LOST...and soon to be found: LA X- Episode 6.01/6.02

It has finally happened; the final season of Lost has begun. This week’s episode, “LA X,” started the season off with a bang; the Island is underwater, in an “alternate timeline.” I want to take a moment here and repeat what the producers have said, the strange timeline is not an alternate timeline, it is called a “flash sideways.” They said that by calling it an “alternate timeline” it implies that one of the timelines is not real, and they are both very real. They would not create these to waste time in the sixth season; too much has to be answered to just send the viewers on a wild goose chase.

Well this episode hit me with so much stuff that I don’t know much about what it is going on. We can see though, that I was right on a few predictions from last week’s post. I called the alternate timeline thing, for lack of a better word at the time. Hurley now talks to a dead Jacob. Plus the Sayid dying thing may be true, as well as the Jacob coming and inhabiting someone’s body may be true too. Sayid might have legitimately died, and now Jacob is choosing to inhabit his body. So the “horcrux” concept might come true, we will have to wait and see. Also I failed to include that the Smoke Monster was fake Locke, but if you’ve talked to me for the past year you know that I have thought that. It was pretty obvious by how Fake Locke was missing when the Smoke Monster appeared in “Dead is Dead” and why the Smoke Monster didn’t show up when Ben called him the same episode. He could not show up because he was there, in Locke’s form. That is also why Fake Locke knew where the Smoke Monster’s lair was, it was his home. In fact, it has been pretty obvious since season two that the Smoke Monster can take the forms of people and animals; this has been seen and spoken of by the producers about Yemi (Eko’s brother), Kate’s Horse, Alex (Ben’s daughter), the Medusa spiders that killed Nikki and Paulo and possibly some appearances of Walt all being manifestations of the Smoke Monster.

Now for some discussion points I suggest you listen to the Official Lost Podcast. The producers discuss things, answer questions and tell the viewers what they should look out for. It is very helpful; it is where some of my points will come from.

First, I want to discuss the flash sideways. The producers have stated that this will happen for a while and then the two timelines will resolve in some way. I believe that some things will carry over from one timeline into the one we have known the whole time. I believe we have already seen some of these things merge into our old timeline. For instance, Locke was able to walk in the current timeline, because it seems that Jack will fix him in the flash sideways. Now I’m not sure if that is one of the things that will happen when the timelines merge, but that is an example. I do think that this will somehow explain how the Black Rock ended up in the middle of the jungle. In the flash sideways the island was underwater, the Black Rock will sink and land in the middle of the jungle and somehow jump to the timeline we have been watching. This could explain how Horace had not heard of the Black Rock when Sawyer and the rest of the people flashing through time made up the story that they were a part of a team looking for the Black Rock before they integrated with the DHARMA Initiative in the middle of season five. It did not appear in our timeline until after the hydrogen bomb went off and made the timelines merge. Or Horace and the DHARMA Initiative never made it to that part of the Island, very possible that it was in the hostiles’ territory.

Second, I’m not sure the bomb is what caused the flash sideways. Now it might be a contributing factor, but I don’t think that by it blowing up and affecting the pocket of energy is what single handedly caused the flash sideways. I have a long theory about that which is hard enough to explain in person using a dry erase board. However, I’ll try. Sun, in 2007 asks Richard Alpert if he remembered Jack and everyone from 1977. He says he saw them die. I believe he said this because he gave them the hydrogen bomb, knowing they were going to use it, saw it go off and assumed they died because they were so close to it; however, this was merely an assumption which proved to be wrong. Now, if the bomb went off then in our timeline’s 1977 and if we are assuming that it single handedly sunk the Island then that would be impossible, since our 2007 has Sun on the Island talking to Richard, he should be dead at the bottom of the ocean. Furthermore, people like Faraday, Eloise, Widmore, Ben, and possibly Penny would not be alive in our 2007. Now the bomb could have triggered something else that skewed and made two timelines, but I do not believe it single handedly sunk the Island. It was merely the “Incident” we have heard about since season two which made the Swan station have to have the code entered in every 108 minutes. After all, the season five finale where they used the hydrogen bomb was called “The Incident.”

Third, pertaining to Island mythology we got a lot thrown at us. We finally saw the temple, something I’ve wanted to see since it was briefly mentioned in passing in season three. In fitting with the Egyptian Mythology it could have been a step pyramid. I highly doubt it is of any Mayan decent since it had hieroglyphics inside of it even though it resembled a Mayan pyramid. Also, we finally saw Zack and Emma again, the kids taken from the tail section of the plane, shown in an episode from season two as well as Cindy the stewardess. It was also revealed that the Smoke Monster cannot cross “ash.” Was he trapped in the Cabin at some point? (It did have ash around it, and Ilana said that someone other than Jacob had been using it for a while.) Perhaps the biggest mythological thing we saw was the spring inside the temple. I believe we are suppose to assume that this was the same thing that Ben was healed in as a child, so kind of ironic that Sayid is the other person we know that was put in it. I think it should be viewed more of as a “baptism” than anything. Was this what allowed Ben to be able to kill Jacob, or can anyone but the Smoke Monster kill Jacob? If the first part is true, then maybe Sayid can now kill the Smoke Monster. Too much is unknown about the spring and the color of the water to say much more than this so I won’t bother wasting any more time until more information has come to light thus allowing an educated guess to be made.

Fourth, it seems that something, possibly Jacob, might be inhabiting Sayid now. The producers said we will have to wait a few episodes and see if this thought fleshes itself out in any way. I am afraid that Jacob might be the bad guy and the Smoke Monster the good guy. It would not be the first time Lost has led the viewers to believe one thing and then completely changed it or re-contextualized it. I have to have faith that there is an absolute good and an absolute evil and that they are what the producers have led us to believe. The whole light v. dark conversation between Locke and Walt in season one is so paramount that Jacob has to be good based on his shirt he was wearing in the opening scene of the season five finale and likewise the Man in Black. If they break away from the white and black motif I could see both Jacob and the Smoke Monster being bad, or both being good. Maybe there is another force on the Island we have yet to meet. Who is Christian Shepherd? Is that Jacob or the Smoke Monster as well? Is it someone else? Or is it really Christian Shepherd somehow alive? I think at least some of the time we have seen Christian it was actually the Smoke Monster impersonating him, possibly every time.

The producers have said we do not know enough to make a prediction as to how the show will end. However, they said that after the third episode or so you won’t be able to talk to a Lost fan about anything other than Lost. Something big must be coming soon! If it really is the third episode then that is this week! Let’s get excited and see what awaits us. Please feel free to comment, challenge, modify, or add your own theories.

Here are the sneak peeks for this week’s episode that ABC has put out.