Saturday, June 28, 2008

1x3, Tabula Rasa

I’m still working on the rate at which I’ll be posting. It will definitely be faster than what I’ve currently been doing, but I’m not sure how much faster (probably something in the range of two posts a week). Having said that, let’s jump back in after my extended break since I wrote about “Pilot, Part 2.”

The third episode is entitled “Tabula Rasa”, which is Latin for “Blank Slate” (which is also the name of a game show at my alma mater). For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of tabula rasa, let me save you the trip to Wikipedia by telling you what I found there. Tabula rasa is the philosophical concept that our minds are born with a literal mental blank slate, and we become who we are gradually through experiences and outside influences.

This concept can be applied in a few ways to this episode. In a way, all of Lost is an exploration of tabula rasa, as we are introduced to characters and then gradually, through flashbacks, it is revealed to the audiences how the characters became the people that they are. It is a narrative device that worked extremely well, at least for a while. Why is Jin is jealously protective of Sun? Where did John Locke learn all of his skills? How did Jack develop his hero complex? And most pertinent to this episode, what did Kate do? This question would not be answered until the ninth episode of Season 2, after several flashback episodes detailing her life as a fugitive.

Seeing this first instance of Kate on the run, I’m reminded me of how much the series eventually drives this concept into the ground. All of Kate’s flashbacks never seem to reveal anything more about her character than that no matter what situation she is in, she ends up running. Both Kate as a character and Evangeline Lilly as an actress have been criticized for being uninteresting and unconvincing. I think these criticisms are harsh, but not entirely undeserving. Kate does not strike me as a person capable of murder, but I guess that’s supposed to be part of it: her unsuspecting nature. Still, she doesn’t seem to carry the heft of a person who can kill someone and then stay on the run for so long. Kate feels like the film adaptation of a true-crime story, where the actress who plays the criminal is beautiful, when the real-life criminal looks like she’s being run down hard by life.

The Marshall Edward Mars claims that Kate is dangerous and that she’ll do anything to escape. I think Kate may have been more interesting if she had been a more desperate character, someone like Ben who is willing to do anything to accomplish the ends that they think are necessary. The main thing that Kate ever seems to do is break people’s hearts, and while potentially devastating, I’m not sure that qualifies as being willing to “do anything” to escape.

Returning to the idea of tabula rasa, the concept can also be seen in the possibility of the Island offering a fresh start to everyone. In Kate’s flashback, Ray states this explicitly: “Everyone deserves a fresh start” (Ray also provides one of the earliest instances of the Numbers: the bounty of $23,000). Jack has stated that he does not care what Kate did, because on the Island, all of them are starting over. It is interesting to note that when they get off the Island, Kate is the only one who does not fall into old patterns. She truly does start anew by establishing a stable life with Aaron.

The reoccurring motif of black and white or dark and light is introduced when John Locke is explaining backgammon to Walt. The episode also ends with a foreboding shot of John Locke. For a long while, it seemed like this shot was a red herring (as John is shown to be a helpful and wise character), but this could have been an instance of far foreshadowing for the writers. John eventually becomes a person who will “do anything” to achieve the ends he thinks are necessary (blowing up the submarine, killing Naomi, etc.). It will be interesting to see how far Locke is willing to go in the future to protect the Island that gave him so much.

Another character dichotomy is introduced here in the conflict between Jack and Sawyer over what to do about Mars. Sawyer recognizes that it is useless to waste valuable medication on a man that cannot be saved. Jack stubbornly insists on pushing ahead, trying to save him. This juxtaposition of viewpoints is carried out all the way to the fourth season, when Sawyer recognizes the good life that is to be had on the Island, while Jack stubbornly adheres to his promise of getting everyone off the Island.

Sawyer’s checkered character is also shown when he attempts to carry out the noble act of shooting Mars to put him out of his misery. Instead, he screws it up and makes things worse. The look on Sawyer’s face is almost heart-breaking. This con man never commands much sympathy, but he truly thought he was doing a good thing, and to have it turn out so horribly obviously tears him up inside. Jack then disappears into the tent by himself.

We are not shown what happens when Mars dies, only that Jack is in the tent with him alone. As far as I know, no one has raised the possibility that Jack in some other way killed Mars to end his suffering. Given the fact that we are intentionally kept out of the tent as viewers, it seems like the writers could be insinuating this. However, given Jack’s character, it seems unlikely that he could bring himself to give up in such a way, even though it is obviously the correct course of action (just as he cannot bring himself to give up on the freighter people, even though they are obviously not there to help them).

Friday, June 13, 2008

1x2, Pilot Part 2

There was a rumor circulating that in the Season 4 finale, the Pilot of Oceanic Flight 815 was supposed to have a flashback. This did not pan out. I wonder if we will ever see such a flashback, and if so, what purpose it would serve (that is, what mysteries would it answer)? The fact that Frank Lapidus was pulled as the pilot of the flight at the last minute seems to suggest some sort of conspiracy. If Season 4 had been its full length, we may even have gotten to see more of Lapidus' backstory.

My guess is that the replacement of Lapidus with the other pilot was a machination of someone seeing flashes of the future, just like Desmond. Someone wanted Oceanic 815 to crash on the Island, and they knew for that to happen, Lapidus had to be replaced. It's the same reason Desmond asked specifically Charlie, Hurley, and Jin to accompany him into the jungle when Naomi crashed her helicopter: any deviation from his vision would re-write the whole thing. In the same way, someone put that Pilot on the plane to achieve a specific goal (even though I'm sure the Pilot had no idea of the reason why he was put on the flight). I suspect sometime in the next two seasons we'll see in a flashback our Pilot being notified about the last-minute assignment by someone of the likes of Matthew Abaddon, Charles Widmore, or Ms. Hawking. For now though, we'll leave him dead in that tree.

This episode had a consistent theme of people being trapped. Walt found the handcuffs, a symbol of imprisonment. Sun is bound by her husband's domination, forced to button every button on her shirt, lest she betray any immodesty. Jin is trapped by his own jealous insistence on protecting his wife, as well as his language barrier. His efforts to share the fruits of his skill of fishing are all rejected, due in no small part to his inability to communicate. The castaways' rejection of his gesture of kindness is all the more degrading since we know how ashamed he is of his fisherman upbringing.

Fear of the Monster keeps the castaways imprisoned (mostly) on the beach. Even though we do not understand it at this point, we see the first instance of Sawyer reading his letter, a ritual that will imprison him until he set free by the murder of Cooper (which, appropriately, occurs in the brig of the Black Rock). With the show progressing over so many years, it is easy to forget how much the characters have evolved. Going back and re-watching these episodes has the same effect of Season 4's Jin/Sun flashback/flashforward episode. Showing us the character of Jin as he used to be (distant, degrading) acts as a helpful reminder of how the Island (and Sun) have changed him.

To the same effect, we are reminded of how far Sawyer has come. In this episode, he hands out his first nickname ("Lardo", to Hurley). Juxtaposing that with the image of Hurley and Sawyer playing Risk and horseshoes at the Barracks makes us appreciate their friendship all the more. Sawyer came to the Island as an angry jerk who was looking out only for himself. Now, he seems ready to become a leader of the castaways (if there are any castaways still remaining on the Island after it moved).

Finally, there is the true prisoner: Kate. She escaped her bonds on the plane and landed free, but in her heart she is still a captive and a fugitive. In a symbolic baptism, she strips off her clothing in the water, an attempt to renew herself and shed the bonds of her old life on the run. If this were not a network show, I wonder if she would have shed all of her clothes to strengthen the metaphor, especially given the recent revelation about the writers' hidden profanity in the Lost scripts (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this fascinating and amusing article). On the other hand, it is appropriate that she leaves on her underwear, as no matter how much she tries, she is not able to shed her past as a fugitive entirely on the Island. It is not until she leaves the Island, cuts a deal with the prosecutor, and has possession of Aaron that she can finally stop running (perhaps it is intentional, then, that the next time we see her in the chronology of the show she is naked in the shower at the house with Jack, as she is now completely rid of the bonds of her fugitive past).

This theme of imprisonment will become a staple of Lost, both literally (Ben imprisoned in the Swan; Kate, Jack, and Sawyer held captive by the Others) and figuratively (practically everyone having some sort of confining problem). The goal of prison is both to punish and to help cure, so it is understandable why people quickly cottoned to the idea of the Island as purgatory: these people are being punished, but they are also transformed and becoming better.

One final note: you have to admire the dedication of Marshal Edward Mars, who regains consciousness and asks immediately, "Where is she?" You think a more natural question would have been: "What happened?" "Why are we on an island?" "What's with this metal sticking out of my body?" But no, he's only got one concern, and that's making sure Kate doesn't run again.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Theory - Daniel Faraday's Constant

It is my intention to write this blog as linearly as possible, in order to keep my thoughts organized. For example, I've got a lot of thoughts about Danielle Rousseau and her death, but I'll wait to address those until she at least shows up later in the first season. However, yesterday I had a thought pop into my head about one of the most intriguing new characters of the fourth season, Daniel Faraday. This thought was startling to me in its logic.

"The Constant" was one of Lost's best episodes ever, but I thought it faltered just slightly at the end. The episode reached its perfect natural conclusion when Desmond ended his tear-inducing phone reunion with Penny, and then informed Sayid (who, by the look in Desmond's eyes, he now clearly remembered) that everything was okay. The episode could have ended on a very complacent note (something Lost rarely does); instead, it pushed ahead to one final scene with Daniel on the beach.

Daniel has jotted himself a note that if anything happens, Desmond will be his Constant. That journal is a curious thing: Daniel frequently looks upon his entries as if he has never seen them before, which leads one to believe that Daniel either suffers from memory problems (which would explain the memory card he was playing with Charlotte, if that was the nature of the game) or that Daniel is permanently unstuck in time (at least slightly). The last scene with Daniel on the beach is unsettling: with the successful rescue of Desmond's mind, we felt hopeful that we were now over and done with the Sickness. Instead, we see that there are more problems ahead.

By the end of the fourth season, Desmond is reunited with Penny, and Daniel is presumably transported along with the Island. I was troubled as to how Desmond could now ever be Daniel's constant, since the two were separated. Yesterday, it occurred to me that Desmond might act as Daniel's constant, even if he could not save Daniel's mind. Here's what I predict:

Daniel is transported in the zodiac along with the Island. The sudden displacement causes the craft to be knocked off course, so that they wander away from the safe 305 compass bearing. This, combined with the extreme dose of electromagnetism that they were exposed to from moving the Island (the purple sky) causes Daniel to get the Sickness. His consciousness comes unhinged, and he swings back into a time after he helped Desmond in the past but before Desmond leaves for the around-the-world boat race. Meanwhile, on the Island, all the bad things that John Locke told Jack about start to happen. Daniel, who no longer knows how he came to be on the Island (the same way as Desmond), is instructed by Charlotte to find Desmond (based on what is written in Daniel's journal). Daniel is told to deliver a message to the past Desmond that will carry over to future Desmond, who is now off the Island: they need you. The people on the Island are in trouble, and those who left have to come back. Daniel is able to deliver the message, but sadly, since Desmond is not constant with him on the Island, Daniel soon dies. It is the foreknowledge of his own imminent death and the bad things that are happening on the Island that causes Daniel to cry when he first sees the salvage footage of Oceanic 815: he knows, on some level, the horrible things that will happen to him and others in the future because of that plane.

I would not be happy if this was true. I think Daniel is a fantastic character, and I hope he is around until the end, but this seems to make sense and seem logical. It is also a way to pull Desmond back into the storyline of the Island, since for all accounts and purposes, Desmond no longer has any dramatic purpose (except, perhaps, to fend off an attack from Ben on his beloved Penelope). Again, I hope this does not play out for Daniel's sake, but this covers a lot of the open mysteries about Daniel, and the pieces of the puzzle seem to fit.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

1x1, Pilot Part 1

There has been a lot of controversy lately in the Internet community about spoilers, so I'll begin this post with a note: I will be discussing the end of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series in great detail in this entry, and most likely throughout this entire process. The producers of Lost are obviously big fans of King's work, and he has returned the affection. He has also entrusted the film adaptation of his beloved Dark Tower series to J.J. Abrams, if it is ever to be made at all.

While it is not possible to adequately condense seven verbose tomes into a few sentences, the basic outline of the story is this: in a world hazily parallel to our own, a gunslinger named Roland Deschain sets off on a quest to find the Dark Tower, a structure that is the nexus of all time and space. Roland's journey leads him through multiple parallel worlds, as he attempts to reach the Tower and stop the forces of evil that wish to see it fall. By the end, Roland has defeated his enemies and saved the Tower, but has allowed himself to become obsessed with his personal gratification of finding the Tower. His selfish pursuit is symbolized by the loss of the Horn of Eld, which he was meant to carry as he approached the Tower; instead, he carelessly left it behind at a battle years before. When Roland finally climbs to the top of the Tower, he finds neither answers or salvation; instead, he discovers that he has made this journey many times before, and will make it many times again, until he stands true. Roland is then hurdled backwards in time and space and finds himself back where he started at the beginning of the series, lost and disoriented, with no memory of what just happened to him. The knowledge of his ultimate fate now gone from him, Roland resumes his never-ending quest for the Dark Tower.

Think now about how Lost begins. We open on the now-trademark close-up of an eye. It is Jack, lost and disoriented. He has no memory of what has just happened to him (stating later that after the plane hit turbulence, he blacked out). This memory loss and disorientation is similar to what the gunslinger Roland experiences at the end (and beginning) of The Dark Tower series. The situation also calls to mind how Ben awakens in the Sahara Desert after moving the island. It seems unlikely that Jack has teleported from anywhere (since we know that he was on the plane), but I think it is likely that there more going on here than we know.

The question of how Jack ended up in the middle of the jungle relatively unhurt (indeed, how many of the castaways survived such a violent crash unhurt) has still never been clarified (in the same way that we still don't really know what happened to Desmond, Locke, and Mr. Eko when the Hatch imploded). Was it the island's healing powers? Mikhail has certainly shown that a person can take a beating on the island and survive. Or is it possible that something even crazier is happening? That perhaps Jack didn't survive the plane crash? I know the "They're All Dead" theory has been denied by the producers and elicits howls of derision from fans, but what if they're not all dead? What if just some of them? Claire has changed the rules of what death means on the island. She almost certainly died in the mercenary attack on New Otherton, but she was still very much a physical presence with Sawyer and Miles until she decided to take up residence with her dead father in Jacob's cabin.

Also, let's not forget the final mobisode "So It Begins", where we see the dead Christian Shepherd summoning Vincent to go and wake up Jack, because he "has work to do." Could it be that Christian is having Vincent awaken Jack not just from unconsciousness, but from death? It is possible, but for now, it is impossible to know.

When Jack awakens and stands up, he pulls a single-serving bottle of alcohol from his pocket. The manner in which he stares at it calls to mind again Roland awakening at the end of The Dark Tower, as he grasps the Horn of Eld at his belt, which has now been magically returned to him. The presence of the Horn offers the promise that Roland may one day be able to complete his quest nobly, and break his endless cycle of damnation.

What does the alcohol bottle offer to Jack? In this case, not salvation. The groundwork is laid for Jack's eventual slide into alcoholism, just like his father. Indeed, Jack's behavior on the plane in the pilot is very similar to how he behaves on the plane in the Season 3 finale, where is now a full-blown alcoholic. The tone of the two scenes is very different: in the pilot, Jack charms the flight attendant into serving him more alcohol (Cindy, who would later show up amongst the Tail Section survivors and then the Others). In the Season 3 finale, Jack is bullying and demanding.

Other traits of Jack are already present. He stubbornly insists on doing things without help (he at first refuses to allow Kate or Charlie to accompany him to the cockpit, claiming that he does not need any help). Indeed, many of the characters take shape in the pilot: Hurley as a lovable portly helper, Shannon as a stuck-up princess, Charlie as a drug addict, and Sayid as methodical and logical. Kate's character is even partially revealed in an off-handed comment made to her by Jack. When Jack tells her the story of his first surgery, she says she would have run out the door. Jack responds, "You're not running now." Kate has spent her whole life running, but the island has offered her a chance to stop that chase.

The Monster makes its first audible appearance, sounding similar to what we're used to if not quite the same (almost undoubtedly nothing more than an evolution of the sound design). One curious note: Rose describes the Monster as sounding very familiar, and that she is from the Bronx. The producers have admitted that one of the sound effects of the Monster is the sound of a receipt printer from a New York City taxi cab, however, they have also said that this is just a sound source and has nothing to do with the mythology of the Monster. Is Rose's "familiar" comment just an acknowledgement of this sound source, or is it familiar to her for another reason?

The dialogue in the pilot frequently has this double resonance. When Kate recognizes Charlie, she asks him, "Have we ever met anywhere?" Charlie responds, "No, that would be unlikely." That would be unlikely, but as we will see over the coming seasons, many of the people on the island have run into each other in their previous lives. Later in the show, when describing the Monster attack on himself and Jack, Charlie says, "We were dead. I mean, I was." This is surely nothing more than frightened dialogue, but it offers unintentional subtextual support that the survivors are actually all dead.

One final note before I conclude this long-winded entry: rumors have been circulating about the presence of a cylindrical black object next to Jack when he wakes up in the jungle. Here is a screencap of it:

You can view the original here.

Some are claiming that this is Ben's telescoping baton. While I find it unlikely that the producers would plan something like that so far in advance, I do like the possibility it offers. What if Jack is somehow teleported from the future along with the baton to act as hero to the Oceanic survivors? Since Matthew Fox has revealed that he is the only actor who knows the ending of Lost, it seems clear that the ending must center on his character. While I doubt the baton will have anything to do with it, I suspect the end of the series could have us returning to the beginning, with the audience finally gaining understanding how Jack ended up in that jungle and what his destiny is on the island.

Introduction

It's been just a few weeks since the Season 4 finale of Lost, and it feels like only a few more weeks since the season began. Now that this superb season has come and gone, 2009 feels like a very long time away. However, this season has given us many questions to keep us busy: where and when did Ben move the island to? What bad things happened afterwards? What plane of existence is Claire operating on? How did Jacob's cabin become mobile? Will Daniel Faraday ever have to use Desmond as his constant (and for that matter, what happened to Daniel and the other people in the Zodiac when the island moved? And why was Daniel crying when he saw the footage of the salvage of Oceanic 815)?

All of this is on top of the many questions that still remain from previous seasons: what is with that four-toed statue? Why did a supply drop land on the island? How long have the "Hostiles" been on the island? Who is Jacob, and why does God love him only in the past tense? Did God's love for Jacob stop? Or is Jacob hidden from God, the way that Ben claims the island is hidden from Him?

To aid in understanding these questions (and to pass the time until season five arrives), I decided to re-visit all of the four seasons. The producers have often been accused of making everything up as they go (as if, for some reason, this would be the utmost crime they could perpetrate on audiences). While they obviously have not planned out all the twists and turns, there is a level of planning that is evident throughout the show (for instance, Rousseau's map in Season 1 shows a smaller island next to the main island, which would be revealed as the Hydra Station island in Season 3). By re-watching the series, I hope to spot those times when the producers' foreshadowing hands are at work, but also to see how some ideas and plotlines have evolved or been abandoned altogether. Most of all, I hope to gain a clearer vision of the secrets of the island, and what the future holds for our castaways, who remain, after four seasons, lost in space, time, and purpose.