Get LOST, Matt! Pt. 1

I do realize that every post I have written over the past week has been LOST related. Sorry, dudes. There’s more coming around the pike, but for now my non-LOST/annoyed readers can just not go past the cut and you’ll be saved. There you go.

Matt is a college pal. Well, Matt is my husband’s college pal. I think I met him a couple of times and would see him at church, but that’s about all. Nice thing about getting married is that you get to know more friends of your spouse. And since I married the most social guy I’ve ever met, I’ve acquired a nice assortment.

Matt recently decided to give LOST a shot and I thought it would be interesting to get the thoughts of a new Lostie right as he is starting the series. So, here is the first set of questions Matt answered about Season 1. This will be a six-part series documenting his thoughts at the end of each season. Seriously, this is going to be fun to watch.

Note: Matt is a weatherman (is that a pejorative term in your line of work?) and who knows, his expertise may somehow color his view of the Smoke Monster. Let’s see!

(Thanks for the quick response, Matt. It’s almost like you knew I didn’t have a post planned for today.)

1. Hello, Matt Mahler. Welcome to your first round of LOST questions. Excited?
   Tremendously.  Believe it or not, I’ve actually been looking forward to answering these.  I can finally, officially, join the Lost discussions!
2. I just realized that your last name is a homophone of ”mauler.” How has that worked out for you?
   Not as well as I’d like.  At times I wish it was spelled MaUler instead of MaHler.  For reasons I’ll never understand, people feel the need to pronounce my last name with a long-A sound rather than the proper A-H sound.  Pro-tip: you know the sound the doctor always told you to make when checking your throat?  The whole “open up and say AH” business?  That’s how it’s pronounced.
3. You know, Kevin’s last name is Crumpler because somewhere back there somebody was a baker–a crumpet maker. In your time knowing him, has he ever made you baked goods?
   I honestly don’t think I’ve ever received any sort of baked goods from Crumpy.  Now that I know the history behind the name Crumpler, I’m slightly disappointed with the lack of baked goods.
4. So, first off, what do you think is going on with LOST?
   There’s no easy answer here.  While I AM a first-time viewer, I’ve always been surrounded by people who watched and discussed it, so I know bits and pieces.  After watching the pilot, I knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary plane crash.  That wouldn’t make for much of a TV series.  We’re introduced to the “island security system” in the first couple of episodes.  When I first heard its sound (of which I can’t really describe well unless you know your video games), I knew this plane crash was no coincidence.  Then we learn how everyone is connected in some way or another.  Further evidence that this crash is not, in any way, random.  As the season goes on, we are presented with more and more questions, and I start thinking there’s MUCH more to this island than meets the eye.
5. Who is your favorite character as of the Season 1 finale?
   John Locke.  No question.  From the moment I found out about his miraculous physical healing, he seems to have a “sixth sense”, if you will, about the island.  And he’s clearly a man of faith.  The faith may be in the island, but it allowed him to discover things no one else saw.
6. Least favorite?
   At first, it was Sawyer, which I think is a pretty common answer.  He’s selfish, rude, and really just a big jerk most times.  But over the course of the season, I ended up liking him more and more once I found out about his past.  But he’s not my vote for least favorite character.  That goes to Shannon.  I really tried liking her.  I had sympathy for her when Boone died, but I still didn’t like her character.  I don’t know how (or if) she fits into any larger story or purpose in the series, but her character doesn’t seem important to me.
7. Do you have any favorite episode(s) from this season?
   Two, actually: “Outlaws” (Ep. 16) and “Numbers” (Ep. 18).  “Outlaws” because it reveals the connection between Jack and Sawyer – the two most headstrong characters in Season 1.  This episode also brought more feelings of sympathy for Sawyer after learning about his past.  I saw Sawyer in a completely different way when I found out that his name isn’t even Sawyer at all.  But James Ford isn’t as swashbuckling as Sawyer.  Then, of course, there’s “Numbers”.  This episode was probably my favorite because I remember when this episode first aired, EVERYONE talked about those gash-darn numbers.  What did they mean?  Where did they come from?  I’m a little more educated now that I’ve seen a few episodes of Season 2, but when those numbers first showed up, I literally got goosebumps from head to toe because I knew THIS is where things really got interesting.
8. What storyline intrigues you the most?
   The “smoke monster”.  All we know by the end of Season 1 is that it’s part of an island security system, it’s a dark, black cloud of sorts, and it makes some wicked noises.  It also apparently isn’t afraid to kill people, but I still haven’t figured out why.  Having been introduced in the pilot episode, I thought we’d know a lot more about it by the end of season 1.  Turns out, we really only see it once.  And that’s for a brief moment as it nearly takes John Locke for a ride down a hole.  I wait with baited breath for a verdict on what the heck this thing is.
9. What questions does this season leave you with?
   There’s quite a few (again, I’ve seen a few episodes of Season 2, but these are the questions I had at the end of Season 1).  First of all, and I think the most obvious, what’s down the hatch?  Who was Ethan and why did he kidnap Claire’s baby?  What was that weird glue mixture John made to take Boone on a weird acid-like trip?  What is the “smoke monster”?  Do we hear from Rousseau again?  Where did her power source come from for her little hold-up shelter?  Where did the pirates take Walt?  Were said pirates the *actual* others?  What’s the deal with the numbers?  Why are they bad luck for everyone around those directly associated with them?  Where in the South Pacific is this island?  How is John Locke so in-tune with this island?  Where on earth did the polar bear come from?  How long has the Black Rock been on the island?  Did anyone survive from the tail section of the plane?  (Rose is very adamant about her husband being alive, who was in the tail section). 

   Will all of those questions be answered?  Probably not, but I hope most of them are.  I’ll be copying myself on this email so I can check off those questions if or when they’re answered (as some of them have been in the first few episodes of Season 2). 

   I can’t think of any good reason why I passed on this show in 2004.  I’m just starting Season 2 and it’s already becoming a slight obsession.  I’ve started a very rough journal of notes and thoughts and trying to keep everything as straight and organized as I can because I’ve heard it gets very twisted in the later seasons.  So far, though, so good.  So very very good.

Glad you’re enjoying the show, Matt! I’m looking forward to hearing how you feel about Season 2!

Related posts:

1. Book Review – The Gospel According to LOST by Chris Seay
2. The end of (kind of) the end
3. Lost Theory