Lost Comic-Con 2009 Videos

If one wants to remain completely untainted by spoilers of Season 6, official or otherwise, then don’t read ahead.

SPOILER ALERT

The Comic-Con 09 panel was posted on Saturday.  Here are the other official videos that were shown at Comic-Con.

In Preparation for Season 5: The Enemies

Here is the next episode from sl-Lost‘s In preparation for Season 5 videos.  This one is about a few of the enemies that the survivors have had to deal with.

– izi

408 – Meet Kevin Johnson

Review:

I like the format of this episode, very little B-story, all Michael.  They did add a beginning and an end, but I believe that they were afterthoughts following the writers strike.

This episode was primarily about Michael and what happened to him after he left the island.  Surprisingly it wasn’t all rainbows and happiness.  He suffered just as much off the island as he did on it.  And for the second time he submitted to Ben.  All in all it was a good flashback.  It really reminded me of Three Minutes, the season 2 episode.  It seems like the writers like to tell Michael stories all at once rather than slowly revealing them.

But that wasn’t really what I cared about in this episode.  The craziest thing to happen in this episode had nothing to do with Michael, it was Rousseau and Karl getting shot.  That shocked me to my core.  I really didn’t see it coming and I am still surprised that it actually happened.  These deaths along with Alex’s death are what made season 3 shocking.

8.5/10.0

406 – The Other Woman

Review:

This episode and the next one are probably the least important out of all the season 4 episodes.  They are the closest thing to filler that we will probably see.  But that doesn’t mean they are bad episodes.

This one deals with Juliet and Ben’s relationship.  We get to see Juliet’s third, and likely final, on-island flashback.  This fills in the blanks in the last flashback.   And while this episode is good because it shows what a terrible and at times frightening time Juliet had on the island, it also shows a lot of Ben’s power.  We see him get revenge on Juliet for not falling in love with him, we see him assert his authority over her (in one of his creepiest scenes ever), and we see what Charlotte and Daniel feel about him.

Charlotte and Daniel take up most of the story on the island.  They strike out on their own on a mission to protect themselves and everyone else on the island.  They disable The Tempest station so that Ben can’t use it again to kill everyone on the island.

A few of the lines caught my attention.  Claire mentions the Hot-word “hostile” in reference to Locke’s group, this could be foreshadowing for season 5.  Ben and Juliet talk about Jacob’s list.  And Harper says that Juliet looks just like her.  All potentially important stuff.

6.5/10.0

Season 3 in Review

That went very quick.  Somehow season 3 seems so much shorter than the other seasons, perhaps it’s because I enjoyed it more.

In case you’re forgetful or nostalgic here are the links to my other season reviews:

Season 1 in Review

Season 2 in Review

Let’s get right down to it

Ratings

301 – A Tale of Two Cities – 6.0

302 – The Glass ballerina – 1.0

303 – Further Instructions – 8.0

304 – Every Man For Himself – 4.0

305 – The Cost of Living – 8.5

306 – I Do – 3.5

307 – Not in Portland – 10.0

308 – Flashes Before Your Eyes – 10.0

309 – Stranger in a Strange Land – 1.5

310 – Tricia Tanaka is Dead – 8.0

311 – Enter 77 – 7.5

312 – Par Avion – 7.0

313 – The Man From Talahasee – 10.0

314 – Expose – 9.0

315 – Left Behind – 8.0

316 – One of Us – 8.0

317 – Catch 22 – 8.0

318 – D.O.C. – 7.5

319 – The Brig – 9.5

320 – The Man Behind the Curtain – 10.0

321 – Greatest Hits – 8.0

322 – Through the Looking Glass – 9.5

So that makes an average of about 7.4.  The average for season 2 was 7.0 and for season 1 it was 6.5.  It doesn’t surprise me at all that the average is going up.

But I’d like to show you some fun we can have with the numbers.  I’m not alone in despising the first 6 episodes of season 3.  Let’s call them season 3 part 1.  That would mean that S3 part 1 got an average of 5.2.  S3 part 2 gets an average of 8.2.  I believe those episodes deserve there respective scores.  I, genuinely, enjoyed all of those later episodes, with the exception of Stranger in a Strange Land.

As for other episodes I hated, “The Glass Ballerina” comes to mind.  That episode bored me to death (not literally).  “Par Avion” was pretty weak but was saved by the fact that it was Claire’s last flashback (fingers crossed) and her big reveal was some moderate fun.  “I Do” and “Every Man for Himself “are bad in their own ways but it’s mostly just the pace.  Those first six episodes had a terrible pace.

As for episodes that stood out to me, there were many great episodes.  I loved all of the episodes I gave 10.0s to, obviously.  I recommend that you rewatch those episodes, they were awesome and a half. 

I feel that Lost really stepped up in this season compared the previous seasons.  It moved solidly away from Drama and into Sci-fi with episodes like “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Man Behind the Curtain”.  The main difference between this season and the others was the addition of Brian K. Vaughn to the writing staff.  I believe he saved the show.  He’s a modern genius of storytelling and I’m sure we will hear a lot about him in the coming years.  (If you haven’t already I recommend that you check out his comic series Y: The Last Man.  It is a glorious story.  It’s currently being made into a movie, but I would love to see it made into a TV show…on cable.)

Arcs

The Others

In my opinion Season 3 is about The Others.  That’s not to say we completely understand the now, or have cleared up all (or any) of the mystery surrounding them.  But now we can at least put faces to the mysteries.  Season 3 started out in The Others camp, and ended with most of The Others retreating and many of them being killed by our survivors.  They had their day in the sun now it’s the survivors turn.

We also got a glimpse into their backgrounds.  We got to see a lot of Juliet’s past life and her recruitment process.  We even got to see what it was like to be an Other.  We saw Ben’s childhood and even the Purge.  And all through the season we met a large amount of Others: Patchy, Ms Klugh, Mr. Friendly, Pickett, Richard and many more.  It’s almost as if we know them now, almost.

Jack

If season 2 is about Locke’s journey, then season 3 is about Jack’s.  Jack desperately tries to get off the island, first by way of Ben and The Others, and eventually he formulates a plan around Naomi and The Freighter Folk. 

One would suspect that if this season is primarily about Jack, then he would get the most face-time.  Not completely true, he goes missing for quite a while during his time with The Others and his plans and intentions are kept hidden from the viewer until the season finale.  So while it seems as though he moves the story along, he still manages to stay out of the limelight (what a strange expression).

The Freighter Folk

This season also introduced one of the main themes of Season 4, the Freighter Folk.  Naomi landed on the island spinning a wonderful tale of rescue and hope, and then she was stabbed in the back.

Anywho, stay tuned for season 4 reviews.

 – izi

320 – The Man Behind the Curtain

Review:

After rewatching this episode I noticed that it is the basis of many of my theories and many of other peoples theories too.  This episode is wonderfully vital and full of info.  I think everyone should rewatch it because it is insanely important.

We see Ben’s childhood with the Dharma Initiative.  We see the Dharma Initiative!!  We also see The Purge.

In the main timeline we see Ben starting to lose authority with The Others.  Locke takes full advantage of his new upper hand against Ben.  Locke get’;s to meet Jacob.  And we get to see him for half a second.

And at the very end Locke gets shot.

Oh and Juliet comes clean to the beach camp.

Insane episode 10.0/10.0

313 – The Man From Tallahassee

Review:

In Lost there are a few moments when you the writers shock us beyond belief.  In season four we got Locke saying “We have to move the island”, and our minds were collectively blown.  In season three Locke said, “dad”, and our minds were collectively blown.  That truly was a shocking and insane end of an episode.

And that’s not all.  This episode had many crazy, important elements.  Ben gets philosophical with Locke.  Jack chooses freedom with Juliet over captivity with Kate.  Rousseau sees Alex for the first time in about 16 years.  Locke “blows up” the submarine.  Richard shows up on the island as Ben’s faithful companion.  And we finally find out how Locke was paralyzed.

That is one crazy episode.  10.0/10.0  And if I do say so myself, this is a very good revlysis.  I don’t know why but I found that I had a lot to say about this episode, and most of it is important.

309 – Stranger in a Strange Land

Review:

I expected to give this episode a 0.0 but I was surprised when I rewatched it.  It is a bad episode but I had only remembered the awful parts.  the flashback was most definitely irrelevant and annoying.  The Sheriff, Isabelle was a waste of space and has no bearing on the story.  Juliet’s court case was vague to the point of being useless.  And the tease with Cindy and the kids was maddening.

Before I rewatched it I was willing to write this episode off as being non-canon in my mind.

But I was surprised.  What I did like was the parts about Karl and Alex, and I especially like what Tom says to Jack about his perspective on The Others (see the Mr. Friendly section below for more info).  The episode is probably still the worst episode ever, but at least it’s not a zero.  1.5/10.0

301 – A Tale of Two Cities

Review:

Awesome opening scene, less than awesome episode.

I feel exactly the same about this episode as I did about the season two premiere, it starts out great, but then drops off into slow and boring character development.  The pace on this episode is glacial, it’s all just setup scenes with no real payoff.

The flashback in this episode was useless.  It has no purpose and doesn’t solve any mysteries.  I personally think that at some point in the future it will mean something but right now, it sucks.

And I have no proof of this, but I believe that this episode was originally meant to be a Juliet flashback.  I’ll bet that would have been too confusing so they switched it to a Jack flashback.  Again, I am assuming all of this, but that is how it seems to me.

I’d give this episode the 6.0/10.0

Season 2 in review

I’m done another season.  Just like last time I’ll post links to all of the episodes.  Also here is a link to my “Season 1 in review” post, in which you can get to all of the season one revlysis’.

In this season review, I’m listing all of the episodes and the ratings I gave to them.  Then I’m listing the big story arcs that last through this season.  Then I’m linking you to the theories I came up with this year.

If you are in a rush, or just don’t like reading all this stuff, at least skip down to the part about Locke’s story, that is the section I hope everybody reads.

Ratings

201 – Man of Science Man of Faith – 6.0
202 – Adrift – 6.0
203 – Orientation – 9.5
204 – Everybody Hates Hugo – 8.0
205 – …And Found – 2.5
206 – Abandoned – 2.5
207 – The Other 48 Days – 10.0
208 – Collision – 3.5
209 – What Kate Did – 9.5
210 – The 23rd Psalm – 7.5
211 – The Hunting Party – 5.0
212 – Fire + Water – 0.0
213 – The Long Con – 4.0
214 – One of Them – 8.5
215 – Maternity Leave – 9.0
216 – The Whole Truth – 4.0
217 – Lockdown – 9.5
218 – Dave – 9.0
219 – S.O.S. – 2.0
220 – Two for the Road – 8.5
221 – ? – 9.0
222 – Three Minutes – 7.5
223 – Live Together Die Alone (part 1) – 10.0
223 – Live Together Die Alone (part 2) – 10.0

The average rating for this season is 7.0.  The average for season 1 was 6.5.  I don’t find that shocking at all but I can imagine others might.  I believe that Lost has improved as it went, there have been lulls but they usually don’t extend for a whole season.

As for surprises this season, there weren’t many.  I knew that I loved “The Other 48 Days”, and the finale.  I also knew that I hated “Fire + Water” and “…And Found”.  I didn’t expect myself to dislike “Man of Science Man of Faith”, but that’s just because when I look back all I remember is that glorious opening scene.  The middle of this season really slows to a crawl, after I had got past “Everybody Hates Hugo” I was not looking forward to most of the episodes following.  But I forgot about episodes like “What Kate Did”, “Maternity Leave” and “Lockdown”.  In all I think this season is ridiculed way more than it should be.  The majority of the people who hated this season are those who started watching the show in season one believing that it was a simple drama in a tropical location.  In season 2 they were forced to suspend their disbelief and watch a sci-fi show.  So they left, if you look at the ratings you’ll see that it’s true, most people left in season 2 before it really got exciting.

Arcs

There were a few themes or story arcs in this season that I feel must be talked about.

The Tailies

The Tailies are a moderately contentious subject amongst Lost fans.  Many people hated them, but I loved them.  The first half of the season is essentially dedicated to them.  It really was an epic story, the writers added three major characters; Ana Lucia, Libby, and Eko; and two minor characters; Bernard, and arguably Cindy; to the cast.  This on top of a new recurring star, Desmond.  They had only killed two characters, Boone and Shannon.  The cast got pretty bloated pretty fast.  I can see why they did this, season one showed us the backstories of almost all the survivors.  (Kate and Locke were the only ones who had real, obvious mysteries remaining, correct me if I’m wrong.)  The writers needed some new material, they didn’t want to show trivial flashbacks of the main characters (which they still did).  So they tried to add new characters.  It almost worked.  Out of the four permanent Tailies, one of them had an intriguing flashback.  Eko’s life was amazing, I think we can agree on that.  Ana Lucia was depressing.  Bernard was filler.  And I don’t even count Libby’s flashback, but I’m sure it would have been great if it had happened.

So fans people hated the Tailies.  These are the same people who will be complaining about change until they die.  They complained and were answered.  At this point in the show only one Tailie remains, and he is just a recurring star.

The truth is that this storyline was vital.  If you put yourself into the role of a season one writer, you’re told you have to stretch this show out for an indiscernible amount of time, what do you do.  I’d come up with two ideas, the tail section and having red-shirts coming out of the woodwork.  And neither of those ideas really worked (at least not for the majority of the fans). 

Now that the show is in it’s second last season, dwelling on old forgotten storylines is essentially useless.  But I just want everyone to know that The Tailies weren’t a mistake, they had a purpose and they were an inevitable addition to the cast.

Intro to The Others

Another addition to the cast was The Others.  We knew that The Others existed, we even saw a few of them last year, but in season one they were essentially boogey-men.  The second half of this season showed us what they could be.  They could be humans, they could be right, or they could be pure evil, they could be a cult.  Unfortunately we didn’t actually find out many cold hard facts about them until season 3, but the season 2 tease sure was fun. 

We met a few very important Others:

Ben is the most prominent, I’m sure by now we all know that he was meant to be a guest star but he was good enough to add to the cast.  Ben adds a danger to the show that it had been missing.  He also proved to us that The Others were heartless and not to be trusted, that idea was slowly dismantled in season 4, but the potential danger of The Others is still in the back of our minds thanks to Ben.

We also met Bea, Ms. Klugh, a very mysterious, beautiful woman who exudes calm control.  She confused and intrigued me from her first scene, I still miss her.  She appears to be The Other in charge of Walt,

We met Tom.  Well we originally met him in season one, but he has a much bigger role and Ben’s surrogate in this season.  A funny and dangerous character.

And we met Alex.  The story of Alex was amazing.  In season one we found out that Rousseau had had a child.  I largely ignored that, but when Alex came into the show it was amazing.  Suddenly these characters who had been so evil, might actually be people with personalities and emotions.  Alex tried to do the right thing from the sidelines, unfortunately in this season she is essentially a background character.  But I think it’s safe to say that we all noticed her and were very intrested in her.

Locke’s story

I’ve been pushing my perspective of Locke this whole season (and most of the last season too).  I see Locke’s journey as a point A to point B journey with a serious detour in the middle.

Point A was when he crashed on the island, he gained the use of his legs and started out on his journey.  (Note: point A could have happened at any of the times when Richard tried to get him to come to the island.  Unfortunately Locke didn’t answer that call.)

Point B is when Locke took over control of the Others and started to listen to Jacob.  Locke was fated to go from Point A to Point B.  Unfortunately he insists on taking the long way there.

The detour that I speak of is The Swan (or The Hatch, whichever you prefer).  He accidentally finds the Hatch and immediately thinks this is his fate, it isn’t.  I can’t say that enough, it was not Locke’s fate to go into The Swan and press the button.  That was an important job, but it wasn’t Locke’s job.  Locke was meant to join Jacob and The Hostiles (who later became The Others).  Locke became preoccupied with The Swan.  The island tried to warn him away.  In the episode Dues Ex Machina the island intercedes, it takes away Locke’s ability to walk as a warning.  Then when he doesn’t get that clue, it leads him to Yemi’s plane, the plane is hanging over The Pearl.  Locke doesn’t find the Pearl, The island kills Boone.  Locke freaks out but still doesn’t find The Pearl.  Instead he goes to The Swan.  He never goes back to the place where the plane fell, and therefore never found The Pearl.  If he did, everything would be different.  He would have climbed down there and had his little freak-out and realized that it was all just mindgames.  He would have left and Jacob could have guided him to his true calling, as his messenger and as the leader of his minions, The Others.  But that didn’t happen, instead Locke went into The Swan and joyfully pressed the button, thinking he was doing his life’s work.  We all thought he was an idiot, the character was just too great to have to sit down in a hole pressing a button.  In the end everything got completely bungled up and the Swan imploded leaving Locke with no choice but to try to pursue his destiny, which he finally did in seasons 3 and 4.

So there you have it, that’s how I see Locke in season 2.  Unfortunately many people see him acting the fool in the finale and write him off as misguided, and that is true, but only in season 2.

Theories

I came up with a few theories this season, some are trivial and some are serious, none of them are true game changers.

The Whispers

The whispers or voices or whatever you want to call them, have annoyed me for quite a while.  I don’t have the patience to listen to every single occurrence or to decipher what they are saying.  I really doubt that they have a high significance.  But while watching season 2 I came up with a theory about them, I don’t want to write the whole thing out again, you can read it here.

Hurley’s Powers

I don’t think I need to go to deeply into this, since I just posted it yesterday.  You can go here to read it.

Eko, Charlie and Locke are dead

I’m just posting this one today.  After rewatching season two it occurs to me to ask questions that I had forgotten about.  Most notably the question, what happened to the people who were in the hatch when it imploded?  After thinking about that it occured to me, how strange it is that three of the characters who were in the hatch have died since.  And really these three deaths were the most important deaths in recent history of Lost.  You could say that they were destined to die.. again.  I believe that they died at the end of season 2, and they were esentially zombies for the rest of their lives on the show (like Claire in season 4).

Read that theory here.

So there you have it.  On to season 3!

– izi