J.J. Abrams Talks about Mystery

J.J. Abrams, executive producer of Lost, Alias, The Mission Impossible Movies and Cloverfield more gives a talk about Mystery in film.

Lost and Politics?

Check out this clip from the Daily Show!

Moving the Island

Okay, so let me get this straight - the only way to protect the island is to move the island...

Don't ask me to explain the physics of it all, but moving the island will be in the "time" sense. Time has become such a centralized theme this season, it would make sense for the island to jump time to escape its captors. How's this going to happen? My guess is that Locke will construct a very large trevechet.

The big question now is how does Christian Sheppard and Claire play into all this? Seriously, Claire is getting a bit spooky...its about time they bring her into some critical storyline elements!

The Chosen One

First off, what a great episode! It was good to see old faces again like Alpert and Abaddon. Second only to Desmond, I'd say these two individuals have the most mysterious storyline right now!

This past episode, Cabin Fever, gave us a lot of insight to the Destiny of being the chosen one. We know now, thanks to Ben, that "destiny is a fickle bitch." Words to live by, no doubt. But we know that is true when it comes to the island's demands of an individual. This episode gave us a whole new spin on Ben's role on the island. Looking back, I really believe Ben didn't want to instigate the purge of DHARMA, but was forced into that situation due to his role as "chosen one." Like Ben, I'm certain Locke will be asked to do something that will be very questionable. I have no doubt this will tie the link between Locke and Ben even closer. Already we've seen Locke manipulate Hurley into situations - this is only going to go deeper! Before you know it, Locke's actions will be as predictable (or unpredictable) as Ben's. Even though we've all wanted to witness Locke finding his way - this is going to lead to not-so-happy ending for John.

What the hatch means to us now...

As I finished reviewing Season 2, I found it very interesting how the hatch, numbers, and magnetic anomaly have played into all this. Specifically what does this mean now in the show?

In Season 1, Walt warns Locke not to open the hatch. Voice of the island, perhaps? Did the island want the hatch discovered?

Meanwhile, Season 2 the island essentially helps Locke try to keep his faith in pushing the button through Eko and the Question Mark quest. Prior to that though, Ben tries to convince Locke the button is a joke.

I'm trying to decide how the island "feels" about the hatch. One would think it is not in favor of human intervention controlling the magnetism. However, some details suggest otherwise. Ben, on the other hand, seemed to want the button to stop being pushed. Could he have known the outcome of time-disruption? Was this part of a grand plan? If this theory of Ben being able to move through time is correct, it would explain parts of "The Shape of Things to Come."

Personally, I think Ben lost his way from Jacob a long time ago and takes things into what HE considers best for the island. This implies why Ben cannot communicate with Jacob. Its like he only claims allegiance for the sake of everyone else.

The Shape of Time and Space?

After watching episode 409, "The Shape of Things to Come" it appears that Ben can travel to different spots on the planet from his secret room in New Othertown.

How can this be? We know that the physics of the island allow for discrepancies in time. We see Desmond's consciousness being transported through time due to the purple light. Could Ben's apparent transportation use the powers of the island to travel through space as well as time.

If so, where does Ben travel in episode 409? We see him going into the room and into a rock door. Is he actually traveling to meet with Sayid in Iraq in 2005, or is this another time in our storyline that Ben travels. How does getting Sayid to become a killer in 2005 help Ben awake the Smoke Monster to rescue them on the Island in 2004?

Incidentally, did you notice that Ben's "door to the world" was behind his closet? Aside from the fact that it is a good hiding spot for such a door, I am willing to bet our writers are using yet another C.S. Lewis reference by placing the door behind a “wardrobe.”

Star Wars and Lost

We can see Ben's awareness of his personal anger driving him to do things apart from Jacob’s will in his conversation with Sayid. Ben says, "Once you let your grief become anger, it will never go away."

Similarly, in Star Wars Episode V Yoda reminds Luke, “once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate you destiny, consume you it will, as it did to Obi-Wan's apprentice.”

I can see strains of another similar motif from Star Wars in Ben's conversation with Sayid. Ben plays on Sayid's rage and loss to get him to kill for him. Just like the Emperor did to Anakin in Episode III to get him to turn to the dark side.

In support of the theory that Ben is in the coffin at the season 3 finale, who is killed at the end of the second Star Wars trilogy? The Emperor, of course.

Linus and Widmore

Wow, last night's episode gave us some big pieces to an even bigger puzzle. I'm going to condense my thoughts into a series of entries so to allow individual responses.

To me, the most intriguing element was the relationship between Ben and Charles Widmore. We can deduce from their conversation that they have history. Even though these men are fighting one another, they seemed to have come to some form of agreement in how they will compete. My guess is they agreed to keep it personal and not bring family into the equation. Ben said "He changed the rules" and plans to avenge his daughter's death by taking Penny's life as recompense. I am willing to bet that in Sayid's backstory (The Economist) Ben revealed that he now knows where Penny is and THAT is his final target. This is not "Jacob's List" that Ben is getting the names from, but rather his own vengeance that drives him now. It is a very strong need, no doubt, as Ben was willing to leave the island with the probability he may never return. As a side note, this only deepens my feeling that it is indeed Ben in the coffin.

The exchange of words the two men had was even more cryptic - Ben clearly states he CAN'T kill Widmore. Why? I'm not certain but could it be that, like Desmond, Ben's consciousness jumps now that he's left? If so, is it possible that Widmore is his constant? It's a weak theory and one I honestly don't buy much into (having so many people - Desmond and Faraday with constants just seems like an overused idea).

Widmore says to Ben "Everything you have, you took from me." My thoughts are that Charles claims ownership to the island as a part of some involvement (probably heavy funding) he put in to the Dharma Initiative. Since Ben completely wiped out Dharma in the Purge, this would be reason enough for that statement.

Last thought with no real conclusion: Widmore says he's been having nightmares. Somehow I think this is significant, but to what end, I don't know yet. Thoughts? Toss them out there!

Disrupted Timeline

Okay, so one thing has troubled me with Season 4 and that's the continuity of time. I'm not talking anything about Desmond's Flashes/Jumps/Constants-whatnots or even the who 31 minute time discrepancy on the island. These, I await patiently to understand better.

I'm talking story timeline and how things fit together. This comes from "Meet Kevin Johnson," Michael's backstory. In his flashback, we see him in New York and meets up with Mr. Tom "Zeke" Friendly. According to Ben in Season 3, (The Man from Tallahassee), he says the submarine can not return to the island if it leaves due to the magnetic anomaly after the hatch imploded. However, Tom does leave the island after the hatch goes bye-bye and then he shows up before the season finale when he dies. Since Michael left upon implosion, no one should technically be able to return [easily]. Yet at sometime during that period, Tom leaves and returns.

How does he do it? Thoughts?

A few more Season 3 DVD "Easter Eggs"

Thanks P.K. for all of your hard work in finding those extras on the Lost Season 3 DVD. Your quest has inspired me to look for some as well. I was able to find 3 more extras:

Select Monitor 2:

Make sure the dot is on "The Lost Book Club," press left and then up, here you will discover the "magic" behind the fish biscuit machine.

Select Monitor 5:

In the deleted scenes menu, press right two times to reveal a dot right next to "Introducing Nikki and Paulo" to find a clip of the actor that plays Paulo doing his own stunt (from "Expose'"...impressive.

In the same deleted scenes menu, highlight "Changing Our Luck," press right three times to view a clip about Executive Producer Jack Bender's dog, Lulu. Poor dog, at least he found his fifteen minutes of fame on the DVD extras.

Course Correction

In Desmond's Season 3 backstory "Flashes Before Your Eyes" (an awesome flashback for my boy, Des!) we gain the idea of from the old woman at the jewelry shop that the universe has a way of course-correcting. We see this play out as true with Charlie as Desmond repeatedly intervenes in his death without true success. So based on that, we can assume things that are meant to happen WILL happen!

Could this also play in to Season 4 and beyond? My thought: In Season 3 finale, Jack tells Kate "We were never meant to leave" and "We have to go back!" Similarly, in Season 4, "The Beginning of the End" Hurley tells Jack in this flash-forward "I don't think we did the right thing, Jack. I think it wants us to come back and will do everything it can." Obviously he speaks of the island. So, based on these quotes, do you think the island/universe will course correct itself so that these survivors find their way back? Hmmm...personally I say YES! What do you say?

Kim and Kim - here's your chance to put in some thoughts! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Season 3 Extras

Okay, so you all know I'm an Extra-Features hound. Well I just found a few hidden ones. As I watched over all the extra features, I found some mini-features that do not show up with a title. The first was found by accident, for the rest I sought out with purpose. I absolutely love this kind of stuff so check them out. Here's how to access them.

On disc 7 Special Features:

Start on main menu screen. Select Monitor #2 (Top Middle). On "Lost Book Club" press right once. Cursor will be on the Round Button. Press to get a fish biscuit! Only took the bears two hours...

On Same screen. "Cast in Clay" press right 2 times. Cursor moves to spot on cage. Activate for Sawyer ping-pong match. No wonder Hurley kicked his butt...

On Same Screen. "The Next Level" press Left 3 times. Moves cursor to side. View mini-feature on "Lost Pets." I like that I like chicken?

Start on main menu screen. Select Monitor #3 Top Right. On "Lost: on Location" press Left 3 times. Cursor moves to door. Keep small children away from the tv! Now, if you'll excuse me...I need to go rethink my life...

On same screen. "Lost in a Day" press Left 3 times. Cursor moves to Hallway. Enter to access Pearl Harbor submarine documentary. I found this one VERY cool!

Start of main menu screen. Select Lower Right Corner monitor (#4). Scroll down to "Blooper Reel" and press right 3 times. It will take you to a blank space off-centered and open up a mini-feature about the make-up effects for Eko's episode "Cost of Living."

On Same screen. "The World of Others" press Up. Cursor moves to middle of computer monitor. Activate to turn on computer. Nothing major here.

On Same screen. "The World of Others" Press Left and Up. Cursor moves to lower corner of monitor. Charlie talks about big achievement!

Start on Main menu screen. Select Lower Middle monitor(#5). Scroll down to Deleted Scenes and press right 2 times. It will put the cursor on the headphones. Enter to play mini-feature about the spiders from "Expose." Razzle-dazzle!

On that same screen, if you scroll down to main menu and press Left, it will land the cursor on the Satellite phone. Press enter to turn it on. Nothing spectacular, but fun, nonetheless.

On the same menu, right above the desk lamp. On "Lost Flashbacks" press Left and then Down. This one gives you a special documentary on Hawaiian shaved ice. Seriously, I'm hungry now!

That may be all of them. Check them out and let me know if you happen to find any more. I'll be tempted now to go back through Season 1 and 2 discs to look for other potential hidden extras. Enjoy!

An Airstrip?

Season 3 - "I Do" Kate's wedding backstory.

Watched this one again and remembered one of those little "mysteries" that had long since been forgotten. It is this episode that reveals the grunt work Kate and Sawyer were chain-ganged to, busting rocks and hauling away, was indeed for the purpose of creating an airfield. I remember thinking this an odd thing, but nothing was said of it so it fell to the wayside. But recently with "Meet Kevin Johnson" as well as a few prior episodes, this intrigues me even more.

Until this point, it seems the others were traveling to the Island primarily by submarine. The concept for this makes sense, given it is a hidden mode of travel to the outside world, thereby protecting the location of the island. But what, then, does is the meaning for an airstrip? Planes of any size can hardly go undetected. So why an airstrip?

Ben integrity seems firm: he wants to protect the island. So bringing in planes doesn't make much sense unless he wants to play Moses and get the people out of Egypt (aka the real world) and get them to the promised land (the island) in mass numbers. Other than Juliet's comment to Sawyer in "Through the Looking Glass" Part 2 (a runway for aliens), I don't see another reason for it. What does this airfield represent for the island??

Cost of Living - Season 3

Mr. Eko's final backstory.

After watching again recently, I found a concept that really jumped out at me. When people die on the island, it typically coincides with a moment of moment of repentance or understanding of one's self. Of course we also see situations where its as if the island has decided its time for an individual to die. So how does Eko factor into this?

To me, this question began with Eko's Church. He builds a church to atone for Yemi's church, violated through murder. The thing is...he never really finished building it. Instead he felt called (by Yemi) to help Locke (find the question mark). Does the fact he never finished the church weigh in on his death?

Also, we know that although Eko gives his "confession," he never repents for his life's actions. No sense of guilt or remorse, only acting on his own survival. Then Yemi/the island/Smoky kills Eko. In "Meet Kevin Johnson" Tom tells Michael the island won't let him die. This implies he has something left to accomplish or atone for. Because Eko never repents, its as if the island wants nothing to do with him, as he only lives for himself. I parallel this to Locke's statement to Charlie (Season 1) "if you give up something to the island, it will give back." So could it be assumed if you are unwilling to give up [yourself] to the island, you're toast? Thoughts welcomed!

Meet Kevin Johnson - Joel

Here are a few thoughts from episode 408 "Meet Kevin Johnson." First off, after watching this episode it seems more and more like Michael may be in the coffin from season 3. Not only is he trying to kill himself in this episode, but admits he's "here to die" when confronted by Sayid. I'm predicting that after he does his work of redeeming his past actions of killing the women in the hatch by saving the lost-aways he will then die. This resembles the pattern of the island with Mr. Echo. Why isn't there anyone at his funeral? Are his mom and Walt really that mad at him that they won't travel to LA to his funeral? I can see this is the weak part of the argument.

Tom, say it ain't so—with another man in the penthouse suite in New York? I guess this explains why he says at beginning of season three when Kate is changing in the locker room "Kate, you're not my type" (lost-tv.com). By the way I'm getting my quotes correct from now on. In addition, I thought it was interesting that the bodies from the planted 747 could be coming from graves in Thailand, or so Tom says.

Sad the see the French woman go…not my favorite character, but still sad. So who's doing the shooting at the end of the episode? The way I see it, it could be Ben's people or people from the freighter. Of course with Ben we get can see the motive. At the beginning of the episode I got the idea that Alex may be pregnant. The way she was looking at the Claire's baby and holding her stomach made me think so. Even if she isn't, we know Ben isn't a Carl or Rousseau fan. Ben would also know where they were because he drew the map. With the freighters motive is very hard to see. However, remember the errand that Frank Lapids was running for "the captain" it could be flying those two buff guys we met from the freighter to the island to do some exterminating. They seem to be the guerilla-shooting types. That's about all I have for now.

Meet Kevin Johnson - Kimberly

Meet Kevin Johnson: Thoughts? Ok so much for Ben being a nice guy. Why would he have had Danielle and boyfriend shot? Motive?

Is everyone on the island gay. What about the guy in NY with his friend?

I don't think Walt is considered one of the 6. They showed Aaron when they were flashing the 6.

Ji Yeon - Pat

Hi Fellow Lost Fans,

The Other Woman - My new big question after viewing again is this: We know Charles Widmore knows about the island and that he wants to exploit it for what it is. What didn’t quite make sense to me is HOW he knows about the island – such a mystery. This occurred to me while Daniel was trying to make the poison gas inert at the Tempest station. We know this was a benign act to safe-guard themselves (as well as the islanders) but how did they know about it? Disarming the gas was one of their first priorities – case in point – the gas masks/suits. How did they know that threat existed? Has Widmore systematically tracked down Others to get information? If so, what other contingencies are planned for?
That was my only new thought there…Now on to “Ji Yeon”

First off – did you catch what was on TV right before Sun turned it off? That’s right. Razzle, Dazzle! If only Sun had waited a few more moments, she, too, would have learned that Billy D (Lando) was the Cobra!

Second (a few random thoughts)– how great was Jin and Bernard’s heart-to-heart while fishing? And then Regina throwing herself off the freighter? I think its safe to say two things: 1) that Regina is the same one from Naomi’s bracelet inscription and 2) Naomi liked the ladies…I’d be interested in learning what book Regina was reading (or trying to read) as it will probably tie into some theme of love-lost. The literary connections have been super-charged this season and I think its great!

So the writers are pretty clever, huh? First they draw us in with our beloved flashbacks. Then they spice things up with Flashforwards – genius! Now they’ve done what I could never consider – combining the two! I was so clueless to this until the last moment! I got to a point where I was angry with Jin for missing his own daughter’s birth due to work. Seemed like a step backwards for him – especially since he made a great revelation about himself in this episode about the way he was. How sad to know he won’t stay with us. Since the previous hint someone will die next week, all I can say is they’d better not throw us a cheap shot of killing Jin next week since we’re anticipating it to happen. Now here’s the question: Sun visits his grave – does that mean he actually did make it off or die in transit? Or was the grave only a symbolic marker for her with no body buried beneath? My initial theory of Sun and Jin being the part of the Six may still hold water…but not much.

The Grave: If you rewatch and freeze-frame, the grave has three sets of dates on it. 3-20-1980, 11-27-1974, and 9-22-2004. The November is probably Jin birth year. The September is the same day of the Oceanic crash. What is the 1980 date?

So with that being said – do we know our Six yet? Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sun, Sayid. My counting gives me only 5. Do you count Aaron? I don’t. *in baby-talk voice* “That widdle guy wasn’t on the manifest. Were you? Were you?” Okay, enough of that. Maybe Claire does make it off – I still think Desmond’s flashes should come to fruition, but how that would work with our current plot lines – no clue – probably wouldn’t. So who then? Guesses?

On the Freighter – The note…the tapping on the pipes? Kevin Johnson? No – its just Mikey. My guess the pipe work was some Morse code message or him sabotaging yet another piece of equipment. I think Michael is acting under the orders of Ben to create every plausible disaster aboard that ship to get them out of there – because once they leave they’ll lose all that effort finding a place they may never find again…The Captain – so that was a pretty cool bit about the Black Box. However, I don’t think it would be fair to say it was Ben that. Maybe he did – but it was JUST his doing. Remember, Oceanic is just as much tied into this cover up! Besides, Michael (as we assume it was his note) stated “Don’t trust the captain.” Ultimately I think every action the freighties make is to undermine Ben’s credibility so that everyone gives him over to them.

As a very random side assignment, see if you can find these actors in the following movies: Freighter Doctor – Spiderman 3
Keamy (tank-top freighter dude) – 3:10 to Yuma
Paulo (yeah, remember Paulo Lies?) – 300

Ps. No IMDB – that would be cheating…

Okay, that’s quite enough now from me. Lengthy as it is, give me some thoughts…