Friday, June 06, 2008

There's No Place Like Home recap part 2



After Sayid asked the man in the car if he had the time did you catch what his answer was going to be? That's right "8:15", was his answer. It would be cool if Sayid started using that as like a calling card. Killing the people out to get the
O6 at 8:15. He could be the 8:15 assassin. Inside the loony bin, Hurley is playing chess and doesn't seem all that happy to see Sayid. Sayid wants Hurley to come with him as he wants to take Hurley "someplace safe". Sounds a little cryptic to me, but anyone else think it involves Ben and the island? Sayid tells Hurley that Bentham is dead and that they are calling it a suicide inferring that it must not have been a suicide. Hurley almost says Bentham's real name but is quickly shushed up by Sayid. He tells Hurley that they are being watched. Hurley's line about paranoia was another classic Hurley line. The writers of the show are all a cut above but there's nothing like a script that team "Darlton" write. They must have already talked about "going back" because Hurley even asks Sayid as much; "We're not going back are we?". Sayid tells him "No, just someplace safe.", that's a lie but right now Sayid knows it's the only way to get Hurley to come along peaceful like. Especially since it's after visiting hours and we don't need Hurley making a scene, now do we? Hurley stops for a second and makes one more move on the chess board and then he says "Checkmate, Mr. Eko." Well my bladder let loose on that one, that's all I can say.

Lapidus still can't find the freighter as Jack tells Kate that they will refuel and go back for Sawyer. Yeah that's really gonna happen. About them not being able to find the island; we know that the island is moving at a different pace than the freighter. Daniel's experiments and the doctor's body washing up on shore before he was killed on the freighter is all the proof we need to understand this. I don't know exactly why yet, but we know it's a fact. We also saw Desmond and one of the freighter crew start moving the freighter in part one of the finale. Would it have moved that much though? Enough that Frank wouldn't be able to see it? Anyway, eventually Hurley spots the freighter, as luck would have it.



A blood-gargling Keamy tells Ben that Widmore will find him wherever he goes. As Keamy dies Ben tells him "Not if I find him first.". And we got a red light on the dead man's trigger and we got one on the freighter as well.



With five minutes left in the tank, Desmond goes to get a life vest and readies to abandon ship. "Bloody hell!", is his reaction when he sees the chopper coming back. Lapidus is the only one who keeps his cool as he knows bomb or no bomb he has to land. Frank gets out of the chopper and all of a sudden we have LOST's version of a NASCAR pit stop. Michael runs out of juice and he tells Jin to go. "You're a father now." is an ironic line for Michale to use since he was always the father that was separated from his son. Michale has given up, earlier in the season when he told Sayid he was there to die, he meant it. We see what Jack meant when he yelled to Kate "I saved you!" back in Something Nice Back Home. In "saving Kate" he seals Jin's fate. The chopper takes off as Jin runs out on deck. He should have just got a life vest and kept running. Sun is the first 06er to say the words "We have to go back!", maybe she didn't mean it the same way Jack says it to Kate in the flash forward but it looks kind of obvious that she won't be hard to convince to go back to the island. Once again we hear the whispers as Michael's freezie pop runs dry. Interesting that it was Christian that showed up and tells Michael he can go now. There were several choices that could have been made but there's a reason, I guess, that it was Christian that came to Michael. ...And "Boom" goes the dynamite! The CGI freighter sinking was a little cheesy but not that bad, and it sank fast. Devastated and desperate Jack tells Lapidus to fly them back to the island. Good idea, bet Frank wishes he thought of that himself.



Sun is in London and she wants to have a meeting with Widmore. Apparently Paik and Widmore do have something working together. Widmore tells Sun they like to golf. What a coincidence, so does Sayid. I like subtle little clues like that. Sun asks Widmore to stop with the bullshit; "Are you really going to pretend you don't know who I am?" she asks him. Widmore tries to keep up the facade but Sun won't allow that. She owes that to herself, Jin, and their baby. She continues to inform him that "You know we've been lying all this time about where we were and what happened to us there." She also tells him they have a common interest and then hands him her business card. She tells Widmore that when he is ready to discuss them, to give her a call. Then the best part of the conversation; "You know we're not the only ones who left the island.". Who does she mean? Desmond? Ben? Widmore himself? "Why would you want to help me?" Widmore asks her. Did she ever say she was trying to help him? I didn't hear her say that. I'm sticking with she is just using him to get back to the island. Ben has had plenty of time to have already been working on some of the 06. We know he has Sayid in his camp. Sayid goes and gets Hurley and I'm betting that Sun has already been approached by Sayid and/or Hurley. Maybe even Ben as well. We are being led to believe that she blames her father and Jack for the death of Jin. I'm not ready to believe that even though she no-shows Christian's funeral and Jack is nowhere to be found when Hurley visits her and goes to Jin's grave. Hurley even says "Good." when he arrives and discovers nobody else is coming to the grave. Is Sun pissed at Jack for the whole "we gotta lie to them" act. Yes. I think she has also had a visit from Jeremy Bentham and she now knows Jin isn't dead at all and is alive on the island. My money is on Widmore as the other person she blames even though she knows Jin isn't dead but she is doing a good job of keeping the lie going.

In the orchid, Locke asks Ben why he would kill Keamy when he knew it would blow up the freighter. Ben explains it as "good command decisions get compromised by bad emotional decisions.". He almost said that from memory like it was said to him once upon a time. I might have to give him a pass now for killing Keamy and blowing up the freighter. I mean look at it this way - I've never had a daughter get shot in the back of the head and die right in front of me. Like Rose told Miles I've got my eye on him now though. John Locke is repeating history as he once again finds himself underground in another Dharma Initiative station with the fate of the island in the balance. Whereas Desmond once turned the fail safe key inside the belly of the Swan, now Ben volunteers to turn a much larger device at the Orchid, a mystical wheel far deeper below the island.



Juliette is drinking Dharma rum (what didn't those people have?) as the "Sexy Sawyer Show" continues. In a scene that reminds us of a similar scene in Confidence Man "AquaSawer" comes out of the water with no shirt on. You mean those pants weren't getting in the way too? Jeez I feel so ripped off! Unlike Charlie, Sawyer made it back to the island and asks Juliette what she is celebrating. Why does Sawyer look so good after his heroic leap from the chopper? The island and the water around it sure can make a guy clean up both mind, body and spirit. Juliette tells him that she isn't celebrating and gestures out to sea. Guess she was honouring all her dead homeys with the bottle of rum. "That our boat?" Sawyer asks her. "It was." she tells him hinting at they now think Kate, Jack and everyone on the helicopter and freighter is dead. Guess there's nothing left for them to do next season but have some hot jungle sex.



Ben puts on the "Haliwax" parka and says he is going someplace cold. He tells Locke he isn't going with him because Jacob wants Ben to suffer the consequences of moving the island alone. What consequences? Whoever moves the island can never come back. Could Widmore have moved the island in the past? Maybe he did and didn't know the consequences. Maybe that wasn't the consequences then. Maybe that was used as a punishment. Maybe he was tricked into doing it by Ben. All good theories at this point. Ben gives Locke full command of the Others. They are ready, willing, and able to share what they know and then they will follow Locke's every word. Ben says this from experience. This is what happened to him at some point. Maybe not the moving the island part but they shared all the island secrets with him and they followed his every word. Ben tears up as he says goodbye to Locke. I'm not sure he was saying "I'm sorry I made your life so miserable" to Locke. Could Jacob have been standing there with them? If he was talking to Locke just how long has he been making Locke's life miserable? "What am I supposed to tell them?", Locke then asks Ben. Ben only gives this sage advice - "You'll find your way, you always do John.". Then Locke arrives at his peoples camp. Wow it looks kind of depressing now doesn't it? Locke has that "I just got the keys to the Titanic" look on his face. Two minutes after it hit the iceberg. Then Alpert says "Welcome Home" and Locke smiles and nods. It took Locke and the others a long time to get here.

"Hey hey Johnny, can't you come out to play in your empty garden?" Bernie Taupin/Elton John

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." - Archimedes



Ben goes through the vault/chamber thing and goes down further. We see what he meant by "going someplace cold" and we also see how he injured his arm. Now we know where he came from when he jumped into the desert. I first thought when he jumped to the desert that he thought he was jumping someplace cold but now we know he came from someplace cold. This can also put to rest that Ben jumped into the desert right before he called the smoke monster back in "The Shape of Things to Come". Down deep is the "frozen donkey wheel". We were kind of duped in that last years finally was called "the snake in the mailbox" and it didn't involve a snake nor a mailbox. I didn't realize they were being literal this time. Clever work, boys, hiding it in plain sight like that. The wheel that would be turned to move the island was located in a station known as the Orchid. One genus of orchid is the Donkey Orchid, named for its appearance reminiscent of a donkey's (or a bunny's) big ears. And buried deep beneath the orchid nursery, there was indeed a Wheel. A Frozen Wheel. To which Ben yoked himself much like a very determined Donkey. The Dharma Initiative had a lot of the same type lanterns. They were also heavy into hieroglyphics. Ben starts to free the wheel from the frozen embrace and says "I hope you're happy now Jacob.". I am beginning to wonder if Ben and Jacob have ever been on good terms. We hear the "sky is turning a different color" noise as Ben turns the wheel. Instead of purple this time the sky goes an eerie and bright white. The "purple-sky" event caused by the destruction of the Swan station helped make the island visible to the outside world, but this second flash of blinding light creates the opposite result. The white light begins at the wheel and the chamber Ben is in and soon engulfs the entire island. Ben begins to full on cry as the light surrounds him and we know where he goes. We see everyone bathed in the white light. Then the island "seems to disappear but in reality ...". We have to wait for next season until Haliwax or someone else tells us.

"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice
." - Robert Frost

"Where the hell's the island?" Lapidus asks. "It's gone!" Hurley does his best Mr. Obvious impression. Mark this moment on your LOST calendar as the moment when Jack started to believe some of the things Locke had been telling him all this time. Chopper number 842 (not 815 but close enough) takes a header into the ocean. Everyone is okay except for Desmond. They pull him into the life boat (heh it's called a life boat for a reason folks) and Jack gives him CPR. This is the second amazing kiss of the episode. The kiss of life. Desmond comes back and watch his face when he does, did he just do a patented Desmond time jump? Maybe he was unconscious for a reason. Wonder if he got another visit from the old lady in the antique store?




Kate gets a visitor and a weird backwards messaged phone call that when reversed tells her to go back to the island. Some have said that the voice sounds like either Sawyer of Locke or a combination of the two. She gets a gun (not feeling very safe Kate?) and bursts into Aaron's room. Notice the White Rabbit poster on the door. Claire is with Aaron, wait, who? Claire warns Kate - "Don't you dare bring him back!". With that scene I think we can agree Claire is dead. Then Kate wakes up and goes to check on Aaron who is sleeping soundly. Kate cries and apologizes to Aaron. What is she sorry for? Is she sorry for what she did in the past? Or what she didn't do? Or for what she is about to do? Like say take Arron back to the island?



On the lifeboat it's now night and Kate says "It's a miracle" that Aaron is okay. Jack still doesn't believe in miracles. Hurley then marvels at the fact that Locke actually did move the island. Jack disagrees and Hurley gives him the "Oh really?". He wants to know if Jack has a better explanation. Lapidus sees a boat and I guess I've been screwed over by this show too many times, but for a moment I expected to see Mr. Friendly show up and deliver his "We're gonna have to take the boy." line again. Jack then tells himself first and then everybody else that they are going to have to lie. Jack's making progress in the "I believe in Locke" field. On the Searcher we see one of the Portuguese guys from the arctic monitoring station from two season finales ago. I didn't understand a thing the guy said except for the Ms. Widmore part. Desmond did too. We get our Desmond and Penny reunion that we have been waiting almost three season for. The third kiss of the episode is the sweetest and most touching. This one is far different than the one between Sawyer and Kate. The kisses were spaced at even points in the episode, near the ends of each of the two hours. Just as one was the fulfillment of a promise made, the other was the humble request of a new promise. One was a kiss of reunion, of lovers reunited after eight long years of often bitter separation. The other was the kiss of lovers being parted, seemingly forever, by an insurmountable wall of time and space. We know the promise becomes sacred to Kate and that she keeps it secret even three years into the future. We also know that, just like Penelope, Kate will become briefly engaged to another man. And just like Desmond, we know that, when our story resumes Sawyer will have spent three years stranded on a magical island, lost in time and space. The parallel of the two couples was beautifully done. This was not an episode to fight about which kiss was more spectacular. This was an episode to celebrate romantic love at its most magical. Sawyer watched Kate disappear and Kate watched Sawyer disappear. Many wheels are going to have to turn, all in the right alignment, before time and space reunite them.

When Desmond promises Penny he will never leave her again this could turn out to be true. He means it but if the island will let him keep that promise or not still remains to be seen. Jack tells Penny "we have to talk". Hopefully Jack told her everything, and I mean everything. About the island, about her father, and hopefully Desmond can fill in the rest of the spaces. An interestng thought - can we now connect Libby to Widmore since she is the one who gave Desmond the boat that gets him to the island? Or does her connection go deeper to the island itself and the others or even Dharma? We were promised some more of her story this season, I guess the writer's strike cheated us out of that. Hopefully just for this season and we will get more on her next year. I hope in the week that went by Jack also got Frank in on some of the discussions. If so I think we can expect to see him back next season as well.



They leave and head to Mambata. Sayid is now down with the lie as he tells Hurley that it is the only way to keep the other survivors on the island safe. So even though they are on the boat for a week I know they couldn't clean up too much but did you notice they were sure to make us see that the injuries they had when they arrived at the boat they still had some remnants of them? The islands healing powers have worn off a little. So, yeah, Jack couldn't shave and neither could the rest of the O6 but Desmond could have and Frank could have cleaned up a bit. Maybe that is cleaned up for him. I told you before I apreciate irony and sometimes it's very subtle on this show. There was some when Jack says goodbye to Frank - "Hope I never see you again Frank." That almost gaurantees he will. This time Jack says "see you in another life Brutha" to Desmond and we already know the ironic twist that line has. There's just no way they can write off one of the more popular characters on the show and think about it, name one thing Desmond has done wrong since he appeared on the show? Go ahead, try. Desmond tells Jack that as long as he has Penny he will be fine. Hey, isn't Ben after Penny? Uh oh! Jack warns him - "Don't let them find you.". Don't let who find you? And what happens if they do? It will be interesting to see what role, if any, Desmond will play in the mythology of Lost, now that the sailor is home from the sea, and Ulysses is back in the arms of his Penelope.



The cinematographers must have seen Rocky Horror a few times because when the O6 wash up on Mambata it's "the same room different color" scene LOST style. No other beach area available for that scene? If you haven't seen Rocky Horror you didn't get that last joke. I'm sorry for your ignorance. The O6 get their picture taken by one of the natives of Mambata. Who the hell snapped that photo? Guess they had a digital in one of those grass huts we saw on the beach.



Jack goes back to Hoffs Drawler after Kate shoots him down. He then makes a nocturnal admission into the funeral parlor. Interesting that they did a close up on Jack breaking the lock(e) as he adds breaking and entering to his list of things he has done wrong since coming back from the island. Jack is wracked with grief (and guilt?) as he stands next to the coffin. Hey, who is that lying on a slab in a clear body bag in the back? Is that another Michale sighting? No, I'm not gong there. Just an observation and proof they really are running out of extras. Jack sees the release form with Jeremy Bentham's name on it. Now at first the letters B-E-N jumped out at me. Ben in the coffin? "Hello Jack." Ben is there! When Ben and Jack talk, Ben actually seems a little comforting to Jack. Or is he just being patronizing and Jack can't even tell at this point? I don't think I've ever described Ben as comforting before so mark that one in your journals. This is obviously their first meeting in three years. They have a lot to catch up on. "He" had told Jack that Ben was off the island. Wonder if he told Jack how and why? Jack also tells Ben that "he" went to see Kate as well. "He" told Jack that a lot of bad things happened after Jack left the island and that it was Jack's fault. "He" also told Jack that he had to go back to the island. Then Ben tells Jack he knows about Jack's recent plane trips hoping they will crash. "It's dark Jack, very dark." Who told Ben about the plane trips? I really have no guess on this one. Ben tells Jack the island won't let him come alone. All of them have to go back. Jack starts with the list of the who's and the why's the rest won't go back with him. Ben tells him he can help and that he has a few ideas. Ben has been thinking about this for a while apparently and has been preparing for this day. Jack officially gives up all control and finally falls into the "Man of Faith" roll as he now has to put his fate into the hands of Ben, solely on faith. "Jack, I said all of you. We're going to have to bring him too." And the camera pans to the open coffin and inside we see that Jeremy Bentham is John Locke. And crash to black!



Throughout literature, there are countless stories about characters returning home from adventures in mysterious faraway lands. Frank L. Baum’s famous story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which made famous this episode’s title phrase, offers one major example. LOST, however, by no means follows this typical story structure. Instead, the opening scene of the finale actually begins where most of these stories end: a group of characters safely returns home to their families after a harrowing journey abroad. From there, the series of flash-forwards reveals what happens next after that "happily ever after". The momentary happiness from their return steadily transforms into a more lasting state of despair, and our characters remain as lost as ever. By the end of the episode, the title phrase There’s No Place Like Home no longer refers to their return to the mainland. Instead, it becomes increasingly clear that the Island is the one true Home for all of these characters. Along the way, there are several other suggestions to this effect: Locke’s desperate plea to Jack, Miles’ decision to stay, the revelation about Charlotte’s birthplace. Even Charles Widmore himself seems to be yet another man obsessed with returning home to the island. Home meant one thing to these people before they came to the island, but it transformed into another. As expected, the climactic ‘movement’ of the island served as perhaps the most important event of the episode. Moving the entire island sounds like such a ridiculous scenario on many levels, and so the writing of the episode wisely decided to highlight its humor rather than avoid it. The interplay between Ben and Locke at the Orchid station ranks as perhaps the funniest sequence of the entire season. Afterwards, though, Jack’s reaction of intense denial of the event (“No, he didn’t.”) almost topped it for comedic effect. Hurley’s response to Jack comes across as an open challenge for all men and women of science out there to ponder for the rest of the year: “One minute it was there and the next it was gone, so, unless we … like … overlooked it, dude, that’s exactly what he did. But, if you’ve got another explanation, man, I’d love to hear it.” For the entire season, and indeed the entire series, Jack Shephard had been trying to lead his people as far away from the island as possible. In their final conversation on the island, Locke made one final plea to Jack to stay on the island before his descent underground to move the island. Thanks to the detonation of the bomb on the freighter, though, those plans to escape the island failed. In the last moments before the island disappears, the helicopter is not flying away to the mainland, but frantically trying to get back to the island safely. Jack did not lead the people away from the island as he wanted, but instead Locke actually moved the island away from the people.



Okay, here goes the Jeremy Bentham part of the post. Thanks to my dear friend Cerpts I was informed that Jeremy Bentham was also a philosopher like Locke, Hume, and Hobbs (Tom Friendly's real last name was Hobbs btw). He died a long time ago but he's not buried. They even roll him out for important meetings and voting on college things that need voting on. They usually mark him as present but not voting. If there is a tie he always votes in favor of the motion. Jeremy Bentham's body is preserved, known as the Auto Icon, in South Cloisters of University College London. Look the rest up on Wikipedia if you want to read more about it. So could this mean that that really isn't Locke in the coffin but a stuffed version of him? Cerpts was also the first to point this out. Guess Jack will need that body release form after all. Better hurry boys, that body ain't gonna keep.

21 comments:

Cerpts said...

Dude, it doesn't REALLY take THAT much to release your bladder (or bowels, more pointedly) but that Eko moment was indeed a seat-wetter.

Cerpts said...

You are so right. Jin shoulda just jumped off the freighter and made with the doggie paddle. Of course, while Sawyer jumped and swan back to the island, there wasn't enough time, had Jin jumped, for HIM to make it back to the island before it "moved". So Jin woulda probably just drowned. HOWEVER there is STILL that unanswered question about the raft with Twitchy Dan -- did it "move" with the island or did it just continue to float around. Who was all on it. And if they didn't go with the island, did they just die or were they picked up??? Of course, taking things a bit further, we didn't actually SEE Jin get blown up and it's entirely POSSIBLE that he DID jump off the freighter. And having done so maybe he WAS picked up by Twitchy Dan. See, I'm grasping at straws still trying to come up with SOME scenario to make Jin not deaded.

Cerpts said...

How great is it that Sun bought controlling interest! As you said quite a while ago, you think there's more involvement by Mr. Paik than has been let on. Golf buddies indeed. And yes, Sun never offered to "help" Widmore. But if he wants to think that, who's Sun to correct him. I'm still a little hazy on the timing but is the "London Sun" scene (sorry) taking place before or after the memorial to Jin visit by Hurley in Korea. I'm assuming it is less than the "3 years after leaving the island" scene between shiny Kate and submarine-commander beard Jack at the airport. It is quite possible (and probable) SOMEBODY has been in contact with Sun all this time - Ben, Hurley, Sayid or the Easter Bunny. LOST being LOST, I'm sure Sun's offering of her card to Widmore can't be taken at purely face value. Although I did notice Sun's no show at Christian's funeral. Hmmmm...

Cerpts said...

So. Could Jin actually still be alive on the island???

Cerpts said...

The Juliette/AquaSawyer scene features some of my favourite acting in the entire series by whatsername. Her facial expression and tone of voice when she answers Sawyer's "That our boat?" was 100% spot on. So many emotions and thoughts are going on there. But I'm voting a no on the "hot jungle sex" next season. Nope, don't see it happening.

Cerpts said...

The concept of Widmore having moved the island in the past thus preventing himself from ever finding the island is an idea I frankly never even thought of. But that would explain a whole lot!

Cerpts said...

Hurley's "Oh really?" response to Jack's pooh-poohing of Locke's moving the island was another favourite moment of the episode. Good for Hurley! Rub Jack's nose in it. Of course, technically Hurley's actually wrong since Locke didn't do nothin' it was Ben that moved the island. But it was still great.

Cerpts said...

You sir have been annoyed by Doctor Dumbo (oh, uh, Jack) practically from the beginning. I was never bothered too much by him and would probably have willing trusted him as leader had I been one of the inmates of the island. Until the events of the past season, of course, where my thinking about Jack has come around to yours. However, also not quite from the beginning but for at least a couple seasons, Locke has annoyed the hell out of me. And I think it's interesting to note that not only does the smug Locke (who tells Jack "Just wait'll you see what I'm about to do") in fact does absolutely nothing while Ben "moves" the island, he also looks completely clueless when he meets up with the Others as their new leader. Poor Others. I think I'd prefer Ben back as boss if I were then. I also loved the "no idea what to do next" Locke we saw this season, wandering around looking for something or someone to tell him what to do next (and how Ben rubbed THAT in was priceless also). Now, the fact that we see Locke in the box (sorry) I think it underlines the fact more than ever that, while Doctor Dumbo has proven himself monumentally ineffectual so has (and will) Locke. It would make me the happiest little LOST viewer if, when all this is over and done with, both Jack AND Locke (the so-called Man of Science vs Man of Faith axis) are BOTH proven hopeless and wrong. Here's hoping we get Kate or Sawyer as the ultimate heroes of the series because Jack and Locke are both hopelessly inadequate.

Cerpts said...

Oh yeah. Back to the Jack vs Locke thing. I've always felt (and I think the show has hinted at) that Locke is just as dopey for blindly following "faith" or "instinct" as Jack is dopey for blindly following "science" or "logic" or whatever you want to call it. The middle way the middle way. It's all about the middle way. Going to extremes in one direction or the other is not smart whereas utilizing both will get you somewhere. It is interesting that this middle way, illustrated by a passle of other Buddhist symbolism sprinkled throughout the show may point very clearly to the creators' true intent as regards to this. To which I naturally, heartily agree.

Cerpts said...

Hoffs Drawler. That's an anagram of what now?????

And "nocturnal admission". Oh, you bad. You so bad!

Cerpts said...

Aww, plug for me and Jeremy Bentham. This stuffed guy has been known to me since I was a kid and I read it in THE BOOK OF LISTS and naturally, as soon as I heard the guy in the coffin was Jeremy Bentham I went DING John Locke. There have been a couple philosophers' names sprinkled through the series but the most prominent character was Locke. To me it was obvious but I guess the vast majority of viewers weren't as familiar with ole stuffed Jeremy as I was.

Cerpts said...

And dude, have you read THE HERO WITH 1,000 FACES yet. Or seen THE POWER OF MYTH dvds with Joseph Campbell? You might gain some more ammunition from them (and what ELSE do you have to do till LOST comes back next year anyway?!?!?!)

Cerpts said...

Just one more word about that whole "middle way" being better than either one extreme or another. It might be interesting to mention that Flight 815 broke into 3 pieces when it crashed. Of all 3 sections of the plane, it is the middle section which has fared the best. The front or cockpit had everyone dead except the pilot who was quickly snatched up by the "monster". The tail section had better luck but had much less survivors originally than the middle section. These numbers were VERY quickly reduced to a handful. And one by one, even that handful (Ana Lucia, Eko, Libby) were despatched. Whose left now from the tailies? Bernard? I'd say that the greater amount of middle section survivors tells us it was better to be in the middle section of the plane than the front or tail. Could this also be one more indication by the LOST creators that it's better to stick to the middle than to veer off to extremes. Just a thought.

Cheeks DaBelly said...

And away we go with some more comments to answer or comment back. Okay, you want an even better scenario that makes Jin not dead? He has a contract for next year. The producers have said Jin is back next year. I don't see him in flashbacks or even taller able to speak perfect english Jin so I'm saying he made it just fine. Daniel and his tie probably pick Jin up and they probably also moved with the island. It's after the memorial. Remember the baby was still a new born and Sun talks to her daughter on the phone before seeing Widmore. I'm guessing the way they showed the flash forwardses that they all happen in the span of the same month or so. I don't see Sawyer and Juliete hokking up boddy either that was pretty much tongue in cheek commentary. Now as far as my Jack bashing. I have taken a lot of heat for my stance on the good(?) doctor. Like you, I too would have followed him in the first season. Would have started to doubt him a little bit in the second season. Lost (he he) all confidence in him in the third season and this season I would have been with Locke's group. With that being said, I got some serious crapola to lay on you during the summer that may put the Doc in a different light. And as you have said, my feelings for Locke pretty much mirror your in that I didn't care for him at all in season 1 and two and started to come around in season three and I was fully behind him this season. With that being said, I believe season 5 will have me beginning my 180 turn and going back towards Jack. Especially if all of my theories that I have yet to dump onto you all is correct. Or even in the freaking ballpark that is. Interesting you bring up buddhism as that very concept plays a huge part of my new branch of theorizing. More on that also over the hiatus. (I can't write it all man I ain't got the time.) The book and the DVDs you mention will be put on my list of shite to do until January. And as far as your stuck in the middle with you theory, I like it. Exactly what the purpose of me writing these posts are - to bounce ideas and theories off of you and everyone else that reads my posts (but don't comment and instead email me) and then have an even more deeper understanding about the show. I have a lot left to go through until I run out of LOST related material.

Cheeks DaBelly said...

oh and maybe the occasional poop or pee story for you.

Cerpts said...

I don't think you got what I was saying about Locke -- because far from mirroring your feelings I'd say they're exactly the opposite: I liked him in season one and have been steadily NOT liking him since. In fact, I think Jack and Locke have been on exactly the same "dislike curve" with me -- I liked them both at the start and have steadily come to feel they're both full of horse hockey. Far from being "fully behind him this season", I found Locke to be particularly useless this season. The continuing condescending way Ben has been relating to Locke echo my feelings. Did you see the way Ben rolled his eyes when Locke asked him "Is this the magic box". Ben eye roll. "Uh....no dumbass!" Um, maybe Ben actually said "No, John" but he MEANT dumbass. And like I said, he was totally clueless as to what to do and how to find Jacob's cabin -- and as was noted he certainly didn't move the island; Ben did. Damn, Locke couldn't even find the flower for the entrance to the orchid station (when you said yourself it was pretty obvious as the big ole potted plant there). In fact, there was ANOTHER great condescending Ben moment when he says to Locke "Couldn't find the flower, eh?" and waggles the flower (bright as day) with his finger. That's not to mention Jack's actually quite to the point comment that practically everybody that went with Locke to New Otherton ended up croaked. As far as a race for last place in the "effectual" dept., I think Locke and Jack are running neck and neck. And as we see Jack actually changing his tune in the funeral home and appearing to finally go along with Ben, I'd say the chances of my mind changing about Jack are quite good. He's finally learning to bend with the wind instead of stubbornly tilting against it. Whereas I can't really see Locke changing his ways, it certainly looks good that Jack will change his. I can't wait to hear the "secret poop" you have for us this summer. I wonder if they'll confirm my suspicions?

Cerpts said...

Oh, I forgot to mention... heh heh. . .

Another thing that got me to find Locke annoying: the way he deals with unexpected obstacles. We all know how Jack deals with them; he continues to think he's right, puts his head down and barrels ahead (usually right up his own ass). However, Locke has many times demonstrated his reactions to the same situation is to deny that it can be happening. Exhibit A: ceasing to put the numbers in the Hatch computer. When Desmond insists they must, Locke shoots the computer so they can't. Nothing will happen, he says. Then when something happens, Locke's response is to stand there with a dumb look on his face thinking "But this CAN'T be happening." Or to look at Mr. Eko (who insisted something WOULD happen) and to say meekly "I was wrong". Gee, really? Thanks for the newsflash Locke. Then he lets Ben lead him to a pit full of Dharma corpses and shoot him in the moodeek. Not only did he not see it coming but his response when he doesn't die immediately is to reach for one of the corpses guns and blow his brains out. If it hadn't been for Kobe er um I mean Ghost Walt... well, you get the idea. I don't know which response is more annoying: Jack's or Locke's. As I said, they're BOTH pretty lame.

Cerpts said...

You know, come to think of it...both Jack and Locke have the SAME response to unexpected obstacles. They BOTH continue to think THEIR way has to be right and when confronted with contrary evidence (like everything going to hell around them), they deny the evidence right in front of them and refuse to believe they were wrong. Huh. I just thunk of that. The two so-called opposites (man of science vs. man of faith) are exactly the same...mirror images of each other...man of bullheaded stubbornness vs. man of bullheaded stubbornness.

Cheeks DaBelly said...

Alright enough of that bullcrap you wanna go to the mvies with us tomorrow?

Cerpts said...

Tomorrow??? Tuesday???

Cheeks DaBelly said...

Actually I posted that Saturday. I meant sunday. Oh well.