Bonus Stuff

OK, I'm not gonna lie: I tried to do some online research to supplement the stuff I found out by watching the bonus features disc today, but some people are talking about stuff that's waaaaay over my head, so I'll just stick to what I and I alone know, mmkay?

So. My wonderful and loving husband went out and bought me ("us") season 2 yesterday, and, as today is my day off, I hunkered down with some leftover pizza and pen and paper to watch the bonus features disc of the 7-disc set of season 2. The bonus features disc is broken down into 3 diferent "phases" and is designed to look like part of a Hanso film (like the "Orientation" video). Here's my breakdown of the different features:

PHASE 1: OBSERVATION

Fire + Water: Anatomy of an Episode
This little extra breaks down the "making of an episode," and shows the audience how a single episode evolves from pre-production, goes through the production process itself, before finally making it to post-production and is shown on TV. For this particular feature, they chose "Fire + Water," a Charlie-centric episode where Charlie believes it is his purpose to save Baby Aaron. While I felt that this feature was, indeed, informative, it was quite long, and not exceptionally enjoyable. (I don't know, maybe I just find Dominic Monaghan tedious in and of himself.)

LOST: On Location
This one features snippets from 10 different episodes throughout season 2 and details the trials and tribulations of shooting "on location." (Hence the title here, people, try and keep up!) They delve into various locations including jungle scenes, water scenes, beach scenes, and flashback locales. It is rather interesting to see how they, for example, create a London flat in downtown Honolulu. This one isn't a complete waste of time...

The World According to Sawyer
Maybe it's just me actually enjoying the entertaining aspect of the bonus features that made this one a disappointment.... Although it's quite humorous, it (unlike the "Anatomy of an Episode) was too short! This feature highlights Sawyer's quick wit and his uncanny ability to offend everyone, whether they are Middle Eastern, black, white, Asian, fat, a burn out, or merely those of us who don't burn in the sun but rather are blessed with "angel kisses" (as my grandmother used to refer to my freckles...) I really wish they would have included more on this one; however, it was quite enjoyable.

PHASE 2: CONDITIONING

The Lost Flashbacks
WTF?! I was looking for some key information here, only to find out that there are only 3 (?!) of these unaired flashbacks, and 2 of them are from Shannon's flashback episode, "Abandoned." One of them occurs after Adam's wake, and is quite irrelevant to anything. The second one is called "The New Au Pair," and shows Shannon going to work for a French family as an Au Pair even though she knows absolutely no French whatsoever. (Though there are some interesting looks exchanged between her and the father, so who knows, maybe she's one of those au pairs.) Enthralling, obviously.

Another exceptionally boring flashback and of no use to anyone is called "Locke's father," a 30 second clip of a priest asking him questions about his father prior to the "funeral" and Locke not knowing the answers, having not known his father. Whoop-de-freaking-doo.

Deleted Scenes
For the most part, you can tell why these scenes were originally deleted. THEY ARE BORING!! They reveal nothing, save for one: "What's Your Story" focuses on Libby and Hurley in the hatch, folding laundry, and asking each other about their lives pre-island. We learn that Libby has been married three times ("if the annulments count"). Yay monogomy.

LOST bloopers
I love bloopers, and there are never enough of them, and that's all I have to say about that.

Channel 4 UK Promo
In order to describe this in one adjective, I would have to go with creepy. Check it out: creepy promo. (NOTE: this link brings you to an Access Hollywood website with another link, but I have faith that you'll figure it out.)

Sneak Peeks
Uh, yeah, sneak peeks that AREN'T OF LOST!! Honestly, I'm not really interested in Season 4 of Scrubs (actually, that's a lie, I LOVE Scrubs, but that's not what I'm blogging about, now, is it?), Desperate Housewives, Pirates of the Carribbean, or something called "The Heart of the Game." Is it too much to ask for sneak peeks about LOST on the bonus features disc of LOST?! Geez, I'm working with amateurs, here, for chrissakes.

PHASE 3: Conclusion

LOST Connections
This is actually the most challenging of all the features, since you actually have to do it yourself. (I'm lazy, dammit!) Anyhoo, it starts off talking about a 1929 Hungarian author by the name of Frigyes Karinthy (pronunciations welcome) whose "theory of centrality" eventually became what we today know as "6 Degrees of Separation." The initial voice over raises the question as to whether or not chance meetings with strangers are simply coincidence or fate, a question that seems to be at the forefront of our much beloved LOST. It claims that there must be one person at the center of this idea, and it places Jack (love him) at that center. From there, it is up to you: starting with Jack, you go through many conduits finding out how one character is connected to another. It's actually a very exhausting process: after a little less than an hour, I gave up, feeling like I was not even touching the surface of all the connections between all these people. It was, however, helpful in reminding me of some connections I had forgotten (i.e. Locke and Nadia, Kelvin and Sayid, Claire and the pilot, etc.) Mostly refresher stuff, but there was one thing that I found particularly interesting. The final conduit in Jack's piece of the puzzle, as it were, is a "frayed wire" and leads you to a screen of static in which you can make out the blurry figure of a man. "OK, weird," you think, and move on. You won't notice anything else out of the ordinary until you come to the final conduits of Claire and Christian Shephard, which yield the exact same thing, which leads me to believe a rumor that has been circulating for awhile now: Recall, if you will, Christian's Down Under rendezvous with Ana-Lucia, and his middle-of-the-night visit to a house where a drunk Christian demanded to see "her." As many have speculated, and I agree, the "her" was Claire, Christian's daughter, and Jack's half-sister, and, as such, I am led to believe that the blurry images at the end of these three pieces of the puzzle are an as-yet-unrevealed connection between the three. I guess we'll just have to wait that one out, huh?

Mysteries, Theories, and Conspiracies
Also a very interesting piece. This one delves into the fans' ideas and theories as to what is going on on the island, as well as the theories of the actors themselves and the producers (who just like to pull shit out of their asses). The only thing that I found relatively plausible (and which proves true in many cases) was an interview with Yunjin Kim, who plays Sun. She said something to the effect that if your character is conflicted, you're pretty much safe from the swift hand of Death. This is something that I, at least, have thought for ahwile now. Only those characters whose "issues," as it were, have been resolved, have been the ones to die. Examples: Once Boone finally came to grips with his (albeit f-ed up) relationship with Shannon, he died. It wasn't long after his hallucination in the jungle when he saw Shannon die and was relieved that the Beechcraft fell from the canopy with him inside. Here's another one: Shannon, having developed a relationship with Sayid, and sorted out her guilt issues over Boone's death, is shot by Ana-Lucia. Fast forward, and trigger-happy "Ana-LuLu," whose pre-island issues include losing a child, admits to Michael that she "can't do it (kill Fake Henry, or "Fenry" as I like to call him) anymore," coming to terms with the fact that she's killed people for stupid reasons, and hands over her gun to him, her final act before Michael shoots her. I'm honestly not quite sure why they killed Libby, since I think she has much more to her, and I would still like to know why she was in the hospital with Hurley, but hey, they obviously don't consult me about these things beforehand. Bottom line: don't work out your issues, it won't end well.

Secrets from the Hatch
Pretty much a behind the scenes look at our favorite hole in the ground. Pretty interesting, when they highlight the things that I've sort of forgotten about: the seemingly millions of hash marks on the wall, the mural, the telescope-mirror surveilance camera thing, etc. Definitely worth watching, since, according to hearsay, (and judging by the way the hatch imploded in the finale) the hatch's day has come and gone.

Bottom line of the bonus features disc: don't waste your time with the first phase (although, do catch up on your Sawyerisms) and spend the bulk of your time on the connections piece. It'll do your memory well to refresh yourself.