ESCAPE

It was an easy plot magic to have Michael, whose back story was an artist who had to work in construction to get by, to build a raft to escape the island. Of course it really did not make any sense since hanging drywall or nailing trim pieces is not the same as building a seaworthy vessel out of bamboo and tarps. But at least it had some obvious element that made it believable: Michael and his construction experience.

Even multimillion dollar racing yachts cannot compete with the harsh nature of the Pacific Ocean. the vast ocean and high rolling waves takes it toll on all shipping, including the large cargo container vessels. The idea of a small amateur raft being able to sail hundreds or thousands of miles to Fiji seems implausible. But at least it fulfilled one critical human element of the story: escape and rescue.

That was the key point to the start of the series. Human beings shipwrecked on an island want to go home. They need to get home. Their lives are not on the island. They would do anything to get home. Building a raft for a dangerous journey across a brutal sea makes sense when the overriding human emotion is to get home. The building of the raft made the most sense in the early story lines.

It also caused one of the first true leadership splits in the group. Michael was in charge of the ship, not Jack. Jack was really not interested in their rescue plan. Michael was motivated to take his son home. But Walt had different ideas. He did not want to live with a stranger (his father). He would rather stay on the island and create a new life since he had nothing to go home to on the mainland.

The building of the raft led to the first true betrayal. The first raft was set a blaze, which led to charges and countercharges amongst the group's alpha males. Sabotage was a volcanic destabliizer for the beach camp. Fingers were pointed at Sawyer, Locke, the Others . . .  but Michael channeled his anger in order to build a second raft. It was the only thing bringing hope to the group.

When the raft set sail, it marked a turning point in the series. The show could have gone in several different directions. First, the comparison of the "good" camp life with food and shelter could have been contrasted by the harsh starvation and terror of being lost at sea for weeks on a raft that was slowly falling a part. Second, the raft could have made it civilization which could have set up the second betrayal - - - Michael and Sawyer not telling their rescuers of the island survivors. Third, and what happened, was the Others taking charge of the castaways lives. This was the flash point for serious bloody conflict between the Others and the 815ers. Why the Others would break the truce in order to kidnap Walt, who was special was unclear, considering Ben would release Walt and his father on the boat for freedom (in exchange for another betrayal, which seems now as the only real currency on the island.)

The raft symbolized freedom, escape and rescue. But in the end, the raft set in motion a series of bloody decisions leading to dozens of senseless deaths, kidnapping and torture of individuals. Walt's kidnapping led to Michael going insane with rage. His rage killed Ana Lucia and Libby. His plan to rescue Walt led to Jack, Sawyer and Kate being captured and tortured. It forever divided the beach camp and the Others as enemies.

THE RAFT

The series could have had a major story arc with the raft. It represented what the pilot episode stressed as the focal point of the show: rescue. The idea that four survivors would had the ability to build a raft, let alone sail it, across the Pacific to find rescue would have upped the ante.

It would have given the audience time and episode space to get a better understanding of an early character that was exiled from the series: Walt.

In the confined space of the raft, Walt could have been the center piece of the story. He really did not want to leave the island, because he really had nothing to go back to. His mother was dead. His adopted father abandoned him. Michael, his biological dad, gave him up when he was a child. Walt was totally alone. But, we were told he was "special."

If he was indeed special, why did Ben let him go so easily after Michael's final betrayal? Did Ben's science stations extract Walt's special qualities like draining a battery?

But the raft portion of the series was very short lived; interrupted quickly by a rescue fishing boat, with the quick twist of kidnapping Walt, shooting Sawyer and destroying the raft. It could have been a real cost saver to kill off three main characters.

But they wound up washed on shore into what some consider a filler arc of the show, the Tailies. Besides Bernard, the other 48 tail section passengers were merely red shirts - - - fodder for grisly deaths to come.

It would have been better to run a half season of raft episodes (or cutaways) than the Tailies and their back stories. The show did not need new characters, but better development of the ones we were told were important clues to unraveling the series.

The tension was there for the taking. Sawyer would have gotten on Michael's nerves. Walt would have looked to rebel against his new father's orders; so Walt would have been drawn to Sawyer's rebel attitude. That would have further inflamed the situation. The odd part of the raft was Jin's presence - - - for he would be the silent provider, fisherman. It also could be comic relief if the only English he learned was from Sawyer's verbal jabs.

It also could been an avenue to smooth over the rough edges of the Sawyer character. He could have communicated his rough childhood to Walt, so he could understand the problems he would face.  It could be an older brother moment.

But the real lost opportunity was to focus on Walt. Since he had the ability to communicate (and kill) birds and possibly other animals, he could have been a magical provider of food on the long voyage. Or he could have contacted the Dharma sharks for assistance. Since at this time we had no idea about Jacob and why visitors were brought to the island, Walt's abilities would have been critical clues into the island's purpose.

There could have been several paths this long raft arc could have taken. One, the raft could have met a horrible fate in the open seas. A storm could have crushed the small vessel. The heat could have boiled the men to madness, conflict and death. Two, the raft could have made it to another island, where a) they could have found native people who (i) greeted them warmly or (ii) captured them for cannibal sacrifices; or b) been rescued by a container ship heading towards America. Then their story of survival would have made the O6 story arc pale in comparison. It could also set off a rich man's war to find the island between Sun's father and Widmore. It would have been an expensive America's Cup race to find the island, which could have brought in the mysterious Eloise to manipulate both sides to her own game of betrayal.

So, the raft island escape was a missed opportunity for deep story development and character spotlights.

THE CHARACTER SUMMATION OF WALT

Walt was listed as the last main character in the LOST's writer's guide.  It stated:

Walt has had a nomadic existence most of his life, traveling the world with his mother on business trips. Deprived of the ability to establish roots or friends, he consequently relates to adults better than his peers. Now stranded on the island with a father he doesn't really know - - - and doesn't want to know. 

Every viewer thought that Walt's role in the show would have been bigger. But the writers guide gave him the smallest description and the single mission to reject Michael as his father.

But even in that small description, there are several very LOST themes at play. Loner. Loneliness. Friendship. Daddy issues. Abandonment. Relationships. 

There was nothing in the description that tied Walt's character to the inner darkness of the island, or his ability to make birds commit suicide, or see ghost images or have supernatural powers. It would seem that Walt's role would be that of a disengaged but rebellious 10 year old boy.

Perhaps that is why Walt was an after-thought "main character." The producers did not know how to handle a child in an adult environment that was going to have an adventure, i.e. danger, story engine week to week. There are only so many scared kid in a tent featurettes in a writer's quill.

It may have been foreshadowing of what was going to happen to Walt in real life. The show was going to have a linear time scope where episode to episode would invoke 24-48 hours of real island time. But since the show would only adopt a few months of run time, the real seasonal time would eclipse years. Years in which the actor playing Walt would grow up faster than the series built-in time code. Literally, Walt "out grew" LOST before LOST outgrew his character.  I don't think the writers thought too far ahead with the growing up Walt problem because they put into his back story some major sci-fi elements and tied him to the island as being "special," but failed to explain why. Perhaps the ill-fated time travel loop was going to be a means of keeping Walt later into the series, but that was dreadfully executed that Walt's character never made a meaningful return. So TPTB raised Walt up to a main character, gave him significant mysteries and powers, but dropped him like a cold stone leaving fans to wonder.

THE CHARACTER SUMMATION OF MICHAEL

The character of Michael was the living embodiment of the "daddy issues" which plagued many of the other main characters in the show. Michael was picking up his young son from his adoptive father after Walt's mother had died (which again, makes no legal sense). Walt has abandonment issues with his natural father, but also has some sort of supernatural ability which manifests with dying birds. We don't get that story line until later episodes flesh out these characters.

But the writers guide did indicate that Michael would have an important role.

Michael has always known he was an artist, but his course changed drastically when a casual relationship in his twenties resulted in a pregnancy. Determined that his child wouldn't grow up fatherless, Michael married his girlfriend, dropped out of Art School and took a "real"job. But six months after his son was born, his wife abruptly left him and took the baby with her. Although this was the perfect time for Michael to get back to his dream, the security provided by a regular paycheck kept him in the corporate world. Now ten years later, his world is rocked again as he gains custody of Walt, a son he barely knows. Here on the island, Michael must not only learn to be a father, but get back in touch with his inner creative soul in order to emerge in a new role as the group's most capable BUILDER.

The initial description of Michael pretty much follows through in later episodes. He does become the builder of the rescue raft. He does have trouble coping with fatherhood issues with Walt.  Michael becomes an overprotective parent on the island. He tries to keep Walt near the safety of the beach camp. He does not want Walt to learn things from Locke. This begins to create conflict between Michael and the other castaways. It also angers Walt. Part of it may be the insecurity he feels since Walt is a stranger to him, and Walt could view Michael as a stranger on the island. This makes Michael even more obsessive and protective of Walt. His frustration boils to anger at times, which puts off the other beach campers.

It would seem Michael's role as a "builder" would have been bigger than just raft-builder. It was thought that the survivors would have to construct a compound until they found the underground bunker. Michael's construction skills would be a valuable asset, but a limited resource that could create issues between the group's leaders on how best to utilize it. But in the actual series, the leaders never directed Michael to do anything. Michael made the independent decision to build a raft. No one stopped him. Even though his plan was a failure, he did manage to become the first person to receive escape from the island (through immoral means of killing two people and betraying his friends to cut a deal with Ben for a boat and safe passage home.) It would be ironic that Michael, the builder, had to destroy so many lives in order to save his son.

BREAKING

I did not watch the acclaimed show Breaking Bad. I know of its premise and general plot line: an R&D chemist does breakthrough research, but gets let go. He winds up as a high school chemistry teacher until he is diagnosed with cancer. Fearing that he needs to provide for his family, he takes a local drop out under his wings and starts home brewing meth.

Walt, the main character, is a typical American anti-hero protagonist. When this series was concluding this season, fans knew that there were probably one or two standard endings for the show. And from the reaction in the media, Walt had his own indulgent swan song: he had a good bye moment with his family;  he went out and attacked his enemies in a dark redemptive message to himself that he needed to correct his bearings because he was going to die.

Being bad was the means for the main character to feel alive. He lived a lie but in the end  tells the truth. "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really... I was alive," he says.

Being Alive was a theme in LOST.   Walt's terminal cancer diagnosis wasn't so much a death sentence as it was a reminder to live. It just turns out that Walter including a dark footprint of  murders,  poisonings and criminal drug dealing. But Walt, like John Locke, wanted to be respected, and to have a  significant position that other people would admire in him.

This series wound up the way most of the show's fans thought it would - - - which means the show runners kept the fans along for the journey to a logical conclusion that everyone could clearly understand.

MEET KEVIN, DISSECT KEVIN'S STORY

"Meet Kevin Johnson" was one of those strange episodes that started a twisted plot arc but turned into a braided contextual nightmare.

The character of Michael started off as a man dispossessed of his new born son. It was a contrast to the other characters "daddy issues" when in fact Michael at least tried to have a relationship with Walt, but his mother and her career separated any normal family setting. As a failed artist and kicking around from job to job, Michael could not stand in the (economic) way for Walt to have a better life. It is clear that Walt resented the fact he grew up without his "real" father. But Walt never understood that it was his mother who pushed them away. It is also clear that Michael "regretted" that he gave up with parental rights to Walt.

Walt grew up moving from country to country. It appears he did not make friends. When his mother died, his adoptive father abandoned him (which legally and morally he could not do) back to Michael, who assumed the responsibility to take care of his son, though he had no legal or moral obligation to do so. This sets up the odd relationship for Walt: two fathers, two prior abandonments, and an uncertain future.

So when Michael is bringing Walt back the the United States, both are on edge. Both do not how to communicate with each other because they were strangers. So what better "bonding" experience than surviving a plane crash and camping on an island with deadly smoke monsters and murderous Others?

Michael's overriding obsession is to get off the island and rescue his son. He does it by building a raft, but that leads to Walt being captured by the Others. He does it by making a deal with the Others to get Ben out of the Hatch prison in exchange for safe passage off the island. In executing the deal, Michael kills Ana Lucia and Libby. When he arranges for a posse to get their "killer" and to save Walt, Michael betrays his own people (Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley) and gives them up to the Others.  At the dock, Michael is rewarded with a boat and passage off the island. To the stunned silence of the 815ers, Michael receives instructions from Ben to take the boat and follow a bearing of 325, so both he and his son can find rescue. They leave the island and their "friends" at the hands of a recently tortured Ben and his group.

The structure of Michael's sub-plot story followed the traditional literary paths. There was a beginning, conflict, a middle, a reunion, then heartbreak tearing a part, then a dangerous climax to the resolution Michael had hoped for - - - getting off the island with his son. Michael's story and role in LOST should have ended there, in Season 4. His character did change: from anguished father letting go of his son to a murderous protector of his son against adverse odds. In Michael's mind, the ends justified the means, which was standard operating procedure for many of the Island's characters. People may not like what Michael did, but there was some logical basis for his actions.

The end of Michael's island time did give us a few key points. First, apparently Ben is a man of his word. Since Mrs. Klugh made a deal with Michael, he would honor it. (Or would he?) Second, despite Desmond's claim that the Island was in "a bloody snow globe" and there was no way back to civilization, Ben told Michael to use bearing 325 to get home. Third, there is a foreshadowing of the importance of "lists," especially in the realm of Jacob's candidates. The four 815ers brought to the dock as payment for Walt were all candidates. It is unclear whether Ben ever knew who were candidates or what Jacob's grand plan for everyone, but it could be that Ben took his captives to "test them" on behalf of either Jacob or MIB. Could they be corrupted?

So the end of Michael's island story end gave us several important clues into the Island, the ability to leave the island, and the militaristic honor among the Others.

But then the reincorporation of Michael into the series led to major story structural problems.

One could understand Walt's rejection of Michael once Walt was told the cost of their freedom (two lives and four friends being held captive). But it does not explain Michael's need to return to the Island.

Once rejected by Walt, Michael goes on a downward spiral (much like Jack would do when he leaved the island with the O6). He is distraught and cannot live with the fact he killed two women. He is now estranged from Walt because of those actions. He writes a note to Walt, gets into his car, and at very high speed crashes into a shipping container. Instead of dying, he wakes in the hospital only to find that his nurse is dead Libby. He screams, and then truly awakens but refuses to answer anyone's question of what happened to him. After his release, Michael trades Jin's watch for a hand gun. He goes into an alley to shoot himself, but is interrupted by Mr. Friendly. Michael demands that Mr. Friendly, Tom, shoot him. But Tom replies "the island is not done" with Michael. Tom says Michael "still has work to do" (which is the same line Tall Walt gives a shot Locke when he is lying in the purge mass grave). A short time later, Michael tries to commit suicide in his apartment but the gun does not work. We are lead to believe that it is the Island intervention. Then Michael sees a news report that the remains of Flight 815 was found with confirmation that all 324 passengers and crew had perished in the crash.

Michael goes to see Tom. Tom explains to Michael that the television report was wrong. Widmore had created a fake crash site in order to keep the island to himself. Michael demands proof, and Tom calmy shows him files of exhumed graves, plane receipts and official looking documentation (which has the eerie vibe of a Sawyer con job). Michael is told that Widmore's plan is to send a force to the island and kill everyone on it.

Tom gives Michael an offer. He can get on the freighter as a crew member and stop Widmore from killing everyone on the island. Michael asks why he should do it, and Tom reminds him that this would be a chance to redeem himself for the actions he took on the island. Tom says that Michael will not return to the island, but destroy the freighter and everyone on board. He is handed a passport and an alias, Kevin Johnson.

In this set-up, we are led to believe many improbable and impossible factors. First, that Ben and the Others kept minute tabs on Michael after he left the island. There was no reason to do so. Michael was never going back to the island, or disclose its location because that would admit his guilt in two murders. If Ben thought Michael was a threat, then he should have let Michael commit suicide. Problem solved. Second, that the Island is a supernatural power that intervenes to stop Michael's numerous suicide attempts. How? Why? So in Season 4, the TPTB basically tells us that the Island and its premise was just one big McGuffin? Third, how gullible are Michael and the viewers to believe that a detailed oriented man like Widmore who could fake a plane crash would not check every crew member on his freighter's mission to seize the Island? It is not credible that Ben could "sneak" his own agent on board Widmore's freighter. Fourth, we were told that no one could find the island so why would Michael believe the freighter could? Also, there were more "loyal" soldiers in the Others camp to be the saboteur than Michael.

Once on the boat, Michael realizes that Widmore's crew is filled with soldiers who plan on killing the island inhabitants. This is not a rescue mission as helicopter pilot Frank told him. Back in his room, Michael opens his crate and finds a case in it. He takes the case to the engine room and finds a bomb inside. Michael inputs the combination for the bomb, but hesitates to push the EXECUTE button to set off the bomb. Suddenly, he hears the same Mama Cass song he was listening to in the car when he tried to commit suicide. He sees another vision of Libby who tells him not to do it, and then disappears. Michael says, "I love you, Walt" and pushes the button. The bomb's 15-second timer expires, but the bomb doesn't explode. Instead, a flag pops up with a note around it which reads "NOT YET."

This scene adds another thick layer of disbelief. It should never matter where the freighter exploded so long as it never reaches the island. The non-explosion was a mean trick on the viewers to add suspense then not deliver (in the hope of adding more filler).  The scene also adds to the growing visions of dead people within the series. It strengthens the evidence that the characters are not in the real world but in supernatural place where dead souls reside and interact.

We are then included into another layer of a con. When Michael is taken to the radio room to take a call from "Walt," Michael rushes in to speak to his son (even though we know Walt has no idea where Michael is or how to contact him). For some reason, Michael thinks Walt is on the line. Ben informs Michael there are innocent people on the freighter, and that the plan was never to kill them all, because Ben isn't "that kind of person." He says he gave the fake bomb to Michael to show that unlike Widmore, he does not want to kill innocents. Ben then orders Michael to get him a list of everyone on board, report the list back to him, and then disable both the radio and engine so that the ship cannot get to the Island. Michael is obviously shaken up, but Ben tells him that he can now consider himself "one of the good guys."


We know Ben is a master liar and manipulator. We can tell that Ben is using Michael to do his dirty work. But if Ben truly wanted no one to reach the island, then he should have given Michael those instructions to disable the freighter from the beginning instead of the fake bomb. And the need for a freighter list seems to be an excessive-compulsive waste of time. It gets further unnecessarily complicated when the helicopter lands on the island, and Desmond and Sayid go to the freighter. In the simple scheme of not allowing anyone on or off the island, Ben has made a huge mess of it. Unless, Ben himself is being manipulated by Jacob who really wants to bring new people to the island for his game with MIB. (Which would make some sense since we were told ONLY Jacob had the power to bring people to the island.)

Later, Sayid and Desmond find Michael in the engine room and confront him about why he is on the boat. Michael tells his story about being Ben's "man on the boat." When he learns Michael is working for Ben. Sayid grabs Michael and drags him into Captain Gault's room, revealing Michael's true identity as the saboteur, a spy, a traitor, and a survivor of Oceanic 815. This action pushes two sets of dangerous dominoes into motion. It disrupts Ben's plan to thwart Widmore's forces from getting to the island. It also sets into motion the safe passage of the soldiers to the island to confront Ben.

Ben has to give up his secrecy when his plan begins to fall a part. Locke takes a leadership role.
Locke holds a meeting with everyone at the Barracks to share information. Miles confirms the people from the freighter are after Ben. Sawyer suggests they just turn Ben over to the freighter people. Ben says the orders of the freighter people are to capture him, then kill everyone else on the Island; Miles does not deny it.

Ben persuades Alex to go to a location he calls "the Temple" with Karl and Danielle, and tells her the rest of the Others are already there. He provides them with a map. Ben tells Alex she is in danger because the people who are coming to the Island will use her to get to him. He assures her that her mother will protect them. He is dead wrong.

Some time into their journey, Danielle, Alex, and Karl take a break. Sudden gunfire erupts from the jungle and Karl is shot in the chest. Danielle and Alex hide behind a tree and quickly decide they need to make a run for it. They get to their feet, but Danielle is immediately hit by gunfire and falls to the ground. Alex stands up, puts her hands in the air and yells, "I'm Ben's daughter!"


This episode is one where everything goes wrong from its stated purpose. Michael's voyage of redemption has turned into a savage murderous spectacle. Michael's failure to stop the freighter (which was part of Ben's disjointed plan) caused the deaths of many more innocent people. The fate of the innocent were sealed when Sayid betrayed Michael like Michael had done to the 815ers. Michael was played for the fool by everyone.


From a failed artist, to construction worker, then to sailboat builder, to freighter engine expert to finally alleged bomb detention specialist, Michael's skill set continued to grow beyond belief when the story line needed some authoritative explanation. The more grand Michael's expertise grew in the series, the more the show stumbled toward pure fantasy over even science fiction. Especially in the end, when ghost Christian, speaking as the Island, allows Michael to end his life by allowing the jury and scientifically inaccurate bomb device, to blow up the freighter.

The last thing Kevin Johnson gave the story was the ghost meeting with Hurley near the end of the series. Michael tells Hurley that he is a whisper, a ghost, trapped on the island. Michael accepts his fate to be trapped as a lost soul on the island. However, this conclusion runs contrary to what happens to Ben. Ben did more heinous things on and off the island than Michael did, yet Ben was "rewarded" by continuing to live on the island and then later going to the sideways world to being his after life.


It is one of the great problems with LOST. It set forth canon about "rules," but never explained them or even followed them consistently from character to character. The uneven application of the rules weakens the story foundation for the series. Why would Michael have to remain a ghost on the island for eternity while Ben and other evil people get a second, third or fourth chance at redemption?


The idea that Michael was not "ready" to move on is also suspect because Ben himself states the same thing Hurley outside the church. The concept that Michael needed to re-connect in his own sideways world with Walt also has no basis because Michael was not a part of the sideways world. We are not shown any tangible proof that Michael had the  ability to create  his own purgatory realm. He may never had a chance because Hurley was going to shut down the island operations. Just as Walt was abandoned by his fathers, Michael's character was abandoned by the writers. And Michael was not alone in the inconsistent treatment and altered resolutions of many characters.

A VICIOUS CIRCLE

It was one of those recent random thoughts that got my attention.

What if LOST never ended?

Ben consoled Hurley when he became the new island guardian with the concept that Hurley could do the right thing and allow an injured Desmond to leave the island and go home. (Besides the philosophic connotation of what "home" could be - - - reality or heaven - - - will be left for another post.)

But we observed that the island had a continual cycle of people coming to the island to be "candidates" in Jacob and MIB's game of human Senet. As stated in previous posts, there is no clear, direct evidence that Jacob or MIB actually ceased to exist when they were allegedly "killed."

At the end of the island story arc, we have only nine main survivors:

Ben, Hurley and Desmond, who are left by the light cave to mourn the demise of their friend.

Frank, Miles, and Alpert are ready to take off on the Ajira plane when they are interrupted by the presence of Kate, Sawyer and Claire running toward them.

Claire told Kate that she won't come with them to the plane because the Island has made her crazy. Kate offered to help her, which convinced her to go with them. The plane is seen flying overhead a dying Jack.

But what are the survivors looking forward to?

Frank has nothing to back to since no one would believe his story about "losing" his plane and passengers on a mysterious island. He is only second person able to escape the island twice (Kate is the other). One would think the island would cause Frank mental problems for the rest of his life.

Claire already acknowledges her crazy state of mind caused by the island. Upon her return, we would assume she would remain crazy. This puts her in the mode of Locke's mother, who was institutionalized when he was a small boy. Perhaps Locke's childhood drawings of the smoke monster and island events were stories past down to him by his mother, who had escaped the island. This would be down the basis of a new theory that the candidates were not randomly chosen by Jacob, but bred or conditioned to come to the island.

Kate returns to nothing. Even if Claire takes back Aaron, she would be in Australia. Kate would be alone, without purpose, stuck in LA pining away for dead Jack? How long would that fact led to Kate being depressed to suicidal like Locke's life prior to meeting his con artist father?

If Kate returns to nothing, Alpert would be transported to an alien world. He has no family, no friends and no place to call home back in the United States. He was an unemployed island minion. We think that his immortality ended with a single gray hair. But what if he is still tethered to the island, like Mr. Abaddon?

Sawyer's life long quest for revenge is over. The whole purpose of his life was completed by the death of Cooper on the island. Sawyer's return has one pending murder investigation in Australia, but it is not likely that case would be solved unless his buddy who gave him the hit confessed that he sent Sawyer to kill that man he thought killed his parents. So Sawyer returns to the states as a "dead man" in more than one way: no job, no family and no future except a return to his criminal ways. If Juliet was the love of his life, would he get over her quickly?

Miles is in a similar situation of Sawyer. He returns to the states the son of island scientist, one of the few people conceived on the island who survived. His ability to listen to the final echo thoughts of the dead may be that native connection to the island itself. One would think that after being on the island, Miles would be haunted by it in future years.

The people on the Ajira flight we saw leave the island all had the seeds of doubt and misery that could have drawn them back into the clutches of the island destiny as it did Locke.

Which may have been the plan all along. Jacob and MIB's human game of Senet spanned thousands of years and countless number of people. It was a chess match with real people and real weapons. A life and death amusement for immortal beings bored with their island existence.

When Hurley, Ben and Desmond presumably left the island, it is possible that Jacob and MIB would wait for the other survivors to "return" to the island to re-populate their game.  As you recall, the game of Senet is "won" when the player removes his last piece off the board (island). Both Jacob and MIB never left the island - - - both "died" on it. That may be the only way the island ceases to exist: when either Jacob or MIB physically leaves the island as the last piece standing. That did not happen. Until that point, when Hurley leaves the island for good, the vicious Jacob-MIB game restarts again.

Claire is the new Locke's crazy mother (to Aaron). Aaron may grow up to believe that he has an island destiny. The same could be true of Walt, who was "special" and of extreme interest to the Others until he escaped with his father. It is possible that Walt's intense father issues would make him the next Jack.

THE ENIGMA OF WALT

We were constantly told that Walt Lloyd was "special." So much so that the Others kidnapped and allegedly did experiments and tests on him. His father, Michael, went murderously insane trying to get his son back. There was a lot of action around the Walt character, a lot of blood shed and tears - - - but for what end?

Walt was born on August 24, 1994 to Michael Dawson and Susan Lloyd. In some respects, Walt came from a broken home. His parents never married. Michael went from job to job while Susan became a highly paid professional. After Walt was born, Susan took him to Europe. Two years later, Michael was in a car accident after they had an argument. At that time, Susan told Michael that she was going to marry her boss and she wanted his consent so her husband could adopt Walt. This would terminate all parental rights to his son.

Michael tried to fight the process, but in the end he gave up. He thought Walt would have a better life with his mother.

We were shown that Walt has some unexplained spooky powers as a child. The prime example was that he would think about birds and suddenly they would smash and die against the nearby window. It was so weird that his step-dad Brian freaked out and sent 10 year old Walt to live with Michael when Walt's mother died of "a blood disorder." Brian told Michael that "there's something about him (Walt). Sometimes, when he's around, things happen."

We are never told whether Walt's special powers are real, imagined, coincidental or magical.

On Flight 815, Michael is bringing Walt back the United States to start a new life.

Walt's character was the flash point in the first four season finales:
1) he was kidnapped by the Others;
2) he escaped the Island;
3) he appeared as a ghost to John Locke;
4) he was visited by Locke on the mainland.

Walt had special abilities to see or control nature. But he also may have had the ability to appear as a ghost image after he left the island.But he did tell Shannon not to "press the button." He had knowledge of the Hatch, but did not warn Locke about not opening it. (One could argue that ghost Walt was merely another ruse by the smoke monster to manipulate Locke).

It could be said that Walt was the spy within the group. Who would consider a young boy as a dangerous smoke monster? But that would assume that Walt was not alive, but we were shown Walt leaving the island with Michael after Michael betrayed his friends.

For a boy who never wanted to leave the island, Walt had no indication that he wanted to return to it. Did the Others traumatize him when he was kidnapped? Did Ben want him off the island because Walt's special abilities would lead to a coup like Ben achieved against Widmore?

Or was the real problem with Walt is that the actor grew up during the first four seasons which did not fit the script time line of the island. That may be why the mulligan of Time Travel was introduced into the series as a Hail Mary pass to keep the character of Walt relevant. But that failed. All the build up about Walt being a central character, a major clue to unravel the mysteries of the island, were scrapped when he left the island.

When he was captured, the Others said he was safe, like Emma and Zach. But the children taken to the island were never truly safe; especially when Flocke was on its rampage in Season 6. We have discussed the treatment of children by TPTB throughout the series. 

Walt makes no appearance in the sideways world. One could assume that he was alive. Or one could assume that he was not ready to move on, reconcile with his father who was trapped as a whisper on the island. But Walt never wanted a relationship with Michael. Walt probably wanted to punish his father for abandoning him as a child. As a result, some theorize that if LOST was about the a mental world of anger, abandonment and punishment, then the series could have been found in the vivid imagination of a special child like Walt.

Walt turns out to be an early captured pawn, and a discarded piece on the island chess board. He has no role in the conclusion of the island 815 saga. Walt was built up to be a central pillar of the answers to the island's mysteries, but he literally out-grew his purpose.

REBOOT EPISODES 89-92

POSTING NOTE: Due to work changes, I may not be able to post updates on Tuesdays after Monday night marathon G4 reruns, but updates will occur later in the week.
LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 89-92 (Days ????- - ????)

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

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

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

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

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

Science:

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

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

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

Improbabilities:

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

Clues:

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

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

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

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

Discussion:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

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

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

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

Last lines in episodes:

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

EP 90:

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

EP 91:

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

EP 92:

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


New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REBOOT EPISODES 45-48

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 45-48 (Days 63-66)

The second season begins to wind down with the build up of the confrontation with the Others.

Michael reveals secrets about the Others' camp to the survivors;  Hurley and Libby plan their first date. When Ana  is attacked by Ben, she begins to contemplate taking matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, Michael is reunited with his friends and tells them he wants to go back for Walt, which Ben said the Others would never give up. Michael takes matters into his own hands, and as a result he shoots Ana and Libby.

After Eko experiences unusual dreams, he asks Locke to take him to the “?” from the blast door map. They go out and find the Pearl Station. Michael must maintain his cool as he watches Libby die slowly. In the Hatch, the rest of the survivors  must come to terms with what just transpired and try to ease the suffering of a mortally wounded Libby.

As the survivors mourn the losses  Ana and Libby, Michael  continues to badger the 815ers to launch a rescue mission for Walt, an assault against the Others who are to blame for their current situation. Michael convinces Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer  to ambush the Others.

Events come to a head as Michael  leads his friends across the Island to confront the Others. Meanwhile, Desmond returns to the Island on his sailboat, and he and Locke make a decision to see what happens if the Hatch countdown timer goes beyond zero.

Michael’s ambush party is seen by the Others; Michael is confronted by Jack. Sayid, Jin and Sun use Desmond’s boat to counterattack and to meet up Jack's crew. Locke and Desmond trick Eko from leaving the station during a Lockdown, in order to test whether something happens if one does not press the Hatch button.

Science:

Brain washing is a technique to make people do something against their natural will.
Scientific studies began in the 1950s including the spheres of cults, marketing, influence, thought reform, torture and reeducation.

The neurological basis for reasoning and cognition in the brain, and brings the point across that the self is changeable. The physiology behind neurological pathways which include webs of neurons containing dendrites, axons and synapses; and this explains that certain brains with more rigid pathways will be less susceptible to new information or creative stimuli. Neurological science to show that brainwashed individuals have more rigid pathways, and that rigidity can make it unlikely that the individual will rethink situations or be able to later reorganize these pathways.

Certain techniques in influencing and brainwashing others, including a restriction of individual freedoms, deception, and methods that conflict with one's decision-making processes. the techniques used by cults to influence others are similar to those used by other social groups, and compares similar totalitarian aspects of cults and communist societies. These techniques include isolating the individual and controlling their access to information, challenging their belief structure and creating doubt, and repeating messages in a pressurized environment.  cults emphasize positive aspects of the group over negative aspects of outsiders, endlessly repeat simple ideas in "highly reductive, definitive - sounding phrases", and refer to "abstract and ambiguous" ideas associated with "huge emotional baggage” according to neuroscientist Kathleen Taylor.

Improbabilities:

Inman, the American soldier in Iraq with Sayid, is now pushing button in Hatch with Desmond.

In the 13 day Island flashback, why would Jack and/or Locke trust anything Michael would say after Michael knocked out Locke and pulled a gun on Jack in the Hatch? Michael’s violence against his friends under the guise of finding his son would get more paranoid after his return when he wants to organize a small ambush party that Jack agrees Michael has a right to lead.

Mysteries:

How can Ben and the Others leave the Island, and Desmond in his boat could not?

Is the vaccine actually the sickness or merely another fake element to get people to do something that does not matter?

What is the four toe foot statue base represent? We will learn that it is the remains of the statue of Tawaret, an ancient Egyptian god of fertility and death.

Themes:

Life and Death. There is a fine line between life and death. To what ends will a father do to save the life of his son? Is it rational for Michael to murder two people under the anger that his group is not helping him enough to find his son?  At this point in the story, it is the plane survivors who act more like savages - - - killing three others and a few of their own people by gross negligence. But later on, we will be told that pales in comparison with Ben’s purge of Dharma.

Missions and Quests. The main characters are often viewed, from even within the secondary characters, as going off into the jungle on dangerous missions. Those roles are similar to those of characters in massive on-line games like Worlds of Warcraft.

Clues:

When Desmond returns on his sailboat, which floated back to the Island, he states "we are stuck in a bloody snow globe! There's no outside world, there's no escape."

Desmond finally asks Jack if they are "still pushing" to which Jack replies with a smile, "Yeah, we're still pushing it."  Locke later remarks that the “world’s still here,” for which Desmond responds “not so sure.”

Ben tells Ana, “you are the killers!” And when confronted with his lies, Ben knows his fate with the survivors or his own group by saying “I’m dead anyway.”

Desmond won’t read Dickens “Our Mutual Friend” until just before his death; but his copy is tattered and worn like it has been read a lot.

When Michael asks Eko if he is a priest, Michael says next that he must believe in Hell.

Eko tells the story of a boy who kills a dog to protect his sister. The boy wonders if he can go to heaven for his action, and Eko tells him he will be forgiven so long as he is sorry. But the boy is still afraid that he will to Hell and find the dog waiting there for him.

Eko pieces together the impossible facts to conclude the Island is a magical place because his brother’s plane crashes halfway around the world, his plane crashes in the same place, and that he and John have vivid dreams of his brother telling them what to do.

Eko sees the vision of bleeding/dead Ana, who tells Eko to help Jack, and to help Locke find the question mark.

Discussion:

“ Business demands faith, compels earnestness, requires courage, is honestly selfish, is penalized for mistakes, and is the essence of life. ”
— William Feather

“Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.”
--- Laurence J. Peter

“Love must not touch the marrow of the soul. Our affections must be breakable chains that we can cast them off or tighten them.”
---- Louise Erdrich

As the second season winds down, there was a huge event that should have answered several burning questions about the Island and the Hatch. When Desmond returns, he tells the survivors that they are never going back to their old life; that there is no escape from the Island. Desmond then begins to drink himself to death.

The other element of these episodes is Michael’s dissent into his personal hell. His incompetence as a father transforms him into an incompetent killer. He compounds his mistakes by blaming Ben for the shootings, and covers up the truth while his friends watch innocent Libby die. As a result of his misguided love for his son, Michael will forever chain his soul to the Island seeking answers to his misery, as a trapped whisper in the jungle, which in some respects is his purgatory.

We also begin to get clear understanding of the fears and motivations of the characters.

We also see continuing repetition of themes and situations between characters.
Christian and Ana “run away” from their problems to go to Australia much in the same way that Kate is running away from her past decisions. We see characters like Desmond having to prove himself but fails just like Hurley believes he failed Libby on his organization of their first date.

Desmond is called a coward by Widmore. In order to restore his honor, he decides to win a round the world boat race sponsored by Widmore in order to win Penny back. How that makes any sense when Penny is engaged to another man, and upset with Dez for not writing her while he was “away.” (It is noteworthy that she does not acknowledge his “prison,” but uses the word “away” which has one meaning of “to go toward nonexistence.”) So Desmond’s fate is to do something incredibly brave in order to restore his honor so he can reconnect with his love, Penny. As in the Wizard of Oz, courage can only be obtained by the tests along the way to the end.

We see Michael as a father who allowed his son to be adopted and taken away by another person be racked by guilt of his selfish decision to compound his mistakes in order to get Walt back. Michael’s incompetence continues in his role as a murderer, because he could not do that right when he shot Libby, who suffered an agonizing death in front of her friends.

Charlie has his own personal demon, drugs. It tears a part his personal relationships. It leaves him alone; he fears being alone. So in order to restore his friendship with Claire, he must break free from the hold that drugs has on his soul. He does so when Vincent shows him Sawyer’s stash. Charlie throws all the statues out to sea. Later, at the funeral of Ana and Libby, Claire holds his hand, re-connecting their bond.

Bonds appear to be an important element of Island survival. Sawyer admits to Jack that Jack is the closest thing he has to a friend. Friendship could be equated to Faraday’s concept of having “a Constant” to keep you mind frying during the time travel elements of the future story arc. The bonds of friendship are important facets of human life, of social order and social behavior. When Jack repeats his mantra, “Live Together, Die Alone,” he means that their group bonds are more important than self-centered, selfish goals. We will find that those who go it alone, such as Michael, will wind up with damnation as a trapped island whisper, believed to be a lost soul that has not or cannot be redeemed.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Desmond sailing “due west” for three weeks and not finding Fiji, but the only land is his return to the Island, which he considers “a large snow globe.”

Dead people showing up on the island, like Eko’s brother and Ana, telling Eko what to do next. Spirits are guiding individuals along the path of Island existence, in the same way one could say angels may guide souls through the after life.

Last lines in episodes:

EP 45:
LIBBY: [appearing] Michael?!
[Michael, surprised, turns and shoots her twice. He opens the armory door. He and Gale stare at each other for a long moment. Michael shoots himself in the arm.]

EP 46:
JACK: Michael. He's okay. He made it, Libby. It's okay. It's alright.
[Libby gasps for air and dies. Jack closes her eyelids. Hurley cries. Kate cries and Sawyer comforts her. We hear the timer alarm start sounding. We see Eko and Locke walking through the jungle. We see Michael standing by himself in the armory. We see a close up of the prompt at the computer monitor.]

EP 47:
SUN: Boat. Boat!
[We see a sailboat coming in to shore.]

EP 48:
SAYID: We’re here.


New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

If one looks to what is actually said within the show as the answers and theories to the Island mysteries, this is what we have so far:

1. Dave’s explanation to Hurley that Hurley is still in the hospital, in a catatonic state, and that he has created all these characters and events in his own mind.

2. Desmond believes that they are no longer in “their world” after sailing for three weeks in a “bloody snow globe.”  The concept as the Island in a different dimension or realm is a compelling premise, even if the characters survived the plane crash and transported to a spirit world interacting with dead souls seeking redemption.

3. Sawyer believes satirically that the Others are aliens. This would infer that the survivors are alien abductees on a ship or other planet as test subjects, like the Star Trek episode The Cage.

4. Many characters have referenced the Island being Hell or the after life. Rose and Locke acknowledge their secret “miracles” after the plane crash, a crash a normal person would not have survived. Radinzky, Inman’s partner in the Hatch, puts on the blast door map reference to Cerberus, the guardian dogs of Hell. Through Michael’s guilt and cover up, he references a belief in Hell to Eko.

5. That the survivors are unfortunate castaways who have landed on a crazy island controlled by dangerous psychopaths who have built several scientific stations to monitor and test human behavior in a series of cruel lies.

6. Likewise, there is evidence that the inhabitants of the Island all have mental illness symptoms or traits, including parenting and social issues, criminal behavior and paranoia. The Island may be a symbolic view point of insane people receiving treatment in a mental institution in order to “change” their behavior. The ability to “change” one’s path is an important element in each person’s back story. When Ben yells at Ana that her group “are the killers,” there could be truth in that statement that everyone on the island is criminally insane, and being treated in an unconventional manner as part of their sentence on an isolated penal colony. All the 815ers came from Australia, which began its existence as a penal colony.

7. After Walt is captured and sees Michael briefly, he warns him that it is all “pretend.” The Others are pretending to be a band of shoddy hillbillies. But it is a lie. But to pretend in a child’s world is to dream and act out adventure stories with other children. The idea that there are no children around could infer that the children are present, but in the form of adults, acting out their own interconnected dramas. This could all be as simple as a game of pretend. It could be an on-line game, it could be a virtual world, or it could be a fantasy dream of a “special” child. Any form of dream state could explain away all of the inconsistencies, continuity, legal errors, medical errors and supernatural elements of the show. For in a dream you can do anything you want, including reviving the dead.


These episodes dynamically reinforce the science that mind control is at the heart of the Island characters survival.  Is it about mental illness in a person(s) that creates a fantasy world that the characters are trying to get through, via quests, religious ritual or missions of survival? Or is characters in a hospital setting getting treatment from real doctors for whom the patients turn into villains? The whole idea that Dharma, the Others, Widmore or any other group is using brain washing techniques to “change” a person’s behavior or beliefs is compelling when viewed from the point of the last eight episodes. Ben and Klug use spies, interviews, and data collection of the survivors, including capturing subjects, isolating individuals from their group, controlling their access to information, challenging their belief structure; creating doubt, and repeating messages in a pressurized environment of confinement or supernatural dangers. It seems that the Island structures are all available means to re-train a person’s mind or brain wash them to change.  It seems that some characters must reach their personal “rock bottom” in order to change, and in turn, in order to be saved from their personal demons.

Example, when Klug is interviewing Michael in the Other’s camp, she is asking questions like a physician would to a new patient. She gives Michael a list of names, similar to what Dr. Brooks did with Hurley at the mental institution. When Walt is given three minutes with Michael, Klug threatens Walt with “the room,” which is Room 23 at a station that was used by Dharma and the Others for brain washing individuals. But Walt warns Michael that “this is all PRETEND!!”  The whole scene leaves Michael an emotional wreck, willing to do anything asked of him to get his son back, including murder. The question is whether Klug is helping Michael “change” his maniac personality disorder, re-channel his emotional guilt of not being a good father to his son, or feeding Michael’s fragile emotional state to act on impulses of pure evil.

REBOOT EPISODES 13-16

LOST REBOOT 

Recap: Episodes 13-16 (Days 24-31)

When Boone gets frustrated with Locke’s obsession to get into the Hatch,Locke ties him up and drugs him.  When Locke learns that Boone wants to tell their "secret" to Shannon, Shannon’s life is placed in sudden peril (showing a clue that Locke has secret powers of evil like Flocke), and the shocking truth about her past with Boone is revealed. Meanwhile, Kate is puzzled by Sun’s mysterious behavior, and a hungry Hurley must repay a debt to Jin.

Michael starts to build a raft to get his son rescued. Locke and Michael’s animosity is put aside when both of them must save Walt from a polar bear. Violence ensues and the smoke monsters re-appears when Michael and Locke clash over Walt’s upbringing. (Did Locke call upon his pet Cerebus to attack Michael for interfering with his new friendship?) Meanwhile, Charlie is tempted to read the missing Claire’s diary.

Locke and Boone find Claire in the jungle. She is suffering from amnesia. A survivor is killed, and Jack, Sayid and Locke plan a way to capture Ethan. Ethan returns and threatens to kill off the other survivors unless Claire is returned to him.

Kate and Sawyer’s outcast relationship continues to blossom while they are boar hunting. Kate and Sawyer divulge dark secrets to each other while tracking a renegade boar that Sawyer swears is purposely harassing him. (more smoke monster manipulation of matter to evoke human reaction?)  Meanwhile, Hurley and Sayid worry that Charlie is losing it after his brush with death, and a shocking, prior connection between Sawyer and Jack is revealed (Sawyer met Jack’s father just before his death).

Science:

Compass works on magnetic field, a magnetized piece of metal suspended in air will point to true magnet north. However, some electromagnetic surges or anomalies can adversely affect compass readings. It is said that the Bermuda Triangle area has unusual EM properties that disrupts electronics and compass readings in airplanes (leading to mysteries of missing boats and planes).

Improbabilities:

Claire escaping Ethan after two weeks in the jungle.

Also, Ethan asking for her return when he infiltrated the camp and is stronger than any of the survivors.

Mysteries:

The “defective” compass that does not point North.

Sections of Rousseau’s maps that form a triangle, which may not even be part of this island, or the location of the “Black Rock.” We will learn that the Black Rock was an old slave ship that was shipwrecked on the Island, with all occupants killed except for one, Richard, who is spared by the smoke monster (MIB) but later becomes Jacob's immortal right hand man.

Themes:

Fate. Christian believes it is his fate to die an alcoholic in Hell, estranged from his son because he does not have the courage to pick up the phone and make things right.

Revenge. How difficult events tell what kind of man you really are. Sawyer is conned into killing the wrong man out of revenge. Charlie kills Ethan out of revenge for kidnapping Claire, the only person in his mind he can care for.

Christian tells Sawyer in the Sydney bar, “we’re in Hell.” Sawyer replies, “you’re here too.” Australia was founded as a penal colony. We don’t know if Christian is already “dead” in the bar when he has the discussion with Sawyer, or is about to die regretting that he never had the courage to pick up the phone and call his son to make things right. (In one way, Christian’s Sydney trip was his “island” journey; then his appearances on the island itself is like his own “sideways” world holding pattern until Jack’s soul catches up with his.)

Clues:

The compass malfunction and the map with a triangle can be considered a clue that the island is like the Bermuda or Devils triangles . . . areas of danger and mystery. Speculative science believes they may contain portals to other dimensions.

Locke tells a story about his family. He says a sibling dies, and his mother goes crazy in grief. Then a wandering dog comes into their house and sits by his mother for five years to her death. Locke says the dog was quiet; it was like her sister telling his mother that it was not her fault. The idea that Locke has a crazy mother is a clue to the future Island first family: MIB and Jacob's mother was crazy, too. It may point to Locke being possessed by MIB from the beginning. It also gives us a clue on Vincent, who may be the spirit of Walt's dead mother, looking after him.

Discussion:

“ Life is a system of half-truths and lies. Opportunistic, convenient evasion. ”

— Langston Hughes

It is clear that Locke is orchestrating events on the island. He is leading characters into dangerous events and experiences. He is the puppet master manipulating their souls. We also see for the first time the expressed idea that somehow the characters are going to be divided into teams. Locke stops Boone from confronting Sayid by telling Boone “we want him on our side.”  In the End, Sayid has gone completely to the dark side of MIB’s team. Flocke is already recruiting players for his game with Jacob. Locke has Boone clearly on his side after “giving him the experience” of the smoke monster killing Shannon (quite possibly near the site of the Light cave, where MIB himself was killed by his sibling). Here, illusion becomes reality and changes Boone’s path away from Shannon and becoming a pawn of Locke. 

We will learn that Jacob and MIB played the game of Senet, two sides, one black and one white; and the object of that game is to get your pieces off the board first.

In another situation, Locke leads Michael in the search for Walt. But this is after Walt has come to Locke to learn about knives. Locke tells him to “see it before you do it,” which is like the magic box principle Ben will speak of; Walt does and throws the knife perfectly. Michael interrupts and threatens to kill Locke if he has any contact with them again. Michael burns the comic with the polar bear and the “moving” island that Walt has kept from the crash; they are about to grow irreversibly a part until Walt wanders off with Vincent. He is attacked by a polar bear, but finds shelter in the banyan roots. Locke and Michael do a aerial rescue of Walt, with Michael giving Walt a knife to protect himself. Afterward, Walt and Michael bond; but also there is a truce between the Locke-Michael feud.

Walt’s “talent” of seeing things first then making them happen is foreshadowed in a flashback where Walt reads about a bird, then kills one on the patio in order to get attention from his parents. This spooks out his adoptive father, Brian, who after his mother’s death, in 1 day he is in NYC giving Michael plane tickets from Sydney for Walt and himself. Of course the legal ramifications of this guardianship are all wrong in reality but maybe not in a child's world.

When Claire returns on her own from her ordeal, she is beat up and cannot remember anything. She is upset with Charlie that he kept the Ethan warnings from her. “I am already in the dark,” she scolds him. The question raised here is whether Claire has already met her demise by Ethan’s capture. Has Claire’s memory erase part of the “infection” or soul re-boot that the smoke monsters take over a human soul? We know in the final season, Claire turns feral and crazy in the jungle, as a member of Flocke’s team. Is this the point where Claire is recruited? Recall, Ethan was hanging out with Locke in jungle before the kidnapping. If he infiltrated the 815 camp, Ethan could have also infiltrated “Jacob’s camp” run by Ben.

The other interesting reveal that feeds some evidence in a theory about multiple island realms is the “I Never” game Kate and Sawyer play. It is clear that both had troubled childhoods. Kate never went to Disneyland. In the Sawyer memories, we see his father kill his mother and himself after being conned out of their savings. One theory during the original airing of the show was that Sawyer has “blocked” part of that reality, being killed by his own father, so as to be moved by Jacob into the next level of existence (alternative reality) at the “funeral.” We can also say the same about Kate, who runs out of a store stealing an item, and may have been hit by a car driven by Locke’s father. The theory was that all the characters died in their childhood, and the afterlife is giving them all second chances to “live” and “experience” a faux life in order to mature into fully developed human souls.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

A boar that harasses one man, Sawyer, is a comic relief element but also puts light on the idea that all the things on the island have magical properties. The boar may be a symbolic illusion for another person (memories into matter and events).

The Asian cultural idea that good spirits live in banyan tree roots which provide safe harbor from evil is also seen twice in these episodes: in Boone’s illusion of Shannon being attacked by Smokey and Walt being trapped inside while the polar bear attacked him.

Also, the Whispers now are heard by Sawyer. We know the Whispers are the voices of the trapped souls on the island, apparently giving the characters warnings. It may also be that when people begin to hear the whispers, they are slowly becoming spell bound by the Island or its guardians. Mental fatigue can lead to one’s personal defenses going down.

Last lines in episodes:

EP 13:

LOCKE: Yes. Time to let go. [Locke gets up and grabs his pack.] Follow me.

[Boone follows.]

EP 14:

[Claire emerges from the bushes looking awful.]

LOCKE: Claire?

EP 15:

CHARLIE: Goodnight, Claire.

EP 16:

SAWYER: No reason.

[Sawyer leaves. Jack snaps a log of wood with his foot.]

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

Original fans always hoped that the Numbers would mean something special in the mythology of the series. The Numbers would up to be the designation of 815 characters Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, and Jin. No special formula like the Vanzetti equation that re-sets and saves the world from mass destruction. The Numbers were a planted red herring. An empty Easter egg found throughout the scripts.

Taking in the series a second time, and knowing what we know of the characters fates, one tries again to put a new “spin” on the Numbers. It would seem promising that the first number, 4, Locke, would be engulfed into the Island first. Whether Locke is possessed by the island or is actually Flocke from the crash forward (MIB in human cosplay), this may be the first turn in a combination to open the secrets of the Island safe. Hurley is next, but in the first season he is a background character. But in the end he takes the guardian “role” of the Island from Jack, like winning the silver medal. Sawyer makes the most dramatic change when he is sent time traveling in reverse, and finding new responsibilities and commitment with Juliet. Sayid is a character that makes the least change from his torture soldier roots. He is taken over by the darkness and follows Flocke in his evil plan against his friends. But in an odd, out of place, resolution, Sayid winds up in the church with Shannon (not Nadia). Jack learns to take leadership and responsibility of making tough decisions to save his friends, including “dying” in the process. The consensus is that Jack had to sacrifice himself in order to save everyone else; but in the sideway world he had constructed a better life than in his flashback memories. Jin was a secondary character, almost a Sayid-light. Jin was a self-centered individual whose entire life, in the end, resolved around Sun. The six named Number characters really have nothing in common; no common redemption moments; no final grand judgment on how their lives turned out.

But the Numbers (people) as a combination lock got me to rethink an earlier theory that the Island itself was the safe, and the movement in time and space were tumblers that the Numbers were supposed to release change upon its spirit world. What we know is that Crazy Mother shipwrecked Jacob and MIB’s mother on the Island. Crazy Mother then stole the children and killed their real mother, trapping Jacob and MIB on the Island for eternity: Jacob as the Life Force guardian and MIB as a smoke monster. It is the freedom from the Island (rescue) is what was an underlying motivation for both Jacob and MIB. Jacob was looking to retire from being a guardian, and MIB was tired of the humanity games of any castaways brought to the Island by Jacob. MIB wanted to leave the island as badly as Michael did (which is ironic, since Michael remains trapped on the island as Whisper).

After one month on the Island, it is apparent that the Island inhabitants (Jacob, MIB and Crazy Mother) are dividing up the survivors into teams. I include Crazy Mother because it is not certain that killing a guardian actually ends their existence. Jacob was stabbed and burned by Ben and Flocke, but later showed up to talk to Hurley and a dying Sayid. Jacob’s brother was “killed” by Jacob and tossed into the Light cave, only to fly out as the smoke monster. The assumption was that Jacob’s brother was transformed into the smoke monster, but it may be they were all immortal smoke monsters (spirits). For afterward, Jacob and MIB sit on the beach discussing all the humans Jacob brings to the Island to prove some unknown point in their ageless argument. We know that MIB can shape shift and transform memories into matter (Flocke, even without his actual body).

One telling situation was when Sawyer is eye to eye with his harassing boar. Kate is observing off in the brush. She is clearly waiting for Sawyer to kill his nemesis. But when Sawyer does not shoot, Kate is clearly disappointed that it did not play out. One wonders if the intelligent boar was another manifestation of Locke (or Flocke himself) and Kate is or being controlled by Crazy Mother, who was killed by MIB in the past and may hate the loss of her past human form. The other observation about the boar incident was that even beyond revenge motivation in Sawyer, the beach camp still needs food and there has been no boar meat in almost a month. Shouldn't Sawyer shot the boar just for survival?

The diverse paths of the characters that wind up on 815, the Island, in flashbacks and flash-forwards, while at the same time “creating” a sideways purgatory soul holding life until Jack “awakens” from the Island realm are hard to explain. In the Olympic spirit of fair play, a diagram is in order to explain the possibility that the Island precursor to the afterlife may have just been one stop in a chain of “island” lives (like tumblers in a safe lock; each separate but connected to one final goal: opening the final door).

The characters may move through the various worlds, seemingly "living normal lives" even though it is one long journey through multiple layers of an afterlife existence. Each circle is a reboot or continuation of a soul's journey of experiences. As they move through them, they start to be sorted into like human characteristics and gathered together for a grand group "experience" on the Island. Their experiences and memories are the information feed stock in order for the next circle of existence to re-create events in order to determine whether each soul has any redemptive qualities or can change their behavior.

It is clear that the Island is not part of real Earth. The supernatural elements of the island cannot be explained away by science and normal human experience. It is understood now that the Island brought these people together in order to break them a part (into "teams") for a final showdown between the Island's two forces, Jacob and MIB.