LOST IN PRODUCTION

In a 2017 article, Jeff Jensen wrote that LOST producers were banking on a massive volcano story line to wrap up the island origin of the smoke monsters, but ABC refused to pay for it.

The use of the volcano was supposed to show us how the smoke monster was created, by Jacob throwing his brother into it. In many cultural myths, sacrifices to the gods used volcanoes as part of the worship rituals. The producers wanted to use a temple with the volcano scenes, but ABC balked because creating temples were expensive.

The show did show a temple with very detailed ancient Egyptian signs and symbols. It was the place where the Man in Black took his angry revenge on the remaining Others. This temple appeared to be the root of Jacob's power over the people he brought to the island. Its priest held forth a cult in which the spirit or smoke monster could not enter until it reached human form.

A BBC article stated:

Often cultures have seen active volcanoes as the abode of gods - typically gods quick to anger.

“I think the creation of myths is essentially the human reaction to witnessing a natural process that you cannot explain, says Haraldur Sigurdsson, a U.S. volcanologist  “So you attribute it to supernatural forces and you say it is a battle between the giants and the gods.”

Was the island story a battle of angry gods, Jacob and his brother?

If true, then how could simple human beings defeat them?

The Man in Black, smoke monster, believed he was trapped or imprisoned on the island. Jacob claimed that he was the guardian of the island. Was Jacob the prison guard to MIB? Was his sole purpose not to unleash an evil spirit upon the world? The island was phasing in and out of the Earth realm to be hidden from humans, because they would be drawn into using the evil to destroy the planet?

Was Jacob bringing humans to the island a means of appeasing MIB? Instead of playing ancient board games, the two devised a game using humans as pawns.

But at a certain point, the brothers grew tiresome of their company and their mutual curse of being trapped on the island. For Jacob to be released, he would have to trick a human to become the new guardian. For MIB to be released, he would have to die which is difficult for an immortal spirit.

It is interesting that the show runners and the network were at odds on production budgets to the point where the story had to change. This confirms some skeptics who said the writers were making up the show on the fly. The fly was the network not allowing them to produce their vision.

But would have the volcano story line "solved" the ending issues?

No. Even if the whole general premise was overlaid with Polynesian mythology of volcanoes, gods and sacrifices, it does not explain the sideways world, the parallel universe, the Flight 815 plane crash and the ending in the church.

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.

PERSONAL EVOLUTION

There is a theory that at some point, human beings will evolve beyond their physical existence. Science fiction writers have been using this idea for a long time, to create intelligent beings made purely of energy and thought.

One would think that evolving beyond a physical body would have its advantages. This new being would not have hunger, the need to consume food in order to survive. It would not feel pain as it would not have a nervous system connected to cells and organs. It would not have emotional bursts since it does not have the stressful demands for food, water, rest and procreation.

Based upon this scientific theory, one "unified" explanation for LOST is that the smoke monster was one of these non-physical body beings. Whether it evolved from humans or aliens is not really the issue. It could have been the last of its species. If so, there could be a vast sense of loneliness. So how could such a higher form of "life" cope with such loneliness?

Humans gather comfort in surrounding themselves with lower life forms. We call them "pets." If the smoke monster wanted companionship, mental stimulation, a sense of purpose or even something to do - - - then bringing those interesting, complex, emotional, primitive, cunning, violent people to his island.

We know that the smoke monster(s) could take the form of human beings (usually dead ones). When they reanimated humans, the smoke monsters had access all the memories of those people. They used those memories to manipulate the other characters into action or inaction.

But even if the smoke monster evolved into a higher order, the ending of the series did not shed any light on this theory or what the smoke monster really represented on the show. It could have been merely symbolic of the fears, anxieties, traumas and spiritual bankruptcy of certain characters. But the show runners would not need a supernatural being to coax those traits from human beings; they are messy enough ruining their own lives to have those matters come to the story surface.

The smoke monster is an enigma. It seems to be a supernatural, intelligent and violent force not known in nature.

THE MONSTER

The writers guide was made after the pilot episode was written, so the network and producers did have some basic story elements in play when the guide was finalized to lessen the fears and concerns of ABC whether LOST could be a viable success.

One of the pilot episode big mysteries was the emergence of the smoke monster.  This immediately led to the basic questions of what was the monster? Why was it attacking the survivors? 

But the guide had a disturbing foreshadowing of how TPTB would answer such basic story elements:

WHAT ABOUT THAT "MONSTER?" HOW THE HELL DO YOU SUSTAIN THAT OVER A HUNDRED EPISODES?

The short answer is we don't. 

We want to dispel the inevitable "Jurassic Park" comparisons as soon as possible. This is not the "run away from the obscenely huge and obscenely hungry creature" show. 

True to our commitment to provide rational, real-world explanations for the seemingly bizarre, our castaways will make a series of discoveries in the first few episodes that indicate the "monster" may indeed have man-made origins which offers a variety of possible explanations illuminating its true nature. Perhaps the result of the experiments performed by the island's past inhabitants or simply a small part within an elaborate security system designed to protect yet undiscovered facilities, the beast is almost as scary when it's NOT there. 

As the series progresses, the group begins to figure out the ''rules'' of the monster - locations and times of day that are "safe"... but·the reemergence of this creature (which may be more machine that animal) is an ever-present threat. 

As established in the Pilot's ending, the much realer threat that begins to emerge is married to the realization that there may be other intelligent people on this island - people who are not necessarily happy to be sharing their stomping ground. 

The writers establish early on that they could not "sustain" the Monster for the life of the series. It is an odd concession and abandonment of story foundation to create a major character/plot point with the realization that it does not matter in the big picture. However, TPTB promised that "true to our commitment to provide rational, real-world explanations for the seemingly bizarre," the smoke monster explanation and purpose remains an open question. The writers guide gives "possible" explanations, some which are mirrored in fan theories, but recall that even after Ben summoned it to attack the freighter soldiers, he had no idea what it was. The guide infers the monster was "man made," a machine or the result of a Dharma experiment, or part of an elaborate security system. The writers were going to fade out the monster by having the castaways learn "the rules" of the monster (locations and time of day that are safe). But as we saw in the series itself, the monster did not have any day-night, dry or wet limitations other than the alleged "sonic fence" which was contraindicated when the monster could shape shift into ghosts of the past island visitors like Rousseau crew, Christian or Alex. No modern security system can morph into physical replicas of human beings, then turn into a violent black mass of smoke. We did hear the mechanic noise and the animalistic bellowing as the smoke monster would approach, but those elements appear only to enhance the viewer expectation of scariness than provide an answer to what was the monster.

Further, the alleged use of the "monster" to set up the premise that the island could be inhabited by intelligent people who would not want to share the island is mixing apples and oranges. The people left on the island, the Others, apparently were not intelligent enough to create the monster. In fact, we are not sure that Dharma did because it could not control Smokey. The smoke monster is a supernatural being - - - and theorists believe that it may be the dark soul of MIB or past island guardians, or an alien race running lab rat experiments on humans. But clearly, TPTB did not provide any concrete rational, "real world" explanation for the smoke monster.

The distinction that LOST was not going to be a "run and hide" from the monster show like Jurassic Park is fine, but Spielberg at least provided viewers with a logical "science fiction" based explanation of how dinosaurs are now alive in the present (scientists extracted DNA from mosquitoes trapped in amber, then re-used the DNA sequences into living amphibian eggs to create live dinosaur offspring). Viewers bought that premise, even though modern science says it is impossible, because it had true elements (DNA, gene splicing, fertilization of eggs outside womb, etc) that were tied together in a logical fashion that made it "believable."  A mystery without an explanation is merely stage dressing, and should be treated as such.

But LOST needed to have some solid explanations so fans could understand the interconnected elements. The series takes on a different perspective if the monster was:
(a) a mechanical machine of advanced technology;
(b) a natural swarm of unknown animals;
(c) a alien (with shape shifting abilities);
(d) the physical transformation of a person's nightmare into reality;
(e) a supernatural creature that may or may not feed off human emotions and fears;
(f) a evil spirit;
(g) the devil in various shape shifting forms (then implying that the island is hell); or
(h) Jacob, MIB or a host of immortal gods playing with their human dolls in a world between worlds.

It would not be hard to "sustain" a monster character throughout the series. In fact, the smoke monster was used throughout the series - - - with its glorious rampage as Flocke took down the Temple. But was Flocke the smoke monster or the monster's zookeeper? The consensus is that MIB was the smoke monster, which means that it assumed the human intelligence of a dead human, learned to extract the memories of any visitor, then assume their bodies to interact with the characters to change their behavior or actions. But there is also a school of thought that Jacob was also a smoke monster, due to his equal footing with MIB in the island power (neither could kill the other). It is also possible that Jacob, who changed himself into a child to mess with MIB/Flocke, could have changed into other people on the island, such ghost Alex telling Ben to follow Flocke's instructions (which would lead to Ben killing Jacob, something that both MIB and Jacob wanted to happen as it was clear Jacob was tired of being the guardian.)

If the Island was considered a main character of the show, the monster would have to be considered a major character on the show, too.

SMOKING SOMETHING

The Smoke Monster a/k/a Smokey was a fascinating character.

We really do not know how it was created; what it is made of; how it manifests itself in time and space; or why it is the island's "security system."  We know it is capable of being a shape shifting pillar of smoke with the memories of dead people.

The earliest we see the smoke monster (in island time) is after Jacob kills his brother and the body is thrown into the stream to float into the light cave. A howling smoke monster flies out of the cave opening. Now, do we believe that the fact that Jacob's brother's body "awakened" the smoke monster and its ire, or that Jacob's brother turned into a smoke monster? Well, the latter is probably not true because Jacob buried his brother in a cave with Crazy Mother (whom Locke called Adam and Eve.) So Jacob's brother's body was not transformed into a smoke monster.

We believe that Crazy Mother was a smoke monster. We saw that she destroyed the Roman camp in the same after math as the smoke monster destroying the Barracks when Widmore's soldiers returned to the island. And there are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs at the temple depicting the smoke monster. So the evidence shows that a smoke monster was on the island prior to Jacob's brother's death.

Since Crazy Mother was a smoke monster, we know that she was killed only after she passed on her "guardianship" of the island to Jacob in a ceremony near the light cave. Once she did that, Jacob's brother stabbed her with a special knife. It is unclear whether she allowed the fatal blow or was defenseless, considering that Sayid's attempt to kill MIB was thwarted by mere words with Flocke.

And was Crazy Mother's ceremony to grant Jacob the knowledge of the island also a transformation of Jacob himself into a smoke monster? It is possible since Jacob did not know about the island's properties - - - just as Jacob transferred his authority to Jack at the last camp fire. But then, Jack would have become a smoke monster. And if Crazy Mother's rules were correct, that smoke beings could not kill each other, then Jack's turning over the guardianship to Hurley (unknown to Flocke) plus Kate's bullet could have killed Flocke.

If one sees the evidence that a smoke monster's shape shifting and memory stealing abilities is tied to engulfing a dead body, then there are more issues to explain. The series does point to the abilities to talk to the dead or read their last memories (Hurley and Miles). The smoke monster must have those same abilities in order to transform itself into dead people.

But there is one problem with the first incarnation. Christian's body was not on Flight 815. The coffin was empty. In the sideways arc, the body arrives weeks later. So if Christian's body was not deposited on the island, then where did the smoke monster get the information to create a Christian body double?  The only logical means would be to read Jack's mind.

But this leads to an uncomfortable detour for some fans. If the smoke monster can only shape shift based upon reading the memories of the dead, then that would mean that Jack was dead on the island. He did not survive the plane crash. Jack was not the only example of a memory swipe to create an illusion on the island. Kate saw her horse in the jungle, but her horse was not on the plane. Then we have Hurley interacting physically with Dave, his imaginary friend. Was Dave on the island another smoke monster manifestation, urging Hurley to kill himself (because he was a candidate)?

We also have the situation of Mr. Eko talking directly to his dead brother Yemi. Yemi was the priest who was captured by the drug smugglers at the airport during a firefight with police. Eko assumed his brother's life. On the island, the smuggler's plane was found - - - with the body of Yemi. Now, it impossible for a small plane to fly from Africa to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most people believe that the plane crash and Yemi's body were manufactured by the smoke monster. If that is true, then the smoke monster would have had to read Eko's memories - - - again, meaning that Eko died in the plane crash.

The same holds true for Richard Alpert, when he sees his dead wife, Isabella on the island. The first time was when he was in the hold of the Black Rock, as the smoke monster was killing the survivors. The second time was near the end, when he saw her with Hurley near Alpert's special spot (where he buried her jewelry).

If the smoke monster was re-creating persons from the island inhabitants past, what was the reason?

The simple answer is that the smoke monster wanted the people to do something. Ghost Walt stood over the purge grave telling a bleeding Locke to get up because he still "had work to do." Ghost Alex confronted Ben in the temple, scolding him with guilt, to follow everything Flocke (MIB) told him to do (which led to the killing of Jacob.) Ghost Horace told Locke about Jacob's cabin and foreshadowed the danger that island leaders encounter on the island.

The one oddity is that in all the creations of dead people, the smoke monster had the most freedom, interaction and interpretation as Jacob's brother, MIB. In that form, MIB seemed to be an equal with Jacob. MIB called Jacob "the devil." However, in MIB's form, the smoke monster must have fused in Jacob's brother's last strong emotions: to leave the island. MIB's quest for centuries thereafter was to leave the island.  But for no apparent reason, MIB or the smoke monster could not.

Which leads to another problem. When Jack returned to the mainland as an O6 survivor, he found Ghost Christian in the lobby of the medical building. The smoke detector went off, and Jack went to investigate. If this was a shape shifting smoke monster, but not MIB (who could not leave the island), then it had to be Jacob. That would mean Jacob himself was a smoke monster.

The grant of immortality to people on the island by Jacob may have been a ruse of a truth. With Alpert, being dead was itself being immortal. But Alpert did not know his fate so he could be conned into the service of Jacob.

So in all the smoke monsters manifestations, it is not perfectly clear who or what the smoke monster was in every situation. In one sense, the smoke monster was an information gathering machine. In another sense, it was an angry amalgamation of dead souls trapped in an island purgatory. No one can say for sure whether the smoke monster was good, evil or merely confused. It killed both good people, bad people, sinners and followers.

What we can say is that the smoke monster by definition is the visible suspension of carbon or other particles in air, typically one emitted from a burning substance, which some theorists minds would represent carbon (the basis of human life) being burnt in hell.


It could also mean to fumigate, cleanse, or purify by exposure to smoke, which also fits into the underworld judgment theme. It could also mean to  force someone to make something known: as the press smokes him out on other human rights issues, he will be revealed as a social conservative. If this is a character study, then putting the characters under stressful situations to make them change would be a story alternative.

A monster is an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. This would fit into the illusion themes of the series. It can also be used to describe an inhumanly cruel or wicked person. There were many cruel and evil characters on the show who did not repress their cruelty onto others.

If you put both definitions together, smoke is an description of the main word. One could say the smoke monster is a purifying imaginary creature forcing characters to make something known to themselves. Whether that something is overcoming an inner fear, regrets about relationships or acknowledging their own demise, that could have been the smoke monster's role.

LOGIC PUZZLE

If the series climax was really about the Jacob-MIB struggle, we must examine the evidence of that alleged struggle:

1. Crazy Mother stole Jacob and his brother from their real mother just after child birth on the island.

2. Crazy Mother set down a rule that Jacob and his brother could not harm each other, ever.

3. Crazy Mother forbade them from making contact with the other people on the island (which were the remaining crew from the Roman ship that wrecked on the island with Jacob's mother on board).

4.  Jacob's brother went to go live and work with the Romans. He decided that he wanted to leave the island and thought he found a way by digging pits to tap into the island's energy source.

5. Crazy Mother visited Jacob's brother and confronted him on his plans. Jacob's brother refused her demands to return to her camp.

6. Crazy Mother, a middle aged woman, destroyed the entire Roman camp, much in the way we would observe the smoke monster do to the barracks.

7. Jacob's brother was enraged by Crazy Mother's actions, so he confronted her and killed her with a knife.

8. Jacob vowed revenge on his brother, and did so by hurting him near the light cave stream. His bleeding body was washed into the "Heart of the Island" and a smoke monster rushed out - - - and Jacob would later find his brother's dead body in the jungle.

9. Jacob buried Crazy Mother and his brother in a cave ("Adam and Eve").

10. The smoke monster took the form of Jacob's brother (The Man in Black or MIB), but he could shape shift into many forms, including dead individuals.

11. The MIB smoke monster continued to follow Crazy Mother's rules that it could not harm or kill Jacob, so the smoke monster sought out other people to stab Jacob ( like Alpert and Ben). Albert was thwarted because he allowed Jacob to speak to him; Ben had a conversation with Jacob but somehow his stab wound was allegedly fatal.

12. Jacob apparently continued to follow the rule, trying to get other people to kill MIB, including Sayid, but his attempt was thwarted when he allowed MIB to speak to him.

13. Once Jacob was "dead," MIB took the form of John Locke (Flocke) and then tried to recruit people to kill Jacob's remaining candidates.

14. Once Jacob was "dead," the smoke monster convinced Desmond to "deactivate" the heart of the island (by uncorking it) which would free MIB and destroy the island.

15. Jack, who assumed the guardian role, returned to the heart of the island to rescue Desmond and to re-cork the island to stop its destruction.

16. When Jack replaced the stone in the light cave, MIB allegedly became a mortal human being, who would die at the hands of Jack and Kate.

So what were the magical rules that the two "brothers" had to play by?

It would appear that the stone cork in the light cave magically tethered MIB to the island. The cork also kept the island from destroying itself.  This means that MIB/smoke monster was a prisoner on the island. That would also mean that Jacob, who could go off the island to recruit candidates, was not so trapped by the island cork. Logic would then assume that Jacob was not a smoke monster. However, we saw Jacob take other forms, such as his child self, before and after his death at the hands of Ben, just like a smoke monster. We also know that Jacob was immortal, living for centuries without aging.

When the cork was removed, the island began to destroy itself and allowed MIB to break the invisible chains. At this point, MIB was still a smoke monster. It was only after Jack re-corked the island did MIB actually became human (he could bleed). So the sole mechanism to give MIB human mortality would have been the removal then replacement of the stone cork in the light cave.

However, MIB continued to try to kill Jacob's candidates. So, it may have been another rule that if there was a island guardian (a jailor), even though the stone cork was removed, MIB still could not leave the island. But MIB had no rule against killing the candidates - - - he apparently did so with the Others, Dharma and some of the 815 survivors. (Some may say he may have only manipulated people to kill each other off.) Besides, Jacob broke the rule when he killed his brother so that pact was gone. (And probably true because Jacob hid in sacred places that the smoke monster could not get into such as the cabin protected by ash ring or the Tawawet statue.)

When did Jacob become immortal? It seems his immortality was granted to him when Crazy Mother gave him the island guardianship. And if immortality is part of the powers vested in the island guardian, then why did Jack die? Because he transferred his power to Hurley. But then, why did Hurley die?

That would mean that Hurley's death meant that he had to transfer the island guardianship to another person. But that begs the question. If the prisoner, the smoke monster was dead, why would there be a need for a guardian anymore? Unless, of course, there were other imprisoned smoke monsters on the island. And if there was no further reason to guard the island, why would anyone be left on it? Would not Hurley want to get the Others back to their families and their real homes?

The Jacob-MIB conflict still does not make clear, logical sense. If the smoke monster could not enter the light cave and tip over the stone cork to set itself free, then Jacob, being tired of his guardianship duties, could have just quit and left the smoke monster alone on the island. Since we were told only Jacob could bring people to the island, the smoke monster would be forever trapped on the island.

The puzzle pieces to Jacob still don't quite fit together. Was he a man or a smoke monster? Was he immortal or a magician? Was he truly killed or did he turn into a smoke monster trapped on the island as a result of his death?

WINNING HAND?

The most televised poker tournament on Earth finished this November. The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas draws more than 6,000 poker players for the dream of a $8.3 million first prize and the title of the world's greatest poker player.

In Texas Hold Em, it is a game where a player drawing the best cards may not win the hand. There is an art to bluffing, betting and folding in this high stakes, high pressure event. It feeds the classic American story of the underdog going from rags to riches.

At the island's story line conclusion, this is the hand that the viewers were dealt:

The Ace, the most powerful card, has to be the smoke monster. It could change shape. It was immortal. It could kill without hesitation. It could not be killed (conventionally).

The King turned out to be Hurley, since he was the island guardian (and the one who allegedly make up any rules he wanted to).

The Queen was Kate, the last female figure left at the climax of the series. She is the one who allegedly made the fatal shot to take down Flocke (which supposedly allowed the Ajira plane to leave the island with several people on board).

The Jack was Jack because a) Jack is the name of the card, and b) a Jack is not as powerful as a queen or king, but a valuable soldier in battle. One can sacrifice a jack if one has a king or queen left.

The Joker is a wild card, and Sawyer was the wild card in the end. He could have gone evil with Flocke. He could have gone good with Jack. But Sawyer only went for Sawyer - - - all he was concerned about was "getting off this damn rock." He did not help either Jack or Kate in defeating Flocke, but he did agree to "take" Kate off the island (which really wasn't a promise to a dying friend but a tag along okay).

Were these the characters you thought would be the end players when the series ended on the island?

ISLAND VISIONS

Boone had a vivid, "real" vision of his sister Shannon being killed by the smoke monster. It was so real that Boone blamed Locke by attacking him with a knife. Locke explained that he drugged Boone in order for him to have his vision, so he could understand the island better.

Locke was apparently one of the first survivors to make a "connection" with the island. But he was not alone in the island creating visions.

The series is littered with hallucination episodes.

In Season 1:
Jack repeatedly sees his dead father, Christian, in the jungle.
Claire has a dream about looking for her lost baby, encountering Locke, and finding the crib filled with blood.
Boone has an illicit dream with Shannon, later to find her killed by the smoke monster.
Locke dreams of a Nigerian drug plane crash on the island. He also becomes wheelchair bound again. He also sees a blood covered Boone blankly repeating "Theresa goes up the stairs, Theresa goes down the stairs."

In Season 2:
Shannon has three visions of Walt: a) while searching for Vincent, she sees Walt speak in gibberish to her (backwards: "Don't push the button. Button bad."), b) in her tent, Walt speaks backwards again "They're coming, and they're close," and c) while searching for Walt with Sayid, both glimpse a vision of Walt in the jungle.
Hurley dreams of gorging on food, speaking Korean to Jin and sees the mascot for Mr. Cluck's.
Kate and Sawyer sees Kate's horse in the jungle.
Mr. Eko sees flashes of his life when the smoke monster confronts him.
Charlie has two dreams about needing to save Claire's child, which include images from his childhood and a painting by Verrocchio.
Hurley has visions and conversations with his imaginary friend, Dave.
Mr. Eko has a dream featuring Anna Lucia and Yemi in which they tell him to help Locke, and instructions from Yemi to look for a question mark.
Locke has a dream from Eko's point of view, where he climbs a cliff and meets Yemi.

In Season 3:
Locke goes on a "vision quest" in which is is guided by Boone and instructed to save
Eko.
Desmond has a series of mental flashes in which he sees future events: a) Locke giving a speech about going after kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer; b) Lightning striking Claire's hut, killing Charlie; c) Charlie drowning trying to save Claire; d) Charlie dying in the ocean while trying to catch a seagull for Claire; e) Charlie is killed by an arrow trap on a mission to find a parachutist; and f) Charlie drowning while flipping a switch in a hatch; Claire and Aaron then leaving the island in a helicopter.
Mr. Eko has a confrontation conversation with Yemi.
Young Ben sees his dead mother on the island.
Locke, after being shot by Ben in the purge mass grave, has a vision of grown Walt telling him to get up because he has "work to do."

In Season 4:
Hurley has several visions of Charlie: a) in a convenience store; b) in the LAPD interrogation room; and c) outdoors at the mental institution (where Charlie physically slaps him into conversation).
Hurley sees Jacob's cabin on the island, which follows him until he wills it to disappear.
Michael has two visions of Libby, once in the hospital and once before he tries to set off the bomb on the freighter.
Jack sees a vision of his father in the hospital lobby after hearing a smoke detector go off.
Claire talks to her dead father, Christian, on the island. Christian can pick up Aaron.
Locke dreams of Horace building a cabin for his wife. Horace tells Locke to find Jacob he must find Horace who has been dead for 12 years. (In this vision, the image of Horace skips and repeats like a broken record for a short time.)
Kate has a dream that Claire tells her she cannot take Aaron back to the island.
On the freighter, Michael sees Christian who tells him that "he can go now."

In Season 5:
Hurley has a vision of Ana Lucia, who stops him to tell him he has "work to do."
Locke is told by Walt that Walt had a dream about Locke on the island, in a suit, surrounded by people who wanted to kill him.

In Season 6:
Hurley sees dead Jacob, who instructs him to go to the Temple and the Lighthouse.
Sawyer and Flocke see a vision of young Jacob in the jungle. Flocke is surprised that Sawyer can see him.
Alpert sees his dead wife Isabella in the the Black Rock.
Isabella appears before both Hurley and Alpert on the island near where Alpert buried her locket.
Hurley sees dead Michael twice, first to warns him not to blow up the Ajira plane and second, to tell him to destroy the Black Rock. (In this encounter, Michael claims he is a whisper, a trapped soul on the island.)

Many of these visions or dreams involve interaction with dead characters. The acceptance of speaking directly to dead people freaks out only Hurley (momentarily).

What do many of these occurrences have in common? The smoke monster. The monster could shape shift and create human forms. It admitted that it was Christian on the island. As a result, it could be argued that the hallucinations and visions character had during the series were projections created by the smoke monster. The motivation of these visions is clear: to manipulate, confuse and create anxiety in the characters. It is like a person dangling a feather above house cats; a form of play. Many characters used their visions to guide them in their decision making process, usually with bad results.

There have been theories that the series was just a series of character dreams, individual or collective. But it is also possible that the dreams were actual programs or commands imputed by the smoke monster(s) to move the human characters around their game board (the island). Supernatural beings playing a supernatural game of backgammon.

This supernatural trick and manipulation also follows in the ancient Egyptian burial rites where the king must take a dangerous journey through the underworld. He may be tricked by the underworld gods, go through trials, and be judged by the decisions he makes during the course of finding a way to paradise. The Book of the Dead was a manual on how to traverse the underworld. It allowed the king to bring with him his servants, consorts, food, weapons, and magic spells to help in his journey. The underworld gods also had a childlike cruelty in their game play with lost souls.

Locke's "connection" with the island may have seemed real to him, but it was clearly a manipulation by higher forces. Locke believed in the island, but the island used him like a pawn.

But this raises an interesting question: if these "waking" visions of dead people were the smoke monster, could it also have controlled the characters dreams while they were asleep? Anything is possible, and based on the number of incidents, it is probable. Since Christian's body was not in the coffin, Smokey had to create his image from Jack's memories. In fact, the entire island may have been built upon the memories of those unfortunate souls who were shipwrecked on the island. Crazy Mother was a smoke monster when she destroyed the Roman village. Flocke turned into the smoke monster and attacked the temple. The smoke monster was not just a security system, but the entire island system. It created everything from the memories of human beings, including their feelings, emotional strings, their fears, their experiences and their goals. It "replays" those events to see how human beings react or change. It is not a moral, religious or redemptive series of tests. No, perhaps the smoke monster(s) are using human beings the same way our scientists use lab rats to run through mazes and tests. The whole series was data acquisition by the smoke monsters to understand the human condition.

But, then again, the ending seems to fall outside the realm of island experimentation. Unless, one believes that the smoke monster master(s) became "attached" to their pets in such a fashion to use their collective memories to give them a final illusion of happiness upon their mortal demise.

PICKED ON LOCKE

No character had it as bad as John Locke.

Locke was the "walking" definition of pessimism, a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.

In philosophy, it is  a belief that this world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good.


His life went from bad, to worst, to crippling bad, to really bad to sadly dead. Whether Locke was intentionally written as a punching bag character, we saw him get beat up over and over again. His life started as being abandoned by his parents. His mother was crazy, and his missing father was a rogue con man. He grew up bouncing from foster home to foster home. He had no family. He built up bitterness. He wanted to be something he was not (like a jock when he was a good student). He turned away from science, something he may have been good at, to the self-imposed exile of dead end jobs. Misery was his only companion for most of his early adulthood. He tried to find a purpose and new family like the time he joined a commune. But as often happened, Locke was played for the fool. The family was a band of drug dealers; and his position in the group was to turn to snitch. Locke was often confused by his naive take on people; he trusted others too much that he constantly got burned. Nothing more tragic than reconnecting with his father. But that turned Locke into just another sucker - - - costing him first his kidney, and then his ability to walk when he was shoved out of a skyscraper window. Now, both a physical and emotional cripple, Locke's last hope for personal success and achievement was to go on his Outback journey. But that was halted before it began. He looked stupid and weak.


And what happens to stupid and weak people? They get played for fools.

Locke had his chance to re-invent himself after the plane crash. The miracle that he could now walk meant that his dream of being an outback hunter could come true. He relished the opportunity to be the big boar hunter. He thought people would have to respect his skills and his leadership. But in reality, the rest of the survivors were taken back by his aggressiveness to the point of fear. Only Walt wanted to hang around Locke (even though Michael told Walt not to do so.) In short order, Locke's real personality began to surface and he started to retreat from the group because they had chosen Jack as their leader.


Just as before, Locke went off on a personal quest just like with the commune. He was manipulated by the island's wild charms, the mystery of the Hatch, the manipulation by Ben and Jacob, and then seized by the smoke monster. Locke came out on the wrong end of each encounter. His stubborn position led to the Hatch explosion when the Numbers were not entered in time. His stupidity in playing a computer game led to the communications station to explode.


He was shot, beat up, time skipped,  ripped away from the island by the FDW turn, re-crippled, and dismissed by all the O6 members in his quest to have everyone return to the island to "meet their destiny."  Locke could never explain what that destiny meant, to the others or even to himself. Even when he was at his lowest moment, in a seedy LA hotel room ready to end his life, Ben extracted the last bit of information from him - - - then murdered him in a staged suicide. The world would then view Locke's life as meaningless, sad end.


Why Locke's body had to return to the island was not explained. It just added to the humiliation. For the smoke monster already had the skills to shape shift so it did not need Locke's dead body to become Flocke. Smokey used Locke's appearance to manipulate the candidates in order to turn into evil minions. The only impression Locke's death made was on Jack, who finally realized that Locke may have been right about the island. But, like a virus, this notion infected Jack and turned the rest of his life into one like Locke's: meaningless with a sad ending.


But there was nothing worse to kick a down Locke more than the actual finale. He shows up at the after life church, alone. He sits alone in the front pew across from Jack. Why is Locke alone? There was no one in his life that he could share the moment? What about Helen, who predeceased him after their break-up fight? She was his companion in the sideways world so why was she not at the church? Was she a figment of Locke's fantasy mind? What about his mother? Was her abandonment of him as a child so great that he had no bonds with her? So it was very odd that  Locke was the only person in the church without a family relation or partner.

So why was Locke then even present at the church? None of the main characters such as Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Kate, Rose or Bernard, felt any close connection with Locke. In fact, most of them turned their back on him. Many of Locke's decisions and actions caused them great pain, grief and sorrow. Locke looked out of place in the church because he was out of place. Everyone else in the sideways world had found happiness, but not Locke. It seems that the show dumped on Locke one last time in the final episode.

REBOOT FINAL 4 PART TWO

There was an awful lot of fan commentary after Across the Sea aired in its original ABC run. Many people thought the back story of newer characters totally out of place in regard to the trials of the regular 815 cast. Again, the following commentary is based upon the LOST blogs I haunted:

ACROSS THE SEA

1. Island History: good or bad?

This was a split decision. Some viewers hated the idea of another side tangent introducing new character plot lines with only three episodes to go in the series. Jacob and his brother were not characters even introduced in the first two seasons. The concept of adding two major players with a full episode back story was confusing, frustrating and questioning the end game of the writers.

Some viewers thought Across the Sea and Ab Aeterno were good episodes because it finally answered some questions about the mysterious island's history. The events were the only clues to what the 2007 castaways would be up against in the finale.

2. Crazy Mom

She is portrayed as the guardian of the island. But one commentator had a different spin on her:

Jacob’s “mom” was a smoke monster. In a previous episode we were told the smoke monster can be killed with that dagger as long as you don’t let it speak first.

Every time their mother went up to the MIB, she always asked him if she could join him, i.e. when she met him on the beach and when she met him in the well, thereby preventing him from killing her.
When he did kill her, she didn’t say anything. She walked into the cave, and he stabbed her, with the same knife.

How else could she, on her own, have killed that entire tribe, as well as filling up the well?
She told Jacob and his brother that going into the light was worse than death. How would she have known that if she didn’t go in herself? She said “thank you” after Jacob’s brother killed her. He was releasing her from the curse. By Jacob throwing his brother into the light cave, it passed the smoke monster curse on to him. But in order for this theory to be validated, one would have to assume that all three were spirits - - - that the light cave transforms a spirit into an evil smoke monster.

There was a growing consensus that Crazy Mom may have been human at some point. But on the island,  enlightenment changed her being into a semi-god status. She was probably tricked into becoming the guardian. She needed to trick someone to take her place, and children are easier to manipulate. Only when she could confer her powers onto another being (like Jacob), could her job be complete and she could pass on (to next life, rebirth, etc.) So being a guardian is not all it is cracked out to be. The parallel with Desmond and the button is the best way to look at this theme. You believe you are doing something important and good - but you grow weary and tired of your obligation, so you also want to pass it on to someone else, so you can achieve your personal peace.

3. There are no Rules.

There are no set Rules. The one in charge (the guardian) sets the rules. As MIB told young Jacob, he can make up the rules of the game when he is in charge. (Note: I think the game they played was not backgammon or senet, because Jacob was moving pieces in zig zag fashion.) The principle is simple: whoever is in power sets the rules.

But there were problems with the No Rules Rule. It was totally inconsistent from event to event. With the wine ceremony,  Crazy Mom was casting (or unlocking) a magic spell so Jacob could "know" everything about the island and its properties. He was enlightened at that point, giving CrazyMom her opportunity to cease being guardian. But if CrazyMom passing the guardianship to Jacob was the only reason why MIB could kill her that leads to a problem later on.  If this was standing operating procedure, then Jacob already passed on the island guardianship to another person before being killed by Ben. But that did not happen. Ghost Jacob will pass along the job to Jack. Some viewers believed that the wine itself is largely symbolic, and that it is not the chemical properties that lead to wisdom/guardianship.

4. Why bring people to the island?

This episode had no real religious tones.  A few people thought the references to wine and ritual more symbolic than important. The symbol of wine and perhaps the conversations between God and Satan in the book of Job, and the possible comparison between the light at the end of the tunnel and the tree of knowledge of good and evil may all be symbols familiar to Judeo-Christian-Muslim religions, but many fans thought they are intended as such here. They have a religious significance but in the more abstract sense of mythology.

I thought CrazyMom was like a lighthouse keeper. Isolated, alone, but with a specific important job to do, one that apparently she was either chosen or manipulated into taking. She called the shipwreck survivors "people," like it was a derogatory term. MIB also called the people brought to the island in derogatory terms: people always "fight, destroy and corrupt." But Jacob remarked it all was "progress."

Which leads to the strange behavior of Jacob. If it is true that he continues to bring people to the island (like CrazyMom did to find her successor by shipwrecks), as a demi-god why did he need people to build temples or Dharma stations? Likewise, why would he need to leave the island to recruit in order to protect it? Besides, that would prove MIB was right: there was something "across the sea."  But maybe bringing people to the island for centuries was all Jacob's cruel, new game with his brother, that "lowly people" are bad and their CrazyMom was right. However, "across the sea" could have used as a metaphor. It could mean across the galaxy, the plane of existence, the after life or dimensions.

One interesting discussion point was why Jacob or other demi-god on the island need people to build huge monuments or temples.  Or why MIB/Smokey needs a dead body in order to take human form.
The island powers do not enable the guardian to create mass - he simply can influence people. Jacob seemingly can't just blink, and presto - we have a lighthouse. So proponents of "the Genie theory" that island guardians could create anything with a blink of an eye surrendered with this explanation. If Jacob, MIB or smoke monsters cannot create objects or things out of thin air (or in nature with fundamental elements), then that could mean that they themselves have no cohesive mass - - - that they are truly spirits seeking a material world.

I observed that commentators were looking for a time frame for this episode, I thought the only real clue was Claudia, her dress and appearance. I think she represents Claudia Quinta, a Roman leader of the Cult of the Great Mother, circa 205 BC. (There is a National Art Gallery painting of her). She was instrumental in bringing ashore Cybele, the Roman goddess of fertility, earth, caves and mountains to Rome from Greece. It is from 210 BC to 30 BC when the world had the three great civilizations still in place (Egyptian, Greek and Roman). That could explain where hieroglyphs, Greek symbols and Latin can converge on the island.

5. The creation of a smoke monster.

It was quite debatable whether Jacob's killing of his brother by throwing him into the light cave created the smoke monster, or the fact of throwing a body into the cave released a smoke monster. But it seems certain that MIB is a smoke monster. That the smoke monster needed Jacob's brother's body in order to take human form. But in taking that human form, the inconsistent science-fiction is how then did the new smoke monster retain all MIB's memories?

If the life force embodies life, death, and rebirth, then I do not see how mortal man could transform it into healing temple water (unless the death of MIB was the change allowing the guardian to control its properties.) I got the impression that CrazyMom and Jacob's powers were different than the light force. 
Many fans thought the light force might effect different people in different ways, and this might also depend on length of exposure.
 For Rose, just being on the island cured her cancer. For Locke - it allowed him to walk again. But for Ben, it caused him to have a spinal tumor. It may have been responsible for all the pregnant women not giving birth on the island. But then again, it allowed Claire to give birth to Aaron.

One main issue was that the EM life force was stable in the cave at the surface of the island. There was no reason to confine it in the Hatch, or have a "release " computer code. Also, if the light is a natural phenomenon, then anyone came in direct contact with the light, they should have also turned into Smoke Monsters (that means Ben and Locke turning the FDW or Desmond when the Hatch blew up).

In these older time frame episodes, we do hear a louder "clicking" sound and a deep animal moaning when Smokey appears - - -  and the smoke itself is highly charged particles and electric flashes. It sounds like a mechanical creature. But as time passes, the Smoke Monster has less noises attached to it. Is this progress or better technology? And as such, is Smokey truly self aware?

6. The Jacob-MIB dynamic.

We have seen ghost Jacob in adult form speaking to Hurley, why would there be a need for a young ghost Jacob running around the jungle to bug Flocke? If so, did this confirm that Jacob can make multiple apparitions like MIB-Smokey?

One troublesome aspect of this episode was that it created more illogical patterns in the MIB character. If MIB's memories in Smokey may have led him manipulate people brought to the island into creating the FDW. If MIB-Smokey wanted to leave, it could take human form and turn the wheel as Flocke (who has been seen moving objects). But in a thousand years, Smokey never turned the wheel. Unless, turning the wheel destroys him or if he is flashed to the outside world, his non-human substance would cease to be.

But we have been told that Jacob was the one who has been bringing people to the island. Was it was not for MIB's sake?  One explanation is that Jacob accepted the fact that he caused a cascade of events that led to both his CrazyMom's and brother's death. His world had ended. He was left with a substitute brother, the smoke monster. He was looking for a candidate so he could die (his punishment) and rejoin his real brother in death, but he had not found one person who would "accept" the position as guardian.

But is the real island conflict simply that MIB's ghost does not want Jacob to scheme his way off the island by death; he wants to continually punish Jacob for what he did to MIB by keeping Jacob on the island for eternity?

Viewers made symbolic assumptions that Jacob (white) as being good as the "guardian" of the light while MIB-Smokey (black) being bad, evil and a killing machine. But what if the opposite was true? What if the viewers have been conned into believing just Jacob's view of the island?

7. The fan angst.

A large part of the discussion board comments centered around where the story was heading; and the anxiety mounted that there was too much new information and not enough old conclusions to feel good about the final result. With two episodes to go, the series climax was upon us. But it did not seem like a the end of a thrilling rollercoaster ride.

Comments like:
" . . . the more I see the more that the ending looks forced."
"OK Lost staff. Go back and figure out how we can quickly tie up some loose ends and make it look like we really had a huge vision. When we didn't."
 "(I) feel like we are getting all these tiny little "bones" thrown in at the end. All sizzle and no steak. Feeling cheated and a little duped at this point."
"I am holding on to hope that maybe, just maybe, I am being way too cynical and negative and that the show and Damon/Carlton will prove us wrong."
"For me the wheels are falling off the show's consistency, and the result feels cobbled-together."
"What was the point of showing us the Adam and Eve skeletons to eventually show us that they were the MIB and Mommy. What was the point of the revelation?"

One explanation for the viewer concern was that week's poster angst is that the Across the Sea episode seems totally out of place. But if you look back, the production values of cutting off scenes, jumbling the time sequences, flashes were all to create aura of mystery as much as the underlying story, had been a long simmering show critique. In standard story telling, there is a beginning middle and end. The story starts with action, character development, reaction, character choices, climax, then character change. It has always appeared that TPTB wanted to slice out pieces of those conventional story sections and show them out of order to keep viewers in the dark as long as possible.

However, one can tell the viewer what is going on in the background without telling the main characters; classic horror movies do that --- "don't open that door!" moments.

A few commentators really hated the episode. To some, the episode was so disappointing. It's not that we didn't get answers. It's that the answers were stupid.

The issue with this show is that they throw these mysteries at you, and you keep thinking "Wow, what in the world could explain what just happened??" And then you start to wonder if the writers are just making it up as they go along, and there's really nothing behind any of it. If this episode's answers represent what was behind it all, then yes, the writers were just making it up as they go along, and it was all just arbitrary. And finally, their explanation for what was behind it all is just lame.

For example, the Donkey Wheel. We wanted to know what it was, how it worked, why it worked, etc. The answer is: The MIB started building it because some ancient people had "interesting ideas" and because he somehow if he turned it he'd get off the island. How did he know that? Because he's special. That is basically a non-answer. "Because it's magic."

Then the cave. We've been told the island is special in some way, and that various people are trying to get something from it or protect that something. So what is that something? It's... some magical life/death/whatever that's inside every person. Sorry, that is not an answer. It doesn't tie anything together. It just pretends to give an answer to what is behind everything.

Then there's the characters' motivations. Why does Smokey want to get off the island? Because a woman killed his real mother and he wants to go back to where he came from. Really? That's the motivation behind the last two seasons? As I said at the top, that is definitely a concrete answer, but it's just a stupid one.

And that may be LOST's greatest success and its greatest weakness: fan expectations.

A few viewers hoped that there was a possibility that the next two episodes will tie things together better or give better answers that aren't so lame. But contrarians thought at this stage that view seems pretty naive.

Would the big questions really be answered? Simple examples were posted like  the question was posed by Charlie in the pilot episode: "Where are we?" This poster did not want speculation and theories in the end, but wanted to to know what the island was!  That seems like a reasonable request; when you get to the last page of a good mystery novel, you want to know. You expect to gain full knowledge to appreciate the entire work to confirm your entertainment investment in the novel.

Another poster made this comment "I think the disappointment ahead could be that if LOST is the story of the resolution of the Jacob-MIB conflict (which was hidden for five seasons), people will think that all the other story lines were filler."

That cast a dark shadow of pause within the community.

In trying to find deeper meaning in this episode, one could speculate 
MIB's memory of "clever" people with ideas about the life energy could be used to change the past. There are a few common things that both Jacob and MIB would jointly like to correct: a) MIB killing CrazyMom; b) Jacob killing his brother and turning him into Smokey; or c) CrazyMom killing Claudia. The search for time travel may have been the quest, "the progress" of the brothers to make amends with their own Past mistakes. Once they can achieve it, their misery ends.

It appeared that Jacob and MIB had no knowledge of time travel. Bringing people from the great civilizations was the means to their end, but human nature, personality conflicts and greed destroyed all hope for Jacob-MIB's getting their time machine. The problem with this theory is that the 815ers had no scientific skill sets to create time machines or improve on the technology. You would think Jacob would have targeted nuclear scientists, quantum physics professors, Steven Hawking.

The search for time travel may have been the quest, "the progress" of the brothers to make amends with their own Past mistakes. Once they can achieve it, their misery ends. That would answer a lot of questions. But it would not change the feeling that the 815 characters were merely a long filler arc to a three episode Jacob and MIB reunion.

Such angst turned into possible "bad endings" for the show.

How in the hell are they going to rap up the ENTIRE show up in 2.5 hours?! Many viewers could not see how it could be accomplished in a reasonable fashion. Many thought The Answer must be easy...simple. (A head slap moment - - - why didn't we think of that!)

But the "quick fix" endings did not stir confidence in the LOST community.

A. One simple trick ending would be to have the Dharma people in hospital beds in a mind experiment. BUT their body is not really there!!!!! It is too late in the series to throw the whole concept into reverse by saying it was all about mind control experiments (even though the series is riddled with such clues like Room 23, Santa Rosa, Eloise the rat maze). But if TPTB are so stubborn in the position that the series is all about character development, character "destruction" is a viable alternative.

B. Another ending was that the show runners lied to the viewers when they screamed loudly in the first season the island was not "purgatory." TPTB stated that the series was all about character development. Supporters of that view remarked that it could be about a figurative purgatory. The concept of purgatory is built in to the human experience. Life,  death and rebirth. The characters trials and growth to redemption in a figurative or symbolic purgatory could be the answer, as any good character study always is.

However, a review of the show themes was contradictory.

White v. Black theme is open to several interpretations to the literal (Jacob and MIB) to the philosophical (good v. evil). It may or may not be the key to the finale.
  Redemption/resurrection was the long dismissed purgatory concept, which is still a viable solution if the big premise is about testing souls in the after life.
 The EM energy on the island could be a possible solution if properly explained.  The smoke monster is playing a factor as the story winds down since it is the embodiment of MIB, the guardian's departed brother.  The Numbers as mere markers for candidates names held no real significance except coincidence (which probably bummed out theorists the most).  The concept of people being "brought" to the island is another unknown part of the solution or possible mere story line filler.
 unless we find out what the island is.  Widmore, the Others , Dharma and the Tailies. With the exception of whatever role Widmore will play, the Others, Dharma and the Tailies were more filler story arcs.
 The Dharma story line appears to be immaterial to the end game.
 The Hatch seems immaterial except for the introduction of Desmond, whose final role is unknown.
 Blast Door Map appears irrelevant to the final solution.. Tawaret and Egyptology appear irrelevant unless the premise is about the after life.

Part of the collective angst is that many of the seemingly important elements of the show could be rendered immaterial or irrelevant, while new concepts out of left field play a more important role in concluding the show.


C. The idea that the main characters are NOT who we think they are; they are like kids playing make-believe roles of adults: Jack is not a doctor, Kate is not a criminal, Sawyer is not a con man.
Example, Jack. Both the marshal and Boone died in his care. He did not deliver Aaron. His surgery on Ben was filled with medical errors. We are shown Jack as a doctor, but it is a delusion by a person who wants us to look at him in a different way. If you want to find out-of-place episodes, look to the one where Jack goes to Thailand. What knowledgeable, successful doctor would go to Thailand, roll around with a crazy woman in dirty opium dens, and get a back alley tattoo "He walks among us, but is not one of us?" That episode made was a clue that Jack was not a doctor, but a rebellious drop out rich kid traveling the world seeking adventure at daddy's expense. Add "daddy issues" to the concept of transference (or even a world of make believe), you can have an individual with a neurosis that tries to change a person's past to succeed their parents, break parental controls, or escape from their own boring reality. The open question would be what is the actual setting for this childlike escapism.


8. Prediction

Several posters thought that we would still  talking about all of this stuff 4-5 years later....

It will be interesting to see if the ending is so open-ended, that fans will continue to debate its ending for years, or if they will tie it up into a neat bow like so many from the "We want answers" camp are demanding. Seems to me the more that is left unanswered, the greater the lifespan this series will have...???

Sadly, there was no stable will be a cottage industry after LOST ended for fans to write about how they would have wrapped things up (to counterbalance any disappointment).

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.