LOST...Season 6

[UConn James]

Is it because LOST your life had no meaning? I only ask because I heard Jacob's speech I felt like he was talking more to the viewers then the remaining candidates. Maybe it's just me. Thanks for the confirmation on the Hurley thing too as it proved interesting.

 

In terms of some other thoughts I didn't get to post prior. It definitely sounds like Desmond and the light are going to play a big part. Ben is the most evil SOB in the history of television but as UConn James comment I love him to death. That said I have to think that Ben is playing Flocke as can't see him killing the rest of the Lostaways. As I can't see him wanting to be all alone on the island by himself. Also what is going on with Claire? Flocke leaves her at the dock by the sub and we haven't seen her since.

 

 

That seems to be the way things are leading to.

 

I dunno. It's kind of weird to write on paper, but it's really changed my perspective/philosophy on life vis-a-vis we're only here b/c there is some purpose or other that we have to fulfill, after which time, we go. Stop being worried all the time about this or that trivial matter... trivial crap will tend to fall into place and work out in the end. Now, I don't advocate playing Russian Roulette to see whether your time/purpose is up, but there is a refreshing take-charge/do-what-you-need-to-do attitude there.

[John Adams]

I dunno. It's kind of weird to write on paper, but it's really changed my perspective/philosophy on life vis-a-vis we're only here b/c there is some purpose or other that we have to fulfill, after which time, we go. Stop being worried all the time about this or that trivial matter... trivial crap will tend to fall into place and work out in the end. Now, I don't advocate playing Russian Roulette to see whether your time/purpose is up, but there is a refreshing take-charge/do-what-you-need-to-do attitude there.

 

Yes, that is weird. LOST inspires me to want to go to Hawaii.

 

The only big question that it looks like they will answer soon is WTF is the sideways universe about. The "light" may come to light, if you will, when Des goes down the chute.

 

The Jacob/MIB/CJ rules and relationship will probably remain unanswered.

[Lockport Bills]

Any thoughts as to the cause of Jack's neck wound? We saw it while he was on 815 in the sideways world and once again last night. My guess is that it could be foreshadowing Ben trying to kill Jack. Seems far too obvious though...

[UConn James]

Doc Jensen's LOST recap (how many of you are sick of the word "penultimate" by now?): The Will And the Way... To the End

 

On his Friday posting, Doc amended the date of the "Across the Sea" goings-on to ~500 B.C. This was in response to a quote from Carlton Cuse.

[Cugalabanza]

Any thoughts as to the cause of Jack's neck wound? We saw it while he was on 815 in the sideways world and once again last night. My guess is that it could be foreshadowing Ben trying to kill Jack. Seems far too obvious though...

I've wondered about that too. I've read somewhere that he may have had a similar injury on the island just before the nuke detonation, but I don't recall it.

[MattyT]

Any thoughts as to the cause of Jack's neck wound? We saw it while he was on 815 in the sideways world and once again last night. My guess is that it could be foreshadowing Ben trying to kill Jack. Seems far too obvious though...

stigmata

[Justice]

I loved last night's episode! The only problem I had was a gosh darn power outage and "lost", no pun intended, the first 19 minutes of the show.

 

Did they show Des kicking Ben's @**? Oh well, I'll watch it all online before Sunday.

 

BTW. In the past, Ben was unable to kill Widmore off the island, why was he able to do it last night???

[Simon]

You know.....I don't think I've ever been this engrossed in a television show. At least, not for this long. Same for my wife. I feel sort of embarrassed admitting this, but the ending of this show is going to leave us both feeling a bit......uh....Llllll.....nope, I'm not going to say it......

Or is is just me?

I watch football, hockey, some basketball, documentaries and the occasional animated sitcom. But this is the only television "show" I've ever watched in my entire life. Hell, my daughter even uses it as an excuse to drive home from school for a home cooked meal and hang out every Tuesday night. It will definitely be weird to not gather around the TV with my wife and kids one night a week. I'll miss it.

 

In the fall, there is another show that has some promise: Terra Nova, produced by Steven Spielberg.

Terra Nova

From the article: "Time-travel series Terra Nova to use writers from 24"

Considering that i once made the mistake of watching about 5 minutes of that show and found it among the stupidest most pathetic things I have ever seen, I'm kind of doubting that those writers' next effort will serve as any sort of panacea.

[Doc]

Doc Jensen's LOST recap (how many of you are sick of the word "penultimate" by now?): The Will And the Way... To the End

 

On his Friday posting, Doc amended the date of the "Across the Sea" goings-on to ~500 B.C. This was in response to a quote from Carlton Cuse.

How does that jibe with Jacob's "adoptive" mother speaking English with no accent, while his birth mother spoke another language and with an accent? I was thinking more early 1800's.

[UConn James]

Points from the Doc, re-enforcing the Compatibilist nature of the candidates being drawn to the Island. Was it pure Free Will? No. Nor was it pure Determinist:

 

But the charge remains: Jacob the Puppet Master unfairly pulled the strings on castaway lives and subverted their free will. Jacob's defense — and Lost's defense — would seem to be that the castaways have always had total control over the things that matter most from an eternal perspective: their internal lives, their character, their soul. ''What They Died For'' gave us a scene in the Sideways narrative that could be seen as a metaphor for the Jacob/Lost stance on the relationship between free will and fate. Desmond, the Jacob analog, broke Kate and Sayid out of jail — but they had no idea they had been liberated until Desmond spelled it out in the van. And even then, they didn't really believe it. Kate and Sayid had been oblivious to Desmond's machinations, but they were also powerless to stop the prison wagon from reaching Desmond's destination for them. Still, during the trip, they retained total authority over their inner lives, and upon their arrival, they had the freedom to do as they wish. Their actions may have forced Desmond into a response, but at no point did anyone hold a gun to their heads. In fact, the only manipulation Desmond used was holding them to their word to do as they promised — to have integrity, to be people of their word. We can't control our circumstances, but we can control our response to our circumstances. It may sound a little trite, but it's also the defining theme of our catastrophe decade.

 

Further to duey's thoughts of the Light, Doc both elaborated and offered a competing theory of what will happen. I can dig it. But I'm not sure that it will be distributed to all of humanity. It might be enough to remain among our Lostaways. And, it seems that might be the case in the Sideways world, as these people seem to have much better lives:

 

(All this said, I do find myself wondering if the current conflict on The Island can and will be resolved by a paradigm shift in thinking about The Source. The Island needs The Source — but does The Source really need The Island? We've been told that a little bit of the light exists in everyone. Well, why not take a cue from Hurley's Parable of the Hatch Pantry and just divide the rest of The Source equally among all people? Why not make humanity itself the exclusive dwelling place of The Source? It's time to decentralize! It's time for Mystic Reformation! That's my theory of Desmond. I think super-Buddha is going to get dropped into the Holy Wormhole and will absorb all the energy into himself and then redistribute it throughout all of mankind. The Source needs a guardian. But what it needs even more is for all of us to guard it.)

 

(And as I finish the preceding parenthetical, another one hit me. What if once upon a time, The Source did reside within all of humanity? What if we stopped believing in The Source, or we convinced ourselves that The Source stopped believing in us, so much so that now The Source exists as an anomaly that's hidden away from us — as something lost that must be found. The Truth Is Out There — but once, The Truth Was In Here.)

[UConn James]

How does that jibe with Jacob's "adoptive" mother speaking English with no accent, while his birth mother spoke another language and with an accent? I was thinking more early 1800's.

 

That was generally agreed upon here to be introduced in Latin, then in a kind of "The Hunt for Red October" fashion, they used a chime to indicate a switchover to English so we wouldn't have a show full of captions (and it makes it a little easier on the actors, don't you know). You must go with the premise that all the while, these people were speaking Latin.... just it's been translated / spoken into English for us. Just like HFRO went under the auspice that Russian was spoken on the Soviet sub.

[Doc]

That was generally agreed upon here to be introduced in Latin, then in a kind of "The Hunt for Red October" fashion, they used a chime to indicate a switchover to English so we wouldn't have a show full of captions (and it makes it a little easier on the actors, don't you know). You must go with the premise that all the while, these people were speaking Latin.... just it's been translated / spoken into English for us. Just like HFRO went under the auspice that Russian was spoken on the Soviet sub.

I missed them speaking in Latin.

[udonkey]

I missed them speaking in Latin.

 

Initially upon "Mother" walking up on Claudia by the stream and their first few sentences once in the cave. Then it switched to English entirely before Claudia went into labor.

[extrahammer]

Stop being worried all the time about this or that trivial matter... trivial crap will tend to fall into place and work out in the end.

 

Great words UConn, reminds me of this quote from Steve Jobs: “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

 

I started watching LOST my senior year in college based on a friend, who's in the TV business, who told me that "It's the best show in the history of television." Since then, I've watched Seasons 4, 5, and 6 play out week to week. I introduced my girlfriend to the show and all of season 5 and 6 we've watched together each week. We cook stir fry every LOST night instead of scratch pizza.

 

The best part is talking about things after the show with people. For me every morning I get to work I play on the computer for a little bit and TSW LOST threads are my first reads (even though I don't post too often). I love reading people's analysis and different interpretations. I'm not too big on theorizing the show, I'd much rather just enjoy the show for what it is and the way DL and CC wrote it. However, again, reading other people's very creative and interesting theories has not only be fun but also enlightening. It's really cool how it brought a lot of things together and how so many people will change their routine after the show ends.

 

I've watched half the series on DVD in 3 weeks and half the series in 3 years. I must say I've enjoyed the 3 years more than anything as it makes you appreciate the show even more. This season has had the best episodes compared to any other and I can't wait to finally see how it all ends.

 

Thanks to UConn James, Tgregg, The Jokeman, huey, and all the others for making these threads really really cool.

[duey]

MrJ...this is what has made this show so special. After the hour is over, you don't just switch to something else and forget it. I for one usually sit in stunned silence for a few minutes as I start to digest what I've just seen. Then my wife and I rehash the episode for another hour before we crash for the night. The next day brings the start of post-episode discussion on this board which usually carries through to the following week. I've never watched another show that inspired such thought and discussion.

 

As I mentioned up the thread a bit, this banter is one of the things I'm going to miss the most. I'm hoping that a Lost thread will always be up and active, because as many of the other posters here have pointed out, there will be lots left over to think about, discuss and analyze.

[DrDawkinstein]

MrJ...this is what has made this show so special. After the hour is over, you don't just switch to something else and forget it. I for one usually sit in stunned silence for a few minutes as I start to digest what I've just seen. Then my wife and I rehash the episode for another hour before we crash for the night. The next day brings the start of post-episode discussion on this board which usually carries through to the following week. I've never watched another show that inspired such thought and discussion.

 

As I mentioned up the thread a bit, this banter is one of the things I'm going to miss the most. I'm hoping that a Lost thread will always be up and active, because as many of the other posters here have pointed out, there will be lots left over to think about, discuss and analyze.

 

yep, feel the exact same way. even down to that post-show wonderment. i think that is why it was nearly impossible to get into V. i was never able to go right from LOST to another show and not be bored, or constantly thinking about LOST. any other show just doesnt live up.

[DrFishfinder]

yep, feel the exact same way. even down to that post-show wonderment. i think that is why it was nearly impossible to get into V. i was never able to go right from LOST to another show and not be bored, or constantly thinking about LOST. any other show just doesnt live up.

Bingo. Going from Lost to V is like going from Hitchcock to Pauly Shore. Or something like that.

[duey]

Bingo. Going from Lost to V is like going from Hitchcock to Pauly Shore. Or something like that.

+1

 

My wife and I tried too, but to no avail. Discussing what we just witnessed and reading Doc Jensen's immediate reaction were far more rewarding and entertaining.

[UB2SF]

I need help with a question my wife and I were pondering last night. A seemingly simple question. Like everything on Lost, the fact that we were unable to answer the question left us simultaneously frustrated and amazed/amused. Maybe our confusion was due to the intricacies overwhelming the big picture; maybe it was due to the "answers will be questioned" approach of the show; maybe it was due to the numerous micro-brew IPAs that were consumed prior to the viewing!

 

Anyway, what we're trying to figure out is why the episode was called "What they died for". Was that question ever answered? If so, what's the answer?

 

(I feel dense asking such a basic question among the TBD community of Lost wonks.)

[Cugalabanza]

...why the episode was called "What they died for"...

From Lostpedia's episode summary...

 

As night falls, Hurley leads Kate, Sawyer and Jack to Jacob's fire. Jacob greets them by their first names. Hurley is surprised that they can all see Jacob. Kate asks Jacob whether he is the one who wrote the names on the wall, and whether it is their candidacy that ultimately led to their deaths. She also demands to know that Sun and Jin and Sayid didn't die for nothing. Jacob says he will tell the group what they died for and why he chose them. He adds that by the time the fire is out one of them will have to take his place as protector of the Island.

 

Jacob explains that a very long time ago he made a mistake, and as a result there is a good chance that everyone is going to die. He acknowledges that he is responsible for the current state of the Man in Black. The Monster has been trying to kill him and that when it succeeded, someone would have to replace him: that is why he brought them all to the Island. Challenged by Sawyer, Jacob explains that he didn't drag anyone out of a happy existence but that they were all flawed. He says that he chose them because they were all like him - all alone, all looking for something that they couldn't find. He says he chose them because they needed the Island as much as the Island needed them. Jacob tells Kate her name was crossed off because she became a mother, but that she is not disqualified. He explains that the task for the candidate is to protect the light at the center of the Island.

 

Jack takes the job as an act of choice. Jacob says that they must do what he couldn't do: kill "him". Jack asks whether that is even possible and Jacob says that he hopes so because "he" is certainly going to try to kill them. Jacob offers the remaining candidates a choice of who will take his place - Jack accepts, acknowledging that he is on the island for this very purpose. Jacob asks Jack to affirm this decision, and is pleased when he does.

 

Jacob takes Jack to the creek. As the others watch from a distance Jacob tells Jack where to find the light at the heart of the Island, explaining that while Jack has never seen the light before, he will be able to find it now that he has been chosen to protect it. Jacob asks Jack for his tin cup, which he fills with water, recites an incantation, and solemnly offers the cup to Jack. Before he drinks, Jack asks about the duration of the job he is about to accept - Jacob tells him he must do it "as long as you can." Jack drinks. Jacob embraces him and says "Now you are like me."

 

Not exactly specific, but I think we are to take from it that they died as a part of this candidate process to, essentially, save the world.