Hello everyone! I missed you all last week when I was away in the UK and unable to actually post anything here on the episode. This week’s episode seems to have been hit-and-miss with fans. On my blog, people generally liked it. But when I did a live chat with the Globe and Mail newspaper website Wednesday at noon, I thought I was going to drown in the negativity being thrown at me.

For me, the Sawyer sideways world stuff was fine. Not mindblowing… just fine. But I was discussing the episode with someone who said it offered up absolutely no answers, and had to disagree. Because I thought that scene on the beach between Smokey and Kate was amazing.

Smokey revealed that his mother had been crazy. And then he said, in a strange, child-like way, “And now Aaron’s mom is crazy, too.” It was an odd remark, and the way he said it was even stranger. It was like he was teasing, “Nyah nyah, Aaron’s mom is crazy TOO.” But it also had a lot of weight to it: he doesn’t want Aaron to be with a crazy mom.

Here’s what I think we know about Smokey: he was brought to the island by Jacob, or arrived with Jacob, and was imprisoned. He either was turned into the smoke monster, or he manifested himself into that creature through his constant rage. He’s got severe limitations on how he can move about, what he can do, and where he can go. We don’t know who he was originally. That man in black that we saw sitting on the beach in “The Incident” was possibly just another “John Locke” suit he was wearing, and not what he originally looked like. What if he was actually a woman? Could it be possible that HE is the Eve of Adam and Eve? Or that he was Jacob’s wife? These are possibilities we discussed on my blog recently.

But in this episode, I began to wonder if perhaps Smokey was turned into this thing when he was only a child. Remember that blond-headed boy in the jungle and how he chased after it? We’ve speculated that it was his son, or someone he killed, or Jacob as a boy, or older Aaron, or Sawyer… but what if it was actually him? What if THAT is what Smokey really looked like before he was changed into this creature?

I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie “Where the Wild Things Are,” (I just saw it a week ago) but if you’ve ever watched a child have a tantrum, they are filled with huge emotions and uncontrolled rage. They lash out without thinking, they scream, they become primal beings. There are no filters, there is no control over anything they do. They lack the maturity, understanding and ability to control their emotions the way we do as adults. They are pure, passionate id.

So what if Smokey was turned into this as a child, and wasn’t mature enough to handle his situation? The smoke monster appears as uncontrolled, passionate rage. There is nothing organized or controlled about it. You can’t reason with the smoke monster… you can only run from it. Or, in the case of Eko, stare it in the face. Did he happen to scare the bejeezus out of the smoke monster because Smokey was essentially a child? Smokey only seems to understand good and evil, black and white, just like a child does. There’s no middle ground with a child (I say this having a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old), there’s only this side or that. Smokey lacks the moral understanding to know what he’s doing to people… and he just does it.

And what of his comment? What if HE is the reason women can’t conceive on the island? His mother was crazy, she made his life miserable (perhaps this is why he chose John Locke,  whose mother was clinically insane but she thankfully wasn’t a presence in his life) and so he’s decided he won’t let women come to term on the island. If the island is going to drive everyone insane who lives on it, then he won’t allow children to come into this world because he doesn’t want them to go through what he did. And, if a woman happens to circumvent his power and actually have a child on the island – like Rousseau and Claire did – then he will drive the mother insane and cause someone else to take that child, so there is no chance that child is raised by that woman.

This is all pure speculation, of course, something I don’t often do simply because I figure next week something else will happen that will disprove every word of it. Ha! But I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on why Smokey said what he said, and HOW he said it, and what significance you think it has on the overall story.

Nikki Stafford is the author of the Finding Lost series of books, which offer episode-by-episode guides to each season. The guide to season 5 is now available at Amazon.com, and is currently working on the season 6 book. She posts regularly on her television blog, Nik at Nite.

1. The Desmond Hume Award (Best New Character):
This award is for the best addition to the cast who was not seen before the season started.
- Dogen
- Lennon
- David Shepard
- Zoe

2. The Nikki and Paulo Award (Worst New Character)
This award is for the worst addition to the cast who was not seen before the season started.
- Dogen
- Lennon
- David Shepard
- Zoe

3. The Benjamin Linus Award (Best Bad Guy)
This award is for the best antagonist so far in the first half of the season.
- Jacob’s Nemesis (For the sake of argument, I’m going to refer to him as Locke from here on)
- Benjamin Linus
- Sawyer
- Charles Widmore
- Sayid

4. The Christmas Eve Call Award (Best Emotional Moment)
This award is for the most tear-jerking moment of the first half of the season.
- Sawyer and Juliet’s last moments (LA X)
- Ben’s eulogy to Locke (The Substitute)
- Ben’s tearful explanation to Ilana (Dr. Linus)
- Claire hugs Kate (Recon)
- Other (If you believe another moment deserves this award, include it in the comments! Make sure to include the episode name for other readers who may not remember.)

5. The “What’s in the Hatch?” Award (Biggest WTF Moment)
This award is for the moment of the season that really made our heads spin.
- Locke is the Smoke Monster (LA X)
- 815 Lands in LA and things are…different (LA X)
- Sayid dies and is resurrected (LA X)
- Jacob’s list of candidates (The Substitute/Lighthouse)
- Jack and Richard avoid being Arzt’d (Dr. Linus)
- Charles Widmore comes to the island via submarine (Dr. Linus)
- Other (If you believe another moment deserves this award, include it in the comments! Make sure to include the episode name for other readers who may not remember.)

6. The John Locke Award (Best Character Story)
This award is for the best story-arc for a character.
- Jack on a mission to find out why he was being watched
- Kate being mixed up with Locke while trying to reconcile with Claire
- Sawyer doing anything in his power to get off the island
- Hurley following the advice of Dead Jacob
- Sayid turning evil after being ressurected
- Ben seeking redemption and acceptance after killing Jacob
- Jin searching for Sun
- Sun searching for Jin
- Miles following veryone around and making witty/humerous comments
- Locke revealing that he’s the smoke monster and trying to recruit followers
- Richard losing his faith in his life, only to have it restored with a new purpose
- Jacob being dead and still influencing the characters’ lives from beyond the grave
- Ilana following in Jacob’s footsteps and trying to protect the island

7. The Ana Lucia Award (Worst Character Story)
This episode is for the worst story-arc for a character.
- Jack on a mission to find out why he was being watched
- Kate being mixed up with Locke while trying to reconcile with Claire
- Sawyer doing anything in his power to get off the island
- Hurley following the advice of Dead Jacob
- Sayid turning evil after being ressurected
- Ben seeking redemption and acceptance after killing Jacob
- Jin searching for Sun
- Sun searching for Jin
- Miles following veryone around and making witty/humerous comments
- Locke revealing that he’s the smoke monster and trying to recruit followers
- Richard losing his faith in his life, only to have it restored with a new purpose
- Jacob being dead and still influencing the characters’ lives from beyond the grave
- Ilana following in Jacob’s footsteps and trying to protect the island

8. The Stranger in a Strange Land Award (Worst Episode So Far)
This award is for the episode that just doesn’t live up to the others.
- LA X
- What Kate Does
- The Substitute
- Lighthouse
- Sundown
- Dr. Linus
- Recon

9. The Constant Award (Best Episode So Far)
This award is for the episode that stands above all others as king of the first half.
- LA X
- What Kate Does
- The Substitute
- Lighthouse
- Sundown
- Dr. Linus
- Recon

Below is your handy-dandy voting template. Just copy and paste if you want to be lazy. You don’t have to use this template, I just figured it would be easier on people. All votes will be counted regardless of whether or not the template is used. Again, have fun!

The Official “Whoooa Ohhhh We’re Halfway There!” Awards Voting Template!
1. Best New Character:
2. Worst New Character:
3. Best Bad Guy:
4. Best Emotional Moment:
5. Biggest WTF Moment:
6. Best Character Story:
7. Worst Character Story:
8. Worst Episode So Far:
9. Best Episode So Far:

On the more serious side of things, “Recon” – for me – kicked off season 6. Here’s what I mean. We’ve been playing follow the leader with John “Flocke” Locke and Jacob’s proxy Illana for most of the season, and the fact is – we just met them. I don’t feel invested in their journeys, and they are being too secretive for my taste. Since our characters are subservient to their causes, that sense of disconnect from the ‘goal’ of these missions has – for me – sort of permeated the overarching plot. If I sound like I’m complaining, I’m not – it’s just that, unlike previous seasons of LOST, we have not been given a goal for the characters that seems logical in the dramatic trajectory of the story. LOST has been hijacked by the plight of the Man in Black and Jacob.

With Sawyer’s plan, that has changed. Now there is some bonafide suspense – versus what amounts to a mystery flanked my mysterious – if not oblique – motives. Can Sawyer pull the biggest con of all? His error may lay in the fact that there is one set of players he is not dealing with in his plan – Team Illana. Because of that, he is doomed to fail – but at least his portion of the story seems in part under the control of a familiar will.

Remember “Rate and Rant” is not a recap/review – I use this space to discuss a theme or two from the episode that jumped out at me. For more complete reviews, check out:

My LOST 6.08 “Recon Wrapup” at Craveonline

&

Sam McPherson – Review 6.08 “Recon”

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

]]> http://www.docarzt.com/lost/rate-and-rant-lost-6-08-recon/feed/ 66 http://www.docarzt.com/lost/lost-spoilers/sneak-peek-and-abc-and-ctv-promo-epi-6x09/ http://www.docarzt.com/lost/lost-spoilers/sneak-peek-and-abc-and-ctv-promo-epi-6x09/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:17:57 +0000 lyly ford http://www.docarzt.com/?p=10400 Here one sneak peek and promo of ABC and CTV for the next episode

Click here for the Article

Life can often be frustrating. We can work hard, have faith, follow the clues, be good people, make sacrifices for the greater good, and still find ourselves in pretty dismal circumstances. When reflecting on our lives, we may wonder where we went wrong, or, if we are being punished for some reason. Perhaps something we did in a prior lifetime─karma that finally caught up to us.

From our limited perspective, it may sometimes seem that our lives aren’t amounting to much. But like It’s A Wonderful Life, we usually just don’t realize how many lives we’ve touched─lives that were made better because we were in them or at least helped influence them in some way. We might feel like failures, but in fact, may have succeeded without even knowing it. It’s just that there is a bigger picture going on behind the curtain that is more important than our own wants and perceived needs.

As Ben is told by Jacob at the end of “The Incident” it’s not about him. But it is about how he fits into the overall picture. That was why as Miles told Ben in “Dr. Linus,” Jacob continued to have hope for Ben right up until the very end. Hope that despite all of Ben’s hardships, much like the Biblical Job, he would keep the faith. So while Ben had given up on Jacob, Jacob never gave up on him. And this knowledge may have swayed Ben to return to Jacob’s side, despite his temptation from Jacob’s nemesis to join the dark side. Perhaps Ben had to go through all those hardships so that he could have the strong foundation to be able to make the tough choices he would need to make─choices that would drastically affect the lives of others.

In both his island life and parallel life, Ben had to make a choice between benefiting just himself or, someone else. And in both lives, he chose the more challenging, selfless path. Perhaps then, Ben is one of the good guys as he had claimed all along. So is there a message there? That whatever makes us who we are stays with us no matter what life situation we are placed in? Are there good souls and bad souls that will remain that way regardless of how their life turns out? Is there an inner-intelligence that determines what we are?

This question of what makes us who we are was the theme of the 1998 movie Dark City. In the film, a society of aliens has created an artificial world and placed Earthlings inside it with different professions and socio-economic backgrounds. Once the humans were comfortable in their respective lives, the aliens would change them around, complete with lifelong memories of their new life. Millionaires would become paupers, healers would become killers, cops would be criminals, and all of them would believe that this is what their life had always been. What the aliens were looking for was what stayed the same when they continually shuffled the people’s circumstances. Whatever this constant was, was presumed to be the soul, and this is what the aliens wanted to find. If you put people into different life situations, will the same people always be good while others are always evil? Or, will it depend upon the life situation they find themselves in?

This element of what makes people who they are is also explored on Lost as seen through the flash-sideways, enabling us to see what stays the same when the characters are thrown into different life situations. In both parallel worlds, Kate is running away from her problems, Locke is angry at the world, Jack is dealing with daddy issues, Sayid is a killer, and Ben devises intricate plans to suit his Napoleon-esque power-hungry ego. This all comes down to the characters’ nature. But can it be changed, or at least, tweaked?

In both versions of his life, Ben feels that he hasn’t been treated fairly and therefore, has not been able to live up to his potential. Despite this belief, he still ends up making a sacrifice for the greater good. In one life he does this by giving up his blackmailed principal position in order to ensure his student Alex’s future. In the other, he gives up the power offered to him by MIB/Locke in order to return to help the side that he felt was the good one─a side that will have him despite his past transgressions. So does this mean that the villainous Ben Linus actually has a good soul? Yes…we all do. But some of us just have to clear away the crud that life has thrown at us in order to find it. A theme of Lost has always been that no one is truly bad or good. They just do what they think is right as seen through the filter of life that they have experienced.

As seen in both timelines, the characters sometimes choose to do bad things, but usually it is the result of situations they are thrown into. Each choice they make helps determine who they really are─tipping the scale more towards the ego/selfish side, or the spiritual/selfless one­. Dogen believed that Sayid’s internal scale had tipped too far towards “evil.” But everyone can be redeemed. In fact, no matter which side of the scale we are leaning, the universe will continually challenge us to grow with experiences that require us to make a decision about who we are. These decisions don’t change our soul, but can help us to get in touch with it. In some parallel versions of our life, we have grown ourselves by making a majority of choices that went against our selfish nature. In others, we’ve stayed pretty much the same by making an equal number of selfish and selfless choices. And in others, we’ve tipped the scale entirely towards the selfish side by usually choosing for just ourselves.

Ben’s father Roger Linus is someone who lives life full of regret in both of his timelines. On the island, he’s tipped the scale entirely towards the selfish side, blaming his son for the death of his wife and becoming an alcoholic in the process. In the parallel timeline, Roger blames himself for leaving the island, and while still relatively negative and regretful, seems to have a better relationship with his son. Not shown on Lost, but existing somewhere in the multiverse is a version of Roger Linus that is even stronger. Here, there is no blame at all, but acceptance. This version was able to accept his wife’s death and play the challenging role of both father and mother to his son. In “Dr. Linus” when Ben complained to his dad about the way his life turned out, instead of agreeing and being regretful about leaving the island, this version of Roger Linus would have commended his son for completing his doctorate, dedicating his life to helping others, and being able to take care of him in his old age. This stronger version of Roger Linus would’ve told his son that he was proud of him, just as Jack told his son in his parallel timeline.

On Lost, it seems as though the decisions that the characters make on the island, influence their parallel lives. Island Hurely has risen above his belief of feeling like a jinx and is rewarded with good luck in the parallel timeline. Jack has taken a leap of faith by risking his life with Alpert and is beginning to accept that he has what it takes, enabling him to resolve his issues with his son in the parallel time. Ben’s selfless decision to return to Jacob allowed him to make another selfless decision for Alex. On the other hand, Sayid who has decided to kill on the island, eventually makes that same choice in his parallel life. Perhaps this is why he is not married to Nadia in this life, it is sort of his punishment because he does not “deserve” her. In both timelines, Sayid wants to be good but always makes the choice to kill. I personally feel that the choice was a bit unfair in the off-island timeline since he was kidnapped and Keamy had threatened his family, but hopefully, Sayid’s story doesn’t end there.

Overall, the message for us is that even though things may not appear to be going according to our plans, it is not our plans that necessarily matter. Despite how things may appear, we are part of a much bigger plan. Richard Alpert feels betrayed and misled by Jacob, dedicating multiple lifetimes to a plan that seems to have failed. Was all his hard work and dedication for nothing? Even if the plan doesn’t work out, the answer is no. The reason is because all his hard work was not ultimately about helping Jacob, but helping himself. Just as Jack thought that the lighthouse would be helping someone else, we come to learn that it was all for his benefit. Similarly, our journey through life isn’t about how we succeed in mastering the material world. It’s about how we succeed in mastering ourselves─overcoming our own selfish desires. And the better you do, the easier you’ll make it for everyone else.

If things have been particularly challenging for you, perhaps you just have more growing to do because you’ve taken on a more challenging role. Each time you are presented with a tough decision and make the more selfless, challenging choice, you’ll be presented with fewer of those types of decisions in the future. Make the more selfish choice however, and you’ll be presented with those same situations again and again.

If you want to know how you’re doing, just look at your own life. What parts appear to flow smoothly and what parts feel like a broken record? Why does Sayid continually have to make decisions about killing? So he can choose to walk away from it. Why does Jack always end up in situations that he feels need to be fixed? So he can accept something even if it’s broken. Why does Kate always have something to run away from? So she can choose not to and settle down. Why does Locke always have crap happen to him? So he can learn not to react and be grateful for what he does have. Why did Hurley always experience bad luck? So he could learn how to make his own luck. Why did Claire keep having her baby taken away? So she could really want to raise it on her own.  And why do you always have that same thing that always happens to you? Next time it happens and you’re about to act the same way you usually do, take the more challenging path. You’ll be one step closer to redeeming the main character of your life story.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

Viewer questions: What about Vincent?

LOST 6.08 Video Podcast – Jack: Man of Faith, or Man of Science?

Facts:

• Ethan Goodspeed is an OBGYN in LA, having not grown up on the Island.
• Ben Linus lives with his old, sick father, Roger. Roger mentions DHARMA and the fact that they went to the Island and subsequently left.
• Alex and Danielle live in LA, not on the Island.
• In 2004 the Island is underwater and has vestiges of DHARMA on it, indicating a DHARMA presence before the sinking.

Speculation:

I propose that the first five seasons of LOST are in fact the “Alt” as in an altered timeline. The Flashsideways that we have been seeing depict the original, unaltered timeline.

How would that work?

Ben didn’t grow up on the Island, he and Roger left for some reason. What if they were evacuated? But not due to Jack and company trying to blow up Jughead, but because of the drilling at the Orchid setting off the Swan. The difference is because Ben was evacuated, he doesn’t grow up to turn the donkey wheel. Without the donkey wheel turning there were no time travelers. No time travelers means no Jughead.

Ergo, the Flashsideways depict the original, unaltered timeline and what we have been watching for five years has been the result of the time traveling in Season 5.

Back to Ben being evacuated. If he was evacuated then it stands to reason that Chang and Co. figured out Radzinski’s drilling was mucking everything up on their own. Why not? It’s not as if they had Sayid the Hostile and LaFleur and Juliet the Traitors-in-Their-Midst to worry about. So if they figured it out on their own they probably ordered the evacuation, but couldn’t stop the Swan from exploding because they didn’t have Jughead.

Maybe that’s why the Island sunk, because of the chain reaction set off by drilling at the Orchid.

So since the Island sank in 1977, then it wasn’t there for Danielle and her crew to wash up on, thus they made it back to civilization and Alex lives a normal life.

Conclusion:

The Flashsideways are not depicting an alternate timeline where Jughead was detonated, it is in fact depicting the original timeline where none of the time traveling and Incident stuff in Season 5 took place and the Island sank as a result of the DHARMA Initiative drilling at the Orchid.

For some as-yet-unknown reason, Jacob and/or the Man in Black decide on a do over, (perhaps Jacob in his capacity as the Guardian of the Island) and cause the time traveling, which in a chicken-or-the-egg scenario cause the real Alternate time line, ours, to come about.

We’re the Alt.

If you thought you were a resilient LOST fan for tuning in for every episode, take a look at this guy. Jared Stumpenhorst is a graphic designer who moonlights as a LOST fan (or perhaps the other way around), and he’s recently taken to mixing his two passions, by creating — you guessed it — LOST fan art.

Read the full article here