(If you don’t watch LOST, these posts will be torturous to you. I apologize in advance. Just skip them and come back later, when I will try to make it up to you.)
My brother Jordan and I are back to discuss a few things related to episode 10 of LOST’s final season, “The Package”.
(Jordan’s thoughts will be the ones in blue…and pay no attention to the giant red V in that image, that was terrible.)
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Season 6, Episode 10, “The Package”
My 10 biggest Observations/Questions/Thoughts
1. Looks more and more like Jack is the new Jacob opposite Locke. Both of them extend a hand to Sun in this episode, but Sun only takes Jack’s. You feeling the same way?
Yes, and I can’t say that I don’t like this idea.
I didn’t not love your effective double-negative usage there.
2. In the alt-verse Sun is the one who sees herself in a mirror, right before Keamy knocks on her hotel door. Think this is confirmation that she is the candidate, not Jin? And does it even matter at this point?
I’d say that it was probably confirmation, and that it probably matters. I think that it is important that no one on the island seems to know whether it is Sun or Jin that is the candidate. Interesting to note that in the Original timeline the candidate’s last name is Kwon, and in the alternate timeline Sun and Jin are not married so Sun’s last name is still Paik.
3. Flocke wants all 6 candidates hightailing it off the island with him. Wondering if he literally needs them all to get off the island or if he just wants to make sure that Jacob’s replacement doesn’t stay there.
I wonder if he’s not just gathering them all in the same spot so that he can eliminate them all.
4. Heard a few people guess that Richard will be given the gift of mortality before the show ends and Hurley will replace him as the mediator. How does that idea sit with you?
That would be fine with me. Although, it seems like Desmond would be the next Richard, since he has the unstuck in time thing going for him.
5. Still confused about the cave. I originally thought it was Locke’s and he was lying to Sawyer, but people have been saying that it’s Jacob’s and that the fact that Kate’s name was crossed off was a decoy so Flocke wasn’t focused on Kate. Seems like a slight stretch to me, but I’ll buy it I guess. Got me wondering if all 6 candidates play a supporting role, or if the only thing that matters is the one true replacement. All 6 of them, like the 6 numbers in the Valenzetti equation, play a role in saving the world. (except that Kate is candidate #51)
I’m not buying that. It does seem odd that Kate was one of the Oceanic 6 but she isn’t one of the numbers. At the same time, Jacob touched Sawyer when he was younger and Sawyer didn’t end up as one of the 6. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I have no idea. It did seem like Flocke was giving Claire the okay to kill Kate so that could get interesting.
6. Flocke told Widmore, “A wise man once said war is coming to this island.” That wise man, of course, was Widmore, when he said that to John Locke. Widmore implored Locke that he needed to return to the island to help win the war. Was Widmore misguided in pushing John to get back, or is there more happening here?
Widmore is still a mystery to me at this point. He spent 30 years on the Island but did he ever meet Jacob? Ben never did. Did Widmore ever see the Smoke Monster? It seems like he knows a lot but exactly how much he knows is still up in the air. Also, how did he get so rich? How did he get to the island in the first place, so much to Widmore that we might never find out.
As for him and Locke, I think he really thought Locke was special, they met when Widmore was like 20 years old. Then they met again 50 years later or so, and for Locke it had only been 4 days. Widmore probably thought that Locke was Jacob’s replacement at that point, but maybe he was just leading Locke to the island because he knew it had to happen, like how Faraday’s mom led Daniel to the island even though she knew she would kill him.
7. Looking back at Locke’s behavior in the series, I really wonder how long he was under the influence of the smoke monster. Does it go all the way back to the confrontation they had in Season 1 when Locke said he looked into the soul of the island and it was beautiful? Think about how determined Locke was that he was there for a purpose, that the island wanted them to find the hatch, that the island killed Eko, that they should stop pushing the button. Could these have been the prompting of Smokey all along? Maybe Jack vs. Locke was never about science vs. faith, but about Jacob vs. Smokey?
Yeah my friend has been watching season one and he was thinking the same thing. I think it was the second episode where Locke is playing backgammon with Walt and he says that line “Two sides, one light, one dark.” But without going back and watching the seasons for myself, I’d put my money on Locke being Locke until he died and was brought back to the island.
8. There’s something going on with cuts/blood in these side flashes. Jack sees blood on his neck in the airplane bathroom, Ben cuts himself shaving, Sawyer cuts his hand punching a mirror, Jin’s head gets bumped and cut while getting pushed into the freezer, and Sun cuts her hand on the island pulling tomato plants.
My first guess is that they are using the term ‘bleed’ to reference the two timelines interweaving. As in, the original timeline is bleeding into the alternate one or vice versa.
I like that, good call.
8a. There’s also something very significant about head bumps. Sun bumps her head in Timeline A and forgets how to speak English. Jack blames it on an aphasia, but I think the head bump connected her with Timeline B, where she doesn’t speak English. Similarly, after that head bump in the restaurant freezer Jin is able to say the words “thank you” and “free” in English, perhaps picking up the limited English he’s learned in Timeline A?
Sounds like a stretch to me.
I went back and watched “Flashes Before Your Eyes” from season 3 this week and was struck by a few big things.
#1 – right before Desmond turns the failsafe he says “see you in another life, Brotha” to Locke. that phrase seems to have more meaning these days with the side flashes.
#2 – Desmond wakes up from turning the key on the ground in his flat in 1996. He’s just fallen off a ladder and spilled red paint everywhere. He spends the rest of this episode back in 1996, we know he’s reliving it for the second time because he remembers things happening. His consciousness travels back to 2004 near the end of the episode when he gets smacked in the head with a bat in the bar. So clearly head trauma plays a big role in moving between timelines (or up and down a timeline).
Also, remember in the Season 3 finale when Charlie whacks Desmond in the head with the oar so he can swim down to the underwater station? Later in the episode Charlie asks Desmond if he’s still having flashes and Desmond says “no”. That might have been related to the oar smackdown.
Ahh, okay, good point.
#3 – After he cleans all the paint off himself, he is looking IN A MIRROR and he sees a bit of red paint on his neck. Very similar to what Jack had on his neck when this season opened. Also like Jack, this episode opened with a closeup on Desmond’s eye.
Wow, good find.
#4 – couple key quotes Eloise Hawking says to Desmond when he shopping for the ring: “never done this before, have you? you can always tell the first-timers.” … “and if you don’t do those things David Desmond Hume (go to the island and push the button), every single one of us is dead.” … “you may not like your path Desmond, but pushing that button will be the only great thing you ever do.”
Eloise clearly knows a lot. Was she time traveling during that episode as well? Still a confusing episode, was it real? Was Desmond really back in time or was he just dreaming while he was out cold. If he really was back in time, how did Eloise know to be there? Did she work in the ring shop the first time around or what?
Well, I don’t think there was a “first time around”. Desmond always went into that shop to get a ring in 1996. How did Eloise know he would be there? Who knows. Maybe Faraday’s journal had something in it? The whole “consciousness time travel” vs. “bodily time travel” things is probably the most confusing element of the show.
9. So happy Desmond is back. Why is Widmore interested in the pockets of electromagnetism again? Does he want to expose Desmond again? Or is there a job that needs to be done that only Desmond can do because of the high levels he has already been exposed to?
Yeah Desmond is still one of my favorite characters on the show. Maybe the pockets of electromagnetism can be used to detain/destroy the Smoke Monster. I don’t know why else Widmore would need to find them. I don’t think he wants to destroy the island, he definitely brought Desmond for a reason though.
I also went back and watched “The Constant” from Season 4 this week. Here’s what stuck out.
#1 – to get off the island, Lapidus’ bearing took him right through a storm. Just like the Black Rock and 815 and 316 all came through.
Yeah and I think Faraday says something to Lapidus about following that bearing no matter what happens, so he must have known. My guess is that the storm is some kind of electromagnetic barrier that the Island uses to keep people out. Desmond also crashed on the island during a storm, I think Danielle’s team also crashed during a storm. The Ajira flight might be the only exception although I don’t remember for sure if there was a storm or not.
#3 – also thought it was interested that once again, Desmond looks at himself in a mirror. Has this been happening the entire show and none of us have noticed it?
Possibly. Maybe there have been specific moments where specific characters look into mirrors and we haven’t noticed.
10. Read a good theory online that what we’re seeing play out has already happened before. In season 2 we needed 6 numbers to be punched in to keep the energy bottled in the Swan. Though Locke shows up and claims the button doesn’t need to be pushed, and only Desmond turning the fail safe key saves them. This time we need 6 candidates to keep the Smoke Monster bottled up on the island. Though Flocke claims the island doesn’t need protecting. Is Desmond going to have to save them again?
Didn’t I make this connection between the Swan and the Bottle theory last week?
Yes, yes you did. (I just traveled back in time to confirm).
Bonus: Love this clarification I read about at Doc Arzt’s site. Remember Jacob’s analogy. There are two things keeping the wine in the bottle. The cork on the bottle and the bottle itself. Jacob said the island was like the cork, not like the bottle. So it’s not that evil is trapped IN/ON the island, it’s that evil is trapped BY the island.
So what is the cork trapping evil in? what is the bottle? What if the bottle represents our earth/this world. Following the biblical analogy of lucifer being cast out of heaven onto the earth, what if what Evil wants to do is to get back to heaven. As Smokey has said, “he just wants to go home”.
Not bad but lets not get too caught up in the Bottle theory. I don’t know if it was meant to be an exact description of what the Island is, it could have just been a way to help us understand a little more. Remember that there have been MANY moments in the show where we think we are being told the deepest secrets.
I guess i put more credence in the cork analogy than you do. It fits with the fact that while Smokey is trapped on the island, evil is not. It does exist in the real world. The other reason I like this thought is that when Jacob gives the MIB the bottle of wine, he doesn’t rip out the cork and crush it under his foot and then pour the wine out. (which could represent him destroying the island to escape). He completely smashes the bottle. The logical conclusion of this would be that to escape the prison of this world that he’s in, he’s not going to destroy the lock (the island), he’s going to destroy the prison itself (the world).
Some of this makes sense to me but not all of it. Evil does exist all over the world, but Smokey does not. He can’t leave the island, we are as sure about this as we are about anything else in Lost. So Smokey can’t simply be the incarnation of pure evil. I think this theory might be pretty close, but not exactly right. I would not be surprised if Smokey tried to destroy the world if he escaped the island, but I’m still not completely sold on Jacob being God and Smokey the Devil, which is what you seem to be hinting at. I don’t think that Lost is one giant metaphor for the Bible.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is not a straight bible allegory either. But to me it fits best with what we know at this point.
And finally, what did executive producer Damon Lindelof have to say about it all on his twitter after this episode aired?
“In one week, the conversation is going to change.”
Wow, I’m officially excited. Hopefully in a few years from now that procedure from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will be a reality and I can wipe all memory of Lost from my brain and start fresh again from season 1. If not I’ll just have to enjoy it vicariously through the people that I force to watch it with me. In the meantime I am soaking in these last precious hours.
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Tonight…Episode 11, “Happily Ever After” (just 9 8 hours of LOST left)