- These posts will all contain spoilers to the previously aired episodes.
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- Everything is conjecture and up for play.
- THESE POSTS WILL ALL CONTAIN SPOILERS.
Like many folks, I’ve been waiting for several months to the premier of the final season, wondering where the show was going to go. Back at the end of Season 3, when the first Flashforward (FF) occurred, I postulated that perhaps the show would converge to the present for the final season. It made sense. Flashbacks (FB) leading up to a present point in time, Flashforwards showing where things would go and slowly making their way backwards to a present point in time, would eventually meet. That meeting, along with the Season 5 time travel mechanism, created an alternate reality, or a Flashsideways (FS). I didn’t suspect an alternate reality, I don’t think, but I like the idea.Recap
“LA X” begins with the FS, with Jack Shephard sitting on Oceanic 815, brooding over the death of his father or daydreaming. For the most part, all the other Losties are there, too, heading from Sydney to LA. The plane arrives with a few minor incidents: Charlie gets arrested after Jack saves his life from swallowing a bag full of heroin, Hurley talks about his good luck at winning the lottery and Sawyer eyes him as a target, John Locke sits in his wheel-chair and dreams of what could’ve been, and Kate is in handcuffs. By the end of the FS, Kate has escaped from the Marshal, Jack’s father’s coffin has vanished, and Jack and John Locke have formed the start of a relationship.
On the island things are a bit more chaotic. After the hydrogen bomb exploded the Losties time traveled back to the present. Sayid is bleeding to death and needs help. The ghost of Jacob appears and tells Hurley that the only way to help him is to take him to the Temple. At the Swan station site, Juliet is pinned under the rubble and crying for help. Eventually Sawyer makes his way to free her and she dies (heartbreakingly) in his arms. Miles gets the cryptic message from her: “It worked.” The Losties all make it to the Temple, where Sayid is put in the bubbling, healing waters. The Temple folk tell them that there are consequences and risks to the procedure, but they do it anyway. Sayid dies and everyone despairs, unsure what to do. They learn that Jacob is dead, at which point a flare is sent off and dust is sprinkled around the perimeter.
Back at the Statue, Jacob’s counterpart (whom I like to call Esau, or the Man in Black), sends Ben to get Richard Alpert. Ben is shown John Locke’s dead body and he realizes that he’s been duped into killing Jacob. Jacob’s protectors rush into the statue and attack Not-John Locke, who turns into the smoke monster and kills them all. Not-John Locke walks out onto the beach, confronts Richard, and knocks him unconscious. He tells everyone that he’s very disappointed in them all and says he’s going home.
Thoughts and Opinions
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I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Alternate reality is a staple in comic books, so I’m fine with the possibilities. I’m eager to see how the Losties pitiful lives off the island will play out. Likely they’ll lead to despair and hopelessness? But the question is which reality is the real reality? -
I’ve always liked John Locke. His faith was a staple to the show. Hearing Esau talk of how sad and confused he was, as Ben strangled him, was touching. But what could Locke’s special role be with the Island? Jacob traveled and touched him, so he has to have a purpose. -
The vast amount of Egyptian culture at the Temple (and on the rest of the Island) was pretty cool. Even the music playing sounded fitting. -
I’m guessing when Young Ben was shot (by Sayid) and taken to the Others and Richard said that they could heal him, but there’d be consequences, that he’d never be the same, that they submerged him in the healing waters? What were the consequences? And what happened to Sayid? Did you notice his voice at the end? -
I liked Charlie saying “I was supposed to die.” It was good to see him again. -
Ben is still one of my favorite characters. He obviously felt remorse for killing Jacob (or confusion at the least), wondering why the man didn’t fight back. Hopefully redemption comes for the wayward man. -
Esau being the smoke monster was a cool idea. It’s interesting to think back on the interactions from Smokie and everyone. It killed Eko, the French science team, and many others. -
The next episode is called “What Kate Does.”
Thanks for reading, everybody. Let’s hear what I forgot or what you liked/disliked.
19 comments:
I think that the dust that is sprinkled could be the ashes of Jacob. The Man in Black obviously cannot directly attack Jacob. Perhaps the ashes prevent him from doing this to others.
One other thing. We don't know that they are now in the present after the detonation of the H-bomb, we only know that they are in the SAME time.
Mike F.
Interesting thoughts about the dust, but I don't know how it would work. Bram pulled a bag of the dust and sprinkled it around him while in the Temple. He wouldn't have had time to get the ashes, nor would the Temple residents. Interesting idea, though, and definitely possible.
Very true about the timeline. Perhaps they're removed from time now, operating on their own sense of time, and the present is off island?
Bill's Seven:
First off, I still hate Kate as a character. She was only slightly less appealing in this episode, and that's just because Alterna-Kate managed a pretty daring escape (that we've yet to see play out).
Secondly, Smokey needs a name. Esau is OK, but he it needs mentioning.
Third, NEW-SAYID IS JACOB! Gotta be, definitely. Worth it.
Fourth, why oh why did Smokey follow Ben's commands earlier if he / it was sentient after all?
Fifth, everyone is agreed that the Temple is what Smokey was referring to when he said he had to go "home", right?
Sixth, did anyone here watch it in high def? I watched on UofL's video wall in the Miller IT Center, but they had standard def so it was a little blurry and I know they like to include little easter eggs in the 'trimmed' sections of the HD feed.
Seventh, every list needs a seven item.
Of all the places I run across, CollegeHumor actually has a fairly good recap and "what we can learn":
http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1800847
1. My brain is full. No more new information, please.
2. The Man in Black is also the smoke monster. That explains a lot!
3. In the guitar case that Jacob gave Hurley was a wooden symbol containing a note from Jacob. Is this Jacob’s “list” again?
4. We were thrown for a loop a couple of times with Plane Dimension (Is Hurley’s luck different? Don’t think so. He was being sarcastic. Can Locke really walk? No. He was lying to Boone. Is Shannon missing? No. She’s “in the bathroom” - i.e. Maybe ABC couldn’t negotiate a contract with Maggie Grace.) And yet, there are weird things going on in this alternate reality. Jack’s bleeding, for example. And the stewardess hands him one bottle of vodka. In the pilot episode, it was two bottles.
5. If Sawyer yells loud enough, Miles will talk to dead people.
6. The Man in Black wants to “go home.”
7. Evidently, there’s at least one ladies room at LAX that isn’t crowded with overweight people and loud kids. Which terminal is that in?
8. In Plane Dimension, Desmond is on Flight 815. This is, in fact, a possibility. Because in this reality, the island is underwater, so Des’s boat would have never wrecked there and he could, in fact, have gotten on a plane in Australia in 2004. (Still, it’s quite a coincidence.) And Juliet could still be alive in this dimension, since there was no longer an island for her to go to. So she’s probably living somewhere in the real world.
9. Locke never knew as much as we thought. In the end, he didn’t understand much.
10. It worked! Well, kind of. But, perhaps more importantly, Juliet knew that it worked. How did she know that? And will Sawyer figure out what she meant?
11. Boone, you still look great.
12. For me, two big questions were addressed in this episode. ONE: What happened to the kids and the rest of the people on the plane (like the stewardess)? Evidently, they’re happy in the temple, which, by the way, may be some sort of Fountain of Youth.
13. The other question has to do with the reanimation of corpses, and in particular, the lack of Christian Shepard’s corpse when Jack opens his father’s coffin on the island (early in the series) to find nothing. At the time, he cries. I had thought that maybe he cried because he knew all along that the body never got on the plane (remember they gave him a hard time about it at the airport in Australia way back when?), and he just felt guilty about it. But now, we know he was crying because he thought that the reappearing image of his father on the island was a ghost. In other words, to the best of Jack’s knowledge at the time, his father’s body had made it onto the plane, so when the casket was empty, it freaked him out.
14. HOWEVER, now we learn that it didn’t actually make it onto the plane after all, even though Jack thought it did. Stay with me here! I want to figure out the “rules of assuming the appearance of a dead person” on the island. The Man in Black, for example, now looks like John Locke, but John Locke’s body is separate. Did Jacob appear once as Christian Shepard (in his cabin), but Christian’s body is separate? (i.e. It’s somewhere with the airline?) That would follow the same logic. But what about Sayid? There only seems to be one Sayid in Island Dimension. So did Sayid rise from the dead? Or is he maybe the reincarnated Jacob? Or not…because following this logic, we’d need a separate body. So maybe Sayid just lives because he was touched by Jacob? (Our main people were all touched by him…but not Juliet, who dies.)
15. We still don’t know where Claire is in Island Dimension. Is she dead?
16. Kate sees Jack and Sawyer hurt after the bomb, but she goes to Jack first!
17. Bombs are loud.
18. The Man in Black is very disappointed in all of us.
19. I watched Juliet fall down that hole 27 fucking times. And not once did Sawyer say “I love you, too.” MEN!
okay so what's richard being in chains?! does that mean maybe esau's crew is in chains currently.. and jacob's side was once in chains?!
i agree completely with your thoughts!! once i found out who the smoke monster was it was really interesting to go back and think about what all he did!
it was seriously the craziest episode and my mind is busting at the seams with everything going on! and yes, sayid's voice was super strange. it could be jacob coming back in another body since apparently esau can do that?
all in all i can't wait till next week!
@Bill(1): Sevens and rivers, bro. It's all sevens. I still dislike Kate, too, though not as much as I used to. I don't think Smokey followed Ben's commands, but he heeded them to let Ben think he was in control. I do think "home" is the temple, but it may be referring to somewhere off the Island, too? Perhaps Esau is bound to the Island and has been kept at bay by Jacob and the gang? And HD was good. Very good.
@Bill(2): Those are excellent points. Thanks for sharing! Hurley couldn't have been sarcastic, though. If the Island never existed, then Dharma wouldn't have built the Swan Station, thus the numbers wouldn't have cursed Hurley. He was genuinely lucky and happy. Maybe Desmond is unstuck in time again?
I think Juliet was experiencing both realities, which was why she mumbled something about getting a drink. That must be how she knew, too?
I thought something about a Fountain of Youth, too, since Richard doesn't appear to age and all.
Where the heck is Claire?!
@Chelsea Rebecca: Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I wonder what the chains comment means, too. It almost seems like Richard was a criminal or something at some point, bound by life or something.
The Flashsideways concept is awesome, in my opinion, and I like it. I can't wait either.
But Logan, Hurly said he won the lottery, which would be quite the coincidence if he did it without the numbers.
Hmm, these are holes that best be filled before the season is up.
Perhaps the chains to which to Man in Black was referring was to chains on the Black Rock. Maybe Jacob, the Man in Black, and Richard have a history with the ship. Remember there were skeletons in chains on there, so maybe Richard was among them at some point.
@Bill: Plenty of people win the lottery, and Lost has plenty of coincidences. I don't think it's that much of a stretch.
@Mike: Ooh, good point. The Black Rock does seem to be important in everything. Perhaps Richard has been raised from the dead and that's why he doesn't age?
Quite a phenomenal episode if you ask me. Here are a few of my thoughts:
-Very possible that Jacob could be using Sayid's body, but isn't it too obvious? Here's the interesting question, did the REAL Locke wake up at the same time Sayid woke up? The camera shots were really interesting in these last few moments. They made sure you got a good look at Locke's dead body before cutting to Sayid coming back. Maybe I love John Locke too much, but I still think he's "special."
-Surprised no one has mentioned the final scene of the whole episode. Just an absolutely phenomenal scene between Locke and Jack. The acting was top-notch here and it was so refreshing to see the real John Locke. The most important line here came from Jack when he said: "Nothing is irreversible." That could be the very theme of this whole season.
-All through the episode, I kept trying to figure out which sequence of events were most important...those on the island or those off the island? I definitely think they intertwine somehow. I can't imagine they would go to all the trouble of filming it if it were just "what might have happened."
I could go on and on but I'll leave it at that. On a slight side note, the promo for next week doesn't excite me at all. Maybe they are just trying to keep most of it under wraps since it is the last season...or maybe I just don't really care for Kate.
@Jon: I like to think Locke was special, too, and that he has a purpose in something. Otherwise, why would Jacob have traveled and touched him?
I really liked the final scene as well. The acting was solid. The wording, especially "Nothing is irreversible" (and coming from a science-based Jack!), was well done.
Three cheers for not liking Kate! (Well, especially not liking the old Kate. The I've-been-on-a-crazy-Island-for-108-days Kate is almost okay.)
Hmmm...I thought I posted this earlier. Must not have gone through.
Here's another piece of evidence for the "Sayid is Jacob" theory. The "Lost Supper" promo pic has John Locke (or his body, at least) in the place of Jesus. Sayid takes the place of Judas. Perhaps the Man in Black betrayed Jacob at some point? Also worthy of note is that Jack stands in the place of (Doubting) Thomas.
Actually, I guess if Sayid is Judas, then perhaps Jacob betrayed the Man in Black.
@Mike: Super interesting to think that we've been mislead all along. Perhaps the Esaul/MiB character is indeed the good guy?
I found a pretty interesting article that discusses the Lost Supper quite in depth. It's available here. I thought some of the theories had some weight to them.
Enjoyed the blog post, Noble! :)
I thought I might post a few of my thoughts, maybe even something that's already been mentioned.
1) Timelines: I'm thinking there are two separate timelines going on. Not sure if they'll ever converge or if one will effect the other. But I think that since the time traveling Losties went back to the 70s, obviously they coexisted in the same timeline as their younger (or unborn) selves. When the time traveling versions detonated the bomb, they created a point of change in the timeline, thus splitting the timeline into two. One timeline being the actual 1970s timeline, which brings us to the current LA/plane landing timeline. The other being the original [time traveling] Losties timeline, and after they changed the past, they jumped back into the timeline they came from on the island to complete it. I know I've read a lot of people think that what happens on the island is going to effect what happens in the alternate timeline ... I just don't see that as the case. But who knows, right? :)
2) Richard: I'm almost certain that Fake Locke's comment about it being nice to see Richard out of chains refers to Richard being a slave on the Black Rock when it first arrived. Remember in season 5 finale when we were introduced to Jacob & Man in Black, and they showed the Black Rock out in the ocean coming to the island? That ship has always been significant, as has Richard. So I'm sure they are related in some way.
3) Sayid/Jacob: I've already read that Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof have confirmed that Jacob is not possessing Sayid's body. What I think is that the Jacob/Man in Black relationship reminds me a lot of God/Satan. Satan always tries to mimic God's miracles, but always falls way short. God can bring the dead back to life. Satan cannot. Man in Black did not raise John Locke from the dead, nor was he able to breathe life back into Locke's lifeless body. Instead, he took the form of John Locke. So there is a fake Locke and a dead [real] Locke. Sayid, on the other hand, is only one Sayid ... his dead body came back to life. So methinks that Jacob brought Sayid back to life (via the healing waters that weren't so clear, yet seemed a bit reddish with maybe Jacob's blood?).
And I think that's all I'm going to write for now. I SO loved the episode and I'm looking forward to this season, though I'm not looking forward to the end. My favorite part of the episode was the Locke/Jack interaction in LA at the end. I just loved how nice they were toward one another, how Jack now seems to have faith and Locke doesn't. I can't wait to see how their relationship progresses in that timeline.
(And my apologies for writing a book on your blog!)
@Amanda: No worries, fellow Noble. Length is great when it comes to Lost.
I'd say it's likely that Richard was a slave on the Black Rock, but I need to go back and watch the Black Rock episodes. Wouldn't it be cool to see a Richard Alpert flashback?
Excellent points on the God/Satan correlation. The mimicry of it all makes perfect sense. And even though Jacob (Man in White) and "Esau" (Man in Black) are distinguishable, I can't help but feel things aren't so clear.
On Chains. Lostpedia had an interesting thought that the chains could be metaphorically referring to Richard being bound to Jacob. While that thought's not mind-blowing, it certainly could be true, too.
And thanks for all the commenting and discussions, folks!
What if the Man in Black is just another "face" that Smokie wears? On that note, what if the same is true for Jacob? Maybe these two characters are just bodies that are being used by White and Black...
Oh how I can't wait until next week.
Amanda,
Can you send a link with Carlton and Damon saying that? I'd like to see what else they had to say. I was going to comment about how the Man in Black being the good side could be a sort of "long con" the show has been playing on us, but what you said makes me doubt this.
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