LOST...Season 6

[Rico]

Why did you like it? If you talk about it a little maybe that'll help me see it in a different light. I just thought it was way too ambitious and tried way too hard. It didn't even really feel like it related to the rest of the story or the other characters, to be honest. Sometimes the more I think about something after the fact, the more I get it and the more I like it. That's what happened with the final Sopranos episode. Once I "got it", I saw it as a brilliant piece of tv making. But I don't have the same confidence here....I think this was a complete and total drop of the ball.

 

BTW, what is with MIB's obsession with getting off the island? Didn't his dead mom tell him he was from the other SIDE of the island, which is why he went to live with those people to begin with? Why is he so adamant about leaving? And wtf is this idea that "channeling water and light" with a donkey wheel will somehow be his ticket off the island? I don't get it...

That was ridiculous.. something a 3rd-grader would've come up with.

[Lockport Bills]

I wanted to like it, and there have been far worse episodes, but that whole "protect the light" thing just came off as extremely corny to me. As James pointed out, some things were answered, but, once again, this led to even more questions!!!

 

I have read elsewhere that this was just a useless filler, but i actually liked the part where they showed the first time Jack, Kate, and Locke were at the caves. It cleared things up for those (me ) who really couldn't recall that scene entirely. Wasn't that in Season 1?

 

I wish they would just give MiB a name already! Anyone notice the "Island Woman" (give her a name too!) and her speech about people? Verbatim to that of MiB's on the beach in the S5 finale. "They fight, they destroy, they corrupt, etc." There is so much more to this MiB and Jacob story that I want to know about.

[UConn James]

Why did you like it? If you talk about it a little maybe that'll help me see it in a different light. I just thought it was way too ambitious and tried way too hard. It didn't even really feel like it related to the rest of the story or the other characters, to be honest. Sometimes the more I think about something after the fact, the more I get it and the more I like it. That's what happened with the final Sopranos episode. Once I "got it", I saw it as a brilliant piece of tv making. But I don't have the same confidence here....I think this was a complete and total drop of the ball.

 

BTW, what is with MIB's obsession with getting off the island? Didn't his dead mom tell him he was from the other SIDE of the island, which is why he went to live with those people to begin with? Why is he so adamant about leaving? And wtf is this idea that "channeling water and light" with a donkey wheel will somehow be his ticket off the island? I don't get it...

 

I believe she said that his people were from/encamped on the other side of the island.

 

Given that we now know MIB and Jacob were brothers stolen from their mother, that gives us a little framework from things we've seen in the more current storyline. It makes me think of Zach and Emma (and the flight attendant acting as a guardian), especially. Sayid said that those who were with FLocke either died in the explosions or fled into the jungle. Abductions of children, and children who are "special" (MIB intuitively knew how to play the game on the beach. Asked, he says, "I just know.")

 

Across time, there's a repetition of patterns with different players. Ben had a very similar experience to MIB's, yet with some subtle differences. His mother died in childbirth, he saw her apparition (before the Smoke Monster existed.... or was it?) that prompted him to join another group on the island. He killed his parental figure. Only, in Ben's case, he doesn't want to leave the Island.

 

But with all that.... where the hell is Ben? And Richard? IIRC, they were supposed to have gone to the Barracks to get some explosives. Is Richard still all, "I dunno wtf to do!" or might Ben have one of his plans?

 

Back to the ep tho. I wonder if Island Woman was the winner of her own game? Notice how she told MIB, "Thank you!" after he stabbed her? It's like she'd been there forever and was finally getting the release of death. She had two candidates to replace her and she had chosen --- or, as Jacob suspected... she was left with --- our blond demi-god. He drank the cup of wine (with what poultice in it? Island Woman had been at her mortar and pestal again) and was the one.

 

Something changed for Jacob, tho. He didn't need plant mixtures, etc. to do his workings. All he needed was his touch.

 

I think we may have discovered Widmore's quest last night, tho. He is like so many of the men who come to the island seeking the source of that light. As Island Woman said, if men were allowed to have or steal bits of it, soon it would all be gone. It may confound you and have every fan saying, "WHAT IS IT!?!?" but I think you do have to admire the extra-textual bow to the "Pulp Fiction" briefcase.

 

My working theory is that inside the cave is... a large balance scale and the entry point to hell. Remember how Jacob described the Island to Richard. It is the cork on the bottle that contains evil, the devil, hell, whatever you want to call it. Perhaps MIB entered Hell as he passed under that lintel stone, but owing to the rules, some part of him couldn't die, he is a special form of what's come to be called "island dead." That seems to be what he meant by, "Jacob stole my body" in "Ab Aeterno."

 

Still trying to piece some things together, and I'm going to re-watch and read Doc Jensen's column before I give any decision. I thought it was a very good ep, tho. There are some who won't like the mythology and some who see value in it by way of translating events of the distant past into more present-day events.

[duey]

Given how pumped up I was for this episode, I came away somewhat disappointed. Finding out that the two were twins was interesting, but I thought that too much time was spent on when they were kids. I felt that the portion of the episode where Jacob and MIB were adults was disjointed and rushed. And I completely agree with azjepp that the whole donkey wheel scenario makes no sense at all. MIB’s comments about there being a lot of smart people who have figured things out was completely meaningless and smacked of a rushed answer to our questions regarding the islands electromagnetic powers, the well and the light. 30 years of MIB's life, where he gained all this experience and understanding of the island, were touched upon in one statement. I really don’t see how what MIB explained to his mother in the hole makes any sense in conjunction with the rest of the story. In fact, it actually raises even more questions for me.

 

The issues that the writers tried to address last night really needed at least two episodes to explore and properly resolve. Think about it...after nearly six seasons of build up, we had the entire mystical explanation of the island and its two principle players jammed down our throats in about 45 minutes.

 

Perhaps crazy womans statement to Claudia is the also the writers advice to us as well..."Every question [i answer] will simply lead to another question."

[Cugalabanza]

I liked it. Yes, it raised more questions than it answered. But something about this episode is kind of haunting. It made me have weird dreams last night. There’s such a sadness at the core of the Lost story. The sadness that humanity can never stop destroying itself.

 

I understand how people see the whole “protecting the light” thing as hokey. The way this show has building with such huge themes... I don’t think it’s possible to meet all the expectations of the fans when it comes time to reveal the central mythology. Anyway, that stuff is out of the way, now we can see how they reconcile the two alternate time-line universes.

[DrDawkinstein]

i liked this episode a lot. we got a TON of answers:

 

Jacob and MiB's origins. How they got to the Island and where they are from. They were not born Gods and this was going on long before they arrived on the Island. They are twin brothers whose real mother was killed by the keeper of the Island who needed a candidate to take her place.

 

How MiB became smokey. Jacob threw him into the same energy he was supposed to be protecting. This is how Jacob took MiB's humanity. And also gives some history as to why Smokey can't touch water.

 

How the Donkey Wheel was put into place. We now know that it was MiB's original pack who dug the wells and found the other pockets of energy. It was their idea to put the donkey wheel in place. Even though we saw his mother destroy it, you can assume that sometime over the next 2000 years MiB had a chance to rebuild it. Most likely by conning some visitors to build it for him.

 

The origins of the game. MiB said it himself "someday you'll get to make up the rules to your own game". We just dont know what the exact rules are. And Im not sure either Jacob or MiB do either. Might be a make it up as you go kinda thing.

 

How you officially become protector of the Island. You drink the wine.

 

Whose side is Widmore on/What is he after. He's on his own side, after the energy like many before him. He doesnt care about the game. As a matter of fact, he wants/needs the protectors gone.

 

Who Adam and Eve are. Smokey and Mom.

 

The list goes on....

 

 

I can understand that some people might find parts of this episode "cheesy", but it answered a TON of questions and gave us a glimpse at the "beginning" of our story.

[Cugalabanza]

How you officially become protector of the Island. You drink from the wine.

I can't remember exactly: Didn't Richard drink from the wine? I know that Jacob offered him some and then gave his analogy of the island as the cork. Did they show Richard actually drink it?

[DrDawkinstein]

And wtf is this idea that "channeling water and light" with a donkey wheel will somehow be his ticket off the island? I don't get it...

 

 

That was ridiculous.. something a 3rd-grader would've come up with.

 

And yet, it works. Those who turn the wheel are transported to the Tunisian desert. So they figured out something. we already knew "how" the donkey wheel worked. this just explained who put it there and why.

 

are you guys really expecting an exact scientific answer as to how a donkey wheel imbedded in an energy pocket can transport you? cmon, you gotta suspend some reality here and there, this IS a sci-fi show after all.

[RayFinkle]

And yet, it works. Those who turn the wheel are transported to the Tunisian desert. So they figured out something. we already knew "how" the donkey wheel worked. this just explained who put it there and why.

 

are you guys really expecting an exact scientific answer as to how a donkey wheel imbedded in an energy pocket can transport you? cmon, you gotta suspend some reality here and there, this IS a sci-fi show after all.

I don't think anybody was expecting an exact answer, but to just give a 30 second explination that some smart men from 2000 years ago figured out how to harness "the light" with the use of a donkey wheel was weak.

[DrDawkinstein]

I don't think anybody was expecting an exact answer, but to just give a 30 second explination that some smart men from 2000 years ago figured out how to harness "the light" with the use of a donkey wheel was weak.

 

what did you want instead? what would have been a better explanation? just curious...

 

i think it makes perfect sense. it didnt really need to be explained HOW it works, i always just wanted to know WHO put it there. and now we know. it was Smokey trying to get off the island.

[DrDawkinstein]

For all you haters, a good argument from darkufo:

 

I think this episode works on a more figurative level than a literal one. OK, it LITERALLY sucked (I've never said that about an episode of LOST in my entire life and me uttering those words is like a devout Christian saying Jesus was a dickwad). But figuratively, it works. Bear with me.

 

1.) If we thought this episode sucked we have no one to blame but ourselves and our insatiability for the unanswerable.

 

"What is the Smoke Monster and how did it come to exist?"

 

"Why are Jacob and MIB so important?"

 

"What is the island?"

 

These are all metaphysical and almost spiritual answers that were better left unanswered. Imagine if the bible literally answered questions like "How was Jesus resurrected?" "How was it possible to change Water into Wine?" "Why was Jesus special?"...and you might be saying "Well, duh, Jesus was special because he was born to the Virgin Mary and the son of God"...but if this was LOST fans, they would be asking "OMG, just new questions...How was someone born to a virgin??" "Why is GOD so important??" (and you don't believe me, check out all the threads saying "OMG, Where did Jacob's mother come from and why was she the protector??" "What is the LIGHT in the CAVE!?!" Would they REALLY be satisfied if they delved into a whole episode trying to explain that?? I think not.

 

Full Article: http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/2010/05...-brilliant.html

[duey]

I can see everyones points on taking certain things on faith and having to live with not having all my questions answered...I mean, that's pretty much what this show has made us do for six years. I just felt that last night episode lacked the depth of detail that I've come to appreciate and expect. Again, I think it comes down to the fact that the writers were faced with addressing all the issues associated with Jacob, MIB and the mystery of the island in one episode. Lots of things were touched upon, just not with a lot of explanation or detail.

[UConn James]

Also makes you think about when it was that Locke turned the wheel near the Orchid station. After another timeflash, the well was filled with dirt. It's also quite possible that the explanation of the light / wheel isn't over yet. I feel that Ben may have more to add. But if an further explanation doesn't happen, is that so bad? We've lived with a fair amount of vaguery since the start, we live with vaguery every day. Some things don't require a molecular-level description --- it's enough to understand the basic precepts. This may very well be a place where as Lindelof explained, we'll have to just accept, similar to "The Force" in Star Wars.

 

Was it necessary to see why the detonation fuse blew out on the Black Rock? Do we need to have a flashback to 1830 at the fuse's building to see that there was a malfunction in the process? No. All we need to know is that the fuse went out. What happened / needed to happen, happened.

[duey]

We also were not told here, but it's in the air everywhere that the time of Claudia's arrival to the island was 23 AD.

Dude...I meant to ask you...how did you get that date? What did I miss? I figured we were looking at this all taking place some time ago, but 2,000 years? Provide me with the clarification I obviously missed last night! Thanks.

[DrDawkinstein]

Dude...I meant to ask you...how did you get that date? What did I miss? I figured we were looking at this all taking place some time ago, but 2,000 years? Provide me with the clarification I obviously missed last night! Thanks.

 

it's been floating around the internet. they never actually said it in the episode. but a lot of "leaks" report the same information. it'd be a good guess, and it's one of the numbers.

[DrDawkinstein]

Also makes you think about when it was that Locke turned the wheel near the Orchid station. After another timeflash, the well was filled with dirt. It's also quite possible that the explanation of the light / wheel isn't over yet. I feel that Ben may have more to add. But if an further explanation doesn't happen, is that so bad? We've lived with a fair amount of vaguery since the start, we live with vaguery every day. Some things don't require a molecular-level description --- it's enough to understand the basic precepts. This may very well be a place where as Lindelof explained, we'll have to just accept, similar to "The Force" in Star Wars.

 

Was it necessary to see why the detonation fuse blew out on the Black Rock? Do we need to have a flashback to 1830 at the fuse's building to see that there was a malfunction in the process? No. All we need to know is that the fuse went out. What happened / needed to happen, happened.

 

exactly, ive said the same thing even in this thread, that we're better off NOT having everything explained because there is no way they can define an explanation as well as the ones we have in our head. we're better off with a little mystery. explaining the force is a perfect example. you just have to believe people! just ask Locke and Jack!

[duey]

it's been floating around the internet. they never actually said it in the episode. but a lot of "leaks" report the same information. it'd be a good guess, and it's one of the numbers.

Gotcha. With all my spoiler hunting I seem to have missed that! LOL

 

So...since this game between Jacob and MIB having been going on for 2,000 years, one can see why MIB is starting to get a little antsy about making this finally work out.

[DrDawkinstein]

Gotcha. With all my spoiler hunting I seem to have missed that! LOL

 

So...since this game between Jacob and MIB having been going on for 2,000 years, one can see why MIB is starting to get a little antsy about making this finally work out.

 

the craziest thing, imo, is that MiB wants so badly to go "home" yet he has no idea what home is. the Island is all he's ever known. kinda seems foolish.

[Lurker]

Think about it...after nearly six seasons of build up, we had the entire mystical explanation of the island and its two principle players jammed down our throats in about 45 minutes.

That's how I felt, as well. The mythology is what we've been building up to, but the results felt rushed and to be honest, amateurish.

 

Questions abound. If MIB is dead and needs a 'host body' to manifest himself as human, why do we see him sitting next to Jacob on the beach in the "I've found a loophole scene?" Who are the 'smart people' who enlighted MIB about how to manipulate the light? An on and on...

 

There's a lot to wrap up in the final 3.5 hours and I hope the storyline is better than last night...

[duey]

the craziest thing, imo, is that MiB wants so badly to go "home" yet he has no idea what home is. the Island is all he's ever known. kinda seems foolish.

I think his desire to leave is more rooted in the fact that he feels he was terribly betrayed by psuedo-mom than a true desire just to get off the island. Psuedo-mom lied to him about everything, so he wants to do exactly what she said he couldn't do...leave and go to a place she said didn't exist. The fact that this desire has now festered for 2,000 years has only notched up the motiviation factor.