http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Official_Lost_Podcast_transcript/November_14%2C_2005
Kris White: Now that we're well into Season 2 of Lost, we thought it might be fun to stop for a second and look back at some of the favorite moments from Season 1 through the eyes of several of our castaways. Yes, it's like asking a mother to choose her favorite child, but we figured that Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly and Terry O'Quinn would be up for the task. Of course, it depends how you define "favorite moment". And how you define "define". Are we talking about emotional moments on the show, or scenes that were so physically challenging you can't help but remember them? Evangeline Lilly, who plays the alluring Kate, answered it both ways.
Evangeline Lilly: For me, doing the emotional work is so exhausting and so draining. Doing the stunts is also exhausting, in an envigorating way, so those are usually pretty fun days for me on the set. Then when I watch the show, in hindsight, I think some of my favorite moments have come from the really emotional moments on the show. And I think my number one favorite moment in Season 1 was when Jack and Kate find Charlie strung up in a tree and everyone believes that he is dead. They pan back for that moment of dead silence, almost like standing around his corpse at a funeral. [Soundbite to getting Kate and Jack finding Charlie.] Everybody's convinced that he's dead. It's so tragic and it's so wrong in every sense of the word, and all of the sudden, there's this new life. [Soundbite continues with Charlie revived.] He's back in that. The redemption that comes—I don't use that word a lot for the show, but I really believe that's a main theme in the show. I think people in that moment—I know I did—wept from joy more than they were weeping for sadness when we thought he was dead. When we thought he was dead, it was just this utter shock and devastation, but then there's this emotional rush that comes out when we find out he's alive, and I think that's probably … I cried watching it. It was a scene that I was so involved in. It seemed silly that I was able to watch it and be emotionally unattached to from watching it as an actor, but that was a neat moment.
Kris White: Terry O'Quinn, who plays Locke, also found the emotional moments to be the most satisfying.
Terry O'Quinn: I think some of my favorite moments from Season 1—there are two sets of favorite moments. There are favorite moments that I participated with on the set, and then there are favorite moments that I watched on the television. They weren't always the same favorite moments. Some of my favorite scenes were some of the scenes in "Walkabout" were … the end of "Walkabout" blew me away, where it was revealed that Locke was in a wheelchair and we were burning a plane and when he first stood up … I didn't realize when we shot it, it was going to be powerful, and it was powerful. I enjoyed scenes where I got to sit down and talk to other characters with other actors. With Matthew in an episode called "White Rabbit", where he was chasing his father and we were talking about being a leader and we were in the jungle. [Soundbite of conversation about the "white rabbit" in Alice in Wonderland and hallucinations.] Scenes with Dominic where he was fighting the addiction battle. I like the scenes where my character likes to tell a story and make a point.
Kris White: Of course, every group has a lone dissenter—in this case, Matthew Fox, A.K.A. Dr. Jack Shephard. He opted for the answer, "Let's get physical".
Matthew Fox: I've enjoyed all the action stuff on the show. I suppose that whole swimming sequence I really enjoyed, though I got sicker than hell that day. That was the most physically demanding thing I've ever done as far as telling a story. [Soundbite of swimming to rescue Joanna and Boone.] I have some really fond memories of that day because I got seasick and I was throwing up all over the place. There were so many interesting moments in that day because of the guys that were helping me out there, on jetskis and stuff. These are guys that live in Hawaii and they're very, very athletic, and they're incredibly capable in the water. [Laughs] They're watching me out there, supposed to be rescuing people, and being very heroic, and I'm puking my guts out on my boogie board. Just watching them react to that and not show me their reactions to it. [Soundbite continues.]
Kris White: On a side note, despite his love for skinny-dipping, Matthew Fox was clothed during the filming of that scene. But does that mean he'll always stay that way? Perhaps that's a question for the writers. Which brings us to the heart of why we're here. Namely, what happened last week in the episode, "Abandoned". As we all know, there was a shocking ending with someone's death. Just a warning, folks, if you haven't seen the episode and don't want the surprise ruined, then stop this podcast—now. Alright, now we continue on, as we once again join executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to discuss the upcoming episode, "The Other 48 Days".
Carlton Cuse: Well, hello everybody. I'm Carlton Cuse.
Damon Lindelof: And I'm Damon Lindelof.
Carlton Cuse: And here we are in the second ever podcast for Lost.
Damon Lindelof: Isn't it the second podcast ever?
Carlton Cuse: Yeah.
Damon Lindelof: This is our second podcast ever.
Carlton Cuse: So we wanted to talk a little bit about "The Other 48 Days", which Damon and I actually authored.
Damon Lindelof: That's a fancy word for "wrote".
Carlton Cuse: [Laughs] We wrote … this episode was sort of a concept episode, and it's a little bit different than some of the other episodes on the show.
Damon Lindelof: Yeah, we don't want to spoil too much about it, but y'know, obviously, the idea that …
Carlton Cuse: They've probably already seen promos that show everything that happens.
Damon Lindelof: You think?
Carlton Cuse: No. But at least some of the things. Yeah.
Damon Lindelof: Probably. But I think the idea that every episode of Lost focuses on one character and that character has flashbacks and all that stuff, and every once in a while it's sort of our instinct to shake up the format of the show, so that it keeps people guessing, and you never know what you're going to get any given week. We feel that this episode is sort of not quite an entire departure from what we've done on the show before, but certainly will give audiences a look at a different side of the show.
Carlton Cuse: We thought it would be kind of a cool idea that the big repercussions of Shannon's death in last week's episode—instead of coming back and immediately dealing with the aftermath of Shannon's death—we would sort of take a jump back in time and give the audience more details about what happened during the other 48 days. This other group—we know there were these "tailies"—which is what we refer to the other survivors that were in the tail section, how we refer to them—they've had their own existence for 48 days. We wanted to explain in this episode how they're different, how their experience was a lot different from the fuselage survivors.
Damon Lindelof: Doing that over the just over a single hour episode, it was fairly challenging constructing … it's almost like a clip show for a show you've never seen. You're just picking up moments and what you show, what stories you tell, and what emotional moments you show for the characters bonding. I think one of the things we always try to do on Lost is introduce a character one way where it might be unsympathetic and explain to you how they got to be that way. I think the tail section people are very mysterious, and they've sort of been at odds with … we don't like it when people kick Sawyer or punch him. Hopefully if we begin to explain how they got to be that way, and what their experiences have been since the crash, we might be able to …
Carlton Cuse: Particularly Ana Lucia. I think the audience will, in the course of the next few episodes, really start to see her in a little different of a light. It's one of the things we like to do on the show, we sort of set up an expectation for the character, and then we like to challenge whatever that first expectation that you have for that character by giving you more information that maybe helps you come to a different conclusion. In the beginning of last season Sawyer was not a very popular character, but I think over time, as the audience started to learn more about him and who he was and what his story was, their impression of the character changed a lot. So did you want to talk about Shannon's death at all?
Damon Lindelof: Yeah. Whenever we decide it's time for a character to die on the show, that's a really hard decision that we put a lot of time and thought into in terms of whose death will sort of turn the story the way it needs to be turned. In much the same way that we decided to kill Boone last year, it was big picture thinking in terms of Boone's death would really light the fire under the Jack/Locke conflict. Locke basically being responsible for Boone's death—lying about it. But also, it would sort of force Shannon into sort of a more adult existence on the Island because she had been tethered to her brother for so long. Now this sort of freed her up to be with Sayid. Now, in much the same way, we were talking this year about which character's death would really emotionally and profoundly affect all the other survivors, we sort of came up with Shannon, in that it would sort of spin Sayid off in another direction. Also, the fact that her death would happen in the hands of Ana Lucia and force this very sort of messy conflict between the tailies and our fuselage folk. Especially because, for all intents and purposes, at least the way we were looking at it from last week's episode, it could have been an accident. In fact, it looks very much like that. So, it just becomes a very interesting conflict for them.
Carlton Cuse: Yeah, and when we actually take the story to the next step—I mean what happens between Sayid and Shannon is going to be a very big part of that ongoing story. Again, Shannon's death will have repercussions that will last over a whole series of episodes and really inform the merge between these two groups of survivors.
Damon Lindelof: Also, just a word about Maggie Grace's performance in last week's episode.
Carlton Cuse: Awesome!
Damon Lindelof: She was just unbelievable. You get to this really emotional level with the character, and you finally understand, "Oh, this is why she was the way she was." Then she's gone and I think what's been probably fairly hard for Maggie as an actress is that her character is a bitch, we wrote her that way for an entire season …
Carlton Cuse: Intentionally. We needed someone who we'd push against. It's always, you always need some sort of opposition and character conflict, and she unfortunately had to carry that as her assignment as an actor on a show.
Damon Lindelof: Then last week she got this opportunity to show a lot of different colors, and then, y'know. When we were sitting in the editing room and we see that moment where she dies, I really felt this intense, emotional sense of loss. I think we sort of looked at each other and said "Wow", maybe we shouldn't have …
Carlton Cuse: Fall back …
Damon Lindelof: … Maybe we shouldn't have done that. Hopefully the audience sort of had the same reaction.
Carlton Cuse: Should we do a few questions here?
Damon Lindelof: I wish we would. I'd like to ask you this first question because I know that this is one that you're personally invested in.
Carlton Cuse: OK.
Damon Lindelof: "Jate4Ever". Apparently "Jate" is sort of the combination between Jack and Kate. So it's just sort of shortened, like Kirk and Spock would be …
Carlton Cuse: Kirspock.
Damon Lindelof: Well, Spirk, or something else which I will not say on the podcast. [Carlton laughs.] I'm not going to say it! But if it were Spirk, it would be something.
Carlton Cuse: Imaginations are good enough.
Damon Lindelof: Anyway, "Jate4Ever" asks, "Will Jack and Kate get together this season?"
Carlton Cuse: "Jate4Ever", thank you for your question. The answer is … a qualified "yes".
Damon Lindelof: Whoah.
Carlton Cuse: Sort of.
Damon Lindelof: Well, that's not much of a qualified "yes".
Carlton Cuse: Yes, they are. Damon is giving me a hard time because I'm always very focused on this whole romantic triangle part of the show. It's definitely something that we just never thought we'd have a chance to get to. Because of the intensity of what was going on narratively last season. But this season? We're definitely getting to it. So, yes, you can expect some things to heat up between Jack and Kate.
Damon Lindelof: Which we've kind of been playing with already, sort of moving forward. I think with Sawyer on the other side of the Island.
Carlton Cuse: We didn't have any nude swim races though.
Damon Lindelof: That's true.
Carlton Cuse: There's much more along the lines, and the whole Kate/Jack/Sawyer triangle, and then Ana Lucia kind of coming in to make it a quadrangle, is very much going to be part of the show moving forward. Now how about a question for you?
Damon Lindelof: Please. I would love it if you asked.
Carlton Cuse: OK. "BlackRockDown" asks … and, "BlackRockDown", pretty self-explanatory, wouldn't you say?
Damon Lindelof: It's sort of like Blackhawk Down, except…
Carlton Cuse: "BlackRockDown".
Damon Lindelof: That's a clever play on that, because the ship on our island, for those of you not familiar with the finale, they find a big pirate—it looks like a pirate vessel, but it's actually a …
Carlton Cuse: It's an early 18 … it's like a 19th century sailing ship.
Damon Lindelof: Frigate? Can I say that?
Carlton Cuse: I dunno if you can … it might be a clipper.
Damon Lindelof: It could be a clipper. It's a big ship in the middle of the jungle.
Carlton Cuse: It's nowhere near water. It's out in the middle of the Island.
Damon Lindelof: There's dynamite on there.
Carlton Cuse: And a bunch of mining equipment.
Damon Lindelof: It's where Arzt blows up.
Carlton Cuse: And there were slaves chained inside it. And it remains one of our standing mysteries, which is: there's more to be learned about The Black Rock and why it came to be in the middle of the Island and how it relates to the story. Here's the question, Damon: "were the various wrecks and strandings on the Island caused by the same thing?"
Damon Lindelof: Wow. That's a big one. I would say, sort of globally … yeah. They are caused by the same thing. What that thing is is just as mysterious as why there's a higher incidence of crashes in the area that's the Bermuda Triangle, but I think that the reason that the Island draws people and things to it, is a sort of universal thing as opposed to a series of arbitrary things or accidents. So, yes, I would.
Carlton Cuse: That was good.
Damon Lindelof: Yeah, sort of answered without really answering it.
Carlton Cuse: Which is pretty much all we can do because …
Damon Lindelof: Can I ask you a question now, Carlton?
Carlton Cuse: Yes.
Damon Lindelof: "LostFan05Lib", underscore "Lib", asks … 'cause I guess, "LostFan05" was already taken … so you had to do the …
Carlton Cuse: You think "05" is like the 5th fan? Or like, "2005"?
Damon Lindelof: I think … I don't know. I'm going to go with "2005".
Carlton Cuse: Oh, Ok.
Damon Lindelof: But that's just me. "Some folks analyze every minute detail of the show. Is this really necessary to understand the plot of the show? For example, if one doesn't read The Third Policeman, will it affect their overall understanding of the show?" [Laughing] I'm laughing because neither of us have read The Third Policeman. We know what it's about, though, and we hear it's very good.
Carlton Cuse: One of the writers on the show had read The Third Policeman, and is a very literate fellow named Craig Wright, but we haven't read it, so you probably don't have to read The Third Policeman …
Damon Lindelof: Carlton and I only read books with pictures in them.
Carlton Cuse: [Laughs] Exactly. So, you really don't. I think that there are a lot of minute details - and we have our Easter eggs that we bury and we hide on the show - but you can enjoy the show on many levels. It's like a baseball game. You can go to a baseball game and if you don't know anything about baseball, you can watch people hit the ball and run and score runs. If you're really into baseball, you can look at a particular pitching match-up, and you know about a particular pitcher and what he throws to a certain batter, and you can somehow appreciate the game on a much deeper level because you understand the participants. But you can still enjoy that same game whether you have in-depth knowledge or you have less knowledge. So, again, maybe for the podcast fans for this second week too, could you kind of just summarize what's happened in the series so far, Damon?
Damon Lindelof: Yeah, again, just to break it down? There's a plane crash, lotta people freaked out, Monster, jungle, Locke, wheelchair, healed, Jack, dead body, sees coffin, water, Charlie, heroin, Sayid finds a wire, crazy French woman, steals a baby, they get the baby back, [Carlton interjects "Yes", "Very crazy", "Smoke" etc in between] there's a Monster, that's smokey too, there's a hatch, they go in there, there's a dude in the Hatch [Carlton: "Desmond"], pushing the button every 108 minutes or else the world ends, or so he's told. That's pretty much it.
Carlton Cuse: Now you're all set to roll into "The Other 48 Days". Thank you, Damon.
Damon Lindelof: Thank you, Carlton.
Carlton Cuse: We'll talk to you guys later.
Damon Lindelof: Yay.
Kris White: And that concludes our second podcast. Join us next week for an exclusive interview with one of the mysterious tail section survivors, actress Cynthia Watros, who plays the character Libby. Remember, you can get additional content and submit your own fan questions for Cynthia or the writers at lost.abc.com.
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