Lost (Spoilers)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Now that I am completely caught up with Doctor Who, I FINALLY started watching Lost (for the first time, so no “spoilers”!) over the weekend. Three episodes in, I must admit I find myself caught up in the intrigue. It reminds me a bit of Marvel’s Skull the Slayer, but less super-heroey. I’m paying very close attention (or trying to) to all the hints and details. One of the “mysteries” on which I speculated in part one of the pilot has already been resolved in part two, so it’s a moot point.

I expect this is going to be a bit like a 1940s movie serial (but slicker) in that some bits are going to left out only to be revealed later. The hero’s car goes over the cliff at the end of one installment, but we’re not shown him jumping out until the beginning of the next. I’ve already seen that to some extent. For example, Kate is left alone with the US marshal, and shortly thereafter, the other guy shoots him in the chest with the gun Kate was holding. There’s a scene missing!

I like Kate, though. I think I’m supposed to at this point, but I also think I’ve made the right decision. She saved the farmer’s life at the risk of being captured in the flashback, but even more telling, she affixed the oxygen mask to the marshal’s face when he was unconscious.

I do think watching shows on DVD is the way to go. Based on a strong opening season, I watched Heroes for three years only to have it cancelled out from under me with no resolution (rumors of a TV movie to tie up loose ends notwithstanding). What a waste of my time! At least I know going in I won’t have that problem with Lost.

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

There was a high school science teacher character.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Unless it dovetails later on, it appears as if the timeline has split and an alternate reality has been formed. That, and the new one is three years out of synch with the “real” one again. Lots of questions, but as I’ve learned, speculation is pointless.

[Philip Portelli]

Just sit back and enjoy the ride! All (well, some) will be explained!

It's not the first time LOST has been compared to Gilligan's Island. If it was the same island, it certainly had a better sense of humor back then. But those seven castaways found something on the island. The Howells found out that there were people who cared about them regardless of their wealth. Ginger the same in spite of her beauty and fame. Mary Ann blossomed in her nurturing role. The Professor was no longer a boring man in a laboratory but a man of importance. The Skipper was seen as an actual leader, instead of the boss of a doofus. As for said doofus, Gilligan found a family who cared and tolerated him. Also he became a nerdy Peter Pan, never having to mature and have endless goofy adventures. Hopefully the Island protected these dear souls from the Others and the Dharma Initiative!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I haven’t quite made up my mind yet about whether or not I’m enjoying the alternate timeline; that is, if it is an alternate timeline. I thought so once before and was wrong. But this once seems to be the real deal. Seeming at first to be set in a “what if Oceanic 815 hadn’t crashed” universe, it’s becoming increasing clear it’s set in a “what if the island didn’t exist since 1977” universe. It’s playing our very much like the “Parallel Time” sequences of Dark Shadows (the first one, anyway), in that there no particular rhyme or reason (at least none I can discern so far) as to why events played out differently in the alternate timeline.

All right, the island was blown up in 1977. So what? Why would that affect the lives of the six candidates? And if their lives are so different, how is it they all end up aboard flight 815 in altered timeline as well? Depending on how this all plays out, I may go back and try to apply the logic of Lost to Dark Shadows’ parallel time, never one of my favorite sequences because it makes so little sense how characters would get to point C instead of point B, alternate timeline notwithstanding.

I’m definitely enjoying the parallel between Jacob and the Dark Man in the past and Jacob and Locke in the present, two similar sets of circumstances separated by a couple hundred years, as in Peter Benchley’s The Deep. come to think of it, Benchley wrote The Island, too, didn’t he? Hmm…

Jacob’s style reminds me, too, of timshel, from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

... the Dark Man ...

This guy was generally referred to as "Smokey" or "Flocke" (i.e., F(alse) Locke or F(aux) Locke) on the websites I was frequenting at the time.

When he showed up in the Season 5 Finale, Doc Jensen at EW.com called him "Nameless McLoophole." I liked it, but it never caught on. Imagine that.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

After he showed up Tracy told me about two dolls she had seen advertised in Previews weeks ago (when she had no idea who they were), and I think she said he was called the Dark Man there... or something similar. Or maybe I'm mis-remembering. The other figure was Jacob.

Wow. It's hard to believe I'm almost through with this series and will soon be able to discuss the conclusion. I have only five episodes left (or six if the finale is double-length). In either case, at the rate I'm going I should be done by the end of the week, perhaps even the work-week.

I noticed (without freeze-framing) the notation "imaginary time" in Danial Faraday Widmore's journal.

[The Baron]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

I noticed (without freeze-framing) the notation "imaginary time" in Danial Faraday Widmore's journal.

So, is he married to Willie Loomis in Parallel Time, too?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

No, in "imaginary time" Willie Loomis is married to Mary Beth Lacey, but the similarities between Dark Shadows' "parallel time" and "Lost's "imaginary time" are shockingly striking.

[The Baron]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

No, in "imaginary time" Willie Loomis is married to Mary Beth Lacey, but the similarities between Dark Shadows' "parallel time" and "Lost's "imaginary time" are shockingly striking.

Awesome.

[Philip Portelli]

They refer to him as the Man in Black rather than the Dark Man.

"I hear the plane a-coming! It's crashing 'round the bend! Lord, I ain't left this Island since I don't when..."

[Rich Steeves]

I like Dark Man- it reminds me of Randall Flagg. The fact of the matter is, no one knew what to call him. I always called him "Man Number 2" or, when he was Locke, I just called him Locke...



Philip Portelli said:

They refer to him as the Man in Black rather than the Dark Man.

"I hear the plane a-coming! It's crashing 'round the bend! Lord, I ain't left this Island since I don't when..."

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

After his first appearance, some were calling him "Esau."