The Midside

To Fill the Requirements You Must Know the Requirements

2011-12-23T15:00:00.007-05:00

"Ok, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase. It's on our buffs. It's about outwitting, outlasting, and outplaying. And when it comes to outplaying I felt like I held my own in challenges. When it came to individual immunity, I won three individual immunities. When it came to outwitting, I definitely felt like there were two parts to it. And one part was the strategic part. And I felt like I did that well. I made a five person alliance from the beginning and I wanted to keep that five person alliance to the end. And it wasn't necessarily the easiest thing to do, but I made sure that my strategy revolved around it. And then the other half of outwitting I think was the social game. And I think it became more clear to me a couple tribals ago that maybe I wasn't so good at the social game. I felt like I made some genuine friendships back at Upolu, but, you know, I’m not a used car salesman. I came out here and I was myself. And I do think I was as honest as possible, so I think I filled the requirements.” - Sophie Clarke

If a player wants to win the game, he has to convince the jury that he is more deserving than the other two people he is sitting in the final three with (or other person, in the case of a final two). The sticking point here is "deserving." What does it mean to be "deserving" of winning the game? Aren't you just the person who played the game the best? And isn't the person who won the game the person who played the best? Well, yes, but when the game is still being played--which is true while the final tribal council is going on--it's impossible to say who is most deserving based on the criteria of "the person who won the game deserved to win." This is the challenge faced by the players arguing to the jury, and it's what makes Sophie's opening statement so incredible. For the first time in Survivor history--both externally and internally to the game--someone attempted to explain what the requirements are for being deserving of winning the game.

Sophie Clarke delivered the best final Tribal Council performance in Survivor South Pacific because she knew what she wanted to say. She broke her game and the game of Survivor down to their most basic level--what their defining characteristic or characteristics are--beyond the generally given "Survivor is Survivor." That statement is certainly true. A thing is what it is. However, it is not sufficient. In order for Sophie to know what she wanted to say, she had to know what she was talking about--the game of Survivor in general and her game specifically. Why? Because every argument is based upon a foundation, some fact or set of facts in reality that the points (and ultimately the claim) in the argument refer to. To better demonstrate what I mean, I'm going to quote Erik Caronda's jury comments from Survivor Samoa:

"If there's one thing that I've learned in this game it is that perception is not reality. Reality is reality, and you (Natalie) are sitting there and that makes you just as dangerous as any one of those guys there. You would say that you are probably the least deserving of the title of Sole Survivor, but maybe, just maybe, in an enviroment filled with arrogance, delusional entitlement, maybe the person who thinks she is least deserving is probably the most."

What Erik is doing here is explaining how his beliefs about the game changed because of what happened in reality. He does this through two steps. First he says that what happens in the game is what happens in the game. The people sitting in the final three are the people sitting in the final three. This statement is the same as the one I already made about who deserves to win the game, just taken back one round of the game to the final three. Second he defines what he thinks are characteristics that a deserving winner would NOT have--arrogance and entitlement. Since Natalie had neither, he deemed her most deserving and voted for her---and because of this content, Erik's speech is the logical predecessor of Sophie's.

What makes Sophie's speech more impressive than Erik's is its two major difference from it. The first is the level of detail. Erik only claimed that someone is, in reality, more deserving of winning the game. He then said that, in the specific instance of Survivor Samoa, Natalie was that person. It's great that he was able to figure it out for his purposes, but not going into detail about what it means to be deserving leaves a player like Sophie in the dark. She is forced to either argue that she deserves to win because she is like Natalie or figure out why Natalie deserved to win beyond the simple statement that she won the game. Sophie tackled that foreboding task with seeming ease.

Just as Erik stated why Mick and Russell didn't deserve to win, Sophie could have easily argued why Albert and Coach didn't deserve to win. Don't misunderstand me. Sophie certainly talked about why Albert and Coach (ok, mainly Albert) shouldn't win at some points, but the primary thrust of her arguments were positive--why she deserved to win. This perspective can clearly be seen in her opening statements. She stated a condition of what it meant to be deserving and then provided a concrete example of how she filled that requirement. She then stated another condition and then another relevant example. It was an approach that let the jury know where she stood and what they would be voting for if they wrote her name down. It was something that Albert and Coach did not do and perhaps the power that pushed her to the final victory.

Being able to argue for herself increased the value Sophie took from the game. She earned the title and the money. She is now a million dollars richer (well, pre-taxes anyway) and is in an elite group of 22 people. The title of Sole Survivor can never be taken away from her for the rest of her life. No matter what happens to her (barring NCAA investigations), she can always look back on her accomplishment and be proud. In other words, in order to be the most deserving, she first had to know what it meant to be most deserving. Only then could she go about checking the boxes and explaining how she did.

Unless we're one of the lucky few who get to play the game, we'll never have a chance to be able to check those boxes. However it is still to our advantage to figure out what they are exactly. Why? Because, like Sophie, the more we know about them, the more value we get out of Survivor. It is impossible to talk about what it means to deserve to win Survivor if you don't know what it means to be deserving. Yes, you can always say a player deserved to win if he won, but that only points back to the question of what does it mean to be deserving. Imagine if Sophie had argued that she deserved to win because she deserved to win. No one would have taken her seriously, and she might not have won at all.

The title of Sole Survivor is an achievement and people deserve to be praised for it. However, they're not the only players who deserved to be praised. Many players check many of the boxes but fail at the most important ones. Knowing what it means for a player to be deserving, allows us as fans to praise players for checking any assortment of boxes--and that is what being a fan is about. You appreciate the thing you're a fan of. I don't know about you, but I'm a fan of Survivor so I appreciate it and those who excel at it.

Erik taught us that Survivor is Survivor (reality is reality). Sophie taught us that there are requirements to fill to win the game. She also provided us with a good start as to what those requirements are. Now it's up to us to define them on a detailed enough level to know who the players we appreciate the most are and argue for them. Otherwise we're just doing Coach Things. I suppose that's good enough for three votes. I just prefer to win.

How to Slay Your Dragon

2011-12-19T23:25:00.016-05:00

In hindsight, foreshadowing is obvious.

"Into every generation she is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the dragons, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer." She is Sophie Clarke. Survivor South Pacific is the story of her rise. Oh, who am I kidding. Her rise is in there and is certainly the payoff to the season long arc, but the story is really about the fall of returning players Coach and Ozzy and their tag-alongs Brandon and Cochran. Yes, that means one thing.

South Pacific is a tragedy. Beloved characters new and old were unable to get their hands on the million, falling victim to their tragic flaws. In essence, they were unprepared to deal with the game because they didn't know how to deal with themselves. It was a theme that began in episode one, as Rick told us that if you aren't prepared, you might as well be spitting in the wind. The assortment of characters then proceeded to tell us all about their pasts and how that would affect them in the game. Most notably, Coach and Ozzy recounted their past mistakes--Coach's inability to be humble and get over doing "Coach Things" and Ozzy's inability to break that final barrier and grasp the million. Then there was Brandon and Cochran, both youthful and tormented trying to make a name for themselves. Brandon wanted to resist the Russell inside and restore his family name. Cochran needed to overcome his inner insecure nerd to use his knowledge of the game to not experience prolonged failure. As we now know, none of them succeeded, and Sophie watched and laughed as it all happened.

Let's start from the earliest boot. Cochran's story is a prime example of how manipulated some of the stories can be. In reality, he was never bullied in the game. However, as the nerd, bullying became the crux of his story. We were meant to feel for Cochran. He was a nice, innocent guy just trying to survive. Unable to escape his past, he turned on his tormentors, leading to their Pagonging and him actually finishing worse than he would have had he stuck with them. The problem was though, he wasn't the only one thinking (I just want to emphasize here: story wise) in these terms. Jim was the one who brought up the cool kids table metaphor in episode two, and he saw himself as barely sitting at it. It was that baggage that caused him to blindside Elyse, which kept Cochran around, which led to the end of Savaii's game.

Then there was Brandon, a character we were supposed to be a bit more conflicted about, but still feel for. We've all (vicariously) experienced the terror of Russell Hantz. We can only imagine what it must be like to grow up under it. This season we got to see the effects of it first hand. Here was a married kid, and yes he was just a kid, with a history of gangs who is just trying to control every urge he has. His method of choice was religion. It was the concretization of everything wrong about him (and, not so coincidentally, Coach) that eventually led to his demise. Per Christian ethics, he forgave his friend Albert and as a gesture gave him the immunity necklace. He was promptly voted out. You see, his inner struggle between good and evil was too much for him and ultimately made the game unimportant to him. There was no redemption for the Hantz family as another name bearer lost the game embarrassingly.

Ozzy and Coach didn't fare too well in their quest for redemption either. Both were undone in the endgame by Sophie and what's surprising is how. Ozzy, in a huge epic storyline, dominated Redemption Island and swayed the jury. This is what he was cast for. It was the perfect storyline, when reality, editing, and how the producers imagined Ozzy all combined into to one runaway fan favorite train. He dominated challenges. He fished better than he ever had. He could let his laid-back likability shine through without any social politics to worry about. He could win his way back into the game and all the way to the end. Then the jury would finally vote for him to win. And he was on pace to do just that until the final immunity challenge when, like in the beginning (of his Survivor career and this season), he was done in by cold hard rationality. Sophie is perhaps the most rational character we've seen since Yul, and what sealed her final victory? It was a puzzle (clearly included to favor Rob Mariano). Despite his large lead, the weakness in Ozzy's game came charging back. Call it arrogance, call it entitlement, call it a lack of poise. Ozzy crumbled under the pressure and was slain by Sophie's poise, grace, and logical mind.

Never one to be outdone, Coach met a similar fate at the hands of his alliance mate. No matter how hard the would-be Dragon Slayer tried, he couldn't remain humble. He had to fall back upon "Coach Things." You know how Coach always has to one up people? You know how he has to put on a big show and be a larger than life character? Well, previously it was only about being some amplified version of himself. This time, like last season's story, it was about the game itself. You see, Coach's new thing was to try to be Rob Mariano. Now I'm not saying it was some sort of intentional homage on his part (though I certainly think some of it was). I'm talking story wise. Here's a guy who came into the game and seemingly took control. He built a cult-like alliance. He made a big move involving an emotionalist young player at the merge. It all sounds the same, right? The only problem was it wasn't. Like every other Coach Thing probably is, it was all just a facade, and at the final Tribal Council Sophie let us know just that. She pulled the rug out from Coach, calling herself the strategist, agreeing with Albert that they carried Coach to the end, and, worst of all, labeling Coach and Albert as her two young girls she brought to the end. It was as tragic as a fall for a character as I can imagine in Survivor. Coach went from thinking he was Rob Mariano going into the final Tribal Council to feeling like he was Russell Hantz coming out if it. And it was all because he couldn't get over his Coach Things, making a big show of honor, integrity, religion, and being the Dragon Slayer.

The truth is Coach has never been the Dragon Slayer. What Dragons has he slayed? None. In the words of Mario Lanza, "Coach never slayed shit. He never even slayed the girl who smiled evilly." In fact, there's an editing pattern here: Coach calls himself the Dragon Slayer, Coach doesn't slay Dragon, Coach is mocked by young girl no one took seriously. In Tocantins, it was JT, Stephen, and Taj's move that slayed Brendan. Later Sierra mocked Coach, calling herself the Dragon Slayer. In Heroes vs Villains, Parvati domesticated Russell and mocked Coach by using the dragon terminology at the final Tribal Council. This season, there was Sophie.

Survivor South Pacific may have been about the fall of many, but it was also about the rise of the first and only true Dragon Slayer. While Coach joked around and prayed loudly, Sophie stalked around and preyed silently. She was the opposite of his over the top antics. While he was the center of attention, she observed from the back, taking her time and gathering all the details needed to make her moves--the ones that were always made over everyone else's. Did Cochran and Edna stay even though it was better for Coach that they did? Nope. When Sophie was in danger at the second final five, did Coach turn on her? Nope. And it was at that Tribal Council Sophie showed how to truly deal with your demons. As Ozzy barraged her with insults, pointing out her (possibly tragic) flaw and driving her to tears, she acknowledged it, put it in proper perspective, and regained her poise. Like with all the other information she had gathered, she turned around and used it in the final Tribal Council to argue her case. Most important of all, she actually slayed the dragon: after beating Ozzy in the final immunity challenge, she was knighted by Coach and then declared herself the new Dragon Slayer as she voted out Ozzy. Her victory in the storyline was sealed up at that point because it all comes down to two things:

"It's not how you start, it's how you finish." (Right, Ozzy? Sophie won that last challenge despite all your success beforehand. Don't worry, you can commiserate with Brady and Belichick over it. :/)
"Sometimes it's easier to believe a lie than to accept the truth." (Right, Coach? The more you pretended to be the Dragon Slayer, the less you realized what was actually going on around you.)

And just in case you needed some more evidence that this story of Sophie being crowned the true Dragon Slayer was very intentional, check out this clever inclusion by the editors that Mario Lanza points out here.

The only question left then is what the editors were trying to tell us. If Nicaragua was about why you shouldn't overplay and Redemption Island was about how to play, what was this season about? If you want to beat your opponents, be the Dragon Slayer. Be calm. Be cool. Be collected. Be Sophie. You see, Ozzy's attack against her is simultaneously her weakness and her strength. All season she was shown keeping herself at a distance, subtly and deftly pointing out everyone else's flaws and how they related to the overall picture. It's like she talked about in a post-game interview:

"Dalton Ross: Sophie, there were a lot of comments made about your character in the finale. Would you describe yourself as warm or fuzzy?

Sophie: Wait, are you seriously asking me that question? That is so funny because when I was in college I overheard this girl talking about me and her friend said to her, 'Who is this girl you’re talking about?' and the girl said, 'Her name’s Sophie and she’s not warm or fuzzy or anything!' No, I am neither warm nor fuzzy. I don’t want to be either. Would you ever want to be described as warm or fuzzy?"

Coach says, "I do." And that's why he's not the Dragon Slayer. He tried to be warm and fuzzy, preaching honor and integrity, and offering hugs to the recently voted out all season. What did Sophie do? Nothing except acknowledge that they deserved to go. Because that's how you have to play this game. You have to think about why people deserve to be where they are and what that means to the overall picture.

It's also important for me to be careful here. It could sound like I'm describing Albert, a player whose flaw was simply seeing the game as a board and the players as pieces (and not people). It was concretized visually in his checkers game with Cochran. Understanding that visual metaphor is important to understanding the difference between Albert and Sophie. She talked about it post-game:

"I think Albert seems to be a great guy. He’s attractive, he’s well-spoken, but then you realize that Albert has a superficial take on the world as well. His logic was, 'I gave Cochran a massage, there’s a jury vote.' Everything was black and white. He didn’t think about what does Cochran really want? Does Cochran really want to be sent out with a massage? I think that’s very telling about who Albert is. He’s too smooth."

Survivor is a selfish game. You have to get yourself to the end. But that also means recognizing that other people are selfish too. They also want to get to the end using their own ideas of how and why the game should play out. The key is figuring out what all the different hows and whys are and where they overlap and diverge. That is what Sophie did. When you only see one perspective--your own--you simplify every player down to a chess player and reduce your interactions with them to formulas. That is what Albert did. Why would Cochran want a massage, Albert? How would he respond to being given one? If Albert had heard Cochran's confessional after receiving the gift, maybe he would have changed his approach sooner.

The difficulty of Sophie's approach, however, is being able to vote people out once you learn all about them. This is where her hard exterior and perceived condescension come into play. She is confident in herself. She is there for herself and no one else. She's going to take care of her business. She assumes you're going to take care of yours as well. In Survivor, as well as life, it is the right perspective to have. It just gets difficult sometimes when Ozzy and Whitney bitch at you, fans get annoyed because you don't accept Facebook friend requests from them, and fans get on your case because you just want to spend the day in Hollywood with your family. With a million dollar check in your pocket though it's a lot easier to say, "It's your own life. Live it for yourself."

The truth is Sophie Clarke doesn't care about you. And why should she? It's the reason she won Survivor.

The Walking Dead: How to NOT Become a Zombie

2011-11-30T14:13:00.019-05:00

This is not a defense of The Walking Dead. I refuse to write one. Why? Doing so admits that the attacks against it have some sort of potency. They don’t. Rather, what this is about is what I have found in every negative review and critique of the second season--a disconnect from the basic reality of the show.

“It makes me wonder if we’re even watching the same show.”

If I'm watching a show with any intellectual depth—from Survivor to The Walking Dead—inevitably I or one of my most trusted and respect friends utter that statement at some point. It's hard not to after hearing such derisive responses to what is so obviously so good. That confusion was exactly what was behind my indignation when I read an article on ESPN.com's Grantland that says the following:

It’s important to remember that someone actively chose for it to play out like this, to begin the eagerly anticipated sophomore season of a highly rated show with a never-ending traffic jam and end it stalled out in a field. Whether the blame belongs to executive producer Frank Darabont (who was relieved of his duties at some point during the production of these episodes) or the bean-counters at AMC who decided that, post-Mad Men contract extension, the network could better afford a show in which characters argue about killing zombies rather than actually killing them (sort of like subbing in truffle oil for actual truffles or casting Stephen Dorff after Brad Pitt turns you down), this wasn’t a case of natural storytelling progression or even following the blueprint laid out by the comic. This was an independent and wildly wrongheaded decision to transform a promising series about surviving a zombie apocalypse into an overheated soap opera about rural campsite tension.

(The bolding is mine.)

The surety with which this writer stakes his claims is so disturbing because he omits something that is so on-it's-face obvious that it's laughable. That's right, it's both disturbing and laughable at the same time. Let's start with why it's laughable. The crux of the writer's problem is the second bolded selection from the quote above--that the show purported to be about the zombie apocalypse isn't actually about the zombie apocalypse anymore.

...huh?

Once the zombie apocalypse starts happening, it doesn't stop happening. That's kind of the definition of an apocalypse (unless we're talking about the show Angel). Even if it's not the apocalypse and just a zombie outbreak, the zombies haven't been shown being cured or exterminated yet, so it's still happening. Why when watching would you ever think to yourself "man, it's like there isn't even a zombie apocalypse going on"? Do you not understand the literary concept of a "premise"? When you have that thought and see the characters trapped on a barren farm, making runs into a destroyed town, skulking through the woods in search of a missing little girl, debating the point of living, and cowering in fear of not only the world but each other, do you think they're all just irrationally emo and paranoid? Yes, part of storytelling in the television medium is visual, but these people aren't running around in Disney World trying to get on the teacups. They're navigating around abandoned, stalled, and destroyed cars. They're breaking windows and creeping around corners in a washed out and somber high school. They're wearing the same sullied outfits and sullen expressions. Why? Because there's a frickin' zombie apocalypse going on and they're always surviving it. You don't have to kill a zombie every episode for the story to be about that, obviously.

Not as obvious is what makes the writer's perspective so disturbing. Another excerpt from the article displays how:

But nothing summed up The Walking Dead’s creative rigor mortis more than the episode’s big reveal. As the smoke cleared from Shane’s barn-exterminating service and a skinny blonde child growled and hissed her way into the light, my first thought wasn’t “My God!” Or “Oh no!” It was: Who the hell is that? For a full minute, I honestly had no idea. Equally anonymous both before and after she had a hole in her head, Sophia was a meaningless MacGuffin from the start because we were never given a concrete reason to care about her.

Sophia was...meaningless? Anyone who knows me knows I am far from the hippie-namby-pamby-love-everybody type but, seriously? First I have to wonder how you forget who Sophia is and that she's missing when the characters mentioned her in every episode. Maybe it's the writer in me, but knowing this was the "mid-season" finale I was waiting for the reveal of Sophia's fate all episode. This forgetfulness is about more than plot mechanics though.

Sophia was, as the author acknowledges, a child. Doesn't that do anything to stir you at all? Are children not a value, especially in a world where the future of humanity is in doubt? Not only that, she was the child of a main character who we saw suffer through her daughter's disappearance--the disappearance which was the result of a mistake by Rick (the show's hero) much to his anguish. Actually, Rick's mistake and Sophia's disappearance directly affected every character and event this season. If it's impossible to drop the context of the zombie apocalypse for the seroes, it's impossible to drop the context of Sophia's disappearance for this season. Still, there's even more going on here.

Sophia was the concretization of the basic question of this season: "Is there any hope in this new world?" Her disappearance revealed the basic psychologies and values of each character. They were forced to take a stand--where they might not in a non-zombified world--on whether to search for her or not, whether to stay or go. Even Carl, the other child member of the cast, took a stand. Why? Because he cared about her and he cares about the life he has. He wanted it to be better and the premise forced him to decide how to do that. How do you not care when even the kid who got shot because of Sophie's disappearance cares? The callousness of this opinion is best demonstrated in the opening to the review:

And so ends the first half of The Walking Dead’s deadly second season, thankfully not with a whimper but with a whole lot of bangs. Still, that’s all there is to be grateful for after seven episodes in which absolutely nothing happened, outside of Carol losing a child and Lori learning she's carrying one — which, when you think about it, is kind of a wash.

The death of a child is a wash? Moral incredulousness aside, I understand that this is fiction and no one's going to care the same way they would about actual people, so I'll turn to the grand point that all this culminates in: "absolutely nothing happened." Already I've discussed how the zombie apocalypse is all encompassing and the zombification of a little girl was emotionally defining, yet somehow nothing happened. How can that statement possibly be true? The only way to understand it is to look at what the writer would consider as something happen.

Return to the original selection I quoted. In it, I bolded the author's dichotomy between nothing and something: arguing about killing zombies vs killing zombies. He reinforces this point later by adding, "If the characters have nowhere to go, then there’s no reason for us to go along with them." The definition of "somewhere" and "something" here is completely physical. It is an understanding of storytelling that is completely devoid of humanity. As I stated before, television is a visual medium, so yes, wandering characters should end up in a new physical location to visually concretize their journey. However, if a character's journey is only physical--if it is only about going somewhere and doing something--then it's not a journey at all.

Look at other shows. How I Met Your Mother is an easy example. The physical location/action is laid out in the title. The end point is seeing the mother and Ted, the main character, in love, be it at their wedding, their family home, or some other romantic location. But the journey isn't simply just meeting her. Ted doesn't just date a bunch of women until he meets her. No, he finds himself in unique romantic situations that he learns from to come to a better understanding of romance, himself, and being a father. It's easy to see how a show about relationship would be less physically motivated than the zombie apocalypse (err, I hope, unless killing zombies is like sex to you), so I'll turn to another example.

As an avid Survivor fan, I see a similar "physical first" perspective when people discuss the quality of the show. Since it focuses on a game about voting people out where there is a winner, the emphasis is usually placed on who gets voted out, how they get voted out, and who wins. Zombie kills are blindsides (when a player is voted out without any foreknowledge). The basic argument is that blindsides are more exciting and the game is the point. But, like How I Met Your Mother, the journey isn't simply just people voting for each other over and over again. They interact, forge alliances, and literally survive on a deserted island together. An editing emphasis is placed on how the vote came about, not just what the vote was. If the latter was the case, episodes would be five minutes long. They're not though because good storytellers understand what happens when you take this "physical first" mentality to its logical conclusion.

A friend of mine told me about the time a director/producer came to speak at his job. The director's discussion concerned how he approached filmmaking. One "rule"in particular disgusted my friend. They insert an action scene every 20 minutes to keep guys from getting bored. Guys, men, I don't know the exact word that was used (this is second hand information), but think of the kind of person who would write for ESPN, the stereotypical "man." You know, the kind of person who would watch a Michael Bay movie where the emphasis is on explosions and action. You know, the kind of person who would watch The Walking Dead and say "more zombies, more killings." I'm not the only one to make this connection either. Actor Norman Reedus who plays Daryl recently said:

I know when people watch the show they go, "More zombies. More death." But you have to do a bit of talking. Otherwise it's "Transformers."

What Reedus is basically saying is that to include the dating, voting, and blindsides you have to earn it (to use a bit of writer lingo). "Earning it" essentially means explaining its meaning, explaining why things are happening. Now the "physical first" crowd is going to respond that the meaning is the premise. Ted dates to meet the mother. The players in Survivor vote to win the game. Rick and company kill zombies to survive. This definition of meaning though ignores one question, the one that only humanity faces--why. Why does Ted want to meet the mother? Why do the players in Survivor want to win the game? Why do Rick and company want to survive? I hope it's apparent now why I included the other examples. The answer to the last question seems obvious. You survive because there is no other alternative, there is no choice. Except there is, a fundamental one--life or death.

To choose to live is to assert that you want to live by knowing why you do what you do. It is to consciously select your values and the actions you must take to realize them. Doing so is not a "physical first" task. Just like a television show should have a physical end that concretizes the journey the characters have gone on, what you do is the physical concretization of the journey you're on. In television, both combine to make "the show." In reality, both combine to make "your life." You see, a story is at some level a reflection of life. I'm not saying it's not important to kill zombies and go somewhere. I'm saying it's important to do that as long as you know why it's important to do that.

In life it's nearly impossible to know the psychologies of other people and to understand the reasons they do something. Think of how difficult it is to understand yourself. Now consider figuring it out without being inside your own head. Nearly impossible, right? What fiction provides us with is the opportunity to be inside the heads of others, to know their psychologies and understands the reasons they do things. Yes, they're fictional, but that's the best part. It's a safe place to learn about how people different from--and the same as--ourselves think and interact with the world, which gives us an opportunity to improves ourselves.

Let me be clear here. I'm not saying enjoying fiction should necessarily be an introspective process. Rather, human beings are thinking creatures and if that reality isn't acknowledged, it's simply bad storytelling like say, Transformers, or any number of zombie features that only focus on killing zombies. Every person acts on some sort of motivation. If they didn't, they would be dead. Of course, isn't that exactly the question Rick's wife Lori asked this season? What's the point of living in the zombie apocalypse? Maybe there isn't one and they're just The Walking Dead.

Get it? The title of the show reveals it's theme, an ambitious use of the fantasy genre to ask the audience, "what does it mean to be alive?" By placing it in a far fetched premise, the audience is removed from the discussion enough to ask the question without feeling that they have a personal stake in it. Once again, I'm not saying you have to ask the question to watch the show. Rather, you have to understand that the show is asking it to watch it. Otherwise you'll be writing reviews screaming "physical first," "more zombies, "more death. That is why I find that perspective so disgusting. It not only ignores the identity of the show, it ignores what it means to be human. And why it does isn't an issue of intelligence or ability. It's an issue of effort. And if someone won't even try, what does that make him?

If you don't know why you do what you do, all that separates you from a zombie is that the zombie doesn't have thoughts it ignores. If we all don't know why we do what we do, then we're living in the zombie apocalypse already and don't know it. And when work that is so obviously so good is treated with reviews that miss the mark so badly, not due to a lack of intelligence but due to a lack of effort, that is what I fear--and it's scarier than any fiction that could ever be produced.

Survivor South Pacific E10-11: Setup and Statements

2011-11-27T02:11:00.003-05:00

It's been a cold three weeks for Survivor fans. Not only has a Pagonging brought about a two double boot episodes, but the latter of those two was largely a fluff piece which was followed up by the seasonal recrap. Yes, yes, the "Closer Look" was necessitated by the Thanksgivings which brought food, family, and fun. We all know that isn't enough for Survivor fans though. We want our twist, turns, and tribal councils and want them now. Yes, it was truly a harrowing predicament.

For a story analyst like me, the recrap presents an added challenge. It simultaneously makes me look like a genius and a fool. Entire scenes and storylines that I've focused on were completely ignored, forcing me to reconsider some of those ideas. On the other hand, certain threads I've harped on again and again were hammered home, reinforcing what I've been saying all along. For the sake of organization, let's work from my four major observations about the recrap to some thoughts on episode ten.

1. Upolu > Savaii, Coach > Ozzy

This observation can be summed up very simply in one Coach quote:

"Ozzy, no wonder you've never won Survivor. No wonder you always get blindsided. Because you're a friggin idiot."

Coach's evaluation of Ozzy has been the editor's evaluation of Ozzy ever since his loss in Cook Islands. It was especially prominent this season as the differences between him and Coach became the crux of the explanation as to why Upolu won the battle of the "most evenly matched tribes EVAR." This was a storyline I've harped on all season (and misinterpreted early on as Palau 2.0) that was capped off in this recap. You see, even though the tribes were trading blows in challenges, Savaii never quite seemed to be on the same level as Upolu. Now we know why. In the eyes of the editors, they never were quite on the same level.

This almost open commentary reinforces another point I have been stressing since Redemption Island. We have entered a new era of Survivor where the storytelling is very meta. It is about the show itself. In the beginning the show used to be more concerned with telling stories about humanity. Sure, those stories still exist. They have to, as the game and show are ultimately about humanity. However, stories about the show itself were always present from the beginning too. The importance of each has just been inverted. Why? It's probably a statement on who they think is their fanbase now...

2. Coach vs Mikayla

So Coach is the benevolent leader of the good family Upolu, huh? Notsofast! What's with his treatment of Mikayla? More importantly, why was the issue of her boot raised again in the recrap when there was so much other story that could be focused on? The answer is in what was added--footage of Coach treating Mikayla poorly. As she was sick from the pork from the challenge, he cooked up fat and ate it in front of her, which only proceeded to make her throw up. Coach's action wasn't portrayed as funny or endearing. It was shown to be a downright cruel Coach thing.

For someone who has been edited as almost-Rob, this emphasis and elaboration on Coach's treatment of Mikayla hammers home the point that the importance of her storyline and boot was to foreshadow Coach's eventual loss. There is no other reason to build it up so much and continually refer back to it, especially when it's being used to contrast Coach with Rob, given all the parallels that have been present of late with the cult, gangster, and family references.

3. Brandon

Scarily for Brandon, not only were his meltdowns brought up again, but even Edna and Rick were shown worrying about him being a liability and mocking him. Their comments make us have to seriously consider Sophie's comments to Albert that Brandon would be the first Upolu to go. Which leads perfectly into the next observation...

4. The Characters and The Players (And the pieces)

Of the remaining seven players, the recrap setup and reinforced the roles of certain players. Coach and Cochran are the major characters this season. I'd be shocked if either wasn't in the final episode. Sophie and Albert are the major players this season. Just as Albert was shown in the previous episode ruminating on strategy, he was again in this episode. And again Sophie was shown commenting on his thoughts. And that was the most interesting part of the recrap. After all was said and done, the story was recounted and the characters were explicated, who was given the final moments of the episode and the final say on it all? Don't get me wrong. Coach and Cochran certainly walk the line between character and player. Part of that is almost their wish to be "real" players though. It is a wish that Sophie then comes along and tells them why it won't happen. (In a way Sophie is sort of like the female Jim, except she wasn't shown to be flawed like he was.)

Now I can return to episode ten and point out the two key quotes of the episode, both by Sophie:

"Albert is showing his true colors more and more, which maybe are similar to my true colors that I'm strategic and I want to win the game. And this is our one shot to make the big move because you have two free votes hanging around."

"Albert is trying to take control of this game and I'm the swing vote. So now I'm debating whether to stick with Coach or go with Albert's crazy plan. At the end of the day, it's a question of what will take me to the end."

The first shows what her role has been the entire season--the narrator who points out everyone else's flaws (in this case, Albert's "true colors" as wanting to make a big move too badly, a semi-recurrent theme this season). The second portrays her in a way that is important for any winner--aware of both the current situation and the broader significance, as she has been all season.

For these reason I think Sophie is the winner and this season is all about personal demons/flaws causing everyone else to lose.

Survivor South Pacific E9: The Self vs The Tribe

2011-11-13T14:20:00.003-05:00

"Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder," Elim Garak, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Second Skin

Sometimes simplicity is the best technique for a single episodes. These are the good guys. These are the bad guys. Here's how the vote went down. This was the merge episode. Just as Redemption Island built to Matt's epic second blindside, this season built to Cochran's flip. Upolu had been sufficiently set up as the more cohesive tribe. Savaii had been established as the unstable physical-emotional tribe. Cochran's insecurities and quest for self-respect compromised one of the season's most predominant story arcs. That's why about halfway through the episode the only outcome that made sense was the "bully" Savaii getting their comeuppance from the burgeoning hero.

The problem with falling back on simplicity in a story, especially in the middle of a story, is that nothing actually is that simple--especially in "nonfiction television." People are rarely cardboard cutouts of villains and heroes. No one completely likable or completely unlikable. When you fall back on such black and white good and evil storytelling, you have to under described every character and even involved. In Survivor this means under editing the characters and strategy. In this instance, it didn't matter why Upolu was sticking together. No attention was paid to any of their long term plans. It didn't matter what the perspectives of each of the Savaii were. All that mattered was 11 people were voting along tribal lines and one wasn't. Cochran flipped because he was bullied.

Being "bullied" isn't an acceptable why though. Just as we didn't know the motivations of any of the other eleven players, we didn't know what it really meant to "bully" someone. Sure, Savaii wasn't too nice to Cochran, but was it really fair to label their behavior as bullying? And Cochran did flip on his tribe, but was it really fair to label his behavior as cowardly? This complexity is what the most recent episode of Survivor South Pacific sought to sort out--and the key, as it has been all season, was the Ozzy and Coach dichotomy.

The first half of this episode transitioned Coach and Ozzy from two players heading in different directions in this game (one up and one down), to two characters headed to the endgame. The foreshadowing of Ozzy running the gauntlet at Redemption Island was so obvious it's barely worth addressing, especially because if there's one person the twist was designed for it was him. What's much more interesting is Ozzy's conversation with Cochran at the beginning of the episode and Coach's reference back to it at tribal council.

In the post-flip fall out, Ozzy was the first Savaii shown to confront Cochran. That conversation contained more philosophical complexity than the entirety of the merge episode. First, Ozzy brushed off Brandon's attempt to protect Cochran by declaring they weren't gangsters in this game. It's imagery, though only a fortuitous coincidence for the editors, reminded us of last season's merge episode and the Mariano Mafioso--especially when Jim told Albert and Sophie later in the episode that they were the only two not drinking the Kool-Aid and not in the cult. To defend himself, Cochran appealed to notions of self interest and self preservation. In a confessional, Ozzy explained what the non-gangster perspective was, "Cochran said that it was all about self preservation, and sure, that's the easy way out. That's how a wiener plays." A wiener, really, Ozzy? What's interesting here is he's shown saying this and he's the one on the way out of the tribe because of his continued instance to be selfless. All season Ozzy has been about the tribe's success and not his own, even going so far as saying that if he didn't win, he wanted a Savaii to. He echoed the sentiment here, telling Cochran that he hope he'd go far. Combined with the foreshadowing of Ozzy's Redemption Island success, it's clear that he's not made for this game and his tribe went down because of it.

Not willing to accept to his fate like Ozzy, Jim hatched a plan to use the ideas his leader had taught him, At tribal council he appealed to Upolu on the basis of selflessness, declaring that they could send a message to future players about how to play the game and what happens when turn on your tribe. Essentially he was saying the game would be better if you were loyal to tribe even if it was detrimental to your individual success. Like I said, it's an argument based on selflessness. For you philosophy nerds out there, it's also an argument based upon a disembodied Platonic ideal. The game is not some thing disconnected from reality. Every iteration of the game is unique based the players and events that occur in it. No message sent by one vote carries any validity because it improperly attempts to extrapolate a general rule from a specific situation. That is sort of what Cochran was trying to tell Ozzy when he said his move was about self interest and self preservation. He even said it at this tribal council, "It's about taking control of my own fate and making decisions that I can be happy with." More importantly storywise, Coach echoed these words.

In response to Jim's idea about a message being sent, Coch put forward a different message he believed would be sent if they voted out Cochran, "I think that it would send a message to everybody that if you stick up for yourself, you're gonna get screwed--and I'm not gonna see that happen." The statement referred back to Coach's conversation with Cochran in the merge episode, Coach's entire story arc in Survivor, and the basic (seeming) paradox in the game of Survivor. To get to the end, you need to take selfish actions. At the end, you're most often held accountable by players who expected you to act selflessly and villainize you for not doing--while they act villainous in berating and badmouthing you in long winded self indulgent speeches. Brandon and Whitney argued these two opposing sides at the second tribal council. Whitney felt like she was being unfairly villainized even thought she told Cochran he disgusted her and refused to see things from his perspective. As she cried, Brandon said that Upolu were the villains all of a sudden because they were in control now. Likewise, the Hantz blew up at Dawn, critiquing her for acting selfless at the challenge and then pointing out how Upolu wasn't selfless by eating at the challenge. Which is it, Dawn, Brandon asked. Are you selfless or selfish? Were you competing to Upolu could eat or are you upset because they did eat? Those ideas contradict. reconcile them.

The first tribal council reconciled the ideas for us. Coach's comment contrasted starkly with Ozzy's selfless comments earlier in the episode. Whose tribe is going to come out on top in this game? Even if Cochran wins, it's by embracing the mentality of Upolu. And to make it even clearer, the editors embarassed Jim. Before tribal council, Jim promised a selfless move, saying he'd give the immunity necklace to Ozzy. At tribal council after presenting his argument based on selflessness, Jim didn't hand over immunity as promised. Why not? Because he was afraid and acting selfishly because of it. Yes, that's right, after declaring Cochran a coward and asserting the correctness of selflessness, Jim couldn't play in line with either ideal because he was worried about his longevity in the game--and then was voted out next anyway. That, fellow Survivor fans, is called a villain edit.

Before he left though, Jim participated in on other key scene. In an attempt to save himself, he outlined the tribe dynamics to Albert and Sophie, "We've got Coach with Cochran, Edna, and Brandon underneath him and Rick who's given his word to Coach and Rick's the kind of guy that would never go back on his word. We've got you two, you're the only two people that aren't drinking the Koolaid and aren't in the cult. And then we've got Dawn, Whitney, and me over here." What's most interesting about this description is it seemingly leaves Albert and Sophie out in the cold and sets up Upolu as Coach's Ometepe. And that's been Coach's storyline all season. Is he playing a Rob Mariano-esque game or is he the almost-Rob? All the storylines turn on that comparison.

Albert is getting an edit similar to Grant's. He isn't really doing much wrong strategically, but little scenes are seeded that foreshadowed his losing so we'll accept it when he does. This week he was shown trying to convince Coach and others to vote out Dawn because she's more dangerous than Jim. Was this foreshadowing Dawn helping to vote out Coach or was it just a single episode edit because Dawn was the only other possible target? It's safe to say Dawn will be the last remaining Savaii so this likely setups lots of teasing of people flipping at F8. I doubt this all saved her. It more hurt Albert, especially as his partner in crime Sophie disagreed with him.

Sophie is getting an edit similar to Grant's. She's going along with the tribe and plan, but little hints of her possibly switching the game up and going against the returning player are sprinkled through out. This week her curious comment was her confessional about Albert's strategizing, "Albert, he's getting nervous. He's thinking a lot right now about switching up the game, and I think those are important things to think about in general Survivor strategy, but I'd like to stay pretty rigid with the plan." What's the plan? We're led to believe it's Coach's plan, but is it something else? Andrea's curious edit was explained by her being the second Redemption Island returnee. With that seemingly being Ozzy's victory this season, why Sophie is getting such an intricate edit remains an open question. Is she the winner or just Coach's final strategic hurdle a la Ashley and Rob last season?

The biggest boon to Coach's chances of winning is that the season's theme directly relates to him much more than Sophie. You can't let your demons hurt you in this game. You have to play based on the game, not them. What has always hurt Coach is "Coach things." His antics have alienated people. His instance on blind loyalty to promises has gotten him into harmful alliances. This season the same questions remain. Will he stay loyal to Brandon and will it cost him the game? What's interesting is that Cochran's failure and success in this game both perfectly fit the Coach story. Cochran is destined to finish no higher than third because of "Cochran things." His insecurities and quirks hurt his social game early on which necessitated his flip. However, it's also likely Cochran will get third (whereas he wouldn't have before) because he didn't simply stick with loyalty and promises. He made the best move for his game.

Besides the premiere episode, this was the best episode for Coach this season--though it's hard to tell if it was just because this was his victory over Ozzy. He's in control and it's hard to see the tribe falling out from under his control. The themes fit with him. His best F3 was even foreshadowed in the Previously On segment as he told Cochran, "You're sleeping right between me and Edna." Yes, all the ducks are lined up for the Coach victory. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. Besides Sophie's curious edit, Coach's edit has two other causes for concern. First this episode once again showed him doing traditional Coach things. He meditated in the sun, misquoted a historical figure, laughed about not actually wanting to compete in the second challenge, and meanly waved by to Jim after his torch was smuffed. Are these negative inclusions though or are we, as fans of the show, supposed to appreciate them as quirks of his character? Second is the way the choice between Edna and Mikayla was built up. So much was made of it that we're either going to look back at it as the moment Coach won the game by keeping a F3 goat and cutting off Sophie and Albert's possible future power base or the moment Coach lost the game by keeping the disingenuous Edna around who eventually turns on him.

Thus, the only question left is if Coach wins or Sophie wins. I'm even willing to say whoever it is will be sitting at the final tribal council with Cochran and Edna. Maybe I'm just in denial for a myriad of reasons, but I still see Sophie winning. I can't deny, however, that Coach has looked awfully good this season. It's just hard for me to believe that playing this game multiple times really gives you that much of an advantage over new players. Ometepe didn't seem to talk to each other and thought they were all going to the end with Rob. With the combined intelligence of Sophie, Albert, Cochran, and Edna can the same result really be reached? They seem to at least be being edited as a lot smarter and more game aware. Then again, this is Coach 3.0 and he came to win...

Survivor South Pacific E7: Preying on Their Idols

2011-10-31T18:22:00.000-04:00

(Note: Due to a technical malfunction, I lost all of my notes for this episode and can’t retrieve them. Thus, all content is composted from memory and all quotes are paraphrased.)

It’s always nice to receive a reminder that you’re on the right path, and Jeff Probst provided me with just that in the “Previously On” segment. In its closing moments, he summed up the storyline by saying the next challenge could change the balance of the game (or something of that nature, remember, paraphrasing here). With Upolu’s win and Ozzy’s sacrifice, many of the themes and stories I’ve been focusing on have come to fruition. What’s interesting, however, is that voting out Mikayla was supposed to be about choosing loyalty OVER challenge success, yet Upolu managed to win the key encounter. What was the purpose of building up the characters and theory for that decision then? I’ll answer that question later (as will the editors, hint hint). Right now what matters is how this challenge was won: idol warfare.

Over the first half of the season, much was made about the two former players having possession of the Hidden Immunity Idol. This episode culminated both those early game plot lines and parlayed them into late game storylines. Make no mistake about it either: the editors were definitely playing on the idea that these Survivor idols had the idol. It fits perfectly with the compare and contrast that has been set up as the general story for returning players and the specific compare and contrast between Ozzy and Coach. In many ways, this episode echoed episode one, reminding us that winning isn’t about needing redemption, it’s about being prepared to play the best.

Savaii’s story was completely focused on redemption. The only question was who would be getting a chance to earn it. We opened with a scene of our two main contenders for it, Ozzy and Cochran. The former challenge star told the redheaded stepchild that, in the worst case scenario, he would send himself to Redemption Island. Of course, when they lost the challenge, the discussion changed, highlighting the theme of the season. Whoever needed redemption MORE would be the one to leave. Dawn and Jim even voiced the sentiment, stating that was the point of Redemption Island—to atone for your mistakes that caused you to be voted out. Keith and Whitney agreed, saying Cochran should go. “God” intervened though and spared the nerd, which is where things got really interesting.

You see, it wasn’t just Upolu’s story that was religious. Ozzy played the Jesus figure for Savaii, embracing the notion of self sacrifice for his flock after receiving a vision (in this case in the form of a dream). The metaphor stands out due to the religious undertones of the episode, season, and show since Redemption Island was introduced. Sticking with Savaii for a moment, if we remember the end of the first play they voted out, there is some interesting information to account for. Before Semhar faced Christine, she recited another poem about succeeding for his love. Christine said she was winning for herself. Christine proceeded to win. In other words, here it isn’t about playing for anyone else. You play for yourself. Ozzy played for his tribe (as we saw last episode) and he is on his way out now. Of course, this also has implications for the other tribe.

The main person who has spouted religion on Upolu has been Brandon, though Coach has been by his side with it at times. In this episode, Coach brought the praying to a whole new level. First, he started again with Coach things, performing a kata in the water with the nice graphic overlay of the sun (a visual clue to us that this was indeed a Coach thing). Then he had the whole tribe pray before, during, and after the challenge. Sure, part of it seemed manipulative by Coach, but it can’t be ignored that he was shown saying over and over again that he was doing it for him (his heavenly father) and his glory. It’s all setting up turmoil to come.

Not only did Coach lie to Brandon about the idol, he used religion to do it. When Brandon inevitably finds out about the idol, he’s going to meltdown. That’s a well foreshadowed plot point, as it was again mentioned that this was the third Tribal Council in a row where Brandon had a meltdown. Likewise, Coach even mentioned having to Lenny him like in Of Mice and Men. Will he? That’s the question that remains open for Upolu—one of the two major factors that makes me think they’re around for the end game. The other is, of course, that Coach has been shown as the better Survivor idol.

And though I admit that I see Upolu winning, I also have to recognize that some of Savaii seem to have longer stories. The most notable being Cochran, who survived what Keith called “his time.” If this was his time to go home, does that mean he never goes home? I also have to consider that Keith talked about him and Ozzy winning all the immunities post-merge. Is that what costs Coach the game, his voting out Mikayla causes a cross-tribal alliance to form due to the minority winning all the immunities and Brandon going crazy? Exactly how much havoc are the idols and their idols going to wreak?

The other main reason I’m mulling over the idea of a cross-tribal alliance is I can only place two Upolu in the F3 due to their stories: Edna and Sophie. There is an outside shot Albert will be there, I just have a hard time seeing him there and not winning and he definitely does not win. Thus, I have to wonder if the third person sitting with them will be a Savaii. I could easily see Jim, Dawn, or Cochran there—and if there was a cross-tribal alliance, I would see it being Sophie, Albert, Edna, Jim, Cochran, and Dawn. Anyway, here are my three most likely winners:

Cochran – His needs for redemption (story wise) is his biggest hindrance, but it’s arguable that this time which was his time for redemption proved he doesn’t need it. He gave a confessional where he was seemingly aware of that (“I don’t need to be the hero”), which could also be a winner’s quote for a non-mastermind UTR win.

Coach – I still maintain he is getting the “almost Rob” edit, but he is the front runner in Upolu. If he does what Deena couldn’t do in the Amazon, keep the car on the road, then he has the game. However, there is just too much foreshadowing for me to believe he does.

Sophie – She is the other member of Upolu—besides Coach and Brandon—who has the most interesting edit. Though she is in the six, she has been shown as being distrusting and wary of both Coach and Brandon from the first episode. This episode, her distrust of Coach was highlighted again and her comments about Brandon’s crazy religious beliefs were reinforced, as she was the lone dissenter from the praying. Being the only person being shown doing or saying something in a long term story is a very good sign. Now the question is if Coach’s little dragon is merely his undoing or if she is the UTR non-mastermind winner this season.

Sometimes I write rhymes (2).

2011-10-28T22:37:00.002-04:00

You can call me a nerd but never call me a dork

I may be a geek but I put that shit to work

If you call him meek then the kid goes beserk

Just ask all the mods at the forums where I lurk

I call them JD because I'm bomb like a Turk

And it hurts cause I don't have my Carla

I feel burly like I'm Hurley, all I want is a Starla

Even Darla couldn't save me when she had our baby

When I turn to Angelus nothing can phase me

Here, learn what hell is: believing you're crazy

You try to be good and everyone else is lazy

You look to the future but your outlook is hazy

So you're on the 8 ball at this Roadhouse like Swayze

Protecting the night, all that's left is to fight

When you get LOST, you walk toward the light

Thinking you're right always talking about honor

Ally with the doctor and a head case like Connor

Call your tribe Donnor, your party's doggy baggin

Brandon's the reason it'll all turn to fraggin'

Me? Personally, I kinda wanna slay the dragon

Here's the story behind this one. Listening to Beefy's new EP while at the gym, the first two lines came to me. Then I messed around with the next couple while finishing my work out, culminating in the lurker line. On my long ride home, I used all the Abed that I am and started dropping references. The JD-Turk-Carla one got me going, and I loved the Starla rhyme, but what really sealed the deal was when I remembered Darla from Angel. That opened up a whole mess of double and triple entendres as I love the Angel finale and the last line is, "Personally, I kinda wanna slay the dragon." Of course, when you think about dragon slaying, you have to think of Coach from Survivor. It was then I realized that Brandon, Coach's ally in Survivor: South Pacific, is a lot like Connor--afraid he's evil because of his father figure, trying to fight against what he sees as his nature, and becoming a head case because of it. Once again, logically when you think of daddy issues, who do you think of but Jack from LOST? This gave me the perfect opportunity to mock that show's finale while writing a rhyme about a show's finale I loved (Angel). Jack being a doctor made it all come together as Coach and Brandon are allied with a Doctor--Edna.

...and that's how my brain works.

Survivor South Pacific E6: Other Coach Things

2011-10-23T22:10:00.001-04:00

I admit it. I was wrong about Mikayla. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, we can move on…except we actually can’t. I wasn’t completely wrong about Mikayla and why is a demonstration of the intricacies of Survivor editing and analyzing it. Her edit was extremely crafted for an important purpose. Namely, it tells us a lot about Coach’s story and his chances of winning (hint: they plummeted drastically). This episode could have been the Dragonslayer’s key mistake that costs him the game. I’m just unsure if the same can be said for Upolu. Thus, I’m left to ponder if Upolu is Zapatera to Savaii’s Ometepe or instead Coach's downfall is this season’s endgame.

Actually, the better question is which leader's strategy (Coach or Ozzy) is the heavier weight on the seesaw that will tip the advantage to his tribe for good? As Probst has continually reminded us and reality has demonstrated, the challenges this season have gone back and forth. Starting in episode one where Savaii won reward and Upolu won immunity, the tribes have exchanged the immunity idol every other challenge. This episode saw Savaii reclaim it from Upolu, will the trend continue next episode? Attempting to induce the next challenge winner from past results is bad reasoning, but doing it based on the content of the episode is not—and it’s hard to deny that this episode didn’t look too great for Coach or Upolu.

After Tribal Council, Probst said: "Loyalty, as honorable as it may be, is not always the answer” which was followed in Mikayla’s final words by: "I'm just going to laugh if the next challenge is something physical." The former quote refers back to an early Coach comment from—well, almost every confessional he’s ever given really. Even early on in this episode, he gave a confessional about his relationship to Brandon, "I want to play this game completely honorably." Coach’s honor was even put on the line this vote when he had to choose between staying loyal to Edna or keeping the stronger Mikayla around. The former quote refers back to Mikayla’s constant edit as the difference maker in the challenges, which was once again emphasized in the “Previously On” segment through showing her “getting dirty” for the piece of ham Rick drop, the couple ounces that won the challenge. What does all of this mean? The editors are falling back on their favorite device, ironic mockery—and the words of some of our key characters, Albert, Brandon, and Coach, fill in the blank as to exactly how.

Albert took on the role of the dissenting voice this episode, which is especially interesting because he has previously been established as Coach’s #2 and the voice of reason on Upolu. The majority of his story this episode was attempting to keep Mikayla in the game, a plot that ultimately failed. His words are what really stood out though. As he argued for voting based on strength rather than loyalty, almost every line he said seemed to be foreshadowing. Multiple times he told people that the next challenge is make or break and if they don’t win it they’re in a terrible spot. He also informed them that Coach wants to keep Edna because he thinks she’ll listen to him, but she’s smart and that a smart person who realizes she’s the sixth in the merge will act desperately. These assertions bring attention to the affects of the vote on the next immunity challenge and Coach’s future in the game. When at tribal council Albert says that loyalty can be faked, he’s right. Even Brandon knows it.

Brandon may have been acting like a Hantz, but he had the same analysis as Albert. Though he still voted for Mikayla, he acknowledged that Edna was acting too sweet not to be playing them. It makes it especially ironic that he didn’t keep Mikayla around as he went on his Bible Belt Christian rant at tribal council about how even a half lie is a lie. Are we supposed to like Brandon? Are we supposed to hate him? It doesn’t matter anymore. What we’re supposed to see him as his an unstable element, kind of like Uranium in the hands of an Iranian. He’s going to blow up eventually, something that became apparent as his anti-half-lies comment directly clashed with Coach’s comment earlier in the episode that a half lie isn’t really isn’t a lie.

This divergence, and the first step towards the fruition of the continued foreshadowing of their split, makes it even more chilling that Brandon and Coach exchanged I Love Yous after Mikayla walked away. This episode began with Coach echoing Mikayla’s observation that you can’t get past seeing the Russell Hantz in Brandon and ended with Coach taking Brandon’s nonsensical side in voting out Mikayla. The symbolism here is clear, especially when considered in conjunction with all of Albert’s comments. By siding with Brandon and choosing loyalty and honor over strength in challenges, has Coach doomed his game? It’s interesting to consider that his character has actually reached a place that it can inspire such a discussion. Coach is finally being treated like a serious Survivor player, but there are dangers that come with that. When you’re a comic relief character or prophet, you’re one note. Everyone knows what to expect from you and appreciates you for it. However, when you’re an actual character, your complexity makes you controversial, and that more often than not means you’re being used as a fable.

The similarities between Zaptera last season and Upolu this season are numerous and disturbing. As Russell became the icon of a fable, so has Coach. As Zapatera made a key mistake that cost them the game (story wise), it seems as though Upolu may have as well. Over the first few episodes, Coach talked about how important winning challenges is and then voted out the girl who, in the story, was shown to have won them three challenges, that he himself called strong one episode. Why? Because this isn’t about Coach Things anymore, it’s about Other Coach Things: his arbitrary definition of honor that completely drops context (and alters his perception of reality, as he denied Mikayla was valuable beyond the first challenge). Coach’s application of his philosophy of honor and strength has been put directly in the crosshairs. If he truly cared about honor and strength, he would think about what those mean in each situation he’s in. Instead, he makes a promise and sticks with it, regardless if the other party doesn’t deserve his consideration anymore. In Heroes vs Villains, it caused him to not vote out Russell even though it made much more sense to honor Boston Rob, one of the strongest players in history, than Russell, one of the most duplicitous players in history. Rob, as it is recorded, was voted out that episode. Coach followed him out the next. This season, Coach once again stuck to his arbitrary promise to a Hantz and voted out the stronger player that even the Hantz acknowledged was stronger. Will it cost him as it did in his previous game? That is the interesting question.

Coach mentioned not wanting to repeat Heroes vs Villains as he saw the Russell in Brandon. The storyline may lead to him doing so. He has voted out Mikayla after he said how important immunity challenges are. His alliance is divided. Savaii looks as if they are bonded. It is completely conceivable that Upolu loses the next challenge. Who do they then vote out, Edna as the sixth? Hold on there. Sophie and Albert know Coach has the idol. What if the little dragon finally hatches like in the first season finale of Game of Thrones? If Sophie leads a blindside of Coach to flush the HII out, a major plot line and its foreshadowing would be satisfied. Factor in that Edna would want to try and save herself and that Coach said "[Edna]'s the one person out here who I think would lay her Survivor life down for me” and the irony that the editors love is invoked once again. And to round out the hypothetical, there is one last fact to consider. Christine is waiting for Coach on Redemption Island. If she were to beat him, return, and join Savaii at the merge, Upolu would be, in Zaboo terms, Zapatara’d—and Coach would once again be the player no should listen to. It’s almost too perfect not to happen.

Hold on a second though. Coach’s Survivor strategy isn’t the only one being put on trial this season. Ozzy’s calmness is the ironic center of Savaii’s firestorm and we can’t ignore that his leadership style was made to look so much worse than Coach’s in episode one. However, we also can’t ignore that Savaii’s side of the seesaw rose once again this episode, and it was due to the sudden flipping of Ozzy’s position in and treatment of his tribe.

In another moment of possible major foreshadowing, in their makeup scene, Keith told Ozzy, "We can either tear each other apart or unite as a tribe and win two in a row." It was the beginning of the return to the cool, calm Ozzy from the whiny, hissy-fit Ozzy that merged after the last tribal council. After his conversation with Keith where they also said they could run all the immunity challenges until the end (interesting possible foreshadowing considering how important challenges have been made out to be this season), Ozzy apologized to the rest of the tribe, uniting them and leading to half of Keith’s comment coming true. Savaii won the first of the next two challenges. Interestingly, in the “Previously On” segment, Ozzy was again highlighted saying, "It's all about keeping us as strong as possible." Clearly he is on Albert’s side of the debate (understandably, of course), which makes all this challenge foreshadowing so strong and the parallel stories between the tribes so obvious.

By now it should be an accepted fact that Cochran is to Ozzy as Brandon is to Coach. The success of the former is dependent on and at odds with the latter. In other words, if Ozzy fails, Cochran succeeds and if Coach fails, Brandon succeeds. Every time Coach seems to be doing well, there is a flash of Hantz in Brandon that causes rifts in the alliance, yet Coach keeps him around. Every time Ozzy seems to be doing well he focuses on strength and makes Cochran a target. Cochran even acknowledged this dynamic himself stating, "The less pleasant [Ozzy] is, the better it is for me." And he was right, especially as he was at his most likable yet calling Ozzy out on being a “little bitch.” Of course, by cognate, Ozzy’s reconciling with the tribe in the episode can only be a bad omen for Cochran. Still, the redhead’s story continues to trend upward as he overcame his sweater vest yet again by sliding down the rocks. It was an interesting detail that convolutes the story. Cochran’s success seems to be a major arc this season, but it is also at odds with Savaii’s success, as that is linked to uniting around Ozzy. It makes me wonder if we’re going to see a cross-tribal alliance post-merge, especially as the final parallel to Upolu convolutes matters further.

Whereas Albert is the other leader/mastermind of Upolu that Coach doesn’t listen to, Jim is the other leader/mastermind of Savaii that Ozzy was shown “listening” to. I put listening in quotes because he didn’t do so directly but rather was shown to in the editing. Albert talked strategy with Coach but was unable to convince the returning player to change his strategy. In a confessional, Jim stated the strategy Ozzy should change to (apologizing and uniting rather than being a free agent) and Ozzy went about doing so, much to the returning player’s success. Will the inverse hold true for Coach, Albert, and Upolu? We have now come full circle as that is the question I began this column with, and it’s also what makes this season so interesting

The strength of this season is how difficult it is to prognosticate a winner. It's the opposite of Redemption Island as this story isn't about a dominating performance, so anyone who says he knows who wins is either trying to fool himself or fool you. (More on this thought in a "making of" column released soon.) This episode was a perfect demonstration of why. Over much of the season, and very strongly in the first episode (which is always important), Coach and Upolu looked strong and Ozzy and Savaii looked weak. Suddenly the story has shifted and recent foreshadowing seems to point to Savaii succeeding because Upolu fails. Are we really supposed to believe Savaii’s sudden unity is genuine and not another high on the seesaw? And what does that mean for wunderkind Cochran, besides the fact that he gets to stick around? So many of the answers will be revealed by the result of the next challenge—and the audience thinking and feeling that anticipation is the mark of an enthralling narrative. The next chapter should always be the most important one. I’ll be more sure of who wins then, but for the sake of tracking now, here are my top three Jacob-esque candidates:

Sophie – If anyone wins on Upolu now, it’s her. Coach is on borrowed time, Albert’s story isn’t a full season arc, and Brandon has been made out to be too much like Russell to win. The only question is if she was prepared in episode one (which she arguably was). She is a non-mastermind and I’ve leaned towards one winning since the beginning of the season. Plus, if Coach really is screwed and Edna switches sides, Sophie could benefit greatly.

Dawn – The problem with Dawn is how unprepared she was in episode one. However, she is a non-mastermind with a strong story. Has she already had her redemption though with that challenge win?

Jim - The anti-Jean Robert, Jim had a strong episode one edit that fit the being prepared theme. Episode two seemed to be a chink in his armor as Keith seemed to be the one controlling things and not him, but Jim has since been shown as correct in both his analysis and strategic response to it. If a mastermind wins this season, it will be him, as his comment about Ozzy being the perfect post-merge teammate for him sticks out in light of Keith’s comment to Ozzy about their running the immunities post-merge. If a mastermind wins this season, it will be Jim. I’m just convinced one (or a Savaii) does yet.

Survivor South Pacific E5: Or What Appendix

2011-10-16T22:51:00.004-04:00

Sophie is Coach's Little Dragon

(Thanks to Mario Lanza of of the Funny 115 and his animated gif source.)

Survivor South Pacific E5: Or What

2011-10-16T00:02:00.001-04:00

As last week’s slower character development focused episode gave way to this week’s plot based blindside, the pacing of the season is becoming more apparent. Last episode was the end of the first “movement.” This episode was the beginning of the second. Just as Redemption Island began with a focus on Ometepe to set up their end game and gave way to explaining why Zapatera wasn’t going to win the game, South Pacific set the larger machinations in motion for Upolu (Brandon, his relationship with Coach, and his interaction with the rest of the tribe) over the first four episodes and pulled up on the gas in this one. The acceleration switched to Savaii not only because of the storytelling tendencies of the editors, but because of a constraint they must deal with that I don’t feel is mentioned enough. Survivor is not fictional. The editors are editing around what happened in reality—and they use the middle part of the season to explain why the losing tribe or alliance didn’t win. This season, they have to deal with Savaii being completely fractured because their returning player has no leadership ability.

The first clue that we were transitioning into a new part of the story was right at the beginning of the Previously On Segment. Jeff Probst narrated, "It's been a seesaw battle between two of Survivor's most evenly matched tribes." The key word here is been, as it sets up two things. Internally to the episode, it sets up Upolu winning the immunity by only two ounces. Beyond the episode it conjures memories of all the Upolu dominance/Palau reminiscent foreshadowing that occurred over the first two episodes, foreshadowing that was emphasized by a very old school Coach like confessional after the IC win: "Best part of today's challenge, beep beep, we're back in the driver's seat. I mean, we own it now." They own this season. Coach has been making prophetic statements about dominating immunity challenges since episode one. With Savaii now fractured, the domination will begin.

Cocky Ozzy vs Oddly Cochrane

What makes Savaii the short term tribe is that (almost) all of its plotlines culminated in Elyse’s blindside. Up to this point, the tribe has revolved around the Ozzy vs Cochrane dynamic. Ozzy has been trending towards the extreme of his former shortcomings in the game. Each episode, the show has stopped short of calling him cocky. Cochrane did so this week. In contrast to Ozzy’s downward arc, Cochrane has been on an upward arc (a necessity due to Elyse’s blindside). Each week his fandom and neurosis is put on trial and he always seems to move a bit closer to rationality. Just as Ozzy was explicitly called cocky, his story was ironically called out by name by Elyse as “The Little Cochran That Could.” This week he had two key lines. Right before tribal council, he said that this was the first time he felt reasonably safe going into it. This line stands out because generally in Survivor when someone is shown feeling safe before tribal council, he is voted out (see: Elyse). During tribal council, he said that the novelty of going has long since worn off. He is starting to approach the game as he should. Basically, Cochrane seems to have found that happy medium between confidence and paranoi while Ozzy has gone off the other side. Will Cochrane swing to the other extreme as other past players who pulled similar early coups did? It’s certainly not the last remaining bit of Savaii story.

The final piece of story for Savaii is Ozzy’s Hidden Immunity Idol. With it is the story of Keith and Whitney. It is no coincidence that the two of them voted for Dawn to try and stay in Ozzy’s good graces and they’ve been linked together in his HII storyline. Logically, knowing he has it, it would seem impossible to vote Ozzy out next, so what’s going to happen? The next logical victim on Savaii storyline wise is Jim, the cocky abrasive wannabe who backstabbed his alliance the most. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Keith and Whitney vote with Ozzy as he uses the HII. In that situation, I wouldn’t even be surprised to see Dawn vote with Ozzy. All three of these players have been shown as connected to Ozzy in some way this season (although Whitney was clearly shown accepting a coconut Cochran opened while Elyse refused it—was that symbolism for this episode alone or the overall story?). This fractured nature of the tribe is why, even if they win a few more challenges, they won’t survive at the merge. Thee truncated storylines are the definitive proof as to their not being around for the endgame. Jim is as doomed as Ozzy due to his cockiness. Dawn has already had her redemption. Ozzy’s only question is if he’ll be blindsided with the HII in his possession again, and Keith and Whitney are a part of that story. The only player with anywhere truly left to go is Cochrane, though he could possibly be finished as well. I see him as the “winner” of this tribe, as Stephenie was on Ulong in Palau or Mike was on Zapatera in Redemption Island, but his Survivor victory is just being the anti-Siska. Upolu, on the other tribe (see what I did there?), is being set up for the long haul.

Almost-Rob and Almost-Russell

The major indication that Upolu will be around for the endgame is the cool off that Brandon was given this episode. Rather than once again swing him in turmoil over being good or evil (his entire arc), he was given a bit of redemption (but only a bit). Continuing off of last episode’s tribal council, he cried his little heart out and explained how much it hurt for Mikayla to be prejudice against him for being a Hantz. This comment was stitched together by the editors in an obvious attempt to make Brandon say something ironic: "It was pretty prejudice./The way she handled that shows she had very little class at that time." Really, Brandon, that was prejudice? What about the way you treated her just for being attractive? You called her Parvati, but she hasn’t been shown being Parv-like at all. Wasn’t that class-less? Though, admittedly, that he can see prejudice and how it’s hurtful to its target is his tiny bit of hope for his redemption. He is learning.

Before I continue my analysis, I’d like to take a few sentences to comment on my interpretation of this scene. There are two possible ways to look at it. Either it makes Brandon look bad with a mild hint at redemption or it makes Mikayla look bad for doing to Brandon what he did to her. I think the latter is the incorrect interpretation for two reasons. First, Brandon has been shown acting like Russell (while Mikayla hasn’t been shown acting like Parvati) so Mikayla’s comments aren’t prejudice. Rather, they are judgment, as she is judging Brandon on how he acted even though she wants to trust he is a good kid. Second, the fact that Brandon is the one saying it, and no character is independently observing, makes us as viewers acknowledge the absurdness of what he’s saying—the hypocrisy. The only problem is, anyone who is going to say the confessional makes Mikayla look bad is going to say the fact that she was shown judging Brandon at all is a strike against her, as according to certain (incorrect, especially in Survivor) morality judging is bad. Without getting too complicated philosophically, judging is a good thing if done on the right evidence. Which side of this dichotomy do the editors fall on? My answer to that question is my final argument as to why this confessional was bad for Brandon but not Mikayla. As proven by Rob’s edit/story last season, at least within the game of Survivor the editors share opinions and philosophy with me. In other words, in order to win Survivor you have to judge people (who to align with, vote for, etc). Thus, until the editors prove I can’t trust their insight, I will assume they are making smart and valid commentary.

In summary, the little hint at redemption for Brandon is not to foreshadow any long term redemption on his part, but to tease the idea that redemption is possible for him because it is the key to the entire storyline. He is the almost-Russell. He has the same approach but, unlike his uncle, we were shown that hey, maybe he can learn things (and their tribal family likes him sometimes too). It is important to keep this possibility open because it’s the main question that Coach, the almost-Rob, faces, as it is concretized in Brandon’s final key quote: "If I can't win the game like that [as an honest guy], then I don't need to win it."

That dilemma which has always been Coach’s major weakness in gameplay was put back on the table this episode and, like Ozzy and his cockiness, will ultimately lead to his undoing. As this episode seemed to be an upswing for Coach with the finding of the HII, the solidifying of his alliance, and the foreshadowed dominance of Upolu, a confessional of his explicated his story: "Are the stars aligning for Coach or what?" Unfortunately for him, the “Or What” thread was pulled through the episode in the form of anti-Coach lying and dirtiness.

The anti-Coach sentiment at Redemption Island hit an all time high as Bitter Bettys Christine and Stacey met in a challenge and beforehand let loose about what was going on at team Coach. Both incessantly referred to him as Benjamin, to which Probst replied: "So your way of fighting back is saying you will not honor the Coach name?" The Coach name is Survivor lore which drips with his gimmick which includes “iron sharpens iron” honesty and dignity. Factor in Stacey declaring “those are liars” (at which point the camera shows Mikayla) and the Coach can’t win with honesty storyline ramps up, especially as she fingers Albert and Sophie as his accomplices—the second time her prognosticating powers said something about them with Coach (the first time which Coach ignored, the one that involved Mikayla). Then, as Stacey lost and left, Mikayla showed Albert that she has learned what to say and when to say it by telling him, “Don't even say anything." And neither of them did—until they got back to camp.

Back at camp, Albert and Mikayla told Coach what Stacey and Christine said and two interesting things happened. Coach began to come unhinged, saying how important it is that he’s called Coach. The gimmick is starting to rule the man again. Will his antics continue to show up? Then, though they were repeating the words of the women at Redemption Island, Mikayla and Albert were both shown saying Coach’s name wasn’t Coach, but Benjamin (just as Dawn was at Savaii). Considering the two have been linked with the turning on Coach storyline and that not honoring Coach has been linked with calling him Benjamin, it’s an interesting inclusion by the editors, especially considering Coach’s finding of the HII.

The most interesting thing about Coach finding the HII is that Albert asked him to keep it a secret between the two if them and Sophie. In other words, he asked Coach to lie, especially to Brandon who had told Coach about being a Hantz before everyone else. Are we really supposed to believe Coach is going to stay quiet or is he going to honor Brandon’s honesty with returned honesty? And if Brandon finds out about the HII and that Albert and Sophie aren’t telling anyone else about it, isn’t he liable to go on a Russell-esque rampage? It’s an interesting series of implications that are in line with the honesty vs deception storyline that are emphasized by Coach’s confessionals about the HII.

More of the Dragonslayer emerged as Coach discussed uncovering the idol. He explained the importance of keeping calm and collected by using the metaphor of putting his little dragon back in his coat. What’s interesting here is the visuals we were shown and the implications of the metaphor. Immediately after miming putting the dragon back under his arm, a shot of Coach hugging Sophie is shown as if to imply that she is the little dragon, a role that fits perfectly with all the foreshadowing of her leading the charge against Coach. Now think about what it means to be the dragon. In Tocantins, Brandon was the dragon, the manipulative mastermind who Coach needed to slay in order for honesty and virtue (in the form of JT) to win. Wouldn’t then, if honesty and virtue were unable to win this iteration of the game, the dragonslayer be unable to slay the dragon? Yes, which is how we know that, despite his Rob-like edit, Coach isn’t Rob at all, especially as he says: "I'm not running the show, but at the moment, pretty close." We all know what Rob would have said there, as he’s no ordinary man. Well it would seem that Coach is and is thus going to be target #1 at the merge (as he told us) and that’s when Upolu is going to get dirty—which leads us back to our potential winner.

Beyond the subtle shot after Stacey’s “those are liars” accusation and the tenuous idea of the repetition of the Coach being called Benjamin line having meaning, MIkayla had a huge moment in this episode. When watching for a winner pick, I always look for scenes that would ONLY be included if a player had won, for scenes that would be completely pointless otherwise. This immunity challenge had a moment that referred back to what Mikayla was established as in the first two episodes—the girl that is ready to get dirty who won the first challenge for Upolu. Oops, she did it again. Upolu won this challenge by two ounces that Rick was ready to leave those two ounces in the dirt after he dropped them and I’ll let Probst tell you who didn’t leave them: "Mikayla will pick it up. She's not too proud." That’s right, Mikayla will get dirty (unlike Coach) and isn’t too proud (unlike Ozzy). In a season which is all about demons and personality flaws harming players’ chances, Mikayla was once again shown as the one who is most prepared to do what needs to be done to succeed in Survivor.

Iif anyone wins on Savaii it’s Dawn, and if honesty can win this iteration of the game and Brandon is redeemed, then Coach wins.)

Survivor South Pacific E4: Circling the Drain

2011-10-09T05:56:00.002-04:00

Truth be told, I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to write this week’s column. Last week I turned in a subpar effort due to lack of time to invest. This week, though the episode was well crafted, the overall storyline became less intriguing to me. In many ways it was hampered by one of the most difficult challenges faced by any storytelling: treading water. In any story there are necessarily chapters that don’t have any “major” events or actions. If not handled properly, it can become obvious to the viewer/reader that the author is just “stalling” until that next plot point is reached.

I actually think this episode handled this issue very well by focusing on what makes these episodes necessary: character development. If the episodes were unnecessary, they could just be cut out—although in the case of Survivor every episode is necessary to the overall story (but I don’t want to go too deep into theory here). Ignoring my sure misuse of punctuation in that sentence, this episode took a breather from setting up the themes and the larger plot machinations to develop the players in the scheme. Most notably we got to learn more about Dawn and Edna. And truthfully, the episode was enjoyable. Due to its content it’s just difficult to write about. Thus, I struggled with motivation until I looked up the definition of suvivalism.

Dictionary,com:
‘sur•viv•al•ist [ser-vahy-vuh-list]
noun
a person who makes preparations to survive a widespread catastrophe, as an atomic war or anarchy, especially by storing food and weapons in a safe place.”

Wikipedia:
“Survivalism is a movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or sometimes preppers) who are actively preparing for future possible disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order."

The concretes in these definitions, especially the Wikipedia one, inspired me to look at the episode from another angle. As we were reminded in the Previously On segment, currently we are being told the story of two five person alliances being led by former players Coach and Ozzy. However, on each tribe there is a player that stands as a threat to that alliance. On Savaii, Cochrane’s nerdy game obsession threatens Ozzy’s alliance externally. On Upolu, Brandon’s inner struggle threatens Coach’s alliance internally. It is from this point, and Coach’s statement of “You’re either loyal or you’re disloyal,” that this episode builds.

As he swings in a hammock with Elyse, Ozzy is the one who tells us the episode title. Apparently he has been into survivalism his own life, which is pretty ironic (one of the editors’ favorite techniques) as his demise is the one currently being plotted in the jungle. You see, Jim fears Ozzy gaining too much power the way Rob did last season (a parallel we’ve seen drawn many times)—by having a pair of votes and dominating challenges. Except, as we know from previous episodes, Jim’s at the bottom of the alliance so any thoughts he has are just the complaints of the least popular kid. Enter Cochrane who makes Jim’s rebellion plans real with his love for blindside that make Survivor exciting (as any “true” Survivor fan does, otherwise the show is boring, right…right?!). Now Jim has ties outside the 5. This is in motion.

Except it still doesn’t make sense story wise. Ozzy is likable favorite. Jim is a villainous poker player. Cochrane is an empathetic nerd. Plus, as Cochrane points out, two is less than four. Luckily there was another player on the tribe that dominated the edit this episode—Dawn. You see, Dawn’s insecurities being calmed by her success in the immunity challenge weren’t just a one episode story to make her sympathetic. Inside of this story we saw her not only get on board with the plan to vote out Elyse, but critique Ozzy for his cockiness in not wanting other people to strategize. As she said that Ozzy’s mocking of Jim bothered her, we were shown Ozzy lounging in the shelter with Elyse—after the episode opened with him laying in the hammock with Elyse. Making Dawn likable and Ozzy unlikable all sets up Ozzy’s eventual ouster with an added level of irony. Rather than ally with savvy Dawn in the first episode as he easily could have after talking her down, Ozzy chose to chase the pretty Semhar and now the even prettier Elyse. No, this Survivor god is no Rob.

Likewise, as Stacey explicitly called him the god of Upolu, Coach is no Rob either, and the way to understand how this episode is the developmental of a woman’s character and story on his tribe—Edna, his Rob-like pairing. Edna was all aboard the plan and may have been with Coach until the end. The only problem was that Coach, because he is loyal and not disloyal, has kept Brandon around. And Brandon’s looking for redemption so he tells Edna there’s an alliance of five, not a six. This causes Edna to veer of the course and start strategizing on her own rather than following Coach’s plan. For her that means “upping” her social game by asking people questions all about themselves (this sequence had some interesting content which I’ll return to later). Yes her character took a major hit here, but the question is why? Edna seems to be unimportant in tribal politics, so why develop her at all?

Just like how Ashley Underwood was set up early in Redemption Island to be Rob’s final hurdle in the finale with a negative edit, just like how Clay was destroyed in the Thailand recrap to explain how he lost in the final two to Brian, Edna is being set up for the end game. Now when she doesn’t win and is supposed to be looked at in a negative light, we can all remember how annoying everyone else thought she was. Personally I see her as being in the final three because she joins in on the mutiny on Coach and receiving no votes. To understand we have to look at a few more prophetic comments by Stacey and Brandon’s latest shenanigans.

Bitter that she was on the outside of the alliance, Stacey used her way with words to skewer Coach and company. First she declared in a confessional, “That loyalty game plan stuff, I don't buy it at all." Later, as Coach tries to encourage the tribe to hug her when she is voted out, she tells Probst, "Everything was a lie that we seen today." What’s interesting here is not that someone who was voted out would make these comments, but how they were presented. There was no attempt to create a decoy boot. There was no attempt to make Stacey look bad. Instead, she was shown as the unfortunate outsider who told it like it was—which has to make us wonder what she meant by “everything.”

Coupled with loyalty being a lie, everything can clearly only mean the tribal dynamics and more specifically the alliance. Keeping in mind Edna’s new perspective, the key scene of the episode was when Coach attempted to calm Brandon’s paranoia regarding a possible Sophie, Mikayla, and Albert sub-alliance. Coach told him the game was going to get much crazier and he couldn’t believe everything he was told. Except, it was the beginning and end of this scene that made it interesting. As they started talking, Coach told Brandon to “let me know if anyone sneaks up on me.” In the background we see a small figure of Sophie approaching. At the end of the conversation, she is standing there, having snuck up on Coach, without Brandon saying a word. It’s dripping in ironic foreshadowing.

The editors didn’t let us interpret it any other way either. As they went into Tribal Council, Coach gave a confessional about needing to take care of his game first even at the expense of loyalty (see: Stacey’s quote about loyalty). It was the second episode this season where the editors left a nine month pregnant pause that said, “Brandon should be voted out this time.” The problem is that, despite his awareness, Coach still has his head in the sand and wants to see Brandon as a good kid because, as Edna said, “It’s easier to believe a lie sometimes than accept the truth.” It’s one of two perspectives to take on Brandon.

The other perspective to take is that he’s a Hantz and should be treated accordingly. Interestingly though Sophie seems like the smart strategist and is being given lots of foreshadowing as the person who brings down Coach, she is not being used to personify this perspective. Rather, Mikayla is the one voicing the opposite perspective. At Tribal Council she says that even though Brandon is a good kid, it’s always in the back of her mind that he’s Russell Hantz’s nephew and that blood is blood. There you have it, the other perspective. Brandon can’t overcome his past and can’t be trusted because of it.

Of course, Brandon has something to say about the comments and this is where the foreshadowing gets really interesting: "The proof's in the pudding. you can't help somebody who's done that to himself, but what do you do?” Yes, Brandon’s comments were about Russell, but weren’t they also about himself. The proof’s in the pudding. He has acted ruthlessly and erratically. So what do you do? Do you respond to him like Coach is or respond to him like Mikayla is? The proof being in the pudding makes me think it’s not like Coach, especially considering all the other foreshadowing and the interesting way they’re treating Mikayla’s character.

What’s intriguing about Mikayla’s edit is that though she’s supposedly not in the alliance of five, we haven’t been given any indication of her being on the outside of the tribe. After this episode the tribal politics seem to be the group of five and Edna on the outside…oh and Mikayla is on the tribe too. It’s a weird dynamic, especially considering the way Edna and Mikayla were edited this episode. As Edna was interviewing people, the only person she was shown talking to was Mikayla. It was a sneaky way of injecting some backstory for Mikayla. Then Mikayla was shown giving her perspective on Edna’s behavior. This wasn’t narration, as Sophie always gives, but opinion and analysis. This “showing the game from a character’s perspective” is a technique the editors use to make us identify with and understand key players. Most notably it was done constantly with Fabio in Nicaragua, especially at Tribal Councils with his catchphrase “What is going on?” Oh yeah, and Brandon’s “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”? Mikayla definitely isn’t starting in any power position on the outside of the power alliance and being harassed by one of its members.

Thus, my winner pick remains the same, with Sophie as my number two choice and Coach as my number three choice. I don’t see anyone else having a shot at winning. I’m even willing to predict a final three of Mikayla, Sophie, and Edna with a 5-4-0 vote. As for more proof, I leave you with the picture I started this column with, a screenshot from when Stacey was talking about how she proved she was stronger than the other girls on Upolu by holding the weight on her shoulders. First there was a shot of Sophie looking like she was holding the shelter on her shoulders. Then there was the above shot, your moment of zen.

Survivor South Pacific E3: Been There, Done That

2011-10-01T03:05:00.004-04:00

In my analysis of episode one this season, I referred to Jeff Probst's comment about Survivor essentially being the same story told over and over again but differently each time. Now that we've settled into the second season of the Redemption Island era, we can better understand just how true that statement is. Just as the early story of Redemption Island flowed through Rob and Russell and their history in the game, setting up the end game (that continued to flow through Rob because he happened to win), South Pacific's stories are led by their returning players and the baggage they brought into this relationship.

As it always does, the "Previously On" segment made it abundantly clear how we are supposed to be watching this story and the parallel they drew between Ozzy and Coach was obvious. Ozzy has a five person alliance (this was set up in episode two). Coach has a five person alliance (this was set up in episode one). Each "legend" was then associated with one other element which was at the forefront of their story in this episode--Ozzy had the Hidden Immunity Idol and Coach had Brandon. This is the story set up. This is the key to the five person alliances. The only question is where we go from here.

The first two episodes this season were focused on the perspective and psychology a player brings into the game and how that affects his play. This episode was no different, as it demonstrated how the beliefs you hold and the actions you take because of them only have a direct and immediate impact on your game but an indirect and lasting influence as well.

Ozzy's baggage is the Hidden Immunity Idol and the fact that it would undo him was all over the alliance. First he tells Keith about it, who then turns around and tells Whitney "just in case something happens" where Ozzy turns on him or something. Then later at Tribal Council Cochrane is shown saying that looking for the HII may not always be the best move because it could signal to your tribe that you don't trust them and this part of the game is about building trust. Could there be a better summary of Ozzy's storyline?

Coach's baggage is his need to stick to being honest and loyal despite allying and making promises to people like Russell and Brandon. Christine foreshadowed it best when she called him King Farouk. I admittedly didn't get the reference, so I did some research and found this interesting description of the long dead Egyptian king on Britannica.com:

"Although initially quite popular, the internal rivalries of his administration and his alienation of the military—coupled with his increasing excesses and eccentricities—led to his downfall..."

Could there be a better summary of Coach's storyline? But just for the sake of completion, let's revisit the Coach and Brandon story this episode. Brandon reveals he is Russell's nephew to the rest of the tribe and Coach calls it a mistake. Coach is then shown being wary of Brandon for the remainder of the episode, culimanting in a conversation with Sophie where she agrees he is a loose cannon and says: "I just hope it doesn't bite us in the butt." Considering how she has been shown as wary of Brandon all season, our story of Sophie leading the charge against Brandon and Coach is inching closer and closer.

This is all well and good and interesting, but it only tells us who doesn't win. In order to understand who does win, we need to look at the portrayals of Semhar and Christine at the Redemption Island duel were also very revealing.

Once again, Semhar delivered a tragic and disturbing poem, looking to give herself totally to a hypothetical man and describing the things she would do for him. (No, not like that, keep it clean.) And once again the editors wanted us to look at it a little differently. The key part isn't the romance and all that mushy crap, it's the devotion to another person and the declaration as to doing things for them. It contrasts with what Christine said to Jeff about why she wanted to win, for herself. It's a dichtomy we're supposed to pay attention to as Christine wins the challenge and Semhar gets a redemption of sorts as she admits facing her abandonment issues (or her focus on external forces) on the way out. Interestingly, another player axisis operated along this spectrum this episode.

In a post-Tribal Council confessional, Mikayla stated that Coach took the heat off of her and she hoped it stayed off of her. She was also shown to be extremely aware of and concerned with her place in the tribe. In contrast, Brandon continued to talk about how he was a Christian man and had to act right for his faith. Here is where it's important that Christine beat Semhar as it completely parallels with how Mikayla and Brandon were portrayed in this episode.

When Mikayla confronted Brandon, who was made to look better? When Mikayla was crying and Brandon was being tormented, who was made to look better? The best way to sum it up is to look at Sophie's narrative confessional where she points out that Brandon is torn between "whatever crazy religious beliefs he has and being a devious jerk." What's most interesting here is how negatively this comment paints Brandon's Christianity, especially in an episode where Matt was directly referenced. It has to be intentional by the editors to tell us that Brandon is bad news and that's supported by their portraying Brandon as Russell last episode, Coach saying he sees Russell in Brandon, and Brandon saying he let his flesh get ahold of him. In reality we know Brandon meant flesh in the sense of carnal desire. In the episode it was a reference to his genetics.

The Brandon-Russell parallels were present throughout his confrontation with Mikayla as well. First he tried to tell her that no one trusted her even before he said anything. Then he tried to bully her through intimidation in front of the entire tribe, asserting that she doesn't "have much of an alliance, period." Ok, BRussell, I'm sure she doesn't. It's just like how earlier in the episode you said you were 150% certain she was going home. Whoops. How did disrespecting and underestimating females work out for you in the past again? Oh, right, Natalie and Sandra both won. Somehow I'm guessing your assessment of Mikayla is way off too.

That's right, Brandon's disrespect of Mikayla, her confessional showing her awareness of the game, and the fact that the editors went out of the way to make her crying into a postive element in her storyline by making her seem like a frustrated and rational victim are more evidence of Mikayla winning this season. I mean really, besides Ozzy and Coach, who else has a storyline? Here's the short list, finally wittled down to three:

3. Coach - I've all but eliminated him, it's just that his edit is so carefully crafted that it's hard to ignore him.

2. Sophie - She's more of the intelligent narrator, but I'm sure she'll be around for the long haul. I more likely see her as an (ironic) F3 loser (as she makes some social mistakes as Russell did.

1. Mikayla - Yup, still going strong. Sometimes it's tough to see past her involvement with Brandon's storyline, but the best place to look this week was in the Previously On segment. Once again she was linked to Upolu's first Immunity Challenge win and Probst's comment to her of "Welcome to Survivor" was shown again. Look at these first few episodes and Brandon's shenanigans as her introduction to the game--one she has shown to be more than prepared for and will adapt to from here on out. She will reap the victory she has been sowing.

Survivor South Pacific E2: I don't miss Rob. I miss cheering for Rob.

2011-09-25T01:13:00.002-04:00

I toyed around with the idea that the title of the first episode of the season, “I Need Redemption,” was ironic. What I mean is, anyone who claimed s/he needed redemption wouldn’t win the game because the episode demonstrated how important being prepared was in Survivor. As you can remember, I went with only the second half of that interpretation—a much weaker claim. However, after the second episode of the season, I have to wonder if I wussed out and was actually spot on, as this episode’s story fits perfectly with the ironic interpretation.

On first pass, “He Has Demons” is about Brandon Hantz and his identity as a member of the Hantz clan, as Coach uttered the line in a confessional after he found out Brandon’s secret. However, dig a little deeper and we see that Brandon’s was only the most prominent version of the episode’s theme, mainly because his tribe went to Tribal Council. “Demons” are a metaphor commonly used to explain how the events of a person’s past negatively affect his psychology to the point that he acts in ways that are harmful to himself. This episode featured a number of characters talking about their pasts in a negative way as we were shown major actions they were taking in the game—actions that we were led to believe wouldn’t turn out very well.

Whereas last season Redemption Island was shown to be a powerful and trying place through Matt’s journey of struggle and growth that paralleled his Survivor savior Rob Mariano’s path to victory, this episode portrayed it in a much harsher manner. Semhar reflected upon her past in the game with anguish, lamenting how people in the game could be so cruel (in contrast Matt always talked about how much stronger he was getting and how he was improving himself). Her poem she recited in defiance of her past told us how to view the episode. It asked over and over again if she actually missed the person who broke her heart or if she just missed being in love, concluding with the line, "I don't miss you. I miss feeling loved." If you let them be, demons are a distraction. They make you focus on other people and past events rather than your own feelings and actions. Soon, it’s almost as if you don’t know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

The most prominent example of a person not realizing what he’s doing is, of course, Russell Hantz’ nephew Brandon. Russell is the concretization of his (and in many ways Survivor’s) demons. He is what Brandon doesn’t want to be, so rather than try to be himself, Brandon tries not to be Russell. It’s what causes Brandon to reveal his “secret” to Coach, an even that, in the edited story of the episode, started a chain of events that culminated in a tense Tribal Council.

You see, much was made of what Brandon did (I’ll return to this thought later) when it really didn’t mean all that much at all. The five person alliance still split their votes with Edna as their sixth. Mikayla voted with them and ousted Christine. Christine and Stacey were the outsider but weren’t aligned as was shown. All of these events make sense in game logic. However, if you went by the story of the episode, you would’ve thought something completely different happened.

In an edit that consciously mirrored Russell’s (on the part of the editors), Brandon declared in a confessional, "I swear to you I will get her voted out of this game." He is then shown “bullying” Christine and Stacey, telling them to vote for MIkayla, as Russell always was shown doing. This is especially ironic as Brandon doesn’t even realize how much of a Hantz he is acting like. Unlike his uncle though, Brandon’s plans didn’t work. Mikayla received no votes and Tribal Council seemed to revolve around the distrust he was sowing in his tribe. It’s like Albert’s foreshadowing comment said, "A person's character will creep in." So even though the alliance stuck together and even grew in strength by bringing Edna (and kind of Mikayla) into the fold, what we saw was a story about its fragile state because of the demons of one of its core members. That delicate position in the game was faced by several other players as well.

At Savaii the most notable person struggling with demons was Brandon’s parallel (a comparison drawn in the “Previously On” section and by both of them being shown opening and sharing a coconut), Cochrane. As his tribe returned from Tribal Council, Cochrane reinforced in a confessional that he would be the new version of himself. What was he shown doing on screen though? He was being the old Cochrane. He seemed to be aware that he went into antsy analytical mode, yet that is what he was doing. Even worse, later in the episode as he was shown opening a coconut and sharing it, his confessional was all about his mother and essentially rebelling against his mother on national television. Come on, dude, who do you think would say that stuff, the cool kid or the antsy nerdy paranoid kid? Here’s a hint: Mr. Cool Brian Heidik never talked about his mother. Where’s your Survivor expertise now, Cochrane?

The redheaded step child of Savaii (yes, that’s a Phillip reference) wasn’t the only member of the tribe confronting his past in a negative fashion, however. World Poker Tour champion Jim went from a potential power player to a tragic joke in a matter of minutes. Keith and Ozzy built a five person alliance and let Jim think he was in control. Meanwhile, Jim gives a confessional where he says, "I've always been the kid that doesn't always fit in...and I'm probably the least of the cool kids. I mean, I'm at the cool kid's table, but I'm barely at the cool kid's table." Why is he talking about cool and uncool kids? Why isn’t he focused on Keith and Ozzy’s relationship? Sure, maybe he talked about it in real life. Story wise though, he’s shown focused on the wrong things.

And Jim isn’t the only player on that tribe that Keith’s confessionals point to danger towards. Yes, Ozzy found the Hidden Immunity Idol, but what did he talk about when he did? He still remembers Micronesia and not playing the HII he had then and doesn’t want to let it happen again. That’s a scary statement for Ozzy when Keith says he is wary of the challenge dominator because of his experience in the game. That HII may be as much of a concretization of demons for Ozzy as Russell is for Brandon, which is especially interesting as it seemed Ozzy’s scene of finding the HII was edited to mirror Rob’s from last season. It’s another reminder that this isn’t last season and that Ozzy isn’t Rob.

Likewise Coach isn’t Rob. He has his demons too. In a Mariano move, Coach pulled aside his “first friend” Edna and made her into his Sarah-Amber-Natalie. In their conversation he tells her, "I'm stupid in this game. I'm the biggest fool in this game because I'm always hopeful that I'll find someone out here who will play honorably." These are his demons. He looks back upon his past and considers himself the “biggest fool.” He isn’t concerned with who he is playing with, he is concerned with being honorable (see: Semhar’s poem). It’s a psychology that rears its ugly head when Brandon reveals his secret. What is Coach’s response to Brandon being his nemesis’ nephew? He ties his fate, in the story, to Brandon’s: "It's gonna go one of two ways. It's either going to be Coach Wade duped once again in Survivor or it's going to be redemption for the Hantz family. I hope it's the latter." The worst part for Coach is that Brandon is duping him without even meaning to. As Brandon runs around and unintentionally acts like Russell, Coach is shown talking to the rest of the alliance, disappointed in how Brandon is acting. It is a pregnant moment in which we’re meant to ask if Coach will make another Mariano Move and use his sway to vote out the player most wouldn’t think of voting out so early but is the most harmful to his future in the game. (Remember, episode two of RI is when Rob voted out Matt, who one could argue was the Brandon of that alliance.) As we learned later in the episode, Coach didn’t make that move and sealed his fate in the story. He was duped again by sticking to promises made in the past rather than acknowledging issues in the present and there will be cracks in Upolu because of it.

All Is not lost for Coach and Upolu though, as I still see one of them winning the game, and Coach is the prophet that tells them how. His statement in this episode was technically correct, though he obviously doesn’t know how to properly apply it: Coach: "This game is simple. You find people that are loyal to you and that's it. I mean that's just simple. You're loyal or you're disloyal." This one statement accurately describes how every person who has ever gone deep into this game has gone deep into this game (except for a few outlier immunity hogs) from the Tagi alliance to the Ometepe alliance. I don’t believe this season will be any different. Right now I see Upolu sticking together just without Brandon and Coach. Sophie will lead the ousting of Brandon (whom Coach will refuse to turn on and thus follow out). I’m then thinking Sophie will lead the alliance and go to the F3 with Edna and Mikayla. As for Coach prophetic win all the immunity challenges comment that I mistakenly misinterpreted to be a Palau 2.0 foreshadowing? Maybe Coach is the RI returnee. Maybe the winner of the game wins a lot of individual immunities. Or hell, Upolu STILL might win everything from here on out and the alliance crumbling happens post-merge/in the end game.

Winner’s List:

5. Coach – Coach could conceivably still win if my read turns out to be the opposite of this story’s theme and Brandon does get redemption. He has been getting a positive/intelligent edit so far.

4. Rick – He’s in the power alliance but has nothing going on. His episode one comments still linger with me, though he is probably just a prophet with Coach.

3. Papa Bear – I’d like to drop him down further but he had such a strong first episode and we were reminded of him multiple times, once in the “Previously On” and once in Jim’s “who goes next’ spiel.

2. Sophie – She’s the biggest mover on this last due to a combination of game logic and story reading on my part. Game wise, she is positioned well as a smart person and the only chick in the numbers. Story wise, she has been shown as distrusting of Brandon in each episode and the “Previously On” pointed out that she is the only girl in her alliance, these are also good places to be in.

1. Mikayla – In the “Previously On” Probst’s “Mikayla is a scoring machine” comment from the first immunity challenge was repeated AND she was given credit for the win when she wasn’t in the original episode. Plus, one thing stands out to me about her story. Arguably it is just about her being Brandon’s target. However, if the point was just to make her a victim, all that would need to be shown is her performing well in challenges and Coach’s (and others) comments about her being strong and valuable. We would get that point. Instead, the editors are going out of their way to humanize her, deepening her character. Once again in the middle of Brandon’s craziness, she was given a confessional. And once again, it fit the theme of her first confessional, talking about handling the dirty work and not being a princess:

"At home I bartend and I also play in a professional woman's football league. It's full tackle. We hit as hard as the guys, so I think I'm a pretty tough chick. I am kind of a tom boy, so if you see me at camp, I'm right in there with the guys doing all the diry work. The hardest part of the game is the social aspect. You gotta have thick skin. You can't be a little princess. I don't see myself as a girly girl. I see myself as a strong solid person and I think that's gonna help me in this game.”

Yes, it is going to help her, as we haven’t forgotten Coach’s confessional about how simple this game is. It’s also not a coincidence that she was compared to Parvati by Brandon. I’m sure some of you will call this a reach, but I’m just trying to perform inception on you here. If Brandon is the accidental anti-Russell, acting like him by accident and failing, isn’t it interesting that he is calling my winner pick Parvati when Russell called a girl Parvati last season and she didn’t win?

Survivor South Pacific E1: Be Prepared (Yes, that's a Lion King reference.)

2011-09-17T03:46:00.004-04:00

Welcome back to the number one Survivor story analysis on the internet. It’s been a celebratory off season here in The Midside. Not only did I properly predict the story of Redemption Island (though it took me a little longer to get behind the correct winner), it was a story that I enjoyed immensely. Thus I took the time to relax and reflect on my accomplishments…and my mistakes. I reviewed the film instead of tweeted (ok, I tweeted too) and came to understand why it took me so long to call Rob Mariano as the sole Survivor of S22. I won’t go into the details (it’ll annoy you like a Cochran self-effacing diatribe). I will tell you the results. I’m going to set some ground rules this season. Sticking to them will improve my story analysis and increase your enjoyment.

I will not read fan boards.

I will not read other theories.

I will not listen to podcasts, Rob C’s or otherwise.

I will not listen to Jeff Probst’s commentary, written or otherwise.

Let’s get something straight. I’m not saying there isn’t other value out there. There is, and if I was simply consuming the show, I would consume every drop of it. I have a lot of respect for Rob C, Stephen Fishbach, Jeff Probst, and the like . Probst specifically has a lot of values and ideas I really like. He respects ability. That’s rare. It’s like what Probst said about Cochran—and I need to come clean here I do know this ONE thing he said about this season—he wants to see Cochrane do well because Cochrane’s smarter than him, and would best him in most areas in life (except number of Emmy wins), and thinks if he can get past the first Tribal Council, Cochrane will do well. See, that’s a great philosophy. Probst wants to see good—good defined as able and benevolent—people be successful. Like I said, I have a lot of respect for Rob C, Stephen Fishbach, Jeff Probst, and the like and if I was a pure fan I’d enjoy every minute of their thoughts—except I’m not really a traditional fan this season. In a way, I’m studying the show for its storytelling. And that topic leads me to another intelligent idea of Probst’s that I need to listen to so I can properly understand this season.

Jeff Probst said (I think in his open letter to Sucks) that the difficulty with Survivor is that they essentially have to tell the same story over and over again but differently. With this knowledge it’s easier to understand why the mechanics of Redemption Island and bringing back two former players were brought into the game. Past twists, such as the tribal swap and hidden immunity, were introduced to change the flow of game and thus the story. However, that got stale, so there was only one other element to change—the characters. By introducing the element of multi-time returning players with easily recalled backstories, the very nature of the storytelling has changed.

No longer is this the story of Survivor. This is a story about Survivor. The producers aren’t trying to seduce new viewers into joining their audience anymore. They’re assuming they have their core audience and playing to them. Historical references, both explicit by the players and implicit by the editing, are common place. This is now a show about how to play the game—and that’s exactly what we saw last season. Rob versus Russell was all about what the best way to be the “mastermind” a tribe and alliance. The whole season was littered with open questions about good and bad gameplay that were answered by Rob’s win and the key episode, “This Game Respects Big Moves.”

Like the two Rs, Coach and Ozzy were our entrance into this season and its discussion. Both took advantage of their position to try and lead their tribe but went about it in different ways directing us to the theme of the episode and the season: the importance of being prepared for Survivor. This tone was set in the pre-credit sequence and continued through the remainder of the episode.

To start we were first re-introduced to Coach and Ozzy, who told us their motivations for playing the game. Coach is back for one more shot to win and to prove you can win the game with honor and integrity (btw, Coach, Ethan already did that in Africa). Ozzy needs redemption (he says the episode title) because he just hasn’t been able to grasp the million before. The divergence between the two is interesting. Coach seems to have a solid approach to the game in mind whereas Ozzy just sort of seems to be there. These are our two story threads: being prepared versus going with the flow.

The rest of the pre-sequence introduces some new players and their approaches going into the game. Buried before Brandon and Stacey’s confessionals were two confessionals by players that mirrored their tribe’s future leaders without us even realizing it. Rick of Upolu said our first key quote of the episode “if you didn't train before you got here. If you didn't run and learn how to start a fire, you might as well spit in the wind." In contrast, Elyse of Savaii said she didn’t really know how to survive but hoped her Native American ancestors would help her out. What’s most interesting here is how strong of a quote they showed from Rick. Not being prepared is equivalent to spitting in the wind. That’s a strong statement to include, especially when contrasting it with an appeal to ancestors, and one that will be supported by this episode and likely the season. If you want to win Survivor, you better be prepared to do so.

The post-credit introduction of the returning players to their tribes goes exactly the way it was expected to. Upolu was only shown saying bad things about Coach. Savaii was only shown saying good things about Ozzy. Ozzy won the challenge and was embraced by his tribe. Coach lost and his tribe walked away without him (besides Edna). That was the last time expectations were met in this episode, however, as Coach was very un-Coach like, Ozzy seemed stoned, and some interesting threads were seeded into the narrative.

Upon their returns to camp, the tribes launched into introductions. In a confessional, Ozzy says he wants to play strategically. In contrast, Coach tells his tribe he isn’t a strategic player. Which returnee would you think would do better? I know, except Ozzy doesn’t. Instead, his latest love interest gives us our second key quote of the episode. Semhar is asked to perform some of her spoken word “poetry” and complies. In a confessional she tells us that if you’re put on the spot, you better step up. It’s an especially ironic statement considering the reason she is voted out is that she puts herself on the spot in the immunity challenge and doesn’t step up. This is the downfall of Semhar. This is the downfall of Ozzy and Savaii as he leads his tribe into the water to hang out and sunbath, not prepare to live. This is the story of story of Survivor South Pacific.

In contrast to Ozzy’s approach, Coach and Upolu get to work and fortunes start to change. Coach is no longer the bumbling Dragon Slayer that no one wants around. He is the humble leader that everyone turns to for advice. They actually like him and embrace him as they build their shelter first (a fact that Dawn at Savaii tells Ozzy and us is important as she says that the tribe that doesn’t have their shelter after the first day always loses—see, it’s Survivor history). Coach even gets strategic by pointing out that Christine is target #1 because she is looking for the idol. Ozzy, on the other hand, is failing at strategy. He says Semhar is the kind of person he wants beside him at the end, but his tribe forces him to vote her out unanimously. As she leaves he is forced to admit, “I should have taught her how to make fire.” Roughly translated from editor speak that means, “I acknowledge that I am not a good leader and did not prepare her to play this game. Remember Jim’s pre-credit quote about the importance of learning how to make fire.” This downward spiral was present in the entire episode.

Ozzy’s stock plummets as Jim outmaneuvers him and Papa Bear out gurus him. Jim’s strategy is on point as he is ready with a fake story about his profession. Ozzy tries to talk Dawn down from emotional shock, but doesn’t really say much. Papa Bear though is able to get through to Dawn and Cochran, even being shown to us as the reason that Cochran turns things around at Tribal Council. When Semhar is fighting with Jim, the editors are sure to include a show of Ozzy looking complacent and uninterested. He is truly unprepared to lead this tribe. Before the immunity challenge, his tribe is shown organizing itself, a mistake that leads to their painfully close loss.

Coach’s stock soars as he leads his tribe to immunity. Before the challenge, he decides who will have what role. During the challenge, the editors constantly cut back to him giving some little bit of advice. Earlier at camp he even got strategic, forming an alliance of five and pointing out that first day alliances are always the strongest in Survivor. Will he be right? I don’t know, but he’s clearly prepared, and the fact that Upolu won immunity after the extreme contrast in portrayal in the two camps is important, especially considered with a couple of Coach quotes.

At different points Coach said: "I would like to go and win every immunity...winning immunity, man, that's the best thing to do." and “There's two things people do in the wild. They either die or they thrive." These two statements force the editing down the Upolu is thriving and Savaii is dying path. They also conjure memories of a season of extremely divergent camps: Palau, when Koror thrived and Ulong died. This comparison is extremely interesting in light of Coach’s first comment about winning all the immunities. When Upolu won this initial immunity challenge, it became a comment that had to be taken seriously. Upolu does have that strong five and Savaii was portrayed as divided even though the vote was unanimous.

It is clear to me that the winner comes from the blue tribe. Besides what I have already noted, Upolu has all the storylines. There’s the alliance of 5 with Coach, Brandon, Sophie, Jim, and Albert. Christine is target #1. Brandon’s identity will be discovered and Sophie won’t like it. Mikayla was set up as Delilah (in the Biblical story, Delilah betrayed Samson for money). On Savaii, Cochrane is insecure and loves the game, Jim lied about his profession, and Papa Bear is good at talking to people. Everyone else is invisible. And now that I picked the winning tribe, here are my top five potential winners (complete with two Savaii players to be safe).

5. Jim – He was certainly prepared to play with his story about his profession. However, his edit was up and down. He would have been shown more positively if he had won.

4. Papa Bear – He was the most prepared to play on Savaii. He was self aware, aware of the game situations, and approached people about it confidently and calmly. His edit was extremely positive.

3. Coach – It’s tough to tell if his edit was a winner’s edit or just for the sake of the story. However, his possible winner’s quote is hard to ignore. "This is Coach 3.0 and I'm here to win." We’re clearly not supposed to see him the same way we have in the past, though he may just be an oracle this season.

2. Rick – He is the one who told us how important being prepared was, so he may just be another oracle. Still, his “I spend a lot of time by myself” line is reminiscent of Ethan’s “even though I’m surrounded by people all the time, I still feel so alone” which foreshadowed his win in Africa.

1. Mikayla – Randomly in the middle of Brandon being tempted by her we were given an extraneous scene. It reminded me of Fabio’s winner scene in the first episode of Nicaragua. It could only be in there to set up his victory. Likewise they had already gotten the point across of her being tempting, so the editors didn’t need to include more unless there was a reason. That reason came across in her confessional, "I got right up there and was just getting to it...I don't have patience, I just want to get stuff done. I'm ready to get dirty." She is prepared to play this game. Unlike Ozzy, she started building the shelter right away. And that’s the final piece of symbolism that puts the scene over the top. Reminiscent of Earl standing atop the island in Fiji declaring himself the king, Mikayla was atop the Upolu shelter saying she didn’t come here to be a princess. Sure she’s a lingerie football player, but that doesn’t make her Natalie T. or Ashley or any of the nameless “bevy of bikini babes” on Savaii. No, she came here to win. And she will.

LOST Redux: S3E22 Through the Looking Glass

2011-08-14T15:32:00.001-04:00

(At the request of a reader, I will be reposting old editions of my LOST column as they no longer appear on the internet. I will not be making any edits to them, so please be aware that they represent a moment and time--my thoughts and analysis after watching an episode's initial airing.)

“You gotta be a risk takah,” he growled while shaking his hand in the manner of former President William Jefferson Clinton. The rough edges of his enunciation both demonstrated the strain repetition had taken on his vocal chords and emphasized the importance of the statement to him. Clearly, though time had forgotten him as it does us all, he would not forget it through time. As all great men do, he held steadfast to sureties and was inequitably punished for it. Apparently, conviction is only a virtue for a prosecutor in a court of law.

The above paragraph is my initial reaction, column wise, to the third season finale of LOST. My initial reaction is represented by the quote at the beginning of the paragraph. “You gotta be a rish takah” is a phrase I randomly started saying a few years ago. I used it heavily over the first few months of the phrase. It may be a reference, but I am reasonably sure I am not. Regardless, the key to this voice is the delivery. The hand motion and the described tone of voice are essential to the meaning. One must convey the notion of a washed up and tired old man delivering crucial advice to a tentative youth in order for the phrase to have any entertainment value. It is also often delivered in a snide way, demeaning someone who took a risk and failed or demeaning someone who didn’t take a risk and failed. The rest of the first paragraph is a description that intentionally parallels part of this episode of LOST. However, you guessed it, we’ll return to that later.

The writers took a huge risk tonight. They not only flipped LOST on its head, but they flipped conventional television storytelling on its head. They also made a bold statement about LOST, confirming what the show is about, although it is one I have been saying since I started this column. I’ll get into some character discussion later, as for now, let’s chat about the subject on everyone’s mind: Flash Forwards. Some of you probably loved it, some of you probably hated it, but what we’re going to discuss is my feelings on the writing choice. Why? Because The Midside belongs to me.

It’s a giant relief to me that the flashbacks are done. I had been saying all season that the back stories seemed to be running out of steam. Most notably, I was critical of Jack’s Oriental Vacation, John Locke as a Pot Farmer, and John Locke’s previous nine days on the island. I also wondered how many other angles they could look at the Jin and Sun romance from. I don’t believe the writers were forced out of the necessity of the previous criticism to switch to flash forwards. No, rather, as always, I believe that this twist was the plan from day one.

Consider the sketches we now have of these characters? Did you not find it odd that some characters got so many flashbacks while others only received one or two a season? Take the characters of Rose and Bernard, Locke, and Sayid. Rose and Bernard are minor characters. The actors who portray they have never been, and may never be, series regulars. Still, they had a flashback episode. That episode contained their entire story as to who they were, what was unique about them, and how they ended up on the island. There is not anything relevant left to tell in the form of a flashback. Therefore, they only ever had one flashback episode.

Now turn to the character of John Locke. He is such an important and complex individual that out of all of his flashbacks, three per season, maybe one was unnecessary. Each episode revealed a part of his character that explained how he was acting on the island. Then finally, the scourge of his life is killed. There is nowhere left to go with his flashbacks. He is a changed man and his past is defeated. With him, they even decided to hold off the big reveal until Season 3.

Finally, turn to the character of Sayid. I am sure I am one of many that feel he was treated pretty poorly this season. However, now I understand why. In Seasons 1 and 2 had seemed to be a very important character. Then, he was absent from the first part of Season 3 AND had only one flashback. However, consider how important of a flashback it was for him. It was the moment he had to reconsider to make him no longer torture people anymore. He’s still a communications officer, but no longer a violent one.

What I am saying is, the writers sat down and decided what ideas they wanted to tell us about these characters. No, they didn’t come up with exactly how many flashback episodes to have about each character. However, each character presented three main things to be told: who they are, what makes them unique, and how they ended up on the plane. As each of these three things were explained, other stories became important to tell as well. Locke’s being in a wheelchair got him on the plane, but how did he end up in it? Kate’s crime got her on the plane, but what did she do? These stories were told to set the stage for the present and the future.

Take, for a final example, the character of Sawyer. I wondered why The Brig wasn’t his flashback episode. We now have our answer. There wasn’t any back story left to tell for him. We know who he is. His future story has been set up. He impregnated Cassidy and she was forced to raise the child alone making her feel like she fell in with the wrong guy. Will he do the same to Kate? Notice how Kate’s last flashback was also used to establish this story. Not so coincidentally, it was called “Left Behind”. What has Jack consistently done to Kate over the series so far? He has left her behind. What did Sawyer do to Kate for the first time in this episode (the complete opposite of how he’s always treated her)? He left her behind.

Over the last few episodes, the writers have deftly transitioned us away from the past and into the future. The main question in my mind going into this episode wasn’t what happened on the island, but what will happen on the island. They used Locke and Sawyer to symbolically kill off the past. They used Ben to give us the back story of Dharma and the Natives (I know, I know, there’s more mystery, but what will happen will reveal what some people tried to have happen). Finally, they used Charlie to put a fitting capstone on the flashbacks.

Charlie Pace fans, do not bow your head. Do not feel mistreated or disrespected because your favorite character died. Not only did the character do a complete 180 in Greatest Hits and this episode (going from passive wimp to emboldened hero), but his send off was the send off for the first half of the series. Charlie had no flashbacks throughout Season 3 because his story was complete. We knew about his faith. We knew about his drug addiction. We knew about his family. There was nothing left to tell us to make us better understand him. Likewise, there was nowhere left for his character to improve in the long run. He kicked his drug addict. He found his family and took care of them in the ultimate way (both Claire and Aaron and the general Survivors). His actions will lead to their ultimate rescue. In many ways, he is more of a hero than Jack will ever be, although Jack certainly reaped the benefits of Charlie’s actions by making that call. Finally, Charlie’s faith was restored as only he, the musician, could have entered that code and thus he was meant to be there (at least in his eyes). If there’s any character that became iconic this season, it’s Charlie Pace for embodying what LOST is about.

Rarely in any story, but especially entertainment, do you see the entirety of the characters’ lives. Usually, one special moment is explicated and you are left to assume that their world will be changed forever from then on. It is true that prequels and sequels have become extremely popular as of late (but look how even Shrek is running out of steam with Shrek 3), but I would argue the one medium that gives such a holistic view of its characters is comic books. With the number of issues and stories they write, everything is known. Why do you think comic book junkies get so mad at comic book movies? It’s impossible to carry the entire story over from one medium to the other. Now return your thoughts to Charlie. We know what happened when he was young, when he was older, and when he ultimately died. We know who he loved. We know what was most important to him. There is nothing we didn’t know about Charlie Pace.

Most notably, with this episode, the writers finally took a stand and declared this show to be about the characters. Yes, the island is mysterious and has changed all of these characters, but it’s not important what the tools are, but what the affects of those tools are. It’s fun as heck to speculate and theorize about what the island’s nature is, but we may never know, and if we don’t, does that lack of knowledge devalue the journeys of the characters? If you answered that question with a yes, then I have to ask you if life is devalued to you because we may never know the nature of the world (especially not in our lifetimes)? See how LOST becomes a nice metaphor for life?

To sum up my initial reaction, I turned to the example of the Star Trek Voyager finale (which Jack’s flashforward really reminded me of). Voyager was stuck in the Delta Quadrant and the show was the story of the crew’s journey back to Earth. The final episode saw them return to Earth. However, Earth was the final shot of the series and what happens after the ship’s return is left open (save for a series of companion books). Something about that ending always sat poorly with me and now I know what it is.

The writers of Voyager tried to explain their ending by having the character who most wanted to get home Ensign Harry Kim reflect on their trip right before they knew they’d be getting home. He said, “Maybe it’s not about the destination. Maybe it’s not about the journey.” This line set the stage for the ending. The writers were putting forward the series as a whole rather than the final episode. I can see why they would make such a move, especially considering Star Trek is not as character based as LOST. Often the allegories, metaphors, and discussions are more important than the characters.

In contrast, this episode of LOST put forward the characters rather than the answers. Yes, the answers are important, but what’s more important is how they affect the characters. Take this episode for example. We were given the answer to who Jack was calling on his cell phone. Yes, it was nice to know who he was calling, but think about what that information told us about him. Likewise, the cause of Locke’s paralysis wouldn’t have been nearly as engaging if they hadn’t built up his relationship with his father.

Therefore, in honor of the new direction of LOST, and out of necessity to retire the old heading, the new heading for the first section of my column will be “Maybe it’s not about the answers. Maybe it’s about the characters.” This section will discuss the flashfoward from that episode and how what we learned affected the character.

Well then, let’s get on with it and delve even deeper into The Midside…

(See what happens with a doublesized episode. You’re going to end up with a doublesided journey into The Midside. If only we had doublestuffed Oreos. Then we could take them apart and make quadruplestuffed Oreos.)

MAYBE IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ANSWERS. MAYBE IT’S ABOUT THE CHARACTERS.

(Note: It saddens me that I must retire the Duncan McLeod heading, but you gotta do what you gotta do.)

In this episode’s flashforward, Jack really reminded me of Admiral Janeway. When did Captain Janeway become an admiral? In the final episode of Voyager, of course. At the start of that episode, there was a reunion for the anniversary of Voyager’s return to the Alpha Quadrant. Their journey had been successful. However, Janeway was not satisfied. The crew was not complete. Specifically, Seven of Nine had died. Due to Voyager being a Science Fiction show, Janeway then traveled back in time to bring Voyager home years earlier than it had originally gotten home. In other words, no matter how many years passed, Janeway was still the Captain of that ship. Actually, in the episode, part of the plot was Janeway coming to terms with the fact that she was no longer the Captain.

Jack was as troubled as Janeway was. He couldn’t let go of the past. Clearly, things went wrong, as Ben predicted, when they were rescued from the island. Jack was unable to be the hero he saw himself as. This failure in his mind was symbolized through the mysterious death of the person that no one went to his/her funeral. We were lead to believe that person was a Survivor, but all we really know is that something about him/her struck a chord with the ill fated doctor.

Jack was worse than Janeway. Heck, Jack was worse than House. He was addicted to pain medication and an alcoholic. As if those problems weren’t enough, he was severely depressed. The only way he could be who he thought he was is by accidentally causing a car accident and then saving the woman and child and offering to operate on her. His hero complex needed to be satisfied.

As already noted in this column through my discussion of Charlie’s demise, I am open to a change in a character. I thoroughly enjoyed Charlie over the last two episodes of this season. However, with Jack, I feel extremely satisfied with his condition in this flashforward. He’s made no progress as a character on this show. Now, I’m not someone who believes people need to change, but when you hate your father as much as he does why would you allow yourself to continue down the path you’re on which leads you to becoming your father. Make no mistake about it, Jack was the evolution of his father in this flashforward. The worst part about it was, he still believed his father to be out of his mind. We finally figured out why it seemed like Jack had been hiding something for the final part of the season. He’s gone off the deep end. He’s a nutcase. I enjoyed him flipping out on Ben, but it’s clear that in the future he loses even more of his marbles. The icing on the cake is that not only does he never get Kate, he stills pines away for her as she is his only semi-human connection still left in the world.

This eventuality of Jack’s character re-establishes my faith in the writers. If you’ve read any of my column at all, even just this column, you know I strongly dislike Jack. In fact, I have disdain for his characters. His hero complex is tiresome. No, belay that order, Mr. Kim. His hero complex is despicable. I love people who do the right thing at the right time. I once again reiterate my appreciation of Charlie over the past two episodes (although, my friend wisely pointed out that Charlie was so convinced of his own death, he caused it. He could have gotten to the other side of that door and shut it in time.). However, the problem with Jack has always been that he needs to be the hero so badly, that he acts like it at all times. He needs to be better than his father, better than everyone, to the point that he has take control and save everyone all the time. As long as Jack is around, no one can make their own decisions. His flashforward demonstrated this character trait perfectly. When Jack is on the island, he feels there is a need for him (when there really isn’t because everyone is replaceable…except Tom Brady). When he’s no longer on the island, no one needs him, not even his hospital where he is replaced by a new head of surgery who doesn’t even let him do operations anymore. The fact that the writers can identify this trait as so debilitating shows they’re above the members of the audience, the members of the American public, who exalt people like Jack. It shows that they are going to right this story in a way that isn’t unplatable because it is so dumbfoundingly misguided.

The brilliant part about using the flashforward technique is that no character’s story has to end on a tragic note. Sure, Jack is a tragic figure in this flashforward, but think of how much of his life is left. As my friend pointed out, this flashback was about three years in the future due to the cell phone he had. Therefore, let’s assume the flashforward occurred in our present day when the finale aired (May 23, 2007). Just as September 2004 was the start date for the LOST timeline, what if May 2007 is the start date for the flashforwards timeline. Season 4 can be all about what is happening to the characters in May 2007. Regardless, as I want to save some of this discussion for the LOSTology section, so many stories could be told about Jack with what’s left of his lifespan. He could sober up and go on to cure cancer. Of course, he could also commit suicide in his next flashforward. Who knows. I guess we’ll have to keep watching.

THE REST OF THE TRIBE

Upon the revelation at the end of this episode, I realized how belittling the title of the second section of this column. If this show is about the characters, then it’s not an “at least” thing when they have small scenes featuring character building moments. As for this episode, there were so many big moments for so many characters. I’ll try to address each as best as I can.

Juliet has officially crossed over into Survivor country. She is truly “one of us” now. This transition is confirmed by the fact that Ben basically declared her an enemy combatant and she was an enemy combatant when she helped Sawyer kill her former allies. With that one choice, she became allies with one of her staunchest opponents, Sawyer, and rescued the other one, Sayid. My only concern is she has the same flaw that Jack has (that Ben also shares). They feel the need to keep everyone else out of the loop because it is “better” for them. If she intended on allying with the Survivors all along, why didn’t she tell them the truth to begin with? By withholding the truth, she only made herself appear to be untrustworthy to the Survivors. Sadly, the reason she didn’t tell them is she believed they would only mess up her plans. She had the greater good at heart, she was just misguided about it. I mean, she learned from Ben and loves Jack (the kiss was a nice touch for her character in the finale and shows one of the major reasons she “turned”), what do you expect?

Sawyer took an interesting turn this episode. He is in complete self loathing mode and it shows why he was absent from Greatest Hits. Then he turns around and treats Kate like Jack always treats her. Jack pointed out that from his perspective Sawyer was trying to protect her. Considering that she may be carrying his child, he very well may have been. However, I also believe he was trying to distance himself from Kate. He knows treating her like a lesser person is insulting to her, so he insulted her. He also seems to be trying to discover “who is he” by no longer using the “Sawyer” persona (notice how he didn’t call Kate Freckles), which is a big mistake. Eventually, I bet Kate will convince them that he is who he is and that doesn’t change no matter the name he uses or profession he has and they end up together as he is the “he” Kate was referring to in the flashforward.

Hurley’s big moment was awesome and shows the direction the writers have been taking his character in. He is not a leader. He is not a major character, but he is a force to be reckoned with. Slowly but surely, he has been gaining the confidence that he so lacked off the island that put him in an aslum and he him working at a chicken shack. Then, he thought the answer to his problems was money. Well, everything was taken away from him and he is finally learning how to prove that he is worthwhile, actual curse or not be damned. Even though Sawyer told him he was useless, in an attempt to distance himself from his best friend on the island besides Kate, he used his street smarts to drive the van over some Others. It also shows how well planned this show is. A lot of people thought Tricia Tanaka is Dead was a pure fluff episode. Turns out it was kind of important, huh?

Ben got his comeuppance, huh? He turned into the Boy Who Cried Wolf. He’s lied so many times, and claimed he wasn’t lying, that the one time he was actually telling the truth (Naomi wasn’t sent by Penny), Jack refused to believe him AND punched the snot out of him. It was also a noble gesture that Ben reunited Alex and Danielle. However, the jury is still out on the second part of Ben’s claim. He and Locke both seem to firmly believe that rescue was a bad thing, therefore he could have been telling a half truth and a half lie. Yes, Naomi wasn’t from Penny’s crew, but the rescuers may not be a bad group. The guy seemed awful nice to Jack and Jack and Kate seemed unharmed in the flashforward.

Did anyone else pick up the parallels between what happened to The Others and what happened to Dharma in Ben’s flashback? Ben’s voice dripped with disdain when he told Locke Dharma couldn’t even coexist with the island’s original inhabitants and basically insinuated that problem led to their purge. Well, The Others couldn’t coexist with the Survivors and it led to their purge. I don’t know if they’re all dead, but they probably are. Season 3 was said to be about The Others and now that it’s over, they’re over. I don’t know how they could go on. Why intend on keeping them around and kill all the ones we have come to know, such as Tom? Of course, with the apparent immortality of Mikhail, who knows who’s really dead or not. I kind of hope Tom isn’t dead. He had some great lines such as, “It only took the bears two hours.”

I would like to point out that Richard disappeared after the first 20 minutes of the episode. When the fighting was imminent, he disappeared. It makes me wonder if the writers were just trying to make me believe he is very important or if he actually is very important. If he wasn’t, I think they probably would have killed him. I hope to see more of him next season and figure out who he exactly is and what makes him so important. I grew to like him over the last few episodes. It seemed he was allied with Tom though.

Hmm, that’s all I can think of for other character thoughts. If I forgot your favorite characters, I’m sorry, but Claire, Sun, Jin, Sayid, and Bernard were largely props in this episode. OH, I do have to say I have a new favorite LOST quote and it wasn’t spoken by Sawyer, it was by Rose. “If you say the words 'live together, die alone' to me Jack, I'm going to punch you in the face.” Words to live by.

LOSTOLOGY

The use of flashforwards opens up some interesting possibilites for the show. I already addressed one in the discussion of Jack’s flashforward. The pure amount of story there is left to tell is ridiculous. I don’t think the flashforwards will ever run out of steam the way the flashbacks seemed to.

Another interesting idea is the relativity of time. Commonly in time travel movies and shows, the present is considered to be the time the traveler begins his journey in. However, realistically, the present is whatever point the character exists in. In other words, time is relative to where you exist. For instance, presently, I am writing this column and presently, you are reading this column. However, my present is your past and your present is my future, get it? This notion raises an interesting quandary for the way the LOST story could be told. What is the present? Is it on the island or is it the flashforwards? By the use of the term flashforward (which should be considered canon because the name of the funeral home Jack visited was an anagram from flashforward), the writers are stating that the present is on the island. This claim makes the most sense, as it stays consistent with what has happened over the first three seasons of LOST. The problem exists for us. I’m sure some people will have trouble with the fact that they know the Survivors will be rescued and that Jack and Kate don’t end up together. Seriously though, did you ever think they wouldn’t be rescued? The suspense was never in what would happen, but how.

The other interesting idea is that of time travel. While it is arguable, Desmond apparently time traveled in Flashes Before Your Eyes. What if, knowing he has such a dismal future, Jack makes like Admiral Janeway and travels back in time to change what happens? Maybe the last episode of the series will be Jack getting back to the island or traveling back in time to either “save the day” or possibily “save the day.” Regardless, the important question is: Can the future shown in the flashforwards be changed? I’m sure debate over the answer will be rampant until something changes with the fabric of LOST (if anything changes at all), so I am going to firmly throw my hat into the “No, the future can’t be changed” group. While I don’t intend to settle the debate over determinism and free will, all fictional characters do NOT have free will. The writer controls them. You can say that, “I let my characters do what they would naturally do as I write” but you are still setting in stone what there actions are like creating a prophecy. Their past, present, and future is a fictional subset of our present. In other words, it doesn’t hurt the story of LOST that these characters futures are determined, it’s just being honest about the nature of fiction writing and using it in a ballsy and realistic way. It would make sense that such a self referential and meta show as LOST would be the one to make such a move and that’s why I love it.

FREDDY ADIEU

-It’s been such a hardcore season and I can’t wait to watch it all again. Good thing I have all the episodes on my computer. I still miss Eko, I miss Nikki and Paulo, and I even might miss Charlie a little, but anyone who denies that we’ve been on one heck of a worthwhile roller coaster ride is out of their ever loving mind. This season has been mind boggling, emotional, revelation laden, and, most importantly, well plotted. It sucks that we have to wait until February to see where it goes next. Hey, if I can stand the wait for 24, I can stand it for LOST, right?

-I’ll be seeing you all here next February, but if you miss me before then, you can check out my official MySpace at www.myspace.com/themidside and my official blog a themidside.blogspot.com. And don’t tell anyone, but if you poke around on youtube, you might find a special treat.

And if you STILL think this show isn’t planned, then there’s only one thing to say to you:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E21 Greatest Hits

2011-08-14T15:30:00.001-04:00

IT’S A TRAP! Mark my words with little white stones. It’s a trap. What is it? The trek to the radio tower. Do you really think that it wasn’t planned the entire time? Waiting there will be an entire group of…people I don’t even know how to classify anymore. But that analysis is best saved for later (as there really wasn’t much happening mythology wise this episode so I have to overcompensate in other areas like buying a sports car).

Seriously though, you know it’s a setup because of the string of punch in the gut endings we’ve had in the last eight episodes. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a quick recap:

It’s Locke’s Dad trapped in a closet (sans R. Kelley)!

Nikki and Paulo are buried alive (with diamonds)!

Juliet actually was left behind too!

Wait, no she wasn’t…and Ben is coming in a week!

Wait, that isn’t Penny…but she still knows who Desmond is!

They’re all dead!

Locke’s father is dead!

Locke is dead (maybe)!

Charlie isn’t dead (yet)!

Except for Left Behind and maybe The Brig, all of those endings were built up to in such a way that they appeared unlikely in the episode. Arguably, the ending to One of Us was somewhat predictable (I certainly predicted it), but the episode was still written so we’d identify and trust Juliet and then have the rug pulled out from under us. I still don’t think we’ve gotten the full story there (and will hopefully get it next week), but that thought is beside the point. If the end of the season has been built up in such a way, won’t the season finale have to top the build up? Isn’t such a culmination not only the way television shows are marketed, but good storytelling? Maybe they’re setting us up to think things will be huge and the season will end with a whimper. In like a lion and out like a lamb, right? Oh, that’s March, isn’t it? My mistake.

Well then, that’s march on into The Midside…

(Yeah, that transition was so cheesy you loved it.)

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

At first, I thought Charlie’s flashback was going to be another about the band. When they were arguing on the side of the road and he said he quit, I was thinking, “Great, this episode’s going to be about how he overcame obstacles to reach his pinnacle of fame.” Frankly, I couldn’t have cared less. Then, there was a nice twist to the scene. If you’ve ever read an article or interview that talks about a band first hearing themselves on the radio, that scene played pretty much how the event is described or at least how I personally imagine it from how it was described. However, the scene then ended and I wondered where this flashback was going. Would we see the story of the band’s rise to fame? That’s not much of a story, is it?

Then, the next flashback scene was young Charlie being coaxed to jump into the pool by his father and I was all confused. First off, the two scenes felt extremely disjointed. Obviously, young Charlie learning to swim has nothing to do with old Charlie learning to be a rock star. Er, well, nothing in common besides the parallel structure of that sentence. Second, what happened to the whole bad father thing? Charlie’s father was made out to be a bad father in early flashbacks and most of the characters have had some sort of negative relationship with their father. Is the point that on your death bed you’re only going to remember the good things or is Charlie’s father not as bad as we were first led to believe? Maybe the point is to remind us that the negative aspects of these characters lives are focused on so much for a reason, but they all have had wonderful memories as well. Happiness doesn’t make for a good story, only a good chick flick and even then the guy has to be a dirt bag and reform himself for there to be any bliss.

Then, they introduced the idea that Charlie was fore fronting these memories in the form of a list and I thought it was a clever storytelling technique. It at least gave an excuse to show more of Charlie’s past. I mean, is there anything left to tell with this character? To me, he’s been stalked by the Grim Reaper since the end of season two. If you remember correctly, I predicted his death in the season two finale because his story was over when he chucked the Virgin Mary statues full of heroin into the ocean. Well, hold onto that thought (and your hats) because we’ll return to it in a couple seconds.

Before we return there, I would like to point out the one negative to the flashback technique in this episode. It allowed for the seemingly seamless inclusion of that random “6 Hours Ago” flashback. What was that scene? Whose flashback was it anyway, Alex’s, Karl’s? Why can’t this story just be told in order anymore? Oh no, we can’t show you what Locke’s doing so we can have a flashback for him (instead of Sawyer) when his father is killed. Oh no, we can’t show you what Ben is doing so Karl’s arrival on the Survivors beach will be more dramatic. Ok, ok, maybe this flashback was sort of necessary because there was no way to show Ben arriving back to “his” camp in time order without sacrificing the ending to The Man Behind the Curtain. However, couldn’t the episode have just started with Alex finding Karl? It would have emphasized their relationship and role in everything. The one incredible strength of that scene is the possible irony of Ben being done in by the same gun he shot Locke with. Alex hands the gun to Locke. Ben steals the gun from Locke. He shoots Locke and gives the gun to Alex. She gives the gun to Karl. He gives the gun to Sayid because they need more than two guns. Wait, what happened to Sawyer’s stash? Anyway, Sayid shoots a pile of dynamite and Ben is standing nearby. Ben goes boom via the same gun he shot Locke with. It’s not going to happen, but it would be nice.

Returning to the season two finale prediction though, I am going to make the same exact prediction for the season three finale. Charlie is going to die in the season three finale! I don’t think anyone has plausibly made a prediction about a character dying in two sequential season finales before. Put this one in the record books under Jayemel. I’m making it and it’s going to happen. At least, it better happen after the roller coaster we went through this week.

I’ll admit it, by the end of the episode I actually liked Charlie. He was being a complete badass. He was volunteering, he was saying his goodbyes, he was writing lists, and he was smacking Desmond in the face with an oar. He believed he was a hero and was going to do something heroic. Of course, then there’s the whole debate over whether a hero can consider himself a hero or not. Isn’t that arrogance how the Venom symbiote took over Peter Parker in Spiderman 3? Anyway, that discussion is tangential.

I liked Charlie by the end of the episode…until the final scene! All of his badass and slick actions were completely negated by his stupidity in the final scene. He rushes to the bottom of The Looking Glass, swims under it, finds an opening, pops up on the deck, and yells, “I’m alive!” First, what led him to believe there was no one manning that station? If Ben was blocking signals, he needed to make sure that the signals stayed blocked. The only way to make sure is to have someone constantly monitoring the technology, therefore at least one person in the station. Second, did I miss him flipping the yellow switch or something? No, I didn’t. Did he forget already that Desmond said he would die after flipping the switch? There’s no reason to celebrate being alive before you’re supposed to die. Third, he just left the ring in Aaron’s crib without telling anyone. This action not only pretty much insured that it would be lost but that the meaning behind it being a family heirloom would be lost. Why not tell Claire the story so she could tell Aaron when he’s older? I know, I know, he didn’t want her to know he was going to die. Finally, what made him believe Desmond was telling the truth about how he would die? The story seemed pretty plausible, but he conveniently left out the part about the two people in the station. Maybe he was omitting certain facts for Charlie’s benefit the way Charlie was omitting certain facts for Claire’s benefit. Then, he mysteriously wanted to go along with Charlie. I’m betting the whole thing about Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter was a load of rubbish to get Charlie to let himself die. What better way is there to trick a man into dying uselessly than to say, “Your death will result in the ultimate benefit of the woman you love and her child you have taken on as your own.”

What a waste of all that buildup. If they kill him in the season finale, would it even have the same emotional impact it would have if he died this episode? I actually felt sad throughout the episode. If he dies in the next episode, it will almost be like Arzt blowing up, “Finally!”

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

I can’t wait until next week because I am sick of waiting to figure out what is going on with Jack. Suddenly, he too decides to be a badass (did I really just call Jack and Charlie badasses in the same column?) by blowing Ben and Company to hell when they attack camp. He even enlisted the help of the resident island explosives expert Rousseau. I also have to wonder how she knows so much about explosives. Wasn’t she supposedly on a scientific research vessel? There’s got to be more to her past. Hopefully she’ll get a flashback episode because right now she’s little more than a prop in the show. Ha, take that women’s rights activist, the crazy French chick who misses her daughter is nothing more than a prop used to progress the plot. Take heart though, her daughter is a complete and utter badass.

Jack finally reveals his big secret and it’s the explosive ambush plan. The problem I have with this story is, it’s not enough to lie over. It’s not enough to conceal the truth over. If Juliet is truly a double agent and the ambush was the plan all along, all he would have had to do was explain it all when they first got back to camp (especially after the Claire “sickness” where everyone “learned” to “trust” Juliet) and everyone would have either understood or had the extra few days to digest what Jack was saying. Heck, no one was even really that mad in this episode, why would they have been mad back then?

Consider Juliet as well. Her actions were unnecessarily deceptive too. Why did she need to test Sun at all? Why did she have to go about gathering information in such a concealed manner? Yes, I understand that she needed to record the tape in order to keep Ben unaware of the ambush, but couldn’t she have just lied on the tape and said “Kwon and Austen are pregnant”? Furthermore, if she had told Sun she was a pregnancy expert and what Ben wanted her to do, but that she wasn’t going to do it, Sun’s own curiosity about the health of the baby and who the father was would have likely caused her to ask for Juliet’s help. Have all these people (from Ben to Juliet to Locke to Jack) been inundated with the need to manipulate for no reason?

Something doesn’t add up. Look at the way Jack reacted to some of the statements that were made. When Kate asked him about getting off the island, he avoided giving a direct answer. Then, he used his “leader” position to act more like a bully than a leader telling people what they were going to do (ok, so he has always told people what they were going to do, but never so forcefully). Finally, Sayid called him on his antics.

Remember one of the main rules of LOST: Sayid is a lie detector. The reason he didn’t want Jack to stay behind is that he knows Jack is up to something. Notice how hard Jack fought to stay behind. Either he wanted to stay behind to complete the plan or he didn’t want to go to the radio tower because something is going to happen when they get there. Either way, Sayid knew he needed to introduced an uncontrolled variable into Jack’s equation and did so by throwing Jack’s leadership demands back in his face. “You want to be a leader, then do what any true leader would want to do.”

I’m still hot on the Richard and Jack conspiracy trail. Notice how distressed Richard got when Ben said the attack was going ahead early. Ok, so he wasn’t incredibly upset, but have we ever seen Richard not in cool calm and collected mode? No, we haven’t and the reason he wasn’t is that the attack going ahead early jeopardized his plan with Jack. Lucky, Alex and Karl were acting as agents for him without his or their knowledge.

The sad truth of the matter is, Jack no longer wants to get off this island. Richard told him the island’s secrets. Or maybe he’s part of the island’s secrets. I’m leaning towards the former. Now, Jack wants to stay on the island for whatever reason he was told be it replenishing the numbers on the island, saving the world, or whatever else. Saving the world, do I smell a Heroes crossover? If so, I want a death match of Cute Blonde Girl vs. Cute Blonde Girl, Claire vs. that cheerleader who has the Unbreakable power.

Is it me or has Kate devolved into a nonentity over the course of this season? She started off as an angry and emotional wounded fugitive and has become an erratic teenager. “Watch as Kate sleeps with Sawyer and then whimpers as she tries to win Jack’s favor again!” Considering that the season supposedly started out with her making a decision, she needs to make an actual decision NOW before this triangle last any longer than it has to (if it hasn’t already). However, if she does end up with Jack, I may find myself offended, not as a fan of Sawyer, but as a moral person. Not only did Kate sleep with Sawyer at the beginning of the season, but she has slept with him several times since. Yes, yes, people make mistakes and sex isn’t necessarily tied to love. Wait, no, I don’t agree with that statement. Get that politically correct crap out of here! If you’re not sure who you love, don’t sleep with anyone until you get your head straight! If her and Sawyer is a mistake, she’s made it one, two, three times that were acknowledged in an episode. Oh yes, it all progresses the plot, but it’s still ridiculous.

Speaking of Sawyer, why was he a nonentity this episode? He went from Sayid’s investigated partner and the voice of reason to a background player. Did Sayid get more screen time rather than Sawyer because Naveen Andrews complained earlier in the season about not getting enough (and if complaining about not getting enough works, I may have to start complaining)? Also, did it seem to anyone else that Sawyer was going to the group to the radio tower? What happened to his being on the frontline? If they needed a shooter, they should remember how well he picked off one of Ben’s crew in the season two finale. I thought was pretty good aim. But no, Sawyer’s character was put on the backburner in The Brig and now is a nonentity. It worries me. I mean, Bernard is a shooter over him?

I would not be shocked to see three characters die in the season finale. My top three are Charlie, Bernard, and Sawyer. I think they may kill Bernard at this point just because he’s the only tail section Survivor left. Maybe the only people who were supposed to survive the crash were the middle section Survivors and the universe is “course correcting” by killing all the tail section Survivors. The only two people who definitely know the Black Smoke actually killed are the pilot (a front section Survivor) and Eko (a tail section Survivor). Either way, Bernard is dead next episode. Rose is supposed to be on the island and he is not. The setup in this episode was completely for his demise.

Did anyone else notice Rose’s minidreads? Did Jack look different to anyone else? One of my friends said his hair was a little longer. What’s the deal with these continuity errors? I’ll never forget Claire’s sudden hair change halfway through the season (see ladies, I do pay attention). My friend also noted that in her and Charlie’s first meeting she had her new hairstyle and not her original hairstyle (ok, so maybe I don’t pay attention). I’m willing to let these errors slide because even genius is imperfect and if something has to be messed up I’d rather is be, as a guy, the hair than the T and A. Of course, maybe these observations aren’t errors at all but hints the show is all in someone’s mind or something. I don’t know how they can keep their hair so nice when they’ve been missing hairbrushes for 90 some odd days anyway!

LOSTOLOGY

Is it just me or was there no mythology this week? If there was, I’m going to leave it up to you, my loyal readers, to bring the discussion into The Midside this week. You’ve been hitting the comment box hard, keep it coming!

FREDDY ADIEU

-As I write this column, I’m flipping through the 2007 Maxim Hot 100. Yunjin Kim is #95 (http://www.maximonline.com/slideshows/index.aspx?slideId=3646&imgCollectId=190

)! I still can’t get over the fact that “jin” is in her first name. I’m sure Evangeline Lily is even higher on the listed. I’ll keep you all posted.

-Remember to check out my non-LOST blog (themidside.blogspot.com)

And, as always, before you open you mouth, remember:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E20 The Man Behind the Curtain

2011-08-14T15:29:00.001-04:00

My apologies for a second straight late column. I don’t have an excuse this week, as I don’t like to make excuses, but I will offer u an explanation. I slipped. For the first time in the airing of LOST, I did not watch an entire episode the first time it was ever possible. I was out all day and missed the first fifteen minutes. Thus, I needed to download the episode to be able to write a proper column. It’s a good thing I did too. The first fifteen minutes gave me new insight into who The Man Behind the Curtain really is. You adept viewers and readers should know where I’m leading this column now.

Anyway, enough, we’ve all waited for awhile for this, so let’s journey into The Midside…

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

Apparently, Ben is Harry Potter. I know there aren’t many parallels in the stories, but young Ben certainly looked like young Harry, didn’t he? Ok, I just had to get that out of the way. Now we can get onto the real analysis…

This episode’s flashback provided some great insight into the mind of Ben. It is now my belief that he is as much of a mark as any of the other Survivors. Why? Well, first we have to delve into his psyche his little bit and then we can transition to discussing who the real Man Behind the Curtain is and then we can transition to a new and improved theory on the history of the island. Seeing as how the show is more than half over, it would make sense that our picture of the island is getting clearer.

We learned too important things about Ben this episode. First, he is evil. Second, we learned his obsession. As always, I’ll start with the first claim first. Yes, that last sentence was incredibly redundant, but that was obviously my intent. How can I say Ben is evil? Well, over the course of last season and this season, you’ve seen me question the motives of The Others. I even mockingly nicknamed them The Good Guys based upon Ben’s response to Michael’s question, “Who are you?”

The fact of the matter is, the things The Others do, the things that Ben orders are downright bad. Just recently, he told Locke to kill his father. What kind of good guy advocates a person taking justice into his own hands, no matter how much Cooper deserved his fate? What kind of a person advocates kidnapping children and pregnant women rather than giving them a choice? I’ll tell you what kind of a person: an evil person.

Half of this flashback chronicled the affect of Ben’s mother’s death on he and his father. In a way, their individual transitions over their lives ran parallel to each other. The difference came in the deciding scene where, in cold blood, Ben murdered his own father.

Roger Linus began as an extremely sympathetic figure. It was obvious he loved his wife and was hoping to take care of his future family. Although, I have to question, is it smart to take your seven months pregnant wife hiking? Regardless, in that first flashback scene and the second flashback scene where he is welcomed to the island by his friend Horace, we saw a genuinely kind and gracious man. Then, when he is given his job as a “janitor” his story turns tragic.

Over the rest of the flashbacks, Roger is seen drinking, arguing, and yelling at Ben. Basically, he is the stereotype of the abusive drunk dad, without the actual child abuse. Yes, once again, a character has a father issue. Could there be significance to that commonality after all? Maybe the island (or The Man Behind the Curtain) seeks out people with father issues to provide them with that missing father (Jacob?). Regardless, Roger’s story ultimately ends with his own son gassing him and watching him die. Well, it really ends with Hurley, Sawyer, and Jin, which can’t be all bad, but forget that fact.

Conversely, Benjamin Linus’ story is one of empowerment. He begins his life as the stereotypical geeky boy who doesn’t speak. He is too afraid of life and too intimidated by his father to do anything. Then, Annie begins to befriend him. Then, “the island” reaches out to him in the form of his dead mother (interesting that her body was never on the island like Christian or Yemi). The first scene where he talks a substantial amount is in the woods with Richard.

The conclusion of the flashback sees Ben taking emotional pot shots at his father and not only killing him, but watching him die painfully and slowly. It takes a special type of person, an evil person, to kill his own father in such a way. It is clear at this point that Ben has transitioned from a lost little boy to psychopathic murderer. Apparently, he couldn’t get over the fact that people forgot his birthday. No wonder Alex was so adamant about wishing him a happy one.

The second thing we learned is that Ben is obsessed with pregnancy and the fact that women can’t survive child birth on the island. Why is he? Well, first off, his mother did giving birth to him and his dad never let him forget it. Second, I am going to make a prediction here. Annie disappeared part way through the episode, but the opening scene where Ben is clutching the doll she made him shows he still harbors some sort of pain in regards to her. It is my bet that he fell in love with her and she got pregnant and died. Thus, he is so obsessed with solving the pregnancy myth to cure his own guilt because he believes he killed the only two people that ever loved him.

Finally, it is my belief that Ben intended to shoot Locke all along. Alex handing Locke a gun and saying he’d need it made it seem like she knew “meeting Jacob” meant being killed. However, I am not sure Locke actually was killed. He definitely was struggling to breath, so he was shot in the lung, but I doubt we’ll discover his fate until next season.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

Besides Ben, the other main character in this episode was Locke. In fact, it was the second episode in a row that Locke was an incredibly crucial character. That fact is why, with only two episodes left this season, I don’t think we’ll learn the fate of John Locke until next January. Regardless, now would be a good time to discuss the Ben and Locke dynamic.

I believe that Ben was interested in Locke because he had a “communion with the island” that Ben no longer experiences. In the flashbacks, we saw how Ben had experiences similar to the Survivors early in his life. There is no indication that he has had these experiences lately. Thus, he tells The Others about Locke and they believe Locke is an important person. However, I don’t believe Ben ever intended to bring Locke into the fold.

All Ben ever wanted to do was eliminate Locke. He knew that his communion with the island brought him his power over The Others. Logically, he would fear that Locke’s communion with the island could bring him the same. At first, he tried to kill Locke without having a hand in it. He told Locke to kill Cooper and left the two behind. Cooper had previously pushed Locke out of a building paralyzing him. It was a logical conclusion that Cooper would win again. However, Sawyer interfered in the situation and we began to see the master plan.

Ultimately, in this episode, Locke seemingly completed his journey. He had faith and himself in the island. Do I believe he is dead? No, though he was a very powerful and self confident figure in this episode (you had to enjoy his making Ben squirm), I believe his journey is not complete. Arguably, he could be the one to take over for Ben as leader of The Others.

Other characters with minor development were Sawyer, Sayid, Sun, Naomi, Juliet, and Jack. The two headed monster of Sawyer and Sayid continues to grow and I don’t believe they’ll be impressed by Juliet’s “flip the tape over.” First off, they shouldn’t be. Second off, their reactions were never shown. We don’t know how they digested the information.

Sun, on the other hand, continues to represent those who trust Jack. She said he was Jack, he would never do anything to hurt them. Are you sure about that Sun? What if the greater good is at stake? I mean, he certainly has no qualms concealing the truth from you in that case.

Jack said he didn’t tell them because he hadn’t decided what they would do yet. Excuse me? You hadn’t decided what everyone would do yet? Does anyone still question my distaste for this character? I will admit though, without him, there would be little to no plot. He certainly always riles up the Survivors. I don’t know why anyone hasn’t realized that though.

Then there’s Juliet. Mysteriously, she knew what was on the other side of the tape. Here’s the thing, Ben said that he had recorded his response to Juliet a day ago. That means that Juliet had yet to hear Ben’s response. Maybe she got lucky and Ben happened to mention the abductions, but I doubt it. If he had just talked about “taking samples”, it wouldn’t have been that damning. The raid is what sealed the deal. This event was exactly like Claire “getting sick” when Juliet came to camp, except instead of saving the day, she dispensed insider information to make the Survivors feel privileged.

So how did Juliet know what was on the tape? How was the tape intended to end up in Sawyer’s hands? It’s very simple. Consider the first scene of the episode. Richard calmly asked Ben what he wanted him to do with the tape and Ben flipped out. The truth is, Richard was just covering his own ass. He had already made sure the tape fell into Locke’s hands to he would give it to Sawyer (who he made sure would kill Cooper) and Juliet could re-establish credibility with the Survivors. That’s right, Richard is working with Jack and Juliet. Why? Because Richard is The Man Behind the Curtain!

(Oh, and Naomi is still confused as to what the heck is going on with everyone. She’ll probably be very important in Season 4 though, as I expect the plot to revolve around being rescued.)

LOSTOLOGY

Ben has never been the leader of The Others. He has been a mark from the beginning. I still question whether Jacob is a ruse by him or whether it is a ruse intended to manipulate him, but it’s irrelevant. Jacob isn’t real (though it was interesting that for a split second someone was sitting in the chair). Richard is The Man Behind the Curtain.

When Juliet’s husband was hit by a bus, who was there? Who was likely the man that smiled at Cooper? Who is there whenever Ben does anything? The answer is Richard. In fact, I expect the secrets behind these scenes to either be revealed in the season finale (as Richard explains his plans to Jack to get him on his side) or in a Richard flashback next season.

There are a couple important scenes to explicate at this point. At the end of the flashbacks, Ben gave his first “order” to Richard. However, notice how it wasn’t really an order. Richard asked Ben if he wanted them to get his father’s body. That request is simply courteous, but the way it was asked and the way the response was given was like a order. Richard was leading Ben to feel like a leader. He had already used Ben to protect himself and the other Natives from Dharma. Go back and watch how it was mentioned how the code to the sonar fence changed every day and notice how “the island” (or is it Richard) used the image of Ben’s mother to manipulate him into wanting to join the Natives.

The other insanely important scene is that of Ben’s first meeting with Richard. Obviously, it is important to note Richard’s age. It is my bet that Richard is either immortal or if you truly have a communion with the island you live a very long time. I would also be willing to bet that Mrs. Hawking from Flashes Beyond Your Eyes is just like Richard and Cindy may very well be too.

The other thing I want to note is what Richard said to Ben:

“Whoa, I didn’t mean to scare you. Wait, wait. Are you lost? Wait.”

Ben was lost both literally and metaphorically and Richard comforted him. Wait, isn’t this show called LOST? That’s right, it is. You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think that line of dialogue is the most important line of dialogue spoken so far in the series.

How does all this play into the history of the island? It’s very simple. There is a tribe of people who have always lived on the island in peace. However, Dharma came and threatened their harmony. Dharma even instigated a war, killing a bunch of the Natives. Something had to be done. Richard used Ben to eradicate Dharma and seize control of the island again. However, there was a problem.

The number of Natives was sorely depleted and they can’t reproduce. Through Ben, Richard used the guise of the continuing Dharma Initiative to recruit people. The Russian truly was the last living member of the DI. He continued to communicate with the outside world as if Dharma was still alive, ordering palette drops and the like. The financial backer of Dharma would easily believe him because the DI was made to be independent and self sufficient beyond minimal communication.

The plane crash and all the subsequent events have been manipulated with the intention of restoring the number of Natives on the island and the balance between the Natives and the island. Notice how most of the Survivors have either nothing to go back to, something to run away from, or reason to stay. Richard (or perhaps he is just acting on behalf of the island) has been trying to find LOST people and give them a home. The exact group of people on Flight 815 were picked for this series of events to unfold. Notice, Locke, Sawyer, Cooper, and the undermining of Ben’s power. You better believe that Jack and Claire’s blood ties will be very important in the future.

I’m sure there’s much to elaborate on, but I can’t think of anything at this point, so let’s cut to the end.

FREDDY ADIEU

-So LOST officially has 48 episodes (3 seasons of 16) left after this season. Really, it’s only two seasons. Season 1 had 23 episodes and 24 hours. Season 2 had 22 episodes and 23 hours. Season 3 has 22 episodes and 23 hours. Do the math. 24 and 24 is 48. Apparently, the writers and ABC have been hashing out a deal to finalize an end date to this series all season.

-Have you been wondering where my columns have been the past two weeks? Well, after last week’s fiasco, I decided to open an official Midside MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/themidside . There, you’ll find any updates as to what I’m doing in The Midside, but I would like to stress it is not a personal MySpace. It is intended to act as an informational page.

-I’ve also opened an official blog at themidside.blogspot.com. I’ll write there about any other subject I feel the urge to write about. There’s already an entry up titled “The Myth of Meaning”. Take a look. If you’re wondering, I’ll be announcing updates to that blog on The Midside MySpace as well.

As always, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week as we mourn the death of Charlie Pace. And well, if you think Charlie is going to die, then all I have to say is:

Remember Boone?

I’m kidding:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E19 The Brig

2011-08-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

Before I begin this week’s column, I’d like to apologize. I’m not sure how reliable my commentary is going to be. As always, I will try to be as deceitful and biased as possible, but I just don’t know if I can pull that off tonight.

In all seriousness, I always try to look at the episodes with a keen eye for the story and with a fair hand towards their individual story. However, I need to be upfront, because I just don’t know if it’s possible for me to do that for this episode.

I’ve made no apologies about being a Sawyer fan. I will never make any apologies for being a Sawyer fan. But as a Sawyer fan, I can’t help but feel done in by this episode. As I think back over the first two and 82.6% seasons that have aired, I find it hard to think of a character that has been treated as poorly as Sawyer was tonight. Maybe Boone. Maybe Shannon. Maybe Eko. Maybe Sayid. Maybe Libby. No, there were arguably missteps with all those characters, but I’m not sure any of them were as grievous as what was done to Sawyer tonight.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because this is my space to write about whatever I want concerning LOST for whoever wants to read it. On a little deeper level, it’s not fair to you, the reader, who has come to trust my thoughts (I hope). How can you continue to trust me if I write a column with a cloudy head and don’t tell you? Wouldn’t you know if my usually consistent ideas were suddenly off base?

In other words, do not be surprised if my thoughts are all over the map tonight. Part of my scattered brain is due to the intentions of the writers. We seem to be in a transition stage in the plot (I’ll return to this idea later). The other part of my muddled mind is what I have already explicated. That note being hit, I will, of course, endeavor to entertain you in the same manner and capacity as I always do, just please cut me a little slack this week, ok?

Oh yeah, no animals or plant life was hurt during the composition of this column. All celebrity references are done without license or consent. In fact, I don’t even have permission from myself to write these words. The only person I do have permission from is your Mom (and your face!).

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

The first bone I have to pick with this episode is how minimal the flashbacks were. Usually, flashbacks reveal some back story about the character. No, I’m not talking about some giant reveal that alters our complete view of the character. What I mean is that the character experiences something on the island that mirrors an experience they had in the past. The most obvious objection to this view of flashbacks is that not every flashback has been used in this manner. Fair enough.

I acknowledge this objection and grant it. This episode was not your typical flashback episode. Instead, this flashback explained what had transpired in Locke’s life on the island over the past however many days on the island (I think it was six). Therefore, let’s compare this episode to another episode that used exactly that technique.

The two episodes I can think of as similar to this episode are Expose and Three Minutes. I would put forward that Expose is unlike The Brig. True, it did have flashbacks that occurred on the island, but the important thing to note is where the flashbacks began. The back story for Expose began off the island. Some might argue that the episode was written in this way to write unpopular characters off the show. I disagree, but that point is irrelevant anyway. Nikki and Paulo’s flashbacks weren’t explanatory flashbacks. They were to establish the relationship between the pair. Oh yeah, and the other important difference between The Brig and Expose is that this episode didn’t have a hot chick in it. Boobs would have at least made this episode a little more interesting. Why? Because boobs make everything more interesting. Well, except for Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and the like. (I would have said Paris Hilton, but she doesn’t have any.)

Three Minutes is the closest thing we’ve had to a flashback like this episode. In order for us to understand the actions of a character in present day (in island time), the writers took us back to the last moment we saw the character. With Michael, the technique was particularly effective. With Locke, it was not. Why you ask? What is the important distinction? Well, in turn, I ask you: why even ask me? You know I’m going to explain it.

The important distinction has to do with the time passed over the flashbacks. As already explained, Locke’s spanned six days. I don’t remember how long Michael’s lasted in island time, but it was about half of Season Two. Michael disappeared in The Hunting Party and returned the episode before Three Minutes (episodes are approximate). That disappearance was a large chunk of time. Anything could have happened during it. And anything did.

When Michael returned from The Others camp, he was as shaky and out of his mind as a minor character pointing a gun at the villain in an action movie. But it was more than that type of cliché action. He was shady too. He was making demands. Well, demands beyond, “We’re going to get my son back.” He left a one dimensional one note character and returned a complicated and conflicted enigma. We wanted to know what happened to him.

With Locke, the same can’t be said. Nothing close to that can be said. Locke’s last big moment was The Man from Tallahassee. We found out why he was in the wheelchair. Then, in a big reveal, Locke saw that his father was on the island. The next time we saw him was in Left Behind. He was apparently aligned with The Others and saying goodbye to Kate because of it. The thing was, when I saw him acting that way towards Kate, I wasn’t surprised at all. Why wouldn’t he go with The Others? Ben showed him something he wanted and told him he was special. Hasn’t that been the way to manipulate Locke all along?

So Locke shows up in camp and he’s supposedly there with Ben. He “accidentally” runs into Sawyer first, who just so happens to be the person he’s looking for. Well, you know what happens next. It was pretty obvious he never actually had Ben too. I called it from the previews.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

It is currently noon on Saturday. I am returning to writing this column after a couple days off. Why did I need the time off? Well, if you remember this week’s introduction, I felt I needed the distance in order to properly evaluate the episode. Additionally, I seriously weighed the opinions of some of closest confidants. No, I have not seriously weighed the opinions of message board posters. That’s like strolling into the Democratic National Convention or interviewing Howard Dean. You don’t do those things if you’re seeking out rational thought.

Taking into account, the perspective of others on this episode, I have determined that I am wrong. Contrary to the beliefs of other though, those three words were not hard to type. Let it never be said that I think my opinions are infallible. I am nowhere near that arrogant. Ok, well, maybe I am that arrogant because I’m going to tell you my thoughts anyway on the off chance that the world could actually be round and not flat like everyone else is saying.

As this week’s episode progressed further and further, I found myself more and more upset and confused at the fact that it wasn’t a Sawyer episode. What did Locke do besides sit around? He was essentially a prop. He didn’t even feel like the main character of the episode. This episode was the first time in LOST’s run that I felt a flashback episode belonged to another character.

Furthermore, from day one, Sawyer’s big moment has been built up to be his confrontation with Mr. Sawyer. In the first half of the pilot, his only appearance is him reading the letter. In his first flashback episode, the twist to the on island story is Kate figuring out that the letter wasn’t too him, it was by him. All of his “problems” and pain all stem from the one moment in his life. The one moment that has now passed and gone without as much as a second thought.

Don’t get me wrong. I thought the scene was done wonderfully. If this episode were a Sawyer episode, I would probably be singing its praises (assuming the flashbacks were as good as the on island action). While locked in The Brig, the exchange between the two con men was so intense. Cooper never seemed like more of a dick than he did in this episode. Truthfully, I don’t even think Sawyer intended to kill him, but when he tore up the letter, he signed his own death certificate. Sawyer then strangled him to death and it was over. Although, this episode did show why Sawyer is my favorite character. Cooper tried to push him around in the same manner as Locke. Sawyer wouldn’t stand for it though.

To a certain extent, this episodes make Sawyer feel like a second tier character now, more so than any other character. How can I make that claim? His story is now only an element of Locke’s. Suppose, for a moment, that they were all brought to the island for a reason. Could it not be argued that Sawyer’s entire purpose was to kill Cooper, so Locke could do and do whatever it is Locke needs to do now? I don’t think it’s such a farfetched notion. Although, I will say the following: if early (I mean the first four episodes again) next season the writers have a Sawyer episode where he is essentially “directionless” because his big moment is gone, then they can fix the character. I guess I just don’t understand why we needed a third Locke episode when the last one was only six episodes ok and we haven’t had a Sawyer episode since episode four.

In other island news, the Survivors are all lined up against Jack. Gee, I wonder why that is. I never saw that coming or anything. But wait, I can hear it from miles away. The whining of the Jack supporter’s is echoing across the LOSTiverse. It is their contention that Jack is conning everyone and their evidence is the scene where Juliet says they should tell Kate. What’s the big secret? Jack is a douchebag. There, I said it. Can we move beyond it now? In all seriousness, I’m not ready to declare Jack as the still ultimate good guy. I think by season’s end something will be revealed that will flip us all on Jack. Maybe he’ll be continuing his father’s work or something. Of course, that probably means I’ll think he’s a badass or something. But that’s not possible…is it?

LOSTOLOGY

It is becoming more and more apparent to me that the “answers” to LOST are supernatural. Oh, don’t misunderstand me. I think the island is special. The geologically unique electromagnetic energy is helpful to science because it’s, well, unique and science is all about discovering patterns that exist within nature. This energy heals people, hurts women, and keeps the island largely hidden (unless dispersed in large bursts a la the Fail Safe, but even then someone has to know what she’s looking for). Therefore, I see the timeline of the island as follows:

There is a super special island. Historically, it has been consulted by many different tribes, religions, countries, etc to heal people or do whatever other crazy stuff they think it can do. In the 1970s, The DeGroots discover the island and decide they’re going to use it to save the world (because that’s what hippies and academics think they’re always doing). With the help and money of Alvar Hanso, the couple forms the Dharma Initiative to do research on the island.

Here is where I’m unsure of exactly what happens. I see two distinct possibilities. First, it is important to establish that no one could be living on the island unless they were brought there because conception is impossible on the island (unless that health problem is a myth perpetrated by Ben, which I don’t believe it is). Therefore, either Dharma split in two or people were brought to the island to combat against Dharma. Either way, I see the following happening: For some reason, Hanso decides what he was doing with the Dharma Initiative is incorrect or immoral or something. He goes renegade and begins “The Purge”, only allowing his chosen few to remain alive. The Black Smoke is a part of that Purge, as it scans people and makes sure they are “chosen” and if they are not, kills them.

To this day, Hanso still exerts influence on the outside world. The Survivors were not controlled from day one of their lives (some of them are older than Dharma itself), but they were all manipulated from a certain point on in their life to bring more and specific subjects to the island. Need a pregnant woman? We’ll get you the young single mother who’s mother is in a perma-coma and whose father is dead. Why are these people all so connected? Well, the connections are either a result of the manipulation to get them on the plane or the reason they were put on the plane. Need Locke’s dad killed? Put the con man whose life he ruined on the plane. Need an amazing spinal surgeon on the plane? Well, the pregnant woman just so happens to have a half brother who performs miracles. Once he finds out they’re related, he’ll do anything to help her.

Now, supposed Hanso was not the only incredibly wealthy backer of the Dharma Initiative. What other very wealthy families have we seen? Sun’s family was very rich. More importantly, so is Penny Widmore’s. Penny is probably as rich as Hanso himself. That means, Hanso has finally met his match. Anything he can do, she can do better (or at least equally). He fakes a plane crash and she exposes it as fraud. I’m not saying things will happen exactly that way, but money offsets money.

So where does this leave the Survivors? We finally know what the split will occur over. As was said in Season 1, the people who stayed on the beach were still hoping for rescue, while the people in the caves were packing it in and giving up. The former group will remain the same while the latter group will be comprised of people who want to stay and save the world (you know Jack will be part of that group). However, I also wouldn’t be surprised if the former group finds out that the work the latter group is doing actually hurts the world, so they are morally obligated to stop them. I just can’t buy into the fact that Ben and his followers are “the good guys” when they kill indiscriminately and kidnap and the like.

FREDDY ADIEU

Thanks to my good friend who talked to me immediately following the episode. I really needed to hear that other perspective and to digest the episode with someone else immediately. Also, an apology to another friend who likes to get mentioned. That sentence is as far as that discourse will ever go again, but I’ve done my part. Sometimes, there are just people you can’t talk to anymore due to differences in world perspectives.

I’ve got no witty way to lead to the catchphrase this week. Of course, I could always say that if you still think this show is supernatural, then there’s only one answer for you:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E18 D.O.C.

2011-08-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

Calm down. I know. The ending to this week’s episode was crazy. I assure you though, they’re not dead. The island is real. They haven’t traveled backwards or forwards in time. They’re not in a parallel universe. The last line of the episode was simple an example of the amazing writing on this show.

I’ll admit it. I flipped out when the Rescuer said that line to Hurley. My first reaction was to scream “NO!” and bemoan the fact that the Purgatory theorists would remerge with a more intensified vigor. Hours later, when my west coast friend finished watching the show, I received a text message that read “Whoa” I simply replied “Whoa indeed”.

After thinking about the episode for a few minutes, listening to a smart theory from a friend, and sleeping on it, it has become apparent to me that the writers used one shocking twist to create the perception of another, when really there is not one. It’s similar to how on 24 that the writers need to make every important happen at the top of every hour. In reality, they only need to create the perception that important things are happening at the end of every hour so the viewer will tune into the next episode. Then, when the next episode begins, something simple can happens that explains it away. For instance, if Jack Bauer were captured at the end of the episode, he would escape quickly at the beginning of the next. Now consider how often in 24 Jack Bauer does something daring and ridiculous. The magnitude of the current escape seems less, no?

The writers had the Rescuer say that line at the end of the episode because it would be emphasized for several reasons. First, events at the end of episode are always emphasized, especially with the LOST sound effect. Second, the actual shocking twist of the Russian being alive naturally, but illogically, leads us to believe that the Survivors (named changed from 815ers due to peer critique) too died and were brought back to life, but who is to say the Russian ever died? I will return to death on the island later in this column. Finally, the understood setup of a Jin and Sun episode is very slow and dramatic. I don’t believe there has ever been a huge mythological revelation in any of their episodes. In fact, all we ever seem to learn is that Sun’s a lair. Those comments are for the flashback section though, so let’s not waste anymore time and jump into The Midside…

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

I don’t know what it is about Jin and Sun episodes. I certainly wouldn’t call it bad writing. I certainly wouldn’t claim that they aren’t entertaining. But, I always feel some sort of a disconnect with them, most notably with the flashbacks. The most obvious explanation is that they’re speaking Korean and the translations are in subtitles. That immediate understanding of the action isn’t there. My perception is filtered through someone else’s perception. Let’s not delve into communication theory though. It’s interesting that the writers would choose to have such characters and make them more and more prominent as the series progresses. It provides a unique challenge to make the audience invest in the characters. Of course, every character has been a unique challenge, some of which have succeeded wonderfully (Locke), some of which have failed miserably (Charlie). And if you don’t think Sun is hugely important after last night’s episode then, wow.

Much of the time, I pride myself on being able to see twists and shifts in the narrative coming. I can usually read into why the writers are showing us certain scenes or why they wrote a certain line in a certain manner. After this episode, I feel like a blockhead. As Sun was talking to Jin’s father, I found myself thinking “Is she going to seek out Jin’s mother now?” It never occurred to me that the lady demanding the money was Jin’s mother. It should have been inherently obvious. How else would she know about who Jin’s mother was besides if she was Jin’s mother (especially considering there wasn’t some huge scandal about it)? I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out. Maybe it has to do with the disconnect I was noting. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Jin and Sun flashbacks tend to be overshadowed by the action in the episodes and thus I don’t invest in them as much. Maybe the former factor influences the latter factor. Or maybe I can stop making excuses and simply applaud the talent of the writers.

(Soap Box: I don’t buy the “I gave birth to him, I’m not his mother” babble. Giving birth to someone is the definition of being their mother. A mother is not simply a mother who raises you. That distinction is why terms such as “Foster Mother” were created. Jin’s mother simply wanted to make herself feel better for disowning her son.)

I’m not really sure what the point of the flashbacks was besides to provide reasoning as to Sun’s reaction when she found out the Date of Conception (D.O.C.) of her child. We learned two things. First, Sun loves Jin madly. Notice how they had her say it about three times and Jin even asked her if she loved him madly one time. This “revelation” made it believable that she would cry tears of joy at finding out the baby was Jin’s. Although, I would argue that the tears were more from relief. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t cheat and you won’t face this problem (unless, of course, you’re on a primetime drama and it’ll make the story more interesting). I put the word revelation in quotes because I’m not so sure we didn’t already know that she loved her husband that much. Although, admittedly, they probably felt the need to remind us after all the action surround the Golden Child. I do have to admit I’m kind of disappointed though. I’ll never get to write about the Golden Grandchild now.

Second, we learned that Sun is a liar…again. Heck, she’s one hundred thousand whatever-the-name-of-Korean-currency-is a liar. Like it or not, paying someone off to conceal the truth is a form of lying. It’s a sort of twisted sense of morality to believe that concealing the truth from your husband proves that you really love him. Of course, maybe I’m just crazy, but I would always rather know the truth, especially to keep myself out of debt, especially to keep myself out of the kind of debt that turns you into a hit man. Think of how happy and pleasant Jin’s life was before he was promoted to Mafioso member by Sun’s father. Then, the series of events unfolded until he was stranded on a mysterious island apparently in the middle of nowhere. Is Sun really the best thing that ever happened to him? Would he still believe she was if he knew everything we knew? Probably. He would spout some line about how she is worth all the pain in the world ever, ever. Oh, cheesy over-the-top romance, how do I love you? Not all that much, actually. And it would be so easy for me to make so many derogatory remarks here, from comments about whipped guys to women to spoiled rich girls to Koreans, so I’m just going to shut my mouth because it’s obviously way too easy for someone of my intellectual prowess (or powerless).

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

Something must have happened to me. Maybe I got hit in the head and don’t remember it. Maybe I’m on drugs now and don’t realize it. Somehow, I am beginning to appreciate Charlie. He had the balls last night to stand up to Desmond. Of course, after standing up, he promptly sat down, but at least he did something. Of course, Jin was more of a badass, running through the jungle twice and beating the crap out of the Russian once. Did you see that kick? Why wouldn’t Jin know karate? He’s Asian!

I’m also not so sure I agree with Desmond’s assessment of the situation. “By my count, you’ve killed more of them than they’ve killed of you.” First off, his use of the word “you” obviously refers to the general, so he was referring to all of the Survivors. Second off, his words show a complete lack of understanding of the context. Yes, the Survivors have killed five of The Others (Ethan, Goodwin, Colleen, and two nameless and faceless ones). Yes, their actions also led to the ultimate demise of two of them (Ms. Klug and Pickett). Then there’s the Russian who we just can’t classify at this point anymore. On the flip side, The Others have technically only killed one of the Survivors (Scott or Steve), but they spent spies into camp, kidnapped children, kidnapped Claire, tried to hang Charlie, kidnapped Jack, Kate, and Sawyer and treated them like animals, and sent Michael off the deep end. Their actions also resulted in the deaths of Nathan, Ana Lucia, and Libby. If someone walks up to me and tries to kill me and I shoot him, am I the immoral person because I hurt him more than he hurt me? No, he is the aggressor. His bullet wound was brought about by his actions. Likewise, the casualties The Others have suffered were brought about by their own actions. If you defend yourself against someone else’s aggression, you are not taking immoral action.

You know what’s crazy, we had an entire episode without Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, or Locke. Furthemore, Kate was a minor character in the episode, only participating in one scene. Episodes like this annoy me when people make claims like “the women on LOST on weak.” Yeah, they’re so weak that they go on treks through the jungle on their own and build relationships without the guys that will have a direct influence on the outcome of the series. When Sun marched across the beach and demanded answers from Juliet, that action was so weak too, right? The other common response is that the women all do stereotypical female things like get pregnant. Last I checked, it isn’t a stereotypical thing because only women get pregnant. Why is pregnancy such a big thing on LOST? Because this series is slowly becoming about the continued existence of the human race. The human race continues to exist through children. Children are born through pregnancy. Pregnancy occurs in women. It is a tragedy and undesirable for the women to all die, hence why The Others brought in a fertility doctor.

Oh, Juliet, now that I have transitioned to you, you have spent way too much time with Jack. That “I hate you” after the tape recorder stopped recording was so passive aggressive and childish. It is exactly the way Jack acts towards his father. It also reminds me of when Cartman said, “God, I hate you guys” on South Park. What does Ben have on her that she continues to comply with his orders? Is being with The Others that much of an advantage to being a regular old Survivor on the island? I don’t understand why she doesn’t just tell him to get bent and move on with her life. Is she pregnant by Goodwin and needs to stay with The Others to use their equipment to hopefully heal herself? She can’t possibly be because Flight 815 crashed over 90 days ago and she would be showing by now, wouldn’t she?

(Side Note: If impregnated women take the morning after pill or have a really early abortion, would it save their lives? I’m not advocating abortion, just wondering about the exact “science” of the deaths of these pregnant women.)

LOSTOLOGY

The main thing that intrigues me about this episode is the notion of death. When Locked shoved the Russian into the electric fence (Don’t whiz on the electric fence!), we assumed he was dead. The most obvious answer to this entire quandary is to simply say that our assumption was wrong. The Russian somehow faked his own death. However, we do know that the electric fence did something. Juliet turned it on in Left Behind. Since she turned it on in that episode, it may have been off in the previous ones. We have no way of really knowing (besides being shown in a future flashback). There are some other subtleties that make it possible he actually died and came back to life. Either way, I don’t really care. I really like the Russian’s character and am glad he is back.

First, I’d like to note how Ms. Klugh told the Russian to kill her. Now, I believed that this demand was just the writers’ way of demonstrating how committed to the cause The Others are. However, what if she knew she wouldn’t actually be dead for that long and thus him killing her wasn’t a big deal? Is that why he also asked to be killed so quickly, he knew he would be coming back? There are lots of interesting implications to this idea, not the least of which being that Jack’s Dad and Yemi aren’t dead.

Remember how the writers said Nikki and Paulo would become iconic characters? Remember how I said Expose was a microcosm of the show? Nikki and Paulo were literally buried alive. Well, what if that was symbolic of how the writers always make a point of showing us that the dead are buried by the Survivors? What if they didn’t bury them, they would come back to life? The symbolism of Nikki and Paulo has grown.

Likewise, a quote from Expose stands out even more. Locke said that things on the island don’t stay buried. Are all the dead going to come back at some point? Is LOST going to have the largest ensemble cast in the history of ensemble casts? How pissed off would Ana Lucia be when she came back? It would make so much sense if Libby came back after dropping her storyline like it was hot. It would also be the single greatest smokescreen in television, all this crap about Ana Lucia, Libby, and Eko being killed off for off screen reasons would be a lie. You want another quote? Remember when Hurley and Charlie were burying Ethan in S1? Hurley said he thought Ethan was going to pop back to life…

What about the symbolism of the eye opening? Is that the characters literally coming back to life? In the Pilot, Sayid said it would have been impossible for anyone to survive such a plane crash. I, and many others, always assumed that to mean that the plane crash was a controlled situation or was planned. What if it means that they DID died and the island reanimated them? The eye opening is them being reanimated! Is there a list somewhere of all the characters that have opened their eyes at the beginning of episodes? It would be interesting to read.

The reason I picture the eye opening in this way is in the Highlander whenever an Immortal is “brought back to life”, their eyes open suddenly. It is the symbolic gesture that represents the essence of life still enduring in the character because if you’ve ever looked into the eyes of a dead person (at a wake or otherwise) they just seem empty, especially if you knew them well. That’s it! I’ve solved LOST! The island is The Source from Highlander. I smell an extremely lucrative crossover. Maybe that’s why the new Highlander movie (appropriately title Highlander: The Source) keeps getting pushed back. If Adrian Paul shows up on the island, I’m flipping out…

FREDDY ADIEU

I’m expecting big things out of next week’s episode. I’ll admit to watching the previews and it’s so obvious that Locke hasn’t kidnapped Ben or abandoned The Others. Rather, he has his Dad and is going to test Sawyer to see if Sawyer will kill him. In other words, it’s going to be a ridiculous Sawyer episode. I’m betting they’ve had a confrontation before and that is what the flashback will be as well. Although, I hope the episode doesn’t end in Sawyer dying because he gets over his problems…

I’m so sad, the season is almost over. And if you think I shouldn’t be sad, I’ve only got one thing to say:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E17 Catch-22

2011-08-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

The Midside S3E17: Catch-22

It’s been a long week. If you’ve talked to anyone at all or turned the news on for about 30 second, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t done either of those things, why are you wasting your time reading my column? My musings are enjoyment spawned from enjoyment. Do you really need that much leisure in your life? Apparently I do, so to get on with the fun, I’ll skip the bullshit and get straight to the necessary ethos establishing eulogy. My condolences and sympathies go out to all the Hokies in the world. I could never be a Hokie or understand what you’ve been through, but if you need anything, just give me a ring.

LOST made this week even longer. No, I don’t mean emotionally, thank God. Last night’s episode was an intellectual investment…and a half. Immediately after the episode aired, a friend and I spent a large amount of time trying to understand what the Catch-22 of the episode is. Thankfully for you, I finally figured it out, so I’ll have something to write about this week (although, if you hate my column, my discovery of the answer is a bad thing, but if you hate my column, why are you reading it? I’ll never understand the internet.).

Alright, enough with this short winded introduction. Into the Midside…

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

In order to discuss this week’s flashbacks I must first make sure we all understand two things. The first is rather obvious and easy to all LOST fans. The conflict of Desmond’s character is to not be a coward. When he turned the fail safe key, he, and all of us, believed he was being brave, but was he really? That thought is one I will return to later. Before that discussion, let me explain the other concept.

A Catch-22 is when in order to accomplish A one must do B and C, but if there is B, there is no C and if there is C, there is no C. Got it? No? I understand. The logical relationship is a bit tricky. Let me explain it in simpler terms using an example that many of us face in life, an example that I recently faced. In order to get a job, you must have work experience, but in order to get work experience, you must get a job. Do you see the Catch-22 there? The end result you are trying to accomplish is A (Get money, get money), by getting B (work experience) and C (a job). However, needing to get work experiences implies you don’t have a job, while getting a job implies that you don’t need work experience.

How does this logical cyclical relationship apply to Desmond? His perception of the world is a Catch-22. He knows that his character flaw is that he is a coward. He tries so hard to overcome it that he makes it impossible to overcome. Let me say it in Catch-22 terms. Desmond believes that in order to do something with his life, he must be brave, but in order to be brave, he must do something. I would like to emphasis that this Catch-22 is Desmond’s perception and thus all in his mind. In actuality, doing nothing would be the brave action. Let’s take this idea and apply it to this episode.

Desmond joined a monastery. The question is, why did he join it? His excuse was that it was his calling. However, the responses of others contradict his excuse. First, his finance believed he was lying to break up with her. She saw the bullshit he was slinging. What she didn’t realize was that he was slinging it to himself more than anyway. Similarly, the monk deemed him unfit for the monastery. He was fired. But if it was really his true calling, would he have been fired? No, the monk saw through his façade, mainly because he got drunk off of his ass, and realized the truth. So if his excuse was that it was his calling, why did he really join it?

Desmond was afraid of getting married so he pulled a Kate and ran away to the monastery. He spun it in his head so the action would seem brave, when really it was extreme cowardice. “I was shunning my entire life in favor of God’s plan!” No dude, you had cold feet, wussed out, and ran away. I’m Bill O’Reilly and this is the No Spin Zone and you’re a bitch!

Now let’s apply this idea to the action on the island. Desmond is shown flashes of the future. In these flashes, Charlie dies. Constantly, Desmond makes the decisions to save Charlie. Really though, he isn’t being brave. He is being shown a plan (arguably God’s) and rather than trusting in it and doing nothing, he takes action and sabotages it. Consider how the story of Abraham and Isaac was told by the monk. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah (notice how that was the name of the wine the monks bottled). Abraham intends to, but at the last minute is stopped by an angel. In other words, God was testing Abraham. Is whatever force testing Desmond and does not really intend to kill Charlie? Or does it intend to test Charlie and figures it can use the situation to test Desmond? I’ll return to this idea later.

How about applying this idea a little further back? How about my theories about Flashes Before Your Eyes? Well, obviously those theories have been disproved as someone found the island and that person was looking for Desmond. How could Penny have not been the one who found the island then? So what was that episode all about if it wasn’t the island course correcting so it wouldn’t be discovered? Whatever force is testing Desmond was testing him then. The jewelry lady told him that the fate of the universe depended on him getting rid of Penny, so what did he do? Rather than standing up, giving the middle finger to Penny, and riding off into the sunset, he was a jerk to her and scared her away. He took the cowardly action by acquiescing to the larger plan just as he did with running from his marriage and saving Charlie. I ask, what did Jack Sparrow when Davey Jones, the ruler of death, came for his soul? He formulated a plot to stop Jones from taking his soul. What did he do when the Kraken was poised to devour him? He jumped towards the fate of death with his sword drawn. Jack Sparrow is a hero. Desmond is a coward.

How about applying this idea to the failsafe key? Desmond believed he was being brave by turning the key. He kissed it and said, “I love you, Penny” as if he was sacrificing his life. He believed he was dying for The Greater Good of the world. However, wasn’t his action really cowardly? Sure, he didn’t know what would happen when he turned the key, but do we ever really know what is going to happen? No, and the much more intriguing outcome would have been to NOT turn the key and saw what happened when The Swan finally imploded. We would have learned the exact logistics of the plane crash, the station, and the geologically unique electromagnetic energy. Instead, Desmond got to run around the island naked, look like hippie Jesus for an episode, and receive the “power” of future vision.

On a final note, the scene where Penny and Desmond met for the first time was very nice. It was well written, acted, and filmed and it made me smile. My only question is, was Desmond even being a coward during the episode? Penny was the one who introduced herself and offered that he could help her unload the wine at her destination when he was the one who was so initially mesmerized. She was the forward one and he was along for the ride. I guess we know the final outcome of Desmond’s storyline. Penny loves him, but he doesn’t yet deserve her because he always picks the cowardly route rather than her.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

I’m so glad they didn’t kill Charlie. It’s well known that I’m not a fan of the character. However, I don’t think I could have dealt with any character dying this week. It would have been too emotional. I have to admit as well that Charlie has gotten a lot last annoying when I don’t have to deal with his flashbacks. Entire episodes of Charlie feeling sorry for himself and doing nothing about it are too much to handle, but debates with Hurley over who is faster between Superman and The Flash are, dare I say, endearing. Ironically, this death storyline with Charlie has made me want him to die less than I have any other time of the series. Maybe it’s because he’s not on drugs anymore. In his flashbacks, the time he was the least annoying was when he was clean cut and annoying.

What’s with Hurley suddenly being a liar? In the beginning of the series, he was sweet and naïve. Heck, in his most recent episode, he was innocent and simple minded. I’m not saying he’s dumb, he’s just not very well educated. Now, he has conned Sawyer into being nice and lied to Jin to get him to go “camping”. Has Hurley been acting dumb this whole time or is he suddenly changing? Way back in S1 he did say that he was considered a warrior by some back where he came from.

Ok, I’ll try not to rant here, but I am worried about the prospects of the quadrangle in relevance to what it means to LOST. This episode didn’t feature much development in the Jack and Juliet department. Juliet was essentially a prop and Jack was Jack, doing what he felt like and being warm to Kate and Sawyer when they talked to him. What interests me is the way Kate and Sawyer acted.

Kate’s actions are a lot easier to understand than Sawyer’s. She was acting very childish. I would compare her choices to that of a teenager. When one guy she likes finds another girl, she goes to the other guy that she is attracted to and she knows is attracted to her and uses him as an ego boost. It is very interesting to me how Kate can be so intelligent, clever, and strong at times and so weak, insecure, and childish at others.

It was nice to see Sawyer be so mature in this episode too. He knew Kate was using him as the Crutch Guy, called her on it, but then whitewashed the whole thing by saying she didn’t need to use him, she just had to ask. To me, that line was basically saying, “I love you, but I know you don’t love me, so I’ll be here for you if you need me.” His actions towards Kate weren’t what were interesting to me. I wonder why he chose to play ping pong with Jack. Was he really just trying to be friends with Jack? I don’t think so, as such an action is not one his character would take. Rather, I think he wanted to find out why Kate was crying. The logical explanation was that she was crying because of something Jack did, either intentionally or unintentionally. What is the best way to find out what Jack did? Strike up a friendly conversation with him. Eventually the small talk will turn to the event. Sawyer did exactly that by asking Jack to play ping pong.

What does all this quadrangle crap have to do with the eventual end of LOST? I fear that LOST will end with Sawyer sacrificing himself so that Jack and Kate may be together. Such a move would be disrespectful to Sawyer and anyone like him. Sawyer does not need to be redeemed. It is frustrating to have to continually defend him and plead his case because people have decided he’s a jerk and won’t let their minds be changed otherwise.

On the other hand, would it really be a good move to kill Jack and have Kate and Sawyer end up together? Wouldn’t that be just as disrespectful to Jack and the people like him? Maybe, but isn’t the difference between Jack and Sawyer that Jack has always made it a point to go out of his way to harm himself for the greater good. I mean, he was giving all his blood to Boone before Sun stopped him.

The other option, of course, is to have Kate die. Thus, Sawyer and Jack would finally come together as co-leaders and save the rest of the Survivors. I’m actually leaning towards this outcome of the series. The whole Kate thing is getting to be played out. I’m ready for it to end. Hopefully, it will be by the end of the season, especially so I can decide if I want to keep watching LOST or not. Although, with how good LOST is, I can’t see the producers doing something as stupid as killing Sawyer for Jack and Kate, but I’ve learned to never underestimate the stupidity of people.

LOSTOLOGY

The main topic I want to discuss this week is the testing of Desmond. Typically, we do not have evidence of immediate and forceful testing by whatever force tests the Survivors. However, with Desmond, the mode of the test is implanted right into his head in the form of visions. Do this visions represent a legitimate view of the future or a fake view in order to manipulate Desmond? I’ve already put forward that his flashbacks in Flashes Before Your Eyes are fake, why couldn’t the visions be?

Say, for instance, that whatever the force is uses the layout of the island to create a false storyline. The cable was always there. The trap with the arrow was always there. They didn’t necessarily have to find the trap or the cable. Why would they have even gone “camping” if Desmond hadn’t asked them to? I’m not so sure they would have. The easy answer to this question is that the crash of the presumed helicopter and the Flash vs. Superman conversation demonstrate that the visions he’s given are of the future. I think they really are visions of the future, but are only given to him as a test.

The next question is, what is the point of this test? As explained in the flashback section, Desmond is intended to overcome his cowardice. What happens when he overcomes it though, does he die? The main example I always turn to when overcoming their main conflict and Eko and his death. Demonstrated by his silence following the plane crash and his building of the church for his brother, Eko had a deep guilt for the life he had lived. In the end, he overcame that guilt and realized he had nothing to ask for forgiveness for because he did not take those actions out of sin, but love. He never once killed a man out of a malicious action. Once he stopped believing himself to be bad, the Black Smoke killed him.

Similarly, Desmond believes himself to be a coward the needs to be redeemed. Jack believes he’ll never be good enough. Sawyer believes he is a bastard child unworthy of love (Kate doesn’t help that complex much). Similarly, Kate believes she has to earn love. When these people see their value and self worth, is that when they die? Is it when they overcome being a bad person that their death is imminent? Charlie has seemingly overcome his addictive personally and whatever the force is is trying to kill him. But what kind of a force kills good people? Are The Others really The Good Guys? Should we have known from the minute we saw The Black Smoke that it was essence of pure evil?

FREDDY ADIEU

Alright, I’m done. See you next week. I know, I know, it’s just that by the time I get to the end every week, I’m so drained, this week especially. Do you really want me to go out of my way to scribble some bullshit down that makes no sense? If your answer to that question is yes, then you know what I have to say:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E16 One of Us

2011-08-14T15:21:00.001-04:00

I’ve gotten into a habit I enjoy this season. The only information I allow myself to know about next week’s episode is the preview. Yes, I know, it’s still a spoiler of sorts, but think of it like marijuana. It’s a small, mainly harmless, drug used for recreation. The people who use it mainly forget stuff and are lazy. In the case of previews, the opposite holds true. My mind starts racing a mile a minute and I remember more stuff from previous episodes, especially the episode that just airs.

I know, I know, marijuana is a gateway drug, right? The same too can be said for previews. Once you have a little bit of information, you go seeking out more. You download the Canadian preview. At this point, the information isn’t enough to satiate you. The spoiler forums on LOST message boards start to look better and better until, finally, you know who has a flashback in what week, who will guest star in every episode, and what exactly the writers are foreshadowing in their podcasts. You know how I know this development? I’ve been there. Consider me Christian Shepard and yourselves as my AA sponsors. You satiate me to the point that I don’t need to go looking for anything else. Wow, that sentence sounded dirty.

Seriously though, don’t worry about me relapsing. I’m not as weak as Jack’s Dad. Plus, I don’t have a douchebox of a son (we’ll return to that subject later) to break into my AA meeting and punch me in the face or, in my case, to smash my computer screen in while I’m typing my column. HULK SMASH! Alright, I’m all over the map like the LOST island tonight. I’m not going to relapse because I enjoy not knowing. Way back in Season One, I knew who was going to have a flashback weeks ahead of time. Now that I don’t know, I’ve realized how fun it is being in the dark. I honestly feel more in tune with the writers. For instance, when I said, man, we need more Sayid, what did they do? Well, they wrote a Sayid story and put his flashback episode in exactly where I said they would. I can imagine them sitting in a production meeting and missing Sayid as much as I did. OK, maybe not as much as the fans missed him, but you get my point.

There is one thing I miss when not reading up on the episodes ahead of time. I rarely ever know what the episode titles are before I view them. That state is like reading a book without knowing the title. How can you properly analyze a piece without knowing the first cursory piece of information the writer provides to you? In a stand alone piece such as a book or poem, you can’t. Luckily with LOST, the name of the show gives you a clue as to what is going on in every episode.

Tonight was a very different matter. Usually I can figure out what the episode title is based upon what is going on in the show. For instance, it was obvious that Mittelos Bioscience was not in Portland. Hence, it was a logical jump to say that was the episode name. Tonight, I came to the episode name in a very different manner. The opening scene to the episode was very long, it even contained a long flashback, and it became very obvious that the episode would be about her fitting in with the 815ers. It was at this point I joked to myself that it would be funny if the episode was named, “One of Us”, a reference to that creepy movie that I can’t remember the name of where they say that line. That movie is always referenced and I’ll always remember the scene in the Clerks cartoon where the twin retarded oafish sisters say it to Randall. One of us. One of us.

Wow, this introduction is long. See what happens when I sit down to write my column immediately after the episode airs? Maybe I should take a lap around the block, go downtown, get some pizza, or pick up some chicks. Who am I kidding? I love LOST more than I could ever love a woman. Am I pathetic or what?

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

Once again, the flashbacks were so deftly crafted. How can anyone say that this show isn’t planned anymore? Expose. EXPOSE! I know what the response to this episode is going to be. “They used the scenes from Season One” to make it look like this week’s episode was planned, when really, they just got lucky and made up the bullshit about the implant. I’m not suggesting that this episode was planned from the beginning. The implant may have been made up soley for this episode. That in depth of a plan would be absolutely ridiculous. What I am saying is that the situation was planned.

Do you really think it’s a coincidence that Claire was kidnapped and Juliet is a fertility doctor? Do you really think it’s a coincidence that Juliet is the top of fertility doctor who was brought to the island and that pregnancy has been a major theme of the show? No, it’s not a coincidence. The greater scheme is starting to come into view. I’ll talk about it a little more in the LOSTology section, but the important part is that there was a kernel of truth in this episode and that truth is relevant to Juliet’s story.

The best lies are the ones that are centered on a lot of truth. What I mean by that statement is, you don’t tell the lie. You use the truth, you portray it in a certain manner, to lead people to the lie you want them to believe. Notice how tonight, Juliet never said she should be trusted. She never said she was one of the 815ers. Well, I take that claim back. She might have said it to Jack. I don’t really remember. The broader point is that she didn’t go around screaming it from the hilltops. Rather, she left that job to Jack. He was leading everyone to believe she could be trusting. Heck, he was her Johnny Cochran. If Juliet is left behind, she must be kind.

What was the chewy center of truth? Claire really is the first woman (that they know of) to survive pregnancy on the island. I believe everything Juliet said about why Ethan acted the way he did too. It makes too much sense. If you go back and watch Season One again, you can tell the point where Ethan goes out of control and it really is because of Hurley’s census. Also, why else would he inject a pregnant woman with all that serum? Why else would he take her to an abandoned hatch? Ethan went renegade and got killed by the lamest character because of it. Serves him right.

Did Claire survive the pregnancy because of the medication? I’m not so sure. Juliet said the disease begins at conception. What I think she means is that when the sperm bonds with the egg, the disease begins to infect the mother. It looks like it then kills the mother before she can conceive. My bet is that because Claire was so far pregnant when she crashed on the island, the disease didn’t have a chance to fully work on her. Thus, she was the control in the situation as Juliet said. I’ll return to this discussion later in LOSTology. I discussed what I did already to show how Juliet wasn’t lying.

The other part of the flashbacks that was deftly crafted was the way Juliet was portrayed. As the episode progressed, I felt more sympathetic towards her. I honestly believe she wants to leave the island. The writers used that sympathy and that belief to lead us to belief she was acting in earnest in the episode. I’m not going to lie. About halfway through, I almost bought that she was really left behind. I almost bought that she was someone to feel sorry for. Then she gave that little speech to Sayid and Sawyer and I knew it was all an act. The ending of the episode came as no surprise to me.

The question I have now is how deep does this con go? In Expose, we saw Ben being to explain the plan to Juliet. Was part of the reason they captured Austen and Ford so that they could release them? Remember, Ben likes to make you believe the action you are taking is your idea. Did he want Jack to demand that they release Kate and Sawyer so Juliet could help him and gain his trust? True, stuff went wrong. Plans never unfold perfectly. If Sun had never shot Colleen, Juliet wouldn’t have had to kill Pickett.

Do you want further speculation on what I’m contemplating? Consider the scene where Jack opens the door to the Hydra and water comes spilling in. Ben repeatedly says that if he opens it, everyone will die. Why would Ben allow the possibility of Jack killing them all? He wouldn’t. The door was mysteriously left open and Jack could wander around. The entire scene was setup for Jack to bond with Juliet. He thinks he put his and her life in danger and when he woke up she was there.

There is, of course, always one more thing to wonder. Why is Juliet in on everything? If she really does want to leave the island like I honestly believe she does, why would she go along with Ben? Is it because he holds the power to get off the island and now that it’s not possible to get off the island, he holds all the power on the island? Or is there actually brainwashing and she’s been brainwashed. Whatever the case may be, I do think she has honest feelings for Jack and it will become important later.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

Jack is a douchebox. There I said it for the nine millionth time. If you can’t see why after this episode, I don’t know how I can convince you. First off, he has been so conned by Juliet that he is unintentionally helping her con everyone else. Second off, I did not believe for one second that he was trying to get off the island to help everyone. Did you notice that when he said that everyone kind of went silent? They all realized the truth. Jack is no different than anyone else who spouts the “live together, die alone” mentality. As long as he feels like he’s on the same level as you, he’ll have your back. The second he feels like it’s too his advantage or he’s better off than you, he’ll turn into “every man for himself.” He showed it in his scene with Juliet. He believes her because she wants the same exact thing he does: to get off the island by any means possible, even if that means leaving people behind. Yes, there is always the possibility that Jack is in on the con (or on a different mission from Ben), but I’m not so sure that would redeem. It would at least make him less stupid.

I’m not even going to touch Sawyer and Kate. What I am going to touch is Sawyer and Sayid. I think I’m ready for a spinoff. Can you imagine a show where Sawyer and Sayid are bounty hunters or FBI agents? That show would be the most badass show ever. I’d watch it more often than LOST. I’m really glad they’ve come to an understanding because if you combine both of their knowledge of deceit and their toughness, no one can mess with them.

Did you also notice how Sawyer has usurped leadership from Jack? I’m sick of people bagging on him too, saying he has to learn to be leader and such. Remember way back in Season One when he said, “Hell, give me a couple bandaids, bottle of peroxide, I could run this island too”? He knows he can run the island, but doesn’t want the hassle because he thinks people will shit on him. Remember when he gave up all the alcohol when Boone had his “accident”? He’s always been willing to help people. Remember in The Long Con when he said, “when I was off trying to get us rescued”? He’s always been trying to help everyone. Now just may be the time he finally steps up.

Why now? Well, after Expose, the scope and breadth of Ben's cons became apparent. Ben is conning everyone, always, at all times. He has his goals (either given to him by Jacob or, possibly, his own) and manipulates everyone around him to acheive them. The proof of this is how the entirety of S2 was a long con by Ben in order to get Jack to operate on him which culminated in the initial six episode arc of S3. We now know that the long con may still be on or at least parlayed into another long con.

However, it is my contention that at the rear end of his plan (well, it may still be the middle), Ben (possibly) made a major mistake that will result in his undoing.

Before I explain the mistake, I have to put forward a theory about "Jacob's List." Everyone who is an "Other", from Ben down, is excellent at deceit and conning. It is part of the job description. Look at how Ethan and Goodwin (and possibly Cindy) integrated into the 815ers. It's still up for question whether Juliet is manipulating Jack or not. Tom played the part of Zeke. Now, turn to Pickett's comment about Shepard not being on the list. The insinuation of this comment is that Austen and Ford ARE on the list. Why would they be "good" people? They are excellent at deceit and conning. Similarly, the other person from the middle who may have been on the list is Locke. He pretty much tries to manipulate everyone all the time. The main character from the Tailies that "The Others" tried to take was Eko. His entire life was a con. He first played the part of a warlord and later played the part of a priest. Jack isn't on the list because, as good as he is at some things, a deceiver he is not.

Now, what is Ben's mistake? The episode, "Every Man for Himself." In order to keep Sawyer in his cage, Ben revealed how adept he and "The Others" are at conning. He said, "The only way to earn a con man's respect is to con him." That statement may be true, but there is a difference between respect and allegiance. As a Patriots fan, I respect Peyton Manning's talent, but would never swear my allegiance to him or the Colts. Ben created his most dangerous enemy by showing how good of a con man he is to Sawyer.

One key scene to the Kate and Sawyer dynamic is, obviously, the sex scene. However, this scene had interesting subtext from Sawyer. Before sneaking out of her cage, Kate tells Sawyer all about how Ben wants Jack to do the surgery.

Sawyer says, "And you and we are what, bait?" This line shows that Sawyer understands the con.

Kate replies, "Something like that."

Sawyer laughs, "At least the Doc ain't dumb enough to do it."

Kate replies, "I told him I had to." At this point, Ben's con is arguably complete. Jack has agreed to do the surgery because Ben used Pickett's hatred of Sawyer to manipulate Kate into begging Jack to do it.

Sawyer yells, "Why the hell would you do something so stupid?" Sawyer understands that the con is or is almost complete.

Kate says, "To save your life."

Sawyer, "My life don't need saving."

Kate asks, "Do you want to die? Cause that's what's gonna happen..." In this pause there is a shot of Sawyer. He is no longer angry. He understands. He sees how emotional Kate is and understand the role HE played in this entire con. Here is where the attitude change everyone has noted begins. Knowing they're on "Alcatraz" and how deep the con ran, he resigns himself to defeat. As Kate climbs out of her cage, he yells at her because he knows what is going to happen, but doesn't want it to. Notice, how when she kisses him at first, he only responds with, "Now what was that for." He is reluctant. However, he then realizes, "You know what? I probably am going to die." and, well, we know what happens.

How do I know the above is true and not some ridiculous interpretation I've conjured? Post-coitus, Sawyer asks Kate one question, "Let me ask you something, Freckles. The day Blockhead was beating on me, you said, 'I love you.' That was just to get him to stop, right?" Kate only responds by kissing him. After escaping, the two fight and Sawyer reveals what he realized about the situaton, "You only slept with me because you thought I was going to die." Sawyer sees how she was manipulated by Ben and it hurts him that the moment isn't in earnest. He asked the question in hopes it was in earnest, but her lack of a verbal response (and subsequent refusal to leave Jack) demonstrated to him that it wasn't.

In the midst of escape, Sawyer witnesses other practices of The Others. The most notable is the "brainwashing" room. Here is the moment where people say Sawyer changes. I reject this claim. He had already changed. Besides, he wasn't privy to the whole experience the way Mr. Rousseau Jr. was. Rather, he was taken aback by how crazy the whole thing was.

Back on Craphole Island, Sawyer has done some questionable things. First off, he let John Cusack go to save Alex from her tax evading father. Why did he do that? Yes, part of him is a hopeless romantic. Another part of him knows that Alex and Karl can't fully be manipulated by Ben and that is the most dangerous thing to a con man, an unmanipulatable mark. Yet another part of Sawyer has given up. The situation is hopeless to him and if it's hopeless, isn't it better that Karl is with Alex than without?

Back at camp, viewers are questioning his more affable nature. The truth is, Sawyer always thought there would be rescue. Now, his apathy is battling his knowledge of Ben. The part that doesn't care is letting things slide. The part that knows all about Ben is preparing to battle him. Why give the diamonds back? Why let Sun slap him? Sawyer is building a repoire with the 815ers in order to fight back against Ben.

It is my belief that, in Every Man for Himself, Ben created his most dangerous enemy in Sawyer, an extremely skilled con man. Of course, there are questions as to whether Ben or the mysterious Jacob are the master, but if Sawyer is opposed to Ben, would he really trust Ben's superior? Now, Sawyer is beginning to rise to a leadership position and Jack is beginning to be distrusted, which leads me into my next section…

LOSTOLOGY

The foreshadowed split of LOST is finally occurring and it’s not along the lines everyone thought it was going to be. It’s on much more logical lines. Jack and Locke never made much sense. Locke was never much of the leader type. Sure, he masqueraded as it for awhile, but he’s way too self involved. For all Jack’s arrogance and self centeredness, he does genuinely care at some points. Even if he doesn’t care, he wants to save people and he does save people. I really think Locke is only out for himself on every level.

No, the true divide is between Jack and Sawyer. On one hand, you have Jack, the leader who wants you to depend on him and come to him when there is an important decision. On the other hand, you have Sawyer, the leader who wants you to take care of yourself and come to him when there is a need for mediation. Which one would you want as your leader? It’s clearly foreshadowed that the split will occur or already is occurring. The question is why.

The 815ers are facing the same dilemma we are. That identification is why I love LOST. They never reveal too much information so that we don’t identify with our heroes. In Season One, we wanted to get to know everyone. In Season Two, the hatch controlled us. In Season Three, we don’t know how to react to The Good Guys. For instance, in the middle of tonight’s episode, I genuinely asked myself if they were all on the same side. The whole pregnancy thing made me think that they were facing the same problem. Then I realized that the pregnancy thing is a small hurdle for The Good Guys. Sure, it would be nice to have children on the island, but recruiting people works fine too. Children are a way around recruiting. It’s much easier to indoctrinate a child than an adult, but, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Jack has already shown a willingness to work with The Good Guys. Sawyer stands opposed to them (for the reason I explicated in the last section). I expect the 815ers to divide on these lines. Claire, Jin, and Sun will go with Jack. Hurley, Desmond, and Sayid will go with Sawyer. Kate will stay in the middle as the triangle progresses further and further. One day she will be forced to make a choice. I only hope death doesn’t make that choice for her. (And I didn’t say Charlie because he’s going to die.)

Of course, we are left with a myriad of other questions. Does the island not want babies to be born on it? Who runs The Good Guys in America? How does Jack saving Ben fit into this whole story? Yes, Ben has plans, but I also believe the island has plans. Why would the island want to save Ben? Oh, and, for what it’s worth, while I’m thinking it, I don’t think Ben was born on the island anymore. Why would he need a last name if he spent his whole life on the island?

FREDDY ADIEU

Alright, I’m done. See you next week.

Oh yeah:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E15 Left Behind

2011-08-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

I get it. I feel like I’ve reached this supreme level of understanding in relevance to LOST. I am enlightened. I am the Buddha of this analysis crap and you are my pupils. Ok, well, I feel everything except that last sentence. I’m way too skinny to be Buddha.

Seriously though, Expose exposed so much to me. Yes, that sentence was redundant. While watching Left Behind, everything made so much sense to me. I understood why the characters were doing and saying what they were. I understood what the writers were attempting to do. I understood even the most ridiculous actions that seemed to make no sense at all. Heck, I understood the black smoke…ok, so I still don’t understand the black smoke, do you? I didn’t think so! So stop complaining. Even the master isn’t masterful 100% of the time.

If I’ve crafted the previous two paragraphs with any skill at all, you should be wondering how I can understand everything so easily. It all comes down to one simple four word phrase:

Everything is a con.

I’m serious. I know, some of you don’t believe me, but think about it. Last week, what were we shown? Nikki and Paulo were conning everyone constantly. Throughout the series, what are we never shown? No one ever tells anyone else what’s going on. These people have trust issues because they’re all a bunch of liars. They only tell their closest allies anything at all. And why do they not tell almost anyone anything? The more people that know what you know, the more worthless you become and the more power others hold over you.

I’m not only talking about cons going on between the characters too. The writers have been conning us from day one. We’ve been distracted by the so called mythology, so we couldn’t see what’s really going on. Of course, a smart person would take the opposite side of me and say, “Jay, maybe they’re just distracting us from the mythology this season by displaying all the conning.” Maybe so, but it’s like I said. These people have been lying and scheming against each other since day one. And they just so happen to have a con man in their midst them? It’s all too coincidental for me.

Fear not, though, as I will never con you. I always shoot from the hip and call it like I see it. Why do I act that way, you ask? It’s way too much time and energy to con and, honestly, I’m as lazy as they come. Forget the lazy Mexican jokes, they’re obsolete. Bring in the lazy Jayemel jokes.

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

…and we return to form. There was something very comforting about the show returning to typical flashback fashion on a Kate episode. Kate’s stories have a way of combining the action of Sawyer’s stories with the drama of Locke’s stories. In one scene, we’re shown Federal Marshalls tackling a supposed criminal, while in the other scene with have a conflicted bathroom confession.

It’s hard when you agree with two people. In the aforementioned bathroom confession, I thought both Kate and her mother made good points, or at least I could understand their point of view. If someone one of my parents was with was a drunk and abusive and I did something about it, even murder, I’d be hurt if they turned me in. I’d feel like they were taking the drunk abusive person’s side as Kate did. On the other hand, Kate’s mother was right. She committed murder and while it was admirable the way she wanted to protect her mother from the jerk, murder should not and can not be condoned.

I also recognize the flaws in both side’s arguments. As was basically pointed out by Kate’s mom, you don’t deal with a bad person by becoming a bad person. Yes, he was a drunk and abused is wife, but murder is worse than abuse. If someone slashes my tires, should I respond by popping the hood of their car and dismantling their engine? No, there was certainly a better way Kate could have dealt with the situation, but that statement is obvious. As for Kate’s mom’s argument, I have a problem with the phrase “in cold blood.” If you’re murdering to protect someone, is it really in cold blood? Dictionary.com defines “cold blood” as “a state of mind marked by premeditation and deliberateness.” In that definition, Kate’s crime was in cold blood. However, I am reminded of the distinction US law makes between premeditated murder and a “crime of passion.” I’m not lawyer, but is a crime of passion only committed in the moment, as in if Pickett had punched Sawyer to death outside that cage, it would have been a crime of passion? Can’t a premeditated murder be a crime of passion, as in Kate’s case? Or is the argument I’m discussing a temporary insanity plea? Kate was temporarily insane due to her anger and thus she planned the murder. Of course, we all know that Kate wasn’t really temporarily insane, but you understand my point. I feel as if Kate’s mom didn’t give her enough credit as her daughter. I think that Kate felt that way as well. Now I see where her bond with Sawyer stems from. Kate was “left behind” by her mother as Sawyer was “left behind” by his father.

It kind of annoys me when parents in action movies or intense dramas pull the “I’m not going to tell the cops you’re here” card on their criminal children. I don’t think it’s cheap writing or anything, it just seems awfully hypocritical of the parents. It seems especially hypocritical in the case of Kate’s mom. Although, I guess she doesn’t have much of a choice if the Feds follow her or not. I mean, you can’t really say, “Hey, US Government, stop following me.” I see this paragraph degenerating into a discussion of the Patriot Act, so we’re not going to go there.

The further inclusion of Cassidy in the plot intrigues me. I think that she is one of those characters and one of those plots that was unplanned, but has since been integrated into the show. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see her end up on the island at some point. Maybe Kate and Sawyer will finally get together and stay together and then she’ll come along and cause some friction.

Speaking of Sawyer, did anyone pick up how Kate was interacting with rivals for her love interests on the island and in her flashback? She was fighting with Juliet and receiving aid (and offering aid) to the woman carrying Sawyer’s child. Which brings me to another point, I understand that no birth control works 100% of the time besides abstinence, but I get so annoyed in TV shows and movies when the girl gets pregnant after the guy leaves her. Why can there never be mistake pregnancies during the relationship? It implies that the two had sex at or around the time of the breakup and the woman got pregnant to try and stay attached to the guy. Heck, I think that in real life, as in the case of the best quarterback in the NFL Tom Brady and Bridget I-can’t-remember-how-to-spell-her-last-name. What’s the lesson here? Guys, if you’re in a sexual relationship and the girl has any inkling you’re going to break up with her at any point, don’t have sex with her anymore. Heck, even if she doesn’t know and you plan on breaking up with her, don’t have sex with her anymore. It seems bad luck happens more often when you’re on you’re way out than any other time.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

When I said everything is a con, I meant everything is a con. This episode was a perfect example. The “A” Plot (as is the going term) involved Juliet running an intricate con on Kate. What was the con? Well, I take back my use of the word “intricate.” The con was actually pretty simple. Juliet exploited Kate’s emotional investment in Jack to turn her into a crying mess.

First, Juliet worked up a bond of trust with Kate. She acted like she was in the same situation as Kate by handcuffing herself to her and claiming she was “left behind” by The Good Guys as well. Then, she created a rivalry between herself and Kate by revealing intimate information only Jack would know. By saying she didn’t need Jack to say that Kate broke his heart, Juliet insinuated she had some typed of close relationship with Jack. Kate, having previously taken out her frustrations on Juliet by dislocating her shoulder, was so emotionally and physically drained that she couldn’t control her collapse. Next came the killer blow.

Somehow, Jack was still passed out from the gas. While Kate and Juliet had enough time to trek across the island after waking up, Jack was still slumped on the floor. The fact that Kate didn’t recognize this discrepancy proves she was emotionally broken down. All she cared about was making sure Jack was ok and then apologizing to him for not allowing him to get home (even though I believe it was never possible for him to). The truth is that Jack wasn’t passed out at all. He was waiting for Kate to come to him.

What was the point of this con? Kate now feels she has to earn Jack’s love again. She has always equated Jack loving her to her redemption and worthiness of society. Now, she has once again placed herself on a lower level than Jack. She sees herself as doing something to him the way she did something to her mother. Just like she had to return to her mother to find out the truth, she had to return to Jack. The only problem is: Jack’s a big fat liar now.

Jack being in on the con explains why they didn’t simply plan to go get everyone and return to The Good Guy Village. Ben never planned for The Good Guys to leave for good. The entire situation was a big con to get the 815ers to leave their village alone. Now that they believe it’s abandoned, and with Jack as leader telling them what to do, they won’t return to The GG Village. The Good Guys can rehabitate it and go about their business as useful. Meanwhile, they’ve also planted two moles in the 815ers camp.

I’m really curious as to what Sayid went through during the episode. Did they try to con him or just leave him locked up in the backyard? I guess the best way to con Sayid is to keep it simple. They probably left him chained to the swing set while everyone ran away. Then, Juliet and Kate returned. He had the situation explained to him and had no choice to believe what happened was true. Of course, he still didn’t. He wanted to leave Juliet behind and Jack vouched for her. I wonder if he’ll figure out that Jack has been compromised as quickly as he figured out Michael had been compromised.

Seriously, everything is such a con that even Hurley is conning people. His whole plot with Sawyer reminded me of Survivor. Sawyer was doing some last minute scrambling to try and keep himself on the island. However, here’s the difficulty I have with the plot line. Sawyer’s a con man. His entire job is to make people like him so they’ll give him stuff. Although, I guess you could argue that he runs small cons and the romance angle and making a woman like him in the romance angle is a lot different than making nice in general. I still question, however, if Sawyer was using Hurley’s advice as a way to build relationships with people. Although, that thought is negated by the honest of Sawyer’s reaction to Hurley when he learned it was a con and his conversation with Charlie. Of course, maybe those scenes were just so people didn’t figure Sawyer out.

The more interesting notion to consider is that the writers had Hurley say they needed Sawyer as leader an episode before the “real” leader Jack returns. In reality, the action makes sense. They don’t know when Jack, Kate, Locke, or Sayid will be returning. However, LOST isn’t reality, it’s a story, so why show us this story? Notice what the other important element they tried to build up was, Sun’s disdain of Sawyer. Sure, it was a nice gag for the voting con, but why else show it?

I believe we are finally going to see the divide of the 815ers that was foreshadowed in Season One. Ironically, the two leaders are going to be Jack and Sawyer, rather than Jack and Locke as was always anticipated (although, down the line, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Locke join Sawyer’s side due to the connection they have over Cooper being on the island). Some of them are going to figure out that Jack and Juliet are not to be trusted or, even if they are to be trusted, not trust them. Others are going to go back to the old routine and listen to Jack. What I’m interested to see is who falls where. Will Juliet be able to con Sayid into trusting her? If so, she definitely won’t con Sawyer. There’s no way to con both Sayid and Sawyer.

What about Charlie and Hurley? As shown this episode, Hurley has a lot of weight in the decision making process. Ok, that sentence was unintentionally insulting, but my point is that Hurley holds power in an important way. Leaders need followers. Followers decide who they want to follow. It’s a basic rule of Survivor. You have to build a trust in your followers so they will continue to stay loyal to the alliance. Jack has always been the leader because people like Charlie and Hurley trusted him. Will they continue to or defect to join Sawyer? Heck, it’ll be interesting just to see Sawyer’s reaction to Jack’s return. At the least, he’ll probably tell Hugo to get bent again.

LOSTOLOGY

There is a plan. Remember a few weeks ago when I asked what good a fence was that could be climbed over so simply? Well, the fence wasn’t for people. The fence was meant to keep out the Black Smoke. We can, of course, infer a few things. First, I’m an idiot. When I said, “maybe the fence was made to keep out” I should have thought of the Black Smoke. I hope you did. It’s so obvious. Of course, most of the mysteries of LOST are obvious once you know the truth. Second, whoever originally built the fence (whether The Good Guys, Dharma, or another group) did not control the Black Smoke as they constructed the fence to keep it out. Finally, The Good Guys do not control the Black Smoke. If they did, they wouldn’t need to keep the fence up all the time. Of course, you have to ask yourself just how deceptive The Good Guys are. Maybe they only had the fence up before because they knew Kate, Locke, and Sayid were coming because Locke blew up The Flame. It’s possible, but The Good Guys not controlling the Black Smoke is much simpler.

The other interesting mythological development was the flashes that the Black Smoke caused at Juliet. The only other character we’ve seen face such flashes was John Locke. Locke is currently involved with The Good Guys. As previously mentioned, I believe Juliet is still involved with The Good Guys. Are the flashes some kind of warning system or signal of a type of reading in the person? Here is where the argument over what Eko saw in the Black Smoke takes place. Just as Eko saw pieces of his FLASHbacks, was the monster taking flashbacks of Juliet? Then we can turn to a discussion of Desmond. “Flashes Before Your Eyes” insinuates “Your Life Flashes Before Your Eyes.” Does Desmond have a similar human version power of the Black Smoke’s apparent mind reading powers? Whatever the answers to these questions are, I know it’s significant that there were FLASHES of light on Juliet, every episode features a FLASHback, Eko saw HIS FLASHback in the Black Smoke, and Desmond has FLASHES before his eyes.

And if you still don’t believe there’s a plan, I don’t know what to tell you. Oh, wait, yes I do: Expose!

FREDDY ADIEU

I’m having a difficult time balancing my life and LOST. No, I don’t have a disregard for my life. Rather, the problem is that everyone I know is like three or four episodes behind. The one person that isn’t didn’t even see the intricate plan of Expose! Unfortunately, I’m being sucked back into the internet LOST community, well, message boards at least. Let me say, I read some awful stuff on there. People think Hurley is a leader, Sawyer is still bad, and ask really dumb questions such as “How could Jack talk to his dead dad?” Does no one pay attention when they watch this show?

LOST keeps getting better and better. I’m sure we’re being set up for another mind blowing finale like Live Together, Die Alone. Although, I don’t know if anything can be more mind blowing than that episode. And if you disagree that LOST hasn’t lost it, then I only have one thing to say:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E14 Expose

2011-08-14T15:18:00.000-04:00

She’s running through the jungle. She’s a stripper (Quagmire says, “Alright.”). She’s a bad actress. She’s in love with the director (Jayemel says, “Gross.”). She’s running out of the jungle. She’s falling over. She’s DEAD?! LOST. (Commercials.) The show returns and the credits roll on the bottom of the screen. Daniel Roebuck…Artz is in this episode?!...Ian Somerhalder…Boone?!

This episode of LOST began with a frantic pace. Actually, I take that statement back. The entire first half of the episode had a frantic pace to it. Every commercial break had me going, “What is going on?”, while every scene had me intently watching to see if I could spy some small detail I had missed the first time (well, first eight times) I saw the original episode the scene was in or some small detail the writers and director choose to include in this episode that they didn’t include in the original episode. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have our answer to all the doubters and, as the kids say, “haters.”

To start our understanding of our retort, let’s turn to dictionary.com for the definition of the word “expose”:

1. An exposure or a revelation of something discreditable.

2. A formal exposition of facts.

Obviously, the first definition applies directly to Nikki and Paulo. Turns out they were a pair of thieves as skilled as Amanda from Highlander. Who knew? (the producers, obviously). On that level, the show was an expose of their time on the island. Like The Other 48 days, the episode was a sped up timeline of the important events in their time on the island. Also, Nikki and Paulo (well, maybe just Nikki, but I’ll turn to that discussion later), were (yes, were) clearly discreditable. But this is LOST. Everything works on about sixty million levels…or two, whatever.

Yes, this episode was a formal exposition of facts. Although, I have to wonder what episode isn’t a formal exposition of facts. Maybe there’s a shortcoming in the definition here. What story or piece of writing isn’t a formal exposition of facts? Isn’t writing inherently exposition? Yes, there are certain types of writing that are considered “expository” and there is the nonfiction vs. fiction dichotomy, but saying fiction can’t be a formal exposition of facts renders this whole paragraph useless. Or does it? I’m actually going to sidestep that entire debate and explain how this episode can be fiction AND a formal exposition of nonfiction facts. So, I’ve essentially rendered this entire paragraph useless. Or have I? I’m confused. I’m like a messed up version of FoxNews. I confuse. You decide.

In the creation process, there are certain rules the creator must adhere to. I’m not necessarily referring to a set of constructs that are to remain constructs in the fictional universe. First off, those constructs would be fiction facts. Second off, the doubters would point out that the constructs aren’t constant in the LOST universe. Remember, the doubters are who we are crafting this response for. I could launch into a discussion of argumentation here by considering whether you should try to convince your opponents on their terms or not, but I won’t. Such a discussion isn’t necessary. What is important is reality. We’re stepping outside the fictional reality of LOST into the actual reality of, um, actual reality. Why? Because it is my contention that the writers intentionally led us in that direction.

(Note; When I use the term “writers” in my columns, I am referring to both the producers and the individual writers of the episodes. In television, producers write as much as the individual episode writers, as they create the overarching plot lines. In shows like 24 and LOST, the producers even step in to pen important episodes. If you don’t believe me, pay attention to the credits from now on. In 24, Manny Coto is listed as the episode writer for random episodes. In LOST, JJ Abrams will write an episode here and there and Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, and Javier Grillo-Marxuach have written quite a few episodes. Ex: JJ Abrams and Damn Lindelof wrote “A Tale of Two Cities”, the Season Three opener.)

When a writer writes (as if he would do anything else), he must adhere to the rules of his own creation process. In fact, he necessarily adheres to the rules of his own creation process. There is no way he can’t. Just as you and I adhere to the rules of our character when we live our daily lives, a writer adheres to his rules of creation when he writes. There’s obviously two main debates intertwined in this topic. First, there is the notion of self awareness. How much self awareness is good? For our purposes, the answer to that question is irrelevant. You must adhere to the rules of yourself, no matter if you are aware of those rules or not. The other debate is, of course, the free will vs. determinism debate. If we must adhere to the rules of ourselves, does that mean determinism is true? In other words, do the rules determine our actions? The short answer is no. An affirmative answer to that question assumes that the rules are static. Obviously some rules are static (as of this point in human development, our DNA), but not all rules about a person are static. This point returns us to the self awareness debate. If a person is aware of his own rules, he can (possibly) change them or insure that they don’t change.

In a television show or movie, especially a show like 24 or LOST, I would argue that the self awareness of the creation process is important. There needs to be some sort of stability in the story in order for it to make sense and be entertaining. Of course, I’m now circling ANOTHER debate. Some artists love to contradict style, even within their own works, for “artistic purposes.” However, doing so can be dangerous. Take the show House for example. In season one, the best episode (and my favorite episode of the series so far) was told in a completely different manner than the rest of the season (which had a very rigid storytelling technique). In season three, the writers have tried to challenge that rigid storytelling technique more often and those episodes have largely fallen flat, resulting in the weakest season of the show so far. LOST, on the other hand, has always been a show where the writers have been very careful to insure that stability.

How do I know that the writers have been careful to insure that stability? Episodes like Flashes Before Your Eyes have been so intensely successful. I’m not saying there haven’t been missteps in the process (I’ll discuss those mistakes in a minute), but regardless of what changes have been made, a few very basic rules have been followed. Every episode centers around one character. Every episode has a flashback that reveals some back story concerning that character. That flashback has some sort of relevance to the story on the island for that episode. Obviously, sometimes the flashbacks are very loosely related to the island story and some have belonged to multiple characters. Regardless, those tweaks were small. The reason Flashes Before Your Eyes was so successful was because it played with one of the basics rules. As Lindelof said, “The flashbacks will be used in a way they’ve never been before and never will be again.” In other words, were they flashbacks or were they not flashbacks?

In the same article where Lindelof mentioned the uniqueness of Desmond’s episode, he also mentioned the importance of Nikki and Paulo’s episode. “'We had a plan when we introduced them… when the plan is executed, Nikki and Paulo will be iconic characters on the show.” Silly me, the LOST fanatic that I am, assumed that he was referring to LOSTology. Expose was certainly entertaining as hell, but one thing it was not was a large contradiction to LOSTology. Sure, there were a few little in gags here and there. Locke and Boone were the Christopher Columbus of the other plane. Artz actually had friends. Boone asked Nikki for a pen in the Pilot. All of these moments were smile worthy, but small in the grand scheme of LOSTology. How can hiding diamonds in a toilet compare to a giant cloud of black smoke slamming Eko against a tree or the Crazy French Chick doing Crazy French Things because she’s still in mourning over the loss of her daughter? It can’t, so I was left with the quandary. How are Nikki and Paulo so important? How are two characters that had minimal lines all season and were one and done like a #16 seed in March Madness, ICONIC? John Locke is ICONIC. Sawyer is ICONIC. How can Nikki and Paulo be added to that list?

“We had a plan when we introduced them…” Lindelof said, “WHEN the plan IS executed…” Obviously, I added the emphasis on the words when and is. Why, you ask? Hey, that’s a good question. I’ll get to it next week. As always, remember: Shut up, you’re wrong.

In all seriousness, I ask you to remember my earlier discussion in this column. Did you not understand how it was relevant? Here is how it is relevant. Consider Lindelof’s quote again. He used the words “when” and “is” and used the word “plan” twice. Just sa I said that the writers of a show like LOST have to be self aware of their creative process, Lindelof demonstrated in that quote that they are aware of their process. They know how they’re writing and they’re sticking to it. They’ve been telling us that they know what they’re doing since day one. They’ve owned up to their missteps (ex: the first six episodes of Season Three, Eko’s death), but they have always told us to have faith. Well, to be quite honest, I think they got sick of us telling us and remembered a basic rule of storytelling: show don’t tell. An expose is a formal exposition of facts. Expose was the formal exposition of the facts of the LOST creation process. Expose is the ultimate answer. You still don’t believe me? Let’s take a closer look at Nikki and Paulo, shall we?

As I previously stated, their role in earlier episodes was minimal. They went along on the trip that involved Eko’s death. They argued. They both were yelled at by Sawyer. They were nothings. They were nobodies. Then, they died. They became blips on the radar, right? In a discussion of the episode, a friend of mind noted how this episode was a “hanging” episode. To her, it was essentially as close to a one shot episode as LOST could get. Remove it from the series and nothing would be harmed. There would be no Jenga like collapse as there would be if, say, Lockdown were to be removed. And I certainly don’t disagree. The introduction and demise of this pair of tragic lovers served to create one hell of an entertaining episode and let’s not forget, being entertaining is the main purpose of LOST, but how can a show like LOST create characters just to kill them off? How can the studio be satisfied to pay the actor and actress a full season’s salary to play such a minimal role? They can’t.

Let’s look back at the small scenes that seemed unimportant, but now make a heck of a lot more sense. Nikki and Paulo argued a little bit, right? Just a small spat between a boyfriend and a girlfriend, right? Wrong. This pair was fighting over diamonds worth eight million dollars. Well, Nikki was fighting over that prize. Paulo was fighting over the prize of love (aww, sweet). After watching Expose, there is now so much more added depth to any fight the pair had earlier in the season. Now turn to their time in the Pearl. Nikki wasn’t pointing out the obvious; she most likely had been down there already. Paulo wasn’t going to the bathroom; he was hiding the diamonds in toilet. Those scenes HAD to be planned. There is no way Expose would have worked on ANY level if there was no plan. It would have fallen apart in a web of contradictions. Instead, Nikki and Paulo fell apart in a web of deceit, literally.

Remember, I’ve been harping on the plan for so long. I always say, “Hey, go back and watch Season One. You see everything in a different light. You understand the plan.” Maybe I’m a victim of a lack of a social life because I’ve seen Season One so many times, but Expose is a microcosm of LOST. Expose is LOST in a nutshell. Cue Mike Meyers saying, “No, this is LOST in a nutshell” and then imitating the characters from LOST while acting like he’s in a nutshell.

There was a plan. There is no way anyone can deny it. There were missteps. I’m not going to lie. Seeing Nikki running around during the plane crash seemed so hokey to me. Something about it was obviously fake. I mean, intellectually I obviously knew it was fake, but come on. Couldn’t they have dirtied her up a bit more or something? I’d be interested to learn how they filmed the scene and to consider any different ways they could have filmed it. It was also ridiculous when Paulo was hiding in the bathroom and Ben was like, “Hey Juliet, let me tell you my entire master plan. I’m going to get Jack to want to cut the tumor out of my back by using Michael’s love for his son, duh.” The dialogue was a little too expository (though is that possible in an episode named Expose?). But you know what that cheesy dialogue tells us? The writers knew Ben had a tumor in Season Two. Heck, it’s possible they knew he had a tumor in Season One, before we even knew his name. Look at the misstep of Eko’s death (which I’m not as critical of as the writers are themselves). He died and said, “You’re next” Goldberg style. Well, they were next. Sure, there are missteps in LOST. There were missteps in Expose. But neither missteps are enough to say, “Mr. Lindelof, tear down this wall.”

There were also the holes in the plan that allowed for some fun. They always seem to find a way to bring Boone back. They even added Shannon to that equation. Heck, they even found a way to bring Artz back. (Note: Do this actors have no post-LOST careers to the point that the producers can be like, “Hey, come to Hawaii for a one episode one scene guest appearance” and they do? Maybe they just really like Hawaii.) They deepened the “B-Team” plot line. They even had Sawyer make some of his typical meta comments concerning the writing as he played his tweener role of major or minor character. Finally, each of the characters that could be fit into the episode (except for maybe Claire) were in some capacity. Sun even resolved to lie to Jin AGAIN. (Is it bad that I’m starting to root for him to leave her?)

What’s the point of this incredibly long rant that deviates from MY normal creation constructs? Ladies and Gentlemen, we have our proof. No more will the doubters run rampant and roughshod over the LOSTiverse, decrying its death and defiling its greatness. You say there’s no plan? You say the producers are making a mess like it’s nobody’s business? Well, there is one very simple answer.

When someone gets “all up in your grill” and starts saying these things, don’t get flustered. Don’t get mad. Don’t feel like you have to defend LOST. No, from now on there is only one response, one word you have to utter: Expose. It is now the 100% status quo (not that I ever thought it was otherwise) that there is a plan and the writers know what they’re doing. If the person is confused when you say “Expose”, continue by saying, “Nikki and Paulo.” If they still don’t get it, they’ll probably get angry and possibly insult you because that’s what angry people do. At that point you should respond, “Expose, Nikki and Paulo’s flashback episode, watch it.” If they watch it, come back to you, and still don’t agree, then you have to wonder, are they really a fan of LOST or are they just arguing with them for argument’s sake? Do you really want to discuss LOST with a non-fan or someone who just wants to argue with you anyway?

Nikki and Paulo, you will be missed (especially Nikki when she’s wearing that red top like when she went to talk to Artz at his Hut of Insects). Yes, they are dead. Paulo got bit by all the male spiders and Nikki was buried alive. Not even Beatrix Kiddo could dig herself up under the weight of that much sand.

And if you disagree with anything I’ve written about this episode, well, then there’s only one thing I have to say to you:

Expose.

(Final Note: Could someone explain to me how Artz caught that spider to begin with if it’s mere presence attracted every male in the vicinity?)

LOST Redux: S3E13 The Man from Tallahassee

2011-08-14T15:13:00.002-04:00

I broke my little ships. Wait, I mean stool. And I didn’t exactly break it, more divided it in two with a crack right down the middle. Its hardly noticeable. The seat is still firmly attached to the legs. You can still sit on it without fear of a sudden drop. I tried, trust me. I probably won’t even have to pay for it when I move out of this apartment. The school will never know. Well, unless they read my column, but we know no one does that, right? Right? Anyone? Bueller?

How did I break my stool? The answer is the end of the episode, of course. No, the ending didn’t literally crack the wood. It’s a simple case of cause and effect. The ending of the episode caused me to be frustrated. My frustration caused me to stand up and knock over the stool that was standing in front of me. Before you say it, I don’t have anger management issues. I’m a LOST fan.

I dare you to try and say (and mean) that the ending of the episode didn’t make you want more like a college girl in a low cut top. I don’t know where that metaphor came from. Anyway, we’ve hit the middle of a strong swing of episodes and it doesn’t seem like the upward trend on the graph is going to stop anytime soon. The last couple of episodes have featured a couple revelations that have been pretty obvious (Claire is Jack’s half sister? Duh. Locke was paralyzed because of his asshole father? That outcome was a safe bet.), but the stories have all been told in an entertaining manner. Isn’t entertainment what a television show is all about? Sure, this next week is going to be one long hellish wait because of the timely ending (which ranks up there with Jack seeing the Red Sox win the World Series as one of the best endings to a LOST episode ever), but isn’t that timeliness one of the reasons we love LOST so much, even if it makes us destroy household furniture?

To be fair, as I’m always fair here (especially to myself), the stool was already half cracked from earlier in the season when Kate demanded an apology from Sawyer. As with this episode’s ending, it prolonged a plot line that I painfully and begrudgingly enjoy, but such enjoyment doesn’t mean there weren’t parts that were emotionally dissatisfying. Maybe that balancing act is where the college girl metaphor from last paragraph came from. LOST is a brilliant example of how to pull off the Ying and the Yang that college girls could learn a thing or two from.

I have no idea where I’m going with this introduction anymore except that I broke stuff and referenced Captain Picard, so I’m going to discuss Locke’s flashback now.

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

Finally, FINALLY, we see some evolution of John Locke in his flashback. Every week it becomes more and more ridiculous that Locke is Mr. Iconic on the island and Mr. Pathetic in his flashbacks. How’s that dichotomy for a Jekyll and Hyde comparison? Write that down. Oh wait, I already did.

As I was typing above, Locke finally grew some backbone in a flashback and stood up to someone. When his father conned him out of his kidney before, what did he do? He demanded entrance into the jerk’s swanky estate and after he was denied it, he yelled his heart out before sneaking out of bed with the woman he just-, um,-let’s-leave-it-at-that and parking his car outside the jerk’s swanky estate. When his girlfriend followed him to find him parked outside of said swanky estate and threw his keys over the gate of the estate (I really need to stop rhyming in my free time), what did he do? He broke down and bought into the whole “That’s why it’s called a Leap of Faith, John” line. I don’t know what he could have done to his father, but he could have at least stood up to Helen by saying something like, “Sure, I’m crazy, but isn’t it crazier to follow me in the middle of the night, grab my keys, and throw them into my jerky father’s swanky estate? Besides, I’m allowed to be crazy because I’m John Locke. No one except this Iraqi named Sayid calls me on my bullshit even when I kill this kid named Boone. Who are you, Helen? No, I’m not buying that you-were-on-Married-with-Children crap.” Yes, I love hyphenated adjectives. You get my point with the whole evolution thing though, right? Good. I mean, the dude manipulates everyone on the island like he’s Brian Freakin’ Heidik and in his flashbacks he’s (insert the name of a bad Survivor player here). At least we finally saw him realize he needs to play the game, even if he sucks at it.

Oh my, does he suck at the game. I was so pissed during the episode. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s watching shows or movies where the point is to enjoy watching stupid people doing stupid things (unless it’s some sort of comedy like Dude Where’s My Car or a movie where the dumb people get plugged in the end). For instance, recently a friend who I introduced to the wonders of House wanted to introduced me to the wonders of something she found, um, wondrous. She let me borrow her copy of the movie Snatch. Now, it made sense she would let me borrow it. It’s a British action comedy and I love action. Plus, House’s sarcasm is essentially British humor. Why wouldn’t I like the movie? Well, all the characters were stupid. The guy who narrates the beginning tells you how dangerous a mob boss is and all his trouble in the movie stems from his dealing with said mob boss. This guy and his cohort Tommy turn out to be the heroes of the movie. One of the other interlaced plots features four robbers who are completely asinine in an unfunny way. What does this diatribe have to do with LOST? Nothing, I’m trying to fill up space so my column seems long this week. In reality, the point is that the only enjoyment I got out of the movie was that when it was over I knew I didn’t have to waste anymore time watching it. You can imagine how little sympathy I had for the characters.

John Locke was as dumb this episode. First off, rather than telling the kid the truth, he confronts Anderson Cooper/Mr. Sawyer/whatever-name-he’s going-by-this-week jerk father face to face. Um, hello? You know this guy is an old, well off con man. Do you think he got to that far without ever having a contingency plan? Predictably, the young (and as I was told by my friend Ashley, good looking) kid who only wanted to help his mother gets offed. Nice one, Locke. Put one in the “You’re a stupid moron” column.

Then, the FBI comes to his doorstep. He responds to the agents in such a ridiculous way I can’t tell if he’s in Mr. Iconic mode or Mr. Pathetic mode. Did he honestly not know who the kid was until they reminded him or was he lying? Did he honestly believe they would buy his solicitation line because he didn’t realize the kid was as rich as Shannon’s father was? Then, when he is obviously sniffed out, he doesn’t tell the pair the truth. No, never mind the fact that they work for the US government and thus have the resources to track down terrorists who spend their whole lives concocting ways not to be found or that this show is fiction and thus the US government has even greater powers than in real life (just look at what Dharma can do and imagine greater power), Locke wants to keep his mouth shut for his grand resolution to his plan. Put another in the “You’re a stupid moron” column.

What John Locke does next is the kicker. Sure, a confrontation somewhere down the line between you and your jerk father nemesis makes sense drama wise. We all want to see him, say, tied to a chair and gagged in a closet at your complete mercy, but, come on, John, it’s way too early in the narrative to make the kill! You don’t walk into the lion’s den without any contingency plans yourself. Put a third in the “You’re a stupid moron” column.

Predictably as Christian showing up in Claire’s flashback last week, John Locke gets pushed out the side of the building and falls eight stories. He feels his back break as it collides with the pavement. The amount of sympathy I feel equals zero. Plus, I missed the actual push because my cell phone rang in the middle of this scene because my Seattle (not Portland) friend was calling because she was at dinner and thus would miss the American Idol results show and wanted to know if I knew them (I didn’t). Thanks, AC. I really appreciated the phone call. Actually, it’s probably better off you called. I probably would have just laughed when he got pushed.

Seriously though, Locke is the one character who my disdain has grown for the most over the run of the series. Walkabout was the first episode that was completely LOST. The twist at the end was killer. It made you have so much sympathy for John Locke. You understood his love for the island. Then, he smashes Sayid so there won’t be any triangulation. Then, he, essentially, sentences Boone to death. Now, in the middle of the third season, we discover that the whole reason we had sympathy for him (his paralysis) was his own fault for making me put marks in the “You’re a stupid moron” column.

To top it all off, what does he do? He blows up the submarine. Sure, he progressed the plot. Sure, he made it so The Good Guys have a reason to be mad at Prince Ben and the revolt could begin. But do you know what he did that was so egregious I can never forgive him for it? He sentenced us to more Jack! If the submarine hadn’t blown up, Jack and Juliet would have left and never returned. No more bitching about his sucky father. No more lame self doubt when the guy graduated from Medical School and preformed frickin’ miracles. No more quadrangle. (Interesting side note: Quadrangle is actually a word, according to both Microsoft Word and dictionary.com)

John Locke, you are entertaining and thus more valuable than Charlie, but from this moment on you are placed above (or is it below) Jack on my most hated list. Sucks, don’t it?

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

The other side of the island was once again left out in the cold. I’m sure a bunch of people will have a problem with it. I didn’t. It’s well known that I am the #1 Sawyer fan and I still enjoyed the heck out of this episode, so whatever.

There wasn’t much out of Kate this episode. At least she was consistent with her motivations this week. They definitely played up the tension between her and Jack in the billiards room scene. Who was the director of this episode? I wonder if the almost kissing blocking was his idea or if it was in the script. Regardless, I’d like to have a girl as hot as Kate not understand what I mean when I say, “Go away and don’t come back.” Of course, I’d never say that statement to a girl as hot as Kate. Of course, I’d never get the chance to say that that statement to a girl as hot as Kate.

There was even less Sayid this episode. So, he got kicked in the face and chained to a swing set. I have to admit though that one of the most enjoyable facial expressions of the season so far was when he was chained to the swing set and you could see that he was thinking “Why did I let Kate talk me into this?”

Jack, did anyone buy his “I can bring help” excuse to Kate? Dude, we know you just wanted to get onto the submarine with Juliet so you could make babies and then resurface in, well, I don’t know what country where you would celebrate the Red Sox World Series win by getting drunk off vodka. Does anyone buy any of his crap anymore? Everyone knows the island can’t be found, Jack. Of course, he is dumb enough to believe he could somehow save everyone. Of course, he does have a knack for working miracles.

Ben, did anyone else catch how he was trapped in a corner? Sure, don’t send Jack and Juliet home and break a promise. Sure, send them home and seem weak. However, as he himself said to Locke, take away the ability to send people home and The Good Guys start to get restless. Now what does he do with the submarine gone? Sure, he could turn everyone against John Locke, but he himself said that Locke is far too valuable to everything, so what does he do? Prince Ben is undone.

On a random side note, did Locke have more than one package of C4 or is one enough to blow up an entire submarine?

LOSTOLOGY

So, Ben was born on the island? The actor who plays him is 52 years old. However, he would appear to have the same affliction as Jayemel where you look younger than you are. If Dharma was founded sometime in the 70s, I could totally believe that Ben is in his late 30s or early 40s. Of course, that statement is assuming he was part of Dharma and The Good Guys are part of Dharma.

Ben being born on the island also raises some interesting questions. Why did they need a fertility doctor then? Why did Ethan kidnap Claire and mess with her baby in womb? Was he trying to begin brainwashing pre-birth? Is that what The Others do with children, brainwash them? Which brings me to what Jack said to Kate. All of the children are safe? Then what was the deal with Cindy saying they were there to observe and the parading of the children in front of Jack. Something about those actions make them seem unsanctioned by Prince Ben and the work of other others.

I think we’re close to unraveling the mystery of the Others and will find out a lot next week. My suspicion is that there were two groups of Others (Dharma and the Hostiles) and they merged into two through the confrontation the Russian explained. Kelvin in the Swan was likely a leftover as he was not allowed to leave for more than an hour or so at a time because he had to push that button.

Toss my hat in the “Locke’s father is Mr. Sawyer” theory crowd. That theory is the next one that is all but proven in the same way Claire being Jack’s half sister was. Which, by the way, brings us back to the beginning of the column. How the heck did The Good Guys get Locke’s father to the island? I don’t believe the Magic Box story for one second and, if I did, I would ask Ben if he’s ever heard of Pandora’s Box and when he replied that he’s not an idiot I would say, “You could’ve fooled me. You opened the damn thing.”

FREDDY ADIEU

Did anyone catch the murse (that’s male nurse for all you non-Scrubs fans) say he didn’t want to hear about what John Locke can’t do? Now that line was some cheeky writing. It also reminds me that this comment probably belongs in the LOSTology section. How does someone fall eight stories and survive? Sounds like divine intervention to me. Of course, how does anyone survive a plane crash like the 815ers?

You know how I always claim this show is well written and planned from Day One. That question is silly, of course you know that I always make that claim. Well, this episode is a perfect example of that planning. Do you think it was by some sheer coincidence and luck that Ben happened to be in a wheelchair in the episode where we found out why Locke was in a wheelchair? No, it was an irony planned from the beginning. Perhaps it was even a symbolic role reversal of the power shift of the island. Granted, we don’t know if the power shift is good or bad (as they played with the whole Good vs. Evil theme again with Locke and Ben as the extremes this time), but if you don’t think everything in this episode was planned for a very long time, well, you know what I’m going to say:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: 3E12 Par Avion

2011-07-24T16:21:00.002-04:00

I don’t know French, so excuse me if I’m talking down to any of you, especially any possible foreign fans. Apparently, the title of this episode translates to “by airplane” and is a phrase that is most commonly used on postage stickers. Therefore, its cultural context is most likely one of “air mail.” It makes sense why this phrase was used as the title of this episode with the whole bird mail scheme. I do, however, think it is a little strange to use a French phrase for an episode about the Australian on the island. I guess the phrase is in such wide cultural use that it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Initially, I feel it’s important to discuss why this escape plan will fail. The main reason I feel the need to discuss it is that the writers of the episode utilized time within the other storyline to explain why it would fail. The Russian was talking about how he got to the island and described a beacon that no longer worked because of the Electromagnetic Pulse. Why question is, if Dharma can no longer get to the island (assuming Prince Ben and The Good Guys are Dharma), then how are any scientists that read Claire’s note going to get to the island? The answer is that they’re not going to. At best, Claire informed the world of the survival of some of the 815ers. Beyond that outcome, her plan didn’t do much.

Let’s move on and discuss her flashback though, hmm?

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

This flashback had its weak points and its strong points. Typing that sentence seems kind of absurd. Everything has its weak points and strong points. What I mean by that statement then is that this flashback contained two extremes of quality with few average qualities in between.

The strengths of this flashback were twofold. First off, it was mythology heavy, but in a simple way. A theory I’m pretty sure we all had was confirmed last night. Claire is Jack’s half sister. Since I pretty much knew that (I considered their relation a “theory that was all but confirmed), the revelation wasn’t any spectacular. There wasn’t anything that could have been done to make the revelation spectacular. However, I would still argue that it was done extremely well.

At the beginning of the flashback, you got the sense that something important was going to be revealed. The scene opened with the aftermath of the accident. Instantly, I wondered why show the aftermath of an event and not the event itself. The answer is the same reason the crash of 815 has only been shown in flashbacks. The show is about the aftermath of the crash and not the crash itself. Likewise, this episode was about the aftermath of the car accident and not the car accident itself.

Still, as the story dove into the aftermath, I wondered where it was going. In the second scene, Claire’s perfect health was established. Sure, she had a broken arm, but considering the carnage of the accident, I would say her injuries were pretty fortunate. She was experiencing a little bit of the Hurley Numbers Curse. Then, the utter hopelessness of her mother’s condition was established. The only way Claire’s mother would ever live is if she was hooked up to machines. Here was the point at which I was sure something was going to be revealed. I don’t know about you, but an entire flashback about a character pining over the decision whether to take her mother off of the heart and lung machine isn’t very gripping drama to me. I understand that, realistically, the decision is very tough and agonizing. However, I am the type of person that says make a decision, follow through with it, and deal with the consequences. An entire flashback of Claire not dealing with any consequences would have been agonizing to me for all the wrong reasons. It was too dreadful of a scenario for the writers to follow through with. It was also nowhere near unique enough to be a part of the greater LOST story. LOST has always taken common stories and twisted them slightly to make them their own.

Then, the writers put their twist on it and built just the right amount of tension. Claire’s mother would not be taken off the machine. As Christian later told us, it is illegal in Australia to take someone off the machines. Claire and her Aunt then questioned who would pay for the hospital usage. As fate would have it, a benefactor decided to pay the bills. At this point, we were all thinking the same thing. Our theory about Claire being Jack’s sister was all but confirmed. However, that little but still added tension. Ever since last season, the possibility existed that the writers would twist us. The same could be said for this episode. In order for the plot to progress, the benefactor had to show up. However, until that moment the possibility existed that it wasn’t Christian.

Finally, the writers teased us for a few more seconds. An American doctor had come to take care of Claire’s mother. At this point, if the doctor wasn’t Christian, it would have been a pretty stupid twist. Still, the possibility existed. Claire walked into the room and the theory was confirmed. Just the right amount of suspense made the moment stronger than it had the right to be. I went off on how this show is crazy. Really though, was information we all knew was coming crazy? No, but it was written in a way that made the moment powerful. It’s like when you imagine something happening your whole life and then when you do it’s so surreal. The buildup affects the outcome more than we care to admit.

The other strength of the flashback kicked in. Here is where my love for LOST grows. Most shows would have let the revelation be the entirety of the episode. When I say other shows, an example I put forward is Heroes. The writers didn’t stop there though. They tried to honestly portray Christian and the way he would approach his relationship with his estranged daughter…and it worked very well. Christian is a character that my sympathy for continually grows. At one point, I thought he was the devil. He seemed to plague Jack and want to tempt Sawyer. However, now we see, especially in this flashback, how he means well. He is a man that struggles so much with the fallibility of being human. Every mistake plagues him. Obviously, we can see how Jack possesses that trait as well. In this scene with Claire, Christian was beating himself up over abandoning his daughter years ago. He honestly wanted to do everything he could to help her because he felt he owed it to her. It was why he offered to become the Australian Jack Kevorkian.

Hold on a second, I need to go on a little rant here. Christian told Claire that it’s illegal to take people off of machines in Australia. Keeping someone on a machine requires money. Obviously, in this fictional case, Christian paid the fees. What if there is no Christian though? People like Claire and her aunt would be forced to scrape money together and pay the fees. So, a government law forcing people to not only spend money, but possibly suffer emotionally. I know it’s tough for some of you to consider a human life through monetary terms, but also consider the emotional investment in keeping someone alive through machines. Then, what if Claire and her Aunt can’t pay? Who pays then, the government? Well, government money is taxed from the citizens, so the citizens of Australia would be paying to keep Claire’s mother hopelessly alive. Long story short, I obviously disagree with this law. Good thing I’m not Australian.

The weakest part of this flashback was the lack of connection to the island event. What makes LOST amazing to me is the exciting storytelling that is masterfully woven together. My favorite episodes are where a lesson learned in the flashback affects the character’s actions on the island. The only influence on Claire’s escape plan seemed to be that watching nature shows gave her the knowledge of the birds being tagged. I guess you could argue that visiting her mother every day taught her how to keep hope alive and knowing how to keep hope alive allowed her to come up with an escape plan and to write such a sappy note.

On a final note, punk Claire was kind of hot. It’s interesting to see the actress play Claire before the pregnancy. Sometimes, on LOST, I forget how young she really is and looks, but she was able to pull off looking about 17 or 18 years old, as the majority of the episode takes place pre-pregnancy.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

It’s good to see Sayid getting back in the mix. It took his flashback episode, but he’s finally returning to his old self. He called Locke on about three lies and got frustrated with Locke over killing off the Russian. While I’m mentioning Locke, it’s really interesting to see him vary between two different extremes in two weeks. Last week, he seemed like bumbling naïve Locke, especially when he entered 77. This week, his actions made me completely reevaluate those actions. When Sayid discovered the C4, it showed that Locke knew there was a good chance the Flame would explode. He even tried to hide his knowledge of the outcome by lying to Sayid. However, having the C4 reminds us that Locke doesn’t want to leave the island. He blew up the Flame to remove any possible method of escape. Now I wonder what he has planned for the C4. Who or what does he want to blow up inside The Good Guys camp? Is the C4 for the submarine or is it just an insurance policy against any other type of escape method that may arise?

Kate has really been all over the map, lately. On one hand, she took the lead and went over the electric fence first. On the other hand, she needed Sayid to tell her not to run into the electric fence to begin with. How would Kate have survived on the lamb for so long if she didn’t know to avoid giant sinister poles? Then again, maybe you could argue that she’s so blinded by her need to rescue Jack that she isn’t thinking the way she normally would. Running and avoiding people are part of her MO that comes naturally. Rescuing people is a new pursuit for her. Meanwhile, Sayid can tell her how to rescue people because he’s just good at everything.

By far, the most one dimensional character of the episode was Desmond. He went from a tortured Scotsman trying to drink away his misfortunes in life to Charlie’s guardian angel. Apparently, all he does now is run around the island and make sure that Charlie doesn’t die. I’m not sure how scaring the birds away when Jin almost catches one saves Charlie though. Wouldn’t you want them to catch a bird so Charlie would have no motive to go looking for one? Maybe Desmond was trying to discourage the whole enterprise. Then, all he did was lie to Claire about his powers until he couldn’t anymore. Didn’t we see that story a few weeks ago between him and Charlie? Mentioning Charlie, how quickly his mood changes. Desmond tells him not to do something and he gets depressed. You think the opposite would be true and he’d start risking his life when Desmond isn’t around. And remember, if you eat a Super Sonic Breakfast Burrito it makes Charlie go away. Maybe whoever is trying to kill him should consider that fact. Sorry Charlie.

Where were Nikki and Paulo? I’d really like them to become regular characters before they get their flashback. If I were the network, I’d be pretty upset that the producers gave series regular money to the actors. We’ve had 12 episodes and they’ve been in a few marginal scenes. Maybe there was extra money in the budget, so they felt like being generous. I’m just worried these characters are going to become the Rose and Bernard of season three. They’ll hang around, have a flashback episode, and then disappear next season. I’m very supportive of the writers, but I think the biggest weakness of LOST is that they’ve introduced so many characters and it’s incredibly difficult to give them all an amount of screen time so it feels like their story is being told. Last night is a perfect example. Plenty of characters got screen time that was worthwhile, but fans of Hurley, Sawyer, and Jack and those of us who are curious about Nikki and Paulo will feel a little disappointed. It’s a shame that after such a strong episode that any of us feel disappointed.

LOSTOLOGY

Here’s the thing about Jack and Claire being brother and sister. It was firmly established that Claire didn’t know Christian’s name and thus it makes complete sense why she and Jack would never put two and two together. However, how is this revelation ultimately going to occur? Obviously, The Good Guys know all about these people’s pasts. They must know that Jack and Claire are related. It’s likely that one of The Good Guys will reveal to either Jack or Claire that they’re related. Writing wise, it will be a delicate situation to handle. What is the character going to do, threaten Aaron in front of Jack and then say, “You wouldn’t want us to hurt your nephew, would you?” Basically, it could make for either a very powerful or very cheesy moment.

It’s kind of ridiculous that Sayid and company could just climb over the electric fence to surpass it. It makes the fence seems kind of weak as a defense mechanism. Then again, they probably never intended to have to defend against anyone like the 815ers. It clearly discouraged people like Rousseau to stay away. She probably would have just turned around and went back to her camp if the rest of them weren’t there. Also, it was probably designed to mostly keep out animals. Therefore, there isn’t much of a worry of keeping out anything over the height of the fence. Finally, there’s always the possibility that the fence is intended to keep out something much more sinister, like the black smoke perhaps. The black smoke hasn’t really been around lately. In a way, it’s good Eko died. With the amount of trekking these people have done across the island lately, someone had to be at least attacked by the black smoke for the story to be plausible. It’s still kind of getting absurd that they haven’t seen the black smoke since Eko’s demise.

I’m not surprised to see Jack integrating himself into The Good Guys. I still think part of the master plan (of the writers, of the forces) is for him to become their leader. Playing pass with Tom was a really neat way to reintroduce him too. At first, as he ran towards Kate, towards us, our preconceptions made us believe he was trying to escape. Then, it became apparent that he was associating with The Good Guys. He was living with them. Kate felt betrayed and I considered whether he was brainwashed or not. Most likely, he’s just acting like he gets along because it’s to his advantage to do so.

The Russian brought back the notion of the list. We still don’t know what this list is, but we do know it is probably created by The Good Guys. Maybe it is the master list. We saw that at the end of season two, Prince Ben made a list that was centered around Jack removing his tumor. Now, we have confirmation that Locke is on some sort of other list that has a more ominous feeling in importance and scope because of how it has been portrayed on the show. Maybe the list is handed down by the higher ups of Dharma to The Good Guys (assuming they are Dharma). Whatever the list is, I’d look for the Russian to be in Locke’s flashback next week, as he says he remembers him being paralyzed. Then again, he knows all about all their pasts so he may have been saying that to mess with Locke. Out of every secret on the island, Locke has been able to keep his paralysis hidden very well.

FREDDY ADIEU

Unless you have something, I’m done. Oh wait, this column is a one way medium. What I say is all that matters. Well then, I’m going to watch some college basketball. I’ve got March Madness. As always, if you disagree with anything I’ve written here, well then:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E11 Enter 77

2011-07-24T16:19:00.000-04:00

Ask and ye shall receive. For the past few weeks, I’ve been writing how there hasn’t been nearly enough Sayid this season. Last week, I even said we should have a Sayid episode this week. Well…let me put a couple disclaimers out there right now.

First, I don’t read spoilers or leaked information on the internet purposefully anymore. In the first season, I used to know which episode belonged to which character months away. I don’t like to know that much information ahead of time anymore. So no, when writing that we needed a Sayid episode this week, I wasn’t aware it was actually a Sayid episode this week. The reason I used the word “purposefully” as a qualifier is because of accidental moments. For instance, last night, I went to tvguide.com to see when the replay of the new South Park was airing (as LOST and South Park, my two favorite shows, now air at the same time) and saw a LOST headline that read “Someone else dies tonight.” Why they needed to hype the death of Mrs. Klugh is beyond me, but they did and knowing someone was going to die altered my perception of the episode before I viewed it in a way I didn’t want.

Second, I am no way trying to suggest that I actually influenced the writing of the show. Obviously, these episodes were written and filmed sometime in the fall. At the very least, what I am suggesting is that I am aware to the current of the show as the writers and producers are. Then again, saying Sayid was missing so far this season wasn’t exactly a difficult prediction. Even retarded four year old Dave Matthews on House could identify that the guy who looks like a dog when it rains was missing, with or without the right half of his brain removed.

To be honest, I’m not sure how much I have to say about this episode. Thinking about it, I anticipate this column being my shortest of the season thus far. If that disappoints you, I apologize. Otherwise, be a realist and enjoy that you’re getting something. Besides, would you rather me write six pages of bullshit or three pages of sustenance? That question is rhetorical.

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

I’m sort of surprised that in this flashback episode there was no mention of Shannon. Maybe my reaction has a bit to do with my problem with the Sayid and Shannon relationship from the beginning. LOST has been made out to be a deeply romantic show, engrained with the concept of soul mates. Sayid’s soul mate was made out to be Nadia. Then, he fell in love with Shannon. I’m not going to be stupid enough to say that in real life you can’t fall in love with people who aren’t your soul mate, but there is a difference between actual reality and fictional reality. Seeing as LOST is fictional reality, I have to wonder why they had Sayid seemingly fall so deeply in love with Shannon only have it to disappear a season later? Granted, you could argue that he got over it last season during his confrontation with Ana Lucia, but just last week Hurley was still shown mourning Libby. Why does that bond still endure, but Sayid seems to have returned to stable first season form? Maybe Shannon wasn’t Sayid’s soul mate, but Sayid was Shannon’s soul mate. How’s that possibility for a tragedy?

So, grief and mourning behind us, Sayid’s story delved back into the gripping international war drama it’s been from the beginning. While the action on the island was pretty good, I wasn’t a big fan of the flashbacks. Sayid’s flashbacks always tend to be slower and thoughtful, as that is the kind of character he is, but this story just didn’t seem to have the weight behind it that his others have. I don’t think it was a bad flashback by any means, but it wasn’t one of the best ever either. Oh, and the cat thing? That was just weird.

I do have one nitpick of this episode. How would Sayid not know that the guy was lying to him? Clearly, the story took place after Sayid was an interrogator in the Republican Guard. That fact was the entire point of the story. It has been firmly established that the reason Sayid can always tell if someone is lying is because of his interrogation training so, why, this time, did he not know the guy was lying? Did he simply trust the guy because he was also Iraqi? If he did, that doesn’t seem like a very Sayid thing to do. Of course, maybe that is a mistake he has since learned from. Maybe the reason he can always tell when someone is lying now is because his first instinct is now to make people earn trust rather than to grant it to them right away.

The scene where Sayid walked into the “restaurant” also reminded me of one of the earlier episodes of 24 this season. Taken prisoner by a Muslim terrorist, Jack Bauer is forced to be locked up in the home of a Muslim friend of the terrorist. The rooms looked very similar. Maybe it has something to do with the portrayal of Islamic culture on American television. Either way, maybe we can see a 24 crossover in one of Sayid’s future flashbacks.

I understand why Sayid didn’t tell the guy he was the one who tortured his wife. It was a lie of self defense. If he had told that guy he did it, the guy would have bashed his head in with that pipe Butterfly Effect style. Instead, Sayid gave himself the perfect cover story for the wife to allow him to escape.

While I’m on the subject of the wife, did she annoy the hell out of anyone else? First off, looking at her just made me want to punch. I’m not advocating violence against women (unless they max out your credit cards), but I am saying that I didn’t care that she was tortured. My only response was, “Get over it already.” Granted, I don’t know what it’s like to be in a box and have fire crackers thrown in there with me. Then again, if that cat was inside a box with firecrackers, how did it look so pristine in the episode? Shouldn’t it have been missing part of an ear, part of its tail, something?

And then that speech she gave at the end of the episode was maddening. She was better than Sayid and her other captors because she was letting him go? She wasn’t going to put him in a box with firecrackers because she was better than people who did such things? Oh yeah, lady, what about people who kidnap cooks, chain them up in a closet, make them drink water from a bowl, and allow their husband to beat them into a confession? What kind of people allow that series of events to unfold? Oh, I get it, all that stuff was the husband’s doing. She was the kind and forgiving one.

The character of the wife really makes me think of the manipulated moments theory. Her actions in the flashback are the reason Sayid didn’t kill the Russian at the end of the episode. It’s not like Rousseau was advocating an immoral position. The guy had already killed his own ally and shot Sayid (and the only reason he fixed Sayid was out of necessity to continue his ruse). Killing him was actually a rationale choice. I’m not saying I could’ve pulled the trigger myself, but you know Rousseau could have, very easily. So maybe the entire reason the wife acted the way she did was so Sayid wouldn’t kill the Russian.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

You have to love how easily they wrote Rousseau out of the episode. It made complete sense within the realm of her character, but it was also hilarious when she was like, “I’ll meet you down by the river.” Is she even going to be useful when they find where The Good Guys (or Hostiles) live? She’ll probably just run and hide until the dust settles. Then, is Alex even going to want her around? If the girl is brainwashed, she’s definitely not going to believe a crazy wild woman is her mother. If she isn’t brainwashed, how is she going to react a crazy French chick showing up claiming to be her mother?

John Locke once again looked completely dimwitted. One of the most interesting parts of his character to me has always been how in his flashbacks he looks so weak and easy to manipulate, but on the island he is this iconic character that has this ridiculous knowledge base and somehow manipulates everyone else. In this episode, he was once again the dimwitted guy. Any halfway rationale person would have stayed with the gun pointed at the Russian, but he was so obsessed with the chess game. I’ll never understand why either. It was a stupid chess game. Also, anyone with half a brain had to figure that entering 77 if the Hostiles took over had to be some sort of self destruct sequence. He’s lucky he didn’t kill anyone in the process.

On the other side of the island, it’s interesting the way they’re building Hurley’s character. With all the leaders gone, he is becoming the center of the group. He’s even making an effort to reach out to Sawyer. They began building that relationship last season and this episode was a big step forward in it. Who ever thought Hurley would be the guy to console Sawyer over this entire Kate debacle?

And Kate, when did she become so weak that people had to worry about her being taken care of? Hurley had to reassure Sawyer that Kate would be ok because she was with Sayid and Locke? Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought Kate was more adept at handling herself on the island than most of the guys. Then again, in the situation with the Russian, she seemed to be in over her head. For someone who lies as much as she does, she sure couldn’t figure out that he was lying very easily. Also, shouldn’t she have been able to take Mrs. Klugh pretty easily? I don’t know why that fight was so close. Are they watering down Kate’s character or is she just having a few off weeks?

LOSTOLOGY

We learned a few interesting details about the Dharma Initiative this week. The most important being how they communicated with the outside world. They used either a satellite or sonar. As I suspected though, the implosion of the Swan took away their communications abilities. I have to wonder how power is being supplied to the island now. Maybe there are a few backup generators here and there. Is it all going to last though?

Also, there’s a submarine. That piece of information is an interesting development. I wonder how it’ll be used in the future.

The most interesting point to me is this Dharma and Hostiles dichotomy. Obviously, from last night’s episode, we were led to believe that The Good Guys, led by Prince Ben, are the Hostiles. Mrs. Klugh was part of Prince Ben’s group and she was there with the Russian’s last night. However, a few things don’t add up. If they are the Hostiles and they were there long before Dharma, then why was Juliet (and Ethan) recruited in a manner befitting Dharma? Are there two mass conspiracies going on and one just happened to be on the island longer? Also, the Purge would have to have occurred sometime in the last three years, as Kelvin was still in the Swan with Desmond before then and mentioned nothing of a Purge. Finally, wouldn’t Rousseau have some type of recollection of a major island war?

To put that paragraph another way, the Russian’s entire story did not make sense. I’m not going to spend any more time analyzing it because it would be largely fruitless. We DO know there were Hostiles though from the computer in the Flame. It would be wrong, however, to assume that The Good Guys are the Hostiles and not what’s left of Dharma. There has to be something left of Dharma, why else would they keep dropping food and how else could Prince Ben be in contact with people off the island? At the very least, he has the power to get people off the island, or so Juliet believes.

FREDDY ADIEU

I’m done. If you want more, too bad. Cue the catchphrase:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E10 Tricia Tanaka is Dead

2011-07-24T16:18:00.000-04:00

LOST has jumped the shark, huh? It’s just not good anymore? The writers and producers don’t know what they’re doing? Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, of the viewing audience, I am done defending this show. Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to stop writing about it. What I am going to do is stop writing about it from the defensive position. Last week I had a lot of good things to say about a strong episode. However, I was paranoid about all the negativity I knew would be heaped upon an episode that we now know was placed in between two very strong episodes. From this sentence forward, I will only write about an episode from the assumed perspective that you and I both enjoyed the episode. If you didn’t enjoy something, why would you want to read (or write a column) about it? I can honestly say that I’ve loved every episode of LOST. Sure, they’re imperfect and some are incredibly spectacular while others are just good, but LOST is one of those rare series that always delivers. What’s my evidence supporting this claim? Ladies and Gentlemen of the viewing audience, I present to you Exhibit A: The Hurley Episode.

In the run of LOST so far, there have been three Hurley episodes: Numbers, Everybody Hates Hugo, and Tricia Tanaka is Dead. Of those three, I would argue that Numbers was the least powerful; however, being the least powerful of an insane trilogy still makes it insanely powerful. The simple fact of the matter is, Hurley episodes always deliver. I don’t think such a claim can be made about any other character’s flashbacks. The only other character I can think of with comparable strength of episodes is Desmond, as he had the Season Two Finale and the ridiculous Flashes Before Your Eyes two weeks ago.

Before I steal any thunder away from any of the other three sections of the column (and considering that my mind is starting to wander all over the place, which I’m sure is reflected in the previous paragraph), let’s move on to the flashback section. I promise that the comparison of the three Hurley episodes will be comprised in the composition of the rest of the column. (Yes, I used a lot of words that start with co in that sentence.)

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

The first idea I can hear echoing throughout the internet is the introduction of Hurley’s father to the story. The “All The Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” theory rears its ugly head again. I’m sure someone will consider the following question a reach, but, does Hurley really have that bad of father issues? Yes, I understand that abandonment is serious and can have just as ill effects on a child as, say, the suicide of Sawyer’s father had on him. However, Hurley leaving and going to Australia demonstrated why it is hard to have sympathy for some characters sometimes. All he had to do was try with his father and the healing would have begun. Instead, he chose to go to Australia. I guess my point about Hurley’s character is as follows.

Hugo Reyes’ main struggle is not coming to terms with his father’s abandonment of him. Throughout the episode, it seemed as if his father was little more than a nuisance. Hurley knew he wanted the money and just wanted him to leave. I would assert that most people with serious issues with the abandonment would deserve answers. The classic story is the adopted kid who searches out for his birth parents. Hurley didn’t do such a thing. In fact, throughout the entire episode, it was Cheech trying to reach out to Hurley.

Did anyone else think about My Name is Earl during this episode? In a Season One episode, Earl decides to win back a car for his father. His father was restoring the car and Earl lost it in a road race. The twist of the episode was that all of his life Earl didn’t realize that his father was restoring the car to give to him when he got his license. The episode ends with Earl and his father working on the car together and Earl realizing that he stole the time with his father from himself. Obviously, Cheech stole the time here, but the metaphor of the car and the similarity still struck me.

It’s also kind of funny that Hurley’s father is Cheech and this episode centered around him finding a stoner van. I’m almost reminded of an interesting difference. Every other father in LOST so far has been a hindrance to his progeny. Jin resented his father. Sun’s father is an evil corporation leader (oh no). Jack’s father haunts him. Charlie’s father abandoned him as well. This episode was the first example of a father having a positive affect on his child on LOST. Cheech saying you make your own luck made Hurley “make” his own luck by starting the Dharma Van.

Of course, Hurley didn’t really make his own luck, did he? This discussion may belong in the LOSTology section, but first Vincent found Hurley and delivered him to the van, then a series of seemingly random events brought, Jin, Charlie, and Sawyer to his aid. It’s interesting how the placement of the episode in the series changes our perception of it. If this episode had been in the first season, everything would have seemed so innocent (except for the Vincent thing). Now that we’re pretty sure the island or whatever can control animals, we see how the series of events was set into motion. Then, there just so happened to be beer to coerce Sawyer into helping? It will be interesting to see how the van is used in the future.

The other notable quality of this episode was the tone. Hurley’s stories always have some type of an uplifting ending to them. What made the tone of this episode interesting was that it returned to the “Happy Go Lucky” Hurley of the first season.

Numbers, though most of it was tragic, was at its heart a comedy. When the accountant jumped from the tower, I laughed. The way the event was juxtaposed in the episode, though someone committing suicide is awful, was funny. The episode ended with Hurley commiserating with Rousseau. We found out that he wasn’t alone, that the 815ers weren’t alone and everything was going somewhere. That ending, and the numbers themselves, are a big part of the reason I think Hurley I at the heart of the mystery.

Everybody Hates Hugo, though most of it was very dark, was a victory. In fact, the victory was the first real victory of Season Two for the 815ers. The first three episodes featured the journey into the depths of the Hatch and Sawyer and Michael floating at sea. Everything was so dark. Sawyer and Michael floated at night. The depths of the Hatch were poorly lit. The Hatch was a demonizing influence on the show. Paradoxically, at the end of the episode, Hurley puts his distribution plan into action at night. As he handed out the food, we were granted our first real smile of Season Two.

This episode was light from beginning to finish. Desmond’s powers didn’t seem as foreboding. Sawyer was downright likeable (to everyone). While there was no dark theme within the episode, the episode was placed in a very dark place in the season. This season has been pretty dark in general. It was like the producers were not only admitting that the 815ers needed some hope, but that we, the viewing audience needed some hope. I’ll return to this idea later.

One final note:

Tricia Tanaka, the asian reporter on Family Guy, are they the same character?

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

You know I’m going to say it, so I’m just going to get it out of the way. Sawyer was completely on point tonight. His hit so many ridiculous Sawyerisms that it was unbelievable. The hippie van? Hooked on phonics? Touche? All right, I’ll stop, it’s time to get a little serious. I have a couple substantial things to mention about Sawyer and Kate.

First off, what size is this island? Kate and Sawyer seemed to have traversed it very quickly. They literally made it back in two episodes. I guess you could argue that the shore they escaped to was a lot closer than the Tailies shore last season. Also, Sawyer is probably an expert at trekking across the island at this point. I wonder how the writers are going to make it so he has to make his way back to camp at the beginning of Season Four.

Second off, as for the Sawyer and Kate dynamic, it sort of bothers me that Kate is the one emerging with the positive image. She placed the onus on him to apologize. Then, when he didn’t, she turned a cold shoulder to him and switched from James back to Sawyer. I’m not saying that Sawyer’s not being an immature douchebag with the whole Kate feeling guilty thing, but why does Kate expect him to apologize without her meeting him halfway? She explained more to Locke and Sayid about why she wanted to go back and get Jack so badly, she “owed him” that much, than she did to Sawyer and Sawyer is the one who needs to hear it the most. Of course, maybe she knows Sawyer won’t listen if she tries to explain it to him. Who knows, I certainly don’t. I’m probably just projecting onto the situation how it always seems to me that girls can do whatever they want without consequence while guys always have to apologize. Sawyer said it himself though, there are only three things you need to say to a woman: I’m sorry. You were right. Those pants don’t make you look bad. He knows he has to apologize eventually, but is waiting for Kate to prove herself to him first. Apparently he didn’t trust her body and is now trying to read his mind.

Kate’s comment about owing Jack also revealed an interesting rift to their dynamic. It harkened back to the days of her looking to him to be morally cleansed and his teaching the five second trick to her. It also reminded me of another passage from I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe:

“Something about Adam’s avalanche of implacably moral stuff got to her, resonated with some of Christ’s Evangelic creed she had brought to Dupont without meaning to, sewn, as it were, into the very lining of her clothes. There was also, unbeknownst to either of them consciously, a woman’s thrill!—that’s the word for it!—her delicious thrill!—when, as before, a man expands his chest and drapes it with the sash of righteousness and…takes command!...upon the Heights of Abraham.

That moment was a turning point. Charlotte pulled herself together, did as she was told, and made it to the exam with time to spare. She returned to Adam’s apartment convinced that she had butchered this exam, too, and complained about the weird, warped mentality of Mr. Gilman. She did not break into tears; she did not despair. Scorn, contempt, and hatred were her métier. She registered not woe but anger, a deadly sin perhaps but a positive sign in this case.” (608)

In the excerpt, Charlotte hits a personal and emotional low and seeks refuge at Adam’s apartment. It is not until he releases his “avalanche” of words that Charlotte turns the corner and can overcome her grief, her choices that brought her to where she is. Obviously, she wasn’t instantly healed, she would still have to answer for what she did, but the journey could begin.

Kate and Jack share such a relationship and shared such a moment. The third episode was the beginning of Kate’s “rehabilitation” and she has felt obligated to Jack and looked to him for guidance ever since. Where most people would have not ignored the mug shot, demonstrated through Hurley in that episode, Jack did and, essentially, forgave her. He had already taken command and had used his power to spare her. Maybe they won’t ever be together, but they will always have that special moment.

Moving on to the other characters, I would say this episode had a good Season One blend of characters. All the characters, except for Jack, received small nods and scenes. I do want to note them each individually though.

Paulo and Nikki were downright likeable this episode. I don’t know how people can’t like them. Then again, I don’t know why I believe Entertainment Weekly on that claim. The small gesture of him grabbing her belt buckle demonstrated a lot about the type of relationship they have. It made him seem a lot more experienced and knowledge than her, as he was pulling her away from a experience her perceived naivety and innocence would have gotten her into.

Locke was the same old Locke, but I have to wonder what is going on with Sayid. I can honestly say that I miss him. We need a flashback for him SOON. Why is he following the light on Eko’s stick theory? It seems a bit out of character for him. Of course, it would be easy to argue that his mentioning of the light on the stick was in a sarcastic manner and he is only following the crowd to make sure he knows what is going on. He always kept himself involved, if only to protect the other 815ers. It’s interesting how he isn’t really noted as a leader on the island for that either.

Ok, Jin and Sun, did they have a mini-fight or something? What was the point of the whole flower thing? I thought it would have made sense for Jin to have said something to Sun in English. I actually thought he was going to say the three things Sawyer mentioned, though I’m glad he didn’t because that would have been cheesy.

Even Charlie was likeable this week. He actually took action and didn’t allow fate to control him. Although, his actions bring up an interesting question I’ve always had about Final Destination. If you try to kill yourself before it’s your turn in the pattern, will your suicide attempt fail? I think they mentioned this idea briefly at one point in the movies, but don’t recall. If so, then Charlie was essentially ridin’ dirty with immunity in the hippie van.

Rousseau’s storyline is finally going to progress. Do you think she’ll get a flashback?

And finally, and you know what I’m noting is obvious if even I’m asking it:

Where did Claire find a hair stylist on the island?

LOSTOLOGY

At first glance, this episode seems mythology light, but it actually contains the central dichotomy of LOSTology, light first dark. In this case, the dichotomy is manifested in comedy versus tragedy. Hurley has always been the comic character of the show. His episodes are uplifting and this episode seemingly said the characters could overcome their tragic fate and make their own luck.

And that last sentence is what makes the placement of this episode so interesting mythology wise. This season has without-a-doubt been tragic. Eko died, Sun’s child may be illegitimate, Charlie is living Final Destination style, Jack’s captured, Desmond was forced to travel back in time and chase away his true love, Sawyer and Kate last for about 30 seconds before they hit the rocks, and Sayid is STILL sad about Shannon. Now, when we all need some hope, we’re given some.

There’s always the argument that none of it was free will and all of it was fate. Vincent brought the key to Hurley. There was beer for Sawyer. Using the manipulated flashback theory, Randy was the one who made it so Tricia Tanaka went into the building and thus died tragically. If he is an agent of whomever, then he could have done that to make Hurley think he had bad luck.

Although, if there are TWO forces, maybe one controls them, while the other gives them the opportunity to overcome their past. So, one force gave Hurley the chance to embrace hope and the lessons of his fathers (presumably a good force would do such a thing) while the other force tried to control him by making him believe he was bad luck (presumably a bad force would do such a thing). Maybe there are PEOPLE trying to control the 815ers and make them do bad things (and they control the black smoke) and the island is a good force combating those people. Right now, I like that idea the best. I bet if you go back and watch Seasons One and Two with that perspective, then it’ll make a lot of sense.

Oh, and by the way, WHERE DID VINCENT COME FROM? I’ll have to go back and watch the Season Two finale because I thought he was on the boat with Michael and Walt. If he was, are they somewhere on the island? I thought it strange that they were allowed to leave.

FREDDY ADIEU

I haven’t got much else to say. I hope you enjoyed the episode. I know I really did. If you didn’t, then stop watching LOST. We don’t need you, really. And if you think your negativity is a good thing, then I’ve only got one thing to say (and I’m not saying being critical is bad, there’s a difference):

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E09 Stranger in a Strange Land

2011-07-24T16:15:00.001-04:00

You hated the episode. I know. You don’t need to tell me. I knew you hated it about halfway through the episode. You know what I have to say though? Yes, you know. You’re venturing into The Midside, there’s only one thing TO say. “But Jay, it really was that bad.” No, that response isn’t correct. “It was the worst episode ever.” No, that’s not right either. Here, let me help you. Say it along with me now. To all you reactionaries, self obsessed viewers, and internet blowhards alike that skewer any product that doesn’t turn out exactly as you had envisioned it:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

The Midside is always a fair place. We don’t brand people. Well, we might make them wear scarlet letters (or perhaps clocks around their necks…YEAH BOY!), but never, never, do we not give our honest opinion. What’s my honest opinion? I’ll keep it short and simple.

This episode was a good episode. Of course there were flaws in it. There are flaws in every episode. There are flaws in every series. There are flaws in every person. There are flaws in humanity. Wake up, walk outside. Three spots down from you someone is parked crooked. On the road, someone hits their brakes a little too soon (or perhaps a little too late). Which mistakes are you going to criticize? Which are you going to ignore? Rather than answering that question, how about you just let me tell you? The only mistakes you’re going to respond to negatively (perhaps even notice at all) are the ones that you believe have a direct negative impact on you.

Plain and simply, you’re reacting so harshly to this episode because you feel as if a “better” episode has been taken away from you. The producers said in an EW interview that the magic number they’d like to end at is 100. Well, there is now one less chance to have what you consider to be an amazing LOST episode. Since this episode was so far away from what you consider to be an amazing LOST episode, you react extra harshly to it. Let me explain the phrase “so far away from” a little more.

Do you remember S.O.S.? No? It was the Rose and Bernard flashback episode. It’s pretty much as universally disliked by LOST fans as, oh, say, I don’t know, Rush Limbaugh is by feminists. The story stepped away from the mythology driven fervor for an episode to allow us to take a breather before the fast paced end to the season. You can’t deny that the season two finale was insane. Could you imagine dealing with it if you had mythology stuffed down your throats for weeks beforehand? I know I wouldn’t have been able to. So, rather than send us into information overload, the producers delivered us a well written, romantic, character based episode with hints of mythology. This week’s episode that you are ready to send back to the studio for good is the same type of episode.

Last week was one of the most insanely mythological episodes of the series. A flashback technique was used that will never be used again. Thus, this week, the producers gave us a character driven piece that tugged at the strings of mythology and hearts alike. Was a lot revealed? No, but enough was revealed to remind us of the old days. Something we didn’t know about a character was revealed and it was seemingly relevant to bits and pieces of mythology. For those of you yearning for the idealized days of season one (as EW claims), look no further than this episode. Oh wait, you don’t really want that season back, do you? You want to know what’s in the hatch NOW, summer break be damned. In the beginning, you just had no idea what was going on and accepted that this show wasn’t your story to tell. Well, accept it, because this is The Midside and it’s my story to tell, so we’re going on.

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

The major problem with this episode was not the writing or the flashback, but the placement in the season. Was it really another Jack episode already? Yes, and that means out of nine episodes in season three, there have been two Jack episodes. If I’m not mistaken, seasons one and two had three Jack episodes each. So, to be fair, if there are 24 episodes in a season, there would be a Jack episode every eight episodes. Episode one and episode nine were Jack episodes. That break is an eight episode break. It would seem I have proven my claim incorrect, but mathematics and storytelling aren’t exactly known for being congruent. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to fall back upon emotions and say the episode just felt too soon.

True, my disdain for Jack is obvious. It bleeds all over these columns, but how many other characters have we seen development for this season? Jin, Sun, Sawyer, Kate, Desmond, Locke, Eko, and Juliet have all had screen time. What about the rest of our favorite characters? Is Charlie’s flashback being saved for his (hypothetically) inevitable death? What have Jin and Sun been doing since returning from their rescue attempt? I mean, when Charlie killed Ethan (Jack Version 1.0), a big deal was made about taking a life changing you for ever, but Sun took a life and little has been made about it. And Sayid, he was such a key character all the way through the first two seasons. He always sat in the background and laughed at Locke and Jack’s dichotomy just as we did. Now what is he, depressed? Are we not seeing his story because the producers don’t want to show him turning Emo? Oh, and Sawyer, he may have had a flashback, but does the guy ever do anything besides trek across the island to get back to camp anymore?

The most devastating part about having another Jack episode so soon is that we still haven’t learned anything about Nikki and Paulo. Paulo likes to golf and Nikki can point out really obvious things. Gee, that’s, um, great? Where did they go after the whole Pearl Station journey? Didn’t Locke want to not tell them about Eko’s death or something? Isn’t there a fat guy on this island too? Oh right, Hurley, I don’t think he’s anything other than fat and naïve anymore.

The producers and writers are well aware that we’re all getting sick of Jack too. Maybe it’s a precursor to them finally killing him off. I can only dream, right? He did receive his first massive beating of the series this episode (I say massive to differentiate from the one his fellow surgeon Ethan delivered to him). The dinner scene with Thai Bo was pretty much an acknowledgement of our feelings on Jack. At least, it felt like one to me because it addressed what I’ve been saying all along.

When Thai Bo asked Jack a question and he started talking about his father, all I could think was “Here we go again.” I thought that at the beginning of the episode as well. Much to my surprise, she shot back with a, paraphrased, I don’t care about your father. I couldn’t have agreed more. It’s time for Jack to get over it. The whole teen angst because Daddy didn’t love you because he was an alcoholic thing just needs to end. We get it. Jack doesn’t realize his full potential because of the self doubt he is riddled with because of his father. I enjoyed this episode because it tried to moved BEYOND that character trait and show that there are deeper flaws to Jack’s character.

Thai Bo had the gift of seeing into people’s souls and knowing who they are. She saw that Jack was a great man. If we’re going with the “all the flashbacks are manipulated points in the character’s past”, she would be the manipulator in this episode, a la Desmond’s Oracle. What her actions force Jack into doing is getting his butt kicked because he refuses to play by the rules of Thailand. He is a stranger in a strange land and continues to act strange rather than trying to assimilate. In turn, this even makes him attempt to assimilate into the Good Guys world by playing their power games. He learned from his experience and acted differently. That sentence, my friends, is called character development.

Supposedly, according to the season two premiere, Jack is moving from a man of science towards a man of faith. He has always needed answers. That need is why his father’s lack of approval crippled him so much. To him, the answer to being a good surgeon (arguably a good person) existed in his father. Notice how he waited so diligently for his father the night before his wedding. Now, as he moves farther and farther from his father’s death (that’s was an awesome clause), his need for answers is slowly dissipating. Thai Bo saw him as a great man. She told him that in the tattoo shop. He was a leader, but it made him lonely and two other adjectives I can’t remember. She thus treated him as a great man. Like it our not, guys, women want to be with someone special. It makes them feel special. I now interrupt this column for a very special excerpt form I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe:

“‘I can tell you’re a nice girl. Why do you do this?’

‘Do what?’ she whispered.

‘Well—’ He didn’t know how to put it… ‘Wh…be so nice and obliging to somebody like me. Like…make yourself available and everything. You don’t even know me, and that girl—she don’t know Mike.’

‘You’re serious?’ She said it in such a way that obviously he was either making a little joke or was a little dense.

‘Uh…yeah. Why?’

‘You really don’t understand?’

‘No.’

‘You’re a star.’ Most obvious thing in the world.

‘And therefore?’

‘Every girl wants to…fuck…a star.’ She said it in the same sweet, sincere voice she said everything else. ‘Any girl who says she doesn’t is lying. Any girl.’

Try as he might, Jojo could not think of a cogent reply.

A moment later she added, ‘And every girl.’”

-Pages 594-595

Now Jack, in his ever-quest for answers, followed Thai Bo around the streets of Thailand to discover the secrets she was hiding. He didn’t understand his good fortune. He didn’t understand why she was so, hmm, forthcoming towards him. Like Jojo in the excerpt, he had to ask why. Like the viewing audience, he most likely thought she was a prostitute. In hindsight, it should have been fairly fucking obvious she was a tattoo artist from the beginning. I even said during the episode that they wanted us to believe she was a prostitute, but she clearly wasn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t put two and two together, probably because I hate math.

Having cornered Thai Bo in her tattoo parlor, he demanded answers. He was as physically violent as we’ve ever seen him. He wanted to know why she chose him and then why he was a good man. Beyond those demands, he even needed to be tattooed as physical representation of how he was a great man. After that night, the answer was tattooed on his arm. However, as he learned, there were consequences. He broke protocol of the culture and got his ass beat for it.

At the beginning of the episode, I said it was stupid for Jack to refuse to help Prince Ben. The Good Guys only keep you around if you are usual. That fact is their culture. By refusing to use his skills, Jack made himself expendable. Thus, he would be killed (or beat down as in the flashback). However, he learned his lesson and, as I stated earlier played the game again. Maybe Jack is finally changing. Maybe he’ll become a worthwhile character. It’s all ok by me, as long as he doesn’t end up with Kate.

The infuriating thing about the entire episode was that we only learned what a few of the tattoos meant. What about the number five? What about the $20,000 pyramid?

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

Though there weren’t very many minor characters in this episode, quite a lot was actually developed. We met two new characters. Well, we met one new character and the other became a full fledged character. The creepy judge lady was interesting because she is clearly UNDER Prince Ben in the power structure, yet somehow acted as if she knew a lot. Notice how, once we got to know them, none of the other Good Guys acted as if they knew much. Gay Tom is pretty much a lackey at this point.

Karl is our angsty teen for show. Although, I think you could argue that every character, especially Jack and Locke, is riddled with teen angst. However, Karl fits the role perfectly. Maybe he’ll find a boom box and bring it to Alex’s backyard. If they play Peter Gabriel on LOST, I may quit watching. I don’t know why I typed that sentence. I don’t hate Peter Gabriel or anything.

Alex is interesting to me as well. She looks so much like Rousseau, but they treat her like a regular Good Guy. She seems to have a lot of say. I mean, they could obviously catch her if they want, so why do they let her run around the island? It doesn’t make much sense. What exactly is the deal with her?

The most pressing concern to talk about in this section is, of course, the triangle and that bothers me quite a bit. For about two episodes series wise (and a few months real time wise), we were led to believe Sawyer and Kate were finally together. Now I am forced to begrudgingly consider what some fans have said from day one: Kate will be with Sawyer briefly, but end up with Jack. There isn’t need for much analysis of Kate’s actions in this episode. She clearly cares for both Jack and Sawyer. I would argue in different ways, but one has to wonder, will she end up with Jack, or does she just need to get the “star fuck” out of the way, as Jack is clearly the “star” of the island and she looks up to him whereas she sees Sawyer as an equal.

At which point, we are brought to Sawyer. At the beginning of the episode, I didn’t think the writers were good for Sawyer. They didn’t seem to get his dialogue right. Maybe they just aren’t witty people, because what they did get right is everything else. The scene with Karl demonstrated his hopeless romanticism (and provided a life lesson: you have to decide if you want to waste your time on all the girl that aren’t worth it or not). I have to wonder if Karl will become his sidekick. The final scene with Kate was brilliant as well. You could totally tell that she was shocked by what Sawyer was saying. She didn’t expect it. It is the one side of him she doesn’t yet understand and that lack of understanding is exactly why he reacted the way he did.

Ever since their, shall we say, moment, all Kate has done is talk about Jack. They have to wait for Jack. They can’t leave Jack. They have to go back for Jack. We, as viewers, know that her emotions and statements are a factor of the situation. Why wouldn’t she want to go back for Jack? The problem is, and I can attest to this situation from personal experience, when you’re on the inside, you don’t have the viewers perspective. People want to save and protect the star. It’s natural to flock to people with charisma. Kate has a special and unique bond with Jack on the island. Of course she would feel connected to him and want to go back and save him. The problem is that Sawyer, with his lacking perspective, can only see Kate’s allegiance to Jack. While she doesn’t think she has anything left to prove to Sawyer, he still does not trust her.

I know, I know, all you ladies out there think Sawyer is a star to. Yes, he is a star to us, but look at the island, look at his life. He is an outcast. And yes, outcasts can be stars in a unique way too, but that possibility is not the way he envisions it, it is not the way he forces it to be. Rather, he takes Kate’s words and actions as a slap in the face, not realizing that she too is also an outcast. Besides Jack, Kate isn’t close to anyone on the island except Sawyer. He seems to have forgotten that little tidbit of information.

Let this storyline be a lesson to us all, the bad boy isn’t always the star. Yes, the Sawyer character is the typical American hero, but think about why we can say that it is. America is the only country in the history of the world where that type of a character has the possibility to rise to the top. He can go from the outcast to the star. To avoid a political debate, you must concede that America is at least designed that way. Think about John McClane in Die Hard. He was the outcast. His wife didn’t want anything to do with him (she even went feminist and changed her last name). No one in the building would listen to him? But what did he do, he Cowboy Upped and saved the day. He made himself the star and what makes him a true American hero is he didn’t do it to be the star, but because it was the right thing to do and thus he had no other choice. I’m sorry LOSTpedia, but Sawyer doesn’t just represent capitalism, Sawyer represents democracy, Sawyer represents America. Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.

LOSTOLOGY

I’ll say the following about mythology: If you’re upset we didn’t learn more, blame it on Jack’s psychotic anger. We did learn a little bit though. There IS another group of others. They are the ones that take the majority of the kids (shown through the teddy bear). The Good Guys take some kids to find out why the Other Others take the kids. Also, by combining the facts that Ethan kidnapped Claire and that Juliet is a fertility doctor, it is safe to say there has never been a pregnancy or birth on the island before.

Claire (and Sun) just became ultimately important again.

(By the way, on two more EW notes, the father of Sun’s baby COULD be the Golden Child and the two bodies in the caves are the producers “concrete proof” in season one that they have an ending planned for the show. Here’s hoping those two bodies are Kate and Sawyer, rather than Kate and Jack.)

FREDDY ADIEU

Really, the most pressing thing I want to know at this point is, is LOST tragic or romantic? I can’t keep track of whose relationships are up and down anymore…

I’m tired

This column has gone on too long.

If you think this episode sucked:

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E08 Flashes Before Your Eyes

2011-07-24T16:14:00.001-04:00

“Timeline? This is no time to talk about time. We don't have the time!... What was I saying?” Deanna Troi, Star Trek First Contact

“The mortician said that Death has a design. Right? Now, what if you, me, Tod, Carter, Terry, Billy, Missus Lewton messed up that design. For whatever reason, I, I saw Death's plan. We cheated him. But what if it was our time? What if we were not meant to get off that plane? What if it still is our time? If it is, then it's not finished, and we will die - now, not later - unless, unless we find the patterns and cheat It again,” Alex Browning, Final Destination

LOST fans, I would like you to meet can of worms. Can of worms, I’d like you to meet LOST fans. Before I get started with this column, I would like to make a point. Before you all start complaining that the show doesn’t make any sense and is ripe with paradoxes and inconsistencies, please remember one thing: YOU asked for this season. YOU criticized the show for moving to slowly. YOU demanded answers. Well, now you’re getting them. What did you expect them to do, not create new questions? I said it from our first journey into The Midside together. I warned you. There would be no LOST without questions. Good going everybody, now we’re really waist deep.

The specific species of can of worms we met tonight is time travel. Many different theories exist. There is a plethora of critiques, complaints, and a third c word to complete this list of three concerning the idea. The reason I typed “Good going everybody” in a mocking manner is because I almost feel like this episode was to mess with the fan base. We asked for faster storylines. We asked for plot progression. Well, we got it and more. It may be more than we can handle. Oh, and a nice little tragic story on Valentine’s Day too. I bet you didn’t catch that little joke on us. Well, I did and I’ll tell you what else I caught. Come along now, children. It’s time to sit back and enjoy the ride from now on rather than telling the creators what to do. It’s their show made for us to enjoy. So how about we let them make and we’ll enjoy it? Then, I can write this column and we’ll all be fulfilling our purpose in the world. No course correction necessary.

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

A warning: what you are about to read may upset you. You may not understand it. It may not make sense to you because, hey, let’s be honest, to most people, this episode made absolutely no sense. As I’m sure you can guess though, as the story began to unfolded, my brain was formulating theories. Most did not hold up throughout the episode. One did. Before I explain what I saw in this flashback, I have to set out a couple underlying assumptions first. To understand my thoughts, you must accept these assumptions.

1. The flashbacks in this episode were real events that occurred. They were not hallucinations brought on by the concussion or conjured by the island.

2. The flashback began right after Desmond tackled Charlie. Therefore, the majority of the episode was a flashback.

3. Much of what we learned from this episode’s flashback is intertwined with LOSTology and thus will be saved for that section.

Those assumptions accepted (if you didn’t accept them, I guess there is no point to you reading The Midside anymore. Of course, if you don’t agree, you could always hypothetically accept them to understand my perspective), there is an event I would like to remind everyone of.

Turn back to the season two finale. Take out your DVDs and watch it again if you need to. I probably would if I hadn’t loaned them out to another new addict I’ve created. However, to save yourself time and energy, skip to the closing moments of the show. In a remote monitoring facility, two men pick up an energy signal they have picked up once before. We are led to believe this signal is the button not being pushed. They discover the source of the signal and make a phone call. Who is on the other end of the line? Penny Widmore. Why would Penny Widmore be looking for the island? Simple, somehow, her father is involved with it and she knows that her love, Desmond, is on it. She discovered all this information after Desmond ran away because of her father. Her reason to dig was that she still had a chance with Desmond. If she could find him, she could convince him.

Flashforward to this weeks flashback (and that statement is where people struggle with time travel theory and why such ideas as “predestination paradoxes” are created). After turning the key, Desmond is forced to relive this event. But why this event? Why make relive the moment he almost proposed to the woman he loved only to run away in fear? Why make him feel like a coward one more time?

The first question to answer is actually an unwritten one. Who made him relive the event? I will actually discuss the answer further in the LOSTology section, but for now I’ll say it’s the island. The island made Desmond relive the event. This answer means that his reliving of the event was not about him. It was not meant to cause him emotional pain or joy. So now we turn to the most important question, why would the island want him to have a do over?

The most important scenes of the episode that informed the theory I am explicating are the ones that involved the old jewelry sales lady (unfortunately, I can’t think of a witty name for her). To get a couple references out of the way, her actions and mode of speak were reminiscent of the grim reapers in Dead Like Me, The Oracle in The Matrix, and God in Joan of Arcadia. That statement made, the key concept that The Oracle discussed was “course correction.” At anytime, the “universe” (for right now read: island) can “course correct” by “fixing” an event. How does it fix that event? It uses its ultimate tool, people.

Since he was on the island, Desmond was at the island’s disposal. The island sent him back in time and made him relive the event. Then, at the moment of purchasing the ring, it manipulated him in exactly the manner it knew would get Desmond to hurt Penny. Why would it want Desmond to hurt Penny? Because now that he basically told her to get lost (har har), she’ll have no reason to search for him. Essentially, the island has protected itself. No one is aware of its location.

This theory I have outline is, of course, fraught with problems that I’m sure people will point out. First off, it supposedly makes it so the final events of the season two finale never happened due to a “predestination paradox”. Basically, in order for the events of the show to unravel in the manner they are, they would have to be predetermined. Desmond would always have had to go back and live that event in the way we saw in the episode he did tonight. However, he didn’t. The first time around he ran away like a coward and join the Army. Therefore, to some people, a paradox I created, as two contradictory events occurred at the same time that negate each other. Desmond now has memories of running away and telling Penny to get lost.

I disagree with the “predestination paradox” idea and in this episode the writers demonstrated why. All events occur. Just because they are wiped from the timeline, doesn’t mean they didn’t occur and doesn’t mean the other events were predetermined to happen. Take this episode for example. The first even of running away occurred. The island didn’t like the outcome. Therefore, it sent Desmond back in time to relive the event as telling Penny to get lost. The first even is wiped from the timeline and thus Desmond was predestined to go back in time. I disagree adamantly. Desmond did go back in time, yes, but saying he was predetermined to means all forces operate within the timeline. Clearly, the island operates outside the constraints of time. Therefore, both events occurred. Essentially, whose eyes do you see the universe through? Through a human’s eyes, Desmond is involved in a predestination paradox. Through God’s eyes, he was not.

For you philosophers out there, this episode was basically a compatibilist view of free will and determinism.

On a final note on Desmond for this episode, is he now a tragic hero? He was told pushing the button was saving the world (and the only thing great he would ever do). Now he was told in order to save the world, he had to sacrifice his own love? Obviously he didn’t literally kill Penny, but he had to essentially break her heart. Worst of all, he had to willingly break his own heart. It kind of makes Jack look like even more of a whiny bitch, doesn’t it? Desmond is a hell of a lot more likeable too.

Oh, and the island may have fudged up its own course correction. When that Indian Doctor friend of Desmond sees the result of the soccer match, he’ll know that Desmond wasn’t crazy and start investigating. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him show up in a later episode.

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

Besides Desmond, there weren’t very many characters in the episode. Sayid and Locke briefly explained Eko’s death to Charlie and Hurley. Charlie and Hurley represented the curious masses, with Hurley playing the lesser role. Claire played the damsel in distress. Sawyer and Kate, despite the episode write ups, were missing from the episode. I, for one, was disappointed.

Based on the previous paragraph and the revelation at the end of the episode, the most important character to discuss is Charlie. First off, I’d like to take a second to gloat. At the end of last season, I said that his storyline was done (he redeemed himself by tossing the heroine away) and predicted he would die in the season finale. He narrowly escaped death several times in that episode. Now we know what happened, the island was trying to kill him and he was pulling a Final Destination by avoiding his deaths. However, now that Desmond is all but ready to pack it in, we can be sure he will bite it soon. In fact, when Desmond told Charlie he couldn’t escape death, I dance a little jig. I’m not even Irish! Teenybopper LOST fans across the country probably cried, but the rest of us will finally be rid of the selfpitying sometimes-witty-but-most-of-the-time-just-annoying hobbit! Maybe Claire will finally hook up with Johnny Locke. On second though, forget I ever said that last thing.

LOSTology

The Desmond and Charlie situation does raise some interesting questions as to the nature of the island. If the island is indeed trying to kill Charlie, then why give Desmond the ability of foresight so he can save him? And if Desmond receiving the power of foresight was an accident, why not course correct and take the power away? It doesn’t add up. Is Charlie supposed to live or die?

Basically, two things are being called into question. First, is the island good or bad? We’ve been led to believe, so far, that the island is a benevolent force. It creates opportunities for the 815ers to overcome their pasts and become better people, right? I’m not so sure. I put forward the example of Eko. One could argue that his inability to ask for forgiveness made him a better person. He came to terms with his past and was self assured. However, the island killed him for his disobedience. He refused to ask the island, through the visage of Yemi, for forgiveness. He was then pounded against a tree until he died.

I now turn to tonight’s episode. What type of a benevolent power would make Desmond relive such a painful memory twice, making it even more difficult the second time around? The first time, he simply ran away. This time he actually had to make the woman he loved cry. Wouldn’t a benevolent supernatural power conjure its desired outcome and have the 815ers have positive lives? At the very least, if their lives were going to be bad, wouldn’t it let them have free will to screw up their own lives? I don’t understand why such a power would mess up someone’s life just to achieve its purpose. That type of action seems pretty selfish to me.

Also tonight, we saw a flashback from a unique perspective. We saw how Desmond’s life was directly manipulated by the island assuming a role of someone in his past in order to control events concerning the island. I put forward that the island has exerted such control in EVERY flashback we have ever since. Every flashback has been a key event in the past that either brought the 815er to the island OR affected some pivotal event on the island. What if we are shown the flashback to show us how the island has manipulated the past events so they necessitate the outcome on the island? Notice how Locke’s boss at the box company was the same as Hurley’s boss at the chicken joint. What if Randy was controlled by the island? His phrasing of, “Maybe you don’t need this job that badly” or whatever made Hurley realize he didn’t need the job and subsequently quit. The quitting made him gallivant around town with DJ Qualls which inevitably led to the series of events that influenced him to decide to distribute the food evenly between all the 815ers? Do you see the point I’m getting at here?

I am also focusing on a statement Prince Ben made earlier this season. He said he needed a spinal surgeon and one fell out of the sky. Well, notice how events were manipulated so that not only would Jack crash in the plane and get captured by The Good Guys, but Sawyer and Kate would be captured too, giving Jack a reason to pretend to perform the surgery so they could escape. But, since they ultimately escaped, he actually did perform the surgery and Prince Ben was saved.

Now, take another step forward. What if Prince Ben and company ARE The Good Guys? What if they know the island is a malevolent force and are trying to figure out a way to stop it? What if that purpose is the purpose of DHARMA’s research? A lot of effort has certainly been put into making them look bad. Then again, how can they escape the island’s powers if the island can course correct anytime it wants? If they were working against the island, wouldn’t it just course correct and nullify their actions?

In conclusion, I am going to put one more controversial idea out into the abyss of the internet. What if dying in LOST is a GOOD THING as you are no longer a pawn of evil? Whenever a character has died, their story has come full circle and they are redeemed. Thus, the malevolent force of the island can no longer use them and kills them. Notice how tonight, Desmond hurt Penny because he was afraid. He was afraid staying with her would end the world. He was still a coward. This idea brings forth another interesting idea though. What if there are two forces at work on the island? The MALEVOLENT force is exhibited through the flashbacks. It “course corrects” by making the 815ers do terrible things. However, on the island, a BENEVOLENT force gives the 815ers a shot at redemption. In other words, the BENEVOLENT force emulated Yemi to give Eko the chance to redeem himself. Eko was redeemed though his denial. The MALEVOLENT force witnessed these events, found Eko useless, and killed him.

These two forces would satisfy the “Two players, one light, one dark” theme of the show. Right now, I am pretty sold on this theory. I hope I explained it well enough.

FREDDY ADIEU

Since I received more comments over the last week on my column from before the break rather than my most recent one, I’ll briefly respond to those ideas. I never said Peyton Manning would never win the Super Bowl. That possibility always existed. However, he had to prove he could. My problem was that people were accepting it as fact that he could win it even though he did everything in his power to lose it. Now, he has proven that he has what it takes to NOT LOSE the big games. He stepped back and let his teammates make the big plays. Dominic Rhodes deserved the MVP of the Super Bowl for his excellent ground game. Next time you guys respond to my column, make sure you read it a little better first, alright? I know this week’s is a tough one, but it was an incredibly tough episode, so cut me some slack. And if you’re still going to mischaracterize what I said about Peyton Manning, then there’s only one thing left to say and you know what it is (No, it’s not “Do it, Rockappella!”):

Shut up, you’re wrong.

LOST Redux: S3E07 Not in Portland

2011-07-24T16:11:00.001-04:00

Hello again. We’re back around the bend. Does it, does it, ever end?

I don’t know what that line was or where it came from (I made it up), but it felt like the perfect way to welcome you back to the one, the only, the sensational, the phenomenal, the I-need-to-stop-typing-adjectives-and-commas, The Midside.

Returning to LOST is like coming back to college at the beginning of your sophomore year. You just spent that first summer in your hometown. You slept in your old bedroom. You ate dinner with your family at the same kitchen table. You visited the mall, the movie theater, and any other hangout you and your friends might have had. Most notably, you visited those places with your friends. However, at each stop along the way, you hesitated. None of it felt the way it once did. You’ve suddenly realized you can’t go back. It’s like Blues Traveler said, “I've been away and I've seen too much, looks like I've been moving on as well/And when I started to not really belong I suppose I was unable to tell.” LOST has changed us and we couldn’t go back to our lives without it. Our summer felt empty.

Eventually though, summer slows to a stop. The air becomes a little more frigid. The leaves show hints of a color change. Once again, you have to say goodbye to the life you’ve grown accustomed to. The farewell is a little easier this time as the adjustment period was only three months, not 18 minutes, but it is awkward all the same. What you don’t anticipate is how awkward your return to school to be. Intellectually, you know what the buildings look like. You know what your friends look like. You know what the grind is like. What you can’t anticipate is what you’ll feel like. You can’t anticipate what everyone else will feel like. You’ve changed and no one else bore witness to it. Everyone else changed and you didn’t bear witness to it. You can’t help it. Distance breeds unfamiliarity. You return to your home away from home (or is it simply your home?) and begin to reacclimate yourself, no, acclimate yourself to your surroundings. It’s a whole new journey (thought I was going to type world, didn’t you?).

Unlike returning to college after that first summer away, our friends, the LOST characters have changed. However, we would be fools to claim that any of us haven’t changed. I myself have experienced a plethora of experiences that might make one reevaluate your life or, at the very least, reflect upon it. I’ve seen old death. I’ve seen new life. I’ve shed a few tears. I’ve had to stand strong. I’ve collapsed in weakness through pains both mental and physical. No, these characters haven’t changed, but I certainly have and my perceptions of them certainly have…and I only read a couple articles previewing the upcoming half of the season. How many did you read? Don’t answer that. I don’t really care. You’re in The Midside and the only thing that matters here is my opinion, mmkay?

WHAT WOULD DUNCAN MCLEOD DO?

“Was ever book containing such vile matter

So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell

In such a gorgeous palace!” Juliet, Romeo and Juliet

“I'm moving on, Carter. And if you want to waste your life beating the shit out of Alex every time you see him then you can just drop fucking dead!” Terry, Final Destination

The fact that I can begin this section of my column with a quote from Romeo and Juliet and a quote from Final Destination is beyond brilliant. Perhaps my ability to do so is reflective of my life experiences. Perhaps the fact that I did is reflective of how incredible of a show LOST is. In all likelihood, the answer is somewhere in the middle. I don’t really care though. I’m going to enjoy it while I can.

The quote from Romeo and Juliet is from a scene where Juliet is fraught with grief. She is upset and bemoans the fact that, essentially, Romeo is so good looking yet so deceitful. Her nurse eggs her on saying all men are that way. Am I really explicating Shakespeare in a LOST column? Yes and here’s the relevance. Obviously this quote could be about the man in Juliet’s flashback, her ex-husband. However, I’m actually applying it to the opportunity offered to her by Dharma. Yes, I know that a different company name was used, but, come one, we all know it was Dharma. Plus, I can’t remember the company name so it makes me look smarter if I say Dharma.

The job offer seemed like a great one. It was a legal (I think) way of continuing her apparently ground breaking without the involvement of her ex-husband. It seemed so “fairly bound” because her ex was looking to take advantage of her so his name could be on a “genius” scientific breakthrough. All she had to do was travel to Portland and she could work on that wounded womb woman. However, as we all know, life with Dharma is truly “vile manner” and deceit does dwell there. Deceit is Prince Ben’s middle name. Benjamin Deceit Linus. The guy was under anesthetic and still trying to manipulate everyone! Surely, at the end of her flashback, Juliet thought her life was about to improve. Only six months away and she could return to her now-pregnant-thanks-to-her sister who looks like a cancer patient. In reality, we learn the truth 3 years, 2 months, and 28 days later (yes, that’s a reference to the bad ass zombie movie). She is as much of a prisoner as Jack, Kate, and Sawyer.

The quote from Final Destination is from a scene where Terry, the speaker, is essentially telling Carter, who I believe is her boyfriend, that Alex isn’t to blame for the flight blowing up and them all surviving. She’s ready to move on with her life. The irony is that the line is her last line in the movie. After she says “drop dead”, she steps backwards off the curb and is, you guessed it, hit by a bus. Obviously there was a whole lot more blood than in this episode of LOST, but now you understand why I used the quote.

The second Juliet said she wished her ex got hit by a bus, I knew he was going to. Quite honestly, part of me was kind of hoping he didn’t. I haven’t decided yet whether him actually getting hit by the bus was good or bad writing. That scene was almost exactly like the scene in Final Destination though. When I saw that guy was outside near the street, I knew he was going to step backwards off the curb and get hit. If you watched closely enough, you could even see the bus in the background of the establishing shot.

What’s the moral of the story? Clearly Dharma is the unseen villain in the Final Destination trilogy. (Seriously though, the trilogy does have similar themes to LOST with the whole destiny and unseen power idea.)

HEY, AT LEAST IT BUILDS CHARACTER

Sometimes you have to step back and question your underlying assumptions. I learned that from House. Although, I admittedly should have been smart enough to use that technique already. It’s a nice bit of logic and an obvious part of the scientific method. What assumption am I questioning? I always thought dark haired girl that was running around The Good Guy’s camp was Rousseau’s daughter. In fact, when she slung a rock at Danny Pickett and emerged from the woods to rush Kate and Sawyer into a pit in the ground I declared, “Both islands have a crazy French chick.”

In all likelihood, Alex, as I am going to call her, is indeed Alex. She looks too much like Mia Furlong (the actress who plays Rousseau) to not be. However, I do believe that Juliet called her by a different name (which I can’t recall) and we are definitely being led to believe that Prince Ben is her father. The references to “he” are vague enough though that someone over Prince Ben is who she believes is her father. Whoever it is, I believe she was either brainwashed or told from a young age that he is her father when he really isn’t. Of course, maybe Rousseau’s husband never died and the reason her ship crashed was because Dharma wanted him.

Logically, the next person we are led to is Carl. I’m sure we’ll find out more about him in the coming weeks. Is he brainwashed enough that he’ll want to return to the shores of Dharma’s tiny island? Is his desire to do so going to become part of Kate’s plan to rescue Jack? His inclusion into the story does raise two interesting points, however. We have concrete proof that the writers know what they’re doing. The scene at the beginning was written so we would believe Sawyer would believe Alex. They could never have planned something so intricate if they weren’t thinking ahead. The other interesting point is the growing number of characters that aren’t series regulars. What if one of these actors earns a role in a movie or another show due to their guest spot on such a high profile show? Will their character be sacrificed on LOST? Are we going to get sick of the writers killing people for reasons not within the fictional world and stop suspending our disbelief?

While I’m mentioning characters dying, Danny Pickett biting it was totally predictable. Although, I didn’t predict that Juliet would kill him. I would have much rather seen Sawyer snap his neck or something.

And since I’m mentioning Sawyer, I thoroughly enjoyed how the writers used him to comment on their own writing. I was about to mock that guard’s name in the exact same tone and manner about two seconds before he did, but decided to keep my mouth shut. Also, did anyone catch how DL compared him to Captain Jack Sparrow in the special that aired the hour before? I ran around my apartment for about five minutes after that comment, bum knee and all. I’ve made that comparison so many times before. If he had been compared to House, I probably would have died a happy man tonight.

Since I’m mentioning Sawyer, let’s delve into the obligatory triangle talk. Over the past three months, I came to terms with the fact that Kate loved Sawyer, but was still attached to Jack because of all the trauma they had been through together and that was why she didn’t want to run at the end of episode six this season (I refuse to call it the Fall Finale) anymore. Now, I’m jaded. Something tells me that look Sawyer gave at the end before they piled into the canoe when Kate was on the walkie and refused to promise Jack she wouldn’t come back for him was one of realization that he’ll never be with her. Why am I so jaded? On the special that aired the hour before, DL said, “Kate genuinely loves Jack and knows he’ll take care of her, but is drawn to Sawyer because that’s the kind of guy she’s been around her whole life.” Also, I read TV Guide in Target the other day and the article claimed the triangle is not over. I’m not really sure how my perspective on something can be so skewed. Is it just me or was the guy from Firefly more like Jack than Sawyer? Wasn’t her childhood sweetheart Tom more like Jack too? Does the argument then become that we haven’t been shown the guys she was around while running and we’re supposed to assume based on Sawyer’s character that he was the type of guy she was around? I’m not buying it. Or maybe I don’t want to buy it. All I know is, Han Solo got the girl. Captain Jack Sparrow will not get the girl. If Sawyer is both, does he or does he not get the girl? If I was a drinker, I’d raise a glass to Jack and Kate being brother and sister even though we all know the two who are related are Jack and Claire.

LOSTOLOGY

There wasn’t much mythology this week. I’ve already mentioned the Final Destination comparison. I don’t really feel as if that is notable enough to expound upon. The Final Destination trilogy one is fun, but not all that in-depth or worth any kind of analysis.

Two other main things jump out at me. The first is the apparent brainwashing of Carl. It is notable to mention that Sawyer was mesmerized by the screen. Was he just trying to comprehend the images or was he being brainwashed as well? That question is one to remember over the coming weeks because Sawyer is going to need a new storyline. Additionally, the brainwashing pictures were filled with Eastern symbolism and Buddhist philosophy (We are the cause of our suffering.). I’m sure the inclusion of these elements will only fuel the speculation that Sun’s father is involved. At this point, that conjecture is probably all but a sure thing, although I would caution people that elitist left wing types like the Degroots would have been are obsessed with exalting Eastern religions over Christianity.

The other topic I want to discuss is the scope of Dharma’s powers. How is it possible to avoid the corporation controlling the world story? Now, Dharma can hit people with buses and show up at the morgue where the guy they just offed body is on the table next to them and get away with it? Am I supposed to believe a conspiracy this deep wouldn’t be found out? I guess it is here that suspension of disbelief emerges. It’s a damn good thing that I love this show and can excuse the ridiculous nature of it all. Sure, I can buy Ethan spying on her and thus them knowing her sister is pregnant, but the rest reminds me of…oh, well, here’s another quote for you all:

“You'll dress only in attire specially sanctioned by MiB special services. You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you. From now on you'll have no identifying marks of any kind. You'll not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter. You're a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly. You don't exist; you were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence your native tongue. You're no longer part of the System. You're above the System. Over it. Beyond it. We're ‘them.’ We're ‘they.’ We are the Men in Black,” Zed, Men in Black

Oh, and did anyone else notice the multiple mentions of the number three? Three months, three years…maybe it’s a coincidence, but with this show, you never know. Oh yeah, and Carl was kept in room 23.

FREDDY ADIEU

Alright, well, the above is pretty much all I’ve got for you. It’s been a long television week so far and Survivor premieres again tomorrow. I just can’t get enough. Please someone tell me you’re also enjoying this lineup: 24 on Monday, House on Tuesday, LOST on Wednesday, and Survivor on Thursday. The spring television season is looking up so far. Although, I will make this supposition: 24 is in need of more Jack Bauer. And if you disagree with that, well, then there’s only one thing to say:

Shut up, you’re wrong.