It recently struck me as odd that throughout the series, MAJOR CRISIS (life or death) problems seem to fade away, lose survivor interest and become non-issues without any true resolution.
It is like the attention span of a child being bombarded with multiple stimuli. Once he has had enough of one thing he goes on to the next.
Things started off in a logical manner. The survivors needed food and water, so they plundered the plane and baggage for supplies. When the threat of disease from the dead bodies (and boar attacks), the survivors torched the plane's fuselage.
When there was an issue of safety with the reveal of the smoke monster, the camp started to become divided. It got worse when they were running out of drinkable water. When Jack found the water fall cave, his plan was to move the survivors to this safer location. But he was rebutted by half the group. So the significant water issue and relocation faded away from being a crisis to a non-factor.
Then there was the natural drive to be rescued. When no one showed up for weeks, Michael got the ball rolling on building a raft to get into the ocean current and cargo traffic lanes. Despite this being the only viable option, very few survivors actually helped with the plan. And after Michael's boat was ambushed, the survivors remaining on the island no longer planned on how to seek rescue or leave the island. It was only at the very end of the series did the subject come up with the Ajira plane.
The next great crisis was the attacks by the Others. Again, in a moment of personal safety, the panic was felt throughout the camp. But after a while, the idea of enhanced security at the beach was dropped like there were no problem by most of the survivors. Out of sight out of mind.
Then there was the infection or disease which Desmond and Claire were told about. The Others had a serum to ward off the effects of the infection especially in pregnant women. It was said to be fatal. If there was a serious pathogen on the island, it faded from memory quickly. Some fans believe that it is was just a false ploy to gain confidence of the survivors or keep people dependent on those in power.
The time travel and time skips were major issues for those main characters. Instead of trying to figure out what was truly going on, and possibly use the supernatural properties to their advantage, they just rode the time rifts like surfers until they stopped. And afterward, the time skippers did not discuss their adventurous plight with any of the non-skippers.
The story pattern is fairly clear: set up an improbable situation. Throw the main characters into a dangerous mix. As that story line is about to unravel, set up a new improbable situation and drop the old one. One of the better examples of this switch was when a small group went on a mission to stop Ben from using the poison gas plant. The unguarded facility was used briefly as a "trust exercise" between the survivors and the freighter science team, but there was only a faux emergency. And once that mission ended, the poison gas was never referenced again, including when the candidates were about to brainstorm how to defeat Flocke.
Because of LOST's story format, the individual story events seem to show the final pattern of a preschool pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Friday, December 6, 2013
NOT WHAT IT SEEMS
THE ISLAND WAS NOT AN ISLAND.
That should have been the tabloid headline when the freighter blew up and the helicopter was going back to the beach to make an emergency landing. The island, in a flash of light, disappeared, leaving only a small ripple on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
An island is the volcanic upheaval from the ocean floor of lava rock which then reaches past the surface of the ocean water. Islands are anchored on the ocean floor.
When the island disappeared without displacing any great water mass, we knew then that the island was not an island. It could not be.
From fan maps and dialog in the series, the island was approximately 12 miles wide and 18 miles long with the Hydra Island two miles off shore, with a dimension of 2 square miles. If one calculates the surface area of the island, it would be approximately 220 square miles.
The Pacific Ocean is 35, 797 feet in depth from the surface to the floor. Therefore, the island would have had real Earth dimensions of 12 miles x 18 miles x 6.77 miles or 1,462.32 cubic miles of mass.
The sudden disappearance of the island would have created an instantaneous hole in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The island surface area of 220 miles x ocean depth of 6.77 miles equals 1,489 sq. miles of water. The entire mass of the Pacific Ocean is 96, 658, 000 sq miles so the island disappearance would have displaced a large amount of water, as the surrounding ocean would rush into the void, and thereby creating a huge geyser and tsunami.
However, we did not observe the expected violent water rush filling a massive air space in the middle of the ocean. Therefore, the island did not displace the expected amount of water.
The island was not an island, but a floating structure. There is other evidence for this fact, such as the Daniel rocket experiment that showed that the island was moving away from the freighter.
Another piece of evidence was the sideways memories of the island and its artifacts being shown at the bottle of the ocean, encrusted with corral. This would suggest that the island "sank" to the bottom of the ocean.
So we have an island on earth which is not an earth island in mass or physics.
Theorists have proposed that the island was a disguise for some alien technology such as space ship or a star gate (a portal into other dimensions).
Other theorists believe that the island is an actual life form. It has a "heart" of life force and unique properties that allows it to move about in both time and space. It would be like a space tortoise landing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with its back turned into a tropical island over time.
Other theorists believe the island is a transition station between Earth and the after life, a gateway that souls need to traverse on their way to heaven.
No matter what theory one subscribes to, it is clear that the island was a floating mass and not a "true" island was we know them.
That should have been the tabloid headline when the freighter blew up and the helicopter was going back to the beach to make an emergency landing. The island, in a flash of light, disappeared, leaving only a small ripple on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
An island is the volcanic upheaval from the ocean floor of lava rock which then reaches past the surface of the ocean water. Islands are anchored on the ocean floor.
When the island disappeared without displacing any great water mass, we knew then that the island was not an island. It could not be.
From fan maps and dialog in the series, the island was approximately 12 miles wide and 18 miles long with the Hydra Island two miles off shore, with a dimension of 2 square miles. If one calculates the surface area of the island, it would be approximately 220 square miles.
The Pacific Ocean is 35, 797 feet in depth from the surface to the floor. Therefore, the island would have had real Earth dimensions of 12 miles x 18 miles x 6.77 miles or 1,462.32 cubic miles of mass.
The sudden disappearance of the island would have created an instantaneous hole in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The island surface area of 220 miles x ocean depth of 6.77 miles equals 1,489 sq. miles of water. The entire mass of the Pacific Ocean is 96, 658, 000 sq miles so the island disappearance would have displaced a large amount of water, as the surrounding ocean would rush into the void, and thereby creating a huge geyser and tsunami.
The island was not an island, but a floating structure. There is other evidence for this fact, such as the Daniel rocket experiment that showed that the island was moving away from the freighter.
Another piece of evidence was the sideways memories of the island and its artifacts being shown at the bottle of the ocean, encrusted with corral. This would suggest that the island "sank" to the bottom of the ocean.
So we have an island on earth which is not an earth island in mass or physics.
Theorists have proposed that the island was a disguise for some alien technology such as space ship or a star gate (a portal into other dimensions).
Other theorists believe that the island is an actual life form. It has a "heart" of life force and unique properties that allows it to move about in both time and space. It would be like a space tortoise landing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with its back turned into a tropical island over time.
Other theorists believe the island is a transition station between Earth and the after life, a gateway that souls need to traverse on their way to heaven.
No matter what theory one subscribes to, it is clear that the island was a floating mass and not a "true" island was we know them.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
WHAT WE KNOW
Diagrams are useful tools to express ideas and alternatively, to try to find answers to complex problems.
One of the great mysteries of the series was the island. We know a lot about the island, but we really don't know a lot of important information about the island.
Using Jacob as the focal point, I began to draw the above diagram. We know that Jacob was the central authority on the island during the 815 era. We know that he was brought to the island by Roman shipwreck. He was kidnapped by Crazy Mother, who at the time was the central authority on the island. Jacob and his brother lived together with Crazy Mother on the island.
One thing we do know is that the island is hard to find, even with the most advanced technologies. Therefore, the island is a "closed" system. It has a special barrier that limits who can ingress or egress its boundaries.
During the family feud, Jacob's brother killed Crazy Mother, and then Jacob killed his brother (which was strictly forbidden). As a result, a smoke monster took the form of his dead brother (MIB). It appears that they were to live alone on the island forever. Jacob was given the role of island guardian, and MIB was given the role of island security dog. But if no one could find the island, their existence would have been futile. Without MIB presence, Jacob probably would have gone mad in isolation (which was probably what happened to Crazy Mother).
We know that the unique energy of the island is contained in the heart of the island, which equates to some kind of "life force." The light source was described as "life, death and rebirth." The context of this description is that the heart of the island is the heart of the universe - - - the creator of all life and the religious recycler of all death into new life.
So we know the importance of the island as it houses the power to create life, destroy life and re-create life.
To save his own sanity, Jacob decided to bring "candidates" to the island in order to a) play a game or b) experiment with human behavior to prove a point to MIB. We know that deep inside MIB's memories is the strong desire to "escape" the island (as Jacob's brother did), so MIB played along with Jacob's work. MIB's support of Jacob bringing people to the island was a mere ploy to learn how to get off the island. If MIB could not directly kill Jacob (as was the rule with his brother), then MIB would use trickery to get one of Jacob's candidates to do it. MIB frustration with the people brought to the island was clear: they would get her, settle in, then devolve into "corruption." From MIB's perspective, corruption could have been worship of Jacob and not plotting his demise. From Jacob's perspective, the people brought to the island did not get the result he secretly wanted: death and release of his responsibilities as Crazy Mother had lured Jacob into thousands of years ago. Even though they did not know it, both Jacob and MIB were looking for the same result but took their own different paths to try to achieve it. This caused a frustrating stalemate.
Since the candidates were brought to the island, they were under the sphere of influence of the heart of the island. We do not observe any intelligent behavior of the light source itself. We do not observe it changing or killing either Desmond or Jack when they went into the light cave to reboot the island. Whether Dez and Jack were marked with immortality earlier by the island is unclear, but whatever they did together did set the stage for the final time of Jacob and MIB.
The light source had to transform the candidates into one of the three categories: giving life, giving death or giving rebirth. We know that all of the candidates and their closest friends were reincarnated in the sideways church world, a place in the after life. The exact process of that reincarnation is unknown. It appears not automatic, as there were several candidates who were either trapped on the island as spirits or never made it to the sideways world.
As a machine diagram, the island looks like it takes through its barrier human souls, experiments with them in order to either remold or change their behavior, then releases them back to their lives, or kills them directly, or gives them rebirth either on or off the island.
One of the great mysteries of the series was the island. We know a lot about the island, but we really don't know a lot of important information about the island.
One thing we do know is that the island is hard to find, even with the most advanced technologies. Therefore, the island is a "closed" system. It has a special barrier that limits who can ingress or egress its boundaries.
During the family feud, Jacob's brother killed Crazy Mother, and then Jacob killed his brother (which was strictly forbidden). As a result, a smoke monster took the form of his dead brother (MIB). It appears that they were to live alone on the island forever. Jacob was given the role of island guardian, and MIB was given the role of island security dog. But if no one could find the island, their existence would have been futile. Without MIB presence, Jacob probably would have gone mad in isolation (which was probably what happened to Crazy Mother).
We know that the unique energy of the island is contained in the heart of the island, which equates to some kind of "life force." The light source was described as "life, death and rebirth." The context of this description is that the heart of the island is the heart of the universe - - - the creator of all life and the religious recycler of all death into new life.
So we know the importance of the island as it houses the power to create life, destroy life and re-create life.
To save his own sanity, Jacob decided to bring "candidates" to the island in order to a) play a game or b) experiment with human behavior to prove a point to MIB. We know that deep inside MIB's memories is the strong desire to "escape" the island (as Jacob's brother did), so MIB played along with Jacob's work. MIB's support of Jacob bringing people to the island was a mere ploy to learn how to get off the island. If MIB could not directly kill Jacob (as was the rule with his brother), then MIB would use trickery to get one of Jacob's candidates to do it. MIB frustration with the people brought to the island was clear: they would get her, settle in, then devolve into "corruption." From MIB's perspective, corruption could have been worship of Jacob and not plotting his demise. From Jacob's perspective, the people brought to the island did not get the result he secretly wanted: death and release of his responsibilities as Crazy Mother had lured Jacob into thousands of years ago. Even though they did not know it, both Jacob and MIB were looking for the same result but took their own different paths to try to achieve it. This caused a frustrating stalemate.
Since the candidates were brought to the island, they were under the sphere of influence of the heart of the island. We do not observe any intelligent behavior of the light source itself. We do not observe it changing or killing either Desmond or Jack when they went into the light cave to reboot the island. Whether Dez and Jack were marked with immortality earlier by the island is unclear, but whatever they did together did set the stage for the final time of Jacob and MIB.
The light source had to transform the candidates into one of the three categories: giving life, giving death or giving rebirth. We know that all of the candidates and their closest friends were reincarnated in the sideways church world, a place in the after life. The exact process of that reincarnation is unknown. It appears not automatic, as there were several candidates who were either trapped on the island as spirits or never made it to the sideways world.
As a machine diagram, the island looks like it takes through its barrier human souls, experiments with them in order to either remold or change their behavior, then releases them back to their lives, or kills them directly, or gives them rebirth either on or off the island.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
PASSAGES
There are numerous passages during one's life. There is the physical passage to birth. Then there is the passage from dependent baby to exploring child. Then there is the transition from child to adult. And the final transformation from adult to old age.
Literature is filled with symbolic passages marking life's key events.
The journey through life is depicted as travel, a voyage, a quest, a road to hoe.
At death, is it symbolized in various forms but takes on the elements of travel to the next level existence, heaven. In ancient times, there was the story of the dead being ferried across the River Styx to hell for judgment. In modern times, in movies like Defending Your Life, souls are sorted by various passenger trains. Some evidence suggests that in near death experiences, people see a bright, white light in a tunnel. They get a sense of wanting to follow the light.
Once one reaches the travel sorting station, there is usually a test or continuation of the journey. A weighing of the heart. A defense of good versus evil behavior. Sins judged against moral achievements.
These passages represent a purification of one's spirit. This cleansing is to be done so only "worthy" souls can join in external paradise. Most people believe that one will have a second or third chance to become "worthy" of everlasting life.
All major religions have some teachings about the passage of a person's life force after death. It may be the foundation for hope in the present and the future. The cynical believe that it is merely a means to control unruly populations. There gets to a point throughout history that people would rather take the unknown passage of death than live in the poverty, war, disease or pain of their culture or society.
There is no question that the main characters of LOST had many passages to make during the series. There is a question of whether the whole LOST series was merely a dress rehearsal for the real passage in the sideways after life. Whether the characters were in a island purgatory or human beings transported to a spiritual world, they were given the opportunity to change, make amends, release regrets, and cleanse their sins. Whether they made good on their second chances is highly questionable.
Literature is filled with symbolic passages marking life's key events.
The journey through life is depicted as travel, a voyage, a quest, a road to hoe.
At death, is it symbolized in various forms but takes on the elements of travel to the next level existence, heaven. In ancient times, there was the story of the dead being ferried across the River Styx to hell for judgment. In modern times, in movies like Defending Your Life, souls are sorted by various passenger trains. Some evidence suggests that in near death experiences, people see a bright, white light in a tunnel. They get a sense of wanting to follow the light.
Once one reaches the travel sorting station, there is usually a test or continuation of the journey. A weighing of the heart. A defense of good versus evil behavior. Sins judged against moral achievements.
These passages represent a purification of one's spirit. This cleansing is to be done so only "worthy" souls can join in external paradise. Most people believe that one will have a second or third chance to become "worthy" of everlasting life.
All major religions have some teachings about the passage of a person's life force after death. It may be the foundation for hope in the present and the future. The cynical believe that it is merely a means to control unruly populations. There gets to a point throughout history that people would rather take the unknown passage of death than live in the poverty, war, disease or pain of their culture or society.
There is no question that the main characters of LOST had many passages to make during the series. There is a question of whether the whole LOST series was merely a dress rehearsal for the real passage in the sideways after life. Whether the characters were in a island purgatory or human beings transported to a spiritual world, they were given the opportunity to change, make amends, release regrets, and cleanse their sins. Whether they made good on their second chances is highly questionable.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
SMOKING SOMETHING
The Smoke Monster a/k/a Smokey was a fascinating character.
We really do not know how it was created; what it is made of; how it manifests itself in time and space; or why it is the island's "security system." We know it is capable of being a shape shifting pillar of smoke with the memories of dead people.
The earliest we see the smoke monster (in island time) is after Jacob kills his brother and the body is thrown into the stream to float into the light cave. A howling smoke monster flies out of the cave opening. Now, do we believe that the fact that Jacob's brother's body "awakened" the smoke monster and its ire, or that Jacob's brother turned into a smoke monster? Well, the latter is probably not true because Jacob buried his brother in a cave with Crazy Mother (whom Locke called Adam and Eve.) So Jacob's brother's body was not transformed into a smoke monster.
We believe that Crazy Mother was a smoke monster. We saw that she destroyed the Roman camp in the same after math as the smoke monster destroying the Barracks when Widmore's soldiers returned to the island. And there are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs at the temple depicting the smoke monster. So the evidence shows that a smoke monster was on the island prior to Jacob's brother's death.
Since Crazy Mother was a smoke monster, we know that she was killed only after she passed on her "guardianship" of the island to Jacob in a ceremony near the light cave. Once she did that, Jacob's brother stabbed her with a special knife. It is unclear whether she allowed the fatal blow or was defenseless, considering that Sayid's attempt to kill MIB was thwarted by mere words with Flocke.
And was Crazy Mother's ceremony to grant Jacob the knowledge of the island also a transformation of Jacob himself into a smoke monster? It is possible since Jacob did not know about the island's properties - - - just as Jacob transferred his authority to Jack at the last camp fire. But then, Jack would have become a smoke monster. And if Crazy Mother's rules were correct, that smoke beings could not kill each other, then Jack's turning over the guardianship to Hurley (unknown to Flocke) plus Kate's bullet could have killed Flocke.
If one sees the evidence that a smoke monster's shape shifting and memory stealing abilities is tied to engulfing a dead body, then there are more issues to explain. The series does point to the abilities to talk to the dead or read their last memories (Hurley and Miles). The smoke monster must have those same abilities in order to transform itself into dead people.
But there is one problem with the first incarnation. Christian's body was not on Flight 815. The coffin was empty. In the sideways arc, the body arrives weeks later. So if Christian's body was not deposited on the island, then where did the smoke monster get the information to create a Christian body double? The only logical means would be to read Jack's mind.
But this leads to an uncomfortable detour for some fans. If the smoke monster can only shape shift based upon reading the memories of the dead, then that would mean that Jack was dead on the island. He did not survive the plane crash. Jack was not the only example of a memory swipe to create an illusion on the island. Kate saw her horse in the jungle, but her horse was not on the plane. Then we have Hurley interacting physically with Dave, his imaginary friend. Was Dave on the island another smoke monster manifestation, urging Hurley to kill himself (because he was a candidate)?
We also have the situation of Mr. Eko talking directly to his dead brother Yemi. Yemi was the priest who was captured by the drug smugglers at the airport during a firefight with police. Eko assumed his brother's life. On the island, the smuggler's plane was found - - - with the body of Yemi. Now, it impossible for a small plane to fly from Africa to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most people believe that the plane crash and Yemi's body were manufactured by the smoke monster. If that is true, then the smoke monster would have had to read Eko's memories - - - again, meaning that Eko died in the plane crash.
The same holds true for Richard Alpert, when he sees his dead wife, Isabella on the island. The first time was when he was in the hold of the Black Rock, as the smoke monster was killing the survivors. The second time was near the end, when he saw her with Hurley near Alpert's special spot (where he buried her jewelry).
If the smoke monster was re-creating persons from the island inhabitants past, what was the reason?
The simple answer is that the smoke monster wanted the people to do something. Ghost Walt stood over the purge grave telling a bleeding Locke to get up because he still "had work to do." Ghost Alex confronted Ben in the temple, scolding him with guilt, to follow everything Flocke (MIB) told him to do (which led to the killing of Jacob.) Ghost Horace told Locke about Jacob's cabin and foreshadowed the danger that island leaders encounter on the island.
The one oddity is that in all the creations of dead people, the smoke monster had the most freedom, interaction and interpretation as Jacob's brother, MIB. In that form, MIB seemed to be an equal with Jacob. MIB called Jacob "the devil." However, in MIB's form, the smoke monster must have fused in Jacob's brother's last strong emotions: to leave the island. MIB's quest for centuries thereafter was to leave the island. But for no apparent reason, MIB or the smoke monster could not.
Which leads to another problem. When Jack returned to the mainland as an O6 survivor, he found Ghost Christian in the lobby of the medical building. The smoke detector went off, and Jack went to investigate. If this was a shape shifting smoke monster, but not MIB (who could not leave the island), then it had to be Jacob. That would mean Jacob himself was a smoke monster.
The grant of immortality to people on the island by Jacob may have been a ruse of a truth. With Alpert, being dead was itself being immortal. But Alpert did not know his fate so he could be conned into the service of Jacob.
So in all the smoke monsters manifestations, it is not perfectly clear who or what the smoke monster was in every situation. In one sense, the smoke monster was an information gathering machine. In another sense, it was an angry amalgamation of dead souls trapped in an island purgatory. No one can say for sure whether the smoke monster was good, evil or merely confused. It killed both good people, bad people, sinners and followers.
What we can say is that the smoke monster by definition is the visible suspension of carbon or other particles in air, typically one emitted from a burning substance, which some theorists minds would represent carbon (the basis of human life) being burnt in hell.
It could also mean to fumigate, cleanse, or purify by exposure to smoke, which also fits into the underworld judgment theme. It could also mean to force someone to make something known: as the press smokes him out on other human rights issues, he will be revealed as a social conservative. If this is a character study, then putting the characters under stressful situations to make them change would be a story alternative.
A monster is an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. This would fit into the illusion themes of the series. It can also be used to describe an inhumanly cruel or wicked person. There were many cruel and evil characters on the show who did not repress their cruelty onto others.
If you put both definitions together, smoke is an description of the main word. One could say the smoke monster is a purifying imaginary creature forcing characters to make something known to themselves. Whether that something is overcoming an inner fear, regrets about relationships or acknowledging their own demise, that could have been the smoke monster's role.
We really do not know how it was created; what it is made of; how it manifests itself in time and space; or why it is the island's "security system." We know it is capable of being a shape shifting pillar of smoke with the memories of dead people.
We believe that Crazy Mother was a smoke monster. We saw that she destroyed the Roman camp in the same after math as the smoke monster destroying the Barracks when Widmore's soldiers returned to the island. And there are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs at the temple depicting the smoke monster. So the evidence shows that a smoke monster was on the island prior to Jacob's brother's death.
Since Crazy Mother was a smoke monster, we know that she was killed only after she passed on her "guardianship" of the island to Jacob in a ceremony near the light cave. Once she did that, Jacob's brother stabbed her with a special knife. It is unclear whether she allowed the fatal blow or was defenseless, considering that Sayid's attempt to kill MIB was thwarted by mere words with Flocke.
And was Crazy Mother's ceremony to grant Jacob the knowledge of the island also a transformation of Jacob himself into a smoke monster? It is possible since Jacob did not know about the island's properties - - - just as Jacob transferred his authority to Jack at the last camp fire. But then, Jack would have become a smoke monster. And if Crazy Mother's rules were correct, that smoke beings could not kill each other, then Jack's turning over the guardianship to Hurley (unknown to Flocke) plus Kate's bullet could have killed Flocke.
If one sees the evidence that a smoke monster's shape shifting and memory stealing abilities is tied to engulfing a dead body, then there are more issues to explain. The series does point to the abilities to talk to the dead or read their last memories (Hurley and Miles). The smoke monster must have those same abilities in order to transform itself into dead people.
But there is one problem with the first incarnation. Christian's body was not on Flight 815. The coffin was empty. In the sideways arc, the body arrives weeks later. So if Christian's body was not deposited on the island, then where did the smoke monster get the information to create a Christian body double? The only logical means would be to read Jack's mind.
But this leads to an uncomfortable detour for some fans. If the smoke monster can only shape shift based upon reading the memories of the dead, then that would mean that Jack was dead on the island. He did not survive the plane crash. Jack was not the only example of a memory swipe to create an illusion on the island. Kate saw her horse in the jungle, but her horse was not on the plane. Then we have Hurley interacting physically with Dave, his imaginary friend. Was Dave on the island another smoke monster manifestation, urging Hurley to kill himself (because he was a candidate)?
We also have the situation of Mr. Eko talking directly to his dead brother Yemi. Yemi was the priest who was captured by the drug smugglers at the airport during a firefight with police. Eko assumed his brother's life. On the island, the smuggler's plane was found - - - with the body of Yemi. Now, it impossible for a small plane to fly from Africa to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most people believe that the plane crash and Yemi's body were manufactured by the smoke monster. If that is true, then the smoke monster would have had to read Eko's memories - - - again, meaning that Eko died in the plane crash.
The same holds true for Richard Alpert, when he sees his dead wife, Isabella on the island. The first time was when he was in the hold of the Black Rock, as the smoke monster was killing the survivors. The second time was near the end, when he saw her with Hurley near Alpert's special spot (where he buried her jewelry).
If the smoke monster was re-creating persons from the island inhabitants past, what was the reason?
The simple answer is that the smoke monster wanted the people to do something. Ghost Walt stood over the purge grave telling a bleeding Locke to get up because he still "had work to do." Ghost Alex confronted Ben in the temple, scolding him with guilt, to follow everything Flocke (MIB) told him to do (which led to the killing of Jacob.) Ghost Horace told Locke about Jacob's cabin and foreshadowed the danger that island leaders encounter on the island.
The one oddity is that in all the creations of dead people, the smoke monster had the most freedom, interaction and interpretation as Jacob's brother, MIB. In that form, MIB seemed to be an equal with Jacob. MIB called Jacob "the devil." However, in MIB's form, the smoke monster must have fused in Jacob's brother's last strong emotions: to leave the island. MIB's quest for centuries thereafter was to leave the island. But for no apparent reason, MIB or the smoke monster could not.
Which leads to another problem. When Jack returned to the mainland as an O6 survivor, he found Ghost Christian in the lobby of the medical building. The smoke detector went off, and Jack went to investigate. If this was a shape shifting smoke monster, but not MIB (who could not leave the island), then it had to be Jacob. That would mean Jacob himself was a smoke monster.
The grant of immortality to people on the island by Jacob may have been a ruse of a truth. With Alpert, being dead was itself being immortal. But Alpert did not know his fate so he could be conned into the service of Jacob.
So in all the smoke monsters manifestations, it is not perfectly clear who or what the smoke monster was in every situation. In one sense, the smoke monster was an information gathering machine. In another sense, it was an angry amalgamation of dead souls trapped in an island purgatory. No one can say for sure whether the smoke monster was good, evil or merely confused. It killed both good people, bad people, sinners and followers.
What we can say is that the smoke monster by definition is the visible suspension of carbon or other particles in air, typically one emitted from a burning substance, which some theorists minds would represent carbon (the basis of human life) being burnt in hell.
It could also mean to fumigate, cleanse, or purify by exposure to smoke, which also fits into the underworld judgment theme. It could also mean to force someone to make something known: as the press smokes him out on other human rights issues, he will be revealed as a social conservative. If this is a character study, then putting the characters under stressful situations to make them change would be a story alternative.
A monster is an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. This would fit into the illusion themes of the series. It can also be used to describe an inhumanly cruel or wicked person. There were many cruel and evil characters on the show who did not repress their cruelty onto others.
If you put both definitions together, smoke is an description of the main word. One could say the smoke monster is a purifying imaginary creature forcing characters to make something known to themselves. Whether that something is overcoming an inner fear, regrets about relationships or acknowledging their own demise, that could have been the smoke monster's role.
Monday, December 2, 2013
THE BEN PROBLEM
There are many documented problems with the LOST story. These problems deal with story structure and the events viewers saw during the series. These go beyond continuity issues or shooting errors, but to major plot point questions.
One of the least discussed problems is with Ben.
And it deals with the traditional paradox of time travel.
A paradox a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. As Issac Asimov explained the classic literary example is “What if you go back into the past and kill your grandfather when he was still a little boy?” This event would change the person's world so dramatically, that the killer would not be born. So complex and hopeless are the paradoxes…that the easiest way out of the irrational chaos that results is to suppose that true time-travel is, and forever will be, impossible, Asimov said.
The grandfather paradox is from time travel literature which states that a person who goes back in time can massively alter future events.
When a few of the 815 survivors time travel to Dharmaville in 1974, a young boy is already present on the island. His name was Ben Linus. He was an unhappy boy. His father was a drunk janitor who blamed his wife death on Ben. (She died during child birth). As a result, Ben and his father were never close. Ben was brought to the island by his father because he needed work. Ben became an introvert and apparently only had one friend in the island school. At some time, Ben began to see visions of his dead mother in the jungle. Ben became rebellious over the the Dharma rules, and he sought out to join the Others. He met Richard Alpert in the jungle, but Ben was told it was not time yet.
But whatever time line was supposed to happen, changed when the 815ers time traveled to 1974. During the encounter with Sayid in 1977, Ben was mortally wounded in the chest. Juliet could not do anything to save Ben. Jack refused to help, knowing what adult Ben would do to them after Flight 815 crashed on the island. So Juliet and Kate take it upon themselves to deliver bleeding Ben to Alpert. Alpert takes Ben, but tells them he would be "forever changed." Ben is taken to the temple to be saved.
And here is begins the problem. Juliet, a medical doctor, could not save Ben from dying of his wounds. If Ben was taken to the temple, we have to assume that the same ceremony would have been performed by Dogen as he did on mortally wounded Sayid after the time skips stopped. When Sayid was treated in the temple pool, he died. But much later, he was reincarnated as a soul less Sayid who recognized his own internal darkness.
One has to assume that Ben also "died" in the temple, because medical science could not save him. And if he died and then was "reincarnated," he also became evil. Now, some people will say that assumption is false. Ben was "saved" by the Others so he grew up as he normally did prior to the time skips. However, if as a boy being shot in 1977, Ben would have had to change his personality and outlook on life.
But another problem with the major time event is that Ben did not remember Sayid when Flight 815 crashed on the island. Would you not remember who shot you at point blank range? Now, some may argue that Ben would have not known of Sayid because the shooting did not take place until later in the series. But we are not talking about seasonal episode air dates as being relevant. The story stated Ben was shot in 1977. Then 30 years later, his killer returns to his island.
Ben knows just about everything about the island, so his boyhood memories would not have been erased. He began the Other's spy within the Dharma group. He rose up to take command of the Others by purging the Dharma people with poison gas. He should have known about Sayid.
Further, if Ben died in 1977, there would have been no Ben led Dharma group bent on kidnapping and terrorizing the 815 survivors.
Another problem is what did Ben become after the temple ritual. Clearly, if he followed Sayid's path, Ben was a soul less being - - - which could have been manipulated by Jacob or MIB. But then again, why did Ben get a second chance at life when the other people on the island did not? Or did the temple waters actually create a new smoke monster in the form of Ben?
It set into motion the same type of mass destruction we have seen other smoke monsters, like Crazy Mother, do to inhabitants on the island.
The writers cannot give us a grandfather paradox moment and not explain why there was no consequences in the future.
One of the least discussed problems is with Ben.
And it deals with the traditional paradox of time travel.
A paradox a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. As Issac Asimov explained the classic literary example is “What if you go back into the past and kill your grandfather when he was still a little boy?” This event would change the person's world so dramatically, that the killer would not be born. So complex and hopeless are the paradoxes…that the easiest way out of the irrational chaos that results is to suppose that true time-travel is, and forever will be, impossible, Asimov said.
The grandfather paradox is from time travel literature which states that a person who goes back in time can massively alter future events.
When a few of the 815 survivors time travel to Dharmaville in 1974, a young boy is already present on the island. His name was Ben Linus. He was an unhappy boy. His father was a drunk janitor who blamed his wife death on Ben. (She died during child birth). As a result, Ben and his father were never close. Ben was brought to the island by his father because he needed work. Ben became an introvert and apparently only had one friend in the island school. At some time, Ben began to see visions of his dead mother in the jungle. Ben became rebellious over the the Dharma rules, and he sought out to join the Others. He met Richard Alpert in the jungle, but Ben was told it was not time yet.
But whatever time line was supposed to happen, changed when the 815ers time traveled to 1974. During the encounter with Sayid in 1977, Ben was mortally wounded in the chest. Juliet could not do anything to save Ben. Jack refused to help, knowing what adult Ben would do to them after Flight 815 crashed on the island. So Juliet and Kate take it upon themselves to deliver bleeding Ben to Alpert. Alpert takes Ben, but tells them he would be "forever changed." Ben is taken to the temple to be saved.
And here is begins the problem. Juliet, a medical doctor, could not save Ben from dying of his wounds. If Ben was taken to the temple, we have to assume that the same ceremony would have been performed by Dogen as he did on mortally wounded Sayid after the time skips stopped. When Sayid was treated in the temple pool, he died. But much later, he was reincarnated as a soul less Sayid who recognized his own internal darkness.
One has to assume that Ben also "died" in the temple, because medical science could not save him. And if he died and then was "reincarnated," he also became evil. Now, some people will say that assumption is false. Ben was "saved" by the Others so he grew up as he normally did prior to the time skips. However, if as a boy being shot in 1977, Ben would have had to change his personality and outlook on life.
But another problem with the major time event is that Ben did not remember Sayid when Flight 815 crashed on the island. Would you not remember who shot you at point blank range? Now, some may argue that Ben would have not known of Sayid because the shooting did not take place until later in the series. But we are not talking about seasonal episode air dates as being relevant. The story stated Ben was shot in 1977. Then 30 years later, his killer returns to his island.
Ben knows just about everything about the island, so his boyhood memories would not have been erased. He began the Other's spy within the Dharma group. He rose up to take command of the Others by purging the Dharma people with poison gas. He should have known about Sayid.
Further, if Ben died in 1977, there would have been no Ben led Dharma group bent on kidnapping and terrorizing the 815 survivors.
Another problem is what did Ben become after the temple ritual. Clearly, if he followed Sayid's path, Ben was a soul less being - - - which could have been manipulated by Jacob or MIB. But then again, why did Ben get a second chance at life when the other people on the island did not? Or did the temple waters actually create a new smoke monster in the form of Ben?
It set into motion the same type of mass destruction we have seen other smoke monsters, like Crazy Mother, do to inhabitants on the island.
The writers cannot give us a grandfather paradox moment and not explain why there was no consequences in the future.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
MUSICAL CLUES
Music that was played on the series was speculated by some viewers to be hidden clues.
For example, in the Season 2 episode, "The Hunting Party" Jack faces a major problem as he wakes to find a gun wielding Michael, who leaves to find Walt, who kidnapped by the Others. With the help of Locke and Sawyer, Jack heads out to bring Michael back before he is killed by the natives.
During this episode, the music playing in the Hatch was "Fall on Me", by Pousette-Dar Band.
The lyrics may be the clues:
Fall, fall on me
If you're gonna fall
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
I can see the sorrow in you're eyes
I can feel you're heart wondering why
If you're gonna fall,
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
Now you feel
you've lost all reason
can't face another day
when it's despair
it's just a season
that comes and goes away
If you're gonna fall
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
If you're go'in down
hold on to me
when you got a soul
that shines on
so much love can't help but turn mine on,
If you're gonna fall,
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
Fall, fall on me
Two things come to mind in reading the lyrics:
1) when a castaway like Michael loses all reason (his anger to get back his son), it is just another seasonal plot point that "comes and goes away."
2) the reference to "a soul" prequels death, but in Michael's case even Walt's love for him cannot turn his soul from a trapped whisper to the sideways world reunion.
The first comment reinforces that retrospective feeling for some that LOST had no continuity from season to season; there was no clearly defined plot structure; it was a free form series with more story arc dead ends than well constructed story telling of an epic tale.
The second comment reinforces that the characters were not whom they seem to represent, either in human form or as lost spirits trapped in a transitional world of the living and the dead. Many of the main characters brutally failed in their actions on the island, but still received a happy reunion in the after life sideways church. It would seem that failing together was better than failing alone.
For example, in the Season 2 episode, "The Hunting Party" Jack faces a major problem as he wakes to find a gun wielding Michael, who leaves to find Walt, who kidnapped by the Others. With the help of Locke and Sawyer, Jack heads out to bring Michael back before he is killed by the natives.
During this episode, the music playing in the Hatch was "Fall on Me", by Pousette-Dar Band.
The lyrics may be the clues:
Fall, fall on me
If you're gonna fall
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
I can see the sorrow in you're eyes
I can feel you're heart wondering why
If you're gonna fall,
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
Now you feel
you've lost all reason
can't face another day
when it's despair
it's just a season
that comes and goes away
If you're gonna fall
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
If you're go'in down
hold on to me
when you got a soul
that shines on
so much love can't help but turn mine on,
If you're gonna fall,
fall on me
and if you're go'in down
hold on to me
Fall, fall on me
Two things come to mind in reading the lyrics:
1) when a castaway like Michael loses all reason (his anger to get back his son), it is just another seasonal plot point that "comes and goes away."
2) the reference to "a soul" prequels death, but in Michael's case even Walt's love for him cannot turn his soul from a trapped whisper to the sideways world reunion.
The first comment reinforces that retrospective feeling for some that LOST had no continuity from season to season; there was no clearly defined plot structure; it was a free form series with more story arc dead ends than well constructed story telling of an epic tale.
The second comment reinforces that the characters were not whom they seem to represent, either in human form or as lost spirits trapped in a transitional world of the living and the dead. Many of the main characters brutally failed in their actions on the island, but still received a happy reunion in the after life sideways church. It would seem that failing together was better than failing alone.
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