I’m just going to throw up a link to an article in yesterday’s USA Today discussing Lost’s use of philosophical figures as namesakes for many of its characters. I’m quoted a couple of times in the article, but the real interesting discussion is probably in the comments thread. (There goes the online edition beating the print version again.)
Hey, that’s cool.
We’re just now watching the second season of Lost on DVD. I had been pondering the significance of Locke and Rousseau, but I didn’t notice any of the other namesakes. (Some of them haven’t been introduced yet.)
I’ll give you this advice on Lost: When you get the third season on DVD, the odds are pretty good that at some point during the first six episodes you’ll feel like the creators have completely gone off the rails. Stick it out. I’ve liked almost all of season 3 so far, but I’ve seen quite a few fans who got frustrated with the mini-arc that ran in the fall and who have been feeling much better about the last seven or eight episodes.