"I Hope You're Happy Now, Jacob"--The LOST Season 5 Thread

Having to sit in the Swan and push that button again and again to the point that he is driven to blow his brains out from sheer despair is ample punishment for Radzinsky for being such a dick in this episode. I hope it turns out that he brought it all on himself.

Hurley being questioned about his life was one of my favorite moments. Also, Miles realizing that his father had to be harsh to his mother to get her to leave. I thought that line was delivered really well.

Yeah, I guess Miles is the one character who got to resolve his daddy issue like 2 episodes after we first learned of it.

I've got a feeling Claire will show up in the finale--like maybe Locke kills Jacob and she's all "Thank you, John" and takes control of the island.

really enjoyed the episode, but gotta say, was really really hoping for an Alpert-flashback based sort of thing as opposed to him just connecting the times. The finale will be all whiz-bang-WTF, which is great, but doesn't that mean that next season will be comprised of a fuckton of infodump episodes?

Well, at least it looks like we're going to find out what's in that fucking crate on the beach.

doesn't that mean that next season will be comprised of a fuckton of infodump episodes?

I've been impressed by this show's ability to answer questions without bringing Basil Exposition out to do it.

jaymc, i thought the others dressed in rags to scare the 815ers... didn't they admit that (dude's fake beard, etc.)?

wasn't it just to throw the survivors off the idea that there might be technology/resources on the island they could attempt to use?

right

We're never going to get a real infodump. I am fine with this, the show has always be been based on unknowable, illogical mystery. After the series finale airs I'll be tempted to avoid message boards in general - the internet nerd rage at BSG's finale will be nothing compared to what we'll get for Lost, I'm sure.

^ been tempted to make a joke for awhile now about how the lost season six thread is going to be so much more negative and vile than dudes could even muster for the battlestar season four thread.

after obsessively rewatching a lot of the 5th season, I got one good extra bit. when Widmore is talking with Locke in Tunisia, he says that the Others (aka "my people") had peacefully protected the island for "more than three decades" before he was exiled. So that would imply that the Others arrived relatively soon before the 1954 events...

Pretty sure Lost will have a better ending than BSG did.

xp

i think he meant that he (widmore) had led the others for more than three decades. so widmore was head other from circa-1960 to his exile which we're supposed to think was early 90's (post-purge), right?

correct

I think the height of the 'OMG AMAZING!' era of the Lost thread was around the second half of the third season when they started throwing new curveball mysteries at us virtually every episode. I don't think the answers are really going to be as satisfactory as the really hardcore fans would hope - is the hatch/time travel stuff going to progress much beyond "there's a massive source of energy under the island" for example.

well what about saving the world?

I don't think the island/time-travel explanations have much potential to be interesting or even disappointing. I'm a lot more curious how they address character-related mysteries, about people like Locke or Alpert or Christian or Claire or Desmond (or Jacob), and whether they do so in any satisfying or creative way or just kinda shrug "oh, they're special, it's their destiny."

I'm putting money Alpert came to the island on that pirate ship, he has the makeup for it :D

Would Locke essentially creating a self-fulfilling prophecy time loop through death and being implanted with information to become herald of the island count as being creative and satisfying? (Not being flip, but I think that deserves some credit!) I don't think they're going to get any more creative than that - it's like asking for a special reason that Desmond and Penny are fated lovers, they just are. I doubt Alpert's going to get a much better explanation than that he was a guy selected by the island to be its rep and given immortality. Christian still deserves a massive reveal, definitely.

http://mortystv.com/showcards/suddenly_susan.jpg

^^ the original others

I hate the self-fulfilling prophecy time loop stuff...there has to have been a catalyst for stuff to happen to begin with, not just it happens because in the future we went into the past and made sure it happens etc etc etc.

xpost haha

Philholland Drive dude punching Juliet was intense... that guy's gotta have it coming.

I hate the self-fulfilling prophecy time loop stuff...there has to have been a catalyst for stuff to happen to begin with, not just it happens because in the future we went into the past and made sure it happens etc etc etc.

QFT

that stuff just elicits a shrug

after the shows over the creators should just go to lostpedia and fill out all the unanswered questions

what i like about alpert is despite his longevity he's portrayal resolutely as NOT all-knowing...

yeah it's funny i keep wanting him to act like he has all the answers but clearly he doesn't, which is frustrating but definitely more interesting

the creators seem to be as transparent as possible even now w/o actually spoiling anything, so i'm sure once the show's over they'll lay a lot of stuff out...would totally read a coffee table book of detailed production notes/creative decisions that shaped the show.

sawyer did say "i'll kill you" which at season finale time generally means dude gets shot ruthlessly in some gun toting stand off

Man, that twerp slapped Juliet. Even Radzinsky was shocked - you know that fool is going down.

I forget, is it Radzinsky who winds up in the hatch?

yah

Oh ok, I kept thinking it was the dude who slapped Juliet and that whole time was just tellin myself "whatever, he winds up in that hole and we know what happens". But shit that dude better get his.

I like the fascist overtones of the black Dharma suits.

horace is proving quite the lil bitch

did he put his wife and baby on the sub or what

That's probably not going to end up well, since we know where Ethan ends up...

yeah, after they made kind of a big deal about her being on the show, they showed her all of, what, twice?

Where is young Ben at the time Jack, Kate and Daniel go right into the middle of the Others' camp? Just lying in a tent somewhere?

hes at the temple losing his innocence

I thought he had been returned to the Dharma for some reason, but they were questioning Sawyer about where they took him so I dunno, tent is a good guess. I'm feelin more lost than ever right now, so many little details and paradoxes and hidden agendas and I just can't filter the important stuff.

Tho a lot of really poor sleep leading up to when I saw this episode tonight is probably not helpin the feeling.

just read an interesting little theory about the fact that miles can speak to the dead - he can probably find out exactly how Daniel intended to blow up the bomb, if Jack can convince him to help him.. oh, but I guess Jack (& Kate) don't know that Miles can read dead people's thoughts? Hmm.

also, does anyone read those "Things I Noticed" recaps by Vozzek69? I thought this bit this week was kind of interesting (maybe Hurley is the horse).

The Variable is Hurley.

Since the very beginning of LOST, this has been true. We've never seen it so clearly until now, because we've never really had reason to scrutinize it. But let's examine the evidence for a minute, and then you guys can make your own assumptions. Here's what I'm saying:

* Hurley almost didn't make Flight 815. In fact, the woman at the counter tells him: "I don't think you're supposed to be on this flight, dear".

* When Ben sees Hurley on Ajira 316, he looks him in the eye and tells him: "Hugo, who told you to come?"

* In Left Behind, episode S3.15, Hurley stands on the beach with Sawyer sitting behind him. He then looks out into the ocean, and says "I'm not supposed to be here".

* In Locke's vision where Boone's wheeling him through the airport, Hurley's the only person not getting on the plane. Everyone else is boarding the flight, but Hurley is not a passenger: instead he's stamping tickets at the gate.

* In S1, Hurley knew he wouldn't die on the bridge. He just had a 'feeling' he'd be alright - and he was. At the end of S3 Hurley knew he could get that 30+ year old van to start... and he got it started. He drives the van into Pryce through a hail of gunfire, without ever taking a single bullet.

* Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley all get captured by the Others. But Hurley was the one person they let go.

Hugo has always been lucky: rolling the dice, winning at horseshoes, never missing at basketball, winning the lottery. He eternally makes his own luck... and if this is the case, it stands to reason that he can make his own future. Hugo makes his own kind of music - he's been doing this both on and off the island. He's untouchable, unreachable, and the island can't affect him for a very simple reason: he's not supposed to be here.

Think about Hurley's distractions, too. The island tried to bribe him with a storeroom of food, but Hugo blew it up. It tried to offer him romance, but then his potential girlfriend gets shot. It even tries to get him to kill himself... by using Dave to almost convince Hurley to jump off a cliff. Didn't work.

Outside of the island? Hurley's in a mental institution, where someone is watching over him (because they can't touch him) to make sure he stays put. He gets out anyway. Then he's captured and imprisoned by the police. Somehow he gets out of that, too. No matter what happens, Hurley can't be contained. Hurley can somehow even see Jacob's cabin, because he's not affected by whatever illusions or smokescreens the island puts up.

Even now, it's no coincidence that Hurley's the one voice arguing in favor that things can be changed. He argues with Miles in Whatever Happened Happened, and he's trying to rewrite history with his Empire Strikes Back script. Hurley's seen more ghosts than anyone else. Charlie comes to Hurley as a ghost, telling him "They need you". Who needs him? Everyone else in the story. The Hurley bird is even shrieking his name over and over in the finale. The answer is obvious to me: Hurley's the one person who'll end up changing things.

What's funny is that we've always thought the game changer would come from one of the bigger players: Desmond, Ben, Jack, Locke - but if you think about LOST in general, it makes sense that such changes would come from someone you'd least expect. Hurley is perfect because no one's expecting him to matter. He's done nothing but cook, divide up food, play ping pong, and make everyone else laugh - including us.

Hurley is the island's very big problem because he's the one person who's "not here for a reason". And that's the very reason why he'll end up being so important: WHH can't apply to Hurley, because he was never a part of the plan (timeline?) in the first place. In short, I'm saying Hurley is the variable. Just tossing that out there, so let's hear everyone's thoughts on it!

* Hurley almost didn't make Flight 815. In fact, the woman at the counter tells him: "I don't think you're supposed to be on this flight, dear".

Didn't someone way way upthread put it together that the woman at the counter for 815 was the same woman who couldn't find record of any Faraday at Oxford? *spooky music*

I think so, yup - I'd forgotten about that!

"Hurley can somehow even see Jacob's cabin, because he's not affected by whatever illusions or smokescreens the island puts up. "

"It even tries to get him to kill himself... by using Dave to almost convince Hurley to jump off a cliff. Didn't work. "

But he WAS affected by seeing Dave - an illusion the island put up.

* When Ben sees Hurley on Ajira 316, he looks him in the eye and tells him: "Hugo, who told you to come?"

Also, I don't remember this. Wan't Hugo the one flipping out out Ben being on the flight and not the other way around? Or did I just miss that bit?

In early seasons of the show I was pretty convinced Hurley was an important character because of the numbers / lottery and stuff, but then the writers only seemed to be keeping him around for comic relief and I gave up on that for the most part. But yeah, maybe there's a bit more to him, or at least I hope so cuz I like seeing the dude get any kind of victory. <3 that guy.

God I hope the just don't ever acknowledge Hurley's imaginary friend who makes him eat ever again and just treat it like none of that ever happened.

they were both flipping out - Hurley's like "What's he doing here, OMG!! Panic!!" and then Ben asks him who told him to come. Who *did* tell Hugo to go, do we know? Was it Charlie? I can't remember that part.

No doubt this hauling the guitar around is going to lead to some fucking idiotic story arc involving Charlie as if anybody actually misses him.