OMG! I’ve been catching up on the LOST news, and saw that a few weeks ago there was an announcement that LOST creator J.J. Abrams is executive-producing a new show starring my two favorite LOST actors — Michael Emerson (Ben) and Terry O’Quinn (Locke). The show, tentatively titled Odd Jobs, is about former black-ops agents.
ABC, Fox, and NBC all wanted it — and NBC got it.
This could be so good. Or it could be a bitter disappointment. I’m betting on “so good” though. I actually haven’t been as excited about anything LOST-related since before the Finale.
Ben and Locke together again -- Be still my heart!
LOST University is back with a “graduate” program. To access it, you will need a Blu-ray set, either the Season Sixset or the Complete Collection.
I expect that someone may eventually post the class videos online where non-Blu-Ray users can see them, but probably not right away, as ABC is likely to be vigilant for a while.
Below is an official teaser which has clips from “The Craft of Acting” class with Yunjin Kim (Sun), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), and Terry O’Quinn (Locke and notLocke). Below that is the promo email that ABC sent out on August 25.
August 25 letter:
Dear LOST University Students and Alumni,
With the series finale several months ago, we know you are sitting at home saying, “We have to go back!” Not only to the island, but back to the campus of LOST University. For those of you who are new to our program or have not yet experienced campus life at LOST University, welcome. For our continuing students and alumni we have many new opportunities waiting for you within the LOST University: Master’s Program.
Alumni and new masters students are needed to act as teacher assistants for new classes including Theology, Spanish with Professor Nestor Carbonell, Literature and Acting with the cast of LOST (exclusive to graduates from the LOST University Undergraduate Program). Each of these classes, led by top university professors, delve deeper into the mythology, stories and characters of LOST, providing a greater understanding as to what it all means and look at the show again with a more enlightened and educated point of view.
Enrollment in the LOST University: Master’s Program is the perfect way to move on and extend your LOST experience. Classes begin exclusively with the release of LOST: The Complete Sixth and Final Season on Blu-ray™ and LOST: The Complete Collection Blu-ray™. We look forward to seeing you as a candidate for graduation.
When you arrive on campus, please stop by the Advisor’s Office where I will help you set your schedule and choose a thesis topic. Until then, please visit our online campus at www.lostuniversity.org, where you can experience an array of campus life from the course catalogue, campus news from The Lamp Post, network with other students in the forums or shop for LOST U merchandise at the campus bookstore.
Josh Holloway (Sawyer) by Tom Richmond (click to see the original)
Tom Richmond, the MAD Magazine artist who has been doing fantastic caricatures of the LOST stars, has added four new ones since the last time I posted about them: Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Mitchell (Juliet), and Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert). I love these sketches. When I see the MAD style, I’m hit by a wave of nostalgia for my misspent MAD-Magazine-reading childhood. Combine that with my current obsession, LOST, and the effect is mesmerizing. See the whole collection at: Tom Richmond’s Sketch O’ The Week.
This week’s official video podcast goes behind the scenes to ask some of the show’s writers, producers, and editors “If Damon and Carlton were the Man in Black and Jacob, which side would you choose?” Damon himself says he’s most like Jacob, because Jacob is passive-aggressive and moody. It’s a cute video, and it’s nice to see some of the faces of the people who work on the show who are usually invisible to us. Official video podcast, May 14, 2010
This has got to be the best thing that the “Lost Untangled” crew has ever done, with the possible exception of the Season 5 Untangled Finale Event — which is where the dancing statue seen in the video above originated. The music for both videos was done by the same group, the recap band Previously on Lost.
(Warning: This post contains a brief quote of the dialogue from the sneak peek, and a discussion of the scene.)
In this scene from 6×14, Jack and Flocke are disagreeing with each other. Watching it, I got a feeling of deja vu, because we’ve become so used to seeing similar scenes of Jack and (real) Locke disagreeing about similar issues. But this time there’s a twist:
The twist is that Jack and (F)locke have reversed positions. In “There’s No Place Like Home,” the Season 4 finale, it was Jack who wanted to leave, and (real) Locke who urged him to stay::
(REAL) LOCKE: But you’re not supposed to go home.
JACK (shouting:) And what am I supposed to do? (A little calmer:) Oh, I think I remember. What was it that you said on the way out to the hatch — that crashing here was our destiny.
LOCKE: You know, Jack. You know that you’re here for a reason. You know it. And if you leave this place, that knowledge is gonna eat you alive from the inside out until you decide to come back.
(Real) Locke of course, had been right. Jack had to come back. But now Flocke is trying to get Jack to leave:
Jack: (Referring to Sawyer’s group:) They’re not my people. And I’m not leaving the Island.
Flocke: Well, Jack, I’m hoping you’ll still change your mind about that.
Is it possible that both (real) Locke and Flocke were/are right? That Jack had to come back when he did, but now it is time for him to leave?
I also wonder why Jack is turning his back on Sawyer, Kate, and the rest of the group. Is he that miffed about his argument with Sawyer on the boat? I wouldn’t expect someone who has anointed himself the Bearer of Destiny, as Jack seems to have done, to be so petty. So maybe it’s something else.
Then again, this is Jack, so maybe he really is being that petty.
One other thing — Terry O’Quinn’s performance continues to amaze. Compare him in the 6×14 sneak peek to the way he was in the Season 4 finale. Flocke and (real) Locke are distinctly different in their expressions, and their manner, and in the type of energy they project. Yet, in some ways, they are similar, as if they were not really two totally separate people. Somehow, O’Quinn manages to convey the differences and the similarities at the same time — something which can’t be easy.
He’s doing one a week up to the finale. So far, he’s done Jack, Kate, Sayid, Miles, Desmond — and my favorite of the batch, Flocke with a scary smile and smoke rising out of his shirt:
Did you notice how in the last episode, 6×10 The Package, Flock said that he wanted Sun to make a free choice to join him?
Sun, to Locke: You killed those people at the Temple.
Locke: Those people were confused. They were lied to. I didn’t want to hurt them. Any one of them could have chosen to come with me. And I’m giving you that choice Sun, right now. I would never make you do anything against your will. I’m asking you. Please. Come with me.
That reminded me of the way that Jacob had talked about choice:
Jacob to Hurley, in The Incident: All you have to do is get on that plane. It’s your choice, Hugo. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.
—————-
Jacob to Ben, in The Incident: Benjamin, whatever he’s told you, I want you to understand one thing. You have a choice.
Ben: What choice?
Jacob: You can do what he asked, or you can go.
We saw something similar with Dogen, Lennon, and Jack in What Kate Does:
Dogen wraps a capsule in a piece of paper, and says something in Japanese.
Lennon, to Jack: He says you have to give your friend this pill.
Jack: Are you serious? Why don’t you give it to him?
Lennon: Because it won’t work unless he takes it willingly, and he won’t take it willingly from us.
What are we to make of this? Could it be that the MiB/Flocke, Jacob, and Dogen were all equally bound by some rule which says they should not force people to do anything against their will? Does forcing people to take action somehow undermine the validity or power of those actions, as Lennon suggested? What is so special, in the Island world, about choices that are made freely?
Or was Flocke just b.s.-ing Sun? After all, when Sun did make her choice — to turn Locke down — instead of accepting her choice, Flocke ran after her, which suggests he might have intended to try force instead.
Flocke running after Sun
Also, to what extent can Zombie Sayid be said to have made a free choice to join Locke?
Screencap of Locke gesturing at Sun is from Lost-Media.com. Screencap of Locke running after Sun is from Lostpedia.
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