And Found: Theorizing On the Mysteries of Lost

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!!

Lost’s sixth and final season will kick off February 2. Last season ended with a hydrogen bomb potentially hurling our heroes through time; leaving the door open for many theories, not to mention several of the loose ends that the show has kept around for seasons. I’m going to attempt to outline six of my theories of what’s going to happen next season, based on information already out there and speculation on what may or may not have happened.

Who Will Make It Back? And How?

1.      The Return of Our Beloved Friends

Lost has a habit of going for the unexpected. Whether it is long-form delaying the true nefarious nature of the show’s main villain for four seasons or completely turning the narrative structure on its head, you can always count on Lost for surprising you. With that being said, I think the premise of hitting the “reset” button is scary and backwards enough that the season 6 premiere will be set on September 22, 2004. Not without its own curveballs of course.

When time travelling in the Lost-verse, if one doesn’t have a constant to anchor where and when they are, that person’s consciousness may not remember what time period it is. Those stuck in the 70’s (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, and Jin) will have each other – or possibly the ageless Richard Alpert – so they will remember the events that transpired. However, those not on the plane will think it is still 2004 – and be ready to hop on Oceanic 815 all over again. Also, with Desmond being different and the rules of time travel not applying to him, it could be possible if this scenario plays out that he could be seeking out a means to the Island on the same flight.

Will Desmond Get His Revenge?

2.      The Constant Shoots The Manipulator

Say what you will about Desmond Hume’s and Charles Widmore’s personal feelings towards each other, but if it’s one thing they have in common it’s a shared interest in keeping Penelope alive. Widmore already tried to kill Benjamin Linus once. With Ben shooting Desmond and holding his wife (also Widmore’s daughter) at gunpoint, it wouldn’t be a stretch that Desmond – who we last left waking up from that gunshot wound – would seek out Widmore again in attempts to get back to the Island and seek vengeance.

He Really, Really Wants His Eyeliner Back

3.      The Ageless Man and the Sea

Richard Alpert is the Island’s longest living resident. He kind of dresses like a pirate. The Blackrock crashed on the Island in the 1840s. What I’m getting at here is that Richard was most likely on, if not the captain, of the Blackrock (owned by Magnus Hanso, same family benefactor as the Dharma Initiative, but more on that later). As Esau (my name for Jacob’s nemesis) insinuated in “The Incident” – Jacob brought them there, as only he can do, but Alpert’s ship is taken onto the Island by the smoke monster, and Alpert is the only one that is saved from that wreckage.

He's Gonna Getcha!

4.      Pillars of Black Smoke

Ah, the smoke monster. One of the longest lingering mysteries on Lost – and all they’ve given us is bits and pieces and one kind-of focused narrative (“Dead is Dead”), but there are still more questions than answers. So here’s my angle. The smoke monster is a manifestation of Jacob’s nemesis, Esau, and appears to people in a form that would make sense to them, resonate with them. That’s why the smoke monster appears as a soaking-wet Walt to Shannon (in “Man of Science, Man of Faith” and “Abandoned” – both in season 2), as Yemi, Eko’s brother in “?” (season 2), and to Ben Linus as his long-dead mother in season 3 episode “The Man Behind the Curtain.” Also, going with this theory, John Locke has mentioned several times that he has seen the smoke monster, and yet the smoke monster has let him live on to continue his journey. Knowing what we know now (read on), logically the smoke monster would let him live as he is of further use to the Island.

In each of these instances, this led the character encountering the smoke monster to their next logical step in their journey, be it life or death. In Shannon and Eko’s circumstances, they were immediately left to their end. However, Ben Linus met the smoke monster when he was much younger, led him to a ‘chance’ meeting with Richard Alpert, eventually leading the young Linus to the Others and his eventual leadership of them.

Is He Really Gone?

5.      Locke: Dead or Alive?

The man of faith himself was led to his end in the seminal season 5 episode “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” – or so it seems. Following all the flashes on the Island that have been going on, things start to become clear, or even more muddled. The entire reason Locke left the island in the first place was because he was told to by Richard, and that he would have to die to bring him back. But who told Richard that? Well, it was Locke from the future. The problem is, Locke was already dead at this point in time. So who was that Locke then? Esau himself seems to be a doppelganger, and assumed the look of Locke’s dead body (as was alluded to in the final minutes of “The Incident”) to get himself into Jacob’s secret chamber and have him killed. So why does Esau hate Jacob so much?

Who Is Who? And Why?

6.      The War as Old as Time

The beginning of last season’s finale finally introduced a character we’ve only heard about for three seasons – Jacob. It also heralded in his assumed rival, whom I’m calling Esau, after Jacob’s biblical brother, and since Lost is all about literary references – I’m guessing that that name is pretty sound. However, the intrigue built into “The Incident” makes their backstory a complete enigma, opening up for a variety of theories.

First of all, I’m going to assume that Jacob and Esau are immortal brothers, who have looked over these Islands since time immaterial. As has been mentioned several times, there are actually two islands, and I believe control over those islands is split between those two. Jacob has always wanted to share the mystical and ethereal nature of the Island with other people, but Esau believes that nobody is worthy of knowing this place’s secrets. Jacob continues to bring people he believes worthy to the island, further splitting the divide between the two brothers.

Because these two are immortal and live in a very special island, there are certain circumstances that have to happen in order for the other one to die. One has to be brought to the island outside of Jacob’s influence, and never be touched by the hand of Jacob. Also of note here, this is why Jack wasn’t on Jacob’s list (he actually touched the candy bar Jack was holding, not Jack’s actual hand). Since Ben Linus manipulated his way into the conclave of Others (being a child of the Dharma Initiative) – and manipulated his way into being the leader of the Others (by having Widmore banished), Jacob had no say in his ascension to the position as the Leader of the Others.

Esau had been setting wheels in motion since the Blackrock landed on the Island (with Alpert and the beginning of the Others) to get his revenge on Jacob. Since these two hold magical powers, Esau can duplicate himself into dead bodies (and Jacob can just reanimate them) – allowing Esau to move all of his pawns into place with John Locke and the rest of Oceanic 815 along with the Others to get his ultimate revenge on Jacob.

What's This Kid's Deal With Being Alive?

BONUS THEORY: Babies? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Babies!

Aaron Littleton is the only child that has been born on the Island in approximately thirty years. It was referenced when Sawyer and Juliet were stuck in Dharmaville when Ethan was being born, that when Juliet ever tries to help give birth on the Island, that person dies and the birth is unsuccessful (“Lafleur”, season 5). However, Sawyer convinced Juliet to give it a try, saying that “Well, maybe whatever made that happen hasn’t happened yet. You gotta try.” So what made this anti-birthing happen? And why Aaron?

Well, as I’ve stated before, Jacob controls all life on the island and Esau controls all death. At the time of Ethan being born, it was approximately 1977. Note Ethan was an infant, and Benjamin Linus was approximately twelve years old. This was also around the time that Linus left to join the Others, with the assistance of the time-travelling Sayid. As a stipulation of Linus (who was dying from a bullet wound) being saved, he had to join the Others and was stripped of his “innocence.” (“Whatever Happened, Happened” – season 5). They brought Linus to the Temple and from that point forward Linus always considered himself an Other, and had no recollection of ever being a child of the Dharma Initiative.

Although Ethan would eventually find his way into the Others as well, Linus was brought there far too old to be considered naturalized. This angered Jacob – a person very protective of who he chooses to bring to the Island, and as such, he made sure that no other child could be born on the Island, until a time he deemed fit.

This is where Claire Littleton comes into play. She’s the love child of Christian Shephard and Carole Littleton; never knowing her father fits into the mold of people that Jacob wants to bring to the Island (those with daddy issues). Claire was even prepared to give the child up for adoption – and when her relationship with her boyfriend (Aaron’s father) fell through, his fate was all but sealed.

Jacob wanted to start a new band of Others, with Aaron (whose name translates to “bearer of martyrs” in Hebrew) at its helm, cultivating a new clandestine utopian society. Thus, he lifted the ban on birth (as only he can do) on the island. Also of note, according to the Bible, Aaron is a direct descendant of Jacob. Jacob has blonde hair and blue eyes. Claire and Aaron both have blonde hair and blue eyes. Coincidence? Immaculate conception? Something’s fishy here!

——–

Although I’ve outlined seven theories here about Lost’s final season, there are several more that I haven’t even been able to start to grasp. For instance, why Hugo has everyone call him Hurley. What the hell is the Shadow Company? Why is Ann Arbor, Michigan so important? (actually, I know that one – it’s Dharma Headquarters) Finally, what exactly is the Island?

These theories are just the beginning. Agree, disagree – I welcome all debate and discourse on this subject. But come February 2nd, all bets are off.

-Smola

Review: The Invention of Lying

So what happens in a world where no one can grasp the concept of lying? Ricky Gervais once asked this question, and he wrote a movie about it. What follows is a thought provoking and witty tale of a man’s struggle to find his lot in life with his new power to lie.

Mark Bellison (Gervais) works for a movie production studio, Lecture Films, and is tasked with writing movies based on the 1300s and the Black Plague. He is soon fired and evicted from his apartment, but when drawing the funds out of his bank account, he discovers that if he lies everyone believes him, since no one on this altruistic caste society has ever heard anyone lie. – thus saving his apartment and launching him into a self-serving life of ease.

The world Gervais portrays in this film is fully realized, as his coworkers can’t hide their open contempt for him, often calling him a snub-nosed fat loser. They say it in such a matter of fact and dry way that every time I hear it I still crack up, even at the end of the movie. Eventually Gervais’ mother (Fionnula Flanagan) falls deathly ill (after living in a retirement home called A Sad Lonely Place For Old People), and to save her from thinking she will go on into an eternity of nothingness, he invents a man in the sky that will take care of us for eternity, essentially painting a non-denominational version of our own god, complete with tablets of scripture handed down on pizza boxes.

People treat him as a sage and a gospel, and he seizes this opportunity by going after the one girl who thought he was a terrible “genetic match” (played admirably by Jennifer Garner). This is actually the most compelling part of the film, as often times in relationships to keep them afloat it’s the little lies that keep us together, and in a world where lies don’t exist, liking someone and enjoying their company just isn’t enough. When you’ve got a dashing and tall co-worker in Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe) – man only out for his own benefit -  that’s simultaneously writing about three separate centuries, it’s hard to keep abreast being the snub-nosed (but charming) loser that Gervais portrays.

The message that this film sends is a mixed bag, and that’s what holds this film from truly being something extraordinary. It sends the message that lying gives everyone a chance, which may or may not be true. It also plays on the fact that if we look deeper into ourselves instead of focusing on the surface value of what’s there, we’ll find what we truly want, not what we think is “best for our gene pool.” Thus, thematically it creates a double-edged sword that lying under certain circumstances to get ahead is permissible, but lying to ourselves is the ultimate sin, since we pigeonhole ourselves into the life we think we’re supposed to have.

I didn’t even get to gush about the glut of great talent in this movie, as Louis CK, Jonah Hill, Jason Bateman, and Jeffrey Tambor all make great use of their short time on screen, and Tina Fey also finds her way into the film, eating something as usual. Overall, a great movie, just short of something special.

Rating: 8.3 out of 10
- Smola

Heroes is Back! Does Anyone Care?

Yes, Heroes came back with another kind-of-good-not-quite-cringing double-episode that continued this season’s trend of lethargic pacing (is it so tough to find a middle ground between this and the horrendously fast-moving Volume 3?). Samuel is intriguing enough to keep watching where his scheme that involves beautifying a desert valley is going. But does anyone care?

Frankly, it depends on who you ask. According to the ratings, no one cares – as Heroes’ return found them dipping below 5 million viewers in the second hour for the first time in this show’s history. However, if you ask the Internet, or the New York Daily News, people still pay attention – as Heroes has become the most pirated show on television. So what does this say?

Well, it could say two things. One, it could be that people desperately still want to like Heroes – enough to download the episode and keep up with Claire being indignant and Hiro being a general pain in the ear – but not like it enough to sit down and watch it live.

Or, it could be that Heroes’ timeslot goes up against Monday Night Football (although now that’s gone for the season), Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory (those old people do love CBS), Fringe, and The Bachelor. Hmmm… that can’t be it.

Maybe it’s because on TV Guide’s listings page you have to scroll down even to see NBC’s programming.

Regardless of the reason, Greg Grunberg thinks the writing’s on the wall, as he said in EW, “We will wrap it up next season and get to 100 episodes.” Although, he did go on to say “They take so much care in writing the show,” and that made me chuckle a bit.

Maybe Heroes will find its soul again, although it seems unlikely. At least the last 30 or so episodes should be, at the very least, entertaining.

- Smola