Soft-Boiled Wonderland & the End of Lost

First off, this is a long one. Also, it's about Lost. And S*P*O*I*L*E*R*S, too. You have been warned.



Okay, so I had this thing written about the finale of Lost and it was gonna be all about misplaced expectations and letting it end on its own without getting in its way and how Lost was a drama with mysterious elements and not a mystery with dramatic elements and all this stuff. I had extended and shaky metaphors about apples and oranges and answers and questions and all this stuff. It was pretty highbrow ish.

And then I read Geoff Klock's post on his problems with the finale and man, this dude is totally right. You should really go read it. I'll wait.

.......

His theory that the endgame of Lost was retooled (and eventually shunted into the Sideways World/Afterlife Construct/Purgatory we've seen over the last season) once the show became popular and their rather intelligent and rabid fanbase pegged the ending pretty early on totally explains some of the more nagging problems people have had in getting everything to lay down just right. And I can understand their frustration with its inability to do so. Human beings like order. But by its nature as a televisions series – as art in service of commerce and tight deadlines – Lost just isn't going to come out perfectly no matter how much we'd like it to.

As I said in the comments thread on the post, TV is a messy medium, especially network TV. When all is said and done, a network television show is a work of art created as a shell for advertising and, hopefully, syndication. It's created solely to make money. If some art sneaks in with that money-making; fine. Whatever. But let's not kid ourselves. The fact that any of these dollar-vessels achieve any sort of success beyond that purpose (and I think we can all agree that a lot of TV shows don't) is a small miracle. The ambition of Damon, Carlton and their production and writing staff is to be applauded. They took a fairly disposable, unappreciated medium – the television drama – and set out to say something about humanity. Now, whether you feel that they were successful or not is another thing entirely and that's between you and the universe. As I said, I think they were successful, despite the best efforts of fate.

Being as this is a serialized drama with real actors and real-life constrictions, both monetary and otherwise (for example: Walt having to leave the Island because the actor playing him hit puberty, Ana Lucia/Libby being killed off because of DUI charges, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Mr. Eko character being killed because he was bored with the show, large swaths of the third season that exist solely to kill time while the show was retooled to work for another three seasons), sometimes stuff gets tossed out. Sometimes bad ideas find their way into the mix and end up forgotten once calmer heads prevail. ("Stranger In A Strange Land," anyone?) Sometimes opportunities get missed. Somebody somewhere in the Internet said, derisively, that Lost was just a glorified soap opera and yesyesyes, it totally is, but does that mean it's devoid of worth? Like I said, it's messy and the fact that this show managed to pull this much off while still remaining fairly popular is a small miracle.

Which is why I am prone to cut this show some major slack. Its ambition overpowers its shortcomings, in my opinion, but then again, I really respect ambition. I'm more inclined to overlook little incongruities and misfires if the artist/author/et cetera aims high and falls short. It's like this guy says about an even more flawed series and finale – Grant Morrison's noddle-cooking ending to Final Crisis – it's flawed, but still ultimately succeeds solely because it's trying so hard. Does everything about Lost fit together like some Swiss grandfather clock, immaculately designed and constructed and built to run for lifetimes? No. Is it still one of my favorite TV series and, in my opinion, one of the better ones in recent memory? Absolutely.

Because where else are you going to see a TV drama focusing on the debate between free will and predestination? Or if we can ever overcome our past? Or the importance of community and living together? I know it's sort of a cop-out to say "Lost has always been about the characters, not about Jacob and his brother or time travel or whatever so shut up, dude on the Internet." I know that it's a cop-out, but it's also sort of true. I was always more invested in whether Jack could overcome his need to control Every. Little. Thing. or if Locke could stop being angry with his dad or if Kate could stop running from catastrophe to catastrophe or if Hurley would embrace his destiny or if Ben could really not be a creepy, manipulative creepoid.

So here we are. A month or so later. Everything that happened, happened. And it only ends once. Everything else is progress. Our Castaways found some sort of peace in a non-/multi-denominational afterlife (the Sideways World) after struggling through their problems on the Island. It was pretty beautiful, when all was said and done and all those unanswered questions, they don't matter so much any more. And besides, we all knew they weren't going to be answered to our satisfaction, which is why a lot of them were left dangling. Because a lot of Lost's appeal has been sussing out just what the heck is going on and now we can debate this stuff forever if we're some sort of weird shut-in or something.

Sure, it seems slapped together in retrospect. Because it was. Sure, the Final Boss Battle™ between Jack and Flocke was really uninspired and sort of hackneyed. But it's a TV finale. And the giant magic plug is a little silly, but when we're talking about a show whose main conceit is it's a magic, time-tripping island, well, you don't really get to pull the "Silly Card." Sorry, them's the rules.

In the end, we got a dramatically satisfying, happy-ish ending for all the people we've watched for the last six years. And that final scene with Jack stumbling wounded through the bamboo field, his side pierced like another Shepherd, laying down in the same spot he awoke in the pilot as he traced the path of the Ajira plane as it finally, *finally* escaped the Island? That was pretty dang perfect.


*******

And now, your questions: (did you think I forgot?)

Dave asks:

So, were they all dead when the plane first crashed? I don't know if I was just so wound up in it being the end that I didn't understand it well or what. If they were all dead from the start I don't understand the significance of the no-crash dual story line this season.

Also, what about when Jacob touched them all way earlier in life. How does that work?
Yeah, that was a bit of a problem. ABC has since clarified the reasoning for the Oceanic crash set playing through the finale credits. You can read their reasoning here. Kind of dumb, but there you have it.

As for the Jacob-touch, well, we now know that that happened earlier in their "afterlife," as the Flash-Sideways all took place in a kind of Spirit Prison/Purgatory mental construct.


Chanel asks:

1. How would you think the Hurley as "#1" thing plays out?
We'll find out when ABC releases the Complete Series boxed set later this year which contains a 12-minute vignette, according to Entertainment Weekly.

2. Did the plane make it from the island?
I think so, yeah.

3. Why were certain people like the pilot not there at the end? I mean I get the whole being ready to move on, but that guy seemed just totally left out for having such a big role in the end.
I'd imagine after all the trouble the Castaways caused him, the last thing Frank Lapidus wanted to do was hang out in the afterlife with them.

4. My take on the end, on my blog, if you get a chance to read, I am "getting it" right? I mean it is actually really deep stuff, which I am DYING to hear you GO INTO DETAIL on how you see it all.
Hopefully this is "in detail" enough. Cuz I don't think I can say anything else about this show. Oh, who am I kidding? I could keep going, but man, who's even reading this?

Until next time, kids.

The End

So … that's it. The end. Aaaaaand I loved it. But what did you all think? Any questions? Now's the time to ask 'em.

Lost Talk

First off, SPOILER ALERT. If you're not caught up on Lost or are planning on watching it all after it's wrapped or whatever, please don't read any further. You have been warned.

So I asked you to ask my Lost questions. Because I am a nerd and a glutton for punishment. So let's try and figure all this out, shall we?

First off, Alli asks:

do you think libby is david's mother? since her old husband's name was david before she gave david's boat to desmond?
If I were a betting man, I'd wager that David's mom is Juliet. And that her and Sawyer are gonna be meeting for coffee sometime soon. They'll go Dutch.

does it matter?
Maybe?

will jack ever cut his hair?
I don't know. But has anybody else been sort of distracted by Jack's hair this season? Does it look weird to anybody else with that slight Superman spitcurl he's got going on? Has he always had that?

why is the island underwater?
Two possibilities.

1. If Jack's plan worked and the hydrogen bomb went off in 1977, that may have caused the Island to sink.

or, 2. It's because of something that we haven't seen yet and this guy's theory is totally right. (Hint: I think this guy's theory is totally right. I've been trying to say what he's said in that post all season – that the "flash-sideways" is the castaways' reward for … something*, and that it's their second chance to get things right post-purgatorial Island tour of duty – but we'll see. Every time I think I have this show pinned down, they pull the rug out from under me, roll me up in said rug and then throw me down a hill.)

I still think that Jack's season five explodo-plan was what caused "The Incident," referred to in those Dharma videos and that Daniel Faraday was being a good time-cop to the end when he talked Jack into nuking the Swan station.

Did that help?


Next up, Rose says:

you already answered some questions (thank you) but i have more!
walt is in NY, right? but where is he in this story? didn't the others say he was the chosen one? did that story already resolve itself and i just forgot it did?
Oh man, Walt. I think he's one of those things, like Libby or Ana Lucia, that were intended to be a whole lot more for the show but due to physical realities – ie. the actor who portrays Walt growing radically over the first two seasons, the actresses who play Ana Lucia and Libby getting busted for DUI – had to fall by the wayside.

The "in game," No Prize, response to this is that Ben kinda sorta gave the producers a way out when he let Michael and Walt go by saying that Walt was more powerful than they thought, so they were glad to be done with him. My feeling is that the "OMZ, Walt is soooo like powerful and stuff, dudes!" plotline is dead and that our little glimpse of him in season five was his send-off, his "happily ever after," as it were.

fake john locke (smoke monster, whoever you want to call him) was chasing that boy. that's jacob, right? why could sawyer see him?
My money would be that that was some sort of a manifestation of Jacob, though why he appeared to Flocke ("Fake Locke." Get it?) as a bloody little boy in weird Bible pageant robes instead of the way we've been seeing him is anyone's guess. I definitely got a Cain and Abel/Jacob and Esau vibe off of that whole thing, though.

As far as why Sawyer could see him and not, say Richard earlier in the episode, maybe it's because Sawyer (or "Ford," I guess) is a Candidate?

and ditto on the island being underwater. why?
See above.

And she had some more after this week's totally kick@$$ episode, "Sundown":

how are the smoke monster dude and jacob tied to the island?
I theorize a little further down. Look for the * under the questions.

why was jacob looking for candidates? is he just looking for one candidate?
See answer to above question.

who is coming to the island? who was jacob waiting for?
I think Jacob has who he's been waiting for. I think the Lighthouse trip was a ruse to get Jack thinking about why Jacob would be interested in him and his little crew.

why is everyone connected to the island?
Fate, as Charlie wrote on his knuckle wraps. The Oceanic passengers are "ka-tet," to borrow a phrase from one of the show's influential texts.

did ben make a deal with the smoke monster dude?
We're not entirely sure what happened to Ben after the fracas at the Temple, right? He was unaccounted for, if I remember correctly. Ben'll find some way to survive, though, don't worry about that.

what happened to richard alpert?
We shall see. My guess is that he was either a captain or a slave on the Black Rock, another group of people brought to the Island so that Jacob and Flocke can play their giant Backgammon game with them, each unwilling to concede to each others' point regarding the true nature of humanity.

will jin and sun be separated in the flash sideways story as well?
Jin and Sun as characters seem to be important only as they relate to each other spatially. Half of their stories have been them trying to get back together, either physically or emotionally. And since Jin was in Sideways-Keamy's fridge, I'd say that their story in this world is also going to be "How do they get back together?"

***

And that's that. Anybody else want to play? Comment away.

_______

* Maybe Smokey wins. Maybe he's the "good guy" here (or as close to a "good guy" as this show gets) and they sink the Island to protect it/destroy it. Maybe this is what Jacob wants, a la Jack's lighthouse tantrum. Maybe this sets both Smokey and Jacob free from whatever's chaining them to the Island. (Not unklike how their tenure on the Island will hopefully set the Oceanic passengers free from their personal demons, right?) Maybe neither of them is pure evil or purely good. (It wouldn't be the first time this show has set someone up as the ultimate evil only to find that they're just misunderstood, right Ben Linus?)

Maybe they're both cursed and trapped on the Island, in Purgatory, waiting to be freed. Maybe this group of castaways has just the right mix of people to set them free this time, to be the ones who finish the game whose end they've been progressing toward. Maybe I'm also full of crap. Only time will tell.

Let's Get Lost

It's been a while since we did one of these, hasn't it? So let's do this. What questions do you have about my favorite show and yours, Lost, now that the Final Season's upon us? Leave your question in the comment section and in my next post, I'll answer your questions to the best of my limited ability.

Remember: there's no such thing as a stupid question. Well, okay, there is, but I promise not to make fun of you too much if you should happen to ask one.

The State of the Dylan Address

The full text of Dylan Todd's State of the Dylan Address, as transcribed by the Basement of the House He's Living In:

Good evening, Madame Internet, eavesdropping security organizations, Google web-crawling robots and distinguished blog followers. We are gathered together tonight to discuss the state of the Dylan, as our Constitution - which I just wrote here on this napkin and, I gotta be honest, it pretty good stuff - states we must do from time to time. See, in a week, I will be having another birthday. I'll be turning 33. Treinta y tres, mi amigos.

Which, I mean, think about that. That's almost starting to get old. I mean, I'm old enough that bands I loved in high school (The Pixies! Pavement!) are having reunion tours. I'm old enough that I remember when Dennis Miller was incisive and relevant. I remember when Weezer wasn't a cuss word. I'm old enough to look at the prices of things and tell whatever kid happens to be walking by that when I was a kid, comics cost 75 cents. It's enough to make a fella take stock of what he's accomplished, what he's got going on and what he's working toward.

Okay, sounds fair. Let's do this.

First off, the elephant in the room: I have no job. I have no job during the worst economic environment since the Great Depression. I'm living with (pronounced: "leeching off of") family, in a basement, while I look for work after moving my family, quite suddenly, cross-country. Yaaaay! That said, we're in surprisingly good spirits and I'm supremely confident I'll find something and soon. I mean, not to be all conceited, but I'm good at what I do and I know I'll find a job that will be creatively satisfying and also help me support my family. If not, there's always my first love, the forgotten trade of competitive scrimshawing.

And I have a lot of things to be thankful for/proud of. I've graduated from college with pretty good grades, played in a band, hunted the mighty Yeti, married a great woman who is awesome and, man, I have a beautiful family. Seriously, I'm not sure how I lucked out with the pretty girls I'm surrounded by every day, but I'm glad I did. The other day I caught myself singing, unironically and loudly, the theme song to Growing Pains. Okay, maybe it was a little ironic and maybe it was "incredibly loud," as opposed to just "loudly," but still.

There's a lot to look forward to for Dylan. For example - and you'll find this either pathetic or endearing - Lost is back on TV for its last season and it's just as mind-blowingly rad as it is inscrutable. And there's also the Star Wars roleplaying group we're starting up again which I gotta admit, I'm pretty excited about. And I might start a band. We'll see. We're getting a new computer soon, so that's exciting. Oh! And dudes! I have an Xbox 360! And in May, Candace and I will celebrate 10 years - A DECADE, MAN - of marriage. I'm like the king of the World, A.K.A., this dude.

So that's where Dylan is right now. As you can see, I am pleased to report that the state of the Dylan is strong. Strong like ox. Thank you. And good night.

The Beginning of the End

Damon Lindelof: But it makes you understand why some people go to church every Sunday and some people are atheists. Some people need Lost to have a scientific explanation for everything, and that's why our viewership now is what it is – because the people who needed there to be a scientific explanation for everything stopped watching. They were like, "Okay – the show has now proven my theory wrong." This is another joke masking a true terror for us – we're doing the last season of the show now, and this season is where you get your answers. And we're not waiting until the last episode – the answers start coming fairly fast and furious right out of the gate. But in a lot of ways, the storytelling this year is just us telling people that they were wrong. They've built up theories for five years. When a show like this gets to a certain point and then it's "Oh, man, we were canceled," people get to bring their theories with them to the grave. With us, it's basically like, "No – you're wrong." And some people may have been right. Who knows?

From GQ's Geekdoom's Council of Elders round-table discussion with the Bad Robot team. Part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.

As long as we're discussing the last season of Lost here, is anybody else sort of terrified by the prospect of this show ending? Or am I just too emotionally invested in this thing? Because I truly love this show and I worry that there won't be anything to satisfactorily replace it once it's gone.

I Like It When Hurley Says, "Dude."

So, lots of Lost stuff coming out of Comic-Con. Pretty mind-blowing stuff, actually. Suffice it to say that if you're not caught up on the show yet, there are definitely some ¡¡¡SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

You have been warned.


The first thing is the introduction of the Lost University ARG (Alternate Reality Game) at ABC.com which seems to be tied to the season five DVD release in September. Offering classes like "HIS 101: Ancient Writing On the Wall," "PHY 301 SEMINAR: New Physics With Jeremy Davies," (who plays trippy-dippy scientist Daniel Faraday on the show) and "SCI 201: Jungle Survival Basics." Needless to say I'll be enrolling on September 22, even though I have pretty much sucked at all these games.

ABC.com also has kicked off a series of webisodes from a fictitious 80's show called Mysteries of the Unknown similar to that one show that Leonard Nimoy used to host. You know the type, where they interview people who saw Bigfoot and show some blurry photos and end it all by saying, "Does such a creature as Bigfoot exist? Could he be the missing like between ape and man? Only time will tell. Tune in next week for tales of alien abduction!" I loved those kinds of shows. Anyway, so this clip of the fake show unlocks the mystery surrounding the Dharma Intititive. Watch it here and check back for more installments. I'm not expecting anything earth-shattering, but it might flesh out the Dharmites a little more.

Then there's the wealth of stuff that hit at Comic-Con. First up is the promo shot featuring 26 (!!!) characters, some of which are - or well, were - dead. Paul Scheer of the comedy troupe Human Giant has launched a Lost-centric blog called "Damon, Carlton and A Polar Bear," where he's posted the image and has the characters appearing on it. He has them listed as follows: Faraday, Boone, Miles, Michael, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, Shannon, Desmond, Eko, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Locke (with his back to the camera), Ben, Sayid, Libby, Sun, Jin, Claire, Hurley, Juliet, Charlie, Frank, Richard, Bernard and Rose. So yeah, basically everybody ever except for Nikki and Paolo. Poor Nikki and Paolo. Also, no Walt. Why no Walt love, guys?

Next up is the Comic-Con panel. The Lostpedia blog has posted it here. It's really a fun panel, with taser-guns, polar bear paintings and some fun banter between Michael Emerson (Ben on the show) and Jorge Garcia (Hurley). Oh, and also, a special appearance by everybody's favorite Hobbit/dead rock star, Dominic Monaghan (Charlie). "You all, everybody!" indeed.

You can see Michael Emerson's genius Hurley audition here, because for some reason, it's cut out of the Lostpedia panel footage.

But that's not all that's missing from the Lostpedia footage. The most mind-blowing stuff is the most spoilery stuff which you can see here. Go watch them and then come back. I'll wait.

...

Did that just blow your mind? Are we dealing with an alternate timeline here or what? Hurley's had nothing but good luck since winning the lottery. Oceanic's been accident-free since 1979. Kate didn't kill her dad by blowing him up in his house, instead she mistakenly blew up some other dude at her dad's plumbing business. WTH?!

Matthew Fox did mention earlier this summer that the show would be dealing with "two timelines," for a portion of the last season, but I assumed he meant 1997/2007. But who knows now? Feel free to speculate here or over on Opening the Hatch.

Blank Generation

Some friends and family and myself have started a Lost discussion group. We'll be re-watching (or just plain old watching for any first-timers) every episode of Lost before the season six premiere next February and posting our thoughts on each episode. It breaks down to three to four a week, so it's not impossible to do. Right now, we're doing it via a Facebook group, but I will also be posting my recaps on this blog.

If anybody's interested in joining in the discussion or writing recaps, contact one of us and we'll send you an invite to the group. We'd love for anybody even remotely interested to pop their head in and share their thoughts, even if you're not going to re-watch, although that would be ideal.

Anyway, so this is my "recap" of Season 1, Episode 2: "Tabula Rasa." Enjoy.

*******


Tabula rasa. That's Latin, by the way, not a delicious Middle Eastern dish. It means "blank slate," or basically, that we come into the world blank and are slowly filled in with experiences, etc. You know who's credited as the guy who coined the term? That'd be 17th century philosopher John Locke. So yeah, no coincidences in this episode or this show, really.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this episode's focused on what makes us "us." It opens with the Federal Marshall with the shrapnel in his guts waking up and telling Jack not to trust Kate, that she's dangerous and that Jack needs look in the Marshall's jacket pocket for proof. We see Kate's mugshot, which Hurley ends up seeing but when they talk about what to do about it, Jack decides that he's willing to let it go, that Kate, by virtue of surviving the crash, deserves a new start. Jack seems to have bought into the idea of a tabula rasa, but it's a flawed idea, because as we're reminded throughout this episode and this series, we're tied to our pasts.

The fact that the Marshall survived the crash proves that it's not as easy as saying, "Three days ago, we all died. We should be able to start over," as Jack does later in the episode. We know the Island brings people to it for a purpose, so why did the Marshall survive as long as he did? What purpose does he serve? If they get a fresh start, if they can cut themselves free of their past lives, then why didn't the Island let him get sucked out during the crash?

I'd submit that the Island put the Marshall there to remind these people that unless they reject their impulses, they'll continue to do the same dumb things that every other group that's been drug there has done. They'll continue to (as we see the "away team" do re: Rousseau's message) hoard their information, guns, power and fight within themselves. They'll continue down the path laid out by the Man In Black in the season five finale. They won't win the game that way. Unless they turn away from who they were, confront what they've done, they'll continue to be the broken people that they are.

When Jack's scouring the fuselage to look for antibiotics (best Hurley line: "But the bodies are in there and they're all ... dead.") cuz he just *has* to save the Marshall even though it's hopeless, he runs into Sawyer, who's looting the overhead compartments. Jack asks, "Did you do this back home?" It's an interesting position, this demarcation between pre- and post- crash life, between then/there and now/here and despite what he says later, Jack knows they're stuck there for a while and that they need to act like a society if they're going to survive. Live together, die alone, right?

Unfortunately he's naive in thinking that just because you say you want to get rid of your past means that it's so. We see time and again how Jack falls back into his defaults of "gotta save everybody and be the boss," or "if I just stand really still and do nothing, maybe I won't screw this up," mentalities (in fact, as I re-watched the Pilot I was struck at how little his character had changed from the beginning), or in other words, how much his past is informing his present, and ultimately, his future.

There's been a lot of talk since the show began regarding the idea that the Island is, either literally or figuratively, a Purgatory. (Most notoriously is the anagram-named author of "Bad Twin," one Gary Troup who is, according to legend, the dude who gets sucked up in the engine before that black shape swoops down from the sky and the engine explodes) I think there's some merit in this idea, that it's a holding cell for these people who need to decide if they're going to be bossed around by their past or if they're going to change, evolve, progress. We have lists of "good people," judgmental smoke and avatars for darkness and light, all fighting to get the Castaways to perform in a predictable way.

The characters that are left are, for he most part, the ones who still haven't made peace with their pasts, who haven't chosen a side. (If I were the actors who play Jin or Sun, I'd be hoping they never get back together because we've seen what happens to characters who complete their dramatic arcs, haven't we, Charlie?) I wouldn't at all be surprised if in the final season each of the characters are put in a place where they have to act in complete opposition to their instincts, where they have to choose a path beyond what they've chosen in the past. It's not only narratively satisfying, but it fits the themes of the show as well.

The Island knows their pasts. The Forces at play know which buttons to push to make the castaways move in any given direction and until they decide to stop listening to the voices that have led them down the paths they've been trudging along, they will continue to make the same dumb mistakes that landed them on Oceanic 815 all miserable and conflicted in the first place. Their slate is full of stuff they've accumulated over time. A plane crash doesn't wipe it clean. It just makes another mark.

Lost - "The Incident"

"Two sides: One is light; one is dark," - John Locke
Pilot episode, part 2

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

And so here we are. The endgame. And it's all laid out in front of us, the forces that have been nudging the pieces around the whole time. We're introduced to Jacob and his nemesis (who the internet has dubbed "Esau") who seem to be engaged into some sort of game, using people as their pieces. Jacob believes people are inherently good. Esau, not so much. He also wants Jacob dead. So there's that.

We're shown Jacob moving through our castaways lives, meeting them at key moments in their lives (and physically touching them in each case). But to what end? Did this already happen (which, given that Hurley showed up on the plane with a guitar case whose contents are still a mystery), or is Jacob doing something like Faraday did with Desmond, which is to say inserting himself into their pasts and changing the course of their lives in the process? No clue.

We're led to believe that Jacob is benevolent, but while I was initially on board with that, I'm not entirely sold. I sent the following message to Huston:

"Okay, so I'm reading Doc's Lost analysis and thinking about Jacob & Anti-Jacob/Esau. what if Jacob and Anti-Jacob's relationship is like someone else's we've seen? What if their relationship is similar to what we've seen from Ben and Sayid? And what if, at the end of all this, those two are damned to roam that island in perpetuity? Can you see Sayid and Ben, sitting on the beach, Ben's munching on fish and Sayid looks over at him and says, 'Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?'"

Basically, Jacob's the good guy because he has Anti-Jacob doing all the dirty work, disposing of the people that don't fit with his idea of "progress," either through use of Smokey or something. Just thinking out loud. This show's full of evil twins, mirrors and repetitions, so it's not really all that far-fetched. I mean, just think about Rose and Bernard's (more on them shortly) reaction to the castaways plan when compared to Jacob/Anti-Jacob's outlooks. Hmmm?

Add that to Lapidus' comment that people who go out of their way to convince you that they're the good guys usually aren't, and you've got enough to cast a shadow of doubt on Jacob's righteousness.


Aaaand another thought re: the "Candidate"question: So if Ilyana and her group is, basically, a Jacob cult, and if Ben has - in theory and to the best of his knowledge - been following the orders of Jacob, then is this candidacy similar to the Others' "good person" list-making we've seen? And wouldn't that (sort of) put the Others and Ilyana on the same side with Widmore as a dissenting faction under the same umbrella? Did I just blow your mind?

And before we switch gears to the castaways, let's address the Statue. Was that a crocodile head? If so, it was possibly Sobek. Here's some stuff from that Wiki reference that caught my eye:

"...Sobek also came to symbolize the produce of the Nile and the fertility that it brought to the land; its status thus became more ambiguous. Sometimes the ferocity of a crocodile was seen in a positive light, Sobek in these circumstances was considered the army's patron, as a representation of strength and power.

"Sobek's ambiguous nature led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself, for example, going to Duat to restore damage done to the dead as a result of their form of death. He was also said to call on suitable gods and goddesses required for protecting people in situation, effectively having a more distant role, nudging things along, rather than taking an active part. In this way, he was seen as a more primal god, eventually becoming regarded as an avatar of the primal god Amun, who at that time was considered the chief god. When his identity finally merged, Amun had become merged himself with Ra to become Amun-Ra, so Sobek, as an avatar of Amun-Ra, was known as Sobek-Ra.

"In Egyptian art, Sobek was depicted as an ordinary crocodile, or as a man with the head of a crocodile. When considered a patron of the pharaoh's army, he was shown with the symbol of royal authority - the uraeus. He was also shown with an ankh, representing his ability to undo evil and so cure ills. Once he had become Sobek-Ra, he was also shown with a sun-disc over his head, as Ra was a sun god."

This Sobek doesn't have an uraeus though, he has two ankhs. Doubly able to reverse evil? Maybe. Very interesting, no?

If that's a hippo head, then it's some sort take on Tawaret, which is interesting if only because her husband is Apep, who was Ra's big enemy.

But yeah, Jacob. Got stabbed and thrown into a fire, which was pretty awesome. But not before sputtering out "They're coming." Who's coming? We all know, right? I'm pretty sure he's talking about our merry band of people who blow stuff up: the castaways.

So yeah, Jack & Co. are busy trying to blow some stuff up to avert a catastrophe which, as Rose points out, seems to be what they're always doing. Did anybody else really love seeing Rose, Bernard and Vincent? Cuz I sure did. (Also, I still have money on them turning out, somehow, to be Adam & Eve. Either them or Des and Penny. Who knows.)

Anyway, so they're gonna blow the Swan in hopes of negating the electromagnetic energy stored there which will mean that they will never crash there. Or at least not in 2004.


The way I see it, there are three ways this can shake out for our castaways:

1) It works. They manage to negate the EM energy which means there is no Swan station, hence no button, hence no neglecting to push the button, hence no crash of Oceanic 815. Which means the the castaways we've been following for the last half decade are, effectively, gone. Sort of like Marty McFly in Back to the Future, when he starts to disappear, y'know? Which is not to say that they all couldn't find themselves on another plane in, say, 2007 that crashes on the Island.

But this option has its problems. If they collapse this time stream, then how did Ben get back to the Island? His only brush with the castaways would be in 1977 (which, according to Richard, he wouldn't remember) because that castaways time stream ends in that year with the Incident, right? And John wold still be alive, right? It pretty much all falls apart with this option unless they Powers That Be make up some random magical explanation to fix the paradox. Seems too messy to me. You?

2) It doesn't work. Whatever happened, happened. As Mils points out, maybe what they're doing is causing what is referred to as "the Incident." In this option, Faraday lied and was just working to maintain the status quo. Which would explain why he waltzed into the Others camp waving a pistol and making demands: he knew he had to die and planted the "blow up the Swan," and "these dudes are from the future, you have to evacuate the Island," ideas into the heads of Jack/Kate and Dr. Chiang respectively, before getting capped by his moms.

In this scenario, our castaways will have to time-skip to the future somehow. Maybe the Incident is supposed to set this off? If so, it'll be some great pseudo-science to do so. This solution's a lot less messy and brings the castaways to the future with their experiences intact. This one makes the most sense, but we've got eight months to change our minds on it.

or, 3) Something nobody can foresee and is totally crazy but somehow works. I'm putting my money on this one. Seriously, why do I even try and guess where this show is going? It's not like Fringe, where every twist is mapped out in advance and comes at you like a drunken old man taking a swing at you: By the time he's followed through, you've dodged it and you're setting up for his next go, sort of laughing but having a good time. (Don't get me wrong, it's an enjoyable show, but it's not even in the same league as Lost. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.) Lost, on the other hand, totally blindsides you every single week, darting around the ring while you stumble after it, flailing your arms while you pray your vision stops blurring.

And so here we are, staring at the white closing screen, a perfect inversion of the ending of every other episode's ending. And we wait.


"Suddenly, everything has changed." - The Flaming Lips

*******

Lets discuss. Leave it in the comments section, peeps.

If You Haven't Watched "Namaste," Yet, You Should Probably Not Read This

* I like Frank Lapidus.
* "Dude, your English is awesome."
* Carlos is awful eager to start exploring the Hydra Station, don't you think?
* Sun: "Where are you going?" Ben: "Back to our island. Wanna come?"
* ETHAN! THE BABY'S NAME IS ETHAN! AAAAAAH!
* "I vote for 'not camping.'"
* What is it with Hurley and dog-themed apparel?
* Aaah, the old "Oar to the Back Of the Head" trick. Well-played, Kwon.
* "Based on your aptitude tests, you'll be doing janitorial work."
* Duh! Why did it take me like half of the episode to figure out where I'd heard the name "Radzinsky"?
* Also, Radzinsky's a bit of a jerk, isn't he?
* That wreckage on the docks is from when Locke blew up the submarine.
* Dude! Otherville is haunted by Christian Shepherd! Who can pick up stuff, so is he not an apparition or whatevs?
* Okay, ABC, you got me curious about The Unusuals. Shut up now.
* "I'm sorry, but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you."
* What's Sawyer reading, I wonder.
* Jack is such a b-hole. Srsly.
* Basically, Sawyer is rad.
* Awww, look at little Ben, bringing Sayid a sandwich.
* I love this freaking show.

Dudes! Lost Is On Tonight!

I can't wait.

Death By Hot Pockets / Killer Dishwashers

So, Lost is back and it's as amazing/insane as ever. It's totally insanezing. I mean, this episode was just nuts, with Damon and Carlton finally coming out of the closet and saying, "It's time we just admitted it: this is a totally crazy sci-fi/genre show. Deal with it, America." And that's awesome.

Anyway, some of you may not have seen the episode (cough, Ben, cough) so I can't really discuss the more excellent parts just yet, so I will engage in my other favorite Lost-related activity: theorizing about what the heck is going to happen next. So, what follows are my Lost theories, based on order of probably validity:

10. Everyone on the island is dead and only Haley Joel Osment can see them.

9. Hurley shot J.R. and it was all a dream.

8. Kate has "man parts" and is also Darth Sidious.

7. The mystery of the numbers will be revealed: they are the combination to Al Capone's other secret vault. Geraldo opens it to find Capone's extensive collection of women's wigs. Season six consists of him trying each of them on.

6. The island is actually the Land Before Time and in the last episode all the castaways are eaten by giant bloodthirsty cartoon dinosaurs.

5. Sayid shot JFK and it was not a dream.

4. Through a series of flashbacks, we will learn that Locke is the smoke monster's dad.

3. Walt is half-dolphin. What this means for the show is unknown.

2. The cast captures Widmore and unmasks him to find that he is Old Man Jenkins and he's trying to keep people off of his island and he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those pesky castaways.

1. The Dharma Intitiative killed Laura Palmer.

How about you? You got any theories? Leave 'em below.

Today Was the Day, But Only For the First Time

So today was the Inauguration, Fringe was new and pretty bad-A, tomorrow's the season five premiere of Lost, Scott Pilgrim volume five is out in like two weeks and DC just solicits this:

Written by Grant Morrison
Art and cover by Cameron Stewart

In 2008 alone, superstar writer Grant Morrison killed Batman, put the entire DC Universe through its Final Crisis and concluded the unanimously beloved All-Star Superman. But what does a writer who’s written every significant superhero do when he can create any superhero he wants? The answer, of course, is Seaguy! Morrison (The Invisibles) rejoins original Seaguy artist Cameron Stewart (Seven Soldiers) in an all-new adventure starring the cult-favorite character!

In Seaguy’s cartoon future world, everyone is a superhero and no one dies. It’s absolutely perfect ... or is it? In this follow-up to the cult 2004 miniseries, Seaguy resurfaces with a sinister new partner, a hatred of the sea and a rebel restlessness he can’t explain. Why are Doc Hero and his ex-archenemy Silvan Niltoid, the Alien from Planet Earth, whispering strange equations? Why is Death so useless? And can that really be the ghost of Chubby Da Choona mumbling uncanny warnings and dire prophecies of ultimate catastrophe?

When the grotesque powers lurking behind the corporation known as Mickey Eye and the Happy Group attempt to erase Seaguy’s entire existence, can he possibly get it together in time to save a world so far gone it can’t even imagine the horror lying in wait? Find out here in Morrison’s own personal reframing of the Super Hero concept for the 21st century.

On sale April 1 • 1 of 3 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • MATURE READERS

I'm not sure how this day can get any better. Can you think of anything that doesn't involve bacon?

That Sound You Hear Is Me Freaking Out

This Is Excellent:



Via my cousin, Ben. All I can say is "Damn."

Re: The Lost Finale Last Night

So, uh, just how much did that rock?

To keep this a Spoiler-Free Zone for those of you who still need to watch it, my post will be in the comments section. Let's talk this out, kay?

I Can Do Anything That's Everything All On My Own

Okay, so Candace and the girls are in an airplane right now on the way to Las Vegas. I'll join them in a week. This is really weird. I'm not at all used to being alone.

Now I've been alone before. I moved myself out here for three weeks before I went back to Idaho while Candace had Claire and we packed up and moved out to the Cleve.

It was weird. Not necessarily bad, just weird. When I think back, I don't remember doing anything but going to work and talking to Candace on the phone. I know I did other stuff, like look for an apartment and do laundry, bu I'll be danged if I remember any of it. My life was in stasis.

This trip I'm going to try and be more productive. I made a list and everything. In fact, I made two lists, one is a "creative list" of things I need to work on and another more boring, basic, "to do" list. Now you can marvel at the sadness of my life from the comfort of your own home! Hooray technology! Here's my "to do" list. If you're easily excited, you may want to skip this one, as it's a pulse-pounding awesome-fest:

And here's the "creative list". The "Top Secret" stuff should be up here over the weekend. I'm already giggling thinking about it:

So there you go. That's my week. Do you think I can do all of that?

PS: Lost finale is on tonight. Are you ready for it? I'd love for the "Ask the Lost Guy" section tomorrow to be filled with reactions, crazy theories, questions (rhetorical and, uh, un-rhetorical), angry rants, etc. I know you have it in you, lovely Internets. Let's hear 'em! Let your Freak Flag fly!

PPS: I bought a bunch of comics today. I'll be posting a review/reviews of my haul, so expect that.

PPPS: I just wanted to point out that I am in love with Scott C.'s Double Fine Action Comics and would be remiss in my duties as Wanna-be Internets Impressario if I didn't point it out to you. His art blog's no slouch, either.

PPPPS: Haiku Friday is still on like unto Donkey Kong. Get out your calligraphy brushes and ink and get to writing! For serious!

PPPPPS: Hi there. I just wanted to type "PPPPPS". Which I now have. Twice.

Just Watched Lost

Holy. Freaking. Crap.

If anyone has any questions, I'll be over here in the corner, freaking out.

Ask Me, I Won't Say "No", How Could I?

So. Lost was on last night (yippee!), which means I'm opening up the blog for any questions. I know I had a few after last night's episode, which I will post in the comments area for those of you who may have not caught it. Yet. All I will say is that Jack's conversation with Hurley freaked me the heck out. As in "I seriously got goose bumps." Am I alone here?

Oh, and Doc Jensen's new EW recap is up. If his first sentence doesn't hook you, well, then there is no hope.

Q is for "Questions?"

Any questions regarding last night's episode of Lost? Now's the time to ask them, especially after the month's break.

In the meantime, for you other Lost nerds, you can busy yourselves with Doc Jensen's newest Entertainment Weekly column. I really thought this episode was super duper keen, even though I had no clue what was happening half of the time. In other words, another excellent Lost episode.

F is for "Forever Lost"

Thanks to this amazing new pharmaceutical, I can now live my life:

But seriously though ... how awesome does tonight's episode look? If you answered "Really Awesome, Dylan." then you are correct.

Oh, and by the way, has anybody else seen this? Also, has anyone else wet themselves in excitement? Because I sure did. I am totally pwned by JJ. And are we excited for this new Joss Whedon show? I'm not all ga-ga over him, but I'll check it out, I guess. Why not, right?