There are so many tendrils of this story that don’t seem to fit with others that it seems as if one simple revelation such as “they’re dead” or “it’s a dream” doesn’t seem to possibly address them all.  It is as if all the tributaries are there with their courses sometimes whacked out beyond all reason, but the terrain and the main river is missing.  My thought is that when the terrain and river are revealed, the courses of the tributaries will make perfect sense.

This week was heavy on the action and light on revelations.  Most of the stuff we know today, we knew last week.  But, as someone told me this week, just enjoy the ride and forget about the end until the end comes.  One of my personal tenets is “life is a journey, enjoy the ride.”  I plan to follow that advice here on out.  You won’t read criticism from me any longer about bad acting, slow story development and the like.  I am going to enjoy the ride.

A couple new conventions.  Since it seems everyone is now living in Los Angeles, including people like Martin Keamy and Omer Jarrah,  I am going to call that storyline LA X.  Also, since He Who Shall Remain Nameless (HWSRN) is no longer nameless, I will stay consistent and refer to him as EI; Evil Incarnate.

This recap is divided into two acts of three parts each.  The first act is my observations about three of the characters and the second act is regarding some of the recurring themes that I think are being fleshed out before our eyes.  

I’M BAD. I’M BAD. I’M REALLY, REALLY BAD.

“There’s still time.”

“Not for me.

Chilling.   Sayid has been long locked in an inner battle with himself.  Is he good or is he evil?  He believes there is good in him, but when push comes to shove he turns to the evil side without fail.

The LA X world is no different for Sayid.  He has made sacrifices in repentance of his horrible acts and yet when confronted with evil he relents.

I don’t know what happened to Sayid to make him rise from the dead, but I

am not so sure that Sayid is necessarily claimed or zombified by EI as much as EI has played on Sayid’s inability to refrain from killing.  Dogen explains that when he tested Sayid, Sayid came up evil.  I don’t think this has as much to do with whatever EI has done as it does to do with Sayid’s own tendency for evil.

Ben called Sayid a natural killer.  It took some time for Sayid to come around, but as he was shooting a young Ben, Sayid finally realized that is who he is.  If there is anyone to capitalize on this sort of asset, it’s EI.

Sayid has been dressed in black since being shot by Roger Linus while fleeing Dharmaville during The Incident.  I should have known he would be on the side of evil.  I held out hope for him all along.  But even in the seemingly bucolic world of LA X, Sayid cannot refuse his evil side.

I relished EI’s impersonation of Satan in his offer to Sayid,

Sayid, If you’ll do this for me. (pause) What if I told you you could have anything you want? What if I said you can have anything in the entire world?

What if you could?

Notice the nuance in the language.  It isn’t exactly a direct offer of anything in the world.  There is wiggle room.  For someone who claims “I always do what I say,” it’s a big deal.

However, regardless of the loophole in EI’s statement, Sayid is a lost cause.

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Dark vs. Light.

In my recap of The Substitute I stated that the cave (right) was really the lair of HWSRN and not the lair of Jacob as the Locke-imitation told Sawyer.  It would now seem that the lighthouse was really Jacob’s workshop, as it were.

I have remained hesitant to use good or evil to classify the competing sides on LOST because it is just impossible to tell if one is truly good or evil.  But clearly light and dark / black and white and common themes and it is so far easy to place Jacob on the light/white side and HWSRN on the side of darkness.

108.  Hurley.  The Numbers.  Someone’s Coming.

Jacob says that someone is coming to the island.  More pronouns. 

Hurley has to help him find the island.  Turn the wheel to 108 degrees.

Jack says the mirror has “abilities.”

Hurley doesn’t stop to think they could look at 108 and see how it is?  Hurley doesn’t tell Jack that someone is coming and they could maybe find him at 108.

Even more plausible would be for Hurley to look at the numbers and names and make a connection.  Hurley, more than anyone, has an issue with these numbers.  This version of Hugo Reyes believes himself cursed by those very numbers, and yet he stops not to look?

This isn’t a case of hindsight being 20/20.  This is a case of common sense and more reasons why the scene at the top of the lighthouse is such a major disappointment.

The Temple.  Is It Safe or Not?

Ben tells Danielle to take Alex and Karl and head for the Temple to escape Keamy and gang.  They’ll be safe there.

Ilana says Jin will be at the Temple because it’s a safe place.

Jacob tells Hurley that he needed to get him away from the Temple because something bad is going there and that they would be in great danger.

So which is it?

I Don’t Want Cutesy.

I don’t consider myself to be a typical LOST fan.  I take the show at face value.  I am a little forgiving, but as you can see from last week, not very.

I don’t take cute well.  The inhaler they found last week is an example.  Don’t give me that kind of crap.  I don’t want to ever see or hear from Nikki and Paolo again.  I don’t want these little references to the past.   I say all of this because I think the remaining hours will be in homage to the hours that came before and we will all have to endure these little cutesies.

Missing In Action?

I have compiled a list of names of people that are missing in action so far this season.  I know we are only 5 hours into it, but I think we may see most, if not all, of the following people, either on island or off.   I listed them in order of importance to me.  For some, the cameos are all we are going to get, I would guess.

Chime in and tell me if I missed anyone.  I’d like to keep a good list and cross out the names as they come back.

• Desmond (cameo doesn’t count) / Penny
• Juliet
• Widmore / Hawking
• Faraday / Lewis
• Eko
• Walt / Aaron / Ji Yeon
• Keamy

Don’t care to see beyond a cameo….

• Michael
• Libby / Ana Lucia

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This was generally a decent episode.  The story advanced a bit.  There were some revelations of varying degrees of importance.  Too many cutesy things of which I am growing weary.  

The most noteworthy thing about this episode was an overwhelming sense of self-importance on the part of the show’s writers and producers.  If they keep this crap up, they will lose me before the end.  And that would be a shame.

YOUR STRINGS ARE DROWNING OUT MY PIANO.

I think I’m beginning to understand.  LOST is this generation’s Star Trek; a show with a dedicated cult following that many laugh off as meaningless tripe.   Just as intellectually stimulating perhaps, but with the same over the top acting.  LOST even goes a step further to include an at times over the top soundtrack as well.

Surely there is some fine writing on this show and some excellent performers.  But there seems to be some channeling of William Shatner at times, namely by Matthew Fox.  Some of us, me included, are so wrapped up in the story that we don’t see it.  This week I saw it.  I no longer think that throwing in classic novels or ground-breaking music puts the show at the upper echelon of the craft.  I admit to enjoying the puzzle and trying to rationalize how the references fit into the story, but I am getting weary of it.  It doesn’t mean I am no longer a fan of the show.  It simply means I’ve added some perspective to my views. 

It really hit me during the scene in which David is auditioning for the Williams Conservatory.  Rather then letting the air fill with the sounds of Chopin, the powers that be added sappy strings to drown out the piano.  Shameful really.

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I have to admit it.  The Incident had me flummoxed.  I had no clue where this was headed.  For the first few episodes this season, I was a rudderless ship.  Suffice it to say that while the rudder may yet not be fully repaired, the trade winds have come up, and we are underway once again.

In some respects this was the antidote to last week’s episode.  It was a one-sided telling of a story, and I think we know whose side we heard.  I would guess that the theories are going to be flying fast and furious around the internets and the podcasts this week.

Speaking of podcasts, my new favorite podcast, hands down, is Jorge Garcia (“Hugo Reyes”) and Sidekick22’s, Geronimo Jack’s Beard.   The first dozen or so episodes, being released a week at a time, were recorded last summer / fall as Jorge received the script for each episode, but mostly before filming started.  It is a really cool perspective.

That being said, these ideas are my own; not recycled from some other online or offline source.  Lord knows I have enough crackpot theories of my own to re-post the theories from some other wack-jobs.  On with the show….

Usually the titles work on several levels.  This week Locke is well-suited to be a substitute health / phys ed teacher, at least according to Hugo’s temp agency.  For what else is he a well-suited substitute?

SEARCH AND DESTROY.

HWSRN is out gallivanting as Smokey on what we learn from Alana is a recruiting mission.  She also mentioned that, when taking on a human form, HWSRN is now stuck as Locke.  Stuck until when, who knows.

I digress.  As HWSRN As Smokey was checking out Sawyer’s digs (screencap left) and a bit later as Locke, Sawyer was blasting Iggy and the Stooges, Raw Power. 

I highly recommend you listen and play it loud.   The song that was playing was the awesome track, “Search And Destroy.”   Although on my album, “Search and Destroy” is the first track.  Not so for Sawyer.

I think a cover of the song is available on one of the early Guitar Hero’s as well.  Makes sense that the Stooges would be a Dharma staple as they are from Ann Arbor, I believe.

I’m a street walking cheetah
with a heart full of napalm
I’m a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb
I am a world’s forgotten boy
The one who searches and destroys
Honey gotta help me please
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby detonates for me
Look out honey, ’cause I’m using technology !
Ain’t got time to make no apology
Soul radiation in the dead of night
Love in the middle of a fire fight
Honey gotta strike me blind
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby penetrates my mind
And I’m the world’s forgotten boy
The one who’s searchin’, searchin’ to destroy
And honey I’m the world’s forgotten boy
The one who’s searchin’, searchin’ to destroy
Forgotten boy, forgotten boy
Forgotten boy said
hey forgotten boy

Seems tailor made for HWSRN, eh?  In the spirit of crass commercialism, I suggest you download it from my LOST store by Amazon.com.  Link to the right. –>

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I am surprised, given the limited amount of story telling time left, that episode three was so relatively uneventful.  I won’t go so far as to call it a filler episode.  Sure enough there were some surprises and a couple revelations, but in large part I thought the episode was very slow moving. 

PREVIOUSLY ON LOST.

Before we get to this week’s recap…

The alignment of the players is still very murky and somewhat seemingly inconsistent.

By now we almost are forced into thinking that there is a hierarchy of power on the island and the two main players are HWSRN, currently living as a cloned John Locke and Jacob, currently deceased but spiritually present.  But who is the “island?”  Stay with me here.

I think that by the comments from HWSRN to him, Richard came to the island aboard the Black Rock, a slave ship.  When he last left HWSRN, Richard was in chains which to me indicates that Richard is affiliated with Jacob. 

At one point in the past, Charles Widmore came storming into camp to confront with Richard as to why he saved young Ben.

Richard: He’s just a child.

Widmore: You should have let him die.

Richard: It’s what Jacob wanted.

Widmore looks puzzled.

Richard: The island chooses who the island chooses.

So who is this island and what does it have to do with Jacob?

Later Ben fails in his mission to kill Danielle and instead takes baby Alex.  Widmore is not happy and orders Ben to kill the child.

Widmore: My job is to protect this island.

Ben: Is killing the baby what Jacob wants?

When Widmore is leaving the island for the last time he and Ben again talk about sacrifice and what the island wants.

Ben: I’ll sacrifice anything to protect this island.

Widmore: You wouldn’t sacrifice you daughter.

Widmore then tells Ben that he hopes he’s right because if the island wants her dead, she’ll be dead.  Alex is dead.

This all a roundabout way of getting to Widmore and Ben and which side they are on.  Is Widmore on any side at all?

Ben summoned HWSRN to kill Keamy’s men who were agents for Widmore.  Does this mean Ben is aligned with HWSRN and not Jacob?  It would explain why Jacob went out of his way to explain the concept of free will to Ben, as compared with the doctrine of fate espoused by HWSRN.  It would also explain why Ben had never heard or seen Jacob before.

Many of the others are at the temple because they were taken there by Richard after Ben dispatched him to the temple while he and Alex went to intercept the LOSTIES on the way to the radio tower.   Prior to Keamy and team arriving at the barracks, Ben sent Danielle to accompany Alex and Karl to the temple where the Jacob supporters are now holed up.  Keamy killed all three of them. 

HWSRN and Ben have a conversation an old Dharma office when HWRSN asks Ben why he killed John Locke.  Ben says, “It was in the best interest of the island.”

I’m confused.

And now on with this week’s recap.

There really isn’t a lot of story to discuss this week.  Really two main story lines.  Claire, Aaron, Kate and Ethan in one.  Sayid, Jack and Dogen in the other.

CLAIRE AND THE REALLY BAD, NO GOOD DAY.

This thread was the most interesting part of the entire episode.  While this was allegedly a Kate story judging by the title of the episode, the producers played some misdirection.  This was definitely not a Kate episode.  It was a Claire story.

The flight in from Australia was all right, but then the couple that was to meet her at the airport failed to show.  Although I must say she was less than patient.  After all, she made it in to a cab before a lot of 815ers even left the airport, including the bumbling Arzt.

She then had her taxi cab hijacked.  Her purse and luggage stolen, she gets booted from the cab in a foreign city with no money.

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I took the time between The Incident and LAX mostly away from LOST.  We discussed re-watching past seasons, but the time passed and we never did anything about it.  Here we are.  Two episodes in already.  It’s going to take me some time to get back up to speed on this recapping thing, but for me, it’s therapeutic.  This show is such a joy, that spending some time thinking about it, and then writing about it,  helps me digest it all.  I recommend it.  I am not afraid to be wrong, which I am nearly 100% of the time.  I’m not sure what that means, I only know it doesn’t mean I’m dumb.

The Tuesday night deal is going to take some adjusting to as well.  I had planned on using Saturday mornings to compose my posts, but I frankly will have difficulty waiting that long.  So we will see how it goes.  I plan to watch the episodes, do some research into a few of the items presented and then give my thoughts, straight up.  My research will focus on the books and other cultural references that appear from time to time in an episode.  I am no doubt bound to miss some, and would greatly appreciate your help in this regard.

I plan to devote this blog entirely to LOST.  There will be nothing else here, and posts that marginally deal with things LOST, will not be here.  Chili Dog Blog should be your first stop.  When this blog gets updated, there will be a post there to point you in the right direction.

One of the things I enjoy most about LOST is the recurring elements.  I plan to use tags, which appear in a cloud to the right.  As the season progresses, you may use the tags to find posts which reference these elements as they periodically appear.

For now, all the screencaps will be of my own creation.  That remains a very time-dependent proposition.  From time to time they may appear very dark.  LOST is shot as a dark show at times.  Each screencap is clickable to a larger version.

So, against that background, my thoughts on LAX.

WELCOME BACK, KATE.

Following the opening sequence, we are treated to one of LOST’s recurring specialties, the single eye.  This time the season opens on Kate’s eye.  She is caught up in a tree following the trip from 1977 to current island time (CIT). The eyes as “windows to the soul idea” is a recurring theme here and while it doesn’t appear that this particular shot is of any specific meaning, it is like renewing an old friendship.

Upon meeting Miles, Kate immediately says, "We’re back."  Miles questions where back is.  She could have easily said, "We’re still here," or "It didn’t work."   But Kate, whether she senses it or not, is exactly correct.  They left the island as the Oceanic Six and now, after three years gone, they have returned to the time and place they left behind.

There is one other thing I noticed involving Kate that is a bit on the weird side.  It occurred to me at a time that I was listening though not watching.

While in the Swan crater with Sawyer, Kate says, "Stop it, stop it, Sawyer, the van’s coming." 

It’s not her voice.

It occurs at 25:30 into the show.  Had I been watching I probably would have missed it.

You may listen and think it sounds like her, but then play close attention to the next time she speaks. "She knows we’re here. She’s probably just resting," says Kate.  I am telling you, different voice.

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