Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Substitute - Community Call

Black Rock LOST Podcast: Season 6 episode 1 of ABC's TV show, LOST. Curt, Dan, Nancy Drew, Lost Lindsey and our friends from the Smoke Hatch help us try to process the latest episode in our popular Initial Reactions format.

MP3

Now this is why we love LOST. Lots and lots of info process, lots of mysteries explained and it wouldn't be LOST if we didn't get a few new questions as well.

27 comments:

Nancy Drew said...

I must have stayed up half the night thinking about this episode and the story up until now. UGH!

(BTW, Dan......FIRST COMMENT!)

I'm concocting a theory on the numbers......sure it'll be a doozy.......but what if the island represents 108 (constant) and the people are the variables, like Daniel says--with those numbers assigned to them?

Unknown said...

i was totally gonna be the first comment too Nancy, but my puter froze on me. had to restart. arrrr! first ever post here. don't know my way around. like will i get a pic?

Hey Curt, Dan, Nancy, Lindsey and crew of the Blackrock, arrr. calm restored on the deck of the blackrock. insurrectionists in shackles.

wow what an episode. got so many notes, must email instead. downloading show now to spark some more thoughts. music was fantastic by Giacchino. so whats up with the numbers? definitive link to characters? kate has no number.

MIB is TRAPPED. i think he's still trapped on the island. and can only leave with someone based on exposition. still doesn't make sense. go to all this trouble to get into Locke's body, can't get on a boat and leave. turn the darn donkey wheel. i think the whole episode on island was about Manipulation. manipulating James. leaving somehow involves other people. but what of what RA says. he will kill em all. o RA was kinda fearing for his life. goes with the speculation that he is ageless, maybe ages very very slowly like the elves, but has never been immortal. he can be killed. if beaten up, he will show it. runs off into the forest. hee hee hee.

very literal scenes. tipping the scales. upsetting the balance. MIB also called it an inside joke. Locke was a Substitute teacher - science. May have gone to Mittelos science camp after all.

Children of the Corn reference? creEeEEeeepyyy kid. blood on hands at first appearance? looked pretty corporeal in conversation with MIB. and sorta strides off leaving a more Lockesian MIB in the dust.

MIB's interaction with James in the jungle. what he says about being trapped seemed heartfelt, but music in background was a little sinister.

got some screencaps of the wall with the numbers/names, also the desk inside the cave. anyone see all the objects? will email them to blackrock. there was a large urn-y thing, scales of course, white rock and black rock, and other paraphenalia. prob just props but that doesn't stop us from delving deeper.

that's all for now

eddy aka agonyAnkh aka LAustralia

Nancy Drew said...

I also have to add that I'm left thinking about the line that Tom Friendly said to Michael off-island.........."Only SOME of us can leave the island". And Ben told Alex that he couldn't "let them [the losties] leave". Richard made comments in 1954 about the Army troups that came to the island and how he gave them a choice to go or stay (was that a lie?).

I just wonder if all of this has anything to do with being "claimed". And does being "claimed" have anything to do with the tests that were run on Walt or the blood samples that were taken from Sawyer, Kate, and Jack in Season 3? If you really think about it, we've seen a lot of different tests administered on the island (and off).

As far as the boy........could he have been Charlie Hume with a Walt-like ability to appear in places he wasn't supposed to be? I guess Charlie wouldn't be that big yet, but it's as good a guess as any, I suppose. The other options (of the children we KNOW) are Aaron and Julien (Juliet's nephew).

Definitely going to rewatch this one a few times so that I can go through it with a fine-toothed ankh!

(hehehe)

Unknown said...

child = young time travelling Jacob? this kid has Ba**s. not afraid of the big bad wolf.

so if MIB is getting candidates, seems like he's just going up to someone and asking. so why the stuff about infected too. being in someone's influence seemed a bit more mysterious a couple of episodes ago. creepy claire. sayid with his heart of darkness. now its, "home, James!" "H E double HockeySticks yes!" is James being claimed in this episode? two sides vying for control over the remaining NUMBERS. and as Big O said before - if these people have been known for ages immemorial, why the heck didn't Dogen or someone get to the crash site and say - uhh well here you are then. we've been expecting you. your names are on this wall thingy. funny that. now lets talk about this special island.

btw with a beatles-esque reference thru Lennon - maybe they will leave the island in a YELLOW Submarine - this one can be animated, less CGI costs.

and the numbers seemed to have a lot of power way back when. now you simply get rid of them one by one and scratched them off the wall. so is it a greater victory to claim them cos smoky could take out James right there. And he could have seen to Sun at least at the beach.

is MIB trying to save the world from annihilation by changing/getiing rid the NUMBERs in this case personified in our Losties? as i said in the blackrock facebook, MIB = good? Jacob = heel or leg puller. writer's pulling our leg? MIB believes the island is NOT special, but is all the information a lie.

i'm placing both my feet firmly on this finely woven Jacobean rug, awaiting it to be pulled from under me.

Mairuzu said...

[smokey@island /] $ cd ~
Access denied to /home/smokey
[smokey@island /] $ su - locke
locke password: *******
Successful
[locke@island /] $ cd ~
Access denied to /home/locke
[locke@island /] $ @&^$!!!

JayJay said...

MIB seemed like he was bored of killing people. He truly wants to get off the island. Read my comment on the facebook page.

Anonymous said...

You have to remember Smocke (Locke/smoke) said "Jacob came to you at a time in your life when you were miserable, vulnerable.....he pulled at your strings like a puppet".....I dont put stock in anything Richard has to say regards Smocke as its apparent now that Richard actually is in the dark about most things.

Jeez, i dont even think this island is real, its like a bloody video game, extra life...re-start....game over. But what is the object of any game?....TO GET HOME

Stephen 'IM-ONTO-YOU-JACOB' Large.

Anonymous said...

theory: when locke fell onto the lawn in the beginning of the episode it reminded me of the scene in walkabout was knocked to the ground by a boar and said something like "Im fine Helen, i just had the wind knocked out of me". I think Locke was referencing this alternate reality when he said this.

Curt said...

Stephen, I'm feeling like you took the bait. Everything in your switcheroo theory holds water but Smocke isn't exactly being truthful either. I think it was Eddy that picked up on the Giachino work during some key Smocke moments.

Eddy, I think the pics come from our Google accounts which are connected to blogger/blogspot.

arturo said...

amazing episode!
opens so many possibilities for further theorizing, and like Curt said in the beginning of podcast, this is why we all love watching Lost!

I think most people would agree after watching this episode that, smokey is trapped on the island and wants to get back home, but we don't really know where is his home. Perhaps in order to get home smokey needs to visit the temple, that's why its so heavily guarded.

What if, the island was created in order to keep the smokey away from the human civilization, in order to achieve progress in society, because I don't think any progress is possible with a pillar of smoke killing people left and right.

I am still undecided who is bad and who is good, because if the island is meant to keep the smokey away, then why bring tons of people to the island who could be manipulate by smokey in doing things and improving chances of smokey's escape??

So Jacob, needs a pretty darn good explanation why he brought all those people to the island!!

arturo said...

and smokey needs pretty darn good explanation why he doesn't like to have all those people on the island, especially that now we know its not even his island!!

Unknown said...

i'm gonna get some caps onto the facebook page.

Covering Bram's Ash said...

Curt, for someone who uses "Begging the question" a lot in your podcasts, it'd be nice if you used it correctly once.

Mairuzu said...

Darn, Nancy D, couldn't get first comment! I'm not even sure how to get the final word on a blog. :)

Curt said...

...which begs the question, how am I using it wrong? ;) Especially if you consider that my useage is the more common one and language, in the end, is defined by it's usage and not the other way around. Sorry for my pedestrian, Midwest, upbringing.

Unknown said...

beggin your pardons, but it beggars belief how awesome the episode was

Nancy Drew said...

Words/Phrases Curt needs to learn to use properly:

1. Toddler
2. Pre-schooler
3. "You're right, Nancy Drew"
4. "Begging the question"


:)

Nancy Drew said...

Kathryn 7:

I absolutely LOVE that theory or line of thinking! It never even crossed my mind to associate that moment with our alternate time line, but you might be on to something!

Now I'm wondering if there are other times when something like that has happened that could be applied to this.

A Dubs said...

I am amazed that everyone noticed that the song that Sawyer was playing was "Search & Destroy," but I have not heard one podcast catch on that it was another obvious reference to Ann Arbor. Iggy and the Stooges were from there after all!

Nancy Drew said...

See? That's why it was your destiny to post it here. :)

Unknown said...

hey nancy.

i'm also referencing kathryn 7. very good catch.

i've heard the notion that the fall off by Locke in LA X timeline was a way that the actions was bleeding over into the current island timeline. we have been thinking that the actions, events have been bleeding over in one direction into LA X timeline but maybe it also has a way to affect the island timeline. which may set up later actions by the X'ers. maybe they have the "power" to bring the two to converge again.

Unknown said...

my other thought re MIB taking the form of Locke. Ilana has said that he is stuck in this form. dunno the reasons why yet. but maybe writers convenience so that terry o'quinn can still play MIB. so maybe taking someone's form has certain risk factors too. MIB was portrayed very much in charge but in The Substitute we say a very different side. Loss of control, falling over. He was getting a dressing down from the mysterious kid.

MIB was very Locke-like. so is MIB encumbered with the traits of the person he has chosen to take the form of. he somehow has Locke's memories - to the point of knowing his last thought - maybe he is best expression of Locke - SuperLocke- best hunter etc. But maybe his faults as well, his reaching for purpose, destiny. when someone says "you can't tell me what i can't do" in the fashion that we see MIB say it, it comes from a point of frustration, brokenness. we see LA X Locke tell Helen the story of how he was rejected for his walkabout and how he said his famous line there, but he was now philosophical. he has resigned to the fact that he may never walk again, and has come to terms with it, like Rose has. and now he moves on.

what does this mean as we charge into the last few hours? maybe there's a Locke waiting to be unlocked and assert himself and battle out for control of the body of new-locke.

i still want a better story arc for Locke if that's possible. at this point, after 5 seasons, John Locke died a pawn at the hands of Ben Linus, but maybe a pawn of Widmore, and of Jacob, MIB and the Island. i too say "i don't understand?"

Anonymous said...

LOST Lindsey SUCKS!

Unknown said...

why don't you introduce yourself anonymous?

Unknown said...

I only started listening to the show this summer and I am of the opinion, that Lost Lindsey actually provides her insight based on research, attention to detail and some times a different opinion which causes me to think. I prefer not having people around me who always think the same as I do.
I respect that one of the beauties of Lost is the multi-generational viewer base.

Curt said...

"Lets not resort to name calling" ...I'm in ZGK's camp. I liked that Lindsey tells us we're all wrong when we're fresh off of pontificating. She brings a different, and no less valid, point of view.

We're here to build a community and not tear people down.

Unknown said...

hear hear! good words curt.