LOST: The Little Things

Before I get started on this post's topic, I want to point out that this is the first post on the site to be written about a television show has aired a new episode. The fourth season of LOST began two days ago and we were treated to another flash forward, this time, involving Hurley (Jorge Garcia). Possibly the most interesting revelation is that, apparently, only six survivors get off the island, and they are known as the "Oceanic 6". We know that Jack and Kate get off, and now we know that Hurley also makes it home. But who else? The other great line from the flash forward scenes came from the end, when Hurley apologized to Jack for siding with Locke on the island. When Charlie used his final breath to warn the other survivors that Penelope was not the person who sent the boat that was going to rescue them, Hurley it very seriously. He knew that his friend wouldn't do that without good reason, and when Locke challenged Jack over whether or not the group should meet the boat, the survivors finally split into two camps, an event the producers have said would happen since the end of Season 1, with some following Jack, and the rest siding with Locke.

The episode also (possibly) gives some credit to the idea that Christian Sheppard is Jacob. John Terry's name was listed in the credits, but the first time I watched it, I didn't see him. However, I did think that it was possible that he was the briefly-seen Jacob. Hopefully we'll learn more soon, but until then, back to your regularly scheduled post.

There are tons of minute details throughout the series that reward the most ardent of viewers as well as the well-read. Let's start with the connections. In the last post, I talked about how Jack's dad had met four of the Flight 815 survivors prior to the crash. Christian wasn't the only person to connect one or more survivors. Kate and Sawyer were connected through Cassidy (Kim Dickens), a woman who fell for Sawyer. Cassidy was one of Sawyer's marks, but she believed that she had figured him out and wanted to join him in his conning. However, she was being conned the whole time. Later, she met Kate, and helped her get close to her mother; after Kate committed her crime, her mother turned her in, and Kate needed to know why. The federal marshals were keeping their eye on Kate's mother, so Cassidy helped Kate get near her. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) was an Intelligence Officer for the Iraqi Republican Guard who fell in love with Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), a woman he tortured. Later, both Locke and Charlie encountered her randomly. There are tons of other connections, but the last one I will bring up is between Locke and Hurley. In the first Locke episode, he is working as a middle manager at a box company in Tustin, CA. His supervisor was a creep named Randy (Billy Ray Gallion). In Hurley's first episode, it is revealed that he won the lottery and now owns a box company in California. In subsequent Hurley episodes, we see Hurley working for a chicken restaurant managed by Randy. Even stranger, in the Season 4 premiere, Hurley is (back) in a mental hospital, along with Randy.

Literature appearing on the show appears to have hidden meanings. Many books mentioned are supernatural stories that may give hints as to where the series is going. One short story seen is "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge", takes place during the American Civil War. A Confederate soldier is about to be hanged by the Union Army, and in the space of the few seconds he is dangling from the ropes, he has a fantasy that he escapes and returns home. The reader is led to believe that the fantasy is reality until his neck snaps and he is dragged back to reality. Another book is "The Turn of the Screw", which I have not yet read, but I intend to after hearing a brief synopsis of the story. It is a ghost story in which the protagonist believes that she sees ghosts. However, the ending is ambiguous; we don't know whether there really were ghosts or if she is merely insane (it sounds like a great story, but I hope that it is not a foreshadowing of how the series will end). Sawyer also does a lot of reading to pass the time. He referenced "Of Mice and Men" to Ben. The title comes from the saying that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. For the past few episodes, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were prisoners of the Others, and Sawyer was trying to plan an escape. In this particular episode, he learned his plans wouldn't work, since htey were on a smaller island a mile away from the crash site island.

Other small details to look for are almost too small to notice on their own and require repeat viewing. In Season 2, much of the action takes place in the Swan, on of the DHARMA stations constructed in the 70s. It is stocked with record albums from that era, and Charlie and Hurley are looking at the collection one afternoon. They find an album from a band called Geronimo Jackson, which neither of them have heard of, which is strange, since both are self-proclaimed music experts. Later, in one of Locke's flashbacks, a young man he meets is wearing a Geronimo Jackson t-shirt, which he states is his father's. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse claim that GJ is a real band, but I'm not sure about that. Also, the DHARMA logo pops up in strange locations, like the belly of a shark early in Season 2. Some people even claim that it can be seen on the plane wreckage in the pilot episodes. I have never seen it, but I wouldn't put it past the creators to do it. Other things, like Apollo candy bars, and especially the appearances of the numbers create a world where everything seems to be connected in one large conspiracy...

Up next: Back in production...