S2Ep7: The Other 48 Days - 11/16/05

Hello my dear friends -

Oh, Mommy!
The Tailaways' story was filled with many clues for us to contemplate. I have limited time and the Thanksgiving drive home is a-callin', so I will get going, but I will forewarn you that this will not be well-written!

THE TAILAWAYS
Many people made comments on the opening scene of the beach with the airplane parts crashing into the ocean, my favorite being: "When last night's episode began I thought I was watching a dumb Corona Extra Beer commercial, but then the tail flew out of the air so silently. Man, I almost fell off the couch."

It is now obvious that different parts of the island are encountering different freaky things... the original Lostaways had the polar bear and the monster... and while they also had Ethan, they have never encountered an entire GROUP of The Others. Nor did The Others cold bust into their camp and just take people. And we're still not even sure what Ethan's deal was anyway. The Tailaways didn't seem to have any strange animals or the monster at all, but were obviously targeted by The Others from the very beginning.

MORE ON THE OTHERS
First and most importantly, what's up with the cut-off khakis and bare feet? Shout-out to CWM who commented to me that they looked like evil Hobbits. My first thought was that they were rejects from old Gap commercials gone awry. But then they couldn't have been from the Gap, because Ana Lucia later mentioned that none of their clothing had any labels. Why did The Others have so much interaction with this side of the island? As Anna Lucia pointed out to The Others' mole, Goodwin: he emerged from the island shortly after the crash - so either 1) he was very close by already, 2) he KNEW the crash was going to happen, or 3) he can run or teleport around really quickly. Since he was not in the typical "Others outfit" as discussed above, and was obviously trying to look like he was blending in, it leads me to believe he knew the crash was going to happen... Apparently The Others made a list of the people to kidnap, and Goodwin
alluded to the fact that the list contained the names of the "good people," and that the kids taken were safe and were "better off now." The question here is - did they have the list BEFORE the plane crash, or did they make the list based on Goodwin's observations, or were they given the list by someone else who they take orders from?

And if The Others DID know that the crash was going to happen and had the
list beforehand, were the people seated on the plane according to some
"plan" ... to put the majority of the "good people" in the back of the
plane? Is that why The Others have concentrated on the Tailaways rather
than the original group? Or did they just focus on that group randomly
because they were logistically/physically closer to them and from there
tried to kidnap the "good people."

And if people WERE somehow seated on the plane according to some "plan," then does that mean that everyone in the original group was "bad"? We know they ALL have issues! Technically Bernard should have been in the original group but got up to go to the bathroom. Charlie wasn't where he was supposed to be, either. Was Walt the only "good person" and that's why he was taken? Did Ethan/The Others originally want Claire's baby because they assumed a child would be "good," but then let her go because they did some sort of tests on it and found out it was going to be the Antichrist and therefore didn't fit their profile?

And if people WERE seated on the plane in a certain way, then was the crash itself somehow orchestrated? Or do crashes always happen (planes, boats, ships, etc.) over the course of time because of the island's magnetic field, and The Others have developed a plan of how to react and kidnap the people they want as soon as the crash occurs?

On to Goodwin himself - Goodwin had mentioned that he was in the Peace Corps, and was surprised that Ana knew what that was. Was that just a cover-up story, or at some point was he really in the Peace Corps? I doubt he learned his neck-snapping skills from the Peace Corps... And by the way, we know that Goodwin remains dead, as his was the body that Jin and Eko ran into in the jungle in "...And Found." Some people in Season One always wondered if perhaps Ethan wasn't really dead or would reappear. It appears Goodwin won't.

The knife they found on The Other Girl Ana killed with a stone was a very old U.S. Army knife. Was this all a secret government operation gone wrong? And that girl died pretty quickly, considering the seemingly super-human-strength of all of the other Others we've seen so far, it seemed.

And finally, when they thought Nathan was the mole, and he mentioned he was from Canada, I immediately thought of the connection to Ethan (even similarly named) who also claimed to be from Canada. Some people wonder if Goodwin passed on Nathan's information to Ethan so that Ethan would have a back story if he was ever asked. So many questions.

HATCH LITE
So we got a little bit more information about Hatch #2. We now know that this hatch door also said Quarantine on the inside. But unlike Desmond, whoever used to inhabit this hatch was long gone. The Dharma symbol had an arrow pointing up (not a cross like I thought before). There was a random chest left in the hatch, in which they found: a Bible, blankets, a glass eye (WTF???), and a radio. I don't even know what to say about the glass eye, except that it freaks me out. Ideas?

MR. EKO - EX-MUTE DUDE
I do not consider this a spoiler, so I hope no one gets mad at me for saying this, but the writers have stated that the crazy stick thing that Mr. Eko was carving is a "big clue." I have watched and watched and rewatched the clip of him carving it and carving something into it, but I can't figure it out. At first I thought he was carving in a notch for each day on the island, and that we would realize from that that they are in a time warp or something. But it didn't look to me like he was creating notches, so if anyone can think of anything, please let me know.

At first I just assumed that Mr. Eko was on the list of "good people" and that the Others were trying to abduct him, but now I am not really sure. If he was on the list, then he mostly likely killed the two Others who were trying to kidnap him. But perhaps he was not on the list, and saw the Others trying to take different people and killed them for that reason. I didn't think it was totally clear, although Goodwin did casually mention to Anna that Eko was one of the people that they tried to take because they were taking the "strong, athletic, threats." But at the point when he said that, she hadn't blown his cover yet... so I think the "good people" reason is the real one. As in, they're taking "good people," not necessarily who is a physical threat.

So now ponder THIS... If Eko WAS on the "good person" list, but now he has killed two Others, is he still considered a good person? A few write-ups ago I asked everyone if anyone had an idea as to what Mr. Eko could have meant when Jin asked him if he was married, and he replied, "Worse." The prevailing theory on the boards is that he had several wives, a common practice in many countries in Africa. But no one is sure. Finally, Eko chose to stop speaking for 40 days after the Others attacked. Beforehand he made comments about praying, and he seemed interested in the Bible found in the hatch. He is definitely a religious person, and the "40 days" has too many biblical allusions to cover here. Needless to say, I hope he has a flashback some time soon!

NOT REALLY MUTE CHICK (aka Cindy)
We've seen her before - in the pilot episode of the entire series - she was the stewardess who served Jack a drink. That explains why she knew that they were 1,000 miles off course. I'm mad that we didn't see how she was taken in the jungle!

ANA LUCIA - PARTIALLY REDEEMED
I must confess I don't hate her as much now. She stepped up as a leader of the group and had everyone reason to be suspicious. Plus, she saved them from Goodwin and also saved Bernard from the tree. Most people think that she probably does/did have kids based on her weird reaction to Goodwin's question about it.

Most people also suspect that she has a military or police background from her observation skills and other general tactics she uses. Some are wondering if the girl Other that Ana killed was Alex, Danielle's daughter. I highly doubt it. If Alex is still alive, they would build some storyline there.

THE THINGS WE ALL KNEW WOULD HAPPEN YET WERE STILL COOL TO SEE
- The Boone/Bernard brief radio conversation ("We're the survivors of Flight 815!" "No... WE'RE the survivors of Flight 815!)
- The teddy bear's original owner
- Goodwin's death (since we saw him in "...And Found" and all assumed The Others killed him).

TONIGHT'S EPISODE: COLLISION
Reunited, and it feels so gooood! I can't wait. But if AL hurts Sayid, she's back on my sh!t list. Guess whose flashback it is?

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday... I am definitely thankful to have you all as an audience for my ramblings! Be safe in your travels and have some mashed potatoes and gravy for me at your respective feasts.

And of course, enjoy the show whenever you watch it tonight or on tape/Tivo later... you know I will still be watching tonight!

- e

S2Ep6: Abandoned (Shannon's flashback) - 11/9/05

Hello my dear friends –

I begin writing this message from my second home - the floor outside gate D4 in LaGuardia airport. It is yet another week of being beat down by The Man, and so I fear that this write-up will not be too good because I got about 4 hours of sleep last night and now only have my flight duration to crank this out - so set expectations LOW.

On a side note, last night I was walking through Times Square after watching a random Garth Brooks performance (for the CMA awards) in the middle of the street, and I noticed this huge video billboard for Lost above the ABC studios. It didn't play the preview for this week's episode but rather it was just an overall commercial to "Watch Lost on Wednesdays" and it had a whole bunch of clips from the season, so it was very cool for me to see it beaming down upon the Square in all its glory. Just imagine a several-stories-high Sawyer walking in slow motion, slipping to a several-stories-high Jack creeping through the hatch, etc., etc., and you can imagine my excitement.

Now, on to Abandoned. Everyone on the boards seemed to really love this episode. I thought it was just OK. I think unfortunately I had been inadvertently spoiled and figured it would be Shannon who bit the bullet, so it was anti-climatic for me. Why? Oh, perhaps it was my Us Weekly cover a few weeks ago with a "WHO WILL DIE?" caption in the upper right-hand orner
over Shannon’s picture. Or perhaps it was the fact that LAST SEASON there were already unavoidable rumors circulating that a character would die in the fall and it would be a woman. Then I somehow read accidentally that the character would die at the hands of another. So… seeing as how basically no other women besides the Tailaways were shown this episode, and I knew they weren’t going to kill them off yet, I put all this info together and figured it would definitely be Shannon. For one brief moment at 8:53 PM I thought, "Mon Dieu! Have they actually thrown us off the scent and will kill Sawyer???!?!?!" But no, thankfully they were not that stupid. I still think they were stupid, but I will cover that in just a second. Here are
observations from this episode:

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
There was No Kate this episode. Just wanted to make sure you all realized that. Someone out there’s listening…

INTERTWINED LIVES YET AGAIN
I had mentioned in the season 2 premiere write-up that the patient who died when Jack chose to save Sarah (his future wife) was most likely Shannon’s father, as they shared the same last name (Rutherford). That was confirmed this episode as we saw Jack/Party of Five’s Charlie scurry by when Shannon and her stepmother were given the bad news at St. Sebastian’s hospital. The Major Reason why they were stupid and shortsighted to kill off Shannon is that I feel they could have had a very powerful storyline if Jack had actually learned how his choices ended up affecting Shannon’s life. He consciously chose to save Sarah (the driver of the SUV who crashed into Shannon’s father) over Shannon’s father. Shannon in turn goes from a pampered lifestyle to losing out on the prestigious internship she earned to scamming boyfriends across the world, including Boone, for cash. Perhaps it would’ve taken Jack’s God Complex down a notch to learn this. Alas, we will never know now.

Shout-out to JB for doing a mini-research project on St. Sebastian (of St. Sebastian’s hospital, where Jack worked and Shannon’s father died), who was apparently the Saint associated with helping cure people with bizarre diseases including the plague. This information of course brings to mind "the sickness" and makes me wonder if somehow Jack will be involved in finding the cure to that on the island. Another shout-out to CM who is on the plane (we’re now in flight) a few rows behind me…, just for enduring the same crazy schedule that I have this week.

HORROR MOVIE RULE #1 APPARENTLY ALSO APPLIES TO TV DRAMAS ABOUT FREAKY ISLANDS
The first character to "do the deed" must die. Shannon and Sayid, I hope your Tent Love was worth it…

THE TAILIES/TAILAWAYS
I was glad that Michael finally demanded some answers from the Tailies as to why they are so freaky and paranoid (although I actually don’t understand why the original Lostaways aren’t the same way… I think enough crap has happened to them, as well…). They are definitely setting up Ana Lucia to be more sympathetic between her speech in the jungle, comments like "They took a lot of things" in reference to The Others, and what will undoubtedly be an intense episode tonight. However, the whole killing Shannon thing probably isn’t going to help… But for now we do know that the Tailies have had much more "interaction" with The Others than the original Lostaways have, and for the most part seemed to have had an exponentially worse plight in the past 48 days.

MORE RELIGIOUS UNDERTONES
While "swaddling" babies has become a pretty mainstream technique (if I know about it and I don’t have any kids, then trust me, it’s mainstream) – many people on the boards interpreted Locke "swaddling" baby Aaron as a subtle reference to baby Jesus, often associated with the phrase "Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes." Additionally, there has always been a prominent theory about Aaron being some sort of Messiah or the opposite, an Anti-Christ.

Then of course we’ve got the good ol’ Virgin Mary Statue O’ Drugs being referenced again. I was hoping that Locke would completely call Charlie out during their discussion, but I actually like the way he approached it better:
CHARLIE: She's got a bit to learn about being a mum -- responsibility and all.
LOCKE: Hmmm, now that's an interesting thing to say -- for a hero!n addict.
CHARLIE: Recovering addict.
LOCKE, with a skeptical, knowing look: Recovering.

MUTE CHICK SPEAKS! BUT THEN DISAPPEARS.
So "Cindy" had a line this episode, so I don’t need to feel bad about making fun of her if she actually couldn’t talk. However, then she vanished. I read on the boards something about Libby taking a bag of Cindy’s BEFORE she disappeared, thus leading to tons of speculation about if Libby is an "Ethan-like" plant in the Tailaway group. Unfortunately I have not been home since the episode last week so I have not been able to analyze this via Tivo, so I cannot take a position one way or the other. I think that if we see Libby in tonight’s episode, then she’s most likely not a plant. Additionally, she urgently asked, "Did you see the kids???" to Mr. Eko when he returned to the group and stated that he had seen The Others, leading me to believe she truly is concerned. Finally, since Mr. Eko was definitely in the previews for tonight’s episode, he most likely was also on the plane. But I guess we shall soon see. I just hope they don’t forget about the fact that Cindy just disappeared into thin air.

THE WHISPERS
In this episode, two sets of people heard the whispers – both the Tailaways/Three Amigos and Sayid and Shannon. Since we now know that they were in the same vicinity as each other, there are a few theories: 1) they were hearing the same thing, and it was signaling the approach of The Others, 2) certain areas of the jungle seems to be more whisper-prone than others (perhaps another experiment station is nearby), or 3) the whispers are actually other nearby voices being scrambled. So what the Tailies were hearing was actually Sayid and Shannon’s conversation, and vice versa. This could be explained once again by something having to do with the experiment.

THE RETURN OF CreepyDrownedWalt
D@mmit, he’s back, and I’m still disturbed. People made obvious note of the fact that he once again appeared to be either dripping wet with water coming out of his mouth when he spoke, or he was covered in some sort of nasty mucus-type stuff. As I mentioned when he appeared in a previous episode, there are all sorts of theories about if he is actually already dead/drowned, if he is actually on the island, if The Others still have him or if he escaped, if he is doing astral projection/teleporting, or something else. But two things were made clear this episode:
1) It was NOT in Shannon’s head, and it was not only Shannon who had some sort of "powers" to be able to see him. There had been a theory that Shannon had a special power so that she was the only one who could see Walt, but now Sayid clearly saw him as well (although there is the theory that Sayid saw something/someone ELSE and was just too stunned to clarify to Shannon what/who he was seeing. Shannon only said "Do you see HIM?" She didn’t specifically say "Walt" until she was already up and running). People are rooting for a replay of those last few minutes from Sayid’s point of view so we can see what he saw.
2) Even if Walt has mastered astral projection, he has not mastered talking/communication during it, as he was still speaking backwards. This time he said, "They’re coming and they’re close." No, I do not have the ability to play the show backwards, nor does Tivo (to my knowledge), but other nerds on the boards do and they had posted the "translation" nearly immediately after it aired.

R.I.P. SHANNON RUTHERFORD
Ah, Shannon. How little we truly knew thee. You brought us lots of skin and snotty expressions; you came up with the infamous "Craphole Island" and "R@pe Caves" monikers; you helped translate the French transmission as well as Danielle’s maps, you were entrusted to watch poor Vincent after the raft set sail, and you gave ever-tortured Sayid a brief respite from his heartache over Nadia. But it was not meant to be for you of the teeny bikinis and pseudo-inc#stual-relationships. Mere seconds after you were "redeemed" by Sayid professing his love for you, BOOM! You took one in the gut thanks to trigger-happy Ana Lucia. Now may you rest in peace next to Brother Boone of the Bushy Eyebrows and Eyeliner.

But Shannon, before you go, know this: you left us with something for which we thank you deeply. Something that may actually make up for the writers’ shortsightedness and anxiousness to keep killing off characters for no apparent reason. You left us with MajorlyP!ssedSayid, whose murderous look after you died in his arms will surely grant him an Emmy nod, if not a win.
MajorlyP!ssedSayid has awoken and is rising up, and he will avenge you. Oh yes, he will avenge you. And we will delight in watching it.


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE:
SAWYER: She's lost.
ANA: I'm not lost.
SAWYER: Then tell me, Ponce de Leon, which way are we supposed to go?

LIBBY: You want to let me just take a look at your shoulder?
SAWYER: What, are you a doctor?
LIBBY: A clinical psychologist.
SAWYER: You're a shrink? Well, maybe you ought to talk to my shoulder.


SAYID: Why are you doing this, Shannon?
SHANNON: I didn't ask you to follow me.
SAYID: No, you'd rather be out here alone and get lost or hurt.
SHANNON: I don't need your help, Sayid.
SAYID: Walt is not out here. You're following a Labrador, not a Bloodhound.
(I don’t think this was actually meant to be funny, but I laughed)


PREVIEWS
I have been trying to temper my expectations of each episode just so I don’t always end up disappointed. Unfortunately, I cannot temper them for tonight ’s episode. How could they possibly screw up condensing "The Other 48 Days" from the Tailaway camp into one hour? How can it not be action-packed and awesome? I just don’t see how it can’t be anything but spectacular. What will be more interesting is if I will feel any less Ana Lucia Hate after watching it. I am sad because I will have to watch the show late, late tonight (if I can stay awake that long) because I’m watching focus groups until 10 PM. To my peeps, I will be watching it with you all in spirit, wherever you may be.

Do not worry… without giving anything away, next week they WILL return to where we left off last episode in the jungle. And yes, they are having an episode next Wednesday despite the fact I will be driving home to Michigan for Thanksgiving during that time. THE NERVE!

ABC.COM LOST PODCASTS
If you go to abc.com and click into the Lost microsite, you will find these audio "podcasts" they’ve been doing (two to date) that run about 20 minutes each. They have some of the writers and cast members talking about episodes and other various things. I found them to be good and worth the time. There are not really spoilers on there, but they do answer some fan questions that are helpful.

NEW "EXPERIMENT" DOCUMENT LINKS UNEARTHED
On www.thetailsection.com, there are links to two documents found on the Alvar Hanso ("experiment founder/financial backer) web site that appear to be "memos" sent to and from various parties regarding "the experiment." They do not give anything away but allude to a problem with the experiment. However, if you go to this site, you will have to scroll down to get to the documents on the right hand side, and you may have to pass over some spoilers on the way there, so you have been forewarned.

OTHER UPCOMING NERDY EVENTS NOT RELATED TO LOST
Harry Potter 4 premiere – This Friday the 18th – yippee! My prediction: This was my favorite of the 6 books thus far, and the previews look INCREDIBLE. But since I cried for about 2 hours reading the book, I predict I will shed some tears during the movie, as well. Long Live Harry Potter.

Narnia (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) premiere – December 9 - Hello, I loved this book back in the day. If you didn’t read it then I’m sorry to inform you that your childhood was not complete. I was so excited when I heard they were making it into a live-action movie (there is a cartoon version already) that several months ago I went to this $6 children’s play version of it across from where I live just to refresh my memory. I was the only adult there (who didn’t have kids with them). It was glorious. The previews look good, and I have high hopes.

King Kong premiere – December 14th - The previews actually have scared me a bit – as in, I’m not sure I will like this movie. It is d@mn long, too – I believe at 3 or over 3 hours. But it is my duty as an LOTR mega-fan to give Peter Jackson the benefit of the doubt. Plus I like Jack Black and Adrien Brody.

Til next week, enjoy tonight,
- e

I Hate Best Buy - Lost Musings During Hiatus

Forewarning: this message has basically nothing to do with Lost. I'm just giving you something to do while it is on hiatus.

Hello everyone -

Do you ever walk down the street with headphones on and realize that you are actually walking to the beat of the song you have playing, and you feel like a bad-ass and you wish the people who make the iPod commercials could see you because it would make an awesome ad? Well, I actually feel like that every day when I walk to or from work, but tonight really would have been a good one, except I didn't have the right song playing. I wished I had "The Freaks Come Out at Night" on my iPod, because as I made my way from the El to my place, every time I thought I'd seen the most horrendous costume in the world, a few seconds later someone topped it. I live in, oh, let's say an "eclectic, diverse" neighborhood of characters where grown adults seem to enjoy Halloween to an unhealthy extent. Even though I've lived in this same area for the majority of the past ten years, I did not realize until tonight that they block off all these major streets for some huge block party.

Needless to say, I was disturbed by the freaks, was getting drenched in the rain because I forgot an umbrella, and I decided that it was going to be one of those nights where I just don't feel like doing anything productive. As in, the dreary weather combined with my already depressed state because of Lost's hiatus was not necessarily motivating me to unload the dishwasher and then put the stack of dirty dishes in the dishwasher, or clean up the piles of mail and random papers all over my place, or pack for my upcoming trip or even (gasp!) read about Britney's Heartbreak or find out Why Brad's Falling Apart in my newly-arrived In Touch magazine.

No, instead, the only thing I feel like doing right now is writing my favorite people a little message to tide you over for another week before Lost is back with new episodes. I will still send the "...And Found" write-up next week, but for now I decided it would make sense to cover a bunch of random things that are kind of related to the show that I'd been meaning to mention. So feel free to stop reading because I'm not going to cover anything about any show plot points at all...

GOOD IF YOU ARE BORED
Someone out there had some time on his hands and created this flash movie with a bunch of Lost characters, set to Weird Al Yankovic's version of Bohemian Rhapsody. It is not really that great, but still clever in parts. Whoever it was did a good job of matching some of the lyrics with actual happenings on Lost. If you have 5 minutes to spare and are somewhere where you can play Weird Al Yankovic without getting dirty looks or in trouble, then you may find it a nice break.
http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/lost



KATE AND CHARLIE SITTIN' IN A TREE
You first heard about their off-set romance here about a year ago, but the latest is that they may soon be getting engaged.

THE GLORY OF SEASON ONE
Remember how I recently achieved my life's goal of watching all three Lord of the Rings extended edition DVDs? Well a few weekends ago I made another momentous achievement when I re-watched nearly all of Lost: Season One (shout-out to TVap, aka Tortellini, without whom this would not have happened). And you know what? D@mmit, my love for this show was reignited. Season One was really incredible, I was moved. I started remembering all of these things that we still don't know the answers to that I'd forgotten about... some little (like when Hurley said he was considered "somewhat of a warrior" back at home and "won 17th place in a tournament" before the crash... what is he referring to?), and some not-so-little (like "who in the heck was Ethan?" and "where is Alex?" and "who did Boone hear over the radio transmission before he fell to his untimely demise?").

Over the last few nights I've been watching the bonus disc - They have the audition tapes of all of the major characters (except Terry O'Quinn/Locke... naturally he was a given because he rocks the house too much). The funny thing is that nearly every male read for the part of Sawyer - the actors who play Jack, Charlie, and even Hurley all initially tried out for Sawyer. I must say they were all horrible for that role, but perhaps I am now biased. The actress playing Sun had first tried out for Kate. It was interesting because they didn't have a set script or a set cast of characters, so they created roles out of thin air for Sayid, Sun, Charlie and Hurley based on the actors' try-outs. Kate was originally supposed to be the "hero" of the show because Jack was supposed to die half-way through the pilot, and Michael Keaton was going to play Jack. Craziness!

SPECIAL GUEST DIRECTOR FOR MAY SWEEPS
No spoilers here, fear not. But it has been widely circulated that Darren Aronofsky, director of cult films like Requiem for a Dream and Pi, will direct an episode of Lost set for May sweeps. I saw Pi and thought it was perhaps one of the worst movies of all time, and I have seen some BAD movies. I have not seen Requiem for a Dream because I generally do not like to watch movies about crazy people bugging out on drugs (except Trainspotting, because I love me some Ewan/Younger Obi-Wan). So am I psyched about this news? Not really. Some people assume because of the drug-related plot of RforaD that his episode will be about "Charlie relapsing in the field o' hero!n," but I guess we'll see. If they get Peter Jackson to be involved in some way, THEN I'll be excited.

PASS IT ON - BOYCOTT BEST BUY
If you or a family member works for Best Buy, you might want to stop reading now...

I have been wanting to mention this since the premiere write-up this season, but I seriously get so worked up every time I think about this that I figure it is not good for my health to re-live the pain, and then I move it to the next write-up. Now it is time for me to just vent about this long and hard and then move on. But I should preface this story with the fact that my entire family has a dubious past with Best Buy. For example, my brother sprawled out across their check-out counter and nearly began staging a protest when they wouldn't let him combine reward certificates, and I had written their VP of Customer Service a few years back complaining about a myriad of issues we had after buying our TV from them. Don't even get me started on their web site. Therefore, I had vowed that I would never shop there again. But alas... temptation struck a few months ago, and they reeled me back in...

On the boards, someone posted a link to a special page on BestBuy.com where you could get an exclusive Lost bonus disc when you purchased the Season One DVD. I caved. I HAD TO HAVE the bonus disc, for the love of God! But I didn't trust them. I actually took a screenshot of the page because I knew somehow they would screw it up. The screenshot is attached for those of you who are extremely bored, don't believe I was nerdy enough to actually take a screenshot, or unusually sympathetic to my plight. I ordered it in mid-August, knowing that it would be shipped during my two-week vacation in early September.

During my vacation, I actually worried about this stupid bonus disc. My sixth sense was kicking in and I KNEW they would somehow mess up the order. So imagine my surprise upon my return to the country - there was a box from Bestbuy.com, sitting gloriously atop my stacks o' mail.

But it was not to be. A few days later I finally opened the box. The Lost: Season One DVD set was in there, but I saw no bonus disc. I checked my screenshot before I tore open the box set... hmmm... no, it looked like the bonus disc would be separate. I rummaged through the rest of the mail. No additional box. I opened the DVD set. No bonus disc.

I AM FUMING. Although I'm sure you've figured out from these write-ups that I'm an excitable person, and I am, I would like to think that it takes A LOT to get me mad enough where I start shouting out every swear word in the book and am so seething that I can barely see or think straight. But the plot thickens... I look at the packing slip. IT IS NOT MY NAME ON THE PACKING SLIP?!?!?!!? Although my name was on the outside of the box, on the inside the packing slip had some dude's name on it who lives a few streets behind me?!?!?!! At this point, I'm delirious with anger. I call their frickin' customer service number and of course the guy said that "this was a very complex situation" and that "he would have to escalate this to the research
team" and that "I would be hearing the resolution from them in a few business days." I'm sure all of you would've loved to have heard my conversation with this poor guy. I was like, "Listen to me. I know this is not your fault. And I KNOW that this may seem ridiculous, but I am a HUGE FAN of this show, and the ONLY REASON I bought this from you guys was for this disc. So they better rummage around and find me that d@mn bonus disc, or it is not going to be acceptable."

I hang up with them, but then get another idea. I look up Mr. Probably Got My Bonus Disc on whitepages.com. And guess what, he is ON there! AND there's a link to some high school reunion site that lists not only where he obviously went to high school (Glenview South), but also his phone number, his email address, and his age (26). So yes... I called him. Later my husband asked me just exactly what I was hoping to accomplish by doing that, but it doesn't matter, because he never answered and he had no voicemail?!?! What I WOULD HAVE said was "Hey, I know where you live, and if you don't give me MY bonus CD then I will stalk you forever and make your life utterly miserable." No, honestly, I was planning to be quite calm if he answered (I realize this was NOT his fault), and try to explain what happened, see if he got my packing slip, if he even had the bonus CD in the first place, and then invite him to my premiere party because obviously he is also a fan. I never called him back though. But I still have the packing slip... Best Buy research did email me within hours:

"Erika,
Thank you for contacting Best Buy about receiving the promotion with your order. I'm Lou- Ann with Customer Care. We can understand your frustration at not receiving the product and promotion as expected. We show that the promotion you were interested in ordering was included in a special promotion, and was available while supplies lasted. We cannot send the promotion as we no longer have inventory of this item. We apologize for the disappointment this has caused you. Please check back in the future to find out if we offer this promotion again.
Best Wishes from Best Buy,
Lou- Ann and the Best Buy Customer Care Team"

This email will remain in my inbox. Some night in the future, I will come home and perhaps have had too much to drink, or will be upset about something else related to Best Buy, or will be mad about something not even related to this at all. But at that time, I will pull up that email from
Lou-Ann, and I will reply and let her have it.

Until then, if you feel any sense of loyalty toward me after I toil over these write-ups week after week after week - you can repay me by avoiding Best Buy from here on out. I hear Circuit City's not too bad.

Until next week,
- e