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Thursday, February 23, 2006

Lost: Let's Recap

Last night they re-re-reshowed the first episode. Matthew Fox was on The Daily Show, and continued to insist that the show has a framework, an outline, an ending, an even a sugary sweet center.

But how many loose ends are we talking about here? Let's see (I'm sure I'm going to forget like 100 things):

Really Old Stuff
Black Rock shipwrecking/Bermuda Triangle type Island.
Hanso Foundation doing pretty much anything.

General
Coincidences so inexplicable, or possibly even "symbolic" that they seem fate-like or manipulated.

Pre-Flight
Walt potentially "summoning" a bird.
Claire's baby being special/psychic
Desmond predicting Jack's successful surgery.
Kate apparently getting a spirit animal.
Hurley's unlucky use of the numbers.
Desmond getting shipwrecked, recruited, and taking some kind of meds

Flight
How about a passenger jet being split in half just over an island, crashing in two parts near different beaches, but having a decent portion of the people inside surviving?

And one survivor getting the use of his legs?

Post-Flight
People seeing things which ought not to be there, being able to touch them, interact with them.
One of these "things" (Walt) talks backwards, rest don't
Polar bears, horses and such un-tropical island like fauna.
Whispering in the woods.
Smoke monster.
Train noise, track sounds.
At least one group of insidious "Others"
Others know the locations and timing of the crash
Others need/steal children for ... something
Hatches, underground base
Desmond was looking for a specific person, with a code phrase (replacement?)
Countdown and the computer
Magnetic Generator (?) and blast doors within hatch.
Inside Out Quarantine Warning, with Numbers
Unknown incident (from the one armed scientist)


What else am I forgetting?





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8 comments:

Thomas said...

This is, to be honest, my big problem with everything that Abrams produces, like Alias. Too many loose plot lines, too much sense that they're just making it up as they go along.

It's funny to watch the first episode and realize how the show started with just a few focused threads. I think it would have been much more interesting if they'd stayed with those and developed them into a more coherent revelation--say if the show were meant to end after three seasons. Not enough American TV is made with an exit strategy, so to speak.

Josh said...

I can't disagree, although Abrams has said in interviews that he thought Alias was a bit of a learning experience ... they seem to be following the X-Files concept of "don't answer anything without opening something else".

So, we "see" the LostMonster, but it's meaningless smoke. So, no real answer there ... just another question.

We "meet" the Others, but they're a vague ambigous group speaking cryptically. And they get little air time. Again, just more questions.

The "big" revelation of the hatch ... just opened the door on the countdown.

A lot of friends I know who watch call it the show they love to hate, because they're addicted by they find the info grind annoying. The Girl loves the show mostly for the character studies, which are usually solid anyway - so at least it has that.

But the X-Files approach works well for a while, and then just gets chaotic and annoying. Hopefully, they don't disassemble what they've put together.

My pet theory? I had from a friend that they had originally planned out three seasons. I think they've been intentionally extendending the lifespan by leaving open ended questions, etc., and the show will drag out to five or six now.

I forgot about Desmond's meds...

Clamatius said...

Some of your categories are pretty broad and cover a ton of weird stuff (e.g. tattooed sharks, ghost of Jack's father).

There's another category which I'd file under enormously unlikely coincidences:
* The same numbers that Hurley previously encountered being on the hatch etc
* The same damn plane that Eko's brother was on being on the island

(I'm sure there's a few more but that's enough to get started).

As for "don't answer anything without opening something else", it seems that they ask a minimum of one question for each answer and usually more, so the # of unsolved mysteries always increases.

Josh said...

Yeah, this was mostly just brain dump, some are probably overly broad depending on the questions being asked. Like, should Kate's Horse and Jack's Dad occupy the same area as the polar bear and tattoed shark?

There's definately a level of inexplicable coincidences, which permeate well before and after the crash. I'll update.

I also found a Lost Wiki. Yikies.

http://tviv.org/wiki/Lost

Clamatius said...

Nice! Thanks for the wiki link.

More:

* How did the Others know that the plane would crash and where & when it would come down?

* Why do the Others want the kids?

* Why is Claire's baby so important (psychic, etc)?

Josh said...

Good timing, I was also just adding about Walt talking backwards.

The Others knowing the timing/location of the crash is pretty telling, I'd guess. They'd either have to be partial to the cause, or have a really good surviellance system.

Clamatius said...

>really good surviellance system
Impossibly good. Remember that the Other walked out of the forest less than 10 mins after the crash. The island's not that small.

That leaves 2 possibilities:

1) They had some supernatural way of knowing the tail of the plane would crash there. I can't think of any technological way that could work.

2) They brought the plane down and somehow knew where it would come down as it crashed.

I'd bet on 1.

Josh said...

Yeah, I think you're right. Personally, I'm leaning to 2 ... see latest Lost post for more. 1 is definately alternatively possible, and would represent the idea that Dharma is mostly about precognition than anything else.

In fact, I'd say it comes down to two concepts:

1) Dharma Initiative has the ability to manipulate objects at even great distances, with a high level of accuracy.

2) Dharma Initiative has the ability to foretell the future with enough accuracy as to manipulate it's outcome (enter Asimov now)

I lean towards 1 because it also explains certain things like people falling from the sky but surviving, drawing in large ships/planes/whatever.