Some of us love Lost for the rich, elaborate, layered mystery. Some of us prefer the strong characterizations (is there anyone on TV as fascinating as John Locke?). But all of us have to admit that if the show wasn't entertaining, we wouldn't be here week after week.
Which brings us to Tuesday's Locke-centric ep. First and foremost, you have got to applaud the moments of dialogue like "he's getting pretty ripe" or Ben's eulogy over Locke's grave or even the brief interchange between Earth 2 Locke and Rose in the temp agency. A scene that in much of TV could have played with huge heapings of shmaltz instead became a quick wakeup call to a life.
The changeup characterizations also made this a 4.5 out of five on the "hot diggity damn that was good" episode scale. Earth 2 Locke struggles with the same feelings of inadequacy, but less so and is able to get over them. Instead of being a complete rager or sad sack as he was in Earth 1, he had some ability to transcend his handicap (for example, can you imagine 'our' Locke just getting an aww shucks grin of amiable defeat if he fell onto a lawn and then the sprinklers went off?) and ultimately that lead to his growth and redemption on Earth 2, where he found the peace that he never had before. Meanwhile, here we are so used to seeing Richard as Mr. In Control with all the right answers, and suddenly he's now running around in the jungle like a squirrel being chased by dogs.
Meanwhile, the central mystery of Lost got a little more illuminated and that much more interesting. We've been dealing with lists throughout the history of the show - Ben sending Ethan to infiltrate the 815 survivors, and references to Jacob's lists in numerous instances. Now we finally have an indication of what those lists are about - finding a replacement for Jacob.
Curiously, Kate was not on the cave wall. And equally curiously, some of the people who were are not supposed to be there. Members of the Others in the past have made passing reference to Kate, Sayid, Locke and Jack all being absent from Jacob's lists for various reasons. Yet SmokeLocke now shows us a wall listing Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Locke and either Jin or Sun as Candidates to seemingly replace Jacob. (I'm going to make a case here that Jin is the intended one - evidence being that it was he and not Sun who got snatched up in the time jumping, thus there being some indication that he is somehow chosen or different. Or course, Kate also was a time jumper and not on the list, so curiouser and curiouser).
Random thoughts:
- So who's the kid in the jungle? Did Richard actually not see him as in incapable, or did the kid just run off when Richard's head was turned? Sawyer obviously could see him. Who knows.
- While SmokeLocke is a big old killing machine in smoke form, in human form he's just a big a putz as you and me, panting and tripping and all the rest. I think that sets the stage for Sawyer's inevitable heroic turn (he can't be the Max to SmokeLocke's Doc Hopper forever, right?
- It's still not clear to me whether in Earth 2 coincidences just abound or if there's still some kind of manipulation going on. In Earth 1, it was Matthew Abaddon who told Locke to go on the walkabout. (Which raises the interesting notion that Charles Widmore, who was the dude behind the dude in terms of Michael Abaddon, may have been working for Jacob instead of a totally evil bastard. Or notion 2, that Jacob and SmokeLocke are just two peas in a pod of otherworldly manipulators and while there's all this seeming black/white evil/good symbolism the reality is far more gray). So if Earth 2 Locke also tried to go on a walkabout, what prompted that?
- One off note - I never took Sawyer to be a Stooges fan. He seems more Merle Haggard or maybe classic rock guy.
- As the episodes tick down, I'm getting a bit sad about the inevitable end of all this. And I really need to buy some Old Spice body wash.
Your thoughts? What'd I miss?
7 comments:
As usual, I was giddy with the anticipation of another episode of LOST divvied up into 7-minute portions and sandwiched in between 38 minutes of commercials. Things were going good up until my wife realized that ice skating was on the Olympics AND they also were picking the 21 American Idol idols, so in order to keep the peace, I flipped on the picture-in-picture and she got to watch ice skating AND Idol while I watched LOST. It wasn’t as annoying as one would think and in some ways, it added some balance to LOST. It was like JJ Abrams opened up another couple of dimensions. Or he was mimicking the style of 24. Either way, I chuckled when Locke did a wheelie into the lawn sprinklers and Peg Bundy had to help him up. I’m sure I’m going to burn in Hades for that.
I’m loving the alternate reality LOST with the islanders all intermingling. Seeing subordinate 815’er Rose pop up in Hurley’s employment office was like finding Waldo. Do I smell a Fishesque spin off here?
Matt-Please tell me you didn't just drop a Muppet Movie reference on us! I loved Ben dropping the "I murdered him" comment at the end of the eulogy. Though, I don't understand why Locke 2 wouldn't go see Jack for the free consult. Why not? Scared? Also, they were all on the plane together (the version 2s of people), yet Locke doesn't even notice Hurley or Rose. Seems a bit odd to me. You think he would at least have a "hey, that big fat, happy guy looks familiar" type of moment. Also, I hope they do more to address the numbers. Specifically: the first season or two made such a big deal out of the numbers with them appearing everywhere. What significance was their constant appearance? How many numbers are there again? Did they have the same number of names revealed last night to correspond to the amount of numbers?
Two thoughts:
1. Maybe the fact that Sun wasn't caught up in the time jumps means she is the one.
2. Maybe being able to see the kid means something about whether Sawyer is the one.
And one extra thought -- that kid looked a lot like a tiny Jacob. But he referenced Jacob in the third person, so he can't be his ghost or reincarnation or whatever.
Heather, I was thinking the same thing, that the kid was a tiny little reincarnated Jacob.
I'm very curious what FLocke knows about how to get off the island, since he suddenly seems very positive he can do it, as opposed to everybody else who has failed miserably.
The damn numbers showed up again, attached to the names of the people on the cave. What exactly is that supposed to mean?
LOVED that Earth2 Locke and Ben seem to be drawn to each other (compatible) no matter what. Locke has got to be the most interesting character on the show by far. I agree, Sawyer would never listen to The Stooges. He's all Skynyrd. Rrrr. I agree that it was shocking Locke didn't recognize Hurley (he's kinda unique) but it could be a big plane. The fact that Kate was one of the Oceanic six, yet NOT on the cave wall annoyed me. Then why the heck is she even there? Favorite episode of the season and I suddenly want Kevin to buy some Old Spice... I did notice that the only person to outlive the time travel episodes (that was not on the plane crash) was Miles. What exactly is his purpose?
Best moment last night was Ben's passive aggressive bitching in the teacher's lounge about how nobody ever makes fresh coffee.
That said, I agree that Ben and Locke are linked, and I thank gods for it. I love watching those two actors together.
I'm perplexed about the idea of a replacement for Jacob. Locke would have seemed to be the best 'candidate,' but since he's dead in one reality and living happily in the other, I don't see him returning to the island in that function. Nobody else seems likely to or capable of taking Jacob's place.
I still think our losties are all going to end up together, perhaps for the same purpose, in Sideways world. There are too many coincidences for it to be an accident.
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