doctorfrog on 10/3/2010 at 21:01
Ben, you owl-eyed son of a bitch, I knew you wouldn't let me down. In both timelines. *Wipes away a manly tear.*
T-Smith on 11/3/2010 at 19:37
The scene in the Black Rock really seems to cement Jack's character growth. From Man of Science to Man of Faith. After five seasons, he's accepted that he has a role to play and he intends to see it through.
It's also interesting to note the differences between alt-Ben and island Ben. On the island he sacrificed Alex (though immediately regretted it) while off the island he chose her.; The theme seems to be that for island Ben, power corrupted him. Now that he's been stripped of it all, it seems he's moving towards redemption.
Though considering the fact that I think more death can be laid at his feet than any other character on the show, it would seem that he has a long way to go.
Yakoob on 13/3/2010 at 09:25
Aye, agree with both, this was an amazing episode, I think potentially my favorite in the whole series (!)
And it's cool how alt ben goes from nothing to power (although he last minute discards it) and the island ben goes from power to nothing.
And his final speech on the island when his character completely breaks down and reveals himself - holy shit. amazing writing, amazing acting. just wow.
nicked on 15/3/2010 at 19:23
Very interesting episode! It seems to me that the alt timeline stuff is what the characters become if Jacob had never existed/taken an interest in them, as if somehow his death has had repercussions back through time.
Renzatic on 17/3/2010 at 02:16
Moreso than any other season of Lost, this season feels more like you're watching individual scenes of a very long movie, and you're only allowed to catch small bits and pieces of it once a week. As good as it's been, I feel like I would have a much better (read less infuriating) time with it if I waited for the box set.
But hey, at least we get Richard Alpert's story next week. JUST SEVEN FUCKING DAYS AWAY! :mad:
T-Smith on 17/3/2010 at 04:45
Only took them three seasons to get around to the one origin story anyone really gives a damn about.
Renzatic on 25/3/2010 at 06:12
...which was at once one of the best episodes of Lost (barring a couple of awkwardly paced scenes), and one the most disappointing. I mean you have a guy who's been around for roughly 180 years, lived 140 of those years on the island, but ultimately doesn't know much more than anyone else. Now for character development, which is what this season seems to be mostly about, it was top notch. Yee Olde School Richardo actually looked, sounded, and acted like the poor bumbling Spanish farmhand he was, and you got some more insight into the personal dynamics between Jacob and Evil Smoke Man. But beyond that, they still have yet to truly expand on the true core of the story.
Yeah, we got a new analogy for what the island actually is, and we know what destroyed the statue and how the Black Rock came to rest a mile inland, but these are answers we pretty much already knew. What we all really want to know is who Jacob and Evil Smoke Man truly are. Instead, the writers just tease us, sitting them both on the edge of the screen, and lacing their dialog with important sounding vague exposition jive ("you know the rules", says the bloody handed kid who we've never seen before or since).
Right now, it seems that the last 4 or 5 episodes are gonna be info dumping everything on you. Because, like I said before, the whole season thus far has been about building all the characters up for the big finale.
Still, great episode. And still more, I wish I had the patience to wait for the DVD box set before I got into it.
Edit: One thing I can say about the show is that it does eventually provide answers to most of its mysteries. For those of us who've watched it up to this point, we can go back and tell exactly what's going on throughout the first 4 seasons. We've got the what and how, just don't know the why yet...which the show is excruciatingly slow about giving up. But hey, I guess it makes for good ratings baiting watch-every-week TV.
doctorfrog on 25/3/2010 at 07:43
Ugh, generic eternal battle between good and evil... I'm really hoping the wine bottle isn't the complete explanation. I'd be happier, much happier, if these two chaps were more mundane than Good and Evil, God and Satan, say if they were somehow (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esau) Esau and Jacob, or similar type figures.
My bible stories are a bit rusty, but one thing that the Esau/Jacob story has going for it is that neither of these two brothers are strictly good or evil. Esau was a great hunter, nothing wrong with that, but he didn't value his birthright and traded it away for some food, which isn't strictly evil, but kind of unrighteous and disrespectful. Jacob, the classic smart good guy, alwasy struck me as a bit of a conniver for making the offer in the first place. Like, he's got the law on his side, and God clearly favors him and so forth, but it was basically a dick move.
It fits the two Lost characters pretty well, I think, if not in story, then at least in characterization. That sort of transaction, and the enmity that might follow over thousands of years, might well result in hatred (MiB), baiting (Jacob), plotting and killing (both of them).
Pretty good story on Richard, though. It solved way too many mysteries with one big sledgehammer, but it did it creatively enough.
Kuuso on 25/3/2010 at 13:55
As you, I do hope they arent' just good&evil. What I think (and hope) about Jacob is that he's as eager to get free as Smokey, thus looking for a substitute for himself. He's sick of being a guardian. That'd be fun.
frozenman on 25/3/2010 at 16:36
I don't think the episode meant to 'reveal' that it is in fact Good & Evil that are involved on the island, but rather that's the way Alpert understood his own situation- he's a much older guy and they believed in god n' shit back then.
