Aaron" in the future. I feel that Hurley's ominous message for Jack would apply to Kate as well--neither of them are supposed to raise Aaron because he shouldn't be "raised by another." If Claire was dead, however, there wouldn't be too much they could do about the situation... obviously someone would have to raise Aaron who wasn't going to be his mother. The mystery around Aaron would be greatly diminished if Claire were no longer in the picture.So if Claire isn't dead, what else could be going on? Here's another possibility:
1) Claire was behind her apartment hanging clothes (again) when the bomb went off, hence her survival (many people claim that Sawyer stepped outside of the house's foundation and was clearly in the backyard when he found Claire--I didn't re-watch it to check). So she really is alive.
2) When Sawyer woke Claire, she said "Charlie?" In this latest episode, she referenced "seeing things," and Miles wanted to know more about what she saw (before Sawyer cut him off). Many believe that Dead Charlie came to Claire before the bomb went off to get her out of the house (she was supposed to be napping, as Sawyer mentioned). (And there was apparently a scene filmed where Claire had her visions, but it was cut. I do not know for sure what her visions were of, though.)
3) Miles senses that something is special about Aaron, and/or is also getting a weird vibe about Claire, and that's why he's staring after them in the jungle.4) Since Claire wanted nothing to do with her father (Christian Shephard, who's also Jack's dad), it does seem a little odd that she would leave willingly with him and put Aaron under a freakin' tree. While Claire is not aware that Christian died, she should still be sufficiently shocked to see him pop up on the Island. But Miles claimed that she simply "walked off" with him... not that Christian dragged her away. What is going on here? Why would Claire abandon Aaron? Who/what IS Zombie Dad? Does the actor who plays him get paid as much as the main Lostaways, because he appears just as often? We're just going to have to wait to find out.
No matter what you think is going on with Claire, you probably agree that after a few fake-outs, we now have finally seen (at least part of) how she came to be separated from Aaron. And those final moments with Sawyer screaming in the jungle? Chilling.
Geez, I almost forgot to mention the brief appearance of Enemy #1... Keamy. I was all, "Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no..." when it seemed like Aaron's gurgle had alerted Keamy and crew to the hidden group's presence. I could hardly stand to look at the screen and watch what was going to happen, and felt a flood of relief when the evil freighties (and Frank) went on their way.Speaking of Frank, I think it's now safe to say that Frank, Miles, Charlotte and Daniel are not "bad" in the sense of ever intending to kill anyone. While they're not totally innocent, either, they at least seem to want to distance themselves from Keamy and his group now that things are getting ugly. I have decided that I really like all of them, except for Charlotte. She's still way too snooty (Snooty? Snotty. Snotty?) for my taste.
I'LL ALWAYS BE
KING OF PAIN
When Sun, Jin, Daniel and Charlotte went to the medical hatch to get the surgical tools necessary for Jack's procedure, nothing much happened, except for the fact that Daniel reminded us that no one knows where in the hell the Island gets its electrical power from. (I took this to mean that we'll soon find out.) We also learned that Daniel supposedly has a crush on Charlotte, though I totally don't see it (denial?), and sincerely hope we never have to witness those two getting romantic. There is no chemistry between them and I couldn't imagine a more awkward pairing. The nerd never gets the girl, come on!But Charlotte must at least care a teensy bit about Daniel, because she caved to Original Gangsta Jin's demands when he threatened to hurt her fellow freightie. While many people didn't seem to like Jin's return to treachery, I was cheering at the screen. All that mob training had to be good for something on the Island, right? You nasty, nasty boy, Jin!
Besides giving Charlotte a much needed smack-down, Jin's warning to "Red" served two other purposes:
1) It set up Sun's escape from the Island, and showed that Jin had expected that he may not be able to leave with his wife and unborn child.
2) It revealed that Charlotte knows Korean. "So what?" you say? Why would she know Korean, of all languages? Sure, perhaps it's because she's a highly educated anthropologist who's had to learn a lot of languages because she travels all over the place studying cultures and digging up polar bear skeletons. But maybe, just maybe, it's because she works for someone who is Korean. Like Sun's father, Mr. Paik. Through great feats of translation, as well as participation in The Lost Experience game, fans have pieced together a connection between Paik Heavy Industries (Sun's father's company), Widmore Corporation and the Hanson Foundation. Could Charlotte be working for Paik? I think it's a strong possibility.That's it for the Island.
THERE ARE WORSE THINGS I COULD DO
THAN GO WITH A BOY... OR TWO
For fans who were rooting for Jack and Kate to get together, this episode was probably quite the roller coaster:
"Kate's in his shower!?!"
"Holy crap, he proposed!?!"
"Is she cheating on him already?!?"
"This isn't going to end well..."
I would also imagine that the brief lovey-dovey scenes were ultimately unsatisfying to the Jaters (Jack + Kate fans) of the world, as we already knew that these two were no longer together after Jack had to go and grow his damn hillbilly beard. (Kate likes her doctor clean-shaven--hence the new razor!)As I've stated before, the love triangles/quadrangles on the show are extremely uninteresting to me, so I'm not going to spend much time dissecting whether or not Kate ACTUALLY, TRULY, ONCE AND FOR ALL, FOREVER, OMG OMG OMG ends up with Jack versus Sawyer. Because I don't really care.
What I do care about is why Jack had kept away from Aaron for a good chunk of time after the Oceanic Six left the Island. Or what exactly Kate is doing for Sawyer back in the real world. Or why they're letting a very young child play with the Millennium Falcon. I mean, it did make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, so I'm not denying its awesomeness, but the toy's packaging clearly states that it's for older children. Bad parenting!
Of the early Kate/Jack scenes, there are only a few things I deem worth mentioning:
- The timeline: Between the August 31, 2007 Yankees/Red Sox article that Jack read, Kate's comment that she was glad Jack "changed his mind" about seeing Aaron, and Jack's entrée into the world of drug abuse, we can place these flashes after Kate's trial ("Eggtown") but before the season three finale scenes ("Through the Looking Glass"). (By the way, if you are confused about the April 2007 date on the clipping Jack read in last season's finale (about the funeral), it is being considered a prop error by most people. It's happened before... the producers have copped to screwing up the date on the newspaper that Nikki and Paulo read in their flashback). Lostpedia has updated its post-Island timeline here, and I agree with how they've pieced things together so far.
- Intentional shout-out: Most people believe the Millennium Falcon toy was not only yet another shout-out to Star Wars, but also a shout-out of sorts to Sawyer. Jack muttered, "Son of a bitch!" when he stepped on the toy, and as we all know, that's totally Sawyer's line. And we saw later in the episode that Jack is indeed still jealous of our favorite bad boy. I would also like to point out, however, that perhaps it was a small hint that they chose the Millennium Falcon as Aaron's toy rather than, say, a Hoth Wampa. Because what is the MF known for? Traveling through hyperspace... a form of time-warping. (Sawyer has also been compared to Han Solo, captain of the MF, numerous times on the boards.)- Another intentional allusion: If there's one story that's been referenced in Lost more than Star Wars, it's "Alice in Wonderland." That's what Jack was reading to Aaron.
- Jack's appendectomy scar: It IS there in his flash-forwards, but just very, very faint. Many on the boards found this to be suspicious. People also wondered why The Mad Doctor has apparently taken to shaving his chest in the future (I'm telling you, that's Kate's doing!)- Jack's back tattoo: Some people think it's new, some claim in was in the pilot episode. Some people think it looks like a Transformers symbol and that Jack is really a Decepticon. I'm going with that theory. Does that mean my boy Shia LaBeouf is going to guest-star soon?
AND I'M HERE
TO REMIND YOU
OF THE MESS YOU LEFT WHEN YOU WENT AWAY
This is the second flash-forward in which Jack has gone to visit Hurley in the medical institution. This time, Hurley's not doing well at all. He's convinced that the Oceanic Six are all dead, and now I'm convinced that the producers are laughing their asses off, having just revived the "are they all in Purgatory?" theory that we long-time fans despise.
Anyway, Hurley tells Jack about the visits from Dead Charlie, and also goes on to read a note from the one and only Darth Hoodie: "You're not supposed to raise him, Jack." Hurley then forewarns Jack that he's about to get a special visitor of his own. This sufficiently freaks The Mad Doctor out, to the point where he ends up sitting in his car outside of the mental institution, waiting to see if Dead Charlie moseys on over. Alas, he doesn't.So here's what I don't understand. Does the Island want Aaron to be raised by Claire, or "by another?" When the psychic warned Claire that horrible things would happen if she wasn't the one to rear lil' Turniphead, and then went so far as to put her on Flight 815 (which he may have known was going to go down), was he working on behalf of the Island? Contradictory things seem to be happening, so I can't figure out what's going on. Consider all the evidence to date (well, I'm sure I forgot something, but here's what I remember off of the top of my head):
- Claire is pregnant pre-flight and considers giving her baby up for adoption.- She visits a psychic, who warns her that Aaron must NOT be "raised by another."
- She goes to sign adoption papers anyway, but her pen keeps running out of ink (the Island's doing?). She has a change of heart and decides to keep the baby.
- Then the psychic calls her at home, repeatedly, and begs her to see him again. He tells her he's found a wonderful couple in L.A. and that she should give her baby to them. Claire questions his about-face:
CLAIRE: You spent the last 4 months telling me I have to raise the baby myself. Now you're giving me money and saying I don't have to?
PSYCHIC: I found a couple in Los Angeles who are very eager to adopt. The baby will be safe in their care. Now, I've foreseen. . .
CLAIRE: Heh, Foreseen? I don't even know why I'm here. I'm sorry.
PSYCHIC: I know this sounds ridiculous, Claire. All this psychic business, and I appreciate that you must think I'm a raving madman. But this is what must happen.
CLAIRE: So you're giving me 6,000 dollars to give my baby to a couple of strangers in Los Angeles?
PSYCHIC: 12,000. The other 6 when you arrive in Los Angeles. And they're not strangers, Claire. They're good people.
... but she takes the ticket he's bought for her for Flight 815, and then realizes once she's on the Island that the psychic KNEW she would end up stranded with her baby, thus forcing her to raise him and thereby preventing the doom that had been foreseen.
- The Others try to steal Aaron, unsuccessfully. As does Rousseau.- Zombie Dad takes Claire away from Aaron in the jungle.
- Jack gets a life-threatening illness right before he leaves the Island.
- Aaron is taken from the Island with the rest of the Oceanic Six, for reasons as-of-yet unknown.
- Off-Island, Dead Charlie claims that Jack should not be raising Aaron. One could assume this goes for Kate as well.
- Off-Island, both Hurley and Jack end up wanting to go back to the Island.
- Off-Island, Jack's suicide attempt is interrupted when a car wreck occurs right behind him (the Island's doing?)
WHAT IS GOING ON??? If the Island wants Aaron to be raised by Claire, then why did Zombie Dad (who I can only assume is one with the Island) take her away in the first place? What would the Island need Aaron for anyway? This is one huge mystery that I really hope they have a good explanation for. Does anyone have any non-spoilery ideas?
I WANNA BE SEDATED
Just like Hurley predicted, Zombie Dad starts popping up in Jack's hospital. I LOVED the fact that the smoke alarm started beeping before Christian appeared in the lounge area (Smokey, anyone?). But I loved even more that the doctor who wrote Jack the prescription that represented the beginning of his descent into madness was named Erika. Erika Stevenson. Not too far off from... Erika Olson. Erika is behind The Mad Doctor's downfall! Hee, hee. Oops, I probably just invited the rage of thousands of Jack fans. You know I love me some Mad Doctor and would never wish him harm!While many people guessed that Jack, like Hurley, would start seeing visions which would lead to his drinking and drugging, it was nice to see that hunch confirmed. What was curious was that in the mental institution, other people saw Dead Charlie, whereas in Jack's office building, Dr. Stevenson didn't see Zombie Dad. I'm not sure if there's any significance to this discrepancy. But now we know why Jack kept referring to his father in "Through the Looking Glass." HE was seeing Dr. Christian Shephard, even if no one else was!
Back home, Jack grows suspicious of Kate. I was as well. I was like, "Damn, girl! Are you already cheating on him? That was quick!" It turns out that Kate was off running an errand for still-on-the-Island Sawyer... something secret that she had promised him she'd do. Most people think that Kate was checking in on Clementine, Sawyer's daughter. Perhaps Kate transferred some of her Oceanic Six settlement over to the young girl or something? I'm sure we'll eventually find out, so I'm not going to obsess over it.
But whatever Kate did, just the mere mention of Sawyer's name was enough to push Jack over the edge. He was all, "That's it! I AM going to grow a hillbilly beard! You're not the boss of me!"
OK, so that's just what I wish he'd said. What really went down was this exchange:KATE: Jack. You can't--you can't do this. If you have problems, you need to figure them out. Alright? 'Cause I can't have you like this around my son.
JACK: Your son? You're not even related to him!
Normally I wouldn't think much of Jack's line... when people are all drunk and mad and in fights, they tend to say what they know will hurt the other person most. However, considering the fact that Zombie Dad just walked off with Claire into the jungle, and the fact that WE know that Jack and Claire are related (making Jack Aaron's uncle by blood), AND the fact that we still aren't sure why Jack refused to see Aaron after leaving the Island, I'd say that Jack's words to Kate mean that there's a chance Jack has found out about his connection to Aaron. Would his anger about his father having an affair that resulted in another child (Claire) be enough to make Jack refuse to see Aaron? It seems like a weak excuse... I mean, it's not Aaron's fault. I don't think we're going to have to wonder about this one too long, though. There are only four more hours left in the season, and I think a lot of loose ends like this one are going to get tied up before the credits roll on May 29th.
BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
CHARLOTTE: How are we supposed to know why they're not answering?
ROSE: Oh, who's talking to you?
CHARLOTTE: And in case you haven't noticed, we're not on the bloody boat, are we?
ROSE: Just watch your tone, Red.
JACK: Listen to me.
ROSE: Jack, are you all right?
JACK: No, I'm fine. We just have to be patient, OK? I've gotten us this far. I said I was gonna get us off the Island--all of us. I promised that I would.
(Jack proceeds to keel over in the sand)
SAWYER: How's your head?
CLAIRE: It's better. Bit of a headache, but at least I'm not seeing things anymore.
MILES: Yeah? What'd you see?
SAWYER: Back off, Donger.
JACK: When was the last time you did this?
JULIET: An appendectomy or shaving a man's stomach?
That's it, folks. I think we're in for a wild ride this week, and I can't wait. The best thing is the next episode's title: "Cabin Fever."
Bring on Jacob!
- e
P.S. If you missed my bonus post on the latest official podcast, you can read it here.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Nice Guys Finish Last by Luhks
"Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle." - Jack Shephard
The tenth episode of Season Four, Something Nice Back Home, makes a considerable departure from the prevailing trends of the season. The dealings of Benjamin Linus played a significant role in each of the previous nine episodes, but Ben does not even have his name mentioned here. The episode serves almost as the polar opposite of The Shape of Things to Come, which immediately preceded it. Episode 4.09 concerned itself almost exclusively with external conflicts, while Episode 4.10 deals primarily with what is going inside each character’s head. The outcomes of the two main plotlines (Jack’s life-threatening illness and his relationship with Kate and Aaron) were never in doubt. Jack’s flash forwards guaranteed that his life was not in any real jeopardy and that his engagement with Kate was doomed from the start. This particular script tells its story using dialogue rather than action. The episode manages to tie together an impressive number of separate story strands into a coherent whole, and, in the process, sets the stage for the inevitable season-ending exodus from the island.
A grand total of sixteen different actors take on significant speaking roles in this episode, and almost every one of them uncovers something noteworthy. A number of supporting players, which generally tend to be ignored, assume more important positions. The chronically underused Claire reveals that she has been seeing things (and we all know that no person on the island is ever just seeing things). Christian Shephard, the island’s most persistent ghost, leads his daughter off into the jungle for another trip into the island's wonderland. Sun and Jin share what will be some of their final moments together, and set in motion their imminent separation.
Each of the four members of the helicopter crew shows some individual personality and distances themselves from Keamy and his thugs. (The exact nature of their relationship between Charles Widmore and Matthew Abbadon, the man who recruited these four, remains unknown at this point, so there might be two conflicting agendas on the Freighter.) Daniel expresses his desire to serve the common good, Miles begins to show some heart for a change, and Frank saves the day with some quick thinking. Charlotte not only acknowledges some degree of affection between Daniel and herself, but she also makes a secret deal with Jin, and in Korean no less. Expect both revelations to play a role in her future storylines. The pace of Season Four left little room for character development of these additions to the cast, but these instances suggest that the new personalities will not be ignored forever.
With Jack out of commission in this episode, Dr. Juliet Burke steps in as the de facto leader of the beach camp. Not long ago, she was still working to earn the trust of people like Kate and Sun, but her assertiveness under pressure gains her their full cooperation. Her decision-making in this situation is both capable and efficient. Not only does she handle the crisis like a natural, but she becomes equally decisive when the time comes to resolve her involvement with Jack. In past episodes, Juliet always felt like something of a loner, both while she was working as an Other and after she joined the crash survivors. Here, she separates herself even further from personal attachments, and defines herself through actions rather than relationships. Juliet’s future status remains one of the unknown questions for the remainder of Season Four. Three main possibilities exist for her: she could leave, she could stay alive on the island, or she could die. If she remains on the island, would she once again work for Ben, or would she join the downsized group of castaways? If she stays put, then Dr. Burke might replace Dr. Shephard permanently as the camp’s lead decision-maker.
Sawyer’s role has taken in an interesting turn over the past two episodes, as circumstance has thrust him into the role of protector for Claire and Aaron. Not very long ago, Sawyer referred to the prospect of taking care of a baby as “the worst thing in the world,” but now he performs pretty admirably as he takes on some parental responsibilities. Most of his dialogue here involves Miles, who serves as a reminder that contrasts Sawyer's former state against his present self. Many viewers suspect that Sawyer and Claire soon may be involved in yet another island love connection. Claire called out Charlie’s name when Sawyer awoke her after the explosion, which might foreshadow that he will replace Charlie in her life. Although the romantic angle is a possibility, Sawyer’s motivations here stem from a different source than Charlie’s. Sawyer reacts in an extremely protective manner almost instinctively. When James sees the young mother Claire in mortal danger, he must feel as if he is reliving his own childhood trauma. Claire becomes a proxy for his own mother, while Aaron becomes a representation of himself. The flash forward scenes draw a further comparison between young James and young Aaron; not only do the two young boys look alike, but Aaron even walks into a domestic scene that probably resembles life at the Ford household.
Although flash-forward scenes focus on Jack, Kate plays almost as prominent a role from start to finish. Kate’s engagement with Jack does not follow the exact same course as her previous marriage to Kevin, but there are some common ingredients. She does not run away from the relationship fully, but she does not exactly commit to it either. Kate chooses to marry Jack and yet still carry on an intimate connection with her former lover in secret. She lies to Jack, in order to keep that one part of her life hidden from him. Not surprisingly, that one element revolves around a commitment she made to Sawyer. She barely even needs to mention his name, and at first she just refers to *Him*. Jack’s response is way out-of-line, but his jealousy is not unfounded. The episode Eggtown toyed with the possibility that she might be pregnant with Sawyer’s child, before revealing that she was raising Aaron. Just as in her previous flash forwards, Kate continues to speak with conviction when she refers to Aaron as 'my son'. Quite possibly, Kate may have convinced herself that Aaron rightfully does belong to her. During the period where she thought that she was pregnant, she might have grown accustomed to the idea. Furthermore, Aaron not only looks very much like James, but Sawyer might be the one who physically gives the baby to her. Regardless of your interpretation of her behavior, there are still some deep feelings between Kate and Sawyer that need to be addressed.
The primary storyline here revolves around Jack, and highlights the full spectrum of his deepest hopes and fears. The first scene begins with the recurring image of Jack’s eye opening, and also adds a very provocative line into the mix: “Jack, I need you to wake up”. This opening line establishes a ‘dream world’ motif that plays a very significant role throughout the rest of this story. Two of the flash-forward sequences involve transitions that call into question whether the events on-screen are indeed a part of the show’s reality. Jack faints on the island immediately before his first flash-forward scene, and then he wakes up in a world that makes all of his fantasies come true. Initially, leads a seemingly perfect post-island life, on course to lead a loving relationship with Kate that erases his previous failed marriage, and also to help raise Aaron much differently than way his own father did. Even from the beginning, though, there are signs of turmoil: his wakeup call indicates that Jack has difficulty with his calendar, and Kate calls attention to his growing facial hair, a symbol which marks Jack's deterioration.
Later on in the episode, Bernard uses chloroform to put Jack under during his surgery, and the scene once again flashes to the future. Bernard described that the experience would be pleasant, just like “dreaming of something nice back home”. This phrase, from which this episode takes its name, transforms into a cruelly ironic reversal. Before going under, Jack remains adamant that he does not want to fall unconscious, almost as if he knows exactly what the future has in store for him. By this point in the story, Jack’s idyllic dream world has transformed into a nightmare. Jack's clothing offers a visual cue for the impending doom: a white shirt, a light blue shirt, and a dark gray shirt. In the later flash-forward scenes, all of his deepest fears become reality. Christian flees before Jack can speak with him, Kate begins to deceive him about a secret life just as Sarah did, and Jack himself becomes the same type of out-of-control, substance-abusing parent that he once hated.
The story also introduces other elements to highlight the theme of fantasy and reality even further. Jack reads Aaron a passage from Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (I whole-heartedly recommend Adventures in Wonderland to any Lost fan who has not read it. Two previous Jack episodes also referenced Carroll’s famous stories: Season One’s White Rabbit and Season Three’s Through the Looking Glass. More importantly, though, the book is phenomenal on it own.) Carroll’s works not only serve as great children’s stories, but they also contain layers that can be only fully appreciated by adults. Alice’s wonderland is a product of her own imagination, and it too serves as part idealized fantasy and part nightmare. Jack reads a particularly philosophical passage of the text as Aaron's bedtime. In the selected piece, Alice questions the seeming paradox of how a person can continue to grow and change over time and yet maintain their identity - heavy stuff for a two year old child. He continues to read aloud even after Aaron has fallen asleep, suggesting that he is reading the story to himself more than anyone else.
Later on, another character also comes to question the nature of the show’s reality. When Jack visits him back in the mental institution, Hurley offers his own interpretation of events, comparing their present situation to the afterlife:
“We’re dead. All of us. All of the Oceanic Six – we’re dead. We never got off that island. […] Living with Kate, taking care of Aaron, it all seems so perfect. Just like heaven. […] I was happy too, Jack. For a while anyway. Then I saw Charlie.”
Interestingly, Hurley’s current perspective now reverses his delusions from the Season Two episode Dave. Before, Hurley believed that the island was a fantasy and that Santa Rosa was reality, but now he has come to believe the exact opposite. Hugo’s comments add yet another layer of doubt to the reality Jack’s experiences. However, it would be a mistake to suggest that the events of Something Nice Back Home literally amount to nothing more than a dream. Instead, these details provide a metaphor to interpret the story. Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud argued that our dreams are largely the manifestations of the unconscious. Unconscious fears and desires can manifest themselves in many other ways in life, and not only while a person is asleep. In Hugo’s case, an overwhelming case of survivor guilt causes him to lose his tenuous grip on reality. Previously, his guilt over his involvement in the catastrophic deck collapse triggered his first mental breakdown. It might be easy to chalk up Hurley’s interactions with his two imaginary friends (Dave and Charlie) only to the power of the island, but there are deeper psychological forces in effect here. The island does not need Hurley as much as Hurley needs the island: in order to repair his self-image, he needs to return to the friends that he abandoned.
Hurley’s words certainly shake Jack’s psyche down to its core, as they both predict and accelerate Jack’s breakdown. Jack tries his best to deny that his happiness is doomed to failure: “Just because I’m happy doesn’t mean it’s not real.” The guilt of leaving people behind plays a part here, but there are also other, more twisted motives at play. Jack’s downfall provides a classic example of a self-fulfilling prophecy: a prediction that indirectly causes itself to become true. Twentieth century sociologist Robert Merton first defined this term for social theory, and it has since been applied to the field of psychology as well. If you raise a child to think that he does not ‘have what it takes’ (just as Christian did), then he will probably become an emotional wreck. If a man feels convinced that his wife will be unfaithful and abandon him, then he may behave in a way that pushes her away. If a man believes that he cannot become a good husband and a good father, then his fears can affect his behavior in a way that causes him to fail. For Jack Shephard, there is little difference between a nightmare and real-life. Jack's unconscious still finds a way to manifest itself in the real world. His ideas about himself become reality simply because he believes them to be true.
Even before the episode aired, many fans had suggested that the continued appearances of the deceased Christian Shephard would play a key role in Jack’s self-destruction. This conjecture turned out to be true, but not exactly in the same way most people expected. Jack experiences two such visions in this episode. First, Jack catches a glimpse of his father walking away from him inside a crowded hospital lobby, complete with plants reminiscent of the jungle. Importantly, this first appearance occurs before Hurley warns him of a coming visitor. After his conversation with Hurley (and notably just before his marriage proposal to Kate), Jack seeks out the bench that Hurley mentioned, but finds nothing. Later on, Christian appears in the same lobby, and even calls out Jack’s name. Instead of avoiding him, Jack walks directly towards Christian. After these aborted attempts to communicate, Jack begins drinking and destroys his relationship with Kate and Aaron.
The episode carefully lays the groundwork for a meaningful exchange between Jack and Christian, but the conversation never materializes. Instead, Christian interacts with his daughter Claire rather than his son. Jack’s life does not fall apart simply because Christian appears to him. Instead, his dream life deteriorates because he desperately wants to talk to Christian, but he cannot. If Jack had the ability to sit down on a bench and chat with Christian, the experience would not only be ‘kinda cool’ as Hurley says, but it would be a life-changing event for him. The white-shoed manifestations of Christian Shephard have always served as Jack’s own personal white rabbit, but he still has not caught up to him even after four seasons. In order to achieve any lasting happiness, Jack still needs to complete his initial task: to bury his father and bring closure to those unresolved issues at the heart of his suffering. Unfortunately for him, the island might be the only place where he could achieve this result.
Last but not least in this episode, Rose and Bernard prominently share one of the most meaningful dialogues of the season. Last year, the two characters were ignored to such a degree that many fans theorized that the island had crossed over into an alternate timeline in which Nikki and Paolo took their place. (Personally, I wish that Rose and Bernard played a similar role in every episode.) In many ways, this couple represents the heart of the show: literally, they demonstrate a successful marriage between a man of science and a woman of faith. Their exchange in this episode highlights their difference of perspectives, but it also speaks volumes of deeper significance about the overall storyline. Bernard claims that “people get sick” everywhere, but Rose retorts: “Not here. Here, they get better.” Rose’s recovery from cancer and Locke’s cured paralysis offer the two most dramatic examples of the island’s healing powers. Alternatively, Jack’s sudden outset of appendicitis now provides a major counterexample. A flash forward scene, in which Jack examines a patient's X-Ray, offers a subtle reminder of Ben's previous spinal tumor. While the explanation for these events may not be as simple as Bernard’s suggestion that they ‘offended the gods,’ there may be some element of truth here. Both illnesses seem to represent physical expressions of an internal sickness. Jack started to experience pain just when as he began to lose confidence in himself, and perhaps Ben went through a similar experience.
Beyond the physical level, though, Rose’s statement also applies to the broader sense of the phrase ‘get better’. Personal growth served as a recurring theme since the beginning of the series, and most storylines suggested that the island also allows individuals to heal from emotional wounds. This version of the island’s healing process occurs at a much slower rate, but the results can be no less miraculous. The Oceanic Six storyline in Season Four now introduces the corollary question: will a person feel better or worse if they leave the island? Hurley noted that he became happy for a while, before everything collapsed lower than ever before. In this episode, Jack, Kate, and Hurley demonstrated that their psychological scars have not fully healed. Meanwhile, a cloud of doom hangs over Aaron’s head, and Sayid and Sun also are struggling with a host of new problems. If the island does serve as a place where people can ‘get better,’ can its effects last into the future? Did these characters just abandon the island too soon before it fixed them permanently, or will fate condemn them forever to need the island in order to feel better? Is anyone ever supposed to leave? The answer to this question certainly will have a profound effect on the ultimate ending of the series.
Of course, there is another, even darker, possible response to Rose’s suggestion. Her voice is loaded with a sense of doubt. Her comment that “here, people get better” comes across as less of a statement of fact and more of an open-ended question. Perhaps the honest reply here would be: “No, people don’t get better.” Hurley implies that if a person is happy, then the happiness must not be real. For Lost characters, this statement might hold true. The past, the present, and the future seem to be uniformly bleak. Old problems do not disappear, but they merely re-emerge in different forms. If the characters were happy, then the show's title would no longer apply.
Maybe, as Christian Shephard used to tell all of his kiddos, some people are just supposed to suffer.
Article by Luhks
Something Twisted Back Home by J.Wood
The appendix is a weird thing. Its full name is vermiform appendix, and it's a vestigial organ at the base of the large intestine, packed with useful bacteria once used to help us break down high-cellulose veggies. Charles Darwin compared vestigial organs to silent letters in words; the letters aren't pronounced, but they offer clues to a word's origins. Over the ages, as our diet became more refined, that original purpose of the appendix was lost, and we were left with a worm-like thing hanging out in our guts.
However, recent research suggests the vermiform appendix may have actually evolved into serving some other purpose in conjunction with the immune system; when good bacteria is wiped out of the digestive system because of some illness, that useful bacteria can be replaced by the stuff sitting in the appendix. This is especially useful in under or undeveloped areas, where sanitation is lacking (like the tropics).
In other words, the appendix is a kind of security system. “Vermiform” also means “shape of a worm.” Seen any worm-shaped security systems lately?
Continue Reading
However, recent research suggests the vermiform appendix may have actually evolved into serving some other purpose in conjunction with the immune system; when good bacteria is wiped out of the digestive system because of some illness, that useful bacteria can be replaced by the stuff sitting in the appendix. This is especially useful in under or undeveloped areas, where sanitation is lacking (like the tropics).
In other words, the appendix is a kind of security system. “Vermiform” also means “shape of a worm.” Seen any worm-shaped security systems lately?
Continue Reading
The Episode League Table - Week 10 Update
Here is the delayed league table from Episode 4.10 - Something Nice Back Home. This was the 2nd lowest rated episode this season after The Other Woman.Episode 4.09 - The Shape of Things to Come has fallen back slightly and is now below Through the Looking Glass.
(Click to Enlarge)
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Episode 4x10 Something Nice Back Home - Recap Videos
Friday, May 2, 2008
Episode 4x10 Something Nice Back Home - Ratings
Last night's episode of LOST (Something Nice Back Home) could not gain ground on last week's great episode and actually saw a drop in ratings this week, with it's lowest rating for any new episode of LOST.
Although the ratings dropped, please keep in mind these numbers are with out DVR/Online viewers and ratings across the board for all TV shows has dropped significantly.
Thanks to Unai for the heads up and details here:
Last night "Something Nice Back Home" averaged 11.14 million viewers, the lowest number of LIVE viewers for any episode of Lost ever.
I know this sounds awful, but the fact is that a lot of TV shows had low ratings, like Grey's Anatomy, Survivor or The Office.
Also remember that Lost is the most recorded and downloaded TV show right now.
Source: SL-LOST
Although the ratings dropped, please keep in mind these numbers are with out DVR/Online viewers and ratings across the board for all TV shows has dropped significantly.
Thanks to Unai for the heads up and details here:
Last night "Something Nice Back Home" averaged 11.14 million viewers, the lowest number of LIVE viewers for any episode of Lost ever.I know this sounds awful, but the fact is that a lot of TV shows had low ratings, like Grey's Anatomy, Survivor or The Office.
Also remember that Lost is the most recorded and downloaded TV show right now.
Source: SL-LOST
Things I Noticed – Something Nice Back Home by Vozzek69
Things I Noticed – Something Nice Back Home
The more Season Four LOST I get, the more I wonder what the hell happened with Season Three. Not that last season was bad, but these days we're getting steak and potatoes when all we had before was fish-biscuits and water. Things I Noticed:
Apparently there's no 'I' in Things I Noticed
I've noticed that people have noticed that the Things I Noticed has evolved from a more factual analysis of each episode to a lot more theory and conjecture. They've noticed, believe it or not, that sometimes my ideas are wild and out there. They've noticed that sometimes I'm even factually wrong about stuff. My response to this is an enthusiastic 'shit yeah I am'.
The more Season Four LOST I get, the more I wonder what the hell happened with Season Three. Not that last season was bad, but these days we're getting steak and potatoes when all we had before was fish-biscuits and water. Things I Noticed:
Apparently there's no 'I' in Things I Noticed
I've noticed that people have noticed that the Things I Noticed has evolved from a more factual analysis of each episode to a lot more theory and conjecture. They've noticed, believe it or not, that sometimes my ideas are wild and out there. They've noticed that sometimes I'm even factually wrong about stuff. My response to this is an enthusiastic 'shit yeah I am'.
The most exciting thing about LOST is that it leaves so much of itself open to interpretation. The best reading on any LOST site is going to include those 'holy shit!' moments that really get you thinking. If you can suck that kind of flavor out of a bare-bones TV Guide type episode recap – then you go for it. But if you want the type of spiciness that'll put you on the throne for the next day or two, stick with me. I'm fully aware that sometimes I serve up stuff that should probably be regurgitated… but every once in a while we have cookies and ice cream, too. J Bring the toilet paper anyway.
You put the quarter in, you get on the horse, it goes up and down, and around…
The voices calling Jack back to consciousness in the opening scene definitely seemed to belong to both Juliet and Kate. This type of duality saturated the whole episode, as did the circular feelings of everything having been done before. Operating on the beach. Going to the medical hatch. Aaron is taken again (enough of that already), and someone even gets busted for secretly knowing a language. Kate mentions she's going to be Jack's nurse, to which he points out "it wouldn't be the first time". I can't imagine the writers are fresh out of ideas, so this type of circulature has got to be intentional And yes, I just made up the word circulature.
Kate finally decides she wants to play house
I'm sure Kate's panties aren't the only pair riding high this week, as we were shown the crucial missing time period between Kate's acquittal and Jack's screaming assertions from last season's finale. The future looked rosy for the Jack/Kate hookup, at least for a little while, as they settled down with Aaron and began a post-island life together.
I have to say, it looked pretty genuine. Two people having been through all the things they were, it was only natural they'd end up together. Considering that, it would've been easy to weigh their relationship against a scale of need vs. love. But in all honestly, Kate didn't seem all that needy. And although Jack might've needed reassurance on a few different levels, his feelings were all there too. There was absolutely no trace of Kate's flight instinct or (at least initially) Jack's hero complex. In fact, it all looked a little too rosy and perfect – at least until Jack went to see Hurley. More on that in a little bit.
The proposal seemed a little forced, though. At that point it looked like Jack was trying a little bit too desperately to shove the entire island debacle behind him. Of course, he'd just come from seeing Hurley. The things Hurley told him had rattled Jack to the point where he rushed the proposal. Waking your girlfriend up from a dead sleep to propose to her might not be the most romantic way a girl imagines that scenario going down. But the way Kate accepted, it did seem she happily loved him. It wasn't like she was MapQuesting an escape route in her head, as old Kate would've done.
The Adventures of Super Sawyer and Stalker Miles
I'm not sure what the deal is with Miles' sudden interest in Aaron, but it's definitely more than he's letting on. While at first Sawyer seems overprotective, he's probably acting like one of the most rational people on the show right now. A certain wariness should go hand in hand with three months of being beaten, shot, kidnapped, drugged, imprisoned, and chased across a jungle island by monsters and gunmen – and Sawyer definitely has that wariness. It's almost comical sometimes, when the other characters lack it.
I have to say it kind of sucked to see that Rousseau was dead. She was always interesting and her story was only half-told. I'm not sure why Keamy's team would bury those two bodies, even in a shallow grave, considering they were on their way to intimidate Ben's encampment and they even wanted Ben to know they had his daughter. Looking at their bodies it was almost as if the island itself were swallowing them, taking back its own. In the grand scheme of things, Danielle and Karl were probably considered protectors of the island. Their faces were eerily mask-like, and they didn't look the same to me.
Someone needs to tell Dan the island is plane-crash casual
Maybe, just maybe, Faraday should take his tie off already. I don't think he's impressing Charlotte anyway. At first I thought his heroic offer to lead the way into the staff station was because he wanted to swipe something without the 815'ers noticing. Maybe it was, but it's still hard to believe Dan's in on any kind of conspiracy at this point – he seems way too naive. Charlotte could still be planning something devious, but at this point I really don't care. They're both annoying, and they're taking up valuable screen time that could be used on the more ass-kicking characters of LOST. Together they're becoming the new Nikki & Paolo.
The dark side of Jin scares the crap out of me
Although this started off as a really cool scene, Jin's bargain with Charlotte to get Sun off the island seemed kind of forced too. We already know Sun makes it back, but the writers felt the need to canonize Jin further by making reference of his sacrifice for her and Ji Yeon. Considering the rock-solid past heroics we've all seen of Jin, this wasn't really necessary for me.
You had me at 'Flat on your back with my head in your abdominal cavity'…
Much like the new Transformers-esque tattoo on his shoulder this episode, there was more to Jack's appendectomy than meets the eye. Much, much more. Because if you thought it was all simple episode filler, you missed Rose's words to Bernard completely.
Rose doesn't get much dialogue, but when she does speak it's usually pretty important. This episode she questions why the island would make Jack sick, especially now, when in the past it's made people better. Keep in mind that Rose has always been attuned to the island in a Locke/Walt sort of way; certain in her assumption that Bernard was alive, and somehow knowing her cancer was gone.
A long way back, I pointed out how often unconsciousness seemed to play a role in visions, flashbacks, and even appearances of the smoke monster. To speak with the island, Locked ingested his home-brewed trip paste, and even gave it to Boone in season one to invoke visions. Eko's Yemi-sightings came while sleeping at night, and Charlie's visions came during dreams. It seems to me that the more withdrawn from consciousness the mind gets, the more it can communicate with (or be influenced by?) the island.
Now take Jack, who for some reason is adamant about staying awake during the procedure even though Juliet's performed dozens of appendectomies. The last thing he screams before Bernard chloroforms his ass: "I don't want to be unconscious!" Jack goes out, and then… white light (Hurley's heaven?) Suddenly, Jack's in his flash-forward – and at a very crucial point in his flash-forward too, because this is exactly when his father not only appears but actually calls to him.
This time Jack doesn't shake his head, rub his eyes, or try to disbelieve his dad is there. He locks his eyes firmly on Christian Shepherd and walks pointedly toward him. In the past, doubting things have always made such apparitions go away. Hurley had an entire conversation with Charlie until he counted to five and wanted him gone. Michael blinked in disbelief and Libby disappeared. Incredulity it seems, or lack of faith, shatters the tenuous connection between reality and island-induced illusion. But Jack has finally figured this out. He's going to get to the bottom of it… up until Dr. Stevens sneaks up behind him and screws it all up for him (and us!) I also think her final line to Jack had some meaning behind it: "You should talk to someone".
So the big question becomes why would the island want to put Jack under? And the only answer to that, I think, is because it needed to communicate with him in a way it normally couldn't. Sleep wouldn't do it, the island needed Jack under under… perhaps to get to him on a future level. Week one of this season I took a lot of heat for suggesting that Abbaddon was the smoke monster coming to see Hurley. Yet this episode it's no coincidence that a smoke detector goes off right before Jack sees his father. The island IS influencing the flash-forwards, just as I've always suspected it's been influencing the flash-backs. Hell, I'm so confused I don't know what's past, what's present, or what's future anymore. Maybe in the circular world of LOST, it's all the same.
Last big point here would be the story Jack tells to Aaron. "I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think… Am I the same when I got up this morning?" Is Jack now somehow changed? If so, when? After the operation? After leaving the island? After the plane crash? Hell, the entire SHOW begins with Jack waking up. "If I'm not the same the next question is: who in the world am I? That's the great puzzle". It sure is. Especially considering the cryptic meaning of Jack's tattoo: "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us". Seems that Jack is Alice and the island is Wonderland.
Jack and Kate have some interesting home décor
While the rest of you were watching Jack maul Kate's fine little panty-covered ass, I was checking out the strange painting on the wall behind them (that's not to say, of course, that I didn't re-wind that part and ogle Kate's ass also). At first glance it looks like a small sailboat on a big sea. But looking again, I see a dark figure on a winding white road, surrounded by a white circle (Jacob, imprisoned by ash?) On the right side of the painting is a similar circle, but this one is dark. There's no corresponding white figure inside it, so it looks like something got out (Jacob, free of the ash?). Maybe I'm stretching here.
Aside from its Dharma-shaped base, Aaron's mobile has six planets – one for each of the O6. It has six stars too, reminding me sharply of a very old but cool theory that the crash survivors were all gods and they had corresponding constellations and/or stars. The fridge art includes a shark and a house surrounded by snow – same exact stuff as was hanging behind in the Santa Rosa asylum. It's safe to assume Aaron didn't make them, and it would be pretty strange for Hurley to give them away as gifts during one of his friend's visits. To me this just lends more and more credibility to the idea that the island's consciousness is not unlimited, which is why everything is always being recycled.
The map on the wall during Kate/Jack's argument might be one of the maps from Jack's apartment in last season's finale. Come to think of it, the center 'planet' in the aforementioned mobile doesn't look like a planet at all, but more like a plotting wheel to calculate flight plans. There was one of those in Jack's apartment too. Another painting on the wall in that scene depicted a man and a woman sitting in a café, which made me think immediately of Desmond's meeting with Libby. Screenshots of that scene don't match up at all, so I tossed that idea out. Then it looked to me like they were both going over lists! That idea was shot down when I realized they were probably reading menus. J At this point I realized I was grasping for straws, so I disregarded the little red light that blinks on in the corner of the room behind Jack's head when he says "I'm the one who saved you" as camera equipment.
See ya Claire
Claire's vision of her shared dad forces her down the same path as Jack, wandering off into the jungle. A sort of reverse baby-napping occurs here, as Claire vanishes and Aaron is left safely on the palm fronds. Miles seems to have seen Christian, which would be important, but not as important as if someone else had seen him. Considering Miles gift to commune with the dead, it would be less of a stretch in the storyline. Then again, at this point who hasn't seen Christian Shepard?
The view of Sawyer calling for Claire in the jungle was dark and shadowed in a way we've never really seen before. We could've easily been looking through the smoke monster's eyes here, or even Jacob's. It reminded me a little of when Eko was killed, and the whole scene was shot with vibrant greens and darker blacks. The smoke monster was present then, too.
Mirrors, Reflections, Shadows, Duality
This episode contained an abundance of duality, all related to Jack. From the opening scenes Jack was mirrored in the bathroom, looking back at a reflection of himself. Later on he makes Kate hold a mirror so he can watch the procedure, and begins to lose sight and freak out when her hand falters. During his consult with Ms. Berenberg, Jack is noticeably reflected in the walls of the hospital. And as he walks through the corridors of Santa Rosa, he is reflected perfectly in the floor.
I also noticed that Jack cast two shadows, in at least two different scenes. When Jack is speaking with Hurley, the lighting seemed overly intentional. Watch him cast a double shadow as he gets up to leave. Also check out the scene where Jack climbs up to remove the smoke detector. Jack's double shadows do some very strange things there, especially with his arms.
Hurley – The rain on Jack's parade
Finally, we were shown Jack's post-island turning point this episode. The catalyst to his downfall had nothing to do with Kate, or Jack's misguided assumptions that he was once again being two-timed. Instead, it was Hurley.
Everything is perfect for Jack until Hurley pees in his soup. Kate's been acquitted, work is going well, and Aaron hasn't been kidnapped in years. He's clean-shaven. Adorable panties litter his bedroom floor. Things are looking up… until Hurley's tales of speaking with dead Charlie sharply remind Jack as to who he is and where he's come from. Mentally and perhaps even physically, the island looms over everything and will not go away. One by one it shatters the illusion of heaven that Hurley refers to. It happened to him, it happened to Sayid, and it happens to Jack now too, as we know the only future that exists for him is a downward spiral of jealously, drugs, and alcohol.
From this point on, everything changes. When Jack tells Kate he thinks Hurley is crazy, he doesn't believe it. If he fully believed it he wouldn't be staking out the bench on the lawn outside the hospital. And once Jack starts believing in Hurley, it's a one-way trip. Because as we know, belief is everything when it comes to LOST.
Next week's preview looks unbelievably awesome.
You put the quarter in, you get on the horse, it goes up and down, and around…
The voices calling Jack back to consciousness in the opening scene definitely seemed to belong to both Juliet and Kate. This type of duality saturated the whole episode, as did the circular feelings of everything having been done before. Operating on the beach. Going to the medical hatch. Aaron is taken again (enough of that already), and someone even gets busted for secretly knowing a language. Kate mentions she's going to be Jack's nurse, to which he points out "it wouldn't be the first time". I can't imagine the writers are fresh out of ideas, so this type of circulature has got to be intentional And yes, I just made up the word circulature.
Kate finally decides she wants to play house
I'm sure Kate's panties aren't the only pair riding high this week, as we were shown the crucial missing time period between Kate's acquittal and Jack's screaming assertions from last season's finale. The future looked rosy for the Jack/Kate hookup, at least for a little while, as they settled down with Aaron and began a post-island life together.
I have to say, it looked pretty genuine. Two people having been through all the things they were, it was only natural they'd end up together. Considering that, it would've been easy to weigh their relationship against a scale of need vs. love. But in all honestly, Kate didn't seem all that needy. And although Jack might've needed reassurance on a few different levels, his feelings were all there too. There was absolutely no trace of Kate's flight instinct or (at least initially) Jack's hero complex. In fact, it all looked a little too rosy and perfect – at least until Jack went to see Hurley. More on that in a little bit.
The proposal seemed a little forced, though. At that point it looked like Jack was trying a little bit too desperately to shove the entire island debacle behind him. Of course, he'd just come from seeing Hurley. The things Hurley told him had rattled Jack to the point where he rushed the proposal. Waking your girlfriend up from a dead sleep to propose to her might not be the most romantic way a girl imagines that scenario going down. But the way Kate accepted, it did seem she happily loved him. It wasn't like she was MapQuesting an escape route in her head, as old Kate would've done.
The Adventures of Super Sawyer and Stalker Miles
I'm not sure what the deal is with Miles' sudden interest in Aaron, but it's definitely more than he's letting on. While at first Sawyer seems overprotective, he's probably acting like one of the most rational people on the show right now. A certain wariness should go hand in hand with three months of being beaten, shot, kidnapped, drugged, imprisoned, and chased across a jungle island by monsters and gunmen – and Sawyer definitely has that wariness. It's almost comical sometimes, when the other characters lack it.
I have to say it kind of sucked to see that Rousseau was dead. She was always interesting and her story was only half-told. I'm not sure why Keamy's team would bury those two bodies, even in a shallow grave, considering they were on their way to intimidate Ben's encampment and they even wanted Ben to know they had his daughter. Looking at their bodies it was almost as if the island itself were swallowing them, taking back its own. In the grand scheme of things, Danielle and Karl were probably considered protectors of the island. Their faces were eerily mask-like, and they didn't look the same to me.
Someone needs to tell Dan the island is plane-crash casual
Maybe, just maybe, Faraday should take his tie off already. I don't think he's impressing Charlotte anyway. At first I thought his heroic offer to lead the way into the staff station was because he wanted to swipe something without the 815'ers noticing. Maybe it was, but it's still hard to believe Dan's in on any kind of conspiracy at this point – he seems way too naive. Charlotte could still be planning something devious, but at this point I really don't care. They're both annoying, and they're taking up valuable screen time that could be used on the more ass-kicking characters of LOST. Together they're becoming the new Nikki & Paolo.
The dark side of Jin scares the crap out of me
Although this started off as a really cool scene, Jin's bargain with Charlotte to get Sun off the island seemed kind of forced too. We already know Sun makes it back, but the writers felt the need to canonize Jin further by making reference of his sacrifice for her and Ji Yeon. Considering the rock-solid past heroics we've all seen of Jin, this wasn't really necessary for me.
You had me at 'Flat on your back with my head in your abdominal cavity'…
Much like the new Transformers-esque tattoo on his shoulder this episode, there was more to Jack's appendectomy than meets the eye. Much, much more. Because if you thought it was all simple episode filler, you missed Rose's words to Bernard completely.
Rose doesn't get much dialogue, but when she does speak it's usually pretty important. This episode she questions why the island would make Jack sick, especially now, when in the past it's made people better. Keep in mind that Rose has always been attuned to the island in a Locke/Walt sort of way; certain in her assumption that Bernard was alive, and somehow knowing her cancer was gone.
A long way back, I pointed out how often unconsciousness seemed to play a role in visions, flashbacks, and even appearances of the smoke monster. To speak with the island, Locked ingested his home-brewed trip paste, and even gave it to Boone in season one to invoke visions. Eko's Yemi-sightings came while sleeping at night, and Charlie's visions came during dreams. It seems to me that the more withdrawn from consciousness the mind gets, the more it can communicate with (or be influenced by?) the island.
Now take Jack, who for some reason is adamant about staying awake during the procedure even though Juliet's performed dozens of appendectomies. The last thing he screams before Bernard chloroforms his ass: "I don't want to be unconscious!" Jack goes out, and then… white light (Hurley's heaven?) Suddenly, Jack's in his flash-forward – and at a very crucial point in his flash-forward too, because this is exactly when his father not only appears but actually calls to him.
This time Jack doesn't shake his head, rub his eyes, or try to disbelieve his dad is there. He locks his eyes firmly on Christian Shepherd and walks pointedly toward him. In the past, doubting things have always made such apparitions go away. Hurley had an entire conversation with Charlie until he counted to five and wanted him gone. Michael blinked in disbelief and Libby disappeared. Incredulity it seems, or lack of faith, shatters the tenuous connection between reality and island-induced illusion. But Jack has finally figured this out. He's going to get to the bottom of it… up until Dr. Stevens sneaks up behind him and screws it all up for him (and us!) I also think her final line to Jack had some meaning behind it: "You should talk to someone".
So the big question becomes why would the island want to put Jack under? And the only answer to that, I think, is because it needed to communicate with him in a way it normally couldn't. Sleep wouldn't do it, the island needed Jack under under… perhaps to get to him on a future level. Week one of this season I took a lot of heat for suggesting that Abbaddon was the smoke monster coming to see Hurley. Yet this episode it's no coincidence that a smoke detector goes off right before Jack sees his father. The island IS influencing the flash-forwards, just as I've always suspected it's been influencing the flash-backs. Hell, I'm so confused I don't know what's past, what's present, or what's future anymore. Maybe in the circular world of LOST, it's all the same.
Last big point here would be the story Jack tells to Aaron. "I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think… Am I the same when I got up this morning?" Is Jack now somehow changed? If so, when? After the operation? After leaving the island? After the plane crash? Hell, the entire SHOW begins with Jack waking up. "If I'm not the same the next question is: who in the world am I? That's the great puzzle". It sure is. Especially considering the cryptic meaning of Jack's tattoo: "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us". Seems that Jack is Alice and the island is Wonderland.
Jack and Kate have some interesting home décor
While the rest of you were watching Jack maul Kate's fine little panty-covered ass, I was checking out the strange painting on the wall behind them (that's not to say, of course, that I didn't re-wind that part and ogle Kate's ass also). At first glance it looks like a small sailboat on a big sea. But looking again, I see a dark figure on a winding white road, surrounded by a white circle (Jacob, imprisoned by ash?) On the right side of the painting is a similar circle, but this one is dark. There's no corresponding white figure inside it, so it looks like something got out (Jacob, free of the ash?). Maybe I'm stretching here.
Aside from its Dharma-shaped base, Aaron's mobile has six planets – one for each of the O6. It has six stars too, reminding me sharply of a very old but cool theory that the crash survivors were all gods and they had corresponding constellations and/or stars. The fridge art includes a shark and a house surrounded by snow – same exact stuff as was hanging behind in the Santa Rosa asylum. It's safe to assume Aaron didn't make them, and it would be pretty strange for Hurley to give them away as gifts during one of his friend's visits. To me this just lends more and more credibility to the idea that the island's consciousness is not unlimited, which is why everything is always being recycled.
The map on the wall during Kate/Jack's argument might be one of the maps from Jack's apartment in last season's finale. Come to think of it, the center 'planet' in the aforementioned mobile doesn't look like a planet at all, but more like a plotting wheel to calculate flight plans. There was one of those in Jack's apartment too. Another painting on the wall in that scene depicted a man and a woman sitting in a café, which made me think immediately of Desmond's meeting with Libby. Screenshots of that scene don't match up at all, so I tossed that idea out. Then it looked to me like they were both going over lists! That idea was shot down when I realized they were probably reading menus. J At this point I realized I was grasping for straws, so I disregarded the little red light that blinks on in the corner of the room behind Jack's head when he says "I'm the one who saved you" as camera equipment.
See ya Claire
Claire's vision of her shared dad forces her down the same path as Jack, wandering off into the jungle. A sort of reverse baby-napping occurs here, as Claire vanishes and Aaron is left safely on the palm fronds. Miles seems to have seen Christian, which would be important, but not as important as if someone else had seen him. Considering Miles gift to commune with the dead, it would be less of a stretch in the storyline. Then again, at this point who hasn't seen Christian Shepard?
The view of Sawyer calling for Claire in the jungle was dark and shadowed in a way we've never really seen before. We could've easily been looking through the smoke monster's eyes here, or even Jacob's. It reminded me a little of when Eko was killed, and the whole scene was shot with vibrant greens and darker blacks. The smoke monster was present then, too.
Mirrors, Reflections, Shadows, Duality
This episode contained an abundance of duality, all related to Jack. From the opening scenes Jack was mirrored in the bathroom, looking back at a reflection of himself. Later on he makes Kate hold a mirror so he can watch the procedure, and begins to lose sight and freak out when her hand falters. During his consult with Ms. Berenberg, Jack is noticeably reflected in the walls of the hospital. And as he walks through the corridors of Santa Rosa, he is reflected perfectly in the floor.
I also noticed that Jack cast two shadows, in at least two different scenes. When Jack is speaking with Hurley, the lighting seemed overly intentional. Watch him cast a double shadow as he gets up to leave. Also check out the scene where Jack climbs up to remove the smoke detector. Jack's double shadows do some very strange things there, especially with his arms.
Hurley – The rain on Jack's parade
Finally, we were shown Jack's post-island turning point this episode. The catalyst to his downfall had nothing to do with Kate, or Jack's misguided assumptions that he was once again being two-timed. Instead, it was Hurley.
Everything is perfect for Jack until Hurley pees in his soup. Kate's been acquitted, work is going well, and Aaron hasn't been kidnapped in years. He's clean-shaven. Adorable panties litter his bedroom floor. Things are looking up… until Hurley's tales of speaking with dead Charlie sharply remind Jack as to who he is and where he's come from. Mentally and perhaps even physically, the island looms over everything and will not go away. One by one it shatters the illusion of heaven that Hurley refers to. It happened to him, it happened to Sayid, and it happens to Jack now too, as we know the only future that exists for him is a downward spiral of jealously, drugs, and alcohol.
From this point on, everything changes. When Jack tells Kate he thinks Hurley is crazy, he doesn't believe it. If he fully believed it he wouldn't be staking out the bench on the lawn outside the hospital. And once Jack starts believing in Hurley, it's a one-way trip. Because as we know, belief is everything when it comes to LOST.
Next week's preview looks unbelievably awesome.
Labels:
Recaps,
Season 4,
Something Nice Back Home,
Vozzek69
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
