Why they blew it with Jack's Thai backstory
foxxcub was right. They had a golden premise in their hands and totally blew it.
We all figured this was set after Sarah left Jack, that he went to Thailand to find himself or forget about his failed marriage. Instead of bitter, broken, lost Jack we see boring, ordinary tourist Jack, who wants to fly a kite on the beach. WTF? We're not even sure what the timeline is here. And we never got to see him play poker either. All in all, not the soul-searching we were expecting. I mean, it's fine if he wanted to go have meaningless sex in a foreign country as a way to forget. Great. Awesome. I'd love to see some Dark!Jack exorcising his demons. How perfect to cut from that to his rage at being a prisoner? But no, they didn't do that.
And the tattoo he gets is MEANINGLESS to him. It's something someone else sees in him, someone we don't even understand why he's attracted to. (If she'd kept her mouth shut, maybe. And hello, another golden opportunity lost. Who wouldn't have preferred a wordless romance because of the language barrier? Could have been hot! And made much more sense than the silly "looking into his soul" "gift" scenario.) Instead of using what Foxy's tattoo means in real life -- a line from a poem that's a metaphor for freedem or the human spirit -- we get some lame stock shit about him being a born leader. YAWN. Just imagine if they'd contrasted the freedom he felt in Thailand versus being a prisoner. Perfect, esp. since he's in a cage when Isabel tells him she knows what his tattoo means.
Or contrast the pleasure and pain he experienced in Thailand with his captivity. Nope, they didn't do that either, just cut back and forth between one hard-to-buy love interest to another. A word, Lost writers? Stop forcing these romances all the time. Not every backstory has to include a romance! And I do hope she doesn't come back but then again, they really know how to beat a dead horse in these backstories, don't they?
Also, the tattoo we saw was just the letters! Not the rest of the design. There's no deep mystery with the lettering, is there? Foxy won't talk about what his tattoos mean but anyone who can read Chinese (Chinese, not Thai) can read what his tattoo spells. The other designs, who knows? It's a letdown to know that we only got the lettering. Maybe Foxy refused to reveal what they really mean for the show, and insisted they do something different. How lame when what his own tattoo means would work so much better for Jack.
And I can't be the only one who was disappointed we didn't see him *get* the damn tattoo. Or have sex, not really. I was expecting to see Jack really dive into the decadent side of life here and lose himself and he just didn't. The man can't experience pleasure *or* pain, apparently, just sorrow and rage. Which is getting old!
I would have LOVED to see this being about Jack being so desperate to connect with someone else, he'll endure the pain of a tattoo. Or so not caring about himself that he will let someone do whatever they want to him. But instead we got Jack trusting someone's mystic gift, so he believes he is destined to have this one tattoo and be a leader someday. Or something. Not hot. Not interesting. I wish the show would stop forcing its cookie cutter themes and think about *character* for a change.
Also, why do even minor characters all have to have a "secret?" *sighs*
Anyway, please link me with your favorite Jack in Thailand or tattoo stories! I know mine includes:
Fandom totally pwned the series here and let's celebrate that and revisit some of those amazing fics.
OT: I am kind of hoping someone will do a "Rat in a Cage" vid based on this episode. Heh.
We all figured this was set after Sarah left Jack, that he went to Thailand to find himself or forget about his failed marriage. Instead of bitter, broken, lost Jack we see boring, ordinary tourist Jack, who wants to fly a kite on the beach. WTF? We're not even sure what the timeline is here. And we never got to see him play poker either. All in all, not the soul-searching we were expecting. I mean, it's fine if he wanted to go have meaningless sex in a foreign country as a way to forget. Great. Awesome. I'd love to see some Dark!Jack exorcising his demons. How perfect to cut from that to his rage at being a prisoner? But no, they didn't do that.
And the tattoo he gets is MEANINGLESS to him. It's something someone else sees in him, someone we don't even understand why he's attracted to. (If she'd kept her mouth shut, maybe. And hello, another golden opportunity lost. Who wouldn't have preferred a wordless romance because of the language barrier? Could have been hot! And made much more sense than the silly "looking into his soul" "gift" scenario.) Instead of using what Foxy's tattoo means in real life -- a line from a poem that's a metaphor for freedem or the human spirit -- we get some lame stock shit about him being a born leader. YAWN. Just imagine if they'd contrasted the freedom he felt in Thailand versus being a prisoner. Perfect, esp. since he's in a cage when Isabel tells him she knows what his tattoo means.
Or contrast the pleasure and pain he experienced in Thailand with his captivity. Nope, they didn't do that either, just cut back and forth between one hard-to-buy love interest to another. A word, Lost writers? Stop forcing these romances all the time. Not every backstory has to include a romance! And I do hope she doesn't come back but then again, they really know how to beat a dead horse in these backstories, don't they?
Also, the tattoo we saw was just the letters! Not the rest of the design. There's no deep mystery with the lettering, is there? Foxy won't talk about what his tattoos mean but anyone who can read Chinese (Chinese, not Thai) can read what his tattoo spells. The other designs, who knows? It's a letdown to know that we only got the lettering. Maybe Foxy refused to reveal what they really mean for the show, and insisted they do something different. How lame when what his own tattoo means would work so much better for Jack.
And I can't be the only one who was disappointed we didn't see him *get* the damn tattoo. Or have sex, not really. I was expecting to see Jack really dive into the decadent side of life here and lose himself and he just didn't. The man can't experience pleasure *or* pain, apparently, just sorrow and rage. Which is getting old!
I would have LOVED to see this being about Jack being so desperate to connect with someone else, he'll endure the pain of a tattoo. Or so not caring about himself that he will let someone do whatever they want to him. But instead we got Jack trusting someone's mystic gift, so he believes he is destined to have this one tattoo and be a leader someday. Or something. Not hot. Not interesting. I wish the show would stop forcing its cookie cutter themes and think about *character* for a change.
Also, why do even minor characters all have to have a "secret?" *sighs*
Anyway, please link me with your favorite Jack in Thailand or tattoo stories! I know mine includes:
- foxxcub's Spirit House. Deliciously decadent Jack in Thailand fic. With Sawyer!
- uberaeryn's very dark Jack/Sawyer tattoo fetish fic, Rosetta Stone
- holycitygirl's tattoo series where Jack totally gives himself over to the tattoo artist and just lets him do whatever he wants. Which is HOT, unlike what we saw on the show.
- And if you want a hot Sawyer-getting-tattooed fic, please read zelda_zee's gorgeous Starlight, Starbright.
Fandom totally pwned the series here and let's celebrate that and revisit some of those amazing fics.
OT: I am kind of hoping someone will do a "Rat in a Cage" vid based on this episode. Heh.