***If seeing on Facebook please go to http://abeerabookandablog.blogspot.com instead, Facebook never publishes these the way I want and messes up the pictures****
A borrowed idea from my friend Brad, whose blog is at http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/
On February 2nd, 2010 - Groundhog Day - a show that changed television will begin it's sixth and final season. These are my thoughts on each season as I re-make my way through the first five seasons of this gem of a show. It is bittersweet and sad that this will be the final year for L O S T but the producers and writers are going out the way they wanted to do things - end the story arc in six seasons and tell the story they want to tell. Plus, the characters will be able to live the fictional lives the writers/producers always wanted them to rather than altered when the actors and actresses head off to the silver screen.
I first started watching the show with my saster (yes, that's her term of endearment) and padre with only the knowledge that a LOTR Hobbit was to play "a rock star who crashes on an island in which the survivors are unaware there is a resort on the other side." Guess that was kind of right. Over five years later I started my re-watch - originally slated to start in December but pushed to January - with the anticipation to finish by the sixth season's start.
These are my thoughts.
To begin ...
Top-Three Favorite Episodes
1) "Walkabout"
Sure, there were some "WTF is up with this island?" episodes before with polar bears, monsters in the jungle and the fact that most survivors walked away muttering "It's only a flesh wound!" but this John Locke centric fourth episode showed us he not only arrived with a box full of knives and the ability to use them effectively but a wheelchair ... since he was paralyzed from the waist down. Not only did this episode provide the basis for an amazing limited edition Hitchcockian film art print over the summer of 2009, but it also showed us John Locke had some pretty big cajones (or is crazy) as he faced Smokey down and, "Saw into the eye of the Island ... and it was beautiful." Oh ya, after that he returned to the beach with a boar over this shoulder for the whole bunch to throw on a spit and feast on. Right after we found out he couldn't go on a walkabout in Australia because he was paralyzed!
"Just don't tell him what he can't do ... "
Theory out of this? Smokey - or the Island - showed him some of his future role on the Island, because after this he was more of a man determined and with a lot more wealth of knowledge on how to do things.
2) "Outlaws"
I gotta agree with Brad, this sure is a heckuva an episode. Up until now - the 16th episode of season one - we didn't really know why Sawyer is douchey. As the episode opens we see a mother telling her son to hide under his bed no matter what he hears. An argument ensues with the mother and father. A gunshot rings out. Then a man walks in, sits down and another shot rings out. Sawyer was the boy. Sawyer told Kate about it when he read her the letter he carries but still ... what an opening. Over the course of the next 40 or so minutes we see him track down the man that supposedly conned his mom (resulting in his dad's murder-suicide) ... and finds him in Australia. Not only did he wind up in the Land Down Under (because of his old partner) but he made drinking buddies with a Dr. Christian Shepherd who says a little line about "And that's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series." This comes in to play later on when Sawyer tells Jack he met daddy after Jack uses the same line and was the first time (I think) we are introduced to the concept of running across other characters in the past.Oh ya, at the end Sawyer pops the guy in the chest and it wound up not to be the right guy. This is when we find out why Sawyer is so tormented, especially when the guy says "It'll come back around ... ", the same words he keeps hearing whispered as a boar stalks him on the island. From this point on Sawyer - I feel - is more of a good guy acting tough than a douche bag. And he changes afterwards too.
3) "Exodus: Part II"
This is not a character centric episode, this is a cast centric episode as we see our LOSTies at the airport in the two-hour finale. More importantly we see a lot of happenings on the Island. Rousseau took baby Aaron and faked a black-smoke fire to freak out the LOSTies because of what happened to her kiddo. Luckily Charlie and Sayid tracked her down, got the baby and had a moment to offer her hugs as she cried about it all. But this was not only it ... Walt and Michael, Sawyer and Jin were on the raft; we went to the Black Rock - a ship, not a rock! - to get dynamite and then saw Arnst the science teacher get blowed up by TNT; nearly got drug down a hole by Smokey with Locke and blew the hatch to hell and back as the raft dwellers would up on a blowed up raft by Steamboat Willie and friends who took Walt and shot Sawyer. Oh ya, we were introduced to the L O S T cliffhanger ... as Jack and Locke looked into the hole that was the hatch - did I mention the numbers were on the hatch? - and had to wait three to four months before we started season two with a Mama Cass Elliot tune. The Pilot could easily be a top-three for the season. Easily. Hard choice.
Honorable Mention: "Do No Harm"
We have gotten to know Jack but here we really see him pushed to his limits - both mentally and ethically - as he first works to fix Boone up from being crushed in the NigerianplanefilledwithheroineVirginMarystatues on top of stressing about Claire going into labor. The flashbacks of his wedding are not so much what gets me in here as everything he does as he attempts to treat Boone, even so much as to nearly chop off his leg. This not only was the biggest reason our castaways needed to actually be upfront about things they have experienced - ya know, Locke didn't tell Jack what REALLY happened so Jack could not treat Boone correctly - but it was also our first real death. Ya sure, a few died here and there, but nobody we even really met. But Boone died tragically ... and was talking to someone on the airplane's radio too! Jack did everything he could do and more to treat Boone and it was another example of how far he pushes himself because he has to succeed. Another favorite is "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" when he brings Charlie back to life with CPR.
MVP - Jack
A single eye opens with a sudden gasp escaping from the character. This is Jack and he is the first person we see on the Island. He immediately rushes into action to help people in the crash. Why ... we learn in a few minutes. Jack is a surgeon and over the course of the season we come to learn he is a dedicated one at that with some major daddy issues to boot. Daddy issues that push him in a positive way but end up pushing him too far oftentimes to territory he does not need to be in - both mentally, physically and emotionally. Jack kind of is a little annoying in season two but in season one he definitely is the drum beat pacing the rest of our LOSTies on the Island as he takes on the role of El Jefe handed to him by the survivors.
Characters revisited
Locke - As I mentioned before, I think Locke saw part of his path on the Island when he looked into Smokey because his behavior completely changed after that. More confidence and understanding. I remember being a little annoyed with him towards the end of this season originally but now ... I think he just was confused as to what his path was on the Island after seeing part of the result, but not the getting there.
Sawyer - I must say, I never did notice the way he changes moods so much in season one before. He is mean and downright cruel sometimes but afterwards you see he is tormented by his actions. Sure we see him get tortured by Sayid early on but he still feels the need to play a tough guy when he knows he does not need to later on in the season, and it kills him afterwards each time.
Sun - Talk about a character surprise. The buttoned up Korean girl speaks English but is smoking beautiful in that blue bikini too! And she knows herbal remedies and gardening techniques? The Sun/Jin story over the first two seasons was a good one to see as a relationship in turmoil was turned around.
Charlie - Lovable character with a huge flaw - his addiction to heroine and the need to feel wanted and useful. Love this guy and pulled for him the whole season.
