Part of the evolution of man was the innate fear of the dark. Man was not the alpha predator. There were various wild animals that could kill man. Many current top predators feed at night, when their prey are resting and cannot see properly.
One of the aspects of man's assent to the top of the food chain was the ability to gather in groups. Groups allowed for more eyes, ears and senses. There is truly safety in numbers. The more people who looked out for each other, the better. Once families merged with other families to create communities, tribes and later settlements, the fear of wild animal attacks subsided. But the fear did not go away, because in nature the competition for food and resources is always present. Fear of animals may have turned into fear of other tribes attacking for their resources.
One of the earliest safe guards to attack was the domestication of the wolf. Less aggressive wolves came to be trained by early man as canine protection devices. Dogs have more than 10 times the smell perception of humans. They also have keen eye tracking abilities. With the taming of dogs, man brought into his shelter the first "alarm" system. The dog would forewarn his master of trouble before the master could recognize it. It was a beneficial relationship, since the dog was fed and cared after by the tribe. Dogs would help man in hunts. This man-dog bond lasts to the present day.
Everyone knows dogs are man's best friends.
But in LOST, we are not so sure.
For some, Vincent, Walt's dog, was the only animal associated with the survivors. Yet, Vincent rarely did anything to protect Walt or the castaways. In reality, Vincent was briefly used as a conduit for the viewers to find the early characters, such as awakening Jack in the bamboo jungle, or to lead a character into the jungle (to be surprised by something like an Other or smoke creature). In all of the dangerous missions, including foraging for wild boar, Vincent was not part of any of those sojourns.
This is very "non-dog" like behavior.
Vincent really was not that close to Walt. Once Walt left, Shannon took it upon herself to watch over him, but she was not very good at anything. And then Shannon died. He would eventually walk away to live with Rose and Bernard, who left the group to isolate themselves from the politics, danger and mistrust of the remaining beach castaways. In that regard, Vincent was pretty smart to find a new traditional "home" setting with Rose and Bernard.
But even Bernard scolded Vincent for not being a good guard dog.
In a few fan theories, Vincent is not really Walt's dog, but the smoke monster reflection of memories of Walt's dog. It would be a classic spy inside the enemy camp. No one would suspect a dog as a supernatural creature. It would explain why Ben had so much information on each castaway (not withstanding the reference to a large communication center that Patchy used to run). Information seemed to be the premium currency on the island, as both Jacob and MIB needed it to manipulate their followers.
If the island was truly a dark place, where lost souls had to shudder at the thought that their personal demons were in the shadows, then the only light of purity was Vincent. He seemed to be above all of the fray. He never attacked, nor was he attacked. He had the most freedom of any character. When he wandered off, no one seemed to mind (except Walt). But once Walt was gone, no one seemed to take a vested role in Vincent. Perhaps, it was symbolic that the people on the island were resigned to their fate that their freedom (and going home) was lost. Only Vincent's actions kept alive even the impression of hope.
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Friday, February 20, 2015
Saturday, December 20, 2014
BLACK & WHITE
It meant there are two things in the world: darkness and light.
It also means that the two represent many things, like good vs. evil; moral vs. immoral; trust vs. distrust; caring vs. apathy; friendship vs. enemy.
When you look at Locke's face above, you notice that he is scarred above and below his right eye. In Egyptian mythology, the Eye of Horus was a scar on the left eye of a sky god. In one story, Set and Horus fought over the throne after Osiris' death. Set gouged out Horus' left eye, which was restored by the magic of Thoth, the moon god. So the dark piece could be the moon and the light piece the sun, Ra, the most powerful god who had to traverse the dangerous underworld each night.
For the left eye of Horus represented "protection, royal power and good health."
But since it was a mirror image on Locke's face, would it represent the opposite?
"Insecurity, servitude and poor health."
In many ways, insecurity, servitude and poor health was Locke. He was clearly insecure in his own self, his skill set, his dreams and his handling his own expectations. He thought of himself as a great man, but never had the drive to be his own boss or leader. He was boxed in various meaningless tasks like a clerk at a box company, or a pest control specialist. And his poor health, his disability, was direct result of mistrusting his con man father and his inability to defend himself.
In many ways, Locke was set up from the very beginning to be the series Fall Guy. He would never be the true leader. He would never have any true power over other people. And he would not live a happy or healthy life. He embodied the dark fears of most people's subconscious. Even when things are going well, there is a hint of pending doom, despair or questioning in the back of one's mind. "This has to be too good to be true." Self-doubt at times turns into real doubt on the road to failure.
It is ironic that Locke was trying to teach Walt, a young black child who had no mother and a stranger as a father, the symbolism of backgammon. Walt would wind up with a better fate than most island castaways: he would find some security with his grandmother, he would have a chance to control his own future, and he was in good health the last time Locke saw him. The time Locke could have tried to convince Walt to give up his new life and return to the island with him. But Locke did not even try to convince Walt to return to the island. It really was the clearest black and white decision Locke ever made in the show.
Friday, May 23, 2014
LIFE
If one does not enjoy the world that they live in, it is a sinful waste of a life.
When we talk life, we tend to talk about accomplishments, relationships, and material wealth. If there is a scale to weigh one's life, one would hope the positives outweigh the negatives.
Life can be viewed as a series of obstacles or opportunities, depending on one's frame of mind.
Life can also be viewed as a series of trials and failures, and the resiliency after a set back or defeat.
Life could be a hard jungle to navigate, depending on how adaptive a person can be to adversity and change.
Life can be an adventure or a prison, depending on one embraces things outside one's comfort zone.
Life can be both good and bad, at the same time.
Life can be both rewarding and frustrating, at the same time.
One of the earliest childhood cartoons were those Charlie Brown specials. Charlie Brown was a typical kid who seemingly did not catch a lot of breaks. He was a klutz, not a good athlete, and his follies were humorous to his friends. But he kept going forward despite his set backs.
It takes time for children to grow into adults, and to integrate their childhood experiences and life lessons into a lesson plan to orchestrate their lives.
And it takes a long time for a person to realize that in this world, we are all Charlie Brown.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
GOOD
“ Good has two meanings: it means that which is good absolutely and that which is good for somebody. ” - - - Aristotle
Double meanings. It is a writer's diversion to trick the reader's mind to lead them to an unexpected reveal. The trick is not to so confuse the reader; but to set a mental trap to spring on them at the climax of the story.
LOST had many good characters. Characters that were good to other people. Characters who looked for the good in other people. Rose and Bernard were probably the best examples of that type of character.
LOST also had characters who did good deeds. They helped other people. They sacrificed themselves (their time, resources, capital) to help others. Jack would be such an example because as a doctor, he gave up much of his personal life to save other people from traumatic injuries. Even on the island, he gained instant support of the group by going around helping the survivors.
LOST had one absolute pure good person. One that was not tainted by life. He was too young to comprehend the things around him. He was unique in island history. Aaron had purity in his soul when he was born on the island.
Then LOST had characters who used "good for somebody's benefit." One vein would be an altruistic person, unselfish. There entire lives would be devoted to service of another person. Richard Alpert saw the goodness in Jacob's speech to become his immortal island liaison. Alpert sacrificed his chance of moving on in the after life (to be with his deceased spouse) to be a Jacob's side against MIB. It is odd that MIB, knowing about Alpert's loyalty to Jacob, would not have eliminated him from the island power dynamic. Was Jacob's power of "immortality" a means of stopping MIB from destroying Alpert or his soul?
Then we had LOST characters who used the term "good" in order to manipulate others to do their bidding. The master of this craft was Ben. He kept telling the survivors he was "one of the good guys" while at the same time terrorizing the camp. He had a brutal reign of a dictator under the guise of a higher purpose. In order to keep order, such a person uses "good" as the brand for their personal evil.
So the plot of LOST was a cloudy vision of what was "good." That is part of the perplexing situation that the overall story does not have a moral base. There is no life lesson learned by the characters. There is no punishment for evil acts. The whole concept of what is "a good person" is rendered moot. There is no great revelation in the sideways world on how the various "good" characters in the series got their heavenly reward. All the different elements were merely thrown back together in a church.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
SAINT HELEN
If there was ever a character that deserved better, it was Helen Norwood.
She was only in a handful of episodes, but her character was actually the only true shining light in the series.
Helen was introduced at an anger management support group which Locke became a new member. After his outburst at the group about their whining, Helen approached Locke outside and told him that she appreciated his candor and shared his frustrations. She also flirted by telling him that she liked bald men - despite Locke not being bald she said that she was prepared to wait.
Their friendship moved to the bedroom fairly quickly and continued to blossom. During a meal at a restaurant, Helen gave Locke a key to her flat as a six-month anniversary present. She told him that she'd followed him and discovered that he was sneaking out at night to lurk outside his father's house. The gift of the key was given on the condition that he stopped going there, to which Locke agreed.
Helen was the only person who truly loved Locke, with all his faults and pains. She was his soul mate. During the period before Flight 815, Locke intended to marry Helen.
But in typical Locke fashion, that plan fell a part. Just as Locke was preparing to propose to Helen over a romantic picnic, Helen read Anthony Cooper's obituary in the newspaper and that the funeral was scheduled for that day. Helen accompanied Locke to the funeral to support him.
Some days after the funeral, Cooper revealed to Locke that he was still alive and convinced him to participate in a criminal financial scheme in exchange for a share of the money. Locke's suspicious behavior and a run in with some criminals searching for the double-crossing Cooper led Helen to follow him again. She turned up at the motel where Locke was meeting Cooper to hand over the money. She demanded of Cooper: "Are you him?", slapped him and berated him for his treatment of Locke before leaving to go back to her car. Locke caught up with her in the parking lot outside and pleaded for forgiveness, went down on one knee and proposed. Helen shook her head and drove off, never to see Locke again.
After Locke returned from the Island to reunite the Oceanic Six, he asked Widmore's driver, Abaddon, to find Helen for him. He was against the idea, but eventually found her. Helen died of an apparent brain aneurysm on April 8, 2006. Abaddon brought Locke to the cemetery where she was buried in Santa Monica, California.
Nothing is really known about Helen after she left Locke in the motel parking lot. Some speculate that the break-up with Helen was in the mid 1980s. If that is true, Helen had twenty years to get over Locke. But it hard to believe that Locke ever got over Helen. Locke's life did change on September 22, 2004 when he boarded Flight 815. He had hit a new low in his personal life. Ironically, the crash gave him a second chance to prove himself to someone. We know he never really did.
Because in the flash sideways fantasy world, John was engaged to Helen and they planned on getting married in October 2004. Being very sick of the wedding planning, caterers, bands, and picking out fabrics for chair backs (both a shade of green), she asked John if they can "do it shotgun style" in Las Vegas instead. She also mentioned taking her parents and John's father with them, to which John replied that Helen deserved better and he knows everything will be done. However, Locke's father is in a nursing home. He was described by his son as a "great father," and after John received his flying license he took Cooper along as his first passenger. This first flight resulted in a horrendous crash that paralyzed John and put his father into a vegetative state. Helen was the one who helped care for Cooper.
When Locke tells Helen he met a spinal surgeon on his flight from Sydney, Helen thought it may be destiny and thinks that John should call him. The next day she overheard John on the phone with Dr. Jack Shephard's office but he hangs up. She was glad John called and wanted to know when he was getting a consultation from Dr. Shephard. Locke confessed that he was fired from the box company. When his case of lost knives was returned, he told Helen to open the case and explained what happened when he tried to go on a walkabout but was not allowed to go. John acknowledged that he knows, she wanted him to go to more consultations about his back and "needed him to get out of this chair," but also shared with her that he doesn't want her to wait for a miracle, because he believed no such thing existed. She replied there are miracles, but assured him that he was the only one she ever needed, and ripped up Jack's business card.
After Locke's hit and run accident, Helen rushed to her fiance's bedside at the hospital. She thanked Dr. Shephard as the two embraced. It was the miracle that she wanted Locke to have in his life.
But when Locke was cured of his paralysis and his memories of his former life were restored, he "moved on" without Helen. And that puts a heartless stab in the "happy ending" staged in the sideways church.
It seems that the sideways world was pure fantasy of Locke: he imagined a loving father and a great fiancee. He reversed the blame for his own injuries by hurting his father and himself in a plane crash. It is the mirror image of what was happening in the island realm.
Helen, which means "shining light" in Greek, was the sole person in the series who could have actually saved Locke from his own inner demons. But Locke rejected her. As a result, we can imagine Helen living a lonely and bitter life just like Locke. It would seem Helen should have been given a better fate.
But she did not have her own after life dream scape. She did not "move on" with her fiancee. She may not have "moved on" at all. She was merely a fantasy footnote in Locke's dream world. Perhaps the lesson is that Locke did not deserve a woman like Helen because he could not see her great qualities through his twisted anger demons.
Helen was introduced at an anger management support group which Locke became a new member. After his outburst at the group about their whining, Helen approached Locke outside and told him that she appreciated his candor and shared his frustrations. She also flirted by telling him that she liked bald men - despite Locke not being bald she said that she was prepared to wait.
Their friendship moved to the bedroom fairly quickly and continued to blossom. During a meal at a restaurant, Helen gave Locke a key to her flat as a six-month anniversary present. She told him that she'd followed him and discovered that he was sneaking out at night to lurk outside his father's house. The gift of the key was given on the condition that he stopped going there, to which Locke agreed.
Helen was the only person who truly loved Locke, with all his faults and pains. She was his soul mate. During the period before Flight 815, Locke intended to marry Helen.
But in typical Locke fashion, that plan fell a part. Just as Locke was preparing to propose to Helen over a romantic picnic, Helen read Anthony Cooper's obituary in the newspaper and that the funeral was scheduled for that day. Helen accompanied Locke to the funeral to support him.
Some days after the funeral, Cooper revealed to Locke that he was still alive and convinced him to participate in a criminal financial scheme in exchange for a share of the money. Locke's suspicious behavior and a run in with some criminals searching for the double-crossing Cooper led Helen to follow him again. She turned up at the motel where Locke was meeting Cooper to hand over the money. She demanded of Cooper: "Are you him?", slapped him and berated him for his treatment of Locke before leaving to go back to her car. Locke caught up with her in the parking lot outside and pleaded for forgiveness, went down on one knee and proposed. Helen shook her head and drove off, never to see Locke again.
After Locke returned from the Island to reunite the Oceanic Six, he asked Widmore's driver, Abaddon, to find Helen for him. He was against the idea, but eventually found her. Helen died of an apparent brain aneurysm on April 8, 2006. Abaddon brought Locke to the cemetery where she was buried in Santa Monica, California.
Nothing is really known about Helen after she left Locke in the motel parking lot. Some speculate that the break-up with Helen was in the mid 1980s. If that is true, Helen had twenty years to get over Locke. But it hard to believe that Locke ever got over Helen. Locke's life did change on September 22, 2004 when he boarded Flight 815. He had hit a new low in his personal life. Ironically, the crash gave him a second chance to prove himself to someone. We know he never really did.
Because in the flash sideways fantasy world, John was engaged to Helen and they planned on getting married in October 2004. Being very sick of the wedding planning, caterers, bands, and picking out fabrics for chair backs (both a shade of green), she asked John if they can "do it shotgun style" in Las Vegas instead. She also mentioned taking her parents and John's father with them, to which John replied that Helen deserved better and he knows everything will be done. However, Locke's father is in a nursing home. He was described by his son as a "great father," and after John received his flying license he took Cooper along as his first passenger. This first flight resulted in a horrendous crash that paralyzed John and put his father into a vegetative state. Helen was the one who helped care for Cooper.
When Locke tells Helen he met a spinal surgeon on his flight from Sydney, Helen thought it may be destiny and thinks that John should call him. The next day she overheard John on the phone with Dr. Jack Shephard's office but he hangs up. She was glad John called and wanted to know when he was getting a consultation from Dr. Shephard. Locke confessed that he was fired from the box company. When his case of lost knives was returned, he told Helen to open the case and explained what happened when he tried to go on a walkabout but was not allowed to go. John acknowledged that he knows, she wanted him to go to more consultations about his back and "needed him to get out of this chair," but also shared with her that he doesn't want her to wait for a miracle, because he believed no such thing existed. She replied there are miracles, but assured him that he was the only one she ever needed, and ripped up Jack's business card.
After Locke's hit and run accident, Helen rushed to her fiance's bedside at the hospital. She thanked Dr. Shephard as the two embraced. It was the miracle that she wanted Locke to have in his life.
But when Locke was cured of his paralysis and his memories of his former life were restored, he "moved on" without Helen. And that puts a heartless stab in the "happy ending" staged in the sideways church.
It seems that the sideways world was pure fantasy of Locke: he imagined a loving father and a great fiancee. He reversed the blame for his own injuries by hurting his father and himself in a plane crash. It is the mirror image of what was happening in the island realm.
Helen, which means "shining light" in Greek, was the sole person in the series who could have actually saved Locke from his own inner demons. But Locke rejected her. As a result, we can imagine Helen living a lonely and bitter life just like Locke. It would seem Helen should have been given a better fate.
But she did not have her own after life dream scape. She did not "move on" with her fiancee. She may not have "moved on" at all. She was merely a fantasy footnote in Locke's dream world. Perhaps the lesson is that Locke did not deserve a woman like Helen because he could not see her great qualities through his twisted anger demons.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
WHAT KATE DID
If there was an episode that could peel away the layers of LOST, it may be "What Kate Did."
"What Kate Did" is the ninth episode of Season 2. Kate begins to believe that she is going mad after she sees the black horse from her past and hearing her father when speaking to Sawyer.
A 24-year-old Kate is sitting on her porch, playing with a lighter, when her father, Wayne, arrives inebriated. As Kate helps him to bed, he complains and makes advances toward her. Kate soon leaves. As Kate rides away from the house on a motorbike, the house explodes.
She rides to a diner where her mother, Diane, works. Kate confronts Diane about an injury caused by Wayne and then presents her with a homeowners' insurance policy, telling Diane she'll be taken care of. Despite worried pleas from her mother to explain what she did, Kate leaves, fighting back tears. Later, we would learn that her mother rejected all Kate had done.
After Kate is arrested by the FBI agent, a black horse appears before the car, causing the car to hit a pole. With Agent Mars momentarily stunned by the opening of the driver's airbag, Kate grabs the handcuff keys and tries to unlock the handcuffs, but the marshal revives. After a short fight, Kate kicks Mars out of the car. She reverses the slightly damaged car and turns on the headlights and drives away. To her surprise, the lights show the black horse standing next to the road quietly looking at her for a few seconds before leaving into the darkness.
Kate travels to a recruiting station to visit her stepfather. She tells Sam she recently discovered he was her stepfather and Wayne was her biological father. Sam says he had known all along, but hid the truth because he knew Kate would kill Wayne if she ever found out. He informs Kate that he must call the authorities, but gives her a one-hour head start.
So we learned what Kate did: she committed murder, insurance fraud, and resisted all arrests. She is a very bad and dangerous person.
On the island, a distraught Sayid digs Shannon's grave while Jack tends to the injured Sawyer in the Swan bunks. who mutters, "Where is she?" which Jack assumes refers to Kate. Sawyer whispers, "I love her" twice, stunning Jack into silence. While collecting fruit, Kate is shocked to see the black horse from her past standing in the undergrowth. She returns to the Swan to attend to Sawyer and computer so Jack can attend Shannon's funeral. At the funeral, Sayid tries to say a few words, but, overcome by emotion, can only declare that he loved her before walking away. Jack, Locke and the other survivors continue the improvised ceremony by each pouring a handful of sand into the grave.
As Kate tends to Sawyer, he begins to mumble, and as she leans in to hear better, he grabs her by the neck and says, "You killed me. Why did you kill me?" Kate is shocked by the statement, and flees her post. Jack and Locke return to the Swan to find the computer alarm blaring, Sawyer on the floor, and Kate nowhere to be seen. With only 23 seconds to go, Locke hastily enters the Numbers, resetting the clock to 108.
Jack tracks Kate down and accosts her for leaving the Swan. Kate shouts, "I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as you. I'm sorry that I'm not as good!" She tries to run away, but Jack grabs her forearm and pulls her back. With emotions reaching a fever pitch, Jack pulls Kate close and holds her. Without warning, Kate kisses Jack passionately and, seemingly shocked by her actions, runs off into the jungle. Jack calls after her, but she does not turn around and he does not follow.
Later, in the jungle, Jack is cutting wood when Hurley approaches, making small talk, eventually leading into the topic of Sawyer. Hurley asks Jack if he is mad at Sawyer, which Jack denies. But Hurley says Jack is cutting wood which Sawyer used to do. Hurley tells Jack about "transference," a medical term he heard at the mental institution, to explain what Jack is doing, but Jack is flippant at the remark.
Sayid goes to Shannon’s grave to place his prayer beads on her cross; he discovers Kate sitting there. She apologizes for missing the funeral and says she thinks she's going crazy. When asked if he believes in ghosts, Sayid says he saw Walt in the jungle just before Shannon was shot and asks if that makes him crazy too.
Kate returns to the Swan and relieves Sun, who has been tending to Sawyer. Kate asks Sawyer if he can hear her, first saying "Sawyer?" then "Wayne" Sawyer stirs and mumbles inaudibly. Kate, believing that Wayne's ghost has possessed Sawyer's body, confesses aloud that she killed him after finding out he was her biological father. It was too much for her to bear to know that the man who she hated would always be a part of her. Furthermore, whenever she had feelings for Sawyer she couldn't help remembering Wayne. Following Kate's confession, Sawyer awakes as his normal self, and his comments reveal he has heard the whole conversation. Kate is embarrassed but relieved.
Sawyer believes that they had been rescued, seeing the kitchen, beds, and such in the hatch. Kate shows Sawyer around the Swan, before taking him outside to prove they have not been rescued. The two talk until something catches Sawyer's eye; Kate turns to see what he is looking at and sees the black horse standing nearby. Kate asks Sawyer if he sees it and Sawyer says he can. Kate approaches and pets the horse before it walks back into the jungle. Back at the beach, Jack approaches Ana Lucia, who is sitting carving a stake with her hunting knife. Jack offers her one of three miniature bottles of Tequila, recalling their first meeting at the airport. They commiserate, smile, and share a moment together.
The other important aspect of the episode is Locke and his deepening ties to the Swan station.
Locke shows the orientation film to Michael and Eko and says he has set up two-person shifts every six hours to enter the Numbers into the computer. When Locke asks Eko what he thinks, Eko leaves without saying a word.
Locke demonstrates to Michael that the keyboard only works when the alarm sounds - Michael asks to inspect the equipment and Locke hesitantly agrees, but only if he doesn't break it. Eko calls Locke aside and, after leading in with a story about Josiah and the book found during Josiah's rule, reveals a hollowed-out Bible which contains a small reel of film. The book was found by the tail-section survivors in a Dharma station they inhabited on the other side of the Island. Locke unrolls part of the reel and recognizes Dr. Candle, the narrator from the original film. Locke discovers that the film found in the bible was cut from the original Swan orientation film; Eko and Locke splice the film back into the main film reel. Locke marvels at the odds of them finding the missing piece, but Eko advises him not to "mistake coincidence for fate." This statement will be the core to Locke's later downfall.
Locke and Mr. Eko watch the missing section of the film, in which Dr. Candle expands on his warning that the computer is to be used only to enter the code. He explains that while the isolation of Station 3 may tempt one to use the computer to communicate with the outside world, such action would compromise the integrity of the project and may lead to another "incident." At the same time, as Michael examines the computer equipment, he hears a beeping from the terminal and goes to inspect. He notices there are still 51 minutes remaining on the timer and the text "Hello?" is shown on the screen. Unlike Locke's attempt earlier, Michael is able to enter text and types "Hello?" A moment later, "Who is this?" appears and Michael responds, "This is Michael. Who is this?" After a few seconds, "Dad?" appears on the screen. Michael is stunned.
"What Kate Did" brought to the forefront various conflicts.
The Other Others, the Tailies, had joined the beach survivors with deadly consequences.
Sawyer was shot and not doing well, but Jack did not want to deal with him because of the conflicting emotions with Kate's apparent relationship with Sawyer.
Kate was conflicted - - - she breaks down to Jack that she could never be as perfect or good as he is; and later she would make a similar confession to a sleeping/medicated Sawyer. Kate appears to know that she has been terribly bad, and she breaks down to realize that she will never be good. She has judged herself harshly, but cannot choose between a good man or a bad man.
When he comes to, he asks if they had been "saved," and Kate says no. Sawyer, with his long hair parted in the middle, looks like a painting of the Savior, but all he can say is "damn."
We learn that Kate blew up her biological father, Wayne, in order to allegedly save her mother the abuse of a drunken spouse. But Kate grew up thinking Wayne was her stepfather. When she was told that her first dad, Sam, left her because her mother was in love with Wayne, Kate could not accept it. And her real stepfather, Sam, a military man who knew Sayid in Iraq, told her that he had to call the authorities.
But it was with the recovering Sawyer, Kate's horse appears in the jungle. She goes over to it and pets it. The horse is calm. Sawyer also sees the horse from Kate's memory. Collective illusion?
Locke has saved Eko from the polar bear who dragged an injured Eko away from an encounter with the smoke monster. Eko tells Locke the story of the book that rebuilt the ruined temple. It was not gold but the word of God. In the bible he found, Eko gives Locke a piece of film which is spliced in the orientation film. It is Dr. Chang telling the Hatch operators not to use the computer terminal for anything but inputting the Numbers, otherwise another "incident" could occur. But Michael goes by the computer terminal - - which beeps "Hello?" He answers the question, then the shocking response from the other end was "Dad?" Walt had been captured by the Others - - - and this sets Michael on his frenzy quest to get Walt back.
Kate killed her father. Killing one's father or parent was the key to leadership on the island. It showed you could cast away your own family for something greater. Perhaps that is why Kate was a candidate, and actually the true leader who brought down MIB in the End.
It is the recall of the story, especially the formation of the horse, that binds what Kate did and what Kate will do in the future. If she is only striving to prove that she could be good, she would have to personally defeat the bad or evil that threatens the greater good.
The episode puts into the LOST cabinet of major clues: life and death, good and bad people, crazy, illusions, transference behavior, coincidence not fate, false salvation and the unknown (like the Numbers or "the incident.") If you add all those elements together, you may get the real premise of the show.
It still comes down to the improbabilities of island situation, whether it truly real or not. Consider the fact that Hurley brings to light psychology to a medical doctor. It that an odd coincidence or was that Hurley or his mind generating the island story line?
Or is Hurley or his mind merely an enabler for other character's imagination release? This episode is clearly the centerpiece of the original framework of how the series was supposed to focus in on the Kate character (with Jack's death in the early pilot script). If Kate was going to be the center of the show universe, this episode brought possible criminal psychological issues to the forefront of the female lead character.
Every young person considers personal fantasies and indulges in flights of fancy to relieve boredom or anxiety. However, such natural, transitory digression isn’t severe enough to warrant identification with specific, categorical terminology. Some psychological affectations refer to mental statuses that noticeably affect an individual’s social behavior: anti-social interaction; bipolar personality shifts; psychotic anti-social tendencies; self-delusions and fantastic aspirations to influence their behavior to a degree that evokes social stigmata and even potential harm. Depending on the nature and extent of a person's fantasies, they may change from merely harmless, to momentary distractions, to dangerous behavior. If Kate firmly and intractably believes that she is right and everyone around her is wrong that she unwittingly digs herself continually deeper into her own dissatisfaction. Her effort to psychologically appease herself and escape from distasteful reality actually counter-productively reinforces the very situation that she’s desperate to alter. Kate is adverse to open and beneficial discussion of mental health issues so she merely relegates her responses to any psychological impairment as a slap, slur or a joke. Instead of growing out of their childhood issues, many individuals are ignored, ridiculed, or just accepted as idiosyncratic instead of needing psychological counseling to become stable in their own mental health.
Daydreams are entirely ordinary and harmless. However, someone that allows daydreams, fantasies, and exaggerated unrealistic self-identification to become so compulsive and consuming that the behavior affects and obstructs positive social interactions and hinders productive maturation, or even places the individual in potentially harmful circumstances.
Whether Kate truly did all those bad things, or she has convinced herself that she did so in some psychological madness, her world including the island would be wrapped up in those inner conflicts. It ties back to the old theory that the island events are the collective dream of a group of mental patients and/or institutionalized criminals, possibly a test subject group for Dharma scientists.
This notion is reinforced in the episode where Hurley brings up the subject of "transference" to Jack snaps back whether Hurley is analyzing him but Hurley says that is what was said at the mental institution. The transference concept has been a long running theory of the show: that the characters are not whom they seem to be - - - either in personality, or reality. Jack may not really be a doctor, he just imagines himself as one. In turn, Kate is not a murderer but a confused child trapped in her own nightmare world with a set of vivid imaginary friends and foes.
This episode was the tipping point for the entire series. It raised the key factors and confirmed them through other characters. It shows that like her or hate her, Kate was a central figure in the series. And perhaps that is why Kate winds up with her Jack in the end, because that is the fairy tale ending that most young girls dream about.
"What Kate Did" is the ninth episode of Season 2. Kate begins to believe that she is going mad after she sees the black horse from her past and hearing her father when speaking to Sawyer.
A 24-year-old Kate is sitting on her porch, playing with a lighter, when her father, Wayne, arrives inebriated. As Kate helps him to bed, he complains and makes advances toward her. Kate soon leaves. As Kate rides away from the house on a motorbike, the house explodes.
She rides to a diner where her mother, Diane, works. Kate confronts Diane about an injury caused by Wayne and then presents her with a homeowners' insurance policy, telling Diane she'll be taken care of. Despite worried pleas from her mother to explain what she did, Kate leaves, fighting back tears. Later, we would learn that her mother rejected all Kate had done.
After Kate is arrested by the FBI agent, a black horse appears before the car, causing the car to hit a pole. With Agent Mars momentarily stunned by the opening of the driver's airbag, Kate grabs the handcuff keys and tries to unlock the handcuffs, but the marshal revives. After a short fight, Kate kicks Mars out of the car. She reverses the slightly damaged car and turns on the headlights and drives away. To her surprise, the lights show the black horse standing next to the road quietly looking at her for a few seconds before leaving into the darkness.
Kate travels to a recruiting station to visit her stepfather. She tells Sam she recently discovered he was her stepfather and Wayne was her biological father. Sam says he had known all along, but hid the truth because he knew Kate would kill Wayne if she ever found out. He informs Kate that he must call the authorities, but gives her a one-hour head start.
So we learned what Kate did: she committed murder, insurance fraud, and resisted all arrests. She is a very bad and dangerous person.
On the island, a distraught Sayid digs Shannon's grave while Jack tends to the injured Sawyer in the Swan bunks. who mutters, "Where is she?" which Jack assumes refers to Kate. Sawyer whispers, "I love her" twice, stunning Jack into silence. While collecting fruit, Kate is shocked to see the black horse from her past standing in the undergrowth. She returns to the Swan to attend to Sawyer and computer so Jack can attend Shannon's funeral. At the funeral, Sayid tries to say a few words, but, overcome by emotion, can only declare that he loved her before walking away. Jack, Locke and the other survivors continue the improvised ceremony by each pouring a handful of sand into the grave.
As Kate tends to Sawyer, he begins to mumble, and as she leans in to hear better, he grabs her by the neck and says, "You killed me. Why did you kill me?" Kate is shocked by the statement, and flees her post. Jack and Locke return to the Swan to find the computer alarm blaring, Sawyer on the floor, and Kate nowhere to be seen. With only 23 seconds to go, Locke hastily enters the Numbers, resetting the clock to 108.
Jack tracks Kate down and accosts her for leaving the Swan. Kate shouts, "I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as you. I'm sorry that I'm not as good!" She tries to run away, but Jack grabs her forearm and pulls her back. With emotions reaching a fever pitch, Jack pulls Kate close and holds her. Without warning, Kate kisses Jack passionately and, seemingly shocked by her actions, runs off into the jungle. Jack calls after her, but she does not turn around and he does not follow.
Later, in the jungle, Jack is cutting wood when Hurley approaches, making small talk, eventually leading into the topic of Sawyer. Hurley asks Jack if he is mad at Sawyer, which Jack denies. But Hurley says Jack is cutting wood which Sawyer used to do. Hurley tells Jack about "transference," a medical term he heard at the mental institution, to explain what Jack is doing, but Jack is flippant at the remark.
Sayid goes to Shannon’s grave to place his prayer beads on her cross; he discovers Kate sitting there. She apologizes for missing the funeral and says she thinks she's going crazy. When asked if he believes in ghosts, Sayid says he saw Walt in the jungle just before Shannon was shot and asks if that makes him crazy too.
Kate returns to the Swan and relieves Sun, who has been tending to Sawyer. Kate asks Sawyer if he can hear her, first saying "Sawyer?" then "Wayne" Sawyer stirs and mumbles inaudibly. Kate, believing that Wayne's ghost has possessed Sawyer's body, confesses aloud that she killed him after finding out he was her biological father. It was too much for her to bear to know that the man who she hated would always be a part of her. Furthermore, whenever she had feelings for Sawyer she couldn't help remembering Wayne. Following Kate's confession, Sawyer awakes as his normal self, and his comments reveal he has heard the whole conversation. Kate is embarrassed but relieved.
Sawyer believes that they had been rescued, seeing the kitchen, beds, and such in the hatch. Kate shows Sawyer around the Swan, before taking him outside to prove they have not been rescued. The two talk until something catches Sawyer's eye; Kate turns to see what he is looking at and sees the black horse standing nearby. Kate asks Sawyer if he sees it and Sawyer says he can. Kate approaches and pets the horse before it walks back into the jungle. Back at the beach, Jack approaches Ana Lucia, who is sitting carving a stake with her hunting knife. Jack offers her one of three miniature bottles of Tequila, recalling their first meeting at the airport. They commiserate, smile, and share a moment together.
The other important aspect of the episode is Locke and his deepening ties to the Swan station.
Locke shows the orientation film to Michael and Eko and says he has set up two-person shifts every six hours to enter the Numbers into the computer. When Locke asks Eko what he thinks, Eko leaves without saying a word.
Locke demonstrates to Michael that the keyboard only works when the alarm sounds - Michael asks to inspect the equipment and Locke hesitantly agrees, but only if he doesn't break it. Eko calls Locke aside and, after leading in with a story about Josiah and the book found during Josiah's rule, reveals a hollowed-out Bible which contains a small reel of film. The book was found by the tail-section survivors in a Dharma station they inhabited on the other side of the Island. Locke unrolls part of the reel and recognizes Dr. Candle, the narrator from the original film. Locke discovers that the film found in the bible was cut from the original Swan orientation film; Eko and Locke splice the film back into the main film reel. Locke marvels at the odds of them finding the missing piece, but Eko advises him not to "mistake coincidence for fate." This statement will be the core to Locke's later downfall.
Locke and Mr. Eko watch the missing section of the film, in which Dr. Candle expands on his warning that the computer is to be used only to enter the code. He explains that while the isolation of Station 3 may tempt one to use the computer to communicate with the outside world, such action would compromise the integrity of the project and may lead to another "incident." At the same time, as Michael examines the computer equipment, he hears a beeping from the terminal and goes to inspect. He notices there are still 51 minutes remaining on the timer and the text "Hello?" is shown on the screen. Unlike Locke's attempt earlier, Michael is able to enter text and types "Hello?" A moment later, "Who is this?" appears and Michael responds, "This is Michael. Who is this?" After a few seconds, "Dad?" appears on the screen. Michael is stunned.
"What Kate Did" brought to the forefront various conflicts.
The Other Others, the Tailies, had joined the beach survivors with deadly consequences.
Sawyer was shot and not doing well, but Jack did not want to deal with him because of the conflicting emotions with Kate's apparent relationship with Sawyer.
Kate was conflicted - - - she breaks down to Jack that she could never be as perfect or good as he is; and later she would make a similar confession to a sleeping/medicated Sawyer. Kate appears to know that she has been terribly bad, and she breaks down to realize that she will never be good. She has judged herself harshly, but cannot choose between a good man or a bad man.
When he comes to, he asks if they had been "saved," and Kate says no. Sawyer, with his long hair parted in the middle, looks like a painting of the Savior, but all he can say is "damn."
We learn that Kate blew up her biological father, Wayne, in order to allegedly save her mother the abuse of a drunken spouse. But Kate grew up thinking Wayne was her stepfather. When she was told that her first dad, Sam, left her because her mother was in love with Wayne, Kate could not accept it. And her real stepfather, Sam, a military man who knew Sayid in Iraq, told her that he had to call the authorities.
But it was with the recovering Sawyer, Kate's horse appears in the jungle. She goes over to it and pets it. The horse is calm. Sawyer also sees the horse from Kate's memory. Collective illusion?
Locke has saved Eko from the polar bear who dragged an injured Eko away from an encounter with the smoke monster. Eko tells Locke the story of the book that rebuilt the ruined temple. It was not gold but the word of God. In the bible he found, Eko gives Locke a piece of film which is spliced in the orientation film. It is Dr. Chang telling the Hatch operators not to use the computer terminal for anything but inputting the Numbers, otherwise another "incident" could occur. But Michael goes by the computer terminal - - which beeps "Hello?" He answers the question, then the shocking response from the other end was "Dad?" Walt had been captured by the Others - - - and this sets Michael on his frenzy quest to get Walt back.
Kate killed her father. Killing one's father or parent was the key to leadership on the island. It showed you could cast away your own family for something greater. Perhaps that is why Kate was a candidate, and actually the true leader who brought down MIB in the End.
It is the recall of the story, especially the formation of the horse, that binds what Kate did and what Kate will do in the future. If she is only striving to prove that she could be good, she would have to personally defeat the bad or evil that threatens the greater good.
The episode puts into the LOST cabinet of major clues: life and death, good and bad people, crazy, illusions, transference behavior, coincidence not fate, false salvation and the unknown (like the Numbers or "the incident.") If you add all those elements together, you may get the real premise of the show.
It still comes down to the improbabilities of island situation, whether it truly real or not. Consider the fact that Hurley brings to light psychology to a medical doctor. It that an odd coincidence or was that Hurley or his mind generating the island story line?
Or is Hurley or his mind merely an enabler for other character's imagination release? This episode is clearly the centerpiece of the original framework of how the series was supposed to focus in on the Kate character (with Jack's death in the early pilot script). If Kate was going to be the center of the show universe, this episode brought possible criminal psychological issues to the forefront of the female lead character.
Every young person considers personal fantasies and indulges in flights of fancy to relieve boredom or anxiety. However, such natural, transitory digression isn’t severe enough to warrant identification with specific, categorical terminology. Some psychological affectations refer to mental statuses that noticeably affect an individual’s social behavior: anti-social interaction; bipolar personality shifts; psychotic anti-social tendencies; self-delusions and fantastic aspirations to influence their behavior to a degree that evokes social stigmata and even potential harm. Depending on the nature and extent of a person's fantasies, they may change from merely harmless, to momentary distractions, to dangerous behavior. If Kate firmly and intractably believes that she is right and everyone around her is wrong that she unwittingly digs herself continually deeper into her own dissatisfaction. Her effort to psychologically appease herself and escape from distasteful reality actually counter-productively reinforces the very situation that she’s desperate to alter. Kate is adverse to open and beneficial discussion of mental health issues so she merely relegates her responses to any psychological impairment as a slap, slur or a joke. Instead of growing out of their childhood issues, many individuals are ignored, ridiculed, or just accepted as idiosyncratic instead of needing psychological counseling to become stable in their own mental health.
Daydreams are entirely ordinary and harmless. However, someone that allows daydreams, fantasies, and exaggerated unrealistic self-identification to become so compulsive and consuming that the behavior affects and obstructs positive social interactions and hinders productive maturation, or even places the individual in potentially harmful circumstances.
Whether Kate truly did all those bad things, or she has convinced herself that she did so in some psychological madness, her world including the island would be wrapped up in those inner conflicts. It ties back to the old theory that the island events are the collective dream of a group of mental patients and/or institutionalized criminals, possibly a test subject group for Dharma scientists.
This notion is reinforced in the episode where Hurley brings up the subject of "transference" to Jack snaps back whether Hurley is analyzing him but Hurley says that is what was said at the mental institution. The transference concept has been a long running theory of the show: that the characters are not whom they seem to be - - - either in personality, or reality. Jack may not really be a doctor, he just imagines himself as one. In turn, Kate is not a murderer but a confused child trapped in her own nightmare world with a set of vivid imaginary friends and foes.
This episode was the tipping point for the entire series. It raised the key factors and confirmed them through other characters. It shows that like her or hate her, Kate was a central figure in the series. And perhaps that is why Kate winds up with her Jack in the end, because that is the fairy tale ending that most young girls dream about.
Monday, November 4, 2013
THE GOOD ONES
Ben often made the statement that he was one "of the good guys."
The fuzzy line between good and evil was very gray. Everyone had issues. Everyone had secrets. But was any character truly "good?"
Most of the main characters, including Bernard and Jin, reaped violence on other people, including killing. The Others, as a group, endorsed kidnapping, murder and destruction of property. Jacob and MIB allowed all the criminal behavior to flourish on the island. Even the temple priests and followers were not persuaded not to kill someone. Evil was everywhere.
Desmond killed Inman; Locke led Boone to his death; Walt burned the first life raft; Ben was a mass murderer; and Juliet played roles in the kidnapping of Claire. Sayid continued to torture people; Charlie did drugs and lied about it; Eko was a fraud.
So the list of good people is fairly small.
The children appear to be the innocent in the series. Emma and Zach, the tail section survivors, were kidnapped by the Others. They stayed with Cindy, the flight attendant, who was probably also an Other.
Rose seems to be the only beach camp survivor who did not sin on the island. She was never engaged in the mission plans. She kept to herself. She hated the leadership politics of the group. She was the lone adult on the beach. She gave advice only to people who asked for it.
In the entire whirlwind of conflict, drama and danger, Rose was the eye inside that hurricane. Interesting analogy. The one person who found peace of mind after the crash was Rose. She did not need to involve herself in the emotional issues of her fellow passengers. The island could not manipulate her because she probably knew that if her terminal cancer was gone, she was dead. And with that realization, she knew she would be alright. She was not worried that Bernard was lost on the island. She knew he would be joining her. Perhaps the island's control over the characters was solely based on the illusion that the characters had that they were still alive.
And perhaps this explains the simultaneous creation of the sideways purgatory world. Everyone created it subconsciously until their conscious would awaken with the realization that they had died.
The fuzzy line between good and evil was very gray. Everyone had issues. Everyone had secrets. But was any character truly "good?"
Most of the main characters, including Bernard and Jin, reaped violence on other people, including killing. The Others, as a group, endorsed kidnapping, murder and destruction of property. Jacob and MIB allowed all the criminal behavior to flourish on the island. Even the temple priests and followers were not persuaded not to kill someone. Evil was everywhere.
Desmond killed Inman; Locke led Boone to his death; Walt burned the first life raft; Ben was a mass murderer; and Juliet played roles in the kidnapping of Claire. Sayid continued to torture people; Charlie did drugs and lied about it; Eko was a fraud.
So the list of good people is fairly small.
The children appear to be the innocent in the series. Emma and Zach, the tail section survivors, were kidnapped by the Others. They stayed with Cindy, the flight attendant, who was probably also an Other.
Rose seems to be the only beach camp survivor who did not sin on the island. She was never engaged in the mission plans. She kept to herself. She hated the leadership politics of the group. She was the lone adult on the beach. She gave advice only to people who asked for it.
In the entire whirlwind of conflict, drama and danger, Rose was the eye inside that hurricane. Interesting analogy. The one person who found peace of mind after the crash was Rose. She did not need to involve herself in the emotional issues of her fellow passengers. The island could not manipulate her because she probably knew that if her terminal cancer was gone, she was dead. And with that realization, she knew she would be alright. She was not worried that Bernard was lost on the island. She knew he would be joining her. Perhaps the island's control over the characters was solely based on the illusion that the characters had that they were still alive.
And perhaps this explains the simultaneous creation of the sideways purgatory world. Everyone created it subconsciously until their conscious would awaken with the realization that they had died.
Friday, October 18, 2013
THE GOOD THINGS
Let's talk about the good things in LOST.
There were a lot of good or interesting aspects to the series:
1. The pilot episode had the pace and twists that hooked fans immediately toward the original story of a bunch of diverse passengers surviving a plane crash.
2. There were some exceptional television acting by cast, including Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson.
3. The camera compositions and lush tropical backgrounds made a unique background stage for a prime time series.
4. Fans could immediately identify with the various characters, and individuals could find comfort in their favorite actors.
5. The back stories added a lot of information to the characters, their personality, their motivations and their mental states.
6. The concept of flashbacks then flash forwards were startlingly well done in the series format.
7. The various story lines proposed interesting and complex topics, such as time travel, smoke monsters, ancient civilization religious rites, infertility issues and science such as electromagnetic energy sources. In other words, the series made the viewer "think" about these topics in new ways. We, the viewers, were not just spoon fed information; we had to go out and do our own "homework" between episodes to try to piece to together the clues and solve the mysteries of the island.
8. There were plenty of clues, misdirections, plot twists, betrayals, red herrings, and WTH out-of-left field story elements which gave fans a dizzy array of puzzle pieces to refashion into their own theories and opinions about the show.
9. The series last 6 years, which is a long run for a serial dramatic prime time television program. It became must-viewing for several million hard core fans.
10. LOST was probably the first television series that created a vast, interactive, internet fan based community of like minded series fanatics. Dozens of blogs and websites sprang up so people could talk, discuss, debate, argue and find common ground on their favorite televisions show. It created a small cottage industry of LOST theorists and pundits, authors and video chat hosts.
11. The series still ranks in critical polls as being one of the better television shows in its era.
12. It continues to fuel strong feelings and opinions about it, but not to the level during its initial program run. But when one asks a person about LOST, they still have feelings for the show, good or bad.
13. The series helped launch a new wave of science fiction pilots and shows on network and cable channels. Sci-fi series had used to be a narrow market place for networks; but now there was a formula to try to pull in non-sci-fi viewers into a drama set in various strange settings. Networks and production companies were more comfortable green lighting science fiction shows.
There were a lot of good or interesting aspects to the series:
1. The pilot episode had the pace and twists that hooked fans immediately toward the original story of a bunch of diverse passengers surviving a plane crash.
2. There were some exceptional television acting by cast, including Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson.
3. The camera compositions and lush tropical backgrounds made a unique background stage for a prime time series.
4. Fans could immediately identify with the various characters, and individuals could find comfort in their favorite actors.
5. The back stories added a lot of information to the characters, their personality, their motivations and their mental states.
6. The concept of flashbacks then flash forwards were startlingly well done in the series format.
7. The various story lines proposed interesting and complex topics, such as time travel, smoke monsters, ancient civilization religious rites, infertility issues and science such as electromagnetic energy sources. In other words, the series made the viewer "think" about these topics in new ways. We, the viewers, were not just spoon fed information; we had to go out and do our own "homework" between episodes to try to piece to together the clues and solve the mysteries of the island.
8. There were plenty of clues, misdirections, plot twists, betrayals, red herrings, and WTH out-of-left field story elements which gave fans a dizzy array of puzzle pieces to refashion into their own theories and opinions about the show.
9. The series last 6 years, which is a long run for a serial dramatic prime time television program. It became must-viewing for several million hard core fans.
10. LOST was probably the first television series that created a vast, interactive, internet fan based community of like minded series fanatics. Dozens of blogs and websites sprang up so people could talk, discuss, debate, argue and find common ground on their favorite televisions show. It created a small cottage industry of LOST theorists and pundits, authors and video chat hosts.
11. The series still ranks in critical polls as being one of the better television shows in its era.
12. It continues to fuel strong feelings and opinions about it, but not to the level during its initial program run. But when one asks a person about LOST, they still have feelings for the show, good or bad.
13. The series helped launch a new wave of science fiction pilots and shows on network and cable channels. Sci-fi series had used to be a narrow market place for networks; but now there was a formula to try to pull in non-sci-fi viewers into a drama set in various strange settings. Networks and production companies were more comfortable green lighting science fiction shows.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
REBOOT EPISODES 69-72
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 69-72 (Days 89-91)
In these 4 episodes, we reach the end of Season 3, and the half way point of the LOST saga.
Ben remembers arriving on the island with his father and growing up to become the Others leader. Ben takes Locke to “see” Jacob, the mysterious cult leader. Meanwhile, secrets about Juliet and Naomi are revealed to the camp. At night, the whole camp is in uproar about Naomi’s arrival on the island, as well as her story about the plane having already been found and everyone is dead. As Sawyer plays the tape, Jack and Juliet return. Everyone questions them, but Juliet tries to explain that she is actually helping them. They turn over the tape and hear that Ben plans to lead a team to kidnap all the fertile women. Juliet reveals that she has already told Jack about it, and that they were still thinking of a plan.
A group of survivors trek inland following Jack. On the way, Charlie sees Desmond stop in his tracks, and despite his denial, Charlie suspects he may have had another one of his visions. Jack tells them that they have arrived and that he and Juliet have been forced to come up with a plan to stop the attack. He calls out and Danielle comes out and sets off a large dynamite explosion blowing up a tree. As the rest of the group recoil in surprise, Jack explains that Juliet will mark the tents of pregnant women with white rocks as she was told, but the Others will find nothing inside but dynamite. As Jack states, "We're gonna blow 'em all to hell."
Back at camp, Charlie talks with Naomi. She asks who the survivors are going to war with but he says that it's a long story. She recognizes him from Drive Shaft, because after his apparent death, a "Greatest Hits" album was released and became very popular. Charlie is pleased at the news, although he notices Desmond in the distance, an ominous reminder of his possible fate.
At the same time, Sayid tells Jack that he can't get a rescue signal out to the freighter because of Danielle’s old distress call is blocking the signal. He tells Jack that they need to go to the radio tower to turn it off, but Juliet says it would make no difference,, as Ben is blocking all transmissions from an underwater station called The Looking Glass. She mentions that she has no idea where it is, but Sayid he thinks he might know.
Charlie sits with Claire as Desmond approaches, asking to speak with him. Desmond reluctantly admits that he lied, and has seen a flash — one of Claire and Aaron getting into a Helicopter and leaving the Island. Charlie at first does not understand how this can be bad, but Desmond explains that for this to happen, Charlie must drown after "flicking a switch next to a yellow light" in a hatch.
Jack devises a defense plan to combat the kidnapping plot. Charlie volunteers to go to the underwater station to switch off the jamming equipment so Claire can be saved.
The camp leaves to begin their second exodus to the radio tower.
Sayid, Jin and Bernard are left behind as the three marksmen who will ambush the Others. He makes Jack promise that no matter what happens on the beach, Jack will lead the remaining survivors to the tower and signal the ship; he tells Jack that he is willing to die but only if the others can be rescued. Jack understands and is ready to undertake the long trek to the tower. Before leaving with the others for the radio tower, Rose reminds Bernard that he is "not Rambo" and warns him to be careful. Jin speaks with Sun, intimately telling her to stay close to Jack. Sun asks him why he is staying behind to help, he tells her (in English) because they need to go home. Sun cries and they kiss, Juliet watches further away.
Once they are on their way, Naomi takes Jack aside and tells him that Juliet is not trusted by the other survivors. Then she shows him how to use the radio - in case she doesn't make it.
In the underground station, Charlie is captured is interrogated by Bonnie and Greta. He says that he found out about the Looking Glass from Juliet. Bonnie and Greta go into the radio room to call Ben.
Charlie sees the blinking yellow light from Desmond's vision of the jamming equipment. After he shouts his name to Ben, Bonnie tells Ben about Juliet's betrayal (overheard by Alpert and Patchy). Ben orders Patchy to go to the Looking Glass to find out why Charlie is there. Ben has to admit he lied about the station being inoperable. Patchy wonders what else Juliet has told the Losties. Ben tries to contact the Others' kidnap team but they are in radio silence.
Charlie’s final message that the people claiming to liberate them are not who they seem to be...
Science:
Once the pin is pulled the fuse and the chemical explosive do not require oxygen to do their stuff, so a grenade can explode under water.
Explosive chemical reactions break down compounds into highly compressed gases, as well as heat resulting from compound molecules being blasted apart. The gases expand rapidly, and the heat speeds up individual gas particles to increase expansion speed even more.
This rapidly expanding gas, called a pressure wave, is the key to any explosive's destructive power. If the pressure wave is fast enough to break the sound barrier, it generates a powerful shock wave. A land explosion can burn skin, tear apart limbs and propel objects and shrapnel through the air.
When the pressure wave travels through the air and connects with a living organism, the organism's body reflects most of the force. This is because there's a difference in densities: The molecules in solid skin are closer together than the rapidly moving gas molecules.
However, portions of your body contain gas, meaning the density is the same as the expanding gas in the pressure wave. The pressure wave hits the body and, while most of it is reflected, some of it manages to compress internal gases. As a result, the victim sustains primary blast injuries. These typically affect the lungs, ears and -- in rare cases -- intestines. These gassy chambers basically implode, rupturing and fragmenting tissue.
In an explosion surrounded by air, the atmosphere will compress and absorb some of the explosive energy. This decreases the lethal range of the explosion. Water, however, is often described as incompressible. Technically, it can compress, but it takes a massive amount of pressure to apply a small amount of compression. This means that in an underwater explosion, the surrounding water doesn't absorb the pressure like air does, but moves with it. An underwater explosion doesn't propel objects through the water nearly as far as a surface explosion throws shrapnel because of the drag water exerts on objects. However, an underwater explosion transmits pressure with greater intensity over a longer distance.
Improbabilities:
Patchy “surviving” a spear to the chest AND going deep underwater (holding his breath with a gaping chest wound) to detonate a grenade which drowns Charlie in the Looking Glass communication room.
Themes:
Sacrifice. Charlie’s death based upon a faulty vision. Claire does not leave the Island on a helicopter.
Alternative reality. The reveal that somehow Jack is “off” the Island and wanting to go back (flash forward) stumped many viewer. It was a twist that was hard to fit into the disjointed sequence that was Lost’s plot structure. But it got weirder when the final reveal is that flash forwards were the sideways world (after life).
Clues:
Hurley goes from believing that he is cursed by his lottery winnings, to believing that he is dead from the plane crash. Is this realization the “second” person (besides Rose) who understands that they are all dead? And is this why the passive Hurley turns killer with the van during the Other’s camp raid? It could be said that Hurley’s new belief in his “real” situation is why he became Jacob’s true successor.
Charlie’s heroic act is based upon his own memories, musical notes. It shows that the Island is taking character memories and re-postulating them into sacrificial moments to see how the characters react and use their own “free will” to die.
Charlie states that it is not Penny’s boat. Desmond takes Charlie’s death in vain. If not Penny, the 815ers cannot trust the freighter people. Naomi asks about the “war” on the island, but which war is it? Others vs. survivors, or freighters vs. Others. And is the “war” the final resolution between Jacob and MIB?
When Naomi asks Jack what he did before the island, Jack says he was a doctor. In an odd response, Naomi says “of course you were,” as in “if that is what you believe.” It can’t be taken just as a off-hand remark because Naomi knows more than she appears, as she was “recruited” by Jacob for this mission.
Ben is fearful of the freighter attacking the island. Ben’s own web of lies to his own people begin to unravel as they start to distrust him. He says to Jack when contact is made, “this is the beginning of The End.” It could mean the end of his power. It could mean the end of the Others on the island, as he said “every living thing on the island would be killed.” Or could it relate to Lost’s final episode, “The End,” the re-constitution of the characters souls in the after life?
When Locke is shot and falls into the purge ditch to die, he loses movement in his legs. His paralysis returns as he gets closer to death. No so more than when he decides to take his own life with the revolver; he struggles to reach for the gun. This could show a relationship between parallel universes: as Locke’s life fades on the island, his disabled state returns as his spirit is about to depart the island. It would be symbolic that the island is not part of the real world.
There were several references to being rescued and taken “home.” Home could refer to their off-island lives. But one definition of the word “home” states that it is “an institution for people needing professional care or supervision: example, an old people's home.” Or, in some theories, a mental institution.
Another word used often was “hero.”
A hero is defined as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: example, a war hero.” It can also mean
(in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.
Naomi appears to have died twice on the island: first as a result of the parachute jump and severe injury, and then second with Locke’s knife. There may be a connection in a gamer way to the character’s and their permanent removal from the island: you get one free “death” on the island. It could explain why Patchy survived both the sonic fence or spear gun, to meet his final fate with the underwater grenade. That would mean that all the passengers have used up their one life in the crash.
Discussion:
“ Wishes cost nothing unless you want them to come true. ”
— Frank Tyger
“ Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream. ”
— Oscar Wilde
“ A long dispute means that both parties are wrong. ”
— Voltaire
False assumptions are worse than lies. So many times characters jump to conclusions without understanding the situation or question the facts.
Why did Charlie need to “die?” In order for Desmond’s dream to come true?
Desmond had a final vision - Charlie dying by turning off the flooded underwater station's signal jammer. Charlie accepted the suicide mission. He hides his ring with Aaron and kisses Claire goodbye. He went out in a canoe with Desmond, passing on a list of his life's best moments. Dez volunteers to take Charlie's place, but Charlie knocked him out with an oar and dives to the station, discovering it wasn't flooded after all, but it was inhabited by female Others who beat and interrogated him until reanimated Patchy arrived and shots them, per orders of Ben. Using scuba gear, Mikhail (Patchy) dives down to the station - where, on Ben's orders, he killed Greta and fatally wounded Bonnie before being shot in the chest by Desmond with a speargun. Charlie convinced the dying Bonnie to give him the code to turn off the jamming equipment due to her anger towards Ben's betrayal.
One issue is that Charlie should have known Desmond’s vision is faulty because the station was not flooded. Charlie’s background in blind faith has led him astray, putting aside common sense, to push on with his suicidal mission.
Charlie gives Desmond his final message before drowning. He then received an incoming message, revealing that Desmond's girlfriend Penny hadn't sent their "rescuers." Mikhail, still alive, then blew up a port window, filling the chamber with water. Charlie passed on the message “Not Penny’s Boat” on his hand.
Charlie states when he is writing his “greatest hits” list of events in his life, number one was meeting Claire. He also states that “memories are all” his has - - - which begs the question whether memories are all his or blurred with other island captives. An example is Charlie being called a hero for stopping a purse snatcher in London. The woman he saved was Nadia. Now, Charlie never knew Nadia, for she is part of Sayid’s memories. It would appear that memories from the characters are props in the actions or events of other characters. And yes, that makes a confusing, tangled cosmic string.
But it may be the dynamic stock feed for the island, a West World for spirits. It is not a new concept that souls may need a “break” from their afterlife to go to a spiritual-adventurous resort to “re-live” memories and/or create new ones. Look at Mikail - - - he dies as often as the Yul Brenner gunslinger.
But is Charlie really a hero or a dumb oaf? When the communication station was filling with water, one can see that Charlie could have swam out of the port hole to safety even after failing to open the chamber door. So how does Charlie’s death further the cause of rescue from the island? It does nothing. It does transform Charlie into a spirit that physically haunts Hurley.
Charlie will appear to Hurley during his years off the island. Hurley first saw him in a convenience store and panicked, and his flight turned into a full on car chase with the police. In the interrogation room, Hurley hallucinated Charlie drowning, disturbing him so greatly that he agreed to be taken back to the Santa Rosa Mental Institution. Charlie began visiting him regularly there, and physically slapping him to attention, in plain view of the other patients. Charlie’s sacrifice turns him into a messenger, trying to guide Hurley back to the island, as other characters seem to have done in other story arcs.
But just as memories of the island captives is important in the dynamic of the events that unfold on the island, Jacob’s memories of his dead brother may be the living embodiment of the Island itself. There is an eternal conflict rooted in the Island. We just are never really told what it really, truly all about. There is no context (mortar) to support the events (bricks) in the foundation of the Lost mythology.
The question of who the “original” inhabitants of the Island will never be known. But from the structures and stories, we know that there were Egyptian temples and statues built on the Island. This predates the Roman era, the time when Jacob’s mother was shipwrecked on the Island.
At that time, Crazy Mother was the only person on the island. She was the Island “guardian.” So, we can assume she brought Jacob’s parents to the island. Now, whether she was also a person “brought” to the island during an earlier time is probable, as she probably succeeded some Egyptian leader just as Jacob succeeds her. Kings or rulers of a territory have the right to make their own rules.
There appears to be a clear good vs. evil game at work on the island. It mirrors the tension between science and technology vs. religion and morality. When Jacob and MIB discuss the reason why Jacob continues to bring human beings to the island, MIB laments that they always turn corrupt and Jacob loses in his bet. So it is more likely that the island guardian brings both good and evil people to the island to determine which type of person wins out when people are left to fend for themselves, and when absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is a spark of this power play when Jack returns to the angry camp with Juliet, and Jack tells them to follow “his” plan to kill the Others. He expects them to follow his orders, and “blow them all to Hell.”
Do followers lose their humanity, their “goodness” when leaders continue to absorb the power between individuals and turn that into “evil?” That may be the basic game between Jacob and MIB: a philosophical question that has always ended with evil corrupting the good; the good never winning.
There is no sense of mortality or judgment for the killings on the island. The island may have cloaks of religion, and themes of redemption, but the actual killings is primal and without regard to any consequences. They appear indiscriminate and without remorse, almost in a video game style shooter.
We made the assumption that the 815ers are “good” and the Others are “evil.” But in the backstories of the 815ers, there is much evil: murderers, criminals, mentally unstable personalities, drug abusers, alcoholics and thieves. We know another outsider, Ben, is a psychopathic mass murderer due his purge of Dharma. But what of the original Hostiles? We see only Ben’s influence on them, part of which was learned behavior from Widmore when he was a leader of the band who expelled the military from the island.
There is a ramp up on the killing in this arc to end Season 3. When we compare the final tallies for the series, it is hard to distinguish which group was good or evil. In fact, there appears to be no lessons learned, no remorse and no moral consequences from killing anyone.
If you consider the Island as MIB, the smoke monster and Jacob, they account for 44 deaths.
If you count Ben with the Others, they killed 64 people (including the purge)
If you count the 815 survivors, they killed 42 people.
If you consider outsiders like Danielle and Desmond, Danielle killed 3 and Desmond killed 1 (unless you also count the 254 passengers killed on impact as his fault or the Island’s EM field).
If you consider Widmore and his forces, they killed 10 people.
There is no distinction between whether a death was intentional, accidental, negligent or in self defense. Death is a way of life on the island.
In fact, there is no moral high ground or moral stance that any of these groups declare when the conflict begins or ends. It is almost a primal “us against them” attack reflex. There are killers who are saved in the end, and some killers who are not saved in the end.
The final false assumption at the end of the third season was bad beard Jack's off-island story. We all thought from the editing that this was a drunken Jack, crashing after his divorce to Sarah, to the edge of despair. He even argues with the new chief of surgery about talking to his father about his condition. He is suicidal. He makes one final reach out to Sarah, but she rebuffs him. But in the final scene at the airport, we learn that the bearded Jack pining is not a flash back, but he is a flash forward - - - to a time off-island. The woman who would not talk to him on the phone was Kate. And in a crazed expression of despair, Jack yells "we have to go back!" which means that at least some of the survivors made it off the island.
It was a viewer game changer. It put some doubt in the story time line, which would be further complicated by the island time travel arc which led to another cliff hanger, The Incident.
But confusion would become a constant, soon. There will be unanswered questions like what ever happened to Annie, Ben's island school pal? If she was the only one who was kind to young Ben, where was she in his life? What happened after she left the island? And why did not Ben join her? He kept the wooden doll because she said with it "they would never be a part." But they were kept separated for no apparent reason. Once Ben became a leader and brought more people to the island, he could have re-connected with her. And in a twisted way, Ben's kidnapping and calling Alex "his daughter" was a replacement for Annie. But in the End, why did not Ben seek out Annie? Unless he feared that any wish he had with her would not come true.
There is a parallel between Ben's sad little life and Jack's. Ben pleads to Jack not to call the freighter, telling him he has nothing to go back to on the mainland. Ben has nothing to go back to either. Both men's lives are similar: drunken father's, not getting the respect they deserved, and both wanting to be greater than their father - - - leaders, making the hard life and death decisions, without faltering under the pressure. In all of his manipulative tricks, Ben could not convince Jack to stop the call. And even though Locke killed Naomi as she got the signal, Locke could not convince Jack to stop the call, either.
Magical/Supernatural/Elements:
The ash ring around Jacob’s cabin was thought by many as a talisman to ward off evil spirits from seeing or attacking Jacob.
Tall Walt appearing to Locke in the purge ditch to tell him to get up because “he was work to do.” The strange voice implies that this Walt is not the boy who left the island, but a representation created by MIB or Jacob in shape shifting mode.
Last lines in episodes:
EP 69:
BEN: Well, I certainly hope he helps you, John.
[Ben leaves Locke lying in the ditch.]
EP 70:
CHARLIE: [Laughs and pants] I'm alive. AH! I'm alive!!!!
[A door opens and two women run out, both with guns. A light comes on, and one woman runs to Charlie and points her gun right at his face. He makes a weak smile.]
EP 71:
WALT: Because, you have work to do.
[Locke smiles.]
EP 72:
JACK: We have to go back!
[A plane takes off over Jack's head.]
New Ideas/Tests of Theories:
Naomi is working for Mr. Abaddon who is working for Jacob. Naomi is a messenger. Alpert is a messenger (messenger bag holds Sawyer’s file to Locke). Jacob puts together a team under the guise of Widmore’s obsession to return to control the power of the Island (life and death?). But it is all part Jacob’s plan to bring those people to the Island. For what purpose? Worship him as a god? Experiment on human behavior with his brother, MIB? To prove a point that humanity can make noble self-sacrifices for a greater good?
And the “good” is represented by multiple types of religions, just as “evil” can be represented by the technology driven groups. MIB was drawn to working with the Romans, who had learned to fashion a crude frozen donkey wheel. Crazy Mother and Jacob appear to be naturalists, anti-technology, as it corrupts humanity. The struggle of technology taking away human elements in society could be a core reason why MIB and Jacob argue about the people brought to the island. It may be a game of which type of person can cope the best: spiritual or technological.
For what ever reason, Crazy Mother was the last soul on the Island until the Roman shipwreck. The Romans succeeded the Egyptians as the world’s great engineering civilization. Succession is an important theme in the Lost stories. In a certain way, Jack is succeeding Ben; both had drunken father/daddy issues which never resolved themselves properly. Both grabbed power because they were told as a boy that they lacked the qualities for leadership.
The American military industrial complex succeeded the empires of Europe in World War II, as represented by the jughead bomb on the Island. Apparently, the Hostiles led by Eloise and Widmore took out the U.S. military. Afterward, the scientists of the Dharma Institute were brought to the island as a direct contrast to the cult like subsistent Hostiles. The clash of cultures was set up to determine whether good or evil would will out. In the case of recruiting a disillusioned Ben, the Hostiles “purged” Dharma in mass homicide. One can only say that evil won that battle.
Now, Jacob has brought another series of people to the Island, a cast of characters all with personal physical and mental issues. Many of those people start off “bad,” such as murderers, cheats, liars, killers and drug addicts. Many of those people start off “good,” as in religious, kind, nurturing and caring for other people. The dynamic story line shows that many of the “bad” people turn “good” and many “good” people turn “bad.”
If the Island is a organic construct of the memories of the souls brought into its energy field (its core computing processor), it is possible that Jacob himself is using his own memories to keep his brother “alive” on the Island, just as Eloise is trying desperately to keep her son, Daniel, “alive” with her in the sideways world.
Look at the character tree:
Follow the character paths like falling dominoes. Like in the Egyptian game of Senet, the object is to get your pieces off the board. Or in this version, turn the characters into your black or white (good or evil) color. MIB must have been intent on destroying Jacob's candidates.
You can trace MIB’s path of “influence” throughout the chart. However, it ends with Locke, since it will come to pass that Jack does not follow Flocke’s path to evil, but instead Jack sacrifices himself to save his friends. That sacrifice for the “good of others” is the end game, the check mate, in the Jacob-MIB philosophical battle; Jacob finally wins - - - freeing himself from the obligation of the island wardenship which was his own prison of memories. Hurley reluctantly assumes the role as Island guardian, only to dismantle it - - - and apparently to leave Bernard, Rose, Cindy, the children and any remaining Others on their own, at peace, on the Island.
LOST REBOOT
Recap: Episodes 69-72 (Days 89-91)
In these 4 episodes, we reach the end of Season 3, and the half way point of the LOST saga.
Ben remembers arriving on the island with his father and growing up to become the Others leader. Ben takes Locke to “see” Jacob, the mysterious cult leader. Meanwhile, secrets about Juliet and Naomi are revealed to the camp. At night, the whole camp is in uproar about Naomi’s arrival on the island, as well as her story about the plane having already been found and everyone is dead. As Sawyer plays the tape, Jack and Juliet return. Everyone questions them, but Juliet tries to explain that she is actually helping them. They turn over the tape and hear that Ben plans to lead a team to kidnap all the fertile women. Juliet reveals that she has already told Jack about it, and that they were still thinking of a plan.
A group of survivors trek inland following Jack. On the way, Charlie sees Desmond stop in his tracks, and despite his denial, Charlie suspects he may have had another one of his visions. Jack tells them that they have arrived and that he and Juliet have been forced to come up with a plan to stop the attack. He calls out and Danielle comes out and sets off a large dynamite explosion blowing up a tree. As the rest of the group recoil in surprise, Jack explains that Juliet will mark the tents of pregnant women with white rocks as she was told, but the Others will find nothing inside but dynamite. As Jack states, "We're gonna blow 'em all to hell."
Back at camp, Charlie talks with Naomi. She asks who the survivors are going to war with but he says that it's a long story. She recognizes him from Drive Shaft, because after his apparent death, a "Greatest Hits" album was released and became very popular. Charlie is pleased at the news, although he notices Desmond in the distance, an ominous reminder of his possible fate.
At the same time, Sayid tells Jack that he can't get a rescue signal out to the freighter because of Danielle’s old distress call is blocking the signal. He tells Jack that they need to go to the radio tower to turn it off, but Juliet says it would make no difference,, as Ben is blocking all transmissions from an underwater station called The Looking Glass. She mentions that she has no idea where it is, but Sayid he thinks he might know.
Charlie sits with Claire as Desmond approaches, asking to speak with him. Desmond reluctantly admits that he lied, and has seen a flash — one of Claire and Aaron getting into a Helicopter and leaving the Island. Charlie at first does not understand how this can be bad, but Desmond explains that for this to happen, Charlie must drown after "flicking a switch next to a yellow light" in a hatch.
Jack devises a defense plan to combat the kidnapping plot. Charlie volunteers to go to the underwater station to switch off the jamming equipment so Claire can be saved.
The camp leaves to begin their second exodus to the radio tower.
Sayid, Jin and Bernard are left behind as the three marksmen who will ambush the Others. He makes Jack promise that no matter what happens on the beach, Jack will lead the remaining survivors to the tower and signal the ship; he tells Jack that he is willing to die but only if the others can be rescued. Jack understands and is ready to undertake the long trek to the tower. Before leaving with the others for the radio tower, Rose reminds Bernard that he is "not Rambo" and warns him to be careful. Jin speaks with Sun, intimately telling her to stay close to Jack. Sun asks him why he is staying behind to help, he tells her (in English) because they need to go home. Sun cries and they kiss, Juliet watches further away.
Once they are on their way, Naomi takes Jack aside and tells him that Juliet is not trusted by the other survivors. Then she shows him how to use the radio - in case she doesn't make it.
In the underground station, Charlie is captured is interrogated by Bonnie and Greta. He says that he found out about the Looking Glass from Juliet. Bonnie and Greta go into the radio room to call Ben.
Charlie sees the blinking yellow light from Desmond's vision of the jamming equipment. After he shouts his name to Ben, Bonnie tells Ben about Juliet's betrayal (overheard by Alpert and Patchy). Ben orders Patchy to go to the Looking Glass to find out why Charlie is there. Ben has to admit he lied about the station being inoperable. Patchy wonders what else Juliet has told the Losties. Ben tries to contact the Others' kidnap team but they are in radio silence.
Charlie’s final message that the people claiming to liberate them are not who they seem to be...
Science:
Once the pin is pulled the fuse and the chemical explosive do not require oxygen to do their stuff, so a grenade can explode under water.
Explosive chemical reactions break down compounds into highly compressed gases, as well as heat resulting from compound molecules being blasted apart. The gases expand rapidly, and the heat speeds up individual gas particles to increase expansion speed even more.
This rapidly expanding gas, called a pressure wave, is the key to any explosive's destructive power. If the pressure wave is fast enough to break the sound barrier, it generates a powerful shock wave. A land explosion can burn skin, tear apart limbs and propel objects and shrapnel through the air.
When the pressure wave travels through the air and connects with a living organism, the organism's body reflects most of the force. This is because there's a difference in densities: The molecules in solid skin are closer together than the rapidly moving gas molecules.
However, portions of your body contain gas, meaning the density is the same as the expanding gas in the pressure wave. The pressure wave hits the body and, while most of it is reflected, some of it manages to compress internal gases. As a result, the victim sustains primary blast injuries. These typically affect the lungs, ears and -- in rare cases -- intestines. These gassy chambers basically implode, rupturing and fragmenting tissue.
In an explosion surrounded by air, the atmosphere will compress and absorb some of the explosive energy. This decreases the lethal range of the explosion. Water, however, is often described as incompressible. Technically, it can compress, but it takes a massive amount of pressure to apply a small amount of compression. This means that in an underwater explosion, the surrounding water doesn't absorb the pressure like air does, but moves with it. An underwater explosion doesn't propel objects through the water nearly as far as a surface explosion throws shrapnel because of the drag water exerts on objects. However, an underwater explosion transmits pressure with greater intensity over a longer distance.
Improbabilities:
Patchy “surviving” a spear to the chest AND going deep underwater (holding his breath with a gaping chest wound) to detonate a grenade which drowns Charlie in the Looking Glass communication room.
Themes:
Sacrifice. Charlie’s death based upon a faulty vision. Claire does not leave the Island on a helicopter.
Alternative reality. The reveal that somehow Jack is “off” the Island and wanting to go back (flash forward) stumped many viewer. It was a twist that was hard to fit into the disjointed sequence that was Lost’s plot structure. But it got weirder when the final reveal is that flash forwards were the sideways world (after life).
Clues:
Hurley goes from believing that he is cursed by his lottery winnings, to believing that he is dead from the plane crash. Is this realization the “second” person (besides Rose) who understands that they are all dead? And is this why the passive Hurley turns killer with the van during the Other’s camp raid? It could be said that Hurley’s new belief in his “real” situation is why he became Jacob’s true successor.
Charlie’s heroic act is based upon his own memories, musical notes. It shows that the Island is taking character memories and re-postulating them into sacrificial moments to see how the characters react and use their own “free will” to die.
Charlie states that it is not Penny’s boat. Desmond takes Charlie’s death in vain. If not Penny, the 815ers cannot trust the freighter people. Naomi asks about the “war” on the island, but which war is it? Others vs. survivors, or freighters vs. Others. And is the “war” the final resolution between Jacob and MIB?
When Naomi asks Jack what he did before the island, Jack says he was a doctor. In an odd response, Naomi says “of course you were,” as in “if that is what you believe.” It can’t be taken just as a off-hand remark because Naomi knows more than she appears, as she was “recruited” by Jacob for this mission.
Ben is fearful of the freighter attacking the island. Ben’s own web of lies to his own people begin to unravel as they start to distrust him. He says to Jack when contact is made, “this is the beginning of The End.” It could mean the end of his power. It could mean the end of the Others on the island, as he said “every living thing on the island would be killed.” Or could it relate to Lost’s final episode, “The End,” the re-constitution of the characters souls in the after life?
When Locke is shot and falls into the purge ditch to die, he loses movement in his legs. His paralysis returns as he gets closer to death. No so more than when he decides to take his own life with the revolver; he struggles to reach for the gun. This could show a relationship between parallel universes: as Locke’s life fades on the island, his disabled state returns as his spirit is about to depart the island. It would be symbolic that the island is not part of the real world.
There were several references to being rescued and taken “home.” Home could refer to their off-island lives. But one definition of the word “home” states that it is “an institution for people needing professional care or supervision: example, an old people's home.” Or, in some theories, a mental institution.
Another word used often was “hero.”
A hero is defined as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: example, a war hero.” It can also mean
(in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.
Naomi appears to have died twice on the island: first as a result of the parachute jump and severe injury, and then second with Locke’s knife. There may be a connection in a gamer way to the character’s and their permanent removal from the island: you get one free “death” on the island. It could explain why Patchy survived both the sonic fence or spear gun, to meet his final fate with the underwater grenade. That would mean that all the passengers have used up their one life in the crash.
Discussion:
“ Wishes cost nothing unless you want them to come true. ”
— Frank Tyger
“ Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream. ”
— Oscar Wilde
“ A long dispute means that both parties are wrong. ”
— Voltaire
False assumptions are worse than lies. So many times characters jump to conclusions without understanding the situation or question the facts.
Why did Charlie need to “die?” In order for Desmond’s dream to come true?
Desmond had a final vision - Charlie dying by turning off the flooded underwater station's signal jammer. Charlie accepted the suicide mission. He hides his ring with Aaron and kisses Claire goodbye. He went out in a canoe with Desmond, passing on a list of his life's best moments. Dez volunteers to take Charlie's place, but Charlie knocked him out with an oar and dives to the station, discovering it wasn't flooded after all, but it was inhabited by female Others who beat and interrogated him until reanimated Patchy arrived and shots them, per orders of Ben. Using scuba gear, Mikhail (Patchy) dives down to the station - where, on Ben's orders, he killed Greta and fatally wounded Bonnie before being shot in the chest by Desmond with a speargun. Charlie convinced the dying Bonnie to give him the code to turn off the jamming equipment due to her anger towards Ben's betrayal.
One issue is that Charlie should have known Desmond’s vision is faulty because the station was not flooded. Charlie’s background in blind faith has led him astray, putting aside common sense, to push on with his suicidal mission.
Charlie gives Desmond his final message before drowning. He then received an incoming message, revealing that Desmond's girlfriend Penny hadn't sent their "rescuers." Mikhail, still alive, then blew up a port window, filling the chamber with water. Charlie passed on the message “Not Penny’s Boat” on his hand.
Charlie states when he is writing his “greatest hits” list of events in his life, number one was meeting Claire. He also states that “memories are all” his has - - - which begs the question whether memories are all his or blurred with other island captives. An example is Charlie being called a hero for stopping a purse snatcher in London. The woman he saved was Nadia. Now, Charlie never knew Nadia, for she is part of Sayid’s memories. It would appear that memories from the characters are props in the actions or events of other characters. And yes, that makes a confusing, tangled cosmic string.
But it may be the dynamic stock feed for the island, a West World for spirits. It is not a new concept that souls may need a “break” from their afterlife to go to a spiritual-adventurous resort to “re-live” memories and/or create new ones. Look at Mikail - - - he dies as often as the Yul Brenner gunslinger.
But is Charlie really a hero or a dumb oaf? When the communication station was filling with water, one can see that Charlie could have swam out of the port hole to safety even after failing to open the chamber door. So how does Charlie’s death further the cause of rescue from the island? It does nothing. It does transform Charlie into a spirit that physically haunts Hurley.
Charlie will appear to Hurley during his years off the island. Hurley first saw him in a convenience store and panicked, and his flight turned into a full on car chase with the police. In the interrogation room, Hurley hallucinated Charlie drowning, disturbing him so greatly that he agreed to be taken back to the Santa Rosa Mental Institution. Charlie began visiting him regularly there, and physically slapping him to attention, in plain view of the other patients. Charlie’s sacrifice turns him into a messenger, trying to guide Hurley back to the island, as other characters seem to have done in other story arcs.
But just as memories of the island captives is important in the dynamic of the events that unfold on the island, Jacob’s memories of his dead brother may be the living embodiment of the Island itself. There is an eternal conflict rooted in the Island. We just are never really told what it really, truly all about. There is no context (mortar) to support the events (bricks) in the foundation of the Lost mythology.
The question of who the “original” inhabitants of the Island will never be known. But from the structures and stories, we know that there were Egyptian temples and statues built on the Island. This predates the Roman era, the time when Jacob’s mother was shipwrecked on the Island.
At that time, Crazy Mother was the only person on the island. She was the Island “guardian.” So, we can assume she brought Jacob’s parents to the island. Now, whether she was also a person “brought” to the island during an earlier time is probable, as she probably succeeded some Egyptian leader just as Jacob succeeds her. Kings or rulers of a territory have the right to make their own rules.
There appears to be a clear good vs. evil game at work on the island. It mirrors the tension between science and technology vs. religion and morality. When Jacob and MIB discuss the reason why Jacob continues to bring human beings to the island, MIB laments that they always turn corrupt and Jacob loses in his bet. So it is more likely that the island guardian brings both good and evil people to the island to determine which type of person wins out when people are left to fend for themselves, and when absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is a spark of this power play when Jack returns to the angry camp with Juliet, and Jack tells them to follow “his” plan to kill the Others. He expects them to follow his orders, and “blow them all to Hell.”
Do followers lose their humanity, their “goodness” when leaders continue to absorb the power between individuals and turn that into “evil?” That may be the basic game between Jacob and MIB: a philosophical question that has always ended with evil corrupting the good; the good never winning.
There is no sense of mortality or judgment for the killings on the island. The island may have cloaks of religion, and themes of redemption, but the actual killings is primal and without regard to any consequences. They appear indiscriminate and without remorse, almost in a video game style shooter.
We made the assumption that the 815ers are “good” and the Others are “evil.” But in the backstories of the 815ers, there is much evil: murderers, criminals, mentally unstable personalities, drug abusers, alcoholics and thieves. We know another outsider, Ben, is a psychopathic mass murderer due his purge of Dharma. But what of the original Hostiles? We see only Ben’s influence on them, part of which was learned behavior from Widmore when he was a leader of the band who expelled the military from the island.
There is a ramp up on the killing in this arc to end Season 3. When we compare the final tallies for the series, it is hard to distinguish which group was good or evil. In fact, there appears to be no lessons learned, no remorse and no moral consequences from killing anyone.
If you consider the Island as MIB, the smoke monster and Jacob, they account for 44 deaths.
If you count Ben with the Others, they killed 64 people (including the purge)
If you count the 815 survivors, they killed 42 people.
If you consider outsiders like Danielle and Desmond, Danielle killed 3 and Desmond killed 1 (unless you also count the 254 passengers killed on impact as his fault or the Island’s EM field).
If you consider Widmore and his forces, they killed 10 people.
There is no distinction between whether a death was intentional, accidental, negligent or in self defense. Death is a way of life on the island.
In fact, there is no moral high ground or moral stance that any of these groups declare when the conflict begins or ends. It is almost a primal “us against them” attack reflex. There are killers who are saved in the end, and some killers who are not saved in the end.
The final false assumption at the end of the third season was bad beard Jack's off-island story. We all thought from the editing that this was a drunken Jack, crashing after his divorce to Sarah, to the edge of despair. He even argues with the new chief of surgery about talking to his father about his condition. He is suicidal. He makes one final reach out to Sarah, but she rebuffs him. But in the final scene at the airport, we learn that the bearded Jack pining is not a flash back, but he is a flash forward - - - to a time off-island. The woman who would not talk to him on the phone was Kate. And in a crazed expression of despair, Jack yells "we have to go back!" which means that at least some of the survivors made it off the island.
It was a viewer game changer. It put some doubt in the story time line, which would be further complicated by the island time travel arc which led to another cliff hanger, The Incident.
But confusion would become a constant, soon. There will be unanswered questions like what ever happened to Annie, Ben's island school pal? If she was the only one who was kind to young Ben, where was she in his life? What happened after she left the island? And why did not Ben join her? He kept the wooden doll because she said with it "they would never be a part." But they were kept separated for no apparent reason. Once Ben became a leader and brought more people to the island, he could have re-connected with her. And in a twisted way, Ben's kidnapping and calling Alex "his daughter" was a replacement for Annie. But in the End, why did not Ben seek out Annie? Unless he feared that any wish he had with her would not come true.
There is a parallel between Ben's sad little life and Jack's. Ben pleads to Jack not to call the freighter, telling him he has nothing to go back to on the mainland. Ben has nothing to go back to either. Both men's lives are similar: drunken father's, not getting the respect they deserved, and both wanting to be greater than their father - - - leaders, making the hard life and death decisions, without faltering under the pressure. In all of his manipulative tricks, Ben could not convince Jack to stop the call. And even though Locke killed Naomi as she got the signal, Locke could not convince Jack to stop the call, either.
Magical/Supernatural/Elements:
The ash ring around Jacob’s cabin was thought by many as a talisman to ward off evil spirits from seeing or attacking Jacob.
Tall Walt appearing to Locke in the purge ditch to tell him to get up because “he was work to do.” The strange voice implies that this Walt is not the boy who left the island, but a representation created by MIB or Jacob in shape shifting mode.
Last lines in episodes:
EP 69:
BEN: Well, I certainly hope he helps you, John.
[Ben leaves Locke lying in the ditch.]
EP 70:
CHARLIE: [Laughs and pants] I'm alive. AH! I'm alive!!!!
[A door opens and two women run out, both with guns. A light comes on, and one woman runs to Charlie and points her gun right at his face. He makes a weak smile.]
EP 71:
WALT: Because, you have work to do.
[Locke smiles.]
EP 72:
JACK: We have to go back!
[A plane takes off over Jack's head.]
New Ideas/Tests of Theories:
Naomi is working for Mr. Abaddon who is working for Jacob. Naomi is a messenger. Alpert is a messenger (messenger bag holds Sawyer’s file to Locke). Jacob puts together a team under the guise of Widmore’s obsession to return to control the power of the Island (life and death?). But it is all part Jacob’s plan to bring those people to the Island. For what purpose? Worship him as a god? Experiment on human behavior with his brother, MIB? To prove a point that humanity can make noble self-sacrifices for a greater good?
And the “good” is represented by multiple types of religions, just as “evil” can be represented by the technology driven groups. MIB was drawn to working with the Romans, who had learned to fashion a crude frozen donkey wheel. Crazy Mother and Jacob appear to be naturalists, anti-technology, as it corrupts humanity. The struggle of technology taking away human elements in society could be a core reason why MIB and Jacob argue about the people brought to the island. It may be a game of which type of person can cope the best: spiritual or technological.
For what ever reason, Crazy Mother was the last soul on the Island until the Roman shipwreck. The Romans succeeded the Egyptians as the world’s great engineering civilization. Succession is an important theme in the Lost stories. In a certain way, Jack is succeeding Ben; both had drunken father/daddy issues which never resolved themselves properly. Both grabbed power because they were told as a boy that they lacked the qualities for leadership.
The American military industrial complex succeeded the empires of Europe in World War II, as represented by the jughead bomb on the Island. Apparently, the Hostiles led by Eloise and Widmore took out the U.S. military. Afterward, the scientists of the Dharma Institute were brought to the island as a direct contrast to the cult like subsistent Hostiles. The clash of cultures was set up to determine whether good or evil would will out. In the case of recruiting a disillusioned Ben, the Hostiles “purged” Dharma in mass homicide. One can only say that evil won that battle.
Now, Jacob has brought another series of people to the Island, a cast of characters all with personal physical and mental issues. Many of those people start off “bad,” such as murderers, cheats, liars, killers and drug addicts. Many of those people start off “good,” as in religious, kind, nurturing and caring for other people. The dynamic story line shows that many of the “bad” people turn “good” and many “good” people turn “bad.”
If the Island is a organic construct of the memories of the souls brought into its energy field (its core computing processor), it is possible that Jacob himself is using his own memories to keep his brother “alive” on the Island, just as Eloise is trying desperately to keep her son, Daniel, “alive” with her in the sideways world.
Look at the character tree:
Follow the character paths like falling dominoes. Like in the Egyptian game of Senet, the object is to get your pieces off the board. Or in this version, turn the characters into your black or white (good or evil) color. MIB must have been intent on destroying Jacob's candidates.
You can trace MIB’s path of “influence” throughout the chart. However, it ends with Locke, since it will come to pass that Jack does not follow Flocke’s path to evil, but instead Jack sacrifices himself to save his friends. That sacrifice for the “good of others” is the end game, the check mate, in the Jacob-MIB philosophical battle; Jacob finally wins - - - freeing himself from the obligation of the island wardenship which was his own prison of memories. Hurley reluctantly assumes the role as Island guardian, only to dismantle it - - - and apparently to leave Bernard, Rose, Cindy, the children and any remaining Others on their own, at peace, on the Island.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
