John Locke, Season 5

My next three posts will focus on the characters that changed the most, in my opinion, in Season Five: John Locke, Benjamin Linus, and Sayid Jarrah. Of the three, John changed the most, simply because he went from being alive to being dead, which is quite a big change. It turns out that the man we thought was John Locke in half of the season was not, in fact, John Locke at all. In fact, John died, and remained dead. We know who was pretending to be John Locke, but we know little about him. All of us, myself included, forgot that there is a difference between reincarnation and resurrection. The clue was there, but we thought the producers were sloppy. It turns out, we were.

This season showed us John at his strongest and his weakest (ignoring the dead part for the moment). The season opened with John, the new leader of the Others, separated from them by the time flashes. Because of his location – the Beechcraft airplane in which Yemi died – John quickly ascertained that he was traveling through time. Unfortunately, Ethan didn’t get the memo about the new leader, and he shot John in the leg. John would have probably died had Not-Locke not sent Richard to bandage John up. I won’t go over that conversation right now, especially since we learned that it was actually Not-Locke who told Richard that John would have to die to get his friends back to the Island. That will be covered in my “Not-Locke” post.

John later finds Sawyer and Juliet, saving them from some murderous Others. John didn’t know he killed Others, though, until Juliet identified them as such after hearing “Jones” and his cohort speak Latin. When “Jones” takes off, John refuses to shoot him because, “he’s one of my people.”

For the remainder of the time that John is on the Island, he is clearly the leader. Unlike last season, though, he’s not a dictator, but seems to care about Sawyer, Charlotte, and the remaining Left Behinders. Perhaps buoyed by his conversation with Richard, he has a plan to save them and acts on it. And the rest follow, even Miles. Sawyer questions John a couple of times, but it is a respectful questioning (for Sawyer), and he helps John enact his plan.

Thanks to a time skip, the Orchid disappears, but the well, predicted by Charlotte, remains. John goes down the well on a rope, but the rope was cut in two by yet another time skip, and John plummeted to the bottom, severely injuring his leg. At this point, John changes from the confident and powerful leader to a disabled and disheartened man.

Off the Island, John can convince no one to return to the Island. Kate and Jack treat him with contempt and disbelief, Hurley thinks he’s a ghost, and Sayid outright refuses. John doesn’t even both asking Walt. John seems out of touch during his return, as we saw when Walt told John about his dream, a dream that John summarily dismisses.

At last, John gives up, and starts the process of committing suicide. And that is how Benjamin Linus finds him.

I’ll discuss Ben and this scene in a later post, but I know I’m not the only one who was tremendously surprised, first, at how kind he was to John, and then how cruelly he killed him. Ben told John that he was special, and that they would work together to bring the Jack, Kate, and the others back to the Island. Just what John wanted to hear. But John mentioned the name Eloise Hawking, and that was his death warrant.

The Meaning of John

I’ve made several assumptions through the years about John Locke. I’ve always assumed that he is special. He was healed of his paralysis on the Island. He met the smoke monster and survived. He knew and understood the hearts of his fellow Lostaways. I wanted to believe that he did have that destiny that he desperately sought.

John’s seeming resurrection only buttressed me believe in his destiny. How confident and strong he was, how truly connected to the Island he was. Except, it wasn’t him, it was Not-Locke. John was still in his casket, dead.

Richard even asked Jack about John, in the 1970s-era DHARMA days. Richard saw nothing special in John in the two times he had met him (up-to-then). Even though Richard was not impressed by John, he still tried to recruit him when he was in high school. But John rejected the offer.

So, was John a dupe, a sap? Was he truly just a loser with dreams bigger than his potential? Was he so desperate to be special that the Man-in-Black was able to manipulate John into being the vessel he needed to kill Jacob? But why would Jacob touch John if he weren't important?

Is John Gone?

Watching the final half of last season, I felt that John was truly coming into his own. He died, but he had to die to save the Island and his friends. Only in the last minutes of The Incident did we learn that John was still dead – he had not been resurrected but lay in his coffin. I was shocked, horrified, sad. And worried. Is John permanently dead? Will he never have a chance to have a destiny? Other bloggers, primarily Ryan McGee on Zap2It, believe that John is dead, and is never returning. I hope that he’s wrong. But I’m also afraid that Ryan might be right.

The Actor

As far as I can tell, Terry O’Quinn hasn’t done much this year other than Lost. He didn’t seem to do a media blitz as Michael Emerson and Evangeline Lilly did. No commercials, no guest roles. I did find a video of O’Quinn on The View, but it was from 2008. It seems that he has decided to not submit his name for Emmy consideration, because once you’ve won for a role, you shouldn’t try for another Emmy until you have a new role. I believe that he did attend the Kentucky Derby, which is where this picture is from. Maybe he's just enjoying Hawaiian life.

The Dreaded Quad, Season 5

This post has been a long time coming, partially because my initial efforts have meant that the post will be the longest post ever. This show has played with the relationships between and among these characters since Jack first opened his eye in the first episode. Kate has vacillated between Jack and Sawyer as she deals with her daddy issues. In Season 2, Ana Lucia Cortez was brought in to be the first to create a quad from a triangle, but she was so disliked by fans that her character was soon permanently retired by Michael. Our current quad started in Season 3 with the introduction of Juliet.

It is my firm belief that the quad is now dead. If nothing else, the final scene of Juliet trying to set off Jughead leads me to this conclusion. I think it also notable that Jacob never touched Juliet. And let's not forget that Elizabeth Mitchell has a starring role in V.

I must admit that the original triangle could be quite tiresome, perhaps because of Kate’s own inability to understand what she wants. I know someone who calls Kate a strong woman, but she is not when it comes to Sawyer and Jack. In the first four seasons she couldn't choose between the recalcitrant Sawyer or the noble Jack. Her feelings for Sawyer are the first to be consummated, but she clearly feels guilty later and devastated when she realizes that Jack knows of it. She later returns to Sawyer’s bed (sleeping bag? Tent?) after watching Jack and Juliet together. Sawyer is no fool, but he agrees to the arrangement – any Kate is better than no Kate. Kate’s choice appears to be made for her when Sawyer whispers his request of her and jumps out of the helicopter into the ocean.

She agrees to marry Jack when they are off the Island. But her need to protect Sawyer’s secrets and Jack’s substance abuse led to the destruction of that engagement. Even when she briefly reunited with him before the “trip to Guam”, she made it clear to Jack that just because they were in the same place doesn’t mean that they were together.

Although Sawyer slept with Ana Lucia, both he and Jack clearly are attracted to Kate. Yes, Jack appeared to have feelings for Juliet, but Juliet was aware that he prefered Kate. Sawyer’s feelings for Kate were clear this past season as he dealt with his belief that Kate was dead and that he would never see her again. The cruelties of time travel led to Sawyer staring hungrily at Kate as she helped Claire give birth. Somehow, three years later, he honestly believed that he was over Kate. Just as he made this realization, of course, Kate returns to the Island, and Sawyer’s face makes it clear that he was wrong.

I was never convinced that Jack and Juliet were a real couple. She was clearly attracted to him, and he to her, but they both knew that his heart wasn’t in it. Why did Juliet accept this? What attracted her to him, anyway, besides the obvious? His skill, his desire to escape the Island, his leadership skills? Was her attraction for him part of the emotional turmoil as she escaped from Ben’s clutches amongst a group of people who clearly didn’t trust her? Or was it because he seemed to be the opposite of Ben? I don’t know.

But, in watching Namaste and Whatever Happened, Happened, I am certain that whatever feelings existed between the two of them are now gone. When Jack knocked on Sawyer’s door to be let in by Juliet, he appeared pleased to see her, but nothing more. The “shock” he felt after realizing the state of affairs between Juliet and Sawyer seemed nothing more than the narcissistic injury of realizing that a former flame is with a rival. The confrontation in the shower further buttresses my belief. Juliet was horrified that Jack refused to operate on a 12-year-old, even if that 12-year-old was the future Ben, and his explanation didn’t assuage her. She lost respect for him, and he betrayed everything that she believed in. When she stormed out of there, I felt that this relationship, in that form, was dead.

I had heard that Juliet would become a romantic interest for Sawyer, but I rather forgot it as the season started. Sawyer and Juliet started out as equals, respecting each other and looking out for each other. She was able to calm him down without denigrating him, and he was able to talk her into helping Amy give birth. For the first time in this quad, we saw a couple that were friends and lovers, and it was clear that they were good for each other. How many of us women swooned as Sawyer picked a flower for Juliet and kissed her in the kitchen? How many of us felt our hearts ripped out as Sawyer grasped Juliet’s hand, refusing to let her go down the well to her death? And who doubts that he was devastated?

Kate was surprised by the relationship, and observed it warily upon her return to the Island. Although she and Juliet were wary around each other initially, as time passed they became allies in their shared determination to save Ben’s life. But Kate still flinched whenever Sawyer referred to his feelings for Juliet, especially when he told Kate he was helping her with Ben because Juliet wanted him to. Some commentators I’ve read have expressed their belief that this conversation was the end of the affair. I’m not so convinced. Here is the conversation:

KATE: Hey. Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?

SAWYER: When I found out Ben was gone, and Juliet told me what you were up to, I asked that exact damn question. Why are you helping Ben? And she said...no matter what he's gonna grow up to be, it's wrong to let a kid die. So...that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing it for her.

***

KATE: Is that why you asked me to take care of your daughter?

SAWYER: Did you?

KATE: Of course I did.

SAWYER: What's she like?

KATE: Clementine?

SAWYER: Yeah, Clementine.

KATE: Oh, she's beautiful. Looks just like you when she smiles. She's growing up fast. Already has a little attitude.

SAWYER: I bet you and Cassidy had a lot to talk about.

KATE: She had an interesting theory on why you jumped off the chopper.

SAWYER: Yeah, what's that?

KATE: She thought you were worried about what would happen if you didn't.

SAWYER: You and me would've never worked out, Kate. I wasn't any more fit to be your boyfriend than I am to be that little girl's father.

KATE: You seem to be doing all right with Juliet.

SAWYER: Yeah. I've done a lot of growing up the past three years.

Cassidy provided an interesting mirror to Kate, challenging Kate’s view of Sawyer as a selfless hero who sacrificed himself for her. Kate clearly can’t tell how she feels, as her attraction to Sawyer remains as strong as ever. Sawyer is apparently equally attracted, staring at Kate, and calling her “Freckles” at inopportune times. Indeed, his obvious attraction perhaps fractured his relationship with Juliet, leading her to do whatever she could to prevent their relationship from starting in the first place.

I was also struck by the fact that Jack and Kate did not continue their affair on the Island. Jack would have been justified for thinking that they were back together after their night together. But perhaps it was just mutual pity-party sex, because neither party made an effort to stay together on the Island.

So what is next? Well, I’m fairly certain that Juliet is out of the picture, at least initially. We have no idea what will happen with our Losties in the new season. Will they land at LAX in 2004, all strangers to each other? Will they end up in Locke’s time, ready to battle Esau? What memories will they have of the past five years? Will there be no memories but impressions and feelings? Of course, I don’t know. The producers can do just about whatever they want to at this point. Whatever it is, I know I’ll be watching.

Michael Emerson Wins the Emmy!

I'm sure that most of y'all were like me, glued to the TV last night watching the Emmys. It was a better ceremony than most, but the best moment of all was when Michael Emerson won an Emmy for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama. His speech was short and awkward:

Oh, my goodness, what a fine honor. I feel like I'm living out a character actor's dream. One day I flew to Hawaii to do a guest spot, and four years later it's become the role of a lifetime. I salute the other formidable actors in my category [William Hurt had been expected to win, despite a lackluster performance in Damages]. I salute my steadfast and beautiful wife, Carrie, and my fine representation, and all the brilliant writers, producers, and artists that make up the Lost family to which I belong. As they say in Honolulu [I don't speak Hawaiian]... Goodnight.

Sadly, Lost did not win for Outstanding Drama, losing to Mad Men. That's okay. Maybe next year.

Zap2It Locke Lost Event

I must give Lesley credit for this post - it was she who pointed out I would blog about bloggers meeting. Good point! And so I will.

Sadly, no one else was able to attend with me. People had all kind of excuses, including prior plans or wedding anniversaries - whatever! So I was on my own. I was a little nervous at first - people don't believe me, but I'm very shy.

I didn't arrive at The Dark Horse until a little after 7. I heard I missed a little drama - a reenactment of the conflict between frat boys and geeks. The Lost party was in the beer garden in back, but the organizers found it already occupied by a number of Steelers fans in town for the game. Apparently, when the Steelers play, their fans start drinking early and often. So they were a little rowdy and had to be moved to the bar area. Later, I heard that they would open the bathroom door while a friend was using the facilities. Fun times!

By the time I got there, the Steelers fans were gone, and the garden was decorated with the cover page shots of Lost characters from TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. "DHARMA cookies" and other DHARMA products were present, including DHARMA cozies. Appetizers were already available - Mr. Cluck's Chicken Wings, Paulo's Pulled Pork Nachos, Katesadillas, and Hurley's Hummus. We could also indulge in drinks such as Jack & Coke, Jin & Tonic, and Wrecks on the Beach. It was a cash bar, and I decided to drink Chardonnay. Perhaps I should have called it "Charliennay"?

MacCutcheon Whiskey was not available, and even if it had been, I don't think that any of us could have afforded it.

One of the organizers immediately greeted me. I think y'all would like Erika. She has a beautiful picture of herself with Terry O'Quinn at Long Live Locke that you just have to see. I must be honest and say that I had not known of her blog until the announcement of this event, but I have enjoyed what I've read. She told me later in the evening that Lost has really changed her life - she changed her profession to become a freelance writer!

I met Bo and Mac (I think that is his name) while gathering some appetizers, and I was starting to get nervous. It looked like most people were with friends! My social anxiety was kicking in. I sat at an unoccupied table to eat and enjoy my Charliennay, but Mac called me over to the table where he was. He was with his wife (whose name sadly escapes me), a young couple (whose names also escape me), Bo and his friend Jake, and Maria (pronounced like Mariah of Mariah Carey but without the "h"). Maria was quite a character. She was an acting major in college and I believe has finished her MBA. She knew about this event because she is a long-time follower of Ryan from Zap2It. Needing a reason to leave Charlotte behind for the weekend, she flew into Chicago.

Later, we were joined by Wayne, a guy who bore a passing resemblance to Locke with his shorn hair. He also wore a shirt that had a geometric pattern similar to the DHARMA octagon which started a few conversations.

The conversation focused mostly on Lost, of course. Our favorite quotes (mine include "son of a bitch" and "Others 101"), our favorite characters (Kate is quite unpopular), and our hopes for the next season. Bo, it turns out, had attended Comic Con in San Diego, so he told us a little about that. He also attended the Comic Con the year prior, asking the first question, so I will have to look that up.

We also talked about other shows we enjoy, including Fringe, 30 Rock, and Mad Men. This was a little difficult for me because I'm behind on all three shows! We are also anticipating FlashForward, though no one really believes it can replace Lost.

We also talked about our favorite blogs, including Ryan's Zap2It blog. And I did get to meet Ryan himself. Apparently, he has a "real job" and is also a blogger. I guess being a blogger doesn't pay well? I didn't get to spend as much time talking with him as I would have liked, but I must recommend his blog. He recently posted his theory that Hurley might be the true heir to the Island (I'm sure I'll have some thoughts on that later).

I did admit to Wayne at some point that I have a blog, and he promised to look it up. I felt a little foolish later, though. There was a raffle (I won diddly-squat), which gave away Blueray versions of Lost and a book, which Wayne had given, because he had written the glossary for it. Oh. The book is called Getting Lost, and appears to be edited by Orson Scott Card. A little investigation on my part revealed that Wayne is local author Wayne Allen Sallee. I've not heard of him because he appears to write mostly horror, which I don't read. But I am sure I will check out his book.

I left shortly thereafter, having thoroughly enjoyed my evening with other fans of Lost. We were a motley crew of folks, with some professionals, some suburbanites, some young, some not-so-young. It would be really cool to have something like this again.

I must give a shout-out to Brian who taught me how to make links. Thanks Brian!

Zap2It Lost Event in Chicago

I want to invite everyone in the Chicagoland area to a Lost event in Chicago on September 18 at The Dark Horse Bar and Grille (chosen because of Kate's black horse) at 3443 N Sheffield Avenue, starting at 7 PM. It is being hosted by one of the bloggers I read, Ryan McGee of Zap2It and his girl (wife?) Erika Olson behind the blog Long Live Locke. I've really enjoyed McGee's blogs over the years, and his theorizing has given me much to think about. It's a cash bar, and it will totally be fun!

Juliet Burke, Season 5

This season brought me to the heights of sublimity and the depths of despair, both times, related to the good doctor.

Not that Juliet has always been the “good doctor”. In her first season, we had no idea whose side she was on. She kept Jack captive, threatened to kill Kate (to keep Sawyer in line), and worked with Ben. But, at the same time, she orchestrated an opportunity to let Jack know that she wanted to “overthrow” Ben, and that she needed his help doing it. Later, she pretended to be cast out from the Others to gain the trust of the 815ers. Even after we discovered that she had told Jack she was working with Ben, it still seemed hard to trust her. What were her alliances, anyway? At first, her only goal was to get home to her sister.

But somehow, Juliet slowly but surely changed. She told Jack she was tired of following Ben’s dreams, and she developed feelings for Jack. By the end of Season Three, Juliet was walking in lockstep with our heroes, helping Sawyer and Hurley rescue Sayid, Jin and Bernard from the Others.

Juliet was a full-fledged member of the team by Season 4, so much so that I was actually surprised to remember that she hadn’t crashed on the Island on 815. The only time I didn’t like her is when she told Jin that Sun had had an affair. But by the end of the season, even Kate seemed to like Juliet.

We saw nothing this season that made me even remotely dislike Juliet. Instead, she continued to develop into one of my favorite characters. Unlike the 815ers, she was always calm in a crisis and seemed to know the right questions to ask. She also demonstrated a unique skill – the ability to speak Latin. She learned it in Others 101.

Other than her romance with Sawyer and that blasted final episode of the season, I found three things about Juliet this season to be remarkable.

First, she had the chance to leave the island. Twice. And she never made if off. Not even once. In prior seasons we learned that Juliet was originally supposed to be on the Island for six months. After the six months, she asked to go home so she could attend to her pregnant sister. Ben refused, saying that Juliet’s sister would die of cancer before she gave birth. However, if Juliet stayed, Ben would make sure that Jacob healed Rachel. Three years later, she was still on the Island, working with Ben to manipulate Jack into operating on Ben…

Then, in LaFleur, the Left Behinders were told that they were being summarily shipped back to the States in the submarine. At last, a chance to leave! But Sawyer arranged for a two-week period of grace (you know, to find “his people”). And yet one of the most tender scenes of a tender episode:

SAWYER: I bought us two weeks. Horace said we can wait for the next sub. Any luck, Locke'll be back by then.
JULIET: And then what?
SAWYER: What do you mean, "Then what"?
JULIET: Locke said he was leaving to save us. The flashes have stopped. They're over. No more bloody noses. We're already saved. That sub behind you brought me here. I've been trying to get off of this island for more than three years, and now I've got my chance.
JULIET: I'm going to leave.
SAWYER: You do realize it's 1974, that whatever it is you think you're going back to... it don't exist yet.
JULIET: It's not a reason not to go.
SAWYER: Well, what about me? You really gonna leave me here with the mad scientist and Mr. "I Speak to Dead People"? And Jin, who's a hell of a nice guy but not exactly the greatest conversationalist.
JULIET: You'll be fine.
SAWYER: Maybe... but who's gonna get my back? Come on. Just give me two weeks, that's all I'm asking. Two weeks.
JULIET: All right. Two weeks.

We know what happens then. Three more years pass. Suddenly, everything changes: Jack, Kate, and Hurley are back. It’s not long before the DHARMA Initiative learns that James and Juliet are not who they thought. The DHARMA Initiative agrees to let James and Juliet go. Another tender moment, sadly disrupted by Kate:

SAWYER: We'll buy Microsoft.
JULIET: Excuse me?
SAWYER: Then we'll bet the Cowboys in the '78 Super Bowl. We're gonna be rich. Look, I'm sorry. I should've listened to you when you wanted to get on this sub three years ago.
JULIET: I'm glad you talked me out of it.
. . .
JULIET: What are we gonna do when we get to Ann Arbor?
SAWYER: We ain't going to Ann Arbor.
JULIET: What do you mean?
SAWYER: These guys ain't cops. They got no authority over us back in the real world. So once we dock, wherever we dock... we're free.
JULIET: "Real world." I don't even know what that means anymore.
SAWYER: Hey, come here. Whatever happens, I got your back, remember?
JULIET: I love you.
SAWYER: I love you back.

But their escape from the Island was as short-lived as that tender scene. Sawyer point blank refuses to help Kate stop Jack from blowing up the Island. But Juliet has other plans, telling Sawyer: “We decided to leave this Island, James, we did. And now we're going back.”

Secondly, she successfully delivered her first baby in six years. Remember that whole pregnancy problem? Ben arranged for Juliet to come to the Island to help women carry their babies to term without dying. When a woman conceived on the Island, she died approximately 100 days after conception. Claire was the first woman to give birth on the Island, which Juliet attributed to Aaron’s conception 8 months earlier off the Island. At least nine other pregnant women Juliet worked with in three years were not so lucky. For reasons she could not explain, the mother’s immune system would shut down. Juliet feared that the same would happen to Sun, a fate she wanted to avoid at all costs.

For whatever reason, Juliet did not operate as a doctor in the DHARMA Initiative. Instead, she worked in the motor pool. At first, I thought she might have chosen that path to avoid having to deal with pregnant women. But then it occurred to me, how could Juliet prove that she was a doctor? I don’t know when Juliet attended medical school, but I strongly suspect it was not before 1974. I’m guessing it was just easier to join the motor pool.

Which is where James found her when Amy went into labor two weeks early. Amy was never supposed to give birth on the Island. She was supposed to be on the submarine that “delivered” Jack, Kate, and Hurley. It occurs to me that Amy long passed the threshold that women 30 years later never survived. Still, the birth was supposed to take place off the island. Presumably, Miles was also born off-Island. (Baby Miles was 4 months old, according to Lostpedia, at the time of The Incident). But pregnancies never go as planned, and so it was that Amy entered labor. It was not the Island’s sinister influence on pregnant women that made the birth so difficult, however – Ethan was breech. The DHARMA doctor was clearly unable to cope with this development. And Sawyer, ever the problem-solver, knew who could cope.

Juliet initially demurred, reminding Sawyer that they “had an agreement”, and “Don't you understand that every time I try to help a woman on this island give birth, it hasn't worked?” But James would not be persuaded. When Juliet walked into the medical office, she was all business, asking questions of the doctor and then giving orders. The doctor was understandably puzzled, but Amy recognized someone who could help her.

And finally, after six long years, Juliet did what she had come to the Island to do, help a woman give birth.

Thirdly, Juliet was never touched by Jacob. Instead, in The Incident, all we saw was what felt like a clumsy add-on of Juliet’s parents telling their children of their impending divorce. The little girl, Juliet, cried, saying that she didn’t want to understand how two people who were supposed to be together wouldn’t be. We are given the impression that this incident was the real motive for why Juliet decided to support Jack’s plan to blow up the Island. If the plan worked as promised, everything starts over, and Juliet will then never lose Sawyer.

But aside from the faulty psychological reasoning by the producers, the lack of Jacob touching Juliet has, unfortunately, far reaching consequences for the character. I believe that Jacob and Esau have been in conflict for decades, if not centuries, and Jacob must have known that his enemy had plans for Jacob’s death. Knowing what those plans entailed, and who, Jacob visited a select group, and touched them all. We don’t know the significance of the touch, of course, but I strongly believe that he needs all those touched in his battle with Esau. For whatever reason, Jacob doesn’t need Juliet. She therefore seems more disposable to the Island than the others, and that worries me.

We all know the end of the season, however, with Juliet, severely if not mortally wounded, determinedly hitting Jughead to make it explode. The screen faded to white (and I’ve seen many swear the heard the sounds of an explosion at that time). We have no idea what happened, to Juliet or to anyone else.

The Actress

Perhaps Elizabeth Mitchell knew in advance and sought the role, or perhaps she earned the role and that caused the producers to let her go, but either way, Mitchell will be starring in a TV remake of V this fall. The series premieres November 3 on ABC. Mitchell plays Erica Evans, an FBI agent in the Counter Terrorist Division, who is the single mother of a troubled teenaged son (aren’t all teenagers on TV troubled?). Eventually Evans becomes involved in a conspiracy, presumably against the aliens, but I don’t know that for sure. I’m going to guess that this will make the actress less available for Lost. And that makes me very sad.

I Stand Corrected

Some of you may have heard that I have good reason to believe that Jorge Garcia, Hurley on Lost, left a comment on a recent post. I have my reasons for actually believing this, which, if you’re curious, let me know and I’ll fill you in.

Among other things, his comment made me realize my dependence on an unreliable source. I strive for accuracy in everything I do and everything I say. When I theorize, I research faithfully the facts behind my theories. When I ponder on a character, I want to understand their past as shown in previous episodes. And I’ve been using Lostpedia to help. Well, using, I think, is an understatement. I rely on it totally. Whether I’m looking at their transcripts to review and/or steal dialogue, character biographies, or pictures from the episodes, I find Lostpedia to be, well, encyclopedic in its breadth and depth of knowledge about Lost. But I stopped using Lostpedia as a tool and started relying on it solely. I forgot something very important about Lostpedia. Like Wikipedia, Lostpedia is created, written, and edited by people like me. Like you. Like the person in the office or cubicle next to you. Or in the seat next to you in the coffee shop. Etc. In other words, I forgot that, while most of what I find on Lostpedia is accurate, not all of it is, and I should always look at the information I find there with skepticism.

So I thank Mr. Garcia, not just for noticing my blog, but for taking the time to correct an error in my post. Because I never want disseminate wrong information. I hope it is clear that I love to hear when you disagree with me on a theory or character motivation. But because I’m committed to never adding to misinformation, I also hope you tell me when I’m wrong. That includes grammar and spelling. As much as I love to write this blog, I also love to hear from you.

My error, by the way? I read on Lostpedia that Mr. Garcia, among other Lost actors, read the lines of Sawyer when auditioning. I found two theories about this on Lostpedia: one, that those were the only lines available, and two, that the actors were actually auditioning for the role of Sawyer. Mr. Garcia let me know that he never auditioned for Sawyer. I guess I'm just gonna have to sign up to edit Lostpedia posts to right that wrong.