Lost - Zap2it's Guide to Lost

'Lost': Progression and regression for The Others

2009-11-06T02:28:19Z

We're winding down our week-long look at The Others today, and if you're feeling more "Lost" than ever about this group, I can't say I blame you. Every time you approach an answer about this collective, the questions multiply.

Yesterday, I suggested that the original purpose of the society was to establish a small control group of humans possessing inherent psychological characteristics that, if properly seeded, could blossom into a collective capable of pushing humanity as a whole towards the next plateau of its existence. But the Island's isolatory nature, combined with Jacob's "observe, not interfere" approach, led to an eventual degradation of the group's purpose. Instead of gradually incorporating those that found their way to the Island's shores, they decided to treat everything "foreign" as "antagonistic."

Did everyone that came to the Island deserve the red-carpet treatment? Certainly not. But it's one thing to treat outsiders with suspicion and a whole other thing to infiltrate, antagonize, kidnap, and kill as four of your default options. The Island's unique nature tends to inspire a level of fanaticism in certain individuals, fanaticism that can lead to a covetous nature. And much like Buffalo Bill, Charles Widmore covets.

One topic I've barely mentioned all week concerns the turnover and maintenance of a continuous group of people related to the entity known now as The Others. I postulated a few potential start dates for this society earlier in the week, but I really didn't deal with the mechanism by which they could sustain itself over the long haul. The iterations we've seen have not been terribly small, but they haven't exactly been legion, either. Did they once boast numbers that would make the Persian army in "300" wet themselves, only to dwindle to the few dozen in New Otherton? Hard to say. But aside from Richard Alpert, it appears they age. And if they age, they die. And if they die, well, they need new members.

In "The Incident," it's implied that fresh recruits were historically brought to the Island by Jacob whenever the perpetual War of the Island threatened to reduce the population to zero. Let's look at the dialogue between Jacob and The Man in Black for clues.

Jacob: I take it you're here 'cause of the ship.

The Man in Black: I am. How did they find the Island?

Jacob: You'll have to ask 'em when they get here.

The Man in Black: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?

Jacob: You are wrong.

The Man in Black: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.

Jacob: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.

Ostensibly, Oceanic 815 was brought to the Island by the same mechanism as The Black Rock: through Jacob's will. However, what we've seen in terms of the origins of many of the modern-day Others speaks not to Jacob's will but manual, active intervention on behalf of the leader of the Others. People like Juliet and Mikhail were actively recruited to come to the Island, not magically transported there through a combination of Island movement and ill-timed travel.

Post-Purge, people stopped arriving on the Island, save for the odd balloonist, without the direct intervention of The Others. In other words, they had to start actively recruiting people to their cause. They couldn't rely on a steady stream of outsiders to mysteriously find themselves upon their shores. Ensconced in modern comfort, they were no longer living in tents but also no longer living with purpose. Life in The Barracks was tantamount to tourists visiting a distant land but only experiencing it from within the confines of an all-inclusive resort. Yes, you're technically living abroad, but you're cutting yourself off from the experience of the locale.

Next week, I'll start looking at how life in The Barracks marked the beginning of the end for Charles Widmore's time on the Island, and how his interactions with the outside world marked a turning point in the War of the Island. Should have known The Others couldn't be contained by a mere week's worth of entries.

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost': The (de)evolution of The Others' morality

2009-11-05T01:38:30Z

"Lost" fans know that it's generally not a good idea to trust Ben Linus. He'll probably fry your brain through twisted logic and emotionally manipulate you to do his bidding, but you'll never actually trust him even while performing acts that go against everything in which you believe. But today, as a thought exercise, we're going to try and take Ben at his word for once.

This solitary time? At the Pala Ferry, bidding Michael and Walt goodbye:

Michael: My friends--I was promised you wouldn't hurt them.

Ben: A deal's a deal.

Michael: Who are you people?

Ben: We're the good guys, Michael.

So let's assume NOT that The Others are in fact the good guys, as he states. Rather, let's assume that when he tells Michael this, he believes that he is telling the truth. "Good" and "bad" are of course in the eye of the beholder. The actions taken by The Others against the survivors of Oceanic 815 certainly don't cry out that they, not the survivors, are the heroes of this particular piece. But then again, you know what they say about the road to hell. Or, for instance, the runway for an airplane.

In trying to figure out the purpose of The Others, we must carefully consider the code of conduct under which they govern themselves. This being "Lost," we have at best a small glimpse into the workings of their society. Think of the full view being a clear front window of a car. Our current perspective is that of a driver trying to navigate traffic with a mud-covered window offers a mere sliver by which to view the traffic ahead. We've only seen the group in a few, relatively recent time periods, and often through the eyes of a person outside their culture. But solider on we will, because seeking these answers will take up a lot of Season 6.

Codes of conduct derive from a society's purpose. In other words, rules, regulations, and senses of right/wrong derive from that group's particular notion of utopia. A democratic society has its own complex set; totalitarian regimes have another. Trying to ascertain a sense of "right" and "wrong" for The Others presupposes we know the end goal of the group. The reason I framed today's assumption (that Ben believes himself to be leading the good guys) as such is due to the fact that while the current iteration thinks they are maintaining the path to utopia, they have in fact systematically charted a course towards their own demise.

So much of the actions taken by The Others over the course of the show derive from a need to protect The Island. For them, threats come from the outside world, staining the pristine land with their greed and need. In 1954, they killed a group of U.S. soldiers attempting to conduct hydrogen bomb tests. In the late part of the century, they waged war on The Dharma Initiative. In the early part of the 21st-century, they fought those from Oceanic 815 and The Kahana. It would be easy to paint these people based on these few actions as survivalists worshipping the local god known as Jacob, content to let the rest of the world be so long as they could live on their own small piece of paradise.

But Jacob's actions seem to contradict this notion. He's not for isolationism; he encourages outsiders to come to the shores. Why? "Progress," is the word he chooses when speaking to his nemesis in "The Incident," a word that calls to mind a Darwinian approach to the social structure of the Island. Seclusion isn't part of the equation in Jacob's mind. Think of his work as evolution, but not necessarily on a genetic level. He's aiming to change the very nature of humanity, to be sure. But he's also looking to increase man's capacity not to use tools, but to use their hearts and minds in a way that propels them to the next stage of existence.

Heady stuff. (Pretty pretentious as well, I know.) But science fiction consistently deals with humanity at the crossroads of its own history. Yesterday, I intentionally referenced Stanley Kubrick's "2001," a movie in which encounters with giant, black monoliths propel humanity to the next stage of its existence. Likewise, "Star Trek: First Contact" shows man's first warp drive flight raising their status in the eyes of other alien races. These are moments in which man's inherent capacity suddenly expands, revealing a larger reservoir than was previously considered. These are the moments Jacob seeks. And these are the moments that The Others have prevented through their misconception of their leader's wishes.

Jacob's "hands-off" approach might be the only way to guarantee that mankind lifts itself up on its own, but leaves a whole lot of room for misinterpretation. Maybe Jacob views the Island as the perfect place in which to mold humanity into better shape, but somewhere along the way those he brought there decided that Jacob wanted his chosen ones to stay there forever. Seen in that light, outsiders were largely seen as threats, foes, contaminants. The social, psychological, and humanistic evolution suffered by large of diversity in the gene pool.

Maybe that's why it suddenly became so damn hard to have children.
Tomorrow, I'll look at the issue of childbirth, and the most famous baby daddy in Others' history: Charles Widmore. Until then, what's your take on The Others? Good or bad? Vote and discuss below!

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

How The Others got 'Lost' along the way

2009-11-03T00:50:39Z

As promised, we're kicking off Others Week here on the "Lost" blog with an examination of the culture surrounding this mysterious group. Now, donning our Charlotte Staples Lewis-esque cultural anthropologist hats to analyze this group will only get us so far: up to this point, the majority of the social ecosystem is as blurry and confused as Lindsay Lohan on a typical Tuesday night. But soldier forth we will, trying to isolate and analyze a few aspects of what makes The Others the group they are.

When typically discussing a culture of a particular group, it's helpful to look at their origins. Naturally, this being "Lost," said origins are shrouded in mystery. Calling this group "The Others" doesn't help our case, since it doesn't really tell us who they are. It merely tells us what they are not. "The Others" implies difference from those that they encounter, but doesn't really illuminate what exactly makes them act differently than those that find their way to the Island.

Trying to pinpoint the start of this culture is a bit of a fool's errand, but hey, I've made enough foolish assertions on this blog to numb even the most optimistic of readers. If I had to start a timeline for them, I'd go with one of the four following points:

1) With the start of homo sapiens. In other words, as long as men have had thumbs, used weapons, and thrown bones in the air that turned into spaceships, there have been a group of individuals that found their way to the shores of the Island to further what Jacob calls "progress."

2) 2500 B.C. Given that historians pinpoint the first use of hieroglyphics around 3000 B.C., let's just give those Egyptians a few hundred years to row their way up the Nile and into the path of an Island that moves through time and space. Under this assumption, one could carbon-date the four-toed statue and determine an accurate assessment of when the group known as The Others actually began to protect the Island.

3) 1845. Under this configuration, the Black Rock marks the point at which The Others first formed on the Island. Sure, other civilizations might have taken the right turn at Albuquerque and ended up attacking by smoke monsters, but the idea of a native group bonded together in protecting the Island didn't come about until Jacob made sure that ship found its way to the Island.

Given the artifacts found on the Island, these are the safest guesses. I suppose you could argue that Faraday and Co. time-warped into a nascent form of the group in 1954, but Alpert's agelessness is much less interesting without at least a century or more of backstory. To me, you could construct a compelling, plausible faux history of The Others starting from any one of the three points listed above. Given the nature of Jacob and The Man in Black, you can stretch things back as far as you like and still hold water.

What I find curious, as do many of you given your comments yesterday, is trying to square The Others' nominally defensible goal (protect the Island) with their immoral, horrific, violent acts over the years. It's one thing to want to protect a sacred ground for spiritual or eco-centric reasons. It's quite another to kill U.S. soldiers, kidnap children, and use toxic gases to wipe out an entire cadre of scientists and free thinkers.

Part of the problem stems from Jacob's style of leadership. As one who is hands-off for the most part, he leaves a lot of things to chance. At best, he provides lists, a type of Ten Commandments that can be easily misinterpreted if not outright ignored. Jacob may not believe that every person is good, but he does little in the way of directly manipulating people to do a moral or immoral action. He allows people personal agency in order that they might fulfill a series of life events that can be defined after the fact as something like "destiny." Sometimes achieving that destiny required a little push, but Jacob's infrequent interventions aren't cheats: they are the bare minimum inserted at crucial moments.

But since these actions are so slight, they can often go awry. In leaving people to their own devices, Jacob often leaves them exposed to their worst intentions. Keeping with the Biblical theme above, one could view the occupation of The Barracks as The Others' erection of the Tower of Babel, something likewise constructed to glorify man, not God/The Island. Whereas people used to be recruited to the cause organically, now Ben employs a modified Room 23 to speed up the process a smidge. Locke himself mocks Ben's refrigerator in "The Man from Tallahassee," viewing the existence of the Barracks as nothing less than an abomination.

And perhaps Jacob views it as such also, but doesn't take the form of a burning bush or a great flood in order to make his displeasure clear. Perhaps he forfeits the ability of his followers to have children. Or gives their leader cancer. Or refuses to clearly identify The Island's heir to an ageless man who is increasingly frustrated with trying to guess his leader's intentions. But most of all, he "punishes" them with silence. I put "punishes" in quotes because while it might feel that way to those that act in his name, to him it's a necessary part of the progress he seeks.

Maybe, just maybe, Jacob's methods are to not inspire worship in himself, but rather reliance on themselves as individuals. Looking at things that way, Jacob's seeming self-sacrifice makes a ton of sense, not only for his own goals but his goals for The Others as well. Shackled by his existence, he needed to remove himself from the equation so they might stand on their own two feet for the first time in...well, whatever time period you chose earlier, fair reader.

Sure, the whole thing reeks of "The Others are doin' it for themselves," on a basic level, but this is a show in which "Two sides: one light, one dark," essentially sums up everything you need to know about the show. It's hard for a guy that writes about the show four times a week to admit, but sometimes the simpler answers are the more correct ones. If this tactic is good enough for Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's good enough for Jacob, I say.

Coming tomorrow, we'll take a closer look at whether or not The Others are truly the "good guys" in "Lost." But for now, do you think they have been faithfully executing Jacob's plan? At what point might they have "lost" their way? Leave your thoughts below!

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost': One way or The Others

2009-11-01T19:23:32Z

We're turning over the entire week of "Lost" entries to a group that's maddeningly stayed in the relative shadows over the years: The Others. Perhaps no aspect of the show has been as omnipresent and yet still shrouded in mystery as this group. While we've seen snippets of the strange energy at the core of the Island and the possible "home" for the monster, we know almost next to nothing concrete about The Others.

So, this week will be less about uncovering truths than about defining what it is we still don't know. Trying to make assertive claims about a group this enigmatic seems a fair recipe for making myself look like a fool. And while I'm fine making myself look like a fool, I'd rather deploy that skill in order to stop my nephew from crying versus trying to impress you all. I hope you understand.

I'm going to deal with three topics in three articles later this week. Here they are:

1) Culture

When did the social structure colloquially known as The Others start? What defines membership in this society? And what do their actions toward the members of Oceanic 815 indicate about the decay of that society?

2) Morality

In short: Are The Others actually the "good guys," as stated by Ben Linus at the Pala Ferry?

3) Corruption

This article will focus exclusively on Charles Widmore. I will try to draw as accurate a line as possible between the young man seen in "Jughead" and the man outside the hospital in which Desmond Hume lies badly injured. So, you know, not a difficult job at all there. Cough.

So those are the broad topics, but I want to include as many of your questions as possible in order to inform the writing of these particular essays. If there's anything you'd like to see in any of these essays, by all means, leave them in the comments below! Your questions will help me have a better sense of what you want answered when it comes to The Others.

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

Trick or treat: 13 scary moments in 'Lost' history

2009-10-30T01:07:24Z

Well, we're approaching the witching hour, "Lost" fans: not in terms of the show, but in terms of Halloween. Now, me myself and I? Not the biggest Halloween fan. Last time I dressed up, it was as possibly the most terrifying version of Avril Lavigne in the history of mankind. (I had no money. Wife beater + tie = Avril. You're welcome for that mental image.)

And since we're on the topic of the truly scary, I thought it appropriate to look at some of the scariest moments in "Lost" history. Now, "Lost" specializes more in the "shock and awe" department versus the "soil your drawers" department, but there's definitely been a fair share of creepy moments. This isn't a definitive list by any measure, but here are thirteen of the most terrifying things "Lost" has ever put onscreen. Why thirteen? Well, pretty scary number, no? And under no circumstances was I going to drop 666 moments. Even for me, that's a touch lengthy.

In no particular order...

Tom Friendly orders The Others to "Light 'em up!" in "The Hunting Party."

Long before we knew them as khaki-wearing book-club members, The Others consisted of a bearded man and a series of torches that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. While I have my problems with "The Hunting Party" as an episode, the stand-off near the ep's end is outstanding. The moment in which the torches light up sends chills up my spine every time, illuminating the nature of the threat they pose while refusing to shine light on their actual bodies.

The monster attacks Seth Norris in the "Pilot" episode.

A claustrophobic cockpit. The knowledge that the plane was a thousand miles off course. The faceless, enormous threat that reached and plucked our poor pilot our before filleting him to be served with a nice chianti in the treetops nearby. In terms of establishing a terrifying monster, you could do infinitely worse than this.

Claire dreams a little dream in "Raised by Another."

A little David Lynch found its way into "Lost" in this sequence. I'm not sure what's scarier: Locke's eyes (one white, one black) or the baby carriage filled with blood. I just know I want to move on before I have to think about either any more.

Charlie is found hung by his neck in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues."

In terms of composition, the shot is stunning: Charlie, head covered, impossibly dangling from an impossibly tall set of trees. The upwards angle of the camera makes it look as if these trees stretch literally into the heavens. It's an unsparing shot. Bonus points for Jack's attempts to save him, coupled with Kate's frantic reactions, which add up to one of the show's most tense moments.

Walt kills a bird with his freakin' mind in "Special."

"You're not paying attention" is one of the single creepiest lines utter by anyone, and this is a show that's got Ben Linus in it, people. Maybe we'll never really learn what made Walt so "Special," but we know from this moment that this is a boy to be feared. Just ask Ben himself, who seemed awfully relieved to send him on a bearing of 325 way the hell away from The Island.

A single eye pops into view from the cabin in "The Beginning of the End."

Generally speaking, creepy stuff goes down in the cabin. But in terms of selecting just one, I'm going for this moment. Sure, it's a bit of a cheap gag, with the eye appearing just as Hurley leans in close to the window from the outside. But admit it: you jumped a bit after placing yourself six inches in front of the TV asking yourself what in God's name Christian Shephard was doing in there. OK, maybe you jumped more than a bit. Maybe there was girlish screaming involved. It's OK. I still like you.

"Henry Gale" asks Jack and Locke for some milk in "The Whole Truth."

If the dairy industry ever wanted to make sure no one ever drank milk again, all they'd have to do is air this scene. I mean, come on. Perhaps aside from him sharing an Apollo Bar with Hurley in "Cabin Fever," this might be my favorite Ben moment of all time.

Karl watches an instructional video in "Not in Portland."

Look, me and mind control don't get along. I don't like hypnotism, I don't like The Borg, and I really don't like Room 23. Gives me both the heebies AND the jeebies, and neither in small amounts.

Bai Ling in "Stranger in a Strange Land."

I mean, seriously.

Jin and Eko watch The Others silently walk past them in "...And Found."

Just when the freakiness of their silence threatens to make your spine literally pop out of your back, along comes the teddy bear. And then you realize you haven't taken a breath for about a minute.

Ben Linus surveys The Barracks in the wake of The Purge in "The Man Behind the Curtain."

It's one of the show's signature moments: Ben Linus returns from killing his father to find the majority of the Dharma Initiative dead. There's something both beautiful and horrifying in watching the camera slowly pan over the carnage.

Montand loses his arm in "This Place is Death."

The ultimate Sam Raimi-esque moment for "Lost." I squealed! I giggled! It was better than "Cats!" And way bloodier, too.

Jack tells Kate they have to go back in "Through the Looking Glass."

Not scary in the way the other moments are. It was scary in terms of realizing that what we thought "Lost" was about (getting off the Island) and we no longer had any bearings whatsoever as viewers. In other words, we were lost. Hopelessly lost. Just how we like it.

Those are my suggestions. What are some of yours?

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost': Making two characters special again in Season 6

2009-10-28T23:45:59Z

Earlier in the week, I asked you to list your burning "Lost" mysteries. I didn't care for the obvious ones; rather, I wanted to know the vital if not A-level conundrums that were splinters in your brain. And while reading through your suggestions, two figures kept popping out to me: Walt and Desmond. They are two people that have never actually crossed paths, but share one important characteristic: they have both been termed "special." And folks? That's one heckuva trait to share.

Let's let Shirley Manson of Garbage sum up a prevailing thought when it comes to these two characters, courtesy of a song from their "Version 2.0" record:

Do you have an opinion
A mind of your own
I thought you were special
I thought you should know
But I've run out of patience
I couldn't care less

And that pains me, people. Going into Season 5, Desmond was my single favorite character on the show. And Walt? I figured the clever flash forward techniques meant "Lost" could pay off his story in a believable way without hiding the fact that Malcolm David Kelley is now taller than Lebron James. But the treatment both characters received in Season 5 left me more than cold: it left me a bit angry.

Regarding Desmond: I think it was a mistake to unite him with Penny at the end of Season 4 while insisting he stay in the story. Theirs was a love story so epic it threatened to overshadow those of the nominally "major" players in the "Lost" universe, yet devolved into something almost pedestrian. Yes, naming their child "Charlie" was a beautiful touch, but is THIS how you foresaw their life after the emotional sweep of their story? Couple that with the first episode of Season 5 declaring him to be "uniquely special" only to have the show almost abandon him thereafter just reeked of poor planning.

As for Walt: he stood alone in the "Lost" universe during his time on the show, a child that not only existed on a unique island but was unique unto himself. "Raised by Another" introduced the notion that odd things were happening off-Island as well as on-Island, but "Special" took that a step further and suggested that Walt himself was potentially positioned as an important part of the show's endgame. Flash ahead to Season 5, and he's merely given a short scene with his former Island friend during which lies are exchanged, important information withheld, and Walt apparently leaves the story once and for all. (This article, sent to me by regular reader Shaggysteve, doesn't exactly give one hope Walt will ever return, either to the Island or the show.)

So, um, yea, not too special then, huh?

Now, yes, I took a bit of a Debbie Downer approach in those last two paragraphs, but I did it to prove a point: I, like millions of others, LOVE these two characters and were tantalized to learn exactly what made them so special. Faraday had this to say about Desmond in "Because You Left": "You're the only person who can help us because, Desmond... the rules... the rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special." In the mobisode "Room 23," Ben tells Juliet regarding Walt, "Jacob wanted him here. He's important. He's special." They are apparently SO special that...they are either lying in a hospital bed or doing algebra homework. Neither are on the Island. Neither appear particularly special right now.

Season 6 should pay off their special natures. Make their status off-Island vital in the war between Jacob and The Man in Black. How?

1) Desmond: Make his unique nature the loophole by which Widmore returns to the Island. We all know he's been trying to get back for decades: amassing funds, sending balloonists, organizing races around the world, and all it's landed him are a series of ever-growing nightmares. If Desmond is indeed special, than perhaps he can bypass whatever rule that keeps Widmore away and land Ben's arch-enemy back on familiar shores. Funny how Ben can unite enemies, eh? And hey, maybe Penny can see this crazy Island for herself. Bring the kids along. All of 'em: Charlie, Aaron, Ji Yeon, heck even Clementine for good measure. It'll be fun!

2) Walt: He doesn't have to return to the Island to have his presence felt on the Island. Either he can continue to use Vincent as a type of psychic proxy, or perhaps just come into his innate abilities with greater confidence and power as he ages. He could be the "Lost" version of Neo: singularly unique among his peers and meant to serve as the tipping point in a war with no possible winners. If Jacob truly did want Walt taken, then he's got a part yet to play in the events to come.

Desmond and Walt are not the only people with major roles to play in Season 6. Everyone's got something to do that will inform the show's endgame, for good and bad. But "Lost" has gone out of its way to demonstrate that while many characters are ordinary people in extraordinary conditions, Desmond and Walt are extraordinary in and of themselves. I just hope Season 6 shows them as such.

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost' adds William Atherton to season six

2009-10-28T16:31:26Z

Veteran actor William Atherton will be part of the final season of "Lost."

The news comes courtesy of executive producer Carlton Cuse's Twitter account. Wednesday night Cuse tweeted the following: "Damon and I are die hard fans of this impeckable actor who keeps the barr high and just signed to guest star on the show. Life is good!" That was followed shortly thereafter by, "Yes, it's a clue."

So let's break down the clues, shall we? "Damon [Lindelof] and I are die hard fans ..." -- Atherton was in the first two "Die Hard" movies. "... of this impeckable actor" -- his character in "Ghostbusters" was named Walter
Peck. " ... who keeps the barr high" -- he guested as a character named Dr. Barr on "Desperate Housewives" in 2006. "Life is good!" Atherton also had a recurring part on "Life" last season.

Just what Atherton will be doing on "Lost" is still a mystery. He once had a corner on the officious blowhard type (a la Walter Peck, his "Die Hard" character, Richard Thornburg, and Jerry Hathaway in "Real Genius"), but on "Life" last season he played a character who was both sinister and a little bit sympathetic.

Cuse also had a message for "Lost" fans who were scouring his Twitter feed for more information on the show's final season, which he posted a couple hours after the Atherton riddle: "In reply to several, please don't kill yourself looking for clues in my other tweets. None there. Seriously!"

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Related:

'Lost': 'N.' is for Numbers
What 'Lost' mysteries would you like found?

'Lost': 'N.' is for Numbers

2009-10-27T23:02:03Z

So I've been on the road a lot this autumn, more than I have since that time I stole Benjamin Linus' passports and spent all his Others' wealth on a Tunisian bender in my own version of a "Lost" fortnight. Chicago, New York, Nashville ... the wife and I have been scurrying about for a variety of reasons. So, naturally, I've had a lot of time to catch up on my reading. And one thing in particular caught my eye.

The connection between "Lost" and Stephen King is well-documented. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse go out of their way to name-drop the King of Horror whenever possible when citing influences upon their show. And while I highly encourage each and every one of you to read "The Stand" and "The Dark Tower," to me the two "Must Reads" when it comes to understanding what Season 6 might look like, those are long. Like, even longer than my typical blog post. I KNOW. That long. But while flying back from Chicago after a successful Zap2LockeCon, I found another King story that is 1) much shorter, 2) equally applicable to "Lost" and 3) demonstrated not King's influence on the show so much as the show's influence on King.

The story in question is called "N." I found it in his short-story collection "Just After Sunset," a collection I will handily admit I did not know existed until it stood out to at me in a small bookstore near Wrigley Field. King's stated influence for the piece is Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan," but to me, it's got "Lost" written all over it. Why?

It deals with curious energy just below the surface of the earth/reality.

The story is structured as a series of journal entries, extending outward from a man who suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. He's convinced that his system is the only thing that's saving the world from utter destruction.

It involves a caged monster.

In "Lost," we have a circle of ash that may or may not be related to the smoke monster. In "N.," we have a circle of rocks in a field that may or may not contain a monster from another universe trying to bust in.

It concerns the inherent (and very real) power of numbers.

The patient, dubbed "N." by one of the story's narrators, relates the power of certain numbers to the doorway between the universes in this otherwise ordinary field. See, at certain times, "N." sees eight stones in the field. But other times? Only seven. This cannot be, and yet it is. Eight stones contain the beast, but seven do not. This knowledge doesn't come from anything more than feeling, an intrinsic link between the power of the universe and a man-made way to describe the physical world around him. His obsession with "good" numbers cripples him, pushing him into ever more obsessive-compulsive actions as a way to systemically ward off the awful creature that will inevitably escape should the wrong number stay in play too long.

As I read "N." and its various descriptions of "good" and "bad" numbers (the number 19, itself at the heart of "The Dark Tower", is still a very, very bad number in this novella), my thoughts turned naturally to Leonard, Hurley, and the Numbers that have haunted "Lost" over the past five years. The Numbers are perhaps the greatest example of The Island's propensity not to promote mind over matter, but mind into matter. And that subtle difference matters.

I think both King and Darlton are exploiting what has been to this English major a continually perplexing problem: Just how can numbers, a man-made organization and description system, accurately describe and even predict events that started millions of years before the invention of the wheel, the discovery of fire, or hell, humans? This Shakespeare-loving lad finds that correlation downright terrifying.

The terror undoubtedly explains my inability to ever correctly solve an equation in chemistry class, but it's also at the basis of the numbers in "N." and The Numbers in "Lost" striking such a primal connection in their respective/overlapping audiences. After all, if these numbers can reach out and touch the universe, occasionally the universe will touch right back.

In dealing with numbers that assume a power beyond their ability to balance the sides of an equation, it's often posited in popular science fiction that maybe, just maybe, man didn't need to solve that particular puzzle after all. Maybe "mystery" is sometimes best left as such. The history of those coming to The Island is littered with those seeking to solve the answers of the Island as opposed to merely living in harmony with it. Men of science versus men of faith, you might say. And The Dharma Initiative was simply the latest and perhaps most dangerous iteration of the former.

I don't care if the show ends without describing in excruciating detail the true nature of the energy at the core of The Island. Don't you dare midi-chlorian that power source, Darlton. But I don't think you will. Why? Because you punished the DI, whose search for the true nature of it endangered the freakin' world, that's why. All I know is that in addition to springing a leak only (perhaps) stopped through the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, the energy at the heart of the Island reached out and touched the numbers on the side of the initial Swan hatch. And in touching those numbers, it imbued them with a part of that energy.

In this scenario, the repetition of the Numbers in various flashbacks and flashforwards isn't simply clever Easter egg placement, but a very subtle way of showing that The Island is somehow calling out to these particular people through ostensibly benign digits. If the energy on the Island is one of many similar (albeit individually distinct) pools of energy spread across the world, is it really that hard to believe that the power imbued on the Island couldn't translate and transmit worldwide?

After all, it's not like we don't have our own version of this phenomenon in real life: lucky numbers. For me, it was 21, a number I wore throughout my days playing youth soccer. That number still feels "right" to me, whatever that may mean. But it speaks to me in the way that the number of stones speaks to the nameless protagonist in "N." and Hurley in "Lost." And apparently, they speak to Stephen King and Darlton too. Next season, we'd be well served to listen in a little closer to The Numbers and hear what they are trying to say.

Or whisper, as it were.

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

What 'Lost' mysteries would you like found?

2009-10-25T22:22:06Z

Last time out, I looked at one of my burning B-level "Lost" mysteries: how did Ben Linus end up in Rousseau's net back in Season 2? It's a B-level mystery in my eyes because while it's a question I want resolved, I realize it's probably not a central focus of Season 6. It's hard to demand that the show answer that question instead of, say, the true nature of the Island. Well, it's actually quite easy to demand it, but it's not really fair.

But the discussion got me thinking about other B-level mysteries still floating in the enigmatic ether of the show's murky narration. I'm thinking these deserve some analysis as well here on the blog. It's all well and good to try to solve the nature of the smoke monster, but that's not only prime, Grade-A mystery, but it's also a little...obvious. I'm not advocating going to the extremes of obscurity when looking for alternate ambiguities. But going off the beaten path might be fun for me to write about and for you to consume with your eyeballs.

So I'm calling out for suggestions for B-level mysteries to analyze over the next few weeks. I want to know what lingering questions are in you brain that may not feature the top-shelf answers still waiting to be deployed, but will still fill in a lot of the gaps of the show as it heads towards the finish line. A few that pop into mind for me:

The nature of the pallet drops
Why Widmore himself didn't/couldn't go on the Kahana
What happened to the real Henry Gale
Who really ordered the Purge

I'm trying to avoid asking questions about The Others, because if you think about it, we truly honestly know extremely little about them. Trying to attack one aspect of their background inevitably leads to another muddled aspect which bleeds into another impenetrable puzzle. So maybe that's a week's worth of entries. (Say, next week's. For funsies.) So hit me with your B-level mysteries as well as your burning Others questions as well in the comments below, and I'll address your responses in the days to come!

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost': Bird in a cage, Ben in a net

2009-10-23T00:03:22Z

I've been meaning to talk about this topic for a few weeks now, but let's just say it got "Lost" in the shuffle. Incidentally, I've been writing this blog for more than two years and somehow avoided that pun until now. I know. Impressive. I find cash to be an acceptable gift, if you're so inclined. Tickets to this will also work nicely.

Everyone's looking forward to some real, honest-to-Jacob answers come Season 6. Some of these answers will undoubtedly be fulfilled, to varying degrees of audience satisfaction. For instance, I'm pretty sure the show won't close without "Lost" giving us an idea of the smoke monster's true purpose, identity, function, and/or derivation. But there are a host of B- and C-level mysteries that may or may not actually be answered in the show's final 18 hours. One man's mystery is another writer's red herring.

I want to look at what I feel is a B-level mystery. Until the latter half of Season 5, I wouldn't have placed it above Level C. But given the events that transpired once Ajira 316 landed on the Hydra Island airstrip, I feel it deserves a bump up. It's probably not a central mystery on the minds of many people, but in many ways it might help contextualize a lot of the interactions between some of the show's major players. Here's the mystery I want solved in Season 6:

How and why did Ben Linus end up in Rousseau's net in Season 2?

It's a tricky question, because at the heart of it lies the show's trickiest character. Trying to diagram all the possible scenarios in which he landed in that particular position would take up a good chunk of a classroom chalkboard, with permutation after permutation filling up the blank spaces. All we do know is that, according to the super handy (and insanely exhaustive) Lostpedia's timeline, there are eight days between Ben visiting The Pearl with Juliet and him ending up in Danielle's net. (Gotta love that number of days, eh?)

In those eight days, some set of events transpired that sent Ben Linus from merely watching the survivors from afar and using Others lower in the hierarchy (such as Tom) to deal with them to somehow ending up in their midst. It's a complicated series of events, the true impact of which could not have been truly understood by anyone but maybe one or two entities, depending on your particular perspective.

But let's try and break things down without making this analysis the length of a novel Desmond Hume might read as the last piece of literature he absorbs before he dies, shall we?

Did Ben get caught on purpose or by accident?

If it's the former, then he had either marching orders or was marching to the beat of his own drum. If it's the latter, then either he's not as crafty as we thought or Danielle's way craftier than we believed. If you take Door #1, then the Henry Gale backstory was in his mental back pocket before setting out. If you take Door #2, then it was all a brilliant improvisation. Given Ben's meticulous planning, we can't rule out #1. Given how well Ben played John in "The Man from Tallahassee," we certainly can't rule out #2.

Did Ben truly come for John, as claimed by him in "Two for the Road"?

It's worth quoting the scene at length:

Ben: None of this matters. I'm dead anyway. The doctor's gone to make a trade and we both know he'll come back empty-handed and then I've lost my value. So either Jack comes back here and kills me or my people find out where I'm being held and they do it.

Locke: Why would your own people want to kill you?

Ben: Because the man in charge -- he's a great man, John, a brilliant man -- but he's not a forgiving man. He'll kill me because I failed, John. I failed my mission.

Locke: What mission?

Ben: When that woman caught me in her trap I was on my way here, John. I was coming for you.

We have to recontextualize this exchange in the wake of everything we've learned, especially in Season 5. We know that Ben never actually saw Jacob until "The Incident," so Ben's opinions are his own. Through either his own imagination or Richard's machinations, Ben is freakin' terrified of Jacob. It's a fear he keeps to himself in order to maintain control of The Others, but he's got little to lose at this point of the show. Honesty is sometimes Ben's greatest asset.

Even if we assume Ben's marching orders are legit, they are only legit from his perspective. Richard Alpert could theoretically tell Ben anything, and as long as Ben believed it was coming from Jacob's lips, he would be compelled to obey. Richard could have ordered Ben to bring Jacob a $5 footlong from Subway and Ben would have hopped into his magical walk-in closet, grabbed a passport, and headed off-Island.

On the other hand, assuming Ben's orders are as he says they were, we don't know why it took Richard or Jacob so long to have a chat with the man who bobbed and weaved throughout the Island's timeline for so long. We know that from mere minutes after the crash, Mikhail was compiling files on the survivors. The name "John Locke" would have meant something to Richard Alpert, but Richard was off-Island keeping tabs on Juliet's sister. Beyond that, Jacob's lists seem irrespective of passenger manifests. I'm pretty sure he knew Locke would be on that plane before Locke fell eight stories thanks to Anthony Cooper. I'm honestly perplexed, and have to chalk it up to "the writers came up with cool stuff later in the show that unfortunately makes Ben's arrival in Season 2 seem far too late." Onto the final question...

Did Ben understand Locke's importance upon meeting him?

"Lost" has long dealt with the power struggle over the Island's heir. I've dealt with this topic at length before, but I want to look at it now from the perspective of Ben and Locke. What we have in Season 2 are two people struggling with their own feelings of inadequacy: Locke's time in the Swan had dulled his previous purpose, and Ben's tumor had dulled his faith in the Island itself.

What's unclear to me is just how much of a threat Ben perceived Locke to be at this juncture. Was he a man on a list? The single biggest threat to Ben's leadership position? Or a complete nobody that Ben learned to play like a fiddle deep within the Swan? It's hard for me to believe that Ben would willingly bring back his replacement to New Otherton with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. But he clearly wouldn't openly defy Jacob. Was he laying the groundwork for the morality play involving Anthony Cooper in Season 3, or just enjoying his own intellectual and psychological superiority while waiting for the cavalry (or, you know, Michael) to spring him loose?

The fact that Ben invites John along before gassing Jack, Kate, and Sayid in Season 3 implies to me that there was a long-term plan to involve Locke in Others' life, whether than directive came from Richard or Jacob. Many other survivors, such as Cindy, were co-opted with nary a power struggle. That makes Ben's tests of John in Season 3, along with his horror at learning Locke heard "Jacob" speak, that much more primal: he's a man sent on a mission to get one of the "good" guys, only to learn he was essentially training his replacement. No wonder Ben and Richard's relationship is so darn frosty.

This analysis hasn't even touched upon every possible scenario under which Ben ended up in Rousseau's trap. Somewhere between "dude just went for a power walk in the wrong Island 'hood" and "a series of carefully laid-out plans that make this plot seem simple by comparison" lies the answer. (Link may be NSFW. Also? Kyle's "Really?" responses always slay me.) Maybe this mystery won't truly be answered in the final season. But 1) given the show's penchant for revisiting key moments in its history from a new perspective, 2) the power dynamics of Ben/Locke reaching their boiling point at the end of Season 5, and 3) the promise of the long-awaited Richard Alpert flashback next series, I hope to get a definitive version of this story before the curtain closes.

Why do you think Ben ended up in the net? Leave your thoughts and theories below!

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

Harold Perrineau would return to 'Lost,' hasn't been asked

2009-10-22T15:28:58Z

Harold Perrineau has been openly critical of his former gig on "Lost," but our favorite "WAAAAALT!" shouter swears he's not holding out on a return to the Island.

One former castaway is apparently refusing to return for the show's final season, and while the safe bet was on Perrineau, he called E! Online to say it ain't so.

The truth? He'd go back, but hasn't been given the chance.

"Honestly, no one has asked," Harold told the site's Kristin Dos Santos. "But if I was asked to come back to 'Lost,' indeed I would say yes. We all started that journey together, and I would love to be able to end it with everybody. It would be a great thing to do, to get to say goodbye to them all at the same time. I would love to go back and hang out a little bit."

Meanwhile, the "28 Weeks Later" co-star just can't get away from numbered supernatural baddies: He's currently filming "Darker Days," the sequel to vampire action flick "30 Days of Night."

See what else Perrineau told E! Online.

Follow Zap2it on Twitter for the latest TV, movie and celebrity news updates.

Analyzing the newest 'Lost' teaser poster

2009-10-21T02:42:04Z

I'm a week or more late to the game, "Lost" fans, but I did want to make sure you all saw the newest teaser poster for Season 6. Because while it's not terribly revealing, it's awfully sexy.

I found out about the poster thanks to a little Zap2it synergy, with Marisa Roffman of Korbi TV making sure I was in the know. Because while I'm many things, "in the know" isn't usually one of them. Take a peek here. Don't worry, I'll be here when you come back.

The top half isn't anything new: it's a wide shot of the show's major characters. Much like Bon Jovi, they're wanted dead or alive come the final season. Will they be resurrected? Seen in flashbacks? Seen as visions? Will they teach the world to sing while consuming carbonated beverages? All I know is that I love that Locke is dead center and the only one not facing directly forward. It not only cements his central importance this season, it also gives me both the heebies AND the jeebies. Works for me.

More intriguing are the hieroglyphics behind "The Final Season" in the bottom half of the poster. To me, these hieroglyphics confirm that Season 6's theme will be "The Island." Let's take a quick look back in a simplified way at the overall arc of each season:

Season 1: The Survivors
Season 2: The Hatch
Season 3: The Others
Season 4: The Freighter
Season 5: The Dharma Initiative (or, The Systematic Dismantling of the Audience's Collective Brain)

So what bigger, better topic around which to center the show's final season than the mysterious land that has housed the majority of the show's action? Looking at those symbols on the posters indicates to me that if Season 6 is where this particular story ends, those hieroglyphics show where it all began.

It's less important to me to try and analyze each individual symbol and try to derive a cohesive meaning from the poster. Rather, these hieroglyphics indicate we'll finally learn the context in which Oceanic 815 unwittingly delivered the newest actors onto its unusual stage. We've seen hints of the Island's history but never truly received a coherent version of it. What's that old saying about those who don't know their history being doomed to repeat it? Well, it's high time the survivors from Season 1 start learning their place in the Island's history.

One can look at the symbols in the Swan hatch when the counter reached zero as The Dharma Initiative's own ode to the Island's history. However, they put the hieroglyphics at the zero mark either 1) as a tacky, almost sarcastic reference to the ruins they found while building the Barracks, or 2) as an almost reverential move, as if to pacify the energy/spirits awoken in the Incident. Men and women of science, The Dharma Initiative. But something like The Incident certainly might have awoken their faith as well.

In either case, I'm encouraged to see hieroglyphics on the teaser poster for Season 6. While I don't expect every aspect of the Island's mysteries to be fully fleshed out in a way satisfactory to all, there are plenty of mysteries that can be explored by the show's characters to illuminate their understanding, as well as our own, of just why they ended up on The Island in the first place.

What do you make of the poster? Does it have you excited, or does it make the already long wait that much worse?

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Light vs. Dark' in 'Lost': Sarah's surgery

2009-10-19T23:49:07Z

We're heading into Season 2 in one of my favorite off-season series here on the "Lost" blog: "Light vs. Dark." In this series, we're looking back at seminal moments in the show's history in which either Jacob or The Man in Black, figures only recently cast into view, may have had an invisible but palpable impact.

Today? We're looking at the "miraculous" recovery of Sarah Shephard, Jack's ex-wife. I put "miraculous" in "quotes" because you could, of course, argue that her recovery is due to nothing more than a skilled surgery with low self-esteem. But this series is all about "What If?": what if there was more to it than mere skill?

The Episode: "Man of Science, Man of Faith"

The Sequence: In 2001, surgeon Jack Shephard is presented with two victims of a car crash. He chooses to focus his efforts on Sarah, the younger woman, ignoring the older man (the father of Shannon and stepfather of Boone) in the process. While he saves her life, he informs her that she'll never walk again. However, through a combination of Christian Shephard's counsel and Sarah's boyfriend's callousness, he vows to fix her. He soon regrets this vow, fearing that the risky surgery did not work. He confesses his fears to Desmond in a nearby stadium, although Des' attitude is more optimistic than Jack's. But Sarah indeed recovers, much to Jack's surprise.

The Case for Jacob: Well before Sarah entered Jack's life, Jacob had already visited him. In fact, he visited him at the very moment that Jack relates to Kate during their first conversation on the Island (nicking a patient's dural sac and counting to five to cure the fear, a technique suggested by Christian). During that visit, Jacob spoke of the lodged Apollo Bar in the hospital's vending machine as needing "a little push." Maybe Sarah's recovery was another form of that push, in this case pushing Jack past science into the realm of faith.

The Case for The Man in Black: Ah, but what's a better way to stave off any belief in things beyond your eyes than to offer the appearance of a miracle, only to return it slowly towards mundanity? Better to give a glimpse of hope and crush it, no? Jack's marriage to Sarah was, quite frankly, a disaster, and only served to reinforce his hard-line, practical approach to life. In his eyes, how could Sarah's recovery be a miracle if their lives together were hell?

The Zap2it Opinion: We're feeling positive this week, people, and so we're picking Jacob this time out. Jack's destructive emotions derived from his time with Sarah only dissipated on the Island, deep in the heart of the Hydra's shark observatory in "A Tale of Two Cities." It's a strong case for The Island being the only place on earth in which these characters could truly come to terms with their past and finally find a piece of peace.

What do YOU think?

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost': Finding a happy medium

2009-10-18T23:29:52Z

Well, I'm back online, "Lost" fans, after a moving ordeal that rivaled The Oceanic 6's attempts to get back to the Island. While no move is fun, ours had its own fair share of unique trials and tribulations. Don't worry, I won't bore you with the details. But as we've worked through the highs and lows of moving, it's given me a chance to crystallize a few thoughts that sprung out of last week's, um, "festive" discourse.

I'm not anxious to revisit the viler comments that were posted here, but I did want to address one in particular: namely, that I was rooting for Kate to die. Here's the quote in question from a post last week:

I understand the desire to have her follow through with a completely selfless act in reuniting mother and child. I'm all for that. But you seem to think that after she does so, she should just keel over dead. I don't quite buy your feminist credentials when you seem to want this woman to turn into a saint and then die.

Well, I never knew I had any feminist credentials, but let's leave that issue aside for now and revisit what I actually said:

To repurpose Jack's famous phrase from Season 1: Kate is willing to die alone so that Claire and Aaron might live together. And that's a powerful arc for both Kate and "Lost" as a whole.

By that, I meant that Kate, in my mind, would be willing to sacrifice her life if it meant that Claire and Aaron could reunite. She's valuing their lives over her own. To me, this makes Kate a hero. I don't WANT her to die. I won't ROOT for her selfless sacrifice. But as we approach the final season, I think it's helpful to separate out "happy endings" versus "resolutions" for the major characters of the show.

Because let's face it: Season 6 is going to bring the pain. Hard. As it should. Our nominal heroes do not fit the usual mold of pop culture: they are weak, frail, corruptible, susceptible to emotional manipulation, stubborn...the list keeps going. They are not ONLY these qualities, but all of them possess them in some fashion, to varying degrees, alongside their strength, compassion, and selflessness. Looking at these characters from a dispassionate position, you could argue that not all of these people DESERVE a happy ending. What these characters have instead is a chance at resolution, of righting the wrongs that have done in order to either die at peace or make someone else's life better than their own.

Which characters deserve happy endings versus a chance at resolution is, of course, a completely subjective decision. Furthermore, the very idea of a "happy ending" is further subject to personal perspective. Let's take Adam and Eve, for instance. All signs point to those skeletons being a male and female pair that we know. Say it's the remains of Rose and Bernard, who found happiness in the Dharma Era of the Island and died together. Since they were content with their lot, their deaths aren't tragic, but almost sort of sweet.

However, Adam and Eve contained two mysterious rocks, pocketed by Jack: one black, one white. Are these stones part of the Season 6 endgame? If so, Adam and Eve are perhaps still alive in some fashion, which means they have a part to play yet in the Island's ongoing story. Suppose two characters left in the story have to sacrifice themselves in order for one other person, two other people, an Island full of people, or the entire world to survive? Is that a happy ending? Probably not. A noble one? Possibly, based on the particular context.

In summary, it's not enough just to post a bunch of death pools as we head towards the finish line. It's all good, clean, morbid fun, but such pools usually miss the context in which certain characters are doomed to die. We're going to see our fair share of death in the final year, but these will not all be senseless, meaningless passings. Very often, they will be defining moments of a character's arc: moments of understanding, moments of sacrifice, moments of compassion.

Which characters do foresee having happy endings, which will reach resolution, and which will receive neither? Leave your thoughts below!

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

'Lost' along the way (or, Drinking the Katerade)

2009-10-15T00:11:55Z

No one's ever accused "Lost" fans of being dispassionate, and there's a good reason for that. It's simply not a show that the majority of its viewers watch passively. It's not the type of show that plays in the background while you're checking email, paying bills, or performing other mundane activities.

People actively watch: combing for clues, checking for hints, and pausing their DVRs at any hint of something unusual. Afterwards, they check out blogs, message boards, or their workplace water cooler in order to discuss what they've seen. It's a show that demands a wiki-esque approach to understanding; much like the show's characters, no one person can solve the mysteries themselves.

Nothing really new or insightful there. But I think what this week of Kate Austen-centric entries showed is that when certain topics come up, the wiki-fication of "Lost" can turn wacky. If you're wondering what in the heck happened this week, I'm right there with you. Not because I'm dismissing the viewpoints of those that took great delight in dismissing my own, but I realized a cold, hard fact: we've had it pretty damn good here on the blog for a while, and I'd taken that for granted.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted this blog to be when I started out. Essentially, I got handed the keys to Zap2it's "Lost" kingdom with the message: "Go for it." No manual, no direction, no idea of what they wanted, no idea how I'd actually produce multiple entries per week, no idea if anyone would read the thing at all. Props to the peeps on high here for giving me the chance and for basically leaving me alone the entire time. Because it gave me time to figure out what I wanted to do here.

If pressed to give an analogy, I'd liken this blog on its best days to be like coming to a small party in someone's apartment or house. There's chip, dip, cold beer, some good music on in the background (currently, it'd be a whole lotta Silversun Pickups), and a discussion about the show. It's not a monologue about "Lost," it's a discussion. It's a give-and-take that feeds off each other, goes into weird tangents, hopefully makes everyone laugh, and challenges assumptions without hurting feelings. If I could write an entry that would spark that type of vibe, I'd done my job for the day.

To do so, I had to give up something early on, something that hampered the early entries and denied it any type of personality: an attempt to always be RIGHT. Because when dealing with "Lost," or nearly anything in the realm of pop culture that's worth anything, there is no "right." So much of the online communities I'd seen before starting this one consisted of people clawing over each other to reach the summit of Mt. SmarterThanYou, with scratch marks, swollen faces, and bruised egos littered along the way. Didn't seem like the way to do it. Didn't seem like much fun.

Because that's what this is supposed to be, right? Fun? Should be fun to read, but more importantly and personally to me, it should be fun to write. And in freeing myself from trying to be "right" in favor of "plausible and interesting," the blog took off in terms of its identity. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other "Lost" blogs preceded this one, and the only way I could make it stand out was to make it interesting to me. And luckily, I got a cadre of readers who not only made things interesting, they made things infinitely better.

Through collective synergy, the site turned into a true online community, one with personalities, in-jokes, and a self-regulating nature that meant that I didn't have to try and run things from on high, but rather let the tone and topics evolve organically. It was a pace for a small section of the show's viewership to express views knowing they would be heard, and not ridiculed. Debated? Certainly. An echo chamber, this ain't. I've gone toe-to-toe with plenty of you, but in a "Dirty Dancing" sorta way. My dance space, your dance space. Nobody put this "Lost" blog in a corner.

And yet, most of the comments this week tried to do exactly that, which had the effect of making me wish I'd never asked anyone for their opinions on which character should get a week's worth of entries here on this site. But such a thought is patently dumb on my part: 'tis a free country, and 'tis a free interwebs, and trying to stifle such comments is ridiculous. But trying to engage them anymore is also to me ridiculous, as this week's tone turned less into an intimate party and more like the screaming matches seen all across the country in August over universal health care. People weren't engaging each other; they were merely shouting past each other.

To me, that violates the spirit of what I've tried to establish here. Differing opinions are welcome. The refusal to acknowledge a different opinion simply isn't. Absolutely no one's forcing you to read this blog. There are plenty others out there. Trying to dismantle, discourage, and dismiss thoughts and theories that don't jive with yours without so much as an attempt to accept their validity doesn't just offend me personally, but does a great disservice to "Lost" as a show.

How many shows can inspire so many different opinions? Create so many mysteries? Present such a variety of complex, morally grey characters? Force us to think about religion, philosophy, science, science fiction, literature, and pop culture in new and exciting ways? The show's not an exercise in adamant proclamations, but rather about our preconceptions not only of the story and its characters, but of ourselves as well. It's a show in which an ageless man is looking for signs of progress so that one phase of the Island, and perhaps the world, can end and a new, ostensibly better one can exist.

I try to celebrate this as often as I can. I criticize when I see fit. But at no time do I ever try and pretend that what I am producing is anything close to a fool-proof, authoritative take on the show. No blogger than he who once proudly and defiantly predicted that the "Cloverfield" monster was indeed Smokey can ever try and pass off his work as inherently and infallibly correct. So I don't go for perfection. I go for a place in which you allow me into your brain for a bit and we collectively mind-meld for a while, all the better for having temporarily shared the same grey matter.

Hopefully, we'll get back to that soon enough. Next time I post here, it'll be from the new man cave in my recently purchased place. Maybe a change of scenery is just what's needed right now.

Ryan invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.