The Tail Section

The LOST praise post

Lost News — October 5, 2006 at 1:40 pm by docarzt

THIS is your post folks! Use the comments to let us know how you feel about the debut of season 3. Was it everything you thought it would be? More? Don’t forget to check back for Doc’s indepth recap.

32 Comments »

Initially I would say it was mediocre. I saw no connections to other characters in the flashbacks (or at least i missed them if there were). And once again we’re fed a possibility that turns out to be wrong (Jack’s father being Sarah’s new man). It was nice to see the other’s and where they live but it barely got the story started… I WANT MORE!!!!

Comment by Jeff — October 5, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
What.An.Episode.

I went back and watched the opening scene 6 times - and could they have established a more domestic mood with “Downtown”, burnt muffins and a book club? Like a VISTA delegation assigned to greater Phoenix! (Bet the CCC’s are murder, though - maybe literally, with this bunch. After all, every last cottage WAS painted apricot:) Tom / Zeke / Friendly clearly is the go-to guy for barbecues, but where was the brewsky in his hand? Clearly a continuity lapse. The only thing Juliet was missing was a DHARMA apron. And Amelia reminded me of your typical little-old-lady operative in several different previous shows and movies, although I couldn’t hope to tell you which. Still, I don’t think there will ever come a time when I can describe the Others as ‘cuddly’, at least not with a straight face and no matter how much I like the character of Juliet, coldly professional yet sooooo sweet. It also occurred to me that she is possibly Karen and Gerald’s daughter (there is enough of a resemblance, anyhow) and that, like it or not, the Hydra signage further suggests (already revealed: their fondness for big-band, a theme that continued last night as Jack too had Glenn Miller on his car stereo whlie surveiling Sarah) that the Others are, indeed, much younger physically than they should be, the Hydra being a well-known symbol for regeneration (an ancillary effect of the island’s magnetic properties as a stasis field, I do believe - see ‘Cross Currents’ by Robert Becker). That said, Ethan and Goodwin’s deaths, to say nothing of the other nondescript Others killed, prove that they aren’t immortal or anything, either. By the way, does Ethan wear a lot of different hats or what? Doctor, plumber, freakishly strong kidnapper and assassin…..Talk about cross-training! Jim

Comment by ogam5 — October 5, 2006 @ 2:33 pm
I loved it- I was blown away by the first 3 minutes….Just totally nuts! I couldn’t ask for (or dream up) a better season opener! I hav to say it was a creepy episode last night…watching Sawyer and Kate in that “zoo” was so awful…this show just gets better and better! by the way…are Ben/Henry and Julia brother and sister?

Comment by Sillygirl0630 — October 5, 2006 @ 2:34 pm
It seemed to be all set up, no action. All questions, no answers. (That second part being true of many episodes.)

I guess they had to establish where Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were first before getting on with the action. The end of last season was so filled with action and forward movement that this felt like a big stand-still.

The connections to the flashbacks seemed clear to me: both the current island scenes and the flashbacks dealt with Jack’s search for answers to things he can’t really understand, whether its his dad’s behavior or why he’s being held captive. He’s stubborn, as Juliet says, and we see it in both past and present.

A few other interesting things:

- Clearly Sawyer is being held in some sort of zoological station, which is where those mysterious polar bears and talking birds must have come from. Was DHARMA teaching animals intelligence? Why?

- I didn’t make too much of Kate saying, “Where’s Sawyer and Jack?” to Ben/Henry Gale. It’s a 50/50 on whose name she’d say first, and not too Freudian. They might be trying to set up a Sawyer-Kate romance, but that line of questioning and obseravtion from Ben/HG seemed forced.

- What are they doing to Kate for two weeks? Lost is creepy, but it’s rarely disturbing, so I doubt she’s being raped or made a sex slave, although its possible they have examined her to see if she can have children and thus keep this island civilization going. The Others like kids, after all. (Speaking of which, no children were seen among the Other’s housing complex, so where are the children from the tail section? In some sort of research facility?)

- How connected are the Others to the outside world? They have food, bottled water, clean clothes, CDs (although we didn’t hear current pop music). The obviously have access to some sort of research tools, since they were able to dig up info on Jack and presumably Kate, Sawyer and the other survivors. Did that info come from mainland organizations? The Internet?

- Juliet seems sad, melancholy at times and combative at others. Are they setting her up to defect from the Others and help/fall in love with Jack? I can definitely see a reverse Stockholm syndrome happening where she falls for her prisoner. (She’s obviously not so thrilled with “I guess I’m out of the book club” Ben.)

- The Others had a clear set plan for any potential survivors of the plane crash and Ben/HG dispatched his two men immediately. Who has crashed there before (aside from the French lady, Desmond and the real Henry Gale) and did the Others infiltrate/capture/assimilate them as well? Which of the current Others found themselves on the island by accident at one time? Juliet? Could that explain her demeanor?

- What happens to the giant magnet now that the hatch has been destroyed? With no button to push, no countdown clock, how will they monitor its strength and discharge the energy? Or will it create a bigger disturbance, allowing Penny to more easily locate Desmond on the island?

Comment by d — October 5, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
I loved the episode, but one thing I will not do again is watch Lost on live TV. There was a commercial every five minutes. I will watch it after it is over and fastforward through all that crap, I love DVR. Anyway, great starter, they do what they do best… make us feel LOST and make us want more.

Comment by Derrick — October 5, 2006 @ 2:55 pm
Anyone else catch Ben’s odd statement during the opener? He tells Goodwin that if he runs, he’ll make the tail section crash site within an hour… Anyone with DVR please check out the panoramic view when the camera zooms out to reveal the entire island… NO WAY could anyone run that in an hour without a direct route (tunnel???). Either it was a subtle hint, or someone writing the dialogue didn’t communicate to well with the special FX folks

Comment by hkdawei — October 5, 2006 @ 3:11 pm
hkd, omg, I thought the same exact thing. I was like ‘huh?’ when they zoomed out. No one is that good, must be tunnels or secret passage ways. How eerie and cool was that opening scene though. Had a Desmond kind of feel to it. Can’t wait for more!

Comment by Ben Murphy — October 5, 2006 @ 3:14 pm
Early in season two, when Anna L. was drilling Goodwin about his origins, she said that he came running out of the jungle 10 min after the crash. Isn’t that a pretty big flaw?

Comment by Ole — October 5, 2006 @ 3:45 pm
Perhaps Ben overestimated a bit, and Ana underestimated - after all, she was going through a bit of a tough time kinda trying not to drown and stuff…Did she count from when she got to shore or when they hit the water…?

Comment by Oli — October 5, 2006 @ 4:02 pm
I worry that Ole is right, and the producers don’t quite have EVERYTHING planned/ironed out.

I find it funny that (from memory) Ethan’s hair during his original shows (season 1) was WAY shorter than whatever wig/doo they’re given him in his return flashback appearances

Comment by hkdawei — October 5, 2006 @ 4:09 pm
With regard to the question of which crash site was seen in the distance upon pulling back from the village, it can only be the fuselage and we now know exactly where the Others are in relation to it: in close proximity to the medical and Flame hatches; the mountains probably dissuaded the Tailies from going in the direction of that village. Time to revise those island maps, for those who can do so…..the actual Black Rock we saw when Jack and Kate returned to the site of their encounter with Tom / Zeke / Friendly is probably not too far away either - but where then was the front village of yurts, fake entrance and the ferry launch? West or east side of the island? If I had to guess, the ferry launch was actually on the west side and about 2 miles from where the Tailies crashed, but not easily accessible - the boat and war party seemed to travel south from the Fusies’ camp, the latter probably turning north and inland shortly after that scene …..so the 4-toed foot statue and rock with hole are somewhere between the cable and Yurtsville on the eastern shore? Mayday! Mayday!

Comment by ogam5 — October 5, 2006 @ 4:17 pm
Ole, it’s not too big a flaw. I doubt Ana Lucia, having survived a horrific plane crash and struggled to shore, would have been able to distinguish time very well.

Comment by d — October 5, 2006 @ 4:21 pm
I loved the first ep. Thought it was cool with sawyer in those ‘Pavlovian Conditioning’ like cages. prob explained the polarbears, And jack in tank (explained the sharks aswell). I think it shows that the base was never really designed to take prisoners? Also laughed my head off when he got the prize of a fishcracker!
I thought i saw one of the ‘Others’ in jacks flash back tho, the chinese man at the book club, was he the same guy that let jack out of prison(the cop)? im not sure, cant really get a clear shot of him. I also think that maybe Ben/Henry or most of the others new sumit was going down b4 the plane crashed, as i thought it was weird that after the ‘rumble’ they all came running out and where looking up!
Im soooo glad its back, Cant wait to see the next ep!

Comment by Tone — October 5, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
I don’t know if the ‘10 minutes’ is a hole or not…. She wasn’t timing it.. it was a guestimate.

The zoom out on the island was not really that good… it had the flaws… from where the smoke was, it was a LONG way away… if travel to the tail section was in 1 hour(only possible with aircraft or a tunnel) Then the island is smaller than we thought… BUT.. if it’s that small.. how could someone have not found the foot statue?
It almost looks as if the tailies are farther away from the others than the beach camp… which wouldn’t make sense.. unless one of the pillars of smoke was the cockpit.

Comment by Tom — October 5, 2006 @ 4:41 pm
Classic lost. 31 minutes of commercials and 29 minutes of show. But man that 29 minutes kicked ass!

Comment by JoefromUtah — October 5, 2006 @ 4:51 pm
Didn’t we first see Goodwin when he saw Bernard in the tree. So wether Ana-Lucia said 10 mins or not, the real timeframe is how long was Bernard up in that silly tree.

Comment by Ben — October 5, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
seemed to me the others village was in some sort of crater, i suspect the mountains on all sides would dissuade anyone from trying to explore there (especially seeing as though rousseau has been on the island for 16 years) and they probably have either a tunnel through one of the mountains or a port on thier shoreline. its possible goodwin took some sort of boat part of the distance to the tail section and ran the rest. i always envisioned the tail section having landed on the north west, the fuselage and main camp being on the south and the black rock/danielles camp having been on the eastern part. however the view from the others village opens up a whole bigger eastern part of the island, so i assume that sayid and jin and sun sailed around the west to get to the others fake camp in the season 2 finale otherwise they would have seen this huge area on the other side of the mountains. This could also back up the theory that the black smoke protects the others camp from being found as it has mostly appeared when people go towards the eastern part of the island (like when they went to the black rock in the season 1 finale)

Comment by ledgeboy — October 5, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
I love the show, and am a HUGE fan. THe first season of the show made me a true believer, lol. But cmon. Second season was good, not as amazing as he first, but this drawing it out as long as possible thing has got to stop. Seriously. This is shit. I love the show, and yes, I am going to keep watching it, but CMOFF IT ALREADY. We can deal with some suspense, but after the 5 min, the show was shit. . Who seriously accusses theri father of sleeping with their wife?!?!? Jack. You asshole. J.J. Damon. Carlton. You had seriously know where the hell this show is going in the first 6 weeks episodes, or otherwise your going to lose viewers. And ratings. wow.

Comment by Rusty — October 5, 2006 @ 6:34 pm
I am SO going to record this on DVR next week!

TOO MANY COMMERCIALS!

The first 3 minutes were the best… I still feel like this raises more questions than it gives answers. Yet I cannot wait for next week.

Do you think that they are going to make Kate and Sawyer mate? It’s so creepy how they are holding them like animals in a zoo. Now we know where the polar bears came from (the Zoo) AND the shark (the Hydra/Jack’s cell)

Comment by Erin — October 5, 2006 @ 7:08 pm
Also very dissapointed. The opening 3 minutes were nice but hey, we already knew the plane split in half and that an ‘other’ showed up at each site. The rest of the show was mostly about Jack’s controlling nature and trouble dealing with the loss of his wife which we already knew about. Then a little sprinkling of locations in the others camp. I guess we learned that Kate looks great in a dress, oh wait already knew that, too ;).

All in all no new answers AND no new questions. Better get better soon or I’m giving up, too.

Comment by Chris — October 5, 2006 @ 7:24 pm
Did anyone else actually like the flashback story, because everyone is concerned about answers. I thoroughly enjoyed Jack’s daddy issues, and daddy’s Jack issues. Fine, we didn’t find out anything new, other than we know what the polar bears were for, we know HG’s name, we know that the Others knew the plane was coming, and we have a much more accurate, albeit confusing, idea of how the Others interact with each other.

This episode was the set-up for the next five weeks, and I think it did an incredible job. Obviously the opening scene was the coolest opening they could have done. I think it even tops Season 2 opener.

The writing of the whole show was good, I hope people can recognize that. The revelations… what’d you expect. It’s a six-episode arc so I imagine most of the big revealing moments will be the 4th or 5th episode. Give it time, in the meantime, I’m getting to know these new characters and I’m going to enjoy the story lines they throw at us.

Comment by Michael — October 5, 2006 @ 8:53 pm
I have a feeling that this show may be doomed because most people have zero patience nor do they have any interest in the story telling/character development part of the show…they only want a quick summary of the overall mythology. I hope we get to see this through to the end because I love every week of it. The one complaint I had was that the show should have been 2 hours and caught us up on each group…Jack/Kate/Sawyer, Locke/Eko/Desmond, Sayid, Sun, Jin and the beach camp/Hugo…just a little something from each group with the main focus on the prisoners.

The wreckage closest to the crater/Otherville is the Tallies…which is kind of an error since the tailsection hit in the water…didn’t it? I saw this being discussed and with the direction the plane came in and the fact that the tailsection clearly spiraled down quickly after it broke off while the fuselage continued in path of the other side of the island…it has to be the tailsection that is closest to the Otherville “BURBS”.

I think it was great overall…this show is about story telling and we are going to get bits and pieces from time to time but in the end it will all be linked together and the payoff will be worth it. You have to have faith that the guys that put this genius world of Lost together will deliver in the end. We know they know the general idea of how the story will go, so why not trust them and sit back and enjoy the ride??? Otherwise…this show will just be ruined and we all will miss out on the answers. I don’t think anyone wants to see it cancelled with stories and secrets yet to be told, so hang in there for everyone’s sake.

Comment by Kyle — October 5, 2006 @ 8:59 pm
Something I’ve lately noticed is peoples apparent fascination with the “WOW” rather than the story. Where as some are more concerned with the “What ifs” most (seem) more concerned with the “What nows”. Now please don’t get offended, especially if you’re in the latter bracket, but it is true.

As for the episode, I thought it was very well written and lays out some very good ground for further progression in the story, as well as many answers. It’s all about patience.

Comment by Josh — October 5, 2006 @ 9:10 pm
The assumption that the tail section crash site is closest to ‘Otherville’ is correct, but we DON’T see it; the association is only made as a result of Benry instructing Goodwin second and immediately before the camera pulls back - that crash site would then be directly over the cameraperson’s shoulder - what we do see has to be the fuselage’s final resting place, and I maintain that we are looking south, down the island’s western shore as its crash site comes into view. This section is more or less the only part of the island, for whatever reason, that has never really been explored (aside from the medical hatch, previously stopped cold at the prominent black rock) possibly because of the double watercourse drains shown on various maps. Speaking of which, it wasn’t apparent to me at first that Otherville was located in a crater - likely THE crater, if there is more than one - and I recall seeing reference to a crater on Danielle’s map, which I’m going to check out ASAP…..my belief is that the magnetic properties are largely a residual effect from long, long ago of the meteorite that left any craters (the repeated references to which are visible in the Swan mural and in Claire’s memory shown at the baby mobile center, not to mention that “Catch A Falling Star” is heard on multiple occasions…..I’m now also wondering, after Desmond’s inability to escape the island and very precise coordinates Benry gave to Michael, if the usage of “Beyond The Sea” is similarly significant…..

Comment by ogam5 — October 5, 2006 @ 9:40 pm
Ok. I know the episode seemed like a disappointment but really it wasnt.

There is a point to why the action was absent.

They just wanted us to learn about the others a little bit. See where Jack Kate and Sawyer are.

I mean come on! did you guys not see the preview for next week? It looked awesome and action packed.

Comment by g-c — October 5, 2006 @ 10:11 pm
Having read through all of the comments as well as seeing the episode twice already, I have to say I agree with you to some extent. The flashbacks on Jack’s wife was perhaps a little too dominating. And the candy we were provided with in the beginning felt a little bit like the fish bisquit Sawyer was awarded. Some of you have got this whole mating idea, Jack+Julie, Kate+Sawyer, which isnt very dumb. I think this has possiblities tho to a few facts:

+Ben pointed out the fact that Kate mentioned Sawyers name first
+Seems like too much of a coincidence they happend to be locked up next to each other.
+Sawyer gave the fish bisquit to Kate.

I’m proud to be one of the believer in the under water station the Hydra suspecting this to come up in season 3 after a few indications.
One elementary question I’m lost in, isnt Penny and Julie (Jules?) the same person, Desmonds former wife???

A few questions has ofcourse been rendered:
+What did Ben mean that Julie “did good” ? Fooling Jack she got information covering his whole life, helping him to “give up”?
+What was the scientific reason to keep the polar beers?
+How did Ethan and Goodwin manange to run that fast to the respective crash sites, we all could see this was more than one day trip?
+How could Danielle not have found “Otherville”?

Over and out.

Comment by Ola — October 5, 2006 @ 10:14 pm
“Otherville” has to be near or closer to the tailies. The reason they never found it is because that was the way they never went. Remember that they were too scared to go towards the way that they come from. You guys have to remember that they are on this island and they are probably pretty fit, so assuming that the distance is only 10-12 miles goodwin could and might be able to run that far in an hour. Just a thought… I liked the first episode, cant wait for more!!

Comment by mdog — October 6, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
When you slow motion with a vcr or tivo and pause when they are zooming out of otherville you can see where the 2 different crash sites are and you can see that otherville is closer to the tailies. I’m assuming many people noticed this right?

Comment by Jacob — October 7, 2006 @ 7:14 am
jeez people..not all but most..need to stop complaining..you cant expect everything in one hour.. i think the first ep was fantastic.. we learnt lots of new things..more questions..had easter eggs (thanks DOC) we met new people..we know the others ARE pretty normal people.. just watch the show and enjoy it dont moan about the lack of what were given..then when we are given something people moan anyways..the writers and producers of lost cant really win can they?..

Comment by Dan — October 7, 2006 @ 5:21 pm
A couple of comments re: the bit where Jack opens the underwater hatch and lets all the water in. If this station is indeed under the ocean, as was suggested, it?s not likely that an underwater sub station would have been built with a direct access hatch to the open sea, for the obvious reason that anyone turning the wheel on the door could flood the entire installation. Surely any such access point would work on an airlock principle ? two doors with a small sealed room in between? I couldn?t believe that there was a direct door to the open sea. Three possible answers: either it?s a mistake on the part of the script writers, or the hatch door that Jack opened didn?t lead directly to the ocean, but to a flooded section of the station (possibly some incident in the past meant that part of the station sprang a leak), or the whole set up was faked to make Jack think he?s underwater. The second option seems most sensible.

Also, correct me if I?m wrong, but if you open a door inwards and you?ve got the ocean on the other side, doesn?t the water pressure make it impossible for two people to close the door again until the pressure has equalised on both sides? I?m thinking of all those films where someone is in a car and the car dives into the sea and in order to get out, the hero has to wind down the window first to let in sea water before he can open the car door?

Comment by Rob — October 8, 2006 @ 10:13 am
ionolsen21 I just don not have anything to say right now.

Comment by thomson — October 18, 2006 @ 3:47 pm
Well this doesn’t really have anything to do with the epasoide but i just have to say… JACK AND KATE BETTER END UP TOGETHER!!! serisouly its a must for the show. i mean thats basically what i watch it for. i like sawyer as a character but as goes for love interests jack and kate TOTALLY are it. i will be realyl really really really really dissapointed if they don’t end up togetrher. i mean juliette is a fake, and i can see it. jack is hot! and so is kate… and you can tell they still love each other. so why can’t you just make it happen. i hate waiting! i just want them to be together so the whole show will get better. and it was better when they had to do everything for themselves. houses and everything just make it worse. but i still love the show. just saying that jack and kate would make it A MILLION TRILLION times better! and trust me. i i know shows.

Comment by Carling — April 27, 2007 @ 11:31 pm