Lost forum now more lost than usual
How odd. The Fuselage has vanished just like the Island. I was on it for a while yesterday, but a few hours later I timed out trying to get on, and today I get a "no such website exists" error. Phooey. I had some questions about the finale and that seemed like the most likely place to find appropriate threads. (ETA: Just read on DarkUFO that it is missing due to a fire and a power outage. Yikes.) I could ask on TWoP, but would have to finish reading the episode thread and can't remember what pages I have already read. I'm going to be economical and place the rest behind a cut. Spoilers for the finale if you haven't seen it....
I did enjoy the finale, although some bits seemed off. Ben pushing the wheel was a bit damaged because of my Hornblower days--I kept thinking the wheel turned like a capstan, but didn't look like one, and then I was trying to think of capstan-turning songs for Ben to sing while he pushed. I'm still wondering why Locke cared about the freighter--he's stabbed Naomi in the back, held Charlotte and Miles hostage, and stuffed a grenade in Miles' mouth when none of them had offered any threat to the 815ers or the Island yet, and he has worked all along to destroy any means for the crash survivors to leave the Island, but now he's all worried about "innocents" on the freighter? I know, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" as whoever said, but still.
Speaking of the freighter, am I the only one who thinks that killing the 815ers was never part of the original agenda? I am basing that on Ben's words that the freighter would kill every living thing on the Island; obviously, he wanted the Losties scared, but he seemed to be using the word "living" oddly. I think the only ones specifically in danger were Ben's people: no one knew that Danielle was on the Island at all, and the 815ers were officially dead, according to Naomi and emphasized in Confirmed Dead, so the Others were the only living people on the Island to kill. We are given no indication that Keamy's crew (as opposed to Naomi's) knew that anyone not connected with Ben was on the Island before they arrived at the Island and communications were wonky after, so their orders probably didn't allow for anyone but Ben's people. I suspect that Richard may have planted the idea of going to Otherton in Locke's mind, since having the 815ers occupying the living quarters of Ben's people would provide a target for the mercenaries to kill, while keeping them from realizing their real targets had slipped out of the trap. Ideally, the not-on-the-list 815ers would die, the attackers would let their guard down and the Others would sneak in and take them out. If any 815ers survived, they would be too scared to try to find rescue again. A win-win situation for the Others. The plan went pear-shaped when half the 815ers went back to the beach, two of them went to the freighter, and most especially when Ben sent Alex, Danielle and Karl out not knowing that Keamy liked to land 5 klicks out from his target and sneak the rest of the way. Whatever, once Keamy saw the 815ers living as natives and protecting Ben, they landed on the "target" list and once they escaped into the jungle, it was time to "torch the island" if that is what it took to purge the place. However, it doesn't seem he took any steps to torch the island--all the explosives were set on the ship instead and no trees that I remember met an untimely doom at Keamy's hand, so maybe he was not meaning what he said literally. I wonder if torching the island and the explosives on the ship were Keamy's cabin fever? It would make more sense that the explosives were packed with the intent of slighting Otherton and perhaps the Dharma stations once Ben was removed.
I'm kind of hoping Claire's warning to Kate not to take Aaron back to the Island heralds some meaty philosophical drama. I am hoping that the Island's insistence that all the survivors must return conceals in the fine print that although Aaron's presence is required, the return will kill or maim him. After all, an Island is part of nature, and babies die all the time in nature--the dead piglet is the polar bear's full stomach--and it would make sense for Claire to be concerned with keeping Aaron out of harm's way while other forces try to get Kate to bring him back. It would also fit in with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism--does the good of all the people on the Island outweigh the harm to one toddler? (Even if Aaron escapes death in coming back to the Island, he will almost certainly suffer severe emotional harm when his mommy takes him on a frightening journey to a strange place and hands him over to a complete stranger, who says he must stay with her the rest of his life and call her mommy, because he is related to her, and that matters more than love.) If it is believed that all the O6 must return to the Island and Kate is the only one that suspects potential harm to Aaron, that would set up some nice big dramatic conflicts for season 5 and tension over who is right for season 6.
In other news, DocArtz has given DarkUFO a copy of the deleted wall-crossing scene from The Economist with Miles, Kate and Sayid. I had had his transcript, but was happy to see the scene, especially as I had used it in my fic Teamwork. It was better than the script suggested; the actors' performances improved it and Ken Leung in particular added several layers of suggestion that had me juggling three or four interpretations of what Miles was perceiving. I'm thinking that the thrums in the background before he shushes Sayid are not just background music but what Miles is hearing, and maybe he doesn't quite know how to interpret them, either, since his expression when Kate asks him how he knew the fence was off was humorous but hard to read--maybe a little like a wordless version of his "What do I mean?" to Charlotte in TNPLH pt. 2.
I did enjoy the finale, although some bits seemed off. Ben pushing the wheel was a bit damaged because of my Hornblower days--I kept thinking the wheel turned like a capstan, but didn't look like one, and then I was trying to think of capstan-turning songs for Ben to sing while he pushed. I'm still wondering why Locke cared about the freighter--he's stabbed Naomi in the back, held Charlotte and Miles hostage, and stuffed a grenade in Miles' mouth when none of them had offered any threat to the 815ers or the Island yet, and he has worked all along to destroy any means for the crash survivors to leave the Island, but now he's all worried about "innocents" on the freighter? I know, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" as whoever said, but still.
Speaking of the freighter, am I the only one who thinks that killing the 815ers was never part of the original agenda? I am basing that on Ben's words that the freighter would kill every living thing on the Island; obviously, he wanted the Losties scared, but he seemed to be using the word "living" oddly. I think the only ones specifically in danger were Ben's people: no one knew that Danielle was on the Island at all, and the 815ers were officially dead, according to Naomi and emphasized in Confirmed Dead, so the Others were the only living people on the Island to kill. We are given no indication that Keamy's crew (as opposed to Naomi's) knew that anyone not connected with Ben was on the Island before they arrived at the Island and communications were wonky after, so their orders probably didn't allow for anyone but Ben's people. I suspect that Richard may have planted the idea of going to Otherton in Locke's mind, since having the 815ers occupying the living quarters of Ben's people would provide a target for the mercenaries to kill, while keeping them from realizing their real targets had slipped out of the trap. Ideally, the not-on-the-list 815ers would die, the attackers would let their guard down and the Others would sneak in and take them out. If any 815ers survived, they would be too scared to try to find rescue again. A win-win situation for the Others. The plan went pear-shaped when half the 815ers went back to the beach, two of them went to the freighter, and most especially when Ben sent Alex, Danielle and Karl out not knowing that Keamy liked to land 5 klicks out from his target and sneak the rest of the way. Whatever, once Keamy saw the 815ers living as natives and protecting Ben, they landed on the "target" list and once they escaped into the jungle, it was time to "torch the island" if that is what it took to purge the place. However, it doesn't seem he took any steps to torch the island--all the explosives were set on the ship instead and no trees that I remember met an untimely doom at Keamy's hand, so maybe he was not meaning what he said literally. I wonder if torching the island and the explosives on the ship were Keamy's cabin fever? It would make more sense that the explosives were packed with the intent of slighting Otherton and perhaps the Dharma stations once Ben was removed.
I'm kind of hoping Claire's warning to Kate not to take Aaron back to the Island heralds some meaty philosophical drama. I am hoping that the Island's insistence that all the survivors must return conceals in the fine print that although Aaron's presence is required, the return will kill or maim him. After all, an Island is part of nature, and babies die all the time in nature--the dead piglet is the polar bear's full stomach--and it would make sense for Claire to be concerned with keeping Aaron out of harm's way while other forces try to get Kate to bring him back. It would also fit in with Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism--does the good of all the people on the Island outweigh the harm to one toddler? (Even if Aaron escapes death in coming back to the Island, he will almost certainly suffer severe emotional harm when his mommy takes him on a frightening journey to a strange place and hands him over to a complete stranger, who says he must stay with her the rest of his life and call her mommy, because he is related to her, and that matters more than love.) If it is believed that all the O6 must return to the Island and Kate is the only one that suspects potential harm to Aaron, that would set up some nice big dramatic conflicts for season 5 and tension over who is right for season 6.
In other news, DocArtz has given DarkUFO a copy of the deleted wall-crossing scene from The Economist with Miles, Kate and Sayid. I had had his transcript, but was happy to see the scene, especially as I had used it in my fic Teamwork. It was better than the script suggested; the actors' performances improved it and Ken Leung in particular added several layers of suggestion that had me juggling three or four interpretations of what Miles was perceiving. I'm thinking that the thrums in the background before he shushes Sayid are not just background music but what Miles is hearing, and maybe he doesn't quite know how to interpret them, either, since his expression when Kate asks him how he knew the fence was off was humorous but hard to read--maybe a little like a wordless version of his "What do I mean?" to Charlotte in TNPLH pt. 2.