Thursday, May 04, 2006

HUGE LOST! (spoilers)

Last night’s episode of LOST had some crazy stuff happening all around. Michael resurfacing from the Jungle. Henry Gale leaking out more information about his people and his “mission.” Ana Lucia’s flashback revealing that she spent some QT with Jack’s father. Ana Lucia and Sawyer getting it on (oo la la), and of course the grande finale where all hell broke loose in the hatch.

First, a look back on Michelle Rodrguez’s character, Ana Lucia. When the episode started and I realized it was going to be another flashback for her I was excited. I know I’m in the minority here, but I liked this character. She was something new and different, a female, hispanic cop with an attitude. I know a lot of people felt that she was very one note, and just angry and tough all of the time. But I think that last night more than ever, revealed that she had a heart and soul and wasn’t just programmed to be tough 100% percent of the time. In particular, I liked unlike Kate, who’s painted as being a saint even though she’s done some terrible things, --Ana Lucia’s nature was dealt with in a frank fashion. Yes, she had done some bad things, and made mistakes, but she didn’t put on a sweet face at every turn. With her it was what you see is what you get.

Now as for the whole coincidence of her meeting up with Jack’s father and jaunting off to Austrailia, --I wasn’t that crazy about it. Yes, there was a neat parallel about the fact that Ana met Jack in a similar fashion to the way she met his father –at an airpot bar. But it was a bit of a stretch that “Tom” would ask her to come to Australia to be his body guard. It would seem more likely that a man of his age and situation would be more interested in having a fling from her, than seeking “protection”. Though the fact is he was probably just lonely and wanted some company, it was still an odd way to frame it. From an abstract perspective, I like the idea of two lost souls travelling to Australia to drown their sorrows, (after all Australia is historically THE place to start a new life). But if didn’t exactly make for a very exciting or action packed flashback. I do think the coincidences are getting totally out of hand at this point. I mean the tidbit where Jack’s dad opens the car door onto Sawyer was just too much –I nearly laughed out loud.
They’re going over the top with these connections and I find myself more and more suspicious of the reasoning for all of it.

Alright, onto Henry Gale; he alluded to some interesting things this episode. He seemed to know all about Ana Lucia and Goodwin, the Other that Ana had killed. The question is how? Do the Others have some sort of advanced surveillance system (maybe the black smoke) that watches all of the survivors all of the time? What’s more is, Gale implied that the Others had passed some sort of moral judgements on her and the other survivors. Ana is a bad one, and Locke is a good one. Could this be true, or was this just Gale playing more mind games with everyone? Locke made a good point when he asked Gale why he tried to kill Ana Lucia, but he didn’t kill or hurt him when he had the chance. I was also curious about Gale’s apparent mission to bring Locke back. Locke has certainly had a strong connection with the island and it seems the Others might know about it. The idea that the Others are watching them, and seem to know and document their behavior, certainly adds a lot of creedence to the whole “experiment” theory. Did anyone catch the commercial for the Hanso Foundation? I had to rewind my TiVo to catch it, and I didn’t call the number, but check out the website . Lengthening life expecatancy? Studies on exotic animals and mental illness? Curing detrimental diseases? It’s all leading to some unveiling of a science project with a grand design.

As for the big shoot out at the end, I must confess, I didn’t see it coming. When Michael came out of his “sleep”, he seemed frazzled and disoriented, but certainly not furtive, let alone psychotic. I bought what he said about the Others having minimal living standards, and few weapons. But now that we know he’s got a screw loose, who knows how much of what he revealed about the Others is true. Is he setting up all the survivors for a big trap? And this is the other thing, why exactly did Michael kill Ana and Libby. It seems to be the general consensus that he only killed Libby because he was startled, and initially he only meant to kill Ana. Did he strike up a bargain with the others? Did they tell him if he let Henry Gale free they would give back Walt.? But if that were the case, he wouldn’t necessarily need to have killed Ana –he could have just knocked her out, or waited until the Hatch was empty. Maybe it was that the Others wanted specific revenge on Ana for killing Goodwin. This is the other thing, it’s sort of interesting that the two actresses who have recently had some trouble with the law , were the ones who’s characters were eliminated last night. Definitely all food for thought.

There is of course, also the issue of the “sickness” which Rousseau has referred to oft. In the past she has claimed that all her fellow crew members became “infected” and killed one another. Is it possible that Michael has gotten sick, and if so is it a biological virus, or psychological decompensation? I was a bit annoyed that they showed Michael alive and well in the scenes for next week’s episode. It would have been much more a cliffhanger if we were unsure that he had made it as they fade out just as he shoots himself. We can only assume that Henry Gale is now either gone or dead. My gut instinct was that Michael killed him, on order by the Others to make sure no more information gets leaked out. But on second thought if Michael was fufilling his part of the deal on behalf of the Others, it was more likely that he set Henry free.

14 Comments:

Blogger Scooter McGavin said...

first I want to totally call that the person Jack's dad visited was Claire's mom thus making her related to Jack.

Also Goodwin first mentioned the whole good person thing back when Ana Lucia confronted him.

I'm not sure Michael is "sick." I'm not sure he would apolagize to someone he was about to kill. I'm just thinking this is all part of a pact he made with the Others to get Walt back.

4:19 PM  
Blogger Kalinda said...

I actually don't remember Goodwin talking at all about the whole "good" person thing, but that's probably just a product of my faulty memory.

I do agree with the Jack, Claire connection --there's something to that.

Desmond flashbacks?? No way. That would be awesome.

5:26 PM  
Blogger RumorsDaily said...

I read Michael's actions differently. Clearly there's something drastic about the Others that we don't understand. Something so major that it requires them to steal specific children and choose the good from the bad with no compunctions about murder.

It's starting to feel very Matrix-esque on the Island with the way the other's behave, as though the Others are Trinity and Neo rampaging through the Matrix world, killing people who only sort-of exist without guilt, because, hey, they're not really there anyway. They have to save people who are good, and kill people who are bad, but it's amoral.

Assuming that we're in some sort of Matrix-like world where the Others really are sort of living above the survivors, I assumed that Michael had joined up. Not because they had his child, but because they are actually in the right. Whatever's going on here, I think the Others are acting appropriately and we just don't understand why. Michael now does, and he's working with them.

Again, it would be like being a security guard in that building in the Matrix. Why are these hip kids shooting us? We don't understand, but they're acting towards goals that are bigger than we can understand and with an ethical system that doesn't seem to include us.

So Michael shot himself at the end of the episode so Henry Gale could escape. Michael will say that Gale stole Ana's gun, killed her and the other girl, shot Michael and ran off... and now we'll have a spy.

I like it.

I'm just glad they're actually making progress this season. None of this 18 episodes starting at the outside of a door crap.

Desmond rocks.

6:12 PM  
Blogger Kalinda said...

Fascinating theory. I like it, though I'm not sure I'm with you a 100% of the way. As much as I like to resist all this extracurricular plotting (i.e. the hanso foundation stuff), I do have to believe that the people on the island are truly "real" and not just pawns in a larger more important stuggle of the others. Mostly I think this because of all the time and energy that has been devoted to the survivors via flashbacks. If they are really nothing more than figments or non-existant then I am going to feel pretty cheated about all the time I spent watching Kate cry about her botched getaways and Jack agonizing about doctor stuff, and it all meant nothing.

6:20 PM  
Blogger RumorsDaily said...

That sounds like how I felt cheated at the end of The Usual Suspects. I mean, come on, he made it all up? What the hell?

So, yeah, I'd understand.

I guess it makes more sense that Michael is only doing as he's told so he can get his boy back. It literally had not occurred to me.

9:17 PM  
Blogger Kalinda said...

Like i said, I don't think you're entirely off. There is some bizarre power play going on with the Others. How is shakes out remains to be seen.

9:37 PM  
Blogger jeremybgg said...

i really don't think that was Claire -- it seemed like it at first, but i think the actress was a lot older. the fact that she was blonde and australian could be misleading -- i just rejected that notion when i took a squinty-eyed look at her.

3:02 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

I liked that this episode was called "Two for the Road," because it has that great double-meaning of 1) Ana Lucia and Jack's dad on the road AND 2) drinking too much before getting into a car, getting arrested for drunk driving, then getting fired from a hit TV show. Clever.

3:17 PM  
Blogger Kalinda said...

No she wasn't Claire silly, but people are commenting on the resemblance she has to Claire, i.e. her mother, her aunt, etc.

4:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Definitely thought that that woman that Jack's dad could have been Claire's mom. Jack and Claire half siblings? Good thing they didn't have sex, because then Claire would die and we'd all feel icky.

Are we sure that Libby is dead? I realize that both characters got shot, but in the next on, we only see AL's body and there is also a line that is approxiamately "he killed her", not "he killed them".

I definitely think that Michael's hand is being forced.

I didn't think that Michael was intentionally deceiving Kate, Jack, etc. when he said that the Others were living in such rough conditions. Rather I thought either he was deceived by the others or just didn't realize that there was a lot of technology in the Others' hatch. Or that there are two versions of the Others. Or maybe there is the primitive version of the Others that live outside the hatch and serve the Others who live in that hatch.

1:37 AM  
Blogger Kalinda said...

I like the idea that there are two groups within the Others. It's actually probably pretty accurate. The lower others who live like "animals" and the fancy others who were workin' the lab where claire was taken too.

2:10 AM  
Blogger jeremybgg said...

wait a second, NYer, i've proposed over and over again that there are several factions of people, not all of whom are the Others, and you've told me i'm giving the writers too much credit. my opinion is that the creepy jungle-walkers are not necessarily the same as whoever's responsible for the black smoke, or the same as the Dharma people, or the same as Zeke and the Boat Crew. we're just not seeing the whole picture...

and yes, i realize now that everyone was saying Claire's mom, not Claire. oops. that's possible; i don't know how i feel about it.

hanso's a mean bastard. anyone call the phone number? it flashed by and i didn't think to write it down.

3:52 PM  
Blogger RumorsDaily said...

I thought it was Claire.

12:17 AM  
Blogger Kalinda said...

Really? For me the age difference seemed clear. Claire is like 17, ---this woman was in her 30's.

9:29 AM  

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