Author Archive

Goodbye, Dad.

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Eliot, 19 — Nancy (France) :

My Lost Moment happens in Season 3, when Ben and his father drive to the hill for a beer. It turns out to be their ultimate discussion. Benjamin solemnly asks his father if he really holds a grudge against him for having killed his mother when he was born. Roger can’t really answer him. This is very touching, but Ben is ice-cold. He shows no emotion — then put a gas mask under his father’s eyes, who doesn’t seem to understand what’s happening. Without a glance for his father, Ben proceeds to open the gas cylinder. While Roger spits blood, agonizing, you can feel Ben’s coldness in his eyes, matched by an intense soundtrack. Then he returns to Dharmaville. Terrific piano theme. All those bodies on the ground, innocent people who probably met the same distressed fate as his father… Those images, combined with the music, really are THE Lost Moment that could make me cry, because even if Ben looks unfazed, you can already tell the sadness and remorse in him.

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You can’t be… a superhero

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

JB, 28 – Paris (France) :

This is one of the flashback scenes in Cabin Fever, the season 4, perfectly titled episode about Locke’s connexion with the Island at crucial moments of his life. Locke is a nerdy teenager, the butt of the joke of his whole high school. His science teacher finds him trapped in a… locker. He brings him in his office and proceeds to tell him about the summer camp of a Portland-based company called Mittelos Laboratories. Locke is less than thrilled. “I like boxing and fishing and cars. I like sports!“, he says. His teacher turns pale, marks a pause, and goes on with a 15-second speech that, to me, became one of the most powerful lines in Lost, ever : “I’m gonna tell you something – something I wish someone had told me at your age : you might not want to be that guy in the labs surrounded by test tubes and beakers… but that’s who you are, John. You can’t be the prom king. You can’t be the quarterback. You can’t be… a superhero.”
I don’t know the name of the actor who portrayed this teacher, but I can’t think of any other actor in Lost who has used such a short screen time so intensely. Plus the line completely captures one the key notion of Lost : being able to “let go” and accepting who you are. A monologue so great it almost eclipses the iconic Locke signature phrase that comes as a sharp reply from Young John : “Don’t tell me what I can’t do“.

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