» Picking Up Transmissions: Speculation With Spoilers Options

[deChantal]

"Infamous" ? As in "infamy", as in the day that will live in...? Pearl Harbor could be classified as a catastrophe I suppose, though that term isn't usually used to describe military disasters. And it did happen in early Dec., and it did happen in Hawaii, where they'd have proper locations to shoot.

I'm just fishing though. This is a confusing one. All it really tells us is that they will indeed be playing games with time one way or another. I hope they make it clear and don't expect the audience to "do the math". I think everyone's confused enough.

[BoBary]

Shuggie, you're good. I've seen the episode (just once), and as I recall, the character says "3 years, 2 months and 23 days" or thereabouts ... so, you nailed it. 9/11. That would put us at about Dec. 4, 2004.

[Circumvrent]

Interesting. My vote for the ''infamous, real-world catastrophe'' was the re-election of our current President.

David Mamet's Edmond is about a guy named Edmond Burke who, after a chance visit with a fortune teller, decides to leave his wife, and goes carousing the streets (of either New York City, or Chicago, depending on your interpretation). He winds up going deeper and deeper into the "seedy underbelly" of the city, getting involving with strippers, pimps, prostitutes, and all sorts of other unsavory characters. He does some pretty awful things afterwards, and the underlying racism that white males carry with them is a huge theme. He ends up in prison, convincted for the murder of a mostly-innocent waitress, in the arms of his burly black cell mate.

Any ideas here? Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong Edmond Burke. Interestingly enough, Bai Ling played one of those "nudie booth" strippers in the film version.

This post has been edited by Daniel: Jan 19, 2007 @ 12:07 am.

[BooNasty0121]

BoBary

You've seen it?? Really? Can you give us a synopsis? And before anyone questions you, this is the Spec WITH spoilers, so no tags.

[Shuggie]

Edmond Burke was also a politician & philosopher in 18th century England who wrote about Natural Law (like how man in The Wild would rule himself in the absence of civilization & authority) when he was young. When he was older, he supported the American Revolution as a natural quest for free will. In some circles, he's lumped in with HUME. Hmmmm...

And I guess we already know what the Clockwork Orange reference is: the psychedelic film that Karl is forced to watched as a method of behavioral reconditioning.

But who's the "menacing & mysterious" character who says "Hello" at the start of the ep? Could it start out with "Hello, my name is Alvar Hanso?"

This post has been edited by Shuggie: Jan 18, 2007 @ 12:22 pm.

[BooNasty0121]

But who's the "menacing & mysterious" character who says "Hello" at the start of the ep?

My guess is it's Ethan. Isn't he supposed to be in Juliet's flashback? He was 'menacing' since he killed Steve/Scott & threatened everyone else, and he could also be considered 'mysterious' in that we're still not sure what his motives were wrt Claire.

[BoBary]

I'll give you a few broad strokes, but I hate to ruin the good surprises.

First off, I quite liked it. Lots of action, and flashbacks I found enlightening (although I have friends who have seen it and disagree).

Juliet: the flashbacks are hers, and the ep opens on her, giving her apparently sick sister an injection of some kind of experimental drug. Juliet is living in Miami, working in a lab for her sadistic (my word) ex-husband. She gets a job offer from a firm "in Portland" that had been impressed by the fact that she had impregnated a male field mouse. I won't give away my "holy s---" moment, but suffice to say she sells her soul to take the job. After hearing the company isn't quite in Portland, she agrees to a six-month commitment.

On the island: The clock is ticking for Ben. Kate and Sawyer run, but are pursued (that's where the shooting on the beach comes in). They escape with Alex's help. Alex promises to give them a boat if they'll help her rescue Carl; creepiness ensues. Ben wakes up and overhears some back-and-forth between Jack, Juliet and some other Other (I can never keep their names straight; sorry), including the fact Juliet had asked Jack to kill Ben. Juliet has a private chat with Ben, after which she leaves to help Kate and Sawyer escape.

In the end, Ben survives, and Jack asks Juliet what they said to each other. She says he promised to finally let her go home. She's been there 3 years, 2 months and 23 days.

That's the broad strokes anyway, and again, I liked it, even though my Lost bitterness has been pretty high this season.

[Circumvrent]

But who's the "menacing & mysterious" character who says "Hello" at the start of the ep? Could it start out with "Hello, my name is Alvar Hanso?"

Interesting; when the full "Lost Experience" Alvar Hanso orientation film was posted, I wrote that I wouldn't be surprised to see it wind up on the show at some point. Maybe that'll be it (although I suppose Ethan makes more sense).

[BooNasty0121]

Bobary you have mail.

[Shuggie]

Ethan makes sense. Plus, he's the creepiest greeter ever. What'd he say to Claire & Charlie before he nabbed them. "Hello there" or something like that? I shudder at the memory.

[lizziefitz]

I gotta agree with Roc. Details, details! I'm ready to be spoiled rotten.

[pretorian]

I'm mostly against using Juliet as consolation prize for Jack just because he couldn't win Kate's heart with his oh-so-charming-personality, all sarcasm aside Jules used to be a good character and I'm afraid she'll lose the edge...

Who is to say the so called 'edge' is nothing but the unexpected result of her interactions with Ben? Juliet obviously can not handle death, she needs help to maintain any kind of authority and the character was obviously brought here to replace Kate in Jack's life so she's not as though as she appeared to be. Plus:

Juliet: the flashbacks are hers, and the ep opens on her, giving her apparently sick sister an injection of some kind of experimental drug. Juliet is living in Miami, working in a lab for her sadistic (my word) ex-husband. She gets a job offer from a firm "in Portland" that had been impressed by the fact that she had impregnated a male field mouse. I won't give away my "holy s---" moment, but suffice to say she sells her soul to take the job. After hearing the company isn't quite in Portland, she agrees to a six-month commitment.

On the island: The clock is ticking for Ben. Kate and Sawyer run, but are pursued (that's where the shooting on the beach comes in). They escape with Alex's help. Alex promises to give them a boat if they'll help her rescue Carl; creepiness ensues. Ben wakes up and overhears some back-and-forth between Jack, Juliet and some other Other (I can never keep their names straight; sorry), including the fact Juliet had asked Jack to kill Ben. Juliet has a private chat with Ben, after which she leaves to help Kate and Sawyer escape.

In the end, Ben survives, and Jack asks Juliet what they said to each other. She says he promised to finally let her go home. She's been there 3 years, 2 months and 23 days.

Which means she never "raised" Alex, in fact "Not in Portland" places her as an unwilling collaborator ready to kill to get a way out, she was basically set up by that ex-husband to work on the island and has a sick sister she apparantely saved (or not) before she leave.

This post has been edited by pretorian: Jan 18, 2007 @ 2:13 pm.

[deChantal]

"Not in Portland" places her as an unwilling collaborator ready to kill to get a way out, she was basically set up by that ex-husband and has a sick sister she apparantely saved (or not) before she leave.

She sounds more and more like Jack every minute. Bad marriage. Fixes people. Unwilling collaborator ready to kill to get a way out. She doesn't sound very much worse than anyone else on the island going by these spoilers. It's becoming easier to see how she and Jack will be able to bond. Even this blurb from EM's recent interview: "Nor is it friendly to take a friendship and twist it so the other person cries." sounds like Jack.

This post has been edited by deChantal: Jan 18, 2007 @ 2:17 pm.

[BoBary]

Sorry; I had to be away for a bit.

The "hello" comes from Juliet to her sister (the fabulous Robin Weigert from "Deadwood").

And Juliet meets Ethan in this ep, but it's just a brief meeting. I doubt they were ever married, although they could have gotten involved. It seems like she goes straight to the island after this. Does she immediately know she's a captive? I don't know.

She's experimenting on her sister, by the way, and they are thrilled when she (the sister) discovers she's pregnant.

Jack's choice? Crap. I don't have the slightest memory of him making a serious this-or-that choice, except that when Kate and Sawyer get to the beach, and Kate radios to tell him they're safe, he tells them to take the boat, leave and never come back for him. Never.

Juliet does shoot Pickett on the beach. Then she orders Alex to stay, saying there will be hell to pay from Ben ("your dad") if he wakes up and Alex is gone. So Kate and Sawyer take Carl and hit the ocean.

Any other specific questions? I'll do my best to answer them. (Even if I do feel a little dirty about it!)

ETA: She wasn't set up by her ex. In fact, the ex is removed from the equation in quite dramatic fashion, which is why I say she basically sold her soul to these people up front.

ETA, again: My impression of Juliet is that she has grown tremendously since she got to the island. She's pretty mousy and scared in the flashbacks, even if she's breaking all the rules to help her sister. She even says "I'm not a leader" as she scurries out of a job interview. She clearly has grown into one, which means to me that her experience has not been altogether negative for her. I find that intriguing.

This post has been edited by BoBary: Jan 18, 2007 @ 2:24 pm.

[pretorian]

Juliet does shoot Pickett on the beach. Then she orders Alex to stay, saying there will be hell to pay from Ben ("your dad") if he wakes up and Alex is gone. So Kate and Sawyer take Carl and hit the ocean.

Adressed at last! So Ben is Alex's father figure of sorts, I knew there's gonna be a pay off for these two (if only Rousseau would've known).

She sounds more and more like Jack every minute. Bad marriage. Fixes people. Unwilling collaborator ready to kill to get a way out. She doesn't sound very much worse than anyone else on the island going by these spoilers. It's becoming easier to see how she and Jack will be able to bond. Even this blurb from EM's recent interview: "Nor is it friendly to take a friendship and twist it so the other person cries." sounds like Jack.

Actually, she sounds more like a a damsel in distress by the minute, someone Jack is here to save (even though she certainly has some skills that makes her useful from a professional standpoint) and/or get involved with, she has definetely lost part of what made her interesting but the romance could be fun.

This post has been edited by pretorian: Jan 18, 2007 @ 2:25 pm.