LOST discussion - thar be spoilers ahead!

[Darth Waller]

That's when my foot goes through the TV and I lose it!

So that's why it's called LOST!

 

[tomandshell]

The Man in Black wants to go home.

Maybe that means dying and being released to whatever dimension/supernatural plane of existence that he came from. But the island won't let him die/leave. (It's against the rules?) So his objective is to destroy the island so that he can finally be freed from the power it has over him and he can leave it behind. Whatever his plan is, maybe he succeeds and sinks the island to the bottom of the ocean, setting the stage for the alternate timeline. (I don't know why I'm stuck on trying to place the alt events after the on-island events of season six.)

 

[Darthrazz]

The sunken Island made me think of Atlantis for a second.

 

[lcummins]

Tom, did you read the interview a couple of pages back, including the spoiler section? I don't want to say anything just yet in case you haven't...

 

[pixletwin]

So what about Walt? If the black smoke can only impersonate the dead then who/what was the Walt ghost?

 

[Something Sexy]

So what about Walt? If the black smoke can only impersonate the dead then who/what was the Walt ghost?

That was just Walt being an _______.

 

[Michael Crawford]

As I said a page or two back, there's no reason to assume smokey can't take any form he wants. I'm not sure where this idea came from that he can only take the form of dead people...

I like some of Tom's thoughts, but I disagree that the new timeline is any sort of good place. The reality is that there lives - all of them - are far better on the island than if they hadn't landed. Sure, some of the die, but they're going to meet the same end in the new timeline because nobody gets to cheat death. But they all had greater lives on the island than they had without it, and while Locke might have been the only one to recognize it himself, surely we can see it as outside observers.

 

[Something Sexy]

As I said a page or two back, there's no reason to assume smokey can't take any form he wants. I'm not sure where this idea came from that he can only take the form of dead people...

I like some of Tom's thoughts, but I disagree that the new timeline is any sort of good place. The reality is that there lives - all of them - are far better on the island than if they hadn't landed. Sure, some of the die, but they're going to meet the same end in the new timeline because nobody gets to cheat death. But they all had greater lives on the island than they had without it, and while Locke might have been the only one to recognize it himself, surely we can see it as outside observers.

Well until we have absolute proof that is all we can go off of.

 

[Moonloop]

I think that Jack's sense of deja vu/disorientation--and particularly the cut on his neck--are important clues that something more than a simple reset is going on. They obviously want us wondering about that cut--how and when Jack got it. It's possible that they are tricking us into thinking/assuming that the alternate timeline was a result of the incident/Jughead detonation. Maybe the alternate timeline was created by climactic events on the island that we haven't seen yet--the season ends with the island going way back in time and sinking to the bottom of the sea when the volcano erupts, and Jack flashes forward into the future of that timeline with some sort of mission to accomplish. That would make the events in the alternate timeline follow after the on-island events of season six, although we would be watching them unfold parallel to each other over the next four months as they both reach a climax in the series finale--the island storyline finishing with Jack (cutting his neck) and then flashing back to start the loop over again (something many have suspected to be the end of the show), but instead of flashing back to the Pilot episode, he flashes to the alternate timeline we saw last night, and follows it to a new conclusion with an actual ending and saves the day. Somehow.

Great theory!!!

I also think that Jughead did not detonate, that what actually happened is they experienced another flash which brought them back to 2007 for good (possibly as a result of the death of Jacob?). If this is the case, it would bring validity to your theory that the 'side-flashes' we are seeing is something that is triggered by an event on island that we haven't seen yet.

 

[Deeznutz6]

If this ends like the Sopranos Im going to ____in lose it.

Could MIB be referring to going home as getting back to "our" world?

 

[Michael Crawford]

I think it's pretty evident (especially if you read the interview) that the bomb exploded. I think it's also pretty obvious that it's not what sunk the island in the 'sideways' timeline. What's not clear and what they want you guessing about is whether the detonation caused the time split, or some other later event did. And while I completely agree that it's very likely some other event did, I think that we're all down with time travel on the show - noboby is going to be jumping back and forth again. I think they'll focus on the results of the time travel that's already occured, with only 14 more episodes to wrap everything up.

There's a ton of interesting plots to look at with the sideways timeline, but one I'm interested in is Sun and Jin's baby. Without the island, it was impossible for them to conceive. Will something happen to change that in the new timeline, because all lives must exist at some point in all timelines, or will that not be the case?

 

[tomandshell]

Tom, did you read the interview a couple of pages back, including the spoiler section? I don't want to say anything just yet in case you haven't...

I just read it twice, to make sure I didn't miss anything. Reading between the lines, there are some encouraging ideas in the interview for those of us who want the alternate timeline to actually mean something.

As for the alternate reality being a happy place or a sad place, I guess that depends on the individual. Charlie, Eko, Ana-Lucia, Libby, Michael, Arzt, Frogurt, Locke, Juliet, Nikki, Paolo, Charlotte, Faraday, Keamy, Alex, Karl, Rousseau, Boone and Shannon will at least be alive now, so they might argue that it's a happier ending. Jin and Sun are estranged and childless, so I don't prefer them in the alt reality. Charlie is not going to drown, but he's still an addict and might just overdose anyway. So that's a draw. Sayid might find Nadia and live happily ever after for real this time. Hurley definitely seems better off and has lost his bad luck. Sawyer is back to being a vengeful con man. Rose still has cancer. I think it is really up for debate whether or not things are better or worse in the alt--it's a little bit of both.

My question--where in the alt are Widmore, Eloise, Richard and Ben? Did they get off the island before it sank?

 

[Michael Crawford]

And is it my imagination, or are some of the people we saw at the airport people we've seen already in small roles on the island, like the taxi driver Kate threatens, and the guy who tells her there's a line?

 

[YoNoSe]

And is it my imagination, or are some of the people we saw at the airport people we've seen already in small roles on the island, like the taxi driver Kate threatens, and the guy who tells her there's a line?

That was Frogurt. He got a flaming arrow to the chest last season.

Anybody notice how Juliette starts speaking jibberish to Sawyer just before she dies? She says something like "we should get coffee sometime" and he's confused and tells her it's him. That's right before she's going to tell him "it worked." I think somehow Juliette became aware of the "sideways" reality. I bet there will be a point where she meets Sawyer and tells him they should get coffee.

 

[Batty]

It was great to finally see a new episode of Lost after all this time. The one thing that stuck out for me was when Charlie told Jack he was supposed to die. I felt like he wasn't talking about on the plane.

And is it my imagination, or are some of the people we saw at the airport people we've seen already in small roles on the island, like the taxi driver Kate threatens, and the guy who tells her there's a line?

I think the taxi driver was the Puppet Master from Heroes. It sure looked like him.

It was also good to see another member of Deadwood show up.

 

[Natrix]

I just read it twice, to make sure I didn't miss anything. Reading between the lines, there are some encouraging ideas in the interview for those of us who want the alternate timeline to actually mean something.

As for the alternate reality being a happy place or a sad place, I guess that depends on the individual. Charlie, Eko, Ana-Lucia, Libby, Michael, Arzt, Frogurt, Locke, Juliet, Nikki, Paolo, Charlotte, Faraday, Keamy, Alex, Karl, Rousseau, Boone and Shannon will at least be alive now, so they might argue that it's a happier ending. Jin and Sun are estranged and childless, so I don't prefer them in the alt reality. Charlie is not going to drown, but he's still an addict and might just overdose anyway. So that's a draw. Sayid might find Nadia and live happily ever after for real this time. Hurley definitely seems better off and has lost his bad luck. Sawyer is back to being a vengeful con man. Rose still has cancer. I think it is really up for debate whether or not things are better or worse in the alt--it's a little bit of both.

My question--where in the alt are Widmore, Eloise, Richard and Ben? Did they get off the island before it sank?

Dude, quit using "alternate"!!

They made it quite clear in the interview that is is not an "alternate" time line/reality and you said you read it twice!!

Just giving you a hard time.

And we don’t use the phrase “alternate reality,” because to call one of them an “alternate reality” is to infer that one of them isn’t real, or one of them is real and the other is the alternate to being real.

 

[LOTRFan]

So they have Boone on the plane, but had to come up with a somewhat clever explanation as to where Shannon was.

 

[Agent0028]

Yeah that didn't make any sense because it changes events that happened prior to crashing on the island. To me it seems like the only differences should come after the moment that the plane didn't crash. And I was rather disappointed not getting to see Shannon again...

 

[tomandshell]

Dude, quit using "alternate"!!

They made it quite clear in the interview that is is not an "alternate" time line/reality and you said you read it twice!!

Just giving you a hard time.

I know they don't call it alternate, but I can't help myself. I disagree with their reasoning regarding the terminology, lol. It's not the same chain of events that we saw in the pilot, and is showing us an alternative view. Who knows which one is real or true--maybe they both are. But if the writers want me to say that a plane crashing and not crashing are the same thing, then they're going to have to give me a few weeks for my brain to catch up.

Yeah that didn't make any sense because it changes events that happened prior to crashing on the island. To me it seems like the only differences should come after the moment that the plane didn't crash. And I was rather disappointed not getting to see Shannon again...

If the bomb went off in '77 and sank the island (which I'm not entirely convinced is the truth), then there would be a massive amount of differences between the two timelines, stretching over 30 years. It's very likely that the lives of the "alt" characters (sorry, producers!) are going to be dramatically different in some details, while still the same in others. Things have been different for decades, not just from the point the plane lands.

 

[Agent0028]

That's true Tom, its possible that other aspects of the timeline changed before the plane crash, however I personally find it unlikely. Especially in the instance of Shannon, I really can't fathom a way that the island sinking would somehow cause her to not go with Boone. But I could be wrong.