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Friday, April 21, 2006

Three Clues To Get Lost

Lost. We're all fans of it. If you're not, everyone's talking about you behind your back. Last night's episode in Australia was a recap episode. The kind they're always doing for big shows like that now. At least down here they are. (And remember, readers from elsewhere in the world, you're probably well ahead of us in the series -- or possibly behind us -- so let's all just be very wary of spoilers, okay? There may be some in this post for anyone who hasn't yet seen up to the episode fairly early in season two that featured Kate's flashback about her parents and her encounter with the black horse on the island.)

Well, this was our Lost season two recap, much earlier than I expected it (the one we got for season one was right near the end of the season). The 'tailies' haven't been with the original gang for very long yet, and already we're having a recap episode? The producers are hoping to attract new viewers to the show, I guess, by making it seem appealing and even possible to 'catch up' with past events.

But for some reason, JJ Abrams (co-creator of Lost) was out here (filming or promoting his movie Mission: Impossible III, perhaps?), so he'd filmed a few segments to 'book-end' the show and supposedly reveal three secrets about Lost that he was only revealing to Australia.

So because people from outside Australia may read this, I'm not telling you what the secrets were.




... Okay, you talked me into it.

Actually, I'm wondering if they're really that impressive. They certainly didn't seem to be, from my perspective ... but maybe others thought they were just fabulous; I don't know. It's possible, of course, that our North American friends have already seen the relevant episodes further down the track to know what these three clues allude to (well, maybe not Clue # 3, which doesn't directly relate to the show, actually - but the other two, certainly), and therefore this will seem like nothing much at all. If so, fair enough. I guess I'm speaking mainly to any Australian viewers who may be reading this.

Let's break the clues down one at a time, and see what we can make of them.



Clue # 1 - Hurley "may or may not be" the only survivor on the island to have spent some time in a mental institution. Well, okay. Presumably it's not "may not". Why say someone else may have done something if it turns out they haven't? That's not a clue; that's a lie. So surely we're safe in assuming that someone other than Hurley has spent some time in a mental institution. (REMEMBER, PEOPLE: If you already know the identity of this person, we don't want to know! Thank you.) It could be one of the 'tailies' (about whom we know very little, other than Ana Lucia at this point), such as Mr Eko or that blonde woman whose name I can never remember, and who said she was a psychiatrist (sounds like excellent potential for her previous life to have crossed paths with Hurley's in some way, don't you think?). Or I guess it could have been Charlie, Claire, Michael, Sawyer, Kate, Locke ... let's face it, until we know more about the characters in question, it could have been anyone! That's the whole point about the show ... we learn new things about the characters (and the parallel going on between that situation and the current happenings on the island) via each new flashback. So until they want to tell us about someone's past looney bin attendance, we're not necessarily going to know. But my question is: Is this really a clue? Or more specifically, is this really a worthwhile clue? Sure, we can play guessing games about who it might be as each week passes, but this could be something they don't reveal for a few more seasons yet! (Bear in mind that they've [perhaps loosely] plotted what's going to happen to the characters for the first six seasons at this stage.) And if it's going to be revealed to us eventually, it's highly likely that it'll be something we don't see coming until it surprises us with its revelation. And/or, that it won't mean anything to us until that point. So is this a helpful aspect of 'working out the mysteries of the island'? I'm not so sure that it is. However, it was probably the most concrete and (on the surface, at least) 'useful' of the three clues.



Clue # 2 - When we see a piece of the monster in next week's episode (and I'm sure it will be a lightning-quick flash), look out for the hidden clue/s secreted away in that shot. That's pretty rough. Clearly we'll need to tape it and watch it back in freeze-frame (not that I would, of course - seeing as that contravenes numerous copyright laws, etc). But if it's going to be our only glimpse of part of the monster on the island (and I'm sure it will be both fleeting and disappointingly minimal), I don't want to waste what I'm sure will be an all-too-brief moment, scanning the surrounding trees for a carving of Big Foot or whatever. I wonder how helpful this is going to be, but I guess if American viewers weren't warned to look for this clue before the episode in question went to air in the US, then we may have a decent heads-up on this one. We'll have to wait until next week before we know if this is a worthwhile clue. Did any Aussies watching last night feel ripped off with this clue?



Clue # 3 - JJ has hidden a reference to Lost in his new film, Mission: Impossible III. ... What the ?? This wasn't a clue about the show at all! This was a nice little amusing tidbit, sure - but it's mainly a way of trying to get us to go see the movie! I truly felt robbed of a third clue with this one. I doubt very much that the reference within the movie is going to be something revealing about the island. No way. I'm certain it'll be something like Charlie's band Drive Shaft's single "You Are, Everybody" (or whatever it's called) playing in the background somewhere for a second or something. Maybe there'll be a newspaper article on missing flight Oceania 815 that the camera will pan past. Maybe someone will work for Hurley's box company. Or maybe Ethan Hunt will walk through a department store and we'll see the DVD boxed sets of season one on a shelf behind him. Whatever it is, it's not going to enlighten us to anything on the show!



As usual, I blame Channel Seven in Australia for their poor decisions with the advertising used for Lost. They continue to promise us stuff in the ads that simply isn't in the shows they're promoting. The result? People watch for the promised revelations, don't feel that they get them, and then get angry and annoyed and resentful towards the show. AND THEN THEY STOP WATCHING! Listen up, Channel Seven big-wigs! This is why fewer and fewer people are tuning in each week, and why you have to resort to catch-up episodes. Stop making it sound like each episode is going to "finally reveal the biggest secret on the island, ever!" It's not meant to reveal stuff to us all the time - the show is a suspenseful drama, so the appeal is in how all the various mysteries continue to build and build, and in the clever juxtaposition of the flashbacks to the troubles currently brewing in the present, and in the weird occurrences and other unknown occupants on the island. Stop trying to make it sound like it's going to answer all our questions! I for one don't want it to. I enjoy the show too much the way it is; revealing everything would leave it nowhere to go. And all you're doing is making the dunderheads who think the show should be entirely resolved in one week (and don't realise that it would have to be over at that point) get angry ... and then us clever cookies have trouble convincing them that the show rocks. Because all they're focused on is the fact that you promised them they'd see the monster, or what's down the hatch, or whatever the next mystery's going to be, and they're continually let down because the show is not meant to satisfy every mystery as we encounter it.

Boy, that makes me mad. I don't know why people thought the show was just a three-part mini-series when it came out, and why they think it should have ended at the first season's finale, with them getting saved and ending the whole story. Bizarre. And those who hate the flashbacks and had hoped that they'd finish with them after the first season. Bizarre. And those who think the monster and everything else should be shown to us straight away, not thinking of how that would kill an future mystery in the stories thereafter. Bizarre.

I guess some people just don't get it.

But anyway, I'm kind of glad that JJ's three clues were less-than-Earth-shattering. If he'd shown us the monster properly, or explained who The Others are, or gone into detail about the originals of the computer countdown in the hatch and what DHARMA means, I'd have been extremely pissed off that we didn't get the chance to watch the show and work it out for ourselves - or at least have the answers revealed to us as they get revealed to the characters.

To spell it out for us any more than that would have spoilt the journey for all of us.



.

14 Comments:

At Friday, April 21, 2006 6:43:00 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That 'Lost Revealed' was a crock of s**t. Of course I knew it would be as soon as Abrahams mentioned at the start that he had just directed MI3. I have my own theories about each of the clues which I won't go into here, but I don't think they were all that useful at all. As for the last 'clue' about some reference to Lost in MI3...well I just wanted to grab the guy and say, "Sure you come up with good shows, but do you understand the meaning of the words, 'clue' and 'revelation'?"

 
At Friday, April 21, 2006 8:01:00 am, Blogger Riss said...

I got annoyed when they started changing the programming of the time slot.

I'm waiting now to get it on DVD (at a bargain price) instead of trying to catch it or tape it.

I have too many videocassettes in the house as it is (!) and it was a nightmare trying to keep up with watching everything we'd taped to tape over it the next week so we just gave up.

What I did see of the series does make me want to watch the rest of it but it was getting to be too much hard work.

 
At Friday, April 21, 2006 11:14:00 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love flashbacks, it was the only reason to watch all of 'murder she wrote'

 
At Friday, April 21, 2006 12:30:00 pm, Blogger Melba said...

i haven't read this post because i do want to be a lost person one day. truly i do. i am going to get it from the video store, one by one, and watch them, perhaps during the day even. and catch up. so people will then stop talking behind my back.

but tell me. is it worth it to invest so much time in a catch-up? we are talking huge hours here...

 
At Friday, April 21, 2006 10:35:00 pm, Blogger Tammiodo said...

yes I'm thinking that Lost might be another dvd series for a long weekend. I watched the first two, and i really would like to become a Losty, but I'm never home when it's on, and i no longer have a VCR. I have the same worry as MG - is it worth the number of hours to catch up?

 
At Saturday, April 22, 2006 12:04:00 pm, Blogger Steph said...

I don't watch it, but i'm so glad i now know why everyone is talking about me behind my back.w00t!

 
At Wednesday, April 26, 2006 11:53:00 pm, Blogger noshie said...

They are currently advertising the nextseason of Lost here in the UK. If you think channel 7 are bad at giving stuff away you really should check out these promos. OMG! There will be no shocks or surprises when we finally watch it because they've already been revealed.
Noshie

 
At Friday, April 28, 2006 2:51:00 pm, Blogger BEVIS said...

John B, yes, I know what you mean (and your comment made me laugh!). Thanks for censoring yourself, too, incidentally. I'd be interested to know your thoughts now that the Mr Eko episode of Lost has aired. What did you think of Abrams' second clue? Your final question is gold, and perfectly sums up the whole 'special'. I told Wifey what you wrote here, and she thought it was funny too.

Riss, when did they do that? Hasn't Lost always been on at 8:30pm Thursdays? Maybe I've got a selective memory and only recall what time it's on now, rather than previous programming times, so I don't get confused. I know that some weeks they drop the show altogether for one reason or another, but they don't actually move it to another time when they do that. Perhaps I've misunderstood your meaning here. I completely 'get' what you mean about watching it in one go on DVD instead of trying to play catch-up. Just try not to take any notice of the TV ads you might see between now and then, in that case. Spoilers for a show like this are the worst! Also, a DVD marathon is the best thing for such an addictive show as this (except for when you finish and need another 'fix'!).

Litha, ha! Very good! Perfect example, hehehe.

MelbourneGirl, that's good to hear - yes, that's the only way people will stop talking behind your back. Hehe. As for your question, OH MY GOODNESS! Yes, it is COMPLETELY worth your time and effort to catch up! It's one of the best shows to ever be produced, ever! The fact that six years of plot has been written or drafted in advance means that every little clue and reference is concrete and will be explained further as the series goes on (as some have already started to be explained). Everyone's story weaves into everyone else's at some point in their past, and we get to see glimpses of this as the episodes (and their brilliant flashbacks) are told. MG, I really can't stress or recommend this show to you strongly enough. It is to mystery-drama shows what Arrested Development is to comedy: "FANTASTIC!"

Tammiodo, oh, wordy-Lordy, yes!! It is DEFINITELY worth the time to catch up! :) If you haven't got a VCR, though, how do you plan to catch up? Perhaps you have a DVD player. I hope so, because the show is GREAT! (Okay, I'll stop yelling at everyone now ...)

Steph, actually, that's not the only reason. We're all talking about your shoes, too ... :)

Noshie, that sucks - hopefully you can ignore all ads and not see any of the shows, so you can come home and watch them through in one sitting (even if you borrow my copy of the season 2 boxset DVD which I will inevitably own by Christmas). :)

 
At Friday, April 28, 2006 8:31:00 pm, Blogger noshie said...

Hehehe. Inevitably you say! To be honest I actually haven't seen the first series apart from maybe the first three episodes. I just couldn't cope with the way they promoted it. I would like to watch it though. Maybe Adie would like to own it on DVD. Maybe that would make a decent Xmas pressie for me... I mean for him (of course).
Noshie

 
At Saturday, April 29, 2006 12:03:00 am, Blogger BEVIS said...

Yes - 'inevitably'. It is the law. Hehe. I didn't realise you haven't even seen series one yet. Well then, that's all-the-more reason not to watch or listen to the ads for any season two episodes if you can help it. I know you guys pretty well, and I know what you like.

You'll love Lost!

BTW, have you seen my email, asking you a few questions? If not, let me know. If so, hopefully you'll have a chance to reply soon.

 
At Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:14:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd alway assumed the "catch-up" eps were 7's doing, but they're made by the Americans, and there's another one still to go!

The thing with commercial TV in OZ these days, apart from that it sux (I don't even watch ANYTHING on 9 anymore, it's all poo!), is that it's just plain ANNOYING! When it went on hiatus during Easter, we decided to screw the man and obtained Lost by nefarious means...erm...yes, so we're up to speed with the American broadcast, and it IS addictive! Most of the people I speak to who are Lost-heads watch it through the same "netfarious" means.

Back to the topic, yes, this catch-up ep blew chunks, and what's with the shameless self-promotion by J.J. at the end?! Obviously been spending too much time with Tom...who else would get a girl pregnant with a Cruise-child whose birth COINCIDENTALLY coincides with the premiere of his latest movie? Who'da thunk?!

 
At Wednesday, May 17, 2006 5:38:00 pm, Blogger BEVIS said...

Welcome, Anders! I could tell the recap was American because of the American voice-over artist, and it was the same guy they used in the season one recap as well ... but it was still annoying to have to wait another week for the next episode.

I wish we were able to obtain and watch Lost in one go ... even if it was through nefarious (or netfarious) means! But I'm happy to keep watching week after week.

 
At Saturday, December 23, 2006 6:07:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually there was a reference to LOST in MI3. I heard from a source that in the credits, they had thanked the hanso foundation. Oh and in the black cloud (monster), there were images of people in the flashbacks of characters. I am a LOSTholic, so much that i spent 4 hours of my precious time searching the internet looking for anything that gave me clues to lost. You would not believe the goosechase it gave me. I ended up in sites advertising sprite and Jeeps. I mean, what the hell has that got to do with LOST? If anyone would like the websites i was on, just post the question. But i do recommend you to check out this site: www.lostpedia.com
As the name suggests, it's all about LOST and u had learnt a great deal about LOST from this site. Imagine the information about lost thatr i gained from sitting 4 hours straight in the computer searching for any clues, and let me tell you that even though i was running in circles, it was a pretty cool experience. The sites i found, the clues that lead me to to other clues and even found secret links to sites. I'm not telling you to sit for 4 hours on the computer seraching, but it's worth it at the end. I've only finished watching season 2 and i think i know more about LOST than the Americans think. So weird...
So anyway try the site and follow the links. Google is a big help :)
Cyaz!

 
At Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:43:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Err.. what the hell are you wierdo's talking about? What do you mean its not worth the time catching up? Wtf?? U just watch it on tv dumasses, and what u mean people talking behind ppls back? What is all this crap losers?

 

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