What Would Mom & Dad Say?

Lost

By madeyoulaugh | Thursday, January 13, 2005 | 9:58 am | 17 Comments

LOSTKISS.jpgIncest, diarrhea, hallucinations, and a giant monster in the woods. It sounds like a great weekend at the Manson Ranch in 1968, but alas, it’s just some of the insanity on ABCs LOST which made last night’s episode yet another ratings juggernaut.

We’ve become accustomed to the LOST weekly format. Focus on one characters journey on the island to find themselves. Intercut that with flashbacks of their lives in the days an weeks leading up to the island. Sprinkle in a dash of Hurley saying something funny beginning with “Dude.” And then end it with some incredibly vague final note that could quite possibly mean just about anything.

Thus is the nature of LOST, and dammit that’s why we keep watching. That and the hopes of having at least one loose end tied up before J.J. Abrams creates three more loose ends. Last night’s episode began with Locke and Boone secretly spending alone time in the woods trying to find a way to open the metal hatch revealed a few episodes back. For some reason Locke feels the rest of the island isn’t ready for the hatch. Whenever they say “hatch” on the Lost island, my mind immediately thinks of a large naked gay man on another island….but I digress. When Boone tells Locke he’s thinking of telling his sister, Locke casually bashes Boones head in with the butt of his knife then ties him up in a well knotted rope and a certain white goop in his hair. Add a “special hug” and Locke sounds like myBoy Scout Troop Leader.
hurlypoo.jpgOne of the less needed moments was Hurly’s doctor visit with Jack where we find out he’s been eating a diet of mostly fruits and vegetables and not enough protein and now, he has a pooping problem. I can believe that Jack saw his dead dad. I can believe Locke is no longer confined to his wheel chair. Hell I can even buy into Sawyer as a bad guy and not an underwear model. But Mr. JJ Abrams, the one thing I refuse to buy is that Hurley for the past 3 weeks has eaten nothing but fruits and vegetables. Even Aaron from the Biggest Loser lost 30 lbs in the first 3 weeks of the show. I’m just saying he’s still a little heavy is all.

Hurly must now try to forge a friendship with Jin, the Korean assassin / wonderful fisherman, in order to get some protein in his system. Sadly while fishing with Jin, Hurly steps on a sea urchin which required to be peed upon to relieve the pain. (Though I surmise that after three lonely weeks on the island, Hurley may have been faking it to get his dirty rocks off, still haven’t seen Hurley’s pre-island story….I vote Aussie-fetish club).

Speaking of flashbacks, this week’s flashback focused on Boone and his relationship with his sister Shannon. After receiving a frantic call from Shannon, a wealthy Boone, flies out to Australia to save her from an abusive boyfriend. When Shannon refuses to leave, Boone goes to the cops to enlist their help. It is then that we learn the two are merely step brother and sister, who have been living with each other since the ages of 8 and 10. Immediately this opens the door for a very wrong sex scene which is sure to happen at any moment. When the police refuse to intervene, Boone does what any good brother would do and offers $25,000 to her abuser to leave her. Clearly the abuser has learned the art of the “haggle” at the Aussie Market, because ultimately Boone pays out $50,000.
**lesson learned, beat the shit out of as many woman as I can, there is money to be had in it** This isn’t the first time Boone has paid to bail out Shannon from a bad relationship. When he goes to pick her up and take her home, we learn maybe Shannon is not as dumb as one would have use believe. Not only is she not leaving, but she staged the abuse to get the check from big brother. She’s one smart cookie. Not smart enough to escort her boyfriend to the bank, because once he cashed that check, he split.

Now Shannon really is in trouble. She’s broke, alone, vulnerable, drunk, horny and at HER BROTHERS DOOR!! What better time to call him out on the fact that he is in love with you and you have known for years. Well at least she didn’t nibble on his ear, because that would be a low blow. WHAT?! She DID!? Oh, well then who can blame him for banging his sister, I mean we’ve all be there right? **TVGASM EDITORS NOTE – No, we haven’t all been there** The morning after they bang, Shannon decides that she would like things to remain as they were. Proving once again, woman only use us men for sex, with no regards to our feelings or emotion. We are objectified.

Meanwhile back on the island. A tied up Boone is taking a gentle nap when he wakes up to his sister screaming for help. He manages to untie himself and run to Shannon who Locke as tied to a tree. Once untied the two run from the “Something” and hide in what amounted to a random cage of tall bamboo that the giant was unable to penetrate. Once the giant leaves the two emerge from the tree’s and begin to head back to camp….but uh oh…the giant is still there and run as they may, the giant catches up to Shannon and lifts her into the air. Boone finds her bloody carcass by a stream and JJ Abrams finally lives up to his promise of killing off leads.

When Boone returns to camp he has one thing on his mind, revenge. He attacks Locke with a knife; but Lock, being the gold medal winner in hand to hand combat in last years special Olympics, dealt with Boone easily. When Boone tells Locke that Shannon died, Locke gestures to left where not 10 feet away Shannon his hanging out with Sayid by the cave. Turns out Locke drugged Boone to help him learn his island lesson.

YAWWWN!

This is where I fear JJ Abrams run the risk of alienating the viewers. This is the second time he has almost killed off a player and then didn’t have the sac to pull the trigger. I don’t mind being taken for rides on shows like this, but I will not waste hour after hour watching a set up only to find out “it was all a dream.” That’s not creative imaginative or really all that fair to the viewer. Ill let this one slide, but if it happens much more, they may lose a viewer.

The episode ended with Boone admitting when he thought Shannon died he felt “Relieved” Locke suggested that meant it was time to move on. And the two head back into the woods together. Presumably to finally get that special hug.

17 Comments

  1. 1
    Al
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 12:22 pm

    Dude, they are STEP brother and sister–no blood relation al all, not HALF brother and sister. That would have been SO gross.
    Also, why didn’t Boone just stop payment on the check when he found out he was being duped?

  2. 2
    Papercuts!
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 12:48 pm

    > will not waste hour after hour watching a set up only to find
    > out “it was all a dream.”

    Ah, but you’re overlooking the fact that something on or about the island has the ability to make your thoughts, dreams, and nightmares become reality. It literally gives you what you want. In the context of that, the above set-up wasn’t a cop-out.

    I’m starting to wonder how much of Boone’s experience was from the hallucinogen and how much was the island itself.

    I mean, so far, the island shows you what you need to see and gives you what you need to get, right? Locke got the use of his legs back and became sort of an agent of the island. Sayid had a huge amount of guilt from being a torturer. He was tortured and interrogated. Charlie needed to kick is heroin habit, so he got his guitar back. Jack needed to learn to accept that he can’t save everyone. Ethan Rom (another agent of the island?) saw to it that he got that message.

    Boone needed to unload his unhealthy fixation on his step sister, so he saw her die.

    Michael needs to become a more engaged father, and having his boy play with knives will likely force him in that direction.

    I think the Shannon situation now puts Sayid’s whole interaction with Danielle Rousseau into question. He’s the only one who saw her; her existence may be only as real as Shannon’s death.

  3. 3
    madeyoulaugh
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 12:54 pm

    if that were the case, how did Sayid get the maps?

  4. 4
    corvus
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 12:57 pm

    Papercuts! forgot to add, in the list of dreams coming true, that Walt seems to be able to control the weather (it rains when he reads about rain in the comic book) and that his dog came back to life when he wanted it to.

    But who’s dreaming about polar bears?

  5. 5
    Papercuts!
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 1:01 pm

    The Polar Bear was in the comic book (“Flash/Green Lantern: Faster Friends.” Yes I am a nerd) Walt was reading in the pilot. He also got all the rolls he wanted when he was playing backgammon with Hurley.

    Children are somehow important and adds a wrinkle to why they took Claire.

    The maps are very real because the island “made” them, just like it made Locke walk, and like it made Jack’s dad come back to life. Oh, and the polar bear.

    I think the whole show is a riff on The Tempest/Forbidden Planet.

  6. 6
    Genevieve
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:05 pm

    “Turns out Locke drugged Boone to help him learn his island lesson”

    Actually Locke didn’t drug Boone. Locke only left him tied up out there. The island did the rest.

    I doesn’t just see this as some dream only. It’s part of the whole story, part of the island & part of why they’re there.

    I liked last night’s episode.

    Great review btw :)

    p.s.
    “I think the Shannon situation now puts Sayid’s whole interaction with Danielle Rousseau into question.”

    Good thought, I’ll have to ponder this one :)

  7. 7
    B-Side
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:14 pm

    So basically “Lost” is a TV version of “Sphere”?

  8. 8
    Papercuts!
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:15 pm

    B-Side, more like Forbidden Planet/Shakespear’s The Tempest/That Star Trek Episode Shore Leave.

  9. 9
    madeyoulaugh
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:17 pm

    Genevieve –

    Locke did Drug Boone…..at least thats what we are lead to believe.

    When Boone told Locke what happened, Locke said “Thats what it made you see” Boone then asked what it? and said “that stuff you put on my head?” causing us to believe (for now) it wasnt the island, but a drugging.

    -Madeyoulaugh

  10. 10
    Papercuts!
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:29 pm

    madeyoulaugh –

    You just pointed it out yourself: Locke never did say he drugged Boone. Which almost all but emphasizes that it was the island’s “power.”

    Kind of related: I think the island is going to be divided into two camps: those who know the power of the island, and those who want to be rescued. It doesn’t get any more blatant than the last line of dialogue in the episode.

    Locke: Follow me.

    Locke meant it both literally (as in “come back into the woods with me”) and figuratively (“I am your leader”). So far, he’s got Charlie and Boone and I’m guessing Walt (and probably Michael) will be next. He did warn Boone not to cross Sayid last night as well. “We may need him on our side,” he said.

    I also still insist that it was Locke who bashed Sayid on the head before he could activate the transceiver. Locke has the most to lose if they’re rescued.

  11. 11
    Madeyoulaugh
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:33 pm

    Papercuts!

    I have no clue what is gonna happen, but I must say your “follow me” observation is a little bit of a strech, yet your “we may need him on our side” very interesting. I thought the divide would come at the cave dwellers vs. the beach stayers. but I kinda like what you have going…time will tell.

    PS. I am really not lookingforward to a massive cliffhanger at the end of this season then a few months of waiting for the new season. might I suggest we begin a LOST WITHOUT LOST support group?

  12. 12
    Papercuts!
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 2:43 pm

    Another point of interest: everyone who stayed on the beach (excluding Charlie who moved to the caves) heard the 16 year-old distress call in the pilot.

  13. 13
    syd
    Posted January 13, 2005 at 7:34 pm

    I know it was just a little side plot, but what do you all think about Kate busting the Korean woman (forgot her name) understanding/speaking English?

  14. 14
    jack
    Posted January 14, 2005 at 10:18 am

    Now that ‘Lost’ is a bona fide smash and J.J. Abrams has earned carte blanche to do pretty much whatever he wants, anything is possible. Is the island alive? Does it somehow sense the fears and desires of the stranded survivors? Do children have special powers on this island (Walt has already been connected to several unusual circumstances of varying degrees–lucky rolls in backgammon, the recovery of his lost dog, the appearance of the polar bear–and he appears to be at the center of the conflict in the next ep.)? Is everyone already dead, or does the interior of the island grant some sort of aura of immortality (consider: no one who has made it off the beach has yet to die, and poor Charlie, hanged by the mysterious psycho who made off with Claire, seemed to be pretty certainly dead before miraculously recovering his breath)? Or, rather, did Jack’s despair somehow transfuse itself via the island’s magic into a life force for Charlie, or even for his father’s corpse?

    One thing is certain, however–J.J. Abrams and his crew need to start reeling in a few of these story lines before they cast too many more out there. Strong subplots thicken the stew, but even serial television series need to provide a little closure here and there. The flashback sequences are starting to get formulaic (we may be past them fairly soon, as only a few of the major characters have yet to have their histories explicated). Let’s hope excessive ambition doesn’t hamstring ‘Lost,’ which is shaping up to be a real genre-buster with its effective fusion of suspense, well-timed, jaw-dropping reveals, thoughtful character development, and eerie sc-fi undertone.

  15. 15
    smithie
    Posted January 14, 2005 at 11:40 am

    I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. The whole Boone/Shannon this was so obvious. I actually thought they were not even step brother and sister, so that part did suprise me a little. But I knew they had hooked up,I loved their story.(Is that wrong?) However I thought Shannon’s life off the island kind of negated her behaivior on the island. It doesn’t make sense that she would be sunning herself and crying over nothing. She’s a girl who took a beating to extort $50,000 out of her step family. And I think that hooking her up with Sayid is dumb, obviously Sawyer is her type…

  16. 16
    tsharie
    Posted January 17, 2005 at 11:06 am

    Perhaps they all died in the crash and this island is some type of Middle Passage where they resolve all they’re regrets and lost opportunities.

    I’m still wtg to hear Hurley’s story. I think that’s the only one that is still a mystery.

  17. 17
    booya
    Posted January 17, 2005 at 3:49 pm

    Actually, I think this show is taking a lot of cues from Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, the alive planet / automata and fantasies coming true come from that book. I used to like Crichton’s Sphere until I found out it was an almost plagiaristic ripoff of Solaris. This show is ok though, because we’re not yet sure what is going on.

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