Lost Rewatch - 5x07 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
“John - you're not really gonna pretend you don't remember that I was an orderly in the hospital right after your accident? That I was the one who told you to go on your walkabout? The same walkabout that put you on the plane that crashed on that Island?”
I want to talk more about Rogue. How she’s left a queen over a broken dream, wearing a crown over a broken ideal and so many deaths.
I think Erik knows. I think his heart aches. Because he’s lived with himself and his survivor’s guilt throughout. And he’s inflicted that on her.
I wonder if she understands. I wonder if she knows the reason why she was the right person for Genosha. I wonder if, once the pain in her heart quiets down, she will truly understand Erik’s ask and the responsibly he needed to share with her. Because she is better than him. Better than anyone who’s only known how to play on just one side of the fence.
Because she is the only one strong enough to overcome.
Everyone is so focused on Magneto and Gambit and what they did. It was astonishing. But we need to talk more about the ones that are left with the excruciating task of having to rise up from the ashes and fill the void.
Oh, actually, this is really exciting.
There are some interesting parallels between Yuji and the white dog (Shiro)
_ They both died on the same day
_ They are friendly
_ Both are trustworthy
_ Megumi was very attached to Shiro
In most mythologies, the white wolf symbolizes protection, intelligence, sociability and compassion, being the antagonistic part of the black wolf.
Yuji is also associated with the white tiger of Byakko, the protector of the western cardinal point (I talked about it in this post), which ended up becoming his nickname at his old school.
The curious point is that one of Megumi's Shikigami is also a tiger that has not yet been shown, which makes him doubly linked to Yuji. It's interesting for me to see how Megumi and Yuji complement each other, whether it's Megumi being the duo's strategist and Yuji the muscles, Yuji being a melee fighter while Megumi is better at long distances. Black and white, like yin yan.
I wonder if the wolf thing was intentional or just an aesthetic choice, although I doubt Gege would approve of something like that if it wasn't to create parallels. This man likes to pair manga with anime.
Overall, I'm just rambling on about these.
After the last chapter, I'm getting impatient with the manga and Gege Akutami.
“the desert” is katara’s most quietly admirable episode; she manages to guide and protect the rest of the gaang while they are in precarious states under unimaginable pressure and with very few resources. katara’s tireless endurance this episode culminates in her bravery as she risks her own safety to comfort aang in the avatar state.
for an audience upon first viewing, her ability to thrive under pressure here may seem like a surprising departure from the impulsive, reactive, sensitive girl we’ve been accustomed to over the past 1.5 seasons. but sokka’s admission in “the runaway” reframes katara’s behavior in this episode.
we know that while the rest of her family was a mess, katara stepped up and gave them hope. she refused to sink into her grief—to abandon the site of her trauma like hakoda did, to give up like kanna did, or to repress and depersonalize like sokka did. she may have a temper and she may not always think things through, but she is able to communicate her emotions and refuses to cut herself off from feeling and processing her grief and rage, which is more than can be said for her brother.
and upon learning this piece of her history, you realize that her indefatigable, relentless hope and care that she displays in “the desert” is actually a pattern of behavior for her that is being repeated. when all hope seems lost and everyone in her life has abandoned faith, katara finds purpose and meaning in being the glue that holds everyone together, even when she is as grief-stricken and exhausted as the rest of them.
in moments of abject despair, katara guides her loved ones and herself out of there desert, both literally and metaphorically. and that is why she is the narrator and the catalyst and the hero of this story of a revolution that successfully destabilizes an oppressive paradigm in the eleventh hour, because she represents the power and importance of organized resistance when all hope is lost, of refusing to give into despair, of continuing to believe in love even in the bleakest, most desperate circumstances, and envisioning a brighter future even (especially) when no one else can.
the mental image of Alex acting all shocked when Jost told him that George is moving to Mercedes like the two of them haven't obviously been gossiping about that for probably as long as George has known is sending me 😭😭😂😂