Sunday, September 23, 2007

Put On Your Log Carrying Shoes

I noticed rewatching Episode 2.3, Orientation, that
when Desmond makes his run for it while he grabs
his injection gun and some vials for injecting, he
leaves behind a LOT of additional vials. Sorry I
couldn't find a screen grab or a video clip of this, but
it occurs at about the 28 minute mark on your DVDs.
So this leads to the question -- why did Claire have to
go all the way to the Staff Station to look for medicine
when there was plenty of the stuff in the Swan?

The obvious answer is she didn't know that stuff was in
the Swan, and here's where your log carrying shoes
come in to play. If you were one of the 25 or so people
carrying logs around in the background, making friends
with Nikki and Paolo, helping Bernard build SOS signs,
wouldn't YOU want to explore a place full of food, books
records and a shower?

Locke says that he's going to set up shifts of teams of
people to push the button. I for one would be Log
Carrying Girl #1 to sign up for that duty. No wind,
no rain, no sand, a shower, a chance to do laundry, new
reading material, some tunes, a chance to find kooky
medicine that I might need for mah baaayyy-beeeee. Yet
I'm pretty sure we never saw a single non-credited cast
member in the Swan.

I prefer seeing The Socks (as Darlton refers to the
background extras) pitching in around our main characters
to giving them contrived stories of their own (cough Nikki
and Paolo cough). You could be pretty sure that if
I'd crashed on Flight 815, Claire would not have needed
to trek off into the jungle.

7 comments:

Amused2bHere said...

Wow, that last post had me really thinking! I actually had to set time aside to go back and reread it, digest it, discuss it and then read it again. You know, Memphish, I really appreciate the mental gymnastics you put my brain through. Thanks!

Log Carrying Gal #2 here! I'd be following Kate around, or Locke, and definitely helping Hurley with the food distribution or Rose with the laundry. I'd get into that hatch one way or another...but then we don't know how much info sharing the main characters did, a sticking point for lots of us LoCo's!

Capcom said...

First off, your title made me think of "Log Lady" from Twin Peaks, and how Danielle is our crazy Log Lady on Lost. :o) Except that she carries around a gun in her arms usually, instead of a log.

Are you talking about when Claire went back to the med station when she started remembering things with Libby's help? Wasn't the Swan gone by then? Can't wait till I get my DVDs back!

Also, I haven't watched this ep in a long time, did the Losties who had Swan access know that there was a pile of vaccine of some sort down there?

And I agree, I have always thought that if I got told about the Swan duties, I would be right in line for volunteering my finger for button pushing to get safety from bugs, rain, dirt, etc! No brainer there. :-)

memphish said...

Wow Capcom. I hadn't thought of the log carrying lady in years. If Danielle gets back to the real world, I predict that is how she'll end up.

As for the Claire episode, I am referring to Maternity Leave and no the Swan had not blown up at this point, but Ben was in it and Locke and Jack were being all secretive about it and Locke specifically keeps Claire away from the Swan at about this time.

Still, if you're going to inventory the food wouldn't you inventory or at least explore everything else? After all you've got 104 minutes between button pushings. You think Kate would have found the meds at the very least. It appears to be in the bed area where Sawyer will soon spend hours as will Kate.

maven said...

Capcom: Log Lady from "Twin Peaks"! LOL That was the first show that I went to a computer "blog" for (although they weren't called blogs in those days!) I definitely needed help to understand what was going on.

I've always thought that the "socks" were so passive. If it was me in that situation I would be asking questions, following people, wanting to know where everyone was going and what they were doing. And I would most definitely be the first one to sign up for the Swan and get that sand out of my underwear!

One would think that a thorough inventory would have been taken of the Swan. I know they started with Rose and Hurley checking out the food pantry, but there was so much more in the Swan that would have been useful to the Losties.

Maybe Claire just had it in her mind that the vaccine she needed was only at the station she was taken to. Would they have had any idea what was in those vials leftover in the Swan? Would she be convinced it was the same "medicine" that she knew was at the Staff station?

Unknown said...

That is a good point, one certainly overlooked by the writers.

Of course, since the sickness is just a red herring anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter. :)

memphish said...

The point about Claire in this post is pretty much a red herring as well. Obviously we needed Claire to go find the Staff and for Danielle to help, etc. to move the entire story along. But I thought it was a valid point to open up the question of how TPTB use and don't use the log carriers.

I am a great fan of the Sullivan hypochondriac story in S1, Scott and Steve's contributions, Arzt's bursting on the scene and Frogurt and crew helping with Bernard's sign. I was not, however, a fan of Nikki and Paolo. I liked Expose, but think I might have liked it even better had Nikki and Paolo not whined their way through episodes 3.3 on until their timely demise but had merely had that one day in the sun.

In general, I think TPTB used the background crew better in S1 than in either S2 or S3. I hope they'll use them wisely in S4-S6 as well. I don't want an entire episode of what happened to the old guy with the white hair, but I would like a line or two of exposition or a montage that shows them getting off the Island/not getting off the Island and if they get off the Island whether or not they like Jack want to go back or if they've been able to move on. I also want to know what's happened to the other dozen or so people taken from the tail section of the plane by the Others.

Capcom said...

So glad that I have you all to help clear up my head and memory! :-) Thanks Memphish.

Yeah Maven, back then it was Usenet lists (alt.net?), or bulletin boards I think. I went on them too, no images or anything. We've come a long way!