We're just over three weeks from the premiere of Season 5 of LOST, still without question the best-written show ever to appear on American television. I mention this only to prepare ground for the question: How will the writers keep up the pace?
Note that I am not asking 'will they?' because it can be expected to be good based upon 4 straight seasons of narrative excellence, I am only pondering the means by which they will maintain the story, especially considering a few critical factors, such as:
1. The impact of the writers strike on the remainder of the story, if any.
2. The circumstance of splitting what should have been two seasons into three.
3. The many 'loose ends' remaining from previous seasons compared to the limited number of remaining episodes (36 at maximum, according to calculations based on official statements).
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I can't claim to be the world's best-informed LOST fan, but I have been keeping eyes and ears open for information about the impact of the writers strike on the advancement of the 'big picture' LOST storyline.
The original plan was a total of 48 episodes spread across three seasons, or rather three 16-episode seasons. That amount of space would tell two-seasons-worth of story, where a 'normal' season would be 24 episodes roughly.
At the resolution of the strike, it looked like we'd miss 3 total episodes of the S4, but they managed to include a third segment of content in the S4 finale, so we are heading into Season 5 short two episodes. I hope they will at least grant us those as a bonus during S5 instead of trying to spread the time over the remaining two seasons (though I don't think anyone would complain about extra episodes in both seasons).
The hype for the S5 opener is a 'three hour event' but that usually includes a one-hour re-cap trailer that leads into the actual premiere. I haven't yet learned which they will choose, but it would be most excellent if they delivered the content of two missing episodes in the first episode of S5, but that's rather nonsensical, given the way the writers adaptively present the story in the space allotted them.
To backtrack slightly: Given that S5 was supposedly originally the final season, we can reasonably assume that we are presently in the midst of the conclusion of the series. If we consider S4-S6 to be acts I, II and III of the conclusion, we can by that delineation begin to formulate a rough outline of what we might get to see during these episodes based upon the fact that it's supposed to be ending with S6.
S5 should feature at least 16 episodes, if not 18, or at least that much in programming time. Based upon the content of S4, we can assume that much of S5 will deal with the efforts of Ben, Jack and Sayid to carry out "Jeremy Bentham's" wishes - to reassemble the 'Oceanic 6' and return along with the corpse of "Bentham" to the island. We can expect this goal to be accomplished during S5, with hints of what comes next presented either in the form of flashes or in 'real time' action.
Sub-plots may include: The efforts of Ben to carry out his vendetta against Charles Widmore, which would tend to involve Desmond as well; The Jeremy Bentham story - namely, glimpses of the three-year gap between the time of rescue and the time of Locke's assumption of a false identity, return to the 'real world', and death.
Certain necessary "filler" at this point: The history of the DHARMA Initiative. It's been too long to wait any longer, and we have reasonable evidence to suggest that the Widmore side of the story can't be told without this critical information. This may also include deeper histories, such as the identity, nature and origin of Jacob and 'The Others', the history of the Black Rock and its crew, the history of Danielle and company, and possibly the history of the island itself.
All of this COULD be handled in 18 episodes, but much of it may have to come in sketchy blotches, by way of flashbacks. Certain major story arcs could be given entire episodes, and I do hope such a decision was made, but they couldn't risk more than about 4 sub-plot/filler dedicated episodes without losing their grip on the momentum of the primary plot.
That would leave us with Conclusion Act III, or S6, which should be the final resolution of the major storyline: Who's the real good guy, real bad guy, or is there even such a thing as that in this whole mess? What does the island want, and is it or will it ever be satisfied? Where will the characters finally end up, and why?
The nastier but more compelling possibility is that the 'closure' we get at the end of S6 could be the end of the series, but NOT the end of the mystery. It would be a disappointment, to me at least, if at the end of LOST there were no more questions to be asked. On the other hand, many of the above points, and others to follow, really should be addressed simply to clarify the narrative - major details, I hope, will be provided. Minor thorns in sides can be left to ponder, but some of these questions have lingered for long enough.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
05.08.2008
I have been amazed by the last few episodes. I was quite pleased with last night's revelations about my ol' buddy Locke, though Ben's warning was a little foreboding, especially considering Hurley's recent apology to Jack, in which he said that he was sorry he went with Locke. I cannot presently share Hurley's regrets, for I am confident at this point that Locke's way is the only way. Jack is a fool, even more pronouncedly now that we have seen Christian.
What does that demonstrate, by the by? We see this figure, and it introduces itself as two things: One, it is able to speak on Jacob's behalf, and two, it has a proper name, which is Christian, which we of course know is his real-world given name. This may not seem noteworthy, but I think it is, mostly because of the other manifestations of real world people we have seen in the past, such as Walt and Yemi, neither of whom identified themselves by name.
The apparition of Yemi, furthermore, went as far as to say 'You speak to me as though I am your brother' - As if to make clear to Eko that he was not in fact his brother, but Smokey (in my view) messing with his mind. There is the similarity of missing bodies. Jack found his father's coffin and it was empty. Eko returned to the plane to find Yemi's body and it, too was missing.
But was this important (the Yemi portion)? After all, if the Island had wished to animate Yemi, it probably would have done so around the time of the crash of the Nigerian plane just as it must have done with Christian. Christian's body had gone missing, we assume, immediately. Meanwhile, Yemi's corpse simply sat rotting in the jungle for years.
I do not know, though, if it is a simple matter of reanimation. We have no means of demonstrating, for example, that Christian's body was ever in the casket. We just know that there was a casket and that it was empty. We also know that plenty of people died in the plane crash, yet none of them seem to have sprung back to life.
It is very strange to think that the Island has chosen people from the time of their birth, if indeed that is what we are led to believe by the mysterious appearance of Richard Alpert at the infant Locke's hospital. An alternative view of this is that Richard was dispatched to visit Locke AFTER Locke had come to the Island. If they do in fact possess the capability to travel through time, they could have at any point decided to see if Locke was who they hoped he might be. For instance, when it was learned that Locke was healed of his paralysis, the order could have gone out for Richard (who seems to have been one of the ones dispatched to the real world on various trips for Ben) to visit and test Locke at different points in his life to see how he measured up to their expectations.
I am presently wondering something: When Richard was sent to Miami to send back a video feed of Juliet's sister and her son, when was that actually happening? The temporal anomalies must have an impact on more than just physical travel. How is it possible for someone more or less out of sync with normal time to communicate in realtime with people in the real world, and to send back realtime video footage, or to make shore-to-ship telephone calls, and on and on.
Back to the main stream: It must be one or the other of two possibilities - either Locke was chosen by the Island from birth, or they realized he was special or worthy, and retroactively checked him out via their time-manipulation technique.
Mittelos Bioscience is one of the clues I am pondering as it relates to time-travel as opposed to the chosen-from-birth scenario. Mittelos is very likely to have originated after the coup in which Ben Linus helped the 'Hostiles' destroy the Dharma Initiative presence on the Island. So, if Mittelos was Ben's counter to Hanso, then it could not have existed in the early years of John Locke's life and so could not have truly been around to run a special Summer camp for science-oriented kids.
Another amusing possibility is that Richard Alpert is operating outside of Ben's own knowledge. He was attempting, perhaps, to recruit the teen-aged John Locke to come to the Island and lead INSTEAD of Ben. Locke is older than Ben after all. When he was a kid being crammed into lockers, it is possible that Ben wasn't even born. This is based upon the disdain we were shown in the episodes following Locke's departure from the group. Richard clued Locke in about Ben's desire to make a fool of him in front of the group.
That test has me thinking, too. Richard was greatly displeased that the boy Locke chose that knife. I believe that there is a character flaw evident in the choice that Richard hoped to avoid. It is a flaw shared by Ben, which is some sort of vengeful spirit - the daddy issue. Ben's primary motivation for betraying the whole of Dharma was the fact that his own father, an employee of Dharma, was a real creep.
Perhaps the choice of the knife over the Book of Law distressed Richard, if indeed his motive was to find an alternative to Ben, for it was a sign that Locke would have the same flaws as an adult. Locke owned the sand, the compass, and the book of law, though he did not acknowledge what he knew in his spirit, but what he wanted in his mind: To be some sort of tough guy, hero, action-man. The same thing was evident in his teen-aged self. He wanted to be something he knew he was not and could never be.
Yet another oddity is the presence of Matthew Abaddon in Locke's past life. We know he must have had some sort of impact, because his suggestion that Locke take a Walkabout was later taken up by Locke, with obvious results. The question I have is: Why is he there? That visit took place sometime between 2000 and 2004, so we know that it must have been after the takeover of the Dharma initiative. We know as well that Abaddon works for Widmore. So, what is Widmore's stake in Locke's future? It seems that both of the opposed forces are at the very least aware of the fact that Locke ends up on the island. We must ask: Are these visits based on hindsight or foresight?
And of course, if Widmore knows all these sorts of things, such as who will end up on the Island, we can be pretty sure all sorts of insane mechanations have been going on to lead up to Locke's Walkabout, including the manipulation of Desmond via the monastery, the old woman, the military and the eventual boat race that lands him on the island in order to royally screw up in order to drag Locke's plane out of the sky at the prearranged time!
Insane!
What does that demonstrate, by the by? We see this figure, and it introduces itself as two things: One, it is able to speak on Jacob's behalf, and two, it has a proper name, which is Christian, which we of course know is his real-world given name. This may not seem noteworthy, but I think it is, mostly because of the other manifestations of real world people we have seen in the past, such as Walt and Yemi, neither of whom identified themselves by name.
The apparition of Yemi, furthermore, went as far as to say 'You speak to me as though I am your brother' - As if to make clear to Eko that he was not in fact his brother, but Smokey (in my view) messing with his mind. There is the similarity of missing bodies. Jack found his father's coffin and it was empty. Eko returned to the plane to find Yemi's body and it, too was missing.
But was this important (the Yemi portion)? After all, if the Island had wished to animate Yemi, it probably would have done so around the time of the crash of the Nigerian plane just as it must have done with Christian. Christian's body had gone missing, we assume, immediately. Meanwhile, Yemi's corpse simply sat rotting in the jungle for years.
I do not know, though, if it is a simple matter of reanimation. We have no means of demonstrating, for example, that Christian's body was ever in the casket. We just know that there was a casket and that it was empty. We also know that plenty of people died in the plane crash, yet none of them seem to have sprung back to life.
It is very strange to think that the Island has chosen people from the time of their birth, if indeed that is what we are led to believe by the mysterious appearance of Richard Alpert at the infant Locke's hospital. An alternative view of this is that Richard was dispatched to visit Locke AFTER Locke had come to the Island. If they do in fact possess the capability to travel through time, they could have at any point decided to see if Locke was who they hoped he might be. For instance, when it was learned that Locke was healed of his paralysis, the order could have gone out for Richard (who seems to have been one of the ones dispatched to the real world on various trips for Ben) to visit and test Locke at different points in his life to see how he measured up to their expectations.
I am presently wondering something: When Richard was sent to Miami to send back a video feed of Juliet's sister and her son, when was that actually happening? The temporal anomalies must have an impact on more than just physical travel. How is it possible for someone more or less out of sync with normal time to communicate in realtime with people in the real world, and to send back realtime video footage, or to make shore-to-ship telephone calls, and on and on.
Back to the main stream: It must be one or the other of two possibilities - either Locke was chosen by the Island from birth, or they realized he was special or worthy, and retroactively checked him out via their time-manipulation technique.
Mittelos Bioscience is one of the clues I am pondering as it relates to time-travel as opposed to the chosen-from-birth scenario. Mittelos is very likely to have originated after the coup in which Ben Linus helped the 'Hostiles' destroy the Dharma Initiative presence on the Island. So, if Mittelos was Ben's counter to Hanso, then it could not have existed in the early years of John Locke's life and so could not have truly been around to run a special Summer camp for science-oriented kids.
Another amusing possibility is that Richard Alpert is operating outside of Ben's own knowledge. He was attempting, perhaps, to recruit the teen-aged John Locke to come to the Island and lead INSTEAD of Ben. Locke is older than Ben after all. When he was a kid being crammed into lockers, it is possible that Ben wasn't even born. This is based upon the disdain we were shown in the episodes following Locke's departure from the group. Richard clued Locke in about Ben's desire to make a fool of him in front of the group.
That test has me thinking, too. Richard was greatly displeased that the boy Locke chose that knife. I believe that there is a character flaw evident in the choice that Richard hoped to avoid. It is a flaw shared by Ben, which is some sort of vengeful spirit - the daddy issue. Ben's primary motivation for betraying the whole of Dharma was the fact that his own father, an employee of Dharma, was a real creep.
Perhaps the choice of the knife over the Book of Law distressed Richard, if indeed his motive was to find an alternative to Ben, for it was a sign that Locke would have the same flaws as an adult. Locke owned the sand, the compass, and the book of law, though he did not acknowledge what he knew in his spirit, but what he wanted in his mind: To be some sort of tough guy, hero, action-man. The same thing was evident in his teen-aged self. He wanted to be something he knew he was not and could never be.
Yet another oddity is the presence of Matthew Abaddon in Locke's past life. We know he must have had some sort of impact, because his suggestion that Locke take a Walkabout was later taken up by Locke, with obvious results. The question I have is: Why is he there? That visit took place sometime between 2000 and 2004, so we know that it must have been after the takeover of the Dharma initiative. We know as well that Abaddon works for Widmore. So, what is Widmore's stake in Locke's future? It seems that both of the opposed forces are at the very least aware of the fact that Locke ends up on the island. We must ask: Are these visits based on hindsight or foresight?
And of course, if Widmore knows all these sorts of things, such as who will end up on the Island, we can be pretty sure all sorts of insane mechanations have been going on to lead up to Locke's Walkabout, including the manipulation of Desmond via the monastery, the old woman, the military and the eventual boat race that lands him on the island in order to royally screw up in order to drag Locke's plane out of the sky at the prearranged time!
Insane!
A Brief Introduction to the Blog
It has been difficult to decide how to launch this blog for a couple of reasons. 1) I am simply a quiet voice mumbling in a vast crowd. I don't really think I have much to add to the mix, but I do feel like compiling my various thoughts and theories on the story, and I have one of those unchecked egos that convinces me that my thoughts are worthy of public exposure. 2) It's a huge task, to blog about a sequential product that is firstly quite deep and secondly well underway. There is a temptation to try to backtrack and begin where other bloggers began three years ago, way back at the beginning of the tale.
My decision to proceed takes both of those factors into consideration. My general M.O. then will be to do as I can without doing too much or being too redundant in terms of what I seek to undertake. I may reach back into the previous seasons, but I will not make it my priority to retrace ground that's been covered by people probably more astute than I am.
Instead, I will simply talk about the LOST that is, the story that is presently unfolding, as it is unfolding. Again, I say that this endeavor is more about my own assembly of my own thoughts for my own sake. If you happen to read this and get something out of it, that's a fringe benefit. Though, if you have stopped by, either by random chance or because I mentioned that I was doing such a thing, I hope you will find it more than useless.
My decision to proceed takes both of those factors into consideration. My general M.O. then will be to do as I can without doing too much or being too redundant in terms of what I seek to undertake. I may reach back into the previous seasons, but I will not make it my priority to retrace ground that's been covered by people probably more astute than I am.
Instead, I will simply talk about the LOST that is, the story that is presently unfolding, as it is unfolding. Again, I say that this endeavor is more about my own assembly of my own thoughts for my own sake. If you happen to read this and get something out of it, that's a fringe benefit. Though, if you have stopped by, either by random chance or because I mentioned that I was doing such a thing, I hope you will find it more than useless.
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