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Twitter'Lost': Letters From The Flame, Volume 4
Well, it's the first Thursday without Lost. How are you doing? Doing OK? Need anything? A soda? A stiff drink? A hug? I hear ya. Absence supposedly makes the heart grow fonder, although given Sayid's reaction to running into Michael on the freighter, I think we all know that's not always the case.
But just because there's no Lost doesn't mean we can't act like it's business as usual around here. And that means, among other things, another edition of "Letters from the Flame," a recurring feature here on the blog in which I air reader comments and questions. It's our own little bit of democracy on an otherwise totalitarian site. Then again, I pick and choose what reader bits get published, so really, you're still under my thumb. Meet the new blogger, same as the old blogger.
Not as many questions this week, but those I received were quite good and deserve semi-lengthy replies. On with your inquiries! The first is from Stephen M.
I enjoy reading your recaps of Lost on Zap2it but a couple of your assumptions have me scratching my head. Near the end you state Ben took out those closest to his daughter. With the helicopter taking off [in "Ji Yeon"] and no signs of the sharpshooters on board, Ben warning his daughter they would do anything to her and the scenes to come with Locke's camp loading up their guns for battle, wouldn't you think that the freighter people have her?
First of all, I'm glad only a couple of my assumptions have you scratching your head. Usually people question every single assumption I make. So score on my part!
Part of my initial impression that the Others were in the brush taking out Karl and Danielle stemmed from my incorrect assessment that those were blow darts, not silenced bullets, flinging about there at the end. I didn't peg the Freighters as the blowdarting kind, so I ruled them out. In addition, everything we know about Ben indicates that he's three steps ahead of everyone. Given that he handed Alex and Company a map to the Temple, and that they were ambushed along that path, I figured he simply took out those who posed a threat to his supremacy via his psychic connection to Harper (another potentially head-scratching assumption, but one I think is in play).
Now, does the fact that bullets, not blowdarts, ended the life of Room 23's most recent occupant change my theory? No, but it means that your take is equally likely at this point. Gault and the military boys could have debriefed Faraday, figured out a strategy, and just happened upon Alex and Company while approaching from an unknown location. While "Meet Kevin Johnson" showed the military types to act like macho lunkheads, let's not assume they can't get the job done while on a mission.
My biggest reservation about the Freighters being the ones firing at the end of the episode then stems off Ben, and his seeming inability to be outmaneuvered this season. Having the Freighters essentially counter his move and take his most valuable piece of the metaphorical chessboard seems like a large stretch at this point. That being said, it would indeed raise Team Widmore to the level of equal adversary for Ben, which thus elevates the entire war.
Moreover, given that Ben's first line this season was him asking Danielle to take Alex to safety, it would be consistent motivation and psychology upon his part to try and send them to safety and NOT into a trap. (This sadly assumes Ben's telling the truth, and we all know what a slippery endeavor THAT is.) If there were an action that could start a literal war on the Island, you could do worse than kidnap Alex. Thus, if the freighters are there, I won't be disappointed, contingent upon the follow-up.
Let's look at a question from Jeff, who also has those Freighters on his mind.
Assuming the people who shot Danielle and Karl were the commandos from the freighter:
1) Do you think their agenda really is to exterminate everyone on the Island?
2) Why?
I have to think that the whole "everyone's gonna die" thing should be taken with a silo of salt. It's not quite as bad as a Jar Jar Binks "Yousa people gonna DIE?" but Ben's whole genocidal warnings could in fact be hiding a truth, one alluded to earlier: the capture of Alex could be the one thing that could bring Ben to his knees.
Remember, Ben's a master of emotional manipulation, but by the same token, is keenly aware of his own emotional weak spots. One of those is Annie, another is his mother, and the third is Alex. Just as Michael turned into the equivalent of a human zombie, mindlessly performing the will of others due to the loss of his son, so too might Ben be rendered powerless in the face of losing his daughter.
Remember, all this "daughter" talk is a straight-up lie, a lie so forcefully believed by Ben that we as an audience have a hard time remembering that it's a falsehood. Given his endeavors to propagate childbirth on the Island, one can only imagine the psychological devastation that would occur should Team Widmore get hold of her.
Having said all that, would G.I. Freighter have a problem poppin' a cap in a feisty Lostaway? Probably not. Are they there to Armgeddon It, Def Leppard-style? Probably not.
Having brought up Michael, Mark O. has a question about him...
Why does everybody hate or not care much for Michael's character?
Now there's a spin-off show: Everyone Hates Michael. Heh. It'd be just him running around shouting, "WAAAAAALT!" no matter the situation.
Fast Food Employee: You want fries with that?
Michael: WAAAAAAAALT!
Hilarity would ensue.
As to your actual question: I don't have any scientific backup here, but I think it's fair to say that Michael's not exactly a popular character on the show. He's no Paolo, but he sure as heck ain't no Desmond, neither. Did you miss him in Season 3? I didn't. Which means the story didn't need him. Thus, his absence mattered not.
Now, we do miss Walt though. The first Michael/Walt-centric episode, "Special," marked the second time strange things were afoot off-Island (with "Raised by Another" the first to imply mysterious forces off-Island as well as on), but "Special" brought the kooky and the crazy up-front with Walt's amazing Bird Killing Mind Trick. With "Special," one marked Walt as one to watch, while Michael just stood on the side and built rafts all season.
Now, with Walt's kidnapping, the show gave Michael's character a unique status: the father of a missing child somewhere on the Island. A compelling storyline in theory, but downright frustrating in execution. Rather than turning it into a situation in which he could have reached out to others in order to rescue Walt, the show instead turned him into a stubborn, pig-headed man who abandoned reason and logic in order to achieve his selfish goals. Live together, ride off on a boat alone.
Now, Michael's actions might make sense psychologically, but that doesn't mean that they worked dramatically. Season 2 already suffered from relationships established in Season 1 splintering at the seams (those on the beach versus those in the Hatch, the introduction of the Tailies taking screen time away from Lostaways), and with Michael's descent into himself, he ceased to be part of the collective whole of the show and splintered off into his own agenda. Plus, he instantly tossed aside all good will earned by killing Ana-Lucia by then capping Libby. Party foul, Michael. Party foul.
I look at all this the way I look at Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("growing up is angsty"): yes, I know what the show's going for, but that doesn't mean it translated into completely enjoyable television, either. Michael's redemption arc might go a ways towards repairing the damage done by Season 2 to his character. But the widespread knowledge of Michael's return seemingly gave a lot of people time to remember that they didn't much miss him in the first place, stunting both the surprise of his reveal and the impact of "Meet Kevin Johnson" as a whole.
Now that we've treaded along the topic of spoilerish info, let's go to the last question of the week, from Blue Sean.
What do you make of Darlton [in this week's official Lost podcast] giving the code name of the jaw-dropping scene in the finale as "The Frozen Donkey Wheel"?
Here's what I make of it: absolutely nothing. Why? Because they've taught me to do so.
I'm not going to pick at old scabs here, but c'mon: they've told us time and time and time again that the only thing that matters is the show. Period. An interview highlighted to me by reader Sean R. has this whopper in it from Damon:
So, watching the show Lost, you watch it and the data is there for you to form whatever theories you have, and you can't factor in anything that even the creators or actors are saying about the show outside of the show, because at the end of the day the show will be processed in six DVD box sets.
Hear that, people? They don't want you listening to them talk, reading what they've said, or engage the show in any meaningful way outside of the episodes themselves. Now, that's perfectly within their rights, and I can understand the pressure involved in hedging every answer in every interview lest you give away too much too soon. I get it, honestly. But it's also within my rights to avoid anything and everything Lost-related up to the return of new episodes of Season 4. It works both ways.
Now, maybe that's a bit harsh of an assessment, I know. And I don't really bring that much vitriol to the table, because I simply can't be bothered to do so. I spent the last two years soaking up every bit of Lost that was served up, in the form of ARGs, DVD commentaries, podcasts, mobisodes, webisodes, videogames, interviews, enhanced episodes...and more fool me, turns out that was all a pleasant diversion meant to put my eyeballs near advertising. And yes, many of you took them as such from the get go, and love to tell me how stupid we all were for trying to apply the Valenzetti Equation to Room 23, and hey, awesome, y'all. Congratulations. Here's a handshake and a $10 coupon to Red Lobster for being right from the get go.
So they can call the secret scene "The Hidden Donkey Wheel" if that tickles their fancy. More power to 'em. They produce a fantastic television program, but the problem is, they seem to know it. And that makes things like "The Hidden Donkey Wheel" arrogant, not clever. They want me to parse that out? No thanks. I spent two years parsing out non-episode related material, and you told me and millions just like me that it was a fool's errand. I guess that makes us the donkey, and you've run us over with your wheel, Darlton. Enjoy the title of your scene, guys: I'll enjoy it when it airs in May.
***
And on that happy note, I'm bringing this week's edition of "Letters From the Flame" to a close. Remember, there's still time to vote for the topics you'd liked discussed in the weeks until Season 4 starts up again. Vote early, vote often!
Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
I, like most of us here, try to get as much LOST info as I can. I visit multiple sites, read magazines, and spend hours playing an ARG. Now I know I must take everything I read with a silo of salt. The writers, especially Darlton, are extremely brilliant in their profession. I had always thought they wrote, not for money, but for the love of good television. LOST, in my opinion, is the most unique, thought-provoking series to ever hit the airwaves. To read that paragraph about how at the end of the day it will be processed into 6 DVD box sets makes me angry. They're just screwing with us now. WAAAAAAALLLLLTTTTTT!!!
More random thoughts:
1. I read somewhere that there will actually be two DVD sets: the super-duper-deluxe-all-the-bells-and-whistles boxed set for those of us who madly peruse sites like this for something...anything!...to feed our need. Or just because we ran out of nasty diseases to look up on WebMD. For the casual viewer, there will be a single DVD with two hours of white noise, followed by the creators sitting in front of a black screen, saying, "We have no idea what all the fuss was about...we were just making a Hawaiian travel video and somebody put it on the air."
2. Hidden Donkey Wheel kinda reminds me of some super secret Jackie Chan martial arts move that was taught for sixteen seconds in 1952 by a Shaolin Monk who was born in 1729 and died soon thereafter. Something having to do with a roundhouse kick and a Democrat in a bathroom stall. Or maybe it's some kind of I Ching reference, describing the circular logic of the plot of Lost and how only the most stubborn will stick around for the ending, where all will be laid bare. Until the inevitable TV reunion show, when Evangeline Lilly will be revealed to have been a Cylon named #5122C-A.
3. In all seriousness, I rarely do listen to the creators when they're discussing their show, nor do I visit a lot of other websites devoted to Lost. Why? Because I am already teetering on the edge of the rubber room with the lovely burlap wrap-around T-shirt with straps, and I don't need to add to the voices in my head, thank you very much. Thus, if Darlton have said something about a donkey wheel that is hidden, I'll just presume that they mistook their bottle of Listerine for absinthe and swallowed half of it. You see some strange things when you're lit.
4. I've always considered Michael and Walt to be the least important of all the characters on the show, and this may be something the creators did on purpose: to convince some of us who are (ahem) more interested in checking out Kate's and Claire's backsides in wet denim than wondering just Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt and Vincent have been up to. Speaking of, where's the dog? Did Sawyer finally throw the tennis ball far enough out into surf that Vincent got caught in the undertow? Did Locke kill the poor creature for its fur, since he missed out on the polar bear back in season one? Or is Vincent in one of The Others' houses, sipping Perrier from a diamond-encrusted dog dish and chuckling as only dogs can do, while everyone else gets muddy and rained on? Where was I? Oh, yeah, part of the reason I never cared for Michael is that he always seemed a tag-along, even though Walt was given some important reasons for being on The Island. In the beginning, Michael was just...there. And giving drinking game afficionados a reason to hoist a gl*** of Jack D's and swig a few rounds. Waaaaaaaaaaaaalt!
5. What's so scary about this post? I'm typing it while stone-cold sober. Insanity is all in the mind, y'ken...now where's that bottle of Glenfiddich?
well, you'll get the 6 DVD box sets, but 2-3 years later they'll release the "enhanced" version that we'll have to go buy later...
sorry, apparently, i soaked up ryan's excess vitriol.
:-)
love ya Lost, mean it!
I don't know. I really liked Michael and Walt and it's not because of them just being the only minorities on the main cast besides Sun, Jin, and Hurley. I guess it is because I know what lengths a father would go for his son, which rings true to me because of a personal experience with me and my own father. We were strangers to each other (even though we lived in the same house!), but started to get to know one another after I was thrown in a psychiatric hospital. My dad turned a 7 hour trip to a 3 1/2 trip to get me out of there. So I guess that's why I feel Michael's plight.
What he did was very unforgivable, but like I told "Concerned" in the last blog:
Concerned: I feel your sentiments, but a lot of people I talked to prior and during the events really didn't like Ana Lucia (you would not believe how many arguments I got into trying to defend her actions). Libby was a mistake and I don't think he was intending on killing her. Simply wrong place wrong time. And the fact that no one ever told Michael to kill Ana Lucia and Libby was only emphasized in "Meet Kevin Johnson". Also keep in mind that Ana Lucia killed Shannon, which most would say was in total fear, but others would say was just plain stupidity and paranoia. Also, Ben said it best (even though he is partly, if not completely, to blame for this all happening) in that what would a man do for his son? ALSO, I believe that Michael was more distraught and hurt over the fact that he killed Libby than he did Ana Lucia. Why else would Libby be haunting him rather than Ana Lucia?
Mark - Thanks for your comments regarding Michael... you raise some good points, which I shall keep in mind. (Sorry I didn't get a chance to acknowledge your comments when they were first posted in the previous blog.)
Thouh I think I pretty much agree with Ryan's response. In any case, I'll be very interested to see if/how/when Walt forgives Michael.
My dad died (of cancer) over ten years ago (at only 59 years of age), and one of the biggest regrets of my life is that it wasn't until a few years ago that I stopped focusing on all of the deficiences of my (as well as my two sisters and brother's) childhood and realized just how hard it is for a working man to support a wife and four kids, and started appreciating all he did do for us and all the time he spent with us. Wish I could tell him.
(Smokey, where are you?)
On the lighter side, regarding tonight's "enhanced" rerun, I thoroughly enjoyed re-experiencing a couple of humorous moments I had almost forgotten about:
1) Sawyer drinking a beer while Juliet does hard physical labor;
2) Rose telling Claire, with a certain inflection in her voice, that when her man (Charlie) returns she'd better treat him right.
Of course the main reason I tuned in (since I have it on tape) was the hope that perhaps Darlton did the pop-ups this time and something interesting would, well, pop up. Boy was I wrong! It seemed like they were intended for people who had never seen the show before.
And yet, I'm somewhat embarrased to admit that I hadn't noticed the chalkboard drawing (in the scene between Hurley and Abaddon) until the pop-up pointed it out (even though, surprisingly, it let the igloo drawing p*** without comment).
I don't recall previous mention of this chalkboard drawing... does anybody else? Was there anything of signficance to it? I think I saw a raft, island, shark, sun/starfish, etc. Is there any significance to this?
Surprisingly, even with the pop-up distraction I still got emotional each time Hurley got emotional over Charlie's death. In fact, feeling Hurley's pain got me much more emotional (even this second time around) than I got when Charlie actually died, due to it being seemingly pointless (had time to close door on way out) and despite the nice cinematic touches (slow-mo, underwater, melodramatic music, etc). Anyone else have the same reaction (if you can remember)?
Regarding The Frozen Donkey Wheel and/or The Hidden Donkey Wheel, can someone on this list please (briefly) elaborate on what they said, for the sake of those of us who swore off listening to the podcasts long ago?
(As much as I like Carton Cuse, I really found Damen annoying -- and this was long before his now infamous "what does it matter, it's not cannon" remark and the related joke-ending of the game. So I decided I'd better stop listening to anything with Lindelof in it lest I start to lose interest in LOST itself.)
As a guess, without knowing anything, I would think that "frozen donkey" means a shock ending, something where about the only thing you could cut to after the final shot of the episode would be a shot of a donkey staring in shock at what just happened. (Anybody tried googling "frozen donkey"? I haven't because I stay away from all Lost sites except this one. Plus I'm lazy.)
And I seem to remember them using the term "wheel" a lot, but I don't remember if it meant something like "character arc" or just some thing or theme that the show revists on occasion.
In any case, Ryan, you're reaction to so many of Lindeloff's recent comments (and laughs) makes me glad I swore off the (Darlton) podcasts long ago.
Concerned: I appreciate you sharing your story and I am glad that you shared why you thought that way about Michael in the last post. As for the podcast, which was ironic because I was listening to it when MY BOY BLUE asked the question about the Frozen Donkey Wheel. It is basically a code word for the scene that only the writers know about that will happen in the season finale. Last year's code was Rattlesnake in A Mailbox, which described last seasons shocker of seeing Kate and Jack on the tarmac in the flash-forward.
So God only knows what Frozen Donkey Wheel means this year...
"concerned": I brought up the igloo in my initial recap of the ep:
http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2008/01/premierewatch-l.html
I thought it might be an allusion to the men employed by Penny at the end of Season 2.
I think I mentioned this many a blog-post ago, but prior to the start of this season, I watched all of S1 through S3 on DVD, at a rate of 2-4 episodes a day. And one thing I found is that watching the show in that much-more-compressed time frame changed my perspective on a lot of things.
One of those things was that both Shannon and Michael (and to a lesser extent, Ana Lucia) came off as much more sympathetic and relatable than they did in the initial airing.
I think at least part of the reason for this is when you have to go a week (or two or four) between one episode and the next, and when answers to questions are (very) few and (very) far between, and when you have a sizeable ensemble cast, and when you have favorite characters and there's only limited screen time to go around -- it is very easy to get annoyed when that eagerly-anticipated episode turns out to focus on a less-favored character.
And when that less-favored character, who rarely is given anything useful or sympathetic to do or say, turns around and offs Libby, a favored character (if only because she's Hurley's love interest, and Hurley's totally The Man), even if only by accident ... well, 'less-favored' quickly becomes 'least-favored'.
Well, 2nd-least-favored. After Jack(***).
I don't know. My thoughts on Michael have gone back-and-forth. I can appreciate and admire the motive of protecting his son at all costs, and that self-centered wench of an ex-wife (to put it in a family-friendly way) certainly upped the sympathy factor, but I still find it hard to like Mike.