by Nancy Drew
With Season 6 about a third of the way in, Lost is still delivering story lines that leave fans wondering what this show is actually about and how it will be resolved by May 23rd. Told in various ways and through several types of literary techniques, and through six seasons of keeping the die-hard fan hooked, the writers of Lost have raised the episode "bar" to a whole new level with our current episode, Dr. Linus. For me, this seems to be the first major episode this season that starts to put some aspects of the story solidly together. It was one thing to sit through watching and listening as Jack lit the fuse to a stick of dynamite sitting between him and Richard for a "talk", but when the scene between Ilana and Ben brought the sting of tears to my eyes, I realized that this episode would have been more fittingly named, "The Beginning of the End of the End". We ARE in the final chapter. The sides are lining up and the battle is about to begin, but who will these soldiers ask for protection? Which ones will align with Jacob to save the ones they love and which will sell their souls to Flocke?
I thought it would be easy to just rewatch the episode and jot a few thoughts down for an article, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. There was so much that occurred to me while rewatching that I decided to shut it off and start at the beginning. No, not the beginning of Season 1 like the hiatus-long rewatch, but the beginning of Season 6. If there was one thing I learned through the rewatch over the hiatus, it was that some things were more noticeable in looking at the whole picture together that one episode at a time. Our "blocks", as we called them, of episodes always seemed to fit together like mini-movies and helped us to see an entire situation at a time. And using this line of thinking, I popped my bowl of popcorn, grabbed my diet coke, set up my favorite colorful markers, and grabbed a brand new pad of paper to begin again on What Kate Did (ABC didn't have both parts of the premiere available). There are other things that became apparent to me after rewatching all of the episodes, so I've saved those thoughts for the end. There were some neat things that had occured to me about the candidates, the tests, and the touches or gifts from Jacob.
What I learned in rewatching this episode was that I need to lighten up on Kate this season. There were some really intriguing aspects to the episode and a lot of them had to do with Kate. She is a strong character but some of her storylines just haven't played to her strengths. This one was different. I think I came to this conclusion when, at the end, Sawyer gets up and walks away and she doesn't follow him. It also made me realize that later, when I would get to the Lighthouse, she would also decline in following Jack on his trek with Hurley. Kate is finally on her own walkabout and I think it was Sawyer pulling at her heartstrings about losing something that was close to him that made her realize that. Because of her actions, her best friend Tom Brennan, was killed, leaving behind a wife and daughter that would never have the opportunity to get to know him. Kate's walkabout to find Claire and reunite her with her son will be Kate's way of feeling redemption and "cleansed" of her wrongs in life. It will be only then that Kate's faith in anything will be restored and her soul will be healed from the pain she's endured.
There were also a lot of "hand" references in Kate's episode. Aside from the use of the word "handcuffs", the word "hand" was used five other times, including by the mechanic that set her free of the handcuffs (saying he had a "steady hand") and by Dr. Goodspeed [Ethan], who said that Aaron would be a "handful". Other significant "hand" references were Lennon standing in Dogen's room with an open book in his right hand, Dogen placing the poisoned pill in Jack's left hand, and Kate holding Claire's hand while she was in the hospital. And while you're all sitting there reading this thinking that Nancy Drew has finally fallen off the deep end because of noticing things about "hands" in an episode, just keep in mind that this is the first season where we haven't had our usual "eye" references. And I'm also reminded that in the Bible, the hand, God's Hand, has represented a shroud of protection and a power to be reckoned with.
Exodus 3:20 "So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go."
In moving on to the next episode, The Substitute, I began to lose my confidence in being able to see the "big picture". I found nothing but the usual confusion and burning questions that we've had since originally watching it. This was a classic Lost episode in that it showed us something new with the reveal of the cave with names and numbers written on its walls and ceilings, something mysterious with the appearance of a blood-covered young boy that made Doppleganger Locke nervous, and the sudden realization that sides are being formed again and a battle is waiting to begin.
I found myself wondering why it was that James was so easily persuaded to follow Locke through the jungle when he had a clear vision of what he really was. James knew that it wasn't Locke standing before him and he knew that following him meant joining a side that wasn't good. But in wondering, and in looking back with a rewatch eye, I started to think of what it was that Locke had over James to convince him to stay on his side. It was in remembering Dogen's story of the loss of his son that I started to think it was the feeling of loss that brought this darkness upon someone and if what we're dealing with isn't dark and light or good and bad, but the lost and the found. When John died--the real John Locke--at the hands of Ben Linus, he was in his heaviest state of feeling lost. He had just found out that the love of his life was dead (lost). His "tour guide", Matthew Abaddon was just killed (lost). His mission to get the Ocean 6 to return to the island was not successful (lost). At his very lowest, and as he was about to kill himself, he ends up dying with all of that loss as part of his "final thoughts". The next thing we know, he's part of a plan involving a loop hole for the MIB. MIB represents the "darkness" that grows inside of those he recruits, and those individuals are filled with loss, like Claire (Aaron), James (Juliet), Sayid (Nadia and Shannon), and Christian Shepard because he felt the loss of both his son and his daughter from his life. If what it takes to be recruited is to feel extreme loss in the heart, then I fear for the recruitment of Hurley and Kate. And I wonder if it's the "dark" that MIB would have never kept Richard in when he makes that statement to him when discussing his loyalty to Jacob. Maybe the blood-covered boy is the beginning of loss for MIB--or mythologically for the world--and he represents a Charles Dickens scenario of being haunted by the ghosts of the past.
To every shred of darkness, there is a ray of light that forms the balance between the two. In The Lighthouse, the puzzling reveal of David Shepard, Jack's son, creates a shadow that covers the rest of the story and makes it hard to see, but if you shine the light of our attentions on the island story, and not on the flash sideways, we'll see that Jack is beginning to take a long look at himself in the mirror--starting with his reflection in the water at the start of the episode. Hurley is told by Jacob that "someone is coming to the island" and that he needs Hurley to "help them find it" by leading Jack away from the temple and straight to the lighthouse. Like the mysterious cabin--also seen by Hurley--they've never noticed this lighthouse before because they weren't looking for it, but I think that BOTH Hurley and Jack had separate reasons for needing to find it. Hurley was on a mission from Jacob (I can just picture him saying that line in a Dan-Akroyd-Blues-Brothers sort-of way) because he needs to set the dial to 108--a number that has the name of "Wallace" next to it. As we saw when Hurley began to turn the dial, flashes of the lives of those names etched along the numbers were briefly shown, including the house in which Jack lived as a boy. So, the question then becomes, what would have been shown if Hurley would have gotten to 108? In looking back from our current episode and the way it ended, someone IS coming to the island--in a submarine--and his name is Widmore. Is there going to be a connection between Wallace and Widmore and does turning the dial to 108 face the mirrors of the lighthouse in a direction that sends a signal to be read through the periscope of the sub? When I saw the mirrors turning, all I could remember was the morse code conversation between Ben and one of the Others by using a mirror found in the Saltine Cracker tomb beneath a rock. In sending Hurley to reposition the mirrors, did Jacob signal to Widmore?
Jack's purpose for being at the lighthouse was so that he could find his faith. Just as I think MIB represents the "lost", I think Jacob represents the "found". We watched as John completed his boar hunt in Walkabout and his sense of finding himself ended with him staring in reflection at the ocean. And in remembering those characters who have seemed to "find" themselves through the island, I'm also reminded of Hurley and his cannonball into the water that set him free from his belief in the curse of numbers and money. Maybe this is a bit of foreshadowing into what we may end up seeing with some of our characters that I believe to be "lost" with MIB, like Kate and James, but I fear that it's too late for Sayid and he will be one of our beloved characters to remain lost.
As my thoughts on Sayid are fading to black, I have reached Sundown and confirmed what all of my fears for him have been. Although he has the element of sacrificing himself and his integrity to better the lives of his family and friends, he still a darkness within him that has been apparent since first finding out that he was an Iraqi torturer. I have always found it difficult to understand why Eko's life and Sayid's were so similar, but MIB only judged and punished Eko for his wrong-doings, and never confronted Sayid about his. Did Sayid help to balance his inner scale by helping the fellow survivors of Oceanic 815 and opening his heart to Shannon? And yet, now, after returning to the island, he finds himself being judged by Dogen and the others at the temple. For me, and even after rewatching this episode, I am still left with a little confusion as to why Sayid was handed a weapon by someone who knows him to be filled with darkness when he wasn't trusted to remain within the walls of the temple alive, but I'm convinced that Dogen knew more than he revealed. I even had a slight feeling when watching his reaction to the baseball falling to the floor that he may have known he was to die at the hand of Sayid--especially with his death being followed with the release of the same baseball in the water he was drowned in.
The big question for this episode, "What if you could?", asked when Sayid said that he'd never see again that one thing that died in his arms. It made me wonder if this is the purpose of our flash sideways and the fact that we see Dogen in Jack's side story, both with sons that aren't in existence in our original timeline. Dogen also says that he doesn't like the way English tastes on his tongue and refuses to speak it in the real timeline. Is this because he is forced to speak it when looking in on his son in this alternate timeline? Is this where Sayid would see Nadia again? This way of thinking was only more convincing when I saw that Dogen was reading "Deep River", by Shusaku Endo. A summary of the book states:
"A trip to India becomes a journey of discovery for a group of Japanese tourists playing out their "individual dramas of the soul." Isobe searches for his reincarnated wife, while Kiguchi relives the wartime horror that ultimately saved his life. Alienated by middle age, Mitsuko follows Otsu, a failed priest, to the holy city of Varanas, hoping that the murky Ganges holds the secret to the "difference between being alive and truly living." Looking for absolutes, each character confronts instead the moral ambiguity of India's complex culture, in which good and evil are seen as a whole as indifferent to distinction as the Ganges River, which washes the living and transports the dead. This novel is a fascinating study of cultural truths revealed through a rich and varied cast."
Stay tuned for Part Two of Touches, Tests, and Candidates (Oh My!), where I try to explain why it is that Dr. Linus made me see the importance and significance of being a candidate and some of the puzzling events that have transpired so far this season--including why Jack was asked to kill Sayid.
I thought it would be easy to just rewatch the episode and jot a few thoughts down for an article, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. There was so much that occurred to me while rewatching that I decided to shut it off and start at the beginning. No, not the beginning of Season 1 like the hiatus-long rewatch, but the beginning of Season 6. If there was one thing I learned through the rewatch over the hiatus, it was that some things were more noticeable in looking at the whole picture together that one episode at a time. Our "blocks", as we called them, of episodes always seemed to fit together like mini-movies and helped us to see an entire situation at a time. And using this line of thinking, I popped my bowl of popcorn, grabbed my diet coke, set up my favorite colorful markers, and grabbed a brand new pad of paper to begin again on What Kate Did (ABC didn't have both parts of the premiere available). There are other things that became apparent to me after rewatching all of the episodes, so I've saved those thoughts for the end. There were some neat things that had occured to me about the candidates, the tests, and the touches or gifts from Jacob.
What I learned in rewatching this episode was that I need to lighten up on Kate this season. There were some really intriguing aspects to the episode and a lot of them had to do with Kate. She is a strong character but some of her storylines just haven't played to her strengths. This one was different. I think I came to this conclusion when, at the end, Sawyer gets up and walks away and she doesn't follow him. It also made me realize that later, when I would get to the Lighthouse, she would also decline in following Jack on his trek with Hurley. Kate is finally on her own walkabout and I think it was Sawyer pulling at her heartstrings about losing something that was close to him that made her realize that. Because of her actions, her best friend Tom Brennan, was killed, leaving behind a wife and daughter that would never have the opportunity to get to know him. Kate's walkabout to find Claire and reunite her with her son will be Kate's way of feeling redemption and "cleansed" of her wrongs in life. It will be only then that Kate's faith in anything will be restored and her soul will be healed from the pain she's endured.
There were also a lot of "hand" references in Kate's episode. Aside from the use of the word "handcuffs", the word "hand" was used five other times, including by the mechanic that set her free of the handcuffs (saying he had a "steady hand") and by Dr. Goodspeed [Ethan], who said that Aaron would be a "handful". Other significant "hand" references were Lennon standing in Dogen's room with an open book in his right hand, Dogen placing the poisoned pill in Jack's left hand, and Kate holding Claire's hand while she was in the hospital. And while you're all sitting there reading this thinking that Nancy Drew has finally fallen off the deep end because of noticing things about "hands" in an episode, just keep in mind that this is the first season where we haven't had our usual "eye" references. And I'm also reminded that in the Bible, the hand, God's Hand, has represented a shroud of protection and a power to be reckoned with.
Exodus 3:20 "So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go."
In moving on to the next episode, The Substitute, I began to lose my confidence in being able to see the "big picture". I found nothing but the usual confusion and burning questions that we've had since originally watching it. This was a classic Lost episode in that it showed us something new with the reveal of the cave with names and numbers written on its walls and ceilings, something mysterious with the appearance of a blood-covered young boy that made Doppleganger Locke nervous, and the sudden realization that sides are being formed again and a battle is waiting to begin.
I found myself wondering why it was that James was so easily persuaded to follow Locke through the jungle when he had a clear vision of what he really was. James knew that it wasn't Locke standing before him and he knew that following him meant joining a side that wasn't good. But in wondering, and in looking back with a rewatch eye, I started to think of what it was that Locke had over James to convince him to stay on his side. It was in remembering Dogen's story of the loss of his son that I started to think it was the feeling of loss that brought this darkness upon someone and if what we're dealing with isn't dark and light or good and bad, but the lost and the found. When John died--the real John Locke--at the hands of Ben Linus, he was in his heaviest state of feeling lost. He had just found out that the love of his life was dead (lost). His "tour guide", Matthew Abaddon was just killed (lost). His mission to get the Ocean 6 to return to the island was not successful (lost). At his very lowest, and as he was about to kill himself, he ends up dying with all of that loss as part of his "final thoughts". The next thing we know, he's part of a plan involving a loop hole for the MIB. MIB represents the "darkness" that grows inside of those he recruits, and those individuals are filled with loss, like Claire (Aaron), James (Juliet), Sayid (Nadia and Shannon), and Christian Shepard because he felt the loss of both his son and his daughter from his life. If what it takes to be recruited is to feel extreme loss in the heart, then I fear for the recruitment of Hurley and Kate. And I wonder if it's the "dark" that MIB would have never kept Richard in when he makes that statement to him when discussing his loyalty to Jacob. Maybe the blood-covered boy is the beginning of loss for MIB--or mythologically for the world--and he represents a Charles Dickens scenario of being haunted by the ghosts of the past.
To every shred of darkness, there is a ray of light that forms the balance between the two. In The Lighthouse, the puzzling reveal of David Shepard, Jack's son, creates a shadow that covers the rest of the story and makes it hard to see, but if you shine the light of our attentions on the island story, and not on the flash sideways, we'll see that Jack is beginning to take a long look at himself in the mirror--starting with his reflection in the water at the start of the episode. Hurley is told by Jacob that "someone is coming to the island" and that he needs Hurley to "help them find it" by leading Jack away from the temple and straight to the lighthouse. Like the mysterious cabin--also seen by Hurley--they've never noticed this lighthouse before because they weren't looking for it, but I think that BOTH Hurley and Jack had separate reasons for needing to find it. Hurley was on a mission from Jacob (I can just picture him saying that line in a Dan-Akroyd-Blues-Brothers sort-of way) because he needs to set the dial to 108--a number that has the name of "Wallace" next to it. As we saw when Hurley began to turn the dial, flashes of the lives of those names etched along the numbers were briefly shown, including the house in which Jack lived as a boy. So, the question then becomes, what would have been shown if Hurley would have gotten to 108? In looking back from our current episode and the way it ended, someone IS coming to the island--in a submarine--and his name is Widmore. Is there going to be a connection between Wallace and Widmore and does turning the dial to 108 face the mirrors of the lighthouse in a direction that sends a signal to be read through the periscope of the sub? When I saw the mirrors turning, all I could remember was the morse code conversation between Ben and one of the Others by using a mirror found in the Saltine Cracker tomb beneath a rock. In sending Hurley to reposition the mirrors, did Jacob signal to Widmore?
Jack's purpose for being at the lighthouse was so that he could find his faith. Just as I think MIB represents the "lost", I think Jacob represents the "found". We watched as John completed his boar hunt in Walkabout and his sense of finding himself ended with him staring in reflection at the ocean. And in remembering those characters who have seemed to "find" themselves through the island, I'm also reminded of Hurley and his cannonball into the water that set him free from his belief in the curse of numbers and money. Maybe this is a bit of foreshadowing into what we may end up seeing with some of our characters that I believe to be "lost" with MIB, like Kate and James, but I fear that it's too late for Sayid and he will be one of our beloved characters to remain lost.
As my thoughts on Sayid are fading to black, I have reached Sundown and confirmed what all of my fears for him have been. Although he has the element of sacrificing himself and his integrity to better the lives of his family and friends, he still a darkness within him that has been apparent since first finding out that he was an Iraqi torturer. I have always found it difficult to understand why Eko's life and Sayid's were so similar, but MIB only judged and punished Eko for his wrong-doings, and never confronted Sayid about his. Did Sayid help to balance his inner scale by helping the fellow survivors of Oceanic 815 and opening his heart to Shannon? And yet, now, after returning to the island, he finds himself being judged by Dogen and the others at the temple. For me, and even after rewatching this episode, I am still left with a little confusion as to why Sayid was handed a weapon by someone who knows him to be filled with darkness when he wasn't trusted to remain within the walls of the temple alive, but I'm convinced that Dogen knew more than he revealed. I even had a slight feeling when watching his reaction to the baseball falling to the floor that he may have known he was to die at the hand of Sayid--especially with his death being followed with the release of the same baseball in the water he was drowned in.
The big question for this episode, "What if you could?", asked when Sayid said that he'd never see again that one thing that died in his arms. It made me wonder if this is the purpose of our flash sideways and the fact that we see Dogen in Jack's side story, both with sons that aren't in existence in our original timeline. Dogen also says that he doesn't like the way English tastes on his tongue and refuses to speak it in the real timeline. Is this because he is forced to speak it when looking in on his son in this alternate timeline? Is this where Sayid would see Nadia again? This way of thinking was only more convincing when I saw that Dogen was reading "Deep River", by Shusaku Endo. A summary of the book states:
"A trip to India becomes a journey of discovery for a group of Japanese tourists playing out their "individual dramas of the soul." Isobe searches for his reincarnated wife, while Kiguchi relives the wartime horror that ultimately saved his life. Alienated by middle age, Mitsuko follows Otsu, a failed priest, to the holy city of Varanas, hoping that the murky Ganges holds the secret to the "difference between being alive and truly living." Looking for absolutes, each character confronts instead the moral ambiguity of India's complex culture, in which good and evil are seen as a whole as indifferent to distinction as the Ganges River, which washes the living and transports the dead. This novel is a fascinating study of cultural truths revealed through a rich and varied cast."
Stay tuned for Part Two of Touches, Tests, and Candidates (Oh My!), where I try to explain why it is that Dr. Linus made me see the importance and significance of being a candidate and some of the puzzling events that have transpired so far this season--including why Jack was asked to kill Sayid.
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