You Should Be Watching

Heart. Souffle.

Ew.

Who else scream-laughed when Sookie was all, “You’ve lost this one, you fucking bitch” or whatever she said?

I’m not really going to talk about the bomb because I don’t think they’re blowing up half the cast. I’m going with paintball bomb.

So I don’t think this is a strong theory, but it’s the only thing I’ve got at this point. Maybe Maryann wants Sam’s heart because his heart/blood is like Daphne’s and will make people… what, beat each other? See, not strong. But I don’t know why else Sam is so important, although I guess I’m not supposed to know yet.

Also, is anyone else waiting for Godric to break into a Radiohead-like version of “I’ve Gotta Crow”?

If you’ve read the books and know WTF’s going on, please don’t spoil. Thanks!

Don’t have much else to say except I hope Jessica stays with Hoyt despite her “deformity.” I’ll copy/paste my tweets with other random thoughts I had during the show, plus additional commentary:

tiny spoiler – I have a feeling that’s not the first time someone’s told Jason Stackhouse to grow a brain cell… #trueblood

Tiny spoiler- I have a feeling that’s not the first time someone’s told Sookie Stackhouse not to use words she doesn’t understand.#trueblood

HAAA, “There’s a vampur inside.” #trueblood (I’m a Texan, and that’s toootally how I say it.)

Theory, not spoiler (probably a duh moment more than anything) – Did Eggs kill the fake voodoo lady? #trueblood

Ew, ew, ew, Maryann, EW. Now I hate cooking even more. #trueblood

I don’t really care for these Wild-West-leather-daddy Dallas vampire costumes. #trueblood

The actress who plays the sheriff’s deputy is hilarious. Facial expressions go a long way. #trueblood

Don’t eat that fuckin’ snack, y’all! #trueblood

Do they not have eyes? I would never eat something that looked like that. #trueblood

Aw, that’s so sad for Jessica. #trueblood

ROFL “sodomized a pine tree”- Southern people on TV are dumb. #trueblood (Yes, Southern people in real life are often dumb, too, like for having sodomy laws at all, which is why the joke was funny.)

For those like me who are wondering, wikipedia claims that Allan Hyde (Godric) is 20. Godric – older than good ol’ JC. #trueblood

It’s going to be hard to cover my thoughts on all of these episodes, because I’m not taking notes or anything. So they probably won’t be episode-specific, but just a lump of thoughts from all of them so far.

I looked up tabula rasa and it’s Latin for “blank slate.” Makes sense for the title to Kate’s episode, which ends with Jack talking about how it doesn’t matter what she or any of them did before now. The tabula rasa concept also ties into the real John Locke’s philosophy that people are born without innate ideas and personality traits – experience shapes them.

I forgot to mention before that another thing that was set up straight from the pilot was the black/white symbolism. Locke talks about backgammon being the oldest game (is that what Jacob and the man in black from this season’s finale are doing with the people on the island – playing an ancient game?). So I keep paying attention to the appearances of black and white, and I noticed that so far during most of their time on the island, Kate, Locke, Jack, Boone and Sayid are all wearing a lot of white or very light colors. Claire has been wearing black. Charlie is in gray stripes. I don’t remember about Hurley. Sun has had on that same beige sweater. Shannon, Rose and Michael wear oranges, reds and pinks. I think Walt wears orange/brown – earthy colors. I had also forgotten that Adam and Eve were buried with a black and white stone.

Like I said, I haven’t watched any of these episodes since they aired. I remember that I have been profoundly saddened or depressed by all of Locke’s flashback episodes, especially the first one. So I was not looking forward to watching it. Guess what – totally cried at the end. Terry O’Quinn is fantastic at being both heartbroken and an aloof weirdo. I’m remembering why he was my favorite character on TV during season 1. (He’s not anymore.) Even though we start to learn his past – how his life was such a bummer, people were constantly belittling him, he was all alone, etc. – we still don’t totally get his behavior on the island. Okay, he’s found faith in something because he was healed. He obviously had trained himself for the wilderness in preparation for the walkabout. But there’s like this other part of him that seems kind of sociopathic, right? Or just not of this world. I don’t know if we’re supposed to be seeing his entire personality reform based on these new surroundings, and the super smooth, calm parts are parts yet to be formed, maybe? Is his character a very literal embodiment of the theories of his namesake? The embodiment of them starting in an adult, not as a baby. Who knows?

I didn’t remember that John Terry came in so early as Christian Shepherd. I told you I have a terrible memory. I like Jack, too. The first time around I don’t remember liking him as instantly as this time, so I think I’m incapable of watching him in season 1 without feeling the bias I’ve developed for him over time. A lot of people make fun of him for crying a lot. I get that that makes a funny charicature of him, but the crying seems totally honest and appropriate to me. The storyline of him dealing with his father’s death is moving and true. There’s nothing so ambivalent as the death of a parent who has been a real jerk. I would argue that Jack is a representation of the opposite of tabula rasa. Or at least a partial one. Parents can plant all sorts of twisted seeds in our brains, treat us terribly, be a tremendous weight upon our shoulders, but it’s nearly impossible for us to stop wanting them to be our parents. We need them, we want to please them, we mourn them. That seems innate to me – it’s on the “nature” end of the nature-nurture spectrum.  And whether our parents were wretched human beings or just kind of pissed us off at some point, almost all of us go through this tug of war at some point. The writers and Matthew Fox have done a great job of telling that story, and showing how living through the tug of war shows us who we are at our core.