Theorizing…What Lost Fans Do Best

April 30, 2008

 

While waiting impatiently for 10 p.m. Thursday night to roll around, I’ve been thinking about what’s happened recently on Lost, as well as what’s to come. I’m not usually one for theories. Instead, I like to delve into the thematic elements of the show and the storytelling devices to figure out what it all means. But, because of “The Shape of Things to Come,” I’ve been forced to think differently about the show.

 

Theory-related thoughts

 

Ben and Widmore are each other’s “constant.”

 

This would explain why it is that neither can kill the other. For one to die, the other most certainly would, too. It would also make thematic sense as well for the two enemies to be bound together by forces out of their control. They’re like Superman and Lex Luthor, Batman and the Joker, He-Man and Skeletor… Wasn’t it the Joker who once told Batman, “Without me, you’d be nothing?” I think the same is true here. This is why they have to attack each other through their families, because it’s the only way to make the other hurt.

 

Widmore was a sailor—maybe even Captain—on the Black Rock.

 

Why is the Black Rock in the middle of the island? Land doesn’t just expand over time. Water erodes the land, pushing it back like a receding hairline. I think the Black Rock found a wormhole and ended on the island, right smack-dab in the middle. It would make sense if Widmore was on board. After all, he wants to collect any and every artifact relating to the Rock and the island. I think he found some sort of “fountain of youth”—for lack of a better term—on the island, and without it he is dying. He has lived several lifetimes and needs this elixir to maintain his life. This would explain why it is that every time we see him, Widmore looks older and weaker.

 

Perhaps he developed the Dharma Initiative to research more about what the island could do. Maybe Ben, as he gained power on the island, discovered many of Widmore’s secrets and wanted a piece of the action. That’s where I’m unclear. Nonetheless, if Widmore was on the Black Rock, it would answer a lot of questions as to why he wants to find the island again so badly.

 

Richard Alpert was on the Black Rock, too.

 

Like Widmore, Alpert may have discovered the same “fountain.” Unlike Widmore, Alpert may have had different ideas of how to use it, hence why he became one of the island “natives,” as opposed to one of the members of Dharma.

 

The Smoke Monster is an alien.

 

This just came out of nowhere, but after reading part of Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, I had to give it some thought. In the interview, Kimmel asks the producers if the characters are extra-terrestrials. Funny. Yet, Cuse and Lindelof hemmed and hawed in their answer:

 

Cuse: Yes. That may be one of the best “Lost” questions we’ve ever been asked.

Lindelof: When you get asked questions like that, you have to be very careful how you answer.

 

In the past, the producers have been adamant that this is not a show about alien abduction and experimentation. But the possibility of alien life has never been ruled out (could explain the Paulo and Nikki experiment). In Lindelof’s answer, there is a lot of wiggle room for interpretation. For me, I think it means there is some alien activity on the show. And where else would it make more sense than with Smokey.

 

Some other—non-theory related—thoughts

 

I was talking to a friend about Lost, and he said he was beginning to hate Jack, especially since Jack has been so wishy-washy in his dealings with Faraday and Charlotte. He wishes Jack would get up in their grills a bit more since they’ve lied to him many times over—yet, Jack seems to give them a pass every time he gets a chance.

 

At first I was inclined to agree. Jack has become a wimp this season—a far cry from the hero he was in seasons 1 and 2, where he was willing to let Sayid torture Sawyer over an asthma inhaler. His biggest decision thus far has been to execute Locke, and there were no bullets in the gun—not that the island would have let him anyway.

 

As I was thinking about it though, it occurred to me that this is Jack’s transition period, from strong leader to helpless victim. Since his experience with the Others during Season 3, he hasn’t been the same. Ben has caused Jack to question all that he holds to be true—the more Jack has been manipulated, and realized it, the more detached he has become. When Locke blew up the submarine, Jack lost hope. He regained it when he made contact with the freighter. But as this season has progressed, and Faraday’s lies have mounted, Jack has become increasingly despairing. His impending illness will be the final straw for him. It will render him powerless.

 

This will eventually lead to Jack’s return to heroism in season 6. Season 5 will show us his experience in Joseph Campbell’s “Cave.” Season 6 will show us his emergence as the show’s genuine hero. Every hero must go through a period of self-doubt. That is where Jack is, and it’s hard to deal with sometimes as a viewer because his impotence can be annoying. This is his journey though, and the one thing that has always made Lost a great show is that its characters are not always shown in the most positive of lights. Jack is the hero, but we can also see the darker side of his character, too.

 

With all that said, I’m still impatient for Thursday night. I think I’ve got the sickness.

 

And that is why I’m lost in Lost.