Act I of LOST’s final season ended this week with the glorious final sequence of “Sundown”. Before we get into Act II, I  wanted to hear your thoughts, comments, rants, theories, etc. about the first six episodes of this season. Please keep your comments spoiler-free!

Related posts:

1. LOST Episodes 6.01/02 “LA X” – Open Thread
2. LOST Episode 6.04 “The Substitute” [Open Thread]
3. LOST Episode 6.03 “What Kate Does” [Open Thread]

February 22, 2010
Primetime Ratings Report
For the week of February 2, 2010
(Live + 7 Day Program Ratings)

ABC’s “Lost” Season 6 Opener Delivers Big Increases in DVR Playback, the

Series’ Biggest-Ever Premiere Jump of 2.2 Million Viewers and 1.1 Rating Point

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” is Once Again TV’ Biggest Gainer in the DVR

Numbers, while ABC’s “Modern Family” is the Top Freshman Gainer

“Grey’s,” “Lost” and “Modern Family” Each Surge by Over 2 Million Viewers

Week No. 20: Live + 7 Day Ratings:

Based on Nielsen’s Live + 7 Day information for the week of February 1, 2010, which included the first round of data for the Season 6 of “Lost,” the 6th-year ABC drama premiere picked up an additional 2.2 million viewers (12.1 million to 14.3 million) and 1.1 Adult 18-49 rating points (5.6 rating to 6.7 rating) through DVR playback from its first-reported overnight numbers.  In fact in terms of actual gains and percentage gains, it was the biggest-ever increase for a “Lost” season opener through DVR playback. In the finalized numbers, “Lost” stood as the week’s No. 1 scripted TV show with Adults 18-49.

During the week, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was once again TV’s most-played-back show, while “Lost,” “Modern Family” and “Private Practice” all saw substantial gains in the finalized DVR playback averages.

• ABC claimed 3 of TV’s Top 8 biggest overall gainers, with each show jumping by more than 2 million viewers: “Grey’s Anatomy” – No. 1 (+2.758 million), “Lost” – No. 5 (+2.207 million) and “Modern Family” – No. 8 (+2.164 million – biggest freshman gainer).

• Among Adults 18-49, ABC aired 4 of the Top 10 TV series with the biggest rating increases: “Grey’s Anatomy” – No. 1 (+1.4 rating points/+31%), “Lost” – No. 4 (+1.1 rating/+20%), “Modern Family” – No. 4 (+1.1 rating/+28% – biggest freshman gainer) and “Private Practice” – No. 10 (+0.8 rating/+24%).

[Via TVbythenumbers]

Related posts:

1. Rating News: LOST Season 6 Premieres Up
2. New LOST Season 6 Promo With All New Footage
3. LOST Season 6 Premiere Promo

Hey everybody, my name’s Adam Rucker, and I’m very excited to be a new contributor here! A little about me: I’m currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I am a frequent video blogger on YouTube. I’ve also been a LOST mega-fan since S1. My excitement for the S6 premiere led me to create a live reaction/recap video while watching last week’s two hour premiere so I could share my excitement/confusion with all the people of YouTube, and this is that video!

Check back here every week for my latest reactions to new episodes!

And you can always find these and the rest of my videos on my YouTube channel: YouTube.com/ajruck and talk to me at Twitter.com/AdamRucker.

Can’t wait to see where this goes!

Related posts:

1. LOST Season 6 Premiere Promo
2. Video: The Cast Talks About The Final Season (And Their Plans for Premiere Night)
3. SL-LOST Video Podcast: “Because You Left” Recap

Via Digital Spy:

The return of Lost for its final season was a ratings success for Sky1 last night, according to early figures. The first two episodes of season six, which revealed what happened after Juliet attempted to detonate the bomb, pulled in audiences of 830k (3.4%) and 728k (3.7%) from 9pm.

Related posts:

1. LOST Season 6 Synopsises From iTunes & Sky1
2. New Sky1 Interview with Terry O’Quinn
3. UK Ratings: LOST Beats “Being Human” Season Finale

[Campetin here: please give a warm welcome to our new recapper Erin!]

NOTE: we apologize for the delay of this recap. It was meant to be published a few hours after the premiere aired but several technical issues with WordPress and image hosting services caused this delay.

The beginning of the end has commenced. The final season of LOST is finally here and the feeling is bittersweet. The end means that we get answers. Definitely sweet. But the cost of those answers is the loss of the very real characters we tune in to every week. That’s totally bitter. But until the finale airs, I’m very much excited about joining LOST in this final chapter of our story.

First, a little about me. My name is Erin. I’m a wife, a mother and a full-time college student, majoring in Communication Studies. (My independent study is on the rhetorical potential of LOST.) I’m definitely addicted to the island and all its mysteries and can’t wait to see what this season has in store for us.

In the two-hour season premiere, we observe what appears to be two separate timelines, or dimensions. In one dimension, the bomb failed to prevent anything and, consequentially, our Losties are still on the island. And a little shell-shocked, might I add. In the other timeline/dimension, the detonating the bomb successfully prevented the crash of Flight 815 and our Losties never made it to the island.

Flight 815

Some pretty significant things have changed on this replay of Flight 815. Things don’t go exactly they way they did the first time. There are little, and probably significant, changes. The first thing I noticed was that Cindy, the flight attendant, gave Jack only one bottle of vodka compared to the two bottles she gave him the first time around (in the pilot episode.) The plane does hit turbulence, but only a few bags fall from the overhead compartments and the plane eventually levels out. After the danger has passed, Bernard returns from the bathroom and joins Rose. Jack makes his way to the bathroom and discovered an odd wound on the side of his neck. It looks oddly familiar…

Just a coincidence?

All of the original Losties are seen on the plane, with the exception of a few. Shannon was not on aboard this time around, but Desmond was. And in this timeline, Desmond and Jack never met while running stairs at the stadium, which took place well before September 22, 2004 in our first timeline. Hurley’s life is significantly different as well. He tells Sawyer that he is the “luckiest man alive” and that nothing bad every happens to him. He did win the lottery and did buy Cluckity Cluck Chicken Shack, but Hurley is no longer living under the curse of the Numbers.

Oy, have a Cluckity Cluck day, mate.

Another key moment on Flight 815: Take 2 is when Jack saves Charlie’s life. Charlie locks himself in the bathroom and swallows his bag of heroin. It gets caught in his throat and he asphyxiates. Jack pulls the bag out of Charlie’s mouth and he gasps back to life. But he’s not happy about Jack saving him. He tells Jack, “You should have let that happen, man. I was supposed to die.” A grim reminder of Charlie’s fate on the island.

The plane lands safely in LAX and the Losties make their way off the plane. But the fun is just beginning. Kate escapes from the Marshal (using a pen she swiped from Jack when she bumped into him on the plane and a little help from Sawyer) and hijacks a taxi, which is driven by Hurley’s old friend Dave and occupied by a very pregnant Claire. Meanwhile, Jack is informed that the airline never put his father’s body on the plane in Australia and is now missing. While dealing with this, Jack meets John Locke. Before parting ways, Jack offers to help Locke, telling him, “Nothing’s irreversible.” He hands Locke his card and tells him it’s “on the house.” Will Locke take Jack’s offer?

Sun and Jin have arrived in Los Angeles as well. However, Jin encounters a little trouble at the airport when a bank bag full of cash is found in his luggage. Sun decides not to help her husband (by speaking English) and is taken to a waiting area while Jin is taken to an undisclosed location. We also see Sayid arriving at the airport, reminiscing over a picture of Nadia.

Before moving on to the next timeline, I cannot leave out the most significant change in this alternate dimension/timeline. The sonar fence, Dharmaville, the statue…they are all sunk deep below the ocean. The island has become the next Atlantis.

On the Island: The Swan

Back on the island, Kate and Miles have found the remains of the Swan after Desmond turned the fail-safe key. This puts our Losties at some point after 2004. Kate sees Sawyer and Jack lying in the tall grass near the crater that was once the hatch. Kate rouses Jack and as they discuss what has happened Jack is taken off guard by Sawyer and a swift kick to the face. He’s knocked into the hole and Sawyer begins screaming at him. “You were wrong! You put us right back where we started! Except Juliet is dead! She’s dead…’cause you were wrong!” As the argument continues, Kate hears Juliet’s voice deep below the rubble. Sawyer is able to get down to Juliet, but it’s too late. Before she dies in Sawyer’s arms, she kisses him and tells him she has something important to tell him. But she dies before he hears it. Later, after Sawyer buries Juliet, he asks Miles what Juliet wanted to tell him. He says, “It worked.” This is very interesting as before she died, she told Sawyer that it didn’t work. Did she happen to see something as she grew nearer to death?

Jin and Hurley were not far from the Swan station when the Incident occurred, at the van, where we left them at the end of season five. When Jin hears the arguing at the Swan station, he leaves Hurley with a dying Sayid to go get help. After Jin leaves, Hurley is confronted by Jacob, who tells Hurley that he was “killed by an old friend who grew tired of my company.”

Hey Hurley. Got a minute?

Jacob instructs Hurley to take Sayid to the temple, and to bring along the guitar case Jacob gave him in the taxi before he ended up back on the island. Although hesitant, he decides to follow Jacob’s advice when he finds out Jack cannot do anything for Sayid. So our Losties are now off to the mysterious temple.

On the Island: The Statue

Ben stares at the remains of Jacob burning in the fire pit. He’s confused by how Jacob was killed so easily, that he gave in to death. Locke snaps him back to reality and tells him to bring Richard in. When Ben tells Richard that New Locke wants to talk to him, he leaves out the fact that Jacob is dead. In fact, he lies about Jacob being fine. Richard is suspicious. After all, he was just presented with the real, and very dead, John Locke. While Ben stares in disbelief at the real Locke’s body, Ilana’s crew decides it’s time to go into the statue and they drag Ben with them.

Inside the statue, New Locke waits.

As the crew storms into the statue, New Locke greets them, unsurprised. Pointing their guns at New Locke, they demand to know where Jacob is. New Locke notifies them of Jacob’s death, telling them that they can leave, as their ‘bodyguard’ services are no longer needed. The crew is undeterred. They open fire on New Locke, who takes a bullet to the shoulder and quickly disappears. But suddenly, our old friend the Smoke Monster joins the party. After brutally pulverizing the entire crew (Bram almost made it by pouring ash around himself, but Smokie’s pretty smart) he quickly disappears again. Only to be followed by New Locke, who tells Ben, “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.” So, it’s finally confirmed. Jacob’s nemesis, aka Smoke Monster, aka new Locke….one in the same.

No match against Old Smokey

Ben: What are you?
New Locke: I’m not a what Ben. I’m a who.
Ben: You’re the monster.
New Locke: Let’s not resort to name calling.

New Locke tells Ben that the real John Locke was confused when he died.

New Locke: Do you want to know what he was thinking while you choked the life out of him Benjamin? What the last thought that ran through his head was? “I don’t understand.”

John wanted nothing more than for his life to mean something. New Locke explains that he was the only one that realized how meaningless and pathetic his previous life was. When Ben asks New Locke what it is that he wants, New Locke replies, “Well that’s the great irony here, Ben, because I want the one thing that John Locke didn’t. I want to go home.” So where exactly is home? And how is he going to get there? Was Jacob really keeping him from going home? And if so, why?

Ben and New Locke exit the statue and approach Richard. New Locke comments on how good it is to see Richard “out of your chains.” Richard quickly realizes who he is.

Richard: You!
New Locke: Me.

New Locke then hits Richard in the throat and beats him down. Looking around at the people on the beach, New Locke tells them how disappointed he is in all of them, hoists Richard’s unconscious body over his shoulder and leaves.

On the Island: The Temple

The Losties arrive at the temple carrying Sayid on a stretcher. Going through the hole (where one of Danielle’s team lost an arm, and then his life) they maneuver through the underground tunnels on their way to save Sayid. They are very suddenly attacked and apprehended by, what I’m calling, the Other Others. The Others force the team out of the tunnels and towards the temple.

Hurley: Guess we found the temple.

Next, we meet a few of the Other Others, although we are given no names. The leader, an Asian man who prefers to speak his native language, claiming that he doesn’t like the way “English tastes on my tongue,” and his translator.

Hurley convinces the Other Others that they were sent by Jacob. He tells them about the guitar case, which holds a large ankh. The Asian man break the ankh in two and pulls out a piece of paper. It tells them that if Sayid dies, everyone is in a lot of trouble. So Sayid is taken to ‘the spring.’ Translator notices that the water is not clear and the Asian man tests the waters. Pulling out a knife, he slices the palm of his hand and places it in the water. Upon pulling his hand out, the wound is still there. He’s not satisfied. Nevertheless, the orders that the men place Sayid in the water. He starts a huge hourglass, which sets on a pedestal by the spring.

Not long after being place in the water, Sayid begins to struggle. But, despite the Losties protest, the Other Others continue to hold his head under the water. The hourglass has not finished. By the time the last sand falls, Sayid is limp once more. They pull him out of the water and the Asian man declares him dead.

Saving Sayid

In a private conversation with the Hurley, the Asian man discovers that Jacob is dead. This causes an uproar in the temple village. Men start running around preparing for…what? We don’t know. We only know that they are preparing to keep an intruder out. They set off flares, presumably to warn their people at other locations on the island. Richard sees these flares right before he recognizes who the New Locke really is.

Inside the temple, at the spring, Jack is approached by the Translator, who wants to speak with Jack. Alone. Jack refuses and as they argue they are quickly disrupted by a waking Sayid. He’s very much alive.

“What happened?”

Thoughts on LA X

When Darlton said that this season would bring us back to the way we felt during the first season, they were right. We’re back to the mystery, the suspense. Personally, I cannot wait to find out what this season holds in store. So, until next time….

Namaste.

Related posts:

1. The X Factor – LOST 6.01/6.02 Analysis by Chris Kirkman
2. The Wounds That Heal Us – A Cultural Analysis of LOST 6.01/6.02
3. “316″ Recap by Jeremiah

[Editor's note: head over to Hobotrashcan.com to read a detailed recap of "LA X"]

The X Factor – “LA X” Analysis
by Chris Kirkman

Whew. I’ll freely admit that I was a bit worried going into this season; there was such a wide-open playing field that I wasn’t sure which path Lost might travel down. At the end of last season, we talked a bit about the different scenarios that might play out, and in last week’s podcast of HoboTrashcan , I mention the possibility of a retcon or reboot of the story. I saw the series going down one of two fairly well-defined paths: the bomb doesn’t quite work and the survivors are stuck on the island but put back into their own time, or the bomb does work and everyone gets a do-over. Luckily for us the Lost creative team decided to give us a hybrid of both and, despite some extremely lazy writing on a couple of occasions, I think we’re in for quite a good ride.

So, as Sayid so eloquently put it: “What happened?” It all starts with a cat, really.

THE X FACTOR
I’ll assume that just about everyone out there has heard of Schrödinger’s Cat by now, even if they don’t understand all the details involved. Allow me to explain, as best and simply as I can. In this classic thought experiment, a cat is placed in a box (a steel chamber, actually), along with a Geiger counter, a little bit of a radioactive substance and a counter tube hooked up to a small hammer, poised above a flask of poison (or acid, in Schrödinger’s original hypothesis). The device is protected against interference from the cat. If the radioactive substance experiences atomic decay, the Geiger counter would detect it, releasing the hammer, which smashes the poison container, thereby killing the cat. The radioactive substance is so small, though, that there may be decay within an hour, or there may be no decay whatsoever. Hence, as long as the cat is in the box and there is no outside indication of the fate of the cat, we don’t know whether the cat is dead or alive. It theoretically exists in two quantum states – both dead AND alive. And there you have the Schrödinger’s Cat paradox.

In the example above, it doesn’t matter if you actually care whether the subject is dead or alive, it’s just important to contemplate the possibilities of both.

In the classic view of the cat paradox, the exact outcome and quantum state depends on an observer. In the case of Schrödinger’s Cat, the cat is both alive AND dead at the same time because the box is shielded against quantum decoherence, and there is no observation to inform the world whether the cat is dead or alive. Only after the box is opened and the cat’s fate revealed does the exact quantum state of the cat materialize. Until then, the essential fate of the cat is both irrelevant and crucial. In essence, as long as the box is not opened and the certain properties of the natural world were to break down and cease or slow inside the box, the cat would exist in an immortal state indefinitely. This is known as the “Copenhagen interpretation” in quantum mechanics.

So, too, goes the Island. Because of the limited knowledge of its existence, the Island exists in a state of quasi-resistance to quantum decoherence. There is limited perception and, therefore, the possibility of multiple outcome states. In short, because of the massive power on the Island, the time dilation effect, the mutability of its quantum phase state, its age and the limited interaction that any survivors pulled there have had with the Island, it and the people entangled with it are akin to being inside their own little box, not knowing their own fates and possessing multiple outcomes. This relates and segues nicely into another viewpoint of the cat paradox known as the many-worlds interpretation. I touched on this and a related theory – that of the “multiple branching universe theory,” which I covered in the analysis for “He’s Our You” from last season (check it out, it’s worth it).

Remember this from last season? I love it when a plan comes together.

At any rate, many-worlds interpretation eliminates the need for an observer, as the cat retains its state of both alive AND dead after the box is opened. This is because when the possibility of two separate outcomes occurs, the quantum states of the cat diverge, each becoming separate and wholly real states. In other words, another branch streams off the “timeline” and forms a separate reality that is decoherent with the other state(s) of the cat.

The ultimate fate of the cat and, indeed, which fate will form the “base” timeline which is the cornerstone of a particular reality now depends wholly on an observer. Once the box is opened, and the state of the cat noted, the state of the cat and that of the observer are now entangled, bound to fully correspond with each other and only inhabiting one quantum state from that point forward. However, this does not mean that the alternate state of the cat does not still exist; it simply ceases to exist from the point of view of the observer. Other individuals that may be entangled with subset factored states that relate directly or tangentially to the cat may go onto experience a reality with one of the other states not enacted by the actions of the observer.

So … what does all this mean in the grand scope of Lost? Well, the introduction of Jughead into the equation, especially with the havoc it can wreak on the atomic level, affecting quantum states and interacting with the existing flux of the Island, means that we have our very own Schrödinger’s Cat paradox. Since we are mere external observers and not directly related to the events on the Island, we are able to see the divergence and decoherence of the two quantum states – or outcomes – of the actions of the survivors back in 1977. One world sees the return of the survivors to the Island’s “present,” and the other sees the survivors – both dead and alive – returned to the world to engage in another fated Oceanic flight, having never been to the Island and possessing no conscious knowledge of each other, or the past few years. If this theory is to hold any water, however, a dominant timeline will have to emerge. This can only take place with the assistance of an observer, someone closely entangled with the Island, and yet outside its current sphere of influence, free to pop in at a certain crucial moment, observe the true state of the Island and the survivors, and establish that state’s dominance.

What we need is some sort of …

X factor. Hello, Des. You’ll do nicely.

If this theory is to hold up, it simply must come down to one observer – or, at the very least, a small handful of observers. All signs right now point to our Variable, Desmond. Although he can’t be blamed for everything that’s happened on the Island, most of the quantum consequences that have occurred stem from two crucial decisions – his use of the fail-safe key that brought down flight 815, and his use of the key again to release the energy in the Swan at the end of season two. The energy release that brought down flight 815 created the first branch of the “paradox,” establishing an alternate reality. After the second release, Desmond established himself as the observer and created yet another quantum junction point.

These two events alone handily establish Desmond as the cornerstone of quantum and temporal shenanigans on the Island. However, it’s his appearance in the season premiere that firms up his place as the cornerstone of how things will actually turn out for the survivors. Remember last season I talked a bit about string theory, and entanglement? I’m not going to go into all that here, but you can get a quick summary in my analysis for “Because You Left” and “The Lie.” At any rate, the survivors are all connected through several quantum junctions, establishing multiple branching points every time they have interacted with each other prior to their time on the Island. Some survivors are more closely entangled than others; Desmond and Jack are two of those whose strings are very closely entangled. Because of this, Desmond’s appearance on the plane at the beginning of “LA X” – especially his appearance in the seat next to Jack – points to his significance in the role of things, and possibly as the Observer.

Also, Hobotrashcan reader zetts pointed out in the recap yesterday a very subtle – but very telling – bit of connectivity between Jack and Desmond. Remember when Jack went to the bathroom and found that bit of red on his neck that looked like a scar or scratch? Well, it was paint. In “Flashes Before Your Eyes” from season three when Desmond first leapt back to when he was trying to get a job from Charles Widmore, he woke up covered in paint. Later, while he was getting ready for his interview, Penny found some paint on his neck. Here, check it all out.

Jack, checking out the spot on his neck.

Desmond, back in “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” getting ready. See the fleck of paint there? I’ve circled it for you.

Penny even gets rid of it for him. She’s so sweet.

It may look as though Jack’s spot of paint is in a different spot than Desmond’s, but it’s not. Keep in mind that the image of Jack above is his mirror image. The paint is on the left side of both men’s necks.

So what does it all mean? Come on, I can’t answer everything. Along with the connectivity mentioned above, I’ve got to let all this roll around in my noggin for a bit. It wouldn’t hurt to go back and take a look at some Desmond-centric episodes, either. Regardless, I feel as though Desmond’s our Observer, or Variable, or, at the very least, the X factor that will help determine which outcome is “real” once the box is opened.

Hey, speaking of an X factor, I have one last thought before we move on. The title of the season premiere has stuck with me since it was announced during the summer. LA X. I figure most of you noticed that little space there between the LA and the X, and it got my mind turning during the hiatus. I think it had a lot to do with my speculation of alternate realities and the multiverse back in the podcast last week. At any rate, it’s clear from that title that the writers and producers are pointing at these “phase flashes” as a true alternate reality, branching from the point of the explosion of Jughead.

There are some great stories out there that you can check out that deal with the same sort of thing. Earth X from Marvel Comics takes a look at an alternate reality future for the Marvel Universe, as does the classic X-Men comics storyline “Days of Future Past.” That’s in issues 141 and 142, if you’re hunting – or buy the trade paperback. DC Comics has their share of alternate reality tales, particularly in their Elseworlds line of graphic novels. Kingdom Come is probably the best and most acclaimed of these alternate realities, and it, too, takes a look at a possible future for the DC world. Finally, in movies, check out Sliding Doors. Yes, it’s a bit of a chick flick, but it’s also a very entertaining and interesting look at the possibilities inherent in quantum decoherence in everyday life. Gwyneth Paltrow is the “cat” in the movie, by the way.

WE COME FROM A LAND DOWN UNDER
So who or what the hell are Jacob and Esau? We know that they have apparently been in some sort of struggle for quite some time, neither can defeat or kill the other without the help of someone from outside or off the Island, and Esau is a sentient blob of smoke that can assume multiple forms. Where does that leave us, besides feeling like we’re going crazy?

1. Time Travellers. We’ve seen a lot of temporal shenanigans in the past two seasons, so it seems to reason that these two could be from the future – or the past. In regards to the future, it could even be a possible future. Remember the branching timeline, just like in Back to the Future – you can return to a junction point where the timeline branches, and even ride out that branch of the timeline into the future, but it’s not possible to return to the future you came from unless you can somehow go back to that junction and change the outcome of events so that your future becomes the prevalent one. Okay, that was a really quick summary of just about everything I wrote about last season, so if you want it all in detail, go check it all out. When Esau said that he just wanted to go “home,” was he talking about his time – his reality?

2. Extra-dimensional beings. If we start talking about realities, we probably should just start talking about other dimensions, especially after that long bit of insanity at the start of this analysis. Jacob and Esau could be from another reality entirely, a phased branch that evolved from a certain quantum junction, and evolved in ways that may seem impossible from the viewpoint of this reality. Esau’s shapeshifting would be one of those evolutions, easily explainable by thinking of evolution in a multiverse; after all, when there may be an infinite amount of possible realities, there may very well be a place where a puff of smoke can turn into Terry O’Quinn. The Island may be a quantum gateway – a locational rift in the interdimensional wall. Remember when I talked about ley lines for two whole seasons? Well, some believe the major intersections of those ley lines represent places where the metaphysical walls between this reality and others are thinnest. The power that’s inherent within the Island may be a result of it lying on the strongest of those ley intersects – and may make it possible to step between worlds. Jacob and Esau could very well be from two completely separate realities. Hell, they could even be the same person from two separate realities. How’s that for making your brain turn sideways.

As a side note to the mention of the ley intersects and the dimensional wall, it is possible from a quantum theory point of view for a person, possibly even their consciousness, to exist in two states at once, just as I described above. In the instance of our Island, when Jughead was detonated it not only represented the crucial junction that separated the state of reality into independent quantum states, it could have also opened doors that allowed the survivors to leap through simultaneously. Just a thought. A crazy one.

3. Aliens. Yeah, Jacob and Esau could be aliens, crash landed on Earth, their ship lying there for so long that it formed the basis of the Island, which explains the power and the ability to jaunt around through time and space. Now, just as they were stranded on an “island,” others from this planet are now ironically drawn to this new Island and stranded. Also, they come from a planet of sentient smoke monsters. Hey, you come up with something better.

4. Gods. With all the talk of multiple dimensions, quantum phase states, aliens and shape-shifting smoke monsters, the fact that Jacob and Esau could be old gods isn’t really all that far-fetched. You just have to shift your thinking from the physical to the metaphysical, and perhaps that’s where Lost is headed, in the end. That’d be shooting the big ol’ bird to us science geeks, but it sure would make my paranormal side dance with happy glee.

WHAT’S ASH GOT TO DO WITH IT?
We’ve been seeing these ash circles pop up from time to time on the Island, just as the one that Bram fashioned for himself in the statue when Ol’ Smokey was getting pugilistic on his mates.

I think I might have made mine bigger. Guess he brought the small emergency smoke monster kit on his utility belt.

The first time we encounter an ash circle was in “The Man Behind the Curtain” when Ben takes Locke to visit Jacob’s cabin. As they approach the cabin, Ben carefully steps over the ash that surrounds it. Later, Locke comes across the circle in “The Economist,” but the cabin was missing. In last season’s finale, Bram and Ilana come across Jacob’s abandoned cabin, but the ash circle there is now broken. And in this week’s premiere, we see the Temple dwellers break out the ash when they learn that Ol’ Smokey might be on the rampage. Lennon explains that the ash is there to keep “him” out.

The use of circles in spiritual and magic rituals has existed for thousands of years. Binding spells involving ash have been used in many wiccan and pagan practices for centuries. In demonology lore, a binding circle is created when an entity is summoned, to keep it inside the circle and protect the incanters from its power. Of course, on the Island, the circle is the opposite, keeping the power of the entity out of the interior of the circle. The real question lies not in the power of the circle, but in the content of the ash.

Could the ash be part of Jacob? It’s an assumption at this point, but Jacob and Esau could be the same, and if that’s the case Jacob should be able to shapeshift, as well. Could Jacob have provided a bit of his essence to infuse the ash with protection? The two beings are clearly able to withstand attacks from the other and need help to dispatch their counterparts. It seems clear that ash that may be from Jacob’s very form could repel Esau in the guise of Ol’ Smokey.

Or maybe it’s kryptonite. I’ll be interested to hear what you all think.

That about wraps it up for this week. I have many more thoughts rattling about, particularly in the details of Jacob’s cabin and the interactions between it and the survivors. Also, could Jacob shapeshift? If so, could it have been him appearing as Christian Shepard? Just as Esau has taken Locke’s form because he is deceased, so could Jacob have taken Christian’s form from the very beginning. It all seems to click.

Until next time, keep thinking those thoughts, and if you come up with any epiphanies tell me something good.

Namaste.

Related posts:

1. “316″ Recap & Analysis By Chris Kirkman
2. “The Variable” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman
3. “LaFleur” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman

[Via Sky1]

Related posts:

1. The LOST Initiative – “316″
2. The LOST Initiative – “The Variable”
3. The LOST Initiative – “316″ – Midweek Edition

[audio:http://ll.media.abc.com/podcast/audio/itunes/LOST_603_audio_podcast_b369f8b4-656a-4f80-b519-ef950a5fb507_2715739.mp3]

What is a flash-sideways? Who is Locke? The Creators & Cast provide some answers.

[Via ABC]

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[Campetin here: please give a warm Namaste to our new contributor Pearson Moore!]

The Wounds That Heal Us
A Cultural Analysis of Lost 601/602
By Pearson Moore

Some will never experience redemption, but everyone on the Island will suffer. And it is in their wounds, in the very fact of their suffering, that they will find healing.

LOST is, at a level I believe to have immense utility, an engrossing study in culture clash, actively engaging faculties of thought, reason, fear, and wonder. Over the coming weeks, as we bring closure to this adventure of six years, I hope to convey thoughts on culture, collaboration, and the creative human spirit, relating these in ways relevant to the turbulence and calm, anguish and thrills, and life and loss on the Island.

My name is Pearson Moore, and I am a culturalist. Not in the sense of pursuing a particular philosophical bent, but in the sense of possessing inordinate fascination with the social revelation of shared humanity. My training is in chemistry, languages, and religious studies, but my passion is the study of culture. Whether delving into North American history (Cartier’s Ring; see http://pearsonmoore.com/CartiersRing.aspx), exploring social science fiction (Trinity; see http://pearsonmoore.com/trinity.aspx), or jumping headlong into the full force of culture clash (my blog, http://pearsonmoore.blogspot.com), the intricacies of social relationship compel me. I offer no guarantees, no expertise, and though I am Jesuit-trained, I’m just about as smart as a bag of rocks. But if LOST is a journey of discovery, I am well suited to the task, for I have much to learn, and the path I tread meanders places unsurveyed.

LOST continues to confound my assumptions and expectations, no less this night of the Season Six Première than the night in September, 2004, when I first saw a startled, disoriented man open his eyes to green jungle and bright island sun. That man is Jack, but that man is me, and I suspect, in ways that matter most, that man is all of us.

The Wounds of LOST

The story of LOST is the story of wounded people. In the pilot episode six years ago, Jack is physically wounded. In tonight’s première, Jack again is physically wounded. But after so many years we know Jack. We see in his searching eyes this night in the white airliner cabin the same discomfort, we feel in him the same sense of disorientation we know he experienced on Jacob’s Island this very day, but in a time and place far removed. And because we know Jack, we know the gash across his side six years ago and the pinprick at his neck tonight are only faint signs of his true pain, which is the wretched suffering inside his conflicted soul. Six years ago the pain had its centre in his relationship with Christian. Tonight, the source of his pain is below the wings of the aircraft, beneath the clouds, a thousand metres below the waves, at the floor of the ocean. However much he may have forgotten or does not yet know, we feel with him the same need to get back to that place, to that now submerged fragment of the statue of Tawaret. If there is to be redemption for Jack, it is on that submerged island, in the shadow of the crumbling statue, for this is the abode of Ille qui nos omnes servabit. What is the true extent of Jack’s turmoil? Does he feel complete loss, utter hopelessness? The man who told Jack all he needed was “a little push” is consumed in flames, just as the Island he was sworn to protect is consumed in the waves, subsumed to the sea. Jack is cut off, defenceless, no chance of redemption. No hope. His wounds will never heal.

I have no access to the writer’s room in Los Angeles, and I don’t read the spoilers. And even though I have soaked in every episode at least twice and read attentively the learned counsels of Doc Jensen and Vozzek69 and can recite confidently the major theories centred around the various permutations of the Valenzetti Equation, I cannot predict with even a modest degree of assurance whether Jack will, in the end, reconcile with his father, find redemption, or even experience a glimmer of spiritual peace. But I will assert what I believe to be inevitable: Jack will realise his full destiny, and he will accomplish this on the Island. He will not do it alone. And he will not do it in spite of injuries to body, mind, and soul. He will do it because of his wounds.

The Wounded Healer

Jack Shephard follows a well-established tradition in his coming capacity as wounded healer and shepherd of souls. In 1972, a forty-year-old Dutch spiritual shepherd, Henri Nouwen, wrote The Wounded Healer. Nouwen’s thesis: Those who wish to heal must carry deep inside themselves the unhealed wounds of their own suffering. There is no balm for the wounded healer. But in accepting the full intensity of her deepest pain, the shepherd becomes the most effective healer of those in her care.

Jack has not yet shown us the extent to which he has become spiritual disciple to the martyred John Locke, but the signs of coming transformation are thick in the air pressing in on the decimated Swan Hatch, and even thicker in the oppressive re-circulated atmosphere of the Oceanic Boeing Triple-Seven Cruiser. Jack has found no comfort in the New 2004, and he has no solace in whatever time and place he inhabits now that unlimited nuclear force has collided at the Swan with infinite electromagnetic force. If he is to experience redemption, he will have to follow a path back to the Island. He may be made physically and emotionally whole along the way. He may find in Kate not only a comrade in arms but a spiritual soul mate. But these elements do not constitute the objective of his quest. Kate by now becomes almost an unpleasant distraction from the work consuming his thoughts and ever increasing volumes of emotional energy. Even the invocation of the “not a very strong drink,” in the topsy-turvy New 2004, is feeble and far from the centre of Jack’s very preoccupied mind. When Cindy gives Jack a single bottle rather than two, we realise he would have been equally happy with no booze. His focus is stronger now. The submerged island calls. His response will be unyielding and irrevocable.

Jack is the Wounded Healer. No longer the “fixer,” Jack’s pain is transforming him into a doctor whose only comfort is found in the care of others. Jack will use every resource of training and spiritual transformation to heal those in greatest need.

Who or what will Jack heal? Any meaningful response will be based at least partially on speculation, and probably ought to be considered outside the scope of a brief commentary on single episodes. Nevertheless, some plausible ideas come to mind, and I intend to offer my take on this question before next Tuesday.

Faraday’s Boulder

“Did Juliet detonate the plutonium core?”

The question is irrelevant. By ingenious sleight of hand, Darlton asked us to centre our thoughts over the last several months on the devising of scenarios that might result from the detonation of a thermonuclear device. After the first fifteen minutes of Lost 601 we discover the folly of our assumptions. The plutonium core may have exploded, or imploded, or it may have reacted in ways unknown to science. The technical explanation is moot. The question we should have been asking is this:

“What is the result of the diametric opposition of irresistible force against irresistible force?”

The uncharred ruins of the Swan Hatch present us with a fresh exposition of the Irresistible Force Paradox, usually expressed along these lines:

“What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?”

The Island contains no immovable objects–anyone having even casual acquaintance with the FDW knows just how easily even the largest objects can be moved–across entire oceans! But the Island contains several irresistible (limitless) forces: Electromagnetism (Swan Station), “Energy” (Orchid Station), and since 1954, essentially irresistible nuclear energy (Jughead, in the tunnels under Dharmaville).

Daniel Faraday’s reckless charge into the midst of his mother’s camp was the necessary unpredictable action forcing the destruction of the timeloop. Not because Faraday had to die, but because Eloise had to have the completed notebook. With it, she was able to guide her son to the formulation and execution of his boulder-in-the-stream concept of spacetime diversion. Faraday worked carefully, designing a plan of such accurate detail that even untrained followers were able to continue the deed after his death.

Essentially infinite electromagnetic energy from beneath the Swan spewed toward the surface just as Juliet detonated the nuclear device and–something unprecedented occurred. If an explosion occurred, it was unlike anything recorded in the laboratory notebooks of the wildest experimenters in nuclear physics or quantum particle studies. The quality of the explosion is not at issue, however. The true outcome–the outcome that has definitive bearing on our story–is displacement in spacetime.

And here, I think, is the genesis of the new narrative technique mentioned in lusty anticipation by writers and actors over the last several months. Somehow Faraday’s Boulder has created two independent streams. Suddenly spacetime contains two adult versions of Jack, two adult versions of Hurley, two adult versions of Kate, of Sawyer, of Claire, of Aaron–two active, intensely engaged sets of key actors–all of them touched by Jacob–all of them torn from ordinary destiny by flight through a contorted vortex over a submerged island, all of them ripped from linear time by the throes of a thermonuclear/electromagnetic storm of cosmological proportions.

The independent streams will not long endure. Spacetime will again find its natural path. But Faraday’s Boulder has given Jacob, or his successor, or the MIB, or the Island, a place in spacetime to bring final resolution to the nineteenth century debate on the beach. “It always ends the same,” the MIB argued. This time around, at least for this short period, the MIB is wrong. The channel is split. Spacetime is torn asunder. The agents of change have been liberated from the confines of linear action, thought, and time. And they’re not one, but many. They’re not many, but many sets. They’re not many sets, but entire legions of sets. “A war is coming,” Widmore said. With two identical sets of fiercely committed players, two groups of Others, hundreds guarding the Temple from the MIB, and several more groups converging on the Island, it will be a war like no other.

The Black Swan

The protagonists in my novels are women. Perhaps I allowed a bit too much of Garrison Keillor into the unconscious development of character arcs, but I have found deep preference in my writing for the deployment of emotionally and spiritually strong women. So all my women are strong, though I can’t say, with Garrison, that all the men are good looking, or that every one of the children is above average. But my women are strong, and they are unquestionably above average.

The earliest thrill in LOST, for me, was witnessing the protagonist of my then just-completed novel, Trinity, given flesh in the form of actress Evangeline Lilly. She was strong in the first season and a half. The writers’ decision to shackle her to the conventional role of love interest to two men I came to consider the greatest weakness in an otherwise exceptionally well-told story. So I was thrilled again tonight to see her eye blink open and watch her muscle her way down from the branches of her tree. Action Austen is back. It’s been a long wait. But the new fire in her eyes, the purpose in her stride, the strength in her limbs tells me the wait served its purpose. The worlds around both Kates writhe about in stormy flux. But Kate has strength now, to rise above, to stand firm. I very much look forward to seeing this new Kate.

Kate escapes the shackles that bind her to conventional subservience. She is the Black Swan, the agent who lives and moves and has her being far outside the constraints of any box, far beyond the statistical bell curves considered to encompass the normal range of human possibility, the person of unimagined magnitude who dominates the space and time around her.

She is not the only Black Swan.

The most dramatic example of the Black Swan became apparent only seconds from the end of the episode, at the bubbling orange waters of the healing spring, when a man in curly black hair and black shirt rose from the dead. Or so everyone but Miles thought. Sayid was never dead, of course, though the Temple Master so claimed. Dead to his former self, perhaps, or dead in some other equally metaphysical manner, but the rusty waters of the spring gave Sayid new life, a fact even Miles seems not to have understood.

We know Sayid is on the Temple Master’s list. So too, Hurley, Jack, Kate. I’m guessing Sawyer was “invited” to the party at the Temple only because of Jacob’s note inside the wooden Ankh, and Sawyer’s prominent position on that most important written invitation from the Island’s chief protector. Is Aaron recorded as the sixth name on Jacob’s final list? Or do Sun and Jin displace him, since they received Jacob’s touch?

“I think they’re protecting us,” Kate says to Sawyer. Certainly. They are among the Six, Jacob’s chosen. They are the heroes, the Black Swans who will subdue the ill winds and vile smoke that come to pierce the Temple walls and strangle the Island.

Of all the Black Swans, Hurley tonight was most magnificent. He once ran away from any sign of trouble. Now he confronts dangers near and situations bleak.

“Can you fix Sayid, Jack?”
“No.”
“Then you’re gonna have to let me do it.”

This is no mere matter of a man having found cojones. Hurley has always been a Black Swan, in his connection with the numbers, in his ability to speak with Jacob, Charlie, Mr. Eko, and Ana Lucia long after their deaths.

But in the growing realisation of his value to the Numbers–to the Six–to Jacob’s final hope–Hurley unites these independent actors, the bold hired guns of Jacob’s final posse, into something grander than perhaps even Jacob himself could have imagined. Hurley mobilises them, gives them a common goal: the Temple. He begins to mold the cowboys into what they are destined to become.

Michael Emerson, narrating in the seconds before the beginning of the première, told us destiny could be overcome by human free will. But that is only part of the story, and a small part, of itself not nearly sufficient to anything approaching a satisfying exposition of a single story six years in the telling. The full measure of the story began tonight with the strong words of a big man with an even bigger heart. “We need to go to the Temple,” Hurley told them. They would go there together, work together to save Sayid, help each other to bring about Jacob’s will.

There are Black Swans. There are Heroes. But the series is not called Heroes–and I am mighty thankful, indeed. In the end, this is not a story about cowboys. They are Six, not one. Every name on that final list is essential, for as the Temple Master said, if even Sayid dies, the world will become a most dangerous place for all of them. “We have to learn to live together, or we’re going to die alone,” Jack the Fixer told us six years ago. His words have even greater value now, in these bleak hours and minutes before the arrival of the MIB, in whatever fearful or grotesque manifestation he chooses to project. Jack is much better equipped for the fight now. And he can call upon Hurley’s new-found strength of character, Sawyer’s righteous anger, Kate’s renewed inner purpose, and the born-again strength of a man once thought dead. He and the Temple Master will need all of this and more to fulfill their mutual destiny.

The ash is spread, the walls reinforced, weapons gathered, forces assembled. The rockets scream the call to arms to defenders far and wide. Who will answer the call?

Culture

“They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.”

The Man in Black has it right. The evident truth of his words finds perfect reflection in every event since the landing of the Black Rock. Even Richard Alpert’s release from the chains aboard the slaver is in some way a proof of the validity of his logically-defensible disgust with the human race. Jacob rails against the wisdom of MIB, but can the blond-haired man cite even a single instance in which the exercise of free will has enabled anything akin to the “progress” he considers inherent in struggle?

The Others consider themselves disciples of this man and his hope in progress. “We’re the Good Guys, Michael.” And yet they kill without a second thought the foreign soldiers of 1954. Thirty years later they murder an entire village of scientists and hippie throw-backs, dumping their gassed bodies into open graves, congratulating themselves for the next twenty years for the courage to carry out their righteous “purge.” And in September, 2004, when three hundred human souls fall out of the sky, the Others are ready again, not to greet, assist, engage, and befriend, but to assess weakness, exploit frailty, and in the end, wipe them out in the most orderly manner possible.

Even the Others, those who claim closest discipleship with the Man of Progress, prove in every one of their actions, relentlessly through history, the truth of the Man in Black’s assessment of human nature.

Can any one of Jacob’s six knights claim to have progressed away from destruction and corruption?

This grand story does not juxtapose good and evil. The thesis does not centre around the inherent value of freedom of action. We will not be asked to assess the relative merits of free will and predestination. Something much more fundamental is at stake than anything as superficial as “the struggle between good and evil.” We all wish to believe we are good, that we lead wholesome lives, that we do what is right for ourselves. Everyone on the Island has the same view. But something much more fundamental has so far evaded discussion. It is this something that will now provide the focus for the next fifteen weeks.

The word ever since Season One has been the same: Destiny. Neither Jacob nor the Man in Black, nor any of their followers throughout the centuries has posed the question in its intended form.

The immediate question is easy: Why were we brought to this island?

What is our destiny?

There can be no thought of replacing Jacob. Many believe the leitmotif of the Doubting Thomas in Season Five must require at some point in Season Six a grand resurrection. I share this view. And though Sayid was not truly dead before his rebirth, nevertheless his demi-resurrection I think is yet another harbinger of the miraculous event to come. Locke was far too important to be hanged in a flea-infested hotel in Los Angeles. Too essential to the story to be dismissed as “weak.” I think it quite likely we will see a New Locke at some point. But he will not be Jacob. Even if at some point we see again a teenage Emily Locke dancing around her room listening to 45s, this time in the embrace not of Anthony Cooper, but rather in the gentle hands of the Man in White–even if the revelation of Locke’s true father is made in this most unambiguous way–I believe Locke nevertheless will have to rise to a higher destiny than mere replacement of his father as Protector of the Island.

Neither, I think, can anyone seriously believe the final outcome of Faraday’s Boulder must necessarily involve the destruction of the Man in Black. Everyone on the Island, whether she is an Other, fell from the sky on Oceanic 815, or arrived in chains on the Black Rock, carries the Man in Black’s hatred and disgust in her own heart. All of us who have traveled the Island these many years carry that same fear and loathing in our souls as well. With Sayid, sprawled outside the blue Dharma van, waiting for death to arrive, we feel the full force of the tortures we have inflicted on enemies, on strangers, on those we love.

What is our destiny?

In the end, I believe Jacob’s knights will settle on the question to be posed. Some of them probably will not live to see the question answered. Jack, the Wounded Healer, seems the most likely candidate for final martyrdom in the cause of human destiny.

The question has been posed since the pilot episode six years ago. I believe the question posits a rugged and informed optimism, grounded in the full reality of human capacities for enduring goodness and cheerful communion between people of divergent background and outlook. In the end, the Six will answer the question. And though they may be burying their leader when they arrive with the conclusive response, they will be able to answer in the affirmative his great question: We will not die alone, Jack. We will live together.

Next week I will pose what I believe to be the Great Question: the thesis of Lost.

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(Re)-Watch Part Two after the jump.

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Lost’s 5.6 adults 18-49 rating from 9-11pm was up 10% from last year’s 5.1 rating. (although ABC is reporting last year’s premiere at a 5.0 rating, which would make the increase 12%) That’s quite an accomplishment in today’s broadcast television environment and bodes well for this season’s results. It was also ABC’s best two hour ratings for a series since 11/27/07.

Full ratings table.

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Official synopsis: The aftermath from the detonation of the hydrogen bomb is revealed.
Written by: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse.
Directed by: Jack Bender.

What did you think of “LA X”? Tell us in comments below!

Please, do NOT post any info about upcoming episodes in comments. This includes the preview shown at the end of this episode, episode titles, etc. If you post a spoiler, you’ll be permanently banned. If you see a spoiler, please flag it. Thanks.

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[Via ABC.com/LOST]

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Lost returns to air on 7TWO on Wednesday February 10th, fastracked just a week after its return in the US. The show returns with a two hour season premiere at 9:30pm, preceded by the special Lost: The Final Chapter at 8:30pm. Part 1 will also air on Seven at 11:30pm.

[Via TVtonight.com.au]

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You watched it, didn’t you…

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They probably watched Paranormal Activity instead of LOST…

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