Monday, May 11, 2009

Season Finale Speculations (Minor Spoilers)

I'm still in the middle of work hell, but I wanted to share a few quick whackadoo speculations about the finale and future direction of the show. Some of these are actually based on some mildly spoilerish comments from the cast and crew. Nothing major, unless you count the return of Daniel Faraday (I keed! I keed!) but consider yourself forewarned.

In a recent interview, Team Darlton described the Valenzetti Equation as predicting with 100% probability that the world would end within 27 years following the Cuban Missle Crisis (i.e., 1962). To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time they've ever given an actual time frame for the Valenzetti's prediction. What's really interesting is that 27 years after 1962 is actually 1989, one year after Danielle's arrival and right around the time of recent estimates of the date of the Purge.

Do you suppose the Others purged DHARMA because the latter's presence on the Island was the threat predicted by the the Valenzetti? This fits with my belief that DHARMA is supposed to cause some cataclysmic event that our Losties will avert by causing the Incident instead. And just how will our Losties do this? Hydrogen bombs like the Jughead use a small fission bomb as a trigger to ignite the fusion reaction that creates the actual explosion. Our Losties will detonate just the fission trigger, generating an electromagnetic pulse that neutralizes the Island's electromagnetism enough to be contained by the Swan button protocol.

Speaking of the Incident, I can't shake the suspicion that it's linked somehow with destruction of the four-toed colossus. My more "plausible" speculation is that the Island will somehow channel the explosion backwards in time, destroying the statue in the past. But if you really want to follow me down the Whackadoo Well, consider the possibility that our Losties will make some change to the timeline that results in the statue's resurrection. I can see it now: Bram and Ilana are blinded by a purple flash. When their vision clears, they look up and realize they're now standing in the shadow of the statue...LOST.

Finally, on the subject of the statue, Taweret fans take note. According to a recent interview, Michael Emerson did some research on our favorite fertility goddess after seeing her depicted in various Temple reliefs. He's convinced, based on this research, that the colossus is indeed Taweret. But what really caught my eye was the cryptic comment about "whom Taweret mates with, and when." I did a little digging myself and found that, according to some legends, she's the demon-wife of evil Apep, who I speculated might be Smokey in my recap of Dead Is Dead. So count me among the converts to the cult of Taweret!

That's all for now, you all everybody. Enjoy the season finale, and be sure to drop by next week for Three Black Swans, my brief but comprehensive explanation of the show in view of recent events.

28 comments:

synchrobrarian said...

Osiris is in Illana's box

KoreAmBear said...

Where are you all everybody?

I love that song, btw, esp. when Charlie sung it to Claire in his falsetto voice.

Just like Am. Idol goes on tour, LOST should go on tour with Geronimo Jackson as the headliner, Charlie Pace as the opening number, with Hurley and Cheech doing some stand up before that.

Of course bearded drugged up Jack should come out in his truck blasting Nirvana's Unscented Apprentice in between acts.

I would buy a ticket to that.

KoreAmBear said...

Scentless Apprentice. I mean. Brilliant song.

KoreAmBear said...

USPS hikes the stamp rate to $.44, right before the LOST finale. Coincidence? I think not.

synchrobrarian said...

Jac(ob) in the Box

synchrobrarian said...

Does the Nazar logo on Oceanic Airways protect against Djinn?

GasbarNut said...

I love that Lindelof said this:

MORE SERIES FINALE CLUES: Damon says that when the show ends, "All of the character resolutions will be very defined. There is going to be no cut to black. The show for me and Carlton [Cuse] and J.J. [Abrams] and all the people writing it—it's not about the Island. The Island is where it takes place. It's about this group of people who crashed on the Island on Sept. 22, 2004, and how they influenced the history of the Island in some ways and had a very significant and pivotal role to play there. You're going to see that role play out, and their fates will all be resolved by the end of the series—that's the story that we're telling. In terms of every little bit of minutiae about the Island itself...there will be questions [left unanswered] after the show [ends]."

That goes to show that LOST is always and remains what I thought it was - a character study about people emotionally LOST who needed to gain the power to find themselves. The other stuff is how they get from A to B.

I am so glad to hear that this is the case.

Plus, as he says later in the article, the show has to be as much for the fans who care about the numbers as "for my mom. At the end of the day my mom doesn't care about the numbers, she just wants to see Sawyer without his shirt"

KoreAmBear said...

That's an interesting theory, Sync, that Jacob's in the Box. Is that the happy box that Ben was talking about?n So perhaps the war is Jacob v. Locke but whose side are Ben, Widmore and Eloise on?

Can someone answer me one thing -- why is Eloise using an Apple IIe at the Lampost?

The little Sun and Faraday piano playing with a metronome, with the notion of the pendulum in our minds, intrigues me. I think Sync showed a picture with RA the Sun God and then a picture of Sun. I'm thinking Sun has a place in the mythology, due to her name.

Let's get on with it.

Jonathan Gaskill said...

Guess what you get when you add 27 years to 1977? That's right: 2004. So the first world-destroying catastrophe was supposed to take place in 1977, at the location of the Swan. In the finale, we'll see that disaster get averted. This will somehow reset the "doomsday clock" to start counting down another 27 years, which brings us to 2004. In 2004, the world-destroying catastrophe rears its ugly head, once again at the location of the Swan station. The 2004 catastrophe was averted by Desmond, the man to whom the rules do not apply. Since the catastrophes in both 1977 and 2004 take place at the location of the Swan, perhaps the savior will be the same as well. Maybe in the finale we'll see Desmond go back in time to save the world...again.

If it's true that in 1977 the doomsday clock was reset for another 27 years, then the same thing happens in 2004, which means that the world will be set once again for destruction in 2031.

But what about your theory about the Island being part of an asteroid that crashed on Earth? What if it's not the Earth that's destined to be destroyed, but the Island? In other words, what if the only reason the Earth would be destroyed is because the Island is on it? You've mentioned a quote from the producers that the show will end in space. Perhaps the way to save the world is to remove the Island from the Earth and allow it to be destroyed successfully in space, far away from Earth. Perhaps the Island needs to be sent back to the place from which it came.

Desmond can't stay one step ahead of the universe's course corrections forever, so there has to be a final solution at some point. Desmond's efforts are only temporary fixes that delay the inevitable, as we saw with Charlie. Removing the Island from the Earth is the only possible way that I see a permanent fix taking place.

Perhaps the Island knows about its own immenent demise, and wants to save the Earth's inhabitants from suffering its fate as well. If Jacob is trying to protect his own interests--which include keeping the Island firmly planted on Earth--then perhaps following his will leads to the Earth being destroyed. This could be why the Island is leading Locke to end the reign of Jacob and the Others. They served a purpose in keeping the Island hidden until such a time that someone (Desmond perhaps?) could come along and remove it from Earth. But now that the time has come, the Others must be taken out of the way. Perhaps that's what the final season's war will be all about.

KoreAmBear said...

Asteroid fall to earth -- hmmm, reminds of besixdouze (B612) from The Little Prince. No doubt Aaron will have a role in all of this saving the world. The Little Prince had to die to get back to his asteroid. Maybe that's how Jacob and the others get back to their asteroid in space.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone watch Fringe? I just got caught up the other day and it just seems that Fringe and Lost are very simular. In Fringe recently they have been talking about a parallel universe, a war that is coming, the head guy of the fringe department is the same guy that made sure John Locke went on his walk-about. (can't think of his name in either show lol) and we just found out that Olivia (main character in fringe) was taken as a child and had studies done on her to highten her senses... It all just seems strangely familiar. The shows are on different networks but they are the same writers.. Does anyone think the shows will intertwine at all? I think im just being wishful... lol

KoreAmBear said...

Mr. Abbadon is the character on LOST. The guy who works for Mr. Widmore and was shot during the Jeremy Bentham ep.

Jonathan Gaskill said...

KoreAmBear, I'm new to reading this blog, so I had to go back and read the summary of The Little Prince. Very informative, as was the connection you made. Although I'm wondering if the only Other who is truly an alien is Jacob. I've always felt that Richard Alpert is the equivalent of an android--not a real person, but an artifical servant designed to perform the will of its master.

But if you're right about Jacob wanting to get back home, then maybe that explains why he asked Locke to help him. Perhaps Jacob knows that Locke alone has the ability to somehow return the Island to its true home in the stars. Perhaps there is yet one final turn of the wheel that is unlike any turn that has come before--maybe it's turned farther than it ever has, or it's turned backwards. When the wheel was jumping around, we saw that the Island went back in time, so perhaps if the wheel is turned far enough back, it will go so far back in time that it will be in the distant past before it ever crashed on Earth. Not sure about that though, since I don't see how that prevents the same thing from happening all over again (i.e. crash-landing on Earth).

Bigmouth said...

Synchromystic Librarian: Great stuff! The speculation that Jacob is in Bram and Ilana's box is probably my favorite. Personally, however, I think it's a new fission trigger for the Jughead.

KoreAmBear: I tend to interpret the Apple computers as metaphors for DHARMA's desire to initiate a Black Swan event. They symbolize the rise of personal computers, which is a textbook illustration of such and event.

80sPro: See my comments below to Jonathan. For reasons I'll detail in my post-finale theory, I'm now going with a purple sky in which the Island disappears from Earth for the final scene of Lost.

Jonathan Gaskill: DUDE! I think you've just provided the last piece of the puzzle with your observation that 1977 is 27 years before 2004. Be sure to check back after the finale for my post Three Black Swans, which should be right up your alley. I'm not sure the Island must be destroyed, but I agree 108% with the part about returning it from whence it came. I think the Island is sentient and realizes the damage it's wrought. It's been using avatars like Christian to try to undo that damage and rebuild itself for departure. As I mentioned above to 80sPro, my prediction for the final scene of Lost is one last purple sky event that sends the Island home.

Anonymous: I think Fringe is actually an example of one of the more popular theories about Lost that turned out NOT to be true. With the revelations of the ZFT Manifesto, my post When Alternate Realities Collide reads more like a description of Fringe LOL!

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Hey, gang. In the Sri Lanka video from TLE, the Cuban Missile Crisis is mentioned. (This goes with my saying that while the videos are not canon, there's always an Easter egg or two in each one. I'm looking fwd to seeing the one they'll have in July, and still wish Cuse and Lindelof would make a show in Chicago). Mr. Gaskill brought up quite the interesting piece of math.

I avoided reading anything about the finale, even with the interview being sanitized, simply because the episode is tomorrow. Then I go and read an article from a Canadian newspaper on the plan for the sequel to the STAR TREK film which practically gives away every LOST-related mentions that Capcom and 80sPro avoided bringing up in the previous post.

Big, interesting thoughts on the Incident and the Statue, though we only saw the Four-Toes from afar, could there be a trench that would allow for the pieces to just be submerged in 1977, then settling by 2004?

The Incident might answer one of my thoughts, which I had chalked up to volcanic activity long before the time jumps. The Pearl's innards are in disarray, and of course The Swan will be walled off in 2004, but other indications on the blast door map show areas being difficult to reach. All of this is near the Swan, including the Statue, so I'll bet the Incident messes with the nearby structures, not just the Statue.

I kinda wish we'd get a few minor answers, like how far Richard and Eloise took Jack and Sayid through the tunnels. Or, simply put, how far away the Others' camp (and, by extension, the Temple) were from the Barracks.

If you subtract 27 from 1962 you get 1935, the year Elvis was born. Coincidence? Elvis died in 1977. Coincidence?

@KoreAmBear, you mentioned awhile back checking your kids' books, and I never realized Peter Pan was so creepy. Years ago, I found a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales from 1910 and many of those stories are insane.

KoreAmBear said...

Yah, I think Disney is the devil. I mean I was watching the original Cinderella with my daugther the other day and you have Lucifer the cat and the step mom is just beyond scary looking.

And reading The Little Prince makes little sense to a five year old, and it barely makes sense to a 38 year old like me - except that it has easter eggs for me for purposes of LOST.

I need to get my hands on Alice in Wonderland -- or maybe I'll just watch the DVD with my daughter. It's a good way to bond and both of us can stay interested for different reasons. :)

The other day I was at a magazine shop and considered buying that Wire edition by JJ Abrams. I said to myself "nah, that's going just a little too far." Besides, I wouldn't know where to begin to unlock all the riddles in there.

1977 - Yankees are World Champions.

2004 - a Black Swan event happens -- the Red Sox actually win the World Series, down 5-0 in the 4th game of a series down 3 games to 0 with a HOF closer Mariano Rivera on the bump in the 8th. Bosox miraculously win the game and then take the next 3.

erexere said...

1977 being 27 years before 2004? What's the significance of 27 to the Doomsday clock? Kinda seems arbitrary.

Seems to me that 1954 being 42 years before 1996, and 1977 being 23 years after 1954 are evidence of something.

I've spent much of my day wondering about the properties of the FDW and decided that it must have a gadolinium core, which supports a wormhole theory that uses John Wheeler's idea of Quantum Foam. (insert dry jargon filled mumbojumbo here for further explanation).

Greg Tramel said...

quote from fringe: "there is more than one of everything"

maybe i will run into Juliet's doppelganger here in Houston but with mu luck it will be Kate's

god help us all

KoreAmBear said...

Yes, I don't get the significance of the 27 reference either. The 23 years from 1954 to 1977 is a good one. What happens in 1996 - the Purge (I've lost track)?

Capcom said...

LOL, GT. Did you like Fringe tonight? Just when I was thinking, "That's it?!" then we get the cemetary and the "twins". Ya had to know that something is up with that kid and his lack of memory, but I wasn't expecting the final panorama (trying not to spoil here). :-o

Bigmouth said...

Wayne: Interesting...what do you mean by pieces of the statue being submerged? To clarify, I think the statue was destroyed in the Island's distant past. I'm suggesting that the Incident will cause some ripple backwards in time that either destroys the statue or prevents it from ever being destroyed in the first place.

erexere and KoreAmBear: 27 years is the time frame provided by Team Darlton in the interview. I'm not sure why they picked that number -- maybe because 4+23=27? Regardless, it's important because it establishes (1) that the Incident reset the doomsday clock, and (2) the doomsday clock was about to run out in 2004 when Desmond turned the key. This will hopefully make more sense after my post THREE BLACK SWANS...

Capcom: WOWZERS! That has to be one of the best season finales I've seen EVER! I saw the revelation about Peter coming a few episodes back. But when they pulled back to reveal the WTC...this show has balls!

Greg Tramel said...

correct me if i'm wrong but the BIG difference between Lost & Fringe is Fringe is taking the multiverse route while the TPTB at Lost INSIST there is just 1 paradox free universe on the show

Greg Tramel said...

capcom, yeah, fringe was WAY COOL, i've been planning on commenting on your Fringe bog but i've been too sucked up into Lost

at least with Fringe we get new eps in the fall, after tonight we have to wait until January 2010 for new Lost, right?

Bigmouth said...

Greg: I think that's correct. Lost is ONE timeline, reality, etc., while Fringe involves MANY alternate timelines, realities, etc. that coexist simultaneously.

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

I really need to watch FRINGE on Hulu. Anyone ever see the Hulu ads on TV? Denis Leary during RESCUE ME on F/X is hilarious.

@KoreAmBear, yeah, Disney was Satan with all his propaganda films in the 50s, but I'd flip through ALICE instead of watching the DVD, unless the kids want to see it again.

With all the book references, I'm surprised HP Lovecraft was never brought up, specifically THE CALL OF CTHULHU. He always wrote of the Old Ones coming from the stars and a recurring line of gibberish in a lot of his work translates to "in his dead city, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming," refering to a submerged island in the South Pacific.

@Bigmouth, I simply meant that considering no one seems to map the damn Island, maybe the Incident takes a remaining section of the statue, say its there from the waist down, leaving the one foot and calf. The rest would be in the water, and if the Island moves through time, I'd think pieces of the Statue were sucked underwater, or even under the Island itself. I like your theory, but I'd find it interesting that a larger part of the statue was there as late as 1977.

@erexere, 1954 was the actual year that Jughead (actually a back up bomb) was used in the South Pacific. I'm not one for adding numbers to get a Number (as Big did), I'd be more curious as to why extinction was/is postponed every 27 years. Is the implication that the Cuban Missile Crisis was averted in some way (other than what we know from history?)

@KoreAmBear, the only scene we saw after the 1992 Purge was Widmore being banished from the Island, but I doubt Ben was pushing an eight-year-old Alex (in Wonderland?) on the swing. 1992-2004 is mostly a mystery.

erexere said...

In Follow the Leader, when Locke is about to feed Richard instructions on patching the shift-Locke's bullet-wounded leg, he mentions that they're almost to the plane and Ben exclaims "what plane?", is this the writers way of confirming that Ethan Rom didn't tell Ben about meeting/shooting Locke prior to the crash of Oceanic 815? So if Ethan's loyalty wasn't to Ben, then who?

Greg Tramel said...

erexere, huh??? i think you "lost" me

wasn't richard taking the bullet out of locke's leg in 2007 & 815 crashed in 2004?

Greg Tramel said...

oh, nervermind i'm dense today, you mean after ethan shot locke in the leg during a time flash to whenever the drug plane crashed, i would assume ben would know about the drug plane crash, maybe ben meant WHICH plane that crashed