One week ago, the prospect of taking a short in-season break from Lost actually appealed to me, as my brain was seriously over-heating from a string of thematically rich, time travel-heady episodes. Plus, researching all those Star Wars quotes for my "Some Like It Hoth" recap? Not easy, because despite my Star Wars super-fandom, I have never been one of those pop culture junkies capable of recalling famous and not-so-famous movie lines upon command. (Seriously: I couldn’t even get Luke’s famously whiny "Tosche Station/power converters" line right if you asked me for it off the top of my head.)
But as I yawn and stretch and try to come to life here on this Lost-less Wednesday, I find myself bumming — so much so, that I’m thinking about actually watching tonight’s "story of the Oceanic 6 from a new perspective" clip show that ABC has scheduled for tonight. Yes: I’m that desperate for a Lost fix that I would actually watch a clip show. Of course, this is but a preview of the epic withdrawal that’s quickly approaching: The season finale — and the eight-month hiatus that will begin immediately after the final BONG! — is just three weeks away. Arrghh!
And so I find myself thinking even more about Lost instead oftaking a break from it. For example, this mini-theory came to me whilemaking the cup of coffee that now sits next to me unsipped, becauseI’ve been too busy thinking and typing about Lost to actually do so:
THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE SONIC FENCE
Ever since "LaFleur,"I’ve been wondering why Richard Alpert can get past The Fence butSmokey can’t. (See: the season 3 episode "Left Behind," in which TheMonster was hunting Juliet and Kate and bounced off the sonic wall.) Inow wonder if Richard got past The Fence because he’s been stuck in atime loop for who-knows-how-long and therefore probably knows the codefor turning it off. As for The Monster: "Dead Is Dead" — the Benepisode from two weeks ago — reminded us that Smokey is psychic. Weknow that The Fence targets the brain; presumably, it interferes withbrain function. Could it be that The Fence not only keeps The Monsterat bay, but also renders the Dharma folk virtually invisible to TheMonster by preventing the combined mental energy of the Dharmacommunity from being detected? Another hypothesis: If you believe, assome of us freaky comic book-weaned Losttheorists do, that mental energy helps shape the reality of The Island,then perhaps The Fence actually wasn’t created to keep Smokey away atall, but rather to prevent the combined Dharma mind from affecting andwarping their supernatural ecosystem.
Yes, those are the kinds of things I think about while making coffee.
Mulling a Lost-liberated life fills me with despair (MUST.NOT. THINK. ABOUT. NEXT. YEAR!), I’ve decided to try my best to fill myfree time with other things. To wit: Things Doc Jensen is doing thisweek because Lost ain’t on.
Fringe. I didn’t watch last night’s episode — I’m saving it to fill the Lostvoid tonight — so don’t spoil anything for me. One of the best thingsabout this TV season has been watching this J.J. Abrams series find itslegs. Right before it went on hiatus in February, I felt the show hadhit a great stride, with Anna Torv’s emotionally pitchy FBI agentblossoming into a warmer, stronger heroine, and the emergence ofpossibly otherworldly mythology, rooted in Walter Bishop’s hazilyrecollected past as a subversive techno-futurist revolutionary, a kindof geeky Che Guevara. And I’m a total sucker for the mystery and Where’s Waldo?gamesmanship of The Observer. However, the past couple episodes havebeen just okay, with the glaring exception of that hybrid monster inthe sewer story from last week, which I thought was a total stinker.What Fringe needs is that one episode or storyline that helpsthe show find a truly distinctive voice and takes the whole enterpriseto the next level — the way, say, the way "Duane Berry"/"Ascension"supercharged the mythology in The X-Files.
Dollhouse. Like Fringe, Joss Whedon’s Dollhousecommitted one of the biggest mistakes a new TV show can make in today’sTV world: Not getting out of the gate well. Our snap-judgment culturetends to lock a show into a singular perception that it can’t quiteshake, even if the show itself evolves and improves, as Dollhousehas. Then again, the show’s Friday night slot hasn’t helped; I rarelywatch the show in its time slot, and am actually now two episodesbehind. I know, I know: What kind of Whedonite am I, right? Inretrospect, I wonder if Fox might have gotten more buzz for the seriesif it had launched it in the summer and courted fans of Lost, Fringe and Supernatural with a marketing campaign that positioned Dollhouseas the perfect tonic for their hiatus withdrawals. Given how few peopleare watching the show, maybe they still can. Here’s hoping Dollhouse can beat the (very long) odds against it and get the second chance it deserves.
The Unusuals. Last night, I wasn’t able to turn on thetelly until 10 p.m., and decided I only had one show in me before theeyelids started to revolt against me. I had American Idol, Fringe and The Unusuals to choose from in my TiVo cue — and to my surprise, I found myself clicking on the latter. ABC’s The Unusuals (pictured) — a quirky cop dramedy, like NYPD Blue with a Scrubs sensibility — has supplanted Chuck(which I still dig, especially lately) as my favorite non-demanding,just-for-fun scripted show (hour-long category). I really enjoy thechemistry between the two sets of cop partners: Amber Tamblyn andJeremy Renner, who are usually tasked with carrying the drama quotient;and especially Harold Perrineau and Adam Goldberg, who so far havegotten the best storylines. Last night saw the pair conducting a stingoperation in an underground "murder store," a kind of sex shop forpsychopaths, where instead of buying whips for kinky fun, you can buywhips for … well, whipping people to death. It was inspired enough tomake me entertain the prospect of a spin-off show devoted to theconcept. There’s a new episode on tonight, and I encourage you to giveit a shot if you haven’t already. One big quibble: I wish the showwould ditch the police dispatcher who barks not-funny APBs betweenscenes through her static-fuzzed radio. Dumb.
The other thing I’m doing this week: working on a new Doc Jensencolumn, filled with some new thoughts about last week’s episode of Lost,"Some Like It Hoth," and a big new Theory of Everything that seemsperfectly suited to next week’s episode, "The Variable," whichexecutive producer Carlton Cuse has gone so far as to call one of hisall-time fave Lost episodes, according to this recent interview. Arrgh! I want to see it NOW!
See your Friday. Meanwhile, check out "What’s In The Box?"
Complete Lost coverage on EW.com:
Doc Jensen’s Lost theories and analysis
Episode recaps
Our exclusive web series, Totally Lost
Lost photo galleries
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It’s PREscription, not per.
I think you’ll be pleased when you watch your DVR’d episode of “Fringe.” The show recovered the promising story arc you described very well, with regard to both Olivia and Walter.
i found last night’s episode pretty damn good. one of the better, IMO. it had some creepy stuff when you think about it. enjoy, doc!
Thanks for the link to the interview!
Also wanted to say thanks for the link to the interview, Doc. It was great! Lots of interesting tidbits – like we’re finally going to get an answer to the perennial “Where are Rose and Bernard?” question!
Couldn’t Richard (and the Others) just walk right through the sonic fence by simply wearing ear plugs? It worked for Amy when she tricked Sawyer et all into getting zapped in the LeFleur episode. Isn’t that an easier explanation for why the fence didn’t harm Richard? Or did I miss something?
Dollhouse didn’t get out of the gate well because of the FOX required rewrites for the first five episodes.
Fringe has been developing a great backstory and the actors are settling in to their roles extremely well.
The Unusuals has been quirky and entertaining without rolling out the tired cop show crap. By that I mean, it has cops, there are cases, but it isn’t CSI, Law & Order, NCSI,…
And, in Jensen’s defense, people say ‘perscription’, honest mistake, but there is spell-check.
Here’s how I’ll be filling the 8-month Lost void… I’m not typically one of those people who buys TV shows on DVD. But after the season finale, I’m buying all the available seasons and re-watching the entire series.
Could Richard’s ability to walk through the fence be as easy as THE OTHERS DESIGNED IT? How did the DI know what to build to keep Smokey out if someone didn’t tell them how to do it.
You’re so right about ‘Dollhouse.’ I don’t know that this show has the potential to be as life-changing for me as ‘Buffy’ was (shut up!), but it’s a great series and deserves a second chance.
After reading your Fringe plans for this evening I want to ask this. Can you please do some sort of a Fringe recap tomorrow if you get what youre looking for as far as “that defining episode” goes? Thanks, love your work.
I love Dollhouse. It started slow and it took me a few episodes to get into it but man is it worth it. The last three episodes have been fantastic! And I love The Unusuals. I will be adding that one to the DVR as well!
DAMMIT!!!! I told myself last week to remember there would be no LOST this week so I would not feel the despair that I’m currently experiencing. I feel so…abandoned.
I’ve been avoiding Dollhouse because I expect it to get cancelled, and I don’t want to feel the disappointment I did when Firefly got canned. Yeah, a second season doesn’t automaticaly mean the show is here to stay (Terminator, anyone?), but it will make people pay attention and maybe consider watching it. There’s something bass ackwards about my rationale, I know.
I have to disagree with Doc on the hybrid monster episode of Fringe. I thought it was great. Fringe has always had an X-Files thing going on and even Mulder & Scully went up against creatures that had nothing to do with the ongoing conspiracy theories. I really hope I see more of this from Fringe. I already have too much theorizing going on with Lost, so I don’t think I can handle another one of these intense conspiracy theory shows. I gave Dollhouse & The Unusuals one episode each and will not watch them again. Dollhouse had a good concept, but the writing of the pilot was poor. I wouldn’t have known what was going on had I not read a little about the show before it aired. They also cast Eliza Dushku who was horribly bad in the pilot. Hopefully her acting has improved since. The unusals is trying to straddle that line between comedy and drama, but not doing either very well. I like all the actors, but the show needs a stronger vision.
I also found last night’s Fringe to be interesting. I’m not usually one for mythology episodes, preferring stand alone ones (Squeeze was the X-Files episode that hooked me), but I think the mythology on Fringe is starting to come into its own.
I have problems with Dollhouse. For me, not only did it get out of the gate poorly with boring, plot hole filled storylines; simplistic, uninteresting characters; and uninspired writing and acting, but it also hits a lot of my hot buttons. I really dislike the way it is portraying women with the whole mythology. I don’t expect a feminist show, but it skeeves me out a little (a lot). I couldn’t even make myself start watching again when I was told the episodes were getting better. That may just be me and what I’ve come to expect from female characters in sci-fi (Lost, BSG, etc.). *shrug*
SAVE TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNER CHRONICLES. The season finale was amazing. There are so many great stories left to tell.
Thanks for the link to the Darlton interview! Those guys always seem to have a good time screwing with the viewers through the interviewer.
What’s the date for the finale? Also, I am also really bummed that they’re doing an episode like tonight’s. At this point in the season, it’s a step backward.
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YOU BETTER STILL DIG CHUCK!!! Or I would be upset. I like your theory on the fence. And last nights Fringe was intense – be ready for it!!
Fringe was great last night and I think it has finally found it’s stride. I look forward to it every week. I can’t say the same thing for Dollhouse. I like it when I’m watching, but did I miss when Prison Break was on instead? Nope. Living up to Buffy, Firefly and even Angel may just be too difficult. How many times can you catch lightning in a bottle?
Considering Dharma has cameras trained on the fence, wouldn’t they already know if Richard was just punching in the code? If so, wouldn’t they just change the code?
Thank God for ‘Fringe’….most tv is a wasteland with the exception of this show, LOST and CSI (not NY and not Miami)….when is Leonard Nimoy making his debut? That’s what I want to know.
I hope Fringe gets back to the Massive Dynamic storyline. I enjoyed the last few episodes, but given the choice, I’d rather see episodes that link together rather than just a story about a monster. Not to spoil anything, but I think they missed an opportunity to work with Massive Dynamics on last nights episode…
Meredith – I’m really surprised that you have a problem with the show based on its treatment of female characters, and I think it is deserving of a second chance if that’s the reasoning behind your objections. I think that, because the early episodes were quite badly formed, the whole show came across as a kind of wish fulfillment for skeevy men – lots of attractive women programmed to do whatever you want, without that fact ever being acknowledged as creepy and wrong. However, as the Whedon elements have become stronger, this uncomfortable fact has become one of the central focus points of the programme, and the whole thing at times comes off as a very clever pastiche of the way female characters are wedged into television programmes with far more emphasis on their ability to look pretty than to convey rounded, believable and flawed human beings. Now if they would just cast some ‘normal’ looking women on the show as non-dolls then their approach to this theme would be beyond criticism
Hey Doc! you will also find a familiar name mentioned by Walter.. (one that you’ve recently used in connection with LOST mythology)
Fringe and The Unusuals were great last night! I think Fringe is my favorite new show this year and I hope ABC keeps The Unusuals around. I don’t normally watch regular cop shows, but this has a little fun and mystery in it.
And yeah, Dollhouse didn’t get off to a great start creatively. I read the original pilot episode and they basically took that and split it up into 6 episodes. That was a mistake (FOX’s mistake!). When I think of all this, another sci-fi show comes to mind. Farscape. The first 6 episodes of that weren’t great. The pilot was good, but the first bunch were just not as interesting. But hey, Farscape cleaned it up and became a Sci-fi hit with a cult following. I think Dollhouse can do the same. It already started with eppie 6 and on. Hopefully it gets more than this one tiny season.
Can’t believe there’s no new LOST tonight. *sniff*
I LOVE THE UNUSUALS… i just wish it was amber tamblyn and her partner who were developing a love story not him and that other cop haha
Did no one HEAR Leonard Nimoy on Fringe last night?? He was speaking on the videotape. Walter and William were testing Olive–Olivia. C’mon Trekkies. Y’all didn’t hear Nimoy? Seriously? Go back and watch that very last scene!