the tindog coffeehouse

Lots to talk about from last night’s Lost, so let’s get to it:

• The title of the episode was “Recon”. As the producers pointed out, that could mean “reconnaissance”, but it could also mean “re-con”, or “to con again”.
• Sawyer is getting played by Widmore and Smokey. Widmore doesn’t want to kill Smokey, they’re on the same side.
• Smokey says he just wants to leave the island. Just like a criminal wants to escape prison or a supervillain wants to escape Arkham Asylum. Smokey’s been trapped on the island, but once the loophole is found and Jacob is defeated, he’ll be free to unleash his smoke monster power on the rest of the world. Widmore knows this, and like any evil capitalist pig, he wants to use it to his advantage to take over the world. Widmore doesn’t want to bring people to the island like it’s Jurassic Park, he wants to get Smokey off of it.
• If Smokey is Satan, Widmore is the Antichrist, the human puppet of Satan that will achieve ultimate worldly power and eventually lead his forces against the forces of good in the battle of Armageddon. This is what we’re leading up to for the climax of the series.

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies toward the west without hindrance. And I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty.

“Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.”

And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place with the Hebrew name Armageddon.

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!” Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth. The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled.

– Revelation 16:12-20 NLT

• In the Sideways world, we saw Charlotte Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis, of course, wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, which concludes with The Last Battle, an epic, Armageddon-style battle that has parallels to both the book of Revelation and Lost:

As the battle progresses, all of the animals are killed (many by the dwarfs, who attack both sides) and Eustace, Jill and Poggin are thrown into the stable where the false Aslan was kept. Tirian, earlier on, had thrown Shift into the stable and Tash, who now haunts the stable, swallowed the ape whole. Tirian, left alone and fighting for his life, drags Rishda Tarkaan, the leader of the Calormenes, into the stable. Much to the Calormen leader’s surprise and terror, Tash appears, and snatches him up under an arm. Peter, Edmund, Eustace, Lucy, Jill, Polly, and Digory appear before them, (Susan does not appear in Narnia because she has stopped believing in it, thinking of it only as some silly childhood game) and Peter orders Tash to leave. Aslan appears, and as they watch at the stable door, all of the people and animals, including those who had previously died, gather outside the barn and are judged by Aslan. Those who have been loyal to Aslan or the morality upheld by Narnians join Aslan in Aslan’s Country. Those who have opposed or deserted him become ordinary animals and vanish to a fate unknown.

As the children watch, all the vegetation is eaten by dragons, salamanders, and giant lizards and Father Time calls the stars down from the skies into the sea, which rises to cover Narnia. The Sun expands and draws in the moon. Father Time then puts it out, freezing Narnia. Peter closes the door, and Aslan leads them to his country, telling them to go further up and further in, to a country which is revealed to be the “real” Narnia (the one the Narnians had previously inhabited was only a copy). They move up a waterfall to some gates, and are greeted by the heroic talking mouse Reepicheep. Here they meet the primary characters from the earlier novels, and the series ends with the revelation that “for them, it was only the beginning of the true story, which goes on forever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before.” It is revealed by Aslan that the Pevensie children have been involved in a train crash or railway accident that claimed their lives.

– Wikipedia

• Jacob told Hurley that someone was coming to the island, and that he had to help him get there. I don’t think he was talking about Widmore, I think he was referring to Desmond. Remember, Ms. Hawkins told Desmond that the Island wasn’t done with him. Desmond will play a critical role in defeating his father-in-law.
• Sideways Sawyer was reading Watership Down, a story about a group of rabbits (rabbit: it’s what’s for dinner!) who escape their old warren and set out to establish a new one. A big part of the book revolves around the rabbits infiltrating (i.e. performing reconnaissance on) the rival Efrafa warren to rescue some good rabbits and defeat it’s tyrannical leader. The book has been alluded to several times before on the show, and once again it parallels much of what is happening.
• The clip from Little House on the Prairie seemed to parallel the talk Smokey had with Kate. It was almost like a father-daughter talk. Kate’s not loyal to “dead man” Smokey, though.
• What was going through Sawyer’s mind when he saw Kate’s clothes in the polar bear cage? Does he still have feelings for Kate?
• I don’t think Feral Claire is infected like Dogen said she was. I think she’s just loony and confused. Unlike Zombie Sayid, she’ll make a full recovery and will make it home safely to Aaron.
• Hey, Smokey, that’s no way to treat a lady! Even a crazy lady with a dead squirrel baby.
• The codeword is… “LaFleur”.
• Sideways Sawyer’s alarm clock said 8:42. I wonder if that was just a wink back at the numbers or if the numbers will become more prevalent and important in the Sideways world. I’m guessing it’s the former.
• Sideways Sawyer and Miles are cops, just like they were in Dharma security back in 1977. Clever.
• Sideways Sawyer is just as obsessed with finding and killing Anthony Cooper as Island Sawyer was. Still no word as to whether Sideways Anthony Cooper is Locke’s dad, but I don’t think he is. After all, Sideways Locke apparently still had a good relationship with his dad.

Previously:
Lost thoughts, Mar. 10
Lost thoughts, Mar 3

It’s that time again! Random thoughts, theories, and questions from last night’s Ben-centric Lost:

• I said last week that Ben “is a character that needs to be broken emotionally, forced to admit and repent of his sins, and be redeemed in order to rise again, just as powerful as before but now on the good guys’ side.” Boy, did Cuse and Lindelof deliver on that one! What an incredibly powerful performance from Michael Emerson. Amazing!
• I also mentioned last week about the unresolved chessmatch between Ben and Widmore and said that it had to be resolved within the larger context of the Jacob/Man In Black mythology. Looks like I’ll be getting my wish by way of that submarine. The war is coming, and it’s gonna be epic.
• Funny how Sideways Ben keeps his dad alive with gas (oxygen), when Island Ben killed his with gas.
• Oh. My. God. Sideways Roger and Ben went to island with the Dharma Initiative! (Sorry, that was the sound of my head exploding.) Roger: “Imagine how different our lives would’ve been if we’d stayed.” Um, yeah, they would’ve been underwater.
• I love the parallel between Alex having a literal gun to her head on the island (Season 4) and Sideways Alex having a proverbial gun to her head. While Island Ben chose power over love, though, Sideways Ben chose love over power. Redemption.
• Ilana: “Where will you go?” Ben: “Locke.” Ilana: “Why?” Ben: “Because he’s the only one who’ll have me.” Ilana: “I’ll have you.” Wheras Smokey only tempts people with worldly desires (power, revenge, etc.), Jacob offers something much greater: love, forgiveness, grace, acceptance.
• Was Alex studying about the Black Rock for her AP history test?
• I suppose if everyone else avoided crashing on the island in the Sideways world, so did the French researchers. Which means that while Alex is busy studying, her mother Danielle is running wild in the streets of LA setting traps for people. Which is actually completely normal for LA.
• Even up to the moment of his death, Jacob still held out hope for Ben. Just as Jesus never lost hope in Judas, even though He knew what would (have to) happen. It was all part of the bigger plan.
• Speaking of the Black Rock, I guess last night confirmed the theory that Richard was brought to the island as a slave on the ship.
• Richard: “When Jacob touches you, it’s not a gift, it’s a curse.” He touched Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, Sayid, Sun, Jin, and Locke. Locke was strangled to death (I guess that counts as cursed) and Sayid died and was reborn as Zombie Sayid. Wonder what curses await the rest.
• If Richard couldn’t kill himself, then does that mean Locke wouldn’t have been able to do the same?
• Jacob touched Kate, but she’s not a candidate. Discuss.
• Jack has moved back into the role of Man of Faith. “Jacob wouldn’t have brought me here to be blown up by a stick of dynamite.” He’s realizing his purpose: as the new leader of the Others. He’s the new Jacob.
• A Nikki and Paulo shoutout! Holla!
• One of those weird mysteries that will never get solved: How exactly is it that Miles can communicate with the dead?
• Once again, where are Sawyer and Jin?!

Previously:
Lost thoughts, Mar. 3
Lost thoughts, Feb. 24

Somewhat random thoughts and questions about last night’s zombie-filled episode of Lost:

• Whereas the past couple of episodes have been thought-provoking journeys down existential rabbit holes, last night mostly just left me scratching my head. For example…
• Why didn’t (or couldn’t) Dogen kill Sayid when he had the chance? Is it because he really can’t be killed? (He is undead after all.) Or because there are specific rules that have to be followed in order to kill him? (“An undead follower of Smokey can only be truly killed if he willingly takes poison from a trusted physician on the fourth Tuesday of the month, except for leap years or during a full moon, in which case all bets are off and you’re probably just going to end up being drowned in a bubbling pool of brown water.”)
• Or did Dogen not kill Sayid because it would nullify the agreement he signed with Jacob in exchange for his son’s resurrection? That seems to be what he was implying. (Man, Jacob puts a lot of fine print into these contracts!)
• And if Claire is really “infected”, why didn’t Dogen have her killed when he had the chance?
• And finally, why did Dogen really send Sayid out to impale Smokey? He obviously knew Smokey couldn’t be killed (again, I’m sure there are a whole bunch of rules involved), so there was definitely some other motive. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure what it was.
• If this isn’t the zombie season of Lost, then you coulda fooled me. Claire and Sayid sure looked like zombies as they followed Smokey out of the Temple. And when did this show turn into Invasion of the Body Snatchers anyway?
• Where the heck did all those other “recruits” come from? Were they people who fled the Temple and then got Smokey-fied on their way out, or have they always been around?
• Are any of them named Nikki and Paulo?
• Where is Sawyer? The last we saw of him was in the cave, where he supposedly agreed to go along with I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Locke, but he wasn’t with him last week or this week. Is he still trying to figure out how to get back up the rope ladders?
• Where’s Jin?
• Where’s Vincent? (Sorry. Obligatory.)
• Jack’s reaction when he gets back to the Temple: “Hey, you’ll never guess what we found on the other side of the– Hey, where did everybody go?”
• I’m still not sure about the whole sideways storyline. I’m sure it’s leading somewhere, but it mostly just seems like a distraction. Yes, we get it that all the characters are connected in the sideways world, but how does that relate to the island world?
• A couple of thoughts about the previews for next week, which seem to indicate that Ben dies. First, there is a huge unresolved aspect to the show: the ongoing chessmatch between Ben and Charles Widmore over control of the island. I’m gonna be really pissed if that is not properly addressed (and resolved!) within the larger context of the Jacob/Man In Black mythology. It doesn’t seem like that can happen if Ben dies next week.
• Second, Ben has devolved into this quirky, comical sidekick this season, and I don’t like it. Where’s the strong, lying, manipulative Benjamin Linus from previous seasons, the one who was always coercing people into doing his bidding? This is a character that needs to be broken emotionally, forced to admit and repent of his sins, and be redeemed in order to rise again, just as powerful as before but now on the good guys’ side. He can’t do that if he’s playing second-fiddle to Ilana and her band of merry misfits.

Previously:
Lost thoughts, Feb. 24
Lost thoughts, Feb. 17

No long, drawn-out comparison of Lost to the Bible this week. Today, it’s Greek mythology, Jungian psychology, and Joseph Campbell:

• There’s quite a theme going this season with Jack and mirrors. Cue Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” (I’m staring at the man in the mirror / I’m asking him to change his ways / And no message could have been any clearer / (If you wanna make the world a better place) / Take a look at yourself, and then make a change).
• No, I don’t know that song by memory, I googled it.
• Look at Jacob busting out Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. I’d say Jack is probably in the “Belly of the Whale” stage right now: “the final separation from the hero’s known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person’s lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. … By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.”
• Hurley was right about Jacob; he is like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Both serve as mentor archetypes, or what Campbell calls the “Wise Old Man”. Carl Jung believed that “the hero is guided by the wise old man. He is a form of the animus, and reveals to the hero the nature of the collective unconscious. In Star Wars, he is played by Obi Wan Kenobi and, later, Yoda. Notice that they teach Luke about the force and, as Luke matures, they die and become a part of him.”
• Get ready for a final showdown between Jacob-imbued Jack (the winning candidate) and Smokey-fied Locke. Cue Europe’s “The Final Countdown”.
• Also note that the term “mentor” originates from a character named Mentor in Homer’s Odyssey. From Wikipedia: Athena, disguised as Mentor “encourages [the hero] Telemachus to stand up against [his mother Penelope's] suitors and go abroad to find out what happened to his father.” (Does flying to Sydney count as going abroad?)
• I love how Hurley always says exactly what the fans are thinking: “What if we time-traveled again back to the age of dinosaurs, and these skeletons are us?” I imagine the first draft of the script included Jack saying, “Next you’re gonna tell me we’re in Purgatory and that the smoke monster — now in the form of Locke — is the symbolic representation of Satan. Don’t be stupid. Now, where did my ghost dad run off to again…”
• Kate is still on her mission to find Claire. You’d think after everything that’s happened since returning to the island, she would’ve let it go by now. Kate, look around you. There are bigger problems right now than dealing with your guilt issues. Bah, whatever. You’re not even a candidate.
• So Sideways Jack has a son. I assume that Sarah is the mother, but that’s not necessarily the case, is it?
• Clearly the rift between Sideways Jack and son David is caused by the fact that Jack is a Red Sox fan and David is a Dodgers fan.
• Claire Littleton: Danielle Rousseau, the next generation.
• Ironic that Claire was concerned about Jin’s injury becoming infected when she herself is “infected”.
• No baby of your own? No problem, a baboon corpse will work just fine. Strongly-worded letter from PETA expected shortly.
• Interesting that Claire referred to Smokey as “her friend” instead of “Locke”. She sees his true identity and probably doesn’t see his physical manifestation at all.
• I was just waiting for Claire to tell Jin, “The dingo ate my baby.”
• I was also expecting her to ask him, “Wait, when did you learn to speak English?”
• If we have to wait all season to learn Smokey’s real name, I’m gonna be ticked. If we find out it’s “Steve Urkel”, I’m gonna even be more ticked.

Previously:
Lost thoughts, Feb. 17
Lost thoughts, Feb. 10
Lost thoughts, Feb. 3

Lost fans have been begging for answers and last night’s episode delivered them in spades, although I’m sure it left a lot of folks still scratching their heads. Personally, I thought the spiritual elements were really powerful, and there are so many parallels between it and the Gospel. So instead of my usual bullet-point braindump of random observations, I thought I’d spend a few minutes analyzing the episode from a Christian standpoint.

Major themes.

There are a couple of broad themes that Lost revolves around: (1) good vs. evil and (2) free will vs. determinism. You see these same themes played out in the Bible as well.

Certainly, it’s not hard to equate the battle between Jacob and the Man in Black to the battle between God and Satan. This is an eternal struggle that began long before mankind was created. Essentially, Satan is trying to defeat God, much the same way that MIB is trying to defeat Jacob, and we as humans are caught in the middle of this battle, just as the people on the island are caught in the middle. And as such, we must choose what side we’re on. Ephesians 6:12 says: “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” We are part of the larger eternal war whether we want to be or not.

Which gets back to the question of free will vs. determinism. MIB tells Sawyer that he has three choices. First, he can ignore Jacob’s invitation (i.e. God’s call to salvation) and see how his life plays out. Of course, the end result is always the same: death, with your name being crossed off the list. (Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”) Second, he can accept the invitation. (Romans 10:9-10: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”) Or third, he can reject it outright. Likewise, we have the same choices, although really the first and the third lead to the same conclusion.

The debate over free will vs. determinism (or predestination) is a pretty big one within the Christian church. Has God already predetermined who will be saved, written their names and numbered them as Jacob did with his chosen “candidates”? Or are we free to choose for ourselves whether we are saved or not? I won’t even try to go into this discussion here, but you can see how this same theme is directly playing out in Lost. And I think the “sideways” storyline will continue to explore it throughout the rest of the season. Are the six chosen — Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, and Kwon (most likely Sun) — predetermined to end up on the island even in this alternate universe, or did “rebooting” time break that cycle?

The Man in Black.

It’s fitting that the MIB has taken the appearance of Locke (the island’s “man of faith”). Satan, too, often appears as men of faith to deceive us. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-16: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.” In the same way, Sawyer was able to discern the fake Locke from the real Locke based on the way he acted. (The real Locke, he said, was full of fear.) Jesus also warned in Mark 13:5-6 that in the last days (final season?) “many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many.” Sounds like the Man In Black to me. (Incidentally, it’s interesting to note that “sideways” Locke took a job as a substitute teacher. In other words, he wasn’t a real teacher, he was a false one (i.e. a false prophet).)

It’s also interesting to note Ilana’s statement that MIB is stuck looking like Locke. In Genesis 3, God condemns Satan to crawl on his belly, groveling in the dust as long as he lives. In the same way, MIB is cursed to live out his days on the island, stuck in whatever form he takes. Satan is not all powerful; he must conform to God’s rules and limits. MIB must also play by Jacob’s rules.

The death of Jacob.

The Man in Black thought he had found a loophole to defeating (killing) Jacob. Since he himself can’t kill Jacob, as he was reminded by the blonde-haired boy last night (angel? prophet?), he tried to manipulate Ben into killing him. In the same way, Judas Iscariot was deceived into betraying Jesus, which led to Jesus’ crucifixion. When Jesus died, Satan thought he had won (we saw MIB remove the white rock from the scale and toss it into the ocean). But Jesus’ death was part of God’s greater plan for mankind. His death opened the door for mankind to be saved. Jesus died so that we wouldn’t have to. Likewise, Jacob’s death, I believe, is part of a larger plan that will ultimately lead to the redemption of the island castaways. And just as Jesus rose from the grave on the third day after His death, I wonder if we’ll see Jacob be resurrected on the third day. (Ilana reminded us that Jacob was killed “yesterday”, so we should know soon enough.)

Previously:
Lost thoughts, Feb. 10
Lost thoughts, Feb. 3

Once again, some random thoughts about last night’s episode of Lost:

• “Claire?”
• The episode was titled “What Kate Does”. So what does Kate do? She runs. She runs when she’s on the island and when she’s off, just like always. Kate has always been a 1-dimensional character, so honestly I was less interested in what she does than in Sayid and Claire. This episode was really more about them.
• Doesn’t it seem like Jack, Sawyer, and Kate have regressed since last season? In Season 5 Jack had grown from a cynical man of science to a hopeful man of faith. Now he’s back to cynical. “What’s that?” “It’s a baseball.” “What’s this?” “It’s tea.” “We’ll just see where trust gets us.” Meanwhile, Sawyer had evolved into a respected leader while stuck in 1977, yet he’s now back to the angry, selfish loner he was in Season 1. And Kate, who we thought had learned to stop running while caring for Aaron, is back to her old ways. I’m not sure this is a good thing. If Lost is ultimately a story of redemption, these characters have taken several steps backward.
• Meanwhile, Sayid also seemed out of character. The Iraqi torturer and cold-blooded assassin for Ben Linus — who had been tortured himself numerous times — now screamed and begged for mercy when strapped down by Dogen and Lennon. Was that a purposeful change in direction, or am I just being picky?
• I never quite bought the chemistry between Sawyer and Juliet, so I don’t really care that Sawyer is so heartbroken. Maybe I’m just not a romantic. Or maybe it goes back to the whole character regression thing. I don’t know.
• Hello, Ethan Rom. Or Dr. Goodspeed. Interesting juxtaposition between the old Ethan, who took a sinister pleasure in prodding preggo Claire with needles on the island, and the new and improved Dr. Goodspeed, with a sickening sweet bedside manner and a willingness to put away the needles.
• Interesting to see Claire and Kate’s reaction when Claire called the baby “Aaron”. Like they both remembered him. Ethan Rom: “He’s going to be quite a handful.” Yep.
• Jin wasn’t going back to the Temple, he was looking for the Ajira plane and Sun.
• Dogen: “We were brought here. You know what I mean.” Everyone on the island is brought here for a reason. But who brings them? The island? Jacob?
• Dogen on why he uses a translator: To separate him from his people so that it’s easier for them to accept his decisions. The opposite of Jack’s mantra: “Live together, die alone.”
• Jack tells Sayid point-blank that he didn’t save his life, but Sayid is unfazed. He swears his loyalty to Jack and even agrees to take the pill if Jack tells him to. We’ll just see about that if the “infection” really does reach his heart. I think Hurley was right: Sayid is a zombie. (Hey, it’s the fabled Lost zombie season after all!)
• So Claire’s heart turned to darkness. That explains what she was doing in the cabin with Christian. Guess that also explains what happened to her when the Dharma house exploded: She died and was resurrected like Sayid, but infected with the same “darkness”. So it’s more like the Star Wars zombie season. Or something like that.

Previously:
Lost thoughts, Feb. 3rd

I’ve been a huge fan of Lost since Season 1, but for whatever reason I’ve only blogged about it (briefly) once. And I’m not really starting now. After all, there are so many other, better places to find in-depth reviews, analyses, and theories. But with so much going on in this final season, I just wanted to jot down my initial thoughts of last night’s episode, braindump style. I’ll try to update the list throughout the week as I read through everyone else’s ideas, and hopefully I’ll repeat the process for the entire season.

That being said, here goes (in no particular order):

• So fake-Locke is the resurrected/reincarnated Man in Black, and fake-Sayid is the resurrected/reincarnated Jacob. Which means that the actors we saw in the Season 5 finale were probably resurrected/reincarnated as well. In other words, the battle between the two characters has been going on for a long, long time. When one body dies, the spirit of that character moves on to another host and the cycle continues. That is, until the Man in Black finds his loophole.
• Interesting that MIB says he just wants to go home. Where’s that? Anywhere but the island. (Think metaphysically, not geographically.)
• Smokey is another incarnation of MIB! Interesting how Smokey lives not in the Temple, but in the catacombs underneath and outside of it, an underworld if you will. A realm of the undead, much like Hades. Does that mean MIB is undead, sentenced to an eternal captivity, eternal damnation? Certainly seems that way. Remember, Lucifer (Satan) was condemned by God, cast out of Heaven, and sentenced to an eternity in Hell (Hades) (Ezekiel 28:15-16, Luke 10:18). And much like the Smoke Monster, the Bible says Satan comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
• Love the imagery of Sayid being lowered into the water and raised again, arms splayed as if he were on a cross, then coming back to life. A true baptism: a death of the old life, washing away his sin, then being reborn in the image of Christ and consumed by the Holy Spirit.
• Does that mean Jacob is the equivalent to Jesus/the Holy Spirit? Remember: “God loves you as He loved Jacob”. And “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
• Is that why Richard Alpert doesn’t age? MIB said Richard looked different out of his chains, but were those chains literal or metaphorical? Was he set free from bondage/sin by Jacob in return for eternal life?
• Interesting that MIB took the form of dead-for-real John Locke, yet Locke’s body remained. Meanwhile, when Sayid came back to life, he was still in his own body. So maybe the Jacob-inhabiting-Sayid theory isn’t true after all.
• Juliet told Miles that the reset worked, and it did — in a way. The Losties are back on Oceanic 815 but in an alternate version, a separate reality string. This reminded me of Desmond’s flashes, memories of events that really didn’t happen in his past but were happening simultaneously in a different reality string. Which reminds me of Ms. Hawkins’ warning that you can try to change the future (or the past), but the universe has a way of self-correcting. In other words, even though the reset worked in a way, the Losties will still end up however they were destined to end up. (Again, rehashing Lost’s themes of free will vs. determinism!)
• Funny how some of the the alternate universe Losties are better off than their originals and some aren’t. Hurley is now the luckiest guy in the world instead of the unluckiest. And Locke finally got to go on his walkabout. But yet, Locke is still returning home to world in which he is crippled and emotionally broken. Kate is still in handcuffs. Charlie is still a drug addict. Jin is still a henchmen for his father-in-law. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
• Was Claire on the plane? We saw her in a cab at LAX but not on the plane. We also didn’t see Michael, Walt, Libby, Ana Lucia, Eko, or Nikki and Paulo. Were they (the characters) on the flight? Maybe, maybe not. After all, Shannon wasn’t. Hmm…
• Frogurt was on the flight. How awesome was that?
• How can you not love Rose and Bernard?
• Glad to hear Greg Grunberg’s voice as the Oceanic 815 pilot.
• What about the battle for the island between Ben and Widmore? I hope we don’t get so focused on Jacob/MIB that we forget about them. Because there are so many unanswered and unresolved issues there.
• Ms. Hawkins warned Desmond last season that the island wasn’t done with him yet. I hope she’s right. Because that’s another set of unresolved questions.
• How does Christian Shepherd fit into this whole thing? I think the fact that his body is missing in the alternate universe is very telling. That was absolutely intentional.

Whew! I think that’s it for now.

My brain hurts!

Previously:
Dead is not dead

“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” opens this Friday, and here in the good ol’ US of A, Paramount Pictures has taken a rather unique approach to marketing the movie.  Instead of letting the usual Left-Coast critics review (and turn their blue-blooded noses up at) the movie, the studio has taken it directly to patriotic Red State America: a preview at Andrews Air Force Base, promotion on CMT, and heavy marketing in places like Kansas City and Charlotte.  Seems fitting.  After all, G.I. Joe is a “Real American Hero”, right?

Or is he?

Outside of America, the marketing is much less, well, American:

[O]verseas, where big action films often earn 60% or more of their ticket sales, rah-rah American sentiment doesn’t play well. So those references have vanished from the advertising.

European marketing, rather, focuses on action sequences set in Paris — where the Eiffel Tower collapses — Egypt and Tokyo, and emphasizes that G.I. Joe is an international team of crack operatives and not some Yankee soldier.

When it comes to selling “G.I. Joe” outside the U.S., the message is “this is not a George Bush movie — it’s an Obama world,” director Stephen Sommers said. “Right from the writing stage we said to ourselves, this can’t be about beefy guys on steroids who all met each other in the Vietnam War, but an elite organization that’s made up of the best of the best from around the world.”

So which is it?  Is G.I. Joe still “fighting for freedom wherever there’s trouble”, or is he too busy apologizing to terrorists?  I’d like to know.

Because after all, knowing is half the battle.

Previously:
Obama’s great apology
‘War on Terror’ over. Osama bin Laden approves

This weekend we watched the Liam Neeson movie Taken.  In the movie, Neeson’s estranged daughter (played by Maggie Grace) is kidnapped while vacationing in Paris.  Neeson then spends the remainder of the movie tracking her down before she’s lost forever.

Although the movie isn’t necessarily meant to have a Christian message, I couldn’t help but to think about how it is a perfect analogy for our relationship with God.  We often talk about the need to seek forgiveness for our sins and come back to God, and that’s true.  But we forget that God isn’t just sitting idly by while we wander off.  He’s actively pursuing us, just as Neeson’s character pursued his daughter.

In the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14), Jesus said:

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do?  Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away!  In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

This isn’t a picture of a callous supernatural being who sits around waiting for his worshippers to return to him.  No, this is a heavenly Father who loves His children and will stop at nothing to get us back.  This is a Father who loved us enough to give Himself up on the cross to pay the penalty for our stupid mistakes, a Father who has declared war on our kidnappers, just as Neeson’s character declared war on his daughter’s.  Titus 3:5 says that God “saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”

The question, then, isn’t whether we’re too lost to be rescued.  The only question is whether we want to be rescued at all.

The earth moves and you find me
Alive but unworthy
Broken and empty, but you don’t care
‘Cause you are my rapture, you are my savior
When all my hope is gone, I reach for you
You are my rescue

– Seabird, “Rescue”

It seems like everywhere you turn lately, there’s some new sordid story about the marital breakdown of Jon and Kate Gosselin, the stars of TLC’s reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Like others who watched the show, I always respected them for their faith and their commitment to their family.  How much of that has changed over the years I don’t really know since that’s really only a question that they themselves can answer.

But if there’s any good that can come out of the couple’s situation, it’s that the train wreck being played out on television and in the tabloids can provide us as Christians with some extremely important lessons.

First, Christianity Today reminds us that we’re as vulnerable as anyone to falling victim to the seductions of the world:

It was not until the recent allegations of sexual impropriety arose that a significant number of Christians began to question whether Jon and Kate were indeed the examples of faithful living that we had imagined. Somehow most of us missed the long trajectory that was, day by day, moving them farther from a life of Christian virtue. Sexual immorality—whether actual or merely suspected—caught our attention, but the materialism, narcissism, and exploitation of children that preceded it was largely overlooked.

As such, the breakdown of Jon and Kate’s marriage is but a symptom of the larger weaknesses of ethics in the evangelical community. We are easily seduced by wealth and fame. We are easily contented by the shallow rhetoric of hot-button issues. In short, we are easily deceived by cultural values painted in Christian veneers (or clothed in Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts).

Second, blogger Jon Acuff points out the ever-present need for grace:

Did Jon and Kate get what they deserve? I don’t know. I’ve seen other Christians express this opinion but I don’t know Jon and Kate. I know me. And I didn’t get what I deserved. I got grace. I got forgiveness. I got Christ. I got rescued from the ruins of a life that seemed beyond redemption. I got a second chance and a 10th chance and a 300th chance. I didn’t get what I deserved. And when we say that someone, “Got what they deserved,” whether we’re talking about a reality TV couple, our relatives or our neighbors, we lose sight of grace, which is the undercurrent of our entire faith and a gift we do not deserve.

We’re all flawed.  Every single one of us.  To think otherwise is a flat-out lie.  Why should the Gosselins be any different than the rest of us?  Or to put it another way, why should I think than I’m any different from them?

I promise I haven’t forgotten about the blog. I just haven’t had time in the last few weeks to post anything of any significance. I’m hoping to get a little more caught up later this week, though.

In the meantime I did want to make a quick comment about the Lost season finale from last week:

Lost dabbles in a lot of different religions, and the finale was no different with its heavy dose of Egyptian imagery.  But the biggest revelation was of course Jacob and his unnamed nemesis.  To me, the Christian symbolism between the two characters was really amazing, with Jacob taking on the role of Jesus and the man in black as Lucifer/Satan.

A theology student could write an entire thesis based off of that one episode, but I’ll simply say this: The man in black spent hundreds of years (at least) looking for a loophole that would allow him to kill Jacob, and he thought he found it by taking the form of John Locke and deceiving Ben Linus (a longtime disciple of Jacob’s) into killing his master.  In the same way, Satan thought he had found a loophole when Jesus, the very Son of God, was betrayed and murdered.  It didn’t quite turn out the way he hoped, however.

Therefore, I predict Lost will conclude its final season with the defeat of the enemy (“Not-Locke”) upon the return of the resurrected Jacob.

BONG!

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller is a wonderful book.  Beautifully poetic, humorous, and deeply insightful, it is composed of a series of seemingly random essays about various topics such as love, grace, and community.  Miller’s book challenged me, as it should.  I don’t agree with him on everything, but I followed along his journey anyway, willing to listen to what God had to say to me through it.

So when I heard that they were making a movie version of the book, my curiosity was piqued.  First off, it’s not like this is a novel, but it’s not purely an autobiography either.  Secondly, it’s not structured in such a way that it would easily translate to a screenplay.  So I was excited to see the end result.

But after reading a review of the screenplay on Miller’s blog, my excitement has turned to concern:

Blue Like Jazz portrays a vivid tension between Christianity and the world. I thought it was fantastic. It was hard to swallow some the direct obligations towards Christianity – they are so true though. The times of hope and resolve allowed me to emotionally connect to the character of Don. I laughed out loud and swallowed hard at times when reading through the script. The story touched on every single issue that outsiders have with Christianity (Judgmental, Hypocritical, Antihomosexual, Sheltered, Too Political, and Proselytizing based on the research of unChristian). It’s an emotional ride that brought me to an ending that gave me much hope and confidence in (1) Being Christian (2) The story I am developing with God on a personal level and (3) Jesus.

The Evangelical viewer is going to come face to face with some tough criticisms. However, the honest Christian is going to come away feeling refreshed. The cultural elite are going to laugh at the cynicism and debate that takes place during the Reed College scenes and they will appreciate the genuine tension that Don has with God. Your Juno fans are going to love the the witty dialogue, emotional connection to each character and who they represent. They will also love the scenes dealing with rabbits, the Pope, condoms, college parties, and the journey Don is on. The dialogue comes off as very genuine, even when reading it as opposed to seeing it on screen. Homosexuals who believe in God will love the relationship between Don and Laura. Conservative Christians are going to have the hardest time with it – but it is a necessary affliction they need to feel. The postmodern crowd of Christianity is going to rave about it. Since the story is about a guy who is in college your college students will love it on so many different levels, especially, the character development of Don. I think majority of criticisms will come from your extreme conservative and your extreme liberal – However, majority of the world rides the fence.

I suppose that because I disagree with homosexuality, that puts be into the category of “conservative” Christian rather than “postmodern” Christian.  So it’s probably no surprise that the way homosexuality is apparently portrayed in the movie concerns me a great deal.  Further, the arrogance of the statement that such concern is a “necessary affliction they need to feel” leads me to believe that this is not simply about including a homosexual character in a Christian movie, but that there is an obvious agenda behind it.  That is to say that if I’m a conservative Christian, then I must be wrong, and this movie is supposed to put me in my place.  (It should be noted that in the book, Laura isn’t a homosexual.)

What message is this movie sending not only to the Christian community, but to non-Christians?  From the review it seems to be that true Christianity (the “honest” kind that is not judgmental or “antihomosexual”) is made for the majority of people who “ride the fence” between conservative and liberal.  It’s the kind that doesn’t pick sides or stand for absolutes, but loves the sinner while refusing to hate the sin.

That is not the Christianity of the Gospel, and I don’t believe that was Miller’s intent in the book.

Please understand this is not an indictment of Donald Miller or his book, only a reaction to a review of the screenplay.  I’m still curious about how the movie will turn out.  I just hope the review is way off the mark.

Update, 4/16/09:
Here’s a good interview with Donald Miller and producer Steve Taylor (who was kind enough to respond to my original blog post), discussing how they deal with the controversy surrounding their work:

Doing Daring Things for Good Reasons from MHGS VIDEO on Vimeo.

A few observations about the interview:

1. The interview was conducted at Mars Hill Graduate School in Portland, Oregon.  According to their website, MHGS is an “evangelical and progressive institution. The faculty consciously submits to the authority of Scripture and the model of a hermeneutical framework that interprets the Bible in light of its grammatical, historical, literary, and theological contexts. Relational hermeneutics is a full-bodied, soul-engaged, heart-transforming encounter that involves the subjective worldview of the interpreter as much as the process of interpretation.”  I’m certainly no theologian, but my assumption is that their views on issues like homosexuality are probably more liberal than those of conservative seminaries in the South.
2. Miller contrasts Christians in the Pacific Northwest, who he deems more “balanced” because they didn’t grow up in a religious environment, with Christians in the Southeast, who he characterizes as being more apt to get drunk and sleep with their girlfriends.  I thought this was an interesting statement, if only to demonstrate how he views conservative “red state” Christians.
3. Miller mentions supporting Barack Obama for president.  He doesn’t elaborate why, but he wouldn’t have supported him without having his reasons.  Again, this demonstrates a difference between Miller and conservative “red state” Christians.  For example, as a Christian I disagree with abortion and homosexuality, and therefore will not vote for a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage candidate, regardless of political party.  Miller obviously feels differently if he actively supported someone like Obama.

These observations are important to keep in mind because they show where Miller and Taylor are coming from as they produce this movie, which is to say that their point of view is probably much more liberal than that of conservative Christians like myself.  It will be interesting to see how that point of view affects the message of the movie.

Previously:
¡Viva La Revolución!
What number are you?
When we worship God
‘How Apple Plays Upon Our Insecurities’