May 25, 2005

• Grrr!!! I swear I previewed!!! If the episode ends with the kid, Walt, (possible spoiler to another show that has been off the air for more than 15 years) looking at a snow globe with an island in it or (spoiler to a story published over a 100 years ago) all this is happening in some hallucination just before everyone dies, I will go postal on someone! I think that tonight will, unfortunately, be a night of non-events. I think at the very end of the two hour episode they will finally get in the hatch, roll credits. So what do others think?
• You lost me.
• I've only read about this show. The promos I saw for it online looked quite interesting, but I've never actually watched it.
• i predict either they'll be "Found!" or remain "Lost!"
• or die in limbo
• I hope that when they get back to the mainland, they find that the mainland has been taken over by zombies!
• there's a col theory circulating that maybe they aren't just the survivors of the crash...they're the ONLY survivors left ANYWHERE. Ergo the line that they were each brought to the island for a specific reason. But, of course, we won't find that out tonight.
• Ooooooooooops...col="Cool".
• I predict that Marshall gets eaten by a dinosaur, while Will and Holly continue to live in the cave.
• what about gilligan?
• I predict the Harlme Globetrotters show up and lose a pick-up game to the castaways, then leave and don't tell anybody about them because they're afraid of the competition. Or was that the one with the Bedbugs?
• It turns out that Mary Alice bought her son from Mike's girlfriend when she was a junkie, and then ran off and changed her identity. Then Dierdre showed up when she got sober and wanted the kid back, and Mary Alice stabbed her. They hid the body under the pool. Oh, and Bree's husband is dead now. Oops, sorry, wrong thread.
• I don't think the raft is going to make it back to civilization. Walt will be okay because he's got freaky mental powers and is tied into the island somehow. I'm not so sure about the other three. If Jinn hadn't made up with Sun, and if Sawyer hadn't told Jack about his dad, they'd still have something to do with the characters. Maybe they can drag on the love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer, but I doubt it. Michael has no hidden secrets left, either, so he's fair game as well. I'm guessing either they get attacked by some sea-polar bears and someone dies, forcing them back or they just float around, run out of food and somehow end up back on the island. I don't think the hatch will get opened. Or, if it does, we won't get a peek inside it.
• They'll eat some fermented berries and end up having a huge orgy before being attacked and eaten by the boars and/or will finally discover that Gilligan is living on the other side of the island.
• Turns out, the island has its own laundry room along with a complement of makeup artists, all living behind that hatch. Gilligan supplies the Ganja. Orgy continues.
• Our episode last night was Hurley's flashback ep. I think we're about five-ish episodes behind you guys in the States, but I've already hatched multiple theories. Lost and House are the only two shows I watch religiously right now, so I'm finding myself quite obsessed over it all. I like your idea, tennenho.
• The hatch will be opened... probably sometime in the fifth season. Maybe by then the writers will have figured out what's inside. Okay, so I'm a little bitter. I was so ready to like Lost. But then I looked back about 3/4 of the way through the season and realized that pretty much nothing happened. That's a bit unfair. Actually, if you expect to be introduced to plotlines that will probably go nowhere for over a year, if you expect that what does happen at the end of an episode will be forgotten by the start of the next one, and if you don't expect much consistency (plane falls 20,000 feet out of the sky == a few broken nails; plane falls 50 feet off a cliff == blood all over Boon's body, to name one of the more annoying examples), if you can do that, then it's a romp! Okay, a lot bitter.
• I agree with Smo. I stopped watching after 5 or so episodes. Nothing was happening, and sadly the show wasn't trippy enough in terms of atmosphere such that that was enough for me (as was the case with Twin Peaks, back in the day).
• I'm finding more that I enjoy the characters, especially Hurley, Locke, and the Korean couple. They've developed fairly well. Kate and Jack and Sawyer are all horribly annoying, though. Oh, someone tell me, is Claire's baby the devil, or just a perfectly average sprog?
• Well, regarding plane crashes. We have 40 survivors out of a packed intercontinental flight, who were wearing seatbelts and at least sitting down at the time, vs. a guy who wasn't in a seat, nor wearing a seatbelt, in the cockpit of a little plane. There was a whole big deal about burning the bodies of the other people who died in the jumbo jet crash, so it didn't seem odd that a guy would die from the litter plane crashing. And, as they made clear either at the end of that episode, or in the next episode it wasn't really the crash that killed him as Locke's lying about the nature of the accident. Jack was treating him for a fall when he was really in an accident.
• I never really bought that bit about Jack treating him for a fall, rather than an accident. Wouldn't Jack realize this as soon as he saw him? Like when you have a woman who's obviously been beaten give you the "I fell" line. But then I'm spoiled by House (which had a great season finale, IMO). I did like the characters at the outset and even later into the season, (except for Sawyer, Jack, and Kate, who reminded me of Spike, Angel, and Buffy, none of whom, by the end of the Buffyverse, I really liked). But an overdose of the TV equivalent of "tell, don't show" with all the flashbacks with so few real consequences on the present -- it all began to grate on me. But I get that people have different thresholds for this stuff.
• Thus far, Claire's baby (aka "Turnip Head") has not shown any devilish tendencies, except maybe in its preference for the voice of a certain rakish character. The babe was born a full minute before cockeyed's own (on the US West coast, anyway). I'm expecting major cliffhangers, even if the show's place in next season's lineup is secure. This episode is 2 hours though, so either they double up on tv ads, have the rafters battle sharks out on the water, have them land on another side of the island only to search for help and unknowingly shoot the other castaways, or some combination of all three with the hatch door being opened at the 1 hr. and 52 min. mark.
• The hatch, hm. So we know something's on in there, a light has gone on (I seem to recall) in a past episode. That doesn't mean there are people in there, obviously. Whoever set up the automated distress signal may have set up a system inside. Rousseau's cohorts are (supposedly) dead, but we know nothing of the people who were on the island before Rousseau, who were transmitting Hurley's numbers. They only had to have set the system up sixteen years before, since that's when Hurley's insane friend first heard said numbers. So there could be people alive in there. They've made no more mention (up to the point I'm at, anyway) of other survivors elsewhere on the island -- remember the woman who was determined her husband was still alive? And we still don't know who whacked whoever-it-was (Sayid?) on the head when they were setting up the distress signals. And was it ever established where Ethan came from? He wasn't anything to do with Rousseau, was he?
• Actually, the system's older than 16 years, iirc... Rousseau's been on the island that long and it was the numbers that brought her crew there. Hurley's friend heard them something on the order of 20 years before. (again, iirc)
• Regarding the hatch (if you ain't seen last weeks episode, this is something of a spoiler, I guess) Does their plan to blow up the hatch make ANY sense? If they blow it open, how are they going to hide in there??? I wonder if it is some sort of fallout shelter, and the monster is a MUTANT!!!! from a nucular bomb test? Nooooo!!!!!!! Actually, when the Brother guy that died was in the plane, remember what the voice on the radio said? "WE are the survivors of Flight 888" (or whatever the flight number was), so i'm guessing the smke is some sort of signal fire from the people in the tail section of the plane (cue Michelle Rodreguez) and Delen (aka the French woman) is making them hide from the people in the tail section. Or they are MUTANTS!!!!!! With like huge bald heads with throbing brains that can create halucinations and make you see whatever they want you to see.
• Oh and speaking of Hurley -- him going to the black rock can't be good! He's bad luck, man!
• Or they are MUTANTS!!!!!! With like huge bald heads with throbing brains that can create halucinations and make you see whatever they want you to see. Nah, man...those were aliens.
• I have wondered if the fallout shelter-like structure is actually some kind of big bomb. Michelle Rodriguez's appearance made me wonder about other survivors too (it would be kind of cool if she was a regular/reoccuring character). Last week's emotional and shirtless moment between Jack & Sawyer was a bit slashy. I guess the series would have to move to cable to pursue that vein, though.
• One thing I don't like about the show is how dumb the characters are. They're constantly forgetting that, whether or not Rousseau's creepy baby stealing disembodied whispering "The Others" exist, there are other people on the island. Rousseau's been creeping through the jungle; Ethan is going around snapping people's bones; they've found at least two dead bodies that didn't come from their plane; someone built the hatch. They are not alone on the island! Same thing with when they're talking about opening the hatch and one of them mentions the worst case scenario being they have a new hideaway. Are we talking about the same magical island here, the one with the huge lurking monster that skins people and leaves them hanging in the trees? Of course the worst case scenario will be there's no tins of spam and extra batteries lying around. tracicle: We do learn who bashed Sayid over his head, but so far none of your other questions.
• What a colossal waste of time. :-(
• Ethan is teh dead, remember? I am dissappointed we haven't seen the woman who thought her husband was alive. My only hope is that there is a reason for that. and they were MUTANT ALIENS!!!!!! Which is even better. If only they were MUTANT ALIEN ZOMBIES!!! then I could die happy.
• Did anyone hear today's Day to Day story on NPR about the music of Lost (and Alias) from the composer Michael Giacchino? His music makes that show! (lost that is.. never watched Alias) Ok, GOD, I'll post a link! GEEZ. And YEAH, it's on right now, and I'll be DLing it in about an hour and twenty...
• Oh, I wanted to also mention that there is a second season for sure... so I'm not sure why you'd expect things to be wrapped up tonight.
• According to the producers, some things will be wrapped up, like where they are, but some new problems will arise.
• Soooo not the happy camper right now...
• My biggest worry is that it will peter out into tedious disappointment, ala X-files. The main producer is on record as stating that there is nothing explicitly supernatural/sci-fi/alien about the island. That everything has a reasonably believable and realistic explanation. So supposedly, we the watchers now know that 'The Beast' can't be a dinosaur or giant mutant. That still leaves them in the position of providing satisfying explanations to increasingly fantastic and convoluted events. The more fantastic circumstances get, the more difficult to provide 'realistic' resolutions that don't seem prosaic and lame. Frankly, I really hope they've got a Lost 'bible' someplace that describes the island in detail, and that they're teasing wierdness out of that detailed scenario, rather than simply throwing wierdness out at random, ala X-Files, and then attempting to fit an explanation to it later.
• yeah, cool.. because the X-Files kicked big ass.
• Next week's tv guide said they do have answers to all the questions. OK, so after seeing the end, I can't help but thinking that the Lewis Carrol quote about how far down does the rabbit hole go? Seems to be accurate. I am worried that there is no bottom to this hole. Not sure how they can possibly keep this up for long. Did anyone notice that Lock caled Hurley, "Hugo," when they were getting ready to blow the hatch? I thought Hurley wasn't going to tell anyone his name. Hmmmm... At least now we know how Rupert get's his kids!
• spoiler
• Where in the hell was Con Air's Swamp Thing taking Walt?
• What they showed us was nicely done, but it was still a disapointment. Not sure why I expected anything more from such a season finale though. We've been through this so many times before, and always been offered so little. The disappointment was so familiar that I've already turned off making an effort to follow next season. I'm just too tired of the same old network hamster wheel. The biggest exasperation, aside from the lack of substance, was the repetitious rehashing of characters' pre-flights. Charlie's backsliding was also annoyingly pedantic and predictable. It would have been much more inspiring and interesting to have him be honest about the heroin. And remember, fate is one of the great intellectual traps that besets the human race.
• The Charlie heroin thing was obvious from the minute Boon got in the plane and said, "It's full of drugs!"
• *reads through episode guides* Why is Meriadoc taking drugs? *brain asplodes*
• Charlie is a flake. He bugs me. I stopped associating him with Merry a few weeks ago. Which I guess is good, because playing someone so irritating so well means he won't be typecast as a little hobbit-type.
• "We want the boy! We must take the boy!" Who knew that "the others" would turn out to be a bunch of shipwrecked Catholic priests?
• You mean they have a hobbit taking heroin? Is nothing sacred? Just joking. I have a tenous hold on reality, but I know the actors aren't really hobbits. There are some real hobbits in Lincolnshire, though. All this Lost discussion has convinced me I should watch it.
• Having now seen some - I have it all solved. The island is inhabited by the mutinous prisoners of the Black Rock, who have all becom Discordians. Actually, we don't know that Charlie backslides - we know that he looks happy running, and that he has a Mary statue. Of course, it's meant to be ambiguous. But I wondered if he might have taken the broken Mary Statue as a symbol or out of devotion. It isn't a coincidence that they are Catholic statues.
• This is true and all, but I don't think we've exactly seen Charlie as an upstanding churchgoer in the flashbacks. :)
• Yes, we did. He sinned, but he was kind of freaked out by it (remember he went to confession weekly) and his brother called him an "alter-boy". There were strong implications that he was pretty devout before he was addicted.
• It turns out that Rodriguez will be returning, and not just in flashbacks. But at what cost? Sayid. That kind of sucks, if it's true.
• in last week's episode, (s2e03), flann o'brien's the third policeman shows up. after an article mentioning that the book would appear, the u.s. publisher of o'brien's work said they sold 8,000 copies of the book in two days, comparing with 15,000 copies in the previous six years. unsurprisingly, there's quite a lot of stuff on the web about those numbers: the lost numbers reference guide mathematical properties of the numbers www.4815162342.com
• Well, I'm now addicted to this show. Thanks.
• The numbers don't mean fuck all, though.
• If it shifts more Myles na Gopaleen, I'm all for it.
• Right on, I didn't know you dug Flann.
• Live long. Read Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds. And prosper. ;]
• > The numbers don't mean fuck all, though. well, 23 is there, as is 42.
• Exactly, it just seems like a nod to all the famous secret numbers, which is more like the writers trying to attract lots of speculation rather than it being a coherent idea. The O'Brien/O'Nolan/na Gopaleen book 'the third policeman' mentioned in the series is narrated by a guy who is dead, in Hell, reliving the events of his life over and over, although he himself is unaware of this. Some have speculated the lost islanders are themselves dead. The writers have denied this. It was the first thing I thought of on watching the pilot and I'm still not convinced it isn't the case. And that, of course, would accord with the title of the series.
• there's also quite a lot in the third policeman about the nature of scientific inquiry. given the current plot-thread about this "dharma initiative" (or institute?) and whatever expriments were being conducted, it's possible that the third policeman reference is not to the passing of the author but to the context of the underground bunker. /off to find my copy of the de selby codex
• We're only up to about episode 6 in series one here in Blighty. It's the only thing I watch every week. Even reading all these 'spoilers' above, I still don't have a fucking clue. Kate is teh hot, tho...
• "...reference is not to the passing of the author.." narrator. Important distinction.
• Lost action figures coming soon! First issued: Ugh, boring old Charlie.