Netflix's "Daredevil": Marvel, all grown up

When Netflix and Marvel joined forces to launch their much-anticipated series "Daredevil" on April 10, my lingering lack of employment basically guaranteed that I would check it out, although Daredevil is far from my favorite superhero. In fact, I basically knew nothing about the dude, other than the fact that he's a blind lawyer vigilante and that the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck wasn't good. I don't seem to possess the eternal hatred for that film that many people do. I just simply remember that it wasn't great. I forgive them.

I realize that, in regards to the Netflix series, there are probably three groups of people out there right now: 1) people that binge-watched it faster than I did, 2) people who aren't interested at all and 3) those who aren't quite sure whether they should check it out or not. Well, already having done the heavy lifting of finishing Season One in a seven-day period, I figured I'd blog about it and give the fence sitters a pretty good idea of what to do next. I'll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.

Here goes...

Here are a few reasons why you should watch "Daredevil":

• Jump right in!: If I learned anything during my time as an employee of Salt Lake Comic Con, it was that I know next-to-nothing about comicbooks. Thankfully, with "Daredevil," no real knowledge of the character or his backstory are prerequisite. Season One does a nice job of bringing viewers up-to-speed with the main characters, including a lot of the "origin stories" of its two main characters, Matt Murdock (Daredevil) and Wilson Fisk (Kingpin). If you're not a smart pants know-it-all, that's pretty much fine. You don't need to be.
  
  
• The more, the better!: Marvel is basically brilliant. Obviously. But the smartest thing they could have possibly ever done was to tie all of their movies and TV shows into the same cinematic universe, thus, making it practically essential to watch EVERYTHING if you want to know what's going on. For instance, I didn't make it past the pilot episode of ABC's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Whether that's because I didn't buy in immediately or because I had way too many other shows preoccupying me is debatable, but, nevertheless, I still, to this day, have not seen Episode Two. However, I hear that the big H.Y.D.R.A. twist in Captain America: The Winter Soldier completely shook up "Agents." The way the movie influenced the TV show (from what I have heard) makes me want to go back and watch it. Similarly, "Daredevil" takes place in the same Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as is evident from a few comments about the attack on New York (from The Avengers), and there were a couple references to Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, which I loved. It would be awesome if Daredevil showed up in Captain America: Civil War or The Infinity War. Will Daredevil make the crossover to the big screen? I'm not sure - but if he did, that would be totally rad.
  
  
  
• Fantastic casting: I have no idea who Charlie Cox is. He's been in a bunch of stuff I have never heard of, nor seen. But he does a great job as Matt Murdock. While I actually prefer him in costume as Daredevil, he's a solid pick for the show's lead. His on-screen buddy, Foggy Nelson is played by Elden Henson, another virtual unknown who I only recognized because he's the Avox cameraman in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I, which I just watched the other day. ... Waid, what?? He's FULTON REED FROM THE MIGHTY DUCKS?!? Oh man! Why did I not realize this?? That's hilarious! Anyway, he's decent. Not my favorite character on the show, but man... One of the Bash Brothers! That's incredible. Arguably the best-cast character on the show is the villainous Wilson Fisk (better known as Kingpin). Vincent D'Onofrio (of Men in Black fame) is spot on as one of Marvel's most notorious criminals. From his physical appearance to his fighting style, D'Onofrio is superb, in my opinion - a perfect choice for a role that it feels like he was born to play. They do such a good job with him that you even start feeling bad for the son of a gun a couple times. Ugh. Sickening.
  
  
• A quick fix: Merely 13 episodes long, Season One is a quick watch. If you're looking for something to pass the time with, "Daredevil" doesn't require an obscene time commitment and you should easily be able to blow through it in a week or two, depending on how much free time you have.
  
  

• It picks up steam: It took a little while for me to catch on, but when "Daredevil" gets rolling, around Episode Six or Seven, it's hard to turn it off. The law office stuff is a bit of a drag, in some cases, but as Murdock begins to truly embrace his vigilante habits of tracking down corrupt cops and whatnot, it gets fun to watch. Additionally, I loved the insight that the series gave to both Murdock and Fisk's childhoods - particularly Fisk's - which helps viewers build strong emotional connections (positively and negatively) to the characters. The final two or three episodes in the season are particularly good as Daredevil begins gaining allies in the fight against Fisk and his henchmen. Season Two should pick up right where this one leaves off - and if the season finale is any indication, it will be fascinating to see where Marvel and Netflix take the story from here.

On the other hand...

Remember how much fun you had watching Guardians of the Galaxy, busting a gut to the witty jokes and humming along with the fun soundtrack? Yeah. Forget all of that. This is not your mama's Marvel.

Here are a few reasons why "Daredevil" is definitely not a show for everyone:

• Suspend that disbelief: Firstly, I know it's just a show based on a comicbook. But seriously... That dude gets around really well for a blind guy. It's not a major problem, but there were quite a few times when I sat there and thought, "There's no way a blind dude could do that." Suspension of disbelief. I know. And I have no doubt that Murdock's other senses are greatly enhanced, due to the fact that he can't use his eyes. I don't know. It's just crazy. But what would I know about any of this, anyway?
  
  
• A bar of soap: That's what a lot of these characters need - and that's not a commentary on their personal hygiene. No, no. That's because they use some pretty dirty language throughout Season One. Suffice it to say that they love using the anatomical terminology. In fact, they utter the "d-word" so often that it's almost shocking to think that people in the real world actually speak that way. It's immature and really adds nothing to the show, as far as content is concerned. More intelligent writing could easily have avoided the frequent repetition of such words. The amount of profanity was silly, in my opinion.
  
  
  
• A bloody shame: The most important warning I can give Marvel fans (ESPECIALLY young ones) is that Netflix's "Daredevil" is incredibly violent. Unlike The Avengers and most of the other movies in the MCU, which are generally pretty blood-less, "Daredevil" absolutely earns its "TV-MA" rating. Essentially, every episode features gunplay, violence, kidnappings and gruesome murders of some kind. It's a very dark and bloody premise and the show doesn't hold back at all. I'm no stranger to shootouts and assassinations and the like - I've obviously seen my fair share of action movies - but there were several scenes in Season One where I had to look away from the screen, and even a time or two where the violence made me feel a little sick inside. So... just be warned, I guess, that this show is definitely not for the faint of heart. It's not one that I'd recommend watching with your family and certainly not with kids. I'm unsure whether the show would earn an R rating at the box office, but it's definitely a very strong PG-13... and you'll never look at a car door the same way again. Am I right, people? Ick!

Overall, I thought "Daredevil" Season One was pretty good. It's got very high-quality production value, so it looks and feels like it could be one gigantic movie. It's got an intriguing plot that ends up being rather gripping, despite its slow start, and introduces the world to two cool new characters in the Marvel canon. Heck, you might even like it so much that you'll be curious to go back and give Ben Affleck another chance.

I'm not sure I'd recommend that, though.

My final verdict is that I recommend "Daredevil" to fans of comicbooks and superhero programming that have the stomach to handle the violence and the tolerance to put up with some immature dialogue. What do you think? Are you going to give "Daredevil" a shot? Are you well enough off without it? Or have you already watched it? Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what your thoughts are.

Until next time...

In defense of Wrestlemania

From the top trend on Facebook to ESPN's Twitter feed, pro wrestling headlines have been all over the Internet in the past few days. World Wrestling Entertainment's annual Wrestlemania pay-per-view was held over the weekend, showcasing the top talent in the business on a more global scale than ever before. It's interesting to me that, with wrestling seemingly more popular in terms of fan base and viewership than ever before, the industry maintains its negative connotations and uncool reputation. Call me the devil's advocate, call me a loser, call me whatever you want... but I pro wrestling gets a bit of an unfair rap. Let me explain.

For those of you who aren't aware, I, like most young, American boys in the 1990s, had a decent amount of exposure to pro wrestling during one particular stretch of my childhood - in the midst of what pro wrestling historians call the "Monday Night War." Pro wrestling was a taboo topic back then, just as it is today, in the sense that if you watched it, you didn't really admit it to anybody. Heck, I wasn't supposed to watch it as a kid. Wrestling, along with "The Simpsons," "South Park" and a few other shows, had been banned from my household (and probably for good reason). There are just some shows that parents didn't want their kids watching. I am totally fine with that and don't resent my parents from the restrictions they placed on me and my siblings. But, from time to time when my parents were out for the night, I'd be flipping channels and catch a glimpse of some good, old-fashioned grappling. Violent though it was, there was something so intriguing about it. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking as a kid, but it just seemed cool, and I'd try to sneak in a few minutes of pro wrestling here and there when my channel surfing incidentally lined up with World Championship Wrestling's TV programming.

At one point during the height of the now-defunct WCW's popularity, Karl Malone, one of my favorite Utah Jazz players teamed up with a guy named Diamond Dallas Paige to fight against "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls. The surprising combination of forbidden fighting and my beloved basketball icon proved too good to resist and my brothers and I found ourselves sneakily tuning in to WCW Monday Nitro each week. Eventually - and, to this day, I have no idea how this happened - we convinced our parents to watch the Mailman and DDP feud with Hogan and The Worm as they geared up for a heated confrontation at WCW's Bash at the Beach pay-per-view in the summer of 1996. Believe it or not, it actually turned into a great family bonding experience. We ordered Bash at the Beach and a couple other PPV events over the course of the next several months and even invited some of our extended family to watch with us a couple times. (I'm sure they thought we were absolute morons.) A few months later, WCW hired some former WWE (then "WWF") writers and the storylines got a bit more "mature," I guess you'd say, and my family's short-lived affair came to an end. Honestly, it was a blast while it lasted. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

As a junior at Alta High School, I decided that I wanted to run for band president. As part of my unprecedented campaign (literally, I don't think anyone has ever tried so hard to become band president at any high school), I thought it would be funny to buy a plastic WWE championship belt and make a video portraying me training for the presidency, a la Rocky. I guess the concept kind of caught on and three additional wrestling belts eventually made their way to the sacred confines of the Alta High Band Room. Silly? Yes. But it worked. Again, I'm not ashamed to admit it. My buddies and I took the joke a step further and made a 30-minute mockumentary about a fictional pro wrestling tag team called "The Big Ticket." (In retrospect, I'm sure it was horrible, but we thought it was hilarious.) In 2010, we joined creative forces yet again to make an hour-long "Big Ticket" sequel. (Likely just as horrible, but twice as hilarious.)

As an LDS missionary in Raleigh, North Carolina, I was called to speak Spanish. Contrary to what you may believe or hear, learning a new language is not a total piece of cake. It takes effort. You don't leave the Missionary Training Center completely fluent in the new foreign tongue. Something that helped me tremendously in my learning efforts was speaking with little Hispanic children. They would make fun of me if I didn't speak the language very well, but they were a lot nicer about it than the adults were. I quickly came to realize that little Hispanic kids know a lot about three things in particular: soccer, school and pro wrestling. Thus, I found wrestling to be a pretty easy topic of conversation - something that I knew a little bit about and could use a bit of "Spanglish" in without sounding like an idiot. The kids loved talking about it, which was cool, but it also kept me somewhat up-to-date with which wrestlers were popular, which ones were doing well and, of course, which ones were the bad guys.

Now that I'm seven years removed from my mission, I don't have consistent access to the Rey Mysterio and John Cena fan clubs like I did in North Carolina, but I am savvy enough to spot WWE references in pop culture today. There are nods to pro wrestling (both modern and from the '80s and '90s) all over the place, if you know what to look for. It's somewhat amusing to me. I would incorporate some of the classic catch phrases as I did my college radio shows. In fact, the most popular segment of my show down in Ephraim was called the "KAGE Match" - a blatant nod to pro wrestling. I'm still not sure that any of my listeners understood that. It disappoints me.

Most recently, as I had the glorious privilege of working with Salt Lake Comic Con, I got a chance to meet the immortal Hulk Hogan - to take a picture with him, give him the nWo "wolf" hand gesture and to sit front row at his spotlight panel. It was awesome. I got a little bit of grief for it, but, as a kid who grew up in the '90s, meeting the Hulkster was like meeting one of the coolest guys on the planet. I suppose that today's equivalent might be... Chris Hemsworth or somebody like that? Whatever. It was really cool for me. Hulk still rules!

SO. With all of that context, it's not that I am a pro wrestling addict or something. More like I just know a lot about it. Anyway, I think I've got some valid points and pretty strong arguments for the case I'm about to make, so let me now explain why I don't think that pro wrestling is actually as bad as society purports it to be by listing a few common complaints I hear about the industry and then rebutting them in rather majestic fashion.

Complaint: "Pro wrestling is fake."

You know what? It's scripted. Yes. Which is stupid because "Doctor Who" is REAL! Oh wait... No, it's not. Most shows on TV are scripted. This should not come as a shock to anyone. Certainly, to the untrained viewer, like my 10-year-old self back in the day, you bet I thought it was real. Heck, I even prayed that Karl Malone would beat Dennis Rodman at Bash at the Beach. (Side note: Hogan and Rodman cheated to win. I got really upset and have never prayed for the outcome of a sporting event since.) I'm positive that WWE takes great lengths to ensure that their programming looks and feels real (or unscripted), but... can you blame them? Would you want your favorite TV program to come right out and say, "Hey, everyone, our show isn't real! Look at all these green screens! And here: meet the stunt doubles!" Of course you wouldn't want that! Every show and movie that you watch wants to look real, even though it is clearly fictional. Yes, pro wrestling is scripted. But so is everything else.

Furthermore, those steel chairs can't dent themselves, now, can they? I submit to you that they cannot. There is no denying that these guys (and chicks) that put their bodies on the line each time they step in the ring are a rare, freaky combination of incredibly athletic and certifiably crazy. No stunt doubles, no CGI, no wires. You can pull all the punches and kicks you want, but there is some stuff you just can't fake.

If you've been paying attention to the top Facebook trends in the past week and a half or so, you'll have seen that Rey Mysterio Jr., the first guy I ever remember watching in the squared circle, recently killed a guy during one of his matches. Literally. The guy passed away. Of course, this was an accident, an unintended consequence of a move likely gone wrong, but I dare you to go find that guy's mom and tell him that pro wrestling is fake. I dare you.

On the other hand, you've got UFC and MMA, which is real. Have you ever watched UFC or MMA? That stuff is brutal! I can barely bring myself to watch the highlights from time to time. Thank heaven pro wrestling isn't real! The number of injuries, broken bones and in-ring deaths would multiply considerably and that entire industry would get shut down in a heartbeat.

Complaint: "Pro wrestling is too violent."

Going back to a point I brought up in my exposition, I know why my parents didn't want me to watch pro wrestling. I understand why I stopped watching "Power Rangers" and couldn't play any of the "Mortal Kombat" video games. Violence is not the answer to a vast majority of life's problems. The worst thing about wrestling is that it teaches young viewers that the best way to resolve a problem or to take out your frustration is by beating the tar out of your enemies. That's not good.

But at least they're not out there shooting each other with guns or chopping each other's heads off.

Take a look at some of the popular network dramas on TV today. Shows like "CSI: Crime Scene Investiagtion," "Law & Order" and "Criminal Minds" are all about gruesome depictions of violence and the aftermath of crimes like murder, rape and domestic abuse. I stopped watching "The Walking Dead" after two and a half seasons because it got to the point where I figured I had seen enough zombies get their skulls split in two by machetes. There are other programs like "Game of Thrones," "Dexter," "Hannibal" and a host of others that I don't dare venture into because I'm afraid they'll be too intense for me. On the other hand, do you know what "WWE Raw" is rated? TV-PG. I was a WCW fan and never got into the WWF "Attitude Era" with the Rock, the Undertaker and D-Generation X, but today's pro wrestling is incredibly mild by comparison. Wrestlers rarely get busted open these days, so blood is at an all-time low. Male and female wrestlers cannot compete against each other, due to the company's stance on violence against women. Long gone are the profanity-laden tyrades of villains like the bird-flipping "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Vince McMahon and company understand that their fan base consists of, largely, 35-year-old guys and 8-year-old kids, and, following the deaths of superstars like Eddie Guerrero and "The Rabid Wolverine" Chris Benoit, they've made appropriate adjustments to the nature of their entertainment to keep the show as family-friendly as possible. I'd go so far as to say that WWE programming is substantially tamer than your average weeknight TV drama.

Complaint: "Pro wrestling is for losers."

This is probably the main complaint I heard as an employee of Salt Lake Comic Con. Wrestling has been included in a couple of the conventions in the last year and a half, including appearances by Hulk Hogan and "divas" Maryse and Kelly Kelly. Most controversially, at Salt Lake Comic Con 2014, a local, independent wrestling group brought in a ring and hosted occasional matches in the middle of the vendor floor.

People hated that ring for a couple reasons: 1) it was big, 2) it was loud, and 3) it was pro wrestling. I found these complaints somewhat humorous for a couple reasons. First of all, as with anything, if you don't like it, don't watch it. But secondly - and mainly - for a group of people who pride themselves on being all-inclusive of people of any interest or "fandom," as they call it, it was funny to hear the comic con attendees be so judgmental of those who like pro wrestling. So... apparently it's ok for a dude to like "My Little Pony" but not Hulk Hogan? Wow. (Side note: I have never been more ridiculed in my life for being a sports fan than I was as a comic con employee, which I found to be very strange.)

One thing I learned at comic con was that lots of different people like lots of different things - and that's totally ok. Some people like Marvel and some people like DC. Some people like both and some like neither of the two. It's fine! It doesn't matter what other people like! Just be yourself and like what makes you happy. Whether that's aliens or vampires or sweaty guys throwing each other around a wrestling ring, it's totally fine to be a fan of anything in the world... As long as it's not, you know, committing crimes in the real world or going against your religion or whatnot...

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I'll stop there, I think. If you made it this far into the blog, I offer you a hearty congratulations. I'm not here to sway your opinion one way or the other. I'm not here saying I freaking love the WWE and watch every second of their programming (because I don't). I have just always found it interesting that we put such a negative label on something that, by the entertainment standards of the day, is actually not all that violent, profane or out-of-the-ordinary. I'm just simply here to ask, "Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you, brother?" Hopefully your response will be a little more open-minded and less judgmental than it has been in the past.

And if you subscribed to the WWE Network for $9.99 to watch Wrestlemania last night, your secret is safe with me.

FanX 15 - "Great Scott!": Christopher Lloyd on the inspiration behind Doc Brown

One of my favorite parts about Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2015 was the opportunity I had to sit on the front row during Christopher Lloyd’s panel on the second morning of the convention. The Back to the Future trilogy was a huge part of my childhood, so seeing Doc Brown, live and in person, was amazingly awesome for me. I just wish I would have been more prepared to snag a less-blurry picture of him holding up the iconic Mattel hoverboard (which he emphatically proclaimed “wouldn’t work”).

Now, it dawned on me about three quarters of the way through the panel that I should probably have been taking notes or recording some audio so I could blog about it later, so there’s some good news and some bad news here: The bad news is that I didn’t record or write down anything for about 40 minutes, but the good news is that I did record a couple answers that he gave toward the end of the hour.

One question that begged a noteworthy response was an inquiry as to the origin of Doc Brown’s eccentricity. For the sake of his reputation, with which I’m practically not even worthy to touch, I’m not going to paraphrase, sum up or adjust any of his response. I’ll simply include it all –starting at the point where I began recording – and let Mr. Lloyd take it from there. He began by talking about Albert Einstein, noting the wild hairstyle and vastly superior intellect and we’ll join his response right there, mid-sentence:

“…E = MC², and so forth… Extraordinary. Albert Einstein went on a travel across the ocean in a big ship liner and they found… Here’s the genius of his time… and they couldn’t find him; somehow he’d disappeared and they were worried about, “Where was he? What happened to him? Where’s Albert?” And they went down to the bottom of a hole, where, you know… the lowest people were living down there, who couldn’t afford… they were the bottom deck. And he was there, playing with a pinball machine. Who’d have thunk, you know? And the other image I had – I feel maybe I’m going on a little too much about this – was the… I love classical music. I grew up with it around the… [interrupted by applause] …And there was a great doctor by the name of Leopold Stokowski. He was a conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra – wonderful – and he did a lot of innovative interpretations of Bach and other music… All right. There was a piece he did called ‘Planets,’ a classical piece, where each planet is described in music, describing that planet’s mythical association, like the planet Mars. Music was picked that was very ‘military’ and harsh. Venus, the goddess of love, etc… I had that recording and it showed the solar system on the jacket. This was back when you had records [laughs]… and Leopold Stokowski had his arms raised, with the baton in his hand… He had this shock-white hair coming behind him in his profile. That was a lot of my image of Doc Brown. I remember my father looked at that jacket and he said, ‘I’m sure he’s a great musician, but does he have to have his hair like that?’”

Seeing Mr. Lloyd was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. Let’s be honest, though he defied the laws of aging on-screen for so long, it was somewhat apparent to me that the guy is getting older. Who knows how much longer we’ll have him around? But, for the time being, I can say from personal experience that the man is a legend – a national treasure. His roles in movies like Back to the Future and Clue have provided me with years of laughter and enough classic one-liners to impress (and, likely, annoy) my friends for a lifetime. (…not to mention the fact that his role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit gave me nightmares throughout my entire childhood!)

Here’s to you, Christopher Lloyd! Thanks for the memories.

FanX 15 - One-on-One with "Good Cop" Glenn Morshower

Actor Glenn Morshower didn’t come to Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2015 in January with much of the same pomp and circumstance as headliners like Matt Smith and Billie Piper of the BBC’s cult hit “Doctor Who” or with a fan base equal to that of fandom-driven idolatry like Harry Potter’s Tom Felton and Star Wars’ Carrie Fisher. He came humbly, quietly and unceremoniously.

That’s the way I found him at the pre-convention press conference.

Morshower is best known for portraying an staggering number of military personas on film and television. In fact, as he quickly pointed out, he has played more military roles than any other actor. Ever.

“That’s living or dead,” Morshower told me. “That’s an IMDb fact – and I’ve actually spent more time in uniform than most people in the actual military, so I think parts of me wake up in the morning and wonder if I am in the military.”

Although Morshower was never in the military, himself, he largely attributes his on-screen presence, backbone and stern nature, as seen in movies like Pearl Harbor, X-Men: First Class, Black Hawk Down and the Transformers franchise, to his upbringing; he was raised by his step-father, who he referred to as “a lifer Navy guy.”

IMDb credits Morshower with nearly 200 roles in films, TV shows and video games, including appearances in hit military and political dramas like “JAG,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “NCIS,” “Alias,” the rebooted “Hawaii Five-O,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and many, many more, but there is one role that Morshower easily claims as his all-time favorite:

“Bar none, my role as head of the Secret Service, Aaron Pierce, on ‘24’ for seven years,” Morshower replied confidently. “He is the nearest and dearest to my heart. I believe in everything that that character stands for, so, basically, I said to the producers, ‘Let me get this straight – you want to pay me to play me?’ I enjoyed that immeasurably, light-years beyond anything else, not to mention that it was the ultimate family… the highest bar I’ve ever seen set.”

Another role came to mind, as well.  “ I did three years on ‘The West Wing,’” he commented. “Both shows [“24” and “The West Wing”] … their bar for excellence was through the roof – and, unless you brought your A-game, you simply were not welcome there. […] I like working in that kind of an environment.”

While he pointed out that he hasn’t minded being typecast into a specific type of role in so many different movies and TV shows, he did mention to me that he got about a year and a half ago where he felt like he had “done it to death” and began to seek out other types of characters.

“I’m just not interested in doing [military roles right now] because I want to be seen in other lights,” Morshower told me. “So this year, it was kind of a ‘bucket list’ year for me because the three roles I wanted to play – which were a serial killer, a flamboyantly gay character and the president of the United States – all three roles came about within a four-month period of time. … So I’m getting out there and returning to what originally got me into the craft[: …] the ability to transform into a completely different human being. But the old saying about being typecast is, people say, ‘Do you mind being typecast?’… My answer is, ‘No, I mind being not cast,’ because my wife and I were able to put our kids through college on typecasting, so I have no problem with typecasting.”

You may recognize some of Morshower’s prominent non-military roles in movies like Moneyball and TV shows that included “Friday Night Lights,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “The Secret World of Alex Mack” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Despite his gruff on-screen exterior, deep down inside, Morshower is like a giant teddy bear. I asked him what he liked the most about doing pop culture conventions and, to be honest, his answer surprised me.

“The people. Just the people. I love giving folks hugs and, more often than not, people don’t want to shake my hand – they want to hug me, and I dig that… ‘Dig’ is a word from the ‘60s… And I do because there’s something very powerful about embracing another human being who has waited in a very long line to meet you. In many instances, you know, they’ve flown from God-only-knows where and I think we have, really, a moral responsibility to be fully present and engaging of every single person that walks to our table. (And I don’t mind this being recorded…) I can’t stand working with jerks! I can’t stand it! I can’t stand actors that don’t reach out and embrace people. I can’t stand being next to actors who think they’re doing you a huge favor by merely showing up. … You’re an actor. So what? Someone sweeps the streets, someone makes cones at Dairy Queen, you’re an actor. That’s what you’ve chosen to do, but that doesn’t mean that you are more special… I think that we are all of equal importance and the fact that we’re treated specially doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I’m honored to be there with others. I think it is the greatest business in the world and I also think it’s the worst business. And the worst business aspect of it comes to… it is the worst business to get into if you’re going into it in search of your self-esteem, because then you’ll believe anything that anybody tells you, and if they tell you that you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, you walk around believing it and then you live as though you’re better than others, which is a nightmarishly ugly thing to be around. So, I just love people, period. I’m glad to be here.”

Then I asked him if I could give him a hug. He happily obliged.

FanX 15 - Ireland Reid, Queen of the Nerds

Costume designer Ireland Reid said that she stumbled into an opportunity that changed her life. After 15 years of designing outfits for fitness competitors, she came across a chance to create and wear her own costume at a comic con event. “Everything just kind of fell in place from then,” Reid told me while at Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2015 in January. Now a popular cosplayer, model and geek girl extraordinaire, she travels the world, appearing at comic and pop culture conventions as a featured guest.

“I get to travel all over […] the world, basically, showing and creating and designing costumes based upon cosplay characters that I’ve actually grown up with and learned to love and appreciate,” Reid said. “It’s pretty exciting.” Some of Reid’s most popular and well-recognized costumes include Batman nemesis Poison Ivy, Star-Lord of Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men’s Emma Frost, Jessica Rabbit and outfits inspired by the popular Harry Potter and Assassin’s Creed franchises. When I asked her how many cosplay outfits she had, in total, she responded that she had “completely lost track,” but has a room full of mannequins with costumes on them.

Reid loves creating Pokémon-themed costumes, as well. Aside from her iconic Pikachu and Pichu costumes, she has several other stylish outfits, including a jewel-encrested Shiny Eevee outfit, which she debuted in Salt Lake City.

“This is a never-before-seen costume,” Reid said, describing her Shiny Eevee. “It’s actually been done for three months, so I was pretty excited to get it out and [have it] see the light of day.”

While she was thrilled to debut her new costume, there was one thing that Reid was not excited about – the cold Utah weather. It was the California native’s second trip to the Beehive State, but she had never experienced wintertime in Utah. “I’m from Southern California,” she said. “It was around 80 degrees when I left, so this is a change.” (Full disclosure: 40 degrees feels like summer in January for Salt Lake City residents, so if she was trying to avoid snow and really cold weather, she picked the right January to visit.) She did have some nice very things compliments about Utah, however, saying, “I absolutely love this city. I think it’s absolutely beautiful. Everyone is super friendly and nice. I love it.”

Reid maintains an incredibly busy schedule, cramming in all of her modeling, prop making, costume designing, acting and a slew of other social media shenanigans. While she maintains a cool, professional demeanor when appearing at conventions, Reid’s bubbly, ultra-nerdy personality is perhaps most best showcased on her YouTube channel, where she uploads videos when her limited availability permits. Reid explained that her videos cover a wide variety of topics. “I do unveils for [subscription services] Nerd Block, Loot Crate [and] Arcade Block,” she said. “I also do … a lot of skits – kind of funny or humorous – and then a lot of behind the scenes of how I make some of my cosplays.”

Ireland Reid’s official social media accounts include Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, and her prints and a more detailed biography can be found on her official website, Store Envy and NerdGlam.com.

FanX 15 - Jim Cummings: The Voices of a Generation

Since the mid-1980s, Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2015 guest Jim Cummings has been the voice of a generation, providing some of the most iconic voices in all of animation. His vocal presence was practically unavoidable in throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, lending the sound behind classic cartoon characters like Disney’s infamous Pete, the Tazmanian Devil of Looney Tunes fame, the Rescue Rangers’ Monterrey Jack, TaleSpin villain Don Karnage and a slew of deep-voiced announcers and narrators. He also provided voices for major characters in animated series like “Bonkers,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “CatDog,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “The Tick,” “Earthworm Jim,” “Timon & Pumbaa,” “House of Mouse” and, literally, hundreds more. But of his 438 credited roles on IMDb, Cummings is best known for his legendary portrayal of Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger, too).

When asked whether creating and performing so many different voices was difficult, Cummings told Salt Lake Comic Con, “Well, we are schizophrenic and, uh… we are, too, so we don’t mind it at all. We have a good time with it and the voices in my head are all nodding up and down. They’re all smiling,” he said with a laugh. “So, I think it’s good. I think the answer is – what is it like? – pretty darn good.”

Cummings began developing his skill at a very young age. “I’ve been terminally annoying since the age of four, so I’m really getting good at this,” he said. “It’s just one of those things that I just fell into and people started laughing, and I figure, ‘Well, that’s better than having them beat the heck out of me…’ So I just stuck with it.”

If his experience with live-action performance is any indication, Cummings will be sticking to doing voice work for the foreseeable future. He recalled one of his first impressions of Hollywood: hanging out with Bob Hoskins and Robert Zemeckis on the set of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which he helped develop several of the Weasels, originally, and later ended up as the voice for “Bullet #2.” During this experience, he realized that the live-action work seemed to be a lot of “Hurry up” and “Wait…”, noticing that actors would often sit in their trailers for three hours before heading to the set to recite four lines.

He specifically remembered rehearsing one exhausting scene on the set at Griffith Park in Los Angeles until 4:00 in the morning – and then, to his disappointment, the entire scene was cut from the film! At that point, chuckling, Cummings thought, “Hand me the microphone, please. I don’t have to be in my trailer; my trailer is everywhere!”

Cummings landed the role that, arguably, has defined his career in the late-‘80s when ABC and Disney sought out to find the next voice of Winnie the Pooh. He described that life-changing experience:

“At the time, it was 1987 and there hadn’t been any ‘Winnie the Pooh’ since the early ‘60s. But the original two or three that they made that were really great and everybody loved them – they won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, I guess – [but then] they went away for like 25 years. So, at that point, Winnie the Pooh wasn’t as prevalent, if you will. But then ABC and Disney got together and started casting for it and Sterling Holloway (God rest his soul – he’s no longer with us), well, he had retired; he was very old – close to 90, I believe – so he wasn’t coming back to drive all the way up to Hollywood to do that (or Burbank). So they cast out a net and they caught me and I’m so proud and happy and the rest is sort of history.

“At that time, Paul Winchell was still doing Tigger (and, you know… rest in peace, as well) and he had been going back and forth… He was quite something; he was an inventor, an innovator, he came up with the prototype for the artificial heart, you know, and Tigger. Of course, it’s a logical career progression. He was doing research and going back and forth, so I was Tigger half the time and then, bless his heart, he had a terrible stroke […] and he just couldn’t do it anymore, so they said, ‘All right, you’re Tigger, too.’ So I got Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too.”

Cummings and the voices in his head were an enormous hit at FanX ’15, as he and fellow voice actors Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen rose to superstar status in Salt Lake City. Their first combined panel, a Harry Potter script reading, was filled to capacity and prompted Salt Lake Comic Con co-founder Dan Farr to book an encore performance in the South Ballroom on Saturday. The ballroom was packed as Harnell, Paulsen and Cummings read lines from The Sorcerer’s Stone in the voices of their most beloved characters, including a show-stopping portrayal of the evil Lord Voldemort, done in the voice of the innoncent, hunny-loving Winnie the Pooh.

Cummings said that he enjoyed his time in Utah. “It’s been fantastic,” he said. “I love the hotel, love the staff, love the Con. Everybody putting it on is great and I say, ‘Full speed ahead!’” Then he closed his remarks in the style of the world’s most famous crime-fighting mallard: “If Darkwing Duck were here, he would say, ‘I am the terror that flaps in the night – and it’s good to get out and flap in the day every now and then, so I’d just say, ‘Keep flappin’!... for justice, of course.’ But… let’s get dangerous!”

LOST Blog 3: LOST and Religion

There are many things I like about LOST. I like the characters. I like the drama. I like the cliffhangers. I even like the crazy time travel stuff. But, as the series progressed, I began to notice something else I liked about LOST: all the religious symbolism.

Religious symbolism, you say? Oh yeah. There were nods to religion (some more subtle than others) all throughout the series, but things got really interesting in Season 6. While I initially noticed some of the analogies when I watched the series live back in 2010, I decided to write down all of the things I noticed as I re-watched each season a few months ago. As I finished in late December, I had myself a page full of references that I'm going to try to make conversational sense of right now. Disclaimer: This list is definitely not all-inclusive and I probably left out (and/or missed) a bunch of things. Ahem. (Oh, major spoilers to follow, by the way.)

Let my people go!

One of the most interesting nods to religion that I found came in the final episode of Season 3 as Jack led an exodus to the radio tower that the Israelites would have been proud of. In fact, Naomi even refers to Jack as "Moses" at one point. What I found even more interesting was that in that same sequence, two men in Jack's group can be seen in the background carrying luggage that looks vaguely akin to the Indiana Jones version of the Ark of the Covenant.

In Season 5, John Locke - or, rather, the Man in Black in the form of John Locke - leads his own exodus, this time leading a group of people to visit (and kill) the Island's Protector, Jacob. Similar to Jack's exodus, there are also men carrying an "Ark of the Covenant," which ends up being the real John Locke, lying dead in a gigantic metal casket. During this excursion, Ben Linus, in a mixture of awe and jealousy, refers to "Locke" as "Moses."

Speak softly and carry a Bible stick

Although his time on the show was somewhat short-lived, Mr. Eko was LOST's most openly religious character. After escaping a troubled childhood, Mr. Eko adopted a life of faith and repentance, characterized by his walking staff, which he occasionally carved Bible scriptures into. While on the Island, Eko often voiced his beliefs to his fellow Survivors, and at one point attempted to recruit Charlie to help him build a church. He also felt strongly about baptism. While his views on infant baptism don't mesh with my own convictions as a Mormon, whatsoever, I do respect the fact that Eko was urgently concerned about the salvation of his fellow men.

Though he never lived to see it, Eko's example did ultimately play somewhat into the "conversion" of John Locke, who, himself, was a man of faith (though he placed his faith in the Island and not necessarily in God). Locke, who mistreated Mr. Eko during one fateful encounter in the Hatch, became upset with himself after learning of Eko's smoky demise. At the time, Locke was a very confused man and was in search of answers to many important questions. He stumbled across Eko's Bible stick and read one of the verses that had been etched into the wood: "Lift up your eyes and look north." While it is uncertain what prompted Eko to carve Genesis 13:14 into his staff, the scripture inspired Locke to head to the northern part of the Island, where he eventually discovered the Others' village and barracks.

It is also of note that Mr. Eko's brother, who basically scammed his way into religion as a profession, crashed on the Island in a plane full of Virgin Mary statuettes. Of course, those porcelain statues were filled with heroin and kind of became the bane of Charlie Pace's tragic existence, but if we're talking about religious symbols in LOST, that's a pretty recognizable one.

Man of Science, Man of Faith

Speaking of John Locke, that was one curious dude. Locke, the "Man of Faith," came to the Island as a cripple. An unfortunate scuffle with his scumbag father left the poor guy paralyzed from the waist down, but, miraculously, he was healed as soon as he landed on the Island. Arguably, more good things happens to John Locke on the Island than for anyone else on the entire show. He loves it there. He has some sort of connection with the Island that he calls "beautiful." He regains feeling in his legs and can finally walk again, he comes face-to-face with the Smoke Monster and lives to tell the tale, and he achieves a level of leadership that he never got a whiff of back home.

But life on the Island doesn't always come up roses for Locke, who also struggles tremendously to receive what I suppose could be considered "personal revelation." The man is in a constant search for meaning in his life and, from time to time, hits an occasional dead end. None of Locke's on-Island struggles are more profound nor consequential than the night where he is brought to his knees, in tears at the Hatch. In pure desperation, Locke pleads with the Island, essentially praying to be shown some sort of sign - at which precise moment a light comes beaming up from the window in the buried Hatch door. This is a turning point for Locke, who takes it to mean that he does have a purpose and that he actually is important in the grand scheme of things. In the end, this ends up being (probably) a coincidence (Locke later jokes that it was probably Desmond getting up to go to the bathroom), but for Locke's overall arc in the show, this moment of supposed revelation is life-changing.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from Locke is Jack Shephard - the "Man of Science." Jack refuses to believe in any kind of destiny for a majority of the series. In the episode entitled "316," Ben references Doubting Thomas while he tries to convince Jack to return to the Island. At the end of that episode, Jack reads Jeremy Bentham's suicide note, which says, "Jack, I wish you had believed me. JL." Jack is ultimately convinced that everything bad that happens on and off the Island happens because he and the Oceanic Six left in the first place, which drastically shifts his attitude about faith and destiny. Toward the end of the series - especially in Season 6's "side-flashes," Jack replaces Locke as the "Man of Faith" and is portrayed as a much optimistic version of his previous self.

More scriptural references

Another scriptural reference is found after Jack has a conversation with Jacob during Season 6. When Jack returns to the rest of the Survivors, Sawyer asks him to come down from the mountain and tell them what the Burning Bush had to say. This, of course, is another allusion to the Old Testament, when Moses spoke with God and received instruction through a Burning Bush.

A reference to Original Sin and Adam's Transgression is made in Season 6 ("What They Died For") when Sawyer asks Jacob why the Survivors of Oceanic 815 were punished for his mistake. Jacob responds by pointing out that the Survivors were all living unhappy lives before they came to the Island. They were all flawed, which was why they were all chosen. They were like Jacob - alone and looking for something they couldn't find.

Speaking of Adam, let us not forget that the rotted, decaying corpses of the Man in Black and his mother are referred to by the Survivors as "Adam and Eve."

There are some very obvious "afterlife" overtones from the very first episodes of LOST (which I'll get to later), but none of these hints are more obvious than when Locke II (Locke in the Season 6 "side-flashes") mentions his belief in the afterlife when Oceanic Airlines loses Christian Shephard's casket. In the same episode ("LAX, Parts 1 & 2"), Locke II tells Jack II that his condition (paralysis) is irreversible, to which Jack, the born-again "Man of Faith," responds that "nothing is irreversible." This conversation would ultimately lead to Jack II repairing Locke II's spine, allowing him to walk again.

Consider the Source

The Heart of the Island is an interesting symbol. While it is difficult to describe the Heart of the Island in words, I suppose you could say that it is a central location on the Island from which a great amount of electromagentic energy and extremely radiant light emanates. Jacob's mother considered it the source of life, death and rebirth. The Dharma Initiative considered it a mysterious source of extreme power that could, if handled improperly, destroy the entire world.

Rather than focusing on its negative properties, I always thought the image of light shooting out of the Heart of the Island was a powerful one. Similarly, light is a common symbol in religion, so it was easy for me to find connections here. Jacob's mother tells him that every living being possesses a portion of the light, just like Christians (and Mormons, particularly) believe that each living being possesses a portion of the Light of Christ or Holy Ghost.

But just as Satan uses clever counterfeits to distort the work of God, the Man in Black is able to confuse Ben Linus for a great deal of his time on the Island. During the middle of the series, Ben Linus occasionally goes to a secret room below his house in "Otherton" to supposedly summon the Smoke Monster to do his bidding. This hidden chamber contains a murky puddle of water that Ben must unplug in order to communicate with the Smoke Monster. After unclogging the drain, Ben speaks into the hole and tells the Monster where to go. (If you recall, at one point, Ben tells the Monster to meet him out front, but, to his surprise and probable disappointment, "John Locke" walks out of the jungle instead of the Smoke Monster. Little did he know that the man who stood before him was the Smoke Monster...) Later in the series, Ben realizes that he was not summoning the Smoke Monster, after all; the Monster was summoning him. Furthermore, we don't realize this until Season 6 - and not a big deal is made of it, either - that Ben's summoning spot looks very similar to the Heart of the Island, which can also be unclogged by removing a plug from the center of a pool of water. We see this in the world today as confused individuals often have pieces of the truth - or, at least, something that partially resembles the truth - are led astray due to their incorrect practices and beliefs.

Bullet points: Good and evil, fate, brothers and Shephards

- In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Lehi says "it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things" (2 Ne. 2:11). Apparently LOST's head writers were thinking along those same lines because the "good vs. evil" motif is probably the show's most obvious nod to religion. Black and white are popular visual symbols, as well. From backgammon to the clothes worn by Jacob and his brother, monochromatic elements are some of the most heavy-handed clues around.

- Another central plot line is the concept of fate or pre-destination. Several of the main characters, including Charlie, most prominently, believe that it is their fate to have crash-landed on the Island. John Locke, who begins pushing the button in the Hatch seemingly out of "blind faith," thinks the Island is a pretty swell place for a retirement home, as does Rose, both of whom had serious medical issues miraculously healed upon arrival. Walt also really likes the Island - he even burns the Survivors' raft to ensure that they don't find a way off of it. Others, meanwhile, like Jack, Sawyer and Juliet, to name a few, believe that the crash is not their destiny and actively pursue any means of getting back home. On the religious side of things, a fun conversation (with one clear, correct answer, mind you) that occasionally pops up in LDS culture is that of agency vs. pre-destination. Do our lives have pre-determined endings? Do our actions have real consequences or, no matter how hard we try, will we always, inevitably wind up at the same conclusion? In the end, the death of Jeremy Bentham was apparently enough to get Jack to believe that it was, in fact, his destiny to be on the Island, prompting the classic line, "We have to go back, Kate... WE HAVE TO GO BACK!!" An incredibly in-depth look at fate, destiny and free will can be found on Lostpedia, but I'm not going to get into that discussion any further at this time.

- Locke and Mr. Eko, who both, at times, consider the Hatch to be somewhat of a holy place, remove their shoes upon entering.

- Hurley, who was raised in a religious household, prays for help in starting the Dharma van in "Trisha Tanaka is Dead."

- Locke refers to Ben as a Pharisee in "The Man from Tallahassee."

- Aside from their comparatively similar names, am I the only one that thinks that the relationship between Jacob and his twin brother is very Jacob-and-Esau-esque? I don't know. Just a thought.

- Then, of course, there's the Shephard family. Kate Austin has a particularly hard time getting over that blatant symbolism. In a moment during the waning hours of the series, Desmond takes her to the church for Christian Shephard's funeral and Kate, realizing the obvious religious meaning behind the deceased man's name, exclaims, "Seriously? Christian Shephard?"

The ageless wonder

Let's talk about Richard Alpert. Richard, to me, is one of the most fascinating characters in the entire show. In his long-awaited flashback episode, "Ab Aeterno," Richard, who is depicted as being very religious before his time on the Island, accidentally kills a man. Richard takes the mistake very hard and his sin weighs heavily on his soul. He is sent to prison, where he spends time meditating and reading scripture before being sent away as a slave on the Black Rock.

Before he gets shipped off, a Catholic priest tells Richard that the devil will be waiting for him in hell. When the Black Rock runs into the tidal wave that causes its shipwreck, Richard peeks outside the ship and spots the Island's Statue, which he mistakenly believes to be "the devil." Once shipwrecked, the Smoke Monster attacks and kills every passenger on the Black Rock before sparing Richard. This traumatic event reinforces Richard's belief that Smoke Monster is the "devil" that the priest was referring to. Upon his arrival on the Island, Richard also sees a hallucination of his wife, Isabela, who tells him that they are all dead and are in hell. She also refers to the Smoke Monster as "the devil." This is a belief that Richard harbors for the rest of his life. At one point, he tries to convince the Survivors that they're trapped in some form of Purgatory.

Angels and demons

Not unlike our guy-lined buddy, Richardus, many viewers quickly jump to the conclusion that the Smoke Monster/Man in Black is "the devil" and Jacob is "god." Certainly, there are a ton of similarities and the whole black and white/good and evil aspect is there, so I can see why people make that assumption. Let's break down the arguments for each character:


Case: The Man in Black is "the devil"

• The Man in Black practically offers the world to several characters with very little intention of keeping his promises.
• The Man in Black uses tactics that are confusingly similar to Jacob's in order to convince people to do things.
• The Man in Black often refers to people as "friend" while making false promises and deals.
• The Man in Black offers Richard the option to change his mind after entering into a promise with Jacob.
• The Man in Black manipulates people, giving them the illusion of free will.
• The Man in Black makes Jacob promise not to tell their mother about the game they've been playing without her knowledge.
• The Man in Black is a skilled liar.
• The Man in Black does not have his own physical body.
• He is referred to by Jacob as the embodiment of evil.
• The Man in Black is extremely jealous of those who have the agency to do as they please - especially their ability to leave the Island.
• After discovering the Light that emanated from the Heart of the Island, the Man in Black led men to it. These men had "interesting ideas about what to do with it."

Case: Jacob is "god"

• Jacob does not want to force anyone to do what is right. He says that having to step in and remove their agency is "meaningless."
• When speaking of his chamber in the shadow of the Statue, he tells Richard, "No one comes in unless I invite them in." Sounds like you better set up an interview for a recommend renewal ASAP.
• The ritual involved in becoming the Protector of the Island somewhat mirrors the sacrament or communion.
• Jacob is "not like" the Man in Black. He does not know how to lie.
• For the most part, Jacob is an unseen leader. The Dharma Initiative sees Jacob as an Island deity worshipped by the Hostiles.
• Jacob has the power to do miracles. For example, Richard's agelessness is a gift from Jacob and John Locke is brought back to life by Jacob after seemingly falling to his death. Also, he no longer appears to age and can teleport himself anywhere in the entire world.
• Jacob is a vigilant figure who oversees the actions of many people. Take a look at his Lighthouse, for crying out loud.
• Jacob visited - and touched - those he watched over at times when they felt most alone and vulnerable.
• Jacob believes that there is good in all men and wants them to become like him.

However... I'm not sold on the idea that Jacob is a Christlike character - because he's not. He says it himself: he's flawed - and we definitely get to see some of those imperfections and mistakes in his personality and actions during his brief time on screen. He's a mostly benevolent, semi-Messianic figure to a large degree, sure, but I would never go so far as to compare him to the capital-G God or Jesus Christ. Here's why:

• While Jacob generally appears as a pretty mellow, contemplative guy, the first few times we actually get to see him, it's apparent that he started out as an emotional, jealous dude. Jacob's temper gets the better of him a couple times early on in life. I mean, he murders his own brother, for goodness' sake. He also engages in fisticuffs and nearly drowns Richard Alpert the first time they meet. He is, at one point, described as "unforgiving" - a characteristic certainly unbecoming of someone that many compare to the Savior of the World.
• Eventually, Jacob's temper subsides and he turns into the mild-mannered, soft-spoken man we often see him as in Season 6. But, to me, it seems like he has toned down his emotions so much that he sometimes comes off as being insincere. His infamous question to Ben Linus shortly before his untimely assassination stands out more than anything. Ben, frustrated to no end about his mistreatment as an authoritative figure on the Island, asks Jacob, "What about me?" Jacob, straight-faced, responds, "What about you?" This exchange pushes Ben over the proverbial edge and he stabs Jacob to death. Similar indifference can be noted as Jacob visits several of the Candidates off-Island. He is often heard saying "I'm sorry" to the downtrodden future passengers of Oceanic 815, but his words lack any tangible feeling. Sure, Jacob says that he cares for these people, but it sometimes seems like he's just a guy who has grown tired of his job and is determined to find a replacement so he can call it a day and head home. Surely, we sometimes think that God has forsaken us or that he doesn't much care about our present circumstances. Surely, God sometimes puts us through challenges, difficulties and tribulations. But God surely cares for his children, regardless of what decisions and mistakes we have made. Jacob never particularly struck me as this type of "god." I'd bet you money that the actual God would never respond with a humdinger like "What about you?" (The Doctrine and Covenants is full of people asking for their standing before God and he responded much more lovingly than that.)
• Jacob is highly inaccessible to all but a very select few people on the Island, and even some of those who do have access to him find him vindictive and unapproachable at times.
• I'm not saying it's true, but, as one TV blog suggests, Jacob says he's not the devil - and that's exactly what the devil would say.
• Jacob is unable to absolve Richard of his sins so that he doesn't go to hell. Christ, on the other hand, selflessly atoned for the sins of everyone who would ever come to the earth.
• Although Jacob's death has some ramifications for the Island and its inhabitants, the demise is surprisingly unceremonious and almost insignificant. One minute he was there, and then, suddenly, he wasn't. Life went on. In contrast, the death of Jesus Christ is arguably one of the most significant, well-known events in the history of the world.
• Jacob's fascination with Candidates seems more like a game, a test or a hobby than anything else. There were apparently more than 240 Candidates, initially, although LOST only focuses on about six to 10 of them. The purpose of Jacob's hobby was to prove to the Man in Black that not all men were as corrupt as their mother said they were. But when a Candidate was not up to snuff, for whatever reason, or, say, became a mother like Kate and Sun, Jacob scratched them off of his list and moved along without them. The actual God has a purpose for each of us and would never discard anyone on a whim. Undeniably, there are requirements to get into Heaven and all of that, but those rules are clearly laid out for anyone to read and know and God is very forgiving of those who fall short.
• Along those lines, Jacob says his plan is all about agency and free will, but, not unlike "The Adjustment Bureau," he makes a habit of nudging his Candidates in the direction he wants them to go, whether or not they realize it.

I figured I'd take my questions about Jacob to the source, himself, so when Mark Pellegrino came to Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience a couple weeks ago, I made sure to take a second to ask him about the inspiration behind his character and his thoughts on the show's mythology. Here's what he had to say:

"I […] received direction very early on when I was doing Jacob – like, literally, the first day that we were filming – that, for me, was the in-road to that character and it was accidental. I was doing a scene – and I don’t even remember what scene it was, to be honest with you, but I remember the direction. Jack Bender, who was one of the executive producers on the show and directed many of them, said, ‘That’s it, Mark! That’s it: Jesus the Carpenter.’ So I always thought of Jacob as that down-to-earth, Messianic figure… that very identifiable figure where the god-like aspects of it were in the background and what came to the foreground was an empathy and understanding for the souls of other people. […] What instantly affected me on that – as an image of that – [were] the great, first three chapters of ‘The Master and Margarita,’ where it’s a scene between Jesus and Pilate that has always moved me very much because of Jesus’ accessibility, but also His power… So that was kind of my template that I worked from. I don’t know whether it showed or not, but that was kind of the idea. [Laughs]"

At length, I have come to a conclusion: Jacob is a Christ-like figure, but not always a Christlike character. Notice the hyphen. It's important. While Jacob is to be seen as a metaphor for Christ - a sympathetic (not always empathetic) leader whose purpose was to help others and lead them away from sin - he was not Christlike in his approach, often letting his emotions, anger and frustration play a part in his leadership. Overall, though, I think that Jacob, for as mysterious as he was during his short-lived time on-screen, was a good guy. I just think he's a little misunderstood.

The wine bottle

When I was watching LOST for the first time, the scene that really made me notice how much religious symbolism was involved in the plot was the "bottle and the cork" scene from "Ab Aeterno." Jacob is speaking with Richard Alpert on the beach and Richard, the skeptic that he is, has a few questions for the Protector of the Island.

In order to explain to Richard what, exactly, the Island is, Jacob holds up a bottle of wine. He asks Richard to think of the wine as what he keeps calling "hell." Jacob says there are many other names for it, as well - "malevolence, evil, darkness..." The wine, he explains, swirls around in the bottle because, if it wasn't kept in the bottle, it would spread. He then plugs a cork into the top of the bottle. The cork, Jacob says, is representative of the Island - the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs. (At the end of the episode, Jacob gives the wine bottle to the Man in Black as a way to "pass the time"; the Man in Black smashes the bottle in a fit of anger.)

He goes on to say that the Man in Black believes that all men are corruptible because it is in their very nature to sin. Mormons refer to this as the "natural man," so, doctrinally speaking, LOST is on the right track here. It is then that Jacob explains his purpose: he brings people to the Island to prove the Man in Black wrong. "And when they get here," Jacob says, "their past doesn't matter." This line is a bit uncharacteristic of Jacob, who seems a little ruthless at times, but it's an interesting bit of dialogue, nonetheless.

What follows is an intriguing exchange where Richard inquires as to how many people Jacob had brought to the Island:

"Many," the Protector responds.
"Well, why didn't you help them?" Richard asks.
"Because I wanted them to help themselves... To know the difference between right and wrong without me having to tell them. It's all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything. Why should I have to step in?"
"If you don't, he [the Man in Black] will!"

After thinking for a moment, Jacob offers Richard a position as an intermediary between him and the people he brings to the Island. If Jacob can't step in, Richard can, instead. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch, but this is somewhat reminiscent of the role of the Holy Ghost, who resides on the earth to help God's children make appropriate decisions since God and Jesus aren't always available to "step in." Again, that's probably a bit of a stretch, from a gospel standpoint, but kind of interesting to think about.

The church / The End

There are a lot of churches in LOST. Several of Mr. Eko's storylines revolve around churches, Sawyer's parents' funeral is at a church, Jack gives a eulogy for his father at a church, Desmond used to live at a monastery, Charlie confesses his sins at a church, Kate gets married at a church, the Others have a temple and, of course, Eloise Hawking's secret Dharma base, the Lamp Post is based in the back of a church in Los Angeles. See? Lots of churches. But no scenes involving places of worship are more poignant than that controversial ending in Season 6... While a deep discussion of The End will have to wait for another time, I've got to touch on it lightly while we're on the topic of religion.

As Season 6 draws to a close, the Survivors begin to arrive at the Lamp Post church one by one for Christian Shephard's funeral. Outside, an interesting conversation takes place between Ben and Hurley, where Hurley invites Ben to join them in the chapel. Mr. Linus refuses, saying that he is not ready to go yet and has a few things to wrap up before he can come in. While no extra clarification or context is given, I have always thought that this meant that Ben was not yet dead and either still had some sins to repent of or had a couple extra tasks to wrap up in mortality. This also leads me to the (correct) assumption that everyone else who does go inside is already dead. I believe that the "Survivors" were unable to "move on" until they came to the realization that they were already deceased. Whether that was in the plane crash or otherwise, that's totally different conversation.

At long last, Jack arrives at the church and heads in the back door, where he finds his father's coffin. When he touches the casket, his mind is immediately flooded with memories from the Island. Jack opens the box and finds it empty inside. Christian appears behind Jack and begins speaking with his son. During the conversation, Jack gradually comes to the realization that he, too, is dead. His arrival at the church, along with the other Survivors, is a representation of their entry to the long-awaited afterlife.

Christian explains to Jack, "There is no now here," which is fairly consistent with a popular theory about the concept of time in heaven. (For instance, Mormon doctrine teaches that one day in heaven is 1,000 years on earth. That's a long time.)

Papa Shephard then describes the church building as "a place that you [the Survivors] made together so that you could find one another." He continues, "The most important time of your life was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you." Two points here:

• Doctrine and Covenants 130:2 says "And that same sociality which exists among us here [on earth] will exist among us there [in heaven], only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy." Mormons believe that they will be able to live with God and their families (and their friends, I assume, too) if they live worthily in this life. When Jack realized that he was dead, he was immediately reunited with his father and the people who were most important to him.
• Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once taught that, while salvation is an individual matter, exaltation is a family matter. Jack couldn't make it to the church alone. He needed everyone else in order to get there. On the religious side of things, an individual can gain salvation alone (by keeping the commandments and remaining faithful to covenants), but exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom is only achieved through temple marriage and endurance to the end and cannot be obtained individually.

Conclusion

To put a nice, shiny bow on this behemoth of a blog, I cannot emphasize enough that these are just my thoughts. Obviously, LOST has absolutely nothing to do with gospel doctrine or, certainly not, the LDS Church. I simply thought it was interesting that glimpses of doctrinal truth were evident throughout the series. Although I would (probably) never quote or reference the show during Sunday School or sacrament meeting, I do think that my own, personal testimony of the gospel was at least slightly strengthened as I saw the things I referenced in this blog and said quietly to myself, "Hey, you know what? There's a little bit of truth to that!"

Anyway, what did YOU think? Am I totally crazy? Up in the night? Way off base? Is it completely wrong of me to even bring this discussion up? Or did you notice anything similar? I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments section below or on Facebook or Twitter.

In the meantime, I leave you with this final clip, which will either make you feel a little nostalgic or really ticked off. Take your pick.

Namaste... and good luck.