LOST!! and shippers
If you didn’t see it yet or aren’t prepared to talk about it, then please skip down to the shipper part.
[Lost part:]
Okay, so it’s the future. But not THE future, because Jack’s father is still alive. So it’s A future, right?
And Charlie. Couldn’t he have gotten out, and then both of them quickly swim away? Or would the place have flooded too quickly, and then Desmond would have died, and then he and Penny would never be reunited, and Charlie wanted to give them that gift?
And now we know why we had to sit through that seemingly-pointless episode about Hurley and the van.
And most important moment last night? Wasn’t Walt reappearing (quite the teenager now, huh?) or that special mother-daughter moment between Danielle (who is so consistently kickass I just love her) and Alex, but clearly it was when Jack finally told Kate he loved her. Ahhhh. Satisfaction.
[Update: To show you how fair I am, even though Barry is wrong in the comments below about Jack's dad, you can read his other, more accurate, insights about last night's episode here.]
[Shipper part:]
Over on Biblegrrrl–which, by the way, is so completely out of my hands it’s not even funny. Over a hundred teens talking amongst themselves, and I just read on in amazement. Anyway, there was a discussion there about whether people are “shippers” about Lost. And I’m all “huh?” And the girls are all, “Yeah! I’m a Kate and Sawyer shipper,” or “I’m a Kate and Jack shipper.” And finally I couldn’t stand it anymore and I had to expose my ignorance. “Um, what’s a shipper?”
Before I go on, do any of you know? Please tell me I’m not the only one out of the loop.
Okay, so a shipper is short for relationshipper, and it means someone who wants two characters on a TV show or in a book to get together. Like there are Harry and Hermoine shippers, or Ron and Hermoine shippers from Harry Potter, and Claire and Charlie shippers from Lost–you get the drift. Apparently it began with Mulder and Scully shippers from The X Files. And if you’re really hep, you combine the names. So you’re a Skate shipper if you want Kate and Sawyer together, and I think it’s Jate shipper if it’s Jack and Kate.
So I’m telling Barry that I posted that question, and even though he was talking to me from his car phone, I could hear him take a hand off the steering wheel to slap himself on the head. “You asked WHAT? Why didn’t you ask me? Why did you let everyone know you’re Amish?” (A common theme with us, since often I’m so ignorant about things technological and cultural.)
But honestly, my thought process was that yeah, I might expose how uncool I am, but maybe there were other girls out there who had no idea, either, and I was doing them all a favor by stepping up and saying, “Huh?”
But apparently I’ve just shown that I’m ancient. Oh, well.
So speak up if you have some thoughts about Lost or about shippers or about the fact that you, too, had no idea what that meant. Please. I can’t be the only one.
Okay, I’ve heard of combining names and all like “Skate” & “Jate”, but I’ve never heard the term “shipper” used in conjunction with it.
And, I really think Charlie had plenty of time to get out safely. Maybe he still does?
Thanks for the reminder about Jack’s dad still being alive in that “future”. I completely overlooked that. So, how can it be any future then?
No, no, no. Jack’s dad isn’t alive. Jack was just drunk/drugged out/delusional. He’s a mess. Did you see the expression on Guest Doctor’s face when Jack said, “Bring my father down here!”? He couldn’t believe Jack would drag a dead man into the argument. Christian’s dead — Jack’s a mess.
Barry, you’re wrong. Sorry.
Kimmy, I took a look at that porthole and thought, “Charlie can fit through that, can’t he? Little Hobbit man.” So maybe we can hope.
“Barry, you’re wrong. Sorry.”
Oh, really? Then why was Jack so quick to run like hell when the pharmacist threatened to call his father’s office? He’s using an old prescription pad from a dead doctor and doesn’t want to get caught. (He even uses the lame excuse that his father is “out of town,” but as soon as the pharmacist picks up the phone, he freaks and leaves so fast that he knocks over the sunglasses display.)
Don’t question my Lost mojo, Brande.
What would you call the Kirk/Spock relationship?
Spork?
Patrick, you’re right.
Barry, you’re still wrong. The reason Jack freaked out at the pharmacy is that he’d obviously forged that prescription. His dad is alive but not writing him scripts for addictive meds.
And seriously, the chief surgeon, who obviously had to take over for Jack’s father because of his alcoholism, had really heard Jack talking about a man who was clearly dead, he would have shown a lot more reaction than he did. His was more of an eye roll.
Give up.
Now that you know ’shipper’, you should also know ’slash’. Slash = same sex shipping, e.g. Sawyer and Jack.
I always thought slash was really weird…the thing about shipping is you’re taking what’s already given from the show/movie/story and elaborating. But with slash, it’s like WTF, that was never there! Back in the X-Files days you’d see Mulder and Krycek slash, or even Mulder and Skinner slash, and it was soooooo weird. SO WEIRD.
When I saw the word shipper I immediately thought it meant my moving/ shipper company who have a strange language all their own as in: if something is marked boldly as FRAGILE, THIS END UP, DO NOT STACK, it means to store it on its side with loads of heavy boxes of books on top of it.
Now that I know what shipper means, I would like to see the moving crew paired with women like the Glenn Close character in Fatal Attraction, Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy (she can whine them to death), Rema Baxter from the Pony Pals book series, Cruella de Ville, and other dastardly, b***** women from the world of imagination.
Other than that, it was a good move.
Deborah, I know I’m not supposed to laugh at your pain, but come on. You’re hilarious.
Lizzie, WHAAAAT? Never ever heard of that. SO WEIRD is right. Although Krycek was sort of dreamy for an evil, souless, conscienceless villain. But can’t see him with anyone but the blonde woman who took over for Deep Throat and sprung Krycek from that Turkish prison or wherever. Those two deserved each other.
God, I can’t BELIEVE I’m spending my day doing this…
You are WRONG, Robin.
Yes, Jack obviously forged the prescription…because his dad is DEAD.
And in the scene with the other surgeon, he does NOT roll his eyes! He looks up and away, with an expression of “WHAT did he just say?” on his face, and looks at Jack and shakes his head as if thinking, “Holy crap — this guy is absolutely insane.”
But why trust me? Watch the scene again:
http://barrylyga.com/daddysdead.mov
Eye roll (the chief’s and mine). As in, “Look, Jack, I’m not calling your father down here because we all know he’s a lush, and if you don’t mind my saying so, you’re not looking like such a health fiend yourself. I’m trying to help you. Do a juice cleanse for the next few days and we’ll talk.”
If you were more sensitive, you would have gotten all of that from that actor’s face.
Don’t you have a novel to write or something?
NOT an eye-roll. Look at the expression on the man’s face! It’s not exasperation or even annoyance — it’s “Did he just say his FATHER? Isn’t his father DEAD?”
I open the question up to the rest of the blog.
Yeah, I have a novel to write. Once you admit I’m right, I can get back to it.
I’m a MISA shipper =) (Michael and Sara from Prisonbreak!)
I don’t want to read any of the comments because I wait for Lost to come out on DVD and then I have a marathon. Soooooo excited!
(Did anyone mention this? You can go to youtube and type in the name of your shipper and find videos dedicated to them… i.e. JaTe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeIOp_SBDHo)
Christen, you are forever my friend for linking to that video. Ahhh. They really make the most of the one and only kissing scene, huh?
Isn’t that great? And there are TONS of them! Lately I’ve been stalking Jonas Armstrong via youtube. When I look at him, I feel like I’m 14 with my little celebrity crush! LoL!
I’m very familiar with the term “shipper.”
Modding at this lovely fanforum of a show with mostly teenage characters, it’s really hard not to be.
And the shipping wars…you would not believe the shipping wars…seriously, it’s enough to scar someone for life. Especially the crack ships. Those are the ships that there’s absolutely no way in a million billion years and six changes of management that they would ever happen, but people ship them anyway. One of my personal favorites from the Avatar fandom is Ozai x Tree. As in, a large plant. Seriously. Ozee. There’s a rabid, slavering fanbase of these people. Makes for some great arguments.
I looked at the Lost discussion even though I’ve not seen the last three episodes because, get this, my husband isn’t in the mood to watch them. We download them from iTunes and then watch them together. But noooo, he’s not in the mood. (This is why I watched all 5 seasons of “Angel” by myself– I’m a glutton who likes to watch 2-3 episodes in an evening.) So, I’ve decided that I don’t care about spoilers.
That said, I am definitely a Desmond and Penny shipper. I would have been a Hurley and Libby shipper had we not been so woefully betrayed by the writers who thought that Ana-Lucia’s death wasn’t sympathetic enough, and decided to make us cry by killing off Libby. It was almost as pointless as killing off Tara in the Buffyverse. But I digress…
Alkelda, I kind of already forgot about Hurley and Abby. That was kind of a weird romance, but what I still want to know is why she was in the psych ward, and was she stalking him? And tell your husband “mood” has NO bearing on seeing Lost. We do it because we’re committed. Our little baby feelings have no bearing here.
Miri, what a hoot. Hard to see how people get so worked up about a . . . tree, but I guess there’s room for all of us out there.
Thanks for the info. Now I’m really intrigued.
Here’s what I say: Jack saw his father (more than once, for all we know) on the island. Now he’s back (in what was the present), and he’s truly confused as to whether he’s alive. Not to mention the island probably really did a number on him.
And I agree with Barry about the look on the doc’s face.
Robin, was Libby really stalking Hurley? We only saw her the once (I think) in the psych ward, and she was just looking at Hurley from across the room. Maybe she was admiring him! If Hurley were the traditionally handsome slim and rugged kind of guy, wouldn’t we think that she was just longing for him rather than stalking him?
Oh and as to your comment, Robin, about Danielle consistently kicking ass, my husband and I laughed out loud when she elbowed Ben in the face so matter-of-factly (toward the close of the episode) and then sighed, as if to say, you are such a nuisance, man.
I don’t know if my previous comment was clear that I agree that Jack’s father is so, so, so dead — he just thinks he’s alive, ’cause he saw him trottin’ around on the island. Or he’s confused. Or whatever. But, sorry Robin, he’s dead.
Oh and Robin (and I’ll shut up after this), I did not know what a “shipper” was, so thanks. We can be Amish together. We’ll find some really bitchin’ quilting bees to attend.
(Ever seen this Letterman list; it’s one of my favorites EVER):
Top Ten Amish Pick-up Lines
10. Are thee at barn-raisings often?
9. If our religion didn’t forbid the use of telephones, I would ask thee for thy number.
8. Can I buy thee a buttermilk colada?
7. You’ve really got the build for that plain bonnet and shapeless black dress.
6. Say, my favorite movie is Witness, too!
5. Are thee a model?
4. There are so many phonies at these quilting bees. Let’s go someplace quiet.
3. Thy buggy has a cool lacquer job.
2. I got Streisand tickets…
1. Are thee up for some plowing?
Jules, I can see I don’t want to get into a discussion with you about Dumbedore’s status. You’re as tough as Danielle.
(By the way, that scene was awesome! Ben steals her kid and she finally has her moment. Sweet.)
(And also, your Amish/Letterman list? TOO funny. Especially #7.)
Alkelda, in that one scene where Hurley and Libby (whoops, I just realized I called her Abby before. Oh, well) were together, didn’t Libby stare at him sort of oddly? And it just didn’t make sense that out of all the shirtless hunks on the beach, she’d go for Hurley–unless there was some historical crush only she knew about. I remain confused about her.
I just read the EW.com review of the show last night, and Doc Jensen, I believe his name is, actually believes that Ben is a good guy — rather, that we’ll find out he is.
He also refers to the part with Charlie pushing away from the window and crossing himself as “visual poetry” or the closest we can get to it in the chat-driven medium that TV is today. Isn’t that nice?
Oh and it’s here if anyone wants to read it.
You know, last thing: I think that was some fine acting on behalf of Matthew . . . uh, I’m forgetting his name. The guy who plays Jack. Emmy, anyone?
Ha! Jules agrees with me!
(back to the novel…)
Robin– Maybe Libby has contact lenses. That’s right! Contact lenses. She suddenly had a blurry spot or something, and that’s why she stared at Hurley oddly.
Okay,probably not. But sometimes I feel as if the Lost writers are playing me so fast that they’d throw in something like that as if to say, “Gotcha!”
Jules, I agree with you about the Emmy. (Matthew Fox is his name, BTW.) There are so many great actors on that show, though, it’s hard to play favorites–Sun can make my cry any old time, and Kate is great, and Ben is fabulous. And Locke–I’d watch him fold laundry, he’s so riveting.
Barry, Jules is wrong about that, too, but I’d never be as blunt with her as I am with you. She’s just “mistaken.”
Alkelda, please don’t confuse me with the Gotcha theory. My head is already spinning enough.
Hey, Jules, I just read that EW piece–that guy is so good. And funny. And also wrong about Jack’s father. But I especially like this line: “which means that at least one of the 1,193,004 theory/predictions that I’ve made this season actually came true! (That’s one more than last year — look at the big brain on me!)”
I need to be his friend.
I don’t even watch Lost but I am absolutely riveted to this discussion. You’ve got disagreements, Youtube, fan forums, Letterman… No wonder no one is getting any work done. For the exception of me.
Robin:
The EW guy is Jeff Jensen, once a comic book writer, which may make his brain particularly well-evolved for Lost.
Notice that he agrees with me, too. And Jules.
The tide is turning. The weight of public opinion is against you, Brande. Admit defeat.
Vivian, it’s really cruel of you to point that out. You know how I feel about industriousness. That whole “she gets her work done, too” thing. So I like to remember that in some universes, this IS my job. For instance, how else would I find out about things like shippers? How can I call myself a YA author if I don’t know things like that? (But I’m glad you got your work done today. At least one of us did.)
Barry, I have one thing to say: THE CHEESE STANDS ALONE. I will not waver. I am strong. (Is that three things to say?)
Barry and Doc Jensen and I will stand strong.
I half-expected to see Darth Vader appear last night, what with all the wild shows/possible theories lately, so I was glad to see such a compelling episode, though I wasn’t as shocked by the very end as I could have been, ’cause I read a spoiler before-hand. I think I might chance my philosophy from spoilers-are-okay-with-me to they-suck-hard.
“Change” my philsophy, that is. Not “chance” . . .
“Philosophy,” that is. Not “philsophy.” Oh I give up.
Aww. I’m sorry. My plans to rule the universe have been foiled…for now.
By the way, I didn’t know what shippers were either. And darn all those links…I had to visit every single one of them.
Jules, I usually try to catch and fix people’s typos, but I was enjoying your corrections too much this time.
Aaaaaah…that’s the sound of me finally letting myself read this entry and all the hilarious comments. My husband and I Tivo Lost (remember, I’m the sleep fanatic) and never watch it until the next day. Holy crap, it was awesome.
And Robin, color me Amish about shipping. But now that I know, I have to ask: does this apply to blogs? Like are there Brande-Brotherhood shippers?
BTW, Robin: my husband agrees with you about Jack’s dad. Me? I’m still pondering. Which is exactly what those clever writers want all of us to do. LOST is all about the not-knowing. Seriously. Isn’t that the theme? Philosophy? How do we know what we know and all that???
Sara, that Brande-Brotherhood comment is SO SWEET!!!
Robin, I showed my husband your comments. He laughed and said, “Oh, so now you’re taking the words of a complete stranger more seriously than mine.”
“Well,” I said, “You did eat the chocolates.”
We watched the last three episodes tonight and are all caught up, thanks to you.
Yes! Success!
I’m currently on board with the Schroedinger’s Cat theory of Lost:
http://www.lost-theories.com/theories/2007/may/07/great-gedanken-experiment-tale/
Okay, Alkelda, you win. That was a GREAT explanation! Thanks for sending it over!