Tuesday, February 23, 2010

They all die in the end

I guess it was my week this week to be caught up in the "real world" which has delayed me from posting on this blog. I'm busy learning the life lesson that real estate numbers are much more confusing than the Lost numbers, and that I have a better grasp on time travel than I do on interest rates. With any stroke of good luck, however, I will have a home to host a Lost finale party!

Anyways, about last week's episode...

It's tough when you watch three bloggers and dozens of followers (we love you!) mull over the episode for a week and then have to come up with something new, but I do have a theory that I haven't seen presented yet regarding which Kwon was number 42.

I think it's Jin.

Oh right, the why part of that....well every other name on that list was the name of a male. Which also could explain why the name "Austen" was mysteriously absent from that wall. And it's really for that reason alone that I'm putting money on Jin. So basically Jacob just touched Kate and Sun for the same reason any guy would, and maybe it doesn't have anything to do with choosing a successor.

I haven't read all the reaction from the internets, but it's probably a safe guess that I was the only one who took away from this episode that Jacob is a pervert.

Also just some general notes from the episode...the kid that visits the monster really freaked me out. Seriously. There's something about creepy looking children that just really bothers me. The scariest thing I've ever seen in person, on TV, or in the movies is the twins from The Shining.

But I do think that kid is important, and it kind of ties into my intentions with this post. I want to theorize a little. When I first started trying to collect my thoughts on some of these issues I sort of envisioned an idea of how Lost could end. The problem is that we don't really have a lot of the pieces to neatly tie it all together, but I would like to share my ideas on how a lot of this will fall into place. In some ways this is silly because it will probably all be shot down in about 10 hours, and a lot of the ideas are arbitrary, but it's fun...

So everyone's working under this assumption that this is setting up to be a battle of good vs. evil on the island, and the general school of thought is that Jacob is good and the monster is evil. I disagree. I think there's a good and an evil side to Lost, and I think that both Jacob and the Monster fall into the latter category.

Yes, Jacob is evil. And not just because he's a pervert.

If Jacob is the good guy, then there's a lot to be reconciled here. Like child kidnapping. Also, as we're led to believe by the end of last week's episode, all of our survivors had their free will removed from them by Jacob. I hate to get all religious up in here, but it does seem as though one of the dogmas of many faiths is the idea that free will exists for man out of love, and that manipulation and deceit are the handiwork of evil. Certainly you could argue with Jacob that the ends justify the means, but what's the end?

And the monster is certainly a bad guy. Unless murder and manipulation are now virtuous traits. So even though a rivalry exists between Jacob and the monster, that doesn't mean there's a good and a bad side. Sometimes in a dispute there's just two asses. Like Jon and Kate.

So I kind of think that both Jacob and the monster are in the same boat...banished to the island by a force of good. Jacob and the monster are both trying to get off this island, and manipulate and tempt the people that they lure to it into accomplishing that feat. For Jacob apparently he needs to find a successor so he can escape, and for the monster we're maybe about to find out what he needs to do to get off the island.

But there is a force of good in play here. Call it a hunch, but I wonder if it's not the kid that we saw scare the hell out of Locke Monster. We know nothing of the kid, except that he appears to be aware of what the monster and Jacob are doing and he was also dressed in rather old-timey clothing. Lost doesn't cryptically introduce a character like that unless it means something...

So if we're correct in assuming that the endgame of Lost involves a battle between good and evil, might it be a desperate ploy by Jacob and/or the Monster to use the survivors to get off the island and fight our good child? That's what my random theory says.

And that comes back to the title of this post, and how I'm going to try to reconcile the issue of the two timelines. I said after the premiere that we were in a weird phase where we don't know the outcome of the Jughead detonation because we haven't "opened the box" and that both timelines are actually the two possible results of Juliet's actions...we just don't know which one is the real result. It's like flipping a coin, knowing that it will either be heads or tails, but not knowing the result of an individual coin toss while it's still spinning in the air. That's where we are regarding the two timelines.

But one of the timelines will emerge as the one true timeline. And it will be the LAX one. Juliet already told us it worked. But we still need some resolution to the Island Timeline. Maybe as the season progresses we'll start to see more of the plans of evil and how it pertains to our survivors. I think we're starting to see this realization that "we're probably stuck here." And then it gets grim. Jack and Sawyer both are probably pretty close to suicidal. Kate goes as those two go. Sayid's dead and Claire is too. Jin and Sun might as well be Romeo and Juliet. And it's all Hurley's fault. I hate to sound morbid, but I'm sensing a collective "give up" by the survivors. And it will be, at that point, the LAX timeline that emerges as the winner. But instead of living happily ever after, they all go back to their miserable lives that they had before the crash. Totally oblivious to what they could have experienced. The end.

Like I said, I don't know how much, if any, of the previous nonsense will be true. But I thought it would be fun to throw out there. Feel free to discuss, or come back this evening and mock me for how horribly off the mark I was :)

- The Arrow

10 comments:

  1. I had the same idea as you on the Kwon front. As for the rest of it, sounds reasonable, but then again Lost is rarely reasonable, so we'll just have to wait and see.

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  2. And that's the thing with Lost...you really have no way of guessing for sure. It would be as though after a couple of episodes of Season 5 you would guess that they'd go back to the days of the Dharma Initiative and set off a hydrogen bomb to prevent their plane from crashing, but while that's going on the monster is using Locke's body to trick Ben into killing Jacob. You just really have no clue how the story will unfold.

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  3. Ditto on the creepy kids. Don't even get me started on the exorcist *shudder*

    I definitely think it's a play between good and evil. The colour scheme of black and white between the two characters can't just be a coincidence.

    And I hate that the LAX timeline will probably be the winner. It's like when people end stories with 'And it was all a dream...' It just doesn't quite cut it for me.

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  4. Thank you for the Jon & Kate comparison. That totally made my afternoon. :)

    Interesting though on them both being evil. I hadn't really thought of it that way. Especially in terms of Jacob taking away their free will. Something to mull over. Thanks :)

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  5. I think you're absolutely right, and it's kind of depressing. I'm trying to weigh right now if I'll be disappointed if that's that outcome - because knowing that this less exciting LAX timeline is probably kind of like an extended extra long "epilogue" ... and that because of Jack/Daniel Faraday, this is the life they chose over the Island life.... man, I hate that.

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  6. So right as I was about to comment back Ethan appeared on Law & Order on USA! AGH!

    One of the other reasons I think the LAX Timeline wins is that I don't think they could introduce it and say "it doesn't count." Or at least I wouldn't spend half the time during my final season producing something that didn't count. It has to mean SOMETHING. And while you could just as easily argue that my theory says that Island timeline means nothing, at least it provides an avenue for the show to answer a lot of the questions and mysteries of the island. Pretty much all the cards are on the table now, it's just a matter of turning them over. And there's always the possibility of the timelines merging, but I don't know.

    I should also say that I'm one of the worst critics of this show. I don't know why, but I frequently HATE episodes when I watch them the first time. But after letting it soak in and rewatching the episode I really come to appreciate the show even more. And I've got faith that our wait is going to pay off.

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  7. Yep. I said this the moment that Miles delivered Juliet's message. The problem with that is... if its that widespread, obvious of a theory, it ain't gonna happen. I wonder what will.

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  9. I forgot to mention somethings in my previous comment, so I deleted it. :)

    While I was sensing some sexism on Jacob's part, I'm not sure I want to conclude that it's Jin for sure, because, although crossed out, some women's surnames did appear on the wall (Charlotte's, to name one).

    I don't particularly trust Jacob either. I've learned with this show that everyone is a Severus Snape, in a way. It's hard to tell if they're good or bad.

    I like the idea that Jacob might be trying to leave the island. The question of why on earth he even needed a successor was really bothering me and that seems like a fairly plausible explanation which wasn't shot down by this weeks episode. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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  10. I've just recently caught up on Lost and so, started reading this blog post. But I think you're right about the survivors giving up. They've become so divided now. Everyone is doing their own thing. Also, it does seem that there is no real good side or evil side. Everything seems to be getting all muddled up. I enjoyed the theory of both Esau and Jacob being banished to the island. very interesting. Man, if the LAX timeline wins out it will be sad. very sad. But it all seems to be pointing that way right now. I must say, however, that I do have faith in JJ. I don't think he'll disappoint. So, for now, I'm just gonna hang on to that.

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