Make A Case for Love Contest Winners!
Sorry I’m so late getting this posted—the extension of the entry deadline meant one of my judges couldn’t get back to me before this morning.
First, for the drawing winners . . .
The third place winner (signed copy of A Case for Love, Menu for Romance, and Stand-In Groom and a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate) is Lizard!
The second place winner (signed copy of A Case for Love, Menu for Romance, and Stand-In Groom and a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate) is Amee!
The first place winner (signed copy of A Case for Love, Menu for Romance, and Stand-In Groom and a $75 Amazon.com gift certificate), as determined by a panel of anonymous judges, is Jessie Gunderson (Jess @ Blog Schmog). And here’s her winning story entry!
“You did what?” Alice shrieked.
Trial lawyer Clive Stellers never balked in an argument but somehow this felt different. He had to make her understand, yet disappointing her made him feel the same crushing pressure he had when he’d failed the Bar that first go around. I did this for the both of us, why can’t she see that? Not wanting to be accused of interrogating her, Clive resorted to begging. “Please Alice, I don’t want to fight.”
“But, how could you?” She threw her hands up pacing the room like a racehorse anxious to run.
He didn’t want to frustrate her but she sure was cute when she got mad. Unruly blond tresses dangled just below the shoulder, a pink flush painted across her nose and cheeks. And the fire in her deep blue eyes sent shivers of desire tingling up his spine, numbing his intellect. That’s why he loved her more with each passing year. Home from the challenges of a day in court, he could hug his wife and be transported instantly to a simpler time. With Alice, Clive felt young, ornery, irresponsible. That’s why he’d done it. It was because he loved her, because she made him giddy with desire to please her. Why can’t she see it’s because I need her?
“Clive, you’re a grown man! Why can’t you act like it?” She wore the oversized Anaheim Angel’s shirt he’d bought her on one of their first dates.
“Alice be reasonable, please. I thought you’d enjoy the company. Especially when I’m gone weekends.”
The creases in her brown softened slightly. “How many years till you can retire again?” She stopped pacing and collapsed onto the couch, resting her chin on her hands. “I don’t want company, I want you Clive.”
Taking up position beside his wife, Clive wiped the sweat from his palms on the soft micro suede. “Hon…”
Alice slapped the back of his hand and shot to her feet like a jack-in-the-box. “Don’t DO that to the couch!” She put her hands to her head tangling her fingers in the mass of curls.
Clive’s toes felt like they sat in a bed of coals with both pleasure and frustration playing his resolve. “But Hon, it’s not fair to her.” He nodded toward the garage door. “Can you just give her a chance, it’s very expensive you know.” Instinctively he stroked the couch despite her reprimand.
“Where will she stay Clive, we don’t have the room. I certainly don’t have the time despite your assumption that I sit at home with nothing to do all day. I have a life, I have friends, I have work to do. Did you even think about me?”
“That’s the one thing I was thinking about.” Clive burst to his feet feeling like a geyser about to erupt. Clenching his fists he stepped into her path. “Alice, I did this for you.”
She stopped pacing and allowed him to pull her into his arms.
His heart erupted instead. Oh how I love you Alice Stellers.
“Clive, it’s just so sudden.” She pulled herself back from his embrace just enough to look into his eyes. He could see that the fight had left them. Passionate blue brimming with love stared back at him.
“Will you just hear me out?” He stroked her shoulders then leaned in to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Wipe those creases and give me five minutes to convince you.”
She cocked her head to the side and set her jaw in an “I know you” smirk.
“Clive?” Raising her eyebrows like she did whenever he switched into “lawyer mode” she placed her small hand on his chest just above his pounding heart and tapped the exact rhythm with one long red fingernail.
Alice had the uncanny gift of making his head spin.
“Two minutes.” She flashed him a seductive smile.
“Fine, two minutes.”
Scratching his thinning hair as he attempted to scrape away the numbing effect of her beauty, he mentally prepared his brief.
“Are you out of words for once in your life?” Amused, Alice reclaimed her seat on the couch, crossing her ankles, waiting for his plea.
All he saw were those wiggling bare toes and he wanted to crawl on his knees and kiss them. That wouldn’t start them on a path to resolution. Sighing, he placed a hand on his chin then traced his neck all the way down to the choking collar of his dress shirt. He released the top button.
With a playful smile Alice giggled. She loved to make him squirm.
Looking at the ceiling, he tried not to imagine those faded blue jeans hugging her legs. They had once fit loosely but a couple of years and a few too many glasses of the sweet wine she enjoyed with her tiramisu, helped ensure a form fit. He didn’t mind one bit. Then there were those pale curvacious ankles peeking out from the bottom of her pants. His heart beat triple-time. Never had he imagined the intensity of his desire for her could grow, not wane. Only at home would she dress so casually. Only for him. And undress too. I’m a lucky man. He swallowed hard.
“May it please the wife. I intend to show that the purchase in question is evidence not of wanton passion as you might surmise, but the symbol of my eternal, unending love and affection for you, my lifelong companion.”
“I freely stipulate that several of my previous anniversary gifts have been lacking in personal touch, culminating in last year’s silk sheet debacle. I pondered long and hard concerning a more appropriate course of action to take on this, our thirteenth year of wedded bliss. No mere trifle token could possibly express the depth of my love and appreciation for your patience and devotion when I am unable to return at your beck and call.”
“When I saw the lacy collar in the store window and her heart was beating with effusive admiration, inspiration struck. This would be the year that I present a gift that keeps on giving even when I’m detained at the office. What could be more appropriate when I cannot instantly appear, than a companion whose only desire is to please her master?”
Purposely fainting back onto the couch Alice rolled her eyes and laughed. “You are over the top, Clive.”
“I beg the court for a change of venue and just thirty seconds more.” Without waiting for a response he grabbed her hand, eagerly steering toward the garage and her waiting escort.
Once in the spacious garage Clive turned toward his wife willing her to perceive the genius of his plan. With both of her hands in his he proceeded with his closing argument.
“In summary, Hon, I beg you to give Wilhelmina Fratchell Stellers just one look and opportunity to meet you to pour out her waiting affection.”
“You are so strange. This is only a dog we are talking about.”
“Not just any dog. Look at her, Hon.” He opened the kennel and out bounded the wrinklest little long eared puppy who struggled to avoid stepping on her silky black ears as she headed straight for Alice. He stole a peek at his wife’s expression and saw a look of surprise.
“I’m not gonna fall for this she’ll poop and chew…” She couldn’t continue her argument. Wilhelmina stumbled and rolled onto the cold cement floor.
Years of suppressing a motherly instinct caught up with her in an instant just as Clive had calculated. She scooped the puppy into her arms as he threw in his last plea. “Don’t you just love her? How can you say no to that face?”
“How did you find a hound? I expected some ratty little terrier.” The puppy answered her with a sloppy kiss to the nose.
“A drive to the Valley was hardly a second thought once I heard they had them. I know you love hounds.”
“Yes but, you’ve said our yard was too small.”
“A little inconvenience and creativity is nothing compared to your happiness.”
Alice grinned, her face giddy with youthful glee. “Ah, I love you, you old sap.”
Fun Friday Post 3: Snow Day!
Comments made on this post before midnight PACIFIC time (1 a.m. Mountain/2 a.m. Central/3 a.m. Eastern) will count toward the contest!
It’s been snowing all day in Nashville. Originally, they forecast us to be on the snow/ice line—which usually means we get what looks like a dusting because it’s all sleet. Well, it was supposed to start as sleet/freezing rain around 11 a.m. this morning (according to local forecasters/TWC) as sleet/freezing rain and then change over to snow in the afternoon, with accumulations in town (I live six miles from downtown) of two to four inches, and six to eight north of town.
Knowing it wasn’t supposed to start until later in the morning, I went ahead and put in an online order for a prescription I hadn’t realized I was about to run out of, thinking I’d pick it up around 10 a.m., before the “major winter weather event” happened.
Well . . . this is what I discovered when I was ready to walk out of the house at 10:30 to run to Kroger to get my prescription:
So I didn’t think it was worth the risk. But at two o’clock, when my UPS delivery came, I noticed that the street didn’t look nearly as bad, even though it had been snowing steadily all day:
So I made a Kroger run and got my ‘scrip, along with milk and bacon, because I was going to run out before the weekend was over (and no milk means NO COFFEE—which is NOT acceptable). Between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m., I could hear that the precipitation had changed over to sleet, but the forecasters were saying that it would only last a short time before changing back to snow. And by 9:30, when I went out to capture these photos, it was a mix of sleet and snow:
And with the flash turned on, you can see it’s still coming down!
Fun Friday Post 2: #LOST Questions
This is going to be an extraordinarily long post, because I’ve been writing these questions down for quite some time as I’ve re-watched the first five seasons of the show (and this list barely scratches the surface). Some are ponderings, some are genuine story questions, and some are facetious. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which they are.
Who are the bodies in the cave? My guesses: Rose and Bernard, Eloise and Charles, Jack and Kate, or Sawyer and Juliet.
Are John and Ben half-brothers? (I believe Emily Locke and Emily Linus are the same person.)
What did Desmond do that got him court-martialed, put in prison, and dishonorably discharged from the Royal Scots Brigade?
What happened to Claire?
Who was the “man in black” with Jacob?
What is the smoke monster? Is it the smoke monster that’s appearing as all the dead characters?
What role will Desmond play in fixing things?
Did Ben marry Annie, and did she die in child birth, leading to Ben’s obsession with finding out why women on the island die during pregnancy?
Was the explosion of the nuclear bomb at the end of Season 5 the “incident” mentioned in the Swan station orientation film? Did the bomb actually explode or did the electromangnetic phenomenon create a “time flash” in which everything reset?
In what way(s) is Walt “special,” and will he return to the island in some form/time?
What lies in the shadow of the statue?
Who, exactly is Richard Alpert, and how is it that he never ages? Did he come to the island on the Black Rock?
How did Jacob get off the island?
What roles are Aaron and Ji Yeon to play? Is there something significant about the four children that have been born since the beginning of the show (Aaron, Ji Yeon, Clementine, and Charlie)?
What is the significance of the off-island crossovers of the characters before the crash?
What/who are the whispers?
What is Tom’s—Aaron’s father—connection with Charles Widmore?
Why did Radzinsky kill himself?
Did Ben really kill Jacob? If the explosion of the nuclear bomb resets time, will anything on the island ever have happened?
Why is Eloise Hawking working with Ben Linus to get everyone back to the island? Is she hoping that by helping them she can change time and won’t kill her own son in 1977?
Where do the Dharma food drops come from?
Did anyone ever find the seagull with the SOS note Claire sent in Season 3?
What is the significance of the “lists” and who’s on them and who isn’t?
Are Desmond’s flashes caused by the same phenomenon as Daniel’s memory loss? Is the reason Desmond can’t remember the year he visited Daniel at Oxford the beginning of the memory loss phenomenon?
What is the circle of ash around Jacob’s cabin for? Why did Jacob say, “Help me” to John? (Was it really Jacob?)
Is Jacob the “magnificent man” Ben and Mikhail spoke of?
How did the Others get such detailed information on each of the survivors?
Did Claire agree to stay on the island in exchange for Jacob healing her mother?
Who was Libby?
Why was ABC/Disney so chintzy on the packaging for the Season 5 DVDs? Seasons 1–4 have nice plastic sleeves for their outside packaging—but Season 5 has a cheap cardboard sleeve.
What’s up with Christian Shephard?
Is Richard Malkin really a psychic? Did he put Claire on that plane because he “knew” it would crash on the island and that’s where Aaron was supposed to be born?
What happened to Desmond’s vision of Claire and the baby getting on the helicopter and leaving the island?
What is the “sickness” and the vaccine?
How did the journal of the Black Rock‘s first officer get off the island? Were the “pirates” on whose ship it was found connected with the Others?
Why is Ethan’s last name Rom and not Goodspeed?
How is Desmond Daniel’s Constant? How did Daniel know about Desmond before Daniel ever got to the Island? Was it due to the consciousness-time-travel experiments Daniel did on himself, causing his breakdown?
What are the numbers? (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42)
How is Sun’s father connected with Charles Widmore?
Are Walt’s appearances on the island the same as those of Christian, Ben’s mom, and Yemi?
Stuff found in the Arrow station: glass eye, Bible with part of the Swan orientation film in it, radio. Why were these things left/placed there?
Why did Radzinsky edit the Swan orientation film?
What’s the significance of the silver bracelets worn by both Naomi and Elsa in the episode “The Economist”?
How many copies of the picture of Desmond and Penny are there, anyway?
Is Hurley really communicating with the dead?
Who is Matthew Abaddon?
Who is the Economist? Is it Ben playing one side against the other? or is it Charles Widmore? or is it some yet-unknown person/force who’s really the one who’s bringing the “war” to the island?
If John Locke’s body is still in the crate, who is the John Locke leading the group to the statue? Is the entity that is posing as John the same thing that took the form of Alex and told Ben he had to do everything John said? (The black smoke monster? The man in black?)
“The Constant” and “The Variable”—huh?
What/where is the “magic box”?
Will John’s statement, in the episode “Exposé,” of “things don’t stay buried on this island” come true?
Whose side was Juliet really on in the beginning?
Since Ben admitted he’d never talked to Jacob, did he really “cure” Juliet’s sister, or did he lie to Juliet about her sister’s cancer being back just to keep Juliet on the island?
Who painted “quarantine” on the inside of the hatch door?
Why did the Swan station continue functioning as a Dharma station after the purge?
Will Kelvin Inman return as an important character?
Who is the musician who programmed the code to turn off the blocking software in the Looking Glass station?
What is the significance of Charlie’s DS ring—other than Sun’s finding it in Season 5—especially given that Liam tells Charlie “it has to stay in the family”?
What exactly did Christian-in-Jacob’s-Cabin mean when he told John that Aaron was where he was supposed to be (with Sawyer and Miles instead of Claire in “Cabin Fever” in Season 4)?
Is there a significance to the pre-island run-ins with Nadia by several characters?
Why did Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lily stop using an upward inflection in the tone of their voices when asking questions (beginning in mid-Season 3 and continuing from then)?
Is there any significance to the multiple use of names: Daniel/Danielle; Tom (Mr. Friendly)/Thomas (Claire’s boyfriend)/Tom (Kate’s childhood friend)/Tom (Christian’s pseudonym); Michael/Mikhail; Charles (Widmore)/Charlie Pace/Charlie Hume (Desmond & Penny’s baby); Richard Alpert/Richard Malkin?
Will there (please, please, please!!!) be a happy ending for Sawyer and Juliet?
If the Oceanic 6 were only on the island for 100 days, how did Sun’s hair grow so fast?
Why do John and Sayid let Ben keep pushing their buttons? Why could neither of them see that Ben is a compulsive liar and never told them the truth about anything?
Why can Hurley see Jacob’s cabin? Who was the “eye in the window” when Hurley looked in and saw Christian sitting in the rocking chair?
Did Desmond make it back with Charlie’s “greatest hits” list and give it to Claire?
Why does Ethan look like he’s in his mid-40s in 2004 when he was born in 1977?
What did dead-Charlie mean when he told Hurley, “They need you”?
Was Daniel’s reaction to the news of finding Oceanic 815 on the bottom of the ocean the result of his consciousness being unstuck in time and having seen something of his future that he didn’t, at this point, quite understand?
Why was Jack so far inland just after 815 crashed, while everyone else from the mid-section of the plane landed on the beach?
Before the plane crashed, Charlie came out of the lavatory and slipped into a seat in first class—but all of the first-class seats ended up in the nose section of the plane (and everyone there was dead). How did Charlie end up with the mid-section survivors?
What was the favor Jacob asked Ilana to do for him? Get Sayid back to the island? Or something more important, like finding a replacement for Jacob once he was dead?
What is the significance of Jacob’s making physical contact with each of the Losties he went to visit in the Season 5 finale?
Why are pregnant women dying on the island in 2004 when they weren’t in 1977?
Is Ben Linus really Darth Vader?
Can Charles Widmore see the future, too? Did he know that Desmond would get stuck on the island and that’s why he tried to separate Desmond and Penny? Or did he know this through Daniel somehow?
Is John’s designation as the leader of the others simply a fluke or a time paradox—is it because in 1954 he tells Richard Jacob/Ben designated him their leader, but he was never really supposed to be the leader?
What’s the true origin of the compass? Or is it, like Locke’s leadership designation, simply the result/victim of a time paradox?
Why didn’t Jack go through any withdrawal symptoms after coming off of alcohol and drugs cold turkey at the beginning of Season 5?
If Daniel’s mum and dad are both British, how did he end up with an American accent (he did go to Oxford for college, after all)?
Is there a significance to the timing of rain, both on and off the island? It seems to rain whenever something bad is about to happen.
How did the polar bear get off the island and end up in Tunisia?
Who told the others to build the runway for Ajira 316?
How/why did Charlotte learn to speak Korean?
If just nicking the pocket of electromagnetism killed a man by “sucking” his filling out of his tooth and through the top of his head, why, when it was sucking in everything metallic at the end of Season 5 didn’t it do the same thing to Jack, Sawyer, Juliet, Kate, etc.?
Will Kate and Jack ever be likable again?
Why did Bram, who is on Ajira 316 with Ilana at the end of Season 5 and is one of the “shadow of the statue” people, grab Miles off the street and try to talk him out of working for Charles Widmore? (And what was with the “empty hole” inside of Miles to which he was referring?)
When Daniel returned from Ann Arbor and questioned Jack about how he got back to the island, and, when Jack told him Eloise said it was his “destiny,” what did Daniel mean when he said “she was wrong, you don’t belong here”?
Who is the “very clever fellow” who built the Lamp Post station in L.A. who originally found the island for the Dharma Initiative? (Daniel, in another timeline?)
Why did Charles Widmore send Daniel to the island when he knew Eloise would kill him there? Or did no one ever tell Charles what happened? Or did he think Daniel could change what happened once the island healed his mind and memory?
What happened to destroy all of the statue except for one foot?
What’s in the guitar case Jacob gave to Hurley to bring back to the island with him?
Fun Friday Post 1: When TV Shows End
If you’re trying to get in extra comments toward the contest, scroll down to see an additional post I put up yesterday evening. I’ll also be posting two Fun Friday posts today. One comment on each of these posts will count toward the contest.
Tonight, the TV series Dollhouse comes to an end. Unlike another Joss Whedon sci-fi show, at least he knew this show was being canceled in time to bring the storyline to a conclusion (which he wasn’t able to do with the cult classic Firefly). I’ll be disappointed the show is off the air for one main reason—Tahmoh Penniket, the template for Bobby in the book I’m currently writing, plays one of the main characters in the series. Ahhh . . . that jawline. And, as pretty much everyone in the world knows (especially those who’ve been reading my blog the last couple of Fridays), LOST is also coming to an end this spring. What am I going to do without these two shows?
Having learned Dollhouse was ending forced Joss Whedon and his writers to amp up the conflict in the show to get into the climax of the overarching plot sooner than they would have if they’d been renewed for another six, thirteen, or twenty episodes. And the writing has been fantastic, with a major revelation coming a couple of weeks ago that had Twitter aflutter at the jaw-dropping reveal that changed everything we’d known about the series. I’m looking forward to many moments like that during the upcoming final season of LOST.
What’s a show you liked that was canceled far too soon?
There have been lots of series that have had their highest ratings on their final episode. What is your favorite series finale?
What’s a show that should have ended before it did?
Please Tell Me This Was a Joke!
Saw this on Dear Prudence (from Slate Magazine) today:
Dear Prudence,
My ex-girlfriend’s mom can’t stop writing on my Facebook wall: giving me advice, telling me she cares about me, and debating my politics. I am not in touch with my ex. What should I do?
—So Over ThisDear So Over,
Situations like yours are why “defriending” was invented. Don’t worry about hurting her feelings, just drop Mom.
—Prudie
Is this what the younger generation has really come down to? That he’d have to send a message (because you know he didn’t “write a letter”) to an advice columnist to find out what to do to keep someone from posting on his FaceBook page? Is his brain so atrophied that he couldn’t come up with the idea of unfriending this woman AS SOON AS HE BROKE UP WITH HER DAUGHTER?
Thoughts?
Make a Case for Love Contest Update
With two days remaining in the Make a Case for Love contest, here’s an update on who’s qualified for the drawing for prizes and whose story entries I’ve received:
| Name | # of Comments/ # of Entries |
Story Received? |
|---|---|---|
| Renee | 19/10 | |
| Amee | 18/9 | |
| Jess Purser | 17/8 | |
| Regina | 17/8 | |
| Rose Biles | 15/6 | Yes |
| Adrienne | 14/5 | |
| Becky Miller | 13/4 | |
| Alexandra | 11/2 | |
| Jason | 10/1 | |
| Jess @ Blog Schmog | 10/1 | Yes |
| Patricia W | 9/-1 | |
| Jolanthe | 8/-2 | |
| Lori Benton | 7/-3 | |
| Leslie (greyfort) | 6/-4 | |
| Lizard | 6/-4 | |
| Shelly | 6/-4 | |
| AShokes | 5/-5 | |
| Carla Gade | 5/-5 | |
| Krista Phillips | 5/-5 | |
| Ruth Anderson | 5/-5 |
If you have commented on fewer than 5 blog posts since January 4, I haven’t included you in this list. Those of you who lack enough comments for the 10-comment minimum for one entry into the drawings will see that there are still some posts on which you can leave a comment to try to get your numbers up—posts from last week and this week. So if you want to make sure that you get an entry in the contest, be sure to get those comments posted!
Random Discussion Question: How Do You Relax?
We live in a high-stress world, so it’s important that we all have a way to de-stress. There are different levels of this. There’s the five-minute deep-breathing exercises, the hot bath at the end of a long day, the week-long vacation to Tahiti.
If I need a quick de-stressor, I go in and fix a cup of hot tea or I go for a quick walk around the block or I play Solitaire on the computer for a few minutes.
When I lived in a place that had a bathtub that wasn’t as narrow and shallow as the one I currently have, for an end-of-the-day de-stressor, I would take a long hot bath and read while enjoying a glass of wine. Now I’m more likely to sit down and watch a movie or a couple hours of TV.
For an occasionally mega de-stressor, I’ll treat myself (or my mom will give it to me as a gift) to a nice, long massage.
What do you do to relax?
Random Discussion Question: What Are Your “Yuck” Foods?
We all have them . . . the polite terminology would be “food preferences.” But, let’s face it, we all have foods we hate, foods we just won’t touch, foods the very smell of which make us nauseated, foods that make us go “YUCK!” We learn it very early on in our lives (could have something to do with how nasty baby food is maybe?) and even though we try to overcome it, and we learn how to try things to be polite at dinner parties, there are certain foods we will refuse to touch even in those “trying to be polite” situations.
Now, I’m not talking about foods we can’t eat because of intolerances or allergies (I can’t eat any kind of tropical fruit because it makes my throat swell shut). I’m talking about foods we refuse to eat.
Some of mine are:
Bananas (can’t stand the smell, taste, texture, etc., not even cooked in something)
Lima beans, navy beans, green peas (it’s a texture thing)
Okra (it’s slimy)
Crawfish (because . . . have you seen what the insides of those things look like?)
Stevia (Truvia)—(I’m one of those rare people to whom it’s bitter, not sweet)
Grape Kool-Aid (got sick after drinking it when I was four years old)
Oysters (gag!)
…basically anything slimy, mushy, grainy, or that just doesn’t taste good to me (or to which I’ve developed a taste aversion).
What are your “Yuck” foods?
Random Discussion Question: What’s for Breakfast?
As you know, deadline on Love Remains is looming—and I have a freelance editing job I’m trying to wrap up, plus edits on Ransome’s Crossing I have to get in by Tuesday, as well as some marketing copy to write for Love Remains to do by tomorrow. Needless to say, you’re not going to be getting a one-thousand-word blog post from me every day. But since I know people are still trying to get their entries in for the “Make A Case for Love” contest, this week, we’ll have a series of discussion questions that will hopefully be fun, easy ways to get those entries in!
Today’s Random Discussion Question: What’s for Breakfast?
- What’s your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
- What’s your favorite restaurant at which to eat breakfast? What’s your favorite thing to order there?
- Do you prefer sweet or savory breakfast foods?
- Coffee, tea, milk, juice, or soda?
- Bacon or sausage? Grits or potatoes? Toast or biscuits?
- If you like biscuits, do you prefer them with a fruit jelly/jam, honey, or gravy (what kind of gravy)?
- Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?
Let’s talk about breakfast!
Fun Friday: Best #LOST Death Scenes
I know it’s grisly and morbid, but there have been some really good death scenes in LOST. And because it’s such a character-driven show, these scenes carry more pathos and emotion than the random deaths one is usually bombarded with in a typical action/adventure show/movie. So here’s my list of the best death scenes in the first five seasons:
5. Boone Carlyle (Season 1)
While I really didn’t like Boone all that much, as the death of the first major character on the series, the writers of LOST let us know that unlike every other show on TV, there was nothing keeping them from killing off main/fan-favorite characters if it served the purpose of the story.
4. Libby (Season 2)
Libby had a somewhat strange—and short—character arc in Season 2. As a tail-section survivor (a “Tailie”), she wasn’t introduced until Season 2, and from the get-go, I never quite trusted her character. But then she arrived back to “our” side of the island and seemed to fall in love with Hurley. But then, in one of Hurley’s flashbacks, we learned that Libby was a patient at the same mental hospital as Hurley and saw him there. We also learned at the end of that season that she gave her boat to Desmond—the boat he was sailing in a race around the world when he crashed on the island. Hmmm . . . who is/was Libby? Anyway, when Hurley tried to surprise Libby with a picnic on the beach, he forgot the blankets, so Libby returned to the Hatch to get some—and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Michael was freeing Ben and he shot her. The best part of her death scene are the reactions of all the other characters.
3. Daniel Faraday (Season 5)
Season 5 was a test of faith for LOST viewers, what with the “flashes” and the time travel. But we stuck with it, because we knew we were going to get great storytelling. And we were richly rewarded for suspending our disbelief. We learned that Eloise Hawking, the white haired lady from Desmond’s dream/flashback in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” is Daniel’s mother—and we learned that she’d been on the island for a very long time, from before 1954 until at least 1977, the year in which Daniel’s death takes place (ironically, the same year he was born). So that’s what made Daniel’s death scene all the more important.
2. Mr. Eko (Season 3)
Mr. Eko is my third favorite character, behind Desmond and Charlie. Eko’s introduction as a Tailie in Season 2 injected a new level of discussion of faith and fate vs. coincidence (one of his best lines: “Do not mistake coincidence for fate.”) One of the recurring themes on this show is that when a character has come to terms with/resolved the issues from their past, they die. This seemed to be the case with Eko. But his death brought about a couple of disturbing story questions (more on questions next week). Who/what was appearing to Eko in the guise of his long-dead brother, Yemmi? And what did Eko mean when he whispered to John, “You’re next”?
1. Charlie Pace (Season 3/Opening Episode Season 4)
I’ve already mentioned that Charlie is one of my favorite characters and that the three episodes at the end of Season 3 comprise one of my favorite storylines: Charlie’s farewell and death. His death carried repercussions on into the first episode of Season 4 and, again, it’s the characters’ reactions to his death that make it my favorite death scene in Lost.
And here’s a fan vid I found that pays tribute to not only the great death scenes throughout the show, but to Michael Giacchino’s fabulous, stirring score:
KayeDacus.com 