'Lost': Talkin' 'bout my generation, Part 1
With Season 6 of "Lost" being the final one of the show's history, there's lots of concern over how the writers can possibly wrap up a saga this dense in only eighteen hours of television. But in the background of that concern lies a much more varied set of ideas about what it means to truly "wrap up" this story. By the series end, many of the show's unknowns will be dragged into the light. But clearly, not every lingering question will get answered. And several are better off staying as mysteries. But ask fifty people to break down the show's conundrums under those three categories and you'll get fifty wildly different responses.
While we can differ on the merits of certain mysteries, such a discussion is missing the forest for the banyan trees. It's not a total waste of time to argue if "Lost" is a good show based on whether or not they ever explain The Others' origins, but that's more a question of what as viewers want to see versus the type of story that that writers wish to tell. Looking at the former instead of the latter not only helps eliminate the need to worry about unnecessary enigmas, but also allow one to more easily accept the ride upon which the writers have placed us.
"Accepting the ride" is also an apt phrase for something I've been thinking a lot about lately when my mind drifts to "Lost." You could argue, as I myself have, that bringing Jughead to The Swan was one helluva boneheaded move on Jack Shephard's part. But the motivation behind it is less hard to swallow. For five seasons, our nominal hero has swum against the tide. Salmon Jack took all evidence into account and generally ran away from what "felt right" and headed straight for "what should be done." It's not that his decision-making process lacked merit; it just had no place in the particular and peculiar set of circumstances that have surrounded him since Oceanic 815 crashed on the Island.
In other words, work is a necessary component of life, but the cliché of "work smarter, not harder" still applies on an Island powered not by Duracell but by donkey wheel. Sweat for sweat's sake doesn't cut it there anymore than here, even if said sweat found glistening from Sawyer's chest due to chopping wood might make-a da ladies go all swoony. There are two lines in "The Incident" that I believe foreshadow the type of work that not only has to get done by the characters in Season 6, but should have been done from the get-go. And I'm not talking from September 2004. I'm talking from the time four-toed statues were being erected on the Island.
Here are the two lines we should be focusing on when it comes to the work to be done:
Jacob: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
Rose: We traveled back 30 years in time, and you're still trying to find ways to shoot each other?
Progression. Regression. Two steps forward, three steps back. Learning lessons then misapplying them, or perhaps forgetting them entirely. These are not just the hallmarks of most characters on the show, but hallmarks of humanity itself. Next time, we'll look more closely at a few examples of how people have worked themselves to death (sometimes literally) in order to take the path of most, not least, resistance. Why are they so afraid of the path laid before them? And who will finally take the necessary steps in order to provide the singular ending Jacob envisions? Answering those questions will hopefully make many of the unimportant ones fall by the wayside.
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so are you saying our Man of Science, Jack, has been operating as a covert Man of Faith? does this also explain our Man of Faith's, Locke's, loss of faith and reliance on "science" in the form of the hatch?
i can dig the dichotomy...
Very interesting... butI feel I need to see the second half of this essay ("next time") before fulling understanding what you're saying (and commenting on it).
"It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress." That's an easy attitude to take if you're an immortal like Jacob with centuries (or longer) to
work with, and no regard for the individuals involved. "The arrogance of the gods", if you will...
Now I'm normally not one to defend Jack, but his attitude is understandable, given the circumstances he finds himself in. He thinks "If we don't (find food & water/deal with the Others / contact the freighter / get off the Island) as soon as we can, we could all be dead in a fairly short period of time." That doesn't lend itself well to a big picture / long-term mindset; this has been a major problem with humanity since Richard Alpert was a boy.
I still feel that Jack's struggle to overcome this tendency, and embrace the bigger picture, will be one of the key arcs of the final season (along with kicking some whiskey-sodden Daddy butt!). I can't believe we're not even halfway through the hiatus yet - keep this stuff coming, Ryan!
i don't know. since i am not a jack fan i'm never inclined to think highly of him. so i'd like to admit that bias up front.
i thought his ex wife got it right when she told him he always needs to be the hero and find something he has to save or do.
that's all jack has done since he got to the island. has he accomplished good things with his hero complex? of course he has.
but what is his root intention? is it out of sincere goodness in his heart for wanting the best things for everyone?
the fact that he admitted to sawyer that he wants to detonate jughead so he and kate can be together again just tells me that his motivations are not out of the goodness of his heart at all.
now if he said "this island has screwed up everyone's life and i want to do this so we can all have a normal life" ok. i would say, that's thinking about everyone.
but no. he did it so he might get to have kate back. seriously? do you think that if jack met kate as a fellon in the normal world he'd be remotely interested in her? well maybe after his stint with bai ling he would.
but i'm with what rose said.
jack does not know how to be content and happy with what he has. he's always looking for something to be upset about constantly. it's like he can't live unless there is some turmoil going on. the second there is a hint of turmoil he jumps into it. he can't let anything slide and he can't let anything go or trust anyone.
I'm not a Jack fan either. But he's the freakin' hero of this show, nominally. Someone like Ben might come in and play a Gollum-esque role by the end, but The Man of Science/Man of Faith dichotomy is no longer about Jack and Locke meeting halfway: it's about Jack incorporating Locke's ethos into his own.
Is it a perfect fusing? No. Absolutely not. But the Jack that lands on 1977 Island is a different Jack. He's not a complete person by any means, and I hate the "I'm doing it for Kate" as much as you do. But underneath it all is a "go with the flow" attitude that was missing from his first stint on the Island.
Hopefully, Part 2 will clarify my stance on Jack. Essentially, I will compare his actions to two other major players that have fought against the tide of "fate," and how poorly that worked out for them.
*if* LOST is drawing inspiration from Babylon 5 as they've sometimes claimed, i am totally rooting that the characters are pawns in a game played by arrogant gods AND that humans, being human, have a way of kcufing up that game.
if i have to pick between final understanding of the others or the gods, i choose the others.
Yes seeing a calm laid back Jack in '77 was frankly refreshing and a good contrast to the leader Le Fleur. Hopefully he will find his equalibrium in 6.
On a side note, Rose also asked Juliet to stay and have some tea. Juliet's response of "another time" makes me think we will see a scene where Rose is at the hospital for radiation where she meets Juliet in the cafeteria and they have tea together. This would mirror the Des-Libby luncheon.