LOST DISCOVERIES

 

LOST:

Hearts and Minds

 

Created by: J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof

Story by: Carlton Cuse and Javier Grillo-Marxuach

 

Air date: Wednesday, January 12th 2005

 

Training Day

By Lola

 

A Soulful Spike Society Review

www.soulfulspike.com

 

 

Proper Motivation

“Boy’s eager to learn,” says our Mr. Locke.  What is teaching?  What is manipulation?  When is it important that we learn from one another and when should we be skeptical of hidden motives or information withheld? 

 

Locke is grateful for what the island has apparently given him – the use of his legs, the opportunity to be a vital man of action in our group of survivors.  He has seen the “truth” of the island, he believes, and he wants to bring that truth to others.  No longer content for the island to reveal itself, however, he has decided to help things along a bit.  Hey, if it means an “experience that I believe was vital for your survival on this island”, (bolding by me) then it doesn’t really matter if I knocked you out, tied you up, and drugged you so you could vividly hallucinate the death of your sister, does it?  And everyone thinks Shannon is a whiney annoyance anyway and was probably cheering when they thought the monster chomped her up, eh?  I mean, we all saw how she manipulated and used Boone in Australia.  She and Boone had an unhealthy relationship that needed to be disrupted, no matter how it was done and why, right?  I mean, the ends always justify the means . . . . um, wait a minute.

 

When he leaves him tied in the jungle, Locke tells Boone:  “It’s time for you to let go of some things.  Because it’s what’s best for you”.  By the end of the episode, it’s “time to let go” and, wait for it, “follow me”. 

 

Yup.  Mr. Locke has carved himself a nice little acolyte out of the lump of marble that was Boone.  But does anyone else here feel just a tad concerned about his methods or want to hear a better explanation of his motives?  I mean, I felt like smacking Boone too, when he still didn’t know which way was west and camp even though he’d been coming to the same location for days, but I think I would have managed to figure out a less dramatic way of dealing with the issue.  The gleam in Locke’s eye and the eager way he wanted to know:  “how did it feel? When she died?” lead me to question his real purpose here.

 

When it comes right down to it, Locke thought – no, Locke decided – that Boone needed to be taught a lesson.  But he just didn’t want the bother of waiting for the island spirit to step in so he could help the person deal with the result.  Nope, instead he neatly delivered Boone up to the island.  Trial by fire or sacrificial victim?  Can look very similar to the one who got tied up.

 

But where was the teaching and where was the manipulation?  We had some wonderful examples of manipulation to observe in the flashback story of Boone and Shannon.  Let’s compare!

 

Lessons in Lying

It’s interesting to note where the flashbacks are intercut with the island story.

 

Initially, we have two very brief moments on the island:  Sayid offering the shoes-of-sublimated-sex to Shannon, (no doubt reminding Boone of their night together when she arrived shoes in hand to drunkenly seduce him) and Hurley stopping by to remind him of the idea of group responsibility and the need for them to help get some food (no doubt adding to his feelings of guilt over secretly going to the hatch each day instead of hunting).  Cut to our first flashback of Shannon apparently in trouble, calling from Sydney during a violent argument and needing Boone’s help.  This is our first example, though we don’t know it at the time, of Shannon’s manipulations.  A big old ticket to the clue bus should be when we notice that Boone’s tennis-playing girlfriend looks suspiciously like Shannon and that we come right back to an island scene in which he tells Sayid to stay away from his sister.

 

We move immediately into a scene in which we see our first Locke manipulation – subtle as it is.  Sensible advice about not antagonizing a man with the kind of talent that Sayid can bring to the group is turned in a slightly more disturbing direction when Locke says they need to keep Sayid “on our side”.

 

In the jungle, Locke tells his very interesting story of Michelangelo, someone who learned “not to use his hands” (just as Lock once could not use his legs) and ponders “how do you open a hatch that has no handle, no latch” as he calmly mixes the drugged paste he will use on Boone.  (“It’s for later”, he says.)  Cut to flashback of Boone arriving at a door in Sydney with a perfectly working latch and a sister inside that is apparently not opening up to him.  Claiming in a shaky voice that all is fine, while drawing back hair to reveal an abrasion, Shannon cleverly manipulates Boone to the belief she wants him to have – that he is here to rescue her.

 

Coming to after Locke knocked him out and tied him up, Boone feels helpless and alone.  Cut to flashback of Boone at the police station in Sydney, helpless and alone in his attempts to get the police involved in what he believes to be a case of abuse.  Without a complaint from his sister, they can do nothing.  Until he “hears” the complaint from his dream!sister about being tied up herself when the big scary island monster is coming, he doesn’t have the ability to cut himself free.

 

In his dream/hallucination, Boone has saved Shannon and they are hiding from the big scary island monster.  Shannon cuts right to the heart of the matter – “what did you do to that psycho to piss him off?” she asks. (Dream Shannon actually does kind of meet his description of being smart.  She also asks the vital question about the hatch, “where does it go?”)  Cut to flashback where Boone tries to “save” Shannon by getting her to leave Australia with him and discovers the truth about her manipulations.  “You set me up!  This whole thing is a set up,” he says.  Another big clue bus pulls up for the viewers – because this whole dream-Shannon-rescue-then-be-killed thing is a set up instigated (although not controlled) by Locke.

 

Dream Shannon and Boone are squabbling through the jungle when the big scary island monster makes another appearance.  Run, dream!Shannon, run!  Run, dream!Boone, run!  Get grabbed and hauled up into trees and chomped on, dream!Shannon!   (Actually, the getting grabbed and swung up was pretty well done and scary, in spite of, or perhaps because of, being slightly reminiscent of Dorothy grabbed by the flying monkeys.)  Cut to flashback of a drunken Shannon, carrying her shoes-of-sex and bent on seducing Boone, teary and angry because her co-conspirator had the audacity to con her too.  I had been expecting this scene ever since we had the cop making it oh so very clear that they were not related by blood.  The minute those words were out of his mouth, I was saying to myself, “oh, well then, we’ll be seeing them have sex later, right?”  We could have a whole conversation about how, frankly, there’s really nothing inherently wrong with the two of them having a physical relationship, or that Boone doesn’t appear to be all that against the idea himself, but let’s move on.  Because it is what happened the next morning that is the final Shannon manipulation to end all manipulations.  Nicely shot, with Boone in shadow and still unclothed, while a fully dressed and hostile/sad Shannon talks about him going home and telling mummy the same old story, letting everything go back the way it was, etc.  Is she implying blackmail – don’t tell your mom I’ve been lying all these years and I won’t mention we had sex?  Is she just tired and angry and sick about how things turned out and wanting to forget?  Good questions.

 

We move immediately to our next two important scenes.  Dream!Boone finds dream!Shannon’s body in the stream.  Real Boone attacks Locke and learns that this was all created by his mind after being drugged, that his sister is still alive.  He has an “I was relieved she was dead” epiphany and wanders off to follow Locke . . . . somewhere.

 

When I look at this main storyline, the paralleling and crossing paths of Locke and Boone and Shannon, I always come back to the same thing.  What did Boone’s dream / hallucination / spiritual trek really teach him and us?  Think about it.

 

Lines Drawn in Beach Sand Tend to Wash Away

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang were providing us with some wonderful examples of healthy (at least, as healthy as this group gets) interaction and learning from each other.  The old “cave” versus “beach” division doesn’t seem that important once folks start understanding what is really needed.  Granted, this crew could be a lot more organized than they are, but still – good things are getting accomplished.

 

Sun starts a garden and Kate helps.  She tells Jack.  He sees that it is a good idea and, by the end, is helping too – bringing a gift of guava seeds.

Hurley showcases his lovely comic stylings (“pee on my foot” “your wife is hot”) while finally mending fences with Jin and getting, in return, access to some much needed (and already cleaned) fish protein.

 

Michael smiling at Walt playing with the dog.  Kate looking on in sweet sadness as Sun and Jin walk by, talking quietly together.  Jack and Charlie casually building up the evening fire.  All these scenes felt very natural to me.

 

Jack, with a hint or two from other folks, does seem to be sensing some problems with group togetherness, and it may have something to do with Locke.  First Kate points out that the reason there is no boar could be that “Locke’s just not catching it for us anymore”.  Then Sayid wanders by with his gift from Locke – a defective compass.  Is the compass defective, or is the island?  Did Sayid compare it to his created one?  Did Locke not know the compass was off, or was that the reason he gave it to Sayid?  And if so, because he was trying to show him that the island or something on it can affect a compass or to hinder his attempts to figure out the CFL’s map?

 

Thus, we see Jack “checking in” with various folks – off in search of opinions about Locke.  He finds quite a variety.  Much like us the viewers, there is no clear consensus from the island dwellers about the man.  Is Locke a “psycho who probably shot up all his coworkers at the post office” or the “one guy you can have absolute faith in to save us all”?  Is he telling the truth about the boar moving out of the valley or just covering for his secret treks to the metal hatch?  Why is it so important to keep the hatch a secret – what wouldn’t the others understand?  His conversation with Jack didn’t really settle anything for me, either.

 

My guess?  Locke is a once ordinary man who has been through an extraordinary experience.  How he handles that experience is up to him.  How he may be trying to force that experience on, rather than explain that experience to, others, is of concern.

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What Worked?

·         The very intriguing dynamic between Boone and Locke.  I have the feeling we’ll be seeing this play out for weeks to come, and be arguing about what it really means the whole time.

 

·         The little scenes of everyone else on the island.  It really felt like we were just popping in on what would actually be happening.

 

·         Liked the conversation between Jack and Charley.  I’m glad to hear that Claire has not been forgotten. 

 

What Didn’t?

·         I felt the sexual nature of Boone’s and Shannon’s relationship was too obvious, really sledge hammered home by the rather awkward lines from the cop.  (Well, unless they meant to make us think that the cop was implying or suggesting a sexual relationship.  In which case, it worked.)

 

·         I also didn’t really buy the dream as real – I pretty much figured out it was in Boone’s head right away.  Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but I felt they really wanted you to think it was real.

_______________________

 

The Missing: Update

 

Jack Shepard – Matthew Fox

You could learn a little stealth from Locke, Jack.  You were rather painfully obvious when trying to spy on Kate or ask about Locke.

 

Kate – Evangeline Lilly

You’re one of the better observers on the island, aren’t you, Kate?  Noticing that Sun understood your English, finding out about the garden, wondering about Locke’s boar hunting.  And all the while you’re just out there, quietly doing what needs to be done.  Like gathering seeds.

 

Sawyer – Josh Holloway

How cute!  Hauled into the station while Boone is there.  “I was just minding my own business. . . .I gave it back . . . How come no one wants to hear my side of the story?”  Gosh.  Why do you think, hon?

 

Sayid – Naveen Andrews

My man Sayid.  Is there nothing you can’t do?  Is there nothing you don’t know?  (Aside from Webelos.)

 

John Locke – Terry O’Quinn

What's really going on in your head, Mr. Locke?  What are you after?

 

Charley – Dominic Monaghan

 Go, Charley!  Don’t let them forget about Claire!  Hope the aspirin’s helping with that whole heroin addiction thing.

Claire Littleton – Emilie de Ravin

So, where are you, Claire?  And have you had the little mutant, um, I mean, baby yet?

 

Hurley (Hugo Reyes)– Jorge Garcia

Dude!  Pee on my foot!  Pee on it, just pee on it!

 

Boone Carlyle – Ian Somerhalder

and Shannon Rutherford– Maggie Grace

Yours is a forbidden love.  Boone, you be careful out in the jungle now, y’hear?  Shannon – go for Sayid.  He gives good shoe.

 

Michael – Harold Perineau

and Walt – Malcom David Kelley

Michael!  What’s in the box?  Guess we’ll find out next week, huh? 

Walt – put the comic book down, kid.  Just put it down..

 

Sun – Yunjin Kim

and Jin – Daniel Dae Kim

It’s nice to see you two kids getting along better, but Sun, honey, I think it’s time to start 'fessing up about the English.

   

Vincent – The Dog

Good boy!  Fetch the ball, fetch it!  Fight the polar bear, fight it!  Oooops.  That can’t be right.

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