Did you ever see the old Groucho Marx TV show, You Bet Your Life? It was a game show where contestants answered questions in various categories. In each episode, there was also a “secret word.” A toy duck was lowered from the ceiling with the secret word in its beak, so that the audience could see what it was. If any of the contestants said the word while chatting with Groucho, the duck would come down again and give them a prize of $100.
Ever since I decided, on a whim, to name this blog “For a Reason,” I’ve become hyperaware of that phrase. Now, whenever I hear one of the characters say “for a reason” on the show or hear one of the actors say the phrase in an interview, I feel as if they had just uttered the secret word. I think “Ding ding ding!” and wish that a toy duck would descend from the ceiling bearing a prize.
While watching this video, the sixth in the “Ask Lost” series, I had one of those wishing-for-Groucho’s-duck moments, because Matthew Fox does indeed say the secret phrase “for a reason.” Give that man a hundred dollars!
In the fifth segment of “Ask Lost,” Elizabeth Mitchell tells us that she would enjoy playing the part of Sayid, and that it was easy for her to slip into Juliet’s “whole creepy thing.”
I’ve been catching up with the Ask LOST video series where the stars answer viewer questions. This one, the fourth in the series, features Naveen Andrews (Sayid).
I get a big kick out of hearing him talk in his British accent:
It’s interesting that he finds it “disturbing” and “unpleasant” that he is able to get emotionally involved in his fight scenes. In that way, Naveen the actor resembles Sayid the character — both are repelled by their own capacities to enjoy violence. Maybe Naveen’s ambivalence is part of what makes his portrayal of Sayid’s self-loathing so powerful.
Sonya Walger as trauma surgeon Olivia Benford in FlashForward
ABC is pitching a new show, FlashForward, as something that will appeal to LOST fans. In the preview video (below), they even start off by saying “From the network that brought you LOST ….”
The show features Sonya Walger, LOST’s Penny, in a starring role. There are also rumors that Dominic Monaghan, who played Charlie, may be in the cast, but the FlashForward producers are just saying “no comment.”
The premise of the show is that everyone in the world, for some unknown reason, blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds and gets a glimpse of their lives six months in the future, although they don’t know if what they see will actually happen.
I must say, the premise doesn’t really grab me, but it will all depend on what they do with it. When I first heard the premise of LOST — a bunch of people crash on an island — I thought “eh.” And now look where I am, totally addicted.
ABC screened the pilot episode for the press yesterday. One reviewer called it “grand in scope, but uneven.”
Emilie de Ravin, who plays Claire, has already said that she will be rejoining LOST next year.
Now producer/writer Carlton Cuse has confirmed it. He said that he and Damon are excited to bring Claire back, and “even more excited for people to experience just how she will return.”
Just how she will return. Interesting. Would that be through the Zombie Entrance?
Zombies from the 1968 classic horror movie "Night of the Living Dead"
Claire in Jacob's cabin, in Episode 4x11 "Cabin Fever"
Val asks:
Do we have any idea what really happened to Claire? After she turned up in Jacob’s cabin with Jack’s father, I got really confused about what her role in the whole island mystery is.
I originally thought Claire was killed after she wandered into the jungle, leaving Aaron behind. I had thought if she were alive, she would have come back for her son.
I was surprised to see her show up in Jacob’s cabin and in Kate’s house on the mainland, but I still thought she was dead. She was with Christian in the cabin, and we knew he was dead. As for showing up on the mainland, other dead characters had been doing that as well, and Clair’s appearance could also be explained as being just a dream.
But then while I was watching Destiny Calls, the Season 5 clip/recap show that aired in January 2009, Damon said something in the commentary that surprised me, and made me think that Claire might still be alive:
Damon (at 3:34 on video): And now, essentially, Claire is missing. We don’t know where she is. She saw Christian Shephard in the jungle. She left the baby behind. And that’s it.
At the time I saw the Destiny Calls recap show, I thought, “She’s only missing! So she’s not dead, after all!” But now, on second thought, I believe she could still be dead. Damon didn’t actually say, for sure, that she wasn’t — just that we didn’t know what happened to her.
Forging on, I found an interview that eonline did with Damon and Carlton last year, before the Season 4 finale, where they muddied the waters even more:
Q: “Is Claire dead?” Is that a question you are wanting the fans to be asking at this point?
Carlton: I think we want the fans to ask, “What’s happened to Claire?” I don’t think it’s “Is she dead?” I think it’s like, “Where is she?” and, “What’s going on with her?”
Damon: What’s fascinating with Lost is there’s a scene where Claire is in the cabin, and she is sitting next to a guy who is dead, and nobody is saying “What’s up with that?” They’re all asking “Is she dead?” I think the more operative question is “What is dead?” That’s a good question to ask, and one you will certainly be asking over the long hiatus.
“The operative question is ‘What is dead’?” Okey-dokey. 😉
It sounds like Claire may have joined the ranks of the undead, the quasi-dead, the not-quite-dead — or, as I like to think of them, actors who still have a job even after their characters die.
And, in fact, Emilie de Ravin recently told TV Guide that she would be coming back to LOST in Season 6:
TVGuide.com: Having been involved in all these projects as of late, will it be harder to go back to Lost for its final season?
De Ravin: No, I’m really looking forward to going back. I’ve had a wonderful time being able to express myself creatively in different ways [during this Season 5 absence]. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again and, being the last season, I’m thinking it’s going to be pretty exciting.
Will there be any more “LOST: Untangled” posted here????
At the time Mandy asked the question, at the end of May, ABC hadn’t yet released the LOST Untangled for the finale episode (5×16-17 The Incident). They did release it soon after that, in early June, calling it the LOST Untangled Finale Event.
It’s good! It’s got music by the fan band Previously on Lost and a cute dancing statue.
If the video doesn’t work, you can see it on the ABC site.
