LOST Revisited: Pre-Game for “The Last Recruit”
So does that mean that Eloise X is just who she seems to be? Was that just the Timeline X version of her big destiny speech from Season Three? If that’s the case, she could either be trying to preserve her timeline, just as our Eloise did. Or maybe we just take her at her word – Desmond isn’t ready yet. Maybe he’s supposed to be instrumental in fixing the world, but just not at this time. It’s not that Eloise doesn’t want Desmond to get involved, but until he’s properly prepared, he runs the risk of making things worse. Can’t have Desmond going off half-cocked when reality is at stake. It’s a lot less clear cut that I thought it was initially, and it really wasn’t that clear cut even then.
As long as we’re staying in the Widmore family tree, let’s consider our buddy Daniel. For me, Faraday is sort of like a twitchy, undernourished Batman – he’s always right. Daniel X says that Timeline X is the result of somebody detonating a nuclear bomb, and the fact that he says it gives it credence. But we know that Timeline X can’t be the result of Juliet smacking Jughead with a rock, since too many people who were on the Island at that moment are still alive. Since Faraday is always right, and since he exists in Timeline X to be right, it seems like we’ve got an old-fashioned paradox. Explain it to a robot, and its head will explode, as I learned from Futurama.
Now, in 2008, there was no bomb at the bottom of the crater, and Juliet’s last thought at death was “it worked”. This may be a stretch, but I’ve been stretching all season, so why stop now? Let’s say somebody pops over, either from Timeline X or the future or the Negative Zone or whatever. They pick up Jughead, reassure Juliet that “it worked”, and then pop back to wherever they belong. They then create Timeline X by detonating Jughead sometime in between 1977 and 2004. So Timeline X was created by Jughead, but not when they would have us believe. Granted, there are still changes between timelines that can’t be explained with a bomb (How does Jack have a son David’s age when he only met his wife three years earlier in our timeline?), but it still lets Faraday be right, explains Juliet’s last words, and gives us a world where the Island doesn’t exist. Ta-daaa!
Whatever Happened to Michael Dawson?: So, why can’t Michael’s ghost leave the Island? He killed two people, but Hurley saw the ghosts of Charlie, Ana Lucia, and Mr. Eko while off the Island, and they all committed murder, too.
I really don’t think it’s a huge issue, so it might not be referenced ever again. Still, there are two possibilities that occur to me. Spunkybuddy Larry Young offered that Michael can’t move on because he isn’t able to forgive himself. I like that idea. As is my wont, I went more complicated with it. To my mind, Michael committed an unforgivable sin on the Island by killing a Candidate. Granted, we didn’t see Libby or Ana Lucia on either the cave wall or the big wheel, but there were a lot of crossed-out names. They could have been there. And we know that even Smokey isn’t willing to kill somebody who’s an active Candidate. Again, since there are only six hours left, I don’t know that they’ll devote further time to Michael’s astral state, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to think about it.
Anti-Locke Brakes: That’s not my joke, by the way – a commenter on Spectacularry came up with it and I absolutely love it. Anyway, I was pretty sure last week that Desmond ran down Locke X because he thinks all versions of Locke are the bad guy, but not everybody was so sure.
Thanks to spunkybuddies Amy and Jennifer, I feel much better about Locke X’s chances. They both point out that it took near-death experiences for Charlie and Desmond to open their eyes. And while Faraday, Hurley, and Libby didn’t need their lives threatened, not everybody found love on the Island. Amy went a little further with it – if Locke ends up in the emergency room with Dr. Jack Shephard, one or both of them could flash on the other world. It’s like Jacob said, sometimes you hop in a cab and tell somebody what to do, sometimes you have to let them stare at the ocean for a while. Only in this case, sometimes you encourage them to go out on a date, sometimes you have to run over a guy in a wheelchair.
We don’t have much time left to visit Timeline X, so the storylines are going to have to start intersecting in a hurry. Sending Locke to the hospital is as good a way as any to make that happen. At least I hope that’s the thinking – we haven’t seen a lot of follow-up in Timeline X, and I don’t want to spend weeks worrying about our backup Locke.
Smokey Signals: If Eloise X isn’t Smokey, then where is he? We haven’t really seen any other likely candidates over there. I’m convinced he’s there somewhere – in a world without an Island, he’s got to be out there somewhere. I’m suspicious of everybody at this point.
Maybe he just hasn’t jumped over to Timeline X yet. I could be that there’s only one Smokey, shared between both Timelines. The escape he wants is not to physically escape the Island, but to escape to Timeline X. We know that he’s stuck with Locke’s body now – perhaps he has to be Locke in Timeline X, too. That might be why Desmond ran him over – to make sure the monster didn’t have a place to go.
Or, and the more I think about this the more I like it, Smokey in Timeline X has an entirely new form. In fact, maybe he’s taken the identity of somebody who doesn’t, and can’t, exist in our world. What if Smokey is none other than… David Shephard?
David is the biggest anomaly in Timeline X. Almost all of the other changes can be attributed to destruction of the Island (though not in 1977, as I mentioned earlier), or to the various Lostaways receiving what they want most. David, though, doesn’t quite fit with either scenario. Like I said earlier, Jack met his wife in 2001, three years before Flight 815. And I’m not convinced that Jack’s greatest desire is to be a father – somebody suggested to me that what he wanted was a normal father-son relationship, and Timeline X made him the father rather than fixing his relationship with Christian. That’s a really appealing idea that I can’t dismiss, but the thing is, they really don’t have a great relationship. At the end of “Lighthouse”, he’s clearly working on it, but it still doesn’t fit with the way everybody else seems to have one specific wish granted.
Before Desmond got blasted with electromagnetism, Jack was the best at chance at seeing through Timeline X. Jack X has wounds that he shouldn’t have, and his memories didn’t quite match up with the new history. So what better way to keep him on the team than give him a son to worry about? This is probably deeply cynical on my part, but David is a distraction. Jack was the biggest threat to Smokey, so he has to be kept occupied. And heck, we know Smokey is OK with working the long game – he’s spent centuries trying to get off the Island, so taking the form of a child and waiting to grow up is a drop in the bucket. (Which leads to an interesting question – would Smokey be able to age in a human form? As Locke, he can’t even change his shirt!)
Yes, I am accusing a small child of being the physical manifestation of evil. Don’t look at me! I’m hideous!
Be sure you head on over to Spectacularry, and check out what Larry Young has to say – he picked up on some tiny details this week, and I especially love his description of what’s on the chalkboard at Santa Rosa. I didn’t even notice it until I read his analysis, and now I’m haunted by it. Also, last week he cited my sister’s observation about the Biblical Joseph, so we’re going for the Feddes Sweep. And as a special bonus, he put together an absolutely genius Lost version of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”. It’s a thing of beauty.
I’ll see you back here tomorrow for “The Last Recruit”. The creepy Willy Wonka song and the clip of Sayid shooting into the well have me very worried. And if you have any bonus point-worthy input, you can either leave a note in the comments, drop me a line at ejfeddes@spunkybean.com or find me on Facebook. I’m usually talking about Lost over there. Or possibly Batman. But definitely one of those two things.
