What a terrible time to slack on recaps for Lost! I can never do it again after this season. Feels like I have a final exam coming up in a class that I've done no work for. Well that's not true, I've had opinions, I've been reading Doc Jensen, I've been pouring over episodes. I just wish I had a record of all my thoughts so far. There are a lot of things going on right now, so I'll use bulletpoints where I can.
The sideways world is obviously the big question for the season. Just as the nature of the button, the freighter, and the incident were for previous seasons, this season (and thus the series) seems to hinge on the nature of the sideways world. There is also the nature of Jacob and Smokey, but I'll get to that later because I think it's tied up in the nature of the sideways world anyway. It might seem like a random thing to introduce in the final season, but it's something that has been set up logically by the whole series.
The fact that we constantly jumped off island via the flashbacks, spending large amounts of time in the pre-island lives of these characters, means we were always led to wonder about how those stories would've continued if the plane had landed. When it became clear that you can't have the island without the crash we get the sideways world where there is no crash, no island, and everything is a little different (or a lot in some cases) as a result.
Okay, defense of Lost's writers done, here are my theories:
- I had thought the sideways world was constructed by Smokey, but as I'm writing this I'm going to take a chance and drop that idea. I think it's the result of Jughead destroying The Swan, just as we all assumed when it was first introduced.
- The sideways world was created by a rejection of destiny (Faraday devised the Jughead plan after letting go of "whatever happened, happened. You can't change anything.") and I think it shows. Characters with a destiny always seem to get the rawest deals in literature and myths, but the also get the greatest rewards and glory. Sure, Desmond has an easier life in the sideways world, but that ease is his only reward. He has nothing rivaling his destiny with Penny that he suffered so much for.
- Final note on the sideways world; I think it's flimsy. The island world bends like a reed, because with the outcomes being known it is easy to course correct. In "Flashes Before Your Eyes" (which I think is a very important episode for figuring out what's going on, but it seems to be forgotten) Eloise Hawking introduces us to the universe's ability to course correct as Desmond struggles to escape his island destiny. She never seems worried, only frustrated that Desmond is wasting time by fighting destiny, and in the end he realizes the futility and gives up. Contrast that to Desmond and Eloise meeting in the sideways world. When he inquires about Penny on the guest list she seems terrified, like there is no mechanism protecting the sideways universe like there is in the island one. Desmond was helpless in one, but seems to be the destroyer of worlds in the other.
- I'm frustrated by everyone assuming a huge connection between Smokey and Locke just because Smokey looks like Locke now. He hasn't even possessed him, Locke is buried on the beach, it's just an illusion that makes Smokey look like Locke. I had to say it, because Doc Jensen has been frustrating me with his theories about Desmond tried to force Locke's consciousness back to the island world by hitting him with a car. Back to his dead body in the grave? Why not kill Alex, Smokey looked like her once too!
- Having Smokey look like Locke allowed for a big twist in "The Incident" and it allowed Terry O'Quinn to stay on the show even after they killed his character. That's why Smokey looks like Locke. Non-meta reason? It's tragic to hear Smokey berate Locke in Locke's own voice, calling him a sucker. Locke was the truest believer, he saw Smokey as a bright light rather than a pillar of smoke. He was brave, and selfless, and correct in the end! Yet he gets strangled by Ben, impersonated by Smokey, unceremoniously dumped out of a crate by Jacob's bodyguards as a lump of rotting evidence, and ends up eulogized by his killer.
- After the emphasis on "you let him talk to you," I have to think that Smokey and Jacob are representative of something like despair and hope. To truly give yourself to one means you can't listen to the other. It might seem like Smokey is the hope, since he's offering people impossible things all over the place, but what greater despair is there than obsession with something you can never have. I look to "Ab Aeterno" as the most important episode for understanding Jacob and Smokey. Despair is the easy one, and it takes very little prodding for Richard to truly believe he is in hell. Smokey tells him he has to kill the devil (Jacob) to escape and be with his wife again. Impossible things that he will believe out of despair (a path Claire and Sayid continued on). Jacob beats him up, almost drowns him, and yells at him because hope is difficult. Hope requires some acceptance and moving forward. Jacob reveals that he can't bring Richard's wife back, hoping won't make that happen, but he is able to him give a purpose again, a "job." Dogen explains that Sayid and Claire have an infection that is irreversible when it reaches the heart. One that makes them numb and cruel and erratic. That sounds a lot like despair to me.
- Best Episode So Far: "Ab Aeterno"/"Happily Ever After"/the last 10 minutes of "Sundown" (couldn't decide)
- Worst Episode So Far: "What Kate Does" (not even close, total blowout. Why isn't Kate dead yet?)
- MVP Candidate: Terry O'Quinn as Sideways John Locke and Smokey
- Rookie of the Year Candidate: Hiroyuki Sanada as Dogen
- Favorite Scene So Far: Smokey attacking the temple
- Remaining Episodes: 4
- Finale: May 23rd
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