More thoughts on the Lost finale...
May. 21st, 2009 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mfirefly10This is not a review of the finale. It is a response to many of the theories/criticisms that fandom has been buzzing about since.
*Not!Locke/Jacob: Anyone else think that neither one of these dudes is all that ‘good’? From what we’ve seen, both are of capable of doing terrible things in order to get what they want. Perhaps their balance of black versus white doesn’t mean that one stands for ‘good’ while the other represents ‘evil’. ‘Good’ and ‘evil’ could simply be the terms we created for forces we don’t understand.
*In response to the idea that Jacob somehow keeps the 815-ers alive/safe: I don't think his appearance in their lives meant anything other than what it seemed to be. Jacob used his 'influence' to get these specific people to the island when he needed them. I think that's why he visited them at different points in their lives. For example:
He visited Sun, Jin, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer BEFORE the original 815 crash. Sawyer and Jin never left the island so that took care of them. Sun returned to the island to look for Jin because, as Jacob said, their love is special. Jack and Kate chose to return to the island, on their own, because of their connections to Claire and each other.
As far as we know, Jacob didn't visit Hurley or Sayid until after the original crash. Sayid was on 815 because of his search for Nadia. Once they returned to the real world and he was reunited with Nadia, he had no reason to return to the island. That is, until Jacob stepped in, got Nadia killed, and set Sayid down the path that led him back to the island. Hurley came to the island because of his obsession with the numbers. Once he got over that obsession, he had no desire to return to the island. Until Jacob showed up and told Hurley how his 'special' abilities would be appreciated on the island.
Now, why didn't he visit Miles or Juliet? Well, Miles was born on the island and that seemed to be enough of an influence, on its own, to get him to return. And Juliet...as we all remember, was brought to the island by Ben, who spent years taking his orders from...Jacob! So, essentially, Jacob did bring Juliet to the island. I think this is all-but-proven by Jacob’s visit to Iliana, whom he seeks out for help and who comes to the island to prove that Locke isn’t really Locke.
*Juliet: I’ve seen a lot of criticism directed at Juliet based on her actions in the finale. A lot of people think her reaction to ‘the look’ was overly dramatic. And it was…But…I believe that was merely the excuse she gave as to why she ‘changed her mind’. In my opinion, she NEVER changed her mind. I think Juliet decided to help Jack the moment she heard about his plan. At that point, she’d been on the island for 6 years and in spite of dozens of attempts, never managed to leave it. She probably assumed that she never would. And for her to stay on the island, post-incident, would be a very bad thing. Why? Because Juliet was clearly pregnant.
Her pregnancy had been foreshadowed since La Fleur^ and was a pretty understandable reason why she’d want to change things. Juliet assumed that ‘the incident’ made it impossible for women to give birth on the island. So whether they stayed in the 70s or went back to their own time, the probability of Juliet delivering a healthy baby on that island was very slim.
Now, I think Juliet could’ve survived losing James. She would’ve been heart-broken, but she would’ve survived. But losing a child? There’s no way Juliet could’ve gotten past that. So she decided that if Faraday’s plan worked, she would never meet James and never have to face the possibility of losing her child. She gave James the Kate excuse because she didn’t want to have to tell him about a child they would probably lose.
^ (Juliet’s pregnancy was foreshadowed by her delight over delivering a healthy child and her reaction to the same child in a later episode, where she’s asked when she and James will start having babies. It’s also foreshadowed heavily in the finale, where attention is constantly drawn to her stomach and by Bernard’s final words to her. Clearly, he recognized the signs of her pregnancy and wanted to keep her from rushing off into a dangerous situation.)
*What happened at the end: I believe that what we saw happen to Des, Locke, and co. in season 2 is the same thing that happened in ‘the incident’. The detonation managed to destroy the electromagnetism that built up during the experiment. I think Miles’ father realized what happened and built the fail-safe, which Des then used in season 2. SO…what does that mean for the folks who actually experienced ‘the incident’? Well, the entire hatch imploded on Locke and Des and they both lived. Des acquired an interesting new skill but he survived. I believe the same thing happened to our people, only instead of experiencing what Des did, they were all sent back to their own time. One question that remains is what state they were in when they were sent back. Because Juliet wasn’t the only one with fatal wounds. Sayid wasn’t looking too good either, so my guess is that Jacob (or Not!Locke) heals them. We know that little Ben was healed but that the process changed him. Will it do the same to Juliet and Sayid? Is that what happened to Claire?
*I think the 70s travelers will be separated upon their arrival in their own time. I think it will be assumed that Juliet was killed in the incident and that belief will stick until she shows up, alive and well, many episodes later. I believe the writers are gearing up to 2 EPIC reunions: The first, which I’m hoping will happen in an early episode, will be Sun and Jin. The second, which I’m guessing won’t happen until almost the final episode, will be James, Juliet, and their unborn child. I also think it’s possible that Juliet’s child somehow keeps her from being changed the way Ben was.
OR…I’m absolutely full of sh!t and the writers will take the story in a completely different direction! (Also: My thoughts on Juliet are based on my need to believe that she's still alive. Cause if she's not, Lost has succeeded in killing off ALL of my favorite female characters...and THAT...I refuse to believe!)
Little comments: Loved the Charlie reference. Loved the Sun/Jin wedding flashback. Loved the reactions of everyone when Miles pointed out that they were probably going to cause the very thing they were trying to prevent. Loved the idea that Rose and Bernard just said, ‘to heck with everything’, and lived out their lives in peace. And their reaction to seeing Sawyer and co. on the beach was hysterical! ‘Son of a bitch, they found us!’
Also: Couldn’t the writers have come up with something better as Jack’s ‘reason’? When he first started talking about how he ‘lost her’, I was sure he was talking about Claire. Because he actually DID lose her…unlike Kate, who was still alive and well and standing FIVE FEET away from him! Gods, even the die-hard Jack fans must admit that was pretty pathetic.
*Not!Locke/Jacob: Anyone else think that neither one of these dudes is all that ‘good’? From what we’ve seen, both are of capable of doing terrible things in order to get what they want. Perhaps their balance of black versus white doesn’t mean that one stands for ‘good’ while the other represents ‘evil’. ‘Good’ and ‘evil’ could simply be the terms we created for forces we don’t understand.
*In response to the idea that Jacob somehow keeps the 815-ers alive/safe: I don't think his appearance in their lives meant anything other than what it seemed to be. Jacob used his 'influence' to get these specific people to the island when he needed them. I think that's why he visited them at different points in their lives. For example:
He visited Sun, Jin, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer BEFORE the original 815 crash. Sawyer and Jin never left the island so that took care of them. Sun returned to the island to look for Jin because, as Jacob said, their love is special. Jack and Kate chose to return to the island, on their own, because of their connections to Claire and each other.
As far as we know, Jacob didn't visit Hurley or Sayid until after the original crash. Sayid was on 815 because of his search for Nadia. Once they returned to the real world and he was reunited with Nadia, he had no reason to return to the island. That is, until Jacob stepped in, got Nadia killed, and set Sayid down the path that led him back to the island. Hurley came to the island because of his obsession with the numbers. Once he got over that obsession, he had no desire to return to the island. Until Jacob showed up and told Hurley how his 'special' abilities would be appreciated on the island.
Now, why didn't he visit Miles or Juliet? Well, Miles was born on the island and that seemed to be enough of an influence, on its own, to get him to return. And Juliet...as we all remember, was brought to the island by Ben, who spent years taking his orders from...Jacob! So, essentially, Jacob did bring Juliet to the island. I think this is all-but-proven by Jacob’s visit to Iliana, whom he seeks out for help and who comes to the island to prove that Locke isn’t really Locke.
*Juliet: I’ve seen a lot of criticism directed at Juliet based on her actions in the finale. A lot of people think her reaction to ‘the look’ was overly dramatic. And it was…But…I believe that was merely the excuse she gave as to why she ‘changed her mind’. In my opinion, she NEVER changed her mind. I think Juliet decided to help Jack the moment she heard about his plan. At that point, she’d been on the island for 6 years and in spite of dozens of attempts, never managed to leave it. She probably assumed that she never would. And for her to stay on the island, post-incident, would be a very bad thing. Why? Because Juliet was clearly pregnant.
Her pregnancy had been foreshadowed since La Fleur^ and was a pretty understandable reason why she’d want to change things. Juliet assumed that ‘the incident’ made it impossible for women to give birth on the island. So whether they stayed in the 70s or went back to their own time, the probability of Juliet delivering a healthy baby on that island was very slim.
Now, I think Juliet could’ve survived losing James. She would’ve been heart-broken, but she would’ve survived. But losing a child? There’s no way Juliet could’ve gotten past that. So she decided that if Faraday’s plan worked, she would never meet James and never have to face the possibility of losing her child. She gave James the Kate excuse because she didn’t want to have to tell him about a child they would probably lose.
^ (Juliet’s pregnancy was foreshadowed by her delight over delivering a healthy child and her reaction to the same child in a later episode, where she’s asked when she and James will start having babies. It’s also foreshadowed heavily in the finale, where attention is constantly drawn to her stomach and by Bernard’s final words to her. Clearly, he recognized the signs of her pregnancy and wanted to keep her from rushing off into a dangerous situation.)
*What happened at the end: I believe that what we saw happen to Des, Locke, and co. in season 2 is the same thing that happened in ‘the incident’. The detonation managed to destroy the electromagnetism that built up during the experiment. I think Miles’ father realized what happened and built the fail-safe, which Des then used in season 2. SO…what does that mean for the folks who actually experienced ‘the incident’? Well, the entire hatch imploded on Locke and Des and they both lived. Des acquired an interesting new skill but he survived. I believe the same thing happened to our people, only instead of experiencing what Des did, they were all sent back to their own time. One question that remains is what state they were in when they were sent back. Because Juliet wasn’t the only one with fatal wounds. Sayid wasn’t looking too good either, so my guess is that Jacob (or Not!Locke) heals them. We know that little Ben was healed but that the process changed him. Will it do the same to Juliet and Sayid? Is that what happened to Claire?
*I think the 70s travelers will be separated upon their arrival in their own time. I think it will be assumed that Juliet was killed in the incident and that belief will stick until she shows up, alive and well, many episodes later. I believe the writers are gearing up to 2 EPIC reunions: The first, which I’m hoping will happen in an early episode, will be Sun and Jin. The second, which I’m guessing won’t happen until almost the final episode, will be James, Juliet, and their unborn child. I also think it’s possible that Juliet’s child somehow keeps her from being changed the way Ben was.
OR…I’m absolutely full of sh!t and the writers will take the story in a completely different direction! (Also: My thoughts on Juliet are based on my need to believe that she's still alive. Cause if she's not, Lost has succeeded in killing off ALL of my favorite female characters...and THAT...I refuse to believe!)
Little comments: Loved the Charlie reference. Loved the Sun/Jin wedding flashback. Loved the reactions of everyone when Miles pointed out that they were probably going to cause the very thing they were trying to prevent. Loved the idea that Rose and Bernard just said, ‘to heck with everything’, and lived out their lives in peace. And their reaction to seeing Sawyer and co. on the beach was hysterical! ‘Son of a bitch, they found us!’
Also: Couldn’t the writers have come up with something better as Jack’s ‘reason’? When he first started talking about how he ‘lost her’, I was sure he was talking about Claire. Because he actually DID lose her…unlike Kate, who was still alive and well and standing FIVE FEET away from him! Gods, even the die-hard Jack fans must admit that was pretty pathetic.
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Date: 2009-05-23 10:57 am (UTC)