LOSTCasts 20: Maternity Leave

Details of Claire's mysterious two week absence are revealed and for every question answered 5 new questions spring into place. We slide the slippery slope from revalation to speculation and back to confusion in this weeks installment.

In this podcast, we talk about Ethan's hatch before and after Claire's disappearance, Henry Gale's angling, Locke's raging, Eko's confessing, Libby's hypnotizing, Sawyer's gun dealing and our very own word mispronounciating.

Download Lostcast #20 here

Lost Links:
Shark logo and the logo on Ethan's canteen
Oceanic airlines crib mobile
Lost Diary
Wikipedia Brothers Karamazov description
"Brick" movie trailer in which Claire is cast
Interview with Dominic
Comic strip lost reference
Brokeback Island (parody)

Comments

[Kate]

lol the brokeback mountain video is funny, but I saw an even better one here:
http://www.theargonath.cc/lost/mv/mv.html

instead of jack and sawyer, it focuses on jack and locke, and the end is great!

[David Schultz]

Uh, check this out (not sure if it's real)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ZafHS6apU&search=lost%20dharma

[Matt Jones]

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that the castaways are the way Dharma replenishes their ranks. Zeke and Goodwin are old enough to have been part of the original Dharma. Ethan on the other hand is what - 35? 40? Assume he's 40. He would have been an early teen when the Dharma was launched. He came to the project later, perhaps not of his own free will.

I think that if you really wanted to keep a secret island research facility/utopian experiment/alien spaceport - secret, extraordinary recruitment tactics would be required. My theory is that Dharma finds people that fit a certain profile and through various machinations strands them on the island. Once on the island those people are further tested to see if they are "good" for indoctrination. If they are they're taken immediately. If not they're left for further observation and conditioning. Dharma likes kids because they are easy to flip and they love emotionally damaged people because they are easy to manipulate.

Most of the time they just need one or two replacements so they can be more targeted. I think Desmond was selected because he had a science background and could tolerate long stretches of solitude. A French science team because they needed scientists. Ethan because they needed a doctor. Henry? Who knows?

But this time, they needed a big influx so they took a shotgun approach. They got as many prospects as they could onto 813 and downed the plane. They need a list to separate their candidates from the rest of the passengers or just to see who survived.

[Aves]

Hi, just a comment for you guys on your podcast. Try not to laugh out loud into the microphone as I often listen to your podcast on my PDA. I turn the volume up as sometimes, those of you who are further from the microphone speaks real softly but it really deafens me when you laugh... my eardrums hurt everytime I'm done with your podcast...

Still love your work nonetheless! Stay Lost!

[Cameron]

Thanks for the podcast guys - we understand you had some tough circumstances and had to haul ass to get it done, but it was damn fine work, as always.

It was good to hear Matt Jones on the podcast again. It would be great if he were a regular. Could you let us know what's planned for the period from now up till the next episode, which is not until March 22, I think.

Also, will John be back?

[matt beale]

thanks again!

3 week wait! 24 is showing double episodes... this rate, 24 will finish way before Lost!

[David]

I'm only 30 mins in so far, sounds very good. I like Matt, and I think he took much of the flak last time for the recap which was a tad unfair.

[blinder]

Sory about the laughing. Robert tends to be the lowest in volume so we put him directly in front of the microphone, unfortunately he's also the loudest laugher.

I'm sure we'll do one podcast during the lost break. Probably not this weekend but the one after.

John will be back next time around. This late posting of the cast was an unusual circumstance so don't take it as a sign of us going the way of the transmission. At the very least we'll finish out this season; although it's always been assumed amongst us that we'd do this all the way through the shows life. So this season is locked in and we'll have to review our contracts over the summer... that's a joke.

[mjones]

I just wanted to make a comment about the list that Goodwin and Ethan were supposed to make. In the podcast you were discussing why Ethan needed a list. Here are my thoughts. During "Another 48 Days", Anna Lucia said that the list contained info about what the people to be taken were wearing and possibly what they looked like. If the theory that -Dharma planned the plane crash- is true, then they probably already know the names of the passengers they want, but the dharma workers on the island don't know what the "target" people look like and what they are wearing. So they needed someone to quietly infiltrate each group to determine who the "target" people are - hence the list.

[mBaez]

If you go to MTR.org they are selling the music television and radio dvd of a special interview they did with the entire cast of lost including abrams. This could lead to some very incitful information

[Miller17]

Heres a littlel Video For you LOSTCasts Lovers including me!!!!
http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=092NAJ0JKWGRD36N1GABMCOQUB

[Mrs. Hurley]

hey guys

Listening to your latest podcast and had to pause it before I forget my ideas. I don't know if you have seen this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4767428.stm

but if you haven't it's about using neurological implants on sharks to use them as spies, apparently it has been done succesfully already with mice and monkeys!... So my idea is, you were mentioning that the logo on the shark is the same logo on the cantine with the whatever drug they were giving to Claire. Well we know Claire was drugged because of how she was acting, but there were other things in her behavior like the trust she showed in Ethan and the fact that she was in a hatch with loads of other people and she wasn't really curious about them or anything that make me wonder. At first I just thought between the drugs and Ethans sweet talking she was being manipulated in the old fashion way, but after listening to you talking about the conection between the shark and the cantine symbol, what if the drug is like a test drug to brainwash people affecting their neurological configuration (shark brains are probably simpler than human brains so maybe they already succeeded with the shark?)... or something... From here we can go into wild theories like implants and injecting nanobots into the baby or Claire reverting to strange behavior trigered by something on the island... god knows. But just an idea on the relationship between the symbols.

Cheers

[Moriah]

I just went through and read the entire Lost Diary that you linked here. It looks like the second person who picked up this diary had to have been from the original group of survivors (as well as the first... I'm curious about what the hell happened to her and the 4 people she was with), not from the tail section. This person started writing around the time of the episode "Everybody Hates Hugo" and includes a bit about Hurley handing out food to everyone. So it can't be Eko or Libby or Cindy. It's probably someone we haven't met, or it's Steve or someone. But the entire thing makes me wonder if the writers really have anything to do with this diary and if we'll ever hear anything about what went on with Janelle.

Love the podcast and that you do such a good job of linking all your references so that we can check out the things you talk about. Keep up the great work!

[Russell]

The torches vs. flashlight discussion reminds me of a buddy of mine talking a drink in a bar. How threatening can someone look with a drink that has a straw in it? Imagine someone yelling at you and pointing his finger at you and he is holding a drink with a straw, just doesn't scream masculine or threatening. The same could go for the torches and flashlights. What scarier a guy with a flashlight or some dude with a torch?

[Ryan]

I got this. It's almost to easy!

The whole battle between good and evil?

Dharma VS Others

The battle is between these two. Dharma is kidnapping kids and other good people to save them from the Others, and to join the fight against evil. Non-good people will easily turn evil and join the others or something.

Our losties as a group are going to not choose between either, though some might.

The point of all of this is to show that good and evil are subjective, and no human is all of one. Very post modern.

[tulip]

Hi, I love your podcast! It's great and appreciate all you put into it! I have one comment though...we all know everyone is hot on the show so why demean the gals with 'chic', etc.? It just seems outdated or something. I don't believe in censorship and I love the charm of your show, but if you could be more sensitive that would be great. I like their acting, and want to give them props for it. Thanks!!!

[Assistant to the Regional Manager]

Fact: "Zeke" says "HE'S not going to like this"

Fact: Desmond says "Are you HIM?"

Question: Are Desmond & Zeke referring to the same guy...

[Cihan]

I think Eko is part of the 'army' and is cutting wood to set up uber cool traps that will make us go "DAMN!" when they're in effect in the season finale.

[matt Jones]

Your right tulip. Those chicks really can act.

Kidding.

Put the blame on me. It's not our esteemed regular hosts' fault that everything I know about women I learned from Larry on Three's Company. That being said, I can't guarantee greater sensitivity on my part if I'm invited back, but for the sake of fairness I will now refer to all male cast members as hunks and/or beefcakes.

Thought for Brian, John and Robert - You guys should bring in a female guest host for a different perspective.

[Matt Jones]

DAMN! That's a good thought Cihan.

I still think it's a church, but now I'm hoping I'm wrong. "DAMN!" inducing traps would be about a bazillion times cooler.

[Scott]

Church nothing.... Eko's definitely all about building booby traps... I bet in the next episode he whips out a pair of "Slick Shoes"!!!

[korrinn]

listening to the part about the sickness, and the whole crazy thing, in the book the stand, there is a little talk about how after the flu empidemic, there was a second epidemic, in which people died from various things like falling into a well, accidently shooting themselves etc. and that reminded me of the crazy thing...if that makes any sense...

[Raz Minder]

I'd be a bit disappointed if Eko is building a church. Seems to make little sense plot-wise.

So, I got it down to a really long bridge, a wooden tank, or a Trojan horse for the Others.

[blinder]

Oh don't count the church out yet as something cool. For instance: What if through his ministry Eko is able to train people to confront the black smoke and maybe even to control it. That'd be a pretty sweet weapon if you could make that tree thrashing smoke do your bidding.

[Matt Jones]

I think Eko building a church would make a lot of sense plot-wise. Think of the conflicts that would arise. Jack will be pissed because Eko's converts won't fight. Locke will be pissed because Eko's converts' faith will not be in the island. And Sawyer will be pissed because he probably has a general aversion to holy rollers. I think much of next season will center around who joins what group. Jack's, Locke's, or Eko's. Remeber that LOST was pitched to ABC as a dramatized version of Survivor. Tribal conflict can't be far away.

Not that booby traps wouldn't kick ass.