"It's never been easy."

[adeline]

Lost; 2x03: Orientation

- First off, was it the good folks who rip the episode for us each week that edited out the LOST splash screen in this episode, or did we just never get one? Because if it's the latter, how the frick does ABC forget to include that? Also, why does nobody seem to notice? Overall I thought the ep was pretty poorly edited, there were some strange cuts here and there. My guess is they filmed way much more than could fit in 42 minutes and had to leave out a lot of stuff. For shame, but I still all-around really liked the episode.

- Now about that prominent 'faith' issue

x. Locke - I believe he always was the trustful kind, then all that shit with his parents happened and almost completely broke his faith. Note the anger management classes took place at a church, though. (There's a wide shot in the beginning of that scene where we can see windows, and they're definitely the church-type kind.) Helen gave it back to him with the whole key thing. Then he lost it again, (I know, make up yer mind already! :p) maybe when he had his paralyzing accident (in which this Helen may or may not have died). Gaining back the ability to walk and fulfill his dream of adventure after the crash might have sufficed to give it all back to him.

x. Jack - as seen in Man of Science, Man of Faith, Jack wasn't at all into the power of hope to begin with. He always believed in fact over spirit or willpower. Then his future-wife-but-they-don't-know-it-yet had a paralyzing accident too, and Jack's top surgeon skills weren't enough to fix her. He'd like to believe anything else, but it's clear to him, he "failed her" and it can't possibly be any other way. Jack's frustrated at himself. Then he meets Desmond, who challenges him on his faith. "You don't believe in miracles?" And indeed a miracle happens, as it turns out Sarah CAN walk. This must've had some effect on Jack, some kinda "hope is alive" epiphany or whatever. Then love happens and even though Jack questions his emotions, he marries Sarah. From that point on, you'd think his bedside manner would improve, but we know it went all sucky again after that - something must've happened to Sarah to take all of his faith away. It seems in this episode like Jack was afraid of faith, that he didn't want anything to do with it. It's probably related to the fact that Desmond was the one who gave him faith in the first place, or perhaps more accurately, Desmond and Sarah. I believe Jack "failed" Sarah again at a later point which we have yet to learn about, and that he's never had faith in anything ever since. Now he sees Desmond again and it brings back all of this stuff that's he's been denying for quite some time, stuff that has deep enough an impact on him to turn him round back to the hatch and make him give Locke et al the right code.

(Heh, can you tell I love Jack? I am so looking forward to his next flashback eppy now!)

x. Locke placing so much faith in Jack eventually pushing the button was a beautiful touch. From where he stands, the stakes were high, and still he trusted a dubious Jack to save the day. I loved that.

- teh button

x. The whole Saving The World so-called purpose? A load of crap if you ask me. I'm with the crowd that says it's all a fucked-up psych experiment.

x. That execute key on the keyboard - no WAY it can get so glossy and so rugged in a matter of milliseconds as the images would have us believe. No way either two such different keys might be located on the SAME freaking keyboard. The editing and writing staff is screwing with us big time there. I'll post screencaps to back this up. My own pet theory? We saw Calvin at the beginning of MoSMoF, and we saw Desmond's finger pressing the button for the first time at the end of Orientation.

ETA the caps:

x. Our gang is waiting for somebody to push the button


x. "Jack" presses the button


- the rest:

x. I. love. Desmond. Poor thing him... But oh, "Calvin died"? The hell? How did NOBODY ask how "Calvin died"? That was weird. Inquiring minds want to know, COME BACK DESMOND!

x. Not enough (ex-?)main cast featured. :( It's the third episode already and where is Sun? Charlie? Shannon, Claire, Sayid? Okay so we saw Sayid and Hurley this week, right. BARELY! I miss the originals :(

x. Some lines didn't make much sense, especially at the end. "Why do you find it so hard to believe?" "Why do YOU find it so easy?!" That was great. Loved the dichotomy. But then Locke goes "Oh it's never been easy!" and I'm all, HUH? Isn't that acknowledging how hard it is to believe? And this was scripted by writers? Damn. The first time I thought it was great line, ya know, Locke admitting it takes a lot for a man to put faith in the unproven, but yeah, it makes no sense in context. He's basically saying "Oh I know it's hard, believe me" so why should he ask what's making Jack so afraid if he knows first-hand (as showcased by his flashbacks)?

x. Some other lines were GREAT though. Desmond's "The end!" mwahaha, loved. it. And also from him "Every, single, day" was so powerful. When Locke was repositioning the orientation film to watch a second time, I cheered at Jack's "You're gonna watch that again?" because, okay, WE crazy obsessive fans are obviously gonna watch it again, but we seriously don't need it twice in the same episode. Oh and Hurley! His "oh, crap!" when Kate came running to find Sayid was totally priceless.

x. So many explainations were given in this episode, through that Dharma Indus film! Did anyone else feel like it was a little too much? It was PACKED with polar bears, magnetic fields and lots of other stuff we've been theorizing for a while. Overkill, anyone? Eh, maybe it's just me. And the polar bear thing is such a letdown, if that's all there is to it.

x. Also, Alvar Hanso? So very much an anagram. Somebody put their thinking cap on and figure it out, I suck at these things. But these kind of names never come out of the blue.

x. Food for thought: Rousseau mentioned crashing onto the island with her group of research lst season, right? And research is what the Dharma Initiative is all about. Hmm...

x. Sayid is the coolest. "This argument is pointless. ::rolls eyes::" You gotta love a wise man. He kinda gave the same attitude to Locke and Jack as they were debating the opening of the hatch last season, except it was all in the eyes. I noticed and I loved. It was like, "Jeez, how's that for sensible Americans?"

x. Terry O'Quinn rocks so much. He definitely was ROBBED at the Emmys! I can't get over that. William friggin' Shatner can't be this good, there just is no damn way. And Matthew Fox? If he doesn't get a nom this season, I'll never ever ever give any credibility to that pompous committee EVER again. Just LOOK at the man's work. Whoa.

x. Is die_ana_die up and running yet? Because I very much need to join. Like right now. Whattabeeyotch.

x. Rose is back next week! Yay!!

x. OMGWTF Jin speaks fluent English? JIN SPEAKS ENGLISH?????!!!! Whoa. So did not see that one coming. Maybe it's a nightmare of Ana-Lucia or Rose's husband Bernard or whoever else was in the tail section and thinks our raftees are The Others, because he definitely was inside a room (you could see a light spot behind him). Or some expirated food from the hatch is giving someone hallucinations or whatever. It confuzzles me.

That's all. I'm very, very much looking forward to next week's episode, but I can't help notice... the vibe is so much different now than it was last season. Things have definitely taken a serious, no-going-back turn. I don't know what to expect from it, but so far I think this episode is my favorite from the new season, so I guess it's not all bad. But I hope to god the writers know EXACTLY where they're going with this, because if they don't and it all goes X-Files on us, I'm gonna be pissed off!

Comments

[stuartl.livejournal.com]

The button thing may be an editing screwup after filming a clean button (3 years ago, etc) and dirtying it for the "present day". There are a lot of differences between the scenes where we first saw Desmond and the scenes from the "present day".

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a screwup, it seems a little too conspicuous to me for it to be that... I bet it's fully intentional, it's the purpose that I'm not sure about. Maybe it's just to drive us crazy. ;)

[sabonasi.livejournal.com]

I think you summed up Locke and Jack beautifully. I strongly suspect that whatever happened to Sarah not only killed her, but did so in a way that directly negated the "miracle" that happened with Jack fixing her.

What I liked about Locke putting faith in Jack was that it showed Locke not especially wanting the you-know-it's-inevitable schism. This is going to make the aforementioned schism more tragic when it occurs because we will know that both Jack and Locke tried. (The schism isn't a spoiler, but you don't name a character John f-ing Locke and not have one in mind for the future.)

I think the rest of the main character will be featured more prominently in upcoming episodes. These past three of formed a sort of premiere arc. If they had tried to put anything else in those episodes, they would have felt busy and crowded.

Concerning Locke, "It's never been easy!", I read it like this: Locke seems to be able to find believe very easily. As it is obviously not easy for Jack, he can't understand Locke. From Jack's perspective, belief is hard. So, if Locke can easily believe, then Locke must be off his rocket. By Locke telling Jack that it's not easy for him, either, Jack was able to see that it would be possible for him to believe, too. Understand?

The thing about Dharma's "explanations", is that I don't think that it is all there is to it. If it were, it would not have been given to us so easily. I'm guessing that in upcoming episodes, Dharma's "explanations" will be questioned by future evidence. Besides, think about what Dharmed doesn't/can't explain. It can't explain the coincidental meetings between the characters. It can't explain their passcode being the same as the numbers that Hurley used to win the lottery. It can't explain Locke being healed, Locke having a dream about things he could not know, and the voices that everyone hears in the trees. And as likely on the surface an experiement seems, I paid enough attention in AP Statistics to know that there are limits on what an American company can do as an experiement. For one thing, killing four fifths of the passangers on an airplane is a big No No.

I don't think Rousseau is affiliated with Dharma. She arrived in, what, 1988, right? That's eight years after the "incident" at Dharma. Plus, her group wasn't headed for the Island initially and didn't know about the numbers.

Yes, O'Quinn was definitely robbed. Here's to hoping for next year.

Ah, I liked Ana-Lucia. Ana-Lucia/Big Black Islandman With the Twine is my new 'ship of choice! Lol.

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

I totally loved how both Locke and Jack took a tentative step in each other's direction. I hope they get to a point where they can trust one another (to a certain relative extent) before the schism happens. Speaking of which, I can't begin to fathom how powerful and intense that's going to be. I'm not literally looking forward to it, but I absolutely trust TPTB with it - the build-up, climax and aftermath will blow our minds. And I'll probably cry my eyes out, because I love both guys and I am so emo. It's gonna be great! lol.

Thanks for clearing up Locke's "never been easy" line. That's what my first instinct was, and then I dissected it too literally :) I think it's the "never" part that bugged me, since Locke has kind of been there, done that himself, but I guess it works with the intensity of the moment.

Good points about Dharma's "explanations"! The interesting thing is, as the logic of the experiments mentioned on the film will be evidenced and challenged, both Jack's and Locke's beliefs are bound to be altered again. From what we've seen, Locke is pretty much taking everything on that film at face value, while it's a whole load of crap to Jack, but we agree that it can't all be a bunch of experiments gone wrong. The film obviously has foundations in truth (hi, Jack), but it's just as obviously not the answer to everything (hey, John). And yeah, the number of casualties involved in the plane crash is what makes it difficult for me to believe the survivors are themselves parts of a big experiment. You're right, Dharma may not be as big a piece of the puzzle as I first thought it to be. I'm glad. :)

I just want to know what Rousseau's team was researching, hehe. And who Brennan was (she mentions the name in the radio transmission, but never has since).

I was all set to give Ana-Lucia a chance, seeing as I did not dislike her one scene in Exodus, but ugh, she was so ruthless in this one. I can see how the gun would freak her out, but sheesh, she could have tried harder to figure out whether or not they were who they said they were. That said, her flashback episode will probably explain her behavior, and my opinion isn't set in stone (yet, lol).

[sabonasi.livejournal.com]

I totally loved how both Locke and Jack took a tentative step in each other's direction. I hope they get to a point where they can trust one another (to a certain relative extent) before the schism happens. Speaking of which, I can't begin to fathom how powerful and intense that's going to be. I'm not literally looking forward to it, but I absolutely trust TPTB with it - the build-up, climax and aftermath will blow our minds. And I'll probably cry my eyes out, because I love both guys and I am so emo. It's gonna be great! lol.

That's how I feel. I remember reading something a writer wrote once. Though I don't have her exact words written down, it was something to the extent that there's nothing more satisfying for a writer than making every fan cry. We know that a schism will be sad and heartwrenching, but we also know that it will be damn good storytelling.

Good points about Dharma's "explanations"! The interesting thing is, as the logic of the experiments mentioned on the film will be evidenced and challenged, both Jack's and Locke's beliefs are bound to be altered again. From what we've seen, Locke is pretty much taking everything on that film at face value, while it's a whole load of crap to Jack, but we agree that it can't all be a bunch of experiments gone wrong. The film obviously has foundations in truth (hi, Jack), but it's just as obviously not the answer to everything (hey, John). And yeah, the number of casualties involved in the plane crash is what makes it difficult for me to believe the survivors are themselves parts of a big experiment. You're right, Dharma may not be as big a piece of the puzzle as I first thought it to be. I'm glad. :)

Exactly. Lost has had the theme of Man of Science, Man of Faith, and it would not be in their interest to commit completely one way or another.

I just want to know what Rousseau's team was researching, hehe. And who Brennan was (she mentions the name in the radio transmission, but never has since).

You know, I never figured what Rousseau's team was researching to be of any significance, but I wonder now if it will.

I was all set to give Ana-Lucia a chance, seeing as I did not dislike her one scene in Exodus, but ugh, she was so ruthless in this one. I can see how the gun would freak her out, but sheesh, she could have tried harder to figure out whether or not they were who they said they were. That said, her flashback episode will probably explain her behavior, and my opinion isn't set in stone (yet, lol).

I kind of saw it as her wanting to discuss what she learned with Big Black Islandman With the Twine. She had to act when she did because the rafters were about to put their plan in action, which would have resulted in the Twine One getting shot.

Actually, Ana-Lucia bothered me more in "Exodus, Part One". In both, she is ruthless/agressive/rude, but in "Exodus, Part One", she's presented as a normal person. In "Orientation", she's an antagonist. I'm much more willing to accept and like an antagonist who acts as she does. Plus, her being an antagonist blindsided me, and I like being surprised.

Well, that, and I thought she looked pretty damn cool being pulled up the rope while pointing the gun. Heh.

[hannahstarr.livejournal.com]

Oh man. Sayid is this episode was priceless. I loved that line. xD

[law-oneofmany.livejournal.com]

i didnt get to everything, but you do make a few good points.

specifically, i wanna see more of desmond. im hopin they come up with a backstory for him.

oh, and they need a Rose flashback. she's a main character too- she needs a bloody flashback! lol

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

A Desmond flash-back would be awesome. And am I being overly optimistic, or was that picture Jack saw of him and his girlfriend/wife/whoever an indication that we may find out more later? Here's hoping, anyways!

And yes, a Rose one is long overdue too, I love her! I wish she'd been featured more throughout season 1.

[okkate.livejournal.com]

"Why do you find it so hard to believe?" "Why do YOU find it so easy?!" That was great. Loved the dichotomy. But then Locke goes "Oh it's never been easy!"

I don't think that's what Locke meant. I think he meant it to mean that he knows it's not easy, it never has been, but he does it anyway. And Jack can do it, anyway, too. I understand where you're coming from, in that his statement seems to juxtapose what he said originally, but don't look at literally. He means it more that despite what he's been through, everything that he has overcome, he still believes. He can't comprehend that someone else wouldn't have that same faith.

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your take on this! I've thought about it again and I think you're right. What I had trouble with, initially, was that I felt Locke should understand Jack. I didn't take this line to mean that he did in fact, but I can see it now.

[britishmike.livejournal.com]

Just a quick comment re: Locke and the church - Locke may be a man of faith, but I think this refers to faith in the island rather than in a religion. Locke does not appear to be a religious person, rather he puts all his belief into destiny, and that the island brought them there for a reason.

[gossy16.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Locke's definitely not very religious, but I thought that was an interesting touch if nothing else. It could also be a subtle parallel with his mother's claims that he was immaculately conceived.

[sabonasi.livejournal.com]

I'll second that. Locke's a man of faith, but not a man of the church. Any church.