'Six in Six': Six questions you should be asking heading into the final season of 'Lost'
Look, we all have questions about the final season of "Lost" That's the fun and frustration at this time of the year. In a few months, we really won't have many questions left to ask, so let's just enjoy the process for now, shall we?
Rather than look at things microscopically, this edition of "Six in Six" is going to ask six broadly framed questions that will hopefully encompass nearly everything we should really be thinking about going into Season 6. With a canvas as wide as that upon which "Lost" currently sits, that's a tall task indeed. But I've done my best to create a crib sheet that I hope gets you in the properly inquisitive state of mind heading into the last leg of the show.
Did Juliet change history by detonating Jughead?
I mean, that's the big one, right? Can't start anywhere else but here. It's the question the producers WANT us to ask, forcing us to tease out all possible ways in which this might play out until we suffer nosebleeds from all the confusion. My instinct says we'll see glimpses of "what could have been" as opposed to "what happened instead," but it's safe to say that we'll spend the first few weeks of the season fighting over this very point.
In what form will we be seeing characters that have supposedly died?
Or put another way: "Prove to me you haven't jumped a Dharma-tattooed shark, Darlton." Bringing back a gaggle of dead characters is inherently high-risk, high-reward for the show. I'm not trying to be a Scrooge about this, but pushing this past simple stunt casting is vital if "Lost" is to land its feet by season's end. It's all about how the returning characters impact the type of story the writers want to tell. Will they serve as players in alternative timeline? As ghostly Jiminy Crickets helping those in need? Simply rehashing moments of old as a way to confuse/confound the audience isn't enough. These old characters need new stakes and purpose to make their return worthwhile.
Have we seen/heard people from other timelines already?
Here's something to think about. In attempting to detonate Jughead, Jack and Co. are trying to establish a timeline that never was, placing them in a slightly different reality. Well, what if we've already seen some version of this without knowing it? Think about people that seemed to have a sense of the shape of things to come: Eloise. Abaddon, Libby to an extent. How did they know what they knew? Predestination? Or due to it being their second time around the block? Are "The Rules" bound up in this dynamic? And let's not forget The Whispers, which could be gossiping, unseen Others or echoes from another time/place just off to the side of the one we can see. Just when you thought "Lost" couldn't get more confusing, I know. You're welcome.
Why are producers so insistent that we brush up on Season 1?
When asked at the Television Critics Association press tour if new fans could come into the show this year, the producers suggested that knowing Season 1 was enough. And then gave the ol' "wink wink" to those in the crowd. Do we merely need to brush up on all the players and storylines from that season, as evidenced by nearly every old cast member seemingly back in Hawaii filming scenes of unknown content? Or do we need to know Season 1 so well due to the way in which the time reboot will show people zigging where they once zagged, leading to familiar-yet-different Island that we saw in 2007 after Ajira 316 crashed?
Why can't Aaron be raised by another?
In vowing to reunite Claire with Aaron, Kate Austen not only took a huge step toward heroism, but also took a huge step in solving one of the show's longest lasting mysteries: Why MUST Claire raise Aaron? Answering that question will fill in a much larger puzzle concerning not only The Others, the Island fertility issues, and the ultimate fate of the War of the Island. Other than that? It won't answer much.
Are The Others actually the good guys?
Think about The Others. Then think about how LITTLE we know about them, even to this day. In "Through the Looking Glass," Bonnie tells Greta, "I trust Jacob. And the minute I start questioning orders, this whole thing, everything that we're doing here falls apart." Time to start questioning, Others. And for us, the viewing audience, it's about time we started getting answers about their ultimate place in the grand scheme.
OK, those are my six questions. What are some of yours?
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Photo credit: ABC
I think you are right on target, Ryan. Those issues cover most of my bases.
I can't imagine how they'll wrapup the questions raised over the years. My guess they'll simply ignore them since it won't bother the hardcore Losties. Me, I wonder if I should waste my time.
One of the biggest questions IMO is this: What are Fake lockes plans in general?
We know he wanted to get rid of Jacob but why, what are his plans for the rest of the Ajira passengers. what are his plans for the rest of the losties when they eventually come face to face.. etc.
How about who is Jacob? How about some backstory on both him and Richard Alpert? I'd also like to understand a bit better the statue and understanding of the ancient relations to the island.
Who do Jacob and the MIB answer to? As Ben says, "Because everybody answers to somebody John"
and
Who's coming?
Can't wait.
I'm up late tonight. So let the guessing begin . . . .
On your fifth question, for me the weakest part of season five was Kate's decision to "go back" in order to reunite Aaron with his mother. Previously, she'd done everything she could to be the perfect parent for the kid. I don't trust Kate's motives here, although I'm certainly in the minority. Either way, I hope we see some resolution to the issue.
I'm actually suspicious that Jacob is the "good guy" in all of this. I like his apparent idealism, and I hope I'm wrong. My cynicism is at play here, I guess. But -- as to your sixth question -- if Jacob isn't the "good guy," then maybe the Others aren't the "bad guys."
None of the last paragraph invalidates a redemption motif for Jack and our other "losties." In fact, it may reinforce it!
Ryan, do you really believe that "In a few months, we really won't have many questions left to ask"? I think we will still have a ton of questions, just with no more definitive answers coming (not that that's necessarily a bad thing!).
As far as I'm concerned, the big question is "Why these people, why this time?" What is so special about Jack and Hurley that they were called to the Island as opposed to, say, Tricia Tanaka or Leonard from Santa Rosa?
Related question - What IS the endgame? Is Jacob trying with these people to break the cycle once and for all and move humanity to the "next level", or is he simply trying to prevent MiB from using his loophole to declare the experiment a failure and shut it down once and for all?
Regardless of the answers, I think we can all agree that it's been one he11 of a ride - for that, we owe Darlton a big one!
@Andrei: I do. I think we'll have a handful of questions, but that's it. But that does NOT mean that the show won't sustain lengthy ANALYSIS after the show ends. To me, that' a totally different issue and academic endeavor.
The "Light vs. Dark" series is a prototype of that kind of analysis: looking back at the show through the lens of lessons learned later in the show. That's where I think "Lost" conversations will center after the show ends, not in trying to answer unanswerable questions. Sure, the latter might be fun, but it's not as useful a pursuit in my eyes.
so.... what's more important finishing out the characters' stories of the mythology of the world of lost?
i only ask because i'm wondering what my answer is. i suppose the characters stories go hand in hand with the mythology. but i just don't feel like we'll ever get all of the answers of why. but we will find out what happened to the characters.
Ryan, Great questions (as always). Regarding #2 "Have we seen/heard people from other timelines already?" I definitely believe we have seen scenes from alternate time lines. My favorite is when Miles goes up the stairs in his opening scenes and all the picture frames are wooden (along with a photo of Eko) and when he comes down the stairs they focus a shot back on the picture frames and they are now all metal. Brilliant.
One final thing I have not seen mentioned is even though the bomb probably does detonate, "course correction" will still have our folks end up on that island.