LOST Recon, first thoughts

Time for some wacky theorizing!

That's the mood I'm in after this Sawyer-centric episode (and it was good to see Sawyer after these last few Sawyer-less episodes).

After all, this episode seemed to prove one thing, it doesn't seem that it was Jughead that split the timeline.

Think, if Juliet detonating Jughead is what split the timeline, then I doubt that Frank Linus (Ben's dad) would be talking all wistfully about how they should have stayed on the Island. I mean, I can buy that after he shot Sayid, he grabbed a recently returned young Ben and they hightailed it off of the Island, but under the circumstances (the craziness going on and the fact that Ben had just been shot) I doubt they would view the Island with that sort of wistfulness.

But I think something even more revealing is the fact that Miles (also Sawyer's partner in the LA X timeline)talks about his father working at the museum (with C.S. Lewis aka Charlotte). There is no way that Miles's father could have survived Juliet setting off Jughead, therefore, there is no way, in my opinion, that the LA X timeline was created by the bomb.

So, what else could have split the timeline?

Or is the timeline not split at all?

Time to talk about one of the prominent theories making the rounds right now.

This theory views the flash-sideways not as an alternate universe the way that I've been explaining and dealing with them, but as what they are calling an "epilogue". Proponants of this theory believe that we are viewing what will happen when the LOSTies figure out how to finally get away from the pull of the Island.

So, you can run with that if you want, but personally, I don't buy it at all.

I still think that somehow the timeline was split, something happened that caused an alternate reality to be created and that these two realities are running concurrently (and bleeding into each other as well since only one can survive).

But instead of Jughead being the cause, I think that Ben killing Jacob is what caused the rift.

Imagine that Jacob is somehow outside of time, imagine that somehow Ben killing him when he did kept Jacob from doing something pre-1977 that then created this new timeline.

In the original timeline, Jacob touched Sawyer when he was writing the note. Not only that, but he gave Sawyer the pen that he used to write the note. That note could have been what caused Sawyer to become the con-man that he is in the Island timeline, obsessing over that note, over the name Sawyer. If there was no Jacob to touch him, no Jacob to give him the pen to write that note, perhaps Ford (because he isn't Sawyer in this timeline) waits until after he becomes a cop to try and find out who Sawyer is.

And perhaps Jacob had more to do with the situations that our LOSTies were in then we originally thought. Perhaps Jacob kept the real Sawyer, Anthony Cooper, Locke's dad, on his life of crime, which led to Cooper throwing Locke out of a window. It seems to me that something has turned Locke's dad away from his life of crime, because in the LA X timeline, there is no ill will between Locke and his dad.

It seems to me as if perhaps the whole Jughead situation was actually a red herring and actually had nothing to do with the splitting of the timeline. It was Jacob's death that caused our LOSTies to get ripped back from 1977, not Jughead. It was Jacob's death that caused the split, not Jughead.

Or I could be totally wrong and it could be something else we don't even know about.

Until Next Time, I hope that the previews aren't lying when they say we'll get some Richard reveals next week. The title is Ab Aeterno which is Latin for "Since the beginning of time" or "Since a very long time". Have to admit, that does sound like Richard!

LOST LaFleur, first thoughts

As always *SPOILERS* if you aren't caught up!

Wow, I loved this episode!  I think in part because Sawyer is my favorite good guy character.  (Overall I think that Benry is probably my favorite character, but that guy is EVIL.  Like Evil League of Evil evil.  He makes Bad Horse look like a saint.)  (That's a Dr. Horrible reference people, keep up.)  I also love episodes that have emotional cores, and this one really did.  We open with the pain and anguish that Faraday feels for losing CS Lewis.  In the middle of the episode we get the sensational scene involving Juliet's return to her dream job, the one that the Island stole all her passion for.  Remember how excited Juliet was about delivering babies back in the episode Not In Portland?  And how happy she was to get to once more bring joy to someone when she told Sun that the baby was Jin's in the episode D.O.C?  But mostly for the last 6 years, Juliet has hated the idea of babies being born.  Apparently she believed that the inability of anyone to give birth on the Island was somehow her fault.  The scene in which she helps Michelle Dessler give birth and tells Sawyer and Jin that she's okay was Emmy worthy stuff.  (Speaking of Michelle Dessler, I wonder if Tony knows that somehow she's on the Island.  I say he leave Jack to saving the world and he comes and gets his wife back.)  (That was a 24 reference, seriously you guys, keep up.)  And finally the episode finishes with Sawyer's lies thrust back in his face as he sees Kate across the grass and knows that while he may in fact love Juliet, he is by no means over Kate.  All three of these emotional touchstones grabbed me.  Great stuff.

I also loved this episode because it really got my mind racing again in the theory department.  There was some good stuff in this episode for that.

Real quick, we'll start with the statue, since that is where the episode started.  It definitely had an Egyptian feel to me, perhaps an Egyptian god.  (Mainly cause of the ears.)  I wonder, however, if the Island might in fact be Atlantis?  (Not my cat, but what she was named after, the ancient LOST civilization.  (Do you see what I did there?)  Just a thought.

My real theorizing came about do to a couple of events in this episode.  One, dead bodies don't time shift, as evidenced by CS Lewis staying put while Faraday left (or vis versa if you go by how Faraday put it, and I think that was interesting), and two, the fence doesn't stop Alpert or those like him.  What does this add up to?  The Others are dead.

Just like Locke, just like Christian, just like Claire, Alpert and the Others are dead but are walking and talking and interacting like they aren't.

Oh, and by the way, I'm going to fit the Smoke Monster into this theory also.  So be ready for that shortly!
Dead bodies don't jump.  The Others don't jump.  I've really been wondering (since the time shifting began) why none of the Others jumped with Locke but Juliet jumped.  Alpert says his people weren't affected, why not?  When Juliet sided with the LOSTies did she give up her not affected by time shifts card?  And if Juliet wasn't immune to the time shifts like the Others because the Island knew she was no longer an Other, why didn't Locke get to be immune?  After all he had fully changed allegiance to the Others at that point.  Nope that theory just didn't hold water.  Juliet wasn't immune because she was different then the other Others.  At least those that Alpert had with him.  Perhaps they were all truly native to the Island, as in they had been born there.  I think that this is partly true.  And for a time I believed it fully.

Okay, Alpert only brought those that were native to the Island with him from the Temple to save Benry.  Therefore people like the stewardess (who was a survivor of 815) and anyone who has come to the Others but wasn't born on the Island are skipping through time like our LOSTies now.

The problem is, they were all at the Temple, and our time skipping took us to the Temple, and there was no one there except Smokey.  (Don't worry, I'll get to him).

So, none of those Others were time skipping even though we know that they weren't born on the Island.  And not only that, but both Miles and CS Lewis were born on the Island and they were skipping like children hopped up on too much sugar.

So, why is that?  Well, it is because dead bodies don't jump, and the Others (the real Others, a group into which Juliet had not yet been initiated) are dead.  I don't think that it's an honor you get automatically, because while being dead might not sound awesome on the cover of it, on the Island it has its privileges.  Even besides avoiding annoying time skips.  You can appear and disappear in random places throughout the Island (as evidenced by Harper showing up and disappearing a little too convincingly) which is cool, but more importantly, YOU DON'T AGE!  That's right, Alpert doesn't age because he doesn't live.  Aging is for living people.  He looks exactly the same in 1954 as he does in 2008 because he's dead.

Eko in the episode The 23rd Psalm).  I think that Smokey is also like a computer, it holds the essence of a person so that when they die the Island can reanimate them to "live forever" and to serve the Island's needs if they are worthy.  (Perhaps the lists that Jacob is so fond of making are people that the Island might find worthy of receiving this "gift".)  And while it can be done elsewhere if it is an emergency (read: Claire) I think that the place this happens is usually the Temple.

And, of course, being dead, there wouldn't be any need to fear some wacky Dharma sonic fence.
So, what do you think about my "The Others Are Dead" theory?  Work for you?  Why or why not?
Just to bring it up because if I don't someone will ask me about it, if the LOSTies are in 1974 as Lostpedia says they are, then how could that be little CS Lewis because Locke said she was born in 1979 after he had gotten all of the Boat Folk info from Benry (who got it from Michael)?  Well, it is probably a continuity error on the part of LOST, but after her mom lied about her time on the Island, why wouldn't she have lied about when she was born also?  It happens in Little League all the time.  In other words, I'm not that worried about it.

Until Next Time, I also loved this episode because not only was Locke cured of his paralysis by coming to the Island, apparently Herc was also!  (Dude, I really hope that he told Street about this magical Island where they could walk again!) (Friday Night Lights people.  You really need to start recognizing these references on your own.)

LOST Something Nice Back Home, first thoughts

Very mixed bag episode.

The flash forwards stuff was awesome, and the Island stuff not involving Dr. Jack was amazing as well, but the Dr. Jack Island story line seemed beyond pointless.

I mean, after the flash forward phenomena, any "danger" the Oceanic 6 face isn't going to be very suspenseful.

Not only that, but we're in the midst of a Dr. Jack flashforward in the very episode.  We know that he's going to be fine in the future, because we're seeing it before he ever goes under the knife.

Very poorly plotted to be the main Island storyline.

It did give Rose the opportunity to comment on how the Island was making Dr. Jack sick just when they needed him the most, but that was really the only way that the impact of Dr. Jack's health on the survivors was looked at at all.  I think that should have been the point, how their leader getting sick was effecting the other LOSTies.  The actual surgery and such should have been greatly downplayed and the effect said surgery was having on everyone else should have been the focus.

If that had been the case, this would have gone from a so-so episode to one of the best, because everything else in the episode was brilliant.

Let's stay on the Island, but go to the other side where Sawyer was leading Claire, Aaron, and Miles back to the beach.

There definitely seems to be some Sawyer/Claire romantic foreshadowing going on.  Sawyer got all jealous when Miles watches Claire from a distance and imposed a restraining order on him, which caused Miles to do nothing when Claire up and left their camp site to follow none other then Christian Shephard, her and Dr. Jack's father.

Do you all remember my prediction as to why Dr. Jack seemed to be wary of hanging with Aaron in the Kate episode Eggtown?

I said that I thought Sawyer and Claire would see Christian, Claire would say "That's my dad" and Sawyer would say, "That's Dr. Jack's dad" and then Dr. Jack and Claire would know that they were brother and sister.

Well, it looks like I might have been pretty close.  If Sawyer goes after Claire and finds her with Christian, then realization happens, but another possibility is that Miles sees Christian somewhere and tells Sawyer (and or Dr. Jack) that it is Claire's father, causing realization to happen.  Either way, by the flash forward future, Dr. Jack knows, because he says to Kate, "You're not even related to him," which implies that he himself is.

Apparently, the mercenary baddies escaped Smokey more or less intact, giving us the opportunity to know that we can at least trust Frank the pilot, as he protected our merry little band from the Freighter Mercenaries.

I'm beginning to think that the four on the Island (C.S. Lewis, Faraday, Miles, and Frank) and Michael on the boat are the only Freighties that we can trust.

Alright, let's head to the future.

A whole lot was given to us in this flash forward.

We got to see how Dr. Jack goes from happy Island survivor to bearded, suicidal, drug addicted Dr. Jack.

We know now why drunk (and drugged up) Dr. Jack told the doctor to go upstairs and fetch his father in last season's finale, because by that point he'll probably have had quite a few conversations with Christian.  As of yet, Dr. Daddy has only gotten to say "Hello, Jack," but I'm sure it won't be long before we get to "You've got to go back to the Island, Jack".  (Leading to Dr. Jack's plaintive cry, "We've got to go back!" from last year's season finale.)

It's nice to know that Charlie is still visiting Hurley.

Okay, let's talk about the phone call that got Dr. Jack all riled up.  I have no doubt that Kate was talking to Cassidy, Sawyer's ex and the mother of his child.  If you'll recall, he got a large amount of money while in prison working on a con with the warden and used that money to set up a bank account for his daughter Clementine.  Kate and Cassidy already know each other as well.  I think that Sawyer wanted Kate to check on his daughter and make sure that Cassidy and Clementine were doing well and were provided for and Kate is honoring that request.

You know Sawyer would never want Dr. Jack knowing that he was a concerned father.  Can you imagine what that would do to his reputation?

Anyway, it is nice to know that Sawyer stuck on the Island still fraks with the Dr. Jake/Kate relationship.  Even displaced in time and space, this love triangle stays strong.

Did you notice what Dr. Jack said about Sawyer though?  He said that our favorite con man chose to stay behind, chose.  Very interesting.

Until Next Time, I wish that the "Dr. Jack has surgery" storyline hadn't dominated the episode, because then this episode would have been brilliant.

LOST The Man From Tallahassee, first thoughts

I have got to talk about the episode of LOST that aired tonight. While many of the episodes this season have been weak (especially in view of the heights this show reached in its first season) tonight's episode blew away (like an exploded submarine) anything this show had ever done previously. I'm truly at a loss for words, but as a writer, I will attempt to fight through it and say a little bit about what I thought.

There are spoilers ahead, so if you're behind on LOST you should stop reading.

Okay, first of all, the big question that was actually answered this week (because lately the show has been promising answers while delivering crap, the security system you just have to go over instead of anything on the smoke monster, or stuff we pretty much already knew, Claire's dad is Jack's dad) is how Locke got paralyzed, and there was potential for this to be a big letdown. To put it mildly this was the exact opposite of being a big letdown. First of all, we got more of the Locke and his father storyline which is one of the best flashbacks the show has to offer. To have his father be directly responsible for his paralysis and through trying to kill him, no less, added a huge dimension to Locke's character. One we will get to see through due to the fact that Benry Gale has Locke's dad locked up. I haven't been this excited about the show after an episode's conclusion since the first episode, which I watched on DVD, allowing me to go ahead and immediately watch the next one when necessary. Man I wish it was already next week.

Secondly, Benry Gale told us a little more about the island. I don't know if we can take the idea of the "magic box" that manifests your every desire 100% literally, but the idea at least is intriguing. It would also explain quite a lot, the Horse Kate saw and Charlie's miraculously undamaged guitar to name just a couple. One of the things that I've wondered is if this were strictly a sci-fi premise, in that there is a scientific (if possibly far-fetched) explanation for everything on the show, or if some part of the island was in some way mystical, I'll get to that in a bit.

Taking just the first two seasons into account, I was beginning to lean towards a completely scientific theory. In fact I put the beginnings of one forth earlier this season. I argued that the show was a purgatory themed experiment, troubled people (and every character is certainly that) are forced to face their mental demons and come to terms with who they are, after which they were given their freedom in the form of death. I made this argument based on the belief that there is no other way off of the island. We still aren't sure that there is another way off of the island. It's possible to get to the island, but are we sure that anyone has ever left it? In the "Not in Portland" episode that brought us back from hiatus, we saw Ethan off of the island, but isn't it possible that he was a recruit that had yet to get to the island when he was working on getting Juliet there? Benry Gale told John tonight that the submarine was a comfort for those he had recruited, a sign that they could leave if they wanted, even though, he hinted, that was a lie. Maybe it isn't that Benry feared he would appear weak if he let Dr. Jack go, but he feared the mutiny that would occur if the non-native Others then realized that they could never leave. The real hitch in this theory of course is Michael and Walt. What is their fate, a question that from what I've read won't be resolved until next season, but until the show tells me otherwise I'm sticking with the belief that they did not get safely away. I still like this theory, but now I believe that the island plays a larger (and more mystical) role.

I believe that Darmha planned on using the Island for experiments of some kind, but when they started their experiments, they were unclear on A) exactly what they were dealing with in terms of the island, and B) the fact that the island was already inhabited. The island allowed Darmha to set up its stations, including somehow tapping into the electromagnetic force of the island which caused the need for the button, but retaliated after Darmha's usefulness had ended by releasing some sort of virus that wiped out the remaining Initiative members, as well as the rest of Russeau's team.

Whether the Purgatory like experiments are taking place on behalf of whoever is in charge of the Others (Benry's hinted at boss) or by the Island itself remains to be seen, but the fact that the Island is somewhat mystically sentient seems clear to me now. (However each week everything has the potential to change.) The Island has its own purpose, as evidenced by John being out of a wheelchair, and Benry Gale being in one. It seems to either answer to a higher power then Benry Gale or to be a higher power into and of itself. Desmond's flashes and even Hurley's getting the van to start through pure faith could be further evidence of the Island's mystical power. Maybe Desmond needs to unlearn what he thinks he knows about the certainty of his visions in order to finally save Charlie's life; maybe he, like Locke before him needs to believe in the power of the Island.

These are some of the things tonight's episode caused me to think about. An interesting theory I read, which I believe gained credence in tonight's episode, is the theory that Locke's father is the real Sawyer, the con-man who caused the death of Cast-away Sawyer's parents and turned him into the man Sawyer/James Ford is today. While in earlier episodes we saw Locke's father perpetrate cons, he was never specifically referred to as a con-man until tonight. Not only that, but we also learned that he's changed his name at least once, so why couldn't he have at some point gone by the name of Sawyer? If this is true, then I fell like this character has some tough times ahead of him, because not only will he have to answer to Locke for his past deeds, but I have to believe Sawyer will get a shot at him as well.

Until Next Time, This season took a huge turn for the better tonight, and I am greatly looking forward to see where it is headed next. If you are behind on, or God forbid have never watched, LOST, what are you waiting for? The first two seasons are on DVD and the entirety of this season is available at abc.com.