Television: Lost

“It only ends once.” — Jacob

On February 2nd, I wrote an article that listed the top ten questions I had entering the sixth season of LOST. I kept away from superficial questions — Why is the washing machine in the Hatch brand new? — and stuck with more pressing questions. The questions that would have left a lot of people reeling if they weren’t sorted out. Rather than bore you with plot points, rants or raves concerning the finale, I thought it’d be appropriate to return to these questions as my post for the end of LOST.

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10. Why Doesn’t Richard Age?
Answered in “Ab Aeterno”.

We knew Richard didn’t age “because of Jacob”, but we didn’t really know what that meant. We assumed that Jacob touched Richard much like he touched all of the Candidates. More specifically, like how he touched John Locke after he fell onto the sidewalk from his father’s condo. Jacob’s touch seemed to be magic. If he could revive John Locke, allowing him to live after that much of a fall, it shouldn’t be that ridiculous that Jacob’s touch could prolong the life of Richard Alpert. Yes, the obvious speculation was correct. But watching it all manifest itself in the glory that is “Ab Aeterno” was worth the long, long wait for the Richard Alpert backstory. This episode is right up there with LOST’s greatest hits.

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9. What Are the Whispers?
Answered in “Everybody Loves Hugo”.

The answer for this question came quickly. I didn’t have much time to digest the significance of the answered question. Hurley asks Michael straight out what the Whispers are and Michael — in his repentant ghost form — tells him the answer. The Whispers are the voices of those who have died on the Island and have not been able to “move on”. When alive individuals are in peril on the Island, the Whispers are heard. This is the dead trying to communicate with the living, trying to protect and warn them.

It wasn’t until “The End”, however, that the true significance of Michael’s explanation to Hurley is revealed. Those people that have died and have become the Whispers are not in the Flash Sideways world. Therefore, they are not provided with the opportunity to “move on” like the Castaways in the church at the end of the series. That means Michael will never be able to meet up with Walt in the Flash Sideways world — and that’s incredibly sad to think about. Unlike a lot of viewers, I loved the character of Michael Dawson and I’m really upset that he is forever stuck on the Island.

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8. What’s the Smoke Monster?
Answered in “Across The Sea”.

Yes, I know the Man in Black and the Smoke Monster were equated earlier in the season, but I’m going to stick with “Across the Sea” as their origin. I’m quite aware of the animosity toward this episode. Even I — an avid supporter of the Man in Black as a character — was unimpressed as the closing credits rolled. Surprisingly, however, “What They Died For” and “The End” somehow redeemed “Across the Sea”. The referencing to “Across the Sea” that occurred in the remaining episodes highlighted it as an essential and enlightening episode. We just didn’t know it yet. It surprising how many of my questions were answered definitively in this episode.

But I digress. The Smoke Monster. The Man in Black. Who would have guessed that Jacob threw his twin brother down a hole full of light and that turned the Man in Black into the Smoke Monster? We can’t say what the Smoke is exactly, but that’s the beauty of LOST. We’ll be debating this shit for years.

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7. What Do the Numbers Mean?
Answered in “Recon”.

Basically, the Numbers are an organizational tool for Jacob so that he can keep track of his Candidates. We’ve got Locke (4), Hurley (8), Sawyer (15), Sayid (16), Jack (23) and the Kwons (42). The fact that they keep popping up everywhere signifies the importance of these characters throughout the mythology of LOST — and its a great way to keep the audience on their toes. Much like the explanation behind the mechanics of the Smoke Monster, the exact meaning of the Numbers is left unknown. Let’s just chalk this up to the Numbers being LOST’s “Force”. We don’t want the midi-chlorian explanation. That ruins everything.

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6. Who Are Adam and Eve?
Answered in “Across the Sea”.

Everyone thought this’d be either (1) Jack and Kate or (2) Bernard and Rose. After the death of Juliet, people were pulling their hair out in frustration, willing the death of Sawyer just so that they could get two people lying beside each-other in a cave. After “Across the Sea”, some viewers were disappointed that Adam and Eve did not end up being two of the Castaways. (Really, they were all just pissed that all their theories were wrong.)

Having Adam and Eve as the Man in Black and Mother was perfect, in my opinion. As far as we know, these were two of the Island’s first inhabitants and their placement as Adam and Eve seems right. To watch Jacob cry over the bodies of his dead brother and mother was the cherry on top of a (retrospectively) great story. That man has one tragic life. I’m glad that Adam and Eve ended up entrenched in the LOST mythology and not just a throwaway recognition of Rose and Bernard’s death.

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5. Where’s Claire?
Answered in “What Kate Does”.

Holy shit, Claire. Is that really you? You used to be the adorably pregnant Australian sweetheart. When you said “PEANUT-BUTTER?!” to Charlie it so sweet I needed to brush my teeth. Then you stepped out of the forest with a gun directed at Jin’s face, and I was shocked beyond words. Oh, and you axed that man in the stomach. Hung out with the Man in Black. Took care of the most terrifying Cabbage Patch Kid the world has ever seen. Squirrel Baby? Yeah, I really hope Kate sticks around for a while after you get back to Aaron. Oh, and I forgot — I bought you a hairbrush, shampoo and some non-plaid clothing. What? I don’t mean anything by it, I swear. I just thought, you know, you might want — uh — please don’t shoot me.

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4. What are the “Rules”?
Unanswered.

I’m guessing this was left unanswered because of the midi-chlorian reasoning I stated above with the Numbers and the Smoke Monster. But at least those answers were given some kind of resolution. Yes, we could just take what the Man in Black says in “Across the Sea” as the answer to the question — that Jacob made a game with his own rules. I was completely willing to accept this. But then Benjamin shot Charles dead and I was left reeling. After “The Shape of Things to Come”, I thought they weren’t allowed to kill each other. That was a part of the “Rules”.

In “What They Died For”, Jacob was still the protector of the Island, so, his rules would be still in place. That was the only thing keeping the Man in Black from killing the Candidates. So how the hell did Benjamin kill Charles if the “Rules” were still around? Maybe Ben is immune to the “Rules” of the Island — as the “Loophole”? — and he was able to kill Widmore all along? I guess I’ll be trying to figure this out for years to come.

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3. Why is Walt Special?
Unanswered.

Walt is a telekinetic bad ass — well, we think so. He hasn’t been around very much since the first two seasons and his cameo in season five hinted that he’d never come back to the island. “Special” Walt is probably the longest-running loose end in LOST. His presence in the first season was huge. He’s the reason why the Others come after the survivors. He’s “special”, but we don’t exactly know why — and we never will.

Walt shows up in the finale for a two second flashback and that’s it. Damon and Carlton have said that this is because Malcolm David Kelly, the actor who played Walt, is now over six-feet tall and clearly not an eight-year-old boy. I guess we’ll have to chalk up his “specialness” to being a possible Candidate, a child that could grow into the perfect protector of the Island (à la Mother’s hope for the Man in Black). I missed you, “WAAALLLTTTT!”

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2. Who are Jacob and the Man In Black?
Answered in “Across the Sea”.

Whether you liked the episode or not, “Across the Sea” was incredibly important to the mythology and resolution of LOST. It turns out that Jacob and the Man in Black are not gods. They are just men stuck on an island with a lunatic of a “mother”. Turns out Mother killed Jacob and Man in Black’s actual mother mere moments after she gave birth. Then she stole the children and raised them to be protectors of the Island. Cue Jacob and the Man in Black’s epic Mommy Issues and a sibling rivalry to end all sibling rivalries. Jacob was a Momma’s Boy, but Man in Black was the preferred son. Pretty Cain and Abel right there, but it suits LOST to a tee.

The relationship between Jacob and the Man in Black — as shown through “Across the Sea” — shined a light at the origins of the Island, the “Rules”, the identity and creation of the Smoke Monster, Adam and Eve, and the end-game of LOST. For an episode that was so adamantly hated by a good half of the LOST community, it’s a pretty damned important episode. Expect many opinions of the episode to change over the next couple days.

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1. What Is the “Loophole”?
Unanswered.

Why was Benjamin Linus able to kill Jacob? Is the leader of the Others able to kill Jacob and, because John Locke was dead, Benjamin Linus took back the mantle and was able to stab Jacob? Was Benjamin “special”? He would have liked to know that, guys. He just wanted some recognition. Too bad Ben (and, therefore, the audience) will never know exactly what went down. It’s not as if Man in Black was able to go to the cave and take out the stopper, allowing the Rules to be suspended so that he could kill Jacob. It’s not as if Jacob didn’t talk to Benjamin, and Mr. Linus was able to stab Jacob dead in the alloted silence.

No, something was up. There was a “Loophole” and it should have been explained. I don’t think this is one of those moments that are purposely left up in the air. I think the writers dropped the ball. It was like in the finale, when Frank Lapidus was starting to fly the plane, and I was screaming at the television, “THERE IS A SHIT LOAD OF C-4 ON THAT PLANE, GUYS!” — and then nothing happened. I guess the writers are fallible and all, but this was my number one question for the end of LOST.

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I’ve watched LOST every week since the pilot episode on September 22nd, 2004. I watched it from my basement (one house and two apartments ago) with my stepmother. As soon as Jack opened his eyes and looked around that bamboo forest, I was intrigued. When he stumbled his way to the plane crash, LOST became a part of my life — a part that has lasted six years and I’m still not ready to accept that it’s all over. I think over the next few weeks, I’ll watch the final scene between Jack and Christian over and over again. Hopefully, I’ll be able to “let go” with less tears than Jack Shephard.

God, I already miss Jack. Ugh. To all the Losties out there who took the time to read my list: NAMASTE AND GOOD LUCK.