Lost 2.8: "Collision"

Please tell me you didn’t actually pay money for that book. I saw it in the store, and decided the only way I’d ever read it would be either if the library was dumb enough to buy a copy (which I assume they aren’t) or if I had a couple hours and could sit around in the bookstore doing the tacky read-and-return-to-the-shelf unpurchased thing. Do we really want to encourage bad just-barely-better-than fanfic? Of course, to answer my question, I look at the hundreds of formulaic Star Trek and Star Wars just-barely-better-than fanfic books and realize that it’s probably too late.

I agree Sam Stone, that Ana Lucia’s back story is ridiculous. Of course, I think a lot of the characters’ back stories are ridiculous. I’ve accepted, however, that since the whole premise of the show is strange, I might as well just suspend disbelief and a certain amount of critical judgment and go with the flow. It makes it more fun to watch the show, for me, anyway.

I wondered about the ballistics too. Did she use her service pistol? Or did she get an untraceable gun? Did she stow the body somewhere so it was never found? Or is she on the lam ala Kate? If these questions were answered by the ep, I missed them. Can anyone clue me in, or are these just things that weren’t discussed?

She blew him away in the open, with what looked like her issue piece, with casings landing everywhere. Not only that, but she finished him off with three to the head from close range. Hard to make that look like a righteous shooting. She’d better be on the run. But then, what was she heading back to L.A. for?

If she’s on the lam, why was she going back to the U.S. seemingly of her own accord? She didn’t seem to be too upset about returning home. In her scene with Jack in the airport bar, she just seemed nervous about flying.

Ok, now DID she indeed blow the guy away and just tell Said that they didn’t find him, or was the flashback of her blowing the guy away a fantasy she was playing out/ had played out in her head?

Have we ever seen a flashback that was a fantasy?

Yes, but hers went over the top. Cliche after cliche. And not only that, but her reactions just weren’t believable. She wasn’t acting like someone trying to get over a trauma - she was acting completely frickin’ insane. Doing things that made no sense. That whole bit about tying up Sayid, refusing to let anyone go for help, and then demanding ammo and food so she could go live by herself in the woods was just crazy. Not just a lack of judgement, but loony tunes.

And the cliches were really annoying. Just how many more times in this life do I have to watch a scene were someone walks up to a person who is tied up, brandishing a big knife with a mean look? Tied up person is sure he is going to die, and closes his eyes for the coup de grace… but no! She’s cutting his bonds loose! Good thing she didn’t just say, “Okay, I’ll cut you loose.”

And when my wife and I heard the bit about how she was carrying a baby when she was shot, we both had the same reaction. We rolled our eyes and looked at each other like, “Geez, can it get ANY more ridiculous?”

And what was with that showdown between her and Jack at the end? The way they filmed it, it was some sort of really significant event. Those weren’t the reactions of two people who had just met in the airport bar. And in the bar, they clearly didn’t know each other. So either something really dramatic happens between the two of them on the airplane that we don’t know about yet, or the director screwed up and read the emotions of the scene wrong. Based on what we know so far, Jack’s reaction should have been, “Hey, I know you - you were that woman in the bar, right? Glad you made it.” Instead, they played it up like it was as significant as the old guy and his wife finding each other again. It made no sense. Maybe it will after the next episode.

This episode came close to being a shark-jumping moment for me. This show is starting to drift a bit. I’m finding my interest in the characters fading, as the writers turn them into caricatures instead of real people. Hopefully, it will get back on track.

Would it be appropriate for an officer of LAPD to have a tongue stud? Inoticed it in one of the close up when she’s having a moment with Sayid, but didn’t see it when she was in uniform. Of course, AL could have gotten it after being kicked off the force.

In my defense I’ll say that I got it 30% off.

Seriously, I was hoping the book would be halfway decent. But it turned out to pretty much be exactly the kind of bad fanfic you’re talking about.

I took one for the team - I read the book and posted the spoilers so others won’t have to.

Why is it funny that Ana Lucia’s last name is Cortez?

C’mon. Every LAPD officer gets one freebie! :wink:

There’s a Neil Young song “Cortez the Killer.” That fits. Plus, you know, the conquistador, not exactly less of a psycho than Ana Lucia.

Sam Stone, I too wondered at the extremity of Jack’s reaction to hearing Ana Lucia’s name. Maybe after running into Desmond again, he was thinking that all the birds seem to come home to roost-- Sawyer also met his father in the bar, right? It’s probably starting to feel like not a coincidence anymore.

Well, that makes sense, but if he knew that Eko was from the tail section (they did mention that these people were from flight 815, no?) it shouldn’t be that shocking that Ana Lucia was with the tailies. Maybe a little convenient that one of the very few tail section survivors is the girl he was chatting with at the airport bar, but it’s not like he met her 6 years ago somewhere and she suddenly appeared on this remote island. I mean, they were on flight 815 and they knew that at the bar.

I’m not sure and I could be reading this wrong, but some people don’t seem to like Ana Lucia…

More like “Hey, I know you - you were the woman in the bar that flirted with me right? Shame ya kinda went screaming off the deep end and turned into a militant hag. Still up for that drink?”

What we still need to find out is what changed Ana Lucia from psychotic vigilante to flirtatious woman apparently on vacation in Australia and then back into psychotic vigilante.

OK, we understand the last change. But from L.A. vigilante to flirty air traveler seems odd. Why, after a bad marriage, did she pick out Jack to flirt with?

Did anyone pick up on the reference to “Echo Park” as the place where AL’s assailant was picked up? I know the writers are just toying with us with these references…

Unless the boy scouts had been molested by the nuns, or something… :wink:

Actually, they left it with Jin and Sun both apologizing to each other, and Jin saying that he still was going on the raft because he was going to get her rescued. (Exodus, Part 1)

Okay. Well, since it was done in the spirit of noble self-sacrifice, I’ll forgive you. This time.

Just make sure the next one is 50% off before you’ll buy it, okay? :smiley: