Lost - The Lighthouse Episode...which sucked, but what can you do?

[shadowkat]

Didn't really like Lost last night. Lost seems to be an every other episode deal. That said did read two opposing reviews that are worth looking at:

1. The first is selenak's whose review I pretty much agree with. Why write your own when someone else articulates what you thought about the episode? Nice time saver that. Go here: http://selenak.livejournal.com/557994.html?style=mine#cutid1

2. For a completely different take on the same episode go see frenchani here: http://frenchani.livejournal.com/387757.html?style=mine#cutid1

Proof that you can see the same episode and pick up completely different things from it, yet similar things as well. Very cool.

I love meta reviews.

My own thoughs? Outside of the fact that I thought last night's episode mostly sucked beans? What can I say? I don't like Jack-centric episodes. But I do have some thoughts in addition to the above two reviewers.

I really really hope that we aren't doing a Team Evil vs. Team Good a la Stephen King's the Stand. Because that would be really lame. I hated The Stand, it falls into the category of books that I could not finish and almost threw across the room in disgust. Also, it probably does not bode well for my viewing pleasure that I'm rooting for Smock's team and not Jacob's. Jacob is a manipulative passive aggressive ass. And his team - currently made up of Jack, Hurley and the Temple people/Illana folks - I could do without. I do however think that the Jack may well end up taking Jacob's place at the end on the Islandverse, with everyone else dead.

One interesting tid-bit - that I picked up on. Jack in the Sideways reality appears to have memories missing. While no one else does. He's the only one who seems to be bewildered, and almost aware that there's something off. Ironic and in a way repetitive of a pattern that's emerging with Jack. Jack wanted to leave the Island, would do ANYTHING to do so...and he finally accomplishes it - takes Sayid, Sun, Kate, Desmond, Hurely, and Claire's son Aaron with him. But he's tormented. Broken. And spends the whole time off the island seeing his father's ghost, haunted, and then trying to get back to the island again. He finally accomplishes getting back - taking the people he left with, except for Claire's son, back to the island.
But he goes back in time. Where he gets it in his head to destroy the island and undo the event that caused the plane crash. So he accomplishes this, sets up a sideways verse, only to wonder about things he can't remember.

That said - the Sideways verse appears to be providing each character with closure and a happy ending. They accomplish the thing they desperately wanted to on the island. Locke gets closure with Helene, his father, and a job that he cares for as well as dealing with his injury.
Kate saves Claire and her child and ensures Claire will raise it. Jack comes to terms with his father - by becoming a father himself and doing something different with his own son.
None of these things happen in Islandverse - the opposite happens, Kate taking off with Aaron denies Claire her son and Claire goes insane, Jack is still tormented and lost, still at odds with his father and his childhood, Locke is well dead. And it is in the islandverse that Jacob watched them and manipulated their destinies. So, this begs the question how can Jacob be good?
I think he's a manipulative ass. And why would anyone route for him? Think about how he touched each person and when - he pushed Kate to steal, he pushed James Ford to pursue vengeance, he pushed Hurley to go back to the island, he pushed Sayid to seek vengeance for Nadia's death.
Without Jacob in the Sideways verse - we have happy conclusions. With Jacob in the Islandverse - we have tragic ones.

Also it's hard to blame Claire for going nuts and hating the Temple folks. Her attitude reminds me a lot of Danielle's towards the Others. And we appear to be paralleling Claire/Sayid with Danielle/Sayid. Also her Dad did find her - as happened at the end of S4. The loss of Charlie probably was part of it. I'm guessing Smokey played her Dad. Apparently Smokey could change who he was until Jacob died. Because he played Christian in the cabin (to Sun and the Pilot)
and Alex (to Ben) - while Not!Lock was wandering about. It's either an error in continuity or he didn't get stuck as Lock until after Jacob was killed? (shrugs).

At any rate, I can see where Claire is coming from - she got stranded on the island by herself - half the group zapped through time, half off the island. And she was tortured by the Temple folks, who then tried to kill her. Plus grieving over Charlie and the loss of her child.
I'd go nuts.

I don't want Claire to kill Kate, but if she chose to take out Jack? That would be fine by me.
Won't happen though. Jack, like it or not, is the protagonist of this piece. This show seems to like killing off or doing away with all its female characters. We have two left. We had: Shannon (dead), Juliet (dead), Danielle (dead), Alex (dead), Ana (dead), Libby (dead),
Claire (crazy). Only one's left are Sun, Kate, and Illana. I know this is a sexist and male chauvinistic show and Hollywood is incredibly sexist, but please.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Can't decide if it is the actor or the role.

But have come to the conclusion that there is a certain trope in tv show/fiction that annoys me - I had the same problem with Angel the Series (although they admittedly made fun of it). It's the whole - "I have a destiney and will be the one to save the world, I'm your champion - look at me!! Look at me!!! Look how cool and nifty I am."

Granted Buffy was the chosen one too...but she was reluctant, didn't want it, and more or less dealt with crap and ignored destiney, prophecies, fate and that stuff.

Jack and Angel? They seem to take if for granted that they are the stars, or should be. So the whole character arc is built around kicking them down and showing them that they aren't the central focus of the universe. It's an annoying trope.

[rahirah]

Someone pointed out recently that Jack and Sayid were the characters most likely to get you killed. And I pondered that for awhile and decided that the reason I still like Sayid despite his enormous flaws is that Sayid knows he has enormous flaws. He knows that by most people's measure he's a bad person, but he neither wallows in guilt nor makes excuses for himself.

I suspect, though, that Jack IS the central focus of the universe in this case. :P

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Good point on the difference between Sayid and Jack.

Sayid isn't whiny. Jack is.

And that may well be my problem with him? ;-)

That and Naveen Andrews is just hot, while Mathew Fox is not my type.
(I remember Fox from Party of Five.)

I'm hoping that Jack isn't the center of this universe. I can argue it either way. ;-)