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Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:21:34 -0000

I have a prediction. I think the opening teaser for the premiere is going to feature Locke's return to civilization.

Every finale ends with a cliff hanger giving us a glimpse to the major theme of the next season.

Season 1 ended with them peering into the mysterious hatch

Seaason 2 ended with them being brought into the world of the others

Season 3 ended with a glimpse into the future

Every premiere begins with a follow up to the cliffhanger. Season 4 ends with Locke in the coffin so the opening teaser will focus on that.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:58:35 -0000

My prediction didn't come true. Therefore I now hate LOST.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:17:13 -0000

The problem with Sawyer's nickname generator is that you first have to enter your full name. Saywer doesn't know anyone's real name! That's why he uses nicknames.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:18:00 -0000

The problem with Sawyer's nickname generator is that you first have to enter your full name. Saywer doesn't know anyone's real name! That's why he uses nicknames.

Rusty "Dr. Giggles" James

Re: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:42:24 -0000

@ That reason is that, so long as we deal with the cosmic and the general, we deal only with the symbols of reality, but as soon as we deal with private and personal phenomena as such, we deal with realities in the completest sense of the term.

I'm still not getting it. What is this fatal flaw of rationality? And if not reason, then what should we rely on to get through life?

Take your own statement for instance: "I suspect most people wouldn’t even have a clue if a God revealed itself, so enamored with the grammar of logic they scarcely know of anything outside of it"

You're absolutely right. To pull out a Star Trek V reference, I would absolutely ask God for his ID. Why isn't that a perfectly sensible course of action? How would you handle it differently?

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:48:43 -0000

Andrew, does not write for or work on LOST any more. From my understanding he had nothing to do with plotting out the final three seasons of LOST. In fact, I think he's been more hands on with Fringe.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:03:49 -0000

Rot, I was slow to warm up to this new season as well. For the first two episodes I found myself distracted by the time travel gimmick. I kept thinking "why this?" and "does that really make sense?".

I'm totally over it now. I'm much more interesting in trying to crack the elaborate timeline they're laying down.

the first time flash brings them to the day of Yemi's plane crash. So probably no more that 3-5 years ago (lostipedia puts it at 2002 - 2004 but I don't think it could be as late as 2004)

The second is after the swan station blew. Locke's meeting with Alpert had me thinking it was in Locke's future but now I'm not so sure. Last time we saw Alpert he was in primitive garb but in this scene he was in civilized clothes. I think it might be during season 3)

The third brings them to Desmond, so no more than three years ago. And the fact that it's desmond who comes to the door leads me to believe that this is post oceanic crash, during season 1! That means that back at the beach Rose and Frogurt would be running into themselves. Arg.

Also, does anyone else think it's weird that they named their kid Charles Widmore. Oh well. Hopefully Penny won't end up being her own grandma.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:04:42 -0000

@ Andrew, does not write for or work on LOST any more. From my understanding he had nothing to do with plotting out the final three seasons of LOST. In fact, I think he’s been more hands on with Fringe.

er, that should be JJ Abrams does not write for or work on Lost...

Re: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:05:04 -0000

@ If God made man in his image

uh, that's a fairy tale dude. Noah's Ark is also not a documentary.

I'm trying to steer the conversation from generalities to specifics. For instance, if meeting gods is one of those areas where reason is the best tool what would you recommend instead?

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:21:42 -0000

@ god I love this “answers mode” the show seems to be in now

Don't think of it as questions and answers. Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle and every episode is a few more pieces.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:36:12 -0000

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Ben and Dan never speak or met face to face. But remember, Ben knew all about the freighter folk because.... I HAVE A MAN ON THEIR BOAT.
So if there's anything about Dan worth knowing then Ben knows it.

If Widmore was playing Desmond it's likely an effort to smoke Hawking and Ben out into the open. Possibly his ulterior motive in funding Faraday all along.

I bet Widmore will stage a coup while Richard is off island stalking baby Locke.

Re: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience

Rusty_James — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:02:54 -0000

@ do you really think you would need to go through some kind of small talk with God

Here in Portland it's very common to encounter evengalists out on the street. When I talk to them I often ask them why they are so confident their gods exist and they invariably reply that they personally met and talked to their gods.

Furthermore, in the literature of most if not all of the theist religions their prophets claim to have recieved inspiration from exactly such an encounter.

@ like an omnescent being would need to go through that to have you ‘believe’ in him.

hmmm, yer blowin my mind here. If an omnipotent being wants me to believe in him and I don't... my brain is melting.

So yes. I would like to have some "small talk" with god. That seems like a perfectly reasonable criteria for determining who is and isn't a god.

@ knowing through being I would say is how you would know God.

I'm not being glib but I have no idea what this means. I'm not being glib.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:02:34 -0000

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@ Did we know that was the kid’s name before this episode?

the kid was never seen or mentioned before this episode.

I still can't get over the fact that the kids name is probably Charles Widmore. And they're headed off toward time travel island.

They can't possibly be going down the I-am-my-own-grandfather route... can they?

I've always expected that Widmore was one of the Others and probably their leader at one point (everything you have you took from me, boy). But I think they kind of cheated with the Jones name tag.

Re: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience

Rusty_James — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:35:47 -0000

@ the worse threat to humanity is science not religion. science is the more megalomaniac, the deeper illusion.

naa, the comparison doesn't work because science and religion aren't analogues. Science doesn't tell to do anything. It's really just a system of making good guesses based on all available information. It doesn't make sense to say that "science" dropped the bomb on hiroshima or whatever.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:47:13 -0000

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@ if he was an Other why is he not still on the Island?

My guess is that Widmore seizes control through illigitimate means and then is oustered by Ben. Then they banish him to the mainland.

By the way, I don't actually think Charlie Widmore is his own grandfather (although his doesn't have to be Hume, it could go either way). I was just remarking on the turn of events. And the kid's not Charlie Pace either.

@ my so my guess would be that they took them off the military guys

My guess is you're right. In the recent lost recap show Lindeloff refered to the others as hermit crabs who take in residence in the husks of their defeated enemies.
But his friend had a "Cunningham" name tag and he was called Cunningham so explain that one.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:58:41 -0000

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@ We already saw their skeletons in the cave in Season 1.

that's so obvious though. I hope it's something different.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:14:50 -0000

@ I had no idea until you first heard them speaking French that that’s who the white rafts belonged to (and that they were the ones shooting at Sawyer etc)

nope.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:42:27 -0000

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I agree with the lot of you about that final scene. And I think it exemplifies my major problem with this season, everything's too on the nose.

If there's an Asian baby then that means it's Miles. If there's a blond British woman then it must be Ms. Hawking. And if we fail to connect the dots ourselves don't worry because a character will spell it out for us in dialogue. All while the plot works over time to artlessly move all the relevant characters from point A to point B while the island plays its greatest hits (see what I did there; "skipping record", "greatest hits").
Lost never used to be obvious, now I see it coming a mile away.

Of course all the tortured exposition is necessary because people are still having trouble following the story. Every person I talk to seems to have drastically misunderstood some aspect of the story ("Ethan couldn't shoot Locke because he's alive in the future". Nope). So I understand the need, I just think it's suffocating the story.

I know there's going to be controversy here but I think it was a mistake to do away with the flashback structure. Certaintly the flashbacks were responsible for some lame episodes but they were also a great engine of innovation; Locke's paralasys, Jack's flash forward, the origin of Ben Linus, The Other 48 days. Complain all you want but in retrospect Expose is a brilliant episode. They enabled the writers to tell character driven stories as well as genre fare that never would've fit otherwise.
Without the flashbacks there's just no room for the characters.
Plus, the flashbacks would've been a great device to tell the time travel story.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:48:50 -0000

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@ Do you think the little girl who gave Ben the wooden dolls - “You look just like her…” - is Charlotte’s mother, then?

It was actually Juliet who was said to have looked just like "her".

Also, while it's certainty possible "her" refered to Annie it was not resolved. Juliet also bears a resemblance to Ben's mother. And since the person speaking was a psychiatrist I favor that interpretation.

But I agree. Ben is a likely suspect for Charlotte's father. I also have my eye on Horace Goodspeed.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:39:46 -0000

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@ they actually spent like fifteen minutes of an episode entirely on Jin

I liked that as well. And Locke getting ready for his big trip was probably my favorite moment of the season so far.

I was disappointed that we didn't spend more time with the Rouseau's. The off island stuff is still rubbish (with the exception of Desmond's episode) and I can't believe they still haven't gotten the 06 back to the island.

Ben is increasingly likely as Charlotte's father. But, don't forget about the episode last season where he tried to kill her by shooting her repeatedly. Maybe he just didn't know... but that seems out of character for him. That's the type of thing he'd know.

But overall a suspenseful and well written episode.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:44:36 -0000

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@don’t forget about the episode last season where he tried to kill her by shooting her repeatedly.

I just went back and watched that scene. It's the part where Ben pleads for his life by saying he has information on the freighter folk. Ben identifies Charlotte's parents as "David and Jenette". For whatever that's worth.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:45:54 -0000

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Oh one more gripe. When have Ben and Desmond ever met?

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:20:32 -0000

@ Ben would know of Desmond from the hatch that has surveillance over the hatch he was in for all that time.

You can always take it as a given that Ben knows everything. But Desmond has never seen Ben before.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:59:29 -0000

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In general I don't think much of Josh Holloway's acting skills but he's really good at playing off others. His scenes with Evangeline Lilly, Jorge and Matt Fox are great. He's got a scene in season 1 with Malcolm David Kelly that's pure hillarity.

Re: LOST - Season 5 Discussion Thread

Rusty_James — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:31:42 -0000

L A M E episode