REBOOT EPISODES 93-96

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 93-96 (Days ????- - ????)

In 1974, Sawyer perpetuates a lie with some of the other Island survivors in order to protect themselves from mistakes of the past, by joining the Dharma group.

When the O6 arrives,  Sawyer is forced to further perpetuate his lie in order to protect them by making them part of Dharma.

Things begin to unravel when Sayid goes rogue and takes matters into their own hands, risking the lives of everyone on the Island. Dharma thinks he is a Hostile.

Kate goes to extreme measures to save Ben's life after he is shot by Sayid when Jack refuses to help. She asks the Hostiles to help Ben. In a house, Hurley and Miles try to figure out the consequences of Ben's shooting and time travel. Sawyer tries to recruit help from Jack, but he refuses telling Kate that he already saved Ben once, and he did it for her. Jack claims that he's done trying to fix things and now puts his trust in the Island. Kate remarks that she doesn't like the new Jack, but Jack reminds her that she didn't like the old him.

Miles argues with Hurley about time travel.

Kate arrives at the infirmary and donates blood to keep young Ben alive. As Kate and Roger sit at Ben's bedside, he admits that he may not have been "the world's greatest father" since Ben stole his keys because of him.

Inside the house, Hurley is trying to understand the unanswered questions of time travel. Miles explains to him that they are in their present while everyone else are in their past. Hurley wonders why a future Ben couldn't remember that Sayid, the guy who tortured him in the future is the same guy who shot him in his past. Miles has no answer.


Juliet is able to stabilize Ben, but can't heal him. Juliet tells Kate that the Others may be able to save his life by bringing him to the Temple.  She secretly helps Kate load Ben into a van, and Kate drives out to the sonic fence. Sawyer catches up with her and helps her rather than stopping her. He says that he's doing it for Juliet--because Juliet feels it's wrong to let a child die. Sawyer and Kate bring Ben to the Others.

Science:

Wikipedia reports on a man who weighed deceased souls. In 1901, Duncan MacDougall weighed six patients while they were in the process of dying from tuberculosis in an old age home. It was relatively easy to determine when death was only a few hours away, and at this point the entire bed was placed on an industrial sized scale which was apparently sensitive to the gram. He took his results (a varying amount of perceived mass loss in most of the six cases) to support his hypothesis that the soul had mass, and when the soul departed the body, so did this mass. The determination of the soul weighing 21 grams was based on the average loss of mass in the six patients within moments after death. Experiments on mice and other animals took place. Most notably the weighing upon death of sheep seemed to create mass for a few minutes which later disappeared. The hypothesis was made that a soul portal formed upon death which then whisked the soul away.

MacDougall also measured fifteen dogs in similar circumstances and reported the results as "uniformly negative," with no perceived change in mass. He took these results as confirmation that the soul had weight, and that dogs did not have souls. MacDougall's complaints about not being able to find dogs dying of the natural causes that would have been ideal led one author to conjecture that he was in fact poisoning dogs to conduct these experiments. In March 1907, accounts of MacDougall's experiments were published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research and the medical journal American Medicine, while the news was spread to the general public by New York Times.

His results have never been attempted to be reproduced, and are generally regarded either as meaningless or considered to have had little if any scientific merit. Nonetheless, MacDougall's finding that presumably the human soul weighed 21 grams has become a meme in the public consciousness, mostly due to its claiming the titular thesis in the 2003 film 21 Grams.

Improbabilities:

The time traveling Ben Linus, on the Hydra Island in 2007, would not have any immediate affects from being shot by Sayid in 1977 as a child, including memories if time travel is a string as Daniel states; that you can go back and forth upon the time string, but what happened happened.

Clues:

The Lost explanations of time travel, and then the subsequent breaches of those time travel rules, indicates a) that the viewer is not really seeing time travel but some form of illlusion or b) massive continuity errors in the filler arcs.

The duality of young Ben “dying” in the island past by Sayid, and the severely injured Ben awaking on the Hydra island “the land of the living” after 316 crashes and meets dead Locke (Flocke) indicates that we do not know who is alive or who dead but in a living clone on the island. The idea that the island is the land “of the living” can be a misnomer of dead souls who retain a physical manifestation passing through hell.

Discussion:

“ A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. ”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

We come to another crossroads. The series is throwing out more and more mysteries, but the show will not conclude like a mystery story. The series is throwing out more and more science fiction attributes, but the show will not conclude like a sci-fi classic. The series is also imparting more adventure sequences, but it is masking “shock plot twists” as drama. Season 5 is the point where many late adopters of the show jumped off the raft.

What Happened, Happened is a misnomer. When Sawyer takes on the sheriff role in 1970s Dharma camp, that changes the past. The time flashing 815ers have a direct causal connection to Sayid shooting Ben as a child. As a result of Jack’s insistence not to intervene (to let the island do its own thing), Kate takes it upon herself to save Ben. This should have fractured their shaky relationship forever.
When I first viewed Season 5, the episodes continue to confirm my suspicion that the show is about the after life. That all the characters are not in the real world; they are all dead.  The Egyptian mythology on the afterlife is the basis for the characters journey through the underworld to judgment.

It is not about time travel but re-creation of “place” in order to test the characters (souls) to determine if they are worthy to remain in the afterlife or be destroyed into non-existence.

The concept of “place” over “time” is evident in the clear indication that the Hydra station with polar bear cages in use in 1974-77 with the Sawyer group while Locke and the 316ers are at the abandoned Hydra station in 2005-2008.

Each character is being put into a new situation (place) to determine whether they are able to “Change.”  For example, Sawyer’s soul has been reset to a situation or place where a murderous con man can change into a the peaceful, wise sheriff of Dharmaberry.  For example, Locke was returned to a “real” world setting with a simple mission to bring people back, but he utterly fails in his own right. He now has an opportunity in a new place with the 316ers where he could change from pathetic suicidal loser into the special leader (a “do over” if you don’t think Locke’s body was taken over by MIB).

It would appear that Widmore, Alpert, Abbadon, Hawking, Brother Campbell are all on the same team.  They are all judges from the underworld who are testing the characters to determine whether they are worthy for redemption and rebirth.

While Chang is constructing the Orchid to get to the FDW, Horace is doing 4 a.m. feedings, Sawyer is Andy Griffith, Radzinsky, a security guard, is creating the plans for the Hatch?  Does that make any sense?

In 1977, the Hatch was not built yet. How would the Hostiles allow a major underground construction project (remember the massive concrete vaults) on their territory? They would not. The natives would have had to been eliminated in order to construct the hatch.

Radz and Kelvin survived the Purge in 1992. So the Hatch had to be constructed between 1977-1990. Based on the equipment, more towards the early 1980s.

The hatch’s purpose still remains a mystery.  Why would you need in a computer age, an operator typing in the numbers every 108 minutes? And why construct your alarm display in hieroglyphs? 

In 2001, Desmond replaced Radzinsky at the Hatch. Radz went nuts and allegedly committed suicide. Was he the Faraday of his day?

In 2004, Desmond’s failure to put the numbers in caused 815 to crash.

Now the 815ers of 1977  are in the position of stopping the hatch from being constructed, which would change the future so 815 would not crash.

During the Swan Orientation Film, Dr. Marvin Candle mentioned that there was "an incident" which resulted in the creation of a protocol that required a code to be entered every 108 minutes. The incident involved a leak in the containment associated with an electromagnetic anomaly. The leak caused an unspecified charge to build up within the anomaly. As the charge built up, the magnetic field associated with the anomaly grew. After 108 minutes, the magnetic field was large enough to damage the Swan station. This incident most likely occurred before 1980, the production date of the film. ("What Kate Did")

Dr. Marvin Candle issues a strict warning not to use the computer for communication with the outside world. He goes on to say that failure to comply will compromise the integrity of the project and could result in another incident. Candle also seems to indicate that the incident occurred shortly after the Swan station began operations. ("What Kate Did")

It is unknown exactly what caused the incident to occur or what kind of damage it caused. The protocol was created so that the magnetic anomaly could be discharged every 108 minutes, thus preventing an electromagnetic catastrophe. Failure to comply with this protocol leads to a system failure. There is a failsafe mechanism in place below the floor of the computer room that will destroy the Swan and permanently and safely seal the electromagnetic anomaly. ("Live Together, Die Alone")

1980 Swan orientation references The Incident causing protocol for EM discharge.
Sawyer group Dharma 1974-1977.

The Incident, EM discharge, 1977-1979.  (The Orchid? why build Swan on different spot?)

Swan built between 1977-1980 (Why Radz designing station not needed to exist yet?)

Ben buries Orchid box w/ mirror, crackers 1990
Ben orchestrates the purge in 1992.
Radz and Kelvin in Hatch survive the Purge in 1992.
Radz commits suicide 1999-2001
2004 protocol breach caused 815 to crash
Ben builds runway for plane in 2004.
Desmond impodes Hatch with fail safe key in 2004
O6 leave island in 2004-05.
316 crash lands on runway in 2007
Dharma barracks “different” in 2007.
Picture wall: one more recruits photo (6 months after Jack arrives?)

So going back into time to 1977 should have created more massive event distortions in the Lost universe.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Time travel. In all of its inconsistencies.

Dead Locke walking among the island living.


Last lines in episodes:

EP 93:
SAWYER: Yeah. I just... I gotta go.
[He does so.]

EP 94:

SAYID: It's nice to meet you, Ben.

EP 95:

SAYID: I am a killer.
[Sayid looks up and shoots young Ben in the chest once. Ben falls to the floor instantly. Sayid lowers the gun and wipes a tear, then he runs into the jungle, leaving Ben for dead.]

EP 96:

LOCKE: Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.
[Ben's eyes open wide as he realizes Locke is alive again.]

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

In ancient Egyptian religion, names held great power or magic. When a new Pharaoh took the throne, he would erase the name of his predecessor in order to eliminate his power. Likewise, people would not speak a god’s name, but use another name as to not invoke the power or wrath of that god. Also, when you wanted the gods to spite an enemy, you would invoke a curse upon him.

Maybe this ancient concepts are at play in the Lostverse. We have always been bothered by why Hugo is called Hurley in the island world. We know that James Ford took the name of his parents’ killer, Sawyer. But Sawyer’s rise to power coincides with Juliet calling him by his given name, “James.” And it is that simple invocation that gives Sawyer a change in personality to become a well respected member of Dharma, its sheriff, and a long lasting relationship with Juliet.

Hurley winds up as the powerful god-like guardian on the island in the end. Is it the recognition and call of his given name in later episodes that defines his final mission?

The concept that the island “is the land of living” as Flocke tells Ben on the 316 island is probably a great misnomer, too. It may be another lie to invoke a sense of common place in the souls now trapped in the misery of forehell. It is also a control mechanism by those who have actual knowledge that they are dead - - - knowledge is power in the Lost world. Hurley has wavered from thinking he was crazy to thinking that all of the 815ers never left the island, that they were all dead. Hurley’s prophecy will turn to ultimate truth in The End. Viewers probably did not give Hurley enough credit as our proxy in the series.

Gnostic idea that there are two worlds, and the inferior visible world is an illusion. The island world seems more “real” but it is an inferior “illusion” of life as compared to the ending sideways world (after life or purgatory holding dimension). We have seen several references to the island world as being an illusion, a reincarnation, and a place of death. It may be the first place of death in a chain of levels of enlightenment until a final death brings together all the elements to complete one true life (i.e. the sideways church reunion.)