LOST: Catch a falling star, put it in your pocket...

I believe that a baby black hole "powers" the Island. It's the perfect not-completely-understandable might-as-well-be-magic spacetime-bending theoretic-physically-kinda-possible phenomenon to pseudo-scientifically account for most of the weirdness associated w the Island and inflicted upon our Losties.

Also, have you caught the (to my mind, unusual and conspicuous) choice of lullaby for Aaron? "Catch a falling star, put it in your pocket...?" I think that's what happened with/to the Island. A black hole was created within it or collided with it from space.

As much as I'd like for fresh-off-the-sub Daniel to be something other than our ragged Daniel (like a twin, or his own father, or a future/older Daniel) I think the "simplest" explanation will probably prevail. That he *is* our ragged Daniel, just cleaned up after a couple years off-Island playing the role of premier DI scientist in the civilized world.

I would LOVE for him to have been the scientist who developed the Lamppost, which is what I hoped for when Eloise first introduced it... but how would that have happened...?

Our ragged Faraday would join the Orchid work crew and get into the wheel chamber, or at least to those bore holes that penetrated into the chamber, to access the "negatively charged exotic particles," and with a coconut and bamboo time machine, launch himself farther back in time, and maybe off the Island, to become the DI scientist who develops the Lamppost, which leads the DI to the Island.

Y'know, that could've happened already, sometime between 1974 and 1977, but a LOST time jump seems to require and discharge a lot of energy, so it's unlikely it could've been done secretly or quietly...

MAYbe... it hasn't happened yet. MAYbe, our ragged Faraday *has* been a kinda wacko Charlotte's creepy uncle hermit in the DI on the Island for three years, and crisp future F.O.S. Faraday has returned to the Island coincidentally/fatefully/because he'd already experienced what's about to come—the Swan Incident that sends ragged Faraday farther back in time (to become the DI sage who creates the Lamppost) and returns crisp Faraday and the Losties to the present day...

I like that.

Which of course means it's totally wacked and wrong.

A few posts back, I mentioned the cop-out idea of the Island being the site of a shipwrecked spaceship or spacetimeship. It's kind of a cop-out, cuz it sort of cheapens what sacrifice and faith and crises of faith that the Losties and Others have had to endure. But, y'know, I'm finding more and more potential in the idea. It doesn't have to cheapen the harrowing and inspiring experiences of our favorite characters because the Island doesn't have to be the cause of everything. People, and their beliefs and greed and relationships, do. The Island could be a cosmic McGuffin. A little REPO MAN, but of course, I don't think of that as a bad thing.

So, maybe the black hole is the power source of the spaceship that crashed into the Island millions of years ago. OR, the spaceship, with an exotic particle drive, is the falling star that's put in a dimensional pocket on earth. Over time, geology and the spacetime bending-force of the black hole/hyperdrive caused the Island to overgrow the extraterrestrial technology, to the point where you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. I originally thought the Orchid would be the stardrive and the Swan would be a regulator for its power. The Orchid would have been designed to push the spaceship thru time and space. Early Islanders (or crash survivors?) would discover the damaged Orchid chamber and rig a primitive workaround interface from available materials, the Wheel, to try to reactivate it.

Ben and Christian and Widmore speak about moving the Island somoewhat matter-of-factly, as a last resort defense against outsiders. So, we can assume that in the Island's history, turning the wheel moved the Island safely thru space, without jumping thru time. The chaotic power of the Orchid was regulated to do that. However, when Ben turns the wheel, what about the Island is different? The Swan. Its energies have been completely released in the detonation of hatch. Without the Swan's regulating energies, the Orchid's power when released by Ben affects both space and time, and the time skipping begins. When Locke turns the wheel, he is in a time before the loss of the Swan's energies, so the wheel turns as it should and the Island is returned to a fixed point in space time.

I'm a little less happy with the idea of the energies of the Orchid and Swan working in tandem by design since Jughead showed up on the scene. It seems like the concrete block in the Swan must be Jughead's resting place. And that notion makes me want to say that Jughead is the Island-tainting cause of the Swan's weird EM phenomenon, which would mean that there were no Swan energies before Jughead was buried there in the 50s.

Of course, that doesn't have to be the case. The site could have been home to an Island-natural/spaceship-tech spike or weirdness in the EM field, and that weirdness and the radiation from the damaged Jughead could have interacted with each other to produce even greater weirdness, with unexpected effects on the Orchid phenom and Island-moving.

Or... I could get a life. Y'know, whichever.

Also... Doesn't that crate that the Shadow Pact is hauling around look vaguely... coffin-sized? Or could we say... Sarcophagus-scaled? Anyone up for resurrecting an Island leader, or offering up a vessel to a lost/fallen/dormant maverick Egyptian demi-god? Or something?

Alien mummy?

Right. Shutting up...

Now.

Keep on keepin on~

a snapshot from IFFB 2009...

Actor Kevin Corrigan and writer/director Robert Siegel help raise wrist awareness!


Siegel penned the story to Aronofsky's THE WRESTLER (which I loved and everyone should see) and wrote and directed tonight's IFFB flick, BIG FAN, starring Patton Oswalt and Corrigan. Corrigan is one of my favorite indie actors, who won a special place in my entertainment-consuming heart with a one-time role on FREAKS AND GEEKS. Every time I saw him in the movies, it was, "Hey, it's that guy from that FREAKS AND GEEKS episode who makes the fake IDs!" Later it would be, "Hey, it's that guy that Mark Ruffalo is the bizzaro version of!" Even in the most passing of supporting roles, he always contributes to the story- and world-building experience of a film. I really like what he brings to his characters, y'know, a certain, gruff, no-nonsense, "I'm TALKin' here" I-don't-know-what. A little Joey Pants, a little Robert DeNiro, maybe a dash of Nicholson. Me being the fanboy that I am, I had trouble actually putting my appreciation for the talents of these filmmakers into a sequence of words that made coherent sense, but I can only hope that given the plot and characters of the film we had just watched—a devoted superfan comes face-to-face with one of his idols, with less than fantasy-fulfilling results—Corrigan and Siegel understood that. Thank Colbert, tho, cuz even though I had difficulty putting sentences together, by offering them the Wriststrong bracelets I'd brought for them, I managed to create at least an outline of an exchange that led to the photographic evidence above.

If you're in Bostonia this weekend, check out the Independent Film Festival of Boston! Lotsa good crack up on those screens!

Keep on keepin on~

LOST:Dude, that guy is a total douche...That douche is my dad.

_______________________________
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

I really like the Hurley-Miles dynamic. Their Abbot and Costello banter about time travel kinda disarmed me, which let Hurley's thoughtful father-son discussion and insight totally blindside me. I really enjoyed that. Sometimes when I watch this show, I'm too intent on anticipating a next move or revelation, "getting" it as soon as two characters are put together, y'know?

But this was a really sweet and thoughtful surprise. Even better, it brought STAR WARS to LOST. Y'know, beyond Sawyer's nicknaming. =)

Miles gets sick of Hurley trying to play therapist to himself and his father and in what is genuinely just a rash slap in the face to Hurley grabs his "journal" and begins reading aloud from it. We find out that this isn't a diary of any kind, but rather Hurley's transcribing of STAR WARS: EPISODE 5...

HURLEY: I'm writing EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
MILES: Uh... I'm sorry. What?
HURLEY: It's 1977, right? So STAR WARS just came out. And pretty soon, George Lucas is gonna be looking for a sequel. I've seen EMPIRE, like, 200 times, so I figured I'd make life easier and send him the script... with a couple of improvements.
MILES: That's gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
HURLEY: Oh, yeah? Well, at least I'm not scared of talking to my own dad.

For me, the hardest parts of this notion to swallow are that Hurley needed to ask how to spell "bounty hunter" and that the writers couldn't work in the line "I've made a lot of special modifications myself" for Hurley.

Also, I TOTALLY need to hear Hurley's improvements!

Okay, yeah, so Miles lashes out by exposing Hurley's nutty plan. But later, Hurley apologizes for telling Miles that he's scared to talk to his dad. Hurley explains how things went with his own estranged father and Miles softens a bit and explains how his situation is different, and in response, Hurley brings it full circle beautifully...

MILES: My dad didn't leave when I was 10. I was a baby. I never knew him, and I don't want to. It's not happening.
HURLEY: That was Luke's attitude, too.
MILES: What?
HURLEY: In EMPIRE, Luke found out Vader was his father, but instead of putting away his lightsaber and talking about it, he overreacted and got his hand cut off. I mean, they worked it out eventually, but at what cost? Another Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlacc, and we got the Ewoks. It all could've been avoided if they'd just, you know, communicated. And let's face it. The Ewoks sucked, dude.

Too much fun!

In my old age, I hafta agree that the Ewoks were something of a cop-out, but I can't go as far as saying they sucked. The STAR WARS lore that I've assimilated in my years as a wannabe nerd and fanboy tells me that Lucas originally outlined the RETURN OF THE JEDI finale to take place on the Wookie homeworld. For whatever reasons (effects tech? casting? did he have kids then?), he ended up cutting the Wookies in half and naming them sideways. Wook-E became E-Wok, see? And y'know, the Ewoks vs. Empire match-up was a young crowd pleaser AND a grand parable about the power of living in harmony with nature and the pitfalls of reliance on technology (please watch SPACED for a more eloquent and entertaining presentation of this observation). Of course, 20-some years later, Lucas was finally able to produce that finale in REVENGE OF THE SITH, when the Clone Wars reach Kashyyyk.

Anyhow... Hurley and EMPIRE seem to have gotten to Miles, and, OK, it's a little hokey, but my head and heart were in just the right place to buy it...

PIERRE: Miles, I need you.
MILES: You do?

I do hope he gets some good quality time with his father before he and the other Losties get slingshot back to the future. I'm concerned, however, that changing his own diaper might be the cause of the EM Incident at the Swan. =)

Did Miles ever get to see his deceased mother?

_______________________________
RETURN OF THE JEDI

Miles dries Pierre to meet the newly arrived sub, loaded w scientists from ANN ARBOR (I totally didn't hear that when Radzinsky mentioned it a couple episodes back), and the episode ends with the return of one of my faves...

MILES: Dan!
FARADAY: Hey, Miles. Long time, no see.

Geez, how many different LOSTy ways can we interpret that simple phrase now? "Long time, no see." =)

I gotta say, I've totally misread the vague references to Faraday's status in the 70s. I assumed that he went the way of the weird crackpot uncle scientist, the "creepy old man" that Charlotte describes, and was probably living the secluded life in some corner of the DI, mucking about with DI science fun and occasionally spending too much time watching little Charlotte on the swing set.

However, it looks like sometime after 1974, Daniel got his poop together, sold himself to Horace as a scientist, proved himself as such, and took the sub off-Island to consult and join the DI brain trust on the outside. I suspect that he may have had some contact with Widmore on the outside as well, and would love to find out that he revealed some practical 21st century tech to him that would end up securing Widmore Industries its success and wealth for the next thirty years. I wonder if he had the chance to visit with Eloise as well?

Anyhow, he's back! In time to investigate the weirdness (Alvarez, dead by tooth-thru-brain) at the Swan, perhaps in time to set up the experiment or tinkering in the Swan that leads to the Incident, which was not an accident, but designed by Daniel to send all the Losties back to the future/present-day. At first I thought that it couldn't happen this soon, that Radzinsky's model building meant that ground had yet to be broken on the Swan. However, we get to see Hurley watch as a DI minion stamps the Numbers onto the hatch frame, which implies that the Swan has been excavated beneath it, right?

But... We still have to see Faraday work (sneak?) his way onto the construction team fo the Orchid, where we saw him in the season premiere. Hrmmm... Maybe he needs to exploit both the Swan and the Orchid to successfully time jump everyone. Or "tune" the Orchid from the Swan and then turn the wheel...?

Jughead. Encased in concrete at the site of the Swan. I like the idea that the Island transmogrified this leaking atomic bomb into a monstrous EM anomaly. Like the way the earth of Narnia absorbed that chunk of London steel the Witch brought with her and turned it into the Lamppost. =)

Is it just me, or don't you want to see Jeremy Davies and Neil Patrick Harris go head-to-head on some TV show, movie, or—dare I dream?—musical?

Also, remind me to tell you about the black hole theory I've got that Jim reminded me of earlier this week.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: You owe me a fish taco.

_______________________________
The story of Miles

A really great Miles episode. Maybe a little pat, but in ways I didn't see coming. *And* STAR WARS! =)

Miles Strohm was born Miles Chang, son of Pierre Chang of the DI. Miles never knew his father. His mother only ever told him that he abandoned them when he was a baby and that he's now dead, and has been for a long time. When Miles asks where his body is, his mother tells him.

Mom Strohm: Somewhere you can never go.

Doesn't this sound/feel familiar? Charlotte's deathbed recollection of her childhood on the Island, of her father working on the Island, of her mother taking her off the Island and telling her it wasn't real. Charlotte's mother threw up static every time she tried to talk about her father or the Island. I wonder if there was a model cover story given to parents who left the DI with their children. Maybe the DI saw the danger, or a danger, coming, and families made decisions about saving children.

Charlotte didn't seem nearly old enough compared to Miles to be 7-ish in 1977 while baby miles was still basically zero. I suppose she might have had a really good skin care regimen...?

Miles discovers his ability to read the dead as a child. His power seems to work best/most cleanly/clearly when he's near the body. We HAVE seen him work his mojo in the home of the deceased, but it seems like the dead boy's mother experienced something that clued her, and Miles, in to the notion that his spirit was lingering in his bedroom.

As a child, he seems unable to ignore or block the voices of the dead, but as he grows, he learns to, or at least learns to cope. The piercings make sense in a subculture way, but also in an experiential way. Imagine not being able to shut off the voices of the dead.

As an adult, he makes a living off of his ability, connecting the living with the dead, as a medium and a cleaner (at least, that's what we've seen so far). The job he takes for Mr. Gray seems like it could be a throwaway, another example of how much of a schmuck he could be, faking a reading of Mr. Gray's dead son and charging him double for it (altho if Miles ever felt he needed to defend his actions, he might rationalize it as giving the man closure and peace of mind). I hafta say I was blindsided by the follow-thru. He drops in on Mr. Gray before heading out on the freighter and returns the money, admitting that he faked it. This isn't a change of heart, tho. It's about Miles dealing with the father who abandoned him.

Miles: If you needed your son to know that you loved him, you should've told him when he was still alive.

I really like that.

But, whoa. Back up. Between the two visits with Mr. Gray, we get to witness Naomi's recruiting of Miles, as well as a counteroffer by the competition.

Naomi takes Miles to read a body, for his audition.

Miles: Name's Felix. He was on his way to deliver something to... a guy named... Widmore.
Naomi: Deliver what?
Miles: A bunch of papers, photos, pictures... of... [whispering continues] empty graves. A purchase order... for an old airplane.

Have we met Felix? Or heard his name before? Sounds like this guy was carrying the photos and papers that Tom shows to Michael, to help convince him that Widmore's the bad guy. Of course, it's still ambiguous who is actually responsible for the fake 815. Felix might have been investigating the fake FOR Widmore and tracked down the graves and the plane purchase order implicating Ben. Felix gets wacked by Ben's people before he can deliver the proof, which finds its way into Tom's hands, altered and spun to suit the Others' needs. OR—and this does sound a bit thin—Felix might've been Widmore's accountant, and conscientiously keeping track of all his records.

I'm gonna go with Widmore being not guilty of the 815 set-up. Which brings us to "the competition."

After accepting the $1.6 million offer to go Ben-hunting on the Island, Miles is abducted by a van full of Shadow agents. They ask him to reconsider, to change sides. They're talking the talk of True Believers, not mercenaries...

Bram: Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue? Then you're not ready to go to that Island.

I was wrong about the shadow question being DI-like. It works the same way as the snowman question, but it comes from some level of faith or religious/cultish experience, not just the logic of a passcode.

Miles says that he'll do it for double Widmore's pay. The Shadow guys (the guy riding shotgun is Alanna's lieutenant on the present-day Island) dump him and tell him that he's working for the wrong side.

Bram: You're playing for the wrong team.
Miles: Yeah? What team are you on?
Bram: The one that's gonna win.

_______________________________
The Shadow Pact

Now I'm thinking that THESE guys, these Shadow agents, are the ones who faked 815. I'm also thinking that they are the other team in the war that Widmore warns Locke about in Tunisia.

When Miles does get to the Island, he negotiates some alone-time with Ben in New Otherton. He then tells Ben that he'll keep his mouth shut for $3.2 million, the same number he gave Bram. I don't remember Ben giving away any clue that he recognized that figure, so assuming Ben was genuine in his apparent surprise (I know, when is he ever genuine? but work with me here), whether he knows it or not, Miles has figured out that Ben isn't behind the Shadow agents.

In fact, I'm hoping/looking forward to seeing the three Island leaders (the Jacob appointees Widmore, Linus, and Locke) all team up to fight off these other Others. Even if they're all in the wrong. I can quickly imagine this being a struggle between native Islanders and Blackrock Islanders, similar to Native Americans and early North American European colonists. The natives, and their god-prophet, help them survive, only to have the newcomers betray them (perhaps with the help of a native turncoat named Richard?), and in a massacre or war, seize all that was theirs for ages, unseat or replace their god-prophet, and take over the Island, nearly exterminating the natives and their culture. Now, the natives, or their descendents, scattered off Island, are mobilizing to retake their ancestral home. Something in Widmore's expression or manner when he tells Locke about the coming war, and how "the wrong side will win," gave me the impression that he might be referring to history. So, I'm wondering if the Shadow pact might be in this to change history, or at least, the history of the Island, and prevent the Blackrockers from destroying their ancestors.

And y'know what? I think that if that's how it plays out, Locke will be a pivotal player and make a decision to save the culture of the natives and oust the Blackrockers and any outsiders.

Yes, it may be crazy talk. I *LIKE* crazy talk! I *LOVE* that this show inspires it. =)

_______________________________

Will blog more on Miles's story before the next episode. There's a lot of good crack in here. Frack, I didn't even get to the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK goodness! =)

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: What lies in the shadow of the statue?

Gonna just rattle off what comes to mind as I think of last week's episode (Ben gets judged), before I watch this week's.

I think that Alanna's "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" is a prompt like "What did one snowman say to the other?" y'know? So that these agents can identify one another without ever having met one another before. I want to say that she's one of Widmore's people. I had this theory that Widmore's been keeping tabs on the Sixers' travel plans and habits. And if it wasn't enough to see that Hurley bought 70-some seats on a plane to Guam, seeing that Jack, Kate, and Sun had also would be a sure tell that that plane was heading somewhere special. So, once that flag got raised, he mobilized his agents, under appropriate cover stories, to get on that plane separately, and once on the Island act together to put some plan into motion.

Well, that's my original theory. But y'know, anyone w the resources could do that tracking, right? So, what if someone else (or maybe someone else ALSO) put their agents on Ajira 316? But who would be motivated? How about some incarnation of the original DI? We've seen this sign-countersign thing only once before, with Kelvin, who was a Dharma agent in the Swan. It might be a little thin, but I think the "shadow of the statue" question tells me that these are neo-DI agents, and the only goal I can think of for them would be to take the Island back for Dharma. Establish a foothold for follow-up forces, purge the looking glass and get it back up and running, or maybe activate some kind of failsafe/doomsday device that the DI had set up but never used?

I asked myself why the Sixers wouldn't PACK properly for the Island this time. Looks like Widmore or DI are much better planners than our Losties, including a crate of weapons and who-knows-what supplies in the cargo of Ajira 316.

So, Alanna and company might be Widmore's people. However, Alanna's password/counterpassword makes me think they might be DI legacy people. Which also makes me think that they might be one and the same. Which gives the idea that Widmore is at least in part behind DI in the first place.

A longshot. That these are off-Island Others.

Ben's little exchange w Alanna's crew seemed pretty superfluous, polite enough, almost small talky. It's a stretch, but he MIGHT have been checking up on their progress. I don't buy it, but I'm just saying. I think what it really shows us is that this new team of mercenaries or whatever are not interested in Ben. Also, Ben seems to know that something is up, but doesn't judge it to be worth messing with at this point.

Alanna and her boys will get their supplies and themselves over to the big Island on the two canoes. Then Sawyer and company will time flash in and take one of the canoes so that they can reach the Orchid by sea. Alanna and her boys will pursue them in the other canoe and start taking shots at them. Then Sawyer and co will time flash away.

* April 20, 2009. More on the Shadow agents here.

I hafta say, I was WAY disappointed that Charles was exiled from the Island via sub, and not turning the donkey wheel. And it's hard to see exactly how Ben "tricked" him into it. I prefer my idea, of Ben convincing Charles that they would have to move the Island to protect it from any DI reprisals to the Purge, that the Island needed it to happen, and that as leader, it would have to be Charles who turned the wheel. That way, Charles is exiled, discovers the Exit first hand, and begins/continues his life on the outside searching for a way back.

Of course, we're still left with some extra parts with that scenario, like the DI pallet drops for the Swan, which kind of mucks with any explanation of the Island being moved between the Purge (around 1988) and 2004...

Anyhow, not to be. What actually happened was that Charles was banished by some executive decision, for having lived a life in the outside world, even having a child, Penelope, with an outsider.

That's kind of a fun twofer right there. We find out that Charles has been living on the outside (already starting to build his fortune, and lending his money and specialized knowledge to DI, perhaps?), and also that he's been fooling around on Eloise, which goes toward explaining their present day estrangement. So, Penny's his daughter with an outsider, and Daniel is Eloise's son with...?

The Truce was negotiated under King Charles's rule. Charles had contact with outsiders in the 50s (granted, he killed a bunch of them, but maybe not all). Charles has been engaging in extracurriculars off-Island. He could easily be funding/helping/manipulating the DI in the 70s, playing Island faithful to his people, but also playing opportunistic industrialist on the outside.

When did/does Eloise's ability kick in? Did she know that Charles would mess around with an outsider?

Seeing little Ethan next to Ben was kind of fun, but still annoying. Would've been not-annoying if there had been even the slightest clue that they grew up together, and/or that DI children were spared in the Purge. Maybe the show will fill in the gaps later, but I can see it never being addressed, too.

I wonder now that Alpert's "he'll lose his innocence" or whatever warning was just b.s. Ben seems just the same as he was before he was shot. He's okay with killing people, but not needlessly, and not babies. So much so that even as an adult, he stays his vengeful hand when he spots wee Charlie on the boat behind Penny.

Poor Ben.

How f'd up is it that this show can get me to laugh when little Ben gets shot, but makes me just a little bit sad for him when he gets beat on by Desmond?

Just a little bit.

Ben tells Sun to find Desmond and tell him that he's sorry. Why? The immediate/obvious reason would be his shooting Desmond (thru a bag of groceries that shielded him?) and holding a gun on his wife in front of his kid. I don't know that I can connect any other dots between Ben and Desmond just now. Maybe Ben's done something that is going to send Desmond back to the Island, and he didn't know he was going to separate him from his child?

Who had Ben's cabin in New Otherton when it was still Dharmaville? The Hostiles allowed the DI to set up their village on top of a well that connects to the Monster's tunnels and the Temple subbasement? How does that make sense? Well, maybe if someone in the Hostiles arranged for it, like Charles? I'd guess that only the leader and Alpert would know about the Monster signal chamber, so they must have both known about it, and SOMEone in the DI would know, too. Horace? He DID appear to Locke in that looping vision of him building Jacob's cabin.

It occured to me a couple episodes back that Widmore could have had knowledge of the presence of Miles and Faraday among the DI in the 70s. He chose them to be his agents in 2004 knowing that they'd go back in time (after encountering Locke in the 50s, he's no stranger to the idea). Of course, their Island pedigrees (Dr. Candle-Chang, Eloise Hawking), would ensure their place on the freighter team, but this time travel potential might have been cause for special instructions. In fact, they may have had contingency instructions covering this situation, and are on little missions of their own. Well, Miles, at least. Faraday's likely obsessed with beating deterministic time travel or whatever you want to call it.

Killing Caesar seems like a waste. I hope he survives, altho I hope it's not Island-miraculously, but rather something like Faraday's journal in his satchel taking the brunt of the actual buckshot of the blast. If he IS dead, I guess the Island can use him, but since we didn't discover any connections to the Island or other Losties while he was alive, it doesn't seem likely.

Where is Alpert in 2008? What have the Others been doing since 2004? Leaderless, after Locke is time flashed away when Ben turns the wheel. New Otherton abandoned. Told to go to the Temple by Ben, "the last safe place on the Island," did they remain there?

Who are the Other-ish connections that Ben uses in the outside world? Widmore, exiled, has to hire his help, but Ben has an established network already in place. Would they be allowed to help an exiled leader like Ben?

How did the U.S. military make it onto the Island without help in the 50s? Accident? Why didn't they return? Because the Island was moved sometime after Jughead?

Eloise is on the Island when Ben is saved by Alpert at the Temple. Alpert's escorts mention Eloise and Charles when Richard takes Ben from Sawyer.

Is Eloise on the Island when Charles is exiled?

Ben's actual judgement scene was pretty anticlimactic. The hieroglyphics/carving in the wall above the Monster pen seems to show the Monster (with a face?) hanging out with Anubis. Significance?

Alex is pissed at Ben for letting her die and tells him that he must listen to Locke, follow his every order.

Since Alex IS dead, does that make Widmore correct? The Island wanted her dead back then, as a baby?

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. What DOES lie in the shadow of the statue? Darkness? The Monster? A lying liar? Benjamin Linus? Jacob? Pigeon poop? Poseidon? The lighthouse?

tweenbots!

Many mercis to Paris Jen for the ridiculously robo-cute headzup! =)

Keep on tweenin on~

LOST: If I take him, he's not ever gonna be the same again.

_______________________________
Ben goes to the Dark Side

For the most part, I like the way the show went with "saving" Ben. Sort of a deus ex machina, but since it involves the Temple, and, I'm assuming, the Smoke Monster, I'll allow it. It's kind of disappointing that it wipes his memory, but I suppose that's a smart device, and allows for how big Ben would let himself get beaten up repeatedly by these people he knows tried to kill him as a kid. It's also a chunk more disappointing because it seems to mean that the "bad" in Ben isn't really Ben at all. It's something that has been implanted within him. Kind of ruins the accountability/responsibility thing in a metaphysical way, y'know? It immediately had me imagining an Anakin/Darth Vader scenario, in which someone (Locke?) tries to save Ben's soul by exorcising the piece of Smoke Monster that's in him.

Jin does find little Ben's body and the Others do have a hand in saving Ben, but of course it's not quite how I imagined it (see earlier post)... I like it some, I dislike it some. We see Richard carry little Ben to the Temple, the home of the BSM, perhaps for a revitalizing black smoke enema? It's a bit of a jump, but I take this to mean that somehow, it's the Smoke Monster that saves him. I envision it being kind of like Carnage, the spawn of Spider-Man's alien symbiote costume. It's a piece, or child, of the original, and bonded to its host it makes him strong, and at the same time changes him, influences his darker thoughts and behavior. Or maybe something like Eclipso's black diamond, whose shards give a user power, but turn him into another Eclipso, corrupting his character.

Kate: Because we need you to save his life. Can you?
Alpert: If I take him, he's not ever gonna be the same again.
Kate: What do you mean by that?
Alpert: What I mean is that he'll forget this ever happened and... his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. You still want me to take him?
Kate: Yes.

This is really interesting. Is THIS how one becomes a real and true Hostile/Other/Islander? Entering the temple and... I dunno... taking a kind of communion with the smoke monster? Letting some of it inside of you?

Like a vampire! That's probably a good metaphor/model for it. You're sort of yourself, with your wits about you, but, y'know, dark, with better hair, and irresistible to adolescent girls.

See, that's kind of cool. I like that this could be a clue to what makes Others Others.

But... When it comes to Ben in particular, I find this metaphysically disappointing... aggravating... Ben's grown to become someone I enjoy hating. Everything he does serves some nefarious purpose, and each word he utters and each person he manipulates is testimony to the darkness of the black hole of his soul.

Or at least that used to be the case...

Now, it seems that the Ben we met, the Henry Gale caught in Rousseau's net, is not really Ben at all. In an Obi-Wan-talking-about-Vader way, Ben really and truly *did* die as little Ben, aged 10 or so, shot by Sayid and carried into the Temple. What comes out of the Temple is a new and different Ben, if not a host or vessel to the smoke monster, then definitely tainted by it. This is Ben losing himself and crossing over to the Dark Side. This is Ben, the real Ben, not being responsible for all the evil $hit he's done in his life. Instead, it's this dark Ben, an aspect of the smoke monster, using Ben's form and Ben's gift, his remarkable ability to plan and maneuver and manipulate people, to accomplish some dark goal or goals...

I can imagine a scenario evolving over future episodes that would resemble Luke's struggle to save Anakin Skywalker's soul. Big Ben might be one step away from... controlling all of time and space, and changing it to erase certain people or events from existence, but someone, his dead/reanimated mother?, along with the Losties, will appeal to his 10-year old self to fight it, and at the eleventh hour, little Ben will prevail, and throw himself at the smoke monster, sending them both down the Orchid shaft and ultimately into the wheel chamber, where the smoke monster will be ripped apart and Ben will be scattered across time, becoming the mysterious Jacob, who's always been on the Island...

...or something.

I also really enjoy the idea that big Ben remembers all the $hit that these time traveling jerkwads put him thru as little Ben, and visits all kinds of suffering upon them in 2004 and on, without once giving up that he already knew them, hated (or crushed on) them, and knew that he wouldn't be able to kill, but could mess with them as much as he wanted, putting them in cages, banging a romantic triangle into a quadrangle, and even enlisting the one he hates or admires most as his agent and assassin. It doesn't all make sense, but I have faith that it could be made to make a kind of Ben-sense, y'know?

Or at least, I did...

Alas, this visit to the Temple erases that notion. Literally, wipes it from Ben's mind. Pretty frickin vague, tho, donchathink?

RA: What I mean is that he'll forget this ever happened and... his innocence will be gone.

How much do you suppose "this" in "he'll forget this ever happened" covers? He won't remember... being shot by Sayid? Scheming and freeing Sayid from DI jail? Being carried into the rainforest by Sawyer? I suppose we'll find out soon enough. All of the DI knows that Ben had a bullet in him, tho, so he'll have a scar, right? How will he be returned to the DI? Will LaFleur come clean? That he took Ben to the Hostiles, left him w Alpert, and trusted him to save the boy (without giving up any details about memory loss). The smokey amnesia can be attributed to shock, but how much will it cover/cover up?

_______________________________
The trouble with Kate

LOST doesn't quite seem to know what to do with Kate. She's best when she's useful, I think. Y'know, when her zany fugitive skills are brought to bear on a crisis situation, y'know?

Speaking of... how the heck does she pick up the talent for tracking anyone in a frickin rainforest, but doesn't know how to even fake working in the DI motor pool? She can't step up and flip a winch lever? WTF?

She's also effective as the femme fatale/damsel in distress for Sawyer and Jack. I've gotta give her that. But when she makes decisions in regard to the Island and Island drama, I don't know... She just seems kind of weak to me. Not inconsistent, really, but,... weak.

I hated the way this episode kept hitting us over the head with her parent/guardian/caretaker issues. Projection scenarios are forced on Kate in 1977, with Roger trying to be a good father to Ben ("I guess a boy needs his mother." *bonk*), and also in 2005ish, with Cass offering her armchair psych evaulation of the underlying nature of Kate's relationship with Aaron. Namely that Aaron helped Kate get over Sawyer.

And was it not super creepy how Roger was so obviously into her, and how she seemed so OK with that? Frickin gross!

I was SO pleased to see Kate and Aaron finally meet Cass and Clementine! I was SO disappointed that neither of them seemed to understand that their loopy interconnection, thru one degree, directly with each other, and then thru two degrees, thru Sawyer, is a pretty odds-defying thing. Kate's always been a pretty secular Lostie when it comes to Island weirdness. A nonbeliever. I really wanted her to acknowledge the possibility of fate over coincidence when it came to knowing both Cass and Sawyer, but no. Not happening. Bleah.

I think it's sad that Cass has got Sawyer so wrong when it comes to Clementine. In the Sawyer-in-prison episode, we find out that Sawyer's socking away some big bucks in an account for her in some bank in New Mexico. We don't get any details on how/when the money will get to Clementine, but it's sure to be a decent golden nest egg. I *thought* that would be where the money would come from, but I guess Sawyer didn't have enough time to whisper account numbers to Kate in the chopper. Foo. Cass is just SO certain (or at least, this is how she plays it with Kate) that Sawyer's a no-goodnik who turned his back on her and their daughter.

How do we think Cass gets by nowadays? Still running cons?

I do actually like Kate's response to Claire's mom when she asks where she's going (that she has to leave Aaron behind)...

Mrs. L: Where are you going?
Kate: I'm going back to find your daughter.

Is Claire actually alive? Is she reanimated? Possessed? I think she's alive the way Christian is alive. I've still got Desmond's flash rattling around my rusty innards. He told Charlie that he saw him push that button in the Looking Glass and then saw Claire step onto a helicopter with baby Aaron. Will that still somehow happen, or is that no longer a possible future?

Kate's a universal donor. Some of her blood is in Ben!

_______________________________
Abbot and Costello do time travel

Miles: What the hell are you doing, tubby?
Hurley: Checking to see if I'm disappearing.
Miles: What?
Hurley: BACK TO THE FUTURE, man.

Brilliant! I hafta say, the five minutes or so following that initial happiness was a bit aggravating. It was time that could've been spent on other/Other important things, y'knokw? But I have to say that the way it ends, with the apparently clueless Hurley stumping Miles, was very satisfying.

I also realize at a meta-level that this conversation probably (ha!) HAD to happen. Since for whatever reason the writers are still keeping Faraday out of the picture, having Hurley and Miles explain away some of the audience's time travel headaches using this "Who's on first?" meets time travel routine is effective and entertaining. A spoonful of sugar.

And in the back and forth, Miles says something that rings to me like the writers telegraphing a punch...

Miles: I can die... Any of us can die, because this is our present.

And y'know, Hurley actually puts a point on things, which the show doesn't often do, with his question about little Ben's 1977 experiences and big Ben's 2004 behavior.

Hurley: But when we first captured Ben, and Sayid, like, tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?
Miles: Huh... Hadn't thought of that.
Hurley: Huh.

It's almost disappointing that the show has to spell it out like that, but delivered by Hurley, in his "dude, what about this?" way, it's a treat.

I love Miles's exit line...

Miles: Hey, ask me more questions about time travel.

_______________________________
State of the Hostiles

In a very short exchange with one of his Hostile lieutenants, Alpert reveals a bit about the power structure in Hostile society in the 70s...

Hostile: You shouldn't do this with out asking Ellie. If Charles finds out...
Alpert: Let him find out. I don't answer to either of them.

So, it's King Charles and Queen Ellie! And Richard, the outside consultant? Interesting. It seems like Richard is unhappy with the way Charles and Eloise are running things. It seems like a total 180 given the young Charles we met back in Jughead times, but perhaps the truce is Charles's idea? Maybe he developed a philosophy about coexistence with outsiders that Richard doesn't buy into... anymore?

He does give little Ben a very thoughtful look before taking him into the shadows of the Temple. Pinning his hopes for a new leader on the boy?

Or maybe Charles and Eloise are playing both sides? Investing in the DI in the outside world while at the same time leading the Hostiles...?

I like that.

_______________________________
... and the rest

I like that Sawyer picks up on little Ben's and RA's history...

Alpert: Is that Benjamin Linus.
Sawyer: You two know each other?

The spineless spinal surgeon continues to be a general dork. Maybe this is how his withdrawal from whatever oxycodone-y drugs he was on manifests itself? However, he does get an insightful moment of clarity...

Jack: When we were here before I spent all of my time trying to fix things, but did you ever think that maybe the Island just wants to fix things itself, and maybe I was just... getting in the way.

I really loved the way Sawyer pegged him as a leader who only reacted to things, without thinking. I think it's funny, and good, that Kate pegged him as the opposite this episode. She said something about missing the old Jack, who wouldn't wait around for something to happen. Totally inconsistent evaluations, but each true from their respective POVs. I'd say Kate's POV is wrong, tho. Heh. =)

Still ultracreeped out by the idea of Kate being so OK with Roger being into her. Bleah. He probably reminds her of her dad.

A kinda grody-goosey Claire knock-off finds Aaron in the supermarket... I dunno. Just weird. I guess that was supposed to be a fateful guilt-inducing sign, a coincidence that would crystalize her motivation for returning to the Island—for the sakes of Claire and Aaron. Still... weird.

For an episode I didn't love (sorry, Kate), it did feature a couple of satisfying "Why?"s...

There's the why-not-kill-baby-Hitler? thing...

Kate: Hey, why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?
Sawyer: When I found out Ben was gone, Juliet told me what you were up to, I asked that exact damn question, "Why are you helping Ben?" And she said, "No matter what he's gonna grow up to be, it's wrong to let a kid die." So, that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing it for her. (puppy dog eyes)

Alas, coupled with a strong commitment to Juliet.

And then there's Jack's reason for coming back. Of course, it's kinda no-accountability lame, but at least it seems honest...

Juliet: We didn't need saving. We've been fine for three years. You came back here for you. At least do me the courtesy of telling me why.
Jack: I came back because I was supposed to.
Juliet: Supposed to do what?
Jack: I don't know yet.
Juliet: Well, you better figure it out.

Keep on keepin on~

IFFB 2009!

Film descriptions are up. Downloadable schedule available. Tickets on sale at venues soon. I've already bought my film pass. =)

Independent Film Festival of Boston

Opening night film at Somerville Theater is BROTHERS BLOOM directed by BRICK (rent that awesome sucka!) director Rian Johnson...

THE BROTHERS BLOOM
scr.1: 7:30pm - Wed. Apr.22nd - S1
Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo play a fraternal pair of renowned grifters who concoct the ultimate con involving a bored, eccentric, New Jersey heiress named Penelope (Rachel Weisz) Directed by Rian Johnson (BRICK).

Keep on keepin on~

musical fun!

Thanks to JT and In for do-re-mi-ing this my way! =)

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. Found some more info on the event...

LOST: Faradays to be cool...

Take a closer look at some of the most important notes in Faraday's journal...

LOST: Faradaze from cabin boy on Vimeo.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: what now?

_______________________________
Ben is dead! Long live Ben! (bleah)

Although I'd love it if Obi-Wan Faraday is the one to find perforated Ben, I have a feeling that a path of less resistance might be followed...

Jin will regain consciousness, discover bullet-holey Ben, call LaFleur to explain. LaFleur will tell Jin to bring Ben somewhere safe/remote, where he and the rest of the gang will meet him. Jack will have to perform surgery to remove the bullet. Perhaps Juliet will assist, sparking up the old high school romance fireworks? Sawyer will get a chance to see them in action and have those old second thoughts that Ben enjoyed playing on, "Why would any girl choose you over the doctor?" Which could turn him to despair, or his sights back on Kate, or maybe get the gears turning for ways to screw over the doc. Altho, man, you already made him a janitor! =)

The surgery would be a LOSTy bit of vu-ja-de, remini-prescient of Jack's operating on Ben's spine in 2004. It'll be touch and go, but thanks to the power and will of the Island, Ben will miraculously heal up just fine.

Maybe we'll see young Ben crush hard on Juliet. Heh, a CPR scenario?

Sayid's attempt to pre-emptively end Ben's future horrors will have only served to create the very monster who will inflict them. A mixed-up, unhappy, 10-year old kid, shot and killed by a man he was helping, whom he saw as his salvation, comes back to life to overhear that he's destined to lead the Hostiles, returns home to play punching bag to his dad, bides his time, hones his already developing knack for plans and manipulation, and grows up to be the man who exterminates his father and the DI and cons King Charles into giving up his throne.

_______________________________
King Charles turns the wheel...?

Maybe Sayid will scarper deep enough into the jungle to run into Hostiles/Others. He could definitely speak to Richard about his time traveling, deliver to him more news of the future, about Ben, maybe even about the Purge. Would he get an audience with King Charles? I figure he must be leader of the Hostiles/Others in 1977. Perhaps he and Eloise are an item at this time? I wonder if Penny's been born yet. In 2004, she seems too mature to have been born in the 80s (putting her in her early 20s). In the 80s, at the time of the purge, Ben will have convinced Charles that he has to turn the wheel to move the Island, to ensure that the DI can never attempt to resettle/re-establish the Initiative.

Frack. If Charles moves the Island to keep the DI from ever returning, how the H do the lockdown pallet drops continue thru 2004? Could there be a safe passage in the skies above the Island, from the outside world, at the old, pre-Purge (1950s-70s) site of the Island, to the post-Purge (2004) site? And whatever remains of the DI continues to drop supplies? Could that have been the first pallet drop since the Purge? The same Swan event that pulled 815 out of the sky might have alerted some DI legacy to the Island's new location...?

Blerg. Maybe this is something that the writers will just have to forget about...

That, or I'm off on my theory that Charles turns the wheel as part of the Purge. Bleah.

_______________________________
WAR...?

Remember when Charles explains to Locke why he's helping him round up his friends and get back to the Island...?

Locke: Why would you help me?
Widmore: Because there's a war coming, John. And if you're not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.

What up with that? I was hoping that Widmore was referring to a spacetime-rending history changing paradox, that Locke would have to get back to the Island, AND back in time, to prevent the Nazis from discovering the Island in the 30s and exploiting it to win World War II...

Well, y'know. SOMEthing like that. =) Where Locke and company played an integral part in the secret history of the world and saved it from an Axis of Evil.

Wouldn't it be awesome to see Desmond and Ben and Sawyer and Widmore and Miles and all the ghosts of their dead friends teaming up to take out the frickin Nazis? C'mon, you KNOW it would be awesome! =)

But... It seems a little more likely that that war is going to happen in "present day." It could be on a scale of the Island and its regular players, or on a global scale, as the Island's untapped powers and resources are infinitely valuable, and some of its regular players have international influence.

A war. At least two sides. The winner would be the one to take control of the Island. Widmore is certain it's coming. He's also certain that Locke needs to get back to the Island so that the wrong side (not good or bad) does not win. Abaddon seems convinced. Walt may have had a premonition of a prologue to an opening salvo: Locke, back on the Island, dressed in a suit, surrounded by people who want to hurt him.

Maybe there is a nefarious contingency plan in play. A scorched-earth if-I-can't-have-it-than-nobody-can strategy to destroy or render uninhabitable the Island. Who would trigger such a thing, tho? Ben? Widmore? Another party? Hrmm... Maybe it's an Island doomsday device?

Gotta think/imagine some more on this. Maybe there'll be more to work with this week...?

Keep on keepin on~