Lost episode 3: Orientation
* last updated Thur. 5:35am CST *
Ok, first off, this blog will be updated frequently over the next day or so as I get more info, screen captures, etc. So keep checking back. To all you Lost fans who read this, I encourage you to post comments with your thoughts. The more viewpoints and observations, the better! That is the beauty of this show -- it gets everyone talking!
Let's get started. I have no idea what to think of that episode. So much going on. It was interesting, but weird. But now I can understand why the plane MIGHT have crashed...the electromagnetic thing. Amazing how they can bring up so many questions while pumping out "answers" at the same time. I can't say I'm disappointed with the episode, but by the same token it wasn't a big "wow!" like I was expecting. Especially after last week's lethargic episode.
Anyhow, here are some random recaps and thoughts.
-- the first few minutes showed Sawyer, Michael and Jin being approached by the "Others". One of them, a huge, scary lookin black guy, runs up, beats the crap outta them with a club. Then they get dragged in nets to an cage-topped pit and thrown in. Michael yells "Where's my boy???" at them as they slam shut the cage top.
-- in the hatch we again see Desmond has a gun to Locke, Kate gets out of the ventilation shaft and ends up in the armory. She grabs a shotgun and sneaks up behind Desmond, hits him, his gun goes off and takes out the computer. Desmond freaks, saying they are all going to die. Desmond frantically begins trying to repair the computer. Locke sends Kate to get Sayid for electronics help.
-- Jack interrogates Desmond, and we find out Desmond was indeed in a race around the world. He still doesn't recognize Jack. During the race, evidentally his boat crashed into the reef, and when he washed ashore a man name Kelvin (or was it Calvin?) came running out of the forest and led him to the station and told him they had to enter those codes into the computer every 108 minutes. He has been there 3 years. They took shifts. Kelvin eventually died. He tells Jack and Locke to go watch "the film".
-- If the name was KELVIN, I think it is no small coincidence. the purpose of this particular station having to do with eletromagnetic fields, something the scientist Lord Kelvin helped pioneer.
-- Jack and lock go to the living area and retrieve the film from the bookcase. We see the book "The Turn of the Screw" fall from the bookshelf. Interesting to note, it's a ghost story (see summary here). We also see "The Third Policeman", a book which involves a murder and reoccurring time sequences. The narrator is dead (though you don't know until the end), and he is obsessed with theories about life being but a hallucination and death being the supreme hallucination..
-- the film is titled "Orientation" (hence the title of this episode), by the Dharma Program. Tons of info in that film, which also included lots of convenient skipping. I'm sure someone with Tivo will go over that thing with a fine-tooth comb for us and I'll post an update. Basically, though, we find out the whole island started as an early 70s experiment on all sorts of stuff. This particular station (3 of 6, the "Swan", hence the logos) deals with experiments on the strange electomagnetic force on that part of the island. QUESTION: where are the other 5 stations? Are they manned?
-- We see all sorts of other stuff in the film, including biologic experiments, during which polar bears are shown. A Utopian Society experiment is discussed. Also mentions B.F. Skinner psychologist who developed the approach to psychology known as behaviorism--the effect of environment on the behavior of people. Skinner is well known for his creation of the "Skinner Box," a small metal box with glass on one side and a lever on one wall. You place a rat in the box and use various methods of reward (food) and punishment (electroshock, loud noise) to teach the rat to push the lever. Hmmm, sounds like seeing a clock countdown, hearing a beep, entering a code. Interesting how real scientists are used in this Lost world.
-- The guy on the film, Alvar Hanso (the financial backer), looks similar to Locke's father. There's also there's a creepy similarity between that image and the man (Jack's father?) in White Rabbit. Could just be the white hair and build of the guy, and us wanting to find ties! http://www.thehansofoundation.org/images/alvarhanso.jpg
-- Film also references the Hanso Foundation. Here's the website. Scroll down over the active projects and you'll see a hidden link for the Dharma Initiative. Click on the Terms of Use link and it goes to Disney. Looks like we've got another official Lost website, much like oceanic-air.com and oceanicflight815.com. I think it gives us clues as to the other experiments (hatches?), if nothing else.
-- the film then progresses to say "Something went wrong." The codes must be entered every 108 minutes by the 2-man team. They will be relieved after 540 days, which just happens to be 108x5.
Also, as someone on one board noted, 540 (days) x 24 (hours in a day) x 60 (minutes in an hour) = 777600 / 108 = 7200 / 108 = 66.6
And 108 = 6^2 + 6^2 + 6^2 (i.e. 666)
the number 108 in regards to Dharma.
-- found this comment on one of the boards:
this is what i gather from the film. Dhrama is NOT responsible for the magnetic pulse coming from the island. But that's the reason they are on the Island. Also, i gather there are a few more Islands with the same research pods i guess on them. And the whole Hatch thing adds another Element to the Island, remember how Desmond said his boat crashed? Could the others have gotten his boat? I would like to know the Incident that happened. Probably either the sickness, or the Others messing around.
-- Desmond fails to fix the computer. He frantically begins gathering a backpack of stuff to run as far from the station as he can. We briefly see a photo of him and some woman in Australia. Can't wait to see that screenshot.
-- We see flashbacks of Locke in an anger management group. Locke ends up meeting a woman named Helen (the actress from Married With Children, and 8 Simple Rules...) I think the name Helen is significant, as in season one that the phone sex woman he'd talk to in season one went by Helen. We find out Locke has been seeing her 6 months. He frequently goes and stalks his dad. One day the dad surprises him by getting in his car and confronting him. Locke asks him "why", to which he says there is no why. It's as simple as he needed a kidney. And Locke is unwanted, so leave him alone.
-- Back to Helen, she confronts Locke about him stalking the dad. Tells him he needs to stop. Even makes an ultimatum, "You have to choose. Him or me." My guess is that Helen dies in whatever accident paralyzed Locke. Either that, or Helen was hired by Locke's father in yet another con in an effort to get Locke to stop stalking him. Either way, a phone sex lady would tell him "I'll be whoever you want me to be".
-- We see a woman get thrown in the pit with Michael, Sawyer and Jin. We find out she is Ana Lucia, and she was on flight 815. Sawyer reveals she has a gun and he starts detailing a plan on how he'll take out the huge black guy. Ana hits him when he isn't looking, grabs the gun, calls out and the big guy lowers a rope and pulls her out. I said it after last week - I don't think these are THE Others... these are probably just other groups of castaways who obviously have had a rougher go of the past 40-something days! Despite knowing Sawyer & Co. were on the plane, she obviously is suspicious of them.
-- Why does Locke not want to push the button? For such a tough guy (on the island at least), he really shows weakness here. Heck, Jack, too, for that matter, as he does end up pushing it. Locke tells Jack, "I can't do it alone" (referring to pushing the button). Time is getting dangerously low on the clock...
Then Locke says to Jack what Helen said to him, "It's a leap of faith."
more still coming... just want to update this while I'm gathering thoughts...
Potential Spoiler concerning the preview for next week. Don't read if you don't watch those...
For me, the biggest twist of the night was the preview for next week and the very last scene they flash -- Jin speaking perfect english saying "Everything is going to change." Does he really speak English? Or is this a clone/alternate dimension/dream/hallucination? It definitely finished the preview with a bang.
Ok, first off, this blog will be updated frequently over the next day or so as I get more info, screen captures, etc. So keep checking back. To all you Lost fans who read this, I encourage you to post comments with your thoughts. The more viewpoints and observations, the better! That is the beauty of this show -- it gets everyone talking!
Let's get started. I have no idea what to think of that episode. So much going on. It was interesting, but weird. But now I can understand why the plane MIGHT have crashed...the electromagnetic thing. Amazing how they can bring up so many questions while pumping out "answers" at the same time. I can't say I'm disappointed with the episode, but by the same token it wasn't a big "wow!" like I was expecting. Especially after last week's lethargic episode.
Anyhow, here are some random recaps and thoughts.
-- the first few minutes showed Sawyer, Michael and Jin being approached by the "Others". One of them, a huge, scary lookin black guy, runs up, beats the crap outta them with a club. Then they get dragged in nets to an cage-topped pit and thrown in. Michael yells "Where's my boy???" at them as they slam shut the cage top.
-- in the hatch we again see Desmond has a gun to Locke, Kate gets out of the ventilation shaft and ends up in the armory. She grabs a shotgun and sneaks up behind Desmond, hits him, his gun goes off and takes out the computer. Desmond freaks, saying they are all going to die. Desmond frantically begins trying to repair the computer. Locke sends Kate to get Sayid for electronics help.
-- Jack interrogates Desmond, and we find out Desmond was indeed in a race around the world. He still doesn't recognize Jack. During the race, evidentally his boat crashed into the reef, and when he washed ashore a man name Kelvin (or was it Calvin?) came running out of the forest and led him to the station and told him they had to enter those codes into the computer every 108 minutes. He has been there 3 years. They took shifts. Kelvin eventually died. He tells Jack and Locke to go watch "the film".
-- If the name was KELVIN, I think it is no small coincidence. the purpose of this particular station having to do with eletromagnetic fields, something the scientist Lord Kelvin helped pioneer.
-- Jack and lock go to the living area and retrieve the film from the bookcase. We see the book "The Turn of the Screw" fall from the bookshelf. Interesting to note, it's a ghost story (see summary here). We also see "The Third Policeman", a book which involves a murder and reoccurring time sequences. The narrator is dead (though you don't know until the end), and he is obsessed with theories about life being but a hallucination and death being the supreme hallucination..
-- the film is titled "Orientation" (hence the title of this episode), by the Dharma Program. Tons of info in that film, which also included lots of convenient skipping. I'm sure someone with Tivo will go over that thing with a fine-tooth comb for us and I'll post an update. Basically, though, we find out the whole island started as an early 70s experiment on all sorts of stuff. This particular station (3 of 6, the "Swan", hence the logos) deals with experiments on the strange electomagnetic force on that part of the island. QUESTION: where are the other 5 stations? Are they manned?
-- We see all sorts of other stuff in the film, including biologic experiments, during which polar bears are shown. A Utopian Society experiment is discussed. Also mentions B.F. Skinner psychologist who developed the approach to psychology known as behaviorism--the effect of environment on the behavior of people. Skinner is well known for his creation of the "Skinner Box," a small metal box with glass on one side and a lever on one wall. You place a rat in the box and use various methods of reward (food) and punishment (electroshock, loud noise) to teach the rat to push the lever. Hmmm, sounds like seeing a clock countdown, hearing a beep, entering a code. Interesting how real scientists are used in this Lost world.
-- The guy on the film, Alvar Hanso (the financial backer), looks similar to Locke's father. There's also there's a creepy similarity between that image and the man (Jack's father?) in White Rabbit. Could just be the white hair and build of the guy, and us wanting to find ties! http://www.thehansofoundation.org/images/alvarhanso.jpg
-- Film also references the Hanso Foundation. Here's the website. Scroll down over the active projects and you'll see a hidden link for the Dharma Initiative. Click on the Terms of Use link and it goes to Disney. Looks like we've got another official Lost website, much like oceanic-air.com and oceanicflight815.com. I think it gives us clues as to the other experiments (hatches?), if nothing else.
-- the film then progresses to say "Something went wrong." The codes must be entered every 108 minutes by the 2-man team. They will be relieved after 540 days, which just happens to be 108x5.
Also, as someone on one board noted, 540 (days) x 24 (hours in a day) x 60 (minutes in an hour) = 777600 / 108 = 7200 / 108 = 66.6
And 108 = 6^2 + 6^2 + 6^2 (i.e. 666)
the number 108 in regards to Dharma.
-- found this comment on one of the boards:
this is what i gather from the film. Dhrama is NOT responsible for the magnetic pulse coming from the island. But that's the reason they are on the Island. Also, i gather there are a few more Islands with the same research pods i guess on them. And the whole Hatch thing adds another Element to the Island, remember how Desmond said his boat crashed? Could the others have gotten his boat? I would like to know the Incident that happened. Probably either the sickness, or the Others messing around.
-- Desmond fails to fix the computer. He frantically begins gathering a backpack of stuff to run as far from the station as he can. We briefly see a photo of him and some woman in Australia. Can't wait to see that screenshot.
-- We see flashbacks of Locke in an anger management group. Locke ends up meeting a woman named Helen (the actress from Married With Children, and 8 Simple Rules...) I think the name Helen is significant, as in season one that the phone sex woman he'd talk to in season one went by Helen. We find out Locke has been seeing her 6 months. He frequently goes and stalks his dad. One day the dad surprises him by getting in his car and confronting him. Locke asks him "why", to which he says there is no why. It's as simple as he needed a kidney. And Locke is unwanted, so leave him alone.
-- Back to Helen, she confronts Locke about him stalking the dad. Tells him he needs to stop. Even makes an ultimatum, "You have to choose. Him or me." My guess is that Helen dies in whatever accident paralyzed Locke. Either that, or Helen was hired by Locke's father in yet another con in an effort to get Locke to stop stalking him. Either way, a phone sex lady would tell him "I'll be whoever you want me to be".
-- We see a woman get thrown in the pit with Michael, Sawyer and Jin. We find out she is Ana Lucia, and she was on flight 815. Sawyer reveals she has a gun and he starts detailing a plan on how he'll take out the huge black guy. Ana hits him when he isn't looking, grabs the gun, calls out and the big guy lowers a rope and pulls her out. I said it after last week - I don't think these are THE Others... these are probably just other groups of castaways who obviously have had a rougher go of the past 40-something days! Despite knowing Sawyer & Co. were on the plane, she obviously is suspicious of them.
-- Why does Locke not want to push the button? For such a tough guy (on the island at least), he really shows weakness here. Heck, Jack, too, for that matter, as he does end up pushing it. Locke tells Jack, "I can't do it alone" (referring to pushing the button). Time is getting dangerously low on the clock...
Then Locke says to Jack what Helen said to him, "It's a leap of faith."
more still coming... just want to update this while I'm gathering thoughts...
Potential Spoiler concerning the preview for next week. Don't read if you don't watch those...
For me, the biggest twist of the night was the preview for next week and the very last scene they flash -- Jin speaking perfect english saying "Everything is going to change." Does he really speak English? Or is this a clone/alternate dimension/dream/hallucination? It definitely finished the preview with a bang.
posted by Slacker at 6:00 PM
4 Comments:
This post is the reason I love you...you take things to the next level once again!
As for my thoughts -- we have already discussed, but I want to know more about the whole biosphere idea that you mentioned as a possibility in a previous blog. Do you think that is what it is? Do they make people/planes/boats crash into the islands as part of the on-going experiment.
Why did they not ask Desmond about the monster? That idea has not even been mentioned since the start of this season.
And what about the girl that goes into the hole with the guys from the raft. Is she good? Bad? Was she a "plant" on the flight to make sure the plane crashed when & where it did. Are those people she is with good? Or are they the Others?
And I am so crazy anticipating how in the world Jin is speaking English next week? Shaking my head once again at the bewilderment of this show.
It is making me crazy...
I don't know what to think of this either. The whole hatch thing and resetting the numbers boggles my mind. Right now I am more interested in "the Others", or the people who threw Sawyer, Jin, and Michael in the pit. If they were indeed on the plane, why are they so paranoid of M, J, and S? Or, were they on the plane?? Is is possible that Ana Lucia wasn't actually on the plane but she knew it would crash on the island? (I don't recall actually seeing her as a passenger on the plane, but I could have missed that.)
As usual, can't wait for next week!!
TRANSCRIPT from The Orientation Film
Welcome. I'm Dr. Marvin Candle, and this is the orientation film for station 3 of the final(?) initiative.
In a moment you'll be given a simple set of instructions for how you and your partner will fulfill the responsibilities associated with this station. But first, a little history.
The Dharma Initiative was created in 1970 and is the brainchild of Gerald and Karen DeGroot, two doctoral candidates at the University of Michigan. Following in the footsteps of of visionaries such as B.F. Skinner ... Imagine a largescale communal research compound, where scientists and free thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, para-psychology, zoology, electro-magnetism, and utopian social ...[inaudible]... Alvar Hanso, whose financial backing made their dream of a multi-purpose social science research facility a reality.
You and your partner are currently located in station 3--or "The Swan"--and will be for the next 540 days. Station 3 was originally constructed as a laboratory, where scientists could work to understand the uniqe electro-magnetic fluctuations eminating from this sector of the island.
Not long after the experiments began, however, there was an incident. And since that time, the following protocol has been observed.
Every 108 minutes a button must be pushed. From the moment the alarm sounds, you will have 4 minutes to enter the code into the micro computer processor ... induction into the program ... When the alarm sounds, either you or your partner must input the code. It is highly recommended that you and your partner take alternating shifts. In this manner, you will both stay as fresh and alert ...[inaudible]... --most importance that when the alarm sounds, the code be entered correctly, and in a timely fashion. Do not attempt to use the computer for anything ...
Congratulations. Until your replacements arrive, the future of the project is in your hands. On behalf of the DeGroots, Alvar Hanso, and all of us at the Dharma Initiative, thank you, namaste, and good luck.
==========
Off a Google Search...
"The DeGroot Prize is awarded to the author or authors of a published book in Statistical Science. The Prize is named after Morris (”Morrie”) H. DeGroot, and recognises the impact and importance of his work in Statistics and Decision Theory, and his marked influence on the evolution of the discipline over several decades through his personal scholarship, educational and professional leadership. The prize, in particular, recognises DeGroot’s authorship and editorship of major books that had marked impact on the development of the field and the value he placed on the role of books generally."
Notice Decision Theory...push the button, don't push the button.
==========
BF Skinner was the inventor of the skinner box.
From a quick google:
Skinner box - Apparatus invented, unsurprisingly, by the BEHAVIOURIST Psychologist, B F SKINNER. The Skinner box was essentially a means of gathering a lot of data about the learning behaviour of rats and pigeons in as short a time as possible. It consisted simply of a box in which the animal was placed, a lever and dispenser for food pellets. Attached to the lever is a recording device, to tell the experimenter how many times and at what point the lever is pressed by the animal. the great advantage of using such a piece of equipment of course is that the experiment essentially runs itself and the experimenter can go home and go to bed safe in the knowledge that he is gathering data even as he sleeps.
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namaste is a greeting in Hindu...
A tesseract is a hypercube...the ones I've seen were a two dimensional representation of four dimensions.
Wikipedia has a good round up of hypercubes in science fiction
==========
Awesome episode! Since one of the things that hanso deals with is electromatic research, I was thinking that Desmond's "end of the world" could be a sudden pole shift. Perhaps the island houses the strongest electromagnet known to man and it will be activated if someone doesn't push in the code every 108 minutes. If the electromagnet is activated, it would interact with Earth's iron core causing a sudden shift in Earth's magnectic poles. This would bring on events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and hurricanes. Pole reversals have been happening on Earth forever--they have found evidence of them by studying the alignment of crystals in rocks on the sea floor--but they take millions of years to happen. A sudden shift in Earth's magnectic field would be cataclysimic!
See pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/02/27/6900064_Magnet_Pole_Shift/ for more info on pole shifts.
On a side note, maybe electromagnets are what caused the plane to break apart over the island.
==========
Anyone check out the book called "The Bomb" by Gerard DeGroot??? All about the Manhattan Project, Hitler trying to be the first to come up with the bomb, etc.
Remember the film states that the Dharma Initiative was funded by a man made rich through munitions (weapons).
Perhaps we are off track in looking at the DeGroot Prize in mathematics and statistics!!!
==========
“Turn of the Screw”
A Ship Lost at Sea
Early on in the novella, the governess imagines herself at the helm of a “great drifting ship,” and the metaphor of Bly as a ship lost at sea soon proves to be appropriate. When the governess goes out to look for the vanished Quint, she describes Bly as “empty with a great emptiness,” as though it is a vast, unlimited sea. After her first ghostly encounters, she decides she will save the children but later cries that they are hopelessly “lost.” Her navigation skills have failed her, and she envisions the children drowning. However, she perseveres, and when she speaks with Miles near the end of the novel, she feels she is “just nearly reaching port.” The ship imagery extends further when, soon thereafter, she imagines Miles “at the bottom of the sea,” a disturbing image that foreshadows Miles’s fate. Ultimately, the governess is the character who is most lost. She cannot find a direction or destination for her theories and suspicions, and her perceptions are constantly changing.
==========
I thought it was interesting when Helen said:
"It's why it's called a leap of faith, John. You don't have to be alone."
Sayid said to Danielle in Solitary: "You don't have to be alone, Danielle."
==========
Wasn’t there a second computer in Episode 1? Remember that Desmond (or whomever) wheeled his chair over to it. Also, when he typed the numbers in, he had to press the space bar between the numbers. But on the main computer in the big room, a space was automatically inserted. Hmmmmmm.
==========
On the blackboard in Locke's group;
The blackboard in the group discussion scene had six steps to Transplant Anger (?) and there are six stations on the island. Here are the steps. Pay attention to #3.
1. Call a truce w/Anger
2. Anger-Lost connection (could be Anger-Life)
3. Rewire your hot button
4. Tell your story
5. Get lots of grilling (?)
6. Stay in touch …
Obviously, I could not see them very well. Does anyone have a better idea of what they say?
==========
There has been a lot of speculation on who Alvar Hanso was (the old guy filmed through a window in the Orientation film). Rumors state that he is Cooper (Locke's dad), Jack's dad (please), Sun's dad (again, no) and my favorite - The Smoking Man from the X-Files series.
Excellent! This is much easier than digging through posts on IMDb.com ... HA!
To be honest, I love LOST and every theory that has extending from this show except those concerning the "numbers." I am sick and tired of people multiplying and then dividing and factoring to only add and subtract to create a number that fits their own twisted theory. COME ON!
It is my belief our "anonyous" poster is on to something about the research facility. Also, I think we need to concentrate our efforts on the books shown or read in LOST ... USA Today had a great article last Thursday stating the producers place them as foreshadow or plot help.
THE DAILY PLANET - Out!
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