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| Opposites |
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LOST
is the opposite of WON |
Beginning
with the title of the show,
there are many examples of opposites throughout LOST.
Even
the episode titles for S2E14 "One of Them" and S3E16
"One of Us", could be included in this category.
Some
of the most evident examples involve the Science vs. Faith,
Black vs. White and Good vs. Bad themes. But, there are others
that are not quite as obvious and they have been increasing
in their occurrence.
The
Season 4
cast photo also has an interesting combination of Opposites.
If you look closely at the water, there is a shadow of a skyline
instead of the shadow of the island
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Good
vs. Bad |
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Black
vs. White |
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Science
vs. Faith |
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| Good
vs. Bad
The
Good vs. Bad themes were present in Season 1 and most of the
references to a person being 'good' or 'bad' are when a character
is referring to someone other than themself. Season 1 examples
include Rose telling Jack he's "a good soul" in
S1E4, Richard Malkin telling Claire that the prospective adoptive
parents "are good people" in S1E15, Hurley saying
that Scott Jackson "was a good guy" in S1E15 and
Christian Shephard telling Sawyer that Jack "is a good
man, maybe a great one" in S1E16.
Only one character is ever identified with the word 'bad'
in Season 1, that occurs when Charlie says "Ethan's the
bad guy" in S1E15.
Season
2 was completely different, as many characters began to be
adamant about claiming that they were 'good' and not 'bad'.
Season
2 examples of characters claiming they were 'good' include
Charlie saying "I was a good person" in S2E10 and
Sayid saying "I was a good man" in S1E14.
Season
2 had a few examples of characters identifying themselves
as 'bad'. For example, in S2E12 Sawyer tells Charlie "I
am not a good man" and in S2E19 Kate claims that she
and Jack are "Damaged Goods". Hurley even asks Sun
the question "So Seoul, is that in the good Korea or
the bad Korea?"
During the Season 2 flash backs we began seeing more and more
evidence that each main character has both a 'good' and a
'bad' side. Below is a list of the main characters and some
of their 'good' and 'bad' characteristics.
While
these are valid descriptions of their main characteristics,
the 'good' vs. 'bad' designations in the show are actually
a bit more complex and are essential to playing the game.
See Roles and
Playing to understand the importance of these designations.
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Sawyer
The
con man with a heart of gold who walked out of a scam because
he wouldn't take advantage of a kid
The nasty con man who killed Frank Druckett in cold blood |
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Hurley
Gives away food and tries to be friends with everyone
Hordes food and money |
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Jin
The nice guy who loves his wife and wants to get away from her
father, Mr. Paik
Bound to Mr. Paik as a hit man and an abusive husband |
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Sun
Loves Jin, believes in his goodness and decides to stay with
him
Wants to leave Jin and had an affair with Jae Lee |
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Sayid
The man who secretly fed Nadia when she was a prisoner and helped
her to escape
The man cold enough to torture people, including Nadia, Fallah
and Sawyer |
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Eko
The compassionate priest who builds the church
The drug smuggler who impersonates a priest and kills the Moroccan
drug dealers |
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Claire
Caring mother who fights off The Others who are trying to take
her baby
Uncaring mother willing to give Aaron up for adoption |
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Michael
Eager to raise Walt and trying hard to be a good father
Has a short temper with Walt and is reluctant to raise him (his
phone call in the airport to his mother) |
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Walt
The good kid who does what he is told by Michael
The 'special', slightly creepy kid who does not listen to Michael |
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Locke
Person who just wants love and acceptance from the father who
rejected him
Angry man who is compulsive about getting into the hatch and
pushing the button and who assaults both Boone and Sayid |
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Kate
Daughter who would do anything for her mother and is a leader
Capable of blowing up her step-father and shooting her bank
robber buddies |
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Jack
The
heroic doctor and leader
The reluctant leader who may be an alcoholic like his father |
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Charlie
Nice guy trying to get over his addiction and who cares for
Claire and Aaron
Drug addict who stole from a girlfriend to support his drug
habit and endangered Aaron |
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Desmond
Nice guy conned by Kelvin Inman and in love with Penny Widmore
Ex-con whose reason for being in jail hasn't been disclosed
yet |
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Juliet
Fertility doctor who cares for the Others
Wants Jack to kill Ben and will do anything to get off of the
island |
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Ben/Fake
Henry
Good Guy as he says he is, or Bad Guy leader of the Others? |
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Black
vs. White
The
Black vs. White themes are evident everywhere, from the Dharma
logos, to the stones found near Adam & Eve in S1E6, to
the two sides of the eyeglasses that Jack makes for Sawyer
in S1E19.
"Two
players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark." Locke
S1E2
Below
is a partial list of just some of the black & white references
divided by categories. They are so numerous that I have decided
to just accept the fact that they are there and I no longer
document them.
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| Black
& White Monsters |
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S3E5
Eko sees black smoke monster
S3E5 Locke says he saw a white light monster in S1E4 |
| Black
& White Stones |
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S1E10
Locke's eyes
S1E6 Stones with Adam & Eve
S2E1 GO or Pente Stones on game on table |
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| Black
& White Couples |
S1E1
Walt & Vincent
S1E14 Susan Lloyd & Brian Porter
S2E4 Rose & Bernard |
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| Black
& White Toys |
S1E2
Backgammon
S1E2 Checkers
S1E2 Dice
S1E17 Chess
S1E17 Dominoes
S1E21 Soccer Ball
S2E2 Dart board
S2E8 Crossword Puzzle |
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| Black
& White Clothes |
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S1E1
Charlie's shoes
S2E10 Yemi, Eko and other priests
S2E3 Marvin Candle's tie
S1E19 Sawyer's glasses
S2E23 Penny's blouse is black in the photo
seen in S2E23 and is white in the photo
seen in S2E24 |
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& White Hatch Items |
S2E1
Numbers on countdown clock
S2E1 Dharma logos
S2E3 Orientation Film
S2E21 Notebooks in the Pearl Station
S2E21 Pearl Orientation Video
S2E7 Bible in the Arrow Hatch |
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Science
vs. Faith
The Science vs. Faith theme is generally identified with Jack
and Locke (S2E1 Title Man of Science, Man of Faith). Of all
the characters on the show to date, these are the two characters
that are most closely identified as being strictly one or
the other.
I
have also considered the fact that Science vs. Faith may also
refer to instances when the 'game' itself puts a particular
option into play vs. when the 'game player' is the one who
chooses the option.
Fate and Destiny are also often cited as being the reason
why certain things occur. See Roles
for a more detailed explanation of the actual purpose of Science
vs. Faith. |
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| S1E1 |
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| Charlie
writes F.A.T.E. on the tape on his fingers |
| S1E4 |
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says "He climbed to the top of Mount Everest. Why?
It was his destiny.", "Things that I know I
was destined to do" and Locke
yells after the tour guide tells him he can't go on
the Walkabout "This is destiny. This is destiny.
This is my destiny." |
| S1E14 |
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| Michael
says "...this is us taking control of our destiny"
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| S1E16 |
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Christian
Shephard says "It's fate"
Jack says "instead of taking responsibility, he just
put it on fate" |
| S1E21 |
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Haddad
says "Perhaps it is fate."
Sayid says "Haddad was right. It was fate that brought
us back together" |
| S1E24 |
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Locke
says "We'll let fate decide"
Sun asks Shannon if it is fate that is punishing them.
Shannon replies "There's no such thing as fate"
Locke says to Jack "It's destiny" Jack says
later "I don't believe in destiny" |
| S2E1 |
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says to Locke "Or maybe, it was our destiny, right
John?" and "Is this your destiny?" |
| S2E5 |
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| Tai
Soo consults a "Destiny Book" and Jin later
says "Well, if the destiny book says it, it must
be true" |
| S2E9 |
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| Eko
says to Locke "Don't mistake coincidence for fate" |
| S2E20 |
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| Christian
says to Ana Lucia "Fate is calling" and "Fate
brought us together" |
| S2E24 |
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| Locke
says to Eko "I thought this was my destiny" |
| S3E5 |
| Locke
says "Do not mistake coincidence for fate" |
| S3E8
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| Penny
says I say we celebrate that fate has spared you a miserable
existence under the employ of Widmore Industries." |
| S3E9 |
| Jack
says to Kate "Golly, I think he's got a good point" |
| S3E11 |
When
Sayid asks Amira why she would lie to her husband to let
him go, she replies "We are all capable of doing
what those children did to this cat...but I will not do
that. I will not be that."
when Danielle asks Sayid why they are keeping Mikhail
Bakunin/Patchy alive, he replies "He is my prisoner.
I will decide his fate" |
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Juliet
says "I know you put a lot of faith in me Ben..."
Juliet says "I'm supposed to take that on faith?"
Ben/Fake Henry questions Juliet about Jacob "Unless
you don't have faith in him?" |
| S3E17 |
| Brother
Campbell tells Desmond "God tests our faith in many
ways..." and that the vow of silence "challenges
one's patience and his faith..." |
| S3E21 |
| Charlie
wears a t-shirt
with Chinese letters in it that spell out "FATE" |
| S3E22 |
Charlie
wears a t-shirt with Chinese letters in it that spell
out "FATE"
Charlie says to Desmond ""Cause it's my destiny
to turn off that jammer"
Charlie says "So much for fate" when the yellow
light goes off |
| S4E3
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| Hurley
says about Charlotte and her team "If we let her
go, they'll look at it as a sign of good faith" |
| S4E8 |
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The news reporter says "There's little hope of recovering
any remains. The real story behind what happened to this
fateful airliner may have been lost along with all 324
passengers" |
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