Sunday, December 23, 2007

Episode 30 - Tricia Tanaka in a Strange Land

I dunno if Tricia Tanaka was in a strange land, but I do know that Amanda was during this show. She's in her CAR!!! Driving from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. That's pretty cool stuff. She even invents a new technology, Boonetooth. If you don't get it, then you gotta listen to the show.

We discuss maybe the worst episode of Lost; Stranger in a Strange Land, and also one of the funniest; Tricia Tanaka is Dead.

We have a lot of fun and are joined by some awesome people. Listen to the whole show to hear our very special guest...BIG-O!!.

Download the episode here, and enjoy.

13 comments:

Ella Rose said...

I won't post it here because it's way too long (sorry!), but I sent you an e-mail relating to the discussion of Hurley's fake Tarot reading. I'll probably post it on http://imstayinglost.blogspot.com soon. Great episode, as usual.

Faith said...

I think its safe to say that TTiD is the most universally funny Lost episode...ever...so far.

Ella Rose said...

Absolutely! I just re-watched it with Jorge's commentary. (courtesy of the Dharmalars, of course. they are frakin' amazing!) I do hope Jorge gets more dramatic scenes, like the one in front of Libby's grave. I tear up every time! I don't know if we'll get another light-hearted one like TTiD in the first eight of S4, but TTiD is the gold standard so far!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Sorry, lemme try that again!

I remember getting really worried after "Stranger" that S3 was going back the way of the first six episodes, thank goodness for "Tricia Tanaka is Dead"! I almost wonder if part of the lack of appeal of those first six episodes is just the dreary atmosphere. 'Cause one of the things I love about this show is the scenery!

I was always intrigued by Isabel, and the thought that she is actually dead is more than a little distressing. As far as that goes, it bothers me just as much to hear that Mikhail is dead, after all that he has inexplicably survived. How in the world can all these side characters have stories now (Libby is another one) when they're all dead? It makes me wonder if dying on the island is the only way to get off of it and back into the real world. 'Cause I gotta tell you, they sure take killing pretty lightly all things considered. Kate's already asked two different people why they didn't kill (why didn't Jack kill Ben, why didn't stepdad kill Wayne), Juliet probably didn't have to kill Pickett, Jack said he's gonna kill both Tom and Ben. I ain't even scratched the surface.

Johnny and Starla (Hurley's g/f) is another one that bugs me. I always wondered what happened with Johnny after the parking lot scene in "Everybody Hates Hugo". Presumably, the events of "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" are happening just after that, but what was going on with Johnny and Starla? Surely it wasn't too long before she found out about him winning as well, which is what I've been trying to explore in my fan-fic S4. I would've thought Johnny would be more happy for his friend, but if it's true that he wasn't, and it's also true that he ran off with Starla, then one would assume she wasn't happy about it either. Which has been sort of fun to try and explain. I guess since he quit the job at Mr. Clucks too, now he has nothing to go do. Wouldn't Hurley have hired him back on, maybe as an assistant manager or something? Holy crap, that would ruin a friendship though wouldn't it. Hmm, yeah that could work maybe!

Unknown said...

Something else to add... earlier I said "It makes me wonder if dying on the island is the only way to get off of it and back into the real world." We've seen that birth doesn't yeild the same result it's supposed to, maybe death doesn't either!

GregDean said...

It makes me wonder if dying on the island is the only way to get off of it and back into the real world.

If Arzt, Boone and the Marshall just showed up back in the real world, that would be odd. I've heard this theory before, but I just don't see it. Just because "Crazy Jack" got all hopped up on pills and thought his dad was still alive for a second ?

travis said...

About "glass houses": I think Tom was refering to what the losties had done on the island -- torture, killing, lying, secrecy, etc.

travis said...

The Isabel thing: It's just a TV thing, IMO. They're not able to sign these minor characters to long term contracts and the actors go and get other jobs. It happens all the time.

Look at Alpert. He's much more important to the story arch, and the actor Nestor Carbonelle got a bigger role in another show. They just have to write around him now.

Also, it's not easy to fly out to Hawaii if you're working on other projects. Maybe she was difficult to work with, so they just killed her off.

Unknown said...

Yeah, you're probably right Travis. But We know for a fact that Alpert got a new show, and he's not dead. I mean, it just pisses me off that they introduced this character, and then killed her off, and didn't even bother to tell us in the series!

It just makes Stranger seem even more useless.

ash said...

I'm glad they didn't waste time on her in the finale. They wrote Stranger before the end date for Lost was set, so I'm guessing they were just setting up her character incase they had to stretch the series out.

Btw, Josh great job even tho u were solo for the second half. You guys should do the rambling session more often.

GregDean said...

I think the main complaint about the way Isabel's death was handled was that they could easily have included her name in the list of Others that Tom tells Ben over the walkie talkie that are dead... some of whom I'm pretty sure weren't visible (ie, the actor wasn't there) in the actual episode *either*.

The way this is playing out, it's like they FORGOT about Isabel when writing the script, and are post-facto killing her off. I hope she at least gets mentioned IN THE SHOW as being killed, so this isn't some "Comic Con only" info.

ash said...

Greg, don't think I can disagree with that.. and now that I think about it, why would the Sheriff go along anyway? That's almost like sending Alpert. She should have been with the Others heading to the temple.