O_O!
Liek, OMFG! Lost season 2 finale kicked ASS! Shit finally blew up! Dude!
I could still love this show. Let's see, how did the show do a turnaround on all my previous complaints, let me count the ways.
First off, OMG YES Jack, Kate and Sawyer got tied up and thrown to the baddies! Not to mention they all got gagged. You don't know how much and for how long I've wanted to gag all three of them. And then Hurley, poor Hurley, *big squishy hug for Hurley*. But at least they let him go. So that was cool, because Hurley doesn't get hurt or captured but gets to be part of the action anyway. Yay!
Second, nearly two solid hours of island-related story? Sweeeeet. Most of Desmond's backstory had to do with the island, which made me so very happy. No plot interruptions, so it finally got to be well and truly tense.
Third, the sheer release. Answers, man, it's all about getting the answers. It is maddening to spent months watching a series hoping for some answers that just keep getting thwarted and put off 'til the next week. Now that I have some old answers and fresh questions, my interest is renewed.
Then there's just the abundance of coolness. Not to mention the answers themselves, I mean, bloody hell -- I seriously thought the button was a scam for the whole season.
So, conclusions drawn and new questions raised:
The Hanso people weren't conducting a cruel psychological experiment with the people in the button hatch. However, they were conducting a cruel psychological experiment with the people in the Pearl hatch, so not much character change there -- except that the button NOT being a scam proves that they do care something about not destroying the world. The other remaining Hanso question is whether the infection is real or not. Still up for debate. They were clearly doing something to Claire when she was in the medical hatch, and even if Rousseau is crazy, her delusions must be founded in something -- which also leaves the question of what really happened to the rest of her team. My money's on their story being fake (dude in the hatch with Desmond going out with a rip in his pants, etc) but that there is something biological, probably created and controlled by the Hanso people.
Rousseau and Alex still need to be reunited. I've liked all I've seen of Alex -- like Desmond, she's doing Hanso work but she didn't join up by choice, so she's having doubts and would turn on them easily. I'm rooting for Rousseau to show up in the season 3 premiere.
Optional season finale deaths, choose any combination of the following: Desmond, Mr. Eko, Locke. Desmond's toast, much as I hate to say it. I really, really liked the guy, all the way back from when he showed up. He stole the show from Jack during their one flashback scene together, and he totally stole this episode. Eko and Locke I leave as a tossup. Probably they both lived. They can't afford to kill off quite that many people in one season, and they've already offed Shannon, Ana-Lucia, Libby and Desmond. Besides, Eko helps fill the black people quota -- in fact he fills the entire Good Black Main Character quota now that Michael's turned out to be less than heroic and Rose's been shunted back to secondary. Not to mention the racial diversity quota took a blow when they offed the Hispanic girl. (Walt's a kid -- kids only count towards the kid quota.) I mean, I hate to put it that way, but. That's just how American TV works, stupidly enough. Locke's not dead because Eko needs a foil, and Locke's his perfect foil. Locke and Jack can't be foils anymore because they've become little girls about each other.
"Henry" freaking rocks. He's got absolutely the greatest sheer creep factor -- he sends cold chills down my spine with just a look. He's been doing it ever since they stuck him in the hatch, I mean, all those times they'd interrogate him and then leave and he'd turn slightly towards the door and give that little ghost of a smile? Aasdlkfjsdgifgfft. Creepy little bastard. I am so not surprised that he's turned out to be a bigwig among the Hansoites -- I suspect he's even the leader.
This brings me to the matter of Hanso v. Walt. The Hanso folks don't strike me as the type who'd think something was too powerful for them to handle. Note: electromagnet capable of pulling down huge passenger planes. And if they did think something was too much for them, as they claimed Walt was, they would most certainly not give it to anyone else. Note: crazy scheme to discharge electromagnet constantly to save their own butts while still keeping the magnet intact. Point in case being that they totally did not let Walt go. That would never happen. And Henry's little "Bon voyage" was spoken with nearly the same little ghost-smile that signified every time he lied while being interrogated.
Personal opinion? That boat's gonna blow. Or else Henry gave them some bogus path to follow and they'll just sail away in a straight line only to find themselves back at the island, like Desmond did. But another scenario, the one I'm betting my money on, is that they don't have the chance to find out what Henry planned for the ship because they're gonna run into Penny's scouts on their way out and get dragged back to the island in Penny's search for Desmond.
Question number 30249820384: How did Penny know to send out planes or whatever equipped to detect electromagnetic activity?
Anyway. I'm pretty postitive that absolutely everything that's happened so far has been according to the Hanso plan. Three things for sure have been wild card elements introduced into that plan, but I think the plan has shifted to fit them: Rousseau and her team arriving, Desmond washing up (and the subsequent murder of other hatch dude whose name I can't remember), and the plane crashing. All of these events have introduced new people onto the island, and in each case one or more people have been recruited to work for Hanso. Alex, Desmond, (inadvertently) Locke, and Michael. I think that Henry planned his own capture after Michael left just to set things up for the eventual "trade," which was only a ploy to get hold of Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Michael and Walt will never get anywhere on the boat, so they'll get Walt back easily. Two birds with one stone -- and four captives instead of one.
Anomalous, un-Hanso-ish things -- the black smoke-spirit thingy, the whispers in the woods, the invisible monster, Walt's powers, mysterious healings left and right, and the general Dinotopiaishness of the island that prevents people from leaving it and coming to it on purpose but not, apparently, from crashing on it unintentionally. Not to mention the weird junk that happened to people before they came to the island -- the numbers, the unbelieveably coincidental "it's a small world after all" meetings between characters (Jack and Desmond, Hurley and Libby, Ana-Lucia and Jack's dad...).
The one true wild card left is Rousseau, I think -- I don't think she's being manipulated by anyone, but that may change.
Now the question (well, another one) becomes: was the destruction of the magnet part of the Hanso plan? Surely not. They didn't know Desmond had gone anywhere. In fact they may never have known he existed, since their operative guy didn't exactly go anywhere after Desmond killed him. Maybe as far as Hanso knew, the button was still being controlled by dead dude and his partner. They obviously never watched the monitors in the Pearl hatch, because the only people in the Pearl hatch were the ones sending those notebooks out into the middle of nowhere. Of course, that doesn't mean there wasn't another set of monitors somewhere, so the options are still open. Also, did the magnet have anything to do with the anomalous goings-on listed above, and if so, will they be affected by the magnet's destruction? It'd suck if the magnet was causing all the healing, because Rose, Locke and Jin are in trouble if it was.
Phew. I'm running out of rambling power. There's lots more to be said, but I've lost track of it all. There's so much plot, dammit! So much plot, so little time.
My faith in Lost is officially renewed. Here's to looking forward to the next season!
Hurley, Desmond, Rousseau, Sayid and Henry: still the best freakin' characters EVAR.
-rave
I could still love this show. Let's see, how did the show do a turnaround on all my previous complaints, let me count the ways.
First off, OMG YES Jack, Kate and Sawyer got tied up and thrown to the baddies! Not to mention they all got gagged. You don't know how much and for how long I've wanted to gag all three of them. And then Hurley, poor Hurley, *big squishy hug for Hurley*. But at least they let him go. So that was cool, because Hurley doesn't get hurt or captured but gets to be part of the action anyway. Yay!
Second, nearly two solid hours of island-related story? Sweeeeet. Most of Desmond's backstory had to do with the island, which made me so very happy. No plot interruptions, so it finally got to be well and truly tense.
Third, the sheer release. Answers, man, it's all about getting the answers. It is maddening to spent months watching a series hoping for some answers that just keep getting thwarted and put off 'til the next week. Now that I have some old answers and fresh questions, my interest is renewed.
Then there's just the abundance of coolness. Not to mention the answers themselves, I mean, bloody hell -- I seriously thought the button was a scam for the whole season.
So, conclusions drawn and new questions raised:
The Hanso people weren't conducting a cruel psychological experiment with the people in the button hatch. However, they were conducting a cruel psychological experiment with the people in the Pearl hatch, so not much character change there -- except that the button NOT being a scam proves that they do care something about not destroying the world. The other remaining Hanso question is whether the infection is real or not. Still up for debate. They were clearly doing something to Claire when she was in the medical hatch, and even if Rousseau is crazy, her delusions must be founded in something -- which also leaves the question of what really happened to the rest of her team. My money's on their story being fake (dude in the hatch with Desmond going out with a rip in his pants, etc) but that there is something biological, probably created and controlled by the Hanso people.
Rousseau and Alex still need to be reunited. I've liked all I've seen of Alex -- like Desmond, she's doing Hanso work but she didn't join up by choice, so she's having doubts and would turn on them easily. I'm rooting for Rousseau to show up in the season 3 premiere.
Optional season finale deaths, choose any combination of the following: Desmond, Mr. Eko, Locke. Desmond's toast, much as I hate to say it. I really, really liked the guy, all the way back from when he showed up. He stole the show from Jack during their one flashback scene together, and he totally stole this episode. Eko and Locke I leave as a tossup. Probably they both lived. They can't afford to kill off quite that many people in one season, and they've already offed Shannon, Ana-Lucia, Libby and Desmond. Besides, Eko helps fill the black people quota -- in fact he fills the entire Good Black Main Character quota now that Michael's turned out to be less than heroic and Rose's been shunted back to secondary. Not to mention the racial diversity quota took a blow when they offed the Hispanic girl. (Walt's a kid -- kids only count towards the kid quota.) I mean, I hate to put it that way, but. That's just how American TV works, stupidly enough. Locke's not dead because Eko needs a foil, and Locke's his perfect foil. Locke and Jack can't be foils anymore because they've become little girls about each other.
"Henry" freaking rocks. He's got absolutely the greatest sheer creep factor -- he sends cold chills down my spine with just a look. He's been doing it ever since they stuck him in the hatch, I mean, all those times they'd interrogate him and then leave and he'd turn slightly towards the door and give that little ghost of a smile? Aasdlkfjsdgifgfft. Creepy little bastard. I am so not surprised that he's turned out to be a bigwig among the Hansoites -- I suspect he's even the leader.
This brings me to the matter of Hanso v. Walt. The Hanso folks don't strike me as the type who'd think something was too powerful for them to handle. Note: electromagnet capable of pulling down huge passenger planes. And if they did think something was too much for them, as they claimed Walt was, they would most certainly not give it to anyone else. Note: crazy scheme to discharge electromagnet constantly to save their own butts while still keeping the magnet intact. Point in case being that they totally did not let Walt go. That would never happen. And Henry's little "Bon voyage" was spoken with nearly the same little ghost-smile that signified every time he lied while being interrogated.
Personal opinion? That boat's gonna blow. Or else Henry gave them some bogus path to follow and they'll just sail away in a straight line only to find themselves back at the island, like Desmond did. But another scenario, the one I'm betting my money on, is that they don't have the chance to find out what Henry planned for the ship because they're gonna run into Penny's scouts on their way out and get dragged back to the island in Penny's search for Desmond.
Question number 30249820384: How did Penny know to send out planes or whatever equipped to detect electromagnetic activity?
Anyway. I'm pretty postitive that absolutely everything that's happened so far has been according to the Hanso plan. Three things for sure have been wild card elements introduced into that plan, but I think the plan has shifted to fit them: Rousseau and her team arriving, Desmond washing up (and the subsequent murder of other hatch dude whose name I can't remember), and the plane crashing. All of these events have introduced new people onto the island, and in each case one or more people have been recruited to work for Hanso. Alex, Desmond, (inadvertently) Locke, and Michael. I think that Henry planned his own capture after Michael left just to set things up for the eventual "trade," which was only a ploy to get hold of Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Michael and Walt will never get anywhere on the boat, so they'll get Walt back easily. Two birds with one stone -- and four captives instead of one.
Anomalous, un-Hanso-ish things -- the black smoke-spirit thingy, the whispers in the woods, the invisible monster, Walt's powers, mysterious healings left and right, and the general Dinotopiaishness of the island that prevents people from leaving it and coming to it on purpose but not, apparently, from crashing on it unintentionally. Not to mention the weird junk that happened to people before they came to the island -- the numbers, the unbelieveably coincidental "it's a small world after all" meetings between characters (Jack and Desmond, Hurley and Libby, Ana-Lucia and Jack's dad...).
The one true wild card left is Rousseau, I think -- I don't think she's being manipulated by anyone, but that may change.
Now the question (well, another one) becomes: was the destruction of the magnet part of the Hanso plan? Surely not. They didn't know Desmond had gone anywhere. In fact they may never have known he existed, since their operative guy didn't exactly go anywhere after Desmond killed him. Maybe as far as Hanso knew, the button was still being controlled by dead dude and his partner. They obviously never watched the monitors in the Pearl hatch, because the only people in the Pearl hatch were the ones sending those notebooks out into the middle of nowhere. Of course, that doesn't mean there wasn't another set of monitors somewhere, so the options are still open. Also, did the magnet have anything to do with the anomalous goings-on listed above, and if so, will they be affected by the magnet's destruction? It'd suck if the magnet was causing all the healing, because Rose, Locke and Jin are in trouble if it was.
Phew. I'm running out of rambling power. There's lots more to be said, but I've lost track of it all. There's so much plot, dammit! So much plot, so little time.
My faith in Lost is officially renewed. Here's to looking forward to the next season!
Hurley, Desmond, Rousseau, Sayid and Henry: still the best freakin' characters EVAR.
-rave