LOST: The Final Season (Spoilers)

[Banshee16]

The end of the episode is wordless. Kate sees Locke (remember, as far as she knew he's dead) and all the people who left the temple rallying with him. She goes off with them without saying anything. Jin, I didn't see.

Claire's current behavior wouldn't bother if it wasn't just the natural outgrowth of her previous behavior.

I think Sayid has long considered himself undeserving of redemption. I'm not sure if his true motive is really to get Nadia back, but I believe he shares my suspicion of Dogen and his crew being wolves in wolves' clothing (which is to say, viewers made them out to be sheep based on Dogen being some "wise, laconic Asian guru" archetype).

I got that about Sayid. I guess I've always just sympathized. He knows what he did is wrong, and he's tried desperately throughout the series to make choices to change from the man he was....but in many circumstances, ends up getting pushed to do things he knows are wrong. What he's done is absolutely bad. Maybe he's the bad guy who knows he's bad, and wants to be good, but being bad is so much easier? I don't know..

Claire, after last night's episode......eech. If I was Kate, I'd be carrying a big stick, and sleeping with my back against a wall, and one eye open. When Claire hugged her I kept thinking "here comes the knife, here's the end of Kate"...but it didn't happen.

I'm surprised that Sawyer doesn't care more about the fact that Locke is Smokey...he didn't even react to his former companion saying "he, you know that supernatural demonic black cloud that has slaughtered many of your fellow survivors indiscriminately, and shouldn't exist according to everything you know? Well, that's me."

Of course, Sawyer is a survivor, so maybe he cares, but won't make a deal of it, because he knows he can't afford to anger Locke.

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[Banshee16]

Good analysis. I was thinking more along the lines of Maximus hitting Claudius up for some compensation for his complicity, then rallies his forces for a midnight coup. Claudius was not really portrayed as a brilliant, perceptive mastermind, but rather a self-deluding opportunist. And Maximus would be a stand-up guy and take the heat for treason while the senate took over running Rome. However, you are correct in that heroic behavior is often as destructive as virtuous behavior. Is it hubris to chuck lives away in a righteous cause? Is it better just to roll over and accept a tyrant for fear of the cost of opposing him?

Those are some thorny questions, and ones which obviously have been considered and discussed for centuries. I don't claim to have an answer...I'm not a big supporter of tyrants. But I'm also not a fan of innocent people getting killed...the regular civilians tend to bear a heavy part of the suffering during many conflicts.

I'm just thinking that ultimately, Maximus's move to unilaterally reject Claudius with a thrown gauntlet was just a damned foolish one. As you point out, his lieutenant's betrayal prevented a civil war. Of course, this is all tied into the decision to to characterize the Roman six-star super-general as some kind of simple man oblivious to politics.

There is that.....of course, whether a super general in Rome was as politically oriented as one might be nowadays is a good question. Were Roman generals that political? Obviously many of them started civil wars by bringing their legions across the Rubicon......but were they politically trained and capable etc.? Or were they just the equivalent of a military coup nowadays? In many cases the military in these instances is capable of taking their country by force...but administering it effectively?

Exactly. Like I said, wolves in wolves' clothing. Because Jacob isn't twirling his moustache, he must be a good guy, right? He can't just be a smarmy little smooth-talker who passively manipulates people into doing bad things, right?

My guess is that without knowing what the objectives at hand are for Jacob and Smokey, we'll see a lof of viewers falling back on the tropes of beatific benevolence and selfish malevolence. I tend to assume a self-serving agenda on everyone's part, even the well-intended.

After this week's episode, I still don't trust Locke. I'm trying to look at him as maybe the hero, but I just can't trust him. This Locke creeps me out. Maybe that's the writer's intent......but I just can't help thinking that it's very important that he does *not* get off the island. As the smoke monster, how much damage could he do off the island? He's immortal or very long lived, pretty much unkillable, and doesn't seem to have an compunctions against killing people.

The aggravating thing about the show is how nobody will explain what's going on. The Losties still don't know after all this time, Jacob can't really do anything, etc.

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[Banshee16]

ya know, I suspect that the Others aren't "protecting the island" from Smokey... I bet they were supposed to keep him entrapped there... I bet the island is a prison, and Jacob was his 'jailer', as it were...

That's what I'm thinking. I don't understand why Locke, or whatever he is, is still referred to as a man. I mean, he's either not human, or is a man who's gained phenomenal supernatural power.

If he gets off the island, it could be a mess.

I noticed a few things this week. According to the Flash Sideways, Sawyer and Miles already know each other. Given that very little time has gone by since 815 landed in Los Angeles, it's not like Sawyer had time to go from being a conman to doing police training, getting a job, and being partnered with Miles...

Of course, that would imply that Sawyer is actually a cop on the island. And he hasn't told anyone. Why? Of course, Locke never told any of the Losties that he'd been paralyzed, either.

Unless I've missed something (missed first 5 minutes of episode).

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[dravot]

this will spoil some of last night's episode so putting it in spoiler block just in case.

I fully admit that i missed some of the middle seasons, so this may already have been answered which is why I'm asking ...
[sblock]
As far as I knew, Sawyer was always a con man on the bad side of the law. If, given this flash sideways, has him as a cop, does that mean the flashsideways is a reset of more than just _after_ the island and instead could have reset some situations prior to the plane as well (i.e. sawyer becoming a cop)... OR has it not been ruled out that Sawyer may have been a cop prior to going to australia ?

Because if the flashsideways is resetting stuff from before the flight as well, that might explain Jack's wife/child in an entirely different perspective.
[/sblock]

Anyway, just a random thought/question.

Jacob "touched" Sawyer the day of Sawyer's funeral. In this reality, it would seem that Jacob never had that chance, and thus Sawyer's future was changed. In one reality Sawyer turns to the law do deal with his grief (and possible revenge), in the other he turns to crime.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Hey, some answers about Ricardo tonight. I have to admit I was in and out of this one, but a bit surprised that they broke from the usual flash forward/flash back/flash sideways technique for most of the episode.

So, is the four-letter word "cork"?

 

[David Howery]

ya know, I suspect that the Others aren't "protecting the island" from Smokey... I bet they were supposed to keep him entrapped there... I bet the island is a prison, and Jacob was his 'jailer', as it were...

Ha! I sure called this one right!

Not that it was really all that difficult to see...

 

[Demmero]

Eh...not sure I'm liking (or getting) this Island = Cork thing. Just how effective was the "cork" when Ben moved the island through time and/or space? And how effective is it sitting at the bottom of the ocean in "flash sideways" time?

 

[Fast Learner]

And how effective is it sitting at the bottom of the ocean in "flash sideways" time?

I think we'll find out about that. I suspect it's not good for the world.

 

[fba827]

Eh...not sure I'm liking (or getting) this Island = Cork thing. Just how effective was the "cork" when Ben moved the island through time and/or space? And how effective is it sitting at the bottom of the ocean in "flash sideways" time?

I saw it as a metaphor that was convenient at the moment. I don't believe (or at least he has given no indication as such) that Jacob (at that time with Richard) would have knowledge of those particular future events.

 

[Mark]

Hurley being bilingual worked out nicely this episode. I wonder if the part he added at the end (one more thing) is true and from the talk on the beach interupted by Jack.