Check out this unbelievable editing job that shows the plane crash from the vantage points of several characters, as depicted across each of the three seasons of Lost. If you did not believe before that the Powers that Be have always had a plan for the show, look at how seamlessly these shots from at least six different episodes work together to tell the story of moments leading up to the crash through the immediate aftermath from the perspective of Desmond, the Others, the fuselage survivors and the tail section survivors.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
On the Whacking of Great Television
Let me take a moment to step away from all things "Lost" to bemoan the "lost" opportunity to properly inter a beloved TV series. Ah, David Chase, but your Sopranos finale left so much to be desired, and proved that, while you are truly a master of the medium, you also seem to harbor many of the same sociopathic tendencies as your protagonist/ anti-hero, Tony Soprano. In much the same nonchalant-and-therefore-disturbingly-cruel way that Tony snuffed the life out of beloved nephew/ captain Christopher Moltisanti because it was simple and convenient to do so, you have killed your baby in a manner that defied rhyme or reason. Mr. Chase, even in the mafia, there is an omerta governing who is to be killed, and under what circumstances. Your decision to end the final episode just as tension began to build, but before any particular set of events was actually set in place, was a cruel taunt to the millions of ardent fans who very truly felt you changed the face of television for the better.
Would it have killed you to add one small effect, the sound of sudden gunfire, after the final cut to black? You would have left things with a sense that something happened other than Meadow finally showing up at the conclusion of her parallel parking ordeal. The once-but-no-longer final episode of "Jericho" employed this technique to tremendous effect. Or you could have announced that Carlo's apparant turn had led to an indictment, but left it to the viewer to imagine how that would end up. Or, Paulie Walnuts, whose eventual betrayal has long been teased, could have finished the episode just walking and talking with Butch, the presumptive heir to Phil Leotardo's throne. Again, a suggestion, but not a resolution.
Just something more fulfilling than waiting for someone, anyone, to take the Sopranos' order at Holston's. That's all we ask. I'm not saying you have to mimic the absolute best finale ending ever, from "Six Feet Under," in which the eventual deaths of each and every cast member were depicted in juxtaposition to Claire's departure into whatever adventures would befall her on her route to that last moment of her death. Indeed, to be that complete in your wrap-up would have seemed derivative.
But should the finest resolution in Sopranos really be saved for Bobby Bacallieri? I think not. These characters deserved better. These fans deserved better. And all we got for the moment of terror in which we collectively thought our cable had gone out was the knowledge that somewhere you were probably cackling maniacally with the knowledge that you had pulled one over on your fans.
To be sure, there is a theory gaining traction that the cut to black was meant to signify Tony's suddenly getting whacked at Holston's, a nod to his birthday chat with Bobby in which the latter suggested you never see it coming, and the world just goes black. But if that were indeed the message behind the finale, it was too subtle, and rewarded too few fans - only those that hung on your every line of dialog across 85 episodes as though it were scripture to be memorized, chapter and verse. That kind of subtlety is fine for early reveals (a la Lost's Anthony Cooper being the real Sawyer), but not for the final resolution we all anticipated so fully.
We expected an end with someone getting whacked. Instead, we got an ending that was whack.
Would it have killed you to add one small effect, the sound of sudden gunfire, after the final cut to black? You would have left things with a sense that something happened other than Meadow finally showing up at the conclusion of her parallel parking ordeal. The once-but-no-longer final episode of "Jericho" employed this technique to tremendous effect. Or you could have announced that Carlo's apparant turn had led to an indictment, but left it to the viewer to imagine how that would end up. Or, Paulie Walnuts, whose eventual betrayal has long been teased, could have finished the episode just walking and talking with Butch, the presumptive heir to Phil Leotardo's throne. Again, a suggestion, but not a resolution.
Just something more fulfilling than waiting for someone, anyone, to take the Sopranos' order at Holston's. That's all we ask. I'm not saying you have to mimic the absolute best finale ending ever, from "Six Feet Under," in which the eventual deaths of each and every cast member were depicted in juxtaposition to Claire's departure into whatever adventures would befall her on her route to that last moment of her death. Indeed, to be that complete in your wrap-up would have seemed derivative.
But should the finest resolution in Sopranos really be saved for Bobby Bacallieri? I think not. These characters deserved better. These fans deserved better. And all we got for the moment of terror in which we collectively thought our cable had gone out was the knowledge that somewhere you were probably cackling maniacally with the knowledge that you had pulled one over on your fans.
To be sure, there is a theory gaining traction that the cut to black was meant to signify Tony's suddenly getting whacked at Holston's, a nod to his birthday chat with Bobby in which the latter suggested you never see it coming, and the world just goes black. But if that were indeed the message behind the finale, it was too subtle, and rewarded too few fans - only those that hung on your every line of dialog across 85 episodes as though it were scripture to be memorized, chapter and verse. That kind of subtlety is fine for early reveals (a la Lost's Anthony Cooper being the real Sawyer), but not for the final resolution we all anticipated so fully.
We expected an end with someone getting whacked. Instead, we got an ending that was whack.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
On Wings of (Green) Eagles
As the theorizing gets underway, I was thinking of something Damon and Carlton said in a recent podcast. They indicated that the green eagle that swooped past Hurley, Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Michael in "Live Together, Die Alone" was something they looked to put in the finales. Here is a screencap of that most obvious appearance of the bird (which prompted Hurley to ask if the bird called his name, and Michael to discover the gun Jack gave him had no bullets).
But I had no recollection of any prior appearances of the green "Hurleybird" until I recently rewatched Season 1 on DVD (if you have not taken another look at the first season since it aired, I strongly suggest you should - it was much more packed with clues than I, for one, initially realized). Anyway, in the first season finale, "Exodus, Part II," the green eagle in fact did make an appearance. Here are a couple of freeze frames, courtesy of lost-media.com.
Here, the eagle took flight away from Jack, Hurley, Locke, and Kate shortly after Dr. Arzt blew up, seconds before Smokey appeared and tried to drag Locke off into its subterranean lair.
Still, Damon and Carlton mentioned the bird, and its tendency to appear in finales, at a time recent enough for them to know what would happen in "Through the Looking Glass." And yet, there was no green bird...
Or was there? The bird's first appearance was a harbinger of Smokey. Its second was just before the whispers could be heard as Jack's team was ambushed by the Others. In the third finale, John Locke heard the whispers, and then (impossibly, it would seem), saw a significantly aged Walt, who seemed to have prescient knowledge of John's role on the island.
So I'm wondering - as related as the many strange island manifestations seem to be, is this evidence that, at the very least, spirit Walt and the Green Eagle are one and the same? Some food for thought, in any case.
But I had no recollection of any prior appearances of the green "Hurleybird" until I recently rewatched Season 1 on DVD (if you have not taken another look at the first season since it aired, I strongly suggest you should - it was much more packed with clues than I, for one, initially realized). Anyway, in the first season finale, "Exodus, Part II," the green eagle in fact did make an appearance. Here are a couple of freeze frames, courtesy of lost-media.com.
Here, the eagle took flight away from Jack, Hurley, Locke, and Kate shortly after Dr. Arzt blew up, seconds before Smokey appeared and tried to drag Locke off into its subterranean lair.Still, Damon and Carlton mentioned the bird, and its tendency to appear in finales, at a time recent enough for them to know what would happen in "Through the Looking Glass." And yet, there was no green bird...
Or was there? The bird's first appearance was a harbinger of Smokey. Its second was just before the whispers could be heard as Jack's team was ambushed by the Others. In the third finale, John Locke heard the whispers, and then (impossibly, it would seem), saw a significantly aged Walt, who seemed to have prescient knowledge of John's role on the island.
So I'm wondering - as related as the many strange island manifestations seem to be, is this evidence that, at the very least, spirit Walt and the Green Eagle are one and the same? Some food for thought, in any case.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Lost Theory Project Part 1 - the Questions
Greetings, Lostophiles. As promised, here is phase 1 of the hiatus-spanning project to develop a Complete Theory of Lost. My methodology requires that, in order to answer all of Lost's questions with a single, unifying theory, I first need to identify what those questions are. To that end, I've enlisted the help of the good folks at http://www.lostusers.com/ who helped me rough out the list you'll see below. Special thanks to Joe, Anna, Julie and Dean for their suggestions and theories, and for providing me with my own message board to cobble together this list. I suggest you check out the board (which you can access by clicking the title of this post), and all the boards at Lost Users, where the discussions range from the merely insightful to the downright brilliant.
So without further ado, here are the questions I've come up with, with the help of the LU community, divided into 31 categories (it probably would have been cooler if I came up with 42, but this will do just fine). Please post comments or email me at lostquestions@gmail.com if you think I need to add any categories, or any questions within each category, or if you think any of these questions have been positively answered already by the show.
1. Natural History of the Island
a. Is there something different about the island’s physical make-up that causes it to be the locus of so many strange goings-on?
b. Is the island physically anything other than a volcanic South Pacific island, like Hawaii or Polynesia?
2. The Statue/ Ruins/ Temple
a. Who built the 4-toe statue discovered by Sayid, Jin and Sun?
b. Who built the ruins where the Others left Locke and Cooper?
c. What is the “temple” where Ben sent the Others when he and Alex went to intercept Jack’s party?
d. Who built the temple?
e. Are a., b., and d. the same people? If so, what happened to them?
3. Jacob
a. Who or what is Jacob?
b. How long has Jacob been on the island?
c. If only Ben (and John Locke) can perceive Jacob, why does he hold such sway over the Others?
d. What does he have against technology?
e. What does he want, i.e., what has he tasked the Others with doing?
f. Why did he ask John Locke for help?
g. What about Ben made him the only person (before John Locke) Jacob would talk to?
4. The Hostiles
a. Who were Richard Alpert and his people before DHARMA called them “the Hostiles?”
b. What made the Hostiles so hostile?
c. Why doesn’t Richard seem to age?
d. How long have the Hostiles been on the island?
5. DHARMA
a. By what means did DHARMA hope to change the Valenzetti Equation factors (the numbers)?
b. What were they doing experimenting on Polar Bears?
c. Why tell the Pearl Station residents that there is no importance to the work being done in the Swan Station when in fact that station’s continued operation was so important?
d. How did Dr. Marvin Candle lose that arm?
e. Why does Dr. Mark Wickmund look so much like Dr. Marvin Candle, but with two arms, in the later-dated Pearl Station video?
f. What was the Swan station used for before the “incident?”
g. What was the “incident?”
h. Why not automate the Swan station E-M venting, instead of forcing people to push a button every 108 minutes?
i. Was the Purge brought on by Ben and the Hostiles the “end” of DHARMA? Did it still function in some form after that?
j. Why did food drops continue to come?
k. Why did Kelvin Inman think he was still working for the DHARMA Initiative so long after the purge?
l. How was Kelvin recruited by DHARMA (assuming he was)?
m. Who was Radzinsky (before he was splattered all over the ceiling of the Swan)?
n. For what purpose did DHARMA build the Looking Glass? Surely they were not trying to jam themselves?
0. Have we seen all the DHARMA facilities on (and around) the island?
6. The Numbers
a. Why are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 “the Valenzetti Constants?”
b. If they are constants, what do they represent in the real world?
c. Why do the numbers seem to have such power outside the context of the Valenzetti Equation? d. Why use the Valenzetti constants as the code in the Swan Hatch?
e. Why do the numbers appear so often in the flashbacks?
f. Why were they not used in the code young Ben entered to exit the sonic fence, only to be incorporated into the fence code later?
7. Smoke Monster
a. What is it? How was it created? How long has it been on the island?
b. What does it want?
c. Is it alive/ sentient?
d. Is it tied to "the incident?"
e. Is it related to the construction of DHARMA’s sonic fence, or is the fence’s effect on Smokey just a happy accident?
f. Does it in fact take different forms (like Christian Shephard, Sawyer's boar, Yemi, and the green eagle?)
g. Can it be controlled? If so, by whom?
h. Why is Rousseau so sure it is a “security system?”
8. The Others
a. How many “Others” are Hostiles? How many are Dharma Survivors? How many are post-purge recruits from off-island?
b. What do the Others want?
c. Why is pregnancy lethal to the Others’ women?
d. Do they all have the incredible strength Ethan seemed to possess? Or the incredible stamina/ healing ability Mikhail has demonstrated?
e. Under what criteria is a person added to Jacob’s list?
f. What is the symbol branded on Juliet, and carved in the tree by the vaccine drop (assuming they are the same symbol)?
g. What do the Others call themselves as a group?
h. Was Cindy (the flight attendant and last tail section abductee) an Other before she was taken, or did they somehow convert her?
i. What do the Others hope to accomplish by stealing children?
j. What did the Others think Bonnie and Greta were doing in Canada when they were actually in the Looking Glass?
k. What is it the Others (especially Mikhail) seem willing to kill or die for?
9. Benjamin Linus
a. Why is Ben Jacob’s human agent?
b. What does Ben want, and why is it different from what the Others and/or Jacob want (if it is)?
c. Is Ben just trying to get the island to reunite him with his mother?
d. Why did Ben end up with Alex as a daughter?
e. Has Ben left the island since he was a child?
f. What happened to Annie (Ben’s childhood friend who made the dolls)?
g. What else is contained in Ben’s journal?
h. Why is John Locke such a threat to Ben?
i. Why is Ben jamming signals sent out by his own people? Did this begin when the purple sky event happened?
j. Why did Ben lie and tell his people the Looking Glass had been flooded?
10. Danielle Rousseau
a. What was a 7-months pregnant woman doing on a scientific freighter?
b. Who is Alex’s father?
c. What is this “sickness” supposedly suffered by Danielle’s crewmates? Why did she have to kill them? Why has nobody manifested this sickness in the three months of island time that we have seen?
d. How did Rousseau live on the island for 16 years and not see the Others (who kidnapped her baby?)
e. Did she ever encounter any DHARMA Initiative people?
11. The Whispers
a. What are they?
b. Who are they?
c. Why do they only seem to appear at crucial moments in the plot?
d. Are they really a sound, or are they in the minds of those who hear them?
e. Do they represent intentional communication, or are they not meant to be heard by people on the island?
12. Desmond
a. Why was he sent to military prison?
b. What is the precise nature of his precognitive abilities? Is it completely linked to Charlie?
c. Did Desmond ever really change the universe, or did it course correct?
d. Why do sudden traumas seem to propel him through time? Is this something he could learn to control (like Hiro Nakamura on Heroes)?
e. What happened (to everyone and everything besides Desmond) when he turned the failsafe key in the hatch?
13. Brother Campbell and Ms. Hawking
a. What is their connection?
b. How does she have the same sort of precognitive/ time travel abilities Desmond has?
c. What are they trying to push Desmond to do? Did it end with turning the key?
d. Are they connected to any other characters in Lost? I.e. was the introduction to Penny Widmore just a coincidence?
14. Penelope and Charles Widmore
a. What are Charles’ connections to Brother Campbell, Alvar Hanso, and Paik Heavy Industries? b. What does Charles want, if not just to keep Desmond from marrying Penny?
c. Why was Penny trying to contact the Looking Glass Station?
d. Why did Penny have Arctic researchers looking for large E-M bursts?
e. Why was she surprised Desmond would be in a DHARMA hatch?
15. Nadya
a. How did this one woman get saved by Sayid in Iraq, Locke in Southern California, and Charlie on the streets of Manchester?
b. Did the CIA really know where she was when they enlisted Sayid’s help?
16. Cassidey
a. What happened to her after she and Kate parted company?
b. Does she have a larger connection to the goings-on in Lost, or are her links to Sawyer and Kate pure coincidence?
17. Richard Malkin (Claire’s Psychic)
a. Does he have any real abilities, or is he a sham like he told Eko?
b. Why was he so insistent that Claire raise Aaron?
c. Why was he then so insistent that Claire take flight 815, and no other flight, to give Aaron up for adoption?
d. Were there real people hoping to adopt Aaron? Was their hope specific to Aaron? Why go through Malkin?
18. Oceanic Flight 815
a. How did so many people with such interconnected backgrounds end up on the same plane?
b. How did more than 50 people survive the crash of a jumbo jet that broke up at cruising altitude?
c. It seems that all or most of the characters have issues with the fathers in their lives. Does this theme have something to do with who comes to the island?
d. Why did both Naomi and Anthony Cooper seem to think Flight 815, and the bodies of all aboard, had been found?
19. John Locke
a. How did the island heal his paralysis?
b. Why is he the only person, aside from Ben, who could hear and see Jacob? Why couldn’t Ben hear Jacob at the moment when John could?
c. What does he want to achieve by keeping people on the island?
d. Why did the Others seem to expect him to be their new messiah?
e. Does he have a special connection with Walt?
20. Hurley
a. Why is he so jinxed? Can the numbers do that?
b. Will he ever discover that he’s Locke’s boss?
c. Why did the green eagle seem to scream his name?
d. Was “Dave” ever a real person? If not, how did Hurley recognize him when he saw him on the island?
e. Why doesn't Hurley lose any weight?
f. Will Hurley ever see Libby again, as a vision like Dave?
21. Walt (and Michael)
a. What is the nature of Walt’s abilities? How does he summon animals by thinking about them? How does he get the precise rolls he needs when playing backgammon?
b. How does Walt project himself to characters like Sayid, Shannon and Locke?
c. How will the show explain Walt’s aging so suddenly?
d. Where did Walt and Michael go when they followed Ben’s directions?
e. Did Ben, who never seems to want to let somebody go, actually allow Michael a path off the island?
f. How did Walt reappear on the island if he and Michael escaped?
g. Is Vincent a real dog, or is he another island manifestation?
h. Why did Walt warn Locke not to "open that thing" (the Swan hatch)?
22. Claire and Aaron
a. How did Claire survive to give birth to Aaron, when all other women since Rousseau have died (we know Juliet's theory about off-island conception, but it has never actually been tested)?
b. Does Aaron have a special property about him other than just surviving birth on the island?
c. Why were Malkin and, presumably, the couple who wanted Aaron, so intent on getting this specific baby?
d. Are there larger implications to being Jack’s nephew?
e. Was Aaron really in particular jeopardy when Charlie had his dream visions?
f. What is the meaning of Claire's pre-abduction dream (written in her diary) about being unable to escape a black rock?
23. Naomi and Minkowski
a. Who does Naomi (and Minkowski, who answered the phone) work for, if not Penny Widmore? b. Why did Naomi have HALO jump gear while in a helicopter?
c. Why did Naomi have a picture of Desmond and Penny?
d. If not Desmond or the 815 survivors, what was she looking for?
e. Did Mikhail know whose flair Hurley had shot up?
f. Was her phone, in fact, a futuristic design not available in 2004?
g. Will Claire and Aaron get on a helicopter?
h. What does it mean to be “bad guys” in Ben’s terminology?
24. Jack
a. What lie did he tell that has him so distraught after his return to L.A.?
b. Why does he want so badly to return to the island?
c. How did the man of science become such a man of faith?
d. What’s so inappropriate about having Sarah give him a ride home from the E.R.?
e. Why did Jack tell the new Chief of Surgery "Go get my father"?
f. What is the other half of Jack's tattoo all about?
25. Kate
a. Was she pregnant? With Sawyer’s baby?
b. Boy or girl?
c. Does the baby know about the sister (Cassidey’s baby)?
d. Who was the “he” Kate needed to return to? Is it Sawyer, the Floridian sheriff she left at the alter, her son, or someone else?
e. Are she and Jack the only flight 815 survivors to make it back to civilization?
f. Why wasn't Kate immediately arrested as a fugitive when she arrived back home?
26. The Funeral
a. Who was in that casket?
b. Why was the funeral in South Central L.A.?
c. Why did nobody aside from Jack show up?
d. Why did Jack think Kate would be at the funeral?
e. Why didn’t Kate go to the funeral?
f. Who is J___ntham of New York (the subject of the obituary that informed Jack about the funeral)?
g. How did he die?
27. The Caves
a. Who were Adam & Eve?
b. How long ago did they live there?
c. What was the significance of their white and black rocks?
d. Why did "Christian" lead Jack to the caves?
28. The Swan Hatch Mural
a. Who painted it? What was its significance?
b. Who are the black man and white woman in the painting?
c. Why were the black man's eyes scratched out?
d. Is there a significance to the number "108" appearing in the center of the sun?
e. Is there a significance to any of the other symbols?
f. When was the mural painted? Was it painted during DHARMA experiments or after the purge?
29. The Beechcraft
a. How did the drug plane carrying Yemi's dying body end up on the island?
b. How was Locke able to discover the plane's exact location via a dream?
c. In that dream, how was Locke able to learn that Boone's nanny had died when she fell and broke her neck?
d. Why did Locke temporarily begin to lose feeling in his legs until he found the Beechcraft?
e. Assuming the dream and the failing legs were the island's way of leading Locke to the Beechcraft, why was he unable to find the Pearl hatch until after spending weeks in the Swan hatch?
f. Assuming Locke has some connection with the island that makes his beliefs somewhat valid, why did the island demand Boone's sacrifice in the Beechcraft?
30. The Black Rock
a. How did a slave ship that departed from Portsmouth, England bound for Africa get marooned on an island (presumably) in the South Pacific?
b. Was Magnus Hanso already aware of the island, and in fact looking for it with his slave mining crew, when he set out?
c. How did the ship end up in the middle of the jungle?
d. Why didn't the dynamite blow up when the ship was transported to the middle of the jungle?
e. How did Magnus Hanso actually die (there is a reference to his known final resting place on the Swan blast door map)?
f. Is Magnus's getting marooned on the island connected with Alvar's knowledge and exploitation of the island through the DHARMA Initiative?
g. Is the name "Black Rock" connected to the imagery of black rocks sprinkled throughout Lost (i.e. Claire's dream of a black rock, Adam and Eve's black rock, Locke's teaching Walt that Backgammon is a game between "black" and "white")?
h. Is there a "White Rock" somewhere, corresponding with the white rock held by Adam and Eve, and the white backgammon pieces?
i. What happened to the people on board who were not chained-up slaves?
j. What were the chained-up slaves fending off (see the position of their arms in "Exodus Part 2" - fending off something)?
k. Is it significant that Locke had Sawyer kill Cooper in the brig of the Black Rock?
31. General and Thematic.
a. Which direction is Lost headed: into sci fi or supernatural? Or is it a combination of both? Perhaps it might even seem to be one or the other, when in the end it is neither.
b. What is the significance of the six degrees of separation?
c. What was the inspiration of making Lost a serial mystery instead of a straight forward drama? d. What is the reason for it's popularity? Is it simply the mystery element, or is it the audience's response to their own feelings of being 'lost.' What does this say culturally?
e. The literary references in the show are numerous and significant. How does the process of integrating these works and references into the scripts take place?
f. Who keeps track of the time line?
g. Does the writing staff have a master list of questions? I assume they have a bible of the characters, references and details. Will something like this ever be published? Will the DHARMA maps and manuals ever be published?
h. What was the original inspiration for the concept of Lost? How long was the concept shopped around? What was the original pitch for the show?
So that's my list. I'm going to let this sit here for a while, and give you all a chance to respond. Later this summer, I will send this list to Jeff Jensen at ew.com, Michael Ausiello at tvguide.com, Kristen at E!, Doc Arzt at thetailsection.com, and, with a little luck, to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, to see what any of them has to say about this. So please do jump in on this one. Until later, Namaste.
So without further ado, here are the questions I've come up with, with the help of the LU community, divided into 31 categories (it probably would have been cooler if I came up with 42, but this will do just fine). Please post comments or email me at lostquestions@gmail.com if you think I need to add any categories, or any questions within each category, or if you think any of these questions have been positively answered already by the show.
1. Natural History of the Island
a. Is there something different about the island’s physical make-up that causes it to be the locus of so many strange goings-on?
b. Is the island physically anything other than a volcanic South Pacific island, like Hawaii or Polynesia?
2. The Statue/ Ruins/ Temple
a. Who built the 4-toe statue discovered by Sayid, Jin and Sun?
b. Who built the ruins where the Others left Locke and Cooper?
c. What is the “temple” where Ben sent the Others when he and Alex went to intercept Jack’s party?
d. Who built the temple?
e. Are a., b., and d. the same people? If so, what happened to them?
3. Jacob
a. Who or what is Jacob?
b. How long has Jacob been on the island?
c. If only Ben (and John Locke) can perceive Jacob, why does he hold such sway over the Others?
d. What does he have against technology?
e. What does he want, i.e., what has he tasked the Others with doing?
f. Why did he ask John Locke for help?
g. What about Ben made him the only person (before John Locke) Jacob would talk to?
4. The Hostiles
a. Who were Richard Alpert and his people before DHARMA called them “the Hostiles?”
b. What made the Hostiles so hostile?
c. Why doesn’t Richard seem to age?
d. How long have the Hostiles been on the island?
5. DHARMA
a. By what means did DHARMA hope to change the Valenzetti Equation factors (the numbers)?
b. What were they doing experimenting on Polar Bears?
c. Why tell the Pearl Station residents that there is no importance to the work being done in the Swan Station when in fact that station’s continued operation was so important?
d. How did Dr. Marvin Candle lose that arm?
e. Why does Dr. Mark Wickmund look so much like Dr. Marvin Candle, but with two arms, in the later-dated Pearl Station video?
f. What was the Swan station used for before the “incident?”
g. What was the “incident?”
h. Why not automate the Swan station E-M venting, instead of forcing people to push a button every 108 minutes?
i. Was the Purge brought on by Ben and the Hostiles the “end” of DHARMA? Did it still function in some form after that?
j. Why did food drops continue to come?
k. Why did Kelvin Inman think he was still working for the DHARMA Initiative so long after the purge?
l. How was Kelvin recruited by DHARMA (assuming he was)?
m. Who was Radzinsky (before he was splattered all over the ceiling of the Swan)?
n. For what purpose did DHARMA build the Looking Glass? Surely they were not trying to jam themselves?
0. Have we seen all the DHARMA facilities on (and around) the island?
6. The Numbers
a. Why are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 “the Valenzetti Constants?”
b. If they are constants, what do they represent in the real world?
c. Why do the numbers seem to have such power outside the context of the Valenzetti Equation? d. Why use the Valenzetti constants as the code in the Swan Hatch?
e. Why do the numbers appear so often in the flashbacks?
f. Why were they not used in the code young Ben entered to exit the sonic fence, only to be incorporated into the fence code later?
7. Smoke Monster
a. What is it? How was it created? How long has it been on the island?
b. What does it want?
c. Is it alive/ sentient?
d. Is it tied to "the incident?"
e. Is it related to the construction of DHARMA’s sonic fence, or is the fence’s effect on Smokey just a happy accident?
f. Does it in fact take different forms (like Christian Shephard, Sawyer's boar, Yemi, and the green eagle?)
g. Can it be controlled? If so, by whom?
h. Why is Rousseau so sure it is a “security system?”
8. The Others
a. How many “Others” are Hostiles? How many are Dharma Survivors? How many are post-purge recruits from off-island?
b. What do the Others want?
c. Why is pregnancy lethal to the Others’ women?
d. Do they all have the incredible strength Ethan seemed to possess? Or the incredible stamina/ healing ability Mikhail has demonstrated?
e. Under what criteria is a person added to Jacob’s list?
f. What is the symbol branded on Juliet, and carved in the tree by the vaccine drop (assuming they are the same symbol)?
g. What do the Others call themselves as a group?
h. Was Cindy (the flight attendant and last tail section abductee) an Other before she was taken, or did they somehow convert her?
i. What do the Others hope to accomplish by stealing children?
j. What did the Others think Bonnie and Greta were doing in Canada when they were actually in the Looking Glass?
k. What is it the Others (especially Mikhail) seem willing to kill or die for?
9. Benjamin Linus
a. Why is Ben Jacob’s human agent?
b. What does Ben want, and why is it different from what the Others and/or Jacob want (if it is)?
c. Is Ben just trying to get the island to reunite him with his mother?
d. Why did Ben end up with Alex as a daughter?
e. Has Ben left the island since he was a child?
f. What happened to Annie (Ben’s childhood friend who made the dolls)?
g. What else is contained in Ben’s journal?
h. Why is John Locke such a threat to Ben?
i. Why is Ben jamming signals sent out by his own people? Did this begin when the purple sky event happened?
j. Why did Ben lie and tell his people the Looking Glass had been flooded?
10. Danielle Rousseau
a. What was a 7-months pregnant woman doing on a scientific freighter?
b. Who is Alex’s father?
c. What is this “sickness” supposedly suffered by Danielle’s crewmates? Why did she have to kill them? Why has nobody manifested this sickness in the three months of island time that we have seen?
d. How did Rousseau live on the island for 16 years and not see the Others (who kidnapped her baby?)
e. Did she ever encounter any DHARMA Initiative people?
11. The Whispers
a. What are they?
b. Who are they?
c. Why do they only seem to appear at crucial moments in the plot?
d. Are they really a sound, or are they in the minds of those who hear them?
e. Do they represent intentional communication, or are they not meant to be heard by people on the island?
12. Desmond
a. Why was he sent to military prison?
b. What is the precise nature of his precognitive abilities? Is it completely linked to Charlie?
c. Did Desmond ever really change the universe, or did it course correct?
d. Why do sudden traumas seem to propel him through time? Is this something he could learn to control (like Hiro Nakamura on Heroes)?
e. What happened (to everyone and everything besides Desmond) when he turned the failsafe key in the hatch?
13. Brother Campbell and Ms. Hawking
a. What is their connection?
b. How does she have the same sort of precognitive/ time travel abilities Desmond has?
c. What are they trying to push Desmond to do? Did it end with turning the key?
d. Are they connected to any other characters in Lost? I.e. was the introduction to Penny Widmore just a coincidence?
14. Penelope and Charles Widmore
a. What are Charles’ connections to Brother Campbell, Alvar Hanso, and Paik Heavy Industries? b. What does Charles want, if not just to keep Desmond from marrying Penny?
c. Why was Penny trying to contact the Looking Glass Station?
d. Why did Penny have Arctic researchers looking for large E-M bursts?
e. Why was she surprised Desmond would be in a DHARMA hatch?
15. Nadya
a. How did this one woman get saved by Sayid in Iraq, Locke in Southern California, and Charlie on the streets of Manchester?
b. Did the CIA really know where she was when they enlisted Sayid’s help?
16. Cassidey
a. What happened to her after she and Kate parted company?
b. Does she have a larger connection to the goings-on in Lost, or are her links to Sawyer and Kate pure coincidence?
17. Richard Malkin (Claire’s Psychic)
a. Does he have any real abilities, or is he a sham like he told Eko?
b. Why was he so insistent that Claire raise Aaron?
c. Why was he then so insistent that Claire take flight 815, and no other flight, to give Aaron up for adoption?
d. Were there real people hoping to adopt Aaron? Was their hope specific to Aaron? Why go through Malkin?
18. Oceanic Flight 815
a. How did so many people with such interconnected backgrounds end up on the same plane?
b. How did more than 50 people survive the crash of a jumbo jet that broke up at cruising altitude?
c. It seems that all or most of the characters have issues with the fathers in their lives. Does this theme have something to do with who comes to the island?
d. Why did both Naomi and Anthony Cooper seem to think Flight 815, and the bodies of all aboard, had been found?
19. John Locke
a. How did the island heal his paralysis?
b. Why is he the only person, aside from Ben, who could hear and see Jacob? Why couldn’t Ben hear Jacob at the moment when John could?
c. What does he want to achieve by keeping people on the island?
d. Why did the Others seem to expect him to be their new messiah?
e. Does he have a special connection with Walt?
20. Hurley
a. Why is he so jinxed? Can the numbers do that?
b. Will he ever discover that he’s Locke’s boss?
c. Why did the green eagle seem to scream his name?
d. Was “Dave” ever a real person? If not, how did Hurley recognize him when he saw him on the island?
e. Why doesn't Hurley lose any weight?
f. Will Hurley ever see Libby again, as a vision like Dave?
21. Walt (and Michael)
a. What is the nature of Walt’s abilities? How does he summon animals by thinking about them? How does he get the precise rolls he needs when playing backgammon?
b. How does Walt project himself to characters like Sayid, Shannon and Locke?
c. How will the show explain Walt’s aging so suddenly?
d. Where did Walt and Michael go when they followed Ben’s directions?
e. Did Ben, who never seems to want to let somebody go, actually allow Michael a path off the island?
f. How did Walt reappear on the island if he and Michael escaped?
g. Is Vincent a real dog, or is he another island manifestation?
h. Why did Walt warn Locke not to "open that thing" (the Swan hatch)?
22. Claire and Aaron
a. How did Claire survive to give birth to Aaron, when all other women since Rousseau have died (we know Juliet's theory about off-island conception, but it has never actually been tested)?
b. Does Aaron have a special property about him other than just surviving birth on the island?
c. Why were Malkin and, presumably, the couple who wanted Aaron, so intent on getting this specific baby?
d. Are there larger implications to being Jack’s nephew?
e. Was Aaron really in particular jeopardy when Charlie had his dream visions?
f. What is the meaning of Claire's pre-abduction dream (written in her diary) about being unable to escape a black rock?
23. Naomi and Minkowski
a. Who does Naomi (and Minkowski, who answered the phone) work for, if not Penny Widmore? b. Why did Naomi have HALO jump gear while in a helicopter?
c. Why did Naomi have a picture of Desmond and Penny?
d. If not Desmond or the 815 survivors, what was she looking for?
e. Did Mikhail know whose flair Hurley had shot up?
f. Was her phone, in fact, a futuristic design not available in 2004?
g. Will Claire and Aaron get on a helicopter?
h. What does it mean to be “bad guys” in Ben’s terminology?
24. Jack
a. What lie did he tell that has him so distraught after his return to L.A.?
b. Why does he want so badly to return to the island?
c. How did the man of science become such a man of faith?
d. What’s so inappropriate about having Sarah give him a ride home from the E.R.?
e. Why did Jack tell the new Chief of Surgery "Go get my father"?
f. What is the other half of Jack's tattoo all about?
25. Kate
a. Was she pregnant? With Sawyer’s baby?
b. Boy or girl?
c. Does the baby know about the sister (Cassidey’s baby)?
d. Who was the “he” Kate needed to return to? Is it Sawyer, the Floridian sheriff she left at the alter, her son, or someone else?
e. Are she and Jack the only flight 815 survivors to make it back to civilization?
f. Why wasn't Kate immediately arrested as a fugitive when she arrived back home?
26. The Funeral
a. Who was in that casket?
b. Why was the funeral in South Central L.A.?
c. Why did nobody aside from Jack show up?
d. Why did Jack think Kate would be at the funeral?
e. Why didn’t Kate go to the funeral?
f. Who is J___ntham of New York (the subject of the obituary that informed Jack about the funeral)?
g. How did he die?
27. The Caves
a. Who were Adam & Eve?
b. How long ago did they live there?
c. What was the significance of their white and black rocks?
d. Why did "Christian" lead Jack to the caves?
28. The Swan Hatch Mural
a. Who painted it? What was its significance?
b. Who are the black man and white woman in the painting?
c. Why were the black man's eyes scratched out?
d. Is there a significance to the number "108" appearing in the center of the sun?
e. Is there a significance to any of the other symbols?
f. When was the mural painted? Was it painted during DHARMA experiments or after the purge?
29. The Beechcraft
a. How did the drug plane carrying Yemi's dying body end up on the island?
b. How was Locke able to discover the plane's exact location via a dream?
c. In that dream, how was Locke able to learn that Boone's nanny had died when she fell and broke her neck?
d. Why did Locke temporarily begin to lose feeling in his legs until he found the Beechcraft?
e. Assuming the dream and the failing legs were the island's way of leading Locke to the Beechcraft, why was he unable to find the Pearl hatch until after spending weeks in the Swan hatch?
f. Assuming Locke has some connection with the island that makes his beliefs somewhat valid, why did the island demand Boone's sacrifice in the Beechcraft?
30. The Black Rock
a. How did a slave ship that departed from Portsmouth, England bound for Africa get marooned on an island (presumably) in the South Pacific?
b. Was Magnus Hanso already aware of the island, and in fact looking for it with his slave mining crew, when he set out?
c. How did the ship end up in the middle of the jungle?
d. Why didn't the dynamite blow up when the ship was transported to the middle of the jungle?
e. How did Magnus Hanso actually die (there is a reference to his known final resting place on the Swan blast door map)?
f. Is Magnus's getting marooned on the island connected with Alvar's knowledge and exploitation of the island through the DHARMA Initiative?
g. Is the name "Black Rock" connected to the imagery of black rocks sprinkled throughout Lost (i.e. Claire's dream of a black rock, Adam and Eve's black rock, Locke's teaching Walt that Backgammon is a game between "black" and "white")?
h. Is there a "White Rock" somewhere, corresponding with the white rock held by Adam and Eve, and the white backgammon pieces?
i. What happened to the people on board who were not chained-up slaves?
j. What were the chained-up slaves fending off (see the position of their arms in "Exodus Part 2" - fending off something)?
k. Is it significant that Locke had Sawyer kill Cooper in the brig of the Black Rock?
31. General and Thematic.
a. Which direction is Lost headed: into sci fi or supernatural? Or is it a combination of both? Perhaps it might even seem to be one or the other, when in the end it is neither.
b. What is the significance of the six degrees of separation?
c. What was the inspiration of making Lost a serial mystery instead of a straight forward drama? d. What is the reason for it's popularity? Is it simply the mystery element, or is it the audience's response to their own feelings of being 'lost.' What does this say culturally?
e. The literary references in the show are numerous and significant. How does the process of integrating these works and references into the scripts take place?
f. Who keeps track of the time line?
g. Does the writing staff have a master list of questions? I assume they have a bible of the characters, references and details. Will something like this ever be published? Will the DHARMA maps and manuals ever be published?
h. What was the original inspiration for the concept of Lost? How long was the concept shopped around? What was the original pitch for the show?
So that's my list. I'm going to let this sit here for a while, and give you all a chance to respond. Later this summer, I will send this list to Jeff Jensen at ew.com, Michael Ausiello at tvguide.com, Kristen at E!, Doc Arzt at thetailsection.com, and, with a little luck, to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, to see what any of them has to say about this. So please do jump in on this one. Until later, Namaste.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Episodes 322-323 - To the Hiatus "Through the Looking Glass"
The death of a beloved friend! Jack becomes his father!! A long-missing child returns!!! Rescue at last!!!! And the "game changer" we've been promised all season. Yes, folks, Lost's finales have a tradition of being something special, and "Through the Looking Glass" was no exception.
Random Aside - has any actress gotten more mileage out of real life pregnancy than Julie Bowen, whose pregnant characters on Lost and Boston Legal are both crucial to the plot?
Whose casket was this? An attempt to read the press clip shows that it refers to "Jo...ntham from New York." Who is that?
Jack gets denied a refill at the pharmacy. The guy behind him in line says he’s a hero. Jack hands over another scrip, for Oxycodon, written by his dad, but he leaves angrily when they say they are going to call Christian’s office.
Jack breaks in to the hospital pharmacy counter. After snagging and popping some oxycodone, he tries to grab the woman’s chart. Dr. Hammill tells Jack that Mrs. Arlen (who he saved) woke up and is lucid. She described the events that caused the accident, busting Jack about his contemplated suicide. Jack asks if Dr. Hammill knows anything about him, what he’s been through? (Like his wife leaving him, we're to assume?) Jack stumbles and snarls, "get my father down here, and if I’m drunker than he is, you can fire me." Jack insists Dr. Hamill can’t help him. More on this exchange, and the exciting twist in the final L.A. sequence, below...
Beach Exodus
Meanwhile, in the Newly-Discovered Looking Glass...
Charlie is busily getting pummeled by Greta and Bonnie, the gun-toting hotties discovered in the station at the end of the prior episode. The bad cop/ badder cop routine not phasing him, since he already assumed this was a one-way mission. He says he came in his invisible sub. They say he’s one of them and demand to know how he knows about the Looking Glass. Charlie says smugly that Juliet told them. Greta and Bonnie are apparently Others – and they have to call Ben. They open a portal to make the call, and Charlie sees the blinking yellow light Desmond told him about from his vision.
Ryan’s crew has their walkies off, so they can’t here Ben’s call to warn them that the beach camp is a trap. They prepare to take the pregnant women from the marked tents. Bernard takes aim, as does Sayid. First one, then two tents go up in flames, as Sayid and Bernard hit their shots, but Jin can’t shoot straight. He takes down a couple of Others, but Ryan captures him with a blow to the head. Bernard runs, but Tom takes him down. Sayid is about to try to shoot Ryan out from behind Jin (very Jack Bauer, eh?), when another Other takes Sayid at gunpoint.
From a hillside, Jack’s crew notices the lack of a third explosion.Kate says, “it didn’t work.” Jack reassures everyone that everything is fine. 
Rose, scared for Bernard, says to Jack, “If you say live together, die alone to me Jack, I’m going to punch you in the face.” Jack gets everyone moving again. Sawyer looks back. Rose and Sun are freaking out. Naomi checks – her phone is still jammed (c'mon, Chahlie!).
Bonnie keeps interrogating Charlie. He admits frankly that he is there to turn off the jamming equipment. Whatever they do to him, he’ll turn it off…but Bonnie points out he doesn’t know the code (D'oh!). Only Bonnie, Greta, and Ben know the code. Charlie smiles in response, "I guess I won’t need the code, since this entire station is going to be flooded, anyway."
Tom calls in to Ben to report. Seven Others are dead, and Jack's crew is gone. Ben tells Tom that Juliet betrayed them, and orders Tom to kill Jin to make them talk. Sayid tells Bernard not to talk, but gets knocked out with a rifle butt to the head (how Sayid does not have permanent brain damage after all the head-blows he's taken on the island escapes me). Bernard confesses that Jack's group has gone to the radio tower, and that Karl warned them the attack was coming hours earlier than Juliet thought. Ben hears over the walkie, and now knows Alex set this amush in motion.
Ben tells Richard he’s going to the tower to head off Jack's crew, and the rest of them should go to the temple (what's the temple?). Richard warns Ben not to tromp off, in light of mounting rumors about Jacob, the missing John Locke, and the deaths of the beach attack crew. Alex asks where Ben’s going. He tells her he’s looking for Jack and co. She says she’s coming, and Ben surprises her by agreeing. He lets her know Karl is with them (i.e. "I know what you been up to, young lady"). Ben tells Richard he’ll talk the 40 marchers out of leaving the island.
Kate tells Sawyer that something’s wrong because Sayid's crew has not caught up. She demands to know what happened to Sawyer when he was with Locke, since “it’s like you don’t care about anything anymore. And since when did you start calling me 'Kate?'” She observes that she was on Juliet's pregnancy watch, too. Sawyer coldly says, "well, let's hope you'e not." Sawyer walks off and looks jealously at Jack (oh, come on, James, get over it - she's yours if you want her).
Desmond wakes up on the boat and realizes Charlie went down to the station. Suddenly, Mikahil starts shooting at him from the shore, so he dives and pulls himself down to the Looking Glass by the cable.
He sees the moon pool, and comes up to where Charlie is sitting. Charlie warns him to hide. The women see Charlie talking, but Charlie claims he was singing (are there any other words to that song other than "you all everbody"?). Bonnie clobbers Charlie, while Desmond hides in a locker.
Sawyer stops his march and says he’s going back. Jack tries to stop him, to no avail. Kate says she’s going too, but Sawyer says he doesn't want to go with her. Juliet says she knows where there is a cache of guns, and tells Jack she "kinda does" have to help. Jack tells Juliet not to do anything stupid.
They kiss, upsetting Kate, and Juliet and Sawyer head off.
Charlie keeps singing. Bonnie goes for the spear gun, in the locker (where Desmond is hiding), to make him stop. Then Mikhail arrives. He thought Greta and Bonnie were on assignment in Canada (wait a second...could Penny's cold-weather EMP searchers be in Canada?)…Mikhail, his patch off, his missing eye sealed over, knows Desmond is down there(does this suggest the glass eye was not his? Or did his eye get sealed later, explaining why he left a glass eye behind in the Arrow station?) Charlie asks Mikhail why they were told the station is flooded, and why they’ve been jamming transmissions off the island (to drive a wedge between these three Others). When Ben calls, Mikhail takes it, alone. Ben tells Mikhail he did everything he did for the island. "The island told you it was necessary to jam your own people?" (As near as I can recall, this is the first time somebody other than Locke has anthropomorphized the island in this way). Ben asks Mikhail to "trust Jacob who told me to do this." "This island is under assault by forces than anything it has had to deal with in years, and we are meant to protect it by any means necessary." Ben apologizes for not trusting Mikhail. Mikahail accepts the apology (what a loyalist!!!). Ben needs his help – to kill Charlie, and to make sure the jamming mechanism does not stop. And he needs to take care of Greta and Bonnie, too, so no other Others learn about the jamming.
Juliet tells Sawyer the rock-breaking work detail he had been assigned to by the Others was to build a runway. She jokes – it was for the aliens, then says she didn't know what it was for. A great Lost exchange follows: Sawyer: "So you screwing Jack yet?" Juliet: "No, are you?" She tells him there are no guns - she lied so Jack would let them go back, which she's doing "for Karma." Hurley catches up to them, out of breath. He wants to help, and Charlie and Jack wouldn't let him, but Sawyer tells Hurley he’ll just get them killed, takes Juliet, and leaves a dejected Hugo behind.
Ben tells Alex he let her come with him because he’s delivering her to her new family. He caged Karl, and subjected him to deprogramming aversion therapy in Room 23, to keep him from impregnating her. "I suppose I overreacted." (I love Ben's little lines). Alex demands to know why he won't just let Jack's people leave. He says he won’t because he can’t.
Locke is still lying in the Dharma grave, where Ben left him to die, but he is very much alive (see, two weeks wasn't too long to wait to figure that out, was it?) He's having trouble moving his legs. He reaches for a gun on a Dharma corpse, and is about to shoot himself in the head, when he hears the whispers…and then he sees...Walt?! "Don’t, John. Put the gun down. Put it down, John. Now get up, John." Walt is clearly older than when last we saw him about a month ago in Lost time. (Malcolm David Kelley's aging was kind of inevitable, right? Or is this part of the story?). He says John can move his legs. He has to get out of the ditch, because he has work to do. Locke gives off a smile like he's just had his personal burning bush moment.
Jack tells Kate Sawyer's refusal to let her come was because he was trying to protect her. That’s why Jack asked her not to come back for him, too. Kate asks why he’s sticking up for Sawyer. He responds, “because I love you.” And with that, Jack keeps on marching. The party emerges into a clearing. Jack speeds up to catch Danielle, who says it’s about an hour to the tower. She has not been back since she recorded the message, and she does not want to return to civilization, as there's no place for her back there. The island is her home now. Ben and Alex are in their path. Jack goes ahead to see what’s up. Ben tells Jack they need to talk.
Mikhail puts his patch back on. He asks if it’s possible to turn the equipment off. They assure him the equipment can't be turned off without the code, and it's waterproof in case of flood. Mikhail asks why they never asked why they have to follow Ben's orders and stay there, if it can't be turned off. Bonnie says she trusts Ben, and trusts Jacob, and "the minute I start questioning orders, this whole thing that we’re doing here falls apart." (What the hell are they doing there? Isn't that the biggest remaining question?) Mikhail shoots Greta, who falls in the water, then he shoots Bonnie in the back. He apologizes, and assures Bonnie that he is following orders, too. Desmond comes out from the utility locker, spears Mikhail, and grabs the dropped gun before Bonnie can get to it.
Kate circles around Ben's position. Jack tells Naomi not to talk to Ben, who tries to introduce himself. Ben wants a moment to talk alone with Jack. Kate says noone else is there. Jack gives Ben five minutes, and takes the walkie from Ben's belt. Jack seems relieved to learn his guys killed seven Others before being taken hostage. Ben says, "Not so long ago Jack, I made a decision that took the lives of over 40 people in a single day." Ben tells Jack that it's Jack who is about to kill all the survivors. Naomi is not who she says she is - she’s a representative of some people who have been trying to find this island. She’s one of the "bad guys." (Strange - as creepy and dishonest as Ben is, I kind of believe him here). "If you phone her boat, every single living person on this island will be killed. So here’s what has to happen." Ben demands that Jack hand over her phone and says they both can then go back to their respective people. He asks for his walkie, and calls for Tom, and tells Jack what happened with the plan on the beach. Ben again demands the phone, and orders Tom to kill his prisoners if Jack doesn't comply within a minute. Sayid calls out not to negotiate. Ben asks - what do you want to get off the island for? You have no one, your father's dead, your wife left you. Jack refuses, and three gunshots are heard. Their screaming stops, and Jack, enraged, beats Ben bloody. Jack calls Tom, and declares he’s going to get his people rescued, and then he’s going to find Tom, and kill him (no more Dr. Nice Jack, huh?)
Charlie tries to get wounded Bonnie to give up the code. He points out that Ben put Mikhail up to shooting her and Greta. Why not take the opportunity to make Ben very very angry? Bonnie starts spouting out numbers – they’re the notes to "Good Vibrations," as the code was programmed by a musician. Bonnie dies...
Jack hauls Ben back to his group. He tells them to tie Ben up, and starts to walk off. Alex goes to check on Ben, and Danielle approaches Alex. Ben tells Alex this is her mother. She asks for help tying up Ben (ah, what a sweet moment of mother-daughter reunion!). Jack tells Kate that Ben killed Jin, Sayid and Bernard, and blames himself for letting it happen. He says not to tell Rose or Sun yet, that he promised Sayid he would keep moving. He didn’t kill Ben because he wanted Ben to know that he failed, when they get off the island. And then he’ll kill him (extra super revenge-y Jack comes out).
With Ben in tow, Hurley radios in that the Others should stay away from the beach. Hurley tells Jack that everyone is fine. The party hears this and cheers. Jack says to stay put, they’re almost at the tower. Claire asks about Charlie.
Desmond covers the bodies. Charlie asks if Des had any more flashes – no none. Charlie goes to enter the code and points out the diving gear. He hums the tune in his head, and pushes the buttons. The light stops flashing. So much for fate, is the thought conveyed on Charlie's relieved face, when a red light starts to blink, signifying an incoming transmission… It’s Penny!
She asks where they are, and how Charlie got the frequency? He recognizes her and calls for Desmond. She hears Charlie and asks if Des is ok. Charlie quickly tries to catch her up as Desmond runs along the main chamber to the jamming room. Penny says she doesn’t know about the rescue crew (whaaaaat?)…
Desmond notices that, uh,oh, Mikhail is missing. He turns up outside the porthole where Charlie is, and pulls a grenade pin. Charlie, seeing Desmond running to his beloved Penny, acts fast. He just barely beats Des to the door and shuts it tight. The grenade blows out the porthole, and the room begins to fill. (Query - just what are the Others up to that makes Mikhail willing to accept Ben's deceptions, and then take his own life to try to stop Charlie from unjamming the transmission?)
As Desmond watches. Charlie writes on his hand with his ever-present Sharpie, and shows Desmond, “Not Penny’s boat.” Charlie backs away, peacefully makes the sign of the cross and drowns.
Inside, Jack finds the cobwebbed radio gear, sees Danielle’s message playing in a loop on a cartridge tape. She tells Alex the recording was three days before Alex was born. Danielle turns off the signal. Naomi can’t get a signal inside. She goes out, says she’s getting something. Ben looks mortified. He pleads with Jack – "I know you think you’re saving your people. I’m telling you, making that call is the beginning of the end…"
Just as Naomi’s call connects, Locke throws a knife at her, and she falls over, blood pouring from her mouth. John pulls his gun on Jack. He says he did what he had to. He demands Jack step back. The phone is ringing. Ben eggs John on to shoot him, but Alex punches him and knocks him out. "You’re done keeping me on this island, John" insists Jack. Locke insists he’ll kill Jack if he has to. Jack calls the bluff, and John lowers the gun, but pleads that Jack is not supposed to do this. The call connects with a Minkowski, who is happy to hear Naomi made it to the island (not knowing about the knife in his back). Minkowski says they can get a fix on Jack’s location, and they’ll be right there. Locke wanders off back into the jungle, and Ben looks defeated.
The Big Ending – The Rest of the L.A. Sequence
Jack lives in a wreck of an apartment, with maps and notes strewn all over the place
He opens his phone again, drinks some Patron, and places a call. He gets and answer and says, "don't hang up. I know what you said, but I just need to see you. At the airport, you know where." He drives out to the airport, at the end of the runway. He waits, and a car pulls up. But the Volvo is not driven by Sarah…it’s driven by Kate (Kate drives a Volvo? Is she doing taco night, too?)!
Hints about the Flash-forward
Thanks again to Dave B., who pointed out that the name of the funeral home, Hoffs/ Drawlar, is an anagram for "flash-forward." Cute hint by the producers, there, huh?
What do you make of Jack's dad apparently being alive in the flash-forward?
Could be:
a) a delusion, although Jack seems very lucid.
b) the island somehow brought him back to life, but why? As a curse on Jack?
c) it isn't really a flash forward.
A few thoughts before jumping in. First, special thanks to Dave Basler, whose questions and observations this week inform what you're about to read. Also, for those of you who despise spoilers, let me just say that this episode proved to be a cautionary tale. Not realizing the detail of what I was reading, I read a synopsis online two weeks ago that spoiled every last event in this shocking finale, such that even the big twist at the end was ruined. Folks, on a show like this, where mystery is half the fun, be very careful what you read.
Now with that in mind, here's what happened in two fantastic hours of television.
Jack in Los Angeles
We begin with bearded Jack on an Oceanic air flight, drinking heavily. (Fun fact - the voice of the captain is series co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof). The flight attendant refuses to serve him another as turbulence hits on the way to L.A. Jacks spots a headline on a discarded newspaper, and it moves him to tears. He tears the newpaper clipping and takes it with him.
Back in L.A., Jack parks his Land Rover on the 6th Street Bridge in downtown (the first moment on Lost to be filmed outside of Oahu). Jack retrieves the newspaper clip, and cries, shaking his head. He places a call, (on a brand new, state of the art Moto Krazr phone) and begins to leave a message – "I just read…" but then he hangs up the phone before we get a sense who he was calling. Jack gets out of the car and walks to the side of the bridge. He climbs up on the rail, prepares to jump. Looking up, he pleads for forgiveness, when behind him, he hears a crash. He runs to help.
As Jack is getting stiched up, the E.R. doc says the media is outside and wants to see him (the hero). The woman in the car has stabilized, because "thank God you were on the bridge." Jack's ex wife Sarah arrives, very visibly pregnant. Perhaps this is why Jack was so suicidal?
Back in L.A., Jack parks his Land Rover on the 6th Street Bridge in downtown (the first moment on Lost to be filmed outside of Oahu). Jack retrieves the newspaper clip, and cries, shaking his head. He places a call, (on a brand new, state of the art Moto Krazr phone) and begins to leave a message – "I just read…" but then he hangs up the phone before we get a sense who he was calling. Jack gets out of the car and walks to the side of the bridge. He climbs up on the rail, prepares to jump. Looking up, he pleads for forgiveness, when behind him, he hears a crash. He runs to help.As Jack is getting stiched up, the E.R. doc says the media is outside and wants to see him (the hero). The woman in the car has stabilized, because "thank God you were on the bridge." Jack's ex wife Sarah arrives, very visibly pregnant. Perhaps this is why Jack was so suicidal?
Random Aside - has any actress gotten more mileage out of real life pregnancy than Julie Bowen, whose pregnant characters on Lost and Boston Legal are both crucial to the plot?Sarah wants to know what happened, why Jack was driving around at 2 in the morning. She asks if he’s drinking again. He doesn’t answer, and asks for a lift home, but she says that’s not appropriate. (Um, why is is so inappropriate? Did Jack do something to her other that's worse than her running out on him?) She’s there because she is still his emergency contact. She tells him good-bye and walks out.
Later, bearded Jack pops some pills while he reads a chart. He is greeted by the new chief of surgery, Dr. Rob Hamill who calls him a hero. Jack is standing over the woman he saved. He says he wants to operate on her back. Dr. Hamill says no – this is not his patient. Jack insists. Dr. Hamill says no – he’s done enough. Dr. Hamill, who relates that Jack saved the woman and her 8-year-old son, demands the chart back. Jack demands to know what happens, and he leaves the room. In the waiting room, he sees a press clip of his heroism (the voice of the reporter is none other than Lost's other executive producer, Carlton Cuse), and underneath the screen, the boy he saved.
Jack, strung out, drives along, Nirvana blasting in his car. He pulls out that newspaper clip, and pulls over. He places a cell phone call (that conspicuous Krazr again), but again hangs up. He looks again at the newspaper clip. Across the street is a funeral parlor ("Hoffs/Drawlar").
Inside, there’s a casket, but no people. The director tells Jack that nobody showed up – it was just a viewing. Jack says he's neither friend nor family. 
He doesn’t want the casket opened…But left alone with it, Jack goes over, places a hand on the coffin, and pops his last pill.
Later, bearded Jack pops some pills while he reads a chart. He is greeted by the new chief of surgery, Dr. Rob Hamill who calls him a hero. Jack is standing over the woman he saved. He says he wants to operate on her back. Dr. Hamill says no – this is not his patient. Jack insists. Dr. Hamill says no – he’s done enough. Dr. Hamill, who relates that Jack saved the woman and her 8-year-old son, demands the chart back. Jack demands to know what happens, and he leaves the room. In the waiting room, he sees a press clip of his heroism (the voice of the reporter is none other than Lost's other executive producer, Carlton Cuse), and underneath the screen, the boy he saved.
Jack, strung out, drives along, Nirvana blasting in his car. He pulls out that newspaper clip, and pulls over. He places a cell phone call (that conspicuous Krazr again), but again hangs up. He looks again at the newspaper clip. Across the street is a funeral parlor ("Hoffs/Drawlar").
Inside, there’s a casket, but no people. The director tells Jack that nobody showed up – it was just a viewing. Jack says he's neither friend nor family. He doesn’t want the casket opened…But left alone with it, Jack goes over, places a hand on the coffin, and pops his last pill.
Whose casket was this? An attempt to read the press clip shows that it refers to "Jo...ntham from New York." Who is that?Jack gets denied a refill at the pharmacy. The guy behind him in line says he’s a hero. Jack hands over another scrip, for Oxycodon, written by his dad, but he leaves angrily when they say they are going to call Christian’s office.
Jack breaks in to the hospital pharmacy counter. After snagging and popping some oxycodone, he tries to grab the woman’s chart. Dr. Hammill tells Jack that Mrs. Arlen (who he saved) woke up and is lucid. She described the events that caused the accident, busting Jack about his contemplated suicide. Jack asks if Dr. Hammill knows anything about him, what he’s been through? (Like his wife leaving him, we're to assume?) Jack stumbles and snarls, "get my father down here, and if I’m drunker than he is, you can fire me." Jack insists Dr. Hamill can’t help him. More on this exchange, and the exciting twist in the final L.A. sequence, below...
Beach Exodus
The scenes on the island with the 815 crew as Jack prepares to lead the group to the radio tower provided some great character moments. One of the finest is early on, when Rose asks Bernard, if she helps with his SOS sign, will he give up on staying behind to be one of the shooters? He says no, so she makes him say one last time, “I am a dentist, I am not Rambo.” Kate gives meaningful looks to Jack, then to Sawyer. Sayid, Bernard and Jin prepare for their mission. Sayid demands that Jack not turn back for any reason, because he does not want to give up his life for nothing. Rousseau looks at Hurley with Aaron (maybe I'll see my baby, her gaze seems to say (as opposed to, "gosh, I'm sorry I once abducted this little turnip head to trade back for Alex")). Hurley assures Claire that Charlie will be fine. Sun wants to know why Jin volunteered to stay behind. In English, Jin says, "because we have to go home." Jack rounds up the troops, and off they go, their fire still burning, 40 some-odd people and Vincent, the trust lab. Naomi tramps out to the lead and asks Jack what he did for a living, before he became Moses. She shows Jack how to use the phone, in case something happens to her.
Meanwhile, in the Newly-Discovered Looking Glass...Charlie is busily getting pummeled by Greta and Bonnie, the gun-toting hotties discovered in the station at the end of the prior episode. The bad cop/ badder cop routine not phasing him, since he already assumed this was a one-way mission. He says he came in his invisible sub. They say he’s one of them and demand to know how he knows about the Looking Glass. Charlie says smugly that Juliet told them. Greta and Bonnie are apparently Others – and they have to call Ben. They open a portal to make the call, and Charlie sees the blinking yellow light Desmond told him about from his vision.
Back at the Others' Tent City
At Ben’s tent, he writes in a journal.
At Ben’s tent, he writes in a journal.
Random Aside - Some online posters have referred to this journal as the next great Lost Easter Egg, right up there with the hatch map (see the archives of this blog for the details on the map). The goodly Doc Arzt over at thetailsection.com posted what looks to be a plausible transcript of Ben's entry:
"_/12 An important meeting tonight with (R) and (M) regarding the developing situation. We are now on day 3 of our exodus from the village and I am, I fear, at the limit of my tactical resources. (T)’s agenda, which I don’t question, is however a narrow and difficult one, and I could well wish we’d had time to prepare, not merely for the military strike, but for a surveillance campaign of the beach. We are short on provisions (seasonal) and, more importantly, the long-awaited re-supply of camp gear having been missed (and so necessary!) _____ _____ _____ just as our water supply ____ ___ have been cut off. We look like a very sad sort of gypsy army."
I, for one, would pay good money to read that tome from cover to cover...
Ben's radio comes alive – it’s Bonnie, calling from the Looking Glass. She broke radio silence because “one of them is down here.” Charlie identifies himself with a cocky shout to Ben. Bonnie tells Ben Juliet told him, while Richard looks on, clearly perturbed that Ben didn't spot Juliet's deception. Ben tells Bonnie he’s sending help. He orders Mikhail to go down, but Mikhail is not pleased that Ben lied about the Looking Glass being flooded. Richard seems even more disappointed that, despite this betrayal, Mikhail stays loyal, as Patchy asks, “If Juliet told them about the looking Glass, what else did she tell them?”
Ryan’s crew has their walkies off, so they can’t here Ben’s call to warn them that the beach camp is a trap. They prepare to take the pregnant women from the marked tents. Bernard takes aim, as does Sayid. First one, then two tents go up in flames, as Sayid and Bernard hit their shots, but Jin can’t shoot straight. He takes down a couple of Others, but Ryan captures him with a blow to the head. Bernard runs, but Tom takes him down. Sayid is about to try to shoot Ryan out from behind Jin (very Jack Bauer, eh?), when another Other takes Sayid at gunpoint.From a hillside, Jack’s crew notices the lack of a third explosion.
Rose, scared for Bernard, says to Jack, “If you say live together, die alone to me Jack, I’m going to punch you in the face.” Jack gets everyone moving again. Sawyer looks back. Rose and Sun are freaking out. Naomi checks – her phone is still jammed (c'mon, Chahlie!).Bonnie keeps interrogating Charlie. He admits frankly that he is there to turn off the jamming equipment. Whatever they do to him, he’ll turn it off…but Bonnie points out he doesn’t know the code (D'oh!). Only Bonnie, Greta, and Ben know the code. Charlie smiles in response, "I guess I won’t need the code, since this entire station is going to be flooded, anyway."
Tom calls in to Ben to report. Seven Others are dead, and Jack's crew is gone. Ben tells Tom that Juliet betrayed them, and orders Tom to kill Jin to make them talk. Sayid tells Bernard not to talk, but gets knocked out with a rifle butt to the head (how Sayid does not have permanent brain damage after all the head-blows he's taken on the island escapes me). Bernard confesses that Jack's group has gone to the radio tower, and that Karl warned them the attack was coming hours earlier than Juliet thought. Ben hears over the walkie, and now knows Alex set this amush in motion.
Ben tells Richard he’s going to the tower to head off Jack's crew, and the rest of them should go to the temple (what's the temple?). Richard warns Ben not to tromp off, in light of mounting rumors about Jacob, the missing John Locke, and the deaths of the beach attack crew. Alex asks where Ben’s going. He tells her he’s looking for Jack and co. She says she’s coming, and Ben surprises her by agreeing. He lets her know Karl is with them (i.e. "I know what you been up to, young lady"). Ben tells Richard he’ll talk the 40 marchers out of leaving the island.
Kate tells Sawyer that something’s wrong because Sayid's crew has not caught up. She demands to know what happened to Sawyer when he was with Locke, since “it’s like you don’t care about anything anymore. And since when did you start calling me 'Kate?'” She observes that she was on Juliet's pregnancy watch, too. Sawyer coldly says, "well, let's hope you'e not." Sawyer walks off and looks jealously at Jack (oh, come on, James, get over it - she's yours if you want her).
Desmond wakes up on the boat and realizes Charlie went down to the station. Suddenly, Mikahil starts shooting at him from the shore, so he dives and pulls himself down to the Looking Glass by the cable.
He sees the moon pool, and comes up to where Charlie is sitting. Charlie warns him to hide. The women see Charlie talking, but Charlie claims he was singing (are there any other words to that song other than "you all everbody"?). Bonnie clobbers Charlie, while Desmond hides in a locker.Sawyer stops his march and says he’s going back. Jack tries to stop him, to no avail. Kate says she’s going too, but Sawyer says he doesn't want to go with her. Juliet says she knows where there is a cache of guns, and tells Jack she "kinda does" have to help. Jack tells Juliet not to do anything stupid.
They kiss, upsetting Kate, and Juliet and Sawyer head off.Charlie keeps singing. Bonnie goes for the spear gun, in the locker (where Desmond is hiding), to make him stop. Then Mikhail arrives. He thought Greta and Bonnie were on assignment in Canada (wait a second...could Penny's cold-weather EMP searchers be in Canada?)…Mikhail, his patch off, his missing eye sealed over, knows Desmond is down there(does this suggest the glass eye was not his? Or did his eye get sealed later, explaining why he left a glass eye behind in the Arrow station?) Charlie asks Mikhail why they were told the station is flooded, and why they’ve been jamming transmissions off the island (to drive a wedge between these three Others). When Ben calls, Mikhail takes it, alone. Ben tells Mikhail he did everything he did for the island. "The island told you it was necessary to jam your own people?" (As near as I can recall, this is the first time somebody other than Locke has anthropomorphized the island in this way). Ben asks Mikhail to "trust Jacob who told me to do this." "This island is under assault by forces than anything it has had to deal with in years, and we are meant to protect it by any means necessary." Ben apologizes for not trusting Mikhail. Mikahail accepts the apology (what a loyalist!!!). Ben needs his help – to kill Charlie, and to make sure the jamming mechanism does not stop. And he needs to take care of Greta and Bonnie, too, so no other Others learn about the jamming.
Juliet tells Sawyer the rock-breaking work detail he had been assigned to by the Others was to build a runway. She jokes – it was for the aliens, then says she didn't know what it was for. A great Lost exchange follows: Sawyer: "So you screwing Jack yet?" Juliet: "No, are you?" She tells him there are no guns - she lied so Jack would let them go back, which she's doing "for Karma." Hurley catches up to them, out of breath. He wants to help, and Charlie and Jack wouldn't let him, but Sawyer tells Hurley he’ll just get them killed, takes Juliet, and leaves a dejected Hugo behind.
Ben tells Alex he let her come with him because he’s delivering her to her new family. He caged Karl, and subjected him to deprogramming aversion therapy in Room 23, to keep him from impregnating her. "I suppose I overreacted." (I love Ben's little lines). Alex demands to know why he won't just let Jack's people leave. He says he won’t because he can’t.
Locke is still lying in the Dharma grave, where Ben left him to die, but he is very much alive (see, two weeks wasn't too long to wait to figure that out, was it?) He's having trouble moving his legs. He reaches for a gun on a Dharma corpse, and is about to shoot himself in the head, when he hears the whispers…and then he sees...Walt?! "Don’t, John. Put the gun down. Put it down, John. Now get up, John." Walt is clearly older than when last we saw him about a month ago in Lost time. (Malcolm David Kelley's aging was kind of inevitable, right? Or is this part of the story?). He says John can move his legs. He has to get out of the ditch, because he has work to do. Locke gives off a smile like he's just had his personal burning bush moment.Jack tells Kate Sawyer's refusal to let her come was because he was trying to protect her. That’s why Jack asked her not to come back for him, too. Kate asks why he’s sticking up for Sawyer. He responds, “because I love you.” And with that, Jack keeps on marching. The party emerges into a clearing. Jack speeds up to catch Danielle, who says it’s about an hour to the tower. She has not been back since she recorded the message, and she does not want to return to civilization, as there's no place for her back there. The island is her home now. Ben and Alex are in their path. Jack goes ahead to see what’s up. Ben tells Jack they need to talk.
Mikhail puts his patch back on. He asks if it’s possible to turn the equipment off. They assure him the equipment can't be turned off without the code, and it's waterproof in case of flood. Mikhail asks why they never asked why they have to follow Ben's orders and stay there, if it can't be turned off. Bonnie says she trusts Ben, and trusts Jacob, and "the minute I start questioning orders, this whole thing that we’re doing here falls apart." (What the hell are they doing there? Isn't that the biggest remaining question?) Mikhail shoots Greta, who falls in the water, then he shoots Bonnie in the back. He apologizes, and assures Bonnie that he is following orders, too. Desmond comes out from the utility locker, spears Mikhail, and grabs the dropped gun before Bonnie can get to it.
Kate circles around Ben's position. Jack tells Naomi not to talk to Ben, who tries to introduce himself. Ben wants a moment to talk alone with Jack. Kate says noone else is there. Jack gives Ben five minutes, and takes the walkie from Ben's belt. Jack seems relieved to learn his guys killed seven Others before being taken hostage. Ben says, "Not so long ago Jack, I made a decision that took the lives of over 40 people in a single day." Ben tells Jack that it's Jack who is about to kill all the survivors. Naomi is not who she says she is - she’s a representative of some people who have been trying to find this island. She’s one of the "bad guys." (Strange - as creepy and dishonest as Ben is, I kind of believe him here). "If you phone her boat, every single living person on this island will be killed. So here’s what has to happen." Ben demands that Jack hand over her phone and says they both can then go back to their respective people. He asks for his walkie, and calls for Tom, and tells Jack what happened with the plan on the beach. Ben again demands the phone, and orders Tom to kill his prisoners if Jack doesn't comply within a minute. Sayid calls out not to negotiate. Ben asks - what do you want to get off the island for? You have no one, your father's dead, your wife left you. Jack refuses, and three gunshots are heard. Their screaming stops, and Jack, enraged, beats Ben bloody. Jack calls Tom, and declares he’s going to get his people rescued, and then he’s going to find Tom, and kill him (no more Dr. Nice Jack, huh?)
Charlie tries to get wounded Bonnie to give up the code. He points out that Ben put Mikhail up to shooting her and Greta. Why not take the opportunity to make Ben very very angry? Bonnie starts spouting out numbers – they’re the notes to "Good Vibrations," as the code was programmed by a musician. Bonnie dies...
Jack hauls Ben back to his group. He tells them to tie Ben up, and starts to walk off. Alex goes to check on Ben, and Danielle approaches Alex. Ben tells Alex this is her mother. She asks for help tying up Ben (ah, what a sweet moment of mother-daughter reunion!). Jack tells Kate that Ben killed Jin, Sayid and Bernard, and blames himself for letting it happen. He says not to tell Rose or Sun yet, that he promised Sayid he would keep moving. He didn’t kill Ben because he wanted Ben to know that he failed, when they get off the island. And then he’ll kill him (extra super revenge-y Jack comes out).
Meanwhile Back on the Beach...
Ryan says it was an order, but Tom is pissed that they didn't kill their prisoners (it was all a bluff!) Juliet and Sawyer discuss their next move…and out comes Hurley with his Dharma bus! Ryan shoots at him, but Hurley runs him down. Saywer runs along to the bus and picks up Ryan’s gun. Sayid trips his guard and breaks his neck with his freakin' feet! Tom crawls along the sand, but Juliet gets his gun and holds him at gunpoint. Tom says he gives up, but Sawyer shoots him in the chest. “That’s for taking the kid off the raft.” Hurley, shocked, says “Dude it was over – he surrendered.” Sawyer coldly responds, "I didn’t believe him."
Ryan says it was an order, but Tom is pissed that they didn't kill their prisoners (it was all a bluff!) Juliet and Sawyer discuss their next move…and out comes Hurley with his Dharma bus! Ryan shoots at him, but Hurley runs him down. Saywer runs along to the bus and picks up Ryan’s gun. Sayid trips his guard and breaks his neck with his freakin' feet! Tom crawls along the sand, but Juliet gets his gun and holds him at gunpoint. Tom says he gives up, but Sawyer shoots him in the chest. “That’s for taking the kid off the raft.” Hurley, shocked, says “Dude it was over – he surrendered.” Sawyer coldly responds, "I didn’t believe him."
Random Aside - and thanks to Dave B. for this one - remember last season, in "The Hunting Party," when Sawyer said to still-bearded Tom, "you and me ain't finished, Zeke." Well, they sure are, now! R.I.P. Tom/ Zeke/ Mr. Friendly. Your reaction shots and over-the-top joyer de vivre were thoroughly entertaining. You made a great bumbling villain/ aspiring quarterback. I, for one, will miss you, the first post-Ethan Other we met on the show.
With Ben in tow, Hurley radios in that the Others should stay away from the beach. Hurley tells Jack that everyone is fine. The party hears this and cheers. Jack says to stay put, they’re almost at the tower. Claire asks about Charlie.
Desmond covers the bodies. Charlie asks if Des had any more flashes – no none. Charlie goes to enter the code and points out the diving gear. He hums the tune in his head, and pushes the buttons. The light stops flashing. So much for fate, is the thought conveyed on Charlie's relieved face, when a red light starts to blink, signifying an incoming transmission… It’s Penny!
She asks where they are, and how Charlie got the frequency? He recognizes her and calls for Desmond. She hears Charlie and asks if Des is ok. Charlie quickly tries to catch her up as Desmond runs along the main chamber to the jamming room. Penny says she doesn’t know about the rescue crew (whaaaaat?)…
Desmond notices that, uh,oh, Mikhail is missing. He turns up outside the porthole where Charlie is, and pulls a grenade pin. Charlie, seeing Desmond running to his beloved Penny, acts fast. He just barely beats Des to the door and shuts it tight. The grenade blows out the porthole, and the room begins to fill. (Query - just what are the Others up to that makes Mikhail willing to accept Ben's deceptions, and then take his own life to try to stop Charlie from unjamming the transmission?) 
As Desmond watches. Charlie writes on his hand with his ever-present Sharpie, and shows Desmond, “Not Penny’s boat.” Charlie backs away, peacefully makes the sign of the cross and drowns. R.I.P. Charlie Pace, heroin-addicted former one-hit wonder, whose place of prominence was stolen by big brother Liam, only to have Liam abandon the band for a normal life. Surrogate father to Aaron, protector of Claire, and general island mascot. Played by Dominic Monaghan, who, when the show debuted, was one of its most recognizable cast members (coming off the Lord of the Rings), Charlie's welcome presence will be missed.
Analysis time - Why didn’t Charlie run through the door, instead of sealing from the inside? Why didn’t he swim through the porthole? Doc Jensen has already posted the same thoughts I had about this, so I'll just quote his recap here:
"Now, I know a lot of people are going to question the logic of this scene, as it seemed Charlie had many options to save himself. But remember why Charlie swam down to the Looking Glass in the first place: to fulfill the requirements of Desmond's prophecy of rescue for Claire, baby Aaron, and hopefully the rest of the castaways. For that to happen, Charlie needed to die, per the rules established about Desmond's precognition. The image of him pushing away from the window and crossing himself is as close as we get to visual poetry in the chat-driven medium of TV, and it got to me."
Aaron cries, as though he knows about Charlie. Naomi’s phone works. She tries to call out, but Rousseau’s message is still playing. Finally, they make it to the radio tower (the source of the transmission we first heard waaaaay back in the pilot of the series)!
Inside, Jack finds the cobwebbed radio gear, sees Danielle’s message playing in a loop on a cartridge tape. She tells Alex the recording was three days before Alex was born. Danielle turns off the signal. Naomi can’t get a signal inside. She goes out, says she’s getting something. Ben looks mortified. He pleads with Jack – "I know you think you’re saving your people. I’m telling you, making that call is the beginning of the end…"Just as Naomi’s call connects, Locke throws a knife at her, and she falls over, blood pouring from her mouth. John pulls his gun on Jack. He says he did what he had to. He demands Jack step back. The phone is ringing. Ben eggs John on to shoot him, but Alex punches him and knocks him out. "You’re done keeping me on this island, John" insists Jack. Locke insists he’ll kill Jack if he has to. Jack calls the bluff, and John lowers the gun, but pleads that Jack is not supposed to do this. The call connects with a Minkowski, who is happy to hear Naomi made it to the island (not knowing about the knife in his back). Minkowski says they can get a fix on Jack’s location, and they’ll be right there. Locke wanders off back into the jungle, and Ben looks defeated.
The Big Ending – The Rest of the L.A. Sequence
Jack lives in a wreck of an apartment, with maps and notes strewn all over the place
He opens his phone again, drinks some Patron, and places a call. He gets and answer and says, "don't hang up. I know what you said, but I just need to see you. At the airport, you know where." He drives out to the airport, at the end of the runway. He waits, and a car pulls up. But the Volvo is not driven by Sarah…it’s driven by Kate (Kate drives a Volvo? Is she doing taco night, too?)! She’s straightened her hair, and put on makeup. She saw Jack on the news, and asks, "still pulling people out of burning wreckage, huh?" "Old habits," jokes Jack. (In case you wondered before, this cleared it up - Jack didn't know Kate before the crash. This whole sequence was not a flashback, it was a flash-forward). Kate wants to know why Jack called her. He pulls out the news clipping. He was hoping she’d heard, that she’d go to the funeral. She asks why she would go? Jack says he’s been flying a lot, with the Golden pass they were given (you know, for surviving a crash). Every Friday night, he flies to Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, he gets off, has a drink, then flies home. He wants the plane to crash. "I don’t care about anybody else on board...I actually close my eyes and pray that I can get back." Kate says this is not going to change. Jack's question-spurring response - "I’m sick of lying. We made a mistake." She says she has to go – "he’s going to wonder where I am." Jack insists, "We were not supposed to leave." Kate responds, "yes, we were. Good-bye Jack." As she leaves, Jack shouts after her, "We have to go back, Kate! We have to go back!"
Hints about the Flash-forward
Thanks again to Dave B., who pointed out that the name of the funeral home, Hoffs/ Drawlar, is an anagram for "flash-forward." Cute hint by the producers, there, huh?Also, there was that other hint - Jack's Krazr phone, debuted in ads during the 2007 Superbowl. This may have seemed like an anachronistic error when it first popped up on the screen, but, it turns out, the show was telling us that we've moved from 2004 (and before) to 2007. This blatant phone clue, to me, also supports my theory that Naomi's sat phone is not a circa 2004 model, suggesting some sort of time travel element. But we'll have to wait on that, won't we?
Parting Thoughts
Dave Basler has one more question -
What do you make of Jack's dad apparently being alive in the flash-forward?
Could be:
a) a delusion, although Jack seems very lucid.
b) the island somehow brought him back to life, but why? As a curse on Jack?
c) it isn't really a flash forward.
Dave, I agree that these are the primary choices. I pick "a." The prescription in the pocket from Dr. C. Shephard was, after all, an attempt to get drugs illegally (and Jack knows he can't get drugs for himself without another doctor's approval). As for his insistence that Dr. Hamill bring down Christian to see if Jack's more intoxicated, that was a combination delusional rant and sharp point that the hospital indulged far worse behavior when Christian was chief of surgery.
So here's my questions...
1. Walt. Older. Now, the producers are not idiots, and of course they knew that in a show like this, if you send a child actor off for about a year of real time but only a month of show time, you're going to see some serious aging if he comes back. So what will the in-show explanation be? And, for that matter, what was that exchange with John all about? Why is Walt the vehicle for the island telling John what to do? Is it really Walt? If it is, how did he appear here (and for that matter, to Shannon last season)? Where's Michael? What happened to them when they left?
2. Jack. To me, his flash-forward realization of his mistakes on the island is a real character-redeemer. I never understood how the show could have a hero who had so little interest in the myteries of the island on which he was trapped. Now we know that years later, haunted by the demons of his time on the island, Jack will, himself, be crushed by the realization that something about his leaving was very wrong.
3. Kate. Who was she going back to? Sawyer? The sherriff played by Nathan Fillion who was on the verge of marrying her before she skipped town? And what did Jack mean when he told her they had lied? To whom? About what?
4. Good Guys and Bad Guys. Sure, Ben kills when he has little other choice, but he did not really kill Sayid, Jin or Bernard. And he seems to really, honestly believe that his actions are for the benefit of the island. But what does the island want? Why is Mikhail willing to sacrifice so much in service of this goal? What are they protecting it against? And who do Naomi and Minkowski really work for?
5. Penny. Even if she didn't send Naomi's vessel, why on Earth does she have a direct channel to the Looking Glass? If not Charlie and Desmond, who was she trying to reach? Depending on how long the Others were jamming signals, there are a lot of possibilities (some of which we may not even know).
6. The corpse. Whose unattended funeral did Jack go to, that he thought might bring Kate out?
7. The future of the show. If we're past the point of flashbacks and the present being 2004 on the island, what do we have to look forward to? Will this be "The Nine," with the main action focusing on the repercussions of island time, with flashbacks to what used to be the main setting? What about the holes that were never plugged, like an explanation for Claire's psychic, or Desmond's time in the army that led to his prison stay? What about Michael and Walt?
So that's it for Season 3, and Season 4 is about 8 months away. But don't worry - with all these new questions, there's plenty left to talk about. Like I said before, there will be some time spent putting together a master set of questions the show should answer before it's done, followed by the construction of a master theory.
And thanks to everyone who has visited this blog during its inaugural season. Namaste!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Doc Jensen Tickles the Funnybone
From Doc Jensen's last Wednesday column in Lost's third season, a funny little tidbit heading into tonight:
THE TOP FIVE THINGS YOU WILL NOT SEE IN THE LOST FINALE
5. Rose quietly snuffing the life out of Bernard by holding his nostrils closed while looking distractedly at Aaron's car seat.
4. Hurley feeling a great disturbance in the Force (''as if many voices cried out and were suddenly silent'') because his cousin back in Valencia, Calif., was blown up in a nuclear explosion and no one seemed to give a crud.
3. Kate and Juliet doing each other's hair and nicknaming Jack ''McIntensey'' and Sawyer ''McMurderedTheManWhoConnedHisParentsy.''
2. A character travelling back in time to warn all the other characters to do something, but by doing that something, they prevent a future that might have happened but never did had the character not travelled back in time, thus negating the entire reason behind everything.
1. Sanjaya.
As to what you WILL see?
Well...
Jack not only smiles once...he smiles TWICE.
THE TOP FIVE THINGS YOU WILL NOT SEE IN THE LOST FINALE
5. Rose quietly snuffing the life out of Bernard by holding his nostrils closed while looking distractedly at Aaron's car seat.
4. Hurley feeling a great disturbance in the Force (''as if many voices cried out and were suddenly silent'') because his cousin back in Valencia, Calif., was blown up in a nuclear explosion and no one seemed to give a crud.
3. Kate and Juliet doing each other's hair and nicknaming Jack ''McIntensey'' and Sawyer ''McMurderedTheManWhoConnedHisParentsy.''
2. A character travelling back in time to warn all the other characters to do something, but by doing that something, they prevent a future that might have happened but never did had the character not travelled back in time, thus negating the entire reason behind everything.
1. Sanjaya.
As to what you WILL see?
Well...
Jack not only smiles once...he smiles TWICE.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Last Podcast of the Season
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the venerable "powers that be," unleashed their final Season 3 podcast today. Here are a few highlights (no real spoilers):
- The Looking Glass is the underwater station on Swan door map (which I find quite upsetting since, after 6 long posts about the contents of that map, I still can't find a reference to an underwater station).
- If Jack’s plan to eliminate the jamming signals and blow up the Others were to work, it would have horrible repercussions for him, personally (as do all his plans).
- Charlie’s life or death will be resolved in the finale (i.e. even if he lives, no more reaper visions from Desmond).
- There will be no podcast after the finale – the producers will leave it to the audience to digest for a while.
So, again, not too much new information. But there is hope for a fantastic 2-hour finale this week in "Through the Looking Glass."
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Episode 321 - You All Everybody, It's Charlie's "Greatest Hits"
A new Dharma hatch! A master plan!! and Bernard and Rose live (and shoot straight)!!! All this, plus Charlie's heroic suicide mission (or is it?), in "Greatest Hits."
Because this week's flashback (the "greatest hits" of Charlie's life) was a character-revealing device more than a crucial story point, I won't give you my usual flashback qua prologue intro. Instead, the sequences will come towards the end of the recap, where it fits best into the story. So now, on with the show...
6 Hours Ago
Alex (cutting up a rabbit, because boy, those rabbits have a rough time in Ben's family) asks Ben when he got back, and where Locke is. Ben angrily gives back her gun. Richard sees him and asks what’s up.
Alex (cutting up a rabbit, because boy, those rabbits have a rough time in Ben's family) asks Ben when he got back, and where Locke is. Ben angrily gives back her gun. Richard sees him and asks what’s up.
Ben tells him John had "an accident." Ben orders Ryan, the mean-looking Other who stood guard over Sayid at the barracks, to step up the attack, at Jacob's insistsence. Richard points out that Juliet may not have had time to mark the pregnant women's tents, and Ben, clearly losing his legendary cool, tells Ryan's team to take all the women and kill all men who get in the way. Random Aside #1 - forget Smokey. Forget Tom in his crazy beard. Forget crazed hungry polar bears and tattooed sharks. Far and away the scariest individual we've seen on this island is Ben, his incredible control dropped, his tight grip on the Others slowly slipping away, lashing out with his incredible influence, his wrath unleashed...Man, those bug eyes and the anger at Jacob's revelation to John, still seeping through this week. Powerful stuff...
Alex runs and tells Karl, who has been hiding in a cave (and for whom she was prepping the rabbit) to warn the beach camp. “He’s gonna kill them, Karl. Austin and Ford saved your life. You owe them.” She gives Karl her gun and, when Karl suggests her father would not be pleased, she asks if Ben is really her father.
Real Time
Jack leads most of our characters out to a clearing. This is perhaps the largest gathering of our main characters since Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley and Michael left the beach last season. “Why does everything always have to be such a secret?” asks Charlie. This triggers something in Desmond, but he denies he had one of his flashes when Charlie asks.
Real Time
Jack leads most of our characters out to a clearing. This is perhaps the largest gathering of our main characters since Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley and Michael left the beach last season. “Why does everything always have to be such a secret?” asks Charlie. This triggers something in Desmond, but he denies he had one of his flashes when Charlie asks.
Jack tells the group what Juliet told him about the Others' plan, and how Ben wanted her to test the women and help abduct the pregnant ones. Juliet apologizes to Sun. Sayid wants answers. And we get some too. The questions? Where have Jack and Juliet been sneaking off to together, and why was Rousseau rounding up dynamite sticks when Locke saw her outside the brig in the Black Rock. Jack summons Danielle Rousseau and aks her to “show them.” She pulls out two connecting wires, and detonates a tree. Jack explains he is done hiding, so he found help. He tells the group that Juliet will mark the tents, but they will actually contain dynamite, not pregnant women. In a moment nearly as scary for Jack watchers as the order to attack was for Ben lovers, Jack, wide-eyed, says, “we stop hiding, we stop running, we stop living in fear of them. Because when they show up, we’re going to blow them all to hell.”
Back at the beach, Charlie starts to write a list. More on this later... Naomi asks him who they’re going to go to war with.
Charlie recognizes Naomi as a fellow Mancunian. She recognizes Charlie from the big deal greatest hits album that released after his death. Charlie is thrilled to learn of his posthumous fame, especially, as Naomi puts it, since he's still alive. But Desmond seems to want Charlie to follow him… Random Aside #2 - Does anyone here trust Naomi as far as they could throw her? Hey, just how far can you throw her? But seriously, after 90 days, the outside world has had time to find the plane, identify Charlie's body, decide to make a big deal out of DriveShaft, release a greatest hits album, and catch the attention of a search and rescue worker stationed in the South Pacific? Isn't that, I don't know, a little too short a time period? More evidence Naomi is from the future? You decide...
Juliet and Jack gingerly stack dynamite. Danielle works on wiring. Sayid insists he and Jack discuss the sat phone.
Juliet and Jack gingerly stack dynamite. Danielle works on wiring. Sayid insists he and Jack discuss the sat phone.
Jack, incredibly is too busy to discuss the most likely method of rescue they've seen, but Sayid insists. He says Danielle’s transmission is blocking the sat phone signal. Juliet says it's not just the French loop (and Danielle concurs, since, after all, she had been broadcasting for 16 years but nobody off the island ever seemed to detect it). Juliet says Ben is using an underwater Dharma station, "the Looking Glass," to jam all transmissions off the island.Claire worries that the Others, baby-hungry as they seem to be, are coming for Aaron. Charlie promises to protect them both. That’s when Des arrives and asks Charlie for a “hand with something.” “So how’s it happen this time?” Charlie asks his personal grim reaper. “What I saw, Charlie, was Claire and her baby get into a helicopter, that lifts off and leaves this island." The kicker? "if you don’t [die], none of it will happen. There won’t be any rescue. I’m sorry brother, but this time? This time you have to die.” Desmond tells Charlie there will be an underwater hatch, a room full of equipment. There’s a blinking light. Charlie flips the switch, the light goes off, then he drowns. Desmond doesn’t know when. Charlie, realizing his death would mean that Claire and Aaron, his surrogate family would live, confirms, “before I drown, I just have to flip the switch.”
Sayid has the plans to the looking glass (boy, he really did pick the best binder in the Flame station library, eh?) Juliet doesn’t know anyone who’s been down there. She says there was an accident, and it’s completely flooded.
Sayid sees the cable on the schematic, which he knows so well. It’s possible to swim in and disable the switch, since there is a moon pool underneath big enough for a sub. Sayid volunteers, but then Charlie comes along, and claims he was junior swim champ in Northern England. Jack refuses to indulge this talk, and says now is the time to worry about the Others. Random Aside #3 - "The Looking Glass?" Did you see the white rabbit logo? What's up with all the bunnies? And for that matter, just how many Dharma stations are there? We heard in the Swan film that there are six stations...but now we've seen 1. the Swan, 2. the Caduceus/ Staff, 3. the Arrow, 4. the Pearl, 5. the Hydra, 6. the Flame, 7. the Barracks, and 8. the White Rabbit. I don't think Dr. Candle was very honest in those videos, eh?
The survivors (if they can be called that, right, Naomi?) get to work wiring the camp to blow up the Others. Bernard shows Rose how to tie knots with the wires…only she shows him better (yes, Virginia, they live!).
The survivors (if they can be called that, right, Naomi?) get to work wiring the camp to blow up the Others. Bernard shows Rose how to tie knots with the wires…only she shows him better (yes, Virginia, they live!).
Jin asks Sun when she is going to tell him what Juliet said about them on her tape to Ben. He heard their names, and saw everyone look at Sun. Sun tells him about the trip to the ultrasound, but stops short of the “I’m going to die” part when Jin looks overjoyed that she saw their healthy baby.Karl, with Alex’s boat, paddles furiously, after running through the jungle. Hurley spots him bringing his boat ashore. Sayid tackles Karl, but Sawyer vouches for him. “They’re coming, my people.” Sayid is not impressed, since they already knew the Others are coming tomorrow. “Tomorrow, no! No, they’re coming tonight, they’re coming right now!!!”
Karl thinks he’ll get their trust by outing Juliet as a mole. The camp tells him they already know, but they believe he's sincere about the early assualt. They don’t have enough time to rig the dynamite with remote wiring dynamite, but Sayid suggests shooting out the dynamite from hidden positions. They form a 3-part plan to repel the Others and alert Naomi's ship. A group will go to Rousseau's hijacked transmission tower and shut it down. Charlie, with Desmond's help, will shut down the Looking Glass jamming equipment. And a small group will stay behind to shoot the dynamite when the Others come.
Charlie goes to see Claire, who is worried about his swimming mission. Charlie asks Claire to promise not to worry about him while he’s gone. He takes Aaron back to his crib. Aaron reaches for Charlie’s face. Charlie tells Aaron he loves him. He tells Claire he’ll see her soon.
They kiss, a real kiss for the first time, and then smile at each other. Charlie turns and walks off.Desmond made Charlie a weight belt to help him sink faster. He asks how long Charlie can hold his breath, and Charlie asks what difference it makes.
Bernard demonstrates his ability to shoot. Rose insists on staying, but Jack says no. Sayid insists that he will stay behind, and Jack should lead them to the radio tower. Sayid says, “this afternoon you said you were our leader. It’s time to start acting like one. Lead them to the radio tower, Jack, and then lead us all home.”
Hurley joins Charlie and Desmond at Karl's outrigger. He wants to go along. He feels useless everywhere else, but he’s a good paddler. Charlie says no, because….he’s too big, he won’t fit in the boat (excuses). The wound he inflicts works, Hurley walks off, but Charlie runs after him and hugs him. “Just remember I love you, man,” “Yeah, whatever, I love you, too.”
Jin will be the third shooter. Hurley offers to help with Aaron. When Claire lifts him to leave with the rest of the camp, Charlie’s DriveShaft ring sits in his crib, where Charlie left it for his would-be adopted son.
Desmond finds the cable on the beach. They put it above the outrigger and pull out to sea.
Desmond looks down, and sees the looking glass below. Charlie gives Desmond the list he has been making. That list makes up this episode's Charlie flashbacks. I will let Doc Jensen's review of these 5 moments work for me here. Take it away, Doc...
5. Charlie hears his song ''You All Everybody'' on the radio for the first time It couldn't have come at a better time, too. His band, Driveshaft, was going nowhere. Seriously. Their touring van had busted a wheel during a driving rainstorm. Charlie wanted to quit. The album was tanking, they were only booking loser gigs, they sucked and couldn't face it — and then he heard it, loud and clear on the radio. It was like Island magic on a lame man's legs. Charlie's hope had been rewarded; his optimism restored and hard-wired. (Homework: Compare this moment to Hurley's similarly themed ''Road to Shambala'' broken-Dharma-bus escapade.) 
4. Charlie's father teaches him to swim And with the old ''Trust me, I'll catch you'' bait and switch, no less. Once again on Lost, a father burns his son — but this time, for a good reason. And with the horror story of Ben and his manipulative and mean dad still fresh in our minds, this deceit seemed downright sweet. Lesson learned: Courage.
Random Aside #4 - Want proof that Charlie is doomed? How about that, almost unlike any other character on the island, he had a decent, loving father, who left him with happy memories? Yup, he's gotta go...
3. Charlie's brother gives him the ''DS'' ring for Christmas
We used to think ''DS'' stood for Driveshaft. Nope: It was a family heirloom, passed down through the mother's side and given to the firstborn; it stands for Dexter Stratton. Liam gave it to his little brother as an acknowledgment that Charlie really was the good son of the two — an ironic, happy-ending inversion of the Jacob and Esau story, the older brother willingly surrendering the birthright to the younger. The relationship between Charlie and Liam would ultimately become more complicated, but the fact that Charlie decided to memorialize the memory on his list indicated that bygones were bygones. And in doing so, the ring became imbued with forgiveness and grace, making the precioussssss object a mirror twin to the one Gollum killed for and Frodo sought to destroy (but couldn't) in those aforementioned hobbit books. (Fun fact! Dexter Stratton is a fusion of two names from the 1980s Ricky Schroder sitcom Silver Spoons!) 2.
Charlie saves a woman from being mugged and is dubbed a hero In the pouring rain, too — another memory wet with the semiotics of baptism. The timing: Charlie's street-corner minstrel days, first seen in Desmond's time-travel episode. Charlie's song selection: Oasis' ''Wonderwall,'' a tune about an imaginary friend (Dave? Jacob?); its title is a reference to George Harrison's soundtrack to a ''lost'' movie of the same name. The woman whom Charlie saves is also something of a blast from the (Lost) past: It's Nadia, Sayid's Iraqi lady love, last seen in John Locke's ''Daddy made me rip off the Mob'' flashback from last season. The lady sure gets around, doesn't she? But why? Is her presence in these past lives purely coincidental or evidence of a divine (or devious) design that links all the castaways? Questions, I think, for another season to answer.... 
And finally, Charlie's most favorite moment, No. 1 on his all-time personal hit parade: his first encounter with Claire, on the night they crashed on the Island 'Nuff said.Thanks, Doc. Your assistance on the flashbacks (albeit not voluntary) was spot-on...
Charlie asks Desmond to give Claire his list, which he says is the 5 best moments of his sorry excuse of a life. His "greatest hits." Memories are all he’s got at this point, the moment before he's been told he is to die. Desmond says he’ll go, that maybe he keeps seeing Charlie die because he’s supposed to take his place. Charlie asks about Penny, but Des asks about Claire. Charlie knocks Desmond out with an oar, makes sure Des is safe on the boat, and that he has the greatest hits list. “You and I both know, you’re not supposed to take my place, brother,” are Charlie's parting words to the world of the living. He takes the weight belt, and dives down. His shoes float up. He swims up into the looking glass…and it’s not flooded! He’s alive!!! He climbs up out of the water, and shouts, “I’m alive!!!!…"
...when two gun-toting women charge out from behind a door and hold him at gunpoint!!!”And that, my fellow Lostophiles, will set the scene for our bang-up 2 hour, game-changing finale, "Through the Looking Glass." Remember, the finale starts an hour earlier next week. Until then, Namaste!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Hiatus Preview - constructing a complete theory
With only 3 hours (2 episodes) to go, the long, long hiatus awaits. Don't worry, Lostophiles. You'll get my recaps to "Greatest Hits" and "Through the Looking Glass" as soon as possible after these last two Season 3 outings air.
Going forward, I believe the end of Season 3 will leave us in a position to come up with a "complete theory of Lost" that I plan to debut this winter before Season 4 comes out. But I want this to be interactive.
In order to put this theory together, I first need to know all the questions the theory must answer. And this is where you come in.
This Thursday, after Grey's Anatomy, ABC will be airing a special in which Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will tell us all the questions Lost has already answered. I plan to watch, and I suggest you do, too (since it's very likely we all still think some seemingly vague fact remains to be explained, when in fact it's already been revealed). The special will also preview some of the questions to be answered before the series ends.
But it cannot possibly preview all remaining questions. Before the end of May, I will post a list of all questions I think are currently open and in need of answers. Then I'll throw it out to all of you to send me additional questions. If I think I have answers already, I'll let you know what those answers are. If not, they will get added to the list. I plan to have the "complete" list available by July 4. From that list, I'll put together the master theory, which I'll submit to you all for review. Then we'll spend some time over the next few months honing the theory and, as the remaining three seasons air, we'll see how right we are, and make adjustments as new episodes bring new reveals.
Going forward, I believe the end of Season 3 will leave us in a position to come up with a "complete theory of Lost" that I plan to debut this winter before Season 4 comes out. But I want this to be interactive.
In order to put this theory together, I first need to know all the questions the theory must answer. And this is where you come in.
This Thursday, after Grey's Anatomy, ABC will be airing a special in which Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will tell us all the questions Lost has already answered. I plan to watch, and I suggest you do, too (since it's very likely we all still think some seemingly vague fact remains to be explained, when in fact it's already been revealed). The special will also preview some of the questions to be answered before the series ends.
But it cannot possibly preview all remaining questions. Before the end of May, I will post a list of all questions I think are currently open and in need of answers. Then I'll throw it out to all of you to send me additional questions. If I think I have answers already, I'll let you know what those answers are. If not, they will get added to the list. I plan to have the "complete" list available by July 4. From that list, I'll put together the master theory, which I'll submit to you all for review. Then we'll spend some time over the next few months honing the theory and, as the remaining three seasons air, we'll see how right we are, and make adjustments as new episodes bring new reveals.
Friday, May 11, 2007
New Theory about Jacob
This summer (or really, for the next 8 months after the finale), I'm going to work on a "Lost Master Theory." After "The Man Behind the Curtain," I've decided to start the theorizing with some conjecture about Jacob. Click on the title of this post for my master thoery of the Ohters' shadowy leader, who needs John Locke's help...
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