REBOOT EPISODES 113-116

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 113-116 (Days ????- - ????)

Widmore’s people kidnap Jin and Flocke vows to get him back. Widmore has Desmond brought to the island for an experiment... one that will allow Desmond to visit the alternate reality. Hurley tries to figure out how to save everyone; and Flocke meets up with Desmond. As alliances are formed, broken and merged, Widmore gives everyone an ultimatum.

Flocke meets Widmore. As Jin tries to leave he, Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Sayid and the rest of the group are struck by darts and all pass out. Widmore's team step amongst the bodies until they find Jin and Zoe says to take him.

Dez wakes up and discovers he is back on the island. Desmond attacks Widmore and has to be restrained. He screams to take him back but Widmore tells him that he cannot, saying "the Island isn't done with you yet" ( a line previously used by Mr. Friendly to Michael in NYC). As Widmore leaves the room, Jin, who has been standing just outside watching, asks Widmore what Desmond is doing on the Island. Widmore says he will show Jin and tells Zoe to bring Jin to the generator room where they can start the test.

Hurley is visiting Libby’s grave when whispers are heard and ghost Michael appears. Michael says that he has come to stop Hurley from getting everyone killed. Hurley asks why he should trust Michael, as he murdered Libby, but Michael says that it doesn't matter because if Hurley blows up the plane a lot of people will die and, because people are listening to Hurley now, it will be his fault.
At the beach camp Ilana arrives saying that they must make it to Hydra Island to destroy the plane before nightfall. She tells Alpert that she has four sticks of dynamite from the Black Rock. Hurley overhears and says he doesn't think it is a good idea, especially as the dynamite is so unstable. Ilana says that she must do this to protect them; Hurley asks how blowing up the plane will protect them. Ilana says that it is the only way to prevent that "thing" (Flocke) from leaving. She repeats that Jacob said that Richard knows what to do and that he said to blow up the plane. As she speaks she drops her pack and the dynamite inside explodes, killing her and knocking Hurley and the others down.

Richard tells Hurley that now they must get more dynamite or Ilana's death will have been in vain. Hurley speaks up authoritatively saying Richard is right and that it is the only choice they have, he looks Jack in the eye and asks him to trust him. After a long pause Jack agrees. They arrive at the Black Rock and realize that Hurley is not with them. Just then, Hurley comes running out of the ship, shouting to them all to run. The Black Rock explodes and is destroyed.

Richard demands to know why Hurley did it. Hurley replies that he is protecting them. Richard storms off saying that they are now doomed. Miles asks Hurley why he did it; Hurley says that Michael told him to, that Michael is one of the dead people who come and "yell" at him. Miles asks whether Hurley just does whatever the dead people say. Hurley responds that the dead people are more reliable than the living.

As Flocke and Jack's groups merge, alliances are forged and broken. Jack says that what bothers him is that he has no idea what the hell Locke is.  Flocke says he chose Locke's body because Locke was stupid enough to think he was on the Island for a reason, and he pursued that idea until it got him killed. Flocke says that he needed Locke's dead body to look like him. Flocke goads Jack by asking whether he thinks he may have impersonated anyone else in the past. Jack asks whether "Locke" had ever impersonated his father. "Locke" says that he did, simply because the castaways needed to be shown where water was located. Flocke replies he was only ever trying to help Jack to leave but Jack had always been trapped because Jacob had chosen him. But Jacob was now dead so he was no longer trapped and could fly away, but only if it was "all of us." He adds that John Locke was not a believer but a sucker.

Flocke addresses his camp saying how nice it is to have everyone back together again. Kate joins Jack who again says he is not sure whether to leave with Locke. Zoe arrives to ask Locke to return what he had taken. Flocke says he doesn't know she is talking about. Zoe uses a two way radio to confirm they have a fix on her position and asks for them to show Locke what they are capable of. A mortar round flies overhead and explodes nearby.

Flocke says to his camp their hands have been forced by the Widmore group who are provoking a confrontation. He tells the camp to gather their things to go to Hydra Island and get on the plane. Sawyer is given orders to get all the candidates to Hydra Island. Sawyer asks Kate to come with him. Flocke calls Sayid over and takes him aside. Sawyer whispers to Jack that he isn't going to rendezvous with Flocke but wants Jack find a way to sneak off with Sun, Hurley and Frank to meet them at an old dock. They will then all go to Hydra Island to meet Widmore, who he has a deal with. He explains that Claire is nuts and gave up her ticket when she tried to kill Kate.

Flocke leads his 23 followers toward the rendezvous point. Claire tells Jack that she trusts Flocke because he is the only one who didn't abandon her. Flocke drops back, concerned that Sayid has not joined them. He asks Sun whether she has seen Sayid. She writes a note saying that he did this (her inability to talk) to her. Flocke stomps off saying he didn't do anything to her. He tells Cindy he is going to find Sayid and runs off. Jack takes the chance and gathers Hurley, Sun and Frank but Claire observes and follows them.

Flocke finds Sayid and wonders why he took so long. Sayid tells him he just killed an unarmed man and that he needed a moment. There is tension as he says that he killed Desmond and that Locke could go and check if he wishes. Even as Flocke leaves Sayid holds back a moment.
Sawyer's group arrive at Hydra Island and swim ashore. Widmore's people confront them with guns but lower their arms when Zoe says that she knows Sawyer. Jin arrives, spots Sun and runs to embrace her.

Jack swims back to the beach where Flocke and seven followers await on shore. Flocke makes light of Jack's swim and confirms with Jack that Sawyer has taken "his" boat. Widmore fires the mortar, its rounds land in their midst and throws Jack and some of the others through the air. Flocke runs to Jack who is prone in the sand and carries him inland as another shell hits. Flocke puts Jack down and says to him that he should not worry, because: "You're with me now."

Science:

Japanese researchers have pioneered new technology enabling them to observe neural activity occurring in the zebrafish brain in real time.

In its embryonic and larval stages, the zebrafish's body remains transparent, making it an ideal candidate for the fluorescence imaging study undertaken by scientists at Japan’s National Institute for Genetics. That unique property allows researchers to observe the body's underlying structures directly, either with the naked eye or under magnification. By developing a chemical marker that can be inserted directly into the relevant neurons of interest and detected by a fluorescent probe, the scientists enabled a close study of the activity occurring within the zebrafish brain at the level of a single cell. They introduced a genetically encoded calcium indicator that glows green in the presence of calcium, signaling a quantifiable increase in brain activity. As areas of the fish’s brain lit up in response to a moving stimulus, the researchers were able to keep track of neural firing at any given moment, tracing the path of the fish’s thought as it occurred.

In order to make sure they would be able to monitor the correct parts of the working zebrafish brain, the scientists first identified the relevant neurons that became active in response to a moving object and created a model of how they anticipated the neurons would react to other patterns of movement. They then tempted their subject by releasing single-celled paramecia, a common zebrafish food source, into its environment. The expected neurons glowed in accordance with the researchers’ forecast, thereby validating their predictive model.

This research begins the basis of animals' neural patterns, including humans. The researchers hope to interpret an animal’s behavior, including learning and memory, fear, joy, or anger, based on the activity of particular combinations of neurons.

Clues:

The package is the secret weapon, Desmond. His “ability” to withstand high concentration of electromagnetic energy gives Widmore the alleged ability to destroy the smoke creature and stop it from leaving the island.

Flocke explains that only a few names remain which haven't been crossed off and that "Kwon" is one of them. The Man in Black says he is not sure whether it refers to Sun or Jin. In Korean culture, the bride would keep her own name, so the candidate appears to be Jin. The Man in Black says that the only way that they can leave the Island is if all the names that are not crossed off leave together. So, in order to be released from Jacob or the island’s hold, Flocke must recruit all Jacob’s remaining candidates and leave with them “together.”

Sayid tells the Man in Black that he doesn't feel anything – anger, happiness, pain. Flocke says that that may be best to get through what is coming. This confirms that Sayid is “dead,” and knowledge of that fact will change how Sayid perceives everything around him.

Desmond is tied to a chair between the solenoid coils. Widmore tells Desmond that once the experiment is over he will ask Desmond to make a sacrifice. Desmond cynically asks Widmore what he knows about sacrifice. Widmore tells him that his son died here for the sake of the Island, that Penny hates him and that he hasn't even met his grandson. He adds that if Desmond won't help, it will all be for nothing as everyone will be gone forever.  This is the high stakes end game: the statement that “everyone will cease to exist” is a fate worse than death.

Everybody Loves Hugo, especially in the sideways world, which truly is a fantasy “Happily Ever After” place.

The Last Recruit for Flocke is Jack. In order for Flocke to “win” the game, he needs Jack to be his loyal follower.

In the past, tomatoes were considered poison because they are part of the nightshade family. It is odd that Dynamite Jack found a single tomato on a dead vine in an overgrown garden. It may show a symbol to Sun that they are truly dead in this Garden of Eden. It is possible that Sun hit her head and "died" like Sayid, and now has to be "retouched" to be claimed by either Jacob or MIB.  Sun refused to follow Richard to Hydra Island, but in the end she agrees to the same thing with Jack. Question: did we really see Jack with Sun or someone else in Jack's form?

Flocke" tells Sayid to go to the  well and kill Desmond. Sayid hesitates prompting Flocke to check that he still wants what he asked for. Sayid says that he does and heads to the well.  At the well Desmond is sitting in water at the bottom as Sayid points his gun. Desmond calmly asks what Flocke offered Sayid. Sayid says he him he could get the woman he loved back, even though she was dead. Desmond asks why he would believe Flocke could help. Sayid says that he was dead. Finally Desmond asks what Sayid will say to his beloved when she asks what he had to do to be with her again. The concept of the characters realizing their own death opens the door for them to move on in the afterlife.


Hugo figures out that the whispers are people like Michael, who are trapped souls, who cannot leave because of what they had done. This clearly shows that the island is "A Place of Death," where souls are tested, sacrificed and redeemed by their actions.

The end game appears to be a game of “tag” and “follow the leader.”  If Flocke/MIB can get all remaining six characters on his “team” he says he can leave the island (which is his goal). But Jacob had “trapped” MIB and the candidates to the island. But since Jacob “was dead” no one is trapped on the island anymore. But, the O6 left the island so they were not “trapped.” Was it a means of keeping the pawns outside of Flocke’s control? Was the time shifts also part of the plan? It seems too simple to have Flocke take the living candidates off the island unlocks his freedom from the island.


Discussion:

“ Whatever you have, you must either use or lose. ”
— Henry Ford

“ Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible. ”
— Frank L. Gaines

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
--- Arthur C. Clarke-

“Do you buy that?” Miles asks about Sun’s sudden English amnesia. No, Miles, we do not. For the language center of the brain controls both Korean and English, right? And when Jack appears to her and says she can communicate by “written” pen and paper, this is a leap because her “tutor” was only verbal and we did not see any written education. It may be a small point (but continuity errors can snowball into a cascade of doubt).

In a 2007 discussion, JJ Abrams talked about “the mystery box,” the key information that’s withheld in a story that makes the story intriguing and compelling. As he puts it: “The intentional withholding of information is much more engaging.”

But even fans concluded that Abrams must mean that part of the story that he hasn’t figured out and never will but which permits the leaps of story logic and inconsistent character behavior that animate all his series. As a fan critic once said, “There’s a fundamental flaw to his Mystery Box logic, especially in regards to LOST. When you start stacking mystery box on top of mystery box on top of mystery box without opening any of them (no pay off at all for the audience), you end up with a whole bunch of crappy boxes sitting around.”

There a lot of stacked up, empty moving boxes in the Season 6 story line. Now, imidway through the final season, there is no sense of total purpose. [...] The main characters have no idea what their roles are in the island melodrama."

To some extend they've always been the objects rather than the subjects of the action, but this season it seems to be extreme. Sawyer appears to be an exception, Hurley to some degree, even if it is just following mind!Jacob's orders. This episode Jin and Sun tried to assert themselves, but then promptly were either kidnapped or ran into a tree.

How does Hawking know if the O6 did not return to the island, "god help us all?"
How does Widmore know that if he does not stop Flocke, everyone would cease to exist?

If there was a good reason (to save humanity from destruction from "X") for the main characters to be on that island, then why doesn't somebody tell them that? Why not tell the people you need what is "X?" Wouldn't that be motivation enough for Jack the fixer to try to save the world? Or Sawyer's self preservation skills try to save the world to save himself?

Substance and clarity and not further on- and off-island manipulations is what we need now. Without knowing "X," we don't know why.

How does Widmore know that if he does not stop Flocke, everyone would cease to exist?"
According to Widmore himself via "myths, ghost stories, and noises in the jungle" (paraphrased). Seems like awfully shaky grounds to built this conclusion on.

"If there was a good reason (to save humanity from destruction from "X") for the main characters to be on that island, then why doesn't somebody tell them that?"

Yes, that is the question, isn't it? In The Lighthouse Jacob told Hurley that Jack had to figure out by himself what to do. But why? Who knows? (Apparently we don't.)

Our Candidates for greatness have rarely tried to figure things out (in fact, most have been content at running away from their problems rather than solving them).

So in the big picture, our Candidates need to make the connection that MIB is a great evil spirit, then on their own figure out how to deal with it (destroy or contain it)? Sounds like it is outside their collective SAT scores.

So how does one stop an evil spirit? Some theologists believe that evil spirits cannot act directly upon a person; they can only manipulate you to do something of your own accord (serpent in the garden of Eden). The battle between good and evil is fought in one's own mind. I don't like the idea of a computer graphic light bulb going off over the head of a Candidate, then he or she closes his or her eyes, and wishes Smokey/MIB away (mind over matter).

What is the point of withholding "X?"

Is it that motive is as important, perhaps even more important than action?

I think most people would forfeit their lives in order to save all humanity. But not many people would forfeit their lives to save the stranger next to them. Is that why they are withholding "X"? To separate the chaff from the grain? Are they trying to determine whose motive is pure?

Sawyer jumped from the helicopter for the safety of his fellow passengers. Kate put her own well being in jeopardy when she went back to help Claire. Charlie sacrificed his life for others, Desmond turned that key thinking he would die in the process.

Earlier when I wondered if MIB might be suicidal, I wasn't thinking in of terms of his doing it to prevent or accomplish this or that, I was thinking in terms of his killing himself and the hell with anyone else who might perish as a result. Supreme selfishness.

"Our Candidates for greatness have rarely tried to figure things out (in fact, most have been content at running away from their problems rather than solving them)."

Jacob seems to think there is a good reason for not telling the Losties anything. The only reasonable people left on the Island seem to be Sun, Jin, and Sawyer (perhaps add Frank and Miles, since they just let others duke it out; and Rose, Bernard and other secondary Losties if they are still around somewhere). Sun, Jin, and Sawyer are the only ones who keep their eyes on the real goal: Find their loved ones and get off the Island, all the others are just being dragged over the Island playing a game they don't know the rules or the goals of and in which they are the pawns. At least MIB seems honest about his goals (getting of the Island), if not always about his means, but he has the downside of killing people by the dozen.

Is it that motive is as important, perhaps even more important than action?

One needs to know what he is facing in order to make choices on how to act. If "X" is the devil, that information would be needed to determine what to do and how to solve the problem (i.e. pray really really hard). If "X" is an alien overlord bent on destroying the earth, then you would at least plot some strategy to lock "X" down or find a weakness.

At this point, many viewers were totally confused by the inaction, the waiting game, and then the sudden burst of actions premised on lies. Viewers did not like  the "Let's Make A Deal" choice given to the characters:  do you want what's in the box or what's behind the curtain? Yes, the goofy contestant's motivation is pure greed, and the choice is freely made, but is that how Lost is supposed to end? By blind stumbling luck?

The sideways world has always been the nonsensical filler arc to end the series.

It is a mirror world of the dead characters really, really being dead. However, it seems that their island world memories “bleed” through to the sideways world, especially after “near death” experiences in the sideways realm. How is that possible?

If we look to ancient Egyptian belief, a person’s soul gets split at death in various forms (the ba and ka). In the Lost universe, it appears that the conscious mind is trapped in the island realm while the subconscious mind is in the sideways after life world. The overlap, or flashes of memories, is what some people in the island world call “insanity.”

In Egyptian religious beliefs, it is only when the spirits of the ba and ka are reunited, merged, after the soul has gone through the underworld, can a person have a complete after life. If one does not emerge from the underworld tests, there is a fate worse than death or living in hell, it is “non-existence.” Several references have been made that if Flocke leaves the island, everything and everyone the characters knew would cease to exist. This infers that the Lost character group is an after life affiliation of desperate souls trying to collectively get out of the underworld to have an afterlife in the sideways realm of heaven.

The twist is that in Egyptian mythology, the underworld gods do not seek to leave Hell. They are appeased by the fact of judging souls; to determine whether their hearts are pure or evil.

So it appears that Flocke, as the smoke monster, is not an Egyptian underworld god, per se. From all of the bits of information, and the past history of the island story of Jacob and his brother, it seems that the smoke creature is mechanical, an electromagnetic nano-swarm which can scan people’s memories, and to shape shift into different forms (humans, animals, etc.). The sonic fence must have a frequency (wave lengths) that interfere with the smoke creature’s electromagnetic functions and cohesion, as Flocke does not wander into the pylons on Hydra Island. Widmore must think that Desmond is a “walking sonic fence,” an EM conduit capable of grabbing hold of Flocke and destroying it.

Except, we never see or hear how Desmond is going to “destroy” Flocke. No one has any clue on how to kill Flocke. In the rocket attack on the beach, Flocke does not flinch when the explosions happen around him. He knows he cannot be destroyed by rockets, bullets or knife blade.

If Widmore thinks Desmond is the key to stopping or containing MIB, there is no evidence of any skill set Dez had on the island except a) punching numbers in a keyboard, and b) running through the jungle.  Desmond is cued to be different:

- he is the only "character" who got the vaccine against "infection" (maybe "infection" from MIB and/or Jacob)

- he is able to switch between "timelines"

- he is not on the "list"
- he is not affected by the "rules" (Mrs. Hawking told him)

But none of these “special” characteristics is weaponized in the story line. In the end, Desmond’s  final appearance on the island has no meaningful affect in the resolution of the alleged conflicts.


There is something similar to the zebra fish experiment into neural activity. As we come closer to the conclusion of the series, the characters mental functions appear to slow down. The logic becomes flawed, and their emotions turn into various forms of depression. Just as Sayid's reincarnation has zapped him of all emotion, fear and pain, that growing void is apparent in all the characters. It is like the island is absorbing the last mental processes of the characters experience, emotion and wills.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

The Desmond Test between electromagnets that killed a normal workman had no effect on Desmond. In reality, the electromagnets would create a magnetic field of oscillating waves and not necessarily an electric arc burner.

Last lines in episodes:

EP 113:

SEAMUS: Let's go Mr. Hume.
[They begin carrying him away.]

EP 114:

DESMOND: I just need to show them something...

EP 115:

BEN: Call 911, do it now! Mr. Locke? Oh, my God. Don't, don't move. We're gonna get you to the hospital. Mr. Locke? Mr. Locke? Can you hear me?

EP 116:

LOCKE: Jack. You all right? [whistling overhead and loud explosion nearby] Don't worry. It's gonna be okay. You're with me now.

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

By Season 2, I thought knowledge was the key to the island. On the island, knowledge is power. Ben knew the secrets, so he had the power (except it could have been perceived knowledge and faux power in retrospect).

At the time, I thought only two characters gained the knowledge of their plight after the plane crash: Locke and Rose. Locke by regaining his incurable legs, and Rose being cured of her cancer could only mean one logical thing: they realized that they were dead. They had passed on to a new plane of existence. The other passengers have not gotten through that mental hurdle. Time and time again they have been told that they are dead (Naomi, Cooper and recently Richard), but they just don't believe it. Once they accept the truth of their situation, that knowledge will empower them in the after life.

Point One: Smokey Theory

We have been so deep in "Man of Faith" territory since the introduction of Jacob and the MIB, that the introduction of the EM map may prove to be the most important point of  this section of the story line: the balancing point between faith and science.

Smokey may be the conscious manifestation of the EM energy on the island.

Essentially, the Swan was a version of Jacob's cork analogy- as the Swan was designed to cap the energy that Dharma had released, thereby saving the world from destruction, the entire island can be viewed as one giant hatch, keeping Smokey contained and saving the world from destruction.
Smokey cannot hurdle the Dharma sonic fence or "fly" to Hydra Island because if he loses contact with the ground and this energy source, he becomes powerless.

He could not pass through the underwater caverns to get to the barracks (until Ben pulled the plug) or escape from the island via water for the same reasons.

Apparently, the sonic fences disrupt the energy Smokey pulls from the island, again making him helpless.

While in his Flocke body he can overcome some of these obstacles, but as Locke he has the same physical limitations that the human Locke did- hence his clumsy jungle chases after Sun and the ghostly blond boy.

We saw that children could be safely born before the Incident (Ethan), so it is possible that the partial release of this energy in the Incident was the x-factor that stopped all future births on the island (the event has to be fairly recent as Richard called it a "novelty").

The implosion of the Swan may have resulted in Smokey becoming more powerful, allowing him to move from a phantom like appearance (such as Yemi and Christian) to being able to constitue himself in a full corporeal body, such as the Christian who could carry Aaron or the current Flocke. It told Jack that he “needed” a dead body to re-create it.

If Smokey escapes the island, it would have the same effect as if the button had not been pushed- the release of the island's massive electromagnetic energy would essentially "end time,” killing everyone on Earth in the process.

Desmond has been exposed to this energy twice and has survived- he has developed an immunity to its effects, and has been brought to the island by Widmore to somehow control the energy on the island, containing Smokey in the process.

As for the Egyptian symbolism and the other religious motifs, to quote Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

Visitors to the island unable to explain the magical properties of the island would surely frame it in a religious context as a way of trying to achieve understanding, including the belief that it was the home of some of their Gods- leading to the construction of the Temple, the statue of Tawaret, etc.
If at least some of this is true, a key question would be what was Jacob? Did he gain his abilities from the same exact energy source like the smoke monster?

Point Two: The Electromagnetic Energy Beasts

A large question is why does the sonic fence keeps Smokey out?  Is the clue to What Smokey is?
All waves, whether EM, magnetic or sound, can collide, disperse, refract or interfere with each other in the same medium (air). I suppose the show theory is that the sonic fence produces sound waves which interferes or disperses Smokey's electromagnetic wave form, but that would be wrong. First, EM stands for electromagnetism, so you don't have to mention "magnetic" separately after that. Second, sound are pressure waves in air, meaning that literally the air is a little compressed in places when sound waves travel through it. EM waves don't have a medium like that (once upon a time people thought it had, they called it ether, but experiments have shown that that doesn't exist). That's the reason why light does travel through space (where there's no air) and sound doesn't. If you apply a very strong electric field to a batch of air, one could theorize that  you can ionize the air and somehow change the speed of sound in the ionized air.  However,  using sound waves to change the magnetic properties of EM energy does not make sense, unless the smoke monster is made up of unique piezoelectric materials.

Comic book science answers the question about Desmond's being EM-microwaved: Widmore was not "testing" him but actually "creating" a new Smoke Monster (DeSmokey) to take on the old one, Flocke. One must assume that Desmond could be stronger since he is turning from human to monster, while MIB has been altered from monster to human form.  In essence, Widmore is telling Desmond that he was the sacrifice the island demanded, that he can never leave the island, and that he could never see Penny or his son again, because in order to save them he has to become the thing that would destroy them. Enraged, Desmond would have turned into a dark smoke monster and turns back into the jungle, ripping up trees along his path,
just like the old Smokey in Season 1. He has become the new island Cerberus.

Point 3: The Faulty Reasons

Flocke insists that in order to “leave the island” everyone who previously left had to now leave together. That, he insists, is how they found the island upon their return. However, that makes no logical sense. Not all of the 815 survivors “returned” to the island with Locke. Walt and Michael were not on Ajira. Further, Michael got back to the island without Walt. So the “requirement” that “everyone” as a group do something is false. Frank flew the plane off Hydra Island with Kate, Claire, Richard, Sawyer, and Miles on board.  As the plane was taxiing down the collapsing Hydra Island runway, it managed to slow down so that Ford, Austen, and Claire could be pulled aboard. The Ajira plane safely took off just as the runway began to crack. That meant characters were able to leave without all the candidates as Hurley and Jack remained on the island.

Eloise Hawking could have been an agent of MIB since she's the one who insisted the Oceanic Six take Locke's body back, coffin and all, to the island. Smokey told Jack that he needed a dead body in order to become Flocke, and to get the others to follow him. And MIB use of Locke's appearance was important for his own end game against Jacob.

Hawking’s message could be a diversion.  Flocke said that just as all the O6 had to be together to "return" to the island, they all had to be together to "leave" the island.  (This is false because not all of them will eventually leave the island on the Ajira plane). That is the logic in Flocke's mind on how to escape. It all depends on what the term “leave” means in Flocke’s game: it could be physical or spiritual, leaving alive or dead.

At this point of the series, I came to a speculative conclusion that one of the universes does not exist; it is an illusion, a Room 23 construct, part of a long con. That was probably the sideways world. (In the End, it turned to be more true than not as a purgatory waiting room for lost souls).

One theory at this point was that the sideways world was a way to attempt to overwrite the real world to test candidates, to see if they could be fully mind controlled by Widmore. In the sideways world, Desmond's only purpose was to serve Widmore. He had no family life. He was all work. Complete loyalty. No questions asked. After the EM blast, those are the strong memories that are guiding Desmond, who now suddenly is following Widmore's orders.

The correct term then for flashes between universes is "bleeding through" (in homage to the recent rash of head gashes). If both universes were truly real and were to merge, instead of nose bleeds, characters' heads would explode. One cannot have two different consciousnesses, two different lives, suddenly converge into one being. It seems that the island and sideways worlds are the consciousness life experience separated from the subconscious dream world. Each world is incomplete, and the characters don’t understand that relationship until they are dead.

Some still believe that the flashbacks were their original, messed up lives,the plane crash their symbolic deaths (but not actual death), and the events on the island (sometimes tragic and cruel) their penance, leading to sacrifice, redemption and spiritual rebirth (or better yet, awakening, hence the repetitive opening of the eyes in so many episodes) in the sideways world. However, it is just as probable that in the sequence of untold events that each character has lived “several” lives, as the sideways characters try to remember people “in another life.”  In essence, the characters have been dead long ago, possibly as young children, but the island (life force) has given them additional “lives” to live, in order to experience life - - - and in the end, to find their “soul mates” in order to move on without the help of the island simulation.

Point Four: A Crazy Child’s Game

With a young, smiling ghost boy Jacob taunting Flocke in the jungle as Flocke tries to gather up all the remaining characters, one has to wonder if the whole island dynamic is purely a game between two simple but supernatural children. It has all the elements of childhood play: a game of tag (Jacob’s “touch” and MIB’s apparent “infection” of souls), follow the leader (Jacob’s Templetons, Dharma and the Others and Flocke recruiting a band of his followers), combat (Jacob “killed” MIB, and then MIB got Ben to “kill” Jacob) and finally, capture the flag (the prize at the end of the game.)

Is it telling that dead Jacob appears in at least two forms: as ghost Jacob to Hurley, but as young boy Jacob to MIB?  And is it more telling that Sawyer can see young boy Jacob in jungle when he is with Flocke? How can Sawyer see a ghost - - - unless it is not a ghost but another smokey creature manifestation.

Two smoke creatures who spend eternity “acquiring” human souls to play their childlike games in their island world. Is Jacob and MIB's "life" pegged to the "progress" their pawns have in order to escape the island prison and their captors manipulations? The "progress" had to be MIB finding a loophole to "kill" Jacob (getting a follower, Ben, to freely plunge a knife into his master). And the "progress" was also in Jacob finding one of his stealth candidates (Kate) being able to "kill" MIB in the end. This double murder at the hands of their own followers was the key to allow both Jacob and MIB to "leave" together into the after life.