Lost Virgin Diary – Let’s do the time warp, again!

Join me for another Virgin Diary entry on my favorite stranded castaways. This time I’m taking on the final episodes from Season 3 of Lost (“The Man Behind the Curtain,” “Greatest Hits” and “Through the Looking Glass” and most of Season 4, from Episode 1 “The Beginning of the End” through Episode 11 “Cabin Fever.”

I knew Charlie was probably going to die in order to fulfill Desmond’s prophecy, but nothing could really prepare me for actually seeing it. It’s been over a week and I’m still haunted by the final images of him in The Looking Glass station holding his hand up to the glass window with the words “Not Penny’s Boat” for Des to see. Honestly, I think I’m more shaken up than Claire or any of the other survivors. I tend to get emotionally attached to fictional characters. In my opinion, the best ones are the ones that make you genuinely laugh and cry. But I ask again, why did the writers have to kill off my favorite character with half the series yet to go?

A lot has been happening in Season 4. As if flashbacks weren’t difficult enough to keep track of, the writers decided to throw in flash-forwards this season depicting future events the year after the plane crash. Presumably, six of the Oceanic passengers get rescued off the island, including Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid and baby Aaron. I’m left to ponder about the fate of the rest of the survivors. Did they all die or did they just not want to leave the island? It sounds like at least Sawyer and Locke do not wish to leave. I have yet to watch the epic three-part Season 4 finale titled “There’s No Place Like Home.” Perhaps that will answer more of my burning questions about the infamous Oceanic Six.

Ben Linus and Juliet are far more complex than I originally gave them credit for. It was no surprise to me that Ben killed his father, but the gassing of all of his fellow Dharma Initiative people? Whoa, that took cunning capabilities. It was interesting to see how Ben grew from a quiet, fearful boy not sure about his place on the island into a mastermind of diabolical proportions. I respect Ben more, and at times I alternate between liking him and loathing him, but I’m still not fond of Juliet. She seems to play both sides of the fence (Jack’s group and Ben’s Others) and maybe that’s why I don’t like her. It’s like pick a side already, Juliet!

It was interesting to see Lance Reddick from J.J. Abrams’ other show Fringe (which I adore) appear in several episodes this season, but I can’t make up my mind about who he is quite yet. He could be Jacob. Then again, Richard Alpert could also be Jacob since he presumably never ages. From Locke’s miraculous birth in the 1950s through his finding little Ben on the island and taking him under his wing to him offering Juliet the research job in Portland, the man always manages to look the same. Perhaps there isn’t even going to be an actual Jacob.

What I’m starting to think is that Richard is really the island itself personified. He seems to appear whenever the island needs something and he’s there to prompt whomever needs prompting to do the island’s bidding. It was Richard who talked Ben into leaving the Dharma Initiative, it was Richard who talked Juliet into joining their research on the island and it was Richard who convinced Locke that Ben was no longer capable of leading “The Others” and pretty much outlined for him what he must do to gain more credibility and leadership among “The Others.”

I’ve also been thinking the island has a way of making certain people from the past appear whenever it wants to lead characters in certain directions (Eko’s brother led him into the jungle, Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave led him into the jungle, Jack’s father led him into the jungle, Claire’s father led her into the jungle, Ben’s mother led him into the jungle, Walt led Locke out of the ditch). You know, people really need to stop allowing themselves to be led into the jungle. Something bad or confusing almost always happens.

This island is manipulative to say the least. This season has taught me that the island selected who would be on that flight for a purpose. I don’t think anything is a random coincidence anymore. It seems the island will stop at nothing to preserve itself. It uses people as pawns and cruelly discards them when they no longer serve their purpose. I haven’t fully grasped the concept of time travel and its implications this season. Have the survivors entered some sort of Bermuda Triangle or time warp in which space and time are no longer relevant? Let’s do the time warp, again!

While I’m still puzzling through the finale of Season 4, I was inspired by the Charlie episode “Greatest Hits” at the end of Season 3 to compile my own list of greatest hits, or my “Top Five Greatest Revelations on Lost” (although I realize this excludes the final two seasons and what is sure to be a grand and memorable finale). I think maybe this will help me cope with the loss of Dominic Monaghan on the show, although I’m hopeful I’ll be seeing more of him in flashbacks throughout the remainder of the series.

“Greatest Hits” a.k.a. Top 5 Greatest Reveals on Lost (Seasons 1-4):
5. The realization that Locke was once handicapped but could walk after surviving the plane crash (Season 1, “Walkabout”)
4. The imploding of the hatch. I really thought they were wasting their time pushing the button. Guess the island proved everyone wrong. (Season 2, “Live Together, Die Alone”)
3. That Ben was responsible for the massacre of the Dharma Initiative’s agenda. (Season 3, “The Man Behind the Curtain”)
2. When the hatch was opened and we saw that Desmond had been living inside it all along, this was an eye-opener about others living on the island and things not being quite what they seemed. (Season 2, “Man of Science, Man of Faith”)
1. Penny’s father Charles Widmore is an evil, greedy genius. The fact that he faked an entire plane crash complete with over 300 bodies just so nobody else would ever go looking for the island or the survivors was a major shock. (Season 4, “Meet Kevin Johnson”)

WTF Moments (Season 3, Episodes 20-23 & Season 4, 1-11):

• I like all the literary references throughout the series’ episode titles. (White Rabbit, Through the Looking Glass, A Tale of Two Cities, The Man Behind the Curtain, There’s No Place Like Home)
• Who is Ben? He has more passports and foreign currencies than James Bond!
• So, I’m assuming Penny’s father found out about the island from reading the lost journal from The Black Rock that he bid on at the auction.
• Why are there polar bear remains in Tunisia with the Dharma Initiative symbol?
• Can Ben really control the black mist?
• The flashback involving Richard testing a young Locke was curious. He was obviously disappointed he selected the knife, was he supposed to select the jar of sand representing the island instead? I was startled to see Locke’s crayon drawing depicting a black smoke killing someone!
• Hurley & Ben looked like two lost little boys sharing a candy bar as they waited for Locke to emerge from Jacob’s cabin.
• I can’t decide if I can accept anything presented in the flash-forwards at their face value. This show has taught me to accept nothing and that all will eventually be revealed.
• How do you move an entire island? I feel like this is the opening line of a bad joke.

Memorable Quotes:
“Why does everything have to be a secret? How about some openness for a change?” – Charlie

“This is where I come from, John. These are my people. The Dharma Initiative … they came here seeking harmony but they couldn’t even coexist with the island’s original inhabitants. And when it became clear that one side had to go, one side had to be purged … I did what I had to do. I was one of the people that was smart enough to make sure that I didn’t end up in that ditch, which makes me considerably smarter than you, John.” – Ben (right before he shot Locke and left him for dead)

“You might not want to be that guy in the lab surrounded by test tubes and beakers, but that’s who you are John. You can’t be the prom king. You can’t be the quarterback. You can’t be a superhero.” – Locke’s Guidance Counselor in High School
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” – Teenaged Locke

“I was told I was special but I ended up with a tumor on my spine and my daughter’s blood on my hands. Destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.” – Ben

“I’m here because I was chosen to be.” – Locke

“He wants us to move the island.” – Locke (speaking for Jacob)

Clacked by Kim Tibbs
on Jul 23, 2012 @ 16:38 EST5EDT