VULNERABILITY

Psychologist Brene Brown wrote, "Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they are never weakness." 

 In most dramas, there is at least one character who the audience can relate to in the clearest sense of being vulnerable. It helps enhance the "fear" factor viewers see when that character has to confront uncomfortable situations.

Who were the weakest characters on LOST? And did the audience gravitate toward them in an empathetic way?

Clearly, Hurley was a fan favorite. His back story of being a loner, overweight, not popular pulls on the heartstrings of most people as they themselves probably experienced similar things during their childhood. Even the demanding but loving stereotypical mother put context in how Hurley retreated into himself (to the point some say into mental illness.)

But when he won the lottery, most people believe he would have changed his personality because wealth solves most problems in life. But in reality, 90 percent of all major lottery winners lose it all within five years of winning. Most can't handle the money or fame. They spend without thinking. They are taken advantage of. Many families get torn apart. They regret ever playing the game.

The only significant change to island Hurley was that he was more open and social with the people around him. He felt comfortable in being the nice and funny guy in the group. But he kept the barbs and uncomfortable secrets about his past hidden. He did not want people to know he was a loser. He wanted to fit in. And in the beach survivor camp, he did fit in. As a follower. He did not want to face danger. He did not want to be a leader. He just wanted to make friends. The only time he went out-of-character was saving his friends from the Others by running over the bad guys with his van.

In the end, it is still not clear whether Hurley did change. His relationship with Libby may still have only been an illusion (from his days at the mental institution).

Locke had a different kind of weakness. He did not know his own limitations. He wanted to be a great man, a leader, and adventurer. But he washed himself of his one asset, his intelligence, in an attempt to become a popular-jock character. But he was never good at that. He was lanky, awkward and not very social. He moved from foster home to foster home so he could never learn how to make and maintain friendships. His lack of a real family caused him mental anguish to the point where his imagination took over reality in a quest to find his new family. It led him to a cult only to be betrayed as a stooge in a drug running operation. On the island, he started off as a father figure - - - a provider of food. But simple jealousy with Jack's quick ascension to the leadership role doomed any level of friendship between the two. Locke felt Jack was his rival; but Jack could care less about Locke.

Locke sought appreciation and acknowledgement with the enemy, the Others. He was too narrow minded to realize that he was being manipulated by Ben and Widmore to do their bidding. Once a fool always a fool. Locke died a foolish death at the hands of Ben. But the island inhabitants did not feel a great loss (even though a drug induced, panic stricken Bearded Jack used it as motivation to return to the island). Locke's image, as Flocke, after  taking over his body by MIB was the only time that people listened and feared him. But again, that was an illusion. The real Locke had no dreamlike victory he sought his entire life.

In the end, it was clear that Locke's fate was always to be alone. He was with the island people in the church, but he was by himself in the pew.

EVOLUTION

Harville Hendrix wrote, "Nature doesn't care that you are comfortable, only that you evolve."

LOST's creators continually stated that the show was more about character development than solving the myriad of  mysteries the writers threw at viewers.

In a typical character development, a person is put into an unfamiliar, often dangerous situation. The person then has to reflect on what is happening around him. He must determine based upon internal conflicts (experience, dreams, goals, etc) on how to proceed. It begins a journey of discovery, enlightenment, change and growth. Throughout the journey, he is tested, choices made, doubts created, strengths pushed to the limit to reach a final realization of one's self.

Weaved in this journey are themes we call life lessons. They can be coupled with moral tones, vices, bad choices, blind spots, naive behavior or self-destructive tendencies. But in the end, the character has to change, for better or worse, of the journey itself was meaningless. And the reader is left with a bitter taste of wasting time investing in a story with no true end.

Did LOST's main character have great personal development?

That remains an open question.

If we start with Locke as a young boy, we find that his life was a journey of mistakes, bad choices, social awkwardness and inability to find his place in society.

He was a miracle premature baby who survived his mother's car collision in rural, 1950s America. He was abandoned by his birth parents to grow up in foster homes as an outsider. He was smart, but wanted to be a jock. But he was not good enough so he fit into neither group. He became a loner. The more he grew up, the more sullen he became since he was missing the one thing other kids had: a family. So he spent much of his time trying to find a family unit. He would bounce from entry level job to job trying to find a permanent connection. But his deep seeded fears of abandonment and mistrust sabotaged most of his relationships. His fears were realized when he re-connected with his parents only to have his father steal his kidney and cripple him for life by pushing him through a high rise window.

So Locke's past contained so much baggage that he was a prime candidate for a character's "hero journey" of evolution. But did he did a hero's ending?

Sadly, no. Locke's sad life turned into a sad death.

The island "magic" apparently "cured" Locke's paralysis when he crash landed with the other survivors. He took it personally as a sign, a "miracle," a chance to be the person he dreamed he was going to be as a boy. Locke wanted to be a respected, swashbuckling, Outback, adventure-loving leader of men and lover of women.

Everyone on the island had an opportunity to shed their past and create a new self image.

In Locke's case, he started strong as being a hunter-food provider. But when the majority of the castaways gravitated toward the charismatic doctor, Jack, for survival, Locke became upset. He retreated to become a gregarious loner. Sure, he got along with many of the characters but most merely tolerated his ramblings. He never received the respect or admiration he thought he deserved.

He had an opportunity to become the leader of the 815 survivors, but Jack and Sawyer were chosen over him. He had an opportunity to become the true leader of the Others, but he could not bring it upon himself to kill his own father. 

Even when he "sacrificed" himself at ghost Shepherd's suggestion, only then did Sawyer give him faint praise after Locke turned the FDW to reset the island time skips.

When he returned to the States, Locke had several choices. He could have turned his back on the island and its harsh surreality. Or he could find himself back living a lonely existence in his new wheelchair. Instead, he was manipulated by Widmore like he had been manipulated by Ben to do someone's else's bidding. But Locke failed in his quest to get everyone back to the island.

In a seedy hotel room, Locke decided to commit suicide, a coward's not a hero's way out. Before he was about to do the deed, he was interrupted by Ben. Ben convinced him that his life still had value. That he was needed on the island. That he had to go back with him to make everything right. He had to go back to save his "friends." But after Locke slipped with the information on how he could get back to the island, through Mrs. Hawking, Ben strangled Locke whose last thoughts according to Flocke was "I don't understand."

Most viewers did not understand why MIB, the smoke monster, needed to inhabit Locke's corpse or assume his identity in order to overthrown Jacob. MIB did take Locke's memories to begin to manipulate the survivors, including those who let live after the Temple massacre. But if there was still a part of Locke in MIB's use of his memories, image or character - - - Locke failed to fight back or control MIB.

In the end, Locke winds up in the sideways church. He seems happy at the reunion, but how could he be? He sat in a pew alone. There was no one special present for him. Not his late girlfriend. Not his mother. No one. Throughout his life, Locke failed to make a special bond with any one person in order to "move on" in the after life. Locke's journey did not end in a hero's quest or salvation but as a sad footnote.

RISK REWARD LUCK UNLUCKY

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, "The only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

There is a stigma against risk taking; it is an inherent defense mechanism in the brain which governors people trying to hurt themselves. No one wants the pain of being hurt, whether physical or emotional. Rejection is a burning knife in the gut. Going outside one's "comfort zone" is a high anxiety experience. 

You can stop the risk by becoming a hermit living in one's personal shell of personal barriers, excuses, bad lonely habits and paralysis.

LOST was a case study of different types of risk takers.

You have the messiah-complex high level risk takers who really did not weigh any moral issues when they made their decisions. Ironically, Jack and Ben were on a similar plane. Jack took surgical risks on patients because he believed he was a miracle worker. It was an unrealistic belief that he could save everyone. But even with those giant risks, he got very little reward from his hospital, his staff or his father. Ben took a different path to putting in play his "big play," the banishment of Widmore from the island and the purge of killing the Dharma collective, including his own father, so he would become the island king. He risked everything for the power to control the island. He got nothing in return because the Others did not respect him (they feared him), he had no friends and his own self-grandeur amounted to nothing in the end.

Hurley was at the opposite end of the spectrum. He did not want to take any risks. So he hid himself in a shy exterior. He would only come to life once he got to know you well. He only had one or two friends, but those relationships ended when he failed to share his secret that he won the lottery. He believed himself cursed by fate, so he did very little to try to expand his reach. He would have been a fast food lackey his entire life; no ambition, no girlfriend, no family, no life. Once he landed on the island, he could have made more of his "new start." He became the likeable guy, but not a major player or decision maker.

Of the "lucky" survivors, many of the main characters' lives did not end well in the series. If they risked the perils of the island to reach their personal dream or goal, they failed. Sayid longed for his one true love, Nadia.  But he risked his own life to get her back, but in the end he wound up with Shannon, the exact opposite. Locke longed for acceptance and adventure, the hero jock. But he wound up conned and crippled by his own family and his own shortcomings. Their personal sacrifices did not result in reaching their dreams.

There is a relationship between risk and reward. One cannot exist without the other. It is like a reflection in a mirror: you have to see who you are in order to change yourself. "Bad luck" is more often the lack of effort to reach an opportunity. But if one takes failure as "proof" that one's fate is a sad, lonely, unfilled life - - - they are missing the great life lesson that experience comes through failure. Experience is necessary in order to take calculated risks for reasonable rewards. It is those people who understand this dynamic push forward (against the odds) to succeed; they make their own luck.

HAPPINESS TRADE-OFFS

One of the main themes of life is finding and securing happiness.

But in the quest for happiness, something usually has to give.

In LOST, various main characters were searching for happiness, but most never found it.

For example, Rose and Bernard met late in life. It was a godsend for Bernard. Rose was his world. Until she got cancer. He panicked and tried to find any cure. That led to a strain in their relationship. Rose was a realist. Bernard was an optimistic dreamer. But for Bernard to secure his happiness with Rose, they both had to "die" in a plane crash. That was the only "cure" for Rose's cancer was that she became a spiritual being on the island.

For example, Jack's sole mission in his life was to get the acknowledgement of his skills from his father. As a result, Jack was never happy. He had no friends. He was obsessed with pleasing his father, and getting out of his father's shadow, that it caused him to be paranoid and obsessive in his relationships. His first marriage failed because of an alleged jealousy between his wife and his father. And his relationship in O6 arc with Kate fell a part as well. In order for Jack to be happy, he had to do the opposite. He had to control things. He had to have the final say. He had to be right.

And then there were characters like Locke who spent their entire lives trying to find happiness, but stumbled through it as a fool. His bitterness of being abandoned as a child clouded all of his life choices. It ruined his relationship with the one woman who cared about him and his disabilities. The only way Locke found any sliver of contentment was when he "died" and was reunited with his island friends.

Sociologists have studied this apparent personal paradox. Happiness is something we assume we want, but in reality, we sometimes give it up in exchange for comfort. Unfortunately, we’re often comfortable with not getting what we want, so resign ourselves to that fate. As researchers stated:

Though happiness is of course what we all fundamentally want, for many of us, it isn’t really what we know...it isn’t what we’ve come to expect. It doesn’t feel like home...Getting what we want can make us feel unbearably risky...Self sabotage may leave us sad, but at least safely, blessedly, in control. It can be useful to keep the concept of self sabotage in mind when interpreting our and others’ odder behavior.

Beyond that, next time you’re weighing a decision and thinking about the risk involved, it might help to consider the role of comfort and control.

The concept of self-sabotage fits Locke to a tee. It also fits in Jack's grinding personality flaws of being an unloved, control freak. It also connects Kate's selfishness with her self-destructive behavior when she constantly tries to escape responsibility for her life's decisions. 

Was Jack really happy in the end? I don't think so. Being a martyr and dying in the bamboo field was unnecessary. And when he went to the sideways church reunion, he was more in his own catatonic state than being in a state of happiness. 

THE PAST DIVINED FUTURE

Study the past to divine the future. --- Confucius

It is hard to argue against a master's pure thought.

Human beings do dwell on the past in order to divine or predict their future.

They do so in work: if I did X,Y, and Z then I should get that promotion.

They do so in relationships:  if I did A,B, C with Lady One in the past but that did not work out, if I do X, Y, Z with Lady Two I will have a better relationship with her.

Sometimes, we get trapped in the past. When the "what if" scenarios begin to consume your thinking and reflecting time, you get caught up in the past which freezes the present to cause a fantasized future hope.

If you replace the "what if" with a more proactive, positive "what's next" attitude, then you are living in the present with a better outlook for the future.

This is best observed when people date and break up. Depending on how sudden or blindsided the break was, two things can happen. One, some can hide in the past (the good memories) to the point where they obsessive chase to get their former lover back in the future. Their future is a time loop of disillusion and rejection. Failure.  Two, some can let go of the past to the point where they can move on to find a better friend and lover. Their future is moving forward into the future with confidence and new awareness based upon experience. Progress.

The perfect character study for this behavior pattern was John Locke.

Locke carried with him additional baggage from his childhood abandonment issues, and added more baggage with each failed relationship. His past haunted his present and clouded his future.

His obsession with his con man father, even after he conned him out of a kidney, destroyed the best relationship he ever had with another person, Helen.

In the real world, he found a woman who loved him for who he was, but since Locke had so much personal baggage unresolved in his mind (that he could not love himself enough to be loved), he effectively destroyed the best chance he had for happiness.

And even if one considers the sideways world as Locke's "fantasy" future to try to get Helen back after their final break up on the mainland (island time frame), that did not work out either since Locke ended the series alone in the church.

Human beings try to project future happiness upon themselves. But just fantasizing about it will not make it happen. Action speaks louder than words. Action also speaks more to obtaining a new future than just thinking about it.

Locke never tried to replace Helen in his life. And that was his down fall. His failing. His past ruining his future because once he realized that Helen was very good to him (and for him), it was too late. He could have went back into the dating pool to find a new Helen (learn from his past mistakes) but he was too afraid. He envisioned himself as some grand outback warrior, but that was pure fantasy clouding his judgment and detouring him from real, tangible goals.

And this trap is what makes people have lonely lives.

TOLD WHAT TO DO

Classic John Locke.

It sums up what he was all about: bitterness.

His anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly with resentment were the key traits of his character.

He was abandoned by his unwed, teen mother.
He was further abandoned by his con artist father.
He was further abandoned by a series of foster parents.

Was this the foundation for a mental condition or just welded into his mind as self-esteem, self-worth and unresolved parental issues.

But bitterness can cause illness.

New research suggests constant bitterness can make a person ill.
 
In the study, Concordia University researchers examined the relationship between failure, bitterness and quality of life.

“Persistent bitterness may result in global feelings of anger and hostility that, when strong enough, could affect a person’s physical health,” said psychologist Dr. Carsten Wrosch.

In his research, Wrosch examines why some people avoid bitterness at different stages of life and why others don’t.

Over the last 15 years, Wrosch has investigated how negative emotions, such as regret or sadness, affect people. Most recently, he has focused his attention on the impact of bitterness.

Feelings of anger and accusation are often found with bitterness.

Unlike regret, which is about self-blame and a case of “woulda, coulda, shoulda,” acrimony points the finger elsewhere — laying the blame for failure on external causes.

“When harbored for a long time,” Wrosch said, “bitterness may forecast patterns of biological dysregulation (a physiological impairment that can affect metabolism, immune response or organ function) and physical disease.”

One expert has proposed that bitterness should be recognized as a mental illness. German psychiatrist Dr. Michael Linden argues that bitterness is actually a medical disorder and should be categorized as post-traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED).

He estimates that between one and two per cent of the population is embittered and by giving the condition a proper name, people with PTED will receive the therapeutic attention they deserve.

While experts continue to review this perspective, Wrosch and Renaud say bitterness can be avoided.
They hold that if people who experience failure can find other ways to fulfill their goals they can avoid being bitter.

If they cannot discover alternatives, then individuals need to disengage from futile efforts (e.g., to get promoted, to save a marriage) and reengage in something that’s equally meaningful (e.g., a new job or passion).

This process is called self-regulation. Researchers state that meaningful activities to disengage and reengage can be necessary for a person to avoid bitter emotions.

“Any effective therapeutic intervention,” said Renaud, “hinges on the affected individual finding ways to self-regulate.”

In some cases, overcoming bitterness demands more than self-regulation. When bitterness arises from blaming other people, then recovery may involve others.

“In order to deal with bitter emotions there may need to be something else required to enable a person to overcome the negative emotion — that something is forgiveness,” said Wrosch.

LOCKE STEP

Was John Locke the Key to Lost?

Many things have been said and written about LOST, but one thing has not been its clarity. LOST continues to befuddle, confuse and head scratch the best of series scholars. Since the ensemble cast had so many back stories, conflicts and relationship issues, it was the ultimate smoke screen (smoke monsters excepted) to NOT tell us what was really going on.

Let's look at some objective situations with the show's beloved whipping boy, Locke.

Prior to Flight 815, Locke was a handicapped loner who totally screwed up everything in his life. He was abandoned by his crazy teen mother who had been knocked up in the 1950s by a traveling con man. Locke miraculously survived a premature birth in a rural hospital with no advanced technology (but he was visited by Albert, an immortal island liaison who would try to recruit young Locke to the island.)

Locke was literally and figuratively a "broken man" when he got aboard the flight to LAX. His outback adventure turned into a bitter rejection. His final straw in his life snapped when he was not allowed to go on the trip.

One could remark at this point that Locke's outrageous and outlandish dreams had turned into one, big nightmare. And the "crash" on the island could be the manifestation of his nightmare.

Science has tied psychotic tendencies in parents to their children. There may be a genetic component to mental illness. Since Locke's mother was institutionalized, there may have been some lingering paranoia and delusional behavior hard wired into Locke's mind. As such, Locke's mental state could be the real state of the show, as many theories have speculated that the premise of the show had to be the fantasies and fears of a person's mind.

Locke was permanently paralyzed. There was no medical procedure to correct his crushed spinal cord. He would be trapped in his wheelchair for the rest of his life.

But once he "survived" the plane crash, he was no longer "trapped" in his wheelchair. That is a physical impossibility. The physical impact of a plane crash does not "heal" broken bones; it tears a part of person's body upon impact. Locke's transformation from a severely handicapped man to a strong,  outback survivalist was unbelievable. A few people believe that the island's "healing" properties "changed" Locke. But that theory does not objectively hold true as many of the other passengers were in good health but sustained traumatic and fatal injuries. Other viewers believe that Locke was chosen by god to do his work - - - a supernatural intervention. Again, there is little evidence that any spiritual god was part of the show, let alone communicating and giving characters personal miracles. For if the island was a spiritual dimension, our general notions of good vs. evil; right vs. wrong; and the moral litmus tests for eventual good souls to go to paradise, none of those concepts were present in any religious context. In fact, some really, really bad people wound up in the same heavenly afterlife as the good people. So, a minority view Locke as the poster boy for "everyone died" theory.

Now, TPTB continue to vehemently deny that the passengers on 815 died on impact, and the island was about purgatory. But objectively, they contradicted themselves in Season 6 where the run-up to the conclusion was clearly "everyone died."

In fact a few people, including Locke, "died" many times. A few doubt Locke survived the fall from the office building (where he was met by Jacob who "touched" him, perhaps bringing him "back to life?") Some believe that Locke and his fellow passengers did not survive the plane crash. Later, some view the FDW and purple flash as another death portal that a normal human being could not survive. Then, we saw Locke strangled by Ben. Then we saw Locke's form reincarnated by MIB on the island to seek revenge against everyone - - - then falling dead to the rocks after being shot by Kate.

Locke went from an abandoned baby who should not have survived, to a abandoned adult in foster homes, to a loner and loser adult who bounced from job to job with no direction or common sense, to being tricked into giving up a kidney to a con man, to being crippled by the same man, then surviving a plane crash to become a heroic hunter leader. It sounds too made up to be true (even in this fictional series). Locke's path shows the self-grandeur that Locke himself would dream himself to be.  This bolsters the dream theorists who think that the show was about one man's fantasies about himself.

It is a good study to show Locke's dreams (being a leader, a hunter, a lady's man, a jock, etc) seem to collide with his subconscious fears, phobias and experiences (being a worker, without friends, bad with women, anger and authority issues, etc.). The torment of Locke's mind is the sowed fertile fields of his imagination - - - the back and forth between the good (dreams) and bad (nightmares). This sums up the LOST experience, through Locke's own story.

Locke's own story could be the real story of LOST.

A SAINT AND A SINNER

Of all the secondary characters in LOST, Helen Norwood would probably be nominated as the most important to the underlying mythology themes of the series. She was a saint compared to all the sinners.

Helen was Locke's girlfriend for a period during his life before the plane crash, whom he had intended to marry. (In the sideways world, they were engaged to be married in October, 2004) After Locke returned to the mainland in an attempt to bring back the O6 survivors, it was revealed that she had died of a brain aneurysm in 2006. 

Locke's relationship with Helen was a bitter triumph of self-destruction. Helen had the patience of a saint. She kept giving Locke chance after chance, but Locke refused to let go of his past. Locke's anger, frustration and revenge for how he perceived his life going so wrong clouded his judgment that the best thing about his life was right in front of him: Helen, who unconditionally loved him before and after his horrible disability.

Locke and Helen met at an anger-management support group of which they were both members. After his outburst at the group about their whining, Helen approached Locke outside and told him that she appreciated his candor and shared his frustrations. She also flirted by telling him that she liked bald men - despite Locke not being bald she said that she was prepared to wait. 

Their friendship moved to the bedroom fairly quickly and continued to blossom. During a meal at a restaurant, Helen gave Locke a key to her flat as a six-month anniversary present. She told him that she'd followed him and discovered that he was sneaking out at night to lurk outside his father's   house. The gift of the key was given on the condition that he stopped going there, to which Locke agreed.

Despite his promise to stop, Locke continued to spend long periods in his car waiting outside Cooper's house. Helen followed him again and shunted her car into the back of his, stormed over to his window and snatched his keys from the ignition. She threw the keys over the security gates in the drive and implored him to give up on his obsession and take a "leap of faith" with her. Shortly after, Locke moved in with Helen. Locke eventually started making plans to propose to Helen over a romantic picnic. Unfortunately on the morning of the picnic Helen spotted Cooper's obituary in the newspaper and that the funeral was scheduled for that day. Helen accompanied Locke to the funeral to support him. Some days after the funeral, Cooper revealed to Locke that he was still alive and convinced him to participate in a criminal financial scheme in exchange for a share of the money. Locke's suspicious behavior and a run in with gang members searching for Cooper led Helen to follow him again. She turned up at the motel, where Locke was meeting Cooper to hand over the money. She demanded of Cooper: "Are you him?", slapped him and berated him for his treatment of Locke before leaving to go back to her car. Locke caught up with her in the parking lot outside and pleaded for forgiveness, went down on one knee and proposed. Helen shook her head and drove off.

But Helen was with Locke in the sideways afterlife. Things seemed different. Cooper was in a nursing home, unable to speak or function, but Helen took care of him as well as Locke. She was not demanding but supportive. Helen was the embodiment of a good partner: kind, charming, witty, loyal, trusting, helpful, and nonjudgmental. 

Helen was the best thing in Locke's life, but he failed to realize it.  In all relationships, there are fleeting moments where a couple becomes a couple, connects as a couple, and lasts as a couple. There are few if any second chances at romance with a person spurned during a first encounter. Locke had several chances to make things right but he failed over and over. 

Helen deserved better. Much better. She was like a guardian angel who gave Locke a glimpse of what he life "could have been" if not for Locke's delusional self-torment issues.

Helen also deserved a better ending in the series. We are told she died after breaking up with Locke. She died alone. She did not meet Locke in the sideways church to share or rekindle their affection for eternity. So, despite doing nothing wrong, Helen's soul is apparently trapped in a purgatory of Locke's own creation. That's a sad fate for a character who did nothing wrong to deserve such treatment.

It is almost a reverse life lesson. Locke, whose bad behavior and choices, hurt so many other lives but he was rewarded with eternal life with his island friends. Meanwhile, Helen, who took care of people, was kind and loyal to a fault, gets nothing for being of high moral character.

LEADERS

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. - - Walter Lippman

If leadership was a central theme to the drama of the show, how did the characters pass "the final test?"

Jack did leave Hurley in charge of the island. A very, very, very reluctant Hurley in charge of the island. But it is inferred that Ben was very "beneficial" in Hurley's island reign, so much so that Hurley was rewarded with heavenly reunion with Libby. (In the succession plan, that would leave Ben in charge of the island and sideways view, with the dual knowledge that only Eloise had).

Locke was only briefly in charge of the group when the time skips happened after Ben screwed things up in the FDW. However, Locke was a pawn in Christian smoke monster's plot to get Jack back to the island in order to thwart, kill Jacob to find MIB's alleged loophole (which may be the same as everyone else on the island - - - get to the sideways plane of existence, the after life, from the way station island).

Flocke was a more successful faux leader, who ruled like Ben and Widmore  did the Others, by an iron fist and no mercy. But Flocke was not a real human being, and he wanted to leave no one behind (as his mental state, if any, was to destroy all human candidates in order to escape his prison.)

Sayid was only briefly in charge of his Iraqi torture unit. But when push came to shove, he betrayed his uniform, killed a superior, let a prisoner escape, then became a U.S, CIA operative. On the island, Sayid refused a full leadership role (except on a few rescue missions) because he could not trust himself.

Sawyer was in charge of the beach castaways ("by default," as Hurley said) but that time Sawyer tried to "act" like a leader, but as a lone wolf con-man it was impossible for him to adapt. However, in the time warp arc, Sawyer did become a leader of his castway time travelers by becoming the sheriff of the barracks, waiting for the time skip to send them back. It was during this three year period that Juliet apparently tamed the wild Sawyer beast.

Kate led a few rescue missions, but tried to avoid becoming the leader of either the beach castaways or the candidates forum. She always put her own self-interests above other people. Even when she claimed to have "saved" Claire in the end by getting her on the plane, Kate could have stayed and gone back to try to save Jack, but she did not. She only wanted to get off the island. There were no tears in her decision.

Jacob was the leader who hid in the statue. He commanded through his liaison, Alpert, who in turn, gave instructions to Ben (who would twist things so he had the power.)  Alpert led the quiet Other near revolt against Ben, when he gave the file to Locke to make Locke the leader (by killing Cooper, his father, by Sawyer's hand.) Jacob assumed the leadership of the island at the request of his Crazy Mother, and regretted his actions that led to his own brother's demise (by the hands of the smoke monster). A leader with such guilt, shame and regret was never a good leader.

Widmore was a born bully of a leader. He was exiled from the island, and made his sole mission in life to return to recapture it. He used his inner strength to gather a vast fortune to fund his quest. In a certain respect, he succeeded at the task as he returned to the island, and indirectly defeated Flocke. But as a leader, he got blindsided by the vengeful rage of Ben, who killed Widmore for killing Alex. Many leaders find it appropriate to lead with "an eye for an eye" mission statement.

In their own way, and collectively, no one person was a great leader. Each had terrible personal faults and lacked command of their people and circumstances (which led to many lives lost.)

LONERS

If LOST was anything, it was a collective story about loners.

A loner is from parts unknown: a recluse, introvert, lone wolf, hermit, solitary, misanthrope, outsider.

John Locke was such a person. He kept other people from getting too close to himself. He feared that he would be hurt with any new, close relationship - - - still deeply broken from the abandonment by his own parents.

Boone was also a loner. We never saw him in a happy, personal relationship. He was working for the family business, or rescuing his step-sister, Shannon. He was so committed to solving family issues that he allowed his own personal life to atrophy and wither. 

That is why both Locke and Boone were alone at the sideways church.

But society still frowns upon such behavior. Loners are deemed losers in many cultures. It is said that it is better to love and lost, then to never have loved at all. But at the surface, could either Locke or Boone actually be loved?

In order to be loved, a person needs to love themselves first. They need to have inner confidence to allow themselves to expose their deeply secret thoughts and emotions to another human being. For many, this is a difficult task to achieve. They think they can never meet the expectations of others. They think their flaws are magnified to monster status. They fear the unknown consequences of opening their heart, and the possibility that they will be crushed by rejection.

The only true haven for loners is the company of other loners. The series was filled with such characters, drifting through their lives with little purpose or goals. It was the plane crash that forced them to concede the fact that their lives had forever changed; that fate had brought them all together to break down their personal barriers in order to forge something foreign to most of them: solid friendships.

Friends can accomplish many amazing things. And true friendships between men and women can lead to every lasting love, as seen with the coupling of Sawyer-Juliet, Jack-Kate, Charlie-Claire and Rose-Bernard.

BLACK & WHITE

It was a simple analogy: black and white.
It meant there are two things in the world: darkness and light.
It also means that the two represent many things, like good vs. evil; moral vs. immoral; trust vs. distrust; caring vs. apathy; friendship vs. enemy.

When you look at Locke's face above, you notice that he is scarred above and below his right eye. In Egyptian mythology, the Eye of Horus was a scar on the left eye of a sky god. In one story, Set and Horus fought over the throne after Osiris' death. Set gouged out Horus' left eye, which was restored by the magic of Thoth, the moon god. So the dark piece could be the moon and the light piece the sun, Ra, the most powerful god who had to traverse the dangerous underworld each night.

For the left eye of Horus represented "protection, royal power and good health."

But since it was a mirror image on Locke's face, would it represent the opposite?
"Insecurity, servitude and poor health."

In many ways, insecurity, servitude and poor health was Locke.  He was clearly insecure in his own self, his skill set, his dreams and his handling his own expectations. He thought of himself as a great man, but never had the drive to be his own boss or leader. He was boxed in various meaningless tasks like a clerk at a box company, or a pest control specialist. And his poor health, his disability, was direct result of mistrusting his con man father and his inability to defend himself.

In many ways, Locke was set up from the very beginning to be the series Fall Guy. He would never be the true leader. He would never have any true power over other people. And he would not live a happy or healthy life.  He embodied the dark fears of most people's subconscious. Even when things are going well, there is a hint of pending doom, despair or questioning in the back of one's mind. "This has to be too good to be true."  Self-doubt at times turns into real doubt on the road to failure.

It is ironic that Locke was trying to teach Walt, a young black child who had no mother and a stranger as a father, the symbolism of backgammon. Walt would wind up with a better fate than most island castaways: he would find some security with his grandmother, he would have a chance to control his own future, and he was in good health the last time Locke saw him. The time Locke could have tried to convince Walt to give up his new life and return to the island with him. But Locke did not even try to convince Walt to return to the island. It really was the clearest black and white decision Locke ever made in the show.

BOONE DOGGLE

Locke is a hard guy to like . . . or be a true friend. On the island, Boone was the only character that had any empathy for Locke.

As stated previously, Boone had his own familial issues with Shannon. Boone tried to be helpful from the beginning of the post-crash CPR, which Jack told him he was doing it wrong. Boone tried to fit in to a fractured beach camp, but he never found any true connection.

It is probably because he was a loner, like Locke. Maybe Boone needed an older brother figure to cope with the stress of being a castway, estranged from his stepsister.

Originally, Boone was supposed to be a major presence in the LOST story. However, he got shifted to a secondary role after the emergence of Jack as the lead male character.

Still, Boone was involved in two key moments in the series (or so we thought at the time of original airing): finding the Hatch and finding the small drug airplane.

The Hatch was supposed to give us viewers the Big Answers to the current island mysteries. It would have been a window into what was the island, who were the Others, and why strange things were happening to the castaways. At the very least, it would have given the beach camp real shelter from the smoke monster, wild animals and the Others attacks (but strangely, that never happened).

The plane was supposed to help guide the viewer into the soul of the island, because it was physically impossible that an African small plane could have crash landed on a remote Pacific Island. The presence of the plane was either a) an illusion taken from Eko's memory; b) an echo of a parallel dimension or realm; or c) a magical trope to create faux drama.

Boone took it upon himself to go up on the cliff to investigate the plane for clues and a possible chance to be a hero, to find a radio and call for help. But the plane fell, and Boone was severely injured.

It was Boone's traumatic demise that got Jack to "let go" of a patient, for there would be no "medical miracle" on an island that allowed at least two big miracles: Locke being able to walk and Rose's cure for cancer. By Jack being unable to save Boone, some consider his death "saving" Jack from the haunting criticism of his late father.

Locke would justify the reckless behavior of his subordinate as "being the sacrifice that the island demanded." But we never get the sense that the island was a conscious being that needed human blood in order to survive. (This is a very ancient, pagan-primitive ritual belief system).  Why Locke made that assertion could only be to ease his own guilt for allowing Boone to do a dangerous task.

It foreshadows Locke's only senseless demise when he tried to be the hero (getting everyone back to the island). Perhaps self grandeur is why both Locke and Boone are alone in the sideways church. For some reason, they could never connect or find their own soulmates.

MINIMALISM

Minimalism was a trend in sculpture and painting that arose in the 1950s and used simple, typically massive, forms. It is also an avant-garde movement in music characterized by the repetition of very short phrases that change gradually, producing a hypnotic effect.

Is it possible to strip away all the tangents, subplots, tangents and secondary characters to find a Minimalistic LOST? 

By looking to simple, large story elements, can LOST be condensed into a more focused driven drama?

I think you could condense the entire series into five characters trapped on the island. You don't have to change the characters personalities or motivations. You just have five large puzzle pieces to focus the action and interactions. If LOST was about relationships, then a concentrated, intense story between these characters living through in untenable situations would be epic.

I think you can start with the starting point of a single person living on the island (like Crazy Mother when Claudia's Roman ship wrecked off the island's shore): Ben.

Then, like in that back story, only four new characters need to wind up floating ashore (from a plane crash, ship wreck, booze cruise disaster-fight going overboard into the ocean, etc.): Sawyer, the con man; Locke, the bitter dreamer; Kate, the fugitive muse; and Jack, the miracle doctor.

The island, through Ben, is a dark and dangerous place. Ben's back story is simple. He was brought to the island by his bitter, alcoholic father (who blames him for his mother's death). Ben is extremely unhappy being a peon in the Dharma labor camp, so he seeks revenge against everyone because no one acknowledges him. He kills them all. And once he is alone on the island, he goes a little crazy.
(There is no need for guardians, magic, time travel or any other twisty tropes.) Just a young boy who turns himself into a serial madman.

 The rest of the characters could have been plane crash victims, a charter plane that goes off-course from Fiji, and ditches in a storm. The minimalistic background for each person on that plane:

Kate: still running away from the authorities for murdering her father;
Sawyer: searching for his parents' killer;
Locke: having quit his job, he is seeking adventure and purpose in his life; and
Jack: having a Thailand-like booze vacation to forget about his father's sudden passing.

Each of these passengers realize that surviving the plane crash was their second chance to live their lives the way they thought they would have if not sidetracked by the events in the back stories.

The plot lines are also fairly simple.

Kate, being the lone woman, would use her charms to get the men to protect and serve her.
Sawyer, also being a charmer, but a territorial possessive person, would push back to get what he would want.
Jack, being the lone professional, would seek compromise, balance and common sense to survive their ordeals.
Locke, being mindless and reckless, would seek to claim the island as its new demi-god.
Ben, who for all purposes, the current island god, would seek to enslave, manipulate and control the new arrivals until he tired of them or found them of no use.

Ben could start off as a sympathetic figure: a long, lost survivor of a different "tragedy." He can help the new castaways with food and shelter as a means of gaining their trust. A trust that his mental condition will twist over time into betrayal.

Kate could also have the initial upper hand. Men are drawn to her magnetic, gregarious personality. She is a little of "the girl next door" and a little tomboy. She is clever, witty and flirty. It is possible that she could see the benefit of getting close to all the men on the island. In fact, her charms would be the catalyst to learn the backgrounds of the other characters.

Sawyer is an anti-social element. He is a loner. He can find a person's weakness in order to exploit it to his own advantage. He had seduce women to steal their money. He seeks a challenge, and on the island that turns to Kate. He would find conflict in following other people's orders or directions. He could easily be labeled a saboteur by evil Ben, as he starts to divide and conquer this group.

Locke has the arrogance of self-delusion of greatness. He believes himself to be the great outback hunter trapped in a shipping clerk's body.  His lack of leadership skills (and results) will put him at the bottom rung in the new island order. The others will not take him seriously. He will become resentful, cold, and at times, lash out verbally and physically. This could parallel the madness that engulfed Ben during his long time on the island.

Jack is not only trapped on the island, but trapped in his own ethics of "saving" people. He will do anything to save his fellow islanders, to the point of being blindsided by their manipulations of him. He may be an initial figurehead leaders, but the people around him are trying to be the puppet masters behind the facade. He will be challenged first by Locke, then by Sawyer. He will be betrayed by Ben (and Kate, who uses Sawyer's physical desires to her advantage.). The love triangle turns into a Bermuda Triangle of hate, suspicion, arguments, and shuffling of alliances.

Things would get to the tightrope stage when Ben makes his move on Kate (like the beach scene when she was kidnapped with Sawyer and Jack and taken to the Barracks). When Kate is repulsed by Ben's advances (and his "deal" to make her queen of his island paradise), Ben turns into a raging smoke monster of hate and revenge. This would pit two hot blooded avengers (Ben and Sawyer) against each other. This conflict would appease both Jack and Locke, for they have positioned themselves in a faith vs. science resolve for survival, with each believing their position will lead to safety, rescue or most of all, winning Kate's heart.

But at a certain point, Kate realizes that all her flirtations, manipulations, promises and passions have turned the other characters into cavemen. She can see their personalities change, and she become afraid at what she has done. The more she attempts to withdraw from their conflicts, the more the anger and resentment levels increase.

The close quarters of just a few strong characters could lead to excellent drama, action and plot twists without using the ruse of magic, time travel, supernatural elements or invading mercenaries.

HIDDEN MIRACLES

There are several important things captured in this image.

First, a pensive to surprised expression on Locke's face. He is looking down at his legs, which we would later learn were not functioning when he boarded Flight 815.

Second, he has facial scar above and below his right eye.

Third, he was ejected from the plane and landed on his back. Such a fall would be worse than the one from the building that caused his paralysis.

If time is not linear, but circular, then this moment in the series is a prime example of reliving the past in the present. But the one difference is that this fall from the sky reversed Locke's paralysis, which in most circles be a true miracle.

In the future, there was a deep theme of Egyptian mythology. Locke's scar could be a symbol of the connection to those stories. For example, Horus was an ancient sky god usually depicted as a falcon.
His right eye was associated with the sun god, Ra, the most important god. The eye symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon, including a teardrop marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon and the god Djehuti, Thoth, a god the underworld.

In one myth, Horus and his brother, Set, are fighting for the throne after Osiris' death. Set gouges Horace's left eye. The majority of the eye was restored by another god magically, probably by Thoth. When the eye was restored, Horus offered it to Osiris in the hope of restoring his life. Hence, the eye of Horus was often used a symbol of sacrifice, healing, restoration and protection.

Sacrifice, healing, restoration and protection were all themes tied to Locke's character.

But the scar on Locke's face is on his right eye (the moon or underworld) and not his left (the sun). One could argue that this is reverse symbolism - - - that in the underworld non-sacrifice, infliction of pain, destruction and self-preservation are the goals. In fact, those reverse themes pair well with Sawyer's character, one of the few who got off the island alive.

For some reason, the island "healed" Locke to give him back the ability to walk and run. The purpose of this gift was to allow Locke to disrupt the groups he was associated with: first the survivors camp and then the Others. He did not restore order to these groups, but created conflict. He decided not to protect his friends or fellow castaways, but to protect the island for no apparent reason other than he saw its inner beauty. He took it upon himself to become a guardian of the island, which the island did not need for it had a powerful god named Jacob. So the island decided that Locke would be the anti-symbol of the myth of the eye of Horus.

Which means that the other survivor found waking up on his back in the jungle, Jack, would be symbolic of sun god, Ra. In Egyptian mythology, it was the sun god that took a dangerous, nightly journey through the underworld. If he was able to get through the perils and pitfalls of darkness, the sun would rise the next day. This captured the circle of life.

It was also a miracle that Jack was not severely injured when he fell to the ground. The island also gave him the miracle of life to begin his island journey. The camera focused on Jack's eye opening . . . . . . symbolic of the journey's beginning. Jack's first steps were to heal other injured passengers, to restore order in the group and protect them from the perils of the island, such as the Others attacks. It is questionable whether Jack sacrifices anything to the island (except his own life at the end of the series). As Locke's death was a small catalyst to get the Oceanic 6 back to the island, Jack's death on the island had no closing bargain. When his eye closed for the last time, the journey was over and if Jack was the symbol of the sun god, the sunrise would never happen again. The island would be no more.

When Locke arrives at the sideways church, he is in a wheelchair just as he was as he boarded Flight 815. But he is reminded that he does not need that wheelchair to enter the church. This may be the connection between the sideways world and the island plane crash. Some have argued that Locke's ability to walk on the island meant that he had died; and that Locke's inability to walk in the sideways world was his punishment for being unable to move on from the baggage he left behind during his mortal life. In both places, Locke was looking a miracle cure. But it seems only in death could he achieve that miracle.

THE THREE STOOGIES

Ben, Hurley and Locke had the deepest connections to the island. Yet, they all played the fool as their personal stories unfolded over the six seasons.

Ben had a Napoleon complex: he wanted power, control and respect as many small minded leaders throughout history have come to grasp.

Hurley had an inferiority complex: he wanted love, respect and a purpose in life but he had no drive or ambition to live his own life.

Locke had grandeur issues: he believed he had a higher calling than what society and authority targeted him for; he was a dreamer who had no skills to make his dreams come true. He had a self-destructive personality.

So why was the island's connection to these three men so strong?

The island made fools of them.

Ben worked his way up from a lonely school boy with an abusive, drunken father to a mass murderer psychopathic leader of the Others. But in the end, his loyalty to Jacob, his perceived father figure, was a farce. This led to Ben becoming a broken man.

Hurley was a lonely boy who put himself in a shell because he blamed himself for his father's abandonment. He had only one true friend, who betrayed him after Hurley kept his lottery winnings a secret. Hurley believed he was cursed by the Numbers, and that led to his growing psychological problems, including the ability to speak to the dead.

Locke was a lonely man who could not find acceptance and a real family. He bounced from odd job to odd job, to being an outcast in a commune, to a pigeon taken advantage of by others, including his own father. His desire to be a part of a traditional family structure literally crippled him, making him a bitter man who could not see the hope that Helen could have given him.

If the island was an intelligent being as many have suggested, then it used its magical resources to build up and tear down these three men. It raised up the inferiority complex Ben into a limitless, powerful tyrant, only to pull the rug from underneath his reign and give it to a real monster, MIB. Hurley's mental problems were enhanced while on the island - - - the reoccurring Numbers sounded like bullhorns in his head of his Curse. The ability to talk to dead people. And the new friends around him started to die - - - including the one woman who found him interesting. It was like he was a mental punching bag. Locke seemingly was given the greatest second chance of all time. The plane crash allowed him to walk again. He could become the outback hero on the island. He could find the respect, admiration, loyalty and affection from the castaways. He could lead them to his promised land. But Locke was merely a prop in other people's plans. When things did not go well, Locke tried to rationalize his failures as new opportunities, even though it cost him colleague's lives such as Boone. He was told that he had to sacrifice himself for the island. Martyrdom was not the goal for a young John Locke, so he balked at the notion - - - but was killed anyway. He was barely a footnote to other people because he had lived a measly, stupid life.

The island must have had a cruel sense of humor.

It gave Ben, Hurley and Locke a glimpse of what they most wanted, then tore it from their grasp.

So why would the island intelligence be so childish, so cruel?

Because it is probably a childlike intelligence. It connected to Ben, Hurley and Locke because it too was an outcast from its own society. It had the same deep, dark emotional issues of Ben, Hurley and Locke. The island could not express or vent its anger so it had to act through visitors and its smoke monsters. The island was the puppeteer who smashed its playthings together to release some of its own repressed abandonment feelings.

The island as a lonely, supernatural child lost in space, trapped in the Earth's gravitational pull, is an intriguing side story. Could it be the last of its kind? Could it have been abandoned by its parents or world much like the origin story of Superman? How could such a being with immense power want to hide in plain sight instead of ruling an entire planet? It may have never been instructed on what to do - - - or it was told about certain rules to follow. Or, worse, it was trapped in island form and unable to make a physical transition to our world. That could be just as frustrating as what was going through the minds of Ben, Hurley and Locke.

And this can explain why many aspects of LOST have a theme of cruelty. Unsupervised children often can be cruel, in their play and their outlook on life. A magnifying glass to burn ants may have been a human curiosity, but an island superbeing doing the same to human adults is another thing.

THE BEST AND WORST ELEMENT: THE HATCH

If there was one element, set, storyline and place that showed the best LOST to offer and then the worst, it was The Hatch.


In the first season the castaways are thrown many mysteries,  but the build up was the greatest with a mysterious metal hatch found buried in the ground. While Locke and Boone tried to force the hatch open, Michael and three other survivors  attempt to leave on a raft that they have built. Locke had started off on his own vision quest that somehow his destiny was tied to the island and its secrets. Locke had been set aside in his brief power struggle with Jack over the leadership of the beach camp. Locke's desire to be acknowledged, respected and followed was answered when he found the mysterious Hatch.

Locke discovered the Hatch after an unsuccessful hunt for Ethan Rom. Returning to camp, he tossed Boone a flashlight, which fell on the steel hatch with a clunk. The two men spent the weeks excavating the hatch in secret, uncovering a large round steel tunnel leading down into the earth, topped by a steel door with a small rectangular glass window. They built a trebuchet to try to break the glass open, but it failed to damage the glass, split apart on impact and wounded Locke's leg. The next night, after taking the dying Boone to the caves, Locke banged furiously on the Hatch door, questioning the Island's demands of him until a light turned on from within, restoring his faith.

At this time, viewers were just like Locke, in the dark as to the purpose of the Hatch. Was it a shelter? Was it nothing? What was the light? Was this the Other's base camp?  What danger lied below?

Locke did not realize that he had alerted the Swan's occupant, Desmond Hume, that life continued outside the station. Desmond felt that he was a lone on the island, trapped in the Hatch, and unable to leave to return to his girlfriend, Penny. The banging on the Hatch door stopped Desmond from killing himself and convinced him to continue the station's essential protocol of entering The Numbers every 108 minutes.

Thus, the elements of the prison aspect of the island came into the story. Desmond was trapped on the island. There was no escape. The Numbers became an overwhelming clue that baffled viewers because it could not be a coincidence that the Numbers were now showing up everywhere. It led to another great mystery of why a computer control needed manual input of numbers every 108 minutes in order to avoid something bad.  Computers can be programmed to send signals at stated time intervals. Why is a man needed to run this simple task? Was it really needed or was it a psychological test of a prisoner's will? It would seem that people on the island may not control their own destiny.

Jack decided to open the Hatch to use as a safe hiding place for the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, following a warning from Danielle Rousseau that the Others were coming, ostensibly to kill them. Jack, Locke, Dr. Arzt, Kate, and Hurley went on a dangerous mission to recover several sticks of dynamite from the shipwreck of the Black Rock to blow the Hatch open. Hurley protested at the last second, noticing that the Numbers that he considered unlucky engraved into the side of the Hatch. In the final shot of Season 1, Locke and Jack gazed down the Hatch into the long, dark, narrow vertical shaft below. 

Locke lowered Kate into the Hatch. Soon after, she was pulled down as a large beam of light came out of the shaft entrance. Desmond had used the beam to blind Kate while he captured her and brought her into the Hatch. Locke descended after her, and Jack lowered himself in soon after. In a stand-off, Desmond remembered Jack from his run at the LA stadium. Desmond took the chance to educate then abandon the station to the castaways.

But instead of using it as a safe, secure and armed place to protect everyone in the beach camp, Jack used the Swan station as a leadership command center. It never made sense not to bring everyone to the Hatch. It was also unnecessary to keep it a secret for so long since it had the supplies for survival. The idea that leaders would keep the luxuries to themselves shows human behavior corrupting them; some people are more equal than others.

While the second season dealt with the growing conflict between the survivors and the Others,  the theme of the clash between faith and science (Locke vs. Jack) continued in the operation of the Hatch.  A power struggle between Jack and John over control of the guns and medicine located in the hatch develops, resolved in "The Long Con" by Sawyer when he gains control of them. New characters are introduced, including the tail-section survivors (the "Tailies") and other island inhabitants. The hatch is finally revealed to be a research station built by the Dharma Initiative, a scientific research project that involved conducting experiments on the island decades earlier. 

The third season had the Hatch being the turned into the scene of horrible violence. In a gripping twist, Henry Gale was revealed as a spy for the Others under the brutal torture of Sayid. This guest appearance led to Michael Emerson becoming a regular cast member. The Hatch was also the scene for the senseless violence, when Michael killed Ana Lucia and Libby, then covered it up by saying Ben did it in his escape.

But the Hatch also served as the conduit for confusion. When Locke decided NOT to put in the Numbers, believing that it was all a cruel joke, it brought down the doors revealing at first the Blast Door Map, another monumental clue for fans, and later the fail safe key protocol that Desmond used to destroy the station. Now, how it worked was never explained as there was a giant explosion with the Hatch door landing on the beach, and a giant implosion which left the Swan station a crater. Despite the massive explosion-implosion, Desmond was miraculously not killed - - - but suddenly had vivid premonitions (which many turned out to be false like Claire leaving the island by helicopter).

The Hatch was also a focus in the muddled time travel story arc. When flashing through time after Ben turned the frozen wheel, the survivors hiked to the hatch crater as a reference point to determine the date. When they arrived, the hatch was still a crater, but after time shifted again, the hatch returned to how it had been before the survivors discovered it.

When the survivors found themselves in the 1970s, they got to see the Swan's construction by the DHARMA Initiative. Hurley and Miles witnessed DHARMA workers engrave the Numbers onto the Hatch, and were able to see the shaft itself being constructed. Following the Incident, where Juliet attempted to activate a bomb, but the work site imploded instead, the survivors returned to 2007, where they found themselves near the Hatch, an imploded crater once more. 

The Hatch contained some of the best moments and some of the worst story lines. For some critics, the LOST adventure veered off course in Season 3 and fell off the cliff in Season 6. Whether the Hatch itself was a missed opportunity to actually answer the big questions is a point of endless debate.

BEST ACTORS

LOST had memorable performances. But in the Mount Rushmore of LOST acting, we must narrow the field down to four individuals:

LOCKE

Terry O'Quinn had the greatest range of situations in which to perform. He did quite well. Received Emmy Award nominations in 2005, 2007, and 2010 in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of John Locke.  He won the 2007 award beating out, among other nominees, fellow Lost actor Michael Emerson.

BEN

Michael Emerson came to the series as a guest star, but his performance captured the imagination of the fans and producers to where he became a main character. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series in 2009 for his role as Ben.

DESMOND

Henry Ian Cusick was another guest star who made an impact to become a regular cast member. Cusick, after three guest starring episodes during Season 2, became a series regular at the beginning of the third season.  Cusick was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series at the 2006 Emmys for his performance as Desmond in the episode "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1".

ELOISE

Fionnula Flanagan was an accomplished actress prior to a guest role in the series. However, her portrayal of Eloise Hawking made her a mysterious center piece to future story lines bridging the island, Dharma and the Others. As Ben was seen as evil incarnate, Eloise was a much more sinister and powerful force behind the scenes.  When she was in a scene, you could see the mental gears churning some devious plot.

One can now realize that these four characters were pivotal in the final two seasons of LOST. O'Quinn's character was reborn in the form of Flocke. Ben's power struggle with Jacob and Widmore led to the chaotic final chase to find a final island guardian. Eloise was all knowing in both worlds, and tried to keep them worlds separated so she would not lose her son, Daniel. And Desmond became the bridge between the island and the sideways realms. In some ways, these four actors pushed themselves in the prime, leading roles as the series wound down.

CROSS OVER

In television, the concept of a "cross over" is where a star from one show makes a guest appearance on another show, in character.

We have a similar concept in the LOST saga between the characters' island/flashback lives and the sideways presentation. There are some apparent irreconcilable differences.

For example, Jack.

In both worlds, Jack is a successful spinal surgeon.
In both worlds, Jack has had serious issues with his father.
In both worlds, Jack has gone to Australia to bring his father's body back home.

In the island world, Jack is divorced from Sarah. He is alone. He only has his mother left.
In the sideways, Jack is divorced from Juliet. He is not alone, he has his own son David.

For example, Locke.

In both worlds, Locke is paralyzed and bound to a wheelchair.

In the island world, Locke is bitter and hateful against his father for causing his injuries.
In the sideways, Locke has a relationship with his catatonic father.

In the island world, Locke has ruined every relationship he had including the one with Helen.
In the sideways, Helen is by his side as his loving spouse.

In the island world, Locke has bounced from meaningless jobs and has no career path.
In the sideways, Locke is a content substitute teacher who befriends a meek teacher, Ben.

There is such a continental divide between the character's foundational base in the sideways world as to question which realm is actually the true one.

It is more likely that the island/flashbacks are real because we saw them unfold for five seasons. The sideways world would be a collective fantasy, dream world for the island characters to deal with their anxieties, fears, stress and depression.

However, there is a possibility that the sideways world is the true foundation because the characters in that realm were basically good people living normal, good lives. And is that not the fundamental philosophy of all religions that good people can go to heaven or paradise after death? The sideways world was a place of death where the souls of the characters got together in the church.  But if their shown lives were continuations of their true past lives (which makes some common sense if their souls did not want to acknowledge their own mortality), then the island and flashbacks were the collective fantasy and dream world created by the characters to continue to experience their fantasy lives or come to terms with their own deaths.

So, which cross over is correct?

In a linear thought process, the real characters crashed on the island and the sideways realm was mere purgatory fantasy holding pen until everyone lived out their lives on Earth.

In a non-linear thought process, the real characters sideways back stories were true, but their nightmare-fantasy-escapist adventures were captured in the island stories. Just like when people go on holiday, they can create new persona's or let their guard down to live a different kind of lifestyle.

So, one can cut and paste the various character time frames as follows:

SIDEWAYS BACK STORIES = TRUTH.
Island Back Stories = Fantasy/Adventure/Dreams/Nightmares
ISLAND STORIES = TRUTH
Sideways Stories = Fantasy Continuation of Lives until acknowledgement of own deaths.

This compares to the linear approach:

ISLAND BACK STORIES = TRUTH
ISLAND STORIES = TRUTH
Sideways Back Stories = Fantasy/Adventure/Dreams/Nightmares
Sideways Stories = Irrelevant Filler until all survivors died in real life.

The former approach is much more complex, which makes it highly unlikely thought process for the show's writers who seemingly too the easy way out in throwing a sideways after life to clean up the plot.

THE LOCKE NESS MONSTER

You are what you are.

And . . . you can't tell me what to do!

The lasting frontal lobe demons that lurked inside the skull of John Locke.

Of all the passengers on Flight 815, Locke was the most angry and bitter. His final dream, an outback adventure, was ruined by his paralysis. He knew then he would be nothing but a cripple. He felt helpless, alone and betrayed by his father, his mother and the world.

In the after math of the plane crash, we first see Locke on his back, struggling to get up. There is a weird expression on his face (and a new non-bleeding scar on his face) as he begins to move his legs.
For no apparent medical reason, the plane crash "caused" or "healed" Locke's permanent paralysis.

Which leads to two plot points of polar opposite conclusions.

First, if Locke was "alive" and survived the plane crash, the miracle had to be chalked up to a) the island's alleged healing properties or b) magic.

Second, if Locke did not survive the crash, his body may have been "taken over" by a smoke monster (which we saw later on in the series by MIB).

The evidence gets option one is compelling since a) pregnant women died on the island; b) people died of gunshot wounds (lesser trauma) than the plane crash; and c) Locke was shot by Ben in purge pit and should have died there.

If Locke's character was a smoke monster from the very beginning of the show, it would cast the series in a different light. Locke's theme was a man of faith. He was reckless, not very smart, impulsive and emotional. The exact opposite traits of Jack who was cool, collected, smart, with medical skills and detached emotions.

Like Locke, Jack's was found after the crash lying on his back. He was shocked or surprised that he had survived. So, like Locke, there are two ways to interpret Jack's awareness of the island: as a plane crash survivor or as another smoke monster.  The latter would balance out the black and white; faith verus science themes of the show.

And like a childhood game of make believe, if two island smoke monsters inhabit the bodies of two dead humans (and use their memories and skills to play a clever game of island senet), then LOST becomes a very complex and deep science fiction epic.

POOR JOHN

 Poor-john and apple pies are all our fare. --Sir J. Harrington.

A "poor-john" is a small European fish, similar to the cod, but of inferior quality.

In LOST, Poor John meant poor John Locke. His character did not live his life or died well. 

John was a loner from day one. Abandoned by his crazy mother, he bounced from foster home to foster home. He never made any true friends. He never assimilated into his foster homes. He was academically sound, but his fantasy-dreams of being a popular jock got into his way.  As a result of his stubborn self-imagine of himself, he left a professional career track to one of being a low wage semi-skilled worker from odd job to odd job.

Along the way, there was an inner desire to create a family. He wanted to care, comfort and support that was missing in his life. He did not find it in his various jobs with his co-workers. He was socially inept in dating circles, fumbling around even with phone sex workers. He even tried to join a commune as a means of trying to get accepted into a large group. But that was a failure. 

From an average, objective standard, John Locke lived an unhappy life. Sociologists would classify him as one of the underclass; an underachiever who failed to reach his potential. He was a reactionary to the negative events around him, and rarely ever met the challenge to change his state in life.

One can be poor economically, socially and spiritually.

Locke was poor in all three of those categories.

Because of those deficiencies, Locke grasped at his chance to be something different on the island. But no matter how he acted, how other people viewed him would return to his off-island loneliness.

Did he have any true friends on the island? No.
Did he make any lasting impacts, or change someone's life for the better? No.

Did anyone on the island mourn him when his body was found in the crate? No.

Only Jack had a drug induced reaction to Locke's death on the mainland - - - but that was not mourning Locke as a friend, but Jack realizing his own personal mistakes and failure as the castaways leader. Locke's death sparked Jack to return to the island, for no apparent reason except to finish what he had started: rescuing his fellow passengers.  But at the time, he did not know if anyone was left to rescue.

So Locke lived and died a poor life. Which is ironic since he was a popular character on the show.