The Frozen Donkey Wheel Revisited

Alright, so today’s the day you usually get an episode recap from me, but we’re stuck in reruns for the next 4 weeks.  And it’s not a particularly blazing week for LOST news, so I thought I’d do something that I don’t typically do here on the blog–I’m going to use my ESP on Team Darlton, and try to decipher what the Frozen Donkey Wheel scene is.

This is spurred on largely due to the fact that I’ve actually received a few hits on the blog from Google searches for “The Frozen Donkey Wheel” and LOST.  (For those of you that don’t know what the heck “The Frozen Donkey Wheel” is, please read the previous post for a refresher.)  I got to thinking, why would someone visit this blog looking for info on the Frozen Donkey Wheel?  They obviously know what the Frozen Donkey Wheel is, either by listening to the podcast, or by word of mouth, or they wouldn’t be doing a search on it.  So they’re not just looking to know what Carlton & Damon said–they’re looking for further insight.  Far be it from me to withhold what I think might be a decent guess as to what I think it is.

But before I reveal my guess, let me say this–trying to read Team Darlton’s mind, with all of their clever plot twists and turns, is mostly an exercise in futility.  That’s why I leave fan fiction to others, and focus mostly on post-episode reviews, deeper thought on what’s passed on screen, and teasers for upcoming action.  So if I get this right by some chance, it’s much more about luck than it is anything else.

Additionally, it’s important to note that only last year was the code-name even remotely relevant to the action on screen.  the Snake in the Mailbox scene was dubbed as such almost exclusively based upon the fact that it was a surprise revelation to LOST’s storytelling–akin to what it might be like to get your mail every day for years but then to suddenly find a snake in the box.  Anyway, my point here is that I’m not even sure that the Frozen Donkey Wheel as a title even has any true relevance.

But let’s break it down for a minute.  Donkeys don’t have wheels, so even if we’re taking it literally, it must be referring to a wheel on a cart that a donkey is pulling.  And donkeys aren’t exactly known for their speed, so the wheel can’t be moving that fast to begin with.  So what if the wheel gets frozen?  Is it frozen in the literal sense with respect to temperature, or is it frozen due to it getting stuck?  What might make the most sense with respect to my theory on what it pertains to, is to reference other comments made in Damon & Carlton’s podcast.  They jokingly referred to their office smelling like Mexico–because they were hinting at donkeys.  So if in their mind, the fictional donkey is from Mexico, and the wheel of the cart he’s pulling is literally frozen, then either the weather quickly changed in Mexico, or the wheel is no longer where we once thought it was.

If that’s too confusing, let me get right to it–I think they’re talking about teleportation of some sort.  I know that’s pretty far-fetched, even for a show like LOST, but bear with me for just a minute.  In fact, polar bear with me for a minute.  Although the discussion of why polar bears can exist on the island is a topic for another day, the discussion of why Charlotte found a polar bear in Tunisia seems like it fits right in.  Maybe naming the secret scene “The Melted Polar Bear Igloo” would be too obvious (or stupid), but I think you might see somewhat of a correlation there.  And that leads me to what I believe the scene will be.

Although we’ve seen glimpses of transportation both on and off the island through physical means, I believe that Ben has another way off the island–and I’m not talking about the submarine.  I believe that the temple is going to turn out to be more than expected, and will reveal a special way on and off the island–one involving some sort of teleportation.  One that previous inhabitants have used to send polar bears to Tunisia.  One that past and future Ben has used to get off and on the island.  One that Ethan, Mr. Friendly, and Richard Alpert have used to go back and forth.  And one that the Oceanic 6 are going to use to get off the island at the end of this season.  Here’s my crazy, off-the-wall prediction for the Frozen Donkey Wheel scene–it will show the Oceanic 6 actually leaving the island, and it will be via means that have been heretofore unrevealed.

So…that’s my crazy talk for the day.  The only way to let me know what you think I’m smoking is to leave a comment below…

On the Oceanic 6, viewer discontent, and The Frozen Donkey Wheel

Well, there’s no new LOST today–none for the next 4 weeks in fact.  But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing good to talk about!  No LOST Challenge of the Week this week, but much has happened since last week’s airing.  Let’s check it out.

First of all, the writers were nice enough to publish a podcast for us to listen to.  The first thing they did in the podcast was confirm the Oceanic 6.

Not that there was any overwhelming evidence to the contrary, but despite what everyone was saying, it was nice to have Aaron confirmed.  It would have been nice to see it confirmed on screen (which the writers have said they will do in a future episode), but at least we finally have confirmation: the Oceanic 6 are Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Aaron, and Sun.

Also on the podcast, the writers gave us a minor spoiler.  Not only did they say that at some point in the series we’d be going back to the Black Rock and the 4-toed statue to explain those mysteries (thank goodness!), but they said that we’d get to see another purple sky/electromagnetic event prior to the end of this season.  Couple that with the previous news of us getting to see the time-oriented Orchid station before the finale, and we’ve got the makings of some very interesting possibilities.

Finally, the writers disclosed the name of the top-secret scene in the last episode of the season.  Last year, Jack’s “We have to go baaaack!” scene with Kate was dubbed “The Rattlesnake in the Mailbox”.  Quite fitting, based upon what the episode had in store for us with the introduction of the flashforward device.  This year’s scene, which the writers caution us is not as “game-changing” as last year’s scene, has an even stranger name.  They’re calling it “The Frozen Donkey Wheel” (no kidding!), which could be considered an enigma all in itself.  Anyone care to take a stab at what it might be?

Alright, well looking around the net, there are some interesting articles.  One of which is on tvguide.com, and discusses whether or not LOST is getting even more confusing than it ever has been with all of the flashforwards and flashbacks–including episodes with both of them!  Is the show getting too convoluted?  Is it too much for the average viewer to follow?  You can check out the original article here:

http://www.tvguide.com/ask-matt/lost/080321-01

So…what are your thoughts?  Any input on the revelation of the Oceanic 6?  Any guess on how the next purple sky event will take place?  Any wild guesses on “The Frozen Donkey Wheel”?  And what do you think about flashforwards and flashbacks, especially in the same episode?

Please share your comments below!

LOST Fantasy League Results: Week 8

Hey everyone!

The scoring for Week 8 is complete!

Again, before we get to the scoring recap, let me provide one quick ruling for this week’s episode.

At the end of the episode we see 2 people getting shot–both Karl & Rousseau.  However, only Karl’s death is confirmed by Rousseau.  Rousseau appears to be shot, but no blood is shown.  So for now, only Alex gets death points.  If it’s later revealed that Rousseau is also dead, we’ll certainly award those points to her as well.

Alright, with that out of the way, let’s look at how the scoring turned out this past week.

Character Scoring Recap

Again, for the 8th straight week, those with the flashbacks/flashforwards led the scoring.

Michael scored a decent 130 points (although that’s a bit small relative to some of the other scoring we’ve seen this season).  Karl’s death at the end of the episode helped him to score 105 for the episode overall and finish 2nd this week.  Amazingly, there was an 8-way tie for 3rd this week between Ben, Walt, Libby, Alex, Aaron, Naomi, Miles, and Frank–most of which got their points by appearing in Michael’s flashback.

Player Scoring Recap

Once again this week, our top scorer had over 100 points more than the second-place finisher. Congrats to Bill Martella, with a whopping 275 points this week! That catapults him all the way from 8th to 2nd in the overall standings! Let’s look at how everyone did this week.

Year-to-date Standings

So…how do the year-to-date standings look after Week 8? Click on the thumbnail below for a look:

If you’re not in the Top 15 right now, I’d probably be a little worried…

That’s gonna do it for the fantasy league for a few weeks…we’ll see if any of you can make a strong run to the top when LOST returns on April 24th!