'Lost' Dueling Analyses: The Other Woman
Mar. 11th, 2008 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spicedogsLiz: Last night's episode title was clearly meant to throw the spotlight on to Juliet, the hour's prime mover and first flashback of season four. But I'm thinking this was really all about Ben, who deftly shifted between his portrayals of the puppet master and the man-child who smashes his toys when they don't bow to his desires. I worship at the altar of Michael Emerson, whose diabolical portrayal of an emotionally stunted basket case with brains to spare is a performance for the ages. But I have to ask:
Ben (Michael Emerson) spins a tale for John (Terry O'Quinn). (ABC)
How's that theory about Ben actually being one of the good guys faring? I'm wondering if it's a little anemic after last night's episode in which he was revealed to be a calculating murderer (yet again) and a stalker to fair Juliet, who just wants to be left in peace to love her Romeo -- be he Goodwin or Jack.
Jen: I, too, worship at the altar of Michael Emerson. Would someone please give him an Emmy for this performance, like, yesterday? His line deliveries are borderline poetry. Just listen to the way he told Locke: "Your people are going to be so angry when they realize you still don't have a plan." Genius. Clearly Ben has some serious problems, not the least of which is his mommy fixation. As Harper suggested, Juliet looks an awful lot like Ben's mother (who, to make things more freaky, is played by Emerson's real-life wife). It's hard to see how his means can possibly justify his ends. But I still contend that he believes he is working for a higher purpose that, if evaluated on its own merits without the messy knowledge that Ben has killed people because of it, may be a noble one. Is that mushy enough for you?
Liz: Right. Glad you pointed out the resemblance to Ben's mom, because many are buzzing that the resemblance to which Harper referred was Ben's childhood friend Annie.
Much more after the jump...
Jen: Speaking of Ben's purpose, we should probably analyze the story he told Locke about Charles Widmore.
Liz: Sure, let's start there -- there's probably a little bit of truth to it -- the bit about Widmore funding the freighter. But I doubt his purpose is to exploit the island as if it were some kind of midway freak show. My question: Is Widmore hunting for the island or for Ben or both?
Jen: I completely agree. Ben told Locke that Widmore sent the freighter people to the island. I believe that part is true, and I believe Abaddon also probably works for him (and that Sayid's Elsa may have been working for Widmore, too). However, I don't think Widmore wants to come to the island so he can turn it into some sort of tropical Graceland. I believe he is hunting for Ben, but that his overarching purpose has to do with assuming control over the island. I wonder if he understands the unique properties that impact the island and might want to exploit them in some way. As in, "Come to Widmore Island, where diseases get cured, disabled people can walk again and, every once in a while, a smoke monster attacks somebody and leaves them for dead. But only every once in a while."
Liz: Or, "where I can control the fabric of time." Here are some screengrabs of the Widmore video sequence.
Jen: I also think Ben knows that only half of what he told Locke is true. When he told John it was his "last bargaining chip," I thought, no way. That dude never runs out of chips. He's too smart for that.
Liz: Right. Ben is always in control and, as Harper told Juliet, right where he wants to be.
I want to backtrack for a second, just because it's easy to lose sight of things from season to season.
Last night we were treated for the third or fourth time to the flashback scene of Oceanic 815 splitting in two and crashing to the ground and Ben's subsequent plan to send Ethan and Goodwin off to the two main crash sites. His instructions included the direction that he wanted "lists" in three days. We've seen all this before. My new question, though, is why would Ben assume there would be survivors? Not to be morbid or pessimistic, but survivors of a jetliner crash are about as rare as Martians. This goes back to a central show mystery, but I think it's important to keep in mind and ask ourselves, was the crash orchestrated?
Jen: Don't tell me that! I'm not terribly fond of flying, so I sometimes comfort myself by thinking, "Well, at least if this plane crashes, maybe I'll get to hang out with Sawyer."
I thought Lindelof and Cuse had said pretty definitively that Desmond made the plane crash because of the system failure he caused in the Hatch (see end of season two). As for why Ben would assume survivors, I think he understands the unique electromagnetic properties of the island and maybe he guessed that at least some of the crash victims would be affected by them and prevented from dying? He did seem to know Goodwin had no chance of surviving, as Juliet implied, and I am not sure how he knew that.
Liz: I think he knew which way the wind was blowing with Goodwin's relationship with the Tailies and let it play out.
Jen: I have always believed the people on the plane were "called" to the island, though, so in that sense, there is orchestration at work, though possibly not by Ben.
Liz: Right. That's supported by the intermingling storylines and coincidences.
Another old island trick resurfaced last night, too -- the whispery voices. This time, Juliet was the target -- right before Harper emerged from the jungle. Lost Easter Eggs tried to reverse the audio to get something out of it, but I'm not hearing much.
Jen: I didn't hear much in that whisper audio either. But the presence of the whispers, especially noticeable when Harper suddenly showed up then disappeared, suggests that she was not really there. Juliet told Jack at the end of the episode that Ben had tried to get to her, which suggests he sent Harper or a manifestation of her to speak with Juliet.
As far as the whispers themselves, we typically hear them before the smoke monster shows up or when people get near Jacob's place, right?
Liz: Right. Though we know that Jack saw Harper, too, so it wasn't a phenomenon limited to Juliet's perception.
Jen: Agreed. But multiple people have seen Jacob and Smokey, so is it possible there is a connection?
I want to touch on the phrase you mentioned a little bit ago: "He's exactly where he wants to be." We heard that very same wording from Miles a few episodes back, just before he tried to extort a mega-wad of cash from Ben.
The obvious read on those lines is that they are where they want to be metaphorically. But what if both Ben and Miles are where they literally need to be, meaning the barracks are the only safe place on the island and immune to the electromagnetic fluctuations? Aren't the barracks inside the sonar fence?
Liz: That's an interesting point. The barracks are indeed inside the sonar fence and in one of Ben's flashbacks last season the ghost of his mother warned him off leaving their protective confines. And Ben certainly does seem content there. My favorite line of the night was his "See you guys at dinner" to Hurley and Sawyer. So good. So "dissociative psychopath."
Jen: Right. And if you remember back to our beloved McPatchy, when Locke pushed him through the fence, he had what appeared to be a cerebral hemorrhage, not unlike Minkowski.
Liz: Right. But -- correct me if I'm wrong -- we assumed at the time that McPatchy's hemorrhage was a result of coming into contact with the fence itself. We also know he recovered from it long enough to turn up at The Looking Glass station.
Jen: We did assume that's why McPatchy bled at the time. But if he were having the same issues as George and Desmond, that could explain why he managed to survive. He hadn't completely died and he was able to stabilize and show up again elsewhere on the island and underwater.
And "See you guys at dinner" was excellent. But my favorite line was Juliet's: "It's very stressful being an Other." I so want that saying on a nice ringed T. It's the perfect look for spring.
Liz: Let's touch on Harper, the hostile therapist with really frightening eyebrows and an uncanny resemblance to Priscilla Presley. Her full name -- "Harper Stanhope" -- is such a mouthful it just has to signify something. The closest I (and several other bloggers) can find is a reference to Charles Stanhope, who "disagreed with Edmond Burke's take on the French Revolution."
Jen: That's interesting about Stanhope. It could be an anagram of some sort, too, but I don't have the energy this a.m. to rearrange all those letters.
I wonder if Harper had experienced some weird issues with Ben, too. I am basing this on nothing concrete, but I wonder if she had tried to conceive, unsuccessfully, on the island, which made Ben angry with her and also caused a rift in her marriage. Which would make her even more likely to resent Little Miss Fertility Doctor? Again, total speculation.
Liz: Well, she certainly had something stuck up her... nose. Remember, she may also have been held on the island against her will. That's enough to make anyone mad.
Jen: True. Oh, I also thought it was funny that in the beginning, the writers set you up to think Juliet was one of the Oceanic Six because she talking about feeling like a celebrity. Clever.
Love, or the suggestion of it, was a major theme. What did you make of Jack kissing Juliet?
Liz: I'm glad you asked. I'm not sure Jack knew until that moment that he was choosing Juliet over Kate. But it was typical "don't tell me what I can't do (or have)" Jack. It may be more about his dislike of Ben than his feelings for Juliet.
Jen: Was he choosing Juliet over Kate? I'm not sure that he was.
Liz: Well, at least for now. I kept waiting for the shot of Kate seeing them kiss, but it never happened.
Jen: I see Jack and Kate as having the same conflict. Kate is drawn to Sawyer, the bad guy, as well as Jack, the good guy who could make her become a better person. Similarly, Jack is drawn to Kate, a fugitive, and Juliet, a woman with seemingly pure intentions. I do think Jack and Juliet bonded when he learned about her situation with her sister.
Speaking of Kate, I so thought of you when Charlotte hit her over the head, then said "What?" I thought, "Man, Liz has been wanting to do that for years!"
Liz: Yes, Charlotte definitely scored some points with me last night. So, want to talk about a totally unfounded rumor making the rounds?
Jen: Sure.Liz: When Ben told Locke he'd better sit down to find out the identity of his man on the freighter we assumed Michael, right? Well, not so say the conspiracy theorists. They are speculating that Locke himself is Ben's man on the boat. Is that even possible?
Jen: Anything is possible. Especially if time goes all screwy when you leave the island. I actually would be psyched if the man on the boat were not Michael, only because it would be more shocking. We've all been saying Michael for weeks.
Liz: Right. The Michael assumption may be a total set up on the part of LindeCuse. I definitely wouldn't put it past them. They're almost as diabolical as Ben.
Jen: And we love them for it.Okay, so the whole diffusing gas thing at the Tempest (last night's Shakespeare reference) ... what was up with that? When did Faraday and Charlotte suddenly realize they needed to go there, and how?
Liz: I have to ask, re: the Tempest -- did you also flash to the '80s version starring the John Cassavetes and Molly Ringwald?
Jen: Duh. Of course. I sometimes flash to Molly Ringwald without even being provoked. It is worth noting that the original "Tempest" is about people who wind up on an island after a shipwreck. So ... noted. Carry on.
Liz: Obviously Charlotte and Faraday had been tasked with disabling the gas from day 1. They arrived on the island with gas masks and Dan had a handy map.
Jen: True. But the situation suddenly got more dire and I wondered why. And who set up the system to unleash the gas. Charlotte said Ben, but did he really?
Liz: That use of Charlotte and Dan really reduces them to mere pawns in a Widmore vs. Ben war. Why would they agree to that? There must be something in it for them. I'm interested in what that tradeoff is. I thought about the timing, too. But this may have been their first opportunity to get to the Tempest. They've been busy helping Desmond survive his coming unstuck in time and trekking to the beach and playing cards.
Jen: Yeah, I feel like the freighter people don't fully know what the stakes of the game are. They clearly didn't know Naomi thought they were a bunch of rubes.
Jen: So next week's show ... it's Jin and Sun-centric. And we'll find out who the last two Oceanic Six survivors are. Which leads me to believe, as I said before, they are ... Jin and Sun.
Liz: Yes, it's titled "Ji Yeon" (presumably the name of Sun's baby) and Zoe Bell (of "Grindhouse" fame) will finally make her bow as -- well, we don't know.
I read one account of next week's show that cryptically read: "Ji Yeon also does something highly interesting with the flash device. Something you probably won't be able to figure out until the end." Tantalizing, no?
Jen: Indeed. This week's episode, while entertaining, didn't drop any major bombshells or deliver a twist ending. So I am hungry for one of those.
Liz: About this time, I would normally type "next week, then?" Happily, though, today we'll debut our new weekly "Lost" chat at 2 p.m. ET. And I believe there's something else you've been cooking up for us...?Jen: Thanks for that segue, Liz. "Lost" can be a heavy show. So I thought we should put the fun back in Good Ol' Fun Times Hurley.
For starters, I came across this link to a band in Brooklyn who call themselves "Previously on Lost." That's right, each week they compose a new song about the previous week's episode. So if you're bored this afternoon, enjoy the sounds of "Be My Constant," "Ballad of Sayid" or, my favorite title, "Just Wink."
I will warn you that much of the music sounds like it was composed in someone's basement while using a 1986 Casio. But I give them points for creativity. And now, on to our more important announcement...
Presenting "Lost" Madness!
What is "Lost" Madness? It's much like March Madness, except it involves your favorite "Lost" characters instead of the North Carolina Tar Heels. In round one, which begins today, you'll vote for your favorite characters in a series of 32 match-ups. On Tuesday, round two will begin, and you'll all vote again for a series of winners to advance to the "Lost" Sweet 16. The competition will continue until we declare a "Lost" Madness Champion, otherwise known as your favorite "Lost" character of all time. It's full of bracket busters, baby!
Big props to Jen and designers Jeremy Norman and Joe Hadley for getting this on the site.
Jen: Sorry, thought I was Dick Vitale for a second there. Anyway, for me it's a fun way to bridge two of the great loves in my life: "Lost" and college basketball. So please vote, and pass it on to your friends and their friends, and so on, and so on.SOURCE: Washington Post
(As with all my entries, you may click on the picture to view the larger version)
Furthermore, ![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
meegat goes on to say that
They're also doing "Lost Madness," which, through voting, will eventually reveal the favourite character. Click the link below...select bracket...click "The Others/Dharma" and the top one is Ben vs Karl. The winner (and Ben is 93% at the moment!) will advance to the next vote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/ar
