Coming Soon: Finding Lost S5!

Hey all! So... the season 5 book has officially gone to the printer, and I saw the full cover the other day (front/spine/back) and it was gorgeous. Just when I thought the s4 was my fave cover ever, this one tops it. The designer put this creepy dark cloud all over the back cover, and I loved it.

Some of you will remember last year that I offered autographed copies of the S4 book if you ordered them directly from me. I had an overwhelming response that was great, and I'd like to extend that same offer. The problem this time around is the S5 is a full two-and-a-half signatures longer (eep). So where the S4 book had been 224 pages, this one is 304 ("Wait, at the same cover price?? Oh, Nikki, you spoil us!"). That also means, however, that it's going to weigh more, and until I have the books in my hand I won't know just how much more. I don't think shipping will be much more expensive this time around, but I'll have to figure out exactly how much more and then I can let everyone know.

So what we can do this time around is, if you're interested in a signed advance copy (I'll have them in my hands about 3 weeks before Amazon will), email me and give me your full address, and then I can keep a list of them so I can figure out shipping costs when I have the book in my hands. This is NOT a commitment from you to buy anything -- if the shipping is more than expected, I certainly wouldn't expect you to pay it. This is just so I have a list, and then I can email you back, let you know the shipping and send you the options on how to pay, and we can get things moving. :)

So send me an email with your address if you're interested. It's $14.95 if you live in the U.S., and $16.95 in Canada (no tax). I'll figure out shipping on top of it. Also, I still have copies of all of the other Finding Lost books, so if you're interested in more than one (a COMPLETE Finding Lost library, anyone??) let me know that, too. :) The first book is $17.95 U.S., $19.95 Cdn (it covers seasons 1 & 2) and the rest of them are the same price as the S5 book.

And in other news, my publicist told me the other day that he wants to do a launch for this book. I was surprised, and said I thought maybe a launch for the final book to sort of celebrate the series, but he thinks the S5 book would be a great one to launch because the show's still on the air, people are buzzing with excitement over the upcoming final season, the Lost rewatch is in full swing, etc. etc. The launch would be held somehwere in Toronto probably in mid-to-late October. So I'm just putting the word out there because I'm hoping some of my dear Nik at Nite readers would be able to make it, and I could meet you for the first time! And then I'll do a long academic lecture on Time Travel in the Land of the Jacobites, followed by a close analysis of Desmond's shirt-unbuttoning. (Wait... stop running away!) OK. Maybe I'll skip the time travel portion of that lecture...

When I know more details, I'll post them, but here's hoping I can finally meet some of you. We could make it a Nik at Nite meet-up!

2.08 Collision

Follow along! The episode guide for “Collision” is in Finding Lost, pp. 218-223.

Another great episode. Love her or hate her, this AL flashback is amazing, and gives new insight and sympathy to a character who’s barreled through this season as a wall of rage. I LOVE that scene at the end where she and Jack finally come face to face again. They each recognize the other, remembering when they’d last crossed paths in a bar at the airport, and how vastly different their lives – and they – are now. As the two leaders, they’ve have two very different experiences. And now, she stands in the jungle as the failure. She’s just been abandoned by her people, who have completely lost faith in her. Jack’s lost a handful of people; she’s lost about 80% of hers. As she stares at Jack, we see a leader who is defeated, who has lost her self-respect and her pride, who has seen more death and fear than anyone on the other side of the island, and who has now pissed off one of the people in the other camp, meaning her life is NOT about to get any easier.

Fun things I noticed:
• I never get tired of badass Sayid. NEVER.
• Wow, Ana’s mom rolls over really fast. “NO, absolutely not, I will not put you in the field. Never. No way. Nyuh-uh.” “Fine, give me a transfer.” “Okay fine, here’s your car.” Sheesh.
• Why does her mom tell her the surprise of the birthday cake? I’ve always found that interesting: it’s like an insight into her character, not allowing her daughter that one moment of surprise and happiness. “Oh, they got you a cake. Try to look surprised.” Well, I wouldn’t have to TRY if you hadn’t TOLD me about the damn cake, Ma.
• That golf speech always cracks me up. My husband is a golf writer, constantly traveling around the world for pieces, and as a close-to-scratch golfer, he’s REALLY serious about it. So in our house, when the discussion isn’t about Lost, it’s about golf. I don’t golf, but I know a hell of a lot about the game. Jack and Kate having their “golf-off” always makes me laugh.
• Scenes of screaming babies always unnerve me. I always imagine the mother of the baby sitting just off-screen by the camera, fretting about how many takes they’re doing of this scene and how traumatized the infant must be. :::shudder:::
• Kate: “You really put it in there!” Jack: “That’s what she said.”
• Has there EVER been a moment on this show where Jack says, “Kate, please get me this STAT! It’s imperative that you hurry. This person will die if you don’t move RIGHT NOW” and Kate actually doesn’t just stand there gawking at the situation and have to be asked twice?
• Libby says AL’s a bad judge of character, because “I was with you when you put Nathan in the pit.” Yeah, and when AL questioned doing it, it was LIBBY who convinced her to stick with her gut and keep him in the pit.
• I don’t believe for a second that after EVERYTHING that has happened, the moment Eko says, “Ana Lucia” Jack’s mind would immediately go, “I’m sorry, what? You mean the Latina I bumped into at the airport? I remember she was ordering a tequila and tonic and then her cellphone rang. In fact, I saw the number on the display, and it was 323-555-2342.” I just don’t buy it. As much as the drama at the end requires both of them to have a memory of that bar scene, I might believe that they would remember each other by sight, but definitely not by name.
• This is the first time I noticed Jason wearing a redshirt. ;) But it’s not exactly fitting the definition, since usually redshirts are unnamed characters whose only purpose is to die.
• The Bernard/Rose reunion is one of the most wonderful moments in the entire series. It makes me well up with tears every single time.
• The Sun/Jin reunion is another great moment, but it pales in comparison to Bernard and Rose. It's not because I don't love seeing them together (I'm praying for a reunion in S6). It’s because Michael comes to the garden and tells Sun that Jin is OK. This after a week of her thinking her husband is dead... of fretting over a ring that to her, if she lost it, meant she may have lost her husband, too... of thinking she might be alone after all. Now she gets word he’s OK. What does she do? Does she run to the hatch and tell Jack she needs to go with them to find Jin so she can see him again? Does she run around the camp shouting with glee that her husband is alive? Does she beg Michael for details of just HOW okay he is and where he is and what she can do to get back to him? No. She does the laundry. Huh? This, from the woman who will later abandon her own child to return to her husband via crazy Dharma Lamp Post Plane? It doesn’t add up.
• I’ve also always thought it was a little strange that Jin walks back into the camp and everyone jumps up with huge smiles on their faces and rushes over to greet him, rather than thinking, “Aw, CRAP, I guess this means no rescue?”

Things that have new meaning:
• AL’s partner, Mike, is the guy who interrogates Hurley in “The Beginning of the End” when Hurley freaks out and is involved in the police chase.
• I love that scene of Eko and Locke staring at each other for the first time, and Locke’s simple, “Hello.” The alarm has just sounded, the button has been pushed, and now they are staring each other down. It foreshadows the ultimate war they will have over the button, and Locke being by Eko’s side when Eko dies.
• Sayid has the long speech about his life as a torturer and what he’s done when AL asks him if she should kill him, and concludes it with, “Maybe you were meant to.” WHOA!! Talk about foreshadowing. Not only is that definite destiny talk, but he’s suggesting maybe her purpose for being on the island is to kill him as punishment for his crimes, as if a higher purpose put her there for that reason. In S5, he’ll believe his own destiny is to kill Ben Linus BEFORE he can perpetrate the crimes, and that a higher being put him there.
• AL says she’s already dead because she was shot, but lived. It made me think of Locke, who was momentarily dead before Jacob touched him (I think) and who felt dead afterwards, like his life had no purpose. And now… IS dead. :::sniffle:::

2.07 The Other 48 Days

Follow along! The episode guide for “The Other 48 Days” is in Finding Lost, pp. 212-218.

In a recent comment on one of the other episodes, one of my readers mentioned that they didn’t care for this episode at all because they really didn’t care much about the Tailies. I’ll agree that where we got 25 hours about the Losties in season 1, that same period is summed up in 42 minutes in this episode, but at the same time I think “The Other 48 Days” is extraordinary. It’s beautiful storytelling, and amazing writing. The attention to detail is superb – right from the beginning, the writers keep inserting things in there that make us remember what the Losties were going through on the other side of the island. There’s a guy screaming because of his leg on the beach. The Losties had the marshal. They eventually silenced him with a gun (and added smothering) but in the case of this guy, they didn’t have the luxury of a gun. They had to sit there and listen to him scream for days. The Tailies had children; there were no children on the other beach. They dealt with kidnappings and deaths. The Losties burned the Fuselage to dispose of the dead bodies; Eko pulled the dead bodies out of the ocean one by one, and then they buried each one of them. Without any tools of any kind. When Ana Lucia shoots Shannon at the end of the episode, bringing us right up to the moment that the previous ep ended on, it’s completely different. At the end of “Abandoned,” we looked at the fury on Sayid’s face and thought, “You go, dude… hit her. Just HIT HER.” But now, we see what Ana’s been through as the leader of this group, how she had to be a combination of Jack and Sawyer – a leader who doles out tough love and who refuses to get attached to anything.

Fun things I noticed:
• That opening scene is freakin’ excellent, complete with plane chair flying at the camera.
• When Jack showed up on the beach, he was met with a group of people standing there dazed or screaming, and no one was trying to save or help anyone else, except for Boone, who was trying his best, despite not being very good at it. Ana Lucia has Eko to help her, and the two of them save as many people as they can together.
• At first I was thinking it’s interesting that Goodwin and Ethan used their real names, but then realized, what good would it do to make up fake ones? It’s not like the survivors would have been able to find them out by knowing their real names. Which, of course, makes Ben’s fake name of “Henry Gale” even funnier… there was no real reason to lie other than the fact it’s WHAT BEN DOES.
• Bernard doesn’t have the same unbending faith that Rose does.
• I love the way they do the fastforward scenes at the end to remind us of what happened and quickly go through ground. Did anyone else notice that the drumbeat was the same as the Previously On drumbeat that always opened Battlestar Galactica?
• That scene with the radio is awesome. I still remember in season 1 when you could hear the person on the radio when Boone’s in the Beechcraft say, “WE’RE the survivors of Flight 815!” and then to see the other side of it in this scene was exhilarating the first time.

Things that have new meaning:
• When Emma regains consciousness she asks if they’re in L.A. and AL says “We’re not there yet.” The yet takes on a new meaning in light of S5… if they do change time and the plane lands in L.A., AL was right. Will we see Zack and Emma be reunited with their mom, even if it’s just a brief alternate universe moment? I really hope so.
• AL stares at the kids longingly, and they’re the only people she actually becomes attached to. By the next episode, we’ll know why.
• Excited chills went down my spine when we actually saw one of Jacob’s lists for the first time. EEEEE!!!
• Ana Lucia shows Goodwin the knife, and explains it’s U.S. Army issue, and probably 20 years old. Wrong: it’s more like 50 years old, since it would have come off one of the 18 soldiers who came to the island in 1954 and who Alpert’s people killed by order of Jacob. SO cool to see this detail so early in the game.
• I’m still wary of Libby, as much as I love her character. She’s a clinical psychologist, yet also knows a lot about medicine. Despite her saying that it’s because she started off in med school, it just seems strange. Notice how she keeps AL on the path of believing Nathan is the bad guy, which would deflect attention away from Goodwin.
• I found it odd in retrospect to see the Quarantine word on the inside of the Arrow station. The reason the word is on the inside of the hatch at the Swan is because that bunker was built for the express purpose of dealing with the aftermath of the “Incident.” The Arrow station already existed before the Incident, so it wouldn’t have had that word on it. It had to have been added later, either after the Incident or after the Purge.
• That glass eye always freaks me out (moreso because last week I was talking about Crazy-Eyes Des and suggesting maybe HE had a glass eye, forgetting about the one in the chest!) Who does the eye belong to? It would actually be kinda nice if we never find out, and we can just speculate for eternity. Could it belong to Mikhail? Was he working at the Arrow station, became pissed with Dharma and defected to the Others? Maybe they convinced him he didn’t need the eye, and helped him sew it shut (we do see it briefly and there doesn’t appear to be a socket to put a glass eye into) and he wore an eyepatch from that point on while working at the Flame?
• Interesting that the Arrow station was actually a defense station (we discover that in S5 when Chang is doing the orientation video for it in “Because You Left”) yet here it doesn’t look like anything of the sort.

2.06 Abandoned

Follow along! The episode guide for “Abandoned” is in Finding Lost, pp. 205-210.

I haven’t pretended to be a fan of Shannon. She was irritating from the very beginning – suntanning herself and giving herself pedicures on the beach while everyone else was foraging for food, burning the dead, trying to find water. When Boone tried to give her food, she refused. The only time she was useful was when she was trying to show up Boone. As with many characters, they become likable only when we see their flashback (see: Kwon, Jin Soo). So perhaps it was unfair that she didn’t get a flashback until now, and the character was never given a fair shot with us. But here’s the problem: I find her sudden likability in this episode a bit of a cheat. She was treated badly by a horrible stepmother. She was told over and over again that she was useless and would never find her own way. So she decided she would show them… and she gave herself pedicures on the beach. Sawyer might have sat around being a complete dick in the beginning, but that behavior lasted all of a week before he was starting to become a useful member of the group. The Shannon who stands on the mountain and refuses to even attempt to listen to the Frenchwoman’s distress call despite everyone asking her to just TRY is not the same Shannon in this episode who is likable, talented, and trying hard. They haven’t exactly made me like Shannon in this episode – they’ve simply created a new character that I like a lot more than that blonde bimbo on the beach.

Fun things I noticed:
• That scene where Shannon starts kissing Sayid and they stop abruptly always makes me laugh. I wish they’d let me in the writers’ room so I could write the dialogue for that one. Shannon: “Is that a gun in your pants or are you just happy to see me.” Sayid: “Uh… both.”
• Sawyer always looks stricken when he’s caught pretending to be the bad guy. Notice the instant regret on his face when Michael hears him talking about him.
• Shannon’s actually lost all of her immediate family – her mother, father, and stepbrother.
• Charlie is SO mean-spirited in this episode. His comments to Locke about Claire always drive me insane. (I checked my book and I go on at length about the wrongness of it, so I won’t repeat myself here.)
• Do you think Sayid is telling the truth about believing Shannon (before he sees Walt) and that he’ll never leave her, or is he just trying to talk her off the ledge?

Things that have new meaning:
• There’s been a lot of speculation that Libby could have been an Other or may have been connected with Dharma. I’ve often wondered if the fact she’s a clinical psychologist could have connected her to Dharma? Psychological experiments were a big factor in what they did… and an even bigger curiosity to the Others.
• I really love the connection between Locke and Claire. Could there be any link between this and what later happens to Claire? Locke is the only one who can see Jacob in his cabin, and he’s the one given the instructions in “Cabin Fever.” In that same episode, he sees Claire sitting in a chair inside. The jury’s still out on what her deal is, but both of them are connected to Christian in this scene (Claire biologically) and I wonder if the writers were purposely giving us these scenes of the two of them together for that reason.
• Watching Sayid cradle Shannon made me think of the scene of Nadia’s death in “The Incident.” Man the writers have put Naveen through the ringer. Poor Sayid loses both of the women he loves in horribly violent ways.
• Sayid shoots Elsa in “The Economist” the same way Shannon is shot.
• Notice the horrified look on Michael’s face when he sees someone killed with a bullet (Shannon is hit in approximately the same spot as he’ll shoot Libby).

2.05 ...And Found

Follow along! The episode guide for “…And Found” is in Finding Lost, pp. 197-200.

Oh, how I love this episode. While Special was mostly a Michael flashback, with one Walt flashback scene thrown in, this episode was the first that was truly shared by two characters. We have their separate memories of the past – Jin as a humiliated doorman, trying to put his “shameful” past behind him, and Sun as the woman who wants to do something with her life other than settle down and have children. When the two flashbacks come together, and we flash to the present, with it appearing like Jin and Sun are both remembering the moment when they first met, it’s beautiful.

Fun things I noticed:
• Sawyer: “You think they’re gonna eat us?” hahaha!
• Poor Jin… he was knocked down so many times for his lower class, it’s a wonder that he ever got up the nerve to ask Sun out.
• I know I put this as the highlight of the ep in my book, but the look on Garcia’s face when he delivers the line that his dog crapped out $1.35 in nickels is PRICELESS. It’s like he’s on the verge of laughing, and he’s daring Yunjin Kim to do the same.
• I still love that scene of Locke suddenly appearing before Sun and saying, “Bad day?” He knows from bad days!
• This is for any of my readers who can speak Korean: Sun always refers to Jin as (this is the phonetic spelling only): Jin-soo-shay or Jin-soo-shee, depending on how she says it. I always thought this was a term of endearment, but then Jae Lee referred to him that way in this ep. His name is Jin Soo Kwon, so in Korean do you say the first and middle name of the person you’re addressing, along with “shee”? What does it mean?

Things that have new meaning:
• In the ongoing destiny vs. free will argument, Jin mocks the “destiny book.” I wondered, watching this scene, if the writers will have Sun wearing something orange when they’re (hopefully) reunited in S6?
• I used to watch the scene of Jack trying to cheer Sun up as just that – Jack trying to cheer her up. But now I wonder if there’s any significance to him wearing a fake ring? In some religions, that ring is the symbol of fidelity: you take it off, and it’s a sign that you’re unfaithful. So here’s Jack wearing a replica of the ring that Sarah originally put on his finger, and looking her in the eye and convincing her it’s the same one. We can obviously see this early on that he’s an excellent liar, which will serve him well when he pulls off The Lie of season 5.
• Michael and Libby talking about trust issues: that’s rich.
• Sawyer leaves Michael behind and tells Jin that he lives by an “every man for himself” code… THAT is the thing that will change the most in Sawyer by S5. In Dharmaville, his concern is the safety of everyone, and that every man for himself philosophy will be gone.
• When they find Goodwin, he’s on the side of a hill that has a lot of trees and looks like it's close to the jungle, but when Ben takes Juliet to see him in “The Other Woman,” the hill doesn't have any trees on it, and appears to be more in a clearing.
• I still don’t know what Eko means when he tells Jin that he’s not married, but “worse.” It could refer to a lot of things – his allegiance to the drug runners… his “marriage” to God as a “priest”… his tie to a brother that he believes he dragged down, etc.
• Why do the Others have grubby clothes? Why do none of the women apparently wear pants, and instead bathe in mud?
• That teddy still creeps me out. The bear belongs to Zack, one of the children who will be kidnapped, and who we’ll see “watching” Jack in S3. This time I noticed that the left leg of the bear was tied up completely, like it was in a cast… perhaps a symbol of Locke? (It was his right leg.)
• Kate searches the letters rather frantically, and acts as if she’s just making sure that that really is their bottle. She says to Sun, “I didn’t say goodbye.” And when Sun asks, “You mean to Sawyer?” Kate stares for a second and gives a half-hearted nod. DOES she mean Sawyer? Or did she write a letter formally saying goodbye to someone that she left without saying goodbye to? Her mother? Her husband? Tom?

2.04 Everybody Hates Hugo

Follow along! The episode guide for “Everybody Hates Hugo” is in Finding Lost, pp. 189-194.

OK, I guess this episode was the one where people started hating Ana Lucia. And now I’m remember that pretty much up to the point where she was shot, I felt the same. I had my moments of feeling sorry for her, but she’s not doing herself any favours in this ep. She’s awful. I always thought the writers didn’t do her justice – so much more could have been done with this character who, like Jack, was forced into a leadership position, but unlike Jack, had NOTHING. No food, water, tools, guns, nothing. What they did right about the Tailies was present them as more Lord of the Flies than the Losties, but Ana Lucia is just SO grating that when we get to that scene where she finally faces Jack in the jungle, remembering who they were six long weeks earlier and how much she’d changed as a person since then, we’re supposed to feel sorry for her. It worked on me, but only because I had to overthink the scene. For most viewers, she was so vile by that point, NOTHING was going to make us sympathize. (And I will admit, when she was shot I threw my hands up in the air and whooped. So maybe I wasn’t really as different from everyone else as I’d like to think I was…) Someone needs to tell her to have a cluckety-cluck-cluck day. Or to just cluck off.

Fun things I noticed:
• Every time I see that opening, I have that Slim Smith song in my head for hours afterward. Man, that's a catchy tune.
• Michael: “So we’re friends now, huh?” WTF is Michael’s problem? Sawyer has never acted any differently. Michael is the one saying, “I don’t LIKE you anymore. You’re not allowed to play with my toys,” and stomping over to his side of the daycare. Sawyer just stands there aghast, putting up with Michael’s little tantrums. So annoying.
• Ana Lucia is the female Jack, ordering people around. But she’s even more of a dick.
• Yay, another montage!! (I can’t help but have that Team America song in my head every time I type that word . . . “Even Rocky had a montage!”)
• Bernard asking Michael about Rose is still one of my all-time favourite moments. It STILL brings tears to my eyes, made even better by Rose tucking away that Apollo bar for later. I just know I’ll be a weepy mess when they reunite… like I always am.

Things that have new meaning:
• Ana Lucia smiles at Sawyer, making me remember how the two of them will eventually get it on this season. I think my memory had buried that one deep, forcing me to forget because it knew I couldn’t handle the trauma.
• Libby starts the sweet chit-chat with Michael . . . her eventual killer.
• Watch when Sun is burying the bottle in the sand. Her wedding ring is there… it’s there… and then as she pats the sand, it’s not. Wonderfully done by the writers and director on this one.

2.03 Orientation

Follow along! The episode guide for “Orientation” is in Finding Lost, pp. 178-183.

While admittedly I grew a little tired of seeing that scene of Desmond holding the gun to Locke AGAIN while Kate hid in the shaft AGAIN and Jack yelled at Locke AGAIN, it’s awesome to watch this episode and see things for the first time that seem like old news to us now. That orientation video… the food store… Desmond’s crazy eyes.

Fun things I noticed:
• In the anger management class, one of the steps written on the blackboard to “transforming your anger” is “re-wire your hot button.” Locke’s hot button becomes the Execute one, and when he tries to re-wire it (as in, not push it)… ka-boom.
• I don’t think we ever actually see Locke smoke in a flashback, do we? The way Terry O’Quinn was holding the cigarette in his mouth made it look like he’s not a smoker, either. Then again, neither am I, so I could be wrong on that.
• What exactly was Helen doing in an anger management class? She seems like one of the calmest and most together people on the planet.
• Terry O’Quinn = brilliance.
• Why would Jack just hold a gun to Desmond’s head? Jack seriously goes off the rails in this episode, but then seems to go back to normal by the next one.

Things that have new meaning:
• “There was . . . an incident.” That orientation video is awesome to watch after having seen season 5. You see Radzinsky’s model in it (though the tiny computer has been added); Chang has the prosthetic arm after his arm was crushed in the accident; you realize that the Swan station had to be reimagined after what happened.
• The orientation film is dated 1980, so it took them 3 years to get their act together and fill in the place after the incident.
• Desmond mentions that every time he walks by that wall, his fillings hurt. Interesting that in “Some Like It Hoth,” Alvarez is killed when one of his fillings shoots out of his tooth and through his brain. Desmond needs to stop walking by that wall!
• In “316,” when Eloise is telling Jack to give Locke something that belonged to Christian, she says, “That’s why it’s called a leap of faith, Jack.” That line is an echo of Helen and Locke’s lines in this episode.
• I had completely forgotten that Jack was the first person to push the button. Ironic, considering that if Miles is right, then Jack is the reason they’re pushing the button in the first place!

2.02 Adrift

Follow along! The episode guide for “Adrift” is in Finding Lost, pp. 171-175.

Michael has always been a difficult figure on Lost. Many, many fans hated him after his betrayal at the end of season 2. Harold Perrineau was upset about the treatment of Michael in the fan community, and said publicly that in season 4, he blew up because fans wanted revenge against him (I actually thought his character redeems himself by dying, but anyway…). But there was something about the desperation of this man that kept me from hating him. I didn’t like what he did at the end of season 2, but I understood the length a father would go to for his son, especially after he’s lost Walt before. However, for me, this episode really tested Michael’s likeability for me. Sawyer attempts to save Walt, gets shot in the shoulder, then he pulls Michael out of the water saving him from drowning, and performs mouth-to-mouth on him, saving his life. And Michael is cold and arrogant and rude. I wanted Sawyer to throw him to the Dharma shark. Ahem…

Fun things I noticed:
• Poor Jin… this is the first of two times he’ll be floating in the water, only to wash ashore on the island once again. I felt so bad as we heard him call out, “Soya!” but Sawyer had to save Michael instead.
• I still wonder who drew that mural. Was it Desmond?
• Have I mentioned how much I HATE Susan? I have? Well, you have to listen to it again. I HATE SUSAN. This woman keeps claiming that she’s doing the best thing for Walt, and tells Michael that he has to stop thinking about himself, and she, on the other hand, says that Walt will have a wonderful life because of her new job as senior partner in a law firm in Rome. You will A) put Walt into a country where he doesn’t speak the language, surrounded by people who don’t speak his language, B) wrench him from his father so he’ll never have that relationship again, and C) allow him to be raised full-time by a nanny, so he really doesn’t have a mother, either. And THAT is the best thing for him? “Oh, don’t worry, Walt, are you homesick? Do you wish you had a real father? Do you miss having a mother? No worries… this $400 toy will make you feel better.” ARGH. Hate her and her attempts to buy her child’s happiness. She tells Michael that he doesn’t think about Walt’s best interests – was she thinking of his best interests when she dumped Michael’s ass and moved away? OK. End of rant.
• I love that Kate is distracted by the chocolate bars. I’ve always thought it was odd that in S5 when Sun gets that surveillance package, she immediately lifts up that layer of chocolates to grab the gun underneath. She’s not tempted to grab a chocolate or two?!

Things that have new meaning:
• I’ve said this before in this rewatch, but while much was made of Sawyer the Hero in seasons 4 and 5, he certainly shows all the signs here already. It’s sad seeing Sawyer go to such lengths to save Michael, knowing what Michael will do to him at the end of the season.
• Michael’s lawyer tells him that he’s looking at a David and Goliath situation, which could be said of just about everything on the island. Widmore is Goliath; Dharma is Goliath, and all these little Davids are running around trying to change things and save themselves.
• I always feel for Locke in this episode. When Desmond comes up with him, gun pointing at his head and says, “Ah yoo hem?” Locke says “Yes, I am.” He’s not lying – he thinks that Desmond thinks he’s his savior, and Locke believes that’s exactly what he is. So it comes as a surprise when Desmond uses the snowman riddle on him. That’s the first thing that begins to erode Locke’s hope. Jack's comments echo the ones he'll later say in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," when he mocks Locke's destiny talk and tells him he's delusional.
• Sawyer calls the island “home,” which signals the shift in season 2. In season 1, everyone was desperate to get off the island; in S2, they’re trying to figure out how to make the island their home.

2.01 Man of Science, Man of Faith

Follow along! The episode guide for "Man of Science, Man of Faith," is in Finding Lost, pp. 163-170.

I know there was a reason I adored this episode but for some reason it's slipped my mind... just give me a minute while I flip through my notes that I was making while watching.

"Roses are red
Violets are blue
Drop the gun, bruthah
Do I know you?"

No, that's not it. Wait, maybe this is the answer:

N.S.
+
D.H.

What's THAT doing there? Here are some more scribblings...

I ♥ Desmond I ♥ Desmond I ♥ Desmond I ♥ Desmond

Nikki Stafford-Hume
Nikki Hume
Desmond Stafford

No, that can't be it. Ooh, wait! Found it!

"Episode opens with Desmond's eye, then Desmond in underwear, then Desmond working out with no shirt, then Desmond in the shower. Could there BE a more perfect opening? No."

Ah. That was the reason...

Fun things I noticed:
• I’ve never noticed until now (duh) that Desmond does his morning routine at night. Locke and Jack are setting up the dynamite as Desmond is doing his “morning” workout routine, shower, and breakfast. I’m assuming he didn’t do one long sleep, but probably takes a couple of naps during the day as well; after all, he has to be up every 108 minutes all night long (it’s like having a newborn!!)
• Locke corrects Kate’s grammar – yet one more reason why I love him. :)
• Hurley’s conversation with Jack was HILARIOUS.
• Kate appears to be wearing the same striped shirt she was wearing on the way to the Black Rock, but didn’t she hand that one over to Doc Arzt right before he blew it up? Or was that a different shirt? (Man… my memory can’t even last two episodes these days…)
• When was Desmond almost a doctor?
• Did I mention I ♥ Desmond?
• I’ve never understood why, after the explosion of the hatch at the end of S2, all that was left was a rather small crater, when you consider the extensiveness of that station. Maybe what we saw was just the entry point that had opened into a crater, and the rest of it just filled in?
• Why would Jack instinctively hold a gun to Locke?
• Jack: “I’m intense.” Understatement of the century.

Things that have new meaning:
• Kate tells Jack in the S1 finale that she’ll have his back, but then she follows Locke back to the hatch. Will she turn on him in the S6 premiere after promising to have his back in the S5 finale?
• We now know that the other guy in the SUV was Shannon’s father, and Jack chose to let him die. But that scene always made me wonder – why was there ONE PERSON in all of emergency who knew how to intubate someone?? Isn’t that just a common thing that just about every ER intern, nurse, and doctor is supposed to be able to do? (Keep in mind I got all of my knowledge about working in an emergency room from ER.)
• It was really creepy for me watching Locke lower Kate down into the hatch after watching Juliet drop into the original shaft in “The Incident.”
• The beam of light that suddenly shoots up when Kate is almost at the bottom is exactly the same kind of beam we saw in “The Little Prince,” when Sawyer and Locke see it rise into the air.
• Desmond tells Jack, “You have to lift it up,” and it’s one of those lines I’ve never forgotten, looking for the significance of it ever since. What could he mean? Considering in “The Incident” Jack’s actions were more along the lines of “dropping it down,” I’d think he did the opposite of Desmond’s suggestion.
• Seeing that cemented-in electromagnetism has a WHOLE new meaning post-S5.
• It’s interesting to watch Jack taunt Locke about his destiny talk. While he did it in S1, this is the first time it takes on a “Nyah, nyah” tone, like Jack’s thinking what has happened proves Locke wrong. This is the tone he’ll continue to take for the rest of the season (and beyond).

Season 1 Recap

Well, we've made it through season 1, and it was a lot of fun to see not only how consistent some of the characters have been right from the beginning, but in some cases, how the writers were trying to figure out some of the characters and how different they've become as a result.

Jack was holier-than-thou pretty much from the beginning, but he had some very heroic moments: his efforts in saving everyone that first day were amazing, as was the way he took care of Boone and took control of that entire situation, even if he had a nervous breakdown the next day. He swings from being controlling with Kate (even condescending as if he's her parent) to aligning himself with her, asking her if she has his back in the finale.

Locke has developed from the unknown quantity in the beginning who had the miracle happen to him, who had "400 knives," who was hunting for boar, and who was an active member of the group to the one who found the hatch and became so obsessed with opening it he detached himself from the group. His actions led to the death of Boone. He's gone from seeing the eye of the island and thinking it's beautiful to looking into the mouth of terror in the finale and almost being dragged to his death. He saved Jack from falling over a cliff at the beginning of the season, and Jack saved him from being pulled into the hole at the end.

Kate has been one of the most consistent characters right from the start. At once tough and vulnerable, she has her Achilles heel in Tom's plane, but has a soft spot for others -- Claire, Sun, Jack, Sawyer -- and her tenderness often gets in the way of her judgment. I really loved this character in season 1.

Jin moved from angry Asian man, and Sun his subservient wife, to a lovely couple that had their own complex issues. But we know those issues will only become MORE complex in the next few seasons.

Sawyer showed signs of the hero he would eventually become -- jumping in the water after the rudder; pulling the gun on the Others; handing over all of his liquor bottles the moment Kate asked for them for Boone, etc. For the most part, Sawyer still played the part of the selfish ass, but his development just in season 1 is huge.

Hurley has been a fun guy right from the start, and we haven't yet begun to delve into his much deeper pain. That will happen in season 2. But I loved him right from the beginning, and he's another character who's remained pretty constant.

Chah-lie was a lovable mutt in season 1, but then he tells off Rousseau, calling her pathetic in the finale, and from that moment on he'll take on a cruel streak. He's won the trust of both Claire and Locke, and he'll lose that completely in season 2.

Claire was a happy hippie chick, and I read a few posts in the past year or so from fans asking what happened to her. I know what happened: motherhood. It's stressful, and when you don't have the luxury of disposable diapers or formula and there isn't a single other mother on that island who can help you, it made the poor girl feel lost and alone. Watch her in the next two seasons as she becomes stressed and worried about Aaron all the time. Not only that, but the poor thing lost her memory, and everything she knows in season 4 is what she'd pieced together in the previous 4 seasons... in season 5 she's just gone, but she'll be back next year.

The island was mysterious right from the get-go, with a monster at the beginning of the season that was dangerous to some, beautiful to others. There was one other person living on the island -- Rousseau -- but when Ethan invades their midst, they realize they're not alone on this island. In the season finale, the appearance of Tom and the rest of the Others on the boat signals that not only are there other people on the island, but they have an agenda, and it's not a nice one.

And then there's that hatch...

So what did you think of season 1? What were your favourite revelations you'd forgotten about? Were there storylines that you'd forgotten? What was the thing that resonated with you the most now that you've seen season 5?

1.24/25 Exodus Part 2

Follow along! The episode guide for “Exodus, Part 2” is in Finding Lost, pp. 150-159.

Oh, how I love this finale. Aaron is kidnapped and saved, Walt is kidnapped, the raft is blown up (and so is Arzt), the hatch is opened, Sayid gives Charlie the most wicked cauterization ever, and we get a hilarious Hurley flashback.

Fun things I noticed:
• The “previously on Lost” bit was said by someone else.
• Best. Opening. Ever. I don’t think I’ve ever been laughing so hard when the LOST whirs toward me on the black screen.
• Did anyone else notice that Hurley lost one of his carry-ons partway through his race to the terminal? He had a black and blue bag with him, and by the time he’s running to the man on the scooter he’s lost the blue one. (And he didn’t check it, because he still has it after the check-in.)
• I asked in the previous guide when it was that Jack officially hated Locke, and now I think it’s this ep, where he says that Boone’s death was a sacrifice the island demanded. For Jack, that would be where Locke’s obsessions officially became looney-tunes.
• I love how they contrast Locke the warrior with Locke the disabled man who needs to be carried onto the plane. His humiliation is so palpable there. But one question: if they don’t have the chair on the plane that can move him about… does he really have to last a 15-hour flight without going to the bathroom once? Now THERE is agony. No wonder he thought the plane crash was a salvation…

Things that have new meaning:
• I talk about this in my book, but it’s worth reiterating here: I’m intrigued by the focus on Aaron’s eye at the beginning of this episode. If the episode that follows is usually from the perspective of the person whose eye is featured in the beginning, then it would stand to reason that what we see in the episode is from his perspective. It’s always been this one detail that’s made me think he’s more important than we might think, and I was surprised when he didn’t return to the island with Kate. You’d think he’d be the one person the island would want back. But it could be a Charlotte thing, where he spends his life trying to get back there or something. (Can you tell I cannot WAIT until season 6???)
• I’ve never understood how Sawyer knew the Black Rock had sailed from Portsmouth, England in S5 when he’s talking to Horace, but now I see it says PORTSMOUTH in giant letters on the hull. Strange, then, that Locke immediately assumes Mozambique. Perhaps it originated from Portsmouth by way of Africa?
• There’s a lot of fate and destiny talk in this ep, and not just between Jack and Locke. Michael tells his mom (who, incidentally, WILL be the person to take him when they return) that Walt wasn’t supposed to be his, that this wasn’t part of the plan. Weird that a man so hell-bent on getting his kid back 8 years ago has changed his mind so much, but I guess the poor guy had given up when his EVIL ex-wife had made it near impossible for him to ever see him again (that and her evil pep-talk at the hospital where she said he was just doing this for himself… grr, I hate her). Sun believes in fate; Claire doesn’t.
• Hurley’s prediction of what’s in the hatch wasn’t actually far-off – there were probably TV dinners in there somewhere, and while there wasn’t a ton of TVs in this hatch, they were in the Pearl. But it definitely had a 1950s vibe to it (and 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s).
• Locke says that he believes hope is inside the hatch; yet after it’s opened, he slowly loses his hope on the island.
• Locke’s speech is integral to this entire series (it was used by theblackbox in the Destiny season 6 prep video):

LOCKE: Me, well, I'm a man of faith. Do you really think all this is an accident -- that we, a group of strangers survived, many of us with just superficial injuries? Do you think we crashed on this place by coincidence -- especially, this place? We were brought here for a purpose, for a reason, all of us. Each one of us was brought here for a reason.
JACK: Brought here? And who brought us here, John?
LOCKE: The Island. The Island brought us here. This is no ordinary place, you've seen that, I know you have. But the Island chose you, too, Jack. It's destiny.
JACK: Did you talk with Boone about destiny, John?
LOCKE: Boone was a sacrifice that the Island demanded. What happened to him at that plane was a part of a chain of events that led us here -- that led us down a path -- that led you and me to this day, to right now.
JACK: And where does that path end, John?
LOCKE: The path ends at the Hatch. The Hatch, Jack -- all of it -- all of it happened so that we could open the Hatch.
JACK: No, no, we're opening the Hatch so that we can survive.
LOCKE: Survival is all relative, Jack.
JACK: I don't believe in destiny.
LOCKE: Yes, you do. You just don't know it yet.

• OK, so Locke was wrong about the path ending at the hatch (maybe… season 5 ALSO ended at the hatch, so…) but he’s right about Jack believing in destiny, just not knowing it yet. By season 5, he believes in it completely.
• Sawyer muttering, “I ain’t no hero” to Michael certainly sounds ironic from a season 5 perspective. Also, you can see that he always had it in him right from the start, from jumping in the water to get the rudder to pulling out the gun to try to save Walt.
• Sitting by the hatch in the bushes, Jack asks Kate if she has his back, and she says yes. Fastforward to season 5, where they’re sitting by the hatch in the bushes, and Jack asks Kate if she’ll have his back, and she says yes.

1.23 Exodus, Part 1

Follow along! The episode guide for “Born to Run” is in Finding Lost, pp. 144-150.

One thing you can say about Team Darlton: They know how to do a season finale (take THAT, Tim Kring!) Every single one is phenomenal (and I have never been in the camp that hated the season 1 finale, which comes next… I thought the cliffhanger of what was in the hatch was kind of awesome, in the same way that the screen went white at the end of season 5). This first part showed us where the first half of the survivors were just before boarding the plane. And gave us yet another reason to hate Shannon.

Fun things I noticed:
• Man, it took a lot of guts (or something else) to walk into that camp the way Rousseau did. This is a woman who’s lived alone for 16 years, and stared at Sayid as if he were an alien, and now she waltzes into the camp like she’s one of them. It still creeps me out to see her moving silently through the jungle behind the camp.
• I always thought it was a little strange that Jack and Locke are chatting in this ep. I always saw the Boone thing as the real break between the two of them, which sparked all the philosophical arguments they’ll have next season, but here they are chatting (albeit disagreeing) about what Rousseau said.
• It’s interesting that the Others left the Swan alone for all these years. They must have known Desmond was in there, and what he was doing (Juliet chuckles about it in season 5, a moment that’s always baffled me for how laissez-faire she acts about the whole thing).
• Rousseau: “Dynamite. At the Black Rock. In the Dark Territory.” Hurley: “Well, that’s 3 reasons to go right there.”
• LOOOOVE the look on Arzt’s face when he hears that Montand lost his frickin’ arm.
• This ep contains two of my favourite scenes of the series: Jin and Sun making up (please please please let be this be a precursor to the same scene in season 6!!) and Sawyer telling Jack about Christian. It kind of makes their eventual dislike of one another kinda sad.
• The music in the launch scene is fantastic. I’ve always loved that majestic music.

Things that have new meaning:
• At the time we’re to assume she’s staring at Claire because Claire has a baby, but we know better now.
• Ana Lucia guesses that Jack’s not a drinker, but he is… we’ll see him in other flashbacks knocking them back, he just can’t hold it very well. He certainly becomes much better at it after the rescue…
• For everyone who will eventually hate Ana Lucia (and I’ll admit, I had my moments, but I really liked her in the end), this is the scene they should revisit. She’s warm, funny, and attempting to turn her life around.
• There are many lines in this episode that are filled with dramatic irony: Ana Lucia offering to trade places with Jack; Arzt telling Jack he should come along if they don’t all want to blow up (kind of true… THEY weren’t the ones who blew up).

1.22 Born to Run

Follow along! The episode guide for “Born to Run” is in Finding Lost, pp. 138-141.

I LOVE this Kate flashback. I know I’m always asking shippers to try to keep their thoughts to themselves when it comes to the Jate or Skate ships on Lost, but now I can finally admit why: because I couldn’t care if she ends up with either one. I’ve always been a Tate. Tom is so dear to me, I heart him immensely, and so does Kate. You can see the ease with which she hangs out with him or talks to him. She never has to pretend who she is around him, because he knows his Katie better than anyone. I've often wondered if the reason she can't find love with Sawyer or Jack is because she's always been trying to find Tom again, and neither one of them can live up to him completely. I’m always heartbroken in this episode, even when I know what’s coming.

Fun things I noticed:
• So many Kate flashbacks involve cornfields.
• I still laugh out loud at “This is the second track, and it’s called Monster Eats the Pilot.” Ha!!
• I never noticed Sawyer’s racist tendencies so much before. Notice how he always calls Sayid and Jin “Boy” but he never uses that condescending word on anyone else.
• I’ve always been deeply annoyed by the scene where everyone turns their back on Kate and walks away from her, and CLAIRE is one of them. I mean, hello?? Kate just delivered your baby about 48 hours ago. You can’t cut her a little slack for cripe’s sake? Claire will continue to prove herself to be a fair-weather friend. Watch how Charlie moves in and out of her good graces as the tides change. Sheesh.
• Jack tells Sun that he doesn’t see any reason why everyone else should know what she did. Only, you know, that it might clear Kate’s name, since they now all assume she did it? Thanks, Jack. Between Sawyer exposing Kate in this episode and then Jack covering up the real perpetrator, once again these two men undermine Kate the way they did in “Whatever the Case May Be.” It’s a wonder there are any ships at all. If I were her, I’d be just throwing in the towel on both of them at this point.

Things that have new meaning:
• Charlie’s actually absolutely right about the Drive Shaft album shooting up the charts because the world thinks he’s dead. He’s not so right about coming back alive, though. Wah.
• Walt telling Locke not to open the hatch is even creepier now in season 5 than it was at the time. Pretty much everything that has happened to them since then was because they opened that hatch. Though… the Others were separate from it, and as we’ll see in season 2, were already kidnapping the survivors before the hatch had been opened. But the hatch explosion changes who Desmond is, and because of how important he seems to be now and his link to Daniel, Walt could be hinting at him. Hmm… now I’m wondering if all the chaos of Pandora’s Box could be Desmond himself? (In which case, I’m happy to live in chaos. *cough*)
• To continue that thought, one worry fans have had for some time is that we’ve seen the last of Walt. He didn’t come back to the island, his specialness seems to have been made out to be something big in the beginning and then dropped when he left the island at the end of season 2. But maybe this is what it was meant for. Because he was special, he could see what Locke was doing, and he could warn him that he’s about to do something bad. This is the first time Locke gets advice from someone he trusts (and he does trust Walt’s instinct) and refuses to follow it, getting himself in trouble for his efforts. Walt is kidnapped at the end of the season, which spurs on Michael’s actions right to the end of season 2 and gives us an early indication of the Others and what they’re about (they probably gave Walt the specialness test they tried to give Locke in “Cabin Fever”). And then after a lot of bad things happen, Walt leaves. Do we really need to know more about him? Hasn’t he already proved himself to be a pretty interesting character with an important gift?
• Walt tells Locke not to open the hatch, which made me wonder just how much he could see. Is he like Chuck Bartowski, and he can see a flash like Chuck’s Intersect flashes, that show in rapid succession everything that’s going to happen on the island? Could he see the entire future that way?
• This is such a sad, sweet ending, with Kate remembering her childhood sweetheart and holding the plane and realizing what was lost. If you haven’t gone and watched the childhood video in preparation for season 6 yet, go do so after watching this ep. It’ll break your heart (in a good way).

1.21 The Greater Good

Follow along! The episode guide for “The Greater Good” is in Finding Lost, pp. 132-135.

The second Sayid flashback is a sad one, and the one that shows us he didn’t originally have a ticket for Flight 815 – he’d had his ticket changed from September 21 to September 22, putting him on the ill-fated island. Jacob must've had a hand in things…

Fun things I noticed:
• I always find it amusing that when people are tracking others in the jungle, they find such OBVIOUS things. It’s not like a footprint or a cracked branch. It’s more like, “Oh look, his left shoe! I have found A CLUE…”
• Again, hats off to Terry O’Quinn. When Locke shows up at Shannon’s funeral, he does so because he doesn’t want to hide from everyone, yet notice how he fails to complete a single sentence: here is the transcript:
It was my fault. We found a plane, a Beechcraft, in the jungle. It was lodged in the canopy so -- I would have gone up, but I -- my leg was hurt so he -- there was a radio inside and he thought he could -- look, his weight must have made the plane shift and it fell -- and -- it happened because he was trying to help us. He was a hero.
• Nice way to help Shannon lay her brother to rest… first, the “killer” shows up trying to explain what happened, and then an exhausted and delirious Jack tackles him like a linebacker.
• I remember being a Mama Bear just like Claire right after my first baby was born… my first day home from the hospital (which was the day after I had my child), I had this weird anxiety that would wash over me when anyone else was holding her. I guess after nine months of carrying this child, the thought of being separated from her for even an instant was too much to take. Which brings me to Sun’s comment, that in the hospital the nurses take your baby and give you sleep. Not if the hospital subscribes to the attachment parenting concept, which mine did. In that case, the baby never leaves your side and the nurses do not take care of things for you. I remember the first night with my daughter, where I could barely move, and the nurse came in, looked at the baby and said, “Oh, her diaper needs changing,” and then walked out of the room. That was a bit of a downside, but the upside was, I was never separated from her for an instant. When I finally realized it was just too painful to keep getting out of the bed to get her, I simply grabbed her and pulled her into bed with me for the first of many, many nights. A nurse showed up an hour later and without saying anything, just smiling, tucked a pillow behind her just in case I fell asleep that way.
• I love O’Quinn, I love John Locke. But since the first time I saw this episode, I’ve always thought, Geez, John, couldn’t you have changed your shirt before talking to Shannon? Going and talking to the mourning sister while wearing a shirt covered in her brother’s blood is just kind of… tacky.
• My heart always breaks when Sayid convinces Essam to go ahead and do this. Wah. I loved that character.
• Sawyer on Aaron: “I liked that thing a lot better inside than I like it outside.” Ha!

Things that have new meaning:
• Sayid has always been a character who straddles that fate versus free will fence, and here Essam’s friend believes in fate, and Sayid smiles. But he knows that it’s not fate, and that he was set up to be there. Or… was it fate that the CIA found him and put him in this position?
• Speaking of which, I’ve always wondered how the CIA knew anything about Nadia. How did they know he loved her? He tortured her, and then convinced the Republican Guard that she shot him on the way out. Then he leaves the Guard a while later and starts looking for her, silently. How would anyone know?
• Locke says he knows what it’s like to lose family. What does he mean? Is he referring to losing his foster mother? The commune from “Further Instructions,” whom he says in that episode is closer to a real family than he’s ever had?
• Is it possible that Shannon never dropped her grudge against Locke and the island killed her to keep him safe?

Quick Change to Schedule

Tonight I'll be posting eps 21 and 22, as planned, but tomorrow night will just be Exodus, Part 1. I just know I'm not going to have time to watch the entire finale, and I've got an 8-hour drive ahead of me tomorrow where I probably will be able to finish watching it, but won't be able to post on it. So I'm hoping to post it Friday night at 8 instead. Sorry for the delay!

Lost Rewatch: Week 6

Hello rewatchers! This is a note to give you a heads up that you'll have to give yourself a bit of extra time this week for our rewatch: there are closer to 5 hours than 4. On the schedule this week:

1.21 The Greater Good
1.22 Born to Run
1.23 Exodus, Part 1
1.24/5 Exodus, Part 2 (2 hours)

But as of next week we'll be wrapping up season 1, and ready for season 2!

Just a note that I'm away on vacation all this week, so I'm hoping to get through everything and postdate the posts for you. If I can't make it through all of the eps until I get back, I'll send out a further note. If I do make it, the schedule will be the same, with The Greater Good and Born to Run on Wednesday at 8, and the Exodus episodes on Thursday at 8. See you then!

1.20 Do No Harm

Follow along! The episode guide for “Do No Harm” is in Finding Lost, pp. 126-131.

The first major character death on the show, and the first birth. The circle of life continues… and Jack’s hatred for John Locke begins.

Fun things I noticed:
• As I mentioned in the previous episode, watching this one points out a glaring inconsistency in “This Place Is Death.” In that episode, they see Locke’s glow suddenly shoot out of the hatch, followed immediately by Claire giving birth. But the two events didn’t happen simultaneously… they occurred 24 hours apart. OOPS.
• Despite his singlemindedness, Jack is pretty amazing in this episode. Boone’s chest looked like spaghetti, and he stitched it up; he got him to breathe again after his lung collapsed; he figured out how to transfuse blood into him… the guy was pretty awesome.
• Jack’s wearing a watch while playing the piano. In the mobisode, “The Watch,” Christian gives Jack a watch the morning of his wedding and he slips it on. Must have been a different watch (thought it’s weird that he was wearing it in every scene except his wedding day).
• Charlie asking Jack how to check for dilation is HILARIOUS!
• I mentioned this in my book, but Jack’s instructions on what to do when the baby begins to emerge are insane. But then again, he’s not a GP.
• I could never find a translation for what Jin says to Claire when he’s trying to calm her. Does anyone reading this speak Korean?
• “You’re lookin’ kinda Goth.” Haha!
• Sun’s English suddenly becomes REALLY GOOD in this episode. Hmm…
• I still love that Scut Farkus is Jack’s best man.

Things that have new meaning:
• The way Jack resets Boone’s leg – right down to the stick in Boone’s mouth – is exactly the same as the way Locke’s leg was reset in “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.” Could that have been karma?
• Picnics on the island are bad bad bad. First Sayid and Shannon come back and Boone’s dead. Later, when Hurley and Libby plan to have one, Libby is shot. Then when Amy and Paul go to have one, PAUL is shot and Amy is almost killed. Next time someone asks you to picnic on the island, JUST SAY NO.
• I love seeing the birth scene once again, mostly to be reminded that Kate not only says “this baby is all of us” and indicates raising him will be a communal effort, but that she’s the one who delivers him and holds him first, and later will be his mom. It’s a great scene to watch again, knowing what Aaron will mean to Kate three years from now.

1.19 Deus Ex Machina

Follow along! The episode guide for “Deus Ex Machina” is in Finding Lost, pp. 119-124.

This was the episode that clinched it for me – Locke’s flashbacks are the best. From this point on, with two fantastic Locke episodes in the can, every time I heard that a flashback was going to be a Locke one, I was very excited. This episode ramps up Locke’s destiny talk, as we hear about things that were meant to be, or supposed to happen. Locke’s loss of faith leads to his inability to walk, and his comment to Boone, that they were meant to crash on this island, is a precursor to the one he’ll eventually give Jack, telling him they were destined to be here.

Fun things I noticed:
• Did Desmond hear the bang of the trebuchet?
• Bonneville of death is back!
• If the island can heal bullet wounds in about 3 hours, then why is Sawyer getting headaches over a little farsightedness?
• I actually loved Jack in this episode… he makes the joke about Sawyer – “If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll get a new nickname” – and then he continues to eff with him throughout. Him sitting and asking Sawyer a bunch of questions about STDs and when his last outbreak occurred is hysterical, and he actually laughs at one of Sawyer’s jokes. And then he diagnoses Sawyer with “hyperopia” just to freak the poor guy out. Could these two guys BE more fun together? Oh... I can’t help it… you know what time it is? It’s time for FUN!!!



(Hey, I warned you when I posted this the first time that I’d be posting it often!!)
• The guard’s name is Eddie, which is the same name as the cop that Locke accidentally befriends in “Further Instructions.” He needs to stay away from anyone with that name (including beautiful vampires who sparkle in the daytime…)
• It’s so sad watching Boone agree to go along with things, knowing now it’ll lead to his death.
• I remember watching this the first time when Boone threw the statue out of the plane and thinking, “Uh oh… there goes Charlie’s sobriety.”
• The voice you hear on the other end of the radio isn’t Sam Anderson’s, but they can be forgiven for that.
• John dumping Boone off and leaving is the beginning of Jack’s true hatred for him.
• I said in “The Variable” that Eloise just beat out Anthony Cooper for Worst Parent Ever, but now I’m on the fence again. What he does is HIDEOUS. I think Terry O’Quinn is just stunning in this episode…

Things that have new meaning:
• I found Locke’s description of how Mousetrap works very intriguing. In my book I’ve explained how it could be applied to this episode, but it can also be applied to Locke’s character arc through the rest of the series – piece by piece it comes together, and then you spring the trap. If Locke’s entire life had been shaped from babyhood (with Alpert at the infant’s side in the hospital) to his death, then it’s like a higher being was putting his life together, piece by piece, until the trap was sprung. And, like the little plastic mouse, Locke was trapped.
• The trebuchet falls apart the same way the structure does over the Swan station in “The Incident.”
• You know, I’ve often wondered if Emily Locke is really out of her tree, or if part of Cooper’s con is that he isn’t actually John Locke’s real father? Could there have been something different about Locke’s conception? She tells Locke that he’s special (check), that he was part of a design (check), and that he was immaculately conceived (er…) Is there a chance she’s not bonkers?
• Emily was in the hospital for schizophrenia, which is genetic. Is it possible Locke has some of the symptoms? They include hostility and violence, delusions, hallucinations… (despite the common belief, schizophrenia is NOT actually a multiple personality disorder… if it were, I’d obviously be focusing on that in light of the Man in Black).
• As we see in this episode, the light that comes on isn’t exactly the bright beacon we saw in “The Little Prince.” I’ll talk more about the inconsistencies between this season and that episode in the next guide for “Do No Harm”… the writers made a huge consistency error in season 5. Oops.

1.18 Numbers

Follow along! The episode guide to “Numbers” is in Finding Lost, pp. 113-119.

Until now, we’ve just seen happy fun-time Hurley… that all changes with this episode. It’s strange to think there was a time when we didn’t know Hurley was a millionaire, or that he thought he was cursed, or that we didn’t know his beloved Ma, or that we didn’t know he was in a mental institution. In this episode it’s still not clear – was he in the hospital or did he work there? The weird comment he makes to the reporter about putting his family through a lot lately clearly referred to him being in the hospital, but at the time it wasn’t clear.

Fun things I noticed:
• I thought at first the Asian reporter who asks Hurley the questions was meant to be Tricia Tanaka, but she’s being played by a different actress.
• Hurley in the gold chains and Hummer will never cease to crack me up.
• OMG! Smokey attacked Hurley’s house!! Hehe…
• I’ve noticed this before, but Jack always looks like he’s about to have a giggle fit when he’s in scenes with Jorge Garcia.
• This is possibly the loveliest John Locke moment of the series. My heart melts every time he turns over that cradle. And yet… it makes me wonder if Locke already realized just how important Aaron would be. Remember how he was in Claire’s eerie dream in “Raised by Another”? There’s always been a connection between Aaron and Locke. I wonder if it’ll be realized in season 6. (Remember that when the group splits in season 4, Claire will go with Locke, not Jack.)
• I could never figure out why Hurley’s shirt didn’t catch on fire as he was holding it over those flames.
• UPDATE: I forgot to add this in when I originally posted it, but if you go back to the beginning of "This Place Is Death," where Montand is standing on the beach as Danielle is trying to talk to Jin, Montand is listening to the numbers being read over and over. I've turned the audio WAY up on it, and listened to it with headphones, and there is no doubt in my mind that it's Hurley's voice reading the numbers. Did he actually cause his own problems? I remember being convinced after that that there would be a scene where Hurley would head up to the radio tower and create the transmission in 1977. But then it never happened...

Things that have new meaning:
• I wonder why we never see Diego again. It’s Hurley’s brother, and his family is obviously close-knit. He’s not there when Hurley gets off the plane and is reunited with his family for the first time post-crash. He’s not living in the mansion with the Reyes family, yet in this episode we hear Diego’s moved back home to live with his mother. So why doesn’t he continue to do that? Why did the writers just make him disappear?
• Lenny tells Hurley that he’s opened the box. It could be a reference to the hatch – that great unopened box that will soon unleash everything on the island – but it could also refer to something bigger. In recent seasons fans have wondered what Hurley’s purpose is? He’s the guy with the numbers, and they’re integral to the island. He’s one of the Oceanic 6. He’s clearly important, but what’s his link? Why does Jacob visit him?
• Charlie tells Hurley that he’s acting like a lunatic, and only now do we know just how much those words must have hurt him.
• Sam Toomey’s wife tells Hurley that he makes his own luck, which is what Hurley’s father will later tell him in “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead.”
• Claire mentions that Locke should have a show where he fixes up houses. Locke sort of chuckles, but we’ll later see that he was actually a home inspector, so he really DID know something about houses.
• Locke tells Claire that he’s good at putting bits and pieces together, and he’s the one who begins piecing together the mysteries of the island before anyone else. Even if everyone else disagrees with what he says…
• This is the biggest discrepancy in Rousseau’s story from what we later see in This Place Is Death. She tells Hurley that they looked around the island for weeks, and found the tower, and after that the sickness came. But we know now that the “sickness came” the day they arrived on the island, right after they went down to get Montand. Are we to assume they went down to get him, and emerged appearing to be OK? And then they got sick later? The fact we don’t see what happens in between would suggest it happened pretty quickly.
• Locke believes in luck, and adds that he believes in a lot of things. I found this really interesting, considering that it’s hard to pin down Locke’s belief system, as he says. He seems to be familiar with the bible, but when Eko begins telling him a biblical story in season 2, he acts like he doesn’t know it. It’s not clear if he’s religious or pagan or agnostic. I really liked this line.

1.17 ...In Translation

Follow along! The episode guide for “...In Translation” is in Finding Lost, pp. 107-111.

It’s so hard to believe there was ever a time when we hated Jin. But 17 episodes into season 1, the writers finally showed his side of the story, and fans were pretty much head-over-heels. We see the truth about his father, who he was before he became a hardass, and WHY he became a hardass.

Fun things I noticed:
• There are no numbers on Paik’s watch. Watches on Lost are very important, as is time (obvs) and the fact that he doesn’t have numbers could suggest he’s separate from time.
• Did you notice Jack wearing that damn key around his neck still? It makes me angry every time I see it. Thank goodness we lost that.
• Jack’s actually right about Jin. This is a rare moment where he’s up against everyone and is actually completely right. I bet no one apologized to him, either.
• Someone asked me in one of the other posts what the Chinese characters on Boone’s shirt stand for: they’re for the number 84.
• Locke saying to Shannon, “Should I be writing this down?” was hilarious to me. The thought of serious John Locke having to deal with a whiny little romantic kerfuffle and actually give his sage advice on it was hysterical.
• Here’s something that I’ve always wondered, and my husband and I were discussing it while watching this ep: think back to “Solitary,” where Sayid is interrogating the prisoner in Arabic. The camera moves around past his back and when it comes out on the other side, he’s speaking English. In actuality, he’s speaking Arabic, but the camera movement indicates to us that we’re listening to it in English so poor Naveen Andrews doesn’t have to learn the language phonetically and they don’t have to keep providing subtitles (it’s like when you see a movie where Hitler is speaking English with a German accent... though that’s never made sense to me; why not just have him speaking in an English accent, since he would have been speaking German, not English with a German accent...) ANYWAY... the use of English in this scene makes it more powerful for us, because we can understand what he’s saying and can feel it more than if we were simply reading subtitles. In the scene where Sun finally calls out to Jin that she was going to leave him, he passes close by the camera right before she shouts it, and I’ve often wondered if she really did say it in English, or are we to assume she’s speaking Korean, but the words are more powerful for English viewers to listen to if she actually delivers them in English. It’s probably something we’ll never know, and everyone will have his/her own theories on it. I thought of the tent scene at the end of “Ji Yeon,” and wondered if she revealed to him there that she was going to leave him, but she tells him about the affair, not the leaving him part. What do YOU think? I think if she’s speaking English, it’s an amazing moment because she still can’t bring herself to tell him the truth, but does it in a roundabout way. But if she’s speaking Korean, then she really is on her way to becoming a new woman, as we see at the end of the episode, and knowing he still returns to her despite it would be really touching.
• I still find it strange that Hurley has a CD player and not an MP3 player... this was only 2004, not 1994, and the guy was a multimillionaire. If anyone could afford an early device, it’s him. (If you haven’t listened to Damien Rice’s album, “O,” which the song Hurley’s playing is from, please do... it’s transcendent.) While I always thought that was one of the best endings of ANY Lost episode (and I enjoyed how it anticipated that next week’s ep would be Hurley’s) it makes me sad knowing we won’t have those musical montages anymore.

Things that have new meaning:
• Sun smacking Michael is an early indication of the badass she’ll end up being (think of her approaching Widmore, or whacking Ben with the oar... she always had it in her).
• Jin playing golf made me think of the mobisode where he has the complete breakdown. It's set right around the time of this episode, and it still makes me laugh, even if at the end you feel badly for Jin (if you haven’t seen it, here it is):



• Sawyer kicking Jin and then holding up a knife to him seems SO weird now. I couldn’t help but think of him hugging him and laughing in “This Place Is Death” after they were finally reunited.
• John Locke: “Everyone gets a new life on this island.” Me: “WHOA.” Talk about a prescient line coming from the one guy who literally HAS gotten a new life on the island... even if it’s as someone else.
• I love watching that “we’re not the only people on this island and we all know it!” speech again (especially since the “previously on Lost” bits will play it ad nauseum for about 2 more years). It’s interesting to see John Locke turning everyone against his own people right from the beginning.
• Knowing what we know about Jin’s dad (that Jin’s prostitute mother abandoned him in a fishing village and Jin’s father raised him... it’s still not 100% clear whether Jin’s father is his biological dad, but that doesn’t matter because he loves him more than most of the fathers love their sons on this show), the scene where he goes to see him is even sadder.
• I love how quiet Locke gets when he tells Walt that no, his father wasn’t cool. He sees a kindred spirit in Walt – both were raised by people who didn’t want them; both of them are “special” in a certain way; neither one of them wants to leave the island and had done violent things to sabotage efforts to leave.

Rewatch Schedule: Week 5

Hello everyone: This week's rewatch schedule will be as follows:

Wednesday, 8pm:
1.17 ... In Translation
1.18 Numbers

Thursday, 8pm:
1.19 Deus Ex Machina
1.20 Do No Harm

Some of my favourite season 1 eps coming up. I can't wait!!

Also, just a quick note that I've been told both ABC.com and Hulu.com are now streaming Lost seasons 1-5 (they must have heard about all the rewatches) so if you're American, you can watch them all there. If you're Canadian... you can't. Thanks to everyone who sent me the info.

Outlaws Whisper Transcript

Here's the transcript that was accidentally cut from Finding Lost (all the other whisper transcripts are in there); this goes with the Outlaws rewatch.

The first moment where Sawyer hears whispering is when he first chases the boar into the jungle:

(Sawyer breathing)
There goes another poking his head in here (could be ‘There goes somebody’)
Yeah, let’s see what he’s doing
Let’s
Let me decide
Come back
Wait
I see another one
(Frank Duckett’s voice) It’ll come back around
------
Oh my god there’s a guy out there
Dennis (?) find out what’s going on
Did he see us?
Maybe
Open it
Did you see what direction he went?
Right through those trees
Go and get him
There is an explanation (resolution?) and I bet you haven’t thought of it
What is it?
He’s been in a plane crash
Are you sure?
I know what it’s like for a plane to crash
Complain, complain, complain
I want to get closer
I know what you said, but he’s looking around
What if he shoots us or something
------
There may be something, but it may be slack (?)
Let’s go
Has he seen us? (Alarms go off)
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry (faint . . . could be echo from alarm)
Intruder, Intruder
Hide against the bushes
Open the door
I know what it’s like for a plane to crash
Complain, complain, complain
I know what you said, but . . .

Later, Sawyer faces the boar and holds the gun up to it, and he hears the whispering again:

How could you say that, I knew he was American
It was a large group
(Frank Duckett’s voice) It’ll come back around
Now listen
Here’s what we should do
Nothing
It’s not the one
He’s coming up on the gate
------
How could you say that, I knew he was American
Hey listen, come on let’s go
Go and see what he’s doing
Duetch negg or Joice leg (perhaps another language or reversed)
Like it’s your choice
He’s coming up on the gate
My guess is to shoot the pig (or ‘Guess he’ll shoot the pig’)
Yes
My hand (or head) is free
------
How could you even say that, I knew he was an American
Hey listen, come on let’s go
Go and see what he’s doing
He’s coming up on the gate
My guess is to shoot the pig . . .
Okay