After Lost: A New Direction

Well, we made in back into the country after a month. The final four episodes have been viewed and my first thought is "Wow! What a ride it has been!"

There are plenty of commentaries on the web about what, who, why and when...wait, scratch "when" as there is no when were we are now. HA! So I'm not going to post another follow-up to the series unless you have specific questions to something.

HOWEVER...I am considering continuing this blog under a new name "After Lost". The idea is to play off the term "afterlife", but with the LOST twist to it.

THE CONCEPT

The concept is to continue the LOST story on our own. Every two weeks on a set day (schedules are nice for readers to schedule and expect to read) you could find another "chapter" of the story.

Other posts might be added to as background, discussions, and related topics. The plan is to post items related to the viewers of LOST with the structure coming from my own storyline.

If you are interested, leave a comment. If one person likes the idea then we can kick it off and see where it goes. Maybe it will grow in popularity, or maybe not. Let's find out.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I will comment on the LOST series as a whole: I loved it. Television needed a show like this and the writers, actors and producers did a great job with it. The bar has been raised fro TV and let's hope more shows like this will be coming soon.

So if you like to "think about it", leave a post with your support and ideas.

Enjoy,
KC

LT351: Fade to Black

Six years of being LOST.

LOST TIDBITS began as a newsletter distributed by email.

After Season 2 someone introduced me to blogs and TIDBITS went on-line.

I've met readers from several countries and several states. I've met readers who shocked me they were into LOST. Readers have met me and were shocked to discover I'm the "KC".

I heard about a group at an insurance company who used to meet at lunch and used my newsletter as their discussion guide!

An email hit my inbox once from a professor at a college asking for permission to use it in some kind of American Media course!

I've made friends who I'll never meet named Ben, Adrian, a series of initials and Anonymous.

My wife and I even planned a vacation around LOST to see locations in Hawaii. I recall a stranger walking up to me there and asking if I was in the Dharma Initiative! I was wearing a Dharma hat and had forgot it was on for a nice little shock!

I've been lucky enough to have stood where Penny and Desmond stood to have that famous photograph taken. I've been to Daniel's college and Mrs. Hawking's church. We've seen the dock and the strange rock formation.

It's been a good run. The book, "Bad Twin", was a decent read. The jigsaw puzzles and games have been great. It is going to be missed.

Now it is time for LOST TIDBITS to fade to black.

It is the ultimate cliffhanger, huh?

Five episodes remaining and I won't even be able to watch the greatest show in TV history wrap up! Fate can be cruel.

As destiny would have it, we will be in place soon where the "stars are upside down" and the television is in a language I can't comprehend. Eventually I'll see the end, but it will well after you do and people will have moved on to some other cultural phenomena by then.

Fate can be fickle.

So with a short time before we leave, college finals and lots of strings to tie-up...LOST TIDBITS has reached its end.

And maybe this is a preview of the show's ending?! HA! But this is life and I promise if ever given the chance to loop through these events again, I will course correct things so TIDITS could wrap up LOST with you. But until I find my constant and for the time being I have to take solace in the fact that everything happens for a reason.

Thank you for the ride. It's been great and I've enjoyed every hour of my life this show has made me think. Hope you have enjoyed LOST TIDBITS. I'll miss it and I'll miss you, the readers. Good bye.

Enjoy,
KC

LT360: First Impression: Happily Every After

Woah.

Cotton candy.

Never have I felt like I got so many answers and then realized I got nothing. Like poof. The more I thought about it the more I realized there were no answers. Like cotton candy.

And I liked it.

Consider the titled, "Happily Ever After". Oh, really? That ending escaped me. Did that mean that starts Desmond on the path towards a happy ending because I didn't see him reach one. One might argue the coffee date was the happy ending, but with Mrs. Hawking around, nothing is going to be happy for Desmond.

PAST TIE-IN'S

Readers of TIDBITS know that I do not like past references and tie-in's for the sake of having them. For example, the 60-year old Scotch. I can do without that.

Or Desmond staring at a sailboat - that was much better as it was referred to implicitly instead of explicitly.

However, some were very good - for example, did you notice at the opening scene where Zoey is saying they gave him some shot. When they showed his arm she applying a bandage and it reminded of the time the Others were drawing blood from everyone they captured. That is a quality tie-in.


HE'S SPECIAL

So Dez is one of the few people on earth who can withstand an enormous pulse of electromagnetic energy. Interesting, but you can't make a living at it. But it allowed Desmond to see enough of the past (or was it the future) to come on board with Widmore's plan to...well, welcome to LOST.


SAYID

This show is a master at cliffhangers as Sayid walks out and invites Desmond for a stroll...and Desmond says YES. How odd.

Remember how Desmond could foresee Charlie's ways of dying? Maybe he can see even more of the future and following Sayid is the way it must be.


DANIEL

Oh, I've missed Daniel Faraday. Nice to see him back and a great explanation to the journal. I was so hoping he had written, "Desmond is my constant!"

So what are we learning? Is it that things we call Deja Vu is really our memory of a past "loop"? And some folks can recall more of the past than others can?


ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

This episode seemed to really focus on love. I hadn't seen that coming. Was the message, "Follow your heart and all will be right"? Why then are so many people working to keep Desmond from his true love?

At one point I was convinced that Desmond had to return to push the button...but this time do not run away. His orders would be something like, "This time keep John Locke away from the computer!" But we didn't really end up there, did we?


MORE QUESTIONS

What is Desmond going to do with the manifest from Flight 815? Who are the "they" he is going to show it to? I figured he wanted to find Charlie's dream girl, Claire, but then that line about "they" threw me off track. Hmmm...

Wonder who Penny's mother is (making her a half-sibling to Daniel-Charles-Eloise)? Wonder if it matters.

What is Widmore's plan for Desmond?

What is Sayid's/Locke's plan for Desmond?

What is Jacob's plan for Desmond?

Can someone tell me where we've seen George, the driver, before? Do you get the feeling he works for Widmore or the "other" side?


GRADE: B+

Perhaps it was the pleasant walk down memory lane with Charlie, Daniel and Penny...but I liked this episode. Again, it made me think until my brain hurt. Simple is not my thing and this show is anything but simple. Can you imagine coming in on Season 6 with a curiosity? Yikes!

Anyway...never have I liked the feeling of getting so much while getting so little. This episode almost convinced me that this show could go on for another season. And for that, I give this episdoe a nice grade. Not great, but very, very strong.

Enjoy,
KC

LT359: First Impressions: The Package

I'M LOST

It is amazing that after ten episodes into the final season that I still don't have a single clue as to the end game. I keep waiting for one single "Ooooooh!" moment that will explain everything from the dreams to the polar bears to the purpose of life. But one moment can't probably explain all those things (unless we are shown this has all been a drug-induced dream of Hurley in the mental ward). So, one then expects to be given little tidbits of understanding as the layers are peeled back.

But once again, we have more layers added then removed.


WHY WIDMORE WANTS JIN

Uh...I have no clue really. Ok he knows that Sun and Jin are partners (married in one timeline and dating in other). So?

Is Widmore aware of the names on the cave ceiling and wants to gather them one by one in order to keep Locke Black from leaving? If so, when his sub scooted up to the island they saw more of the candidates on the beach and didn't bother getting them...which would have been much easier.


IT'S ALL ABOUT TIMING, RIGHT?

Without knowing specifically why Widmore wants just Jin, he does grab him. And he does so when Locke is away from his camp. How did he know that Locke was going to be away?

Maybe Charles planned to go to this island to grab Jin and the plan was wait it out until John left camp no matter how long that took. That sounds like a really poor plan. Someone was bound to step on a twig, make a noise, and expose their presence. Anyway, they got lucky, let's say. John leaves and Jin is grabbed.

But on the sub Charles complains to Zoey that the timing of grabbing Jin is all wrong - they should have waited until he was in the jungle on his own. Agreed. How much easier that would have been without ticking off Locke and Company. What if just one of John's groupies got away? This is what they call a plan???

I guess its hard to get good help these days.


MAN BEHIND THE IRON DOOR

During commercial breaks the wife and I guessed who it was. Aaron was my pick.

Desmond was an obvious choice. Walt seemed viable - the thought was that he is "special" and might be able to combat Smokey.

It was Dez. And Sayid knows. He has a long swim back, but no matter, he doesn't feel anything which Locke points out is good because of what was about to happen. I can only think he meant the long swim! (Boy, I hope I'm joking, but something tells me I'm not!)


THE PYLONS

I'm jumping around on this episode, but didn't you think that Sayid - the communications expert - was sneaking around and working to shut those things off? I was waiting for some humming noise to indicate the power was turned off and Locke would turn into a pillar of smoke and squeeze the snot out of one of Widmore's people. Maybe all of them including Charles.

I was let down. But at least we got a promise of the war is here and one very scary stare down by Locke.


MR. PATCHY

The show is cute on how they keep old story facts around - like Mr. Patchy being shot in the eye. Cute, but not relevant.

What it does serve to do is remind me on how messed up everyone's lives are even in this alternative timeline. Sun is have relations with Jin outside of marriage, Keamy finds out and rats him out (how he knew is another point), so Mr. Paik pays him for the information, to be delivered by daughter and her lover, who can't clear customs (Mr Paik can close bank accounts not in his name, but can't get them through customs?), so they have to detour to a bank with Mr. Patchy as escort, but not before Sayid is abducted only to kill Mr. Patchy, Keamy and Omar.

Eh? It is liking those tribute movies that are based on a 1970's TV show. All the catch-phrases and familar momentos are mentioned, but add little to the plot. By the way, has any TV show gone to movie been done properly? Ok, Star Trek in most cases.


GRADE: C

Do you get the feeling they had really one or two episodes of things to tell us this season, but decided to drag it out over 16 shows?

I dislike the tribute to Season X (like Sun saying she was pregnant after being shot).

I dislike the craziness of Sun being hit on the head...did you notice there was only one tree in that entire field and she looks away at that moment...and losing her ability to speak. What point did that provide or prove? Was it the irony that Sun and Jin arrived with her speaking English and now only Jin can speak it? Plus I hate when the script does things like, "It's usually only temporary." Then why bother with it? I must have missed the objective.

I like Claire being used like a pawn by Locke. He pushes the right buttons and we now have to keep an eye on her when she is around Kate.

This gets an average C because it is LOST...or it would have gotten even a lower grade. Mostly because we didn't get anything new. Richard obviously returned. Hurley had one cute line. Sawyer and Kate continue a relationship they can't have. Everyone wants Sayid in their foxhole. Widmore plays as many games as Ben and Locke. We get it. What we didn't get was anything new - no Revelation...and if this Biblical story is going to wrap up we must get to the Book of Revelation. Don't this writers read? :)


SAVING GRACE

Ok, here are a couple of points this show made me ponder that saved the day.

First, the Oceanic 6. Remember how we couldn't quite figure out who the 6 were? Did it include Desmond or was the sixth person Aaron? Neither we brought to the island like the other 5. I point this out, because it seems now that John Locke's loophole was that if he could return the Oceanic 6 to the island, he could use them to leave.

This makes me think that the Oceanic 6 have a Golden Ticket of some sort - to come and go. This also means no one else does! This also implies that Sun is the Kwon on the cave ceiling and not Jin!

More on this later in the week.

**

Second...the shoes. I got to this because Sawyer asks (finally) a good question, "Why don't you just turn to smoke and go over there?"

SIDENOTE: Why aren't people in Locke's group defecting each and every night? Come on, people! This guy is death! Of course, where would they go?

Ok, back to transportation: Smokey can't travel between islands as Smokey. That's interesting. So how did he kill the remaining passengers of Ajira 316? Do you recall him rowing over, killing, and returning for a day trip? Did he send someone over to do his dirty work? I don't know who it could have been.

So I get this image of John do a lot of paddling in the past few days. It could have been before Widmore arrived even. It reminded me of Locke rowing to the main island with Ben after the Ajria 316 crash. There, they met up with Sun and Frank. So why is Sun so afraid of Locke now? She seemed fine with him before. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but what made her doubt him?

Ok, I'm getting to my second thought: the shoes. When we paddled over with Ben he took of his shiny black Christian shoes. When he got to land, he put them back on. There is something about shoes that Smokey doesn't like - at least over water.

Then I recall the Others walked around the island barefoot.

And how Locke first crashed on the beach from Oceanic Flight 815 and he was shoeless. They were sitting nice and neat next to him, but off his feet.

Then remember that Sawyer has a habit of being barefoot at the wrong time. He has stepped on something maybe two or three times. That has always made my Oddity List because it was so out of normal.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than to proclaim, "The shoes are key!" Maybe if you slip those slippers off, Locke can't touch you. Better than even a ring of ash. I said, Maybe!


**

Give me some time to dwell on this and I'll follow-up with these two last observations. The teaser to next week included the word "Death" so I'm already looking forward to it. That's kind of sick, now isn't it? HA!

Enjoy,
KC

LT358: Easter...Islands

EASTER EGGS

That time is about here, but we are referring to the kind found in LOST. I have a site I use for these things and here is the visual:

The write-up for this photo reads, “While in prison, Richard’s Bible was open to a page with this chapter and verse. The page contains a story of Jesus encountering a man possessed by a demon and ordering the demon leave the man’s body without harming him.”

I disagree. The reason you read LOST TIDBITS is because we think differently! Ok, seriously, these guys see the top of the page reads “St Luke 4 37”. But the visual is clearly the upper-right verse, 4:24 which reads, “And he said, Verily I say until you, “No prophet is accepted in his own country.” I sense this was the real Easter egg since that is the quote Ben Linus made while prisoner in the Swan hatch. Doh!


COUNTERFEIT

The Bible warns that the Devil will not be as obvious as black and white. That would be too obvious. The key to misleading someone is to encapsulate your lie in some truth. Right now, I’m thinking “…a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down…” but that’s a whole other issue I’m dealing with!

We get a big dose of counterfeit this past episode. For example, the Man in Black touches Richard while in the bowels of the Black Rock and it appears to awaken Richard. Just like we saw Jacob touches John Locke after his fall. Technically this isn’t a counterfeit, but an exact duplication. The key is that it is hard to tell the two apart. This has lead to many theories about Jacob being the bad guy in reality.

Another example is the phrase used “it’s good to see you out of those chains”. John Black will say the same thing in a few centuries. Ok, it sort of is the same guy talking, but notice as well how it meant something different each time it was stated.

Here is a better example: the Man in Black instructs Richard to kill Jacob “before he can talk”. The only time that was said was when Jacob’s disciple, Dogan, was instructing Sayid.

Have I told you that both actors for Jacob and the Man in Black were in the TV show, “Supernatural”? Jacob plays the devil and MIB plays War – one of the apocalyptic horsemen.


BAPTISM

Jacob is teaching Richard a lesson about the value of life.

It reminded me a lot of the practice of baptism. The religious themes are loud and clear. Some denominations require baptism to reach Heaven while others view it as a symbolic gesture. Either way it represents the burial and resurrection of Christ. Now is a good time to remind you of the Biblical character with this reference: John the Baptist.


BLACK ROCK CRASHING

A few minor details to note:

The painting in the auction house is of the Black Rock during a storm.

Last week we see the Black Rock lifted high on a wave to explain how it got so far inland…and how the statue broke.

But in the season opener we have Jacob and Man in Black on the beach and they see a ship at sea. We assumed it was the Black Rock, but maybe not!

At the auction they said the last voyage was 1845, but last show it was 1867 when Richard was in prison. That was the year dynamite was invented so I think we have a correction being offered. Or it could have left Portsmouth, England in 1845 and take 22 years to get to the island? Maybe.


CANARY ISLANDS TRIVIA

Richard lived on the Canary Island of Tenerife. This island is known for its pyramids which some believe prove a connection between the Egyptians and the Mayans.

Canary Islands gets its name from Canaan – the land of the Israelites. It literally means “those who worship dogs”. Did someone say Vincent? Cerberus? And of course the Egyptians had gods in the form of dogs like Anubis.

The people of the Canary Islands claim to have seen a vanishing eighth island in their chain of islands. Did someone say “8”? A mysterious island that disappears? Hmmm….

These islands was also the location of a famous plane crash in 1977 – the year of the Incident on LOST.

**

Ok, that’s it for now. Oh wait, did anyone else think of the movie “Ghost” when watching Richard reunite with his wife? I was waiting for Isabella to jump into Hurley’s body and then Richard would have to kiss Hurley. Oh yuck!

Until next time…


Enjoy,
KC

LT357: A Conversation With Mike

MIKE WRITES

A reader of LOST TIDBITS emailed me with this analysis that I thought would be good to share.

**

I had high expectations to this episode since it was Richard’s first and probably only centric-episode and I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed. It was also nice not to see any flash-sideways story lines during this episode since they have been kind of boring and in the end they will probably be a) a “What If?” storyline/alternate universe that shows what happens to these people if they didn’t crash or b) the true ending of the series if all the flash-sideways parts are put together.

Hopefully the writers/producers throw us a screwball and go in a completely different direction to throw everyone off. Anyway, that’s 7 weeks away and there will be plenty of discussion on that later. On to “Ab Aeterno”.

Likes:
This was probably one of the best episodes this season. I won’t say it’s the best one in the series and I’m holding off of putting it in my top 5 or 10 of all time (yet) but this episode did answer a lot of questions for us which makes it very important (though the answers may be very minor and some of them were assumed already but after tonight they are officially answered). Some of the questions that were answered:
“How was the statue damage?”
“How did the Black Rock end up in the middle of the island?”
“What was the history of the Black Rock?”
“Who is Richard and what’s his deal exactly (aging, purpose, etc)?”

I could probably nit-pick and find more but Richard has a long past with the island and his story hasn’t been told until now so any sort of information about his past is bound to answer some questions.

Though it wasn’t a direct answer, we did get a lot more information about the island and also the battle between Jacob and MIB here. It is explained that the island is between our world and hell/an evil universe/purgatory/etc and that Jacob and the MIB intentions are to prove each other wrong that humans can be corrupted because it is in their nature. Yes, this has been discussed on message boards and it’s what we have been assuming for awhile but now it’s said on the show so it can be official (this is just like if Flocke was the black smoke monster situation that started last year). Jacob’s metaphor of the bottle of wine was another good and important scene. We will probably get more of an explanation of the island and Jacob/MIB but so far this episode has told us the most.

Though he has been on the fence for me over the last couple of seasons, I think Richard has joined the ranks of my favorite Lost characters. Locke, Daniel Faraday, Desmond, and Mr Ecko will greet you sir.

Dislikes:

I was hoping that Richard was even older and from the Egyptian times of the island. Though over the last couple of seasons there have been hints of him tied to the Black Rock thus squashing my hopes. I just want to see an Egyptian episode sometime!

Overall:

The acting, camera work, and story of this episode were great and it all fit nicely together. Also, bravo to Nestor Carbonell who knocked it out of the park this week. Hopefully the writers/producers can keep the momentum of this episode and the rest of the season will be just as great. Next week is a Jin/Sun centric-episode and they haven’t had a good one in a long time so here’s hoping they can end their last one on a high note.

Speaking of centric episodes, there’s 8 more episodes left (I’m counting the series finale as 1) so who do we all have left to cover.

(Minor Spoilers below):
Official:

Sun and Jin (next week)
Hurley (2 weeks away. Come on, his name is in the title.)

Probable:
Desmond (if we ever see him again. I’m kind of mad they are limiting his character this season. Maybe it’s because of the lawsuit last year.)
MIB (Jacob got one last year, so it’s only fitting that MIB gets one and I would almost put money on it that it will be the final episode.)
Frank (Maybe, it’s a long shot. Do we really need to know anything about his back story?)
Claire (They will need to explain why she walked off in the night and her being alone for 3 years)Ilana (Probably but I don’t really care about the character and her back story)

Grade: A-

MY RESPONSE

I think I've found my ghostwriter when we travel in a few weeks! Ok, down to business...

NO SIDEWAYS

If we take the name of the episode, then the events shown to us could all be pre-Earth. That's right, pre-Creation. I'm beginning to wonder that instead of looking for an end game on LOST, that we should consider all this as the pre-game!

The concept is that all the homage paid to the multiple religions and cultures and people is simply a way of saying that many people were given the chance that Adam was given...and all failed. Or something along those lines.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Yes, we did get answers. Consider this however: what if the answers we already presumed correctly were merely the writers giving us what we predescribed on message boards and blogs? In other words, this answers don't matter!

For example, the LOST community had pretty much guessed Richard was a passenger aboard the Black Rock ship. So, the writers confirmed it.

So I am focusing more on the surprise answers that are mandatory to finishing this story.

HISTORY OF THE BLACK ROCK

Since you brought it up...did you know that the owner of the ship was Magnus Hanso? That's a relative of Alvar Hanso - the guy who financed the Dharma Initiative as first told to us in the Swan Hatch Orientation film.

I do not know if Magnus was the ship's captain but in this episode we hear someone call out, "The captain is dead" when Smokey attacked them.

The ship's first mate - whoever that might be! - kept a log and this was somehow taken off the island and winds up in an auction house some 150 years later. It is at the auction that Charles Widmore buys the first mate's log book. I'm guessing this helped him find his way back via submarine.

This name dropping is to show us that the writers had this whole plot planned out well in advance. It also tells me that the Hanso's and Widmore's are connected. So now is a good time to remind everyone that another partner in this trinity (HA) is Mr. Paik - Sun's daddy!

WHAT IS THIS PLACE?

Charlie first asked this question and this week's episode provided some clues.

In Fundamentalist circles there is a pre-Heaven and a pre-Hell. I like to think of them as holding cells, but that probably is from my ornery side. They are officially called "Hades" and "Abraham's Bosom". When the Messiah returns a second time, the souls are moved from here to their final places: Hell and Heaven.

Catholics have a single holding cell called Purgatory (which is an acronym for Gary Troup, author of LOST-linked book, "Bad Twin"). Everyone goes here to pay penance as the old priest mentioned to Richard in his jail cell.

If my guess about these events being pre-time (Latin: Ab Aeterno), then we are actually talking about a pre-Heaven. I'm not sure we are ever given an official name for this place in the Bible but it is where the angels existed with God including one angel named Lucifer.

Earlier I have been suggesting the LOST story is moving towards End Times like in Revelation. But now I'm more convinced this is Pre Time and the angel, Lucifer, leaves Paradise and takes 1/3rd of the angels with him.

SPOILERS

TIDBITS normally doesn't do spoilers, but these are well publicized and not very revealing, so I included them. But now these comments:

Desmond - did you know that his name is listed in the credits of every episode so far in Season 6 and yet we saw him only briefly on the plane? I'll bet you a boot at the Hessen Haus that Desmond is who is locked behind that door on the sub. Father-in-laws can be such a pain!

While thinking about Desmond...remember Mrs. Hawking said that if Desmond didn't keep pushing that button the world would end and "God helps us all"? She was right. Desmond was keeping the cork in the bottle, just like the Dharma Group was doing before him.

Ilana - I feel that she is more important than you are giving her credit for. For example, how did she get her faced messed up? It seemed she was in some Third World hospital and how about her being someone different when those wraps come off!?! Her relationship with Jacob doesn't appear to be as old as Richard, but there have been mentions about "mothers" and "fathers" where these two are concerned.

**

Well, thanks for writing and I hope I gave you something to think about in response.


NEXT ON TIDBITS

Be checking back for more TIDBITS this week when we can discuss things like:

- In Sawyer's episode all the clocks seen in every scene were set to the same time!
- While the sideways flash appears to be parallel, I can prove they are not 2007-08!
- Aaron is not a good son!
- The MIB and Jacob are not the Devil and Christ!
- Why the Survivors are not dead as Richard claims!


If you enjoyed this post, let me know by clicking one of the ads. It let's me know you are reading, you like it, and I get compensated a few pennies for the effort. A win-win for everyone - unlike on the Island of Misfits.


Enjoy,
KC