LOST: The Little Prince

I was a little bummed to see that Jin was alive. It’s nothing personal. I think he’s a wonderfully engaging, complex character. My worry is that the writers are losing control of the story. Why was Jin able to survive the explosion and end back up in 1988 when Rousseau came to the island? The ship he was on was way outside the time radius of the island. If he’s alive, does that mean Michael’s still alive? And are we going to have three storylines (Jin and Rousseau, the Oceanic Six, and the time shifting island survivors) instead of two? That’s simply going to make the show even more difficult to follow.

The writers have opened a huge can of worms with this. If they don’t have a good explanation for it all, I’ll be very disappointed. I hope they didn’t do it just to make it easy play to get Sun back. That’s what the preview for next week’s episode made it look like anyway. If that’s the only reason then the writers are getting lazy.

And what effect will this have on Sun? She’s become such an extremely resourceful and calculating person since Jin died and I’ve really liked how she’s changed. I worry that bringing Jin back will simply put Sun back into the role she played before he was thought to have died.

The cool thing about Jin being back is that we can finally learn the back story of Danielle Rousseau and what happened to her group. That’s a story I’ve wanted to see for years. I’m hoping her story will shed some light on the numbers, the smoke monster, how Ben ended up with her child, and a few of the other mysterious aspects of the island.

***

Here’s a LOST conspiracy theory that me and a co-worker were throwing around this morning. Three of the survivors on the island are getting nosebleeds: Charlotte, Miles, and Juliet. According to Faraday, their nosebleeds and sickness correlates to how long they’ve been on the island. We know that Juliet’s been on the island for several years and it’s kind of assumed that Charlotte was born there. Miles however seems very surprised that his nose is bleeding and says he’s only been on the island a short time to which Faraday replies, “Are you sure?” and he says it in such a way that implies that he knows that Miles has been on the island longer than he knows.

Our theory is that Miles is the son of Dr. Pierre Chang. You know, the guy in all the Dharma Initiative videos. He was born on the island but, for whatever reason, left when he was little. (Remember that the first scene in the episode “Because You Left” shows Chang’s wife waking him up and telling was his turn to take care of the kid. The fact he was born on the island (if he’s Chang’s kids) would go a long way in explaining the reason he can apparently sense dead people and why he’s getting the nosebleeds.

What say you?

Friends Don't Let Friends Watch LOST

This is what will happen if you try to get someone caught up on LOST. Freaking hilarious.

LOST: Jughead

*** Spoilers Follow***

Charles Widmore is an Other?!?!?!

That was seriously the best revelation LOST has given us in a long time and goes a long way to explaining why he wants to get back to the island. Maybe at one point Widmore was even the leader of the others before leaving/getting banished/transported off the island. I hope the writers are planning a Widmore-centric episode soon. That would be great to learn more about him, how he left the island, why he can’t get back, and see what’s really going on between him and Ben.

Here’s my theory as to who the Others (with the exception of Richard Alpert) really are. They’re survivors of the British trading ship, the Black Rock, that crashed on the island back in the mid-nineteenth century. This explains their British accents. My guess is that after they crashed, they were unable to get off the island and started their own society. They’ve been there long enough that they feel the island is theirs and don’t want to give it up.

Another thing about the Others I’m still trying to figure out: They don’t really seem to be into building places to live. They were living in the tents of the army people they killed in the 1954 flashback in this episode and moved into the Dharma Initiative homes once they eliminated all of them. I find it odd that they don’t really seem capable of building any kind of permanent settlements. I’m sure there’s a reason for this, I just haven’t figured it out yet. If anyone has a theory, feel free to throw it into the comments below.

Meanwhile it looks like Desmond, Penny, and their son are headed to Los Angeles. Fate is bringing everyone back together. It looks like Desmond is headed back to the island, no matter what kind of promises he made to Penny. It appears, at least in LOST’s universe, you really can’t mess with fate.

LOST: The Lie

(Note: To read my review of the LOST season premier, scroll down or click here.)

I love Hurley-centric episodes because, out of all the main characters in LOST, he’s by far the most interesting. (Sawyer is a close #2.) The writers do a great job of creating an extremely sympathetic but believable character. The guy gets nothing but bag breaks in his life. Yet he’s the one that would be the easiest to put into a clichéd role as some crazy, fat guy. But the writers do their best to make the audience unsure of Hurly is really crazy or not.

They round out Hurley’s character very well mother and father. Again, it would be easy to treat them as instant millionaires who are out of their element. And we see some of that by their home, the way they dress, and the fact that his father puts caviar on his hamburgers. But the writers show that they’re real people with strong family bond. Hurley’s father agrees to protect him from the police and stands up for him when he talks to Jack. Hurley’s mother believes him when Hurley tells her what really happened to the plane.

I was surprised that most people at work didn’t realize who the old lady at the end was. This is probably a sign that I’ve watched past season’s too many times, but she was the old woman who didn’t want Desmond to buy an engagement ring (somewhere back in season 2 or 3). I’m glad they brought her back as she kept popping up in photographs and other places throughout the show. Apparently she and Ben have a little secret that they better share in the next couple episodes. I don’t want those writers dragging out the “we have 70 hours to get everyone together” for the rest of the season.

The folks on the island took a back seat in this episode. The flaming arrows were cool to watch and a brilliant way to think out all the extras that have been taking up space on the beach. (Especially that really annoying Neil guy. Admit it. You cheered when he was engulfed in flames.)

Looking forward to next week’s episode….

LOST: Because You Left

I’m so glad LOST is back. For the first time in months I was riveted to the TV for two hours last night enjoying every minute of both episodes. (The second episode will be reviewed in my next post.)

*** WARNING: Spoilers Abound ***

For the people on the mainland, we see that fate slowly bringing the survivors back together. I guess no matter how much of a fuss they put up, they’re destined to return to that island no matter what. The storyline of Syiad and Hurley was interesting but really was serving as a setup to the next episode.

The truly interesting part of the season premier was seeing what happened to those who were left on the island. Juliet and Sawyer have become the de facto leaders of the group trying to navigate them through the time shifting they’re experiencing. And I’m glad they’ve set Daniel Faraday up as more than just a science geek. Apparently he’s going to be the key to getting them out of their time shifting mess.

The writers are walking a tightrope with the time shifting/time travel part of the island. As a storytelling device, sending the survivors back in time on the island it’s a great way for the audience to learn more about the island, its history, and the Dharma Initiative. On the flip side, time travel has become such a cliché in book, movies, and television, the writers run the risk of making LOST lose its ability to be a fresh and entertaining show. So far they’ve handled the time shifting aspect of the show very well. I like the fact that Faraday tells them they can’t change anything. That constrains the writers from screwing around with the established storyline. (Phew!) I just hope they keep walking that tightrope.

There is one aspect of the show that is starting to grate on me a little, however. Why do they have to keep hiding the faces of characters to build up suspense? In the opening scene, why not show that it’s Pierre Chang who gets out of bed to get the kid instead of waiting until he sits down to shoot the instructional tape that we realize who it is? Why not show Faraday’s face as soon as Chang bumps into him on the way out. There are certain rules and reasons when you hide the faces of characters. However, hiding the faces of Chang and Faraday served no purpose that to confuse the audience. They could have had the same amount of suspense if the first thing we saw was Chang’s face and were trying to figure out why they were showing him.

But hiding the faces is a minor complaint. Overall, it was a great episode. I’m glad there’s finally something good to watch on TV again.

More LOST

Only five weeks to go....

The Official LOST 2009 Trailer

Coming Feburary 4, 2009....

Yeah, I'm excited.

The Digital TV Divide

I’m deciding whether or not to buy one of those digital TV converter boxes. You know, the ones that people who don’t subscribe to cable or satellite will need once digital TV goes into effect on February 17 of next year.

If it wasn’t for LOST, I’d probably just let my TV reception turn to static in February and get rid of the set altogether considering how little I or anyone at our home watches it. The only time I really spend watching anything is one or two movies on the weekend that come in the mail from Netflix. And even then Marathon Girl and I are more inclined to watch them on a laptop or portable DVD player instead of the television since the two of us watch movies in bed after the kids are asleep.

I don’t think our kids would miss the TV much either. Yes, they watch the occasional kid TV show but would be just as happy watching one of their Thomas the Train DVDs or 20 minutes of an animated Pixar movie.

Besides, with shows being broadcast over the Internet the next day and (usually) being available on DVD before the next season begins, I’m seeing less and less of a need for regular broadcast television. Were I to ditch the TV altogether, the only thing I might miss is watching is the occasional professional football/baseball/basketball game or presidential conventions and debates though (thankfully!) the latter only comes around once every four years.

Which brings me back to the one reason I’m seriously leaning toward buying a digital converter box: LOST. Sure, I could watch it the next day on abc.com or wait until it comes out on DVD and go on a 2-day LOST bender, but there’s something about anticipating the next episodes twists and turns every week and being able to blog about it and talk about the latest LOST theories with Marathon Girl, friends, and co-workers that makes watching it every week fun.

So I’ll probably end up buying a digital TV converter box sometime this winter. But only because of LOST. However, there’s a good chance once that LOST comes to a conclusion next year, our TV will have outlived its usefulness and come to an end too.

Knowing How to Tell A Story

Writing in the (Salt Lake) Deseret News, Scott Pierce makes the following observation:

On multiple occasions in this column, yours truly has written that "Lost" took a sudden turn for the better.

That, once an end date was announced, the show quickly became much more watchable. Actually, that it stopped being unwatchable after a second season that drove viewers away by the millions. I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"That made all the difference in the world," executive producer Carlton Cuse said. "We now basically knew exactly how much time we had left to tell our story, and we were basically able to blast towards that ending. I think that really completely changed our storytelling approach."

I made a similar observation last year when ABC gave LOST and end date because I knew it would give the writers a time frame to work with. It’s a lot easier for the writers to tell as story when you know the story’s going to end. That gives the writers the ability to have all the pieces fit into place.

I hope the final two seasons of LOST prove to be a big success because I think all television networks should examine their hit shows and decide years in advance when to end them. That way you avoid the "ER" debacle where the show has just dragged on and on and lost any sense of what it was. (USA’s "Monk" is heading down a similar road.) It also avoids the fate of "The X-Files" where the last episode ranks as one of the worst finale of a long-running television series.

Were I in charge of a TV network, after a show has had two hit seasons, I’d sit down with the producers, creators, and head writers and figure out where the show it going and a good time frame to end it. I think that would increase or, at the very least, stabilize the number of viewers and give them a hope that their favorite TV show will have a satisfying ending.

Join the Dharma Initiative

Admit it. You’ve wanted to join the Dharma Initiative since you saw that first grainy movie back on the first season of LOST. Well, now you can.

Not sure what, exactly, ABC is doing with this, but I signed up anyway to fill that LOST void. If anyone else takes the recruitment test, you’ll have to let me know if some of the images and “answers” freak you out a little.

Join here.