Themes
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Games
In a way, many of the characters are playing "games" with one another, by keeping secrets. Sawyer is a con-man, and to him, the "confidence game" is how he makes his living. Recreational games also reveal a great deal about who we are, how much risk we want to take, who's hiding what, how strong we are as individuals, what the pecking order is in a group, and how well we work together.
From "Confidence Man":
Kate to Sawyer: "So you can play games all you want, but I know there's a human being in there somewhere."
From "Special":
Michael to Locke: "I'm not in the mood for your games, man. Where's Walt?"
From "Exodus":
Locke: "I'm removing the driest pieces to minimize our risk transporting it. [he reaches for another stick] You ever play Operation?"
Jack: "Sure. Don't touch the sides."
Locke: "I always got nailed on the funny bone. [he picks up a stick] Bzzzt!"
Jack [flinching]: "You like to play games, John?"
Locke: "Absolutely."
List of games physically seen or played on the show:
Backgammon ("Pilot" and on; multiple appearances on show) - Important moment in the first show, where Locke tells Walt that it's the oldest game in the world, "Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark." (implying he must choose) Seen in later scenes in "In Translation" and "Abandoned", where Walt plays Hurley and Locke plays Charlie (Walt and Locke say they are apparently very "lucky"). Hurley owes Walt $83,000 (no one knows that he could well honor this easily).
Chess ("Live Together, Die Alone") - The two Portuguese-speaking men who man the remote arctic station pass their time playing chess.
Connect Four ("Numbers" & "Dave") - Leonard really enjoys playing this game and is seen in more than one flashback playing it at SRMHI. There are 42 openings on the rack.
Crossword Puzzles ("Collision" & "A Tale of Two Cities") - Locke is working on a crossword question whose answer is "Gilgamesh". There is also one shown in a later flashback of Jack's.
Darts ("Two for the Road") - There is a dartboard in the Swan Station.
Go ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") - Shown on the hatch table; it's an ancient Japanese board game featuring white and black stones, where great skill and thought are required, like chess.
Golf ("Solitary" and on) - Hurley builds a golf course to relieve stress; ("Collision") - A point of competitiveness between Jack and Kate, and she is able to prove that she is both stronger and more accurate at hitting the ball, much to Jack's chagrin.
Halo ("The Greater Good") - Essam's terrorist roomates Yusef and Haddid are playing this war-based video game when Sayid comes to visit their apartment.
Mouse Trap ("Deus ex Machina") - Locke explains how to play to a young boy in his flashback to the toy store, saying it is his favorite game, that he used to play with his brother. Perhaps a metaphor for building something tricky that will trap someone (such as the plan his parents trap him with later in that episode).
Ping-Pong ("The Long Con") - A pong table is shown briefly in a hatch scene, but not being used.
Poker ("Lockdown") - This game is central to the plot of this episode, to show how Jack gets the upper hand over Sawyer, and other more subtle points of interaction. A central skill used by expert poker players is the ability to hide what the actual hand is, and bluff.
Risk ("Walkabout") - A role-playing adventure fantasy game. Locke gets caught up in it, and wants the guy on the phone to call him "Colonel Locke," which his boss Randy mocks. In contrast, Locke in real life is relatively powerless, confined to a wheelchair and a desk job he hates. He has no unimaginary adventure or risk to his everyday life until he ends up on the island.
Soccer ("The Greater Good", "The 23rd Psalm") - In a flashback, Sayid and Essam are seen playing soccer. In another flashback, Mr. Eko and Yemi as children are playing soccer carefreely when the militants invade their village.
Tennis ("Hearts and Minds") - Boone is playing this with his girlfriend in a flashback. He says he can't believe she chased down the last ball to win, which she explains as being lucky. He says "I wish it were luck."
Item Last Updated: April 23, 2006, 05:41:07 PM by Pandora
