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“Ben deals with the consequences of an uncovered lie.” Instead of our regular blog post, this week we posted a “Shortwave Transmission” initial reactions podcast, as Ryan will soon be off the island. We include some calls from the LOSTLine, as well as the latest track from The Others LOST Band. We’re hoping “You All Everybody” can keep the conversation going on the blog. What did you think of “Dr. Linus”? We’d love your comments below!
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John Fischer– Good question about Jin– The last I remember he was in the constructed shelter thingey with Claire and Unlocke… DId he appear somewhere after that?
@ John Fischer
I believe Jin is recovering in Claire’s shelter. We last saw him when Claire was introducing Locke as her “friend.” I think he will reappear when Kate, Sawyer, and the rest of Flocke’s flock come together. Perhaps at the hydra?
Loved this episode except for the last shot…it had a cheesy 80’s James Bond clumsiness.
When Jack & Richard were sitting there waiting for the dynamite to go off, the image I had in my head was not that the fuse would fail, but that it would blow up and leave the two of them sitting on their barrels, buck naked, their faces blackened and their hair sticking out every which way. Think “Looney Tunes”. I think this would have been a more satisfactory result than what we got — which was good, but not particularly funny.
I loved the minor theme hovering throughout the episode and finally back to major at the reunion, at least until the sub. With regards to the podcast, I love the reunions – I’m not tired of them yet, I guess I’m sentimental.
Spoiler: The writers mentioned one hint about the season ending – I’ll write this backwards: owt strap negordyh, eno trap negyxo. They are heading to the Hydra station. The beginning of the end, obviously.
The Black Rock – a bottomless pit of dynamite. When does it ever run out or is there a magic dynamite box? The Black Rock is just an older version of the freighter, with dynamite instead of C4. It’s amazing it hasn’t blown up yet.
If Miles wanted to make money in the mainland, he should just go to a cemetery and see what he uncovers. Gives a new meaning to whistling past the graveyard.
I liked the parallel where Ben said he could never forgive himself for Alex’s death. Back in the temple, Jack said he didn’t even trust himself. So much self flagellation.
The suicide club: Locke, Jack, Charlie, Richard, Michael, who else am I missing?
And how many times has XXX’s gonna die been said on this show?
One more thing – Jack said the cog had his name etched in wood – it looked like magic marker to me, but maybe it’s my non-HD screen.
Anyhoo, Miles and Hurley had funny lines, but I think Jack had the best funny line, more funny because Jack doesn’t do funny.
“Wanna try another stick?”
Hilarious.
Reminds me of the industry mogul in the movie “Contact”.
“Wanna go for a ride?”
Just a thought…..Jacob and MIB cannot kill one another just as Ben and Whidmore cannot kill each other; remember the scene when Ben went to Whidmor’s bedroom? I (from memory, have not checked yet) remember thinking that the scene made no sense at the time. I was also thinking that there are people the smoke monster cannot kill. Remember the episode when Ben was asking forgiveness? The smoke monster went around him and could not kill him. One more thought, I think now that the flash sideways have nothing to do with the plane crash; the flashsideways are the lives they would have had had they not been touched by Jacob. That is the only way Jack could have a son and Ben could be included.
Anyone have any thoughts on my ramblings???
Jacks a man of faith but that doesn’t mean that he was the one that is a canidate Jacob may have got him to the island merely to bring his dads coffin.
Jonathan from Manhattan
Watches lost every week at Professor Tom’s on 2nd and 14th with a two story bar full of his Lost fan friends  Â
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Great episode! Ben always brings it home!
Last week and this week again i was happy, Anytime there is a slowmotion ending with losties choosing sides i’m happy!
I can’t believe that Ben didn’t go with un-Locke!Â
Is ilanna a better actor or is her part written better? Either way she’s become a whole lot hotter!
Thanks for your work, Ryan and Jen this is the best podcast ever!Â
This episode was amazing! Definitely my favorite of the season. I have been waiting for this moment for three years, and it has finally come-the redemption of Ben! I was about to scream when I thought that he was going to go with MIB. Michael Emerson’s performance was absolutely incredible. I think his best one yet, and that’s saying quite a lot! I just loved his off-island story too. I relished seeing him with Leslie Arzt.
I feel like we got a lot of great answers too-things are starting to fall together, and this definitely felt like we’re leading up to the end. I was definitely feeling the nostalgia that Ben referred to in the episode. Can’t believe it’s almost over! If the rest of the season is like this, I’m going to love every second of it.
I also loved Jack in this episode. I think we’ve seen the full transition to “Man of Faith” by our former doubting Thomas. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for his character!
Quite honestly, this may have been my favorite episode of LOST ever. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed 45 minutes of television more. At least in my top five. Of course, I’ve got a serious Ben bias, so whenever he’s at the center of an episode, I’m all for it. The only thing that was “off” to me was the last three minutes. Didn’t really care for the montage-seemed overly cheesy and forced. I get that they were going for the Season 1 feel, but it just didn’t work for me. I also agree with an above poster that the “thud” moment wasn’t as “holy freaking crap” as it could have been. We knew someone was coming to the Island and that it was probably Widmore. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what that’s about.
Anyhoo, love the podcast, and can’t wait until it’s back in full swing next week!
@elizabeth – I keep think about Jacob touching them as well, and Jacob touched Locke after his dad stole his kidney and pushed him out of the window, and after Sayid was happy with Nadia. So that is why I wonder if they are sent back before they were chosen to be candidates.
At first I was thinking the incident changed them by sending them back 1977, (which is why Jack’s appendix burst) but that wouldn’t account for Ben because he had already been dipped in the sacared waters at the temple at that point. So wouldn’t he have already been bad since it was already 1977 for him he couldn’t be sent back there. Confusing.
Also huge waste of Lapidus and Sun this season, I feel sorry for the actors just having a few lines each show yet having to dedicate a year of their of lives to the show.
@steve: right you are, the words on the Lighthouse wheel were written, not etched. See screencap here: http://zhami.posterous.com/names-and-numbers
When I got here this morning, there were 108 comments. I’m just sayin’…
MIB is promising to return dead loved ones, how will he do this? Simple, he will get his group off the island into the sideways universe. All they have to do is kill their counterparts and assume their lives. Jacob’s group will choose to stay on the island to protect the new (or old) timeline. So they are good. MIB’s group will try to steal the lives of the “others” in the sideways world, so they are evil. But will they be able to do it when they see how their counterparts have found the redemption they couldn’t? I think Sayid might sacrifice himself in the end to save the sideways folks, thus the Christ-like pose as he was being pulled from the spring.
I still wonder who it was Ben was having Sayid kill when they left the island. I think it’s people who used the island to change their destinies and Ben was following Jacob’s orders to set time right by removing them from the timeline.
This was, hands down, the best episode of Season 6 so far. Ben is my favorite character (how can anyone not love Michael Emerson for his incredible acting?!) and it was son wonderful to see him redeem himself off-island this time, helping Alex have a better future rather than himself and having more power. Let’s see if he will redeem himself on-island now that he has chosen Jacob’s side rather than unLocke’s side.
Thanks Ryan & Jen for the great podcast! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
Mahalo,
Linda Y. in Los Angeles
This was a very moving episode. Ben redeems himself. This is a huge event in the history of the show. For so long we’ve been tossed this way and that about Ben. It’s gratifying to have the character take a clear position.
MIBLocke revealed some of his motive. He wants to have his man protect the island. So, he admits now that the island is a thing he wishes to protect, though he does not want to do it. Seems to me he wants to acquire the island for his own.
I like this show much more when I watch its narrative develop and I don’t worry the details. Good versus evil, deity fighting deity, deity fighting angel, I don’t care to know more than the show narrates. When it’s over, there will be ample opportunity to evaluate and judge what the writers said and meant. Now, however, is the time to listen carefully and attentively to its story.
LOVED this episode. love ben more than ever before. Cried… twice.
In my opinion, we might as well stop calling them “flash sideways” and start calling them what they are…they are clearly flash forwards. I believe that whichever side (good or evil) that people are choosing on the island…is determining the course of their fate AFTER jughead blows and kills Jacob’s nemesis once and for all in the last episode. As others have said, we are going to understand that the flash sideways have actually been the flash forwards all along because we’ll see Jack get the injury that caused the scar on his neck from the season premiere.
the writers keep blowing me away. this show is incredible.
Awesome episode! So great that I forgot about mythology and got totally wrapped up in the characters. Hurly was hilarious. Jack was unpredictable. Ben was awesome on the island and the flash sideways. The ending scene with Ilana and Ben was so moving. Zuleikha Robinson did an amazing acting job. I love her character now and want to see more!
Some interesting reveals.
Jacob had hope for Ben right up until he stabbed him? The whole time I thought he wanted Ben to kill him.
Also, Lapidus was supposed to be on the original 815 flight!? That explains why Smokey killed the 1st pilot…mistaken identity.
Halfway through the podcast and having to take a break to get ready for a night out, so thought I’d come add some of my thoughts. Not read the rest of the comments yet, but what an episode to be treated with on my birthday! (Yay Lost!).
I cried, I’m so invested in Ben that my relief when he followed Ilana was palpable. I just didn’t want him to go to (what I will presume is) the dark side again.
I thought it was interesting how Ben and Locke mirror one another in terms of wanting to feel special in some way. Locke’s mum managed to hook him by saying how special he was, and we know he’d been watched and tested by Richard. Ben, as a child on the Island, received such poor attention from his dad that he was easily charmed by Richard when they met.
Also thought Ilana’s comment about Jacob being as near to a father to her as it gets was a telling one, especially in the light of the Easter Egg comments above the lighthouse mirror about daddy issues. We’ve joked about daddy issues all through the series. In the flashes sideways we seem to be seeing a world without daddy issues. Jack may not be as close to his father, but is a good father himself (and in the same episode, Jacob tells Hurley to say something to Jack that we know he’d always wanted to hear from his father). Locke is happy to invite his dad to the wedding, Ben is caring for his father instead of gassing him. Back on the Island, Jacob is taking a paternal interest and role. Not sure what it means, but will be watching to see if it continues. It also adds extra weight to the ‘killing of the father’ habit. Again, not sure what that means, but it struck me…
I loved them dropping in ‘The Chosen’ (another of my fave books growing up and about religion and faith). Jack is not only a man of faith now, but is also spreading his message – but even a scientist starts to recognise patterns (ie. the overwhelming return to the Island theme).
In the podcast you guys were talking about what Miles said last season about them always going from the hatch to the beach and back again. How great would it have been if someone had said something about their being only one conclusion and in-between it’s all progress ;p
I really have no idea where it’s all headed, but I love that they can weave in so many themes so deeply while keeping a narrative structure and characters we all love.
Now.. off to listen to the rest of the podcast and then read all these comments.
Jacob touches you and you are a candidate and therefore can’t kill yourself. Michael could not kill himself, so therefore was he touched by Jacob and is he a candidate? If so, is he one of the 6 remaining? Was his name on either of the lists?
The taking of sides is starting to worry me because I have fav’s on both. We have watched Jack & Sawyer fight it out several times, are we going to see them in some sort of gladiator fight? lol
Locke was defiantly a candidate, right? He could not kill himself, he was touched by Jacob or brought back to life by Jacob and he ends up as UnLocke aka MIB?
It seems like the ep’s are getting more and more intense and I think the Kate ep was just to piss us off and “shake our faith” in the writers because since then they have been revealing the living crap out of things. I think each new ep will offer a faster pace, more jaw dropping moments and multiple answers and we will just have our socks blown off week after week!!
Finally, the Lost writers remind me of Rappers. They take classic well known and loved stories, tweak them and make them fresh yet intrigue you and make you go back and re-visit the original masterpiece’s.
@Tori from Syracuse-Yes I am “that” Connie. Oregon is great…we love it here. Thanks.
@Linus-your post about the Looney Tunes made me laugh…that would have been very funny.
@Elizabeth-I too have often wondered about why so many people on the Island are not “allowed” to kill another person…it is very curious. Perhaps the followers of Jacob take a vow not to take another life, but to preserve it? Or Jacob’s “gifts” come with the added bonus of not being able to take another life? I’d like to get my hands on that rule book!
I have always though of Ben as The Great Pretender”, pretending like he was the big man in charge of everything, pretending to know Jacob, pretending that he never killed anyone when we know he killed many. I hope he doesnt’ have a relapse as we barrel toward the finale.
ShannyMac3T0 Says:
March 10th, 2010 at 6:50 am
Jacob touches you and you are a candidate and therefore can’t kill yourself. Michael could not kill himself, so therefore was he touched by Jacob and is he a candidate? If so, is he one of the 6 remaining? Was his name on either of the lists?
———
Micheal is dead, so it doesn’t really matter anymore. But we can assume that is why he was unable to kill himself and could be killed someone or something else.
This has to be my favorite episode of LOST so far, and there are many! My favorite character, malicious, manipulator Benjamin Linus, who had a chance already to fess up to killing Jacob right after the evil deed, gets forgiveness. What an awesome scene in the jungle when he had Ilana lined up in his sights and he stopped to explain. I’ve been waiting for this moment! You could see the death of Alex has been just eating away at him in recent episodes. I half expected him to confess earlier to the murder of Jacob. After all, he did confess to killing Locke. I would have been disappointed, though. The way it all turned out was perfect. Ilana is in so much pain. She says Jacob was the closest thing she had to a father. She has a right to want Ben dead, yet when she sees his anguish at losing Alex, she forgives him. Her soft comment, “I’ll have you” as she turns to walk away. Heartbreaking! And the shot of Ben on the beach when Jack and Hurley show up just caused me to catch my breath. How small and broken he looked, how vulnerable. I can’t wait until next week!
@arbitrary – the mirror at the lighthouse with the backwards writing about daddy issues was a hoax that someone made up.
I was thinking that we have been frustrated by the slow pace after the frantic pace of the past two years. But by telling us the stories this way, we are being made to care about the characters in a different way and feel even more deeply about them. The action will come full speed in the last half of the season but now we’ll have even more of an emotional investment in the outcome. (I didn’t think it was possible to care even more but I do, now I even care about what happens to Ben.)
Not sure who said this above but I agree, let’s enjoy the ride and not set our theories into stone. Keep an open mind because if we get locked into one theory we may miss the real story they are trying to tell us.
In response to the thought: “Smokey killed the pilot first on the island and of course the pilot was supposed to be Lapidus. Did he kill the pilot because he thought he was a candidate?” I don’t think that Smokey can kill the candidates… they’ve all been exposed to him before and survived it… so just as they cannot kill themselves, I don’t think the candidates can be killed.. that would explain why Locke (who was once a candidate) did not die back when Ben shot him.
So Elizabeth, I agree with you that candidates/those touched by Jacob cannot be killed/kill each other/kill themselves. However, in response to this: “I think now that the flash sideways have nothing to do with the plane crash; the flashsideways are the lives they would have had had they not been touched by Jacob.” I think that those in the sideways were touched by Jacob and that is why their lives are intwining because whether the plane crashed or not, Jacob still considers them Candidates and they will ultimately get to the island another way… because that is their destiny as someone touched by Jacob.
Finally is response to Carol, I don’t agree that just because Jacob touched you, making you a candidate, that that dictates you are necessarily going to choose Jacob’s side. Even as a candidate, you still have free will to choose sides, and even if you are a rejected candidate, you may still be miraculously allowed to live after an exdperience that normally would be terminal.
As it stands now, I’d say the candidates that are following MIB are Sawyer & Sayid & Claire. Those following Jacob are Hurley and Jack. The others have not really made a choice yet… it just depends on who they happen to be with right now. Kate is which Flocke but did not “choose” to be there. Jin is with no one now but happens to be in Claire’s shelter… that does not mean he has sided with MIB/Flocke. Sun is with Jack and Hurley again, but has not chosen Jacob at this point.
I don’t know who is going to turn as the ultimate “good guys” but I’m pretty sure it will be whatever side Hurley ends up on… that big guy has the biggest heart!…. now there is no guarantee he is going to stay on Jacob’s side….
Ps I guess you can kill yourself or be killed if you were a candidate, but then get crossed off the list by Jacob… otherwise, how did the real Locke die finally, after previously being saved from Ben’s bullet? Then again, maybe it was because he was off the island at the time? Who knows? If we did know, we’d probably stop watching this fantastic show!
I’ve never heard of cheese curds until Hurley mentioned it. Chalk up a you learn something new everyday to Lost. Who the heck eats this stuff?
Sorry if this is a repear or not….but was wondering is wallace is really a name or not….
W-walt
A-aaron
l- ben
l-locke
a- alex/adam
c- clemintine
e- ethan/eve
?
just wondering. Sorry if it was said or not. If it was mentioned i didn’t have time to read all the posts.
repeat not repear…oops
Re: the discussion about Smokey killing the pilot thinking he was Lapidus and therefore a candidate.
Smokey doesn’t know for sure who the actual Jacob candidates are. Maybe he is eliminating people as a test to see just *who is* a candidate. He attacks whoever he can. If they die that is just one more name to cross of his list. If he can’t kill them, he knows they are “chosen”. And a person’s status can change. Eko, Kate and Juliet all had encounters with Smokey where he didn’t kill them. I am thinking that later on, Eko’s staus changes because he was unrepentent, making him fare game for a beatin’.
I think (and dearly, dearly hope) the flash sideways is more than just artistic expression, having more meaning than just “How pathetic would the 815’ers lives be without the island?”.
I also think it’s connected to Juliet and her final thought of “it worked”. In her final moments of Island life, was she becoming more aware of the Flash sideways? That without the island (and Jacob) she’d have gotten what she always wanted? To be off the island, with her sister, and no memory of Sawyer? Is this what “Locke” is going to do to everyone who accepts the offer? Kill them and they get what they bargained for (and lack thereof)?
I don’t think Widmore is alligned with MIB or Jacob. I think he is a 3rd party, the “Dharma” influence. Hence why Jacob warned “Locke”. I think Widmore may turn out being either just a 3rd person who wants the island because of it’s magical/scientific properties OR he may turn out being the real evil one and MIB/Jacob at least care about it not falling into the wrong hands. Remember how fondly “Locke” spoke about Locke? He said Locke was pathetic, but at least he wanted to stay which he found “admirable.” I think MIB legitimately “loves” the island as well, but he just wants to go home. Maybe something happened to MIB that made him bitter, just like what happened to Ben. Or like Richard. They’re sick of the game.
A note in response to Ryan & Jen’s podcast comments about the school hallways being outdoors…I live in South Florida and our schools are outdoors, too. So that didn’t seem weird to me!! 🙂 All my classrooms lead out into the open.
More than ever I’m convinced that the sideways world is to show us who these characters truly are. Even though the island changed things for certain people, there’s a core to them.
Sayid is a killer, Hurley is lucky, Locke was destined to be in the wheelchair but overcome it, and Jack is a good Dad/person (but not well suited for marriage).
We get to see the core of who they are, and then how this applies to there actions on the island.
Brilliant stuff.
Even if the two timelines don’t merger or resolve in anyway, I’m glad to see the sideways world just to savor the character contrasts.
Oh, and I’m glad that deep down Ben isn’t such a bad guy (still a conniving manipulator though).
RE: High schools from the podcast.
I went to HS in Oregon, a state known for its wet, cold, miserable climate AND YET…my school was one of those “all doors lead to the outside” models and you had to walk outside to get from one building to the next. This never made any sense to me. Rumor was that the architect firm that designed the school was from California.
i am starting to believe that jacob is bad and MIB is good. I’ve noticed that the lives that jacob touched in the current timeline are all messed up. All the main characters have glaring flaws–yet in the flash sideways, where they were not touched all their flaws get resolved. Hurley not unlucky, locke accepting his disabilty and forgiving his father, jack married with child. It seems to me that jacob touching them and pushing them towards the island does a disservice to the people–and being only one can be chosen to replace jacob he is destroying a lot of lives. He seems to curse them more them help them.
AWESOME. One of my top 5 favorite episodes! Michael Emerson stole the show. He deserves some more Emmys and/or Oscars.
Loved the beach reunion. Very season 1. But where’s Jin already. Yunjin Kim is in Maxim this month.
Was Widmore typing on a netbook? Like an Asus EEE? Or was it a MacBook AIR?
I feel like I need to dust off my copy of “The Stand” the way things are headed.
I’m more convinced than ever that the flash-sideways are the ending of the show. A common theme we’ve seen in the flash-sideways is a moment of choice.
Kate could have continued to run, but she chose to go back and pick up Claire. Locke could have continued his “don’t tell me what I can’t do” rant, but chose to accept a job he was suited for. Jack faced his daddy issues, and chose to be a better dad. Sayid tried to leave his violent past behind, but chose to kill to protect the people he loves. And most recently Ben chose between power and helping Alex.
It would be silly to give everyone a happy ending. Instead, we’re seeing everyone facing a choice that will affect their lives. Maybe that’s the ending: that everyone gets a second chance to make better choices. Some will, others won’t.
@April – I guess I didn’t word it right, I see your point. I just don’t know how to phrase what I really mean. You are right.
Ultimate question is how far back in time do the Losties go in order to pick different paths in the flash sideways? How far back were they sent? Each to the same year or to a different point in their separate lives?
@Rusty I love the idea that everyone gets a second choice to make better choices and some will and some won’t.
Maybe when Juliet dies and she says “it worked” she means the war, not the bomb.
@Carol
The Plane not Crashing wasn’t what created this side world.
It predates the flight of 815 and we have yet to know clearly and exactly when that was.
Dr. Linus episode gave us a clue that Dharma did exist and he and his father lived there for a time but left.
I’ve started wondering…if Ben left the Island, then he probably never got shot by Sayid or entered the pool to become “transformed.” as Richard said he would If this is the case, then in what way is this flash-sideways Ben different from the Ben on the Island? Just his inability to manipulate people? Or his more decent nature? Cus from this episode it seems like on-Island Ben is still inherently a decent person. He’s just made some bad decisions.
This episode really hammered home that Lost is more than Good vs. Evil — it’s about the duality of nature and the nature of duality.
Good : Evil :: Jacob : MiB
Faith : Reason :: Locke : Jack
Leader : Loner :: Jack : Sawyer
Ugly on the outside, beautiful on the inside : Ugly on the inside, beautiful on the outside :: Hurley : Shannon
Love : Lust :: Sawyer + : Sawyer + Kate
Technology : Nature :: Dharma Initiative : tropical island
Explosion : Implosion :: Nuclear bomb : Magnetic singularity
High-tech travel : Low-tech travel :: modern jetliner : clipper ship
Eternal life vs. longing for death
Ben murdering his father vs. caring for him in old age
Future vs. Past
Love vs. Hate
Winners vs. Losers
Slavery vs. Freedom
Leadership vs. Followers
Choice vs. Predestination
Salvation vs. Doom
Fantasy vs. Reality
Life vs. Death
The island heals people, the island infects people.
Childbirth (creation of life)… that kills the mother
A polar bear… on a tropical island
An island… at the bottom of the ocean
A ship… landlocked
An aircraft… broken on the ground
A temple… where everybody is killed
It goes on, and on, and on, and on. It’s all about opposites, contradictions, and how both can exist simultaneously. People can be both good AND evil, situations can be both good AND bad, depending on the viewpoint.
I think Jacob sees the good in people, whereas MiB sees the bad in them. They’re both right, and they’re both wrong.
In this episode, Ben practically ping-ponged from winner to loser, leader to follower, lovable hero to despised villain, pedophile to mentor, condemnation to forgiveness… and back again… from moment to moment. I nearly got emotional whiplash!
In fact, the whole series seems like the writers just brainstormed opposites (good vs. bad, happy vs. sad, love vs. hate, air vs. earth, etc.) and wove all the examples into one amazing story.
Incredible.
I have no idea where the smoke monster fits, however.
@Jerry — Yes! Duality of nature…
D/C in one of their recent interviews said that it is not necessary for first-season viewers, but that “it is good” for those of us who have followed this yarn from the beginning to observe, analyze and question the (subtle and significant) differences between the pre-crash 815 Losties’ and the L.A.-landed Losties’ lives.
My question for D/C would be: Is your originally-envisioned ‘ending’ to the series pertain only to the very last scene of the final episode?
I also noticed that Ben’s culinary skills seemed to be seriously lacking in this sideways world. He make a delicious ham dinner for Juliet, but all he could manage as a teacher were TV dinners. Must’ve missed out on some tips from the Dharma chefs….
@Bonita – I think the flash sideways was created by the outcome of the war. I think that it is how Locke will fulfill all the promises he has made to people.
JERRY –
Although Lost is posing lots of opposites, I don’t think that the duality of nature is the point it’s trying to make. In fact, I really like how they’re drawing a line between good and evil, right and wrong. The choices Ben makes in the latest episode are quite obviously supposed to be about him making the ‘right’ choice, not a choice that is right from his perspective, or anyone else’s. It’s just the right choice. I like that Lost seems to be selling the idea of an objective good and evil, an idea that is getting Lost in our postmodern society. Stories of meaninglessness, subjectivity, and duality are the meat of today, and I think it’s a dark road our modern culture is going down, one where traditional values are broken down, discarded, or perverted(innovated) to the point where no one knows where they came from, and why they’re doing anything. I’m hoping that Lost turns out to be a traditional story of good versus evil with good winning out in the end, because that is becoming a ‘lost’ value in this postmodern wasteland.
Steve…where the heck are you from??? Cheese curds are are a staple here in Wisconsin; they’re best when beer-battered and deep fried. We thought Hurley’s dream was hilarious!!~
<<<Steve Says:
March 10th, 2010 at 7:42 am
I’ve never heard of cheese curds until Hurley mentioned it. Chalk up a you learn something new everyday to Lost. Who the heck eats this stuff?
I guess I’m fickle, because I LOVED it! Thanks LOST for redeeming yourself in so many ways: Ben is actually good and endearing in his alternapath; the acting was fantastic.
Only disappointment: they should’ve left the inside the submarine shot at the end out and let us wonder. Seemed a little over-the-top, like someone above said.
The flash sideways are in 2004. The island events are happening in 2007. Is it possible that somehow, the 2004 flash sideways characters where on the island and when the bomb exploded, they found themselves back on 815 with little or no memory of their island experience? And, that by 2007, they will somehow be transported back to the island with their memories restored? That’s one way to bring the two “realities” together…
Already 147 Comments … WOW! I hate that I had to work today 🙂
Well, ladies and gents – Wonderfully touching episode. Who would have thought in season 2 and 3 that Ben Linus would bring me to tears. But they were flowing last night. Emerson was great but I must also give props to Ilana for her “I’ll take you” line – it was perfect.
I think our Lost writers are really serving up some fantastic fare this season. I love that they are taking their time to give us STORY and not JUST answers. There will surely be some great action sequences, as they showed us last week.
Ben’s redemption was just perfect – both on and off Island.
That being said – I want to go see the episode a second time and come back with something more organized for my random thoughts.
I’ll be Back !!
I’m still a little confused when so many people are still referring to the bomb exploding…when the losties time travel back to 2007 (on the island) and the hatch is there (ie. it had been built) I thought that pretty much indicated that the bomb did not go off in 1977?
Lost is a complex show and my feelings about it are becoming more and more complex, well, mixed anyway. I can discern two reasons why we all seem to be watching (talk about duality!): to follow the characters and to understand what it all means. In my opinion the creators are doing an outstanding job on the former and a poor job on the latter.
The character stuff has been superb. In the last three weeks particularly we have had compelling character stories on and off the island, culminating in the best one thus far, the Dr Linus story. Their ability to parallel on-island events with off-island events has always been top notch but this season has been fantastic.
But in presenting these great stories, they are not managing the underlying questions terribly well. Does it matter, I hear you ask? Perhaps not, if you are the sort of person for whom all the issues raised by this show are not considered important. I, on the other hand, and I suspect most of you too, have been drawn to this show not just because of the characters but because of the deliberate insertion of mythology and mystery about the island. Deliberate is the key here. The creators have given us clues throughout the show about all sorts of mysteries and much of our time over the course of this show is theorising about what it all means, from the little stuff to the big stuff. With this comes an expectation that something by way of explanation will be provided. It doesn’t need to be spelled out but we need something. They can’t just be left totally unexplained. For example(s), the whispers. Why was Walt taken? How did Dharma arrive? How does Eloise Hawking fit in? So far, none of us can make sense of this and as the season progresses it seems less likely that we will get any of these types of questions answered, particularly when valuable screen time is taken up with (for example) a man digging a hole, which is great for the character stuff (Ben’s grave) but not good for explaining things.
Perhaps this would be okay if the grand mystery of the show, as embodied by the Jacob/MiB struggle, made sense to us but even that doesn’t. Each week we are all still debating who is good, who is bad, whether they are both good and bad, neither good or bad, and so on. We’ve had seven episodes and it’s getting a little tiresome. Without this context, I’m finding it hard to engage with the story because we don’t understand the larger significance of the story. When Smokey destroys the temple, is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t mean I need to know who is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but I need a better sense of the implications of these events so I can decide whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. For example, people at the temple died. How do I feel about that? I haven’t a clue. They might be victims here, doing good in the world on behalf of Jacob. They might have deserved death because the island is evil. It’s the unexplained mysteries that makes it difficult to engage in the story because we still don’t understand what it all means: what the island is, who Jacob/MiB is and why any of it matters.
Someone above referenced Battlestar Galactica and the final season problems it had. I loved BSG but the final season blows. It felt to me like they wanted to explain their mysteries as a big final reveal in the last episode but what happened was that the whole season felt like treading water until the finale, with no character development or information until the last three episodes or so. Lost is nothing like that because they’ve handled the character stuff so incredibly well. But I think it is a mistake to hold off the big mystery of the island until near the end, which I guess is what they are planning, because we don’t understand the significance of current events. I think this late in the game we shouldn’t be theorising still about so much of the island stuff. We should have more than enough evidence by now to have a strong sense of this overall story, through which we can make sense of the plot. It is this factor that is stopping me from fully enjoying the story.