LOST DISCOVERIES
LOST:
Solitary
Created by: J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof
Story by: David Fury
Air date: Wednesday, November 17th,
2004
A Good Day for a Hole in One
By Vlad
A Soulful Spike Society Review
Let’s Bridge the Golf Between Us
It’s interesting to note that of all the games our castaways could be playing, they have managed to find golf: a game played alone but in the company of others. While many golfers do compete with each other, the real attraction of the game, the addictiveness of it, in fact, is the competition with one’s self. A golfer is always striving to lower their score, to perform better on this set of 18 holes than his last outing. In fact, it might be very telling that the game is almost dependant on having played the same course before. Golf is about improvement, aiming towards perfection. It’s realistically unachievable, but an important drive, nonetheless. People usually do play the game in the company of others: a typical outing is comprised of four. A group of four people, all striving to do the same thing, but in reality, nothing they are doing affects each other, except in the most intangible ways: companionship, camaraderie and competition.
Hurley: Caddy to the Stars
About the Internet there is a theory that Hurley is not really a castaway, or at least not in the traditional sense. Some claim that the island created Hurley or placed Hurley to be some sort of guide for our “lost” protagonists. Indeed, the survivors are lost and not in the conventional “my jet crashed leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere” sense. So far, from each individual’s background, they are each searching for themselves. In nearly every episode, Hurley has been there to point the way for folk. He does this sometimes with the obvious, sometimes with great insight and empathy. I do not necessarily agree with this theory of Hurley being supernatural, but it is interesting to think about.
No matter his origins, it is Hurley that knows the morale of the people is at an all-time low. The survivors have broken into factions; the disagreeable conflict between Sayid, Jack and Sawyer a couple days before has to be weighing hard on them. One of their leaders, Sayid, has abandoned them. In all this, Hurley seems to understand that people need more than necessities. Give a person water and food and keep them dry and warm and, still, they are liable to die. There is an indefinable thing called the human spirit and it needs to sing, dance and play or it will wither and fade. The pressures of living must occasionally be allowed to escape off, like steam from an over worked boiler.
Hurley tells Charley that he’s a “duffer, like me.” Perhaps so, but Hurley created a situation every bit as important for the survival of the castaways as Jack find in the water and the caves, Sawyer shooting the polar bear, Locke putting food on the table and Sayid’s efforts at discovering the radio signal. If “duffer” means “hero,” then you are correct!
Sawyer Jack and Kate: Working
on the Long Game
Sawyer, Jack and Kate are each playing their own game and are doing so very much alone. Jack from a position of forced leadership, Kate from the position of a trapped gypsy avoiding her roots and Sawyer as the ultimate outsider: a man so despising of himself that he actively seeks out ways to cause others to do the same. Yet, when Hurley tells Jack that folk need something to get together over and shows him the golf course, Jack gets sucked in.
Kate, attracted to Jack, is compelled to watch, though I think it’s interesting that she doesn’t actually join the game, but watches from the sidelines. Still, she is there. And she invites Sawyer to go with her. After all that Sawyer has done to the group and to her, she still wants him along and is concerned for his well-being.
Kate isn’t the only one that is concerned about Sawyer. Jack tends to Sawyer’s wounds and does his best to set him straight until Sawyer using his gifts, presses the “Kate” button and Jack leaves. Sawyer reflexively falls back on the old lessons and tools that he knows when in uncertain territory, much like a man might use his trusty 7 iron when, in fact, his lighter 8 iron would have been the better choice. That’s the reason golfers have caddies and golfing buddies, they need someone else’s wisdom to rely on.
Fortunately for Sawyer, he has Kate there to offer advice: “From one outcast to another; I'd think about making more of an effort.” Sawyer takes this to heart and, still playing the game “his way,” does indeed make it to the green, literally. The fact he does this is not lost at all on either Jack or Kate and they both seem pleased with his progress. This time it’s an easy “lie” for our con man and he manages to score. Hopefully it’s a lesson learned.
Locke and Walt and Michael:
What are they driving at?
Michael is a solitary parent, Walt is an only child that has lost his mother and Locke is a man that was so alone he created an imaginary relationship with a telephone sex worker. Yet each are somehow bound together in a bizarre triangle. Though Michael’s absence from Walt for apparently most of his life is still unexplained, his attitude towards him while playing golf demonstrates possibly that he is too self-absorbed to really deal with a child. First he tells Walt he is too busy to entertain him and then, instead he goes off to play a game. His distant talk and vague promises to Walt, when Walt finds him on the course, are a real let down to the boy who is only being normal in seeking out entertainment. Naturally, this drives him to Locke, the only man thus far that has really shown any interest in the boy, outside of Michael’s necessary attentions.
On Locke’s part, he seems to like the boy and has done nothing improper towards him. Indeed, teaching the boy to hunt, to throw weapons and so on are very important skills if the survivors have to spend long years stuck on this island. These are the things that stereotypically a man teaches his son. It’s pretty obvious that Michael himself does not have these skills, but what is not obvious is if he simply doesn’t trust Locke, or he is jealous of the man’s relationship with his son. A relationship that he ironically doesn’t seem too interested in improving.
Michael can’t teach Walt all the things that Walt either needs to know or even wants to know. No parent can be his child’s solitary educator. As the saying goes: It takes a village. But that parent should be making every effort to see that the child is taught those things from some source. Letting Locke teach Walt how to hunt while at the same time teaching him how to create running water will result in Walt being more than either man is, which should be every parent’s dream for his child.
Sayid, Nadia, Danielle and
Alex: Four to Play Through
Sayid was a man alone before the crash, existing in a military where it’s every man for himself, unable to trust his leaders or his associates. As befits a survivor, he played the game as best he knew how: by surviving . It is obvious he didn’t enjoy torturing his captives, even before Nadia arrived. But, he did what he must; his goal to eventually leave that position for something more suitable.
Sayid kept his prisoner Nadia in “solitary” but in truth, she wasn’t. By her own words, Nadia said marginally as a joke but also seriously that she was going to miss their “talks.” Of course Sayid had no intention of killing this woman that he loved, but was simply playing the game as he had learned it, being stymied by every trap and pitfall along the way. Finally, trapped in a “bunker” he made a desperate “pitch” to free her, gambling all or nothing.
Danielle was in solitary also, a prison evidently as much of her own making, as one that was forced upon her. She had lost the thing most important to her: her child Alex. Surviving day-by-day, alone, over the last 16 years, she has one hope: that of reclaiming her missing child. Social connection, like water, air, and food is also a necessity. She threatens to kill Sayid rather than to let him leave her alone once more. Again, she is falling back on the ways she has played the game before. However, Sayid shows her that there is a different way to play, one that might not win, but at least so far hasn’t been proven to be wrong. He offers her hope, which is Sayid’s stock and trade. Sayid hopes to reclaim his love Nadia and he hopes of a rescue from the island. His hope is so strong that it is one of the things that drove a wedge between he and Jack. But Sayid has learned something too; something from Danielle: that the real key to survival is to trust others and to work together and he is allowed to leave to go back to the other castaways, his mission fulfilled and his lesson learned.
Conclusion: The Putt for Par
So, life on the island, while it resembles the concept of Buddhism, also relates to golf. In both circumstances, the player, whether it is in the game of life or on the greens, is forced to repeat again and again the same problem until he develops a satisfactory solution. Each time he gets to try it from new angles and different perspectives, all in an almost hopeless quest for perfection. Each person is on his own in the game, but finds himself accompanied from hole to hole, obstacle to obstacle, by others in similar plights. And a truly shrewd player discovers that he can learn much from watching others: that it is indeed possible to learn by others mistakes as much as from your own.
The three C’s of golf are every bit as important in life: companionship, camaraderie and competition. Companionship means never facing any obstacle alone. Camaraderie means that your successes never go unnoticed, even by yourself. Competition is a comparison of yourself to others to make sure that you are actually doing okay. In true competition, one doesn’t feel a need to beat but rather, a need to win. Golf, much like life, is a game that can have multiple winners. What really matters is if you are happy with the outcome.
In this episode, we also learn that living is about much more than surviving (winning), it’s about enjoying the trip (playing the game)…having a “ball” in other words. Or in Sawyer’s case, as in golf, having a ball with all those dimples. *wink*
_______________________
What Worked?
· JACK: “Things could be worse.”
HURLEY (after a 3 beat): “Howww?”
· JACK: “Sayid’s a trained soldier; he can take care of himself”
Scene changes; Sayid carefully avoids tripwire to step into next trap…”Ahhhh…” Thuds into tree upside down. “Uhggg…” Thuds into tree again.
· Shannon is getting an awfully nice tan!
What Didn’t?
· This was a rather deep episode and at first I felt it to be slow and a bit disjointed. But as I watched it over a few times and made the connections between the two halves (Sayid’s imprisonment and the “golf,”) it really grew on me. I suppose this is a cheer within a jeer really, to quote from TV Guide. I do think that a viewer tuning in new, or a casual viewer watching only once without discussion with others might miss many of the nuances in this episode.
· The brilliant scientist Rousseau has not been able to fix her music box ? She has been stuck here for 16 years with nothing else to do, yet Sayid can fix it with a paper clip and a Swiss Army knife in no time. McSayid to the rescue!
Questions
· Is everyone from Danielle’s group dead?
· Where is Alex? Is Alex male or female and even human?
· Did Jack make that putt?
· What were those voices?
_______________________
The Missing: Update
Jack – Matthew Fox
A doctor playing golf? To quote Sawyer: Now I’ve heard everything! And did you notice how he has set up shop in the caves, the sick coming to him, rather than he making house calls? Now if he can just get Kate to don the fetching little white nurse uniform! Temperatures would be rising!
Kate – Evangeline Lilly
Way to use your wiles on ol’ scavenger boy. I just wish you’d make up your mind…Jack? Sawyer? Or, since Jack is trying to set up a new society, why not eat your cake and play with the icing too?
Sawyer – Josh Holloway
Good job dude! You are listening and taking action. Nice way to save your image by joining the group as a “profit-making opp” and even betting against your nemesis Jack. ‘Course, now you know what you told Jack is true: Kate definitely does want some of your action.
Sayid – Naveen Andrews
You were a bad, bad man Sayid and you have a lot to atone for. Yet, your soul seems good. I hope that one day you find your Nadia. No matter what you told Danielle, I don’t believe you have given up on that search, either.
Locke – Terry O’Quinn
Mr. Locke, I don’t know what your game is but somehow you
offering that knife to Walt in the same way you offered it to Sayid just gives
me the wiggins.
Charley – Dominic Monaghan
Don’t worry; you are still my favorite “duffer.”
Claire – Emilie de Ravin
An episode without you is like an overcast day. I miss your light, Sunshine.
Hurley – Jorge Garcia
Simply brilliant, Dude!
Now, when you guys are rescued, make sure you claim the island for
yourselves. Build a resort with Boone and Shannon’s fortunes. You are living on a potential goldmine.
What? Hey, it worked for the Giligan
group after they were rescued!
Boone – Ian Somerhalder
and
Shannon – Maggie Grace
“We need the sunscreen, princess.” Boone, with that one sentence you managed to elevate yourself at least halfway out of the hole you had dug yourself into. Maybe if theft isn’t your bag, gambling is.
Michael – Harold Perineau
and
Walt – Malcom David Kelley
Mike… I am just about ready to give up on you. Before you were trying, but just didn’t seem to have the experience. Now I am beginning to wonder if you truly aren’t cut out for this Dad thing at all. Of course, it’s got to be hard dealing with an ungrateful little brat… errr… I mean, look, you gotta make some sacrifices if you … oh heck with it, let Locke teach him how to hunt and fish. You just need to work on them showers. I am sure Shannon will love you for it….maybe literally.
Sun – Yunjin Kim
and
Jin – Daniel Dae Kim
Hmm… off alone doing a marriage encounter?
Vincent – The Dog
Where ya been, boy? Walt looks lonely; why don’t you go lick his face, or bring him a dead rabbit or something? And, if they develop a driving range, you could be invaluable for collecting the “lost” balls. Hang in there.
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