Wednesday, May 19, 2010

THANKS FOR VOLUNTEERING, BUT WE'RE ALSO GOING TO RUN SOME BASIC COMPETENCY TESTS: I may or may not have more thoughts about last night's Lost later, but for now: what's with the abrupt character endings? It seems to me that one should put at least as much thought into a character's end as his or her beginning. But this show has a history (with Ana Lucia, Libby, Walt, Dogen, Lennon, Irina Ilana, Irina's Ilana's henchman, the guy on the plane who Locke shot, and various others, plus one or more tonight) of just giving them the business out of the clear blue sky. Very strange tic, if you ask me.

18 comments:

  1. Isaac, I think you mean Ilana rather than Irina, but as a huge Alias fan who hated Irina's death, your comment made me smile, intentional or not.

    And I agree that Richard's death was less than he deserved.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that's just one of LOST's calling cards. After all, *Jack* was originally going to get an abrupt and shocking end in the pilot. Maybe the idea is just that death often comes unexpectedly.

    The Walt thing is weird, though. They didn't realize that an 11-year-old was going to grow?

    ReplyDelete
  3. girard3110:53 AM

    I felt after last week's ep that Widmore was an afterthought. Sure enough.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Finally! I was wondering where posts were on Lost and American Idol and assumed that folks were still digesting things. Which sounds about right, no?

    I do think that it's a Lost thing---the list of sudden deaths is even longer than that, when you consider how many people suddenly died to the Smoke Monster and other island, um, quirks in the first 2 or 3 seasons.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Did anyone catch the article about Lost in last weekend's NY Times Arts and Leisure section? There was a photo of Lindelof and Cuse in their office, and a door behind them had a sign that said, "R.I.P." with headshots of all the actors whose characters had died on the show. The door was full.

    Do we think Richard is really dead? I feel like every time we've seen Smokey kill someone, we've been sure of it - he's left their bodies on the ground, strangled them, something like that. I felt like we just saw Smokey toss Richard violently aside, since he didn't need him. Or maybe I'm just in the Denial stage.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can Smokey kill Richard? Smokey's attack on Richard was typical Lost style: "Don't worry this will be fine, I know what I'm doing..." slight pause...dead.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I guess Smokey had to kill *someone* outside Ben's cabin, to complete the echo from the end of Season 4? But I was also surprised that Smokey could kill Richard. Maybe he could only do so after Jacob had died (i.e., maybe Jacob's protection perished with him)?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Adam C.11:41 AM

    I'm with Sue, whether it's denial or not.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ChinMusic11:41 AM

    I think your surprise is correct. Didn't ghost child Jacob remind Smoke Locke that he couldn't kill Richard in the beginning of this season?

    ReplyDelete
  10. That was Sawyer, wasn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  11. isaac_spaceman12:20 PM

    I'm not willing to say that Michael's, Boone's, Shannon's, Eko's, or Arzt's deaths were ill-conceived or poorly-thought-out, though I get the argument. And I don't know whether Richard is dead; hence "one or more." Zoe[y] was the one. If Richard is dead, that will flat-out piss me off. You can't have an entire episode about bringing Richard around to the plan to defeat Smokey and then kill him before he contributes anything of consequence to that plan.

    ReplyDelete
  12. isaac_spaceman12:21 PM

    Also, I don't get the rules. I thought Locke couldn't kill Richard. So I guess I'm assuming Richard is still alive.

    Widmore: worst employer in the entire world. OSHA is going to go all smokey on him if he gets off the island.

    ReplyDelete
  13. bella wilfer2:05 PM

    Also with Sue - I thought Smokey just moved Richard out of the way so he could talk to Ben alone at that point.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm sure that was a rule. Back at Widmore's apartment, no?

    ReplyDelete
  15. via lostpedia:

    BEN: Wake up, Charles.

    WIDMORE: I wondered when you were gonna show up. I see you've been getting more sun.

    BEN: Iraq is lovely this time of year. (pause) When did you start sleeping with a bottle of scotch by the bed?

    WIDMORE: When the nightmares started. (pause) Have you come here to kill me, Benjamin?

    BEN: We both know I can't do that.

    WIDMORE: Then why are you here?

    BEN: I'm here, Charles, because you murdered my daughter.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Matt B1:59 AM

    "the guy on the plane who Locke shot"

    are you referring to Caesar, from the Ajira plane? I think that was Ben who shot him. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Caesar

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm just glad Zoe's dead. And that Lennon-looking guy.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I really want Jack's kid's mom to be Juliet so that she is at the concert to be the reason Sawyer remembers. Do I have to give up on Juliet coming back? Is she too busy killing alien lizards?

    ReplyDelete