Throughout my mini-rewatch, I found that looking at all of the episodes together as a whole helped for me to see the bigger picture of the story they were trying to tell. As I've sat now for days on end trying to figure out what message this block is trying to send, I am reminded of the scale in the cave that had one black rock on one side and one white rock on the other. Not only were the rocks balanced in the science of their weight, but also in the meaning of their symbolism. While the black rock would be significant to darkness, emptiness, and evil, the white rock would be significant to brightness, fulfillment, and innocence. This scale, in one brief scene throughout six episodes, says it all to me. Balance.
In Dr. Linus, we immediately become captivated in the story when we hear Ben, a Modern European History teacher in our other timeline, teaching his class about Elba and Napoleon's exile there. He tells the class that, to Napoleon, it wasn't the banishment from his home that effected him the most, but the loss of his power instead. It made him feel "meaningless". It's difficult not to take information like this and apply it to something it might parallel in Lost's story line, so I decided not to fight the urge to figure this out and take a look at whose story this fact might be trying to tell. I have come to the conclusion that we might find out that this is a similar situation to that of MIB and how he came to be on the island. And although it isn't much to go on, if we consider that MIB's stay on the island is as a punishment, then we could assume that maybe Jacob is there as a reward. Jacob does choose people to be "candidates" and we've been led to believe that, in itself, is a gift.
Another edge-of-the-seat scene in this episode that turned out to be a real eye-opener was the one in which Richard and Jack are sitting inside of the Black Rock with a lit stick of dynamite between them. Richard explains to Jack that he hasn't been "back" since arriving on the island--leading us to believe that Richard came to the island on the Black Rock--and that Jacob's touch prevents him from committing suicide. He tells Jack that in order for him to die, someone else needs to light the fuse on the dynamite, something which Jack does without hesitation as he sits down opposite Richard for a little "talk". Jack, who has recently found himself by reflecting in the ocean view of the island, stands his ground with the dynamite and has confidence that his purpose on the island has yet to be served and knows from the dial in the lighthouse that showed his childhood home in the mirrors that he, too, has been given this gift from Jacob. This scene is an example of balance where Richard, the one who has lost his faith in Jacob and the island, and Jack, one who has found complete faith in the two, sit opposite one another. The "scale" is tipped when Richard releases his doubt and places his faith in Jack's hands believing that he can resolve the issues at hand. But just as I sit and watch Jack restore Richard's faith, I am reminded of the recent events that led to Sayid telling Jack that he trusted in him to guide him through making the decision of taking that pill--the one Dogen made. It suddenly occurred to me that Dogen wasn't trying to kill Sayid with that pill. Dogen was giving Sayid another test.
Richard said that he wasn't able to kill himself because of the touch, or gift, that Jacob gave him. Sayid was also given this touch by Jacob and, therefore, should not have been able to take the pill, if Jack would have given it to him. Jack was instructed to get Sayid to take it of his own free will and Dogen told him that it was poison, so I'm positive now that the purpose of the pill was to see if Sayid was really Candidate Sayid or if he was something else--like Christian Shepard. When going back to rewatch that episode, it seemed perfectly clear that this was exactly what Dogen's intentions were--especially when we get to the part of the story where he asks Jack if Sayid took the pill. Jack said that Sayid swallowed it right down and nothing happened. I think Dogen saw right through Jack at this point because either something would have happened to make it impossible for Sayid to take the pill or the darkness inside of Sayid would have made him completely aware of the fact that the pill was poison. But not only that, after witnessing the "dropping baseball" scene, I truly think that Dogen was, in fact, testing Sayid and not out to kill him. When Dogen withdrew himself from the duel with Sayid, it was to keep his own inner scale balanced and not tip it in the wrong direction by having murder in his heart.
Once I started to open my eyes to the possibility of Sayid not being able to commit suicide, I started to see that our other candidates have also had failed attempts. John Locke tried to kill himself when Ben entered the room and stopped him. Ben actually ended up killing John in the end, but it wasn't a suicide like it was made to appear. Jack was standing on the top of a ledge on a bridge when Mrs. Arlen crashed her car because of witnessing his suicide attempt. We watched as Michael repeatedly tried, despite Tom's warnings that it wouldn't work, and we saw Kate braving through the hailstorm of bullets that eventually killed Tom Brennan, but left her unscathed. The one piece of the puzzle that I'd like to add to this list is Hurley, with his fearless treks through the jungle and remembering his time in the mental hospital, but Hurley stands separate from the rest of the candidates. Hurley thwarted his own suicide attempts without the help of Jacob, as far as we know. Jacob didn't come to see Hurley until he was released from jail--right before boarding Ajira Flight 316. Maybe this is the reason why Hurley seems to have gained a special place at Jacob's side.
The biggest part of this ultimate balance, to me, seems to be with the other timeline. As we've watched Kate, Jack, Ben, and John all look into a mirror in this second reality, it would seem as if they're peering through the looking glass hoping to find something about themselves on the other side. In some religious beliefs, mirrors are a means for spirits to interact and cross over into the world of the living. (Just reading that information made me think of John--who was actually MIB--saying that line to Ben when he woke up in the Hydra station, "Welcome back to the land of the living".) Because of this belief, mirrors are covered during times of praying and times of mourning. But for the purposes of this show and the story it's trying to tell, I can't help wondering if the "mirror" we're supposed to see is really the balance that this other reality is bringing to the timeline. Everyone we've come across in the second timeline has a key personality trait that is mirrored, making their lives a little different than what we knew them to be in the first timeline. And although their lives so far have seemed somewhat different, I believe that their destinies will not be changed. Just as Ms. Hawking was describing to Desmond in Flashes Before Your Eyes, an episode that I think became our first glimpse into this other reality, a person's destiny cannot be changed--even when that means that it is their time to die. But what about "balance" would explain the island sinking in this other reality?
I think it's safe to say that most viewers believe that the Jughead is the reason the island is at the bottom of the ocean, or that the Jughead and the Incident together caused it, but for me, I'm not convinced. I'm not even convinced that it was the Jughead or incident that caused another timeline to be formed. I believe that having that metaphorical and symbolic scale at a balance, meaning that BOTH MIB and Jacob were alive and serving their separate purposes in the grander scheme of life, ONE timeline was formed. The mirror image to a balanced scale, isn't necessarily having a tipped scale. The mirror to a balanced scale would have to be not having a scale at all. We've been led to believe, given the view of the scale in the cave, that our original timeline is that of a balanced scale, but what if we've been watching a world with a tipped scale and our other timeline is the mirror of it being tipped in the other direction? Regardless of presence or absence of balance, the island at the bottom of the ocean seems to me to be very like that of the side of the scale that sits below the other--all the way down to the base of the scale. If this is, indeed, the way we're supposed to look at the sunken island, where is the side that has been hoisted up higher than the line of balance? Is it with the Oceanic plane that flies overhead or is it something that would have happened years before the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles would have been scheduled? No matter how the island came to be on the bottom of the ocean floor, it's apparent that it was caused sometime after life had been established there by the Dharma Initiative.
Scales and balance set aside, there is one other occurence that has happened on the island that has shown us a clear view of the island disappearing under the surface of the ocean. It happened when Ben turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel and landed in Tunisia. As Frank flew the helicopter toward the island, viewers had a clear picture of the island vanishing, leaving ripples instead of land. As a result of Ben turning the wheel, our on-island survivors began time-tripping on the island, but what happened to the island from that point and forward? Are we to believe that Richard and the Others at the Temple did not experience the island sinking as we saw it happen? And what about the other times that the wheel has been turned? We did hear Ben (and yes, I know he lies) say that others had turned it before him. Is the end result of the island being under water something due to the wheel being turned?
As I continue watching the next handful of episodes, there are a few things I'm going to continue to look for. The first of those things would be anything referring to hands. Whether it's the actual word "hand" or watching two people shake hands, I think there is something going on that we will see as significant, even if it's only in the mythology of the story. The second thing I'll be watching for is the mirroring of the two timelines. I know it's already being noted by many, but I believe that something in this other timeline will give us the answer we are looking for with the absence of the island. The last thing I'll be watching for is balance. Each episode has shown something about balance and I'm confident that the episodes to follow will continue to do so. For me, it's no longer only about dark and light, good and evil, or fate and free will. This show is also about being Lost or found.
In Dr. Linus, we immediately become captivated in the story when we hear Ben, a Modern European History teacher in our other timeline, teaching his class about Elba and Napoleon's exile there. He tells the class that, to Napoleon, it wasn't the banishment from his home that effected him the most, but the loss of his power instead. It made him feel "meaningless". It's difficult not to take information like this and apply it to something it might parallel in Lost's story line, so I decided not to fight the urge to figure this out and take a look at whose story this fact might be trying to tell. I have come to the conclusion that we might find out that this is a similar situation to that of MIB and how he came to be on the island. And although it isn't much to go on, if we consider that MIB's stay on the island is as a punishment, then we could assume that maybe Jacob is there as a reward. Jacob does choose people to be "candidates" and we've been led to believe that, in itself, is a gift.
Another edge-of-the-seat scene in this episode that turned out to be a real eye-opener was the one in which Richard and Jack are sitting inside of the Black Rock with a lit stick of dynamite between them. Richard explains to Jack that he hasn't been "back" since arriving on the island--leading us to believe that Richard came to the island on the Black Rock--and that Jacob's touch prevents him from committing suicide. He tells Jack that in order for him to die, someone else needs to light the fuse on the dynamite, something which Jack does without hesitation as he sits down opposite Richard for a little "talk". Jack, who has recently found himself by reflecting in the ocean view of the island, stands his ground with the dynamite and has confidence that his purpose on the island has yet to be served and knows from the dial in the lighthouse that showed his childhood home in the mirrors that he, too, has been given this gift from Jacob. This scene is an example of balance where Richard, the one who has lost his faith in Jacob and the island, and Jack, one who has found complete faith in the two, sit opposite one another. The "scale" is tipped when Richard releases his doubt and places his faith in Jack's hands believing that he can resolve the issues at hand. But just as I sit and watch Jack restore Richard's faith, I am reminded of the recent events that led to Sayid telling Jack that he trusted in him to guide him through making the decision of taking that pill--the one Dogen made. It suddenly occurred to me that Dogen wasn't trying to kill Sayid with that pill. Dogen was giving Sayid another test.
Richard said that he wasn't able to kill himself because of the touch, or gift, that Jacob gave him. Sayid was also given this touch by Jacob and, therefore, should not have been able to take the pill, if Jack would have given it to him. Jack was instructed to get Sayid to take it of his own free will and Dogen told him that it was poison, so I'm positive now that the purpose of the pill was to see if Sayid was really Candidate Sayid or if he was something else--like Christian Shepard. When going back to rewatch that episode, it seemed perfectly clear that this was exactly what Dogen's intentions were--especially when we get to the part of the story where he asks Jack if Sayid took the pill. Jack said that Sayid swallowed it right down and nothing happened. I think Dogen saw right through Jack at this point because either something would have happened to make it impossible for Sayid to take the pill or the darkness inside of Sayid would have made him completely aware of the fact that the pill was poison. But not only that, after witnessing the "dropping baseball" scene, I truly think that Dogen was, in fact, testing Sayid and not out to kill him. When Dogen withdrew himself from the duel with Sayid, it was to keep his own inner scale balanced and not tip it in the wrong direction by having murder in his heart.
Once I started to open my eyes to the possibility of Sayid not being able to commit suicide, I started to see that our other candidates have also had failed attempts. John Locke tried to kill himself when Ben entered the room and stopped him. Ben actually ended up killing John in the end, but it wasn't a suicide like it was made to appear. Jack was standing on the top of a ledge on a bridge when Mrs. Arlen crashed her car because of witnessing his suicide attempt. We watched as Michael repeatedly tried, despite Tom's warnings that it wouldn't work, and we saw Kate braving through the hailstorm of bullets that eventually killed Tom Brennan, but left her unscathed. The one piece of the puzzle that I'd like to add to this list is Hurley, with his fearless treks through the jungle and remembering his time in the mental hospital, but Hurley stands separate from the rest of the candidates. Hurley thwarted his own suicide attempts without the help of Jacob, as far as we know. Jacob didn't come to see Hurley until he was released from jail--right before boarding Ajira Flight 316. Maybe this is the reason why Hurley seems to have gained a special place at Jacob's side.
The biggest part of this ultimate balance, to me, seems to be with the other timeline. As we've watched Kate, Jack, Ben, and John all look into a mirror in this second reality, it would seem as if they're peering through the looking glass hoping to find something about themselves on the other side. In some religious beliefs, mirrors are a means for spirits to interact and cross over into the world of the living. (Just reading that information made me think of John--who was actually MIB--saying that line to Ben when he woke up in the Hydra station, "Welcome back to the land of the living".) Because of this belief, mirrors are covered during times of praying and times of mourning. But for the purposes of this show and the story it's trying to tell, I can't help wondering if the "mirror" we're supposed to see is really the balance that this other reality is bringing to the timeline. Everyone we've come across in the second timeline has a key personality trait that is mirrored, making their lives a little different than what we knew them to be in the first timeline. And although their lives so far have seemed somewhat different, I believe that their destinies will not be changed. Just as Ms. Hawking was describing to Desmond in Flashes Before Your Eyes, an episode that I think became our first glimpse into this other reality, a person's destiny cannot be changed--even when that means that it is their time to die. But what about "balance" would explain the island sinking in this other reality?
I think it's safe to say that most viewers believe that the Jughead is the reason the island is at the bottom of the ocean, or that the Jughead and the Incident together caused it, but for me, I'm not convinced. I'm not even convinced that it was the Jughead or incident that caused another timeline to be formed. I believe that having that metaphorical and symbolic scale at a balance, meaning that BOTH MIB and Jacob were alive and serving their separate purposes in the grander scheme of life, ONE timeline was formed. The mirror image to a balanced scale, isn't necessarily having a tipped scale. The mirror to a balanced scale would have to be not having a scale at all. We've been led to believe, given the view of the scale in the cave, that our original timeline is that of a balanced scale, but what if we've been watching a world with a tipped scale and our other timeline is the mirror of it being tipped in the other direction? Regardless of presence or absence of balance, the island at the bottom of the ocean seems to me to be very like that of the side of the scale that sits below the other--all the way down to the base of the scale. If this is, indeed, the way we're supposed to look at the sunken island, where is the side that has been hoisted up higher than the line of balance? Is it with the Oceanic plane that flies overhead or is it something that would have happened years before the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles would have been scheduled? No matter how the island came to be on the bottom of the ocean floor, it's apparent that it was caused sometime after life had been established there by the Dharma Initiative.
Scales and balance set aside, there is one other occurence that has happened on the island that has shown us a clear view of the island disappearing under the surface of the ocean. It happened when Ben turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel and landed in Tunisia. As Frank flew the helicopter toward the island, viewers had a clear picture of the island vanishing, leaving ripples instead of land. As a result of Ben turning the wheel, our on-island survivors began time-tripping on the island, but what happened to the island from that point and forward? Are we to believe that Richard and the Others at the Temple did not experience the island sinking as we saw it happen? And what about the other times that the wheel has been turned? We did hear Ben (and yes, I know he lies) say that others had turned it before him. Is the end result of the island being under water something due to the wheel being turned?
As I continue watching the next handful of episodes, there are a few things I'm going to continue to look for. The first of those things would be anything referring to hands. Whether it's the actual word "hand" or watching two people shake hands, I think there is something going on that we will see as significant, even if it's only in the mythology of the story. The second thing I'll be watching for is the mirroring of the two timelines. I know it's already being noted by many, but I believe that something in this other timeline will give us the answer we are looking for with the absence of the island. The last thing I'll be watching for is balance. Each episode has shown something about balance and I'm confident that the episodes to follow will continue to do so. For me, it's no longer only about dark and light, good and evil, or fate and free will. This show is also about being Lost or found.
Nancy, this was well thought out, and fun to read. As far as the hands thing goes, I have 3 points: 1).The way Jacob touched Jack while handing him the Apollo bar (the back of his finger brushing Jack's) always reminded me of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" aka the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 2). All the Hindu deities have extra hands, some of them TONS of extra hands. 3). Nestor Carbonell (Richard) had the prior role of Bat Manuel on "The Tick", a close cousin to Manuel Labor.
ReplyDeleteA (more) serious point on the duality of hands, most people having two. On The Other hand . . .
ReplyDelete"One hand washes the Other." (my capitalization)
"What is the sound of one hand clapping?" - Zen Koan
And he shall separate them one from another,
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right,
but the goats on his left.
— Matthew 25: 32-33
Also see Madame Blavatsky, a 19th century occultist who founded Theosophy. She coined the terms "Right-hand Path" and "Left-hand Path"
On a barely related note, In their 1977 album "Animals," Pink Floyd postulated that people were either dogs (the bourgeosie and entrepreneurs), pigs (the aristocracy), or sheep (the proletariat).
I seem to be here amusing myself, but I thought of something else. The extended hand is the link between the individual and his community. This is one of the original "conflict pairs" explored so heavily in season one. Act out against the community, and you find yourself cuffed - in shackles. Of course "lending a hand" where one is needed is a selfless act toward the common good.
ReplyDeleteI'll stop now - hand on a Bible.
You should add yopu 'msic analysis' here or on facebook. I'd love it if you kept an 'ear' to this sort of thing going forward.
ReplyDeleteI can do that. Are you referring to the hand thing or the balance thing? Or both? I kinda like the hand thing better :)
ReplyDeleteI always fast forwarded through this type of crap when I would listen to the black rock podcasts. Which pretty much means I fast forwarded half the time you spoke, Nancy. Lindsy was ultra annoying too all season, but at least she "got" that the story was about these people and their journey and not about how Senet connects to Tawret and what that means for the Onk, or whatever you're always on about. Sorry, what was I saying? I feel asleep a little bit while writing that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you thought the finale was a "sappy piece of crap." If it was up to you it would have been a 2 hour boring ass documentary about the Egyptians building structures on the island. Then I would have had to listen to you going on and on about how prevalent "hands" were all episode, and how everything was a mirror image.
I'm not an apologist for anything on the show, that's why I listened to the black rock in the first place. It was a very neutral podcast, without excessive fanboyism. That said, while the finale wasn't perfect, you most definitely missed the point of Lost. And you've been missing it consistently every podcast I've listened to.
You did always have good timing with the soundboard though. *richard chuckle.*