I Took The Wrong Pill

Last night I caught the beginning of The Matrix Reloaded on cable. The first thing I noticed was that Harold Perrineau of "LOST" plays Link, which means that I hadn't seen this movie since I started watching back in 2005. The second thing I noticed was...it was kind of stupid. Guess I have really moved on.

You see, I had a passionate love affair with The Matrix. It started off healthy enough. Back in 1999, I caught my first glimpse of it. It looked intriguing. I liked what I saw. So in April of 1999, I saw it in theaters. I was blown away. Completely in love. Couldn't wait to be together again. So I grabbed some other friends who knew nothing about it and dragged them to it.

Later I got the film on DVD and watched it a few more times. It always made me happy. Maybe this whole thing was a little annoying to outsiders, but really they were just jealous. This was still nothing out of the ordinary.

Then things started to get bad.

I bought The Matrix Revisited, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film with tons of footage. I wanted to know everything about it. But instead of making us closer, it just made me wish there was more to see. (To this day, I still haven't watched much of it. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.

Upon hearing that the plan was to make it a trilogy, I was beyond excited. I was...obsessed. It wasn't healthy. (I know that now.) But I liked it, and I thought that it liked me. So I went with it.

I read everything I could about The Matrix Reloaded. About the massive fight scene and the freeway chase scene. (I still think it's really cool that they BUILT part of a freeway in order to have complete freedom while filming it.) I knew that they planned for it to end with a "cliffhanger," though the ending they ultimately went with was far from one, in my opinion.

Knowing all of this impaired my initial viewing experience somewhat because I was dying in anticipation for the two huge action sequences, and near the end I kept trying to guess where it was going to cut off.

But I didn't mind. Besides, I had other viewings to make up for it. (More on that in a second.)

Prior to and immediately following the second film's release, I purchased the following things:
The Animatrix (still pretty cool, actually)

The Animatrix soundtrack (Mistakenly, as it came in a package with the above DVD, and I thought it meant the soundtrack to the first film.)

Enter the Matrix (not cool, actually)

Matrix action figures (only two)

And I wrote a review/theory blog entry so long, I'm surprised it didn't break a server.

Pretty bad, right? I didn't know what I was doing to myself. But that's not even the worst part.

I saw The Matrix Reloaded in theaters FIVE TIMES. Three of those times were in the first 24 HOURS.

And later I wrote a blog entry so long that I'm surprised it didn't destroy a server.

Yeah, it was bad. I wouldn't listen to critics (professional or my friends) who pointed out that the fight scene between Neo and hundreds of Agent Smiths was pointless because it accomplished nothing, and he just ran away at the end. I gave a far-fetched reason to try to justify it.

And I wouldn't listen to those that said it was style over substance, relying too much on its camera effects. My argument was that it INVENTED the effects, so it could use them as much as it wanted.

I'd probably still be locked in this unhealthy relationship if it wasn't for The Matrix Revolutions, which crushed my soul. Talk about a bad break-up.

I could spend pages talking about why I hated that movie, but instead I'll just say this: While seeing it in the theater, I had to pee badly for the last twenty-five minutes. After it was all said and done, I wish I had just gone to pee. That would have been much more interesting that what I saw.

So my love dissipated, and I hadn't seen anything other the first film until last night. In addition to watching the beginning, I checked out the freeway chase scene.

While some stuff is cool, I was underwhelmed. Definitely style over substance.

We had fun, Matrix, but I'm happy now. Stay out of my life.

Category Five: 5 Questions Posed By The "LOST" Finale

I think it goes without saying based on the title, but here's a warning: THERE BE SPOILERS!





#5: Are Jin & Claire really dead?

Both of these questions were actually posed in earlier episodes, but since they went unanswered in the finale, we still want answers. It seems odd to me that they'd reveal two deaths in the "present." Sure, it creates the mystery of what happened to him (I know I was clenching my fists hoping Jin wouldn't be stubborn and stay in the room with Michael.), but it's a gimmick that can't work over and over. Locke's definitely dead, and we want to know why. Jin's situation is still up in the air.

Considering that we never actually saw him die, I think there's a good chance that he's still alive. After all, Sun must be up to something if she's offering to help Mr. Widmore. (The obvious reason would be that she discovered it was Ben's actions that caused the explosion that killed Jin, but "LOST" has never been one for the obvious.)

Claire very well could be dead, but if she is, they handled it in a very strange way. She wanders off (or is lead off) into the jungle and dies somewhere? It's unfair to not at least show something that could imply her death. (At least we saw Dr. Shepard's dead body off the island before he started hanging out in Jacob's pad.)

After Kate's dream I was inclined to believe that Claire was 100% absolutely dead until I remembered that Walt has appeared to people and is still very much alive. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's the only live person that's appeared to people like that.)

I'd say the odds are high that only one of them is dead, and my money's on Claire.

#4: Who's where?

Of course, if Jin ISN'T dead, then where the hell is he? And what happened to Faraday and the people in the motorboat with him? Did the island somehow take everyone in the surrounding water with it when it moved, but leave the helicopter?

It's possible that the helicopter was just "out of range," but the boat that blew up was further away. So if Jin (and anyone else on the boat) didn't die in the explosion, he either got transported or drowned, because there was certainly no sign of life later.

If the island DID take Faraday and the boat with them, then it seems like a bad safety device. If people are approaching, and you need to escape, it doesn't really help if you bring them along with you.

#3: How exactly is lying protecting anyone?

I've been wondering this for awhile now, and the finale did little to answer this question. By lying about what happened, the Oceanic Six are preventing the media and...well, the entire world, basically...from investigating and trying to find this crazy island.

But the real threat is Mr. Widmore and his people, and he already KNOWS they are lying. While I believe they'd lie to prevent an investigation, I don't see how it's protecting them from him. Couldn't he just kidnap and torture them until someone starts talking? (Not that they could really tell him that much, since the island disappeared and all.)

Perhaps the survivors quickly realize this plan isn't working. After all, it's implied that Nadia was killed simply because of her connection to Sayid. But while they're being watched, no one seems to be doing anything about it.

Sure, they could just be waiting to follow them back to the island, but hasn't Mr. Widmore ever considered practicality.

#2: How/why did Locke leave the island?

Given what we saw in the finale, this might seem obvious. He moved the island, perhaps as a necessity to save it from all the "bad things" that happened after Jack and the others left. But that might be too easy.

Obviously this was the biggest cliffhanger of the finale. We want to know what lead to Locke's departure from the island and eventual death. Do other people attack it? Do the Others revolt against him?

I fail to see how the story of Jack and the rest of the six heading back in the present can rival the "backstory" of what went down on the island without them. But the writers have surprised me time and time again, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

#1: Did Ben know he was merely a placeholder?

The "Cabin Fever" episode gave us a lot of insight into Locke's story. Ageless Richard visited him when he was a mere boy, but he wasn't ready. This is very similar to young Ben finding Ageless Long-haired Richard in the forest and being told the time wasn't right. Given that Ben and Locke seem to be around the same age, I'm still not sure which of the two encounters came first.

Considering Ben's huge resentment against Locke (testing him, shooting him, leaving him for dead, etc.), it seems that he discovered that it was John's fate to take his place as leader of the Others. And though he seemed perfectly composed when he shot Locke near the end of last season, we know for a fact that he loses his cool from time to time. So maybe he just got jealous.

I think it wasn't until the island healed John, and he did everything he could to prevent the freighter people from finding them that Ben finally accepted that he had to hand over the reins.

There's a chance they'll go into more detail about this, but there's also a chance they won't address it any more. I'm not necessarily saying that I NEED any more details. I just think it was the most interesting revelation of the episode and adds a lot to the mythology of both characters, especially Ben.