Lost Blog

What an episode this was. I’ve read alot of reviews that express dissapointment with this episode but I have to disagree - I thought this episode was fantastic. With the reveal of how Richard happened upon an injured Locke during the time jumps, the return of Sayid, and Lockes declaration that he plans on killing Jacob. Not to mention that Dr Chang now believes the Losties are from the future… what a jam-packed episode this was!

So let’s begin…

The Richard / Locke encounter

In Because You Left, during the time jumps, we see an injured Locke get help from Richard. Richard doesn’t have much time to explain what is happening to Locke, but the conversation ends like so:

During this scene we were left thinking that Richard Alpert was a great know-it-all who knew a whole lot more about the situation than anyone. Only now, in Follow The Leader, do we learn that it was Locke himself who told Richard to tell Past-Locke what to do.

This leaves the age-old question, and one which I’ve touched on in previous posts, which came first? And was Locke really supposed to leave the island to bring back the Oceanic Six?

In The Variable, Daniel seems to think that Jack and co. don’t belong there - that it isn’t their destiny. So could Locke have got it all wrong?

Alot of people don’t seem to think that this scenario is a Paradox, but I can’t see any other way of explaining it. Richard in 2007 tells a time-jumping Locke that he needs to leave the island and bring back the O6, but he only tells time-jumping Locke this because present Locke told him to. Richard didn’t have a clue! So where did this scenario begin?

The Compass

It also leaves the compass in Limbo. I remember after Because You Left writing about the compass and where it possibly could have come from, but now it seems to have dissapeared. Think about it: Locke receives the compass from Richard in 2007 - Locke flashes to 1954 and gives it to Richard. Richard keeps it until 2007 to give back to Locke - and now poof! The compass no longer exsists! Neither Richard or Locke have this compass after Richard gives it to past Locke in 2007.

So if this compass no longer exsists, and it’s origins could never really be explained, did it really ever exsist at all?

Do our Losties die?

Was Richard telling the truth here? Or was he referring to The Purge in which alot of the Dharma folk perished? Perhaps he thought they were still part of the DI.

Also, Richard would remember meeting Kate. Not meeting her in 1977, meeting her in 2004. He helped her and Sayid infiltrate Keamy and his cronies. We know Richard has some knowledge of time travel on the island, he knows because Locke appeared to him in 1954 and his first meeting with Sawyer in 1974, so when he meets Kate in 2004 it’s safe to assume he knew that this was the same woman he met in 1977.

When he bargained with Kate and Sayid to leave the island did he know that they’d end up back there? Or did he think he could change the past?

Changing Destiny

At the end of The Variable we saw a young Eloise shoot Daniel. In this episode we see that he does in fact die, and now Eloise wants answers.

Me thinks that Jack is very very wrong about what he plans to do. First of all, if the bomb is successful then everyone on the island will die. Eloise, who appears to be pregnant, will die taking Daniel with her (assuming Daniel is who she is pregnant with). So Jacks statement of “He doesn’t have to be dead” is false, because he would never even be born if the bomb goes off.

If he is partly successful then this could be what causes The Incident. Forget what Daniel thinks is the cause, the fact that they’re planning on doing this at this point in time must play a part in The Incident. We’ve seen Dr Chang and the DI alive and well way after The Incident so why not use the H-Bomb after The Incident? It will still have the same effect. No, there’s no such thing as coincidence on this show and I believe whatever Jack and co. do with the H-Bomb will enevitably cause The Incident.

So, if this happens, is this a paradox? Well, I can’t think of any other way to describe it. The only reason Jack is there is because Desmond failed to push that button and cause Flight 815 to crash, but that button was only placed there as a result of The Incident, which if it turns out to be true, Jack played a part in causing The Incident. So how is this possible?

Unless, of course, Jack has nothing to do with The Incident and the H-Bomb will be a flat out failure. But come on - Darlton wouldn’t have built up to this for nothing…

Eloise and Desmond

Young Eloise seems to be going along with Jacks plan as if she thinks that by doing so can change what she just did to her son. However, as we’ve seen in recent episodes, a much older Eloise is of the opinion that you can’t change the past and that people have a set Destiny. This is why she nurtured Daniel to be the scientist we all know and love, and why she pursuaded him to go to the island knowing full well that her young self will shoot him. I think she does this because her attempts at changing the past with Jack in 1977 didn’t work, and as the years went on she realised that events Daniel had written about in his book were always going to happen.

But what about her encounter with Desmond in Flashes Before Your Eyes? She tells Desmond that he needs to go the island and keep pushing that button. Was there something deep down inside of her that hoped Desmond wouldn’t fail to push the button that causes Flight 815? Afterall, it was Desmonds failure of pushing the button that causes Flight 815 to crash and to eventually lead Daniel back to the island in 1977 because Jack and co. have returned. If Flight 815 hadn’t crashed, there is a chance that Daniel and the freighter folk would still make it the island when they did, but because there’d be no Flight 815ers, Daniel probably would’ve stayed in Ann Arbor indefinately.

Or, perhaps the island didn’t flash at all. If Locke wasn’t there to tell Ben to move the island then Ben wouldn’t have done so… or would he?

Nevertheless, if Eloise believes that telling Desmond he must push that button might stop Flight 815 from crashing, then perhaps Daniel was right when he told Jack that he’s not supposed to be there. Perhaps Flight 815 was never meant to crash at all.

John and Jacob

Whatever Lockes reasons are for wanting to kill Jacob, the revelation certainly seems to have shocked Ben. Why would Locke want to kill Jacob? Did the island tell him like it seems to be telling him alot of things lately? Or perhaps, when Jacob said “Help Me” to Locke, this is what he meant. He wanted to be put out of his misery for however many years Ben and Richard have kept him captive.

And the big question is: Is it still possible that Jacob could be someone we already know? I sure hope we find out soon!

So where does this leave us with the Finale?

The Finale is sure set to be a big one! But how will it play out? In 1977, we have Sawyer, Juliet and Kate on the sub on its way back to the “real world”. Hurley, Miles, and Jin are in their own little group and persumably making their way back to the beach. Jack and Sayid are with Eloise and Richard. In 2007, Ilana & co. on Hydra island seem to have declared a war on anyone who doesn’t know what lies in the shadow of the statue, and Locke and his people are on their way to meet Jacob.

I have no idea how it will all play out but I’m willing to be it will be one hell of a Finale!