Wednesday, February 3. 2010
LA X
Interesting. That's what I'm coming up with. Interesting.
(keep in mind that I'm purposely keeping myself out of the spoiler-loop, so if some of these observations are old-hat, my apologies....)
And no, I'm not doing recaps this time around. Found it much more enjoyable when I wasn't trying to scratch down what's happening and trying to keep up. Sorry!
At least one "mystery" of the island is at last revealed. That being the identity or what-have-you of our old pal Smokey. Yes, folks, its the MiB, Jacob's Nemesis. Actually this came to me watching "The Incident" last week. Yeah, duh, I know, should have seen it.
The bomb went off, and nothing happened. Or did it? Yes! ... and no! Or, uh, or something. It would now seem that we are dealing with two distinct and separate timelines. Not a future/past thing like we've had before, but two totally separate parallel paths. Did you hear the "swoosh" when switching between the two? It's noticably different than the old "flashback" swoosh. Giveaway!
But, as usual, more questions and problems arise. Here's my take:
(keep in mind that I'm purposely keeping myself out of the spoiler-loop, so if some of these observations are old-hat, my apologies....)
And no, I'm not doing recaps this time around. Found it much more enjoyable when I wasn't trying to scratch down what's happening and trying to keep up. Sorry!
At least one "mystery" of the island is at last revealed. That being the identity or what-have-you of our old pal Smokey. Yes, folks, its the MiB, Jacob's Nemesis. Actually this came to me watching "The Incident" last week. Yeah, duh, I know, should have seen it.
The bomb went off, and nothing happened. Or did it? Yes! ... and no! Or, uh, or something. It would now seem that we are dealing with two distinct and separate timelines. Not a future/past thing like we've had before, but two totally separate parallel paths. Did you hear the "swoosh" when switching between the two? It's noticably different than the old "flashback" swoosh. Giveaway!
But, as usual, more questions and problems arise. Here's my take:
Christian Shepard
So Christian's body goes missing DURING the flight. My theory: Jacob took it. Or the island did. Just like it took the 5 from the Ajira 316 plane and chucked them back to '77 leaving the rest to crash in the present. This is Jacob's "loophole." Just like MiB used Locke to come back, I think we'll be seeing Jacob re-appear as Christian yet again. Yeah I believe that was Jacob. And he knew what was going to happen the whole time... more on this in a minute.
The Temple
OK, so either sometime in the last 3 years (since '04) this new temple got built and occupied by a different team of others led by the Japanese guy? Or has it been there the whole time? Eh, what? I expect this will be explained in short order, as we don't have a lot of time left! Furthermore, is this gang aligned with Richard or another bunch entirely? That was left ambiguous.
EDIT: See the comments below for more on the temple situation. I don't think I was rememberizing things correctly!!
Desmond
OK, so exactly WTF was Desmond doing on the plane. Was he even there at all? He shows up, then seemingly disappears again. Mere coincidence (hah!) or course-correction? Meddling on the part of Mrs. Hawking and the gang? I still say Desmond is going to be the key, "the constant" if you will that connects everything together.
"It Worked"
OK, so how would Juliet even know that it worked? Dead or alive, how? And more importantly.. WHY are there now two separate diverging timelines?
The New "Safe" Timeline
OK, so Hurley's now the luckiest man alive, Shannon stays in Australia, Charlie nearly chokes on his stash in the lav, and Locke apparently went on his walkabout. Doesn't everything seem a bit too good to be true here? Well, except for Jin that is.
Looking back at Smokey
OK, so now that we know for sure who/what it is... let's take a look back. It's obvious now that he's had designs on Locke from the beginning, that's all too clear now. Just take a good look back at Locke's encounters with Smokey. But what to make of the ash, and how does that relate to the DHARMA security fence? Yeah, I dunno either. Something else to consider: Smokey killed Eko. Why? I think it was because Eko had the potential to turn Locke away from Smokey's plan.
Jacob and the MiB
Lots of parallels could be drawn, from all over mythology. I think most notably there are two:
1) The Christian perspective. Good Guy knowingly allows himself to be killed by the agents of the Bad Guy, manipulated by same... with a higher plan.
2) Destiny vs. Free-Will. I think this may be more likely as an... explanation isn't the world I'm looking for, but you know what I mean. Maybe theme would be the right word. Jacob and the MiB seem to both be influencing, but not directly causing events to occur. Free will at work. You've also got to contend with the naming of certain characters and their namesake's philosophies, namely John Locke and D. Hume, (among others of course). Go ahead, look it up, I'll wait. Maybe it doesn't explain things 100% but its a start.
Oh, and how can I forget:
IT SANK?!
Yeah, WTF?! That would imply that it was floating this whole time. Or the oceans have risen due to Jughead, or something. Yeah, WTF?!
I know there are a few things I'm forgetting.... refresh my memory (I slept after the show!) in the comments!
So Christian's body goes missing DURING the flight. My theory: Jacob took it. Or the island did. Just like it took the 5 from the Ajira 316 plane and chucked them back to '77 leaving the rest to crash in the present. This is Jacob's "loophole." Just like MiB used Locke to come back, I think we'll be seeing Jacob re-appear as Christian yet again. Yeah I believe that was Jacob. And he knew what was going to happen the whole time... more on this in a minute.
The Temple
OK, so either sometime in the last 3 years (since '04) this new temple got built and occupied by a different team of others led by the Japanese guy? Or has it been there the whole time? Eh, what? I expect this will be explained in short order, as we don't have a lot of time left! Furthermore, is this gang aligned with Richard or another bunch entirely? That was left ambiguous.
EDIT: See the comments below for more on the temple situation. I don't think I was rememberizing things correctly!!
Desmond
OK, so exactly WTF was Desmond doing on the plane. Was he even there at all? He shows up, then seemingly disappears again. Mere coincidence (hah!) or course-correction? Meddling on the part of Mrs. Hawking and the gang? I still say Desmond is going to be the key, "the constant" if you will that connects everything together.
"It Worked"
OK, so how would Juliet even know that it worked? Dead or alive, how? And more importantly.. WHY are there now two separate diverging timelines?
The New "Safe" Timeline
OK, so Hurley's now the luckiest man alive, Shannon stays in Australia, Charlie nearly chokes on his stash in the lav, and Locke apparently went on his walkabout. Doesn't everything seem a bit too good to be true here? Well, except for Jin that is.
Looking back at Smokey
OK, so now that we know for sure who/what it is... let's take a look back. It's obvious now that he's had designs on Locke from the beginning, that's all too clear now. Just take a good look back at Locke's encounters with Smokey. But what to make of the ash, and how does that relate to the DHARMA security fence? Yeah, I dunno either. Something else to consider: Smokey killed Eko. Why? I think it was because Eko had the potential to turn Locke away from Smokey's plan.
Jacob and the MiB
Lots of parallels could be drawn, from all over mythology. I think most notably there are two:
1) The Christian perspective. Good Guy knowingly allows himself to be killed by the agents of the Bad Guy, manipulated by same... with a higher plan.
2) Destiny vs. Free-Will. I think this may be more likely as an... explanation isn't the world I'm looking for, but you know what I mean. Maybe theme would be the right word. Jacob and the MiB seem to both be influencing, but not directly causing events to occur. Free will at work. You've also got to contend with the naming of certain characters and their namesake's philosophies, namely John Locke and D. Hume, (among others of course). Go ahead, look it up, I'll wait. Maybe it doesn't explain things 100% but its a start.
Oh, and how can I forget:
IT SANK?!
Yeah, WTF?! That would imply that it was floating this whole time. Or the oceans have risen due to Jughead, or something. Yeah, WTF?!
I know there are a few things I'm forgetting.... refresh my memory (I slept after the show!) in the comments!
Remember in season 4 when Widmore's boat came to the island and Ben was scared for Alex so he told her and Rousseau to go to the temple? That's where his people were and that's where they could be safe.
I can't recall off hand if Jin actually saw the big structure when he was on top of the wall or not....
I'll edit that part to point down here for a bit of clarification.
As for the island being underwater, it's possible that the pocket of magnetism may have imploded on itself causing a vacuum which allows for the island to sink. There's probably a way to prove it scientifically, but I'm not a physicist.
Not sure this splitting timeline thingy was done at the right time for the series. I think it just creates more questions to answer, and they're going to answer them all in the next 15-16 weeks?