Archives for : lost

Blast from the Past

Posted by :David Manly On : July 1, 2014
0

Category: lost, review, Views from a Veteran

Tags:, , ,

Happy July 1st, also known as Canada Day! In honour of three colonies being united into one country called Canada back in 1867,I’m going to dive into the past. Almost 4 years ago to the day, in fact.

Having graduated from Carleton University with my Master of Journalism, I was looking for something to do. A friend of mine, who ran the site GeekGirlsNetwork.com (which has since been taken down), asked me if I would be willing to contribute a series of posts for her regarding a specific TV show. Her idea was to recap the show from two very different perspectives: someone who has seen the show and someone who hasn’t. Being a fan of the show, I agreed, and thus, “Views from a Veteran” was born.

The TV show was LOST.

I am going, through the use of some dark magic and necromancy, revive these post from the dead during the month of July.

Every post will cover roughly half-a-season, except for season 4 which was drastically cut down due to the writer’s strike, and remain pretty much unchanged. I hope you enjoy.

**

LOST – Views from a Veteran – Season One: Episodes 1-12

“Guys, where are we?” – Charlie in “Pilot Part 2”

Going into this project, I did not know what to expect as I threw disc one of the first season of “Lost” into my player to start watching it all again.

I am not going to talk plot much, as I assume everyone reading has already watched the show and are looking for how much the story evolved from the day the first episode aired in September 2004 to the last in May 2010. Now, it goes without saying, but SPOILER ALERT! However, if you want to keep reading until the fun tally of various “Lost-isms” I have created; please scroll down until after the “SPOILERS END HERE” section.

Right of the bat, the show begins with a close-up of Jack’s eye waking up in the bamboo forest, eerily similar to the way the series ended, with his eye closing. Knowing just how far Jack, as well as all the other characters come from that moment on, makes it all the more poignant.

In the first episode, there are all sorts of references to the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42), Locke’s connection to the island, the mystery of the monster (AKA Smokie), etc…

But, one of the most important tidbits that I noticed was that Hurley gave out food after the crash to all the survivors. This is interesting, as it is THAT precise reason – his big heart and willingness to care for others – why he was chosen as the right person to protect the island after Jack in the finale. Now, I am not saying that the creators and producers knew that, but it is interesting, isn’t it?

Also in the pilot, we are shown (via Locke) to backgammon through the eyes of Walt. This is an intriguing way to introduce us to a common thread throughout the show: the battle between light and dark. This battle between what is right and wrong continues all the way to the final episode, in the climactic battle between Jack and the Man in Black.

As the episodes in the first season progress, more mysteries are unveiled and twists are uncovered. The most shocking for me was learning that Locke was paralyzed in one of my favourite episodes, “Walkabout.” This episode also had Locke’s first encounter with the smoke monster, which had a profound effect on his life both on and off the island. But, did the Man in Black (MiB) know what role Locke would play in the endgame? Or was he simply trying to eliminate another one of Jacob’s candidates?

In the following episode, “White Rabbit,” we unknowingly see the first appearance of the MiB taking the form of the deceased (in this case, Jack’s father, Christian). But, why did he led Jack to the caves and Christian’s empty coffin?

In the episode “Across the Sea” in season six, you learn the basic history of Jacob and the MiB on the island. At the end of the episode, you discover that the skeletons found in the caves are  MiB and his mother. However, in the actual episode in season one, they are not buried side-by-side, but in different outcrops within the cave. And the timeline of their deaths does not make much sense, as Jack said it would only take “40-50 years” for their clothing to degrade like that.

Sadly, as I write these questions, I know that they will remain unanswered for a long time … perhaps even forever. But, that will not stop me from asking them and guessing their true meaning, which I believe is open to interpretation. And that is one of the many things that make this show such a phenomenon.

It is in the episode “Solitary” where we are first introduced to Rousseau, and she makes a number of innocuous comments to Sayid that, upon watching the entire series, seem to hint at a greater realization on her part. She says that, “there’s no such thing as monsters,” as well as to keep an eye on all the survivors to see if they act strangely. At the time, it seemed that these comments were the ramblings of an insane woman. But looking back, it now appears that she knew much more than she was saying about the island and the MiB, and her appearance with Jin while the island was skipping through time would seem to confirm this. This episode also contains the first references to “the others” on the island, and the eerie “whispers” that turn out to be souls trapped on the island.

Also, in the episode “Raised by Another,” we learn that Claire saw a psychic who told her to board Oceanic flight 815 to meet a couple in Los Angeles. However, in a season two episode with Mr. Eko, while he is investigating a miracle, we learn that the psychic was a fake. So, why did he tell Claire to raise the baby herself and to get on that plane?

The other two episodes also had some major plot points – Locke and Boone discovering the hatch, Shannon and Sayid starting their love affair, and Claire and Charlie being kidnapped by Ethan.

SPOILERS END HERE

I am aware that I have not discussed all the intricate connections between the characters and themes brought up in the show, and that was not my intention . I simply chose the ones that I thought were the most interesting and thought-provoking, while keeping the end of the show in mind.

In my next post, for the last half of season one, I will discuss more of these hints and connections as they arise within the episodes.

Finally, the various “Lost-isms” I have been counting.

First up: the fights. Sawyer & Sayid have fought twice, followed by once a piece for Sawyer & Jack and Jack & Ethan.

Next, how many times has Sawyer said “Sonofabitch”?

The answer – Three

And lastly, what are the top Sawyer-isms?

“Freckles” wins so far with eight mentions, “Doc” comes in second with three, “Hero” is in third with two uses, and tied for fourth with one mention each are – “Sweetheart,” “Lardo,” “Chief,” “Sweet cheeks,” “Abdul,” “Aljazeera,” “Metro,” “Porkpie,” “Sticks,” “Mr. Miyagi,” “Omar,” “Captain Falafel,” “Jacko,” “Saint Jack,” “Sport,” “Muhammad,” “Amigo,” “Boss,” “Chico,” “Ali,” “Dr. Quinn,” “Stay-Puff,” “Tattoo” and lastly, “Dr. Do-Right.”

See you next time for the last half of season one!

“We’re not alone!” – Sayid in “Raised by Another”

My Absence Explained!

Posted by :David Manly On : June 29, 2010
0

Category: Geek Girls Network, Lab Spaces, lost, Nerdbastards, Twitter

I am sorry I have been away these past few weeks, but I assure you, I have a very good reason!

The week before my Master’s of Journalism graduation, I got offered a few opportunities to keep me busy. And since then, I have gotten three different jobs with three quite different websites. That is why I have not been blogging, as I have been quite busy writing content for these various websites.

So, I decided that I will list them here (as well as under my recently published articles area), so that you all can keep tabs on my latest works without me updating my blog every day.

1) The first opportunity that came my way was through Twitter. I had been speaking to the owner and operator of a website for many months, and she came up with a brilliant idea – to have two people watch the TV show “Lost” from the very beginning, one that has seen the show before and one that has not. The website is called the Geek Girls Network, and I have become their very first male contributor 🙂

Now, in case you didn’t know, I have been a large fan of Lost since the beginning, so I was offered the role of the veteran in this little experiment – hence the name of the posts, “Lost for Veterans.”

The introduction to the posts can be found here, while the first post (covering the first half of season one), can be found here.

The posts will be updated every week or two, so check the website (www.geekgirlsnetwork.com) regularly.

2) The second job also came from Twitter, as a friend of mine re-tweeted that a website was looking for another writer to add daily content on a wide variety of nerdy topics (such as pop culture, movies, interesting stuff found on the internet, TV shows, video games, and much more). So, I applied, and after a few days of seeing what I could do, they hired me!

The website is called Nerdbastards, and you can check out the link below to look at my profile, and see all the latest articles I was written for the site. I write stuff every day, so please check back as often as you can, as there is something for everyone on the site.

Here’s the link: David Manly’s Profile

3) And lastly, as this job just began this past week, is a weekly science blog on the website LabSpaces. I had been communicating with the owner and operator for a while over Twitter, and when he re-designed his website, we came up with the idea of having weekly updated content from individuals with knowledge on a particular field. I was offered to write posts about zoology and ecology, which as you know my blog, are two great obsessions of mine.

Without a any hesitation, I accepted and I put up my first post yesterday regarding the effects of oil on wildlife in the Gulf region. Please give it a read, as it was an absolute pleasure to write. The link can be found here.

If I do not update my blog as often as I should, I apologize, but it will primarily be because of all the time spent doing these three jobs. So, if you’d like to know what I’m working on, check those three sites! And feel free to comment on any and all posts, as I really do appreciate your feedback.

Lastly, I must say, all three of these jobs were presented to me due to my presence on Twitter. For those people who said it was a waste of time, I say, “Oh, really?”

Lost in LOST

Posted by :David Manly On : May 27, 2010
2

Category: lost, Series finale, TV shows

NOTE: If you do not watch LOST, or have not watched the series finale yet, please be advised that this post may not be for you.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have been an avid watcher of the TV show LOST since the very beginning. I was amazed throughout the entire first season, slightly disappointed with the second, and was heavily disheartened by the third. But, when the third season ended with one of the best scenes, I once again dared to hope.

The fourth season got much better, and continued into the fifth. This last and final season, number six for the series, had its ups and downs, but changed up the formula in a very interesting way. And, last Sunday, it aired its final episode.

Recently, I re-watched the final episode and took notes to address some of the good, the bad, and the weepy sprinkled throughout the episode. Also, each segment will be divided by an important quote (in bold) from the episode.

And be warned, SPOILER ALERT!

For my re-watch, since I already knew the ending to the story, I was able to keep an eye out for some references that didn’t occur to me during my initial watch, but gently hinted at the stepping stone answer.

Firstly, the ending has been discussed by countless people and will continue to be debated for a long time to come. People have praised it, and people have chastised it, but you all have to appreciate what they did. This is my attempt to explain it to those of you who are confused (I will get to the rest of the episode in a bit).

I’ve been told lots of random theories about the ending from friends, and this is my take on what makes the most sense.

Jack – “There are no shortcuts, no do-overs. What happened, happened. Trust me, I know. All of this matters.”

The quote speak volumes. Just like they did with the nuclear bomb explosion at the end of the last season, they could NOT simply re-do the timeline and forget everything that we had seen on the island. Everything that happened on the island was important to their growth as individuals.

One of the most important things to realize about the flash-sideways, is that TIME is RELATIVE.

Just because we were seeing them all together at the same time as the “present” time on the island, does not mean they were happening simultaneously. With the flash-sideways universe (much better name than purgatory or way-station or stepping stone in my opinion), time no longer matters to you. When you die, time ceases to exist.

While Jack died in the forest, many survivors of Oceanic flight 815 lived many years and died at their own time. One example clearly illustrates this from when Ben and Hurley were talking at the church.

Hurley – “You were a real good number two.”
Ben – “And you were a great number one, Huge.”

This hints that they lived many years after Jack’s final moments on the island, perhaps even centuries after.
NOTE: It has been revealed that on the complete series box set, there will be a special feature (about 10-14 minutes long) about the Ben and Hurley years on the island

Another note on the ending – I would have preferred someone else in the Deus Ex Machina role, other than Christian Sheppard. I believe Desmond, as our guide through the time-space continuum, would have been an amazing fit.

But, that said, the conversation between them in the multi-faith church (did you notice all the faith symbols scattered across the room and in the stained glass window? See the picture above) had a lot to cover and I thought they did it relatively well. It involved a lot of careful wording to let the audience know what was going on, and while they painted with broad strokes as to not focus on any religion to much, it was a little heavy handed at times.

Here’s the entire church conversation between Jack and Christian for you to examine:

Christian: Hello Jack.
Jack: I don’t understand. You died.
C: Yeah. Yes I did.
J: Then how are you here right now?
C: How are YOU here?
J: [realization hits] I died, too.
C: That’s OK. It’s OK, son [hugs]. I love you son
J: I love you, too, Dad. Are you real?
C: I sure hope so. Yeah, I’m real. You’re real, everything that’s ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church. They’re all real, too.
J: They’re all dead?
C: Everyone dies some time, kiddo. Some have been before you, some long after you.
J: Why are they all here now?
C: There is no now, here.
J: Where are we, Dad?
C: This is a place that you’ve all made together so that you could find one another. The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody dies alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.
J: For what?
C: To remember, and to… let go.
J: Kate… she said we were leaving.
C: Not leaving, no. Moving on.
J: Where are we going?
C: Let’s go find out.

What I think you need to take from all of this, is that the theme of this season was all about letting go and moving on. Think about that for a second: Letting go, and Moving On.

Every main character from season one let go of their personal baggage and was able to move onwards. These are only the main Losties who were at the church in the end and were characters from season one onwards.

Sawyer – Killed the real Sawyer and found love
Sayid – Embraced who he was and found redemption in love
Kate – Finally stopped running, and found love
Hurley – Found his purpose (helping people) and found love
Locke – Finally accepted that which he could not change and accepted help
Jack – Embraced his destiny and his true purpose, and yes, found love
Charlie – Embraced his destiny and found love
Claire – Embraced motherhood and found love
Sun – Became a more independent and self-sustaining woman, and re-affirmed her love
Jin – Realized that work was not all the was to his life, and re-affirmed his love

**I am not including Shannon or Boone, as their story lines were not as prevalent as the others**

Do you see a pattern there? Love. While it may not necessarily be romantic love, but I think it is more about a connection. To be “woken up,” it needs to be done by someone who had a profound impact upon your life.

These awakenings caused a lot of crying by millions of people. Therefore, here they are in order (for those interested).

1) Sun and Jin remember in the hospital
2) Sayid and Shannon in the alley
3) Kate, Charlie and Claire giving birth to Aaron
4) Locke in the hospital moving his toe
5) Sawyer and Juliet at the vending machine
6) Locke and Ben outside the church (not an “awakening,” but still very moving)
7) Hurley and Ben outside the church (also not an “awakening,” but very emotional)
7) Jack and Christian

Desmond – “No one can tell you why you are here but you”

Now, here are a few unanswered questions from the finale that were quite obvious to me upon a second viewing.

– Did everyone when they were “awakened” remember their deaths?
– Was Richard indeed ageing (remember the grey hair?) because of Jacob passing on his duties to Jack?
– How did Lapidus survive being struck by a large door underwater in a submarine, make it to the surface on pontoons and wait for rescue for a day or two?
– How did Boone “awaken”?
– How did the cave turn the Man in Black into the Smoke Monster, if he was unconscious (or dead) and all that is down there is a pool with a cork in it?
– If Eloise in the flash-sideways universe knew that it was a type of purgatory, why didn’t she leave when she “awoke”?
– Why didn’t Miles, Farraday or Charlotte “awaken”?
– Why after Jack and Smoke-Locke’s battle did it suddenly stop raining?
– Why didn’t Jack bless the water in the Oceanic bottle before giving it to Hurley (like Jacob did for him, and his mother did for Jacob)?
– Wouldn’t Richard be more terrified by being on an airplane for the first time in his life?
– Why did Kate change from her dress at the concert (and the one she was wearing in the car with Jack), to another one in the church?

Hurley – “It takes as long as it takes.”

With all those answered question from the finale, and all the countless mysteries that were left unsolved (there are tons), what did I think?

I believe that Lost ended the only way it could have – focused on the characters. Every main character had a few moments in the massive finale, and saw their personal stories get resolved before moving on.

Do not get me wrong, I love science fiction and was thrilled when they introduced time-travel, alternate universe, etc… into Lost. But, what you always must remember, is that Lost is a show about people. Granted, the people are in rather bizarre situations on an island with killer black smoke that can assume the form of the deceased.

One final note – for those who watched in the U.S. or did not see ads for what was coming up next on television, your probably saw something like this:

It was released yesterday that it was NOT planned by the producers or creators of the show. The final shot was supposed to be on Jack’s eye, and that was it. The images of the Oceanic flight wreckage was placed their by ABC executives to give viewers a chance to collect themselves and think before the news. These shots, however, let some people to believe that no one survived the initial place crash and the entire thing was a lie.

It was not their intention, just an ill-fated decision by ABC executives. It all still happened.

With all the good, bad and mysteries left unexplained, Lost was still a very impressive show. But, it was not perfect and they did stumble quite a few times … remember Jack’s tattoo episode?

Still, it was a hell of a ride.

David
The definitive host

No Shit Sherlock … Keep diggin, Watson!

Posted by :David Manly On : November 19, 2008
3

Category: birthday, cab driver, direction, lost

Nothing too interesting has happened to me these past few days. That was, until, last night.

Yesterday was someone in the program’s birthday, and she wanted to go out to celebrate, so, most of us obliged. We all met up at her apartment and, after spending some time there, we went to a bar. We stayed at the bar until closing and all parted ways. It was a good time.

Now, here is where it gets interesting.

For those of you who know me, this will seem like old news, but for those who don’t, here’s an insight into David.

I have little to no sense of direction…. seriously. It’s a miracle I make it anywhere. Usually, I use Google Maps and public transit, and I sort of figure out my way. But, I get turned around quite often, and often end up walking in the wrong direction.

Back to last night, I was walking with a few people back home, and I mentioned about how I have no idea where I am and that I was just following someone who lives in the same direction as me. Ben, one of the guys from the program, turned and said, “You know your house is behind us right?”

“Really? Are you sure?” I said.

“Yeah, you’re going the wrong way,” said Ben.

“GODAMN IT!” I screamed in the cold and dark silence. After I wished my friends goodbye I turned around and walked in the CORRECT direction.

After abut 5 minutes, I saw a cab and flagged it down.

I got in, told him my closest intersection, and sat back.

About 5 minutes in, the cab lurched forward, stopped, lurched, stopped and then just died. The cabbie banged his hand on the dash to no avail, before turning to face me and said in a thick, thick accent, “Uh oh.”

“What now?” I said, looking around the cab. The entire dashboard was dead … except, magically, the money counter, which kept increasing by $0.16 every 20-ish seconds or so. Just my luck.

Finally, I ask the cabbie what to do now, and he said that he is going to call the cab company and they will send a replacement taxi. So, he calls them and speaks in a language I did not understand at all. Meanwhile, the time kept ticking away and I could actually feel my wallet getting lighter.

FINALLY, after about 7 minutes of awkward silence, another cab comes and we just switch taxis. The driver, before leaving, jotted something down on a piece of paper, but I paid it no mind, I was just happy to get back on the road so I could go to sleep!

We got in the new cab, he started up the distance-money thing and starting driving me home.

When we were about 3 minutes away from my house, I heard the driver yell something and then the car jump (as if over a speed-bump)…twice. The cab then skidded to a stop, turned behind and said, “Did I just hit something?”

Let me properly set the scene for you. It is now approximately 3am on a Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning, if you wanna be a stickler for time) and I was sitting in a smelly cab with a man who hardly spoke English I could understand, in my second cab of the night, on a dark stretch of road by my place and the driver may have just hit something. At this point, normal people would have probably lost their mind, gotten out of the car, yelled some obscenities and walked home. However, I am not normal.

“DID YOU SEE ANYTHING DASH OUT IN FRONT OF THE CAR?” I told the cabbie, enunciating every syllable so he could understand me. He shook his head. Then, I said, “Go outside and check if you hit anything.”

He left the cab, while it was still running, and found what he had hit: A now busted up Blue Box and a large bag of leaves. There were little and big pieces of blue, strewn among the leaves on the street. It looked as if someone killed a Smurf in autumn.

“Ok, enough is enough, he could have killed someone or something. Time to get out and walk the 8-10 minutes home,” I thought to myself.

I grabbed all my stuff, and told the driver that I was going to leave. He then stopped the time (which was still running!), took out the little piece of paper and said that I owed him the the first fee PLUS this one. I don’t remember the exact amount, but it was INSANE.

I then proceeded to get into a verbal disagreement with the guy, debating about how much I should pay for this terrible and way over-priced taxi ride. Eventually, after about 15 minutes, he relented and I only had to pay the second fee. I gave him the cash, with basically no tip, and grabbed the door handle.

I pushed and nothing happened. I pulled it back and the handle CAME OFF. I turned to the cabbie, held up the handle and said, “Get…me…out…of…this…cab.”

He left the cab, opened the door and went back to the driver’s seat. I then proceeded to exit the cab and closed the door.

“HEY!” he shouted, “Why you slam door?”
“I did NOT slam the door,” I replied, calmly
“Why you slam door?” he asked, again.
“I did NOT slam the door,” I replied….again
“Why you slam door?”
“Maybe your door hates you,” I replied with a smirk and walked away.

Suffice to say, I got home much later than I wanted to and slept through my alarm.

Luckily I have no classes on Wednesday.