Men of ill judgment oft ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.
-Sophocles
If they were trying to make us feel sympathetic towards Michael, it didn't quite do it for me. Him being all suicidal just makes me think of him as a coward - I don't feel like he's suicidal from guilt, I feel like he is just kind of 'poor me.' Burdening his kid with that and all. Also, I used to kind of like Tom the Other, but now that I have seen him with his slicked back hair and calculating demands and 'indulgences,' I feel pretty good about his season 3 demise. Overall not one of my favorite episodes this season (and it would have been a lame finale if they hadn't gotten to make the five more episodes that start in a few weeks) but we needed to get the Michael story. The most intriguing part of the episode to me was:
"The island won't let you" ...Does 'the island' mean Jacob? Is it simply symbolic of Destiny? It takes us back to the question of, did the island pick these people, and what are the qualifications for being on Jacob's list? Is it really the island or just manipulation and a faulty gun?
Parallels with other LOST episodes: Cemetery in Thailand - it always comes back to Thailand. Michael's car wreck - I know his was intentional, but there are an awful lot of car wrecks in this show.
Even thought I don't care for Miles as a person, I would like to see a childhood flashback of him that describes his psychic ability and why he is so awkward.
Oh, so, phony plane by Whidmore confirmed, I suppose? When Michael said, 'and I'm supposed to believe this?' I was with him. Its Whidmore's folks and Ben's folks playing the Losties from both sides. Maybe Whidmore's group is assuming Ben's group faked the plane wreck and Ben's group is saying Whidmore did it to protect the truth of the island and its time warp phenomena. There's still the issue of very trusting Frank recognising that the body wasn't right though... It really has turned into a Who-Done-It.
Sayid is so smart, I wonder what he expects to get out of turning in Michael. He can't honestly trust the freighter folks, but maybe he thinks he can at least get them to trust him? It wouldn't be the first time that he did something that I thought was, un-Sayidish, but I hope he has an ulterior motive. The 'captain' didn't look super surprised - he doesn't have the right presence of authority that a leader should have and it throws me off.
I wish they would have addressed the odd pipe tapping (Morse code?) from last week. Also, my theory about Walt acting as the in between communication to Ben is out, so how is he still getting in touch with Michael and his Temple people now that he is 'captive?' Jacob?
Is Libby the angel or the devil on Michael's shoulder? Also, his whole, 'I'm here to die,' comment was odd. How can you be so sure that if you do this mission for Ben the island will let you die? Michael makes thoughtless decisions and he is willing to take more lives without knowing the truth. He's a little punch drunk; one too many hits with the snake, if you ask me.
Ummm, Ben won't kill innocent people? Huh. Sending a fake bomb on the boat with Michael was his way of showing him he was better than Whidmore? Why even bother? What if Michael hadn't tried to set it off? If he hadn't. and Ben was like, 'don't worry, its not a real bomb, it was just an elaborate show so you know how clever and awesome I am,' I don't think he would have bought it. Although, Michael is very unhinged right now. Did they just want to see if he is still willing to die? Would the island have even let him die? Maybe they figured it was worth a shot if it worked, but if it didn't then that note was the backup plan.
Ben, you jackass, killing off Alex's mom and boyfriend. Guess they weren't innocent. If he can't have her no one can, and all that. I have to admit, I kind of rolled my eyes when poor, forgettable Karl said he had a bad feeling. At first I was a little disappointed in Rousseau for buying the plan, but I actually think she knew the danger for her was coming and that her only concern was for her daughter's safety and that, though not safe for herself, this maybe is technically the safest place for Alex. I think Juliette should adopt Alex and they should be the ones who get to kill Ben. :) (Though I secretly hope Rousseau will heal - she is such a survivor to just go out like that and she needs a flashback).
Question: if it is the other Others who were shooting up the place, wouldn't they recognise Alex without her having to scream, "I'm Ben's daughter!" like a pansy?
Some other interesting thoughts:
I guess now we know why Kate wasn't Tom's type! (ha!)
Michael is told the island won't let you kill yourself. We also see that with Jack in trying to jump off the bridge and Hurley and his high speed chase and reckless driving.
Arturo (Tom's luva) totally looks like the guy gettign beat up in Ben's video of Whidmore.
The preview for the next episode confirmed that Aaron is in fact one of the Oceanic 6, along with Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sun, and Sayid. (True, they didn't show Ben in the preview but did show Aaron and they said all 6 were revealed. So how does Ben get off the island?)
So the leaving the island makes you suicidal but incapable of committing suicide? (Talk about catch-22)
Was Michael dreaming in the hospital or flashing-back? The hospital monitor was old and then when he woke up it was technologically more sophisticated. Could he have been flashing-back? (I know that's not a word, but you know what I mean.) He did have a car accident before his flight on Oceanic 815 – and Libby was in med school for a year before she dropped out to become a psychologist. So maybe it wasn't a Libby-haunted dream but a flashback in which Libby really was working at the hospital at the time of Michael's car accident. And maybe he was being jerked back and forth through time as the island attempted to save his life – or at least keep him from killing himself. (Interesting... I remember thinking it was a flashback at first as well, until I saw his reaction to Libby, but maybe that was just to mess with us?)
Except for the absence of flashing lights, wasn't the scene with Ben at the mic reminiscent of Professor Marvel/the Wizard of Oz at the mic manipulating others behind his curtain?
The Compass Bearing of 325 that Ben told Walt to go on at the close of Season 2 is the same bearing Faridy told Lapidis to fly the chopper in the "Eggtown" episode: Is that the only bearing where you can get on/off the island.Whidmore got the coordinates to the island. Did that happen in the Season 2 finale? Those two guys in the mountains called Penny, not daddy Whidmore. But… she could be working with him OR he could be listening in on her.
Who is funding the "Others" and Ben's group to stop Whidmore, how are they living it up in Penthouses with benefits, sending people to Fiji, transporting from island to island, stopping people from killing themselves, etc? Hanso? Just wonder how they are bankrolled and have people everywhere at all the right times. I wonder if Sayid just cost everyone on the island their lives or if he did the right thing in the end?
I'm still intrigued that the writers chose to name a character Captain Gault because the writer who created the original literary character – William Hope Hodgson – is also well known for a book about a group of survivors shipwrecked on an ISLAND after a TEMPEST. There they find the survivors of anOTHER wreck, stuck in the island's weeds, who have built a PROTECTIVE SUPERSTRUCTURE to shield themselves from the island's MONSTER. Apparently at the time the novel was written, scientists were discovering "the cellular parity of all things," so that the monster and the survivors were thought to be all part of the same "protoplasmic unity" (which is what made the novel so frightening). And maybe that's why our SMOKE MONSTER has access to the thoughts of the Losties: man and monster are one. Just seems to me that with this story (by the author who invented Captain Gault) and the Jules Verne book Regina was reading last week, the writers are giving us clues (or taking their cues) from the science fiction of the 19th century. (And I still think the germ of the entire series will turn out to be the 19th-century sci-fi thriller "The Coming Race.")
Friday, March 21, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
LOST: Ji Yeon
But all lost things are in the angels' keeping, Love;
No past is dead for us, but only sleeping, Love...
-Helen Hunt Jackson
It's a girl! So Jin's was a flashback and Sun's was a flash forward? Tricky devils. I hate the flippin' future. Do they get Jin's body off the island then? Does he die after they get off or is that just a symbolic grave? Is he dead? In any case, as I am not really certain that Aaron or Ben (by whatever means) are Oceanic 6, and we don't know when Jin died, we have officially five: Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and Sun. On the stand at Kate's trial Jack mentioned that there were eight and two died. Is Jin one of the eight then? Will Claire be the other of the eight and they thought it better that Kate keep Aaron instead of foster care so they pretended he is hers because they wouldn't let a fugitive have him otherwise? Did Juliette not read enough of their files to know that Jack and Claire are siblings? Tell them!
Sooooo sad, in hindsight of knowing that Jin was gone, that Sun was pleading for him to be there at the hospital. :( (PS, I was at first suspicious when the doctor came in and said her regular doctor was 'at a conference,' but then they didn't seem to go anywhere with that. Still...) Sweet 'ol Hurley. I guess that was before he started seeing Charlie and got tossed in the loony bin. I thought it was interesting that when Sun called for an ambulance she didn't say, 'I'm in labor,' or, 'my water just broke,' she said , 'I'm pregnant and I think there's something wrong.' Does the time difference speed up/affect pregnancy somehow? Will the child be 'special' somehow for being conceived on the island?
DON'T TRUST THE CAPTAIN - Really? That's all your going to give us?! Thanks, buddy. Michael is Johnson. Not a surprise at this point, but a nice confirmation of suspicion. Where is Walt? That is always what Ben has over Michael. Captain Gault sure looks like a younger version of Charles Whidmore to me. Relation? Is there any way that in some far fetched time warp he IS Charles? Unlikely, but could be fun! I was actually kid of disappointed with the captain. Not sure if I wanted him to be someone we knew or if I just didn't think the actors presence was great, but I don't know if he's the real captain. What 'errand' did the helicopter have to run, I'd like to know?! (Also, at this point, I am still thinking that Walt is the in between guy who is letting Ben communicate with his people and with the boat)
Who's freaky head blood is on the wall? Did somebody do that to themselves since everyone is literally going suicidally crazy on the boat or does it suggest torture/murder? Who was tapping on the pipes? Was Sayid deciphering Morse code?
Black Box from Oceanic 815. Captain suggesting that it was Ben who faked the plane crash. I don't think he did. I don't trust Ben at all of course, but I am leaning towards thinking that Ben and his folks didn't anticipate the plane crash. Don't trust the captain. They want you to help them get Ben or whatever they are after. I kind of like the theory of the plane crash being real because they were split into two different realities or versions of themselves or whatever. Although, when Frank saw the crash on the news he was automatically suspicious and he knew the pilot. Unless you were really positive about something being amiss, I don't think you would jump directly to foul play. Hmmm.
Favorite one-liner: Everyone loves a panda. Second favorite: I need the panda! Also, would you really get in a taxi with a big stuffed animal and not notice it and try to find out who's it is?
Wow Sun, way to just lay it out to Daniel and start making quick decisions. I guess that mother lioness instinct is kicking in. It is so refreshing how honest and straightforward Sun is compared to everyone else. Ummm, wow Juliette - do what you have to do to save the girls life, I guess! Wasn't her place and did deserve a slap, but Jin also deserved to know the truth. Who's the 'other woman' now?! (though technically, I guess Sun's affair was a matter of 'the other man')
Other thoughts:
Could the 324 bodies on the plane discovered in the ocean be the people Ben and the Others "purged" from the original Dharma initiative? Could Ben have had something to do with the staged crash?
the headstone - it has his date of death as 9/22/2004 - so maybe he's not really dead - maybe he's still on the island, but "dead" to the world because he's not one of the oceanic six. OK, so is that the date Lost premiered, and thus the date he would have died in the plane crash (had he died)? Since the Oceanic Six are telling people that only a few of them survived initially...Sun said she missed him, didn't say he was dead and was looking for him while in labor.
you've really got to assume (pray?) that jin is alive on the island. the gravestone says the date of the crash, meaning it was probably created when the fake wreckage was found (as it probably was for many of the losties--kind of cool). the writing very carefully avoids language of death. (Ooooh, good thought!)
I have two thoughts regarding Jin: (1) he is being presumed dead possibly so Sun and baby can have life insurance and otherwise be taken care of (Oceanic settlement) and visiting the grave was a public gesture, or (2) he's in the biz with Sayid and Ben. I'm not convinced that Jin's scenes were flashbacks, but rather flash forwards.
I think Jin is alive also because I think it's going to be vital that everybody have somebody on the island that they want to go back for - Sun for Jin, Kate for Sawyer, Jack for Juliet, etc.
The "reveal" of Micheal on the boat in no way answers the question of whether or not he is Ben's man on the boat. To me, it looked like Micheal didn't even know he was Micheal. So my guess is, Ben's man is someone else and the Micheal story is a whole different can of very juicy worms.
* Why did Hurley say "good" when Sun said no one else was coming?
If all 324 passengers of the plane were supposedly in the faked wreckage, how do they justify the Oceanic Six and their return? Wouldn't their survival suggest that the bodies on the plane were someone other than who they were supposed to be considering who they were supposed to be is alive and well?
Regina chained herself and jumped overboard. Anyone think it's all a put on for Sayid and Desmond? That along with the giant blood stain on the wall in the room they were going to stay in? I think it's all a set up to freak them out and throw them off of the trail of the real motivations of the captain and crew (and Charles Whidmore).
This whole "Who should I trust" triangle is as bad as one of Zach's love triangles on Saved by the Bell. (Ha!)
The island needs to get its mojo back and start threatening and/or killing again. May I suggest "freighties meet smokey!" The smoke monster finds Charlotte, grabs her off the beach, pulls some Eko moves on her, and leave her bloodied body for all to see. Maybe then the freighties would know what they're up against and remind the losties why they want off the island. Come on island; reestablish who's really in charge. The island rules!
(This next one is long, but pretty awesome...)
I was trying to find out more about the literary character Captain Gault and ended up stumbling upon a bunch of papers presented at a conference sponsored by the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) on science and literature in 19th-century Britain. I didn't' find out much about Captain Gault, but I did find this. It absolutely BLEW my mind. Read this description (which I've heavily clipped) of the novel "The Coming Race" and its links to Michael Faraday, Jurassic animals, and maybe even the smoke monster! If the writers did not have this novel (and especially the scientific interpretation given below) in mind when they created "Lost," then I give up! Here it is (I know it's long, but try to wade through. Everything fits!):
"The purpose of my paper is to discuss E. Bulwer-Lytton's "The Coming Race" (1871) in the context of the 'scientific bent' of Victorian Utopian fiction. Universally regarded as the first post-Darwinian prognostic utopia, it is characterized by the heavy stress on biological and social evolutionism, but also hints at a wide range of contemporary interests. Its scientific as well as pseudoscientific material includes suggestions from geology, electromagnetism, linguistics, phrenology and psychology. The subterranean world where 'the coming race' lives has a markedly oxymoronic quality, with its display of Jurassic animals and plants and its futuristic mechanical inventions. Likewise, the inhabitants combine animism and use of radioactivity. Philogenetically, however, they are several mutations ahead of ordinary mankind. Their touch provokes a sort of electric shock, of variable intensity. It can heal or kill, induce sleep, communicate thoughts, but also erase all information from the brain of the receiver. The origin of this power is a mysterious agent, Vril, that gives the name to the Utopian race, the Vril-ya. Vril is declaredly the fictional interpretation of Michael Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction. 'VR' is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word-root indicating the life force. It is the life principle in the Vedas, the equivalent of the Stoics' pneuma, both merged in the concept of the magnetic field. Vril is the modern version the philosophers' stone, the life principle that Bulwer-Lytton claimed Faraday had revealed. The mythical pattern of the descent into the underworld is here employed to convey a message for contemporaries and posterity. It is a strongly self-protecting message, in keeping with the Utopian fixations (all Utopian communities are exceedingly exclusive and self-protective). Will a superior race have the upper hand? The novel voices the fear of some imminent danger, a theme in Victorian scientific plots: extinction is at hand, possibly self-inflicted through the abnormal development of technology."I haven't had a chance to read any of "The Coming Race" yet, but I was really struck by the fact that the author used Michael Faraday's scientific findings/theories to construct an exclusive, self-protected Utopian society that combines the highest technology with the basest forms of spiritualism. And Vril, the mysterious agent derived from electromagnetic induction with the power both to kill and to cure? Is that the smoke monster?There is a lot of info on Wiki about VRIL, the fictionalized life force based on Michael Faraday's electromagnetic findings (mentioned in my previous post and based on the 1871 novel, "The Coming Race"). The potential connections to "Lost" are amazing: Eko's stick? Richard's youthfulness? Walt's telekinetic powers?Here are some highlights:- Vril, a latent source of energy which the spiritually elevated hosts are able to master through training of their will, to a degree which depends upon their hereditary constitution, giving them access to an extraordinary force that can be controlled at will.- The powers include the ability to heal, change, and destroy beings and things--the destructive powers in particular are awesomely powerful, allowing a few young Vril-ya children to wipe out entire cities if necessary.-Vril can be changed into the mightiest agency over all types of matter, both animate and inanimate. It can destroy like lightning or replenish life, heal, or cure.-Vril can be harnessed by use of the Vril staff or mental concentration. A Vril staff is an object in the shape of a wand or a staff which is used as a channel for Vril (to heal or destroy). The staff is about the size of a walking stick but can be lengthened or shortened according to the user's preferences.-The destructive force is so great that the fire lodged in the hollow of a rod directed by the hand of a child could cleave the strongest fortress. It is also said that if army met army and both had command of the vril-force, both sides would be annihilated.- They use Vril to take baths: It is their custom also, perhaps four times a-year when in health, to use a bath charged with vril. They consider that this fluid is a great sustainer of life; but used in excess, when in the normal state of health, rather tends to reaction and exhausted vitality.
My theory: Ben is part of the Hanso Foundataion and this all comes down to Hanso versus Widmore! The Hanso Foundataion was behind the fake wreckage. Hanso purchased Oceanic Airlines (http://www.hansoair.org/), took one of their planes, filled it with bodies, and dropped it in the Indian Ocean. (Where did they get the bodies?) They give false info / forged documents to the salvage vessel looking for the Black Rock as to its location. This did two things: First, the salvage team would be looking for the Black Rock in the wrong ocean, and second, by finding 815, no more searching in the Pacific or questions about its whereabouts. Meanwhile, Charles Widmore buys Hanso's old Black Rock log and learns the island's power and its approximate location. Whitmore hires Matthew Abbadon to find Ben and the remains of Hanso's Dharma initiative. Anyway, Penny (being part of team Widmore) is also looking for the island for all the right reasons; and her team enables the Oceanic 6 to escape. Hanso's fake wreckage story is revealed. And Charles Widmore gains control of the island and its secrets. The 6 concoct an elaborate story about being the only survivors in order to protect those that were left behind. And Ben, Syid, and team Hanso goes after the Widmore's to regain control…
No past is dead for us, but only sleeping, Love...
-Helen Hunt Jackson
It's a girl! So Jin's was a flashback and Sun's was a flash forward? Tricky devils. I hate the flippin' future. Do they get Jin's body off the island then? Does he die after they get off or is that just a symbolic grave? Is he dead? In any case, as I am not really certain that Aaron or Ben (by whatever means) are Oceanic 6, and we don't know when Jin died, we have officially five: Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and Sun. On the stand at Kate's trial Jack mentioned that there were eight and two died. Is Jin one of the eight then? Will Claire be the other of the eight and they thought it better that Kate keep Aaron instead of foster care so they pretended he is hers because they wouldn't let a fugitive have him otherwise? Did Juliette not read enough of their files to know that Jack and Claire are siblings? Tell them!
Sooooo sad, in hindsight of knowing that Jin was gone, that Sun was pleading for him to be there at the hospital. :( (PS, I was at first suspicious when the doctor came in and said her regular doctor was 'at a conference,' but then they didn't seem to go anywhere with that. Still...) Sweet 'ol Hurley. I guess that was before he started seeing Charlie and got tossed in the loony bin. I thought it was interesting that when Sun called for an ambulance she didn't say, 'I'm in labor,' or, 'my water just broke,' she said , 'I'm pregnant and I think there's something wrong.' Does the time difference speed up/affect pregnancy somehow? Will the child be 'special' somehow for being conceived on the island?
DON'T TRUST THE CAPTAIN - Really? That's all your going to give us?! Thanks, buddy. Michael is Johnson. Not a surprise at this point, but a nice confirmation of suspicion. Where is Walt? That is always what Ben has over Michael. Captain Gault sure looks like a younger version of Charles Whidmore to me. Relation? Is there any way that in some far fetched time warp he IS Charles? Unlikely, but could be fun! I was actually kid of disappointed with the captain. Not sure if I wanted him to be someone we knew or if I just didn't think the actors presence was great, but I don't know if he's the real captain. What 'errand' did the helicopter have to run, I'd like to know?! (Also, at this point, I am still thinking that Walt is the in between guy who is letting Ben communicate with his people and with the boat)
Who's freaky head blood is on the wall? Did somebody do that to themselves since everyone is literally going suicidally crazy on the boat or does it suggest torture/murder? Who was tapping on the pipes? Was Sayid deciphering Morse code?
Black Box from Oceanic 815. Captain suggesting that it was Ben who faked the plane crash. I don't think he did. I don't trust Ben at all of course, but I am leaning towards thinking that Ben and his folks didn't anticipate the plane crash. Don't trust the captain. They want you to help them get Ben or whatever they are after. I kind of like the theory of the plane crash being real because they were split into two different realities or versions of themselves or whatever. Although, when Frank saw the crash on the news he was automatically suspicious and he knew the pilot. Unless you were really positive about something being amiss, I don't think you would jump directly to foul play. Hmmm.
Favorite one-liner: Everyone loves a panda. Second favorite: I need the panda! Also, would you really get in a taxi with a big stuffed animal and not notice it and try to find out who's it is?
Wow Sun, way to just lay it out to Daniel and start making quick decisions. I guess that mother lioness instinct is kicking in. It is so refreshing how honest and straightforward Sun is compared to everyone else. Ummm, wow Juliette - do what you have to do to save the girls life, I guess! Wasn't her place and did deserve a slap, but Jin also deserved to know the truth. Who's the 'other woman' now?! (though technically, I guess Sun's affair was a matter of 'the other man')
Other thoughts:
Could the 324 bodies on the plane discovered in the ocean be the people Ben and the Others "purged" from the original Dharma initiative? Could Ben have had something to do with the staged crash?
the headstone - it has his date of death as 9/22/2004 - so maybe he's not really dead - maybe he's still on the island, but "dead" to the world because he's not one of the oceanic six. OK, so is that the date Lost premiered, and thus the date he would have died in the plane crash (had he died)? Since the Oceanic Six are telling people that only a few of them survived initially...Sun said she missed him, didn't say he was dead and was looking for him while in labor.
you've really got to assume (pray?) that jin is alive on the island. the gravestone says the date of the crash, meaning it was probably created when the fake wreckage was found (as it probably was for many of the losties--kind of cool). the writing very carefully avoids language of death. (Ooooh, good thought!)
I have two thoughts regarding Jin: (1) he is being presumed dead possibly so Sun and baby can have life insurance and otherwise be taken care of (Oceanic settlement) and visiting the grave was a public gesture, or (2) he's in the biz with Sayid and Ben. I'm not convinced that Jin's scenes were flashbacks, but rather flash forwards.
I think Jin is alive also because I think it's going to be vital that everybody have somebody on the island that they want to go back for - Sun for Jin, Kate for Sawyer, Jack for Juliet, etc.
The "reveal" of Micheal on the boat in no way answers the question of whether or not he is Ben's man on the boat. To me, it looked like Micheal didn't even know he was Micheal. So my guess is, Ben's man is someone else and the Micheal story is a whole different can of very juicy worms.
* Why did Hurley say "good" when Sun said no one else was coming?
If all 324 passengers of the plane were supposedly in the faked wreckage, how do they justify the Oceanic Six and their return? Wouldn't their survival suggest that the bodies on the plane were someone other than who they were supposed to be considering who they were supposed to be is alive and well?
Regina chained herself and jumped overboard. Anyone think it's all a put on for Sayid and Desmond? That along with the giant blood stain on the wall in the room they were going to stay in? I think it's all a set up to freak them out and throw them off of the trail of the real motivations of the captain and crew (and Charles Whidmore).
This whole "Who should I trust" triangle is as bad as one of Zach's love triangles on Saved by the Bell. (Ha!)
The island needs to get its mojo back and start threatening and/or killing again. May I suggest "freighties meet smokey!" The smoke monster finds Charlotte, grabs her off the beach, pulls some Eko moves on her, and leave her bloodied body for all to see. Maybe then the freighties would know what they're up against and remind the losties why they want off the island. Come on island; reestablish who's really in charge. The island rules!
(This next one is long, but pretty awesome...)
I was trying to find out more about the literary character Captain Gault and ended up stumbling upon a bunch of papers presented at a conference sponsored by the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) on science and literature in 19th-century Britain. I didn't' find out much about Captain Gault, but I did find this. It absolutely BLEW my mind. Read this description (which I've heavily clipped) of the novel "The Coming Race" and its links to Michael Faraday, Jurassic animals, and maybe even the smoke monster! If the writers did not have this novel (and especially the scientific interpretation given below) in mind when they created "Lost," then I give up! Here it is (I know it's long, but try to wade through. Everything fits!):
"The purpose of my paper is to discuss E. Bulwer-Lytton's "The Coming Race" (1871) in the context of the 'scientific bent' of Victorian Utopian fiction. Universally regarded as the first post-Darwinian prognostic utopia, it is characterized by the heavy stress on biological and social evolutionism, but also hints at a wide range of contemporary interests. Its scientific as well as pseudoscientific material includes suggestions from geology, electromagnetism, linguistics, phrenology and psychology. The subterranean world where 'the coming race' lives has a markedly oxymoronic quality, with its display of Jurassic animals and plants and its futuristic mechanical inventions. Likewise, the inhabitants combine animism and use of radioactivity. Philogenetically, however, they are several mutations ahead of ordinary mankind. Their touch provokes a sort of electric shock, of variable intensity. It can heal or kill, induce sleep, communicate thoughts, but also erase all information from the brain of the receiver. The origin of this power is a mysterious agent, Vril, that gives the name to the Utopian race, the Vril-ya. Vril is declaredly the fictional interpretation of Michael Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction. 'VR' is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word-root indicating the life force. It is the life principle in the Vedas, the equivalent of the Stoics' pneuma, both merged in the concept of the magnetic field. Vril is the modern version the philosophers' stone, the life principle that Bulwer-Lytton claimed Faraday had revealed. The mythical pattern of the descent into the underworld is here employed to convey a message for contemporaries and posterity. It is a strongly self-protecting message, in keeping with the Utopian fixations (all Utopian communities are exceedingly exclusive and self-protective). Will a superior race have the upper hand? The novel voices the fear of some imminent danger, a theme in Victorian scientific plots: extinction is at hand, possibly self-inflicted through the abnormal development of technology."I haven't had a chance to read any of "The Coming Race" yet, but I was really struck by the fact that the author used Michael Faraday's scientific findings/theories to construct an exclusive, self-protected Utopian society that combines the highest technology with the basest forms of spiritualism. And Vril, the mysterious agent derived from electromagnetic induction with the power both to kill and to cure? Is that the smoke monster?There is a lot of info on Wiki about VRIL, the fictionalized life force based on Michael Faraday's electromagnetic findings (mentioned in my previous post and based on the 1871 novel, "The Coming Race"). The potential connections to "Lost" are amazing: Eko's stick? Richard's youthfulness? Walt's telekinetic powers?Here are some highlights:- Vril, a latent source of energy which the spiritually elevated hosts are able to master through training of their will, to a degree which depends upon their hereditary constitution, giving them access to an extraordinary force that can be controlled at will.- The powers include the ability to heal, change, and destroy beings and things--the destructive powers in particular are awesomely powerful, allowing a few young Vril-ya children to wipe out entire cities if necessary.-Vril can be changed into the mightiest agency over all types of matter, both animate and inanimate. It can destroy like lightning or replenish life, heal, or cure.-Vril can be harnessed by use of the Vril staff or mental concentration. A Vril staff is an object in the shape of a wand or a staff which is used as a channel for Vril (to heal or destroy). The staff is about the size of a walking stick but can be lengthened or shortened according to the user's preferences.-The destructive force is so great that the fire lodged in the hollow of a rod directed by the hand of a child could cleave the strongest fortress. It is also said that if army met army and both had command of the vril-force, both sides would be annihilated.- They use Vril to take baths: It is their custom also, perhaps four times a-year when in health, to use a bath charged with vril. They consider that this fluid is a great sustainer of life; but used in excess, when in the normal state of health, rather tends to reaction and exhausted vitality.
My theory: Ben is part of the Hanso Foundataion and this all comes down to Hanso versus Widmore! The Hanso Foundataion was behind the fake wreckage. Hanso purchased Oceanic Airlines (http://www.hansoair.org/), took one of their planes, filled it with bodies, and dropped it in the Indian Ocean. (Where did they get the bodies?) They give false info / forged documents to the salvage vessel looking for the Black Rock as to its location. This did two things: First, the salvage team would be looking for the Black Rock in the wrong ocean, and second, by finding 815, no more searching in the Pacific or questions about its whereabouts. Meanwhile, Charles Widmore buys Hanso's old Black Rock log and learns the island's power and its approximate location. Whitmore hires Matthew Abbadon to find Ben and the remains of Hanso's Dharma initiative. Anyway, Penny (being part of team Widmore) is also looking for the island for all the right reasons; and her team enables the Oceanic 6 to escape. Hanso's fake wreckage story is revealed. And Charles Widmore gains control of the island and its secrets. The 6 concoct an elaborate story about being the only survivors in order to protect those that were left behind. And Ben, Syid, and team Hanso goes after the Widmore's to regain control…
Friday, March 7, 2008
LOST: The Other Woman
Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.
-Jean Jacques Rousseau
Oh ho ho! Juliette is the other woman! Despite that, I really love her. Don't trust what she is going to do, but love her. So witty - what did she say? , 'it's hard being an Other, Jack.' What a great character and what a really wonderful actress, Elizabeth Mitchell. They got me all befuddled with feelings that Kate can just have Sawyer and let Juliette have Jack! Ben is like Alfred Hitchcock - obsessed with his muse. Also, Hitchcock had an odd interest, which was one of the recurring themes in his movies, in necrophilia which also resembles Ben's little obsession with our poor, sweet, broken Juliette. I presume the 'her' that Juliette looks just like is his old girlfriend Annie and hopefully not his dead mom. Eeew. Very Hitchcockian AND a little Greek! I have a very painful feeling that she might not survive the series - may end up a martyr - because her fate, sadly, is sealed with Ben's. Sigh. Maybe Jim Caviezel can time travel & save her like he did in Frequency.
"What's Ben gonna do?" Hmmm, interesting that his own people didn't realise what he was capable of. Wow Ben, for being such a clever and conniving man, you are sure fairly transparent emotionally and I almost feel bad for you're awkward lack of social skill. I guess this emotion is a weakness that can be manipulated later? I think he is so awkward and confused socially/romantically that if Juliette tried to seduce him and pretended she cared for him he would fall for it - maybe he wouldn't really believe it, but he would let his guard down a little.
I feel like this episode didn't move the story along as fast as some of the others, but I loved that it was more focused on characters. I mean, the show would be intriguing regardless, but without the great character development, if I wasn't so personally concerned for them, I wouldn't be so hooked. I would like to see more flashes between the time of Ben's mass homicide to the time that Juliette arrived.
The whispering voices are back ... It made me realise that I kind of missed the focus on the mystical/paranormal aspects of the island; they have been a little more focused on the 'scientific' aspects of the island and how some of them get off the island. The voices of 'others' past?
Ben wants to be a prisoner and he can communicate with his people somehow. Hmmmm.Is he somehow communicating with his 'man on the boat' (Michael: I feel like they pretty much confirmed that this episode and we'll see him next week it looks like - now I almost hope it isn't him so I can be shocked!) who then communicated to his people at the Temple which we have yet to see? (What if when Ben's group had Walt they got to him more than we thought and HE is the 'man' on the boat? Or maybe Michael is on the boat, and Walt and his abilities are how Ben is communicating to him and to his other people! Ooh, I like it!)
Well, well, well, Mr. Charles Whidmore. I thought that they would have waited a little longer to confirm his part in all this. Not that we can necessarily believe/assume that he really is just out to exploit the island like Ben said. Perhaps Ben really does believe all he wants is to monopolize the island for commercialism. Either way, crazy Locke is a great ally in this situation since he had a tendency to, oh, blow up submarines and throw knives into strangers backs and what have you to protect this island that he doesn't even understand himself.
Daniel: "What if I can't do it?" Do what? Also, Charlotte is pretty feisty for an archaeologist. Although, just because that is what she seemed to be in that flashback it doesn't mean she is. I think she has a spoiled, wealthy family prep school upbringing and was a wild child and broke away from her family to be a treasure hunter/adventurer to make her own name for herself at ANY cost. I feel like if we see a flashback of her she'll be wearing an English riding helmet at some point. That is my professional character analysis.
Wow, nice to see Claire finally speak up to Locke with an actual opinion, even though it was brief.
So Locke really was killing a chicken last week :) What did Ben mean when he asked if it had a number on it? I guess whatever testing they were doing, it is still okay to eat? (Maybe just not safe to eat the eggs) So.... is Miles still just sitting in that shed with a grenade in his mouth?
Favorite creepy moment of the night: Ben and Juliette at Goodwin's body, Ben screams "How can you possibly not understand that you're MINE!" Then, two seconds later, serene faced and indifferent, says, "take as long as you need." Whoa, Michael Emerson, you're kind of awesome.
Anyway, here are some other thoughts:
I really think that Charles (Whidmore) is using the Penny/Desmond relationship to find the island. Even to the extent that he set Desmond up to get there. Think about it - it was on a race to impress Charles (and get permission to marry Penny) that Desmond got wrecked on the island. What an impressive coincidence that happened - with Widmore's future son-in-law. Especially given that - his daughter is Desmond's constant. And that whole bathroom scene in the last episode. (How much can Charles really know?)
I'm thinking about Desmond and Mr. Whitmore. Des was told by the old lady that if he married Penny, "they would all die." Maybe Mr. Whitmore knew that and that is why he denied Des' request to marry Penny. he had access to the future and had to prevent the marriage proposal. And he manipulated Des to the Island so he could someday find it and exploit it.
Ben has a bit of a David complex reminiscent of the Bathsheba incident - sending Goodwin into "battle" so he could have the woman.
How did Daniel and Charlotte know about the gas on the island, where to go to find it, and what to do to disable it? (Again, how much does Charles know, since he is their source on info, I presume)
So we kinda suspected Widmore was in on all this, does he maybe have cancer or some other dreaded disease he needs a cure for?
Ben's man on the boat. . . what if he's playing for both teams? In other words, what if it's someone who has been on the island (and Widmore's people know it) but there is a bit of a triple cross going on? We know from Alias that the creators of Lost are pretty into the whole double, triple, back and forth-cross plot lines. I am going to go way out there and predict that it's not Michael, even though that would be interesting. I think it's someone we really would never expect to see again. . because they died on the island. Like Ana Lucia or Boone or some crazy thing like that.
My money's on Sayid being the man on the boat. Why couldn't it be? Maybe when Ben said he had a man on the boat, he was bluffing....But by now...Sayid and he have already struck a deal that will carry over to life off the island...and Sayid's on the boat...so...makes sense to me
I think it's Locke on the boat--in another time period. I'm still not sure the island and the boat are in the same time period. (Hmm, I don't know about it being Locke, but it could be that the time difference is how they will explain how the Walt actor is so much taller so fast :)
Juliet:Do you like me?_ Yes_ No_ MaybeCheck one (or Goodwin dies).Ben
Did they call the power station the Tempest? As in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," a play about a sorcerer and his daughter stranded for 12 years on – um – an island?
The power station was called the Tempest, but I think the actual Dharma station is the Orchid.
Decided to look up "Stanhope" on Wikipedia and found someone interesting. Charles Stanhope was a scientist who studied electricity. He was also famous for a response to an essay written by Edmund Burke. Sounds like Burke and Stanhope didn't get along. Coincidence….I think not.
hey, that was a neat trick Ben did ... In the safe ... when it was opened, the ONLY THING IN IT WAS THE TAPE ... then, they play the tape, go back to the safe ... and whoa ... a folder appears? What?
I wonder if the reason some people see dead people on the island is because these people are time traveling (ex: Charlie appears to Future Hurley; Mr. Eko saw his brother; etc.).
Several people mentioned the light the doctor used on Des as a trigger for time travel. I wonder if it served a different purpose. Maybe the doctor was trying to gauge Des's ability to track a moving object (in this case the flashlight) with his eyes, which is one way that psychiatrists diagnose schizophrenia. You can determine mental disorders by how eyes track a moving object because it reflects problems in the neural circuitry of the brain. It could be the time travel mixes up the brain circuitry and therefore causes – or at least mimics – schizophrenia. And the symptoms of schizophrenia are problems in perceiving reality, auditory hallucinations, delusions, even catatonic behavior. This lends credence to those who suggested time travel/time-jumping caused the "sickness" Rousseau alluded to. It just made me wonder if this is the information (gauging the damage) the doctor was really after when he shone the light in Des's eyes. (Especially since - I noticed this tonight during the enhanced episode - Des later tried the flashlight on himself and nothing happened.) It's interesting too that schizophrenia means "to split the mind," because this is the very thing time travel does – well, at least it splits the consciousness.
Safe #'s - 36 15 28
-Jean Jacques Rousseau
Oh ho ho! Juliette is the other woman! Despite that, I really love her. Don't trust what she is going to do, but love her. So witty - what did she say? , 'it's hard being an Other, Jack.' What a great character and what a really wonderful actress, Elizabeth Mitchell. They got me all befuddled with feelings that Kate can just have Sawyer and let Juliette have Jack! Ben is like Alfred Hitchcock - obsessed with his muse. Also, Hitchcock had an odd interest, which was one of the recurring themes in his movies, in necrophilia which also resembles Ben's little obsession with our poor, sweet, broken Juliette. I presume the 'her' that Juliette looks just like is his old girlfriend Annie and hopefully not his dead mom. Eeew. Very Hitchcockian AND a little Greek! I have a very painful feeling that she might not survive the series - may end up a martyr - because her fate, sadly, is sealed with Ben's. Sigh. Maybe Jim Caviezel can time travel & save her like he did in Frequency.
"What's Ben gonna do?" Hmmm, interesting that his own people didn't realise what he was capable of. Wow Ben, for being such a clever and conniving man, you are sure fairly transparent emotionally and I almost feel bad for you're awkward lack of social skill. I guess this emotion is a weakness that can be manipulated later? I think he is so awkward and confused socially/romantically that if Juliette tried to seduce him and pretended she cared for him he would fall for it - maybe he wouldn't really believe it, but he would let his guard down a little.
I feel like this episode didn't move the story along as fast as some of the others, but I loved that it was more focused on characters. I mean, the show would be intriguing regardless, but without the great character development, if I wasn't so personally concerned for them, I wouldn't be so hooked. I would like to see more flashes between the time of Ben's mass homicide to the time that Juliette arrived.
The whispering voices are back ... It made me realise that I kind of missed the focus on the mystical/paranormal aspects of the island; they have been a little more focused on the 'scientific' aspects of the island and how some of them get off the island. The voices of 'others' past?
Ben wants to be a prisoner and he can communicate with his people somehow. Hmmmm.Is he somehow communicating with his 'man on the boat' (Michael: I feel like they pretty much confirmed that this episode and we'll see him next week it looks like - now I almost hope it isn't him so I can be shocked!) who then communicated to his people at the Temple which we have yet to see? (What if when Ben's group had Walt they got to him more than we thought and HE is the 'man' on the boat? Or maybe Michael is on the boat, and Walt and his abilities are how Ben is communicating to him and to his other people! Ooh, I like it!)
Well, well, well, Mr. Charles Whidmore. I thought that they would have waited a little longer to confirm his part in all this. Not that we can necessarily believe/assume that he really is just out to exploit the island like Ben said. Perhaps Ben really does believe all he wants is to monopolize the island for commercialism. Either way, crazy Locke is a great ally in this situation since he had a tendency to, oh, blow up submarines and throw knives into strangers backs and what have you to protect this island that he doesn't even understand himself.
Daniel: "What if I can't do it?" Do what? Also, Charlotte is pretty feisty for an archaeologist. Although, just because that is what she seemed to be in that flashback it doesn't mean she is. I think she has a spoiled, wealthy family prep school upbringing and was a wild child and broke away from her family to be a treasure hunter/adventurer to make her own name for herself at ANY cost. I feel like if we see a flashback of her she'll be wearing an English riding helmet at some point. That is my professional character analysis.
Wow, nice to see Claire finally speak up to Locke with an actual opinion, even though it was brief.
So Locke really was killing a chicken last week :) What did Ben mean when he asked if it had a number on it? I guess whatever testing they were doing, it is still okay to eat? (Maybe just not safe to eat the eggs) So.... is Miles still just sitting in that shed with a grenade in his mouth?
Favorite creepy moment of the night: Ben and Juliette at Goodwin's body, Ben screams "How can you possibly not understand that you're MINE!" Then, two seconds later, serene faced and indifferent, says, "take as long as you need." Whoa, Michael Emerson, you're kind of awesome.
Anyway, here are some other thoughts:
I really think that Charles (Whidmore) is using the Penny/Desmond relationship to find the island. Even to the extent that he set Desmond up to get there. Think about it - it was on a race to impress Charles (and get permission to marry Penny) that Desmond got wrecked on the island. What an impressive coincidence that happened - with Widmore's future son-in-law. Especially given that - his daughter is Desmond's constant. And that whole bathroom scene in the last episode. (How much can Charles really know?)
I'm thinking about Desmond and Mr. Whitmore. Des was told by the old lady that if he married Penny, "they would all die." Maybe Mr. Whitmore knew that and that is why he denied Des' request to marry Penny. he had access to the future and had to prevent the marriage proposal. And he manipulated Des to the Island so he could someday find it and exploit it.
Ben has a bit of a David complex reminiscent of the Bathsheba incident - sending Goodwin into "battle" so he could have the woman.
How did Daniel and Charlotte know about the gas on the island, where to go to find it, and what to do to disable it? (Again, how much does Charles know, since he is their source on info, I presume)
So we kinda suspected Widmore was in on all this, does he maybe have cancer or some other dreaded disease he needs a cure for?
Ben's man on the boat. . . what if he's playing for both teams? In other words, what if it's someone who has been on the island (and Widmore's people know it) but there is a bit of a triple cross going on? We know from Alias that the creators of Lost are pretty into the whole double, triple, back and forth-cross plot lines. I am going to go way out there and predict that it's not Michael, even though that would be interesting. I think it's someone we really would never expect to see again. . because they died on the island. Like Ana Lucia or Boone or some crazy thing like that.
My money's on Sayid being the man on the boat. Why couldn't it be? Maybe when Ben said he had a man on the boat, he was bluffing....But by now...Sayid and he have already struck a deal that will carry over to life off the island...and Sayid's on the boat...so...makes sense to me
I think it's Locke on the boat--in another time period. I'm still not sure the island and the boat are in the same time period. (Hmm, I don't know about it being Locke, but it could be that the time difference is how they will explain how the Walt actor is so much taller so fast :)
Juliet:Do you like me?_ Yes_ No_ MaybeCheck one (or Goodwin dies).Ben
Did they call the power station the Tempest? As in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," a play about a sorcerer and his daughter stranded for 12 years on – um – an island?
The power station was called the Tempest, but I think the actual Dharma station is the Orchid.
Decided to look up "Stanhope" on Wikipedia and found someone interesting. Charles Stanhope was a scientist who studied electricity. He was also famous for a response to an essay written by Edmund Burke. Sounds like Burke and Stanhope didn't get along. Coincidence….I think not.
hey, that was a neat trick Ben did ... In the safe ... when it was opened, the ONLY THING IN IT WAS THE TAPE ... then, they play the tape, go back to the safe ... and whoa ... a folder appears? What?
I wonder if the reason some people see dead people on the island is because these people are time traveling (ex: Charlie appears to Future Hurley; Mr. Eko saw his brother; etc.).
Several people mentioned the light the doctor used on Des as a trigger for time travel. I wonder if it served a different purpose. Maybe the doctor was trying to gauge Des's ability to track a moving object (in this case the flashlight) with his eyes, which is one way that psychiatrists diagnose schizophrenia. You can determine mental disorders by how eyes track a moving object because it reflects problems in the neural circuitry of the brain. It could be the time travel mixes up the brain circuitry and therefore causes – or at least mimics – schizophrenia. And the symptoms of schizophrenia are problems in perceiving reality, auditory hallucinations, delusions, even catatonic behavior. This lends credence to those who suggested time travel/time-jumping caused the "sickness" Rousseau alluded to. It just made me wonder if this is the information (gauging the damage) the doctor was really after when he shone the light in Des's eyes. (Especially since - I noticed this tonight during the enhanced episode - Des later tried the flashlight on himself and nothing happened.) It's interesting too that schizophrenia means "to split the mind," because this is the very thing time travel does – well, at least it splits the consciousness.
Safe #'s - 36 15 28
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