Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Early Reaction to Lost 616: "Oh---hell yeah!"

Who was saying what now?

I love it when a plan comes together.

So, yeah, that whole not energized to write anymore feeling that I was talking about earlier    yeah, that lasted all of nine hours.  Lost returned with a big old bang tonight, ripped me bodily from my stupor, beat me upside the head like Ben Linus' redheaded step child, and I saw flashes before my eyes.  I was an active participant in the proceedings tonight, as I strained forward in my seat, begging Ben to come up with something when he led Locke into his closet.

"C'mon, Ben! Think of something," I said-yelped.  "Pull a Ben on him!"

But that's not all.  I also got verbal when Ben's beating by Desmond clicked in my head an instant before it happened.  I called out to Mrs. Schmoker, "Ben's going to get his ass kicked and remember.  Getting his ass kicked is Ben's Constant!"

Mrs. Schmoker just looked at me.  She's patient that way.

I was more involved with Lost tonight than ever.  More involved than I have been while watching television since Firefly went off the air more years ago than I am willing to concede by Googling it.  When Jack and Locke were talking in the office, I was quite literally straining forward on the edge of the pillow I was laying against on the couch.

All that hesitancy that had built up over the last two sub par episodes... well, all that hesitancy went from zero to sixty in about zero.  I was hooked from the word go, and I thought I saw a plan unfolding before my eyes.  I thought I saw the Sideways World suddenly become a castaway idea.  Or at least a Desmond and the castaways who are left idea.  Maybe not Jack's idea, as he drank Jacob's kool-aid in a big bad way.  But maybe Jack's in on it, too.

Dare I say it, but is my Desmond the Fail Safe theory actually correct?  Are Widmore and Eloise in fact working to thwart Nameless once and for all?  Is the Sideways World actually the plan?  Did they figure out a way to win there, and then live on in this changed world that THEY created?  Rather than the Sideways World being the tragedy they must reverese after Nameless creates it, did they in fact create the Sideways World as their way out of both Nameless and Jacob's plans?  Nameless wants to destroy the Island at the end, but did the castaways find a way to destroy it themselves, and in such a way that it destroys or traps Nameless forever?

Or are they just prepared for the Sideways World, and that is where the battle will end?

And, man, it's just nuts that I have to call him Nameless.  They really whiffed on that one, I'm here to tell you.  Writing about Lost and trying to figure out what to call the Man in Black Who Is Jacob's Brother and Also is Now Locke and Smoke, Too each and every time you write a new sentence is a pain in the butt.

OK, digression much?

Forgive me, I'm just excited.  I'm writing in circles, so right now, that's my take.  I actually felt the world flash before my eyes while Jack and Locke were talking in his office, as if this is what the castaways were counting on---their ability to remember and fight back in another life, brother, thanks to Desmond special nature.  Perhaps they are even doing it in defiance of whatever Jacob's secret evil plan is.  Or perhaps it is, as Widmore and someone else called it, a secret fail-safe plan.

You know, if the Sideways is indeed going to be where the Series ends    and my first reaction to tonight is, yes, that is where it will end    then that doesn't negate any of the sacrifice they made in the Island World if they still end up dead in the Sideways World.  There is still a battle to come there.  There's a big fight coming, and it appears to be one for which Hurley is now helping Desmond prepare, possibly with the aide of Widmore and Eloise by now.  And Kate and Sayid have just been drafted.

And Ben is awake!  And, holy crap, was it riveting watching him watch himself in that mirror after he woke up?  It was hard to tell just how fully awake he was, but when he started sneering at the school nurse, I said, "THAT'S BEN!"

Mrs. Schmoker just stared at me.

So... or not.  Maybe all those letters I've written up there have been put in an order that is way off the mark.  If it is, how cool is it that Lost can still make me look the other way one episode from the end?  But I don't think I'm looking the wrong way.  Have to think about it some before I come back later with actual coherent thought (or at least what passes for it around here).

What about you?  While I'm off breaking it down and thinking about it, you tell me.  I appreciate the "atta boy" comments, but I'd love to hear what you think.  Did you see what I saw?  Did it rock for you?  Or am I way off base, and you have a much better theory?  Or maybe you thought it sucked?

Well, way off base or not, it rocked.  If you thought it sucked, you can try and talk me into seeing it your way, but you will probably be talking to a brick wall.

Consider the landing gear deployed and the final approach commencing.  In my eyes, a landing is seemingly ready to be stuck.

(EDIT: Wed Morning---I awoke even more certain that the destruction of the Island is something the Losties planned on dealing with before it ever happened.  Either they are going to beat Nameless to the punch, or else Nameless is going to destroy the Island without understanding that is exactly what newly crowned Jackob and his castaway council want him to do.  Jackob and the rest of our heroes have a plan, and that plan ain't to be the Island guardian forever and a day.  Jackob will be as different from Jacob as Jacob was from momma.  Jackob and his friends are going to plug the Island once and for all, and they have a plan for waking up in the Sideways World and taking Smokey out there.  I will have much, much more later on.  Maybe tonight; maybe tomorrow.  Real work must take precedence for a bit, but I have been working on a bit-by-bit recap that goes over my crazy half-epilogue, half-apocalypse theory of everything.  Also, I've been so caught up in mythology that I took little time to go over all the wonderful character moments from last night.  I will not forget those moments in my full recap.  Check back this evening or tomorrow.  In meantime, tell me what you think in the comments below.  They are open and not moderated, so you can call me a douche as often as you like, and you don't need an account or have to sign in.  Just post away at your leisure.)

10 comments:

  1. Oh ye of little faith, Schmoker. It indeed rocked hard, but what did you expect? I was surprised you got so disillusioned when Sun and Jin died. They had it in the bag all the time. Don't know whose theory is right, or if what you are spinning is right, but I do know it will be as slick as shit through a goose.

    I do like the idea that people will die in the sideways world to balance out the sacrifice. If that is where it all ends, it makes sense that people are going to have to die again. At least some of them.

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  2. Perhaps some of those who died in the Island world live, but some of them who lived in the Island world die in the Sideways.

    What is Sun and Jin live, or Sayid lives, but Jack and Kate die?

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  3. And, hey, maybe that is what Juliet's "It worked" meant.

    Maybe what worked was the plan to go Sideways, get their memories back, maybe beat Nameless there after they do, or defeat Widmore if he does in fact turn out to be evil, and then live out their lives after going dutch for coffee?

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  4. I don't know that to think now. All of a sudden I am rooting so hard for the sideways world to be real. All of a sudden because up until now I had been just wanting it to go away. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it at all. Now I'm just hoping they can save it. I guess that means I am espousing your theory here, Schmoker, but it's not a theory I've ever considered before.

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  5. Wow, this is not at all how Doc J has it. He still feels Jack or Ben will take over as Island guardian, and that this is all still Jacob's plan at work. He didn't seem to give the idea of the Sideways continuing much credence at all.

    But you are persuasive, Schmoker. It does make sense. I have to think about it more. I'll come back for your recap and let you know what I think.

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  6. Kevin Not SmithMay 18, 2010 10:53 PM

    I also have no coherent thought right now, Schmoker. IT ROCKED is all I can say, too. It doesn't add anything to the discussion to say that, but IT ROCKED.

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  7. I have been someone who has said all along that there is something wrong with the Sideways world, but maybe what was wrong with it was that they needed to wake up. Maybe it is to defeat Smokey there, as you say, or maybe it's to live out their lives there. Or maybe it is to somehow wipe out the Sideways and go back and fix what they got wrong the first time through.

    It was cool. When Desmond walked into Sayid and Kate's cell was when I started talking to my TV, Schmoker. I said, "It's time to wake up, cellmates."

    Yes, I can see Sawyer walking up to Juliet now, and she gets her memory back and says, "It worked." She probably thinks it's just Jughead that worked, but maybe it's some new plan to fight or live in the sideways-verse that worked, and that's the end.

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  8. Another Guy Named PeteMay 18, 2010 11:28 PM

    If you are right Schmoker (and I am not saying you are), then Darlton made a huge mistake telling the two stories concurrently. I think it would have worked out much better to tell Island story first (and get Jacob's mom and Richard's wife out of the way early), then tell the Sideways story in the second half.

    It was a cool idea to mix them up, but I think ultimately it failed them. It created more confusion and annoyance than tension, and they wasted what could have been a lot of excitement for us had we understood it better while we watched it. I think this was a great, great episode, but I think the season will be the one that best plays out on DVD rather than watching it once a week for 20 weeks.

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  9. Do you think Richard is really dead?

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  10. If he is, he went out with a bang. Richard is not emotionally significant enough to me to care one way or the other. I would not be surprised if he were still alive somehow, but I would also find him dying in such and quick a shocking manner entirely in keeping with the way death has been used all season long. Death doesn't wait for people to be ready for it, or for them to have wrapped up all their business. Death comes when death comes. That's part of life, and I think that has been a comment Lost has made over and over through the years, and especially this season.

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