REBOOT EPISODES 81-84

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 81-84 (Days 97-100)

Locke’s camp at the Barracks comes under attack. At least three Locke campers die. Claire is blown up by a rocket exploding  her cabin to rubble. Ben miscalculates his plan with the Keamy, who summarily executes Alex. As a result, Ben summons the smoke monster to attack the soldiers as a means of escaping the barracks compound. Dr. Ray’s body, throat slit, washes up on the beach. Jack is finally told the truth about the murderous intentions of the Keamy’s soldiers.

Juliet tells Kate that her kiss was Jack was nothing because he loves someone else after she and Bernard save Jack from his appendicitis, a condition that Rose cannot understand since the Island is a place of healing.  Claire wanders off into the jungle after seeing Christian holding Aaron by the camp fire. Sawyer must take the baby back to the beach. In the flash forwards, Jack's relationship with Kate and his mental health begin to deteriorate as he is given a prophetic message from Hurley and sees visions of his dead father at the hospital, after a smoke alarm goes off.

Locke has a “dream” of Horace chopping down trees. He uses that information to find cabin by finding a “magic” map as Hurley calls it in the pocket of dead Horace. Ben laments that “I used to dream.”  Pilot Frank balks at going back to the island, knowing that the soldiers will kill everyone there. But after the captain and Dr. Ray are killed, Frank relents but hides a sat phone to drop on the beach camp. Jack believes the phone is a sign from Sayid to follow the copter, but when Sayid arrives with a boat, the camp learns it is the exact opposite. When Kate arrives back at the beach with Miles, she gives Sun Aaron to go off with Sayid to rescue Jack’s party.

Daniel takes six survivors to the Kahana, including Jin, Sun and Aaron, That leaves six people on the beach, including Charlotte, Miles, Rose and Bernard. Jack and  Sawyer head toward the copter as Locke, Ben and Hurley go to the greenhouse station, the Orchid, in order to “move the island.” Ben calls it the last resort, a dangerous and perilous act. But the soldiers are already at the station, so Ben gives himself up (with giving Locke no real explanation on how to move the island).  Kate and Sayid are captured by Alpert and the Others.  In the future, the “Oceanic Six” return to their families on the Mainland after their rescue in Indonesia.

Science:

The concept of space time.

Starting from Issac Newton to Max Plank a definite relationship is supposed to exist between time and space. However it was Einstein who integrated the two in his theory of Relativity and Special theory of Relativity. As per Einstein time and space could be plotted on a graph and theoretically could be traversed in any direction.

Einstein advocated a 4 dimensional universe. This was a revolutionary concept as all along from the Greek philosophers the concept of time and space was 3 dimensional. Einstein added a fourth coordinate time. Einstein also put a limitation to the speed that could be achieved in any medium and that was the speed of light, which was constant in all mediums.

Modern theory of space and time is greatly derived from the concepts of Einstein and to a certain extant Max Plank. Modern thought points to the fact that though time has a direction but there is no practical time reversal. Though theoretically you could see a movie from the beginning or start seeing from the end, yet in real terms the direction of time is one way. Theoretically anything that can happen moving forward through time is just as possible moving backwards in time. Or, put in another way, through the eyes of physics, there will be no distinction, in terms of possibility, between what happens in a movie if the film is run forward, or if the film is run backwards. However our experience of time, at almost all levels shows that time-reversal is not possible. An object may break and fall to pieces on the ground, but the reverse does not happen as the pieces do not fly back and become one again.


Schizophrenia

Not getting enough sleep could be linked with triggering symptoms among people with schizophrenia, suggests a new animal study published in the Neuron journal.

People with schizophrenia frequently experience sleep problems. To find the exact effect disrupted sleep has on the brain with schizophrenia, researchers from the University of Bristol and the Lilly Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience examined brain wave activity of sleeping rats that were engineered to have schizophrenia.

They found that during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM sleep, which precedes REM sleep), waves of brain activity normally ripple between the hippocampus and frontal cortex regions of the brain, which play parts in the formation of memories and in decision-making, respectively.

However, when the rats' NREM sleep was fragmented, they found that this brain wave activity was not synchronized.

This is certainly not the first time sleep and schizophrenia have been linked. In 2010, a study in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience showed that circadian rhythm disruptions are often experienced by people with psychiatric conditions.

And LiveScience reported on a British Journal of Psychiatry study showing that people who have schizophrenia are also troubled by more sleep problems than people without the condition, which is marked by symptoms of hallucinations, social withdrawal, and memory and attention problems.

"We've been thinking of sleep disruption as one of the genetic, developmental and environmental contributors to the development of these appalling conditions," the researcher of that study, Russell Foster, of the University of Oxford, told LiveScience.

Improbabilities:

Dr. Ray’s dead body floating to the beach faster than a helicopter traveling at speed to the island.

Dr. Ray being alive on the boat on Day 99 but his dead body washed ashore on Day 96.

Ray's body washes up on shore before he is killed because the island is always moving through time (forward and back) and so the time on the island is not the same time as a boat far enough offshore.


Clues:

Jack asks another doctor in the hospital lobby for an instant prescription for sleeping pills due to the stress of his new engagement and work load.

When Locke goes to Jacob’s cabin, and it is Christian present instead, who says he can speak for Jacob,  Locke asks what he can do “to save the island.”  Christian apparently tells him to “move the island.” But these may be metaphors if you exchange “Jack” for the “island.”

Hurley tells Jack that they are “all dead.” That they never left the island.

Christian tells Locke not to tell anyone that Claire “is with him,” which is a reference to Jack that Claire is dead.

When the smoke alarm goes off in the hospital lobby, Jack finds his ghost father. The connection may be that Christian is a smoke monster, who has the ability to get off the island (Jacob).

When Locke lights the lantern to go into the cabin, it is like a lamp in a genie tale: genies grant wishes much like the island.

When Locke sees Horace skipping and cutting down the same tree over and over again, one believes that it is his dream; or that it could be a skipping or misfunctioning record/hologram program.

Horace tells Locke that he has been dead for 12 years. To find “his cabin,” he has to find him which infers that Jacob was Horace at some point in time.

When Ben confronts Widmore in London in his flash forward, Widmore admits that he drinks because of his nightmares.  Ben also asks him why “he changed the rules” and killed his daughter. Widmore rebuffs and says he did no such thing; Ben killed her by his own actions. But Ben then says he will kill Widmore’s daughter, Penny. Widmore scoffs, you can never find her. As a result, both men are “hunting” something: an island and Penny.  In reality, Ben could have killed Widmore, but apparently that is against their “rules.” The only one who has that rule is Jacob and MIB.

Hurley says while playing Risk, that “Australia is the key to the game.”

Jack reads to Aaron “.... if I am not the same from this morning - - - that’s the great puzzle.” He later says his father “was a good story teller.”

It Abaddon (the devil?) who tells rehabbing Locke that Locke needs to go on his walkabout in the outback. The Australian country is the symbol of forehell, the beginning of the after life journey for all the lost souls on Flight 815.

Sawyer follows a post-op Jack, who is going after the copter, with the line, “you don’t get to die alone.”

Young Locke “failing” Alpert’s test of what objects “already belong to him.” It flashes back to other stories where priests go to young persons with objects to determine if they are the reincarnated leader, king or god.


Discussion:

“Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for.”

---- Earl Warren

A place where dreams can come true is also a place where nightmares and their fears can also come true. Is the direction of Lost taking us into the various conflicts in Jack’s own mind, as referenced in the flash forward mental deterioration of the leader of the 815 survivors? That theory is more fully developed below.

We do see the fringes coming off Jack’s mental cape. He is slowly beating himself down with mission after mission, decision after decision; the promises are eating away at his soul and he cannot “fix” the situation which is quickly flashing out of control with a mercenary army coming to the island to kill everyone. It is something that Jack himself cannot control, so his mental faculties appear to go haywire.

Another long portion of this arc is the emergence of Locke as the “chosen” one to save the island. If the island is not symbolic for Jack, then the story of Locke is one of injured fish being tossed downstream through the rapids.

We are told that Jacob is the one everyone reports to on the island. And Jacob the name means “following after, supplanter.”  It means Jacob “replaced” someone or something. Ben believed that he would one day replace Jacob as the guardian of the island - - - but he was arrogantly wrong. Locke now believes that his destiny is to protect the island, but he also is arrogantly wrong. In the show’s conclusion, we find no true resolution of succession of Jacob because we do not know what kind of “being” he was and what the island “truly represents.” Even if Jacob was a guardian angel guarding the gates of hell (the island), the deaths of the 815 cast would not change his role because in the end, “there are no rules.” If it is a game like backgammon, it was tossed over before it was finished like Locke’s foster sister when Alpert showed up when Locke was a young boy.

Locke’s test could have been the critical evidence of why Locke is “special.” Alpert was present at the hospital after Locke was “miraculously” born after his mother (who was not showing her pregnancy after 6 months) was struck by a car (driven by Cooper). We know that Alpert is immortal messenger of Jacob. Why or how he would know of Locke’s circumstance means that the island has been watching Locke from the beginning. Or if Locke was never born, his soul has been moved along by after life messengers such as Abaddon or Alpert.

Alpert’s test of Locke was interesting (and controversial to fans). The objects presented to Locke were:

A brass compass, which he would receive on the island in the future.
 A baseball glove, which could have been Dogan’s from the Temple.
An old book, “The Book of Laws,” a reference Eko made to the Old Testament.
A vial of sand, which is symbolic of the island.
A comic book, Mystery Tales No. 40, with the subtitle “What was the secret of the mysterious HIDDEN LAND!”
A wood handled knife, which is different than the knife collection he brought to his walkabout.

The Comic book lead to a load of fan research. The short stories contained in the issue seemed to brim with island story lines:

"The Hidden Land!" (four pages)
"A Warning Voice!" (four pages)
"The Travelers" (two pages)
"Crossroads of Destiny!" (four pages) — features Roman emperor Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) and Italian navigator Christopher Columbus (1451–1506)
"Sammy's Secret!" (three pages)
"The Silent Stranger" (four pages)
"March Has 32 Days" (four pages), a story about a man who has a chance to re-live a day and change his fate.

The comic may set forth the various themes of the show, but does not clearly indicate that it is the source material for the show.

It would appear that Locke failed the test because he picked the knife. The knife was something he brought to the island; a weapon. The vial of sand as the island was his first choice; and the compass his second. That makes sense for the island would be Jacob’s, and the compass would for direction, or leadership of the island.

It would seem that Alpert was looking for Locke to pick one more item - - - which we would assume would be the old book, as the “rules” of the island are coming into play more and more (as seen in the Ben-Widmore dynamic.)

But Locke failed the first test. In high school, his counselor advised him that a Portland firm was looking for Locke to join them in special research projects. But Locke refused to be a man of science. So he failed the second test. On the island, he failed a third test when he refused to kill his father to show “his commitment” to the Others and the island. But then, he “cheated” his way into the Others camp by having Sawyer kill Cooper. But in the end, Locke failed his final test because he died off the island - - - and his body’s return was used by MIB to wreck havoc on everyone on the island (much like Widmore’s men tried to do.)

It seems that when leaders take it upon themselves to make the final life and death decisions for the betterment of their group, they die physically or emotionally. It is a test that most leaders fail.

One of the main criticisms of Lost was how it created multiple “time” issues without explaining the rational of each, or how the conflicting concepts could be rationalized into a workable science fiction narrative. We have Desmond’s mental “time flashes” to where he literally re-lives portions of his life, and changes the consequences of his past actions. We have Eloise’s commentary that no matter what happens, the universe “course corrects” any time-event changes. We have a physical distortion of the linear time line when Dr. Ray’s dead body floats ashore three days before he is killed. We have time space issues with the island “moving” in the physical world, but depositing people in different times (including Ben months before turning the frozen donkey wheel) to several 815ers zipping back to Dharma, 1977. Then you have the concurrent overlapping of two different time periods on the same island. The only unsatisfying explanation for all these conflicting time elements is that none of them are truly real.
The events, however real they seem, are figments of someone’s imagination. The open question is who’s imagination?


Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

The concept of “moving” a Pacific island.

The fact that Doctor Ray shows up dead on the island beach BEFORE he leaves the freighter (communication).

Last lines in episodes:

EP 81:

BEN: I suppose it is. Sleep tight, Charles.
[Ben leaves, pulling the door shut behind him.]

EP 82:

SAWYER: CLAIRE! CLAIRE!!!

EP 83:

LOCKE: He wants us to move the island.

EP 84:

BEN: My name is Benjamin Linus. I believe you're looking for me.
[Keamy points his gun at Ben's head for a moment before striking him with it.]

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

“It is all about Jack.”

When at the mental hospital,  Hurley tells Jack that they never left the island. Jack thinks he is crazy. But if the references of the island, and the snow globe effect are not real, but the symbolic representation of Jack’s own brain, then Hurley may have a pointed to the ultimate truth.

Many fans believe the series focus was solely around Jack. It was Jack who sacrificed himself in The End so his remaining friends could get off the island. It was all his island friends who were waiting for him in the church at The End. The most intense flash backs and flash forwards are Jack-centric episodes. So there is a lot of evidence that Jack was the keystone to the Lost mythology (even though initially Jack’s character was going to be killed in the first season, for dramatic effect.).


Was Jack not listening to his “inner voice?”  Even in cartoons, a character in conflict sometimes has his conscious or inner voice pop up to give him advice, or tell him what to do. It is sometimes shown as good versus evil giving opposite guidance.

It is also an observation that while the island has an inherit “healing” property, during the course of the show, Jack’s physical and mental conditions deteriorate. It begins with the stress of being the defacto leader of the survivors, and grows to sleepless burden of the weight of his world upon his shoulders to make life and death decisions, to the inconsistent to irrational mental decisions, including objective threats of killing people who crossed him.

The lack of sleep, addiction to pain medications, haunted memories and questionable decision making are all symptoms of a sleep depressed person with schizophrenia.

We have discussed various theories, including mental instability and subconscious dream states, as explanations for the various inconsistent and improbable island story arcs. One theory that could tie many of these other theories together would be through Jack.

Jack has been considered the pillar of strength during the series. But what if he was really a pillar of salt? If all the story lines intersect through Jack’s consciousness, then what or who are these strangers in his island world?

The characters surrounding Jack could represent his inner emotional states. Hurley could be symbolic of his conflict with gluttony such as addictions. Kate could be symbolic of his conflict with women, relationships such as irrational jealousy. Sawyer could be symbolic of his conflict with bullies, such as his school yard fights. Locke could be symbolic of his conflict with authority figures, such as a father figure he would not listen to in his actions.

As the series will grind on, Jack will tell himself more and more that “he should have listened to Locke.” As a person who thought he could save anyone, Jack could never listen to others to save himself. Or so the theory would go. Locke, as a paralysis victim of an 8 story fall, is not seen in Jack’s world (the island) as a wheelchair bound disabled person because Jack can fix anything or anyone. Jack is a miracle worker; “miracles” happen on his watch.

But even miracles have their back story limits. The miracle births of Locke and Ben made them “special” in the eyes of the island watchers. The miracle transformation of paralyzed man into outback hunter to the Others made Locke again “special.” The ability to do complex back surgery on Ben without modern technology or specialist help was Jack “working” another miracle. But for each miracle, Jack seems to get punished. By whom? Himself.

Jack, as a doctor or as a son of a doctor, would have had contact with many medical patients, unique histories and personality traits to have a expansive knowledge of human behavior and frail human emotional disorders. He said Christian “was a good story teller.” He may have inherited the ability to fantasize a unique, bizarre world which somehow came unglued or out of control with his own schizophrenia.

Jack wears down in the series because he is always “running” including his mind when he tries to sleep. Experts debate the basic proposition of why people need to go to sleep. It is believed that rest revitalizes the body, restores energy and heals body systems. It is also considered that when one sleeps, the brain is limiting its functions so
the body had repair neurotransmitters in the brain. It may also be that the brain “de-fragments” the waking observations, thoughts and materials into memories to be accessed in the future by the waking mind.

Scientists also do not understand why humans dream when they sleep. There appears to be no biologic function. Some believe that dreams are merely an unintended consequence of the brain repairing itself while at rest; reshuffling the memory files triggers some secondary active visions. Other scientists believe that dreams are a primal way of humans to “test” activities and events in order to be better prepared for the real, waking world. In primitive societies, the basic fears of being attacked by predators is a tenet of nightmares. But if one dreams of situations where one could fend
off such attacks, the waking person would be better prepared when it actually happens.

So what if the basic brain repair function goes haywire? You have a person in acute distress over time. The brain does not function normally; it cannot focus clearly because memories and reality begin to jumble, intersect, collide. If a person has a deep fantasy gene, or multiple personalities, that person’s mind could run wild. Escaping reality into one’s own subconscious fantasy could be the reason why so many show elements are connected through Jack.

For example, the numbers are not Hurley’s or Leonard’s curse. The numbers were “on the island” before they knew about them. The numbers supersede their knowledge or meaning because it already exists in “the island world.” If the island world is Jack’s own mind, as a formula representation of how to save his world (personal Valenzetti equation).

Lost theories have transposed the numbers in latent character personalities that they seem to represent in the story,

Locke (4) is seen as faith, hope or
Hurley (8) is seen a compassion or good will
Sawyer (15) is seen as change or personal growth
Sayid (16) is seen as common sense or order
Jack (23) is seen as rational self
Jin (42) is seen as family or love.

Alternative “human” factors for each character was thought to be

Locke (4) as intuition
Hurley (8) as perception
Sawyer (15) as feeling
Sayid (16) as judgment
Jack (23) as thinking
Jin (42) as sensation.

But if one puts all these characters into Jack’s own mind, we get a better clue.

Locke (4) is something broken that needs to be fixed
Hurley (8) is seen as a cursed addiction to be remedied
Sawyer (15) is an angry kid who can’t be responsible and grow up
Sayid (16) is smart individual who succumbs to rages of madness
Jack (23) is seen as his conflicted self
Jin (42)  is the representation of the foreign and unknown aspects of the world.

If you add other major characters:

Kate is the embodiment of jealousy in relationships
Juliet is the tension between professional and unprofessional behavior.
Rose and Bernard as representation of soul mates
Boone as the naive follower.
Shannon as the spoiled child.
Libby is the calming influence of change
Desmond is the cowardice in the face of conflict
Penny is the searcher.
Claire is the missing sibling
Charlie is the free spirit who avoids responsibility
Aaron is the symbol for change.

All of these different feelings, fears, emotions, and traits are trapped in Jack’s mind,
in conflict with his memories and his fantasy ideals. In one respect, it resolves only when Jack closes his eyes on the island for the last time (goes asleep) in order to be awakened in - - - a place “he and his (imaginary) friends” created not in the past, or the future but in the now, which may not even reflect the after life at all. It may be the overactive fantasy of the island world coming to a final resolution so his schizophrenic brain could “move on” to its next “adventure.”

Some theorists thought that the whole Lost series was a delusion in Hurley’s mind. It could be said of any of the main characters. But if one recalls the opening and closing eye is Jack’s, then it could be all Jack’s delusion.