Hey there haters of hiatus holding-out! I know some of you weren't happy I opted to leave all post-explosion talk for a week, but believe me when I say the extra time was worth it. By focusing on who Jacob was and what the future stuff meant last week, I could really twist my brain into the knot I needed to for this post. I've also got some Flash Forward news but I'll keep it til the end.I'm not kidding when I say I went to bed early with a headache twice this week. Hold on to your hats because this one is a big 'un and we're going deep.
Juliet: Seeing as she wasn't touched by Jacob or on either flight, there is no reason to expect her to travel to wherever the rest end up. The most likely conclusion is that Juliet will emerge as an Other at some point with no memories of her time spent with the Losties.
Miles: I think Miles was completely right when he asserted that all they were doing was what had always been done. Being completely honest, I have absolutely no clue as to where Miles will fit in now. He wasn't on either flight, but he arrived on the island by non-Swan related means. However, he only left because of the Swan Incident. I don't want it to happen, but Miles could become a casualty of causality.
THE THEORIES
For sake of clarity, time loop refers only to the events related directly to the Swan, time-skips and the Incident while timeline means an entirely new history. I've also chosen to leave Ilana out of all theories involving Jacob as we didn't see him touch her.
Theory 1: The bomb destroys this timeline; they wake up on Oceanic 815, landing in LA, with no memories.
This theory is by far the simplest and also the one I hate the most. Essentially, the last five seasons don't exist and the writers get to start from scratch. Everyone gets off the plane in LA and continues with what they originally had planned; Kate goes to jail, Sayid finds Nadia earlier and so on. Almost no one, especially the audience, would get a happy ending as all the character growth we've witnessed would be erased and nothing needs to be fixed.Theory 2: The bomb destroys this timeline; they wake up on Oceanic 815, landing in LA, but those touched by Jacob feel decidedly wrong.
I don't like this theory a whole lot more as it suggests We Have To Go Back: Part III. I'm done with returning to the island, especially since everyone bar Desmond who needs to be there already is.
Theory 3: The bomb destroys this timeline; each character is returned with full memories to the moment at which Jacob touched them with their memories intact.
This is almost too sickly sweet, story-with-a-moral to even consider. I don't want to see an episode where a young Kate debates the merits of whether she should steal or not, knowing what her life may become. I really don't want to see an episode where, having quite enjoyed that Apollo bar, Jack later decides not to go to Thailand, meet Bai Ling and get tattooed. (If that could happen off-screen though, I'd be ok with it.)
However, this theory bears mentioning and careful consideration due to Jacob's chat with Hurley. Both Hurley and Sayid were visited post-Island, which means if this scenario were to play out, each character would wake up in an alternate reality of their own. Hurley and Sayid would've both spent time on the Island and have escaped, while the rest exist earlier in their personal timeline/reality. I think the key is that Jacob told Hurley he had a choice, that it was his free will and entirely up to him. If Hurley is returned to that moment, bolstered with the knowledge that a) he isn't the only person who talks to the “dead”, b) time-travel and portals are real and c) he actually has the power and influence to change the past, what's to say he won't rise to the occasion once again, choosing to return to the island in this reality where the "dead" who speak to him are all alive because he saves them? (Somehow. I don't have that part.)
Theory 4: The bomb destroys this time loop; they wake up on Oceanic 815 as it begins to crash, only those touched by Jacob remember what happened.
This theory is pretty easy to get your head around; it's the Back to the Future theory. You can course-correct any mistakes you make while time-travelling but you retain the memory of how the event was supposed to play out the first time. I like this idea in terms of revisiting the first season; this would mean we might get Charlie, Mr Eko and Libby back but we'd also get Ana-Lucia, Nikki and Paulo. Imagine Jack charging straight to the Swan to confront a confused Des for crashing the plane, Ben killing Locke on the beach on the first day, Sayid making a beeline straight for Mikhail and his communications gear and Sawyer making a mad rush to Dharmaville to get his Juliet back… only to discover she doesn't remember him or their life together.
Theory 5: The bomb destroys the time loop; they wake up on the island as Ajira 316 is crashing / has crashed.
The more time you spend thinking about this theory the more it seems to be the most logical. If Juliet was successful in detonating the bomb and changing events, then the Swan is never built, never crashing Oceanic 815. This creates a paradox, one Jacob was already prepared to counter by touching those he needed later – the Ajira crash had nothing to do with the Swan so those who were on it are yanked back to the moment they were plucked from 316. While that's good news for Sun and Jin being reunited, everyone else is right back where they started.
This one also deserves thinking a great deal about as Sun might return with the knowledge that Locke is a fake, meaning she could inform the rest. (Maybe Caesar won't die?!) This would also put Ben back in the position of power; with the knowledge of what he was up against, might Ben chose to stab fake Locke instead if events were to play out the same and he kept his awareness a secret?Theory 6: The bomb destroys the time loop; those touched by Jacob miraculously appear at the statue's foot in the present as predicted by Jacob.
I really like this theory and it'd definitely fits with Jacob's “They're coming.” Could the Losties be the people standing around Locke intending him harm that Walt had foretold, keeping in mind it now seems Walt saw the fake Locke?
Theory 7: The bombs acts as a failsafe, as it always has, nulling the energy spike as Desmond did when he turned the key.
As I've said, I think Miles was right and nothing was changed. Desmond and Kelvin didn't know how the Dharma Initiative learned how to successfully install a failsafe in the Swan. What if Juliet performed a far more rudimentary version of what Desmond would do 27 years later?
This would mean the characters stuck in the past remain there, only becoming enhanced in ways similar to Desmond after his direct exposure. This could somehow explain Hurley and Miles conversing with the dead, Jack's miraculous doctor skills, Sawyer silver tongue…. Ok, no scratch it, that just makes it Heroes. I do like the idea of them not being plucked back instantly; I wanted Miles to speak with Faraday and find out how to use the Orchid or something, heroically stating behind to operate the machine and stay with his dad. Awwwww.
In doing my research for this post, I've did a lot of philosophical reading. I'd read some Bertrand Russell before as his literal take on existence has always fascinated me; he talks of seeing the world for what is literally before our eyes and that our belief systems are our own constructs and fault (Sorry for my horrendous attempt at a summary.) The following extract from “Is There a God?” deals with our ingrained religious belief system, but if you substitute in the way we think of time or even the way the characters have enforced their time rules on us this season, it may help you get over the mental hurdle of dealing with the finale like it did me!
“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”
We only believe time works the way it does because we've been telling ourselves that for thousands of years. Similarly, we believe God to be the Celestial being various religions have asserted him as, but what if gods walked among us and had seeded that belief so as to throw us off the scent?!
Told you we were going deep.
As I promised earlier, I have some exciting Flash Forward news. Firstly, the show has been publicly announced to launch in the US on Thurs 24th Sept – this isn't the date for Australia but it at least means you'll have another show to enjoy well before Lost returns. Yahoo!7 have launched a site where you can check out the trailer and find out plenty more about the show: http://au.tv.yahoo.com/flash-forward/ The other reason this is personally exciting is that I'll be getting a new home there, Flash Files! Don't panic, it'll still be me writing there but I wanted to make sure you all knew to follow me over – I couldn't stand the thought of losing a single one of you! I'll be posing there very soon so keep your eyes peeled.
Finally, I wanted to thank you all for another amazing season. Lost is an brilliant show and I adore the chance to share this time with you each week. Your continued readership and insightful discussions over the years has blown me away and I dread the day Lost is gone from all our lives. Only seventeen eps to go, you know.
Namaste,
The Heroic Lost Ninja