Strange Machines

Electricity has changed our lives in so many ways. I realized this when watching the TV series Revolution (although I wish they explored the fallout a bit more in the series). Things we take for granted, like running our smart phones, fans and air conditioners on a hot and humid day, light to read at night, computers to play games on (and to type this post on), ovens to cook hot food instead of a fire pit, and so much more. All we have, our modern living, is thanks to affordable electricity linked to our homes. And virtually everyone who pays their bills has it.

Medical science is so very reliant on it now and it is one of the reasons many of us are living long and healthy lives in the last 100 years. Electricity has enabled us to do intricate research and construct minute instruments to enable this. It has also allowed us to learn, work, and play at night. It allows us to live in more hostile climates and explore them. It has brought us planes and electric trains, and electric cars. Rockets and exploring the moon and very soon, Mars.

I am grateful we have electricity in our lives.

Overall it had been a weak season for HIMYM. The Robin-Barney pairing was boring and even worse was their breakup.

Then Robin and Don started getting serious and things got interesting. In fact, Twin Beds is one of my favourite episodes right up there with all the Slapisodes and Robin Sparkles episodes.

Why did they have to ruin it by letting Don go and having Robin and Ted almost kiss and then make a big deal out of his blonde hair stopping that “bad idea”.

If it was such a bad idea why did they have Ted want Robin back because she was the girl of his dreams 2 episodes ago? Surely what would have been more realistic was to have them kiss since she was the one he wanted to marry?

I can’t believe they can write the characters out so unrealistic. I think the writers are just out of it (Robin-Barney suddenly breaking up and then Ted suddenly not grabbing The Window and dating Robin again).

Trust me, when the final closing curtains fall, they would have pulled a Lost and Robin will turn out to be The Mother in the end.

Why? Because we are so emotionally invested in her, rather than some random chick who will appear in a few episodes then be declared The Mother.

The writers can pull a Lost and have Bob Saget say in a Barney voice, haha I lied. Robin is your mother after all.

There, I said it twice. It must be true. (And you can tell I’m still bitter from Lost.)

SPOILER ALERT!

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE LOST FINALE.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

So I slept on it and I am still mad. I feel so cheated. What a cop out! And the lies… After watching 6 seasons, this is what we get? I quote Hurley early in the finale, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Indeed I did.

The 1 hour and 40 minutes trudged along, splashing the occasional surprise return of a long-dead cast member (but where was Walt and Michael?) in the Sideways world and an absolutely lame non-event of Wolf vs MIB, which had potential but ended way too fast. And the ending… well, I’ll talk about that below.

What I liked:

Okay, there were some things I liked.

1. The surprise of Juliet being David’s Mom and Wolf’s ex!

2. Sawyer and Juliet’s reunion.

3. The beautiful realisation between Sun and Jin when Juliet did the ultrasound and showed them Ji Yeon. (My fave!)

4. Ben finding redemption and being a good guy after all.

5. Eloise showing some heart when she asked Desmond not to take her son Daniel.

What I absolutely hated:

1. The Sideways world being purgatory!

2. No explanation of what the Island was.

3. No explanation of what the numbers mean (if the Island was purgatory then it might make sense but it wasn’t).

4. No explanation of what the light was other than it had to be plugged or else the Island would sink.

5. The whole churchy feel of the last 6 minutes.

6. Christian Shephard. How come we never saw it?

7. Why I get the feeling the whole story of Lost WASN’T thought out and the whole of Season 6 was just, quick let’s tie up loose ends and finish it. Didn’t the directors promise the Island wasn’t some sort of purgatory? Yet the Sideways world was. Is that cheating?

Final thoughts:

The ending, which brought everyone together in the purgatory Sideways world, so they could move on, was just too unreal. When the question of what is real and unreal in a story like Lost, the last thing you want to bring in is a third element. It’s like 1+1 is… oh but hey look, here is 25.

I wish they had answered more questions about the Island like:

1. Why was it special?

2. How did MIB become Smokey?

3. Why did it have to be protected?

4. Those damned numbers again.

5. If the light existed before Jacob and MIB, why did it have to be protected against MIB. Loophole!

Tons and tons of questions they could have addressed but they copped out when they introduced Purgatory and the light. It totally spoiled Lost for me.

Other opinions:

The best explanation I’ve read was given in a comment by someone called Pamela on ScreenRant:

I do not believe the island was ever a real place in terms of something tangible. Whether you call it purgatory or something else, it was most definitely a battle ground for redemption. That is also the only explanation that could explain, although loosely, all the mysteries that we never got answers to. A place where you can travel through time via donkey wheel or where you have to push a button to “save the world” or where 48 people could survive a terrible plane crash is probably not real, logically speaking. I leave with this, I think the writer’s made some big mistakes along the way. I think they dug themselves some holes for which they did not know how to dig out of.

And the best conclusion from Hot Air:

I absolutely hate what the show degenerated into. I thought the plot of the finale was a stunning act of creative cowardice, which no amount of effort from the talented cast could redeem. I offer these thoughts as a memorial to what I thought Lost was trying to be, and a critique from someone fascinated by the art of storytelling.

A commitment was made to the fans, both implicitly through the scientific trappings of early episodes… and explicitly through interviews given by the producers… that it would all make sense in the end.

But it didn’t.

What the… was more my thoughts when I watched the episode.

Some parts just didn’t gel.

I found it hard to believe that Charles Widmore would venture from the safety of his sub (away from the boom things that protect him from Smokey) ALONE, with Zoe to the exact spot where Ben, Miles, and Richard were going. And then, hide in Ben’s (his arch nemesis) secret compartment when Smokey was arriving to kill them.

Not logical.

Wolf deciding to be The Candidate was just too predictable. Unless it is a seat warmer till another one takes his place in the finale. But my thoughts are it is unlikely, as he is the hero of the show and a showdown between him MIB is inevitable.

What did make sense was MIB killing Richard just like that. He was expendable and his swift death served to tell the audience that.

It was interesting to see Ben in the Sideways world being a nice guy, even flirting with Danielle and being a father figure to Alex. I think that put to rest the rumours that he and Alex were supposed to be romantically involved. Gross. But no time now. Only 2 and a half hours left to go.

Also kind of perplexing is Jacob reappearing and then saying he will be gone forever when the fire dies. Aren’t the ghosts all around anyway? None are gone forever. A discrepancy in the ghost explanation is Walt. How come Walt appeared as a ghost after he was with the Others? He wasn’t dead. Where is Walt anyway? Why was he so central in the early seasons and now just written off?

The light thing is just too out of it. Is it some wormhole or electromagnetic centre? What makes it so special? I vaguely recall the directors saying that there was a scientific explanation for everything. So far there is no explanation for Smokey or now, another device, the light?

Anyway, all will be answered… or not, on Sunday night. Can’t wait!