Tuesday, February 02, 2010

"LA X" Instant Reactions!

Brian's Two Word Review: Brain Overload

Wow.

I don't even know where to begin. I really thought that by the end of that episode, I would have some epiphany - a hunch where "Lost" was heading, what happened with Juliet and the Jughead, and what the overall "point" of Lost would be. Instead, I'm probably just as confused now as I was before the show aired, when we had no clue what the final season would hold. Heck, maybe even MORE confused, even though we got a ton of information in these two hours.

Where to begin?

Anti-Jacob = Fake Locke = Man in Black = Smokey. Well, you can cross one of the 10 Unanswered Lost Questions off the list! It turns out that Smokey is none other than "Anti-Jacob"... aka "The Man in Black"... aka "Fake Locke". Man, the Lost writers sure could have made this easier by giving the character a name, like they did with Jacob. But maybe that's kinda the point - he becomes a sort of "he who cannot be named" sort of evil character.

Speaking of which, if there was any doubt about if Jacob was good and Anti-Jacob was evil - or vice versa, I think it's pretty clear this episode. SmokeLocke is a freaking badass - kicking ass and taking names, and no one is going to stand in his way. This can't be good news for our Survivors - or the world at large.

This episode also confirmed that the ring of ash does "contain" SmokeLocke for some reason. What this ash is actually made of is still a good question - but it appears to be the only hope of keeping SmokeLocke out - unless he throws a huge rock at you and knocks you out of the ring of ash.

So here's the curious thing. The ring of ash appeared intact in 2004, when Locke and Ben first visited "Jacob's Cabin" - yet Smokey was running rampant on the Island. On the other hand, the ring of ash was broken in 2007 when the Shadow of the Statue went to the Cabin. Bram freaked out when he discovered this - now we know why.

Lastly, where is his "home" that he wants to go to? The Temple? Or off the Island, and to the "real world"? Or is this another play on the plotline from the movie "Dogma" where home is heaven, and he's been kicked out for some reason and has to get back?


RIP Juliet. After an uber-tease that Juliet somehow survived the Jughead explosion, along with the rest of our 1977 Survivors, she goes ahead and dies anyways - after getting a heartfelt last moment with Sawyer in the remnants of the Swan Station. But what did she mean by "it worked"? How did she know it worked? Did she somehow have knowledge about how all this would go down from her time with the Others (which, if you remember, was my hope last season about why she acted so strangely in the season finale)? Is she communicating from "the other side" like a dead person?


NOT RIP Sayid. On the other hand, Sayid made a shocking recovery in the last moments of this week's episode. Keep in mind all the warnings that Alpert gave Kate and Sawyer about using the power of the Temple to save Ben back in 1977. "If we do this, he'll forget any of this happened - he'll never be the same." Do the same rules apply to Sayid? He surely seemed like he didn't remember what was going on - but does this put him on the path to becoming a full-fledged Other? Or losing whatever shred of innocence he had left? If you remember last season, we came up with some pretty compelling reasons for why each of the Time Traveling Survivors needed to be back in 1977... except for Sayid. Maybe this was the big reason he came back to the Island - to become "Super Sayid" and kick some SmokeLocke ass? Or is Jacob now embodying Sayid the same way the Anti-Jacob is embodying Locke?


The Temple. Finally! The Temple is revealed! And it's chock full of weird stuff, like a "fountain of life" (that is suddenly red now that Jacob has died, perhaps?), a hokey-looking hour glass, and yet another mysterious "leader" of the Others who annoying only speaks through a translator. It was also nice to see the storyline consistency of having Cindy and the Kids at the Temple alive and well all this time. It was also nice to see Jacob back to his old tricks, making lists and being mysterious about the bigger purpose. For all you who guessed "a giant ankh with a list from Jacob inside" when we debated what was inside Hurley's guitar case, you win!


Richard Alpert. It's looking like he indeed was a slave on the Black Rock (note SmokeLocke's reference to seeing him "out of his chains")... and somehow fell into favor with Jacob, who in turn granted him eternal life in return for being his VP... at least that's my current theory. Expect plenty of Alpert storyline to come!


Oceanic 815. And lastly, the thing I want to touch on the least, since I have no freaking clue. I thought the writers would tease us with the prospect that the Jughead changed the past, but not that this alternate reality storyline would take up 40% of the episode. Sure, it was fun to watch - we got to see some old friends (Charlie, Boone, Frogurt, Arzt) and have some ironic conversation (Charlie's "I was supposed to die" comment) - but with as much time as they are giving this story, there has to be more to it than just being a dream sequence for Jack - or something along those lines. But what? It's all gotta tie together somehow in the end, but I have no idea how... yet.

At any rate, the net result of this alternate reality is that the Jughead exploded and "sunk" the Island, Jack and Locke are on their way to become best buds, Kate is on the run from the law, Charlie's life is going down the drain, and Rose and Bernard are sickeningly sweet - but joke's on them since without the Island, there will be no cancer-cure for Rose.


Okay - that's all for now. Full analysis as soon as I figure this all out... or when I give up and just write a few thousand rambling words that provide no additional information than these Instant Reactions - but at least give me a false feeling of accomplishment :)

Discuss!


103 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can we please refer to anti-jacob as "edward?" pretty please?? :)

Diary of a Lonely Alcoholic said...

Amazing. I am so glad we're back. I can't wait to hear your full-fledged analysis. Not to mention that I love that we're already getting answers. Again, amazing.





Little harsh saying that the "joke's" on Rose because she still has cancer. Funny, but harsh.

Rebecca said...

I thought the Oceanic 815 was going to be Jack's dream...and for a little bit I was wondering if he remembered any island stuff. But then they kept it going and I hope we find out why soon. I really hope it doesn't end as there are two realities and you get to choose which was meant to be or something.

Smokey!! alkjdfklasdfj WOW. I really thought they would wait until the very end to do that but it makes sense. I had wondered how smokey was 'related' to the island.

I'm still trying to understand a lot but notLocke's face was scary mean at the end!

Vivian said...

Desmond was on the plane! Alternate timeline for sure because he was supposed to be in the Swan pushing those buttons but if the Swan was never built, maybe he was never there?!?

Brian Leonard said...

Brian, I would have started a new religion with you as the deity if you'd said "now I know where it's going and how it will all end!" Another mind-blowing episode.

Two things you didn't mention (actually people): 1. Desmond; 2. Christian. They were the "wild cards" in the non-crash portion. I've got to believe that Desmond being on the plane and then disappearing, and Christian's body gone missing, are keys to this "reality" being explained.

Unknown said...

booo-urns!

not feeling that opener. i’m calling it sloppy and uneventful.

i may be jumping the gun on this, since the writers have another 16 episodes to fill in the gaps as to what’s going on, but i’m going to go on record by saying that this definitely was not the highly touted opener we were led to believe it was going to be. the alt-timeline (which is in the past i surmise) is ok despite the cheap thrills of seeing old faces. the action at the foot was (which in my opinion is the best subplot) edgy for maybe 4 minutes. but the whole hatch/temple/others 2.0 camp dragged and then dragged some more.

ho-hum.

6.2 on the joe scale.

Diary of a Lonely Alcoholic said...

No one gives a shit about the Joe scale. This episode was amazing.

Emkaytoo said...

I just want to say that I hope that the writers didn't give us the answers to two of the questions (Smokey and Jacob's List) as a teaser, therefore making us believe that every episode will unveil something amazing and all-the-while planning to tell us nothing.

Anonymous said...

Settle down boys! ....I thought it was pretty good. Not mind blowing, and not crappy. I agree with the alternate timeline though....how the hell is that going to line up with, or have any affect on our people on the island at all??

Unknown said...

I'm going to wait for your full thought process but, in the meantime... back to the title: LA X. I'm hung up on the X.

X marks the spot?
X=10?
X is the 24th letter of the alphabet.
X is Chi in the Greek alphabet.
The sideways cross (X) is used as a symbol for Christ. Uh... where is Christian?
X is the multiplication sign.

Or... perhaps more ominous... the following is from www.symbols.com:
"As an Egyptian hieroglyph it meant to damage, divide, count, or break into parts."

Or... again from www.symbols.com --> "I/we can not continue (ground-to-air emergency code)."

Ponder. Ponder. Ponder.

Jodi said...

Do we think that maybe Charlie knows something about the alternate timeline(s) that the others don't yet? Since he WAS dead and all? And maybe because he knew about the alternate timelines, he was purposefully *trying* to kill himself on the plane? That's the only thing I picked up on that you didn't already mention in your post. :)

Mr. McGoo said...

I found a pdf file online that I think you will like. I think it gives some interesting ideas to the John Locke character and some other interesting developments. I posted it on my blog for some friends to see. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://mrmcgoo.blogspot.com/2010/02/lost-final-season.html

Sarah said...

I was confused about Hurley saying that he was the "luckiest guy in the world"...were the same numbers used? Are they no longer "cursed"? Or was he just saying that? Didn't the guy who gave the #s to Hurley in the mental institution get them from a guy who heard them over a radio frequency that we thought came from the island or something? Wouldn't that NOT have happened if the island blew up, since there wouldn't be the numbers on the hatch or in the computer that Desmond kept entering?? And wouldn't he not have ended up in the mental institution if he hadn't gone crazy because of the curse of the numbers??? AHHHHHH!!!! MORE QUESTIONS, NOT ANSWERS!!!!

timcourtois said...

Some people sound like they're giving up already on there being some meaning to the (apparent) alternate time-line. Come on, yo! Have a little faith! Damon & Carlton have made it pretty clear they're aware of how lame it would be to just "undo" the last 5 seasons.

I'm excited. Watching that ep was so much fun.

2j said...

What if the alt-world (on the plane) is actually how the season ends? There were some clues that they had some knowledge of the alt-reality on the island: Jack says "nothing is irreversible" and Locke says "how could they know where he is? they didn't lose your father, they just lost his body"

Unknown said...

I think the two biggest confusions for me were the presence of Desmond on the flight, the dissapearance of Christian's body, and the fact that while smokey was supposedly trapped in the cabin, he was also around the island judging people at will.
Is he really a security system or a judge/jury? Then he wouldn't really be the bad guy, only a necessary part of the island.
Or could Jacob also turn into smokey before and judge people?

Those things were confusing.
Also, everything else.

Rebecca said...

Joe - I will say that some parts of the first epi were a little slow moving, pretty much the stuff on the plane because I wasn't expecting it to go SO long. But finding out about Smokey so soon more than made up for that - for me. :D

Andrew Steger said...

I don't think Smoky was in the cabin.

Unknown said...

What if the "it worked" line from Juliet meant that the bomb did go off and that with the electromagnetism caused the incident that we've always heard of. That would mean that the bomb not working would be what caused the alternate reality. Im thinking this because if a bomb did go off why would it sink an island and still leave the dharma barracks in decent shape like we saw in the beginning of the alternate timeline. Whatever the alternate timeline is I think the point is mainly to show the audience why it's so important that these characters did everything they were suppose to do on the island. Just a thought.

Kuiosikle said...

Dragos: I was pretty sure Jacob was the one in the cabin, and the circle of ash was to keep smokey OUT. SO it would make sense that smokey was out and about judging people at will. Though I might be wrong about that.

TheycallmeVic said...

So it seems that after the incident took place, our Losties got transported back to their present time, along with all the items that got sucked into that hole, killing Juliet.

So in 1977, to the survivors point of view, the Losties all just disappeared, including all the items that got sucked in the hole, they all got transported too (because Juliet was touching them, she was pinned down).

Brian (should we call him "the other Brian" to avoid confusion? lol) made a good point about the bomb possibly not going off in the alternate reality, since the barracks were all in place. However, I'm pretty sure I heard an explosion there. Perhaps the bomb did go off in the current reality and didn't in the alternate, but somehow the pocket of energy being released sunk the island?

Ah, questions, questions.

Brian said...

Why wasn't Shannon on the plane? Not crashing shouldn't have changed any events that happened before the plane took off.

J/K said...

Didn't Locke teach Walt how to play backgammon? Perhaps they are "Adam and Eve"? Black stone and white stone=backgammon in my mind.

Hobbes said...

... ok what?




wow it never amazes me how wrong I can be about this show. Faraday, sorry for having ever doubted your multiverse ways. God I love it.

The ash can be used two ways, to protect something by keeping AJ out or to cage and keep AJ in. I tend to think it protected Jacob at his cabin until the line was broken prompting him to go to the FTS.

Finally, Awesome to see the temple and the inner circle of The Others.

What happened to Christian's body now?

What is Miles not telling us?

Until the final episode everything is just progress!

Eagerly await your analysis ... way too too much to think about.

Hobbes said...

Also where did Desmond disappear too ... Anti-Island?

Hobbes said...

LA X could be LA "crossover"


Sarah, when Hurley was in Australia, I think he talked to the widow of the guy he got the numbers from did he feel better after that and then it was the plane crash that brought his hopes back down.

Kind of like Locke lying to Boone about his Walkabout. It's like all pre-crash flashbacks are the same. Although Desmond confuses the hell out of me now.

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

"It worked."
Remember when Desmond met Ms. Hawking? What if Juliet had a similar experience after the Jughead explosion? And because of that, she knew the timelines split. I'm hoping there's a Juliet flashback to come. Also, I'm wondering if she learned kung fu from the other-other Other leader :)

To answer the "What does Miles know?" question, he probably does know more about what Juliet knew than "It worked" but he either doesn't fully understand or he's afraid of what it means. It seemed like Miles wanted to explain more to Sawyer, but he didn't have the chance.

Miles also knows when people are dead, but Sayid either didn't die or didn't stay dead. That's why he was confused when he was looking at Sayid.

jack said...

anyone see Jimmy Kimmel? C&L were guests on the show.

jack said...

anyone see Jimmy Kimmel? C&L were guests on the show.

Unknown said...

Can we chew on what could have happened between Desmond and Widmore that would have him NOT sailing in a rigged race to end up trapped on the island that may or may not still exist?

Where does no hatch leave Widmore in his quest for the island that apparently began in the 70's - 80's?

Party of 5 said...

Why didn't they take Juliet to the temple with Sayid? A two-for-one special. Especially considering "nothing is irreversible" maybe she could have been saved.

Rebecca said...

I saw C&L on Kimmel, very interesting! If you missed it find it online. :) Someone in the audience was upset to find out AJ was Smokey it was funny, they both said - you knew we would be here.

Anonymous said...

I'm a first-time poster, long-time reader here at LAGF. One thing I noticed that hasn't yet been mentioned is if anyone caught the Jesus reference when the Temple members carried Sayid out of the bubbling spring. His arms were outspread; his head had fallen back...perhaps as if he was on the cross. And *then* he comes back to life.

Perhaps Sayid is their new savior? (And perhaps Sayid is now inhabited by Jacob, as Locke is inhabited by Anti-Jacob?)

Unknown said...

"Not crashing shouldn't have changed any events that happened before the plane took off."

Blowing up the hatch or whatever happened would've changed 30 years of Dharma, OTHERS, Widmore, Hawking, Hanso, Paik, & Ben history. Who knows what all changed.

Anonymous said...

I thought the same thing about Jacob coming back as Sayid. Only thing is...I think that because this is a Jack vs Locke season, I think somehow Jacob returns as Jack due to some unfortunate event in episodes to come. He (Jacob) will use the "loop hole" against "The Black Locke"

SM said...

My question is, if the island is underwater, then how did Hurley end up with the numbers to play the lottery and win? The numbers must have come from somewhere. did the producers/writers forget how he got the numbers in the first place?

POBEAVER said...

WoW crazy episode...alternate universe story dragged a bit but it was all good still.

And the person IN THE CABIN has got to definitely be AJ. Why would he be saying to John Locke "help me". Jacob wouldnt need help, hes happily fishing away :D

And when Hurley looks in the cabin and sees an eye. Could be the eye of AJ ? Anyway

Was Christian Shepheards body taken over by AJ the same way Lockes body was taken over ?

I believe Christian is bad and hes the guy thats been using the cabin when Lana and the other Aljira survivors find it with a broken ash circle.

He convinced Locke to get off the island and that he needed to die to bring his friends back. In turn, AJ took over Lockes body.

And to say that Jacob needed to put ash outside his cabin to protect himself doesnt sound right. Only way Jacob can die is by a 'loophole', smoke monster cannot touch Jacob in any other way. I recon it was smokey who was trapped in the cabin.

Tim Bensman said...

Maybe LA X is a reference to a dimension X. An alternate dimension a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Malcolm said...

A couple questions, one statement:

-- Faraday as a physicist (Hawking as direct name reference to Stephen) prompts what writers might be doing with quantum mechanics. Split the atom, release the power, begin to reach the quantum physics world where we "know" quarks can exist in two places at once. Who's to say the quarks must parallel one another?

-- Island's disappearance set off waves, rather than simply left water smooth. This would suggest sinking, a ripple rolling outward, a ripple in time?

-- "nothing is irreversible," I'm guessing, is the key phrase of the episode. BTW, this places Jack in the realm of spiritual beliefs versus simply man of science. ("I'm going to save you.") Most MD's wouldn't dare make such a comment without knowledge of specific spinal injuries. In "real world", at least to date, some spinal injuries are indeed irreversible...until stem cell research begins kicking butt, taking names, doing a little dance, making a little love, getting down tonight.

Hmm.

Unknown said...

I don't understand why some people are still hung up on "whatever happened happened"?! Even during the recap before the episode, Michael Emerson is narrating about Destiny, but then talks about the force of Free Will (Juliet detonating the Hydrogen Bomb). I think "the incident" was Dharma hitting the electromagnetic pocket, but Juliet's action altered the Lostaways "fate." I know people like looking for deeper/hidden meanings, but I think some things can be taken at face value - just enjoy the ride!!!

Kim said...

I think Juliet was in two timelines when Saywer found her. When she said "it worked", she was telling Sawyer that explosion worked, and since there was no island for her to go to, she's at home having fun with her sister and nephew.

Kuiosikle said...

One thing to note: Locke's body was not 'taken over'. It was in the box/coffin and then laying on the beach the whole time. I believe Smokey/Anti-Jacob has manifested himself to look like Locke ("The man who looks like John Locke" from the clip show). The same thing he did when he appeared as Alex, Eko's brother, etc.

Dave Harty said...

If I am not mistaken, we are seeing two different times, not necessarily two different timelines. The LAX scenes were in 2004(?) and the on-island scenes are in 2008(?) after the O6 "returned" to the island. So in theory, they can all get back to the island, but they'd have no reason to go if they were never there in the first place (no 815 crash).

My initial thought was that the jughead detonation in 1977 set off a new chain of events that caused Desmond to be on 815, etc. But didn't Kate say that the hatch was the way it looked after Locke blew it open?

Was the hatch still built and did Locke still come to the island to blow it open?

Diary of a Lonely Alcoholic said...

Dave, in the reality where Kate finds the hatch, Desmond was always down there and Locke always came to the island to destroy it.

However, the Desmond we saw on the plane is not the Desmond who was in the hatch. Somewhat like Fringe, there are two parallel realities, each with one version of all the people, and things, we know from Lost.

Jeff said...

My favorite part of the episode without question was the scene in LAX with Jack & Locke. The dialoge was superb - specifically when discussing Locke's irreversible condition and in contrarian Faith vs. Science and Jack rebuttal “nothing is irreversible”

Sam said...

As for Sayid... When the temple leader cut his hand and dipped it in the water, I believe he was testing its healing powers since it was discolored. When he saw that the waters could not heal, he knew they couldn't just dip Sayid in there to heal his body and save him. They had to do something more drastic.

Perhaps that more drastic thing (holding him under water for the hourglass time period) actually gave Sayid more power than just coming back to life. Maybe he is now immortal like Richard?

I found it ironic that Sayid shot young Ben, and they took Ben to the temple to save him, and then Sayid gets shot, and taken to the temple to be saved. I imagine young Ben just needed to be 'dipped' in the water since he ages and gets cancer, etc.

Dean said...

A few observations:

1. It seemed odd to me that Desmond was on 815...yet it was as if no one else saw him, and Jack only saw him briefly....and couldn't find him again later.

2. I'm wondering if the LA X is a representative of a Mobius strip. So the Losties have moved along one side of the strip, and now that they've detonated the bomb, they're now on the other side of the strip (a Mobius strip allows you to go on both sides of the strip without getting off of it). So at the end of this season, they _will_ end up back at the beginning of the show (hence Jack waking up in the middle of the jungle).

3. What this means is that you can have two 'timelines' going that are actually connected. Which may explain why Faraday was crying about the crash of 815. I am hand waving here a bit though.

4. This fits the idea that Juliet seemed to know what was going on earlier. I think.

5. I think it's obvious the 'flashbacks' of this season are going to be with that 'alternate' timeline.

6. I'm guessing that we'll get to see some of the impacts on what happens if the Dharma initiative didn't get to try to mess with the numbers...and this will somehow be the trigger to get the 'alternates' to do something about it.

7. Everything on this list could easily be invalidated next week. :-)

Unknown said...

A couple more questions to add:

1. When Jack went into the lavatory on the plane, why was his neck bleeding?

2. Why is Anti-Jacob considered evil? What is his purpose/goal? All I got last night was that he "wanted to go home."

Unknown said...

A couple more questions to add:

1. When Jack went into the lavatory on the plane, why was his neck bleeding?

2. Why is Anti-Jacob considered evil? What is his purpose/goal? All I got last night was that he "wanted to go home."

Steve said...

I haven't read all the comments, but Sayid.. has been suggested.. to being Jacob as Locke is MIB. The differece is that MIB or smokey assumed Lockes body, but locke remained dead. Sayid is alive.

Does this mean that Sayid is the new Jacob? His heir? Or that he's somehow with him? Or acting through him?

If he's that important, he may be a key to restore some sort of balance. MIB without a 'white' character to provide balance is trouble.

I think of yin and yang, light and dark. Good and Evil is a matter of perspective really. Both 'light and dark' must exist, or 'dance' to achieve balance. Something has to replace the void caused by Jacob.

My question is: How did he 'appear', is it because Hurley can see dead people, or something else? This is different than miles, but if this is the case, and Jacob can only speak to Hurley, this could make Hurley... and sayid, two of the most important characters on the show.

A note on the 'swan'.. I got the impression that this stuff was from the desmond impostion, I'm basing it on the stove and the excersize bike. However, the girders would indicate that maybe it did jump time as well.

Also, what happened happened is NOT dead. It is entirely possible that both timelines have always been... if Juliet DID cause the incident with 'jugead', this incident may have also set off the alt timeline.

As for why shannon is not on the plane. The real answer? Or the storyline answer? The real reason is that they couldn't get her for the show, the storyline reason.. she's not there for the same reason that desmond IS on the plane, and Hurley is the luckiest man alive. Go figure.

Steve said...

MIB doesn't like people on the island. He feels it always ends the same way, with death , destruction, etc.. hence he said "I'm dissapointed in all of you".

He also apparently wants to go home. What does this mean? Could it mean he's trapped there? That maybe he wants to die? But if he does, is there an heir that must take over? How does all this work.

Jacob protected the people from MIB. I'm going to suggest that the cabin WAS Jacobs.. and that the ash was there to keep MIB out.. someone broke the circle and forced Jacob to retreat to the foot. Still, I don't understand the 'help me' request to Locke...

I've never been so 'lost'

Unknown said...

In the alt-reality, Hurley could have won the lottery with any old numbers, right?

Megan said...

So the theory I'm running on right now (a theory someone I watched with last night came up with) is this (hopefully this makes sense & but know it's not w/ holes)... the two storylines are NOT alternate realities & Juliet was right... it DID work. All of them on the plane is back in 2004, life as normal, plane lands, shenanigans ensue. The second storyline we see is actually all of them BACK on the island in 2007. These aren't parallel storylines or two alternate realities but we're seeing the story as it actually happens in 2004 & 2007 at the same time to confuse us. A lot of Qs still arise (how does the island resurface, where's Shannon, etc) but it seems to make some sense to me.

Which, by that logic in the world of LOST, probably means I'm off by a long shot. :)

Lizzy said...

Interesting thought: If Sayid is now somehow the "new Jacob" and that is why Joacob was so calm and didn't try to fight back when Ben killed him, because he knew he would be "reborn", then it is interesting to note that Sayid is the only one of the Oceanic 6 that didn't return to the Island by his own choice...he was brought back to the Isalnd by Ilana, who worksunder Jacob's orders.

Bob Lauer said...

Things are different on the plane in the current time because they didn't just change the plane crashing, they changed everything that happened in the last 30 years. Their lives are still very similar (except Hurley's it seems), but not exactly the same. In any event, they are on a completely different time line. Something tells me this time line isn't just going to be them living their lives, I'm guessing something island-related happens eventually.

Steve said...

Hurley theory: He's lucky now? Are the numbers not curses because the island is sunk? If they aren't cursed, then how did he win the lottery? Did the change of events that sunk the island do it prior the the numbers being heard by his crazy friend? If not for the numbers and the 'curse' why did he go to Australia? Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but maybe the island sinking removed the curse? On the other hand, he could be lying like Locke was about the walkabout.

As for lizzy's theory.. it doesn't have logic at all. If in 1977, the detonated the bomb and jumped in time to 2008 or so... then the plane not crashing never put them on the island in the first place. It has to be an alternate reality. However, if 'whatever happened, happened' could very well still be the story, and maybe what the big picture is for everything to happen as they should(see widmore) so that the two timelines are restored.

Think to the JJ Abrams Fringe, with parralell universes, but in ONE the wtc is still standing. If these two universes come into contact with each other, it could be the destruction of one or the other. Same creator.. I wonder.... could the plot be that there are now two parallel worlds, and one is doomed.. and the fight it see which reality wins out? That doesn't explain the Jacob/MIB struggle.. I do believe their struggle us what made this split reality possible, but I'm not sure which story is bigger.

One other note: Flocke said that that it was sad that Locke was the first to realize that his life outside of the island was pitifula nd wanted to stay. His irony is that he wants to LEAVE the island, and is using Lockes body.

Steve said...

Juliet may have had the ability, being close to the blast, of seeing both realities. Notice how she seemed out of it when she asked Sawyer for a drink. Want to bet that we hear her ask him again in the alternate timeline? She may have jumped realities like desmond jumping time.

Dean said...

Oh, good catch there.

Dave Harty said...

When Ben went to see Smokey for absolution, where did he go? I thought he went to the temple, but it seems like they don't like him much there.

But if I remember correctly, Locke was not around when he saw Smokey - but was his daughter Alex (in her after-death state)?

SM said...

DAve, it was all a set up with the MIB. He is smokey, he appeared to Ben as Alex. it was all in his plot to have Ben kill Jacob.

SteveTDB said...

what if all we saw before... was the alt reality ..

maybe in the season6 'flashside' we will see the real life, and how they all meet and how they change the past to create the plane crash and all the 5 seasons..

its hard for me to explain in english.. someone understand my tought ?

SteveTDB said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian Leonard said...

SteveTDB, I understand you and I like that theory a lot. Except that it may not fit if Juliet knew that "it worked"--I can't see how that would apply the other way around.

the Other Brian

jejic said...

I think I am leaning towards the two realities co-existing and the bomb did "work". Many of the main characters could have reason to return to Sidney, essentially recreating the plane ride "if destiny has it". Boone, Sawyer, and Kate all had law issues there, Jack's father is there supposedly, Claire was from there, etc. Shannon could be on the return flight since she is still there. I do find it interesting that two key pieces of luggage from the 2004 flight - the coffin and knives are "missing".
I think I had in my mind that so much more would be resolved in these episodes, but this is much better.

TheycallmeVic said...

I really don't think Locke lied to Boone about going on that walkabout. I think he really did go.
There are several things that have changed in some of the character's lives since the island didn't have the effect on the world that it did on that alternate reality.
You can see Shannon didn't come with Boone, Hurley is now very lucky, Desmond ends up on the flight; several changes.

And hey, check out this youtube video showing the comparison between the Pilot episode and LA X:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoaRzEMpya0

Seenu said...

Fellow Losties,

Wanted to point you all to another good (but not as awesome as Brian) analyzer of LOST - Alan Sepinwall of the LA Times. Here's his post on yesterday's episodes.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2010/02/lost-lax-multi-tasking.html

Couple of things pop up from the comments that I hadn't noticed:
- supposedly the shark in the underwater scene is a Dharma Shark
- When asked at the temple where our survivors came from, Cindy says "They were from the first plane"

Implications of these?

Dean said...

Well, the second plane is the one that the Oceanic 6 and the Jacob bodyguards came back on. Don't think there is anything mysterious there.

Dean said...

Off the wall thought: What if Adam and Eve are actually Sawyer and Juliet?

Seenu said...

@Dean:
The thing that bothered me the most about Cindy's "They were from the first plane" comment was why she didn't say "They were from MY plane"...after all, that's where she came in too. And she's interacted with Jack when he was in the Polar Bear cage (Season 2), so it's not like she's never seen them before.

Anonymous said...

omg 'edward' would be fabulous! i have bids on names, an obvious one being esau, but a personal favorite is gabriel.

Unknown said...

I ve been hearing a lot about how people think that jacob is now sayid. although the voice at the end had an accent! i listened to it again , and ironically enough it sounds like Desmond, which would make a lot of sense to me being that sayid wakes up and look dead at JAck and asks what happened? looking back the last person Desmond saw in the ATL was jack on the plane , when he was sitting next to him right before he disappeared. Due to the fact that charlie was yelling i was suppose to die when jack saved his life, made me think that would explain this because charlies death made desmonds life possible. Since that wouldnt occur then desmond could not jump to himself on the island because he wouldnt be there. The only place he could jump would be to an available body so to speak, which was his blood in the water symbolizing the individual who should have died in the hatch under the water, which would have been desmond........wow!!!!!!!!!

Steve said...

Christian and Claire are still wildcards. Christian obviously has a big part to the show.. in BOTH timelines. He may be the piece ties it all together.

Claire? well, we don't really know what's up with her.

A lot of balls in the air, that's for sure.

Steve said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Anyone else reminded of both Fringe and Flashforward during this episode? The concept of two possible time-lines occuring at the same time?

Miles knows that Sayid is no longer Sayid.

timcourtois said...

Am I the only one who noticed the classic "Smokey" sound effects in the background while Miles was trying to "talk" to post-mortem Juliet? What's that about?

Hobbes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hobbes said...

hmm you could be right Vic. It seems this alternate or "LA X" story line is quite a bit different from the original 2004 story line. Initially I was thinking it was like “Back to the Future” and doc explains the alternate branch off from one point and that point was the flight from Australia and that everything prior was the same.

So what exactly are we seeing? What happened when the bomb went off? That's the big question to me.

Did the bomb sink the island AND propel our 1977 Losties back to 2008? Are the two evening related? If they are, how could they have sunk the island, created an LA X verse, AND still make it back to the island in 2008 if the LA X Island was sunk during the flyover in 2004? And if the bomb did change things wouldn't a 2008 storyline be kind of like who cares since it can't be existing anyway so focus on the LA X verse?


So here is what I'm thinking, I'm just shooting the idea out there, please don't hate me.
Perhaps D&L having to deal with time constraints for the show, the last season and all. Had to take the "Happy Ending" and tell it to us alongside the main storyline. In other words, showing us season 6 alongside Season 7, the main story line alongside the "Happy Ending" Season 7 storyline. Since in fact there is not going to be a season 7. A trick, I don’t think D&L are above pulling on us.

Meaning! That jughead didn't create an alternate universe, Faraday's plan failed. The Losties were just re-matched up in the timeline sense (back to 2008) and whatever creates the alternate LA X story will actually happen as a result of the consequences in the 2008 story. Because all the events that made the timeline are still preserved (what happened, happened. WHH).

Basically I'm thinking the whole WHH Rule wasn't broken but WILL BE in the main 2008 AJ versus Temple story line. And the LA X story was/will be result from that, not the jughead.
Clear as mud.

- Jonathan: stellar thinking on Desmond into Sayid, very clever. I almost hope you are right with that one but that would blow away everything I just said. Man I don’t even know what I want Lost to be about anymore.

TheycallmeVic said...

That's a good theory Hobbes, though something catastrophic has to happen for WHH to be broken. Because of that I'm skeptical about it, but it's a theory that definitely works.

I don't like Jonathan's theory as much because you're mixing up both realities. I have a feeling that in the alt reality they'll start remembering things from the island, because Jack seemed to be experiencing deja-vu. But we've seen no concrete evidence of that, or both realities merging... yet.

On another point, I'm starting to think the bomb never went off in that alternate reality. Because you can see the barracks and FTS were still standing, which wouldn't happen if a nuke went off.
But man, am I alone in thinking I heard an explosion when the LA X episode replayed the Juliet scene? I'm going to watch it again tonight.

Oh and Hobbes, here's Lindelof answering a question on both realities. The way he answered it gives credibility to your theory:

Is there a relationship between Island reality and sideways reality? Will they run parallel for the remainder of the season? Will they fuse together? Might one fade away?
LINDELOF: For us, the big risk that we’re taking in the final season of the show is basically this very question. [Lindelof then explains the show has replaced the trademark “whoosh!” sound effect marking the segue between Island present story and flashbacks or flash-forwards, thus calling conspicuous attention to the relationship between the Island world and the Sideways world.] This is the critical mystery of the season, which is, “What is the relationship between these two shows?” And we don’t use the phrase “alternate reality,” because to call one of them an “alternate reality” is to infer that one of them isn’t real, or one of them is real and the other is the alternate to being real.
[http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/02/02/lost-premiere-damon-carlton/]

Steve said...

So it's sideways or a 'parallel' universe.

Unknown said...

ah so so glad lost is back, some interestig comments and ideas here!! i cant wait to see how this all plays out.

My theory on the alt "plane landing" timeline - maybe we're seeing a new past being created, but course correction is still going to make what happened happen... I dont think any of our islanders have actually left the airport yet, so say Jack is about to board a plane back to oz to find his dads body, jin is about to get deported on the next flight back, and so on, they could all find themselves back on the next flight to oz. Course correction then puts them back on the island but we have a new storey for how they all got there... (ok the island is but a toe statue at the bottom of the sea, havent quite figured that bit out yet..)

Steve said...

Stu: I like it, but the Island appears to be underwater in this storyline.

Steve said...

Stu: I like it, but the Island appears to be underwater in this storyline.

Unknown said...

What I don't get is why did everything else age from the 70's except the VW Mini Bus? That thing was showroom floor new. It should have aged 30 years. I'm just sayin.....

falcon said...

A reliably fascinating and puzzling season premiere. One thing I'm not sure there's time to fully develop is yet another group - we've had the 815'rs, the Dharmites, the "modern Others" (those who took over Dharmaville and used computers, the sub, etc.), and Ilana and her helpers. Now we get the "hippie Others" at the temple - is there enough time to learn much about them while still playing out all the other storylines? Also, I was puzzled that Cindy so quickly seemed to be a trusted and integral part of the "hippie Others" - was she known to them, or one of them, before 815 took off from Sydney? Or did she have some special knowledge of Beatles songs (played backwards?) that gave her an "in" with the flower children at the temple?

V1 said...

Am i the only one who thinks that we have all just witnessed (in this episode) the final scene of lost?

The opening scene, could very well be the final one.


The island will be lost forever.

falcon said...

V1's comment sent a chill up my spine - I sure hope you're not right, but then again I wouldn't be surprised if you are. Not sure how the "underwater island with Dharma buildings intact after the nuke went off" would be explained, but it sure could go that way. Then again, that would probably be better than a St. Elsewhere/Life on Mars style ending.

dj (David Jones) said...

Here's my guess as to the 'alternate reality' and how it will affect our survivors:

When they die, they transition into that reality. My only guess for this is that Juliet asked Sawyer if he wanted to get a cup of coffee and they could go dutch. Next thing she says is that 'it worked'.

So, my guess is that when their island destiny is fulfilled, their conciousness is transferred into the other reality in which they never crashed.

Kind of a cool concept, I think. I'd be happy with it if it ended that way.

jack said...

Hey Everyone.....what about Jack's bleeding neck? any thoughts on how that can be explained?

m337m31nm0n74uk said...

A few people are over-thinking the effect jughead's explosion has on the future...

Consider that the 815 survivors always went back to the 70's and caused the explosion. Then everything leading up to the original crash would still happen and no history would be changed.

And now for the hole in my idea:

~Desmond~

(Timeline 1) The island is under water?! How did it sink? So no one has inhabited this island since the swan incident?!

Gah. What a huge hole.

(Timeline 2) The hatch is destroyed?! What happened to poor Desmond?! So no one has been in the swan since the incident?!

Gah. What a huge hole.

And to conclude my theories:

Perhaps detonating jughead's core sends the survivors to their original time, on the island, and around the destroyed swan station with a dying Juliet inside. Fine. Then, after more than a dozen episodes of island drama, the survivors are able to completely rewind the clock (at this point, and this point only, sinking the island) and end up where we see them in the "Alternate Timeline".

Again, that means the sunken island sequence is in the same coherent series of events as the stranded back in the future with Dying Juliet sequence, but that the sunken island sequence simply occurs long after the Dying Juliet sequence.

Anyone following me?

Brian Leonard said...

Note that Brian (the *real* one, not me) is maintaining radio silence here. I sure hope his brain is working overtime for that forthcoming detailed analysis!

Hobbes said...

Anyone notice the pilots voice on the LA X plane was still Matt Parkman's (can't recall the actor), who was in fact the same pilot who smokey ripped out of the cockpit in the pilot episode.

Not bad for consistancy.

singhy said...

I'm quite comfortable with the alternate timeline for some reason - probably because of the last Star Trek movie ('written' by, of course, JJ Abrams). That is, time was changed but to avoid time paradoxes (if Oceanic 815 never crashed, then the survivors could not go back in time to use Jughead etc etc) there are 2 timelines.

However I agree it's hard to see the writers continuing the whole series with 2 separate stories getting equal airtime, and have no idea how they are going to tie the two together. Juliet's comment, though, that "it worked", implies that they will - somehow!

P.S. Keeping Juliet alive just to kill her again? Evil evil evil - very upsetting!!!

Brian Leonard said...

Hobbes wrote:
"Anyone notice the pilots voice on the LA X plane was still Matt Parkman's (can't recall the actor), who was in fact the same pilot who smokey ripped out of the cockpit in the pilot episode."

Greg Grunberg. No surprise there, since he's J.J. Abrams' best friend, or one of his best friends. He's in every Abrams TV show and movie somewhere. They've known each other since kindergarten.

Sam said...

Joker - I think it was shown last year, that if you are touching something when you flash, the object flashes with you, therefore the VW bus flashed (b/c Sayid was touching it, I think), and did not age.

Lost is solved.

As for V1's theory... so, are you saying we will see the new timeline play out over this final season, and then the old timeline will play into the beginning of the new timeline? If that makes sense.

FoKoF said...

Firt, im french canadian so... sorry for my english.

Imagine that every flashback or flashfoward and island events for the past 5 seasons was the consequences of something happen in real life not on the island.

Season 6 will explain what happen to the Losties to make them meet eachother after the landing in LA..
Destiny will send them on a Darhma station (or something else) and they will change the past. They will go back in time do the life we know and crash on the island..

So.. they land in LA normaly.. destiny will make them meet eachother.. somthing will happen something catastrophic.. and BANG they reset their lifes and do it again, different, and they crash on the island.

2 reality are create.. one where they cause the crash(normal one)
and one where they crash and save the world because the catastrophic events dont happen (island one)

Its worked.. like Juliet said..they save the world

But the island are the ''course correcting''. The island want to be underwater.. like smokey want be home (underwater ??) so the island do weird thing during 5 seasons to put everything back to normal and cause the catastrophic event in ''normal one'' timeline.

But the Losties will fight back to stay on the island and save the world (again?)

But destiny is a bitch (like Ben said) and destiny will send everything she can on the island to make it change.. the season 6 will be the fight between the Losties.. and... 'Destiny' (smoke monster who want to be underwater :P)

I know my english is not good its hard for me to explain everything... but I hope someone will understand my touhgt... dont be bad please :( :D:D

Steve

V1 said...

Sam:

That's more or less what i was thinking, and i know this theory is OUT THERE, but i don't buy this two simultaneas timelines.

I think our losties destiny and porpuse isn't quite yet revealed, and i think that when they meet their porpuse, they will then return to their lives pre crash.

Also, being the island the main character, i'm expecting closure to it (shocking closure). I don't think it will remain in parts unknown so that there is a possibility that the story could "repeat" itself. "it always ends the same"- AJ. I think it's time that it ends differently.

Again, this is OUT THERE.
I guess it's what lost does to you.

Unknown said...

Since they are no more in 1977, how on earth they will show us about the adam and eve skeletons? They were at least 30 years old i presume. And we can definitely rule out any more time jumps. Does that mean the skeletons belong to someone different than our survivors or the producers never going to tell about them?

singhy said...

P.S. Since no-one seems to have answered the "X" question, "LAX" is the IATA 3 Digit Code for Los Angeles International Airport i.e. the short name on your plane ticket. Sorry guys, I don't think there's anything more to it than that! [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAX]

Unknown said...

I think AJ was trapped in the cabin. When Jacob says, "you cound the loophole" he meant he found the break in the ring of ash. loop=ring, hole=break in the ring.

Bob Lauer said...

There is definitely significance to the space in "LA X". The writers of LOST don't just do things like that without having an idea behind it. I personally think it's a reference to the "Earth X" series of DC Comics, which take place in an alternate universe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_X

jack said...

hey Singhy....get with the program! C&L already made it clear that there is significance to the space between the X and LA in the title of the premiere show.

Brushwood said...

The island can be "moved". Sp perhaps the island that survived the bomb now exists in the same remade world where the bomb exploded and the island sunk. Meaning there's now 2 islands, and duplicates of our castaways. Okay too crazy, but still.