Someone asked about Charlie’s training earlier. I think he had been trained. I assumed he was trying to go legit and quit drugs cold turkey. What we saw was withdrawl combined with some serious performance anxiety.
I like that the Koreans are played by Koreans, and Mrs. Six has confirmed that they are actually fluent native speakers, not speaking phonetically, and that the translations are pretty accurate. You have to love a show that goes to the trouble of actually writing dialog in two different languages for the actors. It’s also nice that they didn’t do the “all Asians look alike” casting that’s so common. It’s a small thing, but it’s still nice to see it done with this much attention to detail.
Don’t mention the X-Files. There will eventually be a coherent explanation. I have faith; this is too good to be let down again.
Sure, there’ll be an explanation. But ABC got a good thing going here. Ratings, good reviews and a tremendous amount of buzz. They’ll want another season, at least.
So, if all’s revealed - what are they gonna do on that island for another 24 eps?
This leads me to specualte (wildly, and with no spoilers) that part of the mystery will be semi revealed in the finale, leaving us hanging over the summer.
Now, If it’s been layed out as B5, I won’t mind. But if they’re stretching it out, to be able to squeeze another season out of it, I’ll be pissed.
Off topic speculation about the tv world - Lost is a big hit, as has 24 been. With the decline of the reality format and two hit shows with season long arcs + (at least in the case of Lost) character driven plots, are we seeing mainstream tv catching up with what some fringe people (Dopers) have been loving about B5 and BtVS? Will there (finally) be a shift towards real storytelling? Nah. Didn’t think so.
[spoiler]“Every mystery that we present on the show – what is the monster, where does Ethan come from, why hasn’t Claire had her baby yet – all of those are questions that we know the answers to,” asserts Lindelof. “But how and when we present the answers isn’t set in stone.”
The “how and when” is the million dollar question. Lindelof is aware of the very thin tightrope he and Abrams walk with this show. One of the biggest mysteries from the pilot episode was the source of the 16-year-old French distress signal that some of the castaways picked up on a dying transmitter. The writers hadn’t planned to answer that until late this season, but then decided they needed to throw the audience a big bone early on so people would believe more answers would be coming in time.
And in typical “Lost” fashion, the solution only raised more questions – Exactly what happened to the French woman’s colleagues? How does she still have power to send the signal? – that Lindelof insists will also be answered at an unspecified date.
“Now they know the source of the 16-year-old transmission, and the audience goes, ‘I’m not satisfied.’ Well, if you’re satisfied, you’ll stop watching. We have to walk that line. It’s not easy, and hopefully we won’t betray the audience.”
[/spoiler]
Warning. That interview contains what some may consider spoilers.
Two things to add. (I have never gotten into these threads quick enough to have anything to add - amazing we’re on page three and someone hasn’t said what I wanted to say.)
First - I thought that when Locke said to Boone, “we’re counting on you,” that it had a kind of sinister tone to it. Like he really meant “we” (he and ?? the island?) were counting on Boone to screw up - which he did, he fell asleep. Although, I guess Boone’s falling asleep didn’t really allow Ethan to get to Scott, at least as far as we know.
Second - as to Jin asking about the baby. I didn’t that was such a weird concern for him to have. Remember when he fed her the sea urchin and her baby kicked and she held his hand to her tummy? Maybe he feels a connection to the baby since he felt it move.
And I will echo that I laughed at The Office reference and the Arrested Development (RIP) reference.
But on Lost, the castaways don’t have any drycleaning to get the mustard removed from. And just how would they explain a demon causing them to break into song and dance?
That was a great link Trion but he said (I don’t consider thsi a spoiler)
It’s a business … We can’t hide behind the commerce of it, but at the same time, I can’t say to (ABC president) Steve MacPherson, ‘I’m only doing five years of the show,’ because he’ll say, ‘Great! We’ll bring in new guys after you leave and they’ll continue to do the show.’"
Now JMS planned 5 years of Babylon 5. Is it something to do with financing that JJ Abrams can’t say “we have 5 years planned, enough to get to syndication”?
Was it because B5 was initially sydicated? I’m honestly curious.
Um, Dex, you really didn’t need to do that. The interview that I linked to may have contained spoilers, but the portion of it that I quoted here only contains info about stuff that’s already aired. I probably should have been clearer about that.
On preview:
True enough N9IWP. I only meant to indicate that they are aware of the problem and are trying their best to take all apects of the situation into account. In any event, I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt them when they say that - at the very least - they do know the answers to the questions they’ve posed.
I’m wondering why the castaways all seemed to relax after Ethan was captured/killed. As some have suspected, there’s no reason to assume Ethan was acting alone. So while they all bedded down quietly after his death, they might wake up the next morning to find another person has been killed because they haven’t surrendered Claire.
Since a few of you have mentioned X-Files-type anxiety, I’ll warn you all that Robert Patrick will be appearing in an upcoming episode. I believe it will be next week in a flashback moment. I actually thought he did a good job in a terrible situation during The X-Files, I won’t mind seeing him again.
Seems to me that Ethan is something of a drone, I suspect that those in charge let Claire go without his knowledge. I think his threat was orchestrated as a test of loyalty remaining among the group.
This bugs me how everyone assumes Locke is evil or sinister. If you remember Locke didn’t like being told what he couldn’t do. So he does not do that to the castaways, especially those who need some ego-boosting. When he tells Jack that the can’t go after Ethan with pointy sticks that’s just being practical. But when Boone wants to help he doesn’t put him down, he expresses confidence in him. He did the same to Charlie when he was helping him give up the drugs.
Maybe he butts into people’s personal lives too much, but I don’t think his intention is evil. The island gave him something and I think he is just helping others to gain something from the island as well.
Yep. There’s actually every reason to believe Ethan is NOT acting alone.
And remember in Claire’s dream he had one black eye and one white eye. This to me means he’s either a little of both (good and evil) or none of either.
Here’s my thinking for why I don’t trust Locke or his motivations:
It seems pretty clear that Locke is being controlled or seriously influenced by the island, and while we don’t know exactly what that means, we know a little bit about what happened to the last group of people to show up on the island. Between Ethan and Crazy French Lady, who do you think is more under the island’s influence? Me, I’d say Ethan. CFL may be a little, well, crazy, but I think she’s a sympathetic character, and must have had some good reason for killing her fellow castaways. Whatever’s going on, it seems clear that if the island has its way, things will end with violence and betrayal, and my impression is that whoever’s on the island’s team will be largely responsible.
Because of Ethan, I’m seeing the island as a malevolent force, and that’s why I’m leery of Locke.
Don’t assume Ethan or Rousseau or anyone else is an agent of the island. Maybe something on the island just drives people crazy but has no actual agenda itself. A French group landed and one member, Rousseau, got paranoid; some other unkown group arrived, and we have Ethan wanting babies. Maybe in another ten years, some new group will arrive and by then Locke or Boone or Hurley will be the new menace. But none of them is carrying out a common agenda; they’re all just acting out their own insanity.
I don’t think Locke is evil per se, because I think he is aligned with the island, whether by influence or, by my belief, a willful agreement. But I definitely think the island has some agenda. I don’t just think it is a madness. I also am open to the possibility that there are more than just a single island influence. I truly suspect there may be a place called White Rock on the island.
How sweet would it be when this series winds down, they leave some characters on the island and ten years down the road, have a Lost: The Next Generation!?
Maybe the island does have an agenda. But maybe it uses up most of the people that are trapped on the island and Ethan and Rousseau are just “leftovers”. My main point is that there’s no reason to assume that Ethan was acting on behalf of whatever it is that controls the island.
“Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
When Sayid showed an obvious lack of confidence in Boone, Locke did what the pupil needed his master to do: he made Boone seem valuable in front of Sayid. This boosted Boone’s confidence because Locke, who he admires, doesn’t treat him like a dumb kid and by saying it in front of Sayid, it gave Boone instant credibility because if Boone is good enough for Locke to value, he has to be good enough for the others.
