One thing you can count on in LOST: Desmond episodes are game-changers. Whenever Mr. Hume is our central character, we scratch our heads, stretch our brains, shout "what the heck?" a few times, and probably shed a tear or two. Yes, LOST uses Desmond and his true love, Penny, to frame some of the most complicated time-travel/skipping/bending storylines each season. As Desmond says, "See you in another life, brutha."Tonight's episode was right in keeping with all of those great Des moments of the past. We knew, of course, that the writers couldn't possibly ask us to invest so much time and energy and heart into the epic Desmond and Penny romance just to have it not exist in the end... they had to bring those two back together! And they certainly were adorable meeting in that stadium. (Although the photo to the right remains my all-time favorite most romantic moment of LOST ever. Who can forget Desmond and Penny's Christmas phone call???)
Now, understanding that tonight's episode was the most explanation we've gotten so far about what that "sideways" world is doesn't mean that I understand it completely. But, with the help of drug-addled but sensitive Charlie Pace and the physics-dreaming musician Daniel *Widmore*, plus a dose of creepy/cryptic Eloise Hawking-Widmore, here's my best take on it:
Setting off the nuclear bomb worked, like dead Juliet said.
That hit the big cosmic "reset button" somehow, and everyone ended up on flight 815 -- with their lives changed already in big and small ways.
So, what we're seeing in the sideways scenes are the new paths their lives are taking, AFTER the bomb. It's like I theorized after the season premiere! Complete with PowerPoint diagram and all! The sideways scenes are epilogue.
These sideways versions of our characters are in 2004... but though they don't know it consciously, they *have* lived the events of the past 5 seasons. They have lived 3 more years of life than they know about, and their lives were very different.
Whatever mental wall was created in the sideways characters' minds by the bomb going off, whatever put their minds into the new timeline with its new facts and histories, has some cracks in it. The wall is crumbling, and people - especially Desmond - are starting to see through those cracks to the memories of their original life. Desmond's visions of Penny, Daniel dreaming physics, Charlie loving Claire at first sight, everyone staring in mirrors or looking at people like they've met before... these are all signs.
Now, Desmond wants to gather together everyone who was on Flight 815... and he wants to show them something. I don't know what he'll show, but I'm guessing that once they're all together, people will REMEMBER. And in the remembering, and in recognizing that they now are alive, off the Island, and leading (mostly) happier lives, really will live "Happily Ever After."
That's my guess..... we'll see how it goes!
Now, what will happen with the people who weren't on 815? Ben and Richard and Frank and Miles, etc? Who knows.
And what in the heck does this have to do with the Man In Black and Jacob? Maybe nothing... maybe this is how the survivors themselves controlled their own destiny and break the cycle of those two deities/demons/what-have-you.
And next week? (Spoiler from the preview) We *finally* get our Hurley episode! With Michael??? And, dare I dream it, Libby??? Wouldn't it be great for rich, lucky Hurley to end up with Libby in sideways-future-past land?
Okay - debate with me --what are the holes in this theory? What's your interpretation of tonight's episode?
Image source.
8 comments:
I still haven't worked out the math on where Season 6's on-Island action falls.... have our characters had THOSE experiences in the sideways timelines, or just the ones leading up to the bomb at the end of season 5? Brain hurts.
I subscribe to your theory about the sideways scenes, but my husband Cason believes they are showing what WOULD have happened if things don't end they way they are about to end (he hasn't exactly worked out what that is yet). He also believes that Desmond's sudden cooperation with Widmore at the end of the episode is proof that his theory is correct--that Desmond sees his potential new path without Penny and decides that the only way to get back to his former life with Penny is to go along with Widmore's plan. What do you think? I could use some ammunition to refute his misguided ideas! ;)
That's the tough thing -- I do think your husband's theory could be possible, too. The sideways could be the "what if?" that they choose against, like as Desmond decides to cooperate with Widmore in order to ensure his own reality with Penny.
We're gonna have to see what happens with sideways Sun - whether she (and the baby) lives or dies will be key to showing us if the sideways stories really are their happily ever after. Or if they're the "what if?" that doesn't happen, because they somehow choose to stay with their original Island lives.
Hmmmm - my favorite tv blogger thinks this episode totally DISproves the epilogue theory. Well, huh. Guess I'm gonna have to rewatch to make sense of this!
http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2010/04/lost-happily-ever-after-not-desmonds.html
So much to digest....but the big thing that I think I learned is that certain people are constant in each reality - namely Widmore and Hawking, and probably some others too. Hawkins has revealed as much when she told Desmond "you don't buy the ring" and told him he wasn't ready last night. I still want to know why Widmore was kicked off, if now he is coming back and being the savior? Or does he have some ulterior motive? Or is he trying to undo/prevent the happenings at the end of season 5 with that nuke because it set in motion a series of events that end up with MIB taking over or getting off the island? Maybe Jacob kicked him off all those years ago so that he could come back now (whereas if he'd been on the island during all the Dharma stuff he might not have survived).
Ugh, it boggles the mind. But, I loved this ep. One question, where have we seen the limo driver before? He seemed very familiar, but I can't remember what part he might have played in the past.
Hey Shawn - the driver was George Minkowski, who was on the freighter and died from the nosebleed/crazy sickness that Desmond was spared from.
Hi,Stef. I never subscribed to the epilogue theory myself. I've always thought that the flash sideways scenes were "would have/could have happened". I guess, actually, because the bomb went off, it "did happen". But we will find out at the end that something will happen (don't know exactly what!) that will cause it to unravel. We'll find out that the island always existed, the plane crashed, and yes, the Losties will leave.
In another note, I am re-subscribing to the purgatory theory- since the Richard episode. But- strong caveat- no, the Losties are not dead like the theories from Season 1. That's silly. But Michael, Christian Sheppard, real Locke's Dad, and others have their souls trapped. Lost souls get trapped on the island, and the Losties are trapped alive here between Heaven and Hell. The religious overtones are just too strong to ignore. Not-Locke is quite simply the devil. Jacob, though, I believe, is not God or similar character- just not lawful good enough. I would describe him more as a Cerberus- a guardian of the realm (to prevent not-Locke from leaving) but not quite the benevolence level necessary for a "God". But I digress.
Hi Cason - interesting. I'm starting to let go of the epilogue theory... but I just so hope that the two storylines do end up making sense together in the end. The sideways world could unravel - I like the way you put it.
And the purgatory-for-some theory is interesting, but as I recall Damon and Carlton have thoroughly debunked it. I agree the religious themes are really strong, and Jacob-as-Cerberus works for me.
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