Thursday, May 04, 2006

"Two For The Road" Analysis

Whoa. Best episode in a long time - and not just because they killed off two people (or did they?!) and had a "character turn" to evil - but you could just get this feeling the whole episode that things were finally moving along, that the plot was hurtling forward to what turned out to be a violent conclusion, rather than just "spinning wheels" like some episodes can sometimes seem.

The last five minutes in particular were amazing. Even for me, who was expecting Ana-Lucia to die, watching the last scene unfold had my brain working overtime. First, with Michael waking up, I came to the realization - "Oh my God, he's going to kill her and let HGI escape", then watching it happen, followed by the shocking Libby shooting, I was literally sitting with my jaw dropped. Great, great storytelling.

So what happened?

Michael. As we all guessed, he was not the same (Ben Folds style). He's either been brainwashed / hypnotized / drugged by the Others, or was simply given an ultimatum that he is carrying out: "Free HGI and lead the other Survivors into a trap, and we'll give you Walt back". (If it was as simple as "Kill Ana-Lucia and free HGI and you'll get Walt back", Michael wouldn't need to go on and on about how they need to attack the Others because they're so weak, blah blah blah. The Others clearly want to draw the Survivors to them… but why? I still stand by my statement that they're working towards a greater good. Intriguing...)

The good news is, we're due for a Michael flashback two weeks from now that should reveal the full extent of his experience with the Others (and give us our first true look at the Others and how they live!).

The real question is - now what? Regardless of his motives, Michael has gone to the point of no return - and I don't think there's any coming back from it. Sure he's always been obsessed with getting Walt back no matter what the cost, but it never went as far as actually KILLING someone. That's pretty serious, and I don’t think you'll get a "Oh, he was just doing it for Walt" get-out-of-jail-free card from everyone else about it. I suppose if they are able to determine and prove that he was under some sort of hypnotic trance when he busted up the Hatch, he could work his way back in the fold (and we'd have the interesting storyline of Michael dealing with his tortured soul after realizing what he did), but I really think this is the beginning of the end for Michael.

At this point, there are only two viable options I see for the Michael storyline:

Option 1: Become a full-fledged Other. Michael can't return to life with the Survivors. I doubt he could survive out in the Jungle very long by himself. Plus, I don't really see the Others giving Walt back to Michael, regardless of what acts Michael carries out for them. They have made it abundantly clear that Walt is the most important thing. More likey the bargain was "Free HGI and lead the Survivors into a trap, and we'll let you come live with us… with Walt." The only question then becomes - are they trustworthy? Or once Michael carries out his tasks, will they just kill him?

Option 2: Die. Probably the more likely option. Either our Survivors discover his treachery and take them out, the Others kill him (in the scenario from Option 1), or he merely gets himself killed doing something stupid in an attempt to get Walt (swimming after him as the Others take him away on a boat, running into the Smoke Monster, etc.) The Jungle is a dangerous place, and Michael could end up being an enemy of both our Survivors and the Others, making it even more dangerous.

Again, a lot of this depends on if he indeed "struck a deal" with the Others, and if so - if the Others are trustworthy or not.

Footnote – there seems to be some confusion as to what Michael actually did. His goal was to get HGI out of the Hatch. Killing Ana-Lucia and Libby (?) were unfortunate side effects of this plan (thus, Michael apologizing to Ana-Lucia before he shot her and looking sad when he accidentally shot Libby). He then shot himself (to make it look like HGI attacked him also – Jack Bauer style!) and let HGI go.

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Ana-Lucia. Once again, if you have sex on a TV show, you die. Just like in real life. When will they learn? The good news is, much like Shannon, the writers gave her a fitting send off by letting the audience feel empathy for her before killing her. Seriously, who didn't feel sad for her when she's on the phone with her mom at the airport at the end? She had seemed to kick her dependence on alcohol, was about to get her life back in order and reuinte with her family, and then BAM. I really feel like her story was completed after her flashbacks last night, which is nice (unlike Libby…). The character truly came full circle. Tough female cop has tragedy that leads her to the dark side, becomes an alcoholic, goes to Australia with a strange older man, hits rock bottom, then picks herself up and turns her life around before being tragically killed on a mystery Island after a plane crash. It's a tale as old as time...

As for all the chatter about her being kicked off the show for being a boozehound (mostly from me), it turns out to not quite be true. Check out this interview with the show's creators that was posted right after last night's episode:

Was it always your intention to use Ana Lucia as a one-season character?

Damon Lindelof: A lot of this is going to sound like spin, so all we can give you is our word that this is exactly what happened. Around late February of last year, we started throwing our respective lines in the water to find the leader of the tail section, who we knew was going to be a Latina woman and who would be conceived as a romantic foil for Jack. We wanted her to be in her mid-thirties and be a detective from the LAPD. So we started putting out feelers unofficially because we wanted her to show up in the penultimate episode of last year. That way, when we started our plan for Season 2, it wouldn't feel like we had pulled her out of our asses. So, right around that time...
Carlton Cuse: I got a call from Michelle's agent saying, "Would you guys be interested in Michelle Rodriguez? But she's really only interested in being on the show for a year."
Damon: So we basically said, "A year is not necessarily ideal for us, but let's bring in Michelle and have the meeting." And she came in and met with Carlton and I and then, in the last 15 minutes, J.J. [Abrams] happened to be across the way doing some Alias stuff and he came over and sat down with her and we just hung out with her and chatted. It turned out that she worked in Hawaii on Blue Crush and knew a lot of people down there. But she made it very clear in that meeting that she's sort of a nomadic spirit and she did not want to commit to doing any more than [one season]. She wanted to do one kickass arc, as she described it, and we basically started to wrap our brains around her energy and say, "Yeah, we'll bring you on the show and then we'll kill you off at the end of the year." And she was totally cool with it and we were totally cool with it, and we parted ways and talked amongst ourselves. Obviously, the network and the studio normally don't want to get into a situation where they're not making multiyear deals, but we assured them that this was in fact the plan, and that even if Michelle was a rocking sensation on the show, we were going to stick to the plan. So they signed off on it and made the deal accordingly.

And then the DUI...

Carlton: Then she got this DUI and Damon and I looked at each other and we were like, "Oh, great. Everybody is going to think we're killing her off because she got a DUI." But there really wasn't anything we could do about that. I mean, the story was set. We had made plans. With Lost, we think it out well ahead of when we actually shoot it. We thought about altering our plan, but [this] was in fact what was best for the show. The fact that she got a DUI would come and go and what would live on would be the show, and our plan was still the best plan for the character. Ironically, we actually thought about changing it the other way around once [the DUI] happened, but it really was the best story. We wanted to tell the best story.
Damon: And obviously that decision was further mitigated by the fact that Libby is shot at the same time as Ana Lucia. Basically then we said, "Oh, s--t. Both Michelle and Cynthia were busted the same night for DUI and we've got this story point coming up where they essentially both get shot at the same time, so it's going to look like this is the Lost producers attempt to say, 'Don't drive drunk!'" But as Carlton says, all it created in us was [the thought that], "Maybe we shouldn't do the plan now, 'cause people are going to think this is a reaction to [the DUIs], as opposed to this [plan] existing prior to that event."
Carlton: As you'll see, everything that happens for the rest of the season all sort of falls from this event. And we're not doing ourselves or the fans of the show or the show itself any service by altering those plans because of Michelle's extracurricular activities.
Damon: Not to mention that we didn't even know if that option would be available to us. We were still functioning under the auspices of that meeting, which was Michelle saying, "I want to do a year and then move on."

Did you meet with Michelle to make sure everyone was still on the same page?

Damon: Michelle happened to be [in Los Angeles] and she came by to see us. We basically said to her, "So we’re going to stay on course." And at that point, Michelle was kinda like, "Hey, I'm living in Hawaii...." She might have been able to wrap her brain around [staying] a little bit longer on the show, but she did not say, "I want to stay on the show!" She was basically like, "Yeah. That's a good plan."
Carlton: And once we told her what was happening, she was incredibly supportive. She thought it was sort of a kickass way to go, and she got very on board with the idea of how she was going to be exiting the show.

Rumor has it she was a hard-ass on the set and everyone hated her. Care to set the record straight?

Damon
: We're not in Hawaii on the set so all we can speak to is our working relationship with Michelle and what we have heard from the other actors and directors on the show, and we never heard anything remotely resembling that she was a hard-ass. You know, she's Michelle. She's got a very playful spirit. But she's totally professional and got along well with all the other actors. We get calls over the course of our career about difficult actors. We did not get those calls about Michelle.

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Also, did anyone else notice that when Locke lies about stuff... people die? First there was Locke lying about Boone's "accident" that resulted in Jack treating him inappropriately (leading to his death), now Locke lies about how Ana-Lucia got injured and she ends up dead.

Basically, if you lie or have sex, people will die. Good life lessons.


Tom. Jack's Dad’s “code name”. Apparently he has an illegitimate daughter with this woman:

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Our first assumption is to think of the only female Aussie on our Island (Claire), but even for a show that seems to have everyone’s lives intertwined this feels a bit “soap opera-y”. The only problem is, unless this daughter ends up being on the Island, or someone else (in addition to Ana-Lucia and Sawyer) also interacted with Jack’s Dad, we’ll never find out any more – which seems unlikely.

But the real question is - why did he need protection? He hit the sauce for a few days, then drove over to a lady’s house in the pouring rain to ask about his daughter. What was he afraid she was going to do? Attack him? Did he “hire” Ana-Lucia to protect him, or to protect her from him? The flashback, which it explains why Ana-Lucia was in Australia and neatly tied up her story, didn’t really make too much sense.

As much as I hate to say it, (because it feels like some sort of retread between Irina Derevko and Darth Vader) the more we see things like this the more inclined am I to feel like Christian Shepherd somehow has a hand in everything going on with the Island as well as everyone on the Island. I’m tempted to start wondering if he’s the “Great One” HGI was referring to, but that would be crazy thoughts for now. Keep it on the back burner.

Speaking of crazy…

Libby. Is she really dead? Based on the previews for next week (and the logical conclusion of her character arc), Ana-Lucia is definitely dead. But Libby? Not only did she never get a flashback of her own, but they teased us by showing her in the mental institution in one of Hurley’s. That seems a bit cruel and unusual. Could it be that she has simply been a red herring all along? Can blankets save you from bullets? Let’s weigh the pros and cons:

She’s Dead!
  • She was shot multiple times
  • She’s on an Island without good medical facilities (even with super-doc Jack)
  • The episode was called “Two for the Road” (if only Ana-Lucia died, that's "One for the Road")
  • She and Ana-Lucia both got DUIs on the same night (say, out drowning their sorrows after they found out they would both be getting killed off the show or after filming their final scenes?)
  • She died right after getting some romance, just like Shannon and Ana-Lucia
  • If she’s alive, Michael is busted
  • Next week’s previews show Hurley crying (he hearted her!)

She’s Alive!

  • She had blankets to cushion the blow of the bullets (umm… right...)
  • She never got a backstory
  • She appeared in Hurley’s backstory – even a worse tease that not having one of her own!
  • Killing two Tailers and no Survivors seems unfair
  • She could be “in a coma”, allowing Michael’s treachery to continue for a few episodes
  • Next week’s previews show them saying “She’s dead” instead of “They’re dead”

It’s a tough call, but I’m leaning towards “She’s Dead” – making her an intentional red herring the show’s creators threw our way. I mean, how many of us were certain that she had to be an Other at some point? (Brian raises hand)

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Even if Hurley suddenly remembers her from the Mental Institution, that wouldn’t explain who she was or how she got on the Island. He would just think “Wait, I saw her in the Hospital” – and it would go nowhere from there. The only way that would happen is if she appeared in someone else’s flashbacks (like Jack’s father this week). That could give us the explanation about her life in a bittersweet “too little too late” fashion, that makes us mourn her even more.


HGI. He’s free! Like I said, death or escape both achieve the same goals – get him (and his knowledge of the Island) away from our Survivors. It also very interestingly shifts the “Bad Guy” from HGI to Michael for the remainder of the season. Is this goodbye to HGI? Is he going to end up dead at the hands of the Others? Was his mission really to “bring Locke back?”

Initially, I thought that HGI was a Rebel Dharmite – but the more he talked, the more he sounded like a Card Carrying Dharmite, espousing the greatness of his leader, and fearing the repercussions from failing him on a mission. But what was his mission?

Although the logical one would be reconnaissance of the Survivors, with Michael now under their powers – he could easily give them any information they needed about his fellow Survivors. Why send HGI on a mission to potentially gather information you already have?

If his mission was to “cause a division among the Survivors”, he didn’t really accomplish that either. In fact, Locke and Jack seem closer than ever now (at least they did pre-Ana-Lucia death).

Is it possible he legitimately just got caught?

Or is it possible that indeed he was coming for Locke? Locke’s argument is a good one – he had the chance to kill him when he was under the Blast Door and didn’t. For that matter, he had chances to attack Jack, Eko, and Sayid at some point or another during his stay in the Hatch… and didn’t.

It’s possible that he thrust out at Ana-Lucia in rage since she did kill two Others… but so did Eko. But if Locke was a “good one”, wouldn’t they have come for him right away – like they did to the Tailers, instead of waiting over a month?

I don’t know. Ironically, with HGI gone, I have more questions about him and what his goals were than I had when he was in the Hatch. We’ll have to see how his story continues to unfold…


The Lost Experience. Okay, I kinda jumped into the explanation of the Hanso Commercial and website without much warning last night (mostly due to the numerous requests for information about it from other people), but let's back up for a minute.

ABC and the creators of Lost decided to launch an "ARG" (Alternate Reality Game) this summer around the show, to help entertain us during the summer season so that we're not forced to "go outside and enjoy nature" or "socialize with real people." Thank God!

These things were invented way back in the day, but have recently become popular thanks to the Internet. It's called "Alternate Reality" because all the information you see about it is presented as if it were reality. The Hanso website looks like a legitimate website for a real organization. It's often very hard to distinguish between true websites involved in the ARG and fan-created ones trying to trick you (that's why I'm here - I'll be sure to let you know).

The whole point of an ARG is to allow the obsessive compulsive fans to delve deeper into the mythology or background of a story without boring the average viewer with it. In this case, it looks like the Lost Experience will give us insight to the history of Hanso and its current state.
There are a few important points to keep in mind:

  1. The televised program is still king. There won't be anything in the ARG that would prevent the average Lost viewer from understanding the storyline or what is going on. Don't be surprised if we spend all summer learning about past failed Dharma experiments that are never mentioned on the show itself – or referenced subtly in the background (such as the Bad Twin book).
  2. Many will be concerned with discovering “secrets” in the websites, rather than trying to understand what they mean in the greater story. Already I’ve seen multiple people going crazy about finding hidden images or words – but very few people are actually stepping back and examining them, asking the “why” questions, which are really the key to why we should care.
  3. Historically, these things have gotten so convoluted that even the most diehard fans struggle to keep up. I’ll try and keep you guys posted with the most relevant information as it becomes uncovered.
  4. There will be discrepancies between the show and the game. Chances are, although the show’s creators might have given a general “theme” for the game, chances are many of the details are being created by a separate creative team. This leads to differences that eagle eyed fans might notice and read too much into – such as the date that the picture of Alfred Hanso was taken vs. the date of the Swan Hatch film, etc. Although the makers of Lost have taken great care to make sure every detail is okay, if there was anywhere that they would start to slip, it would be in this game.

So here’s the game so far:

The Lost Experience is running alongside the second season of Lost in the UK, and during the break between season 2 and 3 in the United States and Canada.

The UK was the first to receive clues for the game on Tuesday May 2, 2006 in the form of a commercial for the fictional Hanso Foundation during a commercial break in the premiere of the series' second season. The commercial was again repeated during the subsequent second and third episodes shown that evening.

The commercial gave viewers a telephone number (0800 66 66 40) which when called gave the information listed in the post below.

The same commercial aired during last night’s Lost in the United States, giving the phone number 1-877-HANSORG (which has been plagued with busy signals and circuit overload in poor planning by ABC). Thus far the first US clue seems to be identical to the UK clue. Australians received the same clue the following night during their episode of Lost. It’s truly a worldwide game, which is intriguing given that the United States is almost a full season ahead of the UK and Australia in terms of episodes.

The only “Official Website” in the ARG thus far is The Hanso Foundation, although other websites are sure to follow. At this point, only a few areas of the The Hanso Foundation appear accessible – but look for this to change as the summer approaches.

Should you care?

The game will undoubtedly provide a good deal of entertainment to uber-nerds like myself who love to crack the mysteries of Lost and understand the greater meaning behind it all. To the average viewer, they serve as a “neat” form of advertisement that makes Lost seem more and more real.

In the end, I’m pretty sure I’ll end up totally obsessed with this game. So rest assured there will be posts about it in the future as the story develops. Thus far, we’re looking at a tale of Genetic Engineering gone terribly wrong, power struggles among the Senior Management of Hanso, and the hints of a Rebel Dharmite by the name of Persiphone.

I’m intrigued.

46 comments:

Honorest said...

Great theories and I agree we need to look at the meaning behind all the secrets to Hanso. However with a family in the medical field and forensic science, Micheal was aprox 8 feet from Libby, at the angle of the gun and the speed of the bullet, compromised by the thickness of the blanket, its could very well be that Libby is in a state of shock, which leads me towards the Coma theory, Hurley did look sad however in several 1 second shots, he seemed better. Also have you the commericial that states in the next 3 weeks (just like Housewives, Alias, and House) they will reveal a Traitor, and they are for sure going to war, This island has gotten so crazy, I just hope its not overdone like Alias is getting to.

However this last episode of Alias, reminded me of the Da Vinci Code but maybe thats just me :)

Great theories once again, always a Fan and this is the number 1 site at school. Popularity comes in many fashions :)

Anonymous said...

On the hanso site, their "tv commercial" is voiced-over by Damon Lindeloff right? It really sounds like his voice to me..

Anyone else catch this, or am I already way behind?

Anonymous said...

ive got a theory on micheal, did u think he set up henry gale to make the survivors attack the others. it makes a little more sence with his explaination of how many others there where. it will jolt locke and jack into action for sure.

Anonymous said...

cause and reaction. micheal needs to convince the survivors to attack the others. so he gives them a reason to by framing henry lighting a fire under jacks army...

sorry for the double post i can never get my idea accross on one go

Anonymous said...

in the preview it looked like micheal was in the armory thing. is that just abc being misleading or did they figure out micheal did it and lock him in there?

Anonymous said...

I was thinking and to me their could be another meaning for "two for the road". to me it could mean that two peoples lives will change by the end of this show and that does not have to be two people getting killed. even if only ana lucia is the only one to die that is one person who's life will have changed or ended by michael's actions. however, michaels life will have changed also just by the fact that he shot to of the other survivors (ana lucia and libby) and freed fake henry. so, what I am trying to say is that two for the road may not be referring to ana lucia and libby, but ana lucia and michael.

Anonymous said...

Also, "tom" was kate's childhood sweetheart and "sarah" was jack's ex wife. i guess they are pretty common names, but what do you think?

Anonymous said...

After this episode, I'm definitely putting the Jack's-father-as-leader theory on the backburner; I had the exact same thought afterwards.

A crazier scenario could involve both Jack's father and Locke's father as major kingpins in the Dharma organization.

Anonymous said...

what about Jack being unwraveled at the airport ticket counter? Any signifance to that given Jack's typically cool persona?

Anonymous said...

About the "good" vs "bad" ones:

I noticed they decided to show on the recap episode a conversation between Ana Lucia and Goodwin where she asks him if he had killed Nathan. He says Nathan wasn't a good person, that's why he wasn't on the list.

I think that's a major point point for us to figure out the other's intent.

As for figuring out what makes one "good" or "bad", I remember on Claire's flashback Zeke telling Ethan he was supposed to come back with a list. So it must be something that Ethan could notice by hanging with them. Maybe that's why they hadn't come for Locke (and Jack, and ..?) yet - they hadn't identified the good ones from the bad ones.

Anonymous said...

Did Henry actually leave the hatch at the end of the episode?

Anonymous said...

Awesome theories, but i have a couple more.

My cousin had an interesting theory regarding Michael. He says that he could have set up HGI, not for others, but for himself. If the survivors think that HGI killed Ana (and Libby) it will further their desire to go after the Others (and rescue walt)

One thing i want to comment on that i think is very interesting is Ana is one of the only survivors that actually WANTED to go home and she was killed. Kate was arrested, Jack was going to a funeral...etc

Anonymous said...

I don't think Libby is dead, not yet at least. I think all the teasing of her in Hurley's past, all the comments he makes about "where do I know you from," I think they will be wrapped up at some point. It is more then likely, like you said, that she'll be in some sort of coma for a few episodes. If the season finale is like it was last season where there were multiple people's flashbacks to sum up some of the story lines, I think we'll have a Hurley remembers how he knows Libby just in time for Libby to die type of deal. That might help wrap up her storyline a little bit. Just my two cents. Keep up the good work Brian.

Anonymous said...

Libby was not shot in a critical place. Anna Lucia was shot in the heart. Rewind and freeze, the first shot looks to be off the the right, MAYBE grazing her. The initial pause actually makes it look like BOTH shots miss, but when she's ready to collapse, the only one that looks to be a hit is in the lower right abdomen. In reality, this type of wound is NOT initially fatal, but is a slow death. It's unlikely that she would fall over dead from a wound like that. She shouldn't even pass out unless it's more of a faint. She would pass out due to blood loss eventually. This type of wound that leaves the person alive, since it severs the intestines, and possible the Liver.. there is human waste that seems into the body. It takes a while for you to die, sometimes a couple days, sometimes hours, but it's NOT going to happen in the first 5 minutes.

I understand that she's not signed for next season, so my guess is that she dies, but NOT initially... I think she may have around a couple episodes. I believe that she'll come to to reveal Michael's deed AFTER they leave to go after the "others".

Libby's death also falls in line with the numbers curse... bad things happening to those connected with those who "use" them.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the numbers add up to 108... I don't think you know how serious people are about this stuff.
Some people go so far as to note the document that Locke is drawing the map on, and do research on the that work to see is and how it may be relevent to the plot. (BTW, THANKS!).
Other go so far as to separate audio tracks to left right and center to identify and find hidden whispers that may offer clues to the island.

The scary thing is, the creators of Lost actually DO put thought into things like this. The Document that Locke sketched the map is a French work that IS relevent his his stuggle with faith in the timer/button in the hatch.

Anonymous said...

As for needing spies.. I don't think this is needed. The Lost Experience and the para Psychology experiments, as well and their interest in Walt suggests that they may be doing some sort of "remote viewing" of our survivors. They are likely being observed, if not part of an experiment. The hatch could be a Skinner box(which I'm starting to believe it is). I believe the "whispers" are either the "others" or some of these paranormal empowered people(the children? could they be trained in remove viewing?) It's suggested that the whispers are children... could they be in a training facility for this sort of thing? Could they be observing the crash survivors for Dharma as some sort of of great human behavioral experiment?

Anonymous said...

anacronisms in the hatch.

Several episodes ago, when Libby and Hurley were doing laundry, Libby noted that the Washer and Dryers are newer than everything else. Sure enough, it's a front loader that looks to be only a couple years old. I also noticed in last night episode that the stovetop is a ceramic flat top, which is an anacronism as well. I would expect Autum Gold or Green 70's appliances, but these are noticably recent model. And you don't just drop these upgrades from a parachute, you also don't call sears for installation. They want us to know that this is noticed by the survivors(Libby) so this may have something to do with the plot, but I never see anyone mention it. If they're going to replace these things, why not replace the film with a video tape/TV or at least give them a CD player or update their Music or Book collection as well. Because it's a Skinner box?

Brian said...

anonymous (see, this is why you need to have some sort of name! You have no idea who I'm talking to!) - great point about doing the "Remote Viewing" deal with our Survivors.

The whispers haven't been around in a while, but could definitely be the "residue" of some sort of telepathic activity going on with Walt / other children on the Island.

Anonymous said...

Good theories peopple, I finally watched the episode this morning and I was blew away! Im sure Ana Lucia is dead but I have lots of doubts about Libby. I think she wont be dead for now. Just my two cents :P

A.J, CR.

Anonymous said...

Hey, great entry! This is the Brian we remember! =)

Anonymous said...

Let's say Henry escaped and took the wounded Libby with him... that would make "two for the road", right?

Then, she wouldn't be able to spill the beans about Michael, and she could probably get good enough medical care to survive. Then we would be able to see her back story later on.

Or, Henry could be taking her back to live with the Others, if she already was one of them...

Anonymous said...

"It’s possible that he thrust out at Ana-Lucia in rage since she did kill two Others… but so did Eko."

My memory's a little shakey, but wasn't Eko also a "good one?" I mean, they tried to kidnap him. Did they try to kidnap Ana Lucia? I can't remember, but if not, then maybe "Henry Gale" did not fear attacking her because for whatever reason, she is not valuable to the Others.

Anonymous said...

Re: Hanso commercial, that was Carlton Cuse.

Re: Who is a "good person", I think we may be going down the wrong path by thinking of this in moralistic terms. Perhaps the "good ones" speak the binary language of moisture vaporators? I can see why the others would desire that skill, as well as speaking Bocce. I forget, did anyone speak Bocce before they were abducted?

Anonymous said...

Question: It's been a while and my memory is patchy... I only remember there being one "other" that Anna Lucia killed (Goodwin, right?). Who was the other one?

About "Good Ones" and Lists: I think they send in telepaths specifically to cataloge and "listen" to people's beliefs and past. Those who are more adaptable and open to new ways of thinking are easier to "assimilate" for lack of a better word. Those who are strong minded (aka Jack, Sawyer) would reject any attempt to brainwashing or whatever it is they are doing to the captives. But, in order to do this they have to be close to the survivors. On the tailies side this wasn't a problem because they landed pretty close to "home base" and there weren't that many of them. On the other side... we've got a lot more minds to read and they are farther away. It takes more time to figure out who is "good" and who isn't in the larger group.

Thanks for the great stuff, Brian!

-cas

Anonymous said...

thanks for the great theories. other sites tend to go off on wild tangents, but i believe, as i think you do, that most of the explanations for what we have seen are more literal; what the producers show us is usually not so far off from the truth.

ie, we think the hatch and desmond have been abandoned but we see two new dishwashers and think someone must be restocking the hatch every so often. then, a little while later, voila, a load of supplies is dropped. 99% of the time, the answers to our questions make total sense within the reality of the show, and even though their is a paranormal element to the show, most of the answers so far have been very simple once they are revealed.

so, thanks for keeping your speculation to the 'facts' as they are presented on the show. one of the best lost blogs i've found.

Anonymous said...

Libby's Lost and Gone Forever.

Anonymous said...

The first thing I thought when michael started talking was "bullsh.t!". We know about the fake beard and what not, like Jack and Kate do. I really hope they don't pretend like that didn't happen. Because if Jack has any brains, it appears like he does, he should figure out Michael is lying to get his son back. He should know that they only act like they live in peace with the nature etc. If Michael actually saw their camp it wouldn't be anything like he described.
one more thing fake henry was trying to manipulate locke to let him go. I think there's no truth to him being on a mission for locke.
and brian, awesome blog. keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

"One for the road ": A final drink taken just before leaving on a journey.

To be clever they changed the saying to "Two for the road.”

This is probably in reference to Ana Lucia and Jack's father, especially since they were both drinkers. Anyone else notice the name of the bar when Ana Lucia dropped off Jack’s father? I think it was something like “Cocktail Bar”, but just after the name of the bar, almost cut off the screen, were the words “The Last.” I might be reading too much into this, but I think this symbolizes where Ana’s and J.F.’s roads split. His choice was a dead end. Although, I guess ultimately so was hers, via Michael.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and by the way, awesome Blog. It's nice to see there are people out there that obsess over the details like I do. Well done Brian.

Anonymous said...

Just a little something you didn't talk about. Did you notice it was Sawyer who bumped into the car? Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny.

Anonymous said...

just checking ou tv.com guide on the next episodes on lost when i realised this:

"Three Minutes"
First aired: 5/17/2006 Production Code: 222
A determined Michael convinces Jack and several castaways to help him rescue Walt from "The Others." With Jack away, Locke is left in charge of the hatch and must decide if he should believe Henry and not push the button, risking everyone's safety. Meanwhile, the events that happened to Michael after he left are finally revealed. Lastly, Meanwhile, Charlie struggles with Eko's decision to discontinue building the church.
does this mean that michael is not dead?

Anonymous said...

For the season finale, is it confirmed it is a desmond flashback episode? My friend was looking through something and he found a description of the finale saying it is a Desmond centric episode, revealing stuff about his life when he was in the hatch.

Brian said...

There were rumors of a Desmond-centric season finale for a while, but I think they've finally been confirmed - which makes me giddy like a school girl on "free pony day" at school.

That makes at least one of my "storylines that MUST be wrapped up this year" a reality. Hooray!

Much more on this later...

Anonymous said...

I think things are more complicated than they appear. Here are some Ideas:

1. There are at least two sets of others. Wnen Michael tells about the "others" he encountered, he describes them as living a very primitive life. His description reminds of the the childern in tattered clothes who's feet we saw in one of the earlier episodes. Henry, Ethan, and Goodwin, on the other hand don't look like that at all. They are clean-shaven, and, althrough their clothes aren't new, one wouldn't say they are thread-bare.

2. Hanso Foundation was involved in mental health research. Libby and Hurly were patients at a mental hospital. Is it possible that the hospital belonged to the Hanso Foundation? Libby, and possibly Hurly, may have been cured by the scientist who are now "others".

3. Hanso Foundation also does mathematical research. That's a tie in for the numbers. The numbers may predict some event outcomes, like winning and bad luck to those around the person who used them to win.

Just some ideas.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to type out the transcript of the interview about michelle r, it was interesting.

I do wish people wouldn't drop in information about future shows so lightly though. Call me pernickety but I don't like to hear that the next episode is *character*-centric, because I love the buzz of realising who is focal during the episode. I feel the information is almost spoilerish because you can extrapolate which story arc is going to influence the plot, it may be obvious but still, can you at least see my point? Am I being anal? Probably, but those buzzes are what make the show so exhilirating for me.

Regards,

SJ

Brian said...

SJ - I agree completely. It ensures that certain characters are still alive and hints at where certain storylines are going.

I think the key thing is to not find out until the week of the episode - at that point, there's no risk of "ruining" any suspense of episodes that will air before that character-centric episode.

Sadly, right now I know the centricity of all the remaining episodes this season - which sucks because it ensures that certain characters (who I could envision dying this week or next week) don't.

It's the nature of the beast. There's such a fine line between analyzing and spoiling the show that you inevitably end up finding out too much information once in a while.

But we can add "future episode discussion" to the list of "spoilers" that won't be mentioned on the site if you guys want? Or is that going crazy overboard? Just let me know.

Anonymous said...

I'd strongly bet that Libby survived the two bullets. I predict, like someone earlier suggested, that she'll hang on for a bit and then b4 the end of the season, die. In the meantime, it will be revealed, probably in a Hurley back-story, something more about Libby and give some idea on why she was in the instituation with him.

Anonymous said...

Future espisode discussion? To me, the fun is trying to figure out what's going on, this involves discussing what we know of future plot lines. (within reason)

ABC lets you know the plot two or three weeks out. The way I see it, if they release this info, then it's not earth shattering information. Sure it may ruin the previews, but I feel they're completely deceptive anyway. I don't pay much attention to them.


Lets LOOK at the future episodes. (don't read this paragraph if you're concnerned about knowing) We know certain people mentioned should survive the next couple of episodes. We know something is going to happen with the hatch, We know that Michael is going to convince the survivors to go after the others, and in the finaly, we know that they DO play on getting Walt back.

Is any of this eath shattering? We know someone doesn't die this week, or next... but is that a spoiler? Only from a misleading preview. We don't know if Libby survives, we don't know if they figure michael out in time, and the lost world as we know it is about to be turned upside down.

Well, OK, some people MAY like to be completely surprised my the episode, but perhaps that's a risk one takes when reading a blog full of obsessed Lost fans?

I say let us discuss future episodes.. though within reason.

Anonymous said...

One more thought to throw out there.

Could they(Jack and co) catch Henry on the way out? How would he respond? Would they believe him?

If henry fears "him" would he really return? Does he have a choice?

I think he's gone, but I want to bring up the possibility.

Anonymous said...

Brian,

Thanks for your reply...

I think discussing future episodes and their 'centricity' is fine, maybe highlight the text in black or put a brief spoiler warning. And I know I'm being pedantic and that the info is there for the taking but there's been an awful lot of spoilers this season that I've tried hard not to see, it seems they can be thrust in your face by well-meaning but slightly inconsiderate people. I try and take them on the chin but they always leave a sour taste in my mouth.

I love to analyse and read analysis of the shows but don't want the inside scoop.

Yes, anonymous, I also get a lot of enjoyment from working out what's going on, but that's a bit of a simplistic view from a lost fan isn;t it? :-P :-) That's only one facet of the hexagon etc etc!

I'm just feeling anti-spoiler a lot this season because being in England I had the luxury of downloading watching all the Season 1 eps in pretty much one huge bumper package. That was fun, although I missed out on the analysis.

This season seems like torture with all the breaks but at least I get to hear the wacky theories and read about all the geeky eastereggs I missed.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

-SJ

Anonymous said...

also, I want to add that for us, the deceptiveness of the trailers has been a whole barrel of fun, even though i think they are not exactly endorsed by the authors. The jin talking thing was hilarious and drove us completely mad for week.

originally though, the trailers were very annoying because we couldn't find them and everyone was posting indiscriminately about them. i could also understand how people might want discrete warnings if preview stuff is discussed, although personally that doesn't affect me.

-SJ

Anonymous said...

Look, if people really feel like there are spoilers here, don't read the analysis until AFTER the episode. Brian is only taking guesses, trying to figure out something from what we know. Its like we have a couple of clues, see if you can find the stories before the episode. Brian is just extremely good at it, but he is still guessing. And cmon, knowing that people are alive because its a person centric episode? Going one or two weeks in advance, we usually know when someone is about to die, since ABC builds it up before hand. I agree having a Ana - centric episode pretty much told us she was going to die, but in all, its just about taking guesses.

Amy said...

CAS said: "I think they send in telepaths specifically to cataloge and 'listen' to people's beliefs and past."

That's what the Puffy Black Cloud is for, right? It saw that Eko was "good"... and, when it tried to drag Locke down that hole in season one, Locke wasn't afraid of it, because he's "good", too? Was it going to bring him to be with The Others?

And, hey, where has that Puffy Black Cloud been these days anyway?

Anonymous said...

Eko was a drug dealer, and a thug. Definitely not a "good" guy. The smoke monster really i think is protecting something. One thing, if the others have this thing protecting them, how do they control the smoke monster?

melodrama said...

Ok I just saw another Hanso Foundation commercial on ABC during the Avian Flu movie, it advertised this site:

http://www.sublymonal.com/

We need to make a site just to keep tabs on ABC's clues!

Anonymous said...

i was watchin episodes 18 and 21 today and i noticed that the guy hurly is playing connect 4 with in the mental hospital in ep 18 ( the guy who keeps saying the numbers over and over again)looks just like a guy in the dharma video lock and eko watched in ep 21. the guy in the dahrma vid is in a white coat next to a woman with a clipboard. he looks important and he may have been on the island with dharma wen 1 of the incidents happened and thats how he went mental and ended up in hurleys hospital saying the numbers, the guy may even be hanso lol
from geordie