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November 25, 2005
LOST in Michelle Rodriguez and writers commentary
My favorite TV show at the moment is LOST. By the time every episode is done, I wish I could instantly see the next one. In a way, I think the people who can wait for the DVD compiliations are lucky. The last few episodes have concentrated on the survivors of the tail section of the plane, who crashed on the eastern side of the island. Their leader emerged almost immediately: Ana Lucia, played by Michelle Rodriguez. There's something I've always liked about Rodriquez from her film work: Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious, and Blue Crush. She doesn't have a look that can be stereotyped--she's not cute, not pretty, but she's extremely fit and attractive in an undefinable way. The LOST writers have taken advantage of Rodriguez' film roles to make Ana Lucia a tough-as-nails, take-no-shit leader. In the episode titled "The Other 48 Days" we learn how the Others attacked the tail survivors and Ana Lucia's efforts to defend them. With the support of Mr. Eko (who seems to Locke's counterpart to this group) the tail survivors roam through the jungle hoping to elude the Others. Just like the west coast group, they have an Other "spy". At first, Ana Lucia thinks it is a fellow called Nathan (remember Ethan from the first season) but this a red herring. The real spy turns out to be a fellow called Goodwin who Ana Lucia busts in a pretty cool interrogation scene while eating some fruit. It's the first indication we get to Ana Lucia's past: she must have been a cop. A trigger happy cop, because she accidentally kills Shannon in the jungle.
In "Collision", we see Ana Lucia going berserk, pointing her gun at everybody to contain Sayid, who naturally wants revenge. This episode had to be one of the finest hours of network TV that I have ever seen. Rodriguez performance is worthy of an Emmy award. We see layers of repressed emotions on her face as we learn about her life as a cop back in Los Angeles. The scene where Ana Lucia pumps a creep full of bullets almost seems lifted out of an Ellroy novel. I also liked seeing Total Recall babe Rachel Ticotin as Ana Lucia's mother. If you still have this episode on your TIVO or VCR, you can download the writers commentary on the LOST podcast site. I played it and watched the episode a second time and marvelled at how fast we can now get this immediate behind the scenes info! The writers are funny, talking about fanfic (Sawyer and Jack in the shower scene), Evangeline Lilly learning Golf, and calling the Dharma bunker a "bachelor pad". If you're a LOST addict, you have to download the MP3 file.
The 11/30/05 episode focuses on Kate's past and her love triangle with Jack and Sawyer. One thing that bothers me is that the Others subplot is taking so long to develop. In the season finale to year 1, we had the impression that the Others were coming to invade the survivors campsite. Now that they have Walt, this threat seems to have subsided. (What's up with Walt appearing before Sayid and Shannon in the jungle? Is he real or is he a ghost?) From Goodwin and Ethan, we know that the Others are intelligent and they have a plan. I would think for Michael, his number one priority is organizing a band of people to search for Walt as soon as possible.
After listening to the LOST podcasts, one thing is for certain: LOST writers are making this up as they go along. They may know certain things in advance, like the tail section plot and Michelle Rodriguez joining before season one ended. But much of the story is growing organically. So far, I think they've made the right choices, let's hope it continues this way. Nuff said.
See also: ABC's Official LOST podcast
Comments
check out www.DharmaSecrets.com
Posted by: rtrete | November 27, 2005 5:47 AM
