Lost

The Stand?

 

10 thoughts...

10. Sawyer's line about the bears -- "Oh yeah? Well how many of them were there?" -- was well done. I enjoy Sawyer much more when he's being clever as opposed to when he's being a bigot, but I'm usually in the minority there. Sadly, it seems most people here would get a bigger laugh if he referred to Sayid as "Punjab."

9. Three seasons in a row, we've begun with a Jack Shepard flashback. I used to be way into Jack's story, but this episode kind of left me feeling a little blah. I don't know. There's not really a lot of mystery left to Jack other than who Sarah was cheating on him with. We know dad's a drunk, and that dad couldn't show his love, we know you need to fix everyone to try to fill the emptiness inside you, we know you don't particularly like to shave, ect. I suddenly, just now, feel like there are more interesting characters on the island, and yet, I feel like Jack's story may be the engine behind all this. I used to be captivated every time it was his turn for a flashback, and now, I'm indifferent.

8. The whole "water bursts from behind the closed door" would have been more compelling had it not: 1. Been shown in the previews 2. Been an Alias staple for J.J. Abrams, and one which Sydney and Vaughn were forced to overcome at least four times in five seasons.

7. I'm not sure if I understand what the big "oh shit" moment at the end was supposed to be. It seemed obvious that The Artist Formerly Known as Henry Gale was Ben from the opening scene, especially when he said, "So I'm guess I'm out of the book club" right after they'd been talking about Ben not being there. Perhaps I'm missing something.

6. I liked how the opening scene was a discussion of whether Stephen King was literature or popcorn with no metaphor because its "by the numbers religious hokum pokum science fiction," because obviously they're talking about LOST here. I like that kind of post modernism in my television. Also, can you imagine being Stephen King, who has confessed that he's a big fan of the show? I always wondered what that would feel like. I saw David Sedaris not that long ago, and he said recently on "One Life to Live" (his favorite show) a character mentioned that he aspires to "write like David Sedaris" and that Sedaris felt like it was flattering, surreal and somewhat disarming. Chuck Klosterman said he felt similarly weirded out when Seth Cohen name-checked him on an episode of The O.C. I can't imagine what that would feel like, to achieve a level of success where the things you enjoy as entertainment are suddenly acknowledging that success. I'm not sure what exactly I'm trying to say here. Anyway, The Stand seems like an obvious pick for the book, except for the fact that every person in that book club would have to be holding an abridged version because the Stand is 1,200 pages long and Juliet's book was much skinnier than that.

5. I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine there could be a community of houses on the island that the survivors had not found yet. I mean, this is after all, an island where Desmond tried to sail due West from for a week straight, only to end up right back where he started, comparing it to a "bloody snow globe." I think if you get caught up in the logistics of how The Others have plumbing, ovens and lawnmowers, but you don't feel tripped up by the fact that this is an island where giant birds can speak Hurley's name, you're kind of missing the forrest for the trees. But, just to argue the point, in the last shot before commercial in the first scene, the camera pulls back and it looks like the island is bloody huge, that the village is tiny, and tucked behind some mountains.

4. That said, this show keeps tossing more and more chips into the middle of the table, upping the stakes, and if it turns out that three seasons from now the writers aren't holding, at the very least, four of a kind, it's going to make me (and a lot of people) completely furious. You can make it as confusing and as mysterious as you want, but the pieces have to fit together at the end somehow. I'm not one of those viewers who gets pissed off the more questions we get without answers, because for the moment, I have faith those answers will come. For the moment.

3. I do like how actors like Goodwin and Ethan can be killed off two seasons ago, yet they're still willing to return and do the flashbacks. Most shows don't do this. I suppose we're lucky that Julie Bowen landed a spot on Boston Legal instead of CSI or Studio 60, because I imagine ABC is better about letting you do stuff on the same network.

2. Jack's obviously going to have some kind of romance with Juliet (a pretty name, by the way) since the producers have said he's going to hook up with someone who is not named Kate, and is mostly likely an Other. (How long since we've had a Kate flashback, by the way? Tiny plastic airplane episode?) Not sure how I feel about that.

1. I wonder if Kate Winslet is whipping out her AmEx card today, logging on to ABC.com to catch the insider LOST info only available to cardholders. No? Well, her life does have enough drama as it is, so the commercial says. Still, that woman is my idea of beautiful.

 

The book was "Carrie."

 

The AMEX thing really pissed me off last night. I felt like Ralphie when he found out the secret message was "Eat Your Ovaltine".

 

I have to admit that the 1st time Juilette was on screen I thought it was Desmond's girlfriend (The big oh shit moment from the end of last season).

 

It took a trip to imdb for me to figure out where I knew Juliet from. I got to hang around the set of 3 (ESPN’s Earnhardt movie) for a day and chatted with Elizabeth Mitchell in her trailer (on assignment, of course). She was awfully nice and really chatty. And she looked different… She looked like a soccer mom on Lost. Not so much in person.

 

I thought it was Jack's ex-wife.

 

Thought the same thing. Maybe they're sisters. Wouldn't surprise me.

 

that's what i thought, too.

then, later during the episode, i wondered if she might be jack's girlfriend kirstin from party of five (when jack was named charlie), but i don't think it's her.

 

Seriously? You questioned this?

The part I keep thinking about is the opening. "Downtown" by Patsy Cline. Same exact 30-second shots from Season 2 Premiere, trading Desmond for Julie and ditching "Make Your Own Kind of Music." I keep thinking about those songs.

Yea, I think Henry Gale is Ben.

 

She was also in that HBO movie years ago, when the world first really heard about Angelina Jolie. Gia, about the doomer, heroin-addicted supermodel.
She got to make out with Pillow Lips. I bet she didn't mind.

 

I bet one day they will do an intergalactic version and call it "Lost in Space."