EYE M SICK

Doctor Who: Tangent Timeline

2010-06-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick heads up for any Doctor Who fans that, I've posted my prediction on I Hate My DVR for how the Pandorica storyline will be resolved.

Bigmouth's Big List of LOST Answers...

2010-06-04T17:18:00.001-07:00

Recently, an amusing video of 100 questions supposedly left unanswered by LOST has been making the rounds online. Much of the dissatisfaction with the show seems to revolve around its purported lack of answers. But I maintain that LOST offered more explanations than detractors give it credit, so I decided to put my money where my big mouth is. As suspected, most of the video's mysteries had fairly straightforward solutions, whether express or implied. In my view, only a handful of the queries therein were left deliberately ambiguous in the sense there is no one interpretation that's clearly more plausible than the alternatives. And even in that handful of cases, plenty of reasonable speculations come to mind. Here's the video by College Humor, followed by my answers.

Why did the monster kill the pilot?

Instinct. The Monster was originally an automated security system, and visitors to the Island are a threat, particularly when they pop unexpectedly out of cockpit windows.

What did Locke see when he first saw the smoke?

This was left ambiguous, like the contents of Marcellus Wallace's briefcase in Pulp Fiction. But my interpretation is that the Man in Black showed Locke light from the Source.

What's with the polar bear in Walt's comic?

Walt had a special connection to the Island. This connection gave him certain powers, including a limited ability to manifest his mind's eye. When Walt read a textbook about birds, he attracted a cuckoo in the vicinity. When Walt saw a polar bear in the comic, he attracted one of the bears DHARMA brought to the Island.

Where is Christian Shepard's body if it's not in the casket?

Somewhere under the Temple, where the Man in Black took it to enhance the illusion he was Christian resurrected.

Why did the psychic say that Claire had to fly on Oceanic Flight 815 and why did he insist that her son had to be raised by Claire?

The psychic was a fraud, as he later confessed to Eko. Richard Malkin's scam was to scare pregnant women like Claire into keeping their babies long enough for him to arrange an adoption for pay. The part about Oceanic 815 was to create a false sense of urgency in case Claire had second thoughts.

Why did the Others want Walt so badly?

As stated previously, Walt had a special connection to the Island, which gave him certain powers.

Who sent Kate the letter telling her about her mother being treated for cancer in the hospital?

Kate's childhood sweetheart, Tom Brennan, who worked in the same hospital.

How does Walt know about the hatch and why does he warn Locke not to open it?

One of Walt's special abilities is to see flashes of the future like Desmond. That's also why Walt had prescient dreams of Locke on the Island surrounded by people who wanted to hurt him. Walt didn't realize he was actually seeing the Man in Black in Locke's form.

Why does the smoke monster make mechanical sounds?

It's a Bad Robot.

How is Walt able to apparate before Shannon?

One of Walt's powers is the ability to project ghostly visions of himself from afar. Ms. Klugh alluded to this when she asked Michael whether Walt had ever appeared anywhere he wasn't supposed to be.

How did Michael communicate with Walt using the Swan computer?

Damon and Carlton have suggested that Walt was able to interface mentally with the Swan computer. But we later learned the Others had the Swan under observation from the Pearl the whole time, so it's possible that Ben forced Walt to communicate via the Pearl computer.

What was the deal with Kate and that horse?

Coincidence, or perhaps some variation of Walt's ability to attract animals. We later learned there were horses on the Island well before Oceanic 815 crashed.

Why are supplies still being dropped on the Island after the Purge and by whom?

The Swan was still active after the Purge, necessitating continued supply drops. The LOST Experience mentions that Alvar Hanso contracted with someone to make such supply drops "in perpetuity." The Mysteries of the Universe series suggests that these supply drops were connected with the Lamp Post. Ms. Hawking manned this station as part of her penance for helping cause the Incident, which resulted in construction of the Swan. However, it's also possible the drops were sent from the other side of the Island. The Flame computer mentioned "pallet drop" as an option, and we later learned that the Swan was deep in hostile territory. Perhaps air drops were safer than sending the supplies by van or boat.

What triggered the lockdown and why on earth would anyone design it so during the lockdown black lights go on?

The food drop triggered a lockdown. The black light was Radzinsky's doing. After the Purge, he assumed that the other DHARMA stations had been compromised, including the Pearl. Radz used invisible ink as a safety measure in case the Hostiles were watching. He installed the automatic black light to ensure that future button-pushers would eventually see the map no matter what if he died or was incapacitated before sharing the information.

What happened to the original Henry Gale?

The Others killed him the same way they killed people from the tail section of Oceanic 815.

What happens to the original timeline Libby between the mental hospital and getting on the tail section of Flight 815?

She recovers from the trauma of her husband David's death. To find closure, she gives away his possessions. These include David's boat, which she offers to Desmond.

Who built the four-toed statue?

The Egyptians built the statue to honor the Island's protector.

Why does only one specific bearing get you off the Island?

Because spacetime around the Island is warped such that there is only one safe exit.

What are the hieroglyphics on the Swan countdown timer about?

Props to the Egyptians!

Why did Tom feel the need to wear a fake beard?

To make the Hostiles seem more savage and threatening than they were.

Who was Libby's previous husband who gave her a boat to give to Desmond?

Her husband was David. Beyond that, we know nothing about him, suggesting his identity is irrelevant. At one time, I believed that Hurley's imaginary friend Dave might be the ghost of Libby's David. However, Damon and Carlton have expressly rejected such a connection. ~~It's left ambiguous, but my interpretation is that Hurley's "imaginary" friend Dave was actually the ghost of David.~~

Who were the skeletons in the polar bear cave? Where did the toy truck come from?

The skeletons were the remains of DHARMA recruits who died during the Purge. The polar bear no doubt scavenged their corpses for food. We later learned that children were part of DHARMA, which explains the toy truck.

How did Locke and Eko escape the hatch implosion?

The release of exotic energy from the Swan anomaly teleported them to safety, just like the same energy teleported the '77ers back to the future.

Why couldn't Locke talk after the hatch implosion?

He'd just survived a hatch implosion!

Why did the monster kill Mr. Eko, and why didn't he just do it the first time they met?

The Man in Black thought he could manipulate Eko using his guilt over Yemi's death. When Eko refused to repent, the Man in Black realized he couldn't be manipulated, so the Man in Black killed him.

What did Mr. Eko mean when he said "you're next" after he died?

He was referring to the Man in Black's efforts to manipulate Locke.

How disgusting was it when Hurley was eating from that tub of ranch dressing?

Meh. I've seen much worse.

Why did Yemi's body disappear?

Same reason Christian's did. The Man in Black snatched the bodies to enhance the illusion that he was the dead come back to life.

Why does Danny say Jack wasn't on Jacob's list when in fact his name was clearly written in the cave?

Presumably, the "Jacob's list" that Danny mentions wasn't of the Candidates. However, it's also possible Jacob omitted certain names to protect them from the Man in Black.

Why can't women on the Island have babies and what does this have to do with anything?

Mother said the light at the heart of the Island was the Source of all life, death, and rebirth -- i.e., the life cycle. The Incident damaged a portion of the Source, disrupting this life cycle locally, which is why there were pregnancy problems on the Island. If the Man in Black had succeeded in destroying the Source completely, those pregnancy problems would have spread worldwide.

What was that Russian letter in Mikhail's typewriter?

His memoirs of Afghanistan.

Why was the supply drop menu hidden behind a game of computer chess?

Security to prevent the Hostiles from accessing it.

What was that weird mark Ben gave Juliet as a punishment?

Branding as punishment is as old as the Island.

And what's the deal with Jack's tattoos? Actually, you know what, I don't care about that one.

They foreshadow Jack's eventual ascension to the role of Island protector.

Desmond knew a monk. How did that monk know Eloise?

Brother ~~Thomas~~ Campbell was a friend or relative whom Eloise recruited as part of her effort to keep Desmond on course for the Island.

Why did Ben see his dead mother?

That wasn't Emily Linus's ghost. The Man in Black projected a vision of her to manipulate Ben, just like he used a vision of Isabella to manipulate Richard. Hence Ben's comment in the finale about the Monster "summoning me."

Who decided it was time to kill [DHARMA] in a Purge?

The Man in Black. Using dreams and visions, he tricked Ben into thinking that Jacob wanted DHARMA killed. Ben convinced the Others that DHARMA was a threat to the Source, triggering the Purge.

What happened to Ben's childhood friend Annie?

She either left with the rest of the children before the Incident or died in the Purge.

Why did Desmond have a false vision of Claire and Aaron leaving the Island on a helicopter?

Desmond's vision wasn't false -- what he saw was supposed to occur. The Man in Black changed the "picture on the box" of fate by claiming Claire, just as Desmond said his saving Charlie changed the identity of the parachutist from Penny to Naomi.

How does Mikhail keep coming back to life?

He never actually dies until detonating the grenade. Duh.

Why does Walt tell Locke he still has work to do?

Taller Ghost Walt was actually a vision projected by the Man in Black. We know this because he used the same expression about "work to do" in a mobisode. Locke's work was to serve as the Man in Black's loophole.

Whose eye appeared in the cabin window?

It's left ambiguous. Jorge Garcia claims it was meant to be Hurley's eye, so perhaps the encounter foreshadows his ascension to Island protector. But my belief is that it was the Man in Black, whose consciousness became trapped in the Cabin during one of his ghostly projections. When the Cabin moved outside the ash circle, Smokey entered and reunited with the Man in Black, as symbolized by the change in Zombie Christian's outfit from formal to casual.

Where did Miles get that picture of Ben?

From Widmore. Ben's capture was always the goal of the mission, so it's reasonable to assume that members of the freighter crew would have his picture.

Who is the R.G. on Naomi's bracelet?

Regina from the freighter. She was probably Naomi's lesbian lover.

Why was there a 31 minute, 20 second difference between the time [of the arrival of h's rocket]

The rocket took the wrong bearing through the Island's spacetime barrier, creating a time distortion. The amount of time (1880 seconds) is actually an Easter Egg. Albert Einstein was born in 1880.

Who was the economist and why did Ben want him dead?

He was one of Widmore's associates who helped fund the freighter mission. As such, Ben held him partly responsible for Alex's murder.

Why was Ben so surprised that they could kill Alex? What are the rules?

Ben and Widmore had an unwritten agreement that family was off limits in their war. This is different from the Rules set by the Island's protector, which prevent Candidates from killing each other. Obviously, if killing family members was against those Rules, Widmore would not have been able to change them.

If the smoke monster can't leave the Island and was Zombie Jack's-Dad, how does Jack's dad appear at a hospital in LA and on a freighter?

The Man in Black was able to project ghostly visions of himself from afar just like Walt could. That's why Christian's appearance to Jack was preceded by an alarm from a smoke detector -- it's an inside joke.

How did the monster get into Jacob's cabin?

The cabin was never Jacob's, or if it was, he abandoned it long ago. Through the aforementioned dreams and visions, the Man in Black tricked Ben into thinking it was still used by Jacob. Later, the Man in Black used Claire to break the ash circle so he could physically enter the cabin and impersonate Jacob when Locke came calling.

Why ask Locke not to tell anyone that he saw Claire in the cabin?

So no one would try to rescue her, disrupting the Man in Black's loophole plan.

Why did Ghost Horace direct Locke to the cabin and tell him Jacob was waiting there, when it was really the smoke monster?

Ghost Horace was another dream vision sent by the Man in Black. He said Jacob was in the Cabin to continue the aforementioned deception

Why did the Oceanic 6 named Charlie, Boone and Libby as the other three survivors?

It's left ambiguous, but I'm assuming it was arbitrary.

Why does Miles decide to stay on the Island?

Like Walt and Hurley, Miles has a special connection to the Island, as evidenced by his power to read dead peoples' thoughts.

What is the deal with the frozen wheel? It combines light and water?

The Wheel moves the Island by releasing power from the Source. The water was props to the Romans (i.e., for their aqueducts) or perhaps the Cherenkov effect, where light slows down when passing through water.

Why does Ben insist that the Oceanic 6, as well as Locke, have to return to the Island?

Eloise insisted it had to be all of them, and Ben feared he would not be permitted to return to the Island unless he fulfilled her orders exactly.

Why don't the rules of time travel apply to Desmond?

Exposure to the Island's exotic electromagnetism made him immune.

Who are the men that tried to capture Sayid and Hurley?

~~Widmore's people.~~ They were part of Ben's a "vast network of people and resources" off the Island.

Ben asks his butcher friend who's watching Locke's body if Gabriel and Jeffrey checked in yet. Who are any of these people?

They were also part of Ben's off-Island network.

What was Ben hiding what he took something out of the vent and put it in his bag?

That was the mysterious package Sun received with the gun and surveillance photos of Ben.

When the gang was unstuck in time, who was that shooting at them from the outrigger?

It's left ambiguous, but my interpretation is that Ilana's crew shot at them in an effort to kill Locke.

Who sent Sun a gun and pictures of Jack and Ben?

Again, Ben. He manipulated Sun's desire for revenge to get her to the Marina knowing she would reconsider upon seeing Jin's ring.

Who attacked Sayid at the hospital and why did he have Kate's address?

~~Again, Widmore. My guess is that he was killing the Oceanic 6 in an effort to keep Ben from returning to the Island.~~ Again, Ben, who was rounding up the Oceanic 6 to return to the Island.

Why was the smoke monster at the Temple? When did the Temple become an anti-smoke monster fortress?

Smokey was originally an automated security system under the Island protector's control. That's how Mother was able to massacre the Romans and fill the well. This relationship is symbolized by the relief carving underneath the Temple showing Anubis feeding souls of the unworthy to Smokey. But the Man in Black's merger with Smokey fundamentally altered this dynamic. Smokey went from being a subservient security system to a malevolent antagonist. After that transformation, the Island's protector no longer controlled Smokey, and the Temple became a refuge.

How did the producers of Exposé deal with the death of their two lead actors?

They hired ~~Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro~~ Tom and Arturo to take their places.

How did Eloise come to run the Lamp Post?

It's left ambiguous. My interpretation is that she learned about the Lamp Post from Daniel's journal and knew she had to be there to ensure whatever happened, happened. It's also possible she was visited by Jacob just like Charles.

How does the pendulum predict the Island's movements? Who figured that out?

It's left ambiguous. When Eloise said the Island is always moving, I think she meant it orbits relative to the Earth. This orbit may be through higher dimensions, different energy states, or both. It periodically brings the Island into phase with the Earth like two strings vibrating in tune. During these "event windows," the Island is accessible. The pendulum models the Island's orbit, creating a phase portrait that enables predictions about where and when the next event window will occur. The "clever fellow" Ms. Hawking mentioned was one of the DHARMA scientists, presumably Gerald DeGroot.

Why do those returning to the Island need to recreate the circumstances of their first arrival?

To symbolize their leap of faith. It's not supposed to make rational sense.

How did Jack, Hurley and Kate get from that Ajira flight to the 70's, and why didn't Sun?

It was one of the "unpredictable" side effects that Ms. Hawking warned about if they failed to recreate the crash of Oceanic 815 exactly.

How did Richard bypass the sonar fence?

He climbed over it just like Locke, Kate, Sayid, and Danielle.

How did Ethan go from the DHARMA Initiative to a member of the Others?

He was a Candidate on one of Jacob's lists. Indeed, several DHARMA members joined the Others, including Tom and (possibly) Amy.

What's with all the hieroglyphics underneath the Temple?

They date from a time before Jacob and the Man in Black, when ancient Egyptians worshiped the Island's protector as Anubis, and Smokey as Amit. The Temple was later constructed on top of the Egyptian shrine to Anubis and Amit.

Why did Widmore tell Ben to kill Rousseau and her baby, and why did he then let Ben keep the baby anyway?

This was part of Charles and Ben's power struggle for leadership of the Others. Widmore wanted to make Ben look bad by having him kill a pregnant woman. But Ben turned the tables on Widmore by challenging him to kill the baby himself. At that point, Charles had no choice but to back down and let Ben keep Alex.

Why did Daniel leave the Island in the 70's and why does he tell Jack he doesn't belong there?

Daniel left the Island to visit Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he worked on his plan to change the future by detonating the Jughead's core during the Incident. He said Jack didn't belong there because he believed the Oceanic 6's arrival in 1977 represented a change to history. What Daniel failed to realize was that the '77ers were always the cause of the Incident. By detonating the bomb, they were actually effectuating history, not changing it. What happened, happened.

Why does Richard think he saw everyone in the 1977 DHARMA picture die?

Richard saw the mushroom cloud from the bomb and assumed the '77ers all died in the explosion. He didn't realize that energy from the Swan anomaly teleported them to the future a split second before blast.

Who broke the circle of ash around Jacob's cabin?

As explained previously, the Man in Black used Claire to break the ash circle.

Why can Jacob leave the Island but the smoke monster can't?

Smokey was originally an automated security system. By merging with Smokey, the Man in Black became subject to its programming, which prohibited him from doing certain things like leaving the Island and directly harming the Source.

Jacob uses his last breath to say "they're coming," but who are "they"?

The '77ers.

What's the deal with the pool that brings people back to life?

The water flows from the Source, which is "life, death, and rebirth."

What is the infection? How did Claire get infected? How did Sayid get infected?

There was no sickness in the sense of a communicable disease. The infection Dogen mentioned was more like psychic slavery -- i.e., being claimed by the Man in Black. Claire and Sayid each became infected during their respective near-death experiences.

Why was the smoke monster confused that Sawyer could see young Jacob?

The Man in Black erroneously assumed that he alone could see ghosts of the dead.

What's the magic lighthouse about?

It was built by the Egyptians so the Island's protector could keep tabs on the Candidates via remote viewing. Symbolically, it underscores the Candidates' lifelong connection to the Island.

How was Dogen's simply being alive keeping the smoke monster out of the [Temple]?

Jacob imparted a little of his magic to Dogen, just as he did with Richard.

What happened to flight attendant Cindy and the kids?

According to Sayid, they were either killed or scattered into the jungle by Widmore's mortar attack.

Why didn't Sun tell Jin to go just so their daughter wouldn't be an orphan?

It wouldn't have mattered. She repeatedly told him to leave, but nothing she said could persuade him.

Where did Jacob and the smoke monster's mother come from? Where did Jacob and the smoke monster's OTHER mother come from?

Mother was part of a long line of sole Island protectors dating back to ancient times. Claudia was a Roman whose ship was brought to the Island and wrecked by Mother.

Who finished the magic wheel that combines "light and water" and when did it became frozen?

It's left ambiguous. My guess is that subsequent visitors from Rome (or perhaps Carthage) finished the work. It was frozen to help stabilize the Wheel.

What is the nature of the light?

It's the Source of all creation, including the afterlife. The Source is so beyond our current understanding of physics that we can only comprehend it in mythological terms

Magic wine...?

It's an allusion to the new wine of Gnosis. "Across the Sea" is an allegory for the Gnostic myth of Satan's creation (i.e., Sophia and Samael).

Why does that Tina Fey lady want the electromagnetic map of the Island?

To triangulate the location of the Source.

How did Widmore's electromagnetic thingy send Desmond to the afterlife and back?

The same way the Swan implosion sent him mind traveling into the past.

Wasn't Sayid's soulmate Nadia?

Apparently not.

Why weren't Michael, Walt, Lapidus, Eko or any of the other characters in the church?

Michael wasn't in the church because he was trapped in Island hell. The rest simply had stronger connections to other people. Remember, most of them spent a tiny fraction of their lives on the Island. Eko presumably "moved on" with Yemi -- we see a flash of them walking arm-in-arm as kids when Eko dies.

Thanks to WASTE from LOST-TV for transcribing the questions

Thoughts on The End...

2010-05-23T19:26:00.001-07:00

BIGMOUTH: My immediate reaction is that "The End" gets a perfect 10 on the Sickness Scale for one of the great fictional endings of all time. The real test of any book, film, or television show is whether you can't stop thinking about it after it's over. I went to bed marveling at "The End," and woke up with the same thought on my mind. It was beautiful, moving, and mysterious, much like the endings to the film versions of Solaris, both of which also rank among my all-time favorites. In fact, the parallels were so striking that I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn the writers of LOST were inspired by these precedents.

Warning: Major Solaris Spoilers

I've often mentioned the influence on LOST of Stanislaw Lem's classic novel about a sentient planet that manifests the memories of scientists studying it. The book spawned two equally classic film adaptations, one by Andrei Tarkovsky, and another by Stephen Soderbergh, both of which end brilliantly. In Tarkovsky's original, the final scene is between the protagonist, Kelvin, and his domineering father. The encounter seems to take place at their family home, implying that Kelvin has returned to Earth. At the very end, however, the camera pulls back to reveal the home is actually on an island in the middle of the Solarian sea.

Soderbergh's remake also appears to end on Earth. In a voice-over, Kelvin describes how he escaped the space station, returned home, and resumed his old life. He's standing in the kitchen of his apartment when he cuts his finger. Kelvin starts to clean the wound, but watches in surprise as it mysteriously heals by itself. Things get even weirder when his wife Rheya, who committed suicide years ago, walks into the room. Kelvin asks in wonder whether they're alive or dead. To which Rheya replies, "we don't have to think like that anymore." The implication is Kelvin never left and they're actually in a virtual afterlife created by planet Solaris.

I don't mean to suggest our Losties died in the crash of Oceanic 815, or that they never left the Island -- the last scenes confirmed quite the opposite. But Jack's strange conversation with his father, and the way he died watching Ajira 316 depart, both echo these ambiguous endings to Solaris. I'll expand on this in the full recap, but my initial take is that there is only one universe -- i.e, the Crash reality. What we've been calling the Mirror "reality" is actually an afterlife created by the Island from their memories where they can work out their emotional issues before "moving on" to heaven. Yes, they're dead. Thanks to the Island, however, they "don't have to think like that anymore."

Update May 28, 2010: I promised above to expand upon why I thought this ending was so remarkable. To do so requires that I eat some crow. When the first clips of the Mirror reality aired at Comic-Con, Damon and Carlton asked us to trust them. Around the time of "Happily Ever After," however, I decided they had lost my trust. The Mirror timeline made no logical sense if Jughead was its cause, and the prospect of them cheating death via transfer of their memories to the Mirror struck me as a total copout. Many of you chided me for doubting that the writers had one last twist up their sleeves. I dismissed such speculations for lack of evidence. I was wrong, and like Jack, I wish I had believed. Them and you.

The brilliance of the ending was that it made me see the Mirror reality in a whole new light. Until that last 15 minutes, I was sure the Mirror would render the sacrifices of the Crash reality painless at best and pointless at worst. The prospect made me doubt whether I would re-watch the series when it was over. Think about that for a moment. Someone who has blogged about LOST for the last six years had doubts about re-watching. To my pleasant surprise, however, the ending had precisely the opposite effect of clearly affirming the reality of the Crash world. It not only inspired me to re-watch Season 6 for what I missed, I see potential clues in earlier episodes, like the ghostly visitations from Season 4.

I can't think of another finale that similarly shifted my perspective on the entire series. I have to look to films like Solaris and the Sixth Sense for anything comparable. LOST transcended the medium, which is simply remarkable for a network television show.

So what's my take? I believe the Island is home to the Source of all creation, including the afterlife. "Heaven" is returning to the Source for rebirth after you die and find your soul mates in Mirror "purgatory." "Hell" is having your soul trapped on the Island, unable to reunite with your loved ones and return to the Source. I put those terms in quotes because their ascribed meanings only loosely approximate Judeo-Christian usage. The concepts in question transcend any particular faith, whether eastern or western, which is why the church at the end contained symbols from all of the world's major religions. The bright light when Christian opened the church doors was from the Source itself.

The fate of this entire afterlife apparatus -- heaven, hell, and purgatory alike -- hinged on the outcome of the final showdown between Jack and the Man in Black. If the latter had succeeded in destroying the the Island, it would have disrupted the entire cycle of "life, death, and rebirth," quite possibly causing the Island's fertility problems to go global. Even worse, destruction of the Island would have unleashed the entire contents of hell on Earth, causing malevolence, evil, and darkness to spread. I previously assumed that Jacob's cork-and-wine analogy referred specifically to the Man in Black. Now, however, I think he may also have meant tortured souls like Michael, who are prevented from returning to the Source.

The Man in Black ceased being Smokey after Desmond pulled the Plug. I maintain this was always the key to his escape, which makes sense when you think about it. The Man in Black could presumably have sailed away long ago if it were really that simple. Destroying the Island's magic was the only way of releasing himself from the iron grip of the Rules. The problem was that the Man in Black's merger with the Island's security system prohibited him from pulling the Plug himself. He tried sending people into the Cave to do the deed for him, but without Desmond's immunity, they all succumbed to the electromagnetism. We saw the skeletons of these poor saps littering the floor of the Plug chamber.

Even if destroying the Island wasn't necessary for the Man in Black to escape, however, those skeletons suggest he was obsessed. Jacob no doubt knew of his brother's obsession and realized that the only way to make the latter mortal again was to allow him to succeed. Having Widmore return with Desmond was Jacob's desperate gamble that his brother would be unable to resist the prospect of sinking the Island at long last. Jacob trusted Jack to intuit that killing the Man in Black required first pulling the Plug. The Man in Black was so busy gloating over his apparent triumph that he didn't realize he'd been trapped until it was too late. He really should have heeded Admiral Akbar's warnings.

Some complain that the finale lacked mythological grandeur. But I think it did a nice job of bringing the core mythology full circle. The Plug, in particular, was the culmination of a recurring dynamic whereby visitors to the Island unwittingly release the dangerous power of the Source. Metaphorical allusions abound, including when Charlie cracked the hornets' nest, when Ben summoned Smokey, and when Jacob analogized the Island to a cork. Literal examples include when Locke caused the Swan implosion and DHARMA caused the Incident. Now we learn they were all following in the footsteps of the ancient Egyptians, whose efforts to tap and exploit the Source apparently caused a breach that was filled with a plug in a giant dam just like the Swan station.

And yes, the Plug was a little simplistic, though no moreso than a giant Wheel that moves the Island. (Then again, so frankly is the notion of a magic tree or mountain supporting the cosmos.) The point LOST seems to be making with such images is that the Source is so beyond our current understanding of physics that we can only comprehend it in mythological terms. That's precisely why the Island needs protection. Yes, the man of science within me would have liked more insight from everyone's favorite physicist, Daniel Faraday. But the philosopher in me is quite satisfied with this commentary on the limits of the scientific perspective, which brings me to the other main complaint I've heard.

Some say the finale sided too decisively with faith. But that strikes me as entirely appropriate given the existential outlook of the show. The core philosophy of LOST was embodied by Jack's leap of faith to return to the Island and reinforced by the Kierkegaard reference earlier this season. As I've explained before, some existentialists argue that we attain free will though leaps of faith that liberate us from the deterministic operation of history. Jacob's entire modus operandi was an expression of this existential ethos. He wanted to give his Candidates what Mother had denied him: a choice whether to take the job of Island protector. For that to happen -- for free will to trump fate -- the show had to side with faith.

Nor should this be confused as a purely religious message. Anyone who's studied the history of science can tell you that leaps of faith abound. As Thomas Kuhn showed in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the notion that science progresses through falsification of old theories is actually an illusion. Science evolves less by the orderly accumulation of evidence than by radical shifts between contradictory theoretical paradigms. As brilliant as Einstein was, for example, he could never accept quantum mechanics because it defied his view of the universe. Paradigm shifts thus resemble leaps of faith because both entail rejection of an entire existing belief framework, usually in the absence of conclusive proof.

Lem's book version of Solaris contains similar existential commentary on the limits of the scientific method. Ultimately, however, I keep returning to the Solaris parallel for a more basic reason. Tarkovsky believed that the goal of art should be to personalize the abstract and metaphysical. Both his film adaptation and Soderbergh's do just that, translating Lem's insights into character relationships that resonate with viewers emotionally. LOST follows in this same grand tradition of showing us what big ideas like fate and free will mean in terms we can relate to personally. Other television shows have done this, too, but few as effectively as LOST. Witness the recently canceled Flashforward.

The power of that Mirror reunion in the church transcended the narrative revelation that these particular characters were eternally bonded by their shared love and memories. I don't personally believe in the afterlife, but I still found myself contemplating who might move on with me, and what our particular version of the Mirror might look like. I thought of my friends and loved ones -- living and dead -- who helped make me the person that I am. I thought of you all everybody and the remarkable time we've had discussing this amazing show. Those reflections, more than the character resolutions, were what made the last 15 minutes such a profoundly moving experience for me.

That's the end of this recap, but certainly not the discussion. It's been a wonderfully whackadoo ride, my fellow Sickies. Ago multas gratias vobis, and may we all move on together. Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: A big 10 for the episode, but when we get around to bullet points, I'll be talking about parts of the episode that fell flat for me. Lost has always been about symmetry, and I wish I had connected the thought of purgatory being equated to the consciousness of the Island earlier. The producers did a nice job of keeping me away from those dark moments in the caves in Season 1, when Sun brought up the P word for the first time, by making the Mirror reality a sort of mystery.

For those who might think everyone found their true love, I didn't see Helen around. (Yes, she was never on the Island, but I think Locke being alone offsets any soul-mate ending that some might gripe over.) In fact, my first real nudge towards seeing the Mirror reality for what it ultimately was came when Helen didn't make an appearance before or after Locke's surgery. Props to NetProphet for his mention of the Dreamtime, as well as the line by Charles Ingalls in "Recon": "knowing that people aren't really gone when they die. We have all the good memories to sustain us until we see them again." And, of course, as Hurley said during the game of Risk in "The Shape of Things to Come," Australia was the key to whole game. The final scene at the Church of the Lamp Post made me think of Philip Jose Farmer's To Your Scattered Bodies Go, more deja vu than anything. I'll address the book in my bullet points.

This is a much better explanation to the Whispers, as well as why we saw no Helen, and even creepy old Eloise's wanting to hold on to son Daniel for a little while longer. And I have my answer now as to that cryptic scream from Charlotte in S5, "This place is death!" It really is. Much more to be said in future bullet points, including my assumption that the outrigger shoot-out must have happened In The Year 2525, and that creepy moment when Miles pulled that gray hair out of Richard's scalp. And I really can't think of a better ending scene, with Ajira 316's flying over a dying Jack.

In that long-ago mobisode, Christian told Vincent that Jack had work to do. Now we know that Vincent had work to do, too: be at Jack's side when he finally let go.

Update: June 7, 2010. I see in the newest post that Bigmouth has listed answers to many of the questions posed by the show. I have been vocal in my comments after recent recaps that it is quite easy to come up with a plausible answer for many of these conundrums, but I've also said that it can be a bit of a cheat to simply accept things the way they played out. For every Room 23 question, there is also the mystery of the Outrigger Shooting.

I can offer an example from one of my literary peers, Richard R. McCammon. In 1987, Rick wrote a post-apocalyptic novel, Swan Song, well within the length and scope of Stephen King's The Stand. A character known only as Sister came into possession of a magical ring that had seven spokes, the first two of which were used to defeat certain evils. Seven years later, only two of the spikes remained. For fans who asked at the conventions, his reply was always the same: "Did it matter to the story?" And, no, it didn't. And yet, as with Lost, we were still cheated several times over.

A couple of mentions here from my recent trip to visit family in Kentucky. Remember when the producers said that Lost would end somewhere in the Crab Nebula? It got people to think that maybe the Island was an alien craft. This is one of those questions -- what is the origin of the Island? -- that might have any number of answers. My older cousin questioned the hieroglyphs on the "plug." More specifically, he suggested that the writings were not a warning, but rather instructions on how to fly the Island craft at some point in the future. We had a spirited conversation, and I considered the possibility that stranded extra-terrestrials left behind both a How-To manual, as well as the energy to do it.

I took my oldest niece Ashley to an old Civil War cemetery on the outskirts of Shelbyville. Fragments of dirty stone tossed by tree limbs, a newer tombstone erected for a man who served in the Revolutionary War and died in 1794. A time when Illinois was still a territory. I thought of the Ruins, and of how visitors to the Island would fight, destroy, and corrupt. I looked down from the small bluff, grave markers and farmland to my back, and saw a Wal-Mart and a KFC. Not quite DHARMA, but certainly a mocking reminder of what type of utopian society many of us will settle for in this new millenia.

So what was with the outrigger scene from Season 5? I'm not sure how this works logistically, but it would have been cool if the occupants of the second outrigger were the same people who ended up leaving on Ajira 316, while the shoe belonged to Richard Alpert. Cool, but not plausible perhaps. Logically, it would seem to be Ilana's crew, as they knew about the two Lockes early on. Many of the questions of Lost can be answered with simple logic, as the producers always set up something in advance, foreshadowing later events but then leaving us with those unanswered queries. Locke saw the Source the first time he saw the smoke monster, which was why he was willing to be dragged into the Cerberus Vent in Season 1. This is what gave Locke faith, why he never tried to argue the point that he no longer needed a wheelchair.

Which leads me to this: the Lighthouse compass rose offered us views of at least three candidates' lives, magic boxes of homes and churches. After all the talk of who was at the Lamp Post Church and who wasn't, I've begun to wonder if there are multiple afterlifes on LOST. This prrticular Mirror reality was the afterlife of Jack's consciousness specifically. He could see Sawyer becoming a cop, just as he could see himself married to Juliet with a son. Desmond flashed into Jack's Mirror because they both ended up near the Source.

I mull this over a lot, because I still can't seem to grasp the dynamics of the Mirror. For example, when Sawyer dies in the future, will he have a whole separate Mirror reality play out, in which he meets Juliet somewhere else than the hospital? Will Richard be working at the hospital with Juliet when he dies and experiences his own Mirror reality? And does that, by extension, happen to all of us, or just those who spent time near the Source?

Winding up, big thanks to Bigmouth for letting me recap, and for keeping me focused. You see, my usual manner of narrative is more like Charles Bukowski if he wore a heating pad as a superhero cape and drank Aqua Velva from a Juicy Juice carton while huddled under an off-ramp on the Tri-State Tollway. A better friend one could not ask for. Namaste to you all.

Thoughts on What They Died For...

2010-05-18T19:10:00.001-07:00

BIGMOUTH: I enjoyed "What They Died For," which gets a 8/10 on the Sickness Scale (3 for characterization, 5 for mythology). This was one of the few times all season when they managed to recapture the urgency of Season 4, my favorite of the show. This was particularly true in the Mirror reality, where crazy Desmond drove the action. I really like Brian Gajus's suggestion that the Mirror storyline will climax at Daniel Widmore's concert where, as MikeNY hilariously puts it, there will be a "a mass enlightenment/Kumbaya moment." In the Crash reality we received another mythological update via Jacob's fireside chat. As I and many others surmised, Jack chose to assume the role of the Island guardian.

The main thing I didn't like was Zoe's pointless demise. Again, why introduce a character at all if you're not going to pay her off? Widmore could easily have spoken the expository dialogue Zoe delivered about the Island's magnetic anomalies. At the very least, I would have liked to see her revealed as the daughter of Radzinsky -- her bespectacled intensity screamed such a link. I don't mean a whole Zoe-centric. All it would have taken was Zoe's giving her last name to the Man in Black. Indeed, I've often wondered if the latter was trying to sink the Island by pushing Stuart Radzinsky mentally. It would have been very cool if the Man in Black had replied: "Radzinsky, eh? I knew your father well..."

I want to see this. Okay, let's talk a little mythology, starting with Ben's murder of Charles Widmore. Many wonder how this was possible given their bedroom confrontation in "The Shape of Things to Come," where Ben said he couldn't kill Widmore. My take is that Widmore and Linas were both Candidates, and the rules say Candidates can't kill each other. But con men like Ben are adept at satisfying the letter of rules at the expense of their spirit. When Miles reminded him of Alex's murder, Ben hatched a plan to exploit a loophole in the Rules. He allowed the Man in Black to claim him, which meant he was no longer technically a Candidate. Once that happened, Ben was free to kill Widmore.

The big question is whether Ben's commitment to the Man in Black will be as short-lived as his allegiance to Ilana. Ben seemed to accept the Man in Black's offer of the Island after he leaves. But later in the episode, the Man in Black makes it clear that his plan is to destroy the Island. Maybe Ben's thirst to kill will be enough to sustain his turn back to the dark side. I suspect, however, that Mr. Linas still has a few tricks left up his sleeve. Look for that walkie-talkie he gave to Miles to figure in some final betrayal of the Man in Black. Indeed, the success of Ben's budding Mirror romance with Danielle Rouseau may depend on it. Things would sour quickly if she remembered the awful things he did on the Island.

I'll tell you what they died for. Let's also talk a bit about Jacob's campfire tale. After "Across the Sea," I think we have to take what he says at face value. That episode established by dialogue and example that Jacob is terminally incapable of lying. There will always be some question whether Mother was reliable. I maintain she instinctively knew the truth about the Island the way the Man in Black instinctively knew the rules of Senet, though I can see both sides of the argument. Where Jacob and the Man in Black are concerned, however, I think it's clear the former speaks the truth about what the latter is and the horrible things that will happen if he escapes, information that didn't come from Mother.

This doesn't, of course, mean Jacob's speech to his flock was clear. Jacob says he chose them because their lives were miserable and they needed the Island as much as it needed them. What wasn't clear to me was whether he used these criteria to select all of his Candidates, or if he just used them to narrow the field to six. Jacob also explains he crossed Kate off the list because she became a mother, but says the job is still hers if she wants it. This may simply underscore that, despite being a demigod, Jacob was still capable of the same arbitrary and whimsical decisions as any other human being. Or he may genuinely prefer not to separate children from their mothers after his traumatic upbringing.

I'm gonna destroy the Island. Jacob also tells them they must kill the Man in Black to protect the Light at the heart of the Island. The Man in Black confirms this by announcing he will use Desmond to "do the one thing that I could never do myself... destroy the Island." These comments suggest to me his plan has always been to destroy the Island. Ever since he became Smokey, he's known where the Source is. The problem is that, by merging with the Island's security system, the Man in Black became subject to its programming, which prohibits him from harming the Island. But Desmond is immune to the Island's electromagnetism and can safely enter the Light to do what the Man in Black can't.

And that brings me to one last whackadoo speculation for your pleasure. Jacob never told the Candidates how to kill the Man in Black, but I suspect that Desmond will somehow be the key. It may be his immunity to the electromagnetism, his exception to the Rules, or some combination thereof. However it happens, look for Des to make one last heroic sacrifice in service of humanity and his beloved Penny. That's all for this recap -- over to you Wayne.

* * *

WAYNE: Another 8/10 on the Sickness Scale (5 for characterization, 3 for mythology) because there are a few things left unanswered that will have a conclusion, with the obvious exception of Desmond's role in the finale. In fact, that may be the only answer we really need, though I'd still like to see whether Jack remains the new protector of the Island. I'm not convinced that role will stick...

Jack's cut. My complaint with the Mirror reality has been the ham-handed way what happens there always has a parallel in the Crash reality. One example was when Sun briefly experiences aphasia, paralleling here inability to communicate the injured Mirror Locke at the hospital. And I believe that the cut reappeared because it represented Jack's decision to take up Jacob's mantle. It's a leap, I know, but just as Desmond tries to make Jack remember a different, unhappy existence by simply tricking him with a phone call about his father's body being recovered, the cut represents a more mystical metaphor. Jack cuts ties with everyone else by drinking Jacob's cup of water.

Another comic-related reference? The Bleed is essentially the life force between the Source Walls, the veins and arteries of the multiverse, introduced by Warren Ellis as a logical extension to the concept Jack Kirby created decades earlier. I thought of this back in "LA X," when Jack was looking in the mirror on Oceanic 815. Looking back, I think this represented how, throughout the whole of Season 6, Jack's Mirror consciousness helped make him willing to accept his fate in the Crash reality.

Clean up your own mess. This was originally Locke's line, but it applies as well to Jacob's admission that he screwed up where Smokey was concerned. Sawyer replies with a pointed question: "Why do I gotta be punished for your mistake?" In the Mirror reality, Desmond is the analogue for Jacob, giving Dr. Linus and Substitute Locke pushes both large and small, mirroring the way Jacob pulled everyone to the Island in the Crash reality.

Ben remembers his Crash counterpart when Desmond beats on him, perhaps ensuring that he cannot find happiness with Alex. Now that he knows she sees him as a father figure, the realization that he was responsible for her Island death will not doubt be traumatic. Was it Juliet's mistake in opening up the bleed to the Mirror reality? Was it Eloise's fault for helping Jack and Sayid remove Jughead's core and thus allow the Incident to happen? Right now, it is left to Desmond to "punish" people by cleaning up somebody else's mess. In another life, brotha.

Ashes to ashes. I'm curious as to what sort of enlightenment Jack was given after drinking the communal water. There are two ways we can look at this, both again coming from comic books. (I'm sure there are other examples to be found in science fiction novels and films, but I'm immersed in urban crime tales. Just this past week, I realized that I've been mistaken for decades on what an ewok actually is.)

Maybe Jack simply gains a general understanding of his duties. There's a character called Green Lantern re-imagined for the Silver Age over at DC. Test pilot Hal Jordan finds a crashed alien ship in the Mojave desert, it's occupant, Abin Sur, an intergalactic peace keeper, gives Jordan a green ring before he dies. The ring explains the pilot's new purpose, without telling him much about the millenia-old Green Lantern Corps.

Or maybe the process resembles the above-cited notion of the Bleed. Warren Ellis first mentioned the Bleed in The Authority, a series about a group of superheroes who appoint themselves protectors of the world (and, by extension, the multiverse) when all other heroes are content to fight arch-criminals without seeing a bigger picture. One character is simply called the Doctor, and each time one of these mystical physicians dies, his replacement can access the collective thoughts of every previous doctor through a type of ancestral garden.

I'm curious whether Jack is only aware of Jacob and his unnamed brother and fake mother, or if he knows the true secret of the Island's origins, the Temple, the little-seen Ruins, and whomever else preceeded Mother and the Romans on the Island. It may not matter, because one last twist may be that Jack will end up not being the Island's protector after Sunday night. Jacob tells him the job is his for as long as he wants it. What if he passes the torch (so to speak) to Hurley or Sawyer so that he might vanquish the smoke monster, thus dying in the process? One last plot-twist.

Unanswered questions. I'm still wondering how Aaron and Ji-Yeon fit into all this even though they have been rarely seen since Season 4. The ultimate answer was that we would see Jacob and the Man in Black as children, but I am holding out hope that, just as we saw Jacob touching a young Kate and an older Sawyer, Jack (or his successor) will touch the two children of the Island, perhaps offering a helping hand to Charlie Hume, as well.

So many deaths with so many questions this season. Perhaps it's as Ben said after Ilana's death, that the Island was through with her, as it was with others before her. Or perhaps it's what the Man in Black said after slitting Zoe's throat: if you don't have anything to say, or if you are not being allowed to speak for yourself, what good are you? Was Zoe's last name Radzinsky? If Stuart killed himself in the Hatch, I think not, but I can see her wanting to continue his work, perhaps funded by Widmore as Faraday was. Of course, there is that 1977-1992 gap for DHARMA that we likely will never know about. Who were Ilana and her crew and why did she train her entire life to protect the final six candidates. Does Jack have all the answers now?

See you all everybody at the concert.

Thoughts on Across the Sea...

2010-05-11T18:06:00.001-07:00

BIGMOUTH: I previously analogized my attitudes toward Season 6 to the five stages of grief. But an even better metaphor would be Jack Shephard's transformation from a man of science into one of faith where the Island is concerned. After smashing the Mirror in recent posts, I spent a while looking out at the ocean, and am now finally ready to let the fuse on the dynamite burn. The Jack metaphor is fitting because I think whether you loved or hated "Across the Sea" has a lot to do with whether you identify with his conversion. Indeed, there are two equally valid ways of viewing this episode, depending on whether you watch it from the perspective of science or faith.

The man of science is cynical about the seemingly simplistic mythological revelations therein. Like the Man in Black, who was himself a scientist, he's convinced that Mother was crazy and the Island is just a big magnetic rock. The man of faith, by contrast, sees the simplicity of these answers as a virtue. Like Jacob, who trusted Mother even after her lies were revealed, he believes that the Island's mysterious power can't be reduced to purely physical terms. As I say, both interpretations are valid. This duality, which I believe was fully intended, is part of what makes the episode so brilliant. Hats off to writers Damon and Carlton, whose effort earns a 9/10 on the Sickness Scale.

In terms of the little things, I loved how Claudia and Mother started out the episode conversing in Latin. The shift to English was also timed perfectly. Props to Wayne Allen Sallee for touting the the Island's Rome-Carthage-Tunisia axis. Props as well to Dr. Todd Hostager who predicted a connection to Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome. Like their Vestal Virgin mother, the woman who bore Jacob and the Man in Black was named Claudia. I even enjoyed the revelation of Adam and Eve's identity. It didn't pay off Damon's promise that the reveal would confirm they had this planned all along, but it still worked well as retroactive continuity.

My main complaint was the occasionally stilted dialogue, which I forgave because the episode was obviously allegory. Specifically, the story of Mother and the Man in Black was a metaphor for the Gnostic myth of Sophia and Demiurge. In Gnostic mythos, God is living energy -- pure spiritual light -- a tiny spark of which burns inside each of us. Occasionally, this divine light produces avatars of human form, one of whom was Jesus. Another was Sophia, an expression of the divine feminine. Sophia became estranged from God and tried to cure her loneliness by creating a son. But something went terribly wrong, and she gave birth to Demiurge, a being of pure evil with many names, including Satan and Samuel.

Neither Mother nor the Man in Black was ever named. But you can bet if they had been, those names would be Sophia and Samuel. Indeed, the original casting call for "The Incident" referred to the Man in Black expressly as Samuel. And Jacob all but called him Satan in "Ab Aeterno" by describing him as the personification of malevolence, evil, and darkness. Beyond that, Mother's description of the "warmest, brightest light you've ever seen or felt" a little bit of which "is inside every man," clearly evokes the Gnostic notion of the divine spark of living energy inside all human beings. With these strong mythological parallels in mind, let's examine the episode, starting with the following picture:

My friend MB complained that the show did a poor job of casting Claudia. And looking at that picture, it does seem that her boys, with their blue eyes and light complexion, more closely resemble Mother. But what if that's precisely the point? What if Jacob and the Man in Black were actually children of the Island? Back in Season 1, Walt was reading a textbook about bronze cuckoos, which lay their eggs in other birds' nests. I believe this is a metaphor for how Candidates are created. The Island impregnates human vessels like Susan and Claudia, then calls them home from across the sea. As an avatar of the Island, Mother was the boys' true mother.

I suspect she orchestrated Claudia's pregnancy and shipwreck on the Island. But things went terribly wrong with Mother's plan, starting with the birth of twins, when she was expecting only a single child. In her surprise, Mother panicked and killed Claudia, which wasn't supposed to happen either. These dual Black Swan events set history on a drastically different course than Mother intended. The birth of two children, both of whom would grow up to become avatars, separated the Island's two sides, faith and science, into Jacob and the Man in Black. Claudia's murder, moreover, set these two avatars on a path toward perpetual antagonism, which wasn't at all what Mother wanted.

I've long maintained that the division of the Island into opposing avatars is the key to understanding the meta-conflict of the show. "Across the Sea" confirmed this through Mother, who was apparently the Island's only executive during her tenure. This gave her sole control over its magic, including the Smoke Monster, which she unleashed upon the Roman castaways and used to fill the well. Some say Mother actually was Smokey based on the way the Man in Black killed her before she spoke. I note, however, that the Man in Black gave Richard the whole "stab him before he speaks" spiel before sending him to kill Jacob, suggesting all Island avatars share this vulnerability.

Mother's unitary control over the Island also let her set the Rules for Jacob and the Man in Black. These Rules were supposed to govern the competition between them to determine who would succeed her as Island avatar. Here again, however, we see the limits of Mother's foresight because it apparently never occurred to her that both might someday control the Island. Mother clearly believed the winner would be the Man in Black whose strong connection to the Island was evident from an early age. A great example was his instinctive knowledge of the ancient Egyptian game ~~Set~~ Senet, which suggested he was the reincarnation of some past Island avatar. No wonder she judged him "special" like her.

As with Sophia, the result of Mother's miscalculations was the creation of a monster. By merging with Smokey, the Man in Black became a blind god like Demiurge. Jacob understands the Island's cosmic significance because he drank the "new wine" of Gnosis. But the Man in Black's materialism prevents him from seeing this spiritual dimension. His 30-year quest to return to the Cave of Light is a metaphor for his inability to transcend this material perspective. The Island wasn't designed to be a prison -- Smokey was originally a security system for the Temple -- but that's what it's become by necessity. The Man in Black wants to return home, even if that requires his destroying the Light.

That brings me to one last whackadoo speculation for your consideration. In prior posts, I've speculated that Aaron and Ji-Yeon are destined to replace Jacob and the Man in Black. That possibility is still in play, but recent episodes seem to be pointing us in another direction. Particularly after "Across the Sea," I wonder if resolution of the Island's meta-conflict will involve consolidation of power once again in a single authority-figure who unifies science and faith into one enlightened perspective. Someone like Jack Shephard, a committed man of science whose reluctant embrace of faith has been a defining narrative of the show. That's all from this end -- over to you, Wayne.

* * *

WAYNE: It's gotten to be a routine with me and my ubernet pals. Most everyone I know is a nay-sayer, but accepts my word that Season 6 is not an abysmal flop, the way one acknowledges the neighborhood loon without actually conversing with him. These days, I'm down to repeating the same line, again and again: I wish you had believed me. That said, even without the oddities of the Mirror reality and the certainties of the Crash, there's a lot going on in this episode, which I give a 9/10 on the Sickness Scale (five for mythology and four for character development). Much love, in particular, for Titus Welliver, whose ability to casually seduce the audience as easily as S6 Terry O'Quinn is a true wonder.

Mother's Daze. A few episodes back, the Man in Black told Kate about his own mother being a little off in the head, and we now know that he wasn't simply rooting through John Locke's memories. But they do share the same past, both having raised by another Mothers, with Locke's mother's claim of immaculate conception a nice comparison to how one might consider the births of Jacob and the Man in Black. One could consider that, through Allison Janney's character, the twins were immaculately conceived by the Island.

The Island certainly wants pregnant women brought to this Island, as was the case with Rousseau and Claire. In fact, this episode's title hearkens back to "Whatever The Case May Be" (S1E12), where Shannon translates a portion of Danielle's notes as the lyrics for "La Mer," a French song written by Charles Trenet in 1939. The song, with new lyrics, was covered two decades later by Bobby Darin, as "Beyond The Sea." Here's a line from the French version: The sea, sheperdess of azure infinite. And all this time we've been given the impression that everything was about daddy issues. Another nice bait and switch by the producers.

Make Your Own Kind of Music. We learn that the Man in Black became the Man of Science, spending almost twenty-five years with "his people," those of the former Carthaginian empire. (I'm assuming that we'll not get an answer as to why Tunisia is the exit point for leaving the Island.) I can envision a seven-year-old Man in Black being taken under his wing by a young Roman leader, echoing Ben and Ethan's similar teaming in 1988.

The Man in Black couldn't find that golden cave again, the one that faux Mother had shown the twins years before. But he didn't need Island faith, just good old fashioned science to find the light: if knives start moving in their holsters or sticking to things, start digging wells. Why bother finding the cave when you can make your own entry point, even creating the wheel to harness the water and light that could let him leave the Island? Was this last part guesswork on his part, or inherited wisdom because he was special, the one that Mother had seemed to want to be her replacement?

But the Man in Black got pissed when he found out Mom wasn't Mom (after seeing the ghost of Claudia, his real mother). He ran off and returned years later to kill fake Mom. This angered Jacob, who threw his brother head-first into the cave's waterfall, and the smoke monster belched out. Was this because the Man in Black was dead when he landed in Smokey's lair? Jacob found his brother's dead body soon after, but the smoke monster was free because he now had a human form, an empty soul.

The Source. At first blush, I thought of the Source Wall, another comic-book reference. Jack Kirby, who co-created Captain America in 1941, was off his chain in 1971, when he created The New Gods, along with a slew of other mind-bending concepts and characters. The Old Gods who had tried to harness the "Source" found themselves chained forever to the Source Wall, which separates each reality in the multiverse. (My main reason for thinking this was because I thought the cave might lead to mirror realities.) The main villain throughout the various books was Darkseid, who was constantly searching for the Anti-Life Equation. Think Alvar Hanso and Valenzetti.

But then I heard from my writer buddy Sid Williams, and I kicked myself for not thinking of the Mickey Spillane novel Kiss Me, Deadly. In the book, Mike Hammer and his assistant Velda are investigating a divorce case. They encounter a woman, supposedly escaped from a mental institution, and end up in hard-boiled intrigue. Crazy Christina's roommate, Lily Carver, has struck a deal with the evil Dr. Soberin to sell a valise filled with a warm, glowing substance. (Spillane's novels were driven by punches, not plot.) The radioactive isotopes in the satchel hit critical mass, the bad guys die, and Mike and Velda escape by running into the ocean. There are parallels to Lost and the Island's own magic box of electromagnetic energy, and what could happen if the wrong people get their hands on it.

Make Your Own Kind of Rules. When he was a kid, the Man in Black found a magic box of sorts on the beach, the Egyptian game of Senet. An early form of backgammon, it is played with black and white stones. Known as "the game of passing," a senet is also a talisman of protection in the afterlife. When Jacob complains about his brother's version of the game, the Man in Black tells Jacob that one day he can make up his own rules.

And Jacob did just that by making a list of candidates. At some point, the Man in Black must have understood the importance of the candidates and, as the smoke monster, killed them through lies. He used Montand's voice to trick the science team -- all likely candidates-- into entering the hole in the Temple wall. He appeared as Yemi to Eko, and as the Medusa spiders to Nikki (the latter's last name, Fernandez, is on the compass rose). And he appeared as something "beautiful" to John Locke, the man of faith and ultimate sucker.

WHY THE MIRROR REALITY IS SO IMPORTANT. I'm using caps because I think this is it. Claudia had twins in the Crash reality. And for the first time, an Island protector was forced to deal with evil incarnate. In 2007, Jack has shifted into Locke's role, having left science behind. This is apparent when, instead of methodically defusing the bomb on the sub, he wants everyone to simply trust that it will not explode. (I'm certain Jack would have reconsidered and ordered Sayid to place it as far away as possible if Sawyer had not yanked the wires off.)

In the Mirror reality, Jack is both man of science and man of faith. He is willing to try a new procedure on Locke, having the total belief that he can cure him of his paralysis. Locke will have none of this as he is happy to be trapped in his own magic box. The realities are merging, the Mirror reality is already experiencing the time dilations that Faraday explained in S4 when Regina sent the payload from the freighter to the Island. Mirror Desmond knew he had to get Locke and Jack together. Maybe the Mirror reality is at the bottom of the glowing waterfall, and Desmond is going to plug up the cave from both ends. I'll let others figure that one out. But things will be screwed if the Mirror reality doesn't have it's own version of Jacob and a benevolent analogue to the Man in Black.

John Locke, walking and ready to kick ass. On faith alone.

Thoughts on The Candidate...

2010-05-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

BIGMOUTH: Elizabeth Kubler Ross famously hypothesized that people react to tragedy in a series of stages. First there's denial, then anger, followed by bargaining, depression, and lastly acceptance. Over the course of this season, and the past few weeks in particular, I've experienced these stages in response to the depressing realization that LOST generally, and the Mirror storyline specifically, probably won't end the way I'd hoped. This process has been unpleasant and very public -- I apologize to you all everybody for the negativity. But I've finally accepted that characters in the Crash reality will transcend death through memory transfer to their Mirror-reality counterparts.

And I'm okay with that. Really.

My acceptance reflects a dawning realization that such an ending flows naturally from the notion that the Island is a keystone for both Crash and Mirror realities. As you all everybody know, my defining analogy for Season 6 has been The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The Island is like the Tower, which anchors all realities in the King multiverse. The Candidates are like the beams supporting the Tower -- the Island draws on them for its magic. A great example was the ash around the Temple, which depended upon Dogen to repel Smokey. Sayid's killing him was like shutting off the power to the sonic fence around the Barracks. That's why the Man in Black needs the Candidates to die.

Still, one question has always nagged me: how can the Island be the foundation of the Mirror reality when it lies broken on the bottom of the sea? Only recently did it occur to me that this is precisely the problem. The whole reason why the Mirror reality seems so wrong is that the Island should exist but doesn't. The key to making things right, therefore, is to raise the Island. I don't mean literally in some kind of Raise the Titanic! scenario, though that would be cool if there were more time left on the show. Instead, we're seeing them raise the Island metaphorically by having Mirror characters recover their Crash memories and identities, bringing a little Island magic with them in the process.

Before closing, let me say a few words about "The Candidate," which scored an 8 on the Sickness Scale (4 for mythology, 4 for character). First, Jin and Sun's deaths still moved me despite my confidence they will be resurrected in the Mirror reality. With due respect to Desmond and Penny, the Kwons have always been my favorite love story on LOST. Part of what I like is that their their dialogue is usually in Korean, but therein lies one quibble with "The Candidate." Did Jin and Sun's last words to each other have to be in English? I'm sure it was setup for a scene in the Mirror reality where both miraculously speak English. Still, compared to Sun's tearful speech in Korean at Jin's grave in "Ji Yeon," it felt kind of weak.

Speaking of death, I was pleased to see the Man in Black unmasked as pure evil. I've frankly been surprised by fan resistance to this possibility. Many seem determined to see his behavior as morally equivalent with Jacob's. While the latter certainly has blood on his hands, he's never done anything remotely this malevolent. Indeed, the Man in Black's fiendish plan to have the Candidates kill each other reminded me of the scene in The Dark Knight (2008) when the Joker traps two groups on separate ferries that are rigged to explode, claiming that both boats will detonate at midnight unless one group destroys the other first. I'm sure the Man in Black has his reasons, but it's hard to sympathize very much.

Finally, I was briefly thrown by Locke's refusal of Jack's offer to perform spinal surgery. But then I remembered a point raised by you all everybody during our recent debates about "happy endings" in the Mirror reality. What happens when Mirror Locke begins to remember the awful things that Anthony Cooper did to him in the Crash reality? I'll bet Locke gets over his guilt at the old man's vegetative state and decides to have that operation after all. Over to you, Wayne.

* * *

WAYNE: I rate this 8 on the Sickness Scale, 3 for mythology and 5 for characterization.

That sound you heard was me whipping the towel back before I threw it against the wall. I'm still seeing this through to the end; every time I feel deflated, I start seeing connections, like with a spineless Locke in the Mirror reality, as opposed to the man who stood up to Jack before the O6 left the Island, as well as some thoughts about Widmore's true presence on Hydra. On with the bullet points.

Secret societies and cults. After one of the early recaps, some discussion was made of the Island having such a society, and I argued that the Others themselves were more like a cult. I can see Jacob, the Man in Black and, hell, even the Island itself as a secret society. But, and even though it's a cop out on a grand scale, seeing the Others as blind followers to Jacob explains the deaths of S6.

The lead up to the mysterious Temple, the idea that Dogen could keep the Man in Black at bay unless he died, well, here we are yet again with Jacob talking the talk. This is how I accept the idiocies of S6. Ilana's lack of knowledge and sudden death, Richard not knowing just what the blue blazes Ilana was talking about. Whatever purpose Lennon had that he at least was given a name. The Temple massacre. If I accept that everyone simply answered to Jacob without question--think Ilana saying that she trained her entire life to protect the candidates --then I'm fine with it. I was conned just like the Others, like those with so-called jobs, Dogen, Ilana, Richard and Ben. And if we see Vincent stroll out of the jungle talking in Tom Cruise's voice, don't say I didn't tell you so.

Further Instructions. This is the episode in Season 3 where Locke is temporarily mute, after the implosion of the Hatch. He builds the sweat lodge, gets stoned, and has that dream that is both trippy as well as exceedingly scary, with Boone explaining things to him. We see a paralyzed Locke, crawling up an escalator at the Sydney airport, struggling to lift himself up. Here's the thing: Boone is telling Locke all about Season 6.

He explains, of the passengers waiting to board Oceanic 815, that Charlie and Claire would be just fine, but only for a while. Hurley is the confident ticket agent. In Season 6, he's been the real leader, giving instructions to Richard and Jack, eventually accepting Locke's knife offered as an act of false truce. Desmond is on another escalator, descending and accompanied by three stewardesses. "Forget it." Boone says. "He's helping himself."

Then the most telling of scenes: Jin and Sun are arguing, Sayid shows up, and Boone tells Locke "I think Sayid's got it." All three died together, and the two Kwons did argue over Jin insisting to be with Sun in death instead of saving himself. And the last image of Ben waving a security wand as Jack, Kate, and Sawyer await boarding. Boone's prophetic words: "There's nothing you can do for them. Not yet. First you have to clean up your own mess." In the Mirror reality, Locke had turned his father, Anthony Cooper, into a vegetable. Perhaps in the Mirror he refuses Jacks offer for the spinal surgery because he cannot clean up the mess he made of his father's body and brain.

The way we are. Early on in Season 1, we saw a reflection of the social structure that governs our everyday lives. We saw the tribalism that Locke embraced, with Jack now seeming to do the same, and we also saw socialism and capitalism. Jack wanted to share, Sawyer wanted to stash. The survivors kept secrets, many times to benefit themselves. After Juliet's death, Sawyer reverted to his old ways, telling Jack to "get off my boat." In this last episode, he made the decisions, against what Jack wanted, and the end result was that the timer on the bomb accelerated.

Even though Sayid ran off with the ticking bomb, it was Sawyer who effectively killed him, for a Candidate cannot kill him or herself. Sayid was not on a suicide run, although one might say that he found redemption in those last moments. And my guess is that Sun was the candidate Kwon, otherwise Jin would still be alive. I cannot see the same argument that Jin was killed as a result of Sawyer's actions -- Jin chose to stay with Sun. I'm glad that neither mentioned Ji-Yeon at the very end; I'm not heartless, but at the same time I didn't want to see a Very Special Episode of LOST. Save that crap for Grey's Anatomy. But wouldn't it have been funny if, instead of his wedding ring, Sun gave Jin the DriveShaft ring that belonged to Charlie?

The E6 get deep-sixed. For those wondering how the Man in Black had the knowledge to rig the C4, go back to "Exit 77," when Locke blew up both the Flame and the Galaga submarine with C4. We also know that the smoke monster can be stopped with dynamite, which might be why the entire "hidden" basement of that DHARMA station was lined with C4. We know the Man in Black has Locke's memories, and I am starting to believe that he also retains Mirror Locke's, as well. This would explain his extreme cockiness since "The Incident," he knows that, whatever happens will happen with his Mirror self in a wheelchair. Spineless. A sucker.

The Sixth Candidate. Ilana had a list, and she knew the names of the Candidates. With Locke dead, Ilana told Sun there were six Candidates. So there is still one unaccounted for. Let me throw this out first, something I've been wanting to say about the Man in Black for awhile. He is a container for the smoke monster, and I go back to the massacre inside the statue, when it looks as if the Man in Black was moving into a prone position. There's a comic character from the 1960s, Negative Man, a member of the way-cool sounding Doom Patrol. Through a freak accident, a test pilot named Larry Trainor had to be wrapped in bandages, though he was able to release a form of negative energy for sixty seconds. If the radioactive form did not return in that time limit, Trainor would die.

I see it like this, the main reason the Man in Black sailed the Elizabeth to Hydra was because he needed to be close by when the smoke monster killed the Ajira passengers. And this is why he rebuffs Sawyer--paraphrasing here-- when asked why he doesn't just turn into smoke and fly [over there]. The time limit prohibits this. I'm certain we can find instances throughout the series where we see similar moments involving Christian and Yemi.

Which brings us back to Hydra. And the fact that the smoke monster kills Seamus and his group around the cages, and later kills the others on Widmore's team as the Man in Black, but leaves Widmore alone. In that famous scene in S4 when Keamy kills Alex and Ben says "You broke the rules," he was talking about Widmore. The surname Rousseau is on the Lighthouse compass rose, and I believe it belonged to Alex, not Danielle. Widmore likely killed other candidates, as well. We saw Mattingly and Jones crossed out -- they were part of the Army expedition in 1954.

The Man in Black allowed the game on Hydra to play out, to let the episode on the submarine run it's course. There is a reason the Smoke Monster did not kill Widmore, just as the ghost child told him that he could not kill Sawyer. I believe that Widmore intends to get the Man in Black to turn into the Smoke Monster, then imprison the prone body of Locke within the padlocked room in the main building. Widmore is the sixth candidate, and he will have the power of Jacob with no interference from anyone else. Until Jack and Desmond start figuring things out, that is.

Thoughts on The Last Recruit...

2010-04-20T18:11:00.001-07:00

BIGMOUTH: Unfortunately, my recaps will be abbreviated for the next few weeks due to work obligations. Thanks to you all everybody for your understanding!

I give "The Last Recruit" a 6 on the Sickness Scale (3 for mythology, 3 for character). This was probably my least favorite episode of the season thus far -- even worse than "What Kate Did," in my opinion. The purpose of the episode was obviously to position the characters and set up the storylines for the last few episodes of the series. But with so little time left, and many mysteries still left to be answered, an episode with no mythological revelations of note was a luxury LOST just can't afford. I can't help thinking that the awkward pacing of this season is a function of the Mirror reality, which has sucked away time from what many, myself included, really wanted: a satisfying end to this story and these characters whom we've come to know and love the past six years.

Speaking of the Mirror reality, nothing in this episode changed my view that it exists to give our characters happy endings. In my recap of "The Package," I predicted that Mirror Sun would survive her gunshot wound, but the baby would not. It turns out I was only half right -- silly me for thinking that the baby would have anything but a happy ending. As I also suspected, our characters seem to be converging on St. Sebastian's Hospital, where they will presumably recover their memories of the Crash reality en masse. And that brings me to one last spoiler-free speculation for your consideration: Sawyer was the one Juliet shot in the outrigger canoe. In an upcoming episode, we will see him shot in both realities simultaneously. He will be taken to St. Sebastian's, where he will meet Juliet and remember their love.

The two will make plans to go for coffee and live happily ever after... LOST. That's all from this end -- sorry again for the abbreviated recaps this week and last. I'll try to make it up to you all everybody after the next episode in two weeks.

* * *

WAYNE: I give this 7 on the Sickness Scale, 4 for character and 3 for mythology.

One of my favorite Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson shows Satan gesturing his pitchfork at a regular schlub. who has to choose between two doors. One reads "Damned If You Do," the other "Damned If You Don't." That's how I see LOST right now, with the two realities. We've seen great scenes in Mirror reality (Keamy and the Kwons, this week it was Ford and Austen), and in Crash reality (Hurley and Isabella is the instance that shines the most). But by dividing up these events, much of the excitement from past seasons are gone.

I'm still enjoying the show, and the Island scenes are for the most part compelling, although my judgment may be clouded because we aren't seeing a bunch of shiny, happy people in the Man in Black's camp. We're seeing the unshaven and the scruffy, sweat-stained group that have been our personal Constants since September 22, 2004 of our Meta-reality.

Constants With A Consciousness. In the Mirror reality, it is becoming apparent that each character that suffers a near death experiences recalls a near-duplicate moment in the Crash reality. Sun reacts to the Man in Black as she is wheeled into St. Sebastian's alongside the injured John Locke, just as Desmond recalled Crash Charlie's "Not Penny's Boat" admonition after finding himself underwater and staring at Mirror-Charlie, who was making no effort to leave the sinking car. (Mirror Charlie also presumably did not think about Claire, until he was busy choking on his heroin stash.) In the case of Hurley and Libby kissing, I lean towards the soul-mate angle as being bogus and would rather see the two recalling a similar beach and how Libby was killed by Michael soon after she shared that other first kiss with Hurley.

I can argue the same for Daniel and the redhead; sure, Danny boy is telling Des all about true love, but the Constant part of the two realities is that Faraday held Charlotte in his arms as she died in Crash reality. And, yes, there's the incident where Desmond passed out after shaking Penny's hand in the Mirror reality, but he's the wild card in all realities. Perhaps his consciousness is a portal to the entire multiverse. In addition, he not only has Penny as a Constant in the Crash reality, he also has that whole Faraday-Desmond-Penny three-way from back on the Kahana. ( A minor note: Minkowski and Desmond were also paired together in both realities, via the nosebleeds and the time-tripping.) I'm not into the soul-mate thing at all. Collective consciousness is my bag.

Sweetzer-Verdansky. Ilana is a lawyer here in Mirror reality. Sweetzer is one street in the intersection where Desmond and Penelope would have their coffee date. Let's get to the significance of her last name in a moment. First, the logo on the door to the law firm: SV, the abbreviation for Svalbard, an archipelago in Norwegian waters. Makes me think of the listening station that was hooked up with Penny's phone, snowy landscape and all. We've seen this small isle referenced before via the ubernet: in "The Constant," we learned that Desmond was based at Camp Millar in Scotland during his short stay in the military. Yet there is no such military base in Scotland. Back to the interwebs: There is a Camp Millar in Svalbard, and in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, Svalbard was a gateway to multiple universes.

Which brings us back to Ilana and her perhaps-relative Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. Through correspondence with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the concept of the noosphere came into being. Bigmouth has discussed de Chardin's discussions of the Omega Point, and Flannery O'Conner took one of his quotes for the title of her book Everything Which Rises Must Converge. Jacob was reading that book as Locke was pushed from the hotel window by Anthony Cooper in "The Incident." The noosphere is where it gets trippy, because it plays on everything Lost and all its ARGs are about, as well as a riff on Jacob hating technology.

de Chardin believed that with every passing day, it becomes a little more impossible for us to act or think otherwise than collectively. Verdansky's noosphere, on the other hand, was about the collective unconscious. A world that operates out of habit, by events that lead towards connectivity through advancement of skills. The spoken language becomes the written language. We've seen the Others speaking Latin and glyphs beneath the Temple. Verdansky wrote of the biosphere becoming the technosphere, starting with the atomic bomb and leading up to the crazy gadget named Google that gave me all the information about Svalbard. On Lost, we had Jughead and Apple computers. And in our Meta-reality, we have blogs and message boards.

The noosphere is a sphere of human thought. That's why so much of the Mirror reality is contradictory. The altercation between Sayid and Keamy occurs within a day or two of Oceanic 815's return to Mirror LAX. So how could Sun, having been accidentally shot in the aftermath, be brought to the hospital at the same time John Locke was, when the hit-and-run by Desmond occurred a week later? (The timeline is even referenced by Ford, when he is talking to Kate at the station house.) These aren't mistakes, rather, it shows a two-dimensionality to it all, like when the smoke monster scans someone's brain and comes away with the memories of other people in that mass of gray matter.

As an example, when Kate was scanned along with Juliet in "Left Behind," would the smoke monster then have vague memories of James Ford's becoming con man Sawyer in order to kill Anthony Cooper? I had hoped we would have seen much earlier in the season that this plastic dome of reality would be the visual for the Man in Black's allowing his recruits to see the world that could have been theirs, a world where Jacob did not touch them (because Jacob was dead at the point that this universe--past, present, and future--was created. Again, two days is a week in Mirror-reality. 1976 is 2004 is 2007, as well.) Since we've yet to see anyone in the Crash reality acknowledge its Mirror counterpart, I'm still at a loss. But I do not think of it as an escape hatch for happy endings. The cork between the Crash reality wine bottle and the invisibly connected Mirror reality is represented, I believe, by the imploded Hatch. An event will occur to make the realities almost touch, perhaps even be visible to each other, and then things will go all to hell. What if St. Sebastian's is a Mirror-reality analogue for the imploded Hatch?

Random observations. Is this the well where Desmond is trapped within vicinity of the Swan, much as there was a well near the Orchid? Is this why the Man in Black chose this location to hide "the package," because any electromagnetic activity would render any type of tracking device Widmore's crew might have placed upon Desmond useless? And, most of all, does that well seem very much like that structure in Tunisia where Ben had hidden his passports and money in the Deleted Scenes selection on the Season 4 DVD set? (The Romans would certainly have continued to build on the Island whatever structures they built before -- and however -- they were eventually displaced.)

Get off my damn boat. In closing, I bring up Jack's question to Sawyer, the one that got him booted off the Elizabeth (I hereby dub that group the "E6"). "If that thing wants us to leave, then maybe it's afraid of what happens if we stay." Easy answer: Jacob wins the game. Tougher answer: I still don't have a clue.

Thoughts on Everybody Loves Hugo...

2010-04-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

BIGMOUTH: Unfortunately, my recaps will be abbreviated for the next few weeks due to work obligations. Thanks to you all everybody for your understanding!

"Everybody Loves Hugo" gets an 8 on the Sickness Scale (4 for character, 4 for mythology). While I dislike the general direction of the show -- i.e., happy endings in the Mirror universe -- it was hard to hate Hurley and Libby finally getting their first date. The Mirror reality is really a reset for the writers, too, allowing them to remedy past mistakes, like the way they killed off Libby so unceremoniously in Season 3. I also buy her as Hurley's catalyst for consciousness transfer -- and vice versa. Love and death are two forces that have been proven to transcend spacetime on LOST. Still... no happy endings! Okay, maybe for Hurley and Libby, and Penny and Desmond, but nobody else, please.

The Whispers are ghosts. Here, I have to toot my own horn just a bit because I called this at the start of Season 2 in my post Chorus of the Dead. The inspiration was Dr. Manhattan's transformation in Watchmen. But I've always maintained that LOST is the ghost story like Turn of the Screw, the book that hid the Swan orientation film. Some have expressed disappointment at this revelation. And I'd be lying if I denied that my own speculations had grown since then to include more exotic possibilities like inter-dimensional bleed-through. Still, if I was able to peg the Whispers' significance way back when, it's a sign the writers weren't simply making these elements up as they went along.

Kablammo! There were two explosions of note, one that surprised me and another that didn't. Hurley's dynamiting of the Black Rock was a thrilling shock and fitting end to the Black Rock's tale. Unfortunately, I saw Ilana's explosive demise coming a mile away. It was just too reminiscent of Arzt. Like SKID among others, my question was why immortal Richard didn't carry the dynamite. More generally, it was another clumsy exit for an intriguing character we hardly knew. Ilana and Dogen were the poster children for this problem in Season 6, but there have been many others, including Libby, as I mentioned above. It's a shame the writers finally did right by Libby just to make the very same mistake with Ilana.

Shade tippin'. In the spirit of SKID's necktie watch, I've begun tracking Desmond's shade tippin'. For those unfamiliar, shade tippin' is a film and television phenomenon where characters peer coolly over their sunglasses. David Caruso of CSI: Miami is the paradigmatic shade tipper, but Henry Ian Cusick certainly distinguished himself this episode with ubiquitous shade tipping of his own. A good example was when he gazed approvingly from afar at Hurley and Libby during their date on the beach. Des reminded me of Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island, reuniting two star-crossed lovers across space and time. All that was missing was the late great Herve Villechaize in white suit yelling "da plane, da plane!"

Hit and run. Another instance of shade tippin' occurred just before Desmond ran over poor Locke in the Mirror reality. I can see at least two potential reasons why Des did so, neither of which is mutually exclusive. The most obvious motive was to give Locke a near-death experience to show him the Crash reality, thereby jogging his memory thereof. It's also possible Des somehow sensed that Locke will end up at Saint Sebastian's Hospital, where Jack will operate upon him and restore his ability to walk. Indeed, I wouldn't surprised if Sun gets rushed to St. Sebastian's for her gunshot wound. Perhaps Charlie and Claire will go there, too, for follow up treatment, and they will all recognize each other...

Throw the Des down the well. I think the Man in Black threw Desmond down the well because the former recognized the latter as a threat. As I suggested last week, Desmond's mission is to show our Losties that they can live on in the Mirror reality if they sacrifice themselves for Jacob's plan in the Crash reality. The Man in Black isolated Des to prevent such epiphanies. But why not just kill him? The appearance of Taller Ghost Jacob suggests it may be against the rules. But if you really want to follow me down the whackadoo well consider the possibility that the Man in Black wants Des to take his place, like Kelvin did. Who better to become the new Smoke monster than someone immune to the Island's exotic energy?

* * *

WAYNE: I'll admit I was more than a bit surprised that my esteemed compatriot Bigmouth (with his "Count to Five" St. Sebastian surgical precision to my "Connect Four" Santa Rosa ramblings) suggested an outcome that the Mirror reality will be a place for consciousness cross-over, where Crash-reality Sawyer can simply slip into the mind of Mirror reality's Detective Ford. I've talked with friends who think that the Mirror reality allows forthe important characters to live on through the looking glass. I have two words for that. To quote Col. Potter on M*A*S*H: "horse hockey." After last season's finale, I think we should all be ready for Lost's Long Con to run even longer.

Do the hustle. Before I talk about the Mirror reality, I do want to say that I am greatly enjoying the scenes on the main Island. We know who is in on the con at the Man in Black's camp, but now we see Hurley trying to hustle the group that had been Team Ilana, and then have Richard call his bluff by trying to hornswaggle the new team leader. Ghost Michael told Hurley it was a bad idea to blow up the Ajira plane, and after making his move and blowing the Black Rock to bits, Hurley throws down on Richard, pretending he is talking to Jacob. Richard tosses back, saying that if Jacob is there, then Hurley should ask him what the Island really is. Hurley has to admit that he is not really talking to Jacob.

Richard himself is not completely honest in this scene, as Jacob did gave him lists to pass along to Ben and ordered the construction of the Hydra runway. Moreover, when Widmore chastised Richard for taking Little Ben to the Temple, Richard replied that "Jacob wanted it done." Right now, Richard doesn't have a clue, even though Ilana had mentioned several times that Jacob told her that the man who doesn't age would know what to do regarding the candidates.

Speaking of Island sacrifices. Ilana went and got herself blowed up in this episode, and just after she changed her clothes for the first time since the Ajira crash. Long, long ago, I suggested that all of the crash survivors were, in effect, chess pieces. Boone served his purpose and died when the Beechcraft plane fell to the ground. His radio call to Bernard served to make Ana-Lucia all the more suspicious of the Others who had been abducting the tail section survivors. Ana then shot Shannon, mistaking her for an Other, but not before Sayid, Shannon's, uh... companion, could see Dripping Wet Walt. Cause and effect. We saw this culminate on the Kahana, when ghost Christian allowed "Michael Dawson" to die as the ship exploded, causing Ghost Michael to be trapped on the Island.

It seemed almost comical, thinking back on how carefully Arzt placed his wet cloths over the dynamite, while Ilana bounced around with her four sticks of dynamite, tossing water bottles on top of them with no consequence, only to drop the bag with disastrous results. Ben, ever the life of the party, later pointedly states that Ilana died because the Island was done with her. I have a different take on that. Ilana, arguing with Hurley, was in the middle of revealing something when she dropped the bag. "And God help us all if it ever leaves the island! Because if it--" I'm curious as to whether the Island made Ilana drop her bag to shut her up because Hurley and Co. weren't quite ready to hear the truth.

Does the Mirror reality matter at all? As I mentioned, I do believe we have another con coming up, even though I don't have anything concrete to back up my theory. As a writer, I'm trapped not being able to truly enjoy anything worth watching or reading, because I'm thinking ahead to the possible endings. I knew Bruce Willis's character was dead in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, and that Sam Jackson was the baddest bad guy of all in Shyamalan's follow-up film, Unbreakable. Then I found myself not having a clue in each of his following films, because -- and I know I'm not alone in my belief -- the films were just not that good.

My brain is still bouncing around my skull, so I know that LOST is not going to end in any lame way. The easiest thing that comes to mind is that the Mirror reality is Hell, and the con is to show the Man in Black's recruits a nice circle of Heaven. I said a few weeks back that when Miles listened in on Juliet's words from beyond the grave, he might actually have heard the Man in Black saying that "it worked," meaning that a new loophole opened up. Snow globes are filled with water, and I can easily see the Man in Black's finger poking through the sky of the Mirror reality, creating ripples, causing collisions, as with Ford and Kate.

If it says Libby, Libby, Libby on the label, label, label. All this talk about soul mates is what annoys me most about the Mirror reality, and it's also one of the reasons I'm still trying to think out a possible ending. As the Man in Black tells Sawyer at his camp, when Sawyer mentions that they are just twiddling their thumbs, fake Locke replies: "There's a difference between doing nothing and waiting." I'm waiting, because the Mirror reality is finally not "doing nothing."

Case in point: Libby. I think it's pretty wild that she knew Hurley from his Santa Rosa days in the Crash reality. On the one hand, Hurley certainly wouldn't remember this if he had the means to, as we, the audience, were the only ones aware of her presence at the mental institution. It was also one of the more concrete associations, more than just seeing a chocolate-chomping redhead. Most of all, it was a woman making the connection, which automatically makes me think of Connect Four. I really hate my brain. In the Crash reality, Libby's soul, her whispers, left the Island because she had shown true love to Hurley, and perhaps would have been his soul mate if Michael hadn't killed her.

Other examples of tainted love: Nikki using the razzle dazzle on Paolo, so she can find the bag of diamonds hidden where he parked his bike; Ana-Lucia going all tribal on Sawyer so she could snag his gun, the one Michael ended up using to kill her and Libby; and Kate...well, where to begin? Going back to the Whispers being souls, does this mean that the Island feeds on corrupted souls? Why did Ben warn Rousseau after he took Alex that if she ever heard whispers that she should run the other way?

Jacob hates technology. I'm not certain, but my brain is nudging towards Mirror-reality Desmond pulling a whatever happened, happened deal at the end of the episode. I just kept thinking of the Incident, and the whole causality thing. I'm curious as to exactly what moment in the Crash reality made Mirror Desmond decide to ram into Locke with his car? Was it when the Man in Black threw him into the well, or was it when the Man in Black asked Desmond if he knew who he was? To me, that slight hesitation before Desmond mentioned John Locke's name was reflected in the Mirror reality. I can actually see Des hesitating as his gaze went over Locke's name on the Oceanic manifest.

Man, I winced at the impact. Same thing happened to me in 1989, minus being in a wheelchair. 291 days in various casts, part of my right hip now embedded in my left arm, the rest of the forearm hollow. Typing with one finger, hence the time it takes to write the recap. Just making idle conversation here, but if you want to see photos, just write to me c/o General Delivery, The Twilight Zone.

Mirror Locke is still alive, perhaps lucid. Did he get a flashes before your eyes moment? Again, I can't make the logical leap from point A to point B, but I think we are going to see a reversal on Jacob's Luddite beliefs. Instead of a wooden chair and a painting of a dog, the Man in Black might find himself imprisoned in a wheelchair, with Mirror reality suddenly able to walk around. Will Desmond's touch do the trick? You got me. At least my brain is still working, so I haven't given up on the "Let's go dutch" and "by the way the Visitors are really lizards" aspect of the show. And I am truly digging the on-Island interactions. The dread is palpable.

Jack, meet Locke. That's all I have to say there. We all know that Ben and Oxycontin Jack were the only ones to see Locke in the casket. Dead is dead. I keep wondering when we will see Jill the butcher again.

Thoughts on Happily Ever After...

2010-04-06T18:21:00.001-07:00

BIGMOUTH: Before I get to my recap of "Happily Ever After," I've got a fun little LOST mystery for you all everybody. Where else have we met the enigmatic airline pilot who appears in the background of Desmond and Claire's encounter at Mirror-LAX?

Hint: he's someone we all know extremely well...

Give up?

It's our own koreambear! Now that he's famous, The K-Bear has asked me to communicate a few simple rules for fan encounters. First, he's happy to sign autographs as long as he's not eating or with his family. Under no circumstances, however, should you make eye contact, as that enrages him. Also, he's available to make private appearances for a fee, which is non-negotiable and non-refundable. Finally, if you want to get him a gift, he likes a nice spicy kimchi. I'll be acting as The K-Bear's agent for the time being, so contact me for information about appearances, how to keep your eyes averted, and what brands of kimchi he prefers.

As for the episode, I'm admittedly torn. I enjoyed the Mirror reunion of Desmond, Eloise, Penny, and Daniel. I was also intrigued by Desmond's ability to flash sideways into that reality. But I had some problems ranging from the nitpicky (couldn't Des have hit the brakes when Charlie grabbed the wheel?) to more substantial concerns about the logic and direction of the show. I fear we may look back on this episode as the point when the mythology of LOST veered off the tracks. So "Happily Ever After" actually gets two sickness scores superimposed like Schrodinger's Cat. If I'm right, the episode is a 7 (5 for character, 2 for mythology). If I'm wrong, as I hope I am, the mythological component boosts that score to a 9.

It is, in fact, a violation! Team Darlton promised that the conversation would change after this episode, and so it has. But I can't shake the sense we're being misdirected big time. Like many of you, my initial interpretation of the confrontation between Desmond and Eloise was that she must be some kind of inter-dimensional cop charged with preventing Desmond from making contact with our Losties in the Mirror universe. Upon rewatching, however, I got a completely different vibe. Eloise seemed more worried that Desmond might discover an embarrassing Widmore family secret (i.e., Penny's illegitimate birth) with his prying. When she said his conduct was a "violation," she meant of propriety and their privacy.

You're not ready, Desmond!

The scene obviously paralleled their encounter in "Flashes Before Your Eyes." But watch the latter again and you notice some important differences. Ms. Hawking displayed unambiguous knowledge not just of Desmond's future, but that of Mr. Red Shoes, too. By contrast, Mirror Eloise never clearly established her awareness of what Desmond was supposed to do. As I mentioned, everything she said can be read as an admonishment for him to mind his own damn business. It's always tempting to attribute greater power to Eloise than she actually possesses. After "Flashes Before Your Eyes," I figured she must see the future, too. Now, of course, it seems her foreknowledge was limited to the information in Daniel's journal.

I think I already did. Speaking of Dan the Man, his comments seemed to confirm that the bomb's detonation was responsible for creating the Mirror reality. But therein lies another major concern because I fear the show is about to lapse into paradox. Logically, if the timeline splits in 1977 because of the bomb, the two branches should differ only after the split. They should share a common past in which the survivors of Oceanic 815 traveled back in time from the future of the Crash reality to cause the Incident in both branches. This shared history should include all of the events that predate the Incident, including the time flashes, Little Ben Linus's shooting, and his subsequent bath in the Temple. Here's how the timeline should look:

Based on a diagram by Angela Jarecki

The alternative falls prey to a variation of the grandfather paradox. To review, in a universe with only one timeline, traveling back in time and killing your grandfather creates a logical contradiction because his death means you shouldn't exist to travel back in time and kill him. One way to avoid the paradox is if your act creates a second timeline branching from that point forwards in spacetime like the bomb did on LOST. Obviously, you're never born or time travel in this new branch. But the you who hails from the original branch must remain a part of the history of the new branch. Erasing you yields another logical contradiction because the new branch depends on your act of murder for its existence.

Diagram by Dan Falk

Unfortunately, LOST may be taking precisely that paradoxical route. As Netprophet and others note, the bomb seems to have had a retro-causal ripple effect that erased the events leading up to the Incident in the Mirror reality. The first warning was in "Dr. Linus" when Mirror Roger wondered how different their lives would have been if they'd stayed on the Island. Those don't sound like the sentiments of a father whose son was shot and kidnapped by the '77ers. Indeed, Roger's wistful words suggest he didn't even realize the Island had sunk to the bottom of the sea. Thus far, not one character in the Mirror reality seems to remember our Losties' traveling back in time from the Crash reality to cause the Incident.

The wild cards in this analysis are Charles and Eloise. The former seemed blissfully ignorant in "Happily Ever After." As I mentioned in my recap of "Recon," however, the possibility remains that he sent Charlotte to spy on James. If so, Mirror Charles may indeed recall encountering Crash Sawyer on the Island. It's also possible that Mirror Eloise remembers killing Crash Daniel. She may have a copy of his journal and suspect his death is linked with Desmond in the Crash reality. Perhaps she intervened to save Daniel's Mirror counterpart from a similarly grim fate. I'm frankly skeptical this is the case, but I haven't abandoned all hope for a consistent Mirror timeline. Hence the dual sickness scores in quantum superposition.

Is Eloise worried Mirror Daniel will follow the path of his Crash Counterpart?

I just have to show them something. Many believe that Desmond will now be a catalyst for merger of the two realities into a third. But I think his mission is less ambitious than that. He must make contact with the same key players in both realities simultaneously, triggering cross-over events like those experienced by Charlie, Daniel, and Des himself. This may involve more near death experiences, which propel them "between places" as Charlotte Malkin put it. In some cases, however, it may be as simple as reminding them of someone they love. The goal of these cross-overs will be to show our Losties that they can live a new life in the Mirror reality even if they sacrifice themselves for Jacob's plan in the Crash universe.

That's why Desmond is so abruptly sanguine about dying. As the title of the episode suggests, his job is to show them how to live happily ever after. And while there's nothing wrong with that in principle, it still strikes me as a bit of a cop out. I used to think Damon shared my sentiments. Prior to publication of the last Harry Potter book, he wrote a great New York Times op-ed arguing that "Harry has to die." Damon's logic is as persuasive now as it was then: "Because it will be tragic. And emotional. And surprising. But most of all ... it will be fair." That same logic, moreover, applies with equal force to LOST. Allowing characters to cheat death by crossing over to the Mirror reality seems like... well, cheating.

When do we get started?

They're trying to have their cake and eat it too, an outcome I can stand for maybe one or two characters at most. Without spoiling too much, Stephen King handled this well in the Dark Tower with his door to "happiness," as I think I've mentioned previously. But please, no mass resurrection of the entire cast in the Mirror reality via consciousness transfer. My apologies to you all everybody for being this week's turd in the punch bowl. Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: I give this a 9 on the Sickness Scale, 5 for mythology and 4 for characterization.

I suspect that many of us realized and expected that wild card Desmond would be the conduit between the Mirror and the Crash realities once we saw Charles Widmore set up camp on Hydra Island. I knew Desmond would be the (fail-safe) key back in "LA X." But I have to admit that I'm intrigued at the possibilities for the resolution of LOST that this episode offered. For an episode that brought more questions than answers, I am actually quite pleased. I've heard that Damon Lindelof twittered that the conversation would change after "Happily Ever After," while Carlton Cuse promised a new chapter in the story. Well, for the first time this season (and never mind my views about Twitter), I am now absolutely looking forward to next week's episode.

The Flash of Two Worlds. DC Comics first explained the concept that would one day be called the multiverse in The Flash#123, back in 1961. In this issue, we get the full explanation on why there were no metahumans active during World War II. Pared down, Barry Allen was the Flash on Earth-1, and he encountered Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-2, after changing his body's vibrational frequencies to appear invisible at a childrens' charity event. In future meetings, a device called the Cosmic Treadmill was created as a bridge between realities. Widmore's device of toroidal coils (which create a closed magnetic path with self-shielding loops that alternate between alignment with lines of latitude and the direction of the Earth's magnetic poles) reminded me of the contraption that The Flash used. The difference was that Desmond didn't have to pump his leg muscles to get to the other reality. Or did he?

Rabbit, run. The shack where Desmond was brought against his will, with its wooden floor and lone chair, reminded me of Jacob's cabin. I also thought of Locke's tribalistic sweat lodge from S3's "Further Instructions," because of Locke's self-induced vision quest. This was in the aftermath of the Hatch's implosion, in which Desmond survived an electromagnetic event by turning the fail-safe key. Widmore seems to know all about that event because he hopes to duplicate it. Widmore pressed Zoe to get the coils up and running ahead of schedule, and we again get the impression that the guys in DHARMA security could have handled this job better after snarfing down those marijuana-laced brownies back in 1974. Frick goes out to check on a glitch, Frack realizes a switch was simply stuck, Frick gets fried. The first intended test subject was a white rabbit named Angstrom.

John Updike wrote a series of novels centering around Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom, a man whose character evolves through forces of circumstance, though he does not seem to be able to accomplish anything extraordinary. That sums up Desmond Hume as he was shuffled about with the help of Eloise Hawking, eventually entering the boat race -- which drew him to the Island -- to impress Charles Widmore, to prove that he had potential worth. Updike explained that he did not base the name "Angstrom" on the metric unit used to measure electromagnetic radiation. Rather, he took it from the word "angst," which is Dutch for dread or anxiety. The author learned of this word in the writings of the existentialist Soren Kierkegaard, who was, of course, on the reading list of French science team's book club.

Rabbit hole, redux. After breaking free of the chair as the coils generate winds in another scene reminiscent of the the cabin, Desmond finds himself at Mirror LAX, checking for baggage arrivals. (Hmmm. Who arrived in the Mirror reality before he did, and what sort of emotional baggage do they already carry?) He's working for Widmore in a more passive capacity than Mirror Jin does for Paik. Desmond's job somewhat resemble Mirror Sayid's -- he travels around and makes comfortable amounts of money, and perhaps it is only coincidence that these three men are currently on Hydra and not the main Island. Updike's sequel to Rabbit Run was Rabbit, Redux, and in this episode, Charlie becomes the rabbit to Desmond's Alice, first swerving Desmond's car into the harbor and later having Desmond chase him down the stairwell at St. Sebastian's Hospital. In each case, Desmond gets a flash to the Crash-reality, the first being what might prove to be the eeriest moment of the season. A submerged Charlie, blank palm to the car's window, with Des's flash showing the phrase "Not Penny's Boat," which heralded the end of the first half of LOST.

Ominous words, right up there with Crash reality Widmore's "The Island isn't done with you yet." and Mirror reality Eloise's admonition that "You're not ready [to meet Penny] yet." On the plus side, George the chauffeur, in a ridiculously long tie, offered to procure some women for Desmond, who politely declined. When Desmond grabbed Charlie in the stairwell, the latter tells Des that they were sharing a moment, that Des was getting that Crash-reality vibe, just as Charlie did when he envisioned Claire while unexpectedly choking on his heroin stash in the Oceanic lavatory. Desmond was supposed to deliver Charlie to Eloise, as her son wanted to try fusing classical music with DriveShaft's rock. Eloise is first seen telling a waiter the proper way to line up a butter knife, and I thought of this as the most rudimentary version of course-correction: straightening out a mistake that almost everybody might completely not notice at all. Des explains to Eloise, who dismisses the news with the familiar lines "Whatever happened, happened." She didn't need the details, but I'm certain that she knew full well that Charlie provided the proper images and lines to get Desmond thinking.

Eloise, Protector of the Multiverse. I do believe that there are an infinite number of fractal realities, including the Meta version we were given in "Happily Ever After." In the Meta reality, there's no Island, "Charlie Pace" is currently on Flashforward and "Kate Austen is appearing in commercials for L'oreal. Or Revlon. Or Calgon, I forget. So, whereas we don't have to worry about Eloise Hawking telling us what to do, there's an infinite number of the creepy, white haired, old bat. What happened was that the detonation of Jughead opened up the Mirror reality, because Lost has only concerned itself with the concept of twinning, for the most part. And, just as she protects her respective realities, she keeps Desmond on his leash, again keeping him from meeting Penny, just as she made him drive Penny away in "Flashes Before Your Eyes." The other realities are still there, they are simply not a concern. All we need are the equivalent of Earth-1 and Earth-2.

Daniel "not Faraday" Widmore has a talk with Desmond about his half-sister, Penny "not Widmore" Milton. But first he goes on about chocolate-loving Charlotte, and how he wrote these crazy equations that a friend at CalTech explained in terms that basically describe the Incident. Dan has this crazy thought that he has already caused such an explosion. His Crash-reality memory kicked in after seeing his lost love, and I'm wondering if there's this strange trinity of Desmond, Daniel, and half-sis Penny. (Makes you wonder what Crash-memory might have clicked when Det. Ford grabbed Kate or with the possibility of Dr. Linus spotting Juliet.) Also, it is intriguing that the only Mirror-reality character who has a relationship of any kind is John Locke, the one person in the pre-Crash reality truly alone. (Even Boone had Shannon. Eww? What of it?)

A lot can happen in twenty minutes. After shaking hands with Penny, Desmond wakes up on Crash-reality Hydra. Zoe asks why he has become so cooperative considering he was bashing Widmore with his IV cart just a short while back. Desmond explains that a lot can happen in twenty minutes. Just then, Sayid kills two of Widmore's men and tells Zoe to run. She does, and Desmond follows Sayid. There's one good reason for Desmond's actions. In one final cut to the Mirror reality, he asks George for favor. All through the episode, Desmond was denied lists: the patient list at the hospital, the guest list at Eloise's party. What he asks for in the Mirror reality is the flight manifest for Oceanic 815. The Man in Black will be tricked into entering Widmore's gizmo, effectively trapping him in a science-version of Jacob's cabin. But what does it mean in the Mirror reality that Desmond meets Penny much too soon? (I'm guessing three years, the time difference between the two realities.) Twice now, Widmore's group have altered their time schedule, snagging Jin and sending Desmond on his mind-trip. Both times, things went OK, aside from Frick getting fried.

And this is why the episode pleased me so much. I expect Desmond to tell the main group about the other reality, which might make Richard recall seeing everyone die in 1977. As I said above, this is the first time this season I am absolutely looking forward to the next episode.

Game on.

Fringe: Whoah!

2010-04-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Just a quick heads up to you all everybody that I've posted a blog about the new episode of Fringe over on I Hate My DVR. Stop by and let me know what you think!

Thoughts on The Package...

2010-03-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

BIGMOUTH: First things first, because I have to get this off my chest. What was ABC thinking with that "V THEY RETURN" countdown clock, which was emblazoned onscreen like a scarlet letter for much of the show? It was so obnoxiously obtrusive that I assured my friend it would definitely disappear after the teaser. (Note to self: never bet against the greed of network executives.) But like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie (not to mention Mikhail) the countdown clock refused to die. Every time I thought it was gone for good, it reappeared to distract me. Even more unforgivably, the graphic obscured some subtitles, as well as Sun's written response to Jack.

Boo-urns!

I was so annoyed that I actually considered boycotting V, a show I can frankly take or leave. I may yet delete my recording and download the torrent just to spite ABC. I appreciate the need for unconventional advertising in the age of DVRs. I have no problem with watermarking or product placement, as long as it's subtle. As I say, however, the V countdown clock was anything but. It raised the specter of permanent ad space in the corner of the screen. And before you say it won't happen, consider those annoying tickers that now crawl ceaselessly across the bottom of cable news shows and television sports. If you share my annoyance, be sure to let ABC know.

/RANT. As for the episode itself, I thought "The Package" was solid and gave it an 8/10 on the Sickness Scale (4 for character, 4 for mythology). I have a soft spot for Kwon-centrics. Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim have always done a great job of making me believe that Jin and Sun really love each other. The former's Korean has improved noticeably over the course of the show, and the latter looked as sexy as ever unbuttoning for her jagiya. My main complaint was with Sun's aphasia, which seemed like a silly plot twist straight out of 24. Some of you suggested this was actually a sign the two realities are bleeding together. Maybe, but I fully expected a mountain lion to appear and terrorize Sun.

A mountain lion menaces Kim Bauer on 24

Do you know who I am? One important revelation this week was that Charles Widmore and the Man in Black had never met before in any form. Indeed, Charles admitted that everything he knew about the Monster was "a combination of myth, ghost stories, and jungle noises in the night." So much for my theory that the Man in Black made Widmore the same offer of Island leadership that he did to Ben. But I'm still not completely convinced that Charles is a good guy, mainly because of Bram's insistence that Miles was "playing for the wrong team" by working for Widmore. From a continuity perspective, it would make more sense if Charles turned out to be selfishly motivated, and a reluctant servant of Jacob's plan.

That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again.

Everyone we know and love would simply cease to be. Equally important was Widmore's confirmation that the world would end if "that thing" ever got off the Island. His comments generally echoed Jacob's warning about the spread of evil. But Widmore went further, implying their whole reality would be wiped from existence. His words may have been hyperbole, but they fit my belief the Island is a keystone for both Crash and Mirror realities, much like the Dark Tower anchors the many worlds in Stephen King's fictional multiverse. It reminded me of when Pimli Prentiss imagines holding an egg that contains a billion universes, including his own, and realizes he would "cease to exist" if the egg broke.

Some people just aren't meant to be together. For me, however, the key line of the episode was Keamy's dramatically ironic claim that Jin and Sun weren't destined to be a couple. I continue to believe the Mirror reality is what our Losties' fates would be absent the effect of Jacob's touches. In Jin and Sun's case, I've argued their improbable union -- and the resulting birth of Ji-Yeon -- would never have occurred without Jacob's intervention. This point was driven home by the heartbreaking juxtaposition of pregnant Sun's shooting in the Mirror reality with Jin's first glimpses of his daughter in the Crash reality. Even if Sun survives, I'm guessing Ji-Yeon will never be born in the Mirror Universe.

Nomo nomo yeppuda!

I promise. Jack's offer of his hand to Sun evoked Jacob's touch, as well as fake Locke's almost identical gesture to her earlier in the episode. By taking Jack's hand, Sun sided with Jacob in his battle with the Man in Black, further reinforcing Jack's status as Jacob's proxy in this fight. As we've discussed, I believe the show has been building since Season 1 to a final showdown between Jack and Locke. But is this what Jacob always wanted, or was his plan originally for those two to replace himself and the Man in Black without bloodshed? I'm even starting to wonder if Jacob was controlling Smokey when it tried to take Locke back in Season 1, while the Man in Black's spirit was still trapped in the Cabin.

Did Kate unwittingly explode Jacob's plan?

It's not a what, it's a who. Props to those who correctly guessed that Desmond was the Package! The question now becomes what Widmore intends to do with him. Judging by Desmond's drugging and imprisonment, Charles had him shanghaied. Whatever Widmore has in store, therefore, it probably won't be pleasant. I think he means to expose Desmond to one last blast of energy from one of the three electromagnetic pockets depicted on the DHARMA survey map Zoe showed Jin. The goal is to unstick Desmond in spacetime, sending his consciousness into the past of the Crash reality or the Mirror reality's present. Whether to save the world or secure the Island, Widmore seeks to exploit the Desmond Exception.

That's one stubborn tomato. I suspect that Jacob is depending on this Exception, too, which is why he finally allowed Widmore to return. Jack's discovery of one stubborn tomato still living in Sun's dead garden was a metaphor for the miraculous. The signs point to Jack's being the last Candidate standing and the one who finally takes over for Jacob. But I sense misdirection. My gut tells me that all of them, including Jack, are going to die like the vegetables Sun's garden. Jacob needs Desmond because he's exempt from not just the rules of time travel, but also the rules of the Island. As a result, Des will somehow be the key to Jacob's substitution of Aaron and Ji Yeon as the Shephard and Kwon Candidates.

Jacob's miracle

That's the real stubborn tomato. Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: I give "The Package" an 8 on the Sickness Scale, 5 for characterization, 3 for mythology.

As maddening as the Mirror reality has been -- for me, at least -- we seem finally to be on the verge of some answers. Unfortunately, in a show where "everything happens for a reason," I'm not entirely certain what questions I need to ask anymore. When I think I might have the Man in Black's scheme figured out, or which two sides will be fighting in the war (with a third group looking on: remember that game of Risk!), I come to conclusions so predictable and trivial that I want to bang my head against a mirror. Yes, I'd rather do that than stare at the reflective surface and search for hidden meanings. There was one very promising aspect to this episode -- hence my giving the characterization a 5 out of 5 -- we got to see every major character interact, something not seen since the finale of the third season.

The Secret Garden. Ilana says they should wait for Richard, and assures them that Hurley will bring him back. But with not much going on at beach camp, Sun gets fed up with everyone's inaction, stabs a table, then leaves. She heads to the remains of the garden she started back in Season 1. Jack follows and mentions how it seems like it's been a hundred years since she started growing vegetables in the now-dead earth. But Sun wants none of it, so Jack leaves, leaving her to cry. She knows her husband is alive, but she wasn't so sure back in Season 2, when she buried the message bottle that had been brought on the raft with Jin, Sawyer, Michael, and Walt. The Others blew up the raft and the bottle containing scraps of paper with messages from the other crash survivors washed back up at beach camp.

In burying the bottle, Sun also temporarily lost her wedding ring. In the Mirror reality, Sun is't married to Jin, but they are sleeping together, which creates problems later in the episode. The surprise reveal of their Mirror relationship comes when Jin enters Sun's hotel room and she taunts him with a slow striptease that involves the unbuttoning of her familiar pea-green blouse. This in contrast to her...well, moving on. Actually, this scene was a perfect example of metatext, of breaking the fourth wall. When Sun taunts Jin about his wanting her to button up her blouse on the plane, he replies that they were around strangers. Here in the hotel, of course, they're among friends -- i.e., we the viewers who have watched their lives evolve for the better since the original button scene right after the crash. Wink, wink, we get the reference. But who's to say another side of it wasn't to show that there's a further "Meta" reality even beyond Crash and Mirror. And if there is a third reality, why not more? I'll revisit this all in a future recap.

I'm talkin' here, I'm talkin' here. The Man in Black approaches Sun, and, like the other candidates, she refuses to take his hand when he offers it to her. Instead, Sun runs off and cracks her head against a tree limb, the end result being that she can now only speak in Korean. Jin, of course, speaks English well after his three-year stint with DHARMA, creating a mirror opposite of Season 1, when he spoke nothing but Korean, and Sun was the English speaker. How funny would it be if there was a scene where the two converse in Korean thinking they won't be understood by their respective "teams," when who shows up but Patchy, back from the dead and working for Widmore.

Ben finds Sun and tries to convince Ilana he had nothing to do with her accident. Ben: Why don't you believe me? Ilana: Because you are talking. This mirrors the two instances in which Sayid and Richard were sent to kill the Man in Black and Jacob, respectively, with orders not let either one speak. As this season progresses, the Man in Black's lies are more apparent, and it's not so much his being the smooth-talking Lucifer as much as a guy with Locke's memories taking lessons from Ben, the man who can find a way to exploit anybody, particularly...John Locke. Of note: when the Man in Black is talking with Claire, he mentions that Kate must bring three people back from the beach camp, as all the candidates whose names have not been crossed out must be on the Ajira plane. A few episodes back, Ilana told Sun that there were only six candidates left, knowing that Locke was dead. The numbers don't add up, suggesting there may be an unknown candidate.

This episode has finally offered up at least a smidgen of the science aspect of the show with Jin being held prisoner in DHARMA's Room 23 and Zoe's map of the pockets of electro-magnetic energy. Let me go back to that conversation Charlotte was having with Faraday in "This Place is Death," right before she mentioned Carthage. "You know what my mum would say about you marrying an American," she declared in an authoritative tone. What if the person she was "talking" to was Theresa, the woman who might have married 'ol Twitchy but instead had her brain turned to Minkowski-mush? In the Mirror reality, will we see Faraday as a married man, carrying around his DHARMA notebook? Will Eloise be far behind?

Continuing the subject of talking, Miles's ability to hear the "last words" of the dead has me mulling over a bizarre idea. In the past, I've speculated that the Man in Black's loophole was not his taking on the identity of John Locke, but rather the creation of the Mirror reality. Which brings us to the Swan and Juliet. The Man in Black is now stuck in Locke's form, but what if he was able to mess with Miles's understanding of Juliet's final thoughts? What if she was referring to the opening of the Mirror reality loophole when she said "it worked"? The Man in Black tried his damnedest to muddle up what might have been a warning from dying Juliet, resulting in a confused message to Miles from the grave.

Space Oddity. The evidence points to the Man in Black's wanting to escape the Island -- and, as I mentioned last week, the electrical storm barrier -- using the Ajira plane. Each of the candidates will be on the plane as insurance against the possibility Widmore will shoot it to bits. Presumably, those whose names are on the Lighthouse wheel must not die. This is a crazy thought, but what if the individuals in the Mirror reality are interchangeable with those in the Crash reality? A way for the Man in Black to cheat, a dead Mirror Sun replaced by a newly-widowed Crash Sun, and so forth?

I infer that Jacob's touch in the Crash reality caused Jin to become sterile. If he's responsible for magical Ji-Yeon's conception, then he's a cheater, too. Will Sun lose her baby in the Mirror reality? Will Claire have a miscarriage? Does the Man in Black simply want to go to the one of an infinite number of realities where there isn't a Ji-Yeon or an Aaron? The Man in Black told Widmore near the portable sonic fence that the war had now started. And with those words, I believe we're finally going to get the answers we've been wanting, as each player's agenda is revealed.

Thoughts on Ab Aeterno...

2010-03-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

BIGMOUTH: It remains one of the defining images of the show: a ship sitting intact in the middle of the jungle. For six seasons, we've wondered how it got there, and what happened to its crew. In "Ab Aeterno," we finally got the answers. And while they weren't perhaps as creative as some fan speculations I've read over the years, the episode itself was satisfying and well worth the wait thanks to the outstanding work of Gregg Nations, Nestor Carbonell, and Titus Welliver.

I knew the script was in good hands when the priest defied cliche by refusing poor Ricardo's plea for absolution prior to his execution. The wine, bottle, and cork, moreover, were brilliant metaphors on par with anything I've seen on Mad Men or The Wire. But even the best writing means little without great actors, and Nations had the benefit of two consummate pros in Carbonell and Welliver. Richard's scenes with his wife, especially his final goodbye to her ghost, were heartbreaking. And Welliver was pitch perfect as the Man in Black, exuding all the menace and charm you would expect from the Devil. His performance was particularly impressive given that he was following in the footsteps of Terry O'Quinn, who's no slouch himself at playing the villain.

The Devil betrayed me. He took my body. My humanity.

All things considered, this was my favorite episode of the season thus far, scoring a 9/10 on the Sickness Scale (5 for character, 4 for mythology). Really, the only thing that kept "Ab Aeterno" from a perfect 10 was the scene where a tidal wave swept the Black Rock inland, smashing the Statue of Taweret. I get that the Black Rock's miraculous survival was meant to parallel the crash of Oceanic 815. Still, I had a hard time buying that the ship would survive a collision with the Statue intact. And the point-of-view shot of the ship approaching the Statute was cheesy and confusing. I would have preferred a wide shot of the Black Rock buffeted by an enormous wave, something The Perfect Storm (2000) used effectively to depict the awesome power of nature.

Uh oh...

Even more fundamentally, the wave seemed like a missed opportunity to do something cooler. Per my suggestion in As the Donkey Wheel Turns, I would have liked to see the Island materialize beneath the Black Rock. I also think dynamite from the ship's hold would have made a more impressive cause of the Statue's demolition. I had guessed this explosion would result in the demise of the Man in Black's Titus Welliver incarnation. That didn't happen, but I certainly hope we get to see how Jacob took his "body" and "humanity," maybe in a flashback showing his imprisonment in the Cabin. Unfortunately, given the leisurely pace of this season, I fear time is running short for such stories. Still, these are minor quibbles with what was, as I say, an excellent episode.

Will you help me, Ilana? Now that we know Jacob's request was for Ilana to protect the last six Candidates, the question becomes what will happen if they fail? I think we got a hint in "Sundown" when Dogen's death seemed to cause the ash, which had previously kept Smokey at bay, to lose its potency. Like the Dark Tower, the Island is a place where magic and science co-exist. The ash was the mystical counterpart to the sonic fence technology, and just as the latter needs electricity to run, the former drew upon Dogen for its strength. Killing him was like shutting off the power. I suspect the Candidates are similarly the source of whatever Island magic keeps the Man in Black imprisoned. Without them, it really will become "just an island," and the Devil will be free to depart.

I can see land! There seems to be some confusion about the storm that crashed the Black Rock. Some have surmised that Jacob and the Man in Black were discussing a different vessel entirely in "The Incident" because the ship we glimpsed off in the distance arrived under sunny skies. But that conclusion strikes me as premature. As Locke informed Boone, the weather changes quickly on the Island. The sudden storm, moreover, evoked the tempest in Shakespeare's play of the same name, wherein a magician (Prospero) is marooned with his daughter (Miranda) on an isolated island that's also home to a monster (Caliban) and elemental spirit (Ariel). The play begins with Prospero's conjuring of a terrible storm that wrecks a passing ship with his traitorous brother aboard.

But who conjured the tempest that wrecked the Black Rock? The Tempest parallel suggests Jacob, who's roughly analogous to Prospero, while the monstrous Man in Black is Caliban. Still, it seems unlikely that Jacob would smash his own Statue. He may have invited them to the Island, but I'll bet it was the Man in Black who caused the storm. I'm starting to suspect the latter is behind all of the shipwrecks we've seen, including Danielle and Desmond's. In fact, if you really want to follow me down the Whackadoo Well, consider the possibility that the Man in Black was the one who actually caused the crash of Oceanic 815. Maybe his mental push prompted Desmond to notice the tear in Kelvin's suit, and the plane was meant to make a water landing on the Other side of the Island.

Estamos en el infierno. Isabella confirmed Richard's worst fears by telling him "we're in hell." And while I suspect she was actually the Man in Black speaking, at least initially, I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the notion they're in hell. I've long believed that the Island is the inspiration for myths and legends concerning the underworld. I'm not sure it's literally a place where the souls of bad folks go when they die. I do wonder, however, if the ghosts that Smokey conjures to haunt Jacob's invitees are, in some sense, real. Isabella was copied from Richard's memory to serve the Man in Black's nefarious purposes. But maybe, like the visitors in Solaris, she has agency and consciousness once created. Did she rebel against her master to save Richard from making a mistake?

She said you have to stop the Man in Black.

Then we're agreed. The Man in Black's freeing Richard from his chains obviously paralleled when Randall Flagg releases Lloyd Henreid from prison in The Stand. I half expected to see a desperate Richard resort to eating a rat (or even cannibalism) like Henreid does to stave off starvation. The Stand parallel was reinforced later in the episode when Richard produced a white rock that Jacob had given him, presumably as a sign to the Man in Black that he'd chosen light over dark. When Flagg releases Henreid, he gives the man a black stone with a red flaw as a symbol of Lloyd’s allegiance to Flagg. I noted in a prior recap that Flagg is reincarnated on a tropical island in the epilogue to The Stand. You have to wonder: is LOST actually an oblique sequel to King's epic?

Malevolence, evil, darkness. Jacob's description of the Man in Black reminded me once again of "The Howling Man," a classic Twilight Zone episode I've mentioned before. A traveler in post-WWI Europe takes refuge from a storm in a monastery where he encounters a man claiming to be the prisoner of religious nuts. The head of the monastery explains that the prisoner is, in fact, the Devil himself, trapped there by a magical talisman called the Staff of Truth. The traveler disbelieves the monk and removes the Staff, releasing the prisoner who transforms before his eyes into Satan. Realizing the mistake, the traveler spends several decades tracking the Devil, finally trapping him in a hotel room with the Staff. Unfortunately, a maid releases him, unleashing evil once again.

Watch the Howling Man online...

The Man in Black may not be Satan himself, but the "Howling Man" offers good illustration of what will happen if he escapes. It's not that the Man in Black is the source of all evil in the world. Human beings do plenty of bad things even without the Devil's temptation. The idea is more that his presence will exacerbate this natural propensity. In the "Howling Man," Satan's imprisonment gives the world five years of relative peace. His release is responsible for WWII, the Korean War, and the development of nuclear weapons. I think it's possible that the Man in Black's exodus from the Island would have consequences that were as bad, if not worse. Indeed, I can't be the only one who thought of the Valenzetti Equation's prediction of human extinction during Jacob's speech.

Where's the money, Lebowski?

They're all dead. That's what Jacob admitted to Richard had happened to the other Candidates. Richard's reply was that Jacob should consider taking a more active role in helping his Candidates. Now that we're down to the very last six, I think we're finally seeing Jacob take Richard's advice. Those "pushes" were, as we've discussed, Jacob's efforts to compensate for the Man in Black's manipulation. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Jacob never touched any Candidates until the final six. It also wouldn't surprise me if Jacob has one last ace in the hole in case all six die, as I suspect they may. The Wheel only lists surnames like Shephard and Kwon. Watch for Jacob to exploit this loophole by substituting Aaron and Ji-Yeon as Candidates. Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: On the Sickness Scale, I give this a straight up 10: 5 for mythology, and 5 for characterization.

The man comes around. Let's just get this out of the way first, Nestor Carbonell offered up the best acting of his career in this installment, from his Heath Ledger-esque laugh around the campfire near the beginning of the episode, to the telling of how and why he came to be on the Island. Alpert has been demystified over the last year due in great part to the time flash that allowed the Man in Black to provide vital, yet misleading, information to both Richard and the true John Locke. I remember being vocal in my comments at the time that Richard's slow action had allowed Eloise to shoot Faraday. And Jacob's intermediary seemed quite agitated after the swim to the underground tunnels. Indeed, he completely unraveled upon hearing of Jacob's death, although it seemed he was suicidal due to lack of understanding rather than guilt at allowing the Man in Black -- and his unwitting cohort Ben -- into the statue.

Richard's entire back story told of a man driven from his home to a cell, saved from execution by being sold into slavery, then subjected to experiments in free will and determinism by the Man in Black and Jacob. The episode was an amazing tour-de-force, and I stopped reading the subtitles early on because I didn't need them to feel the character's hopelessness, guilt, and later, his terror. Years ago, I went to the theater to see Passion Of The Christ. A small group of men sat in front of me, and two of them were blind. A man who sat between them explained scenes no more than three times. This was a film not in Spanish, but for the most part in Aramaic, a dead language. Part of me wishes that I could watch "Ab Aeterno" with my eyes shut, without having seen it once before, so I could savor the at Richard's desperation at Isabella's illness, his pleadings with both the the doctor and the priest, the sound of the crashing waves over smashed Tarawet, and finally, the familiar howl of the smoke monster.

Others 101. That's where Juliet jokingly claimed to have learned to speak Latin. I was surprised to find that Richard was a product of Tenerife in 1867, an island off the coast of Morocco. Tenerife is part of the Canary Islands, which, of course, has a connection to Lost: there is an outermost isle, St. Bernard's, that is more legend than reality. Many claim to have seen it, yet you can't find it on Google Earth. And, as many have long surmised in comments here, the arrival of the Black Rock destroyed the statue and settled it far inland, Wizard of Oz style. How could that serene scene from "The Incident," the Black Rock bobbing in the waters (while "Ride, Captain, Ride" by Blues Image played in my head ) turn into a hellish storm with twenty-foot waves? I believe we were seeing the same type of electrical storms that Ajira 316 encountered, but traveling at hundreds of miles an hour. These storms, which may also have crashed Naomi's helicopter, are like a reef that's invisible until close proximity. I'm guessing these storms also keep the Man in Black from escaping from the Island.

Late in the episode, Richard asked Jacob if other people were brought to the Island before the Black Rock, to which Jacob replies, "yes, many." Jacob admitted that the others are all dead, hearkening back to the conversation in "The Incident" where the Man in Black spoke of how those brought to the Island always fight, destroy, and corrupt. Indeed, the Man in Black's point was made perfectly in "Ab Aeterno" when the surviving crewmen from the Black Rock decided to kill their prisoners rather than share the food with them. The Man in Black took care of the selfish crewmen, then scanned Richard's mind to find the images of Isabella so he could take her form in the days to come. After laying this emotional groundwork, the Man in Black finally appeared in person and recruited Richard to kill Jacob in a conversation that mirrored that of Dogen when he told Sayid to kill the Man in Black in 2007.

But I want to get back to the statue and the lack of Latin in the episode, other than the title, which translates to "for eternity." I mentioned in last week's recap that Charlotte's cameo in the Mirror reality felt like a waste to me. Many of you commented that her character might reappear, and I acknowledged that, if this turned out to be the case, I would change my mind in a snap. But I forgot some very useful information that Charlotte gave to Faraday seconds before dying in "This Place is Death." In a matter-of-fact tone, she said "I know more about Carthage than Hannibal himself." Carthage was a series of cities on the Gulf of Tunis, which was started as a Phoenician colony in the first millennium BCE. The main city was built on a promontory, a mass of land that overlooks a body of water, much like the location of the Lighthouse on the Island. Carthage was crushed in 146 BCE by the Romans. I'll lay odds there were Romans in the Island's past. Latin, anyone?

When you gonna let me get sober? "Bottle of Wine" was a song written and recorded by Tom Paxton in the late 1960s, and the chorus relates to the Man in Black's supposed plight: Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine, when you gonna let me get sober? Leave me alone, let me go home, let me go home and start over. Jacob shows Richard the circular bottle of wine that's half filled or half empty, depending on your perspective. The cork represents the Island, the only thing that keeps the evil wine from being unleashed on the world. Jacob tells Richard that he brings people to the Island so they can know right from wrong for themselves. As he explains: "It's all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything. Why should I have to step in?" Richard, who has now had a taste of how both Jacob and the Man in Black conduct business, replies: "Because if you don't, he will." And Richard sides with Jacob, taking on the job as advisor. I'm curious whether Richard was offered this position because he was the first person that the Man in Black had ever sent to kill Jacob. Was he Jacob's first convert?

Several commentators have asked me to explain my idea of a "pocket universe." I think I can do so using the wine bottle as an analogy, if you'll allow me to get my geek on. Imagine that Jacob's bottle of wine is the Crash reality, while the Mirror reality is an adjoining glass bubble. In 1985, DC Comics did some house-cleaning for their fiftieth anniversary with a series titled Crisis on Infinite Earths. Every alternate universe was combined into one, and multiple characters were explained away (e.g., there was no longer a Superman or a Batman in the 1940s). Existing characters were updated, the prime example being Superman, whose new origin had him never appearing in uniform until he was in his twenties -- i.e., no Superboy. This created continuity problems because Superboy was the inspiration for the Legion of Super-Heroes. The writers solved this conundrum by having a villain called Time Trapper create a "pocket universe" from a tiny slice of pre-Crisis Earth where Superboy grew up to be Superman and inspired the Legion's formation one-thousand years later.

This is how I see the Mirror reality. The only portion of it that needs to exist is the part that the Man in Black uses to gain recruits -- i.e., an L.A. with Nadia alive and happy, Jack has his son David, etc. The cork in Jacob's bottle is the barrier between the two realities. This is why I believe we will never see a Mirror-reality New York, London, or Seoul. All that is needed for the Man in Black is right there on the other side of the cork. In some way, he will get his recruits to push the cork from the Crash reality and let it fall in the Mirror reality, allowing him to escape the Island that is his prison.

Thoughts on Recon...

2010-03-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

BIGMOUTH: Maybe because of the boars, I've always considered pork the perfect food accompaniment for LOST. I actually fried up some bacon as a snack before watching Recon, so maybe this is the swine talking. But I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, which scored an 8 out of 10 on my Sickness Scale (4 for character, 4 for mythology). In fact, Sawyer's flash sideways may be my favorite of them all so far.

A wonderful, magical animal...

I was hooked from the teaser, which led us to believe Sawyer was back to his conning ways, but then revealed that he's a police in the Mirror reality. I loved Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, who was one of my favorite things about Prison Break (2005). I didn't get the sense her character will play much of a role in the Mirror timeline, but her cameo was welcome nevertheless. I was also ecstatic to see Sawyer and Miles partnered again as cops. I've commented before on my appreciation for Josh Holloway and Ken Leung as actors. You might expect their similarly sardonic deliveries to be overkill. As we saw last season, however, they actually pair well together. Someone should really cast them in a buddy comedy.

Starsky and Hutch?

I'm exactly like Indiana Jones. But the real treat for me was the return of Charlotte, and not just because she looked great as Sawyer's blind date. Her line about "Indiana Jones" set my whackadoo wheel spinning because it points to a possible Mirror-reality storyline that I've mentioned previously. I suspect that Charlotte, like Keamy's crew, works for Widmore in both timelines. I further suspect that, in both realities, she was present on the Island as a child and has been haunted by the memory ever since. Widmore is using her (and possibly Dr. Chang) to help him find the sunken Island. It wouldn't surprise me if she'd returned from an archaeological dig in Tunisia just prior to her date.

You can't miss the bear...

Here's where things get a little whackadoo. When Charlotte found the Sawyer file in James's drawer, my first take was that she simply made a mistake. Upon rewatching, however, I got the distinct impression that Charlotte was looking for something. Maybe it was just innocent snooping, the way some folks poke around the medicine cabinet at a party. Still, if Charlotte was on the Island when she was younger, so presumably was Widmore. Maybe he knows all about the Candidates and sent Charlotte to find out what she could about James. Perhaps the title "Recon" is ironic in the sense that James was himself the target of a reconnaissance mission in the Mirror timeline.

Who's Anthony Cooper? The Sawyer file suggests another intriguing route the Mirror reality may take. It looks like Anthony Cooper conned Sawyer's parents in both realities. And while James didn't adopt the "Sawyer" moniker or become a con man himself in the Mirror universe, his obsession with finding Cooper still took him to Australia. (More on that in a moment.) I'm guessing that Cooper is Locke's father just like in the Crash reality. In the Mirror universe, however, Cooper renounced his life of crime and never conned his son out of a kidney. Sawyer will track Cooper through Locke, culminating in a confrontation that mirrors their deadly encounter in The Brig. This time, however, Sawyer will spare the reformed Cooper's life.

Good touch, bad touch. As I say, Sawyer's fate was always apparently to follow his obsession with Cooper to Australian-- and to return on Oceanic 815. Indeed, I was struck by how closely James's Mirror self resembled his Crash reality counterpart. They even watch the same television shows (Little House on the Prairie) and read the same books (Watership Down and A Wrinkle in Time). Yes, Sawyer became a cop, rather than a con man. But as many of you all everybody noted, he remains the same basic person he is in the Crash reality. This is important because it belies the Man in Black's claim that Jacob's touches were about pushing James to the Island.

So what was their purpose? Right now, the big difference seems to be the "Dear Mr. Sawyer" letter Little James wrote in the Crash reality. That might seem like a small detail, but it's already had major implications. For one thing, that letter was the key to Kate and Sawyer's bonding back in Season 1. In fact Jacob's visits to Jack and James both seem to be about building a triangle between them and Kate. Notice how Jacob touched Jack just after the latter had the "count to five" experience that he then related to Kate shortly after the crash of Oceanic 815. Not only did Jack and Kate bond over this story, they later used it as a code during her escape with Sawyer from Hydra Island.

I'm gonna let them fight it out. Moreover, the Sawyer letter seems to be what drove James to become a con man in the Crash reality. Yes, he's something of a rogue in the Mirror reality, too, but that's a far cry from being "the best liar" the Man in Black has ever met. Jacob needed Sawyer to be an expert con man, and in Recon we finally got a glimpse why. As Sawyer mentioned to Kate, he's planning to con both Widmore and the Man in Black, playing them off against each other. In the comments, I dubbed this the "Yojimbo" con after my favorite Akira Kurosawa film of the same name, in which a tricky samurai pits two rival gangs against each other to save a town.

So, if Widmore and the Man in Black are rivals, does that mean the former was on Team Jacob all along? It's possible but by no means necessarily true. Remember that last season Bram told Miles he was "playing for the wrong team" by working for Widmore. Given that Ilana's crew was clearly working for Jacob, it seems unlikely they'd say that unless Widmore had some connection with the Man in Black. I suspect we're going to learn that the latter two know each other well. I even wonder if the Man in Black made a similar offer of leadership to Widmore as he did to Ben last episode. Perhaps those sonic pylons are to make sure the Man in Black makes good on his pledge.

My mother was crazy. Speaking of the Man in Black, I was strangely moved by his confession to Kate of having had a crazy mother himself. He seemed to be speaking from a place of truth, but I have to wonder. We've yet to meet the Man in Black's mother, if he even has one. We have, however, met Emily Locke who is certifiably insane. And I suspect the Man in Black was channeling Locke's memory of that troubled relationship to facilitate his emotional con of Kate. In fact, it may well be that the Man in Black was also channeling Locke's emotions when he told Sawyer that he knew "what it's like to lose someone you love." Perhaps he was referring to Helen.

Either way, the Man in Black seems adept at emotional manipulation, which brings me to one last whackadoo speculation for your pleasure. Some of you expressed skepticism about Claire's emotional swings. But one look at what my friends J and L have dubbed Claire's "Tickle Me Fucked Up Doll" erased any lingering doubts I had. Claire's gone, mon, and she ain't coming back. That has me wondering: was this the Man in Black's plan all along? The psychic, Richard Malkin, told Claire that she must be the one who raises Aaron because of her "nature, spirit, and goodness." So what happens to him now that she's both crazy and infected? Maybe Aaron becomes the Anti-Christ...

That's all from this end Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: I give Recon an overall 6 on the Sickness Scale, divided equally at 3 between mythology and characterization.

Previously on Lost. Well, no, there isn't any "Previously..." to be had. There's no lead in, for the first time in over one hundred and ten episodes, because we know everything we need to know already. The smoke monster's identity has been revealed, Sawyer is no longer James, Jim, or LeFleur, he's back to being Sawyer the smooth-talker, the bringer of nicknames. Sawyer the con man. We know of a Mirror reality, which is almost a pun for the Crash reality in that familiar characters in different roles are almost bumping into each other left and right. My snow globe analogy seems to fit: for the second week in a row, we learn of another member of DHARMA who is in Los Angeles. Okay, Miles's father works at the museum, fine. You go where the jobs are. And then there's Detective James Ford, "Jimmy" to the women he cons in undercover cop stings.

The episode itself is a mirror of "Confidence Man" in S1, only this time around, the open briefcase spilling cabbage -- AKA the pigeon drop -- leads to Sawyer's having a gun pulled on him by his mark. Sawyer tries to tell gun-wielding Ava that the place is bugged, and they want her husband, not her, for the big prize. She doesn't believe Jim's a cop, and maybe some of the audience doesn't, as well. Sawyer -- at this point, we don't know he's Ford in the Mirror reality -- says the safe word, "LeFleur," and a half-dozen cops bust in the cheap motel door's door.

What's in a name? "Recon." The obvious answer might be re-con, another reflection back on the first-ever Sawyer flashback. I say that the title actually was word play for "Re: Con" -- i.e., regarding the various definitions of con. In the Crash reality, Sawyer tells Jin that he, too, knows the Man in Black is not Locke (the big con). Fake Locke wants his main man Sawyer to take an outrigger to Hydra Island, to offer up some recon(naissance) on the activities of the remaining passengers from Ajira 316. Fake Locke states plainly that he knows some of those passengers intend to do them harm. And then there's the conning tower of Widmore's sub, which we saw just below the surface of the water in the final seconds of last week's episode. To "con" the vessel is to direct the helmsman on how to conduct, or control, the sub. And so it is that the Man in Black is conning Sawyer: he knows that Widmore has set up camp on Hydra Isle.

I theorize that Zoe, who just looks crafty, was actually a passenger on Ajira 316 who contacted Widmore via the plane's radio. I also suspect that Widmore was told the flight path of Ajira 316 by Eloise herself, who knew Widmore would get on the sub and periodically attempt to make radio contact at the flight's last known location. This is a call back to "The Incident," when the Man in Black cryptically tells Ben that, once Jacob is dead, the remaining passengers of Ajira 316 must be taken care of in some manner. Having Locke's memories, he would know about the Tunisia meeting with Widmore and the coming war. The Man in Black very likely knew that Widmore would soon return to the Island, banishment or not. (Actually, there is a loophole here, as Widmore did not return to the main Island at all.) Widmore has men setting up a sonic fence because he knows the Man in Black is free of his prison. Again I point towards Zoe, who helps several of Widmore's men capture Sawyer and bring him to the sub's bowels.

My thoughts: in the time between trussing up Rousseau-style and his going to see Sawyer boozing it up, the Man in Black took time to barrel through an underground conduit to Hydra and wipe out the redshirts before north to the Barracks. He knew the jig was up when he saw Locke's corpse with the sideways-walking crab on his head, so the Man in Black killed the remaining survivors in the hopes of scaring Widmore upon his return. Perhaps Zoe hid cockpit, unseen by the cocky unLocke.

Charlotte. Big deal. Waste of Mirror reality, gang. We already knew about Det. Ford's looking for the real Sawyer -- that's what took him to Sydney the previous weekend. After some shots of Josh Holloway's chest, Sawyer leaves the room to get his blind date some water. She finds his secret Stash, the Sawyer dossier, which we already saw. Her hand touches a copy of Watership Down, which Sawyer was reading in "White Rabbit," thought this episode was devoid of deja vu looks. There was no reason for Charlotte even to bother drawing our attention to the book. Yes, her father likely worked at the Orchid in the Mirror reality, as dying Charlotte knew of the well and screamed what I still think to be a phrase to be repeated again before the series finale, "This Place Is Death." Maybe she heard tales of time-traveling bunnies. But man, what a long way to go. And sure, she gets the goofy flower -- le fleur --that Sawyer gave Juliet, like, thirty years ago. Only he brings a six-pack this time, leaving the flower behind when Charlotte rebuffs him for making her leave at 3:00 AM, earlier that day. Each episode of the Mirror reality shares the theme of loss, and Sawyer as Ford breaks a mirror, the other running image we see past the looking glass.

Australia's the key to the whole game. In "The Shape of Things To Come," Hurley, Sawyer, and Locke are playing Risk just prior to the appearance of Keamy and his cohorts. Hurley points out that Australia is the "key to the whole game." The reason, of course, is that Australia has only one entrance -- through Indonesia -- in Risk. This is analogous to the Island, which may only be accessed by one compass bearing. Another Hurley-quote of prescience: "This is what he wants--to fight amongst ourselves." Translation: Widmore is staying put on Hydra, and will let Team Jacob/Hurley and Team the Main in Black/Sawyer, candidates and recruits one and all, battle on the main Island. As Widmore told Ben during their bedroom confrontation: "That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. And it will be again." And so Charles will watch and wait.

Both Kates. Mirror Kate does what she did in Crash reality -- smash up a lot of cars. Wonder how often that will happen when she gets back to L.A. and discovers the joys of texting. In the Crash reality, Sawyer tells Kate that he's not on anybody's side and confides how he conned both Widmore and the Man in Black. My immediate thought was that Kate will run and find Jack (and Hurley), and everyone else in that third group, and fill them in on Sawyer's intel. Moving back to Mirror Kate, she has the bad luck to ram Starsky & Hutch's car, then runs off *resigned sigh* with a hood over her head. The show ends with Ford and Austen face to face. And I actually think this scene marks the beginning of the Mirror reality's end. Soon enough, the deja vu will overflow, and the Mirror reality will engulf the Crash reality, just as the explosion of Jughead caused the waters of the Pacific to seep over the Island, eventually submerging it.

Thoughts on Dr. Linus...

2010-03-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

BIGMOUTH: Well, well, well. I was beginning to think the Redemption Song would never play for Benjamin Linus. And truth be told, I'm still not completely sold on his change of heart. As moving as it was to see him sacrifice his coup to save Alex from Principal Dickless in the Mirror reality, Ben has claimed to be one of the good guys too many times to take anything he says at face value. Just last season, it looked like he was finally working for Team Jacob to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the Island. The murders of Jeremy Bentham and Jacob, both at Ben's hands, shattered that illusion.

Don't believe his lies...?

And yet, this episode offered some intriguing new context for Ben's troubled relationship with Jacob. I was struck by the revelation that the latter hoped right up until his death that he was wrong about the former. Similarly striking was the literary reference to The Chosen by Chaim Potok, which cast fresh light on Jacob's silent treatment of Ben. The Chosen also provided an interesting parallel to Jack's conversion to a committed man of faith. Ultimately, Dr. Linus registered an 8/10 on my Sickness Scale (4 for mythology, 4 for character). Some minor inconsistencies kept it from reaching the level of The Substitute, but I'm a sucker for a solid Ben-centric, which this definitely was.

No, he cared. Let's start with Miles's comment that Jacob cared very much about being stabbed to death. I've previously suggested that Jacob wanted to be killed as part of his long con of the Man in Black. But it's now clear that the former would have preferred not to die, even if he was prepared for the prospect. (Note that this doesn't invalidate the Obi-Wan Kenobi analogy -- the elder Jedi didn't go to the Death Star planning to sacrifice himself.) In that regard, Jacob's "pushes" during the Season 5 Finale may not have been about bringing people to the Island, as the Man in Black claimed. I suspect these specific pushes were actually Jacob's contingency plan for dying.

What about you?

Indeed, everyone Jacob touched seems well positioned to advance his goals posthumously. Hurley is already serving as his mouthpiece. Sawyer and Sayid will betray the Man in Black at some pivotal point. Kate will convince Claire to reconsider her allegiance to her "friend." Jin and Sun may have done their part by conceiving Ji-Yeon, whose marriage with Aaron will end the conflict between light and dark for good. Jack will serve as Jacob's proxy in the final showdown with the Man in Black. Even Locke has role to play in death. As we've discussed, there's still a spark of the original left in his copy. I think Jacob wanted to trap the Man in Black in Locke's form precisely for that reason.

Before moving on, I'd like to highlight one of the minor inconsistencies that I alluded to above. I was troubled that Miles was able to read Jacob's ashes without any difficulty. Last season, in Some Like It Hoth, Miles expressed strong reservation when asked to read the mind of someone whose body had been cremated and his ashes scattered. As Miles put it: "For what I do, it's much better if there's a body." And while he reluctantly agreed to perform the reading, it seemed clear he was lying for the money, which he ultimately returned. Maybe Miles can read ashes that haven't been scattered, but it would make more sense if Hurley were the one who revealed that Ben murdered Jacob.

The Chosen. There's always a risk of reading too deeply into the show's literary references. Still, it's not hard to spot the LOST connections in Potok's fictional account of two Jewish teens growing up in the 1940s. For example, one of the boys is being groomed by his father, a rabbi, to some day lead their Hasidic sect. The father refuses to speak with his son except when they study Judaism together, an obvious parallel to Jacob's silent treatment of Ben. In The Chosen (SPOILERS) the son eventually learns that his father raised him in silence to balance the boy's intellect with compassion. One wonders if Jacob kept mute all those years in hopes of tempering Ben's ambition with humility.

Hurley, I'll be fine. The Chosen also offers an interesting parallel to Jack. The Hasidic teen is friends with a boy from a comparatively secular Modern Orthodox Jewish background. Over the course of the novel (SPOILERS) the former embraces the secular, majoring in psychology at Columbia University, while the latter follows a religious path, studying at a yeshiva to become a rabbi. That second trajectory clearly resembles Jack's metamorphosis from a man of science to one of faith. In my recap of What Kate Does, I faulted him for not asking Dogen more questions about the sickness. After Dr. Linus, however, I realize that such questions would be out of character for the transformed Jack.

Wanna try another stick?

Jacob gave me a gift. That scene with the dynamite was riveting, but Richard's explanation for his longevity raised some troubling questions. For one thing, Jacob's touch doesn't make everyone ageless because Sawyer and Kate both aged normally after he visited them as children. Additionally, Richard claimed that recipients of Jacob's "gift" could only die at the hand of another. Like many of you, my first thought was that Michael must have been touched by Jacob, too. But Michael's imperviousness wasn't limited to suicide attempts. When Keamy tried to execute him, the gun jammed repeatedly. Besides, wasn't it the Man in Black who finally released Michael, allowing him to die?

Click...click...click.

See you soon, Ben. The Man in Black told Ben he was gathering a group on Hydra Isle. It reminded me yet again of The Stand, where Randall Flagg gathers an army of darkness in Las Vegas. Ilana will presumably rally the forces of light on the Island. On that note, I completely bought Ilana and Richard's despondence at their abandonment by Jacob -- further proof perhaps that the latter would have preferred not to die. At some point, however, Team Jacob will row over to the Hydra. When they do, Ilana will spot the canoe containing the '77ers from when they flashed through time. She will fire at Locke, thinking he's the Man in Black, thus solving the mystery of the outrigger shootings.

And that brings me to one last whackadoo speculation for your pleasure. The Man in Black claimed that, when his group departs for good, he wants to leave Ben in charge of the Island. I strongly suspect this was a lie designed to manipulate Ben's desperate thirst for power. Still, it go me thinking. Stephen King references aside, why did the Man in Black designate the Hydra as his rally point? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to establish a base on the main Island -- e.g., in the Temple or the Barracks? Then it hit me. Maybe the Man in Black plans to sink the Island, bringing Crash and Mirror realities into sync. Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: I rate Dr. Linus a 9 on the Sickness Scale: 4 for characterization, 5 for mythology. As in the last several episodes, we continued to receive an information dump of mythology. Really, the only thing that kept Ben's flash sideways from receiving a perfect 5 was Leslie Arzt. Each of his scenes had meaning overall, but they came at the cost of more of Mirror Roger Linus, which was too bad.

The episode opens with Ben running through the jungle, away from the Temple, when he encounters Ilana's group, who are headed there for safe haven. Ilana immediately asks him where Sayid is, which is a nice reminder that she had him in handcuffs on Ajira 316. Once she learns Dogen has been killed by Sayid, and that the Temple has been breached, she puts Miles to work. Ilana knows his last name is Straume, and that he communicates with the dead. By reading the bag of ashes that Ilana so dutifully filled from the pit in the statue, Miles tells her that Ben killed Jacob. In a neat twist, Miles's description of Ben with the bloody dagger mirrors Ben's description of Sayid in the Temple. And we now get why Ilana knows so much about the Island and its current inhabitants. She tells Lapidus, Sun, and Miles that Jacob was the closest thing she had to a father.

In the Mirror reality, Alex Rousseau is being tutored by Ben. In the Crash reality, she was a substitute daughter for Ben. Note the difference: Mirror Ben, whom Alex alone called "Dr." despite his pleas for others to acknowledge his title, is about serving others, while the Ben we've come to know in the Crash reality is an unapologetic user. Both versions, however, know the meaning of sacrifice. In the Crash reality, Ben lost his leadership of the Others and his daughter. Mirror Ben sacrifices his professional dreams for Alex, and his domestic life revolves around his father, who suffers from respiratory disease. On that note, the sound from the oxygen tank sure reminded me of when Ben killed his father during the Purge.

In class, Ben mentions Napoleon, who was exiled first to Elba, and after a brief return to power, was sent to a smaller island, St. Helena, one of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic. His resumption of power lasted one hundred days, mirroring the amount of time the Oceanic Six spent on the Island. It's also worth mentioning that another of Napolean's failed invasions was of Egypt, a campaign that lasted three years. His health failed quickly and the cause of death was listed as stomach cancer, though another possibility was arsenic poisoning due to minute levels of the pesticide woven into the drapes in the rooms of his home. Aside from being a great metaphor for the sickness, I wonder if there was arsenic in the pill and on the dagger that Dogen gave Sayid.

During their tutoring session, Alex confesses to Ben her dream of attending Yale. The first topic Ben raises is the British East India Company, whose governor, Elihu Yale, was a benefactor to the Collegiate School of Connecticut, which was renamed Yale in his honor in 1718. Ben asks Alex what territory was excluded from the Charter Act of 1813, but we never get an answer because that's when Alex dishes on the principal's affair with the school nurse. The answer would have been Ceylon, an isle off the southeastern coast of the Indian subcontinent, mirroring Hydra's location in relation to the Island in the crash reality. The Trading Company dissolved in 1874, per the Stock Dividend Redemption(!) Act.

After Dr. Linus, I'm beginning to think the Mirror reality is a Panopticon. That term was originally coined in 1785 by social theorist Jeremy Bentham, whose name Charles Widmore gave Locke as an alias. Essentially, Bentham conceived of a prison that was round, not square as were all prisons of that time, thus allowing every single movement to be witnessed by someone. One might say that the Hydra is a Panopticon, with its many screens offering views of various locations around the isle. There are quite a few television screens on the Island -- those at the Pearl and the Barracks might still be up and running. Maybe on Hydra, the Man in Black will show the Mirror reality to his recruits like a kind of mental Panopticon, allowing Sayid to see Nadia and Sawyer to see either Juliet or, more likely, Clementine. .

There was a short-lived television show during the summer of 2001, The Beast, which was about a huge mega-news station, the World News Service. The fascinating part of the show, which lasted only six episodes, was that the WNS building itself was a Panopticon. The station's owner had cameras in every room and hallway. Incidentally, the show starred Elizabeth Mitchell as lead reporter and Naveen Andrews as her cameraman. Just to add to the apophenia, the largest Panopticon-based jail are the Twin Towers...in downtown Los Angeles, where so much of the action on LOST generally, and the Mirror reality specifically, is set.

The producers have stated that we should watch events in the Mirror reality closely. I'll take this one step further and say that we, the viewers, are the true Mirror reality. Jacob said that it only ends once, and when LOST has ended, we will continue living our lives, for the most part as seen by those in the Mirror reality. The Bens who help further a child's education, the Arzts who ask for modern lab equipment, yet greedily crave better parking spaces, the Jacks who want to repair lost time with their families, and the Lockes who finally start to listen instead of react with anger.

It only ends once.

But not for us.

What's in a Name?

2010-03-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Question for you all everybody. What should we be calling the two realities depicted on the show? I've been using the "LA X reality" and the "Season 1-5 reality" to distinguish them, but both names are frankly awkward. "LA X" feels like it should have a hyphen, and "Season 1-5" is both cumbersome and a bit misleading because it implies that Season 6 is a separate reality.

So what are the alternatives? I'm not a fan of the obvious "Alt" reality because Team Darlton have been adamant that the flashes sideways are not to an alternate reality. I suppose we could call it the "Sideways" reality, though the wine country connotations are overwhelming. Another one I prefer is the "X" reality, which has a nice Marvel comics connection. In a nod to Star Trek, there's also the "Mirror" universe.

Renaming the "Season 1-5" reality strikes me as even tougher. We could refer to it as the "Island" reality, though that's a little misleading because we know the Island exists both universes. Another possibility is the "Season 6" reality, though that, too, misleadingly implies a third separate reality. I have to admit I'm stumped. So what do you all everybody think?

Thoughts on Sundown...

2010-03-02T18:23:00.001-08:00

BIGMOUTH: I rate Sundown a 7/10 on the Sickness Scale (4 for mythology and 3 for character). For me, the episode served mainly as a referendum on the flash sideways storytelling device, and the results unfortunately were mixed. In terms of the negative, Sundown helped crystallize what I find frustrating about these flashes. But on the positive side, it offered a glimpse of where I think the LA X storyline is headed, and it's a direction I could see myself enjoying.

Let's start with the constructive criticism. I was obviously disappointed that Dogen departed after only a handful of episodes. But even more frustrating than his untimely demise was the failure to give him a flashback, which would have shown how he came to the Island. Instead, Dogen had to tell us how he lost his son, how Jacob visited and offered to save the boy if Dogen came to the Island -- all of which was infinitely less instructive or satisfying. Forget what Sanada's outstanding performance deserved, I think the audience needed a Dogen-centric episode before he died. But that presumably was impossible because it would break the flash-sideways formula.

RIP Dogen

It didn't help that Sayid's story in the LA X reality failed to move me for the most part. His initial scenes with Nadia and her children were forced, and the whole love triangle with his brother Omer seemed trite. Things picked up a bit with the (re)appearance of Omar and Keamy, who were part of the mercenary team Widmore sent to the Island in Season 4. In the LA X reality, Keamy was a menacing loan shark, and I enjoyed his showdown with Sayid. Frying an egg has rarely seemed so ominous, and it was perversely satisfying to see Keamy plead for his life. While we're on the subject, give credit where credit's due: LOST does a nice job of shooting fight sequences.

"The debt's forgiven. Alright?"

Ultimately, however, the flash sideways told us nothing we didn't already know about Sayid as a character. His flashbacks and flash forwards have already made it clear he's a killer, albeit a remorseful one. Maybe the point was to show that the murder in his heart had nothing to do with the Island or Jacob's pushes -- Sayid was simply a victim of fate. Still, none of this shed any light on his apparent conversion to the dark side. Of course, it's hard to fault him for siding against Dogen and the Others, who he believes twice tried to have him killed. By that same token, I wonder what would have happened if Sayid had actually followed Dogen's directions and stabbed the Man in Black before he spoke.

"Now why'd you go and do that?"

On that note, what do you all everybody make of the Man in Black's offer to make Sayid's wishes come true? At first, I figured Smokey might conjure up Nadia's ghost like he did with Emily Linas. But a comment by Lostmio got my whackadoo wheel spinning. She suggests that Jacob's deal was actually to save Dogen's son in the LA X reality, the existence of which depends on Dogen's coming to the Island. I suspect the Man in Black will make a similar offer to Sayid, but with a twist. Sayid will be told he can trade places with his LA X twin, allowing him to see Nadia again. What the Man in Black won't mention is that the LA X reality's survival actually hinges on Sayid's staying on the Island.

Apparently, the "Rules" don't forbid Jacob and the Man in Black from misrepresenting or omitting key information. We saw this last week when Jacob used a noble lie to get Hurley and Jacob away from the Temple before Smokey's rampage. Then there's the Man in Black's disturbing whopper to Clairessou that the Others were holding her Aaron in the Temple. Speaking of which, like NetProphet, I found it odd that Claire seemed completely unperturbed by news that the Man in Black was lying to her. Alternatively, if she didn't believe Kate, why save the latter's life by telling her to jump in the pit? I get that Claire is supposed to be nutty, but still. Is she just toying with Kate?

It puts the lotion in the basket...

Okay, enough criticism. I mentioned above that I liked where I thought the LA X storyline was going. My optimism springs from the appearance of Jin as an apparent kidnap victim by Keamy and Co. I'm guessing the latter worked for Widmore in the LA X reality, too. If so, the kidnapping may relate to some conflict between Widmore and Jin's employer, Mr. Paik, maybe even over the sunken Island itself. Remember, to avoid paradox, both branches of the timeline should logically spring from one common root in which the '77ers traveled back in time (from the Season 1-5 branch) and caused the Incident. If I'm right, Widmore will still recall having been on the Island.

"No English!"

The model for this conflict is the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. Damon Lindelof is a big fan, and there are many parallels between lluminatus! and LOST, including the mysterious recurrence of the number 23 in both. Part one of the Trilogy involves a nuclear standoff between cold-war superpowers over a small island off the coast of west Africa called Fernando Poo. It's eventually revealed that Fernando Poo is a remnant of the sunken island of Atlantis. I'll bet that Hydra Island is similarly all that remains above water in the LA X reality. Widmore will use the Hydra as a staging ground to retrieve something (Jughead?) from the Island. Look for that DHARMA submarine to play a role in the salvage operation.

fnord

That's all from my end. Wayne has some family obligations that may delay his recap this week, but be sure to check back later for his thoughts.

* * *

WAYNE: Nice bait and switch giving us a flash sideways for Sayid in an episode titled "Sundown." You always think these episodes will be about Sun, but in Season 1, "House of The Rising Sun" was similarly Sayid-centric. Sundown is when a Muslim offers his last prayers for the day, and sundowning also refers to mental illness. Also, and this is more just coincidence, one can equate the Others with Sundowners, what would amount to migrant workers in Australia, no set home, carrying rolled up tents on their backs, moving from place to place.

When it comes to my sickness score, the character component is directed much more towards Dogen than Sayid. There was little to be gained from Sayid's LA X reality, because we all know that, whatever he does for a living, it sure isn't translating documents. As with Sawyer and, to a certain extent, Kate, their stories were done in Season 1. There were always new layers in the episodes focusing on Jack, Locke, and Sun. From a writing standpoint, considering the main action driving Sundown, I couldn't imagine us getting a story about Claire and her sundown sickness. But the scenes in the other reality offered little. The only interesting moment was when Sayid found Jin in the locker. Also, seeing Keamy and Omar gives an indication that we might see an LA X version of Widmore, the man who hired the mercenaries to hunt Ben down on the Island.

If the Lamp Post exists in the LA X reality, can Eloise and Widmore possibly not know that the main Island is underwater? The tote board would still be streaming coordinates, the pendulum still moving. I can imagine a periodic food drop --this is still 2004, after all --planned where the plane looks for the Island but can only find Hydra. Yes, Jughead detonated in 1977, but as lostmio mentioned a few posts back, it could take years for the Island to sink. I would rather have seen Widmore and Eloise in this episode, because I do want to know if the fate of the Island is known. Sayid can fight, he's a killer, he loves Nadia. We know that. Whatever the parallels to the main storyline, the LA X story was unnecessary, but it was the only real way to structure this specific episode.

In "Solitary," Sayid banished himself (as opposed to being banished by Dogen) from the beach camp only to be taken captive by Rousseau. I now suspect that her torture chamber mirrored Dogen's because she had been at the Temple to be tested for the sickness. Claire was familiar with the side entrance to the Temple, and she was branded for her sickness. Perhaps this is the reason Danielle mentioned The Dark Territory, referring to it in such a way on her map.. She knew of the Temple's close proximity. Rousseau also has one telling line, when she tells Sayid that "she knows what he is." Not who. What.

Solitary is also the episode where Hurley creates his makeshift golf course that has only two holes. In a S2 episode, "Enter 77," which was also Sayid-centric, Sayid, Kate, and Locke discover the Flame Station, where Locke plays computerized chess -- again, a game with two players -- where the computer always cheats. Meanwhile, back at the beach camp, Sawyer and Jack play ping pong on the table recovered from the Hatch. Two players. Was 'Sundown' supposed to remind us that Sayid is adept at playing two roles, that of assassin and also that of Nadia's true love? He's an enigma now, because not much good came from his resurrection. Sayid couldn't even get a straight answer from Dogen, who simply told him that the scale tipped "the wrong way." Reminds me of all the "good guy" references, and, as Lapidus told Bram: "In my experience, the people who go out of their way to tell you that the good guys are the bad guys."

Dogen the banker from Osaka, who mortally wounds his son in a car accident. He's promised by Jacob that the boy would be saved if Dogen would come to the Island, though he would never see the boy again. Dogen gets the head job at the Temple, perhaps because of his organizational skills, as he does have that little office with books and the typewriter. I was initially surprised that Dogen had some formidable fighting skills for a former banker. And yet, so did Juliet, presumably because they were both trained by the Others. Speaking of Juliet, here again we see the duality of science and mysticism, for as Dogen was not allowed to ever see his son again, so, too, was Juliet never allowed to leave the Island once Jacob cured her sister of cancer. The difference is that Juliet was allowed to see her sister at the park in Miami via a video transmission from the Flame. Granted, Dogen did tell Sayid that he had to stay at the Temple, but would it have been possible for him to ever see his son as Juliet did Joanna?

I see it this way: Juliet was recruited to fix the problem of allowing for future generations of Others via science, while Dogen was brought to the Island and to protect the current generation of Others via faith and mysticism. The one thing I don't get is why Dogen tells Sayid that he is the only one who can keep the Man in Black out of the Temple. We've seen the ash. So what's the deal? And where the hell is Richard? Perhaps ensnared by the Man in Black until after sundown, thus allowing Richard's possible presence to not influence Cindy, Zack, Emma, and the rest from leaving. One thing the Man in Black has done several times is point his fingers at the Others and tells him how disappointed he is in them. And I don't think it's a dig at Jacob, rather one at Richard. The Others are willing to give up their personal freedoms to someone who might very well have been a former prisoner.

Some final thoughts on the episode, and I will again assert that I believe Jacob has been cheating like the Flame computer in this game, if only because the Man in Black cannot leave the Island. He can only now recruit, with Sayid, Claire, and Kate (who, I think, will be playing the Sawyer con). Now here's where I go off the deep end.

The loophole was not Jughead. It was the creation of the LA X reality. Just as Jacob could offer people a choice to leave their old lives behind (and I'm thinking more of the current group of Others that were traipsing around with Richard), the Man in Black now has a choice for his recruits. Sayid, you can get Nadia. Claire, Aaron will not be raised by another, not even Kate. The reason Kate will not fall for this is because she knows her fate in the LA X reality is no different than in the current one. Granted, the two realities have no sign of merging yet, but I can see the Man in Black telling the tale of this new reality. Cindy could be with Gary "Bad Twin" Troup, Zack and Emma with their parents. This is why I think of the LA in the LA X reality as a snow globe, because it will close in on itself like the noose that killed Locke. Maybe the Man in Black's "home" is the LA X reality, where there isn't any ash to constrain him, and he can go wherever he wants.

Rating: 7 on the Sickness Scale (4 for mythology, 3 for characterization)

Thoughts on Lighthouse...

2010-02-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

BIGMOUTH: I give Lighthouse an 8/10 on the Sickness Scale (4 for mythology and 4 for character). The episode offered some tantalizing new information but was ultimately kind of a tease. The Mirror further illuminated Jacob's mysterious plan to save us all. Claire reappeared in her new and far more interesting incarnation as crazy "Clairesseau." In the LA X reality, we glimpsed what Jack's domestic life looks like minus the Island's influence. We met David, the son he never had, and saw Jack's mother Margo once again. All these Shephard family ties made the episode feel like a reunion party of sorts. The problem was they forgot to invite the clan's most compelling member: Christian.

"You just don't have what it takes."

White Rabbit Redux. The many allusions to White Rabbit just made Christian's absence all the more glaring. Jacob told Hurley to reassure Jack that he "has what it takes" -- the opposite of what Christian told Jack as a child. Hurley and Jack revisited the Caves, which Zombie Christian showed Jack shortly after the crash. White Rabbit ranks among the best episodes of the show due in large part to John Terry, whose performance as Christian was simply riveting. I hope he hasn't been retired for good now that the Smoke Monster is "locked" in Locke's form. I would have welcomed one more glimpse of Christian through the Lighthouse Mirror.

At 108 degrees, the Mirror shows the temple where Jin and Sun married.

Mirror, Mirror. That actually brings me to what I loved about the episode. The Mirror was an elegant metaphor for the connection between Jacob, his Candidates, and the Island. On a very obvious level, it resembled the Eye of Horus with its many arms reaching out like rays from the sun to touch the figures in Jacob's Tapestry. Jacob used the Mirror to keep watch over his Candidates, utilizing the information gained from this surveillance to "push" them when his plan required it. His reassurance to Jack was a perfect example of this modus operandi. Jacob no doubt knew everything we've learned from the characters' flashbacks by gazing in to the Mirror.

Ka Is a Wheel. The Lighthouse also further reinforced the Dark Tower parallel that I've previously noted. The Mirror was like the Wizard's Rainbow, a collection of crystal balls that show visions of other times and places. The Wheel of Candidates evoked the concept of "Ka," which translates roughly to destiny crossed with karma. King describes Ka as a wheel whose inevitable turning can only be disrupted by death and betrayal. Frank Duckett summarized the concept well when he whispered to Sawyer that "it'll come back around." Ka's calling card is the number 19, which recurs throughout in the King multiverse. Same with the six LOST Numbers -- they're the fingerprints of fate.

More specifically, the Numbers represent the Ka of the names associated with them. As I mentioned last week, these Candidates are a "ka-tet" bound by the Numbers, just like the characters in the Dark Tower are the Ka-Tet of 19. In that regard, I was wrong to suggest that the Numbers are significant simply because of their connection to the Valenzetti Equation. They are indeed its core factors, but they're also Hurley's winning lottery combination, the stamp on the Swan Hatch, the code for the Swan computer, the jerseys at the airport, the mileage on Hurley's Camaro, degrees on the Candidate Wheel, etc. The Numbers are all of these things and none. They are Ka.

You Broke the Rose. Even more fundamentally, the Lighthouse Mirror reminded me once again of the analogy between the Dark Tower and the Island itself. The Tower serves as a keystone for all realities in the King multiverse. It's located at the nexus of six(!) magical beams arranged like spokes on a wheel and forming the Tower's foundation. The beams were once protected by twelve animal guardians (actually giant robots). But these guardians malfunctioned over time, and four of the six beams collapsed. The Ka-Tet of 19 must prevent the forces of chaos from breaking the last two beams, which would cause the Tower to fall, taking the entire multiverse with it.

Basically, the Island is the Dark Tower, with the Candidates as its beams. As that comparison suggests, the Island's continued existence depends somehow on these Candidates. The catch is that they're free to do what they please, as Jacob had Hurley remind Dogen. The rules of the game forbid coercion by Jacob or the Man in Black, who must win the Candidates' hearts and minds to achieve their goals. That's what Dogen meant when he said Claire had been "claimed" by the Man in Black. Candidates who succumb to this "sickness" get crossed off the list. Same with those who die. Now only the Ka-Tet of the Numbers remains as the Island's last protection.

If the Island goes, then I suspect both the LA X and Season 1-5 realities will be shattered the way Jack smashed the Mirror. As the nexus of two timelines, the Island must remain alive and well on at least one Earth. Otherwise, the mirror histories currently in quantum superposition will collapse. Interestingly, Darlton signaled these stakes last year in the video revealing "LA X" as the title of the Season 6 premier. That video contained the line "you broke the rose," which I interpreted as a Dark Tower reference. In our reality, the Tower exists as a single rose growing in an abandoned lot. If the rose is damaged, the Dark Tower is as well, imperiling all creation.

Many analogies have been offered to explain the nature and purpose of the mirror realities on LOST. Some compare them to the tangent and primary timelines in Donnie Darko, others to the alternate dimensions in Crisis on Infinite Earths. I myself have suggested It's a Wonderful Life as a possible model. But I'm increasingly skeptical that the resolution of the LA X storyline will involve either a choice between realities or their merger into one. Rather, as the Dark Tower parallel suggests, the goal is actually to preserve both branches of the timeline. That's my current paradigm for Season 6. Over to you, Wayne....

* * *

WAYNE: Well, here's the mirror image to White Rabbit, the episode that's the the benchmark for every one to follow. Even though the introduction of Adam and Eve's skeletons was still an episode away, we met Ghost Christian for the first time. Jack chased his dead dad through the jungle, yelling after him just as the Man in Black did to the blond-haired kid last week. The younger Shephard almost ended up tumbling from a small cliff, but was saved by Locke. The two men had a nice talk, and Locke reassured Jack that it's all right to chase after hallucinations, that no one's going to judge him even if he was re-enacting Wayne Newton's terrible 1972 hit "Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast."

Apophenia, brotha. Seeing patterns in randomness. Patterns like squares and circles and rings. Like LA X Jack taking a key from a hole in a rabbit to get into his nameless ex-wife's pad because he has a son he sees once a month. Speaking of which, David reminded me of a tween Faraday even before the piano recital. (Bad Tween? Don't go there, I'm serious.) I'm trying to make jokes at my own benefit, because these Lewis Carroll references really mess up my bipolar little brain. (Remember, the dormouse at the Mad Hatter's party said to feed your head. Uppity rodent.) Seriously, though, I swear to Paulo that, if Hurley and Miles had been playing Tic-Tac-Toe with multiple copies of VALIS and Carrie, I'd have... oh, who am I kidding? I'd have kept watching.

Everyone probably knows this by now, but this was the 108th episode. I'll be talking about that number later. For now, let's get back to Dogen talking with Jack as he looks at his rippled mirror image in the Temple Pond. Dogen asks if Jack's pals are returning, and Jack replies that he doesn't think so. Jacks asks if he has the choice to leave and Dogen says that free will is an option, but then says that Jack would be kept from leaving. As they have this talk, Hurley goes into the Temple to look for some chow and instead gets instructions from Jacob, who when first seen, seemes be in that death throes thing, the way he was almost doubled over at the edge of the Lazarus pit. He gives a ton of notes to Hurley, who dutifully records them on his forearm. Dogen finds Hurley scanning the walls in one corridor. Jacob tells Hurley to say he's a candidate, and Dogen mumbles some Japanese that translates something like how he would cut Hurley's head off for taking that tone with him if he could. Dogen then goes back to his place to start in on Dear Diary with the manual typewriter.

Jack has to come with Hurley, and Jacob tells him what he has to say to persuade him: "You have what it takes." Which takes us back to White Rabbit, when Christian admonished young Jack for not having what it takes. See, Christian does, he's not afraid to act, which is why he's the brilliant surgeon. White Rabbit opened with Jack as a man of action, jumping into the ocean to rescue Boone, who himself tried to rescue another drowning swimmer named Joanna. Jack is angry, saying that he should have at least known who Joanna was, how they were all still strangers. I'll get back to this later, but the one thing about the cave -- and now the lighthouse wheel -- that bothers me is that there are only last names mentioned. Sure, Jacob is a first name guy when he touches people (at least, he is with Hurley), but having a list of last names reminds me of a stack of time cards. Makes you think of that working man's song by Bob Seger, "Feel Like A Number." I'm not drifting off again, I'm coming back to this, too.

I'm sure the reason that LA X Jack has a son is to reflect the Christian/Jack dynamic. But does it really matter who the mother is? I rule out Sarah, just on the basis of David's age. I'm sure there are people speculating that Jack's ex is Juliet, and I suppose a clue is in the scene where Jack finds that appendix scar. (Recall that Juliet performed Jack's appendectomy in Something Nice Back Home.) But does it really matter? We've seen Margo Shephard in all of three episodes now. And in every one she is either berating him or welcoming him home as one of the O6.

Jack and Hurley start their old school trek and run into Kate, who wants to come with them. Hurley, however, insists that it can only be himself and Jack. So Kate says she'll continue to search for Claire, even though she seems more interested in sitting by the stream than looking for anyone. Yeah, that's just me being mean, as she could have been looking at her reflection and contemplating things, just as Jack was earlier. And for anyone thinking Jack was being a wiener, too, for not telling Kate about Claire being his sister, well, they never shared this information when they spent those few months together after the whole Oceanic 6 thing. I say months, because they couldn't have stayed together long. I can't imagine Jack not telling Kate the truth about Aaron after Mrs. Littleton gave him the dilly-o on Claire. He started drinking instead, with the beard and the oxycodone coming later.

Kate Claire ought to be an interesting reunion. Speaking of Claire, wasn't that boar skull baby just all-out creepy? It reminded me of Simon in Lord of the Flies. (People talk about me having a Norman Bates action figure on my desk, but in my defense, I also have one of Steve McQueen as Bullitt.) I think that, somewhere down the line, Sun will find some of the old Claire by showing her Charlie's DriveShaft ring. I wonder if this might piss off the Man in Black, as he was right there at the beach camp having a one-on-one with Ben when Sun was rooting around. I'm struck by the contrast to Jacob, who's all about order and patience. The Man in Black is sloppy and doesn't always pay attention to details. It reminds me of a scene in The Stand where Randall Flagg takes the form of a crow to spy on the Judge out in Oregon. The Judge takes a shot at Flagg, but the gun misfires. The Judge was old and arthritic, and yet if he had actually hit that crow, who knows what might have happened. With the Man in Black in Locke's form, it's a mixture of sloppiness and cockiness.

Hurley and Jack make it to the Lighthouse, and Jack questions why they've never seen it before. But I'm not surprised -- its not painted white and red, and it could easily blend in with the many trees when seen from a distance. Hurley is probably the candidate to have seen more of the Island interior than anyone besides Locke. Hurley's seen the cabin, the mass grave, the Black Rock, you name it. I wonder if, just as the mirrors allowed for the guidance for ships, maybe the Lighthouse itself can only be seen when needed for guidance of an individual.

When I saw the wheel with the names, I realized with absolute certainty that I just don't care for Jacob. This guy is all about determinism, and we know Kate is determined to find Claire, Sun to reunite with Jin, and Sawyer to con the Man in Black. There is the Jacob/Hurley dynamic going, as he is the only one Jacob offers an explicit choice to return to the Island or not. And I'm certain it is all about Hurley being able to see and talk to dead people. Hurley starts pulling the chains that adjust the mirror -- could Richard have been chained in the lighthouse? -- and tells Jack to tell him when they hit 108. Oh, I forgot to mention that, at one point, Hurley tells Jack "It doesn't work that way," when questioned about Jacob. Ben said that same thing about the Smoke Monster last season.

At the caves, Jack tells Hurley that he was broken and thought coming back to the Island would fix him. Then he starts seeing images -- the church where Sawyer wrote his letter, the temple where Jin and Sun got married -- and it makes you wonder if when the got up to the name (Brother) Campbell if we'd have seen the monastery where Desmond was a monk. It should be noted that the Jin/Sun image was well past the number 42, suggesting that Kwon is Ji-Yeon after all. Jack demands that the mirror be moved back to his number, 23, and freaks out after seeing images of his childhood home. Then what does he do? He breaks the mirrors, one after another. (There were four of them, one for each direction, but I'm thinking 4 as in 4th dimensional spacetime.) Jack doesn't need to fix things anymore. He breaks all the magic stuff, just as Locke destroyed all the science stuff, the Swan, the Flame, he even blew up the sub. And what is magic but science that we haven't come to understand yet?

Austen is 51, and back in the cave, it didn't matter that we didn't see Kate's name. Everything was written all over the place. Like Faraday's blackboard. Like my notepad right in front of me. But the Man in Black did make a point of saying names out loud to Sawyer, and James was listening. "Reyes." "You mean Hugo?" So Sawyer might be having something pulled on him, as well. Any thoughts on the numbers and the names from other visits? If Jacob can watch people from as far back as childhood, might he be choosing candidates based on individual abilities? I made me think of the Superman storyline where Brainiac's robots imprison the inhabitants of Kandor by shrinking the city and placing it in a bottle. The same thing happens to Argo City, which is found after Krypton's destruction. But the robots kill anyone whose powers are already available. No duplicates. Does this mean there is no chance of a good twin or a bad twin on the wheel?

Apparently, 108 belongs to someone named Wallace. Again, no first names, which has always been so damned maddening when it comes to the Faradays, Hawkings, Coopers, Lockes. And the Wallaces. Who? Well, you can assume that Jacob has been watching a lot of people, and that "it only ends once" means there won't be another wheel starting at 360 again. Well there's this guy who did paintings very much like those found in the mural and in Widmore's office. Claire's boyfriend with no last name, Thomas. Could 108 be Aaron Wallace? Long ago, I was taken to task for bringing up the Swan mural, someone replying that, oh, all these paintings were by Jack Bender from the show. Well, yeah, but we can easily see the number 42 above the eyeball (Patchy's?) and next to the Black Rock. The original M SICK is faded away just below the hull. There are definite parallels between the mural and Thomas's painting of the crazy woman with the number 125. On the wheel, that number is assigned to Owens, though I couldn't find any obvious connection.

On the mural, the top left clearly shows us the caves, and the stick figures are candidates. The chicken scratches are lines the Man in Black makes on his cave wall. There is a red line drawn from one of the sticks -- oh, let's just call them candidates and get it over with already -- connecting it one of the spokes to the sun which reads 108. There is what might be another 108 outside the sun, possibly signaling two realities, but it might actually be the number 16. I don't know. But I know who is in the upper right corner. Claire and her new friend, the Man in Black.

Two quick concluding thoughts. First, where do we see Jack at the end of the episode? On the rocks. Isn't that how Christian drank his whiskey? Just sayin. Second, I described White Rabbit as a "benchmark" for all other episodes. That word actually refers to a surveyor's mark on a permanent object of predetermined position and elevation used as a reference point. Interesting that we now have a kind of Island benchmark in the form of the Lighthouse.

Thoughts on The Substitute...

2010-02-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

BIGMOUTH: The Substitute confused me at first. Why flash sideways to Locke's life in the LA X reality when the episode was seemingly about Sawyer? Then it hit me: those shots from the Lockeness Monster's point of view were more than just cool camera work. This was actually the first Smokey-centric episode of the show, and the Monster's tale is closely intertwined with Locke's, a point I'll revisit below.

And what an episode it was! Easily a 9/10 (five for mythological advancement, and four for character development, especially Smokey) on the Sickness Scale. Terry O'Quinn clearly relishes the role of villain, which comes as no surprise to anyone who remembers his menacing performance in The Stepfather (1987) an otherwise forgettable film. And make no mistake, the Man in Black is a villain like Randall Flagg, another man in black who embodies evil in Stephen King's fictional multiverse. I was reminded of how Flagg raised an army of darkness in The Stand as Smokey went about "recruiting" Richard and Sawyer with the promise to answers all their questions.

Flagg is reincarnated as "Russell Faraday" on a tropical island following a nuclear blast

But just how much of the Man in Black's story should we believe? In a recent interview with NPR, Damon discussed so-called "Johnny Explainer" characters who "come strolling out of the jungle and tell you what the hell is going on." He confessed that "what we love is when Johnny the Explainer is completely unreliable." I've expressed skepticism in the past about the misleading answers offered by Eloise Hawking and Daniel Faraday, among others. After the Man in Black's offer to explain everything, however, I suspect that Damon was mainly referring to Johnny Locke. So, let's take a stab at separating truth from lies in the Man in Black's various claims.

What kid? The Man in Black was clearly lying when he denied knowing what Sawyer meant... or was he? The former kept yelling "Don't tell me what I can't do!" which we know is 100% Locke because it's part of his persona in the LA X reality, where the Island isn't a factor. Did the real John Locke momentarily reassert himself? Smokey has his memories, and I'm hoping there's some spark of the latter still left in his double. Ilana said that Smokey is stuck in Locke's form -- maybe he must redeposit this "spark" in the corpse before changing appearance. I foresee a final battle between Jack and the Man in Black, where Locke briefly reemerges and describes what it's like to have Smokey devour your soul.

And while we're discussing the kid, the casting is just too perfect for him to be anyone but Jacob, in my view. But was his appearance a dream vision like bloody Boone, or an astral projection like wet Walt? The kid first appears covered in blood while Smokey is talking with Richard, who doesn't see him, suggesting he's a figment of the Monster's guilty conscience. Later, however, he reappears to Smokey minus the blood, and this time Sawyer sees him, too. It reminded me of when Shannon and Sayid both see Walt whispering in the jungle. I think Jacob, like Walt, was projecting himself through time and space. His warning about the "rules" recalled Ben's bedroom confrontation with Widmore in Season 4.

"You know the rules. You can't kill him."

I was a man. The Man in Black claims he was once a (human?) man who lived, loved, and lost like any other. His wistful comments, and the way he licked the whiskey from his fingers as if tasting it for the first time in a long time, suggest he was being truthful. But just how long has it been? The Man in Black had already been trapped for ages by the time he threatened Jacob on the beach. Yet the window to plausibly explain two white guys speaking perfect modern English gets progressively smaller the further you go back in history. They could be from the future but for the Man in Black's comment that Of Mice and Men (1937) is "a little after my time." Are he and Jacob the children of time travelers?

His name was Jacob. The Man in Black implies that Jacob lived in the cave and wrote all those names. But if you believe that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you, because it was clearly the Man in Black's pad and graffiti. The cave's complete isolation contrasted perfectly with Jacob's prominent home in the foot of a statue that presumably once greeted visitors to the Island. The location by the sea evoked the cave lairs of mythical sea monsters like Grendel in Beowulf and Scylla in The Odyssey. And the black and white stones on the scale brought to mind Claire's dream from Season 1 of Locke with one black and one white eye, a vision I believe was sent by the Man in Black.

"Everyone pays the price now."

Jacob had a thing for numbers. Well, duh, but what do the numbers mean? The Man in Black's dismissive answer suggests he may have no idea. I'm guessing the names and numbers come from Jacob's lists, which the Man in Black had access to through Ben. I further suspect that most of the numbers are meaningless and were assigned simply to confuse the Man in Black. But we know, as I believe Jacob did, that six of the numbers have grave significance. They're the core factors of the Valenzetti Equation, which predicts Armageddon. In Dark Tower terms, the names associated with the Numbers are a "Ka Tet," a group chosen to follow the "Path of the Beam" and decide the fate of both realities emanating from the Island.

We also know that some very important names and numbers are missing from the cave. Kate and Ilana are absent, even though each was touched by Jacob. Even more significantly, the number 108, which features prominently in the Swan Mural, is nowhere to be seen. I believe that 108, the sum total of all six Numbers, represents Aaron and Ji-Yeon, whose existence results from the combined efforts of all seven members of the Kat Tet (42 is Jin and Sun because Jacob touched them both). I've previously speculated that these children are the keys to Jacob's creation of the Omega Point. The Man in Black may suspect their importance, which is why he manipulated events to get them off the Island. But I still don't think he sees the full scope of Jacob's end game just yet.

He was pushing you.... In A Little Push, I made the same basic claim as the Man in Black that Jacob rewove the individual fates of those he touched to bring them to the Island. But I also stressed that Jacob was constrained by the free will of his Ka Tet to refuse destiny's call. I thus believe the Man in Black was lying when he claimed that Sawyer never had a choice. In fact, the former's goal all along has been to exploit the free will of our Losties in service of his dark agenda. The Man in Black made them all miserable in hopes of manipulating them into making choices that would frustrate Jacob's plans. Jacob's pushes were meant to compensate for this emotional manipulation.

Dear Mr. Sawyer...

How do you suppose the Man in Black knew that Jacob visited Sawyer when he was young and miserable? It's because the Man in Black was the one who actually caused Sawyer's misery via Anthony Cooper. Indeed, the Man in Black killed two birds with the Cooper stone, using him to ruin Locke's life, too. I'll bet that, in the LA X reality, Cooper neither conned his son out of a kidney nor pushed him out of a window. That's why LA X Locke's relationship with Cooper is so much happier, as evidenced by his invitation to the wedding and the picture of him in John's cubicle. S1-5 Locke was angry because the Man in Black manipulated him emotionally from cradle to grave. Hence Locke's amenability for coercion.

It means you have three choices. The whole "three choices" spiel sent my BS detector dancing, especially the part about protecting the Island "from nothing." Does that sound anything remotely like the Man in Black we met in The Incident, who spoke so vehemently of the way visitors fight, destroy, and corrupt? How could someone who's lived for centuries -- perhaps millenia -- as a time traveling cloud of black smoke possibly say that "it's just a damn island"? If anyone's the Island's protector, it's the Man in Black. He claims to want to leave, but I'm not buying it. I think the Man in Black needs everyone to die or depart the Island -- to clear the board of pieces -- before he can return home to the future or the stars.

* * *

WAYNE: First things first. My thanks to several of you for biting your lips whenever my wacky Numbers=People theory was discussed in recent weeks, and I'm also talking about people who never ever comment on this blog. I guess the reveal in the cave was out there in the spoilerverse for at least a few weeks. And, thankfully, there is actual meaning for the Numbers. The whole Oceanic Six thing was too easy, six numbers, six on the chopper. And I must add that, until I write the posts, I stay away from comments, the Doc Jensen articles, and the like. But this time I had to check Lostpedia. I needed a screencap, because I saw the name Mattingly on that cave ceiling. I wanted info, because, if Jacob was bringing these people to the Island as potential candidates, why would he plant his touching mitts on more than one member of that military team from 1954? Lot of numbers up there, a lot of crossed out names. Why are the numbers going in reverse order?

Or is the Man in Black yanking on Sawyer's whiskey bottle with the "Jacob likes numbers" line? The first thing that comes to mind is that, if Jacob knows the past/present/future/(sideways?), and he knows that the Man in Black will get his loophole with LockeDark/LockeLite, it would make sense that the numbers become smaller as the loophole tightens like a noose. So fill in the missing sequence of numbers, more importantly, who would have been the first three, if Locke was #4? If the Man in Black has Locke's memories, then he knows how well Sawyer got played in the brig, strangling Anthony Cooper because Locke couldn't kill his dad himself. And he gained Sawyer's confidence -- or at least thinks he did -- by giving Sawyer a helping hand when the ladder broke, a scene which mirrored Locke grabbing Jacks arm when he too was ready to topple off a cliff back in "White Rabbit." Now, the Man in Black might be cocky, or old and senile, maybe even resigned, but at first viewing, one might easily see Sawyer falling for the "Elvis has left the building" option. He gave the Man in Black the rundown of his failed attempts, the plane, the raft, the sub, the chopper. Does the Man in Black have a private jet or a time machine? Nothing special about the Island? You can't con a con man. the Man in Black might think he has someone on board for Die Hard 5, but Sawyer has the upper hand. Conning Ben at the statue is one thing, doing the same with Sawyer (who would catch the tell-tale signs of the Man in Black letting the liquor touch his lips but not drinking it; if he did, would it simply drain out of his make-believe human form?) is a different game altogether.

We have the answers to the three cabins on the Swan mural. The cabin, the base of the statue, and now, the cave. Man, does the Man in Black not have a single place on the Island for himself? Maybe he lives under the Island, with the vents being his outlets. I'm still saying that the Man in Black is not Smokey, but I think I'm going to end up being wrong. I still want to know why he seemed to sneak away before the smoke monster killed Bram and the others. Does he have to let his body sink into the ground and then reform as Smokey? Back to the Jacob's summer homes. Jacob left the cabin, showing Ilana the way by leaving the section of tapestry depicting Tarawet. He left because he knew his list of candidates was down to single digits. (And, if we stick with the reverse order thing, Lapidus might very well be below Locke's, his name going up during the freighter days.) the Man in Black Christian could very well have not known about the piece of tapestry being left as a message, the cabin was dark enough, but he had to go and sit even further in the shadows, near his mason jars of goo. There is just so much that can be written about this episode, just like "Walkabout" in S1 changed LOST's entire playing field. Or backgammon board. I'm no longer sure why Claire was in the cabin or who is the real bad guy, the Man in Black or Jacob. Last season, the Man in Black ominously mentions Richard knowing what needs to be done about the Ajira passengers on Hydra. They are no longer needed, because they will not need to be candidates.

So who was the kid? Now, I'm not certain why Richard couldn't see him and Sawyer could, or why his hands were bloody the first time around. The obvious visuals are visions of Aaron or a young Sawyer, even Zack. Here's who I think it is, I just need to figure out the why part. This is Charles Widmore when he was Ben Linus's age, that time he met pirate-y Richard past the sonic fence. Widmore circa 1945, unless he'd been de-aged from bathing in the Lazarus pit, which I find doubtful. No, I think his hands are bloody because he killed whomever it was that answered to Jacob. The part I can't figure is not so much why Richard couldn't see the apparition, rather why the Man in Black freaked out when Sawyer saw the kid, too. And for Sawyer, at that point, the con was on. So who did young Widmore kill? And why would this be a big deal to the Man in Black? The only thing I can think of right now is that, if Sawyer saw the kid, somehow it meant he was at the Temple and saw the bloody/muddy water. Why that would rattle the Man in Black, I don't know.

Speaking of cons, I'm wondering if we had a tiny one played on us by the producers. They of the Crab Nebula scenario. Last night, there was a crab next to Locke's corpse. How does a crab move? Sideways. The Crab Nebula itself is a supernova remnant, and so the implication might be that the sideways reality is going to explode, symbolically or for real. I think both, and here's why. A star takes a very long time to go nova, just as lostmio pointed out about the Island sinking slowly over time. The star will shrink and then blow the hell up. For me, shrink is the important word.

The LA X reality is Desmond's bloody snow globe, only, well, in LA. There was a discussion last week on how the sideways Kate/Claire story was so convenient. I think it was meant to be that way. On Monday, Gina Marie commented to me that Kate found Claire right where she left her because she took Claire's money and ID. But I would go so far as to say that only Kate could have picked up Claire, that a bus driver could have been ready to give Claire a free ride, then Kate would have pulled up and it would be like Claire knew she should go with her. Ethan wasn't in Portland last week, and Ben wasn't there this week, though he did look a little like Kevin Spacey. Granted, there's no reason for either of them to be in Oregon at all. I'm just saying that maybe there just isn't a Portland in the LA X reality. I don't mean that someone would disappear into an anti-matter wall if they tried to go to the Mr. Cluck's in Ventura County. We already have people making with the deja vu glances, and various characters almost falling over each other. The LA X reality is like that star, unable to sustain itself and thus exploding. Which is really my way of saying the two realities will merge, but for all intents, we will never see outside of LA in sideways-land. Next week we get Jack's story, the following week Jin and Sun will maybe re-unite, and then we can get down to business with that war. Always great to see Katy Sagal, but in the interim since we last saw douche bag Randy, he now reminds me of the guy from FreeCreditReport.com singing about being in a band and wearing a pirate hat.

Score: 8/10 (five for character development, three for mythological advancement) on the Sickness Scale.

Still More Season 6 Spoiler Speculations (SPOILERS)...

2010-02-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

As promised, I've created another post for spoiler discussions. Feel free to post spoilers about Season 6 here, but please limit your discussion of them to this post, and this post only. Thanks!

Thoughts on What Kate Does...

2010-02-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

BIGMOUTH: I rate this episode 7/10 -- four points for character development, particularly Dogen, and three for mythological advancement, which was less than I'd hoped after the bonanza of LA X. Ultimately, I'm left with same nagging question I have after almost every Kate-centric episode: why is what Kate does always so lame?

Seeing the LA X reality's parallels to Season 1 reminded me yet again of my dissatisfaction with her backstory. Remember those early episodes when Kate was a mysterious bank-robbing badass, who tracked game like a pro and dropped men twice her size with a few swift kicks? The narrative possibilities were endless. I wondered at the time if Kate was a secret agent like Sydney Bristow of Alias, on the run from her evil former employers. When we finally learned that what Kate did was murder her biological father for insurance money, it just seemed so... mundane. I've never forgiven the writers for passing up the chance to make her character more fun and exotic.

Besides, it's not like things have improved much for Kate since Season 1. She seems locked in a permanent orbit between Jack and Sawyer, with baby Aaron as a small moon. Beyond narrative stagnation, this also means Evangeline Lily gets paired with pros like Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway in many scenes. Evie is beautiful to behold, and a fine actress when she tries, but you can tell her heart just isn't in it anymore. Lily's withdrawal is especially stark in comparison to Holloway, who has blossomed into one of the best actors on the show. I suspect Sawyer will be visiting some very dark places in coming episodes, and I'm confident Josh can pull it off with aplomb.

Still, the real star of this season so far is clearly Dogen. The role of Temple Master seems pivotal, and LOST could not have cast a better actor than Hiroyuki Sanada, who reminds me (and everyone else) of Toshiro Mifune. I've been a fan of Sanada ever since he played Capt. Kaneda in Sunshine (2007) Danny Boyle's entertaining, if flawed, science-fiction film. The man exudes a quiet dignity and authority that's just perfect for Dogen. The only minus I can see is that his elegantly accented English underscores how fake Jin sounds when he speaks. (Wasn't Daniel Dae Kim raised by Asian parents who spoke proper broken English?!) Sanada's the real deal.

In addition to being a great character, Dogen is well positioned to offer answers to many burning questions. He's already shown us how little Ben was healed in the Temple, which apparently had nothing to do with Smokey. (Or did it? I'll return to that possibility shortly.) He's also begun explaining the "sickness" that Rousseau first mentioned in Season 1, though the explanation has been a tad drawn out. (Note to Dr. Jack: when someone tells you a patient is "infected," your first question should be "with what?") But just who is Dogen, and when did he come to the Island? What was that test he gave Sayid, and why does he think Claire is infected, too?

Who is Dogen and when did he arrive? I spotted a few potential clues to Dogen's identity and time of arrival. The first is the small whistle-like object around his neck. Initially, I wondered if it was a dog whistle for calling -- or controlling -- Cerberus. (Did Smokey respond to Locke's wooden dog whistle in Season 1?) It also occurred to me the thing might be a ship's captains whistle from the Black Rock. But that's inconsistent with a second clue: the manual typewriter. Dogen is a proficient touch typist, and the typewriter wasn't invented until the 1870s, decades after the Black Rock was lost at sea in 1845 (per the First Mate's ledger). That leads me to clue number three: the baseball.

Dogen is presumably a fan, but baseball didn't come to Japan until 1878. So, what if Dogen was a Japanese naval officer who was marooned on the Island during World War II? He somehow managed to escape, but was captured by U.S. forces, who learned of the Island through his interrogation. Dogen came to regret his decision to leave and agreed to help the Army find the Island, provided they took him with them. He was part of the Army expedition that landed there in 1954. Because the Island allowed Dogen to return, the Others let him live. He eventually ascended to the position of Temple Master and sustains his youth by bathing in the spring.

What was the test Dogen gave Sayid? Dogen's test had three elements -- ash, electricity, and fire -- each of which has precedent on the show. The ash was the same substance the Others use to repel Smokey. The electricity recalled Rousseau shocking Sayid to find out what happened to Alex -- and maybe also to see whether he had the sickness. The fire evoked the Others' practice of burning their dead, presumably to prevent Smokey from snatching the bodies. All this suggests to me that Dogen was testing for some infection associated with Smokey. But what made him suspect that Sayid was infected? The answer may relate to the murky water in the spring, which has precedent as well.

Remember that pit of murky water when Ben summoned the Monster from the secret chamber in his house? I'm beginning to think that murk is connected somehow with Smokey, which brings me back to the above-mentioned question of how little Ben was saved. In a few posts, I've raised the possibility that Ben was healed by Smokey when Richard took him into the Temple. Seeing Sayid healed in the spring seemed to falsify that hypothesis -- unless, of course, the murk is indeed Monster-related. Dogen claimed not to know what the murky water represents, but he may secretly recognize it from that fateful day Richard bathed little Ben in the Temple.

Why does Dogen think Claire is infected? But there's one more piece to this sickness puzzle that points to still another possible answer. Dogen also mentioned to Jack that Claire was herself sick. And since there's no indication she bathed in the spring -- murky or otherwise -- something else must explain her infection. So, what else do she and Sayid have in a common? A near-death experience! Many of you wondered if Claire was killed when a missile struck her house in the Barracks. It's possible she died temporarily, allowing the Man in Black to infect her soul. Same with Charlotte Malkin's visions of Yemi after her drowning. She was touched by the Man in Black while in "between places."

It may well be that everyone who has a near-death experience is at risk for such infection. This could explain why Charlie had strange dreams that nearly led him to kill baby Aaron after surviving the Swan implosion. In fact, if you really want to follow me down the whackadoo well, consider the possibility that all of the '77ers are themselves susceptible after their brush with death in the Incident. Come to think of it, was Dogen's poison pill meant for Sayid, or was it actually a test of Jack? Over to you, Wayne...

* * *

WAYNE: I have an announcement... Kate Austen is the Smoke Monster! Absolutely true. I had just let my border collie out as our 36 hour snowfall had finally split for the East Coast, allowing him to believe that snow was ice cream yet again, thus ensuring my having an entire pint for myself. I had made notes during my initial viewing of last night’s episode, and thought I’d rewatch the last half hour or so. The time was just after 3:30 a.m., and as I made my notes about Kate more legible, a Cerberus Vent opened about forty miles west of me. A 4.3 magnitude earthquake sounds like little more than an errant snowplow, but it was all in the timing. It startled my dog enough that he came into my computer room, promptly forgot he was scared once he saw the pint of ice cream, reminding me once again that karma is a fickle bitch.

I’ll talk about Kate in a moment, but as with the idea of Richard having once been in chains being the cool moment of “LA X,” I just about squealed when I saw that Claire’s ultrasound was date and time stamped 10/22/04 and somewhere close to 10 AM. You all everybody know that I love me my maps and my times, and I was happy to see a subtle difference between the LA X reality and that of S1-5. (I keep waiting for a ham-handed reference to the Red Sox winning the World Series -- if that part of history is revisited, I hope it amounts to no more than Desmond showing up to throw out Christian’s favorite line about the BoSox as perennial losers.) My best guess regarding the date change: someone is pushing the button on the Island, something happens to cause a system failure, there just isn’t an Oceanic plane flying overhead. Or the Island is underwater. (All depends on if the underwater foot we saw was from the LA X reality or from the actual ending of the show, right?)

OK. Kate. More selfish than I’d ever seen her, but I think this is the subtext we will see in the LA X reality. We’ve already seen Jack and Locke bonding in a way that didn’t involve the latter saving the former from toppling from a small cliff. So, of course, Kate will be more extreme. Part of the tension involving the cab was caused by Kate waving a gun with a pregnant girl sitting next to her, and I wasn’t far off in thinking last week that the result would be Claire going into labor. Kate steps up for Claire the way she did for Cassidy during the days of the fake-jewelry con. In this LA X reality, there is already a Kate/Claire/Aaron dynamic going. To be honest, I’ve always seen the “going back to the Island to find Claire” line as self-serving, but I understand it. Kate was mid-wife for Aaron’s birth, and I suppose you could say that she is presented in a different capacity when Ethan Goodspeed -- maybe Rom was on his diploma from Mittelos -- shows the grainy little shot of Aaron. In both realities, Kate saw Aaron before anyone else besides Claire. So, for me, what Kate does in this episode is help Claire decide to raise Aaron.

Meanwhile...back at the Temple. Everything seemed a bit subdued. I actually felt at times like I was watching something other than an episode of Lost, but I think this is because “LA X” ended without all the activity on the outside of the Temple. I had planned on coming up with a wonderful theory regarding Sayid that now seems blasted to bits. Shot to sunshine, as Ben once said to Jack. Going back to Bigmouth’s blog entry of September 14th, 2009, “The Two Bens,” I thought we might see the implications from the deleted scene in the Tunisian desert bear fruition. Something along the lines that we saw a live Ben glom a dead one and willingly ignore the fact completely. Two, bunnies, two Bens, two Lockes. I dunno. I was hoping for a different scene, maybe Sayid telling Jack he saw himself dead in the Dharma van. A resurrected Sayid willingly letting another Sayid die. Crazy, I know. Worth a shot thinking about, I guess.

I mentioned last week that MiB is not Smokey, that MiB exploited Ben the way Ben did to everyone else. Remember the conversation Ben had with Juliet while Paulo was eavesdropping at the Pearl? I’m wondering if Smokey isn’t even the security system for the Temple. That term has stuck out like Ben’s bug eyes since Rousseau first mentioned it to him while he was being given shock therapy the first time around. For a while, I was even toying with the phrase Temporal Security System. Sayid now has some sort of sickness that will claim him as it has Claire, and we saw her pulling her own personal Rousseau at the end of the episode. But if the science team succumbed to the sickness in 1988, why were they allowed out of the confines of the Temple? I think Rousseau always had the sickness, and the security system is really just individual people that take care of business in different ways than the Hostiles. Slim thinking here, I know, but I’m saying Sayid might not turn into a bad guy, just more a Unabomber-type, with the traps and the explosives. I’ll still present my "MiB is not Smokey" argument in fuller detail, but I think it should wait until we get an episode with the gang still near the statue. (Will these two group converge as we saw with the tail section group, this time around Jin and Sun standing in for Jack and Ana-Lucia)?

Dogen. When I saw the baseball, I thought of Yogi Berra’s famous comment “It’s like deja vu all over again.” But Dogen’s comment to Jack was exactly what Richard said to Locke about the compass. Baseballs, compasses, cigars -- some objects are exactly what they appear to be. A regulation ball also has 108 stitches and two curved (reality) lines, but it’s really just a ball. I just don’t want it to start changing hands like the compass. Though I do wonder if the ball might have come from Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

The name Dogen is mentioned in The Dark Tower as the control room of one’s mind, and huge dials and knobs are involved. I thought of Room 23 on Hydra, but then I thought of the doohicky clamped to Sayid’s skull, and the dial being replaced by an old-fashioned crank. Just sayin'. Aside from this, there is a tribe in Mali, not far from Tunisia, and the Dogon Territories are known as the “End of The World” to the rest of the Saharan country. The Dogon tribe, incidentally, retreated to a corner of Mali to avoid being forced to join the Muslim religion -- I suppose this might be a play on the phrase Hostile takeover *cough* -- because they would be forced into slavery. The spellings of Dogon and Dogen seem interchangeable, from various Google searches I made, but the former is how the tribe is mentioned in a 1976 book by Robert KG Temple (!) called The Sirius Mystery (!!). Building on the work of a French anthropologist who studied the Dogon between 1931 and 1956, Temple’s book illustrates how the tribe had knowledge of Sirius’s companion star and other facts about Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s rings that could only have come from extra-terrestrial sources. Though the book has its critics, the main objection its thesis is simply that the Dogons were not as isolated as Temple led people to believe -- the Dogon fought alongside the French Foreign Legion during WWI. Man-o-Maneshewitz, that was a long-winded story. But I found the idea of the tribe’s retreat into what might be considered a Dark Territory interesting. Plus, the only other Dogen I came across is a billionaire in Turkey.

Dogen does tell Jack that he [Jack] knows who brought him to the Island. I’m seeing Dogen as the guy who stays in the Temple, and Richard as the guy who stays in the tents, and that there are two groups of Others. I think Dogen is the last of his crew, and the way it has looked all along, Richard is the last of the group from the Black Rock. When the war is over, will Jack be the sole survivor of the original Oceanic flight and be granted eternal life? Does any of this make sense, or is a baseball just a baseball and a compass always points north?

Episode Rating: 8/10 (5 for character development, 3 for mythological advancement).

A Comment on Comments....

2010-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to you all everybody for bearing with me while we experiment with a new comments system. As promised, I'm creating a separate post for feedback. I have to be honest, unless the opposition is vehement, I'm inclined to stick with the new system. I love how it eliminates spam, allows for greater customization, and lets me reply directly to comments. The native Blogger system seems positively crippled by comparison.

In addition to general feedback, I'd like to know your feelings on a few issues:

1) In what order would you prefer comments listed by default? It's currently set to display the most recent comments at the top so you don't have to scroll to the end of the comments section to see them. This was very tedious on Blogger when there are hundreds of comments on multiple pages. (Note: I'm merely asking what the default should be. You can always sort the comments how you want using the menu underneath the comment box.)

2) Would you prefer that comments be paginated? Initially, I turned pagination off. But I know hundreds of comments can take a long time to load with slower connections. I've set it now so a new page starts every 100 comments. Should the number of comments per page be higher? Lower?

3) Is anyone still having trouble with log-in prompts every time they post? Please note that you must supply a valid email address even if posting as a guest.

PS: Happy Super Bowl Sunday to you all everybody. Go Saints!

Thoughts on LA X...

2010-02-02T18:19:00.001-08:00

BIGMOUTH: And so the end begins in earnest...

The Season 6 premier lived up to my anticipation, answering some major questions, and raising a few new ones to take their place. It confirmed that the Man in Black is now the Smoke Monster in John Locke's form, and that the circle of ash around the Cabin fenced out Smokey. But does this mean Jacob was its ghostly occupant, or could that still have been the Man in Black? We also learned that Juliet detonated the bomb, resulting in two realities superimposed. But in which reality did the bomb explode, the one seen in Season 1-5 or its alternative where the Island sinks? And why, for that matter, bother depicting this facacta LA X reality at all?

The Man in Black is now Smokey in Locke's form. As Austin Powers might say, that's not John Locke, it's a Man in Black, baby! Most reached this conclusion after the Season 5 finale, but it remained unclear whether the Man in Black was actually the Smoke Monster as well. Does anyone still seriously dispute they're now one and the same after the events of LA X? The scene where fake Locke disappeared, followed by Smokey's appearance, seemed pretty unambiguous. Any lingering doubts I had were erased by fake Locke's line "I'm sorry you had to see me like that," and his heartbreaking claim that the real Locke's pathetic dying thought was "I don't understand."

The ash circle kept Smokey out of the Cabin. I'm sorry to see Bram go, but confess loving the way Smokey thrashed his crew like a scene from the red tapestry. My favorite part about the fight in the Foot was when Bram poured a circle of ash (collected from the Cabin?) around himself, briefly stopping Smokey in its tracks. In the best LOST fashion, we were shown the answer to something we'd long suspected: the ash circle kept Smokey out of the Cabin like the sonic fence around the Barracks. This conclusion was further strengthened when the Others poured a similar circle of ash around the Temple. Speaking of which, can't Smokey just go under the circle and attack the Temple from below?

Who asked Locke to "help me"? If Jacob's people use the ash as protection, and Ilana's crew expected to find him at the Cabin, the obvious answer is Jacob. Maybe his ghost traveled back in time and required protection from Smokey. But there are some major problems with this scenario. For one thing, we've met Jacob's ghost, and it didn't seem particularly scared of Smokey. We've also seen Jacob physically transcend time and space when he was alive. What would the deceased Jacob need to do in the past that he couldn't have done as well, or better, while still in corporeal form? If he needed Locke's help in 2004, for example, Jacob could easily have asked in person.

My gut still tells me it was the Man in Black imprisoned in the Cabin. As I noted in Cabin Fever Relapse, he hasn't appeared as Titus Welliver since his talk on the beach with Jacob. And the ghost therein more closely resembles Welliver than Pelligrino. It also makes more sense to me that the Man in Black would request Locke's help, given his importance to the loophole. But there are problems with this speculation, too, now that Smokey and the Man in Black are synonymous. There was no sign of Smokey when Locke first visited the Cabin (though an ash circle was on the chair) and the Monster seems to move freely about the Island. Why didn't the Man in Black ask John for help when they met in Walkabout?

The answer is that the Man in Black's essence was missing. I've described this as his soul, but if that's too supernatural for you, think of it as his memories being trapped in the Cabin. Remember how Kate distracted Smokey with dynamite in Exodus? I'm guessing the explosion that destroyed the Statue also separated the Monster from its memories. Indeed, now that Richard clearly recognizes the Man in Black, I'm more convinced than ever that Alpert helped cause this memory loss. Smokey's amnesia persisted until the Cabin moved outside the ash circle. The Monster entered and was restored to the same Man in Black he's always been, as symbolized by his new clothes upon exiting.

The bomb's detonation created two realities. When Doc Jensen interviewed me recently for EW.com, he asked whether I was for or against a timeline reboot. My answer was "both." I said that, as a result of the Incident, there were now two possible timelines superimposed like Schrödinger's cat: one in which the bomb exploded, and another in which it did not. After glimpses of the LA X reality where Oceanic 815 lands safely, I'm confident that's correct. In one timeline, the Incident results in construction of the Swan Station, yielding the events depicted in Seasons 1-5. In the other, it sinks the Island, rebooting history from 1977 onwards.

In which reality did the bomb explode? In that same interview, I predicted Miles was correct that the '77ers were always the cause of the Incident, meaning the Season 1-5 timeline actually depends on the bomb exploding. I think failure of the bomb to negate the Swan anomaly was what sunk the Island in the LA X reality. I can, of course, also see the logic of contrary speculations that the combined effect of the explosion and electromagnetism was what destroyed the Island. Indeed, Team Darlton have implied as much with comments that "when the bomb went off, there was a reset," and that Faraday failed to consider the unforeseen effects of detonating a nuclear bomb.

Still, when asked point blank in a recent interview, Damon equivocated: "Should you infer that the detonation of Jughead is what sunk the island? Who knows?" In the LA X podcast, moreover, he describes this speculation as "pervasive" and promises it will be revisited later in the season. This careful parsing of words practically screams "head fake" to me. Indeed, there are intriguing hints that the bomb detonated in the S1-5 reality. Notice, for example, how Kate and Miles both flashed back to the future with hearing loss, as if they'd just heard a loud bang. No one else experienced hearing loss during the time flashes, suggesting to me it was the bomb.

Remember how Richard said he saw the '77ers "all die"? I think one major twist of Season 6 will be that Alpert saw the bomb explode, complete with telltale mushroom cloud. In fact, this may be what they originally planned to show us at the end of Season 5. In an interview from the Blu-Ray DVD extras, you can see a dry-erase board behind Damon that purports to describe "SCENE 11" of the Incident. It says "JULIET * BOMB * BOOM," then "SEE JACK'S GROUP ABSORBED BY WHITE LIGHT," followed by "ALPERT POV * SEES EXPLOSION FROM A DISTANCE." For the time being, therefore, I'm sticking with my speculation that the bomb detonated in the S1-5 reality.

Why bother depicting the LA X reality at all? To my mind, that's the million-dollar question. In It's A Wonderful LOST, I suggested that the Incident would blast Juliet's consciousness into the LA X reality, where she would be given a choice which timeline survived. That didn't happen...or did it? Like Charlotte, Juliet seemed to mind travel just before dying, mumbling something about getting "coffee sometime" and going "dutch." I think she was experiencing the LA X reality, which fits with Miles's revelation that Juliet's dying thought was "it worked." In fact, what if that coffee conversation was between her married self and Sawyer (or even Jack) in the LA X reality?

I'm not sold on Juliet being the one who chooses. I could see Sawyer or Jack having to decide between a timeline in which Juliet is dead versus one where she's alive. Admittedly, this knowledge probably won't be the result of mind travel, as I'd originally surmised. But I still believe some character will get to see what their lives would be like if they'd never crashed and fate had been allowed to take its natural course. After this glimpse the LA X reality, he or she will conclude that the crash of Oceanic 815 served the greater good, and choose to preserve the Season 1-5 reality. That choice is the ultimate purpose of the second timeline on the show.

* * *

WAYNE: Richard Alpert was not first mate on the Black Rock. He was a slave. I had intended meander through this first post differently, until I saw the Man in Black Locke do the smackdown on our ageless friend. Interesting that it paralleled how Richard pulled Ben along the sand and shove him down to stare at the Dead is Dead Locke. the Man in Black brought up the fact that Richard was out of his chains. Added to the scenes at the Temple, there was more outright hatred in this episode than...well, since Pickett had Sawyer on his knees in the pouring rain, ready to execute him as Kate watched.

I’ll say right now that I’m not going to search for little things like the book titles because I’ll likely be led into Spoilertown. So I’m just sticking with my notes. At least this one time.

I wasn’t concerned with the flight itself, I was looking at the pairings. Boone, complaining about his leg, and Locke, who discussed in detail the walkabout he supposedly completed. Hurley and Sawyer, with Hurley getting advice about not blabbing about being rich and happy. I made a comment in an earlier post that I hoped that the ALT reality would play out like this, subtle clues like the ones we saw in all of Locke’s dreams. (I think the dream Locke had in the sweat lodge, the one with Boone wheeling him around LAX was superb.) While I was off the boards, I thought about how, if Juliet detonated Jughead at the exact moment the Island chose to move again, a pattern might be involved, however random. This would explain the ALT reality, and since everyone flashed to 2007 with Juliet not being blown to bits, at least for right now I’m going with the idea that the Incident did and did not happen. And I think we were all (well, some of us) expecting Juliet’s last words to Sawyer would have been that she was pregnant.

The favor Ilana fulfilled for Jacob was to gather Bram and the others to act as protectors, but they were too late. Certainly it took time for Ilana’s burns to heal, and I’m wondering if the scene in “The Incident” with Ilana in the hospital bed happened as far back as 2004. Bram and company weren’t effecient at all -- I was reminded of Keamy and crew minus the Christopher Walken-ness -- and Bram tried to protect himself by making a circle of ash from Jacob’s pyre. I’m sure he’s not dead, just as a few of the freighter dudes survived with minor burns. And now we know, as Ben does, that the Man in Black is Smokey, which was pretty much hinted at when Ben was being judged by Alex. I wouldn’t doubt that before the Man in Black Locke emerged from the jungle while Ben and Sun were on the porch of Ben’s old house that he had just come from the Temple wall where he had weakened the very spot Ben fell through.

It’s election night here, so I missed a few seconds because of a robo-call (with the polls closed, welcome to Cook County, Illinois, where you vote early and often), but I gathered our gang was ambushed and taken to the Temple. You got me on why they were going to be killed, maybe it was the DHARMA jumpsuits and the Hostiles having an idea as to what happened between 1977 and 2007 in their own territory. I would think ex-stewardess current-Stepford mommy Cindy Chandler would have had something to say. And what’s with Hurley wearing a red shirt? I’ll bet it’s a dodge, he’s not going anywhere. Besides, he made it past the hole Ben fell through just fine.

At the point the flare went off, that was the start of the war. You got me who is going to fight whom, at least until next week. When the Man in Black told Ben about his pitiful old self, I recalled one of my favorite scenes, when Locke beat on the wall of the Pearl, realizing that his belief in pushing the button meant nothing, Eko looking at him with compassion. And he wants to go home. Where is that, the underwater foot? Did anyone else think we were going to see footage similar to what the Christiana I filmed of fake wreckage? In this strange reality of the flight where Charlie tells Jack he should be dead (by lack of oxygen, no less), did the Island sink?

Even before that final ALT reality scene, I knew Locke and Jack would be the last to leave the plane. Interesting that both Christian’s body and Locke’s box of knives are back in Sydney. And I had to laugh as Jack talked with his mother -- an you imagine if he were the youngest of five kids? He’d be a car salesman or something, he’d have so little self-esteem. Speaking of sales, Locke’s comment regarding the knives: is that an ALT reality tell of some sort? Locke didn’t answer Jack directly about why he had a box of knives – one of which I’m certain Ben used on Jacob – rather he simply agreed with what Jack had thrown out there, that Locke was a salesman. He certainly didn’t take the walkabout and ALT reality Boone didn’t see him in the wheelchair as Jack did. I never understood why Locke had that box of knives in the first place, way back when, because we all know that everything happens for a reason. Well, for right now they have a purpose, being in the same place as Christian in Earth 14's version of Sydney. Man, I could make a terrible pun on The Purpose-Driven Knife, and add that to the late Juliet’s book club.

I know more than a few of you know some of what is to follow in future episodes. Will Claire go into early labor because Kate is waving around that gun? If Desmond is in L.A., does he even know Penny? How the hell is this going to course correct?

I thank you for your time.

Just a heads up that I've changed the comments format. You can now respond directly to comments. There's no more anonymous posting, which will hopefully cut down on spam, but you should still be able to post as a guest. Please let me know if you have any problems or suggestions.

Announcements...

2010-02-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

As Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth would say, good news (you all) everybody! First, I'm pleased to announce a new feature for Season 6 on EyeMSick: our own Wayne Allen Sallee will be joining me in reviewing each episode. As many of you know, Wayne is an accomplished author and one of the most prolific commenters on this blog. The inclusion of his articulate commentary can only improve the quality of my recaps.

Second, I've seen the Season 6 premier on-line and am happy to report it's amazing! The copy I watched was a bad bootleg, but even the blurry picture and inaudible dialogue couldn't obscure the wicked awesomeness of this episode. If you've resisted temptation thus far, I recommend that you wait one more day. There are some shocking images that are best appreciated in broadcast quality. But if you were weak like me, we're discussing the episode over on the spoiler thread.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Caprica and Human Target: In the Shadow of BSG

2010-01-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

Just a quick heads up to you all everybody that I've posted my reviews of Caprica and Human Target over on I Hate My DVR. Stop by and let me know what you think!

Ben Remembers Everything...

2010-01-20T08:19:00.001-08:00

I'm an active viewer, which means I talk back to the television when especially pleased or annoyed. I recall howling in protest during Whatever Happened, Happened, when Richard said that little Ben would "forget this ever happened" after being taken to the Temple. I groaned again when Ben's memory loss was seemingly confirmed in Dead Is Dead. At the time, I chided Darlton for the opportunity squandered. Recently, however, I realized that my charges of a copout may have been premature. What if one twist of Season 6 is that big Ben actually remembers everything that happened to him as a kid?

Richard's line aside, it does seem like the show has been building naturally to this revelation. There are a number of signs that Ben's shooting was the defining event of his life. After Namaste, when Juliet performed surgery on Ben as a child, I suggested the painting of the blond woman that hung in Ben's house as an adult was actually of her. There's some dispute on this point, but the woman in the painting could be holding a (very) large field mouse, which was the subject of Juliet's fertility research. And as Capcom has noted, the two women share the same mysterious Mona Lisa smile.

Then there's Kate's creepy breakfast with big Ben in A Tale of Two Cities. Recall that he clothes her in a sundress and treats her to a pleasant meal on the beach. When Kate demands to know why, Ben replies: "I did all those things so that you'd have something nice to hold onto. Because, Kate, the next two weeks are going to be very unpleasant." Back in Season 2, I remember thinking that Ben must be fixated on Kate because of her resemblance to Annie. But that scene makes even more sense if Ben remembers how Kate saved his life -- and risked her own -- by taking him to the Others.

Similarly, Ben's exchange with Sayid in He's Our You makes chilling sense if Ben remembers being shot. When he accuses Sayid of wanting to kill, Sayid angrily asks why Ben would think such a thing. The latter replies: "Because, Sayid... to put it simply, you're capable of things that most other men aren't. Every choice you've made in your life, whether it was to murder or to torture, it hasn't really been a choice at all, has it? It's in your nature. It's what you are. You're a killer, Sayid." Ben can be so sure because he knows from personal experience that Sayid will shoot a child in cold blood.

So why did Ben recruit Sayid as an assassin if he knew it would harden the Iraqi's heart against him? And why generally go through the charade of having little Ben forget the shooting if he actually remembers? The answer to both questions has to do with the loophole. Ben was never supposed to become leader of the Others. The Man in Black starts him on this track by orchestrating a chance meeting with Richard in the jungle. Another step is the shooting, which brings Ben to the Temple. Years later, Ben will use Penny to justify Charles Widmore's exile, completing his ascension.

Somewhere along the line, Ben recovers his memory, perhaps with a little dream inspiration by the Man in Black. He begins learning as much as he can about the '77ers from sources like Oldham's report and Faraday's journal. He recruits Juliet, whom he remembers saving his life. And when Oceanic 815 crashes, Ben is ready with a plan to infiltrate the survivors. He also prepares for his departure and eventual return, stashing money and passports in the desert and building the runway for Ajira 316. Then Ben turns the Wheel off its axis, causing the time flashes that open the loophole.

Here's where things get really dark. Even if he doesn't fully comprehend why, Ben realizes that a big reason he became leader was his visit to the Temple as a child. Knowing this event is pivotal, he deliberately stokes Sayid's murderous rage during the time they're off the Island so Sayid won't hesitate -- or even blink -- when shooting him as a child. That's how desperately Ben wants to maintain power, his desire enhanced no doubt by the Man in Black's mental nudges. Way back in One of Them, Sayid screams that Ben "would remember!" In fact, he does. Ben remembers everything.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Jacob Brought DHARMA to the Island...

2010-01-08T12:59:00.001-08:00

Back in Season 3, I speculated that Jacob was Alvar Hanso's alias. Now that we've met both men, this speculation strikes me as less plausible. (But far from impossible -- Alvar from The Lost Experience could simply be a decoy) I'm nevertheless convinced that Jacob brought the DHARMA Initiative to the Island. In this post, I review the evidence that supports my claim.

Obviously, the clearest indication is the Man in Black's literal accusation that Jacob brings people to the Island. The former is referring specifically to the Black Rock when he says: "You brought them here." But I take the Man in Black to mean that Jacob is always the one who brings people to the Island, including DHARMA.

Earlier in their exchange, the Man in Black asks Jacob: "How did they find the Island?" More than a century later, Ms. Hawking will state that the Lamp Post "is how they found the Island." She means DHARMA, not the Black Rock, but her comment reads eerily like a reply to the Man in Black's query. How much you want to bet that the "clever fellow" who designed the Lamp Post pendulum was somehow inspired by Jacob?

Besides the aforementioned dialogue, the strongest evidence of Jacob's hand in DHARMA is probably the sonar fence around the Barracks. There's no question in my mind that the fence was specifically designed to stop Smokey. As Richard reminds Horace, it doesn't keep out the Others. And many less advanced technologies -- e.g., a simple electric fence -- would be just as effective against the Island's wildlife at a fraction of the cost. I'm guessing Jacob told DHARMA how to neutralize Smokey.

Of course, as lostmio reminds us, we never actually see Smokey during DHARMA times. I myself have wondered if the Incident released Smokey from imprisonment in the Temple or underground like Charlie cracking the wasp nest back in Season 1. If that's right, though, why does the sonar fence predate the actual threat to DHARMA? Here again, Jacob's assistance seems key. His foreknowledge of the threat led DHARMA to build the fence preemptively.

The final piece of evidence I offer for your consideration is admittedly somewhat speculative. Still, the statement in the Room 23 film that "God loves you as He loved Jacob" strikes me as more than merely a biblical reference. I suppose it's open to question whether DHARMA or the Others created the film. After witnessing Oldham's trippy interrogation methods, however, mind control movies seem right up DHARMA's alley.

And that raises one more point meriting clarification. Just because Jacob brings people to the Island doesn't mean they're good. I'm sure that the Man in Black speaks truthfully when he says many of these invitees fight, destroy, and corrupt. Some of Jacob's maneuvers are about getting the right pieces (e.g., the Jughead and the Swan) in place for lynch-pin events like the Incident and crash of Oceanic 815. The U.S. military and DHARMA were simply convenient means to these ends.

So there you have it: the case for Jacob's involvement in bringing DHARMA to the Island. What do you all everybody think? As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

The Widmore Family Circle....

2009-12-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

In the comments to a recent post, Cameron raised a possibility that's so deliciously whackadoo it merits a separate discussion. What if cute little Charlie Hume grows up to become none other than Charles Widmore himself?

I've long maintained that Penny and Desmond are Adam and Eve. In 2004, Jack estimates the bodies in the cave have been dead for about 50 years, which would place their deaths around 1954. Charlie Hume is three in 2008, and Charles Widmore seventeen in 1954. My guess, therefore, is that Penny, Desmond, and Charlie will return to the Island on a bearing that sends them back in time to 1940. Charlie will grow up on the Island, join the Others, and become their co-leader with Eloise.

This means, of course, that Charles Widmore is actually his own grandfather. I'm reminded of my favorite episode of Futurama, Roswell That Ends Well, where Fry mistakenly kills his grandfather in the past. He then sleeps with his grandmother, becoming his own grandpa. Ben putting metal in the Orchid Chamber may actually be a sly reference to this episode. The Planet Express crew is hurtled back in time when Fry places a metal "Iffy Pop" container into the ship's microwave during a supernova.

Futurama

Weeknights, 9p/8c

Grandma Paradox

www.comedycentral.com

Joke of the Day

Stand-Up Comedy

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Another great example of such ontological paradox is Robert Heinlein's short story "-- All You Zombies --" wherein the protagonist is his own mother and father thanks to time travel and a sex change. Eventually, we learn he/she's a time cop, manipulating events to complete the causal loop of his/her self-creation. Darlton may be fans of this well known time travel story, too. The protagonist wears a ring with a snake eating its tail, like Ms. Hawking's Ouroboros brooch.

I suspect that Charlie and Ellie have been working similarly to preserve the ontological paradox that is Widmore. To paraphrase one of my older posts, In Gott We Trust, when seventeen-year old Charlie Hume lays his parents' bodies to rest in the cave five decades in the past, the Widmore family circle will be complete at last.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

More Season 6 Speculations (SPOILERS)...

2009-12-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

Due to popular demand, I've created another post for spoiler discussions. Feel free to post your spoiler speculations about Season 6, but please limit your discussion of them to this post, and this post only. As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

The Red Tapestry and Terms of Truce...

2009-12-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

As we've discussed on other posts, the Season 5 Blu-Ray DVD has some intriguing bonus materials, including a new Red Tapestry, and a draft Letter of Truce between the Others and DHARMA. Given the interest in both subjects, I figured it made sense to create a separate post devoted to them. Let's start with the Red Tapestry.

(Screen cap courtesy of the Televixen)

According to our own Netprophet, ῥέε δ᾽ αἵματι is part of a phrase from the Iliad, Book 4, which translates as "the earth/ground ran red with blood." A contributor to Dark UFO's blog named Keeping Pace concurs and provides further translation and insight:

νῦν τοι ἐελδέσθω πόλεμος κακός (Iliad bk. 16, line 494)
ῥέε δ᾽ αἵματι γαῖα (Iliad bk. 4, line 451)
θανάτου δὲ μέλαν νέφος ἀμφεκάλυψεν (Iliad bk. 16, line 350)

This translates to:

"Now you must embrace this evil war"
"the ground ran with blood"
"then death's black cloud enveloped"

I should add that the first line is given by Sarpedon (a great Trojan hero) to his friend Glaucus (a Lycian) as Sarpedon lay dying on the field of battle. Upon seeing Sarpedon mortally wounded, Glaucus prayed to Apollo, asking the god to help him rescue the body of his dying friend. Apollo cured Glaucus' wound, allowing him to rally the Trojans around the body of Sarpedon until the gods carried the body away.

Additionally, we have what's apparently Richard Alpert's handwritten notes on a typewritten draft of the Letter of Truce between the Others and DHARMA. Here are the terms, along with Richard's comments and addendums in italics, courtesy of Lostpedia:

LETTER OF TRUCE (Alpert notes 8/15/73)

RESOLUTION OF 15 AUGUST 1973

The DHARMA Iniative and the indigenous island inhabitants,

Desiring to bring about cessation of hostilities on the island without prejudice to the rights, claims and position of the the indigenous island inhabitants or DHARMA Iniative recruits and employees, < Goodspeed, is the "legal" language necessary?

1. Call upon all authorities and leaders concerned to order a cessation of all actions of armed force in perpetuity going forward from this date; Fix periode - Finite

2. Call upon all authorities and leaders concerned to refrain from introducing fighting personnel into the DHARMA Iniative or the indigenous inhabitant's camps during the cease-fire;

3. Call upon all authorities and leaders concerned to refrain from mobilizing or submitting a military (We're not the ones with uniforms) army for trainig during the cease-fire;

4. Call upon all authorities and leaders concerned to refrain from importing or exporting war materials (Please define war materials) into the DHARMA Iniative or the indigenous inhabitant's camps during the cease-fire;

5. Urge all authorities and leaders concerned to take every possible precaution for the protection of the island, including all [shrines and sanctuaries] (I've included more specific on this in our counters) used for whatever purposes by those who have an established right to visit them;

6. Call upon all authorities and leaders concerned to respect the established boundaries of the DHARMA Iniative and the indigenous inhabitant's camps and a zone of five kilometers surrounding each camp, and to not infiltrate or attack these areas during the cease-fire;

[7. Urge all authorities and leaders concerned to respect the established right of the citizens of each camp to live freely within their community and to not fear attack during the cease-fire;] Redundant - we get it.

8. Instruct the DHARMA Iniative and the indigenous inhabitants to create security teams, in concert with a mediator, to supervise the observance of above provisions, and provide them with a sufficient number of security observers;

9. Instruct the mediators to make contact with all parties as soon as the cease-fire is in force with a view to carrying out his functions; I will be our mediator, you will be DHARMA's

10. Instruct the mediators to make [periodic] (Is this necessary?) reports to each party as mutually decided upon during the cease-fire; Our willingness to allow your presence should not be mistaken as continued opportunities for diplomacy.

11. Invite the mediators of the DHARMA Iniative and the indigenous inhabitants to communicate their acceptance of the resolution not later than sundown on 16 August 1973;

12. Decide that if the present resolution is rejected by either party or by both, or if, having been accepted, it is subsequently repudiated or violated, the situation on the island will be reconsidered wirh a view to military action and swift reprisal;

13. Call upon all authorities and leaders concerned to take all possible steps to assist in the implementation of this resolution.

Adopted this day. 16 August 1973. Agreed and accepted to.

Horace Goodspeed, for the DHARMA Iniative

Richard Alpert, for the indigenous island inhabitants

(See my counters / addendums on back RA)

(Screen cap courtesy of Dark UFO)

Counters / addendums (transcript)

- If the DHARMA Iniative enters or violates any [preexisting] ruins on the island, the truce is violated.

- If the DHARMA Iniative digs or drills any more than ten meters into the ground, even in their designated territory, the truce is violated.

- The DHARMA Iniative pledges its term of residency will last no longer than fifteen years. At the end of this term all facilities and personnel are to leave the island.

- The [D.I. can only] maximum population of D.I. members cannot exceed 216 at any one time on the island.

(Screen cap courtesy of lost-island.net)

So what do you all everybody think? As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Entertainment Weekly Interview...

2009-12-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

Just a heads up to you all everybody that Doc Jensen interviewed me for his column this week over on EW.com. My answers are excerpted below, but be sure to check out the full article for what may be Doc's best theory yet. I know that many of you found Eye M Sick through Doc's columns, and I'm grateful for all his support over the past five(!) years. As the Others would say, ago gratias tibi, Doc!

How long have you been posting Lost theories?

Since the premier in 2004. I remember logging onto imdb after the Pilot and speculating that the distress call was solar powered and the monster in the jungle was some kind of giant ape like King Kong. I posted my first stab at a comprehensive theory of the show two months later.

Which of your Lost theories is your favorite?

Three Black Swans. Jacob and the Man in Black were debating the fate of humanity on the beach with the Black Rock in the background. Since ancient times, Jacob has brought people to the Island to create miraculous events that postpone our extinction, an exercise the Man in Black finds futile. Jacob hopes to avert our extinction for good by creating the Omega Point, a kind of global consciousness representing the next step in human evolution. Aaron and Ji-Yeon are avatars of this Omega Point -- everything that rises must converge on a LOST wedding between them before 2031.

What episode of Lost made you go, ''Yep. I'm obsessed.''

I knew I was truly obsessed after Walkabout. That episode was such a perfect balance of character development and mythological advancement. Locke wiggling his gold-tipped toes in wonder after the crash will always be the defining image of the show for me. It raised so many possibilities -- everything from cloning to resurrection -- capturing my imagination for good.

What character do you relate to the most and why?

Locke. I shave my head and don't appreciate people telling me what I can't do. Plus, Locke's narrative arc is so profoundly tragic. I still hold out hope for his redemption in Season 6, but suspect any such redemption will be bittersweet. And that's exactly as it should be...

How have you been spending your hiatus?

I've taken the opportunity to write about television besides LOST on my other blog, I Hate My DVR. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- my parents' efforts to limit my consumption, I've been addicted to TV since childhood. So writing about the medium generally was the next logical step now that I've built up some readership via my LOST blog.

Are you PRO time line reboot or ANTI time line reboot?

Both. Miles is basically correct that the '77ers were always the cause of the Incident. But there are currently two possibilities superimposed like Schrödinger's cat. There's the timeline depicted in Seasons 1-5, which actually depends on the bomb exploding. And there's the alternative where the bomb fails to explode, erasing the timeline we know. Someone -- my guess is Juliet -- will get to choose whether the bomb actually detonates. Ultimately, she will opt to effectuate the future she remembers, rather than reboot it.

In 25 words or less: Explain the true significance of Jacob and Man In Black.

They're four-dimensional beings capable of transcending spacetime. As Dr. Michio Kaku notes, such 4D beings would be god-like in three dimensions, just as 3D beings are in 2D Flatland.

In 25 words or less, answer this question: What is Lost?

LOST is a thoroughly postmodern work, ambiguous and referential like Ulysses and Watchmen. That's what makes all three so much fun to analyze!

What will you miss most about Lost when it wraps up next May?

I'll miss the thrill of discovery most. I've learned so much about so many esoteric subjects I might never have studied but for LOST. Everything from theoretical physics to new age Gnosticism. I still get some of this thrill when other shows reference these subjects. But the sweep of LOST theorizing has been so broad that it's increasingly rare to encounter completely new material. There's nothing quite like reading about something mind blowing -- e.g., the double-slit experiment in quantum mechanics -- for the very first time.

Source: Doc Jensen at EW.com

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Season 6 Speculations (SPOILERS)...

2009-11-19T09:43:00.001-08:00

Due to popular demand, I've created a separate post for spoiler discussions. Feel free to post your spoiler speculations about Season 6, but please limit your discussion of them to this post, and this post only. As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

The New V: Mirroring the Original

2009-11-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Just a quick heads up to you all everybody that I've posted my review of the new V over on I Hate My DVR. Stop by and let me know what you think!

Mommy Dearest...

2009-11-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a longer post about the Loophole. But I wanted to write separately to address a related thought I had some time back regarding Daniel's mommy dearest, Eloise Hawking.

Since the Variable, we've debated what kind of mother sends her only child to the Island knowing she will kill him. In Three Black Swans, I suggested that Jacob convinced her this sacrifice was necessary to complete the causal loop that saves the world. But it continues to bug me that Eloise never actually mentions Jacob's name. Like Charles, she speaks solely in terms of the "Island." I now believe she may be driven by guilt to complete the loop irrespective of any alliance with Jacob.

Eloise's guilt is a result of her participation in the Incident. She helps the '77ers carry out Daniel's plan hoping it will erase the time loop leading to his murder. When that fails, Eloise will peruse her son's journal and reach two tragic realizations: (1) their attempt to change the future actually helped effectuate his death, and (2) they're responsible for creating the extinction-level threat represented by the Swan Station. From this, Eloise will conclude that the future can be changed, but only for the worse.

You can see this lesson at work in her efforts to neutralize the Swan threat. Thanks to Daniel's journal, she knows all about how Desmond will go to the Island, press the button, and turn the key. Eloise watches over Desmond every step of the way for fear that any deviation from this sequence of events will change destiny's picture to yield some even more horrific outcome -- e.g., destruction of the world. Her fears are very nearly realized that day in the pawn shop when Desmond buys the ring.

Here's what she says, followed by my translation in italics:

MS. HAWKING: Well, I know your name as well as I know that you that don't ask Penny to marry you. In fact, you break her heart. Well, breaking her heart is, of course, what drives you in a few short years from now to enter that sailing race -- to prove her father wrong -- which brings you to the island where you spend the next 3 years of your life entering numbers into the computer until you are forced to turn that fail-safe key. And if you don't do those things, Desmond David Hume, every single one of us is dead. So give me that sodding ring!

TRANSLATION: Listen, little man, I know exactly who you are and what you're supposed to do. And you'd better do all of it -- every last bit -- or we're all extinct!

MS. HAWKING: Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to.

TRANSLATION: Don't make the same mistake I did. I tried to save my son's life by changing the future. Not only did I fail, it made things so much worse. You may think you're changing the future by proposing. But that's just going to make everyone miserable, including your beloved Penneh.

MS. HAWKING: You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing that you will ever do.

TRANSLATION: I know this sucks, but we all makes sacrifices for the greater good. I'm deliberately sending my son to the Island to die. By my own hand. His dying thought will be that his mother betrayed him. So believe me when I say, I feel your pain.

The possibility that Eloise is motivated by guilt raises one last whackadoo speculation for you all everybody to ponder. In recent posts, we've discussed how the Man in Black's manipulation of memories and emotions is the mental counterpart to Jacob's physical touch. If so, perhaps the Man in Black exploits Eloise's emotions to help create the Loophole. Maybe that's why Zombie Christian directs Locke to find Hawking in Los Angeles -- her guilt makes her amenable for coercion.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

It's a Wonderful LOST...

2009-10-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

I've long since abandoned hope that Juliet will wake up naked in the jungle. But I find myself wondering nonetheless about Jacob's absence from her flashback. I just can't believe it was simply to foreshadow her demise. As I suggested after the finale, I still think they will meet through the miracle of mind travel. And when they do, Jacob will offer Juliet a choice between effectuating the timeline we've seen -- including her own death -- or erasing reality from 1977 onwards.

Let me begin by clarifying a point that's crucial to my claim. I believe that detonation of the Jughead's core creates an "alternate" reality. The catch is that this alternate reality is the timeline of events depicted in Seasons 1-5. Everything we've seen assumes that our Losties crash, travel back in time, and detonate the bomb, which causes the Swan protocol, which causes the crash. Miles was 100% correct that our Losties were always the cause of the Incident -- in the alternate reality.

The "primary" reality is one in which Oceanic 815 lands safely at LAX, so our Losties never travel back in time, and the bomb is never a factor. Jacob is a fourth-dimensional being capable of transcending time and space. Dr. Michio Kaku notes that such a 4D being would be omniscient and omnipotent in three dimensions, just as a 3D being is god-like in 2D Flatland. Jacob uses this power to manipulate the primary timeline, creating the alternate reality in which our Losties cause the Incident.

That brings me back to Juliet's choice. At the end of Season 5, she's frantically hammering on the bomb in hopes of detonating it before the Swan anomaly reaches critical. We see a white flash like we did when Desmond activated the Fail-Safe, a similarity that's no coincidence. I believe Juliet's consciousness will be blasted across spacetime like Desmond's. Juliet, however, will be hurtled into the primary reality, where she will meet Jacob. Here's how I imagine their encounter:

Juliet: Everything's been reset...Daniel's plan worked!

Jacob: No, Juliet, this is what reality looks like if the bomb doesn't detonate.

Juliet: I...don't understand. I remember setting off the bomb.

Jacob: I'm afraid it's not that simple. Right now, there are two possible futures superimposed like Schroedinger's cat. There's the one you remember, which actually depends on the bomb exploding. And there's this one, in which the bomb fails to explode, so Oceanic 815 never crashes. You have to decide which future happens.

Juliet: Why would I choose a future in which I'm dead and the plane still crashes?

Jacob: We all make sacrifices, Juliet. Before you decide, I have something to show you...

He will take her on a tour of our Losties' lives in the primary reality. Judging by the Comic-Con videos, aspects of this reality are familiar. Kate is wanted for murder, and Hurley still the owner of Mr. Clucks. Certain things remain the same because they're not the product of Jacob's intervention, but rather what fate intended. I'm guessing Juliet's sister Rachel dies from cancer in the primary reality -- assuming Ben didn't lie about Jacob healing her. Juliet may still be married to that awful Edmund Burke.

This tour will culminate in Juliet's encounter with her beloved Sawyer. She will be dismayed to find he's the pathetic con man of his flashbacks in the primary reality, a pale shadow of the LaFleur she loved so fiercely. Juliet will realize that, for all the grief the Island has caused them, it also has been a positive force in all of their lives, including her own. Like Charlie, she will choose to sacrifice herself, detonating the bomb and preserving the temporal loop in which our Losties cause the Incident.

If this seems familiar, it probably is. In Frank Capra's classic, It's a Wonderful Life, beleaguered George Bailey wishes he'd never been born. His wish is granted by guardian angel Clarence, who shows George how his hometown would look if he'd never existed. George is shocked and saddened by the changes, particularly in his wife, who is now a lonely spinster. Realizing that, despite his troubles, the world is a better place because of him, George begs Clarence to restore the reality he remembers.

In the end, George returns to his family, and Clarence gets his wings. No similar such happy endings await Juliet or Jacob. But I'm confident that when Juliet sees the grim primary reality, particularly Sawyer, she will reach the same basic realization as George. Ultimately, it's a wonderful LOST after all...

The Three Fs: FlashForward and Fringe

2009-09-29T19:20:00.001-07:00

Just a quick heads up to you all everybody that I've posted my review of FlashForward and Fringe over on I Hate My DVR. Stop by and let me know what you think!

The Mystery of the Outrigger Shootings...

2009-09-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

The Facts

At the excellent suggestion of Wayne Allen Sallee, I'm devoting a separate post to the mystery of who shoots at Sawyer, Locke, Faraday, Charlotte, Miles, and Juliet in the outrigger canoe. The shooting takes place as the group is flashing through time. After one such flash, they find themselves at their old beach camp some time after the crash of Ajira 316. The six (hmmm...) spy a pair of outrigger canoes, one of which Ilana's crew presumably used to get from Hydra to the main Island.

The Lefties take one of the canoes and begin rowing toward the Orchid. They soon realize they're being chased by unknown parties in the other canoe who shoot at them. Juliet returns fire, hitting one of the pursuers, but the Lefties flash through time before they learn who was chasing them. And that raises one last point before discussing some possible suspects. The shooting probably takes place after the encounter at the Foot because none of the participants has a gunshot wound.

The Suspects

Suspect: The Others
Motive: Revenge

This is probably the most mundane explanation. Still, it's easy to forget that the Others have ample reason to be hostile toward the Lefties. Think of how many Others have died at the hands of the survivors of Oceanic 815 and the Kahana. Ethan, Colleen, Danny, Tom...the list goes on. I wouldn't be surprised if the Others specifically targeted Juliet as retribution for her shooting of Danny. Estimated Likelihood: 25%.

Suspect: Ilana's Group
Motive: Revenge

This strikes me as the most plausible solution. I've previously suggested that this exchange of fire represents the first shots in "Charlie Widmore's War." The conflict will be between the Others, who follow Zombie Locke as their leader, and Ilana's Group, which knows he's really the Man in Black reincarnated. At some point, Ilana's Group will spy the Lefties absconding in a canoe and take chase thinking it's Locke and the Others. Under this view, the pursuers target Locke to avenge Jacob's murder. Estimated Likelihood: ~~75%~~ 64%.

Suspect: Survivors of Ajira 316
Motive: ???

This is the least likely scenario. I can't fathom why other survivors of Ajira 316 would shoot at the Outrigger 6 -- or where they would even get guns. But the survivors find three canoes on Hydra Island so basic math suggests it's a possibility. Frank and Sun take one, followed by Locke and Ben in another, both docking by the Barracks. Frank returns in a canoe, at which point there are two on Hydra. Ilana's Group only takes one, so it's possible that other survivors of Ajira 316 follow them in the second canoe. Estimated Likelihood: 1%.

Suspect: Our Losties
Motive: Change the Past

This is another unlikely scenario but one with undeniable whackadoo appeal. Since we can reasonably assume the shooting has yet to occur, it may take place after our Losties flash back from 1977. It's possible, therefore, that they're shooting at themselves in hopes of somehow disrupting the time loop they've just experienced. Again, it's all pretty unlikely. As you all everybody have noted, however, the irony of Juliet wounding her beloved Sawyer while he tries to save her life would be very LOST. Estimated Likelihood: 10%.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

One Ben...or Two?

2009-09-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

Over on the fuselage.com, there's an interesting debate with potential implications for a bunch of topics we've discussed recently. Take a gander at this deleted scene from the Season 4 DVD, which apparently takes place when Ben lands in the desert after turning the Donkey Wheel:

In the scene, Ben rides to a crumbling stone wall and dismounts. As he scans the horizon, we can clearly see a body lying motionless off in the distance. Mysteriously, the body appears to be wearing Ben's Dharka, pants, and boots. Ben seems unphased by his ~~dead~~ "twin" but is obviously in a hurry. He pauses long enough to grab a stash of money and passports hidden in the wall then gallops off into the desert.

The conventional interpretation, ~~which I currently favor~~, is that the body belongs to one of the Bedouins who accost Ben after he wakes up in the desert. Ben dresses the first body in his clothes to fool Widmore's people into thinking he died in transit. (This might be why, as Wayne Allen Sallee reminds us, Widmore installed cameras at the exit point.) Ben goes to hide the second body, then returns for the wall stash. The scene was probably cut to avoid confusing viewers familiar with the two Bunny 15s from the Orchid Orientation outtake.

That brings me to the more whackadoo take, ~~which is admittedly growing on me~~ which I'm now persuaded is correct. You can't make out the face in the youtube clip, but our friend darkprose swears it's Ben's own visage when viewed on DVD. And as SamG observes, the deleted scene seems to be a continuation from when Ben rides off after the Bedouin attack. ~~Watching the two scenes in that order leaves the impression they take place at different locations. You can, for example, see power lines behind the body that aren't visible when Ben first awakens.~~ As Netprophet notes, however, the pile of rocks behind Ben is the same in both scenes.

I know what you're thinking. One Ben? Two Bens? But he ... but you can't ... oh, my medication. Skepticism was my first reaction, too. The more I think about it, however, the more intrigued I am by the notion that turning the Donkey Wheel creates a duplicate. Could this be why the Man in Black wanted Locke to turn the Wheel? Can returning to the Island have a similar twinning effect? Maybe Darlton deleted the scene in question to avoid tipping their hands prematurely regarding the two Lockes in Season 5...

Update: September 15, 2009

Darkprose has posted this screencap (click for a larger pic) which establishes pretty conclusively that a second Ben is indeed lying on the ground.

Update: September 16, 2009

Our friend Allan has created this loop (click the icon in the bottom right corner for full screen) of the second Ben apparently inhaling. Though we see this other Ben for only a second or two, his exaggerated gasp resembles the deep breath taken by the original Ben upon awakening in the desert.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Cabin Fever Relapse...

2009-08-26T18:38:00.001-07:00

Are you all everybody ready to get a little whackadoo?

Since the Season 5 finale, I've wondered why Ilana's team of chosen ones brought Locke's body to the Cabin. Why didn't they proceed directly to the Foot, where the "shadow of the statue" riddle suggests Jacob can be found? And why did the corporeal Jacob need Locke's body in the first place? These questions had me stumped, until I reconsidered a possibility that several of you raised after the finale. What if "Jacob's Cabin" actually belonged to the Man in Black?

After the Man Behind the Curtain, I guessed that Jacob's ghost was imprisoned in the Cabin. This seems wrong now that we've seen him moving around freely off the Island. But whoever lived there clearly needed a body, so what about the Man in Black? He hasn't taken that form since his talk on the beach with Jacob. And the ghost in the chair sure resembles Silas Adams, a character from Deadwood played by Titus Welliver, the actor who also plays the Man in Black.

So why were Ilana and Co. bringing a body to the Man in Black? It's possible they're his pawns, but recall my speculation in Three Black Swans that Jacob wanted the Man in Black to find his Loophole. I think Jacob tapped Ilana to lead the dangerous mission of hand delivering the corpse in a box to help the Man in Black escape. When she found the ash circle broken and the Cabin empty, she correctly surmised that the Man in Black had already found an exit.

I believe the Man in Black escaped by temporarily possessing his faithful dog Cerberus. Their master-pet relationship is symbolized by Cerberus's canine name, the dog painting in the Cabin, and (ironically) Zombie Christian commanding Vincent the dog to wake up Jack. The relief carving of dog-headed Anubis feeding the smoke monster (yet another ironic reference to their relationship) suggests the Man in Black uses dead souls as Scooby Snacks.

Master and pet were reunited the same night Hurley stumbled upon the Cabin. The two figures he spied therein were Cerberus and the Man in Black. Somehow, maybe even with Jacob's help, the Cabin moved outside the ash circle, which previously kept Cerberus at bay like the sonic fence around the Barracks. The Man in Black then possessed Cerberus and walked out of the Cabin as Zombie Christian. The change in Christian's clothing symbolizes this possession.

Once the Cabin moved back inside the circle, however, the Man in Black was locked out by his union with Ceberus. Claire was his literal and figurative key to reentry. The Man in Black used her to break the circle so he could get back into the Cabin and claim to speak for Jacob when Locke sought directions in Cabin Fever, thereby initiating the Loophole. Claire eventually realized the truth and resisted her captor, making the mess that Ilana finds at the Cabin.

I suspect Jon G is correct that the ash circle is actually the remains of the statue of Taweret. It was destroyed some time after the Black Rock's arrival, probably by dynamite from the ship's hold. The same magic that kept Cerberus out of the Foot also prevented it from entering the Cabin. I'm guessing this will all be shown in a flashback that also reveals Richard Alpert killed the Man in Black, perhaps in the same explosion that destroyed the statue.

Richard's longevity wasn't so much a reward as a sign of Jacob's trust. He became a permanent firewall between Jacob and the Others. Remember how the Tapestry seemed to surprise Ben? That's because it was his first time inside the Foot -- and for good reason. Ben's loss of "innocence" to Cerberus as a child connected him with the Man in Black, who became privy to everything Ben knew. No wonder Jacob never spoke directly with Ben.

For decades, Jacob communicated with his people solely through lists. And that raises one last whackadoo speculation for you all everybody to consider. Remember how Other Tom mentioned that Jack wasn't on Jacob's list? Mikhail said something similar about Kate and Sayid. Based on the foregoing, I believe the omissions were deliberate. Jacob wanted to keep their identities a secret from his nemesis until the last possible moment.

UPDATE: August 31, 2009

Many of you were understandably skeptical that Jacob chose Ilana to bring the Man in Black a body. And you're right that it's more likely she was -- as she says -- bringing the corpse "to show it to somebody" -- presumably Richard -- "so they'll know what they're up against." But Ilana and Bram also discussed the possibility of Frank being a "candidate." I think it's still possible, albeit less likely, that Lapidus and Locke were both potential "candidates" for the Man in Black to inhabit.

I can imagine Jacob telling Ilana: "You're my insurance policy. I'm planning to let the Man in Black escape to help facilitate his Loophole. But there's a very good chance fate will frustrate my plans. So I need you to bring a body to the Cabin in case my gambit fails." When Ilana saw Locke both alive and dead, she suspected that the Man in Black had already reincarnated himself. But she brought Locke (and Lapidus) to the Cabin just to be sure, before taking his body to Richard.

That brings me to another excellent question that several of you raised: how did Ben come to erroneously associate the Cabin with Jacob? I think the simplest answer is that Richard unwittingly misled him. If Alpert killed the Man in Black, he probably helped imprison the latter in the Cabin as well. Jacob may occasionally have needed to communicate with his nemesis and used Richard as a message bearer. Maybe Ben followed Alpert during one such trip to the Cabin.

But if you really want to follow me down the whackadoo well, consider the possibility that Richard deliberately deceived Ben. All it would take to arouse the latter's curiosity would be a warning to stay away from Jacob's forbidden Cabin of mysteries. Particularly for a little boy, the fascination would no doubt prove irresistible. I could even see Jacob ordering Richard to encourage Ben's relationship with the Man in Black to facilitate the Loophole.

Nor would it surprise me if the Others turned out to be pawns in Jacob's long con of the Man in Black as well. Richard equates Ben's loss of "his innocence" with becoming "one of us," implying the Others are all connected to some degree with Cerberus. So, what if the Others were always just a diversion to distract the Man in Black from Jacob's real game, which involves off-Island pieces like Ilana and Jack? Perhaps those primitive costumes and that decoy village are really metaphors for the Others themselves...

Time Travel Tidbits...

2009-08-17T11:29:00.003-07:00

We've been talking a lot about time travel. So I thought you all everybody might enjoy these scientific and pop cultural tidbits I've stumbled across recently in my research.

Over on Slate.com, there's a fascinating article by a physicist named Dave Goldberg articulating four "rules" for time travel in fiction. I agree with his general premise that, to be plausible, time travel stories should comport with the theoretical limits of physics. But some of his rules -- e.g., no parallel universes or alternate realities -- seem to go beyond that criterion. I'm actually e-mailing Dave, who's a friend of a friend, so maybe he can set me straight!

Speaking of the multiverse, I caught a bit of the time travel flick Deja Vu again the other night. The film itself is merely decent, but has a very clever premise involving three branching timelines, only two of which we actually witness. (If you've seen the film, check out the imdb faq for a nice explanation.) What really struck me was the familiar debate therein about whether it's possible to change the past. There's Denny, the voice of Whatever Happened, Happened:

Denny: Anything you're gonna do, you already did. Whether you send a note back, or don't send a note back...it doesn't matter. You can't change the past, it's physically impossible.

And then there's Shanti, proponent of what I've been calling the Tangent Timeline possibility:

Shanti: That's not necessarily true. Branching Universe Theory holds you can do...
Denny: Ohhh... Branching... Universe... Theory... ohhh, no no no.
Shanti: Alright, I'll show you. The traditional view of time is linear, like a river, flowing from the past towards the future.
Doug Carlin: But you can change the course of a river, right?
Shanti: Exactly. Introduce a significant enough event at any point in this river and you create a new branch, still flowing toward the future, but along a different route. Changed.
Denny: Yeah, but that river is the Mississippi and we're lobbing what amounts to a pebble into it. That's a very few tiny ripples in a kind of big body of water, don't you think?
Shanti: Traditionalist.
Pryzwarra: Say we do create this new branch. What happens to the old one, to this one?
Denny: [referring to Shanti] ... Ask the radical!
Shanti: Well, it might continue parallel to the new branch. Most likely, it ceases to exist.

Notice how they use the same general analogy as Faraday of throwing stones into a river. Notice as well how they specifically cite the Mississippi to make their point. As I mentioned in the comments to WHH+CC=??, there's an interesting parallel between manipulation of the LOST timeline and human efforts to control the flow of the Mississippi using artificial levees. Nature keeps trying to "correct" our intervention by shifting the river to a different course.

Finally, on the subject of course correction, I stumbled across an interesting tidbit from the 2002 film adaptation of H.G. Wells's classic, the Time Machine. In the film, the protagonist is driven to invent a time machine by the murder of his fiancee during a mugging. Through time travel, he's able to prevent the fatal mugging, but his wife still dies in a carriage accident. The timeline, in other words, is mutable but self-healing. The parallel to Ms. Hawking's speech re course correction is striking:

MS. HAWKING: Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to.

Obviously, Deja Vu's analogy of throwing stones in a river is hardly a revolutionary metaphor for changing the future. And the Time Machine isn't the only time travel narrative to feature a self-correcting timeline -- I've also mentioned the example of Fritz Leiber's sci-fi classic, the Big Time. Still, the similarities are strong enough that I have to wonder if the parallels are really intentional references by the writers.

UPDATE: THE PHYSICIST RESPONDS

As I mentioned, I've been e-mailing Dave Goldberg, the author of the Slate piece, and I'm pleased to report he's replied! Here's the e-mail I sent Dave critiquing his piece:

I read your Slate piece with great interest but also some confusion. I agree with your general premise that, to be plausible, time travel stories should comport with the theoretical limits of physics. Still, I can't help thinking some of your rules go beyond that criterion. If you have some time, maybe you can set me straight?

Your first rule is no parallel universes. This is where I have the most questions, but before we get to the science, one minor pop cultural quibble. Is it really accurate to describe Back to the Future as illustrating the "many worlds" approach? I think of it as an example of the grandfather paradox because Marty nearly succeeds in erasing himself from the timeline. Seems to me that can only happen if there's one mutable timeline, rather than many running in parallel.

OK, onto the science. Your rationale is that that GR predicts only one universe. But is it really fair to limit plausibility to what GR says? My understanding is that many time travel solutions (e.g., Thorne's traversible wormholes) are semi-classical. They exploit the tension between GR and QM (e.g., by positing matter with negative energy density) which is why Thorne himself thinks a theory of quantum gravity will probably make wormhole travel impossible.

In fact, doesn't resolution of Polchinski's paradox require use of Feynman's "sum over histories" approach? I realize that's not synonymous with Everett's "many worlds" interpretation of QM. To this layperson's eye, however, they look pretty similar. (Or does "sum over histories" still imply only one universe because all others cancel themselves out?) Regardless, it seems kind of arbitrary to exclude a valid interpretation of QM like "many worlds" from time travel fiction.

I actually agree with your second rule, but have questions concerning three and four, where you talk about Novikov's self-consistency principle and free will. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't self-consistency merely a conjecture? As I understand it, Novikov showed there's always at least one self-consistent trajectory through spacetime, but simply assumes that nature will enforce it. Is there some further proof of the latter point?

Relatedly, you suggest that Polchinski's paradox shows we have no free will where changing the future is concerned. But I thought the billiard ball hypo was meant to bracket questions of free will, not resolve them. I'm comfortable philosophically with the compatibility of free will and determinism. But I'm skeptical of Novikov's analogy to the way physical forces constrain us. Isn't there a difference between an identifiable force like gravity and some mysterious "hand of God" that stops a time traveler from killing Hitler?

And here is Dave's thoughtful and illuminating reply:

1. BTTF. They are _very_ inconsistent about how they treat time travel in that franchise. The model Doc Brown makes clear in BTTF2 has timelines diverging from one another. He even draws a diagram on a chalkboard showing two timelines with a common origin. This is very consistent with the parallel worlds model. What's more if we ignore the (terrible) detail of Marty disappearing in BTTF1 (which can't be justified under any circumstances), it's also clear that they use a parallel universe model. If not for that, then who prevented Marty's parents from falling in love? It's a stretch, perhaps, but because it's the most famous of the genre, I had to do my best interpretation. Since I'm discounting the model, I figure some liberties could be taken with whether BTTF follows it exactly.

2. 1 Universe/Many in GR. I was contrasting what GR says to "parallel universes." Here we get into a bit of terminology, since you may have heard of something called the "multiverse" or somesuch which contains many "universes" (small u). In standard inflationary cosmology, the Universe (big U) can, indeed, split into many (perhaps infinitely many) bubble universes (small u). But these universes (small u) have nothing to do with Everett's many worlds. They may, in fact, have significantly different physical constants, matter concentrations, sizes, fates, etc. More importantly, we only refer to them as separate universes (small u), because there is no physical way to travel from one to the other. They are, however, separated from us in an entirely spacelike way (not, e.g., in separate "dimensions" or any such nonsense).

3. Polchinski/Sum over Histories. Sort of. Feynman's path integral approach, many worlds, the copenhagen interpretation. All of them predict the exact same thing. They're just different ways of writing down the integrals. Mathematically, they all come out the same. Most physicists prefer the Copenhagen interpretation, but I should point out that even advocates of the "many worlds interpretation" don't actually believe that we can visit those other worlds. In each case, all we're doing is figuring out a transition probability. What is the probability that the ball gets blocked? A: 0.

4. Self-consistency. Self-consistency is at the center of both GR and QM. Note that this isn't the same as causality. However, both theories are (at their heart) a set of differential equations which combine source terms (mass, pressure, electromagnetic fields) on one side, and a result (curvature of space-time, evolution of wavefunctions) on the other. It's a conjecture, but only in the sense that we conjecture that (within their appropriate regimes) QM & GR are correct. While it's true that we don't have a theory of quantum gravity, it would be hard to imagine that self-consistency wouldn't be enforced. Besides, my central tenet was to describe physics as we currently understand it. Saying, "perhaps a new theory will make this all wrong," is a bad approach.

5. Free Will/Determinism. True, it's a bracket. But a very important one. If you accept the single timeline model (which is justified by the rest of the discussion) then the determinism falls into place. What stops you from killing Hitler (I call Godwin's Law!)? It's more of a question of "what stopped you?" since it already happened. I don't think it likely that your gun just jams or you're unable to pull the trigger. More likely, you probably wouldn't end up with a gun pointed at Hitler in the first place. (Note: An analogy follows. Don't take it literally). I like to think of it like this. Suppose you were God, and you wrote a time travel narrative like this:

1935 - You invent time travel

1939 - Future you jumps out of the time machine and kills Hitler.

1939-1945 WWII

1945 - You get in your time machine with a machine gun.

Clearly, this timeline makes no sense (as WWII wouldn't have happened, and further, not knowing about how evil Hitler is negates your need to kill him), so it gets "revised." This is what I mean when I say it's an analogy. There's no meta-time, so the "revisions" are really just new attempts to make a self-consistent history.

Attempt#2

1935 - You invent time travel.

1939 - Future you jumps out of the time machine but can't kill Hitler for some reason.

1939-1945 WWII

1945 - You get in your machine with a machine gun.

Better, but still flawed because of step 2. What stops you?

Attempt#3

1935 - You invent time travel

1939 - Unbeknownst to (future) you, the exit ramp of your time machine gets locked in a room.

1939 - Future you jumps out of the time machine and are trapped in a room.

1939-1945 WWII

1945 - You get in your time machine with a machine gun.

We could go further, trying to make the history ever more plausible. Indeed, one way of thing about QM is that the most plausible scenario is the one most likely to have actually occurred.

You can read more of Dave Goldberg's thoughts on the physics of time travel and related subjects at the website for his forthcoming book A User's Guide to the Universe.

You Broke the Rose...(Minor Spoilers)

2009-08-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

The new ARG (follow the clues at the LOST ARGs) apparently revolves around the exploits of comedian Paul Scheer, who presented Darlton with the velvet polar bear painting at Comic-Con. In his most recent video, Paul sneaks onto the lot at ABC studios. In the course of his wanderings, Paul finds several items of interest, including a script that reveals the title of the Season 6 premier may be "LA X" (sic).

But what really set my LOST sense tingling was Paul's discovery of a bright red rose, which I believe is a Dark Tower reference. In Stephen King's epic series, the Dark Tower serves as a kind of keystone for all realities in the multiverse. The Dark Tower exists in our reality as a single rose growing in an abandoned lot in Manhattan. If the rose is harmed, the Dark Tower will be as well, imperiling all creation. Note how Paul says "You broke the rose" after his cameraman damages the flower.

Darlton have said they're huge Dark Tower fans and are reportedly involved in the film adaptation of the series. Let's say detonation of the bomb creates a tangent timeline in which Oceanic 815 lands safely at LAX, rather than crashing on the Island. Could Paul's comment about breaking the rose be a hint that this apparent paradox threatens to destroy both the reality we've seen and its alternative?

WHH+CC=??

2009-08-06T08:49:00.005-07:00

In navigating the interwebs, I've noticed major disagreement over how the principle of Course Correction (CC) relates to the rule of Whatever Happened, Happened (WHH).

I've always assumed they were related -- i.e., CC is the mechanism that enforces WHH. When someone deviates from whatever happened (e.g., Jack refusing to operate on Little Ben) the universe course corrects (e.g., Kate taking Little Ben to the Others) to prevent the future from changing in paradoxical ways. These small but consistent changes to the timeline could explain persistent mysteries like the changing picture frames at the home Miles visits in Confirmed Dead.

Here's the picture frame before Miles goes upstairs to bust the drug dealer's ghost:

And here's the new picture frame after Miles comes back down the stairs:

I was surprised to learn that others see CC and WHH as totally unrelated. Under their view, WHH precludes any changes to the past, even small ones, rendering CC irrelevant. When Daniel visited Desmond outside the Swan, that was what always happened -- Desmond's sudden recollection in the future was simply a storytelling device. Similarly, Desmond's meeting with Ms. Hawking in the jewelry store was what always happened -- Desmond just forgot.

So, what do you think Sickies? What is the relationship, if any, between WHH and CC?

See You in Another Life...

2009-07-27T08:18:00.001-07:00

Sadly, my 98-year old Grandmother Shirley passed away over the weekend. She was a real cool lady, and a fan of Lost, at least until the facacta time travel started. Rest in peace, Gram. I'll see you in another life...

Thoughts on Comic-Con...(Spoilers)

2009-07-23T10:25:00.028-07:00

Preview:

The LOST panel at Comic-Con takes place this Saturday. I'll update this post with any videos, along with my analysis, when they're available. In the mean time, I wanted to share some quick thoughts about what I hope to see when Team Darlton take the stage one last time to turn our whackadoo wheel off its axis.

First, I'm confident we'll see characters like Shannon and Charlie who have died on the show. Rumors have taken wing that Lost is inking deals to bring back former cast members. Many take this as evidence of an impending reboot of the timeline. As I suggested in A Little Push, however, I think it's actually the reverse.

I believe Hurley and Co. will flash back to 2004, permitting the show to revisit some familiar post-crash scenes from their perspective. We may even see them actively effectuate some of these scenes -- e.g., Hurley will plant Charlie's guitar, Jack will leave the stones with Adam and Eve, etc. -- while dodging past versions of themselves.

Second, and more speculatively, I hope to see some reference to DHARMA or the Hanso Foundation. As I also suggested in A Little Push, I think the defining conflict of the show is Jacob's Tapestry vs. Valenzetti's Equation. If that's right, we should see some reference to Ann Arbor, MI or Copenhagen, Denmark.

On that note, has anyone seen the new Lost University website? It looks official -- could it be the start of a new ARG? That's it for the preview -- stay tuned for updates and analysis!

Review:

So much for the last LOST panel at Comic-Con. To be brutally frank, I expected more. Despite the not-so-subtle hints of an alternate or rebooted timeline, I'm more skeptical than ever of that possibility. In fact, Saturday felt to me like a big joke at the expense of the reset speculation, the way Dave poked fun at fans who think it's all a dream.

But the videos depicting an alternate timeline made one important point that I'll revisit shortly. Our Losties could have erased the future we've seen even if they actually didn't. Apparently, the general rules of "whatever happened, happened" and "course correction" don't apply to Hurley and Co. crashing on the Island as passengers of Oceanic 815.

Let's briefly review what we saw in the three videos. Each was an advertisement, the first for Oceanic airlines touting a Qantas-like record of no crashes in thirty years of service from 1979-2009. Obviously, since the world knows Oceanic 815 crashed in 2004, the video must reflect a reality in which the crash never occurred. (If you can't see the first clip, hit refresh on your browser.)

Similarly, the second video is a commercial for Mr. Cluck's in which Hurley describes his good luck since winning the lottery and how he brought his chicken recipe back from Australia. Oceanic 815 landing safely can't, of course, explain the change in Hurley's luck, but it's clear he never went to the Island in this timeline.

The third video advertises an episode of America's Most Wanted featuring Kate. It reveals that, in this alternate reality, she inadvertently killed an innocent man, instead of her stepfather Wayne. Here again, the change can't be traced to Oceanic 815 landing safely. Like Hurley, however, Kate never crashed on the Island in the reality depicted.

Three videos, all depicting a different reality from the one we've seen. Surely this must mean Juliet's detonation of the bomb reset the timeline, right? Not so fast. We all know the Comic-Con videos aren't canon. They don't actually show what's going to happen. There was no second Bunny 15, and Dr. Chang never tried to contact the future with Faraday's help.

These videos are a chance for the writers to introduce important concepts without worrying about continuity. The Orchid outtake raised the possibility of physical time travel. The Chang video introduced the general rule of whatever happened, happened. The latest commercials imply that the crash of Oceanic 815 is an exception to this rule.

But why even introduce the possibility of a reset if nothing has actually changed? It's because most viewers currently see only two possibilities -- either total reboot or strict whatever happened, happened. Taken together, the Comic-Con videos suggest a third way that transcends this opposition. The timeline we've seen is malleable and must actively be preserved.

I still think the most logical way to make this point -- and to bring back deceased characters like Charlie -- is to show Hurley, Jack, and Co. choosing to effectuate familiar post-crash scenes. Remember, the show must still pay off mysteries like Adam and Eve's stones and Charlie's guitar case. I can't see that happening if the timeline is totally reset.

A related scenario focuses on the role of the dead, or rather their ghosts. What is their purpose, and whom do they serve? Maybe they're guardian angels of a sort. I could see some poignant scenes like in Wings of Desire where Juliet watches over Sawyer, nudging him in the right direction, but unable to make contact. Are these angels the whispers? Sawyer's boar?

It's also possible that, instead of flashbacks or flash forwards, we'll periodically flash sideways to an alternate reality in which the Island never influenced our Losties' lives. What might their existence look like if they were never touched by Jacob? It's an intriguing question, albeit one that undercuts my belief that Jacob's intervention is necessary to save the world.

All of which is to say, don't fall for the head fake, fellow Sickies. I'm calling it now -- despite how things may look, there is no reset. The message of Comic-Con is that the timeline we've seen can change, even if it hasn't. Whatever happened, happened doesn't apply to events like the crash of Oceanic 815, which make up the threads of Jacob's Tapestry.

PS: Reading you all everybody's perceptive comments reminds me of one more speculation I meant to share. It's possible that detonation of the bomb creates a "tangent" timeline in which those touched by Jacob never went to the Island. The analogy is to Donnie Darko, where a paradox involving a jet engine yields an unstable tangent universe.

(DONNIE DARKO SPOILERS)

As in the film, resolution of this storyline may require destruction of the tangent timeline. If so, perhaps Jacob's chosen ones are like Donnie -- living receivers charged with correcting the paradox. We may even see the world end in this tangent timeline, offering vivid illustration of what happens if Jacob's chosen ones fail to answer his call to destiny.

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

A Little Push...

2009-07-03T12:48:00.008-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about Jacob's Tapestry. At a very basic level, the act of weaving obviously symbolizes fate. But beyond the obvious, was Jacob weaving the fate of all humanity, or some subset like our Losties? I believe it's the latter, albeit with implications for the former. Jacob's Tapestry depicts a very special destiny in which his chosen ones save the world.

In Three Black Swans, I suggested that the human race is destined for extinction, as symbolized by the Valenzetti Equation. Jacob wants to avoid this end but realizes the universe is too powerful for him to directly alter the fate of all humanity. He can, however, reweave fate on a more limited scale, bringing people to the Island to create a butterfly effect that indirectly changes human destiny, a process symbolized by the Tapestry.

If the notion of a higher power guiding characters to some special fate sounds familiar, it should. That theme runs through the works of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick, two major influences on the show. I'm reminded of how the Overlook Hotel brings Jack Torrance and his family to serve its evil ends in the Shining, or the way the monoliths guide Dave Bowman to humanity's evolution beyond the infinite in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Really, though, no work better exemplifies this theme than the Odyssey, which Jacob's Tapestry quotes twice. The gods in Homer's epic poem often intervene in the lives of mortals to shape their destinies. There's also a specific parallel to Penelope's loom, with which she daily weaves and reweaves the funeral shroud of Laertes, delaying her impending remarriage the way Jacob delays our inevitable extinction.

The catch is that, as Jacob tells Hurley, those interwoven in the Tapestry "always have a choice" whether or not to answer destiny's call. This may be because Jacob believes in free will, or because the usual rules of course correction don't apply "when you're making the thread" yourself. Unlike the Valenzetti, therefore, the Tapestry is not a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like Jacob says to Jack, sometimes it takes "a little push."

Notice how the Tapestry shows an Eye of Horus with many arms reaching out to touch nine human figures. This clearly refers to scenes where Jacob makes physical contact with nine characters at pivotal moments in their lives, presumably to give them a little push. In prior posts, I've discussed the significance of the pen he gives Little Sawyer to finish the letter, but other encounters illustrate this dynamic as well.

Take Jacob's visit to Little Katie, which does more than save her from becoming Winona Ryder. Jacob also buys Kate the "New Kids on the Block" lunchbox that she and Tom Brennan use for their time capsule. Years later, Kate returns to Iowa and digs up the capsule with Tom. His death forces her to flee to Australia, where Marshall Mars catches her. Jacob's push thus ensures that Kate is a passenger on Oceanic 815.

Or consider Jacob's aforementioned visit to Jack. Their encounter takes place just after Jack has the "count to five" experience (i.e., cutting his patient's dural sac) that he relates to Kate following the crash of Oceanic 815. Not only do Jack and Kate bond over this story, they later use it as a code during her escape with Sawyer from Hydra Island. Here again, Jacob's push seems perfectly timed to effectuate events we've seen.

Jacob's fingerprints are similarly all over Jin and Sun's improbable wedding and Locke's survival of an eight-story fall. The marriage of a humble fisherman's son to the daughter of a rich tycoon is unlikely in class-conscious Korea. And I suspect Locke should have been completely paralyzed -- or even killed -- by his fall. I've explained before why these three Losties are integral to Jacob's plan, so it's no surprise he pushes them.

Jacob's intervention stops Sayid from being killed like Nadia. Or does he stop Sayid from saving Nadia? Either way, it's to push Sayid back to the Island so he can help cause the Incident. Ultimately, it takes Ilana to get Sayid on Ajira 316, but her full role in Jacob's reweaving remains unclear. Ilana's push may relate to that face bandage she's wearing when Jacob visits her in the hospital. What do you suppose happened to her scars?

Then, of course, there's Hurley. I've speculated previously that DHARMA's top chef will quantum leap to 2004, so he can plant Charlie's guitar, which is Jacob's version of the compass paradox. But I'm confident Hurley has an even more important role to play in effectuating the Tapestry. Now that Jacob is cremated, and we know Miles can't converse with ghosts, Hurley may be Jacob's only means of communicating with his people.

Nine chosen ones whose fates Jacob has rewoven with his magical Tapestry to "save us all" from Valenzetti's mathematical prophecy of extinction. Faith vs. science, free will vs. fate, Jacob vs. the Man in Black. As we head into the final season of Lost, it's the Tapestry against the Equation. Can you imagine two more fitting metaphors for the meta-conflicts of the show?

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Three Black Swans...

2009-06-03T11:02:00.014-07:00

In the Key to the Whole Game, I suggested that the Island is a place where the laws of quantum mechanics apply at a macroscopic scale. Like Doc Jensen at EW.com, I believe this makes the Island a source of miraculous Black Swan events that change what's "supposed" to happen against all odds. So far, we've witnessed two such miracles, and I'm guessing we'll see a third before the show is done. These three Black Swans are integral to Jacob's plan to save us all.

The Valenzetti Equation. Before going further, let me clarify one important piece of mythology you may not have picked up from the show -- the Valenzetti Equation. Here's all you need to know courtesy of Team Darlton themselves from a 2009 interview with E-Online:

The Hanso Foundation that started the Dharma Initiative hired this guy Valenzetti to basically work on this equation to determine what was the probability of the world ending in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Valenzetti basically deduced that it was 100 percent within the next 27 years, so the Hanso Foundation started the Dharma Initiative in an effort to try to change the variables in the equation so that mankind wouldn't wipe it itself out.

The Valenzetti is a mathematical expression of our destiny as a species. When someone saves the world on Lost, they do so against the dictates of fate. The universe then course corrects, resetting the doomsday clock. That's what the Man in Black and Jacob debate with the Black Rock off in the distance. Since ancient times, Jacob has brought people to the Island to create Black Swan events that postpone our extinction -- an exercise the Man in Black finds futile. None of what we've seen was supposed to happen, but all of it must or "God help us all."

Black Swan 1: The Incident. The first miracle is the one just depicted in the Season 5 finale. DHARMA was supposed to cause an extinction-level event by drilling at the Swan site, but our Losties changed that by causing the Incident instead. Daniel was right that Ms. Hawking lied about this being their destiny. They're "variables" precisely because the Incident wasn't supposed to happen, so "whatever happened, happened" doesn't apply. Eloise's lie was a noble one meant to preserve the fragile time loop in which our Losties save the world.

That's also why Jacob touches several key players in the Incident at pivotal moments in their lives. Because this isn't their destiny, he can't simply depend on course correction to get them where they need to be. Maybe the best example is when Jacob gives the pen to little James. If the latter doesn't finish that letter, chase the real Sawyer to Australia, crash on the Island, travel back in time, and pull a Han Solo, the assault by Jack and Co. on the Swan site most likely fails. The world ends right there in 1977.

Black Swan 2: The Fail-Safe. The second event is also one we've already seen. The Incident merely reset the countdown to catastrophe. The Swan button protocol was supposed to finish the job, but Desmond saved the world in defiance of the Valenzetti by activating the Fail-Safe. The catch is that, like the Incident, none of this was supposed to happen. When Desmond traveled back in time, he too was a variable who could have changed things despite the rule of "whatever happened, happened." Don't you dare rewrite history, Desmond!

That's why Ms. Hawking intervenes to prevent Desmond from proposing to Penny. As with our Losties, Eloise lies when she implies it's his destiny to go to the Island. Here again, however, her lie is a noble one meant to preserve the miraculous timeline in which the world is saved. If Des doesn't choose to go to the Island, press the button, and turn the key, then as Ms. Hawking says, every single one of us is dead. The Swan implosion sucks up everything on Earth, ending the world in 2004. As Jon G notes, that's exactly 27 years after the Incident.

Here's the really hellish part. Ms. Hawking realizes that Black Swans 1 and 2 are inextricably linked by the time loop we've witnessed -- it's all one big predestination paradox. Our Losties can't cause the Incident in 1977 unless Desmond turns the key in 2004, and vice versa. Eloise, moreover, only knows about these events because of Daniel's notebook. That's why she sends Daniel to the Island despite knowing he will die at her own hands. Ms. Hawking sacrifices her only son to complete the causal loop that saves the world.

The Man in Black's Loophole. The Man in Black knows this loop is necessary and cynically exploits it to his advantage. He uses the Smoke Monster to make a copy of Christian's body, then tricks Claire into helping him enter the Cabin. This allows the Man in Black to claim to speak for Jacob when Locke arrives looking for help. The Man in Black instructs Locke to move the Island, but omits crucial information on how to do so. When Ben turns the Wheel off its axis, the Man in Black uses the resulting time skips to get Locke off the Island and plant the notion that he must die.

All of this is the Man in Black's plan to to create the Loophole that enables him to kill Jacob. I think the rules of their game are simple. Neither player can kill the other -- the Man in Black must persuade someone else to do the deed. Jacob's death, moreover, must take place inside the Foot, where only his Chosen Ones can enter -- notice how even Richard stops at the door. That's why the Man in Black goes to such elaborate lengths to obtain Locke's corpse. The Man in Black needs to copy the body so he can enter Foot as Locke and incite Ben to murder.

It's so diabolical when you think about it. The Man in Black knows that, even if Jacob and Eloise discover his plot, they can't stop him for fear of disrupting the delicate chain of events leading to the Incident and Fail-Safe. So confident is the Man in Black that, as Zombie Christian, he actually directs Locke to find Eloise knowing she has to send Locke's body back to the Island with the Oceanic 6 to ensure they end up in the past. What the Man in Black fails to realize is that Jacob has been running his own long con to create Black Swan number three.

Black Swan 3: The Omega Point. The third miracle is one we're about to see. If I'm right about the Valenzetti, the Fail-Safe simply delayed our extinction until no later than 2031. Jacob hopes to end this vicious cycle for good by creating the Omega Point. The term was coined by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe a global collective consciousness that he believed we're evolving towards as a species. The concept is quite simiar to the new-age Gnostic notion of the Supermind that I described in 108: Restoring the Lost Sun.

The clue to Jacob's objective is the book he reads while Locke falls in the background. Everything That Rises Must Converge is a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor, who took the title from Teilhard's description of the Omega Point. Ironically, O'Connor's stories feature characters who exhibit the sort of bias and prejudice that the Omega Point aspires to overcome. The book works well as a metaphor for Jacob's plan to permanently cure what the Man in Black described as humanity's tendancy to fight, destroy, and corrupt.

Before that can happen, however, both Jacob and the Man in Black must die. The Island is a Vast Active Living Intelligence System that regulates our biosphere -- basically, the brain of the world. Like the human brain, it has right and left sides that should work together as a unified whole. Unfortunately, some ancient trauma gave the Island what amounts to Dissociative Identity Disorder, creating two opposing personalities, light and dark. Jacob and the Man in Black aren't supposed to be perpetual adversaries. Their division prevents our evolution as a species.

The only solution is to wipe the planetary brain clean and start from tabula rasa. The Man in Black believes the murderous Loophole is all his idea. But Jacob sees it coming a mile away and uses the Loophole to make both of their deaths a fait accompli. He manipulates the Man in Black into assuming Locke's physical form, which leaves the latter vulnerable to being killed. As Locke, moreover, the Man in Black has publicly declared his desire to kill the Others' beloved leader. No wonder he doesn't seem particularly triumphant upon kicking Jacob's body into the fire.

When Jacob and the Man in Black are dead, two new avatars must take their place. To heal the Island's division, however, they must transcend the opposition of light and dark. For this reason, I believe Jacob and the Man in Black's replacements will be a man and woman in love. My inspiration here is Aristophanes's account of love in Plato's Symposium. Once, according to Aristophanes, human beings were round creatures with two heads. Fearing our strength, the gods split human bodies in two. Love is the desire to make yourself whole again by finding your other half. Kind of like the Yin-Yang.

I'm guessing, moreover, that the happy couple will be two children of the Island we've already met. One half is Aaron, who was conceived off the Island but born on it. The other is Ji-Yeon, who was conceived on the Island but born off it. Remember what Sun tells little Ji-Yeon on the phone? "I met a new friend for you in America. His name is Aaron." I believe that East will eventually meet West and fall in love. Everything that rises must converge on a Lost wedding between Aaron and Ji-Yeon before 2031. Our survival as a species depends on it...

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Three-Sentence Theory Challenge...

2009-05-19T08:55:00.001-07:00

I got this idea from a poster on the fuselage.com. Can you express your theory of what's happening on Lost in three sentences or less? Aphorisms, metaphors, and analogies are welcome, run-on sentences are not. Here's my own attempt:

1) None of this was supposed to happen, but all of it must or "every single one of us is dead."

2) Both players, light and dark, must die to end the game for good.

3) Aaron and Ji-Yeon are the Omega Point.

Thoughts on the Incident...

2009-05-13T18:01:00.023-07:00

I love so many things about Lost. But what I appreciate most is the way it always stays fresh by shifting ground just when I've found solid footing. Think Ben talks with Jacob? Wrong! Believe Bram and Ilana are the next generation of DHARMA? No soup for you! Suspect that Charlie Widmore's war will be between DHARMA: TNG and the Others? System Failure! Like some reality-tv cliche, I've been boldly proclaiming that I see the picture on the box of the show. As the Donald would say:

Let's begin at the beginning because the game changing scene for me, like many of you apparently, was the very first one of the episode. A lot of people are calling the Man in Black "Esau," which makes sense given the biblical connection to Jacob. But my suggestion for the Man in Black's biblical nickname would be the "Accuser" given his resemblance to the Accusing Angel (in most translations, Satan) who appears throughout the Old Testament as a persistent doubter and critic of humanity.

A great example is the Book of Job, which is framed by a divine wager over human worth. God brags about the devotion of his subject Job. The Accusing Angel counters that Job is so devoted because God has rewarded him with many possessions, a family, and good health. Ever the pessimist, the Angel bets that Job will renounce God if these things are taken from him. Eager to prove him wrong, God accepts the bet and gives the Angel permission to get "Guantanamo" on poor Job.

Remarkably, Job refuses to break even after his property is destroyed and his children are slaughtered. The Accusing Angel cynically notes that a man will give up everything to save his own skin, prompting God to authorize still harsher measures. The Angel takes Job's health, covering him from head to toe with painful boils. Job resists but eventually cracks, cursing the day he was born. Job's friends rebuke him, insisting he must have done something wrong to deserve his horrible plight.

Finally, God appears as a whirlwind and admonishes them all for presuming to understand his motives. In a series of brilliant yet disturbing passages, God illustrates the inadequacy of human metaphors to describe his divine design. The lesson is that bad things sometimes happen to good people for reasons our puny human minds just can't comprehend. His point made, God restores Job's lost health, family, and possessions, plus a little extra for his pain and suffering.

Like the Accusing Angel, the Man in Black is apparently cynical and pessimistic and about humanity. He seems convinced that our nature is to fight, destroy, and corrupt. Like God, Jacob is seemingly optimistic and determined to prove the Man in Black wrong. There's even a Jobian parallel in Ben, who becomes leader of the Others only to have his people, family, and health taken from him in horrible ways. No wonder Ben finally attacks Jacob like Job rebukes God.

The Man in Black accuses Jacob of bringing the ship -- presumably the Black Rock -- that we see off in the distance. Not surprisingly, Jacob doesn't deny the accusation. Like the Eye of Horus in his tapestry, he reaches out and touches people, drawing them to the Island. And why does Jacob do this? I think a clue to his motives can be found in his comment that the world "only ends once" and "anything that happens before that is just progress."

Jacob and the Man in Black are debating the fate of humanity. Without Jacob's intervention, the world would surely end, it's just a question of when. The Man in Black wants Jacob to stop postponing the inevitable because humans just aren't worth it. Jacob insists we're capable of progress and keeps bringing people to the Island in hopes of finding the Omega Point, which will save us once and for all. I'm guessing this is a very old debate between them -- one the Man in Black knows will never end unless he kills Jacob.

Jacob's conduct throughout the episode is consistent with this reading. He touches our Losties at pivotal moments in their lives to keep them on course for the Island, where they have roles in his plan to defy fate. Notice how several of the people he visits -- i.e., Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, and Sayid -- play key parts in causing the Incident. The Sawyer encounter is particularly instructive. If he doesn't finish that letter, chase the real Sawyer to Australia, crash on the Island, travel back in time, and pull a Han Solo, the assault on the Swan site probably fails.

Notice as well how closely the Incident resembles the Swan implosion, right down to the flying metal objects and bright flash of light. That's more than mere narrative parallel. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that Desmond's activation of the Fail-Safe generated an electromagnetic pulse much like Juliet's detonation of the fission trigger. Bottom line: both events saved the world against all odds, in defiance of the Valenzetti. That's two we owe Jacob...

So who are Jacob and the Man in Black? I have some ideas, but first let me note one more relevant Old Testament connection. In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jacob wrestles with a mysterious figure (sometimes said to be the aforementioned Accusing Angel) on the night before being reunited with Esau. The story of their battle is often interpreted as a metaphor for Jacob's internal struggle with his own doubts and mental demons. You might say Jacob was wrestling with his bad twin.

Here's where things get a little whackadoo. I'm sticking with my speculation that the Island is sentient, like Stanislaw Lem's Solaris or Philip K. Dick's VALIS. The twist is that some ancient trauma damaged the Island's giant brain. The result was two distinct personalities: one light, one dark. Jacob and the Man in Black are avatars that represent these two opposing sides of the Island's identity. (And before you say avatars don't eat, remember that Dave craved tacos.) Jacob was right that Hurley isn't crazy. It's the Island that's lost its mind...

This brings me to the other people whom Jacob visited -- Ilana, Locke, Jin, and Sun. Since none of them played a direct role in causing the Incident, I suspect that Jacob has other parts in mind for these four. In fact, I think we've just witnessed Locke's real purpose, which was to provide a loophole for the Man in Black to kill Jacob. You read that correctly -- I think Jacob wanted to die. He saw the Man in Black's move coming from a mile away and exploited it for his own ends. Hence the Obi-Wan Kenobi quality to Jacob's death.

I think Jacob has concluded that the Omega Point can't occur until they're both dead. The rules prohibit them from killing each other. I'm betting, however, that whatever loophole the Man in Black exploited to kill Jacob now leaves him vulnerable to a similar fate. He's standing in the shadow of the statue, having just orchestrated the murder of the Others' beloved leader. Someone loyal to Jacob will eventually figure this out and avenge Jacob's death. I'm guessing that part is reserved for Ilana.

That leaves Jin and Sun. Notice how they're the only ones Jacob visits as a couple, at the moment of their improbable union. It's because their role in his plan necessarily requires two actors: conceiving little Ji-Yeon. Jacob realizes that the only way to cure the Island's madness is to substitute two new avatars who somehow transcend their opposition. One will be Ji-Yeon, who was conceived on the Island but born off it. The other will be Aaron, who was conceived off the Island but born on it.

Mark my words, those two will eventually meet and fall in love. Everything that rises must converge on a Lost wedding between Aaron and Ji-Yeon some time before 2031. And while I'm making predictions (you'd think I'd learn my lesson, but no...) here are a few more from the Whackadoo Well for your reading pleasure:

Whackadoo Prediction 4: Richard is from the Black Rock. He may be its Captain, Magnus Hanso, but more likely he's the first mate based on his apparent role as advisor to whoever leads the Others. The Black Rock's arrival is the first step in Jacob's elaborate long con of both destiny and the Man in Black, as symbolized by Richard's ship in a bottle in Follow the Leader.

Whackadoo Prediction 8: Nothing we've already seen on the show has changed as a result of detonation of the Jughead's fission trigger. Flight 815 crashed on the Island just as it always did -- there is no reboot yielding a grandfather paradox. If that's where the show were going, I believe we would have received some small but clear indication of its direction. Something like ~~Cort's~~ Cuthbert's horn -- those of you familiar with the Stephen King's Dark Tower series will know what I mean. Instead, we got just the opposite in Miles's sardonic comment that Jack and Co. might be causing the Incident by trying to prevent it.

By that same token, it's equally wrong to say this was all simply a case of whatever happened, happened. I maintain that our Losties, like Desmond, changed what was supposed to happen. It is this altered timeline, in which they save the world, that we've witnessed thus far. Because neither the Incident nor activation of the Fail-Safe was supposed to happen, the general rule of course correction doesn't apply. Both events must thus be actively preserved. If anything changes, as Ms. Hawking said, every single one of us is dead.

Whackadoo Prediction 15: Some of those present for the Incident will survive, having been transported by the blast back to Island's the future. That's why Jacob's last words were: "They're coming..."

Whackadoo Prediction 16: Juliet will wake up naked in the jungle just like Desmond did following the Swan implosion. Okay, that's probably some wishful thinking on my part, but the Desmond parallel gives me hope that she, too, survived the blast. If so, look for her consciousness to time travel like Desmond's, and for her to join those who meet Jacob at some pivotal point in their pasts.

Whackadoo Prediction 23: Sayid is dead. Yes, the Island has healing powers. But even on the Island, you don't come back from a gut shot -- ask Ana Lucia, Libby, and Colleen. I wish it were otherwise, but I've had a sinking suspicion for some time that Sayid's story is basically done.

Whackadoo Prediction 42: Hurley survives but must make a pit-stop in 2004 before quantum leaping back to the future. His job? To actively effectuate events we've seen by hanging Charlie's guitar from a tree branch, where Locke will tell Charlie to look, as he did back in Season 1 during House of the Rising Sun...

That's all for this recap, you all everybody. Thanks again for your incredible comments and participation, which make running Eye M Sick so rewarding! Be sure to check back here during the hiatus for further whackadoo speculations. I'll also be posting over on I Hate My DVR my new blog about television generally. If you like shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and Breaking Bad, I suspect we'll have lots to talk about...

As always, you're welcome to post anonymously, but please identify yourself somehow, so I can distinguish between anonymous posters. Thanks!

Lost Drinking Game...

2009-05-13T08:41:00.003-07:00

Thanks to my friend JZ, here's a great Lost drinking game to play while you watch the season finale:

Take a sip when…

Someone’s got daddy issues
Juliet makes that smirky face
Desmond says “brothuh”
Sun says “husband”
Sawyer gives a nickname
Hurley and Myles talk about time travel
We get a close-up of an eye
You want to punch Jack
Smokey shows up
Roger knocks something over
Horace backs down
We see or hear either the numbers or the name Valenzetti

Take a long drink when…

Anyone other than Sawyer gives a Sawyer-esque nickname
Anyone dead shows up (NB: not Locke)
We see the undestroyed statue
Locke kills anyone
Sayid kicks some ass
A hydrogen bomb goes off
Geronimo Jackson music plays
Characters skip through time
Chang/Candle/Halliwax gives a different name
Ben employs irony
Walt or Aaron show up

Finish your drink when…

Bernard, Rose, Vincent or Claire show up
We get an “other” flashback (including Richard)
We get a major “reveal” involving Widmore
A polar bear shows up
Any character meets him/herself
The writers wink about a continuity error or use technobabble to explain something
Anyone speaks Latin. Or Egyptian
Zombie Christian changes shoes

Finish the bottle when…

Richard takes a cotton ball and wipes off his eyeliner
Anyone mentions Daniel’s tie
Any of the O6 dies
Kate becomes at all worthwhile
Nikki, Paolo or Libby show up

Take a hit when…

Cheech or Chong show up