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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Lost 6.12: Libby and Hurley and Cross-Reality Communication

A fabulous Lost 6.12, that ... well, let's begin at the punch-in-the-stomach double ending.

On the island, faux-Locke leads Desmond to the well (at the bottom of which is presumably machinery which can teleport people to Tunesia).   F-Lock explains that the well is very old - much older, I'd assume, than Richard - and was built by people exploring strange electro-magnetic properties.   This, f-Locke explains, is the power that Widmore seeks (I believe f-Locke).  Makes sense, anyone in their right mind would seek such power.  And then- f-Locke throws Desmond down the well.  Presumably to his death (but we see Desmond has survived in the coming attractions).

Back in alternate-reality better LA, Desmond drives up to Ben and Locke's school (nice intersection of characters), and smashes, deliberately, right into Locke in his wheel chair, right before better Ben's horrified eyes.

Why?  I would say this is another prime example of cross-reality communication, again in Desmond.   His LA version was aware of what f-Locke did to Desmond on the island, so Desmond's LA version reciprocated and did as much damage as he could to LA Locke.

I thought, before the coming attractions, that this was the beginning of a winnowing of the characters - the death of at least one version of a major character, in one of the realities, so that when the merge takes place, there will only be one of each character (not two) in the unified reality.  But if Desmond is still alive in the well on the island, something a little else may be going on.

Libby is, of course, already dead in our island reality - murdered along with Ana Lucia by Michael.  Libby's story with Hurley is one of the most fascinating, and, I've always thought, significant, in the series.   They meet on the island and begin to fall in love.   But they've met previously, in flashbacks which show them both patients in a mental hospital.  This prime of prime inexplicable coincidences - which I've long said hold the keys to what's really going on in Lost - may have been the first clear example of cross-reality communication.

Tonight, LA Libby - like Charlie and like Desmond last week - has prior knowledge of LA Hurley.  LA Libby remembers what she shared with Hurley on the island.  Hurley at first does not (just as Desmond last week had no recollection of Charlie).  But after they kiss - apparently as powerful a moment for Hurley as almost drowning was for Desmond and almost-od'ing was for Charlie - Hurley starts to recall his time with Libby on the island.   Desmond, who encouraged Hurley to see more of Libby after she and Hurley met in a restaurant, looks on with approval.   A third cross-reality has been activated.

Approval - nothing but approval from me for this great episode, and eagerness for next week and more.

And PS - Great seeing better LA Marvin Candle, introducing Hurley for an award!   Another intersection!


8-min podcast review of Lost

See also  Lost Season Six Double Premiere ... Three Questions Arising from the Lost Season Six Premiere: Linkage Between Two Realities,  Dead Bodies Inhabited, Who/What Survived H-Blast? ... Lost 6.3:  Kate and Claire, Tenacious Details, and Dr. Arzt's Arse at the Airport ... Lost 6.4:  Better LA, Wilder Island, Some Partial Answers at Last ... Lost 6.5: Jack's Family and Prester John's Speculum ... Lost 6.6: Sayid the Assassin in Both Realities ... Lost 6.7: A Better Ben in Both Realities ... Lost 6.8: The Third Team ... Lost 6.9: Richard's Story ... Lost 6.10: Cloudy Sun ... Lost 6.11: Reunion of Two Realities Begins

More Lost - see : 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 ... 5.5 Two Time Loops and Mind Benders ... 5.6 A Lot of Questions ... 5.7 Bentham and Ben ... 5.8 True Love Ways ... 5.9 Two Times and a Baby ... 5.10 The Impossible Cannot Happen ... 5.11 Clockwork Perfect Time Travel ... 5.12: Ben v. Charles, and Locke' Slave ... 5.13: Lost Meets Star Wars and the Sixth Sense ... The Problem with Baby Aaron and the Return of the Oceanic Six ... 5.14: Eloise, Daniel, and Obsession Trumping Paradox ... 5.15: Moral Compasses in Motion ... Lost Season 5 Finale: Jacob and Locke



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8 comments:

dawn said...

I have a question for you my friend, I haven't seen anybody on the web mention this. The little boy following FLocke. He's seems to be growing up. What if Jacob is reborn and is growing up to regain his hold and Flocke knows that. The boy has to mean something.

TheLooper said...

Hey, Dawn. I've suspected also that the little boy is Jacob (and kinda favors him too), but we'll still have to wait and see.

I just hated seeing Ilana blow up! You kinda knew it was coming just because the dynamite blew up Artz too when they first visited the Black Rock during the first season. She just wasn't being careful with it. Then the Black Rock blew up!!! Just a waste of a perfectly good lookin woman if you ask me.:) Just tells me no one is needed to truly protect the Losties. "The island was done with her," love how Ben put that and loved when he asked what might happen to all of them when the island is through with them too. I think we're going to find out in a few weeks...

But I loved the intersections in this episode. But was totally taken by surprise when Desmond ran over Locke. I kinda felt like UnLocke was going to do something bad to Desmond because of the build up. He kept asking Desmond why he wasn't afraid and obviously Desmond probably should have been.

But why run over Locke in LA? Can Desmond not sense that the man he was talking to was not Locke, like so many others have in the island reality? So what would be gained by trying to potentially kill Locke in the Alt-LA reality, other than Desmond's own satisfaction from realizing UnLocke tried to kill him in the other reality?

But I failed to realize until the end of this episode that this is the first time Jack has seen Locke alive on the island since they returned. Correct me if I'm wrong, but was Jack completely aware this version of Locke was even alive? To me he looked like he was a little surprised to be seeing Locke standing upright. But I could be wrong.

I'm going to stop speculating from now on how this is going to end or what it might be that's going on, because I'm clueless. At this point I wouldn't be shocked if the show didn't end on the last episode and they started making movies!lol There has been assurances that won't happen, but you never know with these producers...time travel wasn't supposed to be part of the story either...and then there was last season...who knows!

Paul Levinson said...

Hey Dawn - glad you raised the question of the boy. I don't why, but I'm thinking he's Aaron. (If the boy were Jacob, why doesn't f-Locke try to get someone to kill him?)

Jason - I don't think we need a reason other than payback for f-Locke throwing Desmond down the well on the island.

By the way, I like your unLocke usage!

Paul Levinson said...

PS to Jason/Looper - and I just gave you and unLocke a shoutout in my podcast review of this episode - you can listen to it in the little player at the bottom of the review.

TheLooper said...

I believe my eyes do deceive me Paul, because I can't seem to find the podcast player under that review. It must be LOST!lol

Paul Levinson said...

:) It's directly under the "PS" (and above the links to reviews of earlier episodes).

TheLooper said...

Well, I think you might have been pulling a Jacob on me here or something!lol

Actually, I think the podcast section was being blocked on the computer I was on earlier, but I've heard it now!

Awesome! Thanks for the shout out, Paul. I too can't wait for next week's show!

Unknown said...

Paul I have always assumed that Aaron would have a role to play given that he is the only Child other than Alex who were born on the island, and I've thought that boy is Aaron and Aaron to potentially be a form of Jacob! As for why Desmond would do such a thing, I think since a lot of it is coming together in his mind with regards memories of past reality... we see that most of the Characters have had some sort of an change, Desmond being Widmore's right hand man, Sawyer being a cop, but Locke is sort of the same, nothing tragic changed until now, I believe this will eventually lead him back to Jack who would eventually fix his spine so he too can have his happy ending??!!

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