Monday, May 23, 2011

Time Flies

Hello my dear friends -

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Lost's series finale, "The End." Can you believe it? I don't know how you're feeling about things, but to me it really does not seem like a whopping 365 days have passed since the show wrapped up. (Insert "Maybe that's because it took you five months to write your finale post!" jokes here. Oh, and speaking of my finale post, it was brought to my attention that the email system over which I have no control never sent that post out back in October. It was probably too long. So those of you receiving my write-ups via email can access it here.)

I had the great pleasure of being interviewed about the show by Josh Wigler over at the MTV Movies Blog, and in preparation for that conversation I spent some time reminiscing about Lost's six seasons and whether or not I feel as strongly about the series one year after the final credits rolled.

The answer is yes, I feel as strongly as ever -- probably even more so now than I did before.

DON'T WANNA BE AN AMERICAN IDIOT

Ever since the series ended, there's been a constant stream of people hating on it -- people who didn't actually take any time to think about the finale and instead simply ran with their knee-jerk reaction (which, as you may recall, was also my knee-jerk reaction): "They were dead the whole time!?!?"

Since all anyone had to do was take a deep breath and replay the final minutes in order to understand exactly what happened, I have zero tolerance or patience for those who refused to spend a few extra seconds to comprehend what was going on. If you acknowledge that everything we saw since 2004 actually happened -- that all of the characters' Island experiences took place (which Jack's dad was nice enough to spell out for us) -- and you still didn't like the finale, that's one thing. I respect that lots of folks weren't fans of what the sideways flashes ended up representing. What I can't respect, however, is when someone is too stubborn or stupid (yeah, I said it!) to spend ten minutes reflecting on a show they invested so much time into in order to ensure they walked away with a clear understanding of how it drew to a close.

I realize that a lot of people continue to holler about the show because they know it gets a rise out of the rest of us. The fact that they still bother to chime in at all is what proves to me that the series had a huge impact on them. So the joke's on the haters.

There's another group of people who aren't actively speaking out against the series, but who vehemently disliked the finale and feel like it ruined Lost's entire run for them and subsequently harbor a great resentment toward its creators. This is another thing I just can't wrap my mind around. To me that's the equivalent of going on an all-expenses-paid trip around the world for five-and-a-half years -- a vacation during which you learn all about religious, philosophical, scientific, and literary theories you'd never been exposed to before, in addition to making a ton of great friends. On the last day of this vacation you and those friends go to dinner, and the dinner ends up being kind of unspectacular.

Does that final dinner wipe out how amazing the rest of the trip was!?!?!?! Um, I would certainly hope not. Would you NOT go on the trip again if given a second chance?!?! Really, wouldn't you? All because of one lousy meal? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water. I don't get it. As with almost everything else in life, it's about the journey, not the destination.

OOH, WE USED TO WAIT
OOH, WE USED TO WAIT

What I've missed most this past year is the build-up to each new episode. Since the advent of DVR technology, Lost is the only show I ever made a point of watching live. I couldn't stand to not know what was going down on the Island as soon as I could. Each airing was an event. We all had our own rituals when it came to watching the show. And then afterward everyone digested and analyzed the episode in his or her own way. Finally, we'd discuss and theorize together all across the interwebs until it was time for the next installment.

I miss that profound sense of escapism. I miss being part of a truly global phenomenon. I miss how the show forced me to put my brain to work. I miss having intelligent debates with other fans. I miss how I would wake up in the middle of the night with a new idea about what could be going on. I miss the anticipatory butterflies in my stomach as each new episode began. I miss caring about characters. I just miss it all.

The good news is that I honestly don't think a week has gone by since May 23, 2010, where I have NOT read something about the show -- be it an article, a tweet, a blog post, or what have you. There's always something that reminds me of our friends on the Island. And I think it's going to be that way for a long, long time. Though I haven' t been able to post as often as I'd intended on this site since the show went off the air, the bottom line is that I know I WILL continue to write about the series for years. There will be no letting go!

The MTV Movies interview I spoke of at the beginning of this post is embedded below -- it features the wonderful JOpinionated and The ODI as well, and I know we all had a blast doing it. The full post can be found here.







LOST CHAT -- TONIGHT!

Have you missed talking about Lost? Suffer no more!

My fellow Lost bloggers and friends JOpinionated and Doc Arzt will be holding a live LOST chat TONIGHT at 9 PM ET right here. Jo will be giving away some incredibly cool swag to a few lucky participants, so don't miss out!


OTHER FUN LOST-RELATED TIDBITS

- Evangeline Lilly (Kate) just had a kid!

- NBC's Awake looks VERY Lost-ish, no? (Watch its trailer here. And yes, that's Jack's Alt son, Dylan Minnette.)

-Michael Emerson (Ben) is going to be a lead in the CBS show Person of Interest (watch its trailer here).

- Jorge Garcia (Hurley) is going to be a lead in the FOX show Alcatraz, from Lost writer Elizabeth Sarnoff (watch its trailer on JOpinionated's "Inside Alcatraz" blog here).

- Lost writers Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are behind ABC's Once Upon a Time (watch its trailer here).

- Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) will be in ABC's Scandal (watch a clip here). No more Scottish accent, though? Boo!

- I really enjoyed the Washington Post's recent interview with Lost's co-creator Damon Lindelof.

- Lost blogger Pearson Moore takes an in-depth look at the series in his book Lost Humanity, available in paperback or on Kindle.



As I said above, I still have a lot of things I want to write about here on Long Live Locke. It's just a matter of getting a break! Hopefully in the meantime you will keep me company over on redbox's redblog, where I write ten movie-related posts a week.

And guess what? My personal blog, "According to e," is back! I've been writing about totally random topics several times a week for the past few months -- I hope you check it out.

Finally, I would love to hear your thoughts about the show now that a year has come and gone since the finale. If you didn't like "The End," have your feelings tempered at all with the passage of time? If you loved everything about the series, what do you miss most now? Have you found anything that's even close to a replacement/substitute? I haven't.

- e

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Fate vs. Free Will

Hello my dear friends -

I spent the one-year anniversary of my trip to Oahu for LOST's Season Six Sunset on the Beach premiere in another sunny, warm place: Miami. I was there to support my friend Miss M, who ran the ING Half-Marathon. Longtime LLL readers might remember Miss M from some of my earliest posts, as she was who I'd stay with in NYC when I was working for The Man and out east every other week. In particular, she was the one whose DVR -- ones of the nights I was crashing at her place -- neglected to tape the Season One episode where Boone died/Aaron was born, and she subsequently feared for her life. Needless to say, time heals all wounds and we're still friends.

On my flight back to Chicago, I had a great time reminiscing about this:



Only to be met with this upon my return:



The Island couldn't have felt further away.

Then I struggled with what to write about for my first true post-LOST LLL entry. There were so many great ideas mentioned in my call for submissions last month; I didn't know how to narrow them down. Well, actually, there were a couple of topics I took off the table immediately: anything having solely to do with Season Six or The End. I will certainly write about the last season and the series finale again at some point, but my Mother of All Posts took care of the vast majority of thoughts I have on those subjects for now.

It ended up being a few coming-soon movies that inspired this post: The Adjustment Bureau (out March 4) and Source Code (out April 1), as well as a comment from LLL reader "Ms." who suggested that it would be fun to revisit some of the earliest mysteries of the series. As you might remember, for the past three years (and because of this little ol' blog) I've been a film critic for redbox. While I'm not allowed to publicly give my opinion on any film before it's out (Damon Lindelof can, though), I will say that both TAB and SC revolve heavily around one of LOST's central themes: Fate vs. Free Will. The Adjustment Bureau even throws in a third element, Chance. TAB 's about a couple who wants to be together but is informed by mysterious bowler-hat-wearing dudes that their relationship is "not part of The Plan." Source Code follows an agent who keeps reliving eight disastrous minutes over and over... until he tries to change what happens (despite being warned that doing so is impossible). Extremely LOST-ish, yes?

These movies got me thinking (again) about what I still consider to be some of the most important questions our favorite TV show asked: Are our paths in life predetermined? Can you control your own destiny? How much of the future is already set in stone by a higher power?

Ready? Let's discuss. I'll start by saying that I don't think there are straight-up black-and-white answers to the questions above, nor do I think LOST's creative team was intentionally trying to take one side over the other. But I'll offer up my thoughts anyway. To get things going, I want to revisit the first season's finale (Exodus, Part 2) -- and specifically one of my favorite scenes of all time:

LOCKE: ...Do you really think all this is an accident -- that we, a group of strangers survived, many of us with just superficial injuries? Do you think we crashed on this place by coincidence -- especially, this place? We were brought here for a purpose, for a reason, all of us. Each one of us was brought here for a reason.

JACK: Brought here? And who brought us here, John?

LOCKE: The Island. The Island brought us here. This is no ordinary place, you've seen that, I know you have. But the Island chose you, too, Jack. It's destiny.

[And then a few lines later...]

JACK: I don't believe in destiny.

LOCKE: Yes, you do. You just don't know it yet.


[CHILLS!]

So now that it's all said and done, what do we think? Were the 815ers destined to crash on the Island?

If I had to give a short answer, it would be "Yes." But of course a short answer doesn't do this monumental question justice -- it's waaaay more complicated than a simple one-word response.

Before I write anything else, let me admit that "The 815ers were meant to crash" is one of those things I just like to believe and don't necessarily have a 100% airtight case for. Since I'm assuming you'd appreciate it if I at least attempted to back up my stance, however... what follows is my reasoning.

Remember when we found out that Jacob had that crazy Wheel of Fortune thingy in the lighthouse, along with a magic mirror that helped him keep track of all of the Candidates' lives in the off-Island world? Allow me to suggest that it was The Island directing Jacob on who to watch in the first place. The Island knew who could fill each critical role that would result in triumph over the MIB. Jacob tried to carry out The Island's needs... much like Richard tried to carry out Jacob's orders over the course of time.

How exactly did Jacob understand what (and who) The Island wanted? That knowledge was part of what came along with drinking the enchanted dirty water his mom gave him when she passed on the proverbial torch. (Jacob transferred this same power to Jack... who handed it over to Hurley.)

At all costs, The Island needed its Light to keep burning. I always interpreted The Light as a representation of everything that is good in the world -- knowledge, love, friendship, empathy, truth, etc. Without the Light, the Island -- and, in turn, the world -- could be destroyed, be it by the MIB or other forces/people who might not have even truly comprehended what they'd stumbled upon (Widmore, anyone?). When Jack went into the cave to "reboot" everything after the MIB was defeated, we saw the skeletons of several others -- hinting that this good vs. evil battle had been repeated over and over again for a long, long time. Which, to me, means that the Island had been summoning certain "special" people to help protect the Light for centuries.

That brings us to the matter of Fate vs. Free Will. Did any of the 815ers -- or any other character on the Island, for that matter -- ever have a chance of altering his or her destiny? Was their main purpose in life to play the role they played to keep the Island safe? The Jughead experiment would lead us to believe so. A ton of LOST fans (myself included) had assumed that Faraday's plan might have made it possible for the 815 survivors and their friends to change the past -- to skip going to the Island all together. To be sure, most of us hoped that the first five seasons wouldn't be totally erased... we figured that there could be some sort of space-time shift to allow a new present/future course for our beloved characters that would still keep some of their Island experiences intact. But that didn't happen. "Whatever happened, happened" was reinforced when the Jughead explosion failed to reset the timeline... but should we interpret this to mean "You can't escape your destiny? Free will is a farce!"

I'm not so sure. I choose to believe that the overall universe served up multiple paths for each of the characters, and they just so happened to make choices that -- in the end -- aligned with saving the Island (and mankind, let's not forget). Not everything was predetermined to work out this way. I mean, consider the end of Season Three -- if Jack had listened to Locke and simply hadn't made that call to the freighter, it's possible that everything would have resolved itself with much less bloodshed and lives lost. The counter-argument, of course, is that at that point Jack wasn't ready to take over the role of Island Protector from Jacob, so in order to fulfill his true ultimate destiny, he had to leave the Island and then eventually convince himself of the need to -- say it with me now -- "GO BACK!!!!"

You can apply this same logic to almost (key word) any character's story arc. Character A needed to realize X on his/her own in order to eventually do Y and Z... which led to Character B doing this and that... which averted the Island's destruction. The web of characters needing each other to achieve their ultimate destinies is extremely complex, but I'm sure at least one mega-nerd has it mapped out somewhere online. While I don't think I'll ever be able to take on such a huge task, I do foresee revisiting this idea of the connections between characters -- and the domino effect of their individual actions -- that resulted in saving the Island.

Here's just one teeny idea along these lines that struck me the other day: Since Christian/Zombie Dad ended up playing such a critical role in helping Jack to "let go and move on" in the finale (and was most likely the reason why Jack was always trying to "fix" things in the first place... culminating in fixing the Island), it could be argued that back in the day when Jack was just a little kid and Christian developed his problem with the drinky-drink, fate intervened and led Christian to have an affair with an Australian woman... who ended up getting pregnant (with Claire)... eventually leading Christian back to Australia to try and patch up the situation after he'd been stripped of his medical license in the US. And then, as we all know, he ended up dying in Australia... which is why Jack went there... only to attempt to return to LA on Flight 815.

Did the fact that Jack's destiny was to save the Island mean that his father's life was also impacted in order to lead Jack down the necessary path?

Deep thoughts, people! Deep, deep thoughts.

I want to introduce one other discussion topic into the mix before I wrap up, and it's about the character I consider to be the biggest glaring exception to the "Destined to be on the Island" theory: Hurley. We all know that Hurley served as the Island Protector for several years with Ben as his right-hand man, and that Hurley most likely improved on (and/or completely tossed out) Jacob's "rules." This revelation gave me a great deal of comfort because Hurley was one of the only characters who had a family back in the real world who he was close to. I couldn't bear the thought of him never being able to see his parents again because of his new Island role... and so I choose to build upon "The New Man in Charge" epilogue by assuming that while Hurley was in California picking up Walt, he also dropped in on his mom and dad. Yay! Smiles all around.

My issue lies with the fact that Hurley was one of the only characters that fate seemed to be trying to STOP from boarding Oceanic 815 in the first place... yet he ended up being the Island Protector. How does that work? How does that fit in with the Destiny argument?

Remember everything that went wrong when Hurley was trying to get to the airport? His alarm clock broke, he just missed the hotel elevator, his tire went flat, he went to the wrong terminal, etc., etc.? It was like he was not meant to get on Oceanic 815. Which is even more interesting when you consider that Hurley was one of the only characters (perhaps THE only character) who went to Australia in order to figure out a mystery that ended up carrying over to The Island -- the numbers. I also believe he was the only character (I know you'll correct me if my memory has failed!) who was desperate to get on that particular flight -- he'd wanted to make it home in time for his mom's birthday. I don't think any other character would've freaked out if they'd been bumped or otherwise had to take another flight -- in fact, several characters' tickets were arranged by another party (strengthening the Destiny arguments for each of them).

So what do you make of all of the trouble Hurley had in his attempt to be a passenger on Flight 815? Is his story a case for Free Will? Or was it really his destiny to be on the flight and all of the bizarre stuff that happened to him was just bad luck (ironic, considering it's Hurley...)?

I'm going to choose to end this post here in order to actually get it published, because it's already a few weeks later than I'd hoped. But I can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts on the Free Will vs. Fate debate. Please continue to leave other Mailbag topic ideas in the comments, too... I never can tell exactly what will inspire a post, so the more suggestions, the better. I'm figuring I'll be back with the next post by the end of March.


SOME OTHER LOST-RELATED TIDBITS FOR YOU


  • My dear friend and fellow blogger JOpinionated is holding the Coolest. LOST Giveaway. Ever... all in support of a worthy cause that's close to her heart. The details are here, and the deadline to enter is March 1. We've talked a lot about Oceanic Flight 815 in this post -- wouldn't it be cool to OWN A PIECE OF IT? Signed by Jorge "Hurley" Garcia, to boot???
  • Did you hear that Michael "Ben" Emerson is going to star in one of LOST creator J.J. Abrams' new shows? And Jorge's in another?
  • Did you hear that the TV series Emerson and Terry "Locke" O'Quinn were supposed to co-star in has now been delayed? (BOO HISS.)
  • Speaking of Locke, I have to share a short and funny story. A fellow name GH, who wanted to surprise his wife LH -- a longtime LLL fan who was planning to read my book -- with with a personalized bookplate from me, had this to say when he sent in his email request, "Don't want to tell you what you can't do by saying what to write... so I'll leave that up to you." Locke would approve.
  • And finally, I feel the need to point this out because it didn't hit me until months after I'd seen the Academy Award-nominated film Winter's Bone: The guy who plays the strung-out uncle is Lennon -- Dogen's little friend from the Temple in Season Six (real name: John Hawkes). WHAT?!?! He looks totally different in the movie. But congrats to him, because he's been nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Hope you enjoyed the first of my post-LOST ramblings! And here's a special shout-out to LLL reader PN from Helsinki -- my publisher forwarded me your handwritten note -- loved it. Many thanks!

Until next time,
- e

Monday, February 07, 2011

The Mailbag Post is Coming... Soon

Hello my dear friends -

As you probably know, Chicago was hit pretty hard in the Blizzard of 2011 last week. The resulting mayhem threw off my schedule a bit, and I wasn't able to finish my first mailbag post this past weekend as I'd hoped.

But I have started it, and anticipate publishing it on or around February 14. It'll be like my valentine to all of you!

Until then,
- e

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Call for Submissions: First Round of The LLL LOST Mailbag

Hello my dear friends -

How have you been? How has 2011 been treating you all so far? Good, I hope. For those of you checking in for the first time in a long time, my finale recap can be found here.

Things continue to be nutty on this end, but I'm determined to follow through on my plans to post at least monthly here on Long Live Locke. While I know this realization probably hit all of you quite a while ago, for me it was just last Tuesday when I finally came to terms with the fact that Lost isn't coming back. The depression sank in while I was watching V, which of course stars Elizabeth Mitchell, aka Juliet. It was like all of a sudden it dawned on me that I'm not going to see her doing anything new as Juliet ever again -- I'm not going to see any of the Lost cast doing anything new as their characters ever again. There aren't going to be any episodes I haven't already watched. There aren't going to be any new mysteries. There's not going to be that thrill of anticipation every week before the show comes on... because the show's not coming on again.

Damn.

If you're sitting there thinking, "Geez, e, why'd it take you so long?", my response would be that we're actually just now entering the time period when Lost would usually return. In fact, the one-year anniversary of my trip to Oahu for the Season Six Sunset on the Beach premiere is about a week away. So perhaps, for me, the reality of Lost's conclusion didn't sink in because the series would normally not be back on the air yet anyway. At this time last year, however, we would have already been bombarded with "spoiler alerts" and promo photos and episode titles to ponder over and dissect... and man, do I miss all of that. I miss it horribly. Many of you have written to me asking if I've found another show to take Lost's place. The answer is no. The answer is I don't think that will ever happen.

Over the past few months it's become clear that nothing motivates me to write quite like Lost did. I freaked out during Season Six because my manuscript was due right as Lost was coming to an end, and I didn't know how I'd be able to juggle both this blog and my responsibilities to my publisher. But now I realize that if Lost hadn't been on during that time, I probably wouldn't be as pleased with how my book turned out. The show got me in The Zone -- the writing zone. And it just hasn't been the same since.

On that note, I'm hoping that by starting to discuss Lost again on a regular basis, I'll be more inspired to write about other topics, too. I'm assuming there won't be nearly as many people as there were before who are still up for reminiscing and debating, but quite frankly I don't care. All it takes to ignite the spark on my end is one other person who is willing to send in a question or theory they'd like to discuss. (Though I have a feeling -- and hope -- there are more mega-fans out there than that.)

Speaking of mega-fans, I was psyched to be able to meet up with three other Losties last week. Here we are, in the midst of drinks and dinner in Chicago:


You've got me, ObFuSc8, Lottery Ticket, and Anna in Indiana (from the Jacob's Cabin podcast). Yes, Ob is wearing a Geronimo Jackson shirt. Lotto and I were also sporting Lost tees (mine was actually made by Lotto), but you can't see them in the picture. Does that mean Anna wins the Least Nerdy award for choosing a Normal Person shirt?

During dinner we discussed how it was going with my book. Truth be told, it's been extremely tough. I am so, so, so incredibly proud of the book and thrilled that everyone who reads it seems to enjoy it, but I've been running myself ragged trying to get the word out. And so I am going to do something that is against my nature (remember how I revealed in my finale post that I most closely associate with Jack?) and ask for your help. It would mean so much to me if you (yes, you) would buy a copy of my book. But only if you've got about $20 (or $14.99 for the e-version) to spare -- I don't want anyone going into debt on my account!



In the two months the book's been out I realized that I was wrong about who I thought would like it. I have heard from students, veterinarians, homemakers, health-care workers, church officials, lawyers, consultants, auto assembly plant workers, and tons of other people who don't ever deal with the financial services world -- but who have all followed my pop-culture-related writing for some time -- and the feedback has blown me away. They liked it, they really liked it!

At the risk of sounding desperate, I'm bringing this up because I know that I owe it to myself -- after trying to get this freakin' thing published for three years -- to not sell Zero-Sum Game short. It's a story, from my perspective, about my totally bizarre final year working for The Man. It mostly revolves around a historic merger (one that affects all of us... which I explain in the book) that I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat for, and it's also very much about the people I worked with, who I dare say are just as interesting as many of the characters on Lost. Definitely more compelling than Nikki and Paulo... and only slightly less fascinating than Ben or Locke.

So there. I've shown my vulnerable side and confessed that I really want you to buy my book if you have the means. While the links I provided above are for the US Amazon site, it is also in most bookstores in the US and also available on Amazon in other countries. If you do buy it, remember that my personalized bookplate offer still stands. I've got a fun little Lost-related message that I'll mail to you if you let me know you're a LLL reader. Details about all that can be found here. And by the way, to all of you who already bought Zero-Sum Game -- you ROCK. Thank you thank you thank you!

OK, enough begging. So now what?

Oh yeah, the entire point of this post was to ask you to send in questions, ideas, topics, or anything else you'd like me to cover in my first official LLL Lost Mailbag post. (Should I call it the L4 Mailbag? Is there some other, obvious name for this thing I'm missing?)

My goal is to look over what's on everyone's minds until January 28. Then I'm hoping to have a post up during the February 4th weekend, as that will be the one-year anniversary of the Season Six premiere on ABC. Right now I have no idea if I'll just cover one question, or multiple topics, or what. We'll just see how it goes.

Sound good? OK -- let's hear it! What burning questions do you have?

And one more thing -- THANK YOU for sticking with me! What would I do without you?

- e