Jorge Garcia and the Dharmalars

Thanks to Ralph from the Dharmalars for the following.

We recently sat down with Jorge Garcia and conducted a commentary for his episode "Tricia Tanaka is Dead". The Commentary also stars Jay, from The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. I thought that a lot of Lost fans would love to listen to it, due to the lack of commentaries present on the Season 3 dvds.

Here is a link to the actual file if you want to check it out.

http://dharmalarspodcast.blogspot.com/

Thanks for checking it out.

Source: Dharmalars

The Luck of Lost

Here is another excellent article by J. Wood.

If "Stranger in a Strange Land" seemed short on the usual literary references a typical Lost episode might provide, "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" one-upped it. However, Hurley-centric episodes tend not to be all that referential because he comes with his own inherent comedy, tensions, drama and mythology. And now he comes with Cheech Marin. But this hardly means the episode didn't have plenty to offer; some questions were answered while others were raised, the narrative took a turn back to the group-on-the-beach dynamic that drew audiences in during the first season, and some of Lost's own narrative techniques were developed. This was also one of those episodes that seemed to slyly acknowledge the audience reactions to the narrative's development; more on that in a bit.

Hurley has hard luck. His father David left him with nothing but a hoped-shaped hole when he left in 1973, and Hurley filled that hole with candy bars for seventeen years. This little bit of knowledge lets us in on a few things: Hurley won the money around 1990, which means he was in the institution in the late 1980s (and honestly, who didn't need to be institutionalized back then?). This much has been surmised by the on-line community before this episode, but it provides the less jacked-in viewer some context. Before his father David split, he told Hurley that we make our own luck in this world; one has to wonder how that hit little Hugo, since it would mean his unlucky loss of his father was his own fault. This is also what Sam Toomey's wife Martha tells Hurley when he goes to Australia — that he can't blame the numbers because we make our own luck. The good doctor in the two orientation films, Marvin Candle/Mark Wickman, also makes a point of wishing his audience (which includes us) "good luck" at the end of each film.

But this question of luck also brings up a parallel to "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and previous episodes; if Desmond is about a kind of David Hume-like compatibilist world, Locke is (or once was) about spiritual determinism and fate, and people like Jack and Sawyer are about free will, Hurley throws luck into the mix. Luck may seem like fate (in other words, like hidden determinism), but is more or less a result of the way the world goes, and not by some transcendent design. If you control and construct your own world well enough your luck will be good, since you're setting things up to operate in a certain way (what's the line, 'the harder you work, the luckier you get?'). Hurley made the mistake of buying into the luck, but not how to actively make it. Hurley's relationship with luck also means that when the deck crashed at the party, the event that drove him over the mental edge, he must have been thinking that even though it was unlucky, he somehow made his own unluckiness. Hurley is a study in over-interpretation, and sometimes it seems if it weren't for bad luck, Hurley would have no luck at all.

Hurley's problem with luck comes from a fallacy that assumes if B followed A, that means if A then always B; this is why he ascribes bad luck to the numbers (which may be bad on their own, seeing what they represent in the Valenzetti Equation). Athletes do this when they go through some preparatory ritual, have great success, and then do that same ritual every time before an event. This is a kind of mis-reading that may be correct, but there's no real way to prove it without more evidence. In other words, it's rather like watching Lost; the audience tries to connect various events and construct a meta-narrative around them, even though we don't have all of the evidence (which is also what makes it so fun).

So on to interpretation and over-interpretation: When Hurley's dad David takes off, he does so to the 1973 pop hit "Shambala" by Three Dog Night. There's plenty to be read into that particular song; Shambala is the mythical Buddhist utopia in Tibet, which recalls the other Eastern Buddhist references in the narrative. But the song was, melodically, a near rip-off of B.W. Stevenson's "My Maria" from the same year. B.W. Stevenson was a country singer who played the Austin club circuit, not a big figure on the adult contemporary charts. What this is, though, is an example of mirror twinning; both songs were hits, one melodically rhymes with the other, yet they are functionally different in content. This is essentially how Hurley and David's stories work in relation to each other; David leaves Hurley when Hurley is trying to help his dad and doesn't return, and when David tries to help Hurley, Hurley leaves (to Australia) and doesn't return. Their narratives, in that sense, melodically rhyme. This narrative rhyming is pushed when Hurley smacks up a mopey Charlie, essentially telling him to "cowboy up" like Sawyer did to Karl. (Does this suggest a parallel between Karl and Charlie, both fairly weak characters that have trouble getting to the women they love?)

But where did David go for all those years? This is one of those questions raised amongst the few answers that are given in this episode. He left, but we have no idea to where, and from what we saw, either Hurley isn't interested or hasn't asked — which is to say we'll be seeing Cheech again. But that's not the only bit of foreshadowing in this episode: what was the dart doing on the jungle floor? Will that wound in Sawyer's foot lead to any other problems? Why exactly was there a Volkswagen bus out in the jungle in the first place, how did it tip over, and has it really been there since Rocky III? (Time isn't to be trusted here.) Who was Roger, and did he work the Swan Station with Inman? (Roger had a Swan Station logo on his coveralls.) And what was that crack Locke made about motivation all about?

These are the sorts of mysteries that drove the early episodes along, and may mark a turn for the narrative in general. Lost is a compact period of narrative time taking part over a protracted period of audience time; we're stuck with a relationship detail or mythological detail for a week or more, whereas in a book one could just move on to the next chapter and see how the previous information works into the larger narrative. That's a lot to ask of an audience, and ever since they went down the hatch, audience response has been increasingly mixed, for a number of reasons: the scheduling was problematic; audiences were nostalgic for the beach dynamic that was supplanted by the Others and the Tailies; the mythology was becoming too dense; the focus on relationships was taking away from the mythology. In effect, audiences were showing their fickleness with the medium of television, and the writers have been attempting to navigate audience response in an almost Web 2.0 social-network way (including embracing the web), while trying to maintain the course of the narrative they imagined in the first place. Last night's episode was a return to the original beach dynamic, and possibly a turn away from the close character studies of people like Jack; after all, when Kate tells Locke and Sayid that they were neither motivated to get Jack nor did they know the way, Locke tells her she was wrong — not about the motivation, but about knowing the way. Locke and Sayid, like many audience members, are not motivated to go back to Jack; this seems to be an implicit nod to that audience, telling them to hang tight, these characters are you. Over at Lostcasts, a weekly podcast discussing the various intricacies of Lost (their logo reads "We read the forums so you don't have to"), they even suggested that Sawyer's popping Karl was an implicit nod to the audience to keep it together, things are going to start coming around and this will all make sense.

This kind of polarized response isn't new; ask anyone who studied literature in college whether they enjoyed slogging through James Joyce's Ulysses or David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, or couldn't get far enough away from those massive puzzles. Such dense, referential narratives have a way of at first attracting attention because of their novelty, but then losing some of that attention because of the effort it takes to understand them, while crystallizing a hardened core audience who can't wait to delve into the details. In order to appreciate how Lost functions, it's probably best not to think of it as television, but as a hybrid form of narrative that should be read like some monstrous book that exploded out beyond the bounds of the page.

The central image of this episode is Hurley taking the bus over the edge of a hill. In the past, when Hurley went over the (mental) edge, he lost his grip; this time, he held on and steered everything straight. This is a good central image for a narrative that, if the 100-episode limit is to be believed, is nearing its half-way point. Some of us will get in that bus, and some will sit outside it and crack wise. We'll have to see what patch-man holds for us next week.

Source: J.Wood

Things I Noticed – "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" by Vozzek69,

(NOTE: Sorry there are no photos to go along with the recap, my broadband has gone awol. I'll add some later. DarkUFO)

After several tense weeks of drama and violence, this week's episode was perfectly timed. No mysteries here, no real unanswered questions, nothing but beer, good times, and some of the funniest lines ever. Trisha Tanaka flat out called it halfway through the episode: 'This is a puff piece'.

Things I Noticed:

Be Right Back - Gotta Go to Vegas
This week we find out Hurley has daddy issues, just like everyone else. Daddy shoves a Glacier Bar (had to strain my eyes to see that one) into Hurley's hand and rides off on his 'AMAH' motorcycle. The candy bar fits right in with the polar bears and the snow-base from the end of last season. The missing Y and A from the YAMAHA logo could've been done for censorship of sponsorship purposes... but then again, didn't they say Camaro more than a few times this episode? Not to mention International House of Pancakes. Looked up 'Amah' and found the definition to mean 'a woman who looks after another woman's child'. I'm open to ideas on that one. I'd also be willing to admit maybe Hurley's dad had an old motorcycle.

The big thing here is Hurley's dad's advice: "You have to believe good things will happen, and then they will". This becomes important later on in the episode, when Hurley needs to start the love bus. More on that later.


James, Freckles, Sawyer, Kate
Just before they get back to camp, the writers hammer the final nail into the Kate/Sawyer coffin. At least for now, anyway. She calls him James twice while still trying to hang onto their bond. In the end, Kate realizes he'll never make an effort to continue what they might've had. "Welcome home Sawyer" was her way of putting their relationship back to where it was in seasons one and two. "Welcome home Kate" was him accepting it. Pretty straightforward.


I've Gotta Go Get Some Bananas
Yeah, Paulo - you do that. You've had some gripping, pivotal lines this season. Damn, if I were Rodrigo Santoro I'd be kicking the script across my trailer at the end of each day's shooting.


Things Are Looking Up For Charlie
I've never been a big fan of Charlie, but I'll admit even I liked him last night. Shaving off that nappy granola beard was representational of the fresh new start he'd get this episode. Wiping the slate clean, as Sawyer put it. Charlie went from fearful and resigned to his impending demise to upbeat and hopeful about the future. As Hurley said "Things are getting better". Charlie looked death in the face and said 'whatever'. Will this save him? I think so. Know why? Because Charlie believes it. With each passing week we see more and more evidence that faith is an all-powerful resource on the island. By the end of the episode Hurley has convinced Charlie to make his own luck. If the course of destiny really can be changed (on the island anyway), there's a good chance Charlie may have saved his own life this episode... no Desmond required.


The Road to Shamb(h)ala
I learn something new every day. According to Wikipedia, Shambhala is a mystical kingdom hidden in the snowpeaks of the Himalayas. This ties in nicely with the whole Buddist theme. I think it was Three Dog Night who sang the song playing both in Hurley's flashback and during the scene where the happy fun bus roared to life. Is that where the road led on the Dharma map Sawyer found in the back of the bus? Was Dharma literally trying to build the road to Shambhala? More allusions to paradise. Either way, you've gotta admit the writers pick cool songs.


Best Lines Ever
"Sorry Trisha Tanaka..."
"Well look at that, somebody's hooked on phonics!"
"Jumbotron"
"International House of Pancakes"
"Jiminy Cricket"

The writers must've had a ball with this. I hope they never run out of cool names.


Hurley - The Only Pure One
Think about it. Hurley is the only 815 survivor without a single skeleton in his closet. Everyone else? They've done some questionable things. But Hurley... each of his flashbacks is a clinic in naievity and innocence. The guy has done absolutely nothing wrong. Is this why he's not supposed to be there? Is this why Hurley shouldn't have made the flight?

I think yes. And I also think this is why the island cannot touch him.

Look around - all of Hurley's flashbacks are filled with death and destruction. People die left and right, yet Hurley remains untouched. Horrific events surround him. Decks collapse, houses burn down, meteorites strike the ground right in front of him. These are messages. Hurley is untouchable - the island can't hurt him so it hurts those around him. It's trying to intentionally scare the crap out of him. "I've been scared the whole time I've been here... except when I was with you" (Libby). Maybe this is why the island killed Libby off? Maybe the island wants Hurley scared - maybe this is why it keeps repeating the numbers everywhere and trying to convince him that he's cursed. But why? What would the island have to fear from him?

I think Hurley has power over the island because he's the pure one... only he doesn't know it yet. Hurley's existance there was a mistake - a wrench in the works of its grand design. The island has to fear Hurley on some level because it cannot handle him directly. It can only influence him indirectly through terrorist ways, such as making him believe he's horribly cursed despite the giant horseshoe over his bed.

Although this was a pretty uneventful episode, something big happened at the end: Hurley realized that there never was any curse. That knowledge could prove very important later on in the show. Hurley accepting that he can make his own luck/destiny and not have to sit back and watch things happen around him might be the axiom the entire show rests upon.


The Island is Powerful...
I've voiced my own rather unpopular theory here numerous times, and I usually touch upon it whenever I see evidence pointing to it. I saw lots this episode. Some people will argue this evidence, and that's totally cool. Remember that these are only my own opinions; I'm not throwing anyone into a headlock and trying to force them to agree. That being said, the island is CLEARLY manifesting things based upon the past memories, dreams, and experiences of those who are trapped upon it.

Like it or not, the show took a hardcore sci-fi turn the moment a tendril of black smoke whipped Eko's brains out against some palm trees. The 'rational explaination for everything camp' prefers to make popcorn during this scene and pretend it didn't happen. Once you get past the fact that it did happen, you'll realize that the island has a consciousness and an idea of the way it wants things to go. Whatever end goal the island is trying to achieve, it's doing so by guiding those who inhabit it. Yet the island's power also works two ways, which is why I think we often see things from the survivors' thought processes showing up here and there. Hence, the happy love bus.

...but the Island is Stupid
I believe the island's creation process is limited to what it 'reads' from people, and it doesn't know much beyond that. It has a finite number of people, places, and objects, which is why we keep seeing things (and people) recycled from flashback to flashback. It improvises where it can with a no-frills version of whatever it needs, and this is why we have DHARMA brand products. I didn't see this at first, but I think this episode finally sealed it for me.

Hurley finds the bus in the jungle, obviously way out of place. The driver's very generic name is Roger. Roger's very generic job is 'Work Man'. The bus's make is Dharma. The beer inside the bus? Dharma light beer. Call me crazy, but I don't think the island is trying very hard.

There happens to be beer in the bus just as Sawyer is trying to track down his missing alcohol. This is akin to how the Beechcraft found in season one just happened to be the same one Eko was looking for. It's way beyond coincidental how things are just provided on the fly as people think about or desire them. It's been this way since the show began.

In any event, the fact that Hurley started the bus this episode was a huge indication that things can be changed. Nothing is etched in stone, so long as faith and belief exist. There's no logical WAY that bus should've started after lying on it's side in the jungle for 25 years... yet it did. And note that it didn't start the first time when Hurley 'hoped' it would start. It started when he knew it would. Huge difference. This is the explaination I give people when they challenge my theory by asking why someone doesn't just conjure up a rescue boat or a helicopter. It's not enough to want something to happen - you've got to believe it will happen.

The A-Team
The show's not totally unpredictable. For a long time now its been obvious that the moment Danielle found out about Alex would be zero-hour. We also knew the Jack rescue mission would involve Locke and Sayid (and probably Jin). Kate assumed a very Jack-ish role this episode, especially the way she said "I don't know John" when Locke asked her if the Others could leave the island (it was actually like she channeled Jack for that moment). She's fed up with planning and inactivity, and is going to be leading for a little while.

The fact that Sayid and Locke got a compass bearing must mean that the magnetic field screwing up their direction in season one came solely from the electromagnet and not from the island's natural magnetic properties. And I loved the Indiana Jones reference to the 'light at the top of Eko's staff' pointing the way. Very cool.

Early Ratings info

Thanks to my friend Jongleur7 the initial viewing numbers are in. Tricia Tanaka Is Dead was watched by 12.774 Million viewers.

This is about the same as Stranger in a Strange Land which had 12.8 Million but IMHO this is good as the supposed fan backlash after last weeks episode, many doom merchants were predicting a major drop. This is now the 3rd week in a row it's been at the same mark which shows that it's not losing it's audience and has infact stabilized it's position.

I suspect when the official numbers come out it will be No.1 again in the key demographics. Other shows for last night in the same timeslot were:

CSI N.Y. - 14.043 million viewers
Medium - 7.684 million viewers

Tricia Tanaka Is Dead - Key Moments