In 1667 John Milton wrote an epic poem that you may have heard of called "Paradise Lost" in which he gave the capital of Hell a name and that name was Pandemonium. Last night on LOST, Richard called the island hell, Smokey called the island hell, Jacob said that it was the cork to hell. No matter how you sliced it, last night was one hell of an episode. =) Puns are fun.
I'm not really sure how I feel about the episode, I was expecting a bunch of answers to long lingering questions about the true nature of the island and yet here we are Wednesday morning with even more questions, people we only have 8 hours left, get to it! But at the same time I can tell that we're making some progress, at least they acknowledged the islands place in the story a little bit if they didn't answer it all. And we got to see more dialogue between Smokey and Jacob, so that is always good. So I think it was a good episode only let down by my own expectations. Turns out after thinking about the episode more and writing my little crap up I like it a lot more.
Richard the man, the myth, the legend, the Spanish farmer? Lucky for him there in the end that Hurley just happened to be Hispanic and be able to see dead people huh? You know it's stuff like that that really make me love the show. I mean seriously how would they know 6 years ago when they cast Hurley that they would need him to be the one to speak to Richard's dead wife? I mean I guess you could write you're way to that conclusion, but seriously it was a pretty smooth way to get there, it didn't feel forced at all.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, that was the end of the episode, there were a bunch of other things that took place within the first 55 minutes. Richard is a man of faith when we meet him, a Catholic living on an island in the Atlantic ocean (mind you the island last we knew was in the Pacific or Indian ocean) and his wife is dying. Time to ride half way around the island to go fetch the doctor and apparently the island has the same HMO that most Americans have because they rejected his insurance claim unless he handed over all of his money. Not saying I'm for or against the health insurance bill, just pointing out how corrupt the medical insurance industry is, funny how that would come up in an episode about Hell...
Day 2 of writing, so if my tone changes a little that is why
So Richard ends up in prison for murder where like any murderer he is reading the bible looking for absolution for his sin, to which what I'm going to call a pretty corrupt priest tells him that he is going to hell for his sin. Damn that is cold! Maybe if Richard had been a boy the priest might have been a little lighter on him, oh sorry the Pope would need to endorse that type of action, oh wait, he does! Now that was cold! Anyway the priest let's a boat captain know about Richard and that he'd be worth a couple more coins for trade out on the open sea because he can speak English and lucky lucky Richard he gets to find his way crashing through Tweeket and ending up in the middle of our island enjoyment.
But naturally the fun doesn't stop there, I mean this is the Lost island it's all about fun, it was on the brochure. The captain of the ship comes down into the cargo hold and starts killing off any excess mouths to feed, in a way it makes sense, sure it's evil as all hell, but it's survive or die and I'm not sure that a bunch of slave former criminals are the people that you want to live with on an unknown island, he probably was right they'd do it to him in time so what are you going to do? Smokey didn't really agree with the captain though, as he decided that it was death to all of the sailors, yes clickity death for all you mates, except Richard whom he decided to give a deep scan of.
This deep scan gave me my first really big theory for the episode, I mean why kill everyone else on the boat but leave Richard? Well my thought is that the scan he did was to see if he would be able to use Richard potentially at some point in the future. He scans Richard and later on Richard is presented with the image of his dead wife, very similar to how Ben saw Alex and how Eko saw his brother. In those cases Ben begs for forgiveness, which he is granted under one condition, do whatever John (Smokey) tells him to do. Eko is also presented with a chance to atone for his sins when Yeme gives him the chance to repent, but Eko defiantly says that he did what he had to do to survive, at this point Smokey has no use for him because he won't be able to manipulate him, thus beats the living snot out of Eko and he ends up dead. Interestingly enough who found dead Eko, John, kind of goes back to my assumption that John had inside knowledge from Smokey even that early on. And finally Richard begs for his wife's life, Smokey sees this as an opportunity and eventually makes a deal with him, that he kill Jacob, ie the devil.
In order to save his wife Richard pretty much doesn't care what the cost is and really can we blame him, wouldn't we all choose to go to hell if it meant that we could spare those we loved from that fate. Richard shows up at the remains of the statue looking for Jacob who then proceeds to kick the crap out of Richard, nice to see Jacob as a little bit more a man of action then how he allowed Ben to just stab him. Which is odd, why would he let Ben kill him, but Richard he kicks his butt and then gives him a lecture.
The conversation between Jacob and Richard was essentially the conversation that anyone that doubts faith I think has with God at some point, "Why not just get involved?" To which Jacob very defiantly says, "That they need to figure out right and wrong for themselves." Welcome to free will, and the idea of original sin, oh and the last scene of the episode did you notice the giant tree like a tree of knowledge but more on that in a minute. Richard says that Smokey will interfere and this takes Jacob back, so that's where Richard comes in. Interestingly enough Jacob tells Richard that he can't give him his wife back and he can't absolve him of his sins either, thus he's not God, but does that make him the devil as suggested by Smokey?
The island was compared to a bottle of wine (think blood of Jesus there too) and that the island itself was the cork keeping the evil trapped to prevent it from flowing free into the world. That evil is strongly being suggested as being Smokey. So let's see here, we have a world that is holding evil souls at bay and the guy in charge is Jacob, maybe he is the devil after all. Honestly I think the truth between Jacob and Smokey is going to be a grey area where neither is really evil or good but degrees of each. Smokey is selfish in that he wants to get off the island, but why not just kill Richard after he fails to kill Jacob? Instead he's more resolved to the fact that Richard was working with Jacob now, doesn't that void the agreement with Smokey? Smokey seemed more disappointed but I didn't get the sense that he was vengeful, which honestly I'd see the devil being if you screwed him out of a deal. By the same token Smokey isn't always the most honest, and neither is Jacob right.
One other thing struck me about Smokey not killing Richard like he did the other sailors, could it be that everyone on the island is essentially a piece in a giant game of morality. Let's take a bunch of people that for the most part are good people, but have done some seriously bad things and bring them to the island and as Jacob says, "Give them a fresh start." The game between Smokey and Jacob is a question about the nature of man being good or evil, Smokey says that man is inherently evil, born with original sin. Jacob is saying that if one person comes to the island and individually they can prove that they don't have to be evil then it proves his point that man isn't inherently evil, as he said, "It only has to happen once, everything else is just progress." So Smokey gets to test and tempt them to see if they will sway to the dark side thus proving his point, while at the same time he plays on them in order to manipulate the same players to see if he can get one of them to kill Jacob (thank you Ben). Like I said last week, I think Smokey is just done playing this game and thinks it's futile, so why not unleash Hell on Earth because the Earth itself is already made up of man and his sin, thus there is no point to keep a barrier between the two, they are the same. Jacob only has 6 more candidates to prove him correct or it really will be Hell on Earth.
It's kind of like Jacob and Smokey were angels sent to protect this barrier so that the pure evil could not cross over into the Earth that God created, Jacob is holding loyal to that job, if not a little frustrated as when he talked to Richard, while Smokey is just sick of sitting at his post and wants to leave because he thinks it's pointless.
And finally how about Jacob wanting a child to be born on the island? Let's imagine that the island doesn't exist on our normal plane of existence which I think is safe to say at this point. Would it be possible to be born there without original sin? So say a child is born without sin wouldn't that prove Jacob correct that man isn't inherently flawed with sin, proving his point to Smokey? Not sure if that will play out, but it seems to fit into the story.
So in the end my theory is that Jacob and Smokey really are the guardians of Hell, not necessarily evil because they're the ones holding back the evil found there, but more than capable to do anything in their means to protect the island, including killing. Remember God kills people all the time, doesn't make it evil. And you want one more out of left field analogy, remember way back in season 2, the two guys in the remote ice station looking for the island. How about a remote island with two angels sitting there protecting it, sound similar?
What I'm really curious to see at this point is how does the sideways world play out? I'm starting to wonder if it's not a case of that's what the world is supposed to look like for our castaways after their souls are redeemed on the island when one of them steps up and proves that they aren't inherently evil. And the world that we've seen from the beginning is what the world looks like with Hell unleashed upon it, where everyone is tainted. I guess that all depends on your definition of Hell, for me any reality where you're soul is trapped in any way by those demons in your life (much like our losties) would constitute living in hell. Who knows, should be fun to see how they finish it up and what the writers take on the whole argument is.
And speaking of the ending I saw the title of the final episode, it will be titled, "The End", pretty unique. But if you go back to Jacob and Smokey sitting on the beach, Jacob says, "It only has to end once." Guess what is going to happen in "The End" the cycle will end that one time.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Lost - Bookem Dano!
Welcome to another wonderful edition of Lost ramblings on our glorious show about not knowing anything but thinking that we actually know something when in reality we seriously know nothing. Confused by that sentence, good, today is St. Patrick's Day and to celebrate I'm going to try and be a little off my rocker today, not to mention that I've got a nice little cold so my mind is looking for a little levity, congratulations to you for finding my ramblings may you be entertained whilst I listen to some Flogging Molly. And FYI none of that has anything to do with Lost, or does it??? No really it doesn't.
Now I'm going to need to keep this episode somewhat linear because I didn't take any notes whilst watching it last night, so I'll be piecing the plot together like so many dead bodies on Hydra island, seriously WTF was up with that grizzly scene. I had a point here... Oh yeah, So we start this episode with Jin telling Sawyer that they need to get out of the mom of the year's tent before she and castaway formerly known as Locke make it back. Sawyer tells Jin that he's with Smokey but promises that he'll help get Jin off the island after they find Sun. Considering that Sawyer tells Kate that he's going to get her off the island, and taking how he was the last time we saw him, should we really believe anything that Sawyer is saying? I want to believe him because I think we all really love Sawyer and are rooting for him to be the good guy in the end of the story, but I have another take. Maybe Sawyer is going to be Smokey's replacement, like it's looking like Jack might be Jacob's...
Here are some reasons to think that he might. As Smokey said, "You're the best liar that I've ever seen." That's better than Ben mind you and based on the way he was pulling crap out of his arse last night, he might even be better than Smokey. The trick of course with that is, can you really outsmart the devil? Sawyer is sure looking to. Point being that Smokey is all about making promises to people in order to get them to do what he wants them to do, and here was Sawyer sort of looking after his friends (Kate and Jin) by telling them he could give them what they wanted, just like Smokey was. And what is the one thing that Smokey wants more than anything and apparently will do anything to achieve, getting off the island, sound like Sawyer? I thought so. This next idea I'm stealing from Jeff Jenson on EW.com, the title of the episode was Recon, but if you take it as Re - Con then it could mean another con, or maybe the con starting over, hence, Sawyer being the new smokey. Man I just got another thought on that too! Here is another trait that Smokey has, the ability to read people like no one else, except maybe Sawyer, Sayid maybe just as good, but Sawyer does have a little bit more compassion than Sayid in that if pressed Sawyer will do the better thing. I don't think that Smokey is pure evil, I just think he wants what he wants and he's going to do whatever he has to do to get it. But as Smokey said in an earlier episode, "I always keep my promises." Sawyer reflected that statement last night when Smokey asked him why he was being so loyal. Sawyer said, "We have a deal." Honor among thieves.
So does my theory of Sawyer becoming the new Smokey just blow you away?! Did me, I hadn't even thought about it until I started writing, thank you Irish punk rock music! So clashing with all that coolness of the last paragraph how about the lameness of Sawyer and his new found affection for Kate. I hope that he's just playing her, but the way he held on to that dress in the bear cage I have to imagine that he was being genuine, and that is just dumb. Ok Juliet died what two days ago and now he's getting all emotional for Kate again? Seriously? I was so so hoping that Claire was going to slit her throat so that we wouldn't have to see her anymore, I mean the character is just useless, except for one reason to keep her, Sawyer or Jack sacrificing themselves to save her so that she can get off the island and take care of Aaron. And like three episodes wasn't Kate apologizing to Sawyer that she should never have gotten on that sub with him and Juliet? How did he say they were going to get off the island, on a sub. Maybe he's going to kill her, oh we can only hope.
Anyway Sawyer goes over to the Hydra island and finds the wrecked plane, really, how the heck is that thing going to fly? Look I can after watching Lost all this time, I'm willing to buy a lot of things, I can buy a monster made of smoke, I can buy a lighthouse where you can see people's lives, I can buy a pool of water that can bring people back to life, but if you're telling me that that plane is ever going to be able to fly again you've got to be kidding me, but I guess that's why Frank is on the island, hey he does have a purpose except for upping the level of chest hair each episode. "I'm on a horse." Near the wrecked plane Sawyer finds Tina Fey, I mean Zoe, just to prove that glasses are totally sexy, but it turns out that she might have well been wearing a patch over her eye because she was one of the bad guys. Enter Charles Widmore and his plot to take out Smokey with his new and improved 21st century green pylons. Little tangent here, When Sawyer gets back to the main island and tells Smokey about the trip, Sawyer tells him about the pylons knowing that Smokey is the smoke monster, but it doesn't scare Sawyer in the slightest, tell me he isn't a badass! "Yeah I know you have the ability to kill me and everyone else in a heartbeat, but I don't give a crap, just try it." - Sawyer (what he isn't saying).
Seeing Widmore on the island made me consider two different possibilities for the final conflict on the island. Either we have a three sided war coming between Jacob, Smokey, and Charles or we have a two sided battle coming between Charles and the combined team of Jacob and Smokey. I guess Jacob and Widmore could be on the same team, considering that Jacob said that he had someone coming to the island, but I'm still holding out for Desmond (will be the center of the episode in like 3 weeks). So I'm really going with the thought that Smokey and team Jacob will join up in let's say 2 weeks (Jin and Sun episode) and then take on Charles for the sake of the island so that Smokey can then get off of it. Most likely Smokey will go to them looking for help and they will of course go along with it. Seems like a stretch but I could see it play out like that.
*intermission - go ahead get that drink you were wanting, this DVR will wait for you."
Welcome back, time to go sideways for a little bit. How about Sawyer the cop? (Time for that movie trailer voice guy)... "James Ford, he's a cop that has a knowledge about con artists, he makes a living putting hot and sexy ones into handcuffs and then afterwards arrests them for being hot. But he's a cop with a dark past one that his partner Miles doesn't know about, Detective Ford is a man looking for revenge for the murder of his parents, and once he finds that man, all bets are off." Oh and I'm with the message boards, that's a spin off that I could watch.
Seeing Sawyer as a cop was kind of fun, too bad they didn't have Ana Lucia in the police station as well. But there were a number of things that just didn't seem right with this story and I'm not talking about how they made Charlotte actually look not bad. (Thinking about it, there was a lot of sexiness in this episode wasn't there?) Here is what didn't make sense to me, it was at the end where Sawyer catches Kate. Flashback to the second episode this season where Sawyer sees her in handcuffs and lets her go in the elevator with the other cops. Seriously WTF!!!! So he only chooses to be a cop when he wants to?! Was the realization when he caught her in the end of the episode, ah crap I let her go, or what? No really what? I don't know.
And how about Miles, can he still speak to dead people? The reason why this would have been nice to know would have been to tie it back to the island. Maybe in this timeline he and his mom left the island, maybe his dad came too, who knows, but if Miles ability to talk to dead people is no longer available to him then that means that things on the island have changed things in the sideways world yet again. For that matter, Charlotte was born on the island too.
I might have some more later if I find anything of interest, Oddly enough as I kind of bashed this episode, I liked it. Next week is Richard's back story, I will be popping some popcorn for that one. I can't think of another episode that is almost guaranteed to give some answers than this one.
Now I'm going to need to keep this episode somewhat linear because I didn't take any notes whilst watching it last night, so I'll be piecing the plot together like so many dead bodies on Hydra island, seriously WTF was up with that grizzly scene. I had a point here... Oh yeah, So we start this episode with Jin telling Sawyer that they need to get out of the mom of the year's tent before she and castaway formerly known as Locke make it back. Sawyer tells Jin that he's with Smokey but promises that he'll help get Jin off the island after they find Sun. Considering that Sawyer tells Kate that he's going to get her off the island, and taking how he was the last time we saw him, should we really believe anything that Sawyer is saying? I want to believe him because I think we all really love Sawyer and are rooting for him to be the good guy in the end of the story, but I have another take. Maybe Sawyer is going to be Smokey's replacement, like it's looking like Jack might be Jacob's...
Here are some reasons to think that he might. As Smokey said, "You're the best liar that I've ever seen." That's better than Ben mind you and based on the way he was pulling crap out of his arse last night, he might even be better than Smokey. The trick of course with that is, can you really outsmart the devil? Sawyer is sure looking to. Point being that Smokey is all about making promises to people in order to get them to do what he wants them to do, and here was Sawyer sort of looking after his friends (Kate and Jin) by telling them he could give them what they wanted, just like Smokey was. And what is the one thing that Smokey wants more than anything and apparently will do anything to achieve, getting off the island, sound like Sawyer? I thought so. This next idea I'm stealing from Jeff Jenson on EW.com, the title of the episode was Recon, but if you take it as Re - Con then it could mean another con, or maybe the con starting over, hence, Sawyer being the new smokey. Man I just got another thought on that too! Here is another trait that Smokey has, the ability to read people like no one else, except maybe Sawyer, Sayid maybe just as good, but Sawyer does have a little bit more compassion than Sayid in that if pressed Sawyer will do the better thing. I don't think that Smokey is pure evil, I just think he wants what he wants and he's going to do whatever he has to do to get it. But as Smokey said in an earlier episode, "I always keep my promises." Sawyer reflected that statement last night when Smokey asked him why he was being so loyal. Sawyer said, "We have a deal." Honor among thieves.
So does my theory of Sawyer becoming the new Smokey just blow you away?! Did me, I hadn't even thought about it until I started writing, thank you Irish punk rock music! So clashing with all that coolness of the last paragraph how about the lameness of Sawyer and his new found affection for Kate. I hope that he's just playing her, but the way he held on to that dress in the bear cage I have to imagine that he was being genuine, and that is just dumb. Ok Juliet died what two days ago and now he's getting all emotional for Kate again? Seriously? I was so so hoping that Claire was going to slit her throat so that we wouldn't have to see her anymore, I mean the character is just useless, except for one reason to keep her, Sawyer or Jack sacrificing themselves to save her so that she can get off the island and take care of Aaron. And like three episodes wasn't Kate apologizing to Sawyer that she should never have gotten on that sub with him and Juliet? How did he say they were going to get off the island, on a sub. Maybe he's going to kill her, oh we can only hope.
Anyway Sawyer goes over to the Hydra island and finds the wrecked plane, really, how the heck is that thing going to fly? Look I can after watching Lost all this time, I'm willing to buy a lot of things, I can buy a monster made of smoke, I can buy a lighthouse where you can see people's lives, I can buy a pool of water that can bring people back to life, but if you're telling me that that plane is ever going to be able to fly again you've got to be kidding me, but I guess that's why Frank is on the island, hey he does have a purpose except for upping the level of chest hair each episode. "I'm on a horse." Near the wrecked plane Sawyer finds Tina Fey, I mean Zoe, just to prove that glasses are totally sexy, but it turns out that she might have well been wearing a patch over her eye because she was one of the bad guys. Enter Charles Widmore and his plot to take out Smokey with his new and improved 21st century green pylons. Little tangent here, When Sawyer gets back to the main island and tells Smokey about the trip, Sawyer tells him about the pylons knowing that Smokey is the smoke monster, but it doesn't scare Sawyer in the slightest, tell me he isn't a badass! "Yeah I know you have the ability to kill me and everyone else in a heartbeat, but I don't give a crap, just try it." - Sawyer (what he isn't saying).
Seeing Widmore on the island made me consider two different possibilities for the final conflict on the island. Either we have a three sided war coming between Jacob, Smokey, and Charles or we have a two sided battle coming between Charles and the combined team of Jacob and Smokey. I guess Jacob and Widmore could be on the same team, considering that Jacob said that he had someone coming to the island, but I'm still holding out for Desmond (will be the center of the episode in like 3 weeks). So I'm really going with the thought that Smokey and team Jacob will join up in let's say 2 weeks (Jin and Sun episode) and then take on Charles for the sake of the island so that Smokey can then get off of it. Most likely Smokey will go to them looking for help and they will of course go along with it. Seems like a stretch but I could see it play out like that.
*intermission - go ahead get that drink you were wanting, this DVR will wait for you."
Welcome back, time to go sideways for a little bit. How about Sawyer the cop? (Time for that movie trailer voice guy)... "James Ford, he's a cop that has a knowledge about con artists, he makes a living putting hot and sexy ones into handcuffs and then afterwards arrests them for being hot. But he's a cop with a dark past one that his partner Miles doesn't know about, Detective Ford is a man looking for revenge for the murder of his parents, and once he finds that man, all bets are off." Oh and I'm with the message boards, that's a spin off that I could watch.
Seeing Sawyer as a cop was kind of fun, too bad they didn't have Ana Lucia in the police station as well. But there were a number of things that just didn't seem right with this story and I'm not talking about how they made Charlotte actually look not bad. (Thinking about it, there was a lot of sexiness in this episode wasn't there?) Here is what didn't make sense to me, it was at the end where Sawyer catches Kate. Flashback to the second episode this season where Sawyer sees her in handcuffs and lets her go in the elevator with the other cops. Seriously WTF!!!! So he only chooses to be a cop when he wants to?! Was the realization when he caught her in the end of the episode, ah crap I let her go, or what? No really what? I don't know.
And how about Miles, can he still speak to dead people? The reason why this would have been nice to know would have been to tie it back to the island. Maybe in this timeline he and his mom left the island, maybe his dad came too, who knows, but if Miles ability to talk to dead people is no longer available to him then that means that things on the island have changed things in the sideways world yet again. For that matter, Charlotte was born on the island too.
I might have some more later if I find anything of interest, Oddly enough as I kind of bashed this episode, I liked it. Next week is Richard's back story, I will be popping some popcorn for that one. I can't think of another episode that is almost guaranteed to give some answers than this one.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Lost - Campfires make everything OK
As anyone who reads this knows (looking at you Cherye and Mom, since you're my fan base, Dede will never catch up to the show, seriously Dede you're 4 episodes behind! Mike you're 2 back!) I like to make obscure references to other movies or music that I can tie to the show usually for the most pointless of events, and last night is no exception. When our new group of let's call them the white team get to the beach, Ilanya suggests that they make a campfire and Miles snaps back with, "Yeah a fire will fix everything." Reminded me of Aliens (A James Cameron classic, yeah that same guy that did Titanic and Avatar) right after the Marines get wiped out by the Aliens and the one guy starts saying, "How about we start a fire, sing a couple songs." So out of place so inappropriate, so perfect. Thank you Miles for commenting on how pointless a camp fire really is.
And with that we're off, like a roaring fire of theory and information. So let's start with some of the facts that we learned from a very very complex episode. We learned a little bit more about Richard and why he will live forever, and no Hurley he is not a vampire (great great line, very much a nod to the fans and some of the theories that have been thrown around). Richard lives forever because Jacob touched him, thus he is incapable of killing himself, sounds a lot like Micheal off the island where no matter what he tried to do he couldn't kill himself. Or how about last season where John was going to hang himself but Ben walks in and prevents him from doing it, only to then kill him himself. We also got confirmation that Richard arrived on the Blackrock when he said that he hadn't been back to the ship since he got there. Best part of all the Richard goodness, in two weeks we get his story, now that should be really really interesting because a sideways story with him would be rather unique, I think that's how we'll learn what happened to the island.
We also know that the nuke that was set off on the island did not incinerate the island, as Faraday said the nuke would negate the energy below the Swan, so my guess is that is exactly what it did any one on the island would not notice the effects outside of a purple flash of light, like at the end of season 2. By the way, we now know what that flash of light was, it was a nuclear device that was placed in the Swan as a fail safe to keep the Swan from doing some serious damage like it was going to do in season 2. Another clue, Sayid in season 2 said that the only place he had ever seen concrete piled the way it was in the Swan was at Chernobyl. The show is taking a very subtle approach to answering the questions that it has presented over the years, but if you read between the lines than you start to see all of the answers, sure I can't be 100% sure on them, but there are enough clues to say with 90% certainty that that is what the answer is. We're not going to get a clear list of this is this, or that is that, it's all going to be in the details.
With the island not blowing up, that allows Ben and his dad to make their way back to the mainland, after Ben had been shot by Sayid (that is key). Very ironic moment where Ben turns on the fresh oxygen for his dad when you consider that Ben killed his dad in the island world by gassing him. Great lines on, "I wonder how different our lives would have been if we'd have stayed on that island?" My guess is that they would have been dead considering it sank, or... Ben was supposed to stay on the island to have protected it, but him leaving is the reason that it sank. So in this stretch of a theory if you believe it and you believe that Jacob is the good guy in this story (which I'm believing more and more) then Ben's service to the island made a difference, that all of the deeds that he performed were in the service of Jacob and the island, and if my Locke theory is correct about him being swayed by Smokey from early on, Ben was on a course to lose his power from that moment on.
Ben losing his power sounds a lot like a guy in France during the early 19th centruy, a guy that interestingly enough was banished to the island of Elba. Of course I'm talking about Napoleon and the lesson that Dr. Linus was teaching sure sounded like the other Ben didn't it. Here was a man that had been stripped of his power and left to live on an island in despair, nope don't know any characters like that on Lost, oh wait I got one, BEN! From very early on it was obvious that Ben has been all about control and power, he lies to maintain both and is a master manipulator to accomplish his goals, the question of course is how far down did that motivation run inside of him? Deep enough for him to sacrifice Alex on the island, deep enough that Jacob knew that it existed within Ben and hoped that he had been wrong about Ben, that Ben had a good side to him. Think of how God would have responded had Job renounced him instead of praised him, my guess is that it would have been like a dagger to his heart (see dead Jacob and Miles comments about the death). Here is where I had a hard time putting all of the pieces together because I think it's extremely complex, what was Ben's motivation for killing Jacob, was it the loss of power, the loss of Alex, the feeling of being manipulated like Richard flet? My guess is that Ben was a man that had lost everything that he valued in life and at that moment there was Smokey to make him question his faith. Even at Locke's funeral Ben says, "He was a true believer, he was a better man than me, I'm sorry I murdered him." Ben acknowledges his own loss of faith to which I believe he maintained without question previous to flight 815 crashing.
In the end Ben unloads all of his guilt on to Ilanya saying that he's turned to Smokey because that is the only one that will take him now, he's forsaken his faith and he can now only turn to darkness, he believes himself beyond redemption, and isn't looking for it. Then Ilanya says that she'll have him. At first I was thinking, Ok that is just gay, first she wants to kill him, now she forgives him. In this case it's literally like forgiving the person that killed your father, I know in the Christian faith you hear of people doing it, but I don't know. Originally I was thinking that it might have to do with her being a bounty hunter and who was she to judge Ben after all of the people that I'm sure she has killed. And maybe that is it, since she believes in the Jacob and what he represents then she knows that she should turn the other cheek and not pass judgement upon Ben, it's not her place to take her anger and revenge on him.
Earlier I had mentioned that it was key that Ben had been shot on the island that means that he also got to take a dip in the holy hot tub in both time lines. So the person that we see as a teacher is essentially the same person that we see on the island with all of his traits. Off the island he makes a play to be the principle of the school but in the end he gives up his quest for power to save Alex, where on the island he let's her die to maintain his power. Off the island he looks like he has that sense of satisfaction for making that decision, on the island he is broken by what he allowed to happen, and is what eventually leads him to kill Jacob. Just like in all of the other off island stories the ending is a positive one.
And finally how about a little theory action. Jack has come a long way huh? Starting off as a man that questions everything about the island to a man of enough blind faith that he can sit next to a stick of dynamite knowing that he's not going to be blown to pieces. Jack was the man of Science, John the man of faith as stated in an earlier episode I think way back in season 2. Now I have a little bit of a soapbox that I'm trying not to jump on, but it just seems so easy to right now. If my earlier theory is correct that Locke was manipulated early on, a man that was looking for a higher purpose, that purpose found him in the form of Smokey, giving him what he wanted only to manipulate and take from him in the long run, just like everyone off of the island in his life. Meaning that evil will pray on those that are looking for meaning by giving them the easy answer, "you want to believe in something, well I'll give you a miracle to confirm your faith in me." - paraphrasing what the devil might say. While Jack on the other hand questions everything that he sees, denying everything up until there is nothing left to question and the truth becomes undeniable and in the end, last night he found Jacob. Lost makes a lot of references to religion and faith and good and evil, so I don't think it's a stretch to say that they are making a statement about those ideals in the framework of the show. We'll see how it all plays out.
And with that we're off, like a roaring fire of theory and information. So let's start with some of the facts that we learned from a very very complex episode. We learned a little bit more about Richard and why he will live forever, and no Hurley he is not a vampire (great great line, very much a nod to the fans and some of the theories that have been thrown around). Richard lives forever because Jacob touched him, thus he is incapable of killing himself, sounds a lot like Micheal off the island where no matter what he tried to do he couldn't kill himself. Or how about last season where John was going to hang himself but Ben walks in and prevents him from doing it, only to then kill him himself. We also got confirmation that Richard arrived on the Blackrock when he said that he hadn't been back to the ship since he got there. Best part of all the Richard goodness, in two weeks we get his story, now that should be really really interesting because a sideways story with him would be rather unique, I think that's how we'll learn what happened to the island.
We also know that the nuke that was set off on the island did not incinerate the island, as Faraday said the nuke would negate the energy below the Swan, so my guess is that is exactly what it did any one on the island would not notice the effects outside of a purple flash of light, like at the end of season 2. By the way, we now know what that flash of light was, it was a nuclear device that was placed in the Swan as a fail safe to keep the Swan from doing some serious damage like it was going to do in season 2. Another clue, Sayid in season 2 said that the only place he had ever seen concrete piled the way it was in the Swan was at Chernobyl. The show is taking a very subtle approach to answering the questions that it has presented over the years, but if you read between the lines than you start to see all of the answers, sure I can't be 100% sure on them, but there are enough clues to say with 90% certainty that that is what the answer is. We're not going to get a clear list of this is this, or that is that, it's all going to be in the details.
With the island not blowing up, that allows Ben and his dad to make their way back to the mainland, after Ben had been shot by Sayid (that is key). Very ironic moment where Ben turns on the fresh oxygen for his dad when you consider that Ben killed his dad in the island world by gassing him. Great lines on, "I wonder how different our lives would have been if we'd have stayed on that island?" My guess is that they would have been dead considering it sank, or... Ben was supposed to stay on the island to have protected it, but him leaving is the reason that it sank. So in this stretch of a theory if you believe it and you believe that Jacob is the good guy in this story (which I'm believing more and more) then Ben's service to the island made a difference, that all of the deeds that he performed were in the service of Jacob and the island, and if my Locke theory is correct about him being swayed by Smokey from early on, Ben was on a course to lose his power from that moment on.
Ben losing his power sounds a lot like a guy in France during the early 19th centruy, a guy that interestingly enough was banished to the island of Elba. Of course I'm talking about Napoleon and the lesson that Dr. Linus was teaching sure sounded like the other Ben didn't it. Here was a man that had been stripped of his power and left to live on an island in despair, nope don't know any characters like that on Lost, oh wait I got one, BEN! From very early on it was obvious that Ben has been all about control and power, he lies to maintain both and is a master manipulator to accomplish his goals, the question of course is how far down did that motivation run inside of him? Deep enough for him to sacrifice Alex on the island, deep enough that Jacob knew that it existed within Ben and hoped that he had been wrong about Ben, that Ben had a good side to him. Think of how God would have responded had Job renounced him instead of praised him, my guess is that it would have been like a dagger to his heart (see dead Jacob and Miles comments about the death). Here is where I had a hard time putting all of the pieces together because I think it's extremely complex, what was Ben's motivation for killing Jacob, was it the loss of power, the loss of Alex, the feeling of being manipulated like Richard flet? My guess is that Ben was a man that had lost everything that he valued in life and at that moment there was Smokey to make him question his faith. Even at Locke's funeral Ben says, "He was a true believer, he was a better man than me, I'm sorry I murdered him." Ben acknowledges his own loss of faith to which I believe he maintained without question previous to flight 815 crashing.
In the end Ben unloads all of his guilt on to Ilanya saying that he's turned to Smokey because that is the only one that will take him now, he's forsaken his faith and he can now only turn to darkness, he believes himself beyond redemption, and isn't looking for it. Then Ilanya says that she'll have him. At first I was thinking, Ok that is just gay, first she wants to kill him, now she forgives him. In this case it's literally like forgiving the person that killed your father, I know in the Christian faith you hear of people doing it, but I don't know. Originally I was thinking that it might have to do with her being a bounty hunter and who was she to judge Ben after all of the people that I'm sure she has killed. And maybe that is it, since she believes in the Jacob and what he represents then she knows that she should turn the other cheek and not pass judgement upon Ben, it's not her place to take her anger and revenge on him.
Earlier I had mentioned that it was key that Ben had been shot on the island that means that he also got to take a dip in the holy hot tub in both time lines. So the person that we see as a teacher is essentially the same person that we see on the island with all of his traits. Off the island he makes a play to be the principle of the school but in the end he gives up his quest for power to save Alex, where on the island he let's her die to maintain his power. Off the island he looks like he has that sense of satisfaction for making that decision, on the island he is broken by what he allowed to happen, and is what eventually leads him to kill Jacob. Just like in all of the other off island stories the ending is a positive one.
And finally how about a little theory action. Jack has come a long way huh? Starting off as a man that questions everything about the island to a man of enough blind faith that he can sit next to a stick of dynamite knowing that he's not going to be blown to pieces. Jack was the man of Science, John the man of faith as stated in an earlier episode I think way back in season 2. Now I have a little bit of a soapbox that I'm trying not to jump on, but it just seems so easy to right now. If my earlier theory is correct that Locke was manipulated early on, a man that was looking for a higher purpose, that purpose found him in the form of Smokey, giving him what he wanted only to manipulate and take from him in the long run, just like everyone off of the island in his life. Meaning that evil will pray on those that are looking for meaning by giving them the easy answer, "you want to believe in something, well I'll give you a miracle to confirm your faith in me." - paraphrasing what the devil might say. While Jack on the other hand questions everything that he sees, denying everything up until there is nothing left to question and the truth becomes undeniable and in the end, last night he found Jacob. Lost makes a lot of references to religion and faith and good and evil, so I don't think it's a stretch to say that they are making a statement about those ideals in the framework of the show. We'll see how it all plays out.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Lost - John Locke Theory
For some reason this past week it all fell into place for me on what the heck has been going on on Lost since the beginning. Today I stumbled onto what is the deal with John Locke and his affinity towards the island.
If you remember back to the first season John was the first person to actually see Smokey face to face. While we don't see the actual confrontation, we do see Smokey zooming in on him from off camera, it's at this moment when I think that John was recruited by Smokey. The mystery of John's legs is still out there, but let's just say that Smokey fixed him in the hopes that he would join up with him, basically giving him the one thing that he wanted more than anything, just like he offered Sayid. This time Smokey takes the initiative and just gives him back the ability to walk, because the jungle isn't very handicap friendly.
So John meets Smokey and Smokey tells him about all of the fantastic stuff that the island has and in doing so bestows on John a knowledge of the island that is just a little beyond normal. Now Smokey can't make anyone do anything they don't want to do, we've seen that he doesn't actually control anyone alive, he just manipulates and plays off of their emotions. As Smokey said about John, he was the only one that didn't want to leave the island, Smokey gave him that opportunity to stay. Oh and just to hedge his bets, John's legs started to act up when him and Boone found the plane with the radio in it, which ultimately killed Boone, had John climbed up there, he'd have died.
Skip forward to season 2 when Ben is captured. In one of his probably lies, he tells John, that he was coming to find him, because he was one of the good people. My take is that he was lying about his intentions, but being truthful in that he was looking for John. Why would he be looking for John? Because he needed to take him to the temple to see if he had been infected by Smokey, but that never happens. Instead John, through his affinity to the island that even Richard is puzzled by is taken in by the others and eventually installed as their leader. Now let's go way out on the Ben might actually be a good guy limb and say that Ben didn't try to get rid of John on the island because he was jealous, but because he was the only one that saw that John had been infected. Now keep in mind I don't think that Smokey controls anyones soul, but he can manipulate their heart and mind by feeding John all sorts of wrong information.
Ben ends up shooting John, leaving him in the ditch with all of the dead Dharma folks, but he doesn't die. And what else does he see, a vision of Walt, might that have been Smokey... Then who tells John that he has to move the island, Christian, whom in my assessment is in league with Smokey. John doesn't even realize that he's being manipulated by the bad guy, JUST LIKE OFF THE ISLAND. He is the example of a good person following a false prophet. And you who the opposite of that is, Ben, a bad person following the good prophet.
The devil doesn't just come up to you and tell you he is the devil, that's the last thing that he does, he works in the back ground making you believe what you want to believe. John had a major flaw in him, he always wanted to be more than he was, (greed), Smokey gave it to him. Smokey even commented to Ben how pathetic he was with what John's last thoughts were, "I don't understand." He never understood that the whole time he had been a puppet of Smokey, all of the promises left him with nothing.
On the flip side, look at Ben. Here is a guy that is all sorts of bad, but he devotes his life to serve the defense of the island for a man that he never met. His blind faith in the belief that he was trying to do the good thing even if he himself wasn't a good person. Ben became the leader of the others because of his undying faith in Jacob. Which ultimately, Ben's faith was broken and he ended up killing Jacob. Considering that next week is a Ben episode I think we're going to see that character get flipped on his side in how we see him.
If you remember back to the first season John was the first person to actually see Smokey face to face. While we don't see the actual confrontation, we do see Smokey zooming in on him from off camera, it's at this moment when I think that John was recruited by Smokey. The mystery of John's legs is still out there, but let's just say that Smokey fixed him in the hopes that he would join up with him, basically giving him the one thing that he wanted more than anything, just like he offered Sayid. This time Smokey takes the initiative and just gives him back the ability to walk, because the jungle isn't very handicap friendly.
So John meets Smokey and Smokey tells him about all of the fantastic stuff that the island has and in doing so bestows on John a knowledge of the island that is just a little beyond normal. Now Smokey can't make anyone do anything they don't want to do, we've seen that he doesn't actually control anyone alive, he just manipulates and plays off of their emotions. As Smokey said about John, he was the only one that didn't want to leave the island, Smokey gave him that opportunity to stay. Oh and just to hedge his bets, John's legs started to act up when him and Boone found the plane with the radio in it, which ultimately killed Boone, had John climbed up there, he'd have died.
Skip forward to season 2 when Ben is captured. In one of his probably lies, he tells John, that he was coming to find him, because he was one of the good people. My take is that he was lying about his intentions, but being truthful in that he was looking for John. Why would he be looking for John? Because he needed to take him to the temple to see if he had been infected by Smokey, but that never happens. Instead John, through his affinity to the island that even Richard is puzzled by is taken in by the others and eventually installed as their leader. Now let's go way out on the Ben might actually be a good guy limb and say that Ben didn't try to get rid of John on the island because he was jealous, but because he was the only one that saw that John had been infected. Now keep in mind I don't think that Smokey controls anyones soul, but he can manipulate their heart and mind by feeding John all sorts of wrong information.
Ben ends up shooting John, leaving him in the ditch with all of the dead Dharma folks, but he doesn't die. And what else does he see, a vision of Walt, might that have been Smokey... Then who tells John that he has to move the island, Christian, whom in my assessment is in league with Smokey. John doesn't even realize that he's being manipulated by the bad guy, JUST LIKE OFF THE ISLAND. He is the example of a good person following a false prophet. And you who the opposite of that is, Ben, a bad person following the good prophet.
The devil doesn't just come up to you and tell you he is the devil, that's the last thing that he does, he works in the back ground making you believe what you want to believe. John had a major flaw in him, he always wanted to be more than he was, (greed), Smokey gave it to him. Smokey even commented to Ben how pathetic he was with what John's last thoughts were, "I don't understand." He never understood that the whole time he had been a puppet of Smokey, all of the promises left him with nothing.
On the flip side, look at Ben. Here is a guy that is all sorts of bad, but he devotes his life to serve the defense of the island for a man that he never met. His blind faith in the belief that he was trying to do the good thing even if he himself wasn't a good person. Ben became the leader of the others because of his undying faith in Jacob. Which ultimately, Ben's faith was broken and he ended up killing Jacob. Considering that next week is a Ben episode I think we're going to see that character get flipped on his side in how we see him.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Lost - I'm on a roll today
So I posted my idea about the others on the abc boards and one of the replies got me thinking about 1974.
Radzinsky might have been the first of the Dharma folk infected which made him a little crazy, and was the reason that he wanted to have the Swan built, in the outside area. With Dharma folks going in and out of the secure area there is no telling how many might have come into contact with Smokey out there and how many of them might have been infected. It's my thought that the others let the Dharma folks stay on the island because 1) they had greater numbers, and 2) because as long as they stayed in their area it was ok, Smokey couldn't get them. And 3) Some of the others might have been candidates.
So say a bunch of Dharma get infected by venturing out beyond the fence, the others are then forced to eliminate the problem with a PURGE. And who do you get to do the purging, a young candidate by the name of Ben Linus, you know that he isn't infected.
And presto, you have Dharma wiped out at the hands of the others in an effort to protect the island from Smokey. I'm on fire today!!!
Radzinsky might have been the first of the Dharma folk infected which made him a little crazy, and was the reason that he wanted to have the Swan built, in the outside area. With Dharma folks going in and out of the secure area there is no telling how many might have come into contact with Smokey out there and how many of them might have been infected. It's my thought that the others let the Dharma folks stay on the island because 1) they had greater numbers, and 2) because as long as they stayed in their area it was ok, Smokey couldn't get them. And 3) Some of the others might have been candidates.
So say a bunch of Dharma get infected by venturing out beyond the fence, the others are then forced to eliminate the problem with a PURGE. And who do you get to do the purging, a young candidate by the name of Ben Linus, you know that he isn't infected.
And presto, you have Dharma wiped out at the hands of the others in an effort to protect the island from Smokey. I'm on fire today!!!
Lost - Ghosts, Others, and Richard explained
So outside of my wife and kids, I really have no life now that Olympic hockey is over, which means I spend a lot of my free thoughts thinking about Lost, big surprise huh? So it hit me this morning about how some of the older pieces of the show fit together, man I have no idea what I'm going to do come May 24th when the show ends. So without further ado...
What got me thinking this morning was who were the Others, and I think I get now why they are called the Others, they are the collateral damage of the people that were brought to the island. Meaning that when Jacob brought someone to the island it was unlikely that they would be alone, there would always be some "other" people along for the ride, just because they have bad luck. Now flash forward to the crash of Oceanic 815, what was the first thing that Ben needed to get from the two crash sites, a list of the names of the people, why? Because he needed to get the list to Jacob to see who were candidates in the crash. Everyone else was then taken by the Others. But why not take the candidates and leave the other people? Reason, the other people would be subject to being infected by Smokey, just like Rousseau's crew. But the candidates couldn't be claimed until they were dead. Sayid was dead for 2 hours, Claire, I'm guessing was killed in that rocket attack, but I'm also guessing that Smokey brought her back like Sayid. Or like Christian. Meaning that Christian isn't a ghost but more like a zombie, like Sayid is, fueled by the dark life that Smokey gave to him, just like the other "ghosts" that he can manifest.
Speaking of ghosts that Smokey can make, let's go way back and think about the crazy stuff that the Losties have seen on the island, and in particular Hurley seeing David (the guy from the nut house), long story short what did he try and get Hurley to do, jump off a cliff. Smokey can't "claim" the living candidates, which is why he scans them, but he can if they are dead or if like in Sawyers case they come willingly. Which is also why Jacob doesn't get involved with any of the candidates, they need to come to him willingly and without any more interference than getting dropped on the island.
Now let's jump to the Dharma time, the Others and the Dharma folks formed a truce where the Others would leave them be if they stayed inside their sonic fence, that kept Smokey out. Meaning that Smokey would have tried to get to the folks in Dharmaville and try to claim them if he'd have had the chance, but since there wasn't a risk as long as they remained within the fence there was no threat of that happening. Which is also why when Sawyer and Juliet killed those two others when they first got to 1974 the bodies had to be buried, so that Smokey couldn't claim them. Otherwise a corpse laying around could be claimed just like Christian, which is why he wasn't in the coffin either. So why is the body of Locke laying in the coffin? Because Smokey took on that form, in the case of Christian that really is Christian walking around. Jack's dad is walking around on the island and my bet is that the final confrontation is going to be Jack and his Dad.
Oh and speaking of dead people wondering around, guess what happen to Richard??? He's one of the first people that got brought back by Smokey, but the difference here is that he left Smokey to serve Jacob, that is why he doesn't age and has that dark look to him, but he's on the good guys side, because my guess is that Smokey promised him something and in the end didn't pay up. Considering that we still don't know anything about the ship the Blackrock, I'm guessing that Richard was on that ship.
So there you go, an explanation on the ghosts, the others, and Richard. The best part of all of this, ALL of this goes back to season 1 meaning that if I'm right, the producers knew all along what they were doing and to that I'll say Bravo!
What got me thinking this morning was who were the Others, and I think I get now why they are called the Others, they are the collateral damage of the people that were brought to the island. Meaning that when Jacob brought someone to the island it was unlikely that they would be alone, there would always be some "other" people along for the ride, just because they have bad luck. Now flash forward to the crash of Oceanic 815, what was the first thing that Ben needed to get from the two crash sites, a list of the names of the people, why? Because he needed to get the list to Jacob to see who were candidates in the crash. Everyone else was then taken by the Others. But why not take the candidates and leave the other people? Reason, the other people would be subject to being infected by Smokey, just like Rousseau's crew. But the candidates couldn't be claimed until they were dead. Sayid was dead for 2 hours, Claire, I'm guessing was killed in that rocket attack, but I'm also guessing that Smokey brought her back like Sayid. Or like Christian. Meaning that Christian isn't a ghost but more like a zombie, like Sayid is, fueled by the dark life that Smokey gave to him, just like the other "ghosts" that he can manifest.
Speaking of ghosts that Smokey can make, let's go way back and think about the crazy stuff that the Losties have seen on the island, and in particular Hurley seeing David (the guy from the nut house), long story short what did he try and get Hurley to do, jump off a cliff. Smokey can't "claim" the living candidates, which is why he scans them, but he can if they are dead or if like in Sawyers case they come willingly. Which is also why Jacob doesn't get involved with any of the candidates, they need to come to him willingly and without any more interference than getting dropped on the island.
Now let's jump to the Dharma time, the Others and the Dharma folks formed a truce where the Others would leave them be if they stayed inside their sonic fence, that kept Smokey out. Meaning that Smokey would have tried to get to the folks in Dharmaville and try to claim them if he'd have had the chance, but since there wasn't a risk as long as they remained within the fence there was no threat of that happening. Which is also why when Sawyer and Juliet killed those two others when they first got to 1974 the bodies had to be buried, so that Smokey couldn't claim them. Otherwise a corpse laying around could be claimed just like Christian, which is why he wasn't in the coffin either. So why is the body of Locke laying in the coffin? Because Smokey took on that form, in the case of Christian that really is Christian walking around. Jack's dad is walking around on the island and my bet is that the final confrontation is going to be Jack and his Dad.
Oh and speaking of dead people wondering around, guess what happen to Richard??? He's one of the first people that got brought back by Smokey, but the difference here is that he left Smokey to serve Jacob, that is why he doesn't age and has that dark look to him, but he's on the good guys side, because my guess is that Smokey promised him something and in the end didn't pay up. Considering that we still don't know anything about the ship the Blackrock, I'm guessing that Richard was on that ship.
So there you go, an explanation on the ghosts, the others, and Richard. The best part of all of this, ALL of this goes back to season 1 meaning that if I'm right, the producers knew all along what they were doing and to that I'll say Bravo!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Lost - Play Ball!
You know what one of the best scenes in movies is, the scene in "The Untouchables" where Al Capone gives his speech about Baseball. If you've seen the movie then you know why it's awesome, if you haven't then I invite you to go youtube it, warning it's violent, but hey you're watching Lost already and that's pretty violent itself.
In Lost once again, NOTHING is just as simple as a baseball, next thing you know the vase that Sayid was repairing will show up in Smokey's lair or something. But getting back to the baseball, poor poor Dogan, we got to find out the significance of the baseball and that poor bastard got stuck on the island after losing his son. And with that let me take a very big break in the action to go off on a tangent to explain everything because it just hit me.
Everyone on the island has LOST something! I don't know why I didn't realize it until now, but every single character on the island has LOST something in their life and then end up on the island. Here let me provide a list.
Jack = Dad
Locke = ability to walk
Kate = Her boyfriend
Sayid = Nadia
Sawyer = Parents
Claire = Dad, potentially Aaron
Desmond = Penny
Charlie = himself to drugs
Hurley = People died when a balcony he was on broke, sent him to the nut house
Ana Lucia = Shot when pregnant
Rose = Had cancer and was going to die
Bernard = Going to lose Rose
Shannon = Her mom
Jin = Himself and potentially Sun
Sun = Jin and who she wanted to be
Walt = Mom
Micheal = Had lost his son, WWWAAAAALLLLTTTTTTT!!!!
Ben = Mom
Eko = Brother
Boone = (not sure on him) maybe Shannon
Dogan = Son
I maybe forgetting someone, but you get the point, the show is called Lost because everyone on the show has LOST something valuable to them in their lives and it has sent their lives out of control, like they've LOST control. So why are they on the island, because as Jack put it, "I came back because I was stupid enough to think that this place could fix me." And that is the reason that all of them are on the island. We already know that it's a story of redemption and that is what the island is it's island therapy to fix what is broke inside you. After last night it's hard to not think that Smokey is the bad guy now, thus I'm going with Jacob is actually the good guy. The argument between them, can mankind change, "It only has to happen once, everything else is just progress."
Jacob hand picked people that he thought could be saved, but so far no one has been able to do it. Those are Jacob's candidates, as long as you're on the list, you can't be killed by Smokey because your still part of the game between the two of them, a game to see if man can change. Jacob took a bunch of messed up folks and believes that under the circumstances of living on the island they can change who they are, change being consumed by the darkness inside them. Smokey on the other hand is saying, Let me just solve your problems so you can be happy. He offers the easy way out, much like making a deal with the devil. And in the end, if something isn't earned, you can't truly enjoy it. Which is why Jacob doesn't give any easy answers, he wants everyone to come to their own conclusions on what is right what is wrong and what they all need to change about themselves. Oh and by the way, all of us watching the show are in league with Smokey now, because guess what we want, answers... and who is offering them up? That is going to be Lost's final moment for the audience, who are we in all of this, who did we side up with Jacob and the mystery, or Smokey and the easy answers...
But here is the piece to the puzzle that I just can't seem to figure out how it fits, the sideways world. Yet again another castaway is in a fairly happy place, ok sure he's tormented over the fact that Nadia is married to his brother, but that was by his pushing, Sayid told her that he didn't deserve her for all of the terrible things that he had done in life. Interestingly enough, the Sayid on the island didn't care about all of those terrible things and wanted her back no matter the cost, even his soul...
Ben - "Come on Sayid, there's still time."
Sayid - "Not for me."
What I liked about the off the island Sayid was that he really seemed like he was trying to get away from his past, even when pushed he was trying to avoid resorting to violence even though he knew he could handle it. It was pretty awesome to see the mobsters have no idea who they were messing with, I mean Sayid took on a ninja this episode and almost won. =) In the end he kills the mobster not out of rage or vengeance, but justice. He knew that if he didn't kill the guy he would come back and demand more money or worse and that the only way to settle this mess unfortunately was to kill our former mercenary. Man some people are just evil. Oh and hi Jin! How did you get away from the customs people again???
So again the character in the sideways story seems to be in much better place with their soul, obviously this relates to how messed up they are on the island, but how? The only weak theory that I can give is that that would be their life if Jacob had never interfered, meaning that he screwed up their lives on purpose, but he's supposed to be the good guy. It's a lot like the story of Job, the devil says that Job only loves him because of all the things that he has given him and without that, he would renounce him. I have to think that Smokey is questioning all of mankind that they are good and Jacob is out to prove to him that they are. By messing up their lives he is setting to prove that they can be redeemed, to which Smokey doesn't believe to be possible. maybe the sideways world is the world that they will all get in the end after the game is concluded and Jacob wins. Part of the bargain is that all of the players get their unaltered lives back if Jacob is right. Smokey I think is tired of playing the game thinking that he's been proven right 355 times (only 5 names left on the wheel). But really I don't know, this is the part that I really don't get, but is getting more and more interesting each week. Speeking of interesting, next week is a Ben episode.
Probably have more later today
In Lost once again, NOTHING is just as simple as a baseball, next thing you know the vase that Sayid was repairing will show up in Smokey's lair or something. But getting back to the baseball, poor poor Dogan, we got to find out the significance of the baseball and that poor bastard got stuck on the island after losing his son. And with that let me take a very big break in the action to go off on a tangent to explain everything because it just hit me.
Everyone on the island has LOST something! I don't know why I didn't realize it until now, but every single character on the island has LOST something in their life and then end up on the island. Here let me provide a list.
Jack = Dad
Locke = ability to walk
Kate = Her boyfriend
Sayid = Nadia
Sawyer = Parents
Claire = Dad, potentially Aaron
Desmond = Penny
Charlie = himself to drugs
Hurley = People died when a balcony he was on broke, sent him to the nut house
Ana Lucia = Shot when pregnant
Rose = Had cancer and was going to die
Bernard = Going to lose Rose
Shannon = Her mom
Jin = Himself and potentially Sun
Sun = Jin and who she wanted to be
Walt = Mom
Micheal = Had lost his son, WWWAAAAALLLLTTTTTTT!!!!
Ben = Mom
Eko = Brother
Boone = (not sure on him) maybe Shannon
Dogan = Son
I maybe forgetting someone, but you get the point, the show is called Lost because everyone on the show has LOST something valuable to them in their lives and it has sent their lives out of control, like they've LOST control. So why are they on the island, because as Jack put it, "I came back because I was stupid enough to think that this place could fix me." And that is the reason that all of them are on the island. We already know that it's a story of redemption and that is what the island is it's island therapy to fix what is broke inside you. After last night it's hard to not think that Smokey is the bad guy now, thus I'm going with Jacob is actually the good guy. The argument between them, can mankind change, "It only has to happen once, everything else is just progress."
Jacob hand picked people that he thought could be saved, but so far no one has been able to do it. Those are Jacob's candidates, as long as you're on the list, you can't be killed by Smokey because your still part of the game between the two of them, a game to see if man can change. Jacob took a bunch of messed up folks and believes that under the circumstances of living on the island they can change who they are, change being consumed by the darkness inside them. Smokey on the other hand is saying, Let me just solve your problems so you can be happy. He offers the easy way out, much like making a deal with the devil. And in the end, if something isn't earned, you can't truly enjoy it. Which is why Jacob doesn't give any easy answers, he wants everyone to come to their own conclusions on what is right what is wrong and what they all need to change about themselves. Oh and by the way, all of us watching the show are in league with Smokey now, because guess what we want, answers... and who is offering them up? That is going to be Lost's final moment for the audience, who are we in all of this, who did we side up with Jacob and the mystery, or Smokey and the easy answers...
But here is the piece to the puzzle that I just can't seem to figure out how it fits, the sideways world. Yet again another castaway is in a fairly happy place, ok sure he's tormented over the fact that Nadia is married to his brother, but that was by his pushing, Sayid told her that he didn't deserve her for all of the terrible things that he had done in life. Interestingly enough, the Sayid on the island didn't care about all of those terrible things and wanted her back no matter the cost, even his soul...
Ben - "Come on Sayid, there's still time."
Sayid - "Not for me."
What I liked about the off the island Sayid was that he really seemed like he was trying to get away from his past, even when pushed he was trying to avoid resorting to violence even though he knew he could handle it. It was pretty awesome to see the mobsters have no idea who they were messing with, I mean Sayid took on a ninja this episode and almost won. =) In the end he kills the mobster not out of rage or vengeance, but justice. He knew that if he didn't kill the guy he would come back and demand more money or worse and that the only way to settle this mess unfortunately was to kill our former mercenary. Man some people are just evil. Oh and hi Jin! How did you get away from the customs people again???
So again the character in the sideways story seems to be in much better place with their soul, obviously this relates to how messed up they are on the island, but how? The only weak theory that I can give is that that would be their life if Jacob had never interfered, meaning that he screwed up their lives on purpose, but he's supposed to be the good guy. It's a lot like the story of Job, the devil says that Job only loves him because of all the things that he has given him and without that, he would renounce him. I have to think that Smokey is questioning all of mankind that they are good and Jacob is out to prove to him that they are. By messing up their lives he is setting to prove that they can be redeemed, to which Smokey doesn't believe to be possible. maybe the sideways world is the world that they will all get in the end after the game is concluded and Jacob wins. Part of the bargain is that all of the players get their unaltered lives back if Jacob is right. Smokey I think is tired of playing the game thinking that he's been proven right 355 times (only 5 names left on the wheel). But really I don't know, this is the part that I really don't get, but is getting more and more interesting each week. Speeking of interesting, next week is a Ben episode.
Probably have more later today
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