As usual, the excuse of having so little time to actually think about this that I have avoided thinking about it much at all. I am aware that I absolutely need to see this episode one more time to really even have ideas about it.

The Island story was essentially a totally blur. I have no idea what was going on at this time.

The Sideways story was wonderful, but I do wonder at the value of analyzing it too much.

OK. Thinking more about whether the bomb went off. How could the bomb going off cause two timelines? That means in BOTH timelines the bomb went off. In the new LAX timeline, a bomb could have gone off, destroyed the Island somehow, sinking it in the process, and here we are. But In the Island timeline the bomb ALSO went off, “negating” the electromagnetic anomaly (which actually appeared to have subsided already anyway), so they still built the Swan and yaddayadda, everything still happened. Is that possible? I think this show tries to stay within certain plausibility realms, so is it possible for an H-bomb to explode underground and just “negate” electromagnetism and do no real damage to anything else? My point is that we don’t even know that these two timelines resulted from that one action yet, and if they did, will we get a solid answer as to how? I can accept that a bomb could make two timelines, but why would it take out the Island in one and NOT in the other? So what I get MORE is that in one timeline a bomb goes off and in the other, it does NOT. A flash occurs. Why does the flash occur, though? And why such a coincidence? I though “the Island” allowed Juliet to live long enough to make the choice to blow the bomb. She chose to do it, which I think means it happened. But I’m just not straight on how the RESULTS of the H-bomb were different in two timelines. This is messing with my head right now and has nothing to do with this fantastic Locke episode, but it is blocking me.

Locke: I am so happy they gave him a happy redeemed life. I am so happy we get to see him in a world where sure, the universe kicks him around some, but he’s of good humor and realism about it. And Helen, oh Helen, with her “Peace and Karma” shirt and destiny talk, who is this woman? How did they meet? Who is Locke’s “dad” and why are they on good terms? Will we see the wedding and who else will be there? Does Boone still work for his mom’s wedding biz and will he cater or be involved in some way? Is it really any more of a “destined” thing that Locke ran into a spinal surgeon than a wedding caterer or whatever he was? More commentary on each run-in and things later…

Jack, Kate, and now Locke…a nice long look in a mirror. Really? And we’re not going to go with the Looking Glass theory? Oh yes, yes we are. The book even used much chess reference and imagery, which much of the advertisement and attitude for this season has been based on. The White Queen claims to remember future events before they happen, there’s the idea that one exists only in the dreams of another, a black kitten and white kitten (Alice checkmates the King by capturing the Red Queen, which she assumes is the black kitten…), and don’t forget 42 is a common number in Lewis Carroll’s writings. HA! Also, there are lots of deep things that I don’t have the brain capacity to play with at the moment.

Thinking of other looking glass type things, I’m thinking of the idea that two particles across the universe are connected, the one mirrors the actions of the other. Also, the dark/light aspects of this show and how many things occur that involve intermingling of opposites (the dead are alive to Hurley, the continuing faith vs. science/fate vs. coincidence debates, Sayid was a good guy even though he’s sooo a bad guy, blowing up a bomb to SAVE everyone…) And I have to admit some influence by Fringe’s idea of parallel universes, in which communication can be made through mirrors. I really want to see Lost’s take on this. But summary right now is this: Brain. Explode. Or Implode. Depending on which side of the looking glass I’m on.

Have our characters been influenced by their Island exploits (either because they actually did happen, and did happen before this, or because any timeline may be influenced by any other, ripples ripples ripples…even things you did in the future could affect your past. I wonder sometimes if it’s why we remember things wrong, maybe they happened two ways, maybe your brain just adjusted for who you are now, but in any case, that’s how it happened to you now.

The philosophy behind all of this has started to break my brain. The God layers to every aspect of this show…*crack* and I’m still feeling MIB as a Lucifer type character with as many daddy issues as everyone else.

Shall I post this random spew quickly before I think any of it through, probably not. So here goes…

Edited to add:
Questions I thought of reviewing show notes:
Can we believe “candidate” really means “to replace jacob”? And if so, how is that decided? Why was Frank one?
“Shephard” is listed. “Austen” was not, that we saw. But Austen was touched by Jacob. If this was a list of “candidates to replace Jacob,” which I don’t think I believe, then would they have to be male? Why? And we didn’t see Lapidus either. Also, Danny in season 3 said “Shephard wasn’t even on Jacob’s list”… hm. What list was Danny putting his faith in? Or did J have other lists? LISTS!
Can’t wait to see what happens with the ashes Ilana picked up. There are still a lot of questions remaining about where the ashes come from, what makes them powerful. I can’t imagine they are always from previous Jacobs, especially since we saw the same Jacob 150 years ago.
Interested to see where Sawyer’s character goes at this point. I agree with R, the only thing left for him is to die for everyone. And it will be spectacular. I was never so pro-Sawyer as I am now. Con that smoke monster, boy.
Rest of the numbers, I need screenshots, people. Who else was on the cave walls? Who was marked out? If there aren’t two Kwons, then are only “relevant” people are given numbers (whatever those mean)? Are no numbers repeated? How are they determined? How can someone so new as Hurley be 8 if this has always been going on unless Jacob has always known what people were on this list.

Quick thoughts:
Older Aaron or Little Jacob? How did Sawyer see him and Richard didn’t?
Ben Linus, European History teacher! Fantastic!
SMOKEYVISION!
Jacob had a thing for numbers?
Inside Joke!
“And your dad…”
He’s stuck this way now…
The back story was absolutely wonderful. He’s always wanted to be what he isn’t, and finally accepts himself. Even becomes a nerdy teacher
Candidates for taking Jacob’s place as protector? How much to buy of this…
Ilana gathers the ash. Hmm….
Did Sayid ever make contact with the Smoke Monster? (I say this because the popup pointed out that the French dudes got infected after contact with him but we’ve never seen Sayid make contact, but he is infected….)
MIB tastes a bit of water…
I love Sawyer knowing what’s up
The dream posters at Rose’s work….
Rose!
Is Sun the important one? They let Jin out. If he was so important, they’d have kept him, like they did Jack.
The burial: “I’m sorry I murdered him.”
Richard says no to MIB again. And MIB still doesn’t kill him.
Of Mice and Men again
“You know the rules, you can’t kill him.” Referring to Sawyer? Because he’s been touched by Jacob? Or…
“He’s gettin’ pretty ripe!”
The cave, the names…wow. How, why, what?
MIB wants Sawyer alive, he does try to save him from falling. What does he need him to do?

OK, MIB headed up a rebellion, tried to overthrow the big guy, Jakey, Richard was someone he thought he could count on, but who went with Jacob anyway. What happened to his followers? Was his Smokeyhood a punishment?

WTH is MIB’s goal now? Ah, so much thinking to do! Going to have to watch this ep like 3 more times…

Free. Will.

I am not a Kate fan. Having to watch episodes dedicated to her is painful. She’s so worthless and vapid and one-note. She’s a girl. Surely I have many more complaints about the way they write women, but Sawyer said it best: “He’s an Iraqi torturer who shoots kids. He definitely deserves another go around.” Juliet, the super smart and smart-alecky nurturing-but-WILL-shoot-you love of his life…well, she’s just a girl, who needs her? But this is mostly a show—and one of the best shows of all time—about men and their fathers, so really, some negligent form of misogyny is to be expected. So whatever. It’s cool.

OK, upon rewatching last week’s ep, I noticed something I’m sure everyone else noticed before, but the customs lady called Sun ‘Ms. Paik.’ What’s up with that? Are they not married? That was soooo not a flub up. Awesome! I’m excited to find out what’s up with them. I’m not even going to theorize. If succeeding eps follow the path “What Kate Does” took, we may get next to NO relevant in-depth answers as to how people got where they are in Timeline 2.

And they pointed out what I suppose was the primary thing they wanted us to get from the Kierkegaard book. I was all focused on the trusting in the absurd thing, which is still a deal, but they mention it’s a telling of the Abraham/Isaac story, illustrating I suppose just what fun things can happen when one has too much faith in what is clearly absurdity. Did someone say something about sacrificing your child in the name of a man you never met? Ah, faith. Good times. Back to ‘God’ later, but probably not this entry…

Also, I neglected to say how scary it is that Hurley is wearing a red shirt. SPOILER AHEAD!!!!!!!! Supposedly the second to last ep is a Hurley ep though, so maybe nothing to worry about. /SPOILER

Sayid: He’s been claimed. WTH?! Is this the sickness from seasons past? Do you only get it if healed from the waters, or when near death, or is it transferred some other way? (I can’t wait to rewatch all the previous seasons for the severalth time and really see how all this melds together!) Will they bother letting us know how that test works? I don’t mind them not telling if it means better stuff gets told, but still, the ash-blowing thing was weird, right? Was there to be a reaction from the ash when electrified or sweated on or burned, or was it three different tests? Was he in too much pain, not enough? Did he react some weird way? What would ‘passing’ the test look like? Or is this a ‘if she drowns, she’s innocent’ thing? We’ve seen how little Ben came out. They did not apparently need to torture him to see if he was infected/claimed. I wondered if ‘forgetting’ is part of the process, then maybe you can’t remember ‘too much’ about your past or what happened. But Ben remembered his father and Dharma, so surely it’s ok for Sayid to remember a lot about his past. (Unless they DID test Ben or Ben was claimed and they didn’t know, or or or…)

Claire: Oh I love that they so blatantly set up what was going to be the fun end of this ep. We get the Aldo/Justin dreamteam letting it slip that the traps are new and there’s a new Rousseau in town, and of course the whole back story involves a Claire. Does the Island or MIB have NEED of a trap-rigging crazy woman with an accent who’s been separated from her baby? It’s fantastic that she replaces Rousseau. I’m sure I could say many deeper things about it, but it really just is perfect. And to know that this infection is what happened to Claire! So, was she put in the pool or does the sickness happen some other way? (I already asked that, but it applies again.) Did she catch it from Christian? The theory has long been that she died in the mercenary attack and that’s why Miles was looking at her so weird, but considering our latest understanding of Miles’ powers, it’s more likely he was confused by the presence of some other entity, possibly Christian (Smokey?). I don’t know still, actually. Oh, also, this means the Others are aware of Jack’s connection to Claire?! What do they know and why and how?

Miles: WTH is his deal? I first convinced myself that his weird look was because Sayid wasn’t actually dead, but is there more? Considering how he looked at the Claire situation back in S4, maybe he can sense the Smokeyness but doesn’t understand it so he never explains? *shrug*

Tearjerking: The main thing about this episode was just how freakin’ emotional it was. From Sawyer just tearing me UP with his heartbreak over Juliet, to Claire/Kate’s Aaron bonding, to even Kate/NewJack parting…these moments were excellent. They were nearly ruined by the interspersing of those HORRIBLE Kay’s jewelry commercials, but I digress…

Parallels: I bet if I had some time, I could find some good ones between previous stories and this one (I think Kate used the ‘Joan Hart’ alias when she went to see her mom in the hospital and then got Tom killed, but I’d have to check). The idea that the Island timeline is influencing events in Timeline 2 is starting to appeal to me. The idea that cool Timeline 2 Jack is getting cool beams from cool Timeline 1 Jack is a bit awesome to me. I also like the idea that Kate redeems her Timeline 1 self through her Claire/Aaron-positive actions in Timeline 2. And again, we got our main character face to face with a mirror. Nice. I also liked that Timeline 1 Claire was giving up the baby because her man left her but she was all pissed that the adoption lady was doing the same. I need to watch again already. Does Claire explain if her reasons are the same? We get no clue about Thomas, the psychic, or anything. Will we ever? Do we need to?

Jack: “I don’t even trust myself.” Good lord, he’s admitting he has no idea, can’t fix things, etc. Poor guy, though. This admission, as I have learned over and over again, does NOT enlighten you about what the right thing to do is. It just makes you painfully aware of your real position. You know you are ignorant and probably in a lose-lose situation, so you either do nothing or do something, likely wrong no matter what. Ug. But for the first time since Season 1, I actually felt real sparks and honesty between him and Kate.

Kate: Again, I’m not a Kate fan. This episode doesn’t change that. Like, I don’t even want to analyze her. She’s ridiculous for following Sawyer, she’s oblivious to the needs of others, and I don’t even care if she gets redeemed for it. Still, I don’t begrudge the episode. I appreciate what she ‘does’ in it.

The Others: They are protecting the people on Jacob’s list, or so I presume, yet they allowed Kate and Jin to follow Sawyer? Yet Sawyer was important enough for Dogen to plead in ENGLISH that he stay? Jin wants to find Sun (which it finally stupidly clicks to me that he CAN!) and gets a beartrap to the ankle! Bah! But in the meantime the Aldo/Justin doof-fest reveals that Jin ‘may be one of them’? Huh? They all saw the list being confirmed, right? Well, that can be explained away any number of ways, I suppose. I’m more interested in what the Others think these ‘ones’ are supposed to do than I am who is on the list of ‘ones’?

Other stuff: free will thru manipulation, Kate’s ep title in the present tense, Dogen’s theory of staying separate from his flock, Sawyer is in crazy pain, which always plants the seeds of the dark side. The idea that neither of these storylines is truer than the other. They both are. I do not take credit for the mention of Schrodingers Cat here, but yeah. Maybe both are true until some unknown observance smooshes the two Timelines into one reality somehow. I have no idea (but someone does and I should look it up later). I’d say it’s easier to just go with the two realities split at the mo of the bomb, but I do see the big problem with that: I really think in the end, these two Timelines will have to be one. We will have to see that it’s actually at the end of THIS Island run that Jack finds the reset button, or if that feels like a ripoff, then some ingenious way to Schro-Cat us without us feeling like one timeline was just bogus all along. This will be tricky, and again, I don’t want to speculate too much! I would be too disappointed to actually guess something right!

General notes: I’m happy with the pace they are answering things. I’m also happy with the pace they are introducing new things and trusting us to figure them out or know what to let go. For example, to some, it may be a new question when Dogen says he was brought here like the rest of them, but as intriguing as that sentence is, I don’t care in any end-game sort of way. I am perfectly happy taking it as a “Jacob called us” comment. Those kinds of mysterious comments need to be accepted with a lot less detailed expectation now. They write that stuff I’m sure because if they didn’t have a mystery question a minute, we’d all think it was boring because of our training. And it does remind us that everyone has a story and is part of the bigger story. I’m sure the answers will be published in badly written paperback form for years. I’m not clever enough by half for most of the bigger stuff, but luckily some people are. Hopefully I’ll get to read what some of those people have to say soon.

If only I were Daniel Faraday: “But I can MAKE time.”

Good lord, tomorrow is Lost already and I barely had time to say anything about it! The surface of the looking glass has barely been scratched! The main problem I know I’m having is this compulsion to spend this season differently than the previous ones: just sit back and watch with unabashed awe rather than try to pick apart every scene and figure out where they are going with things. At this point, there’s almost no point in theorizing too much; the answers will be given within a couple of episodes. I’m so trained to see things from that long view, that what is said on the show is mysterious and may mean several things that will be revealed over the next few seasons. But that’s not where we are anymore. Now they are saying Yes and No to everything and it’s difficult to get my head out of that old way of thinking. I still think a Yes could mean many things when it no longer has time to mean anything except Yes! (Flocke is the Smoke Monster. That is a Yes.) In addition, I’d super super hate to analyze enough to actually GUESS what’s going to happen. Seriously, I don’t want to know. I, like many many other dedicated Lost followers, am trying to avoid any significant spoilers this season. I want to be surprised.

Ok, enough talking about my headspace. Since I’m not actually going to learn anything from all that rambling and am, instead, going to continue doing what I’m already doing, here are a few more things…

When I say “Flocke = Moses” I only mean they stole this part of the story from this old story, and maybe within that story are more clues. Jacob’s name has always sprouted theories for what direction that character might go, especially him deceiving Isaac to win the birthright, wrestling with the angel, being named Israel (Moses connection to leading the Israelites out of Egypt), the Jacob/Rachel story, his final son being named Benjamin (Rachel dying while giving birth), favorite son Joseph, blahblahblah…

What is Ben up to? Why did he lie to Richard, saying Jacob was fine, everything was fine, Locke wants to talk to you? I guess he could still be in “Alex told me to” mode, but he has to have the impression at this point that likely Flocke was actually Alex, right? So he would know Flocke told him to do everything Locke says. So he should be thinking Richard’s a good guy to have on your side under this circumstance, so why lie and possibly send him to his death (unless you believe that will score you points)? So at this point, as still in shock as he is, is he just not thinking clearly or has he started forming a plan? I haven’t thought about this much, but I do still think he’s floored by the process. I think we are seeing a Ben without a plan. My reasoning is this: His expression after he strung up Locke was one of sincerity. And He never thought Locke would resurrect, as he admitted to Sun. He gained nothing from telling her that. But I do think Ben is a habitual weasel. He’ll be back in the game real quick. I can see that one might interpret Ben/Jacob as maybe having this plan together, and what a twist it would be, because they would have definitely pulled the handmade tapestry over MIB’s eyes, but Jacob’s sadness seemed real (although his acceptance of stabbage, not so much) and his discussion with Hurley seemed like he was worried. And again, making things too convoluted might not be the way to go in a final season of a show already this complicated. Not that I think that would be all that complicated to do…so hm…maybe. Argh, getting too tired to keep arguing with myself. Finish it yourself!

I saw somewhere someone pointed out Desmond was wearing a wedding ring on the plane. Well, that means very little. Ages are all confusing on this show, since most of the actors are like 10 years older than the characters they’re playing, but my point is that it would be hard to know when Penny was supposed to have been born. If Dan is a 1977er, which is what they are getting at, and if Penny is supposed to be older than that, then Widmore got some off-Island chick pregnant before he got Ellie pregnant, which could be one of the reasons for their falling out. Speaking of which, I had this whole thing about how their falling out occurred, how she is the leader and Widmore is just with her because he believes the Island should be his, he really is a bad guy, etc. But who knows if they’ll even be able to get into much of that with so few hours left. Ug. I hope so! Anyway, Penny could be alive if he already had her or if the Island sinks much later. But even so, would Penny and Desmond be drawn together if her father isn’t some rich industrialist? I think we are seeing evidence on this plane ride that Yes, the same people are drawn to the same people anyway. I think yes, the Universe would bring them together somehow.

The water isn’t clear = the murkiness of Ellie’s Ajira plan; no one knows what’s going to happen.

Trust in the absurd, Dark Tower hub/beams/realities, “anthropomorphic shadow”/”diminished man,” the elements: water, air, fire, earth…

Keep going over the ripple effect idea, that things you do in your future can have echoes even to your past, hence our people can remember or act on things that haven’t happened yet (Locke may ‘know’ as a child about Smokey or which item is “his,” Charlie is aware of his necessary death because in some future it is written, Jack is cooler now because he learns to be cooler through this process). Oh, and I never mentioned the whole Spock-McCoy/Horcrux idea mom and I discussed about Jacob saving himself by putting a part of himself in each of the people he touched.

And lastly for now, Darlton have said that MIB wants OFF THE ISLAND. And a Smoke Monster loose in the real world…well, think about that for a bit. I’m frakkin’ sleepy.

Quick random thoughts:

Possible: 1. Purge 2. Trap smokey in cabin 3. When does he escape?

Jacob asked Ilana to help him. She was the entire reason Sayid was on the plane. AND it was by force, when Jacob is all about free will. I don’t know what this means about Jacob’s purpose for Sayid, but just sayin.

Mom suggested in the parallels vein, that Kate will still end up delivering Claire’s baby, just now in the back of a taxi while holding her hostage! Nice

After a long discussion, we pondered the idea: MIB = Moses, Richard = Aaron, Jacob = the false idols, the remaining question: Who is God? Moses (Ben even CALLS Flocke Moses) comes down from the mountain to see Aaron (Richard, the man chosen to speak for the head guy) has given the impatient Israelites golden idols to worship (in mom’s words “fell for Jacob’s shenanigans”). Moses is pissed that they just couldn’t wait for him to come back after speaking to God. He busts a tablet. (I am VERY disappointed in ALL of you!) Moses also just wanted to get to the Promised Land (HOME), but in the end was prevented from doing so.

The Temple folks: Who are they and what are they worried about? Mom suggested they are actually afraid of Jacob, now that he’s dead, maybe he can do something. Smokey was the guardian of the Temple, suggesting he was the friendly force around here. I don’t know that this can hold up. It’s just as sensical that they are just afraid because now that they KNOW Jacob can be killed and has been, they are on their own. The Kierkegaard book found at the entrance is titled after this Bible verse: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling… The book has other relevance as well, and we discussed the whole idea of trusting in the absurd, which I have no time to explain, argh!

Hopefully more in a while…

OK, where was I?

I was starting to analyze what we know about Smokey so far.

He’s been around since ancient times, as suggested by the hieroglyphs depicting him with Anubis, which implies both the Island and Jacob were there as well. (Although there are entire histories of possibilities in the idea that Jacob was later put there to balance Smokey/MIB or Jacob unseated Smokey/MIB in some way, etc.) He is summonable and is clearly a security system of some sort (for the whole Island it seems, and the Temple specifically?), although what other purpose he serves (justice or vengeance, etc) isn’t quite clear or consistent yet.

OK, he was also around and free in Dharma times. They built the sonar fence likely to fend him off, and built the barricks, specifically the home of the leader of DI, over the summoning pool. (With what level of awareness did they do this?)

He was active in the 80s, ripping off arms and all. (The rest of the group went in after Montand, but how were they “sickened”? Did they get captured by Others and taken to the Temple? Did they become Others? Is there some other sickness other than what happens when you are submerged in the pool and become one of them? Is there a Smokey possession thing that occurs besides the normal Smokey takes the form of a body or a person from your mind? This is murky to me…)

I would like an explanation of his relationship to the Temple, the Cabin, and Jacob.

And here’s something: Everyone is freaked about MIB coming but prior to this had seemingly forgotten about his existence. Wherever he’s been, whatever he’s been doing, it’s been a long time of them feeling quite safe from him, yet they all seem to be aware of Smokey. He’s been running free and “protecting the Temple” and “protecting the Island.” So does that mean that none of the Others, including Richard, are aware that MIB and Smokey are one and the same? They seem aware of both Clark Kent AND Superman, but have never known that they are the same. That makes me lean toward the idea that Smokey is its own entity, but either or both MIB and Jacob have found ways to control it. Having watched again, we see Flocke disappear behind a column, where he could have hidden inside it or in the floor if he knows of a way, then from the hall comes Smokey. And after Smokey leaves, Ben tries to go out the same way and Flocke appears behind him, as if he never left the room. And when asked if he IS the Monster, Flocke does not actually answer. In addition, the theory of Locke being the Smoke Monster came before the thought that he was MIB because Locke disappeared just after Ben falls through the floor of the underground Temple passages and is visited by the Smoke Monster then “Alex.” (This is definitely MIB, right?) And of course, in the podcasts and interviews, Darlton have said “Locke is the Smoke Monster.” Of course they haven’t said that Jacob isn’t ALSO the Smoke Monster. *shrug*

Back to what we know: Smokey killed the Pilot without even blinking. But he chased Kate, Charlie, and Jack and all lived. The banyan trees still seem to be something he cannot pass. Then he stares down Locke, who claims to see a beautiful bright light. When he next appears to Locke, he is not initially afraid (implying he felt familiar with the creature), but it tries to take him underground, like with Montand. He makes no moves against any other person after they drop dynamite down his pants.

When he approaches Eko the first time, Charlie witnesses it, but it pays him no mind (Charlie was also in a tree, but it placed the Pilot in a tree, so…). Eko sees people from his life and Smokey downloads all the necessary information to test and manipulate Eko. It manifests as people from Eko’s past and most importantly as Yemi, who it communicates meaningfully as. (If it could appear as the others, did it need Yemi’s body to appear as Yemi? Why was Yemi’s body missing?) Eko dies though because he is not “amenable for coercion” like Locke is; he is not repentant; he is, in fact, a threat (if Smokey is MIB or is sympathetic to MIB’s needs) to Smokey’s ends. He will build the church, he will push the button, he may up the “faith” factor of the Island (making Jacob stronger), baptizing people, getting people to start a cycle MIB’s had to endure a dozen times before, and maybe through all of this, making Jacob stronger or proving Jacob’s point, IDK. He would be a direct threat to MIB’s use of Locke, certainly.

Smokey is supposedly the reason for the spiders that paralyzed Nikki. Kate and Juliet had a run in, where the banyan trees protected them and Juliet was clearly scanned, although she had known of the entity, since she knew the sonic fence would repel it. Ben called the Monster to attack the mercenaries from the freighter, but that was basically a wash. Was that because the mercenaries assisted MIB in his plans or were they spared by Jacob, possibly even to support his ends?

Smokey’s reactions to water on the Island have been speculated on for a long time, and we’ve never had evidence he can go to Hydra Island. And if Jacob has influence or dominion over the water, then Smokey might be repelled by it.

And what is the relationship of Christian to MIB to Jacob to Smokey?

Some minor easy predictions while I’m yapping:
Miles is dead soon.
Jack is still the most important dude.
Aaron comes back into play.

Jack does not remember in Timeline 2. He’s just dejavuing. Did he come into consciousness at any point in time and what is the importance of that point in time? I think, although many things were altered since Swanfest 1977, the main thing that was needing altering was the moment at which Oceanic 815 (or whatever plane holds our important Losties, or even just Jack, for that matter) passes over the Island. At that point, Jack begins to have strange feelings because this is the critical moment. I can’t even say “his consciousness” plays a part because that implies flashes, which I do not think is the case. I do think the Timeline 2 Jack is informed by the finished Timeline 1 Jack. The “New” Jack is more laid back and OK with things. He admits he cannot save Sayid and allows someone else to take the lead and can accept responsibility for what happened to Juliet and Sayid without the usual Jack reactions. As R said, he finally has what his father said he did NOT have.

I am in support of the possibility that yes, Timeline 2 is actually a flashforward/back, wherein Jack, at the end of Timeline 1 (1977 bomb through 2007 Swan/Temple), has figured out what must be done to actually make this work, and all the bomb did was blow them to the point in time in which they could actually save Jacob and themselves. But I think it’s just as likely that this really is a parallel timeline in which we get to see both things that happen.

OK, R is here now, so I will jot more down later…

Good lord, I still haven’t been able to go out there and see what other people think, but here’s more crap from my brain.

I need to cover some of the Island stuff, obviously. I like that the writers created another reason for allowing Jin to chill with Danielle’s bunch in the 80s. I was satisfied with the “cuz we want to see the Danielle story first hand, so why not!” answer, but adding the idea that it motivates the leadership and powers of Hurley and allows them to know where to go is so cool.

The List. How old is this list? Hurley, Jack, Kate, Jin, and Sayid were on it, then, since they were willing to bring in Miles and Sawyer even though S “took out 4 of them,” it’s probably safe to say they might be on it as well. It’s probably the list of people we saw Jacob touch in the finale, which would include Sun and Locke, not Miles that we’re aware of, so why save him?

The water: “not clear.” They didn’t seem experienced with unclear water, so it must be a rare-if-ever occurrence, which supports the idea that Jacob’s death caused it. I think Jacob made the water holy to the point that it purifies even itself, but when he died that protection was gone and it became regular dirty old water. The water thing may be a confirmation of Season 1 theories that the people healed faster and were stronger because of some element, probably the water. Surely Jacob would have blessed the whole spring which would come up in more than one place, maybe at the caves, for example.

Healing process: I assume we are seeing what Ben went through as a child, with the exception that the water was clear. Supposedly the water makes you “forget” and makes you “one of us.” But if the water was not working when Sayid was drowned in it, then what has healed him and made him forget? The Temple peeps seemed surprised at his resurrection, which implies Ben and Richard weren’t lying: Dead is dead. So what is in Sayid? Initial response was Jacob, but I’d think Jacob will be in someone else at the end (Ben? Jack? Aaron?), and too much body-hopping seems gratuitous. And if dead is dead, then this isn’t exactly Sayid. Hm. I have mixed feelings about this. Sayid needed to be put out of his misery. He was likely never going to be able to redeem himself, although maybe his extracting and modifying the bomb was the act that saves him (although again the larger implications of that bomb could be that the entire world is altered from that point forward, which is typically self-centered and short-sighted of the losties, eh?). But what is it that is in him at this point? If Jacob, why and how? If not Jacob, what and why?

This brings up Smokey. Many previous theories had Smokey as the Man in Black, or as a third entity to help balance MIB with Jacob, or even as both MIB and Jacob, depending on the circumstances. The actions of Smokey were definitely sometimes bizarrely contradictory until the idea of two opposing forces came to light. Smokey seems much less erratic if you consider him as being on the side of MIB. MIB has lied about his identity before, so would he lie about being Smokey as well? I don’t necessarily think so, although it was a bit interesting that they didn’t actually SHOW Flocke becoming Smokey. Should we take his word? I think so mainly because it would feel like such a rip to find out otherwise. BUT it would NOT feel like a rip to see that Jacob can be a type of Smokey as well. I don’t think this is the case, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if it was true. I think the Smoke Monster IS the Man in Black.

What do we know about the Cabin? It was supposedly built by Horace so that he, Amy, and Ethan could get away from Dharma life. The blueprints were still on his body, so did he ever finish it before Ben killed everyone in the Purge (which is generally considered 1992ish)? Ilana in 2007 was under the impression that it was Jacob’s place, as was Ben in 2004. Which implies that at one time the Cabin WAS Jacob’s. How and why? In 2004 we see an entity inside, but we also see a cloud of smoke, implying it could have been Smokey (which may mean it was MIB all along). Richard in 2007 seemed fully accepting that the Foot was Jacob’s place (and it appeared to have been for a very long time). How long had Richard been aware of that? Had he lied about the Cabin? Why? Why did Ilana believe that same thing? The Cabin was surrounded by ash, which we know to be something Smokey cannot pass, which implies someone was being protected from Smokey. But if Smokey/MIB can’t kill Jacob anyway, why would Jacob need to be surrounded by ash in a cabin? The other side of this is that Smokey was trapped inside, but that can’t be true because we know Smokey was out at times that someone was supposedly there. Is ash a weakness of Jacob’s as well? Was he trapped in there? Wait, was maybe the MIB part of MIB trapped IN the Cabin while the Smokey part of MIB was out running wild?

What do we know about Smokey? He was active on the the Island, near the Temple (although not necessarily IN the Temple), when Danielle’s team arrived in the 80s. (Damn, so much more to say here, but have to go!)

The hourglass: looked like sand and ash, (black/white? light/dark?) probably the same stuff that Richard asked Locke to claim when Locke was a foster kid. I always thought that didnt quite look like beach sand OR ash, but was probably some mix of both. Interesting this length of time. How much was it? Does it vary? Do you have to keep the person underwater for that length of time no matter what and if they drown then too bad, but if they don’t then it was meant to be? Obviously Jacob isn’t the one who decides, since Dogen believed Jacob wanted them to save Sayid and then he died.

Well, have to go for now…barely got anything out again!

Getting back into the practice of even having time to have a coherent THOUGHT about Lost is going to be difficult. I don’t know when I’ll have time to do this, but first, general impressions:
Flash-sideways!
Flocke is Smoky!
Flocke mocking Locke!
Underwater?!
Slightly different things all over the plane!
Smoky cleverer than Bram!

Parts of the show were slow and a bit draggy for what appeared to be minor reveals that could have been revealed other ways, probably:
–Everyone exiting the plane, slow reveal that Locke is still crippled, even though this leads to one of my favorite scenes of the whole series, with Jack offering to fix Locke *delight*, unless they were trying to show who WASN’T on the plane, but I don’t know about that, since we didn’t see Claire, but did see her in a taxi).
–Digging Juliet out just to have her die, but apparently go into flashes beforehand so she knows “it worked”?

Generally super happy, HUGE amounts of stuff to tear apart. I have no idea how I’m going to pick apart everything that I want to on here. I still have to talk about it in depth with Mom and R too!

Plan to update all week long, though

One thing I wonder about is that the pilot said when they crashed they were a thousand miles off course, because the instruments went all wonky and they turned back. So a thousand miles from where they crashed the instruments went wonky? I guess this time the instruments never even went crazy because the Island was under water and dead, so no signal to pull them in? So normal flight, and much shorter flight. I think I’ve always been a bit bothered by the space/time distance between instrument funk and crash. Hm. Anyway.

OK, it seems clear that everything since the bomb has proceeded differently than Timeline 1. This Timeline 2 is different at least for our losties, but as indicated by the submerged island, apparently also for DI folks, Islanders, and who knows, maybe the whole world. The things we saw on the Oceanic flight (which, was it ever directly referred to as flight 815? If jack was in a different row, maybe it didn’t have to be 815 either? Why do that, idk. probably you don’t do that, but just sayin.)
So since Everything Changes…
General:
Pilot is still Seth Norris, not Frank Lapidus. Cindy is still a flight attendant.

Jack:
Timeline 1, Cindy gives Jack 2 bottles of alcohol. Of course, he needed one to fix his wound on the Island, but if there’s no island, guess he doesn’t need that second one, eh? So he’s still a bit of a drinker, and is still coming from Sydney to bury his dead father, so most of his story appears to be similar.
The conversation between he and Rose is different. She consoles him instead, and he appears to be more than a little worried.
The cut on his neck. Maybe a callback to when Daniel says “Did I have a scar on my neck when we met? No, because I hadn’t been shot yet,” and then he proceeds to let everyone know they can die.
Supposedly Jack is in a different row, but I don’t know yet. I haven’t been able to look up anything yet…
And I just want to point out the Alice through the Looking Glass feel of him staring himself down in the mirror, maybe wondering what bizarre life is through there…
Also, Jack seems cooler. Imagine if an airline lost Timeline 1 Jack’s dad??

Rose/Bernard: We do not know if she still has cancer, if she EVER had cancer, if that’s why they were in Australia. She wasn’t wearing Bernard’s ring around her neck that I saw. I don’t know what mag she was reading yet, but the back says “The truth is out there” so that’s awesome.

Desmond: What the hell reason ever would he have had for being in Sydney and on the plane? Was he really there? Has he gone all time-rogue now? Or was he legit there? In Timeline 2, safe to assume Charles Widmore died on the Island in 1977 when the bomb exploded, meaning maybe no Penny (unless she was already born, but we have no indication of that, since Widmore was still with Ellie on Island at the time. idk about this yet…), which would absolutely mean no boat race and no Island button pushing, etc. His world may have been entirely different. I’m super interested in his line right now! (Also he had a book which I know nothing about yet…research! When???)

Hurley: Lucky bastard!

Kate: We don’t know if she’s in cuffs for the same reason, although the comic con vid indicates same thing, different guy. So the essentials are the same. But this time she escapes, with a hostage: Claire! Kate’s purpose is a mystery to me (unless it is entirely because her raising Aaron is what gave her the sympathy to save Little Ben and set him on his path). I’m hoping What Kate Does is the answer to her importance. Jacob touched her and her name was on the list in the ankh, and I’m supposed to trust Jacob, Room 23 told me to.

Claire: Is Claire pregnant? Why didn’t they show her on the plane? What if she’s there because she somehow had a relationship with Christian in this timeline and was going to LA to see him or to the funeral?

Charlie: He was going to flush the drugs before the crash last time. This time he tries to swallow it and chokes (or does it on purpose). In any case, he would have preferred death and seemed assured of it. Instead he is now jail-bound.

Sawyer: We didn’t really get much info, though he seemed in decent spirits and already up to helping out a fellow outlaw (Kate) and conning a doof (Hurley), so how did his quest to shoot Sawyer work out?

Boone: No Shannon. Oh thank Jacob. But still he’s drawn to Locke. Nice

Jin/Sun: Jin still obviously wanted to run away with Sun to America. I don’t remember when we found out he had thought this, but I know that I knew about it. He was going to deliver the watch then off they go. I don’t know what would have changed in Sun’s past to make her still select that ugly sweater but not learn English and plan to leave Jin. If her past is the same, then she’s lying about the English, but what caused her to get on the plane this time? Still thinking…

Sayid: I really want to see how his story plays out with going to see Nadia. Does it happen? I assume this means he was still a torturer? Did he still have to work with CIA to nail his “terrorist” friend to get to LA?

Locke: Was he lying? Did he really get to go on the walkabout? If he did, then how was he on this flight? He seemed just as depressed as ever when he exited the plane, but then a bit cheery when philosophizing with jack later. Again, adore this scene between them. The scene that should have always been.

Walt/Michael/Tailies: Do they exist on this flight?

Do we need to hold on to Ellie’s warning to Des that the universe has a way of course-correcting? Is Timeline 2 a course correction, or an oopsy that the universe will attempt to course correct through…

…Parallels. some things are happening anyway, things that would have happened had the plane crashed.
The pen: Jack/Charlie to Boone/Rose. Jack saves both Charlie and Rose anyway. Note: Does Kate take Jack’s pen at the bathroom door? The more I think about it, I think so, I just blinked or something. Cuz yeah, he needs it later, and then she has one later. So yeah.
Jack’s quest to blow up the bomb/Locke’s quest to not push the button. Both of them were “more sure of this than anything in their lives” or something like that.
The Marshal still gets head-whapped.
Jack saving Charlie’s life after he dies.
Jin does the button your shirt thing to Sun.

Nice man of science/man of faith commentary with Locke offering Jack some faith that his father is in a spiritually better place, and Jack seems happy with it. Then Jack offers Locke a little bit o’ science through a free consultation, which Locke sweetly accepts. All kinds of interesting changes here!

What sunk the Island?
Could’ve been the bomb, although surely it would have destroyed all the Dharma barracks, etc. Wait! There have been hints of “earthquakes” and a volcano was on one of the maps, so maybe the bomb set off the volcano, and that’s what sank the Island.

I love how I have just barely begun…

OK, I adore Lost with all my heart. I do have one problem, but I can’t decide if it is a problem.

A lot of the reveals so far are pretty obvious. They make me really happy though.

They might be obvious because they are poorly written, that’s always a possibility. I think for some reveals, this may be true. The answers to the secrets are not so poorly written as the insanely dramatic or long buildup to the reveal of them. It feels like when that head turns we are going to be blown away, but since we have already figured it out, there is too much buildup, not enough payoff. I’d prefer the story be revealed more coyly, as if only slightly aware of the magnitude of the reveal. Just keep going, don’t pause on it, don’t dwell, don’t have Hawking turn her lovely gray head after lighting a candle for the 5th time. We know she’s the end-all, be-all right now. The important stuff is Ben’s face as the pieces fall together for him, connecting her to Faraday and Widmore. It is NOT so important just that she is Faraday’s Mom. We knew that already. We did NOT know that Ben didn’t know. Ben’s level of knowledge about things is ALWAYS a better reveal. And it was filmed and acted with subtlety and perfection. Why can’t all the reveals be like that?

That said, the idea that Hawking is Faraday’s mom is totally great despite its predictability. I think I would have been disappointed had some random Other been Faraday’s mom instead of who we knew it was all along. But we have had a lot of seasons to learn Lost’s game. They are going to have to do a better job of switching things up plausibly OR lessening the drama of certain reveals.

When you open a question in Season 1 or 2, by the time Season 5 comes around, I probably have unraveled the mystery on my own by gathering clues. This means the reveal is bittersweet. It’s amazing and I LOVE seeing the payoffs for things we’ve waited so long for. I feel handsomely rewarded this season. We have carried certain questions around for a long time and getting those answered feels spectacular!

But there is the bitter anti-climactic “duh” about a lot of the long, drawn-out reveals.

A reveal that was handled well: Montand losing his arm and Danielle killing her friends. Sure, Jin living and finding her was a plot device contrived for exactly the point of showing us that story, but it was layered with more information not just about the truth of the Danielle’s story told in Seasons 1, 2, and 3, but with more information on Smokey and the Temple and the Sickness.

So far this season I was convinced Danielle’s reference to Sickness and the Others’ reference to it were the same thing. And then when people started getting Time-Travel Sickness I thought THAT was the answer to all of them. That now appears to not be true. And the ARM! OMG! And Montand possessed by Smokey (or whatever happens) “I’m OK, a little hurt, but fine, come down here” was the creepiest thing ever.

I can see why some people wouldn’t care about the Danielle story, but I have ALWAYS wanted to see it, and this was an excellent way to show it. And I have ZERO problem believing that Danielle would NOT remember a Korean dude she met for like two hours in the jungle 16 years ago, especially since she spends not 5 minutes of screen time with Jin later in the show.

As far as Jin being alive still, I do have a bit of a problem with it because Sun’s entire life since that day has been spent in revenge mode and now…he’s just alive? And she’s just going to agree to go back? What about Ji-Yeon? Again, I trust Lost to give me answers, even if they are next year. And Jin’s living and being close enough to the radius to end up back on the Island, equal parts plausible and implausible. I think he probably could have survived because he was REALLY close to the edge of the boat and easily could have been blown off it, though they showed no people on the deck at the time. I think being in the radius is actually the more implausible thing and could have been answered by having him float in on a bad coordinate (rather than skipping around like the 815ers), ending up in 1988 with Danielle’s team the entire time, living with them until he must hide from crazy Danielle and meet back up with Sun when he is older (Danielle aged, I assume he would have as well) in 2005-9 after she returns. THAT would be a sweet reunion and would make me feel better that her vengeful years were not spent in vain.

Crud, time’s up, gotta go for now…

Again, only three measly books. It’s a pathetic thing. Don’t I LIKE reading? Yes. I just have so little time for it. One of the books I only “read” because it was on Playaway. I think I’m going to do this more often. Cuz seriously, although it takes the reader much longer to read to me than it would take for me to read to myself, I’m not doing hardly ANY reading, so they might as well do it for me.

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk.

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk.

Yep. That’s it. And even worse, that was my last month of reading! The new reading year has begun! ACK!