Sunday, April 19, 2009

Dr. Chang Video: "The Incident"

Months ago (probably before season 5 started) a sneak peak at LOST season 5 was released at the 2008 Comic-Con. It shows Dr. Chang being videoed by someone--who you'll come to recognize shortly--while he talks about future events and how they must be stopped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6Q7gzUjI8

Watch the video before reading below.

I had watched this video when it was first released but now having seen (12? 13?) season 5 episodes and watching the video again, it really makes you wonder and gives a lot of insight as to what the remaining episodes as well as the season finale holds.

As you may have guessed, the speaker/videographer is Daniel Faraday. Now knowing what we know about season 5, we can probably infer that this video was taken/is going to be taped while the Lostaways are on the 1977 island in the season 5 finale entitled 'The Incident'. The 'Incident' has been referenced numerous times throughout the series so I think it's going to be a great end to the season.

Wait! I'm LOST! What does this mean?

Well, The Incident that I'm guessing that this is referenced to is the incident in the Swan Station that 'Dr. Marvin Candle' talks about in the Swan Orientation Film. Apparently, the incident had to do with the build up of electromagnetic energy that caused the 'incident' which resulted in the DI making the Swan protocol where the numbers have to be entered every 108 minutes.

This incident likely occurred before 1980 (the production date of the film) when the Lostaways returned to the 1977 island time.

Obviously, after 108 minutes, the build up was enough to cause a great catastrophe in the Swan station. However, it is unknown what caused this incident to occur or what damaged it caused to the Swan station or those in and around it. Hopefully when this is shown to the audience, we'll get to see the creation/purpose of the Blast Door Map that is shown during the Lockdown in the Swan station.

With this video combined with the knowledge of season's mysteries and occurances, we can infer that this video is, in fact, referencing the 'incident' in the Swan station that we have yet to see and will likely be shown in the season 5 finale.

Just some food for though to hold us over until the new episode next week.

Namaste

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Some Like It Hoth

So, apparently Miles can talk to dead people.

Though I mainly thought that nothing too too big was revealed in this episode, it did give some much needed insight to Miles' past and family. I for one thought (episodes ago) that Miles could be the child of Dr. Chang/Candle and it was confirmed. Being that I previously pondered that thought, the reveal wasn't too exciting for me. However, I did enjoy learning why Miles asked 3.2 million dollars from Ben.

Now that baby Miles was in the same time as adult Miles, wouldn't that kind of be against the rules of something? If Miles went into Dr. Chang/Candle's house, could he have held baby Miles? I'm pretty sure Faraday would disapprove of that. Hey! Speaking of Faraday, where was he for half a dozen episodes? Just hanging out in the Dharma submarine? Yeah, cool. I'd do the same thing if I were time traveling.

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Really though, where was he and did he leave the island? I'm betting that the writers are saving Faraday's explorations and knowledge of the the island for an upcoming episode. Hopefully, they'll dedicate a nice chunk of time to it too.

Maybe it was just me but I thought Hurley writing 'The Empire Strikes Back' was utterly hilarious! Such a typical Hurley thing to do. Besides, the show needs some lightening up to deviate from the time-traveling-everyone's-going-to-die feel.

So...what really lies in the shadow of the statue? Jacob? The smoke monster? Vincent?! Maybe there's no real answer at all. Oh well, maybe once Rose and Bernard emerge from where ever they're hiding, they can shed some light on that being that they've been lazy the entire season!

I also thought that it was cool that we got to see the Dharma people etching the numbers into the Swan hatch. That's something that I never thought and it was a nice suprise. I'm still wondering why they were on the hatch though. What's the purpose?

During the middle of the episode, we see the corpse that Miles delievered be taken to the Orchid station. Hmmm...Orchid station, time travel, electromagnetism? Why would Dr. Chang/Candle want the body brought there? Not sure, but I definitely saw some Egyptian information on the board that Jack was erasing. Jeeze, these references sure are persistant.

All these questions and more (yeah, that's you Rose and Bernard!) will have to wait awhile longer because a new episode doesn't air for two weeks. Instead we get a clip show about the Oceanic 6. Now I love the O6 and everything but do we need an entire hour dedicated to their 'story'? I'm pretty sure that's what season 4 was for. Until next time...

Namaste

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Dead Is Dead

Wow. Just wow. I know I've said this before about episodes this season, but Dead Is Dead is definitely one of my favorites! I thought it would be a great episode and it was. This is because of two main things: we got tons of answers (good ones too!) with no filler, and more questions were posed which gives me more to talk about.

Okay, I'm going to try and go in chronological order with my comments/discussion but we'll see how that works out.

So first, in a continuation from last weeks episode, young Ben is seen recovering from his gunshot injury/temple recovery. Ben seems to not remember what had happened either in the Temple or the shooting which makes me wonder what happened in the Temple that made him forget his experience as well as lose his innocence?

Around 1989, Ben enters Rousseau's little hut in an effort to kill her, as ordered by the Others. However, Ben notices she has a baby (Alex) which makes him have a change of heart and let Rousseau live, yet taking Alex with him back to the Others, showing that Ben did not lie about stealing Alex in season 4. Upon leaving, he warns Rousseau about the whispers and that if she hears them, she should "run the other way", showing that Ben and the Others knew about the whispers. Maybe they didn't know their origin but they definitely knew enough to know that they were bad. Though, why would the Others want to get rid of Rousseau, did they fear her or just want her out of their way? Also, if we assume that Widmore was the leader of the Others at this time (and in so, had a connection with Jacob) why would Ben refuse to kill Rousseau if it was "the will of Jacob"?

We later find out that about 10 years later, Widmore was exiled for "breaking the rules". Specifically for regularly leaving the island and having a family off the island (a "daughter with an outsider"…Penny). Widmore tells Ben that he will have to one day choose between Alex and the island, much like Widmore chose family over the island...for now, anyway. This scene gives the audience great insight to the relationship between Ben and Widmore over time and how Ben is slowly taking over Widmore's power. As with all other Ben/Widmore scenes, we have to wonder who are really the "good guys"? Ben...or Widmore?

Flash to 2008: Ben arrives at Desmond's boat and calls Widmore telling him that he's about to kill Penny in revenge for killing Alex. As he proceeds to go towards Penny, he pulls out his gun and goes on to tell her that he's going to kill her because her father killed his daughter. As he prepares to shoot Penny, Ben sees Charlie coming out of the boat which makes him have a change of heart about killing Penny, being that he would take away her child much like Widmore did to Ben.

Desmond then gives Ben a piece of his mind (and fist!), throwing Ben into the water. Overall, this scene gave us some much needed information and closure about Ben's bloody face and arm while boarding Ajira 316. I for one (as well as other viewers), were a little concerned about Penny being that we hadn't seen her for awhile.

Now on the Hydra Island, Ben reveals to Locke that he came back to the Island to be judged and that he needs to get to the main island to do so. Refusing to let Ben and Locke travel to the island, Caesar attempts to draw his gun, however Ben has it and shoots him in the chest (go Ben! It needed to be done). They leave the Hydra Island and arrive at the dock on the main island, noticing the outrigger used by Sun and Lapidus. Inside Ben's old house, Locke and Ben see Sun and Lapidus. Oddly enough, they say that Christian told them to follow John Locke. Earlier, Christian had told them that if they wanted to see their friends, they had "a long journey ahead of them". I'm still wondering, what is that long journey? Also, how would Christian know about it as well as Sun needing to follow Locke? Something's up here being that Locke is acting so calm and peaceful. Since being "revived" he seems to know the answers to everything...even more than Ben, to a point.

Later, we finally get to see what's behind Ben's secret door. After waiting since season 4 to find out, I was a little disappointed with the whole draining water thing. I was expecting something more mechanical and explained being that Ben was covered with soot rather than sewage water. Hopefully, the water draining has more to be explained.

Apparently not listening to Ben anymore, the smoke monster does not appear when summoned which makes Ben, Locke, and Sun travel to the Temple to go to the monster instead of it coming to them. As Ben goes into the Temple, the sounds of the monster are heard as he notices hieroglyphics. Soon after, the smoke monster rises out of a small stone grate inside the chamber. It starts to surround him and shows him images of Alex, Wdmore, etc. from his past, much like previous encounters with some of the other characters in past seasons. After awhile, Alex appears when the smoke monster vanishes (my belief is that "Alex" in this case was a from of the smoke monster used to get inside Ben's head) and makes Ben promise that he will follow Locke's leadership, or she will "destroy" him. The phrase about "destroying" Ben made me think that "Alex" was the monster because I doubt that Alex/Alex's ghost would say "destroy"...it's just a very smoke monster-like word. Ben later reunites with Locke and informs him that the monster "let him live".

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Finally, we see llana on the Hydra Island ask Frank, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Being as confused as the audience, Frank could not answer and llana knocks him out. Now, I for one have believed that llana knows way more than she lets on to. Especially with this whole little riddle thing she has going on now. If the statue that she's talking about is in fact the four-toed foot statue, that definitely proves she knows alot...maybe too much. On the other hand, if this statue is just a metaphor...well, I have no idea.

Okay, so with such an episode packed with answers and questions, let's finish with some questions:

1. What is the smoke monster's relation to the Temple?
2. Why does the Monster demand that Ben follow John Locke?
3. How does Locke know where the Monster is?
4. Is the smoke monster’s temple the same temple that Ben ordered the Others to in season 4?
5. How did Christian know Locke would come?
6. What is the meaning of Ilana's question to Frank?
7. How far back does the island go to Egypt (notice more Egyptian references/hieroglyphics in the Temple)?

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Of course, there are tons more tiny questions throughout this episode, but these are some of the major ones that could possibly be of great importance in future episodes.

Though only 4 main characters had speaking roles in this episode, it was nice to get to see some Ben/Locke interaction after not seeing either of them for a couple episodes. Once everyone is reunited, it's going to be interesting to see how the writers keep everyone's storylines together with equal time devoted to each one.

In the end, Dead Is Dead was one of my favorite episodes so far. If next weeks episode is going to be half is good, it has alot of live up to.

Namaste

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Whatever Happened Happened

Last night's episode is definitely one of my favorites of the season. Not only were more questions posed, but more were answered as well. Overall, I thought "Whatever Happened Happened" was a very interesting 45 minutes (darn you commericals!). I'm a big Kate fan so naturally I really liked that it was a Kate-centric episode.

Now that we're getting closer to the end of season 5, it's getting interesting to find out everyone's motives to come back to the island. Now that we know Sayid came back to kill Ben, we can also add that Kate came back to find Claire and that Ben came back to be judged (according to the preview after the show). I thought that Kate's motive for coming back to the island was for Claire was a great way to kind of re-focus the attention of the audience back to Claire, being that she's been absent from the show for quite some time now.

Kate starting to unravel the O6's lie was very interesting indeed. And of all people to spill the truth to--Cassidy? Very cool bringing her back into the storyline. Speaking of Cassidy, we now know what Sawyer whispered in Kate's ear in the season 4 finale. Though many people speculated what it might have been, it's nice to get some closure on what he actaully told her. Now everything from the "off island" flash-forwards are starting to come together--that's something that I really appreciate.

So on the island (as of now) young Ben isn't dead. Richard taking him to the smoke monster "temple" was definitely a suprising twist to everything! I wasn't expecting that for sure. Actually, I was expecting Richard to take him to Jacob. But hey, that's a whole different story. Now it makes us wonder: why would taking Ben to the smoke monster heal him, yet corrupt his innocence in the process?

When Kate approched the sonic weapon fence in Hostile-land, it made me wonder about the truce between the Hostiles and the Dharma Initiative. Especially considering we have no clue how long the Hostiles have been on the island in the first place. Also, who's idea was it to put up the fence and why--who or what were they trying to keep out?

The last scene of the episode where Locke is watching Ben was amazing as well. The look on Ben's face was priceless. Almost as if he had no idea that the island would revive Locke. Hopefully we'll get to see some more Ben/Locke interaction in the near future.

Judging by the preview, next week's episode is going to be packed with smoke monster goodness and some good answers as well. If it is at all like last night's episode, it's bound to be fantastic.

Namaste

Monday, March 30, 2009

Four-toed Statue Confirmed

On the new edition of the Official LOST podcast with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, they confirmed that the statue seen in LaFleur is in fact the four-toed statue that we originally saw back in season 3.

Just a little bit of news to get through to Wednesday.

Namaste

Friday, March 27, 2009

He's Our You - Ben Paradox

I think I've figured out why I haven't been the biggest fan of the last few LOST episodes. Back in the season 3 finale flashforward, Jack is so eager to get back to the island. Now he's back on the island (along with everyone else) and what does he do? Sit around doing Dharma work and eating sandwiches with Hurley? Don't know about anyone else, but I'd definitely question some things. Especially why it was so urgent that the Oceanic 6 get back to the island in the first place. Care to explain, Ms. Hawking? To me, it seems like they've all been a bit "brainwashed", for lack of better words. Particularly Kate. She seems a bit...out of it. Kind of like Claire.

Speaking of Claire, is she hopping around the island as well? Anyway, not the point. So why did Kate feel she had to come back? Quite possibly something to do with Claire or Aaron. That's kind of interesting being that Aaron is part of the Oceanic 6 yet everything seems to be fine...and he's not back to the island!

So I think the main thing that needs discussing is Sayid shooting Ben. Being a big Ben fan (haha, pun not intended) I naturally felt sorry for him when Sayid shot him. Little Ben didn't deserve to get shot being that what Sayid was shooting him for hadn't happened yet. Kind of like if someone came from the future and shot you in the chest for something that you were going to do. I can imagine Ben was as shocked and confused as the audience was.

So if young Ben dies, we have two outcomes of what could possibly happen here: a) There are multiple realities and the O6 happen to be in one now, permitting Ben to be alive and well in the present (?) with Sun and Lapidus, or b) Shooting Ben creates a paradox which messes everything up that's happened so far in the show. If young Ben dies, than that means that he never caused the purge, allowing the DI to remain on the island, Ben wouldn't have become leader of the Others, and so on and so on. I'm tending to lean toward option a. However, both options could be nullified if the shot didn't kill young Ben and it only injured him.

It seems as if it we've got more questions to ponder. That's LOST for you though! Until next time...

Namaste

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Namaste...and good luck

After watching "Namaste" last week, many questions came to mind. In this entry, instead of going into detail on each one, I'll do a bullet or summarize one each point.

1. Why did Sun not flash to the island like the rest of the Oceanic 6?

Possible Theory: Sun was pregnant at the time of her rescue from the island and her baby was technically "part" of her. If she would've brought Ji-Yeon aboard Ajira 316, would she have been able to flash with the rest of the group?

2. What's going on with that Ajira plane anyway? It now seems that it's in a different time period from the O6 that flashed onto the island.

Possible Theory: Hmm...that's a good one.

3. In season 3, Kate and Sawyer were kept prisoner by the Others. When Sawyer asked Juliet what they were doing digging up rocks, Juliet told them that they were bulding a runway, but she didn't know what for. Keep in mind, this was on the Hydra island, exactly where Ajira 316 landed. Coincedence? I think not.

Possible Theory: Richard told Ben to tell the Others to build the runway because he knew that the Ajira plane would be coming to the island in the future. How would Richard know this? My theory is that Richard is from the future (how far into the future, I have no idea) and kind of has a job like Abaddon to "get people where they're supossed to be".

4. Where does Christian tell Sun and Frank to go on this "long journey"?

Possible Theory: The O6 die in the Purge and Christian directs them down the right path to get them out of the situation. However, this would go against what Ms. Hawking says about not being able to change the past. But hey, anyone that's associated with Ben can never be completely trusted. Now it's getting down to the point where everyone has their own motives and acts towards their own goals.

Interesting things I noticed:

1. Ben's arm was apparently healed by coming to the island.

2. Young Ben watches Sayid through the prison cell. This situation was reversed in season 2 when Ben was captured by the Oceanic survivors.

3. When taking the "New Recruits" photograph with the Oceanic 6, Hurley turns his head towards Kate. However, in the photo that Christian shows Sun and Frank, Hurley's head is facing the camera.

Just a few questions, theories, and thoughts to speculate over until next weeks episode entitled, "He's Our You". Sounds promising, but with all these answers to look forward to, how could it not?

Namaste

Sunday, March 15, 2009

We have to go back!

After watching the last couple episodes of LOST (and what good episodes they were!), I can't help but wonder why the O6 needed to go back to the island. If Locke turning the Frozen Wheel supposivily stopped the time jumps, than what would be the purpose of Ms. Hawking and Ben acting that it was so imparitive that they get back to the island so desperately?

What could the O6, or anyone for that matter, have to gain by getting everyone back to the island? The first thing that comes to mind is Ben's motives. Right now, the only thing the audience can infer about Ben's wants is that he wants to resume his status on the island. Already having consulted Ms. Hawking, he would've known how to get to the island before the O6. That being said, if he wanted to get back to the island, wouldn't he just get on Ajira 316 by himself in order to eliminate as many people from his path as possible?

Furthering that statement, why would Ben want to help the O6? Knowing that he didn't need the O6 to get back to the island, maybe he brought them with him to get the O6 on his side. This would come to be of great importance once this "war" that everyone is talking about happens. This was references numerous times throughout this season by Ben, Widmore, etc. Each person that references this on the show seems to try to convince someone that they're on the "good" side and that a big conflict is about to happen. Whatever this conflict may be, it's safe to say that it definitely won't be a dull moment on LOST.

So why did the Oceanic 6 have to go back to the island? That is one question that we do not have the answer to as of yet. Whether it's for protection, Ben's motives, or something completely off-the-wall that no one has mentioned yet, I think every viewer is just as curious.

For now, just remember--not all of the Oceanic 6 is back on the island. ;)

Namaste

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Island Explanation

I recently discovered that it's nearly impossible to have a conversation about LOST with someone who doesn't watch LOST. A couple episodes back, ABC was running the Enchanced HD version of "316". I was watching it while simultaneously attempting to explain the current plot of the show. Bad idea.

I started explaining how those who left the island need to go back (through the "window" above the island) to sort of balance everything out. Right after, I'm asked questions whose answers could not be given in a short amount of time.

I explained that they have to find the island because it moved. Though I knew my explainations would not be understood, I still proceeded to tell the rest of the current plot. Continuing with the island, I was then asked the question that I hesitated to answer, "Where did the island go?". Now, to all of you who are reading this and have been avid watchers of LOST, I'm sure you can understand why I hesitated--non-LOST watchers think LOST fans are crazy enough as it is! Do they really need more ammunition?

Taking a moment to think of how exactly to word what I was about to say, I just blurted it out, the island...went back in time. There we go, the one single phrase that makes someone look at you like you've got three heads. I stopped there. It wouldn't have helped even if I drew a picture.

It's situations like these that dissuade me from attempting to explain LOST to non-watchers. However, it makes me wonder...what reaction would I get if I were to explain that there was a sinsiter cloud of black smoke running around on the island?

Namaste

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Egyptian Influences

Throughout this season so far, I've noticed many different Egyptian elements and ideas. In my opinion, I think it's possible that these elements have a great deal to do with the island's previous history and inhabitants. Are they truly important to the show, or are they coincidence (I think not). Either way, here's some of what I've noticed:

1. Ankh. An ankh was held by Amy in "LaFleur". Meaning "the key of life", it's interesting to see an ankh on the show.

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2. Ben's secret door. Ben went through the door etched with hieroglyphics to presumably summon the smoke monster.

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3. Smoke monster temple. In episode, "This Place is Death", the Smoke Monster drags Montand into a vent in the ground, eventually taking him into the temple. More hieroglyphics can be seen etched in the stone structure (See photo below).

All clues lead back to the theory that the smoke monster was "created" or existed around Egyptian times. Possibly as early as 1539-2500 B.C.?

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4. Hieroglyphics in the Hatch. Not pushing the button resulted in a "Lockdown" and caused the countdown timer to switch from 108, to hieroglyphics. Interesting reference to Egypt being that heirogylphics were used on a fairly recent countdown system (1970s).

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5. Statue seen in "LaFleur". Seen in the background of the scene, the large stone statue appears to be wearing something of Egyptian nature on its head. Also, it seems as if it's holding an ankh (maybe two?).

Another thing comes to mind when looking at this statue. If it is the whole statue of the four-toed food structure seen in season 3, why is everything but a foot destroyed and how did it happen?

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These are just a couple of my observations of Egyptian appearances in LOST so far. Hopefully they all tie into each other and have a history that will be related to the show and will contribute to the plot in some way, shape, or form.

Namaste

Monday, March 9, 2009

LOST Takes a Break

Hey everyone,

I'm starting this blog today to attempt to satisfy my LOST craving until next week. Hopefully I'll be able to do numerous entries per week. Whenever something LOST related pops into my head, it'll be here as well.

Turns out that there won't be a new episode airing this week. Kind of disappointing when earlier this year (pre-season 5), the producers said that there wouldn't be any breaks this season. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait--LOST always is. For a show like LOST, you'd think that a 2 week break is enough time to forget critical information from last weeks episode.

The same thing goes for commercials. It's understandable that ABC needs to bring in some advertisement compensation, but it really dissuades the viewer and makes them lose interest in the show. Being that LOST is realy a "thinking" kind of show, it helps to have little interruptions as possible so that the viewer's thought process in not disturbed.

It's nice to be able to watch episodes on ABC.com on the computer, however, unlike a flatscreen TV, it doesn't really give you the "Holy crap, I'm being chased by a smoke monster" feeling.

Namaste