This is a blog.

This is a letter to the Public Relations department of ABC Studios.
(This is not a flash forward).

We at Lostpedia would like to officially request an interview.

I watched the enhanced version of Through the Looking Glass, and (we're about to share a big moment): I was enhanced.

The Powers that Be (including script supervisor Gregg Nations) have denied having a hand in the enhancement captions. "Papa is very angry." They gave away all those mirror secrets.

But I really enjoyed the writing. I mean: WHAT writer's strike?

So let us please have an interview with the writing intern from ABC's marketing department responsible for the enhanced captions. He/she was amazing. Let me list the ways.

I had forgotten who Rousseau was, but luckily there were those popup pics to remind me. She looked crazy.

And most of all I'd forgotten who the scary dude was. He seemed awfully familiar.
You read my mind, and said:
"This scary dude is Ben Linus, the leader of the Others."
Oh yeah.

The ABC intern did his homework, maybe on the Internets. The Black Rock is a 19th century slaving ship. St. Sebastian is a protector from the plague. Pascal Flats is a reference to... ooo my mind was spinning.

But what about Richard Alpert? He's Ben's advisor, but there was no Ram Dass explanation in the caption. GRRR. And he highlighted Pascal Flats, but why did he ignore where Richard was actually taking all the Others? THE TEMPLE THE TEMPLE. WTH.

Wait wait, let me calm down, and get back on topic.

I was truly impressed. The ABC marketing intern read up on the last name Nadler, and labeled the Nirvana song playing in Jack's car (I guess Sarah sold his BMW).

And, yes, yes, YESSSS:
DHARMA is always all-caps, because it's an acronym-- have the caption writer go educate the film crew, since the prop master apparently doesn't know that. High five.

The sad part was all those boring parts when I had to sit through the actual show, when the captions dropped out. (More captions next time!)

Thankfully these caption dropouts were few because who actually wanted to watch the acting? Oh, the emotion in the enhanced caption, just tell it to me, it's spoonfed to me like Heroes:
"Clearly Jack is in great despair".
"Ben knows that he is SERIOUS"
"Jack and Kate are about to share a big moment."
"That's right, all three are highly motivated." (List)

Thanks ABC intern! That's what television is all about.

I was just drawn right into... "our gang."
Psst: Our gang = the characters we are rooting for.
(Remind me to put a new entry in the Lostpedia nickname article.)

And did I mention the quality of the sublime writing?
I'll say it again: WHAT writer's strike? We have lines like:

"hang on everybody, our triangle has just become... a quadrangle."
"Patchy, regrettably sans patch"
"It's not easy to be the leader of the Others"

And there was even fan service:
"Jaters are no doubt gleeful."

Ok, ok, I know ABC has to cater to the least common denominator and not the Lost-fan-without-a-life (i.e., people reading this blog, Jaters, and of course myself). Lost must capitalize on the barren landscape of WGA-less shows in the midst of the strike, and we can't afford to lose any audience due to the complex story. Here's the chance to Heroes-ify Lost without the creators of Lost having a say. Good for you.

So back to my first request.

May we have an interview with the ABC intern(s) responsible for the enhanced captions? We'd love to get in contact with him/her, but don't know how.

And in case you didn't get it, this is a STAR WARS reference, when Princess Leia triggered Artoo's message:

Help me ABC PR Dep't, you're my only hope. Please grant us this interview.

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Suspension of Disbelief

Now that I've had several months to sit and stew, there's one thing that has bummed me about Lost lately, and I've noticed it has just festered and has not gone away on its own.

But before I get to that, let me say:
As most of you here, I enjoy Lost. This is an understatement with all of the trivial knowledge I've absorbed maintaining the wiki. I am (barring Exposé) a very loyal fan.

Lost is the type of fiction that invites the kind of analysis that would support one of the largest wikis on the Internet.

The writers and props people take care to insert details that interconnect, often across episodes and even seasons. TPTB actually have faith in the intelligence of the viewer, and don't spoon feed it to you then hammer it violently into your face for good measure like Heroes. The self-consistent details are just there, so when you look harder, anywhere you look, they emerge. It's not a LOTR level of detail, but for television it's impressive, (and perhaps unprecedented in this new age of HD and online memes), and the effect is the same: I really begin to believe in this universe, that it could really exist.

It's not real, but it has a undeniable sense of reality.

Unfortunately, in Season 3, this sense has been somewhat eroded, and I have to actually work to maintain my suspension of disbelief. I don't mean storyline stuff like: "I don't believe the whole Skate interaction at the cages was realistic."

What bothers me is the really obvious stuff that just shouts out: THIS IS FAKE, and it does so intentionally. For me, the anagrams do this. There is no need for HOFFS DRAWLAR mortuary. There is no need for HERARAT Aviation. MITTELOS Bioscience: ditto.

Some fans may call these Easter eggs and eagerly consume them so that they can pat themselves on the back for being überfan-enough to know them all.

To me, these are nothing more than self-indulgent graffiti. It is a glaring sore in Lost's fabric of reality just so the TPTB can say "Kilroy was here". It is simply not believable, the names are not believable, and because it is totally inconsistent with the rest of the universe of Lost, the only explanation for the existence of these names is something that comes from outside the universe of Lost. Could Jack actually have stopped and decoded the anagram and changed his storyline? No, the message was not meant for him, or anyone else in the Lost universe. Hence, my new need for the suspension of disbelief.

The anagrams in these obvious places are completely unlike the coincidences in the crossing flashbacks of the characters, which are firmly rooted in storyline and the mythology of how the universe of Lost operates. It is also unlike small references like Eddie's Geronimo Jackson shirt, or small references to The Lost Experience (TLE) like considerably more obscure Korean sign and conversation in D.O.C.

Speaking of TLE, I had no problems with anagrams there because it was an intrinsic part of a game, and its canonicity is a grey area.

Ethan Rom I could handle, because the names are real; there really are people named Ethan and those with the surname Rom, and to me this is just part of mythology and allegory much like the use of Philosophers' names: Locke, Rousseau, Alpert, Bakunin, etc.

But a big sign with a name inconsistent with the universe of Lost? That's a visual I can't ignore, and to me it's worse than product placement. Hoffs Drawlar is just as bad as if I saw a real advertisement for the upcoming presidential election on a billboard during a flashback. TPTB shouldn't toy with the universe, even if it is theirs.

Comments?

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Episode Blog - Through the Looking Glass

Well the final episode blog of 2007, let's make it memorable. So much to discuss, so many things to question. Just where to begin?

First stop, the flashbac... forwards. Unfortunately the reveal was lost on me after spoilers were so horrific online, even though I tried not to look I heard about it. It seemed a bit obvious too though, a very placid Jack who's turned into his father. I got the impression the message here was "you don't know how lucky you are to be on the Island until you leave", though I thought that was a little dumb as some of them desperately want to escape, like Juliet. At any rate, I was interested by all the info learned, especially the supposed dead person - just who is it then presuming its someone we know? And is the "him" Kate's with Sawyer d'ya reckon?

Moving on, my favorite element to the finale was the Naomi thing. I loved that communication with Penny, TV gold, the chill when she says "I'm not on a boat, who's Naomi?!" - brilliant. But how'd Charlie get her frequency (as she put it), or how was she on comms at the exact moment? And who the hell IS Naomi then? Does she work for Penny's father? Is she government black ops?

Next, the deaths, and surprising to see that only one Losties actually died considering. I thought it was interesting that the Losties are now the majority, and the Others are the ones living in fear (reinforced by Bonnie saying about Charlie, "but he's one of them!" - nice continuity thing). Best way to go out? Gotta be Pryce getting by Hurley in a DHARMA van - who saw that one coming? A close second being Sayid's scissor choke.

It was weird how Ben was quite happy to reveal the truth to Alex? Had she thought her mother died giving birth to her? Liked Ben's reasoning for keeping Karl away though, "I didn't want you to get pregnant... I overreacted". Another thing that bugged me was the radio tower. Rousseau said the Others controlled it in Season 1, yet then says "oh I've never been there since I did my signal 16 years ago, oh and its completely abandoned" - bit of a goof there? Furthermore, Locke bugging me by killing Naomi, no he can't kill Cooper or Jack, he doesn't "have murder in him", yet he has no trouble throwing a machete into a woman's back for absolutely no reason in cold blood. I know many are in the love Locke camp, but seriously when is someone gonna give him the smack in the face he deserves with all his destiny claptrap.

Finally, to poor Charlie and psycho Mikhail. It was typical that Charlie started to become a decent character again with a good flashback last week, and then completely gets the chop. But what a way to go huh? It was quite poignant how he could have locked the room on the other side with Des, yet knew it was the only way to save Claire by him dying. That whole five min scene with Penny and stuff I just thought was brilliant. Even psycho Mikhail, who had better be dead this time otherwise I'll get very annoyed - the man has more lives than Jack Bauer!

So are they rescued? Not likely when there's three more Seasons. Who are Naomi's people? How are they "bad"? Will their evil presence ally the Others with the Losties? Will Penny find them? Will the Monster (assuming its those apparitions) now actually kill Locke cause he failed his "work to be done"? Will we be able to wait eight whole months with no interluding easter eggs for all these answers?

Until then, I'll be on Lostpedia making it an even better Lost resource. Hope to see you on there for your Lost fixes! If not, enjoy your time away and lives of normality while you can, as your world will be rocked once again no doubt in 2008.

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