Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Across the Sea, Somewhere, Waiting for Me!

I know, I know, the Bobby Darrin song is Beyond the Sea, but it's close enough.

This post will be in two parts. The first part will basically a speech on what I think it not a good trend among Lost fans, and how I was reborn during Jay and Jack's 30 Hour Podcast. The second part will be me explaining why I now support the theory proposed on the podcast.

So, there was a lot of negativity about this episode. A lot more than I expected when I was done watching it. On DarkUFO's poll it's rated much lower than I thought it would be, and hearing several podcasters, and friends comment on it I have really had enough. Before I start, I want to point out I in no way am saying people HAD to love, or even like this episode. If you hated it, then that's up to you. Personally, I liked it a lot. Is it the best episode of the season? No way! Scroll down a few posts if you want to see which one I think that is. I don't want this to be a rant, so I'll make it more of a speech. There was a time this season where I was pretty negative, and angry at the series. I wasn't getting what I wanted, and it wasn't blowing me away every week like I expected it should, and would. Then something amazing happened. I was asked by Jay and Jack to appear on their 30 hour podcast. Which wasn't that nuts, a lot of people were there including The Joshmeister(whom I appeared with) What was nuts was that the guy on directly after me was Damon Lindeloff!

What happened would really change the way I viewed the show. For those who didn't hear it, I'll summarize. Josh and I were asked our opinions on various things, and to discuss the show. Sounds pretty standard right? But I found myself being particularly negative. Specifically about the Flashsideways, and the happenings of episodes like What Kate Does. Because Jay and Jack are awesome guys they didn't yell at me, or tell me I was wrong. They simply said that they agreed things were moving a little slow at times, but they had faith, and were just going to enjoy the ride. That hit me pretty hard. I don't think they even meant it this way, but they basically said to me, "Hey, if you want to be negative that's fine, but you'll ruin it for yourself". I continued discussing the show with them for a few moments until it was time for Damon.

When Damon came on I was blown away, listening to him live was amazing. Jay and Jack have released this interview on their feed, and I definitely recommend it. I don't recall his exact words, but he basically said the same thing J&J did. That it's been about the journey. After that, I really was changed. Why be negative about small things? Why get annoyed or frustrated if I don't like what's happening in the story? Why focus on things I don't like? Since then i've tried to simply enjoy the journey because as Jacob says, "It only ends once."

This is where this turns to you guys. Again, you can think what you want, but just try and consider what I'm going to say. Does it really matter that the knife wasn't magnetized in the well? I mean really? Try not to focus on that, focus on what was being said in that scene. Does it really matter that the CGI of the light cave wasn't perfect or that it looked a little cheesy? So what? It's not about CGI, it's about the impact that that discovery has on the characters. Does it matter that the kids were not Oscar caliber actors? Does it really? Listen to what they are saying, and what the writers are trying to tell us in those scenes.

Stop focusing on the production aspect of the show, and start focusing on the content of the show. Just enjoy what the writers have created for us. Remember, the show is for US, but what is created is what they wanted. Do you think they don't think it matters or that they don't care? They worked extremely hard on this, and they gave us exactly what they wanted. If you don't like it, then that's fine, but what's the use in complaining? It won't change, and you'll just make yourself miserable. I'm not saying you should love it unconditionally. I definitely have issues with it and I talked about them on the show. All I am saying is, just try to focus on the positive, and just try to have fun.

I hope that didn't sound like a lecture, I certainly didn't mean it to be one.

Ok, on to the theory. For those that missed it, one of Amanda's friends said he had a theory that the Smoke Monster has actually trapped down in the cave, and MIB freed him by going down there. I really like this theory a lot. I'm actually starting to think it may be true. Here is some evidence. Jacob and MIB are told by CJ(not-mom), that they need to protect this place, and she tells Jacob that he can never go down there. Well, I think floating MIB's dead body down there did in fact release the Smoke Monster from captivity. After escaping Smokey threw MIB's body to the side, just like he did with Locke's body. Smokey does in fact want to leave the Island more than anything. MIB wanted to leave too, but Smokey wants to escape. I also think that MIB and Jacob could both leave whenever they wanted to, but simply were prevented to by CJ. If MIB had the ability to leave, then why did CJ attack him before completion of the Donkey Wheel? Wouldn't she let him attempt to leave, and fail? No, she needed to stop him so that he wouldn't leave. Smokey however had all this time to activate the wheel, but he hasn't. He really can't leave until Jacob and his Candidates are dead.

Another thing about this theory that I love is that it does what Lost has done for years. Which is it takes someone we thought knew everything, and turns them into someone who is just being played. From Locke, to Ben, to Richard, and now both Jacob and MIB. Both of them were simply played by the Smoke Monster. It makes sense too. For me, it makes much more sense that in the center of the Island since the beginning of time, there has existed a darkness and it finally was allowed to escape. Smokey took on the personality and traits of MIB, just as he is doing so now, but for Locke. This also may explain how MIB knew about the donkey wheel being able to get them off the Island. However, I'm not totally convinced on that last part. I do like to think he simply knew it could be done because he was special. Just as Walt was special and had certain powers, and Hurley has certain powers. This theory also gets rid of the needs to learn how MIB changed into Smokey. It's much easier to learn what Smokey is. Personally, I'd be pleased if it's simply "darkness". I mean, somethings in real life don't have describable answers in current science, such as Dark Energy. Finally, I also think this doesn't hurt my Vincent Theory at all. In fact, it strengthens it in my opinion.

Well that's that.

Don't forget to join us directly after the episode next week on Talkshoe. It will be the final Initial Reaction Lost Flashbacks ever!! So we really would love to have a big group. And, just like this week we would love for folks to call in.

And then for the Finale, we'll be doing Big-O's show, but then on Monday the 24th, don't forget we will be doing our very own show. One major highlight will be of me eating my very old, and hopefully tasty Apollo Bar live on Ustream.

Have a good week all, and Namaste

P.S. Sorry for no pictures this week, I may edit it later to add some. There are some errors, and it's not allowing me to add them properly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

P.P.S. Due to recent bot and spam attacks on the blog I am now reviewing all comments. Don't worry, if you're a real person I'll allow all comments though, but just know they won't show up right away.

7 comments:

Petor23 said...

I absolutely loathed this episode. I didn't even have as strong a reaction to Stranger in a Strange Land as I did to this episode.

Firstly, I feel insulted by the Adam and Eve reveal. I know you try and justify the flashback by claiming that some people wouldn't know what it was, but I feel that if they didn't know what was going on, then they're not very likely to care about it in the first place.

This reveal was supposedly supposed to show that they had this master plan all along, but then why did they give Jack the stupid line estimating how long they had been there? I personally don't care whether or not they did have this master plan, but to me the reveal meant absolutely nothing.

Secondly, the sudden break from Latin to English was completely jarring (nearly as jarring as Alison Janney's pronunciation, though), and what I find most annoying about it is that it doesn't at all explain why Jacob suddenly speaks English in 1867.

Thirdly, the acting by the kids was awful, and thus the entire first half was just terrible. It seems their only selling point was the fact that they looked relatively similar to Jacob/MiB.

Fourthly, "I could only think of one name". That is the single worst reason why they haven't named this character, and why he hadn't been given a name when living with the "others" for 30 years is completely beyond me. I don't care what his name is, but it just feels like they didn't give him a name just to annoy us, and this was a lousy excuse why.

Fifthly, this cave of light was pretty awful. The only saving point was the callback to Locke's speech.

Sixthly, the only reason they gave us for MiB's quest to get off the island is simply because his mother wouldn't let him. This makes both him and Jacob (who was just pathetic in this episode) completely unsympathetic, and the fact that the entire show has now boiled down to their rivalry is pretty disappointing.

Seventhly, I felt this episode should have fleshed in more of the islands pre-history, but suddenly having Latin-speakers appear to be the initial civilisation and not explain anything about the Egyptian influence is just confusing. One throwaway line hinting at the existence of an earlier civilisation would have been enough. It's not about giving answers, it's about telling a coherent story, and this is not that.

The second half of the episode was slightly better than the first, but I felt myself wanting something at the end to vindicate this pseudo-biblical nonsense, but all I got was an insulting reveal.

The only parts of the episode which I really felt anything towards were the well scene, and the smokey reveal.

Maybe I might feel slightly better on second watching, but to me this episode just made me despise the show and if there weren't only two more episodes, I would have seriously considered not watching any more.

I am just going to pretend this episode never happened, which is I suppose lucky then that it felt so detached.

Jason de la Rosa said...

Hey, Josh. I'm with you on this. My whole philosophy going into this season was to just "enjoy the ride" and let the journey take me wherever it goes. I spent a lot of time theorizing and speculating about the show (spoiler free) since the very first episode and I just realized that I wanted to enjoy what was left of it while it was still here.

Hearing Jay and Jack say this as well, and then Damon Lindelof's awesome interview on their 30 Hour Podcast just reaffirmed this for me. I don't like everything they have done with the show, and I'll be the first to criticize, but why spend the rest of this awesome ride being negative? If we do that, we're just setting ourselves up for disaster in the end. I'd rather be critical of the show as a whole when it's all over. Right now, there's only just a few days left, and I want to soak it all in, because before we know it, it's going to be over.

Thanks for the post.

Unknown said...

Hey Petor, thanks for your thoughts. I really did want to try and start a good discussion, and you def have some great points. I'm not going to try and counter them since I agree with most of them to a point, but I will try and maybe explain why those things don't bother me as much.

1)I agree about the Adam and Eve reveal. However, I really like that it was MIB and CJ. But I talked about this on the show.

2)I totally agree here. The switch in languages was annoying. They should have spoken English from the start in my opinion. The sound that accompanied the change was even stranger. But I not going to let a small writing choice ruin my enjoyment.

3)I wasn't to bothered by the kids. But I've heard this from several people so you are not alone.

4)I hated this at first, and really was mad at the writers. But as the episode went on, and I enjoyed it I found I really don't care anymore. From a writing stand point I don't know why he wouldn't get a name, but oh well.

5)I liked the cave a lot. I don't really get what people hate about it so much. I'm sorry you didn't like it. :(

6)I think his quest to leave the island was based simply on the fact that he wanted to and wasn't allowed to. But this is another reason I'm really getting behind the theory that MIB was just a dude who wanted to leave, and it's Smokey who has wanted to escape for all this time. We know Jacob can leave, he does all the time. MIB could leave at anytime, CJ was just preventing it. Smokey though, physically can't leave until the protector it dead.

7)I agree SO much on this one. This is kinda what I meant when I said I wish there was a way to get more. I feel they maybe waited to long. What about the building of the Temple, or the Statue? How did CJ get to the Island, was she born there? How did her mom get there? So many questions, and I wish there was a way we could get answers to that. I've wanted pre-island history for such a long time.

Well man, hopefully, you won't feel the same about the next couple episodes. I also hope you'll be able to join us on Monday for our special finale show! :)

@Jason. Thanks Man! I was worried the post would come off as a lecture, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. The Damon interview really is amazing, he's such an awesome guy.

Petor23 said...

On a slightly lighter note, thanks to your Fringe talk last week, I caught myself up on the last 6 or so episodes.

I really have to say, it really did prove itself in those weeks with a run of near-flawless episodes, and Peter was certainly up to the standard of any of the greatest Lost episodes.

Brown Betty could have been interesting at least, but it was poorly timed, as you said, and it felt more like the musical parts had just been tacked on to attempt at an X-Files-esque comedic episode, which didn't really work at all. And those singing corpses were quite disturbing.

Last weeks episode on the other hand seemed well-timed with your discussion of Twin Peaks, and was an excellent example of them combining a more stand-alone episode with the main mythology and story arcs.

I don't have much to say about today's episode due to it only really being half-finished, but I have high hopes for next week and also next season if it continues at this standard.

Also, I'm going to try and make it for the finale podcast, since you're not doing it as an initial reaction.

Spencer said...

Hey everyone, this is completely irrelevant to this episode, theory, or anything this season, but I saw this article and couldn't help but think 'Damn, that actually is plausible!' in reference to an originally ludicrous thing that Jack wanted to do one episode in season 4. http://pbh3.tumblr.com/post/600433829/your-move-chuck-norris

Unknown said...

No prob Petor. The Fringe section was a lot of fun, and I'm definitely going to talk a lot about it on this week's show. LFB will not become a Fringe Podcast, but we will discuss it a lot.

@Spencer LOL! Jack must have seen this. That's how he knew it could be done!

Anonymous said...

This is also irrelevant to this post. Congested recently posted the trailer for his documentary about Lost podcasters. Suffice to say, it looks loads of awesome. http://vimeo.com/11838904