REBOOT: EPISODES 29-32

LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 29-32 (Days  47-48)

Hurley worries that his new job will make him the most unpopular person in camp. Sawyer, Jin and Michael learn that their captors are actually survivors from the tail section of the plane. Claire finds the message bottle from the raft, making her and Sun fear the worst. Sayid’s exploration of the Hatch raises suspicions.

The Tail Survivors trek back to the Island’s South Beaches but encounter trouble as Michael breaks off by himself to find his son, Walt. Meanwhile, at the main camp, Sun  is heartbroken as she realizes that she has lost her wedding ring.

When Shannon sees Walt in her tent, she becomes convinced that he needs her help. Meanwhile, Sawyer’s bullet wound starts to become infected, prompting the tail-section group to pick up their pace, and risk cutting across the jungle where the Others  attacked the Tailies before. Michael, Jin, Sawyer and Ana Lucia’s group journey towards the 815 camp. Shannon sees Walt and she is shot and dies in the arms of Sayid.

In “The Other 48 Days,” the story of the tail section survivors, from the moment of the crash to the "present day" on the Island is reviewed. Ana Lucia, realizing that she survived a plane crash, becomes the de facto leader of an eclectic group of survivors. However, the newly formed community is put through extreme stress as they become targeted in attacks by other people living on the Island.

Science:
Clinical psychology. Libby lies to at least two people about her background while at the Tail section camp. She said she was a clinical psychologist, and later a drop out psychology student. She was neither in the flashbacks, but a mental patient with Hurley.

Although modern, scientific psychology is often dated at the 1879 opening of the first psychological laboratory,  attempts to create methods for assessing and treating mental distress existed long before. The earliest recorded approaches were a combination of religious, magical and/or medical perspectives.  In the early 19th century, one could have his or her head examined, literally, using phrenology, the study of personality by the shape of the skull. Other popular treatments included the study of the shape of the face—and mesmerism,  a treatment by the use of magnets. Spiritualism and "mental healing" were also popular.

By the second half of the 1800s, the scientific study of psychology was becoming well-established in university laboratories. Although there were a few scattered voices calling for an applied psychology, the general field looked down upon this idea and insisted on "pure" science as the only respectable practice. This changed when Lightner Witmer treated a young boy who had trouble with spelling. His successful treatment was soon to lead to Witmer's opening of the first psychological clinic at Penn in 1896, dedicated to helping children with learning disabilities. Ten years later in 1907, Witmer was to found the first journal of this new field, The Psychological Clinic, where he coined the term "clinical psychology," defined as "the study of individuals, by observation or experimentation, with the intention of promoting change.”

The island itself is intentionally trying to promote change in the characters by pushing them toward events and mysteries to solve. The connection with the electromagnetic energy of the island, the experimental stations and the perception that the survivors are being “observed” by the Others, are all classic elements of clinical psychology.

Improbabilities:
Sawyer surviving septic shock from infected gunshot wound in the jungle with no antibiotics  or treatment for days.

Mysteries:

The “Other” Others. When Eko and Jin hide in the underbrush when a party of 12 “natives” crosses their path while searching for Michael, the rag cloth and barefoot Others included children, with the last one dragging along 815 survivor Emma’s teddy bear. There has been a debate of whether these people were part of Ben’s group or a splinter group since they were patrolling part of the island far away from the safety of the Barracks.

Cindy the Flight Attendant. Was she an Other on the plane, or was she taken hostage then brainwashed or infected to become an Other? She appeared to be genuinely happy when Bernard found the radio (means of rescue). And if she was a pre-crash Other, why did Ben said Goodwin as a spy? Why did she lie when she said Nathan was not on the plane, when he was? Was Cindy the one who created “the list?” For several seasons, fans then questioned where was Cindy and the captured children?!

Themes:

Crazy. Several mentions in these episodes of characters saying they are not “crazy.”  But in flashbacks, we know several were crazy, including Hurley and Libby.

Change. “Change is good,” says Island Locke. But in his past life, change and acceptance was extremely hard for Locke.

Mirror universe. The Tail Section story line is a mirror image of the 815 story line (which some fans believed was the beginning of major filler episodes).  Ana and Nathan’s power struggle is like Jack and Locke. Goodwin and Nathan as being spies in the camps.
 
Clues:

Apollo candy bars are a talismans of the Island magic. an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune or something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects.

Some characters showing ESP traits like Rose knowing Bernard is safe and alright. It may foreshadow the TPTB concept of “mental time travel” where a person’s mind, like Desmond’s, sees the future which affects his decisions in the present.

Ana tells Eko that there is “no survivors - - - this is our life, get used to it!”

Visions. Shannon sees “ghost” Walt numerous times, which she interprets as a warning of impeding danger, but in her end runs toward the danger.

When Kate takes a shower, she says the water had sulfur in it. Sulfur has been equated to the fire and brimstone symbolism of hell.

Discussion:

“Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.”
-- Thomas Fuller

Every main character on Lost was running away from something in their flashback past life. How characters faced adversity in the past was by quitting, as in the backstories of Hurley at Mr. Cluck’s or Jin as the doorman. Negative reinforcement brings about negative results as part of self-loathing by a person.

The hard lesson to be learned by these individuals that change can be good, as Island Locke told Claire. If one separates flashbacks as its own life cycle realm, the island as its own life cycle realm, and the flash forward/sideways world (purgatory) as its own life cycle realm, one can see that the character’s inability to meet their fears in their flashback lives is being re-created on the island to see if the character can change. In Shannon’s example, when her father was killed in a car crash, she was left alone and felt worthless. On the island, after Boone is killed, she is left alone and feels worthless until Sayid makes a connection with her and she helps the survivors with the radio message. But when on the island she accepts the change of being Sayid, she is killed. It appears in the island time, once you answer your fear, you die - - - game over. In Sayid’s case, when Shannon is killed, his revenge and anger from his flashback life are amplified against Ana.

The Sayid-Nadia relationship was the hardest thing most fans had to deal with when in The End, Sayid wound up with Shannon in the after life. In reviewing the reruns, and separating each time as a separate existence, we can see why Sayid winds up with Shannon. In the first time period, Sayid as a boy has no real connection with Nadia, as she is in a higher class family. Sayid as an adult had no feelings for Nadia when she is captured and tortured, it is more a Nadia crush on him (or manipulation for freedom). So when Sayid is searching for Nadia in the Island time period, it is guilt not affection. In the sideways world, the past lives are re-created in purgatory as a “holding” life until the characters are “awakened” to the knowledge of their Island lives. In the sideways world, Sayid still does not have Nadia; he is on the outside looking in. But when he is awakened, he realizes the only woman he physically loved was Shannon, and that is the connection that allows both of them to move on together.

The idea that elements of a person past is being re-created and re-worked from the flashback world, to the island world to the sideways world is like moving characters through a maze of levels in a computer game (one theory of the Lost premise.) Or it is the journey of a “lost” soul which needs to meet and conquer the deepest fear in order to be enlightened and “change” in order to move forward to the next life (Egyptian after life type theory). In either case, the Island is the testing ground for the mental aspect of a person’s life.


Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Vincent.  He is Walt’s yellow Labrador Retriever.  Vincent originally belonged to Brian,   Walt's adoptive father. After the crash, Walt’s concern was for his dog - -  a strong emotional memory. Shortly after the crash, Vincent, who had been in the luggage compartment,  was searching the jungle.. Whilst doing this, he heard a whistle. It was Christian, who told the dog to go wake up his son, Jack.  As Vincent ran off towards Jack to do this, Christian stated that Jack "had work to do.” Vincent then continued running until he found Jack, who had just regained consciousness. As Jack awoke, he saw Vincent running towards him through the jungle and stopping to look at Jack. Vincent then continued exploring the jungle.

Vincent has led survivors into highly emotional and dangerous situations. Vincent woke up the survivors with his barking. Michael and Walt didn't know what had caused this but it was revealed to be the boars invading the camp; they were attracted to the scent of the dead corpses in the plane.(A symbolic theme of life from death)

Whilst trekking through the jungle, Vincent detected something and started to bark. As the sound of rustling in the jungle got louder, Vincent suddenly barked madly. Walt was unable to keep hold of Vincent, and he ran away. Walt chased after him, dropping the dog’s leash in the process. When Walt got rescued by his father and Locke from a polar bear later on, Walt told Locke that Vincent had run away. However Locke assured him that he would come back, just as he did before.

Vincent was chased by Michael in the jungle yet another time, which caused Michael to find Sun burying her secret driver’s license.  When Michael tried to comfort her, they nearly kissed, which would upset the Sun-Jin dynamic, but Vincent showed up barking just at that moment.

When Walt left with Michael to seek rescue on the raft, he placed Vincent in the care of Shannon so she would “not be alone.” Vincent initially tried to swim after the raft after it launched, but he shortly returned to the shore. In the following days, Vincent served as a source of comfort and distraction for Shannon, who had recently suffered the loss of her step-brother, Boone. (The Dog as nexus of point of death.)

At the caves, Vincent disappeared into the jungle, Shannon went after him saying she  couldn't lose the dog, as it was the only thing that someone asked her to do. So Shannon and Sayid ventured in the jungle to look for him. They found Vincent sitting in the jungle. When they attempted to catch him, Vincent ran off, and Shannon ran after him. She then heard whispers and saw a dripping wet Walt, who disappeared when Sayid came towards her with Vincent. The question is whether Vincent is shape shifting into illusions and/or is the agent to drive characters to event points in the Island time line.

Shannon continued caring for Vincent, right up until her sudden death, which was caused by her racing in the jungle trying to find the dog.  Before her second vision of Walt she fed Vincent. After Shannon saw Walt a second time, she attempted to use Vincent to track him by smelling Walt's shirt but he led her to Boone’s grave. He then led Shannon into the jungle but ran off just before her death. Later, Vincent returned to the beach to see Michael had returned and was reunited with him.
Egyptians were already burying dogs in the same way they buried humans with plenty of goods for the afterlife. In dynastic Egypt, dog mummies were made with great care and expense. At Hardai, the sacred city of the god Anubis there are sprawling dog cemeteries.When thinking of dogs as deities few come to mind as quickly as  Anubis, the god of the underworld, at times is represented clearly as a dog, at other times he appears more like a jackal.  Anubis was one of the most ancient of Egyptian gods closely associated with funerary rites and the afterlife. He was guide to the dead and the one who weighted the souls of the deceased against the feather of Maat (truth and order). Socrates referred to Anubis when he swore "by the Dog of Egypt."

In the End, Vincent does not leave the Island but remains by Jack’s side. If Vincent is the manifestation of an underworld entity “leading” souls through their personal journeys, it would explain the underlying premise of the show.
Last lines in episodes:

EP 29:

MICHAEL: Okay, it's okay. She's good.
[Shot of Rose putting an Apollo bar in her pocket, holding Bernard's ring and smiling.]

EP 30:
JIN: [handing Sun her bag]
In Korean: Here you are.
[Then they gaze into each other's eyes. And it's love at first sight.]
[On-Island - Sun on the beach crying and happy and scared.]

EP 31:
SAYID: Shannon! Shannon.
[Shannon turns around to reveal a wound in her gut. She collapses into Sayid's arms and dies. Then we see Ana standing there with the gun. And shocked looks on Jin and Michael's faces. Sayid looks like he has murder in his heart looking at Ana.]

EP 32:
ANA LUCIA: You think they're okay? Let's find out. Hit me.

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

Three realms of premise to consider: Reality-Survival. Surreality-Fantasy. Death-After Life Journey.

If total reality, as Robinson Caruso meets the Lord of the Flies action-adventure drama of surviving on a deserted island; the premise is simple: what would you do as part of the castaways?

But with references to The Numbers, curses, mysteries, and crazy mental torment, a Stephen King world of horror-fantasy could explain that the unknowing participants are test subjects in cruel human experiments to test good, evil and free will.

But with supernatural elements quickly imposed on the Island, that would change the premise dramatically. In death, if one does not let go the baggage of their past life, they can not move forward toward heaven. It is a simplistic notion of the after life is not a good vs. evil punishment place, but a place where one conquers their personal fears head on, accepts them and then changes their personality for the better. Example, Hurley. He is an introverted, overweight person who sees his life as a dead end. He must divert to fantasy because he cannot cope at times with reality. He has been institutionalized in a mental facility. But the agent of change in his flashback world is the lottery ticket. Instead of embracing the change of wealth, he hides the secret and the Numbers mean that he is cursed by endless bad luck. He goes further into a shell because he cannot cope with the thought of success. On the island, he becomes more extroverted until he is tested with the inventory of the Hatch pantry. He realizes that everyone will “hate” him as the food czar. It is this change he cannot accept. He turns a positive event into a negative reality.

An ancillary theory was developed that the whole Island was Leonard Sims’ Mental Home for imaginary friends. Leonard was a long time patient at the mental hospital where Hurley and Libby were in-patients. He had the means to observe all the other patients, and had access to other areas such as psych/prison ward. All these faces, memories, stories could be jumbled together to create a layered mental illness fantasy place nightmare that is LOST. Leonard was lost in his own mind, and kept bringing in elements from his life in the hospital into dark island setting. It is the mirror image of the ghost elements that the 815 survivors see on the island as illusions. In a reversal, the 815 characters are the illusions in Leonard’s head. And the sudden “they lived happily ever after” ending to the series in the church, is the type of child like fantasy story a mentally challenged person like Leonard could create to cope or end his nightmare.

Leonard had to have been probed by medical specialists for years. He was aware of the techniques, protocols, experiments and theories that were given to him. From the studies conducted on himself, Leonard could internally reverse those same principles to create his own fantasy world to the study of individuals he met or observed at the hospital, and put them through various journeys to see if they could “change.” For this could be the only way Leonard himself could change and end his own mental problems  was to have closure for all his important imaginary friends through the use of foundational elements of clinical psychology.

POSTING NOTE: Due to work changes, I may not be able to post updates on Tuesdays after Monday night marathon G4 reruns, but updates will occur later in the week.