LOST REBOOT
Recap: Episodes 69-72 (Days 89-91)
In these 4 episodes, we reach the end of Season 3, and the half way point of the LOST saga.
Ben remembers arriving on the island with his father and growing up to become the Others leader. Ben takes Locke to “see” Jacob, the mysterious cult leader. Meanwhile, secrets about Juliet and Naomi are revealed to the camp. At night, the whole camp is in uproar about Naomi’s arrival on the island, as well as her story about the plane having already been found and everyone is dead. As Sawyer plays the tape, Jack and Juliet return. Everyone questions them, but Juliet tries to explain that she is actually helping them. They turn over the tape and hear that Ben plans to lead a team to kidnap all the fertile women. Juliet reveals that she has already told Jack about it, and that they were still thinking of a plan.
A group of survivors trek inland following Jack. On the way, Charlie sees Desmond stop in his tracks, and despite his denial, Charlie suspects he may have had another one of his visions. Jack tells them that they have arrived and that he and Juliet have been forced to come up with a plan to stop the attack. He calls out and Danielle comes out and sets off a large dynamite explosion blowing up a tree. As the rest of the group recoil in surprise, Jack explains that Juliet will mark the tents of pregnant women with white rocks as she was told, but the Others will find nothing inside but dynamite. As Jack states, "We're gonna blow 'em all to hell."
Back at camp, Charlie talks with Naomi. She asks who the survivors are going to war with but he says that it's a long story. She recognizes him from Drive Shaft, because after his apparent death, a "Greatest Hits" album was released and became very popular. Charlie is pleased at the news, although he notices Desmond in the distance, an ominous reminder of his possible fate.
At the same time, Sayid tells Jack that he can't get a rescue signal out to the freighter because of Danielle’s old distress call is blocking the signal. He tells Jack that they need to go to the radio tower to turn it off, but Juliet says it would make no difference,, as Ben is blocking all transmissions from an underwater station called The Looking Glass. She mentions that she has no idea where it is, but Sayid he thinks he might know.
Charlie sits with Claire as Desmond approaches, asking to speak with him. Desmond reluctantly admits that he lied, and has seen a flash — one of Claire and Aaron getting into a Helicopter and leaving the Island. Charlie at first does not understand how this can be bad, but Desmond explains that for this to happen, Charlie must drown after "flicking a switch next to a yellow light" in a hatch.
Jack devises a defense plan to combat the kidnapping plot. Charlie volunteers to go to the underwater station to switch off the jamming equipment so Claire can be saved.
The camp leaves to begin their second exodus to the radio tower.
Sayid, Jin and Bernard are left behind as the three marksmen who will ambush the Others. He makes Jack promise that no matter what happens on the beach, Jack will lead the remaining survivors to the tower and signal the ship; he tells Jack that he is willing to die but only if the others can be rescued. Jack understands and is ready to undertake the long trek to the tower. Before leaving with the others for the radio tower, Rose reminds Bernard that he is "not Rambo" and warns him to be careful. Jin speaks with Sun, intimately telling her to stay close to Jack. Sun asks him why he is staying behind to help, he tells her (in English) because they need to go home. Sun cries and they kiss, Juliet watches further away.
Once they are on their way, Naomi takes Jack aside and tells him that Juliet is not trusted by the other survivors. Then she shows him how to use the radio - in case she doesn't make it.
In the underground station, Charlie is captured is interrogated by Bonnie and Greta. He says that he found out about the Looking Glass from Juliet. Bonnie and Greta go into the radio room to call Ben.
Charlie sees the blinking yellow light from Desmond's vision of the jamming equipment. After he shouts his name to Ben, Bonnie tells Ben about Juliet's betrayal (overheard by Alpert and Patchy). Ben orders Patchy to go to the Looking Glass to find out why Charlie is there. Ben has to admit he lied about the station being inoperable. Patchy wonders what else Juliet has told the Losties. Ben tries to contact the Others' kidnap team but they are in radio silence.
Charlie’s final message that the people claiming to liberate them are not who they seem to be...
Science:
Once the pin is pulled the fuse and the chemical explosive do not require oxygen to do their stuff, so a grenade can explode under water.
Explosive chemical reactions break down compounds into highly compressed gases, as well as heat resulting from compound molecules being blasted apart. The gases expand rapidly, and the heat speeds up individual gas particles to increase expansion speed even more.
This rapidly expanding gas, called a pressure wave, is the key to any explosive's destructive power. If the pressure wave is fast enough to break the sound barrier, it generates a powerful shock wave. A land explosion can burn skin, tear apart limbs and propel objects and shrapnel through the air.
When the pressure wave travels through the air and connects with a living organism, the organism's body reflects most of the force. This is because there's a difference in densities: The molecules in solid skin are closer together than the rapidly moving gas molecules.
However, portions of your body contain gas, meaning the density is the same as the expanding gas in the pressure wave. The pressure wave hits the body and, while most of it is reflected, some of it manages to compress internal gases. As a result, the victim sustains primary blast injuries. These typically affect the lungs, ears and -- in rare cases -- intestines. These gassy chambers basically implode, rupturing and fragmenting tissue.
In an explosion surrounded by air, the atmosphere will compress and absorb some of the explosive energy. This decreases the lethal range of the explosion. Water, however, is often described as incompressible. Technically, it can compress, but it takes a massive amount of pressure to apply a small amount of compression. This means that in an underwater explosion, the surrounding water doesn't absorb the pressure like air does, but moves with it. An underwater explosion doesn't propel objects through the water nearly as far as a surface explosion throws shrapnel because of the drag water exerts on objects. However, an underwater explosion transmits pressure with greater intensity over a longer distance.
Improbabilities:
Patchy “surviving” a spear to the chest AND going deep underwater (holding his breath with a gaping chest wound) to detonate a grenade which drowns Charlie in the Looking Glass communication room.
Themes:
Sacrifice. Charlie’s death based upon a faulty vision. Claire does not leave the Island on a helicopter.
Alternative reality. The reveal that somehow Jack is “off” the Island and wanting to go back (flash forward) stumped many viewer. It was a twist that was hard to fit into the disjointed sequence that was Lost’s plot structure. But it got weirder when the final reveal is that flash forwards were the sideways world (after life).
Clues:
Hurley goes from believing that he is cursed by his lottery winnings, to believing that he is dead from the plane crash. Is this realization the “second” person (besides Rose) who understands that they are all dead? And is this why the passive Hurley turns killer with the van during the Other’s camp raid? It could be said that Hurley’s new belief in his “real” situation is why he became Jacob’s true successor.
Charlie’s heroic act is based upon his own memories, musical notes. It shows that the Island is taking character memories and re-postulating them into sacrificial moments to see how the characters react and use their own “free will” to die.
Charlie states that it is not Penny’s boat. Desmond takes Charlie’s death in vain. If not Penny, the 815ers cannot trust the freighter people. Naomi asks about the “war” on the island, but which war is it? Others vs. survivors, or freighters vs. Others. And is the “war” the final resolution between Jacob and MIB?
When Naomi asks Jack what he did before the island, Jack says he was a doctor. In an odd response, Naomi says “of course you were,” as in “if that is what you believe.” It can’t be taken just as a off-hand remark because Naomi knows more than she appears, as she was “recruited” by Jacob for this mission.
Ben is fearful of the freighter attacking the island. Ben’s own web of lies to his own people begin to unravel as they start to distrust him. He says to Jack when contact is made, “this is the beginning of The End.” It could mean the end of his power. It could mean the end of the Others on the island, as he said “every living thing on the island would be killed.” Or could it relate to Lost’s final episode, “The End,” the re-constitution of the characters souls in the after life?
When Locke is shot and falls into the purge ditch to die, he loses movement in his legs. His paralysis returns as he gets closer to death. No so more than when he decides to take his own life with the revolver; he struggles to reach for the gun. This could show a relationship between parallel universes: as Locke’s life fades on the island, his disabled state returns as his spirit is about to depart the island. It would be symbolic that the island is not part of the real world.
There were several references to being rescued and taken “home.” Home could refer to their off-island lives. But one definition of the word “home” states that it is “an institution for people needing professional care or supervision: example, an old people's home.” Or, in some theories, a mental institution.
Another word used often was “hero.”
A hero is defined as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: example, a war hero.” It can also mean
(in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.
Naomi appears to have died twice on the island: first as a result of the parachute jump and severe injury, and then second with Locke’s knife. There may be a connection in a gamer way to the character’s and their permanent removal from the island: you get one free “death” on the island. It could explain why Patchy survived both the sonic fence or spear gun, to meet his final fate with the underwater grenade. That would mean that all the passengers have used up their one life in the crash.
Discussion:
“ Wishes cost nothing unless you want them to come true. ”
— Frank Tyger
“ Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream. ”
— Oscar Wilde
“ A long dispute means that both parties are wrong. ”
— Voltaire
False assumptions are worse than lies. So many times characters jump to conclusions without understanding the situation or question the facts.
Why did Charlie need to “die?” In order for Desmond’s dream to come true?
Desmond had a final vision - Charlie dying by turning off the flooded underwater station's signal jammer. Charlie accepted the suicide mission. He hides his ring with Aaron and kisses Claire goodbye. He went out in a canoe with Desmond, passing on a list of his life's best moments. Dez volunteers to take Charlie's place, but Charlie knocked him out with an oar and dives to the station, discovering it wasn't flooded after all, but it was inhabited by female Others who beat and interrogated him until reanimated Patchy arrived and shots them, per orders of Ben. Using scuba gear, Mikhail (Patchy) dives down to the station - where, on Ben's orders, he killed Greta and fatally wounded Bonnie before being shot in the chest by Desmond with a speargun. Charlie convinced the dying Bonnie to give him the code to turn off the jamming equipment due to her anger towards Ben's betrayal.
One issue is that Charlie should have known Desmond’s vision is faulty because the station was not flooded. Charlie’s background in blind faith has led him astray, putting aside common sense, to push on with his suicidal mission.
Charlie gives Desmond his final message before drowning. He then received an incoming message, revealing that Desmond's girlfriend Penny hadn't sent their "rescuers." Mikhail, still alive, then blew up a port window, filling the chamber with water. Charlie passed on the message “Not Penny’s Boat” on his hand.
Charlie states when he is writing his “greatest hits” list of events in his life, number one was meeting Claire. He also states that “memories are all” his has - - - which begs the question whether memories are all his or blurred with other island captives. An example is Charlie being called a hero for stopping a purse snatcher in London. The woman he saved was Nadia. Now, Charlie never knew Nadia, for she is part of Sayid’s memories. It would appear that memories from the characters are props in the actions or events of other characters. And yes, that makes a confusing, tangled cosmic string.
But it may be the dynamic stock feed for the island, a West World for spirits. It is not a new concept that souls may need a “break” from their afterlife to go to a spiritual-adventurous resort to “re-live” memories and/or create new ones. Look at Mikail - - - he dies as often as the Yul Brenner gunslinger.
But is Charlie really a hero or a dumb oaf? When the communication station was filling with water, one can see that Charlie could have swam out of the port hole to safety even after failing to open the chamber door. So how does Charlie’s death further the cause of rescue from the island? It does nothing. It does transform Charlie into a spirit that physically haunts Hurley.
Charlie will appear to Hurley during his years off the island. Hurley first saw him in a convenience store and panicked, and his flight turned into a full on car chase with the police. In the interrogation room, Hurley hallucinated Charlie drowning, disturbing him so greatly that he agreed to be taken back to the Santa Rosa Mental Institution. Charlie began visiting him regularly there, and physically slapping him to attention, in plain view of the other patients. Charlie’s sacrifice turns him into a messenger, trying to guide Hurley back to the island, as other characters seem to have done in other story arcs.
But just as memories of the island captives is important in the dynamic of the events that unfold on the island, Jacob’s memories of his dead brother may be the living embodiment of the Island itself. There is an eternal conflict rooted in the Island. We just are never really told what it really, truly all about. There is no context (mortar) to support the events (bricks) in the foundation of the Lost mythology.
The question of who the “original” inhabitants of the Island will never be known. But from the structures and stories, we know that there were Egyptian temples and statues built on the Island. This predates the Roman era, the time when Jacob’s mother was shipwrecked on the Island.
At that time, Crazy Mother was the only person on the island. She was the Island “guardian.” So, we can assume she brought Jacob’s parents to the island. Now, whether she was also a person “brought” to the island during an earlier time is probable, as she probably succeeded some Egyptian leader just as Jacob succeeds her. Kings or rulers of a territory have the right to make their own rules.
There appears to be a clear good vs. evil game at work on the island. It mirrors the tension between science and technology vs. religion and morality. When Jacob and MIB discuss the reason why Jacob continues to bring human beings to the island, MIB laments that they always turn corrupt and Jacob loses in his bet. So it is more likely that the island guardian brings both good and evil people to the island to determine which type of person wins out when people are left to fend for themselves, and when absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is a spark of this power play when Jack returns to the angry camp with Juliet, and Jack tells them to follow “his” plan to kill the Others. He expects them to follow his orders, and “blow them all to Hell.”
Do followers lose their humanity, their “goodness” when leaders continue to absorb the power between individuals and turn that into “evil?” That may be the basic game between Jacob and MIB: a philosophical question that has always ended with evil corrupting the good; the good never winning.
There is no sense of mortality or judgment for the killings on the island. The island may have cloaks of religion, and themes of redemption, but the actual killings is primal and without regard to any consequences. They appear indiscriminate and without remorse, almost in a video game style shooter.
We made the assumption that the 815ers are “good” and the Others are “evil.” But in the backstories of the 815ers, there is much evil: murderers, criminals, mentally unstable personalities, drug abusers, alcoholics and thieves. We know another outsider, Ben, is a psychopathic mass murderer due his purge of Dharma. But what of the original Hostiles? We see only Ben’s influence on them, part of which was learned behavior from Widmore when he was a leader of the band who expelled the military from the island.
There is a ramp up on the killing in this arc to end Season 3. When we compare the final tallies for the series, it is hard to distinguish which group was good or evil. In fact, there appears to be no lessons learned, no remorse and no moral consequences from killing anyone.
If you consider the Island as MIB, the smoke monster and Jacob, they account for 44 deaths.
If you count Ben with the Others, they killed 64 people (including the purge)
If you count the 815 survivors, they killed 42 people.
If you consider outsiders like Danielle and Desmond, Danielle killed 3 and Desmond killed 1 (unless you also count the 254 passengers killed on impact as his fault or the Island’s EM field).
If you consider Widmore and his forces, they killed 10 people.
There is no distinction between whether a death was intentional, accidental, negligent or in self defense. Death is a way of life on the island.
In fact, there is no moral high ground or moral stance that any of these groups declare when the conflict begins or ends. It is almost a primal “us against them” attack reflex. There are killers who are saved in the end, and some killers who are not saved in the end.
The final false assumption at the end of the third season was bad beard Jack's off-island story. We all thought from the editing that this was a drunken Jack, crashing after his divorce to Sarah, to the edge of despair. He even argues with the new chief of surgery about talking to his father about his condition. He is suicidal. He makes one final reach out to Sarah, but she rebuffs him. But in the final scene at the airport, we learn that the bearded Jack pining is not a flash back, but he is a flash forward - - - to a time off-island. The woman who would not talk to him on the phone was Kate. And in a crazed expression of despair, Jack yells "we have to go back!" which means that at least some of the survivors made it off the island.
It was a viewer game changer. It put some doubt in the story time line, which would be further complicated by the island time travel arc which led to another cliff hanger, The Incident.
But confusion would become a constant, soon. There will be unanswered questions like what ever happened to Annie, Ben's island school pal? If she was the only one who was kind to young Ben, where was she in his life? What happened after she left the island? And why did not Ben join her? He kept the wooden doll because she said with it "they would never be a part." But they were kept separated for no apparent reason. Once Ben became a leader and brought more people to the island, he could have re-connected with her. And in a twisted way, Ben's kidnapping and calling Alex "his daughter" was a replacement for Annie. But in the End, why did not Ben seek out Annie? Unless he feared that any wish he had with her would not come true.
There is a parallel between Ben's sad little life and Jack's. Ben pleads to Jack not to call the freighter, telling him he has nothing to go back to on the mainland. Ben has nothing to go back to either. Both men's lives are similar: drunken father's, not getting the respect they deserved, and both wanting to be greater than their father - - - leaders, making the hard life and death decisions, without faltering under the pressure. In all of his manipulative tricks, Ben could not convince Jack to stop the call. And even though Locke killed Naomi as she got the signal, Locke could not convince Jack to stop the call, either.
Magical/Supernatural/Elements:
The ash ring around Jacob’s cabin was thought by many as a talisman to ward off evil spirits from seeing or attacking Jacob.
Tall Walt appearing to Locke in the purge ditch to tell him to get up because “he was work to do.” The strange voice implies that this Walt is not the boy who left the island, but a representation created by MIB or Jacob in shape shifting mode.
Last lines in episodes:
EP 69:
BEN: Well, I certainly hope he helps you, John.
[Ben leaves Locke lying in the ditch.]
EP 70:
CHARLIE: [Laughs and pants] I'm alive. AH! I'm alive!!!!
[A door opens and two women run out, both with guns. A light comes on, and one woman runs to Charlie and points her gun right at his face. He makes a weak smile.]
EP 71:
WALT: Because, you have work to do.
[Locke smiles.]
EP 72:
JACK: We have to go back!
[A plane takes off over Jack's head.]
New Ideas/Tests of Theories:
Naomi is working for Mr. Abaddon who is working for Jacob. Naomi is a messenger. Alpert is a messenger (messenger bag holds Sawyer’s file to Locke). Jacob puts together a team under the guise of Widmore’s obsession to return to control the power of the Island (life and death?). But it is all part Jacob’s plan to bring those people to the Island. For what purpose? Worship him as a god? Experiment on human behavior with his brother, MIB? To prove a point that humanity can make noble self-sacrifices for a greater good?
And the “good” is represented by multiple types of religions, just as “evil” can be represented by the technology driven groups. MIB was drawn to working with the Romans, who had learned to fashion a crude frozen donkey wheel. Crazy Mother and Jacob appear to be naturalists, anti-technology, as it corrupts humanity. The struggle of technology taking away human elements in society could be a core reason why MIB and Jacob argue about the people brought to the island. It may be a game of which type of person can cope the best: spiritual or technological.
For what ever reason, Crazy Mother was the last soul on the Island until the Roman shipwreck. The Romans succeeded the Egyptians as the world’s great engineering civilization. Succession is an important theme in the Lost stories. In a certain way, Jack is succeeding Ben; both had drunken father/daddy issues which never resolved themselves properly. Both grabbed power because they were told as a boy that they lacked the qualities for leadership.
The American military industrial complex succeeded the empires of Europe in World War II, as represented by the jughead bomb on the Island. Apparently, the Hostiles led by Eloise and Widmore took out the U.S. military. Afterward, the scientists of the Dharma Institute were brought to the island as a direct contrast to the cult like subsistent Hostiles. The clash of cultures was set up to determine whether good or evil would will out. In the case of recruiting a disillusioned Ben, the Hostiles “purged” Dharma in mass homicide. One can only say that evil won that battle.
Now, Jacob has brought another series of people to the Island, a cast of characters all with personal physical and mental issues. Many of those people start off “bad,” such as murderers, cheats, liars, killers and drug addicts. Many of those people start off “good,” as in religious, kind, nurturing and caring for other people. The dynamic story line shows that many of the “bad” people turn “good” and many “good” people turn “bad.”
If the Island is a organic construct of the memories of the souls brought into its energy field (its core computing processor), it is possible that Jacob himself is using his own memories to keep his brother “alive” on the Island, just as Eloise is trying desperately to keep her son, Daniel, “alive” with her in the sideways world.
Look at the character tree:
Follow the character paths like falling dominoes. Like in the Egyptian game of Senet, the object is to get your pieces off the board. Or in this version, turn the characters into your black or white (good or evil) color. MIB must have been intent on destroying Jacob's candidates.
You can trace MIB’s path of “influence” throughout the chart. However, it ends with Locke, since it will come to pass that Jack does not follow Flocke’s path to evil, but instead Jack sacrifices himself to save his friends. That sacrifice for the “good of others” is the end game, the check mate, in the Jacob-MIB philosophical battle; Jacob finally wins - - - freeing himself from the obligation of the island wardenship which was his own prison of memories. Hurley reluctantly assumes the role as Island guardian, only to dismantle it - - - and apparently to leave Bernard, Rose, Cindy, the children and any remaining Others on their own, at peace, on the Island.
