Category Archives: Mysteries — unsolved

Poll: What will we learn about the sideways world, in the finale?

Posted on May 21, 2010 | Leave a comment


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Posted in Polls guessing about the end, Sideways world

The Question of Free Will in LOST

Posted on April 5, 2010 | Leave a comment
Flocke and Sun 6x10 The Package

Flocke gesturing at Sun in 6x10 The Package

Did you notice how in the last episode, 6×10 The Package, Flock said that he wanted Sun to make a free choice to join him?

Sun, to Locke: You killed those people at the Temple.

Locke: Those people were confused. They were lied to. I didn’t want to hurt them. Any one of them could have chosen to come with me. And I’m giving you that choice Sun, right now. I would never make you do anything against your will. I’m asking you. Please. Come with me.

That reminded me of the way that Jacob had talked about choice:

Jacob to Hurley, in The Incident: All you have to do is get on that plane. It’s your choice, Hugo. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.
—————-

Jacob to Ben, in The Incident: Benjamin, whatever he’s told you, I want you to understand one thing. You have a choice.

Ben: What choice?

Jacob: You can do what he asked, or you can go.

We saw something similar with Dogen, Lennon, and Jack in What Kate Does:

Dogen wraps a capsule in a piece of paper, and says something in Japanese.

Lennon, to Jack: He says you have to give your friend this pill.

Jack: Are you serious? Why don’t you give it to him?

Lennon: Because it won’t work unless he takes it willingly, and he won’t take it willingly from us.

What are we to make of this? Could it be that the MiB/Flocke, Jacob, and Dogen were all equally bound by some rule which says they should not force people to do anything against their will? Does forcing people to take action somehow undermine the validity or power of those actions, as Lennon suggested? What is so special, in the Island world, about choices that are made freely?

Or was Flocke just b.s.-ing Sun? After all, when Sun did make her choice — to turn Locke down — instead of accepting her choice, Flocke ran after her, which suggests he might have intended to try force instead.

Flocke running after Sun LOST 6x10 The Package

Flocke running after Sun

Also, to what extent can Zombie Sayid be said to have made a free choice to join Locke?

Screencap of Locke gesturing at Sun is from Lost-Media.com. Screencap of Locke running after Sun is from Lostpedia.

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Posted in 6x10 The Package, Destiny versus Free Will, Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim)

Ben in the teacher’s lounge, and some thoughts about the Sideways world

Posted on March 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

In honor of the Ben-centric episode Dr. Linus coming up tonight, I wanted to take another look at this clip from The Substitute.

Starting at 0:52, we see Sideways Ben, wearing a sweater vest, in the teacher’s lounge, fussing over the coffeepot, saying:

How many times do we have to go over this. If you have the last cup of coffee, you remove the filter, and throw it away. Fear not, I will make a fresh pot

Sideways Ben in LOST 6x04 The Substitute

"If you have the last cup of coffee ... "

Every office, every workplace has someone like this. Here, in this sideways school, Ben is that guy. Michael Emerson’s inflection is perfect. I think everyone who has ever worked anywhere that had a communal coffeepot must feel at least a twinge of recognition.

What I love about this scene:

— It’s so real, such a part of everyday life, yet something that doesn’t often get portrayed in a drama, especially not a drama tackling such big issues as good versus evil, free will versus destiny, and faith versus reason.

— Michael Emerson is an acting god. To go from the terrifying Henry Gale of Season 2, to the prissy sweater-vest guy in this clip — and to make each one absolutely 100% convincing — is sheer genius.

— Sideways Ben and Sideways Locke seem to have an instant rapport, a mutual respect. Very interesting.

Sideways Ben and Locke in LOST 6x04 The Substitute

"Tea? Now there's a gentleman's drink."

I also wonder what this scene tells us about the sideways world.

We’ve seen some of the sideways characters get what they want or need: Locke gets Helen, a good future, a sense of humor about his plight, and a healthy sense of boundaries. Hurley gets good luck. Kate gets away. But the sideways world isn’t a Disnified land where all dreams come true. Sayid gets to be with Nadia, but only on the fringes of her life. And everyone still seems to be controlled by their character. Hurley is still warm-hearted, but Sayid is still violent.

What does it mean, then, that Ben, the larger-than-life arch-villain in the Island world, here seems so ordinary? What did Jacob do (if it was, in fact, Jacob who did it) to transform this Milquetoast into a cool killer?

Or is Ben not quite as ordinary as he seems here? That’s a possibility. Maybe we’ll find out more about that tonight, in Dr. Linus.

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Posted in 6x04 The Substitute, 6x07 Dr. Linus, Ben (Michael Emerson), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sideways world

Official video podcast featuring Evangeline Lilly

Posted on February 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

In this video podcast Evangeline Lilly rehashes 6×03, the Kate-centric episode, and talks about her character. Also, Damon and Carlton promise that we will see more about the numbers.

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Posted in 6x03 What Kate Does, Damon and Carlton, Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Official video podcasts, The numbers

No time travel? Hmmm ….

Posted on February 3, 2010 | 2 comments

Kate and Claire in cab

In interviews last year, Darlton repeatedly said that there would be no time travel in Season 6.

Yet we just saw the LOST-ies move not only sideways, but also backwards in time to Flight 815. The Dharma LOST-ies also moved forward in time, up to the present.

If that’s not time travel, what is it?

Maybe what Darlton meant is that there wouldn’t be any more time travel. I guess technically the LOST-ies moved foward, sideways, and back during the last second of Season 5, during the white flash. Which would mean they were already in their new timelines by the time Season 6 began. So unless Darlton are totally (as opposed to only somewhat) pulling our legs, perhaps we can expect that the LOST-ies won’t be moving out of the new timelines where they’ve already landed.

But does that mean they will be stuck in dual timelines forever?

My head hurts. I need Hurley to explain this all to me. 😉

Screencap of Kate and Claire in cab from lost-media.com.

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Posted in 6x01-02 LA X, Damon and Carlton, Time travel

LOST University sneak peek — wormholes

Posted on December 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

Here’s a little excerpt from Lost University PHY101.2 “The Physics of Time Travel.” The professor explains how you might be able to travel through time and space via “wormholes.”

This almost makes sense to me, which is spooky!

Courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. ©ABC Studios

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Posted in LOST University, Time travel

Author of the chessboard poem in the Spanish LOST promo

Posted on November 30, 2009 | 16 comments
Hand placing four-toed statue on chessboard (Detail from Cuatro LOST Season 6 promo)

Hand placing four-toed statue on chessboard (Detail from Cuatro Season 6 promo)

The Spanish station Cuatro, which ran the hauntingly beautiful chess-themed LOST Season 6 promo, announced a contest earlier today based on that promo.

Here’s my translation of what Cuatro posted on its site, done with my semi-remembered high school/college Spanish, with a lot of help from Google Translate. It may not be 100% accurate, but I think it’s close enough:

Carlton Cuse, the creator and writer of LOST, just sent a Twitter message saying that the promo Cuatro made for the final season of the series is the best LOST promo he has seen.

We propose a game based on the promo. The original text was not written by Cuatro. Can you tell us who the author is and what work it is from? Answer the question here, and get a photo signed by the stars of the series. The first person with the correct answer will get the prize.

To participate in the contest, you must be registered on the Cuatro site with your full name, address, phone, and email.

At the time I saw this post on the Cuatro site, there were already 11 pages of answers! It’s too late to win, but if you are playing along at home, the answer is below:
Continue reading →

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Posted in Chess promo (Cuatro), Destiny versus Free Will, Opening Scene of Season 5 Finale, Season 6