Quad Blogs

LOST: The Complete Fifth Season

The Journey Back-Expanded Edition

One of Many Reviews: Audio Commentary for “Because You Left.”

I know I promised the season two would be up next; however, what I declined to mention is that only pertained to the next season I’ll write too many words about. Anywho, it’s time to give my thoughts on the commentary Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse recorded for the fifth season premiere “Because You Left.”

–This is an epic, detailed commentary. They discuss the major points of Season Five, how they got there. In sum, they summarize the entire writing process of the fifth season from mini-camp to the finale.

–With that said, they let slip a few things about the final season. It’s barely anything but it’s enough that I can write many words about it. The first thing I’ll mention is their use of the word paradox when discussing what Faraday will attempt to do by season’s end. The reason why the word struck me is because, since they recorded the season three podcast for Flashes Before Your Eyes, they’ve advocated the no paradox rule. I’m sure I’ve written about this using different words and phrasing months ago but I’m ready to advocate ‘time will not reboot’ during the final season full time. I’m open to anything that actually happens. But yes: paradox absolutely stood out to me.

–Damon quips about the teaser of the episode, saying “Because You Left” begins as the other seasons doe: not knowing where the hell you are or you are with. I got a kick out of that.

–Desmond is discussed. The Desmond discussion takes place at the end of the episode (you know…when Desmond appears) and Lindelof and Cuse jump ahead to what Ms. Hawking tells him: The Island is not done with him. Apparently, The Island is not done with Desmond at all. The discussion is very interesting not because they say a certain character’s story is not done, it’s HOW they discuss it. They used words like significance as in the viewers will learn Desmond’s significance to the WHOLE story. But it is the final season. We’re going to learn about where every character fits in to the grand scheme of things. In the recap before ‘The Incident’ aired in May, Damon and Carlton give a brief summary of where the characters were left at the end of “Follow The Leader” and then say that they are really excited to be at this point where they can begin really telling the final chapter of how these characters are more intertwined than they ever imagiend. Oh man I can’t wait.

-I really enjoyed the discussion about how season five was constructed and crafted, even the first episode alone. Damon and Carlton discussed the mistakes they made in past finales (not involving all of the characters) and how they wanted to account for every character in the premiere. They discussed how to pay each character the time they needed in a 42 minute window. The discussion provides valuable insight into the inner-workings of the LOST writers room and how an episode is broken (the most famous episode break is for “The Constant”).

-During the scene in which Locke is treated by Richard for his bullet wound, Damon and Carlton talk about how (the viewer now knows) Future Locke and Ben are watching the scene from the jungle. Carlton simply says ‘Locke is basically a different person” and Damon then says “You can say that again!” Oh those wacky dudes. Should I have written Future Locke or Not Locke there? Hm. They have a lot of fun messing with the audience. Speaking of that, there’s a worthwhile quote from Damon from a GQ interview with Bad Robot. It’s about the final season. Suffice to say, I will be using this quote again when I write the final part of this preview on February 1, 2010.

But it makes you understand why some people go to church every Sunday and some people are atheists. Some people need Lost to have a scientific explanation for everything, and that’s why our viewership now is what it is—because the people who needed there to be a scientific explanation for everything stopped watching. They were like, “Okay—the show has now proven my theory wrong.” This is another joke masking a true terror for us—we’re doing the last season of the show now, and this season is where you get your answers. And we’re not waiting until the last episode—the answers start coming fairly fast and furious right out of the gate. But in a lot of ways, the storytelling this year is just us telling people that they were wrong. They’ve built up theories for five years. When a show like this gets to a certain point and then it’s “Oh, man, we were cancelled,” people get to bring their theories with them to the grave. With us, it’s basically like, “No—you’re wrong.” And some people may have been right. Who knows?

-Back to the commentary: they spend some time emphasizing thee motif of the season which is The Hatch. They wanted to set up the importance of the Hatch again because they knew that would be the key thing by season’s end. They wanted to establish the rules of time-travel because they wanted the viewers to question whether or not the characters would try to change anything. This led into a discussion about the overall story of the show and how free-will is a very important theme. Eventually, the characters do try to change things and those episodes are really, really good.

-There could be a part two to this because I might be leaving things out. But this is the end of this LOST entry.

Many things to get into today and by many I mean three things to get into. In other news, I’m actually going to update this more than once a week and make it into more of a blog. You’ll have a clear idea of what the content of subsequent, more frequent posts will contain later in this entry. Review of Octahedron is coming later this week. Time for some “True Blood.”

EPISODE 202: “Keep The Party Going”

In this episode, Jason began the Leadership retreat with the Fellowship of the Sun and is experiencing a conflict of the soul, of the conscience (he’s thinking of what he did for/to Eddie), Sookie’s good nature backfired considerably with Jessica AND Bill, Eric deemed the information Lafayette gave him useless, Lafayette was shot in the leg by crazy-glamoured-blond and gave Eric, Pam, and Bouncer Vamp Whose Name Escapes Me the idea of vamping him, Sam is still moody, and Maryann showed that she has the power of starting a wild dance party.

–Overall, a great, great episode. The second episode of any season is usually always better than the first because the premiere likes to set the stage for the season. The show continues to get better. It’s very enjoyable.

–The Jason Stackhouse storyline did not disappoint in episode two. It was equally entertaining and thoughtful. He’s not as stupid as he was last season. I got a kick out of his enthusiasm for everything. I indeed laughed out loud when he credited Moses as the one who walked on water in his scene with Mr. Envious-Former-Tight-End-for-Texas-Tech. He was quite shaken after acting out that scene with Mrs. Newlin (who it seems will eventually have sex with Jason). 

–The Sookie/Jessica stuff was good. I especially got a kick out of Jessica’s impersonation of Bill: “I have errands to run; errands which do not require your attendance” is the line I believe. Jessica’s story with her parents brought to mind the season one episode of ANGEL “The Prodigal.” Angel decides to kill his father. It’s the first thing he does as a vampire. Killing his father leads into killing his entire family. It is exactly what Jessica tries to do until Bill, angry as all hell, arrives and puts the kaibash on it (though he morbidly tells Sookie that he has to clean up the mess that she’s created). It is how the episode ended. Will Bill kill the entire family? No way. All he’ll do is glamour the family. I guarentee it. Speaking of the family, the actress who portrayed Colin Hart’s mother in “Everwood.” Once again, that actress portrayed the mother of a dead child. Colin’s mother, to digress, always had a bit of an attitude. In fact, the entire Hart clan did! I should buy season two on DVD. Anywho, I though the morbid way in which Bill told Sookie of new-vampire-impulses would lead to attempted murder on the part of Jessica. It did not.

–Lafayette was hilarious tonight as was Eric. The teaser of the episode was hilarious though extremely gruesome and bloody. Eric was concerned about blood-in-his-hair because Pam would flip. Slowly but surely Lafayette biting-way-of-being back. He got to the point where he stopped taking bullocks from people but then he showed extreme vulnerability when he was being taken to the basement again. Nelson Ellis is a terrific actor. He would’ve been great on LOST. Will he be a vampire the next time we see him? Yes. Alan Ball won’t kill him off, and there’s no way he survives being bitten by Pam, Eric, and BVWNEM.

–As for Maryann, she thinks in a foreign tongue, can eat endless amounts of food, and is able to incite dance parties. She also can turn Sam into a dog at will. Not cool, Maryann. I don’t like her, folks. Tara should move in with Sookie and forget about Maryann altogether but I know that Maryann will stick around. Her schtick is going to get old fast so Alan Ball should make whatever she is interesting. Another Obvious thing to note: everybody dancing moved their hands in the fashion of that statue shown last week.

That’s it for ‘True Blood.’ Time for LOST!

LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do I have up my sleeve this week? Simple. I am introducing the LOST episode of the day. In no way will there be a LOST episode of the day every day but there will be a LOST episode of the day for every entry. 

THE LOST EPISODE OF THE DAY!

I should do a viral version of this entry so I could have a drum-roll. But this is text. The LOST episode of the day is…

The Variable!

Daniel is unsure why he's so upset upon seeing the wreckage of Oceanic 815

Written by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz

Directed by Paul Edwards
Original Airdate: April 29, 2009

I, literally, wrote about this episode two months ago. I had a vague dream about The Variable. It wasn’t about the episode itself. I wasn’t watching the episode in my head. I was, rather, living moments of that episode with the vague awareness that I felt like Daniel Faraday. I’m a geek. There’s no hiding that. I kept thinking about the doomed relationship of Daniel and (not Charlotte to surprise you all but rather) Theresa as well as the scene when Daniel is watching the discovery of wreckage of Oceanic 815 and he describes his feelings to Widmore as a reaction to the news story. “It’s just so sad.” I really feel like the writers gave Faraday the short-end of the stick. I mean, he went out with a whimper. Yes, he gave Jack the idea to change time, to (in his own words to his mother) ‘make time.’ Who knows what season six holds in store but I hope that Faraday returns somehow and in someway. This episode, as confirmed by Darlton, is the counter to the episode ‘The Constant.’ Carlton, I believe, used the phrase ‘a darker ‘Constant.’ This episode is well-worth re-watching. Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote after watching the episode: “The episode brought up the themes of LOST: free will vs. destiny, science vs. faith. Faraday has abandoned sciene in a way because he is just hoping he can change the future to undo the death of Charlotte.”

OASIS OFF!

I’m a big Oasis fan. Many Americans are huge fans of ‘Wonderwall.’ But is ‘Wonderwall’ their greatest song? That question is what begins the purpose of Oasis Off. What, in fact, is the best Oasis song? Is it ‘Wonderwall’? Or is it ‘Champagne Supernova’? Or is it ‘Live Forever,’ or ‘Supersonic’? Or none of these? I will not go through every song from the Oasis discography but there will be a substantial amount of songs that I will post on a frequent (maybe a daily basis but if not daily then I guarentee I won’t miss more than one day). What I’d like is feedback from people but if I don’t get any then I will take it into my own hands to decide their greatest song. Allow me to clarify what I mean by greatest. I merely am referring to songs that are known or well-known. And there’s a good chance every song on ‘Stop The Clocks’ will be included in Oasis Off as it is considered the greatest hits record and put together by the band themselves. I, personally, am extremely excited to do this. I want college students, in particular, to realize there are more songs in Oasis than ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova.’ I want them to realize that there are other songs that can be played acoustically and will produce the desired result that playing ‘Wonderwall’ on acoustic at a party results in: getting laid. Here goes:

‘Don’t Go Away”–Be Here Now

It’s considered ‘Wonderwall’-lite. It’s from a (for some reason I do not understand) critically maligned album. Oh wait, I understand. Americans have ADD and can’t tolerate songs longer than 3.5 minutes. Be Here Now is fantastic. The third album of the one of the greatest first three albums ever released by a band. Anywho, ‘Don’t Go Away’ features some of the softest and gentlest vocal performances from Liam. His trademark scowl and snarl is not present during this track. His singing attitude (which makes him terrific mind you) disappears for the 4:48 length of the track. The song features some great guitar-work from Noel. In a word, it’s a nice song. A really nice song. Go ahead and take a listen for a video is included in this very post.