Blogcritics

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

The Lost Mind: Third Season Countdown

Boxclocke — Wed, 4 Oct 2006 07:19:24 EDT

The countdown has started.In 108 minutes (actually a little less than 24 hours) you must enter the numbers into the microcomputer processor (you must be watching ABC), or the timer will roll over into heiroglyphics (you'll miss the third season premiere of Lost) and, in all likelihood, the world will end (this is actually true).That's right, the hiatus is almost over. The first big chunk of the third season of Lost is finally going to air!The Internet is buzzing with anticipation: a back-and-forth battle between uploaders and ABC's C&D orders is taking place on YouTube over clips of the premiere episode, fan forums are ablaze with interview snippets and spy photos that reveal plot information, and Blogcritics' very own Jackie has put together a rundown of spoilers, rumors and speculation on the first three episodes of the season. Just so I'm not adding to the din of pre-season spoilerage (and because I'm trying to stay pretty spoiler-free myself -- you should, too, it's more fun!), The Mind is going to stay out of that game altogether, and instead, do a little retrospective reminding us of why we're excited about the new season in the first place. And so, I present to you:The Top Five Episodes of Lost (so far):5. "The Other 48 Days"The seventh episode of the second season is also the only second season episode on this list. But then, you probably saw that one coming. "The Other 48 Days" follows the survivors of the tail section over the same stretch of time we had been following the middle section folks. It breaks from the standard flashback format of the show by following the story of the tailies linearly.The opening image of the episode is the now famous long shot of a tropical beach, which quickly turns hellish as the flaming wreckage of the tail section smashes into the shallow water.Beyond the killer opening, which is a faster-paced (though less technically impressive) counterpart to the pilot's opening, the episode maintains the tension throughout with airtight, efficient storytelling and some downright oppressive sound design. It may also be the only episode of Lost that works as a stand-alone story. 4. "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"The eleventh episode of the first season may also be the most emotionally powerful episode of the season. Following the rescue party gathered to hunt down Ethan, who has taken Claire and Charlie, the episode shows us what makes Jack tick.And tick he does. In what may be the strongest flashback in the entire series, we explore Jack's working relationship with his alcoholic father, and what happens when Jack is forced to choose between telling the truth and saving his father's career. Pretty deep. And the heartwrenching scene as Jack tries so. damn. hard. to try to rescusitate a hanging Charlie is so good it's almost too hard to watch. Plus the kicker at the end where they discover a large chunk of metal on the jungle floor is plenty of fun.3. "Pilot"The one that started it all. Two years ago, almost to the day, the first episode of Lost aired to an unsuspecting nation. At the time, it was just another series premeire for the new season. It's by J.J. Abrams, you know, the Alias guy? That show's pretty cool. Plus one of the hobbits is in it. Not sure which one. Little did we know what we were getting into.The episode begins with the famous action-packed crash aftermath sequence, grabbing the viewer right from the beginning. It keeps the tension throughout, and establishes a variation on the island-flashback-island-flashback format every episode to follow would more or less stick to.From the crash, to the polar bear, to the monster, to the French broadcast, the pilot lets you know right from the beginning that this isn't your grandma's castaway show. By the end of the episode, we're right there with Charlie when he asks the now famous line: "Guys... where are we?" 2. "Exodus"The show's two-hour first season finale has received a fair amount of hell for its cliffhanger ending. I, too, rolled my eyes at the groan-inducing obvious final shot of the heroes staring down into the mysterious blackness of the hatch. Still, you can't deny it was a hell of a lot of fun getting to that point.The story is a set-up for the paradigm shift that is the beginning of season two, and is thick with reminders that, on Lost, nothing is sacred and nobody is safe (just a reminder: I totally called the hatch getting destroyed at the end of season two). From Arzt blowing up, to the weeks-in-construction raft being destroyed, to the kidnapping of Walt, everything in the episode lets us know that everything is about to change.Again, like most others on the countdown, the episode breaks from standard flashback format, showing us how all of the principals ended up on Flight 815 together. 1. "Walkabout"It never fails. You try to get somebody to get into the show, so you let them borrow your DVD set of Season One. Yeah, they dig the pilot. And, yeah, "Tabula Rasa" is kinda neat. But maybe they're still a little bit resistant to try to get into a new TV show.Until they reach the final episode on that first disc.Then they're hooked. "Walkabout," the fourth episode of Lost, has never failed to grab anyone by the balls. The Locke-centric episode has Locke boar hunting on the island, as well as revealing to the audience this badass great white hunter had a very tragic pre-island life. It also subtly breaks the established two-timeline format for a Lost episode. Rather than flashing back and forth between the island and before the crash, "Walkabout" exists on three timelines: the present, Locke's life at the box company, and the aftermath of the crash. The triple timeline is what gives the episode's climactic reveal of Locke's miracle the smartest storytelling gutpunch any scripted moment on network TV has given an audience in decades.And there's that. Think I'm wrong? Let me know what you're favorite episodes are.Remember, at 9 Eastern & Pacific/8 Central tonight, "A Tale of Two Cities" premeires on ABC. So, be sure you've cleared your evening, and are ready to kick back and get sucked back in.Lost is back, folks.

Boxclocke is the pseudonym of Baylor Johnson, a student filmmaker and screenwriter at the University of Texas at Austin. His personal blog is The Boxclockery, part of The Workingchair.

The Lost Mind: The Sophomore Slump and Adventure on the Horizon

Boxclocke — Wed, 9 Aug 2006 02:40:58 EDT

Guys... listen...We need to talk. You may not like this, but I think we all need to come to terms with a certain reality.Now, before you accuse me of blasphemy and stop reading, know this: I still think that it was the best show on television last season. I love Lost. I'm never going to stop loving Lost. But I don't think anyone would deny that the show suffered something of a sophomore slump. Let's face it: the second season was, overall, not as good as the first.I mean, yes, it started off great, with the whole mystery of the hatch and all. And it finished strong what with Michael killing people and the electromagnets and all that. But you have to admit that the middle chunk was kinda, well, slow. Maybe you disagree, and that's fine. I know it's sort of a big deal to think of the show in negative terms. Maybe you just need some time to digest it. In the end, though, I think it's better for both us and the show if we're honest with each other.Why am I mentioning this now? It's not that I think we should start seeing other shows on Wednesdays. Hell, I love our Wednesdays together. I'm saying this now because I have reason to believe that it's only going to get better from here. What makes me say that? The Comic-Con panel. Unless you've been living in a cave for the last few weeks, you probably heard something about a Lost panel at Comic-Con on July 22. And while the internet Lost fanbase has been buzzing about how the Q&A session -- featuring executive producers Damon Lindelof (who did nearly all of the talking), Bryan Burk, Carlton Cuse, and actors Jorge Garcia and Daniel Dae Kim -- was interrupted by the "star" of the online mystery game, Rachel Blake, what I found most interesting was the way the shows creators hinted at a return to the character-centric, adventure storytelling that made the first season such compelling entertainment. Throughout the entire Q&A (which you can listen to here) there was a subtext of change on the horizon. These guys knew that there was a bit of restlessness in the fanbase. They weren't going to be okay with it. One of the many things that fascinates me about the show is the dialogue between the creative forces and the fans. Rather than lock themselves up in a Hollywood version of the ivory tower, the writers seem to keep in touch with audience reaction and respond to viewer feedback. Whether face-to-face by means of a Comic-Con Q&A session, or through the more informal podcasts, the series' head writers and executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse reveal themselves to be down-to-earth, fan-conscious writers. No other major network drama's creative team would put itself in a position where they could be confronted, as the CC Panel was, by someone asking about the show's less-than-stellar number of Emmy nominations, "Were you surprised? Because I wasn't."While I think that maybe that particular fan was a bit out of line with her question, I don't entirely disagree with her general premise: season two was not as consistently good as season one. In response, the writers blamed the shift in tone and the drop in the number of Emmy nominations on the addition of more sci-fi elements to the show. It may be true that sci-fi tends to turn off awards folks, but I don't think that it's the addition of a sci-fi angle to Lost that caused the narrative fatigue of the middle chunk of the second season. Adding sci-fi to great television shouldn't mean quality takes a hit. Was Lost screwed for Emmy nominations? Absolutely. It is certainly more deserving of the best series nomination than the increasingly irrational 24, and how Michael Emerson's performance as Henry Gale escaped awards notice is beyond me. Still, I think that the effort made to set up the mysteries of the DHARMA Initiative burned up a lot of the dramatic momentum the first season had built up. Combine that with an inevitable amount of complacency from the first season's success, and you're naturally going to see at least a marginal decline in the quality of the show, especially the character work.Take, for instance, Jack, who in the first season is the island's reluctant hero, the passionate, pragmatic cowboy with daddy issues. He spends much of season two shouting at Locke for "finding it so easy to believe!" ...um, okay? Or how about Sawyer, who in The Long Con basically became a caricature of himself, telling us, again, and without any clear motivation, what we already knew: he wants people to hate him.Perhaps the best example would be Locke. It's Damon Lindelof himself who at the Comic-Con panel describes what went awry with him. "Here's a guy who in season one... knows all the answers, he's on an axis of destiny, he finally feels like the island has provided him with the answer." Not to mention a he's little bit on the crazy/creepy side, which is always fun to watch. But in the second season, not so much. Instead of boar hunting, Locke wants to push a button, but then gets burnt out on that. Gone was the clever man of mystery with the ulterior motives. Locke became the island's resident grumpy face. Damon says in the Q&A that Terry O'Quinn was "very frustrated" by Locke becoming... well, frustrated through much of the season. "Sometimes as writers we have to frustrate the actors in order to tell the larger story," says Damon. He doesn't let on that he knows that us fans were getting frustrated too. It's not especially exciting to talk about the way parts of the second season became kind of humdrum; we already know that. But what is interesting about the mea-almost-culpa on the part of the writers is it shows that they know that we know that. And they promise that season three will be different."It's a new pilot every year," says Damon, explaining that every season, the show gets re-invented with the purpose of telling one particular section of the larger Lost story. So far, season one was an ensemble survivor story, and season two was a puzzle-laden serial with sci-fi elements added into the mix. It's no surprise that with these new elements being added that some fans felt they'd been delivered a sort of bait-and-switch. I know that when I so totally called it back in March that the Swan would get blown up (I'm never going to let that go), it was partially wishful thinking. The question posed by the hatch was "what is this air-conditioned, artificially lit, compound with bed, bath and kitchen?" But always in the back of my mind was the nagging follow-up: "and what the hell is it doing in the middle of my castaway show?"Fortunately for us, the writers have their fingers on the pulse of the fanbase. When the second season was all said and done, Damon says he was aware that there was a sense among the viewers that it was "too mythologically dense, [and] the show is getting too complicated. So, we have to re-adjust."It's significant that he says "re-adjust," not plain old "adjust." It means that, in some way, the show is reverting. But what is it reverting or re-adjusting to? What element of season one is going to come back that will make season three better? "We're really excited about season three," said Damon. "It's going to be vastly different-feeling than the two seasons that preceded it, but at the same time we're sort of re-embracing the roots that we love about the show." It's a promise of change, and an indication that the he realizes the show has strayed from where it originated from. That alone would be good enough for me. But then he says something exciting that made me realize what had been missing in the second season, and what we're going to get reverted to. "There's going to be a lot more adventure elements in season three."Adventure! That's it! That's what had been missing from the second season. A sense of adventure! Sure there was mystery, sure, and drama, and the occasional bit of peril, but almost no adventure. But perhaps more exciting is what Damon had to say about a discussion he had with Terry O'Quinn regarding the future of the Locke character. "[O'Quinn said] 'I want a knife in my hand and to kill things again,' and we said, 'Oh, you'll get your knife back, John Locke.'" He said it with a hint of gleeful menace. Carlton almost told him that he can take that to the bank. But he didn't.ABC has put out a (somewhat spoilerish) press release announcing that production has officially begun on season three in Hawaii. Hopefully, they've gotten everyone together to watch the first season DVD's in a sort of back-to-the-roots boot camp. Hopefully the whine-factor will have been exorcised from some of the principal characters. Hopefully the directors will be less afraid to go for those really long lenses, and remember to show some scenery, because they're on FREAKIN' HAWAII after all! Hopefully, Michael Giacchino, now that he's not also scoring Alias, will be able to focus on creating the kind of compelling musical material he wrote for season one ("Hollywood and Vines," anyone?). Hopefully, the show follows through on its promise to bring back the adventure. I say hopefully, but you know what? I don't doubt any of these things are going to prove to be true. If what little we've heard about the third season pans out, I think we have reason to be excited. October can't come soon enough, because God knows the Lost Experience isn't what it used to be either. But that's fodder for another column. ... Oh, and I'm glad we had this talk.

Boxclocke is the pseudonym of Baylor Johnson, a student filmmaker and screenwriter at the University of Texas at Austin. His personal blog is The Boxclockery, part of The Workingchair.

The Inaugural Lost Mind: "Live Together, Die Alone" Revisited

Boxclocke — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 09:47:45 EDT

Lostaways, conspira-spies and Drive Shaft groupies rejoice: Blogcritics.org has a new column: The Lost Mind!I will be writing in as frequently as possible to get you caught up to speed on the latest happenings in the world of the Lost, along with my own brand of commentary, and, once the new season starts, give you weekly episode recaps. Of course, I know I'm not the only one out there doing this. Due to the fanatical following the series has, there are already about a million different places online to get your Lost fix. So you're probably wondering what I plan on bringing to the table to hold your attention for the time you should be spending configuring the Numbers onto a grid, or brushing up on your Dickens, or practicing your anagrams. What's my hook, my angle, my gimmick, my schtick? Well, if you're looking for major spoilers, celebrity drama, or "OMG Clare+Charlie=<3 4Evr," then look away. But if you want commentary on the production aspect of the show, studies of the mythology and story, and critiques of the episodes from someone with a screenwriting background, then you've found your man. And I've found an audience. And that's all we really want. Now, onto the matter and hand:This week, the last week of July, marks roughly the halfway point of the summer hiatus. We're midway between the May 24 airing of the second season's finale, "Live Together, Die Alone," and the October 4 airing of the third season premiere, "A Tale of Two Cities." And what better excuse is there than a halfway point to revisit some of the mystery and excitement of the season finale you have TiVo'd? Now, this is not intended to be an end-all, be-all collection of theories and tidbits about the episode. If you want a recap, or a comprehensive list of fan theories and other details, visit the episode's page on LostPedia. This is a chronological breakdown of some of the smaller curiosities that stood out to me in this repeat viewing. Stuff that I (and perhaps you too) might have missed the first time around while being baffled by the bigger stuff like the four-toed statue, but that I caught this time and can't quite shake the feeling that they're pretty significant to the story as a whole. If you've got a (legally obtained, of course) copy of the episode at hand, it might be fun to follow along. If not, here's a transcript. Right after the first commercial break, Desmond says "we are stuck in a bloody snowglobe." Sound familiar?Desmond mentions "hostiles" on the other side of the island rather offhandedly to Sayid. Inman mentions them later. Are these "hostiles" the Others? Is it Rousseau? Someone else entirely?Libby mentions that her husband David "got sick." Any correlation to the injections and the Quarantine on the island? This lends credence to my theory that Libby has already had some experience on the island or somehow knew the plane was going to crash. I intend to write an entire article on that one in the future. You know, I'm seriously beginning to think that the nets with the doll-traps aren't Rousseau's.Upon second listening, that bird definitely did say his name. This moment is so out of the blue from the rest of the show, that my guess is that it is the see-the-monster-without-knowing-it moment that Damon and Carlton mentioned in the official Lost podcast before the show aired.The Simpsons have four toes on each foot. I'm just saying.So "Radzinsky made some edits" to the Orientation film. Does this have something to do with Kelvin considering the Others to be "hostiles"? By the way, I really don't think that the stain on the ceiling is Radzinsky. If it is, Inman killed him. But Radzinsky didn't kill himself.Much has been made of the identity of the person that Sawyer shot. I think it's pretty clear that he's not an "Other" in the traditional sense. Personally, I'm in the camp that says it was Marvin Candle. How could he be the same age now that he was in 1980? Well, duh.Hurley confronting Michael here is weak. Jorge does his best, but Hurley's just not very well written in this moment. In the post-episode podcast, Damon and Carlton admitted that this was probably the weakest scene in the episode, and since so much else had to happen in it (they deal with shooting a guy, they deal with Michael's betrayal, Jack explains he has a plan, etc.) Hurley's anger just sort of gets blown off. I'm inclined to agree that this is the weakest scene in the episode, but Hurley never gets a moment in the rest of the episode to show that anger. He had better be pissed off in the season premiere.Desmond was discharged because he "couldn't follow orders." Is that a flashback set-up or what?Eko says "open the door and I will forgive you." Locke gives a confused look before asking "forgive me for what?" Eko is a (sort of) priest, after all. It's part of his job to forgive sinners. I think that there is some other-worldly, religious thing going on with the Swan hatch and the button-pushing and the key-turning. I don't know what, but more on that later...What of the seemingly abandoned Dharma station that Sayid finds? Since we don't really see much of Sayid any more after this point in the show -- much like we didn't see the raft folks after the attack on the raft in "Exodus" -- so my guess is that, like the rafties at the beginning of season two, we'll double back to explore more of what happened here within the first few episodes of season three.Something must have moved the pile of pneumatic tubes. The way they were scattered about suggested that they had to have been interfered with, since if they all fell out of the pipe so close to the ground, they wouldn't have spread out like that. Something here isn't what it seems. Plus, if these are coming from the Pearl, what is the source of the vacuum?Kate reads the phrase "0400 SR moves ping-pong table again," off one of the journals. My guess is that the "R" in "SR" is Radzinsky.The whispering in the woods before the heroes get ambushed is worth mentioning because in one of the podcasts, Damon and Carlton carefully choose their words in describing how the whispers relate to the Others. They say that "we have been led to believe" (or something like that) the whispers are connected to the Others, which all but confirms that they are not.The cheesy dot-matrix, sprocket-holed paper printout from the old computer equipment is exactly the kind of printout I deal with at my job (it's a shitty job). Let me tell you, the way those printers break down all the time if you're not careful, there is no way the Pearl was unmanned on 92204.The half-deaf sound design when Charlie wakes up is what got the show nominated for the Sound Design Emmy. Did I mention that the show got screwed for Emmy nominations? 'Cause it did.In what has to be the least subtle historical/mythological reference in the history of Lost or, indeed, television as a whole, a character named Penelope promises to "wait for you always."In another moment that has me thinking there is something religious going on with the button-pushing and key-turning in the Swan, Des holds the keychain rather like a rosary when he's looking up to Locke at the hatch in the flashback. I'd dismiss it right away if he didn't later cross himself with the keychain, suggesting that he is indeed a Catholic, just before he turns the key.Not-Henry is the only one who looks like he knows what's going on when the sky turns bright white. White, mind you, and not violet as Clare says.By the way, I totally called it that the hatch would get blown up way back in, like, March. The losties went an entire season without having a hatch, and in the anything-goes take-nothing-for-granted style that Damon and Carlton and company have created this world... well... anything goes, and you can take nothing for granted. Especially something like shelter. Charlie is acting really odd when he gets back to the beach. Could be a head injury, but when he says of Locke and Eko "they're not back yet?" it makes me wonder if he had some sort of spiritual experience with those two when the key was turned. Or, if there is no head injury and there is no spiritual experience, then it's just more awkward writing for the episode. Plus we know that Desmond, Locke and Eko are in season three, so wherever they are, they'll be coming back. You never get a full shot of Walt. Presumably because Malcolm David Kelly isn't as young as he was back in the summer of '04. Damon and Carlton said at Comic-Con, however, that the issue of Walt's growth would be addressed, and they also suggested that time may pass differently on the island than in the rest of the world.The number 7418880, which appears on the screen of the remote station computer, is 4*8*15*16*23*42. But you already knew that, right?And there we have it. A second viewing of the second-season finale of Lost: "Live Together, Die Alone." Liked what I have to say? Have theories of your own about the finale? Think I should never do this again and it was a stupid idea? Let me know. I'd like for this column to be fairly interactive, letting your comments guide what kind of stuff appears in the articles. So, comment away. What else are you going to do with your time, look for code fragments?

Boxclocke is the pseudonym of Baylor Johnson, a student filmmaker and screenwriter at the University of Texas at Austin. His personal blog is The Boxclockery, part of The Workingchair.