My LOST review is up at Smartpop -- here is a sample. Click it to read the whole thing.
On one level this is Lost at its most classical — dramatic without making a lot of sense, but you forgive it because it is all fun. If you have to carry unstable dynamite, why jump around so much, and also why not give it to the immortal guy to carry — they guy who in an earlier episode proved he could not be blown up by dynamite? And how, you know, on Earth, could Hurley have gotten so far ahead of the group — enough to get into the Black Rock, and set a fuse, then get far enough away to not die and also before anyone else was close enough not to die — without anyone noticing? Don’t chuck your enemy’s wildcard down a well: I know it looks like you are getting rid of him, and I also enjoy the irony of Desmond once again being alone down in an underground place on the island accessible by a deep shaft, but surely you have just chucked him down to somewhere interesting where he is going to bite you in the ass — especially if this is anything like the other well. By the way: The well, we are told, is so old it was built by people who had no tools — because they wanted to know why their compasses were going crazy. They had compasses but not shovels?
In the morning light I see that to say the wells were dug by hand just means without modern construction equipment, and maybe Locke was not trying to get rid of Desmond at all -- we don't know what his motivation was, I guess.
If Hurley, Desmond, Faraday and Charlie all remember the Alt U because of Love it is going to be interesting if Jack and Locke remember because of EACH OTHER. Start your slash fiction now. (A note to my mother -- you can put "slash fiction" into wikipedia, but I don't recommend it).
Oh and more cute revisions of love cliches along the line of The Constant's "I have to have your phone number of I will (literally) die" -- Libby's "don't I know you from somewhere." The Main U of course.
The stuff in the pouch that Hurley had - Nikki and Paolo's diamonds (some other site had that)? I was thinking backgammon pieces....
ReplyDeleteHa, I went through the exact same thought process re: "dug with their bare hands" and the compasses.
ReplyDeleteI didn't make so much of the kid having dark(er) hair - he still looked like he could have been a younger Jacob to me, or an older version of the previous kid (or both which is what I am saying). He looked dark blonde as opposed to Jack dark or MiB dark. But both you and Lostpedia picked up on it, so maybe it's a thing.
It's a fair point about the women, sadly (Kate did have some dialogue, but just barely).
Oh, can anyone confirm whether it was "this is the only well" or "isn't"? My... ahem, broadcast skipped...
ReplyDeleteBTW, you can find some fun stuff by searching #lostcomics on twitter.
ReplyDeleteIf Desmond's connection to Dr. Manhattan wasn't clear enough when he reappeared nude and unscathed after the Swan imploded, it was made pretty explicit with Widmore's test last week. Now I'm wondering if Locke chucking him down the well will end up leading to his "I am disappointed, Veidt" moment.
ReplyDeleteIt *is* weird that women seem to bear a disproportionate amount of the random death, silence, and general mistreatment. (A trend that seemed to begin in season two, when Shannon, Ana-Lucia, and Libby were all killed off. And, arguably, it began with the casting of the series, where the starring roles went something like 3-to-1 in favor of men.)
ReplyDeleteIlana's death scene was constructed in a rather comical way, too, wasn't it? I was sitting there complaining about it, saying things to the effect of, 'why the hell is she throwing the bag around like that? is the actor a moron? or is she about to blow up?' And then she did.
Also, the scene where Desmond runs over Locke was pure bad-ass. A nice surprise in contrast to the moment with the both of them standing over the well, where I was just waiting for FLocke to get over with it and toss him in.
Marc - I could be completely off here, but I believe the pouch that Hurley was peering into was the same pouch that Illana kept Jacob's ashes in, shortly after his Season 5 closing-demise.
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting is that Hurley has seen the ash before, as he is one of the few LOSTies to encounter the mysterious cabin... and I'm pretty sure he's actually BROKE the circle of ash around the cabin in the first place, possibly setting the stage for this season's final showdown. Thus the shocked look on his face in this week's episode when he discovered what Illana had been holding on to?
Also worth noting: when Hurley first discovered the cabin, he peered in a window and saw two figures - one in silhouette (in a rocking chair, I believe) and another that looked an awful lot like... Desmond.
Curiouser and curiouser...
Curt - I don't remember there being anyone who looked like Desmond in the cabin.
ReplyDeleteThen you need to watch Season 4 episode "Cabin Fever" again!
ReplyDeleteIn it, Hurley gets separated from the other survivors and stumbles across the cabin for the first time. As he peers in the window - for a split second - someone stares back.
D'oh... I mean Season 4 episode "The Beginning of the End." In the spirit of LOST, I'm trying to make this as confusing as possible!
ReplyDeleteI remember that scene, but I don't recall thinking it looked like Desmond. (As i recall, they specifically got someone who wasn't on the show and who they didn't intend to use again, so that it wasn't obviously tied to one character or another. Which is to say that they probably had no idea who the eye would end up belonging to.)
ReplyDeleteYeah, even back then I took it more as just general creepiness, or like "you are looking at a dude in a chair and BAM NOW HE'S IN YOUR FACE" rather than "there's 2 guys in the shack! Who is guy 2?!"
ReplyDeleteWell, as I said, it "looks a lot like Desmond," which is not to say that it IS Desmond. As with all things LOST, there's been a great deal of discussion on the subject. You can find some screen grabs and interesting (albeit old) thoughts here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.docarzt.com/lost/lost-easter-eggs/lost-401-beginning-of-the-end-who-is-in-the-cabin/
I rewatched the episode after "Happily Ever After" aired last week and, for the time being, I'm falling with the "Desmond" camp.
It's probably late to add this, but I will anyway. It's a re-write from TVGasm's latest LOST recap:
ReplyDeleteFLocke: Why aren't you afraid of me?
Desmond: I've come to understand that there's nothing to fear, but fear itself.
FLocke: I hate to break this to you, but I AM FEAR ITSELF.