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I liked the episode overall, but I was thinking about something that bothered me in it, which made me think about a couple of characters involved.
So, Shannon's dead, but I really liked the flashback story we got on her. The one thing that bothered me in the episode--well, besides the fact that now that they've brought on a fifth female character the producers seemed to feel they need to kill one so that women would still be RIDICULOUSLY underrepresented--was that I didn't like her last exchange with Sayid right before she died. They had fought because Sayid didn't believe that Shannon really saw Walt. She said, "I need to know you believe in me." He said, "I do believe in you." She said, "No you don't. You say that now, but once we're out of here you'll leave me. Everyone does." He says, "I will never leave you. I love you."
Okay, now as soon as he says, "I will never leave you," we know one of them is going to buy the farm in a second. They went for the happier ending, where it's her. But what bothered me about it is that while I can twist those words to support the main theme of Shannon's arc it seems to more naturally just reduce her story to, as usual, her wanting a man, wanting love. What I liked about her story was that while Shannon has always been someone shown to manipulate men to get what she wants, this ep put it in a different context. It showed that she wasn't always like that, and made her character more complex, imo, because she was conflicted about feeling worthless and useless. Iow, her using men was really not natural for her, nor was it empowering. It was a sign of exactly how damaged she was.
When we first start the flashbacks Shannon is, significantly, at work. As we first panned the row of little pink ballerinas I assumed one of them was Shannon and we would see her being a little princess. That she was a teacher, and a perfectly good one, was surprising. Not only is she working, but she's working in an all female space, teaching young girls and helping them work towards a personal goal. For all the frilly stuff on stage, ballet is a competitive thing that's all about hard work. We also see Shannon wrinkling her nose at the idea of being kept by a man, something we know she will wind up doing in the future.
Her stepmother is unfortunately another heartless Lost harpy, this one straight out of Cinderella. She's married Shannon's father and gotten him to essentially leave all his money to her. Did he trust her to take care of his daughter? We'll never know, but Shannon's stepmother cuts her off immediately as soon as he dies, claiming it is for her own good. We know from the scene with Boone right after Shannon's father's funeral that Shannon is 18. It's a bit ridiculous to criticize an 18-year-old for not having clearly defined goals ("last week it was interior decorating..." and "the only thing I've ever seen you do for 16 hours a day is sleep”). Most 18-year-olds, certainly those from wealthy families, expect to be financed at that age—and a lot of them are known for sleeping a lot. It's like telling your 18-year-old you won't pay for college because he's not committed to any career since he wanted to be a fireman at 5 and a construction worker at 6 and so on.
Plus we know the stepmother is wrong. When Shannon tells Boone she hopes to get an internship at the Martha Graham Company it obviously means a lot to her, and her roommate later confirms Shannon has been waiting for the response for six months. It's a difficult internship to get, so she must have been a good applicant. She *is* serious about this and her stepmother deliberately makes her insecure by suggesting she's too flakey to do it. Boone puts in the killing blow by agreeing with his stepmother.
What I also really liked in the episode was the Boone/Shannon relationship. In the past all we've seen is Shannon manipulating Boone, using his love/lust for her against him. She seems to constantly claim to be in distress so that he'll run off and save her. Boone is constantly disgusted at the way her answer to everything seems to be the manipulation of men, that she refuses to work, that's she basically a spoiled brat. This episode, for me, completely changed the way I viewed that because it proved that as damaged as Shannon was, she was actually the grown up one. Her scene with Boone after the funeral is so sad because it was actually healthy. Boone was the nice older brother who knew Shannon had it rough with his mom. Shannon looked up to Boone and wanted to share her dreams of New York internships with him.
All that changed the moment he told her he was going to take the job with his mother. You can pretty much see that. Shannon has asked Boone to try to get his mother to help her get to New York or loan her the money so she can take the internship. Boone reports that not only has his mother said no, but she's offered him a job, which means he'll be giving up his apartment in New York and Shannon can not stay there with him. Boone has completely let Shannon down not by not coming through with money (he does even try to give her some), but by essentially deciding to go backwards and live under his mother's protection. Shannon, otoh, can see this house is poisonous and whatever she does, she has to get away from it. She rejects Boone's money, not wanting to live like he's going to be living, and goes it on her own.
What we see on the show, imo, is somebody much more conflicted than she seems on the surface. I think this episode suggested that Shannon had good reason to *affect* the attitude of the spoiled, lazy girl. She's living down to the way her stepmother and brother treat her as a form of defiance, but also because she's disgusted with herself and can't bear to think about her previous ambitions.
Through the series Shannon has always been characterized through work. She was always either blatantly refusing to do it, claiming she couldn't do it, demanding she get a chance to do it, beating herself up for messing it up, surprising herself by doing it well or trying very hard to do it right. I think this is what I always liked about Shannon. I'm a sucker for spoiled brat character who wants to be something more, and Shannon was it. Early on there was an ep where Boone dismissed Shannon's claims that she could survive on her own, saying she could never catch her own fish. Shannon accepts his challenge and gets Charlie to catch a fish for her, proudly showing her fish to Boone. Boone is disgusted by this and Shannon is hurt by his disgust. At first I assumed Boone's assessment of the game was accurate--Shannon is just lazy and manipulative. In reality, this *is* how Shannon survives on her own. Shannon wins the bet fair and square—and cleverly as well. Conning people or coaxing them into doing things for you or giving you things may not be good, but it's not begging. It is a form of survival.
That applies to the way Shannon dealt with Boone as well. The one talent Boone seems to allow Shannon is her attractiveness. Like some other men, unfortunately, Boone projects his own desire for his stepsister onto her: if he wants her, she must be making him want her, bewitching him. Shannon does not want to take charity from Boone (and so from his mother). By offering him promises of sex or playing the role of the damsel in distress who's "tricked him" out of his money, she avoids that. She'd rather be a whore or a con artist than a beggar. Also, I think once he made the choice to live under his mother’s wing she kind of started to hate him. Underneath, I think Shannon was far more disgusted by Boone than he was by her, and her shoving her love affairs in his face and playing the part of the whore around him was intended to make him squirm. It wasn't just that Shannon was always annoying him by asking him for help, it was also that she was shoving his powerlessness in his face.
On the island, Shannon may immediately have come across like a spoiled brat, but she did, imo, still come across as more adult than Boone. While Shannon had gone out in the world on her own and become a sort of courtesan, Boone had stayed with his mother playing at being a grown up. That's often how he seemed with Shannon, in fact. Yes, he was the "good" one, the "responsible" one, but then how, despite having an allegedly prestigious, powerful job did he have so little authority? Why did every single man on the island mark him as a boy instead of a man? Why did he need Locke? Because he made the easy but wrong choice and stayed a child in exchange for the illusion of adulthood and money. Shannon may have gotten little respect, but if she came across as a child, Sayid wouldn’t have gotten involved with her. In fact, one of the things that drives Boone crazy about Sayid’s interest, imo, is that it leaves him behind. Sayid is dealing with his sister as an adult while obviously seeing Boone as a non-threatening child.
So that's why I was bothered by those "you'll leave me" lines. As I said, I can make them work with this theme--Shannon thinks she will be left because ultimately she is worthless, and that worthless feeling has nothing to do with sex or wanting a man. But still, those words are such code for that sort of thing, and it's just too easy, once Shannon says everyone leaves her, to arrange this whole storyline in terms of her being abandoned by the father, brother and lover who were supposed to protect her and...no. I liked Shannon in this ep because love was love was not her primary drive as a character. Proving her worth was. I loved it when she tried to get Vincent to sniff Walt out. I loved when she fell on the ground and forbid Sayid to help her up.
We need more females like that on the show, even if they're flawed like Shannon was. Unfortunately, she seems to be killed off by the artificial version. That new chick just seems too much like male fantasy material to me, the sexy, sweaty tough woman in a sleeveless army vest and a gun barking orders. If I want to find out what happens to her, I'll just play the video game.
So, Shannon's dead, but I really liked the flashback story we got on her. The one thing that bothered me in the episode--well, besides the fact that now that they've brought on a fifth female character the producers seemed to feel they need to kill one so that women would still be RIDICULOUSLY underrepresented--was that I didn't like her last exchange with Sayid right before she died. They had fought because Sayid didn't believe that Shannon really saw Walt. She said, "I need to know you believe in me." He said, "I do believe in you." She said, "No you don't. You say that now, but once we're out of here you'll leave me. Everyone does." He says, "I will never leave you. I love you."
Okay, now as soon as he says, "I will never leave you," we know one of them is going to buy the farm in a second. They went for the happier ending, where it's her. But what bothered me about it is that while I can twist those words to support the main theme of Shannon's arc it seems to more naturally just reduce her story to, as usual, her wanting a man, wanting love. What I liked about her story was that while Shannon has always been someone shown to manipulate men to get what she wants, this ep put it in a different context. It showed that she wasn't always like that, and made her character more complex, imo, because she was conflicted about feeling worthless and useless. Iow, her using men was really not natural for her, nor was it empowering. It was a sign of exactly how damaged she was.
When we first start the flashbacks Shannon is, significantly, at work. As we first panned the row of little pink ballerinas I assumed one of them was Shannon and we would see her being a little princess. That she was a teacher, and a perfectly good one, was surprising. Not only is she working, but she's working in an all female space, teaching young girls and helping them work towards a personal goal. For all the frilly stuff on stage, ballet is a competitive thing that's all about hard work. We also see Shannon wrinkling her nose at the idea of being kept by a man, something we know she will wind up doing in the future.
Her stepmother is unfortunately another heartless Lost harpy, this one straight out of Cinderella. She's married Shannon's father and gotten him to essentially leave all his money to her. Did he trust her to take care of his daughter? We'll never know, but Shannon's stepmother cuts her off immediately as soon as he dies, claiming it is for her own good. We know from the scene with Boone right after Shannon's father's funeral that Shannon is 18. It's a bit ridiculous to criticize an 18-year-old for not having clearly defined goals ("last week it was interior decorating..." and "the only thing I've ever seen you do for 16 hours a day is sleep”). Most 18-year-olds, certainly those from wealthy families, expect to be financed at that age—and a lot of them are known for sleeping a lot. It's like telling your 18-year-old you won't pay for college because he's not committed to any career since he wanted to be a fireman at 5 and a construction worker at 6 and so on.
Plus we know the stepmother is wrong. When Shannon tells Boone she hopes to get an internship at the Martha Graham Company it obviously means a lot to her, and her roommate later confirms Shannon has been waiting for the response for six months. It's a difficult internship to get, so she must have been a good applicant. She *is* serious about this and her stepmother deliberately makes her insecure by suggesting she's too flakey to do it. Boone puts in the killing blow by agreeing with his stepmother.
What I also really liked in the episode was the Boone/Shannon relationship. In the past all we've seen is Shannon manipulating Boone, using his love/lust for her against him. She seems to constantly claim to be in distress so that he'll run off and save her. Boone is constantly disgusted at the way her answer to everything seems to be the manipulation of men, that she refuses to work, that's she basically a spoiled brat. This episode, for me, completely changed the way I viewed that because it proved that as damaged as Shannon was, she was actually the grown up one. Her scene with Boone after the funeral is so sad because it was actually healthy. Boone was the nice older brother who knew Shannon had it rough with his mom. Shannon looked up to Boone and wanted to share her dreams of New York internships with him.
All that changed the moment he told her he was going to take the job with his mother. You can pretty much see that. Shannon has asked Boone to try to get his mother to help her get to New York or loan her the money so she can take the internship. Boone reports that not only has his mother said no, but she's offered him a job, which means he'll be giving up his apartment in New York and Shannon can not stay there with him. Boone has completely let Shannon down not by not coming through with money (he does even try to give her some), but by essentially deciding to go backwards and live under his mother's protection. Shannon, otoh, can see this house is poisonous and whatever she does, she has to get away from it. She rejects Boone's money, not wanting to live like he's going to be living, and goes it on her own.
What we see on the show, imo, is somebody much more conflicted than she seems on the surface. I think this episode suggested that Shannon had good reason to *affect* the attitude of the spoiled, lazy girl. She's living down to the way her stepmother and brother treat her as a form of defiance, but also because she's disgusted with herself and can't bear to think about her previous ambitions.
Through the series Shannon has always been characterized through work. She was always either blatantly refusing to do it, claiming she couldn't do it, demanding she get a chance to do it, beating herself up for messing it up, surprising herself by doing it well or trying very hard to do it right. I think this is what I always liked about Shannon. I'm a sucker for spoiled brat character who wants to be something more, and Shannon was it. Early on there was an ep where Boone dismissed Shannon's claims that she could survive on her own, saying she could never catch her own fish. Shannon accepts his challenge and gets Charlie to catch a fish for her, proudly showing her fish to Boone. Boone is disgusted by this and Shannon is hurt by his disgust. At first I assumed Boone's assessment of the game was accurate--Shannon is just lazy and manipulative. In reality, this *is* how Shannon survives on her own. Shannon wins the bet fair and square—and cleverly as well. Conning people or coaxing them into doing things for you or giving you things may not be good, but it's not begging. It is a form of survival.
That applies to the way Shannon dealt with Boone as well. The one talent Boone seems to allow Shannon is her attractiveness. Like some other men, unfortunately, Boone projects his own desire for his stepsister onto her: if he wants her, she must be making him want her, bewitching him. Shannon does not want to take charity from Boone (and so from his mother). By offering him promises of sex or playing the role of the damsel in distress who's "tricked him" out of his money, she avoids that. She'd rather be a whore or a con artist than a beggar. Also, I think once he made the choice to live under his mother’s wing she kind of started to hate him. Underneath, I think Shannon was far more disgusted by Boone than he was by her, and her shoving her love affairs in his face and playing the part of the whore around him was intended to make him squirm. It wasn't just that Shannon was always annoying him by asking him for help, it was also that she was shoving his powerlessness in his face.
On the island, Shannon may immediately have come across like a spoiled brat, but she did, imo, still come across as more adult than Boone. While Shannon had gone out in the world on her own and become a sort of courtesan, Boone had stayed with his mother playing at being a grown up. That's often how he seemed with Shannon, in fact. Yes, he was the "good" one, the "responsible" one, but then how, despite having an allegedly prestigious, powerful job did he have so little authority? Why did every single man on the island mark him as a boy instead of a man? Why did he need Locke? Because he made the easy but wrong choice and stayed a child in exchange for the illusion of adulthood and money. Shannon may have gotten little respect, but if she came across as a child, Sayid wouldn’t have gotten involved with her. In fact, one of the things that drives Boone crazy about Sayid’s interest, imo, is that it leaves him behind. Sayid is dealing with his sister as an adult while obviously seeing Boone as a non-threatening child.
So that's why I was bothered by those "you'll leave me" lines. As I said, I can make them work with this theme--Shannon thinks she will be left because ultimately she is worthless, and that worthless feeling has nothing to do with sex or wanting a man. But still, those words are such code for that sort of thing, and it's just too easy, once Shannon says everyone leaves her, to arrange this whole storyline in terms of her being abandoned by the father, brother and lover who were supposed to protect her and...no. I liked Shannon in this ep because love was love was not her primary drive as a character. Proving her worth was. I loved it when she tried to get Vincent to sniff Walt out. I loved when she fell on the ground and forbid Sayid to help her up.
We need more females like that on the show, even if they're flawed like Shannon was. Unfortunately, she seems to be killed off by the artificial version. That new chick just seems too much like male fantasy material to me, the sexy, sweaty tough woman in a sleeveless army vest and a gun barking orders. If I want to find out what happens to her, I'll just play the video game.
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On a serious note, however, what I don't understand is the writer's apparent inclination to change the plotline arbitrarily. What purpose did killing Shannon have? It ultimately solves nothing to replace one group of people with another. The main plotlines are A. The Dharma Initiative and B. The Others (assuming mutual exclusivity); why are we deviating from this plotline?
It seems to me, with every passing week, that we will not get the coherent mystery story as we were expecting. Instead, pre-packaged typical network drama designed solely to play on our emotions, not our intellects. Shame.
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Boone and Shannon were basically the two young adults on the island, and that could have been interesting. Killing them off is a real shame.
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There's a rumor circling around that there were some backstage issues in regards to TPTB and the actress's representation which ended not so well. But, supposedly, the decision to kill off the character was made before any of these issues arose. Again, supposedly. ::shrugs::
I do get a feeling that Shannon's death - as Boone's did to an extent - will probably serve to put a fissure and add more tension to a group that should be allied against the growing threats of "The Others" and this Hanso/"Dharma Initiative". Possibly leading to a potential deteriorating of Jack's "live together, die alone" mantra. True, I suppose that allied front was never all that strong to begin with (thanks to the "science" vs. "faith" Jack and Locke rivalry, which was inevitably going to escalate anyway), but Shannon's death may prove to be another blow they can't afford to have at this point.
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That she was a teacher, and a perfectly good one, was surprising.
For some reason I knew that she would be the teacher. I don't usually foretell events, but this one I did. I think it was because I was craving for whatever it is that is Shannon's passion -- other than tanning herself on the beach.
On the island, Shannon may immediately have come across like a spoiled brat, but she did, imo, still come across as more adult than Boone.
Yes. Just yes.
I loved it when she tried to get Vincent to sniff Walt out.
I appreciated that Shannon was seeking out Walt on her own, but I had to laugh at this part. I mean, Vincent has to be trained for that sort of thing. I guess I thought it was endearing that Shannon would think that this would work. Maybe it did in a way, metaphorically.
That new chick just seems too much like male fantasy material to me, the sexy, sweaty tough woman in a sleeveless army vest and a gun barking orders. If I want to find out what happens to her, I'll just play the video game.
God, I was so disappointed in this character. I thought there would be potential, you know? Maybe next episode I'll change my mind. But right now she's very off-putting. Before the crash, she seemed wry but friendly. Now she's abrasive and mean. I'm just hoping that this shift in character will be appropriately explained in the upcoming episode.
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"I've been so-so about Shannon's character: do I like her; do I not?"
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Yes, and I could easily believe that that stepmother didn't think dance counted. It seemed like Shannon was going to go into administration rather than the performance, and she might have been good at that.
I appreciated that Shannon was seeking out Walt on her own, but I had to laugh at this part. I mean, Vincent has to be trained for that sort of thing. I guess I thought it was endearing that Shannon would think that this would work. Maybe it did in a way, metaphorically.
That's what I loved about it, that it was so silly. It was something a little boy would do, and I liked that she was willing to throw herself into it that way.
Before the crash, she seemed wry but friendly. Now she's abrasive and mean. I'm just hoping that this shift in character will be appropriately explained in the upcoming episode.
Me too. Or maybe being with the others will put her in line. I didn't mind her at all in the flashback, but I can't stand her so far on the island.
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It's a bit ridiculous to criticize an 18-year-old for not having clearly defined goals ("last week it was interior decorating..." and "the only thing I've ever seen you do for 16 hours a day is sleep”).
Really. Shannon has a wealthy father willing to support her and is only 18, so why shouldn't she take advantage of the opportunities this affords her? You're not a lazy brat just because you're not working day and night at some blue-collar job. It takes hard work to get internships like that. And her stepmother was clearly not living by her father's intentions: if Mr. Rutherford had wanted Shannon to be cut off without a cent at 18, he would have done it before then instead of supporting her.
By offering him promises of sex or playing the role of the damsel in distress who's "tricked him" out of his money, she avoids that. She'd rather be a whore or a con artist than a beggar.
That's exactly how I see her, too. She's rather like the female Sawyer in some ways.
She said, "I need to know you believe in me." He said, "I do believe in you."
See, I think *this* part should have been played up instead of the "You'll leave me/I'll never leave you. I love you" part. Because Shannon, more than love, wants *respect*. She wants someone to believe in her judgment and her capabilities and to treat her as trustworthy--so Sayid saying "I believe in you" was exactly what she needed to hear.
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Not to mention, didn't stepmom just get herself a load of money by marrying a guy and inheriting his wealth? She may have been a businesswoman herself too, but his money wasn't hers. Clearly it was all about her hating Shannon, probably because she saw her as competition.
That's exactly how I see her, too. She's rather like the female Sawyer in some ways.
Yup--and I can't help but like her for that. Avoiding begging always gets to me.
See, I think *this* part should have been played up instead of the "You'll leave me/I'll never leave you. I love you" part. Because Shannon, more than love, wants *respect*. She wants someone to believe in her judgment and her capabilities and to treat her as trustworthy--so Sayid saying "I believe in you" was exactly what she needed to hear.
Yes, exactly! And in fact the whole Shannon/Sayid storyline in the episode *was* about this. It wasn't that Shannon just didn't want him to leave her. She left *him* when she saw he didn't believe her about Walt, and she was fighting him every step of the way because he was trying to put her back in that useless box (she thought).
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Sorry; I'm all with the comment-y comment-y. But this is why I see the Boone/Shannon relationship as more of an Oedipal relationship than a brother-sister incestuous relationship.
And I was also a little affronted by Mrs. Boone's-Mom's (is it Rutherford?) behavior. It was a little ridiculous. Shannon was asking for money for an internship, not a beach house. I can see where Shannon's stepmother would regard her as competition, but her reaction to Shannon's request for money was a little out there. The evil stepmother characterization was a little played out, I think. Why does everyone on this show have such horrible relationships with his or her parents? Well, maybe not Hurley; although Hurley's mother doesn't really understand him.
Anyway. Wow. Sorry for the spam. I should leave? Okay, then.
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Sorry; I'm all with the comment-y comment-y. But this is why I see the Boone/Shannon relationship as more of an Oedipal relationship than a brother-sister incestuous relationship.
I couldn't agree more. Boone's relationships with his mother was the incestuous one. Shannon may have represented something equally forbidden to him, but she wasn't the thing screwing him up. He was maybe more tied to her via guilt about his own choices than anything sexual. He was angry whenever he saw somebody else with her, but the main reason their relationship had trouble was that he chose his mother over her.
And I totally agree with the thing about the mother--she was straight out of a fairy tale. Shannon wasn't asking for anything strange at all. She was wanting to do something responsible--really, she was asking to do exactly what the stepmother was pretending she wanted her to do. The stepmother didn't want her to grow up or learn responsibility, she wanted her to fail.
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Me too. One of my major buttons.
*sigh* RIP, Shannon. She reminded me of Fleur Delacour, in a way.
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Great analysis too, of course. *memorizes*
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Shannon thinks she will be left because ultimately she is worthless, and that worthless feeling has nothing to do with sex or wanting a man. But still, those words are such code for that sort of thing, and it's just too easy
I suppose I didn't have a problem with Sayid's lines at the end of the ep, mostly for the reasons you mention, but I also think the benefits ultimately do outweigh the potential detriments. I do think Shannon's feelings of worthlessness (not deserving someone's love) were intense and made clear enough throughout the series where the love declaration didn't feel like a cop-out to me, but I can also understand the potential trap of it's easiness too. But...she was so unhappy right at that moment, as if every insecurity and bad feeling were coming to a head (and she was about to die. Someone had to be "lost forever" and I was doubting it was going to be Cindy Redshirt) and I do think she did genuinely love Sayid, probably in a way she loved no one else before (arguably because she's never really been involved romantically with a man like Sayid before). I also got the impression no one ever told her those things and really meant them, ever. Maybe apart from her father. Did Boone ever show her he cared and meant it, without the appendage of his own selfish desires? If he did, I don't think the message got through to Shannon (frankly, I doubt he ever really tried, outside of carrying around her medicine and other such cute gestures, hardly making up for everything else damaging in that relationship).
I'd go further (and maybe I'm stepping over the line, but...), I half-wondered if Boone's lack of believing in her in that bedroom scene may have even been at least partly selfishly induced by his own love/lust... as if he didn't want to believe Shannon capable of taking care of herself, at least without him placed decidedly in the pseudo-hero role somehow (I don't think you've got what it takes... but I'll keep writing those checks with mommy's money!). Kind of why I think he perpetuated being her financial lapdog for so long... the fallacy of being a hero (when he only rarely ever gave her what she really needed, most of the time giving her exactly what she didn't).
Of course, I could just be speaking from my own bias since I did like Sayid/Shannon a lot. I also agree completely with the assessment of Shannon being the more 'adult' as compared to Boone. His "I run a business!!" petulance at Jack haunted me nearly the entire time he was on the series after he said it. Also the fact he apparently couldn't see or understand why Shannon was so upset with him and in that she didn't want his money kind of showed how immature Boone always was.
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And I totally agree on Boone. I have to say it ultimately really did seem like he desperately needed her to be useless so that he was the hero who saved her. I guess this may have been partially because underneath he knew that she was the one who was really independent and free and an adult. He, like his mother, may have thought her getting cast out would just break her, so when she found a way to survive (perhaps survive in style--that was quite possibly another reason she went the road she did, so that she could say look, you didn't take away the life I was living) it made him insecure and he had to disapprove of it and pretend she wasn't getting along without her.
Similarly, I really do think in the bedroom scene that a big part of Boone, who has already surrendered and sold his soul to Mom, is trying to hold on to her and can't bring himself to really be supportive. Like, he'll stress how much *he* wants to help her, but when he sees a chance to undercut her confidence he takes it, hoping she won't go away. The fact that he didn't get why Shannon was so upset with him really did seem to suggest he just didn't get how terribly wrong his life was. It's like he didn't realize he'd just become a pod person!
do you mind if I pimp this in my own LJ? I'll credit you of course. Half my FL are big Shannon fans and I know they'd love to read this.
Oh sure! I love to think of there being a lot of Shannon fans!:-)
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The "I believe (in) you" was crucial too imo. I think it's kind of symbolic in a way, particularly the seeing Walt (or not seeing him). I think he already loved her (he just said the words later on, but those words aren't so important in this regard)... he believed in her and that was the clencher. It's driven home hard by Sayid not able to see Walt until he genuinely and truly believed (in) Shannon. This might be something of an odd parallel (and I don't consider myself all that religious), but Shannon the only one who sees Walt reminded me of those kids in Fatima, Portugal who saw the Virgin Mary and everyone thought they were crazy... at first. Now there's this huge cathedral there and the place is like a symbol of hope and faith for millions. At this point, it doesn't matter so much whether or not the kids actually saw the Virgin Mary, but the idea that they did is enough to drive people to the place in pilgrimage, reaffirming their faith, for decades now. It doesn't matter so much whether or not Shannon was really seeing Walt or whether or not he's real, it was the idea of Sayid having faith in her. When he truly did, that's when he too saw Walt and that was more important than confirming his love (something Shannon likely already was aware of, but it's always nice to hear it too *g*).
Like, he'll stress how much *he* wants to help her, but when he sees a chance to undercut her confidence he takes it, hoping she won't go away.
And instead he can support her "useless" (tehpretteh) ass. The more I think about that bedroom scene, the more insidious it gets to me. I doubt it was supposed to be seen in such a negative light, but I've never doubted the notion Boone was absolutely toxic for Shannon and her moving forward (seemingly a vital aspect of island existence). They toxicity was mutual.... but Shannon, imo, always had the much better idea of exactly where their relationship stood.
The fact that he didn't get why Shannon was so upset with him really did seem to suggest he just didn't get how terribly wrong his life was.
Perhaps his apparent immense (guilty) relief at Shannon's non-death in "Hearts & Minds" was also or more about - as some of y'all above were speculating - a release of his Mommy binds? I concur with the Oedipus comments. I don't think there was any fluke in Lindsay Frost (a tall, beautiful blonde) cast as Boone's cold, apathetic and manipulative mother. No fluke at all.
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That was the brilliant thing about her character; I don't know how they took that set of problems and portrayed them so accurately.
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Yay for Shannon! Too bad she's dead now. :(
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Will you mind if I friend you? Lately I read a few things you've posted at the snarkery and a few comments you've made at another's journal, and I really like the person you seem to be, so...
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I also completely agree with your assessment of Ana-Lucia. Too over-the-top and too male fantasy for my tastes.
Mind if I friend this LJ? Fellow Shannon fans are hard to find!
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I started off seeing her as a brat but I tend to like brat characters, especially when you start seeing more to her. I thought by the end they really did some good things with her. And then they killed her, naturally. It's really frustrating.