What Will Be Answered, and What Won't

Damon and Carlton were recently featured in Wired magazine and they talked about what will and won't be answered by the finale. The interviewer asked if we will get an explanation for how the two timelines fit together. Damon's response: "That, to us, is the only answer we owe." Later he says "There’s still going to be plenty of room for debate when the show is over. We are going to take a stab at providing a conclusion, one that we hope will be satisfying. The bigger questions, we recognize, are not answerable."

And you know what? I'm fine with that. For me, the best part about LOST has always been the mystery. Getting a checklist of answers is anti-climactic. Like when we learned what the whispers were, or that the smoke monster was pretending to be Christian Shephard in season one. It's nice to know, but not nearly as fun as the first time we actually heard the whispers, or saw that eerie figure dressed in a suit and white tennis shoes. I will be perfectly happy if a lot of the mysteries of LOST remain mysteries forever.

That said, there are a few questions I really want answered:

-I want to know more about the Man in Black (an actual name for him would be awesome, especially if it ends up being something like Kevin, or Steve.) How far back his history goes with Jacob. How Jacob got him trapped on the Island in the first place.

-I'd like resolution for most of the characters. Not that they all have to end up happy and smiling with their lives tied up neatly with a bow on top, but some sort of semi-satisfying ending for them.

-I want to know what the sideways universe is, and to have the two timelines resolved - and it looks like we can count on this one happening. Whatever other loose ends they leave us with, the writers have always been good about wrapping up the plot within any given season, so I have no doubt they'll achieve that this time.


What do you guys think? Are there certain questions that you'll be disappointed if they don't answer?

6:13 The Last Recruit

The end is near, my friends. Only 5 hours of LOST to go until it's all over, and we're left to debate all the loose ends for the rest of our lives. This was a "setting the stage" episode, putting all the pieces in place for the final game to begin.

Flashsideways Connections

-Sawyer offers an apple to Kate, yet another Garden of Eden reference. I don't think it's pointing towards a literal Garden, just making use of a rich allegory that is familiar to us all. What choices have our Losties made which led to their fall? And what could give them redemption?

-Kate figures out that Sawyer didn't arrest her in the elevator because he didn't want anyone at the police department to know he had gone to Australia, which is exactly what Jay and Jack theorized. Nice!

-I totally called it that the injured Losties would meet up in Jack's hospital! Which is actually kind of disappointing. I like it better when the writers do something completely unexpected.

-Desmond and Claire have appointments on the 15th floor.

-Desmond tells Claire "Contracts are complicated - you could find yourself in a situation that's irreversible." I'm becoming more and more convinced that the flashsideways world is a result of a contract made between the Losties and the Smoke Monster.

 -I never really got attached to Ilana as a character (good thing too considering what happened to her) but it was cool seeing her as Jack and Desmond's lawyer.

-Ilana asks Jack "Do you believe in fate?" It's clear that these characters are destined to be part of each other's lives, plane crash or no.

-Mirror image: Jack sees his own face next to Locke's in the mirror on the operating table. If each character has a "soulmate" (Libby's words) who reminds them of their life on the Island, I think Locke is Jack's. 

Revelations

-It's official - the Christian Shephard Jack saw on the Island was the smoke monster! It's not much of a surprise, but it's nice to have something answered. But as usual, this leads to more questions, because Jack's also seen his father off the Island.  The smoke monster can't leave the Island, so who was that?

Questions

-Sawyer says "We're done going back Kate." Is he right, or are they going to "go back" again when the two timelines come together? With their sideways selves decide to "go back" to make things right?

-Locke tells Jack "You're with me now." Jack is the last recruit. Is Jack going to change like Claire and Sayid have? Is he going to end up being a pawn like Locke was?

-There's no way Sayid actually killed Desmond - so why is he lying to Locke? Is pulling away from Locke's influence rendering him and Claire less zombie-like?  Or even cooler, is their interaction with the other Losties in the sideways influencing them? Is Hurley right that Sayid and Claire can come back from the Dark Side?

-How did Sun recognize Locke? And what is she remembering that made her so afraid of him?

-Who is David's mother? They teased us with it yet again when Jack spoke to her on the phone and never said her name. Oh how they love to tease us!

-I wonder if Locke is telling the whole truth about his ability to appear as other people. We know that the smoke monster isn't actually in Locke's body, because we saw Locke's body lying on the beach and Fake Locke walked right past it. But last night, Fake Locke tells Jack that he needed Locke's body to be on the Island in order to appear as him. And when the smoke monster appeared as Christian Shephard, Christian's body was missing from his coffin. If Smokey is just projecting himself as different people, why does he need their actual bodies to be on the Island?

Moments of Pure Awesomeness

-Jin and Sun are reunited! Finally! (And I'm not even going to rant about the feminist implications of Sun only having a voice because of her husband.)

-Jack jumping off the boat to go back to the Island mirrors Sawyer jumping out of the helicopter in season 4. Except instead of Juliet waiting for him on the beach with a bottle of rum, it's Fake Locke.

-I love how everyone is connecting in the sideways: Jack, Sun, Jin, Locke and Ben at the hospital, and Sawyer, Kate, Sayid and Miles at the police station. Although I still don't know where they're going with this sideways world, it feels like things are coming together and there is a greater purpose. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, sure, but I have no doubt it's going to resolve in an interesting way.

-Jack having Locke on his operating table and saying "I think I know this guy." I got chills.

-Hurley's mention of Anakin coming back from the dark side cracked me up, along with his greeting to Claire, "Hey, you look....great..." 

-Fake Locke: "John Locke was not a believer Jack. He was a sucker." Is he right? Or will there be redemption for Locke in the end?

Not So Awesome

-There are so many questions to be answered and an unbelievably short amount of time in which to do it. I'm doing my best to let go and just enjoy the ride - I need to have faith like Jack! (Never thought I'd say that before this season...)

LOLcats do LOST

For those of us who love LOLcats and LOST, our dream has come true: http://www.popsuede.com/2010/01/lolst-season-1.html

6:12 Everybody Loves Hugo

I love Hugo (who doesn't?) and I loved this episode. It had so many warm fuzzy moments, some big answers, TWO big explosions plus a hit-and-run (maybe a record for a non-finale?) and the pace is seriously picking up as we get closer and closer to the end.

Flashsideways Connections

-The man announcing Hurley's Man of the Year Award was Pierre Chang, who we learned earlier works at the museum and is Charlotte Lewis' boss. Funny that he's narrating Hurley's award ceremony rather than the Dharma Initiative films.

-Did Hurley win the lottery in the sideways? Dr. Chang says he was "born to humble surroundings" but doesn't mention how he got enough money to buy Mr. Clucks. We do know that in this timeline he never went to the mental hospital where in the original timeline he got the winning numbers from Leonard, so if he did win the lottery it was with different numbers. Maybe that's why he's lucky instead of cursed.

-I think it's hilarious that Hurley is this incredibly wealthy big-shot humanitarian, and his mom STILL isn't happy with him. I guess in any timeline she's destined to be a complainer.

-Hurley says he has an upcoming award from "The Human Fund," which is the name of the fake charity George Costanza invented on Seinfeld. ("The Human Fund: Money for People")

-The restaurant where Hurley's blind date stands him up is called Spanish Johnny's, which is a reference to the Bruce Springsteen song "Incident on 57th Street". His date was named Rosalita, the title of another song from the same album.

-When Hurley tells Desmond he's eating chicken because he's depressed Desmon responds "So what's her name?" It's similar to what he asked Jack when he met him running a tour de stade in season 2.

-Desmond's order at Mr. Clucks is #42

-The scene with Hurley and Libby's date opens with Hurley spreading a blanket. On the Island, he forgot the blankets for their picnic, which is why Libby went back to the hatch where she was shot by Michael.

-When Libby tells Hurley about her memories of the Island he calls it a "bizzaro alternate universe." In Superman comics, Bizzaro Earth is a world just like ours where characters act opposite to how they act normally - very similar to Through The Looking-Glass.

-Hurley's conversation with Libby mirrors their conversation on the clifftop in season 2 when Libby talks Hurley off the ledge and convinces him that he's not crazy, and that the Island is real.

-Libby was able to remember her time on the Island from seeing Hurley on TV, and he remembered when they kissed, so apparently the characters don't have to be close to death to catch a glimpse of the other timeline. Someone should have told this to Charlie before he drove Desmond's car into the water.

-I think Desmond is the most interesting character on the show now - he's filling the place of both Jacob and Ben. A slightly creepy matchmaker who has good intentions but runs over paraplegics with his car...more please!

-I just noticed that in the sideways Locke doesn't have a scar under his right eye, because it was supposed to be from the crash of 815. Very cool detail.

Revelations

-After 6 seasons, we now know what the whispers are! The voices of people who died on the Island and are stuck there, unable to move on because of what they did. Why are they stuck there? Remember the cork analogy Jacob used? Maybe the "cork" that's keeping the Man in Black on the Island is also keeping all these departed souls there. If he leaves, they get to leave too. In which case Hurley should probably not be following Michael's advice.

-Locke/MiB clarifies that in order to leave the Island they all have to go together, similarly to how they got there in the first place.

-Locke says that the well was dug by hand by people who were "looking for answers" about the electromagnetism on the Island, which reminded me of the Swan Hatch. It's not the same well that was dug near The Orchid, and Locke hints that there may be more of them on the Island.

-Before being thrown into it Desmond says the well is "very deep", yet another Alice in Wonderland reference - at the very beginning of the story the rabbit hole she crawls into turns into a "very deep" well. 

-In a bit of ominous foreshadowing, Ben points out that Ilana died suddenly after doing the job Jacob assigned her because the Island was done with her, and he wonders what will happen to the rest of them when the Island is done with them. Dun dun DUN.

-By bringing Jack and Sun with him to talk to Locke, it looks like Hurley just delivered the remaining candidates to the Man in Black. Uh-oh.

Questions

-Why hasn't Libby ever visited Hurley when so many other deceased people have? Is it only the ones who are stuck on the Island who can visit him?

-Does Desmond really believe that Locke is still Locke? Or does he know more about it than he's letting on?

-Who is the boy who appeared (again) to Locke and Desmond in the jungle? (He looked different to me than the boy we saw before, but imdb.com confirms that he is the same actor.) Why is Locke afraid of him?

-Why isn't Desmond afraid of Locke? What does he know that is making him so confident? I had to chuckle when Desmond asks "What is the point in being afraid?" Clearly the answer is "So you'll be better prepared when someone tries to throw you down a well."

Moments of Pure Awesomeness

-The Locke/Jack confrontation right at the end sent chills up my spine. I can't wait to see the face-off.

-Ilana blowing up à la Arzt. Not that I wanted her to die or anything, but I totally saw it coming. I cringed during her entire monologue because of the way everyone was watching her while she tossed that bag of dynamite around. Ouch. 

-Locke: If I didn't know better I'd say this Island has it in for you.
Desmond: Do you know better?
Locke: Excuse me?
Desmond: There's nothing special about me, brother. This Island has in it for all of us.
Locke: Yes it does.

-The book Hugo finds is Dostoyevsky's "Notes From Underground". I'm not familiar with the story, but found this little gem on Lostpedia:

In Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground" the narrator muses that science will one day teach man that he possesses neither will nor uncontrollable urges and is nothing more than a piano key or organ stop operating by laws of nature, and that if discovered, these laws could be used to compute human actions mathematically like tables of logarithms up to 108 - 000.

-I loved the juxtaposition of Locke throwing Desmond in the well and Desmond hitting Locke with his car. Really great storytelling.

Not So Awesome

-I'd hoped to learn more about why Hurley is so lucky in the sideways, but maybe that's coming later.

-Does anyone else get tired of the groups constantly splitting in two? I know why the writers do it; it sets up conflict between characters, and it goes along with the theme of each individual having to chose, trying to determine which side is good and which side is bad (which is always a moving target on LOST.) But because they use it so often, it starts to feel cliché. Maybe it's just me.



So...what did you think of this episode? Did you like it as much as I did? And what do you think will happen to our Losties when the Island is done with them?

6:11 Happily Ever After

Last week Damon Lindelof tweeted that "In one week, the conversation is going to change." After watching last night's episode, I see what he meant. Things are really starting to come together and move in a specific direction. Not that I know AT ALL what that direction is, but I can sense the momentum.

Flashsideways Connections

-Desmond's driver is George Minkowski, the communications officer from the freighter in season 4.

-Widmore pours Desmond a glass of MacCutcheon and tells him "Nothing is too good for you" - the exact opposite of what he tells him in the original timeline when he sneers "[You're not] worthy of drinking my whiskey. How could you ever be worthy of my daughter?"

-On the wall in Widmore's office there's a painting of scales with white on one side, black on the other, perfectly balanced. Is this a world where good and evil are balanced?

-Desmond tells Charlie he has a choice: he can exterminate his music career, or come with him to the hotel. Charlie: "That doesn't seem like a choice." Desmond: "There's always a choice, brother." The Desmond we know has always leaned towards destiny over free will.

-Charlie drives the car into the water at the same marina where Ben attacked Desmond last season.

-On the plane Charlie nearly dies and Jack saves him, then later Desmond saves him from the sunken car. On the Island the same thing happens: Jack saves Charlie from being hanged by the Others, and then Desmond saves him multiple times later.

-All of the other characters have had a "mirror moment" in their flashsideways when they seem to be aware of the other world, but Desmond's moment is through a window, because he is the one who can see the most clearly between the two worlds.

-The doctor checking Desmond's eyes mirrors the doctor on the freighter examining him in "The Constant."

-The MRI machine makes the same sounds as the solenoids during Widmore's test.

-The panic button for the MRI mirrors the fail-safe key in the hatch. The technician says "try not to press it, because then we have to start all over again from the beginning." When Desmond turned the key, he found himself starting all over in his relationship with Penny, but unable to change anything.

-In the original timeline Widmore marries Penny's mother, but in this one he marries Eloise.

-Eloise says that what Desmond wants more than anything is Widmore's approval, and in the original timeline, that's exactly right - it's why he goes on the race around the world and ends up on the Island in the first place. But now that he's aware of Penny and Charlie, his motivations are changing.

-Eloise says Desmond is Widmore's "best fix-it man" - and now he's playing the same role on the Island. 

-Penny's last name is Milton (as in John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost.) Does anyone else really want to know what instrument Penny was supposed to play at the ball?

-I thought it was funny that when Daniel saw Charlotte for the first time she was eating a chocolate bar, just like when she was a little kid. Once a chocoholic, always a chocoholic!

-Desmond says he needs the names on the flight manifest because he wants to "show them something." Is he going to show them the same way Charlie showed him? (Hop on the bus everyone, we're going for a little drive into this lake.)

Revelations

-Daniel confirms that it was the detonation of Jughead that caused all these changes, and he suggests that it was the wrong thing to do.

-The test rabbit is named Angstrom, which is a measurement of electromagnetic radiation.

-Eloise says that Charlie telling Desmond about the other world is "a violation." The rules again! Are we ever going to find out what exactly all the rules are, and who created them?

-Being close to death allows the characters to see into the other world. I'm more sure than ever now that we're going to see Juliet invite Sawyer out for coffee.

-It's looking more and more like the relationships between characters are the one thing that transcends time. Who's ready for a Harry Potter ending to the battle? I think I'd actually be OK with that.

Questions

-What did the test prove to Widmore? Does the ability to withstand electromagnetic events mean that Desmond is the one person who can overthrow the smoke monster?

-Who are Desmond's parents? I still think this is a glaring omission that has everything to do with his abilities, especially now that we know that those abilities predate his using the fail-safe key in the hatch. Could he possibly be related to Jacob or the smoke monster?

-What sacrifice is Desmond going to have to make? (Please don't let it be Penny and Charlie!)

-How does Eloise know so much about both timelines? Is Charles Widmore as aware as she seems to be?

-Charlie says "This doesn't matter. None of it matters." Are he and Daniel right that this timeline is less valid than the one we've already seen - that it's not what was supposed to happen?

-Why does Eloise think Desmond isn't ready yet? Ready for what?

Moments of Pure Awesomeness

-As usual, Desmond cleans up nice. Reeeeally nice.

-I loved the montage of Desmond's life with Penny in the MRI machine.  

-The solenoids used to test Desmond looked just like two eyes. 

-We heard repeats of lots of key phrases from the past.
Widmore "The Island isn't done with you yet." (originally said by Eloise)
Desmond "There's always a choice." (Jacob)
Eloise "What happened happened." (Daniel)

Not So Awesome

-More bad hair: Claire's horrible wig, Eloise's ginormous bouffant, and Daniel's greasy locks. Hey, if all I can complain about is bad hair, that's a pretty great episode.


What are your thoughts and theories? Do you think this episode has changed the conversation?

6:10 The Package

Thanks to my son Sawyer being home for spring break last week and then Easter over the weekend, I'm beyond behind. Hopefully you guys can still remember what happened in this episode - I definitely relied on my notes for this one.

This episode made me a little cranky. Like a lot of other fans, I feel the clock ticking towards the final episode - there is so little time left, so every minute seems more important. When it seems like the writers might be spinning their wheels, it can be frustrating. I think part of the issue for me is that we don't know what the flashsideways are all about, so it's difficult to get invested in those stories when we have no idea how they tie in to the stories we've seen thus far, or even how real they are. 

I listened to an interview with Damon Lindelof on the Jay and Jack Podcast last week, and he said that whenever the characters have to exercise faith, it's a nod to us as viewers, who need to have faith in the writers that they're not just jerking us around. Whenever someone on the Island says "I want some freaking answers!" it's because they know that's how the viewers feel. So I'm going to try to have faith that they know what they're doing, and there's going to be a payoff in the end.


Flashsideways Connections

-Sun losing her ability to speak English mirrors her inability to speak English in her flashsideways. Is this just a storytelling device, or is there actually cause and effect taking place between the two timelines?

-Like everyone else in the sideways, Sun has a mirror moment where she looks at her reflection and seems to notice that something isn't quite right. The fact that we saw her look in a mirror and not Jin suggests to me that she might be the candidate.

-Jin telling Sun not to button her top is a mirror image to season 1, when he was always telling her to cover up. This was such a cute scene.

-It's interesting that Sun and Jin's relationship is better in the sideways, even though their circumstances are worse (with Mr. Paik hiring a hitman to kill him and all.) 

-We probably won't get an answer to this, but I wonder why Jin was working for Mr. Paik in this timeline - in the original one he took the job so Paik would let him marry Sun.

-Keamy is still alive after Sayid's attack, just like he was after Sayid knifed him on the Island. This time Jin finished the job, while on the Island it was Ben.

-Mikhail loses the same eye that was missing when we first met him on the Island.

-In their sideways, Jin and Sun are running away from Mr. Paik, while on the Island they are both running from Man in Locke.

-Sun tells Jin she's pregnant after she gets shot. Who else thinks her doctor at the hospital will be Juliet Burke?

Revelations

-The smoke monster can't fly over water, even between the two Islands, which is interesting considering that in the sideways the whole Island is underwater.

-Ilana says Jacob has never lied to her before. If that's true, he's the only honest person on the Island.

-Man in Locke: "I'm three people shy of getting off this Island." This is a biggie - he needs the candidates to leave the Island. It explains why he's not simply killing them off, and also explains why he looked so upset when he thought everyone in his camp was dead. He needs them alive.

-The words that appeared on the screen in Room 23 were:
"Think About Your Life"
"We Are The Causes Of Our Own Suffering"
"Everything Changes"

Questions

-What's inside Man in Locke's backpack? Is it something important or is he just carrying it because that's what Locke always did?

-Keamy refers to Mikhail (the Russian translator) as "Danny's friend." Daniel Faraday? Or Danny Pickett (one of the Others)?

-Who is the "wise man" Man in Locke refers to who said war would come to the Island? Man in Black?

-Is Widmore correct that if MIB got off the Island, "everyone we know and love would simply cease to be"?

Moments of Pure Awesomeness 

-Sawyer bringing Kate pretend cocoa reminded me of Charlie bringing Claire pretend peanut butter. Who would have guessed that Charlie would end up dead and Claire would be a crazy feral woman with a squirrel baby? We were so innocent back then.

-It's so cool to see Jack as a true believer. He has the kind of confidence Locke had in season 1.

-The scene where Jin sees photos of his daughter for the first time was so well done. The room got pretty dusty in my house. But the thing that puts a slight damper on the sweetness of this scene is that it takes place in Room 23; Widmore is clearly pushing Jin's emotional buttons to use him for his own purposes.

-Ben: For the fourth time, I was gathering mangoes and she was already unconscious when I found her! Why won't you believe me?
Ilana: Because you're speaking.

-Mirror image: MIL holds out his hand to Sun and she runs away; Jack offers his hand and she takes it. Sun and Jin chose the same side independently of each other.

-Sayid swimming to the other Island = creepiest thing ever.

-DESMOND! I can't wait to see how he ended up being "the package" (although I did see it coming.)

Not So Awesome

-STILL no reunion for Sun and Jin! Now I'm wondering if it's going to happen at all.

-I was not a fan of the whole tomato thing. Where did Sun get tomato seeds for her garden? And the "stubborn tomato" line from Jack was SO cheesy.

-I actually laughed when Sun ran away from Man in Locke - straight into the only tree in sight. Really?! She's too stupid to avoid a TREE?!

-I get a bit frustrated sometimes with LOST's treatment of its female characters. Compare them to the male characters and their story lines are pretty pathetic. Sun's ONLY motivation is to find her husband - and it's been this way for two whole seasons. And now, she literally doesn't have a voice. BOO.