Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Final Lost Globe Live Chat

Hey all, if you're free from noon to 1pm EST (i.e. about 5 minutes from now!) I will be hosting the final live chat on the Globe and Mail site as we attempt to tackle the Lost finale in one hour (HAHA!! Oh, TOO funny...) Come and join us here. And then lobby for the chats to continue!! Heehee... (I just love doing them, and I'm sad this is the last one.) Hope to see you there!

10 comments:

Steve Elsley said...

Hi Nikki

Just read through the chat.
Just wanted add my thanks for your blog. For the last few years it has been my first port of call after each episode!

Also for me, (being Atheist), the finale was fantastic. It was really emotional and I don’t believe that you have to have a faith to understand what was happening. I personally don’t believe that there is a God or somewhere we move onto (maybe I’m too scientifically minded) but it was specific to the characters and I get it!
It was a fitting end to a great series that I will miss.

The funny thing is that last week I was desperate to watch from the beginning to piece the storyline together, but on the way it ended, I don’t feel the urgency anymore.
They crashed, they lived on the Island for a while, they did what they had to do, they died. Simple.

Thanks again
Steve (UK)

Rad said...

Just got back from the chat and a few thing occured to me as I was typing these questions. You guys always have such great theories that I wanted to add my questions here for discussion:

1) Was anyone else underwhelmed by Eloise? After her talk with Des in the AfterFlashes I thought she was some sort of Time Cop. Turns out she was dead and trying to spend some time with the son she never had;

2)About Desmond, when Des turned the failsafe key, was that our first look at an AfterFlash?

He wasn't actually "conscious" travelling, he actually saw the AfterWorld/Limbo at a time before flight 815 (his relationship with Penny was a major issue in his life so that was the 1st place he went) and we thought he was time travelling.

This would help explain Eloise knowing so much about him and his quest (you're not supposed to buy the ring!), she was already dead.

Fred said...

@Rad:He wasn't actually "conscious" travelling, he actually saw the AfterWorld/Limbo at a time before flight 815 (his relationship with Penny was a major issue in his life so that was the 1st place he went) and we thought he was time travelling.

From a science fiction point of view, when Desmond turned the failsafe key he released a huge amount of EM energy which created a "pocket" world in the Source. It was into this that Desmond (or his consciousness) moved. This sort of an answer does away with the need to posit an alternative world/limbo outisde the island.

Further for fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation the idea of a separate reality that is finite and into which an individual can go was already examined in an episode were Wesley Crusher created a energy pulse which formed a separate reality. His mother was accidentally carried into the alternate world, and her memories helped created the "reality" of the Enterprise and its crew. I'm sure Darlton knew about this and may have applied the idea to LOST.

What is interesting is the nature of Eloise. Is the Eloise, Desmond meets, a manifestation of the Source? Or is she the real Eloise?

In the final episode, Desmond tells Jack everything is okay, that he is flying on an Oceanic aircraft and he is smiling. Clearly Desmond's mind has a linkage with his alter self in the limbo reality. The same could apply to Ms Hawking, that her consciousness is both connected in island reality and to the larger concsciouness of the Source. This may be why she seemed always so prescient.

Her connection may have formed when Juliet set of Jughead. But she might not have been the only one with such abilities. Consider Ben's actions for so many seasons--the almost indestructable man who endures not only savage beating but perilous situations. But everything changed when Ben turned the wheel, and that it changed was signalled by Eloise saying to Penny she doesn't know what happens now. It was as if the turning of the wheel reset the consciounesses of everyone (a massive enegery release that wiped clean their connections to the island). Desmond regained it when Widmore put him into the shack with the EM coils.

Of course, anyone can believe it is just a waystation to heaven, and therefore, anything that happened on the island doesn't matter (a point Desmond makes to Jack). I contend, Desmond misinterprets what he is experiencing. If it is limbo before heaven, then the mythology is irrelevant for our understanding of the show (a point some commentators have made--we'll never know or unravel the mysteries of LOST because they don't matter).

Anonymous said...

You've been correct about everything except this: "...why Des and Jack weren't turned into Smokey...Jacob had rules, but that doesn't mean those are the rules anymore..." The reason Des was kidnapped back to the island was because of his body's ability to withstand the well's effect. That's why he didnt' get pulverised by the hatch's explosion (which pulverised his clothes) and why he survived the well. Jack survived the well because Desmond had turned it off. Thanks for your excellent insight and for filling in the things I missed.

Fred said...

@Annonymous:That's why he didnt' get pulverised by the hatch's explosion (which pulverised his clothes) and why he survived the well.

I like your thinking here. We may surmise Eko, Locke and Charlie escasped out of the Swan before it blew up. BUt I like the idea that Desmond was removed by the EM from the consequences of the implosion. So the world he went into was one of his creation (recall the beeping of the microwave), but it was also a reality like on-line in that other people could plug into it, such as Ms Hawking.

The other possibility is Ms Hawking was just a manifestation of the consciousness of the island's light. But I think once a connection had been made via the Source it could remain--witness DEsmond remembering a memory from when Daniel knocked on the Swan door.Desmond's uniqueness to resist EM radiation always kept him connected to the island's Source.

Fred said...

Why did Jack not turn into a smoke monster?

This is a fatal flaw in the story. Answering because he did not as he was special, is really not answering this problem.

How Jack got out may be closer to be answered. How did Eko and Locke get out of the Swan? We may suppose they ran out tha backdor. But they could easily have been somewhere in the vicinity of the purple light explosion (just as Jin was within the radius of the island when it time travelled).

After the explosion we see Locke lying in the jungle. Similarly we see Jack (in a position similar to MiB) in the jungle. The same effect may be operating here depending on one's proximity to the purple light. In the cave, Jack didn't cause it to explode, but merely to turn back on.

Not a terribly satisfying answer, but a seemingly conveniet one.

But why didn't Jack turn into a smoke monster? Maybe you really had to be dead before entering the cave?

Fred said...

Or for that matter, why wasn't Jack healed?

The pool at the Temple brings people back from near death. But go to the Source itself, and no luck?

Anonymous said...

I think the key to the entire series can be found in Season 6 #18 ("Across The Sea"), in the scene where Jacob's brother tells him, "One day, you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules."

To me, this implies that nothing is really unchangeable in the universe of LOST. ("Nothing is irreversible," as we are told a few times during the final season.) The producers and writers of LOST (who are the "guardians" of this universe) gave themselves a great amount of storytelling freedom with this. Accordingly, they made up their own rules to suit their story's purposes -- and so, not everything that took place during the series had to make logical sense to us at all times.

Of course, this can be very frustrating to those who look for consistency and known rules. . .

Unknown said...

Fred,
Jacob didn't kill his brother though? According to NotMom he couldn't, though she used the euphemism 'hurt' for 'kill' (as explained to me when I said that Jacob certain 'hurt' his brother with his pumelling to the face).

MIB looked half conscious as he was pushed into the cave.

I see people repeating that someone with "greed" would become Smokey2 (or Smokey10) -- where did that come from? MIB was not greedy. Bitter certainly.

One COULD say that he had murdered his murdering 'mother' and that's why, I suppose. A moralistic cave or hole of light.

Nikki,
Let us know if any of these discussion shows get put up on youtube or elsewhere (tv sites etc).

Unknown said...

Anonymous,
Yes, that was a very telling statement by BIB to a taciturn young Jacob.

And young Jacob hung around until the end exacting his revenge for probably losing all the time in his brother's favorite game under BIB's rules.