3.25.2010

Nestor? I just met her!

IMHO (it's a blog, so I can do that, right?), the Richard episode was wonderful. It significantly elevated my opinion of 1867 (damn Nebraska's statehood!) and gave me more insight into why I like Mr. Alpert so much - Nestor Campbell's a great actor! Up to this point, I usually just tuned out when he was on screen, hypnotized by his Rob Lowe quality eyes (no homo).

I won best eyes in middle school, but I can't compete with these guys

On Lost, there is no dearth of great characters played by great actors, and I am happy to count Richard/Nestor as one of them. And in a recent interview with E, he seems as excited about the show as we are. "I got the script late, it was like 10 something at night, and I usually go to bed fairly early," said Nestor regarding the finale, "but no, I was up at 12:30, pouring through it, reading pieces of it again." So, the finale is out there. I wonder how much a leaked copy would cost. Significantly more, no doubt, than the entire series on Blu-ray (thx, Zach).

I'm less than impressed by the cover art, but the price can't be beat!

So, what can Nestor reveal about the final episodes?
There's going to be major heartbreak, there's going to be some very emotional stuff coming down the pike. But the emotional stuff, the payoff will be great. When you see it, and as I read it, it made complete sense what they were doing, and they're doing it in such a beautiful way, what it needs to be. And again, without giving away too much, I think people will be fulfilled even as they may be crying.
Brilliant. Read the entire interview here.

3.23.2010

IT'S THE RICHARD EPISODE!!

I can't believe it! I'm watching it right now!!!

An Open Letter Before "Ab Aeterno"

Dear Lost,

Right off the bat, I want to say: you’re doing great. Season six is really rocking my socks. I’ve been a week-to-week fan since the summer of oh six, right after Desmond turned the key and everything went purple. Since then, and even more so since Jack yelled, “We have to go back!” I have believed, like Locke, that everything happens for a reason. So it is with a heavy heart I make this plea:

Please, for the love of Jacob, tell me what the hell is going on in the Altern-815 storyline.

It’s not like this request and my growing dissatisfaction with the flash-sideways timeline is out of order. Each week, I wait patiently to find out exactly why I’m watching this new world and what it has to do with our on-island, and relevant, plot.

But FYI, The Island story is working like gangbusters. Since Omni-Locke destroyed the Temple, and those assholes Dogen and Lennon, the show seems destined for greatness. Flocke and Jacob are clearly headed toward a Basinger-Baldwin magnitude clash while the Candidates are trying to figure out who they are and what their purpose is. Just like us. (About them and ourselves.) But, off the Island, it’s hard to connect with characters we don’t know, a lucky Hugo?, and still maintain my love for the on-island characters I’ve known for years.

That being said, I trust you. Like any good Man of Faith, my belief in your divine plan is unwavering. I just hope you answer my questions when I want you to.

But like any absent god, I know you won’t.

Much love,

Zach Isaac

PS: Tonight’s episode is called “Ab Aeterno.” It’s about Richard. Guest stars include Mark Pelligrino (Jacob) and Titus Welliver (The Man in Black from The Incident). Talk to y’all later.

3.16.2010

Hold It

Do you think Jacob told Ilana (when he visited her in her burn victim room) to get Sayid and bring him back, knowing that Sayid plainly wouldn't come back otherwise? Was that why Jacob visited her? And what's the deal with no touching? No touching!

Just figured I'd bring it up, right in time for Lost tonight. "Recon!" I bet I know what that's about: re...CON? Sawyer's coming back! Unless, of course, they're just conning us (like when "Sundown" wasn't about Sun). Oh, Lost!

3.01.2010

LOST: Slapdown

Everybody ready for SAYID tomorrow?!?!?! He really is my favorite of the original A-team. I just hope Nadia doesn't turn his episode into a bore fest.

If you haven't been watching the Lindelof/Cuse SMACKDOWN, here's the most recent

David's Eye Color Situation

This week's episode introduced us to Jack's diagonal son, David...and his beautiful blue eyes. Many have wondered aloud if David's blue eyes suggest that (since Jack has brown eyes) his mother is necessarily blue-eyed. I have replied, sometimes a little too hastily, that genetically, the mother could have brown or blue eyes.* What I also realize is that Lost is exactly the type of show that would cast a blue-eyed child actor just to hint strongly at the identity of Jack's diagonal ex-wife. It's probs Juliet.

*Below we see a Punnett square. Since I have tried three times to explain this simply to no avail, I will guide you to the correct section on wikipedia's "Genetics" page. Please skip down to "Discrete Inheritance and Mendel's Laws." Basically this little section explains how for every gene (eye color, for instance) your parents each donate an allele. Two alleles determine how that gene is expressed. Alleles can be dominant or recessive. If just one of the alleles donated by the parents is dominant, the dominant trait will be expressed (in our case, Brown eyes are dominant. Even if a mom passes down a recessive blue-eyed allele, if dad passed down a dominant brown-eyed allele, the kid will have brown eyes). Two blue-eyed parents must both have all recessive alleles, thus they can only pass down recessive alleles; thus two blue-eyed parents must produce blue-eyed offspring (see: me). However! Since it only takes one dominant allele to express brown eyes, we never know for sure if brown-eyed people have the genotype Bb or BB. At this point we become genetic detectives and I'm still not so sure I did a good job explaining all this.

Now! Two brown eyed parents could both have genotype Bb. Since they each have a dominant allele, they have brown eyes. But when they reproduce, they might pass down their alleles in such a way (pretend the As are Bs): which means that there's a 25% chance that the child of two brown-eyed people (with genotype Bb) will have blue eyes, since there's a 25% chance he'll get two recessive genes.

Thus, Jack could have genotype Bb (he must, actually, because his blue-eyed father Christian HAD to pass down only recessive alleles), and his lovely ex-bride could, too. So David could have a brown-eyed mom, but let's face it, they did it for a reason.

PS I started this post last week, then spent the last three days (and today) sick as a dog (Vincent), so even though I wanted this to make sense, it still might not.