'Lost': 'Orientation: Ryan Station' talks 'Happily Ever After' with special guest James Poniewozik

great job everyone! loved hearing your thoughts! really enjoyed it! can't wait for next week's LOST!

Y'know, I sound like a broken record when I re-iterate that the sideways/epilogue time-line does not end up being a slap-happy ending where no one pays a price. All these characters will have sacrificed in one way or another in one time or another.

The conflict over these theories arises from your perspective of the series. If you are viewing LOST linearly, with parallel time-lines and characters with the ability to be influenced from one line to another, then you reject the concept of epilogue. This line of thinking will have to result in one of the characters proclaiming, "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" and quite ridiculously, jumping on a plane and, essentially, flying over to the other time-line in Langoliers fashion.

If you are viewing the series in a non-linear fashion. Or in a circle-back way, with certain characters having the ability to see their "history" from the future if certain courses of action are taken, then the epilogue theory is a natural progression of the show. Desmond (and perhaps Eloise) are Slaughterhouse 5-type characters that can pick the record needle up and place it earlier in the story. The only difference is that they can influence the events and have consciousness in more than one reality. You want the power of love influencing the story? It's right here. Charlie gets a glimpse of that love though doesn't realize the love of his life has just delivered a babay in the hospital he's in. Desmond, Daniel, and others (including Widmore)have a happy ending in their new futures, though they and we, don't know it yet.

Understand something, the Charles Widmore on the island does not want the life he has, he (maybe at the urging of a certain grey hottie) wants the "epilogue" time-line. He even goes so far, in this episode, to tell you what he's lost; his son, his relationship with his daughter and grandson, and finally (though he won't admit it) his relationship with Desmond. He doesn't want the Charles Widmore you've come to know and hate.

Anyhoo, I'm rambling and have to get back to work.

Great job on the podcast. I really enjoy it as a commentary to the hulu feed.

Or, the confusion comes from whether or not you take Charlie and Daniel's word that the sideways world isn't real. Given that it's "Lost", you have every right to be skeptical when people say one thing that mean another.

But to think that these two men lied, or are incorrect in their assessment, seems like a bad assumption. Why would Darlton do that this late in the game, sending Des on a wild goose chase so in the end we learn, "Oops, we were wrong, we're supposed to stay here after all!" Just seems like a horrible misstep. Mistrust Ben's words? Sure. Mistrust Widmore's? Heck yea. Mistrust Charlie's vision of conscious-altering love, and his assertion that that life is the real one? No way.

And it's not as simple as "All he has to do is find Claire." They were on the same plane together, and missed each other. He has no leads on how to find her, just an aching sense of loss due to her absence. If he did ever find him, she wouldn't recognize him! And even if she eventually got a flash like Des, it's a memory of what they were, not what they could be. Those visions of another life show a singular way in which a series of events, connections, and interactions produced a unique set of circumstances. Otherwise, why wouldn't Faraday just talk to Charlotte, as opposed to spy on her from afar? The sideways world isn't as simple as recreating what's been loss: what's gone is gone, in the form we know it.

It's something Eloise knows, but can live with it, due to her understandably selfish desire to have her son still be alive. But it's not her son. It's a fantastic facsimile, but it's not the from the Island timeline. And never will be. You could argue that's OK, but I wouldn't.

In short: "Happily Ever After" is Darlton telling us, directly, that while both timelines are real, only one really matters. And it's not the sideways timeline.

ryan, seriously. you altered my whole view of the season 6 yesterday w this revelation.

Your ideas are well thought out Ryan but I still don't know how you destroy a timeline or reject another reality. This was my problem all along with this - to find out that it "didn't matter" would validate the "why did we waste half the season on something that doesn't matter" theory. Love only exists in one timeline? Why is one timeline better then the other? As I mentioned yesterday - look at the death and devistation caused by one island. How does that get resolved? Goodbye MIB - in both realities. Which brings me to the question of the day - IF THE ISLAND IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN IN THE SIDEWAYS TIMELINE THEN IS THE MIB DOWN THERE TOO DID HE GET OFF THE ISLAND? If he's off the island in this timeline then you could be right. I just hope that when this is all over I can find this story diversion worthwhile.

there should be an "or" in the caps sentance. oops.

But is Eloise selfish about having her son in the alternate timeline just because she is aware that both timelines exist(ed)?

Did she really help cause what happened to create the alternate timeline? It seems to me it would have been easier if she had just allowed Daniel to play the piano instead of study physics in the original timeline, especially knowing full well that he'd grow up and she'd kill him on that island.

And why'd she tell Desmond it wasn't his time yet in the alternate timeline? She knows he is supposed to do something in this alternate world.

I'm still so confused! LOL. I don't think I'll ever understand this show, but I still love it.

Ryan, remember when you wrote that my comment was completely an utterly false? Well, just think about how you were saying it with love when I say that what you said in the podcast is completely and utterly half-false.

Sonya Walger may not be put to good use in FlashForward BUT Dominic Monaghan is being put to very, very good use! You may not like the show (I get that it's not on the same level as Lost), but Dominic is doing very well. He was sort of a "centric character" in an episode a couple weeks ago and that was the best episode of FlashForward to date! I can't believe they didn't take advantage of his skills in Lost. Charlie was so pathetic the first couple of seasons and then when his character really started getting interesting, he died! My favorite scene in Lost is his death scene (and that episode is one of my top 5), but I can't say that they really used him well before that. Lost is awesome, but with an ensemble cast, it's hard to let every star shine.

LOVE THE PODCAST OTHER THAN THAT! :) In fact, I check iTunes every second waiting for the newest podcast to download every week!

good times...good times. i love your idea about Eloise and your theory that Des is the key to it resolving the sideways timeline and the "real" one. i don't think anyone is due for a happy ending (and typing that makes me giggle). i think more of what they're shooting for is a state of contentment.

My biggest concern with this sideways timeline is that there isn't enough time being invested into what is actually happening.

Let me explain.

We saw the first few episodes of the season thinking that the flash-sideways were an alternate world is set apart from the "main" world in one way: whether the plan crashed or not. That all changed as we began to see larger plot variations that stemmed back much further than the plane crashing. And so we saw episode after episode of characters such as Sawyer, Jack, and Ben in a completely new world while facing many of the same struggles and conflicts they faced in primary timeline.

Now, here we are finished with hour 11 out of an 18 hour program and we are just now starting to see a real conflict emerge. And the worst thing is: I REALLY like this new conflict. I've always been intrigued by the idea that we have all lived previous lives and the possible ramifications if we were one day made aware of those lives. Great concept. And yet, now we've only got 7 eps left to develop it. What did the rest of the previous episodes have? Sure, some of the flash-sideways were filled with great character moments, but as a timeline, it was wholly without a conflict.

I really feel like there has been a gross miscalculation made in the pacing of this season and that by waiting 11 hours to get the real conflict STARTED(not that the full conflict hasn't even been established yet), many viewers, myself included, have been unable to fully care about that 'verse.

Does it mean I'm unhappy with the season? Not necessarily. There've been some great moments, but I don't have the same connection that I've had with previous seasons because it's hard to get attached to something that is so far removed comprehendable.

Imagine watching a season of Survivor, except this time: we don't know who is working against whom, we don't know what the actual tasks are that they need to complete, and we don't know what prize they are actually competing for.

I commend the writers for all of their attempts at unconventional storytelling, but there comes a point where basic pacing and conflict are needed to keep the audience engaged.

Obviously I can only speak for myself, so I have no pain in saying: Interesting Desmond episode, but it might be too little too late. It almost feels like the showrunners have been so consumed by the need to place their cards close to their chest that they're forgetting to give us even the most basic information we need to care about the plot.

Seriously: 11 hours in, and we are barely starting to know what is going on in the sideways timeline. Inexcusable.