I just don’t have the energy to follow up my last blog with comments about the playoffs (yes, I went to both games in
If you need me, I’ll be the emotionally exhausted girl at her desk, pretending to be positive about winning the next 2 out of 3 games to avoid elimination. On the road. In snow.
I rarely write about sports or my beloved Oakland Athletics. But I am headed to the game tomorrow, and I can barely contain my enthusiasm. I originally penned the article below with print publication in mind, but in the interest of time, I wanted to share with other A’s and baseball fans in general…
I grew up one city over from
This year is different.
There is a palpable confidence that never surfaced when
This year is different.
On paper, the Athletics offense does not instill fear into the hearts of many, let alone opposing teams. But they find a way to get it done…unlike, say, a certain team from
This year is different.
Most of the media chose the Twins to win the first series, based solely upon one player, ace Johan Santana. And although the A’s swept Minnesota in the ALDS, taking the first two in their stupid home dome and defeating their impending Cy Young winner, the media immediately picked Detroit as the clear favorite for the ALCS. Oakland finally made it through to the second round of the playoffs, but the respect is blatantly lacking.
This year is different.
It is well documented that the
This year is different.
Yes, the Tigers are the feel-good story of the season. And yes, my in-laws are from
* The episode was called ‘A Tale of Two Cities.’ We’ve been introduced to the first, a Truman Show-like village in the middle of the island. Is there a second city of Others, or is the title referring figuratively to the survivors’ beach as the other?
* When the electromagnetic anomaly caused the earthquake in the village, Juliet advised her book club members to get under the doorway. She must be from
* After witnessing the plane crash, Ben quickly assigned Goodwin and Ethan to the fuselage and tail sections to integrate themselves as passengers and gather the infamous ‘lists.’ This is the first thought of a man with a plan, a man more concerned with weeding out the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’ than actually caring how many survived. We know this isn’t the first time that something has crashed on their island that needed to be contained; thus, the rush to action. The real Henry Gale from
* Ben either severely underestimated the survivors of the plane crash or overestimated the abilities of his henchmen Goodwin and Ethan, because both of them died at the hands our Losties.
* Does Juliet possess the same powers as Walt? Is that why she was able to appear in the jungle to shoot Sawyer seemingly seconds after being below in the Hydra tank with Jack? They probably kidnapped Walt in the first place because they were taking all of the children from the plane, but it was an added bonus and surprise that he was gifted (the Others did refer to him last season as a ‘special boy’). After Walt was abducted, did he provide them with detailed information about the remaining passengers under threat of harm to his father, Michael? I’m sure the only reason they released him to leave with his dad on the boat was because he’d given them everything they needed to know about who’s left on that beach.
* Ironically, Kate inquires about Sawyer before Jack, but Jack asks Juliet about Kate only.
* The relationship between Ben and Juliet is undefined but the animosity is blatant. When Jack holds the Taser to Juliet and threatens to kill her, Ben responds with a nonchalant ‘Ok.’ And then while trying to escape before the water deluge, Ben locked Juliet in with Jack. It will be interesting to see how this power struggle unfolds…
* Tom/Zeke told Kate that she’s not his type. Something tells me he plays for the other team. Either that or he’s just into ‘good’ girls, and we all know that Kate does not fit into that category.
* We see Kate put the handcuffs on tightly, per Ben’s request, but when she is put in the cage across from Sawyer, her wrists show signs of serious resistance and struggle. So whatever she was told about the next two weeks, she reacted and it probably wasn’t pretty. She is the queen of Fight or Flight, after all…
* When Karl, the guy in the cage across from Sawyer, escaped and then let Sawyer out, he was adamant that Sawyer run in the opposite direction…right into Juliet’s trap. Clearly this was a set-up.
* Could this new neighborhood of Others be the offspring of the original Dharma folks on the island? Is that why they are fascinated and obsessed with children? Perhaps none of them are able to conceive (due to testing or a virus or experiments). And if so, are they priming Kate to be The One Who Must Bear Our Children For Us? There’s nothing like cleaning up and putting a floral dress on a badass tomboy to get that ball rolling…
* Are the Hydra station and aquarium directly underneath the Zoo hatch? Are they one and the same?
* The Others were very interested in Claire when she was pregnant. Do they not have the same interest in Sun? Do they even know that she is with child?
Here are my very first thoughts about Season 3, Episode 1 of LOST: “A Tale of Two Cities.” I need to sleep, daydream, and then tomorrow night I will post additional theories & possible changes to these below. I apologize in advance for any errors or repetition.
* Juliet’s house shook like an earthquake a good minute or so before the airplane actually crashed. Did it break through some kind of bubble, an insulated shield around the island?
* Ethan was fixing the plumbing under Juliet’s house. Are/were they together? Juliet has obvious vitriol toward Ben; she kicked him out of the book club and glared at him with disdain after every interaction. Perhaps they have a romantic history…
* I didn’t notice one child in this new community…
* Juliet and her neighbors did not seem that shocked to see an airplane break above them and then crash on the island. But they also must not have known about Desmond, and that he was in a hatch. They might have known what could have caused such a thing to happen (they seem to know about all of the hatches, so they’d be aware of the one with magnetic capabilities), but not by whom.
* Juliet was holding a copy of a Stephen King book. Back when Henry Gale was being held captive in the main hatch, Locke gave him a book but Gale responded with ‘what, no Stephen King?’ My best guess is that she was reading ‘Carrie,’ because it is about a girl with telekinetic powers. This would fit right into the Lost mythology. If so, does that mean Juliet has said power, and was reading Jack’s mind rather than a file??
* They purposefully did not show us what Ben (formerly known as Henry Gale) said to Kate after telling her that the next two weeks were going to be very difficult. My guess is that he’s putting her to the test, having her choose between Jack and Sawyer; that he’ll kill the one she does not choose. Perhaps he gave her two weeks to decide. They gave Michael exactly three minutes with Walt, so they are very precise with their time allotment. We now know they know every detail about her (because they sure did about Jack), including her criminal past…perhaps Ben’s chat was about that. Whatever he told her, she sure looked uncomfortable facing Sawyer again.
* Did Kate eat some of Sawyer’s fish because she didn’t want him to know that she had eaten real food? Did she eat any of the food provided by Ben? She put the cuffs right on when told she wouldn’t be able to have any coffee otherwise. Seemed a little quick to me…
* Are Sawyer and Kate being held in a zoo? Is this the zoological station/hatch? Now we know where that polar bear from Season 1 was from, not to mention Kate’s black horse, Sawyer’s frog, Locke’s boar and Hurley’s bird, among others.
* Where are all of the zoo animals now? Did they escape out onto the island, where the survivors then encountered them?
* We finally find out that there is an underwater station – the Hydra Hatch (which would explain the shark with the Dharma logo seen last season circling the raft). You clearly hear dolphins above the cage where Jack is being held. Judging from the fact that Jack is in an abandoned, rusty tank (plus Juliet’s response when he asked if she was from Dharma), I am assuming that Juliet and her community of people are a separate group of ‘Others’ from the Dharma scientists. I believe that the Dharma folks evacuated all hatches and facilities long ago, and Juliet’s Others now reside/work there.
* Shortly after we see Juliet with Jack down in the underwater hatch, she is up in the zoo area shooting a Taser at Sawyer. So either the hatch isn’t really underwater (messing with Jack’s head) or there is a very quick elevator or subway-like system up to dry land. That would explain the train sound of the original ‘monster’ we hear in the pilot episode…
* There must be at least two factions of Others: the ones with the houses that we met tonight and the ones who walk barefoot and steal children. Do Dharma people make up a third contingent?
* Who the hell was that young guy in the cage across from Sawyer? Was he one of the passengers that the Others originally took from the Tail Section beach along with the kids, while Ana Lucia & company were sleeping? Did he have his back to Sawyer because he was making a makeshift key to open the lock? Where did the Others take him after making him apologize to Sawyer? Was it all an act, was this guy an Other? Were they taking him away to convince Sawyer not to attempt to escape?
* Ben, back when he was Henry Gale the prisoner, certainly heard a lot of information while being held in the hatch. Is it possible that Juliet’s file on Jack was actually just a compiled list of details gleaned from Gale during his captivity?
* After Jack flooded the hatch, Ben locked Juliet in with him and took himself out of danger. What was that about?
* Juliet told Jack that it didn’t matter who they were, but who they are now. That is exactly what Jack said to Kate in the first season, sitting on the beach after he found her FBI ‘wanted’ flyer in the
* They took Jack and Kate’s blood, just like they did Michael’s when he was first captured. Or did they? Perhaps they were injecting something rather than withdrawing. Did Ben’s warning about the next two weeks have anything to do with whatever was possibly injected into them? Was it a virus or vaccine with two week’s worth of side effects?
Today I was super cranky pants. Until I realized that LOST was on tonight; until my team (the A’s) beat Minnesota for the second day in a row, in their stupid home dome, in the playoffs; and until the first rain of the fall season finally appeared in the Bay Area, bringing with it that unique damp pavement smell that very few appreciate but that I inexplicably enjoy.
I love living on the West Coast, except on two occasions. 1) When my baseball team has a morning or late afternoon playoff game during the week, and 2) when my friends on the East Coast call during LOST to brag about how amazing it is before it has aired here. They get to watch it first. Not fair. (Insert crossed arms, furrowed brow and pouty lip here).
If anyone wanted proof that I’ve transformed into a total TV nerd – right now I am wearing my LOST numbers shirt. I even wore it to work. One could argue that wearing my A’s jersey outside of the ballpark would make me more of a dork, on a different level (I never do, FYI). By the way, I also have on my desk a brand new Dwight Schrute bobblehead (from The Office, for those of you who don’t recognize the name…but should – why aren’t you watching that yet?!). Yes, I’m becoming that girl. Run, Forrest! Run!
I will see you after I recover from LOST. I’d love to hear what you think. Even I get tired of hearing/posting my opinions alone…