LOST: Pushing the Button

If you were asked to perform a mundane task on a routine basis in order to "save the world," with no further instruction or explanation - without knowing the real reason why - would you do it?

That's the question that the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 are presented with when they break their way into "The Hatch" at the beginning of Season 2 of "LOST." This blog will recap pretty much everything we learned from the past 23 episodes of the show, including a breakdown of how certain individuals reacted when faced with important decisions regarding the fate of humanity.

In the Season 2 premiere, John Locke, Kate Austen and Jack Shephard finally make their way down the concrete shaft leading to the Dharma Initiative station known as "The Swan" and encounter a mysterious man who has been living in a bunker for more than three years. This man's name is Desmond, and he, too, landed on the Island by chance. Or was it by fate? Was it his destiny?

The Man Who Lived in the Hatch

We don't know an incredible amount about Desmond Hume as Season 2 comes to an end, but here's what we do know: Before he arrived on the Island, we understand that Desmond was a huge fan of Charles Dickens (having read all of his works, except for a book called Our Mutual Friend) and that he was in prison for some time. Upon completing his sentence, he was picked up outside the prison by a man named Charles Widmore, the father of Desmond's ex-girlfriend. Widmore intercepted all of the letters (a whole box of 'em) that Desmond had written to Penny Widmore, who Charles explains is now engaged to another man and, he says, has all but moved on from her relationship with Desmond.

Stricken with sadness over the news, Desmond vows to win a sailing race around the world, organized by Mr. Widmore, as a show of love for Penny. As part of his training regimen, Desmond runs stairs at a nearby stadium. He runs into Jack Shephard, who is also running there to work off the grief of a failed surgery. (This scene is shown in the Season 2 premiere, "Man of Science, Man of Faith.")

In a flashback during the season finale, Desmond is shown sailing in the Widmore race. A turbulent storm hits and Desmond is knocked unconscious. He winds up on a beach and is rescued by a man in a hazmat suit, then taken into a bunker that we later learn is The Swan station. The man who rescued Desmond is named Kelvin Inman, who we previously saw in one of Sayid's flashbacks, although his connection to Sayid is never specifically referenced. As Desmond awakens, he sees Kelvin pressing a series of buttons into an old computer. Desmond asks what he is doing, and Kelvin responds that he is "just saving the world."

Kelvin teaches Desmond the process: every 108 minutes, someone must enter the Numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 into the computer, followed by the "Execute" key. This process is commonly referred to as "pushing the button." A timer goes off with 4:00 remaining in the countdown, and the code must be entered within those four minutes. Attempting to push the button before the timer starts will not do anything, and failure to push the button in time would apparently result in catastrophic, worldwide consequences.

Desmond and Kelvin begin taking turns pushing the button for years. Kelvin, being the "senior companion," so to speak, retains the right to do things other than pushing the button; for instance, he occasionally leaves the Hatch for reasons that he does not discuss with Desmond. One day, after begging Kelvin to let him leave the station for once, Desmond notices a rip in Kelvin's hazmat suit. If the outside air truly were toxic, this would potentially be fatal, yet Kelvin goes outside anyway. Desmond follows him, only to discover that Kelvin has been repairing Desmond's sailboat and intends to leave the Island in a couple weeks. Infuriated, Desmond starts a scuffle with his partner and accidentally kills him.

Desmond runs back to the Hatch in a panic, realizing that he left the computer unattended. He returns too late to enter the code in time. His failure to push the button taps into the Island's electromagnetic properties - metallic objects begin flying all across the room. Something really jacked up is going down. Desmond frantically struggles to enter the proper Numbers on the keyboard, amidst a voice repeating "SYSTEM FAILURE" over and over. He finally finishes the routine and the timer resets to 108:00.

Desmond continued to push the button alone for around 40 days longer. The task drives him to the brink of insanity and he contemplates committing suicide, but his thoughts are interrupted by a banging, pounding noise, accompanied by the desperate cries of John Locke.

Smells Like Carrots

When John Locke encountered a crisis of faith in Season 1 ("Deus Ex Machina"), he returned to his beloved, mysterious, yet-unopened Hatch door and pounded on it, cried in agony and screamed at the Island, demanding answers - demanding a sign. At that moment, a light beamed up, out of the Hatch window. This moment refreshes Locke's belief in the concept of destiny and more deeply establishes his reputation as a "Man of Faith." He believes that "hope" was inside the Hatch.

Locke and the Survivors blew open the Hatch door at the end of the Season 1 finale. To begin Season 2, Lock and Kate lower themselves down into the abyss, but are quickly captured and held at gunpoint by the Hatch's long-standing resident, Desmond. Desmond soon realizes that the Survivors are not there to join or replace him ("What did one snowman say to another?"). Jack eventually makes his way down and recognizes Desmond from the stadium. Desmond teaches Locke and Jack how to enter the code and subsequently high-tails it out of there.

Locke takes it upon himself to be in charge of pushing the button. Jack doesn't understand the point and constantly tells Locke that entering the Numbers is pointless. Nevertheless, Locke is the Number One Believer in saving the world for the majority of the season. Locke's faith is largely based on a Dharma Initiative orientation video found in The Swan, which refers to the mission of pushing the button as something of the utmost importance. Locke watches the video multiple times, much to the annoyance of this Hatch-mates. I relate to this on a personal level.

Me, any time I try to talk to anyone about #LOST: pic.twitter.com/tJeLWS2bdW

— Aaron Christensen (@atownmania) July 18, 2018

A Storm Named Henry Gale

When the Survivors encounter a man in the middle of the jungle who claims to be named "Henry Gale," their skepticism and absolutely justified paranoia causes them to hold the scrawny little punk in The Swan's armory room. Locke, who spends the majority of his time in the Hatch computer room occasionally has discussions with their prisoner, who Danielle Rousseau warned was a pathological liar. "Henry" has a knack for getting under the Survivors' skin, and he frequently says things to Locke that slowly drive a wedge between John and Jack. Similarly, "Henry" disses Locke's faith in the button-pushing process by saying that the procedure is a farce. "Henry" continues to plant these seeds of doubt and play mind games with Locke until his eventual escape from The Swan in "Two for the Road."

"Man of Faith" Crisis

Mid-way through the season, Locke and Mr. Eko discover another Dharma station, known as "The Pearl." The Pearl is a surveillance station where Dharma workers would observe the actions of other workers across the Island. Another orientation video informs the viewer that the workers at other stations, including The Swan, believe that they are part of a project of "great importance," but, in reality, this is all a sort of social experiment.

Locke, who previously believed that pushing the button was his destiny on the Island, becomes incredibly upset. He refuses to watch the video again with Eko and suddenly believes that the Hatch computers is utterly pointless. He refuses to push the button again and, in fact, is willing to take matters into his own hands to ensure that nobody presses that blasted button again. Eko, on the other hand, has a feeling that they should continue pushing the button.

Me, any time I try to talk to anyone about #LOST, PART 2!! I am on pace with my schedule and will finish Season 2 on Wednesday night. pic.twitter.com/C9B71V4ewZ

— Aaron Christensen (@atownmania) July 24, 2018

Eko returns to the Hatch and continues the job and Locke goes back to the beach and cries like a baby. However, when Charlie tells Locke that Desmond has returned to the Survivors' camp, Locke decides to take Desmond back to The Swan for answers. Upon returning to the Hatch, Locke seals the blast doors with Eko on the outside of the computer room. Locke destroys the computer, to Desmond's sheer terror, and proclaims that they are finally going to find out what happens when the button isn't pressed in time.

Similar to what we saw in Desmond's flashback, the electromagnetism goes haywire and crap gets strewn to and fro. Desmond discovers a report that indicates that the last time a system failure occurred in the Hatch coincided with the date of the Oceanic plane crash. Desmond begs Locke to come to his senses, even practically taking the blame for the incident that brought the Survivors to the Island. Desmond explains that the Island is the site of an electromagnetic anomaly and that, every 108 minutes, pushing the button releases any excess energy. Failure to push the button truly would be catastrophic. Desmond then scrambles into a hidden passage to turn a failsafe key as a last resort to save the world.

As Locke realizes that his actions may, indeed cause another catastrophe, we see (for the second time so far in the series) genuine fear on his face. Eko re-enters the computer room and Locke admits, "I was wrong." Desmond turns the key, causing brilliant light and loud noises to emanate from the Island. The disturbance is witnessed by all known people on the Island and, as we will come to find out for the rest of the series, this event results in long-term, far-reaching consequences, not only for those on the Island, but for those off of it, as well.

Season 2 ends with two men in an arctic base came being alerted of an electromagnetic anomaly. They make a phone call to their boss, reporting what they have discovered. Their boss is Penny Widmore.

Analysis:

The Hatch is probably my favorite location on the Island. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but maybe it's because Desmond is my favorite character or perhaps it's because of my fascination with "pushing the button." It's just such a fascinating concept.

Before starting this blog, I posted a quick poll to Facebook, asking the same question that began this blog. It's only been an hour, which is not a ton of time for responses, but here are the results, as presently constituted:

Would we be willing to do something on faith alone? I suppose that the religious ones among us have some experience with such matters, and I think that - for the purposes of this particular blog - from a non-church standpoint, it's a fascinating conundrum. Let's quickly analyze the actions of some of the characters in Season 2 to summarize how they reacted:

• Desmond: Pushes the button out of a sense of duty. Bails on the button after being betrayed by his closest ally. Returns to the Hatch in order to save humanity.
• Locke: Pushes the button out of a sense of destiny. Bails on the button after viewing a video containing information that he did not know was absolute truth. Returns to the Hatch to intentionally sabotage the process. Feels a great sense of remorse when he realizes that he was wrong.
• "Henry Gale": Pushes the button once while Locke is trapped under the blast doors. Other than that, basically talks crap on it the entire time.
• Eko: Pushes the button first out of curiosity, then out of a sense of faith that what he is doing is right; this good feeling was the result of apparent prayer and meditation. Remains with the button out of moral obligation until he is forcibly removed, but is faithful until the end.
• Jack: Pushes the button out of reluctance and annoyance. Does not believe in what he is doing and yet occasionally does it anyway to appease others.
• Other Survivors: Push the button occasionally due to a variety of factors, including for companionship, out of boredom, as a demonstration of faith/trust, for a sense of belonging and (sometimes) simply just to have something to do.

One final note that I found interesting:

• Desmond's actions MAY HAVE crashed the plane, bringing John Locke to the Island.
• John Locke MAY HAVE saved Desmond’s life by banging on the Hatch door.
• And Desmond MAY HAVE saved Locke’s life again by turning the failsafe key.

Kind of interesting to look at it that way. I am, and always will be, #TeamDestiny.

As the series progresses through the remaining four seasons, we, the viewers, will learn more about the Dharma Initiative and its mission. While the Hatch has now been blown to smithereens, much of the mystery surrounding the now-extinct organization that previously ran the Island has yet to be uncovered. Time will tell what other adventures await. For now, I guess I'll see you in another life, brother.

And, as always, until next time,

Namaste... and good luck.

To read the rest of my "LOST" blogs, click here.

LOST: Season 1 round-up

I just finished my quick-binge of Season 1 of "LOST." I'd like to write a blog at the end of each season to put my overall thoughts on paper, so to speak, and also to write about any interesting theories or analysis that I might have come up with as I watched. While I have several blog topics in mind, I think that some of them would best be saved for later on in the series, so I'll keep the ideas handy and hopefully publish them later.

For this first blog, I figured I'd offer up a handful of things I found interesting in the first season:

It wasn't "Freckles":

The first nickname that Sawyer calls Kate is "sweetheart," which he calls her in the second hour of the Pilot episode.

I shot the sheriff:

In the episode "Tabula Rasa," the Survivors are having a hard time deciding what to do with the U.S. Marshal, who is dying on the beach. I thought these reactions taught us a little bit more about the character of each of these Survivors:

• Kate (who is the fugitive that the Marshal had arrested) asks, "Is he going to die? Will it hurt?"
• Jack tries to save the Marshal's life on several occasions.
• Shannon mutters, "I wish he would just die already."
• Sayid is skeptical about whether Jack can save his life.
• Sawyer constantly encourages someone to shoot him.
• Sawyer ultimately shoots the Marshal, but the wound is not fatal and Jack has to finish the job.

A familiar sound:

In the episode "Walkabout," we see John Locke working at his office job. After repeatedly being reprimanded by his jerk boss, Randy, Locke returns his focus to his work. He turns to his 10-key machine and punches a few keys - and the machine makes the same sound as the Hatch computer that we'll eventually be introduced to in Season 2. HOLY CRAP.

Dive, dive!:

In the beginning of the episode "Whatever the Case May Be," Kate and Sawyer find dead bodies in a lake, along with the briefcase that fell and knocked out the U.S. Marshal. Kate dives to retrieve the briefcase. The next scene begins with other Survivors jumping into the water to retrieve luggage that is being dragged away into the ocean. Season 1 is full of stark juxtapositions like that.

Hope she brought sunscreen:

In "Whatever the Case May Be," Boone, as if speaking for the audience, calls Shannon worthless. She looks terribly offended by her brother's harsh words. Unsurprisingly, the next time we see Shannon, she is sunbathing on the beach.

At least she learned something:

Speaking of Shannon, she sucks at French. (Her words, not mine.) But, of all the things she could possibly remember from grade-school French class, she has the words to Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea" memorized. That's solid.

The Dog Whisperer:

On the Island, Locke makes a dog whistle to help find Walt's dog, Vincent (who is constantly getting lost, by the way). In "Deus Ex Machina," we see pre-Island Locke taking a "Lost Dog" flyer off of his windshield as he leaves work.

By any other name:

Rose is such a sweetheart. Her husband is missing and presumably dead, yet she is always so kind, patient, level-headed and understanding. Also, where was Rose during the two-part finale?? No screen time at all!

Cartographer extraordinaire:

In the episode "Deus Ex Machina," Locke appears to be using a compass to find the beechcraft that he saw crash into the mountains, despite the fact that Sayid and Jack have previously indicated that compasses do not work on the Island.

Mystery solved!:

I've occasionally wondered how the Survivors stay looking so good on the Island. Well, in "Born to Run," we see Claire giving Charlie a haircut, and in "Deus Ex Machina," we see Jack shaving with a manual razor.

Chicken or lasagna?:

Fun fact: The last scene to be shot for the Pilot was ultimately cut. It featured Hurley offering uncooked airline meals to Locke, who did not respond.

They're not suffering anymore:

And now, for my favorite little bit of useless information from Season 1, as discovered in the episode "Outlaws":

Sawyer meets Christian Shephard while drinking at a bar in Sydney. Christian says they are in Hell and that some people were made to suffer - which is why "the Red Sox will never win the World Series."

• "LOST" premiered on 09/22/04.
• The Red Sox won the World Series on 10/27/04.
• This episode aired on 02/16/05.
• Jack later watches a video of the final out of the game. In Island Time, Jack saw the footage on Day 69 - 11/29/04.

***

There you have it! We all learned something new today, I think. My quick-binge of Season 2 is now underway. You can follow along with my episode calendar here.

Until next time,

Namaste... and good luck.

LOST: Quick-Binge Schedule 2018

With FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention 2018 soon approaching, I am performing another quick-binge of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, "LOST." We'll call this my fourth time watching the series - I started late, but caught up and finished live when the show first aired, I watched the entire thing with a friend in 2014 and I did a 50-episode quick-binge in 2015 before Salt Lake Comic Con 2015.

Some might call this obsessive or stupid. Some might say I need to get a life. But, then again, some might say that I was the most-prepared panelist at SLCC15 and all of my preparation really paid off. With the announcement that Evangeline Lilly, who plays Kate, will be a celebrity guest at this upcoming convention, I figure that now would be a better time than any to run through the show again.

I have selected the episodes that I have deemed most important, best or most integral to Kate's character development. I've also created a calendar that will help me pace myself, as to allow maximum time for watching other TV shows, attending concerts and sporting events, spending time with my family and, you know... dating. You can see screenshots of my calendar below. I have listed all episodes, as well as bonus features. Episodes that are underlined are the episodes I am actually going to watch. Episodes in parenthesis are episodes for which I will be reading synopsis recaps on Lostpedia. Behold:

Here is a quick breakdown of statistics, for your consumption and enjoyment:

SEASON 1:
Time frame: 16 days
Episodes watched: 15
Other: Bonus features and blog

SEASON 2:
Time frame: 10 days
Episodes watched: 12
Other: Blog

SEASON 3:
Time frame: 6 days
Episodes watched: 14
Other: Bonus features and blog

SEASON 4:
Time frame: 7 days
Episodes watched: 9
Other: Bonus features and blog

SEASON 5:
Time frame: 11 days
Episodes watched: 15
Other: Bonus features and blog

SEASON 6:
Time frame: 12 days
Episodes watched: 16
Other: "The New Man in Charge," bonus features and blog

OVERALL:
64 days between July 1 and September 3
81 of 121 episodes watched
8 blogs, when all is said and done

If you want to watch with me, you've got a little catching up to do, since I'm a slacker and didn't post this schedule until I was already done with Season 1. Whoops. But have some faith in yourselves, people. I'm not here to tell you what you can't do. And hey, I'll even go this far - if any of you catch up to me, I'll invite you over for a pizza party as I watch the finale on September 2. The gauntlet has been thrown!

Ideally, you'll be getting seven more "LOST" blogs by the time this is through, so I hope somebody out there is down for some conversations, banter and good old-fashioned analysis, because we've got quite the ride ahead of us.

As always,

Namaste... and good luck.

#WhatsATownWatching: A review of "The Flash" (Season 4) and "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" (Season 3)

Today, I write you not of my own free will, but out of a sense of duty to The Underground. I do not particularly desire to write the blog, but I do it because I must - because I said I would - and because it will bring a sense of closure to me regarding a troubling time in my life. Today, I write to you about my experience binge-watching Season 4 of CW's "The Flash" and Season 3 of its companion show, "Legends of Tomorrow."

In short, you know, I just really didn't love it.

I know, Barry Allen. I know. I really wanted to like these seasons, but I just didn't. I'm sorry to have failed you.

Following up last summer's binge of "Flash" Season 3 and "Legends" Season 2 (which I blogged about here last June), I had eagerly anticipated Netflix's release of the most recent seasons so I could continue the journey of the Fastest Man Alive and that wily bunch of time-traveling rapscallions.

Season 4 of "The Flash" picks up with Barry having sacrificed himself to the Speed Force for the good of Central City. Of course, his absence is extremely short-lived, as he returns in the very first episode of the season, albeit with some strange, obsessive-compulsive behavior. As Barry returns to his normal self, he faces two daunting tasks: the emergence of a new supervillain known as "The Thinker" and his own forthcoming wedding with Iris West.

Season 3 of "Legends" is more of the same - they've messed up time and spend the season cleaning up so-called "anachronisms" (or errors in the known timeline of humanity). This leads to some fun (if not goofy) mash-ups, introducing historical figures like Julius Caesar, Helen of Troy, P.T. Barnum, Leif Erikson and a young Barack Obama, among many others. The overarching storyline is something about the existence of six elemental totems that, when combined, would give the bearer the ability to destroy the known universe or whatnot (seems a bit too similar to Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity War," now that I'm thinking about it). Meanwhile, the gang has to deal with Professor Martin Stein's desire to leave the Legends and live out the rest of his civilian life (which I was previously aware would happen because I saw some article months ago about how actor Victor Garber was supposedly leaving the show).

Now, let's break down what I liked and didn't like about these seasons. SPOILERS to follow.

The Good

There are some elements of "The Flash" that I still like. Typically, I feel like this is the most mature (or least immature, I suppose) of the DC "Arrowverse"; "Arrow" is way too "high school" for my tastes, I don't watch "Supergirl" and it sometimes feels like a 17-year-old wrote the dialogue for "Legends." I think Grant Gustin is teriffic. Part of me still wishes that he was playing The Flash in the DCEU. I like Jesse L. Martin a lot. Tom Cavanagh is an American treasure - easily my favorite character of the series.

Similarly, there are a few characters from "Legends" that I've grown fond of. I couldn't stand Brandon Routh's "Atom" character when he would occasionally appear on "The Flash," but he has become one of my favorites over this three-season run. Mick Rory always makes me laugh. Professor Stein is probably my top Legend, though, and I was sad to see him go the way that he did.

"The Flash" delivers quality, consequential episodes much more consistently than "Legends" - and without the wall-to-wall goofiness that is sometimes present in the sister show - so I found myself paying closer attention to Barry and Company than I did for "Legends."

Despite the wacky nature of "Legends" and the fact that it continues to blatantly rip off other TV shows and movies (most notably, "E.T." and "Groundhog Day," this season), it is generally a pretty fun and enjoyable show. I like having a show that is serious enough to keep my interest but self-aware enough to have a good time along the way.

Both shows had some fun cameos, including the return of Danny Trejo as Cisco's girlfriend's father, and new appearances by my man Bill Goldberg (who played a prisoner tough-guy in a couple episodes of "Flash") and John Noble (an incredibly on-the-nose appearance as himself  in "Legends" - to be fair, the episode was called "Guest Starring John Noble").

I was excited when John Constantine showed up for a couple episodes, even though I knew nothing about that character. It turns out that I didn't really care for the paranormal tone of episodes he was a central character in, but I always like it when these crossovers happen, and I thought it was especially that a character from a cancelled show got new life in another "universe."

Speaking of crossovers, this season's big crossover event, Crisis on Earth-X, was largely enjoyable - like a made-for-TV, B-List version of an "Avengers" movie - and, although I had to stop watching for a week or two to wait for Netflix to release the latest season of "Supergirl," I didn't mind having to watch epsiodes of "Arrow" and "Supergirl," along with my back-and-forth binging of "Flash" and "Legends." The return of Leonard Snart ("Captain Cold") was a bit of a surprise, despite having vaguely remembered seeing a spoiler about it on Facebook a couple months ago.

But let's be honest - the best thing about either of these shows this season was BEEBO, THE GOD OF WAR!!! What could have been seen as a spoof of "Jingle All the Way" turned into the funniest (and arguably one of the very best) episodes of all. Seeing Beebo come back in the "Legends" season finale was utterly ridiculous, but I don't think I would have had it any other way. Long live Beebo!

The Bad

Wally West spent most of his screen time with the Legends this season. I'm not sure that I really care for him on either of these shows, to be honest. Also, his hair looked pretty dumb. It's a minor cosmetic issue, but whatever he's going for there is not a good look, bro.

The episode where Stein dies and Jefferson Jackson breaks down in tears a couple times was pretty brutal. The dude needs to work on his fake crying because what we saw was really rough - probably the worst fake crying I can remember seeing in quite some time.

The idea that Cisco has a hot girlfriend irritates me so bad. It did last season and it still does now. The guy is a total goofball that is good for comic relief and to get Team Flash out of sticky situations here and there, but watching him kiss Jessica Camacho is less realistic to me than a man who can vibe the superpowers of metahumans by touching physical objects.

I like those parody episodes of "Legends" to a certain extent, but sometimes it just feels like lazy storytelling, like the writers couldn't come up with an original storyline so they had to spoof a classic movie. That's like something I would have done (and did many times) in high school.

Joe West's girlfriend Cecile was soooo annoying.

Clifford DeVoe, the "big bad" from Season 4 of "The Flash" looked a bit like a poor man's Brainiac (I thought he was Brainiac the first time I saw him, so that was a little disappointing). I liked some parts of his storyline, but, as the season went on and he started turning into other people (including a woman, at least once), I started to lose a bit of interest in that plot. I found it a little hard to focus or keep track of which "Metas" where where and who was actually alive. All in all, I didn't like DeVoe as much as previous "Flash" villains like Reverse Flash and Savitar - or even recurring characters like Gorilla Grodd.

I'm not quite sure why they spent so much time and effort on crappy-P.I.-turned-Team-Flash-stooge Ralph Dibny. He made me laugh a couple times here and there - and he even threw out a "LOST" reference at one point, which was unexpected - but I never considered him a "main character." He finally started to grow on me a little bit, but then he got taken over by DeVoe (or whatever happened), and now he's... dead, I guess? I don't know. Anyway, I just thought less energy could have been expended on him since he ended up being such an insignificant part of the story.

The Ugly

Here comes the part where I may ruffle some feathers - and it's not my intention to do so. I just need to call The CW on their crap about a couple things.

Sarah Lance's bi-sexual tendencies have bothered me in the past. This has been documented. But things have gotten out of hand, as her lesbian escapades hijacked the majority of the latter half of the season. I understand that not everyone shares the same beliefs as me, and that other people's actions don't really affect me, personally, so I try hard not to let this stuff bother me, but is it really necessary to force some kind of LGBT agenda into virtually every episode? Is there really, truly that big of an audience for it? Do fans of the show even like it?

This season, Sarah weasels her way into a lesbian relationship with Ava Sharpe, a Time Bureau agent that starts the season as a hard-A that can't stand the Legends and ends up as a wussy, emotional clone (literally, she is a clone). Basically any scene with Lance and Sharpe together included a reference to lesbian sex, and it got to the point where I tweeted out that I wasn't sure I wanted to finish watching the season. Clearly, I stuck it out and finished, but this stuff made me lose a considerable amount of interest.

Along with Miss Lance, we were also introduced to a gay superhero named The Ray during the crossover event. And not only is he gay - he's gay with the Earth-X Captain Cold? Come on, now. This was a minor storyline, compared to the White Canary nonsense, but it did get dragged out through a couple different episodes, culminating in Captain Cold (or is it "Citizen Cold"?) mentioning that he was going back to Earth-X to marry The Ray. I'm still rolling my eyes as I type this paragraph.

Now that I'm thinking of it, while I'm bagging on "political correctness," I thought that episode where the ladies went out for Iris' bachelorette party and they actually said "hashtag feminism" like three times?... Yeah, hated that. I'm all for equal rights between genders and whatnot, but this was too much for me. "Hashtag feminism." (*rolls eyes*) Can you imagine an episode where Barry got his pals together and talked about "hashtag man power"? Nah. Didn't think so.

To sum this section up, I would just say that sacrificing character development and solid storylines for the sake of pleasing a minority is a bad decision. Once Ava came out, I immediately lost interest in her - and labeling her as a lesbian or bi-sexual or whatever she was did absolutely nothing to make her character better. It seemed like a demotion. At least they gave The Ray the angle that he was being imprisoned and persecuted for his lifestyle. That was way more impactful than just having this tough character suddenly be like, "Oh yeah, well... I'm actually a lesbian and even though I've been acting like I hate you all season, I secretly have a crush on you, so let's go to the captain's quarters and... talk about it... with no clothes on... for the rest of the season..." So stupid.

To make a long story short (too late)...

I'm glad that Tom Cavanagh continued to make me smile, I'm glad that I met Beebo and, more than anything else, I'm glad these seasons are over. I didn't love these seasons. Both shows are fun in their own right and have some redeeming qualities about them, but at this point, I'm not dying to sit down and watch another 45 episodes of movie spoofs, lesbian sleepovers and mediocre villains. These series have turned into something that I'd recommend to my friends to shows that I would never let my parents or young children watch. That's about as succinctly as I can sum this up - and that's not a ringing endorsement. Will I be back to watch these shows in the future? It's tough to say. I think I'm more likely to continue watching "The Flash," but I think my time with the Legends might have come to a disappointing end.

Am I up in the night about this? Am I wrong in letting one character's rampant immorality ruin two shows for me? Is there anybody out there that can truly argue that these seasons were on par with previous years? If you're caught up with the shows and feel like contributing your thoughts, leave a message in the comments section below.

Farewell.

LOST: Kate Austen profile

Evangeline Lilly will be a celebrity guest at the upcoming FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention event coming up on the weekend of September 6-8, 2018. Lilly will co-star in the upcoming Marvel movie "Ant-Man and the Wasp," but she is arguably most well-known for her work as the rebel heartbreaker Kate Austen in "LOST."

I was recently approached about doing another "LOST" panel for the convention (which I happily agreed to). I will be busting out another quick-binge of the series to prepare for the panel, similar to what I did before appearing as a panelist at Salt Lake Comic Con 2015. The plan will be to watch 50 - 60 episodes in the next 67 days before the convention.

• Read the transcript to the Salt Lake Comic Con 2015 "LOST" panel here.
• See my 2015 quick-binge schedule of "LOST" episodes here.

This will essentially be my fourth time watching "LOST." With that in mind, I am trying to find a way to watch the show with new eyes, finding details that I hadn't seen before and learning new things about the story. One of the ways that I can do this is by focusing on Kate, who is definitely one of my top three least favorite characters. I'm not a fan of Kate at all, really. I think she's whiny, annoying, unattractive and just constantly in-the-way. But we've got to give the people what they want. Undoubtedly, people will want to talk about Evangeline Lilly at FanX, so I've got to be prepared, and I am willing to give her another chance. Let's take a deeper look at Miss Austen - in detail, thanks in part, to my go-to resource for all things "LOST" -  Lostpedia.

Katherine Anne Austin is one of the Oceanic Six - a prominent survivor of the Oceanic 815 plane crash. Kate appears in 108 of the 121 episodes of "LOST." Kate is 30 years old and was born in May of 1977. She grew up and lived largely in the midwestern United States, but has spend portions of her adult life on the run. Before the ill-fated flight to Los Angeles, Kate was in trouble with law enforcement due to what we will call "complications" with murder, robbery and assault. On the Island, Kate became somewhat of a secondary leader for the Survivors, often tagging along (or hooking up) with Jack Shephard and "Sawyer" Ford.

All About Kate:

There are 10 Kate-centric episodes, which are as follows:

1. Tabula Rasa
2. Whatever the Case May Be
3. Born to Run
4. What Kate Did
5. I Do
6. Left Behind
7. Eggtown
8. The Little Prince
9. Whatever Happened, Happened
10. What Kate Does

Categorizing Kate:

Lostpedia categorizes Kate in the following groups:

• Characters in all six seasons
• Oceanic Survivors
• Passenger
• Middle Section
• Ajira Passengers
• Wives
• Mothers*
• Kate was not an actual mother
• Criminals
• Murders
• Kate kills characters both on and off the Island.
• Off-Island Characters
• Dharma Initiative
• Kate appears in flashbacks for the following characters:
• Locke, Sayid, Hurley, Nikki and Paolo, Jacob
• Kate appears in flash-forwards for the following characters:
• Jack, Sun, Sawyer
• Kate appears in flash-sideways for the following characters:
• Jack, Sawyer, Claire

Kate's Connections:

During my second time watching the entire series of "LOST," I found the following connections between Kate and other characters in the series:

• Saywer eats at Kate's mom's diner.
• Kate buys a fake necklace from Sawyer's girlfriend, Cassidy. They work together for an episode.
• Kate has Aaron off the Island and pretends to be his mother.
• Kate and Jack get engaged off the Island.
• Kate meets Roger Workman while cleaning up the Dharma Fire.
• Kate visits Cassidy to give her money for Sawyer's daughter, Clementine.
• Kate gives Aaron to Claire's mom in Los Angeles.
• Kate and Sawyer take Young Ben to be healed by Richard Alpert and the Hostile Others.
• Charles Widmore captures Jack and Kate after Daniel Faraday is shot.
• Kate meets Young Eloise Hawking at the time that Daniel Faraday is shot.
• Kate meets Jacob as a child while she is shoplifting. He touches her nose.
• Kate is the reason Juliet gives up on Sawyer.
• Kate is recruited by the Man in Black.
• Kate rides on Libby's boat.
• Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Hurley meet Dead Jacob as his ashes are burning.
• Jack and Kate kill the Man in Black.

Fun Facts and Trivia:

• In the original script, Kate would have been the leader of the Survivors, not Jack. Michael Keaton had originally been cast as Jack, and he was written as having died in the pilot episode.
• A stash of license plates previously used by Kate while on the run can be seen in her trunk during one episode. The license plates include these states: Minnesota, Idaho, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, North Dakota, Colorado and Wisconsin.
• Kate is one of the few characters to show sympathy toward Ben Linus on the Island.
• Kate is the only member of the Oceanic 6 to fly off the island on the Ajira 316 flight.
• Kate visits five of the ten known Dharma Initiative stations on the Island.
• The subject file on Kate's mugshot is: 00-0428-23-5607-01, which contains the Numbers 4, 8, 23 and 42.
• Kate is the only one of the Oceanic Survivors and Candidates whose Candidate Number is not one of "The Numbers" or a multiple thereof. The only Survivors on The List in addition to Locke (4), Hurley (8), Sawyer (15), Sayid (16), Jack (23), and Jin and/or Sun (42) are Kate, Michael, and Shannon. Shannon's number is 32, a multiple of 4 and 8;  Michael's number is 124, a multiple of 4; Kate's number is 51, which is not a multiple of any of The Numbers.
• Kate is one of the five original main characters still alive at the end of the series.
• Kate was the central character of the first episode to contain the traditional flashback format; she was the third character to be seen in a flashback of any kind. Additionally, Kate was the final Oceanic 815 character to have a flashback episode centered around them.
• Kate has the second most flashback (17), next to Jack.
• In Season 6, Kate is the first to receive an individual flash sideways.
• Kate and Jack are the only characters to appear in every season premiere of the series.
• Kate has been tied up more than any other character on the show.
• Kate has cried seventeen times during the series.

***

Well, there you have it. Do you like Kate? Do you hate her? Are you on the fence? Is there anything specific regarding Kate that you'd like me to keep an eye out for while I quick-binge this time around? Let me know in the comments below.

This will be the first of several new "LOST" blogs in the next couple months, so stay tuned. And, as always...

Namaste... and good luck.