(If you don’t watch LOST, these posts will be torturous to you. I apologize in advance. Just skip them and come back on Wednesdays, where I will try to make it up to you.)
LOST is back with a vengeance, and as I’ve done over the past few seasons, I’ll be sharing my thoughts (and the thoughts of others I’ve collected over the interwebs) for your enjoyment. Also back this year are the thoughts of my brother Jordan, who is currently living in Hawaii and was able to attend the LOST premier on Waikiki Beach with the cast and executive producers.
Here’s Jordan chilling in the LOST hills of Hawaii.
(Jordan’s thoughts will be the ones in blue)
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Season 6, Episode 1
First off, according to their podcast, the writers want us to know these are not two “alternate” timelines. One is not fake or hypothetical. The sideways flashes are showing two real, but distinct timelines. I think we can assume the scenes from the plane are in 2004. We also know that the scenes from on the island are from 2007 because Richard and the people on the beach saw the flares that Dogen (ponytail guy) set off.
Does this make any sense? I’ll be honest: not really. But when has LOST ever made sense? Just because it’s season 6 doesn’t mean we’re at that part of the puzzle process where there’s just 4 pieces left and you know exactly where they go.
And honestly, that wouldn’t be much fun. For 5 seasons we’ve been left saying “What happened!?!?” How fitting that the last thing uttered in this episode by a suddenly alive Sayid was the same exact thing.
So what do we think we know? Let’s dive in…
The PARALLEL TIMELINE – 2004
So, Faraday was right in the off-island timeline. The bomb destroyed the hatch in 1977, it was never built, so desmond never pushed the button in 2004, and the plane never crashed. But what Faraday didn’t consider was that other changes happened too. Perhaps the bomb going off in 1977 sunk the island into the ocean.
And it clearly changed a whole lot else leading up to what we saw in the plane in 2004. Sawyer seems to be a different person. His first line is “sorry” to the Marshall, and then he tells Hurley to be careful of being conned instead of conning him. Charlie swallowed his drugs instead of flushing them. Kate was arrested, not for killing her father, but for killing his apprentice (We only know this because of this video they showed at Comic-Con.) Boone didn’t save Shannon like he had originally done even though she still needed saving. Hurley was “the luckiest man in the world” instead of cursed though he still won the lottery, but was it with the same numbers? (and here’s another Comic Con video where we see Hurley’s Australian accented Mr. Kluck’s commercial). I don’t even know if Sun is married to Jin. The security lady referred to her as “Miss Paik” and she wasn’t wearing a ring (and maybe she really doesn’t know English now). Sayid’s passport was Iranian now. Did he defect from his role as an Iraqi torturer? And of course Desmond was on the plane instead of on the Island. This 2004 is a lot different because of the bomb they exploded in 1977.
(Also interesting to note that even though 2004 is now playing out differently, some of the same things are still happening. Kate still gets away from the Marshall because of a bump on the head, Jack still saves Charlie’s Life, and Locke might even be able to walk again if Jack can fix him. If they keep doing this through season 6, the possibilities are endless. For instance, will Kate and Sawyer both get thrown into jail and be in adjacent cages again?)
Where is everyone else in the new 2004 now that the island is under the ocean? Desmond appears to be on the plane instead of in the hatch. But where are Ben and Juliet? Not in book club in New Otherton, that’s for sure. Maybe Juliet is with her sister in Portland or in L.A. about to run into Sawyer?
We assume they all went to Sydney for the same reason they did in original 2004, but that could be different too. Hurley originally went because he was so cursed, clearly he didn’t go for that reason this time.
Why was Jack’s neck bleeding on the plane? Haven’t heard any good theories about that yet. Do we remember something specific happening in Season 1 where his neck was cut? And was the mirror significant? Could he only see the cut in the mirror? Is it a clue that we’re looking at some kind of a mirror world?
And think about it, right after Jack looks in the mirror, he goes back to his seat and has that conversation with Desmond. But later Desmond is gone and no one else can confirm that he was ever there because they were all sleeping. The whole thing is confusing, of course, but what your consciousness can slip between two different timelines? Is that what happens to Juliet before she dies when she realizes it worked? Who knows, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
The ORIGINAL TIMELINE – 2007
While the hatch has never built in the new 2004 Timeline, it WAS built in other timeline. It was built and blown up by Desmond, like Kate said when her and Miles came upon it. But why did the bomb blow them into 2007 right after Jacob was killed. Is there significance to that?
Best line of the episode: “I’m sorry you had to see me like that” by Locke. It had become pretty obvious, of course, but I was on to the fact that black shirt = black smoke = new Locke for a while now. Last year I wondered if Black Smoke was Satan, and his line to Ben that unlike Real Locke “he wants to go home” could point to him being the fallen angel Lucifer, wishing he could go back to heaven? Is the temple heaven? Is it Eden? I wouldn’t bet on all that, but it’s a possibility.
I still think the black smoke can take the form of any dead body on the island, and that’s why they need to bury them so deep in the ground.The only thing confusing me about this is that there are now two Locke bodies on the island. Black smoke isn’t in Locke’s old body, he’s made a copy of it or something. So when he appeared to Ben last season as Alex down in the temple, was that in her body or in a copy? Speaking of vessels…
Was Jacob reborn through Sayid at the end of the episode? If that’s the case, both Jacob and his black shirted nemesis have both picked new vessels. Blackshirt chose Locke, saying he was impressed that John was the only who who realized how much better the island was than real life. If Jacob picked Sayid it would be an interesting choice since Sayid was so worried about the fact that his life was, in his eyes, not redeemable.
Jordan: I know some people think sayid is the new jacob. i guess it is possible, but i’m not sold yet. I’m pretty sure ben was saved by the pool the same way that sayid was, and ben seems to be himself. but Dogen seemed a tad concerned by the fact that the pool was dirty. maybe that has something to do with it. i remember he gave some ominous warning to jack and jack told him to do what he needed to do.
Yeah, why was the healing pool brown and not able to heal Dogen’s self-inflicted knife wound? Was it because Jacob had just died? The writers have hinted that it would have been better for Sayid had the water not been murky, so we’ll see what that means. But I think I agree with you that Sayid is not Jacob now. Remember, even though Dogen thought Sayid was dead when he came out of the water, Miles knew better. He couldn’t hear Sayid, so Sayid was never really dead.
Jordan: the skinny interpreter with glasses, the dude that talks to Dogen, his name is Lennon. Just had to throw that out there because its a clear Beatles reference. And is it just me or have we been fooled too many times by these others. i mean at first we think they are this primitive tribe, then we find out they have houses and electricity, now its back to bare feet and living in the jungle. is this group separate from ben’s group that lived in the barracks?
Good point. I also wonder why Jacob’s note said “If you’re friend dies, we’re all in a whole lot of trouble.” Well, I don’t think Sayid is dead, but they might be in trouble anyway.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
If both timelines are real, will they converge? Did the bomb work or did it not work? Or both? We just don’t know yet. But I believe we will. The writers are intent on NOT giving us a Sliding Doors story where we see how two possible scenarios play out.
I wonder how long the black smoke had his eye on John Locke as a potential vessel. If it was from the beginning, does that explain why it killed Eko, because he could have influenced John in a way that the black smoke didn’t like? Heck, is that why the black smoke killed the pilot in the first episode, because he didn’t want them getting off the island? Did black smoke have the power to heal John’s legs, or was that the island itself?
Also, think about the relationship between Ben and the black smoke. Ben goes into the temple as a wounded kid and is saved (though he “loses his innocence”). Did that have anything to do with the smoke? Then we see Ben as an adult, able to actually summon the black smoke when he wants to (this is what he did after Alex was killed). Then the black smoke convinces Locke he needs to die, convinces Ben to kill real Locke, and then takes the form of Locke to convince Ben to kill Jacob. Some are wondering if Ben never heard from Jacob at all, and it was the black smoke the whole time. A lot at play there.
And what about from Jacob’s perspective? Is he always on the lookout for a new vessel as well? Does that explain the list of names he gives to Ben? (Although, Sayid wasn’t on that list from early in the series because he was “weak and frightened”).
Whether they are God and Satan, two angels, or some type of lesser gods, Jacob and Black Smoke are clearly the all-powerful beings of the island. They are twins, and I suppose Fake Locke is the bad twin, since he took pleasure in real Locke’s state of mind as he died. Speaking of which, how did Black Smoke know that? And how did Jacob know that Jin knew about the temple entrance? Clearly these twins know just about everything. They are the gods of this island.
All this talk about vessels was kind of summed up by Locke at the end of the episode when he tells Jack that they didn’t lose his father, just his body. Clearly they were driving the point home that there’s a difference between your spirit and your flesh.
Jordan: Yeah, the conversation between Locke and Jack towards the end of the episode in the alternate 2004 was one of my favorite moments in Lost history.
Still not sure what/who Richard is. Most interesting quote about him was from Smokey Locke who said, “Hello Richard, it’s good to see you out of those chains”. What did that mean?
Jordan: i’m pretty sure Richard was a slave on the black rock. the chain comment just makes perfect sense. interesting that Richard could tell it was the man in black when he came strolling out of the statue, but he couldn’t tell before.
Well, at that point he had seen Locke’s dead body, so he must have figured it was Black Smoke. But yeah, he looks right at him and says, “You!” and is definitely afraid. And why did Locke knock out Richard, and then tell everyone on the beach, “I am very disappointed in all of you?” That was creepy.
The book that one of them picked up when they took Sayid under the temple looked like it was Fear and Trembling, by Soren Kierkegaard. Interesting because that book apparently discusses the nature of God and faith and features four alternate retellings of the same story (Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 22).
Jordan: Another thing to consider, Dogen’s crew was ready to hear that jacob died. they had this whole plan set, the old school flare gun, the barricades, they seemed to be pretty frightened. why do they need to keep the man in black out of the temple? does it have something to do with the pool? i’m sure there are still more secrets we don’t know about the temple and the others and jacob and his nemesis.
Speaking of Dogen’s crew, Cindy the flight attendant!!! 3 years after flight 815 and she’s fitting right in. She also called it “the first flight”, meaning they know about the Ajira flight that brought the beach people to the island.
Jordan: And speaking of the beach people, how did bram and illana know about jacob? he summoned them to the island? they seem like normal people, how do they know about the island and jacob and his nemesis?
Yeah still not sure who they are. Or in Bram’s case…were. Was Bram named after Bram Stoker of Dracula fame? He did die by wooden stake through the heart.
Why was Jack’s dad’s body not on the plane? Random coincidence (haha, yeah right)? But where is it? Still in Sydney, on another flight, at the bottom of the ocean? And did Christian Shephard’s dead body steal John Locke’s knives?
Juliet’s now buried on the island in 2007. The question is, is she buried deep enough???
Finally, the writers have said that the premier episode’s name “LA X” is significant. There’s a reason for the space between the A and the X. I think it represents a gap, or a jump, as in a new timeline that’s not quite right. Almost like it’s a typo that occurred. Or maybe…Maybe the X stands for the Roman Numeral 10. We’re all assuming this is the 2nd time Flight 815 has taken off for LA from Sydney, but what if it’s actually the 10th? I mean, Black smoke dude said in last season’s finale: “It always happens the same. They come, they fight, blah blah blah.”
Jordan: The episode name LA X, having X after a title in comic books is to tell you that its an alternate world. Theres been a few comic books, Mutant X, Earth X, so i believe the title of the episode is dually referencing the airport LAX, and telling us that this is an alternate LA/timeline.
The Good News (and the Bad News) is that we’ll have our answers in a few months. But certainly a lot more questions between now and then as well.
Tonight…Episode 2, “What Kate Does” (just 18 16 hours of LOST left)
ps…set your calendars. The Series Finale will be on SUNDAY Night, May 23rd.