1.04.2010
1.03.2010
Smoke Monster...What a Bald Head You Have!
If memory serves, there are a total of three people who appear on the island after they are already dead: Yemi, Christian, and of course (SPOILER ALERT) Locke. All three characters' dead bodies are also on the island: Yemi lies in the drug plane, Christian's coffin is at the caves -- and god knows where his body got to in the crash, and Locke's body is in a giant crate which those new people carry around in the final episode of season five.
There are other people who appear on the island or appear to characters when they "should not" such as Hurley's asylum buddy and Walt with his crazy water speak, but these appearances are for another discussion.
At the end of the fifth season, -- let's call him the Omniscient Locke -- references a "loophole" discussed in the first scene of the episode by the Man in Black and Jacob a few hundred years earlier -- give or take fifty years. Since Omniscient Locke is speaking directly to Jacob when he references the "loophole," the only person that Omniscient Locke could possibly be -- assuming no one else overheard their ancient convo -- is the Man in Black.
To sum up: Omniscient Locke = The Man in Black
Here's where things get fun:
In the sequence where Omniscient Locke brings Ben Linus into the temple to face the smoke monster, Ben falls below while Omniscient Locke stays above the confrontation -- completely unseen for the duration. Only when the smoke monster disappears again, does Omniscient Locke appear again. There's a reason that Superman and Clark Kent are never in the same place at the same time. Furthermore, when Jacob and the Man in Black speak at the beginning of the season five finale, Jacob makes reference to bringing people to the island while the Man in Black prefers to keep them away and protect the island. The only other protection the island has: the smoke monster -- a type of security system, as described by Ben Linus.
To sum up: Omniscient Locke = The Smoke Monster
The fact that the only other two dead bodies on the island are the ones which appear to people as real as real can be -- without people being in a state of insanity or finding themselves overwrought with fear -- tends toward the idea that the smoke monster can take on the forms of any dead bodies on the island. Yemi appears to Mr. Eko after the smoke monster approaches Mr. Eko and reads images from his memory -- we see glimpses of Mr. Eko's past in the translucent black clouds during the stand off. How else would the smoke monster know what form to take in order to engage Mr. Eko? Omniscient Locke says to Jacob in the final scene of season five that he had to go through a lot to get the loophole to work out -- Read: The Man in Black had to make sure he learned all he could about Locke in order to pass without concern, but more importantly, he needed to make sure that Locke killed himself and got his body on the plane; only in this way can the smoke monster take on Locke's form, becoming Omniscient Locke.
To sum up: The Man in Black = The Smoke Monster -- sure the transitive property would have worked just as well...
To wrap up: Omniscient Locke goes out of his way to make sure that Richard tells Locke that he will have to die. Locke takes this as a Truth and tries to off himself while off the island. Ben stops Locke's suicide attempt and then finishes the job. This is a moment of incredibly good fortune for Omniscient Locke, who needs John Locke -- the man who has become the leader of almost everyone on the island -- to come back to the island, dead, so he -- the man in black -- can take John's form, leading the people to confront Jacob, and at last kill Jacob; Man in Black: "Do you know how bad I want to kill you?" Jacob: "Yes." Well, the Man in Black sure found his loophole.
1.02.2010
1.01.2010
12.31.2009
12.30.2009
I'll Get Some Ideas Down Right Here
Although the following isn't quite connected to today's corresponding episodes, I figured I'd get some LOST theories out there just to prime the old John Locke pump:
First off, I read transcripts of the ubiquitous island whispers the other day, and holy crap, what's going on. The whispers (which are played on three separate audio tracks simultaneously - the transcribers singled out the left channel, the right channel, and I guess some channel in between in order to hear more clearly) seem to be coming from dead people, and the woman's whisper voice always wants to reveal her party to whichever survivor happens to be listening. WHAT ON EARTH! This is not a theory so much as an invitation to read Lostpedia's Whisper Transcripts. then tell me a theory because I want one.
I read somewhere (most likely the Memphish blog) that the characters (survivors, others, everybody else) and their lives can be thought of as a huge Rube Goldberg device. I am assuming that the device is meant to serve "the island" or Jacob or whomever it is that makes these lists and seems to have a plan in mind. This leads me to a larger, more important issue: is a Rube Goldberg device supposed to have an end in mind, or is it specifically a senseless, unnecessarily complex machine designed to do basically nothing? What is the island/Jacob trying to achieve? That answer might get us somewhere.
IF Jacob's obsession with progress is meant to imply anything, I would guess that it means Jacob is manipulating these people in order to take the island to a place it has never been before (not necessarily location-wise; more humanity-wise). But what is this progress? Has Jacob experienced all of this before, or has he just experienced bringing people to the island before? In that case, are we going to find out about the previous groups of manipulated people Jacob has tried to use? Were these previous groups a success or a failure, and howso? How can Jacob be so sure where his manipulations will go unless he has done all of this before (the entire thing. I'm talking the ENTIRE THING.)? And how does he research everyone, particularly when it looks like before the Black Rock crew, it would have been realllllly hard to find out anything about anyone (no internet).
IF the most recent season tells us anything, it's that there once was an electromagnetic incident and it's possible that the island doesn't want it to have happened. OR it's possible that it wants it to happen even BIGGER. What is going on with this electromagnetic incident, and is it actually important, or is it just a MacGuffin? I personally don't see how it would change anything. I'm not a believer in the "once the bomb goes off, we'll be right where we should be, landing in LAX" theory. There's something called the Butterfly Effect, which supposes (I think) that even the smallest change in the past (say, if a butterfly flapped its wing differently) can have the greatest effects on the present (a tornado could eventually form from that original butterfly flap). So if the survivors actually did effect change on the island with the bomb, it's not like they'd automatically be hanging out in the plane together again. Perhaps Widmore's plans would have changed, and he would have had a reason to raise Penny in Jakarta or something, where Desmond never would have met her, and then where would we be? At the very least, Desmond's role would be changed or even erased. Let's face it: the bomb didn't put anything back where it belonged.
So IF, theoretically, Jacob is looking for progress, THEN he won't find it just by having His Chosen Survivors come together to set off a bomb. Or at least, the progress he wants would be something else - like maybe Jacob wants the whole thing to just die (see: Bill Murray's repeated suicide attempts in Groundhog Day). What does Jacob want? What have these people been chosen to do? If we can answer that, we can look at the whole thing with a much sharper perspective, and I'm pretty sure my love for Lost will grow exponentially once I get that answer. JACOB, WHAT ARE YOU AIMING AT?
First off, I read transcripts of the ubiquitous island whispers the other day, and holy crap, what's going on. The whispers (which are played on three separate audio tracks simultaneously - the transcribers singled out the left channel, the right channel, and I guess some channel in between in order to hear more clearly) seem to be coming from dead people, and the woman's whisper voice always wants to reveal her party to whichever survivor happens to be listening. WHAT ON EARTH! This is not a theory so much as an invitation to read Lostpedia's Whisper Transcripts. then tell me a theory because I want one.
I read somewhere (most likely the Memphish blog) that the characters (survivors, others, everybody else) and their lives can be thought of as a huge Rube Goldberg device. I am assuming that the device is meant to serve "the island" or Jacob or whomever it is that makes these lists and seems to have a plan in mind. This leads me to a larger, more important issue: is a Rube Goldberg device supposed to have an end in mind, or is it specifically a senseless, unnecessarily complex machine designed to do basically nothing? What is the island/Jacob trying to achieve? That answer might get us somewhere.
IF Jacob's obsession with progress is meant to imply anything, I would guess that it means Jacob is manipulating these people in order to take the island to a place it has never been before (not necessarily location-wise; more humanity-wise). But what is this progress? Has Jacob experienced all of this before, or has he just experienced bringing people to the island before? In that case, are we going to find out about the previous groups of manipulated people Jacob has tried to use? Were these previous groups a success or a failure, and howso? How can Jacob be so sure where his manipulations will go unless he has done all of this before (the entire thing. I'm talking the ENTIRE THING.)? And how does he research everyone, particularly when it looks like before the Black Rock crew, it would have been realllllly hard to find out anything about anyone (no internet).
IF the most recent season tells us anything, it's that there once was an electromagnetic incident and it's possible that the island doesn't want it to have happened. OR it's possible that it wants it to happen even BIGGER. What is going on with this electromagnetic incident, and is it actually important, or is it just a MacGuffin? I personally don't see how it would change anything. I'm not a believer in the "once the bomb goes off, we'll be right where we should be, landing in LAX" theory. There's something called the Butterfly Effect, which supposes (I think) that even the smallest change in the past (say, if a butterfly flapped its wing differently) can have the greatest effects on the present (a tornado could eventually form from that original butterfly flap). So if the survivors actually did effect change on the island with the bomb, it's not like they'd automatically be hanging out in the plane together again. Perhaps Widmore's plans would have changed, and he would have had a reason to raise Penny in Jakarta or something, where Desmond never would have met her, and then where would we be? At the very least, Desmond's role would be changed or even erased. Let's face it: the bomb didn't put anything back where it belonged.
So IF, theoretically, Jacob is looking for progress, THEN he won't find it just by having His Chosen Survivors come together to set off a bomb. Or at least, the progress he wants would be something else - like maybe Jacob wants the whole thing to just die (see: Bill Murray's repeated suicide attempts in Groundhog Day). What does Jacob want? What have these people been chosen to do? If we can answer that, we can look at the whole thing with a much sharper perspective, and I'm pretty sure my love for Lost will grow exponentially once I get that answer. JACOB, WHAT ARE YOU AIMING AT?
12.29.2009
12.28.2009
12.27.2009
12.26.2009
12.25.2009
12.24.2009
12.23.2009
Please Check Out The New "What To Watch & When To Watch It"
I've included episode names to entice you further. I also have set up the rest of season 2's daily reminder posts. Sometimes it feels like John Locke and I are the same...don't tell us what a blog can't do.
PS Seriously, it would make my life worthwhile to know that anyone is looking at this blog. And I'll know you're looking at it by the way you post on it. So post on it, please!
PS Seriously, it would make my life worthwhile to know that anyone is looking at this blog. And I'll know you're looking at it by the way you post on it. So post on it, please!
12.22.2009
May I Please Encourage More People To Post On This Thing?
In the meantime, I have two issues:
1) How did the Black Rock get out to the middle of the island?
2) Are the numbers actually cursed? Are some things in this series going to be explained with simple "some number sequences are cursed and some people just have visions" reasoning? I guess I'm okay with that, but we'll see.
1) How did the Black Rock get out to the middle of the island?
2) Are the numbers actually cursed? Are some things in this series going to be explained with simple "some number sequences are cursed and some people just have visions" reasoning? I guess I'm okay with that, but we'll see.
12.21.2009
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