"My condition is irreversible." -Locke
"Nothing is irreversible." -Jack
Ever since the Season Five finale, when Juliet detonated the Jughead bomb, we've all been waiting anxiously to find out whether or not Faraday's plan worked: would time be reset and would Oceanic 815 land safely at LAX... or would it be that 'whatever happened, happened,' and they somehow flash back to 2007.
We received an answer to that last night and it's pretty much on par with what many of us were thinking (well, at least if you sat through my ridiculous 'time is a river.' lecture). To explain it simply here is what happened:
1) Juliet set off the bomb, creating an additional reality, running parallel to the original one. This is the reality in which 815 lands safely in LA X and where the island lays in ruins underwater with some pretty terrible CGI. There are distinct changes to this timeline, which I will get to in a bit.
2) The triggering of the bomb sent our time-travelling Losties (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Jin, Miles and Juliet) back to 2007. To them, nothing has changed and they are unaware of this second reality that was created.
Before the season started I put up some links about the existence of parallel worlds. How in science there exists a 'many worlds' theory. I could try my best to rehash some of this, but other LOST bloggers have analyzed the background of this alternate reality on LOST and found both scientific and literary influences.
This comes from Jeff Jensen at EW.com:
'Once upon a time in Germany, a very smart and spiritual man tried to answer a very tricky and troubling question. In a world created by an allegedly benevolent and omnipotent God, why the heck is there suffering and evil? In the world of philosophy, this field of inquiry is called Theodicy, generally defined as an attempt to understand and justify the behavior of God. The genius German thought long and hard about this “problem of evil” question and came up with an answer that was unusually heady for the time. He said that despite the existence of evil, this world is actually “the best of all possible worlds,” as if our universe is the least offensive of countless alternatives, or even a pastiche comprised of pieces from the best parts of all. '
'Over the next 300 years, physicists, philosophers, and science fiction writers have blown out Gottfried Leibniz’s “possible worlds” concept in many different radical, challenging directions to serve all sorts of scientific and intellectual purposes, their various nuanced permutations producing a slough of different, seemingly synonymous yet not necessarily equal terms. Parallel worlds. Many worlds. Alternate realities. Mirror realities. Modal realities. Pocket universes.'
The biggest question coming out of 'LA X,' in relation to this alternate timeline, ultimately is, 'Why?'
With only 18 hours left, why add this storytelling device to an already confusing narrative? What will it add to the story and how will it fit into the endgame of the show? Does it have any connection with the original reality and will these two realities eventually converge.
Unsurprisingly, these are the EXACT questions we are supposed to be asking according to head writers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Below are some quotes I pulled from an interview with Jeff Jensen.
'Since the very beginning of the show, characters started crossing through each other’s stories. Part of our desire [in season 6] is to show that there’s still this kind of weave, that these characters still would have impacted each other’s lives even without the event of crashing on the Island. Obviously, the big question of the season is going to be: How do these [two timelines] reconcile?' - Carlton Cuse
'This is the critical mystery of the season, which is, “What is the relationship between these two shows (time-lines)? ” - Damon Lindelof
But the questions you’re asking are exactly the right questions. What are we to make of the fact that they’re showing us two different timelines? Are they going to resolve? Are they going to connect? Are they going to co-exist in parallel fashion? Are they going to cross? Do they intersect? Does one prove to be viable and the other one not? I think those are all the kind of speculations that are the right speculations to be having at this point in the season. - Carlton Cuse
That's straight from the source. They also stressed that, like always, this is going to require patience on our part. We will be receiving some heavy mythological answers early in the season, but the connection between the realities will be more of a slow-burn as the season continues. The conclude by saying, 'Season 6 is not about time travel. It’s about the implications, the aftermath, and the causality of trying to change the past.'
And with that, let's jump into the episode.
A Separate Reality
We start off the episode with a slight recap of the end of Season 5. The Incident occurs and Juliet gets pulled down the drill hole at the Swan Station work site. With her last bits of energy she detonates the bomb. Screen goes to white. Silent.
Then a familiar sound: Jet Engines. The camera pulls back from the white to reveal clouds. Then plane window. And then Jack Shephard. Sitting in Seats 23A aboard Oceanic 815. We are back to September 22nd, 2004.
But not all is the same. And our first major indication of that is the way Jack looks around the plane. Doesn't it seem like he just senses that something is off?
And then we hear, 'How's the drink?' and Jack turns to face Cindy, the stewardess. It is almost an exact replay of their scene in 'The Pilot.' But again, something is off. In 'The Pilot' she gave him two bottles of vodka. This time she only gave him one.
After, we see his scene with Rose play out again. And it's different. This time, she's the one at ease and he's the one tense and nervous. 815 hits turbulence and the plane shakes. The camera cuts to a close-up on Jack and.. it's almost like he's WAITING for something to happen. As if he's been here before.
The plane breaks free of the turbulence, but Jack's hands still tightly grip the arms of his plane seat. Rose assures him, 'You can let go now.'
Ladies and gentlemen, the arc of Jack Shephard established in five words. I've said before, Jack's story is one of letting go. It's the only way he will find redemption; by letting go of his past, of his bad relationship with his father, his inability to save everyone, his failed relationship with Kate.
So he let's go of the arms. Bernard comes back from the bathroom and shares a sweet moment with Rose. Jack smiles at the happy couple and then heads back to the bathroom himself. He looks at himself in the mirror.. and again, we get the impression that something feels off. He looks under his neck collar and finds a cut on his neck.
This is huge and something that should not be overlooked. We do not know exactly the reason for this yet, but my theory is that this indicates a bleed (if you will) between the two realities. I like the idea that they are somehow inter-connected and Jack's blood comes from the injuries he sustained in the original timeline during The Incident.
Finally, we come to the kicker of this opening. If there was any doubt that this reality was different than the one we knew, then when our button pushing, time-travelling brotha, Desmond, showed up it became clear. Desmond should not be on the plane. Yet here he is. Sitting next to Jack. Remember what he said when he first met him?
'See you in another life, brotha.'
And once more, Jack senses that something's off. He gets the craziest deja vu and asks if him and Desmond had met before. Desmond responds that they have not. Jack brushes it off, laughing, as the camera pushes through the window, past the clouds, under the water and past some pretty horrible CGI featuring: The Barracks, the DHARMA Shark, and the ruins of the four toed foot statue.
The island is completely sunk underwater in this reality. Bad CGI aside, this was a shocking development. Did the island sink as a result of the bomb going off? Is that possible?
I want to discuss Desmond for a little. His appearance was surprsing, but he could be the key to understanding all of this alternate reality stuff. We've been told over and over again that Desmond. is special. That the rules do not apply to him. We have already seen him shift his consciousness through time. Is it possible he could also shift it through these realities?
The fact that Jack was the only one to see him on the plane is, in the least, a little curious? What happened to Desmond? How did he just disappear off the plane? I'd love it if Desmond knew what was going on in this reality and helped our character become aware of what is really happening.
The Variables
Things have changed in this reality, Desmond's appearance on the plane being the first real, big indicator. As these flash-sideways (Damon and Carlton's name, not mine) continues we begin to discover other changes:
1) Hurley has nothing but GOOD luck. Apparently using The Numbers in the lottery did not curse him, but made him the luckiest person on the planet.
2) Boone didn't bring Shannon back from Australia. She decided to stay behind with her boyfriend there.
3) Other original 815ers were nowere to be found. No Michael. No Walt. No Ana-Lucia. No Eko. No Libby. And Claire only popped up after the plane landed and Kate hijacked a taxi-cab she was in.
Couple of notes here. First off, it was great to see Dr. Arzt again. And his exchange with Hurley was hilarious as was Hurley's response to Sawyer (who warned him against telling people he won the lottery because they might take advantage of him), 'I'm the luckiest man alive.'
Sawyer doesn't seem too burdened with the fact that he just killed an innocent man in Australia, by the way. Is it possible that in this alternate timeline he didn't kill Frank Duckett?
The Boone/Locke scene was a highlight of the episode for me. First of all, Ian Somerhalder was ten times more charismatic and fun to watch in this scene than he ever was in the first season (guess playing a vampire will do that). But it was so fun to see him play off Locke again. To see how even in this timeline, he's fascinated by this old man's stories and knowledge.
Locke tells him how he went on his walkabout and part of us wants to believe this to be true. That maybe in this alternate timeline Locke isn't crippled and really did spend 10 days in the Australian outback (especially knowing his cruel fate in the original timeline). It was also just wonderful to see this light-sided part of John Locke again. The man, who when he first crashed on the island, wasn't so obsessed with finding his destiny, but just thankful to walk again and be amongst a family, a group of people who cared for one another.
Hopefully, we will find out why Shannon didn't go with him in this reality and she will return to the show later in the season. Best moment of the scene has to be when Boone tells Locke, "If this plane goes down, I'm sticking with you,' knowing how that played out in the original timeline.
(Also, if you didn't notice, Frogurt was sleeping between the two of them. Haha, Frogurt).
'I was supposed to die.'
Charlie! It was so great to see him and Boone again. The big question coming out of this scene is what exactly happened inside the bathroom? Was he trying to hid the drugs? Was he trying to kill himself? He tells Jack, 'I was supposed to die.' Is this just a play on the fact that he died in the original timeline, or is there something deeper going on?
Damon and Carlton have said that Charlie will be back for a few more episodes this season, so I'm really interested in seeing where they go with this.
Landing in LAX,
So the plane lands safely in LAX. And everyone makes there way off.
Kate, still a fugitive and under the watch of Marshall Mars. Sun and Jin, who haven't worked out their marital differences yet. Sayid, hoping to find his love, Nadia. Charlie, under arrest for drug possession. Boone, without his sister Shannon.
Sawyer. Hurley. Jack. And John Locke, still confined to a wheelchair.
Kate manages to escape the Marshall and commandeers a taxi-cab. A taxi-cab with Claire sitting inside it. We don't get a good look at her lower half. Anyone think it's possible that she isn't pregnant in this timeline?
Sun and Jin get stopped by customs and jin is taken away after they find a shit-ton of hudnred dollar bills stowed away in his suitcase. One agent asks Sun if she speaks English. She claims she doesn't, but we all know Sun is the biggest liar on the planet next to Benjamin Linus.
Then the real crazy stuff in the flash-sideways begins to happen. Jack's father's coffin is missing. Even in this alt-timeline he cannot bury his father. Anyone have any cool theories on the significance of the missing coffin?
And finally, the best scene of the two hour premiere and what made the flash-sideways worth it for me.
Jack and Locke's scene at LAX.
Wow, was this a beautiful scene. Jack laments about his father's missing coffin and John tells him that the airline couldn't possibly know where his father is. That they only lost his body. And then he gives him that classic Locke smile.
And you can tell how much this all means to Jack. On the island, in the original timeline, he may have thrown this back in John's face and been all, 'Man of Science!' But in this moment a real bond forms between the two men, in a way that should have (but didn't) in the original timeline. FInally the man of science and the man of faith were coming together.
Jack asks John what happened to him. John replies that his condition is irreversible.
'Nothing is irreversible,' Jack replies.
One of the big themes of this season, and the overriding theme of the show, is redemption. Is redemption possible for our characters or are some of them just too far gone? I think that question will finally be answered this season and if this episode, if that line, is any indication, then the goodness in people, our hope, will always win out against our despair and suffering.
And this is the perfect segue back to our original timeline.
'I wanted you to be able to go home.'
In the original timeline, the flash brought them back to 2007 (where Ben just killed Jacob). Kate wakes up first and runs into Miles. They find the Hatch crater caused by Desmond triggering the fail-safe and realize that the plan did not work (at least not as they intended). DHARMA still built the Swan Station. The button was still pushed. Desmond still came to the island and neglected to push it one day. 815 crashed. Whatever happened, happened.
Kate wakes up Jack, who stares down into the hole, frustrated and upset that it did not work. Sawyer kicks him in the face and knocks him down the crater and, in this moment, confirmed to me that Josh Holloway is fucking incredible.
He was so damn raw and savage in this episode. Every bit of dialog so impassioned. Each stare filled with such anger.
'You were wrong!' he yells at Jack. And Jack can't do anything but accept it. He knows he was wrong and now he has to live with that. This could be the beginning of Jack always trying to fix the past to solve his problems. Jack will embrace the leadership role once again, but this time will be more open-minded and less burdened by his need to constantly fix things.
Miraculously, Juliet survived. Can we just take a moment to forever put to rest the 'love-triangle' between Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Because nothing these characters ever shared comes close to the final moments between Sawyer and Juliet.
There were the most emotional scenes of the first hour, and if they didn't move you, you just have no heart. Yeah, I said it. You're a god damn robot.
'I wanted you to be able to go home.' Juliet cries to Sawyer, better than ANY explanation of why she or Jack or anyone else wanted to detonate the bomb last season. She wanted Sawyer to have the best life possible off this island.
With her last moments of life she tells Sawyer, 'We should get coffee sometime,' and, god dammit, Elizabeth Mitchell, I'm going to miss you on this show. Please come back for a few more episodes before it's all over. That line just hit me so hard. Even when they were together in DHARMA times, they never had a real life. It was all make believe. The very notion of just going out for a cup of coffee is now so foreign to all these characters. They've all been through so much.
Mysteriously, the last thing she says is,'I have to tell you something important.' But before she can say it, she dies. More on what she said, and what I think it means later, but for now RIP Juliet Burke.
Suliet 4ever.
Because I died an hour ago
I may have to revise my theories on Hurley's communications with the dead. For a while, I thought the dead he was communicating with were people from the alternate reality. With Jacob's appearance to him (only an hour after his own death) I'm not so sure. I have a theory that could connect the two, but I'll get to that when we get into Miles communication with Juliet.
So Jacob appears to Hurley and tells him to take Sayid to The Temple. The same Temple where Ben was healed as a child when Sayid shot him. The same Temple where half of the Others have been since Season 3. The same Temple we've been hearing about for a million years now.
He tells him that the only way to save Sayid is to bring him there and that Jin will know the way (remember, Jin ended up at the Temple's Wall with Rousseau's science team after the Monster grabbed Montand and ripped off his arm). He also tells him to bring the guitar case that he's been carrying around since returning to the Island.
Most importantly, he tells him his name: Jacob. This will become important later in the episode, but is also a reminder that Hurley has heard this name before. Remember, back in Season 4, he was the one who led Locke and Ben to The Cabin (where they originally thought Jacob presided.. not The Man In Black).
'I'm sorry you had to see me like that.'
Inside the Statue, the true nature of The Man In Black (now posing as John Locke) is finally revealed: He is the Smoke Monster! I'd thought this all throughout the interim between Season 5 and Season 6, so it was great that they revealed it in the premiere.
More than that, they revealed it in an AWESOME fashion. Bram and a few of the Ajira folk march inside the Statue, demanding to know where Jacob is. NotLocke informs them that Jacob is dead and that they can leave (mannnnnn, is this guy creepy).
They open fire on him and all hell breaks loose. He attacks them in Monster form, killing all of them. It is revealed the circles of ash (the same ash that surrounded the cabin) keeps the monster at bay. Unfortunately for Bram, the circle of ash was not enough. The monster knocked him outside the circle and impaled him on a stick.
'Sorry you had to see me like that,' he says to Ben.
And speaking of Ben, is this guy more lost than ever or what? The look of shock and cofusion on his face when Richard throws him in front of the dead body of the real John Locke was priceless.. as was his reaction to when Ilana for spoke up, 'I'm sorry, who are you?'
It will be fascinating to see Ben in this position this season. Of the follower. The one not pulling the strings. Knowing he was used to kill Jacob, nothing but a pawn.
They discuss this the following morning.
'You're the monster.'- Ben
'Let's not resort to name calling.' -The Man In Black/Monster
Haha. Good stuff. The Monster relents that he didn't make Ben do anything. Ben chose to kill Jacob. And then just to needle him a bit more, he explains to him that John Locke's last thought was, 'I don't understand.'
This scene was just great, and so well played by the two best actors on LOST. You can tell Terry O'Quinn is just loving to be able to play this new character.
His description of John Locke's life is so sad. Yet, in the end he says that despite all that, he admired John. Because he was the only one who realized how pitiful the lives they left behind were.
Ben finally asks the big question,'What do you want?'
John,'Therein lies the irony. I want the one thing John Locke didn't. I want to go home.' And then, holy shit, does he burn a hole through the fucking television set with that evil stare.
So what is the Monster's home? And what will he have to do to get back there?
Ben and The Monster leave the statue. He confronts Richard and tells him, "It's good to see you without those chains." And Richard is terrified as he exclaims, 'You?'
"Me," The Monster replies as he beats the hell out of Richard, before berating the Others, "I am very disappointed with all of you."
Okay, the biggest thing from this last part. Is this a conformation that Richard was a slave on The Black Rock ship? In the Season 5 Final we saw Jacob and The Man in Black (The Monster) sitting on the beach, looking at The Black Rock approach the island. Is this when Richard came and is this when The Man In Black started his rebellion against Jacob?
Lots of questions here, but the answers seems like they are within reach.
Jacob sent us!
So we finally make it to The Temple, and it's a very impressive set-piece, if a little too Indiana Jones for LOST. We meet the spiritual leader of the Others' Temple, Asian Ninja Dude, and his assistant, the Hippie Guy... I'm sure we'll get better names for them soon.
They first order to kill Jack, Kate, Hurley, Jin and Sayid but then Hurley plays the 'Jacob' card and points to his guitar case. They open it up to reveal a ridiculous, over-sized wooden Ankh. The Ankh is the Egyptian symbol for eternal life. Before the Statue of Tawaret was just a foot, it held two Ankhs in both it's hands.
The Asian Dude breaks open the Ankh and we get another one of Jacob's famous lists. And wouldn't you know it, all their names are on it. And appaently, if Sayid dies, then they're all in a lot of trouble.
This, to me, finally established the real importance of our characters in the endgame of the show. The Others think they're the special ones, protecting the island and all, but they aren't Jacob's chosen ones. For some reason, he chose the 815ers. Jack. Kate. Hurley. Sayid. Sun. Jin. Sawyer. Even Locke. And now we are finally seeing them becoming involved and connected to the grander island mythology.
So they take Sayid to the water table and try to heal him. They are told that there are risks involved with this process, but Jack gives them the go-ahead. Quick note, the water was dirty and did not heal the Asian Dude's hand when he cut in. Could Jacob's death be the reason for this?
Sayid begins thrashing in the water as they hold him under and Jack and CO. (and us) don't understand why they won't bring him up before the time runs out on the hourglass. It could be that if they brought him up before, he could come back changed for the worse.
Regardless, Sayid dies only to miraculously come back to life at the end of the episode, exclaiming, 'What happened?' Okay, so we all saw this coming (which is why Sayid's 'death' didn't hit us as hard as Juliets) but what does it mean that he came back to life?
Many of you think that Jacob is now inhabiting the body of Sayid. I don't buy that just yet. I think Sayid is definitely changed, but I wouldn't go so far to say Jacob is now living inside of him. I am glad he's still around though and look forward to seeing where his story goes.
'It worked.
Sawyer and Miles bury Juliet and Sawyer asks him to speak to her. To ask her what she needed to tell him. After some initial hesitation, he does so. And he finds out she wanted to tell him.
'It worked.'
Okay, so time for my BIG THEORY OF THE WEEK to wrap things up. This will bring the whole analysis full circle cause this connects the stories of death, the alternate timeline and the after-life.
I think being near death, or dying, brings one closer to this alternate reality. Right before she died, Juliet caught a glimpse of this alternate-reality and tried telling Sawyer about it. I don't know if this alternate-reality is supposed to represent some kind of after-life, but mark my words: there is going to be a connection between death and this alternate-timeline as the season progresses.
And perhaps this would allow my 'Hurley sees dead people from the alternate timeline' to also be true.
All I know is right know, especially after second viewing, I am really loving this season so far. Any reluctance I had after the initial viewing last night, dissipated when I watched it again today. I can see the pieces being moved into place for the end of the show and I could not be more excited.
If they can keep the focus on the characters' and resolve their individual arcs, I will be very happy. And already, I think they're setting up Jack for a great season. Further, the actors are all bringing their A-Game.
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