LOST - "The Shape Of Things To Come"

Episode Title: The Shape of Things To Come

Jason's Deeper Meaning Guess: Generally the term "The Shape of Things to Come" is used in literary references to foreshadow the general path that a story will take. However we stand at a point in the story where we know generally what is going to happen already. It's a precarious spot to be because we tend to get lulled into a sense of security when we think we know what will happen.

This week's episode is going to have to be used to explain a lot of things and how they wind up.

1.) We will most likely find out who attacked CFL, Alex, and Karl
2.) There has to be a conclusion to the barracks story and something that explains Hurley switching sides and getting into the Oceanic 6
3.) Lastly I believe that we will learn somethings about the nature of the Island from good old Ben.

Like our good friend Brian I started my research by googling the title. This is what I found.

The Shape of Things to Come is a work of science fiction by H. G. Wells, published in 1933, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. It is not a novel, but rather a fictional history book or chronicle
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Wells' book also shared an understanding of the change wrought in the nature of war by the development of air power; the writer included harrowing depictions of cities destroyed in aerial bombardments, which proved an all too accurate prediciton of what was to happen in the actual second World War.

Wells creates a framing device by claiming that the book is his edited version of notes written by an eminent diplomat, Dr Philip Raven, who had been having dream visions of a history textbook published in 2106, and wrote down what he could remember of it.

The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems. Wells successfully predicted the Second World War, although he envisaged it dragging on into the 1960s, being finally ended only by a devastating plague that almost destroys civilisation. Wells then envisages a benevolent dictatorship - 'The Dictatorship of the Air' (a term obviously modeled on 'The Dictatorship of the proletariat') - arising from the controllers of the world's surviving transportation systems (the only people with global power). This dictatorship promotes science, enforces Basic English as a global lingua franca, and eradicates all religion, setting the world on the route to a peaceful utopia. When the dictatorship finds it necessary to kill political opponents, the condemned persons are given a chance to emulate the ancient philosophers Socrates and Seneca and take a poison tablet in a congenial environment of their choice.

Eventually, after a century of re-shaping humanity, the dictatorship is overthrown in a completely bloodless coup, the former rulers are sent into a very honourable retirement, and the world state "withers away" as was predicted by Marx. The last part of the book is a detailed description of the Utopian world which emerges

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Now I know that is a lot to take in but doesn't it sound alot like our little magical Island? Where Dictator Ben has been overthrown by Locke in a bloodless manner and thus ends his secret little utopia. Also we have seen multiple times where the followers of "The Island" have been willing to sacrifice themselves for "the Greater Good". The Island has even been described as a place where they are trying to save the world. The hatch was a huge example of that.

However the most interesting thing to me is that this book was not a history book of fiction but it was a book written from the memories of a man who jumped into the future and saw the end of the world, much like our friend Desmond. What if we find that Desmond was not the first person to become unstuck in time? That the Island was initially established because using it's special properties they might be able to stop the future.

Episode Description: Jack tries to discover the identity of a body that has washed ashore. Meanwhile, Locke's camp is attacked by Ben's adversaries.

Guest Stars:
Recurring Roles: Sam Anderson (Bernard Nadler), Kevin Durand (Keamy), Alan Dale (Charles Widmore), Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus), Tania Raymonde (Alex Rousseau)
Guest Star:
Faran Tahir (Ishmael Bakir), Kaveh Kardan (Merchant), Yetide Badaki (Desk Clerk), Marc Vann (Doctor), Sean Douglas Hoban (Doug)

We have a lot of guest stars this week, there are a lot of no names so The desk clerk, merchant, doctor, doug and Ishmael are probably the off island flashforward/back. Where Frank, Keamy, and Alex are probably in the story dealing with the barracks and Bernard is probably recruited to help Jack with the body since he has some medical experience.

Episode Breakdown:

Not a whole lot to go on from the synopsis, but we do have two points to discuss.

The Body: We can safely assume that the body must not be beyond some recognition or Jack wouldn't have any chance of finding out who it is so we can eliminate anyone who was on the plane most likely since 3-4 months in the salt water with fish eating them would have destroyed the indentity. Also we can remove anyone Jack does know from the list i.e. - Charlie and Patchy.
We can remove Regina since she is in chains on the bottom of the ocean.

I have a few thoughts but the best guess would that it is somebody from the freighter who is on the "Mission" with Frank. Maybe the person didn't survive the Time Bubble or whatever it is.

The Attack: The people attacking Locke's Camp are listed as Ben's Adversaries. This can only refer to the Freighters as we have all assumed. They must attack the Barracks to get Ben and maybe even Miles from Locke, and the only person who could have told them where to go was Frank because no one else on the boat knew that they were even at the Barracks except for Frank. Somehow I never pictured him leading a fullscale assault so I imagine he'll be a reluctant participant.

All in all not a lot of info to go on but I expect this episode to really be a driving force to the storyline, maybe even taking us all the way to them taking the Oceanic 6 off the Island.

What I find most promising about this episode is that it has been labeled as a Ben Flashforward too bad they don't give us anything to go on, haha.

Alright friends that's what I got for now. I hope you are as excited about this episode as I am. See you on Thursday. Enjoy.

-Jason