LOST: The Final Tally

Well, the re-watch is done, and I can say that the show is still every bit as satisfying on re-watch as it was the first time through.

One thing that my wife and I did this time through was to tally up several aspects.  You can see my ragged tally list in this picture.  One tally list records how many flash back/flash forward/flash sideways episodes a certain character got.  That is, how much time did the show spend developing certain characters.  Here is the list in order of episodes each character got.

1. Jack: 12 episodes (7 flash back, 2 flash forward, 1 present, and 2 flash sideways)
2. Locke: 10 episodes (9 flash back, 1 flash sideways)
3. Kate: 9 episodes (7 flash back, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
4. Jin and Sun (counted together because they could not be separated): 8 episodes (6 flash back, 1 flash forward/flash back, 1 flash sideways)
5. Sayeed: 7 episodes (5 flashback, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
6. Desmond: 7 episodes (6 flash back, 1 flash sideways)
7. Sawyer: 6 episodes (5 flash back, 1 flash sideways)
8. Hurley: 6 episodes (4 flash back, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
9. Charlie: 4 episodes (4 flash back)
10. Ben: 4 episodes (2 flash back, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
11. Walt and Michael: 4 episodes (4 flash back)
12. Eko: 3 episodes (3 flash back)
13. Juliette: 3 episodes (3 flash back)
14. Claire: 3 episodes (3 flash back)
15. Ana Lucia: 2 episodes (2 flash back)
16. Boone: 1 episode (1 flash back)
17. Shannon: 1 episode (1 flash back)
18. Rose and Bernard: 1 episode (1 flash back)
19. Richard: 1 episode (1 flash back)
20. Daniel: 1 episode (1 flash back)
21. Miles: 1 episode (1 flash back)
22. Jacob and Smokey: 1 episode (1 flash back)
23. Nikki and Paulo: 1 episode (1 flash back)

Notice the number 23?

Other characters on the show with significant roles but no dedicated episodes: 

Libby

Rousseau

Alex

Charlotte

Lapidas

Penny

Widmore

Eloise

Ilana

Christian

Cassidy

Nadia

Does this list by number of dedicated episodes fairly depict the importance of the characters in LOST?

Some surprises to me: That Desmond jumps ahead of both Sawyer and Hurley, that Daniel, whom I feel fairly connected to, only had 1 flashback, that Nikki and Paulo ever deserved an episode.

"Losties" vs. "Others": Body Count

So, Brooke and I are doing another lost re-watch.  We started one which sputtered out last year, but this will be the first re-watch of the entire series, and the first time we have re-watched season 6 at all.

Several things have struck me during this re-watch, but what I want to post about here is the actual body count of "Others" vs. "Losties."

Lost is a great example of how point of view/perspective can shape our realities.  In Lost, we are, at least for the first 3 seasons, given the point of view of the "Losties."  From their perspective, the "Others" are a brutal and malicious group of practically wild savages, while the "Losties" themselves are a reasonable and logical group of people merely defending themselves.  Yet, one surprising statistic might be all that is needed to show how perspective can change everything.

<> At the end of season 3, the body count of the "Losties" is 18, to 3 for the "Others."  That is, the Losties have killed 18 of the "Others" while the "Others" have only killed 3 of the "Losties."  That statistic might sound surprising to those who have watched the show, but I have kept a fairly rigid count during this re-watch. I have not counted some kills such as "Losties" on "Losties," like Ana Lucia's killing Shannon, Michael's killing of Ana Lucia and Libby.  Nor have I counted "Others" on "Others" kills such as Juliette killing Danny or Mikael killing the two women in the Looking Glass station.  Beyond season 3, keeping a body count becomes pointless as the groups have essentially dissolved or been realigned. 

Some notable kills:

"Others":
1) Ethan kills Scott or Steve, can't remember which.
2) Goodwin kills Nathan
3) Mikael kills Charlie

That was all the "Others" kills in the first three seasons.  Sure, Ethan tried to kill Charlie, Danny would have shot Kate and Sawyer, but I am going with actual kills.

"Losties":
Charlie kills Ethan
Eko kills two "Others" on the beach in self defense
Ana Lucia kills an "Other" on the beach during a raid
Ana Lucia kills Goodwin
Sun kills Danny's wife on the boat
The grand killing spree comes in the finale of season three when 7 "Others" are killed on their beach raid trying to take the pregnant women and are blown up with dynamite.  3 more "Others," including Tom and Ryan, are killed subsequently as Hurley runs over Ryan, Sayeed snaps the neck of another, and Sawyer shoots Tom at point blank range.
The other 2 kills are of "Other" extras during various skirmishes, one as Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Hurly are on their way to the "Others'" camp, and one during Kate and Sawyer's escape attempt.

So, which group is more malicious, bloodthirsty, and brutal?

Saying goodbye to "Pop"

This photo really captures Marvin "Pop" Schwarz' joy and love for life as he mans the grill. He was my wife's grandfather, a larger than life Texas Cowboy. He passed on Friday 3/23 and we will miss him. On the way to South Texas to perform his funeral. I'm glad I got to know him for the short time that I did.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Doctor Who 2-3: Tooth and Claw

In episode 3 of season 2 of Doctor Who, "Tooth and Claw," Rose and the Doctor visit 19th century Scotland and meet Queen Victoria.

Here we get the Doctor Who trope that some creature that has been relegated to folklore and mythology in the world is actually some advanced alien species.  In this case, the werewolf is actually an alien that is passed on through a bite.  None of the werewolf rules really change, but they are now explained through alien technology (although the technology is not explained).

We get another interesting connection between what is relegated to fantasy and what is relegated to science in this episode.  At one point Queen Victoria mentions that to be a learned person means to have knowledge of both Astronomy (the hard sciences) and folklore.  To truly have learning one needs to understand science and literature.

The episode is a fairly typical werewolf story line.  Werewolf attacks, humans run, the Doctor finds the way to defeat the werewolf using technology.  All is well with the world, except the fact that even though the Doctor saved the day, Queen Victoria is not amused.  After knighting the Doctor and Rose, she declares the Doctor and enemies of the state and banishes them from the kingdom.

Interestingly, the episode takes place in Scotland, at the house of a Scottish Lord called the Torchwood Estate. This is now our second reference to Torchwood this season.  At the end of the episode, Queen Victoria vows to set up an institute to study alien life and learn to protect England from its threats.

Bringing Order out of Chaos

This is my first Spring in North Carolina, and oh what a beautiful Spring it is.  It is Spring Break for me here at Chowan, and it nicely coincides with plants just beginning to grow.  With that comes yard work.  Thankfully, I now have time to deal with the work, and oh how much there is to do.  I have now spent three full days working with my hands outside.  My body aches in places it has not ached in a long time.

It is easy to just see yard work as a chore, some unpleasant activity that just has to get done.  And believe me, I still see it that way some times.  Yet, this week, I have tried to see more in my actions.  More in my digging, weeding, weed whacking, planting, cutting than I have in the past.  I see it as participating in God's creation.

In Genesis 1 we see God bringing order out of Chaos.  God takes his creation that was tohu va vohu (formless and empty), and he forms it and fills it, bringing order to the creation which at first existed just as a chaotic body of water.  Now, I get to take my yard, which in many places was empty, and in even more places was formless, and I get to bring form.  I get to hack away at the plants until form appears.  I get to fill empty spots with plants that bring beauty.

Perhaps the most chaos that I tamed this week was a plant that we could not identify.  It was about 7 feet tall and just looked like a tangle of growing things.  I started to pull, hack, and cut, and behold, what was once chaos took shape.  Turned out, a tenacious vine had taken over three trees and an Azalea bush.  Well, after the painstaking task of removing the vine, and pruning the trees and bush, I now have what might become an attractive part of the yard.  The Azaleas are just getting ready to bloom.  I have yet to identify the trees, but they are budding as well.  It feels good to bring order out of chaos, even if it hurts at the same time.

Doctor Who 2-2: New Earth

In episode 2 of season 2 of Doctor Who, Rose and the Doctor are off to New Earth in the year 5 Billion.  Earth was recently destroyed by the Sun's supernova (As seen in season 1 episode 2, The End of the World).  Yet, this has led to a renaissance and the founding of New Earth, with its capital city New New York.

There are three story lines in this episode, all of which deal with the concept of death and letting things pass when their time has come.

First, the Doctor is called to the hospital by a patient, the face of Boe, perhaps the oldest being in the universe whom we also met in "The End of the World."  The Face of Boe is just that, a giant face who exists in a glass cylinder.  In a conversation with the Face of Boe's nurse, we hear legends of the Face of Boe, that he is thousands, if not millions of years old, and that there is a legend that at the end of his life he will impart a secret to one like himself, a wanderer, a man without a home, a lonely god.  Is the nurse referring to the Doctor?  The Face of Boe appears to be dying.  Has his time come?  Will he reveal a secret to the Doctor?

The second story is that of the last human being, Cassandra (also encountered in "The End of the World") trying to take over the body of Rose.  Cassandra is a grotesque parody of a human.  Through plastic surgery, she exists, also as only two eyes and a mouth in the middle of a stretched piece of skin.  Her constant call to her attendant is: "moisturize me."  The Face of Boe and Cassandra form interesting foils.  The face of Boe is truly ancient, and is letting himself die.  Cassandra seeks to continue in existence through unnatural means and will not let herself die.  In Rose, a human as they should be, Cassandra sees a way to lengthen her life.  Through a psychic transfer, Cassandra is able to place her consciousness in the body of Rose, giving her a new lease on life.  This story line is about Cassandra realizing, with the help of the Doctor, that there is a time for all things to come to an end.  Cassandra meets her end in this episode, but it is with hope and redemption, not despair.

Third, the Cat-Nurses of the hospital have bred human flesh, infected with all human diseases, as a means of curing human illnesses.  The nurses, through the use of these human clones bred only to be inflicted with human diseases, are able to cure all of these diseases for humanity.  Theirs is pure utilitarian thinking.  The good of the many through the suffering of a few (although there seem to be thousands of these human clones).  Here the Doctor appears as the utmost authority, condescendingly condemning the nurses.  He says that if they seek any higher authority, there is none.

In the end, the Doctor, fully living up to his name, becomes the healer of all, healing all diseases and granting new life, in essence, creating a new human subspecies to which he has given life.  Their time had not yet come, so the Doctor grants life from death.

The Doctor's actions inspire the Face of Boe.  Though he thought his time had come, he now sees that it has not.  He now seeks to continue living, not in a selfish manner like Cassandra, but because he sees that he still has good to do in this world.

Doctor Who: 2-1: The Christmas Invasion

"The Christmas Invasion" is the first episode of Doctor Who season 2, and the first episode with David Tennant as the Doctor.  Tennant is my personal favorite Doctor, which goes contrary to what many have said that the first Doctor you meet is your favorite.  From the first episode, his portrayal of the Doctor seems consistent and phenomenal.  Eccleston vacillated back and forth between stern, goofy, conflicted, etc.,  while never really pulling any of them off.

First of all, the plot in a nutshell.  Rose and the new Doctor have crashed at Rose's home. The Doctor is regenerating, and while doing so is pretty much out of commission.  Meanwhile, scary Santas attack Rose and Mickey (remember Mickey, the long lost boyfriend?).  The Doctor wakes again just long enough to tell them that these Santas are looking for him and are only the scouts of a greater enemy, one in the sky.  The Sycorax aliens are coming to earth to take over.  The Doctor regains consciousness just in time to save the day.  He does this in single combat with the Sycorax leader, whom he defeats.  He then sends them packing with a warning, never to return.

Tennant plays the Doctor in all of his glory.  Long monologues with plenty of flare.  Tennant is a crazy, goofball, madhat Doctor who is equal parts court jester and earth's defender all in one.

The regeneration process brings an interesting aspect to this Doctor.  In many senses he is the same person, but in other ways, he is free to re-create/rediscover who he is.  In his monolog on the sycorax ship we see that the Doctor is free to determine what kind of a Doctor he will be.  And in the climactic speech, he sends the defeated sycorax off with a message to the universe: This planet earth is defended.  The Doctor has self defined himself as the defender of Earth and the human race.  The Doctor is the protector of humanity, the Earth's personal God.  There was even a moment in the episode where Harriet Jones (MP Flydale North, whom we met in season 1 episodes 4-5 ("Aliens of London and World War III)), now Prime Minister, offers up what can only be described as a prayer to the Doctor to come and save the earth.

As set up for what is to come, Harriet Jones (MP flydale North) orders Torchwood (England's Alien Taskforce) to shoot down the Sycorax ship as it is fleeing.  This of course greatly enrages the Doctor, who hates the taking of life, especially when it is running away.  Yet, Torchwood will continue to play a big role in what is to come, this season and beyond.