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Seth Grunlode on Bob & Brian 2/3/2010
I'm having issues uploading the podcast but you can listen to it at www.bobnbrian.com under the podcasts.
The rest of the this week's recap will be up this weekend.
The rest of the this week's recap will be up this weekend.
Recap of Episode 6.1 "LA X" - Part 1
This might be the best text message I have gotten all year... it arrived just after the Season 6 premier last night and it read "No bright flash of light, no time travel... but man my head hurts"
I imagine quite a few Lost freaks are feeling that way this morning and I am guessing that is exactly what Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had in mind when they wrote this episode... and much of the previous 5 seasons for that matter.
Before I dive too deeply into last night's episode I want to take a quick second to notify you of some changes to SethIsLost.com this season. For one, we have a new sponsor... Collector's Edge Comics. Welcome Steve and all of the boys! Secondly, I have heard from a NUMBER of you asking for more regular updates. Let me give you a tip when emailing me. Threats are not a good way to get me to write more. However since I know you are all craving any and all Lost info I am going to be posting a little differently this season. To provide as much info as soon as I can, I will have a preliminary recap up on the site either the night the episode airs, or as is the case this morning... the following morning before the Bob & Brian segment. It won't be an in depth recap like you've seen from me in the past. But don't worry, the in depth break down will come.
The first recap (and the Bob & Brian Segment) will hit highlights of the episodes. Then, I want you to post your questions and theories in the comments sections. After I have had a chance to get a 2nd viewing in and have had some time to chew on all of the craziness in each episode I will post a more detailed recap that will hopefully answer most of the questions you all come up with.
So,.,. Back to "LA X". There was a TON to cover from this episode, so this recap is going to focus ONLY on what I have to take as the major theme from last night... choice. This show has been about a lot of things over the years but one of the themes that has always persisted is the idea of destiny... that things were meant to be. But how do destiny and free will exist together? In last year's finale right before Jacob is killed by Ben he tells him he has a choice. Jack clearly had a choice when determining whether or not to blow up an H-Bomb on the island. While it has been presented that destiny has seemingly controlled much of what has happened to our characters it is important to realize that within every one of those scenarios choices had to be made.
What is interesting is that throughout our survivors time in 1977 it would seem that all of the choices they made may not have been their choice at all. If you follow the "what ever happened, happened" theory while it would seem that Kate made the choice to save young Ben's life, we know from seeing what played out afterward that is probably what always happened. (I will have more on this and the idea of time and how we perceive it in part 2 of this recap.)
Similarly, it seems that dropping the bomb to blow up the Swan also fall under whatever happened, happened. Since Jack and the rest are still on the island that they were simply "fulfilling their destiny" by dropping the bomb which appears to be the cause of "The Incident" rather than stopping it from happening.
But of course Damon and Carlton can't make it that easy on us. We are also presented with the alternate scenario... that Jack's plan worked. Juliet tells us it did. We saw Jack, Boone, Charlie and all the rest in the plane as Flight 815 landed. So I will leave you with this to chew on... in the season 5 DVD Bonus Features disc, Carlton regularly refers to Ajira Flight 316 as a "Bizzaro" version of Flight 815. I think the reality where the plane lands is a similar "Bizzaro" sort of reality. Viewers of the show FlashForward (which borrows from Lost, so why shouldn't they return the favor) should remember a conversation between Olivia Benford and Lloyd Simco where they realize that had she chosen to go to Harvard, the 2 of them would have been living next door to each other and Lloyd's eventual wife ended up living their instead. Lloyd talks about the theory that the choices we don't make in this universe are actually made by us in parallel universes and much like in Ms Hawkings view of the word, choices we don't make that we were supposed to make sometimes course correct. In the case of FlashForward, Lloyd and Olivia's paths crossed even though she never went to Harvard... it just happened years later.
Perhaps the Bizzaro 2nd reality is meant to show us how our survivors are meant to interact and change each others lives, even if the plane never did crash. We've already seen how Jack and Locke might come together. How the situation has lead Jack to be the one with faith while Locke says his condition is irreversible.
OK... that is enough to think about for now. Tune into Bob & Brian around 8:50am today to hear us talk more about Lost. Once I get the chance to watch it again I will put a more detailed post up about the episode. Post all of your questions to the comments section and hopefully, we will all come up with some answers together.
Stay Lost.
I imagine quite a few Lost freaks are feeling that way this morning and I am guessing that is exactly what Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had in mind when they wrote this episode... and much of the previous 5 seasons for that matter.
Before I dive too deeply into last night's episode I want to take a quick second to notify you of some changes to SethIsLost.com this season. For one, we have a new sponsor... Collector's Edge Comics. Welcome Steve and all of the boys! Secondly, I have heard from a NUMBER of you asking for more regular updates. Let me give you a tip when emailing me. Threats are not a good way to get me to write more. However since I know you are all craving any and all Lost info I am going to be posting a little differently this season. To provide as much info as soon as I can, I will have a preliminary recap up on the site either the night the episode airs, or as is the case this morning... the following morning before the Bob & Brian segment. It won't be an in depth recap like you've seen from me in the past. But don't worry, the in depth break down will come.
The first recap (and the Bob & Brian Segment) will hit highlights of the episodes. Then, I want you to post your questions and theories in the comments sections. After I have had a chance to get a 2nd viewing in and have had some time to chew on all of the craziness in each episode I will post a more detailed recap that will hopefully answer most of the questions you all come up with.
So,.,. Back to "LA X". There was a TON to cover from this episode, so this recap is going to focus ONLY on what I have to take as the major theme from last night... choice. This show has been about a lot of things over the years but one of the themes that has always persisted is the idea of destiny... that things were meant to be. But how do destiny and free will exist together? In last year's finale right before Jacob is killed by Ben he tells him he has a choice. Jack clearly had a choice when determining whether or not to blow up an H-Bomb on the island. While it has been presented that destiny has seemingly controlled much of what has happened to our characters it is important to realize that within every one of those scenarios choices had to be made.
What is interesting is that throughout our survivors time in 1977 it would seem that all of the choices they made may not have been their choice at all. If you follow the "what ever happened, happened" theory while it would seem that Kate made the choice to save young Ben's life, we know from seeing what played out afterward that is probably what always happened. (I will have more on this and the idea of time and how we perceive it in part 2 of this recap.)
Similarly, it seems that dropping the bomb to blow up the Swan also fall under whatever happened, happened. Since Jack and the rest are still on the island that they were simply "fulfilling their destiny" by dropping the bomb which appears to be the cause of "The Incident" rather than stopping it from happening.
But of course Damon and Carlton can't make it that easy on us. We are also presented with the alternate scenario... that Jack's plan worked. Juliet tells us it did. We saw Jack, Boone, Charlie and all the rest in the plane as Flight 815 landed. So I will leave you with this to chew on... in the season 5 DVD Bonus Features disc, Carlton regularly refers to Ajira Flight 316 as a "Bizzaro" version of Flight 815. I think the reality where the plane lands is a similar "Bizzaro" sort of reality. Viewers of the show FlashForward (which borrows from Lost, so why shouldn't they return the favor) should remember a conversation between Olivia Benford and Lloyd Simco where they realize that had she chosen to go to Harvard, the 2 of them would have been living next door to each other and Lloyd's eventual wife ended up living their instead. Lloyd talks about the theory that the choices we don't make in this universe are actually made by us in parallel universes and much like in Ms Hawkings view of the word, choices we don't make that we were supposed to make sometimes course correct. In the case of FlashForward, Lloyd and Olivia's paths crossed even though she never went to Harvard... it just happened years later.
Perhaps the Bizzaro 2nd reality is meant to show us how our survivors are meant to interact and change each others lives, even if the plane never did crash. We've already seen how Jack and Locke might come together. How the situation has lead Jack to be the one with faith while Locke says his condition is irreversible.
OK... that is enough to think about for now. Tune into Bob & Brian around 8:50am today to hear us talk more about Lost. Once I get the chance to watch it again I will put a more detailed post up about the episode. Post all of your questions to the comments section and hopefully, we will all come up with some answers together.
Stay Lost.
Seth Grunlode on Bob & Brian 5/14/2009
Seth talks about the season finale with Bob & Brian
I am going to try to make up for my lack of posts in the last few weeks with a comprehensive recap of this episode with will really serve as a recap from the season. I have to go back and watch the finale again but once I have it up I will go back and start approving some of your comments so we can get this site back to being a little more interactive.
I am also taking this opportunity to launch my off season charity program... It's called, "If you don't catch up on Lost now you are a F'ing MORON". That is just the working name, I think I will probably come up with something different in the long run. Here is the basic idea. Do you know anyone who tells you "I've never seen Lost but it looks interesting, I'll probably just watch the DVDs once the entire show is done. I am calling on all Lost fans to do those friends of yours a favor and catch them up on Lost this summer so they can watch season 6 live with the rest of us. They will thank you for it. Here is how I look at it, I never watched the Soprano's even though everyone told me I should. I decided it was too late to start so I would eventually get the DVDs. Well after all of the fanfair of the finale, I knew how the show ends which totally strips my desire to watch the DVDs. So if you own the DVDs, let your friends borrow them. If your friends have NetFlix make them move Lost season 1 to the top their list (that is how Mother Grunlode as Bob calls her) got into the show. Heck if your friends are really cheap they can watch all 5 seasons free at ABC.com with limited commercial breaks.
The point is be a good friend... good friends don't let friends miss the awesomeness that will be the last season of Lost.
More on the finale soon...
Download | Duration: 00:13:49
I am going to try to make up for my lack of posts in the last few weeks with a comprehensive recap of this episode with will really serve as a recap from the season. I have to go back and watch the finale again but once I have it up I will go back and start approving some of your comments so we can get this site back to being a little more interactive.
I am also taking this opportunity to launch my off season charity program... It's called, "If you don't catch up on Lost now you are a F'ing MORON". That is just the working name, I think I will probably come up with something different in the long run. Here is the basic idea. Do you know anyone who tells you "I've never seen Lost but it looks interesting, I'll probably just watch the DVDs once the entire show is done. I am calling on all Lost fans to do those friends of yours a favor and catch them up on Lost this summer so they can watch season 6 live with the rest of us. They will thank you for it. Here is how I look at it, I never watched the Soprano's even though everyone told me I should. I decided it was too late to start so I would eventually get the DVDs. Well after all of the fanfair of the finale, I knew how the show ends which totally strips my desire to watch the DVDs. So if you own the DVDs, let your friends borrow them. If your friends have NetFlix make them move Lost season 1 to the top their list (that is how Mother Grunlode as Bob calls her) got into the show. Heck if your friends are really cheap they can watch all 5 seasons free at ABC.com with limited commercial breaks.
The point is be a good friend... good friends don't let friends miss the awesomeness that will be the last season of Lost.
More on the finale soon...
OK... so maybe we won't see Faraday again
Hello Lost fans... I'll start by apologizing for my lack of posting. My job that actually pays me has been demanding a lot of my time, but I wanted to get you some important info before the finale tonight. You can blame the economy for my job being crazy... you can also blame the economy for why the video from ComiCon now has absolutely nothing happening on Lost right now.
The video below was part of the Lost experience at ComiCon this year that was supposed to launch an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that was to run until the start of this season. In their last Podcast of the season, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse addressed this video. Basically what happened was the budget for the ARG was axed because of the global economic crisis. The ARG was going to contain certain story elements that would have been essential to connect the video into the show as we know it now. From what I understand Faraday was originally going to stay on the island in 1977 and the story was going to have him trying to convince Dr. Chang that he is from the future. But because the ARG was dropped they decided to have Faraday leave the island to make things easier.
They did acknowledge that is was Faraday's voice in the video. But they also stated that things that happen at ComiCon aren't necessarily "Lost Canon", which I find peculiar because every other thing they have ever done at ComiCon has tied back to the show is some way shape or form. I would guess that is their politically correct way of saying our bosses screwed us by cutting our budget, so lets pretend this never happened and all just move on.
There was one other very interesting thing in the official podcast that has been discussed here in the past... the compass. Damon and Carlton talked about how the compass being passed between Locke and Alpert is in what is called a mobius loop meaning that is really has no origin. Locke got it from Alpert who got it from Locke... so where did it come from to begin with. It's the classic "chicken or the egg" scenario. They said where the compass came from is not really important, but to recognize that this and other mobius loops exist in the show. They were also quick to point out the line in the conversation between Locke and Alpert where it is noted that the compass "looks rustier than the last time I saw it". So while it is in this never ending loop of time, it still manages to age and deteriorate. Why is this important? I would imagine because at some point I am guessing it is possible for a person to be stuck in a similar sort of loop. If you apply the idea of the wear on the compass to a person, it means that the person in the loop would still be getting older and eventually die which would end the mobius loop. One would have to assume then that once the loop is broken the course of the future can change. So is it possible that the compass is our first sign that the future can indeed be changed.
I am torn as to whether or not things really can be changed. Damon and Carlton said in their podcast that even though Faraday believed things could change his getting shot is the ultimate example that they cannot, since it seemed by his mothers regrets that she knew it would happen all along.
There are so many other unanswered questions out there that I don't have time to get in to before tonight's episode... the most important ones seem to deal with Jacob... can he be killed? If Locke is the appointed leader of Jacob's people, what would make him want to kill Jacob. Does Jacob want to die... maybe that is why he asked Locke to help him during their first encounter? Maybe Jacob was a man stuck in a mobius loop whose body deteriorated but his soul is still stuck in the loop and he needs Locke to "kill" him to free him... I could go on listing these questions for hours and none of them would be based in any sort of fact with evidence behind them. So I am just going to shut up and enjoy the finale tonight. I hope you do as well.
Tune in to Bob & Brian tomorrow to listen to our recap... in the next few weeks I will put together a season recap to try to make up for the lack of info for the last few weeks. I'll leave you with this before the finale... Damon and Carlton have said that season 6 will greatly mirror season 1 and tonight is going to set us on the path to that happening. So take your guesses as to what means. Also, I will make one last prediction for this season.... where are Rose & Bernard? I think they have been living in the caves with Vincent and will somehow end up being the 2 bodies that were found there in season 1.
Enjoy!
The video below was part of the Lost experience at ComiCon this year that was supposed to launch an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that was to run until the start of this season. In their last Podcast of the season, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse addressed this video. Basically what happened was the budget for the ARG was axed because of the global economic crisis. The ARG was going to contain certain story elements that would have been essential to connect the video into the show as we know it now. From what I understand Faraday was originally going to stay on the island in 1977 and the story was going to have him trying to convince Dr. Chang that he is from the future. But because the ARG was dropped they decided to have Faraday leave the island to make things easier.
They did acknowledge that is was Faraday's voice in the video. But they also stated that things that happen at ComiCon aren't necessarily "Lost Canon", which I find peculiar because every other thing they have ever done at ComiCon has tied back to the show is some way shape or form. I would guess that is their politically correct way of saying our bosses screwed us by cutting our budget, so lets pretend this never happened and all just move on.
There was one other very interesting thing in the official podcast that has been discussed here in the past... the compass. Damon and Carlton talked about how the compass being passed between Locke and Alpert is in what is called a mobius loop meaning that is really has no origin. Locke got it from Alpert who got it from Locke... so where did it come from to begin with. It's the classic "chicken or the egg" scenario. They said where the compass came from is not really important, but to recognize that this and other mobius loops exist in the show. They were also quick to point out the line in the conversation between Locke and Alpert where it is noted that the compass "looks rustier than the last time I saw it". So while it is in this never ending loop of time, it still manages to age and deteriorate. Why is this important? I would imagine because at some point I am guessing it is possible for a person to be stuck in a similar sort of loop. If you apply the idea of the wear on the compass to a person, it means that the person in the loop would still be getting older and eventually die which would end the mobius loop. One would have to assume then that once the loop is broken the course of the future can change. So is it possible that the compass is our first sign that the future can indeed be changed.
I am torn as to whether or not things really can be changed. Damon and Carlton said in their podcast that even though Faraday believed things could change his getting shot is the ultimate example that they cannot, since it seemed by his mothers regrets that she knew it would happen all along.
There are so many other unanswered questions out there that I don't have time to get in to before tonight's episode... the most important ones seem to deal with Jacob... can he be killed? If Locke is the appointed leader of Jacob's people, what would make him want to kill Jacob. Does Jacob want to die... maybe that is why he asked Locke to help him during their first encounter? Maybe Jacob was a man stuck in a mobius loop whose body deteriorated but his soul is still stuck in the loop and he needs Locke to "kill" him to free him... I could go on listing these questions for hours and none of them would be based in any sort of fact with evidence behind them. So I am just going to shut up and enjoy the finale tonight. I hope you do as well.
Tune in to Bob & Brian tomorrow to listen to our recap... in the next few weeks I will put together a season recap to try to make up for the lack of info for the last few weeks. I'll leave you with this before the finale... Damon and Carlton have said that season 6 will greatly mirror season 1 and tonight is going to set us on the path to that happening. So take your guesses as to what means. Also, I will make one last prediction for this season.... where are Rose & Bernard? I think they have been living in the caves with Vincent and will somehow end up being the 2 bodies that were found there in season 1.
Enjoy!
We will see Faraday again!
I will do a full recap of the episode this weekend but I wanted to get this up as soon as possible because I also referenced if last week. Is Daniel Faraday dead... hard to say the way Lost run's now. But will we see him again? Absolutely. It may not be this year, but I have a hard time believing he is done for good. My proof? Watch this video from ComiCon last summer. This was part of the alternate reality game they ran last summer that was eventually axed because of budget. But the premise was that Dharma was recruiting in the present day for new members. This video was shown to the 5 people who "passed: the screening process at ComiCon. Listen to the voice that comes from off camera. I would bet my very limited fortune that it is Faraday's voice.
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So how does this fit in with last night' episode? If obvious takes place after the events of last night because the Dr. Chang knows things about the future so has obviously accepted that Faraday is from the future. My guess is that it happens some time after "the incident" is contained. So how can Faraday be there if he was dead? Maybe he is Christian Shephard ghostlike form... maybe it is a instance of time travel that Faraday had before he died. What I mean is maybe during the 3 years in the 70's he found a way to time travel more. It is really hard to say. All I know for sure is we have not seen the last of him.
I need to watch a few more times before I finish the recap. In the mean time, ponder the fate of Faraday and I will have more soon.
\
So how does this fit in with last night' episode? If obvious takes place after the events of last night because the Dr. Chang knows things about the future so has obviously accepted that Faraday is from the future. My guess is that it happens some time after "the incident" is contained. So how can Faraday be there if he was dead? Maybe he is Christian Shephard ghostlike form... maybe it is a instance of time travel that Faraday had before he died. What I mean is maybe during the 3 years in the 70's he found a way to time travel more. It is really hard to say. All I know for sure is we have not seen the last of him.
I need to watch a few more times before I finish the recap. In the mean time, ponder the fate of Faraday and I will have more soon.
Looking Back and Looking Forward
"Why didn't you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father."
"Your father... was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and 'became' Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true... from a certain point of view."
So why am I starting this post by quoting Star Wars? There are a lot of reasons. One is because as Lost moves forward and we get closer and closer to figuring out the "answers" to this show it is a concept we are all going to have to bear in mind... "from a certain point of view". The answers we get may not be what we want... or they may not be concrete answers at all. There might be several ways to interpret the answers we get. My point is simply this... when you think about Lost, try thinking about it from every possible perspective.
There were a number of things that got me thinking about the "certain point of view" concept this past week. It would appear that Sawyer's character has developed more than any other on the show. In the beginning he was a con man who didn't care about anyone. All he cared about is saving his own skin. We've seen him transition from that info a reluctant leader... into a man who falls in love... into someone willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loves... into someone who wants to help a daughter he shunned and may never seen... into a not so reluctant leader who seems to relish being the man in charge. It looks to us like he pulled a complete 180. But has he? From Cassidy's point of view he didn't sacrifice himself for Kate, he was running away from her. Sure he is hustling his butt off to assimilate Kate, Jack, and Hurley into their cozy little DHARMA world, but is he doing it to help them or to protect his own security. He was a con man at the start of the show and guess what... he is still a con man! The entire life he built for "Jim LaFleur", Juliet, Miles and Jin is a con. So who is the real Sawyer? Is he a respectable leader, or the same old con man? It is a matter of perspective.
Another reason I bring up "point of view" is because as Lost winds down we will be getting more answers and as I said above some of them are going to be more concrete than others. I laugh as I read that back because I have been very outspoken in that at the end of this all I want this to all make sense. Even though I know I won't get all concrete answers I want as many as possible. So last week one question was resolved with a very concrete answer... what happened to Aaron? Kate gave him to his grandma. Really? That's it? No kidnapping attempt? No supernatural powers where he can just disappear? Yes I will admit that upon seeing that loose end wrapped up, I was initially disappointed. Then I realized I was being a huge hypocrite. All along I've asked for real explanations. Well they gave me one... in fact the simplest and most obvious explanation and I didn't think it was good enough... I am a dick. So upon giving it some more thought I am ok with how the Aaron situation was resolved and I have revised my point of view on the end of this show... I want it all to be explainable... but with something I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams. Do you think that is asking too much?
I may also have to revise my theory about the effects of traveling back in time. If you read my posts last week you know that I called pretty much the exact scenario we are in. Everything that is happening now has always happened. Kudos to the writers for the awesome scene with Hurley and Miles to explain it all too. It was so well written and easy to follow. I really expected the writers to make us think that "space/time" would be jeopardized by Ben's shooting even though I knew it wouldn't, but they didn't even try to take us on that ride. I am wondering if that is because they are going to set us up to think that it is impossible for things to be changed only to have that exact scenario play out. I really hope it doesn't happen that way but it would be an easy way to throw a twist in the story line.
The biggest pieces of info from this episode came in the last few minutes with Richard Alpert. Of course what he told us about Ben losing his innocence after going into the Temple is huge. He was changed and would never be the same... one can only assume that what "happens" to him down there is the same thing that happened to Rousseau's team when they went down there. Richard's most intriguing line actually came when he was asked about Charles and Ellie and he said he doesn't answer to them. First, it would seem that Charles and Ellie were referred to as a couple which would lend weight to all of the Widmore being Faraday's father or Ms Hawking being Penny's mother ideas. But that is secondary to the simple concept that he doesn't answer to them. Richard's exact position with the Others has always been unclear. It has always been cure that it is a position of power, but just how much power. We've been made to think that we does the bidding of whoever the leader of the Others is. I am calling it right now... Richard is the "Man Behind The Curtain". He is the one in charge, he is Jacob (or an extension of Jacob) and uses "leaders" as protection and to rule safely from the side without people knowing he is actually the man in charge i.e. R'as al Ghul in Batman Begins. Throw this one under the idea of WAY OUT THERE theories... we've seen several biblical references before on Lost so what if it plays out this way... Jacob, Richard, and the smoke monster are the same thing... they are all the driving "force" behind the island and it's power. Jacob = Father, Richard = Son, Smoke Monster = Holy Spirit. Kind of a crazy theory, but not too crazy that it is beyond possibility.
There really hasn't been too much mind blowing over the lat few weeks because as I stated with Bob & Brian, this all right now is serving to fill in the gaps of the story up to this point. I do expect things to get ramped up and the story to take off a bit more after tonight's episode, but before I get there 2 more quick points about last week. 1) to answer many of your questions... No, I don't know where Rose and Bernard are. By all accounts they should have been time traveling along with Jin, Sawyer and the rest but we have no way of knowing what happened to them at this point. I made a joke today to a friend that I think they are "Adam" and "Eve" who were buried in the caves and that the black and white stones found with the bodies symbolize the 2 of them. I was only joking but the friend I was talking to seemed to think it was a viable theory. Who knows, but I am not counting on it. 2) and this is in response to an email I got from a reader named John who wants to know "why Jack has become such a huge pussy". While that made me laugh, I didn't think it was quite a fair assessment of the situation. Jack is basically playing the role of Locke. He is simply a believer in destiny and is waiting for a sign. Now I love the whole idea of destiny fulfilled, but if you remember anything from this post, remember this. Time will show that even destiny has it's limits. What I mean by that (and this could even tie into the idea that someday someone might be able to "change" things) is that I get the feeling that while everyone on that show has a destiny, it is ultimately going to be up to them to make choices to follow that destiny. I know those ideas are paradoxical in a way, but the more this story goes on I really think it will become more about choosing to fulfill your destiny rather than being at its mercy.
Tonight's episode is "Dead is Dead". It looks to be a Ben focus as he is returning to the island to be "judged" by the smoke monster. The writers have promised the smoke monster would be explained by the end of the season. I don't know that the full explanation is coming tonight, but figure that we should get a good chunk of info. Also, as always Sethislost.com is a spoiler free site. I do not consider what I am about to write a spoiler but it does deal with upcoming episodes so if you don't want to risk it stop reading now...
...I think we may be in for the loss of a major character soon (I don't consider the death of Charlotte as major). I have not read any spoilers, but I do get press releases from ABC about each episode 2 weeks before it airs. The press releases lists the regular cast each week. It never changes. Even when one of the regular cast doesn't appear in that week's episode they are still listed as a cast member. The only time they have been taken off in the past is after they have been bumped off the show. The cast list for this week's episode lists all of the actors as usual. But the regular cast for next week is missing a name. It could be something simple like a typo, but I have a hard time believing that. If you want to know who is missing, check out this press release: http://www.abcmedianet.com/assets/pr/html/033009_12.html and see who's name is not listed. Oh... and the episode that press release refers to is for an episode called "Some Like It Hoth". So we'll end where we began... with a Star Wars reference.
Seth Grunlode on Bob & Brian 4/2/2009
Seth and the boys catch up on Lost after a few weeks off... I explain why I have had less time to post and Bob throws out a ridiculous theory that no real Lost fan would ever take seriously, but at least he is taking more of an interest these days.
Download | Duration: 00:00:00
Catching Up on Recaps Part 2
I wanted to get to some unanswered questions before tonight's episode, and I know there are a lot of them. Some of the questions are a little more obvious, like why didn't Sun jump back in time like everyone else? My theory would be that maybe there is "something" that she didn't do properly. Eloise Hawking told Jack that they needed to recreate the circumstances of the original flight as closely as possible. My best guess is that there is something she didn't do. That is most likely why Christian Shephard told her that she has a long journey ahead of her. The next obvious question is, what the heck does that mean? Clearly at some point either our people in the 70's have to get back to present day or else the rest of our major characters have to go back to the past. Having Sawyer and the rest of the crew coming "back to the future" seems to make A LOT more sense, but I have not ruled out the possibility of a lot more time travel.
That leads me to another of the obvious questions from the last few episodes... where is Daniel Faraday? The only clue to his whereabouts is that Sawyer said he is not there anymore. Some people have taken that to mean he is dead. I find that highly unlikely. We did see him in the 70's working on the construction of The Orchid station. While we don't know exactly when that was, it probably took place sometime in the 3 years that Sawyer, Jin, Juliet and Miles were there. We know that he did have access to the Orchid so he could have used that to time travel to a different period. Then there is the video from ComiCon this year (see sethislost.com archives if you don't know what I am talking about) that showed Dr. Pierre Chang filming a segment where he was apparently trying to communicate with the future. We never see him but there was another voice on that film that sounds very much like Faraday. It would seem that he did get involved in DHARMA's time travel experiments at some point and has most likely already jumped to another year when we see our survivors in 1977.
A question that is troubling many of you deals with "baby Ethan". Horace and Amy Goodspeed named there baby Ethan. The only Ethan we have know is Ethan Rom who of course infiltrated the survivor's camp in season one and kidnapped Claire. To answer your questions, yes I think this is the same Ethan. That does present an issue though because as far as we know Ben killed all of the DHARMA folks in the purge. So it would seem that at least one or two people were spared in the purge. We don't really know why but to me it is a sign that there is a much closer relationship between DHARMA and the Others than we previously knew. Clearly they have had some serious interaction because they were able to set up the truce. Horace and Richard seemed to know each other fairly well. So it isn't crazy to think that the relationship between the 2 of them runs deeper. I think that is a nod to the greater overall question of who started the DHARMA Initiative? It was interesting during the "meeting" last week where they decided to kill Sayid when they reference calling Ann Arbor. Remember that DHARMA supposedly is the brain child of Gerald and Karen DeGroot, who were professors at the University of Michigan... located where... ANN ARBOR. It is hard to know what that means exactly but it is important to keep in mind as you are formulating your theories.
I think the biggest question that has gone unnoticed by most Lost fans is... what was the original purpose of The Swan station? Radzinsky seems to be an overly jumpy person to begin with. But he is REALLY overprotective of The Swan. We have heard his name before, but this is the first time we've met him. Previously we knew him as the person who shared duties at The Swan with Calvin Inman. Calvin then shared those duties with Desmond and at one point told him the story about Radzinsky blowing his own brains out. It was also Radzinsky who started the blacklight map of the island inside The Swan. I would guess that after the purge he hid in The Swan because the Others were not yet aware of it's existence. After all, he seems intent on keeping the Others from knowing about it. So back to the original question... what is The Swan's purpose. All we know about it's history is there was an incident. Because of that incident people in the station were not supposed to use the computer for anything except inputting the numbers. We also know from Sayid's examination of the station when they first found it that in a portion there is concrete poured 6 to 8 feet think. Sayid said the only time he heard of concrete being poured in that manner was at Chernobyl. We also know that in 1954 Faraday told the Others to bury the Jughead H-Bomb and pour concrete over it. My guess would be that The Swan's original purpose has something to do with that. Of course it could also be possible that they had no clue about Jughead and coming across it in their construction could have caused the incident. Either way, whatever The Swan was designed for originally looks to be of significance.
Tune in tomorrow to hear me on with Bob & Brian after a few weeks off. We will try to cover as much ground as possible. Plus tomorrow I will have my episode recap up and the info previously promised about ancient Egypt and possible connections to the island.
Catching Up on Recaps Part 1
OK, so I know that I have been slacking on getting my posts up, even after the security issues have been fixed. I've actually got a really good reason, but I am going to wait to discuss that with Bob & Brian. Since the boys were in Arizona and then on vacation we've been missing our segments too, but we are going to chat at 8:50a Monday morning to get back on track and then I will be on Thursday morning after the new episode. Be sure to listen Thursday because it is also the Bob & Brian Radiothon benefiting the MACC Fund. So go to www.1029thehog.com and see all of the cool auction items you can bid on. You can also pay for requests throughout the day. Many of you have asked for longer Lost conversations, so if you want to hear more... make a donation and request it. The best part is you will be helping to fight childhood cancer.
On to last night's episode... it was entitled "He's Our You". I find it rather peculiar that they named the episode after the guy who sent Sayid on a major acid trip. I mean seriously... I know they are in the 70's but wow! I thought that was hysterical. That plus the Grateful Dead reference from a few weeks ago gives me a few ideas about how the creators of the show have come up with some of these concepts. So... yeah... keep on truckin' Damon and Carlton. Or as a few of my friends might say "Hibbity Hibbity 45!" For the record Seth Grunlode and SethIsLost.com does not condone the use of illegal narcotics.
Crazy acid trips aside, we learned some interesting things about Sayid last night, going all of the way back to his childhood. A key element to the story dealt was one that has been prevalent through out the show, namely the idea of destiny and human nature. Is Sayid really a born killer? Ben seems to think so. Keep that in mind, but we'll get back to that later.
So the big shocker at the end of the episode was Sayid shooting teenage Ben. We've been told all along, by both Faraday and even before that by his mother, that there is a course to the universe. While they are in the past they can't change anything. Nothing can be changed because what happens is supposed to happen. We saw in the case of Desmond and Charlie that no matter how many times Des would save him, Charlie was still going to die. So how then is it possible that all of the things that are happening in 1977 are happening? I think that is a very easy answer...
Because they always happened that way.
I know this is hard to understand, but my theory is that in the course of time all of our survivors in 1977 were always there in 1977. There wasn't some alternate version of this time that had occurred in their youth that is being effected like this. When a young James Ford was a boy a grown up Jim LaFleur was also on the island. It never happened any other way. So in that line of thinking, a young Ben was always shot by Sayid. Maybe Ben thinks Sayid is a born killer because he himself was shot by Sayid as a child. I firmly believe that the first time adult Ben saw Sayid in the hatch he knew exactly who he was. Remember that shortly after that meeting Sayid beat the crap out of him. I can hear many of you asking why Ben wouldn't say something... of course he wouldn't. He knows better than anyone how destiny works and that what is going to happen is going to happen. Now I don't think Ben knows how this is all going to end, which is why he is constantly struggling to be in control. It's like knowing your are going to end up home at the end of the day... but just figuring out which route you are going to take to get there.
Think about this... we know that Ben is one completely F'd up guy. He seems like a sweet kid, what would make him that way. Maybe it could be the fact that he grew up with an abusive father who blamed him for his mother's death... and then he thought he had found a way to escape that fate by running away with Sayid who SHOOTS HIM IN THE FRICKIN' STOMACH! Personally, I think that would mess a guy up in the head.
Let me be clear, I completely think the creators are going to try to pull a 180 with us. In the next couple of weeks they are going to make us think that Ben might die which would risk destroying the universe or something like that. I simply don't buy that. I don't know why to tell you the truth. I guess I am just really hanging on to the over riding idea of destiny.
Here is something else to keep in mind. Ben as an adult has been messing with Sayid horribly, tricking him into being a killer, lying to him, manipulating him. I still contend that Ben is the one who killed Nadia in order to recruit Sayid to work for him. What if Ben is doing all of this as revenge for trying to kill him as a child, even though Sayid didn't even know he had done it yet. Now I need to point out, this puts us in the troubling position of cyclical reasoning. What I mean is, Ben manipulated Sayid into being a killer as an act of revenge for shooting him. But the only reason Sayid shot Ben is because of the "torture" he endured working for Ben. It is a chicken/egg type of situation. But it is not the first time this has happened... in the past it has been on a smaller, less impactful scale. Some of you even emailed me about this. Think about Locke, Richard, and the Compass. During the time flashes Richard gives Locke the compass as a way to prove that they know each other. Then Locke flashes back to 1954 and gives the compass to Richard. Richard shows the same compass to Locke as a boy during the "test" when he asks which of these already belongs to him. Presumably Richard holds on to that compass until the time period when he meets Locke by the Beach plane and gives it to him during the time flashes. So if Richard gave it to Locke then Locke gave it to Richard... where did it come from in the first place? Does your head hurt? Mine certainly does.
This whole idea of mine that this all happened all along could easily be wrong. I could probably put together an decent theory about the idea of reincarnation playing in here citing Christian Shephard and John Locke and how maybe Ben dies but comes back... I just don't think it will go that way.
So chew on that for now and send me your email and comments. I am going to write more before next week's episode about the last couple episodes. I am putting together some interesting stuff about the Grateful Deal, the Egyptian God Anubis, Hieroglyphics and how it could all be related to Lost... so stay tuned.