S2Ep1: Man of Science, Man of Faith (Jack's fourth flashback) - 9/21/05

Hello my dear friends...
Say it with me now: LOST is BACK.... yeah, baby, yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

I will start out by welcoming several new members to this distribution list. I had every intention of writing each one of you a personal message, but time slipped away. Since at this point I believe there are more people on the list who actually DON'T personally know me than there are those who do, along with the fact that I'm no longer writing these from my work account,
you can expect me to "up the level of craziness" in these write-ups that much more. Hee hee. But seriously, since there are so many new people added, I have a one-time only special section at the end of this already too long recap just to set the rules of participation as well as expectations, which I beg all of you to read just this once, even the old-timers.

But first, on to the good stuff. I stayed miraculously almost entirely spoiler-free throughout the summer, and since I was out of the country for the two weeks leading up to the premiere, I hadn't even seen previews, which I'm confident made my viewing enjoyment all the greater. I recommend this approach to everyone. I was completely happy and utterly impressed with the
premiere, and have high hopes for the season. So without further ado, here are the things you may or may not have caught in the premiere, and how they may or may not tie into anything bigger.

OPENING SCENE
Those on this list who were at my place watching the premiere (my specially made shirt said "I love Locke" (love was a heart symbol) on the front and "I Hate Kate" on the back) can attest to the fact that I freaked out a little bit at the beginning of the show, thinking we were on the wrong channel. Then after I realized it was the right channel, I next thought it was a flashback, and guessed everyone from Sawyer, to Locke when he was young, to Hurley when he may have once been skinny. So obviously I had no idea what was going on as it ended up being a present-day/real-time scene of the at-that-point unknown dude in the hatch.
Important things from this scene:
- As so many episodes have in the past, this one also started with a focus on an eye opening. I still can't help but wonder if some day that will end up being significant.
- The scene begins in a bedroom. The guy wakes up from the UPPER bunk, and the lower bunk is cleanly made and there is a stack of books on a shelf near the pillow, leading me to believe our Hatch Man, as he is known on the boards, is not alone. The window behind him has blinds and daylight appears to be shining through at one point, but most people obviously now think that
it was just an artificial source of bright light. He is in all white - boxers and a t-shirt.
- He goes to an Apple II (?) computer, types in The Numbers (thank you Tivo/slo-mo), and hits the "execute" button (which I have learned from board nerds was not typically a button on this type of computer)
- "Make Your Own Kind of Music" by The Mamas & The Papas (I think) was spinnin' old school style on a record player
- Then he started going through what looked like a typical morning routine, which caused some people on the boards to point out that he was "living" down there and not "surviving" like the people above ground. He exercised on outdated equipment, had running water for a shower, electricity for a blender and washer/dryer, and some sort of weird food. At first I actually
thought he had eggs, but upon several slo-mo's and pauses, I now think what he mixed into the blender with some sort of protein powder looked like jello mold type jiggly stuff, not eggs. He's also rockin' a red lava lamp down there, so I give him respect.
- He ended his routine with what I thought was a big ol' 'roid injection, but what I now think was an immunization shot or medicine. There were several vials lined up in his cabinet, all of course which contained The Numbers on the RX, prefaced by the letters CR.
- He is interrupted by an explosion from above (Locke blowing off hatch). He immediately goes to grab one of many identical light-colored jackets from a closet, puts on boots, and then runs to a door with a combination lock... through meticulous slo-mo'ing I saw him turn to 23 then 42 and then I think either 47 or 48 (original number of survivors? or some other meaning?). He takes out a few of MANY guns, runs to some machines to power everything down and then looks through some crazy scope and adjusts several mirrors so he can actually see up to the top of the hatch and look at the Lostaways peering down... It should also be noted that both his jacket and the 'roid cabinet had the same logo on them. It is an octagon, with an S-like graphic
in the middle... it almost looks like a spiderweb.
- So ONE question has been answered, sort of... What's in The Hatch? Well, naturally... it's the Hatch Man!

"QUARANTINE" WRITTEN ON THE INSIDE OF THE LID
I'm hoping I don't need to spell this out, but just in case... that means that the hatch is the safe place to be, not the island.

JACK'S FLASHBACK, or JACK!BACK (Jack in his own flashbacks is referred to as
Flash!Jack)
Many board peeps were bitter that it was yet ANOTHER Jack!Back, and I must agree. We already know that he ended up marrying a patient of his who he miraculously fixed. So the only new things we learned, which I think we could've learned through much cooler means, were:
- Apparently the producers of Lost have the ability to travel back in time to when Matthew Fox (actor who plays Jack) was starring in the show Party of Five, because I will be d@mned if that bad hair/wig wasn't straight outta the early 90s, so much so that I honestly expected good ol' Bailey and whiny Julia and Claudia and baby Owen to pop out at any moment and that theme song by the BoDeans to start blasting over the hospital PA system.
- The man who Jack chose NOT to save was Adam Rutherford, age 57. I am SURE that this guy was either the dad or stepdad of Shannon, whose last name is also Rutherford. They just do not put in small details like that for no reason. His time of death was, of course, 8:15.
- Jack had no bedside manner and actually got some good advice from his dad, who was sober for once - Jack worked at St. Sebastian hospital. He had a number on his badge but I couldn't make it out.
- Jack had given up hope of curing Sarah and was taking out his rage like every normal guy does by attempting to do a tour de stad. We see him starting to race some other crazy guy. The conversation that then transpires after Jack twists his ankle was perhaps the most carefully
scripted we've seen thus far in the series, with gems like:
- I was ALMOST a doctor once
- So what's your excuse for running like the devil's chasing you?
- ... I'm training for a race around the world.
- You must have done something worthy of self-flagellation
- Just one thing - what if you DID fix her?, I didn't, But what if you did? You don't know her situation, that would be a miracle. And you don't believe in miracles?
- Well I'm going to give you some advice anyway. You have to lift it up.(NOT sounding like he's talking about the ankle)
- See ya in another life, yeah?
- I will get to theories on Desmond later... but I will take the time here to say that in my finale write-up from Season 1, I ended with a list of outstanding questions, one of which was "Why did Jack get divorced?" My brother was quick to point out that we only know he is no longer married. We don't know if he got divorced or if Sarah ended up dying, which I think is especially important to consider after this flashback. Perhaps his "faith" was temporarily restored when she miraculously was "fixed," but then later after they were married something happened and she died, turning him back into Man o' Science.

CreepyDrownedWalt / WALT'S WHISPERS
OK, so, here's the thing - I don't like creepy little kids. Never have, never will. Walt officially is on that list now, up there with Dakota Fanning, those twin girls from The Shining, Malachai from Children of the Corn, and so on. This scene made my top three Creepy Freakouts of the series, with the other two being Charlie hanging from the tree and Locke's freaky Boone/ "Theresa falls up the stairs" hallucination.

So what exactly was going on here? Supposedly a PA radio station played it backwards and claims that Walt is saying "Push the button no button is bad" which could be interpreted two ways: 1) Push the button. No. Button is bad. or 2) Push the button. No button is bad. Who knows if that is even what he said. If you have to go to that much effort to know what he said, I doubt it's crucial information to know, but I've been wrong before. You could tell that the scene itself was weird because his lips were moving out of sync and in general it seemed jumpy. Also he was dripping wet (at first I thought it was blood and nearly passed out) and wearing some bizarro shirt he didn't have on before. Most board people noticed he also grew approximately 12 feet over the summer. I think there are a few possible explanations:
- It was a hallucination and nothing more
- He is dead and that was his ghost
- Shannon also has "powers" and saw something that was happening off of the island
- Walt used his powers to apparate himself in front of Shannon for a few seconds to try to convey a message but wasn't able to actually say anything (note - I was positive that apparate was a real word. So a shout out to Nerdy P for being right that it is actually only a word used in the Harry Potter books. I was stunned to see it is not in the dictionary. I'm not sure if I like the fact that I didn't realize it was a made-up word from HP, or if I'm ashamed. Either way, you know what I was trying to say.)
- He somehow did fall off the boat, or escape, and "the island" is conveying a message to Shannon on his behalf I wouldn't hold your breath that we will find out any time soon. But I will
ask you to ponder this - Why did Vincent lead her there? I'll tell you why - because dogs rock, and they are smart, and Vincent is probably the mastermind of everything going on the island. You heard it here first.

JACK VS. LOCKE
The growing tension between Jack and my man Locke finally reached a breaking point as Locke (who, let's remember, was prodding Jack all last season to Be A Leader) openly defies Jack in front of the group and leaves everyone to go down the hatch, as well as asks Jack earlier what exactly he was afraid of finding down there. There were a few key shots that I thought were important and done for a reason. One was when Locke was lowering Kate down the hatch, his palms soon became totally bloody as she was dragged down and he tried to pull against the force taking her. The other shot was when Jack went down, they showed him ripping off rags to tie around both of his palms beforehand. I'm sure the Man of Science, Man of Faith title and the bloody palms and religious symbolism they carry are all tied together.

ENDING SCENE
Jack drops down the hatch, and is met with a dark, damp concrete hallway with dripping water and big pipes all around. He noticed a pair of shoes on the floor - which I think may be Kate's because they looked small, but could also obviously be Locke's, or I guess could also be Desmond's. There are electrical outlets and moldy-looking corroded ceilings, actually bringing
back bad memories of old rented apartments of yore. He passes a berzerker mural made from various colored paints that were still sitting out. The mural included:
- An underground house,
- The phrase "I'm Sick",
- Arrows pointing up from the house to a beach scene,
- The sun with the number 108 in it (all the numbers added up)
- A woman's face who may or may not resemble Danielle the French woman,
- The numbers "108" and "42" were painted in various other spots as well, as well as what also looked like a few fish

Jack continues trolling around and sees a bunch of buckets that appear to be open and have dirty dusty crap overflowing from them. The key around his neck starts moving toward the wall, which is undoubtedly a big part of whatever it is that is going on. In Season 1 we realized that the compasses didn't work, the tides were all screwed up, and many people also thought the
floating black stuff could possibly be a bunch of little magnets making forms together.

Now the Freaky Factor escalates, as Jack turns the corner and a mirror readjusts to follow him, and the eerily happy "Make Your Own Kind of Music" starts blaring again. He's now moved into a big domed control room, with tons of machines with wave-like readings, spools twirling, and sounds that are a lot like those Lostzilla makes... He is about to hit the "execute" button (um, let's just all agree that of all things to do when you're finally in the hatch, pressing buttons randomly is probably not a good idea), and Locke appears to say "I wouldn't do that." A heated exchange ensues, during which Locke tries to tell Jack to calm down and that Kate is fine, but Jack is flipping out to the point that Brother Desmond must shoot the gun off in the ceiling and then finally reveal himself to Jack. We end with a stunned "You." from Jack.

DESMOND
- Another anagram - "Demons" with an extra D. However, I will say that the Desmond in the stadium seemed like a totally normal, nice guy. - Is Desmond the devil? Did he meet all of the Lostaways before the crash and did they somehow unknowingly or unwittingly "sell their soul" to him? He really didn't seem evil in the Jack!Back though.
- Did he really attempt to go on his race around the world and somehow he also was destined to land on the island? Is the hatch the crazy vessel he was using for his journey and it somehow ran aground? If so, when did he arrive and how long has he been there?
- He obviously wants to STAY in the hatch (quarantine lid, he didn't come out, he's got tons of guns and an elaborate system to protect himself, etc., etc). I feel like the song he was playing symbolized a lonely life where you need to find happiness in a repetitive existence on your own. He was definitely just hangin' out down there. But he must have been there a while if he knew the island was dangerous and if he was injecting himself with something to fight off "the sickness," perhaps?
- What is the logo on his shirt (I think it also appeared on the mirror system)? What was he injecting? What was the program he executes? Some think it is a virtual reality program for HIM to liven up his time down there. I think he may control Lostzilla and Lostzilla keeps people away from his lair.
- Is he alone? How big is the hatch?
- Where is Kate? A huge column of white light appeared before she vanished, so something different may have happened to her... we can only hope.
- Why is Locke so calm? Had HE met Desmond before? If Sarah miraculously was fixed after Jack talked with Desmond in the stadium, and Locke could miraculously walk again after landing on the island, was Desmond somehow involved in both?
- Is that NOT Desmond but perhaps an evil twin? Yes, I know evil twins are lame (sorry, Nick), but we do know that supposedly there were evil twin guys on the Others' boat... so perhaps there are clones running around...
- Is Desmond connected with The Others? I actually don't think he is.
- Whose d@mn shoes were those? Come on, writers, throw us a bone!

MAN OF SCIENCE, MAN OF FAITH
Is this title of the episode referring to Jack vs. Locke?...
... or Jack vs. Desmond?
... or Jack vs. himself at different points in his life?

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
Hurley: Why did you do that? Why'd you light the fuse, man?
Locke: Why wouldn't I light the fuse?
Hurley: Ah, maybe because I was running toward you, waving my arm, saying 'don't do that'?
Locke: (laughs) You got a point there.

Hurley: What's that thing where doctors make you feel better, just by talking to you?
Jack: Bedside manner
Hurley: Yeah, that. Yours sucks, dude.

NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE:
"Adrift" - focusing on the raft-ugees
(There appear to be three more episodes lined up after this week's with no lame hiatuses... we'll see...)

SPECIAL ONE-TIME SECTION
RULES FOR SEASON 2 WRITE-UPS/PLEA TO YOU, MY FAITHFUL READERS
After rejoining the boards for the first time since the finale, the full weight of how proportionate my enjoyment of the show is to my lack of spoiler knowledge was very obvious. So many hard core people on the boards were disappointed in the premiere whereas I thought it was fantastic. That is because they all knew about Desmond, they all knew about Walt appearing, and already know half of what is going to happen this season, whereas I, blissfully, know nothing.

And I'd like to keep it that way.

What brief periods of respite and escapism can be found in life must be closely defended... so therefore I just want to set a rule going forward for season 2... I do not want anyone to send me any spoilers whatsoever. If you hear something or read something about the show... please do not assume I also have heard or read the same information, because I go to great lengths to now avoid it. If you send me some sort of spoiler, well, consider yourself banned from this distribution list at the very least while my evil warped mind thinks of better ways to punish you. HOWEVER, having said that, part of the great joy I find in this show and going on the theory boards is that I DO love to hear what people THINK (as opposed to KNOW) is going to happen, what theories anyone has, etc., etc., so by all means if you have an idea that is truly your own and is not a confirmed spoiler, or have read about a cool theory on the boards, please send my way and I will include in the write-up for others to ponder. Examples from last season include the time-loop theory, the "everyone represents a different part of a personality" (aka Blank Slate/Tabula Rasa) theory, the virtual reality game theory, and all others included in this write-up today about who Desmond is, etc.

Finally, here is a pic of the cast after winning Best Drama at the Emmys.





Enjoy tonight's show,
- e