Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What Kate Does - 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

The good news is, the Kate episode is behind us! Like others it felt like we advanced other stories more than her own.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

We get that you hate Kate, but f-ing let it go. I don't love her character but it's just getting annoying.

Eric Weissen said...

Boring episode, hoping that you can shed some light on stuff I may of missed.

Robert R said...

2 things about people's 1st reactions I have opinions on:
1). "What Kate Does" is blow. Kate's character has been short-changed by the writers, because she is a love interest first, and a lost soul in need of redemption second. While my least favorite of the major characters, Kate still has an arc she has to get through, and by the end of this ep, she has at least begun to foster connections with LA Claire, and Island Sawyer and Jack. With any luck (for us), maybe she is now in position to play her role in the epic end-game we've been promised.
2). I don't understand what all the caterwauling is regarding the "slideways" flashes. As a narrative device, they serve exactly the same function as prior season's flashes back and forward. That being, they set the island actions of the character in relief. They give context, they lend motivation, and they restate thematically. At worst, they are a crutch the show has always leaned on. (why tell one story when you've got a time slot for two?) At their best, they give us depth in our understanding, and increase our investment in the characters.
Thematically, this season's flashes can contrast and compare a universe where nothing is predestined to one where no choice makes a difference, to illustrate how untenable each of those is without the other. Love and loss, individual and community, black and white, and fate and choice: none has any meaning without its counterpart, without
its integral other.

I give it a B-, with faith that the best is yet to come.

Anonymous said...

Lost Lindsey drags the whole show down.

Anonymous said...

MP3 won't load.

warningtrax said...

A few thoughts for what I considered to be a pretty good episode:

Post Ajira Locke and Post Temple-Water Sayid reported the same “death” experience and exhibited similar behavior. Locke remembered only that Ben had killed him. Sayid remembered only that he had been shot. We are told by Dogan that Sayid is at risk for the “darkening of the heart”, which appears to be a somewhat gradual process considering Sayid appears to be behaving normally...at least at the moment. This is consistent with the behavior of Post Ajira Lock, who didn’t fully understand his purpose (or identity) until a day or two later.

If we assume that Dogan is speaking of the sickness, it stands to reason that both Sayid and Locke are suffering from the sickness. So, are both Sayid and Locke “claimed” in the same fashion as Danielle’s team?

Now, if it is assumed that this “claiming” and “darkening of the heart” can only occur to those who have recently died and returned to life, it sheds light on the importance of protecting babies born on the island (ie. Aaron). If a newborn is “claimed”, how could it be detected? The parents wouldn’t even know...

Nancy Drew said...

For Warningtrax--

I like where your thinking is taking you, but I don't think I would compare post-Ajira Locke to post-swim Sayid. There aren't two Sayids on the island because of this water--one of which being dead. I think the better comparison would have to be young Ben and post-swim Sayid.

Richard told Kate that Ben wouldn't remember what had happened and that his innocense would be lost. We also know that Jacob wouldn't connect with Ben. I would almost assume that Ben is "claimed", too, and that that may be why Widmore was unhappy with Richard's decision to put Ben in the dunking tank. I think you could even take this further (and I'm going to steal someone else's idea on this) to say that because BEN killed Jacob--meaning the darkness has overcome its nemesis--the water turned dark and murky. We may be looking at the mobius strip in action--or a mirror image--with the "dark" being in control of the island and the people that inhabit it.

All I keep thinking after letting this episode digest a little is, "We are not the bad guys...." I am just left wondering if the Smoke monster is made up of the souls of the "claimed" and actually serve as an other type of "Others".

Impiii said...

Was nice to hear you guys refering to my island location theory on the podcast, even tho i posted it here and not on podcast ;)

About the episode:
Even tho i dont like Kate, this episode had more of an original Lost feeling to me than LA X.

Greetings from germany
Impiii

warningtrax said...

Yes, the second body does present an issue. I kind of have a wacky “ALT Jack Fixes ALT Locke And It Is This Version Of Lock That We See In Season One” theory that I’ve been kicking around. Basically, the island doesn’t heal Season One Locke (which is really ALT Locke) but ALT Jack does....or something like that. It’s a work in progress...

I assumed that when the Temple Others held Ben under the “clear” water, he was healed and not drown like Sayid. I still think there’s more of similarity between Sayid and John than between Sayid and Ben simply because they both had died. For me, the jury is still out on Claire and Ben. We simply don’t know.

Mairuzu said...

We don't know that Ben didn't die at the temple, though. Shroedinger's Ben! He's both alive and dead! :)

warningtrax said...

"He's both alive and dead"...until you open the door a have a look! Love the concept of superposition.

Yes, it would be really helpful to see more of young Ben's non-ALT storyline.

Incidentally, thanks for the podcast. I've been listening for a couple of years now.

That's me said...

I don't get the fluff stuff. Chill. Accept and enjoy what the show is and stop projecting onto it what you think it should be. You are free to write up a treatment and produce your own show the way you want.

Anyway, I say it's unwise to judge an episode as fluff until you see how it fits into the entire series, which you won't know until it's all over. Even then you'll probably have to watch the whole thing over again, which is torture, I know :)

Curt said...

If we just accepted and enjoyed, we'd be viewers. We're Analyst!

Mairuzu said...

Welcome to the Black Rock Lost Podcast.. OUR show and treatment in the talk show format of what we think about Lost. Feel free to start your own podcast, too. :)

Really, pointing out that this episode feels like filler is a reaction to.. well.. watching it. What would you prefer that we did with the podcast beside pointing out our observations and opinions? I'm genuinely interested to know what you think would be better for the podcast.

Eric Weissen said...

Flocke/Anti Jacob has expressed that he wants to leave the Island.

Skillfully the writers have not used his name. I think that his name is Aaron. That's right born again on the Island and taken by free will off the Island. What a way to escape.

Wacko theory I know.

marlene said...

I love the podcast and all the conflicting opinions and conjectures - it is great fun. Speaking of Kate-hate, I just don't see how her character has any more flaws than other characters or why it is any more preposterous that she can track than that John can hunt boar. Last season I didn't buy into her reasoning for coming back to the island to find Claire but, after 'What Kate Does,' it seems maybe a deeper connection is being revealed (one can only hope!).

That's me said...

I love theorizing and such with Lost...the show begs you too. And I have thought about starting my own podcast...maybe someday. Anyway, not liking an episode is one thing, but to claim that an episode is solely filler before seeing the entire series is premature...no? Also, to analyze anything too much can possibly take away from the enjoyment of the show, because you start to set up expectations which will more than likely not be fulfilled. Personally, I want to be told the story that the writers want to tell - "filler" included.

By the way, if this show ends up being lame, which I doubt, I won't deny it, but I'm certainly not going to make that call before I've seen everything there is to see.

My recommendation for your podcast? Talk, discuss, theorize...wait, you're already doing that. :) Ok, then enjoy the show for what it is, aka lighten up...it's the last season.

Mairuzu said...

Soooo... what? Wait.. you said, "Talk, discuss, theorize"...but you're also telling us not to have an opinion about what it felt like to watch the episode? One of the questions is, after all, "what did you think of this episode?" And I'm quite happy to say that I felt like this episode was filler after watching it immediately after airing... and, later, if it turned out that it wasn't as 'filler' as I'd initially felt, point out that it wasn't. Otherwise, how else will you know how someone honestly felt, on the record, after watching the episode versus after the entire season?

A first impression is still just that and I feel like your suggestion is conflicting with itself. Paradox, even! :)

Nancy Drew said...

I wonder if Whoopi reads this blog, too......

HI WHOOPI!!

:D