LOST my mind: Theory edition

19 February 2009

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We’re taking a break … no not like in Friends … from reviewing old episodes of LOST. Yeah, I know I’ve only done two so far, and yeah, I’m going to continue to do them, but I just had to get my theories down so we can begin the discussion here.

I think my theory is pretty sound given what we know now and what rules LOST has provided for us.

Forgive me if I jump around a lot. Ask questions, post your additions … let’s get this party started right!

Why do they need to go back?
That’s a big question. Why do these 6 people need to go back to the island? And why, according to last night’s episode, did they risk all the lives of the people on that Indian Airline to save a handful of people’s lives?

I’ll try to explain, but it helps if you have a working knowledge of “time travel”. When you travel in time, your body (aka you) are always moving forward, so if you are 30 years old now, travel back 10 years, you will still be 30, however your other you will be 20. There will be 2 instances of yourself. Think of Back to the Future when Marty went back to 1955 in pt. II. He saw his previous instance of himself trying to help his parents fall in love. I think LOST operates on this time travel aspect.

So, what happens, happens. It happens for a reason, and sometimes events spur events that spur themselves.

For example:
Daniel Faraday sees his mother, Ellie, when she is young on the Island. Daniel tells Ellie about time travel, which piques her interest in time travel. She learns about it, has a son, names him Daniel, then teaches him about time travel, then he goes back in time, etc etc. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Each event is completely dependent on the other happening. It’s just the way it is.

There are other instances of this happening in LOST, perhaps many instances, but I suspect there is at least one instance of it that is the story behind the main storyline, which I will go over in a minute.

Other instances I’ve noticed:

I think Hurley is the person repeating the numbers when Danielle and her team hear the recording for the first time. The guy in the tropics hears the numbers, goes nuts, then tells regular timeline Hurley about them in the insane asylum.

Charles Widmore is Desmond’s son. Eloise told Desmond that he and Penny would never marry. We don’t know if Des and Penny are married, but we do know they have a son, Charlie. If they aren’t married, that makes their son Charlie Widmore, potentially. Charles has been transported to the past, grown up, adopted Penny as Ben adopted Alex as his “daughter” to protect and shelter (and spend time with) his mother … Penny. Perhaps there is some event in which Charles becomes angry at Desmond … maybe Desmond is the reason his mother is killed, and Charles takes the name Widmore. I don’t know. But the way it happens, happens. All I know is Penny is Charles’ mom. Still working on this part.

So now we’ve laid the framework, we can get to my main theory — why it’s so imparitive these folks return to the island and why Ben knows everything about them all.

They need to go back because everything in the island’s history is predicated on them.

If the main characters somehow get time displaced to, 1700 or something (just throwing out a time), they become the “original inhabitants” of the island and thus everything in time is based on their actions, their childrens’ actions, and so on. If they don’t return and fulfill their destiny, then it would be a time paradox and everything would cease to be.

The survivors are like superstars on this island. Everyone knows everything about them. Ben Linus has literally decades to watch them, research them and build files on them. He has years to plan how to get all of these folks on the plane, (as we’ve uncovered in some of our research already with Shannon and Boone). We know the “psychic” Claire went to see was adamant that she be on that flight. Some events just happened, of course, but others needed prodding.

So if they never go back, then everything in the Island’s history would cease to exist, and thus, would be a paradox. They had to go back because they already had.

Just how they go back, I don’t know, but I suspect that Jack and Kate are the Adam and Eve skeletons uncovered early on in the series. The writers have stated that those skeletons will prove that they knew where this storyline was going from the beginning. This would prove it.

Other quick hits:

Who is Jacob?
Jacob is either Jack or someone related to Jack. The name Jack could be a derivative of Jacob, just like my name is Bradley but people call me Brad. Jacob could also be Jack and Kate’s son that’s yet to be born. I believe Kate is pregnant, having been fertilized the night before they came back to the island. Does Locke know? Perhaps. I haven’t really figured that out yet, but I don’t think it matters. The people in the cabin are Christian, Jack’s dad, and Claire, Jack’s sister. Recall that Christian said to Locke, “say hello to my son for me” right before Locke turned the wheel. I don’t think that was a coincidence.

Who is Matthew Abbadon (the skinny dude that is also from Fringe)?
Abbadon is Walt. Why else would the Others want him so badly? Why was he so important for them? Why did he visit Hurley? It’s got to be Walt.

Who is Richard Alpert?
I think he may be one of the “leaders” that has moved the island in the past and returned, or perhaps he is Jack and Kate’s son.

Jack’s eye
We see a lot of Jack. He’s a leader, and he was the first character we saw in the first episode of the series. We keep getting close ups of his eye. Why?

That’s about it for now … the important stuff at least. I’m sure I’m forgetting something. If you have anything to add, please do! I’d love to have help with my theory!

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LOST my mind: 1:2

15 February 2009

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Part 2 in an ongoing series

Notes from the Pilot episode of Lost, part 2:

When the plane crashed, Charlie was in the bathroom near the front of the plane. However, the front of the plane landed in the jungle … Kate, Jack and Charlie made a journey to get the radio, Charlie got his dope …

How did Charlie end up on the beach if he was only 3 rows from that bathroom when the plane crashed?

Sawyer and Sayid get into a fight … Sawyer accuses Sayid of being a terrorist. Jack, and others, break up the fight.
Sawyer says “whatever you say, Doc, you’re the hero” to Jack after Jack tells them to knock it off. I highlight this because I think Jack is instrumental in the storyline yet to come.

When Sayid looks at the radio and tries it out, the radio was on channel 125.300

Retrospect:
In episode 1. Charlie puts tape on his fingers reading “FATE”. Much has been made about fate being predestined. In a future post, I will illustrate my theory on LOST.

Shannon said “that guy at the gate, he wouldn’t let us have our seats in first class … he saved our lives”, during a discussion with Boone. This alludes to the fact that the Others orchestrated who was on the plane, when.

And on of the mysteries we still don’t know the answer to:

Locke was playing backgammon with the white site closest to him.

He explains backgammon to Walt. Talks about backgammon was found in ancient Mesopotamia, and it dates to 5,000 years ago.

Locke says to Walt “two players, 2 sides, one is light one is dark. Walt … do you want to know a secret?”

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LOST my mind: 1:1

12 February 2009

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I’ll admit it. I’m a LOSTaholic. It’s easily my favorite show of all time. My wife and I have watched every episode at least twice.

Tom, I can’t get him into it. That’s his problem.

You can read ABC.com’s official overview HERE. I’m not going to type up a recap. What I am going to do is use this to chronicle things that I notice while re-watching the episodes a few years later and try to tie them into things we know now, 5 years later or so.

If you haven’t seen this episode and don’t want me to spoil anything for you, don’t read any further.

Jack awakens in the jungle, by himself (sort of), in bamboo
How the guy didn’t get impaled is beyond me, but he managed to both not die in a plane crash and escape with a couple scratches on his face and a gash on his back. Consider him lucky. Still, why was he in the jungle? Did he land there, or was he put there by someone? I suspect we’ll find that out in the future. Also note Walt’s dog, Vincent, is running around without a scratch and scares the crap out of Jack as he awakens from “blacking out” as the plane crashed. Why weren’t there other people in bamboo?

As Jack runs to the beach, there is a single white shoe hanging on a tree. Is that significant in any way?

Smoke Monster
We didn’t know what the smoke monster was back then, but we do now. Note the noises it makes: Growling, mechanical … like a drawbridge lowering. If you listen closely you’ll notice that Rose says “That noise sounds familiar”. Also notable, the pilot of the plane is the same guy that plays Parkman on “Heroes”.

But why didn’t the smoke monster eat Jack, Kate or Charlie? We’ve seen it tear some folks up over the course of the last couple seasons. Is this inconsistency from the writers or is it something more?

Familiarity
And adding to Rose’s recollection of the noise of the monster, Kate tells Charlie that he looks familiar. He plays it off as him being famous, as he is the base player for “Drive Shaft” (You all everybody!). But is it more than that?

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