Boone the "lifeguard"

[lost_without_lost]

Okay, if this has already been talked about, I am ever so sorry, but I DID search for it.

In the first ever episode of LOST, Boone was trying to perform CPR on Rose. Jack came over and told him he was doing it wrong, that he was blowing air into her stomach. Boone protested by saying he was a certified lifeguard, and then Jack took over, saying that he should think about giving that license back.

A couple episodes later, Jack went into the ocean to save Joanna, who had been caught in a "riptide" (personally, I think the Dharma shark got her since she was an experienced swimmer and would have known how to get out of a riptide, BUT thats another story). He was about to save her when he noticed Boone was drowning (he had gone out before Jack to try and save her) so he saved Boone instead.

SO, here are my questions:

1. Why would Boone say he was a lifeguard if he couldn't swim OR perform CPR?
2. Why would TPTB kill off the only two people (Shannon and Boone) that could have flashbacks about this whole thing?

It makes you wonder, maybe they had a whole other storyline for Boone, then decided to change it at the last minute?

Please, tell me what you think.

[Mysterious Mike]

Who knows where he was certified as a lifeguard and swimming in the ocean can be difficult even for an avid swimmer. Also maybe he wasn't trained correctly in CPR or was just on edge because of the crash and wasn't doing it properly.



I really think you might be over analyzing.

[Smartypants]

Because he was a spoiled rich boy and all his lifeguard training had been at his country club.

Or maybe it was because he went in the water less than an hour after he ate his Apollo Bar!

[lost_without_lost]

LOL... Yeah, okay, I see where you guys are coming from. Just since there are rarely coincidences in this show and there are two accounts of him being....un-lifeguardy, just thought I'd check! ;)

Oh, and Mike... I think no matter where he was lincensed..... America, Australia, hell, ANYWHERE ya need to be able to perform CPR and swim. I know this because my uncle is a lifeguard.

[Hodgepodge]

Lost_Without_Lost, welcome to Lost-TV. I'm sure you're going to the community. Make sure to read the Welcome (http://www.losttv-forum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=2)forum, it's easy to get lost. Now to your post.

We've actually discussed both of your questions in the Ian Somerhalder - Boone forum at the C&CD board. We haven't had much traffic in his forum since his demise, so I'm going to move this thread there for further discussion.

And again, :welcome:

[Noav Sigless]

Boone was never very good at anything he did. He may have been a lifeguard but he was probably the very worst lifeguard.

[boonian androphile]

He was probably a lifeguard at a country club pool, or a community pool for that matter, or the local YMCA. Who knows there? His CPR error resulted from what people who must take refreshers yearly or so encounter---a lack of practice. It's not as though people at my work suffer from daily cardiopulmonary trauma. When would Boone have likely employed CPR without help from more experienced people or at all? In a crisis I would never remember all the right steps and angles without assistance. Jack being a doctor and having worked in a hospital would have had the procedure down cold.

Swimming against the ocean creates ample resistance even for the most accomplished swimmer. Jack just knew his limits. If he had gone out further he may have sunk as well. Jack was correct to save the closer emergency and not to risk his own life when it was too dangerous.

As for the Boone and Shannon question, I dont think that the writers looked upon the exact nature of Boone's profession as important to the story. In Boone's flashback, we see him at a ritzy tennis club, and that gives us what we need to know in terms of lifestyle. Shannon was shown as being excluded from that lifestyle so it wouldnt have mattered to the story if Boone came home and started complaining of a difficult day of lifeguarding.

My opinion is that Boone's fate was sealed early on and a general, undetailed plan was in place to bump him off. Within season 1, though, Boone's death made sense. There was no narrative justification to Shannon's death, particularly during her own flashback sequence. The writers thought it would be cool to have Ana Lucia shoot her and Sayid to mourn. Terrific. It was the worst decision of the series and I didnt care one bit about anybody's reaction to Shannon's death.

[FairVerona]

Being a former Lifeguard at a pool and a lake I can tell you that I'd work at those over the ocean any day...
Lifeguards use the saying...
reach, throw, row, tow, go!
The very last thing you ever want to do is to go into the water unassisted.

[cautiousguyonlost]

Too bad that they could of shown him in the lifeguard duty in his flashback to see how he perform. Due to his lack of lifeguard experience in the oceans to save the Joanne

[boonian androphile]

Yep, lifeguard duty. Around a pool. Maybe he wouldnt get so irate when someone else dives in to save the person because...he's...fantasizing about...Shannon...

Or maybe he would succeed and in his own world be comfortable. Maybe that's better...

[xXxJessiexXx]

The thing about this whole Boone being a lifegaurd thing has always got me confused.

in eppy 1 he said: "I'm a lifeguard. I'm licensed."

But later on in the season in eppy 5 when failed to save joanne (Which some lifegaurds do do) he was yelled at Jack for not saving her and he clearly said: "You're not the only one who knows what to do around here, you know that? I run a business"

So what's this? A lifegaurd Bussiness? Not the exact term id use for describing a job in save people or being a lifegaurd as he said before. But when looking for Claire with Locke they had another interesting conversation.

"LOCKE: So Boone, what did you do in the real world?
BOONE: I run a business.(Second time he's used that line maybe this is the truth.)
LOCKE: What kind of business?
BOONE: Uh, it's a wedding thing.
LOCKE: Huh?
BOONE: My mother has this empire. The Martha Stewart of matrimony. I run one of the subsidiaries." (not sure what the hell that means but doesnt sound like saving people from drowning to me)

So why say one thing then say another? Maybe he really is a life gaurd.He threw the idea of being running a bussiness to make out he is a little more important and intelegent. Maybe he felt ashamed of being a lifegaurd when he couldnt save the women from drowning. Or maybe he is a bussinessman. Myabe he lied about being a lifegaud because he wanted to show to Jack he knew what he was doing and didnt want to show he was just panicky and didnt know what the hell he was doing. Or maybe he's both! lol

[azteclady]

He could have been certified as a lifeguard a couple of years before starting to work for his mother in the "wedding thing" business. In other words, he may not have been lying at all.

[Naps]

lol i just thought that maybe TPTB wrote that in that because he died, Desmond lived and therefor everyone on the island lived... hence he guarded the life? i dunno, kind of out on a limb there.