As proposed in last week’s thread and mentioned in our latest podcast, several blog regulars are organizing a re-watch of the two-part Season Five premiere of “LOST,” which includes “Because You Left” and “The Lie.” As we endure a one-week break during the show’s final season, it should be fun and interesting to revisit the past knowing what we know now.
Some helpful links:
- Watch the episodes via ABC.com: “Because You Left,” and “The Lie.”
- Watch the episodes via Hulu: “Because You Left,” and “The Lie.”
- Our initial-reaction blog post and podcast episode covering the Season Five premiere.
- Lostpedia entries on “Because You Left,” and “The Lie.”
Comment below and join the conversation!
among MIB’s first words to Sun and Lapidus as Christian…………..”Follow Me” I love rewatching and catching these nuances.
One last thing before work, different episode though, in “This Place is Death” watch Charlotte’s death scene again. As she is dying all her flashes seem to be centered around Daniel. She also says “my mum would never let me marry an american”. I wonder if like Juliet, she flashed to the sideways world for a minute and saw her future with Daniel. She also brags about her job as well.
@ Carol, stick with Boston (I’m really in Alpharetta – an Atlanta Suburb next to “Beta”-retta 😛 )
@Scott B – You bring up some good points. I still feel that Smokey and/or the Island is channelling the energy of the dearly departed like a radio tunes into different stations. I don’t know if you saw my earlier post about what Christian is wearing during his appearances, but maybe some of our avid re-watchers can enlighten us.
@ Carol – what was Christian wearing at the well? vs @ the hospital?
@Bonita in Atlanta – I did see your post, and it made me rethink Christian on the boat and Michael with Hurley, I was sure both were MIB, but now I see they dont interact with anything, so they are probably real. I think the island is special, so it does make sense that if Christian’s body is on the island {or something with his DNA? (isabella’s necklace or Ben’s mother’s DNA present in Ben! just thought of that one) } then it’s possible for their spirits to be channeled.
I’ll have to look more at the clothing, I’ve been fixated on whether or not the manifestation is able to pick something up or brush by something and make it move as a clue to their identity.
Why does Walt appear soaking wet and talking backwards? I was wondering if that was MIB shorting out because he was touched by water – lol.
@Hammer- I don’t think Locke’s death was the cause that made the Oceanic 6 go back to the Island. Jack thought the Island hadn’t finished with him, Kate wanted to find Claire and Sun wanted to find Jin. Sayid was taken to the flight by Ilana and Hugo had met Jacob, so they all had their reasons. Like someone commented before, Ben wanted power and John was a threaten for him.
@Carol from Boston- If I’m not wrong, when Richard went to visit John when he was a little boy, one of the objects he showed him was a compass. If Locke gave Richard the compass in the past, Richard would remember him.
@LReene- I think all the others want outside when they heard the airplane because if that is a remote Island which almost nobody can’t find, they were not used to hear airplanes flying over their heads. And I’m sure there are not earthquakes on the Island either.
@KK- Thank you. I thought about Straum being Miles mum’s maiden name but I bet it’s another identity of Pierre Chang. By the way in the alternative reality, shouldn’t Pierre Chang appear older? He looked exactly like in the orientation videos.
Two more things I’ve thought of. The number 108 could be the years that Smokey have to wait until he tries to leave the Island again?
And the whispers… in “The Other Woman†when Juliet is in the jungle the whispers sound and afterwards Goodwin’s woman appears and tells Juliet Ben wants her to stop Dan and Charlotte. That woman died? And why did Juliet believe her? Juliet is not a stupid woman so hat makes me think that maybe not only had Ben Smokey trapped behind Dharmaville but controlled the whispers too.
Walt’s appearance is a lingering mystery to me. He isn’t dead, so does that indicate his appreance was a manifestation of the Island and not SMokey? or because Walt is special and just possibly it was a Flashsideways Walt that appeared? Could the FSW Walt be dead? Will we ever get the Walt mystery resolved?
Google “Significance of 108”
Interesting stuff – note I tried to do the Link thing but I need Corivee to help! There were 108 comments when I tried to do it!
This is one of my favorites from the above mentioned Google search for the # 108 (probably because I am a Yoga teacher)
Heart Chakra: The chakras are the intersections of energy lines, and there are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra. One of them, sushumna leads to the crown chakra, and is said to be the path to Self-realization.
This one is cool, too:
Stages of the soul: Said that Atman, the human soul or center goes through 108 stages on the journey.
@Carol in Boston – I agree with Amaia, unLocke gives Richard his compass, to lend credibility to Richard’s story – proof that they interacted in the future and he should believe him when he says “you need to die” as he’s pulling the bullet from Locke’s leg. But still – why did MIB want Lock dead? I get why Ben wanted Locke dead, but why MIB? Brings to mind his line to Sayid about if they hear it from you they’ll believe it more in “Sundown”.
@Amaia – the whispers, still making my head hurt! Dead people, living people, smoke monster lots of things preceeded by the whispers.
Enhanced Ab Aeterno was nice the way is crystallized the debate of sin as part of human nature or not, the idea of a clean slate (Tabula rasa) and Jacob bringing people to the island.
It settled Richard was the origin of the others, the people Jacob brings to the island.
It pointed out that many of the people brought to the island were responsible directly or indirectly for someone’s death, so there’s sin in their past. Why were Jack, Locke, Hurley, Jin, and Claire chosen?
We know the candidates are there to replace Richard, and until they all follow MIB or are dead, he can’t leave, but why were they chosen?
Kate’s name is on the lighthouse wheel but it is 51, not one of the numbers. It’s crossed out in the MIB’s cave. Is she a candidate?
They confirmed no one is allowed to enter the statue unless Jacob invites them as rule number one. Bram and the team broke the rule – so MIB was allowed to kill them all? Why did they point out the fact that Bram and his team broke the rule?
@Bonita – Christian at the well is wearing a striped shirt and pants, no suit jacket. I am not sure about in LA? But I thought he was wearing a suit, I know he was wearing a suit in White Rabbit.
re:Walt – still can’t figure out the talking backwards and being wet. I thought he may have astroprojected or something. He had talents but even the others couldn’t figure them out.
re: the numbers dont’ they add up to 108?
@Amaia- I always thought that Goodwin’s wife was dead as well, Juliet seemed a little taken aback to see her and how else would she communicate with Ben. Ben must know about the source of the whispers as well and called on Goodwin’s wife to send a message. Wasn’t she wet as well?
Why were the numbers beign transmitted? Were they like a siren luring the candidates to the island.
I still don’t know why Hurley was saying the numbers when the Rousseau landed in her raft on the island. Hurley must have done that during his dharma time.
Also when I watched Eloise explain the lampost station, she specifically said the island moves in time and that is why it is so difficult to find.
So far I have watched the first 6 episodes of season 5. I really loved the show last year but I am enjoying it even more now because I am not so frustrated and confused about the time travel. It is so much easier to follow the storyline.
Here is something to think about, did MIB know that Locke wouldn’t be able to bring everyone back and that Locke would chose suicide because he had to sacrifice himself? How did MIB know that Locke would be dead when he returned? Was Ben told to kill him?
Great reading all the posts! Aaahhh the lingering mysteries…. One (probably silly) thought came to me re: Walt being wet and speaking backwards ~ is that part of the mirroring of another season?
Wow again! Another day of work, another day of many many posts to catch up on. I’ve read though them all once so far, now time to go back through them again and digest before I say anything further.
I think this “rewatch project” has been absolutely fantastic!!
Hearing the comments about mirror seasons on that other podcast made me think about the Darlton comment that they always knew what the last 5 scenes would be. It makes me want to rewatch the first 5 scenes of the first episode — wonder if they will be mirrored somehow?
re: the seasons mirroring each other — many viewers/fans/posters have commented about show titles mirroring past show titles — might be a fun exercise to see if the titles do a similar match-up — Season 1 to Season 6, etc…
@Carol – yes, the numbers add up to 108. I was trying to highlight how 108 is also a sacred number, just for fun.
@ LReene and All ~ Yes, great thread… we’ve managed to pull back some extra LOST layers ~ got my brain juices flowing
Bonita ~ I love all that spiritual 108 imagery
I have relatives in several of your cities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles) ~ still rooting for a future meet-up
I’ve started watching Lost from the very first episode and I’m at the beginning of season 2. I know this has nothing to do with what you all are talking about, but on “Man of Science, Man of Faith” Jack is running up steps in a stadium n which he runs into Desmond who is also running up steps in the same stadium. Later on Desmond tells Jack that he’ll “See him in another life.”
I bring this up, because Penny is running up the same steps in the presumably same stadium when Desmond finds her (in the other life), in which he passes out and sees into the Island life.
Desmond always saying, “See you in another life” is making sense now.
@ Josh ~ Absolutely! — and this ties into the ‘mirror mirror’ theme as well
Great interview with Damon, no spoilers so it is safe to watch.
http://www.docarzt.com/lost/lost-news/lost-finale-thr-com-interviews-damon-lindelof/
@Carol from Boston – Thanks SO much for posting that link! I have always liked watching these interviews (spoilers or not), and you can pretty much be assured that if it’s with Damon or Carlton, they won’t give anything away. Absolutely fantastic interview though.
Thanx Carol! ~ Personally, I’ve like the FlashSideways from the beginning, and never felt alarmed by them ~ I guess I trust the writers to pull the show together in a great way ~ as far as all of us having our ‘expectations’ met, or getting what we want… well that won’t happen ’cause many of us expect or want different things! For example, many here could care less about Kate or would be happy if she even died and I will feel annoyed if there is not a solid meaningful ending for her. Others are quite invested in Desmond and Penny or Sawyer and Juliet. As far as understanding the stuff mentioned above i.e the whispers, the ghosts, the Others, Eloise, Ben Widmore, Jacob, Smokey, etc. etc. I would love to know all that stuff too, but trust the writers to tie up the story with a nice big shiny bow. Happy Friday All!
Lreene and greenberry – I have a twitter account and I follow some Lost people, Doc artz is great and jopinionated and Damon and Carlton and Doc Jenson and Ryan and Jen and Jack and Jay. There are usually some great links to various videos or lost articles. I don’t really tweet much myself. But I do like the links. That video was tweeted by Doc Artz.
@ Carol ~ I still don’t even have a cell phone, that’s how behind I am! (I work at home, so it mostly works) — I do go on the net and facebook, but no twittering at this time ~ perhaps I need to “get with it” as my three grown daughters would say ~ I REALLY appreciate the links that you and others place here!!! I guess if you are in the library world, you are very proficient with all the modern advances.
@greenberry from the sound of that interview, the ending will not be completely definitive and open to some interpretation. So in other words, we’ll still be theorizing years from now. I do trust that the flash sideways will be answered and the Jacob and MIB storyline, but I am sure we will wonder what happens next because why else are Damon and Carlton going to refuse to talk about the ending for at least 6 months and they keep saying the ending will stand for itself.
@Carol from Boston – I’ve got a twitter account too, just have never “tweeted” anything yet. I do follow Ryan, Damon, Carlton, and GJacksbeard (Jorge), but guess I will have to add Doc artz to my list.
I want to also say that I agree with you 100% on the ending of LOST not being 100% definitive on a lot of subjects. I think Darlton have been saying that for a long time. I guess to keep from disappointing everyone, that is almost the way it has to be. As greenberry said above, there are just too many fan positions on characters to please everyone.
I remember reading a long time ago (and I think it was on this board) that the people who will be disappointed the most, are the people that think they have the show and it’s ending all figured out. Even with my latest crackpot theory, I have tried my best to NOT be one of these people. If my theory ends up being correct, I can say “Yep, I knew it!” If it isn’t, oh well. hehehehehe
I would say if the writers have done their job, we’ll all be able to come back to this board even 10 years from now and continue or discussions on what a lot of what we’ve seen means. You suppose Ryan and Jen will keep things archived for us? hahahahahaha
@Lreene – I think I have tweeted a total of 12 times and I have had the account for 9 months, lol. Here is the link to Doc Artz http://twitter.com/DocArzt
Lostpedia also has a twitter account.
LReene- re: the ending I totally agree with you. If anyone has a locked ending stuck in their head and it doesn’t match up they may not be happy.
I just don’t want any more losties to do, sigh, I know that won’t happen. Here’s hoping for my happy ending in the sideways world.
BTW the sneak peaks for next week are good, both Jack/Locke related and not really that spoilerish at all. They are just 50 second clips.
One thing is for sure I am dying to know who Jack was married to who is the mother of David. That is on the list of stuff I want resolved.
Damon said there won’t be any more info on the numbers and whispers.
@Carol from Boston – I guess I hadn’t heard that about Damon & the numbers. Shucks!! I was hoping they would at least show a 2-3 sec clip of Hurley recording the numbers in a time jump flash-back so the circle could be completed. 🙂
The LOST obsession continues… just finished the Season 4 finale ~ wow, that’s good television (Sun losing Jin, Penny finding Desmond, Ben causing more death but admitting his emotions sometimes get the better of him).
As per our John/Jack focused rewatch: there is lots of interaction and tension between these two in this set-up for the opening of season 5.
John to Jack: “We’ll just have to see which one of us is right.” John lets Jack know that Jack has a purpose — John tells Jack that Jack and the other Losties are not supposed to leave — John informs Jack that Jack must ‘lie’ — John tells Jack that Jack must protect the island ~ So Locke before he is Smokey/MIB seems to be ‘in the know’ and guides Jack to eventually return to the island. Locke seems so strong and dominant in their conversations, yet he seems unsure in all the scenes with sneaky, control-freak Ben. And as we now know, he gets taken over by an evil? force. I guess we’ve discussed all this above – it was helpful to see some of these pieces being put into place.
Okay, scrap the shiny bow… six months hmmm… then they can come out with their book after everyone calms down – lol — I am still okay with whatever they do, and I like that idea that we will discuss LOST in the future. I guess ‘endings’ are subjective – to me life in general is a non-definitive mystery (including my own) which is always open to a lot of directions (and interpretations) — I don’t always understand everyone and everything around me, so it is cool to not always understand everything in a movie or show either — open-ended movies don’t necessarily bother me
re: the relationship between Jacob and MIB… I just saw the brief clip of Man in Locke encountering the blond boy in the jungle, when the little boy says “You know the rules. You can’t kill him,” and MiL responds, “don’t tell me what I can’t do!!” It totally reminds me of a sibling fight, and in this case MiL is the younger sibling, annoyed w/ his older brother telling him what he can’t do.
@Bonita in Atlanta- I don’t think Walt’s appearance was a flash sideways, that would be really strange.
@ScottB in DC- Yeah, the whispers thing must be better explain. I’m ok with the explanation but I think they made it just to make us happy.
Kate is a candidate just like the others, but I think the ones with the numbers are more important than the others. But I think there’s something strange here. Well, Jacob brings people to the Island to prove the MIB is wrong. But, Ben also brought people to the Island, Juliet at least, and as far as I know she wasn’t chosen by Jacob so why was her name crossed out?
@Carol from Boston- According to Lostpedia, Goodwin’s wife can be dead or alive. So, if MIB can only take have the appearance of someone dead, maybe she was the Island? I guess the Island didn’t like both Daniel and Charlotte’s plan.
By the way, I read the Lostpedia book will solve some of the open things the finale leaves.
@Josh- You have a very good point about Desmond’s “see you in another lifeâ€. But, in which one?
@greenberry- I agree with what you say. I also trust the writers although I think I won’t like the ending of the series and that’s why I believe what I want to happen won’t. Hopefully, in the end we’ll understand many things we don’t know yet and everything will have a sense. The most important for me is that the characters I more care about have a nice ending. But like I said, I’m sure whatever I want won’t happen.
And, about John-Jack, their relationship is like Jacob-MIB’s. Man of faith versus man of science. John was a believer and Jacob is, but Jack only wanted to leave the Island like Smokey. And now, both Jack and Smokey are together. The pity is that John died for nothing and in that way John finished being like Ben, I mean both were betrayed, John by Ben and Ben by Jacob.
…and I know other people have mentioned the sibling possibility… I just happened to notice this dynamic in this clip and thought I’d mention it as a way of agreeing…
@KK- I think Jacob and the MB are brothers, and I think I know who their mother will be. Maybe I’m worng in my guess but yesterday I read some news about a great actress who’ll appear soon in the series and whose character will be very important.
@Lreene I think the numbers comment was in this weeks issue of Time but I could be wrong.
I was rewatching the season 4 premiere “The Beginning of the End” and the whispers showed up near the end of the episode, just before Jack’s group from the radio tower meets up with Locke, Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, Juliet, Desmond, and Bernard. In the scene, Jack shoots Locke with Locke’s gun, but there were no bullets in the gun. I guess this can be an example of the whispers warning about an attack. I don’t know for sure.
But in another thread I commented about the eye in the cabin that Hurley sees. It was a big deal back in season 4 but seems to be forgotten. In the cabin we see Christian in the shadows in the rocking chair, and then an eye appears quickly in the window. There was much speculation as to who it could be. I know this doesn’t pertain to the main topic, but certainly good for discussion while we await Tuesday’s new episode.
@Amaia — intriguing! I can’t wait to see what’s coming!
@everyone — Tuesday is just around the corner now! This has been such a great way to bide the time. Thanks You All Everybody! 🙂
@Amaia It was in this seasons “Happily Ever After” that Penny is running up the steps in the stadium.
Also in Season 2’s “Abandoned” Ana Lucia and her group, Mr. Eko, Michael, Jin, and Sawyer, etc are trekking through the woods and they start hearing the whispers, in which Ana tells them to run, which in turn leads Ana to shooting Shannon. My theory on the whispers is, they are in fact those that have died, yet everyone on the island, at that time, thought it was the Others. Hugo now knows that they are from those that have died.
Hey All!
Just caught up on all of your posts…GREAT theories, people. Really!
I too, have had wet Walt stuck in my mind…could it be that in one of the mirrored timelines, he and our other Losties actually DO crash in the ocean and perish? Or could wet Walt signify the “end of days” scenario we saw in LA X this season?
Oh man, I do love this show. Anyhoo…Is anyone else hosting a LOST finale party?
@ Amaia ~ Yes, COOL actress coming… tall with huge pronounced eyes — pouty brothers, eh? I can see it… and interesting Jacob/John MIB/Jack analogies, which feed into LReene’s theory
@Josh- Yeah, with my question I meant which world was Desmond refering to.
@greenberry- Yeah, Amazing actress and very tall.
By the way, I regret not having commented things before with you, so hopefully we’ll have a lot to talk after the last episode.
“Those who are dead are not dead, they’re just living in my head…”
–Coldplay, from the song “42”.” Obviously Lost fans.
The whispers represent those who are either gone or outside of the present reality. But no one can be said to be gone for good until the ultimate moment of quantum definition in which a single plane out of many possible universes gets locked into place, so to speak. Thus, the incongruity of Charlie’s “Am I Alive?” written on his palm. This also implies that the phantom whisperers/sudden apparitions may have their own motives in determining the version of reality that gets validated. Some may shepherd those who remain toward sacrifice while others may seek the fulfillment of their wishes in the ATL.
Some of you are frightening me with what you have gleaned about the ending from podcasts and tweets. Let’s hope it’s misdirection. I’m not dead set on an ending of my own invention and would actually prefer the shock of Through the Looking Glass. But such an ending demands a certain clarity in which your eyes are at last opened to a long veiled truth. It’s a feeling like Plato describes in the allegory of the cave in which you’ve only seen reflections of the light off the cave walls your entire life until you finally step out into the sunlight. Lost has already given us one such moment and I still believe they will deliver another. They’ve had it in their pocket since they first conceived the show, after all.
@Rich – yup, you called it, anything can happen and probably will.
@Amaia – there will still be lots to post about so plenty of time left to comment. You have me curious about the tall actress with the big eyes.
@ Rich ~ Yes, D/C have had their ending all along, so they feel satisfied and even proud of it. We’ve all enjoyed the show (and the majority of their writing), so we can ‘trust’ the ending will be worthy of our time? A lot of details still to cover! I’m looking at the BIGGER picture myself, something philosophically (thought-provokingly) great. I know other posters are super concerned about the sci-fi particulars, so it may be harder for them if the smaller pieces don’t seem to fit properly. COOL about the Coldplay LOST reference
Here’s to stepping out into the SUNLIGHT!!! (What were you specifically referring to as “one such moment?”)
@ Carol ~ Did you catch the charming movie “Away We Go” — she is one of the (hilarious) actors in there — didn’t want to ‘spoil’ — apparently D/C were careful to cast her, because her part is tres important (hopefully more than zooey Zoey — still longing for her to be zapped – lol)
I did watch that movie, now I’ll have to give it some thought. re: Zoe, if they are looking for an annoying, irritating, grating character they certainly did their job. I like viilians like Mr. Friendly, who was scary and also funny and interesting.
After watching Meet Jeremy Bentham I did note that Widmore said it was important to for Locke to stay alive and he would do his best to make sure Locke stayed that way. Widmore didn’t tell John that he needed to die. So when Widmore said that a war was coming and John had to be there to help fight it, he meant that John should be there alive as himself. So to me, that means that Widmore didn’t want MIB to claim John.
Also re: the others, Widmore said they had been there for 30 years before people started coming to the island and fighting with them.