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Lost
The
Man From Tallahassee
Airdate: 03.21.2007
Wait. Isn’t
Sawyer the “man from Tallahassee?” Oh no, I
must’ve been thinking of the con man. Oh, but isn’t
Sawyer a con man from Tallahassee? I’m confused.
OK,
enough of this facetiousness. It’s fairly obvious
that Lost has a thing for double-crossing daddies
and seedy con jobs. It’s like a fix the show can’t
live without. There just has to be a point to all of this,
right?
First
let’s look at the location – Tallahassee. How
many connections to do we have so far? Well, aside from
Sawyer and Anthony Cooper (if that is his real name), wasn’t
Kate picked up by the feds while purchasing a ticket to
Tallahassee?
Could
be coincidence, but then again, when it comes to this show
nothing is coincidental. For example, we’ve learned
from her back-story that Juliet received her B.S. in Biology
from Florida State University, and she was working in a
biological research lab. I did a search for “Florida
State University bioengineering” and turned up another
interesting connection – Florida State University
is home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
Now
wait, what was one of the fields of study the DeGroots were
pioneering in the Swan Station Dharma Orientation film?
According
to their
website, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory,
or the “Magnet Lab” for short, is the “largest
and highest powered magnet laboratory in the world”
and their "most powerful magnets produce fields more
than a million times stronger than the Earth's magnetic
field.”
By the
way, did I fail to mention that Florida State University
is located in Tallahassee?
So,
it appears that Tallahassee is not only centrifugal to some
of the connections between characters, but also a significant
tie to magnetism and the practices of the Dharma Initiative.
The real question is how Anthony Cooper, a self-proclaimed
con man from Tallahassee, ties into the Others and their
efforts on the island.
Was
he working for them, or the Mittellos Bioscience Corporation?
Then
there is the question of Ben’s description of “the
box,” and Locke’s response to this explanation
of the island. Ben tells Locke that there is a sort of “box”
on the island, and it causes whatever you desire to automagically
surface on the island.
It is
suggested that this is how Anthony Cooper is brought to
the island, but Locke’s reaction to Ben’s story
seems to counter it altogether. Locke claims that Ben is
mistaken about the island, and its capabilities. His reaction
implies that he may know more about the island that we initially
suspected. Is his devotion to the island merely due to the
fact that he is no longer paralyzed?
This
brings to mind something Mikhail said to Locke, Sayid, and
Kate in “Par Avion.”
When pressed about the list, and why they are not on it,
Mikhail exclaims that they are each strangers to him, except
Locke. Why?
It could
be that Mikhail was toying with Kate, Sayid, and Locke –
facetiously claiming that they are strangers to him while
rattling off a laundry list of personal information about
each one of them.
While
this was definitely his unspoken message to Kate and Sayid,
there was something more behind his quip directed at Locke.
He implied that he knew him well, and considering John’s
seemingly solid understanding of the island, it wouldn’t
surprise me if this were the case.
MacCutcheon
Watch: Everyone’s favorite whiskey turned
up once again. This time Anthony Cooper pours Locke a glass
before pushing him out of an eighth story window, fracturing
his spine, and paralyzing him. Cooper’s move, in clear
reference to the MacCutcheon defense in chess, was a defensive
one – he was trying to protect his con man status
from being exposed by Locke.
Next
time: Like Desmond, the Lost writers get a second
chance to undo a tragic mistake. Unlike Desmond, they set
things straight and we bid adieu to Nikki and Paulo.
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