REBOOT EPISODES 89-92

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 89-92 (Days ????- - ????)

It is difficult to keep track of the time line in the series. There are at least eight time skips in one episode alone.

In 2007, Desmond goes in search of a woman who could be the key in helping Faraday stop the Island's random time skips. In 1954, Miles, Daniel, and Charlotte are taken captive by the Others while Sawyer and Juliet try to save them. Locke meets with Richard, who tells him he must die in order to save the island.

In 2007, Kate attempts to learn who is trying to obtain custody of
Aaron while Ben continues his quest to reunite the O6 so they can all go back to the island. On the island, The dramatic shifts through time place the lives of the remaining Island survivors in extreme peril, forcing Locke to attempt to return to the Orchid in hopes of escaping the Island.

Locke takes on the burden to stop the Island's increasingly violent shifts through time by moving the island once more. In 1988, Jin witnesses the downfall of the freighter science team.

The way back to the Island is revealed to Jack and the other members of the Oceanic 6  but there's trouble ahead when not all of them wish to return.

Science:

Jughead is an atomic missile on the island in 1954. The U.S. military did use uninhabited Pacific Islands as proving grounds for atomic devices during the Cold War. However, the idea that an rogue atomic weapon would be “lost” by the U.S. military is hard to fathom.

Further, the concept of it “leaking” or dangerous was also misplaced. When Daniel and his team are captured by the 1954 Others (Eloise), he notices radiation burns on one of the Others. He concludes that the bomb is a hydrogen bomb and that its casing is cracked. He offers to deactivate the bomb. A nuclear weapon will not detonate because it has been cracked and fissionable material is leaking. On the contrary, the loss of the fissionable material would reduce the likelihood of a detonation because having less special nuclear material present would lessen the probability that a critical mass could be attained. The trigger mechanism for a nuclear device is critical in getting the chain reaction started in order to quickly expand the fusion reaction of materials. So a cracked casing has nothing to do with the trigger mechanism or the ability of the bomb to go off. If the conventional portion of the weapon exploded, it could scatter fissionable material over an area (a "dirty bomb").

In addition, Claymore mines found on the island during this island time would not have been in use by the US Army in 1954. The very basic model M18 was introduced in small numbers as late as 1961.

Improbabilities:

The United States military losing contact with one of their units, 18 soldiers missing in action,  let alone leave an armed hydrogen bomb code named “Jughead” on a Pacific island.

Clues:

Episode title: “This Place is Death.”  In it, Ben drives a van with the name "Canton-Rainier." This is an anagram for "reincarnation.” The funeral home name “Hoffs-Drawlar” is also an anagram for “flash forward.” As the story moves forward, it finishes in the sideways afterlife world.

Episode title “316.”  It is also the most famous bible verse, John 3:16 which states: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

In the Long Beach marina, when Ben and Jack have tried to manipulate part of the O6 to return to the island, there is a boat called ILLUSION. There were other references in this arc to “dreams” and “delusions.”

The poorly drafted and impossible legal fiction that a “secret” custody hearing for Aaron gives an attorney subpoena power to draw blood samples for paternity ruling. Kate buys this con hook line and sinker. In order to have a valid case, a defendant (Kate) needs to be properly served with a summons and copy of complaint filed by a person with “standing” or a legal interest in the case. There are no such people who could claim to be the father of Aaron in Kate’s off-island life. This is another theme of taking us “for a ride” in someone’s personal nightmare.

Discussion:

“ Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race. ”
— Bertrand Russell

As we go through towards the mushy midpoint of Season 5, it appears that the creators wanted to do more “shock twists” than trying to keep any continuity of the criss-crossing story lines.

We will learn that MIB has contempt for the human race. Everyone brought to the island corrupts it. The smoke monster is “the security system” which kills people. The smoke monster is also the mechanism to create replicas of those killed, in physical form with all their memories. When Ajira 316 lands on the Hydra Island, dead Locke (Flocke) appears to those plane survivors, and tells them he remembers than injured passenger, Ben, “was the man who killed me.”

If Alpert told Locke that he had to die in order to bring back his friends to the island, that was a partially true outcome. However, if Alpert told Locke he had to die in order for MIB to take over his memories, position and leadership of the Others (from Jacob), then Alpert was double crossing everyone. In 1954, Alpert was the leader of the Others. At some later time, Ellie and then Widmore were the leaders until Dharma was eliminated by the purge, and Ben assumed the role of leader. And once Ben turned the FDW, he appointed Locke the leader; but in reality, it was ghost Christian who has been guiding Locke, not Jacob.

It brings in a nagging issue for some. Why are some dead people on the island in ghost form without a corpse like Christian, while Flocke apparently needed Locke dead in order to create its appearance? One would think there would be one rule for the reincarnation or fake human.

And then there is the Abaddon-Locke relationship. Abaddon works for Widmore. He was the orderly after Locke was paralyzed. He told Locke about the walkabout in order to get him into position to be on Flight 815. Abaddon tells Locke that he “gets people to where they need to be.” He is a manipulator. So why did he need to get Locke on 815 and crash on the island? So why is he later helping Locke get the other survivors back to the island? Widmore claims that there is a coming “war.”  A contest for the island? The end of the world? It is never explained, and in Season 6 no “war” happens. It was more puffery to get a naive Locke to bite on the final con of his existence. For if Widmore needed a dead Locke back on the Island, is he really working with MIB to overthrow Jacob’s power? And why is Ben working with Eloise, who is married to Widmore, in order to get the O6 (“all of them”) back to the island?  Widmore sends Desmond to Eloise in LA so he arrives when Ben’s party arrives (more than coincidence).

The reason for getting everyone back to the island was so that the people left behind would not be killed by the time skips. But once Locke turned the FDW, it would appear that problem was solved. The problem with the show construction is that it is edited out of chronological order to create a sense of drama and confusion. One would have thought by now some die-hard Lost fan would have re-edited the series into chronological order in order to see how all the puzzle pieces are really put together. But the ending soured a lot of sci-fi show advocates. Other fans decided to shy away from the nuts and bolts of the stated facts and events, to focus in on the philosophic meaning of the show and its characters than the story lines.

The most important line of this season may have been said by Walt to Locke. Walt told him that he had dreams of Locke on the island “in a suit” surrounded by people who were going to harm him. Later, we would see that image after Ajira crash landed on the island, and Flocke stood on the beach, savoring a mango like it was the first meal it has had in a long, long, time. The concept of Walt “dreaming” future events is not new - - - but here it stands for the proposition that Walt’s mind is controlling future events. Whether those future events are real or imaginary is up for debate. But with all the references to dreams, illusions, delusions, and crazy people references, the bulk of the evidence tends to support the mental side of the debate.

An example of shock of mental snapping is when Ben “saves” Locke from suicide. Locke had failed to get any of his island companions to agree to come back with him. As a result, he was again alone and depressed. His personal belief that he was a failure was reinforced by the failure of this mission. So when Ben stops him, and tells him he will help him, one gets the impression that Ben has a plan. But he does not. He also is at the end of his figurative rope. So when Ben is told by Locke that Locke knows where to go - - - to see Eloise Hawking, Ben snaps and quickly strangles Locke to death. Why? Ben was working with Eloise to get back to the island. Eloise was telling Ben that he needed to get everyone back to the island; just was Widmore had told Locke. There was no reason for Ben to kill Locke since they were on the same team with the same purpose. Then Ben cleans up his crime scene by taking Jin’s ring to manipulate Sun and rigging Locke’s body from the rafter to give the O6 survivors a “guilt” trip - - - an emotional rollercoaster ride that somehow they contributed to Locke’s demise. And Ben would attempt to use it to influence but runs out of time by the marina stand-off.

There is no explanation of why all the 815 survivors need to return to the island. If that was true, then why were not Aaron and Ji Yeon kidnapped by Widmore’s people? And further, why would Sun abandon her young child when she was rich like Widmore and could hire people to go back to the island to rescue Jin. The concept that specific individuals need make the journey is more spiritual than real. Why is Locke’s body needed if Locke’s spirit is gone? And then, when Ben fails his mission, Eloise decides to move forward with less than half the “needed” people.

If we accept the notion that the island is a time machine, one could see the power of using it to go back into time (like in Back to the Future), and manipulate events for fame and fortune. That may have been what Widmore did to be banished from the island. He used the island’s powers to gain vast wealth and influence. But if he knew “the exit point” of the FDW turner, then how hard is it to “find” the island? Ben had no trouble sending Ethan and Alpert on mainland missions recruiting people like Juliet. It is a bothersome detail because in all the island time flashes, the island does not move - - - only a few individuals do. That also does not pass the common sense test. Why are only a few individuals “flash” when they are in the presence of other people who do not? If there are any laws of time and matter, everyone present during the flash would have the same physical properties put upon them. Every human in the presence of a time flash should be treated the same; the same effects and consequences would happen to everyone in that time and space. But it did not. If the physical skips do not apply to everyone in contact with the flash, then they are not truly physical; it is more a vivid mental state. And the fact that those experiences these mental rushes have headaches, dizziness then nose bleeds bolsters that these wild and violent events are in their heads.

The Oxford janitor told Desmond that Daniel’s ill-fated experiences were to have lab rat’s minds “time travel.” When Daniel went to a human trial with his girlfriend, Teresa, she wound up in a coma. As a result, Daniel fled and Widmore paid to clean up his mess. That led Desmond to Eloise’s church from Widmore’s address book, where the islanders were being gathered for a return trip. What is a “constant” in this snippet of story is that Daniel ran away from his love when things got bad. He was a coward. The same is true of the old Desmond; he ran away from Penny because he was a coward.
But mental “mind travel” on the island is physical in nature. Physical objects disappear and re-appear as the flashes end. In order to rectify these inconsistent time travel behaviors, one must look to an unpopular answer: that shown events are not real, but contained in the wild imagination of someone or some thing.

It is not uncommon in literature to have vivid fantasy worlds appear to come to life but in reality do not exist. As discussed in previous reboots, the concept of a coma patient’s subconscious creating a dream state is a possibility since medical science has observed certain brain patterns in that state. Also, we discussed the possibility that people’s minds could be interactively linked to create a game-like, interactive environment to the people involved would seem very real.

If you line up the “special” people identified in the series, one could argue that the entire series revolves around their collective memories and personalities (and personality disorders): Locke, Ben, Hurley and Walt. The one thing they have in common are that they are loners, brought about in part by a parental issues.

One linger issue with the show is its contempt for the children. The characters of Aaron and Ji Yeon are toss-a-way props. Why would a mother, Sun, abandon her young child to go to a dangerous island? Her baby abandonment was based on an unverified statement that Jin is alive because here is his wedding band!? Is there a reason why there is little maternal instinct at play? We will learn that both Claire and Sun give birth in the sideways world. The sideways world is the after life. Why would you need to give birth in the after life if your child was already born in real life? That makes no sense unless you think that the island world births are not real, but an illusion of motherhood. It is also a cruel illusion of fatherhood as well, as in the sideways world Jack has a son. A son will believe in the end is merely a fiction of a world the characters created to hold their souls until Jack arrived to be awakened.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

The concept that the island is “time skipping” because of what Ben did with the frozen donkey wheel.  The inconsistent explanation by Daniel was that time is a string; you can go back and forth along it, but you can never “change” the past (Eloise’s “course correction” narrative to Desmond). But he also says that time is like a record that is skipping, which infers a circular or non-linear aspect to time and space.

That the smoke monster can take multiple human forms, as it “infected” all of Rousseau’s crew as shown in the Jin flash story.  Which leads to the idea that everyone on the island is a human clone created by the (crazy) smoke monster.

Ajira passengers seeing the O6 survivors “vanish” during the crash landing on the island. Is this what happened when Flight 815 crashed - - - that certain people were teleported off the plane and to the island?

Last lines in episodes:

EP 89:
FARADAY: It's okay. It's okay. Charlotte!
[He picks her up and hugs her close to him.]

EP 90:

YOUNG WOMAN: Hello, Jin. I'm Danielle. Danielle Rousseau.
[Jin stares in shock.]

EP 91:

ELOISE: [Sighs] Well, I suppose it will have to do for now. All right! Let's get started.

EP 92:

HURLEY: Jin?
[Jin lowers the rifle and looks surprised/happy. He's wearing a DHARMA jumpsuit, but we can't see the symbol.]


New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

When the island flashed and helicopter crashed, are we certain that the Oceanic 6 was found by Penny’s boat in the island time-world?  Eloise, in the church, tells Ben that all of the island survivors need to return to the island or “god help us all.”  Why is it important that everyone on 815 and Ben return to the island?

From the Orchid Dharma video, we are told that time traveling bunny must not come into contact with non-time traveling self in the same location. The intersection of time traveling self and self is supposedly catastrophic.

When Eloise tells Desmond in London about “course correction” and a man dies, is she telling him what happens when people come into contact with themselves, or “bridge” the island world and sideways dimension? And further, Eloise tells Desmond that he needs to leave Penny and push the Hatch button “in order to save the world.” But now, which world?  Eloise is a puppet master in both realms.

When in Season 6, Eloise tells sideways world Desmond not to “wake” the island others because she could “lose” her son, Daniel, with the island people. Is “waking” really “merging” two consciousnesses in the afterlife?

We can assume that the island is on the edge of an inter-dimensional portal. But we cannot fully assume that the flashbacks and flash forwards are all in one dimension.

For example, if Eloise-Desmond conversation in London was actually in the sideways world, Eloise manipulation of Dez may have put him “through” the portal and into the island dimension, to be trapped on the island for perpetuity (and away from her sideways family).

The same could be said of Flight 815. Christian died in Australia. His spirit may have gathered the passengers together on the ill-fated plane, knowing that it would transported to the island realm from the sideways world. It could be possible that all of the passengers on 815 departed from the sideways world as “lost souls” to be deposited in the island dimension due to Desmond’s EM discharge.

The whole idea of the island as a prison, a place where people cannot leave, was first directed toward MIB (or the smoke monster). The devil it is said was cast out from heaven; banished to rule the underworld, never to return to paradise.

And since we have the roaming dead in the island realm, when they die in this dimension their souls may manifest themselves in the sideways world because that dimension is the afterlife waiting room. And if the island was spacetime skipping, the sideways world flight 815 that actually lands in LA is explained as being consistent with the fact that all the passengers died or were already dead on the island 815 crash.

Thus, the dangerous duality of time traveling souls meeting each other in one singularity. Desmond’s mind “flashes” are believed to be real “memories,” but from another dimension of existence. So that is why so many are false, like the the image of Claire taking Aaron on a helicopter off the island.

There appears to be two characters who have a grasp of manipulating people in both dimensions: Eloise and Christian. They appear at critical times pre-Flight 815, on-island, off-island and in the sideways world.

If the Lost mythology actually begins in the sideways world, that could be considered a theoretical game changer. For if one dies on the island, only a partial soul is sent back to the sideways world (one without a memory of the island), and part of the soul may be “reincarnated” as an incomplete self.

Ben Linus may be an example of this “special” circumstance. His “birth” prematurely in a forest may have led to his “death.” He begins his “life” in the sideways world with his dead father, who is conned into going “to the island” by Horace, who may be working for the Widmores (or at least Eloise). Ben may be seen as an element to control people who are later shipped to the island for captivity.  On the island, Ben is unhappy and easily manipulated by the Others. When Ben is shot (and killed) by time traveling Sayid, he is taken to the Temple for “reincarnation.” But part of Ben’s childhood soul is transported back to the sideways world, where he grows up to become a meek school teacher, while part of his soul is reanimated as an evil man.

If we look to the sideways world as a pre-paradise, it fits into the notion that the ancient Egyptians had to the various levels of the afterlife. One had the common people coming to a land to tend the fields much they did on earth, with new lives, families and all the aspects of their life on earth. The sideways world has those components, but in a modern setting.

If one knows about the nexus between the island world and the sideways world, control of this portal is the key to obtaining immortality. This may have been found by the ancient Egyptians, and its secret passed down through the ages in both the island and sideways realms. Souls in the sideways world may fear the next step in the after life (for if the sideways world is heaven, is the next stage of moving on “non-existence?”) In order to stop the process of a finite eternity, souls go back through the portal to the sever the conscious fact that they are already dead. It is a self-con in order to stop the process of moving on in the after life journey.

What happens when a mother crosses back over to the island realm only to kill her time skipping son? Eloise does everything in her knowledge and power to keep sideways Daniel from re-connecting with his island consciousness. Those memories would doom her to lose her son to the 815 cast and/or Charlotte.

The idea that the protagonists that are pushing the story lines are from the sideways world and not from earth is a new twist. Most viewers believe that the story is about Jack and the 815 survivors, who had a dramatic journey battling beasts, themselves and evil in order to be reunited in heaven. But an objective view of the story arcs shows that Jack and 815 survivors, as well as the Others and Alpert, are merely pawns in a grand scheme. They may “think” they know what is going on (like Ben), but they are unable to grasp where they are or what the island is in relation to the story conclusion.

When these episodes first aired, I made the following observations and analysis. On re-watch, it is apparent that the show is heading towards Egyptian myths with the hieroglyphs seen in the FDW chamber and on the wall where Smokey took the French crew.

As with a show like Lost, there are three components in play: the story principles/mythology; the story mechanics; and the plot /struggle within the confines of the mythology and mechanics.  The problem with the show is that the storytelling techniques  are overwhelming the story.  Trying to find a rational basis for all three components is the real mystery to the show.  The conclusion: our perception is not the show’s true reality.

1. The mechanics of the island.  There is an alternative explanation to the worm hole, exotic matter theory: Tesla coils. It is interesting to note that Nikola Tesla, who was a Utopian thinker,  was fascinated with the idea of light as both a particle and a wave, the fundamental proposition of what would become quantum physics. He  had the idea of creating a "wall of light" by manipulating electromagnetic waves in a certain pattern. This mysterious wall of light would enable time, space, gravity and matter to be altered at will, and engendered an array of Tesla proposals that seem to leap straight out of science fiction, including anti-gravity airships, teleportation, time travel and  an impenetrable force field (he conceived of a transmitter tower that could produce a dome force field).  One of Tesla's better known experiments regards his famed Wardenclyffe tower. The coil, would re-amplify the earth’s natural electric current, and send it back into the planet to increase its power.  After several cycles, Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower was producing millions of volts of electricity, and actually creating electrical arcs of up to 30 feet with a higher voltage than natural lightning.

If the FDW and the Hatch are/were Tesla coils designed to alter time, space, gravity and matter, within the universe of the island. Both locations serve as gates to different levels of eternity.  Both locations contained hieroglyphs which reference Egyptian beliefs in death. A Tesla coil, which is focusing energy into the ground, would explain why the Hatch “imploded” rather than exploding when Desmond used the fail safe key.  The effect we see during the “time skips” is a huge wall of light that engulfs the characters perception of time and space.

In addition, the Numbers from the Hatch were thought to be part of the Valenzetti Equation.  But it also could be part of the spells, charms or formulas of the ancient Egyptians who had a series of sacred or magical numbers: 2, 3, 4, 7 and their multiples and sums.  The mechanics of imputing the Numbers in the Hatch was to avoid opening a closed gate from some dangerous situation from the underworld.  The fail safe key implosion permanently sealed that gate so a deity could not use it to invade the island.

2. The Numbers.  The ancient Egyptians had their sacred numbers.  And a few had special meaning:

    Three (3) meant plurality, meaning the triad of deities or a “complete system.”  (This may be why Christian tells Locke to bring back all of the O6, so he does not forget Jack, the only one he cares about because with Jack, Christian would have made his triad with himself and Claire.) 

    Five (5) was the symbol for the star or pentagram which meant the afterlife. (Here we are in Season 5 Episode 5 and it is titled “This Place is Death.”  A sledgehammer hint, perhaps?)

    Seven (7) was the symbol for perfection, effectiveness and completeness.  We thought 70 hours seemed an odd number for Hawkings calculation.  But the number 70 has some context in Egyptian mythology: the underworld god of wisdom, Thoth, who knows everything about all things, tricked the moon god to add five calendar days in 70 seconds.  (Thoth is one of the underworld gods who escorts the sun god through the underworld on each nightly passage. He would know everything about everyone in this domain.)

3. The principles of the island.  The concept of “sacrifice” and dying in order to leave the island (the Kingdom of the Dead) is core to ancient Egyptian religions.  When a person dies, the deceased goes to the Kingdom of the Dead where his ba (personality) joins his ka (body double) to regain movement and speech. The deceased is made “to live again so that they may arise, reborn, with the morning sun.”  The souls who come  here must work for the god of the underworld as payback for “protection” against danger and evil spirits or gods.

There are twelve (12) sections of the land of the dead (or gates) to pass before arriving at final judgment.  Arriving at one’s reward is said to be a demanding ordeal, requiring a “sin free” heart and the ability to traverse the trials of the underworld (with reciting spells, passwords,or formulae from the Book of the Dead.)  Because of the dangers posed in this world, the deceased were buried with possession that they would need to protect themselves. (In Egyptian rites, you bring to the afterlife the material possessions you have at the time you die.  The rule that the time skippers jumping only with the possession they have with them is like this Egyptian death belief.)  Once the deceased completes his  or her journey, he or she travels across the sky in the sun ark as one the blessed dead, and that evening travels to the underworld for final judgment before Osirus.  Final judgment is either vindication (heaven) or eaten by a soul eater (to have a non-existence)  Apep, is a god of the underworld that is the personification of all evil and darkness, shown as a giant snake or serpent, who attacks those souls who journey in his realm.  This may be Smokey’s role in the island world. 

4.  Travel and Time. There is a simple principle unfolding on traveling to and from the island: you have to die. Which brings to the forefront the whole concept of death itself. When you die, are you really dead?  Maybe as rites of passage, you have to have “multiple” passings or deaths (through the afterlife trials and gates) in order to be more enlightened (more a spiritual being).  This concept of rites and ordeals of passage in the underworld leads to the final component:  (I think that bringing an embalmed body into the island sphere creates a magical spirit - - - Christian, for example; and shortly, Locke). At the end of the episode, Mrs. Hawking has the sociopath's smirk of serial killer.

We may not be seeing actual “time travel” as we perceive it.  We are seeing immortal time being reconstructed from the entire wisdom and knowledge base of the world and all the lost souls. (Think, St. Peter at the gate of heaven or Thoth, the god of wisdom in the underworld, as knowing everything you did in your mortal life and storing that information for time of final judgment).

5.  The conflict.  If the island is the symbolic representation of the underworld, the relative conflict is who controls it.  The hidden secrets, the ordeals, and the mind games (including the deals, with the devil so to speak) are elements to keep the lost souls on the island from figuring out what is really happening to them and the island.  A good soldier just does what he is told to do. The island setting may be a microsphere of such a conflict: who controls a segment of sacred, therefore, powerful location in the realm of the afterlife.

We have a mix of good, bad and evil.  We also have a mix of strong religious belief systems.  Ancient Egyptian, Judea-Christian and Utopian (Dharma).  We have an ancient culture of souls (Alpert), in battle with arrivals of Dharma souls and now the 815ers.  Since the deceased brings with them their personality and knowledge, it would also bring their beliefs  . . .  including humanity’s never ending Holy Wars.  However, a person’s beliefs do not necessary create wisdom: the reality of what is really happening to them.  Only those who understand their plight (being dead) can grow in wisdom and transverse the perils through this dimension towards peace. I think that Rose is the only 815er who understood their situation from Day One.

After re-watching Lost to this point, the alleged “conflict” and pending “war” are overblown. If the island has the power over life and death (such as stopping Michael from committing suicide in NYC), then why does it need protection from one person like Widmore? Unless the conflict in personal or an internal mental conflict within one’s self, we have a faux filler story arc to complete the season.

And the time travel elements make less sense today than when they first aired in TV.
The idea that Walt’s dreams are creating waking events to the 815 characters is intriguing; it would also explain why Michael could not kill himself in NYC. Walt would not let him. But when Locke meets Walt after school, Walt knows what will happen to Locke, but he does not know what has happened to his father. Is Walt’s subconscious mind controlling the events?

In a dream state, anything is possible including time travel, smoke monsters, temples, evil people, ship wrecks, murder and violence. And in a dream state, there is no moral component of judgment. As the numerous bad acts that the characters will do in the series, none of them are “punished” for their sins. It may be that Walt is the dream maker in this whole story; once his father is out of his life, he mentally kills him off and continues the adventures of his island friends.