Mirror, Mirror: Cultural Themes in LOST 6.05 by Pearson Moore
LOST Theories, Recaps/Reviews, Season 6 View Comments
He is coming.
The most important person ever to walk jungle path and sandy beach is making his way to the Island. But he cannot get there alone; he needs a guide–someone of clear and keen vision. Jacob cannot be that guide. For Jacob saw as through a mirror, dimly, but the guide will see face to face. The guide sees not dim reflections of men and words written on stone. Rather, he sees men as they are, and the words written on their hearts.
“Jack is here because he has to do something. He can’t be told what that is–he has to find it himself.” Tonight, in the lighthouse, Jack began to see with new eyes. The Island has its guide.
You Have What it Takes
The previous four episodes seemed to delight in the strange contrasts between the Island spacetime and the sideways reality in California. In this episode we were invited to draw parallels and observe similarities between the two worlds. Particularly strong similarities were established for Hurley and Jack.
Hurley continued his discovery of unused reserves of self confidence, taking on the Temple Master in a match of wills–and winning. From Hurley’s über-confidence during his scenes in the sideways spacetime, we know he had great potential not only for standing his ground but for effective leadership. He made good use of decisiveness and persuasion in convincing Jack to accompany him to the lighthouse. And after acting as accomplice to the destruction of the mirrors, Hurley had cojones enough to question the motives and methods of Jacob himself.
Hurley grew quickly in this episode, acquiring emotional balance and the sure ability to achieve goals, while losing not a bit of the ethical and moral filters he applied to every action. He complained to Jacob, “you made me write down way too much stuff…and I just lied to a samurai!” Even if a falsehood accomplished a good, it remained a lie in Hurley’s mind. Hurley stayed the course as conscience of the Island, and a motivating force for Jack and the other Candidates.
Jack is going through a transformation even more profound than Hurley’s, requiring more time, emotional energy, and force of will than any of the other Candidates has to face. While Hurley could call upon reserves of psychological strength he always possessed but never used, Jack is being re-built from the very centre of his being. As we saw in 6.03 “What Kate Does”, science and logic no longer carried sufficient motivating force for Jack. But what is the true nature of his transformation? What would Jack see now, with his new eyes, if he could once again stare into the dark well of the Swan Station?
When young Ben Linus was dying in 1977, Jack Shephard, in his DI janitor uniform, knew at his very core that science and surgery were not adequate to “fix” the boy. The surgery thirty years later did not make Ben a better person or magically bring about any improvement in the crash survivors’ predicament. When Dogen asked Jack to give Sayid the green pill, Jack held onto a small shred of his former self, insisting Dogen tell him what the green powder was. The old Jack would have pulled out a gun or raised his voice by several dozen decibels, shooting or shouting until he got answers. The new Jack had a stronger motivation than science. He knew that he was the vessel of Sayid’s trust. In swallowing the green pill, Jack threw science to the wind and embraced his spiritual alliance with Sayid.
Jack is becoming a man of faith, a believer in miracles. Last week we heard John Locke utter words that could never have crossed his lips on the Island: “I don’t want you to spend your life waiting for a miracle, because there’s no such thing.” The Locke in sideways spacetime is being transformed into a man of science, a devoté of reason and logic.
The struggle between Man of Science and Man of Faith has been going on since the earliest days after the crash of Flight 815. Many of us believed, even as early as Season One, that the conflict would ultimately find resolution in the cross-transformation of the two men. Jack would become the Man of Faith, and Locke would become the Man of Science.
I am no longer sure this is the only possible outcome. In fact, I will assert that the thesis of this episode negates the possibility of any such cross-transformation. I believe the thesis for “Lighthouse” might be stripped down to seven words: The struggle between opposites is an illusion.
I believe this is the message of “Lighthouse”, presented in imagery drawn from Lewis Carroll’s works and in motifs unique to the story of Season Six.
Through the Looking Glass
The imagery of Alice in Wonderland has recurred in key episodes over the past six years. In “Lighthouse” the journey through the looking glass took centre stage.
Jack took “The Annotated Alice” in his hands and commented to his son, David, that he used to read to him from the book, especially the stories about “Kitty and Snowdrop”. Those familiar with Carroll’s books know that Kitty is a black cat, while Snowdrop is a white cat, and thus Jack invoked yet another recurring theme in LOST: White versus Black. Jack went looking for his son, David, at his mother’s (presumably Jack’s ex-wife’s) house and found the key under a porcelain white rabbit by the door. Carroll made use of rabbits in the Alice stories, and they have frequently appeared in LOST episodes, particularly in scenes concerning the Dharma Initiative. A white rabbit was the central image in the Looking Glass Station logo and white rabbits were frequently used in scientific experiments of the DI. White rabbits have even made appearances off Island, as with the rabbit used by the magician at Ray Shephard’s retirement home.
It is in the use of mirrors and reflections that LOST most frequently invites comparison with Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass”. Mirrors have been prominent in every episode of Season Six, and the mirrors of the lighthouse were central to the major revelations this week.
The brazen and unapologetic appropriation of imagery from a classic of children’s literature might cause us to believe that we should seek broad parallels to Carroll’s stories in constructing a better understanding of events on the Island. I think the positing of such parallels would again be illusory. In the case of “Through the Looking Glass”, we would have to find a character, most likely a female, making her way across a giant chessboard with ranks separated by brooks, intent on being crowned a queen at the end of her journey.
I think just such a misapplication of LOST imagery was made in the very creative Season Six promo designed by the Spanish television network Cuatro. The thesis of the promo: The characters of Perdidos are nothing more than pieces on a chessboard, their destinies determined not by them, but by the two players moving them from one square to another. While the ad was breathtaking in its creativity, I think it was far off the mark in terms of the overall message of the series.
If LOST is nothing more than a story about several dozen characters being manipulated to take pre-determined actions at the bidding of two or three godlike entities, I think the story will very quickly fade into obscurity. The story must be more than an accounting of moves across a chessboard. It must be more than the triumph of free will over the enslaving forces of someone else’s idea of destiny. If either of these two outcomes proves to be the one-sentence summary of life on the Island, I will be disappointed, and not a little surprised.
“Lighthouse” gives solid clues that something much more significant than inevitable destiny or Triumph des Willens is at play here.
I Came Back Because I Was Broken
Jack is a man broken, his deepest beliefs uprooted, his ideals discarded as useless rubbish. He remains in his heart a healer, but his heart is wounded now. Jack is, and forever will be, the wounded healer.
Tonight we saw more evidence of his chaotic spiritual state.
Jack’s reflected face was distorted in the pond at the Temple. This image might have been taken as a chance decision of the director to include a meaningless but well composed shot of troubled waters, if not for several images of similar content placed throughout later scenes.
We could indeed interpret the active rippling of the pond water as suggestive of general troubles to come, but I believe the distortion was intended to apply to Jack alone. In Episode 6.01 Jack on sideways Flight 815 took a trip to the rest room, peered at his reflected image in the mirror, and wondered at the wound on his neck.
In tonight’s episode, Jack again peered at the image reflected back to him from the mirror in his bathroom, and for the second time saw an old wound.
He didn’t remember the appendectomy.
My father had his appendix out at the age of eight–the same age Jack’s mother, Margo, claimed Jack had his operation. My dad recalled his appendectomy as the most traumatic event of his youth. My best friend had her appendix removed at the age of eleven. Her experience was not just traumatic–the event nearly took her life.
I cannot imagine an eight-year-old child shrugging off extreme abdominal pain causing a breathless, high-speed car or ambulance ride to hospital, a swarm of doctors and nurses peering with concerned eyes at the child’s abdomen, and the unexplained piercing of the child’s arm or hand with a huge needle followed by the sudden, dreamless loss of consciousness. Perhaps a three-year-old would forget. Perhaps a thirty-year-old would shrug it off. An eight-year-old? I think the eight-year-old would recall, even years later, every bewildering and painful second.
Faraday’s Boulder has wreaked havoc in everyone’s life in both the sideways and the Island spacetime realities. Turbulence created by the stream-splitting rock has caused sideways Jack to have no memory of life-changing events, and a vague unease about even mundane occurrences. The wounds inflicted by the Island showed up on Jack’s neck on trouble-free Flight 815, even though in his reality there was no Island. Sideways Jack had no recollection of the appendectomy because on the Island he had no such operation until three months after the crash. The rift created by the simultaneous detonation of a hydrogen bomb on top of the instantaneous release of nearly unlimited electromagnetic energy was not a slice in the arrow of time, but a shredding and reordering of spacetime itself. The appendectomy did not occur when Jack was eight or when he was thirty-eight. It didn’t ever occur, at least in his memory. The weird, spacetime-torn Jacks are patchwork jumblings drawn from two very different realities. Is it any wonder the sideways Jack consumes vast amounts of psychic energy trying to figure out where he is, what he’s doing, and why he’s doing it?
As Through A Mirror, Dimly
Mirrors presented Jack with information for which he had no explanations. Worse, the reflected images were distorted and topsy-turvy. The appendectomy scar appeared to be on the left side of his abdomen, not on his right side as it ought to be. We had to apply a correction in our minds (the image is reflected, therefore we need to reverse it) in order to figure out the meaning of the image. If we wish to obtain something close to the whole truth, we must supplement additional information (in this case, our understanding of the laws of physics) to the image obtained from the mirror. The critical idea here is simple: Reflected images contain only partial truths.
No mirror in the world reflects all the light falling on the object. All mirrors are dim.
The lighthouse mirrors were particularly dim, and severely distorted every reflected image.
“He’s been watching us… the whole time.” But what has he seen? Jacob’s view of the Candidates’ lives was dim, warped, incomplete. He had a partial and misleading vision of them. And perhaps, as with the rosy-coloured and distorted mirror image of Jack’s house, he saw what he wished to see and nothing more.
The mirrors and their warped half-truths suited well their primary user. Jacob may have had what he considered pure motivations, but his methods were tainted by his bias and his agenda. He was the purveyor of free will only if human volition would serve to lead the Candidates to the Island. Otherwise he used any trick available to him to coerce, cajole, and compel those he’d chosen to the destiny he carved out for them.
Now I Am Become Life
Jack speaks only the truth. He does not speak to coerce. He does not compel anyone to even the greatest cause. He does not speak in half-truths, in warped sentences, in falsehoods or distortions.
Jack speaks only the truth. When Sayid asked what the green pill was, Jack told him. Jack will have no truck with the dim and shady manipulations of Jacob, of Ben, of the Smoke Monster. He is Jack: Wounded Healer, Doubting Thomas, Wrecker of Falsehoods.
Listen as he utters the full truth: Now I am become life, the destroyer of mirrors.
It’s Okay, I Know Her
Justin and Jin were guests at Claire’s camp. While she was away sterilizing instruments, the two men shared quick snippets of whispered speech. “It’s okay, I know her,” Jin told the Other. Justin responded, “No, I know her.” Justin urged Jin to loosen the ropes around his hands. “When she comes back I’ll snap her neck.” If he didn’t do it, she would kill them both. Jin wasn’t so sure; after all, he knew her.
Jin and Justin were the reflections of each other. The crash survivor and Dharma Initiative member staring at his opposite, the Temple dweller, the Other. Because they opposed each other, it could only mean that one had the correct idea about Claire, and the other was completely wrong. There they sat for several minutes, Jin the reflected opposite of Justin, sure of his understanding of Claire, her history, her motivations, sure that Claire would act in accord with everything he knew about her.
Claire was their mirror, the dim, imperfect, distorted medium through which they acquired their understanding of each other and of her.
The full-force delivery of the axe into Justin’s chest seemed perfect proof of everything the Other had said about Claire. “She’s going to kill us both.” Jin re-evaluated on the spot. No, Kate doesn’t have your baby–the Others took him, just like you said. But he was not convinced. Hadn’t she just cleaned his wound and stitched and dressed the gash on his leg? Wasn’t it she–with Locke–who helped Charlie turn his life around? The perplexed expression on Jin’s face must have been the result of these and a hundred other thoughts flashing through his mind.
The Concert
Jack didn’t know David could play. Not like that. “How long has he been playing?” Dogen asked the question that the parent of a prodigy would know better than any other span of time. But Jack didn’t know. The “little push” from the Temple Master was enough, though. The Island wounded him, but now it provided the means to make amends with his son, and eventually, with his father.
Hiroyuki Sanada gave a most thoughtful response during an interview just a few days ago. Matt Mitovich was the interviewer.
MM: Why are Dogen and Lennon so obstinate, so secretive? Why not just be forthcoming?
HS: That’s because for us it’s a matter of: Who is a stranger to the island? Jack and Sawyer and their group are alien to the island, so….
MM: You’re saying it’s a simple lack of trust.
HS: Yes. To save the island we have to keep secrets and keep things out of touch from these “aliens.”
MM: It’s just that we always run into this pattern. One would think that if, say, the fate of humanity was at stake, all involved parties could cut through the posing and have an open exchange with one another.
HS: But they need to keep secrets from each other, fight each other, and hate each other in the beginning.
Secrets. Hatred. These are the things that tear people apart, that cause people to wish for failure. “I didn’t want you to see me fail,” David told his father. Looking for failure was the common thread between the three generations in the Shephard family, after all. Why would David believe his father would seek to find anything other than failure in him?
David believed his father hated him. He believed it because it was the only thing he thought he could believe. But it was an illusion, born of dim and distorted images, of incomplete, misleading reflections. Jack told him the truth: “In my eyes, you can never fail. I will always love you.”
Mirrors create opposites, distorted reflections of ourselves. The distortions create mistrust. We hold secrets from each other. We come to hate each other. But all of it is illusion. Not that we hate each other, but that we must hate each other. That is the illusion.
The mirrors are gone now.
The task of destroying the illusions can begin. I don’t know if Jack will be the one to initiate this work. If trust and love form the basis for overcoming secrets and hatred, Jack will not be alone–he will need to find others. But he can’t be told these things. He has to find it himself.
Pearson Moore
Related posts:
-
Risk: A Cultural Thesis for LOST 6.03 “What Kate Does” by Pearson Moore - Prime Candidate: Cultural Thoughts on LOST 6.04 “The Substitute”
- Impartial Risk: Cultural Musings on the Resurrection of John Locke
Tags: Episode 6.05, Jack, LOST Theories, Pearson Moore, recaps&reviews, Season 6
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February 26th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
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February 26th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Great post!!!
February 26th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Hi Eric,
Thank you!
PM
February 26th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Really amazing post! Thanks for that!
I have a theory I had already at the End of Season 5, and Season 6 (so far) seems to prove me right:
What is clear: Our Losties are nor really just living their lives normally in the Flash-sideways, Jack seemes a lot older in the first scenes of Season 6, the appendix he can't remember proves one thing: This is Island Jack in an alternate reality. That's why he had the feeling of knowing Desmond, that's why they all seem to have a certaint memory but its not complete.
Now the question is: Where are they actually? Is this really reality? Why is Alice in Wonderland so important again? Why was David reading the book? Could it be, that the “reality” is just a dream? Just a vision? When Damon Lindelof was asked what the main theme of Season 6 would be he answered that the Bob Dylan Song “Visions of Johana” would match “the mood of season 6.” Now why Visions? I believe that this alternate reality is in fact only a vision. What happened after Alice had her adventures? She came back. In the same way the flash-sideways might end at some point in the near future of Season 6.
If you know that Star Trek Next Generation episode with Q (the God-Like entity) you know what I'm talking about: Q once sent Captain Jean-Luc Picard back in time to give him the chance to change a fight he had when he was very young, in that fight his heart was severely injured (a Klingon stabbed him in the back through his heart). However, by changing his past (convincing his friends not to engage in the fight) he then experienced all the consequences this action had on all of his life (e.g. not becoming Captain, always being a scared person, not a leader figure etc.) At the end of the episode he was given the chance to re-lived the experience a last time, now again engaging in the fight, and in the moment the Klingon stabbed him, he looked at the knife coming out of his chest, smiling, realising that this is how it always had to be and only that would make him the person he had to become.
However, what makes me a bit skeptical of my own theory is that things are becoming rather complicated. If Jack has a son I believe it's not going to be so easy just to go back and say: Well, that was just a vision, let's forget about that again. That's why possibly the flash siedesways might be at the same time flash-forwards, maybe they all happen after the island being destroyed, and this is going to be the end-point of LOST. The island is destroyed and they will live happily ever after… What do you think? I just know that I'm quite confused at the moment, but that's what makes LOST so great…
February 26th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
That was amazing Pearson,
I've been recently reading your great cultural analysis recaps,
keep up the good work man,
I wish there were more bloggers like you who pay close attention to thematic layers of such rich storylines.
February 26th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
PM, you always provide an interesting read, even if I don't always agree with everything you write.
I think mirrors are key to the show. In a way, it's similar to the themes of black and white, for mirrors are not pictures, but inversions.
The idea of inversion came to me as I watched the Season 5 finale. In the opening credits, I noticed that Part I of “The Incident” was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, while Part II was written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. I don't know how often they've been credited in that way (one name coming first for one part, another name coming first for the other part), but it caught my eye. Then, at the end of Part II, when the screen was white and “LOST” was written in black, it confirmed what I was thinking, that things would be inverted.
So, the mirrors are a continued confirmation of this, as are developments such as the ones you note: the change in Locke, Hurley, and most definitely in Jack.
I also caught another odd thing towards the end of “The Substitute.” In the scene in which substitute Locke meets teacher Linus, Ben's dialogue was so odd it drew attention to itself.
BEN: If you have the last cup of coffee, you remove the filter and throw it away. Fear not. I will make a fresh pot.
LOCKE: Actually, I was just hoping for some Earl Grey.
Michael Emerson's singsong delivery of the line clued me in to something going on here. Notice that there are four sentences in that dialogue. Look at the words at the end of each sentence: away, not, pot, Grey. That's an ABBA rhyme scheme, which is in itself an inversion. And it seems to me that Ben's delivery of the line is Mad Hatter-esque, as is the reference to tea.
I know that's digging in deep, but things are done for a reason and the writers of this show are far too smart to do things like that without a purpose.
Unfortunately, I don't know Alice in Wonderland well enough to use it as a guide to Lost.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
RESPETO MAXIMO. Also hope the cuatro interpretation isn't the final solution.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
thank you very much
February 26th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
I loved this episode. I noticed too that Jack is speaking ONLY the truth.
I think that he is the man now!!!!!
February 27th, 2010 at 1:23 am
Hi Adrian81,
You have interesting and well-supported ideas about the nature of the sideways reality. It struck me, as I read your ideas, that we probably lack words and linguistic forms to accurately communicate our understanding of what a “sideways spacetime” mean. I would tend to express the view that the two spacetimes are equally real, but I would also tell you that I feel the splitting of the universe into two realities (or deviation into a other universes) is temporary and in some way contrary to what I think I understand of physics. I suppose one might argue that if a world is both temporary and existing contrary to the laws of physics that such a world would have to be labeled unreal, or as you wrote, a “vision”. It may be that even if I insist the two spacetimes are real, I might come to understand that I actually believed almost all of the same things you believe about the nature of the sideways spacetime, but that I was just expressing the ideas using words that were never intended to be used to explain anything as complex as two independent spacetimes populated with the same individuals.
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 1:25 am
Hi Hygoniz,
Thank you for your very kind words. I'm happy to learn you're finding the analyses useful.
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 1:28 am
Hi Brainjdubs,
Fascinating analysis of the Ben/Locke dialogue from Ep. 4. I didn't pick up on that at all. The attention to detail in this show is amazing.
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 2:08 am
Hi Mr. LaFleur,
Thank you for your comments! I really like the Cuatro ad, but I think the best ones are those that seem to capture the true flavour of LOST. The best ad ever, in my opinion, is this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swHST-s0s3E
I think it was created by the people at SL-LOST, actually.
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 2:11 am
Hi Vahag,
Jack is changing for the better this season. And not a moment too soon! It looks like even Jacob is counting on him.
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 4:01 am
“You Have What it Takes”
I didn't read Hurley's actions as a parallel to those displayed by Sideways Hurley. I think Hurley simply feels empowered by his unique rapport with a major figure like Jacob. It amounts to a nervous “I'm a candidate! Jacob told me so! Back off!” — even though he doesn't understand the term's real meaning. The Sideways Hurley seems confident all on his own — rather than by any association with a VIP. In fact, in Sideways timeline, Hurley himself is a VIP. However, I do agree that Hurley represents a kind of child-like purity that exposes Jacob's methods as suspicious by contrast. Again, the leap-of-faith (with reservations) theme returns with Hurley buying into Jacob''s plan without quite understanding it.
Regarding Jack, I don't think he's transforming quite yet. He was a man of science who took a leap-of-faith out of desperation; both approaches have left blood on his hands. I believe that's why this man who needs to “fix” everything is now “broken”. He's a man of doubt and confusion now. Jack does have what it takes — and those who know more (Jacob, Dogen, etc) understand this; but they also understand that it doesn't matter until Jack himself makes the realization and the choice to do what must be done. He's still the classic reluctant hero. And I continue to believe that philosophic opposites of Locke and Jack will finally work together towards some larger resolution. This might involve getting past the illusion of opposites you mention. Yin and Yang, black and white, Reason and Faith will be shown as false dichotomies. No side will truly win the coming war.
“Through the Looking Glass”
Although many promote these theories, I don't think LOST adopts more than a few select elements from the books, films and shows it references. It's not *just” this story or *just* that myth. Too easy.
“I Came Back Because I Was Broken”
Hmmm… He first said it was Kate (which I couldn't buy) — but this seems more plausible. I haven't a real theory regarding Jack's injuries — besides the obvious, I mean. As a side note, I do have doubts about Juliet having detonated that bomb. It seems strange that it hasn't been mentioned or referenced in the show. The flash and ringing can be attributed to other scenarios that we've seen before. We've seen the freighter explode, purple skies, and an island vanish in front of our eyes — but no real explosion scene? I think they're playing with our assumption here. That bomb situation resolved itself much too quietly considering the build up to the supposed detonation.
“As Through A Mirror, Dimly”
I agree regarding the mirrors — and there's been more of them since Season 1 than most of us remember; but I also know that the primary function of a lighthouse is to help someone “out there” navigate to that destination. They're for guiding (drawing) in as much as looking out. (interesting stuff on wiki for lighthouses — especially ancient ones)
February 27th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Yeah, you're absolutely right. LOST is so amazing that it's almost impossible to actually name the things they're doing in this show. Just a gnereal remark, maybe you thinks that's over thw top, but to me LOST is the greatest “literary thing” since Shakespeare. What is it that Shakespeare made so famous and so amazing? Well, if you look at all of his plays they can be summarized by the simple definition: All human feelings are in those plays, the plays are about people, about poeple in different life situation, fighting their destiny, not winning the battle (tragedies like MacBeth Hamlet etc.). The thing is I can't remember having ever seen a TV show that is so intense in the emotional part like LOST.
Now, concerning timelines, we'll see what happens. I could imagine that Eloise Hawkings still has a part to play. Damon Lindelof and Carton Cuse states once that they see her as a police officer of the universe (or something similar, can't remember exactly their utterance). What I'm just wondering: Did Jacob actually know they would blow up the station and create the alternate reality? If so, that would mean Jacob knew this would happen and it would then be part of his “plan” whatever it might be…
I also thought about the difference in character between those two universes: Everyone is almost the opposite. Could it be that Jacob needs those opposites in the island? Since Jacob touched Jack he tried to make him a man of faith, but somehow Jack was resistant to it, he never really believes, he actually does not seem to believe even now that he saw Jacobs mirrors (probably). John Locke was tricked into being killed for the purpouses of Smoky. He now seems to be happy and no longer a man of faith. Now maybe Jacob needs these stronger characters on the island? Is that maybe what Jack needs to do? Could it be that Jacob wants the Losties to actually go an get their own copies from the alternate reality to the island? But this only works with free will, that would be why Jacob said Jack has to find out that there is something he has to do on his own, he can't be told.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:13 am
Because he is his uncle (I think), he respects him.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Hi Adrian81,
Interesting ideas! Jacob has a plan, and it seems Jack so far is following the plan. But if I am reading the larger plan–the Darlton Plan–correctly, I think at some point Jack will have to deviate from Jacob's plan and do something no one expects. I'll talk about that later this weekend. It seems obvious that the sideways spacetime cannot remain perpetually a little “what if” soliloquy. Somehow the sideways line will have to merge or intersect with the mainline events on the Island. Your idea that Jacob will bring several “reflected” personalities to the Island, so that both the originals and the reflections will work together, seems to be supported by the connections you cite. I see only one such individual making it across spacetime to the Island–and one copy of him was just buried next to Boone near the beach. We shall know soon enough!
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Hi Dave,
Fascinating analysis, as always. You ought to consider a regular weekly contribution to one of the LOST websites. Your insights would be useful to all of us.
Why have we not seen an explosion from the detonation of the plutonium device? I think we've seen as much as we're going to see, unless the mechanism of the sinking of the Island is important to the larger story. My thinking on this event remains the same as it was after seeing the premiere: the splitting of spacetime into separate streams was due to the sudden release of pure energy into an almost infinitely strong electromagnetic field. This event also led, directly or indirectly (perhaps via volcanic eruption), to the sinking of the Island. But we really don't know, as you said. But I'm guessing, since this is more or less a question of science and not a matter of character relationship, Darlton will move on without taking time to give technical explanation. But we will see!
PM
February 27th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
The premiere showed us a lot of what the island looks like under water. The POV dives down quickly into the sea, but then it slows down considerably to show us the details beneath. I didn't see the wreckage one might expect; Dharmaville looks pretty intact after the detonation of a bomb like that. Would a bomb sink an island? Also, when Ben moved the island it seemed to go down — the ripple in the water indicated the same. Did someone play with the donkey-wheel again? The drill had already hit the core before Juliet started banging on the bomb. Did that energy release cause the flash and ringing — like Desmond's key turn? Maybe Juliet and the others blipped to the future before her swing connected rock to bomb.
February 28th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Hi Dave,
I think your idea is plausible. Something has to account for the sinking of the Island, and as you say, the detonation of an atomic bomb doesn't seem to fit as primary cause. I, too, questioned the detonation, until Darlton confirmed the detonation in one of their interviews, and then we had confirmation in the “enhanced” version of 6.01-6.02. The detonation of the bomb seems beyond dispute, but the primary effects of that detonation certainly remain within the realm of speculation. I honestly have no idea what caused the sinking of the Island, but I can imagine the mechanism may be crucial to the final conflict at the end of the season. You may have the answer that brings resolution to the entire series.
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February 28th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
[...] (Mirror, Mirror: Cultural Themes in LOST 6.05 can be read here). [...]
February 28th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I didn't realize the detonation was confirmed. I must've missed that one. Did they confirm that the detonation was Juliet's doing — or by some other cause at another time?
February 28th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Excellent post. Thank you for writing on each episode, I enjoy reading your work every week!
February 28th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Hi Mikala,
You're most welcome!
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