# Lost 3.09: "Stranger in a Strange Land" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090 "2007-02-21T14:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/121 "2007-02-23T23:25:28Z")
It would have been better if another character had asked Jack about his tattoo. Jack says, “Funny story. I got it one night in Thailand. The next day the brother of the tattoo artist inexplicably beat the shit out of me. It was the darndest thing.” Done. Let’s move on. Who cares about all this “character” bullshit? They’re on an island with a SMOKE MONSTER!! What’s the dang deal with that? By the time they reveal that all the characters are just dolls in the bottom of a barrel, nobody will care anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/122 "2007-02-23T23:30:15Z")
[QUOTE=phungi] So, Juliet is on the shore “staring” goodbye, and then she is on the boat next to Jack… was Jack simply on the first tender/ferry from shore to ship? what up wit dat? [/QUOTE] No answer, just to say that I noticed this too. There was something wrong with the continuity. ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/123 "2007-02-23T23:55:38Z")
I thought the episode was tolerable (far better than the Kate episode that capped off the mini-season), but I think it’s the first this season without an ‘OH MY GOD’ moment. I’m just glad that this damn Hydra station subplot is coming to an end. > [@storyteller0910](#): > > If you’re not willing to have your protagonists ask questions of the kid from Other Camp, why have them take him to their island in the first place? Good point… It probably means Karl will have some sort of significance later. Perhaps they can weave the three love stories together into some sort of Dharma-esque love hexagon. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/124 "2007-02-24T00:12:03Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] I don’t know why you’re here, if you’re too sensitive for a joke like that. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that was kinda pretty damn stupid of me. Rough night, sorry everyone. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/125 "2007-02-24T01:12:09Z")
[QUOTE=Fiveyearlurker] No answer, just to say that I noticed this too. There was something wrong with the continuity. [/QUOTE] Not really. They were using a shuttle to get people to the bigger boat, and they probably made several trips. Remember, they were trying to get everyone off Othertraz. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/126 "2007-02-24T01:31:04Z")
The way they should have handled the mystery is to allow it to be solved a bit at a time, but then have it expand outwards from an apparent resolution. For example, they’ve totally abandoned the mystery of all the stations, the initial Dharma videotape with the scientist guy, the smoke monster, and all that stuff. They just keep spinning new mysteries and leaving the old ones open and abandoned. That’s why people are frustrated. What they should have done was answered the first questions, and then just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, widen the mystery out to be even bigger. Then start answering the new questions. Maybe last season we should have found out all about Dharma, got answers about what all the stations were doing, and then for a cliff-hanger reveal that Dharma itself is just a front for something even bigger and more mysterious. They should have a character like Locke spending each episode _seriously_ trying to understand what’s going on. Cut to scenes of him finding other empty buildings, discovering new clues, piecing together puzzles… Give us something to chew on while you do all the character development stuff. Make us feel like we’re actually heading to a resolution of some kind. Instead, they just keep abandoning plot threads and spinning off new, unrelated ones. And to make that work, they have to make the characters completely incurious as to their situation. They seem content to just hang on a beach and do their laundry. None of these people behave like they would in real life. For example, they found a big abandoned medical station. Lots of rooms, power, all kinds of stuff. _Why aren’t they living there???_. Or what about the other station they found, with all the monitors? Why aren’t they living there? Who would willingly live unprotected outdoors through all the rain, wind, insects, dangerous smoke monsters, yada yada? Get some cover, you stupid idiots! In the very first season they were ecstatic to find a damp cave to live in. Now they won’t even talk about moving into a nice concrete building? What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/127 "2007-02-24T01:53:33Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] I don’t know why you’re here, if you’re too sensitive for a joke like that. [/QUOTE] I can not find the post you are quoting. Where is it? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/128 "2007-02-24T01:55:10Z")
Never mind, I found it. It was Morbo who said that, not Dooku. There are a few posts in this thread misattributing things Morbo said to Dooku! Whaddupwidat? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/129 "2007-02-24T01:57:19Z")
He changed his user name just now. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/130 "2007-02-24T02:02:46Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Cancer?! HAH!!! Oh, man, you’re a crackup! Cancer - HILARIOUS!! Funny stuff!! Hoo!! Give me a minute… ::Wipes eyes:: Here’s a thought - wanna swap lives? I don’t think you’ll think Cancer is as funny as you seem to think it is if you do. [/QUOTE] Well, I have muscular dystrophy. Still want to swap lives? You know, I almost edited out the cancer comment thinking that SOMEONE will take it the wrong way. In the future I’ll run all my posts through my Microsoft Sensitivity Filter. [QUOTE=Microsoft Sensitivity Filter v1.01] I hate to be one of THOSE people, but this episode was so bad I think it nearly gave me a skinned knee. Have a nice day! 🙂 [/QUOTE] Seriously though, this episode was a train wreck. What the hell was with Jack’s sudden psychotic fit? He nearly killed Artichoke or whatever her name was. Why did she cry at the end? Why was she wearing makeup at night after a swim in the ocean? Was that “tastes salty” line supposed to not be vomit inducing? Was that star-crossed montage a metatheatrical joke? Terribly written, terribly directed. It was the first Lost episode I contemplated turning off in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/131 "2007-02-24T02:10:57Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Yeah, that was kinda pretty damn stupid of me. Rough night, sorry everyone. [/QUOTE] Ack, I just read this after I posted. Sorry, please disregard my scathing sarcasm. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/132 "2007-02-24T02:19:34Z")
[QUOTE=Dante] All so that eventually they can have a talk wherein we learn that Sawyer has a soft side, and Kate is a just ever so conflicted. BTW, if any of you Lost writers are reading the boards, may I just say, once and for all, WE GET IT! [/QUOTE] No, I’m not sure we do. I think we’re gonna need another “omg Sawyer was a con man!” episode to hammer his character home. The sixth, I think. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/133 "2007-02-24T03:59:40Z")
wait… Sawyer was a con man!!! CITE!!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/134 "2007-02-24T04:08:40Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] wait… Sawyer was a con man!!! CITE!!! 😉 [/QUOTE] See episodes 106 109 112 119 202 206 210 213 219 302 305 308 in which we had a “sawyer is a con man” story. (numbers totally made up, of course). ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/135 "2007-02-24T06:27:07Z")
Jack of all people should definitely be able to come up with some better comebacks to the “It’s complicated/It’s not that simple” non-answer: “Well, I’m a neurosurgeon–try me.” and, given that he’s languishing in a cell and/or cage: “Hey, I’m not going anywhere–take your time.” ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/136 "2007-02-24T13:07:04Z")
Yeah, this show has been going down the crapper all year. The Lost writers’ weakness has always been dialogue – nobody talks like a real human being. They all talk TV speak with stupid lines like “It’s complicated…” or “We’re here to observe…” Lots of implied ellipses. And now they’ve gone off the rails and stopped dealing with The Mystery of the island and all we get are these stupid “character development” episodes. They throw all kinds of exposition at us and then when they do have a character want something it’s for reasons that make no sense or have to be explained more, so that we know what it is. There are no characters on this show anymore, if there ever were. They’re all just cardboard standups who are put in situations to shout or cry. Blech. And yet, I still don’t give up on the damn thing. I’ve invested too much time and was really interested in The Mystery last year. Ah well. Eventually it’ll either get better or I’ll finally get fed up. Too bad. This was an interesting show for a while. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/137 "2007-02-24T15:45:04Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Not really. They were using a shuttle to get people to the bigger boat, and they probably made several trips. Remember, they were trying to get everyone off Othertraz. [/QUOTE] The problem with this scenario is that the “others not yet on the boat” were lined up in some form of united “we’re still here and you are leaving” front. However, I guess in the scheme of things, this is a minor complaint compared to all the other “WTF” moments this episode spawned. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/138 "2007-02-24T17:12:21Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] For example, they found a big abandoned medical station. Lots of rooms, power, all kinds of stuff. _Why aren’t they living there???_. Or what about the other station they found, with all the monitors? Why aren’t they living there? Who would willingly live unprotected outdoors through all the rain, wind, insects, dangerous smoke monsters, yada yada? Get some cover, you stupid idiots! In the very first season they were ecstatic to find a damp cave to live in. Now they won’t even talk about moving into a nice concrete building? What’s up with that? [/QUOTE] They’re also living in a place where food is being airdropped on a (presumably) regular basis. At night. Good thing nobody has bothered with a signal fire to notify the plane that THEY KNOW WILL BE UP THERE AT SOME POINT. No, they’d rather, as you say, hang out and do their laundry. At least Bernard (remember him?) made an attempt before the island’s Complacency Field got to him. Remember when Locke was a character who got more than two or three line an episode? That was cool. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/139 "2007-02-24T17:17:58Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Remember when Locke was a character who got more than two or three line an episode? That was cool. -Joe [/QUOTE] Like the one where he’s working on the marijuana farm and accidentally brings the undercover cop there and we all thought that must have something to do with the larger mythology of the whole story rather than just a way to waste time and avoid telling us what the hell is going on with the island? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090/140 "2007-02-24T18:03:34Z")
I got the impression that the planes dropping food were fully aware that the Losties were there, but they are aligned with the Others and therefore not gonna save the Losties. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-09-stranger-in-a-strange-land/393090.md?page=8)