5.5 "Christine"

Reader,

So, if you've come this far, I guess I don't have to sell it anymore! Haha, hope you are enjoying it!

Episode Synopsis: We shift back to the 06 off-island and the plan is in complete motion now. In this Christine Centric Episode we take a step back and find out why she is helping the 06 and what her true intentions are. The List of Returnees to the island is divulged and Jack sets out to collect the remaining members. All of our characters are back for "Christine" and true desperation sets in for some.

Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/4848714/55-Christine (You know what to do...)

~JwLost

Once again, I used a literary title for this episode. "Christine" is a story of a boy who becomes obsessed with his car and the car possesses him. In a sense, the 06 + Ben have become obsessed with getting back to the island and they aren't really taking into account the people around them who may suffer. Sayid's line at Nadia's grave is a direct reference to this. Moreso, Christine's character has become obsessed and possessed with revenge towards Widmore.

Also, in the beginning, Christine pulls up in a 1958 Plymouth Fury... which is what the car, Christine, was in the movie/book by Stephen King. Her secretary's name is Mrs. Leigh and Leigh was a main character in the book.

I liked all of them, but one line in this one just did not work for me. "Hold up. I need to use the bathrooms." I think bathrooms was a typo, but I just can't imagine Jack saying "Hold up" as in "Wait a sec". I feel like he would probably say something like, "I'll catch up to you" and point to the restroom or something.

LoL, what an insignificant line to critique, but no, you are right... I need to keep in touch with the actors and their phrases.... I could see Jack saying "Hold up" though... he is kinda edgy... isn't he?

I don't think of Jack as edgy. I think he's highstrung and an overachiever. Charlie was the closest thing this show had to edgy.

Oh, and by the way, you have Sawyer dead on.

Haha, alright, critique noted. Jack = Not Edgy... you are right about that for the most part. And thanks! Someone else told me that I get Sawyer, Locke and Hurley dead on.... They say that Sawyer would be really hard to write for, but really... I think he is the easiest... I guess it's because I am always joking around and never call anyone by their real name....

OK, finally got some time to check out the next instalment. As before, I'll make notes as I go along as I see fit.

- Nice link with Minkowski on the ferris wheel (though the fact that he knew Desmond prior to seeing him in The Constant doesn't quite fit for me)

- So Christine De Vries is now a major character for this episode at least? You really are set on making marginal people come to the fore!

- Little bit of Bernard foreshadowing, coming out of the employee room. . . One for a later episode I suspect!

- Arzt wouldn't have told Christine his first name. He hates "Leslie"!

- So the money Sawyer thought he got didn't get to Clementine? That felt like a casual means of disregarding the flashback story of an entire previous episode!

- Huh? Walt really likes his dad? Not the last time he saw Michael he didn't. Having learned about how Michael shot Ana Lucia and Libby he hated his father - and he never saw him again!

- . . . Zach and Emma were Christine's kids, eh? OK. It didn't feel like a 'wow' moment for me, that, but then I don't know Christine and I don't particularly care for her that much.

This episode again continues this convoluted plot for the O6 and Widmore and Abaddon, and this Christine woman involved. . . It's like a dense, complicated web you are weaving and it's getting thicker and more confusing as you go!

Lost, to me, is about the Island. It's about the main characters finding a form of redemption and it's about the Island that this redemption is being played out on. An episode like this, to me, it's a different show. Like some kind of detective thriller thing.

Still, the next episode is back to the Island, right? I'm sure that will feel more like it. It's no doubt too late for me to urge you to steer away from this conspiracy thread you're involved in, but if I had noted here sooner it's what I would have told you: drop all the marginal characters and this elaborate plot.

Still, maybe you've got it all under control. . . Maybe it all amounts to a big payoff?

The marginal characters lead to an overall full explaination of Widmore/Abaddon/And An Overall Relationship to What Dharma is doing on the island.

I have a question for you... If you think that the use of marginal characters are a bit too much, then what do you think Charlotte, Miles and Daniel are? They really didn't do a whole hell of a lot last season and were all put there for a reason. If anything, Daniel and his experiments on the island didn't do it for me, yet, everyone loves Daniel.

As for Widmore he was introduced way back in Season one and has been given a huge role to play come this season until the end of the show. The writers started the Widmore going to the island thing so I have to finish it.

Then they threw in Abaddon who doesn't appear to be working for either Widmore or Ben... he has ties to Widmore, but it also seems like he has his own agenda.

As for introducing new characters, from the looks of it the writers are adding a ton of them (re-occuring status) this season. If you don't like the direction I am going, then I have a feeling you may not like the direction the real show is going.

I like the constructive criticism though. Your thoughts posed allows me to further explain why I do what I am doing.

I forgot to address your other points:

1) Minkowski doesn't know Desmond, he just heard Christine mention Desmond on the phone to Penny. Christine thinks that Minkowski is just repeating names and hallucinating. Minkowski, at this point, doesn't know Desmond.

2) I think the whole episode with Sawyer leaving the money for Clementine was a bad story to begin with. The show has disregarded flashback stories before. Example: Meet Kevin Johnson. Really, what was the point of that to just kill Michael? There are several other episodes that have no real point either. Also, whos to say that I won't explain why the money didn't get to Cassidy in a future episode?

3) As for Walt liking his dad... 2-3 years has passed since the island and Bentham has talked to Walt since... sooo I'm thinking that he did a turn about regarding Michael. He did say in this episode that he "forgives him" because he did what he had to do to "protect me."

I forgot in the previous post to mention that the story the writers are mapping out is a bit convoluted because who is Ben having Sayid kill? Who are these people, who is the Economist and why bring that story to light? I think that this season coming up is going to be just that: A thriller mystery as to who these people are and why do they want to get to the island/stop the 06 from going back?

Lastly, the writers said (don't quote me on this I got it from DUFO and a French Magazine) but a majority of this season deals with the 06's return to the island and doesn't fully go into much detail about the island.

Faraday and Charlotte and the rest of The Freighties, I thought, were integrated exceptionally well. Within one episode they felt right to me. And it's not been perfect, as the writer's strike cocked up full exploration of them, but there's no doubt I am very keen to learn more about them. Same couldn't be said for, say, Nikki and Paulo.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

BTW, Widmore was first introduced in the Season Two finale, in just one scene when he met Desmond after he had been released from prison.

I know the next season will look at the O6 and their return to the Island. They're going to have to tread carefully with that. But will they marginalise the Island in favour of it? I doubt it. Lost is the mystery Island show. They lose that, much of their casual audience is going to. . . you know. . . get lost!

Don't get me wrong. I've made the point before that yours is clearly fan-fiction, and you can throw in the Valenzetti Equation easily knowing your audience is going to be on board with it. I guess the trouble I am having is that I don't know who Jack is, for example. I don't know where he's at, what he's thinking. The plot has taken priority over your characters, to the extent that every scene is plot development and/or exposition. I think that's why it feels so complicated and convoluted - because there's no break for us to emotionally invest, rather we're just trying to understand what's happening.

That's my view. And maybe I'm coming across more negative than I actually am. I certainly don't want to dampen your enthusiasm or knock your efforts. OK?

I realized that I didn't invest a whole lot into the emotions of the characters in the first few. From 5.5 on I have corrected that... at least, to a point. Christine in 5.5 I thought was very emotional when she realized her children were on the plane. Sun was emotional in 5.3, but her raw anger overshadowed her love for Jin a bit. Kate and Cassidy have some emotional moments as does Sayid in 5.5 too. Up until 5.5 there was a lack. Emotions come blaring out soon enough.

As for Jack not being around, well... to be honest with you, I am quite sick of Jack and I don't know how much of a story I can have for him. I've even decided that there is a good chance he won't get an episode this season. I know, I know... the writers would never dream of doing that, but I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'm sick of Jack. He had a big part in S4, but really... in my opinion, S4 could have turned out the same if Jack weren't even part of it. I am trying to figure out a way to give Jack an episode, but with limited episodes and my use of 1 on and 1 off there are just too many off island characters who need them.

Working on the mid-point show I am really starting to struggle at how to utilize the pace. I think the episodes may be 1 a week from here on out....

You are right that this is fan fiction and I suppose that is why I'm using background characters and bringing them up front. I, like the rest of you, want to see what happened to Danielle, who was Bernard before the island, where was Cindy the whole time, etc. etc. I do pack in a lot of development into the episodes, but I think with a definate end point we will see the real show do the same. They have a lot of explaining to do and only 36 episodes to do it in.

Or... 38. Oh, and you are right, Widmore was introduced in S2.... my bad.

That start was very interesing we see the mind switching from someone elses point of view. Verrrrrrrrrryyyyyy interesting.

Good characactor writing especially Kate and Jack.

You've had some strange choices in flashbacks. And I like the way Christine is a mystery to us, like Juliet was when she joined. Christine could do a U-turn at any point.

Nice cameo from Arzt.

Hahaha, "The scary bald man".

And I didn't realise that Christine was book by Steven King.

I loved that 'cut the crap' bit when Jack starts teling the count to five thing. I've been waiting 5 seasons for the to happen!

Zach and Emma are her children! And so the plot thickens...

Yeah, I agree the flashbacks were a bit odd now weren't they? I had a reason for that. I wanted to answer some background questions about Christine w/out actually giving Z & E away until the end. Sooo in order I will explain why I chose them.

Flash:

1) I wanted to throw people off as to why Christine was so willing to help the Losties. Using Minkowski not only lets us see where he traveled to in his "shift" but it makes us think Christine is just in this for him. Also, it is an awesome connection.

2) I wanted to put an end to the Troupe storyline that I started. It was a mistake to incorporate him so heavily into the scirpt, but it was needed to get Sun's character rolling in 5.3. Also, I wanted to show Widmore has more to do with the plane crash than we suspected.

3) Troupe/Arzt/Airport scene allowed some foreshadowing you will see in the future. I wanted to put in old Arzty for fun. Wanted to explain why Cindy didn't see Troupe on the plane and didn't know he was on board because she was surprised in 5.2 when she learned he was on it. He was laying low until he could propose to her.

4) Walt/Airport allowed a backstory to Christine's life regarding her situation with her children. Also, it made for a somewhat exciting scene when she realized she was there to collect the boy she had met while in Australia.

5) Totally awesome dramatic scene where we get the "oh snap, that's why she's doing all of this" moment.

All in all, this is one of my favorites so far. I'm glad you liked.

I did, thanks. I thought that your Troupe storyline was quite good in the sense that only did you build on an existing story line you introduced an entirley new one. But I am a little glad you ended it, it was getting confusing.

Oh and if your didn't realise, the reason my comments are all seperate is becuse I'm posting them as I read it. For maxiumum effect.

LoL, I like the post as you go thing. I think that AC did that as well for some of the other episodes. It lets me see the progression of the show in the view of someone else. I like the "ohhhhh so thats why so and so did that... or ohhh so that's it!" comments. LoL. It makes me feel good that I can see the progression of surprise or wonder.

I just looked at AC's post, I also prefer the islad episodes to the off island ones. And also... I'll send you a PM, just in case.

Well, the off island ones get pretty good. There was a lot of set up involved in the beginning that was dry, but they get better.