Posted on February 14, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
Welcome to Lost-vivor — all the mystery and adventure of Lost with an added dash of Survivor-style competition! Please note that the section ahead contains spoilers for last night’s episode of Lost. Proceed at your own risk.
After Lost kicked off the season with a couple of wild episodes, “The Economist” slowed down the storytelling pace a bit. That being said, the episode nevertheless offered some interesting revelations. Sayid as Ben’s post-rescue hired gun? I certainly didn’t see that coming. I bet Jin would be so proud to see Sayid following in his career footsteps. You remember Jin, right? He was that guy that used to occasionally appear on screen and deliver dialogue in earlier seasons of Lost. I think he had a girlfriend or sister or something on the island with him.
What really intrigues me, though, are the results of Daniel’s little experiment suggesting that the island exists thirty-one minutes behind the “real” world. I guess that explains why nobody can find the place; it’s like a tropical Brigadoon! I have no idea where they’re going with this, but my curiosity is piqued.
Aside from that, I don’t have much more to say about “The Economist.” Overall, I thought it was a solid episode — nothing earth-shattering, but we did get a few decent “WTF?!” moments. So, let’s take a look at the scores…
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Sayid:
Sayid’s a golfer?: +1
And he’s one of the Oceanic Six! That’s surprising; I had always just assumed Sayid’s death was right around the corner dating back as far as the first season: +5
Murdered that dude on the golf course. That’ll teach him to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong. Specifically, in Sayid’s middle game: -3
Would it be awkward if I took this opportunity to point out what a handsome guy Sayid is? Yeah, I thought so: +1
Scored a date with Elsa: +1
How cool is Sayid? So cool that he throws away cell phones when he’s finished talking on them: +1
Basically told Jack to step aside and let him handle the “helicopter situation.” I guess Sayid looked at last season’s Lost-vivor scores and figured it was time for him to take charge: +4
Totally scored with Elsa: +2
Found the secret room in Ben’s cabin: +4
Deceived by Hurley. Really? Were you taking heavy doses of cold medicine, Sayid? Not getting enough sleep? Low blood sugar maybe? I thought you could always tell when someone was lying, Mr. Iraqi Torturer. I honestly don’t know what to make of all this: -7
Shot by Elsa: -6
Survived: +2
Shot and killed Elsa. Under normal circumstances, a Lost-vivor would lose points for shooting his girlfriend, but since she shot him first…: +3
Traded the sarcastic ghostbuster for the snooty anthropologist. Is that an upgrade?: +3
Made it onto the chopper: +3
He’s working for Ben?! I don’t see this ending well: -4
Net gain/loss: +10
Current score: 121 |
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Hurley:
Wanted to go easy on Charlotte. Have you read Lord of the Flies, Hugo? It’s starting to feel like you’re auditioning for the role of Piggy here. And we all know what happened to Piggy: -2
Got left behind by Team Locke. Well, it’s better than getting crushed by a boulder: -3
Oh, snap! Hurley was with Team Locke all along, making him the first person in the history of Lost-vivor to ever pull anything over on Sayid: +12
Net gain/loss: +7
Current score: 115 |
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Daniel:
Dude’s been on the island for all of two hours and he’s already figured out that it’s 31 minutes behind the rest of the world. By way of comparison, the survivors of Flight 815 were there for a solid month before they figured out how to take a crap in the jungle without being eaten by the Smoke Monster in the process: +20
Net gain/loss: +20
Current score: NA |
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Locke:
Can’t find Jacob’s cabin: -2
Masterminded plan to capture Sayid and Kate: +5
Made iced tea. Say what you will about Locke, but he’s a damn fine host: +1
Net gain/loss: +4
Current score: 118 |
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Sawyer:
Bestowed nickname on Ben (”Gizmo”): +1
Suggested shooting Ben’s toes off: +1
Finally! Someone pointed out to Kate that the whole “wanted fugitive” thing might make life back in the real world a less-than-ideal scenario: +1
Net gain/loss: +3
Current score: 109 |
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Ben:
Has a secret room! Behind a bookcase! With passports! And currency!: +3
Ben’s a veterinarian?: +3
Net gain/loss: +6
Current score: 111 |
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Juliet:
Found Desmond. It’s about time somebody made an active effort to get Desmond involved in the season: +2
Net gain/loss: +2
Current score: 107 |
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Desmond:
“I’m taking a helicopter ride and getting some answers, brotha”: +3
Net gain/loss: +3
Current score: 103 |
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Kate:
Got all sulky when Jack decided to send Juliet back to the beach instead of her: -2
Lest we forget, Sayid wasn’t the only one fooled by Hurley, Master of Deception: -5
Net gain/loss: -7
Current score: 94 |
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Three episodes down, and here are the current rankings:
- Sayid (121) (+10)
- Locke (118) (+4)
- Hurley (115) (+7)
- Ben (111) (+6)
- Sawyer (109) (+3)
- Juliet (107) (+2)
- Jack (106)
- Vincent (105)
- Desmond (103) (+3)
- Bernard (101)
- Jin (100)
- Sun (100)
- Claire (100)
- Rose (97)
- Kate (94) (-7)
It seems the competition is heating up! Locke and Sayid continue to battle it out for the top spot, with Hurley and Ben not far behind. Meanwhile, based on Jack’s performance last season, you have to consider sixth place after three episodes to be something of a moral victory on his part. Anyway, that’s it for this week’s Lost-vivor. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
First off, I’m surprised that you were so negative about Sayid in this episode; I thought he was amazing pretty much all the way through.
Secondly, I love that Daniel figured that out and that you rewarded him so handsomely.
Third, yeah, that’s bad about Locke not finding the cabin. What does it mean?
Also, I thought Hurley should get some points for talking back to Miles and calling him, “another Sawyer,” when Miles called Hurley “Tubby.”
Thanks for doing this! You’re awesome.
Ben is totally the real Jason Bourne. One day we’ll have an episode called the Ben Identity.
I hate the whole Oceanic 6 thing. I’m just not looking forward to finding out how everyone else dies. Just figures Ben would manage to get off the island too.
Cool… It may just be me, but shouldn’t Sayid should get some bonus for the old switcheroo (Miles for Charlotte)?
After watching the end last night, I thought Sayid would be getting a -25 score for working Ben in the future.
@pea: I’m not sold on the idea that the Oceanic Six thing means that everyone else died. I suspect most of them are still back on the Island — remaining behind or unable or unable to leave for whatever reason.
@Babs: Good point. The Miles/Charlotte trade does deserve a little recognition. It’s been added. Thanks for the feedback.
@David: I decided to go easy on Sayid’s future alliance with Ben, since it looks like they’re tracking down some pretty nasty folks. That being said, I felt at least a minor penalty was in order (minus four points). It’s a standard “You actually trust Ben?!” deduction.
I agree. I don’t think the rest of them are dead just because they didn’t get off the island. In fact, Ben seems to be blackmailing Sayid in order to keep their location secret. He said something like “you have to do this if you want to protect all of your friends.” I doubt he even trusts Ben, or if he does, something has happened for Ben to earn his trust.
Any thoughts on who the last of the six might be?
Jack
Kate
Hurley
Sayid
Ben
???????
@Andre: I don’t know if I’d include Ben on the list since he wasn’t on Oceanic 815. I’m thinking we still have two unrevealed “survivors.”
Ben can’t be one of the Oceanic 6- he was never on the flight. I do have trouble believing that everyone else died, but I think that we can’t include Ben as one of the 6 because he never crashed on the island. He came willingly. I’m going to check LostPedia to see if he is.
—> Yeah, Ben’s not there. Besides, if so many people want to kill him, he couldn’t uphold a famous persona, and he couldn’t come with everyone else, as then he’d be in the eye of everyone else. He’d have to come secretly.
One of the Oceanic 6 is already dead in the flash forwards (or so we assume). Remember when Jack showed up at that funeral in the season finale? When is THAT going to be explained?
Thanks for doing Lost-vivor Jess. It’s really entertaining.
Jess!!! You did an awesome job! I felt the same way about Sayid as you did…he is one cool…needless to say “extremely good-looking” dude!
Do you think Sayid is the one dead in the coffin in Sayid’s flash forward? I hope not.
That should have read Jack’s flash forward…SORRY!
You’re right. I shouldn’t assume they’re all dead because they didn’t make it off the island. After all, Sawyer admitted he’s in no hurry to leave. Still, I can’t imagine that there won’t be at least another death or two. Maybe my bad assumption came from articles where the producers have hinted at more deaths to come.
So if the island is 31 minutes behind the real world, would that mean that the hatch explosion caused Desmond to sync up with real-time, thus explaining his ability to see the future?
Then you’ve got Ben who was born on the island… how does that affect his perception of space and time? It could explain how he’s able to see and hear people who supposedly aren’t there.
Dude, Ben was not born on the Island he was born on a hiking trail in Oregon. I also agree that Ben is definatley not associated with Oceanic Six, because he would never show up on Flight 815, not 715, manefests. But he has those crazy information hookups that are impossible to explain. Also I am supprised that Sayid did’t get docked points for not paying the guy his 100 euros for losing the closest to the pin bet, even though he smoked him.
Dude, seriously, this might be your best Lost-vivor yet. I really had to stifle my laughter in the office.
And I too am operating under the assumption that the Oceanic 6 simply refers to who made it off the island from the plane crash. I’m guessing that while Jack is freaking out and stalking Kate, Locke is living it up in Otherville with all of the Crystal Light Iced Tea he can mix.
Great Lost-vivor as usual!
My guesses for the two remaining “Oceanic 6″: Sawyer (he leaves because Kate does) and Sun (so she can give birth off the island). That second guess doesn’t bode well for Jin. Claire is my alternate choice, since she has a baby and castaways might insist she be one of the first to leave… plus without Charlie her character is kind of going nowhere.
Interesting how the Oceanic 6 implies that we know certain characters can’t die “in the present” on the island. We know that Jack, Sayid, Hurley and Kate are in this series until the end and won’t be killed (at least until after they leave the island). We’ve never had that guarantee before, cast-members used to drop left and right…
What about the confirmation that Michael will be returning in Season 4? Does he show up only in flash-forwards or does he somehow return to the island in the “present”? And what about Walt? Man, this season is rocking so far - hopefully with the writers strike resolved they can pen up the remaining 8 episodes in time…
Love the site and this my first time posting and I have question.
When will you start giving the “rescuers” real scores instead of “n/a”.
Or at least two of them
Daniel has earned my respect for actually giving us “answers” so he deserves a score.
Frank deserves a real score just for being awesome. Hopefully the submarine isn’t really blown up and we can get the opportunity to see him drive it around the island giving tours. I’m sure the Others are bored and they’d really have fun on Frank’s Island Tours.
@Jacob: Thanks for the feedback. I’m keeping a running tally of the Freighter folk “behind the scenes.” If it looks like they’re going to be incorporated as full-time characters, I’ll add them into the rankings (with all the points they have amassed prior to that point).
Oh, and I’m often asked why Rousseau isn’t scored. That’s an easier answer; it’s because she’s French.
Jess, I agree about your Jin comment. Also on the subject of people who are being ignored, what about Ben’s loyal followers? Remember them? The people who, in Season 1, would mysteriously sneak around the island with no shoes and steal children? They didn’t all die on The Beach.
Also, the beard doesn’t fool me, I look at Daniel Faraday and still see Corporal Upham (from Saving Private Ryan).
As far as ben not being on the plane is concerned, I figured he posed as someone else when they left the island. Without the sub or the communications house, how else could he get off the island?
As far as the coffin in Jack’s flash foreward goes, I thought it was Ben when I saw it last year and I still think that’s the case. Whoever it is, that happens after last week’s episode when Jack says he’s thinking about growing a beard. It could be Sayid, but why would Kate be so shocked that Jack went and why wouldn’t anyone else care enough to go?
How do you all think Kate has gotten by w/o going to jail once they get home? I wondered that last year and then Sawyer mentioned it last night too. Surviving a plane crash doesn’t negate the fact that she had killed a guy.
So…Michael & Walt are two survivors of Oceanic 815 that made it back to the States and my picks for #5 & #6.
The barracks is also known as New Otherton (by the producers, read it somewhere).
Locke couldn’t find Jacob’s cabin because Jacob decided not to have it appear. Remember the ashes? Maybe that is there to keep Jacob from leaving that area. He can make the cabin disappear, but not leave that spot. Sounds like a parallel dimension thing, or at best, an illusion construed by the magentic propterties. Not a physicists so dunno that answer. Maybe there is a time or parallel dimensional portal in that cabin.
Shouldn’t Sayid get +10? I counted the points several times, but I suppose I could still be mistaken.
I love your comment about Desmond. It just doesn’t seem like Lost is complete without the psychic Scotsman around.
@Kate: Right you are! As usual, my middle-of-the-night math has a slight margin of error. Anyway, it’s been fixed. Thanks for the heads-up!
Man, I’m really rooting for Daniel to take this season. I love that he’s the only character who’s actively trying to figure out the island, and that he is willing to have missiles shot at him in the name of science. That should be worth extra points right there.
This Lost-vivor was great! Keep it up!
so, Daniel didn’t figure out that the island was 31 minutes behind the rest of the world in time. What he figured out was that during the 1 minute the payload took to travel from the freighter to the island (from the ship’s perspective), a full 31 minutes have elapsed on the island (from the point of reference of those on shore).
That’s different.
I’m now an official fan of LOST-vivor, ~brilliant~ =)
I think you should add Jacob to the rankings, his mysterious disappearances, fake house, cool rocking chair, and lest we forget – the fact that he’s controlling the island, Ben, Locke, and everything that comes within a mile radius of the island. Maybe Jacob is #6 of the Oceanic.
And didn’t Desmond have a vision that Claire and Aaron were getting on the helicopter? Does this mean she got on, but stayed on the boat? Or did Desmond just decide to mess with Charlie to get him to push the button??? She can’t be #6…cuz then Aaron would make 7…
I’d like to echo what hurleyfan said, the island isn’t 31 minutes behind, but one minute on the island equals 31 minutes off the island. Only 100 days have elapsed on the island since the crash, but years have elapsed off the island. Jack ask the helo pilot about the Red Socks winning the World Series and the pilot responds in a manner that makes me believe that it happened longer ago than less than 100 days.
According the pop-up commentary during last year’s finale, the dead person in the coffin that Jack visited in his flash forward was from New York. For whatever that’s worth.
I’m pretty sure that if 1 minute on the island equalled 31 minutes off, the Others wouldn’t be able to get all their red sox games at normal speed, and the satellite phone wouldn’t have almost no lag between responses the way it does.
Also, I’m not entirely sure that Jacob is controlling the island. His only line so far has been “help me,” which doesn’t sound very omniscient.
Did anyone notice a dog very similar to Vincent in the dog cages in Ben future venterinary clinic? (40 minutes into the episode).
My theory: Vincent is one of the Oceanic 6!
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