what lies in the shadow of the statue?

[krickets]

Random LOST Thoughts:


Kate:
I've never fully understood her character and I still don't. There were times that I really liked her, but the writing has been pretty inconsistent, and I think Evangeline's performances have been rather inconsistent as well. (Sometimes it feels like she's a completely different character, not necessarily only in her actions but in the delivery of those actions.) Despite that, I never really felt the "Kate hate" that everyone else seemed to feel. But I did lose interest in her character off and on. But by the end of this season, of our original cast, Kate (along with Sun, a bit), is really the only character that I can get behind. She's the only one who appears not to be acting out of selfish reasons, and not just because she's going with the flow/someone told her to. She's being selfless. She has so much to lose, her life with Aaron, possibly her freedom, etc. And yet she is doing the right thing. She put Aaron in the arms of his rightful family and has come back to get his mother. It's one of the few things that's made sense to me throughout this entire season.



Sawyer:
Why I grew to love Sawyer: By the beginning of this season, he had changed in a believable, consistent way. I don't feel he was emasculated or made to be someone he was not. I don't believe he became "better" per se, only that he had grown into a person who had a family, into a person who cared about someone other than himself. And it worked because it happened gradually over time and was believable. And then we flash-forward three years and Sawyer has become someone else entirely. I barely recognize his character at all. This is so frustrating to me because I have felt for a very long time that the one character on the show that the writers had done a good job with on a consistent basis was Sawyer. And now they have erased that person.

I don't like it and I especially don't like the way he simply does what Juliet asks him to do without question. (Let's forget about their entirely unbelievable, cookie-cutter, cardboard romance.) She calls his name, "James," and suddenly he is submissive. During the fight with Jack and the decision about the bomb, I was reminded of a line from an earlier episode. Kate asks Sawyer why he is helping kid!Ben, why he changed his mind. And he talks about how Juliet said that right now Ben's just a kid and they can't just let him die, and then he says "So that's why I'm doing it. I'm doing it for her." (Possibly a paraphrase.) For her. Not because she had a good point, not because she convinced him it was the right thing to do, but just because she asked him to. Frankly, at the time, it was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. I am saddened by this. I don't even know how to respond to the way they've treated this character this season. I will still root for him because he is Sawyer, but I hope that next season they remember who he really is.


Jack:
I haven't a clue what to say here. I'm baffled. I think he is just as lost as we are.


The Jumpsuits:
Can't express how much I want them to go away. I don't care if they are a little tight in the rear. They make everybody look like Gumby, minus the square head.


Jacob v. Not!Locke:
I agree with kools_pad's assessment that Jacob represents good and Not!Locke (and Christian, and Alex, and Yemi, etc.) represents evil and that they're locked in some eternal struggle for control over the island. Okay so maybe that's not exactly what he said but that's the general idea. I got the same kind of vibe from real!Jacob that I get from Richard. This calming, non-imposing, trusting feeling. Maybe it's deceptive, but I'm going with it for now.


Show:
I told slybrunette, I've stuck with it this long, I might as well keep watching until the bitter end. So I guess what's what I'll be doing.


Eloise & Charles:
How much do I not care about these two and about the fact that Daniel's their kid and that Penny and Daniel are at least half-siblings and might be full-siblings and... who cares? I don't see the point of this at all. Contrivance, I have missed you my old friend! (Except I totally haven't because you're always here.)


ETA! ↑

Comments

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

Y'know what i just remembered yesterday when a friend talked baout Not!Locke and Eko? Eko's last words were to Locke. "You're next.."

How creepy is that? I mean, in full circle? Locke was next. Yes, its all contrived and convoluted as to why it had to be the o6 and Locke that had to leave the island. And why. And what? But, the fact that Not!Locke definitely put everything in motion, so that Locke would die. That he would be off island, and not protected immediately by Jacob. So maybe we know why Locke was chosen to leave. Not!locke needed a host that would have influence, both with the survivors, and with Jacob's minions.

And Ben being the apprentice is creepy as all fuck. And SO fitting for the character. He may have rare and complicatedly decent qualities, but at his core, he is a bad person. He's selfish, weak, and manipulative.

I think next season will be all about the 'sides'. Jacob or Not!Locke. And it will be about how both have legitimate points. Not!Locke probably suffered from something truly horrific and thought Jacob could have stopped it. Or maybe Jacob was part of it. So his side is about pain. And Jacob's side will be about servitude and faith. Believing in something greater than yourself.

My theory is my long awaited Evil Sawyer theory will come true next season. He's got a whole new kind of pain now. And hes got 6 people to blame, not just 1. I think Sawyer will side with Not!Locke. At his core, even when his this lame duck goodie character, he still believes in selfishness. Jack will be with Jacob. But im sure Not!locke will fuck with Jack's new faith in LOCKE. Tricking him. Kate, well who cares. Hurley Jacob. etc, etc

[elliotsmelliot.livejournal.com]

I agree with what you said about Kate. Normally she bugs the hell out of me, but I found her the most consistent and level headed this season.

[elise-509.livejournal.com]

I am in such agreement with you, especially with Sawyer, and Sawyer & Juliet. That relationship is so contrived and forced and unearned, and I don't recognize Sawyer at all anymore. Pre-time jump I loved how he was acting and I thought it was great, but then in 1977, he's just...ugh. I despise everything about Sawyer and S/J in that scenario.

Good point about Kate too. I've had issues with her in the past, but it's good to take a step back and realize that this season she has finally started acting in someone's interest other than her own and that's big.

[lenina20.livejournal.com]

I always thought Jack was the best written character on Lost and so far - no one had proven me wrong. Until he said he wanted to blow an atomic bomb because he and Kate weren't meant to me. It was almost as stupid as both Sawyer and Juliet deciding to erase the only good parts of their lives (or for Juliet, since she came back) because turned out Sawyer loves Kate. As God loved Jacob.

My only reaction is LOLZ.

I agree on everything you said here - I could go on and on about how everything you say about Sawyer and Kate is THE truth - but everyone knows how I feel about that. I will only disagree in that - for whatever the reason - I ship Ellie/Widmore like crazy.

Also - I used to believe John was perfectly written as well - and then they killed him in that disgusting way, making him a stupid pawn, the biggest failure ever, whose faith on the island was nothing more than the mocking of whatever deities/creatures/gods. Now - poor Terry O'Quin is supposed to play a character he doesn't even know who he is. I think that's the cruelest thing Lost has ever done to a character.

[quiet-rebel.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the entire Sawyer/Juliet relationship. I've always wanted him to grow and evolve as a character and we totally got that when he jumped out of the helicopter. Now this whole 1977 Sawyer is just not Sawyer; it's Jim. I want Sawyer back!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah I kind of remember that a little. I'm surprised. Lost finally got some continuity right then. Haha.

Not!locke needed a host that would have influence, both with the survivors, and with Jacob's minions. It does make sense that Darkie would choose Locke in that way. (However, I personally wouldn't follow Locke to the grocery store let alone anywhere else, haha.)

I really hope you're wrong about Evil!Sawyer next season. Not only because I hope for something better for him but it will make his character seem even more random than it has this season, but you are right, now he has a reason, especially if after this supposed "reset" he doesn't know Juliet lived. (I'm still pissed about that, lol.)

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I guess someone had to be level-headed. With all the craziness on/off that island.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

That relationship is so contrived and forced and unearned, -- This is the perfect description, especially that last word, unearned. Yes. Thank you. I really miss Sawyer. And I would hope for "the Sawyer we know and love" fic over the summer/fall hiatus but it seems like everyone else, save for you and me and a handful of others, is twitterpated with this pairing and the new Sawyer. Blah. *cries in a corner*

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

I don't think it will reset anything. Jacob said "They are coming"

I think he's been orchestrating his select few to come back. And after seeing what happened to Cheng's hand? (Remember in the Swan video, he only had one hand, when he was discussing 'the incident') So they were always already there. Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Hurley, Miles, Sayid. I think they are just gonna time jump to the Jacob 'present time'. But who knows what random crazy wack shit they will throw on there.

But erase all this development? Seems retarded. Detaches the audience even further. I don't think Sawyer will be EVIL. Well, maybe a little. But he'll be like he was in season 1. Reset. I like the idea that maybe the characters will be transfered back to normal time, but have new baggage.

I mean. Without getting deep on it. Sawyer was pissed already. Juliet dies, because of him, and because of Jack and his plan. As always, Sawyer will be childish and angry and blame Jack. But in a whole new way. A much darker way. I just think its bad storytelling to go back on everything.

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

"Now - poor Terry O'Quin is supposed to play a character he doesn't even know who he is. I think that's the cruelest thing Lost has ever done to a character."

WORD.

He's now just the most utterly pathetic character on the show. I mean, he was just used. A tool. A mans life, who had so much suffering and failure, was killed that way? Its more like the island was the WORST thing that ever happened to him. Because it gave him something to believe in, just to beat him down to a slow and torturing death.

I do agree that Jack has been the best written character so far. But Jack's real reason was for Kate?? That was almost as soapish and eye-rolling with disgust as Sawyer and Kate doing it in 30 year old polar bear feces.

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

See, I don't even think him jumping from the chopper was really Sawyer. That was OOC as well. And hyped to all hell. I feel like Sawyer hasn't been Sawyer since Season 2.

Sawyer used to be so fascinating and used to represent a real emotional story. But what i loved was that his story wasn't soapish and riddled with fluff. He was about man at its most primitive form. Selfishness. He had a bad ass plight to back it up, and a killer conman way. He was a perfect rift in the survivors community.

Kate ruined that. Horribly. Then Juliet. Then Time itself. I think they just listened to too many of the mindless "fix him!' fangirls. And now he's just a bore.

[lenina20.livejournal.com]

That was almost as soapish and eye-rolling with disgust as Sawyer and Kate doing it in 30 year old polar bear feces.

Having sex in a cage - no matter how contrived or over the top - does not compare with blowing an atomic bomb. Not really. I mean... one thing is being soapish. Another thing is thinking it is okay to blow up an island, kill hundreds of people, affect whatever the future is with the radiation, etc, etc, etc, because Sawyer and Kate had sex in a cage. It's like taking something that is soapish and then multiply over and over until it becomes reason enough to what? Blow up a H-bomb? Really? At least S/K remained in the area of the "romantic stuff" - it was about them - it wasn't used to create a cliffhanger about everyone on the island being dead, or the story to have actually not happened. Seriously. Does not compare. This time they have gone too far.

Which makes me furious because I love Jack and I don't want to see his character trashed.

[lenina20.livejournal.com]

It's so hard to find this opinion around. I mean - I ship Sawyer/Kate, but I've always thought Sawyer-->Kate was a ridiculously sappy story. (This is complicated, but bear with me ;) I found Sawyer's writing terribly inconsistent. One day he is cuddling babies, then two days later he is murdering with chains (Karma, Sawyer! Karma!) then he is depressed, but five hours later he proposes to Kate. Ein? Not to mention - I have been criticizing Sawyer jumping off that chopper since it happened - so far, I thought I was the only one. But... I'm not! :D At least this season they told us his reason hadn't been completely selfless...

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

Okay, actually I agree..

I guess its because I'm a guy and the stuff in the cage just brought the LULZ to me hardcore. Jack saying something, is easy to forget. But now that i think about it....yeah. I guess i just always kept the belief that he was doing this because his 'destiny' was dropped into his lap while he was patiently waiting for it in Dharmacrapville. I always thought the Kate thing was an afterthought. Like, "I'm doing this because nothing has never felt so right to me. And if I can forget this fickle bitch in the process? Double win."

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

Oh well I definitely do not 'ship' Sawyer/Kate. In fact, they are the couple that makes me cringe the most on this show. Jack and Kate are a close second. But since Kate poked her intrusive nose into Sawyer's business in season 1, I only saw BAD, BAD things for Sawyers character stemming from it in the future. And holy shit was i right.

A character as emotionally needy and just inconsistently clingy as Kate, bothering Sawyer all the time, scared the hell out of me. She is the worst character for Sawyer to hook up with. So this needy, whiny chick plays games with this guy and Sawyer becomes a mopey, whiny, pine machine who drinks beer on a beach crying his woes away.

Sawyer. The guy whos story used to rock Lost like John Locke's story did. Where Lockes was about mystery and magic curing his emotional pain. Sawyers seemed like the realistic, deal with it, it affects you forever pain. But Darlton sold out to a bunch of screaming teeny bop girls and turned him into Jim. Over the course of 3 dreadful seasons.

[bebitched.livejournal.com]

Kate: I loved her in S1, but since then I've gotten the impression that the writers change her into something different whenever it's convenient for them and their proposed storyline. Looking back on the finale though, she did seem to be the most level-headed of them all.

Sawyer: I wrote at least four explanations here for his behavior and erased them all because they didn't make sense. Maybe undoing the crash will bring his character back.

Jack: Dido.

Jacob: I'm probably wrong, but I don't trust him. He's probably the lesser of two evils, but there's just something about him that sets me on edge.

Show: I'll keep watching. I've come this far, might as well stick with it.

[lenina20.livejournal.com]

My best guess is they were trying, once again, to parallel Jack/Kate and Sawyer/Juliet in a very not so obvious way. I mean, if one of the reasons for someone was to erase S/J from existence, then another reason from somoneone else should be erasing J/K. But it is so contrieved and stupid!! Sad.

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

I guess in my perspective, since i don't care who is with who, and i was satisfied with Jack's comeback, i didn't care what he was saying. I was just caught up in the epic music and ridiculous plot. I was satisfied with the heroes journey Jack has been on. Hes sunk, then risen, then crashed, and him stomping through the jungle with a H-bomb on his back and faith in his mind was fucking epic. Did not give a shit who was in love with who. Because after the mini-arc of doom, everyone saw how sloppy their writing is when it comes to romance. Or maybe they were just lowering the standards with jaw-droppingly bad romance so that when this stuff over the H-bomb wouldn't be so outstandingly bad?

I was just more impressed with Juliet. I mean, romantic plot speaking. Sawyer was actually in a romance where he didn't come off as creepy and horny. And i actually thought it was psychologically fitting for Sawyer to fall in love with a woman who was almost a mother figure. She got him in line, loved him unconditionally, and she even looked like his mom. She didn't just look like Sarah. She looked like Sawyers blond mom as well. Sawyers whole character has been based off of losing his mother at a very young age. Clearly his mother loved him deeply too. And Kate never gave that love to Sawyer. Juliet did. Also, Sawyer's horniness reminds me of something one of the writers talked about one time. Where Sawyers plight also comes from a sexual nature. His mother was having an affair, that paints a boy's perception of women. Wham bam thank you ma'am.

I think what made me not mind Sawyer and Juliet, even though it was fucking random as hell, is that it made sense for Sawyer. Or it didn't focus on Kate ALL the fucking time. Sawyer in s3 and s4 was like a god damn broken record. Kate, Kate, emo, Kate, emo. A character as complex as him shouldn't have to be ALL about a character who is not interesting at all.

[lenina20.livejournal.com]

it didn't focus on Kate ALL the fucking time.

Didn't it?

On the other hard, S/J completely fucked up Juliet's character, thrashing her storyline (saving Ben!saving Ben!saving Ben!) so she could become Sawyer's brand new "oh!I've absolutely moved on. Not" girlfriend. And since I cared a lot more about Juleit than Sawyer.... All for what? So both characters decided to erase that relationship because Sawyer loved Kate after all? That's a lot worse, in my opinion, than anything S/K has ever done, story-wise.

Also - seeing Sawyer sniffling flowers was very creepy to me. And I find it funny that you think Kate softened him up and made him a sap of character and yet are okay with Jim LaFleur's, which was a lot, a lot, a lot more sappy that in-love-with-Kate Sawyer. For me, Sawyer in love with Juliet was as bad as Sawyer only with Kate, only he was wearing a floral shirt. But I see why you think it makes sense. For me, it might have made sense. If they had told me a story, instead of asking me to imagine or assume or guess or infer it.

[kools-pad.livejournal.com]

"For me, it might have made sense. If they had told me a story, instead of asking me to imagine or assume or guess or infer it."

That is Lost. That's all it is. That's why i don't take it seriously anymore. Inference is one thing that can make an audience think. It's a great tool. But these guys depend on it. They've depended on it so much that now its just a lazy plot device. And they use it on EVERY plot.

But I'll stop here because now it just gets into opinions. And clearly you feel strongly about this.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. (Although your icon is creepily staring at me! *hides*)

I want to have faith that we'll get him back, but I'm not sure I trust the writers that much... or at all. Haha.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am late to the party!

I honestly think my Ellie/Widmore related "whatever-I-don't-even-care" attitude is simply because it's too much, all of these lost/missed connections etc. the intrigue it's just... tired. I have no real interest in it because it's just another layer on top of layer on top of layer and eventually you just want someone to pull out the pea and tip the damn thing over already.

I always felt John Locke's character was that of a whiny child inside the body of a grown man, and I never understood his devotion to the island and it just pissed me off. Crazycakes. So I can't objectively say whether I felt it was consistent. Haha.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Kate: she's definitely yo-yoed as far as characterization is concerned. Right now she just seems tired and fed up and sick of all the nonsense from everyone else. A bit like Sayid feels right now only she has a more defined purpose. And that's good.

*pulls up a chair*

I may not be happy, but I'm here.