Testimonials

Being Mozart might be cool, but it's probably a good idea to keep an eye on Salieri.

I just gave them the gas. I didn't make them breath it. Besides, now I have an Oscar so get off my back.

A very young John Locke is setting up a game of backgammon when his foster-sister, Melissa declares that the game is stupid and slaps the board across the table. Without a word, John begins setting up the board again as his foster-mother comes through the door holding yet another child. She is accompanied by none other than the ageless wonder himself (or a startlingly well rendered facsimile thereof), Richard Alpert.

(Colour coding sidenote: For the first time, we see a version of backgammon in red and white rather than black and white. As a symbol, the game has been interpreted (in its black and white iteration) as a comment on good and evil. Last week introduced another iconic game, RISK, which has multiple colours and multiple players, suggesting a symbol that is commenting on the complexity of a situation that isn't simply good vs. evil. Introducing a red and white version of backgammon could be a symbolic attempt to convey the same complexity in a different fashion. Or it could be that the Toy'R'Us in Oahu was out of black and white boards that week.)

Richard comments that John seems to have a good sense of the game. Since he has only seen the boy start the basic set up of the game, from this comment, we can conclude one of two things.

1) Richard knows that one day, John will grow up to be a backgammon master.
2) Richard is a moron.

He then tells young John that he runs a special school for extremely special children.

"Mind if I show you a couple of really neat things?"

Richard is lucky that this is the Fifties. Today we teach children to scream "Bad Touch!!!" when men wearing too much eyeliner offer to show them "a couple of really neat things."

Richard heads over to a different table to set up his neat things. On the way, he notes a drawing on the wall that looks suspiciously like a black pillar of smoke ripping someone's guts out. He asks John if the drawing is his and the look in his eyes when John nods isn't one of surprise.

Where did the smoke monster touch you?

He sits down across from John and starts laying out items on the table between them.

"I want you to look at these things, and think about 'em."

A baseball glove. A battered copy of "Book of Laws". A vial of whitish granules. A compass. A comic book. And finally, placing it on top of the Mystery Tales comic with the sensational "Hidden Land" story, a knife. None of the items appears even remotely new, except perhaps for the vial of granules.

"'Kay, now tell me John, which of these things belong to you?"

"To...to keep?"

"No, no, John. Which of these things belong to you already?

(If this rings a bell sidenote: An episode of King of the Hill featured a similar scene, based on a ritual that is used to seek and confirm the Dalai Lama. According to tradition, the Panchen Lama uses objects owned by and familiar to previous incarnations of the Dalai Lama, mixed with other similar items to test the veracity of the candidate thought to be the new incarnation. There is a novel listed on the wiki about the Panchen Lama called...wait for it...The Dharma King.)

John pulls objects to him, across the table, one at a time.

The vial. The compass. He takes a long look at the "Book of Laws".

(Alternate title sidenote: In "What Kate Did", Eko tells John the tale of Josiah and his temple:

"Hello. I have something I think you should see. If you don't mind, I will begin at the beginning. Long before Christ the king of Judah was a man named Josiah."

"Boy when you say beginning, you mean beginning."

"At that time the temple where the people worshipped was in ruin. And so the people worshipped idols, false gods. And so the kingdom was in disarray. Josiah, since he was a good king, sent his secretary to the treasury and said, 'We must rebuild the temple. Give all of the gold to the workers so that this will be done.' But when the secretary returned, he had no gold. And when Josiah asked why this was the secretary replied, 'We found a book.' Do you know this story?"

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Posted in Lost by GreyBishop at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Last Comment: Greybishop on May 30, 2008 08:18 PM.