Need to get this thing started.

The writers on this show love to tease, don't they?

Last week, Locke survived a stare-down with the treetop-shaking monster. What does he have to say about that encounter? "I've stared into the eye of this island, and it was beautiful." Maybe the treetop-shaking monster is actually the "50 Foot Woman", escaped from midnight cult-movie runs after all these years.

I'm now convinced that the writers mean to deliberately provoke speculation such as my conviction that the Korean woman actually speaks english. The "she understands what I'm saying line" was a bit hamfisted in this regard, but a tease nonetheless.

At least we established that the Mysterious Apparation that Only Jack Sees is actually someone specific. Of course, we are left pondering the exact nature of the shade. That the coffin was empty was practically a necessity in plot-management. Though the tease was totally predictable, it was still a nice touch.

Jack's backstory was better than I first speculated it might be, but a little less than I'd hoped after Locke's backstory. Not a homerun, but a standup double. I'm begining to wonder, though, if anyone had a normal reason for being on this flight? We should start calling it The Flight of Tortured Souls.

I have to admit, I haven't thought much of Dr. Jack's acting so far, but he was good in the airport scene.

Proposed new character nickname: World's Worst Lifeguard. If you can't properly administer CPR, and can't swim 50 yards without needing your own rescue, I think you need to take the remedial course in lifeguarding. In the meantime, I wouldn't want this guy lifeguarding a wishing well.

If this is Heaven, I don't want to see Hell.

For those of you too young to catch on to the reference, the Bass Player for Driveshaft's tatoo was a line from "Strawberry Fields Forever". The full line is more interesting, "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see". The full song (as all of us geezers who remember the Beatles are acutely aware) is a series of psychedelic images that people have all sorts of other-worldly explanations for. It pairs nicely with the "Alice in Wonderland" reference. The allusions suggest that prosaic explanations about mad scientists, government conspiracies, ETs, etc. all aim too low in speculating about where this island is coming from (or where it's going).

[This message has been edited by Deep Cover (edited 10-21-2004).]

I posted these remarks in another place where an OT thread on Lost is going, and one poster replied that, given that the scene at the airport had no apparent resolution, there's no reason to believe that the coffin on the plane ever had a body in it.

Along the same lines, it's also noteworthy that we don't know what Dr. Jack's mom meant when she said that Dr. J had to go look for dad, "especially after what you did!" Not quite all the melodrama has been revealed. Just what is being suggested in Dr. Jack's reluctance to allow people to address him as 'doctor'?

Each episode has now contained some overt and clumsy attempt at generating sexual tension. In addition to taking bets on who among them wasn't really on the plane, maybe we ought to start a line on who will be the first to get it on.

DC, I was a little creeped out by the underwater doll.

I expected the coffin to be empty. I just don't know if it is from the new plane's wreckage, or if it was from the one that 'crashed' sixteen years ago.

I think I need a photo/name key before I go and discuss the characters. I'm having a real hard time remembering who is who, what their names are, and what faces they are connected to.

Early on-set senility, I guess.

Think you can set up a cheat-sheet that's printable, TN1? (BEG)

I thought, given the creepy goings on, that his father HAD been in the coffin, but someone else on another forum with a Lost thread thought that his father's body *hadn't* been in the casket, and that's why Jack went bananas bashing it apart. That makes more sense than my theory of "the body wasn't There when it had been". If that had been true, then I think Jack might have had more of a "Oh god, it's Day of the Living Dead" reaction -- more along the lines of a horror movie than a suspense show.

This TV show isn't so much a horror genre show. Is it?

Oh, and TN1? My registration seems to have slipped, and I'm having to type my name and password in again everytime to submit a post. Can that be fixed? Or was the cookie deleted somehow?

quote:

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Originally posted by xedout:
DC, I was a little creeped out by the underwater doll.

I expected the coffin to be empty. I just don't know if it is from the new plane's wreckage, or if it was from the one that 'crashed' sixteen years ago.

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Oooo, yeah, the dolls were kind of creepy, weren't they?

Did you hear that endlessly recycling tape (the one the Frenchwoman was on?) in the background?

The dolls looked like they *might* have been from an earlier flight; they looked French in design, somehow.

Here's an interview with Dominic Moyhagen, or however you spell his name -- the Hobbit from LoTR.
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|90790|1|,00.html

quote:

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Originally posted by Ittot:

Did you hear that endlessly recycling tape (the one the Frenchwoman was on?) in the background?

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Are you certain about that? I taped it for someone, and haven't delivered the tape yet. You're going to make me have to go back and listen for myself.

The dolls in the water were a great set piece moment. It remains to be seen whether they were foreshadowing, symbolism, or just a great creepy moment.

More sharp-eyed acumen from my other 'Lost' conversations. Sawyer was reading "Watership Down". There are implications to that.

DC, don't forget about the use of 'white rabbit'. Both Lewis Carroll and Jefferson Airplane.

For those who watch 'Alias', Abrams uses '47' in some way each episode. Much like Carter used to use 1013 or 1121 in a lot of XF eps.

quote:

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Originally posted by Deep Cover:
Are you certain about that? I taped it for someone, and haven't delivered the tape yet. You're going to make me have to go back and listen for myself.

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Bwahahaa, then my work is done -- make DC go back and watch his tape to be sure!

Seriously, tho, I thought I DID hear that tape going around and around.

I'm not so sure that the plane hind end that Jack found belonged with the other (theorized) plane. You'd think he'd recognize if that coffin wasn't his fathers, and someone else's.

But who knows...the preview for next week showed dirty old skeletons in the ground, peeking out from the water area (maybe).

Conjectures?

Conjecture?

With Locke speaking of 'miracles' and 'magic', multiple allusions to '60s psychedelia, and an episode named from Alice in Wonderland, I'm not certain how useful the exercise of conjecture is.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I disagree with the twists, or the increasing liklihood that 'Lost' can only be found in a supernatural universe not quite our own. But a conjecture assumes that there are logical rules one can apply to get from A to B. This week, if the writers would have us understand only one thing, it was: the normal rules of the universe don't apply here.

I'm beginning to think that 'Lost' is to recent TV scifi/fantasy fare as the new hyper-coasters are to the old wooden ones. They may sound like the same concept, but the design rules are so radically altered, you can't predict the new experience from the old.

Example:

I fussed in a prior thread about the apparent inconsistency in the discovery of a 16 year looped message in a scene where a radio goes out for lack of battery power. I wondered why no one on the island wondered where the power for the signal came from.

Now, it turns out Sayid wondered about that, too, put on his communication's officer hat and tried to do something about it. While that restores my faith in the writers' attention to this kind of detail, I'm now seriously doubting that locating the power source for the signal is anything more than a red herring.

Alternately, the signal exists solely to be a McGuffin, a thing that has no real value other than as a means to propel characters to action. Either way, my opinion is that they'll reach the 'source', only to discover that for whatever reason, finding the source is pointless BUT it will then be the case that by searching for the source, they will have found a new mystery to solve which propels them down another plotline.

The new mystery, presumably, will be a great deal less prosaic than trying to locate a transmitter and power source. At least I expect so, if they want to hold people's attention.

Further, what the featuring of "Watership Down" as a prop says to me is that, once we are through with the time-consuming mechanism of establishing character by flashback, that time is going to be filled by focusing on the castaways' society-building efforts. The Survivor-like social dynamics will occupy equal-time importance (at least) with island-mystery-solving plotlines. I expect to continue to be fed information about the island through an eyedropper for a long time to come.

Thanks for starting this new thread up DC! I was kind of preoccupied with baseball. I'm only now emerging from my exile

Anyway, the latest list of Key Points is available. You can check it all out here: Key Points from "White Rabbit"

Note: I made a point not to read any of the forum posts before writing this review. If there's any overlap with comments already made, you have my word that I did not steal your ideas! Really!

Okay, I just zipped through the previous comments. You guys have been busy!

DC: I agree regarding Jack's backstory. Not jaw-dropping like Locke's (I'm still impressed by the wheelchair reveal), but solid nonetheless. And you're right, Matthew Fox showed some good acting chops in that airport scene. I was convinced that he really, really wanted to bury his father.

Along those lines, I also like the work Terry O'Quinn is turning in as Locke. He's finding a balance between creepy and intriguing. In some ways he reminds me of Skinner in the early "X-File" days -- is he good, bad or in-between?

My vote for the first two to get it on: Shannon and Sawyer. It's the easiest way to go for the "they did it!" line but not have any long-lasting character repercussions.

Related question: How long before "Lost" shippers pop up?

Ittot: I might be able to throw together an iconograhic cast list at some point. In the meantime, you might find the official site helpful. I also make a point to include character pictures in the Key Point episode reviews

As for the log-in, did you recently delete any cookies or use an anti-spyware tool? The reason I ask is because spyware tools often wipe out any kind of cookie (including those that don't have evil intentions). If the filmfodder forum cookie was deleted, your automatic log-in information would have gone with it.

And finally, I didn't hear the French woman at all! When was it exactly? I might have to break out the headphones for this one! (Incidentally, does anyone either know french or know where a translation of that "message" can be found?). We're all working under the assumption that Shannon's translation was correct.

Xed: I was wondering about the possible importance of "47." That number seemed too obvious not to be notable. Of course, now there are only 46 survivors. Hmm...

[This message has been edited by trustno1 (edited 10-22-2004).]

quote:

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Originally posted by trustno1:

[b]Ittot: I might be able to throw together an iconograhic cast list at some point. In the meantime, you might find the official site helpful. I also make a point to include character pictures in the Key Point episode reviews

As for the log-in, did you recently delete any cookies or use an anti-spyware tool? The reason I ask is because spyware tools often wipe out any kind of cookie (including those that don't have evil intentions). If the filmfodder forum cookie was deleted, your automatic log-in information would have gone with it.

And finally, I didn't hear the French woman at all! When was it exactly? I might have to break out the headphones for this one![/B]

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Hi TN1!

GO SOX! *ahem*

It seems I only have to sign in for the first post, then it signs up automatically afterward, if I make more than one post. Very weird. I don't think I have spyware, but I do have an antivirus that pops up everynight (annoyingly), and a program that deletes spyware...ooooohhhh....hmmm...I'll check it. [facesmack]

And I *think* heard the Repeating message as Jack walked up to the coffin. For some reason, I thought it was *inside* the coffin, or tangled up in the cloth that was hanging all around it. My first assumption, what with the dolls, was that this was part of the older plane wreck. Assuming that there really was one!

Could've been my overactive imagination.

I think I'm going to start printing out these weekly synopsi. They're *really* helpful with me keeping everything and everyone straight. And I've been refering friends from another forum to this site so they can see the threads and your recaps. They're bloody brilliant.

Trust, "Daddy" could be #47. As could Claire's baby. And we still have no idea if anyone else is on the island.

Trust,
I found the French translation on another Lost forum (TV Tome for those intrested):


"If anyone hears this... I'm going to try to go to the black rock... Please help us, they're all dead, they're dead. [It/He] killed them, [it/he] killed them all. I'm gonna try to go to the black rock." Then the radio goes dead.

Amanda: Welcome! And thanks for that translation!

The black rock, eh? It looks like we'll eventually see an as-yet-undiscovered island location.

Or maybe it's a bar?

quote:

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Originally posted by trustno1:
[b]Amanda:
Or maybe it's a bar? [/B]

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Yeah, the Black Rock Cafe, where death-metal memorabilia hangs on the walls, and Goth waiters ask, "would you like crystal meth with that?".

Charlie's gonna love it