Lost: Season 5 (2 Viewers)

[EricW]

totally agree; i think there's just as much non-communication now, and we're just used to it. remember when Sun approached Widmore in London and he asked 'why would you want to help me?'; she just did a soap opera turn-around and walked away. riiiiight....

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The best thing about this week's show was the revelation about
the compass.

I hate to give so much credit to the structure of this show (as
I always thought they made up shit as they went along), but the
entire scene with Richard visiting the young Locke and putting the
compass on the table now makes complete sense.

If this show continues to work on the same kind of structure that
was not only put into place seasons ago, but refers to episodes seasons
ago, this is going to be a fun revelation process.

 

[Simon Young]

Ron, the compass was only introduced about 5 episodes ago so it's not exactly proof of a grand design! I think the writers were "making up shit as they went along" right up to season 3 and the infamous Jack tattoo flashback, which was responsible for convincing the studio to grant the writers an end date. Up until that point, the show was treading water. Cuse and Lindelof may well have had ideas up their sleeve (such as Richard visiting Locke as a boy) for a while, but until they could see the finish line, they were clearly struggling to map out the story as they would have liked. Ironically due to the Writers Strike they ended up with less episodes than they were promised for season 4, which meant that certain plots were cut. Talk about going from one extreme to the other!

Anyway, I'm just glad they're finally able to lay some cards out on the table. If it hadn't been for Stranger in a Strange Land... we'd probably never have got Jughead.

 

[pitchman]

Not only that, but in the same episode (Cabin Fever) there is a shot of Richard standing by a hospital window looking in at baby Locke, so he was there for Locke's birth.

 

[WillG]

I think the fans actually write the show.

 

[TonyD]

another thing, the bomb now shows that maybe there really was a
quarantine issue.
the hatch had the "quarantined" stamp on it.

 

[TonyD]

Locke did ask how old is he and this was before they actually went down there and saw that he looked like he was still the same age.
He could have been very young, a child the same as Widmore.

 

[Steve Y]

Simon's right; in some cases, Cuse and Lindelof (and the writers) didn't have many of the plot machinations mapped out until several episodes before they occurred. Many of the characters were introduced for one purpose and then stayed on (/went away) for another (Michael, Ben, Eko, Ana Lucia). This is not true across the board of course, and it's my understanding that the larger plot structure, and certainly the thematic arc of the entire series, was constructed fairly early. But that they've managed to make (semi)-coherent sense of their early mysteries, which were created more to mystify than to be solved, is pretty astonishing.

Good improvisation, creative retcon, call it what you will...

The end-date has apparently galvanized the writing staff (like when a marathon runner sees the finish line)... which explains the breakneck plotting of last season, and certainly the start of the fifth.

It's fun watching the first two seasons again, knowing everything we know now. I always thought the show worked well as a slow-burning character study (loved Seasons 2 and 3), and never felt bored, but for many viewers the glacial revelations (and lack of character inquisitiveness) was just too maddening and distracting.

 

[Jon_Are]

Totally disagree.

I've noticed a lot more direct questioning, beginning toward the end of last season. Remember Locke, Ben and Hurley looking for Jacob's cabin, then later marching toward the Orchid? Locke was peppering Ben with questions and Ben was, more or less, answering them.

This was so distinct, it appeared intentional on the writers' part, likely due to past criticisms.

And it made/makes a great show even greater.

Jon

 

[Bob_Chase]

I really like your precog angle Will.

I DO think that Locke may have had some inkling about the compass as a child. IIRC when he was to choose which item already belonged to him, didn't he pull aside the compass and vial of sand(?) first? Not only that but Richard did see the "Smokey" drawing so I would think it's fairly obvious that Locke is who he said he is. However when he did ultimately choose the knife and Richard is visibly upset I interpreted it as Richard is disappointed in his choice because of what the knife represents: Another leader who follows the "way of the sword" as opposed to peace.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Boy, do I feel silly now. I suppose the fact that it was last season and
so much time has gone by that I thought it was longer.

Okay, just forget everything I had said about grand design.

 

[NeilO]

One of the weird paradox things about time travel - was Locke picked to be the leader of the Others because he told Richard that he was their leader 50 years ahead of time?

Also, were Faraday, Miles, and Charlotte picked by Widmore to come to the island because they encountered the Others in 1954?

I think the island traveled forward to that point in time and space where the Oceanic 6 can encounter it again.

Widmore was a lot more civil with Desmond than I expected. I would not be very surprised if Mrs. Hawking is not Faraday's mother.

 

[Jason_V]

Here's something I find a bit trippy, if Hawking is Daniel's mother.

Daniel was sent to the island by Widmore, more or less. He needs to get information to his mother, who is (theoretically) seen talking to Ben about his 70 hours. Which implies Ben and Hawking are on the same side. If we carry that all the way back, it means Ben and Widmore are working together, they just don't know it.

 

[Louis C]

A few observations and questions:

On the surface, it appears Faraday tells Charlotte he loves her because he knows she is going to die from the sickness, but I think there is more to it. If the island is "skipping like a record" maybe Faraday was just trying to provide Charlotte himself as her "constant"?

If Sayid told Hurley to do the opposite of whatever Ben tells him, do we know that it was before he started helping Ben kill off Widmore's people?

It may have been on another board, but someone posited that the four toed statue was actually Sawyer (noting that the arrow/shard he stepped on was the cause). It may be a stretch, but if Saywer ends up in the distant past and "saves the day" for the ancient islanders...

Also from another poster...Do we in fact know that Locke really died? Maybe there is another reason we are introduced to the island's spiders in the episode "Expose"? When Ben told Locke "You're going to have to die" it's not clear he was being literal.

I'm not getting why Widmore did not press Desmond further on where Penny was, given Ben's threat. Maybe he already knows what will happen to her?


They sort of already do. The scene where Ben threatens to kill Widmore's daughter (Penny) there was mutual recognition to the fact that they cannot kill each other. I assume they know their destinies are intertwined.

 

[Joe_H]

To me, it seemed pretty clear that this was taking place after Sayid's assassinations as shown in 'The Economist.' I think the distrust on Sayid's part in these episodes now was because he realized he was being manipulated to kill people then.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I've checked out of that aspect. It may be quite rewarding after all the reveals, but not to me as I won't invest the time and energy it takes to keep it all straight. I'm just going to have to find a way to enjoy the show on a less intense level. Time travel stories typically fall apart under scrutiny, but scrutiny is exactly what this demands in order to keep up. The last time travel story I enjoyed was The Time Machine (both versions), mostly because they avoided paradoxes.

 

[Josh Dial]

One of the things I've always strongly disagreed with, is the complaint that characters should be asking more questions. I always felt the show worked much better with the *viewers* asking those questions (and posing possible answers), and that to have endless dialogue about the "mysteries" would only confuse those views who already are confused by the simplest of LOST story-threads.

Here's a recent interview with Cuse and Lindelof, where they basically justify why "people [don't] stand around and explain stuff and you give a lot of answers at once."

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/i...ndelof_qa.html

No real spoilers in there that I found, unless you don't pay attention to the show

 

[TravisR]

I guess it would be realistic for them to ask question but why waste the screen time when they'd get no answers? Rousseau had no clue what's happening on the island, Ben would lie or not answer and Juliet has been with The Others for 3 years so I'm don't think she is privy to any big island mysteries.

 

[NeilO]

That would be hilarious.

 

[EricW]

there's alot of talk of Locke making himself the Leader (self fulfilling prophecy etc). and while it's debatable that Locke 'put himself on the map', remember that getting an introduction to the Others is one thing and getting to be a Leader is something else. Locke is the Leader because the Island chose him to be the leader (the walkabout, the walking).