A LOST RANT

 ScreenRant listed the 10 worst “answers” of LOST:

10. The Whispers are Souls.

The whispers come from the souls of dead people who haven't "moved on" yet like Michael.
It was an answer that gave evidence to the early purgatory theorists, which the show runner continually deny.

9.  Desmond had Mind Powers because of Electromagnetism

Desmond’s powers were nonsense and caused "electromagnetism" stemming from the hatch implosion makes no sense because there were others near the Hatch who were not affected.

8.  The Sideways Timeline is Purgatory

 
The opening of Season 6 seemed to suggest that Juliet had split the timeline.
In one branch, the island remained and nothing changed. In the other branch, the island was destroyed and the events of LOST never occurred. But then we found out that it was not a branching timeline, but purgatory. It caused a lot of confusion — "they were dead the whole time!" — but even those who weren't confused were left bitterly disappointed and upset with the reveal. Even some tried to salvage the sideways branch as being some sort of “dream” state (before moving on?) but it all comes down to Bad Filler episodes.

 7.  Walt’s Special Powers

 
Walt plays an important role throughout the first season, and to some extent, the second season as well. It's very clear that he has some type of special connection with the island, and has some sort of mental powers. He also showed some sort of teleportation powers in Season 2, as he appears to Shannon right before she dies. But a growth spurt exiled Walt from the series and the disappointing answer for his mysterious powers was that he was "special.”

6.   Revived Locke was Actually the Man in Black

Locke dies midway through Season 5, but we were briefly led to believe that he was revived after returning to the island. Of course, Locke remained dead, and the Man in Black was simply using his corpse to have a corporeal form to split the Others from Jacob so he could try to escape the Island. Of course, a paralyzed Locke crash landing on the island can walk, run and hunt like an Outback warrior, but his remains stay dead without resurrection even though Jack’s dad wanders around it at will?

5.  The Confusing Numbers

The numbers were another major mystery, and they were a part of LOST from the very beginning. In the end, we found out that the numbers correlated to Jacob's numbering system for the candidates to replace him. Why would an island god need to be replaced by a mortal?  As if that wasn't lame enough, it also doesn't answer anything else: Why were they broadcasting from the tower? Why do they bring people bad luck? Why are they seemingly cursed? Why do they constantly recur both on and off the island?

4.  The Smoke Monster’s origins

There were countless theories regarding the Smoke Monster, and it remained one of the most prevalent questions throughout all six years of the show. And then we found out it was just the result of some magical reaction after Jacob’s brother (the Man in Black) fell in the magical glowing light cave.


3. Jacob and The Man in Black

For that matter, Jacob and the Man in Black  remain extremely divisive and controversial figures. "Jacob" was mentioned as far back as Season 3, and while there are various "hints" of their existence throughout the first couple seasons,  most people found their existence a total blindside that ruined the show. The show pivoted abruptly to a supernatural fantasy show with no reason. All the mysteries, questions and Easter eggs were washed away by two god-boys playing with humans (spirits) as pawns. There origin story episode was very good but it should have been shown early in Season 1 if that is the true mythology of the show’s creators (which most people believe was not - - - because they wrote themselves into too many dead ends to rationally explain.)

2.  Magic Island

Perhaps the biggest question of all contained the most disappointing answer of all. "What is the island?" It's a question that permeated LOST throughout all six seasons, as it was clearly evident that it wasn't just a regular island. There were scientific facts thrown at us to analyze, research and theorize. From an alien ship, to a parallel universe time portal to a secret military base, there were viable alternatives to the explanation that the island was just “magical.”  

1.  The Magic Light

But why was the island magical? The explanation was that the island containing some sort of “magical light” that does magical things and keeps evil at bay from doing what exactly? What is the magic light exactly? Was the magic light the cause for all the crazy island stuff?  Locke's sudden ability to walk?  Smoke Monster's origins?  The ability for the island to literally move through space and time?. Electromagnetic properties of the island? The ability to disappear? Magic as being the answer to all the unanswered questions is a cop-out of epic proportions.

CRACKED UP

Cracked had an article trying to answer the great unsolved mysteries of television.

Of course, LOST was one of those TV enigmas.

This is how it summed up the series and its ending:

What The Hell, Lost?

It begins with the basic premise question:  were the characters time-travelers, incompetent aliens, sexy magicians or spirits in the afterlife? Was everyone on the show dead? Was it all the dream of an autistic child?

Their  Explanation:

It's not the afterlife, and the island is magic. As for every other question, some were answered in an epilogue on the Season 6 DVD set, though they too can easily be summed as everything was an experiment by DHARMA.

Some DVD question and answers were referenced as support of their argument:

"What's with that giant bird from Seasons 1 and 2?" DHARMA experimented on animals!

"Why do women have pregnancy problems on the Island?" It's the electromagnetism!

"What was that weird thing in Room 23 that looked like a brainwashing video?" A brainwashing video! DHARMA used it to erase memories!

"Where did the food drops come from?" A warehouse in Guam!

"Why polar bears?" They were good candidates for testing!

>>>> Except, what about the elements not tied to the Dharma folks. Namely, all the island inhabitants, including the immortal guardians Crazy Mom and Jacob?  Does the island magic come from these immortals trapped on the island (for what reason?)? See, the question within the question madness?!

Sure, one can logically state that something out of the ordinary would seem to be "magic" to a primitive culture. For example, an isolated  island tribe with no contact with modern, western civilization could consider a helicopter as "magic" since they have never seen aircraft. But the pilot could "explain" to the tribe the basic principles of flight. In LOST, the explanation of "magic" has no basic principle in which viewers could believe. It is purely used in this context as a broad brush for a fantasy story (which intentionally did not want to explain its elements).

ENERGY MATTER SPIRITS

For what it is worth, the theme of spirituality can be changed to spirits as an explanation of the Jacob-MIB dynamic.

We were taught that e=mc2 or energy=mass x the speed of light squared.

Energy has a mass component, but also mass has an energy component (e/speed of light squared).

We look upon ourselves as organic beings with the sense of higher purpose, or a spiritual take on the universe.

What if it is the opposite. What if there are spirits who are beings who take on energy to form mass.

For example, when Jacob is "killed" but is still wandering the island interacting with the castaways, he comes to his final time at a camp fire. He tells the castaways that once the "fire" goes out his life ends. So he asks for a volunteer to be the next island guardian.

From this exchange we can postulate that Ben did not "kill" Jacob, per se. MIB burned Jacob's body, but that was merely a shell for the spirit called Jacob. The spirit could still live if it had a source of energy (a fire). The spirit consumed the body mass into energy, then recreated it in a physical form to interact and communicate with the survivors.

This is the same mechanism to explain the smoke monster. It can change physical appearance from MIB, smoke or Flocke because it is not confined to a human body. As a spirit, it can manipulate energy into physical form to absorb more energy (perhaps, as speculated in earlier posts, consuming the "fear" from human beings).

This explains why Jacob and MIB could not harm each other - - - because as spirits they are equals. They are not doomed by age, injury or death of a human being. They are immortal if they chose to be immortal. But if they chose to leave the island, then their spiritual existence would be compromised. The island, with its unusual magnetic energy, was the source of the spiritual well being of Jacob and MIB. But when that was disrupted, it endangered each of them.

In nature, all beings have some sense of survival. Crazy Mother's rampage against the Roman shipwreck survivors was probably to protect the spiritual energy field - - - her own survival. But just with Jacob's demise, MIB had altered the energy field with the FDW so Crazy Mother was venerable. She no longer wanted to live trapped on the island alone, so she submitted to her own death. Or so it would seem. Her spirit may have lived on in Jacob, who we were led to believe was a boy who became immortal when he became the guardian. Likewise, when his brother was killed but found his soul cast into the light cave, he turned into a spirit as well.

The idea that the island was populated with spirits and not immortal human beings helps explain the nature of the Jacob-MIB story. However, it does not explain the relationship with the island visitors and 815 survivors whose mortality was clearly displayed throughout the series.

MIRROR MIRROR

One of the props and themes of LOST was the mirror. Characters would look into a mirror to contemplate a decision or change. The main characters personal issues seem to mirror each other.

But what is a mirror? 

A mirror is a reflective surface, now typically of glass coated with a metal amalgam, that reflects a clear image. It also means something regarded as accurately representing something else: the stage is supposed to be the mirror of life. In Computing, it is a site on a network that stores some or all of the contents from another site.As a verb, mirror means to show a reflection something such the clear water mirrored the sky.
It also means to correspond to, such as gradations of educational attainment that mirror differences in social background.

The origin of the word "mirror" is Middle English: from Old French mirour, based on Latin mirare ‘look at.’ Early senses also included ‘a crystal used in magic’ and ‘a person deserving imitation.’

And the early sense may be the basis for the plots of LOST.  Ben told Locke that the island was "a magic box," and if wished hard enough, he would get his wish granted. In Locke's case, his wish was to confront his devious father, Cooper, for one last time. In that situation, Cooper said that he was driving along then he was run off the road in an accident - - - and suddenly wound up as a prisoner on the island. Cooper clearly believed he had died and gone to hell.

Sideways Jack once looked into a mirror and saw unfamiliar scars, scars from his childhood or injuries from the island plane crash. That could have meant that Jack was looking at his future self, or that Jack was looking through a portal to another universe. 

The main characters in the sideways world would frequently confronted themselves in mirrors or reflective surfaces. According to Jack Bender, executor producer and director of LOST, these scenes showed the characters figuratively and literally "confronting their images and the reflections of themselves." The visual metaphor expressed the flash sideways' theme of introspection, and also represented how the flash sideways showed "what you wish for or what you're scared of."

That may be a too simple, too vague explanation of this device.

And it does not explain why the series added a second dimension of the sideways world into the main story line.

The various fan theories on mirrors from lostpedia are:

Deja Vu

• The mirror moments correspond to characters' brief *remembrance* of their lives on the island, before some major shift causes the alternate timeline to take over their lives and cause fairly complete amnesia. The reflective gaze is especially apt to triggers these memories, though it need not be the only way a character experiences deja vu.
  • This seems to be supported by Jack's behavior. He notices an inexplicable bruise on his neck at LAX airport and later suffers similar confusion over his appendectomy (albeit via direct body inspection, not mirror use).

Parallel "Bleed Through"

• The moments when alt-timeline characters observe themselves in mirrors represent the effect of a bleed-through with the simultaneously occurring main time line.

Mirror as Window into Different Timeline

• Gazing through a mirror, either on the Island Lighthouse  or within the alt-timeline, provides a means of seeing into the other timeline.  Jacob uses the mirror to gaze into many different possible outcomes, past, future, and within the flash-sideways. Characters in the flash-sideways gazing or reacting emotionally to a mirror are subliminal accessing a different chronology/reality.

 But coupled with the other evidence that the frozen donkey wheel was a time-space portal, the link between the mirror (magic) and the two different worlds (island, sideways-after life) leads to different universes theory.

Many scientists believe that there are multiple parallel universes that exist simultaneous in the same space. Think of it like your car radio - - - each separate station is a different universe but in the same space of your vehicle. Just like when a storm or electric power lines cause radio interference, two stations may blur today on the sound speakers. This overlap may be what was happening at certain points in the LOST story lines. Mainland Jack was seeing images of Island Jack; Sideways Jack was seeing images of Island Jack. But each Jack was a different "person" in a different "universe." That would explain the major differences in Jack's personal life: in the Mainland, he had been married without a child to Sarah; but in the Sideways world he had been married to Juliet and he had a son. "Jack" never reconciled the differences in his personal life between the Mainland and the Sideways realities. Maybe, he did not need to. Perhaps his "death" in the portal island world collapsed his various separate lives into one universe - - - the sideways one. 

That would explain why Juliet suddenly fell for a complete stranger, Sawyer, with only a glancing touch. Their island universe experience suddenly rushed into their sideways world and overwhelmed their sideways past experiences.

Three different universes. Three different Jacks, Juliets, Sawyers, etc. Their lives seem to collapse into one time line like the matter at the event horizon of a black hole.

MAGIC BOX

Penn and Teller are Las Vegas' premiere magic act. They are in the genre of comedy-magicians who take their craft seriously, but try to entertain audiences by revealing some alleged secrets while at the same time going crazy illusions. They have crossed over into many television projects, like Fool Us, a television show which professional magicians attempt to stump Penn and Teller on their tricks.

The art of magic is the slight of hand, misdirection, and logical interruption of a person's perception to surprise them with an unexpected result - - - like finding one's card in shuffled deck to sawing a woman in a box in half.  The latter uses a magic box to create the illusion of a saw blade tearing a woman in half, then separating the box into two halves.

If you want to know how that illusion is done, the internet probably has the answer.

If you want to know how the LOST island "magic box" works, then that is a different story.

We were told by Ben that the island is like a magic box, and if you want something badly enough, your wish will be fulfilled. In Locke's case, it was revenge upon his father, Cooper, who was suddenly transported to the island, held captive, then later killed in another revenge moment by Sawyer.

But what was the magic box?

It was never explained in the scripts. It may be a writer's slight of hand to move the action along without any rational basis for it. It was a tool to accomplish a plot twist without explaining it.

There are several ways to view the "magic"of the island through the metaphor of the box.

1. It could be a wish fulfillment center. If one believes in the island like children believe strongly in Santa Claus, you wishes will be granted by the island. Examples: Ben got cancer and needed to cure, so the island fulfilled his wish by crashing Flight 815 with Jack on board.

2. It is a dream catcher. The island EM fields can tap into human memories and recreate them in physical forms. This would explain Kate's horse, Walt's polar bear comic and Jack's father being present and seen on the island.  Instead of theater of the mind, it is actual theater of the island as memories become props. (Perhaps, this is how the smoke monster was created, through the nightmares of children about things attacking them in the dark.) The stronger the emotional tie to the memory, the faster the island conjures up the prop.

3. It is a Pandora's Box. The island is the mythological repository for the jar of all evils that the god, Pandora, sent to Earth to create pain on mankind. For those who have evil in their heart, like Ben, they could access the evils inside the box. Locke was so hateful toward his father, that he wanted to kill him, so the box provided Cooper to Locke.

4. It is Room 23, a mind control experimental lab. Those who were held captive or part of Dharma could have been exposed to the techniques of mind control. As a side effect, or part of the program, vivid memories are implanted into subjects which seem real to them outside the laboratory. Hurley can talk to dead people because those conversations were implanted into his memories.

POOR JOHN

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

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

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

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

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

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

One can be poor economically, socially and spiritually.

Locke was poor in all three of those categories.

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

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

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

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

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

VAMPIRE MICE

There has always been a question of why the heart of the island, which is the life force that has the properties to give life, death and rebirth, needs to be protected from human beings.

It is one of those common sense questions that has no logical answer.

Which gets us to "vampire mice." 

New medical research studies published in Science and Nature Medicine state that older mice given blood from younger rodents quickly become rejuvenated, exhibiting greater strength and memory. The concept of injecting older mice with younger blood leads to immortal comparisons with literary vampires.

The studies stated that a protein called GDF11 — also found in human blood — is behind the rejuvenating properties.  Concentration of the substance appears to decline in advanced years. 

An an unrelated study, aging and death was tied to a person's lack of blood stem cells which also decline as one ages.

These findings could be used to treat age-related diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. However, some scientists warn that stimulating the rapid regrowth of cells could possibly lead to increased risks of cancer.

The concept of "new blood" is an old phrase that embraces change. But now it has the meaning of prolonging life.

So why were guardians needed to "protect" the island? Perhaps, it was another red herring. The concept was not to protect the island but to bring young human beings to the island so the mythical light force (if it was a being) could feast upon the blood of the young to remain rejuvenated and strong.

If you add the pre-Columbian rituals of the ancient Mayan civilization which were very keen on human blood and blood sacrifices, there may be something to this notion of young blood. The Mayans used sacrifices, including small children, as a means to appease their gods. They believed that the gods provided them with everything, including rain and good harvests. In order to keep the cycle of life going, the Mayans had to offer blood to those gods.

Is it possible that the LOST survivors were used like cattle to feed the blood requirements of an alien island being? Was Jacob not the guardian of the island, but the person in charge of procuring the next candidates for the blood feast? This would also explain why there was no moral compass on the island. Those living on it lived and died in a brutal fashion. The island itself conformed its power into smoke monsters to take the appearance of humans in order to have those on the island have more conflict and blood shed. And if it was not at the level the island wanted, the smoke monster would rage out of control like it did at the Temple in Season 6.

If the characters on the island were only brought there to feed the blood lust of the island's heart, that puts LOST into a whole new, creepy perspective.

OPTICS

There were very strong clues throughout the series about illusion (there was even a boat in the marina by that name.)

The science of illusion is quite simple but with complex ramifications. Human eyes skim and our brains tend to jump to conclusions. The act of seeing something begins with light rays bouncing off an object. These rays enter the eyes through the cornea, which is the clear, outer portion of the eye. The cornea then bends or refracts the light rays as they go through the black part of your eye, the pupil. The iris — the colored portion of your eye — contracts or expands to change the amount of light that goes through.

Finally, the light rays go through the lens of your eye, which changes shape to target the light towards your retina, the thin tissue at the back of your eye that is full of nerve cells that detect light. The cells in the retina, called rods and cones, turn the light into electrical signals. That gets sent through the optic nerve, where the brain interprets them.

The entire process takes about one-tenth of a second, but that's long enough to make your brain confused sometimes, conclude neurobiologists.

By arranging a series of patterns, images, and colors strategically, or playing with the way an object is lit, the brain can be tricked into seeing something that isn't there. How you perceive proportion can also be altered depending on the known objects that are nearby. It's not magic — it's an optical illusion.

How can smart individual be "tricked" into seeing what is not there? Evolutionary scientists believe that this is part of a basic instinct of survival - - - the need to instantly recognize the environment and threats and act accordingly.  Early man was not at the top of the food chain. Large animals would attack human beings. When a mammal is a target of a hunter, it needs to develop sensory traits to help level the playing field. Optics was one of those means to detect predators.

 But the information had to be acted upon almost instanteously. And that is where human memory comes into play. If a person has had a similar experience, the brain will store important cues for instant access in case of danger assessment. The better survivors trained their mind and memory to act fast and correctly when in danger.

The application to LOST is apparent. Modern human beings have lost most of their survival instincts. This is because humans evolved into the top predator in most environments. The ability to fashion tools and weapons, strong shelters, and live in communities helped propel that change. But if the roles were reversed, as in the series, the ability to make tools, weapons, shelter, band together and quickly assess danger were all critical to the characters' survival. Or it should have been.

But with the introduction of supernatural or magical elements into the story line, the pure science of human behavior was diluted or removed from the story line equations of cause and effect. The characters were more likely tricked into seeing things that were not present; they were more apt to be manipulated due to their emotional faults than present reality. The island itself could have been a mad creation of a trickster who used the characters like lab rats running a complex maze. And the characters keen sense of believing what they were seeing would have been their ultimate downfall.

SCIENCE OF MAGIC?

It maybe the endless debate. Was LOST based on science or magic?  Or neither. Or both. Or nothing.

The initial proposition was that Jack was a man of "science," being a medical doctor and all, would struggle against Locke, a man of "faith."  But Locke never had a background story in either religion or spiritual belief. He took many people's word as gospel, but he constantly got burned as a result. It is hard to tell whether Locke's "new island vision" was a lightning bolt of religious faith or an obsessive need for purpose - - - a second chance to live his dream.

Ben called the island a "Magic Box."  Afterward, Locke's reward for protecting the island was what he desperately wanted: to confront his father, Cooper. The island brought Cooper, who claimed he was in a serious automobile accident but was swept away to the island, to Locke. Then Ben told Locke that in order to be an island leader, he'd have to kill his father (just as Ben himself had done). One could consider the latter ritual as pagan, a form a sadistic worship. But it could be just as well as manipulative fear of the general population of the Others.

After Desmond's fail safe key "save," the series may have jumped the Dharma shark to dismiss both science and faith toward the vague realm of pure magic. Desmond, Charlie and Eko really should not have survived the explosion/implosion of the Hatch. The island should not have been bouncing around in both time and space, let alone controlled by a wooden donkey wheel.

For the writers, magic had one great tool. Magic has no explanation. It is just magic. No science. No faith. No belief system. No connecting the dots to get a result. No, magic is abracadabra; it is what it is and does what it does because it is magic.

Supernatural is not a explanation because one cannot dissect it in order to see how it works. Even a trained magician at a kid's party can teach someone the hidden dove trick. But in a scripted series where the viewer is led down various twisting paths with scientific and religious terminology, one would hope the writers would have taught us their own hidden dove tricks.

A DEBATE

There is a mild debate whether LOST was a science fiction or a fantasy show.

For those sci-fi fans, their fiction is rooted in science and principles of technology that can be extrapolated into future applications. For example, in the original Star Trek, a digital clipboard the crew used seemed beyond the current sciences, but today the tablet computer is mainstream.

On the fantasy side, people who like their fiction in new worlds or magical realms like Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings, find interest in the minute detail of these strange, exotic lands and environments. In the Potterverse, it was the new language of those books that captivated young readers - - - it opened a portal into a new imaginary world beyond Disney.

In some ways, sci-fi fans want some tangible base in which the story can have a foundation. In fantasy, it is a vivid intangible elements explained within their own environment that is the hook.

These types of stories run parallel tracks. They each have their good points and bad points. Each can have very good premises and story telling ideas.

LOST certainly stressed a lot of science in the series. The references to the Dharma stations invoked many classic fields of study including biology, psychology, chemistry to sonic technology.  In fact, many fans sought out scientific explanations for the island, time travel, the electromagnetic fields to even the ghost images the characters interacted with while in the jungle.

LOST also had a lot of mythical, supernatural elements. The large portion of the later set designs with Egyptian hieroglyphs seeded the viewer with ancient cultural beliefs in the after life. The supernatural elements included the unexplained smoke monster - - was it nanotechnology or an evil spirit? Some find a basic hero story of Jack slaying the dragon (Flocke). And then there was the sideways world in which everyone was dead but living complex human lives.

Part of the problem is that both sides are right. LOST shifted between the various story genres at will, which causes some form of confusion, inconsistency and practical errors. As the series went on, the continuity of story lines became more problematic. Was LOST going to stay an adventure-survival story as it warped into a sci-fi drama? And when it changed to supernatural elements and the sideways parallel universe, and the Desmond superman arc against EM energy, was fantasy how the show would be explained to the fans?

The vagueness of the producers lack of explanations of their own vision also clouds this debate. For if the writers wanted us to make our own sense of what was shown, then those producers and writers should not be upset with our criticisms or opinions. For if the producers and writers would come out on one side of the debate, sci-fi or fantasy, that would eliminate a great deal tension between these story forms. But then again, it would open another avenue of inquiry on that road and whether the stories made any sense in that genre.

A JINN THEORY

This is a Jin theory, but not a character based one.

Ancient cultures had beings called jinns who bridged between the human realm and the spiritual realm. They were described both as beneficial and evil. But in most instances, they came to people as messengers.

In Arabian and Muslim folklore jinns are ugly and evil demons having supernatural powers which they can bestow on persons having powers to call them up. In the Western world they are called genies. 

Legend has it that King Solomon possessed a ring, probably a diamond, with which he called up jinns to help his armies in battle. The concept that this king employed the help of jinns may have originated from 1 Kings 6:7, "And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought there, so there was neither hammer nor axe nor and tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building." 

In Islam, jinns are fiery spirits (Qur'an 15:27) particularly associated with the desert. While they are disruptive of human life, they are considered worthy of being saved. A person dying in a state of great sin may be changed into a jinni in the period of a barzakh, separation or barrier. 

The highest of the jinns is Iblis, the prince of darkness, or the Devil. The jinns were thought by some to be spirits that are lower than angels because they are made of fire and are not immortal. They can take on human and animal shapes to influence men to do good or evil. 

They are quick to punish those indebted to them who do not follow their many rules.

In the "Arabian Nights" jinns or genies came from Aladdin's Lamp. 

There are several myths concerning the home of the jinns. According to Persian mythology some of them live in a place called Jinnistan. Others say jinns live with other supernatural beings in the Kaf, mystical emerald mountains surrounding the earth.

There are many traits of genies in the show:

1. the smoke monster could represent a fire spirit and in the end, MIB was not immortal.
2. the events on the island were important to bridge the character's sideways lives, so the island could be considered a barrier world where jinns would occupy and help humans.
3. jinns don't follow rules and neither did the characters or the show's writers.
4. characters made several references to the Devil in the show, including towards Jacob.
5. the smoke monster could take on human and animal shapes like a jinn.
6. the island characters such as Jacob, MIB, Alpert, all tried to shape the castaways to do good or evil.

Throughout LOST, there were messengers in the form of flash back visions of things on the island, dead people giving characters information or direction, but at other times the past visions turned violent like with Eko's talk with his dead brother, Yemi, who turned into the smoke monster.

In Western fairy tales, a Genie in a bottle could mean a smoke like creature with intelligence and magical powers to grant wishes. The island could have been that bottle. It's "cork" was released and then re-set to capture the smoke monster apparently in human form. And the island in many respects did grant the characters wishes - - - such as Locke being able to become an outback hunter and leader; to Jack reconciling with his father. The island could have been one great second chance granted by Jacob, a jinn, to his candidates.

THE GAP

There are a few elements that most people can agree upon: the island was a magical place; it was a spiritual place; it was not of this world. The implication of those facts is that somehow (such as Thoth's magic) the main characters were diverted, taken, kidnapped or sent though time, space, or realms.

This chart explains the possibilities. In our normal life existence, a human soul would live her or his life out in a normal fashion, ending in some sort of purgatory afterlife as taught by most of the major religions. But in LOST, the normal life continuum was interrupted by the "plane crash."  The passengers on Flight 815 were diverted to a magical island in a different realm of existence.  The FDW chamber held hieroglyphs which stated there were various "Earth gates." This chamber could have been a two way teleportation device.

Why were the characters diverted into the island realm? There are a few reasons: to train for their eventual journey through the after life; to kill boredom of the gods (throughout the pantheon of Greek myths the gods came down to Earth to mess with humanity); or to experiment on human souls to determine if they were worthy of a greater purpose.

But once a person got to the island, there were only four choices. One could go back through the diversion portal back to the normal Earth time line. One could stay (or be trapped) on the island in human or spirit form. One could "die" on the island and one's soul could go through a nexus gate to the afterlife. Or, as some of the characters did (but we don't know how), they opened a new gate to create their own sideways purgatory (a purgatory within purgatory). The various realm gates appear to intersect in the afterlife, to be sorted by the White Light.

The big Gap in the flow chart of where the characters were during the series is the island itself. Many fans thought the island was connected by a wormhole which would explain the shifts in time and space. Others believed that the island was a fore-hell for lost souls to begin to sort out their acceptance of their fate of being dead. Others thought that characters were trapped in mental delusions so strong that their conscious thought they were transported to different realms.

If we go with the proposition that what happened was "real," then the passengers on Flight 815 were diverted from normal Pacific air space through an electromagnetic energy field and deposited on the island. This island looks and feels like a tropical island, but it contains supernatural elements and immortal beings so it cannot be of "our Earth."  The characters are still "alive," but must try to live in a spiritual or a world in a different universe. In order to get back to Earth, they must escape the pull of the island's power source or use it to re-open the diversion portal. Only a handful of people ever made it back to their Earth time line. The rest either went directly to the afterlife or diverted themselves to the sideways world to wait for their friends to "awaken."

The concept of awakening leads to the concept of magic: being under a spell. Illusionists can put audience members into deep sleep, hypnotize them, make them do weird things, then snap them back to reality. Did the island and/or Jacob serve the role as magician? Or was the real guardian of the souls of Jack's friends Christian? He died before the other characters so he may have been in an afterlife position to direct or re-direct his son to the promise land (as inferred by the church ending).

In any event, the characters were clearly "detoured" from their normal life's path by and through the island. The question remains about how they got from gap to gap in the time-space-reality spectrum.

THOTH

If the island had name, it would have been Thoth.

Thoth was an ancient Egyptian god-like being who was said to have represented knowledge, science, magic and guidance of souls through the passage in the underworld.

He was often depicted as a half-man, half Ibis. He often helped Ra, the Sun God, through his nightly passage through the underworld. The image of a winged god of knowledge is also found in other cultures, including ancient religions of Hindu, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Thoth's roles in Egyptian mythology were both numerous and varied. First, Thoth served as a mediating power, especially between the forces of good and evil, making sure neither had a decisive victory over the other. This aspect was particularly relevant in his arbitration of the conflict between  Set and Horus.  Likewise, Thoth's mediation role was also evident in his netherworldly alter ego A'an, the god of equilibrium, who monitored the posthumous judgment of deceased mortals and recorded the results in a celestial ledger.

Thoth was also understood to serve as the scribe of the gods, and was credited with the invention of writing and alphabets. As a result, he was also acknowledged as the progenitor of all works of science, religion, philosophy and magic. In the Hellenistic period, the Greeks further declared him the inventor of astronomy, astrology, numerology, mathematics, geometry, surveying, medicine, botany,  theology, civilized government, the alphabet, reading, writing, and oratory.  The Greeks further claimed he was the true author of every work of every branch of knowledge, human and divine.

Thoth was also characterized as a creator deity: the self-begotten and self-produced One. In this context, he was understood to be the master of both physical and moral law, both of which corresponded to the proper understanding and application of Ma'at.  As such, he was credited with making the calculations for the establishment of the heavens, stars, Earth, and everything in them, and to direct the motions of the heavenly bodies.

In this particular context of the Egyptian pantheon, Thoth's this-worldly and other-worldly power was almost unlimited, rivaling both Ra and Osiris.  

Thoth was also prominent in the Osiris myth, being of great aid to Isis. After Isis gathered together the pieces of Osiris' dismembered body, he gave her the words to resurrect him so she could be impregnated and bring forth Horus, named for his uncle. When Horus was slain, Thoth gave the formula to resurrect him as well.

Mythological accounts also assign him credit for the creation of the 365 day calendar. According to this tale, the sky goddess  Nut was cursed with barrenness by Shu, who declared that she would be unable to conceive during any of the months of the year. Coming to her aid, Thoth, the crafty god, discovered a loophole—since the lunar calendar year was only 360 days long, the addition of days that were not contained in any given month would circumvent the hex. Thus, Thoth gambled with Khonsu, the moon, for 1/72nd of its light (five days) and won. During these five days, the goddess conceived and gave birth to Osiris, Set, Isis, Nepthys, and (in some versions) Kheru-ur (Horus the Elder, Face of Heaven). For his exploits, Thoth was acknowledged as "Lord of Time."

All of Thoth's powers dovetail nicely into the various aspects of the elements of the island.  

Throughout the series, the conflicts between the forces of good and evil resulted with neither having a decisive victory over the other. The ideas of lists and missions and judgments follow Thoth's monitoring of  the posthumous judgment of deceased mortals on ledgers. The island was filled with themes of science, religion, philosophy and magic. It would appear that the island had certain unbroken "rules," as stated in the Jacob-MIB conflict which may represent Thoth's mastery of both physical and moral law. In his myths, there are great stories about being a guardian in the underworld and healer of infertility. Infertility and guardianship of the island were two prominent themes in the series. Also, Sayid's resurrection from the dead in the Temple waters was surrounded by columns of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs which were probably the formula for the ceremony and magic.

The island would best be described as Thoth or his domain. It is apparent that there may have been an unseen entity behind the curtain beyond Jacob or MIB.  With all his powers, Thoth seems to fit the bill as being the man behind such a supernatural curtain.

MAGIC BOX

One of the great unexplained aspects of the series was The Magic Box.

“Let me put it so you'll understand. Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don't you John? What if I told you that, somewhere on this island, there is a very large box and whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it when you opened that box, there it would be? What would you say about that, John?” --- Ben to Locke.

Ben then went on to show Locke a bound and gagged Anthony Cooper who Ben claimed came out of the magic box.

When Locke pressed Ben for more about the box, Ben snapped back that "the box is a metaphor, John." Despite this, he continues to maintain that by some agency things that people on the island want or need show up. Later, when Ben and Locke entered the Orchid, Locke marveled at the mysterious technology and asked if this was the magic box. Ben retorted that it was not.

J.J. Abrams often explained his love of "the unseen mystery," using the metaphor of a mystery box. TPTB admitted that the  "the magic box" was symbolic;  stating that "the entire island is a magic box."


It would appear that the creative team drew upon the 1967 novel, The Third Policeman for the concept of their magic box.

In the novel, an unnamed protagonist and narrator is orphaned as a child (though he only states that his parents have more than "left" later on), and is sent to boarding school where he first becomes acquainted with the work of the bizarre philosopher, De Selby.

De Selby is a natural skeptic of all known laws of physics, who casually dismisses the evidence of human experience. He contends, for example, that "the permanent hallucination known conventionally as 'life' is an effect of constantly walking in a particular direction around a sausage-shaped earth, and that night results from 'accumulations of black air."

Obsessed by the philosopher's somewhat odd theories, the protagonist sets out on a catastrophic quest to publish a definitive commentary on the philosopher. He shares some of his writings on De Selby with John Divney, an unsavory man who has served as reluctant caretaker to the narrator's parents' farm and public house since their death. Divney devises a plan to murder and rob a local rich man, which he convinces the narrator into going along with, because Divney explains it is his responsibility to publish the works on De Selby - with fair backing or not.

The narrator and Divney murder their chosen victim, but Divney hides the money box. The narrator then begins spending every moment with Divney in order to discover the box's whereabouts.
The protagonist finally gets hold of the money box only to discover that the box does not contain money, but “omnium," a substance described as the essential inherent interior essence which is hidden in the root of the kernel of everything, and which is literally everything one desires. The substance called omnium therefore can create anything the beholder desires.

After finding out about the power of the magic box, the narrator has grand visions of his future omnipotence, but begins to experience strange and hallucinatory  events involving a bicycle, a robber, two policemen and a strangely elastic sense of space and time. However, the narrator learns that things created by his will and the omnium cannot be removed from the labyrinth and taken back to the outside world.


The parallels to LOST are quite clear. The Island is isolated from the outside world. It contains a supernatural energy in the light cave. It is a force that is never understood or explained by the people guarding it. The people who arrive on the island experience strange and hallucination events, many based upon their past lives. Some people seem to be re-living aspects of their lives hoping for a different result. But the infinite power of the island force creates and corrupts human beings into murder, deception, kidnapping and mind control.


If anyone could tap into the island's magic box, it could create a chaotic world.
If the power of the magic box was true,  it would help explain why the children were taken by the Others, why Walt was abducted, and why children are so seldom seen at the Barracks. Assuming the Island works like a genie: if you want something bad enough, the island will create it for you. If that is the case, then island protectors don't want children running around all the time, imagining things like dragons, giant robots, fairies, unicorns, and even polar bears.

Walt was reading a comic book which contained a polar bear before the crash. He was "special" which may mean he had an active imagination.  This would explain Ms. Klugh's comment to Walt about going back into" the room," which is believed to be the mind control Room 23 where Karl was brain washed by Ben to stay away from Alex. If Walt had a particularly active imagination that made him even more dangerous, that may be why the Others let him go off the island with Michael instead of trying to be contain or control his thoughts in Room 23.  The reason that children are not seen around the Barracks could be simple: their imaginations are a threat and danger to everyone on the island.

The concept that life itself is one large hallucination was also referenced in LOST. The prime example was when Ben was trying to get the O6 cast back to the island. In the marina, there was a boat called Illusion. The O6 had desired to leave the island, to be rescued, to get back to their lives in the mainland, only to find that their lives hollow or meaningless. The theory that the Island would draw them back could be true but it could also be that the O6 never actually left the Island itself if everyone was part of a layered and complex group hallucination.

We still don't know how the magic box actually works. What would trigger Cooper being in a car crash then suddenly transported to the island? Cooper believed he died and was sent to Hell. Locke's deep emotional desire to confront his father? To kill his father, or make him suffer? If the trigger is such raw emotion, why did Kate in a melancholy state imagine her horse? Or were all the Dharma food drops really caused by hunger pains by the Hatch crews? And how did Alpert arrive at the island when he was headed to the gallows? It is hard to believe that Jacob knew about him and desired him to be transported to the island like the Cooper situation.

The whole magic box theory does not explain Jacob's need to bring anyone to the island in the first place. If he was all-knowing, he could create anything he wanted by using the island's power. Perhaps, everything about the LOST experience was created in Jacob's mind. He is the lonely, alien, godlike being trapped protecting a supernatural element in order to keep the universe in balance. However, as a child, he had an imagination and need for friendship, adventure and sense of purpose. He created all the conflicts, all the characters, and all the events in order to occupy his mind so he would not go totally mad. Over time, he imagined a crazy mother and a brother. He imagined a conflict with them. He killed his brother but in his guilt created a smoke monster who sought revenge and escape. (If MIB was real, it could have tapped the magic box and easily "escaped" the island at any time without the help of the candidates). But it seems that the island as a child's playroom was a self-contained, padded cell metaphysically isolated from the rest of the universe.

The magic box may be the only explanation for the sideways world. When Christian said to Jack that the sideways world was created by his friends, we could not conceive how mortal human beings could create a purgatory waiting room in another dimension of time or space.  If those characters truly believed and desired to "die together" and move on in the after life as a group, then the island could have their sideways world. But it would seem that it was the characters subconscious that desired the sideways world since the characters did not know about it until they were "awakened." The whole concept of the sideways awakening still does not make much sense. If you can control your after life by not knowing you are dead, why can't you continue to live out in the fantasy purgatory instead of going into the unknown white light?

If the entire LOST experience was the fantasy world of Jacob, then the sideways world becomes even more problematic. Can an imaginary person have a fantasy life such as to create a sideways world existence?

Then what of Jacob? Did he really die by Ben's hand and MIB's cremation? Apparently not, since Jacob continued to roam the island in physical form as an adult and as a child. This gets us to the possibility that Jacob was never real. It was the Island that created Jacob. The Island itself is a intelligent being that receives the thoughts, desires, and dreams of people. As the key to "life, death and rebirth," the Island could channel those strong emotional waves back into the world. For example, if a couple is infertile they could wish and dream hard for a miracle, which may in turn be granted by the Island. The Island could also be thought of a "prayer collector," where people ask their god for intervention, forgiveness or guidance. As a supernatural being, the Island could grant those prayers. These ideas would fit into the theory that the Island was one large metaphoric magic box.


When Christian said everything was "real," in the context of a pure fantasy world that could be correct. If the Island pooled similar desires of people and gathered them in one place to interact and find what they most desired (ex., friendship), then the fulfillment of those wishes would absolutely seem real whether the person was alive, dead or a spirit seeking closure on life's regrets.


This is all well and good, but if true, the magic box execution was inconsistent and possibly flawed. With the main characters, did they actually have their dreams fulfilled by their Island experiences? Was Jack's sole wish in life to prove his father wrong about Jack not being a leader? Was Locke's sole wish in life to kill his father? Or being a outback adventurer? Was Kate's sole wish in life to stop running away from her problems and settle down? In the end, we cannot conclude that either Jack, Locke or Kate got what they truly desired; Jack was reunited with his father but the slate was cleaned, Locke's life did not end well and he was broken in the fantasy sideways world, and Kate wound up with Jack but we don't know what happened to them next.  In some ways, the sideways world was what the main characters truly desired in their miserable real lives. If that was the case, then none of them would have wanted to "move on" in the church. It would be counter-intuitive to end what you truly wished for or what the Island's magic box gave you.

There is another explanation of the "magic box" situation. Magic box could be code for hypnotic control. Room 23 was devised to alter the thoughts of individuals, apparently to love Jacob. In any cult, the control of the followers is key to the leader's power. Brain washing can occur in many forms. It could be the filter to find out who was "good" (as in easily manipulated to the island cause) or "bad" (unworthy of Jacob's good graces). That is why the Others always called themselves the "good guys." They truly believed it.

By manipulating the minds of their subjects, leaders like Ben or Widmore could get people to do criminal things in the guise of a higher calling. For example, Ben's minions could have caused Cooper's car crash and drugged him in the ambulance to transport him to the Island so Ben could "shock" Locke into becoming a loyal Other. That would not be "magic," but a complex criminal scheme of kidnapping, drugs, brain conditioning, and forced loyalty. The same plan was used to get Juliet to the Island. She was literally kidnapped, drugged on the sub, conditioned to believe her work on the Island was so important, and that she could never leave the island.


Of course, the last option is the least favorable explanation. The magic box could have been a literary trick to put in unexplainable plot twists into the story line in order to fill time from season to season. Who did not think WTH? when Ben revealed to  Locke "his gift" of a bound and gagged Cooper, the man that had caused Locke so much physical and mental pain?!


The Magic Box, whether it was real, symbolic of the leader's power or authority, or the will of a supernatural being, will never be fully known.

THE JINN THEORY

Throughout various ancient cultures, people believed that magical non-human spirits came to Earth as messengers, prophets, or wish grantors. Some believed these messengers were angels from heaven; some believed that the genie was both a helpful and a malevolent possessor of magic. In the Aladdin tales, when a person asked for their three wishes, the grant would be a literal or twisted version of the words used - - - resulting in unintended consequences and grief to the "lucky" person who found the genie.

The genie would grant wishes once he was "released" or "escaped" the confines of his prison. Only higher magic could keep a genie in his place.

The Prophet Muhammad reportedly divided jinn into three classes: those who have wings and fly in the air, those who resemble snakes and dogs, and those who travel about ceaselessly.

There were many mysterious things on the island. One mystery was the crying Hurley bird so that matches "wings and fly in the air" jinn;  Vincent is a dog who happens to arrive just as something (usually bad) happens; and the smoke forms of Smokey that "travel about ceaselessly" on the island like a prisoner trapped in a cage.

The island could be the lamp trapping the smoke monster (as Desmond called it a snow globe).

However, the island may provide other "containers" for a genie. Many people assumed that the ash ring around Jacob's cabin was to keep the smoke monster out. However, what if it was the opposite? It was meant to keep Jacob locked away.

Jacob was always inside the Cabin, like he couldn't get out.
Jacob is a powerful person, but seems to be a little devilish.
The Others are so scared about him because since he is a Genie, he can do whatever he wants to to them, so his followers actually fear him.
Jacob could grant certain wishes to a person (like Richard's immortality).
He can also heal people from mortal diseases, like cancer or paralysis.
He could get them back into the illness if he wanted to grant other people their wish or hope (such as Juliet wanting to leave the island but the only way that could happen is if Ben would die in surgery.)
It was not the Island that healed people, but Jacob.
Since Jacob spied on everyone he brought to the island, he had all their memories, wishes, desires.
He could use that information to control and manipulate people.

While some believe that the gods created genii just the same as human beings, others believe that they actually predated mankind. The island has been around for a long, long time and there seem to be beings that can live longer than the usual number of years.

So what are the basic properties of a genie?

In Islam, it is believed that there are three main creations. The first being Angels, who never commit sins and never disobey God. The second being human beings who are given freewill and are accountable for their choice in life. By the end of the day, only those who follow the righteous path will go to paradise. Lastly, you have the jinns. They are very much like human beings except from the fact that they cannot be seen. They are given freewill and choose their religion. Like human beings, they will be judged according to the lives they have led when Judgement Day arrives. 

There is disagreement over whether these creatures are a force of good or evil. Both Jacob and MIB play off the black v. white theme (which we interpret as good v. evil.). But recall, Jacob has allowed most of the people he brought to the island to be killed, injured or maimed.

There is a  belief that jinn are angry spirits born from smokeless fire whereas man was born of the earth itself.  Both Jacob and MIB were prone to spats of quick anger. It appeared that in their ghost forms they would taunt each other. The Dharma station people used the term Cerebus to describe the the smoke monster because its actions always seems angry or in a rage.

Just like man, however, the jinn were given free will. However, as man - - beginning with Adam - - struggled to bring out the best in his nature, the jinn preferred to give in to the dark side.  Some believe that the character of Satan describes a jinn - -  a powerful being who used to work for good but is now tasked to punish or manipulate man for a better purpose. Everyone on the island and major players off island are obsessed with the idea of free will and choice. A jinn cannot make you do something against your will, but a jinn can influence a person to make that decision.

Jinn live in a realm between earth and heaven. Their dimension makes them somewhat separate and distinct from the normal human realm which is an apt description of the Island. The root meaning of the Arabic word for genie translates into"hidden from sight."  Jacob could only be seen by a few select people. But he could see all humans, but humans could not see him.

Ancient tales state that god provided protection for unsuspecting humans in the form of a prayer that asks for refuge from the whisperings of the jinn. More than that, however, having a strong religious faith is also necessary to subvert the jinn's ability to influence humans. The constant missions the survivors were tasked with were means to break down their personal beliefs so that they could be more easily influenced by the jinn, whether it be Jacob and/or MIB. In the theme debate between science and faith, it is faith can protect people from the jinn.

There is also a belief that some humands can call forth a jinn to do their bidding. When Keamy attacks the barracks and kills Alex, Ben summons with water the smoke monster. (Later he would say that the smoke monster summoned him.) But the result was that Ben got his wish - - - instant violent revenge against Keamy's men.

It is also said that jinn could not reproduce. If jinns cannot breed with human beings, although there are many indications that they have wanted and tried to do just that in order to gain more permanent residence inside the earthly realm. This may explain why children could not be born on the island.

Jinns were only created to serve and praise god. So at one time there were considered "good guys," but lost their way while on earth. Jinn can make anything happen, travel in the blink of an eye and shape shift into any form. This could explain the island time skips, the ghosts of past memories roaming the island for the characters to see, and why some people (like Patchy) apparently died several times on the island.

However, it is believed that after shape shifting, jinns will have to abide to the laws of their physical form, which means that they will now be visible to human eyes. This may not be a good thing, as this would make them more vulnerable. It is believe that if the animal the jinn shape shifted into is killed, than the jinn too will die. The jinn can be killed with a gunshot or wounded with a knife. LOST was inconsistent in how Jacob and MIB met their demise. Jacob was stabbed then burned to ash, but later reformed to speak to the candidates before a separate (unexplained) fire would burn out. MIB in Flocke's form was shot but he did not die. It was only after Jacob's apparent demise and the stone cork reset of the island did MIB apparently die from Kate's gunshot wound and fall. But we do not know for certain whether these deaths were true, or an illusion to fulfill the final wishes of the main characters.

One could try to go back and see if any of the main characters were granted "three wishes" in the Americanized version of the genie tale.



One could argue that Locke made three wishes that the Island granted him:

- make me walk again
- give my father the punishment he deserves
- make me live again


Except, one could also argue that Jacob was the person who created all that pain and sadness in Locke. Jacob sent Richard to visit Locke as a newborn and as a young child. Jacob may have influenced Cooper to abandon his family, causing Locke to be raised in foster homes. Jacob may have had his hand in causing Locke to become paralyzed and so distraught to become a "viable" candidate (brain washed) to take over the Island guardian duties.


The jinn theory is like any other LOST fan theory. It has its good points to help explain the continuity errors and huge story line lapses. But it has its flaws as well because it would seem to be a massive white wash of what fans were led to believe what the story was truly about in Season 1.

REBOOT EPISODES 61-64

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 61-64 (Days 80-82)

After noticing some migratory birds, Claire hatches an impressive rescue plan by capturing a bird and tying a message to its leg.  Meanwhile, Sayid’s rescue party continues their trek to the Barracks to find Jack.  An uncooperative Patchy is with still them even though Locke and Rousseau want him dead. They arrive at the sonic fence. Before they hatch a plan to get around the barrier, Locke pushes Patchy through the fence and he is killed by sonic waves.

As Kate and Sayid formulate a plan to rescue a strangely placid Jack, Locke reveals his own agenda for finding the Barracks and the Others. He took C4 from the Flame in order to blow up the Other’s submarine. A wheelchair bound Ben “pleads” to Locke not to blow up the sub (as it would diminish his leadership standing), but Alex says Ben is manipulative so if the sub is destroyed, Ben wants it to be destroyed. The destruction of the submarine brings a Ben half-truth a reward: Jack’s way off the island is gone, and he does not have to release Kate or Sayid.

After Nikki seemingly drops dead in front of Hurley and Sawyer, they find Paulo in the same state and investigate their supposed deaths, realizing that they don't know much about them. Meanwhile, Charlie confesses to Sun that it wasn't the Others that attacked her. She then confronts Sawyer about the attack, but decides to keep it a secret from Jin otherwise they would have to dig another grave.

After the events at the Barracks reach a climax, Kate and Juliet must unite for their survival. They evade the smoke monster by hiding in banyan roots. Juliet is “scanned” by the smoke monster. They run to the sonic fence (which is off). Juliet takes off cuffs (she had key) and sets fence to on, which seems to “repel” the monster. They go back to the empty barracks and find Sayid and Jack.  Meanwhile, Sawyer learns from Hurley  that the other survivors may be planning to banish him from the group. But this is merely a trick by Hurley to get Sawyer ready to lead the beach camp since everyone else is gone.

Science:

Sonic weapons:

Extremely high-power sound waves can disrupt and/or destroy the eardrums of a target and cause severe pain or disorientation. This is usually sufficient to incapacitate a person. Less powerful sound waves can cause humans to experience nausea or discomfort. The use of these frequencies to incapacitate persons has occurred both in counter-terrorist and crowd control settings.

Some common bio-effects of electromagnetic or other non-lethal weapons include effects to the human central nervous system resulting in physical pain, breathing difficulty, vertigo, nausea, disorientation, or other systemic discomfort. Interference with breathing poses the most significant and potentially lethal results. Light and repetitive visual signals can induce epileptic seizures and motion sickness can also occur. Cavitation, which affects gas nuclei in human tissue, and heating can result from exposure to ultrasound and can cause damage to tissue and organs.

Improbabilities:

In a flashback, Kate meeting Sawyer’s baby momma, Cassidy, in a plan for Kate to see her mother to ask her why she turned her in to the police.

That the sonic fence was created to keep the smoke monster at bay. The smoke monster in its smoke state has “ears” in order to be affected by sound waves. The monster itself is riding on wave form through the air. It is more likely the sonic fence was meant to keep humans in the Barracks compound.

Locke surviving the fall after being pushed by Cooper. The orderly said he survived an eight (8) story fall, but if you freeze frame the scene, Locke falls more than 16 window panes (or stories) and the bottom two floors are oversized so it is closer to a 20 story fall or 200 feet. Even if we use a conservative 90 foot fall,his maximum velocity at the pavement will be about 76 feet per second, or nearly 52 mph. One could survive crashing  a car crash at 52 mph? However, the impact of the crash of the individual depends not only on his change of speed, but also on his mass, and more importantly, on the the time of rapid deceleration in the last moments of the crash. The longer you can drag out your crash time, the longer you have to apply a smaller force to slow yourself down (more specifically, to change your momentum). That's the principle behind airbags--they increase the amount of time you have for your body to come to a complete stop, thereby reducing the force exerted on your body. Landing and rolling on the ground would also increase survival chances. In Locke’s case, he is falling flat on his back and took the full brunt of the fall. So the amount of time between hitting ground and complete stop is a fraction of a second. He would experience a force of about two tons exerted on their body for that tenth of a second. Such a massive force would most likely fatal.


When the Others left the barracks, they gassed Kate, Sayid, Juliet and Jack. Kate and Juliet awake in the jungle (in daylight), are chased by the monster and hide in the tree roots until morning. Then they trek several miles handcuffed together to the sonic fence. And once they finally reach the barracks (after two catfights), Kate finds a still unconscious Jack.  It makes no sense that Jack remained unconscious from the same gas for an additional 12 plus hours. The destruction in the house inferred that there have been a fight, but being knocked out for that long of time would have meant serious brain injury (unconsciousness to coma). But Jack never says he was in a fight.

Themes:

Confession and true forgiveness. It is now an endless stream of characters tearfully confessing their sorrow to friends or family members, like Claire to her comatose mother.

Deception. Ben’s devious nature is on full display when he gives “his word” that he will release Sayid and Kate “as soon as Jack gets off the island” which Ben knows will not happen since Locke is on his way to blow up the submarine.

Death and final judgment. The idea that both Klugh and Patchy prefer death to living on the Island is one of the unanswered riddles of the show. It would seem that neither character would get a “redemptive” final judgment based upon their actions.

Daddy issues. Claire’s “daddy issues” mirror Jack’s daddy issues in the same sense that Christian was never a good father to either of his children. Locke’s daddy issues with Cooper ends with Locke being shoved through a glass window and falling at least 200 feet to the ground.

Replacement. Other Brian takes over the surly Danny role in the story line. We also see the beginning stages of Locke being a possible replacement for Ben in the Others camp. We see the immortal Alpert helping Ben open the “magic box” for Locke.

Leadership. It does not take much to become a leader. Sawyer is the camp's default leader because everyone else is gone, and when Nikki and Paulo are "dead," the campers looked to Sawyer. He does not want to be a leader, but as Hurley said, neither did Jack.

Clues:

Juliet’s upside down double cross “mark” can be associated with Satanic rituals. It could also be secular representation for “double crossing” the Others by killing one of the cult. It may also be an upside medical symbol (faint snake on staff) which could also represent “killer” instead of “healer.”

Cooper’s statements to Locke that he was in a car crash, severely injured and “suddenly” he was on the Island. He affirmatively states that he is dead; they all are dead.

Charlie has been told by Desmond that he is going to die because the universe has a means of course correcting fate. Charlie begins to cleanse his soul by confessing his attack to Sun. Charlie, knowing he has done wrong in the past, gets the mindset that he must do something noble to help Claire and Aaron.

Christian talk with Claire after her mother is in a coma. He tells her that her mother is alive “but not really living.”  This leads to a tangent theory that the characters are souls of coma patients teleported to the island to live in a dream world. But if the coma patient wakes up or dies in real life, the souls on the island dies and winds up in the sideways realm of the afterlife.

Nikki claims that Arzt told her about his insect collection, including a Medusa spider which allegedly can paralyze a human for 8 hours if it bites a human. This is a fictional spider. It is NOT real.  One could argue that the insertion of a fictional spider shows that the Island itself is not real.



In certain cultures, the roots of a banyan tree are supposed to provide protection against "evil spirits." In the case of Kate and Juliet, they were saved by hiding in the tree roots from the first smoke monster attack.


Discussion:

Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of the organized life. - - -
H. G. Wells

Well, the fans hated the Nikki and Paulo characters so much so that TPTB quickly killed them off. This begins the full court press of filler episodes and story line tangents. Nikki and Paulo were filler, like red shirts on Star Trek, in order to keep some level of “danger” and death in the plot from week to week. The addition of these two disliked characters is the jump the shark moment for some viewers.

The entire Nikki-Paulo back story episode was pure filler. It could have been skipped since it gave no insight to the story line or answer any questions. The producers cut in the two actors into the various past key scenes to try to show that these characters were there from the beginning (total credibility failure).

The only saving grace from the Nikki-Paulo episode is that it reinforces the slow mental degradation of the survivors. They are quick to make assumptions (that Nikki and Paulo are actually dead), they are quick to come to conclusions on little or no facts (that the Others killed them) and revert to almost crude rationalizations for their actions. It is summed up best when they bury Nikki and Paulo alive.
Trying to find some “canon” in the inconsistencies of the island world is hard, especially when “dying” is concerned. Example, it is clear that Patchy was killed by the sonic fence, he foamed at the mouth and ears exploded in blood. A fatal cerebral hemorrhage.

The question is how does Patchy come back to life?  From within the series itself, it may be because he was never “buried.”  If a dead person on the island is not buried, they can be reborn. Other examples are the Hatch explosion survivors, Eko, Charlie and Desmond. Their bodies were never buried; they woke up in the jungle. This may be why the Others have their funeral ritual of fire and burial at sea. It may also explain how the smoke monster animates into human form - - - it needs a dead body as a template.

We are still searching for solid classifications of important elements of the LOST saga. Who are the Hostiles? Who were the Dharma folks? How does one really get to the island? How can some people with deadly diseases be healed, while others cannot? If the Island is a center of human life force, why does it allow people to die? Is the Island a living being or a symbolic representation of something supernatural?

The inversion continues as characters replace other character’s roles, like disabled Ben talking to Locke about becoming a leader. The repeated ritual that in order for Locke to become an Island leader, he must prove himself to the Others by killing his own father as Ben had done during the purge.

It is also worth noting that Patchy’s half truth to Kate when he says she is “incapable” of understanding the Island because she “was not on the list.”  Well, we will learn that Kate was on Jacob’s lighthouse list, with more than hundred other names. And Kate was on Klugh’s list given to Michael to secure his freedom. How would Patchy’s know Jacob’s final candidate’s list? It will take three more seasons to find out the the final “final” candidates were Hurley and Jack. And since Patchy has some “immortal” qualities of rising from the dead, is Patchy really Jacob in disguise? But that would be contrary to Jacob’s “non-intervention” policy with island visitors - - - as explained to Alpert, his liaison in the game with MIB.

The new arc of the high school soap opera begins in this series. Juliet tells Kate that Jack saw everything in the cages. And her actions, “broke his heart.” Kate is surprised and saddened by the revelation. She is also upset that Jack now wants Juliet to come back with them. It would appear that Jack has “moved on” from their coy relationship to a new one, with an Other no less. One would have thought that “betrayal” (a word Kate used in regard to her own mother’s actions against her) would forever end their relationship - - - but the couples switch partners in The End for no apparent reason.

The transformation of Locke occurs in this series. Instead of the faux outback hunter, Locke now fully embraces his Island destiny. He seems to think that by blowing up the Hatch, destroying the communications station and blowing up the submarine, it is gaining favor with the Island. He also is undermining the leadership command of Ben. So Locke joins the Others as they leave the barracks in his hazy quest to join with the Island, unconcerned about the fate of his friends.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Ben’s explanation that Locke wish of staying on the island to avoid confronting his father may be granted by the island. But Ben manipulated Locke’s motivation with his “Magic Box” explanation which brings Locke’s father to the island.  However, Ben already had Cooper in his possession when he told Tom to get  “the man from Tallahassee.”

Locke’s miracle healing of his broken back after crashing on the island. And Locke’s inference that Ben is “not healing” quickly and the fact that he got sick in the first place. If the Island is a supernatural place of “healing,” curing cancer and paralysis, why is Ben still recovering in wheelchair?

Last lines in episodes:

EP 61:
TOM: Ha! Whoop!
[Jack throws the ball back. Tom throws it to Jack once more, and Jack spikes it to the ground.]

EP 62:

BEN: Because I'm in a wheelchair and you're not. Are you ready to see?
[Alpert opens the door to the cell. Locke cautiously looks inside the room. Inside he sees Cooper, tied to a chair, gagged, and covered with cuts and bruises. He looks terrified.]

EP 63:

LOCKE: Dad?

EP 64:

NIKKI: Para...lyzed.

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

The concept that overlapping lives is intriguing; Eloise and Widmore’s island time is in the past while the 815ers hold the present, but Eloise knows the future (one of “us”) in the sideways world where an illusion holds back the symbolic past lives of the characters are held in a dream fantasy state. By the time Desmond meets her, Eloise is in her “second” after life (the island being her first). In Eloise’s first afterlife, she symbolically kills her son, Daniel, in an island flashback in 1977. Symbolically, because he is allegedly alive in the pre-815 crash real world, as a brilliant physics professor. But what if he was killed by his mother (abortion) in her real life and the Island tests her in the 1977 encounter (with the same result)? That island killing is symbolic afterlife test of Eloise’s soul? Then an elaborate mental memory fantasy structure is made by her to have “time” with her unborn son in her own after life. Her purgatory is giving Daniel as pseudo life, but she must keep her dark secret (he was always dead to her) from him in the sideways world; for if he “awakens” then he will leave her forever. And her elaborate fantasy would come to a crushing end.

When Eloise says “one of us,” she may be referring to a class of coma patients who have diverted their minds, memories and feelings to a fantasy place (the island) where they can live a “virtual” life until their real life ends or they “awaken” from their coma. As Christian said in the church to Jack, some of his friends died before him and after him, but everything he experienced “was real.”  Real in the sense that dreams are real to sleeping people. The awakening in the dream world means that a person must come to grips with something that keeps their mind asleep (running away from the real world troubles perhaps).

Coma is a state of profound unconsciousness in which the patient is incapable of conscious behavior.  It can be said that coma is a state wherein there is very little brain activity, and  the patient hovers between life and death.  Coma implies dysfunction of the cerebral hemorrhage, the upper brain stem, or both areas.  In other words, damage to the brain's "thinking, and life support centers" are thought to cause the coma.   Some researchers are trying to measure the brain activity in the shuttered world of a “lost” brain-damaged patient in coma, including measuring changes in brain function with CAT scans. It is understood that coma patients do have a nominal amount of brain activity and are not classified as “brain dead.”

In most of the character back stories, one could fashion an argument that they could have been injured in such a fashion to be in a coma. Hurley being injured after falling in the deck collapse. Kate in an auto accident. Jack being beaten in the school yard and hitting his head. Sawyer surviving after being shot by his father. Claire injured in the car crash with her mother. Charlie’s massive use of drugs causing an overdose.

It is possible that the Island represents that part of spiritual plane between life and death. As such, all normal laws of physics are replaced by fantasy elements such as magic. And since it is a small dimension between life and death, it would be guarded by those who “know” the truth about its existence such as Eloise. When Eloise fears Desmond changing the status quo (and awaken her son), she knows that they (souls between life and death) will cease to exist - - - either go back into nominal coma state or die and move on in the afterlife. Eloise’s son Daniel cannot be a mere figment of her comatose imagination otherwise he would not awaken and possibly leave her.

There is still a gray area of continuity issues for the Island as the place between life and death. How can a person’s mind be in two places at once? For the sideways world to be recreated and sustained, Christian said it was created by all Jack’s island friends because their island time was the most important thing in their lives (or half-lives if coma patients) in order to “wait” for everyone to “awaken” and in the side way context “physically die on earth.”  It would explain why Sayid did not re-connect with Nadia; why when Sawyer and Kate left the island together, they did not come back to the church as a couple; why strangers such as Charlie and Claire get together in the church as Aaron is reborn (which means Claire was pregnant when she had her comatose auto accident with her mother).

We also learn a few more facts from the smoke monster’s encounter with Juliet and Kate. First, there is clearly a mechanical sound when it approaches; as well as a low groan or howl. Second, you can observe that underbrush being crushed by the air, in a laboring fashion, inferring that the smoke monster is more than just black smoke, but part of the monster is stealth or cloaked. Third, the monster “flashes” Juliet’s mind because Juliet said she had never encountered it before; it shows a comprehension to gather information about humans on the island before attacking. Fourth, that the monster was repelled by the sonic fence. The smoke stopped at the activated pylons and then retreated into the jungle.This would infer that the smoke monster may be organic, as sound waves can have a deadly affect on issues (i.e. Patchy’s demise). It may not have harmed the organic part of the monster, but the smoke as a sensor told it to stop.

Because of the smoke and mechanical components, it appears the monster is hybrid organic-machine. The smoke may be like its tongue, a sensor or attack device. It would seem that the complex nature of the monster may have a duality to it: the smoke part may be released like an attack dog while controlled by an organic-cyborg type being that we never see.