Lost has been making a fabulous attempt this season to give rational explanations - or, at least explanations not totally beyond the pale of understanding - for some of the major puzzles and mysteries of the past few years. We got an inkling of why Locke is the way he is, a little more about what makes Ben and the island tick, some powerful insights into Desmond's capacity to see the future ...
But those numbers. They never made sense in the past, and seeing them again tonight, at Hurley's birthday party in the flashfoward, brings home how stubbornly they defy any rational explanation. Why do they keeping coming up in Hurley's life? It's tempting to think they are just part of Hurley's delusion - but others have seen them earlier in the series. Tonight, Hurley's father apparently sees them, but we can't be 100% sure what he's seeing. All that we can be sure of is the numbers are reminding us that there's a deep, fascinating part of Lost that is as yet totally inexplicable - part of what makes this series so great. The inexplicable coincidence.
Otherwise, we see Sun establishing control over her father's company back in Korea in the future, before she will have her baby. Will this be a third quasi-corporate force, to play some role in the battle between Widmore and Ben?
We see Sayid happy with Nadia ... heartbreaking, because we know what will soon happen to her.
And we see Jack learning that Claire was his sister. This is why he has so much trouble being near Aaron - who reminds Jack that he didn't come through for his sister back on the island ...
Where a lot is converging on the Orchid ... Jack and Sawyer, Kate and Sayid and Richard's Others, Locke and Ben and Hurley ... and Keamy's killers ...
And back on the boat ... well, something's on the verge of exploding it out of existence ... and separating Sun and Jin, and who knows about Michael (who wants desperately to die), and Desmond (who wants desperately to live, now that he's in contact with Penny)...
All the players are still in process of being shaken up and together and apart and back together - to form the Oceanic Six and those left on the island and who knows where else...
But we'll have to wait two, too long weeks to find out.
See also... A Theory of How the Oceanic Six Were Chosen
and
Further Questions about Lost 4.4: Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer and More about Season Four: Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six and More About Lost 4: (ii) Michael and Ben, Good and Evil, Alias Echo
1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4: Kate and ... ... 4.5 Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.9 Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben ... 4.10 Almost a Dream Come True ... 4.11 Unlocking Locke
and
2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1
additional discussion of this episode of Lost in 7-minute podcast
The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
more about The Plot to Save Socrates and its time travel ...
Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!
5 comments:
We finlly see a possible explanation for Hurley remarking post-rescue that he wished he'd gone with Jack instead of Locke. Jack probably wouldn't have left everyone on the beach to go after just Locke and Ben, and this will force him to be absent when things go bad.
I wonder if the people who don't make it back to civilization are those that happen to be on the boat when it blows. Maybe the Oceanic six use the helicopter to get to some nearby island.
It was a good episode but I wanted more. Here is my new theory. Alpert and Widmore were the first mate and the captain of the red rock. They discovered and knew the secrets of the island. Somehow the 2 split (hence the others vs the darma initiative). Alpert eventually got the better of Darma and then moved the island. Remember that protocal 2 is Darma Initiative. So I think this situation must have happened before. I'm still trying to figure out more about Ben though. What do you think
Hi Dawn. I've been wondering, too, if Widmore might have been the original funding behind the Dharma Initiative. Your thoughts about Alpert and the Red Rock hadn't occurred to me though, that's very interesting.
And I'm with you about being a little disappointed with last night's episode. I find that often happens with the episode right before a season finale. Too much setup and not enough action/explanation.
Dr. Levinson, my boyfriend and I were just talking last night about those numbers and how they haven't explained them yet. I hope they do. It'll be a big weakness in the series if they leave that open as just something random. I agree that inexplicable coincidence makes for great drama, but completely random and unexplained is sloppy.
And man, those scenes with Nadia and Sayid and then the ones with Sun and Jin happy leaving the island together, really tugged at my heart. (Although Sun and Jin are my favorite characters, so I'm a bit of a sap for anything that involves them.)
Hey, Tvindy, Dawn, and Jessica (good trio of names) ...
Dawn - I wouldn't be surprised at all if Richard Alpert came on the Red Rock ... but Widmore feels to me to be a little later (And we have to factor in that we know he's Penny's father ... does Penny know/think her father is an immortal? No sign of it, so far.)
Jessica: I agree completely that leaving the numbers unexplained would be sloppy and unsatisfying - that's why I was so happy to see them again last night. Lost was saying to us, don't worry, we haven't forgotten about the numbers.
My guess is they'll keep teasing us with the inexplicable multiple appearances of the numbers (won the lottery, in Rousseau's signal, on the hatch, on Hurley's car), and then finally tie them into the story in a brilliant way that makes their connection clear...
Did anyone see Sawyer/Josh Holloway on Jimmy Kimmel the other night. (gotta love TiVo!) Most interesting point... He said he was kind of bummed at first because he wasn't one of the O-6 but then realized "The Island" was one of the main characters, and he was sticking with the island, so it was a pretty good place to be!
He hinted as much as he he was allowed that there is life on the island after the others leave
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