>: 49 THE GLASS BALLERINA
Open with the glass ballerina tumbling, falling. I’m already sure it’s Sun, not Kate, for some reason. We return to the typical domineering paternal model. The significance of this flashback and the episode title is already obvious and bad news for those who don't like the notion of Jin as cuckold. Sun is a lying liar, always has been.
Then flash on the Koreans and Sayid, still rocking the black smoke. O hell, we’re not going to get the Swan this week either, are we?
Looooooong exhalation.
Well at least we’re building on last week not spending this whole episode over off the northwestern coast. Jack has got nothing to say and Juliet brings in the meal right off the bat, that was a bit of a surprise. Then she knocks twice, must be some kind of automatic thing because the door unlocks but there’s no one there. We have Ben behind the second door however, looks like he might be a bit near-sighted.
And Trixie climbs down the ladder.
If you don’t love DEADWOOD, this doesn’t matter to you at all but it just goes to show how important it is what the viewer/reader brings to the table, was almost as shifty of a trick as bringing in Brother Justin as Kelvin, just totally threw me. More bewildering still, Catherine, who can be relied upon to outrun my synapses and call out the name first, wasn’t with me for the first eight minutes so I try to listen about Alan and following and a boat but just kind of totter there on the end of the bed. Trixie? Al? I mean, it's practically stunt casting from where I sit. But on the level of Knievel. But back to the plot, Ben wants the boat.
(I should say here that as much as I had my filters up this week, word seemed to be creeping in from everywhere – the paper left in front of my hotel room, other comic book fans – that one or both of the Koreans might be doomed. This made for a very tense viewing experience. I felt like a General who had ignored a vulnerable flank by concentrating on casualties elsewhere)
(and when I say ‘elsewhere’, I am in no way referring to snowglobes)
(and I did have to double-check Paula Malcolmson on imdb at the break, just so I could holler when her name came up in the credits)
Come back to Sun waking up. And it hits me, O hell we’re going to have it confirmed, she definitely learned the syllables whore-is-on-tall from the English teacher. And that smiling wizened bald head pops up from behind her right away, they don’t waste another second messing with us. Sunsunsun, you lied, you lied. So, it’s his baby? Or do we still believe in miracles?
Sawyer and Kate get let out to work. Trixie/Colleen loves or at least kisses Dave, who more than resembles that paragon of virtue Buck (who’s here to…) of Kill Bill fame.
And Mr. Paik rocks the serious setup, gets his ‘son’ to go knock out the Other Man (just now realizing the lockup with last week, if Locke finds out Peg Bundy was cheating next week [for example], we’ll have the hat trick to open the season) none the wiser to the reason why, nice unquestioning parallel with a button marked, wait for it, EXECUTE.
Hahaha, I think, if I let myself, I could just sit and think about this show all the time, and laugh.
But no, onward, great chain gang scenes. Sawyer gets wonderful interactions with Juliet and Kate, finally ties the Doc by laying one on her, really goes ahead on the scoreboard, if you count getting shocked and screwing Ana. Which I do. Then I really thought he was going to make a run for it or plug a couple of them or both. And we mustn’t forget Alex in there, all but confirming Carl as not-a-mole. The pair of star-crossed kiddos must’ve gone rogue or done something since The Hunting Party (2.11) to necessitate skulking. This doesn’t point to Carl being in a good place, physically if not spiritually, since his jaunt off to the woods.
(longer than you think…)
so, the Others are returning to the dock and Sayid is laying an ambush for them. Smart money on the Iraqi. But he completely blows anticipation of the enemy’s angle of approach, they hit the boat first. Thought there was no way Sun was getting off that boat alive but never saw her gut-shooting Trixie. Dead already? Tom misses two shots and Jin and Sun both live to fight another day. And Ben gets his boat.
And the flashbacks, can’t believe Jin almost killed the English teacher, then let him go. I was already thinking the dude made it to America and Sun was sneaking off in Sydney to join him when he smashed into Jin’s windshield clutching the pearl necklace. Figured Sun would find about that, Jin’s role, but apparently not. Good funeral scene. Paik’s not going to tell. Does everyone realize that Paik-Heavy Industries builds boats for the Hanso Foundation? It’s true.
And the trio is going to walk back south. Unmolested? Guess Tom and crew are rushing Colleen back to medical supplies. We didn’t get even a line about the four-toed statue. Pretty cool story there, waiting for next season, betcha.
Dug Sawyer saying he couldn’t help himself, she looked so damn cute with the pickaxe. If those two ever got off the island and started robbing banks we would forget all about Bonnie & Clyde, I tell you what. That’s another priceless aspect of this show, all the great stories that it implies, who wouldn’t watch a season worth of well-written war stories with Sayid as the lead? Or Eko dominating the Nigerian underworld? Desmond in the Queen’s Army? Or Sawyer & Kate, racing the road to the horizon. The very best stories blaze on and around indiscriminately, fork off wider into more tributaries than anyone has time to follow.
But I digress.
Of course they’re being monitored. Ben needs his glasses because he’s got a Pearl-type monitoring station that really works. Located down in the Hydra, yes? Because then he walks to Jack. But that’s just a ladder’s climb down from the cages, seems. Just orienting myself.
And orientating Jack. Knew it was going to be great when old Ben walked in. Benjamin Linus, born on the island*. You want to think his parents were Dharma Initiative but the timeline doesn’t match up. He’s in his early 40s at least, I’m thinking, born at least a decade before the Degroots got Hanso funding for their grad-school project. Was there an opposing party of natives already in place on the island? The remains of the survivors of Magnus Hanso’s Black Rock, the improbably beached pirate ship from the first season finale? Remember, no Dharma logos in the village we saw last week. Wheel in the TV/VCR and tell us, man. So happy to see that, give us another film, take us another level down into the rabbit hole.
Great trick to hit us with the real world instead. It’s 11/29, we’re officially on Day 69. I knew Thanksgiving had just come and gone but nice to hear him just lay it out like that. That was so well-done, gleaning the most improbable events, the Death of Superman, Reelecting That, the Breaking of the Curse of the Bambino, I guess it was a pretty wild couple of months.
I didn’t notice at the time, was really wondering when that monster was going to come back and eat everybody.
So the tape is revelatory not to an audience of 12 million (or whatever we’re down to, heard the show shed 23%) (really) but only to Doctor Shepherd, whose father said the Red Sox would never win. And Ben will get him off the island, take him Home.
Why? What unique skill set or motivational factor does Jack possess? Long odds are on them magic hands but I’m thinking this further points to Christian Shepherd as a very-much-alive and dominant force on the island, most likely aligned with the lingering DI/Hanso interest in the island. Maybe it’s just because we’re hot off last week but it seems like the most probable reason that they’d be interested in Jack and Jack alone.
(hey wouldn’t it be great, don’t think there’s ANY chance of this, really, but just saying: to me, the Big Answer, or one of them, has to involve the numbers and probability manipulation. Like the reason why we have so many random interactions between these people [see Jack’s wife killing Shannon’s dad, Jack running into Desmond right after Penny found him, those numbers embedded freaking EVERYwhere etc etc] so wouldn’t it be funny if Old Man Shepherd got his hands on something after the crash, some hunk of paranormal Hansotech from the 70s that MADE the Sox win? Because they couldn’t could not do it on their own? Unlikely, but fun.)
I wonder about Eko.
And now feel that we’ll be hearing Desmond say ‘brothah’ for some time to come.
147 days of waiting in the can. Coming up on half of ’06 I’ve been worried about those dudes. Maybe they will freaking throw me a Jesusstick next week.**
*and who the hell WAS Henry Gale anyway?
**hey, it’s 1:08***
***and, full disclosure, just realized that i have consumed 4 tallboys of lone star which are, yes, 16 oz each.
Then flash on the Koreans and Sayid, still rocking the black smoke. O hell, we’re not going to get the Swan this week either, are we?
Looooooong exhalation.
Well at least we’re building on last week not spending this whole episode over off the northwestern coast. Jack has got nothing to say and Juliet brings in the meal right off the bat, that was a bit of a surprise. Then she knocks twice, must be some kind of automatic thing because the door unlocks but there’s no one there. We have Ben behind the second door however, looks like he might be a bit near-sighted.
And Trixie climbs down the ladder.
If you don’t love DEADWOOD, this doesn’t matter to you at all but it just goes to show how important it is what the viewer/reader brings to the table, was almost as shifty of a trick as bringing in Brother Justin as Kelvin, just totally threw me. More bewildering still, Catherine, who can be relied upon to outrun my synapses and call out the name first, wasn’t with me for the first eight minutes so I try to listen about Alan and following and a boat but just kind of totter there on the end of the bed. Trixie? Al? I mean, it's practically stunt casting from where I sit. But on the level of Knievel. But back to the plot, Ben wants the boat.
(I should say here that as much as I had my filters up this week, word seemed to be creeping in from everywhere – the paper left in front of my hotel room, other comic book fans – that one or both of the Koreans might be doomed. This made for a very tense viewing experience. I felt like a General who had ignored a vulnerable flank by concentrating on casualties elsewhere)
(and when I say ‘elsewhere’, I am in no way referring to snowglobes)
(and I did have to double-check Paula Malcolmson on imdb at the break, just so I could holler when her name came up in the credits)
Come back to Sun waking up. And it hits me, O hell we’re going to have it confirmed, she definitely learned the syllables whore-is-on-tall from the English teacher. And that smiling wizened bald head pops up from behind her right away, they don’t waste another second messing with us. Sunsunsun, you lied, you lied. So, it’s his baby? Or do we still believe in miracles?
Sawyer and Kate get let out to work. Trixie/Colleen loves or at least kisses Dave, who more than resembles that paragon of virtue Buck (who’s here to…) of Kill Bill fame.
And Mr. Paik rocks the serious setup, gets his ‘son’ to go knock out the Other Man (just now realizing the lockup with last week, if Locke finds out Peg Bundy was cheating next week [for example], we’ll have the hat trick to open the season) none the wiser to the reason why, nice unquestioning parallel with a button marked, wait for it, EXECUTE.
Hahaha, I think, if I let myself, I could just sit and think about this show all the time, and laugh.
But no, onward, great chain gang scenes. Sawyer gets wonderful interactions with Juliet and Kate, finally ties the Doc by laying one on her, really goes ahead on the scoreboard, if you count getting shocked and screwing Ana. Which I do. Then I really thought he was going to make a run for it or plug a couple of them or both. And we mustn’t forget Alex in there, all but confirming Carl as not-a-mole. The pair of star-crossed kiddos must’ve gone rogue or done something since The Hunting Party (2.11) to necessitate skulking. This doesn’t point to Carl being in a good place, physically if not spiritually, since his jaunt off to the woods.
(longer than you think…)
so, the Others are returning to the dock and Sayid is laying an ambush for them. Smart money on the Iraqi. But he completely blows anticipation of the enemy’s angle of approach, they hit the boat first. Thought there was no way Sun was getting off that boat alive but never saw her gut-shooting Trixie. Dead already? Tom misses two shots and Jin and Sun both live to fight another day. And Ben gets his boat.
And the flashbacks, can’t believe Jin almost killed the English teacher, then let him go. I was already thinking the dude made it to America and Sun was sneaking off in Sydney to join him when he smashed into Jin’s windshield clutching the pearl necklace. Figured Sun would find about that, Jin’s role, but apparently not. Good funeral scene. Paik’s not going to tell. Does everyone realize that Paik-Heavy Industries builds boats for the Hanso Foundation? It’s true.
And the trio is going to walk back south. Unmolested? Guess Tom and crew are rushing Colleen back to medical supplies. We didn’t get even a line about the four-toed statue. Pretty cool story there, waiting for next season, betcha.
Dug Sawyer saying he couldn’t help himself, she looked so damn cute with the pickaxe. If those two ever got off the island and started robbing banks we would forget all about Bonnie & Clyde, I tell you what. That’s another priceless aspect of this show, all the great stories that it implies, who wouldn’t watch a season worth of well-written war stories with Sayid as the lead? Or Eko dominating the Nigerian underworld? Desmond in the Queen’s Army? Or Sawyer & Kate, racing the road to the horizon. The very best stories blaze on and around indiscriminately, fork off wider into more tributaries than anyone has time to follow.
But I digress.
Of course they’re being monitored. Ben needs his glasses because he’s got a Pearl-type monitoring station that really works. Located down in the Hydra, yes? Because then he walks to Jack. But that’s just a ladder’s climb down from the cages, seems. Just orienting myself.
And orientating Jack. Knew it was going to be great when old Ben walked in. Benjamin Linus, born on the island*. You want to think his parents were Dharma Initiative but the timeline doesn’t match up. He’s in his early 40s at least, I’m thinking, born at least a decade before the Degroots got Hanso funding for their grad-school project. Was there an opposing party of natives already in place on the island? The remains of the survivors of Magnus Hanso’s Black Rock, the improbably beached pirate ship from the first season finale? Remember, no Dharma logos in the village we saw last week. Wheel in the TV/VCR and tell us, man. So happy to see that, give us another film, take us another level down into the rabbit hole.
Great trick to hit us with the real world instead. It’s 11/29, we’re officially on Day 69. I knew Thanksgiving had just come and gone but nice to hear him just lay it out like that. That was so well-done, gleaning the most improbable events, the Death of Superman, Reelecting That, the Breaking of the Curse of the Bambino, I guess it was a pretty wild couple of months.
I didn’t notice at the time, was really wondering when that monster was going to come back and eat everybody.
So the tape is revelatory not to an audience of 12 million (or whatever we’re down to, heard the show shed 23%) (really) but only to Doctor Shepherd, whose father said the Red Sox would never win. And Ben will get him off the island, take him Home.
Why? What unique skill set or motivational factor does Jack possess? Long odds are on them magic hands but I’m thinking this further points to Christian Shepherd as a very-much-alive and dominant force on the island, most likely aligned with the lingering DI/Hanso interest in the island. Maybe it’s just because we’re hot off last week but it seems like the most probable reason that they’d be interested in Jack and Jack alone.
(hey wouldn’t it be great, don’t think there’s ANY chance of this, really, but just saying: to me, the Big Answer, or one of them, has to involve the numbers and probability manipulation. Like the reason why we have so many random interactions between these people [see Jack’s wife killing Shannon’s dad, Jack running into Desmond right after Penny found him, those numbers embedded freaking EVERYwhere etc etc] so wouldn’t it be funny if Old Man Shepherd got his hands on something after the crash, some hunk of paranormal Hansotech from the 70s that MADE the Sox win? Because they couldn’t could not do it on their own? Unlikely, but fun.)
I wonder about Eko.
And now feel that we’ll be hearing Desmond say ‘brothah’ for some time to come.
147 days of waiting in the can. Coming up on half of ’06 I’ve been worried about those dudes. Maybe they will freaking throw me a Jesusstick next week.**
*and who the hell WAS Henry Gale anyway?
**hey, it’s 1:08***
***and, full disclosure, just realized that i have consumed 4 tallboys of lone star which are, yes, 16 oz each.
posted by rb at 1:11 AM
1 Comments:
maybe the episode with ana-lucia, in which we find out she and christian made the flight to sydney together? what have they shown us about his time there? he landed, drank with ana for four days, went and bothered some chick in the middle of the night demanding to see his daughter (and only candidate we have here so far is claire, right? native aussie living in sydney? would be soap-operatic but that seems to be how both locke and jack were rolling pre-9/22), tried to get ana to join him for some all-day drinking, hit sawyer (on his way to not-shoot the dude robert patrick of t-1000 fame set him up to kill) with the driver-side door, then spent all day at that same place until sawyer came back, christian gave sawyer the stones to go finally shoot the guy and that's chronologically the last time we see him until jack shows up and identifies his dead body in the morgue.
which is the real sticking point here, the corpse.
but then jack did have those visions of him in 5, and there WAS no body in the coffin (and who the hell were adam & eve, the bodies found at the cave? the degroots?). thing about it is, bringing christian back, showing him in the big reveal at the end of an episode, seems like that would do what they haven't yet done and cross the ambiguous line between drama and paranormal sci-fi (see: season 1 backpedaling on the monster and walt's powers). guess we can imagine that anything's possible, like old alvar said.
and "good", yeah don't know what the standards are. when goodwin first brought it up, assumed it was some sort of benefit-to-society matrix devised by the degroots or hanso for the utopian society, the 6th area of interest they were pursuing on the island, but ben living on the island his whole life seems to disrupt his people's alliance with the DI.
all will be revealed. stay tuned.
Post a Comment
<< Home