The Others are not only not zombies, they are a modern community. They are never more Civilized than their book club at the beginning of Season 3.[1]
At the end of Season 5, Entertainment Weekly’s resident Lost guru Doc Jensen asked fans to submit their “Top 3 Lost Mysteries You Absolutely Need to See Resolved in Season 6.” The resulting Top 15 List[2] is overly broad and mostly unsurprising but that reflects the clear consensus among fans as to what the Lost mysteries are. I may use that list more in the future to organize this blog’s mysteries discussion: the Whispers and the Others are both on the list.
It does not, however, contain at item on my Top 3 list: whatever happened to the old lady from the book club? Her name is Amelia and there theories online about her origin, some primarily based on her name. I understand that the island’s healing properties may give kept her healthy beyond her years, she’s still elderly. I imagine she’s with the group of Others at the Temple. But even if the Temple is a series of Cocoon like hot tubs, I can’t imagine her making the day and a half hike it takes from the Barracks.
But suppose I grant that Amelia is a very spry senior citizen and try to ignore the comparisons to Dick Van Dyke from A Night at the Museum, that still leaves me wondering how Adam, the middle aged guy from the book club who is all pissy and snarky about Juliet’s choice of book, survived on the island. Amelia may be old, but Adam is just a tool.
I think the show overshot itself. The book club is the pre-title scene from the first episode of the 3rd season. It is a tease. The audience is supposed to think all of this happening during an off-island flashback. The payoff shot of the civilized Barracks in the middle of the island’s jungle is a provocation shot. We had previously seen the Others with modern medical technology,[3] but we still weren’t prepared for the Others to be so modern as to have, well, a book club. But in order to show that the Others are not the hut-dwelling jungle tribe we were led to believe, the book club loads the Others’ community with dependents. It’s just too much overhead for a people that can still melt into the jungle at a day’s notice.
At least the book club’s other revelation evolved into a cohesive narrative: Juliet burns food when she’s stressed.[4]
[1] “A Tale of Two Cities”
[2] http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20209564_20209584_20291928,00.html)
[3] “Maternity Leave”
[4] See “He’s Our You”
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Characters: Juliet (as Ben's bitch)
Rewatching the series offered a chance not only to see departed characters again, but to see central characters in early incarnations. It was almost charming to see Sawyer’s self hate at the level he actively encourages his own torture. And man crush on Jack was sagging before I watched him in full hero mode right after the rash. However, one character really suffered: Juliet
I used to defend Juliet from fans who had never come around on her. Maybe it’s my soft spot for Hitchcockian blondes. She is definitely icy. But I had forgotten how much of Ben’s bitch she really was.
When Sawyer wrestles a gun away from Pickett, it is Juliet who makes him put it down by holding a gun on Kate.[1] Yes, of course she asks Jack to kill Ben while operating on him.[2] I don’t think I’ll ever understand her plan on that. But when Jack executes his escape plan by threatening to let Ben bleed out, Juliet tries to sabotage it by telling the Others that Jack is bluffing.[3] Jack’s getting Sawyer and Kate released is one of his best moments as a leader: his plan is bold and unexpected, still very risky to himself and Sawyer and Kate, and works because of his share strength of will. And Juliet calls him a pussy in the middle of it?
In Juliet’s defense, I understand what she’s doing. Unlike Jack or Sawyer, she knows the Others’ camp is on the Hydra island, not the main island, so Sawyer and Kate do not have anywhere to escape to. In that sense, I think she is protecting them. She thinks escape is impossible so it’s better to just give up, like she has. As tells Jack during Ben’s pre-op, she’s good at following orders.[4]
She later largely redeems herself, but it is a slow crawl towards freedom. Sawyer encourages Karl to return to the Others’ camp for Alex, the woman he loves, despite the danger.[5] But Juliet won’t let Alex go with Karl because it would make Ben mad.[6] It’s annoying because Juliet has bought into Ben as a god. She has been stuck on the island for three years with Ben dangling promises of going home only to pull them away.[7] Physically she could kick the ass of most people on the island, but she’s also wrapped up in being the sad realist. It’s why she’s still works for Ben even after joining the castaways’ camp.[8]
She eventually does the right thing but she never abandons her view of Ben as a master of evil.[9] He’s really just a bully. Jack stands up to bullies.[10] It would be nice she’d stop telling him he just doesn’t have what it takes to beat Ben.
[1] “The Glass Ballerina”
[2] “The Cost of Living”
[3] “Not in Portland”
[4] “I Do”
[5] “Stranger in a Strange Land”
[6] “Not in Portland”
[7] Id
[8] “One of Us”
[9] See “The Other Woman”
[10] “White Rabbit”
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Mysteries: The Others (as zombies)
The ending of Lost may be anticlimactic because until the very end we often fail to appreciate many of unanswered questions have been answered. Case in point, the Others. Who are the Others? They are people like Juliet who have come to the island under diverse but earthly circumstances and as others in relation to the survivors of Oceanic 815. But the Others label still packs a punch because they were so scary for so long. I don’t think the Others ever had special powers. But it’s worth remembering when they were monsters because I am not convinced all the earlier encounters can be packed back into the Others were always human explanation.
The Others as otherworldly began with Ethan Rom’s kidnapping Claire. We never see him take Claire and Charlie, but I think the question left hanging in the air is one asked by Locke: how did one man carry off two people, dragging one?[1] That the Others are in great shape and trained fighters is an answer but wouldn’t have satisfied anyone at the time and shouldn’t satisfy us now. The idea that Ethan is more than mere human is reinforced by how easily he kicks Jack’s ass when the hunting party catches up to him.[2] But sure, Juliet and Ben have both kicked more ass than their form would suggest possible, so fine, that can explain Jack’s beating. Lastly, after Charlie is saved he still has no memory of what happened, like his memory had been erased.
Ethan’s return for Claire is also scary. He appears in the jungle, knocking out Jin and holding Charlie against a tree in a Darth Vader chokehold. Ethan appears blood, an open wound on his cheek and dirty clothes. (On a quick side note, Ethan’s appearance is preceded by the sound of footsteps not whispers.) The survivors huddle to protect Claire but Ethan still slips into camp at night like a ghost to kill Scott. Of course, now we know the Others just came over in one of their boats. The best wrap up of Ethan’s initial story arch is provided by frequent onscreen narrator Hurley. As he helps Charlie bury Ethan’s body, Hurley warns about him rising from the dead to take his revenge on Charlie for shooting him. The Others are zombies.
In the second season, the Others remain unseen and inhuman, alternatively ghosts or animals. This is the beginning of the real Others vs. castaways war, a war brought home by the survivors of the flight 815’s tail section who have been fighting the Others since day 1. Mr. Eko says the Others do not leave tracks.[3] You don’t know what they’re capable of, he warns, and says they won’t be found if they don’t want to be.[4] Ana Lucia describes them as smart, animals and can be anywhere at anytime.[5] But again, maybe they are just talented. The Others themselves are cocky about their abilities. Senior Other Mr. Tom Friendly promises Jack that Michael won’t be able to find the Others camp.[6] At the time, though, Michael is the Others’ prisoner. His capture supports the just plain talented theory. Mr. Friendly does appear behind Michael seemingly out of nowhere, impressive for a man of Tom’s size and age. But Michael is distracted by another Other pretending to pee and that Other does signal for Tom to approach.[7]
Harper appears and disappears out of nowhere but as discussed the Whispers post, maybe that wasn’t Harper. The Others’ do double back on Kate and Sayid later in the series, but even Naomi created a fake trail while she had a knife in her back. Like I said, I am sure the Others spend a lot of time practicing and that Richard knows the island like the back of his hand. And they still need Kate and Sayid’s help to ambush the mercenary team.
The incident that is so tough to explain though is the Others’ kidnapping Cindy. She is taken while walking through a relatively clear section of the jungle with Ana Lucia, Eko, and the other Tailies and Michael, Jin and Sawyer. They turn around for only a few moments and she is gone. Adding confusion, the Whispers are heard just after she disappears.[8] I have a theory about that occurrence of the Whispers but either way, it doesn’t seem like Cindy could have been kidnapped by anyone except some tribe of jungle mutants who can move at greater than human speed and agility.
I don’t think the creators are making it up as they go. I think they just walking a very tight rope. They put the audience in the castaways point of view and then present images they make all of us jump to unwarranted conclusions. They are very talented showman, but I think sometimes they step off and they pretend they didn’t. That’s my meta view of the series in a paragraph.
[1] “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues?”
[2] Id.
[3] “…And Found”
[4] Id.
[5] “Abandoned”
[6] “The Hunting Party”
[7] “Three Minutes”
[8] “Abandoned”
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Mysteries: The Whispers, Part I
My motivation for writing this blog is to encourage a text based discussion of the mysteries of Lost. I am actually a Lost pessimist. My hunch is that most of the show’s central mysteries do have a solution, meaning there is no one explanation that makes sense of all the occurrences of an element, such as the Whispers, in the show. Today I am focusing on the Whispers because rewatching the series actually made me hopeful there is a solution.
The Whispers are the intelligible, hushed voices that are heard by both the audience and whatever characters are onscreen during seemingly random moments of danger, tension or weirdness. Though originally more associated with the Others (as I’ve discuss more in part II), the Whispers are more satisfactorily associated with the smoke monster and/or Jacob’s adversary.
For example, at the beginning of the second season, Shannon hears them in the jungle just as Walt appears before her.[1] At the time, the real Walt is on the rescue raft out at sea and by that time has been kidnapped off the raft by the Others. We know now that Walt’s post departure appearances on the island are not the result of his special powers but a manifestation of the shape-shifting powers of the monster.
A lot of the other later season Whisper occurrences occur around places and people strongly associated with the monster and Jacob’s adversary. Hurley hears them when he discovers the cabin for the first time.[2] Again, many of us now doubt that Jacob ever used the cabin; it was only Ben’s word that Jacob did. Michael hears them twice off-island on the freighter. The first time before and after the decreased Libby appears telling him not to detonate the bomb he’s brought on board[3] and then again when the possibly undead Christian appears telling him it is time to detonate it.[4] Whatever is the deal with Christian, it is undeniable Christian has been used, at times part of the time, as way for Jacob’s adversary to manipulate Locke and bring the pieces of his plan together.
The most convincing piece of evidence for me was Harper’s visit to Juliet.[5] Jack and Juliet both heard whispers as Harper, the Other’s therapist with whose husband Juliet had an affair, appears to Juliet and tells her to kill Faraday and Charlotte before those two reach the Tempest Station. Harper’s orders supposedly come from Ben, who is at the time Locke’s prisoner. And while none of us are stupid enough to underestimate Ben’s ability to get what he wants no matter his current predicament, there is never any indication that Ben has any idea that Faraday and Charlotte are on their way to the Tempest or that he’s worried about it. Also, the Others’ ability to move through the jungle undetected has been shown to be limited and very human while Harper’s appearance and vanishing seems supernatural. Lastly, if Jacob’s adversary really believes that all of the island’s visitors end up fighting, corrupting, etc., he’d probably want to help them to that. Therefore, he’d have the motive to manipulate Juliet into killing two of the survivor’s new friends to stop a crime they never intended to commit. And what better form for the monster to take than Harper, a woman sure to stir up Juliet’s guilt and grief over her affair with Goodwin and his resulting death.
[1] “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
[2] “The Beginning of the End”
[3] “Meet Kevin Johnson”
[4] “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 2”
[5] “The Other Woman”
The Whispers are the intelligible, hushed voices that are heard by both the audience and whatever characters are onscreen during seemingly random moments of danger, tension or weirdness. Though originally more associated with the Others (as I’ve discuss more in part II), the Whispers are more satisfactorily associated with the smoke monster and/or Jacob’s adversary.
For example, at the beginning of the second season, Shannon hears them in the jungle just as Walt appears before her.[1] At the time, the real Walt is on the rescue raft out at sea and by that time has been kidnapped off the raft by the Others. We know now that Walt’s post departure appearances on the island are not the result of his special powers but a manifestation of the shape-shifting powers of the monster.
A lot of the other later season Whisper occurrences occur around places and people strongly associated with the monster and Jacob’s adversary. Hurley hears them when he discovers the cabin for the first time.[2] Again, many of us now doubt that Jacob ever used the cabin; it was only Ben’s word that Jacob did. Michael hears them twice off-island on the freighter. The first time before and after the decreased Libby appears telling him not to detonate the bomb he’s brought on board[3] and then again when the possibly undead Christian appears telling him it is time to detonate it.[4] Whatever is the deal with Christian, it is undeniable Christian has been used, at times part of the time, as way for Jacob’s adversary to manipulate Locke and bring the pieces of his plan together.
The most convincing piece of evidence for me was Harper’s visit to Juliet.[5] Jack and Juliet both heard whispers as Harper, the Other’s therapist with whose husband Juliet had an affair, appears to Juliet and tells her to kill Faraday and Charlotte before those two reach the Tempest Station. Harper’s orders supposedly come from Ben, who is at the time Locke’s prisoner. And while none of us are stupid enough to underestimate Ben’s ability to get what he wants no matter his current predicament, there is never any indication that Ben has any idea that Faraday and Charlotte are on their way to the Tempest or that he’s worried about it. Also, the Others’ ability to move through the jungle undetected has been shown to be limited and very human while Harper’s appearance and vanishing seems supernatural. Lastly, if Jacob’s adversary really believes that all of the island’s visitors end up fighting, corrupting, etc., he’d probably want to help them to that. Therefore, he’d have the motive to manipulate Juliet into killing two of the survivor’s new friends to stop a crime they never intended to commit. And what better form for the monster to take than Harper, a woman sure to stir up Juliet’s guilt and grief over her affair with Goodwin and his resulting death.
[1] “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
[2] “The Beginning of the End”
[3] “Meet Kevin Johnson”
[4] “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 2”
[5] “The Other Woman”
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Characters: Nikki & Paulo
I never understood why people so hated Nikki and Paulo. When I ask, people cite the couple’s sudden introduction. But those same people ask where Dr. Arzt was before he showed up? Furthermore, Lost is a show about 48 people starring 12 or so people. To care about athe survivors as a group worthy of rescue, one has to anticipate new characters stepping out from the herd, even if the sudden attention it usually a curse. On that same note, the other main generator of ire was the feeling Nikki and Paulo’s appearance came at the expense of the disappearance of Rose and Bernard.
It also seems Nikki and Paulo never had enough screen time to generate enough hate to get ride of them permanently. It is true, Nikki and Paolo’s first appearance is rather sudden, even by Lost standards, I admit. They appear in third episode of the 3rd season and Locke identifies them by name.[1] The next episode, Paulo lends Desmond a golf club.[2] Their longest appearance is in “The Cost of Living” when they accompany Locke back to the Pearle. After that, they appear briefly to argue over the cereal bars being gone,[3] Paulo appears just to tell the returned Sawyer that the castaways now share[4] and then “Expose” and they’re dead.
Nikki and Paulo are redshirts without being either comic relief or obvious canon-fodder. When Paulo lends Desmond the golf club, he tells Desmond to take one Paulo doesn’t use so that Paulo will not have to search for it after Desmond gets himself killed doing whatever he’s doing in the jungle.[5] When they go the Pearle, it is because Nikki wants to take the trip; Paulo argues with even though he had apparently complained about being left out.[6] We eventually discover that Paulo’s hesitancy to return to the Pearle is about hiding the diamonds from Nikki, but the two examples illustrate that it’s stressful being a redshirt. At the beginning of the third season, everyone is nervous and confused with Jack, Sawyer and Kate missing. Is it better to be left behind or to join the mission? Are those A-level missions brave or reckless? It doesn’t really matter since despite what Locke says later, Jack certainly did not run a democracy. The worst is to be denied a choice. Arzt was right; there was a clique and let’s face it, dude, it sucks to be left out.
[1] “Further Instructions”
[2] “Everyman for Himself”
[3] “Tricia Taneka is Dead”
[4] “Enter 77”
[5] “Everyman for Himself”
[6] “The Cost of Living”
It also seems Nikki and Paulo never had enough screen time to generate enough hate to get ride of them permanently. It is true, Nikki and Paolo’s first appearance is rather sudden, even by Lost standards, I admit. They appear in third episode of the 3rd season and Locke identifies them by name.[1] The next episode, Paulo lends Desmond a golf club.[2] Their longest appearance is in “The Cost of Living” when they accompany Locke back to the Pearle. After that, they appear briefly to argue over the cereal bars being gone,[3] Paulo appears just to tell the returned Sawyer that the castaways now share[4] and then “Expose” and they’re dead.
Nikki and Paulo are redshirts without being either comic relief or obvious canon-fodder. When Paulo lends Desmond the golf club, he tells Desmond to take one Paulo doesn’t use so that Paulo will not have to search for it after Desmond gets himself killed doing whatever he’s doing in the jungle.[5] When they go the Pearle, it is because Nikki wants to take the trip; Paulo argues with even though he had apparently complained about being left out.[6] We eventually discover that Paulo’s hesitancy to return to the Pearle is about hiding the diamonds from Nikki, but the two examples illustrate that it’s stressful being a redshirt. At the beginning of the third season, everyone is nervous and confused with Jack, Sawyer and Kate missing. Is it better to be left behind or to join the mission? Are those A-level missions brave or reckless? It doesn’t really matter since despite what Locke says later, Jack certainly did not run a democracy. The worst is to be denied a choice. Arzt was right; there was a clique and let’s face it, dude, it sucks to be left out.
[1] “Further Instructions”
[2] “Everyman for Himself”
[3] “Tricia Taneka is Dead”
[4] “Enter 77”
[5] “Everyman for Himself”
[6] “The Cost of Living”
The Characters: Sayid (as leader)
I risk overusing the phrase “of my favorite characters” in this blog. Partly because my favorite characters are central factors: Jack, Sayid, Sawyer and to a lesser extent Locke, with a soft spot for Boone. But I have legitimate indifference for some other fan favorites like Hurley, Charlie and Rose, and I found the final scene of “The Constant” sappy and melodramatic.
So, Sayid is one of my favorite characters. Part of the reason I hope the reset worked is because Sayid was not doing well when Jack dropped the bomb down into the hatch. That said, I’m pretty sure Naveen Andrews is still a regular for the 6th season so I suppose it doesn’t matter how the writers bring him back, whether they completely erase the past five seasons or if they do something more contrived.
When it comes to battles for leadership, it is easy to focus on Jack vs. Sawyer, Jack vs. Locke or Locke vs. Ben. But early on it was Sayid who challenged Jack’s leadership more than any other castaway. Remember, John Locke spends the first few days just staring out into the ocean—obviously contemplating his sudden recovery. Meanwhile, Sayid organizes the survivors, telling them to ration food and water.[1] He disagrees with almost every major decision Jack makes. Sayid wants to put the Marshal out his misery,[2] does not want to burn the bodies in the fuselage[3], and does not want to go to the caves.[4] That last fight even spills over to the island true mark of leadership: Kate. Sawyer asks what it’s like having the doctor and Captain Falafel fight over her.
What finally units Jack and Sayid is their torturing Sawyer. After that, they are refreshingly cooperative. At the end of the 1st season, when Jack goes to the Black Rock for dynamite, he gives the gun case to Sayid. At the beginning of the 3rd season, after Jack, Kate and Sawyer have been captured, Sayid makes Sun and Jin wait for Jack’s anticipated arrival.[5] Sayid convinces Jack to lead the survivors to the radio tower rather than staying behind just for the chance to kill personally some Others.[6]
Sayid is a brilliant tactician while not sacrificing the right to dissent where reasonable minds might disagree. He refuses to seek out Rousseau for a battery to power the raft’s radio—but does go on the rescue mission when Hurley takes it initiative himself.[7] He also leads the anti-Jack and Juliet meeting when she first joins their camp and is still technically working for Ben.[8] He also advocates not opening the hatch, to the disagreement of both Jack and Locke.[9] Arguably we still do not know who was right in that case.
At times, Sayid is so clearly the group’s best tactician it tempts me to advocate the “Sayid is always right” theory. It is really only based on one great call. While Jack so blindly allows Michael to manipulate him and thereby get Jack, Sawyer and Kate captured, Sayid, to the audience’s relief, realizes Michael has been compromised.[10] Knowing that Sayid is going to be right about Michael, it is even more easy to spot other instances of Sayid’s insight in earlier episodes. While other characters are more often than not attacking the wrong suspect, Sayid is to first to realize things like Hurley stealing Rousseau’s maps and Shannon stealing the gun case.[11] He makes a lot of right calls in the 3rd season too, identifying the iced tea serving Mikhail as an Other based on a brief glimpse of a saddle.[12] Sayid also correctly predicts that Locke accompanied Sayid and Kate to the Others’ barracks for his own purposes and not to rescue Jack.[13]
But it if it is the little things that support the “Sayid is always right” theory, it is also the little things that make retain some impartiality. Sayid says that Shannon will never forgive him for saving Locke only a few days, in Lost time, before she sleeps with him. His biggest screw up though is right after Jack, Sawyer and Kate are captured. Sayid lies about waiting for Jack when is really planning to ambush the Others—a plan that goes wrong and almost gets Sun killed.[14] But Sayid apologizes and says he will listen to Jin next time. And as studies show, oftentimes a simple apology really does do the trick. Also, at the beginning of the 4th season Sayid does not want to pass Charlie’s warning about the freighter folk onto Jack[15] and however that turned out, Charlie was right, it wasn’t Penny’s boat.
The worst criticism of Sayid is that he lacks Jack’s stubborn need to save everyone. After Michael attacks Jin because he wrongly believes Jin to be responsible for the crime, Sayid encourages them to settle it between themselves.[16] It’s disappointing to see a beloved character encouraging the survivors to fight, corrupt and destroy.
Sayid’s best moment are his orders as Jack departs for the radio tower, slightly paraphrased: “don’t turn back for any reason; I am willing to give my life if it means getting rescued but not for nothing.”[17] Among a group of people who stubbornly and recklessly endanger their own lives in situations with obvious better alternatives, how refreshing is it t see someone genuinely brave and self-sacrificing but not foolish or sentimental about it? No wonder Jack seems so happy when Sayid agrees to help donate the bomb.[18] It isn’t taking a giant leap to imagine saving the island will require opposing forces to reunite. It should be remembered that Jack and Sayid have been working together along for the benefit of everyone on the island.
[1] “Tabula Rasa”
[2] Id.
[3] “Walkabout”
[4] “House of the Rising Sun”
[5] “The Glass Ballerina”
[6] “Greatest Hits”
[7] “The Numbers”
[8] “The Man Behind the Curtain”
[9] “Born to Run”
[10] “Three Minutes”
[11] “Numbers”; “The Greater Good”
[12] “Enter 77”
[13] “Par Avion”
[14] “The Glass Ballerina”
[15] “Beginning of the End”
[16] “In Translation”
[17] “Through the Looking Glass”
[18] “Follow the Leader”
So, Sayid is one of my favorite characters. Part of the reason I hope the reset worked is because Sayid was not doing well when Jack dropped the bomb down into the hatch. That said, I’m pretty sure Naveen Andrews is still a regular for the 6th season so I suppose it doesn’t matter how the writers bring him back, whether they completely erase the past five seasons or if they do something more contrived.
When it comes to battles for leadership, it is easy to focus on Jack vs. Sawyer, Jack vs. Locke or Locke vs. Ben. But early on it was Sayid who challenged Jack’s leadership more than any other castaway. Remember, John Locke spends the first few days just staring out into the ocean—obviously contemplating his sudden recovery. Meanwhile, Sayid organizes the survivors, telling them to ration food and water.[1] He disagrees with almost every major decision Jack makes. Sayid wants to put the Marshal out his misery,[2] does not want to burn the bodies in the fuselage[3], and does not want to go to the caves.[4] That last fight even spills over to the island true mark of leadership: Kate. Sawyer asks what it’s like having the doctor and Captain Falafel fight over her.
What finally units Jack and Sayid is their torturing Sawyer. After that, they are refreshingly cooperative. At the end of the 1st season, when Jack goes to the Black Rock for dynamite, he gives the gun case to Sayid. At the beginning of the 3rd season, after Jack, Kate and Sawyer have been captured, Sayid makes Sun and Jin wait for Jack’s anticipated arrival.[5] Sayid convinces Jack to lead the survivors to the radio tower rather than staying behind just for the chance to kill personally some Others.[6]
Sayid is a brilliant tactician while not sacrificing the right to dissent where reasonable minds might disagree. He refuses to seek out Rousseau for a battery to power the raft’s radio—but does go on the rescue mission when Hurley takes it initiative himself.[7] He also leads the anti-Jack and Juliet meeting when she first joins their camp and is still technically working for Ben.[8] He also advocates not opening the hatch, to the disagreement of both Jack and Locke.[9] Arguably we still do not know who was right in that case.
At times, Sayid is so clearly the group’s best tactician it tempts me to advocate the “Sayid is always right” theory. It is really only based on one great call. While Jack so blindly allows Michael to manipulate him and thereby get Jack, Sawyer and Kate captured, Sayid, to the audience’s relief, realizes Michael has been compromised.[10] Knowing that Sayid is going to be right about Michael, it is even more easy to spot other instances of Sayid’s insight in earlier episodes. While other characters are more often than not attacking the wrong suspect, Sayid is to first to realize things like Hurley stealing Rousseau’s maps and Shannon stealing the gun case.[11] He makes a lot of right calls in the 3rd season too, identifying the iced tea serving Mikhail as an Other based on a brief glimpse of a saddle.[12] Sayid also correctly predicts that Locke accompanied Sayid and Kate to the Others’ barracks for his own purposes and not to rescue Jack.[13]
But it if it is the little things that support the “Sayid is always right” theory, it is also the little things that make retain some impartiality. Sayid says that Shannon will never forgive him for saving Locke only a few days, in Lost time, before she sleeps with him. His biggest screw up though is right after Jack, Sawyer and Kate are captured. Sayid lies about waiting for Jack when is really planning to ambush the Others—a plan that goes wrong and almost gets Sun killed.[14] But Sayid apologizes and says he will listen to Jin next time. And as studies show, oftentimes a simple apology really does do the trick. Also, at the beginning of the 4th season Sayid does not want to pass Charlie’s warning about the freighter folk onto Jack[15] and however that turned out, Charlie was right, it wasn’t Penny’s boat.
The worst criticism of Sayid is that he lacks Jack’s stubborn need to save everyone. After Michael attacks Jin because he wrongly believes Jin to be responsible for the crime, Sayid encourages them to settle it between themselves.[16] It’s disappointing to see a beloved character encouraging the survivors to fight, corrupt and destroy.
Sayid’s best moment are his orders as Jack departs for the radio tower, slightly paraphrased: “don’t turn back for any reason; I am willing to give my life if it means getting rescued but not for nothing.”[17] Among a group of people who stubbornly and recklessly endanger their own lives in situations with obvious better alternatives, how refreshing is it t see someone genuinely brave and self-sacrificing but not foolish or sentimental about it? No wonder Jack seems so happy when Sayid agrees to help donate the bomb.[18] It isn’t taking a giant leap to imagine saving the island will require opposing forces to reunite. It should be remembered that Jack and Sayid have been working together along for the benefit of everyone on the island.
[1] “Tabula Rasa”
[2] Id.
[3] “Walkabout”
[4] “House of the Rising Sun”
[5] “The Glass Ballerina”
[6] “Greatest Hits”
[7] “The Numbers”
[8] “The Man Behind the Curtain”
[9] “Born to Run”
[10] “Three Minutes”
[11] “Numbers”; “The Greater Good”
[12] “Enter 77”
[13] “Par Avion”
[14] “The Glass Ballerina”
[15] “Beginning of the End”
[16] “In Translation”
[17] “Through the Looking Glass”
[18] “Follow the Leader”
Monday, August 31, 2009
The Long Con, Part I: John Locke (the patsy)
To me, at this moment, the overriding arch of Lost is about the Jacob’s nemesis’ long con on John Locke.
John Locke spends the early episodes sitting on the beach, practically mute, looking creepy. This creepy stage is capped off by Locke’s speech to Walt explaining backgammon as a battle of two sides, light versus dark, etc. Locke was an enigma during these early episodes and the question of his true nature was debatable.
That early distrust is quickly forgotten as Locke makes a dramatic entrance in the second episode after the pilot by demonstrating his knife throwing skills and in the process meeting Jack.[1] He brings food to the survivors in the early days when basic survival was still an open question.
Locke spends most for the first season impressing the castaways, and the audience, with his full range of survival skills. He helps Charlie quit drugs.[2] Though he is Boone’s mentor, Locke tells Shannon to ignore Boone rather than giving him attention, directly leading to her first kiss with Sayid.[3] He breaks up Michael and Jin’s fight with a speech about the Others.[4] He is a man of wisdom and of peace. He is also the coolest one on the island as judged by Walt gravitating to him. He teaches Walt to throw knives but also tells him respect his father.[5] In the same episode that Michael threatens to kill Locke, Locke later helps Michael save Walt from the second polar bear.[6]
Throughout, Locke seems genuinely kind and wise: he knows precisely what people need and gives it to them. The best example of this is his dealings with Claire. When he finds Claire sitting alone on the beach, he puts her to work, something she is grateful for, and they end up building Aaron’s crib together.[7] He also helps stop Aaron crying by wrapping him tightly, explaining that babies like to feel constricted; it’s not until people grow that they learn to feel free.[8] One is tempted to ask if Locke spent his lunch breaks before the island memorizing flash cards of wise sayings and anecdotes like Wilson from Home Improvement.
Locke also brings up the issue of there being two sides: he tells Boone that they’ll want Sayid on their side.[9] It is as almost as if Locke is preparing to fight a war from day one and is slowly seducing each survivor to his side. And it works. Boone is completely enraptured and tackles Michael for coming too Locke (with a knife).[10] Both Charlie and Sayid refer to Locke as the castaways’ best chance of survival.[11]
The audience both knows the truth about Locke and yet is also being conned. Boone doesn’t believe that Locke works at a box company. We, of course, by then have seen him in his cubicle and know he worked for such a company. But because we also know the miracle of his legs healing, his stint as a corporate drone seems the exception rather than the rule.
The truth is Locke is the last person who should be leading the castaways. He is prone to depression and temper-tantrums. A lot of these episodes are for the audiences eyes only. No one but the audience sees his first breakdown when he’s left alone in the Swan.[12] Locke also has a pathological need feel special. When Desmond asks if Locke is his replacement, asking “are you him?”, Locke replies simply “Yes”.[13] In his therapy group, his chief complaint is not that his mother betrayed him and helped steal his kidney, but that she lied to him about being special.[14]
Most importantly, he has never been there when the castaways could have used his help. When Jack, Kate and Sawyer are captured by the Others, Locke is busy in the hatch. At the end of next season, when Jack leads the castaways to defeat the Others, Locke has already abandoned them. For me, the telling moment is when Locke joins the Others. Saying goodbye to Kate, apologizes for not bringing her along, explaining that he put in a good word for her before they told him what she had done (“Left Behind”). Locke’s combination of pride and gullibility is exactly what makes him such an easy target for con men of all stripes. It is also why I reject argument that Locke will end up as the show’s savior.
[1] “Walkabout”- 1.04
[2] “The Moth”.
[3] “In Translation.”
[4] Id.
[5] “Special”
[6] Id.
[7] “Numbers”
[8] “Abandoned”
[9] “Hearts and Minds”
[10] “Special”
[11] “Hearts and Minds”; “The Greater Good”
[12] “Orientation”
[13] “Adrift”
[14] “Orientation”
John Locke spends the early episodes sitting on the beach, practically mute, looking creepy. This creepy stage is capped off by Locke’s speech to Walt explaining backgammon as a battle of two sides, light versus dark, etc. Locke was an enigma during these early episodes and the question of his true nature was debatable.
That early distrust is quickly forgotten as Locke makes a dramatic entrance in the second episode after the pilot by demonstrating his knife throwing skills and in the process meeting Jack.[1] He brings food to the survivors in the early days when basic survival was still an open question.
Locke spends most for the first season impressing the castaways, and the audience, with his full range of survival skills. He helps Charlie quit drugs.[2] Though he is Boone’s mentor, Locke tells Shannon to ignore Boone rather than giving him attention, directly leading to her first kiss with Sayid.[3] He breaks up Michael and Jin’s fight with a speech about the Others.[4] He is a man of wisdom and of peace. He is also the coolest one on the island as judged by Walt gravitating to him. He teaches Walt to throw knives but also tells him respect his father.[5] In the same episode that Michael threatens to kill Locke, Locke later helps Michael save Walt from the second polar bear.[6]
Throughout, Locke seems genuinely kind and wise: he knows precisely what people need and gives it to them. The best example of this is his dealings with Claire. When he finds Claire sitting alone on the beach, he puts her to work, something she is grateful for, and they end up building Aaron’s crib together.[7] He also helps stop Aaron crying by wrapping him tightly, explaining that babies like to feel constricted; it’s not until people grow that they learn to feel free.[8] One is tempted to ask if Locke spent his lunch breaks before the island memorizing flash cards of wise sayings and anecdotes like Wilson from Home Improvement.
Locke also brings up the issue of there being two sides: he tells Boone that they’ll want Sayid on their side.[9] It is as almost as if Locke is preparing to fight a war from day one and is slowly seducing each survivor to his side. And it works. Boone is completely enraptured and tackles Michael for coming too Locke (with a knife).[10] Both Charlie and Sayid refer to Locke as the castaways’ best chance of survival.[11]
The audience both knows the truth about Locke and yet is also being conned. Boone doesn’t believe that Locke works at a box company. We, of course, by then have seen him in his cubicle and know he worked for such a company. But because we also know the miracle of his legs healing, his stint as a corporate drone seems the exception rather than the rule.
The truth is Locke is the last person who should be leading the castaways. He is prone to depression and temper-tantrums. A lot of these episodes are for the audiences eyes only. No one but the audience sees his first breakdown when he’s left alone in the Swan.[12] Locke also has a pathological need feel special. When Desmond asks if Locke is his replacement, asking “are you him?”, Locke replies simply “Yes”.[13] In his therapy group, his chief complaint is not that his mother betrayed him and helped steal his kidney, but that she lied to him about being special.[14]
Most importantly, he has never been there when the castaways could have used his help. When Jack, Kate and Sawyer are captured by the Others, Locke is busy in the hatch. At the end of next season, when Jack leads the castaways to defeat the Others, Locke has already abandoned them. For me, the telling moment is when Locke joins the Others. Saying goodbye to Kate, apologizes for not bringing her along, explaining that he put in a good word for her before they told him what she had done (“Left Behind”). Locke’s combination of pride and gullibility is exactly what makes him such an easy target for con men of all stripes. It is also why I reject argument that Locke will end up as the show’s savior.
[1] “Walkabout”- 1.04
[2] “The Moth”.
[3] “In Translation.”
[4] Id.
[5] “Special”
[6] Id.
[7] “Numbers”
[8] “Abandoned”
[9] “Hearts and Minds”
[10] “Special”
[11] “Hearts and Minds”; “The Greater Good”
[12] “Orientation”
[13] “Adrift”
[14] “Orientation”
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