Still, after the novel I had to analyze the tale of moral relativity and found myself questioning whether Ender Wiggin was really the messianic individual Card would have us believe. Being a know-it-all freshman slacker more interested in sleeping than studying however, my essay on the subject was not exactly an in-depth examination of Card’s conscious (and perhaps less conscious) statements on the rationalization of violence and genocide.

Thankfully, today I have found what my 20-year old self was always searching for.

Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender’s Game, Intention, and Morality is a well composed, thoughtful and well sourced essay written by John Kessel. It’s always nice to get different insight into opinions you may have assumed for a long time, and this essay is a great talking source for moral and literary discourse. I’m only sad it took me six years to find this, but better late than never right?

"Here, drink this. Idiot."

Knowing that the ingredients for a good LOST episode is a healthy mix of “!!” and “??” Jef and Anupa will be interrobanging the show’s final season every week. As LOST winds down to its conclusion, can its creators dish out all the needed explanations without resorting to exposition? Can they keep up the mystery without succumbing to just more mindfuckery?

MAYBE. After watching this episode I had to sit and stew for a bit. I downed a couple Tylenols to fix my headache and then did a big load of laundry. I put my clothes in the dryer but forgot to empty the lint tray for like the millionth time in a row, and then I was like damn I coulda burned down the house. I mulled about this for awhile, thought about how I lack a general mindfulness in most of my daily tasks. Then I made some toast with PB and waited for Anupa to log on. I felt OK about stuff in general. Life. And then all of sudden, which is how memory works you know, it hit me again. THE LIGHT. And then I got all angry and confused again, and everything was just one giant hatch. Hatches everywhere. Hatch hatch hatch, full of lint. Anywhooz. What was I talking about again, Mother? Oh yeah. SPOILERS: 

Jef: Go for it

It’s all you!

Anupa: You know what really grinds my gears?

BAD CGI.

Jef: Haha don’t tell me that’s your big gripe here.

Anupa: It makes up a significant portion of my gripe.

That and the wannabe LOTR storyline.

When Jacob and You Know Who were peeking through the bushes, I almost thought those dudes were Orcs.

I’m mixing mythologies, threw a little Harry Potter in there.

You know me, I get hung up on the small things.

But really? I liked LOST when it was cool and scientific, not when it was lame and fantasy RPG.

They lost me at “the light.”

Jef: I dig the sci-fi over the fantasy as well, but to be fair, it’s been playing at both for a long-ass time.

I didn’t get the LOTR feel so much — I’m like maybe the only person who doesn’t care about those movies — but yeah it had some fantastical Young-Adult Bridge to Terabithia shit going on.

Which makes sense though — it’s the one genre that the show hasn’t delved into yet, and also one of the more obvious ones to delve into if you’re doing a Strange Island story.

The light tunnel was corny.

But I feel good about it for this reason: it’s out of the way!

Like thank God this story wasn’t in the finale.

Anupa: Like honestly, this is turning into the kind of show I wouldn’t watch if it was like this from the beginning.

I mean you’re right I suppose, that at least I wouldn’t have to experience that shiteous feeling during a two and a half hour finale.

And it’s not that the story itself wasn’t intriguing or not explanatory or whatever, because it was.

And I think a lot clicked into place for everyone through watching it.

I.E. the beginning of the good/bad, us/them patterns.

And obviously the dynamic and mythology of Jacob/other guy.

But, I just feel all…sigh… about it

I guess this is the time to divulge that I’ve never been as invested in a show from start to finish so maybe this is normal?

Jef: Normal for what?

Watching a show?

Anupa: That show endings veer wildly off track.

lol

Jef: To be honest though, this isn’t wildly off track.

It’s kind of ghey.

But it’s exactly what it’s been building up to, and to be fair, it’s NOT the ending.

Which is something I really liked about it.

Now the show can go forward and end on the characters.

Anupa: K well that’s what I mean.

Maybe this feeling comes from the fact that the emphasis has been taken off the fate of our characters for the past couple episodes.

I don’t know what to believe anymore!

Jef: Haha

I am maybe sympathizing with the writers too much, but this is the situation that they’re in — everybody says they want ANSWERS, but when the writers give the answers we realize we didn’t really just want answers at all, we wanted story.

That’s the mistake most finales make, giving in to that.

So I give them props here for getting that shit out of the way.

It’s true, the characters have been put on the backburner for a bit, but like I was saying before — and this is why I have faith in the finale — the end episode is pretty much a feature length movie.

A movie that DOESN’T need to explain Jacob and Smokey.

Not sure if I’m making sense.

Anupa: No it makes sense.

They’re getting backstory out of the way to make room.

I mean, I kind of have faith they’ll deliver.

The type of following this show has created is strange; they need to bow a little.

Maybe that’s a bold statement though.

Jef: The writers should take a bow you mean?

Anupa: No, they need to bow to us a little and give us something satisfying.

Wanna talk specifics?

Jef: OK yeah let’s talk specifics — because as much as the ep as a whole was hokey, some decent stuff happened.

So, yeah. Brothers.

Anupa: BROTHA

Consciously speakin’, the fake mom scared the crap outta me.

Jef: Yeah yo she was mad menacing.

I was flashbacking to all the times you said maybe Jacob wasn’t good and maybe Smokey wasn’t bad

Anupa: I KNOW!

Jef: And here, it certainly kinda felt like the mom just fucking duped Jacob into the job because she wanted to die.

“Thank you,” she says to Smokey. Whadda bitch.

Anupa: LOL she was tooootally forcing him.

I was like, WALK AWAY.

I wish he yelled “DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO.”

Jef: Haha

Which is all great though, because I think it’s a fair guess to say Jack probably WON’T inherit the island now.

This might end on a “fuck youse two guys” note, which would be great.

Maybe they’ll just break the cycle. And go live their lives in reality 2 or whatever.

Anupa: ‘splain

Jef: Oh I mean — talking about how they showed the job of guarding the island isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, Jacob is a good guy and Smokey is menacing, but the job itself was passed on by some psycho chick.

Who, it’s implied, used her own trickery to break the rules and die and pass the job cuz she ain’t want it anymore.

Anupa: Is she really psycho though if that light shit exists?

I mean, it would be one thing if it didn’t exist and there was nothing there, etc

Wait, I think I missed all that #stoopid

How did she break the rules? She forced Jacob to drink the wine?

Jef: I don’t think she could die.

One of them had to do it or something, you know?

Anupa: Was that made explicit?

Also, on a similar topic, how did she make it so they couldn’t do anything to each other?

Jef: It’s the only thing I can get out of her thanking Smokey after he stabs her.

Anupa: Oh, I just took that as, thanks for putting me out of my misery or some shit.

Jef: Well, yeah, EXACTLY.

It was misery.

And yeah I dunno, there’s some mystical mumbo jumbo I think we’re just going to have to deal with.

They can’t break it all down, that would be ridic.

Anupa: Well see, here’s the problem.

It’s all mumbo jumbo midichlorian type shit.

UGH, okay, I’ll stop.

Jef: I don’t think so though.

To EXPLAIN it would be midicholrian type shit.

Anupa: FINE, YOU WIN.

Jef: Ahah I saw the struggle there.

Anupa: Push me down a light hole, why don’t you.

Can I ask you a question related to female grooming?

Jef: LOLWHUT

That is SO NOT WHAT I THOUGHT YOU WERE TYPING.

Anupa: Was she like epilating when she was rubbing that weaving thing over her legs?

Did you catch that?

Jef: Oh no yeah I was all like WTF is she doing??

Anupa: I hope they answer that.

Jef: And God I don’t care that she knits.

Or that Jacob knits.

Anupa: It’s not knitting, that involves two needles.

Jef: Who cares!

Haha it’s the only vocab word I have for it.

Anupa: The other thing that bugged me about that scene is that Jacob is a straight up tattletale.

I hated Jacob in this episode.

Jef: YO.

Anupa: He reminded me of my general dislike for momma’s boys and snitches.

Jef: This is my biggest gripe of the episode for sure:

The guy who plays Jacob sucks.

Anupa: Hahha yeah

I hate his heavy eyelids.

Jef: We’ve made jokes about his casting before, but here it was so clear.

Not only does he look wrong for the part, he can’t pull off this role.

When he was like “Am I good mother? Why do you love him more than me?”

Like shit, do you know what Emmerson or O’Quinn would do with lines like those?

This guy just looked drunk.

Anupa: OMG you know who he reminds me of?

Jef: Whooo

Anupa: This guy: http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=Bxi&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=dr%20marvin%20monroe%20simpsons&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

Jef: Ahah I am pasting that link just like it is in the final edit.

Lol same beard

Anupa: YEAH GUY

Same sleazy, drunky half-open lids, same blond beard.

Jef: LOL

Like forreal though, this guy had like 10 big scenes in this episode, and he didn’t sell any of them.

Anupa: Well maybe that’s the point?

That he’s a pussy.

Jef: It wasn’t even pussy though, it was just wooden acting.

I can deal with a pussy character.

But ok, away from the actor — that scene with lil Jacob and lil Smokes playing the rock game:

It def recalls the Locke/Walt backgammon game.

Is it safe for me to say WAAAAALT?

Anupa: WHYYYY?

Jef: You think they’re building for a Deus Ex Waltina?

Anupa: LOLOL

Mayhaps

I mean, I’m scared to predict anything anymore.

I just hope Vincent is okay.

Jef: I can’t believe nobody ate him yet.

  (says the Filipino)

Anupa: I read that in a Pilipino accent.

Jef: I hope it was a Manny Pacquiao one.

Anupa: But yeah, the game playing totally brought back memories of Locke/Walt playing.

How do you see that playing out?

Jef: And the mom was like “I left it for you,” which further makes me believe she was pulling a con on them the whole time.

 Ugh I have no effing idea.

I still believe the worlds merge…

Maybe it’s Walt who ends up staying behind, not Jack?

But yeah I can’t speculate on any of that.

It’s too far out of hand.

HAHA imagine this ends with Walt reading a comic book?

And it’s called LOST?

And the last page says FUCK YOU, AUDIENCE.

Anupa: LOLOL OMG it would be like that shitty B story from Watchmen.

Jef: LOL PIRATES

Anupa: With the kid and the comic book.

Haha yeah it was totally in the ocean too.

AND THE KID WAS BLACK

OMG

Jef: THAT’S IT FOR SURE THEN

Haha speaking of fuck you audience –

I feel like the flashback at the end to the caves was the writers being all like “OH YEAH YOU SAID WE DIDN’T HAVE A PLAN. WE PLANTED THAT IN THE FIRST SEASON BITCHES.”

Anupa: HAHAHAH

I bet we’ll be seeing a lot of those in the next three and a half hrs.

Lots of spelling out.

Jef: Haha lots of “BOOOYA” moments.

Anupa: God, I don’t even know where to go anymore because this episode was kinda all over the place.

Like, wouldn’t things have been more dramatic if she died the night she made Jacob drink the wine? Instead they have this intense moment then they’re back weaving in their hut the next morning.

“Hey mom, what’s for breakfast?”

“There’s coffee over the fire.”

“Got any eggs?”

Jef: God I hate how he kept calling her mother.

Anupa: “You’re old enough now Jacob, make them yourself!”

“MOTH-ERRRRR”

Sorry

Jef: “Mother. Look at this quilt I made. Do you love it mother?”

Anupa: That was instant fanfic.

Jef: Dude, did you laugh at the beginning

when chick gave birth and then came Smokey and she was like, “I only came up with one name…”

FUCKING COME UP WITH ANOTHER NAME THEN

Anupa: I thought he was gonna be black or something.

Jef: This nameless kid, no wonder he has issues. Smh.

Anupa: Imagine they just gave him no name

And that’s why he has no name?

Jef: Like No Name brand at Loblaws?

Haha forreal, do you think he actually has a name and they’re avoiding it? I don’t see why.

Anupa: THIS is what’s frustrating.

The unnecessary details.

Jef: Lol they hate us.

Anupa: I mean, if we find out they didn’t give him a name for no reason, then I’ll be mad.

I’m hoping there’s a big reveal in the finale, he can be God with a capital G for all I care.

Jef: There’s a reason.

She only came up with one name, duh.

Anupa: LOL

You know what I hated?

And what I thought was kinda shitty writing?

The fact that she had to come back as a ghost and tell kid Smokey what was going on.

And then he just BELIEVED her.

For a kid who has been raised to believe that no other people or things exist, he was pretty gung ho.

Jef: He ain’t scared of no ghosts.

Hm yeah I feel you.

It’s just like ohhhh ok you’re my real mom.

You’re a ghost, but I’ll believe you, because you have dark hair.

Anupa: Which brings me to why did Jacob look mad AngloSaxon and brother look straight up Italian?

Jef: You know, just because blondes are Good and then it’s a sliding scale from there.

Down to Michael, who is just despicable.

WAAAALT

Anupa: FINAL:

I think I was most intrigued by the whole good/bad thing.

So, the kids were good because they were raised on the island, free from corrupt influences correct?

Jef: Yup.

Anupa: How does that trickle down to the characters we know?

Jef: Straight up Eden shit.

Anupa: Considering they’re all coming from off-island?

Jef: Jacob has faith that they can be good of their choices.

Smokey says they’re all naturally corrupt.

Things I liked:

That the yonic light tunnel is both magical but also tied to the magnetic forces on the island — the fantastic and the scientific got collapsed together.

And I like that Smokey is straight up dead. He can take on the form of dead people, so he mostly takes on the form of his dead self. I thought that was dope.

Anupa: FANTIFIC

Jef: I’m finding it hard to give this a final rating.

I kinda hated it, but I also respected the hell out of it.

Anupa: I still don’t understand why you come out a smoke monster if you fall down a hole.

Jef: Because the Yonic Light Tunnel of Life had been corrupted by coming in contact with man

…or something.

Dude I think Smokey IS the light tunnel, but crazy.

That’s the crackling in the smoke.

Anupa: SNAP

Jef: Ok maybe now I’m bullshitting really hard.

He’s both combined!

And he must be stopped!

Anupa: Must he?

I don’t think he’s that bad no more.

Jef: Uhm he just blew everybody up!

You have Stockholm Syndrome.

The wonders of science? Or the music of Driveshaft?

Knowing that the ingredients for a good LOST episode is a healthy mix of “!!” and “??” Jef and Anupa will be interrobanging the show’s final season every week. As LOST winds down to its conclusion, can its creators dish out all the needed explanations without resorting to exposition? Can they keep up the mystery without succumbing to just more mindfuckery?

Apparently, yes, they can. Hi-five for “Happily Every After”! There be SPOILERS yonder:

Jef: Ok uhm wow

Anupa: Yeah dude

That was a FUCKED UPPP episode.

Jef: Lol so good

It hit all my tender loin spots.

Anupa: Do you feel slightly fatigued after watching it?

Jef: The opposite! I feel ever so amped and tweaking.

My lip is twitching like Desmond’s when he’s angry.

We are on the same page, yes?

The Awesome Page?

Anupa: Dude, there is so much going on that my brain can’t handle it. I might time travel.

But the Island is probably not done with me yet.

Let’s start with that opening scene.

Jef: Ok yeah my one quibble — was Dez really out cold this entire time since he got shot?

He had no idea he was on a submarine?

Anupa: I just assumed they drugged him?

I liked the fact that it served as a reminder of how little time has actually passed between when we saw him get shot and when these folks actually came to the island…

Jef: Hm yes, good point.

Yo there is an awesome line by Widmore at the start when he says to Jin: “It will be easier for me to show you than to tell you.”

That’s what this show is good at, no matter how much it annoys us when we want answers.

It shows us shit, it doesn’t just tell us.

Anupa: Right.

Jef: Right then and there I knew this episode was going off.

Anupa: It’s like “SO MUCH IS HAPPENING BUT NOT HAPPENING, BUT HAPPENING!”

You feel like the storyline is being pushed forward but you don’t exactly know in what ways.

Jef: But it’s in the exact way it should (for the most part — Lost still has its pee pee episodes).

I feel like most of my gripes about the pacing of this season would be wiped away if I watched it straight marathon on DVD, like I did with the rest of the show.

But either way, here we are, finally, with my one wish: realities crossing!

Anupa: YES!

So happy for this.

Also, when Zoe said “That’s not scheduled til tomorrow morning,”

Widmore said back, “I don’t care when it’s scheduled.”

IT’S SKEDULED, NOT SHEDULED SILLY!

Jef: Haha do you think that was a nod to the fact the writers knew they had to start speeding shit up?

Anupa: LOL it could be, I was just irritated that Zoe said scheduled and Widmore said sheduled. An interjection that has been made at an inappropriate time. Unsheduled.

Jef: Saying “sheduled” is awesome — I wish I could get away with it.

Anupa: Have we seen this station before?

Jef: Nope, I think the Wids built this one themselves.

Anupa: That’s really fast though?

Jef: They got those anti-Smoke pylons up with quickness too.

Widmore seems like a good manager, in that I-fucking-hate-that-guy-but-he-gets-shit-done kind of way.

I’m not surprised.

Anupa: What did you think of the nuke box?

Jef: I thought the whole thing was mad Marvel Comics which means I loved it so much.

As an aside, I didn’t realize how much I missed the sci-fi aspects of this show and didn’t realize how deep we went into fantasy territory lately.

So yeah, I was happy.

Anupa: For sure.

I don’t think it was set up as a sci-fi show per se, so the crappy CGI when Des was frying threw me off.

But ultimately, I dug it when we began to see how that unfolded.

Jef: No no, it wasn’t.

It had this hodgepodge of all these different genres, but the sci-fi took a back seat after the time travel business ended and after the death of Farady.

Lol I was laughing that Dez’s chair was not bolted down, like it would have been in any other similar scene in any other show.

He just smashed the shit out of it.

Anupa: It looked like the chair in the cabin!

Jef: Ha maybe it was! RIP cabin chair.

Anupa: Maybe the other portal is the cabin!

Jef: Hahaha

Ok so Widmore flips 3 switches on Dez and then we flash to the l’aeroport.

What did you think of Dez meeting Claire?

Was there a significance there I missed?

Or just a random we are all everbody moment?

Anupa: You mean, you all everybodyÉ

(MY FUCKING PUNCTUATION HAS STOPPED WORKING AGAIN)

Jef: Oh no the accents!

lololol

Anupa: I hate this laptop, can we put a Paypal thing on the blog to buy me a new one?

And as for Claire, I was thinking there might be some significance in it, but in all likelihood it was probably only to certify the connections…

Jef: Yeah, and to set up Charlie’s obsession I guess…

Anupa: Why else would Desmond want to show these people something in the end if he hadn’t forged a connection with some of them?

And yes, to set up Charlie’s story.

Jef: Guy, did they make Charlie’s ears BIGGER?

Anupa: His hair is shorter!

Proportions!

Jef: During the commercial for Flash Forward I was surprised by how normal-sized he looks in that show.

Haha I think he still wears his Peter Jackson makeup.

Anupa: I like the Geico commercial with the big biscuit.

It looks delicious.

Jef: I don’t know this biscuit, but I’d probably eat it.

How much do you care or not care about Charlie?

He was dead long before I ever started talking Lost with you — are you a fan?

Anupa: Charlie has his moments, but I have a soft spot for him because of the way he died.

And because he was always trying to prove himself: he was always positioned as this sad puppy kind of character and I totally fell for it.

They wrote him really well.

Jef: So did the car scene do anything for you?

Anupa: I mean, earlier when they were talking in the bar I was wondering why exactly ONE moment would affect Charlie in that way?

Not that I’ve had a near-death experience like that, but is the reason this thing really grips Charlie supposed to be blind faith or just to illustrate the power of the moment?

And how did he know it would happen to Dez?

Jef: This is true — I feel like Charlie was kind of “used” in this storyline. Used in a good way, don’t get me wrong, but him more than anyone else seems like a diff. character in this reality.

I felt he was there just to set up Dez’s story.

Anupa: I get you, but in a sense I also think he was there to prove a point about these connections.

I mean he is the character introducing this concept to us.

Jef: I think that’s my thing though (this is a minor gripe here) — he was introducing the love concept to make room for the Dez and Penny story. The actual moment between Charlie and Claire, we didn’t see it, it didn’t matter to us, you know?

But like I said, it’s minor, b/c at this point Charlie’s character is a side player cameo anyway.

Maybe I just wanted to hear Claire say “Chahlie.”

Anupa: LOL, that is weird.

Would you ask her to say it before you kissed her?

Jef: Haha I probably would.

Let me clarify I have the hots for Claire, not Emilie de Ravin.

So all the Claire-isms? Word. That’s all I’ll say. Word.

Anupa: Then you should not watch Remember Me, unless you have the hots for Robert Pattinson. Which I do, after seeing that film.

SMOKING.

Jef: LAUGHING

Anupa: Desmond was also looking quite dapper.

Jef: Dez is man-crushable.

I want to buy that man a fucking a beer.

Anupa: LOL

Jef: Or whatever the fuck he was drinking.

Anupa: 60 year old Scotch.

That’s expensive so I am taking your mancrush seriously.

Jef: Haha yes, he is worthy.

Anupa: HAHAHA Yes. I loved that line from Widmore.

How UNSURPRISING was that reveal?

Jef: Haha yeah for a second I was like GROAN. But it was a commercial break reveal, not a reveal-reveal, so I let it slide.

Anupa: A reveal is a reveal!

Jef: (is a reveal!)

Anupa: Also, another minor gripe:

Desmond got the fastest MRI in the world.

Or at least in the U.S.

Jef: 30 mins?

Anupa: He must have a sick healthcare plan.

Jef: He aborted it with the button yo.

Anupa: Dude, people wait months for that shit.

Jef: Oh ahhahah I got you.

Anupa: And they are super $$

Jef: I guess he’s on that Widmore waiting list.

Anupa: HE GOT THAT WIDMORE PAPER.

Jef: Rich characters always excuse everything.

Ok yo let’s get down to busyness:

ELOISE

Anupa: Right, I think that was one of the most head-scratchy scenes of this whole episode.

What is her fucking deal?

Jef: She knowwwwws.

AND she was like Desmond chasing Penny is “a violation.”

So there are “rules” in this world as well.

Can I geek for a sec?

Has Eloise, through her knowledge of the time-loop, somehow orchestrated the entire reality-splitting? And do these “rules” she mentions imply Jacob and/or Smokey’s presence here as well?

And speaking of the fucking time-loop – is it possible she knew not only that she would shoot her son, Faraday, but also that it would be after Faraday tells Jack to hit the bomb? And if she knew this, maybe that could also mean reality 2 has actually already “happened” before? Even bigger time-loop?

That made sense in my head.

I promise.

Haha we can move on. I’ll clear that one up in the comments, maybe.

Anupa: Yup, you lost me with that.

Maybe Smokey is inhabiting her body.

Jef: Ew Smokey is having sex wid Widmore.

Anupa: Gay?

Jef: Whatever it is, I like it?

Anupa: How cool and normal was Daniel?

We are so used to him being twitchy and nerdly.

I found him minorly babely in this episode.

And I loved that he was a piano player (his aborted childhood passion which we found out about in earlier seasons) and that they tied his physics shit into it, even though that’s not part of his reality 2 persona.

Jef: Dude yeah I love Daniel.

Daniel and Desmond are like Team Science in this bitch and I support them one thousand per cent.

How many awesome turns in Lost are these two side characters responsible for?

Awesome.

Anupa: It’s true.

They are completely intriguing too, and so three dimensional.

Jef: Yeah and maybe because they’re not in our faces every week (JACK AND KATE) we never got the chance to hate them.

Anupa: I could never hate Dez.

He’s my broooothaaa.

Jef: Lol

On the mythology tip — we were saying before that we didn’t get the presence of Team Widmore and what they added to the Jacob/Smokey battle.

I totally think that’s been fleshed out now and it’s more than welcome.

Anupa: Explain

Jef: Well I think before I had it set up in my head that Jacob’s crew = faith and Smokey’s crew = free will.

But now with the scientists all in the mix and Desmond dropping jewels like “there’s always a choice” — I feel like this is the true Team Free Will.

And Smokey’s set is more like Team Superstition and Mindfuckery.

Remember how we were always saying the characters had to make the final moves? And the end had to not be about Jacob and Smokes? And maybe new Locke and new Jack would be the most powerful characters in the end?

I feel like Widmore/Desmond/Daniel open us up to that actually happening.

I likes.

Anupa: Right

The juxtaposition of all these faith-y episodes versus this heavily sci-fi one was cool.

You are right, it kind of breaks you out of the reverie a bit.

Two episodes ago, we were in 19th century Andalusia.

Jef: Haha word.

Anupa: Now we are dealing with nukes and shit.

Jef: Know what’s most awesome though?

They fucking set up a scientific (or at least sci-fi-ific) explanation for LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

So romance.

Anupa: YES

Jef: Like, how can I not gush all over this.

Anupa: At first I thought it was cheesy, but I love it.

Why are you more emo than I?

I am going to buy you a Danielle Steele boxset for Christmas.

Jef: Hahahah. I am Sawyer with Juliet, you are Sawyer with Kate.

Anupa: Nicholas Sparks too.

I am not Sawyer, I am whoever Sawyer finally ends up with happily ever after.

Jef: Haha well to maintain my tenuous grip on manhood let me clarify, I’m not gushing over love at first sight, I’m tripping over the idea of this sci-fi reasoning for it.

It’s awesome.

What got you open about this ep?

Anupa: The whole idea of Desmond being this enabler

Jef: Enabler! Perfect word.

Anupa: Who will bring everyone around to their lives as we know their lives.

Don’t want to necessarily call it their true lives.

I am very curious to see how this continues to play out once he gets a hold of the manifest.

I am also curious if this means that near-death experiences are what help you see the truth.

This some Matrix shit.

Jef: Widmore totally had a Morpheus line in his office,

“Ah, to be free of attachments.”

The question is though, who’s actually going to want to go back to island-reality?

Who won’t be on Desmond’s side?

Anupa: Locke?

Jef: Haha yeah, that dying thing sucks.

Really though, most of them are happier here in paralleland.

And/or, breathing.

And/or not crazy.

Is the “what happened, happened” line actually a correct stance to take on things?

Anupa: Who said that?

Jef: Eloise I think.

Anupa: Right.

I mean, it could be.

Anupa: How will the Island factor into this anyway if it is buried underwater?

Jef: I’m guessing old white lady knows.

And she’s not telling.

Old white ladies and their secrets, man.

Anupa: ROLES REVERSED

In this reality, old white ladies hold the power.

Jef: *raises fist*

*full of prunes*

Anupa: and doilies

I am betting you like how Sayid just ninja’d into that last scene.

He so stealth!!!

Jef: Haha forreal he even looks action figure-ish lately.

Him and his plastic expressions.

Anupa: Yeah dude. He is just gonna become known as the ninja dude.

He is stealing work from Asian Actors!

Jef: Who will his final kung-fu battle be with?

Anupa: Sun!

Jef: Yes!

Azn prYdE

Anupa: Round one! Fight!

Why did Desmond go with Sayid?

Jef: 1) You can’t fight Sayid.

2) You can’t fight Sayid?

Naw I dunno, I think he just wants to the talk to the rest of the crew? Shrugs.

Anupa: LOL, true.

If I was on TV, I would go with Sayid too.

I just wanted to add how beautiful this episode was in its mirroring of past episodes.

Jef: Ah yes

Anupa: Seeing old faces, old settings.

Loved the stadium scene.

Jef: The stadium was dope.

I loved that shot against the seats where it looks like a grid and Dez is moving horizontally and Penny is coming down vertically and it looks like they’re going to meet and click like cosmic Tetris pieces.

Anupa: You are the cybercupid.

Jef: Lol

They fucking with us you, you know?

The get it in our heads that deja vu is love at first sight.

Then they go out of their way to give us deja vu with all the mirroring.

Anupa: Bad shit can only come.

Jef: A lot can happen in 20 minutes.

Anupa: It’s not real time!

Jef: Lol

Ok you have a final word?

Anupa: jes

But I can’t do it cus my punctuation is fucked

<3

nevermind, there it is!

Jef: Hahaha

Appropriately enough, this feels like deja vu.

Anupa: I am no longer impatient.

This episode was very satisfying.

Jef: Five episodes left right?

I hope this is the clear No Filler Zone.

Yeah, I give this episode whatever it wants.

It wuz gud.

Anupa: A+++++++++++++++++

Still aliens, even with the passports.

It may not be a comedy, but V certainly gots jokes. I’m not criticizing – I actually kinda dug the first episode of ABC’s reboot of the old 80s sci-fi series — but when you have evil, deceptive aliens who walk among us imperceptibly and offer ominous “universal health care”, well, I can’t tell if you’re being funny or if you’re just, uhm, funny. And that alien black dude who assures us he’s “not like the rest”? I’m hoping this is all playful poking rather than an actual “V” for right-wing political vendettas. (Happy Guy Fawkes Day, daddyos.) Not that right-wingers can’t make subtextual sci-fi — I love this genre and everyone is welcome to play with me — but god, that would be boring, wouldn’t it?

Post-9/11 baiting aside, the Obama-isms come at a nice time what with the U .S. prez’s one year anniversary and all. I don’t hide my left-leaning (it’s not just a lame pimp walk), but even with my politics in tact, a sci-fi show about a world drinking some we-are-the-universe Kool-aid and paying for it seems nonetheless prescient, if not a little obvious.

Aside from the asides, the real post in this post-post beast of a show is its post-Abrams and Whedon steez. I’m not just talking about the mix of humour with high gravitas and genre-play with more traditional human drama, or even the weekly serial format, but holy shit the casting. This is where killed-off or cancelled characters from Lost and Firefly come to play and tickle our fan-pits. V (and Flash Forward, too) show that Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams are not just worthy of imitation, they may just have changed the metabolism of primetime television. So much that their current shows (the struggling Dollhouse and Fringe) don’t really matter. The movement is now bigger than the movers, and that’s some real shit.

Will V and Flash Forward catch on as well as the post-Firefly BSG did? Maybe, but you’d better hope V doesn’t rest on its allegorical laurels. Bring the drama, V. It’s not enough that Morena Baccarin is disturbingly attractive and disconcertingly serene. We knew that already! Make me fall in love with her or hate her, and you’ve got me. And who knows? Then I might even tolerate your lameish Obama digs.

I tried my best to watch District 9 fairly.

Having been on vacation when the majority of my friends saw it, I am considerably late to the alien apartheid. However, I didn’t read any reviews, avoided online articles, side-stepped conversations and generally went out of my way to ensure the most subjective viewing experience possible.

Still…

Watching District 9 was like dating a girl who’s way too hot for me. I walked out of the theatre thinking: “Huh. That wasn’t anything at all like I imagined it would be”.

This is not to say there isn’t anything to like. Certainly D-9 is amazing to look at. The CGI work on the aliens is top notch, and the creepy-crawlies blend in seamlessly with a grim and grimy Johannesburg. The aliens, weapons, gadgets and environment have just the right amount of lived-in vibe to make everything feel appropriately weighty and believable. These effects are even more impressive when you consider D-9 cost $5-million less to make than ‘The Hangover‘.

More importantly, the conceit of the film is, without a doubt, original and captivating. In terms of aliens-visit-Earth movies, D-9 manages to illicit an intelligent discussion while still providing plenty of summer entertainment value. If you don’t think that balance is difficult to strike, please try watching ‘Contact‘.

Still…

When it comes to movies, like women, I am ultimately attracted to intelligence. Propelled by the documentary style direction of co-writer Neill Blomkamp, the first half of the movie is an entrancing educational film about the nuanced geopolitical and socioeconomic ramifications of 1-million alien refugees.

Indeed, the fascinating inter-species scenario is broached with such attention to detail, I was rather disappointed when the tail end of the movie (d?)evolves into a rather predictable and formulaic action tale.

Not to ruin anything, but there are scenes with 1) mechas 2) giblets 3) heroic redemption 4) poignant alien posing and, at one point, a character utters the line “I won’t leave you behind!”

I’m not saying this was a bad movie. Heck, I thought it was pretty good. I’m simply saying I expected more.

District 9 admirably balances two permutations of science fiction, better than any other film in the genre has ever managed to do. I just wish it had chosen one route and gone at it full-bore. Be smart and blow my brains away, or let me turn it off and enjoy the fireworks.

Some will call this nitpicking and I won’t much disagree. Leaving the theatre though, I just couldn’t help thinking about what could of been instead of enjoying it for what it was.

This is further exasperated by the fact that in Blomkamps original short ‘Alive in Joberg‘, he manages to deeply explore the political plight of the aliens much more succinctly than during his big-screen interpretation.

As a result (and not to play this analogy out), District 9 is hot enough to brag about. I just ain’t falling in love.