Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Lost - "Lockdown"

Episode Title: “Lockdown”

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Wow – this is perhaps the deepest meaning on Lost ever. Where to begin? The most obvious place, of course – check the dictionary meanings of the word!

Lockdown:

  1. The confinement of prison inmates to their cells as a security measure following a disturbance in the prison.
  2. A prison, especially a high-security one.
  3. A device that secures a piece of equipment, especially a computer, so that it cannot be moved or stolen.

Interestingly, each of these could seemingly apply to our world inside the Swan Hatch.

  1. Clearly the Hatch is our “prison”. Not only is it the only place with seal-you-in-against-your-will “blast doors”, but there’s also been the whole “use-a-room-as-a-jail-cell” deal with Henry. In fact, one could view the whole Henry Gale situation as a “disturbance” that causes the Lockdown in the first place, as described by the definition. Everything seemed to be going fine inside the Hatch (seemingly) until he showed up. Coincidence?
  2. A simpler version of explanation one, missing the whole “disturbance”. Again, could apply to the Hatch, it would just mean that Henry Gale has nothing to do with the Lockdown.
  3. This is a definition I was personally unaware of – but is quite intriguing. Could it be that the Lockdown is caused by someone using the computer inappropriately? Remember that the Orientation video explicitly states to not use the computer for anything other than entering the Numbers, lest another “Incident” occurs. It’s not crazy to think that using it for some other purpose (Internet porn, Fantasy Football) would trigger this security feature and “Lockdown” the entire Hatch so that no one can leave. The only thing is, I’m not sure who would use the computer for something else. Michael was our most likely candidate, but he’s now MIA. Perhaps if Henry Gale is given more freedom inside the Hatch, he could trigger something. That would sure make it seem like he was an Other, sending a “distress signal” of sorts to his Other brethren.

Regardless of which scenario plays out, a literal “Lockdown” of the Hatch is a given. However, this isn’t “Brian’s Literal Meaning Guess”, it’s “Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess”.

When I first read the title, before even thinking of a prison-esque Lockdown, I looked at the two words in the title and saw “Locke” and “Down”. Even in writing this post, my fingers are tempted to write “Lockedown” each time. But what would that mean?

John Locke is going to lose his ability to walk.

How? Not sure. Perhaps his ability to walk is somehow tied to the huge magnetic core of the Hatch, and when the blast doors come down during the Lockdown it blocks these magnetic waves from reaching him. Or vice versa, perhaps the doors closing increase the intensity of the magnetic field and cripple him.

I was also originally thinking perhaps a Blast Door could come down on his legs, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case in the previews…

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At any rate, that’s my guess for the real reason Locke loses his reason to walk. But John isn’t going to see it like that. He’s going to view it as the Island punishing him, probably for their capturing and holding of Henry Gale. Locke views the Island as magic, and this magic gave him the ability to walk. He thinks that if you give something to the Island, it gives you something in return. Now he’s going to think that if you take something from the Island, it takes something from you. They took Henry Gale. Now the Island is talking John’s legs.

The one thing I can’t get a read on is how “Lockdown” could apply to the flashback. It’s a Locke flashback, so perhaps something sad happens and causes him to be emotionally or spiritually “down”? But there haven’t been any clues to that so far. But we’ve got enough deeper meaning for one week just on the Island, so I’ll let the flashback part slide…


TV Guide Description: When the hatch suddenly takes on a life of its own, Locke is forced to enlist the help of an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Ana Lucia, Sayid and Charlie go off into the jungle to find out the truth about Henry.

TV Guide Breakdown: The interesting part of the “Hatch suddenly taking on a life of its own” is the word “suddenly”. One would think that if the Lockdown was a result of not entering in the Numbers, it wouldn’t be considered “sudden”, but rather an almost expected result. However, in the previews, you can hear a siren going off while the Blast Doors are coming down – the same siren we heard when the Numbers weren’t entered (and is that Desmond’s voice I hear?!).

(PS – speaking of Desmond, we all wondered where he ran off to early this season. It turns out he went to Los Angeles to work undercover for the German government. Of course! Great twist, Lost writers!)

I’m on the fence, but I almost think it would be more exciting if the Lockdown wasn’t a result of the 108 timer going off – but rather put a blast wall between John Locke and the computer, causing him to freak out as the timer ticks closer and closer to expiration. Imagine that suspense!

Moving on, Locke being forced to enlist the help of an unlikely ally (Henry Gale) goes hand in hand with my “Locke loses his ability to walk” theory. With just the two of them trapped inside the Hatch, he’ll need Henry to scope a way out… like through the heating ducts for example:

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But can Henry be trusted? Given everything he’s been through, wouldn’t you think if he did find a way out, he would ditch Locke and just go running off? Is this the start of an alliance of Locke and Henry?

Lastly, the preview takes us all for old people (or Will Riley) who fall asleep halfway through episodes of Lost. Because we clearly saw Ana-Lucia, Charlie, and Sayid going through the jungle in the second half of last week’s episode. This episode will show them discovering the Balloon, and wondering about the repercussion of this discovery. But I’ve already discussed that in detail below. That’s right, I got my “The Whole Truth” analysis done ahead of time this week. What, you weren’t checking the Blog daily for updates? For shame!


I’m not going to lie, I’m mega-pumped for this week’s episode – probably as excited as I’ve been for any Lost this year. The commercials hint at “Five Revelations” this episode, each more shocking than the one before. If I were writing the episode, here would be my five revelations (coincidentally, if these happened, it would be the best hour of Lost ever):

  1. The Blast Doors come down, the 108 Countdown runs out (and whatever happens after that!).
  2. Desmond returns (at least in voice, over the speakers in the Hatch).
  3. Locke loses his ability to walk (and thus, we learn how he could walk in the first place).
  4. Henry Gale’s whole story checks out (and our Survivors are forced to grapple with the repercussions of their actions).
  5. After helping him escape the Hatch, Locke forms a pact with Henry Gale - and becomes a spy for the Others.

(and if I could have #6, it would be “Kate finds a piece of luggage full of bikinis and has a fashion show for the other Survivors” – but I won’t get greedy…)

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Caliente!

The one thing that worries me is that the commercial almost hypes it up too much. I hate it when my expectations are too high and I inevitably walk away disappointed (see: every DMB concert I attended from 1998 to 2001).

Let’s hope this isn’t the case. Happy watching!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to be the first person to post a reply since this site is all of the sudden famous. I am not too pumped about Wednesday's episode. I agree with you Brian, that it seems too pumped up. But, maybe they are rightfully pumping it up to let people like us know that a good episode is finally coming to a televsion near you. And I'm not gonna lie, I didn't even realize Desmond was the Undercover Kraut. And don't worry, I am half German so I can say that. That is the nice thing about being a mutt, I can make ethnic slurs for 5 ethnicities.

Anonymous said...

I just got hooked on this blog a few weeks ago and this is the second "assumptions" article I've read and I have to say the ideas are increadable. Because it is a Locke episode I do hope we learn how he lost the ability to walk, which would make sense with your definations of "lockdown." I am also looking forward to this episode as the previews looked great. A return of Desmond, only thing better could be a return of Michael and/or Walt. Can't wait.

sarah cool said...

Seriously. You're kind of freaking me out. It's like you know this in advance..............................

RevScottDeMangeMD said...

Brian...good stuff all around! Do you really think Locke is going to lose his ability to walk? That would be really cool, but I just think that the reason he is on the ground is because he is diving to save something...ala Indiana Jones grabbing his hat at the last second.

Also...DMB shows? Are you kidding me? Cbus and Cincy in 2000 were freaking amazing! What's happened to you? Is this the work of the hernia?

Brian said...

You have to understand that for the longest time, I went to shows expecting ridiculous Red-Rocks-quality setlists.

Today I'm better, only hoping for Halloween in every single encore I get.

Anonymous said...

I am 99% sure that Desmond also said that he was on a hot air balloon. I think the balloon was Desmonds, and that Henry Gale is another who fabricated a story about how he was in the balloon. Don't they remember Desmonds story????

By the way, where the hell did Desmond ever run off to? He could not have left the island, was he an other? I think in Lockdown he will make a return to Lost. Michael's fate may also be found out, and I think this Henry Gale situation is going to get interesting. I tend to disagree, however, with your Locke is going to lose te ability to walk point. I jst don;t see that happening in the episode. Should be a nice, compelling one, and your Henry Gale contest witht he doctor thing makes me believe that he was that doctor!

Anonymous said...

I'm interested about this episode and I have to admit you've got me thinking. Especially about Locke losing his ability to walk. After all, it does show him crawling/creeping towards the doors coming down.

I questioned that whole hot air balloon coincidence that anonymous said and found this on Wikipedia concerning Desmond's character...it clairfies 'boat' as his method of getting on the island.

Desmond
Played by: Henry Ian Cusick
Appears in: "Man of Science, Man of Faith", "Adrift", "Orientation"

Desmond holds Locke captive in the Hatch.Desmond is a man who was living in the "Swan" Dharma Initiative research station under the mysterious hatch. He crossed paths with Jack years before being stranded on the island when both men were running the bleachers of Dodger Stadium. The two have a brief but meaningful conversation, in which Desmond explains that he is training for a race around the world. During the race three years later, Desmond's boat crashed on the island and, as he tells Jack, a man named Kelvin emerged from the jungle and took him back to the hatch. Desmond watched as Kelvin input the numbers into a computer. When Desmond asked, "What was that all about?", Kelvin just replied, "Just saving the world". Later, Kelvin died, leaving Desmond in solitude. When the survivors enter the hatch, they accidentally break the computer. Convinced that the world is going to end, Desmond frantically flees the hatch. Jack catches up with Desmond, and Desmond tells him the code, and to enter it every 108 minutes. Desmond then soon vanishes with his backpack into the jungle and has not been seen since

Anonymous said...

Looks like Henry may be "hatching" an escape.

Now that the bad joke is out of the way, is the sixth episode he'll be in? I read that's how many episodes Michael Emerson was contracted for (at least for this season).

Looks like they may not find out how much truth he is telling any time soon.

Anonymous said...

i do think lcoke is diving, not crawling. i dont think he will lose his ability to walk, especially since they have no wheelchairs or anything on the island. how would they move locke around? i think that would be too much of a pain to mees with. And also, where the hell did Desmond go??!!

Anonymous said...

Hey did anyone notice in the first episode of the season that Jack tripped on the stair to row 23 in the stadium? I know the time of death for Shannon's father had been pointed out, but I never noticed this before.

Also, tonight was a good episode. :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow what a good episode. You were almost right ;) Sadly Kate didn't find that suitcase full of bikinis :(

Anonymous said...

yeeeaaahhhh!
That was awesome. I am still at work, but I went to the breakroom to watch it. So glad I didn't wait to get a tape of it and watch it later. That was great. I'm pumped now.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know the last time the MN drivers license was updated? I tried briefly on the interent, but I couldn't find it. I was just thinking that would give us some kind of timetable our boy Henry has been on the island. Here is a page with a picture of a MN license if you want to kill some time.
http://www.dps.state.mn.us/dvs/ID%20Requirments/FullFacePhotoSample.htm

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! I was (partially) right. A week ago, in the discussion of "The Whle Truth," I said:

"If I was Sayid, seeing that balloon wouldn't prove crap. A grave doesn't mean crap. I'd dig up the body. Is it female? How rotted is it? Is it wearing clothes with no tags?"

So, it turned out to be a man. Henry Gale, no less. Glad to see Sayid dug up the grave though.

Anonymous said...

Ur ideas are increadable...can`t wait ur next post.

cheers

Rebecca said...

What an AWESOME episode!! I was so afraid for Locke. Was on the edge of my seat!! Wish I would have taped this one. Your analysis is excellent as usual. I love reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Cooper is the original Sawyer?

Brian said...

I promise a post is coming soon. Busy translating Latin and deciphering cryptic images and sentences. Soon!

Anonymous said...

I've been reading your analysis of "Lockdown", very interesting. I started to google Valenzetti also...what the heck is this site? http://www.valenzettifoundation.org Just wanted to add to the chaos that is 'Lost'. Bye! -MGD

Brian said...

That Valenzetti site looks to be a fan created site pretending to be something official.

If it was an official Lost site, there would be the small print "Copyright ABC" mumbo-jumbo at the bottom (and some of the links wouldn't be broken).

Also - the author references Rambaldi, slipping into Alias territory. Clearly a fan of TV trying to tie it all together. But the shows exist in two separate worlds.

Anonymous said...

OK... I hate to spoil it for everyone, but do you know who is behind "The Others?" None other than Gilligan, the Howells, the Skipper, Mary Ann, Ginger and the Professor. Sorry if I ruined it for anyone.

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