The Sanatorium

Put a Cork In It: Job, Dante and the Ninth Circle of Hell

SCS — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:23:13 +0000

The only thing more interesting than a story set in hell is a story that might be set in hell. “Ab Aeterno” features not only a timeless narrative theme–the nature of evil–but also a classic literary device–ambiguity. Let’s face it: the writers of Lost intentionally leave things open to interpretation and I doubt that even “The End” (the series finale) is going to change that. However, I don’t think that Jacob and the Man in Black are supposed to be morally ambiguous figures; if there must be a devil, it’s pretty clear who plays the role of “El Diablo” here. But the most interesting part of this episode is the uncertainty that Richard raises about the nature of the island.

: The island as cork (courtesy of abc/Disney)

The following passages will examine the nature of evil, and ideas about hell, in literary and mythological terms.

The Book of Job

The biblical book of Job chronicles the test of the human spirit, illustrated by one man, an exemplary figure in God’s eyes. The story is structured around a debate about human nature between God and Satan. Satan challenges God, claiming that Job is only a good man because he is wealthy, secure and surrounded by friends and family. If he were challenged by poverty or illness, Satan argues, Job would curse God and turn away from him. In essence, Satan believes humans to be selfish beyond all hope. There is no use redeeming man.

I’m not the first to acknowledge the similarities between this biblical text and the discussion between Jacob and the Man in Black. I have compared many Lost scenes to other religious stories, but this one seems to fit these two characters best. In this book, both Satan and God resemble the gods of ancient Greek and Roman mythology who are not necessarily all-powerful. Jacob and the Man in Black do have their own special powers, but they are both limited in what they can do. Jacob tells Richard that he can’t step in and make people do the right thing. They have to figure it out for themselves. In the same way, both God and Satan seem to agree that if people know they are going to be rewarded for worshiping God, their motive is a selfish one, making them unworthy of redemption.

According to Robert Sutherland, author of Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job, “The implicit restriction that Satan places on God is that God is prohibited from explicitly giving Job the reason for suffering. The concern is that any disclosure of a reason behind suffering might give Job a selfish motive to worship God and ultimately to manipulate him. If Job is truly the man God believes him to be, then Job will worship God regardless of what God might do for him. And so, Satan leaves the presence of God in heaven to create Hell on earth.” The idea that God’s people can’t know the reason for their suffering seems to resonate with the experience of being lost and the the experience of watching Lost. Viewers don’t understand their reasons for suffering much more than the characters do, but those who develop faith in themselves, and in the right leaders, seem to do okay. (Think Hurley).

Also notable in the book of Job is the man himself, in comparison to Richard Alpert. Like Job, Richard suffered the loss of his home and family (Isabella), an unjust punishment, and physical torture. At his darkest moment of despair, the Man in Black comes to him and unchains him. This recalls God’s command that Satan may do whatever he wants to Job except kill him or “lay a hand on his person.” Perhaps, Richard was on the brink of death when the Man in Black came to him. He wasn’t allowed to let Richard die and go to hell, but he could tempt him and lie to him as much as he wanted. “It’s good to see you out of those chains” is code for “welcome to the playground of good versus evil. Game on!” It’s also interesting that Job lived for 140 years after the end of his trial and Richard, too, has lived for 140 more years. This is no coincidence. Looks like someone’s been reading his bible…

Lucifer's fall created an island, according to Dante

Lucifer’s Fall and the Making of an Island

According to Christian lore, Lucifer (Latin for “light-bearer” or “light bringer”) was a fallen angel, cast down from heaven. He has also been referred to as “the Morning Star” and it seems appropriate here to recall the creepy rendition of “Catch a Falling Star” from the post-massacre scene at the end of “Sundown.” In Dante’s Inferno, Lucifer’s expulsion from heaven and fall to earth displaced a large chunk of earth which was thrust up to the surface, forming an island called Purgatory. Despite the writers’ denial of the Lost island as Purgatory, it’s always interesting to consider it as a metaphorical Purgatory, where the tension between good and evil is revealed. With this image of displaced earth forming Dante’s “Purgatorio,” should we envision it as a place that keeps Satan and all of his evil suppressed, (or corked)? Does Purgatory maintain balance in the universe? Does it act as a threshold between earth and hell? More important, will everyone fall into hell if the evil is unleashed, as Hurley suggests?

Dante’s Inferno

“Midway on our life’s journey, I found myself/ In dark woods, the right road lost”

Such begins Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, section I, Inferno, an allegorical journey exploring the nature of evil. Inferno describes a descent into the nine circles of hell where Virgil, the classical Roman poet, serves as tour guide. Similar to Dante, Jack Shephard finds himself in the “woods,” “midway on life’s journey,” a life that seems to be humming along just fine (on a superficial level, at least) until the plane crash.

“Abandon all hope, you who enter here”

These words, familiar to even modern readers, are inscribed on the gates to hell in Dante’s Inferno. There is no escape from this city and those who enter might as well leave any shred of hope at the door. Richard conveys a similar message to the other characters in the opening scene of “Ab Aeterno,” as his faith quickly disintegrates upon the death of Jacob. So when he says “we are in hell” he is speaking the truth, in the sense that hell is a state of mind devoid of all hope.

The third circle of hell

Though it’s been acknowledged many times before, I feel the need to include the Cerberus bit once again for anyone who missed it. Cerberus, a monster originating in Greek mythology, is also a resident of Dante’s Inferno. It is described as a “three-headed dog-like beast who guards the gluttons.” Recall that in Lost the vents from which the Smoke Monster escapes are called “cerberus vents” and that the Smoke Monster has been referred to as a “security system” or guardian of the island.

Episode 9

In this depiction of the afterlife, Lucifer is a prisoner and forever fixed in the ground of the ninth circle of hell. This is the final and lowest level of hell, and stands in stark contrast to the next scene when Dante ascends to the surface of the earth saying, “To get back up to the shining world from there/ My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel…/Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.” Richard also ascends out of his hell, after his faith is restored by Hurley and Isabella. Note that we are in the “ninth circle” of Lost as well–that is, the ninth episode into the season. Will we ascend into the clear light of day…and answered questions?

: Lucifer held prisoner in the ninth circle of hell

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Thanks for reading. There is so much more to say about this episode but it will have to wait for the book. See the rest of my material on lostandlit.wordpress.com

“Every Cop is a Criminal”

SCS — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:11:53 +0000

(“Recon” spoilers here.)

Just as every cop is a criminal/ and all the sinners, saints.

–Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”

In “Recon” it becomes clear that Sawyer is on an inescapable path of vengeance, whether working for law enforcement or working for himself. The lines of good and evil aren’t drawn as neatly as the parameters of legitimacy. A similar line of reasoning can be applied to Jack –being a professional healer of the body does not necessarily make for a good, emotionally healthy person–and most of the other characters, in their own ways.

This is not the first time that recent episodes have recalled this particular Rolling Stones song, its central theme wrapped up in the following line: “I shouted out ‘who killed the Kennedys?’ when, after all, it was you and me.” In other words, the devil is in each of us–we control evil, or choose not to control it. “The incarnation of evil,” if there is such a thing, feeds off of our words and deeds, just as the Smoke Monster was strengthened by Sayid’s decision to give in to temptation. As Sawyer said to the woman he met on Hydra Island, “God’s got nothin’ to do with it.” Well, neither does the “devil.” It’s all just up to “you and me.” In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a character named Simon, sums up this idea nicely as he addresses the idea of the so-called beast in the jungle: “Maybe there is a beast…maybe it’s only us.”

"Just call me Lucifer/ Cause I'm in need of some restraint"

This week I will be brief regarding the “books of the week.” They were mostly repeats, novels we’ve seen featured in previous seasons. The difference here is that Sawyer is not reading them; they are lying on his dresser as Charlotte rummages through the drawers: Watership Down by Richard Adams, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and Lancelot by Walker Percy. Does this mean that Sawyer is less of a reader in this life? Like Locke lacks faith in his flash sideways existence, perhaps Sawyer is missing the nuances and metaphors of fictional worlds. Now there’s a tragedy!

I also found this quote interesting: “(Life) is all about laughing and loving each other. Knowing that people aren’t really gone when they die.” This, from Pa to Laura on the TV show Little House on the Prairie, based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sawyer is watching it in his flash sideways life, in his bachelor pad all by himself.

Choosing and Being Chosen in “Dr. Linus”

SCS — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:36:13 +0000

“The art of choosing men is not nearly so difficult as the art of enabling the chosen to attain their full worth.” -Napoleon Bonaparte

In the first scene of the flash sideways sequence, Ben delivers a lecture on the first exile of Napoleon, explaining that the French revolutionary was able to maintain his title of emperor, but might as well have been dead, considering he was without followers and, therefore, devoid of power. Napoleon was sent to the island of Elba before returning to France to wrest power away from the throne again. What can we deduce from this little history lesson? That Ben, a one-time leader with a bad inferiority complex, has been reduced to a powerless exile and that he will rise again if he can get off the island? And that, like Napoleon, he will be exiled to another island where he will die of cancer? Brilliant. We’ll leave it at that for now.

First, let’s turn to The Chosen, a coming of age novel first published in 1967 by Chaim Potok. Ben finds this book, among other reading material (a smutty magazine and a DVD or CD titled Benjamin Disraeli: Justice is Truth in Action) , in one of the tents on the beach, presumably Sawyer’s old digs. The book is about a friendship between two boys that forms after an accident (involving a baseball) in which one of the boys was hospitalized. Though they have grown up in the same neighborhood and share a Jewish-American heritage, their lives are very different. Danny Saunders’ family follows a strict Hasidic tradition and Reuven Malter has grown up with a Modern Orthodox understanding of Judaism. The narrative is shaped by the boys’ parallel paths in life that sometimes intersect and cross over. The story also relies on the notion that human lives are interdependent and that ultimately we can only survive within a community. Both of these ideas correspond to themes in Lost (parallel lives, “live together or die alone”), but there is another, more obvious, motif I want to address.

The novel’s title, on its own merit, can be used to draw a comparison to Lost and, more important, to unearth the meaning of this particular episode. In the novel, being “chosen” refers to the condition of the Jews as God’s chosen people and the status of Danny Saunders as the eldest male, obligated to inherit his father’s position as leader of their Hasidic sect. It also illustrates the contrast between being chosen and choosing, being acted upon and being the actor. This, of course, recalls the ever-present theme of free will versus predetermination in Lost. In “Dr. Linus” we see the consequences of those who follow the path of the Chosen and their subsequent crisis of faith (in Jacob). Consider, for a moment, Ben, Richard and Ilana. They were chosen and then abandoned. Jacob’s touch imbued them each with a greater purpose, but now that he is dead, they are drifting aimlessly into chaos. This brings up a host of questions: Is it better to be chosen or to choose your own path? How can you trust the one who has chosen you? Where does the authority to choose originate? When the one who does the choosing is gone, what will become of a society, a tradition, a faith?

Further, how has this culture of exclusivity dictated the group dynamics of island life? How have the leaders used this cult of the chosen to manipulate their followers?

Napoleon Bonaparte--a familiar expression?

Just to keep things interesting, let me pull another novel into the mix. In Lord of The Flies there is a boy named Jack who gains the support of the other castaways through fear and intimidation. Through “Jack of the Flies” and Ben Linus, the profile and tactics of a typical power-hungry leader emerges. This is where we return to Napoleon . Jack in Lord of the Flies uses the illusion of exclusivity to gain power among the boys, slowly pulling their loyalty away from Ralph , the more democratic boy-leader, and toward himself. He makes the boys feel special because they are chosen by him, when, in reality, he just wants to control everyone.

In the same way, Ben Linus (in previous seasons) has shrouded his purpose in mystery and drawn in followers by convincing them that they are special. He is an expert at psychological manipulation, and his words are his most powerful tool. John Locke is the best example of a character manipulated by Ben’s charade of exclusivity. But, as we can see now, John is not the only pawn here. Ben is just continuing the game that Jacob started.

All of this “being chosen” business reminds me of a Catholic hymn we used to sing in church when I was growing up. (“Anthem” by Tom Conry) Apparently the lyrics are somewhat controversial now, allegedly grooming a “culture of conceit” among parishioners. But they seem perfectly fitting for the position many characters find themselves:

We are called, we are chosen.
We are Christ for one another….

Let’s look again through the Jacob-as-Christ-figure lens. Are the characters “Jacob for one another” now? If so, who will do the choosing? Will they be able to make the right decisions for themselves, as Ben did in his flash sideways life?

Thanks for reading! Visit me at lostandlit.wordpress.com

LOST Season 6: Episode 7 Jackfaces, Theories, and more (Spoilers)

masat01 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:20:47 +0000

Hello, and welcome to…The Island…

No, in all seriousness though, last night’s episode was touching.

Michael Emerson pulled it off, he really did. I have never felt so sorry for…no wait, I feel sorry for Ben quite often, but never to the point of tears. Last night was like watching the Lighthouse scene where Jack is telling his son “In my eyes, you can never fail”. I cried, I really did. So yeah, Dr. Linus was a pretty good episode. We learned a bit more about Richard and got to see some old faves and places. I really enjoy the fact that this season is going back to ow seasons 1 and 2 were like. Trekking through the jungle, slo-mo reunion scenes. It’s really nice. But most of all, I like the pacing and the idea that we are finally getting answers.

So, last night was a Ben episode, but it had some Jack in it. I’m currently running over the episode scouring for Jackface and will post those a bit later. Now for some theories: and these are made knowing a few spoilers, so be warned.

Okay, so at the end of last night we saw Widmore in his submarine coming to the island. If you look back at my post on “The Lighthouse” you will see that I predicted this. Now, at the time, I had no idea of any spoilers regarding this except for the fact that Widmore was eventually going to come back. And lo and behold, there he is. My theory, based on a picture from the beach set with Widmore talking to Flocke, who is surrounded by a sonic fence, is that Widmore is going to be a good guy in the end. A stretch? Maybe, but I’m willing to go far for this show.

Measuring Evil: Sacred Scales and Final Judgments in “Sundown” (SPOILERS)

SCS — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:27:11 +0000

Let’s begin this analysis with a look at the episode’s title. Sundown or “dusk” is a period between lightness and darkness, a possible reference to the fuzzy area between good and evil, a zone where Lost tends to dwell at times, especially where its characters are concerned. It is also notable that the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown and that the Christian messiah, Jesus, was taken down from the cross and buried before sunset, as it was required by law. With this in mind we might wonder, what will happen during the next three days on the island? If Jacob is the ultimate Christ figure of the island, will he be resurrected as an all-powerful deity and save the true believers? It’s clear that most fans would be sorely disappointed if Lost turned out to be a simple Narnia-like Christian allegory. I contend that this is certainly not the case, but that the religious images and narrative references are always significant. They are weaved together so that no single mythological storyline ever gains too much strength or holds more sway than another. Rather, they work together to create a textured mystery that always feels a bit sacred.

So, what other sacred narratives can we revisit to help us interpret “Sundown”? It has been mentioned by other fans that Jacob and Smocke reflect the ancient Egyptian story of Horus and Set (or Seth). Unlike many early polytheistic stories, this one clearly defines a “primal duality” which was later interpreted as a battle between good and evil. Like many monotheistic faiths, it promotes the notion of pure goodness being embodied by one deity and pure evil embodied by another. Horus, the falcon god and representative of goodness is frequently seen holding the shen ring which is, notably, a symbol of eternity. Shen means “to encircle.” This particular hieroglyphic symbol was written on the stone that Ilana pushed to open the Temple’s secret Scooby door. Perhaps this pictograph refers to the shape of Lost’s narrative or hints at Nietchze’s “eternal return.” Will the characters continue to revisit their same old mistakes? Will they ever be able to redeem themselves? Are they stuck in an eternal cycle? Is time a circle?

The ancient Egyptian falcon god, Horus, with shen rings in his talons.

Set, god of sky and storms, was Horus’s evil counterpart. These two gods, of course, represent the theme of polarity that has been tirelessly accentuated in recent episodes through the relationship between the benevolent Jacob and the “evil incarnate” Smocke. But I think we should return to the episode title in order to temper this idea. Remember that sundown is a middle place between light and dark, good and evil, high and low.

St Michael and the Weighing of the Souls

Another significant motif we should examine here, as well as in a study of “The Substitute,” is the final judgment and the image of the scale. Recall Dogen’s words to Sayid: “For every man there is a scale. On one side is good and on the other, evil.” Apparently Sayid’s scale is off kilter in a bad way. But before we determine which is “the wrong way” in Dogen’s eyes, let’s take a look at some cultural references to the old-fashioned balance scale.

In Medieval times, St. Michael was considered to be the guardian of souls. Many works of art depict him weighing souls on a balance scale. In the 15^th century painting provided (see directly above the Egyptian work), you can see a devil, perhaps Satan, lying underneath the left pan, coaxing the souls toward him and acting as a magnet to weigh the scale in his favor. Another story involving scales is the ancient Egyptian judgment of souls in the underworld or Amenty (literally “the place where the sun sets each day”). Anubis weighs the heart of each soul against the weight of a feather and Ammit, a fierce goddess with a head like a crocodile’s (possibly an eight-toed creature?), eats the souls of those who don’t pass the test.

photo courtesy of abc television

A very similar process takes place during the cycle of reincarnation, according to Tibetan Buddhism. Shortly after death, the soul is faced with a scale—on one side there are black pebbles, on the other white ones. If the scale tips too much in the “wrong direction,” the soul will be tortured and punished by the terrifying “Lord of Death.” But first, the newly-dead must look into a mirror that reflects the “naked soul” including all of its hidden faults and deepest desires. (Recall the magic mirror in the lighthouse where Jack’s deep-seated longing to find a true home is revealed to him.)

As for the featured book of the week, Chad Post at Three Percent, has reported that Deep River would be used in “Sundown,” but, unfortuantely, I could not see Dogen’s book well enough to read the title. Good old Lostpedia confirms that he is, indeed, reading Deep River, a novel by Christian Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo published in English in 1995 by New Directions. “It is a novel about four Japanese tourists on a trip to India,” who each eventually discover an individual spiritual purpose for the trip.

And while I’m on the topic of featured books, I just want to thank “Doc” Jensen at EW for this bit of bookish cheerleading from his article on“The Lighthouse.” Go literary references Go!

This is why it’s actually important to read the literary references that Lost gives us, because a mere Wikipedia summary of Through The Looking-Glass doesn’t tell you about the kittens and their color coding. It also doesn’t tell you this: the title of the book’s first chapter is ”Looking-Glass House.” Which totally evokes the title of last week’s episode (”Lighthouse,” also awkward for its missing/implied ”The”), not to mention the Lighthouse itself, which was less notable for being a beacon for bringing ships to the Island than for the magic mirrors in its tower — for being a real ”Looking-Glass House.”

Let me know what you think–leave comments here…and see more about the literature in Lost at lostandlit.wordpress.com

The Candidates: A Reflection and Projection

amenrisky — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:02:38 +0000

As of last night’s episode, the battle has finally begun, and the lines have clearly been drawn at long last. Claire, Sawyer, Sayid, Kate, and for the moment Jin have aligned themselves with the Man in Black, and Ilana is leading the Jacobians, including Sun, Miles, Frank, and Ben, presumably to soon meet up with Richard and Jack and Hurley. Have we got our two sides here, Recruits and Candidates?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Candidates recently (who hasn’t?), and I think we’ve been aware of the existence of this elite group for longer than we think. Think about it. When Ben moved the Island at the end of Season 4, only a select group of people began to move through time: the survivors, Juliet, and the science team. The Others who were already on the Island remained in the present. So what does this tell us? I’ll tell you what it tells me. Only the Candidates moved through time. People who were already crossed off the various lists strewn across the Island (the cave, the Lighthouse) were grounded in reality. Their place in the world was already decided.

However, the Candidates still had a degree of unknown affiliation; there was still a possibility that any one of them would end up being the next Jacob. So they were, in essence, “loose,” free to be sent back to wherever they had a place. They still had a job to do; Jacob still had a place for them in history. And when their use was exhausted, they stopped moving through time. That’s why Charlotte’s body remained in the time in which she died. She ceased to be a Candidate, so she became grounded in whatever time that ended. The same goes for all the survivors who died at various points in history, until finally, the only Candidates left were those who were forced to infiltrate DHARMA, and Rose and Bernard (Vincent too? Now there’s a discrepancy…).

Only the Candidates move.

This may also tell us why some people were sent back to 1977 when the Ajira flight crashed and others were not. The names Austen, Reyes, Shephard, and Jarrah were all on Jacob’s list, not crossed out. On the Island, their place in time was with the other Candidates. That was where they were supposed to be. All of them. In short, the Candidates are their own separate group of humanity, and while they can exist at a point in time with people who are grounded, they are also fluid, and can move around. And at the time of the Ajira crash, Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sayid weren’t supposed to be in 2007 on the Island. They were supposed to be with the rest of the Candidates in 1977.

You’ll remember that there was only one “Kwon” written in the cave and in the Lighthouse. Perhaps that is why Sun was never sent back. It could be that Jin is a Candidate and Sun is not, or that only one of them can be a Candidate, and Jin was already back where the Candidates were supposed to be. Frank, too, was not sent back, and we have never seen his name on any of the lists, despite what Ilana may think. Claire lost her Candidacy before the Island even started moving when she became Infected, and thus remained in the present, like the Others. The Candidacy seems to me to explain many of the series’ past discrepancies, although I’m not quite sure yet how Miles’ name being crossed out on the lists fits into my explanation yet.

Sun is left behind on the Ajira flight.

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter lately involving the three Season 6 cast photos recreating The Last Supper. A bunch of stuff about everyone to the left of Locke joining the Man in Black and everyone to his right joining Jacob. While this seemed plausible at first (and does seem to be working out, what with Sayid, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Jack, and Hurley’s placements), there are certain discrepancies that lead me to believe this theory is not correct. First of all, Ilana and Richard seem to be placed incorrectly, to the left (the Man in Black side). Secondly, fans are basing this theory on only one of the three photos. The other two show different placements of the cast, on different sides of Locke. Clearly, this theory doesn’t work exactly how people originally thought. Personally, I’ve been thinking for a while that eventually the entire cast will join the Man in Black, with Jack being his last recruit. Then, the Man in Black will step in and take over for Jacob, his motive all along.

The LOST Supper (Photo 1)

My theory was shot to shreds by Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly’s “Totally LOST,” who recently outlined what I find to be the most spectacular theory for the final season I’ve ever heard. He starts by breaking the season up: we’re a third of the way through, and only one day has passed since the Candidates flashed back to the present from 1977 in “LA X (Part 1).” We can postulate, then, that the remaining two thirds of the season will also each cover one day, totally three days for the final season.

Let’s look back at the cast photo for a moment. It’s the Last Supper. The Last Supper, which occurred on the Thursday before Good Friday (the early morning of “LA X?”), the first of the world’s most famous three-day period, the third of which is Easter Sunday. If we are to assume the first six episodes do indeed represent Good Friday, then they end at Sundown, the time of day Christ died on the Cross on Good Friday. And what happened mere days later, on Easter Sunday? Christ was resurrected. That’s right. And so in Season 6’s final six episodes, Easter Sunday may bleed through the pop culture fabric and bring with it the resurrection of John Locke.

This is all according to Jensen’s theory. Personally, I think it could be either John or Jacob. Regardless, LOST could be in the process of pulling off what my friend calls “the best use of Christian mythology since the Bible itself.”

Check out my weekly LOST reviews at my blog.

LOST Episode 6 season 6: Sundown (Spoilers and Faces EVERYWHERE)

masat01 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:40:27 +0000

Boy what an episode. Since school doesn’t open until 10:00 because of ice, and since I have only one class today because of that, I’m not going. That means I get to stay home and talk about LOST.

So last night we found out why Claire and Flocke were going to the temple. “If you don’t leave by Sundown, you will die.” Well shit Sayid, you pretty much made my decision for me, which is probably what that Other Mother was thinking. Then they throw Claire in a hole, why? Who cares, it isn’t even important as far as I can tell. Then we have basically 6 minutes of Smokey beating the shit out of the temple, which means that this episode is now on my top ten. I love smokey.

Now, since Sayid killed Dogen and Lennon (oh Sayid, you lovable oaf) it seems that now the temple is unprotected…oh wait..DUH! Yeah, so Smokey comes in, crashes the party, and then goes back to Flocke form and awaits the others. So yes, not only does Flocke now have the Others with him, but Sayid, Claire, AND KATE. Now, that face he made when Kate sees him looked like one of two things. Either he was thinking, ‘Oh, who is this non-important person’, or he was thinking, ‘I just know she will find SOME WAY to wreck my shit’. So now what? We have to wait and see.

Now, Miles is one of my faves, so I’m glad we got to see more of him this week.

Remember when Ilyana came in last night? I was sitting on the couch with my dad and he says, “They just try and find the smallest place to throw in characters back into the script don’t they?” I couldn’t help but agree. She and Ben, Lapidus, and Sun come out of NOWHERE. And Ben gets, what, one minute of dialogue? If it weren’t for next week being a Ben-isode, I would kill myself. So anyways, now we have what looks like the beginning of the end. The season really picks up now, are you ready? I am…

Oh, and the Alternate Timeline, my favorite besides last weeks. The most interesting, especially because of Keamy, and Jin.

Here are some faces from LOST night…pun intended.

LOST in wonderland!

nomaD — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:28:45 +0000

The producers acknowledged the significance of the Backgammon reference in the season 1 pilot quite a long time ago. And to fully understand this allegory we must look at its inspiration- So before we get back to LOST and Backgammon lets look at where this allusion came from- Don’t let me lose you we are on to something here….

We have seen, throughout the seasons and specifically in “The Light House” many blatant references to Carroll’s books Alice’s adventures in wonderland, and Through the looking glass…

Many people are familiar with the Disney adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and also Tim Burton’s upcoming remake. However LOST CANNOT be fully understood in terms of literary perspective without understanding the LITERARY devices used in Carroll’s books.

NOTE that the devices used by Carroll in the books are largely lost in the movie adaptations. While the movies tell the great story it loses much of what made Carrol books MASTERPIECES and what LOST has used to create a similar effect.

In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” the story was meant to symbolize a game of cards, different scenes signifying different cards in a deck….

In chapter 7, “A Mad Tea-Party,” the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse give several examples in which the semantic value of a sentence A is not the same value of the converse of A (for example, “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!“); in logic and mathematics, this is discussing an inverse relationship.

This is interesting in the light of our alternate universe.

However Carroll’s books, 2 of them, have been widely mixed together in movie and stage adaptations of the story, and there is no difference here in LOST, I would say that THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is a more mature version of what LOST has emulated.

In “Through the looking glass” Lewis Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s adventures in wonderland, everything is mirrored. While ALICE opens outside on a sunny day in summer THE LOOKING GLASS opens indoors on a cold winter night….

The book then goes on to symbolize a game of chess, each scene in the book signifies a different move on the chessboard including Alice (a pawn) taking two spaces on her first move. This is also depicted by Alice crossing rivers in the book symbolizing advancing into a new square on the board. The book concludes with Alice placing the King in checkmate, who hasnt moved throughout the book…

When Alice first enters the world beyond the looking glass and looks “out in all directions over the country” she notices that it is all laid out like a giant chess board as far as she can see. “It’s a great huge game of chess that’s being played all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.”

Consider the season 4 allusion, probably one of the most extensive and meaningful references from Carroll’s works–Episode 10 (“Something Nice Back Home”) . Jack reads to Aaron, straight from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

From chapter II, “The Pool of Tears”

“Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT’S the great puzzle!’ And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.”

Amazing how blatantly relevant that passage is to The show

Now lets go back to Locke’s discussion with Walt on the beach in the pilot episode of season 1. Backgammon is the oldest game- it pre-dates christ.

One side dark, the other light…( NOT

GOOD vs EVIL)

Only their pieces were made of pieces of bone!

To understand the allegory we must understand better a game of backgammon.

Backgammon is a board game for two players in which pieces are moved according to the roll of dice and the winner is the first to remove all his pieces from the board.

The game is essentially a race, and luck plays a measurable role, but backgammon offers a significant scope for strategy. With each roll of the dice, a player must choose between numerous options for moving the checkers, and plan for possible counter-moves by his or her opponent. Opportunities for raising the stakes of the game introduce more strategic intricacies.

Backgammon is not a game of strategy alone nor is it a game of pure luck. In Backgammon Luck and Strategy are both utilized to succeed in the game.This parrallels our Fate vs. Free will in LOST. We have seen that WHATEVER HAPPENED HAPPENED and that actions taking place in the past by a losties present actions are exactly the free will that leads to fate. So in LOST it is not Fate vs. Free will it is Fate and Free will and how they are really symbiotic in relationship.

Also in a game of Backgammon we use a precise set of pieces, however these pieces interact with each other in various ways depending on the variable roll of the dice. In each roll pieces will interact with each other in different ways, sometimes aiding in the advancement of the other piece and other times blocking a piece from making a move.

When an opposing player rolls the dice, we can foresee that one of their pieces may lock in an opposing piece. This is foreseen and the opponent plays his next roll accordingly.

Jacob did not seem to try to stop his death, he accepted that this one part of a move that had been in motion since the last roll of the die and not only was he accepting of this fate but had planned his next moves accordingly.

In our Alt. timeline we may be seeing a seperate roll of the dice, and how our characters are interacting with eachother under the circumstances of this new roll. This is why they all still interact with each other, the pieces have not changed, however the circumstances have changed, drastically. A piece that may have inhibited another piece before may be helping that same piece now.

In The Lighthouse we have the most blatant refrences to Carroll’s books since our epsiode actually titled THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS.

In this episode, we actually see the cover of Carroll’s book, and a notable Easter egg that i found significant was Jack actually lifting up a white rabbit to reveal the key to the answer to the question he was seeking.

We also actually get to see THE LOOKING GLASS that apparently Jacob has been using to bring people to the island, and Jack subsequently destroying it!

Remember that the end only happens once, and everything else is just progress…

Want to delve deeper into the rabbit hole? Visit THE LOST BOOKSTORE or check out the books from Amazon below…

MUCH THANKS TO SCS WHO’S LITERARY ARTICLES ARE MUCH TO THANK FOR A PORTION OF THIS ARTICLE SEE MORE OF SCS AT LOST AND LIT

The Lighthouse Questions vs. Answers The tally is in- and its suprising!

nomaD — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:21:36 +0000

After last week we entered the Lighthouse. This weeks tally comes in at… ::Drum Roll::

Answers: 10 Total with 3 Juicy ones…….

Questions: 16 Total with 4 Juicy ones….

Interestingly enough the smaller amount of answers doesn’t matter at all, This was a great episode and the literary perspective of it was amazing- I am loving the Liddel references in our ALT timeline- it is THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS-

And a nice easter egg i found was that Jack actually lifts up a white rabbit to find a key to the answer of the question he was looking for.

Thoughts to ponder:

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT JACOB NEVER ENCOUNTERED OUR LOSTIES IN THIS ALT TIMELINE? AND THIS IS WHY THEIR LIVES WERE SO DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT?

“EVERYTHING IS AN OPTION, BUT I WOULD HAVE TO STOP YOU” – Great quote by Samaurai

Hurley:: “I could eat” HAHA!!

JACK SAYING “WHATEVER I DID IM SORRY” gave me chills ( he was leaving a message to his son but the screen had shifted from that, it was like a voice-over that was tanatmount to the character development that Jacks character is going through, he is completely redeeming himself.

Ive said it before but Jack is still the HERO of our story, just because we are seeing the deeply flawed side of what makes his journey makes him no less. All the best Hero’s were flawed we just never got to see HOW flawed. Around season 2-3 I started to hate Jack, he is again, redeeming himself admirably.

YOU WERE SO INTO IT, and the failure is too much to deal with- This is why David never told Jack about the Piano… This is so paramount to what has led Jack down the negative spiral we have witnessed.

ON TO THE TALLY

Questions:

Why does Jack have no memories of having appendix taken out as a child?
Was Jack’s appendix removed as a child IN ORDER to supply the memory of the scar that wasn’t initially there (MORE COURSE CORRECTION)?
Is there allegorical significance to the name DAVID as Jack’s son?
Where did Miles go when he was following Hurley into the temple to get food, right before he encounters Jacob?
Who is coming to the Island that Jacob needs Hurley to help?
Who is David’s mother?
Is the apparition of Christian by Claire the same thing possessing the body of Locke now? ( I think so)
Who are ADAM and EVE???
Why can you only find the lighthouse when your looking for it?, kind of like why could Sayid could only die from the poison if he took it willingly…
What isn’t Claire remembering correctly about her encounter with the others?
Why was David too scared to show Jack he could wanted to play piano?
Is Jack’s running in with the SAMAURAI in the ALT universe akin to the meeting he had with Desmond in the arena, are strings being pulled just in different ways this time around?
(It would seems that Jacob is trying to predict the actions of our characters) So Jacob WANTED Jack to break the mirror, If he wanted to HELP someone get to the Island why would he specifically want Jack to see the lighthouse if he knew he would destroy it.
Why is Jacob against helping the others at the Temple?
What will Jin’s Lie to Claire manifest into?
What is Claire’s role in all this?

Answers:

Jack Is A Father in our ALT Timeline, this is another solidification that the changes start at 77 not at the point where the plane did/didn’t crash
Claire has been living in the jungle like Rousseau for years
Jack declines a drink from his mother, his mental state is much more resilient than the original Jack.
Claire doesnt know Christian Shepherd and Smocke are the same smokie… hey neither do we really…
Shannon’s Asthma inhaler was right friggin there!
It was the possessor inside Christian Shepherd that led Jack to find the caves, the game started all that time ago, they were meant to survive on the island and find Adam and eve and etc etc etc…
The Lighthouse is how Jacob watched, and manipulated the lives of our losties…
Jack is important, but he has to solve the puzzle himself, the influence of Jacob has its limits
Someone BAD is coming to the temple!
Claire has been seduced by Smocke the whole time, Its likely that she was told by him that the others stole her baby

The Lighthouse: Key Spoilers and JACKFACE

masat01 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:46:25 +0000

HOLY SHIT!

Best episode of the season so far…and that promo for next week? Frickin awesome!

Now, here is my theory of what is going to happen soon:

The one coming to the island is none other than…WIDMORE. Why? Well, you know, Ben-centric episodes coming soon, and he said “I’ll find it again.”
Flocke is the good guy…or they want us to believe that.
The flashbacks are not really flashbacks of the characters…or something like that.
Next week, I believe Flocke will go smoke monsta on everyone’s AEUSSS! BIATCH!

Well, next week is “Sundown”, a Sayid-centric episode. Can’t wait.

Also, please leave me comments, it hurts when you don’t.

Now for Jackface…
I was really dissappointed, there was not much Jackface last night (I skimmed through the episode after watching once). So instead, I’ll give you some LOST comics. They are funny.