Aphex Twin

military testing, secret government plots... this isn't the X-files kids, this is some really more interesting stuff. first off, several characters are named after 17th century philosophers and the characters seem to embody traits of the people thaey were named for (John Locke, Roussou (SP?) Second, the stories complex themes are derived from such things as the 'Deus ex Machina' (was a title, and IS what the hatch represents) and Platos 'Allegory of the Cave'
The Allegory of the cave, you can look it up, is an argument that assumes an individual who was once restrained, escapes and comes to 'see the good' or the truth about the world beyond shackles. This argument is used to support ideas in the bible (prophets see the light while other cannot) and just about every revolution in history.
The castaways of Lost are lost in Rousseus world. He "maintains that every variety of injustice found in human society is an artificial result of the control exercised by defective political and intellectual influences over the healthy natural impulses of otherwise noble savages."
Think Lord of the Flies (hmmm, Jack was their leader too...) meets the French revolution. Lost is ultimately about civilization building.
incidentally, The idea that these people once had lives off the island is important. We watch them descend into 'noble savages' and the parallel to the 'real' world really shows a duality that allows us to question reality. Is the island real, is the real world real ? Desmond said to Jack, "See you in another life." This is important, physically it doesn't matter if they are really deserted on an island, in purgatory or 'sick' like the others. It makes no difference. The idea, that they are indeed inside Platos Cave, and one way or another, we get to finally see some good TV. Cause none of it's real anyways, it's a matter of subjective realities.

Venom

what about the magnetic force that pulled on Jake's key? that area also seemed to have been boarded up from his side. the complex could be alot larger, as well, suggests that desmond wasn't always alone, hence his questioning of if many in their group are sick. as well the french lady said the same thing pretty much.

Count Dooku

If those had been Reggie bars, we would know DEsmond had been down there a long, long time.

Jimmy James

I don't know that I can agree with you. We know we're in a slightly different world from the real one because they were not flying on any airline that flies today. It might just be that the Apollo bar is a favorite of one of the producers, so they used them.

Mopower

That's because it's probably hard to ask an airline for rights to their name in a show that is about what happens after the airliner crashes. I'm sure buying the rights to an old candy bar name is a bit easier.

MEJHarrison

I thought this was a great episode. But I didn't watch season 1 last year. I just finished the DVDs on Monday, the premier on Tuesday and this episode last night. So I've not yet felt the frustration of "waiting". Perhaps that's why I'm not bothered by the slow pace. Up till now, I've had instant gratification. At least I can finally participate in the threads instead of reading stuff from 6 months ago.

I'm surprised no one mentioned seeing the World Trade Centers in the background when Michael first meets with his lawyer in the beginning. What was that all about? Why go to all that trouble to digitally add them into a background shot? It's not like someone would recognize the lawyers office and know what should be in the background. They could have easily used a different skyline.

madara

This is the first show I really feel like I missing half of what is going on because I dont have HDTV. I never see half that stuff that gets mentioned here. I'll chime in as well to the lostmania, another enjoyable episode. Though it did feel abit too cartoony and abbot and costello out there with Michael and Sawyer. Something just felt off. And that had to be slowest shark in history of world.

heimerSWT

I think they were trying to establish that the lawyer meeting happened sometime before 9/11/2001.

Do we know how old Walt currently is?

Jimmy James

I understand that difficulty, but the point still stands.

Jimmy James

I think it's pretty clear that he is old enough that this wasn't necessary. We're 4 years out.

heimerSWT

Walt's age wasn't necessarily my point. I was trying to pinpoint the "current" time of the show. Some people have guessed that maybe the show takes place sometime in the past or in the (near) future. We know for sure that it isn't in the future, since the Towers were still there.

renaldow

It wasn't posted for you to agree with.

Two things I've noticed, you don't agree with much, and you like to post about that.

Count Dooku

one: Since the scene was shot on a set, the skyline we saw in the window was a painting, so they didn't digitally add the WTC to the picture.

two: Previous to 9-11-2001, the Manhattan skyline included the WTC, and any TV show or movie that represents a scene as happening in NYC before 9-11 should include the WTC in the picture.

The WTC towers used to be there; now, they are not there.

There is absolutely no reason why anyone under any circumstances should deny this reality.

adamblast

While I agree that it might not be a *real* disease/sickness, there's certainly something that affects people. Black cloud/Nanobots in the brain? Rousseau's whole team caught whatever it is, and it was certainly real to her--real enough to be scared and to warn Sayid to watch for it...

Jimmy James

So you're just posting things to see your name show up? I thought the concept here was that we were having discussions. That necessarily involves offering thoughts that you expect people to agree or disagree with.

If either of those things are unwelcome in your mind, feel free to click here and do something about it. I don't want to cause you any mental distress, and I don't plan on going anywhere.

Jimmy James

Ah, gotcha. To think I had just made a point about the series not necessarily happening in exactly this world. Thanks for explaining.

MEJHarrison

Take it easy Count. The matte painting on a set idea hadn't occured to me. If that's the case, it explains things nicely.

Beyond that, my observation had nothing to do with being PC or any other such bullshit.

Jimmy James

Do they still even use matte paintings these days? Why not just go with the green-screen and sfx it in?

conscience

I, for one, am very glad that they showed Locke going into the hatch and the events leading up to Jack coming.

Great episode.

DVD Josh

From the Canadian trailer, which is far more revealing than the US one:



Looks like it is going to be one hellova episode next week.

Breakfast with Girls

Just a dumb little note about the logo. The trigrams surrounding the yin-yang symbolize various things, among them directions. Instead of (going clockwise) N NE E SE S SW W NW the directions have been flipped and reversed, to show S SW W NW N NE E SE. I guess in the southern hemisphere the symbols are flipped, or something.

uhftv

Jin's the only one I noticed who had longer hair.

B.A.

Fairly ho-hum ep after last week's good premiere. The goings on in the hatch were better than the going on in the sea - until they found Jin.

RichardW

I shouldn't have read that, but damn, I can't wait for next week's episode now!

tbird2340

Is there anywhere to actually see this video?