Tuesday, May 23. 2006
Who was in The Pearl?
Ooooh. I didn't notice that. And here I thought I was paying attention so I didn't miss anything. %^@#$!
Maybe I should listen to those podcasts I downloaded
Who was in The Pearl? - The Lost Blog
Technorati Tags: lost, abc, tv, pearl hatch, spoilers
Maybe I should listen to those podcasts I downloaded
Who was in The Pearl? - The Lost Blog
Technorati Tags: lost, abc, tv, pearl hatch, spoilers
"Mobisodes" and Toys?
LOST Roundup for 5/22
Monday, May 22. 2006
What The H*LL?
Friday, May 19. 2006
Explaining the List
Thursday, May 18. 2006
Three Minutes [SPOILERS]
[OK, I've slept on it ]
Well, we get a bit of a departure from the usual format of the show here. Instead of a flashback where we gain some sort of insight into the current plight of a character's specific circumstance through the telling of his backstory, we apparently only get the backstory. I'm not entirely sure if there was any other significance there. It just didn't have that same "feel" of having a theme to it.
The Blood
I have to mention this, since I thought it was an awesome bit of imagery on the part of the writers. Near the beginning of the show, Michael is cleaning up the blood from the shooting. Ecko comes across this, and starts to help.
He tells the tale of a boy who confessed to him that he had beat his dog to death for biting his sister. The boy was protecting her and was concerned he would go to hell for this. Ecko told the boy "God will understand" and that the boy was less concerned with forgiveness than facing the dog in hell. A nice bit of allegory and foreshadowing in its own right.
But the shots of Ecko wringing the blood from the cloth were priceless. Interesting how these Catholic/Christianity themes keep popping up.
Michael's Journey
The backstory, of course, was Michael's mission to rescue Walt from the others. He is captured by "Zeke" and taken back to the others' camp.
Rousseau's daughter Alex makes a return here as the sympathic other, concerned about Claire and the baby before apologizing to Michael for giving him the rifle butt. I suspect we'll be seeing more of her at some point.
He's then led across the island to their camp, by the large rock with the "window" in it. I don't know if that rock has any significance, or if we'll even learn anything more about it.
The camp is made of temporary structures (gurts?) and it looks like some of them are working on them. We also discover that they have a hatch of their own, which they keep under armed guard. I was unable to make out the symbol on the hatch. It doesn't look like any of the described symbols on the '?' map. Maybe it was water, or what? Something else? What's in there that they are guarding so fiercely?
There they (rather forcefully and un-medically) extract some blood from Michael. This might suggest that they (at least some of them) are not the experiment-ers on the island. This is presumably to determine if 1) he is Michael's biological son, and 2) to see if there's anything there to explain Walt's abilities.
He is introduced to Mrs. Klugh (pronounced "clue"...significant?) who interrogates him about Michael. "Has he ever appeared anywhere he's not supposed to be?" Apparently they know something about him and his abilities? Walt himself says that they're "making him take tests", so they're subjecting him to psych evaluations or what?
They conveniently skip about 8 days (they go from 11 days prior to 3, at least what I caught) when Klugh propositions Michael. Free Henry, and they will let both him and Walt go. The only condition is that he return with four, and only for, of his companions: Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley.
Now what is so important about those four? And why only those four? Even more importantly, why is Locke not on that list? Henry's self-described mission was to retrieve Locke, so why? Why?!
Michael agrees after seeing Walt, but he has a condition of his own. He wants their boat. It's not said if they agree to this, but they must have if they let him go.
Also, as he's carried from the tent, Walt also managed to yell out: "They're not who they say they are! They're pretending!" Oooh! Tell us something we don't know, son!
Ecko's New Mission
Meanwhile, back in the hatch (seem to use that phrase a lot, don't I?) Ecko has taken up the mission of pushing "the button." I'm unsure really why this is so important to him. I understand fully why Locke has abandoned it, but Ecko's determination is a mystery. It just kind of "came to him" back in the Pearl hatch, but never really got an explanation, where Locke's reversal did.
On his way there, just as the alarm is sounding, his crucifix is briefly levitated by a magnetic field. Whoa! Seems to me something like this happened before but I can't remember the specifics.
Charlie, of course, is disappointed (and apparently more lost) by Ecko abandoning the church and decides to continue on his own. There's a bit of leader/follower thing going on with Ecko and Charlie, as there was with Locke and Charlie previously. Just kind of interesting. Charlie's growing up perhaps?
More Random Tidbits (in no particular order)
Charlie brings Claire the vaccine he's found on the supply drop. Apparently he's taken some himself(?) It looks like this is the start of Charlie coming back into favor with Claire. Maybe.
Saied is approached by Michael, and told in no uncertain terms he's not going on this mission. Being the expert interrogator, he deduces that Michael is lying, and tells Jack about it. They start to formulate a counter-plan, but no more is said about it.
Sawyer tells Jack that he's "the closest thing to a friend" he's got. Which is kind of interesting given their past. We also get a bit of the "kinder gentler" Sawyer here.
The dog brings Charlie one of the heroin-laden Mary statues. He discovers Sawyer's stash, and proceeds to lob all of them into the ocean, only to discover that he's being watched by a bemused Locke. Bet they're going to need that stuff again sometime. Seemingly out of place, I wonder what significance that carries?
Michael is re-introduced to the rest of the group, and the group also learns about the deaths of Ana and Libby. They have their funeral, and Hurley makes his final decision to go with Michael. (He had been not wanting to go.)
The Ending
Locke is still sitting on the beach as the funeral starts, contemplating life, the universe, and everything as all good philosphers named Locke are prone to do. He cuts off his splint (cured already?!
) and just walks off in the opposite direction.
And in the "WTF" moment of the show, during the funeral, Sun gets this amazing look on her face and just says, "boat!" Sure enough, here comes a rather well-to-do sailboat making its way toward shore.
And there we end.
Conclusions
Well, the big questions for this week are:
Not only that but I'm starting to become a little perturbed with this whole "Hanso Foundation" commercial tie-in garbage. The "Bad Twin" book? OK, I'll let you have that one. The Sprite tie-in from last week? Hmph, I'll play along.
Now we've Daimler-Chrysler jumping in with the circa 1980 Jeep video ad on the THF site (WHAT is that text over the Dharma logo at the end?), and the "brought to you by Daimler Chrysler" Foundation spot during the show. Come on, enough of this business already. This is just blatant milking the money machine here. Stop it.
The Preview
The preview for next weeks show, the two hour season finale was a head-scratcher. "What if they never really crashed at all?" WHAT? What are they going to pull on us? I'm somewhat concerned by this. Of course it will probably be like last season's finale and almost get there, totally stringing us along, and leaving the big answers (like what was in the hatch) until season three.
Technorati Tags: lost, abc, tv, three minutes, hatch, michael, walt, others, spoilers
]Well, we get a bit of a departure from the usual format of the show here. Instead of a flashback where we gain some sort of insight into the current plight of a character's specific circumstance through the telling of his backstory, we apparently only get the backstory. I'm not entirely sure if there was any other significance there. It just didn't have that same "feel" of having a theme to it.
The Blood
I have to mention this, since I thought it was an awesome bit of imagery on the part of the writers. Near the beginning of the show, Michael is cleaning up the blood from the shooting. Ecko comes across this, and starts to help.
He tells the tale of a boy who confessed to him that he had beat his dog to death for biting his sister. The boy was protecting her and was concerned he would go to hell for this. Ecko told the boy "God will understand" and that the boy was less concerned with forgiveness than facing the dog in hell. A nice bit of allegory and foreshadowing in its own right.
But the shots of Ecko wringing the blood from the cloth were priceless. Interesting how these Catholic/Christianity themes keep popping up.
Michael's Journey
The backstory, of course, was Michael's mission to rescue Walt from the others. He is captured by "Zeke" and taken back to the others' camp.
Rousseau's daughter Alex makes a return here as the sympathic other, concerned about Claire and the baby before apologizing to Michael for giving him the rifle butt. I suspect we'll be seeing more of her at some point.
He's then led across the island to their camp, by the large rock with the "window" in it. I don't know if that rock has any significance, or if we'll even learn anything more about it.
The camp is made of temporary structures (gurts?) and it looks like some of them are working on them. We also discover that they have a hatch of their own, which they keep under armed guard. I was unable to make out the symbol on the hatch. It doesn't look like any of the described symbols on the '?' map. Maybe it was water, or what? Something else? What's in there that they are guarding so fiercely?
There they (rather forcefully and un-medically) extract some blood from Michael. This might suggest that they (at least some of them) are not the experiment-ers on the island. This is presumably to determine if 1) he is Michael's biological son, and 2) to see if there's anything there to explain Walt's abilities.
He is introduced to Mrs. Klugh (pronounced "clue"...significant?) who interrogates him about Michael. "Has he ever appeared anywhere he's not supposed to be?" Apparently they know something about him and his abilities? Walt himself says that they're "making him take tests", so they're subjecting him to psych evaluations or what?
They conveniently skip about 8 days (they go from 11 days prior to 3, at least what I caught) when Klugh propositions Michael. Free Henry, and they will let both him and Walt go. The only condition is that he return with four, and only for, of his companions: Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley.
Now what is so important about those four? And why only those four? Even more importantly, why is Locke not on that list? Henry's self-described mission was to retrieve Locke, so why? Why?!
Michael agrees after seeing Walt, but he has a condition of his own. He wants their boat. It's not said if they agree to this, but they must have if they let him go.
Also, as he's carried from the tent, Walt also managed to yell out: "They're not who they say they are! They're pretending!" Oooh! Tell us something we don't know, son!
Ecko's New Mission
Meanwhile, back in the hatch (seem to use that phrase a lot, don't I?) Ecko has taken up the mission of pushing "the button." I'm unsure really why this is so important to him. I understand fully why Locke has abandoned it, but Ecko's determination is a mystery. It just kind of "came to him" back in the Pearl hatch, but never really got an explanation, where Locke's reversal did.
On his way there, just as the alarm is sounding, his crucifix is briefly levitated by a magnetic field. Whoa! Seems to me something like this happened before but I can't remember the specifics.
Charlie, of course, is disappointed (and apparently more lost) by Ecko abandoning the church and decides to continue on his own. There's a bit of leader/follower thing going on with Ecko and Charlie, as there was with Locke and Charlie previously. Just kind of interesting. Charlie's growing up perhaps?
More Random Tidbits (in no particular order)
Charlie brings Claire the vaccine he's found on the supply drop. Apparently he's taken some himself(?) It looks like this is the start of Charlie coming back into favor with Claire. Maybe.
Saied is approached by Michael, and told in no uncertain terms he's not going on this mission. Being the expert interrogator, he deduces that Michael is lying, and tells Jack about it. They start to formulate a counter-plan, but no more is said about it.
Sawyer tells Jack that he's "the closest thing to a friend" he's got. Which is kind of interesting given their past. We also get a bit of the "kinder gentler" Sawyer here.
The dog brings Charlie one of the heroin-laden Mary statues. He discovers Sawyer's stash, and proceeds to lob all of them into the ocean, only to discover that he's being watched by a bemused Locke. Bet they're going to need that stuff again sometime. Seemingly out of place, I wonder what significance that carries?
Michael is re-introduced to the rest of the group, and the group also learns about the deaths of Ana and Libby. They have their funeral, and Hurley makes his final decision to go with Michael. (He had been not wanting to go.)
The Ending
Locke is still sitting on the beach as the funeral starts, contemplating life, the universe, and everything as all good philosphers named Locke are prone to do. He cuts off his splint (cured already?!
) and just walks off in the opposite direction.And in the "WTF" moment of the show, during the funeral, Sun gets this amazing look on her face and just says, "boat!" Sure enough, here comes a rather well-to-do sailboat making its way toward shore.
And there we end.
Conclusions
Well, the big questions for this week are:
- What will Jack and Saied do about their suspicions toward Michael?
- Where the hell is Locke off to now? Why did he not at least go to the funeral?
- Will the Others keep their word and release Walt back to Michael? Or will something happen to prevent it?
- Just what is up with the sailboat? I have my own theory! [Just kidding ] Others have posited that its the return of Desmond.
- What is in the others' hatch that they're guarding so fiercely?
Not only that but I'm starting to become a little perturbed with this whole "Hanso Foundation" commercial tie-in garbage. The "Bad Twin" book? OK, I'll let you have that one. The Sprite tie-in from last week? Hmph, I'll play along.
Now we've Daimler-Chrysler jumping in with the circa 1980 Jeep video ad on the THF site (WHAT is that text over the Dharma logo at the end?), and the "brought to you by Daimler Chrysler" Foundation spot during the show. Come on, enough of this business already. This is just blatant milking the money machine here. Stop it.
The Preview
The preview for next weeks show, the two hour season finale was a head-scratcher. "What if they never really crashed at all?" WHAT? What are they going to pull on us? I'm somewhat concerned by this. Of course it will probably be like last season's finale and almost get there, totally stringing us along, and leaving the big answers (like what was in the hatch) until season three.
Technorati Tags: lost, abc, tv, three minutes, hatch, michael, walt, others, spoilers
Wednesday, May 17. 2006
Three Minutes Preview / SPOILERS
Tuesday, May 16. 2006
Moving Nights?
Monday, May 15. 2006
Mark Wickman Entry
Hanso Foundation Clues?
Finally got onto a Windows machine with Flash 8 (c'mon Adobe! Linux needs Flash 8!) so I could look at the Hanso Foundation website. Sorry, but I'm not that impressed, except for the "Active Projects" list, which probably offers some clues as to the nature of the island, and more directly, the "others."
I'll run down the list of projects and how they give us some insight into the "others" and who they might be and why they are there, and any other clues they might give us.
The Mathematical Forecasting Institute
An organization dedicated to probability analysis in several areas. One of which is the probability a given species needs protection from extinction. Cue the polar bear. Could be they transplanted him there to see if it could survive in a tropical climate? Combine this with the Genomic Institute below and that starts to make sense.
Another aspect is the "probability the human race can adapt to adverse conditions." Oh boy, I'd say we're definitely onto something here. What better way to measure and quantify this then to drop a bunch of folks there without warning.
Worldwide Wellness and Prevention Development Program
"Teaching the basics of sanitation, nutrition, and disease control." I'm really not sure how this would fit in, except in the case of a primitive, low-tech society (like what the others seem to, on the surface, be in.) Of course they could be conducting immunity testing or other factors as well.
Mental Health Appeal
So this could explain why most of the "others" seem to be a bit, well, "off?" They're all mentally ill in some form or another and are undergoing some sort of treatment or rehab?
Electromagnetic Research Initiative
Not much information here, except they're conducting E-M experiments. Well we know the swan hatch at least has something hidden away in it.
Of interest is the caption on the image, which is of a scientist in the 'Bad Salzdetfurth' lab. Bad Salzdetfurth is in fact a real town in central Germany. While I couldn't dig up much useful info in a preliminary search, it looks like the town could have a rich mining history, which would be ideal if there are caves and shafts all around. (Kind of like the hatches?)
This could also shed some light into the background of Alvar Hanso, as I've just this second come up with a wacky new theory... when I flesh it out I'll post it. I can't seem to find any serious commentary on the subject out there.
Institute for Genomic Advancement
Dedicated to "eradication of disease and birth defects." Hmm. Certain people have been healed, certain infants taken away and treated.... Interesting. Could it be the "others" are also genetic guinea pigs?
Aaron could have been subjected to some kind of initial gene therapy in his stint in the medical hatch.
Life Extension Project
Now this one is just so out there. 100 year old orangutans aside. (This would also indicate the foundation has been operating in some fashion for a lot onger than we're led to believe.)
It also makes you wonder how long the others have been around. Have they been there since the hatches were built, and just haven't aged? Is this why they're taking all the children? (save Aaron)
Final Thoughts
All of these projects seem to have some relevance to the various things we've seen on the island so far. It also brings up another question that's been addressed elsewhere: Are there different "groups" of others out there which would correlate to the different experiments? Or are they all part of all the projects?
From a scientific standpoint, you wouldn't want to be trying different things on the same group of people, if you wanted accurate results, so it would make sense there would be other bands out there.
I expect in the last couple of episodes (if next weeks preview is any indication) we'll find out a bit more.
Technorati Tags: hanso foundation, alvar hanso, lost, abc, tv, math, electromagnetism, genetics, disease, health, life extension
I'll run down the list of projects and how they give us some insight into the "others" and who they might be and why they are there, and any other clues they might give us.
The Mathematical Forecasting Institute
An organization dedicated to probability analysis in several areas. One of which is the probability a given species needs protection from extinction. Cue the polar bear. Could be they transplanted him there to see if it could survive in a tropical climate? Combine this with the Genomic Institute below and that starts to make sense.
Another aspect is the "probability the human race can adapt to adverse conditions." Oh boy, I'd say we're definitely onto something here. What better way to measure and quantify this then to drop a bunch of folks there without warning.
Worldwide Wellness and Prevention Development Program
"Teaching the basics of sanitation, nutrition, and disease control." I'm really not sure how this would fit in, except in the case of a primitive, low-tech society (like what the others seem to, on the surface, be in.) Of course they could be conducting immunity testing or other factors as well.
Mental Health Appeal
So this could explain why most of the "others" seem to be a bit, well, "off?" They're all mentally ill in some form or another and are undergoing some sort of treatment or rehab?
Electromagnetic Research Initiative
Not much information here, except they're conducting E-M experiments. Well we know the swan hatch at least has something hidden away in it.
Of interest is the caption on the image, which is of a scientist in the 'Bad Salzdetfurth' lab. Bad Salzdetfurth is in fact a real town in central Germany. While I couldn't dig up much useful info in a preliminary search, it looks like the town could have a rich mining history, which would be ideal if there are caves and shafts all around. (Kind of like the hatches?)
This could also shed some light into the background of Alvar Hanso, as I've just this second come up with a wacky new theory... when I flesh it out I'll post it. I can't seem to find any serious commentary on the subject out there.
Institute for Genomic Advancement
Dedicated to "eradication of disease and birth defects." Hmm. Certain people have been healed, certain infants taken away and treated.... Interesting. Could it be the "others" are also genetic guinea pigs?
Aaron could have been subjected to some kind of initial gene therapy in his stint in the medical hatch.
Life Extension Project
Now this one is just so out there. 100 year old orangutans aside. (This would also indicate the foundation has been operating in some fashion for a lot onger than we're led to believe.)
It also makes you wonder how long the others have been around. Have they been there since the hatches were built, and just haven't aged? Is this why they're taking all the children? (save Aaron)
Final Thoughts
All of these projects seem to have some relevance to the various things we've seen on the island so far. It also brings up another question that's been addressed elsewhere: Are there different "groups" of others out there which would correlate to the different experiments? Or are they all part of all the projects?
From a scientific standpoint, you wouldn't want to be trying different things on the same group of people, if you wanted accurate results, so it would make sense there would be other bands out there.
I expect in the last couple of episodes (if next weeks preview is any indication) we'll find out a bit more.
Technorati Tags: hanso foundation, alvar hanso, lost, abc, tv, math, electromagnetism, genetics, disease, health, life extension
