Anyways, here we are for another edition of the Lost Blog. I apologize for not providing the link in my email last week. But seriously everyone, have you not bookmarked this page yet? lostaddicts208.blogspot.com. If not, just hit Ctrl-D right now! Ahhh there we go...all bookmarked now! If you don't trust your bookmarks, then just memorize it! And if all of that fails, then keep on trusting that I'll throw a link in an email that someone will ultimately be forwarded your way!
As always check out lost.abc.com for Episode Recaps and to rewatch the episode.
Let's dive in! So we finally get back to Island life for the rest of our core survivors, which was a relief for most viewers. But we mainly focus on our Hatch-Implosion survivors, and even more specifically focused on Mr. John Locke. We dig more into his Pre-Island life as well as his communication with the Island in his pursuit to rescue Mr. Eko.
Locke's Journey
Locke FlashbackIn Locke's flashback we didn't learn what we thought we would learn (i.e. the incident that lead to his paralysis), but we did get some good dirt on John Locke. And we met a slew of new characters to his backstory. This flashback takes place in California sometime after Locke has been betrayed by his father and after Helen left him (I think!).
- We meet Eddie, who seems to be a hitchhiker but ends up being an undercover cop.
- We meet Mike and Jan, head of the Pot Farm foundation who have taken Locke in when everyone else had deserted him.
- We learn Locke had a licence for multiple firearms. There are inconsistencies between his Driver's Licence (which has a bald picture of Locke on it and a different birthdate) and the firearms licence. This could be a prop error. But I'll throw the picture in here for speculation. Click on image to expand.
- John asks Eddie at Gunpoint if he was chosen and why. Eddie tells him that his psych profile said he would be amenable for coercion. Eddie goes on to tell Locke "You're not going to shoot me, you're not a murderer. You're a good man, you're a farmer" Locke insists that he is a hunter, which is a theme throughout the episode. Something interesting to note. Colleen made a very similar when Sun held her at gunpoint last week. "you're not going to shoot me, you don't have murder in you" While John didn't shoot Eddie, Sun DID shoot Colleen. Many have speculated that Sun, in fact, pushed JAE (Baldy #2) over the edge after Jin left the hotel. Is there any relevance to these comments being in back-to-back episodes? Also, is Eddie with the OTHERs too?
Keep a look out for more with the characters we met in Locke's flashback. Mike, Jan, and the crazy Guard guy with the Mullet. I don't think we've seen any of them anywhere else yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we do!
We open up with Locke lying on the ground, teasing us with the idea that he may be unable to walk again. Instead, he is unable to TALK instead. He sees Desmond running naked in the Jungle and is unable to say anything. And eventually encounters Charlie who is enjoying every minute of Locke's new disability and need for help. We learn that Charlie has not forgiven Locke for punching him in the face several times when he suspected him of "using" again. But Regardless Locke recruits Charlie to help him talk to the island to find out his next mission. Now that the Hatch is gone, John needs a new purpose! Crazy Locke went ahead and created his own sweat lodge near the unfinished Church and asked Charlie to stand guard.
It looks like what Locke was concocting was the same Drug that he put in Boone's cut in season 1 that had Boone hallucinate and see Shannon die. Locke ingested the drug this time (much to Charlie's anger for his hypocritical conduct) and had a vision of his own. Before we get into the vision, can we assume that Locke has learned how to create this drug from his employment on the POT Farm? And how did he originally know that this would induce visions from the Island that would instruct him on his mission? And of course...HOW are these visions happening is always a recurring question!
The running tally of visions/dreams is:
- Locke - Sees Nigerian Plane, Sees Eko's Brother, Sees Boone and all survivors in the current standings (this episode), OTHER? (He had to have known he could induce visions before doing it to Boone)
- Boone - Sees Shannon mauled by a polar bear
- Charlie - Crazy Sleepwalking nightmares urging to have Aaron baptized
- Hurley - Dream with Jin speaking English and Walt missing, also his visions of DAVE)
- Eko - Sees Ana Lucia Die and his Brother tell him to get John to lead him to the question mark
- Jack - Sees his dad then finds empty coffin
- Kate - Questionable with the horse since she pet it
- Sawyer - The boar attacking him (was that a vision or did that actually happen? i think that happened)
- Shannon - Sees Walt
- Sayid - Sees Walt
Back to this week's vision, Locke gets a visit from Boone. Was nice to see him again, however creepy he was in this episode. Locke tries to apologize to Boone but still cannot talk, Boone tells him he forgives him and that he will regain his voice when he has something to say. (still don't get the symbolism of him losing his voice, anyone out there???). Boone escorts Locke to his Wheelchair and they are whisked away to an airport that shows all of our survivors in the groups that they are currently with. I thought this scene was outstanding, by the way! Boone says someone in airport is in danger:
- Claire, Charlie and Aaron - Boone "Not them, they'll be alright, for awhile" The "For Awhile" is intriguing. Looks like they haven't given up their quest for baby Aaron yet. And they may have some interest in the other 2 as well.
- Sun and Jin fighting and Sayid with them - Boone: "I think Sayid's got it" Wasn't sure if they were addressing the fact that all is not HAPPY in the world of Sun and Jin.
- Hurley entering Hatch numbers at check-in counter - Locke frustrated seeing the numbers again - Boone: "Not Hurley"
- Desmond dressed as Pilot with Flight attendants - Boone: "He's helping himself"\
- Kate and Sawyer flirting, Jack a bit ahead of them at the metal detector getting wanded by Henry - Boone "There's nothing you can do for them. Not Yet" (TSA initials on Henry's shirt, no idea if it's important) "First you have to clean up your own mess"
The EKO Rescue
Okay, I got a little detailed in the Vision because it was pretty darn detailed. I can sum up the rest of the journey. Locke uses his tracking/HUNTING skills to find Eko and brings Charlie along for the ride. Here's some tidbits:
- Since Charlie has had visions too, does he believe Locke has actually had a vision of Boone and has to follow his mission?
- Loved the scene where they're being chased by the Polar Bear and then Locke throws a knife at Hurley. "DUUUUDE!" Their encounter with Hurley here sets up another great addition to the LOST Mythology that we'll get to in a bit.
- In the beginning of the episode Locke sees Eko's stick. It has a new inscription on it for Genesis 13:14 "Lift up your eyes and Look North" The actual passage reads "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward" Perhaps this is an indication to John to go North to rescue the other friends when the time comes? Perhaps it's nothing!
- In the Cave, we see a skull with a cloth/shirt near it. It has a Dharma Logo on it. We also see a TONKA Truck. hmmm....does our polar bear like toys? Or maybe it's a reference to all of the children that have been kidnapped on the island? The Tonka truck was relatively old too....like 80's style. Just another indication that there have been many residents of this island before Flight 815 crashed there.
- After Locke rescues Eko (with the Macgyver Flaming Hairspray) Locke apologizes to Eko for doubting him while he should've been out helping Jack, Kate, Sawyer and crew. Still looking for purpose in his life, he was convinced he could've SAVED them. Eko, who appeared to be unconscious begins talking to John "You can still protect them, you can still save them. You will find them. Afterall, you are a hunter John. " Charlie returns, and Eko remains to still be unconscious. One thing is for sure, Locke, Eko, and Desmond are all acting very strangely following the implosion of the Hatch. We just don't have enough information yet to know WHY!
- Speaking of the hatch, we do get to see a hole in the ground where the hatch was. And nothing seems to be remaining from the Hatch except the 3 people that were in there. And one of them lost his clothes too!
Hurley, Desmond and the Island Reunion
BRILLIANT SEGUE WAY! Ahhh was Hurley missed big time in the first 2 episodes. He always seems to be the voice of the audience. And we even got a bit of the Charlie/Hurley comic relief Duo in this episode when Hurley learns about the Polar Bear and Locke's mission to find Eko and Chase the bears. On Hurley's journey back to the camp to tell everyone about the "kidnapping" he runs into a Scottish fella looking for some clothes!
- Of course before Hurley realizes it is Desmond he calls out "Bear, is that you?" FANTASTIC!
- So Desmond loses his clothes in the Hatch implosion and is the only one to lose them. He also was underground turning that fail-safe key. What exactly happened to him? We'll touch on that in a bit.
- Love how Hurley continues to be a voice of the people who watched a whole season of pushing a button only to learn that they could stop it all with a Fail-safe Key. Convenient isn't it? The solution? Desmond just says he didn't know what would happen. But what DID happen? "Must've detonated the electromagnetic anomaly, made the hatch implode."
- We learn that Desmond missed seeing the purple sky or feeling the island vibrate. Was he even around to experience that???
- When Hurley begins to complain about going after their friends, Desmond quickly tells Hurley "Locke is going to go after them, he said so in his speech!" hmmmmm what speech?
- Oh the speech that didn't even happen yet? Yep, that would be the one. Once everyone returns to the camp, everyone finds out Eko is injured and that Jack, Sawyer, and Kate are captured, which Hurley conveniently forgot to tell everyone. While Desmond throws rocks into the ocean Locke launches into a motivational speech:
"I'm going to find our friends. I don't know how. We're going to find them and we're going to bring them home."
Well, this naturally is the big mystery that will be boggling our minds for some time into the future. Did Desmond have a vision of the future? Did he actually VISIT the future?
There were speculations on the Internet (albeit, joking speculations) that maybe he is traveling through time like the Terminator did in the James Cameron flicks. They couldn't travel through time with their clothes on either! I'll stick with the notion that something ELSE is up.
But it brings up some valid questions about TIME in relation to the island. Like, is TIME on the island moving at the same pace as TIME OFF of the island? For instance, if it is November 2004 on the island, is it October 2006 OFF of the island? The producers have hinted in the podcast that this COULD be the case, but you can never tell if they're pulling our chain or not. But the producers have also explained that they have written WALT's aging process into the show. (since he was like 10 when the show started...he's going to be like 13 when he returns! but only 2 months and change have passed!).
Also, Henry says he's been on the island his whole life. We can assume he's in his 40's, right? Doesn't that Pre-Date the DHARMA Initiative by 10-15 years? There are people that lived on this island prior to DHARMA, maybe prior to the others. What about that crazy GIANT FOOT that we saw in the finale?
Hmm...how did I get to talking about feet? Oh, right, TIME TRAVEL. Well, I don't think we're going to be jumping into the world of NBC's Heroes and bending the space-time continuum just yet. The producers have also said that everything will be able to be realistically explained and in an UN-Supernatural way.
I'm still enjoying the ride for now!
Also NEW CASTMEMBER ALERT! Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro) and Nikki (Kylie Sanchez) are recurring castmembers this year and showed up at the very end of the episode. I guess we're meant to believe they were survivors of the crash all along.
Whew, long blog again! Sorry about that....hope I didn't lose anyone along the way! Thus, we close the books on the continuing cultural phenomenon (known as this blog!). One day I would love to know how many people are actually reading this thing! It is my dream that every reader will one day decide to post a comment and say "Hi Mike, I READ THIS BLOG! now stop making me feel guilty for not commenting and let me enjoy the show you freak!" Ahhh yes....music to my ears! Ok, in all seriousness, 3 episodes left this fall. 3 Recaps to go! Catch you next week sometime!
19 comments:
Hi MIKE I read this blog!
Unsupernatural would pretty much rule out time travel....and the visions are usually not an accurate picture of what happens (shannon mauled by polar bear in vision, shot by Ana Lucia in reality) So if he didn't have a vision and he didn't time travel...could it be some kind of script and John Locke is in on it....doubtful but an idea...by the way check out this article about the effects of an electromagnet on the brain...crazy stuff, especially the part about muting the voices
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_transcranialMagneticStimulation
yes...the vision of Shannon may not be accurate to what happened to her....but at the time, Locke interpreted Boone's vision as it being time for Boone to let her go and worry about himself. Kinda like the purpose of Charlie's vision was to have the baby baptized.
Interesting thought on the script....or perhaps the sharing of information between Locke, Desmond, and Eko after all being involved in the Electromagnetic implosion. Maybe Desmond knows what Locke is going to do... Eko kinda prophecized Locke's Heroics as well.
One thing I missed in the blog is that all 3 of them were missing for 1 day. Perhaps they were fed information by the others during that day and told what to say to the other survivors at the camp. and perhaps it is all in the others' plan for Locke to come rescue Jack, kate and Sawyer.
Ahhh....This is why I like comments. Helps me think through this stuff!
Crazy with the muting stuff in the link too. Makes sense that Locke was feeling after-effects of the magnet. But if they were abducted for 1 day...could've been something else as well.
"Hi Mike, I READ THIS BLOG! Now stop making me feel guilty for not commenting and let me enjoy the show, you freak!"
Ok, I'll comment. Did anyone else have a feeling that maybe Eko was blinded by the impolosion? When he was talking to Locke, it seemed like his eyes were out of focus and didn't move at all. Maybe it was because Locke was imagining him being awake, but maybe he's blind. This could be a real stretch, but maybe they were setting up a theme of "Hear no evil, (when Charlie's hearing was on the fritz), speak no evil (Locke's muteness), see no evil (blind Eko).
Also, I thought they could have introduced the new cast members in a better way...having them jump in at the end of the episode like that was kind of like when they replaced the mom on Fresh Prince without explaining anything. We were just supposed to believe she was there the whole time.
Hi Mike, I read your blog! ;-)
I thought the intro of the new islanders was weird too. I loved last night's epi though...it finally got me back into things!
Hi Mike, I read this blog...7 years later! Haha!
I think the symbolism of Locke losing his voice is found in what Boone told him in the sweat hut dream: "You'll get your voice back when you have something worthwhile to say." Indeed, after his dream, Locke's first audible words were to Charlie: "I'm going to save Mr. Eko." Which indeed he did.
Flashback comment: When Eddie told Locke at the farm, "I'm in...with whatever you're planning to blow up," the first thing I thought was "damn, kid, don't you know they're growing weed in that greenhouse?" I was soon proven right (yeah, hooray for me catching the obvious), but later learned that Eddie also knew that all along.
Justin Chatwin as Eddie! One of the joys of watching a classic TV series like Lost for the first time is seeing actors who later (sometimes much later) appeared in other shows that I enjoy. Chatwin is one of them, as he is one of the stars of Showtime's Shameless, a woefully underrated series. It was great to see some of his earlier work here on Lost.
I might add that I first saw Jorge Garcia (Hurley) on the Fox show Alcatraz (which deserved a shot to make it instead of the one season it got). Granted, I already knew Garcia had been a star on Lost, but it's still fun to see him emerge as a celebrity on this show. A well-deserved celebrity status, I might add.
I'm sure there will be other examples of this phenomenom, and probably there were some that I already missed. Remember, I was "lost" from 1998-2010 when it came to great TV shows (or any adult-oriented media, for that matter). I've had to do a lot of catching up, which is why I subscribed to Netflix in the first place.
@Miles - I was begging my friends and family to comment on the blog back then. I knew a bunch of them were reading it but no one would post comments. Fortunately, the internet eventually took over and let them off the hook! :-)
Yeah...good point on the symbolism. Of course, I looked way too much into that back in the day. If you look at it from a thematic and writing standpoint, you're absolutely right.
Nice on catching on to the WEED! lol Yep, when I watched Shameless for the first time I said, that's Eddie from that one episode of LOST! (that's how obsessed I AM with LOST.)
That's weird to think Jorge Garcia was not seen as Hurely first for you. I watched and blogged about Alcatraz (on my other blog). It was a rough first season. Both good and bad stuff happening. I thought it ended in a place that was setting up a great season 2.
Yeah...Hurley certainly was a fan favorite!
Hi Mike! i read your blog! I, like Miles, just started watching Lost! I found your blog soon after and have been reading your thoughts and comments after each episode since season 2! Hehe! I'm so glad you did this blog! Since most. My friends saw the show in real time they either don't care or don't remember enough of the details to discuss all the craziness with me! Lol so thanks for keeping me same between each epi!
Most of my friends* Sane*
@Encourage Hope - Great to hear you're watching LOST and found the blog too! Can't believe anyone would forget the details of LOST! Of course, I'm a little crazy and still obsessed with the show, so always happy to discuss it with new fans. Enjoy the blog, thanks for reading and feel free to comment as you progress along!
I also read the blog. New to lost so watching it all on amazon instant video in ine shot.
Thanks for posting anonymous! (And maybe clover too but that might be spam lol). Love that people are still finding the blog resourceful. Enjoy the show and the discussions!
This is awesome! Thanks man, 10 years after haha
Hi Mike, I READ THIS BLOG!
lol thanks for letting me know! eventually people started commenting so I didn't beg as much! :) enjoy the read and the show!
So I've watched 1st three episodes of season 3... No mid season break for me as I am watching about 3 episodes per day from midnight to about 2.30am as there are no adverts on Amazom Prime Video.
In reply to your comment on my last post, yes these days series is still used in the UK for home UK shows as they tend to be much shorter in length and no set over a regular TV "season" and we don't have weeks off with no new show with the exception of live sport in the slot that the show is in, which is quite rare these days. But US shows tend to be referred to as in seasons to reflect the fact that 20 or so shows can be dragged out for 9 months in the US.
I was going to comment on the timeline if the show and particularly how unrealistic it is to me that this island is effectively undiscovered by the normal world, considering Google Earth existed in 2004 (I think?) and so alsorta of amateur detectives would have gone to investigate it. The story of the french lady going there with other scientists has not been explored but that would mean it was known about but not mapped at all. The island is pretty big and so for it to be off-record it must be a New World Order style conspiracy going on where the ruling powers control it but lie to the world about its existence. We got that tiny glimpse at the end of season 2 where the outside world is involved to some degree... But all seems really implausible at the moment.
The thing that annoys me about the show is the religious elemwnt to it. I understand that much of what religious people believe and take to be true is no more believable to others than what goes on on this island... But despite that, the way that religion is normalised is annoying. The baby baptism storyline where Claire who is not slightly religious would based on a vision of someone else would not only effectively convert to a religion, but would allocate their child to that religion too with no moral hesitation with the child not able to make their own mind up about it. This was not meant to be challenged by the viewer as anything but normal behaviour and while i realise that is the sort of thing people do in real life, it is annoying to see, and it is almost like the writers want to say that the programme isn't just promoting weirdness, as God is there too. The way that Eko was turned into the good guy for being a fake priest. I'm probably reading way too much into it :)
I was also thinking of Henry and his age and how he could have lived there all his life. Presumably that cable in the sea gives them Internet access and to the outside world... But it must go somewhere... Lots of talk about how the currents always bring you back and you can never escape, which makes me think Michael and Walt may be back after all... All the anomolies in the island look man made like the electromagnetic things but arranging for no-one to be ever get away from the island, especially considering how far you CAN get seems a very far fetched proposition to achieve.
The talk of the missing day for Locke Desmond etc was interesting... And Hurley's deja Vue... Does maybe everyone have slightly differing timelines and Hurley and Desmond both experienced one thing that is now repeated for everyone else including them?
I feel like Libby being in the same mental hospital that Hurkey was needed more exploring and I wonder if that will come up again? It does seem that some people on the island are able to have their thoughts and dreams influenced to give them messages... A nice experiment for the sons of Darma to investigate. I wonder if there is another pod that sends the messages to them?
Too many questions... It is 2.30am... Too much to do before bed but another episode is asking to be watched. Am I being influenced by the programme to stay up late and not sleep by watching more. Maybe my timeline is being affected too :)
Lots of great stuff here! Unfortunately I can’t say too much but it’s cool to see you thinking about stuff we did. Without spoiling I will say we might have overthought a lot of stuff when all is said and done but that was the fun of it!
I’m sorry to say but they will continue to explore faith vs science. So religion will continue to play a factor for some on the island. But there may be other ways to interpret things as well. That’s as vague as I can be. The first 3 seasons were standard us network shows of 22-25 eps. After that they agreed to run 3 more seasons or a shorter size. S4 ended up being even shorter because of a writers strike but they still were able to come back and conclude the season. They made up the ep count in 5 and 6. As far as the island not being found you’ll get more info on that. I don’t want to spoil! Keep the comments coming.
I saw you posted on the next ep too. I’m supposed to be doing my Santa duties right now but waiting for my daughter to get back to sleep! I’ll catch up over the weekend hopefully! Happy holidays!!
Hi Mike I read this blog! Watching now and reading your blog as each episode finishes - great stuff!
Lol, thanks for letting me know!! I remember back in these early days I was sending emails out to people I knew to get them to read, but no one would jump in the comments and say anything. (Blog started out as just an email that went out before I started posting them online) Anyway, the internet eventually finds the blog and the discussions get better here. Enjoy the ride of the show and enjoy the spoiler free discussions! :)
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