LOST ("The Most Powerful Episode Yet")

(The first really "long" Lost Email I wrote - little did I know this was just the start...)

Did you see the previews for tonight where they claim tonight’s episode is "The Most Powerful Episode Yet"? It might just be a clever marketing ploy, but after last week’s episode, I think it might be true.

Tonight’s Episode Title: "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"

Tonight’s Character Spotlight: Jack (that’s right - a second episode!)

TV Guide Episode Preview: Survivors wonder why Charlie and the pregnant Claire have been abducted - and by whom - and a search party ventures into the treacherous jungle to try to find and rescue the missing duo. Meanwhile, inner-demons about his father resurface for Jack, and Boone and Locke discover another island mystery.

Deeper Meaning: That title is way to oddball to not have something deeper to it. Since the episode is about Jack, it means that he’s the "cowboy" and he has "daddy issues". What does Jack as a cowboy mean? That he was some sort of renegade doctor, who didn’t follow the rules? What about Jack’s daddy issues? Did Jack and his father have some sort of falling out? All I remember about Jack’s first episode was that his mother was like "You need to go bring your father home" - but did his dad run away to Australia because of something Jack did? No idea. But I think that the flashback / backstory is going to take a back seat this week, as there looks to be a LOT of action on the island going on.

Points to Ponder:
1. Remember last week’s episode title? "Raised by Another"? What if it’s "raised by an other" (aka - the "others" on the island?) Who is the creepy guy at the end? ETHAN ROM - First, it’s not a coincidence that Ethan spelled out his very odd last name for Hurley last week. They wanted us to know the spelling. Ethan Rom rearranged is "Other Man"…

2. Who is Ethan Rom? Someone who was originally on the island? One of the "others" or "voices" that CFL talked about meeting on the way back from Black Rock? What about this - We’re all going on faith from Hurley that Ethan wasn’t on the plane - what if Hurley was the one who wasn’t on the plane, but is trying to throw us off his track?

3. Is there a whole other civilization on the island that Ethan is a part of? Do they live at the "Black Rock"?

4. The three main people we don’t have backstories on are the Father and Son, Hurley, and the Brother and Sister. Per the Internet, the next episodes deal with (in order) - Kate (again - hooray!), the Brother and Sister, and the Father and Son. This further strengthens my opinion that something is up with Hurley and his reveal will be a BIG ONE.

5. The only thing working against my "Ethan is a Red Herring" theory is the scene in the previews for this week’s episode that has him standing on Jack’s chest saying, "If you keep following me, I’ll kill one of them". I can’t really argue with that.

6. Is Sayid back to normal? Is he going to be crazy like the French people? Is he becoming one of the "Others"?

7. Is Ethan the CFL’s "Alex"? - I think not (due to the age difference not really adding up), but it’s a possibility I suppose.

8. How did Ethan carry off both Charlie AND Claire? Were there "others" around to help? Did he just overpower Charlie and take Claire, and then Charlie chased after? Did he somehow "hypnotize them"? (see Locke point #11 below for a similar situation).

9. Do you think they’ll find Claire and Charlie this week? My money is on them finding a beat up Charlie, but no Claire - and then later Claire will have her baby, and be killed by the Others.

10. Is the baby the anti-Christ? During last week’s episode, when Claire asked her boyfriend how long it had been since she took the pregnancy test, he answered "6… 66 seconds" (666) and then said the color of the lines were "red, not pink". The psychic obviously knew that the plane was going down - did he put Claire on it to force her to raise the baby, or to just be sure that the baby would be eliminated? Did he cause the plane to go down? Is he connected to the "Others" who wanted that baby on the island for some reason?

And then here are thoughts relayed late last week that some of you may not have read:

11. I’m more convinced than ever that Locke has already become one of the "Others" or is possessed by something on the island. I went back and re-watched the Sayid episode from three weeks back, and there is a scene of Locke and Ethan "hunting at night". Locke was really not that good at hunting / walking around, etc. in the early part of his episode - remember? The first boar just knocked him down and took off. Then, he meets the "monster" and all the sudden he is Johnny Cool - a hunter, really wise, and calm about everything that is going on on the island. What if the "monster" took him over / converted him to being a hunter like Ethan? If so, this is how he has such an understanding about what is going on (and would explain all the sage like advice he has been giving) - this would also make him a "hunter" who is on the inside with the new group and could work to convert them over. Locke seemed super calm when Said came back and was talking about the others being on the island. Who’s willing to bet Locke is working to sabotage the rescue effort / help Ethan?

12. Or maybe Locke is somewhat "possessed". He is always shown with both white and black, good and evil (the backgammon game, his eyes in Claire’s dream). Maybe he is fighting the "Other" in him with his natural goodness?

13. Here are Lost themes so far, as written by my roommate:

Black v. White (good v. evil)
Do people have free will or is there predestination (Claire's child being evil if not raised by her)
Locke's name as a reference to the philosopher John Locke. (One of John Locke's main points was that man should not be held against his will). Just as he gave Charlie the drugs back after three times, he didn't help Jack out of the cave, etc.
Survivors v. Island (Man v. Nature, and the ability for man to overcome it surroundings against the power of nature over everything on earth.)
Man's understanding of a higher being (The "Monster", the "voices")
Mind over Matter (Locke being able to walk/the girl beating asthma without an inhahler/the guy with the hives)
Science/Evolution (The CFL and her role as a scientist and her creation/offspring "Alex" and its affect on the survivors)

That was a mouthful. Lucky thing I’ve been discussing and jotting down my thoughts every night since last week’s episode with anyone who will listen.

Obsessed. Me? No.

Lost Transcript

(The first non-official Lost Email - a reaction because I couldn't contain myself!)

Just to blow everyone's mind (I'm not even kidding), I rewatched last week's episode of Lost (the Sayid centered episode), and lo and behold - ETHAN IS IN IT. What's even more creepy is the scene he's in, and who he's in it with. Here's the transcript:

(Ethan and Locke emerge from the jungle at night, dropping two bags at the foot of Hurley)

Hurley: What are you guys doing out in the jungle at night?
Ethan: Best time to hunt.
Locke: Ethan here has some experience - spotted some tracks, looked like they might be rabbit or some other rodent
Hurley: Rodent - yum.
Ethan: I figured people are tired of eating boar meat.

Immediate thoughts: Locke is already in cahoots with Ethan. The monster converted Locke to be one of the "Others" when he came face to face with it. Remember, Locke was not an expert survival person at all until he encountered the monster. Now all of the sudden he's catching boars, spitting out sage advice, and totally at peace with the world? The monster changed him. I think he's on the side of evil now. Something is afoot.

Wow.

Lost (Finally Back!)

It’s been too long. And by too long I mean two weeks.

Tonight’s Episode Title: "Raised by Another"

Tonight’s Character Spotlight: Claire, the Pregnant Girl

Deeper Meaning: Not too sure this week - but I have one good guess. I think it has been established that Claire is a single mother, so the baby might be raised by "another" meaning that the father would not be around. But that’s no fun. It could be in reference to "Alex", Crazy French Lady’s child who may or may not be dead. If they’re not dead - they would be raised by someone or something else on the island… But how about this? From the previews, it looks like Claire is going crazy, thinking that someone is trying to harm her and get her baby (Crazy French Lady, anyone?). But they also show at one point she collapses - what if she dies during the birth of the child - then the baby would definitely be "raised by another". I think it’s only a matter of time before a main character dies on the island - why not her? She hasn’t really done too much as of yet, and it could set off an interesting Charlie angle with him being angry at Jack / the world for her dying and losing all hope on the island - going off by himself, etc. - that would be cool.

Points to Ponder:
1. Do you think Claire is really going crazy, or is someone actually trying to get her? I think the obvious answer is just that she is hallucinating - but I think in reality someone is actually after her.

2. Will Said return this week? At the end of his episode he was definitely hearing the voices that Crazy French Lady (CFL) said made all the others go crazy, leading to her killing of them. If he comes back, will he tell everyone about CFL? How can he not?

3. How long until we find out what the Black Rock is? (Other than an O.A.R. song, of course).

4. It was weird - when CFL was talking about what made everyone go crazy, she mentioned "we were on our way back from the Black Rock when we ran into THEM" or something along those lines. This makes me think that they ran into OTHER PEOPLE / THINGS on the island and their influence is what caused the insanity.

5. CFL also said "I had to kill them - what if someone would have come to rescue us?" Think about that for a second - it sounds like she was afraid of contaminating the rest of the world, which sounds like the people had some sort of virus or infection or something. Then think about this - last time they introduced that new character who had hives - the annoying guy who kept bothering Jack - what if he is the first one to get infected with whatever it is?

6. Alex. I have three thoughts about Alex.

a. CFL killed Alex. Everyone went "crazy", including Alex. She killed him/her and now is somewhat disturbed herself, having killed her own child.
b. Alex ran away. When Said first appeared, she asked him if he had seen Alex. That makes me think he/she is still alive.
c. Alex is not a he/she. CFL said "Alex was my child." But CFL is a scientist - a lot of times scientists refer to experiments as their "baby" or "child" because scientists are crazy people who spend all their time working and have no life outside of work (like a 5/3 employee). What if "Alex" is an acronym for Artificial Life Experiment X-Ray (I can’t think of any good X words)? What if the "monster" is Alex? CFL did say "there’s no such thing as monsters" - she wouldn’t think of Alex being a monster because it’s "her child".

7. How did CFL still have power in her living area? Weren’t they shipwrecked for 16 years? Didn’t everything in her place look waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay older than 16 years old? 16 years ago puts us at 1988. The stuff in her place looked like it was from the 1940’s.

8. What about how CFL said "You heard my transmission? They have it now." - Is this the same "they" that her group met coming back from the Black Rock that fateful day years ago?
So many questions. Holler back.

(Also, afterwards tonight is the Nick and Jessica Christmas Special, which should be entertaining and provide a quick fix to our Newlyweds addiction now that the show is not on the air.)

Brian

Lost (Mega-Early Edition!)

(Fun Fact: My praying did not work... I made it home halfway through Lost - stupid work! How do I not have Tivo?)

Hello friends! I'm working in the Great White North in Wisconsin Monday through Wednesday eating cheese and praying to the god of airplanes that my flight arrives in time for Lost. Here is your weekly update, a little early. I don't want to risk not sending it out after the verbal bashing I got last week for not getting one out!

Episode Title: "Solidarity"

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: Well, this episode looks to center around Sayid, which makes me think it's in reference to the following:

Sayid left the group last episode, to "map the island" on his own (but that's too easy for this show).

Sayid used to work in the Iraqi National Guard's "Communication Group". I know we all used to think this was just talking about phone lines, computers, etc. but after last week it looks like "Communication" meant "getting people to talk by torturing them". I'm sure this was something of a lonely life, definitely not something that you would share with your family and friends. (again too easy).

The previews showed Sayid captured in the forest, then being tortured by someone. Who? My money's on someone from the original French people on the island - and here's the deeper meaning part - I bet it's the French woman who said she was the "last one left on the island" on the radio transmission. She's been living in solidarity on the island for 16 years and is likely going to be CRAZY due to that.

Points to ponder:
It looked like Sayid was being held in some metal building with industrialized looking materials in it. Was the island originally some test lab for crazy experiments? And the French girl somehow killed / outlived everyone else on the island and took over their building?

What was up with Kate and Sawyer going at it? She could have just kissed him a little and moved on. But no, she was all into it and was using tongue. Seriously, stop cheating on me, Kate!

How great was Sawyer's story? For those who didn't get it at first (read: me and Sully), the flashback story was that of one of the later grifts in his career. Seeing the kid reminded him that he had become exactly the thing that he hated his whole life - and what's his real name?

Don't you think Jack seemed a little over anxious to start with the torturing of Sawyer last week? I think there's more to his backstory than we have seen so far.

Isn't it weird that the "monster" hasn't been seen since Locke came face to face with him? I still think Locke is part of a bigger story, maybe even working on the side of the island. Maybe the monster was directly tied to him and his story. Maybe the monster ate the real Locke and now it's some "replacement Locke" on the island who is working to pit people against each other. Remember, he gave the knife to Sayid last week and was like "Get 'er done"?.

The big theory on the internet is still that everyone on the island is dead. As much as I hate to say it, it makes more and more sense the longer I think about it. First, the title of "Lost" serves a double purpose as them being lost on the island and their souls being lost - in a purgatory of sorts. When they overcome their life's big secret and / or atone for it, they die on the island and move on to the afterlife. Think about the people who have died so far - the pilot in the first episode explained why the plane went down, what went wrong, why it wasn't his fault, pretty much clearing his mind of the responsibility - and then was eaten. The Warden told people that Kate was a criminal, and then died. Jack sees his dead father walking around the island, leading him to deal with his inner demons and "escape" the island. If this is the case, the "monster" serves as an Angel of Death or something like that. Sayid even hinted at it last week by saying "isn't it weird that we all "survived" the crash without a scratch and we were in the middle of the plane? It's like the rest of the passengers on the plane didn't have these issues to deal with and just died and moved on - the 47 on the island are the ones with the issues.

Here's what is working against that theory - the Warden didn't die of natural causes or at "the island's hand" - he was shot by Sawyer. Why are things like bees able to attack them and how can they get hurt by things like knives if they are already dead? The little kid obviously doesn't have any huge secrets, nor does the dog. What about the boars on the island? The French people 16 years ago? How did they end up on the same island? The pregnant girl? Shouldn't her baby have "died" already if it was some sort of purgatory? Plus, I think this theory is just a red herring that he producers are hinting at to keep crazy people on the internet talking.

Okay I'll call you guys and let you know about Lost this week. My flight is scheduled to be back around 7:00 pm on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll be able to log in from Wisconsin and check your responses. Don't disappoint me!

PS - No, I'm not one of those crazy people on the internet. I'm just one of the people who read the opinions of crazy people on the internet. There's a difference!

Brian

L O S T

(Look at how embarassingly short this was! The good news is even when it was this crappy, people were complaining when it wasn't out early enough!)

Before I play MasterCard SecureCode for the next four hours, I figured I should get this Email out before people start complaining:

Tonight’s Episode Title: "Confidence Man"

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Per the previews, this episode looks to be centered around Sawyer (white trash guy). As the show seems to like throwing the twists at us, I would propose that the title is ironic. Since Sawyer is very confident on the island and seems to be running his own show, I bet that in his prior life Sawyer was not confident at all. Was he some sort of dorky guy? Did something happen in his past to "harden" him? That’s my bet.

I read an interesting article this week about how the characters stories get written. It turns out that the producers put each character on the show’s name in a hat, and then each writer had to pick out three characters and write their back stories.

The good news is that the writer who is doing tonight’s episode also did Locke’s episode "Walkabout" - which I think was the best so far!

L O S T (The Original Email!)

(Fun Fact: The Original Email went to a whopping 11 people and was crazy short!)

Tonight’s Episode Title: "Moth"

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Moths are usually drawn towards light, which ultimately burns them (a la a "bug zapper"). I believe that tonight’s episode centers around Charlie (aka the Band Guy, the Druggie Guy, or the Hobbit Guy - not Charlie from Party of Five! His name on the show is Jack J ) Metaphorically, Charlie is a moth drawn to the light, which I think is fame and / or drugs. However, much like our flying insect friends, it ultimately will burn him and bring him down. This episode should give us insight into Charlie’s former fame and fall from grace, perhaps caused by the drug addiction to whatever that stuff in the baggie is (I apologize for not being "hip" to the drug culture).

Points to Ponder:
- Did you notice last week when Jack and Kate were in the cave and Jack picked up the one white stone and the one black stone? This was almost the exact same thing we saw in the pilot where Locke picked up two backgammon pieces and gave his "there is a good side and an evil side" to everything speech to the little kid. Is one of the groups going to become good and one evil?

- Remember the comic book from the pilot with the picture of the polar bear in it? I read an article in TV Guide saying that the creators of the show picked that comic specifically. In researching on the internet, I found that the comic deals with an alien life form that the good guys are fighting who turns out in the end to be a good guy. Symbolism? They think the island and the beast, etc. are evil - but they are really good?!?

- Tonight’s episode has some sort of avalanche occur in the cave and Jack is buried in it. Will Jack die? Will this force everyone to move back to the beach? Is this the island warning them to stay away from that cave?

- Why didn’t Jack admit to Kate last week that he was checking her out? We all were checking her out, it’s cool to admit it! And how genius are the show writers to craft a scene where both Jack and Kate are ripping off their clothes as fast as possible? Hello ratings! God bless angry swarms of bees!

- So the Korean girl speaks the English - now she can be in cahoots with everyone else on the island, while keeping up a secret identity with her husband so he doesn’t beat her!

- What a cruel twist of fate that Jack and Kate are in different groups on the island! Get those kids together so they can make out!

- What happened to the Beast, who has been oddly absent since the Locke episode? Did Locke somehow tame it / kill it / overcome it?

- Is anyone going to mention the Polar Bear or the French girl ever again?

Discuss.