Lost with LOST: It Only Ends Once...Starting Tonight

Here’s my theory on the last and final season of LOST. No money-backed guarantee. I can’t even promise any of this is correct. Sorry. And I haven’t watched the leaked footage of the premiere. I just have no interest in having it spoiled. I want to watch the three episodes tonight, in context. So don’t write any spoilers in the comments, please. In the meantime you can watch this video and, especially, this video, book your Oceanic Airlines flight, and analyze the LOST Last Supper photo (1 of 3, by the way).

Here goes nothing/everything...

It all starts with Jack’s eye. It’s very Ralph Waldo Emerson to believe that the eye is the beginning and the creators of LOST certainly thought it was a worthwhile way to begin the show. Why does the eye matter according to Ralph Waldo Emerson? Let's look to Nature:

The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.

I mean, come on, does that not sound like exactly what we've been dealing with all along? "Shines into the eye and the heart of the child" (Christian's child)? Nature? "Inward and outward senses truly adjusted to each other"? "Spirit of infancy in his manhood" (remember Christian's "timeout" for the adult Jack?)? "Intercourse with heaven and earth" (dead people alive)? And, finally "a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows". That's it, right there. I have always believed this show was ultimately about Jack and his search for redemption. Jack has been carrying the weight of his father’s death on his shoulders and despite Christian’s plea for Jack to “let it go”, there needs to be a real change in Jack’s life for that to occur. Well we’ve seen Jack go from a drunk doctor* to a person drunk on the idea he needs to fulfill his destiny. What is that final destiny? I think that’s one of the central themes of this season.

Side Note: Yes, I got the same thing out of Jack’s drinking on the Oceanic flight that Doc Jensen did over at EW.com—Jack has become an alcoholic just like his father. Jack has been an addict the whole time on the show: addicted to saving people, to finding out who his wife is having an affair with, to getting off the Island, to pills, to the ideal of Kate, to getting back to the Island, etc. When did that plane crash? Right after Jack asked for more booze. Yup. Go back and watch. It’s true.

The other central theme I see occurring? Finding a replacement for Jacob. Finding a replacement, you ask? Well yes. Jacob knew he was going to be killed. Jacob knew the Man In Black was going to be able to find the loophole that would allow Jacob to be killed. That’s why he enlisted the help of Ilana and Bram to help courier his replacement to the Island. That’s why they knock out Lapides and say “he may be a candidate”. They know all about who/what the Man In Black is. That’s why they are so concerned when they see Locke’s body. That’s why they ask people “do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?”—they’re looking for people who have seen Jacob and knows where he lives.

And let’s be honest, although Bram and Ilana say they’re the “good guys” and Jacob seems like a benevolent creature, doesn’t mean they are. Ben Linus also claims to be part of the good guys. It’s pretty blurred on this show. Remember when Jacob visits Sayid (“the torrrrrturer”)? He directly causes the death of someone Sayid loves because he needs him to come back to the Island. Who wants to bet it was someone we know like Bram or Ilana driving that car? Does this go against Jacob’s whole theory about mankind and free will? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll see.

But let’s remember, the castaways are stuck in a permanent time loop. If Jack’s plan works (and I believe it will), the hatch being knocked out will mean that we go back to the beginning of the show with a semi-Tabula Rasa. Why semi? Because we can’t have spent 5 seasons of all this for nothing. It would be unfair to the audience. And the participants. But what does that mean? Well remember that lover of Sayid who was killed? Didn’t happen. Remember all those deaths on the Island? Didn’t happen. I always believe that the Castaways were meant to visit the Island—just not when they did. I think they were supposed to go on Ajira Airlines all along. With Frank Lapides as their pilot.

I believe there were two loopholes broken: MIB broke one, but Jack broke the other. The battle we’re all preparing for? Control of the Island. Widmore, Ben and Locke all battling to see who can be standing as the leader of The Others* when Jacob finally meets his maker. And I think we figured out in the photo promo for Season 6 that Locke is supposed to be the leader. Now is it MIB Locke or alive Locke? We’ll have to see.
*Side Note: Speaking of The Others, I think it’s pretty obvious at this point who/what they are yet there seems to be a lot of questions. Of course I say it’s obvious and we’re probably going to have to rethink this again early in the season. But I believe The Others are a group of people chosen to protect the Island from those who want to exploit it. People like the Dharma Initiative, the Americans who want to set off a nuclear bomb, corporations who want to use it for personal gain, etc.

Who is most affected by the detonation of the bomb? I don’t actually believe it’s the castaways. I believe it will be chosen from among the group of Desmond, Ben and Juliet. Why those three? Well Desmond may still come to the Island, but they’ll be no hatch button to press. Will he have another purpose. Brother, I hope so. Ben was seemingly on the Island when the bomb exploded. Did he survive? Did Richard Alpert survive? Did Charles Widmore survive? Did Eloise Hawking survive? I say yes to all of those…somehow. Maybe the others have special powers (remember their interest in Walt's powers?) or maybe they are just normal kids kidnapped and cultivated to be able to survive on the island and protect it. I just believe they all have to survive, somehow.

But the person I believe most affected by the bomb detonation will be none other than the person who made it go boom: Juliet. Why did she do it after she seemed to want to stop Jack? Well re-watching last year’s season finale this past week I saw something I had never seen before. After Juliet, Kate and Sawyer were talking to Rose and Bernard in a very comical conversation, they all went to part, except Juliet all of a sudden reached for her stomach and felt a pain. And realized…she was pregnant! Don’t believe me? Watch the second part of the finale again, carefully. I think she realizes that she can also effect a timeloop. If the incident happens, women can’t have babies on the Island, if women can’t have babies, Juliet is convinced to come to the Island, and Ben will once again not let her leave to visit her sister. If Juliet is convinced to come to the Island, she meets Sawyer and falls in love and gets pregnant. Basically she knows she can never have that baby because she decided not to go on the sub and she knows no one else on that Island will be able to. So she decides to end that timeloop.

Whoa. Let’s deal with a few other characters, shall we? Sawyer is going to be a mess once this season starts. Torn between his three-year love of Juliet and his life-long love of Kate, he’s going to be disappointed to find out that Juliet has no clue who he is. Let’s be honest about Sawyer, although he “changed” last season, he also is the same man—a me-first con-man. We were convinced for a while that he sacrificed for Kate and the rest of the Oceanic 6 by jumping off that plane, but Cassidy was able to convince us he did it for selfish reasons. I think that Sawyer’s final arc will be to commit a real sacrifice for the benefit of others. I think in the end it’s her and Kate who need each other because the me-first attitude needs to change into one where they help themselves by helping others first.

Hurley and Sayid always feel like their cursed—Hurley by the numbers and seeing dead people and Sayid by his propensity to kill. But I think both will realize that their apparent curse is really a blessing, as Jacob promised Hurley in the finale of last season. Hurley is the only one other than Locke who we know has seen Jacob—is he a candidate as well to take that seat? Is his destiny to finally be at peace with himself and his life? Or does he just go own a chicken joint back in LA? I think it has to be the peace. Miles is in the same boat as Hurley (not literally, but you know what I mean) and I think he’ll finally find his peace as well—somehow. Peace is what Sayid needs as well and I feel like his constant, Nadia, will keep him from going back to the role of torrrrrrturer.

That leaves only a few people unaccounted for in this post: Richard Alpert, Claire and Jin & Sun. Richard Alpert—or Ricardus to some—has some unanswered questions. Why did Jacob make him that way? Why can’t he be the candidate to replace Jacob? Does he know that Ben couldn’t speak to Jacob? If Ben couldn’t speak to Jacob, you wonder if Widmore could either. And if neither of them could, then a lot of their actions—stealing Alex, killing Locke’s dad, etc.—were never sanctioned by him. Which brings up the interesting dilemma of who really was in charge of the Island? That answer seems to be Richard Alpert. Maybe he was just a caretaker/placeholder until the real replacement arrived. Maybe he was just meant to keep the island safe. Maybe he was the Joseph Abbadon of the good guys. Who knows.

I love (LOVE) Eye M Sick’s “Three Black Swans” theory. He predicts that both Jacob and MIB have to go bye-bye. Here’s where Claire and Jin/Sun come into play:

When Jacob and the Man in Black are dead, two new avatars must take their place. To heal the Island's division, however, they must transcend the opposition of light and dark. For this reason, I believe Jacob and the Man in Black's replacements will be a man and woman in love. My inspiration here is Aristophanes's account of love in Plato's Symposium. Once, according to Aristophanes, human beings were round creatures with two heads. Fearing our strength, the gods split human bodies in two. Love is the desire to make yourself whole again by finding your other half. Kind of like the Yin-Yang.

I'm guessing, moreover, that the happy couple will be two children of the Island we've already met. One half is Aaron, who was conceived off the Island but born on it. The other is Ji-Yeon, who was conceived on the Island but born off it. Remember what Sun tells little Ji-Yeon on the phone? "I met a new friend for you in America. His name is Aaron." I believe that East will eventually meet West and fall in love. Everything that rises must converge on a Lost wedding between Aaron and Ji-Yeon before 2031. Our survival as a species depends on it...

Does that not blow you away?

So what does that leave us with as having to be answered for us (and I mean HAVE to be answered). The Top 13 has 13 mysteries it needs answered and Doc Jensen says in an interview for GQ Magazine that he needs nothing answered. I feel like it's someplace in the middle. Does the existence of The Statue and The Temple mean there were ancient people living on the island or is it just a decoy? The Island: what exactly is it? The Numbers: what exactly do they mean? What exactly happened to Claire? What the heck is Libby’s deal (remember, she was the one who gave Desmond the boat and was in Hurley’s mental hospital? Are people connected for a reason or is this just coincidence? Which Locke will we be getting next season (as we analyze everything Locke said last season)? And who is going to be on which side in this upcoming battle? Does the Last Supper photos have anything to do with showing the battle lines (or does it mean everyone is coming after Locke)?

And then we come back to Jack. Matthew Fox may be walking away from TV after this season of LOST but LOST isn't done with him. I think this is the season that we find out that Christian Shephard didn't die by natural causes or suicide but at the hands of another. Is that other Jacob? Is that other the MIB? Is that other Ben or Widmore? I have no clue. But Jack's dad brought Ana Lucia along to his Australian trip for protection and I think we'll finally find out why he needed that protection. How did Christian's body guide the plane as Locke's did? And why was Christian's coffin empty while Locke's was full? We assume that MIB/The Smoke Monster has always inhabited Christian's body but did Jacob do it at some point as well? Or is that not within his powers?

One last thought before we get started with the last and final season of LOST: I don't think it's a coincidence that this show is premiering on Groundhog Day. In the movie Groundhog Day, the main character goes through the same story over and over again, first trying to break out of the story and then continually getting more and more destructive to himself and others, before he finally realizes that his path to salvation is to help himself and help others. Does that sound like Jack? It all started with the eye and I think we'll look beyond there, into his soul as Jack tries to stop fake-fixing everything and hurting himself and start helping himself and others. I believe that the three main males in the show: Jack, Locke and Sawyer all need to go through the same process by the end of this show: hit rock bottom, pick themselves up, sacrifice for others, fix themselves. LOST is ultimately about redemption and nothing screams a chance at redemption like a reboot and the final season which starts tonight. Enjoy the ride. I will miss this when it's gone. Let's end with a quote from the end of that Ralph Waldo Emerson piece:

A life in harmony with nature, the love of truth and of virtue, will purge the eyes to understand her text. By degrees we may come to know the primitive sense of the permanent objects of nature, so that the world shall be to us an open book, and every form significant of its hidden life and final cause.

Sound very LOST-y, doesn't it? I can't wait for tonight!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will try to do semi-regular LOST posts as well as the 24 ones. Hope that people enjoy! Leave your comments to let me know