Introduction
Here we go folks! The main event has begun. Welcome to the first annual DarkUFO Lost Fantasy League. Season 4 has begun and it's starting to look like we may be getting more than just the eight episodes that were finished before the writers strike commenced.
We were treated to a doozy of an episode in "The Beginning of the End" and I'm sure that is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what Damon and Carlton have in store for us. Every Monday evening (US Eastern time) check in here to see the latest Fantasy Update, hosted by me, G-Man.
Please keep in mind that the LFL is a "No Spoiler Zone." We ask that you refrain from referring to or outright leaking any spoilers or spoilerish information in the comments section out of respect for those of us who have remained either mostly or entirely spoiler-free during the Hiatus.
Check out the video on your left for a semi-brief overview of this week's highlights. Read through the sections below to get a more in-depth understanding of how the scores came out the way they did and be sure to check on where your team stands in the Statistics and Tables section. If you have any questions, either ask them in the comments section or email them to LFLquestions@gmail.com.
“The Beginning of the End” (in 500 words or less)
What a way to get the ball rolling! Season 4 kicks things off in high gear.
Help is on the way, Ben continues to dispense warnings, and Naomi has apparently pulled a Season 7 lumbering off into the jungle. Jack is so smug and content with himself for making the call that will lead to their rescue that he brushes off Kate’s superior female intuition about the possibility that Naomi left two blood trails. That’s right, silly Kate! Why don’t you just sit there, caught in the dreaded love triangle and not show any character growth, while a man tells you what to do? Seriously, when has Jack ever been wrong about anything?
In an act of well-deserved revenge, Kate swipes the satellite phone from Jack while pretending to show affection. Ben notices and gives her mad non-verbal bug-eyed props for it. Jack and Rousseau, with Ben in tow, follow the wrong trail, which only leads to Ben cracking some delicious one-liners to Jack. Kate follows the right blood trail and is attacked by Naomi. She calls her fellow boat people and covers for the fact that Locke tried to turn her into an Island shish kebob. Her people have a lock on the Island’s location and are evidently on their way.
Meanwhile, Hurley’s celebratory cannonball leaves him all wet and mopey when Desmond returns with news of Charlie’s death and the fact that the people on the freighter may be dangerous. Like any rational soul would, Hurley chucks the radio into the ocean, forcing them to deliver Charlie’s dying message in person.
When everybody meets up at the cockpit, Hurley tells Claire the sad news, everyone pouts, Jack attacks Locke, the camp divides into two groups, and most importantly, absolutely nobody kisses. That’s right, two couples are reunited, everyone is buzzing about the impending rescue, but no one kisses anybody. We’ve had random kisses and hookups in the jungle, sweaty cage romps and developing romances, but when people think they’re getting saved, they just….hug?
In our flashbacks- no, flashforwards- we see a frazzled Hurley on the run from the cops. Well, actually he’s on the run from a vision of Charlie standing by the Ho-Ho’s. He willingly goes back to Santa Rosa, where he’s visited by a creepy man claiming to be from Oceanic (buy that one and I’ve got some Nigerian uranium to sell you), who asks Hurley “Are they still alive?” Michael Abbadon, welcome to the Creepy Club! You’ll fit in quite well with Ethan and Ben.
Hurley is visited again by a vision of Charlie, who claims that “They need you.” Oh, the mystery runs deeper still! Hurley counts to five and Charlie disappears. Later on, a clean-cut, beardless Jack pays dear Hugo a visit. He saw Hurley’s Gone in 60 Seconds routine on TV and wants to make sure that Hurley isn’t losing it; wants to make sure that Hurley isn’t “going to tell.” Tell what, you ask? Well that’s another tale for another day.
1. Nobody earns First Line or Last Line points for the episode. For the Fantasy League, the first line is considered to be the TV reporter covering the high speed chase. The last line in the episode was spoken by the parachutist, who is a non-League character.
2. Jack only gets points once for appearing in Hurley’s flashforwards. Since the linear narrative of the flashforwards was not interrupted by any shifts in time, Jack’s appearances occur as a part of the linear narrative.
3. Jack yanking on the ropes is considered an injury. Both he and Ben lost points accordingly. Jack didn’t need to yank on the rope like that. He did it to cause discomfort to Ben, who had been dispensing a couple of good zingers in his direction up to that point.
4. Jack and Locke only lose points once for their altercation at the cockpit. There was a commercial break cutting it in half and when we returned from commercial it appears that Jack takes another swing at Locke. This is all considered one injury sequence despite the slight pause while Jack pointed the gun at Locke and pulled the trigger.
5. Hurley loses points for being injured by the cops. When he tried to run away from them at the beginning of the episode, they slammed him up against a wall. Enough force was used to justify a points deduction.
6. Both of Hurley’s visions of Charlie are being considered Island visions. While he’s not actually on the Island, DarkUFO and I feel as though there is something more to these visions than just Hurley going off the deep end. Both visions are considered separate visions so Hurley gets points for each one. If we learn later on that these visions are just Hurley’s mind at work, these points will be taken away.
7. The scenes involving Jacob’s shack were very interesting to score. We believe that Hurley actually saw Jacob’s shack, so Hurley does not get Island vision points for the incident. The appearance of Christian Shephard in Jacob’s chair was equally confusing. Until we know more about what happened there, both Christian and Jacob are getting points for appearing. Hurley is getting points for discovering a new person in Christian/Jacob and also for encountering Jacob. If and when information comes out from Damon and Carlton as to what happened here and who was involved, we will come back and adjust the points accordingly. We did not award Jacob/Christian points for discovering a new person for Hurley’s presence, since Hurley found him/them and he/they did not seem to notice Hurley outside the window (I am a firm believer that we saw Locke’s eye).
8. Hurley loses points for getting slapped by Charlie. Whether he was just a dream or an actual Island vision, Charlie slapped Hurley and that was real. Besides, the rules state that anything happening during the runtime of the episode counts for points.
9. No flashback points are awarded for the semi-flashback clip of Charlie and Desmond in the Looking Glass. I don’t think this was meant as an actual flashback. It was more of a rehash clip directed at the audience, not a memory for our Losties. Hurley was talking about Charlie’s sacrifice when the clips appeared on screen but Hurley was not there to see it happen.
10. Penny gets appearance points. During the aforementioned rehash of footage from the Looking Glass, Penny is just barely visible in the lower left corner of the screen when we’re looking at the porthole from Charlie’s POV. She is on the comm screen. Her appearance is about as quick as Jacob’s in "The Man Behind the Curtain," but you can spot her in a screencap if you catch it just right.
11. Hurley does not lose points for crashing his car at the beginning of the episode. Yes, it was a violent experience, but he wasn’t hurt by it.
12. Hurley’s encounter with Michael Abbadon does not count for new person points. Abbadon sought Hurley out.
13. Jack and Kate’s discovery of the parachutist does count for new person points. While the Losties already know that the freighter people exist, they were not told that one would be dropping in like that.
Group 1-
JACK (+65): Attendance (+5); First On Screen (+15); Appears in Hurley's Flashforwards (+25); Injures Ben- Sharp yank on the ropes tied to his wrists (-5); Injures Locke- Attacks him at the cockpit (-5); Discovers a New Person- Man parachuting out of helicopter (+20); Last Person on Screen (+10)
KATE (+15): Attendance (+5); Gets Hurt- Attacked by Naomi (-10); Discovers a New Person- Man parachuting out of helicopter (+20)
SAWYER (+5): Attendance (+5)
LOCKE (-5): Attendance (+5); Gets Hurt- Attacked by Jack (-10)
BEN (-15): Attendance (+5); Gets Hurt- Punched by Danielle (-10); Gets Hurt- Jack yanks on the rope attached to his wrists (-10)
Group 2-
HURLEY (+200): Attendance (+5); Episode Centricity (+25); Flashforward (+20); Gets Hurt- Slammed against wall by the cops (-10); Has an Island Vision- Charlie swimming into the interrogation room glass (+30); Discovers a New Place- Jacob's shack (+20); Hears the Whispers (+30); Discovers a New Person- Jacob/Christian/??? (+20); Encounter Jacob (+40); Has an Island Vision- Charlie Appears at the Mental Institution (+30); Gets Hurt- Charlie slaps him (-10)
DESMOND (+5): Attendance (+5)
JULIET (+5): Attendance (+5)
SAYID (+5): Attendance (+5)
MICHAEL (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 3-
CLAIRE (+5): Attendance (+5)
JACOB (+5): Attendance (+5)
JIN (+5): Attendance (+5)
SUN (+5): Attendance (+5)
ROUSSEAU (0): Attendance (+5); Injures Ben- punches him (-5)
Group 4-
ALEX (+5): Attendance (+5)
BERNARD (+5): Attendance (+5)
KARL (+5): Attendance (+5)
ROSE (+5): Attendance (+5)
WALT (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 5-
AARON (+5): Attendance (+5)
PENNY (+5): Attendance (+5)
CINDY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MARVIN CANDLE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
RICHARD (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 6-
ETHAN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
LIBBY (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MS. HAWKING (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
RACHEL (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
WIDMORE (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
Group 7-
CHRISTIAN (+5): Attendance (+5)
KELVIN (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
KEVIN CALISS (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
MR. PAIK (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
NADIA (-5): Absent from Episode (-5)
As mentioned in the video, we have a 17-way tie for first place after Week 1. This means that there were 17 Fantasy Geniuses of the Week. Congratulations are in order for the following contestants:
-Clau
-EducatedHorse73
-Ellie
-EllieAtWHL
-Gawain
-Hearts And Minds
-Heather Anderson
-Kath
-Log&blogs
-Loquo
-Mfll
-Paul Reynolds
-Ryan
-Shamrocker
-Tenenbaum
-The Vindicator
-Tsara90
All of these contestants managed to score the highest possible total for the episode, 280 points. What a start to your Fantasy season!
To get the full score, each of them had to have Jack (+65), Hurley (+200) and Christian (+5). In Group 3, Claire, Jacob, Jin and Sun all got the same amount of points (+5), making them interchangeable. The same applies for Group 4, where Alex, Bernard, Karl or Rose would have sufficed for 5 points, while you needed either Aaron or Penny for Group 5 for their 5 points. Group 6 are our first Lost Fantasy Losers, with none of them showing up in the episode.
Table Toppers
Celebrity Table
Character Groups
Scoring Chart
To see the full table and your position click the link below.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pXy_MMpweXkAkMEOuxvVeBg
I have no predictions for the next episode. It is titled "Confirmed Dead." Not a very comforting thing to hear. It sounds like it might pertain to the supposed discovery of Oceanic Flight 815 at the bottom of the ocean with all its passengers aboard. Maybe there will also be some kind of tie-in with the Find 815 ARG that had been running all during January.
All I know for sure is that it's another episode of Lost, which is great!
Come back next Monday and find out how your team is doing with a second episode in the books. With the big boost Hurley gave his Fantasy owners, a lot of us have some serious catching up to do.
