News > The shadowy Others take charge on 'Lost'
October 4, 2006
Content taken from USA Today:
Who are The Others, and what do they want with Jack?
It's the most precarious predicament looming over Lost as the hit ABC drama that is averaging 15 million viewers a week returns tonight (9 ET/PT) for a third season of island mystery and adventure.
This balmy August day, star Matthew Fox (Jack) is seated in his trailer, having just wrapped an emotionally draining season-premiere scene, another pre-plane-crash flashback with his character's former wife, Sarah (Julie Bowen).
The earlier part of Fox's week was spent shooting island scenes of being trapped like a mouse by The Others, the treacherous tribe so far portrayed as dirty, barefooted, heavily armed hillbillies. He'll spend much of his time under control of The Others before the series goes on hiatus after a Nov. 8 cliffhanger, then returns in February.
Despite his character's fragile mental state, Fox, 40, can crack a smile. Sprouting whiskers he intends to grow into a heavier beard as his character remains in captivity, Fox says, "I honestly think it's going to be the best year yet. I can tell by the way the producers are talking about the year ahead that the show's going to do a lot of things it hasn't done.
"And philosophically, it's going to touch on some cool issues."
After spending much of last season down in a gloomy hatch pressing a button to stave off a cataclysm, Jack now will see his buttons pushed by The Others. "The Others specifically want something from Jack," says Fox, adding that his character will be on the verge of losing his mind. "Jack is somebody who is obsessed about his need to control situations, and suddenly somebody else is pushing the buttons."
The situation will be a challenge for all the crash survivors who were captured, executive producer Carlton Cuse says. "Each of the characters has their own experience in captivity. They have to restart their lives again in a brand new society. Jack doesn't know where he is or what's happened to Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway). He doesn't even know if they're alive."
Throughout Season 2, the muddied faces of The Others began revealing themselves through the jungle's heavy brush.
But hints along the way, such as Kate's discovery of fake beards, costumes and makeup in a locker, indicated that their villainous ways were not as they seemed.
Michael Emerson portrays the crafty Other who assumed the identity of Henry Gale as he taunted Jack and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) as their captive last season. Now a series regular, Emerson reminds viewers to heed the foreshadowing line his character spoke to Michael (Harold Perrineau) in the season finale: "We're the good guys."
"Not only does he believe that, but it's probably true," Emerson says.
Dressing for success
Tonight, The Others will unveil their new fall wardrobe. And don't expect them to be living in what producers dubbed "Yurtville" — that primitive community of skin tents where Michael was reunited with Walt and that was discovered abandoned by Sayid (Naveen Andrews) in the finale.
"The viewers will be introduced to a surprising, civilized new setting. It appears we've been on the island a long, long time," Emerson teases.
When it comes to revealing specific plot points, the cast and producers turn evasive. They're hoping to re-create the "holy mackerel" moment achieved in last season's opener when the contents of the island's hatch were revealed: A man, Desmond, was living in a souped-up subterranean apartment. "The first five minutes of Season 3 we really think is going to blow people's minds," Cuse says. "I think we have come up with something that is compelling and surprising."
Adds Holloway: "It's so awesome. It's epic. ... They're using part of an existing set and adding on to it. The location is so secluded and gives you a feeling of isolation, which is the magic of the show."
As the season progresses, island flashbacks will provide viewers with more information on the actions of The Others since the crash of Flight 815. "One of the things we're exploring this year is how we tend to objectify people in society that we don't know anything about," Cuse says. "We start to see what the world might look like from The Others' point of view and what their view of our people might be."
Says Fox: "For two seasons, the audience and these characters have vilified these mysterious Others. In one fell swoop, we're going to be thrust into 180-degree switch of perspective in looking at the situation from their point of view."
Humanity and love?
Emerson, who shares scenes in the premiere with Lilly's Kate, says Henry will become more humanized by revealing his true name (a name "I never would have chosen," he says). And he'll be involved in a romance of sorts. In fact, he says, "themes of seduction and rejection will predominate this year."
It may be no coincidence that Jack, Sawyer and Kate, the players in one of TV's hottest love triangles, ended up on The Others' most-wanted list. "The love story is a part of it," Cuse says. "The Others have been observing our characters, and (the three) will be pretty surprised to discover that."
But the love triangle that launched almost right from the series debut soon will crumble when Kate chooses between Sawyer and Jack, and Jack meets the mysterious Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell).
Like so much on Lost, the newcomer's name is no coincidence. Shakespeare's Juliet, one of literature's greatest romantic figures, fell in love with a handsome member of an opposing clan.
Already conceptualizing a long run for Juliet, Cuse says, "It will be really compelling when we get her first flashback story and find out who she was off the island."
Though Fox acknowledges Jack still has feelings for both Kate ("on some deep level") and ex-wife Sarah ("you'll see that unresolved stuff with Sarah put to bed"), he is looking forward to seeing whether Jack and Juliet evolve into a great love story.
"The circumstances in which these two people meet are far from romantic," he says. "But what she brings into Jack's world creates an interesting vibration."
Eager to return to his real island family — wife Margherita, their daughter, Kyle, 9, and son, Byron, 4 — Fox exits his trailer, thankful that his own captivity has ended for another day. He immediately is intercepted by a production assistant who hands him a sealed envelope with the next top-secret Lost script. Slapping the envelope, the sly Fox looks over his shoulder and teases, "Wouldn't you like to see this?"
