I. Jin and Rousseau interact on the island 16 years ago. That's current Jin, who has been jolted back in time in the latest island skip, and young Rousseau, pregnant with Alex, as she was 16 years ago...
So - how come older Rousseau doesn't recognize Jin when she sees him earlier in the series, a season or two ago?
First, I'm assuming Rousseau did at least catch sight of Jin - he certainly remembered her tonight (and last week). I'm too lazy to go back and check the DVDs. If it turns out that Jin saw Rousseau in an earlier season, but she not him, then there's no problem in her not remembering him, certainly no paradox. But let's have some fun, and assume that Rousseau did see Jin some time in the past few seasons...
There are two ways we can explain her not recognizing him - which, she should have, given that Jin stopped her from going down in the hole after the smoke monster tonight:
a - Rousseau in every season up until this one was slightly out of her mind - and the last we see of her tonight, she's already a little on the way to losing her mind. A non-paradoxical explanation would have her mind gone enough by the time she sees Jin in the past few seasons, that she just doesn't recognize him.
b - But if Rousseau still has enough of her mind and memory to have recognized Jin in a previous system, we'll have no choice but to go into my World 1 and 2 explanation - you know, the one I tortured your intellect with for Desmond 1 and Desmond 2, Compass 1 and Compass 2, and even Denzel 1 and Denzel 2 in my explanation of Deja Vu.
Here's how it would work for Jin and Rousseau: Older Rousseau 1 meets Jin 1 for the first time in both their lives, in whatever earlier season they met. Jin 1 gets thrown back in time, and changes the world - or at least a few people in the world - when he meets the young Rousseau (and the French crew). At that instant, Rousseau is changed into Rousseau 2 - who will recognize Jin when they later meet. But we haven't seen that scene, because the ones we saw featured older Rousseau 1.
If this explanation is correct, then we can also assume that the French crew died in a slightly different way for Rousseau 1. Jin's going back into the past changed things a bit for them, too.
II. A different, sad time travel loop unwinds tonight between Faraday and Charlotte. She's dying from the time skips, and remembers that, when she was girl on the island, a crazy man told her to never come back to the island, because it would kill her. And she recalls that the crazy man was ... Faraday.
There's nothing at this point paradoxical or inexplicable about this loop - the older Faraday just fails to convince Charlotte as a little girl not to come back to the island.
But being a sucker for a happier ending, I see a way Faraday might save Charlotte, after all. Communicate through time to his older self - just as we've seen with Desmond - to be more convincing to Charlotte to not return to the island. This would then create a Faraday 2, and the same scenes we saw on the island with Faraday and everyone else last season and this season - except no Charlotte. Because she's safe, off the island, and Faraday can find her when the series ends...
See ... time travel can drive you crazy, but it can also make you happy ...
8-min podcast review of Lost 5 Hr 5
See also: The Richard-Locke Compass Time Travel Loop ...
and Lost Returns in 5 Dimensions and 5.3: The Loops, The Bomb ... 5.4: A Saving Skip Back in Time ...
The Plot to Save Socrates
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8 comments:
Jin didn's stop Danielle Rousseau from jumping down the well, he stopped her from going down the Smoke Monster's lair.
Right - thanks - I just corrected that.
Hey Dr. Levinson its Elias from your class.
So, I have an explanation as to why Rousseau did not remember Jin.
In order to explain this, I have to bring up Farraday's interaction with Desmond back in time when Desmond was still a slave to the hatch. When they interacted back in time, Desmond woke up from his sleep and remembered that incident as though it was a real memory.
Now, if we consider this interaction to be similar to the one that Jin and Rousseau experienced, we have to assume that if Rousseau were still alive in the future she would receive a memory of her previous interaction with Jin. However, it is unfortunate that Rousseau is not alive to have such a memory of her past.
I do not know if this explains much, but tell me what you think.
Elias, I think you may be right about Rousseau and Jin. These new interactions with Jin will be new memories for her, but because she is dead we may never really know.
Dr. Levinson - good points about Faraday and Charlotte. Maybe Faraday can save her from ever coming back to the island. Will she need a constant like Desmond did?
Also, what do you think about Widmore being Charlotte's father? Maybe Ben knew Charlotte was Widmore's daughter, and when he told Widmore he was going to kill his daughter, he really meant Charlotte.
Elias - I agree - that's what I meant with Rousseau 1 (before meeting Jin in the past, and therefore having no memory of him in the future) and Rousseau 2 (after meeting Jin) - just like Desmond 1 and 2.
Tara - yeah, the question of Charlotte's father is a good one. Your idea that Ben was thinking about Charlotte when he told Widmore he would kill his daughter is very appealing - that could save Penny.
I'm thinking Richard could be someone's father, too.
I suppose Charlotte is too young to be the girl who befriended Ben when he was little.
Well, time travel makes all things possible. Charlotte may have arrived in our present via some time skips, rather than living completely in normal time, which could have made her Ben's friend when they were little, and but much younger than Ben now.
Tara,
Thank you for mentioning "The constant" I was beginning to think I had imagined it. Wouldn't Faraday be Charoilett's constant? Or any of the Others who are still on the island? If I remember correctly it is someone who knows you in two "time zones"
In which case, why are Sawyer and Miles and Juliette bleeding they know each other from two time zones!
(Unless it is someone who has to know you in two "time zones" AND from on and off the island?) But then Sawyer would have Locke or at least his "dad" as a constant because he has seen him on and off the island, Juliette saw Ben, off the island didn't she, and Miles knows Widmore from both...
I don't get it!
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