Friday, June 27, 2008

Lost: Season Four Wrap Up

Let's put the final stamp on Season Four.

As promised, here are some responses to the comments posted on my "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3" Analysis from a few weeks back.

jon said...
You think that the Island hasn't been moved during the last 15 years. I see the reasoning: the wall in the Orchid was intact. But maybe there are non-FDW ways to move the island. Maybe the hatch explosion caused such a move too.

Good point – and one that I considered it during my analysis. I was thinking that perhaps there is another FDW at “The Temple” that the Others used after Dharma cutoff their access to the one beneath the Orchid… but if that was the case, why wouldn’t Ben have just used that one instead of going through the trouble of getting past Keamy and Co at the Orchid? I decided that the only logical reason was that there was but one FDW – at the Orchid.


Stef said...
Remember, Frank was supposed to be the original pilot of Flight 815, right? So it *is* his destiny to be on the Island, I think.

Great thought – this could be a good way to ensure that the character of Frank continues to be on the show. It’s his destiny to be on the Island. It would also explain why Smokey killed the actual Oceanic 815 pilot in the Pilot episode of Lost – because he was never supposed to be on the Island in the first place!

More Frank, please!


gisele said...
I have a few thoughts I would like to share;

1. Locke's death. Could it be he appears dead? Remember the spider thing? Was it Vicky and her boyfriend who seemed dead but weren't when they were being burried alive? At the time this episode aired we were told that this story was important, yet it felt like a filler. Maybe Locke used the spiders to look dead? Would his death give his plea, for a return to the island by the Oceanic 6, more strenght? In the sense that he was willing to give his life for it.

I assume you are talking about Nikki (unless there is some secret Lost character you know about that I do not), but using the spiders to appear dead seems a little too gimmicky to me. I think the spiders were a one-time deal, used to get rid of Nikki and Paulo in the most cruel way possible. I can’t see them returning to the show.

2. About the others travelling to and from the island. There must be a way for them (or at least for Alpert) to do that. Dharma came to the island, what, in the 70s? But Alpert came to the States way before that to visit a 5 or 6 years old John Locke. If John is in his 50s that puts that trip in the 50s or 60s.

I agree – the Others were clearly able to travel to and from the Island… but I don’t think they were necessarily doing so via “funky space and time”. Instead, they could have simply been using traditional methods (boats, submarines, whales). Or – another cool thought – what if the FDW controls moving the Island in time, but there is some other FDW-equivalent somewhere else on the Island (like the Other’s Temple) that allows the person to move in time. After all, only fools are controlled by time AND SPACE. Surely that means more than the side effect of turning the FDW and ending up in Tunisia, doesn’t it?

3. If Windmore is, in one way or another, trying to be good, then why did he send the likes of Keamy and his army, and enough explosives to blow up a carriership? I have a bit of a problem with these explosives. Were their only purpose to give Keamy a "life insurance"? And why would Keamy think that blowing up the freighter would make his life safer? Why would Ben care if it blew up or not? Keamy was not supposed to know that Sayid went back to the island and brought people back to the boat. It all happened hush, hush with the Captain. So who was on the ship that would make it important to Ben? Michael? But if I were Keamy I would bring Mickey with me to the island and use him the same way he used Alex, only now Ben knows he is not bluffing. So what were the explosives for? Surely Widmore never wanted to blow up his own ship or the island or part of it. I am intrigued.

You know what, you’re absolutely right – the explosives on the ship make no sense as part of Widmore’s master plan… which seemed to be the capture of Benjamin Linus – unless they were originally intended to be used for some other purposes – like blowing up every living person on the Island once Ben was removed from it, to “clear the way” for Widmore to return without having to worry about an Others sneak-attack. Or maybe even as some “weapon” to be used against Smokey? I guess there are many options – including “it made for an exciting storyline and got rid of all the Frieghtors from a storytelling perspective.” Unfortunately, I’m guessing we never return to this storyline to receive any further explanation.


susa said...
Maybe the new show of J.J.Abrams is worth watching? Anybody heard of "Fringe", coming in August? Could be worth some post(s), what do you think, Brian ;-) ?
I think I would love to read and write about it if it´s worth!


Funny you should mention that, I just grabbed the pilot episode of “Fringe” this week, and fully intend to watch and post a review in the next week or two – including determining if it will be a “Blog-worthy” show for the fall!


Anonymous said...
Also, I'm having time line issues with the food drops? Was there a period where Widmore and Ben were still working together to allow his planes to know where to drop the food? Did he just have to wait for someone on the island to turn equipment off to allow Widmore to get back to the island?

In my head, yes – there was a time when both Widmore and Ben were working together on the Island. I think the Periodic Ration Drops started back when Dharma first started messing around with the FDW – as a way to ensure that no matter when the Island ended up, there would be food available to them (assuming the Island moved into the future, and didn’t change locations, I suppose).

Think about it – if the Island suddenly moved 100 years into the future and Dharma was no more, the people would have no contacts on the outside world to bring new supplies. By setting up the PRD to run forever, it ensured the Island would always have supplies, no matter what… unless it moved to a totally different location – which seems unlikely at this point, doesn’t it?


VictorC said...
Why do you think there was fire in the other side of the FDW?

I don’t know that it was fire as much as light or steam coming through – almost like “energy” coming through – which would be consistent with the bright light in the sky.


Anonymous said...
Other questions include: why exactly did Ben put metal objects in the unit? It seemed to be that he was attempting to blow open the wall to the other side. Thoughts?

Bingo – it provided a simple way to blow a hole in the wall and get to the FDW.

What, if anything can we learn from the hieroglyphics shown when Ben walked down the stairs towards the FDW?

They are probably ancient “instructions” or “warnings” about the FDW from the ancient civilization that lived on the Island. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any good translations for the symbols on the Internet… or maybe scholars have not yet deciphered the hieroglyphic equivalent to “Frozen Donkey Wheel”.

What thoughts does anyone have related to what the origin of the FDW is? Who put it there? How old is it? What exactly is happening as the FDW is turned? Why does the person turning it get thrown off the Island?

Again, I’ll go with the hieroglyphic-writing Island Originals creating and placing the FDW as a way to attempt and control the power of the exotic matter on the Island. Maybe the area used to be some type of “black hole” that fellow Islanders could fall into. It’s probably as old as the four-toed statue.

In my head, when the FDW is turned, it’s temporarily allowing a large amount of the energy stored behind the wall (in the “exotic matter”) to escape. A byproduct of being so close to that much energy is having the FDW-turner being thrown through space and time, a la some type of wormhole.

No idea if any of that is possible per science, but that’s how it works in my head and I’m happy with it.

Why does Sayid want to make Hurley safe? Safe from who? If Sayid doesn't plan to take Hurley back to the Island, where is he taking him to?

Safe from Widmore assassins who are monitoring him. I think this is actually Ben putting thoughts in Sayid’s head. I don’t necessarily think that they are monitoring Hurley because they want to kill him – but rather to see if they can get any information about the Island from him if he ever leaves.

Why did Jack wig out? Will we see flashbacks with him and his dad or whatever may have caused him to tank?

Jack wigged out because he was on drugs, realizing he made a terrible mistake, and having visions of his dead father telling him he made a terrible mistake and needed to go back to the Island – which is something he can’t figure out how to do. He’s going crazy.


Steve said...
Brian, didn't you catch that bit? Weren't they on Penny's boat? Unless I misread what i was seeing, and we were watching the rescue group, I saw Hurley and Sayid on Penny's boat.. and with Sayid working with Ben... that could be part of the group getting together. ALL of them.. including Desmond.. but only Ben, Jack and maybe Sayid know this plan right now?

I don’t follow. Sayid and Hurley got onto Penny’s rescue boat along with the rest of the Oceanic Six. Ben was not there.


Anonymous said...
Do we know for sure Locke is the "chosen one" -- maybe he is just a temp chosen one until Aaron is old enough to take over (like you suggest Ben was just a temp chosen one). Maybe that is why he did not pass Albert's test -- he is close, but not the one.

Another good point – that would be pretty fitting given how Locke has been screwed by everyone in his life up until this point. He’s being led to believe he’s the chosen one, only to find that he’s just holding a place for Aaron / Walt. But then why not just keep Ben around for a few more years rather than going through a temporary leader change to Locke?


Helena said...
Hi guys,
Has any of you read the time loop theory? http://www.timelooptheory.com/ . It really blew me away and now I can’t stop thinking about it. It just seems to piece everything together and explain A LOT of the weird things going on, especially since the finale. I would love to hear people’s opinion of it since I tend to swallow most things without much analysis…
Helena


The Lost Time Loop Theory does a really good job at tying together a lot of different elements from the Lost story into a semi-plausible story that addresses certain plot points very well... but in the process, also ignores some pretty big ones. I admit, it's a very creative theory - but unfortunately, I don't think it's one that holds up given everything we know about Lost thus far.

From the start, there is some questionable logic. The author suggests that the Black Rock was carrying large amounts of metallic minerals while passing the Island, which caused some super magnetic effect and pulled it into the middle of the Island, creating the "hole" in the bubble at bearing 305. Definitely interesting, and a cool visual if you think about it (the ship being pulled ashore and through the jungle by this huge magnetic force) - but we've seen no such evidence of any metallic materials on the Black Rock... only slaves and explosives. I'd be willing to let this slide were it not for the next leap of faith... that the Black Rock leaders, including Alvar Hanso begin studying the magnetic aspects of the Island and later form Dharma. Perhaps these slave runners were true renaissance men, and were also aspiring scientists in their former lives - but it's not likely. I have a hard time believing that upon crashing, these men from the 1800's would decide to start studying and understanding the magnetic properties of the Island... especially without any sort of equipment / resources with which to conduct the tests.

For the next few paragraphs, the author brings up some very logical points regarding building the time machine, the theory that you can only go back to the point when the time machine was created (sure, why not?), and testing using Polar Bears - but then gets a little wacky when suggesting that the time machine also grants a pseudo-invincibility, proposing that the Dharma Polar Bear was in the desert because they were testing its ability to survive there. Rather, we've seen that the polar bear skeleton was in the Tunisian desert because that's a side effect of turning the wheel. The same thing happened to Ben when he turned the wheel.

Knowing this, a lot of where the author goes with his theory loses its footing. The time travelers aren't invincible or unable to be killed until a certain year arrives. Instead, the far more logical (albeit harder to explain) argument is that the Island is controlling who is allowed to die and who isn't. Take Michael for example. He clearly never visited the Orchid Station or time travel, yet was unable to kill himself until the Island was ready.

But my favorite theory proposed - and by favorite, I mean the one that made me laugh the most - was that Dharma intentionally created a virus for the purpose of curing it in the future and proving the time machine had a benefit to society. Really? What benefit would that be? Getting back to the same starting place that you would have been at if the disease had never been created in the first place? How would that provide any societal benefit? Not likely.

Unfortunately, it's all downhill from here. Soon, the author has proposed that CFL and her crew were actually opposing forces to Dharma sent on a mission, that Ben's mother was on the Island before giving birth to him, and creates a dual-timeline scenario to find a way to explain everything that we have seen on the Island thus far... which feels like a cheap way to work around the open questions. Instead of finding one storyline that would answer them, he creates two - resulting in a confusing mess that could never be explained easily over the course of the final two seasons.

Man, I sound like a total jerk. I don't mean to come off that way, so I'll stop ripping the theory apart here and just leave it with "there are some considerable holes and illogical jumps that seem unlikely to be true." It was a good effort, and I always enjoy reading other theories since there are often nuggets of intriguing ideas within (in this case, the thought that arriving to the Island returns the body to the state it was in in the past - which could explain Locke being able to walk, Rose being cured of cancer, and maybe even the Doctor's healed cut on his face re-opening when his body washed ashore) - but it's clearly not the "end all, be all" theory for explaining Lost.


Ryan said...
I don't know if anyone will read this post since season 4 ended a few weeks ago. There is something I want to share that I noticed in one of the Season 1 episondes. I started watching Lost during Season 2 so I'm watching the first season online. There is an episode where Claire has dreams about her baby being taken away. In the first one she walks up to Locke who is at a desk and asks him what is going on. He tells her she knows what is going on and says, "He was your responsibility but you gave him away, Claire. Everyone pays the price now." Could this dream have been a foreshadow of the future. Maybe the trouble on the island is a result of Claire letting Aaron leave the island with Kate.

Wouldn’t that be ironic? The reason for the “bad things” happening on the Island is that the Others are furious that Aaron is no longer there, and Locke has already failed them as a leader before he even began? It’s a pretty good thought, and another way to tie-in the whole Aaron storyline that was so important in Season One. I like it.


Anonymous said...
Watch Star Trek!

I can’t – that would make me a nerd. Instead, I'm a cool guy who obsesses about TV and runs a Blog. Wait...


Okay, consider this the last post about Lost Season Four. If you’ve got anything else on your chest you need to get off, this is the Comments Section to do it. Otherwise, we’ll start moving the Blog on to other things – namely a sneak review of “Fringe”, the annual Emmy Rant, the Fall TV Preview, etc. (all the “…and Gone Forever” sides of the Blog while we patiently wait for Lost to return).

The good news is that fresh Lost information is less than a month away! Much like last year, we’ll almost certainly get something to talk about from the nerd oasis of Comic-Con on July 24-27.

But rather than sit around and wait, it’s the summertime – go outside and play!

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brian - you are to be commended for taking the time to tie up loose ends and answer various questions. Can't wait till next seaon! Thanks again man for making the total experience more enjoyable and fun for us all.

Matt G. said...

I have one - why (besides being a plot device) did Kate and everyone refer to Locke as Jeremy Bentham? It doesn't make any sense. Why not just use his real name? I could understand (maybe) Walt using the name since they could be overheard but Jack and Kate were alone!

Unknown said...

Heey, thanks for the analysis on the time loop theory. I totally agree that there are some shady points in there, such as how the black rock got there and the origin of dharma. But the main plot...two timelines. I think that guy has really got something there.

It would explain why Ben always seems to know what's going on, especially how he behaved when his daughter was killed and the following "rules" discussion with Widmore. Also, how suprised he was when he found out he had cancer. Not to mention the whole child problem and the cure of deseases or handicap. Another argument is the weird Sun/Jin episode when she was having the baby and Jin being alive in a completely different reality. An excellent point is the pilot who wasn't supposed to be there. He was scanned by smokey, the "course corrector" and killed.

I mean, no matter what the Lost writers have said there is time travel going on. And what's the most intriguing question regarding time travel to the past...Is it possible to change things in the future? It would be weird bringing in the concept of time travel and not tackling that issue.

Regarding the virus. Dharma would have made the test with a good purpose...is it possible to cure people using time travel. The test failed since "the universe has a funny way of course correcting" and smokey, the psysical means of that, took care of it.

Two timelines makes for a hell of an interesting story line and it does explain a LOT. Some ground-breaking tv that's for sure!

I think maybe u dudes are getting too hung up on the details of the theory, but it does explain the plot using "pseudo-science" rather than "the island wants this and the island wants that" :-)

Maybe another smoke and I'll get my head wrapped around this mess ;-)

Take it easy/
Helena

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stef said...

Brian, you rock!

And I just have to share that any discussion of Locke as just being a place-holder leader until Aaron is ready always makes me laugh. Locke = Prince Charles! :-)

Unknown said...

What does FDW stand for?

Anonymous said...

rebecca.
Check for FDW @
www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Frozen_wheel
under #3. Trivia

Stef said...

Also, love your suggestion of WHALES as an Other mode of transport. :-)

Anonymous said...

Is the explosive on boat supposed to kill Charlotte who may be Ben's daughter? If so, then Ben almost killed his daughter.

TheycallmeVic said...

So that's what the "and Gone Forever" part means. I always wondered but didn't want to ask, lol.

Thanks for answering all our questions Brian.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone remember Frank seeing that black cow, no one has said much about that. I can't see why he would see a cow, any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

re: Does anyone remember Frank seeing...
- - - -
Frank saw a steer when he awoke on the bluff above his helo, the morning after his forced landing. There were livestock at Mikhails' station (Flame) and there is no Mikhail around to tend them - so, they wander and graze.

Anonymous said...

here is a question from way back - when we saw the reaction of "the others" when flight 815 broke in two in the sky and was about to crash, why did nobody seem to be stunned or shock? Ben...? Juliet? Nobody was surprised and the direction of that scene showed them all essentially void of any expression. Any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

re: when we saw the reaction of "the others" when flight 815...

she looks shocked -
http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage.php?pid=74568&fullsize=1

he looks stunned -
http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage.php?pid=74572&fullsize=1

815 eventually broke into three pieces (nose was separated later).

I think Ben's people in the Barracks are "at war", or at least prepared for it (they all seem skilled with weapons and martial arts). They seem to have a plan and contigency response for just about everything. Apart from the initial "wow" of the airplane breaking-up, they got right to the mission... "Goodwin, Ethan - find out who and how many! Emphasis on kids and fertile women!"

Anonymous said...

Doch - thanks but I still believe a lack of shock was demonstrated especially by Juliete. Seeing a plane break apart in mid-air is as much of a shocker as anything imagineable. I hear you about the "Others" being "battle ready" but with Juliette, you'd think she would have expressed total shock and horror and what she just witnessed. Most likely not a big deal, but makes me curious how she morphed from this sweet doctor in Miami to a calloused warrior on the island. Why was she not afriad of the smoke monster? Why did Sawyer read her as someone who will kill you in an instant? Plus, other instances of cold bloded killing with no remorse....again, i wonder if this is the least bit central to her story line that will be explained at some point or just something to accept with her character.

Anonymous said...

Juliette was there for three years. If Ben was a General, Ethan & Goodwin Colonels... she was a t least a Captain or Major. She did her martial arts best in the rec room against hardened criminal Kate. We've seen her shoot well. If she is part of Ben's inner circle, then she would know enough to hold her tongue and tears until well after the crash and when she was well away from him. She is a very guarded person.

I've seen plenty of disasters close-up - the shock of it all stuns you and you just choose to do/act (man-of-action) as opposed to react (victim/weep/cry).

Anonymous said...

thanks Brian for your time !! I always wait for your analysis like i wait for an episode...the same fun !! enjoy your summer with your wife.. hope i can pay you a beer someday haha :P ( maybe at the real end (season 6) youll make a party and we will have the chance to meet you and all the other people on this blog ??)pray with me to avoid another strike !!!!thanks again !!

Sorry my english is not very goood :P

Anonymous said...

Final Frozen Donkey Wheel (FDW - Sorry, don't like to use acronyms without defining them first) Question about FDW timeline:

So, we know FDW is old, real old. Dharma found it, built a station over it and thereby "sealing it" from anyone else.

So, let's look at what Ben knows about FDW and FDW room: he knows he needs to blow a hole (using metal) in the chamber, he knows it's cold and he gets a jacket, he knows he needs a crowbar for the ice and for the wheel, and he knows he's getting teleported off the island.

I assume the Orchid is built before Ben arrives on the Island as a child (Dharma is fully up and running). How does he know what he needs in FDW room (see list above) and what the FDW is/does? This is Ben's first time to the FDW because it's been sealed by Dharma with the Orchid Station!

Thoughts?
BH

TheycallmeVic said...

Brian I know that you think it's smoke on the other side of the FDW, but remember that it looked really cold down there.

Which by itself is an interesting subject. I mean, they're in a tropical island, but somehow that area is frozen.

Anonymous said...

re: The Frozen Wheel. Some have joked that the polar bears were pushing the wheel at some point. Then it dawned on me that on the Hydra Island, in the bear cages, we saw Sawyer have to move gadgets, push a button (MacGyver a solution) to get his fish biscuit. Then Tom derided him that the bears figured it out quicker. Maybe the bears didn't escape Hydra, maybe they were taken to the Orchid & the wheel to operate it when needed. Ben needed a laddder (rickety) to get down into the frozen pit. A bear could never get out the way Ben got in. They knew that everytime they moved the island they were going to lose someone (Tunisia or elsewhere), so they trained the bears (strong enough) to spin the wheel on demand.

Anonymous said...

I have a theory about the Claire-Locke scene from season 1. This may be completely wrong because I don't even recall the episode this occurred in, but could it be possible that this was actually the first flash forward in Lost? We don't know for a fact that Claire is dead (at this point in the story, she is just chilling with Jacob and Christian), and Locke was making his pit stops to everyone who left the island, so is it too unreasonable for the writers to slip in a flash forward as a supposed flashback? We've seen it before with Sun's birth. Just something to think about...

Anonymous said...

Bears trained to move the FDW? I dunno -- sounds weird but something to think more about. Also, excellent questions raised about how Ben knew whatever he knew about the Orchid, FDW, etc.

Unknown said...

The strange thing about "Raised By Another" is that the episode's big twist was that the psychic intentionally put her on that plane, so she would crash and have to raise Aaron herself, preventing whatever horrible things might happen from giving him up. But right from the start he never mentioned anything about the island, or a plane ride--he just insisted on her raising the child. Finally he came up with the plane ticket as a way to ensure that. The writers may have changed their minds since then (which would upset me a bit), but this implies that the great danger which would result has nothing to do with the island.
Hmm. Unfortunately I think this is one of those instances (such as Libby or Kelvin's intriguing past) where something was written for the expediency of the moment, and it won't end up wrapping up neatly in the end--or might even be forgotten entirely. Only time will tell, though.

Anonymous said...

the writters have said, on a few occassions, that Libby's story line won't be forgotten.

Euclides Montes said...

Where are you Brian... We're getting no real summer here in London and I feel lonely and lost!!!!
http://www.google-count.blogspot.com/

Brian said...

Don't worry - I'm alive and well. I actually watched the pilot episode(s) of "Fringe" last night and will have my thoughts up within the week.

Then, Comic-Con is right around the corner with fresh Lost chatter. Before you know it, it will be the fall TV season, and we can all return to our comfortable television watching routines!

Anonymous said...

how, where can I watch Fringe?

Roz said...

Late I guess, but I've been reading through this and the question about the explosives bugged me too until I realized that it was part of the secondary protocol, which apparently only Keamy and Faraday knew about.

I don't think they were meant to protect him from Ben/the Others/815-ers, but from the other guys on the freighter, all of whom seemed to have a different agenda from Keamy - Naomi, the Captain, the doc, Michael, Charlotte, Faraday etc. so if at any point these guys threatened him or his plans, he can use it to either kill them or kill their only way off the island.

Anyway great blog, been following it since the end of season 2. Can't wait for 2009!

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