Post by mrmdee on Feb 12, 2010 15:37:34 GMT -5
I originally posted this on my blog, but would really like some discussion as to whether I'm crazy or not:
The key to season six of Lost occurred three seasons ago in the Desmond-centric “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” In that episode, Desmond travels back to his happy life with Penelope Widmore. But it’s not just any day that he travels back to. It’s the day that he has an appointment to see Charles Widmore and the day before he makes his decision to leave Penny, which, in turn, leads to his boat race and that to his being stranded on the Island.
Desmond’s mysterious appearance on Flight 815 has to be foreshadowing, or just a major clue, that the alternative timeline that the Losties we know — Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and Sayid — are experiencing is not a true alternative timeline. Instead, it’s a hypothetical timeline that looks, like Desmond’s in “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” at what could happen if they don’t go to the island.
Admittedly, there are definite differences to what we’ve seen so far this season and what happened in that earlier episode.
First, Desmond is taken well into the past and well before he gets to the island–three years, if my math is correct. While those on Oceanic Flight 815 seem to miss their chances to ever get to the island because the plane doesn’t crash.
Second, we haven’t seen “flashes” in Jack or Kate. They haven’t had a sudden recognition of where they’re supposed to be. However, we have seen them experience deja vu. Several times actually:
* When coming out of the restroom, Jack seems to recognize Kate and she seems to recognize him
* In “What Kate Does,” Kate sees Jack along the side of the road and there is a definite deja vu moment.
* Claire, out of nowhere, calls her baby “Aaron.”
* Jack looks at Desmond and asks in “LA X” and says, “Have we met?”
Finally, there’s Eloise Hawking in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” She shatters Desmond’s hypothetical reality by telling him that he does not in fact marry Penny, and then the “greatest thing” he’ll ever do is push that button on the Island. There is no guide, or no sign of a guide, in Season Six so far.
But if this hypothetical timeline is all in the characters’ heads, much like Desmond’s was in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and his other time jumping episodes, they won’t experience the need for a “guide” until they start making choices that will remove them from their fates.
Let’s use my theory about the hypothetical timeline to analyze the last episode, “What Kate Does,” specifically the off-island story to see if the “all-in-the-head” idea holds weight:
1. Kate’s biggest desire in going back to the island in Season Five was to find Claire.
2. When Daniel Faraday and then Jack propose the idea to blow up the atom bomb in order to reset the timeline, Kate is all for it because she believes it could help reunite Claire and baby Aaron off-island.
3. Kate somehow escapes from a U.S. marshal in an airport, a highly securitized environment, and ends up in a cab with (guess who?) Claire.
4. Kate goes to an auto shop where the guy helps her right away break out of handcuffs. She looks in Claire’s bag and then feels guilty. So what does she do? She drives back to where Claire jumped out of the car. Claire hasn’t called the police. She hasn’t even left the curb where she got out of the car. Huh?
5. Claire is unable to give up her baby for adoption. The family doesn’t want the baby. Remember Kate’s biggest wish is for Claire to raise baby Aaron herself.
6. Claire goes into labor, and guess who’s there with her? Kate. Just like on the island. However, Claire’s doctor is Ethan. This is the same man who kidnapped Claire on the island poking her with needles. Alarms were probably ringing in Kate’s subconscience, which is why, despite the possibility of it happening, Claire tells “Dr. Goodspeed” that she would rather not have her baby at that point.
7. Two cops, not federal marshals or FBI members, go looking for Kate after her airport escape. That’s what I call wishful thinking.
I think it’s too much of a coincidence that Kate is able to do exactly what she hoped she’d be able to do by helping Jack blow up that bomb, which leads me to believe that when we see Jack’s flash-sideways that his ex-wife will show up at his dad’s funeral and they go grab a bite to eat and then end up together.
But this is where Desmond comes into play. We’ve been told that he is “special.” His conscience can be in multiple places. He has his constant. What are the chances Desmond plays the role of Eloise Hawking to Jack and Kate and the bunch? His goal will be to get them to accept their fates–accept who they are and why they need to be on that island.
“You can’t change it,” Desmond tells Charlie about the future in that masterpiece of an episode in Season Three . “You can’t change it, no matter what you do.”
Kate, Jack and Sawyer are meant to be on that island no matter what they do. How soon before they start seeing their fates in flashes before their eyes?
“Crackpot” Theory (To steal Jay and Jack’s term)
If any part of my theory holds, what does that mean for Locke? Since he’s dead on the island, the alternative timeline isn’t happening in his head. What if Reborn Locke is experiencing the alternative timeline? Perhaps that’s why he seems so at ease with himself? Just a thought.
The key to season six of Lost occurred three seasons ago in the Desmond-centric “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” In that episode, Desmond travels back to his happy life with Penelope Widmore. But it’s not just any day that he travels back to. It’s the day that he has an appointment to see Charles Widmore and the day before he makes his decision to leave Penny, which, in turn, leads to his boat race and that to his being stranded on the Island.
Desmond’s mysterious appearance on Flight 815 has to be foreshadowing, or just a major clue, that the alternative timeline that the Losties we know — Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and Sayid — are experiencing is not a true alternative timeline. Instead, it’s a hypothetical timeline that looks, like Desmond’s in “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” at what could happen if they don’t go to the island.
Admittedly, there are definite differences to what we’ve seen so far this season and what happened in that earlier episode.
First, Desmond is taken well into the past and well before he gets to the island–three years, if my math is correct. While those on Oceanic Flight 815 seem to miss their chances to ever get to the island because the plane doesn’t crash.
Second, we haven’t seen “flashes” in Jack or Kate. They haven’t had a sudden recognition of where they’re supposed to be. However, we have seen them experience deja vu. Several times actually:
* When coming out of the restroom, Jack seems to recognize Kate and she seems to recognize him
* In “What Kate Does,” Kate sees Jack along the side of the road and there is a definite deja vu moment.
* Claire, out of nowhere, calls her baby “Aaron.”
* Jack looks at Desmond and asks in “LA X” and says, “Have we met?”
Finally, there’s Eloise Hawking in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” She shatters Desmond’s hypothetical reality by telling him that he does not in fact marry Penny, and then the “greatest thing” he’ll ever do is push that button on the Island. There is no guide, or no sign of a guide, in Season Six so far.
But if this hypothetical timeline is all in the characters’ heads, much like Desmond’s was in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and his other time jumping episodes, they won’t experience the need for a “guide” until they start making choices that will remove them from their fates.
Let’s use my theory about the hypothetical timeline to analyze the last episode, “What Kate Does,” specifically the off-island story to see if the “all-in-the-head” idea holds weight:
1. Kate’s biggest desire in going back to the island in Season Five was to find Claire.
2. When Daniel Faraday and then Jack propose the idea to blow up the atom bomb in order to reset the timeline, Kate is all for it because she believes it could help reunite Claire and baby Aaron off-island.
3. Kate somehow escapes from a U.S. marshal in an airport, a highly securitized environment, and ends up in a cab with (guess who?) Claire.
4. Kate goes to an auto shop where the guy helps her right away break out of handcuffs. She looks in Claire’s bag and then feels guilty. So what does she do? She drives back to where Claire jumped out of the car. Claire hasn’t called the police. She hasn’t even left the curb where she got out of the car. Huh?
5. Claire is unable to give up her baby for adoption. The family doesn’t want the baby. Remember Kate’s biggest wish is for Claire to raise baby Aaron herself.
6. Claire goes into labor, and guess who’s there with her? Kate. Just like on the island. However, Claire’s doctor is Ethan. This is the same man who kidnapped Claire on the island poking her with needles. Alarms were probably ringing in Kate’s subconscience, which is why, despite the possibility of it happening, Claire tells “Dr. Goodspeed” that she would rather not have her baby at that point.
7. Two cops, not federal marshals or FBI members, go looking for Kate after her airport escape. That’s what I call wishful thinking.
I think it’s too much of a coincidence that Kate is able to do exactly what she hoped she’d be able to do by helping Jack blow up that bomb, which leads me to believe that when we see Jack’s flash-sideways that his ex-wife will show up at his dad’s funeral and they go grab a bite to eat and then end up together.
But this is where Desmond comes into play. We’ve been told that he is “special.” His conscience can be in multiple places. He has his constant. What are the chances Desmond plays the role of Eloise Hawking to Jack and Kate and the bunch? His goal will be to get them to accept their fates–accept who they are and why they need to be on that island.
“You can’t change it,” Desmond tells Charlie about the future in that masterpiece of an episode in Season Three . “You can’t change it, no matter what you do.”
Kate, Jack and Sawyer are meant to be on that island no matter what they do. How soon before they start seeing their fates in flashes before their eyes?
“Crackpot” Theory (To steal Jay and Jack’s term)
If any part of my theory holds, what does that mean for Locke? Since he’s dead on the island, the alternative timeline isn’t happening in his head. What if Reborn Locke is experiencing the alternative timeline? Perhaps that’s why he seems so at ease with himself? Just a thought.
