Tuesday, February 23, 2010

"Lost" blogging: Lighthouse

Welcome back to "Lost" blogging, this blog's weekly attempt to analyze, comprehend and occasionally poke fun at ABC's remarkable television show, "Lost." This week's episode: The Lighthouse, most likely about Sideways Jack. For other blogs from this season, visit here, here and here.

As with last week, this week's blog will be slightly behind because of the magic of TiVo. As always, feel free to play along at home in the commentary section. Also as always, PLEASE STAY AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ SPOILERS. OK? OK.

As we enter tonight's episode, I'm going to re-visit a theory I've advanced at this blog before, however poorly: the dominant theme of this show was expressed in this speech, six days into the Castaways' first stay on The Island.


"We can't do this. 'Every man for himself' is not gonna work. ... Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And God knows how long we're gonna be here. But if we can't live together, we're gonna die alone."


Consider that nearly every bit of trouble that has befallen some member of this group has occurred because someone went off on their own. And even the Oceanic 6, when they went their separate ways, eventually realized they had to go back to the ones they left behind. Because if they can't live together, they're going to die alone. That's just the way it is.
[The English majors in the room may now take a seat. We'll be back with more in a moment.]

(Interesting aside while I'm waiting to get started: I'm very confused by the term "live tweeting." Isn't "live tweeting" just "tweeting?" It's kind of like Mitch Hedberg's bit about corn on the cob — isn't that just corn?)

8:19: Sideways Jack has pictures of his dad everywhere, meaning he may not hate the guy like he did in the first-run world. He also has his appendix scar. Recall that Jack had his appendix out on the Island in Season 3.
8:20: Sideways Jack also drives a nasty looking car. And he ... has a son?
[flash]
8:21: "Everything is an option." Because Dogen, apparently, believes in free will. Take your first drink of the night, you play-along folk.
8:23: Hurley & Miles were playing tic-tac-toe with ... something.
Aside: can Miles see Jacob? Since he speaks to dead folk, and all.
8:24: Recall that, based on the exchange between Jacob & The Man in Black — now appearing the guise of Locke — Jacob brings people to the Island. For what purpose, we have no idea.
[opening credits]

8:26: Recall for a moment that Jack was reading something Alice-related to Aaron in ... was it Season 4? That sounds right.
8:27: Is it possible that David belongs to Sideways Jack and ... whatever her name is? (Note: It's Sarah.)
[flash]
8:28: Remember the stares Locke received when he first visited the Others. This is like the opposite of that.
8:29: Now we see New Rousseau, Claire — grungy, dangerous, searching for her son. Fantastic.
8:30: Now seems like the time to bring up the wonderful acting job done by Daniel Dae Kim, who's gone from playing A Guy Who Can't Speak English to playing A Guy Who Can Speak English, Although Not Perfectly. He's the most underrated performer on the show.
8:32: Just a thought: shouldn't someone who speaks Japanese watch these things and figure out what Dogen is saying? I haven't seen anything yet.
8:33: Aha! We're back to Daddy Issues Jack again. "You have what it takes." Also, kudos to Hurley for another slick "Star Wars" reference.
[break]

8:34: The hound dog does NOT appreciate all these sound effects.
8:35: Ah, and ANOTHER similarity between Claire & Rousseau: they both talk frequently about infection. Or sickness. Or whichever you want to call it.
8:37: Bad things happen to people on their own. Not cool.
8:38: That scene was kind of lame. Made me think of this:

(Yes, Marcie, I stuck that one in there just for you.)
[flash]
8:40: There's supposed to be something important about Mrs. Shephard's liquor cabinet. But I can't see it.
8:41: Lucky us -- in the Sideways World, Claire is still Jack's illegitimate sister.
[flash again]
8:42: But is she really alive?
8:43: Just for clarification, let's recall the sequence of events from the last time we "saw" Claire:
• She was in a house that blew up when Martin Keamy's and Charles Widmore's mercenaries attacked Dharmaville. She escaped with Sawyer, Miles and a few others.
• She disappeared during their journey back to the beach; Miles (who we should never forget, speaks to dead folk) says she walked off in the middle of the night with a guy he didn't recognize. "She called him dad." Sawyer went to look for her and found only the baby.
• She appeared in "Jacob's cabin" when Locke came searching for guidance; Claire was seated in an armchair looking, in the words of The Warblogler, "doped up and sexually satisfied."
• She appeared to Kate in a dream, warning her not bring Aaron back to the Island.

[break]

8:51: Hurley is the leader of this crowd now, right? He's totally asserting himself.
8:52: They found Adam & Eve! Cool.
8:53: Hot damn. And I frigging brought up this episode at the beginning of the post. I'm awesome.
(Just give me a minute, will ya?)
[flash]
8:54: Sideways Jack is trying too hard. The unbuttoned collar with no undershirt is a classic "old guy trying too hard" tipoff.
8:55: Funny thing I noticed: Jack's ex-wife's house key is under a ceramic rabbit. The title of that fateful episode in which a) Jack found the caves and b) made his heroic speech? "The White Rabbit." BOOM!
8:56: Sideways Jack's son is a Dodger fan, apparently.
[flash]
8:58: Jack came back because he was dying alone. Period.
8:59: Claire isn't really going to hit this dude with an axe, is she?
9:00: The black guy's speech was eerily similar to Sayid's speech to Rousseau when he was tied up.
9:01: Didn't work as well, though.
[break]

9:02: Best guess: the lighthouse is how Jacob brings these folks to the Island. And might FLocke be the one who locked the door?
[flash]
9:03: I'm certain the music Sideway Jack's son is playing is significant. I have no idea what it is, of course, so I can't tell you the significance. But it's pretty special.
9:04: A quick pause: I don't have kids, so I can't say this for myself. What I've been told, however, is there's nothing like hearing your child excel musically. It's supposed to be like a religious experience. Seriously. Kudos to Mathew Fox for nailing the requisite emotions.
9:05: Hey, it's Sideways Dogen! And he's talking about people being special, just like in "real life."
[flash]
9:06: Is this lighthouse at all similar to the beacon in "The Return of the King?"
9:07: 108 degrees. Priceless.
9:09: So ... Jacob's been watching them this whole time? He DID speak to them when they were children.
9:10: Jack just turned into Jack Bauer there for a minute.

[break]

9:13: Sideways Jack's son sounds exactly like my brother Jack. "I missed a couple notes." Yeah, nobody noticed.
9:14: Sideways Jack puts as much pressure on his son as his dad did on him. Lame.
9:15: Are there any similarities between David and Aaron, or is that in my brain?
[flash]
9:15: So Jacob made Hurley bring Jack along with him, because he knew Jack was going to flip out? And Hurley's still babbling about luck.
9:17: After hearing Jacob spout that nonsense about oceans and cabs, I wish I was back in high school so I could re-do my yearbook quote.
9:18: What is Jin's play here? I'm not sure I understand.
9:19: Aha. So now it comes full circle.
[end of episode]

1 comment:

Justin and Marcie said...

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! LOVE IT!!! I laughed my head off at that Family Guy episode and that was when I started noticing Jack's heavy breathing...never noticed it before then :)