Lost - The Lost Blogging Collective - Weekly Q&A

What Is The Lost Blogging Collective?
TLBC is the title I have given to a group of Lost bloggers who I consider to be the best in all the lands. This includes Anna @ The Four Toed Foot, Izi @ Not Confused, Just Lost, DarkUFO @ DarkUFO, Karen @ Karen's Lost Notebook, Vozzek69 @ Things I Noticed, Benny Bigggs @ Finally Lost, Paul Burrows @ Room 23, Fiona @ Fishbiscuitland and finally myself @ here.

Each week I will provide a round-up of all the blogs coming under the Collective (and then some more!), as well as positing a question or two for the Collective to answer. This weeks questions are:

What is going on with the LAX scenes? Do you believe we are experiencing an alternate timeline, or is it something else entirely?

and

Smokey / NotLocke / ManInBlack says he wants to "go home". Where/what is "home"?

Now, on with the answers!!



Paul Burrows @ Room 23
http://lostroom23.blogspot.com

"Well it occurred to me that maybe these two questions could be related. In Darltons recent Audio Podcast they said to not think about these LA X scenes as Alternate Reality, to think of what's going on at the island and the people at LA X as both being real. Both are legitimate and important. A theory that's going around is that the two will somehow be merged. I sure like the Flash Sideways though because its a nice way to reminisce of what's come before one last time just in a different way.

But besides that what if the LA X reality is in fact another place and that Desmond is the only one who can some how go back and forth between these places and possibly bring individuals from one place to another? What if this place was also the "home" to a certain individual who wears black clothing. So it is plausible that MIB would want to enlist Desmond in helping him to cross over to the place that he originated and return "home". Maybe Jacob caused him to be trapped in the place or reality that we have seen for the last 5 seasons and that's why MIB wants to kill Jacob so badly?"


Karen @ Karen's Lost Notebook
http://karenslostnotebook.blogspot.com

"1) I’m not sold on it being an alternate time line. It just may be another “go-around/level” they have to go through. We are really in two time lines. I don’t think the “plane” events and “Island” events are simultaneous in time. We’re led to believe the “Island” is in 2007 and if it’s flight 815 then it’s 2004. I think we may be seeing what is on the other side of the looking glass where things are wrong, backwards, opposite and puzzling. For all we know it could flight 518 instead of flight 815.

2) Locke/Smoke monster wants to go home and let’s not forget that Jack is almost home. The objective of their journey is to go home. "Home" may be the “home base” of the game. I also think it may mean that “home” is when he finally "finds himself" or whatever he’s looking for, and then he literally can go back into society and go home a new man."


DarkUFO @ DarkUFO
http://darkufo.blogspot.com

"1) I believe that what we are seeing here is the result of something yet
to happen on the Island that causes this new timeline. Personally I
think someone turns the Donkey Wheel which moves the Island
underwater.

2) Home = HELL"


Vozzek69 @ Things I Noticed
http://www.thingsinoticed.com/

"1) I'd say it's a parallel timeline more than an alternate one, even if it doesn't run concurrently. Seeing Jack wake up on the plane again makes me wonder if we saw a completely different universe/timeline when Desmond woke up on his back during Flashes Before Your Eyes. Instead of being reinserted into his past life, maybe he was in 'another life' altogether.

2) Hopefully not the temple (that would seem pretty lame). The man in black is 'done with this rock', as Sawyer puts it. He wants off. His home would be more astral or ethereal I think... it's not like he lives in Daytona Beach. The island is his punishment, but as time's gone on he's treated it more like winning a game. What MIB doesn't realize is that he can't leave until he's actually learned something - his lesson."


Anna @ Four Toed Foot
http://www.thefourtoedfoot.com

"1) I don’t think I would use the word “alternate” just yet because we don’t know if these two “realities” actually connect and/or influence each other in some way. For instance, is it possible that the sinking of the Island in “Timeline X” is what caused the statue of Taweret to be destroyed on the Island as we have come to know it? In comic lore X represents an alternate timeline, so it is possible this is what is occurring. It allows us to have both possibilities at once, one where the plan in “The Incident” failed, and one where is succeeded. It seems to fit the show’s theme of opposing forces, for one thing. This is turn also allows us to escape paradox and a complete reset of everything that has happened over the past 5 years. However, I am not willing to throw all of my bombs into this Hatch quite yet, as the writers are Master Tricksters and love leading us down paths that end up being more like rabbit holes.

2) Oh boy. This would be the question. I can’t help but to think of how E.T. wanted to go home, so as much as I hate to say it, “home” could be a fallen star or something else Not From Here. It just isn’t safe to rule out an extraterrestrial explanation quite yet. All we know is that Smokey exhibits characteristics of something unearthly, and that there have been many references to alien life or something falling from the sky in the show over the years. In fact, with so much of it surrounding Claire and her son, such as with his celestial mobile, “The Little Prince”, his favorite song “To Catch a Falling Star”, etc., I wonder if at some point we find out The Man in Black’s true name is Aaron. We even had Rose in “LA X” holding the back of a magazine that revealed a nice little “X-Files” Easter egg in the form of a UFO with “The Truth is Out There…” written above a fake Morley cigarette ad.

I am really on the fence with this idea, as the other half of me wants to hear that “home” is the Underworld, or Realm of the Dead. There are just as many Egyptian and Underworld references as “alien” references. Smokey is nicknamed the Cerberus, the 3-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell. We’ve seen what looks like a depiction of the Monster facing off with the Egyptian god of mummification and guide of souls to the Underworld, Anubis. The fact that he seems to enjoy pulling folks underground and likes to take the form of dead people also says something, I believe. If he was somehow being kept subservient to either Jacob or the Island itself and kept from his true plane of existence, then it makes sense to me that he typically reigns over those who have passed on.

Perhaps these two ideas even work together in some way. There are schools of people who believe our Earth was visited in ancient times by extraterrestrial beings, and that these beings are the very source of the Gods of Myth. It sure does seem that there have been ancient cultures on the Island who have been worshipping some deities, such as evidenced by the statue of Taweret among other things. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that Smokey is an ancient Egyptian god or anything so literal. But perhaps he served as the inspiration for one or more that we have been acquainted with in our Earthly knowledge. Really, who knows at this point? I am not discounting anything on LOST!"


Benny @ Finally Lost
http://finallylost.wordpress.com

"1) I know a common theory out there is that the X in LA X means we have a parallel universe on our hands (or multi-verse for all the fellow comic geeks out there). Since the "What happened happened" tenant has clearly been evicted from the show like it Walt going through puberty, I find myself grasping for another faithful tenant: Course Correction! Yes I believe LA space X means we are in an alternate timeline and yes I believe we will course correct. The interesting question, however, is which timeline will win? Wouldn't it be wild if the Losties got to choose which timeline became reality? Would Sawyer choose to be the pre-island conman with a hard-one for Kate or a post-island rebuilt man with a Juliet sized broken heart?? Time will tell, literally...

2) I've been convinced for sometime now that Jacob & Smokey are aliens/gods (it's all the same to us agnostics) who have been exiled to earth and must stay on their ex-space-ship prison, aka the island. The fact that the island has a frozen donkey wheel that can cause it to move through time and space has always made me think spaceship. If Jacob and Smokey are really exiled then I think Jacob was totally the kid that convinced Smokey that one joint won't kill ya, or whatever alien crime is punishable by an Earth exile these days. This is why I think Smokey wants to kill Jacob so badly. It is interesting that Jacob has no problem leaving the island but Smokey is land locked. In the end, I think E.T. (Smokey) just wants to go home and be reunited with Mrs. Smokey..."


Izikavazo @ Not Confused, Just Lost
http://ncjl.wordpress.com

"1) Yes I think it's an alternate timeline, but I think by the end of the season they'll converge, so a lot of things have to change in both timelines in order for there to be a convergence. That means a lot of deaths on both sides.

2) I figure home is just Egypt or maybe Tunisia, somewhere near Egypt. Perhaps he just means the real world, away from the Island. But I'm betting on Egypt."


Chris @ SuperDuperStream
http://superduperstream.blogspot.com

"1) I believe that, disposing of the words alternate or alternative, this Other timeline serves merely as a point to show us that, taking the Island out of the equation entirely, our characters are still the same essential characters. Throw as much free will and random events at these guys, their destiny, or their soul, remains eternally the same. Charlie will always be a drug addict (time will tell if he also becomes a hero), Jack will always feel the need to save, Hurley will always be depressed, Sawyer will always con, and Boone will always seek out a father figure.

How far this extends depends on how deep the writers are willing to go down this rabbit hole - will they show us, for instance, that Christian actually cared deeply for Jack in this Other timeline and gave him more attention than his work/booze? Will we see another Anthony Cooper, one who nurtures instead of cons Locke? Just how much of our lives are governed by free will and how much is destiny? This season will be the ultimately nature vs nurture argument - do our experiences dictate our soul, or does our soul dictate our actions?

Furthermore, and I know Karen will agree with me on this, we have seen a lot of little changes over the course of Lost - sets rearrange theirselves, dialogue changes, everything ranging from the minor (the contents of Ben's fridge) to the far more obvious (re-watch Mile's scenes in Season 4's "Confirmed Dead" - when he goes up the stairs, the pictures on the wall are in one frame. When he comes back down [we are led to believe it is mere minutes later] the pictures remain but the frames have changed entirely). I don't believe these have all been coincidences, and I think we will see these universes overlap in the episodes to come.

You never know - maybe the "Dharma food drop" in Season 2 came from a third universe where the Initiative lived on way into the year 2004? Maybe the Island(s) is the central point where all these possibilities tie together, overlap and intersect? And maybe this is all too much for one TV show to properly deliver upon - but if anyone can attempt this kind of story telling, Lost can.

2) I am fully signed on to the "Dogma" theory - like in Kevin Smith's magnum opus, Jacob and Smokey are two angels (or demons) banished to Earth from heaven (or hell), trying desperately to find their way back. However, Lost forks off from this story in that it would appear Jacob does not want to return home, while Smokey is Ben Affleck - willing to kill his friend/brother/partner/enemy to get to that end result. Again, this could set up a great canvas on which to paint the ultimate end justifies the means/means justify the ends argument.

It is my feeling that Jacob also wishes to go home, but he wants the humans to find the loophole/make the change, not to "cheat" and do it himself. Whilst there are many arguments to be made for it being Egypt, or something alien, I believe that Radzinsky naming Smokey "Cerebus" was no mere coincidence - hell (or heaven) is home."


That's it for this week - tune in next time for more Questions & Answers (and wild guesswork!). Please check out my Lost Blogging Collective Weekly Round-Up for more from the team.