REVIEW: THEORIES PART 2

In the next installment of popular pre-Season 6 theories includes the collective notion that the characters have fallen by accident into a time rift.

There are many clues which supported this theory: the fact the island's time was different than the freighter's; that the light refracted differently on the island than on the sea; that the rocket experiment showed a major difference in both space and time (as the results indicated that the island was moving away from the freighter, perhaps going faster than the rotation of the earth because of a time shift); that several characters began to time skip while on the island; that Ben traveled off the island by turning the FDW but to arrive at a different date in the Arab desert; and that the island was "difficult" or impossible to find.

A few commentators tried to establish a purpose for this Earth bound time anomaly.  Why was the island so important that powerful men would kill in order to control it? And why was the military and science community (Dharma) so eager to set up stations on the island?

When viewers realized that the Numbers may represent the The Valenzetti Equation which is the mathematical equation developed by the reclusive Princeton University mathematician Enzo Valenzetti.  It was created following the Cuban Missile Crisis by the United States and the Soviet Union to find a solution to the hostility and danger of imminent global disaster created by the Cold War. The equation was secretly commissioned through the UN Security Council and is used to predict the time of human extinction.

According to the 1975 orientation film,  the Valenzetti Equation "predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself."

Some propose that the island was the receiver for messages from mankind's future. The island had to straddle the time continuum of the present and the future in order to send/receive information.

As such, some speculate that some major disaster has happened in the future, and those in the future have managed to alert some people in the past by sending messages back in an attempt to prevent it. These futurists were attempting to alter the island present in tiny ways hoping that it will cause a chain reaction that will eventually lead to the prevention of the disaster. The theory believes that everyone on the island has a part, big or small, to play in eventually stopping this future disaster.

Because the island has a strange magnetic field,  futurists are able to focus their messages to the island so they can be understood by a less advanced human race. As such, they may have used symbolic meaning for complex subject matter, which may have led to a series strange things happening, such as the creation of the smoke monster from the messages or memories of those human receivers in the past.  The power to hear what could only be perceived as messages from the heavens may have been  discovered by Dharma, or possibly the original Others.

To some these future messages are just images, random things like the numbers appearing on objects. Other people can understand the messages better, such as the Others on the Island and possibly those on Jacob's  List. To the chosen ones,  the messages may be clearer. The chosen ones may be in a position to decode the messages in order to the disaster.

Ramping up to Season 6,  the issue of past and present and time have become quite important, especially with Desmond's developing story arc of having time flashes into the future.  Sub-conscious messages from the future could also explain how certain characters and supporting characters seem to know what is going to happen, or why everyone in the show appears to be some how connected.

The future disaster may have  something to do with fertility. The Others have always seemed interested in children, especially Claire's baby. In Season 3,  we were shown a scan of a 27 year old woman with the womb of a 70 year old.

The Others keep saying they are "the good guys," which could mean that they God's chosen people to receive his messages to save mankind. They at least believe that they are doing good work. The List they have might be warning about who is useful in preventing the disaster, or who might cause the disaster. It opens the spiritual context to the show.

The concept that LOST could have been centered around alien messages (as opposed to aliens themselves) is a good sci-fi basis in which to develop a complex story line. However, we are never told what the future "disaster" is that our heroes need to prevent. No one in the series explains to us the messages other than the vague excuse "this is what Jacob wants."  We will learn that the immortal Jacob is the island's guardian, but he does not divulge anything about the future to the island inhabitants. He is only concerned about finding his successor. It is sort of like a lonely light house keeper trying to trick another individual to take his place on a cold rock so he could escape his island prison. It may be noble work; but it is not rewarding to the light house keeper.

If the future messages were sent to create change for the planet, none of the main characters had the ability to make any global impact. Yes, a few were wealthy like Sun or Widmore, but they did not show any humanitarian purpose in their actions surrounding the island. And as Season 6 would unfold, the time angle of the series became moot. There was no great cry to save the human race from destruction. It was a temperate plea not to let Flocke escape the island, for some unexplained reason. Even if Flocke represented the devil who would be unleashed on mankind, there was plenty of back story evil in the world that that event would not make much of a difference one way or the other.

It is clear this sci-fi theory did have roots in the early plot lines of the series, but in the end science fiction was cast to the curb and not a factor in the main characters personal story endings.

DARK MESSENGER

In various religions, messengers from the heavens can be considered good, bad, mischievous or indifferent. The character called Matthew Abaddon fits into all those categories by design or mistake.

He played a hospital orderly, an airline lawyer, a recruiter for the freighter mission, and a chauffeur for Locke in his quest to get the O6 back to the island. It is believed that he was an agent for Widmore who needed to move people "to where they needed to be" like pieces on a chess board.

Chronologically, he was first seen suggesting to Locke (after he was crippled by his father) that he take a "walkabout" in Australia (which he said he had once done) in order to find his "purpose in life." This advice ultimately led Locke to the Island aboard Flight 815.

Later, Abaddon was the recruiter who put together the "science team" for Widmore's freighter crew: Naomi would be the point person, along with pilot Frank, Daniel Faraday, Charlotte and Miles. The alleged purpose of the science mission was to find the wreckage of Flight 815. Abaddon told Naomi that there had been no survivors.

Sometime after the rescue of the O6, Abaddon posed as a representative for Oceanic Airlines when visited Hurley at the mental institution. Hurley had cut himself off from the world. Abaddon coyly asked Hurley if "they" were still alive.  This was done to start the "guilt" process to get Hurley to return to the island.

Sometime later, Abaddon was assigned by Widmore to take Locke around the world to convince the people who had escaped the island to return with him. While Locke's attempts to persuade Sayid, Hurley, Jack or Kate to return to the Island were unsuccessful, Locke remained persistent as they traveled to see  Walt and "to find" Helen his old girlfriend. Locke was taken to Helen's grave.  There,  Abaddon posited that Locke's fate, and his death, may be predestined. Locke argued that he didn't want to die, and if it was predestined then that would remove the choice. Abaddon, ending the conversation, simply remarked "Hey, I'm just your driver." As they were leaving the cemetery, Abaddon was in the midst of a pep speech that Locke should keep going when he was assassinated allegedly by Ben's operatives. Ben would later tell Locke that it was he who had shot Abaddon, who he claimed was "extremely dangerous" and would have tried to kill Locke in due time (but that makes no sense within the story since both Abaddon and Ben wanted Locke to succeed in bringing everyone back to the island.)

In all these situations, Abaddon is surrounded by pain, suffering and death. Many people quickly realized that Abaddon's names comes from the Bible as a reference to "the Angel of the Bottomless Pit, " whose job it is to take souls to their destination in the Last Judgment. Many viewers believe that was Abaddon's  role in the series.

Greek for "destruction" or "the destroyer,"  Abaddon the Angel is pictured as a human sized locust, and is known as the lord of pestilence. The root for "Matthew" in Hebrew is "Gift from God." Additionally, in Hebrew, Abaddon is synonymous for Hell or destruction. Very loosely translated "Matthew Abaddon" can be read as "Gift from the god of hell." Jesus refers to God the Father as "Abba" while "-don" is the first three letters of "donate," which comes from the Latin root for "give." The name of the character in the episode referred to by the press release using the spelling "Matthew Abbadon" might be interpreted "Gift of God/Father Gift."

Abaddon as a dark angel makes sense. His first appearance is after Locke should have been killed from the multiple story fall. If Locke had died, Abaddon may have been "collecting" his soul for a trip to the underworld playground called the Island. MIB called Jacob "the Devil." Dogen called MIB "evil incarnate."  The island was certainly a living hell for those taken to it.

There is a possibility that Abaddon was a version of the smoke monster as ghost Christian was a version of Jacob when Jack was back at the hospital after his rescue. There is no known rule that prohibits either Jacob or the smoke monster from materializing off the island. Jacob had been seen in many places, in LA, Korea and on the freighter. Immortal spirits such as the devil or his dark angels could haunt the living as well as the dead.

Abaddon's character is a strong clue that LOST was more about death than life. It was about dead souls attempting to cope with a journey to their after life reunion in the sideways realm.

NURSING A CONCEPT

It is hard to imagine, but the story lines of LOST contained more than 35 "nurses."  In battlefield medical tents, nurses were called "angels of mercy." They have the difficult job of treating people in difficult to life threatening situations.

There are some interesting patterns with some of them.

Locke's nurse at St. Thomas Hospital where he donated a kidney to Anthony Cooper later showed up as his nurse at St. Sebastian Hospital with Jack. It is odd that a nurse would change hospitals. It would seem that this nurse was "assigned" to follow Locke, to watch over him.

A nurse worked at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute in which Hurley and Libby were institutionalized as patients. When Hurley came back (after being released) to visit Leonard, the nurse would not allow Hurley to see him, as he didn't know Leonard's last name. Eventually Hurley was let in by Dr. Curtis.  This nurse must have been hired after Hurley left because she did not know him. The odd part is that Hurley was good with names, so he would have remembered Leonard's last name.

But the more mysterious nurse was Susie Lazenby, a nurse from a prior episode, "Dave."  She was the nurse who gave medications in the day room to both Hurley and Libby. Was there something important to keep both Hurley and Libby "drugged" to the point where they would not remember each other?

Ayesha was a nurse at the local Tunisian infirmary to which a severely injured Locke was brought to after he turned the FDW.  She was on duty when three men entered carrying Locke. A doctor shouted out loud for her twice while he was treating Locke, but she was unresponsive until another nurse pointed out to her that the doctor was in hurry. When she finally responded to the doctor, Matthew Abaddon  was watching from behind a curtain where she was standing. Abbadon was Locke's orderly after he was paralyzed by Cooper's betrayal. Ayesha was the last person Locke seemed to recognize before losing consciousness.

Debra was a DHARMA nurse who assisted Juliet while operating and caring for a young Ben who was shot by Sayid during the time flash period. She worked with Juliet and later informed Juliet that Kate was there to donate blood for Ben because she was a universal donor.

In the End, Nurse Jean assisted Jack with patient Locke at St. Sebastian Hospital when Locke awakened. Jean's name was said on screen by Jack making her the final named character ever to be introduced on LOST.

In the theme of Life and Death, nurses as angels can be powerful symbols. Or they can be sinister agents for powerful forces. For example, in Locke's story his life "ends" when he is thrown 8 stories from a window. As part of his miraculous rehab, an orderly called Abbadon (which is a reference to the devil) imparts wisdom and hope to Locke to continue with his rehab. Abbadon, who is working for Widmore, returns to help Locke gather up the O6 survivors to return to the island. But not after being present when Locke is treated after his time flash. Abbadon and the nurses around him clearly were pushing, guiding and advising Locke on important decisions that Locke had to make in order to survive.

I also think nurse Susie Lazenby was carrying on exterior motives by being the one medicating both Hurley and Libby. She could have been an operative to keep Hurley or Libby from remembering their past or their future (see prior post about the sideways world being first in actual time).  Who would suspect a nurse who has an oath to help patients, actually dispensing drugs to keep souls in the state of darkness, despair, illusion or depression? It is the perfect cover to control, manipulate and brain wash patients.

Perhaps young Ben learned these manipulation techniques when he was shot by Sayid. Kate took on the role of being an angel of mercy by donating blood to save Ben's life. Juliet, knowing what Ben would become in the future, decided that her own personal feelings and desire to kill the monster called Ben in 2004 had no place in 1977. It was one of those ethical puzzles with no clear answer.

If one thinks the series was an dreamy after life state where the characters had to sort through various ethical, moral, immoral and judgmental decisions, the nurses weaved into the stories could be the good messengers to the dark forces trying to manipulate lost souls. And it was the various choices, changes of direction and final decisions in the maze of series events led the main characters to the sideways church reunion, all with some contact to a nurse sometime during the series.