Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Bank Robberies: Episode 12

Bank Robberies

In 2011, there were 5,086 bank robberies in America.  Or, to be more specific: 5, 014 robberies, 60 burglaries, and 12 larcenies.*  Loot was taken in 89% of these incidents, totaling out to a loss of $38,343,501.96.  That's a lot of money.  Only 20% of these incidents had any of the money recovered--a comparatively measly $8,070,886.97.  

Kate may have been after the airplane--can we mention the idea that she was willing to SHOOT people to get that airplane? I mean, sentimental value, sure, but shooting people?--but had she not shot her accomplices, it seems like their act could have scored them some pretty impressive cash.

I like this episode, because it shows that Kate is both darker and significantly more unstable than her current island persona would suggest.  The question is, will the island exacerbate Kate's ruthless streak or provide her with a environment in which she can regain her moral footing?




* larceny:  taking something that is not yours (i.e. shoplifting)
burglary: larceny + illegal entry
robbery: forceable stealing from a person, considered the most serious by the FBI










Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Sawyer Says: Confidence Man (Episode 8)

We all know Sawyer is the master of nicknames--able to leap from condescending to absolutely inappropriate in a single bound.  I mean, I really have to hand it to the guy.  The sheer volume of snappy monikers he has at his immediate disposal is both comprehensive and surprisingly creative.  As evidence, I have compiled a list of all of the nicknames Sawyer used in the first nine episode of season one, but before I lay them all out, I thought it would be interesting to pose two questions:

1.   What would Sawyer call YOU?  (This one frightens me a bit.)

2.  Do you think there is a larger pattern we can see in Sawyer's nicknaming practices?

Consider.  And take a look at what he's done with his fellow islanders:

SAYID: (most nicknames to date)  Boy, Buddy, Chief, Abdul, Al Jazeera, Ali, Arab, Jackass, Omar, Capt. Falafel, Mohammad, Boss

JACK: Doc, Brother, Hero, Jacko, Saint Jack, Cowboy, Chico, Jackass, Dr. Quinn

KATE: Sweetheart, Freckles, Belle of the Ball, Baby

HURLEY:  Lardo, Pork Pie

SHANNON: Sweet Cheeks, Sticks

CHARLIE: Sport, Amigo

BOONE: Boy, Metro

JIN: Mr. Miyagi

*BONUS:  What other people have called Sawyer:
Sayid: Criminal
Boone:  Hick
Hurley:  Jethro
Jess: Baby

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do (Episode 4)



Disclaimer:  Written for The Lost Book Club.  

So, John Locke. 

Even ignoring the show’s obvious efforts to keep Locke ambiguous—scar, spooky music, etc.—you have to admit that the guy is sort of…dichotomous.

The man wakes up in a worst case scenario and experiences a miracle.  What does that do to him?  What would it be like to be handed redemption and damnation in one package?  

Forgive the cliché, but this is all very Pandora’s Box.  A plane falls out of the sky.  People are dead and dying.  They’re out of food.  They’re burning bodies in a fuselage.  There is a bona fide MONSTER uprooting trees and killing people in the jungle.  And no one is coming to get them.   

All aboard the handbasket.

But in the midst of this, one man wakes up and wiggles his toes… 

A man who has suffered humiliation, manipulation, and loss. 

A victim who wishes to be different so badly that he pretends it until he seems to actually confuse his fantasy for truth.  (“Helen,” for one; Walkabout, for another.)

A man who has been denied what he considers his destiny. 

What would redemption mean to a man like John Locke?

Because the island has given John more than just the ability to stand; it’s given him the thing he craves most:  capability.

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do…”  He says it more than once in this episode, and he will continue to say it throughout the series.  (In fact, it will come back to haunt him in the mouths of others before the end.)

And now, he’s got this miracle—a miracle that allows him to be the Great White Hunter who throws knives, whittles dog whistles for desperate fathers, and tracks boar. 

The island allows Locke to be CAPABLE. Makes him an asset to others.  Gives him credibility.

What does a miracle do to a man like John Locke?  

It makes him a convert.  A believer. Even a zealot. 

He said it himself in the next episode. “I'm an ordinary man, Jack, meat and potatoes, I live in the real world. I'm not a big believer in magic. But this place is different. It's special. The others don't want to talk about it because it scares them. But we all know it. We all feel it. Is your white rabbit a hallucination? Probably. But what if everything that happened here, happened for a reason?” 

 (If this show is really all a big audition process for Jacob’s island-tending replacement, I would be willing to suggest that John’s candidacy ought to have been a lock (ha, a pun) from the get-go. Thoughts?)
 
The island made Locke capable.  And in the name of defending his connection to the island, Locke will prove capable of a great many things….

Yeah.  Interesting guy.