How Lost Ends Some More

By On April 7, 2010 · 29 Comments · In Lost

119054_109If you haven’t read my previous How Lost Ends post, this fits snugly in with that hypothesis, so looking at that might be a good thing.

Unfortunately, it invalidates my Kate Has A Wig In Her Bag guess.

Anyway, I had a feeling about the Sideways world last week but never wrote about it because I couldn’t really pin down what I was trying to say.

This week’s episode with Desmond hit it, and I now think what I was trying to formulate is correct.

Just to verify, I said this on March 31st.

Oh oh oh oh oh I think I know what the sideways world is all about in #Lost. I’m gonna have to write at this.
8:13 PM Mar 31st via UberTwitter

Spoilers for last night’s ep, as well as speculation spoilers, obviously.

Two things stuck out to me with this episode, and they were both things that Charlie said.

He being dead in the real timeline, he has some extra insights. Going back to the season premiere, remember he flat-out said he wasn’t supposed to be alive.

1) In the bar scene, he talked to Desmond about having a choice.

(You know I am a big proponent of choosing your choice.)

2) Later at the hospital, he noted that “none of this matters”. Pretty on-the-nose, but it’s been 9 eps or whatever – it was time to give us something substantial.

In any case, my theory…which relies heavily on my other theory being right:

The Sideways world are Smokey’s (the “devil” figure’s) temptations.

Look at what the candidates have over here – they’re classic deals with the devil:

1) Jack has the father-son connection he always craved, only it’s with a son that he doesn’t really know, and he’s (literally) lost his own father.

2) Nadia is alive for Sayid, only she’s not with him, and to be with her would be to betray his own brother.

3) Sun and Jin are together, but it looks like it will cost them the life of their child.

4) Sawyer is a good and respected man, but is chasing an endless list of men named Anthony Cooper. He’ll never get closure to his life’s greatest torment.

5) Locke has accepted the hand he was dealt, and while on the surface he appears content, I think we’ve seen enough of Locke over the years to know this is not what he really wants at his core.

He’s about the fight and the battle – he needs that inside. It’s who he is.***

6) Hurley we’ll see about next week, but there’s surely a similar catch to his seemingly charmed life.

The Sideways world is infested with and made of evil. It’s the place where Smokey is free.

So…they have to resist these temptations – or rather one of the candidates has to – or the world is doomed to it.

Whichever candidate has the strength to choose to reject it becomes “the new Jacob”. A bunch of the rest of the 815ers – now understanding just how important the island is to the world – become the “new Others”.

This will really come to a head when Smokey finally tries to tempt Jack to get on the plane with him and leave the island.

It’ll coordinate in some way with whatever is happening in Sideways land with Desmond’s efforts, which will probably also climax at Jack.

I’m not sure how or why Widmore knows so much and the scientific ties are tougher to pin down.

As to the latter – I mentioned in my other post that I think it could be as simple as “this is how our 21st century minds interpret and manifest such spiritual things without our brains popping”.

(One must admit that covers nearly every scientific anomaly on the island, which would be tidy.)

Back in the Egyptian days this manifestation played out through explanations related to the Egyptian gods, which is what their brains could understand.

Instead of “strange magnetic forces we’re running testing on” it was “the hands of our mighty god of this and that”.

Thus explains the statue, temples, etc. For many among us the gods of today are science, and there are now Dharma “ruins” all over the island, as well.

If we see Jacob go through his process of becoming the island’s keeper we may get better insight into this.

That’s all I got.

***As to Locke, it’ll be interesting to see if/when Desmond gets to Sideways Locke, and if there’s a “connection” between him and Smokey.

Since Smokey knew what Locke was thinking as he died, there could be. He may have taken on more than just Locke’s physical form.

 

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  • missmarymack

    So, Dudley Moore and Peter Cook did this about 30 years ago…right? ;o)

  • misschrissa

    I love this blog so much, I could marry it.

    I think you're 100% on the money, for what it's worth

  • http://alexisreviews.tumblr.com alexiskn

    why is Desmond special and can handle the electro magnetic stuffs?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    From when he turned the key on the hatch back in season 2.

  • http://alexisreviews.tumblr.com alexiskn

    yeah but how did he survive that one? isn't that the time that Widmore was referring to when he said Des is the only person he knows of who can survive it? which is why they did it to him the second time…. ?

  • jayemel

    If the Sideways universe is bad and Desmond realized so, why did he bother asking Penny to get coffee? If he were going to talk to everyone on the flight and convince them that the Original universe is the real one, doesn't that make all actions in the Sideways universe irrelevant? If “none of it matters,” as Charlie said, why does Desmond act like it matters (by asking Penny to get coffee)?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Well this Desmond doesn't have a clear understanding of “there's this island in a parallel universe and if I don't do this and that blah blah blah”, but I would say that part of what he's “feeling” is that he needs to be connected to this woman and he needs to show these people who were on Flight 815 what he sees.

    Much like how I think this will be presented to us as viewers, I think the characters will have to go by their innate feelings of what they need to do. There's never going to be (IMO) a straight a-b-c-d explanation of “this is how it works and why”.

    If you go with the idea of all the various religious and spiritual influences/references/allegories the show pulls from to mix with the sci-fi, this makes sense, since most religious things have no provable, scientific explanation.

    One thing that I felt was key was the time Dogen and Jack were talking, and Jack asked him why he came to the island, and Dogen just gave him a knowing look and said “you know why”. There was no way to put it into words – they both just felt the pull to be on the island.

    You could never have convinced Season One Jack of what he needed to do and why on the island. As Jacob said, he needed to be pushed in that direction by going through all of these ordeals. (Which is what god-figures usually do to instill faith in many religions.)

    So as far as Desmond, he doesn't know “oh this is a parallel universe and I need to get the prime version of me on track in the real world”, but he does feel a pull to fulfill this purpose.

    I don't know if that makes sense.

  • http://alexisreviews.tumblr.com alexiskn

    i don't really understand how he's connected this “feeling” to everyone on the flight… like why does he want to tell those people? and not his family or friends or Widmore or some other people?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I don't know – he may have some intuition with/from the other him or something?

  • jayemel

    Except, he's not working towards some sort of undefined unidentifiable feeling. He felt incomplete. He saw Penny. It made him feel complete. He pursued her. He worked towards his own happiness.

    He gained knowledge through a crisis experience and wants to show everyone else on the flight how to gain that knowledge as well.

    The overall themes of the show have been in line with this idea of gaining knowledge. Characters have only improved their lives and found happiness when they learned about themselves and the world.

    Likewise, the religious/faith based themes on the show have been very critical of religion/faith. The most notable example is the original John Locke's story arc.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Right and I agree. I'm not saying that Desmond is the key to solving everything. It's not like “Desmond must solve Task A or all is lost.”

    But don't you think that sharing his enlightenment (or whatever) with others will push them along their path to contribute to whatever the endgame is wrt the candidates?

  • jayemel

    I think his sharing his enlightenment will contribute to the endgame, but it will ultimately reveal the superiority of the Sideways universe because it is devoid of the influence of both the MiB and Jacob.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Hmm that's interesting.

    I agree that Jacob's influence isn't exactly perfect or even “good”.

    I'm looking at this as the eternal battle between the embodiments of good and evil though, so in my theory I don't think you can remove those from the world.

    The producers have always said the show is about the characters and not the island also, which is why I don't think we're going to see an “end” to the island, which that would be.

    It's an interesting thought though for sure.

  • jayemel

    But that “battle” is the point…the MiB and Jacob create false constructs of good and evil. Really, good and evil are in man, and it is our choices (“There's always a choice, Charlie.”) that decide what we are, not external forces with their own agendas.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I agree, but that battle is one that in my opinion is too eternal to the idea of mankind as a whole for them to solve or answer on this show.

    Jacob even says this in his “it only ends once, everything else is just progress” statement.

    I would say we won't see it end, it sounds like you think we will?

  • http://alexisreviews.tumblr.com alexiskn

    why is Desmond special and can handle the electro magnetic stuffs?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    From when he turned the key on the hatch back in season 2.

  • http://alexisreviews.tumblr.com alexiskn

    yeah but how did he survive that one? isn't that the time that Widmore was referring to when he said Des is the only person he knows of who can survive it? which is why they did it to him the second time…. ?

  • jayemel

    If the Sideways universe is bad and Desmond realized so, why did he bother asking Penny to get coffee? If he were going to talk to everyone on the flight and convince them that the Original universe is the real one, doesn't that make all actions in the Sideways universe irrelevant? If “none of it matters,” as Charlie said, why does Desmond act like it matters (by asking Penny to get coffee)?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Well this Desmond doesn't have a clear understanding of “there's this island in a parallel universe and and evil smoke monster and if I don't do this and that blah blah blah”, but I would say that part of what he's “feeling” is that he needs to be connected to this woman and he needs to show these people who were on Flight 815 what he sees.

    Much like how I think this will be presented to us as viewers, I think the characters will have to go by their innate feelings of what they need to do. There's never going to be (IMO) a straight a-b-c-d explanation of “this is how it works and why”.

    If you go with the idea of all the various religious and spiritual influences/references/allegories the show pulls from to mix with the sci-fi, this makes sense, since most religious things have no provable, scientific explanation.

    One thing that I felt was key was the time Dogen and Jack were talking, and Jack asked him why he came to the island, and Dogen just gave him a knowing look and said “you know why”. There was no way to put it into words – they both just felt the pull to be on the island.

    You could never have convinced Season One Jack of what he needed to do and why on the island. As Jacob said, he needed to be pushed in that direction by going through all of these ordeals. (Which is what god-figures usually do to instill faith in many religions.)

    So as far as Desmond, he doesn't know “oh this is a parallel universe and I need to get the prime version of me on track in the real world”, but he does feel a pull to fulfill this purpose.

    I don't know if that makes sense.

  • http://alexisreviews.tumblr.com alexiskn

    i don't really understand how he's connected this “feeling” to everyone on the flight… like why does he want to tell those people? and not his family or friends or Widmore or some other people?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I don't know – he may have some intuition with/from the other him or something?

  • jayemel

    Except, he's not working towards some sort of undefined unidentifiable feeling. He felt incomplete. He saw Penny. It made him feel complete. He pursued her. He worked towards his own happiness.

    He gained knowledge through a crisis experience and wants to show everyone else on the flight how to gain that knowledge as well.

    The overall themes of the show have been in line with this idea of gaining knowledge. Characters have only improved their lives and found happiness when they learned about themselves and the world.

    Likewise, the religious/faith based themes on the show have been very critical of religion/faith. The most notable example is the original John Locke's story arc.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Right and I agree. I'm not saying that Desmond is the key to solving everything. It's not like “Desmond must solve Task A or all is lost.”

    But don't you think that sharing his enlightenment (or whatever) with others will push them along their path to contribute to whatever the endgame is wrt the candidates?

  • jayemel

    I think his sharing his enlightenment will contribute to the endgame, but it will ultimately reveal the superiority of the Sideways universe because it is devoid of the influence of both the MiB and Jacob.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Hmm that's interesting.

    I agree that Jacob's influence isn't exactly perfect or even “good”.

    I'm looking at this as the eternal battle between the embodiments of good and evil though, so in my theory I don't think you can remove those from the world.

    The producers have always said the show is about the characters and not the island also, which is why I don't think we're going to see an “end” to the island, which that would be.

    It's an interesting thought though for sure.

  • jayemel

    But that “battle” is the point…the MiB and Jacob create false constructs of good and evil. Really, good and evil are in man, and it is our choices (“There's always a choice, Charlie.”) that decide what we are, not external forces with their own agendas.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I agree, but that battle is one that in my opinion is too eternal to the idea of mankind as a whole for them to solve or answer on this show.

    Jacob even says this in his “it only ends once, everything else is just progress” statement.

    I would say we won't see it end, it sounds like you think we will?