Lost Season 6 - RE: LA X

yeah probably

you guys just don't know about my relationship with the screenwriters

Well, I think the thing you're overlooking is that Lost is as much a mystery as anything else, and instead of having episodic mysteries or one big mystery, they keep so many different plates spinning at once that I think sometimes it does become overkill and the audience has a right to cry foul.

True. But I object to storytelling devices (especially common ones that have been around for centuries) being rejected out-of-hand, before the critic even knows where the writers are going with them, as too complicated for the dumb-ass TV viewership. I mean FFS, there's another network show (Fringe) already using an alternate universe plotline.

I don't think it's the mere existence of an alternative universe plotline so much as it being introduced in addition to the already intricate web of time travel, flashbacks, flash forwards, immortals, walking dead and so on when they've only got one season here to wrap it up. I have faith in the writers too, but I sympathize with people that are clutching their heads a bit after that premiere.

Lost seems to be vaguely organically building these things, at least. I can't think of any major plot questions that haven't rolled into the next thing (why polar bears? Dharma likes animal experiments. why in the desert? frozen donkey wheel explains it, etc.). It's not like the damn X-Files where we have eight explanations for Mulder's sister's whereabouts and no one even cares about the main backstory because it's so contrived. They've been dropping hints about the Temple for a long time, and now it's getting introduced with a mix of old and new characters. Not shabby.

why in the desert? frozen donkey wheel explains it

lol -- not being snide coz im obviously a committed viewer -- but lol

http://cache-08.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/13242/2010/01/800x600_lostway31.jpg

Time travel pretty much has to lead to parallel universe shit by definition, unless you use the "it's impossible to change the future by changing things in the past" loophole, which no one really does.

I think we are seeing a possible universe rather than a parallel one per se. It could actually be a nice pay-off for viewers even if it's just "proving" to us that their destiny was to all come together/to Jacob). Considering what Cuselof said about Heroes and alt futures they can't go down that route so the big mystery now is whether/how the two realities we're seeing will converge or relate.

it would be classic if the stories never converged and half of the show was just following a random bunch of people in LA, short cuts-style. but SOMETHING TELLS ME that isn't going to happen.

would kind of lol if they were showing us "what really happened" after the whole island situation gets cleared up in those asides as opposed to a parallel universe

idk about this 'the bomb went off = Shannon never got on the plane' thing tho

I think we are seeing a possible universe rather than a parallel one per se.

I don't understand the distinction here.

possible = could've happened but hasn't
parallel = is also happening

but i'm taking it back anyway

Comics nerds who are watching Lost may recognize this feeling from reading Grant Morrison. Ultracompression, "pay attention and connect the dots or get the fuck out"

― the end times are coming, but they're just the beginning (WmC), Wednesday, February 3, 2010 8:22 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark

I really, really want this show to wrap up in hardcore Morrisonian fashion. Just go next-level bizarro meta on us here, L O S T. I'm down.

― SNEEZED GOING DOWN STEPS, PAIN WHEN PUTTING SOCKS ON (Deric W. Haircare), Wednesday, February 3, 2010 10:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh god no... for all its messiness, the lost dudes know how to tell stories about 1000x better than GM

idk about this 'the bomb went off = Shannon never got on the plane' thing tho

― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, February 4, 2010 3:46 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i reckon it'll pan out. if the actress wasn't available, they wouldn't have made a thing of it -- could ahve shown stock footage of her on the plane or whatever. they certainly wouldn't have dialogue explaining it, i hope n e way. so far they haven't left the airport but maybe it'll be like the 1985 sections of back to the future 2 out there.

that said, i find it hard to keep all this complicated mythology/backstory stuff in my head, but i enjoy cruisin' along with it anyway and then reading more hardcore fans' takes on it and all the references i missed

possible = could've happened but hasn't
parallel = is also happening

but i'm taking it back anyway

― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, February 4, 2010 9:50 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

theoretically every possible universe exists as a parallel universe so the distinction seems moot to me

so far they haven't left the airport but maybe it'll be like the 1985 sections of back to the future 2 out there.

― the highest per-vote vag so far (history mayne), Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:52 AM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that would be rad. "ok bye dudes" *jack hops on hoverboard*

i reckon it'll pan out. if the actress wasn't available, they wouldn't have made a thing of it -- could ahve shown stock footage of her on the plane or whatever. they certainly wouldn't have dialogue explaining it, i hope n e way. so far they haven't left the airport but maybe it'll be like the 1985 sections of back to the future 2 out there.

I think they're actually using this to set the stage for Boone's character to go in a totally different direction; most of his time on the island was defined in contrast to his sister and that tension is part of what pushed him into becoming Locke's disciple. How different would that dynamic have been without Shannon's needling?

i would go with the idea of them not being able to leave LAX but it just reminds me of The Terminal rather than The Prisoner so nein danke

Also could we see Locke's Dad again?

idk about this 'the bomb went off = Shannon never got on the plane' thing tho

What about the "the bomb went off = Hurley is the luckiest man alive" thing?

on the Kimmel interview Damon and Carlton said something along the lines of "we hope to have Shannon back on later" -- no idea where they are in the production of the final episodes but maybe they're still trying to get her on and haven't yet?

Apologies if this was posted somewhere upthread, but Newsweek showed some employees who'd never seen the show and solicited commentary. Kind of funny...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/40211#?l=1785302026&t=64735611001

lol at dude who was all "ISLANDS DON'T DISAPPEAR"

ha!

"White animals? What animal is white? This doesn't make any sense. I'm from New York, I've never seen a white animal... maybe some cats..."

idk about this 'the bomb went off = Shannon never got on the plane' thing tho

What about the "the bomb went off = Hurley is the luckiest man alive" thing?

All this is "Sound of Thunder" type unintended consequences of tampering with the past.

Maybe, since the island sank, Mikhail never went there--instead he shacked up w/ Shannon in Australia and threatened Boone with a grenade when he went to take her home.

Best theory about Shannon's absence yet!

Yeah, I'd be bothered by Shannon not being on the plane if it were the only pre-turbulence difference between the original 815 flight and the alt-flight. But there are other differences, too.

like Charlie's hair. and Jack's hair.

And Sawyer's hair!

i reckon it'll pan out. if the actress wasn't available, they wouldn't have made a thing of it -- could ahve shown stock footage of her on the plane or whatever. they certainly wouldn't have dialogue explaining it, i hope n e way. so far they haven't left the airport but maybe it'll be like the 1985 sections of back to the future 2 out there.

I think they're actually using this to set the stage for Boone's character to go in a totally different direction; most of his time on the island was defined in contrast to his sister and that tension is part of what pushed him into becoming Locke's disciple. How different would that dynamic have been without Shannon's needling?

― PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! (HI DERE), Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:54 AM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

according to lostpedia the actress who plays shannon wasnt available

sigh

yes I KNOW she wasn't available, I can actually read

I'm talking about a possible narrative coice I they may have had to make because the actress who played Shannon wasn't available

wtf is wrong with my typing ability

Too many pies.

imo they could easily have just not shown her rather than draw attention to her absence. i mean, did they show nikki and paolo? it's all part of the mystery i guess.

Nikki and Paolo were actually buried alive in Australia in this timeline

some real nerds work at newsweek huh

more like nerdsweek

more like nerdswork

at newsweek in max's o

Interesting theory that objects (or people?) used on the island are missing from the alt-timeline 815ers (Jack's pen, Locke's knives, Christian) or never made it onto the plane somehow. If so, I predict that Sawyer's note will be missing. (Also, maybe that's why Shannon didn't get on the plane.)

big reveal of season 6 is they find a pen

For what's worth, Jack's pen was stolen by Kate on the plane. But the theory can still work for the coffin and the knives.

one of those pens where if you turn it 180 the polar bear's clothes disappear.

he "lost" his clothes

.(Also, maybe that's why Shannon didn't get on the plane.)

lol

Boone is missing a Shannon