The ‘Lost’ weekend: Know what’s fun? Hitting Ben Linus in the face
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It seemed as though everybody liked this week’s episode of ‘Lost,’ ‘The Substitute.’ Despite all of that, ratings were down (blame having to go up against ‘American Idol’ AND the Olympics), so there was a little less in the way of goofy ‘Lost’ stuff out there this week. Still, here are a few interesting ‘Lost’ links to take a look at.
Let’s start with some more ‘Lost’ art. If you liked last week’s ‘Lost’ valentines, well, the same people have come up with even more. It’s a little late, at this point, but if you want to print out a bunch to use for Valentine’s Day 2011, go right ahead. I also very much enjoyed io9.com linking to these cartoons by Graham Annable, who drew a bunch of scenes from the show’s run that stuck in his memory, often from unusual perspectives, like this cartoon that imagines the time jumping of Season 5 from the point of view of the Island’s indigenous pig population.
I linked to some of my favorite ‘Lost’ podcasts last week, but I neglected to link to Zap2It’s ‘Orientation: Ryan Station,’ which brings together Ryan McGee, who covers the show for Zap2It, and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan. This week, the two are joined by Alan Sepinwall. The thing I like about this podcast is that it takes the form of something like DVD commentary, and the episode is embedded there for you to watch as you listen to the three’s thoughts. It’s an interesting podcast experiment, and it works quite well.
Need some ‘Lost’ casting spoilers? Well, avert your eyes if you don’t want to know who’s going to be back later this season. Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Maggie Grace -- who plays Shannon and was, as far as I know, the last former cast member to not be announced as returning this season -- will be back. Also, if you are a big fan of ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ Sam Levine will be adding a ‘Lost’ cameo to his long list of random bit parts he’s played since that series ended. Sounds good to me.
Over on Twitter, @aresgorn linked me to his piano version of ‘Jacob’s Theme’ on YouTube, where I discovered a healthy community of fans who are recording their favorite pieces of music from Michael Giacchino’s score and turning them into YouTube videos. Most of them are having to pick these tunes out by ear, which is even more impressive. Here are some of my other favorites.
One of the things you don’t see discussed a lot is how much TV scholars seem to like ‘Lost.’ Jason Mittell is a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, and he’s blogging about the show, episode by episode, over at the blog Antenna. Here’s his write-up about this week’s episode, and all of the prior write-ups are worth reading as well.
Finally, let’s take a look at the ‘Lost’ link of the week. Over at Jezebel.com, they point out that even if fake Locke is supposed to be the villain this season, there’s still something incredibly satisfying about seeing someone beat up Benjamin Linus. To that end, the good folks there have compiled every beat-down Ben’s received over the years. Watch the very funny video here.
And with that, we bid you farewell for another week. I’ll be back Tuesday with thoughts on ‘Lighthouse.’
-- Todd VanDerWerff (follow me on Twitter at @tvoti)
Related:
‘Lost’ Wednesdays: ‘Well I guess I better put some pants on’
‘Lost’: Locke gets in touch with his feelings
‘Lost’: Yunjin Kim tries her best to explain the new season