Thursday, March 29, 2007

Creepy and Interesting...

...but in the end a tad bit disappointing.

When it became apparent last night that the episode was going to focus on Nikki (and Paulo) my expectations fell from the sky like a Oceanic flight. I could not possibly care any less about these two losers and the last thing I wanted was an episode focusing on them. Then not only do we find out that they are annoying, but they are also cold-blooded killers. Great. Next time I hit turbulence on a flight I am going to look around me and guess how many people on the plane have committed murder. I mean, look at Oceanic 815. Sawyer, Kate, Anna Lucia, and Nikki and Paulo, all could be convicted of first degree murder. And Mr. Eko wasn't afraid to spill his enemies' blood either now, was he? Anyone I am leaving out? I don't think Jin ever killed anyone, although he certainly came pretty close. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Anyway, the episode was a lot better than I though it was going to be. It had its problems though. First off, it did basically nothing to advance any of the story lines we are all following. Secondly, it was not terribly original in that everyone from Shakespeare to Edgar Allan Poe, and more have written episodes with similar themes. (I've never actually read any Bill Shakespeare, but I am guessing he wrote stuff that explored similar themes. Especially in the comedies.)

But, as an hour of television, it was good. I walked away from the TV feeling appropriately creeped out, wondering what more they might do with the characters, (hopefully nothing) and enjoying the flashback scenes that integrated Nikki and Paulo into the crash scene and seeing Ben and Juliette in the Pearl Station discussing their plan to have Jack so Ben's surgery. I thought Billy Dee Williams cameo was a little weak. Also, the way they weaved Nikki's life as an actress, being shot on the set and coming back to life served its allegorical purpose quite well.

News aside: Apparently this episode set another all-time record for Lost viewership with 11.5 million viewers tuned in. I hope that the downward trend in ratings does not cause the network to panic. I think that further netword intervention could really kill the show. Instead, I think, that for the integrity of the show, the producers should probably do just one more season. Get through this season and spend next year writing kick-ass episodes and wrapping things up. All but the shows most hardcore fans have some level of frustration with the show, and knowing that things were heading towards resolution would help everyone involved (with the exception of all the actors and crew).

That's all folks. Here's hoping next week's episode is better AND advances the plot. I want to see Jack and Locke going at each other the first time they have chance to speak about the whole "submarine episode." Will Jack be more pissed off that he can't go home or that his chances of getting it on with Juliette took a bit of a hit? Tune in to find out. Point your browser here afterwards for the my innapropriate commentary. :)

Thanks for reading everyone. Talk to you soon.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

John! What Were You Thinking?

Oh John, what the hell did you do that for? I knew something was up with you, but did you have to go and blow up the submarine? Jack was about to get lucky in a navy bunk with Juliette, the blonde bombshell AND get to go home. That is called leaving the island in style.

What a great episode of "Lost" we were treated to last Wednesday. I was truly on the edge of my seat for most of the episode. Just awesome. But sickening in some ways too. Can you imagine how Jack is going to look at John Locke from now on? Ten minutes from hopping on the submarine to freedom (and get lucky) and his friendly nemesis blows the thing up. Ouch. That is not going to help these two strong-willed alpha males make nice after their earlier disagreements. In fact I think it MIGHT even make things more difficult. Ya know? Where was the spirit of the late Boone to talk some sense into Locke.

Things we learned this week:

1. How John Locke became paralyzed: "I'm a con artist, not a murderer." After he speaks those words, Locke's father grabs him and throws him out an eigth story window. This scene was so brilliant. Came out of nowhere, and all of the sudden Locke is plunging down to the ground. How can one man cause so much pain, in this case to his son. Loved the conversation between Ben and John before we got to that scene in the flashback. "Did it hurt, John?" Linus asks. And later, Ben's statement that he wasn't talking about the broken back, which obviously hurt, but was talking about almost being murdered by his father.

2. Turns out that Ben Linus was born on the island. Cool, I wonder how much time he has spent off of the island in his life time. Does he know what life is like in the rest of the world and how that knowledge or lack thereof effect him? It also turns out that the "Island" is not helping him heal from his surgery as quickly as he thought. AND, how did he get such a bad tumor in the first place if the island has such healing poweres? I loved the discourse between Locke and Linus when they debated who, between them, understood the island better. The currently wheelchair bound Linus who has spent his whole life on the island, or the formerly wheelchairbound Locke, having spent only 80 days there, but immediately upon his arrival on the island could suddenly walk again? Great stuff.

3. John Locke's father is on the island. (Holy Cow) How did Ben, the ultimate manipulator, pull that one off. Maybe he manipulated Locke's father the way he manipulated Locke the son, and convinced him to come to the island.

My sister Maggie tells me that there is hot speculation on the "Lost blogs" that Locke's father, now firmly established as a con-man AND a murderer" is the original Sawyer. The con artist who drove James Ford's father over the edge and made him the "Sawyer" we know and hate now on the island. Very interesting and having heard the theory, I do see it playing out that way. It makes sense. Sure it would test plausibility, but what on this show hasn't stretched plausibility since all of our favorite characters walked away from the plane crash in the pilot episode. Exactly nothing.

But here is my question. Where are they going to from here? It seems like a lot of what has made the show great has sort of been covered? Many of the mysteries that made the others so scary and intimidating have seemingly been dispelled, a truce between the plane survivors and the others seems to be in place, and the submarine has been blown to Smithereens. Certainly there are things left to explore, but I hope the writers have thought this out.

One last thing. I really am enjoying having a new episode every week. For me it was worth it to have one long break so that we could get 16 (or however many there are) episodes back to back to back etc...I feel a really good flow going in this "second" season.

And one more last thing. I really like Alex. Cool character. Adds a lot to the show.

Peace out yo.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

TOUCHDOWN! Or What Up With John Locke?

"Claire, I'm your father."

You know, I really cannot over-emphasize the importance of watching each episode of "Lost" at least twice. The things you pick up on are truly revelatory.

That said, I must make a confession, that even after two viewings of the most recent episode, "Par Avion", I still don't understand why Desmond had to scare away the birds that Claire, Jin, and Sun were about to capture. Had they caught them then, would not have Charlie had no reason to go searching for others and find his watery death instead? Oh well, maybe the particular birds about to be trapped were not tagged, but they never really made that clear. Can anyone solve this little mystery for me? Thanks in advance.

One more mystery, how is a note written on a piece of paper and stuck inside a bird's tag supposed to make it all they way back to civilization without getting 1) wet and illegible, 2) Lost (pun intended), or 3) dropped in the ocean. Claire's optimism about her plan seemed just a little over zealous.

But, the real intrigue in this episode was trying to figure out what the hell was up with Locke and what the relationship between him and Patch Man was? The first time I watched it, I knew something was up, but the second time I picked up on something really important. Patch Man did not just know John from reading a dossier on him. Patch Man says "The John Locke I knew was par..." He certainly was about to say "paralyzed." He said he knew John, and he apparently meant it. And the way, Locke acted around him and subsequently killed him, those two clearly have some sort of ugly history.

I suspect that we are going to learn some more of that history tonight. My guess is that we'll find out what paralyzed Locke and Ibet it is going to prover very interesting.

So, the last scene of the episode was cool, eh? Jack running towards his friends, seemingly trying to escape, but instead cutting on a dime and catching a well thrown pass from Mr. Zeke Tom Friendly. Smiles all around as Jack spikes the ball in celebration. Very odd. Has Jack been brainwashed already? (I doubt it.) Playing along with them to save his ass? (Maybe) Have they already arranged his transportation home? (Probably not since they there seem to be problems getting to the island now that the beacon has been destroyed.) I hope that along with the focus on Locke tonight they also move Jack's storyline along. And if they want to kill Charlie off tonight, that would be fine too.

We'll know more soon.

Please Go!

With the Scooter Libby verdict a few weeks in the past, I find my almost insatiable desire to see Bush Administration officials embarassed due to their incompetence, malfeasance, felony convictions, etc. fully ramped up again.

With Libby out of the way, let's turn our focus to the A.G. a.g. (attorney general, alberto gonzales.) There is a disturbing pattern (actually there are many) in the Bush administration of putting unqualified people into important jobs where they inevitably fail. They get their jobs because they are "Bushies", loyal to George W. and the family in general. Yuk. Anyway, we've seen the results of these appointments before, maybe most tragically with Michael Brown (Brownie) leading the administration's brilliant response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The man was appointed to head FEMA with absolutely no emergency management experience. We all know how that turned out and the tragic consequences of having such an ill-prepared person in such an important job.

Back to Alberto Gonzales, Esq. Perhaps, he more than anyone other than Brown, is the type of Bush appointee that leads to problems. As much as anyone, Alberto Gonzales has built a career around being loyal to bush. I'm sure he is smart and whatever else, but loyalty has been his ticket to all sorts of important jobs. As Governor of Texas, he worked for bush and then bush put him on the texas supreme court. He served as bush's White House counsel before becoming Attorney General.

The Attorney General's highest duty is to the Constitution of the United States. Who among us would believe that Gonzales would put that duty above his loyalty to george w. bush?

I hope the pressure stays on him, and that by the end of this week or next, Alberto Gonzales will have found his way out of the D.O.J.

After John Ashcroft, I never thought bush could come up with a worse Attorney General. He may have just accomplished it.

In related news, today there is a story out that the White House has agreed to let karl rove and harriet miers be interviewed by committee members investigating the purge of U.S. Attorneys. Now, these "interviews" are always conducted without the interviewees being under oath.

Make no mistake. You can read this "agreement" only one way. The White House is saying to rove and miers "Feel free to go lie to Congress about your roles in this. You won't be subject to perjury charges and you can provide for cover to the White House." Very reminiscent of the scene in "Farenheit 911" in which Bush says he won't testify to the 9/11 Commission but that he'd be happy to "chat with them". How nice.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Sayid

Lost was much better last week, when it took a break from taking a break, and returned to the tried and true formula we "Lost" fans like so much. Here are some of the devices this episode featured that we love.

1. A potential "other" potentially posing as someone he is potentially not.
2. Sayid there on the scene to instinctively know, with 100% certainty, whether or not someone is lying. (Sayeed's gut feeling are more accurate than Captain Kirk's but somehow he had no idea that he was being led into a trap when his countryman offered him a job at his new restaurant.
3. The always powerful trifecta of John Locke, a computer, and the inevitable explosion that accompanies.
4. Guns and the seemingly endless source of ammo that is suddenly available on the island.

Anyway, the result of all this was an episode that was 1) Entertaining, 2) Advanced the plot, and 3) Seemed to leave off letting us know that Kate, Sayeed, and Locke were on their way to find Jack, who, as my favorite character needs to be found soon so I can stop worrying about him so much.

So; speaking of my favorite characters on Lost, I think it would be fun to put together my list of favorites and non-favorites. I am sure my friend Bones will disagree with my choices, because somehow we disagree on so many aspects of our favorite shows but somehow we seem to have so many shows that we love in common. Strange, isn't it Bones?

Anyway, here goes.

Favorites:

Jack, Sayid, Locke, Sun, Desmond, Ben Linus, Juliette, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, Walt

Least Favorites: CHARLIE! (Note to producers, don't tease me by saying Charlie is destined to die and then let him linger.)

Favorite Dead Characters: Libby, Mr. Eko, Ethan, Boone

Dead Characters I Am Most Grateful are Dead: Shannon, Danny

I will expound on each of these characters in future blogs.

And one last thought to close the post.

Rest in peace Miss Clue. We hardly knew ya. And here is my poetic tribute to the latest fatality on Lost.

Miss Clue is dead,
My hunger to know her better,
Forever unfed,
To find out more of who she'd been,
Or why she made Mikhail do her in,
And the confusion from me was gushin'
Where had this woman learned to speak Russian?!
A well-placed shot right to her heart,
Ended this fine character's part.
So rest on the Island for an eternity or two,
Well never have a clue or two about you,
Miss Clue.
Who?
Kluh.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Scooter Goes Down

After all of the writing I did leading up to this, I find myself nearly speechless now that the verdict is in. I will say, though, that I think this is good for the country. When a powerful White House figure lies to a grand jury and the F.B.I., and then tries to blame the media, I take some pleasure in a conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice. The juror who spoke yesterday told us what was pretty obvious. Scooter was dick's fall guy. Time to resign mr. cheney. Also, add Mr. Libby to the list of previously well-respected people whose reputations are forever tarnished by their association with george w. bush and their support of the Iraq fiasco. (Led of course, by Colin Powell and Tony Blair.)

What a news day yesterday was. You had army staff testifying on the Capitol Hill about the horrendous conditions at Walter Reed and other facilities for the treatment of wounded soldiers. You had former U.S. Attorneys discussing the political pressure put on them before their terminations. You had the Libby convictions. (4 of them) And, perhaps the most disturbing: On a day when the first headline I heard on the news at 6:00 AM was that 9 American soldiers had died north of Baghdad, then hearing that approximately 120 Shiites in Iraq had been killed in a bombing, I then saw a headline that said that Bush was talking about "Progress in Iaq." My stomach really hurt for a while after I saw that.

Here are some links to the stories I have referenced.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/503149p-424403c.html

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16847386.htm

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070306/D8NMLPK82.html

Thursday, March 1, 2007

You know that you might be in for disappointment, when early on in an epsiode of Lost, Hurley (or any other character for that matter) says something like this: "You know, we never have any fun on this island."

Fun? How many of us watch Lost to see the characters have "fun"? We watch it to see them in grave danger, or to see them encounter strange mysteries, or deal with the oddest ironies and coincidences that test our beliefs. We do not watch to see Hurley and Charlie go careening down a hill in an old hippie van while Sawyer gets drunk on old, warm beer, and Jin improves his English. (Note to readers, in January I saw Daniel Dae Kim in Zen Palate in Union Square. Handsome dude he is. And for those of you who are curious, I did not ask him what he was doing in New York City when he was supposed to be lost on an island in the Pacific.) But, I digress. Last week's episode was pretty disappointing. My favorite moment was not even during the show itself, but during one of the late commercial breaks when I got to see my friend Bones in an Olive Garden commercial. Well done, my friend, well done. You look great in purple. Thanks to Beth for pointing it out because she knew otherwise I might speed past it as I watched the episode on DVR.

Now, I am notorious for not watching previews or letting myself find out anything in advance of a new episode. But, I hear tonight's episode is going to be great. If it involves, Rousseau and Kate going to rescue Jack, I have no doubt it will be. Let's hope so.