REBOOT EPISODES 57-60

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.

LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 57-60 (Days 73-79)

Desmond’s mental flashes or visions continue; he saves Claire from drowning and foresees Charlie’s death.  We learn about Desmond’s mind travel, and the show introduces the Widmore story arc and Eloise Hawking.

Jack bargains with Ben to keep Juliet alive. Isabel, the “sheriff” interrogates Jack. Kate, Sawyer and Karl return to the Island. The strange tale of Jack in Thailand with the exotic, mystery woman Achara is told.  Jack makes her tattoo him, even though she claims there will be "consequences."  The next day Jack exits his hut, but this time the Thai boy, who usually gives him soda, runs away from him. Chet and a group of Thai men approach Jack, uncover his tattoo, and mercilessly beat him.

Karl reveals that the Others live on the main island and only work on "projects" on the Hydra Island.  As for the children that were kidnapped, they "give them a better life." Kate asks "better than what?" "Better than yours," Karl responds.

Hurley confesses his fears and troubles at Libby’s grave. Hurley finds Charlie and gets him to reveal Desmond’s flashes and Charlie’s eventual demise. Hurley says it might be his fault because of his curse, but Vincent emerges from the jungle with a skeleton arm holding a key. This distraction forces Hurley chases Vincent until the dog drops the arm. Hurley takes the key which has a lucky rabbit's foot key chain attached and follows Vincent to an overturned van once used by Dharma.

At the camp, Charlie demands that Desmond tell him when he will die but Desmond informs him it doesn't work like that.

Sayid is upset with Locke’s plan to follow the “305” inscription on Eko’s prayer stick to navigate to Jack. Locke argues that it is all they have to go on. On the mission, Sayid goes to find fruit and hears a cow bell and finds the cow. Sayid is amazed to hear someone whistle for the animal. Through the bushes he spies a a small building with a communication dish, a horse and the man on the TV monitor - - - Patchy.

After circling the area, Sayid confirms to the group that the building is isolated, and that a satellite dish like that could broadcast for thousands of miles. He asks Rousseau if it is the radio tower that she had talked about, but she says she has never seen this place before. Sayid says he will approach unarmed, with the other three as backup in hiding. Danielle says that she had survived on the Island for so long by avoiding such confrontations.

 Sayid, Locke, Kate and Rousseau are introduced to the Flame station, a communication outpost to the rest of the world. They confront and subdue Mikhail (“Patchy” from the Pearl TV monitor) and Klugh, the woman who made the deal with Michael to get Walt back and leave the Island.

Patchy claims when the Cold War ended, and he later replied to a newspaper advertisement that read, "Would you like to save the world?" He joined the "very secretive, rich, and smart" DHARMA Initiative and came to the island eleven years ago. He was put in this station to communicate with the outside world. He says that everyone else in the DHARMA initiative died in a foolish attack they called “the purge” on a group they called “the Hostiles,” which we believe are the Others.  Mikhail survived by not getting involved and agreeing to a truce where he could stay behind as long as he did not cross a designated line around the valley so he will be safe. He says the Others weren't interested in the satellite dish because it hadn't functioned in years (which is a lie). He doesn't know who the hostiles are, but they were on the Island for a very long time before the Initiative or anyone else came.

Sayid and Kate climb down the Hatch ladder while Locke watches Mikhail's unconscious body upstairs. Locke, however, hears the computer asking for the next chess move and he goes to it, leaving his prisoner unsupervised. He finishes another game of chess and achieves a mate in 2, which the computer erroneously claims is a checkmate. A video of Marvin Candle appears and says, "Manual override achieved. For pallet drop enter 2-4. For station up-link enter 3-2. For mainland communication enter 3-8."Locke enters 3-8. A new clip is called up saying "The satellite dish is inoperable. Communications are down. For sonar access enter 5-6." Locke enters 5-6. A new clip says, "Sonar is inoperable. Has there been an incursion on this station by the Hostiles? If so, enter 7-7." Locke's finger aims hovers over the 7 key when Mikhail puts a knife to his neck from behind, stopping him from typing the second 7.

Klugh appears in the Flame basement. Sayid and Kate see the place is rigged with explosives wired throughout the entire underground room. Sayid sees a shelf lined with binders, one of which is a food drop protocol and another is an operations manual.  Kate investigates a closet area and is attacked from behind by Klugh. . Sayid arrives and tells Klugh to drop her gun. Kate hits her, saying she helped kidnap them and she knows where Jack is. Sayid asks Klugh if there are any Others there, but she acts unafraid, hardly intimidated by the rifle.

They take her upstairs and outside, where Mikhail has Locke at gunpoint. Mikhail offers a hostage exchange but John claims Mikhail wouldn't kill him. Klugh talks and argues with Mikhail in Russian while Kate, Locke and Sayid shout. Finally she orders him to "do it" and Mikhail shoots her in the heart. Mikhail is knocked over and Sayid points his gun at him. Mikhail tells him to finish it, but Sayid doesn't shoot.

Later, in the evening, Sayid takes Mikhail outside and calls Danielle. Mikhail says that he was never a member of DHARMA but that everything else he said was true, and that DHARMA did really attack the Hostiles. Sayid tells Danielle that Locke and Kate are gathering anything useful from the station and that now he has their ticket to the Others' location, where they will find Rousseau’s daughter, Alex, and Jack, and perhaps a way home. Mikhail refuses to lead them, but Sayid says he has a map of the cables, which leads to an area called the Barracks which he believes is where the Others are staying. Mikhail threatens to kill them the next time they let their guard down. Danielle says that since they don't need him, they should kill him.

However, Sayid says Mikhail is his prisoner and he will not kill him. Locke and Kate join them and Locke says he knows why Mikhail didn't want him playing with the computer. Suddenly the station explodes. Sayid demands to know what Locke has done, and Locke tells him that the computer said if there was an incursion to enter 7-7, so he did.  Sayid yells at Locke that he may have destroyed their only chance of communication with the outside world.

Science:

Mainstream science has not put any credence in the human’s mind’s ability to foretell the future.  However, some on the spirituality scale of research believe that premonitions can have a scientific basis.

In a laboratory at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in Northern California, psychologist Dean Radin approaches human experience with an open mind and experimental rigor. In a series of experiments that Radin describes as “presentiment,” participants are invited to see and feel into the future.

Sitting in a quiet, electromagnetically shielded room, Radin first measures the participants’ physiology. Using electrodes on their hands to study their autonomic nervous system, the scientist records how the experimental participants respond to emotional and calm pictures that are presented on a computer monitor in a random sequence. After each picture, the computer screen goes blank before the next picture is presented. As predicted, when participants see an emotional picture, their physiology shows more arousal than after the calm pictures. This is standard science. But more interesting to Radin and his colleagues is what happens to the physiology of the participants before they see the pictures. According to Radin, their physiology actually appears to anticipate the emotional stimuli up to five seconds before they see the emotional pictures. These researchers believe those subjective findings are the basis for their thesis on mental visions of the future.

However, critics believe that such conclusions lack objective and reliable controls to have any scientific merit. In an article published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Daryl Bem, a social psychologist from Cornell University, reported nine experiments involving more than 1,000 participants. The major goal of Bem’s research was to design precognition experiments to be as simple and transparent as possible, allowing others to easily replicate his results.

In these studies, Bem explores “time-reversing,” in which the cause-and-effect sequence in standard psychological experiments is reversed. In his recent paper, Bem reports evidence for precognition in eight of the nine experiments. In one study, for example, Bem used a conventional psychological paradigm referred to as “priming.” In these studies, participants are shown a picture so briefly that it is not perceived at the conscious level. Later, participants typically favor this picture over other control images because they had subconsciously seen the picture before actually “seeing” it. Then, he changed the usual order of events, and he observed that the participants actually preferred certain pictures before the participants were exposed to the subconscious priming.

Of course, the results of these experiments are not without criticism. Some debunkers question whether a paper on precognition should be published in a major scientific journal at all. Others argue that the results simply can’t be true because they imply that the established model of causality is not accurate or complete.

History is repeat with oracles and seers who claimed to have knowledge of future events. They were prized in some cultures by kings or priests, especially in predictions of matters of upcoming military battles. It may be as simple as a person being adept and extrapolating “new” information from a series of facts and observations to lead to a logical  “conclusion” to a future event.

Improbabilities:

Time travel. Desmond’s physics professor tells Desmond that there is no such thing. That Desmond “dreamed” a future of saving the world. That he is making up grand illusions to avoid the commitment of marriage to Penny. It is all in his head.

Jack spending more than one month in Thailand, “recovering from his divorce.” It makes no sense that an alleged dedicated doctor would give up his practice and fly to Thailand, to be marked by a woman whose name and ability is linked to “life.”

Mysteries:

Why the Others who purged the Dharma science teams are paranoid about maintaining the science stations and certain experimental projects?

Themes:

Life and multiple lives. Karl tells Kate that the kidnapped children have “better lives.” Is this an objective or subjective purgative?  There is a level of reworking or replaying one’s life (memories) in new, but similar situations (like upgrading in various game modes).

Hope. Hurley tries to start the van. He does so because he believes his fellow survivors “need a little hope.”

Clues:

When Jack ends an episode by saying, “That's what they say. It's not what they mean,” it is a reference to Isabel’s translation of his tattoo. But it is a clue  to the audience that the LOST dialogue does not sync with what the characters are plotting; misstatements and misdirection is standard operating procedure.

Achara claims to have the gift of sight to see someone's inner identity. She is able to "see who people are" and "mark them". According to Achara, Jack is "a leader, a great man" but this makes him lonely, frightened, and angry. He forces her to give him a tattoo, despite her protests that he is an outsider and she will get in trouble if she does. Her brother’s gang of Thai locals later batter Jack over the tattoo and demand he leave the country.

Isabel’s translates his Thai tattoo as  "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us." Jack replies, "That's what they say. That's not what they mean." Although the translation given by Isabel matches the impact of the tattoo during the episode's flashback, Isabel's translation is far too long for any combination of four characters and is inaccurate. The characters actually represent an eagle (hawk), strike beat or attack, long and sky. A correct interpretation according to lostpedia is "Eagles strike the wide sky" or, more simply, "The eagles fly upon the sky." A eagle is a symbol of freedom, and the sky could be representative of heaven.

A young girl unknown to Jack, Emma from the tail section, approaches the cage and has Cindy ask Jack how Ana Lucia is doing, Jack get angry and yells at Cindy to go. She and the Others leave, including a young boy, Zach, who hands his teddy bear to his sister Emma. This teddy bear reference is mirrored by Karl in his memories of staring up to the sky to name “stars” with Alex. Emma and Zach appear to “replace” young Karl and Alex in the Island story engine.

In Hinduism, “Achara” and “Dharma” are synonymous and mean "the regulation of daily life." Indeed Achara is often referred to as the Supreme Dharma.

Discussion:

“ Hope never tells us tomorrow will be better. ”
— Tibullus

LOST entered Season 3 with high hopes. Viewers were looking for answers, but instead we got more questions. The 815ers have all but given up hope of rescue since the Others have begun to terrorize them (for no apparent reason except for the unarticulated reason that “it’s their island.”) If the Others want no one on “their” island, then why don’t they let the 815ers leave?  Unless, of course, the Others can’t make anyone leave the Island.

Hope is “ a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” In some ways, hope is a dream state. It also can mean “a person or thing that may help or save someone.” Ben hoped to find a surgery for his back tumor. Jack was that hope for recovery. Hope is also “grounds for believing something good may happen.” Hope is like faith which is like religion or future circumstances. Hope is also “a feeling of trust.” Characters are now constantly asking each other if “they trust them.”

There was one hope that was never answered on the series. One of the real issues that plagued the series was its treatment of children. During the initial run, commentators and blog posters continually asked “where are the children?” And why there were no children in the barracks (the empty play ground)?  But there was  a small hint in the “Other 48 Days,” that a band of children (recall the teddy bear) roamed the jungle which scared the tail section survivors. It is not that children were not allowed or could not be born on the Island. Jacob and MIB’s mother gave birth to them after the Roman shipwreck; and Crazy Mother raised the boys to adulthood so there appears to be some linear aging on the Island. But at some moment, it stops; Jacob and MIB are immortal. How does that change take place, or is it merely a matter of knowledge that Crazy Mother kept from them? The latter is probably more true than false.

When Karl tells Kate that the children have “a better life” than hers (on the Island), what does that mean?  Walt was scolded by Klugh when he tried to get Michael to help him. Klugh threatened to take Walt “back to the room,” which infers Room 23, the brain wash room where Karl was hooked up to an IV, and watching video flashes to loud audio. Karl is a teen. Is he being treated well by the Others? Alex was kidnapped from Rousseau. Is she being treated well by her adopted father Ben? It is like children are being robbed of their childhood.

What is life? It is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.  But there is another definition: either of the two states of a person's existence separated by death (as in Christianity and some other religious traditions). It can also mean any of a number of successive existences in which a soul is held to be reincarnated (as in Hinduism and some other religious traditions).

The idea of successive existences is strong in the episode repeats: the reality of the flashbacks, Island existence and sideways world are lumped together by Christian as equal parts, but that would be impossible unless there is another life after death. The flashback world is test number one of a soul (possibly a dead child’s who never had a chance to live a full life), to test number two, a soul on the Island trying to find true meaning of life by trials between right and wrong, good and evil, confession and repentance, and finally test three, a soul leaving the church to the next life.

We will also find children as mere set pieces in the sideways world, where Jack allegedly has a “son” but it must be pure fiction since the sideways world is a purgatory wait station. Who or why would have a clone Jack have a child in the afterlife waiting room, only to be disregarded at the church?

Finally, the mountain of lies continues in the stories. Patchy gives nothing but lies to Sayid at the Flame station; he really works for Ben. We will see a flashback where Ben ordered him to get information on the plane’s manifest list. Patchy was part of the Hostiles or recruited by Ben after the purge to protect the Island. He would be a man who we will see literally die several times on the Island, only to come back to life and attack the 815ers. The tables begin to slowly turn when Sayid realizes that he must not rely upon the words he hears, but on what his eyes see in front of him as the Truth.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Eloise’s ability to “see” future events, especially the death of people like the man in the red shoes.

Desmond’s “mind flashes” to see future events.

Last lines in episodes:

EP 57:

DESMOND: When I saw the lightning hit the roof you were electrocuted. And when you heard Claire was in the water you -- you drowned trying to save her. I dove in myself so you never went in. I've tried, brother. I've tried twice to save you, but the universe has a way of course correcting and -- and I can't stop it forever. I'm sorry. I'm sorry because no matter what I try to do you're going to die, Charlie.

EP 58:

JACK: That's what they say. It's not what they mean.

EP 59:

KATE: Because they had me, and they would have never let me go -- probably would have killed me if I hadn't escaped. And the girl who helped me escape -- she was about 16 years old and her name was Alex. I'm pretty sure that she's your daughter.

EP 60:

SAYID: We should go. If anyone is around this explosion's going to attract their attention.

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

Locke is lured into playing the Chess game at the Flame station. It is part of his personality that “games” are diversions, even as an adult at the box company, to escape his measly life. Instead of doing his job, watching prisoner Patchy, he sits down for a second game of chess with the computer. A computer station that is monitored by a small camera (so he is being watched). When Locke wins the game, a Candle video pops up with codes to enter to communicate (all are disabled). The final one states that if the station is being overrun by Hostiles, “enter 7-7.”  There is no reason on earth why Locke would need or want to enter 7-7. What would happen? The Others would swarm the facility with weapons and kill him? After the conflict standoff with Patchy ends with Klugh being killed, Locke’s “non-foraging” the station led to a third game of chess - - - and entering 7-7, which blows up the station to Sayid’s ire: “one hope of communicating with the outside world” was destroyed by Locke’s incompetence.

Locke’s continued stupidity has to shed some light on the story premise. He went from outback hunter, to default leader, to horrible decision maker. His “ideas” with the Hatch and the Flame station led to their destruction. And with the destruction, potential loss of rescue.

So it leads to the question: why? A) Locke did it on purpose - - - he does not want to leave the Island so he is sabotaging everyone’s chance. Except, he was quite surprised and stunned when the Flame station blew up. B) Locke’s macho facade has eroded over time in the jungle and he is being to crawl back into his introverted shell. As such his character flaws of bad decision making have returned with dire consequences. C) Locke and the castaways are truly lab rats in a large island maze. The vast amount of monitoring stations watching their movements, behavior, conversations, plans are all recorded by someone. The purpose could be to elicit reaction, poke people’s mind’s with a stick, or put them through torturous circumstances (the strongest fears from personal memories) to see how a human can emotionally break down.

Sayid’s flashback story after Desmond’s gives more clues as the premise. Why is Nadia’s gray cat in the restaurant flashback and at the Flame station? That element had to be harvested and re-planted into Sayid’s consciousness as a trigger for an emotional experiment. If he was a torturer in Iraq, what grief could be imposed on him by one of his victim’s? Revenge is a generational way of life in the Middle East. Perhaps, someone seeks to observe all the manifestations of human life. The restaurant torture seems out of place since during the Saddam’s brutal regime, enemies of the state were never let go - - - they were killed. So, this leads to the possibility that Sayid is “haunted” by ghosts of his past.

Desmond’s flashback with Eloise is the strongest point of mental manipulation or alternative lives. In this one, Desmond does not join the military as done previously; he buys the ring which he was not supposed to do; he “remembers” future events such as soccer game results and incidents on the Island. So Desmond’s mind is racing through flashback one, island pre Hatch explosion, island post explosion, and flashback two with different events. But is it Desmond’s mind, or it is his soul?  Many religions believe that a person lives many lives; their soul travels through various stages of human afterlife through forms of reincarnation and judgment tests for past sins. Desmond’s various time lines appear to be fragments of multiple, separate existences - - - which tests his mental facilities, and could drive him crazy. In essence, Desmond is mirroring the film It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra classic about a man’s wish that he was never born has great consequences to those around him. But Desmond’s story is It’s a Horrible Death, consumed by darkness and personal torment. It could be concluded that the changed flashback is in the future, as Desmond’s third afterlife.

There is also a huge clue in the Eloise character’s appearance and conversation with Desmond. She tells him that things must go as she commands or there will be great consequences. He must not marry Penny, he must get on the boat race in a few years, he must push the Island button for 3 years, because if he does not do those things, she states “every single one of US is dead!”

Us?! It sounds like Eloise are “different beings.” There were a few old theories in the blogsphere during the show that the premise was alien beings were sent to earth to observe and test humanity, and the Island was their master space ship. But “US” could also mean a level of existence in the afterlife - - - where “awakening to one’s own death” destroys the fictional reality of a secondary existence of a sideways realm. Recall, Eloise is hellbent in The End that Desmond NOT awaken her son because she would lose him (possibly to the white light).

But one of the problems with Desmond’s supernatural abilities is that in the end, his visions are false. We do no “see” what he says happened: Charlie drowning saving Claire or the lightning strike killing Charlie in Claire’s tent. He just says that. He may actually “wish” the events as a way of belonging to the beach camp. But the one vision we actually see later in the series, Claire with Aaron being rescued aboard a helicopter, never happens. Were those future flashes “programmed” into Desmond to see how he will react? How long he could continue to try to “save” Charlie? If so, he is the ultimate mental lab rat experiment.

The realization of this fantasy-horror situation may be a key to unlocking one’s own mind for the captivity of “the Island” (whatever it is). Sayid is more aware of the lies and treachery of the Others. He begins to see clues (such as the horse saddle) to determine quickly and correctly that Klugh was hidden in the station. Sayid also knew Patchy was lying to him about his backstory - - - that he was an Other and not Dharma. It may be a turning point in Sayid’s Island existence, because once you see the Island for what it really is - - - then the darkness of the human spirit can engulf you (as it will in the final season).