Thursday, February 22. 2007
LOST: "Stranger in a Strange Land" [SPOILERS]
"Stranger in a Strange Land", yet another "Jack" episode, has come and gone. You know, I didn't much care for this episode, for a couple of reasons. The first and biggest, was they hyped this up as "answering three of the big mysteries of LOST" and, well, I guess I must've missed that part. Sure we got a couple of little answers and a couple of "almost" answers... but I don't think there were any really big revelations here. Secondly, I don't think the "flashback" this time around really gave us any real insight into Jack's character. Sorry, just didn't see it. It seemed to be solely focused on explaining his tattoo, and even then only part of it.... read on, spoilage as usual.
There were three stories at work here: Jack's flashback, Kate/Sawyer/Carl, and the guys at the Hydra... let's just get one of them out of the way here.
Ursa Theodorus
So, Kate and Sawyer (and Carl) are rowing their way back to the main island, bickering the entire way. Kate wants to go back for Jack, Sawyer won't let it happen, and they end up camped out on the beach halfway there for the night.
Carl's finally coming around, at first a little wonky. He starts rambling about how they'll kill us if we go back, and that God loves them as he loved Jacob....
More "married-with-children" style bickering between Kate and Sawyer ensues, including a nice "No, James I'm not hungry" from Kate. Jeez, I can't believe they're at it already.
Carl says they're (all?) lucky to be alive. And he spills the beans about the Hydra. The Others only work there, on "projects", and that they live on this, the main island. They have back yards and houses, but we knew that.
He also spills it about the kids. They were taken to give them a better life. "Better than yours" he says, referring to the castaways existence.
He goes on about he and Alex in his backyard, naming the constellations (aha! So maybe there is something to the whole constellation thing? But they'd have to actually know the names for that...hmmm.....) including "Ursa Theodorus", the Teddy Bear.
They doze off for the night (note to Kate and Sawyer: Be a little more paranoid will ya? Keep some kind of watch or something!) and they wake up to find Carl has gone missing.
Well he's off in the jungle crying like a little girl over Alex. There's a bit of a funny moment as Sawyer arm-punches him and tells him to "cowboy up." And we learn that Carl's never seen "The Brady Bunch" (oh noes!)
End of this bit is that Sawyer convinces Carl that some girls are "worth it" (the ones you name dumb stars with) and Carl will go after her, regardless of the consequences. "If I'm caught they'll kill me" "But at least it'll be worth it."
There's more bickering with Kate and Sawyer. Sawyer accuses Kate of sleeping with him only because she thought he was going to be killed, and that she shouldn't feel guilty. She looks genuinely hurt and confused by this....
The next time we see Carl is with Alex, looking at a particularly clear sky (the Milky Way band is clearly visible.) But where are they? Looks like they're on top of another station or a submarine bridge or something.
Just Phuket
The flashback this time around involves Jack, and is basically the story of how he got his Chinese character tattoo. I'll keep this short, since there's really not much to this that I could tell, except for the very last bit.
Jack's on vacation on the beach in Phuket, Thailand. He meets a young mysterious woman named "Atra" (? spelling ?) They hang out, have a lot of "fun" together (ahem) and whatnot for about a month.
Turns out she has a "gift", but won't tell Jack what it is. She won't tell him much of anything, really. Other than they should just have "fun."
He winds up following her into town, and to her place of work, which we find out is a tattoo parlor. It's not just any old needle joint, either. Her "gift" we find out, is she can see who people really are. It's "not decoration, its definition" she says.
Jack kinda goes a bit nuts here. He starts demanding she tell him who he really is. She doesn't want to do it because there will be consequences, that he is an outsider and that its "against her people."
He basically threatens her into it. "You're a leader, a great man. But that makes you lonely and angry." She starts the tattoo.
We go then to Jack leaving his hooch on the beach, where he gets attacked and beaten by a group of guys. I guess this is the "consequences" she was talking about? She's standing nearby, and its unclear if she was a part of this or an unwilling observer. They tell him to get off the beach and leave the country.
Now, the only thing this flashback serves, at least in my mind, is to show where his tattoo comes from and what it means. OK, maybe a bit about "consequences" but I think that was a very minor part. We know Jack's history is all about consequences already. Of course so is everyone else's.
Glass Houses
Now we get to the real meat of the episode, Jack and company back at the Hydra. I don't know if we've brought the whole "Hydra Station" chapter to a close here or not, that remains to be seen, but the story between Jack, Juliet, Ben, and the rest of "the Others" is surely not over.
This chapter starts with Tom coming to "move" Jack to a different location. He thinks this is a euphemism for killing him. Tom says "what kind of people do you think we are?", and Jack goes off on a speech about what he thinks of them.
Tom seems to think they're not much different, and makes the obligatory "glass house" analogy while tapping on the aquarium window.
Jack is cuffed and escorted out, only to pass a cuffed and escorted Juliet in the hall. Did she wind up in the cell Jack just left or a different one, I couldn't tell? They exchange some sort of looks with each other.
Jack was put into Sawyer's old "bear cage", and Tom brings him some food, says something about "the sheriff." (Notes got vague here, I'm leaving something out I know.)
An un-cuffed Juliet comes to see him. Turns out Ben's incision has become infected, and she wants him to come look at it, as a "personal favor."
She's "in trouble" because she's killed Pickett, and that its "complicated." Jack says, "let me simplify it, I'm not going to help him (Ben) or you."
Still later at the cage, we meet a new Other, an older lady named Isabel. It's never made perfectly clear what her role is here, but it is clear she holds some kind of "higher office." I guess she's the "sheriff" Tom was talking about.
She sees Jack's tattoo and says that its "ironic" what it says. She also says something about the rest of the tattoo, the '5' and the stars. Of course we don't learn anything about that!
Isabel asks Jack to come with her, they need to ask some questions. So he's led off into another building, and into a room with Tom and Juliet. On the way he runs into Alex.
Isabel mentions something about none of them particularly liking coming here, I guess she means this island and the Hydra station? Was she called out here to "preside" over Juliet's little incident? What's the deal?
She asks Tom if Jack really said Juliet wanted to kill Ben. Tom says "hell yeah!" (or something
) and then she asks Jack if its true. He hesitates, and claims to have made the whole thing up. That he did it to get his friends out, and to create some chaos.
Isabel comes over to him, and says very evilly, "Why are you lying?" And Jack replies with a wicked little grin, "I'd like to go back to my cage now."
Mystery Number Two?
Jack wakes in his cage to find a group of people standing aimlessly outside his cage. It's the people who were taken by the others! Including the children!
Cindy, the stewardess (sorry, -flight attendant-) from the airplane is there. She says their capture is just "not that simple" and that they are "here to watch."
Of course they don't say what they're there to watch, or why. At all. Jack gets all pissed off and tells them to just leave. And they do.
Couple of things here. The little girl from the tail section asks how Ana Lucia is, which is what sets him off. Now, I couldn't tell, but were all of them from the tail section? Wasn't Cindy part of that bunch? I must be missing something. Sigh.
Still later, Alex shows up at the cage, knocks out the camera and strikes it up with Jack. "Why did you save Ben, you should hate him..." Jack asks a couple of questions about Juliet first. She's going to be "read her verdict" shortly and that it'll be a short, eye-for-an-eye type of thing. He says he saved Ben because "he said he would." Then asks if Ben is still in charge, if Isabel will still listen to him, and then Alex lets him out....
The Cavalry
Jack barges in on Ben on the table with another other (say that 10 times fast) starting to work on him. "The cavalry has arrived at last." The look on Ben's face is classic as he sees its Alex who's brought him here.
Conversation: "you need to be monitored, you need a real doctor" "We had a real doctor, Ethan." "You might not walk, stick with me." "Here we go again, what's it going to cost me?"
Jack tells Ben they're going to execute Juliet. He looks genuinely surprised by this, but says anyway, "Juliet doesn't care about you Jack. Get me something to write on."
Skip forward again to Alex and Jack interrupting the "hearing." Isabel reads Ben's note, that "execution is off the table" and that Juliet is to be "marked" instead.
Back in his cage, Jack is approached by Juliet, bringing him some (now grilled) sandwiches. She looks either doped up or in pain, turns out its the latter.
They "marked" her alright. It looks like they branded an upside down cross with an 'X' through it into the small of her back. A bit peculiar don't you think?
Jack puts some aloe on it, and it looks like there's something going on there. "Why did you help me?" "We'll make sure he keeps his word. Together."
And so later still, we see everyone loading up into another boat. (What?) They're leaving the Hydra and heading back home, with Ben on a stretcher.
Isabel finally tells Jack what his tattoo says. "He walks among us but is not one of us." To which Jack replies "That's what it says, but its not what it means."
(Of course this is why the episode is titled "Stranger in a Strange Land." See the previous post for a brief if somewhat rambling and irrelevant explanation.)
They sail off into the sunset, accompanied by some cheesy and out-of-character-for-the show soundtrack, with Jack and Juliet exchanging some somewhat knowing looks.
What. The.
OK, so now the title of the show makes sense anyway. "He walks among us but is not one of us." Just like the human-but-raised-martian Valentine, the hero(?) of Heinlein's novel.
But what exactly were the big three mysteries that were supposed to be explained or answered here? The only possibilities I can come up with:
Well, in addition to the above, we get some more things to ponder:
Something else. Have you noticed the names of the Others' "old guard?" They all seem to be "Old Testament" names. Benjamin, Isabel, Daniel, Tom's nickname "Zeke" (Ezekiel). I think a Jacob (not from the Carl film) and Abraham were thrown around in the past. I wonder if that's a purposeful pattern or just a mere coincidence.
Oh yeah, there are no coincidences here, are there!
All-in-all, a nice "interlude" episode to help close up the "Hydra" chapter and finally start bringing the castaways back together again. At least that's what it looks like.
Looking forward to next week!
Technorati Tags: LOST, episodes, reviews, opinion, stranger in a strange land, jack, juliet, ben, kate, sawyer, carl, alex, isabel, tattoo
Ursa Theodorus
So, Kate and Sawyer (and Carl) are rowing their way back to the main island, bickering the entire way. Kate wants to go back for Jack, Sawyer won't let it happen, and they end up camped out on the beach halfway there for the night.
Carl's finally coming around, at first a little wonky. He starts rambling about how they'll kill us if we go back, and that God loves them as he loved Jacob....
More "married-with-children" style bickering between Kate and Sawyer ensues, including a nice "No, James I'm not hungry" from Kate. Jeez, I can't believe they're at it already.
Carl says they're (all?) lucky to be alive. And he spills the beans about the Hydra. The Others only work there, on "projects", and that they live on this, the main island. They have back yards and houses, but we knew that.
He also spills it about the kids. They were taken to give them a better life. "Better than yours" he says, referring to the castaways existence.
He goes on about he and Alex in his backyard, naming the constellations (aha! So maybe there is something to the whole constellation thing? But they'd have to actually know the names for that...hmmm.....) including "Ursa Theodorus", the Teddy Bear.
They doze off for the night (note to Kate and Sawyer: Be a little more paranoid will ya? Keep some kind of watch or something!) and they wake up to find Carl has gone missing.
Well he's off in the jungle crying like a little girl over Alex. There's a bit of a funny moment as Sawyer arm-punches him and tells him to "cowboy up." And we learn that Carl's never seen "The Brady Bunch" (oh noes!)
End of this bit is that Sawyer convinces Carl that some girls are "worth it" (the ones you name dumb stars with) and Carl will go after her, regardless of the consequences. "If I'm caught they'll kill me" "But at least it'll be worth it."
There's more bickering with Kate and Sawyer. Sawyer accuses Kate of sleeping with him only because she thought he was going to be killed, and that she shouldn't feel guilty. She looks genuinely hurt and confused by this....
The next time we see Carl is with Alex, looking at a particularly clear sky (the Milky Way band is clearly visible.) But where are they? Looks like they're on top of another station or a submarine bridge or something.
Just Phuket
The flashback this time around involves Jack, and is basically the story of how he got his Chinese character tattoo. I'll keep this short, since there's really not much to this that I could tell, except for the very last bit.
Jack's on vacation on the beach in Phuket, Thailand. He meets a young mysterious woman named "Atra" (? spelling ?) They hang out, have a lot of "fun" together (ahem) and whatnot for about a month.
Turns out she has a "gift", but won't tell Jack what it is. She won't tell him much of anything, really. Other than they should just have "fun."
He winds up following her into town, and to her place of work, which we find out is a tattoo parlor. It's not just any old needle joint, either. Her "gift" we find out, is she can see who people really are. It's "not decoration, its definition" she says.
Jack kinda goes a bit nuts here. He starts demanding she tell him who he really is. She doesn't want to do it because there will be consequences, that he is an outsider and that its "against her people."
He basically threatens her into it. "You're a leader, a great man. But that makes you lonely and angry." She starts the tattoo.
We go then to Jack leaving his hooch on the beach, where he gets attacked and beaten by a group of guys. I guess this is the "consequences" she was talking about? She's standing nearby, and its unclear if she was a part of this or an unwilling observer. They tell him to get off the beach and leave the country.
Now, the only thing this flashback serves, at least in my mind, is to show where his tattoo comes from and what it means. OK, maybe a bit about "consequences" but I think that was a very minor part. We know Jack's history is all about consequences already. Of course so is everyone else's.
Glass Houses
Now we get to the real meat of the episode, Jack and company back at the Hydra. I don't know if we've brought the whole "Hydra Station" chapter to a close here or not, that remains to be seen, but the story between Jack, Juliet, Ben, and the rest of "the Others" is surely not over.
This chapter starts with Tom coming to "move" Jack to a different location. He thinks this is a euphemism for killing him. Tom says "what kind of people do you think we are?", and Jack goes off on a speech about what he thinks of them.
Tom seems to think they're not much different, and makes the obligatory "glass house" analogy while tapping on the aquarium window.
Jack is cuffed and escorted out, only to pass a cuffed and escorted Juliet in the hall. Did she wind up in the cell Jack just left or a different one, I couldn't tell? They exchange some sort of looks with each other.
Jack was put into Sawyer's old "bear cage", and Tom brings him some food, says something about "the sheriff." (Notes got vague here, I'm leaving something out I know.)
An un-cuffed Juliet comes to see him. Turns out Ben's incision has become infected, and she wants him to come look at it, as a "personal favor."
She's "in trouble" because she's killed Pickett, and that its "complicated." Jack says, "let me simplify it, I'm not going to help him (Ben) or you."
Still later at the cage, we meet a new Other, an older lady named Isabel. It's never made perfectly clear what her role is here, but it is clear she holds some kind of "higher office." I guess she's the "sheriff" Tom was talking about.
She sees Jack's tattoo and says that its "ironic" what it says. She also says something about the rest of the tattoo, the '5' and the stars. Of course we don't learn anything about that!
Isabel asks Jack to come with her, they need to ask some questions. So he's led off into another building, and into a room with Tom and Juliet. On the way he runs into Alex.
Isabel mentions something about none of them particularly liking coming here, I guess she means this island and the Hydra station? Was she called out here to "preside" over Juliet's little incident? What's the deal?
She asks Tom if Jack really said Juliet wanted to kill Ben. Tom says "hell yeah!" (or something
) and then she asks Jack if its true. He hesitates, and claims to have made the whole thing up. That he did it to get his friends out, and to create some chaos.Isabel comes over to him, and says very evilly, "Why are you lying?" And Jack replies with a wicked little grin, "I'd like to go back to my cage now."
Mystery Number Two?
Jack wakes in his cage to find a group of people standing aimlessly outside his cage. It's the people who were taken by the others! Including the children!
Cindy, the stewardess (sorry, -flight attendant-) from the airplane is there. She says their capture is just "not that simple" and that they are "here to watch."
Of course they don't say what they're there to watch, or why. At all. Jack gets all pissed off and tells them to just leave. And they do.
Couple of things here. The little girl from the tail section asks how Ana Lucia is, which is what sets him off. Now, I couldn't tell, but were all of them from the tail section? Wasn't Cindy part of that bunch? I must be missing something. Sigh.
Still later, Alex shows up at the cage, knocks out the camera and strikes it up with Jack. "Why did you save Ben, you should hate him..." Jack asks a couple of questions about Juliet first. She's going to be "read her verdict" shortly and that it'll be a short, eye-for-an-eye type of thing. He says he saved Ben because "he said he would." Then asks if Ben is still in charge, if Isabel will still listen to him, and then Alex lets him out....
The Cavalry
Jack barges in on Ben on the table with another other (say that 10 times fast) starting to work on him. "The cavalry has arrived at last." The look on Ben's face is classic as he sees its Alex who's brought him here.
Conversation: "you need to be monitored, you need a real doctor" "We had a real doctor, Ethan." "You might not walk, stick with me." "Here we go again, what's it going to cost me?"
Jack tells Ben they're going to execute Juliet. He looks genuinely surprised by this, but says anyway, "Juliet doesn't care about you Jack. Get me something to write on."
Skip forward again to Alex and Jack interrupting the "hearing." Isabel reads Ben's note, that "execution is off the table" and that Juliet is to be "marked" instead.
Back in his cage, Jack is approached by Juliet, bringing him some (now grilled) sandwiches. She looks either doped up or in pain, turns out its the latter.
They "marked" her alright. It looks like they branded an upside down cross with an 'X' through it into the small of her back. A bit peculiar don't you think?
Jack puts some aloe on it, and it looks like there's something going on there. "Why did you help me?" "We'll make sure he keeps his word. Together."
And so later still, we see everyone loading up into another boat. (What?) They're leaving the Hydra and heading back home, with Ben on a stretcher.
Isabel finally tells Jack what his tattoo says. "He walks among us but is not one of us." To which Jack replies "That's what it says, but its not what it means."
(Of course this is why the episode is titled "Stranger in a Strange Land." See the previous post for a brief if somewhat rambling and irrelevant explanation.)
They sail off into the sunset, accompanied by some cheesy and out-of-character-for-the show soundtrack, with Jack and Juliet exchanging some somewhat knowing looks.
What. The.
OK, so now the title of the show makes sense anyway. "He walks among us but is not one of us." Just like the human-but-raised-martian Valentine, the hero(?) of Heinlein's novel.
But what exactly were the big three mysteries that were supposed to be explained or answered here? The only possibilities I can come up with:
- Jack's tattoo. OK. (long pause) Is that really that big of a deal? I mean, come on!
- What happened to the folks who were taken? OK, so now we know for a fact the others nabbed them. Duh, we kind of assumed that. But they still don't tell us why or where or *anything*
- Number three is.... Still don't know. What would happen to Juliet? To Kate and Sawyer? Huh? What the Hydra station is all about? No.
Well, in addition to the above, we get some more things to ponder:
- Isabel, who is she in the scheme of things? Does it really matter?
- Alex's relationship to Ben. Is it really that close? Or does she know he's not really her father?
- What's going to happen to Alex and Carl?
- What's the deal with the 'taken' ones? Are they all brainwashed Carl-style or what the hey is going on? Nothing got answered here.
- What's the deal with the Hydra? What kind of "projects" do they work on? Why do they not like coming over here?
- Whats up with the boat?! I thought they were "boatless" after Michael took off. I don't think it was the same one. I hope not!
Something else. Have you noticed the names of the Others' "old guard?" They all seem to be "Old Testament" names. Benjamin, Isabel, Daniel, Tom's nickname "Zeke" (Ezekiel). I think a Jacob (not from the Carl film) and Abraham were thrown around in the past. I wonder if that's a purposeful pattern or just a mere coincidence.
Oh yeah, there are no coincidences here, are there!
All-in-all, a nice "interlude" episode to help close up the "Hydra" chapter and finally start bringing the castaways back together again. At least that's what it looks like.
Looking forward to next week!
Technorati Tags: LOST, episodes, reviews, opinion, stranger in a strange land, jack, juliet, ben, kate, sawyer, carl, alex, isabel, tattoo
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The PlanetLOST Season Three Recaps
Now that the fun is over (for a while it seems!) Here's a quick reference to the season three recaps and analysis threads.... Man, some of these feel like soooo long ago!A Tale of Two CitiesThe Glass BallerinaFurther InstructionsEvery Man for Himsel
Now that the fun is over (for a while it seems!) Here's a quick reference to the season three recaps and analysis threads.... Man, some of these feel like soooo long ago!A Tale of Two CitiesThe Glass BallerinaFurther InstructionsEvery Man for Himsel
Weblog: Planet LOST
Tracked: May 30, 20:10
Tracked: May 30, 20:10
#1~ the Sherriff/ Isabel is the same lady who played Christina in Mommy Dearest, is that relavent? I don't know..lol
#2~ That boat looked JUST like the boat they were on when they came to take Walt and the same one they gave Michael to get away.On the same note, if they have the power to send people back to civilization...why did they give Michael a boat anyway?? I'm thinking he's not gone. Just a thought.
I know I'm late weighing in here, but I think Jack's tatoo is more weighty than it is being treated here:
Jack is identified as a leader, but from the very beginning of the show he has resisted the "leader" role. The insight is that his being identified as a leader is NOT new to him. Perhaps the "lonely and angry" part may be why he resisted being put into role of leader here on the island. Another thought: Kate and Sawyer being together leaves him alone and angry (think: his witnessing their "love" on the video monitor).
As for the other two revelations, the fact that the "tailies" are now complicit with the others was sort of a wtf moment. I would have expected them to have been tortured, and or held captive, but they seem to be living among them (the others). I think that is supposed to give you the impression that they have been brainwashed, but the clues that the writers keep dropping is that these "others are supposed to be good guys". We as viewers are not buying that one, as yet, but the fact that the tailies are in good condition and are part of the group was a kind of a revalation to me. As for the third revalation, I too am unclear what it was. The only thing I can think of is that the others don't live on the hydra island, they have houses and backyards on our castaways' island, which seems surprising that such a settlement could exist without them knowing (or Rouseau for that matter).
Rouseau on the other hand, was supposed to be part of a reasearch group that somehow shipwrecked on the island. Doesn't that seem more fishy, now that we know more about how Julliet arrived and the whole mystery reasearch group?
Thanks again for the updates. Keep them coming!