A Fresh Start: Tabula Rasa

Episode: Tabula Rasa
Date Re-Watched: 5/24/11

Tabula Rasa is the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. Generally proponents of the tabula rasa thesis favor the “nurture” side of the nature versus nurture debate. The term in Latin equates to the English “blank slate” or more accurately, “erased slate.”

This perfectly represents what Kate is trying to have in this episode.  Or should I say the newly dubbed “Freckles.’

Jack in this episode is not worried.  He’s not trying to fix the Kate situation.  A far stretch from episodes to come when he’s micromanaging every little event.  Not sure why I forgot how much of a coward he is in this first part of the season.  It’s really not until the “Live Together, Die Alone” speech in a few episodes that he grows some balls and becomes the leader he needs to be.

The beginning of the Charlie and Claire romance!  I forgot how sugary sweet cute they are together.

First instance of creepy Walt.  Stopping the rain to make his dad go look for his lost dog.   Which leads Michael to stumble on a very topless Sun.  Thank goodness the chemistry wasn’t right for this to develop into a love triangle.  I think you can tell though that she wants to tell him something in English.

True manipulation by both Kate and Sawyer.  Sawyer thinks he’s pulling one over on Kate so he can be the “hero” and put the Marshall out of his misery, but Kate is also tricking him into killing the Marshall before anymore ill words can be said against her and her “fresh start.”

Fav Shots:
Jack’s face after Sawyer  comes out of the tent
“Wash Away” playing through Hurley’s CD player as the Losties be sweet to each other at the end of the episode.  I forgot how they incorporated modern music in Season 1 on the island
Fate to Late on Charlie’s hands
Vincent reuniting with Walt
The 180 camera spin on creepy Locke… must be his episode next…

Fav Quotes:
“He looks kinda… dying” – Hurley
“We should all be able to start over.” – Jack to Kate on the beach

3 down… 118 to go.

Seriously?: Pilot (Part 2)

Episode:  Pilot (Part 2)
Date Re-Watched: 5/23/11

“This relationship works because I feed her crazy.  If I smothered it like a campfire it would not work.” – Nick
“Seriously?” – Me
“What else do you smother… besides you?” – Nick

This LOST re-watch is already off to an awesome start, and we’re only on episode 2!

There are hints as to who the true convict is.  It is a cool social experiment as Becky said, to see who you think the convict will be.  I can’t remember who I originally thought it would be, maybe Locke? I know I didn’t predict who it was, that’s for sure.  And yes, knowing who it is, if you watch the gun scene after the Polar Bear gets shot, you can tell the manipulation that is going on… because it’s the best acting ever.

The end scene with the transceiver is also pretty amazing.  It’s the first time that it’s really addressed “WHERE ARE THEY?” Granted, they can’t answer that thanks to the  French Lady’s message.  Gee, can you believe she entered our lives as early as the pilot? And now that whole message she left explains exactly what we saw in Season 6… WOW!

Fav Shots:
Sun’s little act of defiance. Unbuttoning her top bottom on her sweater.
Sayid’s face as Shannon and Boone fight.
Hurley passing out at the blood
The transmission sequence.  
“Shannon, you studied french when you got kidnapped and Liam Neeson had to search for you in ‘Taken!'”-  Becky Moore

“We are traveling… We are traveling.. We-Are-Traveling…” Origin of the song
“What are you? Air Force? Army?”  “The Republican Guard.” – Hurley and Sayid
“You’re havin’ a bad month” – Locke to Walt
“Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark…” – Locke to Walt
“Probably Bear Village, how the Hell would I know?” – Sawyer
“Guess what?! I just shot a bear” – Sawyer
“The French! The French are coming!  I’ve never been so happy to hear the French!” – Charlie
“Guys, where are we?” – Charlie

2 down. 119 to go.

This Time You May Talk: Pilot (Part 1)

Episode: Pilot (Part 1)
Date Re-Watched: 5/23/11

For those of you who have never watched LOST with me there is one very strict rule: NO TALKING WHILE THE EPISODE IS ON! You can ask questions and theorize all you want during the commercial breaks, but as soon as LOST comes back… “AGAGA!”

As the blueray disc started to load last night, my brother asked “Are we allowed to talk?”  I was completely taken aback.  We’ve seen these episodes multiple times each, of course we could talk.  It’s for the new viewer… the new episode… the new information that the rule was created.  Too many an episode went by where a major mystery was being introduced or a character connection was being made and the gathering at the then apartment had no idea what was going on.

It’s fun to re-watch the pilot.  It’s like a movie.  Millions of dollars went into the production of just the pilot: in hopes that ABC would keep it more than 6 episodes.

The close-up of Jack’s eye and Vincent running through the bamboo… if only we knew then what we know now after 6 season.  All he had to do was a walk a certain path beyond that bamboo… not sure what he would have done once he got there, but WOW.

Before the first commercial break, you see a 360 degree view of the entire plane crash site.  Shannon is the only passenger acting how most people would react… screaming and frozen in place.  Locke helped a passenger and you would never suspect a thing about this guy, until he doesn’t seek shelter in the rain.

I read that in the original script the character Boone was named “Five.”  So, when they decided (and thank goodness they did!) to change the name to Boone, they did a Find & Replace on the script.  It wasn’t until one of the read-throughs that they discovered that during the scene where Jack tells Kate about his first solo surgery going awry and needing to let the fear in to complete it, he counts to 5…although it read “One… Two… Three… Four… Boone.”  How funny is that?

MUSIC… geez Michael Giacchino is so talented.  I forgot how much I love the music to this show.  It’s almost another character at times, but in other scenes it totally empathizes with whatever character it is behind.  SO GOOD.  

Why did the smoke monster kill the pilot you may ask.  Greg Gruenberg (The Pilot) was not supposed to fly the plane… it was supposed to be Frank Lapidus… you’ll meet him later 😉

Fav shots:
Eyes open
When Jack’s running to Claire and the heat from the crash is rising in front of him
Locke in the rain
Kate’s face when the pilot leaves

Fav Quotes:
“You’re not running now” – Jack to Kate after the 1-2-3-4-5 story
“Don’t worry about the others, we need to stay together” – Jin to Sun
“That’s not Vincent”- Michael to Walt
“I’ll keep you company until he does… don’t worry it will all be over…” – Jack to Rose
“Think we should do something about … the … uh.. B-O-D-Y-S?” – Hurley
“We have to go back for him.” – Kate to Charlie

1 down 120 to go.

The Shape of Things to Come

The LOST Re-Watch Begins

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since LOST ended. Six long years of watching with commercial breaks finally came to its grand conclusion. In honor of the show that got me from September 22nd, 2004… my sophomore year of college… to May 23rd, 2010… almost a month after I got married… I am starting my official LOST re-watch. **Don’t tell me what I can’t do!**

I haven’t watched a full episode since the week after the show ended last year. I watched all the special features when they were released of course, but in terms of just sitting down and re-watching… I haven’t. I finally feel like I can honestly look back on the show now with a new audience ear and truly see if the same themes and arcs that moved me so much so many years ago, will still translate. **Everything happens for a reason**

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have seen almost every episode MULTIPLE times… when I get someone else “addicted” to the show, I tend to watch it with them until they’ve either caught up or tell me to go away. The first 4 seasons I’ve had to have seen 10 times each. I can quote lines, point out things in the background and a fun party trick I have is to connect ANY actor back to LOST… try me in the comment section. It’s my dumb human trick, but it’s all mine. **One of these days I’m going to find a loophole my friend**

If you don’t know, I’m the biggest LOST fan I know. I started watching the show (believe it or not) at the ice rink while my sister had hockey practice. They have a few TVs set up in the lobby area and my then boyfriend (and now husband) said “Oh, Hey! There’s that show I was trying to tell you about. J.J. Abrams is doing this plane crash show where they land on an island… it looks almost like a movie… supposed to be really good.” We sat there and watched it off and on while peaking through the window to watch my sister and I was hooked. Nick would probably like me to point out that yes, he is the one who liked the show first and is responsible for the monster he’s created. **I’m sorry this happened to you**

Because of classes and everything, I didn’t truly become insanely crazy obsessed (as my friends will quickly tell you) until they came out on DVD. That’s when I started to watch and re-watch those episodes so many times that noticing things like “Ethan Rom… Other Man” became second nature. I was a Lostie. I helped write a few things for Lostpedia and Doc Artz… nothing big, just a few things here and there and truly became immersed. I was “that LOST girl” and I loved it. **4 8 15 16 23 42**

We began to have full on weekly viewing parties at our home, complete with costumes and LOST themes including “Keemy Sashimi” sushi nights and “Kate’s Taco Night” among others. We would play games and it was just a really fun time. I can honestly say that once LOST ended, we didn’t truly see some of our friends as much as we would like to, because there wasn’t the weekly LOST gathering at our place. 😦 **You all everybody**

I have collected many things over the years about LOST. Action figures, books, set designs, pieces of costumes. My license plate is the numbers and on my wedding day I had my “something old, something new, something DHARMA and something blue” (my bridesmaids and I had little temporary dharma station tattoo… mine was the pearl… duh). I’m a freak. **If I don’t play ping-pong every 108 minutes the whole island’s gonna explode**

So, I’m VERY excited that we (yes, people… Nick and Frank are participating) will be starting our first official LOST re-watch. **If we can’t live together, then we’re going to die alone**

We will watch one episode every day from May 23rd, 2011 until September 22nd, 2011. There are 122 days and 121 episodes. I might not post every day about the episode we watch, but at least every few days I’ll put my comments about the new take I’m sure to get “this time around.” Some days we may watch more than one episode… (for instance we’ll most likely watch BOTH parts of the 2 hour-pilot the first night)… and some days we just might not have the time. However, like “Julie & Julia” we have our goal date and will be watching the finale on September 22nd, 2011 here or in the flash-sideways. Please feel free to watch along with us and if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask! **We have to go back**

Of course this blog will still be updated for whatever else I’m watching, reading and doing.  **Dude**